80 EVOLUTION OF LIFE. 



It was this sentiment which prevailed in 

 Cato's mind, that enabled him to despise the 

 danger and the disgrace to which he was ex- 

 posed by the tyranny of C^SAR ; he felt that 

 the soul, secure within itself, could smile at 

 the drawn dagger, and defy its point ; that it> 

 could flourish in immortal youth, unhurt amidst 

 the war of elements, and the crush of worlds. 



Admitting the truth of these observations, 

 (which must, indeed, have been apparent to 

 every reflecting mind) the conclusion presses 

 itself irresistibly upon the understanding, that 

 the end for which man was created, is to- 

 tally different from that of any other being. 

 Instead of being confined, like vegetables, 

 to the production of the species ; or, as in 

 the brute, to the gratification of the senses; 

 these objects constitute, in man, the lowest of 

 the ends which he is designed to attain : those 

 which are most congenial to his nature, and 

 which form the true end of his existence, more 

 especially consist, in the perfection of his 

 MIND, in order that he may be qualified to, 

 adore the ALMIGHTY, and become acceptable 

 to him. 



While the attributes of vegetables consist in 

 the living and vegetative principles alone; 

 those of brutes in the vegetative, the sensi- 

 tive, and the irrational ; man, in addition to 

 these, possesses the intellective also ; and may 



