ON THE PLACE OF MAN IN THE SCALE OF BEING. 



the capabilities of his whole nature, and especially those of his brain, are called 

 out ; so that the general character of the race is greatly improved. On the 

 other hand, under the influence of a degraded condition, there is an equally 

 certain retrogression ; so that, to bring up the New Holland Savage, or the 

 African Bushman to the level of the European, would probably require centu- 

 ries of civilization. One of the most important aids to the use and development 

 of the human mind, is the power of producing articulate sounds, or language ; 

 of which, as far as we know, Man is the only animal in possession. There 

 is no doubt, that many other species have certain powers of communication 

 between individuals ; but these are probably very limited, and of a kind very 

 different from a veAal language. 



71. Although, as we have stated, there is nothing in Man's present condi- 

 tion which removes him from the pale of the Animal kingdom, and although 

 his reasoning powers differ rather in degree than in kind from those of the 

 inferior animals, he seems distinguished by one innate tendency, to which 

 we have no reason to suppose that any thing analogous elsewhere exists, and 

 which we might term an instinct, were it not that this designation is generally 

 applied to propensities of a much lower character. The tendency here referred 

 to, is that which seems universal in Man, to believe in some unseen Existence. 

 This may take various forms, but is never entirely absent from any race or 

 nation, although (like other innate tendencies) it may be defective in indi- 

 viduals. Attempts have been made by some travelers to prove that particular 

 nations are destitute of it ; but such assertions have been based only upon a 

 limited acquaintance with their habits of thought, and with their outward 

 observances. For there are probably none that do not possess the idea of 

 some invisible Power external to themselves ; whose favour they seek, and 

 whose anger they deprecate, by sacrifice and other religious observances. It 

 requires a higher mental cultivation than is always to be met with, to conceive 

 of this Power as having a Spiritual existence ; but wherever the idea of spirit- 

 uality can be denned, it seems connected with it. The vulgar readiness to 

 believe in demons, ghosts, &c., is only an irregular or depraved manifestation 

 of the same tendency. Closely connected with it, is the desire to share in this 

 spiritual existence ; which has been implanted by the Creator in the mind of 

 Man ; and which, developed as it is by the mental cultivation that is almost 

 necessary for the formation of the idea, has been regarded by philosophers in 

 all ages, as one of the chief natural arguments for the immortality of the soul. 

 By this Immortal Soul, the existence of which is thus guessed by Man, but of 

 whose presence within him he derives the strongest assurance from Revelation, 

 Man is connected with beings of a higher order, amongst whom intelligence 

 exists, unrestrained in its exercise by the imperfections of that corporeal me- 

 chanism through which it here operates; and to this state, a state of more 

 intimate communion of mind with mind, and of creatures with their Creator, 

 he is encouraged to aspire, as the reward of his improvement of the talents 

 here committed to his charge. 



