THE PARABLE OF THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT. 193 



table world. We are all the servants of Nature, 

 appointed to do a certain work: and when a race, 

 whether of plants, of animals, or of men, have served 

 their time and their purpose, they are dismissed 

 and must make room for another. Thus the num- 

 ber of extinct races and forms of life are innumerable 

 a few only of the most remarkable being proba- 

 bly as yet known to man, through the teachings of 

 history and geology; whilst myriads of others, we 

 cannot doubt, have passed away, leaving no trace 

 behind. 



The whole history of the world, from the earliest 

 epochs to the present time, teaches us that races and 

 types are all slowly changing, and nowhere is this 

 truth more clearly conveyed to us than in the study 

 of " The Wilderness and its Tenants," where in our 

 own time we have seen whole nations and races of 

 men and of animals disappear. 



They had lived to become unsuited to their times. 

 Peace be to their memory ! The Scriptural parable of 

 the unprofitable servant may, as we venture to believe, 

 be interpreted in two ways; one of which represents 

 exactly the dealings of Nature with the terrestrial 

 world whilst the passages here referred to state that 

 this rule thus established on earth is identical with 

 that of the Kingdom of Heaven. "A certain noble- 

 man," we are told, went forth into a far country, leav- 

 ing his goods to the care of his servants in one pas- 

 sage the nature of the property so entrusted is repre- 

 sented by "talents," * in the other, it is "money." f 

 " After a long time the lord of these servants cometh, 



* Matt. xxv. 14 29. y Luke Xix. 12 26. 



VOL. II. 13 



