The Three Barriers. ' 187 



the crocodile, the spring of the tiger, the teeth 

 of the shark, the terrible coil of the boa-con- 

 strictor ; the backbone is the basis of them 

 all. 



Below the mammal, again, how loveless, by 

 comparison, is the world of life ! There are 

 no sub-mammalian mothers ; animals below 

 that line are parents or producers only. The 

 crossing of that line is a great work of Deity. 

 God creates a new thing in the earth when He 

 hangs the nursling on the mother's breast, and 

 bids the two be as one. Together with the 

 prerogative of the nurturing bosom there start 

 up everywhere, on land and sea, the most 

 touching examples of brute devotion and of 

 passionate maternity. 



Deep calleth unto deep, and the cry is still 

 Excelsior ! Nature is a hierarchy of which the 

 head is man. Mind, language, worship, civili- 

 zation ; the will to determine, the tongue to 

 speak, the hand to do ; these in their bound- 

 less purport are all lacking until the Creator 

 plants upon the scene the solitary owner of the 

 Perfect Brain. Named in one word, all these 

 are wisdom ; and Man, " thinker of God's 

 thoughts after Him," is, among uncounted 

 myriads of lower existentes, on this earth, 

 Only Wise. Of this superiority, the human 



