4,5 



of the same character, but higher or lower, ac- 

 cording to the rank which each individual heing 

 is to hold in the scale of creation. To each has 

 the Creator said, " Thus far shalt thou go, and 

 no farther." Of some the progress has been very 

 soon arrested ; to others a greater advancement 

 has been allowed ; while, in man, to so tower- 

 ing a height has he been permitted to proceed, 

 that he is tempted to deny his affinity with the 

 others, and to lose sight of the humble beginnings 

 on which all equally rest. But why should man, 

 in his arrogance, claim to himself a nature and 

 essential organization different from those of 

 even the lowest animated being ? The same 

 Divine hand, which has permitted him to build 

 so much higher than they upon the same foun- 

 dation, might have permitted perhaps has per- 

 mitted other beings to proceed infinitely farther 

 still ; so that to them, man is far, far more in- 

 significant and contemptible, than to him is the 

 veriest worm that crawls. May this view tend 

 to inspire us at once with humility and gratitude 

 with humility, in reflecting on the grovelling 

 nature to which we are so intimately allied ; and 

 with gratitude, in contemplating as well the com- 

 parative superiority which we have been allowed 

 to attain, even in this state of our existence, as 

 the Divine promise, which has in mercy been 

 extended to us, of a more exalted and better con- 

 dition in the world to come. 



It remains still to say a few words concerning 



