CREATION OF ANIMALS. 7 



Amidst this infinite variety of beings there was 

 not a single one which to a material body added 

 an immaterial immortal soul ; so that there was 

 still a great blank in creation. A wonderful and 

 magnificent temple was reared, and shone in 

 glory and beauty, but there was as yet no priest 

 therein to offer up incense to the Deity to whom 

 it was dedicated. 



We are now, therefore, to consider the creation 

 of him for whom this high offce was reserved, 

 who, as king and priest, was to render to the 

 common Creator the praises due from all created 

 things, and be the spokesman for all the inhabi- 

 tants of this terrestrial globe. 



The vast distance, on this account, intervening 

 between man and the highest animals in the scale 

 of being, appears evident from the different cir- 

 cumstances attending their creation. When they 

 were brought into existence, the word was " Let 

 the waters bring forth Let the earth bring forth" 

 from which it should seem that God did not act 

 immediately m their creation, except by his agency 

 on those powers that he had established as rulers 

 in nature, and by which he ordinarily taketh 

 hold, as it were, of the material universe. But 

 when a being, combining the spiritual with the 

 material world, is to be created, all the persons 

 of the Godhead unite immediately in the work, 

 and without the intervention of any other agent, 



