DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 83 



intellect itself becomes weakened ; in proportion 

 as the senses are exercised, they are strength- 

 ened ; in proportion as the pleasures they afford 

 us stand high or low in our estimation, we 

 graduate towards the brute, which knows no 

 pleasures but those of sense, or towards the 

 angel who knows no pleasures but what are 

 spiritual. There is a governing principle in 

 man, 1 originally enthroned in him by his Creator, 

 and to whose sway the senses were originally in 

 complete subjection. But when man fell, a 

 struggle was generated, the lower or sensual part 

 of his nature striving to gain the rule over him, 

 and to dethrone the higher or intellectual. This 

 is the " law in our members warring against the 

 law of our mind" mentioned by the Apostle. 

 Now, we know that the same individual, at 

 different periods of life, may be directed in his 

 actions first by one and then by the other af 

 these laws ; he may begin in sense, and end in 

 spirit, or vice versa. If the former takes place 

 in him, his nature and character are elevated, 

 and he is become more intellectual ; if the latter, 

 they are degraded, and he is become more 

 sensual and nearer to a brute, and yet in both 

 cases he remains the same man as before ; his 

 species is not altered. Apply this to nations, 

 will it follow, because one is now generally gifted 



1 To 



