96 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



every turn, of purpose and of aspiration. Discover 

 how, with identity of process and loyalty to the 

 type, a hair-breadth of deviation is yet secured to 

 each so that no two forms come out the same, 

 but each arises an original creation, with features, 

 characteristics, and individualities of its own. Re- 

 member, finally, that even to make the first cell 

 possible, stellar space required to be swept of 

 matter, suns must needs be broken up, and planets 

 cool, the agents of geology labour millennium after 

 millennium at the unfinished earth to prepare a 

 material resting-place for the coming guest. Con- 

 sider all this, and judge if Creation could have a 

 sublimer meaning, or the Human Race possess a 

 more splendid genesis. 



From the lips of the Prophet another version, 

 an old and beautiful story, was told to the child- 

 hood of the earth, of how God made Man ; how 

 with His own hands He gathered the Bactrian 

 dust, modelled it, breathed upon it, and it became 

 a living soul. Later, the insight of the Hebrew 

 Poet taught Man a deeper lesson. He saw that 

 there was more in Creation than mechanical pro- 

 duction. He saw that the Creator had different 

 kinds of Hands and different ways of modelling. 

 How it was done he knew not, but it was not 

 the surface thing his forefathers taught him. The 



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