( 265 ) 



rUEPOSP: AND aEXP:RAL COXDITION OF 



THE ANIMATED CREATION. 



We have now to inquire how this view of the constitu- 

 tion and origin of nature bears upon the condition of 

 man upon the earth, and his relation to supra-mundane 

 things. 



That enjoyment is the proper attendant of animal 

 existence is pressed upon us by all that we see and all we 

 experience. Everywhere we perceive in the lower crea- 

 tures, in their ordinary condition, symptoms of enjoyment. 

 Their whole being is a system of needs, the supplying of 

 which is gratification, and of faculties, the exercise of 

 which is pleasurable. When we consult our own sensa- 

 tions, we find that, even in a sense of a healthy perform- 

 ance of all the functions of the animal economy, God has 

 furnished us with an innocent and very high enjoyment. 

 The mere quiet consciousness of a healthy play of the 

 mental functions — a mind at ease with itself and all 

 around it -is in like manner extremely agreeable. This 

 negative class of enjoyments, it may be remarked, is 

 likely to be even more extensively experienced by the 

 lower animals than by man, at least in the proportion of 

 their absolute endowments, as their mental and bodily 

 functions are much less liable to derangement than ours. 

 To find the world constituted on this principle is only 



