MAN DIVINELY TAUGHT. 3I 



absence of other and higher kinds of know- 

 ledge, of which an acquaintance with the 

 metals is but a symbol and a type. Within 

 certain limits this is true, and we may 

 assume, therefore, that in Genesis also, the 

 intimation given on this subject implies that 

 so far as civilization means a command over 

 the powers of nature, Man was left to make 

 his own way, through his powers of reason, 

 and through his instincts of research. 

 Whately has indeed inferred, from the de- 

 scription given of Cain as a tiller of the 

 ground, and of Abel as a keeper of flocks, 

 that the great economic principle of the 

 division of labour was at the first divinely 

 taught to Man. But, if we are to understand 

 this literally, not of tribes tracing their descent 



