310 DEATH AND PROGRESS. 



one of their number in its fatal grasp, and vanishes, together with its victim, into the unseen 

 realms above. 



To the fish the Otter must appear as a supernatural being, for it comes from a world 

 which is above their comprehension, and returns thereto at will, a visible and incarnate Death. 

 All animals, creations, and existences have some idea of a being that is superior to themselves, 

 and that being which to their minds conveys the highest idea, is to them the Divinity. So 

 that to the fish, the Otter may stand in the light of deity — a remarkable type of the heathen 

 ideas of the Divine nature. 



As various races and individuals of mankind are endowed with greater or smaller capaci- 

 ties, they must form an idea of a deity which is consonant with their own natures, and it 

 therefore follows that the loftiest natures will worship the highest God. Therefore, we find 

 in the history of the Israelitish nation, that the narrow-minded Jews copied the surrounding 

 heathens in paying their fearful worship to the fiery Moloch, the cruel and murderous deity of 

 wrath ; while the poets and prophets prostrated their spirits in loving adoration before Jeho- 

 vah, the great Source of all, from whom, through whom, and by whom all things, beings, and 

 essences came into existence. 



At the present day, and even in this country, the same contracted ideas are too evident, 

 for there are many narrow-minded persons who are incapable of receiving a deity that is more 

 loving than themselves, and can only appreciate one that is more powerful. Their form of 

 praise is expressed by fear and trembling, and the amount of their reverence is measured by 

 the amount of punishment which they think he can inflict upon them. So with the savage 

 natives of the Southern seas, who consistently honor the representations of their deity by 

 piteous deprecations of his anger, and lie trembling before him in slavish fear. Servile terror 

 is the form of respect which they pay towards those whom they honor, and which they unscru- 

 pulously exact from those by whom they desire to be honored. 



Still, there is a great truth in this power- worship of the savage and undeveloped nature, 

 for it is a step in the improvement of the human race when they learn to acknowledge any 

 being as superior to themselves, even though the ground on which they base that superiority 

 may not be of the most elevated description. For all power, of whatever kind, is in its essence 

 spiritual, however material and even revolting its outer manifestations may appear, and is 

 therefore an attribute of the Supreme, although misunderstood and misapplied. 



In reality, the attribute which we call Destruction ought to be termed Conservation and 

 Progression, for without its beneficent influence all things would be limited in their number 

 and manifestation as soon as they first came into existence, and there would be no improve- 

 ment in physical, moral, or spiritual natures. In such sad case, it would be possible to find a 

 centre and circumference to creation, whereas it is truly as unlimited as the very being of its 

 Creator. 



Suppose, for example, that the huge Saurians of the geological eras had been permitted to 

 retain their place upon the earth, and that the land and water were overrun with megatheria, 

 iguanodons, and other creatures of like nature. Suppose, to take our own island as a limited 

 example, that the land was peopled with the naked and painted savages of its ancient times, 

 unchanged in numbers, in habits, and in customs. It is evident that in either case the country 

 would be unable to retain the higher animals and the loftier humanity of the present day, and 

 that in order to escape absolute stagnation it is a necessity that old tilings should pass away 

 and that the new should take their place. How limited would not the human race be were it 

 not subject to physical death ! But a very few years and the earth would be over-peopled, 

 setting aside the question of bodily nourishment, which requires the destruction of other 

 beings, either animal or vegetable. The same rule holds good with regard to moral as well as 

 physical improvement, for it is necessary that all mental progress should be caused by a con- 

 tinual destruction, a death of erroneous ideas, before the corresponding truths can obtain 

 entrance into the mind. 



Apply the same principle to the entire creation, and it will become evident that the 

 destructive attribute is essentially the preserver and the improver. Death, so-called, is the 

 best guardian of the human race, and its preserver from the most terrible selfishness and the 



