5454 Reason and Instinct. 



there had been geological epochs, of almost inconceivable duration, 

 countless ages before man was sent to be an inhabitant of the globe. 

 All such topics as these — I believe we may use terms much more 

 comprehensive, and say all topics whatever, if properly the subjects of 

 scientific investigation — must have remained, even in the hands of an 

 inspired lecturer, worse than unintelligible, even very "foolishness" 

 to the Israelite of the Exodus, to the Jew of the Empire, or to the 

 Gentile of the infancy of the Christian era; and if so, then, from the 

 very nature of things, a stumbling-block as well ; that is, an obstacle 

 and hindrance to that which the Book professed to be and to have for 

 its object. And therefore I expect to find, in the Bible, no informa- 

 tion, properly so called, on geological matters, and none in Natural 

 History, or Science, or Philosophy in whatever department. Allusions 

 and references to such topics I may and do expect, but conveyed, 

 notwithstanding, in words uncharacterized by precision or scientific 

 accuracy. 



The principal passages supposed to bear on our subject are, I think, 

 the following : — 



1. " Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the 

 spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth ?" — Eccles. 

 iii. 21. 



2. " Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts 

 that perish." — Ps. xlix. 20. 



3. " Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no under- 

 standing, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they 

 come near unto thee."— Ps. xxxii. 9. 



4. " Natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed." — 

 2 Pet. ii. 12. 



5. " Brute beasts" (" knowing things naturally"). — Jude 10. 



1. With respect to this passage, it appears to me that the utmost 

 we can say is that the writer gives utterance to the expression of a 

 doubt, which is more apparent in the Septuagint, as follows, " And who 

 has seen the spirit of sons of man, -if it ascends up on high (a cacx.Qa.lvu 

 auro am) ; and the spirit of the beast, if it descends down into (or 

 upon) the earth ? (ei xarafialvEi avro ndro) kiayfo)." One thing at least is 

 clear, that he speaks of " the spirit of the beast" (to Trvh/xa too ktwovc) 

 as a thing having existence ; and if we take his words strictly and 

 literally, we shall be obliged to say that, as it is put in contradistinc- 

 tion to the spirit and not the life of man, it must mean something 

 more than merely the life of the beast. 



