374 SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



creation ; and not only is man the first creature capable of 

 responding to the stimuli to mental activity, but more ; 

 this mentality, while it differs qualitatively from the high- 

 est endowments of the lower animals, is in itself the' high- 

 est possible grade of endowments. It is qualitatively iden- 

 tical with that infinite Intelligence whose presence and su- 

 premacy are recognized throughout the universe. It is a 

 fair presumption that when the course of animalization has 

 attained the point toward which all these intellectual adap- 

 tations converge, a point is reached which will not be 

 passed except under a different general scheme. 



Similar remarks apply to the co-ordination existing be- 

 tween the material world and the idea of the beautiful in 

 man. The beauty and sublimity of Nature have no rela- 

 tion to any other creature. Man is the consummation of a 

 dualism. While the beautiful implies man, it excludes his 

 successor. No endowment beyond or higher than a re- 

 sponse to the provisions of Nature is possible. 



The beneficent provisions of the earth's crust not only 

 prophesy man, but they reach their finality in man. It 

 was only for human uses that the coal was treasured in the 

 recesses of the earth ; for human uses alone the mountains 

 have lifted up their burdens of iron ; for human uses only 

 the grandest movements of geological history elaborated 

 and distributed a soil. It is only for man that the forests 

 yield their abundant supplies of timber and fuel. For man 

 the edible and medicinal vegetables were provided. For 

 man the natures of the domestic animals were moulded ; 

 and their domestic attachments are directed to no other 

 being. 



The last geological revolution produced results of a gen- 

 eral rather than a local character. During the Paleozoic, 

 Mesozoic, and earlier Cenozoic ages, the action of geological 

 agencies had been especially developed along belts parallel 



