376 SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



premacy through his intellect. Brutes dominate through 

 the physical forces belonging to matter ; man, through the 

 immaterial forces which are the attributes of Deity. 



The chasm which separates the intelligence of man from 

 that of the brutes is broad. It is not simply a step in the 

 easy gradations observed among the brutes themselves ; it 

 is a break in the chain of gradations. Even if not qualita- 

 tively superior to that of brutes, its sudden expansion is so 

 great that its sphere of activity creates a new quality in 

 the being. Man is the first being in all the history of the 

 world that could contemplate creation, and abstract the in- 

 telligence displayed in it, and experience a glow of satisfac- 

 tion in attaining to the thoughts first conceived in the mind 

 of the Omniscient. Man is the first animal capable of con- 

 templating Deity. In these exalted endowments not only 

 does he excel the brutes, but he excels them in so vast a 

 degree as to suggest the belief that the gradations of ani- 

 mal existence had been concluded, and Nature had reached 

 a full pause. The material part — the frame-work — of ani- 

 mality had been perfected by slow gradations ; and now, 

 on the creation of man, Nature superadded an unprece- 

 dented endowment — a spiritual organization which makes 

 man both a prince and a masterpiece in creation. 



When we speak of man's moral nature we touch a sub- 

 ject which recalls all that has just been said of his intel- 

 lect, and affirms it with redoubled emphasis. There are 

 reasons for believing that this endowment differs in kind 

 from any thing in the nature of the brute. This, to the 

 ability to understand God, adds the ability to sympathize 

 in his moral attributes, and to enter into moral relations 

 with him and with humanity. Man stands in contact with 

 God. A farther approximation is impossible. He must be 

 the limit, as he is the existing culmination of organic life. 



These various considerations, with others, seem to teach 



