363 



the fact, that a Cherokee Indian — a Soudan Negro — a native 

 Australian — a Mongol Tartar, and an Anglo-Saxon can all 

 be descended from a common parentage. And yet, when we 

 come to examine things more closely, there is no greater 

 difficulty in believing in the unity of the human race, than 

 in the variations of plants and flowers, propagated from the 

 same seed-capsule, as seen especially in the case of orchids, 

 to which I shall refer in the sequel. We are distinctly told 

 that, " by the Sons of Noah were the nations divided in 

 the earth after the flood. ■'^ It would require a considerable 

 amount of the most unimpeachable testimony to set aside this 

 plain declaration of Scripture. As yet, nothing approaching 

 to reliable evidence has been adduced to negative the Mosaic 

 record. 



17. The present manifold variety of the human family 

 appears, at first sight, to present irreconcilable difficulties 

 and confusion ; yet, that confusion is merely the unhioivn inter ^ 

 mixture of laws, and if we were in a position to understand 

 the whole of the case, the problem that all human creatures 

 now living have descended from a single pair, and from a 

 common type, might not seem so difficult of solution. That 

 the fact is so, we simply believe, not only from the declaration 

 of Scripture, but from the analogy of Nature. 



18. The great Archetype of creative skill on earth is — 

 Man. During the long succession of ages that preceded him, 

 all the creatures that existed upon the globe were gradually 

 coming nearer and nearer to the perfect type which, in the 

 counsels of the Most High, was to wind up the series when 

 man appeared. The four ages of Nature may be classified as 

 follows : — 



1. The Reign of Fishes. 



2. The Eeign of Reptiles. 



3. The Reign of Mammals. 



4. The Reign of Man. 



19. During the first age. Fishes were the masters of creation. 

 Then the air-breathing animals were very few. During the 

 second age Reptiles assume the chief place and authority over 

 the other classes. The air-breathing animals were more nume- 

 rous. During the third age terrestrial animals of colossal 

 dimensions abound, and then the Mammals obtain the mastery, 

 and occupy the most prominent position. Finally, comes the 

 chief work of the great Master-Builder, the most perfect of all 

 created beings on this earth — for whom all the others were 

 merely preparing the way — Man ! All the creatures that 

 came before man were so many symbols, as it were, of the 

 future model after which by anticipation they were already 



VOL. VII. 2 D 



