PASSAGES FROM POPULAR LECTURES. 
97 
existence, not with any material organ, but with that “ inward 
eye which is the bliss of solitude,” because there is nothing so 
delightful and inspiring as the vision of “ things unseen.” 
I ask you to consider whereto is tending the work of this 
all-pervading Energy on the surface of this globe ? Its latest 
and most wonderful outcome is animal life ; and without doubt 
the completest form of animal life, of which we have any 
knowledge, is human life, also it is the last and latest of all 
vital forms. 
What then is the meaning and the purpose of humanity ? 
Why do we live and die ? Why do we grow in knowledge 
and in power ? Why do we love, and hate, and struggle after 
a number of objects which attract us ? Why are we happy 
one hour and miserable the next ? What is it that we chiefly 
want ? What is our highest good, the best thing attainable, 
the summit and climax, the end and aim of life ? 
In spite of all our researches and speculations, the origin 
of the human race is utterly unknown to us. We are still 
disputing whether it was slowly developed by special conditions 
of climate and food, out of some lower form of animal life, 
or whether it flashed upon the world like the coming of a 
meteor; whether its first condition was that of the dark- 
skinned savage out of which the nobler forms have blossomed ; 
whether the Negro and the wild Indian are degenerate offspring 
of a race originally fair and wise ; or whether all known forms 
have existed side by side since first the world was habitable. 
We may believe in one theory or the other, or we may 
trust to none of them, but the actual and present fact is plain, 
that between man and all other animal life there is now a 
deep wide chasm. Whatever may be our ancient blood- 
relationship with inferior races, no human being is ever now 
mistaken for a monkey, nor has any form of monkey been 
discovered which could be dignified with the name of man. 
There are many attributes by which man is distinguished, none 
more notable than this, that lie is the one discontented being. 
However much he may enjoy the present, there is always 
something in the past which he remembers regretfully, some¬ 
thing in the future which he anticipates with hope. 
“We look before and after 
We pine for what is not.” 
This is, no doubt, the necessary condition of a being who is 
still in process of development, not yet perfected, and who 
possesses the faculty of self-consciousness. If the rose-bud 
were conscious of its daily growth, it also would “ look before 
and after,” would speculate on its unseen and unknown 
