a bright New England Sabbath. Through all the Sabbath hours, the stillness of that huge fabric, ordinarily so busy and so noisy, was, to the traveler in the quiet and well ordered "American House," a most impressive symbol. In the presence of such a symbol, the grateful worship of the world's Creator and Redeemer, seemed like a natural impulse. There we learned the lesson that a Sabbath-keeping railway, with the gates of its stationhouses closed throughout the holy day, is worth more for its religious impressiveness and its effects upon the moral welfare of the people, than all the "petrified devotion" of cathedral architecture. Some men who think they recognize God in nature, are slow to recognize God in history. In nature, they see the wisdom and the power of the Creator; but in history-in the development of civilization and of human progress-in all those movements which, as the ages advance, are gradually unfolding the wonderful constitution and adaptations of nature, and are making the world more beautiful and more commodious-they see nothing but the ingenuity and activity of man. Theirs is a purblind and shallow philosophy. Is God to be seen only in the arrangements of the material world; and not at all in the intellectual and moral forces of the universe? Is he in the powers of nature, and is he not in the legitimate working of those powers? Is he in the mechanical and chemical combinations of matter, and not in the living mind? Is he in the star and in the light, and in the structure of the eye; and is he not in the telescope? Is he in the waterfall, and not in the water-wheel? Is it he that leads forth the constellations, that setteth fast the mountains by his power, that pours Niagara from the hollow of his hand, that sets his bow in the cloud; and is it not his inspiration that giveth understanding to Kepler and to Newton? Is he in the moving spheres, and is he not in Galileo? Is he in the fires that bellow from the deep volcano; and is he not in the working of those intellectual powers which work out, at last, the steam-engine? Is he in the beehive, and not in the city and the state? Is he in the architecture of the bird's nest and the honey-comb, and not in the railway? He who, having learned to recognize God in history no less than in nature, will place himself upon some great line of internal communication, and observe the caravans of travelers hastening along those thoroughfares, and the stupendous freights of all kinds of merchandise borne from the interior toward the sea, and from the seaports and the marts of manufactures toward regions. from which the forests have hardly begun to disappear, will find that his wonder grows devout and rises into worship. As a people we are wont to thank God for the goodly land which he has given us; but do we give him thanks, as we ought, for that new and amazing power of locomotion which is thus multiplying, fourfold, and tenfold, for us and our posterity, the riches of our inheritance? It is common to thank God for the spontaneously productive powers of nature-for the rich soil, the genial warmth and softening showers of spring, the ripening heat of summer, the joyful harvest season, and the fleecy mantle of winter that keeps the earth warm and refreshes it for another season of production; but why not praise him also for that wonderful gift of his providence, which brings all parts of our almost boundless domain into so close a communication; which gives to the emigrant, in his invasion of the wilderness, the benefit of the capital and skill abounding in the older states; and which at the same time, and by the same process, pours the superabundant harvests of the West into the storehouses of the East, and feeds the households of New England with food that grew upon the prairies? The thought which we have thus unfolded, is a thought which, if retained in the mind, will find for itself continual illustrations as the world advances. Think of the lightning and the magnetic influence resolved into one element, and then becoming the messenger of man. By the progressive discoveries of science, the inventions of art, and the achievments and constructions of industry, God is creating a new earth for the habitation of man and the glory of man's Redeemer. How inspiring to think of what the new earth will be when this work of physical renovation, and with it that moral and spiritual creation to which the physical is subordinate, shall have been consummated!-when nature shall have disclosed to the interrogations of science a thousand powers and uses now unknown-when the material world shall have opened exhaustless sources of wealth, that have never yet been dreamed of-when art shall have decorated the globe in every region with its constructions of utility and beautywhen war, oppression, and all the usurpations and frauds under which the nations groan, shall have passed away-when every vale shall be as Sharon, and every mountain as Hermon and the hill of Zion-and when the ransomed millions of mankind shall own their Redeemer and their King! Under the benignant providence of God, all good influences are working together toward that consummation. "From day to day, before our eyes, "When, in the Sabbath of his love, ART. II.-THOUGHTS ON THE SENTIMENT THAT "THE WORLD WAS MADE FOR MAN." In a late number of this Journal,* we offered a few illustrations on the Riches of the Material Creation, in which we endeavored to show that God has stored the earth with riches far beyond the ordinary conceptions of our race. We now propose to show that all this is the heritage of man; that both the laws of nature and the kingdoms of nature, in short, all the arrangements of this world, are made with ultimate reference to man; and that all other parts of the creation, whether in the organic or the inorganic kingdoms of nature, are subsidiary to this grand design. The sentiment in question is very ancient, although it has not uniformly commanded the assent of naturalists and philosophers; but it has been received or rejected upon the strength of a general impression, and no one, so far as we know, has ever taken the pains to examine it in all the lights of modern philosophy. "If (says Cicero) any one should inquire for whose sake this vast fabric was made? was it for trees and plants, which although they are devoid of sense, are nevertheless sustained by nature? But this is an absurd idea. Was it for the brute creation? It is not at all more probable that the gods should have so highly wrought this fabric for the sake of beings destitute of speech, and devoid of understanding."+ Pope, on the other hand, has leveled his satire at those who entertain such opinions as these, in the following well-known passage in the Essay on Man: "Know Nature's children all divide her care, Who thinks all made for one, not one for all."‡ Professor Buckland, in allusion to the same sentiment, observes: "I would in this, as in all other cases, be unwilling to press the theory of relation to the human race so far as to contend, that all the great geological phenomena we have been considering, were conducted solely and exclusively with a view to the benefit of We may rather count the advantages he derives from man. *See New Englander for July, 1848. Sin quærat quispiam, cujusnam causa tantarum rerum molitio facta sit? arborumne et herbarum? quæ quanquam sine sensu sunt, tamen a natura sustinentur. At id quidem absurdum est. An bestiarum? Nihilo probabilius, Deos mutarum et nihil intelligentium causa, tantum laborasse.-De Nat. De., II. 53. Essay on Man, Ep. III. them as incidental and residuary consequences; which, although they might not have formed the exclusive object of creation, were all foreseen and comprehended in the plans of the Great Architect of that globe which, in his appointed time, was destined to become the scene of human habitation."* We hold opinions somewhat at variance with those of Professor Buckland. We think that, instead of the advantages which the human race derives from the physical creation being incidental and residuary, it was chiefly in reference to the human race that the world was made rich and beautiful as it is; while we regard the happiness which the inferior animals enjoy rather as incidental, the whole system of things, including the animal kingdom itself, being organized with ultimate reference to man. We do not say, indeed, that the Creator has been regardless of the happiness of the inferior animals; but we look upon their enjoyment as we look upon a river, whose main purpose is to return the waters to the sea, but which is made incidentally to become a source of mechanical power, and to impart fertility to the meadow. We shall attempt to show, that the share which the lower animals have in the gifts of nature, consists of little more than provisions for their mere existence, and the continuance of their species, although we do not deny that the benevolence of the Creator has led him to consult for the happiness of the animal tribes, by connecting enjoyment with existence itself, and with the means necessary for its support and continuance; but we think that this is rather an incidental than the main purpose, as the architect of a noble building bestows some care on each part of the edifice for its own sake, however inconsiderable that part may be, while his higher and chief purpose is to make it subservient to the grand design. Moreover, it is obvious, that the existence and perpetuation of animals must be provided for, although they exist for man rather than for themselves; and, consequently, that the care which the Creator has bestowed upon his humbler creatures in reference to mere existence or continuance, is not conclusive evidence that they were not intended chiefly for the benefit of man. In proof of the truth of these opinious, we trust we shall be able to establish the following propositions : 1. That the powers of nature were created chiefly for man; 2. That the productions of nature, for the most part, belong to him; 3. That the world of beauty and sublimity is exclusively his; 4. That the world of art is likewise peculiarly his own; 5. That God left the creation unfinished, reserving many things for man to develop and complete; * Bridgewater Treatise, I. 83. 6. Finally, that man sustains a totally different relation to the external world from that sustained by all the inferior animals; and that he is not to be regarded as the last member of a series, the last link in the chain of development, but as a being wholly severed from all the other beings of this earth, as well in his position here as in his immortal destiny. I. The great POWERS of nature were made for man, namely, heat, attraction, light, electricity, and magnetism. Heat, so far as it bears on the question before us, may be contemplated under four general aspects;-as essential to animal life as related to combustion-as a mechanical forceand as an agent in effecting chemical compositions and decompositions. In all these relations, except that to animal life, heat is adapted exclusively to the condition and purposes of man, with hardly any reference to the lower animals. They, in common with man, feel the vital heat, and, to a limited extent, are guarded against excesses of heat and cold; while, far beyond this, the power of using heat is confined exclusively to man,—namely, the power of kindling, regulating, controlling, and extinguishing fires; of employing its vast mechanical energies, as in gunpowder and steam; and in carrying on all the mechanical and chemical arts involved in preparing his food, in manufacturing his clothing, in converting earth into bricks and cements for his dwellings; in manufacturing glass and porcelain for his tables; in reducing metals from their ores, and converting them into all the forms of utility and ornament under which they appear; and, finally, as in the chemical laboratory, resolving compounds into their elements, uniting elements into compounds, creating new combinations of matter unknown to nature herself, and confirming his dominion over bodies, to transform them at his will, and to reveal the most hidden mysteries of nature. In none of these gifts which heat confers on man, do animals participate beyond what is simply essential to their existence; or, at most, to their full development and growth. From any voluntary use of heat they are not only debarred, but they are inspired by nature herself with an instinctive dread of fire. In a superficial view of the case, it might seem that Providence has done more for the animal tribes than for the human race, to protect them against the winter's cold and summer's heat; having invested them with coverings exactly suited to their respective climates, as with hair thin and cool to shelter them from the tropical sun, and with fur thick and warm to defend them amid the polar snows; while man is left wholly unprotected by nature, and, as his first resort, is forced to borrow a rude covering from the skins of wild beasts. But the resources of his art more than compensate for any single advantage, which nature has bestowed on the brute creation; so that he can dwell under a shady covert, and inhale refreshing |