necessities. This is particularly the case with those that have been the longest reclaimed, and are the most needful to him. How numerous and useful are the varieties, for example, which we find in the dog and the horse! And what adds, materially, to the proof of Creative Design, in this instance, is the power which man possesses of improving the breeds, or rendering them more subservient to some particular uses. The sheep has been made to yield a finer fleece, the cow to give a more abundant supply of milk, the horse to become more fleet and powerful, the dog more sagacious, under the skill of man. This is one species of the rewards which the Supreme Governor, in pursuance of a very general principle employed by his paternal beneficence, has annexed to human industry and ingenuity, a department of useful discipline in the school of Providence. It is essential to man's welfare, that his faculties shall be stimulated, and kept in constant exercise; and, in a thousand ways, arrangements have been made by the Creator to effect this important purpose.

Another observation, which cannot fail to strike the minds of those who study the subject of domestication, relates to the dispositions implanted in the various animals which are the objects of it. These dispositions were clearly bestowed for the purpose of rendering them fit for this state, whether we consider, in some species, their affections, which go forth towards man as their protector and benefactor; or, in others, their love of ease, which induces them to submit, without resistance, to his sway; or, in others, again, their local attachments, which bind them to the place in which they have been brought up; or, finally, in others, still, their very stupidity, which proves them to be born for a state of slavery.

Of the first of these qualities, that of affection for man, what an admirable example do we find in the dog! It is the instinct, not of individual varieties only, but of an entire race; while, in these varieties, we observe shades of difference, which show that the faculty is bestowed with discrimination, and with peculiar reference

In

to man's convenience or comfort. In the elephant, too, a similar amiable property is conspicuous; and, in both orders, this remarkable propensity bears no necessary reference to feeding, or marks of regard, on the part of the master; but is free, disinterested, and noble. other tame animals, preferences to their keepers also exist; but, while these may be equally regarded as an intended character of the inferior creation for the benefit of man, they are, in general, of a less generous character. Some very affecting stories are related of the deep and ardent affections of both the animals I have mentioned, which cannot be heard without emotion. We read of elephants who have defended their masters with their lives, when fallen in battle ;* and we are told of dogs who have taken their station on the grave of some human friend, refusing food with the most steady resolution, till they pined to death; and of others who, during the absence of their master, became dejected and cheerless, and, on his sudden return, expired for joy. The attachment of some of the monkey tribe to those who show them kindness, is remarkable. I was, myself, once possessed of a monkey, of one of the smallest species, which was frequently permitted to leave its cage, and run about the grounds. Whenever he observed me at a distance, he used instantly to rush towards me, uttering cries of delight, and, if permitted, would fondly clasp his arms round my knee, or take hold of my hand and squeeze it with both his in the most affectionate manner, applying, at the

*It is said of one of the soldiers of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, that, when fighting in the territory of Argos, he fell wounded from his elephant, that noble animal rushed furiously among the combatants till he found his master, when he raised him gently from the ground with his trunk, and placing him on his tusks, carried him back to the town; and when King Porus, in a battle with Alexander the Great, met with a similar misfortune, his faithful elephant is said to have kept the enemy at bay till he had replaced the monarch on his back with his trunk; but the poor animal lost his life in this heroic defence.

+ This is related of a dog belonging to the Marquis Langally, and of several others. In the Life of Mary Queen of Scots, it is stated that her favorite lapdog, which had followed her to the scaffold, would not leave the body till forced away, and died, two days afterwards, of a bro

ken heart.

same time, his lips to the back of my hand, with a motion so like that of a human being, when expressing humble but devoted attachment, as to be at once humiliating and affecting.

The instinct of local attachment is another of those qualities by which the domestic tribes become subdued to the service of man. His home becomes theirs, and thus a bond of union is created, of a very strong and important kind. This instinct of home, indeed, belongs to wild animals as well as tame, and is one of the means by which the Creator has secured the useful distribution of animals, and their limitation to their proper boundaries; but it is of great moment also in domestication, and, though beneficial in a different way, may surely be ranked among the properties intended for the purpose which it serves. Proofs of the strength of this principle are of daily occurrence. It is seen in the astonishing efforts which some animals make to return to the locality in which they have been reared, and the mysterious manner in which they find their way by unknown roads; and it is observed, on a large scale, in the return of the migratory animals to the place of their birth, after wanderings of thousands of miles. The very same principle attaches the horse to its manger, the goose to its roost, and the sheep to its native hills.

This subject could easily be pursued further, and it might be shown, that, in various other particulars, there is an adaptation among the lower animals to the service of man, both among those which have already been domesticated, and such as remain wild. But it seems unnecessary; and I shall conclude, by observing, that there may not improbably be various other tribes of the brute creation, which, at some future period, may be destined to swell the list of animals reclaimed by the art of man, and subservient to his use. Some of the properties I have mentioned, are certainly to be found among various orders which still roam the forest, pointing them out as subjects for an experiment, which, if successful, might confer a reciprocal boon.

III.

29

IX.

TWELFTH WEEK-SUNDAY.

ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD, AND THE RENOVATION OF THE HUMAN FRAME IN A FUTURE STATE.

THE more that is known of the globe on which we dwell, both as to its internal structure, and the natural processes of decay and reproduction which are continually proceeding on its surface, the more we must be struck with the mysterious nature and inconceivable extent of the changes which it has undergone, is now undergoing, and seems yet destined to undergo. Geology has unfolded to us very many unexpected facts, which all unite to prove that the crust of this planet has frequently been broken up by some mighty catastrophe, which has entirely deranged its materials, while it has submerged and destroyed all the organized existences on its surface. It has also proved, that, after these catastrophes, the One, great Creative Mind, must have exerted His amazing and incomprehensible attributes in restoring the formless chaos to beauty, order, and harmony, and in reanimating the wide waste with life and enjoyment; and that, wherever this work of renovation was carried on, the most indelible traces have been left of consummate wisdom and benevolence :→→

Till o'er the wreck emerging from the storm,
Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,

Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
And soars and shines,-another, and the same.

DARWIN.

These discoveries seem to prepare us for the arrival, at some future period, of another similar revolution; and, as it appears that each successive catastrophe has indicated continually progressive improvement in the developements of living forms, so as to exhibit a design, infinite, in its extent, and boundless, in its duration, I

cannot but think that we may, in these indications, discover an intimation, by no means obscure, of plans and preparations for the fulfilment of higher destinies, which have for their object the final perfection and happiness of animated beings, but the precise nature of which can only be sought for in the book of revealed truth.

In looking from these indications, that we may prosecute the subject on surer ground, we find, in the record of Divine inspiration, a series of prophecies, declaring that the world, which, since the creation of man, has already been once destroyed by a universal flood, is destined again to be brought to an end; that the day will come, in which "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up ;" but that, after this awful catastrophe, there shall arise " new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'

Some intimations of a very glorious and animating character are afforded us of the nature and glorious intention of this change, as relates to the human race. The dead are to live again. Their immortal souls are, by some mysterious operation, to be reunited to their once mortal bodies; "the sea and the grave are to give up the dead which are in them," while those that are alive, are, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," to be changed. "And the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and all the holy angels with Him: and before Him shall be gathered all nations and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats :" and they shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body; the wicked "shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. ""

Something of the nature of the change upon the body, which, at that great and terrible day of the Lord, is to take place, is also intimated. Like seed sown in the ground, it is buried that it may spring up from the insensible germ to a new life. But it is a life altogether different from, and superior to, that of its former state.