The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1911-03-10

In studying Natural History We SCI
the animal creation rises in a NIGEL,
gradationaI scale from the prone worn
70 the upright man. And however
shocking it may be to our pride, it il
true that some animals OF the ape fam.
/ lily in general appearance and in their
lorganic structure have a striking resem-
blance to a human being. Hence some
Of our ablest naturalists are inclined to
believe that man is only the highest
type Of animal life--the finished prod
uct Of certain natural evolutionary OPP
erations, a kind Of polite monkey
But il we consider the intellectual and
moral powers of man, we shall see that
he rises infinitely above all mere ami
NAL creations. and is thus widely diff
ferentiated from them. If we view him
in the light Of his achievements we take
off our hat to his marvellous genius
the spirit within him. When we con
template the books he has written, the
cities he has built, and empires he has
founded; when we see how he subdues
the power of the earth, air and ocean
to his indomitable will; how he speaks
across the world, whirls across the con-
tinent, sails over the deep, and glides
like an eagle through heavens expanse;
how be boxes up the voice OF friend
and carries it around the earth, meas
ares the distance to the stars, analyses
the elements OF suns and weighs the
heavenly bodies in scales OF his own
creation; and when we consider his won
derful Imagination which in moment
can bear him to the sooty mari of hell
or to the golden streets of heaven, or
transport him away to where the farth-
crest planet wheels its lonely way upon
dismal verge-I say, when we
consider all this, the gigantic absurdity
Of classifying man with the chimpanzee
Of Africa or the monkey that disports
swinging by his prehensible tail in the
South American wilderness stands out
in bold relief. Man, as the Bible teaches,
is evidently a distinct creation Man
has no affinity for the monkey, but he
reaches for Deity; his soul thirsts for the
and he feels his eternity.
Man is evidently the height of all
earthly creation, standing where the
touches the natural, in the
inc ofcreated being. And, as all exist
snce doubtless rises in connected
,hain, man being the last link of the
natural, at its zenith, is also the first of
he spiritual. or a link between the two;
md being such, he must partake Of the J
natures Of both, having a spiritual and
physical being--one adapted to this
md one to the other world. He is but
little lower than the angels If he
) related to the animal by the body he
5 also related to heavenly creatures and
o God by the spirit. And by a true 4
eviction to the spiritual source one
nay be filled more and more with the
ivine until the higher self shall pre-
over his lower and entirely sub z
ne it; he may grow up in grace" and 4
! the likeness of Deity. And as evo- ).
ltion in its broadest sense shall doubt :
'ss run forever, he, being immortal, 4
nall one day be renewed into the COM Il
lete likeness of the Highest. When :
e shall appear we shall be like him." y
Mans wonderful conception OF and c
with spiritual and in :
sible realm can only grow out of a ma y
ire that is closely related to such realm g
thence neither animal nor earthly. q
} man must be a dual being, and n
ing OF two worlds, and of time and ).
ernity, with infinite possibilities of y
dless elevation or degradation OF his a
sential self And whence he derives ::
$ spiritual influence here determines %
lat he and his destiny shall be in the "a
reafter. The laws Of eternal life or a
ath for the soul is to serve God or the -
vii; and in the very natural construc- "
n of the universe it is irrevocabIe and "a
solute fate. To serve God means end -
$ life and Joy; to serve satan means "
! reverse. I'd
EUGENE f. McSPEDDES. -
Attention. Veterans. "a,