8. There are certain qualities of mind, certain principles which, whatever doubt may be held respecting our previous observations, at once distinguish man, and elevate him far above the highest brute. In fact, they take him out of the pale of the brute creation, and isolate him amidst the living creatures by which he is surrounded. He is the only animal being who can form any idea of God and his attributes, of eternity, of virtue and vice, of justice and mercy; in his breast alone are implanted conscience, faith and hope, repentance and spiritual peace. Herein have we an argument, to prove that man is not made to begin and end his career on this world, beautiful as it is, and fitted to meet all his animal powers, senses, and enjoyments. Why, indeed, should these principles be implanted in man--principles immediately bearing upon a future state of existence, if that future state were not ordained? Where in creation can a similar anomaly be demonstrated? Every brute is gifted with vital functions and organization fitted to its destined mode of life, and with a kind and degree of mind (where this is needed) in exact accordance thereunto. Beyond this all is blank; indeed, the most wonderful works which brutes perform, and which in man would argue great thought and experience, are in them the result of instinct alone. The beautiful corals and zoophytes, which we so much admire, are instinct-built tenements. Instinct teaches the bee how to arrange her waxen cells, and load them with honey as a provision for the winter, and the bird how to build her nest. On the contrary, the operations of what may be called mind, in contradistinction to instinct, are displayed only by the higher brutes, and, more over, are limited within narrow bounds.
We have heard persons assert, that a dog manifests the workings of conscience, because it often betrays itself by its timid, irresolute manner after pilfering, as if conscious that it had done wrong. The fact is, that the dog is conscious of no moral guilt; it has been previously punished for a like offence, and fears a repetition of the punishment; this is the solution of the whole affair.
We have so far shown the great superiority of the mind of man above that of even the highest brutes, and not this only, but its essential differences, thereby rendering its possessor, indeed, the paragon of animals. Let us now endeavour to explain what information is gained by him from the exercise of the senses.