DECEMBER XXIII.

Men compared with other animals.

IN the comparison which we are about to draw between men and other animals, some things will be found which are common to both; others in which brutes will have the advantage over us; and others again where man will possess a decided superiority over them.

The principal resemblance between men and brutes is, that they are both material. Like them, we have life and organized bodies, which are produced by generation and birth, and supported by food. Both have strength and animal spirits to enable them to fulfil the different functions that are assigned them; both have voluntary motions, the free exercise of their limbs, senses, sensations, imagination, and memory. By means of the senses, both experience the sensations of pleasure and of pain, which cause them to desire certain things and reject others: both have a natural propensity for self-preservation, and the propagation of their species; and both are subject to those general corporeal accidents that the catenation and different relations of things, the laws of motion, the structure and organization of their bodies, must occasion.

With regard to the pleasure that results from sensual gratifications, brutes have several advantages over men. A very principal one is, that they do not require the clothing, instruments of defence, and conveniences, which men do, and which they are obliged to invent themselves, or to learn and to exercise the arts that are necessary to procure them. Animals bring with them into the world all that they require; or if any thing be still wanting, to obtain it they have only to follow the instinct which they have received from nature, and which never deceives them: it always conducts them in safety; and as soon as their appetites are satisfied they are perfectly content, and desire nothing farther; and they enjoy the present without being concerned for the future.

In these respects, brutes are superior to men. Man is obliged to meditate, invent, labour, exercise himself, and receive instructions, without which he would remain as in a state of childhood, and would with difficulty obtain the

necessaries of life. His passions, so far from guiding him, tend to lead him astray. It is reason alone that constitutes the great and essential difference between him and brutes, indicates to him the means of satisfying his wants, and gives him prerogatives to which the brute creation can never attain. Gifted with the faculty of reason, man is enabled to procure every necessary, every convenience, and every luxury; to multiply all his pleasures, to ennoble and render them subservient to the best purposes. His soul enjoys delights that are unknown to brute animals; pleasures whose sources are knowledge, wisdom, religion, order, and virtue, and which infinitely surpass all merely sensual gratifications, inasmuch as they tend to improve and promote the perfection of human nature, causing it more and more to resemble the divine essence of God; and they endure for ever; whilst, on the contrary, the more a man indulges in sensual gratifications, the more does he become unfitted for any thing great and dignified, and approaches nearer to the nature of brutes.

We may also add, that the sphere in which animals are obliged to move is very narrow and confined; their desires and propensities are few, and their pleasures little diver. sified; while those of man are infinitely varied; he is interested in all objects, and there is nothing which he cannot convert to his utility. He is the only being upon the earth that is progressively advancing towards perfection, continually making new discoveries, and enlarging his stores of knowledge; all other animals remaining constantly confined within a limited circle, neither capable of invention, nor able to attain to greater perfection; always continuing at the same point, unable by application and exertion to rise above other animals of the same species.

Reason, then, and its consequences, alone give us that decided superiority which we enjoy over the brute creation; and in it consists the chief excellence of our nature. To make use of reason, to ennoble the pleasures of the senses, to increasingly enjoy intellectual delights, to progressively advance in wisdom and in virtue, is the distinguishing characteristic of man; the great end for which he was created, and the chief object to which he should direct his attention.

DECEMBER XXIV.

Calculation concerning the Resurrection.

How numerous will be the crowd of human beings assembled together in the great day of the resurrection! Supposing that Germany did not begin to be peopled till five hundred years after the general deluge, that is, about four thousand five hundred years ago; and that from the foundation of the city of Hamburgh at the above time, to the day of judgment, supposing that it was to happen at the present epoch, there have only been two hundred persons buried annually, reckoning one year with another; the number of deaths would amount to nine hundred thousand. If, then, a single city should produce so many human beings at the day of judgment, how many must the whole empire of Germany supply in the same space of time? Supposing that it contains twenty-four millions of inhabitants, the city of Hamburgh could not be estimated at more than the threethousandth part of the whole.

If that is the case, we may suppose, on the preceding calculation, that Germany alone would produce two thousand one hundred millions. This number is doubtless very great; and yet what is it compared with the produce of the whole earth, the present number of whose inhabitants is estimated at about one thousand millions? If we take this number, and make use of the same calculation as before, the sum total of deaths in the above-mentioned period of time will amount to eighty-seven thousand five hundred millions. And if now be added those that have lived before the deluge, and those who died during the next five hundred years, which may be reckoned at a fourth part of the preceding, we shall then have a total of one hundred and nine thousand three hundred and seventy-five millions. And lastly, let us add the number of people that will be alive at the day of judgment, which, estimating it at our former calculation of one thousand millions, will give a total of one hundred and ten thousand three hundred and seventy-five millions.

How inconceivable, then, must that intelligence be, which can scrutinize the most secret thoughts of each individual of which such an infinite multitude is composed! an intelligence that scans every hidden sentiment, word, and