But even
this earliest instinct, savage though it was, taught him that
something higher than himself had made him, and so he began to creep
on by slow degrees towards that higher at once; hence instinct led
to reason, and reason to culture and civilization. And now having
touched as high a point of experience and knowledge as the ancient
Assyrians and Egyptians attained before their decline, he is
beginning even as they did, to be weary and somewhat afraid of what
lies beyond in the as yet unfathomed realms of knowledge; and he
half wishes to creep back again on all-fours to the days when he was
beast merely. The close contemplation of the Angel terrifies him,--
he dare not grow his wings! Further than life, as life appears to
him on its material side, he is afraid to soar,--what lies in the
far distance he dare not consider! This is where the Pause comes in
all progress,--the hesitation, the doubt, the fear;--the moment when
the Creature draws so near to his Creator that he is dazzled and
confounded. And it is a strange fact that he is always left alone,--
alone with his own Will, in every such grand crisis. He has been
helped so much by divine influences, that he is evidently considered
strong enough to decide his own fate.
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