Individual miseries from national faults Improvement inaugurated by the Act for Parliamentary Reform The slave-trade and its effects Cruelty and injustice of the Spaniards in South America, and The British conquest and government of India SUFFERING UNDER THE NATURAL LAWS. The spirit of laws agrees with the character of the lawgiver Dictates of the moral sentiments and the intellect as to the treat- Causes of crime, which must be counteracted Effects of the animal and the moral modes of treating criminals THE NATURAL LAWS IN COMBINATION. Confused notions in the minds of many as to accidents and mis- Great fires in the Old Town of Edinburgh in 1824 Calamities to fishermen from neglect of the barometer Instance of safety of a ship in a storm, from attention to Possibility of greatly diminishing the number of shipwrecks 216 Mercantile distress in Britain in 1825-6 THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN. INTRODUCTION. HUMAN NATURE. MAN obviously stands pre-eminent among sublunary objects, and is distinguished by remarkable endowments above all other terrestrial beings. Nevertheless, no creature presents such anomalous appearances as Man. Viewed in one aspect, he resembles a demon; in another, he almost appears as the image of God. Seen in his crimes, his wars, and his devastations, he might be mistaken for the incarnation of an evil spirit; contemplated in his schemes of charity, his discoveries in science, and his vast combinations for the benefit of his race, he seems a bright intelligence from heaven. The lower animals exhibit a more simple and regulated constitution. The lion is sly and ferocious; but he is regularly so, and, besides, is placed in circumstances suited to his nature, in which at once scope is given and limits are set to the gratification of his instincts. The sheep, on the other hand, is mild, feeble, and inoffensive; but its external condition also is suited to its constitution, and it apparently lives and flourishes in as great enjoyment as the lion. The same remark applies to other inferior animals. Their bodily organs, faculties, instincts, and external circumstances form parts of a system in which adaptation and harmony are discoverable; and the enjoyment of the animals depends on the adaptation of their constitution to their external condition. The young swallow, when it migrates on the approach of the first winter of its life, is impelled by an instinct implanted by the Deity, and it neither knows the cause that prompts it to fly nor the end to be attained by its flight. It has no powers exciting it to reflect on itself and on external B objects, and to inquire whence came its desires, or to what object they tend. Man, however, has been differently framed. He has received faculties fitted to observe phenonena, and to trace causes and effects; and the external world affords scope to these powers. We are entitled, therefore, to say that we are commanded by Divine authority to observe and inquire into the causes that operate in us and around us, and into the results that naturally follow, and to modify our conduct according to the discoveries which we shall make. To enable us to form a just estimate of our duty and interest as the rational occupants of this world, we may inquire briefly into the constitution of our own nature and that of external objects. The constitution of this world does not look like a system of optimism. It appears to be arranged, to some extent, on the principle of slow and progressive improvement. Physical nature has undergone many revolutions; and we learn from geology that it has been gradually prepared for successive orders of living beings, rising higher and higher in the scale of organisation and intelligence, until Man appeared. All geological authorities agree in representing physical nature as having undergone a variety of changes, and as having at length attained to the condition which it now presents, before Man occupied its surface. "I need not dwell," says Lyell, "on the proofs of the low antiquity of our species, for it is not controverted by any experienced geologist. It is never pretended that our race coexisted with assemblages of animals and plants, of which all or even a large proportion of the species are extinct." (P. 143.) "In all these various formations," says Dr. Buckland, "the coprolites" (or dung of the Saurian reptiles in a fossil state, exhibiting scales of fishes, and other traces of the prey which they had devoured) "form records of warfare waged by successive generations of inhabitants of our planet on one another; and the general law of nature, which bids all to eat and be eaten in their turn, is shown to have been coextensive with animal existence upon our globe, the carnivora in each period of the world's history fulfilling their destined office to check excess in the progress of life, and maintain the balance of creation." Thus it is admitted by the most esteemed authorities that death and reproduction formed parts of the order of nature before Man can be traced on the globe. Let us now contemplate Man himself, and his adaptation to the external world. The order of nature seems not to have been changed at his introduction, but he appears to have been adapted to it. He received an organised structure, and animal, moral, and intellectual powers. He is to a certain extent an animal in his structure, powers, feelings, and desires, and is adapted to a world in which death reigns, and generation succeeds generation. This fact, although so trite and obvious as to appear scarcely worthy of being mentioned, is of importance in treating of Man; because the human being, in so far as he resembles the inferior creatures, is capable of enjoying a life like theirs: he has pleasure in eating, drinking, and sleeping, and in exercising his limbs; and one of the greatest obstacles to his improvement is that many are contented with these enjoyments, and consider it painful to be compelled to seek higher sources of gratification. But to the animal nature of Man have been added moral sentiments and reflecting faculties, which not only place him above all other creatures on earth, but constitute him a different being from any of them-a rational and accountable being. These faculties are his best and highest gifts, and the sources of his purest and intensest pleasures. They lead him directly to the great objects of his existence-obedience to the laws of God and love of his fellow-men. But this peculiarity attends them, that while his animal faculties act powerfully of themselves, his rational faculties require to be cultivated, exercised, and instructed before they will yield their full harvest of enjoyment. The material world is so arranged as to hold forth strong inducements to Man to cultivate his higher powers. In surveying it, the philosophic mind perceives in external nature an assemblage of stupendous powers, too great for the feeble hand of Man entirely to control, but kindly subjected, within certain limits, to the influence of his will. Man is introduced on earth apparently as a homeless stranger, helpless and unprovided for; but the soil on which he treads is endowed with a thousand capabilities of production, which require only to be excited by his intelligence to yield the most ample supplies for his wants. The impetuous torrent rolls its waters to the main; but before it dashes from the mountain cliff he can withdraw |