The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to the Natural Laws |
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Page 13
... external nature , and of ourselves . 2. The Creator has so arranged the external world , as to hold forth every possible inducement to man to cultivate his higher powers , nay , almost to constrain him to do so . The philosophic mind ...
... external nature , and of ourselves . 2. The Creator has so arranged the external world , as to hold forth every possible inducement to man to cultivate his higher powers , nay , almost to constrain him to do so . The philosophic mind ...
Page 15
... External nature exhibits to his mind a mighty chaos of events , and a dread display of power . The chain of caus- ation appears too intricate to be unraveled , and the power too stupendous to be controlled . 9. Order and beauty , indeed ...
... External nature exhibits to his mind a mighty chaos of events , and a dread display of power . The chain of caus- ation appears too intricate to be unraveled , and the power too stupendous to be controlled . 9. Order and beauty , indeed ...
Page 16
... external nature , and of regulating our conduct according to rules drawn from the information acquired . Our constitution and our position equally imply that the grand object of our existence is , not that we should remain contented ...
... external nature , and of regulating our conduct according to rules drawn from the information acquired . Our constitution and our position equally imply that the grand object of our existence is , not that we should remain contented ...
Page 25
... external objects and beings in this world , and the courses of action that , in consequence , appear to be bene- ficial or hurtful in this life . 13. It may be asked , whether mere knowledge of the natural laws is sufficient to insure ...
... external objects and beings in this world , and the courses of action that , in consequence , appear to be bene- ficial or hurtful in this life . 13. It may be asked , whether mere knowledge of the natural laws is sufficient to insure ...
Page 30
... external condition , I shall offer some observations in support of the prop- osition , that the due exercise of the osseous , muscular , and nervous systems , under guidance of intellect and moral senti- ment , and in accordance with ...
... external condition , I shall offer some observations in support of the prop- osition , that the due exercise of the osseous , muscular , and nervous systems , under guidance of intellect and moral senti- ment , and in accordance with ...
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The Constitution of Man, Considered in Relation to the Natural Laws George Combe No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
action activity adapted advantages animal propensities appears arise arranged attended become beneficial benevolent bestowed brain calamities CAUCASIAN RACE cause CHAPTER condition consequences constitution creation Creator cultivation death delight desire discover disobedience duty earth effect enjoy enjoyment evils example exercise exertion existence feel give gratification habitually harmony heat herbivorous higher human body human happiness ical ignorant individual inflicted infringement inquiry instance instinct instituted intel intellectual faculties intellectual laws intuitive knowledge labor law of gravitation laws of nature leading pursuits live lower animals MALAY RACE man's mankind means ment mental mind misery mode moral and intellectual moral law moral sentiments muscular systems natural laws natural philosophy necessary neglect numbers obedience observe offender opium organic laws pain penalty perceive philosophy physical laws pleasure possess powers present principle propen punishment regard relations render result sentiments and intellect SUBJECT CONTINUED suffer supremacy tion vigor whole
Popular passages
Page 35 - There is something," says an eloquent writer, " positively agreeable to all men, to all at least whose nature is not most grovelling and base, in gaining knowledge for its own sake. When you see any thing for the first time, you at once derive some gratification from the sight being new ; your attention is awakened, and you desire to know more about it. If it is a piece of workmanship, as an instrument, a machine of any...
Page 31 - It has been computed by some political arithmetician that if every man and woman would work for four hours each day on something useful, that labor would produce sufficient to procure all the necessaries and comforts of life, want and misery would be banished out of the world, and the rest of the twenty-four hours might be leisure and pleasure.
Page 35 - You feel this desire, too, without at all considering that the machine or the animal may ever be of the least use to yourself practically; for, in all probability, you may never see them again. But you have a curiosity to learn all about them, because they are new and unknown. You accordingly make inquiries ; you feel a gratification in getting answers to your questions, that is, in receiving information, and in knowing more — in being better informed than you were before.
Page 64 - Cook had not known that no application had been made to it, he declared that he should certainly have inquired, with a very interested curiosity, after the vulnerary herbs and surgical art of the country. An additional evidence of human nature's being untainted with disease in New Zealand, is the great number of old men with whom it abounds. Many of them, by the loss of their hair and teeth, appeared to be very ancient, and yet none of them were decrepid. Although they were not equal to the young...
Page 36 - If you see another instrument or animal, in some respects like, but differing in other particulars, you find it pleasing to compare them together, and to note in what they agree and in what they differ. Now, all this kind of gratification is of a pure and disinterested nature, and has no reference to any of the common purposes of life ; yet it is a pleasure — an enjoyment. You are nothing the richer for it; you do not gratify your palate or any other bodily appetite ; and yet it is so pleasing,...
Page 123 - Now, in the present state, all which we enjoy, and a great part of what we suffer, is put in our own power. For pleasure and pain are the consequences of our actions ; and we are endued by the Author of our Nature with capacities of foreseeing these consequences.
Page iii - If there be a superintending Providence, and if his will be manifested by general laws operating both on the physical and moral world, then must a violation of these laws be a violation vii of his will, and be pregnant with inevitable misery.
Page 123 - I know not that we have any one kind or degree of enjoyment but by the means of our own actions. And by prudence and care we may, for the most part, pass our days in tolerable ease and quiet : or, on the contrary, we may, by rashness, ungoverned passion, wilfulness, or even by negligence, make ourselves as miserable as ever we please.
Page 123 - And many do please to make themselves extremely miserable; ie they do what they know beforehand will render them so. They follow those ways, the fruit of which they know, by instruction, example, experience, will be disgrace, and poverty, and sickness, and untimely death.
Page 64 - In the man who had been shot with the musket ball through the fleshy part of his arm, the wound seemed to be so well digested, and in so fair a way of being perfectly healed, that if Mr.