Philosophical catechism of the natural laws of man

Preface

Men have long been treated as children ; they have been taught that ignorance and credulity are virtues, and that fear is wisdom ; and that they may glorify God by flattery rather than by moral excellency. Arbitrary regulations of all sorts have been imposed upon them, and blind and unconditional obedience to these required. Words too often satisfy them ; and the less they understand, the more do they generally deem it incumbent on them to admire ; sensual gratifications have proved sufficient inducements for them willingly to follow the good pleasure of their masters. Even religion., in one or another form, has been an engine to crush the human mind. This was, at all times, more or less the deplorable con-

IV PREFACE

dition of mankind. Those who even in our days make exception, are comparatively few in number.

The following pages are written with a view to ascertain whether or not the human kind be susceptible of better treatment ; and whether or not the arbitrary legislation of man, that has hitherto been, and must always be, but temporary, and of limited application, might not advantageously give place to a code of immutable laws, which, established by the Creator, and not adapted to a single family, to a particular nation, to an age, but to all mankind, and to all times, are calculated to endure as long as the species remains.

It is of the highest importance to dem onstrate the existence of such laws, although it may happen that governments and nations themselves will oppose their adoption. But this opposition will not annihilate the reality of the natural,

PREFACE. V

code, and communities will certainly feel disposed to receive, will even demand it, in proportion as they become enlightened ; they will also be worthy of it in proportion as they become virtuous.

I shall consider my subject under the form of question and answer, the better to fix the attention of my reader. My sole intention is to contribute to the amelioration of man ; that is to say, to combat his ignorance and his immorality, and to point out the means of making him better and happier, by insisting particularly on the necessity of his fulfilling the laws of his Creator.

Some may be of opinion that I might here have avoided the introduction of any question upon religion and morality. I, however, think it incumbent on a philosopher to examine all that enters into the nature of man, and to c hold fast that which is good.'' Now man being positively endowed with moral and religious feel-

it

VI PREFACE.

ings, as well as with vegetative functions and intellectual faculties, it was my business to speak of the former as well as of the latter. Nay, true religion is central truth ; and all knowledge, in my opinion, should be gathered round it.

I lament the continual war which philosophers, moralists, and divines, h'ave hitherto waged. They have only mutually disparaged their inquiries, and retarded the knowledge and happiness of man. Would they consent to lay aside vanity, pride, and self-interest, they would perceive, and might display, the harmony that exists between the will of God and his gift of intelligence.

PHILOSOPHICAL CATECHISM.

GENERALITIES.

What is the meaning of the word Philosopher?

It signifies Lover of Wisdom.

Jind what is understood by Wisdom?

Wisdom consists in the knowledge and in the application of Truth.

Who then is truly a philosopher?

He who not only loves, but who applies truth universally. The second part is as essential to the character of a philosopher, as is the practice of morality to that of a christian.

What is the aim of philosophy?

To know objects and phenomena, and to show the possibility of making practical application of the knowledge acquired. 1

% NATURAL LAWS OF MAN.

Then there must be many kinds of philosophers'?

As many as there'are species of knowledge, or subjects that can occupy the attention. — One may be a philosopher, and study entire nature, or a particular district of her domain; as animals, plants, minerals, man generally, or his physical, moral and intellectual parts in particular.

Wliat is understood by a Law?

The word law, among the Romans lex, has the same root as the verb signifying, to read; because enactments for the conduct of the community were promulgated of old by being read in public. For a long period, however, the word law has been used to designate a commandment to do, or to abstain from, some specific act, in general combined with a clause expressive of some penalty attached to its infringement, and more rarely of some reward to its observance. The word law is also employed to designate the inherent qualities of the objects, and the determinate manner in which the human faculties, and the qualities of organized and inanimate bodies, act. That is to say:

beings can only act after their peculiar natures, or according to the qualities and powers with which they are endowed. It is a law, that a stone thrown into the air falls again till it reaches the ground; that the stomach digests; that the eye is the instrument of vision, the ear of hearing, kc. Further, the title law is applied to the regularity with which bodies and animated beings act upon each other, and produce certain phenomena. It is a law, that caloric united with water changes it into vapor, that fire consumes combustible bodies, that poisons destroy life; and so on, through the whole circle of natural phenomena.

How may laics be divided?

They may be classed under two heads — the Natural, and the Artificial. The Erst are imposed by the Creator, the second by individual governors.

JYhat is ills signification of the word nature?

Nature is a word to which three distinct meanings are attached: —

1st, It designates the universe, — (he! heavens, the earth, all that meets sense:

2nd, It expresses essence — that which characterizes or constitutes a class of beings, or individuality. In this sense we say: every being acts according to its nature; — man in his nature is not an angel; we cannot change the nature of things; we cannot, for example, gather figs of thistles, nor grapes of thorns.

3rd, It is used to signify the First Cause personified, and may then be considered as synonymous with God, or Creator.

Wliat are the characteristics of natural laws, or of laws established by the Creator ?

Natural laws are inherent in beings, often evident, always demonstrable, universal, invariable, and harmonious.

How is the first character of natural laws, their inherence, explained?

The laws of nature exist by creation, and enter as a part into the constitution of beings. The bile is secreted by the liver according to a natural law, and cannot be produced by the stomach for a similar reason. The stomach digests some substances by a natural law, and by the same cause does not digest others. Light exists in conformity with certain laws, and we cannot see that as great which is little, nor that as little which is great. The inherence of natural laws is therefore apparent.

How is the second characteristic of natural laws, their regularity, to be apprehended?

The regularity of phenomena is so generally evident as scarcely to require demonstration. Every one knows that without support his body falls, that his hand brought too near the fire is burned, that there is no vision without light, and so on. Occasionally, however, the natural laws are less apparent; still they may always be discovered by observation. The mechanician searches for, and finds, the laws of his art; the musician those of music; the colorist those of color; the landscape-painter those of perspective, &c. A great number of natural laws are at present unknown, but they will be detected as soon as truth is placed above every other consideration — as soon as the free employment of the understanding is allowed, and men have learned to combine all the characters of a natural law.

How does the universality of natural laws appear'*

They are the same in every country. Che- 1* mistry has no other laws in France than it has in England, or in any other part of the earth; carbonic acid gas kills men in the north and in the south, in the east and in the west; combinations of color unharmonious in any one country, will not please the eye viewed by the sun of any other; the same laws pervade the music of every nation, of the English, French, Italians, Germans, &c.

How are the natural laws invariable?

They have been the same in all ages. The principle of the lever, at the present time, is ' precisely the same as it was when the Pharaohs and Ptolemies lived; the rules of geometry and arithmetic have suffered no change since they were applied by Euclid and Archimedes; the beautiful forms of the Grecian marbles are still beautiful; goodness since the beginning has not ceased to be beneficent, and so on. Our knowledge may be more or less extensive, more or less exact, but the laws themselves never vary.

How are the natural laws harmonious?

The Creator has contrived all things as parts of a grand whole, and combined all his enactments in perfect harmoniousness. Natural laws are, consequently, mutually aidant. It is ignorance alone that prompts us occasionally to fancy discrepancies among them. The laws of vegetation act in accordance with those of animalization. The fruits and substance of plants yield food to innumerable tribes of animals, and the excretions and the dead bodies of animals in return afford aliment to the infinite variety of vegetables that adorn the earth. The principle, that nothing is useless, is true physically, as it is morally. Hence it follows, that philosophy is to seek for, determine, and expose the harmony of the natural code.

Jlre all inanimate and all living beings subject to natural laivs't

All beings whatsoever have a determinate nature; all phenomena appear in conformity with fixed and invariable laws. Any opinion to the contrary is fraught with danger to mankind.

But do not we degrade the being — man, for instance — whose nature we pronounce to be dfeterminate ?

Most certainly we do not. The nature of

8 NATURAL LAWS OF J^AN".

the Supreme being himself is determinate; he, for instance, cannot desire evil, for his nature is perfection. Now we can more readily conceive beings he made and endowed according to his pleasure possessed of a determinate nature. Without this indeed, there would be rr regularity in their functions.

•fls the natural laws are no where to be found reduced to writing, how can we he certain of having discovered them?

Observation and induction will lead securely to their knowledge. We shall recognise them certainly when they possess all the distinguishing characters.

Jlre the natural laws conformable to reason? They must necessarily be so. They produce certain never-varying effects; whatever is undertaken in conformity with their decreer prospers, and penalty is always in proportioi to their infringement.

Must not natural laws also be divine? As they exist, they are evidently effects ol the will of the Creator, or God.

Is there any cause to apprehend , from the doctrine of the natural laws, the introduction of such

GENERALITIES. V

evils as attended on the systems of government called Theocracies!

The self-elected and presumed interpreters of a revelation have always had much better opportunities of acting arbitrarily, and of enforcing belief, than can fall to the lot of the proposers of natural laws. The priesthood has generally taught dogmatically, and interdicted the use of reason. Natural law, on the contrary, is submitted to the free scrutiny of all, and is appreciated in great part by means of reason: every one, so inclining, may, under the guidance of observation, be convinced of the reality of its several propositions. There is nothing but good to be anticipated from the study of the natural law.

Have not the made and artificial laws of men the distinguishing features of those which are natural!

Enacted by beings who may err themselves, i or who, from various motives, may wish to deceive and to lead others into error, they are often founded on caprice, and on partial considerations; they are frequently modified by local and individual circumstances; they vary in every nation, and have changed with the different epochs in the history of each. Such a law would not have been instituted, had not such a man lived or such an event happened. The act which the arbitrary law of one country approves, is often condemned by the made code of another. It has even happened, that laws simultaneously imposed have been mutually subversive. They are frequently repugnant to good sense, and they have also been unjust; for they have conferred immunities and privileges on individuals, have attached rewards and punishments by no means commensurate to the extent of virtuous conduct, or the magnitude of criminal actions, and have ranked as virtues and as vices actions altogether insignificant or purely indifferent.

Can society neglect positive lawk — that is to say, rides of conduct which, clearly announced, are binding on all its members?

No; there are few who maybe left to themselves, to their good pleasure, to their inclinations and their judgments. The majority of mankind requires positive laws for its direction, ad frequent admonition as to what is to be done and what left alone.

Wherefore is this?

Because of the generally deficient strength

of the sentiments which dictate the Moral

Law, and the true rule of conduct in the world.

Admitting the necessity of a positive code then,

is there any essential difference between natural

1 and positive laws?

There ought to be none. The natural laws should be promulgated as positive and obligatory on all. Unfortunately, this is not done. The positive laws of society are even too frequently the very opposite of those which the I Creator dictates.

How may the artificial laivs be subdivided? Into arbitrary or absolute, and into conventional. The former are the result of the good pleasure of the ruler, the others are fixed upon by the agreement of several legislators. What titles are given to the transgression of i any law whatever?

As regards religion, Sin, and as concerns j civil enactments, Crime. These are the most i comprehensive terms in use.

Do transgressions of the law, or sins and crimes, admit of degrees of gravity?

That they do is a point admitted by all legislators, civil as well as religious.

What title is given to the consequence of the infringement of a law?

Evil.

Are there many and various hinds of evil?

Evil is first physical, or it is moral; then it is individual, or general; lastly it is temporal, or eternal.

Jire not these different kinds of evil linked together and inseparable ?

Physical and moral evil engender each other mutually. Individuals and society are connected and in relation; and, according to the christian religion, our fate through eternity depends on the present life.

Does it ever happen that man suffers innocently; that is to say, for the transgression of a law in ignorance of its existence?

It occurs frequently, and in reference to the whole of the three kinds of natural laws. The punishments, too, are always as severe as if merited by wilful neglect. Belladonna kills him who knows not, as well as him who knows, its poisonous quality, the man of genius and the fool, the pious and the impious. All suffer alike who infringe, as all without exception prosper who obey, the natural laws.

Is the study of man a study of great importance?

What of so much? Man is at the head of the terrestrial creation. He alone examines the causes of natural phenomena and imitates many of them. He alone elevates his thoughts to the conception of a first cause, and is susceptible of moral and religious ideas.

What is the great object of the philosophy of man?

To determine accurately the fundamental powers of the human mind, and to ascertain the conditions under which these are exhibited; to indicate the causes of the functions variously modified in individuals; and to show the necessity of man's as well as of every other created being's submission to the laws which the Creator imposes to enjoy happiness and to secure success in his undertakings.

Is the agency of the natural law suspended,

because of man's living in society?

o

By no means. Man was destined to live in society, and obedience to one natural ordination cannot render another ineffective. The Creator has laid down certain laws for man's social state, adherence to which is indispensable to his happiness, under whatever circumstances he may chance to be placed.

Is mankind happy?

To whatever side we turn our eyes, the unfortunate, and miserable, and discontented meet our view. There are very few indeed who are happy.

Wherein consists the happiness of man?

In the satisfaction of his faculties.

Does the happiness of men differ; or, is that which gratifies one, calculated to be agreeable to all?

Happiness differs universally according to individual constitution. There are as many distinct species of happiness and pleasure, as there are fundamental faculties; and men being unlike in mental endowment, the cause of happiness in one case is frequently a source of disgust in a second, and is unnoticed as either in a third.

We cannot, therefore, find any measure of the happiness of others, in taking ourselves as standards?

Certainly we cannot; because the faculties are not equally nor alike active in all men.

In what does the misery of man consist?

In the non-satisfaction of his faculties.

Then the causes of the misery of man are different, are they not?

They vary according to the faculty or faculties which are active, and which are not satisfied.

What is the principal cause of the unhappiness of man?

Ignorance and transgression of the natural law.

It appears, therefore, that to hioiv and to practise the natural law is extremely important?

As evil consists in its transgression, and good in its accomplishment, and as its infringement is the principal cause of man's I unhappiness, the natural law ought to be made a principal study with every individual; it should be learned by heart, and its precepts never lost si^ht of in the business of life.

How may the natural laics of man be subdivided ?

Into three kinds, after the threefold nature of his functions, viz. Vegetative, Intellectual, and Moral.

Do these three kinds of laws exert a mutual influence ?

They do, and it is of much importance not to confound the fundamental faculties in which they inhere, with the products of the mutual influence of those faculties, nor the existence of three kinds of laws with their reciprocal relations.

Section I. Of The Vegetative Laws Of Man

What natural laws of man are Vegetative?

Those which concern the preservation of his body are so entitled.

How may these laws be divided?

Into two orders, having for their objects respectively,

1st, The preservation of the individual;

2nd, The preservation of the species.

What are the most important of the natural laws that relate to the preservation of individuals?

1st, A good innate constitution, and 2nd, The laws of dietetics, which include temperature, light, air, food, cleanliness, exercise, and repose.

Is not a perfect attention to the laws of dietetics indispensable to health?

Yes; a certain quantity of caloric is necessary to life, but it injures the bodily health in too great abundance or too great scarcity. 2*

Cold engenders many complaints, not only among the poor, but also among the rich. The impossibility of guarding against sudden changes of temperature, and the imprudence with which all expose themselves to these, are causes of innumerable diseases. The quality of the air man breaths also influences his bodily state. Carbonic acid gas suppresses the vital functions, hydrogen retards, and oxygen accelerates them ; marsh miasmata produce diseases, &c. Air free from all putrid or other exhalations is necessary to enable man to exercise his various attributes v/ith energy.

How may the dietetic laws that relate to Alimentation be considered?

Either as the quantity or the quality of alimentary matter is concerned.

^Does the quality of man's food deserve attention?

It should be accommodated to age, temperament, climate, and season; and should vary with the prevailing weather, and the state of health of the individual. Whatever is easily digested is wholesome, whatever is not is pernicious. Many enactments of ancient legislators show their sense of the propriety of regulating the quality of aliment. Religious lawgivers seem also to have had the same end in view, when they pronounced certain kinds of food to be clean, and certain others to be unclean. Pork in the warm countries of the East is unwholesome, and the Jews and Mahometans are forbidden by a religious commandment to eat of it.

Does the general law in regard to the salubrity of aliments vary in different countries?

In every climate the general law is the same: such food is universally to be used as may be digested with ease. But aliment varies in kind in every different country; and as food, by another natural law, must always harmonise with the particular circumstances of existence, with age, temperament, climate, &x. such things cannot be proper, in lands where the excessive heat and light of the sun stimulate the vital functions greatly, as are wholesome and even necessary in regions where fogs and frost and darkness cramp the energies of man.

There is nothing then clean or unclean in itselfl

Nothing. Every thing, however, may deserve either title by its employment in general or in particular cases.

Are the dietetic rules of the Jews of Palestine, and of the Egyptians, adapted to the nations of the norths

By no means. To prescribe the samecourse of diet to the inhabitants of every country of the globe, would not be less absurd than to command the same material, and the same form, for the garments of the Esquimaux, European, and native of Senegal.

How is the natural law, having reference to quantity of food, entitled'!

Sobriety or Temperance.

Is this law of much importance ?

It exerts a powerful influence upon the well-being of individuals. The sober man digests easily, his body is properly nourished, and he is ever in a condition to attend to his affairs.

What crimes are committed against Sobriety?

Gluttony and Drunkenness.

What evils attend on the first of these?

A long train of ills wait upon gluttony. It injures the health, and weakens the digestive powers; or it brings on obesity, unfits the body for its duties, obscures the powers of the mind, and occasions every species of inconvenience.

What evils accompany the second crime against Sobriety ?

The consequences which attend drunkenness are nearly similar, but greater in degree. Drunkenness undermines the health, enfeebles digestion, and reduces its unhappy votary to the level of the brutes; it deprives him of the distinctions of humanity, which his Creator had given for his guidance, rendering him equally unfit for business and unworthy of trust; and, making him quarrelsome and unreasonable, it fills his home with misery and disorder.

What is the natural law which forbids the abuse of solid or liquid aliment^

It is the law of Abstinence.

Does this law absolutely forbid all food whatever for a season , or certain kinds of food, as wine, entirely"?

It does no more than interdict those things that are noxious, and the abuse of those which are good and proper. But this simple and salutary interpretation has been abandoned; sound views and excellent laws have been misunderstood, and changed into superstitious observances — the original aim of their institution has indeed been very generally lost sight of altogether. To subdue their animal appetites, the inhabitants of Roman Catholic countries are commanded to eat no flesh on certain days of the week, but they may still drink wine, live upon fish, with rich and stimulating sauces, on eggs, lobsters, and various shell-fish. Now sensualism is in fact more excited by such aliments than by the flesh of animals plainly dressed. The Mahometans are forbidden to drink wine, but they still may intoxicate themselves by the unrestrained use of coffee, opium, and tobacco; during the Rhammadan, they are commanded to touch neither solid nor liquid food from sunrise to sunset, by a restriction which, however, allows them to revel . in debauchery from sunset to sunrise, &c.

Are certain days indicated by the natural law as proper to be observed as fasts?

Sobriety and the law of Abstinence, are never to be interrupted in their agency , never to be departed from. No specific day, or nurn- .ber of days, are pointed out by the natural law as especial Fasts. We must ever eat and .drink that we may live, not live that we may . eat and drink. The laws of hunger and thirst exist; and he who obeys not their calls in due season and at fitting time, is as much guilty of a breach of the divine will, as he who abuses them by brutal indulgence.

Does it not follow from this, that the laws of sobriety , and abstinence or fasting, are to be enforced, not to please the Creator, but purely to advantage man?

The first interpretation is the effect of ignorance, and is repugnant to good sense. These natural laws have no other end but the happiness of individuals, and of the kind at large, and as they exert a powerful influence over the health, the habitual dispositions, and the momentary affections of the mind, they ought to be taught and made universally known. Man, it is evident, feels his bodily as well as his mental state to vary during a fast, and after a hearty meal. A cup of strong coffee, or a glass of generous wine, gives more or less activity both to the body and to the mind. Aliment is the principal cause of the organic constitution, on which depends the degree of energy possessed by the fundamental faculties' of the body and mind. Without a body and a brain, there is no exhibition of vegetative or | mental phenomena in this world ; without food there can be neither body nor brain. — Hence j the importance of the natural laws of alimenta-| tion.

Was the importance of the law of Sobriety known to the ancients!

The rules of dietetics among them constituted a great part of moral science, and of the: revealed commandments. This proves suffi-| ciently the attention they bestowed on them,! and the degree of importance they attached; to their observance.

Are not the laws of bodily exercise also to be carefully observed!

Bodily exercise is useful at every period of life; it is, however, more especially so during; youth, and the years of corporeal development.

Has attention to the law of cleanliness any influence on individuals ?

Cleanliness, as it tends to keep up free cutaneous transpiration — a process absolutely necessary to perfect health, demands sedulous cultivation. Those who are very cleanly in their persons and in their houses, are more healthy than those who are slovenly, and live amid filth.

What bad consequences result from a neglect of the natural law of cleanliness ?

These are very numerous. Cutaneous diseases, malignant fevers, and contagious influences generally, are engendered ; and various insects — those disgusting appendages of filth and poverty — are encouraged to multiply.

Did the ancients give any heed to the laws of cleanliness ?

By ranking attention to cleanliness among the religious virtues, and its neglect among the sins, and by instituting ablutions and purifications, ancient lawgivers had demonstrated their knowledge of the good and evil effects attendant on the observance or neglect of its law.

How are the laws that especially interest the preservation of the species named ?

The laws of hereditary descent ; for parents exercise a mighty influence over the physical condition of their offspring. General constitution, bodily qualities, individual peculiarities, diseases, &c. are transmitted from sires to sons. What are the conditions required to accomplish the laws of hereditary descent ?

Every person ought to have attained complete growth, and mature solidity of fibre, and also to be in possession of confirmed good health, before putting himself into the way of having a family. Those who marry too young ruin their health, and procreate miserable, dwarfish, and weakly children, whose lives are useless to the commonwealth, and burthensome to themselves. Those, again, who have passed the meridian of life, or have suffered from debilitating causes, before marriage, have also an infirm and degenerate family.

What then should induce abnegation of marriage ?

No one who has the seeds of hereditary disease, such as scrofula, consumption, insanity, gout, stone, &x. See. lurking in his constitution, ought to marry.

Do not individuals j sprung from the same stock, commit a grave error when they intermarry'!

Marriages between near relations are very frequently sterile, or the progeny is bastardized, unpromising, and oftentimes idiotic. For this reason it was that several ancient legislators interdicted such unions. Like misfortunes, although in a less degree, afflict the families that intermarry for a long period of time. The offspring speedily feels a deteriorating influence; its physical and moral powers are enfeebled by degrees, and the race is ultimately extinguished.

Wliat is the most important moment for the body of living beings ?

It is the moment of receiving existence. The form, dimensions, and texture of the body and its parts, the energy of the vegetative functions, and the whole fate of the future being, in regard to health, disease, &,c. depend on this instant.

Marriages ought therefore to be better assorted than they are at present, were it merely to benefit the physical part of man's nature?