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F3432    Book contribution:     Darwin, C. R. 1890. [Letters to Leonard Horner]. In Katherine Murray Lyell ed. Memoir of Leonard Horner, F.R.S., F.G.S. Consisting of letters to his family and from some of his friends. 2 vols. London: privately printed, vol. 2.   Text   PDF
The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online [page] 300 CHAPTER XIII. 1861. From Charles Darwin. Down, Bromley, Kent, February 14th, 1861. My Dear Mr. Horner,—I must just thank you for your note, but I will take advantage of your kind and considerate offer of discussing the points referred to, till we meet. The latter point seems to me very intricate, and I have often thought it over. Man does not cause any variations, he only accumulates any which occur; I do not suppose that God intentionally
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F273    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1846. Geological observations on South America. Being the third part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy, R.N. during the years 1832 to 1836. London: Smith Elder and Co.   Text   Image   PDF
morning to scholars before proceeding to the Temple of God. — Church and State Gazette. The whole production is eminently fitted to elevate the tone of religious feeling, to strengthen in the minds not only of the rising generation, but also of the older friends to our venerable ecclesiastical institution, sentiments of firm and fervent attachment to the pure faith and reformed worship established in this Protestant country, and for these reasons especially we recommend it to the perusal of our
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F273    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1846. Geological observations on South America. Being the third part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy, R.N. during the years 1832 to 1836. London: Smith Elder and Co.   Text   Image   PDF
. demy 8vo., price 10s. 6d. neatly bound in cloth. This is not a work for ordinary readers. The author thinks for himself; and so writes that his readers must think too, or they will not be able to understand him.—To the sacred volume, as a revelation from God, he pays uniform and entire deference—and the thoughtful and prayerful reader will soon find that he has not the thinkings of a commonplace mind before him. — Methodist Magazine. ~~~~~~~~ A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. In a Course of
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
God. The philosopher has turned coldly away from religion, forgetting that he thus robbed science of its truest dignity, and man himself of his noblest elevation. On one side we have him who consecrates a few things, on the other we have him who desecrates all things. One sees God in certain things, and not in others-there, and not here ; the other virtually sees God in nothing-neither there nor here. A new school rises which sees God in all things, and everywhere,-which makes sacred all things
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
What know we, says he, of the God of nature (we speak only of natural means), except through the faculties He has given us, rightly employed on the materials around us? In this we rise to a conception of material inorganic laws, in beautiful harmony and adjustment; and they suggest to us the conception of infinite power and wisdom. In like manner we rise to a conception of organic laws of means (often almost purely mechanical, as they seem to us, and their organic functions well comprehended
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
This passage contains several propositions that merit attention. First, in all well constituted and rightly instructed minds, the most beautiful objects of inanimate nature, and the lovely wonders of the munificence and bounty of God, are calculated, according to the natural laws, to invigorate the moral, religious, and intellectual faculties; yet Hannah More's mind had more languor, and her faith less energy, amidst such objects, than when beset with snares : Secondly, according both to the
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
persons out of an hundred in the ship, are floated ashore on pieces of the wreck, while the rest are drowned, the escape of the few is called a merciful, perhaps a miraculous interposition of Providence in their behalf; and the survivors return solemn thanks to God for their preservation. The feeling of gratitude for their escape naturally rises in their minds, and returning thanks to God for prolonged life in such circumstances, most men obviously obey an instinct of their nature. The emotion
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
not, then is this world a theatre of anarchy, and consequently of atheism, it is a world without the practical manifestation of a God. If, on the other hand, as science shews, such laws exist, they must be of divine institution, and worthy of all reverence; and I ask, In the standards of what church, from the pulpits of what sect, and in the schools of what denomination of Christians, are these laws taught to either the young or old as of divine authority, and as practical guides for conduct in
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
here intended, without denying all final causes. For, final causes being admitted, the pleasures and pains now mentioned must be admitted too, as instances of them. And if they are, if God annexes delight to some actions and uneasiness to others, with an apparent design to induce us to act so and so, then he not only dispenses happiness and misery, but also rewards and punishes actions. If, for example, the pain which we feel upon doing what tends to the destruction of our bodies, suppose upon
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
joyment to its possessor; insomuch that some authors have asserted, that men are benevolent for the sake of this pleasure. But this is not correct. The impulse is instinctive, and acts before the intellect has anticipated the result. VENERATION also has reference to others. It looks up with a pure and elevated emotion to the being to whom it is directed, whether God or our fellow-men, and delights in the contemplation of their great and good qualities. Combined with moderate Self-Esteem, it
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
informed; the moral and religions faculties must co-operate, in applying the truths and yielding obedience to the precepts which the intellect recognises to be true. As creation is one great system, of which God is the author and preserver, we may fairly presume that there must be harmony among all its parts, and between it and its Creator. The human mind is a portion of creation, and its constitution must be included in this harmonious scheme. One grand object of the moral and intellectual
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
strongly impress our sentiments. The duty of obeying them comes home to us with the authority of a mandate from God. While we confine ourselves to recommendations to beware of damp, to observe temperance, or to take exercise, as mere acts of prudence, without skewing that God has pre-ordained certain painful consequences to follow from neglect, the injunction is addressed to only two or three faculties,-Cautiousness, for instance, or Self-love, in him who receives it. But if we be instructed in
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
which he unavoidably fell; but now when the facts he describes, and analogous occurrences in our day, can be traced to diseased action of the organs of the mind, we are authorised to view the providence of God in a different light. It is farther mentioned in the life of Mr Erskine, that his wife bore several children to him while in precarious health, and that the situation of the manse, or parsonage-house was unwholesome. We are told, also, that in the year 1713, three of his children died
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
GOD stood not, though He seemed to stand, aloof; And at this hour the conqueror feels the proof: The wreath he won drew down an instant curse,- The fretting plague is in the public purse, The cankered spoil corrodes the pining state, Starved by that indolence their minds create. Oh! could their ancient Incas rise again, How would they take up Israel's taunting strain! Art thou too fallen, Iberia? Do we see The robber and the murd'rer weak as we? Thou that hast wasted earth, and dared despise
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
Almighty, was the means of obtaining his mercy. At about six P.M., the rudder, which had already received some very heavy blows, rose, and broke up the after-lockers, and this was the last severe shock that the ship received. We found by the well that she made no water, and by dark she struck no more. God was merciful to us, and the tide, almost miraculously, fell no lower. At dark heavy rain fell, but was borne in patience, for it beat down the gale, and brought with it a light air from the
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
another evidence that the science of man has been unknown. In consequence of the want of a philosophy of man, there is little harmony between the different departments of human pursuit. God is one; and as He is intelligent, benevolent, and powerful, we may reasonably conclude that creation is one harmonious system, in which the physical is adapted to the moral, the moral to the physical, and every department of these grand divisions to the whole. But at present, many principles clearly revealed by
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
the merchant, the farmer, and the lawyer, are pursued by competitors so active, that if they relax in selfish ardour, they will be speedily plunged into ruin. If God has so constituted the human mind and body, and so arranged external nature, that all this is unavoidably necessary for man, then the Christian precepts are scarcely more suited to human nature and circumstances in this world, than the command to fly would be to the nature of the horse. If, on the other hand, man's nature and
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
lightful in themselves, but also the most direct and legitimate avenues to temporal prosperity, I, therefore, recommend them merely for the sake of that temporal prosperity. Dr Thomas Brown and Bishop Butler advert to a similar objection which had been stated by some writers against the disinterested character of Benevolence, and answer it by observing, that although God has made a highly pleasing emotion to accompany the vivid action of this sentiment, it is a great error to maintain that the
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
It is thus 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 creation. The order of creation seems not to have been changed at his introduction, but he appears to have been adapted to it. He received from his Creator an organized structure, and animal instincts. The brain is unquestionably the workmanship of God, and there exist
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
highest gifts, and the sources of his purest and intensest pleasures. They lead him directly to the great objects of his existence, obedience to God, and love towards 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 Creator has so arranged the material world as to hold forth strong inducements to
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
his will, he directed the President of the Royal Society of London to apply in paying any person or persons to be selected by him, to write, print, and publish one thousand copies of a work 'On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation;' illustrating such work by all reasonable arguments, as, for instance, the variety and formation of God's creatures in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; the effect of digestion, and thereby of conversion; the construction
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
infraction, not only as inevitable, but as pre-ordained by the Divine Mind, for a purpose: That purpose appears to me to be to deter intelligent beings from infringing the laws instituted by God for their welfare, and to preserve order in the world. When people, in general, think of physical laws, they perceive the consequences which they produce to be natural and inevitable; but they do not sufficiently reflect upon the intentional pre-ordainment of these consequences, as a warning or instruction
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
were possible, which, for this wise reason, it is not. I do not intend to predicate any thing concerning the absolute perfectibility of man by obedience to the laws of nature. Benevolent design in the system of sublunary creation, so far as we perceive it, is undeniable. Paley says, Nothing remains but the supposition, that God, when he created the human species, wished them happiness, and made for them the provisions which he has made, with that view and for that purpose. The same argument may
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
to his structure; and yet these gifts have been witheld. Man must plough, and sow, and reap, otherwise his supplies of nutritive substances will speedily fail. He must also fabricate apparel for himself or go unclothed. But in compensation, God has bestowed on him physical and mental powers which find scope and enjoyment in labour directed by intelligence; and in accordance with this constitution, He has presented him with fields endowed with rich productive qualities, and seeds capable of
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
what God has instituted, and of the extent to which man himself is chargeable with error and perversion, than could be arrived at by the means previously employed. Such conclusions if correctly drawn, will possess an irresistible authority that of the record of creation itself. If, therefore, any reader be disposed to question the existence of such qualities in man as I am about to describe, to do so consistently, he should be prepared to deny on reasonable grounds, that mental organs exist. If
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
great distinction between the animal faculties and the powers proper to man is, that the former do not prompt us to seek the welfare of mankind at large: their object is chiefly the preservation of the individual himself, his family, or his tribe; while the latter have the general happiness of the human race, and our duties to God, as their ends. The Love of Life, and The Appetite for Food, have clearly reference to the preservation of the individual alone. Even the domestic affections
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
himself which is calculated to prove injurious to them, but, on the contrary, to act so as to confer on them, by his daily exertions, all the services in his power : Veneration would give a profound respect for the laws of God, and a full reliance on his power and wisdom, that such conduct would in the end conduce to the highest gratification of all his faculties; it would add also an habitual respect for his fellow-men, as beings deserving his regard, and to whose reasonable wishes he was bound to
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
Benevolence, he would desire his friend's welfare for his friend's sake. Next, Veneration, acting along with intellect, would reinforce this love, by the conviction that it was entirely conformable to the law of God, and would be acceptable in His sight. It would also add a habitual deference towards the friend himself, which would render his manner pleasing to him, and his deportment yielding and accommodating in all things proper to be forborne or done. Thirdly, Conscientiousness, ever on
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
. Each individual has it in his power to confer benefits, or, in other words, to pour forth copious streams of benevolence on others, by legitimately gratifying their various feelings and intellectual faculties, without injuring himself. VENERATION . The highest objects of this faculty are the Divine Being and obedience to His laws. I have assumed the existence of God as a fact capable of demonstration. The very essay in which I am now engaged is an attempt at an exposition of some of His
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, and consequently complete satisfaction cannot be enjoyed; whereas, by seeking knowledge, and dedicating life to the discharge of our duties to ourselves, to our relatives, to our country, to mankind, and to God, in our several vocations, all the faculties will be gratified, and wealth, fame, health, and other advantages, will follow in their train, so that the whole mind will rejoice, and its delights will remain permanent. Thirdly, To place human
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
mankind. On the other hand, before religion can exercise its full influence on practical conduct, it must become philosophical. Its doctrines must harmonise with the system of creation; and the order of Providence must be exhibited as enforcing its dictates. While reason and religion are at variance, both are obstructed in producing their full beneficial effects. God has placed harmony between them, and it is only human imperfection and ignorance that have introduced discord. One way of
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
, or frequently in both. It implies an utter disbelief in the organic laws, and in their consequences being pre-ordained by God for the purpose of serving as a guide to rational beings in their marriages. The inspiring motives of such unions are generally sensual appetite, avarice, or ambition, operating in the absence of all just conceptions of the impending evils. The punishment of this offence is debility and pain transmitted to the children, and reflected back in anxiety and sorrow to the
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
God has preordained for their guidance. * In Physiology applied to Health and Education, and in A Treatise on the Physiological and Moral Management of Infancy, by Dr A. Combe, to which I refer, the organic laws are expounded in detail, and many striking examples are given of infringement of those laws, and of its injurious consequences. [page] INFRINGEMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS. 14
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
the ordainment of the laws which they teach by God as guides to human conduct has been recognised, direct benefit has been derived from the study of them. A third organic law is, that all our functions shall be duly exercised; and is this law observed by mankind? Many persons are able, from experience, to attest the severity of the punishment that follows from omitting to exercise the muscular system, in the lassitude, indigestion, irritability, debility, and general uneasiness that attend a
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
or disobey the physical and organic laws, and that to attain an important and moral object we are justified in setting them at defiance. But, in my opinion, it is impossible to set them at defiance with success; in other words, to escape from the consequences which God has attached to the infringement of them. In cases in which we may be unavoidably ignorant of the natural laws, or be uncertain concerning the limit of our own ability to obey them, we may be morally justifiable in encountering the
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
gone home to bed, and requested an unexhausted and well fortified friend to visit the patient that morning in his place, and he might have done so with little risk. The physical and organic laws having been instituted by the same God who appointed the moral laws, are not [page] 172 CALAMITIES ARISING FRO
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
, disappointed, and distressed: Besides she endured great suffering in her own person, as the consequence of her conduct. Did she honour God, in devoting herself to excess to her moral duties ? No, because He required her while she [page] 174 ON THE EVILS THAT BEFALL MANKIN
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
terrors of God did set themselves in array against her. He called in the assistance of some neighbouring clergymen to join in prayers on her behalf, and she was induced to pray with them; but she still continued to charge herself with the unpardonable sin, and to conclude that she was a cast-away. Such feelings occurring in a woman of blameless life, clearly indicated diseased action in the organs of Cautiousness. Before she fell into these depths, he continues, she told me that the Lord gave her
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
This passage is full of sound sense; but it contradicts her previous assertion that nervous headachs and low fevers are wonderfully wholesome for moral health. If Hannah More had believed that God had instituted the corporeal organs, and imposed on her the obligation of fulfilling the conditions of health, she could not, with her strong sentiment of veneration and excellent intellect, have acted and written as she did. These examples, to which many more might be added, may serve as
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
mist, should be listened to with profound attention, and her revelations recorded for human improvement,-but scouted and despised when she speaks to and is interpreted by phrenologists? It is God who speaks from nature in all its departments: and the brain is as assuredly his workmanship as the Milky Way, with all its myriads of suns. If the doctrine before expounded be true, that every faculty is good in itself, that the folly and crime which disgrace human society spring from abuses of the
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
matrimony. In a special manner, where both the male and female labour under a hereditary taint, they should make it a part of their duty to God and their posterity never to be thus united. Marriage in such individuals cannot be defended on moral ground, much less on that of public usefulness. It is selfish to an extent but little short of crime. Its abandonment or prevention would tend, in a high degree, to the improvement of mankind. * I am indebted for the following particulars to the medical
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
justice and benevolence; it would render the consequences of contempt for and violation of the Divine laws, and of obedience to them by the parents, in this particular, precisely alike. The debauchee the cheat, the murderer, and the robber, would, according to this view, be able to look upon the prospects of their posterity, with the same confidence in their welfare and happiness, as the pious intelligent Christian, who had sought to know God and to obey his institutions during his whole life
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
feed on vegetable and animal substances; so that death is as much, and as essentially, an inherent attribute of organization as life itself. If the same animals and men had been destined for a permanent occupation of the earth, we may presume, from analogy, that God,-instead of creating a primitive pair of each, and endowing them with extensive powers of reproduction, with a view to their ushering young beings into existence,-would have furnished the world with a definite complement of living
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
disciplines all the faculties to cheerful submission to the will of God, and completes what reason leaves undone. If the views now unfolded be correct, death in old age will never be abolished as long as man continues an organized being; but pain and the frequency of premature death will decrease in the exact ratio of his obedience to the physical and organic laws. It is interesting to observe that there is already some evidence of this process being begun. About ninety years ago, tables of the average
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
intimation that these different classes have fulfilled, in widely different degrees, the conditions on which God proffered to continue with them the boon of life. We cannot imagine that He deals partially with men, and establishes one law for the rich and another for the poor: On the contrary, the structure of the various organs of the body on which life depends, is similar in all; and the composition of the atmosphere, the rays of light, and the winds of heaven, which affect these organs for good
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
become acquainted with, first, the nature of man, physical, animal, moral, and intellectual; secondly, the relations of the different parts of that nature to each other; and, thirdly, the relationship of the whole to God and external objects. The present treatise is an attempt (a very feeble and imperfect one indeed) to arrive, by the aid of Phrenology, at a demonstration of morality as a science. The interests dealt with in the investigation are so elevating, and the effort itself is so delightful
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
providence, which it was impossible for them to avert, and which it behooved them therefore meekly to endure,-the full enjoyment that the moral and intellectual faculties were fairly calculated to afford could not be experienced. Benevolence would be pained by the sufferings of the victims; Veneration would regard God with doubts as to his goodness; and Conscientiousness would suggest endless surmises of disorder and injustice in a scheme of creation under which such evils occurred and were left
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
. To a grossly ignorant people, who suffer hourly from transgression of his laws, the character of the Deity will seem more mysterious and severe than to enlightened men, who trace the principles of his government, and who, by observing his laws, avoid the penalties of infringing them. His attributes will appear to human apprehension more and more perfect and exalted, in proportion as his works shall be understood. The low and miserable conceptions of God formed by the vulgar among the Greeks and
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
tained: in consequence, the relations of external nature towards it could not be competently judged of; and, while these were involved in obscurity, many of the ways of Providence must have appeared mysterious and severe, which in themselves were lucid and benevolent. Again, as bodily suffering and mental perplexity would bear a proportion to this ignorance, the character of God would appear to the natural eye in that condition, much more unfavourable than it will do after these clouds of
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A33    Book:     Combe, George. 1847. The Constitution of Man and Its Relation to External Objects. Edinburgh: Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., Longman & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., W. S. Orr & Co., London, James M'Glashan, Dublin.   Text
the superior faculties of man, has probably diverted their minds from the study of the Creator, and his works, and had a pernicious effect on the views subsequently entertained by them of this world, and its capabilities. The achievements of barbarous men engage that attention which might be more profitably bestowed on the glorious works of God: We need not be surprised that no satisfaction to the moral sentiments is experienced while such a course of education is pursued. But, in the second
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