Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors]

COUN

ause in ression. lerant ;

bretheration, r of this ach them

rom God, ively; for istonishing the propere admirable e will he be rsal and iden

ore the present The greater part e basis of their a few of its preas a whole. hough it is simple in and its consequences, es the knowledge of a eity of reason, in order

ot written, may it not be 1? No, because it consists stration may be at any time form a science as precise and d mathematics: and this very nature forms an exact science, › are born in ignorance, and live in › day, known it only superficially.

ECTION III.

w of nature as they relate to man: struction and self-government. es nature command self-preservation? involuntary sensations which she has s or guardian genii to all our actions; pain, by which she informs us

towards the sky; that it destroys the organization of vegetables and animals; that air is essential to the life of certain animals; that in certain cases water suffocates and kills them; that certain juices of plants, and certain minerals, attack their organs, and destroy their life; and the same of a variety of facts.

5 Now, since these facts, and many similar ones are constant, regular, immutable, they become so many real and positive commands to which man is bound to conform, under the express penalty of punishment attached to their infraction, or well-being connected with their observance.

6 So that if a man were to pretend to see clearly in the dark, or is regardless of the progress of the seasons, or the action of the elements: if he pretends to exist under water without drowning; to handle fire without burning himself; to deprive himself of air without suffocating; or to drink poison without destroying himself, he receives from each infraction of the law of nature, a corporal punishment proportioned to his transgression.

7 If, on the contrary, he observes these laws, and founds his practice on the precise and regular relation which they bear to him, he preserves his existence, and renders it as happy as it is capable of being rendered; and since all these laws, considered in relation to the human species, have in view only one common end, that of their preservation and their happiness; whence it has been agreed to assemble together the different ideas, and express them by a single word, and call them collectively by the name of the law of nature.

SECTION II.

Characters of the law of nature.

1 What are the characters of the law of nature? We may reckon nine principal ones. What is the first? To be inherent in, and essential to the existence of things. What is the second? It is to emanate immediately from God, and to be by him offered to the contemplation of every man. What is the third? It is to be common to every time and country; that is, to be one and universal.

2 What is the fourth character? That of being uniform and invariable. What is the fifth character? To be evident and palpable, since it consists wholly of facts ever present to our senses, and capable of demonstration. What is the sixth character? To be reasonable; because its precepts, and its

whole doctrine, are conformable to reason, and agreeable to the human understanding.

3 What is the seventh character? To be just, because in this law the punishment is proportioned to the transgression. What is the eighth character? To be pacific and tolerant ; because according to the law of nature, all men being brethren, and equal in rights, it advises all to peace and toleration, even for their errors. What is the ninth character of this law? To be equally beneficent to all men, and to teach them all the true method of being better and happier.

4 If, as you assert, it emanates immediately from God, does it teach us his existence? Yes; very positively; for every man, who observes with attention, the astonishing scene of the universe, the more he meditates on the properties and attributes of each existence, and on the admirable order and harmony of their motions, the more will he be convinced that there is a supreme agent, a universal and identical mover, designed by the 1 ame God.

5 Was the law of nature ever known before the present day? It has been spoken of in every age. The greater part of lawgivers have pretended to make it the basis of their laws; but they have brought forward only a few of its precepts, and have had but vague ideas of it as a whole.

6 Why has this happened? Because, though it is simple in its basis, it forms in its developement and its consequences, a complicated aggregate which requires the knowledge of a number of facts, and the whole sagacity of reason, in order to be understood.

7 Since the law of nature is not written, may it not be considered as arbitrary and ideal? No, because it consists altogether in facts, whose demonstration may be at any time recalled before the senses, and form a science as precise and exact as those of geometry and mathematics: and this very circumstance, that the law of nature forms an exact science, is the reason why men, who are born in ignorance, and live in carelessness, have, till this day, known it only superficially.

SECTION III.

The principles of the law of nature as they relate to man: importance of instruction and self-government.

1 In what manner does nature command self-preservation? By two powerful and involuntary sensations which she has attached as two guides or guardian genii to all our actions; one, the sensation of pain, by which she informs us of, and

106

turns us from whatever tends to our destruction. The other, the sensation of pleasure, by which she attracts and leads us towards every thing that tends to our preservation, and the unfolding of our faculties.

2 But does not this prove that our senses may deceive us with respect to this end of self-preservation? Yes; they may for a time. How do our sensations deceive us? In two ways; through our ignorance and our passions. When do they deceive us through our ignorance? When we act without knowing the action and effect of objects on our senses; for instance, when a man handles nettles without knowing their quality of stinging; of when he chews opium in ignorance of its soporific properties.

3 When do they deceive us through our passions? When, though we are acquainted with the hurtful action of objects, we, notwithstanding, give way to the violence of our desires and our appetites; for instance, when a man who knows that wine inebriates, drinks, notwithstanding, to excess.

4 What results from these facts? The result is, that the ignorance in which we enter the world, and the inordinate appetites to which we give ourselves up, are opposed to our self-preservation; that in consequence, the instruction of our minds, and the moderation of our passions, are two obligations, or two laws, immediately derived from the first law of preservation.

5 But if we are born ignorant, is not ignorance a part of the law of nature? No more than it is for us to remain in the naked and feeble state of infancy: far from its being a law of nature, ignorance is an obstacle in the way of all her laws.

6 Whence then has it happened that moralists have existed who considered it as a virtue and a perfection? Because through caprice, or misanthropy, they have confounded the abuse of our knowledge with knowledge itself; as though because men misemploy the faculty of speaking, it were necessary to cut out their tongue; as though perfection and virtue consisted in the annihilation, and not in the unfolding and proper employment of our faculties.

Is instruction then necessarily indispensable for man's existence? Yes; so indispensable, that without it, he must be every instant struck and wounded by all the beings which surround him; for if he did not know the effects of fire, he would burn himself; of water, he would be drowned; of opium, he would be poisoned. If in the savage state, he is

unacquainted with the cunning and subterfuges of animals, and the art of procuring game, he perishes with hunger: if in a state of society, he does not know the progress of the seasons, he can neither cultivate the earth, nor provide himself with food: and the like may be said from all his actions arising from all his wants.

8 What is the true meaning of the word philosopher? The word philosopher signifies lover of wisdom: now, since wisdom consists in the practice of the laws of nature, that man is a true philosopher who understands these laws in their full extent, and, with precision, renders his conduct conformable to them.

9 But does not this desire of self-preservation produce in individuals egotism, that is, the love of self; and is not egotism abhorrent to the social state? No; for if by egotism is understood an inclination to injure others, it is no longer the love of self, but the hatred of our neighbor. The love of self, taken in its true sense, is not only consistent with a state of society, but is likewise its firmest support; since we are under a necessity of not doing injury to others, lest they should, in return, do injury to ourselves.

SECTION IV.

Of the basis of morality; of good, of evil, of crimes, of vice and virtue.

1 What is good, according to the law of nature? Whatever tends to preserve and ameliorate mankind. What is evil? Whatever tends to the destruction and deterioration of the human race.

2 What is understood by physical good or evil, and moral good or evil? By the word physical, is meant whatever acts immediately upon the body; health is a physical good; sickness is a physical evil. By moral, is understood whatever is effected by consequences more or less remote: calumny, is a moral evil; a fair reputation is a moral good, because both of them are the occasion of certain dispositions and habits in other men, with respect to ourselves, which are useful or prejudicial to our well-being, and which attack or contribute to the means of existence.

3 The murder of a man, is it then a crime according to the law of nature? Yes; and the greatest that can be committed; for murder can never be done away.

4 What is virtue according to the law of nature ? The

« AnteriorContinuar »