from persons uniting in marriage, whose tempers, talents and
dispositions do not harmonize. If it be true that natural talents
and dispositions are connected by the Creator with particular
constitutions of the parents, it is obviously one of his
institutions, that these constitutions should be most seriously
taken into the calculation in forming a compact for life. The
Creator, having formed such ordinances in the unchangeable
arrangements of nature, as to confer happiness, when they are
discovered and observed, and misery, when they are unknown or
unobserved, it is obviously our best wisdom to investigate and
respect them. If individuals, after this truth reaches their
conviction should go on, in imitation of the common example, to
form reckless connexions, which can only eventuate in sorrow, it is
obvious that they must do so either from contempt of the effects
of this influence upon the happiness of domestic life, and a
secret belief, that they may in some way evade its consequences,
or from the predominance of avarice, or some other animal feeling,
precluding them from yielding obedience to what they see to be an
institution of the Creator.
At the first aspect of this subject three alternatives are
presented, one of which, it should seem, must have a determining
power upon the offspring. Either, in the first place, the corporeal
and mental constitution, which the parents themselves inherit at
birth, are transmitted so absolutely, as that the children are
exact copies of the parents, without variation or modification, sex
following sex; or, in the second place, the inherent qualities of
the father and mother combine, and are transmitted in a modified
form to the offspring; or, thirdly, the qualities of the children
are determined jointly by the constitution of the parents, and the
faculties and temperaments, which predominated in power and energy
at the particular period, when the organic existence of the child
commenced.
If these views are correct, and if a man and woman about to marry,
have not only their own domestic happiness but that of five or
more human beings depending on their attention to considerations
essentially the same as the foregoing, how differently ought this
contract to be viewed from the common aspect, which it presents to
persons assuming its solemn stipulations! Yet it is astonishing, to
what extent pecuniary and other minor considerations will induce
men to investigate and observe the natural laws; and how small an
influence moral and rational considerations exert upon this most
important of all earthly connexions.
I cannot forbear, under this head, quoting entire another passage
from the author, from whom I have substantially drawn many of the
foregoing observations.
‘Rules, however, are best taught by examples; and I shall,
therefore, proceed to mention some facts that have fallen under
my own notice, or been communicated to me from authentic sources,
illustrative of the practical consequences of infringing the law of
hereditary descent.
‘A man, aged about fifty, possessed a brain, in which the animal,
moral, and knowing intellectual organs were all strong, but the
reflecting weak. He was pious, but destitute of education; he
married an unhealthy young woman, deficient in moral development,
but of considerable force of character; and several children were
born. The father and mother were far from being happy; and, when
the children attained to eighteen or twenty years of age, they were
adepts in every species of immorality and profligacy; they picked
their father’s pockets, stole his goods, and got them sold back
to him, by accomplices, for money, which was spent in betting and
cock-fighting, drinking, and low debauchery. The father was heavily
grieved; but knowing only two resources, he beat the children
severely as long as he was able, and prayed for them; his words
were, that “if, _after that_, it pleased the Lord to make vessels
of wrath of them, the Lord’s will must just be done.” I mention
this last observation, not in jest, but in great seriousness. It
was impossible not to pity the unhappy father; yet who that sees
the institutions of the Creator to be in themselves wise, but in
this instance to have been directly violated, will not acknowledge
that the bitter pangs of the poor old man were the consequences of
his own ignorance; and that it was an erroneous view of the divine
administration, which led him to overlook his own mistakes, and to
attribute to the Almighty the purpose of making vessels of wrath
of his children, as the only explanation which he could give of
their wicked dispositions. Who that sees the cause of his misery
must not lament that his piety should not have been enlightened by
philosophy, and directed to obedience, in the first instance, to
the organic institutions of the Creator, as one of the prescribed
conditions, without observance of which he had no title to expect a
blessing upon his offspring.
‘In another instance, a man, in whom the animal organs,
particularly those of Combativeness and Destructiveness, were very
large, but with a pretty fair moral and intellectual development,
married, against her inclination, a young woman, fashionably
and showily educated, but with a very decided deficiency in
Conscientiousness. They soon became unhappy, and even blows were
said to have passed between them, although they belonged to the
middle rank of life. The mother, in this case, employed the
children to deceive and plunder the father, and, latterly, spent
the produce in drink. The sons inherited the deficient morality of
the mother, and the ill temper of the father. The family fireside
became a theatre of war, and, before the sons attained a majority,
the father was glad to get them removed from his house, as the
only means by which he could feel even his life in safety from
their violence; for they had by that time retaliated the blows with
which he had visited them in their younger years; and he stated
that he actually considered his life to be in danger from his own
offspring.
‘In another family, the mother possesses an excellent development
of the moral and intellectual organs, while, in the father, the
animal organs predominate in great excess. She has been the unhappy
victim of ceaseless misfortune, originating from the misconduct
of her husband. Some of the children have inherited the father’s
brain, and some the mother’s; and of the sons whose heads resembled
the father’s, several have died through mere debauchery and
profligacy under thirty years of age; whereas, those who resemble
the mother are alive and little contaminated, even amidst all the
disadvantages of evil example.
‘On the other hand, I am not acquainted with a single instance
in which the moral and intellectual organs predominated in size,
in both father and mother, and whose external circumstances also
permitted their general activity, in which the _whole_ children
did not partake of a moral and intellectual character, differing
slightly in degrees of excellence one from another, but all
presenting the decided predominance of the human over the animal
faculties.
‘There are well-known examples of the children of religious
and moral fathers exhibiting dispositions of a very inferior
description; but in all of these instances that I have been able to
observe, there has been a large development of the animal organs
in the one parent, which was just controlled, but not much more,
by the moral and intellectual powers; and in the other parent,
the _moral_ organs did not appear to be in large proportion. The
unfortunate child inherited the large animal development of the
one, with the defective moral development of the other; and, in
this way, was inferior to both. The way to satisfy one’s self on
this point, is to examine the heads of the parents. In all such
cases, a large base of the brain, which is the region of the animal
propensities, will very probably be found in one or other of them.
‘Another organic law of the animal kingdom deserves attention; viz.
that by which marriages betwixt blood relations tend decidedly
to the deterioration of the physical and mental qualities of
the offspring. In Spain, kings marry their nieces, and, in this
country, first and second cousins marry without scruple; although
every philosophical physiologist will declare that this is in
direct opposition to the institutions of nature. This law holds
also in the vegetable kingdom. “A provision, of a very simple kind,
is, in some cases, made to prevent the male and female blossoms of
the same plant from breeding together, this being found to hurt the
breed of vegetables, just as breeding in and in does the breed of
animals. It is contrived, that the dust shall be shed by the male
blossom before the female is ready to be affected by it, so that
the impregnation must be performed by the dust of some other plant,
and in this way the breed be crossed.”’
Such considerations, I hope, will induce you to exercise cautious
examination of this subject, if either of you should ever be placed
in circumstances to contemplate assuming the duties of the wedded
life. If you do not, you will have cast the pursuit of happiness
upon the die of chance at the very outset of your career. Allow me,
before I dismiss the book, from which I have already so liberally
quoted, to extract one passage more, touching the application of
the natural laws to the practical arrangements of life.
‘If a system of living and occupation were to be framed for human
beings, founded on the exposition of their nature, which I have now
given, it would be something like this.
‘1st. So many hours a day would require to be dedicated by every
individual in health, to the exercise of his nervous and muscular
systems, in labor calculated to give scope to these functions. The
reward of obeying this requisite of his nature would be health, and
a joyous animal existence; the punishment of neglect is disease,
low spirits and death.
‘2dly. So many hours a day should be spent in the sedulous
employment of the knowing and reflecting faculties; in studying
the qualities of external objects, and their relations; also the
nature of all animated beings, and their relations; not with the
view of accumulating mere abstract and barren knowledge, but of
enjoying the positive pleasure of mental activity, and of turning
every discovery to account, as a means of increasing happiness, or
alleviating misery. The leading object should always be to find
out the relationship of every object to our own nature, organic,
animal, moral, and intellectual, and to keep that relationship
habitually in mind, so as to render our acquirements directly
gratifying to our various faculties. The reward of this conduct
would be an incalculably great increase of pleasure, in the very
act of acquiring knowledge of the real properties of external
objects, together with a great accession of power in reaping
ulterior advantages, and in avoiding disagreeable affections.
‘3dly. So many hours a day ought to be devoted to the cultivation
and gratification of our moral sentiments; that is to say, in
exercising these in harmony with intellect, and especially in
acquiring the habit of admiring, loving, and yielding obedience
to the Creator and his institutions. This last object is of vast
importance. Intellect is barren of practical fruit, however rich
it may be in knowledge, until it is fired and prompted to act by
moral sentiment. In my view, knowledge by itself is comparatively
worthless and impotent, compared with what it becomes when
vivified by elevated emotions. It is not enough that intellect
is informed; the moral faculties must simultaneously cooperate;
yielding obedience to the precepts which the intellect recognises
to be true. One way of cultivating the sentiments would be for men
to meet and act together, on the fixed principles which I am now
endeavoring to unfold, and to exercise on each other in mutual
instruction, and in united adoration of the great and glorious
Creator, the several faculties of Benevolence, Veneration, Hope,
Ideality, Wonder, and Justice. The reward of acting in this manner
would be a communication of direct and intense pleasure to each
other; for I refer to every individual who has ever had the good
fortune to pass a day or an hour with a really benevolent, pious,
honest, and intellectual man, whose soul swelled with adoration
of his Creator, whose intellect was replenished with knowledge
of his works, and whose whole mind was instinct with sympathy
for human happiness, whether such a day did not afford him the
most pure, elevated, and lasting gratification he ever enjoyed.
Such an exercise, besides, would invigorate the whole moral and
intellectual powers, and fit them to discover and obey the divine
institutions.’
You will study, and obey the moral laws of the universe, of which
you are a part, because you are moral beings, and because obedience
to these laws constitutes the tie of affinity between you, the
higher orders of being and the divinity. You will respect them,
because it is the glory of your nature, that you alone, of all
creatures below, are morally subject to them. Laying out of the
question their momentous sanctions in the eternal future, you must
be aware, that the Creator has annexed pleasure to obeying them,
and pain to their violation as inevitably, as gravity belongs
to matter. One would think, it must be enough to determine the
conduct of a being, who laid claim to the character of rational,
to know, that no art nor dexterity, that no repentance nor return
to obedience, can avert the consequences of a single violation of
these laws; and that no imaginable present good can counterbalance
the future misery, that must accrue in consequence.
In regard, for example, to the practice of the most common and
every day duties, who can doubt the truth of the trite adage,
_honesty is the best policy_? This is, in effect, no more than
saying, that the moral laws of the universe are constituted upon
such principles, as to make it every man’s interest to obey
them. It is as certain, that they are so constituted, as that
fire will burn, or water drown you; and when you understand this
constitution, it marks the same want of a sane mind to violate
them, as to be unable to keep out of these elements. Yet the
greater portion of the species do not constantly act upon a full
belief in this hackneyed maxim. They think apparently, that they
can in some way obtain the imagined advantage of dishonesty and
evade the connected evil, not aware, that detection and diminished
confidence may be avoided, for once or twice; but not the loss of
self-respect, the pureness and integrity of internal principle,
the certainty of forging the first link in a chain of bad habits,
and a thousand painful consequences, which it would be easy to
enumerate in detail. Almost every one deems that he may safely put
forth every day false compliment, double-dealing, deception on a
small scale, and little frauds, not cognisable by any law or code
of honor. In a word, if actions are a test of the sincerity of
conviction, very few really are convinced that _honesty is the best
policy_.
We hold the man insane who should leap from a high building upon
the pavement, or attempt to grapple with the blind power of the
elements. But it is scarcely the subject of our remark, that the
multitude about us, in the most important, as well as the minute
concerns of life, live in habitual recklessness or violation of the
organic and moral laws; and yet we certainly know, that whoever
infringes them is as sure to pay the penalty, as he who madly
places himself in opposition to the material laws. I can never
present this astonishing and universal blindness in too many forms
of repetition, if the effect is to bring you to view these two
species of folly in the same light.
The reason clearly is, that in too many instances, men take no
pains to acquaint themselves with these laws, and their bearing
upon the constitution of man; or, deceived by the clamors of the
inclinations, and the illusions of present pleasure and advantage,
when balanced with future and remote penalties, they commit the
infractions, and hope, that between the certain pleasure and the
distant and contingent pain, they can interpose some evasion,
and sever the consequences from the fault. The expectation always
ends, like the alchymist’s dream, and the projector’s perpetual
motion. Even in the apprehension of the consequences, the mind is
paying the penalty of an unquiet conscience, and of an abatement
of self-confidence, and self-respect, penalties, which very few
earthly pleasures can compensate.
When I speak of these unchangeable laws, as emanations from
the divine wisdom and goodness, as transcripts of the divine
immutability, and as being the best of all possible arrangements,
not to be superseded, or turned from their course by the wisest
of beings, you will not understand me to bear upon the consoling
and scriptural doctrine of providence. I firmly believe, and trust
in it; not, however, in the popular view. It would not increase
my veneration for the Almighty, to suppose that his laws required
exceptions and variations, to meet particular cases; nor that
they would call for frequent suspensions and changes, to provide
for contingencies not foreseen at the commencement of the mighty
movements. Such are not the grounds of my trust in the wisdom
and goodness of the Supreme Being. I neither desire, nor expect
any deviation of laws, as wise and good as they can be, in their
general operation, to meet my particular wishes, or those of the
friends most dear to me. I expect, that none of the powers of
nature will change for me; I encourage no insane hopes, that things
will forego their tendencies to meet my conveniences or pleasures.
Prayer is a duty equally comforting and elevating; but my prayers
are not, that these fixed laws of the divine wisdom may change for
me; but that I may understand and conform to them. The providence,
in which I believe, supposes no exceptions, infringements, or
violations of the universal plan of the divine government. Miracles
only seem such to us, because we see but a link or two in the
endless chain of that plan. An ingenious mechanician constructs a
clock, which will run many years, and only once in the whole period
strike an alarm bell. It is a miracle to those who comprehend not,
that it was part of the original plan of the mechanician. May we
not with more probability adopt the same reasoning, in relation to
the recorded miracles, as parts of the original plan of the Eternal?
Piety, established upon a knowledge of these laws, and a respect
for them, and associated with veneration for their author, is
rational, consistent, firm and manly. It seeks, it expects nothing
in the puerile presumption, that the ordinances of a code, fitted
for the whole system of the Creator, will be wrested to the wants
of an insect. In docility and meekness it labors for conformity to
those ordinances; in other words, to the divine will. It violates
no principle, and calls for the exercise of no faith, that is
repugnant to the dictates of common sense, and the teaching of
common observation. Piety, founded on such views, abides the
scrutiny of the severest investigation. No vacillation of the mind
from varying fortunes, no questionings of unbelief, doubt and
despair, can shake it. It rests firmly on the basis of the divine
attributes. It holds fast to the golden chain, the last link of
which is riveted to the throne of the Eternal.
Thus it seems to me indispensable, as a pre-requisite to the
pursuit of happiness, that the inquirer should hold large discourse
with the physical, organic and moral laws; that he should carefully
investigate their whole bearing upon his constitution; that he
should trace all their influences on him from the first hour, in
which he opens his eyes on the light, to his departure out of life.
I insist the more earnestly upon this, because in these days the
study of the moral relations of things seems to me comparatively
abandoned. The exact and natural sciences are studied, rather,
it would seem, as an end, than a means. Natural philosophy,
mathematics and astronomy may be highly useful; but who will
compare these sciences, in regard to their utility and importance,
with those, which guide the mind to their author, which teach the
knowledge of his moral laws, which instruct us how to allay the
passions, to moderate our expectations, and to establish morality
on the basis of our regard to our own happiness?
If, then, you would give yourself to the patient study of the
natural sciences, that you may gain reputation and the ability to
be useful, much more earnestly will you study regimen, exercise,
temperance, moderation, cheerfulness, the benefits of a balanced
mind, and of a wise and philosophic conformity to an order of
things, not a tittle of which you can change, that you may be
resigned, useful and happy. All knowledge, which cannot be turned
to this account, either as relates to yourselves, or others, is
useless.
Innumerable counsels, in relation to your habits, your pleasures
and pursuits, your studies, your tastes and modes of conduct, your
_beau idéal_ of natural and moral beauty, your standard of dignity
and worth of character, press upon my mind, and all in some way
connected with the views, which I have just taken. But I shall
be able to present such of them as I may deem worthy to find a
place in these letters, perhaps with most propriety and effect, as
suggested in the form of notes[B] appended to the chapters of the
essay of M. Droz, a paraphrase of which I now offer you.
LETTER IV.
GENERAL VIEWS OF THE SUBJECT.
Man is created to be happy.[1] His desires and the wisdom of the
Creator concur to prove the assertion. Yet the earth resounds with
the complaints of the unhappy, although they are encompassed with
the means of enjoyment, of which they appear to know neither the
value nor the use. They resemble the shipwrecked mariner, on a
desert isle, surrounded with fruits, of the flavors and properties
of which he is ignorant, as he is doubtful whether they offer
aliment or poison.
I was early impelled to investigate the character and motives
of the crowd around me, eagerly rushing forward in pursuit of
happiness. I soon noted multitudes relinquishing the chase in
indolent despondency. They affirmed to me that they no longer
believed in the existence of happiness. I felt an insatiate
craving, and saw life through the illusive coloring of youth.
Unwilling to resign my hopes, I inquired of others, who seemed
possessed of greater strength of mind, and more weight of
character, if they could guide me to the place of happiness? Some
answered with an ill-concealed smile of derision, and others with
bitterness. They declared that in their view the pleasures of life
were more than counterbalanced by its pains. Because they were
disappointed and discouraged, they deemed that their superior
wisdom had enabled them to strip off the disguises of life, and
contemplate it with sullen resignation.
I remarked others in high places, whose restless activity and
brilliance dazzled the multitude and inspired envy. I eagerly asked
of them the secret of happiness. Too proud and self-satisfied to
dissemble, they made little effort to conceal their principles.
I saw their hearts contracted by the vileness of egotism, and
devoured with measureless ambition. A faithful scrutiny, which
penetrated beyond their dazzling exterior, showed me the righteous
reaction of their principles, and convinced me that they suffered
according to their deserts.
Weary and disheartened, I left them, and repaired to the class of
stern and austere moralists. They represented the world to me as
a melancholy and mysterious valley, through which the sojourner
passes, groaning on his way to the grave. Their doctrines inspired
me at once with sadness and terror. I soon resumed the elastic
confidence of youth, and replied, ‘I will never believe that the
Author of my being, who has imaged in my heart such pure and
tranquil pleasures, who has rendered man capable of chaste love,
and of friendship in its sanctity, who has formed us innocent
before we could practise virtue, and who has connected the
salutary bitterness of repentance with errors, has unalterably
willed our misery.’