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Show MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANlMALS. n1ate ranO'e of action however liable to be abused. The constitution of the ~ind generally p0ints. to a state of intimate t•elation of individuals towards society, towards the external world, and towards thi~gs above this wo~ld. No individual being is integral or Independen~; he IS o~ly part of an extensive piece of social mechamsm. . The Inferior mind, full of rude energy and unregulated I~pulse, does not more require a supenor natur~ to act as Its m~ster and its mentor than does the supenor nature requae to be surrounded by such rough el~n1ents on which to exercise its high endowment~ as a ruhng and tutelary P?wer. This relation of each to each produces a vast port~on of the ac.tive business of life. It is easy to see that, 1f we were all alike in our moral tendencies, and all plac.ed on a medium of perfect moderation in this respect, the world would be a scene of everlasting dulness and apathy. It l'equires the variety of individual constitution to give mor-al life to the scene. The indefiniteness of the potentiality of the human fac· nlties, and the complexity which thus attends their relations lead unavoidably to occa!tional error. If. we consider for a moment that there are not less than thuty such faculties, that they are each given in different .Proportions to different persons, that each is at the same ttme endow· ed with a wide discretion as to the force and frequency of its action and that our neighbors, the world, and our connexio~s with something beyond it, are all exercising an ever-varying influence over us, we cannot be sur-f risco at the irregularities. attending huma!l conduct. t is simply the penalty pai.d for th~ supenor endowment. It is here that the 1mperfect10n of our nature resides. Causality and conscientiousness are, ~t is true, guides over al~; but even. the.se are only faculties of the same indeterminate const1tuhon as the rest, and partake accordingly ~f the same in~quality. of action. Man is therefore a ptece of mechanism, which n.ever can act s:J as to satisfy his own ideas of w ha~ he mtght be-:-for . he can imagine a state of moral perfectiOn, (as he can 1magme a globe formed of diamonds, pearls, ~nd rubies,) thou.gh his constitu~ion forbids him to realize It. There ever wlll, in the best disposed and most disciplined minds, be oc?a· sional discrepancies between the amount of ternptaho.~ and the power summoned for regula~i?n or resistance, or between the stimulus and the mob1hty of th~ faculty; MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMAL~. 183 a~d hence thos~ errors_, and shortcomings, and excesses, wtthout end, wtth whtch the good are constantly finding cause to charge themselves. There is at the same time ~wen here a possib_ility o~ improvmnent. In infancy, the !~pulses are all of them uregu_lar; a child is cruel, cun .. ~Ing, and false, under the .shg.hte~t temptation, but in time learns to control these Inclinations, and to be habit! lal_ly hum~ne, frank, and tt:uthful. So is. human society, 1n Iti\. ea1:hes~ stages, sanguinary, aggressive, and deceitful, but ~n ttme becon1es just, faithful and benevolent. T? such 1rnp~·0veme_n.ts t~ere is a natural tendency which w 1ll operate 1n all. fan· cucumstances, though it is not to be expected that Irregular and undue impulses will ever be altogeth~r banished from the system. It ~ay shll be a puzzle to many, how beings should be born I.nto the world whose organization is such that they ~nav01dably, even in. a civilized country, become malefactors. Does God, It mav be asked make criminals' D~es he fashion certain b~ings with ~ predestination t~ en~ ? H~ ~oes not do so ; ~nd yet_ the cri!flinal type of br.aln, as It IS ~alled, comes Into exi~ence In accordance With laws w htch the Deity has established. It is not, however, as the result of the first or general intention of those laws., but as an exception fron1 their ordinary and pr?per ~ch.on. !'he production of those evilly-disposed betngs Is In th1s manner. The moral character of the proge_ny d~pends in a general way (as does the physical character als~),_) npon conditions of the parents,-both general conditions, anu conditions at the particular time of the.com~encement of the ~:x;istence of ~he new being, and hkew1se external cond1tlons affecting the fretus t~roug_h ~he mo_ther. Now, the amount of these conditions IS Indefinite. The faculties of the parents, as far as these are concerned, may have oscillated for the time ~owards the extreme of tensibility in one direction. The Influences upon the filltus n1ay have also been of an ext~ eme and unusual kind. Let us suppose that the conditions upon the wh?le have been favorable for the development, not of th~ !ngher but of the lower sentiments, and of the. propensthes of the new being, the result will necessanly be a mean type of brain. Here it will be observed, God. no more decreed an imrnoral being than he decreed. an Immoral paroxysm of the sentiments 0 perplex1ty is in considering the ill-disposed being ~ |
