Do We Understand Correctly?
By A. P. VH.
How often are the works of the Creator, and the laws which govern the beauty and harmony of all which surrounds us in Nature, admired, yet the fact passed with indifference or allowed to remain hidden in ignorance that Nature's Author has also established laws just as concise, for human existence, which if complied with, render life happy, as our Creator designed it should be. The following in regard to this question is from Graham's Science of Human Life. There is probably no subject which the mind of man has ever contemplated, concerning which more extensive and enormous error prevails, than in regard to human life and health and disease; and yet nearly every person seems to think there is a kind of intuitive knowledge possessed by all, which enables each one to understand his own constitution, and what is good for him, better than another can teach him. In relation to almost every thing else in nature, mankind are willing to acknowledge that there are fixed principles and permanent laws, and established order and system. If we speak of the science of astronomy, and assert that God has constructed the planetary system upon fixed principles, and arranged the several bodies according to precise laws,—that the relative size, weight, distance, velocity, and every thing else in regard to the whole planetary system, are regulated and governed by the most exact and permanent laws,—every enlightened Christian and theist will readily admit the truth of the assertion. Or if we affirm that, in the creation of our globe, God ordained all things according to fixed principles, and that he has established unchanging laws which govern it in every respect, our affirmation will be promptly acceded to. Or if we speak of the science of chemistry, and declare that all the molecular combinations and arrangements of matter are according to fixed laws, and that these laws always govern every chemical action and result with the utmost precision, here again the truth of our declaration will be acknowledged. If also we assert that God has constructed every mineral according to fixed principles—that the formation of every crystal is governed by established laws, this, too, will be admitted. If we proceed yet further, and affirm that, in the vegetable kingdom, from the smallest thing that has an individual existence, to the largest tree, all are constituted according to fixed laws;—that the life, growth, health, and everything belonging to the nature and properties and powers of the vegetable, are governed by the permanent laws which the Creator has established and continually sustains,—the truth of what we affirm will still be unhesitatingly allowed. And finally, if ascending in the scale of creation, we advance to the animal kingdom, and assert that God has created every animal, and established all its properties and powers upon fixed principles; that even in the formation of the bones and muscles, and nerves, and all the organs of the human body, with their mysterious and wonderful endowments—law, and order, and adaption to special purposes and ends prevail and govern every thing,—even here the truth of what we predicate will be admitted. Thus, from the nice adjustments and balancing of revolving worlds, to the structure and operation of the organs of the smallest insect, and the simplest vegetable, and even to the arrangement of the particles of matter in the formation of minerals; and all the combinations of the elements of nature, by which the various forms and properties of matter are produced. Throughout the whole immensity of created things, mankind will readily admit that an intelligent, and wise, and benevolent Creator has established laws; and that by virtue of the laws which he has established, and continues to sustain, the forms, and properties, and powers of all material things are what they are. All, except the atheist, will frankly acknowledge that it is befitting a God of infinite intelligence, and wisdom, and goodness; that all the works of his hands should be established in order and harmonious system, and governed by precise and unchanging laws. And even he who denies the existence of a God, is forward to confess that eternal and unvarying laws reign in and over every thing; and that, by the energy of those laws of nature, all the forms and conditions of nature are produced, and are preserved. Yet, strange to tell! when all these acknowledgements are made concerning the laws which govern the material universe, and all material forms, if we turn to the higher order of God's works, in which he has associated with organized matter, in human nature, organic vitality, and animal consciousness, and sensibility and voluntary motion, and intellectual and moral powers, and affirm that human life, and health, and thought, and feeling, are governed by laws as precise and fixed, and immutable, as those which hold the planets in their orbits, and cause all portions of each globe to press towards its center, and point the trembling needle to the pole, and govern all the molecular aggregations, and combinations, and arrangements of matter in the inorganic and organic world, mankind will, almost universally, without a pause for thought, deny the truth of the affirmation, and contend that human life, and health, and disease, are matters of entire uncertainty, governed by no laws, and subject only to the arbitrary control of God, or the blind necessity of fate, or the utter contingency of accident. They do not believe that there are any fixed laws of life, by the proper observance of which, man can, with any certainty, avoid disease and preserve health, and prolong his bodily existence; and they are confident that the experience of the human family in all ages has fully and conclusively demonstrated the correctness of their views. Hence, so long as mankind is favored with even a moderate degree of health, they rush into the eagerly desired excitements of their various pursuits and indulgences; and nothing seems to them more visionary and ridiculous, than precepts and regulations, and admonitions concerning the preservation of health. While they possess health, they will not believe that they are in any danger of losing it; or if they are, nothing in their habits or practices can have any effect, either in destroying or preserving it; nor can they be convinced of the universal delusion that, if they enjoy health, they have within themselves the constant demonstration that their habits and practices are conformable to the laws of health, at least in their own constitutions. They will not, therefore, consent to be benefited, contrarily to what they regard as necessary to their present enjoyment, either by the experience or by the learning of others. In closing remarks on this point he says:— The subject is immense! yet it is, in all its details, replete with interest to every human being. Man finds himself upon the theater of life, full of susceptibilities, surrounded by innumerable influences, and acted on at every point; and he is continually conscious, not only of his existence and the action of surrounding influences, but of an unceasing desire for happiness. Has God implanted this desire as a fundamental principle of action in our nature, merely to neutralize us in the vain pursuit of what has no reality? or is the desire itself a living proof that our benevolent Creator has fitted us for happiness, not only in a future state, but here—in soul and body? and adapted every thing within us and around us, to answer this desire, in the fulfillment of those laws of life and health and happiness which he, in wisdom and in goodness, has established in the constitutional nature of things? 138Surely our heavenly Father cannot but prefer our happiness at every instant of our lives; and if we are not happy, it cannot be because he has not endowed us with the capability of being so, and adapted earth and all terrestrial things to all that he has made us capable of being. Our disquietudes, and diseases, must therefore spring, not from the fulfillment, but from the infraction of the laws of God; and it becomes us humbly, yet diligently, to endeavor to ascertain those laws, and to obey them and be happy; and thus fulfill the benevolent purposes of God, and glorify him in our spirits and our bodies, which are his. It is impossible to attain to a full understanding of these things, without a determined and persevering application of the mind; and for the sake of knowledge so important, we must be willing to submit even to the drudgery of that application, which at first is made only with the hope of being rewarded when the task is mastered, and hidden things are brought to light by penetrating diligence.