204 REMARKS ON MR. COMBE's " CONSTITUTION OF MAN." 



substitute in their place any better system with which he is acquaint- 

 ed, and try how far it will successfully conduct him in the investi- 

 gation. In instituting the specified comparison, Mr. C. next brings 

 into view, and endeavours to substantiate and apply, a doctrine 

 which he holds to be the key to the true theory of the divine 

 government of the world, namely, " the independent existence and 

 operation of the natural laws of the creation." He divides the natu- 

 ral laws into three great classes, the physical, organic, and moral ; 

 and, the peculiarity of his new doctrine is, its inculcating that these 

 laws operate independently of each other j that each requires 

 obedience to itself; that each, in its own specific way, rewards 

 obedience and punishes disobedience : and, that human beings are 

 happy in proportion to the extent in which they place themselves in 

 accordance with all of these divine institutions. 



Among his introductory remains, which are both original and 

 instructive, Mr. Combe specifies a variety of reasons for believing 

 that the primitive world was constituted on the principle of slow 

 and progressive improvement ; and, that this view is made apparent 

 by the general circumstances of history. He regards the creation as 

 being so arranged as to afford every inducement to rational beings, 

 to cultivate and exercise the understanding; and, on this and other 

 accounts, he anticipates a vast future increase of the intelligence and 

 happiness of the human race. Of the question, '^Do the physical 

 and moral worlds contain within themselves the elements of melio- 

 ration," he offers an ingenious solution^, which affords the richest and 

 most comprehensive field imaginable, for tracing the evidences of 

 Divine power, wisdom, and goodness, in the universe. If, therefore, 

 he infers, his views are sound, the Jirst object of man, as an intelli- 

 gent creature desirous of happiness, must be to study the elements 

 of external nature and their capabilities ; the elementary qualities of 

 his own nature, and their applications ; with the relationship between 

 these.: and, his second object will be, to discover and carry into 

 effect the conditions, physical, moral, and intellectual, which, in 

 -virtue of man's constitution, require to be realized before the fullest 

 enjoyment of which he is capable can be attained. 



According to ]Mr. C, the capabilities of physical and human na- 

 ture have hitherto been ignorantly undervalued ; and, in conse- 

 quence of this essential oversight, although divines and moralists 

 have frequently applied scientific discoveries in proving the exist- 

 ence, and explaining the character, of the Deity, yet they have 

 failed in applying either the discoveries themselves, or the know^ 

 ledge of the divine character obtained by means of them, to the 



