Need of Law, 243 



fering, which we most deplore, comes from ignorance 

 and want of control of those appetites, passions, 

 and impulses which in animals are self-directive, 

 but in man must be put under restraint and guid- 

 ance from something entirely beyond their own 

 sphere. 



We hear much about civil laws as regulating 

 these matters. And here we see the need of it ; 

 because these instincts are not self-regulative in 

 man. They are to be governed by Reason and Con- 

 science ; and because these are too weak in many 

 individuals, there must be law, which is the expres- 

 sion of the public reason and conscience, called into 

 requisition to secure the best interests of all. And 

 the only hope for proper laws, is in an enlightened 

 conscience in the majority. 



But to untangle this snarl of the past genera- 

 tions, will require much time and patience ; and we 

 fear it will not be made straight till much more 

 mischief has been done, and men learn from a long, 

 sad experience, what the true bounds of these in- 

 stinctive principles in man are, and have wisdom 

 and moral strength to give these principles that 

 guidance and limitation, which they have no power 

 to give themselves. 



Distinct from the instincts, that secure the fam- 

 ily relation, we have also considered the desire for 

 society, which may be called an instinct. It is to 

 some extent ultimate in its action, as securing en- 

 joyment to men and animals, in virtue of their very 

 constitution. But in man, this desire secures the 

 conditions for the operation of those instincts of the 



