Chapter 3
The human Race is destined to proceed through various Degrees of Civilization, in various Mutations; but the Permanency of its Welfare is founded solely and essentially on Reason and Justice
First natural law. It is demonstrated in physical mathematics, that to the permanent condition of a thing a sort of perfection is requisite, a maximum or minimum, arising out of the mode of action of the powers of that thing. Thus, for example, our Earth could not possess durability, if its center of gravity did not lie deep within it, and all its powers act to and from this, in equiponderating harmony. Every stable being, therefore, bears in itself, according to this beautiful law of nature, its physical truth, goodness, and necessity, as the grounds of its stability.
Second natural law. It is in like manner demonstrated, that all perfection and beauty of compound, limited things, or systems of them, rest on such a maximum. Thus similitude and difference, simplicity in means and diversity in effects, the slightest application of power to attain the most certain or profitable end, form a kind of symmetry and harmonious proportion, universally observed by Nature, in her laws of motion, in the form of her creatures, in the greatest things and in the least; and imitated by the art of man, as far as his powers extend. In this, many rules limit each other, so that what would be greater according to one is diminished by another, till the compound whole attains the most beautiful form, with the greatest economy, and at the same time internal consistency, goodness, and truth. An excellent law, which banishes from Nature everything arbitrary, and all disorder, and displays to us, even in every variable and limited part of the creation, a rule of the highest beauty.
Third natural law. It is equally proved, that, if a being, or system of beings, be forced out of this permanent condition of its truth, goodness, and beauty, it will again approach it by its internal powers, either in vibrations, or in an asymptote; as out of this state it finds no stability. The more active and multifarious the powers, the less is the imperceptible straight course of the asymptote possible, and the more violent the vibrations and oscillations, till the disturbed subject attain an equilibrium of its powers, or harmony in their movements, and therewith the permanent condition essential to it.
Now as mankind, both taken as a whole, and in its particular individuals, societies, and nations, is a permanent natural system of the most multifarious living powers; let us examine, wherein its stability consists; in what point its highest beauty, truth, and goodness, unite; and what course it takes, in order to reapproach its permanent condition, on every aberration from it, of which many are exhibited to us by history and experience.
1. The human species is such a copious scheme of energies and capacities, that, as everything in nature rests on the most determinate individuality, its great and numerous capacities could not appear on our planet otherwise than divided among millions. Everything has been born, that could be born upon it; and everything has maintained itself, that could acquire a state of permanence according to the laws of Nature. Thus every individual bears within himself that symmetry, for which he is made, and to which he must mold himself, both in his bodily figure, and mental capacities. Human existence appears in every shape and kind, from the sickliest deformity that can scarcely support life, to the superhuman form of a Grecian demigod; from the passionate ardor of the Negro brain, to the capacity for consummate wisdom. Through faults and errors, through education, necessity, and exercise, every mortal seeks the symmetry of his powers; as in this alone the most complete enjoyment of his existence lies: yet few are sufficiently fortunate, to attain it in the purest, happiest manner.
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