On the adaptation of external nature to the physical condition of man: principally with reference to the supply of his wants and the exercise of his intellectual faculties / By John Kidd.

  • John Kidd
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the adaptation of external nature to the physical condition of man: principally with reference to the supply of his wants and the exercise of his intellectual faculties / By John Kidd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    but infinitely more important harmony exists between the external world, and the moral condition of man, as between that world and his physical condition: but this province had been assigned to others ; and all systematic reference to that harmony has therefore been studiously avoided—though the constantly recurring difficulty has been to abstain from such a demonstration. | But, it may possibly be observed, both the physical and moral re- lations of man are inevitably soon cut short by death: and though, in many instances, societies continue to be benefited through suc- cessive ages in consequence of the efforts of individuals, who have long since ceased to live, yet in many instances, on the other hand, the memorial not only of individuals, but of nations also, entirely perishes ; and all things apparently proceed, as if those individuals and nations had never existed. Shall we then, in concluding this treatise, simply admit the exist- ence of that harmony, the illustration of which was its professed object; and in admitting that existence shall we at the same time express our gratitude to that Power, which has thus amply provided for the physical wants of man, and for the developement of his in- tellectual faculties? That indeed would have been incumbent on us under any circumstances; and without any qualification arising from the partial occurrence either of disease, or famine, or any other form of physical] evil. But, since they, to whom this treatise is addressed, are conscious that some ulterior cause exists for the adaptation of the external world to the nature of man, beyond the transient supply of his physical wants, or even the exercise of his intellectual faculties; to have exhibited the bare fact of that adaptation, without some refer- ence to its final cause, would have been to leave the whole argu-' ment without its just conclusion. Avoiding however the presumption of speculating on the nature of a future state of existence, we may, without any impropriety, assert, on the authority of revelation, that the happiness or misery of that state will depend much on the use we have made of that ex- ternal world which surrounds us; and will coincide with the pre- vailing character of those habits which we have contracted in this life... This then is the sum of the whole argument. The Creator has so adapted the external world to the moral as well as the physical condition of man, and those two conditions act so constantly and reciprocally on each other, that in a comprehensive view of the rela- tion between the external world and man, we cannot easily lose sight of that most important connexion. And, if we extend our views to a future life, we are taught that the moral state, which has been induced by our prevailing animal or intellectual habits in this life, will be continued and perpetuated eternally in the next—* that in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be’—that “it is ap- pointed unto men once to die; but after.this, the judgment.”