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being made to conceal it . Once more , there are certain muscular actions which must be done on certain occasions so suddenly that no time is allowed for the working out of a syllogism ; and these we do as infants and as brutes do them , by instinct . Winking on the sudden approach of an object to the eye ; muscular efforts to protect
the body from an approaching blow , or to preserve the balance when we trip , or are accidentally thrown out of the perpendicular ; coughing violently , to prevent suffocation , when any object touches the glottis ; warding off a blow aimed in jest , when we know there is no real danger nor intention of injury ;—all these are done on the prompt suggestion of instinct , sometimes , as in the last case , in opposition to our deliberate judgment . In fact , nearly half of our voluntary actions are instinctive . How then say we man has no instincts ? The Conjugal , Parental , and Filial Instincts exist in the human
race in a more refined and more exquisite state of development than in any race of brutes . For many of the blessings of human intercourse , and perhaps for the most happy division of society into distinct families , we are indebted not more to the moral and political regulations which bind , families together , than to that instinctive and hearty acquiescence in these laws which nature has inspired in all but the utterly depraved . Naturalists have observed that even birds and beasts have a monogamous propensity ; and it cannot be doubted that promiscuous sexual intercourse is the suggestion of the devil , not of nature . He therefore who recklessly tears himself away from the benign influence of these social and sacred relations , is not only
chargeable with a moral offence , but does violence to his own nature . He resists the impulses of instinct ; he is no longer a man , scarcely an animal . ] STay—shall we be accused of substituting fancy for philosophy , if we go a step further , and say , when we survey the ancient origin and wide diffusion of the Masonic Brotherhood , that in the origin and progress of Masonic institutions the social instinct is deeply concerned , prompting men to unite in a social compact for mutual sympathy and help ?
But this leads us to observe that besides the mere animal instincts which man inherits in common with the brute , there is also a higher class of instincts peculiar to himself , infused into his soul by creative wisdom , ennobling and dignifying his nature , and stamping him at once as a responsible and moral being . "We allude to those propensities of our nature which belong to the mind rather than the body , and which , without being essentially moral , are yet capable of being either honoured or prostituted , according to the purity or perversity of our moral principles .
A Thirst for Knowledge is one of these , a thing neither right nor wrong in itself , but capable of great good if duly cherished , rightly moderated , and wisely directed , —of great mischief , if unlawfully and to excess indulged . The mother of us all it ruined ; and how many of her sons and daughters inherit , in some prurient form or other , that morbid inquisitiveness , under the influence of which ' Fools rush in where angels fear to tread !" VOL . T . 2 A
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
being made to conceal it . Once more , there are certain muscular actions which must be done on certain occasions so suddenly that no time is allowed for the working out of a syllogism ; and these we do as infants and as brutes do them , by instinct . Winking on the sudden approach of an object to the eye ; muscular efforts to protect
the body from an approaching blow , or to preserve the balance when we trip , or are accidentally thrown out of the perpendicular ; coughing violently , to prevent suffocation , when any object touches the glottis ; warding off a blow aimed in jest , when we know there is no real danger nor intention of injury ;—all these are done on the prompt suggestion of instinct , sometimes , as in the last case , in opposition to our deliberate judgment . In fact , nearly half of our voluntary actions are instinctive . How then say we man has no instincts ? The Conjugal , Parental , and Filial Instincts exist in the human
race in a more refined and more exquisite state of development than in any race of brutes . For many of the blessings of human intercourse , and perhaps for the most happy division of society into distinct families , we are indebted not more to the moral and political regulations which bind , families together , than to that instinctive and hearty acquiescence in these laws which nature has inspired in all but the utterly depraved . Naturalists have observed that even birds and beasts have a monogamous propensity ; and it cannot be doubted that promiscuous sexual intercourse is the suggestion of the devil , not of nature . He therefore who recklessly tears himself away from the benign influence of these social and sacred relations , is not only
chargeable with a moral offence , but does violence to his own nature . He resists the impulses of instinct ; he is no longer a man , scarcely an animal . ] STay—shall we be accused of substituting fancy for philosophy , if we go a step further , and say , when we survey the ancient origin and wide diffusion of the Masonic Brotherhood , that in the origin and progress of Masonic institutions the social instinct is deeply concerned , prompting men to unite in a social compact for mutual sympathy and help ?
But this leads us to observe that besides the mere animal instincts which man inherits in common with the brute , there is also a higher class of instincts peculiar to himself , infused into his soul by creative wisdom , ennobling and dignifying his nature , and stamping him at once as a responsible and moral being . "We allude to those propensities of our nature which belong to the mind rather than the body , and which , without being essentially moral , are yet capable of being either honoured or prostituted , according to the purity or perversity of our moral principles .
A Thirst for Knowledge is one of these , a thing neither right nor wrong in itself , but capable of great good if duly cherished , rightly moderated , and wisely directed , —of great mischief , if unlawfully and to excess indulged . The mother of us all it ruined ; and how many of her sons and daughters inherit , in some prurient form or other , that morbid inquisitiveness , under the influence of which ' Fools rush in where angels fear to tread !" VOL . T . 2 A