A Guide for the Religious Instruction of Jewish Youth | Page 6

and to
link himself again to the Supreme Cause from whom he emanated.
XX. All the peoples of antiquity exhibited, in their successive
developments, the aptitude of the human soul to entertain religion
within itself, nay, the necessity in which it finds itself to connect the
exercise of moral duties or virtue with the Supreme Source of all
morality. In fact, God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, wills
nothing but what is good; and in no better mode could man ever
manifest his gratitude to the Author of his existence, than by doing that
which is agreeable to His will. Hence it is, that whoever is true to his
destination, is said to be true to God; and he who is virtuous is religious.
There is, then, in the human soul a natural disposition to religiousness
or piety; and the history of all ages testifies that no people ever existed,
who, however rude and uncultivated, has not had some presentiment of
the relations which bind the rational creature to its Creator. Man is born
to religion.[1]
[Note 1: These truths are now readily admitted by all well-thinking
men. It was very easy, and very amusing, for the philosophy of the
eighteenth century, to ridicule the ignorance and superstition of the
ancients, and to denounce the modern peoples which followed in the
same direction, though by different tracks. But the true philosophy of
the present age, which has penetrated deeper into the recesses of the

human heart, has arrived at the double conclusion, that a superior
power has implanted therein certain elements which it is not in human
power to remove; and that what is inherent in human nature cannot he
combated, but must be wisely directed. Hence, modern civilisation
deals lees than preceding ages in abstractions; and in its Intellectual
development, accepts religion as a starting point in the laborious but
open walk, which leads to human happiness,--The TRANSLATOR.]
XXI. This need for man to be religious constitutes the basis of faith. As
man is said to know that which is proved to him by experience, or by
the testimony of the senses, so he is said to believe that which is to him
a real want, although it cannot be demonstrated to him either by
experience or by the evidence of the senses. Knowledge is based upon
objective, and belief upon subjective proofs.
The existence of God, the providence with which He governs the world,
the immortality of the soul, the excellence of virtue, the just
expectation of a final triumph of good, and of an improvement and
future perfection of the human condition, are truths which have their
foundations in man himself, that is, in the nature of his soul; they
originate in him, even without the concurrence of reflection, almost
from an innate feeling of the heart, which impels him to admit them;
they are founded on subjective proofs, and man believes them as
necessities of his own nature. These religious truths are therefore called
natural, and their disciples are said to profess a natural religion.
CHAPTER IV.
XXII. YET, notwithstanding the possibility for man to attain happiness
by only following the voice of reason, experience has shown, in the
most unmistakable manner, that natural religion is insufficient alone to
guide mankind in the right path, to preserve him from error, and to
regulate his life with constant conformity to his destination, under all
circumstances and in all conjunctures. Such insufficiency is caused by
various obstacles, presented by the self-same nature of man, and the
objects that surround him, and which prevent reason from exercising an
absolute dominion over the heart, and naturally weaken its influence on

human actions.
XXIII. First among these obstacles, is the circumstance, that the
intellectual faculties do not exhibit so much vigour in early youth as the
animal or appetitive faculties. Long before the force of reason has
developed itself in the mind, the sensual tendencies have already grown
giants in the heart, impelling man to desire ardently all that has the
semblance of pleasure, however fugitive and deceitful. The will, which
is in its full vigour even in a child, has already carried into effect most
of these desires, and has thus produced such a habit of grasping
impulsively, and without reflection, at everything that presents itself in
the aspect of an enjoyment, that reason often arrives too late to destroy
the ascendancy gained by the lust of the heart, and to claim its
dominion over all man's actions.
XXIV. Besides, reason is sometimes in danger of losing its supremacy,
even after having asserted it. Instinct, which, in brutes, holds the place
of free-will, confines their physical cravings within certain limits, and
we never see an animal wallow in intemperance; but man, just because
enjoying absolute freedom of will, may extend his