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

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 desires beyond every limit, and so much strain and invigorate them as to succumb under their influence. Therefore reason, whether from its tardy development, or from the unlimited ascendancy of sensuality, holds the reins of its power always with uncertainty, and is not ever certain of being obeyed.
XXV. Another obstacle is to be traced in the want of opportunity and time, or, in other words, in the little time that man can spare to devote to reflection, in the presence of the multifarious cravings of his body. These cravings, increased, no doubt, by luxury and an inclination, to superfluities, demand daily and hourly to be satisfied. He is, then, obliged to work unceasingly to earn or procure the means of satisfying his own physical wants, as well as, not unfrequently, those of a whole family. Aliment, clothing, habitation, comfort, recreation, and other innumerable cares, real or artificial, require so much labour and exertion, that little or no time remains for the great majority of mankind to devote to the assiduous reflections and researches necessary to determine what duties reason