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THE

CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

JANUARY, 1862.

G

ART. I. THE SWORD IN ETHICS.

1. The Non-Resistance Principle. By CHARLES K. WHIPPLE. Boston: R. F. Wallcut.

2. Non-Resistance applied to the

By CHARLES K. WHIPPLE.

Internal Defence of a Community.
Boston: R. F. Wallcut.

3. Essays on the Principles of Morality. By JONATHAN DYMOND. London.

4. Life of Sir Henry Havelock. By REV. WILLIAM BROCK. Lon

don.

):

THAT Nature is no non-resistant would seem to be clear at a glance. Every one of her laws is a force, and cuts its own way, with never a "By your leave," nor the least offer to desist in case of objection made. Observe also that, on the large scale and in the long run, no creature is permitted to live which cannot secure life to itself. The class, the genus, the species, that lacks vigor to support and protect itself, ceases from off the earth. For mutual succors and reciprocations of aid, the broadest provision is indeed made; an immense scheme of interdependence is arranged, wherein each individual has need of many others and is needed by many; and it is more or less the virtue of all creatures, pre-eminently it is the virtue of man, to enter with spirit and heartiness into this plan of co-operation: nevertheless, taking creatures by kinds, it is the inexorable rule, that those which cannot make good a place for themselves shall have no place.

Consequently, in the construction of any creature, Nature VOL. LXXII. 5TH S. VOL. X. NO. I.

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has always in mind the thought of self-preservation, commonly of direct self-defence; and works this into its organization. And of excess in this direction there would seem to be little apprehension. What an armory of weapons, what claws, tusks, horns, fangs, venoms! One cannot say that she seems. at all nice about the matter, at all afflicted with scruples; for she rather parades than hides these provisions, and bestows her defences with a savage liberality and heartiness that gentle eyes shrink from inspecting too closely.

The question will naturally arise, Does not Nature desist from this portion of her plan upon arrival at man? And the question would seem to derive occasion from the obvious fact that man is furnished with no ostensible and exclusive weapon of defence. True it is that he has no special weapon; but why? Because he is to command the use of all. In this apparent deprivation there is moreover a definite purpose, one that Nature has always very dearly at heart,- that, namely, of compelling man to an exercise of his understanding; she makes self-preservation a mental discipline, and will allow her best-beloved to be safe only as he is intelligent. This is but one of many instances wherein she does the same. Man is stored with wants, whose supply demands invention, forecast, skill, self-control, and, in fine, a certain supremacy of intellect and will; and he is a little impoverished in respect to ordinary animal resources, that he may find a fountain of ampler wealth in his higher faculties. One might, therefore, as properly argue against clothing from the nakedness of man's cuticle, as against his use of weapons from his want of fangs and claws. But the above question has a broader and more sufficient answer. Nature never does abandon any leading idea. She pursues invariable themes, that range from depth to height through the total extent of her creations. In the degree of specialization indeed, in the degree of refinement, delicacy, and power, with which these themes are developed, there is difference of immeasurable scope. Thus, to illustrate, music is one and the same always in that which defines it as music; but the instruments by which it may be expressed range from an oaten straw to a church organ or grand piano; while the minds of various composers may be

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