parison with God. He who suitably realizes the relation which he sustains to the all-wise Jehovah, will not presume to compare his feeble intellect with the infinite Godhead; his understanding of yesterday, just kindling into light and life, with the everlasting Sun of knowledge, ever effulgent and inexhaustible. Let this modesty of true wisdom, so suitable on every subject, have its due place in the matter under examination. If we cannot see how the subjection of the will to law is consistent with its freedom, while irresistible evidence compels us to believe both the liberty and the law, let us arraign our incapacity rather than the proof before us.

§ 133. We find things which cannot be explained everywhere. If there were no other mysteries in the universe but the one in question, it might be thought less reasonaable to submit quietly to our inability to explain it. But they are found all around us; they exist everywhere, and everywhere baffle our curiosity. We generally suppose it to be otherwise, because it may happen that we are unable to point them out; but our inability to do this is owing to the fact of our not having given attention to the subject. We do indeed sometimes direct our attention to the mysteries which are placed at a distance from us, but it is seldom that we look at those which are near at hand. In the time of the Apostle Paul, the opposers of Christianity objected particularly to the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead on account of its being so mysterious, inexplicable, and wonderful; but they did not consider, till the Apostle reminded them of the fact, that the conversion of the seed sown in the ground into the stalk or plant is no less wonderful, no less mysterious. Perhaps we might be justified in going so far as to say there is nothing, however familiar it may be, which is not in some of its aspects replete with mystery.

Can we explain how the soul and body exist and act together? Can we understand how God, who is a spirit, can fill all places with his presence? Can we

comprehend how, under any circumstances, mind, which is so entirely distinct, can operate upon matter and put it in motion, as is the fact in our ordinary acts of volition? Can we explain the operations of matter itself, even the growth of a blade of grass? Do not the most familiar appearances of nature, though easily explainable in some things, present in others insuperable difficulties? And why then should we account it particularly unlooked for and strange, that, in the two distinct doctrines of the will's freedom and the will's subjection to law, we should find something which withstands our penetration and baffles our sagacity?

§ 134. Illustrated from the influence of men over each other. We would furthermore propose to such as are disposed to insist upon the difficulty under consideration, that the same difficulty, or, at least, one closely analogous, is constantly occurring in common life. We refer to the fact, which is too obvious to admit of any denial, that one man is capable of controlling, and does in fact control, the will of another. By his wealth, or personal address, or persuasive language, or powers of reasoning, he bends his neighbour to his own purposes. This is seen particularly in the case of the orator who addresses the public assembly; and who sometimes not only sways the individuals composing it to his own purposes, but does it against the views and the determinations which they had previously formed. Now here is a case where, according to the common understanding of it, the Will of one man or of many men is under the control of another, and yet it is not the common understanding or the common feeling that the Will of the former is not free. Here is a case in which law and liberty are, by our own admission, united together; subjecton and freedom are found in a state of combination. And why should we say that what is possible with men is impossible with God?

§ 135. Opposite supposition attended with equal difficulty. But there is another consideration which is worthy of the attention of the objector.-Before we arraign the views which have been given, it seems proper to look at the results of the opposite scheme. If we exonerate the action of the will from the influence of all law, and leave it to the irregular control of what may be variously termed accident, indifferency, or contingency, we do not thereby secure its freedom. Can that mind be free which knows not at one moment, nor can even conjecture, what may be its position, its acts, or its destiny at the next moment? It is very much in the position of that people who are under the direction of an irresponsible despotism, compared with which, a despotism, which is in any degree subject to law, is quite tolerable. A will without law is necessarily subjected to the highest despotism. At one moment the volition may be in one direction; the next in a direction altogether opposite, without the ability to secure any fixed result. And it seems to be impossible in the nature of things that man should be conscious (and its existence and nature are learned from consciousness alone) of freedom under such circumstances. It is wholly inconceivable. So that, let the question be argued as it may, it will always be found in the human mind, as in civil government, that law is the basis of liberty.

§ 136. Both views are to be fully received.

In respect, then, to the two distinct doctrines of the will's freedom and its harmony with law, there remains nothing to be done but the cheerful, ready, and complete reception of both. And, with the views which we entertain, the outlines of which have been imperfectly laid before the reader, we are constrained earnestly to insist upon this, as the only correct and satisfactory position. The doctrine that the will has its laws, is very important, considered in connexion with the relation which men sustain to the Supreme Being. This view places the will in subordination

to that higher and more glorious Intelligence, from whom the laws, to which it is amenable, proceed. By adopting this doctrine, we are enabled to understand how his full and perfect superintendence can be maintained. He has himself assured us that he is intimately acquainted with the outward actions of men; that he knoweth their downsitting and uprising; and it is a pleasing and consoling thought, that his care and exact scrutiny may be extended even to the mind itself. Who will not rejoice to be, in soul as well as in body, in the hands of God? Who will feel that there could be any better provision for his security than is thus furnished by the constancy and nearness of the Divine presence? Who will attach any value even to independence itself, when purchased at the measureless expense of an exemption from the superintendence of the Deity?

§ 137. The doctrine of the will's freedom equally important with that of its subjection to law.

On the other hand, the doctrine that the will is free, in any correct and intelligible sense of that term, is of equal practical importance, since it is obviously essential to man's moral character and accountableness. It is a great truth, which demands to be received with entire and unwavering confidence, that God has made man in his own image; and that, in doing this, he has seen fit to constitute him with the attributes of freedom and power, as well as with the other attributes which are requisite to a rational and morally accountable nature. In the sphere which is given him (whether more or less limited in extent), he has not only the ability, but is under the requisition of acting for himself. No plea of inability can ever be admitted as an excuse for negligence, still less for utter inaction. There are claims, therefore, binding upon every man, which he cannot resist. So that the truest and highest philosophy is to be found in that passage of Scripture," Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh

in you both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure." It expresses the great truth, and we may add, the great mystery, of the harmonious combination of power and dependence. And it is the same in other things as in religion, that, if we will act for ourselves under the impulse of right feelings, our Maker will take compassion upon us, and act in our behalf; that, if we faithfully do our duty, God will be as faithful to help us. Not an hour is spent in effort of any kind, in conformity with the directions of an enlightened conscience, and, to use the expressions which Milton's genius has made so familiar,

"As ever in our great Taskmaster's eye,

which is not attended with a divine blessing. The doctrine of a combination of power on the part of men, with complete superintendence on the part of God, brings God and men into harmony with each other; it fully makes men co-workers with God, and yet under the twofold condition, without which God can neither be a sovereign nor man a moral agent, of responsibility and dependence.

CHAPTER VII.

ENTHRALMENT OR SLAVERY OF THE WILL.

§ 138. Of the occasions of mental enthralment.

Ir here seems to come in course to offer some explanations on what may be termed the Enthralment or SLAVERY of the will. The explanation of this subject, however difficult it might prove when undertaken separate from and independent of other views of the Will, seems to follow easily, and, we may add, almost necessarily, from the views which have been taken of the FREEDOM of the voluntary power. It has appeared from various remarks made in preceding chapters, that a knowledge of freedom, as actually existing in the mind in general or in any part of the mind, can be possessed only by means of our own personal