themselves from afar for the proper use of the senses and appetites.

The
human is the first freedman in creation; he stands erect. The balance of
good and evil, of falsehood and truth, !hangs suspended within him, en-
abling him to explore, requiring him to make choices. As nature has given
him two free hands as instruments and a surveying eye to guide his move-
ment, she has given him the power not only of placing the weights, but also,
if I may say so, of being a weight on the scale. He can give credence to the
most delusive error, and be voluntarily deceived; he can learn in time to
I
love the chains with which be is fettered, contrary to his nature, and adorn •
them with sundry flowers. As it was with deluded reason, so it was also
with abused or shackled freedom; in most human beings, it represents the
relation of powers and propensities, as fixed by convenience and habit. The
human being rarely looks beyond these, and is capable of becoming worse
than a beast, when fettered by mean propensities and ex.ecrable habits.
Still he is, in regard to his freedom also, even when he most severely
abuses it, a king. He may still make choices, even though he chooses the
worst; he is his own master, even though he destines himself, by his own
choice, to the lowest. Before the Omniscient, however, who conferred on
him these powers, reason as well as freedom are limited; and they are
happily limited; for the one who created the source had to know and foresee
eyerv one of its channels and had to be able to ouide them in such manner