1 ruled by this other law, the will that is of the flesh, and its law, the law of sin and death.* We can see then the deficiency of the Will, that, being in us an internal and spiritual faculty, the faculty of freedom, it participates, through Original Sin, of the deficiency and inability of the rest of our nature; and of itself it is unable, weak, deficient, both in its power and in its results. Hence, when it is utterly apart from all Divine influences—a situation in which we cannot believe the ever-blessed God has left any of our race-the man would be the most miserable of all beings, knowing, willing, desiring, feeling the duty of resistance to temptation, and yet being the absolute and utter slave of circumstance and appetite. This would man be of his nature, apart from all Divine influences, in consequence of the infirmity of his Will, its inability to resist external impressions, and the influence of external motives on it. But, as we have shown that Society is a school for the other spiritual parts of man, so is it a very strong discipline for this. And, indeed, if a man will look at the course of events through which he has passed in this life,—that is to say, the effects of God's providence upon him,-each one, in his own course, shall hardly miss to say, that the schooling of the Almighty, which is so strong an exercise and trial to the rest of our Moral Nature, in no small degree tends to develope the powers of the Will, in all men that are teachable by circumstance and the course of events. So far are none apart from influences that come from God, and directly tend to strengthen the Will and give it control over the mere power of Desire and Appetite. Taking into account, then, and allowing it as a fact, that there is this external education of the Will in various degrees conferred upon men by God,—setting, I say, this case aside, as mainly beyond our examination and our powers of explanation, let us come to the consideration of the Freedom de facto of the Will, or of that which enables it to control the Will of the Flesh. And here I think that we shall find that the motives which free the Will are, of its own nature, inward and Spiritual, not Animal; and that that man whose Will is so guided, he shall * I would refer my reader to the fourth book, for the description of Concupiscence, or Evil Desire, which is the origin of that strife here described, that comes up to man's self-knowledge in his Will. have the power of resistance to enslaving circumstance, in a degree greater or less, just in proportion as his Will is so actuated. The Will is like the other Spiritual faculties: it is not a law to itself; it seeks not its perfection in itself, but by an influence from without is it perfected. And if a man, the most having the control over himself,—if he looks at it clearly, he shall find that to be steadily under the Law of Conscience, this gives freedom,-this sets a man apart from the enslaving influence of external things. It tells the man-"Thou art no slave to gold; for, under the law of Conscience, the Will so actuated can resist all amount of treasure rather than do evil, rather than break through the checks of the conscience, rather than incur the Stain and the Guilt written down by it, or bear its Fear and Shame." Conscience, in its action upon the Will, sets a man free from a multitude of evils, from the strength of a multitude of appetites and lusts. It avails not that men, with vain babble and idle logic, say, "Then you are not free, for you are governed." Certainly, governed; but, as certainly, by an inward power, which is my own highest and loftiest faculty. And, as certainly, by this freed from the heavy dominion of external circumstance and the hard and unhealthy rule of the lower parts of nature. Certainly free, for when, under the sway of Conscience, the Will is determined by it, then is it determined by the highest and most perfect faculty of my nature. And, according to a similar harmony, the rule, that is, of His Infinite Perfections, is God's Will determined. And therefore, as He, being Infinite, is free, so am I, in like proportion, free, according to my finite nature. So that in vain shall men, with verbal quibbling, argue, "that since the Will is determined by the Conscience, then it is not free;"-seeing that men whose will is determined by appetite, know and feel that then the Will is certainly not free. And most certainly do we and all men know by experience, and feel, that determined and ruled by the conscience, it is then free, and enables the man to resist all enslaving circumstances. In like manner, if we look at the Spiritual Reason, and see the man under its guidance, each fact and attribute of the nature of the Most Holy GOD that by it he receives and applies, in the shape of Moral Principle and Moral Habit,-each one of these frees the Will,-each one of these sets and places man apart from the possibility of a heavy burthen and grievous yoke, which many have borne and groaned beneath. He in whose life the feeling and sentiment of Justice reigns as a Principle, or of Benevolence, or of Purity, or of Holiness, that man, by the Spiritual Principle so upheld, is freed from a multitude of heavy burthens and grievous sorrows that are laid upon the unjust, the cruel, the impure, the unholy, besides that greatest burthen of all, the internal strife, the inward agony of self-reproach, the despair of a nature feeling the sinfulness of sin, and repugnant to it, and wrestling against it, and yet, by the chain of appetite and outward temptation, tied down and bound beneath the burthen !* Tell me not "that for the Will to be determined by Moral Principle is a proof that it is not free! just as much as when it is determined by appetite!" when I see that one is Spiritual, according to the height and perfect harmony of the whole nature, and the other, Animal, and against its perfection,—when I see that the one is a state such as is that of God, Willing according to the perfection of his attributes, and the other makes a man a beast, and ruled, as the beasts are, by Circumstance and Appetite! And, lastly, that the "Will" should be determined by the Af * Perhaps the great Stoic poet, Persius, expresses more distinctly than any Heathen the despair and agony of being conquered in that Life-struggle, the strife which each man has to undergo, between the "Will of the Flesh" and the Spiritual Will, when he makes it for the highest criminals the greatest punishment: Magne Pater Divom, saevos punire tyrannos Imus præcipites, quam si sibi dicat? His prayer for them is, "When the poison of evil desires fires the soul,-then let them in despair look back with longing to the virtue they have deserted-then let them, in their certainty of utter and unavoidable ruin, cry, We fall, we fall, and there is no help for us.'" This, in the opinion of the Stoic, is the most agonizing torture of life. And truly, I must think that he is right. I have been told so, in so many words, by those in whom the will was habitually enslaved by appetite. fections, this frees from Slavery, that instead of being determined by Selfishness, it be by Unselfish Motives,-instead of being ruled by Froward desires, it be obedient unto law,—instead of being Sensual, it be Pure. Manifestly, when we look upon the evils brought upon man by Concupiscence, or Evil Desire, (Extovuía it is called by the apostle,) embracing these three, Sensuality, Selfishness, and Self-will," and see how opposite the Affections are to these, it is the highest degree of freedom that the Will should be by the Affections determined, instead of by Concupiscence. 66 This, then, is that which enables the faculty of Freedom to be in action and effect most free, that its action be determined by internal Motive,-that motive, namely, that is Spiritual, arises from the Spiritual part of man's being. Let a man draw the line between the good of the animal being, body as well as mind,-let him suppose the highest object and - aim of a man to be without and below the line of Spiritual Good,then, how lofty soever it may seem in the eyes of the World, it confers no Freedom. But let the motive be Spiritual, from the Spiritual nature,-then at once Freedom is manifested, and we see it and feel it to be so. The power of resistance is given by this, of emancipation from appetite and external circumstance. Whatsoever men may talk in their logical and verbal way, the man of Conscience, of Moral Principle, of pure Heart, knows and feels in this his freedom to exist; and freedom just so far as he has perfection in and of his Spiritual Nature. He, and he alone, has that inward power that enables the man to resist the external action of that law of Cause and Effect under which the animals are bound, and to be, according to his limited nature, as God is-free! And it is manifest that this shall take place only when the measure according to which these inner faculties determine the Will, shall be the Will and Law of God. "Not my will, but thine be done," was the prayer of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ unto the Father. And, secondly, the means of bringing this result about, the agency that shall subdue our Will unto the will of the Father, this is only Grace,-Grace given through all the means of Grace, and Grace given without means, according to the Will of God. But if we despise the first, we may be certain that in the last we shall have no share. CHAPTER V. The Second Power of the Will that of Purpose; illustrated by a comparison of cases-1. Sets its object in the Future.-2. Prescribes a law to the Will.-A rebuke of the Heathen Morality that tells us not to look to the Future: we must, by our being, look towards it.-This fact interpreted.— True Christian Hope, 1st, looking steadily to Christ, and, 2dly, imposing voluntarily the Law of God upon the action, is that only which perfects Purpose of Will. IN the last chapter we have examined the first part of the power of the Will-the liberty, that is, of choice; and we have shown its relation to human life and action. In this chapter, we enter upon the consideration of the second power of the Will, the power of Purpose, as we have defined it, "the power of fixing and determining choice." This we consider a separate and distinct power altogether from that of liberty of choice; the one consisting in the ability of resistance to motive, however strong, and, consequently, of the admitting voluntarily of it, however weak-and the other, the motive being received, of a determination of the will, or a fixation of purpose, subsequent in time to the admittance of the motive, and distinct from it. In fact, the word, "I will," embraces, when you examine it closely, the two ideas-the first, of choice, in which "I will" is equivalent to "I wish," "I desire," or "I choose," -the second, that of determination or purpose, "I am fixed and set in that choice which I have made." "Will you go to the city?" is equivalent to, "Is it your wish," or "desire," or "choice, so to do?" "I will," the answer, expresses determination or purpose. This would, perhaps, make the idea plain enough, and sufficiently show that the power of Choice in the Will is different from the power of Purpose; but perhaps we may be able to illustrate it still more, and to make it still clearer. When we look at men in life, we see some men whose Wills are at the moment vehemently impressible by motives both internal and external, |