Mingling of Activities. 215 



of his higher, and lower nature. Though walled 

 around by fate, or the laws of nature in the world 

 without, and the laws of nature in his own structure 

 and animal instincts, there is yet left to him, a 

 throne of sovereignty, — which he may mount, if he 

 choose, — from which, he declares what powers in 

 him shall be servants, and which masters, for the 

 time. He appoints the bounds of each, or he could 

 not be a responsible being. Here we come to the 

 mystery oi free personality. 



The instinctive powers of the higher nature, are 

 ever present in man, and their agency is so intimate- 

 ly blended with the agency of the animal instincts, 

 — sometimes wisely controlling them and sometimes 

 basely yielding, while they run riot and defeat the 

 very ends for which they were given, — that it is al- 

 most as impossible to separate the activities of the 

 two natures in man, as to discern with the unaided 

 eye, the yellow red and blue, that are woven togeth- 

 er in the sunlight. We need a psychological prism, 

 which shall completely untangle the web, and show 

 the animal and the image of God, that together 

 make up this complex being, man. In the animal, 

 all is beautifully simple. Every impression, from 

 without, awakens impulses which he may follow to 

 the full demand of his nature, with profit either to 

 himself or his species. His simple nature is self- 

 poised. If harm comes to him, as an individual, it 

 is in following an instinct, which he was made to 

 follow, and which will, upon the whole, bring good 

 to his race, when followed to its full demand. But 

 every impression in man, that wakens the animal 



