250 Instinct. 



binatlon of powers, which makes him a ruler of him- 

 self, through the sovereign act of a free personality. 

 The very fact that his lower propensities, — the 

 Appetites and histincts, — are not self-regulative as 

 in animals, but are capable of terrific power, even 

 destructive power, when left to themselves, shows 

 them to be admirably adapted for service. No 

 matter how powerful any agency is, if it be directed 

 and controlled. The more powerful it is the bet- 

 ter. Steam, and gunpowder, and gravitation are 

 powerful. How destructive they are in their un- 

 controlled action ! How they crush and rend and 

 kill ! But the steam, when controlled, bridges the 

 ocean, brings distant cities together, and, in the 

 workshop, does the labor of millions of men. Gun- 

 powder levels the mountains, and opens the riches 

 of the mines. Gravitation crowds the waters 

 through the wheel, and gives us a power that needs 

 no fire nor fuel for its continued strength. What 

 these powerful agencies are as servants, when con- 

 trolled and directed by bands of iron, the animal 

 instincts are when under control of that power in 

 man, appointed to give them law. What, now, are 

 the powers which this ruling principle in man must 

 have, or rather, that the man must have, in order 

 to rule himself? We will not attempt an enumer- 

 ation of them singly, for that would carry us on 

 to the ground of the Mental and Moral Philoso- 

 pher, where contests are always raging in regard to 

 definitions and the classification of the powers. We 

 shall speak of these powers, singly or in groups, ac- 

 cording to their office in this governing work. 



