258 Instinct. 



open before us, so that we can contemplate them 

 and their results, there may arise a sense of obhga- 

 tion, for us to enter upon one course rather than the 

 other. 



This sense of obHgation may be entirely dis- 

 tinct from any notion of expediency or pleasure to 

 ourselves. It is undoubtedly true that the highest 

 expediency and pleasure will ultimately be found in 

 the line of obligation ; but a conviction of this, is not 

 necessary as a condition for the impulse of obliga- 

 tion. But it is also to be said that obligation al- 

 ways demands the good of the higher nature, when 

 that is discerned, and the good of the higher nature 

 never conflicts with the good of any other being. 



The impulses of the animal nature impel us 

 where present pleasure or animal enjoyment can be 

 secured, — oftentimes against the good of others, — 

 but obligation may demand that every good of our 

 lower nature, even life itself, be sacrificed for the 

 good of our higher. That is, the sense of obliga- 

 tion, so far as it acts from our contemplation of 

 good, always demands that the animal in us be the 

 servant of the human. 



This sense of obligation is ever urging man on 

 to discover the true end of his being and to attain 

 it. But he has the power of going against this im- 

 pulse, and of yielding himself to any one of the 

 lower impulses of his nature, or we should not have 

 true freedom ; and he often goes against it, through 

 ignorance or perverseness, in various ways, or we 

 should have as uniform results in human life as 

 among animals. Animal life reaches its end by a 



