Obligation. 259 



self-adjusting machinery so powerful as to control 

 the animal. It is left to man alone to discover what 

 the end of his being is, and then to act in conform- 

 ity with the law that guides him towards that end, 

 or against that law. 



Man is under obligation to promote the great- 

 est good of all beings, himself included. To yield 

 obedience to this demand of obligation is one of the 

 great acts of life, and one demanding what is called 

 great self-denial ; for it involves a constant struggle 

 with all the lower propensities of our nature. Wise 

 self-denial — all that is ever demanded and all that 

 it is right for a man to make — is the control of any 

 appetite or impulse when it conflicts with a higher 

 good. This, even, may be like cutting off a right 

 hand or plucking out a right eye. 



But another great difficulty arises here, which 

 follows every man through life, — the want of knowl- 

 edge, which shall enable him to act in conformity 

 to that high law of his being, which he knows to be 

 good, and to which he may desire to conform. 



The same thing is illustrated in the case of his 

 body. He is compelled to suffer many things, — 

 pain and sorrow and early death, — because, per- 

 chance, he ignorantly builds his house where poi- 

 sons exhale from the earth. He may know that 

 there is a law of health, but in attempting to follow 

 it, his ignorance leads him into all sorts of pitfalls. 



Has man then no guide towards the end of his 

 being, before that end is comprehended as one se- 

 curing the greatest good ? We believe that the 

 sense of obligation not only gives impulse to action, 



