Obligation and Animal Instijict. 269 



different planes of activity, even when the powers 

 acting in one plane are entirely distinct, in kind, 

 from those acting in the other. 



Obligation and animal Instinct differ, especially 

 in this, that obligation depending for its conditions 

 on the comprehending power, is fitted for an unlim- 

 ited range of progress ; or the being possessing it 

 has progressive capacity constantly increasing in 

 the individual and gaining new light from genera- 

 tion to generation, and from the observation and 

 experience of thousands, at the same time, — while 

 animal Instinct, having its condition from the bodi- 

 ly senses, has but limited range in the individual, 

 and the individual can gain nothing from those 

 that have gone before him, and but little from 

 those associated with him. There is connected 

 with animal Instinct, no such system of progress 

 as is connected with Obligation, if there is any at 

 all. We have, thus far, spoken of the impulse of 

 Obligation, as though men follow it as certainly as 

 animals follow the impulses of their Instinct. But 

 this is far from being the case. If they did, there 

 would be a uniformity of moral action, and of re- 

 sults in the higher life of man, that would approach 

 the uniformity of animal life secured by Instinct. 

 The moral acts of men would differ only as their 

 knowledge differed. They might make mistakes 

 but intentional wrong-doing would be impossible. 



Man has a truly animal nature with all the im- 

 pulses of animal appetites and instincts. He has, 

 also, this higher nature, in which the sense of Ob- 

 ligation is the great impulse. As this higher na- 



