Characteristics of Man. 273 



in our analysis, up to this point. It consists in 

 three things. 



In man we find — 



First, — A comprehending power, that surveys 

 the universe, and all the capacities of its possessor, 

 in relation to that universe. 



Second, — A sense of Obligation to do certain 

 acts, and to refrain from others, — this sense arising 

 spontaneously, in view of certain relations or re- 

 sults, and being distinct from those impulses of the 

 affections or desires, which may belong to an ani- 

 mal. 



Third, — The power of choice, that gives, by 

 its generic action, individuality of aim for a life- 

 time ; and, in specific acts, determines whether the 

 higher or lower nature of man shall rule. These 

 three powers, with executive volition, make man 

 the ruler of the world and the shaper of his own 

 destiny, so far as choice and attempts are con- 

 cerned. 



These three powers are all that we have yet 

 found distinctive in the higher nature of man. If 

 animals have either of them, we look in vain for the 

 proof of it in the whole range of the animal kingdom. 

 It is claimed by some that animals have these powers, 

 but the proof offered is not satisfactory. The beauti- 

 ful action of the natural instincts, as the social in- 

 stincts, and parental instincts, — is often triumphantly 

 referred to as proof of the moral nature of animals ; 

 but a full analysis of these instincts shows that they 

 occupy an entirely different sphere from the three 

 powers we have mentioned. In man these natural in- 

 12* 



