FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 303 



chiefly been with nations who have in part emerged from 

 barbarism. In order to observe the power of restraint 

 which they are capable of exercising over their propensH 

 ties, we must retire to a factory established on the con- 

 fines of a hunting tribe. There we shall find the appe- 

 tite for spirits and tobacco, or the desire for ornament or 

 dress, overcome every dictate of prudence or experience. 

 A few glasses of brandy will often purchase the whole pro- 

 duce of a summer's labour. 



Even in a civilized state, this ability to control the ac- 

 tive powers, if it really exists to the extent here supposed, 

 is never exerted by all the individuals of society, nor by 

 any one individual over all his propensities. Neither rank 

 nor learning, youth nor age, can plead exemption from the 

 charge. The reason of this, according to our view of the 

 matter, is obvious. The power of controlling the intellec- 

 tual powers is natural ; of regulating our active powers, 

 acquired. In the acquisition, so many difficulties present 

 themselves, so many privations must be endured, so much 

 energy of mind must be exerted, that we need not be sur- 

 prised that the object is not generally sought after, and on- 

 ly gained by few. Indeed, mere worldly considerations 

 hold out no suitable motives for encouraging us to gain the 

 victory over all our instincts. It is enough if we restrain 

 them from being externally inconvenient to others. Chris- 

 tianity alone furnishes us with sufficient motives, and urges 

 us to subdue every lust. 



We have thus endeavoured to mark the difference of 

 free agency, as exerted upon our intellectual and active 

 powers ; and we are now prepared to examine how far, in 

 reference to the brutes, their nature and condition are es- 

 sentially different from our own. Do they always yield to 

 every impulse ? And are they incapable of acquiring the 

 power of occasionally restraining their propensities ? 



In a wild state, the inferior animals, like man in his sa- 



