THE PROBLEM OF THE WILL 77 



for himself, is yet born with a passion for music. 

 Wherever he goes sweet sounds start whole sym- 

 phonies in his soul, and discord is as painful as a 

 bodily hurt. That youth may choose to be a law- 

 yer or a merchant, but whatever choice he makes, 

 he will make it with a chorus of entreating voices 

 calling him toward music. In all likelihood he 

 will become a musician, even though the advice 

 of friends be against it, and all prospects of 

 worldly promotion invite him elsewhere. What 

 has decided his destiny ? His own choice. Yes, 

 — but what determined his choice .-* The fact, ) 

 either that he was the son of musicians, or that 

 he has inherited tastes which, by the principle of 

 atavism, have skipped generations and reasserted 

 themselves in him. 



The tendency towards sensuality is perhaps the 

 strongest of the innate tendencies. Sins against 

 purity are committed usually under a kind of spell. 

 The temptation has a hypnotic influence. Pas- 

 sion rises, and silently but swiftly pervades and 

 benumbs the moral faculties ; it hides the faces 

 of beseeching friends ; it dulls and deadens the 

 conscience ; it makes evil seem good, and, for the 

 moment, obliterates the memory of purity and 

 goodness. No power is so strong. Love is the 

 greatest blessing in the world when it is pure, but 



