THE CHILD AS GIVEN BY NATURE 55 



the animal, is life's problem of personal char- 

 acter. 



In the struggle with animalism, as in the tra- 

 ditional struggle with inbred sin, there is no per- 

 sonal deliverance and victory except through 

 God's aid, which is graciously offered to all, and 

 by it sinning is destroyed as a necessity. 



It is not the problem of spiritual life to kill 

 this animal, which God gave us at birth. It was 

 God's first gift, and unmistakably represents His 

 goodness and wisdom. But it was never given 

 us as representing man's final condition; rather 

 it is only the starting-point of life. As such it 

 has nothing but an impelling force. It can not see 

 the way for a man; it can not appreciate the 

 worth of a man ; it can not choose the way or the 

 destiny of a man. It, then, needs control, limita.- 

 tion, denial, guidance. The moral problem of 

 life, as related to the animal nature, is contained 

 in these actions of mastery by the rational na- 

 ture.* We are never to attempt to destroy any 

 animal impulse, much less to claim that by the 

 power of God's grace any animal impulse has 

 been destroyed. These impulses are not sinful. 

 Life under grace tends to their strength and 

 health rather than to their weakness and nega- 



* "Men, it is true, no longer believe in the devil's agency; at least, they no longer 

 believe in the power of calling up the devil and transacting business with him; other- 

 wise there would be hundreds of such stories as that of Faust. But the spirit which 

 created the story and rendered it credible to all Europe remains unchanged. . . . We 

 do not make compacts, but we throw away our lives; we have no tempter face to face 

 with us, offering illimitable powers in exchange for our futurity; but we have our own 

 desires, imperious, insiduous, and for them we bartor our existence for one moment's 

 pleasure risking years of anguish." (Lewes: "Life of Goethe," II, 270.) 



