FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 303 
chiefly been with nations who haye in part emerged from 
barbarism. In order to observe the power of restraint 
which they are capable of exercising over their propensi- 
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 ¢a- 
