THE LAW OF HABIT. 53 



indulgence, become at last their only use ; that our lower blind and 

 animal propensities shall become, if allowed freedom from restraint, 

 irresistible ; and that in fact whosoever committeth sin selleth him- 

 self into slavery. If this were not the case ; if continued practice of 

 evil produced no abiding consolidation of results in character, then 

 the basis and stability of our virtues would to the same extent be 

 shaken, for they rest upon the same foundation. We may not be 

 cognizant of the growth of these results. Consciousness fails to 

 reveal it, just as it fails to reveal organic growth. We fail to recog- 

 nize the end toward which we are drifting. We do not realize that 

 the moments we spend carry us forward silently but irresistibly to 

 death. We cannot see that each successive day is marked by steps 

 either in our growth or decay. These facts are revealed and certified, 

 however, by observations taken at distant points in time. In the 

 same way, through the '* robust consciousness of liberty," we are 

 deluded into believing that we shall always be able to govei-n our- 

 selves, and that although the path of reckless indulgence may have 

 been trodden for years we shall, after they have lapsed, be as free to 

 choose our course as we were before that path was entered upon. 

 We are confident that our strength of soul will remain unbroken, and 

 that at any time we choose we can quell the surging tide of passion 

 by a word. But we forget that sin is truly bondage, and those facul- 

 ties whose very life and health consist in their freedom, will remain 

 in spite of everything with all this slavery of habit bound upon 



them. 



" Never let man be bold enough to say, ^ 



Thus and no farther let my passions stray ; 

 The first crime past compels us on to more, 

 And guilt proves fate which was but choice before." 



The wisdom of the provision by which these abiding consequences 

 of good or evil ai-e attached to conduct is as apparent in its adapti- 

 bility for highest purposes as that seen in the power of growth with 

 which the intellectual powers and voluntary powers of movement 

 are endowed. The springs of moral action in man are subject to the 

 same law of development as these other powers, in virtue of his 

 nature as a free and responsible agent, in order that a man may reap 

 whatsoever he has sown, that reward may be given unto every man 

 according to his works, that men may by their own free use or abuse 

 of powers build up the fabric of their own destiny. 



