Freedom of Will Empirically Considered. 19 



of the father, when his son says to him for the first time, " I 

 think differently." As a manthinketh so is he. Here is a 

 pivot of revolution which no external facts can control, but 

 upon which they in turn are dependent. If we introduce 

 liberty in human action at this centre of thought, and leave 

 it to extend itself by a steady modification of internal con- 

 ditions, and to maintain itself by fresh acquisitions, freedom 

 is reconcilable both with the theory of life and the facts of 

 life, and is seen to be the one significant factor in them both. 



If there is a slow accumulation of circumstances about 

 one which hedge the way, the fact is due to the passivity of 

 the mind in the ripening of events. If the mind is active 

 and watchful, this infinite division of particulars, this slow 

 gathering of difficulties are in favor of liberty. By foresight 

 and effort the mind increases its powers of resistance and 

 guidance. The problem of life is indefatigable will at war 

 with unwearied forces, but forces can be divided against 

 themselves, and enlisted on the side of will. 



While spontaneity exercised in thought — and in this way 

 productive of light — is the condition of continuous freedom, 

 the condition of the condition is virtue, feelings that turn on 

 and subordinate themselves to the truth. If the intellectual 

 movement is not honest in its incipiency it shortly fails of 

 thoroughness. It is not light alone that is the efficient con- 

 structive force in the green tissue of leaves; it is light and 

 heat. It is not truth alone that maintains the vitality of 

 growing points in the mind, but truth and feeling. Feelings 

 that are alien to the facts soon alter our conception of the 

 facts, and so the facts shake us off and escape us. We 

 are not masters, because we have lost the true word of com- 

 mand. 



Personal liberty is like liberty in the state. Its safe pos- 

 session is one of profound obedience to deeply implanted 

 principles. It is not, therefore, the less liberty or of less 

 worth. On the one side the very condition of strength is a 

 struggle with domineering tendencies, and on the other their 

 steadfast government under new conditions. Libert}' is a 

 movement from law to law, each succeeding law being 

 higher, broader, more inclusive, and more fortunate. 



