IN THE REALM OF MIND. 329 



what we feel it to be, and is it only from miscon- 

 ception of its nature that we puzzle over its rela- 

 tion to Law? We speak, and speak truly, of our 

 Wills being free; but free from what? It seems 

 to be forgotten that Freedom is not an absolute 

 but a relative term. There is no such thing 

 existing as absolute freedom — that is to say, there 

 is nothing existing in the world, or possible even 

 in thought, which is absolutely Alone — entirely 

 free from inseparable relationship to some other 

 thing or things. Freedom, therefore, is only in- 

 telligible as meaning the being free from some 

 particular kind of restraint or of inducement to 

 which other beings are subject. From what, 

 then, is it that our Wills are free ? Are they 

 free from the influence of motives ? Certainly 

 not. And what are motives ? A motive is 

 that which moves, or tends to move, the mind 

 in a particular direction. Like all other words 

 which are used to describe the phenomena 

 of Mind, it is taken from the language ap- 

 plicable to material things, and suggests the 

 analogies which exist between them. It belongs 

 to the profound but unconscious metaphysics of 



