"
"The truth alone can be proved, my lord; how should a lie be proved?
The man that wanted to prove he had no freedom of will, would find
no satisfaction from his test--and the less the more honest he was;
but the man anxious about the dignity of the nature given him, would
find every needful satisfaction in the progress of his obedience."
"How can there be free will where the first thing demanded for its
existence or knowledge of itself is obedience?"
"There is no free will save in resisting what one would like, and
doing what the Truth would have him do. It is true the man's liking
and the truth may coincide, but therein he will not learn his
freedom, though in such coincidence he will always thereafter find
it, and in such coincidence alone, for freedom is harmony with the
originating law of one's existence."
"That's dreary doctrine."
"My lord, I have spent no little time and thought on the subject,
and the result is some sort of practical clearness to myself; but,
were it possible, I should not care to make it clear to another save
by persuading him to arrive at the same conviction by the same
path--that, namely, of doing the thing required of him."
"Required of him by what?"
"By any one, any thing, any thought, with which can go the word
required by--anything that carries right in its demand. If a man
does not do the thing which the very notion of a free will requires,
what in earth, heaven, or hell, would be the use of his knowing all
about the will? But it is impossible he should know anything.
Pages:
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485