and dominion, one of the direst evils of the human heart, and one which has been among the chief sources of human suffering. The desire to rule over one's fellow-men, to bring them into subjection, to put them under one's feet and be their master;—the desire to reach a throne, and, when it has been reached, to extend sway and rule over wider and wider territory, and over greater and greater numbers of human beings;—or, what is perhaps still worse, the desire to get spiritual power, to exercise dominion over men's minds and souls, as in the corrupted Church:—^this monster passion, in any of its forms, is one of the most depraved and deadly evils that can reign in the heart of man. This wicked ambition, as all history shows, has been a most fruitful source of desolating wars,—wars that have ravaged whole countries with fire and sword, slaughtered thousands and myriads of men, and made millions of weeping widows and orphans.
And why, it may be asked, does a good Providence permit such scenes and miseries? Why does He tolerate such deeds? Why does He not send down His thunderbolts and part the combatants? The reasons lie deep in the counsels of Divine wisdom;—yet He has in part made them known. The great reason is, doubtless, the same as that for the permission of evil of any kind,—namely, that man, to be man, must be left in his freedom—in the freedom to think right or to think wrong, to love good or to love evil, to form to himself plans, and at least to seek to carry them into execution. Take away this freedom,—and you have stocks and statues, not human beings,—lifeless images, not men. Humanity implies liberty of thought and of feeling, and at least of effort at action. If, then, men,
