And
the temptation is to some natures a very great one. Liberty is often a
heavy burden on a man. It involves that necessity for perpetual choice
which is the kind of labor men have always dreaded. In common life we
shirk it by forming habits, which take the place of self-determination.
In politics party-organization saves us the pains of much thinking before
deciding how to cast our vote. In religious matters there are great
multitudes watching us perpetually, each propagandist ready with his
bundle of finalities, which having accepted we may be at peace. The more
absolute the submission demanded, the stronger the temptation becomes to
those who have been long tossed among doubts and conflicts.
So it is that in all the quiet bays which indent the shores of the great
ocean of thought, at every sinking wharf, we see moored the hulks and the
razees of enslaved or half-enslaved intelligences. They rock peacefully
as children in their cradles on the subdued swell which comes feebly in
over the bar at the harbor's mouth, slowly crusting with barnacles,
pulling at their iron cables as if they really wanted to be free; but
better contented to remain bound as they are.
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