No man is ever forced into any course of conduct.  Character is the resultant of many choices rather than of necessity.  The moral law may be obeyed or it may be violated.  Its seat is, indeed, in the bosom of God.  It is the only guarantee of individual progress and social harmony.  Its sway is without bound and without end.  To know how to live in a moral world, and how best to use the gifts of liberty, is a subject for an eternity of study.  That this consciousness of freedom comes slowly is an immense blessing; otherwise the soul would be dazed as, for the first time, it looked around on the solemnities and splendors of the spiritual universe; and be overwhelmed as it realized, at the very beginning of its career, that it was endowed with a sovereignty as mysterious and potent as that of God.

The next step in the upward movement of the soul is appreciation of a moral ideal.  That is a solemn and sublime moment when the newly awakened soul realizes that it dwells in a moral order and is free to make its own choices.  But another moment is equally thrilling—­that in which, in faint and scarcely audible accents, it catches the far call of the goal toward which, henceforward and forever, it must move.  It now knows not only that there is a difference between right and wrong, but that there are mysterious affinities between itself and truth and right.  Later the sound of that far-away voice will become more distinct.  But in its infancy the soul is more or less confused.  It hears many sounds and does not always know how to distinguish between siren voices and those which prophesy its destiny.  It also has to learn to distinguish truth and right.  The task of making moral discriminations is not easy at any time.  Amid a babel of noises to detect the one clear call which alone can satisfy is almost impossible.  The mistakes, therefore, are many, but even by mistakes the soul learns to distinguish the true from the false.  But how is it to be taught to appreciate that one voice only in all that confusion of strange sounds should be heeded, and all the rest disregarded?  The same answer as before must be given.  This knowledge, also, will come in large part with the years.  It seems to be the cosmic purpose to provide fresh light with every new step of progress.  No one is ever left in total darkness.  As the soul advances it learns to distinguish between the voices which speak to it.  The necessity of growth is the angel of the Lord whose ministries and prophecies are the hope and glory of the race.  Growth may be hindered, but it can never be banished from the universe.  It moved in chaos, and never faltered in its march, until under its beneficent leading all things were seen to be good.  It led the cosmic movement until man appeared; and now it has taken man in hand, with all the vestiges of animalism clinging to him, and it will never leave him as he rises toward the perfection and glory of God.  The law of growth answers most if not all of our questions.  The soul of man must grow.  With its growth will come vision, strength, and progress toward its goal.