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Some have asserted that human affairs are
         altogether determined by the voluntary action of men,
         some that the Providence of God directs us in every
         step, some that all events are fixed by Destiny. It is
(5)       for us to ascertain how far each of these affirmations
         is true.
               The life of individual man is of a mixed nature. In
         part he submits to the free-will impulses of himself and
         others, in part he is under the inexorable dominion of
(10)    law. He insensibly changes his estimate of the relative
         power of each of these influences as he passes through
         successive stages. In the confidence of youth he
         imagines that very much is under his control, in the
         disappointment of old age very little. As time wears on,
(15)    and the delusions of early imagination vanish away, he
         learns to correct his sanguine views, and prescribes a
         narrower boundary for the things he expects to obtain.
         The realities of life undeceive  him at last, and there
         steals over the evening of his days an unwelcome
(20)    conviction of the vanity of human hopes. The things he
         has secured are not the things he expected. He sees that
         a Supreme Power has been using him for unknown ends,
         that he was brought into the world without his own
         knowledge and is departing from it against his own
(25)    will.
               Whoever has made the physical and intellectual
         history of individual man his study will be prepared to
         admit in what a surprising manner it foreshadows social
         history. The equilibrium and movement of humanity are
(30)    altogether physiological phenomena. Yet not without
         hesitation may such an opinion be frankly avowed, since
         it is offensive to the pride, and to many of the
         prejudices and interests of our age. An author who has
         been disposed to devote many years to the labor of
(35)    illustrating this topic has need of the earnest support
         of all who prize the truth; and, considering the extent
         and profundity  of his subject, his work, at the best,
         must be very imperfect, requiring all the forbearance
         and even the generosity of criticism.