belongs to her Creator. Not being in herself sovereign, she
cannot develop the right to govern, nor can she develop
government as a fact, to say nothing of its right, for
government, whether we speak of it as fact or as authority, is
distinct from that which is governed; but natural developments
are nature, and indistinguishable from her. The governor and the
governed, the restrainer and the restrained, can never as such be
identical. Self-government, taken strictly, is a contradiction
in terms. When an individual is said to govern himself, he is
never understood to govern himself in the sense in which be is
governed. He by his reason and will governs or restrains his
appetites and passions. It is man as spirit governing man as
flesh, the spiritual mind governing the carnal mind.

Natural developments cannot in all cases be even allowed to take
their own course without injury to nature herself. "Follow
nature" is an unsafe maxim, if it means, leave nature to develop
herself as she will, and follow thy natural inclinations. Nature
is good, but inclinations are frequently bad. All our appetites
and passions are given us for good, for a purpose useful and
necessary to individual and social life, but they become morbid
and injurious if indulged without restraint. Each has its
special object, and naturally seeks it exclusively, and thus
generates discord and war in the individual, which immediately
find expression in society, and also in the state, if the state
be a simple natural development. The Christian maxim, Deny
thyself, is far better than the Epicurean maxim, Enjoy thyself,
for there is no real enjoyment without self-denial. There is
deep philosophy in Christian asceticism, as the Positivists
themselves are aware, and even insist. But Christian asceticism