Page:Freeman v6.djvu/20

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22
OSCAR W. COOLEY

that man remain changeless, neither progressing nor retrogressing? Study of the world of nature reveals change going on everywhere and unceasingly, and at least some, perhaps all, of this change is from the lower to the higher. In a universe characterized by progress, would the Creator have made man, his only thinking creature, static? Again,both observation and reason answer no.

This leaves but one alternative, namely, that the Creator intends that man shall change for the better. And since the Creator has made man, as well as all else that composes the universe, and hence is vastly more powerful than man and can unmake him at will, it follows that man does well to follow this intent of the Creator and to make it an aim of his life to become a better man.

This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that man is capable of development; he has demonstrated this. Men have become vastly better men. Others have become worse. Either result is possible. The fact that a man may either develop or deteriorate impresses upon us the need of constantly pushing forward if only to keep from going backward.

If this answer is accepted, the desirability, not to say the necessity, of individual freedom becomes manifest, for a man cannot improve himself to the utmost unless he has the freedom to do so. Within the bounds of respect for the private property of others, he must have the freedom to move to any point on the earth's surface, or indeed to other worlds, in order that he may make use of the most productive resources as well as the richest cultural opportunities. He must be free to offer his own