Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/42

 the Mind. The Consequences, too, are of the same Nature: For sure, a Child left to the Direction of his own Appetites and Reason would stand the same Chance to grovel in Absurdities, as to crawl on Hands and Knees, and wallow in the Mire.

Neither is there any Difference, with Respect to the real and internal Freedom of the Mind, between Opinions instilled, and Opinions caught by Accident. For in Truth, the Mind cannot be compelled to receive any Habit of Thought, Principle, or Opinion. These may indeed be offered to the infant Mind, but the Reception of them is its own voluntary Act; and is equally so, whether they be presented by fortuitous Incidents, or designed Instruction. All the Difference is, that in the first Case such a System of Habits and Opinions will certainly arise, as tend to the Destruction of Society: In the second, such a System of Habits and Opinions may be infused into the free Mind, as