It has been thought by some that all human minds are originally constituted alike: that as you can move eastward or westward, according as you choose to set your face in the one direction or the other; so it depends entirely on the determination of the will in what department of effort you shall excel. But we need scarcely remark that all children are not alike precocious, and all adults are not alike capable of learning and teaching. Original constitution, out of which women as well as men are made, is infinitely varied. As from a few elements the endless forms of matter are built up, so out of different proportions of mental and moral qualities the endless diversities of human character are formed. In the world of matter, an almost infinitesimally small portion of foreign substance may quite alter the chemical character of a compound; and in the world of mind, the smallest excess or defect in any given faculty or feeling may make all the difference between the best and the worst, the dullest and the brightest, of mankind. Some seem to have all the most characteristic elements of greatness heaped upon their heads, or intensified in their constitutions; and so they become wonders to the world. Others have minds so obtuse that none but the plainest elements of knowledge are attainable by them, and souls so torpid that they are never able to originate a poetic thought.
If we turn to external nature, we behold endless diversity. How various the forms of animal life, whether considered in existing species, or traced back through endless ages to the first dawn of time! In the mineral kingdom, what forms and hues may we trace, from the diamonds of royal crowns down to the rocks of the everlasting hills! So in the vegetable domain. The weed flourishes in the bed of the sea—the moss on the summits of our highland hills—the lichen amidst the ice and snow of Nova Zembla—the palm in India—the cedar in Lebanon—and the pine in Norway. Shall not God’s resources find their amplest illustration in His last and noblest work—humanity? It is contrary to all analogy to expect uniformity of faculty or temperament among the human species. Be it observed, also, that as in the animal kingdom, structure necessitates function and habit; that as in the mineral kingdom there are fixed laws which we cannot alter; and that as in the vegetable kingdom nature determines her own growths: so in the world of mind, in the formation of character, while God permits moral agency, he asserts His own sovereignty. We do not believe that you are children of circumstances, as socialists and fatalists affirm, so that your character is formed for you, and not by you; still it would be the utmost folly to deny that circumstances exercise a mighty influence. As the storms affect the flight of the eagle and the speed of the steam-ship, but do not determine their course: so your original constitution influences you, but does not necessarily determine your character.