There are _general rules_ of right and wrong which can be communicated both by God and man, but these rules are to be _applied_ by men to the numberless and ever‐varying circumstances of life, involving still the same necessity of _experience of evil_ in order to detect the _relative_ amount of good to be gained in the varied courses offered for pursuit to which these rules are to be applied. Now the grand difficulty, as it respects both God and man, as before shown, is the positive inability of undeveloped mind to understand much of what is right and wrong. This difficulty meets the mature mind as really as it does the infant’s; for while many of the general rules evolved by reason and experience are clear, and easily perceived, there are endless varieties of cases in which the _application_ of these rules is a matter of uncertainty. For example, that men are to be honest and speak the truth, are rules universally appreciated. But then come the questions whether this and that thing _is_ honest, or whether in this or that emergency it may not be right to say what is false. The higher men advance in civilization, and the more means and modes of enjoyment are discovered, the more complicated become the questions of right, and the more frequent the temptations to wrong. All that can be done is to cultivate the conscience and train the reasoning powers of mankind, so that by means of the experience of life, as developed by individuals and communities, regard to the rules of right and wrong shall keep pace with the increasing civilization. With these distinctions in the mind, we can perceive that _sin_, in its widest sense, including transgression of _unknown_ law, is inevitable in a perfect system of finite minds, while in the limited sense, as transgression of _known_ law, it is not so. So also we can see, that without the intervention of the Creator to teach us, it is an impossibility for any human being to live without sin; so that this intervention is impossible except to a limited extent, without an entire change in the eternal nature of things to which God’s own will is conformed. CHAPTER XXVI. HUMILITY AND MEEKNESS. We have seen that we can learn what is right and wrong only by aid received from the experience of our fellow‐beings around us.