THE PROBLEM OF THE WILL gi 



they were born to do. This is precisely the 

 conclusion of materialism. It is not strange 

 that those who are exclusive students of physical 

 science are usually fatalists. There is no free- 

 dom if man is simply a product of his ancestry 

 and his environment. Hence we find Dr. Mauds- 

 ley saying : " There is a destiny made for a man 

 by his ancestors, and no one can elude, were 

 he able to attempt it, the tyranny of his organi- 

 zation." Again he says: '"The wicked are not 

 wicked by deliberate choice of the advantages 

 of wickedness, which are a delusion, or of the 

 pleasures of wickedness, which are a snare, but 

 by an inclination of their natures which makes 

 the evil good to them, and the good evil ; that 

 they choose the gratification of a present indul- 

 gence in spite of the chance or certainty of 

 future punishment and suffering, is often a proof, 

 not only of a natural affinity for evil, but of a 

 deficient understanding and a feeble will." It 

 is difficult to see how this conclusion can be 

 evaded. It is not a question of what should be, 

 but of what is. The intellect and the will may 

 be crippled as easily as the limbs. Where a 

 man is born with a weak will and strong animal 

 nature, his tendency will be toward animalism ; 

 but where, on the other hand, he is born with 



