THE PROBLEM OF THE WILL 



87 



Another illustration is that of a person whose 

 life has been spent in dissipation, — both the re- 

 sult and the confirmation of an inherited tendency 

 to drunkenness. His life for fifty years is that 

 of an inebriate. Now, on the theory that the 

 material organization is absolute master, we can 

 expect nothing but that he will go on irretrievably 

 to a drunkard's death. Suddenly, however, he 

 alters his course. He does it, no doubt, in re- 

 sponse to motives, but motives which are not 

 physical and cannot be stated in physical terms. 

 His case, moreover, is not isolated ; it is one of a 

 large number, some of them very conspicuous ; 

 cases of men who have changed the course of 

 their lives in the face of the furious storms of 

 evil tendency that come sweeping down the gen- 

 erations and gather energy with every added year. 

 Of such there are two explanations, and two only. 

 One is, that tke power of--G9d has manifested 

 itself, and that something has been done for that 

 man by a power outside of himself. But those 

 who believe that, would never doubt that the 

 power of God moved along the lines of the man's 

 own will. And, philosophically, such an inter- 

 vention is a matter of inference entirely, not of 

 observation. The other explanation is that the 

 real man within the physical organism has as- 



