Q2 HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



dom; But what is consciousness, and why is it to 

 be trusted ? Consciousness is an ultimate fact. 

 It cannot be analyzed ; its contents may be par- 

 tially enumerated, but they cannot be accounted 

 for. It is like perception through the senses, or 

 the apprehension of distinctions of thought. Who 

 can tell why certain impressions on the retina of 

 the eye give him sensations of colour and form .? 

 Who can tell why he thinks .? Consciousness is 

 like conscience. Who can tell why he feels that 

 he ought to do right and ought not to do wrong .? 

 Now the soul's sense of freedom is not only a 

 direct perception of fact; it is something more 

 than the result of a single intuition; it is rather 

 the connected product of a thousand intuitions, 

 and so is woven into the very texture of conscious- 

 ness and from it cannot be separated. All men 

 are conscious that they are free ; none can either 

 vindicate or explain that consciousness. In my 

 judgment the discussion as to the validity of the 

 argument from consciousness — whether its testi- 

 mony is to be accepted — is the very heart of the 

 problem of freedom. If consciousness is a reliable 

 witness the case is proved, even if the problem is 

 not fully solved. Against this citadel therefore 

 Dr. Henry Maudsley, in his book entitled " Body 

 and Will," directs his heaviest ordnance. He 



