65 
as Sir William Hamilton that consciousness is an impregnable 
rock_, on whicb. any true philosophy must found : he asserts 
that the deliverances of consciousness must be accepted, no 
matter what evidence there may be to the contrary. 
Having, then. Mind given us as one of the factors of man^s 
nature, we are entitled to go to mental philosophers and 
ask them what they find in Mind. We have a clear and 
undoubted right to bring in their analysis, and to learn from 
them what regions together make up the entire territory of 
consciousness. In this matter we cannot accept Mr. Spencer^s 
dictum. His authority as a pure mental philosopher is of 
little weight. In this realm there are far greater names than 
his, and to these we must defer. He tells us, from his 
examination of the universe, that Mind exists. We now, then, 
call in the specialist, the mental philosopher, and ask him 
what it is that Mind contains. 
There are three primary deliverances which mental philo- 
sophy declares to be facts of consciousness. These are : — 1. 
Our sense of Personality and of Identity, — the consciousness 
that we are personal individual units, and that we are the same 
beings as we were awhile ago. 2. Our sense of a Law of 
Moral Obligation, informing us of the existence of a code laid 
down to guide our conduct, requiring our obedience to that 
code, and hinting, more or less clearly, at certain vague yet 
terrible penalties which disobedience will certainly bring upon 
us. 3. Our sense of Moral Liberty, which tells us that what- 
ever motives may be brought to bear upon us, and whatever 
precepts or hints may be given to guide us, we yet stand 
perfectly free to accept or reject such guidance, and are com- 
pelled to be supreme arbiters of our own destiny, choosers of 
our own shape and character, fashioners of that self which 
shall endure as long as consciousness lasts. 
That these three are facts of consciousness is not allowed 
by all philosophers ; probably, however, in number and weight 
their assertors greatly predominate. Plato, Kant, and 
Hamilton may be cited as giving them clear and glowing 
expression ; Moses, St. Paul, and St. John certainly hold the 
first two, as, in a sense which is amply sufficient for us, they 
as certainly hold the last. 
We thus obtain three great propositions, to the truth of 
which we have a witness of the most absolute validity. With 
each of these three propositions Mr. Spencer^s system of 
philosophy comes into complete and thorough-going antagon- 
ism. He claims to have established the logical contradictory 
in each case. That is to say, he claims to have proved three 
propositions which are utterly contradicted b^r what certainly 
VOL. X^I. F 
