[4] See Hugh Miller's _Essays_, quoted by Murray, _op. cit._, p. 137. [5] Cf. W. James, _Varieties of Religious Experience_, pp. 81-86. [6] Cf. Goethe's _Faust_. See also Nietzsche, _Goetzendaemmerung_ for trenchant criticism of Rousseau. [7] Murray, _idem_. [8] Max Mueller, Fraser, _Golden Bough_, and others. [9] Anfaenge des Christentums. [10] Cf. Ottley, _Christian Ideas and Ideals_, p. 52. 'Christianity does justice both to man's inherent instinct that he has been made for God, and to his sense of unworthiness and incapacity.' [11] _Pensees_, part ii. art. 1. [12] Emerson. [13] Ed. Caird, _Critical Philosophy of Kant_, p. 35. [14] See Author's _Ethics of St. Paul_. [15] Ottley, _idem_, p. 55. [16] Luke xxi. 19. [17] Cf. John Caird, _Introd. to the Philosophy of Religion_. [18] Cf. Wm. James's _Pragmatism_ and _A Pluralistic World_. [19] _Idem_, p. 201. [20] Cf. Bosanquet, _The Principles of Individuality and Value_. [21] Bergson, _Evol. Creat._, p. 174 f. [22] Cf. E. Caird, _Kant_, vol. ii. pp. 530 and 535. [23] _Evol. Creat._, p. 159. [24] _Hib. Jour._, July 1911. [25] Some sentences in the above are borrowed from the writer's _Ethics of St. Paul_. {68} CHAPTER V THE WITNESS OF CONSCIENCE Passing from the physical and mental constituents of man, we turn to the more distinctly moral elements; and in this chapter we shall consider that aspect of the human consciousness to which mankind has given the name of 'conscience.' No subject has presented greater difficulties to the moralist, and there are few which require more careful elucidation. From the earliest period of reflection the question how we came to have moral ideas has been a disputed one. At first it was thought that there existed in man a distinct innate faculty or moral sense which was capable of deciding categorically man's duty without reference to history or condition. But in modern times the theory of evolution has discredited the inviolable character of conscience, and sought rather to determine its nature and significance in the light of its origin and development. Only the barest outline of the subject can be attempted here, since our object is simply to show that however we may account for its presence, there is in man, as we know him, some power or function which bears witness to divine truth and fits him to respond to the revelation of Christ. It will be most convenient to consider the subject under three heads: I. the history of the Conception; II. the nature and origin of Conscience; and III. its present validity. I. _History of the Conception_.--'The name conscience,' says a writer on the subject, 'appears somewhat late in {69} the history of the world: that for which it stands is as old as mankind.'[1]