[Footnote 115: Müller, "Christian Doctrine of Sin," vol. i. p. 81.] Self-determination, equally with self-consciousness, exists in us under manifold _limitations_. Self-determination is limited by physical, corporeal, and mental conditions, so that there is "an impassable boundary line drawn around the area of volitional freedom." But the most fundamental and original limitation is that of _duty_. The self-determining power of man is not only circumscribed by necessary conditions, but also by the _moral law_ in the consciousness of man. Self-determination alone does not suffice for the full conception of responsible freedom; it only becomes, _will_, properly by its being an intelligent and conscious determination; that is, the rational subject is able previously to recognize "the right," and present before his mind that which he _ought_ to do, that which he is morally bound to realize and actualize by his own self-determination and choice. Accordingly we find in our inmost being a _sense of obligation_ to obey the moral law as revealed in the conscience. As we can not become conscious of self without also becoming conscious of God, so we can not become properly conscious of self-determination until we have recognized in the conscience a law for the movements of the will. Now this moral law, as revealed in the conscience, is not a mere autonomy--a simple subjective law having no relation to a personal lawgiver out of and above man. Every admonition of conscience directly excites the consciousness of a God to whom man is accountable. The universal consciousness of our race, as revealed in history, has always associated the phenomena of conscience with the idea of a personal Power above man, to whom he is subject and upon whom he depends. In every age, the voice of conscience has been regarded as the voice of God, so that when it has filled man with guilty apprehensions, he has had recourse to sacrifices, and penances, and prayers to expatiate his wrath.