“I never had a great change of that kind to make.  I had a moral awakening, which was rude but effective, never a conversion; I had not to strike my old colours.”

Thus, though he was a strong Determinist, his capacity for idealism, and a natural enthusiasm, saved him from the paralysis which in some cases results from such speculations.

“I look upon all philosophical theories as explanations of an ontological problem, not as a basis of action.  The appearance of free-will in adopting or discontinuing a course of action is a deception, but it is a complete deception—­so complete as not to affect in the slightest my interest in what is going to happen, nor my unconscious posing as a factor in that result.  Though I am only a cogwheel in a vast machine, yet I am conscious of my cogs, interested in my motions and the motions of the whole machine, though ignorant of who is turning, why he began, and whether he will stop, and why.

“If I saw the slightest loophole at which free-will might creep in, I would rush to it, but I do not; if man was created with a free will, he was also created with predispositions which made the acting of that will a matter of mathematical certainty.

“But the idea that it diminishes my interest in life or its issues is preposterous; I am inclined to credit God with larger ideas than my own, and His why and wherefore, and the part I bear in it, is extraordinarily fascinating to me because it is so hidden; and the least indication of law that I can seize upon—­such as this law of necessity—­is an entrancing glimpse into reality.  It may not be quite so delightful as some other theories, but it is true, and real, and therefore has an actual working in you and me and every one else, which can not fail to attach a certain interest to it which other systems lack.”

He gives a very graphic illustration of the phenomena of free-will.  He says—­

“It seems to me closely to resemble a very ordinary phenomenon:  the principle that things as they are farther off appear to us to be smaller.  Logical reflection assures us that they are not so, but the effect upon our senses is completely illusive; and, what is more, we act as though they were smaller; we act as if what they gained in distance they lost in size; we aim at a target which is many feet high and broad as if it was but a few inches; we say the sun is about as big as a soup-plate, and having once made these allowances the knowledge does not affect our conduct of life at all.

“Just so with free-will; we know by our reason that the thing is impossible; we act as though it were a prevailing possibility.”

His position with regard to Christianity was shortly as follows; it is settled by an extract from his diary: