BELIEFS OF REASON.
"While we indulge to the _Sensitive_ or _Plantal_ Life, our delights
are common to us with the creatures _below_ us: and 'tis likely, they
exceed us as much in them, as in the senses their subjects; and that's
a poor happiness for Man to aim at, in which Beasts are his Superiours.
But those Mercurial spirits which were only lent the Earth to shew
Men their folly in admiring it; possess delights of a nobler make and
nature, which as it were antedate _Immortality_; and, at an humble
distance, resemble the joyes of the world of _Light_ and _Glory_.
The _Sun_ and _Stars_, are not the world's _Eyes_, but _These_: the
_Celestial Argus_ cannot glory in such an universal view. These
out-travel theirs, and their _Monarch's_ beams: passing into _Vortexes_
beyond their Light and Influence; and with an easie twinkle of an
Intellectual Eye look into the _Centre_, which is obscur'd from the
upper Luminaries. This is somewhat like the Image of _Omnipresence_.
And what the _Hermetical Philosophy_ saith of _God_, is in a sense
verifiable of the thus _ennobled soul_, That _its Centre is every
where, but its circumference no where_....
".... And yet there's an higher degree, to which _Philosophy_ sublimes
us. For, as it teacheth a generous contempt of what the grovelling
desires of _creeping_ Mortals Idolize and dote on: so it raiseth us
to love and admire an Object, that is as much above terrestrial, as
_Infinite_ can make it. If _Plutarch_ may have credit, the observation
of Nature's Harmony in the _Celestial Motions_ was one of the first
inducements to the belief of _a God_. And a greater then he affirms,
that the visible things of the Creation declare him, that made them.
What knowledge we have of them, we have in a sense of their Authour.
His face cannot be beheld by Creature-Opticks, without the allay of a
reflexion; and Nature is one of those mirrors, that represents him to
us. And now, the more we know of him the more we love him, the more
we are like him, the more we admire him. 'Tis here that _knowledge
wonders_; and there's an _Admiration_, that's not the _Daughter_ of
_Ignorance_. This indeed stupidly gazeth at the unwonted _effect_.
But the Philosophical passion truly admires and adores the supreme
_Efficient_ ....
".... And from this last article, I think I may conclude the charge,
which hot-brained folly layes in against _Philosophy_; that it leads
to _Irreligion_, frivolous and vain. I dare say, next after the
divine _Word_, it's one of the best friends to _Piety_. Neither is it
any more justly accountable for the impious irregularities of some,
that have paid an homage to its shrine; than Religion itself for the
extravagancies both _opinionative_ and _practick_ of high pretenders
to it. It is a vulgar conceit, that _Philosophy_ holds a confederacy
with _Atheism_ itself, but most _injurious_: for nothing can better
antidote us against it: and they may as well say, that _Physitians_ are
the only _murtherers_. A _Philosophick Atheist_, is as good sense as a
Divine one."--_Glanvill's Apology for Philosophy_, at end of _Scepsis
Scientifica_, Ed. I. p. 177, seq.
* * * * *
[Greek: Esti gar apaideusia to mê gignôskein tinôn dei zêtein apodeixin
kai tinôn ou dei Holôs men gar hapantôn adynaton apodeixin einai; eis
apeiron gar an badizoi, hôste mêd' houtôs einai apodeixin.] Arist.
_Metaph._ IV. ([Greek: G]) cap. 4.
The following is the translation of MM. Pierron et Zévort: "C'est
de l'ignorance de ne pas savoir distinguer ce qui a besoin de
démonstration de ce qui n'en a pas besoin. Il est absolument impossible
de tout démontrer: il faudrait pour cela aller à l'infini; de sorte
qu'il n'y aurait même pas de démonstration." Métaphysique d'Aristote,
Tome I. p. 116.
"Man's higher Instinct leads to lofty aspiration,
To generous sentiment, and boundless desire,
Till he seeks and finds the Author of his Soul.
In seeking for him he perfects his virtue,
By finding him he is made strong within,
And being strong he strengthens his brethren."
"Light is natural to the Eye, and the Eye improves under Light,
So Truth is natural to the Mind, and the Mind improves under Truth.
But the student of Goodness must himself become good,
So far at least as to choose Goodness for his best portion.
If base passion or worldliness is allowed to domineer,
No man can gaze steadily at Purity and at God.
And then perhaps he despairs of religious truth,
And moralizes on Man's feebleness and limited faculties,
So unfitted to fathom the Divine and to know the Eternal!"
F. NEWMAN. _Theism_, pp. 2 and 12.
"The world offers just now the spectacle, humiliating to us in many
ways, of millions of people clinging to their old idolatrous religions,
and refusing to change them even for a higher form; whilst in Christian
Europe thousands of the most cultivated class are beginning to consider
atheism a permissible, or even a desirable thing. The very instincts
of the savage rebuke us. But just when we seem in danger of losing
all, may come the moment of awakening to the dangers of our loss. A
world where thought is a secretion of the brain-gland, where free-will
is the dream of a madman that thinks he is an emperor though naked
and in chains, where God is not, or at least not knowable, such is
not the world as we learnt it, on which great lives have been lived
out, great self-sacrifices dared, great piety and devotion have been
bent to soften the sin, the ignorance, and the misery. It is a world
from which the sun is withdrawn, and with it all light and life. But
this is not our world as it was, not the world of our fathers. To
live is to think and to will. To think is to see the chain of facts
in creation, and passing along its golden links, to find the hand of
God at its beginning, as we saw His handiwork in its course. And to
will is to be able to know good and evil; and to will aright is to
submit the will entirely to a will higher than ours. So that with God
alone can we find true knowledge and true rest, the vaunted fruits of
philosophy."--_Limits of Philosophical Inquiry_. By the Archbishop of
York, p. 24.
"The mind of man becomes
A thousand times more beautiful than the earth
On which he dwells, above this frame of things
* * * * *
In beauty exalted, as it is itself
Of quality and fabric more divine."
WORDSWORTH. _The Prelude_, sub. fin.
"Religion, Poetry is not dead; it will never die. Its dwelling and
birth place is in the soul of man, and it is eternal as the being
of man. In any point of space, in any section of Time, let there be
a living Man; and there is an Infinitude above him and beneath him,
and an Eternity encompasses him on this hand and on that; and tones
of Sphere-music, and tidings from loftier worlds, will flit round
him, if he can but listen, and visit him with holy influences, even
in the thickest press of trivialities, or the din of busiest life.
Happy the man, happy the nation, that can hear these tidings; that has
them written in fit characters, legible to every eye, and the solemn
import of them present at all moments to every heart! That there is,
in these days, no nation so happy, is too clear; but that all nations,
and ourselves in the van, are, with more or less discernment of its
nature, struggling towards this happiness, is the hope and the glory
of our time. To us, as to others, success, at a distant or a nearer
day, cannot be uncertain. Meanwhile, the first condition of success
is, that, in striving honestly ourselves, we honestly acknowledge
the striving of our neighbour; that with a will unwearied in seeking
Truth, we have a sense open for it wheresoever and howsoever it may
arise."--CARLYLE. _Miscellanies_, p. 99, Last Edition.
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER IV.
With the last Chapter closes what may be termed the more critical part
of this Essay. The remainder is occupied with a series of affirmative
arguments.
The preparation for these arguments having been minutely made,
explanatory additions become less necessary.
The main object of the present chapter is to establish a tenable
Theory respecting those Human Beliefs among which is included our
primary Belief in Theism. Their nature and validity not having as yet
been sufficiently investigated (see footnote (_b_) p. 256 _post_),
some extent of discussion attends the inquiry. To many readers the
territory opened out will appear new. It ought however to be traversed
by all careful students of Psychology.
* * * * *
_Analysis_:--Tendencies of the Human Mind resulting in certain
concrete Beliefs. The Inductive Principle, or Law of Uniformity,
investigated. Various explanations of its origin examined and
rejected; particularly the hypothesis which resolves it into Laws of
Association. Shewn to be a primary Belief; at first pre-rational,
afterwards limited and established by Reason. The latter process
separates by a strong line of demarcation the realm of Humanity from
that of the lower creation.
Animal instincts, some improvable, some "survivals." Human instincts
transformed by Reason. Certain primary Beliefs peculiar to Man. Hence
his special culture.
Theism. Fallacies from confusion between Tests of Speculative and of
Practical Truth. Lesson of Mathematics. Speculative truths tested by
analytic process; Practical by synthetic; their work becomes their
ever-growing verification. Application of this test to two practical
beliefs; our natural belief in externalities, and our belief in the
Supernatural. Speculative difficulties intruded into the practical
sphere become apparently insuperable. Both spheres essentially Human.
Natural Realism compared with Realistic Theism.
Formation and growth of Belief in the Supernatural as a Belief of
Reason. Absurdities attaching to its rejection. Ennobling influences
of its acceptance explained and exemplified. Ideal of Humanity,
crowned by the Ideal of God, to Whom both the Natural and the Moral
world bear witness.