Chapter IV: 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.

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[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

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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.

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_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.