Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation: Including Some Strictures Upon the Theories of Rev. Henry L. Mansel and Mr. Herbert SpencerJones, Jesse Henry
Religion
Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation: Including Some Strictures Upon the Theories of Rev. Henry L. Mansel and Mr. Herbert Spencer
Take another instance. Few men, who have studied Gothic spires, have
failed to observe that the height of some, in proportion to their base,
is too great, and that of others, too small. The mind irresistibly
affirms, that between these opposite imperfections, there is a golden
mean, at which the proportion shall be _perfect_. When the formula of
this proportion shall be studied out, any workman, who is skilled with
tools, can construct a perfect spire. The law once discovered and
promulgated, becomes common knowledge. Mechanical skill will be all that
can differentiate one workman from another. The fact that the law has
not been discovered yet, throws no discredit upon the positive
affirmation of the mind, that there must be such a law; any more than
the fact of Newton's ignorance of the law of gravitation, when he saw
the apple fall, discredited his instinctive affirmation, upon seeing
that phenomenon, there is a law in accordance with which it fell.
Now how comes the mind instinctively and positively to make these
assertions. If they were judgments, the mind would only speak of
probabilities; but here, it qualifies the assertion with necessity. Men,
however positive in their temperament, do not say, "I know it will rain
to-morrow," but only, "In all probability it will." Not so here. Here
the mind refuses to express itself doubtfully. Its utterance is the
extreme of positiveness. It says _must_. And if its affirmation is not
true, then there is no _reason_ why those works of art which are held in
highest esteem, should be adjudged better than the efforts of the tyro,
except the whim of the individual, or the arbitrary determination of
their admirers.
Fourth. The ideas and beliefs which pertain to morals and religion.
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