536 PROFESSOR ALISON ON THE BELIEF 
nal, beyond the limits of Space and Time, above all contact with error or disor- 
der,—to that Intelligence of which ours, or that which makes its appearance in 
us, is but a fragment,—to that Mind, pure and incorruptible, of which ours is only 
the reflection.” 
These are sentiments which adorn and dignify Science, but I beg to ask, 
whether they are not in exact accordance with the doctrines of all our esteemed 
Scottish metaphysicians,—nay, whether they may not be regarded as commen- 
taries on the simple text already quoted from Rep, that all our knowledge of 
what exists, or ever did exist, traced to its source, is found to come by a channel, 
which is open to those who cannot reason, i. e. (the word reason being ambiguous), 
who cannot exert the voluntary power of Reasoning, but only yield to the influence 
of the faculty of Intuition implanted in their nature,—“ that we are led to it in 
the dark, and know not how we came by it,—and that the wise and humble will 
simply take it as the gift of Heaven, and try to make the best use of it.” Accord- 
ing to the doctrine of Rezp, all those mental acts in which Intuitive Belief is in- 
volved, and on which all knowledge is directly or indirectly founded, although we 
call them ows, are ultimate facts in Nature, independent of our will, and beyond 
our comprehension ; and this conclusion, so far from humbling the human mind, 
establishes a more intimate connexion between man and his Creator than can be 
inferred from any other facts in nature. 
When we attend to the meaning, and trace the applications of this principle 
of Intuition, necessarily involved in the only account we can give of our per- 
ceptions, and of all our knowledge; when we observe the still more striking 
exercise of this power in animals, whose sensations suggest to them, prior to all 
experience, the true distance, direction, and size of external objects, certainly 
neither contained in, nor deducible by any process of reasoning from, the intima- 
tions of sense; when we reflect on the equally mysterious nature, and yet on the 
proved fidelity (in the healthy state) of the evidence of Memory, essential, not 
only to all reasoning, but to all definite voluntary action of men and animals; 
when we consider the nature and the tendency of those Instinctive propensities 
or Impulses, which are excited in us and in all animals during the exercise of the 
senses, and which are equally requisite and equally effective, in attaining objects 
essential to our existence, as are the vital properties of muscles and of nerves ;— 
in all these cases, we shall perceive that truths are made known to us ina manner | 
absolutely mysterious ;—by means of impressions on our senses, but “‘ no more con- 
tained in sense, than the explosion of a cannon in the spark that gave it fire.” 
And when we farther observe, that the actions which are prompted by the In- 
stincts and Volitions both of animals and of men, consequent on the knowledge thus 
acquired, are all conducive to certain important ends, intelligible to us after ob- 
servation and reflection, but scarcely ever in the contemplation of the agents at 
the moment, we can express these facts only by saying that both men and animals 
Ee 
