428 LESSONS FEOM NATURE. [CHAP. XIV. 



willing and unwilling, as is the conviction of the existence of 

 the sun at noonday. The natural revelation appeals to and 

 puts to probation the whole of man s nature ; it might there 

 fore be expected a priori that a revelation from the Author 

 of Nature would have a similar probationary action. 



That inclination warps judgment is a trite remark. As 

 Mr. Lewes says : * The psychological law that we only see 

 what interests us, and only assimilate what is adapted to our 

 condition, causes the mind to select its evidence.&quot; Again, 

 speaking of a man who has been subjected to a special kind 

 of prejudice, he observes : f &quot;In truth his mind has received 

 a deep impression ; a conception has been fixed there, and 

 his feelings keep it supplied with energy sufficient to bear 

 down any opposing conception.&quot; The same writer, again, 

 says | that he himself only hopes for converts to his own 

 system from those &quot; who, by previous culture and native dis 

 position, have been prepared for a sympathetic attitude; these 

 are the conditions which determine the acceptance of new 



truths Unless the attitude of mind be sympathetic, 



there will be stubborn resistance to what otherwise would be 

 clearest evidence.&quot; 



Professor Tyndall observes : &quot; The desire to establish or 

 avoid a certain result can so warp the mind as to destroy its 

 power of estimating facts. I have known men to work for 

 years under a fascination of this kind.&quot; 



Again, Mr. Lecky remarks : || &quot; Every moral disposition 

 brings with it an intellectual bias, which exercises a great 

 and often a controlling and decisive influence even upon the 

 most candid inquirer.&quot; 



The doctrine of Creation then being a part of the Chris 

 tian revelation, and this doctrine being made in the present 

 day a special object of attack, an inquiry into its exact 

 meaning came to have a special interest. 



* Problems of Life and Mind, vol. i. p 467 



t Op. cit. p. 461. 



j Op. cit. vol. ii. p. 505. 



Fragments of Science, p. 47. 



|| Morals, vol. ii, p, 204. 



