XX. PROLEGOMENA. 



judgment, as there are illusions of individual 

 fancy, and they are likewise more suhtile and 

 obstinate, from the greater bias given to them by 

 the selfish passions : and therefore any great 

 moral proposition of an extraordinary kind, as 

 well as any unusual vision, must be tried 

 by Authority ; which is perfect and decisive in 

 proportion as the authors or judges assembled in 

 Council are numerous, various, sound, and in- 

 tellectual. Authority then determines the ex- 

 ternal existence of an object, and the truth of a 

 proposition just in the same way, by proving 

 that it is general and not particular truth, which 

 is the only criterion I am acquainted with where- 

 by we can try the validity of our opinions. The 

 truth of the Catholic Religion for example, or 

 its validity, that is, the certainty that it will 

 answer in the end to all our hopes and ex- 

 pectations, and fulfil those promises which con- 

 stitutes its advantage, rests principally on the 

 fact that its doctrines have been tried by the 

 most extensive Authority that ever existed for 

 any belief or doctrine whatever, as I have other- 

 where showed : and it is no suiall confirmation 

 of this doctrine to find, as we shall find, that 

 there is no other criterion of the advantage 

 of any proposition whatever, either moral or 

 physical. 



For Reality (which comes like res from 



