SIMPLE SCIENCES ARE THE MOST TRUSTWORTHY. 145 



tional sciences, depends upon the fact, that in them, pre- 

 eminently, he who seeks the most certain truth may find 

 it if he will only take sufficient trouble. As demonstrable 

 truth partakes of the pure nature of God, it demands the 

 highest degree of support and respect that man can give 

 it, whilst doubtful or unprovable statements or hypotheses 

 should not be exalted to the dignity of demonstrable truths. 



The phenomena of consciousness are often adduced as 

 being the most certain of truths, and doubtless we are 

 compelled to believe, that when we recognise an impression 

 we do experience something ; but what that something is, 

 our consciousness alone does not unerringly tell us. If we 

 can perceive no cause for the impression, when the cause 

 ought to be manifest, we doubt the reality of the impres- 

 sion, and sometimes ascribe it to a conception of our ima- 

 gination. 1 The simple consciousness of an idea or impres- 

 sion is not alone a complete proof of its truth, because as 

 scientific knowledge advances we increasingly find that the 

 ideas acquired by such means are often erroneous. Con- 

 sciousness, therefore, does not excite in our minds truthful 

 beliefs alone, but a mixture of truth and error, from which 

 we have to eliminate the error by various processes. Ap- 

 pearances and realities are often opposite, or even contrary. 

 There exists in some respects the greatest contrast between 

 the human mind and external nature. Our minds are 

 extremely finite ; nature is nearly infinite. In nature all 

 is law, and certainty, but our ideas are all more or less 

 uncertain and erroneous. 



The truthfulness of our ideas, and the real certainty 

 of our knowledge, depend upon the accuracy with which 

 the mind itself receives impressions, and this further de- 

 pends upon mental state, which is itself a result of in- 

 heritance and experience, and varies with our physical 



1 Such phenomena frequently occur in dreams. 

 L 



