NECESSARY BELIEFS. 81 



transcendent consequence in the justification of fun- 

 damental truth. All we can say concerning con- 

 science is undermined for some, by a certain philoso- 

 phy of hereditary descent, which asserts that even 

 the moral perceptions of self-evident ethical truth are 

 solely the result of habit, and might have been dif- 

 ferent had our ancestors had a different environment. 

 The intuitions represent no outward reality. We 

 may as well, in the fog of our philosophy, when we 

 know but very little, follow impulse, and forget en- 

 tirely all that is said on this topic of the self-evident 

 intellectual and moral truths. 



22. The necessary beliefs, or perceptions of self- 

 evident truths, therefore, are a part of the original 

 revelation given to the soul by its Author, in the 

 very plan according to which it exists and acts. 



23. As such, the necessary beliefs of the intellect 

 and conscience are the supreme and final tests of 

 truth, or the unassailable guaranty of all mathemati- 

 cal and ethical axioms. 



24. An adequate defence of fundamental truth, 

 therefore, is made by the establishment of a proper 

 definition of life. [Applause.] 



