Chap, XII.] Philosophy of the Human M'md. 175 



were sensible of this, and it is probalilc did not, 

 in moments of sober reflection, believe their own 

 speculations. Certain it is, they both acknow- 

 ledged that tiie adoption of the principles which 

 they maintained ought not to aiicct the [)racticc 

 of men, who must ever act as if they were known 

 to be false ; an argument, one would imagine, it- 

 self, of strong presumptive force against all their 

 plausible reasonings. But however the doctrines 

 inculcated by these subtle disputants might have 

 opposed their own feelings, or shocked the minds 

 of others, it is certain they contributed much to 

 promote that speculative philosophy, the tendency 

 of which is to strike at the root of all knowledge, 

 and all belief. 



Mr. Hume taught that all tfie perceptions of the 

 human mind resolve themselves into two classes, 

 "viz. hnpressiojis and ideas; comprehending under 

 the former all our sensations, passions, and emo- 

 tions ; and under the latter the faint images of 

 these, when we remember or imagine them. Our 

 ideas, in the opinion of this philosopher, arc all 

 copied from our impressions, the former differing 

 from the latter only in being weaker perceptions, 

 '' He adopted Locke's account of the origin of 

 our ideas^ and from that principle inferred that we 

 have no idea of substance, corporeal or spiritual ; 



opinions, seem, at present, to be acknowledged by all, excepting 

 the desperate few, who are ready cahiily to resign all principle, 

 and all belief. The character of his philosophy, '^ t^lsely so 

 called," has been exposed with great beauty of rhetoric, by Dr. 

 Beattie, in his Essay on Truth; and, with great force of rciison- 

 ing, bvDr.Reid, in \{x?, Inquinj u>to the Human Mind, and his 

 fssaj/sun the Intellectual and Active Powers of Man. 



