10 SOURCES 



but just as a tradesman cannot, by any examina- 

 tions and arrangements add one tittle to the quan- 

 tity of his goods, so neither can we, by any think- 

 ing in which we may engage, add any thing new 

 to the stock of our knowledge. By thinking, we 

 can arrange what we do know, so that we can more 

 readily use it, and we make room for other know- 

 ledge; but, we cannot think ourselves into an ac- 

 quaintance with even the simplest thing that we do 

 not know by some other means. It is the belief 

 that we can ; that thought will do what thought 

 never did, can do, or was intended to do, which 

 lies as a stumbling-block in our path, and hinders 

 us from knowing a great many things, that would 

 be very useful as well as very pleasant to us. 



Then, how do we come by our knowledge ? A 

 simple case will show that better than many 

 words about it : It is a lovely summer morning, 

 the sun shines brightly ; the air is perfumed by 

 the scent of the roses ; and the songs of the birds 

 are very delightful music. Be it so. How do 

 we know that the sun shines ? " We see it with 

 our eyes." Very true : we see the light, and we 

 see the sun ; and as we never see that kind of 

 light without seeing the sun, and never see the 

 sun without seeing that kind of light ; we, in our 

 thoughts associate the two together, and can no 

 more help saying that the sun shines than we can 

 doubt that we see it. 



But how do we know as regards the perfume 

 of the roses? "We smell it:" and as we have 

 never seen the flowers which we call roses, with- 

 out smelling what we call the perfume of roses ; 

 and never, unless we be able to account for it in 

 some other way (as by the exposure of rose-water 



