REASON AND PREDISPOSITION 137 



purely human sphere all things are relative. The 

 little and the big, the high and the low, the hot and 

 the cold, pleasure and pain, good and bad, right and 

 ■wrong, true and false, are relative terms ; and the 

 best reason is that which covers the most facts, which 

 is the most complete induction. We dispute with 

 each other about the wisdom or expediency of a po- 

 litical measure, but the absolute reason has nothing 

 to say upon either side ; the truth or falsity of the 

 matter is relative. 



We come by our opinions and beliefs upon most 

 subjects by a slow and obscure process. We think 

 we are guided to them by the light of reason, but as 

 a rule we are not. There is some determining force 

 that goes before reason. This determining force is 

 our idiosyncrasy, natural bent, or predisposition, the 

 pattern to which our souls are cut, and over which 

 we have as little control as over our statures or tem- 

 perament. We are born Calvinists or Methodists 

 or Catholics, or Whigs or Tories. The mind has its 

 natural affinities and repulsions. Its door opens as 

 by a secret spring at the knock of certain truths, 

 and is fast bolted against others to which the next 

 mind again opens. We read arguments in favor of 

 certain views to which we are opposed, and they have 

 no weight with us ; our minds do not open to them, 

 or, if they enter for a moment, they are quickly 

 hustled out by other considerations which have the 

 precedence there. We are housed in our opinions, 

 and we resist being turned out of doors and having 

 another and a different roof built over our heads. 



