LECTURE II.

CAUSES OF SCEPTICISM.

It is natural as it

TRUTH is the reality of things. respects the material world, and moral as it respects mind, accountability, and moral government. Our knowledge of truth is by consciousness, intuition, the senses, and evidence. Consciousness is the mind's recognition of its own being, powers, and actions.

Intuition is the mind's perception of obvious primary truths, which are the elements of demonstration, such as, that every effect must have a cause, and that the sum of the parts is equal to the whole. It is intuition which constitutes the premises of demonstration, the primary truths being seen by the mind, and each step in the process also being a matter of intuition, or mental perception.

The reports of the senses are called knowledge, because they so uniformly correspond with the reality of things that occasional aberration occasions no distrust, but rather confirms the general rule.

There is a yet wider field of knowledge, which lies without the sphere of consciousness, and beyond the range of intuition and the cognizance of the senses, the realities of which are certified to us by evidence; and the confidence produced is called belief.

The evidence which sustains belief is either the evidence of human testimony, or the accumulation of probabilities from the

uniform operation of the laws of nature.

This last evidence

rests on the self-evident proposition, that no effect can exist without a cause. We judge, from the supposition of a stated order of cause and effect, that what has been and is will continue to be; where there is no perceived cause of change: and this belief rises from faint probability to moral certainty, according to the frequency and uniformity of the effects produced. Had the sun never risen before to-day, the evidence of its rising to-morrow would be no greater than the appearance of a meteor in the sky would be of its return. But, had the meteor appeared as uniformly as the sun has appeared, the evidence in both cases would be equal, of a stated order of cause and effect.

The difference between demonstration and moral certainty is, that in one case the mind sees the objects of comparison, and sees the result, which, of course, is knowledge; but, in the other, derives its confidence from the perception of probabilities multiplying till they produce confidence, or moral certainty. On the whole, consciousness, intuition, the senses, the evidence of testimony, and analogy, all rest on the supposition that things are as they seem to be, and will continue to manifest the same attributes and results.

Scepticism is a state of mind in which these constitutional grounds of certainty fail to produce confidence. Sometimes the evidence does not satisfy the mind in respect to its sufficiency; and, in other cases, where the argument seems to be intellectually conclusive, it fails to produce any corresponding sense of the reality and certainty of the things proved. Sometimes, in cases of mental alienation, confidence is suspended, and men doubt their own being, or personal identity. When it respects intuition, demonstration loses its power. When the senses are distrusted, experimental knowledge fails.

Instances are not uncommon, in which persons have supposed themselves, or their friends, to have become some other person; and I have just read of a gentleman, who, for two years past, has refused to leave his dwelling, from the full persuasion that he is a tea-pot, and should endanger so frail a vessel by an unrestrained intercourse with external objects.

It is the field of moral government, however, and accountability, over which the mist of darkness is apt especially to gather, and doubts to settle down. For here the temptation to doubt is greatly enhanced by sinful character and its liabilities; and the facilities of perversion and distrust, from the nature of the evidence, are proportionably multiplied.

It is scepticism in relation to the being and government of God, and our relations to it as accountable subjects, as disclosed in the Bible, which will constitute the subject of this lecture.

I employ the term Scepticism in preference to the terms Atheism, Infidelity, and Heresy, because these are more invidious, and because scepticism marks more accurately the state of this entire class of minds. In fact, there are few who positively disbelieve the being of God, or the inspiration of the Bible. To doubt is commonly the extent of human attainment, in throwing off reluctant responsibility to the government of God. The Atheist does not know that there is no God. He merely does not believe it, and doubts. The Deist does not disbelieve the inspiration of the Bible. He is merely not convinced that it is true, and doubts. Those who reject the received doctrines of the Bible do not fully disbelieve them. They fear often that they are true,- hope earnestly that they are not, and doubt.

The present is eminently an age of scepticism throughout the world. Pagans are becoming sceptical in respect to their

ancient systems, Mahometans are beginning to distrust their ancient Prophet, and Papists to distrust the infallibility of His Holiness, and the Church. And Protestants, instead

of taking things upon trust, are, with increased determination, appealing from the decisions of men; and even sceptics themselves are beginning to doubt, whether, in their sceptical wanderings, they have not got out of the way, and may not be in danger of being lost.

Whenever an epidemic sweeps over the world, we take it for granted that there is some universal cause; and, on the same principles, when we witness the wide-spread aberration of mind on the subject of evidence, we conclude that there are some causes of corresponding extent and power which produce the result.

It will be the object of this lecture to develop some of the causes of this mental phenomenon, as respects the being of God, the inspiration of the Bible, and the exposition of some of its doctrines.

1. Undoubtedly, the generic cause, without which all others would be powerless, is to be sought in the alienation of man from God, and his deep aversion to the responsibilities of his perfect and eternal government. It might not at first be supposed that a perfect government, consulting wisely and benevolently the highest good of every subject, could be an object of aversion; and to loyal minds it would not be; but to the disloyal its very perfection and stability are its terrific attributes. An attempt to execute strictly the laws of the land, on all points, would create a revolution,not because the laws are not good, but because men are evil. And it is because God is good, and men are evil, that they are averse to responsibility, and seek to alleviate their fears by the interposition of uncertainty and doubt. They are

willingly negligent of the acquisition of evidence, and slow of heart to believe what is proved, and dexterous, by inattention, to throw the testimony into a quick oblivion, and perpetuate around them a sceptical and unrealizing state of mind.

2. The great perversion of Christianity during the dark ages, by the downfall of the Roman empire, the incursion of the northern barbarians, and the extinction of civil and religious liberty, has been, from age to age, a source of prejudice against Christianity, and a fruitful cause of declamation and scepticism.

During the midnight which settled down upon the world by the extinction of science and religion, the feudal system arose, which lies at the foundation of that inequality of rank and property which characterizes and curses modern Europe. To perpetuate this unjust monopoly, the state gave its protection to the church, and the church gave its terrific power to the state, until at length the church became the ascendant power, and ruled the world with a rod of iron. Under this ecclesiastical despotism, the nations of the civilized world groaned, and travailed in pain, a thousand years.

During this long night, liberty, and virtue, and vigorous enterprise, slept in chains, and were punished as felons; while no debasement, or impurity, or fraud, or cruelty, which human ingenuity could invent, or human power execute, was unpractised. These abominations of ecclesiastical despotism have brought upon Christianity an odium, and surrounded the tem with a jealousy, which the Protestant Reformation, and the restoration of civil and religious liberty, have not been able wholly to wipe away. And, to this day, the disciples of those who achieved this illustrious emancipation are involved in the odium against Christianity created by the priesthood

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