SECT. II.

Of the testimonies in favour of such a principle, analogous to Instinct and superior to Reason.

Of the testimonies in favour of any moral truth or principle, when we desire to exclude all evidence but that of the most unprejudiced minds, and at the same time to reconcile that truth with the discoveries made to man by God himself with unquestionable clearness, none appear to me more striking than those of the ancient philosophers, who were totally unacquainted with a written revelation, and followed the native light of their own minds, in other words, built their conclusions upon the fundamental principles of human nature. For, whether these conclusions have been derived from a primeval revelation, by tradition, or from an internal spark of original divine light, still feebly animating the human soul, and though obscured, unextinguished, they are highly to be valued. On the subject before us, no inconsiderable authorities may be produced. My object, therefore, is simply to show, that it has been a general impression among mankind from the earliest ages down to the present time, that a principle, or guide, or light, or teacher, superior to discursive Reason, was implanted

in the human mind;-a principle which might, indeed, have the assistance of reason, the highest natural gift to man, but was antecedent to it, and above it, and had rules for government distinct from reason, evidence of another kind, and objects wholly different. For, as Reason or the natural understanding has objects-the qualities, modes, or relations of external things-fitted to its apprehension, with strict congruity between the faculty and its objects, like that subsisting between the outward senses and their natural objects, or between various other tastes and perceptions peculiar to different men, and the respective objects of these tastes; so has this principle objects, tastes, and feelings, peculiarly its own. For, to suppose that the same power of the mind may be officially engaged in ascertaining the properties of a triangle, or discovering the relations of natural things by comparison and inference, and in seeking for divine counsel in retirement, in feeling remorse for evil conduct, or in prostrating the soul in humble reverence before the throne of the Almighty Creator, would seem as incongruous as for the imagination to busy itself with the truths of geometry, or the ear to judge of the shades and beauties of colour, or the eye of odours and sounds. Every one must admit that when men of cultivated minds in different ages and nations are generally agreed in opinion upon any philosophical question, we have the strongest reason, short of revelation, to conclude, that it is founded in truth. And the opinion of a few opposed to such a

cloud of witnesses can have little weight in invalidating the conclusion.

We find Pythagorean, Stoic, Peripatetic, and those of the Academic school admitting the same truth. We find also Greek and Roman poets coinciding in opinion; and even their historians confirming the doctrine by facts deduced from particular races of

men.

It is fair, indeed, to admit, that Pythagoras confused his notion of a "derived intelligence" and "divine principle" in the soul, with many absurd speculations; and Plato obscured his doctrine of a "spiritual emanation" with some romantic and visionary conceptions. But though this was the case, the point in which they agreed with many enlightened philosophers, ancient and modern, is not to be confounded with the mystical allusions that were superadded. Whilst they admitted some divine intelligence in the human mind, they erred in the expression, making the mind itself a divinity. But it was the opinion of the Platonic philosophers, that the same God, who made all things, is himself the light of our minds, by which we are enabled to learn true wisdom.

It is to be observed, too, that the ancients, as well as many moderns, have used the word Reason to comprehend all the rational nature of man, by which he is elevated above the brute. Hence, a little confusion may be observed in their mode of expression; as, when they speak of Divine reason in the soul.

The distinction between that power of the mind which takes a discursive range and draws inferences by its own strength, from the comparisons, relations, congruities, and incongruities of things already ascertained, and an instinctive principle which teaches as it were by intuition, without the medium of formal or specific propositions, must be obvious to every one. The first only is properly entitled to the name of Reason.

Epictetus says, that "God has assigned to each man a director, his own good genius-a guardian whose vigilance no slumbers interrupt, and whom no false reasonings can deceive. So that, when you have shut your door and darkened your room, say not, that you are alone; for your God is within, and your

Guardian is with you."*

Marcus Antoninus observes, "That seeing we ought to live to God; he who is well disposed will do every thing dictated by the divinity-a particle or portion of himself, which God has given to each as a guide and leader."+

Aristotle says, that "the mind of man hath a near affinity to God, and that there is a divine ruler in him. νας θεοις συγγενέστατος, τὸ θειον εν αυτῷ αρχον. He also declares, according to Cudworth, that there is in the mind λογε τι κρεῖττον which is λογs αρχη Something better than reason and knowledge, which is the principle and original of it." For, says he, λoy8 apyn 8 hoyos, aλ2x

Epictet. Lib. 1. Ch. 14.

M. Antonin. Lib. 5. Sect. 27.

τι κρείττον.

"The principle of reason is not reason, but something better. "We have all of us," Cudworth adds, "by nature, para τ (as both Plato and Aristotle call it,) a certain divination, presage and vaticination, in our minds, of some higher good and perfection than either power or knowledge." Intellectual System, p. 203. Aristotle further observes, that "knowledge is acquired by diligence, but wisdom and discretion come from God."

Plutarch says, "the light of truth is a law, not written in tables or books, but dwelling in the mind; always as a living rule, which never permits the soul to be destitute of an interior guide."

"The light and spirit of God (says Plato), are as wings to the soul, or as that which raiseth up the soul into a sensible communion with God, above the world."—" Wisdom is a tree that springeth from the heart."

Plotinus, one of the Platonic school, observes, that as the Sun cannot be known but by his own light; so God cannot be known but with his own light And as the eye cannot see the Sun but by receiving its image; so man cannot know God, but by receiving his image."

According to Seneca, "There is a holy spirit in us, that deals with us, as he is dealt with by us.". “God is near thee, and he is in thee; the holy spirit sits or resides within us, the observer of our good and

* See Dawson's Origin of Laws, and Stewart's Elements, vol. 2. p. 21.