reaction becomes necessary to action, discord to harmony, deformity to figure, shade to light, vice to virtue, and to every thing its opposite; for all these are relative, and God alone absolute and perfect. But the relative is relative to the absolute; and this terminates the circle in identity, and represents the whole of human knowledge, within the sphere of which exists a universe: to comprehend which, we must reflect that no change can take place in that which is perfect, and that every thing in the universe is in a state of mutation; nor is this otherwise in the best works of man. 1874. That we may not become censurable, therefore, for that partial criticism of nature which condemns its particular ordinances and dispensations, its monstrosities, aberrations, and seeming evils and contradictions, we must admit that, although there are apparent anomalies and discrepancies therein, they are designed for good; and that, though there is no absolute perfection in any thing, there is relative perfection in every natural thing, and absolute perfection of the whole: so that particular imperfection is essential to universal perfection, throughout the Universe there is compensation for every irregularity, and "whatever is, is right." 1875. Considering, then, that there is an imperfection essential to subordination and connexion universally, and that our scheme is infinite and our powers limited, we shall be well content to be judged as the true Critic judges nature in this case; namely, by the harmony and integrity of our work, and not by its detail and execution; and much less by its individual positions, expressions, and omissions, to which the narrowness of judgment is prone. 1876. Should it fortunately be admitted that we have to any useful purpose traced the entirety, or whole outline of science and philosophy, it will not follow that therefore we have adequately represented any individual part thereof; for so immense and boundless is nature and science, that a universe exists for each individual: and, although we may have been able to mark our way throughout the world, it does not follow that we have perfectly surveyed an inch or an atom of it. 1877. And, with regard to any doctrine set forth in these Outlines which may oppugn common prejudices and received opinions, it must be admitted that, but for infringement upon established thought, there could be neither progress nor improvement in science, and that the great advances of the physical sciences in modern times have been achieved in opposition to long-established prejudices, and in some instances contrarily to the common sense of mankind. 1878. It is true the logic of induction succumbs to common sense; but, were the latter to become the universal criterion of truth, custom and opinion would annul philosophy; or, if even the votes of the learned were to decide in this case, and science, like language, were to be established by learned convention or compact, a statute-law would govern reason very irrationally; so that individual research would become criminal, and the discovery of a truth felonious: a state of learning in which genuine knowledge and philosophy could not fail to decline. Much less, then, should vulgar opinion and common sense govern science. It is through the perfect freedom of opinion, and inquiry into nature, therefore, that truth and philosophy are to be established; as religion, also, which is their highest object, is to be determined, not by the enactments of man, but by the eternal laws and ordinances of God. 1879. Every new doctrine and practice promulgated, will, therefore, in the end, stand or fall, according as it may be supported or opposed by the true decisions of reason and the correct testimony of experience, and neither by prejudice nor opinion. The very Earth we inhabit, which to the eye of common sense is a plain of boundless extent, diversified by mountain and vale, is, nevertheless, universally acknowledged by astronomers to be a Globe. Even so the Universe, material and immaterial, which common apprehension beholds as unbounded, and as constituted of innumerable natures absolutely distinct and individual, must be regarded from its true intellectual position analogically as universally correlative, and identical in essence, ere man can attain the position of mind upon which depend his true moral progress, individual and social, and the right comprehension of the universe by which he is insphered, and of which God is the sovereign source, sustainer, and supreme end. THE END. LONDON: PRINTED BY JAMES MOYES, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. |