INTRODUCTORY. I. BEING AND SEEING. PHILOSOPHY has observed that human consciousness is most distinct on the surface of life, and grows dim and confused as it reaches toward the interior. The reason alleged is, that individuality, the subject of consciousness, is merely phenomenal; and that, where the phenomenal ceases, individual existence is merged in the universal life. The fact is certain, the explanation questionable. I rather believe that individuality is real and radical, and that the limitation of consciousness on the inner side is due to the fact, that consciousness depends on external impressions: its condition is re-action on a world without; it is the differentiation of self from all beside, and therefore loses its distinctness in proportion as all beside is withdrawn; that is, toward the interior of our being. There is, in all men, something deeper than themselves, than the conscious self of their experience. It is the elder, aboriginal self, which no consciousness can grasp. Who remembers the time when first he began to say "I," and found himself a conscious unit, distinct from all others? If we attempt to trace the history of the soul, its beginning is lost in a period of blank unconsciousness, beyond all scrutiny of memory or imagination. Blind mystery envelops our origin, as it does our end. No man quite possesses himself. The self which he seems to possess is growth from a root which bears him, not he it. Springing from this unknown root, our being carries an unknown factor which modifies all its action. Our thinking, as well as our doing, obeys its influence. It is written, "As a man thinketh, so is he." We may reverse the proposition, and say with equal truth, "As a man is, so he thinketh." His thinking is the product of his being; consequently, the gauge and exponent of his being. It is his being translated into thought, his being intellectually expressed. According as he is wise or foolish, his opinions will be true or false: they will be right or wrong according as he is good or evil. The character in religion determines the creed. Character has been defined "the educated will." But the will the conscious, personal will-is not the only factor in this product: there is something in it of the radical self. And something of the radical self there is in every creed which is genuine, and not mere subscription to the placita of a Church. The true creed of a man is his character confessed. Or does any one suppose that belief is independent of character? — that a man can be one thing, and think another? We sometimes talk as if truth were a secre tion of the brain, entirely unaffected by moral conditions; as if one could lay hold of spiritual truth, without spiritual insight, by mere dint of logic or as if spiritual insight were the product of some organic arrangement, mechanical in its operation, and quite as likely to go right with a vicious character as with a righteous one; just as a watch may keep equally good time whether worn by a sinner or a saint. This I believe to be a very false view of the action of the mind in this relation. The intellect is nothing distinct from man. It is man himself in one of his functions. As the man, so the function, so the product of that function. As he is, so he thinketh. I say nothing of positive science. I do not deny that one who is morally depraved may be a good mathematician or a good physiologist. These are regions of truth beyond the jurisdiction of religion, and independent of moral conditions; excepting always the general influence which character has on all the action of the mind. I am speaking of truth in morals and religion, when I say that the character determines the belief. Truth of spirit is essential to the right apprehension of spiritual truth. To know the truth, it is necessary to will the truth, and to be the truth. This connection between being and seeing implies two things: 1st, A perverted nature cannot see the truth; 2d, A (morally) sound nature, seeking without bias, will see the truth. 1st, A perverted nature cannot see the truth. A man must be in harmony with it by moral and spiritual affinity, in order to apprehend it. There are facts which seem to contradict this proposition. It is notorious, |