Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1877-08-17
WHAT Is TRUTH 7

Prof j. Cooper, D. c. L. of Rutgers Col
lege, has published in the last number OF the
Princeton Review very able essay with the
above title He defines truth TO be conform
ity to the will of God as that will is made
known by its expression in creation and the
Divine government Having calculated this
idea, he derives from it the following dedue-
tons / Truth is one and indivisible, save
in thought, wherever it is found. 2. Truth
is interchangeable, because it is the embodiment
of the divine attributes 3. Truth is capable
of demonstration in exact proportion as We
come into harmony with it, and it falls within
range of possible vision AS illustrations Of
his mode of reasoning, we give the following
extracts under these three heads. Under the
first he says
There cannot be two wills about the same thing with
out being either Identical which is absurd variance
which would involve contradiction inconsistent with the
Divine character This conformity perfectly in the
order Of the natural world However mucha scientist may
question the dcta OF morals doubt the existence OF
higher Intelligence which directs the OF matter
still he Is positive IN his belief in the eonstancy OF those
laws which govern the material world. But when he
pushes his theory far to substitute the process by
which force matter the laws which regulate this
for that Intelligence which directs and gives eff
fcacy to those laws he forsakes his method Here
is the greatest absrdity of all the ages Cicero well said
there is tenet absurd that it has found
philosopher to advocate it. And surely there is
parable this that while all the operations Nature
invariabe they foruitousy nothing has
made them We hear much said about the
ict between Religion Science that many prone
think they reconciAbe and therefore the
Of the other must be false. We cannot say that
either is false according the testimony other
classify all the of physical nature
and fsthoIn the depths Of Divine intelligence"
He remarks under the second head:
glance the visible world reveals changes
going on the solid earth undergoes
formations from that the grOtesque fauna
and gigantic fora Of former period look though they
belonged entirely different world The winds
sands deserts where the Numbered against
its shores Portions Of the eahs surface have sunk and
by the ocean; lake
where the mountains flowing down have raised the level OF
the waters But the laws producing the results abide
t.noc amid all the revolutions they make for the ever
lasting God directs each movement The serious
Nupor goes up water the earth when creation
but just finished The plant produces seed after its kind
varying within specific limits but constant to its establish
ed order the pendulum to its The fish swms, the
bird flies the animal tears its prey the ruant
quietly chews its cud Man walks erect and the roro
dyte al TOURS, just at the first All is regularity
and order. The same laws the material world and
be amid the varying and seemingly contradictory
modes of notion Euclids Geometry remained
cal mathematics and the Organon of Aristotle still sup
plies the mode in which reason il they do 50
correctly.
He argues under the third head that the
first truths in one department of knowledge
rest on precisely the same basis as those of
another:
They sefevident facts which accepted
- they presented to that mind which capable Of
taking in their full meaning.
1t is frequently asserted by skeptics that
Christians are welded to old ideas, that they /
are opposed to the investigation Of truth, and |
that hence the progress of the world in civil !
ization has been retarded by their efforts. |
They ASSERT also that nothing is capable of |
demonstration except through the light of |
science, and that there is nothing in the Chris
tian's hope Of salvation which he bases on the
truths of God contained in the bible and his
faith in the revelations of world to come.
Every earnest Christian is anxious to divest
himself OF all prejudice, and is much more
anxious than the skeptic to throw aside pre-
conceived theories in this investigation. He
believes that there is an inward teaching of
the spirit which will direct him, and on &C
count of this belief he is esteemed by the
worldly wise as welded to foolishness and
fanaticism.