Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-09

need is shown us we will be satisfied to let
them stand.
Prejudice also means mental inertia. IL
is that within US which makes it little
hard to move US in new directions. We
need that. Without it, we would be like
heap of feathers. and every radical thinker
would be fan to blow us in 90 directions;
There would be no such thing as intellectual
stability. Every new opinion would make
revolution. As it is, prejudice acts as
salutarv check. 1t tests truth. Ii tnlnS
is true it will
PROVE ITS TRUTH
by its ability to persuade prejudice. If it
cannot persuade prejudice, something is the
matter with il. 1t is the duty of every man
to put every new notion upon trial, and to
employ prejudice for prosecuting attorney.
We have no cause for quarrel with the men
who stood out against Calico, and mace
their protest against his extraordinary
notion that the earth moves. That
was a most annoying and unprece-
dented theory which claimed to
be the truth. 1t was the business
of that generation to give 1t the stoutest
trial possible. That was the very best way
to prove it. No lie can stand out long
against the healthy prejudices of men.
Gallieo won because ne hdu the Hutn uPoh
his side.
This untrammeled purpose to know the
truth l would set down at the beginning of
the path Of reason as being essential to
everybody who intends to go that way. 1t
is also necessary that one who wishes to
know the truth should be able 10 recognize
the truth when he sees il.
They brought in the child Jesus into the
temple in the old time, and the streets were
full of people as they passed along, and
crowd was in the temple courts as this little
company waited their turns, and hundreds
must have seen the Infant in the
arms of his mother but of all
the beholders only one man recognized Him,
perceived who He was, and blessed God.
That is what is forever going on. Truth is
The truth-seeker, who succeeds in discover
ing truth, is the man whe is able to recog-
nize truth when he sees it.
INTELLECTUAL PREPARATION.
But truth is of various kinds and makes
demands on various qualities of mind. All
truth needs some kind of intellectual
preparation before it makes an impression
on the mind, just as an object needs a sensi-
tive plate in the camera before it can be
pictured. The mind which is trained In
botany will recognize a hundred different
plants where the ordinary observer sees
nothing but bare ground. The mind which
is trained in music will recognize melody
where the unframed listener hears nothing but
tangled noises. 1t is a profound. fact in
human nature that ''as we are, we see."
Truth waits on recognition, And recogni-
tion depends upon the training, taste,
knowledge, character of the truth-seeker
Every truth makes its own demand upon
the seeker after truth. Different kinds of
truth are tested by different kinds of proof.
That which makes the student good Judge
of one kind of truth may leave him quite
blind and deaf to another kind. A first
rate mathematician, able to recognize the
truth OF numbers, may be no judge of poetry
at all. Though he were able to square the
circle, nevertheless his opinion of.Tennyson
or Browning might be utter foolishness.
THE CASE OF THE SCIENTIST.
The most accurate scientist, having full
of all the wonderful discoveries
which have been made in nature, may have
an opinion which is absolutely worthless
about the inspiration of the Bible. No
amount of training in logic, though a man
excelled all the philosophers, could insure
any value to his judgment about the Sistine
Madonna. Different kinds of truth need
different kinds of proof. "As we are, we
see." The truth-seeker must be able to
truth when he sees it.
Christ said that the recognition of relig-
ious truth depends on character. Whoever
will do Gods will shall know Gods truth.
Only the pure in heart can see God. Who
ever would get at truth along the path of
reason must take with him not only an
purpose to find truth. not only an
acute and trained mind to seek truth, but a
heart in sympathy with all that is worthiest |
in life, conscience sensitive to the faintest |
whisper of duty, will resolute to do the |
nearest task in the best way, nature open |
20 all good influences, an ability to recog- |
nize spiritual truth. Everybody else will |
fail. GEORGE HODGES.