_; privatam
cujusque conscientiam supremam esse agendorum, vel non agendorum,
normam."

[229] JAMES MARTINEAU, "Rationale of Religious Inquiry," p. 108.

[230] F. DE LAMENNAIS, "Essai sur l'Indifference en matiere de la
Religion," 4 vols. Paris, 1844.

[231] Romans 14: 1, 5.

[232] THEODORE PARKER, "Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion,"
pp. 14, 17.

CHAPTER VIII.

THEORIES OF CERTITUDE AND SKEPTICISM.

We formerly adverted to the distinction between Dogmatic and Skeptical
Atheism; and, believing that the _latter_ is the form in which it is
most prevalent, as well as most insidious and plausible, we now propose
to review some recent theories both of Certitude and Skepticism, which
have sometimes been applied to throw doubt on the evidence of Christian
Theism.

The Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in the French Institute
announced in 1843 the theory of Certitude as the subject of a Prize
Essay, and issued the following _programme_ as a guide to the
competitors in the selection of the principal topics of discussion:

"1. To determine the character of Certitude, and what distinguishes it
from everything else. For example, Is Certitude the same with the
highest probability?

"2. What is the faculty, or what are the faculties, which give us
Certitude? If several faculties of knowledge are supposed to exist, to
state with precision the differences between them.

"3. Of Truth and its foundations. Is truth the reality itself,--the
nature of things falling under the knowledge of man?--or is it nothing
but an appearance,--a conception, necessary or arbitrary, of the human
mind?

"4. To expound and discuss the most celebrated opinions, ancient and
modern, on the problem of Certitude, and to follow them out into their
theoretical and practical consequences. To subject to a critical and
profound examination the great monuments of Skepticism,--the writings of
Sextus, Huet, Hume, and Kant.

"5. To inquire what are, in spite of the assaults of Skepticism, the
certain truths which ought to subsist in the Philosophy of our times."

Such was the comprehensive _programme_ of the French Institute; and many
circumstances concurred at the time to impart a peculiar interest to the
competition. M. Franck's volume[233] contains the Report of the Section
of Philosophy on the papers which had been prepared, and offers a
careful analysis and critical estimate of their contents. Various other
works[234] not