TRUTH OUT OF ERROR.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4636, 13 November 1883, Page 2

TRUTH OUT OF ERROR.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.^ Re-trim thy rushlight and again re-scan The eternal's workings with His creature man." Sib,—Reading in your columns of the sth "'Mutual Critic's " reply to my letter, I saw that I had blundered, haying given to the public, upon my own responsibility, "Old C.V—as "M.C." in his gentlemanly manner terms him—definition of his advanced assertion, " Error is the parent of all acquired truth," and as he could not reply I called apon him, not only acknowledging my errors but also requesting him to furnish me with . material to meet and confute what "M.C." had advanced. "Let us look over the letter and see if we cannot con- , sume it," he exclaimed. " Ah!" he cried, "it is the finest dish of Irish stew upon which I ever had had the pleasure of operating." " M.C." seems one of those : men who are giren to blundering and bruising themselves in the reign of error. Pity he did not snuff his farthing rush* light prior to proceeding to the task of demolition. He might then not onlyhare understood the argument advanced, but have arrived at different conclusions, t would observe, before assailing his supposed impregnable illustrations, that he labors under a misquotation. His misapprehension consists in omitting a very important j word. The original reads: "Error is the „ parent of all acquired truth." "M.C," in his zeal to establish bis own position, utterly ignored the point at issue by leaving out the small, but pertinent, qualification, viz., 1 "acquired,"—which omission, of course, entirely alters my original thought and intention. He is mistaken in supposing that 1 adduced the above simply to provoke discussion.. Seeing its force, I desired the opinion of others before ventilating my own. He is also at fault in launching abase when utterly uncalled for. Trusting, the next time he is disposed to be facetious,-,he will kindly forge his own weapons. Touching teeth,' in my opinion his development must be lower than the slug. The nut was cracked, yet he could not chew the kernel; li 6 therefore swallowed it whole, thereby impairing his mental digestion, producing flatulency, and thus through the infirmity were generated "Fallacy, failure, guilt-"* I will now proceed to tap these three inflated monstrosities, which, in wander* ing mazes lost, career madly, incongruously to the tune " See, the -Conquering Hero Comes!" If troth has not beea extracted from fallacy and failure, whence the truth we possess P They are the lines upon which truth advances. What are we experimenting upon from birth to death P Is it not on error iv and around us ? The child grasps at the moon, his error teaches hint to respect distance ; he falls down ? stairs, he burns his fingers, he cuts bis hand and scalds his tongue. Out of thesa. errors, fallacies, and failures, he gains truths which last him a life-time." How much stern truth have we not acquired from the errors of the past, and what important results have been achieved by persistent combat with error? Oor ■ railway system most undoubtedly is not a fallacy though accidents occur. As a whole^it is not yet clear of the fatal surroundings of error, and, like most human inventions, is ever open to disaster—for error, however insignificant in the guide or the thing guided, inevitably culminates in ruin. It is, therefore, erroneous to decry truth because it cannot be * dia* i covered full-orbed and clad in the invincible garments of infallibility. He who does so, understands not himself or his mission, and is blind to the fact that, at the expense of error, eternal truth doth ever "make for righteousness." Failure is the arena in which the hone and muscle of truth is ever developing—the crucible oat • of which every invention has sprung—for ■-. indomitable wrestling with failure almost invariably leads on to victory,—the outcome—not indeed easily gained, but of the stragglings and experiences fought and won, under the banner of truth, alt down the ages. What is guilt ?Is it not the known violation of law, physical or moral ? Guilt is not unsophistical error; —like truth, it is a growth out of error, having its own distinctive teaohing, in* v fluence, and devolopmenfc. It is the cowardly, shivering, flgleaflesa antithesis of truth, so perfected in the knofMge of evil that ife filches the raiment of truth wherein to hide its leprous carcase, and thus, in temporary shelter, work out the vile machinations of its perverted will. As in my former letter, so in this, I respectfully, yet firmly maintain that herein oonsists the element whioh, more than ' aught else; tends to retard the onward progress of truth.—l am, &0., What dq You Think.