RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Reg-ula Fidei Reid
(1870); Sparsholt Feast (1883); English Liturgical Vestments in the Thirteenth Century (1895) ; Solemn Mass at Rome in the Ninth Century (1895) ; A Complete Manual of Canon Law (2 vols., 1895-96) ; and a number of brochures on local history and antiquities.
REID, HENRY MARTYN BECKWITH: Scotch Presbyterian; b. at Glasgow Mar. 22, 1856. He was educated at the high school in Dundee and at St. Andrew's University, graduating with honors (M.A., 1877; B.D., 1879); was assistant to the professor of humanity in St. Andrew's, 1878-79; was licensed to preach, 1879, and served as assistant in Anderston Parish, Glasgow, and in Glasgow cathedral, 1881; was ordained minister of Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, 1882, whence he removed in 1903 to become professor of divinity in the University of Glasgow. Works of his which have interest for theology are: Lost Habits of the Religious Life (Edinburgh, 1896) ; A Cameronian Apostle. Being some Account of John Macmillan of Balmaghie (Paisley, 1896) ; Books that Help the Religious Life (Edinburgh, 1897); Historic Significance of Episcopacy in Scotland (1899); and A Country Parish. The Parish as it might be (1899) ; A Scottish School of Theology (1904) ; and Movements of Theological Thought (1908). He also edited W. Maxwell's One of King William's Men (1898) and issued The Layman's Book (1900 sqq.).
REID, JOHN MORRISON: Methodist Episcopal; b. in New York May 30, 1820; d. there May 16, 1896. He graduated at the New York University 1839, and Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1844; was principal of Mechanics Institute School, New York, 1839-44; admitted to conference and served in Connecticut, Long Island, and New York, 1844-58; was president of Genesee College, Lima, N. Y., 1858-64; and became editor of the Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, 1864; of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, Chicago, 1868; and corresponding secretary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, New York, 1872. He was the author of Missions and Missionary Societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church (2 vols., New York, 1879).
REID, THOMAS: Philosopher; b. at Strachan (19 m. s.w. of Aberdeen), Kincardineshire, Scotland, Apr. 26, 1710; d. at Glasgow Oct. 7, 1796. He graduated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1728, where he was librarian 1733-36; was ordained in 1737, and presented by King's College, Aberdeen, to the living of New Machar twelve miles from the city. He engaged in speculative studies and in 1748 contributed an Essay upon Quantity, attacking Francis Hutcheson's application of mathematical formulas to ethical questions. In 1751 he succeeded to the regentship of King's College, which meant the professorship of philosophy, and his lectures included mathematics and physics as well as logic and ethics. In 1758 he was one of the founders of the Philosophical Society which lasted till 1773, and from its discussions and his personal study, especially of the writings of David Hume (q.v.), arose An Inquiry into the Human Mind, on the Principles of Common Sense (Edinburgh, 1764), which
led to the title, " philosophy of common sense," by which his system and that of his successors came to be known; and also, in 1764, to his election to the professorship of moral philosophy at Glasgow, which he held until his death, lecturing on theology, ethics, political science, and rhetoric.
Starting out with the empiricism of Locke and the philosophy of ideas unsupported by reality as culminating in Hume, Reid went further and claimed that our belief in an external world of space must be accepted as original datum of common sense. " Common sense " was not, however, to be taken as mere vulgar opinion, but as knowledge common to rational beings as such, or the principles of the human understanding. Reid set himself the task of developing a system for the refutation of the skepticism of Hume, against the theory of ideas previously in favor among philosophers. But in doing this he acknowledged that he was indebted to Hume for rousing him to the task of criticizing the popular philosophy, and of endeavoring to replace it by another which could endure the test of skeptical argumentation. His Inquiry into the Human Mind is an investigation into the relations of mind to the special senses, dealing in succession with smelling, tasting, hearing, touch, and sight. The work shows that Reid had given considerable attention to the physiology of the senses. His main purpose is to show ample warrant for trusting the information gathered by the senses, and constructing a theory of things by the application of rational principles. Unhappily his favorite phrase, " common sense," is at times used with apparent contradiction, but he means to disavow common sense as called in support of the current philosophy of ideas which had furnished skepticism with its weapons; and, on the other hand, to make common sense the basis of his principles of universal knowledge. Thus he wrote: " In reality, common sense holds nothing of philosophy, nor needs her aid. But, on the other hand, philosophy (if I may be permitted to change the metaphor) has no other root but the principles of common sense " (Inquiry, iv.). By this he means that the essential conditions of intelligence are given to all men, so that intellect does not wait on philosophy for warrant of her procedure; while, on the contrary, all sound philosophy must start with unreserved acknowledgment of the principles of intelligence, which he would name " common sense." To find out what these principles are was to him the necessary and most momentous task of a philosophy.
The form of philosophy which Reid had thus described and introduced he further vindicated and developed in his Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785), and Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788). His first and essential position was gained in showing that the use of the senses implies constant exercise of judgment, and that this implies fundamental principles of thought which could be neither demonstrated, disputed, nor dispensed with. His next position was reached in laying open to view certain first principles in reasoning which are essential to intelligence. " The judgment follows the apprehension of them necessarily; and both are equally the work of nature and the result
Reid Reinkens