Page:Religious Thought in Holland during the Nineteenth Century James Hutton Mackay.djvu/30

 AND THE RE’VEIL 19

revelations. It did not feel the need of taking account of the relations that exist between the revelations and the world as an organic whole. It troubled itself as little about the question how miracle is in accord- ance with the laws of nature as about the question how inspiration is in accordance with the laws of the human understanding. In short, the psychological and cosmological conditions of Revelation were neglected. The miracles of the Bible were accepted as his- torical, while it attempted to explain them as far as possible naturally. Thus Van der Palm, in the book I have mentioned, is of opinion that the stoppage of the Jordan, which enabled the Israelites to cross dry—shod, may have been caused by a mass of rock falling across its bed higher up its course and tempo- rarily damming it ; while the fall of the wall of leYiChO might easily be caused by a simul- taneous shout from tens of thousands of throats, especially if it happened to be old and badly built to begin with.

Tht: attitude of a people in regard to the question of religious education in the schools is