Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/19

 an astute and frigid critical faculty, a thousand and one instances over which to proclaim a petty triumph.

So must it ever be. There is here a contrariety which is inherent in the nature of the case; and which the diverse temperaments of minds will never cease to bring into collision with religious faith. What is it then which might be wished for to preclude the ill consequences that accrue from these periodic collisions? Do we need some new theory of inspiration? Or ought there to take place a stepping back, along the whole line of religious belief? Or do we need to make a surrender of certain articles of faith? Or should we shelter ourselves under evasions? Or would it be well to quash inquiry by authority, or to make a show of terrors for intimidating assailants? None of these things are needed; nor, if resorted to, could they be of any permanent service.

The requirement is this, as I humbly think—That, on all hands, we should be willing to throw aside, as unauthentic and unwarranted, a natural prejudice; or, let it rather be called—a spontaneous product of religious feeling, which leads us to frame conditions, and to