self up as the way to God ; she takes upon herself the
office of the Holy Spirit, and performs it very badly,
for she makes no use of its principal instrument, faith,
or at least where she can avoid it — and then not as the
only ladder to heaven, not as the only bond of union
between that which is above and that which is beneath.
"But," inquired Mander, "does faith speak clearly
and distinctly In all hearts ? Must not philosophy first
overcome a host of errors which force themselves into
the idea of God ? Must she not labor continually to
erect a barrier against superstition, which, like a rolling
sea, is ever threatening humanity with a new deluge ?
Has she not, to this end, inspired the efforts of the no-
blest of our race ?"
"Allow me first," Said Hold, "to reply to your last
remark. Was there philosophy in the language of the
prophets, ' The Lord hath spoken !' Was there philoso-
phy in the language of Christ, 'My words are not mine,
but the words of Him that sent me ?' Is there philos-
ophy in the demon of Socrates? or in the myths of
Plato ? In all this, is not rather the voice of God as-
sumed to have preceded discourse about God ? Is
there not here this lesson for our philosophy, that the
human understanding can bring forth no revelations
from the depth of the Godhead which none can search
out, except the Spirit of God, and him to whom he
will reveal himself. As to what you say of philosophy
as a barrier against superstition, he who came into the
world to be the light of the world, and whose teachings,
whatever you may think of them, have been mightier
than all the systems of the schools united, whether
as taught or learned in the lecture-room, or wrapped in
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