nevitable conviction, and bind it
to the truth. Those who teach error, then, may preach humility with
success to the blind and the unthinking; but wherever men may be disposed
to think for themselves, they must expect to find rebels. How many at the
present day have begun, like Melanchthon, by the preaching of submission,
and ended by the practice of rebellion against their own doctrines. It is
wonderful to observe the style of criticism usually adopted by the
faithful, as one illustrious rebel after another is seen to depart from
their ranks. The moment he is known to doubt a single dogma of the
established faith, the awful suspicion is set afloat, "there is no telling
where he will end." Alas! this is but too true; for when a man has once
discovered that what he has been taught all his life to regard and
reverence as a great mystery, is in reality an absurdity and an imposition
on his reason, there is no telling where he will end. The reaction may be
so great, indeed, as to produce an entire shipwreck of his faith. But in
this case, let us not chide our poor lost brother with pride and
presumption, as if we ourselves were unstained with the same sin. Let us
remember, that the fault may be partly our own, as well as his. Let us
remember, that the sin of not even every unwarrantable innovation, is
exclusively imputable to the innovator himself. For, as Lord Bacon says,
"A froward retention of customs is a great innovator."

If those who, some centuries ago, formed the various creeds of the
Christian world, were fallible men, and if they permitted serious errors
to creep into the great mass of religious truth contained in those creeds,
then the best way to prevent innovation is, not to preach humility and
submission, but to bring those formularies into a conformity with the
truth. For, if the "Old Theology" be unsound, the "New Theology" will have
the audacity to show itself. And who, among the children of men, will set
bounds to the progress of the human mind, either in the direction of God's
word or his work, and say, Hitherto shalt thou come, and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed? Who will lash the winds into submission, or bind
the raging ocean at his feet?

Section V.

The foregoing treatise may be deemed inconsistent with gratitude to God.

"Such reflections," it has been urged, "afford as little ground for
gratitude as for submission. Why do we feel grateful to God for