ither as it develops, as its
implications and consequences become clear, some elements of truth will
appear within it. They will separate themselves out; they will go to
enrich the stock of human ideas; they will add something to the truth
which he himself mistakenly took as final; they will serve to explain
the root of the error; for error itself is generally a truth
misconceived, and it is only when it is explained that it is finally and
satisfactorily confuted. Or, in the alternative, no element of truth
will appear. In that case the more fully the error is understood, the
more patiently it is followed up in all the windings of its implications
and consequences, the more thoroughly will it refute itself. The
cancerous growth cannot be extirpated by the knife. The root is always
left, and it is only the evolution of the self-protecting anti-toxin
that works the final cure. Exactly parallel is the logic of truth. The
more the truth is developed in all its implications, the greater is the
opportunity of detecting any element of error that it may contain; and,
conversely, if no error appears, the more completely does it establish
itself as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Liberalism applies
the wisdom of Gamaliel in no spirit of indifference, but in the full
conviction of the potency of truth. If this thing be of man, _i. e._ if
it is not rooted in actual verity, it will come to nought. If it be of
God, let us take care that we be not found fighting against God.

Divergences of opinion, of character, of conduct are not unimportant
matters. They may be most serious matters, and no one is called on in
the name of Liberalism to overlook their seriousness. There are, for
example, certain disqualifications inherent in the profession of certain
opinions. It is not illiberal to recognize such disqualifications. It is
not illiberal for a Protestant in choosing a tutor for his son to reject
a conscientious Roman Catholic who avows that all his teaching is
centred on the doctrine of his Church. It would be illiberal to reject
the same man for the specific purpose of teaching arithmetic, if he
avowed that he had no intention of using his position for the purpose
of religious propagandism. For the former purpose the divergence of
religious opinion is an inherent disqualification. It negates the object
propounded, which is the general education of the boy on lines in which
the father believes. For the latter purpose the opin