norance by the innate force of the mind. Reason, the great magician,
has uplifted its wand; and lo, the creatures of night disappear! It has
dispelled the foolish old notions of magic, witchcraft, and miracles. It
has overcome the spirit of persecution, the childish conception of
original sin, and the doctrine of eternal punishment. It has put an end
to bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and all the lower forms of vicious
pleasure. It has secularized politics, overthrown the notion of the
divine right of kings, and now creates and fosters all the industrial
developments of the age. Protestantism is excellent when allied to
Rationalism; but when opposed to it, it is no better than any other
conglomeration of creeds and liturgies. There is no such thing as a
fixed notion of God and Providence. The conceptions of man on these
subjects will change with the progress of the race. Human reason,
therefore, and not revelation, is the sole arbiter of truth.

Thus Mr. Lecky places himself beside his predecessors in ignoring the
agency of the Holy Spirit, either in giving inspired truth to the world,
or in educating the church.

From the foregoing authorities it is very apparent that the Rationalists
do not deny the special features of skepticism with which their
opponents charge them. They admit frankly that they give the precedence
to Reason, when the alternative is Reason or Revelation, instead of
adopting a positive creed from the principle, that, if we would
ascertain the character of Revelation, we must begin our inquiry by
examining the doctrines it contains, and then by comparing them with our
notions of what a Revelation ought to be. Thus the capricious dictates
of reason are made to decide the quality of revealed truth. Besides,
wherever a mysterious account is contained in a book which in the main
is accepted, such mystery is cast out as altogether unlikely, probably
the poetic version of some early legend. A miracle is recounted; one of
the best attested of all. "It could never have happened," the
Rationalists say, "for Nature has made it impossible."

There have been several classes of Rationalists. Some were men of very
worthy character; and, save in their opinions, were entitled to the
high respect of their generation. Semler lived a beautiful life; and his
glowing utterance on his daughter's death exhibited not only a father's
love, but a Christian's faith. Bretschneider, himself a Rationalist,
gives the following class