Nor could we stop, indeed,
till we had arrived at that absolute pyrrhonism which consists, if such
a thing be possible, in the negation of all belief,--even to the belief
that we do not believe!
But though the objections to the reception of Christianity are numerous,
and some insoluble, the question always returns, whether they over
balance the mass of the evidence in its favour? nor is it to be
forgotten that they are susceptible of indefinite alleviation as time
rolls on; and with a few observations on this point we will close the
present article.
A refinement of modern philosophy often leads our rationalist to speak
depreciatingly, if not contemptuously, of what he calls a stereotyped
revelation--revelation in a book. It ties down, he is fond of saying,
the spirit to the letter; and limits the 'progress' and 'development' of
the human mind in its 'free' pursuit of truth. The answer we should
be disposed to make is, first, that if a book does contain truth, the
sooner that truth is stereotyped the better; secondly, that if such
book, like the book of Nature, or, as we deem, the book of Revelation,
really contains truth, its study, so far from being incompatible with
the spirit of free inquiry, will invite and repay continual efforts more
completely to understand it.
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