ATTITUDE OF WORKING NATURALISTS. 251 



withholding assent in degrees or provisionally, accord- 

 ing to the amount of verification or likelihood, or 

 holding it long in suspense ; which is quite in contrast 

 to that of amateurs and general speculators (not that 

 we reckon Dr. Dawson in this class), whose assent or 

 denial seldom waits, or endures qualification. With 

 them it must on all occasions be yea or nay only, ac- 

 cording to the letter of the Scriptural injunction, and 

 whatsoever is less than this, or between the two, 

 cometh of evil. 



