THE PRIDE OF INTELLECT. 263 



is rational, and therefore the friend and not the foe 

 of faith. If it were not for the glamour of the 

 name of " heretic " and the fascination of knowing 

 that we are upsetting established beliefs, rationalism 

 would long ago have been discredited as intensely 

 unscientific, as far removed from the work of those 

 who are reverently interpreting to us the word or 

 works of God, as is the reckless theorist from him 

 who realizes the greatness of his mission to be an 

 interpreter of truth to the world. 



Really rational inquiry into truth, whether in 

 religion or in nature, must be reverent, must recog- 

 nize its mission, and in recognizing this must admit 

 its own insufficiency. Homo naturae minister et 

 interpres, they are well-known words tantiun 

 facit et intelligit quantum de naturae ordine re vel 

 mente observaverit : nee amplius scit aut potest. 

 The same is true, mutatis mutandis, of every ra- 

 tional inquiry. "Thou hast hid these things," says 

 the Divine Teacher, " from the wise and prudent, 

 and hast revealed them unto babes." Only when 

 we become " as a little child " can we hope to 

 enter into the kingdom of the truth. 



But the becoming "as a little child" implies 

 not only the laying aside preconceived notions and 

 the submission of the will to truth, but the willing- 

 ness to put ourselves, as it were, to school with 

 those who, in whatever department of life, have 

 been in God's purpose the channels by which 



