RIGHT RELATION OF REASON TO RELIGION 235 



for him, Holy Scripture is but the gradually devel- 

 oped record of the tradition of the Church, verified 

 at due times by the Church, and given a derivative 

 but still unbending authority by being enrolled in 

 the Canon by solemn act of the infallible body. 



But how, for the Romanist, and still more for the 

 unconverted to whom he would go with the cre- 

 dentials of salvation, — how is the infallible witness 

 of the Church to the Incarnation made evident ? 

 And for the orthodox Protestant, or for the uncon- 

 verted whom Jic would win to heaven, how is the 

 infallible witness of the Scriptures made sure ? Is it 

 not plain that in both cases the whole question 

 must come down, at last, to the simple matter of tes- 

 timony, either first-hand or second-hand or, finally, 

 many hands removed ? And what is the first-hand 

 testimony ? The declaration of a certain man that 

 he was the Living God, and that when he spoke 

 God therefore was speaking, — admitting, for the 

 sake of argument, that he did so declare. What is 

 the second-hand testimony .-' That of certain persons, 

 present when he made the declaration, who heard and 

 believed it ; heard and believed, also, manifold teach- 

 ings of a morally guiding, morally inspiring, and 

 morally regenerative power, and passed all onward 

 to those with whom they conferred, from whom the 

 teachings passed, and still are passing, onward to 

 multitudes of others. What is the remote tcsti- 



