£7. 33.] A DECADE OF WORK AT HOME. 821 
_of them, he was ready at any time to discuss problems of 
theology and ecclesiaticism. His temper was naturally 
conservative, and he held by the habits of thought which 
had been early formed ; but he was open to conviction, 
and by the process of his own thought broke through 
narrow bounds and rejoiced in all true progress in re- 
ligion, both for himself and others. In the matter of 
scriptural authority, for example, he was in accord 
with Soame Jenyns, taking the ground quoted here : 
* The Scriptures,” says that writer, in his “ Internal 
Evidences of Christianity,” “are not revelations from 
God, but the history of them. The revelations them- 
selves are derived from God, but the history of them is 
the production of man. If the records of this revela- 
tion are supposed to be the revelation itself, the least 
defect discovered in them must be fatal to the whole. 
What has Jed many to overlook this distinction is that 
common phrase that the Scriptures are the Word of 
God; and in one sense they certainly are; that is, 
they are the sacred repository of all the revelations, 
dispensations, promises, and precepts which God has 
vouchsafed to communicate to mankind; but by this 
expression we are not to understand that every part of 
this voluminous collection of historical, poetical, pro- 
phetical, theological, and moral writing which we call 
the Bible was dictated by the immediate influence of 
Divine inspiration.” 
He held this ground strongly when the general view 
of the Bible was narrower than of late years. As the 
years went on he grew broader and sweeter, feeling 
wider sympathy with all true, devout religious belief. 
He was a constant church-goer, everywhere. When 
traveling he always made Sunday a resting-day if 
possible, and would go quietly off in the morning to 
