reat Christian
fold the marks of division have pronounced themselves in the most
unmistakable manner. As an example we may take the lines of
cleavage which have shown themselves in the two great churches, the
Congregational and the Presbyterian, and the very distinct fissure which
is manifest in the transplanted Anglican church of this country. Recent
circumstances have brought out the fact of the great change in the
dogmatic communities which has been going on silently but surely.
The licensing of a missionary, the transfer of a Professor from
one department to another, the election of a Bishop,--each of these
movements furnishes evidence that there is no such thing as an air-tight
reservoir of doctrinal finalities.

The folding-doors are wide open to every Protestant to enter all the
privileged precincts and private apartments of the various exclusive
religious organizations. We may demand the credentials of every
creed and catechise all the catechisms. So we may discuss the gravest
questions unblamed over our morning coffee-cups or our evening tea-cups.
There is no rest for the Protestant until he gives up his legendary
anthropology and all its dogmatic dependencies.

It is only incidentally, however, that the Professor at the
Breakfast-Table handles matters which are the subjects of religious
controversy. The reader who is sensitive about having his fixed beliefs
dealt with as if they were open to question had better skip the pages
which look as if they would disturb his complacency. "Faith" is the most
precious of possessions, and it dislikes being meddled with. It means,
of course, self-trust,--that is, a belief in the value of our own
opinion of a doctrine, of a church, of a religion, of a Being, a belief
quite independent of any evidence that we can bring to convince a jury
of our fellow beings. Its roots are thus inextricably entangled with
those of self-love and bleed as mandrakes were said to, when pulled up
as weeds. Some persons may even at this late day take offence at a few
opinions expressed in the following pages, but most of these passages
will be read without loss of temper by those who disagree with them, and
by-and-by they may be found too timid and conservative for intelligent
readers, if they are still read by any.

BEVERLY FARM, MASS., June 18, 1891. O. W. H.

THE PROFESSOR AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE.

What he said, what he heard, and what he saw.

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