his master's manner, wherein difficulties are propounded without being
solved. The hearer is cross-questioned, with the view of being made to
feel the necessity of possessing knowledge; and a method is offered to him
by which he is to find the solution of problems for himself.(278) In this
view Abelard's doubt is really the inquiry which is the first step to
faith; the criticism which precedes the constructive process, the negation
before affirmation.

While its form may be regarded as an embodiment of the scholastic method,
the manner of handling marks the commencement of modern biblical
criticism. The suggestions which he offers(279) in reference to false
readings of manuscripts, the spuriousness of books, and the temporary
character of the author's sentiments, as elements in determining the
reality of a contradiction, or the necessary rejection of a passage on
grounds of dogmatic improbability, mark a sagacity which has been
perfected into a science by the growth of modern criticism. Thus far we
have only the elements of inquiry and criticism which enter into doubt;
yet it would be unfair to deny that something of unbelief may have been
found in a restless care-worn spirit like that of Abelard; and if any one
thinks that he intended in his work to leave the reader with the
impression that the solution is impossible, or that the doubter's side is
the stronger, then we may consider him to have been an unbeliever, and
regard his teaching as an example, often witnessed in later times, of a
concealed irony, which, while pretending to accept revelation, has
represented its evidence as insufficient, and its doctrines as unprovable.
If however he be taken to be a sceptic, it is only the infancy of doubt.
It is unlike the bitter disbelief shown by the early antichristian
writers, or by the doubters of modern times. Whatever was valuable in the
free thought of Abelard outlived his time. The spirit of inquiry which
spoke through him, continued to operate in his successors.(280) His method
was even adopted by his opponents. His follower, Arnold of Brescia,
carried free thought from ideas into acts, and suffered martyrdom in a
premature struggle against the papal church.(281) Being dead, Abelard yet
spoke, both politically and philosophically; and his character remains as
a type of the spirit of mingled doubt and hope and inquiry which is
exhibited in the free thought of any of those great epochs, when knowledge
is increased, and