pernicious, as judged
by that infallible and ultimate standard, it was to be rejected.

It was amusing to think that, in this little company of three devout
believers in the "internal oracle," no two thought alike! After the two
youths had frankly stated their opinions, Harrington quietly said,
"I should much like to ask each of you a few questions. There are
certain difficulties connected with each hypothesis just stated,
on which I should be glad to receive some light. I frankly confess
beforehand, however, that I fear that that curiously constructed
book, which gives us all so much trouble,--which will not allow me
to say positively either that it is true or false,--will still less
permit you to reject a part or parts at your pleasure. It is, I must
admit, a most independent book in that respect, and treats your spiritual
illumination most cavalierly. It says to you, "Receive me altogether,
or reject me altogether, just as you please"; and when men have
rejected it altogether, it leaves them certain literary and
historical, and moral problems, in all fairness demanding solution,
which I doubt whether it is in our power to solve, or to give any
decent account of."

"What do you mean," said the younger of the two youths, "by affirming
that we are compelled to receive the whole book, or to reject it all?"

"Let us see," said Harrington, "whether there is any consistent
stopping-place between. It appears to me, that, whether by the most
singular series of 'coincidences,' or by immense subtlety of design,
this book, evidently composed by different hands, has yet its
materials so interwoven, and its parts so reciprocally dependent,
that it is impossible to separate them,--to set some aside, and say,
'We will accept these, and reject those': just as, in certain textures,
no sooner do we begin to take out a particular thread, than we find it
is inextricably entangled with others, and those again with others; so
that there immediately takes place a prodigious 'gathering' at that
point, and if we persevere, a rent; but the obstinate part at which
we tug will not come away alone. Whether it is so or not, we shall
soon see, by examining the results of the application of your theories.
I will begin with you," (addressing the younger,) "because you believe
least; you say, I think, that you admit the records of the New Testament
contain a real revelation,--a religious element,--and that it has been
authenticated to you by mirac