subject of these mistakes--misleading references and the like--I
think that enough has been said [Endnote 2:1]. Much is perhaps
charged upon the individual which is rather due to the system of
theological training and the habits of research that are common in
England at the present day. Inaccuracies no doubt have been found,
not a few. But, unfortunately, there is only one of our seats of
learning where--in theology at least--the study of accuracy has
quite the place that it deserves. Our best scholars and ablest
men--with one or two conspicuous exceptions--do not write, and the
work is left to be done by _littérateurs_ and clergymen or
laymen who have never undergone the severe preliminary discipline
which scientific investigation requires. Thus a low standard is
set; there are but few sound examples to follow, and it is a
chance whether the student's attention is directed to these at the
time when his habits of mind are being formed.

Again, it was claimed for 'Supernatural Religion' on its first
appearance that it was impartial. The claim has been indignantly
denied, and, I am afraid I must say, with justice. Any one
conversant with the subject (I speak of the critical portion of
the book) will see that it is deeply coloured by the author's
prepossessions from beginning to end. Here again he has only imbibed
the temper of the nation. Perhaps it is due to our political
activity and the system of party-government that the spirit of
party seems to have taken such a deep root in the English mind. An
Englishman's political opinions are determined for him mainly
(though sometimes in the way of reaction) by his antecedents and
education, and his opinions on other subjects follow in their
train. He takes them up with more of practical vigour and energy
than breadth of reflection. There is a contagion of party-spirit