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when he was caught and bound; but then rather she turns herself into all shapes except her own, and perhaps tunes her voice according to the time, as Micaiah did before Ahab, until she be adjured into her own likeness.’[1]
But many a child knows the alphabet who cannot spell, or spells but cannot read, or reading fluently enough, yet fails to catch the full meaning of the sentence. And so I take it we must feel that at the best we are but children who have scarce learnt to spell out the words, and who dare not therefore be too positive as to their true significance.
Or, to change the metaphor, our theories and systems are but as the scaffolding which serves to raise the building. As the building rises the scaffolding is struck, and we may be content if it has answered well its temporary purpose. We must not hold too confidently to opinions which a few years may show to be partial, if not wrong, and may wait patiently in hopes of a clearer vision, as he of old who first saw ‘men as trees, walking,’ afterwards, under the Divine touch, beheld all clearly.
- ↑ Milton’s ‘Areopagitica;’ in Works, 8 vo., London, 1867, vol. iv. p. 444.
