THE AUTHORITY OF TEXTS.
go THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
conceive that there is a text which is itself an authority against the arbitrary authority of texts. The " word of prophecy " is treated by St. Peter as belonging to a transition state. It is well to take heed to it, as to "a light that ahineth in a dark place " (II. Peter, 1. 19), but only until it is superseded by something brighter,—" until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." What is that but saying that the written word must eventually " commend itself to the conscience," and is but of passing validity until so confirmed ? or, as Mr. Browning says in "Aurora Leigh,"—
" We all must read, you see, before we live,
Till slowly the ineffable light comes up, And, as it deepens, drowns the written word "?
—I am, Sir, &c.,
St. Luke's Vicarage, Nutford Place. B. H. ALFORD.
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