THE SOURCE OF BELIEF.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIE,—May one be rash enough to take exception altogether to the phrase of Darwin quoted by the Spectator of December 21st :—" What an inexplicable frame of mind is that of belief " ? It is with the words used that I disagree. " Belief " is not a "frame of mind." The frames of " mind " are knowledge and non-knowledge, with a reasoning "frame," or condition, which is preparatory to arriving at the conclu- sion finally attained. The Darwinian phrase seems to pre- suppose only the bipartite nature of man; and the tripartite nature—clearly enforced by St. Paul amongst others—is either ignored or tabooed. You cannot pluck the fruit called " faith " from the tree of knowledge, or out of the earth
whence that tree grows.—I am, Sir, &c., W. H. B.
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