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106 THIRD PERIOD. TV. INFIDELITY.
debasing tendency of philology, no proof is needed beyond once
reading a grammarian's notes on a great poet: logic is unnecessary for men who can reason; and about as useful to those who
cannot, as a machine for forcing one foot in due succession before the other would be to a man who could not walk: while
the study of rhetoric is exclusively one for men who desire to
deceive or be deceived; he who has the truth at his heart need
never fear the want of persuasion on his tongue, or, if he fear
it, it is because the base rhetoric of dishonesty keeps the truth
from being heard.
§ c. The study of these sciences, therefore, naturally made
men shallow and*dishonest in general; but it had a peculiarly
fatal effect with respect to religion, in the view which men
took of the Bible. Christ's teaching was discovered not to be
rhetorical, St. Paul's preaching not to be logical, and the Greek
of the New Testament not to be grammatical. The stern
truth, the profound pathos, the impatient period, leaping from
point to point and leaving the intervals for the hearer to fill,
the comparatively Hebraized and unelaborate idiom, had little
in them of attraction for the students of phrase and syllogism;
and the chief knowledge of the age became one of the chief
stumbling-blocks to its religion.
§ oi. But it was not the grammarian and logician alone
who was thus retarded or perverted; in them there had been
small loss. The men who could truly appreciate the higher
excellences of the classics were carried away by a current of
enthusiasm which withdrew them from every other study.
Christianity was still professed as a matter of form, but neither
the Bible nor the writings of the Fathers had time left for their
perusal, still less heart left for their acceptance. The human
mind is not capable of more than a certain amount of admiration or reverence, and that which was given to Horace was
withdrawn from David. Religion is, of all subjects, that
which will least endure a second place in the heart or thoughts,
and a languid and occasional study of it was sure to lead to
error or infidelity. On the other hand, what was heartily admired and unceasingly contemplated was soon brought nigh to
| Title | The stones of Venice - 3 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000120 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 106 THIRD PERIOD. TV. INFIDELITY. debasing tendency of philology, no proof is needed beyond once reading a grammarian's notes on a great poet: logic is unnecessary for men who can reason; and about as useful to those who cannot, as a machine for forcing one foot in due succession before the other would be to a man who could not walk: while the study of rhetoric is exclusively one for men who desire to deceive or be deceived; he who has the truth at his heart need never fear the want of persuasion on his tongue, or, if he fear it, it is because the base rhetoric of dishonesty keeps the truth from being heard. § c. The study of these sciences, therefore, naturally made men shallow and*dishonest in general; but it had a peculiarly fatal effect with respect to religion, in the view which men took of the Bible. Christ's teaching was discovered not to be rhetorical, St. Paul's preaching not to be logical, and the Greek of the New Testament not to be grammatical. The stern truth, the profound pathos, the impatient period, leaping from point to point and leaving the intervals for the hearer to fill, the comparatively Hebraized and unelaborate idiom, had little in them of attraction for the students of phrase and syllogism; and the chief knowledge of the age became one of the chief stumbling-blocks to its religion. § oi. But it was not the grammarian and logician alone who was thus retarded or perverted; in them there had been small loss. The men who could truly appreciate the higher excellences of the classics were carried away by a current of enthusiasm which withdrew them from every other study. Christianity was still professed as a matter of form, but neither the Bible nor the writings of the Fathers had time left for their perusal, still less heart left for their acceptance. The human mind is not capable of more than a certain amount of admiration or reverence, and that which was given to Horace was withdrawn from David. Religion is, of all subjects, that which will least endure a second place in the heart or thoughts, and a languid and occasional study of it was sure to lead to error or infidelity. On the other hand, what was heartily admired and unceasingly contemplated was soon brought nigh to |
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