who thought a prostrate attitude the right one to assume under such circumstances, divine correction came in these words, "Stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to thee." Some people seem to think that the right attitude is to stand upon their heads.
It is told in some Early Victorian memoirs that a group of Oxford dons were discussing together the relations of mortal man to his God, and one postulated that the only possible attitude for man to assume in such a connection was that of "abject submission and surrender." But even in that dark epoch such a doctrine was not allowed to go unquestioned. "No, no," protested another, "deference, not abject submission." And though it is a quaint example of the Oxford manner, surely one must agree with it. Reason being man's birthright, "Stand upon thy feet and I will speak to thee," is the necessary corollary. Even if there be such a thing as divine revelation—the revelation must be convincing to man's reason, and not merely an attack upon his nerves, or an appeal to his physical fears.
Similarly any form of government or of society which does not allow reason to stand upon its feet and utter itself unashamed is a discreditable form of discipline to impose, if reason is to be man's guide.
Now I do not know whether, by characterising the device of a "miraculous" birth as discreditable to its author, I am not incurring the penalty of imprisonment in a country which
