ABSTRACT
Since the labor and life of one man cannot attain to perfection of knowledge, the wisdom of the tradition is that which inspireth the felicity of continuance and proceeding. The youthful giant was to realize his full strength in the light of scientific method and methodological doubt; and history endeavored to overthrow the idols into which tradition had crystallized; but the latter, retreating before the examination of reason, continued in the various realms of faith. Traditionalism has bound the Jews together from the days of Abraham to those of Zionism. Now with tradition, in its theological aspect, English culture inherits the Protestant quarrel. The oldest usages in the Oxford Dictionary, from Wycliffe late in the fourteenth century, are strongly pejorative. The exception that proves the rule is the Roman convert Dryden, whose Hind confounds his Panther by stating the case for tradition.
