i 7 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



on theology the fuller knowledge of the laws of nature with the in- 

 creasing sense of their uniformity which imposes itself as a necessary 

 condition of thought wherever things physical are concerned ; the 

 hypothesis of evolution, which suggests an account in harmony with 

 this uniformity of the genesis of the whole animate creation ; and, 

 turning to another department, the history of religion, of which so 

 much more is know now than formerly. 2. In referring to criticism 

 we may dwell upon the discoveries recently made as to the dates of 

 the books of the Old Testament, and the consequent rearrangement 

 of Hebrew literature and history ; the views now given by scholars 

 of the origin of the Gospels, the diminished historical value which it 

 is found necessary to ascribe to the Acts of the Apostles, the dubious 

 character of the later Epistles ascribed to St. Paul, and the greater 

 clearness of the circumstances under which the Apocalypse was com- 

 posed we must pass on to the investigations into the structure of the 

 early Christian Churches and their theological ideas, especially those 

 relating to the Eucharist, and we must also take in the change which 

 has come about in the treatment of all early documents that which 

 teaches us to value them as literature, not as the quarry from which 

 dogmatic statements may be hewed out. 3. Turning to the conditions 

 of church-life we shall have to notice the abolition or mitigation of 

 tests and subscriptions, and the greater tolerance and friendliness be- 

 tween those who hold different opinions or belong to different relig- 

 ious bodies ; the freedom which the law of the Church, as interpreted 

 by the Privy Council, gives to theological opinions of clergymen ; 

 together with the tendency, to which all religious bodies have been 

 subject for some time past, to make less of abstract theological state- 

 ments and more of practical piety and philanthropy. 4. Lastly, turn- 

 ing to the social and political conditions, we must consider the effect 

 of our greater acquaintance with the wants of the masses, and the 

 admission of the demand for equality. Theology has to take account 

 not of a mere mass of ignorance and sin, but of human beings stand- 

 ing in moral equality with their teachers, and capable of virtue and 

 self-direction, who require to be told, not, after the manner which 

 reminds them of the older political economy, of a way of salvation 

 under which a few elect souls may be saved, but, in a manner corre- 

 sponding with the better social policy, how they may be helped to 

 rise in all respects and all together. 



Before going more into detail and showing the necessary or prob- 

 able effects of these conditions upon theology, there are three remarks 

 which should be made : 



First, in the present day every institution is passing through the 

 ordeal of criticism, and lives only because it can justify its existence. 

 It would be foolish, if it were possible, to attempt the exemption of 

 the study of theology from this process, ^sor is there any reason why 

 it should shrink from the questioning, if only it be applied with the 



