THEOLOGY UNDER ITS CHANGED CONDITIONS. 173 



patience and care which are necessary in dealing with an abstract sub- 

 ject, and one which touches men's inmost susceptibilities. This patience 

 is required alike from those who are irritated by the old usurpations 

 of theology, and would not be sorry if it could be banished altogether, 

 and from those who esteem theology as the venerable mother and head 

 of the sciences, and fear lest her majesty should be disparaged by too 

 unabashed a gaze. 



Secondly, it is neither honest nor politic to hide the real state of 

 things. The questions which it suggests are felt not only by theolo- 

 gians, but by many thoughtful ministers and laymen ; and we need 

 not doubt that they are honestly met and solved in many cases. But 

 the impression on the mind of the laity is that a hard system of dogmas 

 which they have identified with "the gospel" exists unmodified in the 

 mind of the clergy, and that theologians are quite unaware of the 

 change which modern conditions have imposed upon religious thought. 

 For instance, Professor Huxley, some years ago, when asked to give 

 an address to the London clergy, proved in an elaborate exposition that 

 the world was more than six thousand years old. Probably there was 

 hardly one of his hearers, even at that time, who needed to be con- 

 vinced of it. But theologians must feel that it is not mere personal 

 and esoteric conviction, but a frank acknowledgment of the conditions 

 of things, which is needed for the vindication of the dignity of their 

 science and of their own intelligence and veracity. 



Thirdly, it is not to be supposed, as sometimes happens, that those 

 who subject an institution to such an ordeal are detracting from it. 

 Criticism is not necessarily negative. More than thirty years ago 

 Prince Albert said that constitutional government was on its trial, at 

 a time when it hardly existed in any great European country but Eng- 

 land. The trial it underwent was so successful that it is now recognized, 

 more or less, as the form of government in all Europe, except Russia 

 and Turkey. Criticism, moreover, even where barely negative, is often 

 the means of purging away the dross and making the metal appear in 

 its purity. Theology at the Christian era and at the Eeformation un- 

 derwent such a purification, and stood forth afterward far stronger and 

 more fit for the purposes of piety. We must get down, at whatever 

 expense, to the solid rock, and then we can safely build ; but the tower 

 we build will be nobler and more useful, because it stands firm. We 

 need have no fear as to the future of theology and of the religious life 

 which is founded upon it. 



I- 1- To begin with the conditions imposed by the physical sci- 

 ences. The immense advance which has been made in this depart- 

 ment, alike in the way of discovery, of diffusion, and of application, is 

 the most marked intellectual feature of our epoch. But physical sci- 

 ence can not advance a step without the assumption of the imiformity 

 of Xature. This uniformity is tested at every stage and never fails. 

 The idea that it can fail becomes almost inconceivable. "When the 



