THE TEACHING OF THEOLOGY 307 



Oxford Counter-Reformation: " Cardinal Manning says that the in- 

 tellect is naturally skeptical; that it destroyed the faith of the Old 

 World; that it is destroying still more rapidly the faith of modern 

 society, and that religion can only be saved by some power which 

 can smite the intellect back and humble it. Is this true? " de- 

 mands Froude. " Is it not rather true that the intellect is the enemy 

 only of falsehood? The human intellect," he continues, " will never 

 voluntarily part with truth which has been once communicated. 

 It hates lies, lies especially which come to it armed with terror in the 

 place of argument. Between men of intellect and priesthood there 

 has seldom been good agreement. Each regards the other as in- 

 truding upon his special domain. Priests and prophets went on ill 

 together under the old dispensation. The prophet denounced the 

 priest as a ritualist. The priest murdered the prophet with the help 

 of popular superstition." We have little sympathy with the tem- 

 per of these rude words, the words of an aggrieved and angry man. 

 Yet they point to a need, felt by many strong natures, of opportunity 

 to study the problems of religion in a place beyond the jurisdiction 

 of ecclesiastical courts and the limitation of sectarian subscription. 

 It is not without advantage to religion and to themselves that young 

 men, advancing toward the Christian ministry, shall find their the- 

 ological self-consciousness first, and ascertain their ecclesiastical 

 distribution afterward. Theology is greater than any and all 

 churches. Froude's words on subscription (in his Plea for the Free 

 Discussion of Theological Difficulties) are less objectionable and not 

 less true: " If the popular theory of subscription be true, and the 

 Articles are articles of belief, a reasonable human being, when little 

 more than a boy, pledges himself to a long series of intricate and 

 highly difficult propositions of abstract divinity. He undertakes 

 never to waver or doubt; never to allow his mind to be shaken, 

 whatever the weight of argument or evidence brought to bear upon 

 him. That is to say, he promises to do what no man living has a 

 right to promise to do. The clergy, who are set apart to study a 

 particular subject, are to be the only persons unpermitted to have 

 an independent opinion on it." Mr. Froude was protesting against 

 conditions which, in England, have been greatly altered since the 

 time at which these words were written and which, in this country, 

 have no existence; namely, the embarrassments to theological science 

 created by the commitment of universities to the opinions of the 

 Established Church. It was against these embarrassments, as 

 connected with the admission of dissenters to the university, that 

 Sir William Hamilton delivered his ferocious attacks, arraigning not 

 only the intellectual but the moral integrity of the great universities 

 of England in language of extraordinary bitterness. From this 

 time to the present there has been a steady advance toward con- 



