i8 7 o] A THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 147 



our theological systems are not simply deductions from 

 Scripture, or, to come back to our first line of thought, 

 they are the product of an activity of the human mind 

 which is not merely formal, not mere classification of 

 immediately revealed data, but the development, in a 

 dialectical process, into more and more definite scientific 

 form, of a religious consciousness which must always find 

 its canon in Scripture, but which none the less has a life 

 and growth of its own specifically determined, now in 

 this direction, now in that, by historical circumstances 

 and individual or national character, so that the true and 

 harmonious growth of theology as a whole is only attain 

 able through the dialectical action and reaction of many 

 one-sided growths of the theological consciousness of 

 various individuals or Churches. 



Now in all this investigation we have remained, as it 

 were, outside of the real nature of theology and have 

 busied ourselves only with its method. And, in fact, our 

 results have been mainly negative. We have not seen 

 what the real principle of theological progress is, except 

 in so far as it has appeared that theology does not advance 

 by deduction from axioms which lie outside of the theo 

 logian, and therefore, if it be a science at all, can only 

 advance by the evolution of a consciousness lying within 

 him. And therefore our results, though they certainly 

 go to justify our position here as a Society for the dis 

 cussion of theology for real discussion in which each 

 man is called upon to give free play to his own individu 

 ality do not give us any light as to the positive principles 

 of theological progress, the common consciousness con 

 trolling and moulding the various individualities, the 

 objective canon by which that consciousness is to be 

 measured. It is from the consideration of these points 

 that we can gain positive guidance in our theological 

 work, whether in this Society or by ourselves ; and there 

 fore I propose to devote the remainder of this paper to 

 some remarks not exactly in systematical form which 



