i8 7 7] THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH 321 



though precisely opposite in character to that of the 

 sects just characterised, is very nearly as fatal to a true 

 understanding of the nature and business of theology. 

 It is often said or implied that because all true Chris 

 tianity involves definite knowledge of God and His Word 

 of Revelation, there is, therefore, no real difference between 

 religion and theology. The specific Christian knowledge 

 which every believer possesses is called his theology, and 

 is hastily identified with the theology of the Church in 

 general. It is not, of course, pretended that every believer 

 is necessarily master of all theology, but it is held that 

 the knowledge indispensable to faith is, so far as it goes, 

 theological. 



Now it is to be observed that the only kind of know 

 ledge which it is necessary for every Christian to possess 

 is knowledge which stands in direct contact with faith and 

 practice. 1% is not necessary that the knowledge in 

 question be systematised, logically formulated, put into 

 any scientific shape. It is not even necessary that he 

 who has it shall be able to enounce it with precision in 

 words, if it is always at hand to him when he wishes to 

 act on it. In all practical ways of life there is a great 

 deal of knowledge requisite which is perfectly definite, 

 but which the practical man never learns to put into 

 words. He has acquired his knowledge by practice. 

 And so when any practical question arises he knows the 

 right thing to do, though perhaps he could not explain 

 so as to make another know it. An extreme instance of 

 the kind, which illustrates what I mean in the simplest 

 form, is the power of hitting a mark with a stone. This 

 involves a real and accurate intellectual judgment of 

 the object, its distance, and so forth. Implicitly, this 

 judgment contains applications of a number of laws of 

 anatomy, optics, dynamics, but not one of these laws is 

 present as a law to the mind of the actor. The same 

 thing obviously holds good with regard to moral action. 

 Take the personal converse of a little child with its 



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