is;;] THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH 339 



present needs. The history of late events has shown 

 that even those branches of the Scottish Church which 

 have freed themselves from the hampering tutelage of the 

 State still fall short, not only in knowledge of one another, 

 but in clear comprehension of their own principles. 



The fusion of separate communions has proved 

 impossible, mainly because of the lack of true unity in our 

 own Church ; because with much brotherliness of spirit, 

 and much common zeal for the advancement of Christ s 

 cause, there is not that clear oneness of Church con 

 sciousness which it is the object of a growing theology to 

 supply. The problem of advance in visible catholicity 

 remains unsolved, partly because a sound doctrinal and 

 historical appreciation of the present theology of the 

 Church in its relation to present needs is not diffused 

 throughout the ministry, or even among leaders in our 

 ecclesiastical courts, and partly because theology has not 

 yet spoken any decisive and convincing word on the 

 questions of the day ; because during two hundred years 

 of Church life there has been hardly any marked advance 

 in the Church s systematic knowledge. 



It is plain that the supply of these two defects must 

 go hand in hand. Only by diffusing through the whole 

 ministry a higher ideal of theological attainments, a 

 greater aptitude for theological reasoning, a fuller under 

 standing of the historical personality of the Church, can 

 we ensure that those men shall come to the front who are 

 able to deal with practical questions in a way truly 

 catholic ; and that when the right solution of a problem 

 is set forth, its adequacy shall be generally realised. 



Unquestionably this is the first step to the removal of 

 present evils. No novel speculations, no new theological 

 lights, can save a Church which has not learned thoroughly 

 to understand and appreciate her present constitution. 

 But withal it must be remembered that the theological 

 consciousness of the Church requires not only to be 

 awakened, but to be guided forward to higher conceptions 



