THEOLOGY. 



583 



mythuses. The most ancient Greek theogony 

 known to us is that of Hesiod. 



THEOLOGY (from eii, God, and Aayaf doc- 

 trine') the doctrine which God has communicated ; 

 or, Xoyo,- !rigi TOO fay, the doctrine concerning God 

 and divine things. It is the science which treats 

 of the existence of God, his attributes, the relations 

 in which he stands to us, our state and history as 

 spiritual and moral beings, and the divine will re- 

 garding our actions, present condition, and ultimate 

 destiny, and other subjects connected with these. 

 The term theology was first used by the heathens, 

 and applied by them to the productions of their 

 theogonists ; and of those who speculated on the 

 nature, government, and worship of God. Orpheus, 

 Musaeus, Hesiod, &c., were called theologians, and 

 Plato was more deservedly honoured with the same 

 title. Aristotle gave the name of theology to meta- 

 physics, dividing theoretical philosophy into three 

 parts, physical, mathematical, and theological. Plato 

 mentions two kinds of theology, the symbolic, and 

 the philosophic ; the former exhibiting its doctrines 

 under material emblems, the latter giving explana- 

 tions of things spiritual and divine. Varro, as 

 quoted by Augustine, gave a threefold division: 

 according to him there was the mythic theology, 

 or that of the poets ; the political, or that of the 

 priests and common people ; and the physical, or 

 that which was taught in the schools of the philo- 

 sophers. 



This word is not used in the bible. To express 

 the idea we attach to it, the sacred writers employ 

 such expressions as " the wisdom of God in a mys- 

 tery,' 1 Cor. ii. 7; "the form of sound words," 

 2 Tim. i. 13 ; " the truth which is after godliness," 

 Tit. i. 1 ; and " sound doctrine," Tit. i. 9. We 

 have also in scripture the words of which this term 

 is compounded ; as TO, \'yia. rev Sav, the oracles of 

 God; and Xayas rau emu, the word of God, Mark vii. 

 13; Rom. iii. 2; Heb. v. 12; 1 Pet. iv. 10. The 

 fathers of the church applied it peculiarly to that 

 part of Christian doctrine which treats of the 

 divinity of Christ. Hence the apostle John, in the 

 title which from early times has been prefixed to 

 the book of Revelation, is called " the divine," or 

 theologian, because he insists on that doctrine more 

 than any other inspired writer ; and Gregory Nazi- 

 anzen was greeted with the same epithet, because 

 of his orations on that subject. Hence, also, they 

 made a distinction between Theology and Economy; 

 referring the former to the divinity, and the latter 

 to the incarnation of the Saviour: and with them, 

 SioXayirv 'itiftvv, signifies to treat of the divine 

 nature of Jesus. (Euseb. lib. v. c. 28.; Basil, con. 

 Eunom. lib. ii. Nazianz. Orat. 42 et 49.) They 

 spoke, in like manner, of the Theology of the 

 Trinity. Yet the more extended application of 

 the word was not unknown among them, denoting 

 the whole system of divine truth, or the holy 

 Scriptures themselves in which it is contained. It 

 must be theology limited in such a way as we have 

 mentioned, and viewed chiefly as the knowledge of 

 God's existence, nature, mode of subsistence, per- 

 fections, and purposes, to which some more modern 

 divines have referred, in certain nice distinctions 

 they have stated regarding it. For example, they 

 tell us that it is to be considered, first as archetypal, 

 secondly as ectypal. Archetypal theology is the 

 knowledge which God has of himself; ectypal is 

 the same knowledge as it is, in some degree, com- 

 municated to others. This latter again is subjected 

 to a threefold distinction; first, as communicated 



to Christ, by means of tfce hypostatical union; 

 secondly, as to angels and men in heaven, by means 

 of their vision and fruition of God ; and, thirdly, as 

 to men in this world, by means of revelation. 

 Now it must be confessed, that no part of God's 

 knowledge has been derived from any external 

 source ; that such as it is, such as it shall at any 

 time be, such from eternity it has been, without 

 the possibility either of diminution or of increase; 

 and that it is by knowing himself, and his plans and 

 purposes which are not really distinct from himself, 

 he foreknew all that should happen, and knows 

 what at any time is taking place. But, at the 

 same time, a little reflection must convince any 

 one, that of much of our theological knowledge, 

 God is not the immediate and proximate object ; 

 he is its object only remotely and ultimately. 



In reference to the sources whence it is derived, 

 theology is distinguished into natural and superna- 

 tural. The source of the former is the light of nature ; 

 we obtain it by the unassisted powers of our own 

 minds, by the exercise of reason, and the suggestions 

 of conscience. The source of the latter is revelation : 

 it embraces what we may have learned otherwise, 

 states it more definitely, and establishes it by addi- 

 tional and higher evidence ; it makes known what 

 it would not have entered into the heart of man to 

 conceive ; and it verities what, but for it, man could 

 not rationally have believed, because, but for it, 

 he could have had no proof that it was true. 

 These two sciences, though thus distinguished from 

 each other, are not in opposition : they differ in 

 respect of the sources whence they are derived, the 

 extent of knowledge they convey, the kind of evi- 

 dence by which they are confirmed, and their im- 

 portance to man in his present fallen condition ; 

 but they must be in perfect harmony. Right reason 

 rejects no advantage that is proffered to man, for it 

 knows itself to be the gift of God, seeks not proudly 

 to be independent of Him who gave it its being, 

 nor blasphemously boasts itself to be the crowning 

 boon, in addition to which there can be nothing in 

 all the treasury of the All-sufficient, which we may 

 desire and He may confer. Nor does supernatural 

 theology contradict right reason, or divest it of any 

 office which legitimately belongs to it. A single 

 absurdity, any thing that can be denounced as un- 

 reasonable, would show it to be not theology, but 

 an imposture bearing its revered name. God speaks 

 to us " in divers manners," by reason, which is his 

 minister, and by revelation, which is his own voice ; 

 but always as the God of truth. The superior 

 dignity of one thing does not necessarily diminish 

 the inferior dignity of another: it is only envy in 

 the heart of man that teaches him to think other- 

 wise. There is not, and there cannot be, any 

 attainment or endowment in the creature, which 

 cannot be enlarged or exalted, or any combination 

 of advantages to which an addition is impossible : 

 between him and absolute perfection there will still 

 be an infinite distance. 



NATURAL THEOLOGY teaches the existence of God ; 

 that he is possessed of certain perfections, the sig- 

 natures of which are perceptible upon his works ; 

 that he governs the world ; that it is our duty to 

 honour and please him, by the practice of piety, 

 justice, and benevolence ; that the soul of man is 

 immortal ; and that there is a future state, in which 

 the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked 

 punished. If these are not its only doctrines, they 

 are, at least, those which reason has shown itself 

 most capable of demonstrating and defending, and 



