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THEOLOGY. 



of true theology, and also, in many cases, the re- 

 quirements of good taste, began to be regarded. 

 " The Institutes of Calvin, though not the first in 

 order of time, carried off the palin from all its pre- 

 decessors, and has not yet been surpassed by any 

 competitor. Diversity of opinion may exist respect- 

 ing some of his positions, but while profound piety, 

 masculine energy of mind, acuteness and strength 

 of argument, perspicuity of statement, and purity 

 of language, continue to be respected among men, 

 the Christian Institutes of John Calvin will secure 

 for their author immortal honour." Yet even not 

 a few of the Reformers, while they rejected the 

 foolish speculations, impious doctrines, and captious 

 modes of reasoning, which had characterised the 

 schoolmen of the preceding ages, yet proceeded to 

 systematize in a method void of all taste, and 

 strictly accommodated to the logic which had 

 long prevailed and still maintained its place. It 

 may be amusing to the reader to know something 

 ot the method which these men pursued, and cer- 

 tainly it was awkward and cumbrous enough, though 

 far superior to what it was in the hands of their 

 predecessors. For this purpose we may instance 

 the system of Dr Henry Alting, a Dutch professor 

 in the former part of the seventeenth century. On 

 every question, as far as circumstances would per- 

 mit, he follows out the same process. Having di- 

 rected attention to his subject, he first of all men- 

 tions the calumnies with which the orthodox had 

 been assailed in respect to it, and gives a particular 

 answer to each of them. Next he specifies the 

 logomachies to which it had given rise, and fur- 

 nishes a minute elucidation of each. Being thus 

 prepared he produces the orthodox doctrine, and 

 perhaps branches it out into several propositions, to 

 each of which as much attention is given as to the 

 doctrine when considered, as sometimes it is, in its 

 general form. He takes the doctrine, or the pro- 

 position, and confirms it by arguments drawn, first, 

 from the nature of the subject, and, secondly, from 

 the nature of the predicate. Then the opposite 

 heterodox opinion is produced, the arguments which 

 have been advanced in its favour, both from the na- 

 ture of the subject, and from the nature of the pre- 

 dicate, are refuted, and latterly, it is assailed and 

 demolished by these two kinds of argument. Thus 

 he proceeds from proposition to proposition till the 

 subject is exhausted, and all the arguments, whether 

 deduced from reason or scripture, are stated in the 

 syllogistic form. Every subject is treated ac- 

 cording to the rule and square of the dialectics of 

 the schools, and even the very quotations from 

 scripture can scarcely be discerned amidst the rub- 

 bish of logical forms and terms. 



F.lenchtic or Polemic Theology, so called from 

 the two Greek words signifying refutation and war, 

 has for its province to defend what is taught by the 

 didactic theologian, against the objections of adver- 

 saries, and to detect and refute the opposite errors. 

 It is said that the epithet polemic was first given 

 to it by Friedman Beckmann, a theologian of Jena, 

 in the seventeenth century. By many it is held in 

 great disrepute, and some have even proposed that 

 the voice of the disputant should no longer be lis- 

 tened to in the Christian church. Doubtless, the 

 sophistical arguments and the unhallowed arts 

 which have sometimes been used in its service, are 

 calculated to inspire with indignation and disgust ; 

 and so is also the odium theologicum, the virulent 

 animosity which has too often characterised religi- 

 ous debates. But the peace of the churches must 



never be purchased at the expense of the truth. Let 

 them cast forth from their armoury every weapon 

 which God does not approve ; but let not the truth 

 be left undefended, or error unassaili-d. As we have 

 already said, the progress that may be made in estab- 

 lishing sound principles of criticism, and in the 

 skilful application of these to the explanation of 

 scripture, will be the surest omen of the approach- 

 ing termination of theological warfare. 



Practical Theology has its way prepared by all 

 the departments of the science to which we have 

 already referred ; on these it depends ; and at the 

 same time it is that which crowns the whole. It 

 consists of an exhibition, first, of precepts and 

 directions ; and, secondly, of the motives by which 

 we should be excited to comply with these ; and both 

 these rules and these motives may be either found 

 expressly revealed in scripture, or they may be in- 

 ferences from what it teaches. Some would attach 

 to this part of theology an undue importance, main- 

 tain it to be that which alone is worthy of our at- 

 tention, and deny that articles of faith are of any 

 great moment. Others, again, can see nothing in 

 it but a cold system of morality, and reserve all 

 their admiration for the mysteries of faith, and the 

 animating discoveries of the love and glory of God. 

 Both are in error. Religion is a barren thing when 

 it is cherished merely as a system of abstract truth ; 

 it is weakness and inefficiency itself, when regarded 

 merely as a system of injunctions and prohibitions. 

 It is a system of truths, but it uniformly contem- 

 plates practical results. It is a system of rules, 

 but these depend for all their power on the doc- 

 trines upon which they are based. Casuistry is 

 evidently a part of practical theology, and when 

 skilfully and faithfully treated, a most important 

 part of it : it applies itself to what is called cases of 

 conscience ; it decides difficulties arising about what 

 a man may lawfully do, or not do ; what is sin or 

 not sin ; and what a man is obliged to do in order 

 to discharge his duty, and what he may leave undone 

 without a breach of it. As far as casuistry adheres 

 stedfastly to the word of God, its labours must be 

 of great use : all men more or less need its guidance, 

 but especially those who are not accustomed to think 

 much or closely, and whose consciences neverthe- 

 less are tender about sin and duty. But the Romish 

 casuists, and pre-eminently among them the Jesuits, 

 have reared up, under the name of casuistical theo- 

 logy, a monstrous fabric, the motley materials of 

 which have been derived from scripture, natural 

 equity, canon law, councils, fathers, and, in short, 

 from every source whence either sense or nonsense 

 could be got to answer their sinister purposes. 

 Such casuistry has been most justly called " the 

 art of quibbling with God." The aim of these 

 men was certainly to render morality altogether 

 uncertain, and to obtain for the priesthood, by 

 means of the confessional, a complete lordship over 

 the consciences of men. 



Thus we have exhibited the various aspects ac- 

 cording to which true theology may be contem- 

 plated, and the various departments of the labours 

 of the Christian divine. None of these departments 

 is independent of the others, or can be successfully 

 cultivated as separated from them. They form one 

 grand whole, all the parts of which are intimatelv 

 connected and mutually dependent. 



The history of theological speculation presents us 

 with much of " science falsely so called." There 

 were, in ancient times, especially three great systeir s 

 of corrupt theology, which are the more interesting 



