THE NEW THEOLOGY, 



323 



long as there is the infinite to explore or the human intellect is capa- 

 ble of comprehending more ; that new symbols are of periodicity and 

 of rational expectation, and therefore that all creeds are tentative and 

 adapted only to a transition period ; that authority is insufficient, and 

 requires the corroboration of correlative facts or principles of observa- 

 tion to establish faith ; that no formula of faith can be adjusted to all 

 comprehensions or made the condition of salvation, and that the prob- 

 able is the highest and the sufficient warrant for all human faith and 

 practice — it remains to be seen if the New Theology has a clearer or 

 a fuller apprehension of scriptural teaching, and if it can present its 

 ideas less dogmatically and more scientifically, or as authoritative 

 utterances corroborated by corresponding facts or experiences which 

 are generally accepted. 



No adherent of the New Theology, however enthusiastic or confi- 

 dent in his early love, presumes that in this dawn of its day its beams 

 are as bright or broad as they will be at its meridian ; and the most 

 zealous of its expounders confess that in its present stage it is largely 

 suggestive, and possibly adapted to arrest the reactionary tendency 

 to reject all scriptural teaching as of divine origin or authority on 

 account of the unreasonableness of some of the current theological 

 interpretations and expositions, and to unite thinking Christians and 

 confirm the weak and the wavering in the faith of the gospel, by such 

 a presentation of scripture truths as will be commended by their judg- 

 ment, and will show them to be essential to human welfare and analo- 

 gous to the laws and phenomena of Nature. It is therefore chiefly a 

 contribution of suggestive definitions and methods applied to the popu- 

 lar or evangelical theology. But, in order to a clearer idea of the New 

 Theology and its methods, it is necessary to give a brief statement of its 

 presentation of some of the more prominent evangelical doctrines, and 

 especially of those which within the last few years have been made 

 conspicuous through church councils and the religious and secular 

 press, as the atonement, the work of the Divine Spirit, human proba- 

 tion, etc. 



As to the nature and necessity of the atonement, the New Theol- 

 ogy is perhaps more perplexed than as to any other evangelical topic, if 

 indeed it is not agnostic, or at least without decided convictions ; and 

 its adherents consider themselves as mere inquirers, investigating in an 

 obscure light its profound mysteries, trusting that the dark labyrinth 

 in which they are groping will lead to their fuller disclosure. It does 

 not deny that in some way the mission of our Lord, accomplished im- 

 measurable good to mankind, for it recognizes a new and diviner life 

 issuing from Calvary and streaming down through the centuries in 

 ever-increasing volume, purifying the hearts and inspiring the lives of 

 men, and constituting the impulsive force to all that is desirable and 

 divine in human progress ; but it can not reconcile with a worthy con- 

 ception of either the divine or human nature the punishment or the 



