INEVITABLE 3 



to our minds is incipient rather than full formed, inade- 

 quate, and certain to be misleading, if we treat it as 

 complete, or as sufficient to justify the hope of being 

 able to construct a complete and final system of the- 

 ology.^ Theology is as truly a progressive science as is 

 any physical science, and not less truly so because its 

 most significant data are divinely revealed. The best 

 man-made systems of doctrine contain speculative 

 elements, and therefore each development of human 

 thought necessitates their modification. Theological 

 reconstruction has to be undertaken repeatedly, and 

 no conservative influences are strong enough to pre- 

 vent an unceasing development of doctrine.^ This 

 being the case, v^e ought to feel no surprise when we 

 find that many thoughtful men are more impressed 

 with the non-finality of theological systems than with 

 the reasons for believing that their primary data have 

 been divinely revealed, and can be rationally accepted 

 with the certainty which is usually described by the 

 word knowledge. 



Again, the scriptural assertion that spiritual things 

 are "spiritually examined" ^ is a strictly scientific 

 proposition. Every science has its own methods of 

 investigation, and these methods are determined by 

 the nature of what is investigated. Mental phenomena 

 cannot be successfully examined or interpreted by the 



J See J. B. Mozley, Predestination, ch. ii, init. We return to the 

 subject in Lee. v, init. 



2 On the development of doctrine see the author's Authority, 

 Eccles. and Biblical, ch. ix, where numerous references are given. 



3 I Cor. ii. 14. 



