Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 31.djvu/198

186 coming in of this better theology, there are three things which may enable us to answer hopefully.

First, the tolerance, which has been mentioned as one of the conditions under which we live, makes the path smooth before us. That which some have dignified by the name of "The New Reformation" has, we may hope, passed its stage of contention. The facts and views which have been set forth in this paper are not opposed by any solid array of party opinion, but rather find men in all parties who admit them. The ground, therefore, has been cleared, and the building has to be erected. The chief point on which our energies must be expended is Church history. This study, in its larger sense, embraces almost the whole field. The study of Scripture itself is mainly the study of the historical development by which the Church was prepared and founded. The study of dogma can not be profitable unless its history be known, and its various phases taken in combination with the circumstances of the time. And the knowledge of the progress made in the past is the surest guide for the future. History, therefore, is the frame in which all theological study must be set; and the knowledge of facts, their co-ordination and their significance, is that to which all theological students must turn their attention. We need not give up the hope of a full Christian philosophy, nor delay taking the initial steps toward it. But at every turn we are dependent on a knowledge of the path, which is as yet but imperfectly explored.

It may be asked, secondly, whether the introduction of these views will demand any great alteration in the formularies and practices of the Church. It is, indeed, desirable to give liberty, since tender consciences are fettered by any sense of bondage; and irritation, or needless pain, or incapacity, or in some cases hypocrisy, are the result. The clergy should not be required to make any subscription at all, but should simply be subject to the law of the system under which they serve. In the Church services some greater facilities for substitution and omissions would be desirable under the sanction of a competent local authority; and a document like the Athanasian Creed, which, where intelligible, recalls the age of controversies and condemnations, should not be read in the public services. But the chief adaptations of the old to the new must be made by thoughtful men for themselves; and the key to them will be found by going below the letter and seizing upon the real meaning of the assertions made, and translating them into practice. If the divinity of Christ is identified with his moral supremacy as a spiritual power; if the atonement means to us self-sacrifice, and faith a confidence in the divine righteousness; if absolution is the authoritative assurance of God's forgiveness; if election is the endowment of a few to be the leaders of the rest in Christian devotion, we shall not find any great difficulty in the language of the prayers and the other formularies in any of the Christian denominations.