Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/26

 know concerning God, the Creator, the Ruler, the Father, and concerning that life divine, the end of which is—the life eternal.

The most obvious difference between the terms and style of Speculative or Metaphysic Theology, and the Theology of the Scriptures—of the Old Testament especially—is this, that while the language of the one is reduced to a condition as remote as possible from the figurative mode of conveying thought, the language of the other is, in every instance, purely figurative; and that it abstains absolutely, and always, from the abstract or philosophic usage of the words it employs. Yet this obvious difference between the two is not the only dissimilarity; nor perhaps is it that which is of the highest importance to be kept in view, for these two modes of theologic teaching have different intentions; or, as we might say, the centre toward which the various materials of each system tends 1s proper to each, and is exclusive of the other.

Scientific Theology professes to regard the Divine Nature and attributes as its centre; and from that centre (supposed to be known) inferences in all directions are logically derived. But the very contrary of this is true of Biblical Theology; for the central area of Biblical Theism is—the human spirit, in its actual condition, its original powers, its necessary limitations, its ever-varying consciousness, its lapses, its sorrows, its perils, its hopes, and its fears:—its misjudgments, its faiths, its unbelief: