Page:Three introductory lectures on the study of ecclesiastical history.djvu/43

II] over its dry bones as they lie scattered and disjointed over the surface of the world,—and we shall soon hear "a noise and a shaking," and "the bones will come together," each to each, and "the breath will come into them, and they will live, and stand up upon their feet, an exceeding great army."

Let me point out how this remedy is involved in the very nature of the case. Take, for example, the history of doctrines and opinions. Many ecclesiastical histories contain little else; half of theology is taken up in stating them. How immensely do they gain in liveliness, in power, in the capacity of being understood and appreciated, if we view them through the medium of the lives, characters, and circumstances of those who received and taught them. Trace the actual course of any opinion or dogma; see the influences by which it was coloured; compare the relative importance attached to it at one period or another; ask how far the words in which it has been expressed convey the same or a different meaning to us or to our fathers; discover, if possible, its fountain-head in the time, the country, or the person in which it first originated. Look at Augustinianism as it arose in the mind of Augustine; at Lutheranism as it was conceived by Luther; at Wesleyanism as it was set forth by Wesley. It will cease to be a phantom, it will speak to us as a man: if it is an enemy, we shall slay it more easily; if a friend, we shall embrace it more warmly.