130 Postscript to the Article on the University of Cambridge.

Total number of new students at the commencement of the

present academical year in Cambridge

the 390

THE

CHRISTIAN TEACHER.

ART. I. THEOLOGY. From the German ConversationsLexicon.

THIS word is derived from the language of the Greeks, among whom it denoted discourses on the Gods, and their relations to the world; and was considered as having three divisions-Physical, Political, and Mythical, Theology: the first,-as treated of by the Philosophers, who included Metaphysics under the term Physics; the second, the Public Belief, as recognised by the State; the third,-as delivered by the Poets from the ancient traditions.

Among those Christians who spoke Greek, the learned, or scientific knowledge of religion was not at first called Theology, but Gnosis, (knowledge,) from which the Pistis (Belief, i. e. the common instruction in religion necessarily delivered to the people,) was distinguished.

In what this consisted, during the first centuries, is shown by the Apostolic Confession of Faith (called the Credo); which at the present time forms the text of the three principal articles of Christian faith in Luther's Catechism.

The expression Theology was first used among the Christian Fathers of the third and fourth centuries, by those who defended the Godhead of the Logos,-(the Word of John, i. 1, which became flesh in Christ ;)—and the dogma, coined in the fourth century, of the Trinity. Abelard (who died in 1142,) first applied the term to knowledge of Religion in general, and wrote a "Theologia Christiana." It was then, and still is, used to signify Knowledge of Religion, i. e. a learned acquaintance with religion, or a learned exposition of its theoretical and practical doctrines.

To this science belongs;-the systematic arrangement of the whole subject, and the application of the philosophical, physical, historical, and,-when Theology rests on ancient writings, VOL. III. No. 12.-New Series.

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-the exegetical evidences and facts, which tend to illustrate it. Since all belief, if it be not blind, must arise from personal knowledge, or at least be subject to it, every religious man is, personally, a theologian. But, since all men are not in circumstances which will admit of their procuring for themselves the knowledge requisite for establishing scientific belief, the unlearned must in this respect rest their belief on the testimony of the learned, just as in mathematics, physics, or history; and their belief, therefore, rests on authority;-but that of the learned must be based on personal knowledge. An exposition of the truths of Religion, furnished with as much learning as the knowledge and comprehension of the laymen, or rather, of the unlearned, can reach, is called Popular Theology. Since Religion is composed, partly of Belief, founded on either Knowledge or Authority, and partly of feelings and actions consonant with that belief, viz. the feeling of the existence of God, and our dependence on Him, and as a consequence, prayer to Him, and obedience to His known will,-Theology divides itself, like Religion, into THEORETICAL, and PRACTICAL: ("Dogmatic, and Moral.")

If the Theology be formed by reason, if it be merely a development of the religious ideas in the mind, with their relations to the aspect of the world, then it is called Philosophical Theology, as also Rational, or Natural.

In as far as it is acknowledged that Reason has received the laws by which she gains and comprehends religious ideas, just as Nature has received hers from God, the Creator of the world; and that Reason and Nature, or Creation in its completeness, are an expression of the designs of Providence and an effect of His will,-so far is this Rational, or Natural Theology, a Revelation from God, by which He has spread the knowledge of Himself among His rational creatures.

It is a universal Revelation, for it has reached all men, and a primary Revelation, for it began with the creation of the world.

It has been called Natural, however, because it was believed that the contemplation of Nature awakened it in the human mind. But if the expression relates to its origin, it is just as super-natural as is the origin, preservation, and government of the world. Since God, as Creator of the world, is the source of all that is Real, and True, this universal revelation can contain no errors, save such as have crept in by the fallible decisions of reason, and have been committed by Man in his observation of Nature.

From this is distinguished the particular, or subsequent reve

lation, or that knowledge of religion which God has imparted, in later times, to individual men, as teachers of others. It has been called Immediate revelation, because it has been attributed to the direct agency of God upon particular men, without the mediation of the laws of nature. For the same reason it has been called also Supernatural, in contradistinction to Natural, though the latter also, since it has God for its author, may be called supernatural.

This is the most marked distinction between Supernaturalism and Rationalism, both of which, however, admit of many modifications.

There is hence also a REVEALED Theology, which has been sometimes called POSITIVE Theology, because it rests on historical authority, and has been given in distinct and express words and formulas, which are to be sought for either in a Holy Scripture alone, (as in the Evangelical Theology,) or at the same time in orally-transmitted traditions, and written declarations of a succession of inspired priests, (like the RomanCatholic Theology.)

The application of philosophical knowledge of Religion to Positive Theology, is called the Philosophy of Religion. Since every particular revelation, as a single circumstance in the train of events, is an historical fact, which must be believed upon certain grounds, each requires critical examination and proofs: the rather, that many positive Religious, give themselves out as Revealed.

The proof of a revelation must rest, then, not on the mere fact, that it was, at a certain time, and by certain men, declared to be a positive Religion;-but on the fact, that God, as the author of the Religion, exercised an immediate influence on these men, for their enlightenment;-in other words-that He inspired them. This proof is founded, next to the declarations of the inspired persons themselves, on miracles, and prophecies. But, since these again are historical facts, which require the same proofs; to the effect, viz. that they were immediate influences from God, and since, on the investigation of them, our judgment of the authenticity and credibility of the Holy Scriptures, and of the competency and disinterestedness of the witnesses adduced, so much depends,-the process of demonstration becomes so complicated, that it has lately been almost given up. The Critique which has recently appeared by Strauss, on the evangelical accounts of the Life of Jesus, has displayed this difficulty still more fully, although the historical fact, that Christ did actually live, teach, and lay the foundation of a religion for the world on his being an extraordinary man,

and inspired from Heaven, is placed beyond all doubt, by the present existence of the Christian Church.

In reference to each subsequent and particular revelation, the following principles are certain;-First; Since all truths, whether transcendental, (belonging to pure Reason,) or received through the senses, come from God, and are therefore as firm and immutable as God himself, the particular revelations can contain nothing which is in opposition to the Universal Revelation, or to religious ideas, and especially, to general truths, whether belonging to Reason or Nature: at all events, nothing of the kind, if it be found in the testimonials of the particular revelation, can be admitted as essential to it. Secondly; Since it would be inconsistent with our ideas of the wisdom and goodness of God, to suppose that He kept back from Mankind truths which they required to know for their salvation, for thousands of years, and then only imparted them to individuals,—the particular revelation can only have for its aim, to awaken, develop, guide, and expand the religious ideas contained in the universal and primary revelation. Thirdly; Since the revelation is given for Man, and for human reason, it can contain nothing which is either incomprehensible by the human mind, contrary to the laws of thought, or inapplicable to human life. Fourthly; Since all truths are closely bound by mutual dependence, and therefore Theology is necessarily dependent on the view of the world of the time being, the particular revelation cannot go beyond the view of the world, (as in relation to Physics, Astronomy, Anthropology, Geography, &c.) which the human race at that time entertained, but must be contained within the limits of that view, or it could neither be received nor understood. Hence these limits will be perceived, in the relations of the religious ideas to the world; or, in other words, in the religious views of the world, which the revelation takes; and these views therefore will belong, not to the essence of the revelation, but only to the temporary, and gradually disappearing form of the particular revelation.

When these fundamental maxims were applied to the particular revelation contained in the Holy Scriptures, there arose CRITICAL THEOLOGY, generally called RATIONALISM, but improperly so, for supernaturalism is not opposed to it; since Critical Theology still acknowledges a particular and immediate revelation, or at least may acknowledge one, and therefore may admit Supernatural agency; while un-critical, or Literal Theology, which considers every thing written in the Scriptures, as

* "Die vernünftige, wie die sinnliche."-Tr.