particular types, especially in the Old Testament, must be conducted still further and to more substantial results ere the highest exegesis can fulfil its task.

The genetic and the inductive methods must combine in order to the best results. They must coöperate in the treatment of every writing, of every author, of every period, and of the whole. They must blend in harmony throughout. On their proper combination the excellence of a system of Biblical Theology depends. An undue emphasis of either will make the system defective and inharmonious.

VII. THE SYSTEM OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

This is determined partly by the material itself, but chiefly by the methods of dealing with it. We must make the divisions so simple that they may be adapted to the most elementary conceptions, and yet comprehensive enough to embrace the most fully developed conceptions; and also so as to be capable of a simple and natural subdivision in the advancing periods. In order to this we must find the dominant principle of the entire revelation and make our historical and our inductive divisions in accordance with it. The divine revelation itself might seem to be this determining factor, so that we should divide historically by the historical development of that revelation, and synthetically by its most characteristic features. But this divine revelation was made to intelligent man and involved thereby an active appropriation of it on his part, both as to its form and substance, so that from this point of view we might divide historically in accordance with the great epochs of the appropriation of divine revelation, and synthetically by the characteristic features of that appropriation. From either of these points of view, however, there might be there naturally would be, an undue emphasis of the one over against the other at the expense of a complete and harmonious representation. We need some principle that will enable us to combine the subject and the object - God and man—in the unity of its conception. Such a principle is happily afforded us in the revelation itself, so distinctly brought out that it has

been historically recognized in the names given to the two great sections of the Scriptures, the Old and the New Testaments or Covenants. The Covenant is the fundamental principle of the divine revelation, to which the divine revelation commits its treasures and from which man continually draws upon them. The Covenant has a great variety of forms in the Sacred Scriptures; but the most essential and comprehensive form is that assumed in the Mosaic Covenant at Sinai, which becomes the Old Covenant, preeminently, and over against that is placed the New Covenant of the Messiah Jesus Christ; so that the great historical division becomes the Theology of the Old Covenant and the Theology of the New Covenant.

The Covenant must also determine the synthetic divisions. The Covenant is a union and communion effected between God and man. It involves a personal relationship which it originates and maintains by certain events and institutions. This is religion. The Covenant and its relations, man apprehends as an intelligent being by meditation, reflection, and reasoning. All this he comprehends in doctrines, which he apprehends and believes and maintains as his faith. These doctrines will embrace the three general topics of God, of Man, and of Redemption. The Covenant still further has to do with man as a moral being, imposing moral obligations upon him with reference to God and man and the creatures of God. All these are comprehended under the general term "Ethics." These distinctions apply equally well to all the periods of divine revelation; they are simple, they are comprehensive, they are all-pervading. Indeed they interpenetrate one another, so that many prefer to combine the three under the one term " Theology," and then treat of God and man and the union of God and man in redemption, in each division by itself with reference to religious, ethical, and doctrinal questions; but it is easier and more thorough-going to keep them apart, even at the expense of looking at the same thing at times successively from three different points of view.

From these more general divisions we may advance to such subdivisions as may be justified in the successive periods of

Biblical Theology, both on the historic and synthetic sides, and, indeed, without anticipation.

The relation between the historical and the synthetic divisions may be variously viewed. Thus Ewald, Dillmann, and Schultz make the historical divisions so entirely subordinate as to treat each topic of theology by itself in its history.

This method has great advantages in the class-room. It is difficult to keep the attention of students to the development of the whole field of Biblical Theology. The lines are too extended. It is easier to show the development by taking a large number of topics, one after another, and tracing each one in its order in its historical development.1 The historical divisions may be made so prominent that the synthetic will be subordinated to them. This leads towards making Biblical Theology a history of the development of theology in the Bible.

The ideal method for a written Biblical Theology is not to sacrifice the interest of the whole for any or all particular sections. They should be adjusted to one another in their historical development in the particular period. The periods should be so large and distinct as to leave no reason to doubt their propriety.

It will be necessary to determine in each period: (1) the development of each particular doctrine by itself, as it starts from the general principle, and then (2) to sum up the general results before passing over into another period.

It will also be found that theology does not unfold in one single line, but in several, from several different points of view, and in accordance with several different types. It will therefore be necessary, on the one side, ever to keep these types distinct, and yet to show their unity as one organism. Thus in the Hexateuch the great types of the Ephraimitic, Judaic,

1 There are undoubtedly grave perils connected with this method. I think these are greatly exaggerated by Wrede (Aufgabe und Methode der sogenannten Neutestamentlichen Theologie, 1897, s. 17 seq.), but I nevertheless think that he has rendered a real service by pointing them out. On the other hand he seems to be blind to the even greater perils which beset the exaggerated use of the historic method.

Deuteronomic, and priestly narrators will be distinctly traced until they combine in the one organism of our Hexateuch, presenting the fundamental Law of Israel. In the historical books the same four types of historians will be distinguished and compared for a higher unity. The four great types the psalmists, wise men, the prophets, and the scribes -will be discriminated, the variations within the types carefully studied and compared, and then the types themselves brought into harmony; and at last the whole Old Testament will be presented as an organic whole. The New Testament will then be considered in the forerunners of Christ; then the four types in which the evangelists present the Theology of Jesus, each by itself, in comparison with the others, and as a whole. The Apostolic Theology will be traced from its origin at Pentecost in its subsequent division into the great types, the conservative Jewish Christian of Saint James and the advanced Jewish Christian of Saint Peter; the Gentile Christian of Saint Paul and the Hellenistic of the Epistle to the Hebrews; and, finally, the Johannine of the Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse of John; and the whole will be considered in the unity of the New Testament.1 As the last thing the whole Bible will be considered, showing not only the unity of the Theology of Christ and His apostles, but also the unity of the Theology of Moses and David and all the prophets with the Theology of Jesus and His apostles, as each distinct theology takes its place in the advancing system of divine revelation, all conspiring to the completion of a perfect, harmonious, symmetrical organism, the infallible expression of God's will, character, and being to His favoured children. At the same time the religion of each period and of the whole Bible will be set in the midst of the other religions of the world, so that it will appear as the divine grace ever working in humanity, and its sacred records as the true lamp of the world, holding forth the light of life to all the nations of the world.

1 I have carefully considered the arguments of the Ritschlians; but they have not convinced me that Saint Paul is so dominant of the New Testament as they suppose, or that they are correct in their interpretation of Saint Paul, or that there is so great an antithesis as they find between Saint Paul and the Twelve.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE CREDIBILITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE

ALL of our studies of the Bible, thus far, have led us to the threshold of the inquiry how far Holy Scripture is credible and of divine authority. The deeper study of Holy Scripture in our day has made this a question of far greater seriousness than it has been in any previous generation of Jews or Christians. The prevalent dogmatic theories of the inspiration and infallibility of the Bible have been undermined in the entire range of Biblical Study, and it is a question in many minds whether they can ever be so reconstructed as to give satisfaction to Christian scholars. It is evident that such a reconstruction is most necessary; but men are reluctant to undertake it, for it has cost severe struggles in the past and it is altogether probable that still severer contests are in store for the men of this generation who have the insight, ability, and courage to do so great a work.

The history of the Christian Church shows that it is the intrinsic excellence of the Holy Scriptures which has given them the control of so large a portion of our race. With few exceptions, the Christian religion was not extended by force of arms or by the arts of statesmanship, but by the holy lives and faithful teaching of self-sacrificing men and women who had firm faith in the truthfulness of their Holy Scriptures, and who were able to convince men in all parts of the world that they are faithful guides to God and salvation. A valid argument for the truthfulness of the Holy Scriptures might be made from their efficacy in the religious training of so large a portion of mankind, and from the consecrated lives and the supreme devotion to their religion of the heroes of the faith in all ages.