Los deducibles contemplados en EL PLAN se definen a continuación:

[12335] There are various uses which system- atic theology serves in reference to the truth. When vague and mistaken ideas have gained ground as to the doctrines of the gospel, the scientific treatment of them brings them out again in precision and correctness. By un- folding the precise meaning of the forms in

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which doctrines are received, doubts and mis- takes are often removed, and the foundations again become settled. Such a service was ren- dered to the Church in the early centuries in reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. For when it became a topic of questioning, and there began to arise those heresies which must needs be, systematic investigation tried both opinions and words ; and from the apparent clashing and confusion the doctrine was brought out, fully and roundly stated, to the general

acceptance of the Church. We have reason to be grateful to the fathers and councils who so thoroughly investigated and settled the topics connected with it, and the forms in which it is expressed. Has anything been really added to

it since ? Has not the Church received, and will she not continue to hold, substantially the views then stated? But, in addition to this set- tling of doctrines, systems of theology also help to preserve them from generation to generation. It is difficult, if not impossible, to dislodge a whole system from the faith of the Church. Isolated and disconnected truths might be as- sailed with a greater chance of success, as is readily seen when they are embraced by those who otherwise hold to a false system. They are often unable to defend the very truth they em- brace. On the other hand, erroneous doctrines, regarded singly, often have a plausibility and power which they lose when an attempt is made either to incorporate them into an established system of faith, or to construct a new scheme from them. They cannot be brought into har- mony with one another, nor with the general analogy of f*ith. They must eitlier be practically abandoned, or made the starting-point of new systems ; in the attempt after which their advo- cates often grow weary and break down, or happily come to a better mind. Systems of theology and symbols of faith are therefore of use to conserve and maintain the truth. Some old creed may be the rallying-point of defence against error ; for it is hard for Christians to break away from old forms of doctrine, and cast aside their attachment to them. — British and Foicii^n Evangelical Review.

2 To the Church.

12336] If anything will ever exorcise the sp.rit of small sectarian dogmatism, it will be the preaching of the great dogmas of the Church Catholic. It is in the back streams and eddies of sects and parties that these straws, and sticks, and froth of private opinion are always whirling round and round. The remedy is, not to dry up the stream of truth, but to deepen its chan- nel and strengthen its banks. Do tliis, and the rush of its waters will soon sweep away these small disfigurements from its surface. — Bp. Magee.

(2) // vitalizes its energies.

[12337] The vital force of religious ideas be- comes more energetic in proportion to their breadth and comprehensiveness, just iu propor-

tion, that is, as human intelligence proceeds to generalize, to reduce to the form of dogmatic principle, proposition, and apothegm, the pre- vious revelations made in history, ritual, and song. Take, e.g., the rapid progress in vital power of the faith of the Old Testament, when the later prophets began to condense and reduce to more definite and even dogmatic form the whole of the previous revelation. In the same way the martyr Church of the second and third centuries lived and thrived pari passu with the vigorous and abundant theologic zeal of the Ante-icene Fathers, and with theii effort to think for themselves the deep mysteries of their

faith, to grapple with the intellectual problem of dogmatic Christianity. The same experience has frequently been repeated. The Church has seldom discovered any considerable intensity of religious life without a corresponding develop- ment of dogmatic definition. The great forma- tive periods of the Church have not been those which despised, but those which developed and systematized creed. The forging and diffusion of a theological term which has had a distinct hold upon history, and which adequately repre- sents a group of religious ideas and true revela- tions, is often the starting-place of new, moral, and social forces of transcendent importance. The men who have had the greatest moral weight in the development of the Church, have been great dogmatic theologians, as, e.g., Ter- tuUian, Origan, Athanasius, Augustine, Hilary, Anselm, Gerson, Luther, Baxter, Rutherford, Edwards, Wesley. These have been groat in the one direction, while and, it seems to us, be- cause they were mighty in the other. — British Quarterly Review,

3 To the world.

(i) Theology supplies the only adequate motive to Christian civilization.

[12338] Christianity enlarges the area of mo- tive, and widens it to the whole nature of man. In its absence civilization can only appeal to interest and self-love. But on this ground it is open to a retort apparently unansweraljle. A man may reply, " I prefer my barbarism to your

civilization. It suits my taste better, and on a deliberate calculation of gain and loss, I believe that I shall secure a larger amount of pleasure and enjoyment by a life of wandering idleness, and freedom from all restraint, than I shall by treading all my days the dull routine of respect- able industry and order." o eftective answer can be given to such a reply. If you tell him that the moral and mental pleasures he loses belong to a higher sphere and are better worth having beyond all comparison than the bodily sensations, he only retorts that he does not think so. If you talk to hnn about the dignity of his nature, he tells you that he docs not care for it. As a question of merely human philosophy, he may not be far wrong ; for we are creatures of habit, and many a sceptical school has been un- able to find any firmer basis for morals than the instincts of nature, the jus niturce of Spinoza. If in despair you urge that he owes it to hia

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fellow-men to sacrifice his own inclination to the good of the race, you only fall back on a plea, proved by experience to be as powerless against the active impulses of passion as a barrier of straw against the rush of a swollen river. Thus the human motive fails, simply because it does not appt-'al to the entire nature of man. But Christianity brings another and a mightier force. The dogmas of our created de- pendence, or responsibility, and of the resurrec- tion, judgment, heaven and hell, at once en- lighten conscience, and abash passion by the majesty of God and the tremendous issues of Jin eternity. — E. Garbett, ALA.

(2) The difference between Christian and heathen civilization is traceable to Christian dogma.

[12339] There are seven principles distinctive of the Christian in contrast with heathen civi- lization : the importance placed on the indivi- dual man ; the mutual obligations of man to man ; a jealous sensitiveness over human life and suffering ; the conception of a moral and internal holmess ; the sanctity of home ; the religious equality of the sexes ; and the identity of religious belief with religious practice. These are each and all referable to Christian dogmas, springing out of them as naturally as the

branches out of a root, and exhibiting their cha- racteristics as closely as the leaves of a tree

of these seven principles had any influence in heathen civilization, but are all characteristic of the Christian ; if, when the corresponding dogmas were unknown, they were unknown, and wherever the dogmas have been preached they have become influential ; if all the world over, wherever the gospel has been proclaimed, and under every diversity of race and climate the same teaching has been followed by the same effects, one conclusion only can follow. The differences distinguishing Christian from heathen civilization must be due to the differ- ence of its prmciples ; and these principles are the dogmas of the Christian faith. The conclu- sion is confirmed by the further fact that the

activity of the influence is exactly proportioned to the activity of the dogmatic belief. That the cha- racter of our civilization has spread beyond the circle of believers in dogma, and leavens more or less the entire community, is most true. It would be strange indeed if it were otherwise. The widesprcading influence of moral princi- ples can no more be confined within a limited circle than the light can be confined to

one portion of the firmament and excluded from the rest. But that among the believers of the dogmatic faith the distinctive principles of Christian civilization exist with the greatest intensity, admits of an easy proof Count the charities of the Church of Christ — or rather they cannot be counted, for their number and extent, as they flow in ten thousand streams of benevolence throughout the length and breadth of the land, utterly defy calculation ; then look to that portion of our community lying beyond

and without the Church, and again count their charities, if indeed you can find them to count. I do not deny their existence, but certainly in contrast with the flow of Christian activity they are no more than the summer rill in contrast ■ with the strong, deep river bearing navies on its breast. — Jbid.

(3) Christian doctrine is an importatit part of the world's intellectual and >noral wealth, and

the source of 71111 ch of its itispiration and culture. [12340] The Christian doctrines are, without

doubt, an important part of the intellectual and spiritual wealth of the world. They may be mis- represented and caricatured by friend and foe, but they cannot be expelled from our hearts ; they are here, in our midst, familiar subjects of our every-day thought ; and their simple majesty and grace have often been confessed. The story of their growth and development is con- tained in a great body of literature, some of it of special, and, as we believe, supernatural origin, and all of it unsurpassed in purity and brilliancy, unparalleled in amplitude and range. The influence of these great doctrines and

ideas is also undeniable. Society largely owes to them its refinement and cohesion, philan- thropy its impulse, the course of civilization its progress and guidance. They have moulded the life and shaped the conduct of the best of men for more than a thousand years. Heroism

has been kindled by their light, culture perfected by their discipline, character transfigured in their radiance. Poetry, music, painting, archi- tecture, have sought their inspiration, and the great imperishable creations of genius show their affinity with the finest sensibilities of our nature. It is of the highest themes and the most inspiring hopes that Christian theology speaks ; of the love of the heavenly Father

toward the sinful and suffering children of men, and of that love preparing a people to conserve the law of righteousness and the knowledge of salvation, giving us at length, in Him who is " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person," a fuller revelation of Himself, and giving us also in His death

redemption from sin, in His life the type of

perfect humanity, in His resurrection the assur- ance and pledge of eternal blessedness. — British (Quarterly Review, 1877.