We  feel  sure  that  theology,  in  time,  must  The  future
and  will  vindicate  its  claim  to  be  considered  as  ^'^  ^  ^^  ^^^'
an  essential  factor  in  the  intellectual  life  of
man,  by  adapting  itself  to  the  changed  condi-
tions, and  producing  even  mightier  works  by
the  new  methods  than  those  which  it  produced
by  the  old.  Already  we  see  the  promise  of  a
renaissance  of  dogmatics  in  such  books  as  Mul-
ford's  The  Republic  of  Grod,  Harris'  The  Self-
Revelation  of  God,  Orr's  The  Christian  View  of
God  and  the  World,  and  Fairbairn's  The  Place
of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology/.  But  we  must
remember  that  even  those  who  anticipate  and


52  The  Gospel  of  a  Person

Great  things  predict  this  reconstruction  of  the  old  truth  on
the  new  the-  ^^^  ^^"^  Imes  most  enthusiastically,  recognize
ologian.  that  it  must  be  a  long  and  difficult  task,  and
that  the  man  who  is  to  be  a  master-builder
must  have  a  magnificent  equipment.  How  ex-
hilarating at  the  first  sight,  but  at  the  second
sight  how  overwhelming  and  discouraging,  are
the  demands  of  the  age  upon  him  who  would
fain  be  an  epoch-making  theologian,  as  they  are
stated,  for  example,  in  Mr.  Balfour's  Founda-
tions of  Belief  or  in  Dr.  George  A.  Gordon's
inspiring  book  The  Christ  of  To-day,  Truly  it
appears  that  such  a  man  must  realize  the  sup-
position of  St.  Paul :  he  must  speak  with  the
tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  the
gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries
and  all  knowledge.  Who  is  sufficient  for  these
things?  It  will  take  a  long  time  for  the  best
of  us  to  learn  all  this.  Perhaps  the  most  of  us
may  never  go  so  far.  Meantime,  whether  we
are  labouring  towards  that  goal,  or  despairing
of  it,  we  need  something  divinely  simple  and
divinely  true  that  we  can  preach  at  once,  di-
rectly, joyfully,  fervently  to  the  heart  of  the  age.
