A Handbook of Theology Author:John Harries Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LECTURE II. THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. " If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God."—John vii. 17. " r[HEOLOGY," as w... more »e stated in our last lecture, " is a science of Divine things." Religion is the art of living in accordance with the truths, or Divine things, revealed in God's Word, and systematized within the Church. That is, practical obedience in life to the truths taught by theology. " He that is of God, heareth God's words." " If any man will do," or obey, " the will of God, he shall know My doctrine," or teaching. This means, that the teaching of Divine things will be acceptable to those who love the truth, and are anxious to do the will of God. Theology should be to all its students Divine life, as well as reasoned knowledge. Divine knowledge should not be merely " as the light of the moon to sleep by, but as the light of the sun to act or work by." " Act,"said Christ, " and ye shall know." A French infidel once said to Pascal, " If I had your principles, I should be a better man." " Begin with being a better man, and yon will soon have my principles," was the reply. So our Saviour asserts in the text that a man's creed or faith, so far as Divine truths are concerned, depends on his moral state. How we act and live is of the highest importance to us in arriving and attaining to trne spiritual insight in Divine things. Watkinson says that " the character of modern society is largely affected by the Christian faith." He shows this very clearly. The text teaches that Christian belief is largely affected by character. Right living, generally speaking, produces right thinking. Get the heart right, and you will soon get the head right. There are numerous instances given in Watkinson's book to show that faith and doubt influence life; bu...« less