gie dogmat. orthodoxe, par Macaire, etc., traduit par un Russe, III. Vol. Paris, 1857-1861.)

In our Fatherland, finally, the more recent history of dogmatics has least of all to speak of a standing still, although it can just as little make mention of a vigorous progress. In the first third of this century, the supernaturalistic-Biblical tendency, which has been already indicated (Sec. 14, 13), continued to maintain itself with calmness; more scientifically in the school of Heringa and J. van Voorst (Comp. Theol. Chr. 1st ed. 1808), popularly under the lead of L. Egeling (De weg der Zaligh II. Dl. Ie. uitg. 1820). Even the cause of orthodoxy was philosophically pleaded by the learned Kantian, J. J. Le Roy (De Godd. Openb. d. B. 2 DD. 1829, '30). On the other side, more rationalistic sympathies revealed themselves, for instance, in the sensational work of P. W. Brouwer (Bijbelleer aangaande den persoon van Christus, 1826), and in that of P. van der Willigen on Het Wezen des Christend. (le. uitg. 1836). The Godgeleerde Bijdragen* also, in the dispute which meanwhile arose respecting the binding authority of the doctrinal standards, continued to support the advocates of emancipation. Were vague and indefinite views, as a consequence, entertained by many, a new phase was disclosed on the appearance of the Groningen school (1837 and subsequently; (Organ : the periodical, Waarheid in Liefde†), which gave to the public in 1843 its "Compendium dogmatices et Apologetices Christianæ." Over against one-sided estimation of Christian doctrine, the person of Christ was here elevated to the central point of the system, and greater emphasis was laid on life in communion with him. It is not surprising, that this school found on the one hand warm supporters, and on the other manifold opposition. Its conception of God was Unitarian, its Hamartology almost semi

*Theological Contributions. This able periodical is published monthly. It is the repository of many valuable theological dissertations.—TR.

† Truth in Love. This was formerly a quarterly, but it is now issued monthly. It is conducted with great ability and candor. Its editors are P. Hofstede de Groot, C. H. van Herwerden, Chz. and A. T. Reitsma. It is fully abreast with the times. Its last number contains an able and interesting article by A. T. Reitsma, entitled, Jesus according to modern principles.-TR.

Pelagian, its Christology Arian-Apollinarian, its whole view of the Gospel having more of a pedagogic than a soteriological complexion, whilst demonology was wanting, and Eschatology was closed by the doctrine of the restoration of all things. Thus it seemed to give to one too much, to another too little; but this must be said to its honor, that it rejected only what it thought was nowhere taught in the Gospel of the Scriptures. Not only in its flourishing period (1840-1855), but also since it has remained true to its historico-supernatural apprehension of the Gospel, and so little does it deserve the blame of having prepared the way for modern Naturalism, that it, on the contrary, exhibits over against it a developed and strongly apologetic character.

Like the Groningen school, those of Utrecht and Leyden also sent forth their dogmatic Manuals; the former in the Compendium Theol. Chr. Dogm. (1853) of H. E. Vinke († 1862), disciple of Heringa, but at the same time of Van Heusde, Biblical, irenic, and eminently a practical theologian; the latter in the Initia Dogmatices Christianæ of J. H. Scholten (le uitg. 1854). Already in 1848 the last-mentioned scholar had made his appearance with a work of much greater significance: De leer der Hervormde Kerk in hare grondbeginselen uit de bronnen voorgesteld en beoordeeld* (II Deelen, 4e uitg. 1861), afterwards partially supplemented in a monograph on De Vrije Wilt (1858). It is seldom that the Habent sua fata has so marked a fulfillment in any work as it has had in this, and perhaps the time has not yet arrived to indicate its proper place in the history of the science; objective characterization, too, is sufficient. Had the Groningen school shown an evident leaning to Evangelical Catholicism, that of Leyden, on the contrary, sought to reinstate in honor the faith of the Reformed church, but purified and developed. According to the author's own testimony, his book was "a critique on the doctrine of the church according to its own principles, which, without direct declaration of war, contained an attack on the existing theology in all its tendencies." Making a sharp dis

*The doctrine of the Reformed church in its fundamental principles, exhibited from its sources and criticised.

+ Free Will.

tinction between principle and doctrine, he exhibited the latter in a light that seemed to very many absolutely irreconcilable with the sum and substance of their Evangelical and ecclesiastical confession. It could not, therefore, be otherwise, than that he should hear manifold contradiction from the bosom of other churches and denominations. Even he himself, just as little as the stream of time, remained standing immovably still. He gradually approached the principles of the empirical school, till he finally made a public declaration of war against all supernaturalism (1867). That it was not impossible, in the treatment of Dogmatics in scientific spirit, to arrive at different results, appeared in the meanwhile from the Bijdragen tot de verklaring, toetsing en ontwikkeling van de leer der Herv. Kerk,* by J. J. van Toorenbergen (1865). Of the manner in which Dogmatics was cultivated in the evangelical Lutheran church, evidence was furnished in the Inleiding and Schets of F. J. Domela Nieuwenhuis († 1869.) The Beginselen en leer der oude Doopsgezindent were exhibited anew by S. Hockstra Bz. (1863), who moreover appeared as independent cultivator of Dogmatics, from an indeterministic standpoint, in modern spirit, but with idealistic principles. See especially his Bronnen en Grondslagen van het Godsdienstig geloof (1864).

That the empirical tendency of the philosophical investigation, should in many respects operate detrimentally on the cultivation of Dogmatics, lay in the nature of the case. The dogma, that no Dogmatics at all could or should, exist, had become with many an axiom; not so, however, but that the advocates of this theory saw themselves constrained to allow a minimum of absolutely indispensable dogmas. What in this way alone remains as dogmatic principle and residuum, has, among others, been expressed by A. Pierson (Bespiegeling, Gezag en Ervaring, 1855), though a Schets (Sketch) of Dogmatics had been previously communicated by Opzoomer Kunst-en Letterbode, § 1854, bl. 295.) The breach between Em* Contributions to the Exposition, Testing and Development of the Doctrine of the Reformed Church.

The Principles and Doctrines of the old Baptists.

Sources and Foundations of Religious Faith.

Speculation, Authority and Experience.

The name of a Periodical. Eng. Messenger of Arts and Letters.

piricism and Church and Theology, has, moreover, after manifold "misunderstanding" become so apparent, that the illusion of the modern tendency is almost universally acknowledged and lamented. Over against its naturalistic tendency the ethical school, among others, entered the arena, especially by the mouth of its talented leader, D. Chantepie de la Saussaye. While it conceived of Dogmatics as "the description of the Christian life of the church, which is necessarily one with the highest truth," it was mainly influenced by the endeavor "to transfer Christianity from the purely religious sphere into the moral, or, rather, to bring into view the moral side of the supersensual dogma, and so cause the doctrine to become truth and life." Thus the ethical school endeavored, though not evident to all, to become in its measure for the church and theology of Holland, what Vinet was for those of France and Switzerland.

Is it with great hesitation that the ethical school accepts the qualification of being supernaturalistic? Modern supernaturalism, on the contrary, boldly avows that it expects the prosperity of the church and the promotion of science, mainly from the strenuous maintenance and application of supernaturalistic principles. From this standpoint, also occupied by the writer of these lines, Christianity is viewed as the fruit of a supernatural revelation of salvation; dogmatics consesequently is the doctrine of salvation, (not to be confounded with ethics, doctrine for the regulation of the life); and the historical character of the Christian religion is emphatically placed in the foreground. This tendency is denominated supernaturalistic, because it proceeds from faith in a God who is Lord in his own creation, and who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ in a way which can not possibly be explained as the mere natural result of purely finite causes. Modern Supernaturalistic, because it will not, in its attachment to the old, remain stationary, but seeks to be progressive, and in such a way that it (in distinction from an earlier supernaturalism) proceeds, not from a deistic, but from a theistic conception of God; it places not the doctrine but the person of Jesus Christ in the foreground, and next to the metaphysical and historical, it aims to reinstate also in its full rights the ethi

It strives to be

cal character of the revelation of salvation. science of faith, but drawn above all from God's revelation in Christ, as that is announced to us in the Gospel, and known in the light of spiritual experience. Historico-critical in its nature, it exhibits at once an apologetic and an irenic character. It is rooted in the past, it wrestles with the present, and has its eye above all turned to the future. Whether it, too, is to have a future, and of what character, time alone can reveal.

ART. IV.-RETRIBUTIVE LAW AND CAPITAL PUNISH

MENT.

By REV. CHARLES WILEY, D.D., HACKENSACK, N. J.

It has been objected to the Sacred Scriptures by those who have sought occasion against them, that they appear at times to indulge in the language of imprecation and wrath, and to afford a seeming sanction and allowance to the dictates of private malice and revenge; and perhaps there is no part of the Bible that is more open to this supposed exception than the Book of Psalms-a portion of Sacred Writ which embodies, at the same time, more than any other, the sentiments and language of a true and fervent devotion. There has been a difficulty felt in reconciling these two things-that the same lips should at one moment utter the sentiments of a deep and unaffected piety, and in the next breath almost imprecate the direst vengeance* upon an enemy and a persecutor, has been thought to present a formidable difficulty. It has been sometimes urged as an insuperable objection to the claim of the Scriptures to divine inspiration.

We shall not enumerate the various methods in which this objection has been met, but content ourselves with calling attention to one very obvious distinction, which, it seems to us, will go far to remove the apparent difficulty referred to. Those who make this objection have not been sufficiently careful to distinguish between the natural sentiment of Justice in the human breast, together with its instinctive expressions,

* Vid. Ps. cxix, 17, etc.