The Theology of the Intellect and of the Feelings A Discourse Delivered Before the Convention of the Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts, in House, Boston, May 30, 1850 Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Theology of the Intellect and of the Feelings: A Discourse Delivered Before the Convention of the Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts, in Brattle Street Meeting House, Boston, May 30, 1850

There are two forms of theology, Of which the two passages in my text are selected as individual specimens, the one de claring that God never repents, the other that he does repent. For want Of a better name these two forms may be termed, the theology of the intellect, and the theology Of feeling. Sometimes, indeed, both the mind and the heart are suited by the same modes Of thought, but Often they require dissimilar methods, and the Object Of the present discourse is, to state some of the differences between the theology of the intellect and that of feeling, and also some Of the influences which they exert upon each other.

What, then, are some of the differences between these two kinds Of representation? The theology of the intellect conforms to the laws, subserves the wants and secures the approval of our intuitive and de ductive powers. It includes the decisions Of the judgment, Of the perceptive part Of conscience and taste, indeed of all the faculties which are essential to the reasoning process. It is the theology of speculation, and therefore comprehends the truth just as it is, unmodified by excitements Of feeling. It is received as accurate not in its spirit only, but in its letter also. Of course it demands evidence, either internal or extraneous, for all its propositions. These propositions, whether or not they be inferences from antecedent, are well fitted to be premises for subsequent trains of proof. This intellectual theology, therefore, prefers general to individual statements, the abstract to the con crete, the literal to the figurative. In the creed Of a Trinitarian it affirms, that he who united in his person a human body, a human soul and a divine spirit, expired on the cross, but it does not origi nate the phrase that his soul expired, nor that God the mighty Maker died. As it is a science, strict and severe, it aims not to be fascinating or impressive, but plain, instructive, defensible. Hence it insists on the nice proportions Of doctrine, and on preciseness both of thought and style. Its words are so exactly defined, its adjustments are so accurate, that no caviller can detect an ambiguous, mystical or incoherent sentence. It is.

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