This process of eliminating the Augustinian system from the system of common sense and the Bible, with which, for ages, it has been entwined, thus far has gone on as the result chiefly of the development of the intellectual and moral nature of all classes, but especially of the _common people_. A period has now arrived in which the question has become so far an intelligible and a _practical_ one, that the two great principles of society indicated by the words _conservatism_ and _progress_ are arranging and accumulating antagonistic forces for an open and decided manifestation on this great question. What will be the precise nature of this manifestation no human mind can predict. But the distinctive principles of the two parties furnish some data for anticipating some future results, as they may occur in the several classes referred to in preceding chapters under the following heads: What Theologians will do? In attempting to indicate the probable future course of theologians, it is important to notice the relative positions of persons trained to sustain a _system_ of doctrines, and of those who seek for truth and duty without any such commitment. Most theologians grow up from infancy under a system of doctrines inculcated both from the pulpit and in the family. This enlists all the strong and inveterate influences of early education in its favor. Next, the collegiate pulpit instructions and associations all favor the same system. Next, the theological school brings the young under the direct training of the most acute minds, whose express business it is to teach all methods of supporting and defending that _system_. Here the young minister is taught how to construct his sermons so as most effectually to bring the popular mind under its control, and so as to most effectively oppose all antagonistic sects and teachings. Finally, the office of a clergyman involves such ecclesiastical relations as subjects a man to constant espionage, and to ecclesiastical discipline and ejection if he adopts any views that would essentially modify the _system_ in which he is trained. If, therefore, any theologian or pastor finds himself doubting as to any doctrine, he perceives that it is so interlocked with the _system_ of which it is a part that he is at once brought face to face with the question, Shall I give up _the whole system_ in which I was educated, all the lectures and sermons framed on that system, all my ecclesiastical connections, my professional character and my salary?