An Essay on the Development of Christian DoctrineNewman, John Henry
Religion
An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine
Newman, John Henry
Catholic Church -- Doctrines; Dogma, Development of
Moreover, from what occurred forty years afterwards, when they were
advancing upon the promised land, it would seem that the original grant
of territory did not include the country east of Jordan, held in the
event by Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh; at least they
undertook at first to leave Sihon in undisturbed possession of his
country, if he would let them pass through it, and only on his refusing
his permission did they invade and appropriate it.
14.
6. It is in point to notice also the structure and style of Scripture, a
structure so unsystematic and various, and a style so figurative and
indirect, that no one would presume at first sight to say what is in it
and what is not. It cannot, as it were, be mapped, or its contents
catalogued; but after all our diligence, to the end of our lives and to
the end of the Church, it must be an unexplored and unsubdued land, with
heights and valleys, forests and streams, on the right and left of our
path and close about us, full of concealed wonders and choice treasures.
Of no doctrine whatever, which does not actually contradict what has
been delivered, can it be peremptorily asserted that it is not in
Scripture; of no reader, whatever be his study of it, can it be said
that he has mastered every doctrine which it contains. Butler's remarks
on this subject were just now referred to. "The more distinct and
particular knowledge," he says, "of those things, the study of which the
Apostle calls 'going on unto perfection,'" that is, of the more
recondite doctrines of the Gospel, "and of the prophetic parts of
revelation, like many parts of natural and even civil knowledge, may
require very exact thought and careful consideration. The hindrances too
of natural and of supernatural light and knowledge have been of the
same kind. And as it is owned the whole scheme of Scripture is not
yet understood, so, if it ever comes to be understood, before the
'restitution of all things,' and without miraculous interpositions, it
must be in the same way as natural knowledge is come at, by the
continuance and progress of learning and of liberty, and by particular
persons attending to, comparing, and pursuing intimations scattered up
and down it, which are overlooked and disregarded by the generality of
the world. For this is the way in which all improvements are made, by
thoughtful men tracing on obscure hints, as it were, dropped us by
nature accidentally, or which seem to come into our minds by chance. Nor
is it at all incredible that a book, which has been so long in the
possession of mankind, should contain many truths as yet undiscovered.
For all the same phenomena, and the same faculties of investigation,
from which such great discoveries in natural knowledge have been made in
the present and last age, were equally in the possession of mankind
several thousand years before. And possibly it might be intended that
events, as they come to pass, should open and ascertain the meaning of
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