t Peter and St Andrew
taken from their boats; of St Matthew as he sat at the receipt of
custom; of the good Samaritan; the devout centurion; of curious
Zaccheus; of the repentant prodigal; of St James, as he wrote that a
man is "justified by works, and not by faith only;"[5] of Apollos,
"mighty in the Scriptures," who "was instructed in the way of the
Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, spake and taught diligently the
things of the Lord," and yet who only knew "the baptism of John;"[6]
of the disciples at Ephesus who had "not so much as heard whether
there be any Holy Ghost;"[7] think of all the poor and simple ones who
have gone to heaven with Christ in their hearts, "the hope of glory,"
and yet who have never known with accuracy any Christian dogma
whatever,--and you can hardly doubt how distinct are the spheres of
religion and of theology, and how far better than all theological
definitions is the "honest and good heart," which, "having heard the
Word, keeps it, and brings forth fruit with patience."[8]

II. But religion differs from theology, not only in the comparatively
simple and universal order of the facts with which it deals, but also
because the facts are so much more verifiable in the one case than in
the other. They can so much more easily be found out to be true or
not. It has been sought of late, in a well-known quarter, to bring all
religion to this test--and the test is not an unfair one if
legitimately applied. But it is not legitimate to test spiritual facts
simply as we test natural facts; such facts, for example, as that fire
burns, or that a stone thrown from the hand falls to the ground. The
presumption of all supernatural religion is that there is a spiritual
or supernatural sphere, as real and true as the natural sphere in
which we continually live and move; and the facts which belong to this
sphere must be tested within it. Morality and moral conditions may be
so far verified from without. If we do wrong we shall finally find
ourselves in the wrong; and that there is a "Power not ourselves which
makes for righteousness" and which will not allow us to rest in wrong.
This constantly verified experience of a kingdom of righteousness is a
valuable basis of morality. But religion could not live or nourish
itself within such limits. It must rest, not merely on certain facts
of divine order, but on such personal relations as are ever uppermost
in the mind of St Paul, and are so clearly before him