Ecclesia Discens. By Arthur Wollaston Hutton, M.A. (F. OriMths.)—The preacher's
position is significantly indicated by the title which he has given to his volume. The phrase means, in ordinary use, that portion of the Church whose main function is to learn, as distinguished from the Ecclesia Docens, whose office is to teach. The laity learns while the clergy teaches; the clergy learns while the Bishops teach ; the Bishops themselves learn, on the latest Roman theory, while the Pope teaches. In Mr. Hutton's view, the whole Church is always learning; dogma must be restated, Scripture reconsidered in the light of criticism and history. We cannot deal with the Sermons in detail. It must suffice to point out the four in which the questions of "The Old Testament and its Critics" and "The Permanent Element in Theological Re-statement" are discussed. This last is especially valuable. No one who reads it can be doubtful about Mr. Hutton's position. It contains an instructive autobiographical element. Mr. Hutton has special qualifications for speaking on the subject of these discourses, and we welcome heartily what he says.—The Old Theology in the New Age, by the Rev. G. F. Terry (S. C. Brown, Langham, and Co., 6s.), is another volume of sermons, of which the dominant spirit is not unlike that which is to be found in the volume noticed above. It is more systematic ; the great theological subjects are treated in due order. There are discussions on the doctrine of the Divine Being, on the Church, the Sacraments, of miracles. Mr. Terry expresses him- self with clearness and courage, and has given us here a very instructive and edifying book.
Previous page
