IX. THE RIGHT TO SEEK KNOWLEDGE ASIDE FROM REVEALED KNOWLEDGE.
One other thing: Such subjects as are treated in this Year Book necessarily rest on what God has revealed—that is, for the data, the facts involved; but that does not necessarily hold as to illustration and argument for development of the truth and making clear the revealed things of God. Here one may do as it is said Clement of Alexandrea did in urging men to strive for a knowledge of Christian truth, rather than a mere belief of it; "such instruction was to come primarily from the 'Divine Word'; but everything in the range of human learning was to be welcomed as co-operating with him. For Clement gratefully acknowledged truth wherever found, whether among heathens or heretics." It should be observed, however, "that while constantly confirming his propositions from his Greek writers, he ever turns for a final appeal to the scriptures"—that, too, must be our course.
So much by way of presenting the spirit in which I have pursued my own studies upon the high themes of these Seventy's Year Books, and this present one in particular.