of belief, it is called General or Fundamental Theology. This is more properly a vestibule or outwork of Theology, and may be considered as Applied Philosophy. It is also called the Treatise on the True Religion (Tractatus de Vera Religione), and sometimes Apologetics, because of its defensive character. When Theology expounds and coordinates the dogmas themselves, and demonstrates them from Scripture and Tradition, it takes the name of Positive Theology. When it takes the dogmas for granted, and penetrates into their nature and discovers their principles and consequences, it is designated Speculative Theology, and sometimes Scholastic Theology, because it is chiefly the work of the Schoolmen, and also because, on account of its abstruseness, it can only be acquired by scholars. Positive Theology and Speculative Theology cannot be completely separated. Hence the theological works of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were entitled Theologia Positivo-Scholastica, or Dogmatico-Scholastica. The present work likewise possesses this two-fold character.
A fuller account of these various distinctions will be found in the concluding sections of Book I.
II.—A SHORT SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THEOLOGY
The history of Theology may be divided into three epochs, which coincide with the great epochs of the history of the Church:—
A.—The Ancient or Patristic Epoch;
B.—The Mediæval or Scholastic Epoch;
C.—The Modern Epoch.
Each of these has as its centre one of the great Councils of the Church, Patristic Theology being grouped round the Council of Nicæa, Mediaeval Theology round the Fourth Lateran Council, and Modern Theology round the Council of Trent. In each epoch also the growth of Theology has followed a similar course. A period of preparation has led up to the Council, which has been followed by a period of prosperity, and this in turn has given place to a period of decay. During the Patristic Epoch, Theology
