John Dick was a Secessionist pastor in Scotland. Born in 1764, he started preaching in Slateford, near Edinburgh in 1786. He received his Doctor of Divinity at Princeton, NJ in 1815 and returned to Scotland to head the theology 'department'.
He gave lectures on theology, which were published in two volumes. I remember visiting Bob and Peggy West when Bob was attending Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS. The library let me copy volume 1's Attributes of God pages, which I collated and covered when I got home. The picture below is of an original 1858 printing, not my copy.
Here is Rev. Dick's explanation of theology proper. Be sure to read the last paragraph.
"Theology literally signifies, a discourse concerning God. By the ancients,
the term was used in a more restricted, and a more extended sense. In the writings of the Fathers, mention is made of the Theology of the Sacred Trinity,
and of the Theology of the Son of God, or of the Divinity of our Saviour;
while the word, at other times, denotes the general system of truth contained
in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, or these Scriptures themselves.
butes, his counsels, his works, and his dispensations towards the human race.
I call it a science, because it is equally worthy of that designation with any of
those departments of knowledge to which it is applied by common consent; for,
although its authentic records do not deliver theology in a scientific form, it is
founded on first principles, from which its subordinate parts are deducible; and,
throughout all its ramifications, there is a connexion, a mutual dependence,
constituting a harmonious whole.
"Reflection upon the subject of theology will convince us that it claims the preference
to all other studies. In God, we behold an assemblage of all conceivable excellencies, existing in the highest degree, and in the most perfect accordance; the union of grandeur and loveliness, of every thing fitted to awaken solemn and pleasing emotions,
to impress us with veneration, to gain our confidence, to inspire us with hope.
He is invisible to mortal eyes, but this is not a reason for suspending our inquiries,
because we are furnished not only with external senses, by which we communi-
cate with the material creation, but also with mental faculties, which qua-
lify us for liolding intercourse with the intellectual or spiritual world. The
mystery which envelopes his nature might discourage us, if we entertained a
presumptuous wish to comprehend his infinite essence; but it presents no ob-
stacle to the attainment of that degree of knowledge which will serve as the
foundation of religion, since he has been pleased to grant such manifestations
of himself as are suitable to our limited capacity and our present state of exist-
ence.
"His remoteness from us, who are separated from him by an interval of
infinite extent, has been urged by some men as an argument for dismissing him from our thoughts, and confining them to subjects more nearly allied to us; but
it will have no weight in the estimation of those who consider, that independent
and self-existent as he is, he stands in the closest relations to us, as our Maker,
our Lawgiver, and our Judge. To know this mighty Being, as far as he may
be known, is the noblest aim of the human understanding; to love him, the
most worthy exercise of our affections; and to serve him the most honourable
and delightful purpose to which we can devote our time and talents. To ascer-
tain the character of God in its aspect towards us; to contemplate the display
of his attributes in his works and dispensations; to discover his designs towards
man in his original and his present state; to learn our duty to him, the means of
enjoying his favour, the hopes which we are authorized to entertain, and
the wonderful expedient by which our alien race is restored to purity and
happiness; these are the objects of theology, and entitle it to be pronounced
the first of all the sciences in dignity and importance.
"Ignorant of the other sciences, and of the arts which minister to the ornament
and amusement of life, a man who can sustain himself by mechanical labour, may spend the short time of his earthly pilgrimage, not without comfort, nor without the
honour which honesty and integrity may procure, especially if religion has
shed some rays of its celestial light upon him; but he who has stored his
mind with every kind of knowledge except the knowledge of God and divine
things, lives like a fool, and shall die without hope."
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