The Place of Philosophy in the Theological Curriculum [pp. 103-124]

PHILOSOPHY IN THE THEOLOGICAL CURRICULUM. IO9
life of the church; but with the unbeliever this argument will be
of little avail: and with the believer even it must be used carefully, or else under the guise of a corporate Christian consciousness we may bring back into the bosom of Protestantism the
doctrine of corporate infallibility, which was discarded at the
Reformation.
Nothing, however, is here intended that would disparage the
doctrine that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Truth. God
undoubtedly will take care of his church. The Bible certainly
carries on its face the marks of its intrinsic majesty and divinity.
The Holy Ghost is the great Apologete. The increasing army
of Christian men is the great bulwark of the church against the
encroachments of infidelity. But it is true nevertheless that
Christianity can be defended, and ought to be defended, by
argument; and instead of sympathizing with the cavalier treatment of the older apologists, which is so common, I believe that
Principal Cairns gave utterance to golden words when he said
that "Christianity is not promoted by changing either its type
of doctrine or its style of evidence" (Unbelief in the Eighteenth Century, p. 279). Argument is not unavailing. It
was useful in the deistic battle of last century; it is needed
in the theistic battle of this. The church is not wasting her
resources when she equips her seminaries; when she endows
her professorships of divinity and her lectureships in apologetics.
There is a power even in her commanding attitude which
sometimes even her enemies will admit. "You cannot talk of
ignoring St. Paul's Cathedral," says Mr. Bradlaugh; "it is too
high." Let the church so present the claims of the Gospel as
to extort concessions like this and make men say, We cannot
ignore'the Gospel. We cannot ignore its arguments. We cannot ignore the cathedral of Christian doctrine. It is too high.
Its solid walls, its stately towers, its storied windows, its shining
pinnacles arrest attention and command the admiration of the
world. This, however, imposes upon us great responsibilities.
We must defend, but we must have a theory of defence. We
must argue, but we must have an organon. We cannot postulate ultimates and put an easy end to controversy. We must