Feb. 7, 1879.] 1^ [Chase. 



The Philosophy of Christianity. By Pliny Earle Chase, LL.B., Pro- 

 fessor of Philosophy in Haeerford College. 



(Read before the American Philosophical Society, February 1th, 1879.) 



Job xxviii, 12-28. 



Philosophy is " the love of wisdom." 



The Philosophy of Christianity is the love of Divine Wisdom. Its cor- 

 ner-stone is the maxim of John : "In the beginning was the Word, and 

 the AVord was with God, and the Word was God." 



The capacity and the love of investigation are both due to the fact that 

 "there is a Spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth 

 [him] understanding." 



In many of our colleges there is a literary society, in which the requisite 

 qualification for membership is distinguished scholarship. It is designated 

 by the three cabalistic letters <I> B A, which are the initials of the Greek 

 words, (pikonocpia fiiou xuj3spvrjzr]<;, "philosophy the guide of life." 



The Christian philosopher, while recognizing the importance of correct 

 guidance in matters pertaining to our present transitory life, attaches the 

 greatest value to the life everlasting. He therefore accepts as his highest rule 

 of faith and practice, both for time and for eternity, the saying of his Master : 

 "this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and 

 Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." Not simply that they might believe, 

 but that they might know ; that the eternal verities of life and immortality 

 have been brought to light through a divinely appointed and divinely 

 anointed Messenger, so that " he may run that readeth " them. 



This claim may seem presumptuous to those who have been accustomed 

 to look upon physical science as the only guide to certainty, and who have 

 thought of religious belief as the result of education and circumstance, as 

 something beyond our control, something for which we are in no way 

 accountable and which is, therefore, of little comparative consequence. 

 But the Christian, aware of the influence of belief upon character, feels 

 that there are many things to be feared from faulty belief, while there is 

 nothing to be feared from the clear and absolute knowledge of truth. 



The Apostle to the Gentiles exhorted the brethren to " prove all things ; 

 hold fast that which is good. ' ' He did not, however, limit himself to "things 

 seen " or to logical deductions from the temporal experience in which all 

 men alike participate, although he showed himself to be a formidable an- 

 tagonist in every arena of disputation. He saw that the search for truth 

 may be prosecuted in two directions : first, in the direction of dependence, 

 under a teachable spirit, waiting and seeking for enlightenment, and re- 

 warded by the satisfaction of religious want ; second, in the direction of 

 independence or self-assertion, under a more haughty and confident spirit, 

 forgetful of the sources as well as of the limits of knowledge, devising 

 philosophic or scientific systems. In the field of inquiry to which he was 

 especially devoted, he admonished the followers of that which is good to 



