is;;] THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH 313 



such a theology is likely to be really fruitful, and whether 

 such interest is likely to be really lasting. Both these 

 questions, I apprehend, must be answered in the negative. 

 Discussions which have for their object the defence or 

 overthrow of Christianity as a whole may, indeed, attach 

 themselves to the detailed problems of theology, but 

 cannot possibly devote to questions of detail the loving 

 interest by which alone the sciences advance. Such 

 discussions, therefore, can hardly be very fruitful. Nor 

 can they continue to inspire a wide and deep interest. 

 For the apologetic problems are becoming yearly more 

 intricate, so that, in an increasing degree, they either 

 cease to interest all but a very few, or attract the attention 

 of the many only when set forth in a superficial and 

 inaccurate manner. The fact is, that no religion which 

 contains within it such elements of power as still reside 

 in Christianity, can be annihilated by a process of critical 

 dissection. Both assailants and defenders will at last 

 weary of this endless conflict of detail. The battle, 

 which can never cease, will assume a new form. It is 

 probable enough that instead of a mere war of opinion 

 we may have to face attacks of a more practical kind. 

 But at all events, the preparedness of the Church to 

 meet a new onset can bear a very remote relation to the 

 completeness with which an apologetic adapted to the 

 present system of attack has been organised. The 

 merely propugnacular part of theology has very transitory 

 value. A theology capable of doing permanent service 

 must not allow itself to be shaped with reference to the 

 present attitude of unbelief. It must not, in the first 

 instance, look at unbelief at all, but must be framed in 

 accordance with a large and just view of the service 

 which systematic Christian knowledge is able to do in 

 promoting the internal growth and the natural work of 

 the Church herself. 



The point of this argument may perhaps become more 

 clear if put in another way. Apologetic theology, though 



