242 THE PRE-KEQUISITES OF A CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. 



Let me put it in this way. The mind that has been laid hold of 

 by the philosophical tendency of the present day does seek to see 

 God as — to use the now familiar word — "immanent," and aims 

 to assiojn to Him as close a connection with His Universe as the 

 old simple believers always assigned to Him, but to carry it out to 

 its full conclusion. When once one has that conception of God, 

 and of all things as having their being in God — of Him as 

 the Creator and Sustainer of His creatures — one must then have 

 some doctrine of the Universe which presents it to one's mind 

 as a unity answering to one's sense of the unity of the Divine 

 Being with it. That is really my point. It is not solely a matter 

 of argument, but rather of an intellectual atmosphere in which 

 Evolution in some form or other presses itself upon the mind of the 

 Theist. 



Nothing has been said about Epigenesis, and I think this links 

 Creation and Evolution. Professor Ward's lectures are a great 

 classical work upon the subject. Then I do not think we can 

 regard God as performing a great many separate acts of will, as 

 though He had to think out separate problems separately. That 

 does not coincide with our idea of the Divine Mind. Allusion has 

 been made to what I said about a mutually adapted Universe. 

 I was not thinking of any particular scientific theories. I 

 emphasized the broad fact of a mutually adaptive Universe. 

 That is where it touches Philosophy, — when the many facts 

 become one broad fact. I cannot agree that Christianity is cut 

 off from Philosophy because it is a matter of Divine revelation. 

 The Christian Gospel has to be expressed in human words which 

 involve no end of pre-suppositions. It does not mean that we have 

 to systematize the ideas of faith and love, but rather to bring our 

 thoughts about God and Christianity into relation with our other 

 thoughts. That is all Philosophy means. I think it was Professor 

 Orchard who criticized my definition of Philosophy with reference to 

 first principles. But we must get back to the roots of thought in 

 order to discover what are the facts of reality upon which we first 

 lay hold. It is true that the scientist thinks about thought, but 

 the philosopher thinks about thought as such, and the first principles 

 of all thought and being. 



The Meeting adjourned at 6.5 p.m. 



