, when they meet
inquirers whose questions about God are not so ingenuous as that of
the infant St. Thomas. The armour of their faith will not be so easily
pierced by chance shots as if they were without preparation, and at
the same time they will know enough of the greatness of the subject
not to challenge "any unbeliever" to single combat, and undertake to
prove against all opponents the existence and perfections of God.

For instruction as well as for defence the relation of philosophy to
revealed truth should be explained. It is necessary to point out that
while science has its own sphere within which it is independent,
having its own principles and methods and means of certitude, [1--De
Bonald and others were condemned and reproved by Gregory XVI for
teaching that reason drew its first principles and grounds of
certitude from revelation.] yet the Church as the guardian of revealed
truth is obliged to prosecute for trespass those who in teaching any
science encroach by affirmation or contradiction on the domain of
revelation.

To sum up, therefore, logic can train the students to discriminate
between good and bad arguments, which few ordinary readers can do, and
not even every writer. Ethics teaches the rational basis of morals
which it is useful for all to know, and psychology can teach to
discriminate between the acts of intellect and will on the one hand
and imagination and emotion on the other, and so furnish the key to
many a puzzle of thought that has led to false and dangerous
theorizing.

The method of giving instruction in the different branches of
philosophy will depend so much on the preparation of the particular
pupils, and also on the cast of mind of the teachers, that it is
difficult to offer suggestions, except to point out this very fact
that each mind needs to be met just where it is--with its own mental
images, vocabulary, habit of thought and attention, all calling for
consideration and adaptation of the subject to their particular case.
It depends on the degree of preparation of the teachers to decide
whether the form of a lecture is safest, or whether they can risk
themselves in the arena of question and answer, the most useful in
itself but requiring a far more complete training in preparation. If
it can be obtained that the pupils state their own questions and
difficulties in writing, a great deal will have been gained, for a
good statement of a question is half-way to the right solution.