Faith is a complex act of the soul, involving the concurrent action of the understanding and the will, and modified in differ- ent instances of its exercise by the nature of its object, and of the evidence upon which it rests. The most general definition, em- bracing all its modifications, affirms faith to be " assent to truth upon the exhibition of the appropriate evidence. But it is evident that its nature must vary with the nature of the truth believed, and especially with the nature of the evidence upon which our assent is founded. Assent to a speculative or abstract truth is a speculative act ; assent to a moral truth is a moral act ; assent to a promise made to ourselves is an act of trust. Our belief that the earth moves round its axis is a mere assent ; our be- lief in the excellence of virtue is of the nature of a moral judg- ment ; our belief in a promise is an act of trust/' So like- wise with respect to the evidence upon which our faith is founded. " The same man may believe the same truth on differ- ent grounds. One may believe the Christian system simply be- cause others around him believe it, and he has been brought up to receive it without question ; this is the faith of credulity. Another may believe it on the ground of its external evidence, e. g., of miracle, prophecy, history, its logical consistency as a sys- tem, or its plausibility as a theory in accounting for the pheno- mena of creation and providence. This is speculative faith. An- other may believe, because the truths of the Bible recommend themselves to his reason and conscience, and accord with his in- ward experience. This faith is founded on moral evidence. There is another faith founded on the intrinsic excellence, beauty, and suitableness of the truth from a sense and love of its moral excellence. This is spiritual faith, which is the gift of God." — Way of Life.
4. How far is faith an act of the understanding, and how far an act of the will ?
The one indivisible soul knows and loves, desires and decides, and these several acts of the soul meet on the same object. The soul can neither love, desire, nor choose that which it does not know, nor can it know an object as true or good without some affection of will towards it. Assent to a purely speculative truth may be simply an act of understanding, but belief in a moral
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truth, in testimony, in promises, must be a complex act, em- bracing both the understanding and the will. The understanding apprehends the truth to be believed, and decides upon the valid- ity of the evidence, but the disposition to believe testimony, or moral evidence, has its foundation in the will. Actual trust in p promise is an act of the will, and not a simple judgment as to iu trustworthiness. There is an exact relation between the moral judgment and the affections, and the will, as the seat of the moral affections, determines the moral judgments. Therefore, as a man is responsible for his will, he is responsible for his faith.
5. What is the difference between knowledge and faith ? Generally, knowledge is the apprehension of an object as true,
and faith is an assent to its truth. It is obvious, therefore, that in this general sense of the term every exercise of faith includes the knowledge of the object assented to. It is impossible to dis- tinguish between the apprehension of the truthfulness of a purely speculative truth and an assent to it as true. In such a case faith and knowledge appear identical. But while the apprehension of the trustworthiness of a promise is knowledge, the actual reliance upon it is faith. The apprehension of the moral truthfulness of an object is knowledge, the assent to it, as good and desirable, is faith.
Sometimes the Scriptures use the word knowledge as equiva- lent to faith, John x., 38 ; 1 John ii., 3.
Generally, however, the Scriptures restrict the term knowledge to the apprehension of those ideas which we derive through the natural sources of sensation and reason and human testimony, while the term faith is restricted to the assent to those truths which rest upon the direct testimony of God alone, objectively revealed in the Scriptures, as discerned through spiritual illumi- nation. Thus, faith is the " evidence of things not seen/' Heb. xi., 1. We are commanded " to walk by faith, and not by sight," 2 Cor. v., 7. Here the distinction between faith and knowledge has reference particularly to the mode of knowing. The one is natural and discursive, the other supernatural and intuitive.
6. What distinction do the Romanists make between implicit and explicit faith $
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