Eonianists and Protestants agree that it is not essential to faith that its object should be comprehended by the understand- ing. But, on the other hand, Protestants affirm, and Komanists deny, that it is essential that the object believed should be appre- hended by the mind : that is, that knowledge of what we believe is essential to faith. The Komanists, therefore, have invented the distinction between explicit faith, which terminates upon an object distinctly apprehended by the mind, and implicit faith, which a man exercises in the truth of propositions of which he knows nothing. They hold that if a man exercises explicit faith in a general proposition, he therein exercises implicit faith in every thing embraced in it, whether he knows what they are or not. If a man, for instance, has explicit faith that the church is an infallible teacher, he thereby exercises virtual or implicit faith in every doctrine taught by the church, although he may be igno- rant as to what those doctrines are. They distinguish, moreover, between those truths which it is necessary to regard with explicit faith, and those which may be held implicitly. They commonly teach that it is necessary for the people to hold only three doc- trines explicitly, 1st, that God is ; 2d, that he is a re warder, including future rewards and punishments ; 3d, that he is a re- deemer.
" This doctrine has been recently revived by the Puseyites, under the title of reserve. The distinguishing truths of the gos- pel, instead of being clearly presented, should, it is said, be con- cealed or kept in reserve. The people may gaze upon the cross as the symbol of redemption, but need not know whether it is the form, or the material, or the great sacrifice once enacted on it, to which the efficacy is due. c Eeligious light is intellectual dark- ness/ says Dr. Newman. This theory rests upon the same false assumption that faith can exist without knowledge." — Dr. Hodge,
7. What is the difference betiveen knowing and understanding a thing, and how far is knowledge essential to faith ?
We know a thing when we simply apprehend it as true. We understand it only when we fully comprehend its nature, and the perfect consistency of all its properties with each other and with the entire system of things of which it forms a part. We know
356 FAITH.
the doctrine of the trinity when its several parts are stated to us, but no creature can ever understand it.
That knowledge, or simple apprehension of the object believed and confided in, is essential to faith is evident from the nature of faith itself. It is that state of mind which bears the relation of assent to a certain object, involving that action of understanding and of will which is appropriate to that object. If a man loves, fears, or believes, he must love, fear, or believe some object, for it is evident that these states of mind can exist only in relation to their appropriate objects. If a real object is not present the imagination may present an ideal one, but that very fiction of the imagination must first be apprehended as true (or known) before it can be assented to as true (or believed.) Just as it is impossible for a man to enjoy beauty without perceiving it in some object of the mind, or to exercise complacent love in a vir- tuous act without perceiving it, so it is, for the same reason, im- possible for a man to exercise faith without knowing what he be- lieves. " Implicit faith" is a perfectly unmeaning formula.
8. How can the fact that knowledge is essential to faith be proved from Scripture ?
1st. From the etymology of the word morig, from necdo), to persuade, instruct. Faith is that state of mind which is the re- sult of teaching. 2d. From the use of the word knowledge in Scripture as equivalent to faith, John x., 38 ; 1 John ii., 3. 3d. From what the Bible teaches as to the source of faith. It comes by teaching, Horn, x., 14-17. 4th. The Scriptures declare that the regenerate are enlightened, have received the unction, and know all things, Acts xxvi., 18 ; 1 Cor. ii., 12-15 ; Col. hi., 10. 5th. The means of salvation consist in the dissemination of the truth. Christ is the great teacher. Ministers are teachers, 1 Cor. iv., 1 ; 1 Tim., iii., 2 ; iv., 13. Christians are begotten by the truth, sanctified by the truth, John xvii., 19 : James i., 18. — Dr. Hodge.
9. How are those passages to be explained tvhich speak of knowledge as distinguished from faith ?
Although every act of faith presupposes an act of knowledge, yet both the faith and the knowledge vary very much, both with
APPLICATION OF REDEMPTION. 357