§ 4. Faith and Knowledge. The relation of faith to knowledge is a wide field. The dis- cussions on the subject have been varied and endless. There is little probability that the points at issue will ever be settled to the satisfaction of all parties. The ground of faith is authority. The ground of knowledge is sense or reason. We are concerned here only with Christian faith, i. e., the faith which receives the Scriptures as the Word of God and all they teach as true on his authority.
Is a Supernatural Revelation needed 1
The first question is, Whether there is any need of a supernat- ural revelation, whether human reason be not competent to discover and to authenticate all needful truth. This question has already been considered under the head of Rationalism, where it was shown, (1.) That every man's consciousness tells him that there are questions concerning God and his own origin and destiny, which his reason cannot answer. (2.) That he knows a priori, that the reason of no other man can satisfactorily answer them. (3.) That he knows from experience that they never have been answered by the wisdom of men, and (4.) That the Scriptures declare that the world by wisdom knows not God ; that the wisdom of the world is foolishness in his estimation, and that God has therefore himself made known truths undiscovera- ble by reason, for the salvation of man.
Must the Truths of Revelation be Demonstrable by Reason f
A second question is, Whether truths, supernaturally revealed, must be able to authenticate themselves at the bar of reason be- fore they can be rationally received ; so that they are received, not on the ground of authority, but of rational proof. This also has been previously discussed. It has been shown that the as- sumption that God can reveal nothing which human reason can- not, when known, demonstrate to be true, assumes that human reason is the measure of all truth ; that there is no intelligence in the universe higher than that of man ; and that God cannot have purposes and plans, the grounds or reasons of which we are not competent to discover and appreciate. It emancipates the soul from the authority of God, refusing to believe anything ex- cept on the authority of reason. Why may we not believe on the testimony of God that there is a spiritual world, as well as be-
76 part m. Ch. xvi.— faith.
lieve that there is such a nation as the Chinese on the testimony of men ? No man acts on the principle of believing only what he can understand and prove, in any other department. There are multitudes of truths which every sane man receives on trust, without being able either to prove or comprehend them. If we can believe only what we can prove at the bar of reason to be true, then the kingdom of heaven would be shut against all but the wise. There could be no Christian who was not also a phi- losopher. In point of fact no man acts on this principle. It is assumed in the pride of reason, or as an apology for rejecting unpalatable truths, but men believe in God, in sin, in freedom of the will, in responsibility, without the ability of comprehend- ing or reconciling these truths with each other or with other facts of consciousness or experience.
May not Revealed Truths he Philosophically vindicated? A third question is, Whether, admitting a supernatural revela- tion, and moreover admitting the obligation to receive on the authority of God the doctrines which revelation makes known, the revealed doctrines may not be philosophically vindicated, so as to commend them to the acceptance of those who deny rev- elation. May not the Scriptural doctrines concerning God, crea- tion, providence, the trinity, the incarnation, sin, redemption, and the future state, be so stated and sustained philosophically, as to constrain acquiescence in them as truths of the reason. This was the ground taken in the early Church by the theolo- gians of the Alexandrian School, who undertook to elevate the ttwttis of the people into a -yvSo-i? for the philosophers. Thus the sacred writers were made Platonists, and Christianity was trans- muted into Platonism. A large part of the mental activity of the School-men, during the Middle Ages, was expended in the same way. They received the Bible as a supernatural revelation from God. They received the Church interpretation of its teachings. They admitted their obligation to believe its doctrines on the authority of God and of the Church. Nevertheless they held that all these doctrines could be philosophically proved. In later times Wolf undertook to demonstrate all the doctrines of Chris- tianity on the principles of the Leibnitzian philosophy. In our own day this principle and these attempts have been carried fur- ther than ever. Systems of theology, constructed on the philoso- phy of Hegel, of Schelling, and of Schleiermacher, have almost superseded the old Biblical systems. If any man of ordinary