The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1877-05-23
CAN A MAN BE A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT
BELIEVING DOCTRINE?

1t has been said by subtle enemies of the
truth 10. G., "Ecce Homo,'') that "nO
amount of dlsobedience which can be named,
no amount of disbelief or ignorance of doc
trine, is sufficient to deprive man Of the
name of Christian" And yet they conoede
that faith was the grand qualification pre-
scribed BY Christ Himself for membership in
His kingdom. How do they explain and
reconcile this transaction? Of course by
giving a meaning of their own to the term
{" faith" Faith is rudimental goodness,
expressing itself in loyalty to Christ and ca
pable of growing into entire conformity to
His whole authority, under suitable training
and discipline. But this goodness and 10y
atty are incompatible, not only with invOl-
untary ignorance, but with disbelief and de-
NAL of Christ's own teachings concerning His
divinity and atonement. Upon this observe,
1. That it must be acknowledged that the
faith which is necessary to salvation is con-
sistent with the ignorance, or even the denial
of some truths which Christ has revealed
Those branches of the Church which are the
most rigid have not required of private per-
sons in their communion, subscription to
all the articles of faith to which the Office
bearers are required to subscribe. There are
certain doctrines which are considered fun
damental, and without faith or credible
profession of faith in such doctrines, the very
foundation of Christian character is sup
posed to be wanting. 1 John iv: 2, 8, 10;
II John tx 10, ct al.
2. And it must be acknowledged, further,
that the immediate disciples of our Lord,
while He was upon the earth, were ignorant
of some doctrines, which are now justly con-
sidered fundamental; the doctrines, for in
stance, of the stonement and the resurrec-
ton of Christ. What shall we say to this
That they were Ot'Christians? That they
had no sympathy with the holiness Of Christ
By no means. The fact of saving faith in
the hearts of His disciples is acknowledged
by the Saviour himself. See Matt. xvi :
II, IS; John xvi 81, mot, as in our version,
a question, but, aye do now believe ct
al. 1t is clearly implied indeed, in all His
intercourse with them. See John xiii, xvii,
specially chap. xvii, and note the stigma Of
discrimination put upon Judas IscariOt in the
18th verse. We must not deny then that
they were true "believers, friends =" and
" children"
But let it be borne in mind, a. That they
were piOus Jews, and, as such, could have
the same kind of faith which their father
Abraham, Simeon, Anna, ZaChariah and
Elizabeth had. (2) That in addition to this,
they had received Jesus as the Messiah and
the Son of God, and were WOrshippers of Him
as such. They exhibited the utmost conf
ience in His love and power while He was
present with them, though the time had not
come for them to trust in Him, with the same
simplicity, while absent. But He was evil
IDENTIFY all in all to them. They had no want,
either of soul or body, which they did not
believe Him able to meet and satisfy. g.
That when, after His resurrection from the
dead, they received new revelations from
Him, their faith demonstrated itself to be
genuine by embracing and acting upon such
revelations. 1t is admitted that such reVe-
latiOns were not always received without a
struggle, (Aets K: 1922; xix; 2O,) for
they were not perfect men but still faith
triumphed, and they were received. An OBJ
stinate, a persistent refusal to receive them
would have been conclusive evidence against
the reality of the faith which they had pro-
fessad to have. They not only resigned all
their doubts touching the resurrection, but
preached it as the foundation of their faith,
aud were ready to lay down their lives for
their testimony concerning it. See Acts,
passins and 1 Cor. XIV: 1917.
Now We are better prepared to Judge Of
the truth Of the assertion We have quoted
from that plausible and dangerous book, the
" Ecce Homo"
l. It is not true that faith is simple 10y,
atty to Christ without believing anything
about Him. If is asserted that faith does
not Of necessity imply, as its object, the Nj
Gene dogma of the Trinity or the Ephesian
and Chalcedonian dOgmas concerning the
constitution Of His person, it is readily sd-
mitted. There is wide difference between
the spontaneous faith of childhood in a GER
tain truth or feet, and the reflective and sci
entifc faith of manhood in the same truth OF
fact; but the difference is the difference be-
tween spontaneity and reflection, formal,
not a real difference. Peter, Paul, Irereus,
Turtulian believed as fully in the divinity Of
their Lord as Dionysius or Athanasiu5.
?. For this reason it is conceivable that
Door child of sin and death, nov, may know
no more of Christ than is revealed in the
story Of the healing of blind BartimeuS, and
be saved. pity TIE man who cannot hope
for the salvation Of some Of the poor heather
who heard from the lips Of Francis Xavier,
" the simple story Of the cross" although he
is justified in believing that, in that ardent
missionary's own mind, there was great daEz-
ness and error. have little doubt that
Xavier was himself wOrshipper of Christ;