Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-13
ACCEPTING A CREED.
Most Men Are Too Busy to Travel the
Way to Demonstration
THEY TAKE OTHERS WORD FOE IT.
It rs Not Necessary to Master Theology to
Have Christian Faith.
THE GREAT FACT FOR BELIEVERS
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArCH.1

We are all able to sympathlze with the
man who said, 'Lord, believe; help Thou
mine unbelief"
| This man believed; he had faith. But nc
sooner had he said his creed than there
came upon him deep consciousness of the
weakness, of the inadequacy, Of the igno.
rance, of the limitation, of his faith. What
did he believe? He believed that Jesus Of
Nazareth could help him. He looked into
His face, he heard His voice, and he recog.
nized in Him helper in his time of need.
Yet had you asked him questions about
Jesus of Nazareth he would have been puz-
zled how to answer. Was He only another
rabbi? was He the long expected Messiah Of
Israel? was He the incarnation of the Son
of God?-this man would have replied, 81
know not Yes; He is a rabbi, but what
more cannot tell" Not Sunday school
scholar in any Christian parish but could
have posed him. That is, this man had
faith, but he was notably lacking in knowl-
edge of theology.
Didn't Know His Theology.
Yet Jesus helped him. The density of
his theological ignorance was not dark
enough to keep the light of that benedic-
tion out. The man was blessed, though he
was ignorant of systematic divinity. The
inference is that there is a difference be-
tween theology and faith.
That there must be difference between
theology and faith would seem to be plain
from the fact that theology is difficult, COM
plicated, full of entanglements, and impos-
sible of requirement except to people of in
telIectual ability and training, while faith
is expected from the simplest Christian.
Faith, indeed, is set beside the gate of en-
trance into religion. 1t is one Of the pre-
requisites of the initial sacrament. First
faith and then baptism. Evidently this
cannot be theological faith, or else nobody
should be baptized without satisfactory
theological examination. Only the gradu-
ates of divinity schools would have any
right in tho Christian Church. Only the
parsons could be saved. The parsons?
How manv of them, in these undogmatic
days, could stand the test? Few are even
the parsons who could get into this theo-
logical heaven except on large conditions.
Theology Does Not Include Faith.
Another reason for being sure that theol-
ogy and faith are not by any means identi-
cal is the fact, which is attested by many
unfortunate experiences, that it is quite
possible for men to be excellent and accur-
ate theologians without being very good
Christians. Everybody knows that when
our Lord was here the people with whom
He was able to find least in common,
against whom He had to use the strongest
language of condemnation. were the pro-
fessors of systematic divinity in the the
illogical seminaries of Jerusalem. Jesus
found more good in publicans and sinners
than in scribes and pharisees.
There is a difference, then, between the
oIogy and faith. The Christian religion in
its demand for faith must not be understood
as requiring knowledge of theology The
Apostles Creed may be recited by very i'm
perfect theologians. "Lord, I believe;
help Thou mine unbelief," may rightly be
the voice of our own heart. What, then, is
the difference between theology and faith?
This will best be understood by asking,
first, 'sWhat is theology? and, then, What
is faith?
ADef1nition of Theology.
What is theology? Theology,is ordered
religious knowledge. 1t is the technical,
scientific and exact statement of religious
truth. The business of the theologian is to
gather together all the religious truth that
can be found, to classify it, to set it in a
system, and to draw differences from it He
is to do in his department what the man of
science does in his.
Plainly, then, theology will contain
great many statements of great many de-
grees of Importance Part of it will be of
very considerable value; part of it might be
lost or forgotten and the world be quite as
happy. Plainly, also, theology will include
a great many mistakes 1t will not, in this
respect, be much different from the similar
statement of physical truth. 1t will have
its guesses and its misses. 1t will have its
working hypothesis, some OF which will be
presently found to be unavoidable. 1t will
advance and recede. 1t will abandon some
of it's positions. Theology, that is, like any
other science, will grow with the growth Of
man. And there will never be time-per-
haps not even in heaven itself-when the
whole of any mans theology will be true.
For that would mean the end Of growth.
Tee Realm of Metaphysics.
There is no sense in decrying theology.
There has always been theology, there al
ways will be theology, and there always
ought to be theology. Theology is to be
censured only when it forgets its place.
Theologians are not to be accounted per-
nicious members of society so long as they
mind their own business. Yes; there is a
theology.
There will always be metaphysics not only
in theology, but in every other department
of thinking, so long as man continues to be
a rational and inquiring being Meta
physics is the region into which we get
when we take for our guide the mark of in
terrogation. 1t is the only possible answer
that can be made to certain questions. Every
object of thought, if 1t is questioned long
enough takes us into metaphysics.
Here is scrap of paper. There is no ap-
pearance of metaphysics in the look of this
paper. But ask the paper where it came
you get back to a plant growing in a field.
And there you are in the presence of mys-
terry. The mystery Of growth, and the
mystery Of life-these are even vet beyond
discovery. Nor can they be adequately
discussed without the aid Of metaphysics.
Windows Into tho Infinite.
Every stone in the street represents the
mystery of matter. The wisest man of
science does not know what matter is.
Every bit of metal represents the mystery
of force Who will define force? Emerson
said that every object that can be seen by
human sight is window into the infinite.
1t is also great wide-open door into the
Take the simplest question in morality,
sThou shalt not steal" Is there any meta
physics about that? Is there anything
about being honest? Sup
pose we set beside the commandment-as
we must if we think-the question, Why?
Why must we keep the moral law? At
once we are precipitated into an arena of
gladitorial metaphysicians. We must keep
the moral law because it is the will of the
Supreme Moral Being. We must keep the
moral law because it is the dictate Of our