322 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1874- 



father. This converse, which is one of faith, love, and 

 obedience, is guided by a real knowledge of the father s 

 love and the father s wishes. But the child could not 

 describe its father s character, or tell you how it reads 

 his meaning in his face. The knowledge is a real know 

 ledge, serving as a foundation for true moral action, but 

 it cannot be expressed in propositions. 



It is certain that similar considerations apply to 

 the case of Christianity. The early Christians had 

 no formulated doctrine of the person of Christ, and no 

 theory of the atonement. But in a practical way they 

 knew that Christ was a Divine Person, for they worshipped 

 Him ; and they knew that He had reconciled them with 

 God, for they walked in the joyful consciousness of 

 reconciliation. The Mediaeval Church had no doctrine 

 of justification by faith, yet certainly in all ages the 

 Church is justified by faith. 



Now, how does this bear on the position, that the 

 specific Christian knowledge of the believer is always 

 made up of theological propositions differing only in 

 extent and not in kind from a complete theological 

 system ? We have seen that true Christian knowledge 

 is often unsystematic, even inarticulate, presenting itself 

 to the mind of the believer not in the form of proposi 

 tions, but only as a sound practical judgment in each 

 special act of Christian life. To reconcile this fact with 

 the notion that all faith implies a measure of theological 

 knowledge, one of two things must be done. Either it 

 must be urged that, however inarticulate much of the 

 believer s knowledge is, there must always be some part 

 of it, embracing essentials, which is clearly formulated ; 

 or, on the other hand, it must be maintained that clear 

 formulation, logical arrangement, systematic structure, 

 are not essential to theology at all. In general, I 

 believe those who uphold the position which we are 

 at present examining are disposed to combine these 

 arguments. But both arguments are inadequate, and 



