Christianty without Christ [pp. 352-362]

352 CHRISTIANITY ~VITHOUT ClIRIST. LNpri!
Art. VI.-CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT CHRIST.
By CHARLLS HoDGE, D.D.
IN one sense of the word, Christianity is the system of truth
taught by Christ and his apostles. In this sense the question
what is Christianity? is simply a historical one. It may be
answered intelligently and correctly by a man who does not
profess to be a Christian, just as he may answer the question,
what is Brahmism? or, what is Buddhism?
In another sense, Christianity is that state of one~s mind produced by faith in the truths revealed concerning Christ. In
this sense, Christianity without Christ is an impossibility. It
would be an effect without its proximate cause. Neveftheless,
there is a form of religion, widespread and influential, which is
called Christianity, in which Christ fails to occupy the position
assigned to him in the Bible.
The Bible teaches us, that the same divine person by whom
and for whom the universe was created, is the Jehovah of the
Old Testament and the Jesus of the New. And as natural religion (in the subjective sense of the word) is that state of mind
which is, or should be, produced by the revelation of God in
the works of nature, and by our relation to him as his rational
creatures; and as the religion of the devout Hebrew consisted
in the state of mind produced by the revelation of the same
God, made in the law and the prophets, and by their relation t@
him as their covenant God and Father; so Christianity is that
state of mind produced by the knowledge of the same God, as
manifest in the flesh, who loved us and gave himself for us,
and by our relation to him as the subjects of his redemption
Three things fbllow from this: First, as the same divine person~ is the Creator of heaven and earth, the Jehovah of the 014
Testament and the Jesus of the New, there can be no inconsistency be?ween the religion of nature, the religion of the Hebrews, and the religion of Christians. The one does not assume that to be true, which either of the others assumes to be
false. The only difference is that which arises from increased
knowledge of the object of worship, and the new relations
which we sustain to him. The Hebrews, in worshiping Je