Sylvester Hassell, leading Hardshell apologist and historian, primarily of the 19th century, but also into the 20th, wrote these words on the subject of "Faith."
"Faith," he wrote, is “a divinely wrought, loving, and hearty reliance upon God and His promise of salvation through Christ.” He then says that "this is the best definition of evangelical faith that I have ever seen."
This is a good and scriptural definition. Sadly, however, as we shall see, he does not stick with this definition. He defines "faith" as "evangelical faith" and gives no hint that there is such a thing as non-evangelic faith. He defines faith as involving belief and cognition. He also does not divorce Christ from being the necessary object of faith and love.
He wrote further:
"Faith itself, instead of being a work, wholly or partly of the sinner, and a condition or prerequisite of salvation, is divinely wrought, is the work of God in the sinner, and is thus an integral part and evidence of his salvation." He also said that "faith is the gift of God, the work of God, the fruit of His Spirit."
Hassell in these words is not so correct, as compared with his words of the first citation. It is true that faith is the "work of God," and is the "gift of God." But, believing this does not mean that faith is not, nor cannot be, a "condition" or "prerequisite" for salvation. Can God not do any work, or give anything, prior to salvation? Why is it false to say that "God works before salvation, in salvation, and after salvation"? Why is it false to say that "God gives before salvation, gives in salvation, and gives after salvation"? Is there not grace that precedes salvation as well as comes in and after salvation?
Hassell should know that salvation, even in the Calvinistic scheme, is both conditional and unconditional. Salvation is conditioned upon faith and faith is conditioned upon God giving it, and God's giving faith is the result of his unconditional choice to give it.
Hassell says that faith is "an integral part and evidence of his salvation." Hassell says that "faith," or "evangelical faith," is "an integral part of salvation." This is a statement that Hardshells will not affirm today. What Hassell here says not only contradicts what today's Hardshells believe, but can even be shown to be contradictory to other things Hassell says about faith in this same writing. Hassell will not say that faith comes before salvation, for that would endorse conditional salvation, a view Hassell is prejudiced against, and so affirms that faith in Christ comes at the same time as salvation, being what is "integral" to salvation.
Hassell wrote:
"Even in that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and in evangelical repentance towards God for sins against Him, there is latent or hidden faith, just as there may be in a liquid a dissolved and unseen solid; and this latent faith, while it does not comfort, yet does something even more important in humbling the soul and causing it to hate sin..."
Here Hassell forgets what he wrote earlier in his definition of "faith" and now offers a new definition. He earlier argued that "faith" was "evangelical" and it was "integral" to salvation, but now he creates a dichotomy of two kinds of genuine saving faith. One is "latent," and one is not latent. That is, evangelical faith is open, not latent. According to Hassell, conviction of sin is the result of "latent" or "hidden" faith, but conversion, deliverance from the sense of guilt experienced in conviction, is the result of "evangelical," non-latent, faith. "Latent faith" humbles the soul in the work of conviction, making it to detest the sin that it discovers dwelling within itself. But, according to Hassell, "latent faith" does not yet have any faith in Christ, nor any sense of the forgiveness of sins, no comfort. There is "latent faith," but no evangelic faith, no faith in Christ and in the good news, no cleansing of the conscience from the guilt of sin.
According to Hassell, "latent faith" merely "manifests" itself in sorrow for sin and in publicly believing in Christ. Faith was there, but it was "hidden," not yet manifested. Hassell attributes "latent faith" to all who have ever felt themselves guilty before God. "Latent faith" is given in regeneration, and what is "integral" to being eternally saved, but "evangelical faith" in Christ is not given in regeneration, nor is what is "integral" to being eternally saved. Thus, a Hindu worshipper of the elephant god Ganesha, according to Hassell and the Hardshells, may have "latent" and "hidden faith," and feel guilty before his god(s), though he have no evangelical faith in Christ and the Christian God.
It is obvious, however, that the scriptures uphold Hassell's original definition of "faith," but not his second definition that creates a "latent, hidden, faith." There is no such definition or usage of the word "faith" in the scriptures. At first, Hassell defined "faith" as being nothing but "evangelical faith." But then he affirms that there is a kind of "faith" that is not "evangelical." Oh consistency, thou art a jewel!
When the biblical writer says that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11: 6), does it refer to "latent faith" or "evangelical faith"? Will our Hardshell friends tell us? Does the convicted sinner who worships Ganesha please God?
Hassell wrote:
"...we cannot fear God or repent toward Him unless we really believe in Him; it is simply an increase of true faith, when we not only fear and repent towards God, but also realize a loving and hearty trust in Christ as His perfect Son and our all-sufficient Saviour."
The debate over which comes first, faith or repentance, has a long history. Some affirm that faith is first, others that repentance is first. Christ did say "repent ye and believe the gospel." (Mark 1: 15) But, this debate is often unprofitable, seeing that they are integrally joined together in scripture. Though one may be logically before the other, yet not chronologically. But, the point of Hassell's argumentation is to show that one is a believer before he repents, and thus is saved, or born again, before repentance. He also makes the point that being converted by evangelical faith and repentance results from "latent faith," but does not produce it. "Latent faith" will often, perhaps even universally, produce "evangelical faith," but one is "born again" when he possesses "latent faith," not when he possesses "evangelical faith." According to Hassell and the Hardshells, this "latent faith" only "believes" in the sense that there is belief that one is a sinner before God, though not necessarily before the one true and living God. If you believe in a deity, and feel guilt over sin, according to the Hardshells, then you are a "believer" according to the scriptures. How absurd!
Hassell wrote:
"Faith has been called the eye, the ear, the tongue, the hand, and the foot of the renewed soul; it is the organ of the life of Christ in the soul—the method in which that life manifests itself."
Hassell here seems to forget that he said that evangelical faith was an "integral part of salvation." Now he only wants to make it a "manifestation" of spiritual life and "latent" and "hidden faith." Thus, the worshipper of Ganesha, though having no outward evidence of knowing, loving, and believing in Christ, or the Father, nevertheless has "latent faith," the evidence of regeneration! Here he makes "faith" into some metaphysical substance, but the scriptures equate the word "faith" with "belief." It necessarily involves knowledge and cognition.
Hassell wrote:
"It is looking to Christ, hearing Him, tasting, eating, and praising Him, laying hold upon Him, receiving Him, coming to Him, fleeing unto Him, and resting upon Him. Evangelical faith is not merely intellectual belief: but, mingled with such belief, it is love, at the sight of an object who is altogether lovely; and gratitude, at the sight of an object who has done so much, even to the laying down of His life for us: and desire, at the sight of an object who in all respects is so desirable; and trust, at the sight of an object who has given such proofs of His trustworthiness..."
Hassell is cunning here. He does not make looking to Christ, etc., integral to salvation itself, but only with the manifestation of salvation. "Looking to Christ" is "because of salvation," not "unto salvation." But, the latter is the normal scriptural order. "Believe unto salvation." (Rom. 1: 16; 10: 10) "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." (Isa. 45: 22)
Hassell also defines "looking to Christ," or believing in Christ, as equated with "coming to Christ." Jesus said - "all that the Father gives to me (elect) shall come to me (shall believe in me)." And, "everyone therefore that has heard and learned of the Father (elect and internally called) comes to me (looks to me for salvation)." But, this overthrows Hardshellism's proposition that affirms that only a few of the chosen and called "come to Christ." Hassell was correct to include "intellectual belief" in "evangelical faith." He also included belief in Christ and love for him.
Hassell wrote:
"In an act of faith, of course it is not God who believes (for God believes nothing, He knows all things, but it is the creature who believes; yet the Scriptures already cited prove that the revelation and power of God cause the faith, whether we regard faith as a feeling, act, principle, habit, or state of the soul."
When Hassell says that coming to Christ, believing in him, is "an act of faith," he means that it is merely a "manifestation" of an already existing "latent faith," a hidden regeneration. He believes that the act of believing in Christ is not the genesis of faith, but simply an act or manifestation of an already existing "hidden faith." In conversion a man only becomes more of a believer, he only receives more revelation. Most Hardshells will affirm that the only revelation and knowledge that are universally present in the regeneration experience is the knowledge that there is a "god" of some kind, to whom allegiance is owed, and against whom sin has been committed, and which needs atonement or forgiveness. Knowledge of the God of scripture, of the Hebrew and Christian tradition, or of Christ, as Lord, Savior, and Son of God, is not part of the regeneration experience, according to the Hardshells. Any knowledge and faith that can only come from holy scripture, according to the Hardshells, is not an integral part of salvation, and not necessary for being eternally saved. Only that bare knowledge of God that is discoverable from creation is thus made the sum of the "latent faith" of the Hardshells. But, the scriptures know no such nonsense.
Hassell wrote:
"And when the Scriptures state that we are saved, justified, sanctified, or kept by or through faith, the language is of an experimental nature, and the meaning is that, by or through believing in God, we experience or realize our interest in His saving, justifying, sanctifying, and keeping power—faith is the manner in which the power of God, the life of Christ, in our souls, manifests itself in our salvation."
Hassell says men are not actually "saved by faith," not "justified by faith," not "sanctified by faith," and not "kept by faith"! They only "realize" or "experience" salvation, justification, sanctification, and preservation. And, if they never "realize" or "experience" such, they will nevertheless be saved in Heaven! "Faith" in Christ only "manifests" that a person is already saved, is an "evidence" that he has already been saved. In other words, many of the worshippers of Ganesha are "regenerated," and have the "faith of God's elect," or "latent faith," and will therefore go to Heaven! "Faith" is not really a means in God actually keeping his people, but only evidence that he has been keeping them?
Hassell wrote:
"It is the very essence of faith to utterly renounce all dependence upon self, and to rely entirely upon Christ. His righteousness, wisdom, and strength, for salvation."
Does Hassell's above definition of "faith" apply to both "latent faith" and to "evangelical faith"? Again, Hassell seems to want to give two different definitions of biblical saving "faith," one that is scriptural and the other is a Hardshell invention. Hassell affirms that "latent faith" lacks what is the very "essence" of faith, what is "essential" to it! Men do not have to possess the "essence of faith" in order to be saved!
Notice also that Hassell says "for (unto) salvation." Why would he say this when he has been arguing that believing in Christ is "because of salvation"?
Hassell wrote:
"The faith of God’s elect is the effect and evidence of regeneration or the new birth (John i. 12. 13; iii. 3—16; 1 Pet. i. 21—23; 1 John v. 1); and it is the source or spring of obedience (2 Cor. iv. 13; Gal. v. 6; 1 Thess. i. 3; 2 Thess. i. Ii; Tit. iii. 8: Heb. xi; James ii.) Mere theoretical or historical or intellectual or moral faith or the faith of miracles are natural and perishing things (Mark i. 24; v. 7; James ii. 14—26; Matt. xiii. 20, 21; Mark iv. 16, 17; Luke viii. 13; Matt. vii. 22, 23; x. 1, 4; 1 Cor. xiii. 2); but true evangelical faith is spiritual and imperishable (John xvi. 13, 14; 1 Cor. xii. 3; Gal. v. 22; Matt. xvi. 16, 17; 2 Cor. iv. 5; Luke xxii. 32; John iii. 15, 16; vi. 47; x. 27—30; xvii. 3: Acts xiii. 48; Heb. x. 39; xii. 2; 1 Pet. i. 1—5, 9; 1 John ii. 27)." ("Faith and it's Relation to Salvation" in "The Gospel Messenger," May 1898)
http://primitivebaptist.info/mambo//content/view/590/36/
In the above words Hassell identifies "the faith of God's elect" with "true evangelical faith." But, Hassell believed that all the elect would believe the gospel. Hassell wrote: "...if we are thus born of God, we will certainly repent, believe, obey, and inherit the fullness of eternal life." (Gospel Messenger, 1896) But, today's Hardshells do not believe this but have gone farther and farther away from the old Baptist faith and need to retrace their steps.
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