-,%.

'-T^..^.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

'VA

i/.

1.0

1.1

1.25

2.5
2.2

IA£|28 I

■ 30 l™^ ■

i/- IIIIIM

MUi.

U III 1.6

Hiotograiiiic

Sdences

Corporation

23 WIST MAIN STRUT

WUSTIR.N.Y. 14SM

(716)t72-4S03

CIHM/ICMH

Microfiche

Series.

CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.

Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques

Tachnical and Bibliographic Notaa/Nota* tachniquaa at bibliographiquaa

Tl
U

Tha Instltuta has attamptad to obtain tha bast
original copy availabia for filming. Faaturas of this
copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua.
which may altar any of tha imagas in tha
raproduction, or which may significantly changa
tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow.

D
D

Colourad covers/
Couvertura de coulaur

I I Covers damaged/

Couverture endommag^e

Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaur6a et/ou pellicul6e

I I Cover title missing/

Le titre de couverture manque

I I Coloured maps/

Cartes gdographtquas en couleur

Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre qua blaue ou noire)

I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/

Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur

Bound with other material/
Relii avec d'autras documents

Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along interior margin/

La reliure serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distortion le long de la marge intirieure

Blank leaves added during restoration may
appear within tha text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutias
tors d'une restauration apparaissent dans la texte,
mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pagaa n'ont
pas 6ti filmias.

Additional comments:/
Commentaires supplAmantairas;

L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a 4tA possible de se procurer. Les details
da cat exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une
modlficstinn dans la m^thoda normale de filmage
sont indiquis ci-dessous.

r~n Coloured pages/

Pages de couleur

Pages damaged/
Pages endommagias

Pages restored and/oi

Pages restaur^es et/ou pelliculdes

Pages discoloured, stained or foxe(
Pages dicoior^es. tachetdes ou piqudes

Pages detached/
Pages ddtachdes

Showthrough/
Transparence

Quality of prir

Qualiti in6gale de I'impression

Includes supplementary materii
Comprend du materiel supplimentaire

Only edition available/
Seule Mition disponible

I I Pages damaged/

r~1 Pages restored and/or laminated/

I I Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/

I I Pages detached/

r~3k Showthrough/

I I Quality of print varies/

I I Includes supplementary material/

I I Only edition available/

P'
01
fil

O
b<
tt
si
01
fil
si
01

M
di
er
be

rit
re
m

Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure the best possible image/
Les pages totalament ou partiellement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure,
etc., ont M filmies d nouveau de fapon d
obtenir la meilieure image possible.

This item is filmed at tha reduction ratio chackad below/

Ce document est film* au taux da reduction indiqu* ci-dessous.

10X 14X 18X 22X

12X

16X

20X

26X

30X

24X

28X

32X

The copy filmed here hen been reproduced thenkt
to the generoeity of:

Thomas Fishsr Rara Book Library,
Univarsity of Toronto Library

L'exempieire film* fut reproduit grAce A la
gAnirositA de:

Thomas Fishar Rara Book Library,
Univarsity of Toronto Library

The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract specifications.

Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.

The last recorded frcme on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol — »> (meaning "CON-
TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"),
whichever applies.

IVIaps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method. -

Les images suivantes ont 6t4 reproduites avec le
plus grand soin. compte tenu de la condition et
de la netteti de I'exemplaire filmA, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.

Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimte sont filmte en commenpant
par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la
derniAre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmte en commenpant par la
pr-omlAre page qui comporte una empreinte
d impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la dernidre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

Un dee symboles suivants apparaftra sur la
dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le
cas: le symbols —► signifie "A SUIVRE", le
symbols V signifie "FIN".

Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre
filmAs A des taux de reduction diff6rents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre
reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir
de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite,
et de haut en bee, en prenant le nombre
d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mAthode.

"SAVING I^'AITH."

By the same Author.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE NINTH CHAPTER OF PAUL'S

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

Demy 8vo. Out of print.

A CRITICAL EXPOSITION OP THE THIRD CHAPTER

OF PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

Demy 8vo. Price 12s. 6d.

A COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING

TO MATTHEW.

DemySvo. Price Us.

A COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING

TO MARK.
DemySvo. Price 12s.

BIBLICAL HELP TOWARDS HOLINESS IN LIVING

AND HAPPINESS IN DYING.

Foolscap 8vo. Price 2s. 6d.

THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT.

Foolscap Svo. Price 2s. 6d.

A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF RUTH.
Royal Svo. Price 5s.

ITheoV

*« CI

SAVING FAITH"

THE FAITH

BY WHICH THE SINNER

IS CONSCIOUSLY UNITED TO THE SAVIOUR

PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED

JAMES MORISON, D. D.

Ninth Edition

TORONTO, CANADA:

S. R. BRIGGS,

%ovonto gaillarb %xnct l^pasitarg,

COR. YONGE AND TEMPERANCE STREETS.

1886.

PREFACE TO NINTH EDITION.

The first edition of the following work
was published ir 1842. In the Prefa-
tory Note to that edition, it was said, —
The following pages have been written
at mere snatches of time saved from the
vast multiplicity of engagements devolv-
" ing upon me in thtj midst of a quid yet
" extensive revival of religion. When the
" reader reflects that the writer, in addi-
" tion to the usual pastoral duties of his
" office, has, within the last year, con-
" versed again and again with many
" hundreds of * anxious inquirers,' ear-
nestly seeking salvation, he will not look
for a perfect or a polished production.
" Indeed, polish has not been aimed at :
the point and power of plainness are
all that have been attempted."

((

PREFACE.

In succeeding editions the greater part
of the work was rewritten, — but, as
far as possible, on the old model. The
changes introduced were not so much due
to creation as to growth.

It has been a heartfelt joy to the author,
to know that his little Work, in all its pre-
vious editions, has been useful. He trusts
that it will still have a * mission,* and do
* good/

The Book, at one tijne, had been out
of print for more than twenty years, the
author not having sufficient leisure for
revisal. He was at length however able,
during a brief holiday in the country, to
recast what seemed to require remould-
ins ; and now he has the joy of sending

'o >

it forth anew on its evangelistic ministry.

Florentine Bank Housr, Glasgow,
Ut December, 1885.

tJ'

;or .ii.<

:• J-: ,'' lirA ' vH.'

CONTENTS.

Taoe.

Introductory, ^

Saving Faith is Believing, ..11

Believing a kind of thinking, 13

Faith and Knowledge, 17

Faith and Trust, 22

The transcendent importance of the Object of

faith, 31

The Object of saving faith twofold, .... 35
The immediate and primary Object of saving

faith 36

The mediate and ultimate Object of saving faith, 41
Believing * on ' or * in ' the Saviour, . . . .45

Degrees of Faith, 49

Living Faith and Dead Faith, 64

Believing with the heart, 61

♦ By ' faith, and * through ' faith, but not * for*

faith 64

viii CONTENTS,

Paoi:

Faith the Gift of God, 65

Help mine unbelief, 69

Christ the Leader and Finisher of faith, , . 71

Faith "the substance of things hoped for," . 81

Faith *' the evidence of things not seen," . 96

No fear of believing the right thing in a

wrong way, 98

Trying to believe 102

Saving Faith the Reception of the Testimony

of God, 104

Setting to the seal that God is true, . . . 109

Faith a kind of hearing and seeing, . . . Ill

Belief of the Gospel not a peculiar kind of

believing, 116

Appropriating Faith, 123

The Life of Faith, 129

The Eflfects of Faith, 133

Is Saving Faith a possibility to heathens ? . 139

The connection between Faith and Faithful-
ness, 143

The word Faith in the Old Testament, . . 147

The word Faith in the New Testament, . . 148

'SAVING FAITH."

INTRODUCTORY.

There are few words of greater interest
to beings needing salvation than the word
faith. The writer of the Epistle to the
Hebrews tells us that " without faith it
is impossible to please God " (xi, 6). If
any man is "saved," it is, says Paul,
" through faith." (Eph. ii. 8.) The apos-
tolic answer to the most important ques-
tion that ever was or ever will be put is
this, — " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved." (Acts xvi. 31.)
"He that helieveth on me," says the
blessed Saviour himself, " hath everlasting
" life." (John vi, 47.) He says again, " He
that helieveth not is condemned already,

''SAVING faith:'

because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God." (John
iii, 1 8.) It must, then, be of the greatest
moment to be possessed of faith, — faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is this indispensable faith ?
How is it to be distinguished from other
mental acts or states ?

Faith, in itself considered, is simple.
It must Le so. It is a thing for " little
children." (Matt, xviii, 3.) It is for
"every creature." (Mark xvi, 15.) The
most illiterate of men, as well as the
wisest and most cultured, have to do with
it. (Eom. i, 14.) It is expected from the
poor jailers (Acts xvi. 31) and the "poor
Josephs " of the human race, as well as
from its Bacons and Newtons. It must
be a simple thin^. And if therefore any
reader has been perplexed on the subject,
as if it were some great mystery, which
only few could understand, we would
fraternally ask him to come with :^s, that
we may together search out " what saith

SAVING FAITH IS BELIEVING. 11

the Lord" regarding it. Surely "the
way of holiness" will be opened up to
those who are willing to walk in it. And
we may reasonably hope that it will be
so plain, that " the wayfaring men," how-
ever inexperienced, need not " err therein.'*
(Isai. XXXV, 8.)

SAVING FAITH IS BELIEVING,

It is misleading to suppose that there
is some peculiar sacredness and solemnity
inherent in the word faith, which is not
inherent in the word believing. Some
seem to have the idea that the two terms
are quite distinct in their import. But
it is not so. There is only one word, in
the original language of the New Testa-
ment, for both faith and believing. The
term which is rendered faith in Ephesians
ii, 8, " by grace ye are saved through
"faith," is the same that is rendered
belief in 2 Thessalonians ii, 13, "God

** SAVING FAITH."

'' hath from the beginning chosen you to
" salvation, through sanctifieation of the
" Spirit and belief of the truth." The
identity of the two terms is seen too in
Hebrews xi, 6, " Without faith it is im-
** possible to please God ; for he that
" Cometh to God must believe that he is,
" and that he is the re warder of them
"that diligently seek him."

Our English language is a conglomer-
ate tongue, embodying, in particular, a
remarkable intermixture of Saxon and
Latin ingredients. Hence it not infre-
quently happens that t possesses two
distinct terms of identical import, though
varying somewhat, it may be, in conven-
tional application. These are synonyms.
The word celestial, for example, is really
identical in import with the word heavenly/.
And the words terrestrial and earthly, in
like manner, are synonyms. They are
not, it is true, identically applied in ordi-
nary usage. They have, happily, estab-
lished for themselves certain specialties

BELIEVING A KIND OF THINKING, 13

of application, and thus our language is
idiomatically enriched. But when we
wish to represent the really differentiat-
ing import of either of the terms, we find
it impossible to distinguish the two. The
one is a perfect explanation of the other.
The same is the case with faith and
"belief. The former is originally a Latin
word, and the latter is Saxon. But both
are accurate renderings of the one Greek
term employed in the New Testament,
And hence a very noticeable phenomenon,
— there is only the one verb to believe
corresponding ttD both the nouas. He
who has faith, therefore, is simply he who
believes. And a Confession of Faith is
simply the Confession of belief It is a
Creed,

BELIEVING A KIND OF THINKING,

' Believing is not a kind of feeling.
Neither is it a kind of willing. It is a
kind of thinking. " The understanding/'

SAVING FAITH.

— as James Fraser of Brea expressed it,
in his Treatise concerning Justifying or
Saving Faith, written by him while " a
" prisoner for Christ in the Bass Kock,"
— " is the proper and immediate subject
" of faith." (Vol. i, p. 175.) When we be-
lieve that there is a God, we do not feel
that there is. Neither do we will that
there shall be. We think that there is :
and we think that there is, because we
have reason for entertaining such a
thought. When we believe that there is
a land called Australia, we do not feel
that there is ; and we do not choose that
there shall be. We think that there is :
and we think that there is, because we
have evidence to satisfy us that there is
such a country. When we believe that
Abraham was the father of the Israelites,
we do not feel that he was. We do not
will or choose that he should be. We
think that he was: and we think that
he was, because we have evidence to
satisfy us that he was. When we take

BELIEVING A KIND OF THINKING. 15

money to the bank, and lodge it for
a period, we have faith that we shall
get interest for it, and that we shall
get it back, whenever we may wish
to have it. We "believe that we shall
get interest ; and we believe that we
can get back the entire sum. What
is this believing or faith ? It is, as-
suredly, neither feeling nor \Hlling. We
do not feel that we shall get interest;
and though we choose or will to get
it, yet our choice or will is founded
on our believing or faith, and is thus
not the believing or faith itself. When
we believe that we shall get interest,
and both interest and capital as soon
as we wish to have both, we just
think that we shall get interest, and
our capital too ; and we have this thought
because we have evidence that satisfies us
that the bank is worthy of being trusted, —
of being entrusted with our money. The
bank's credit is good with us. The bank
commands credit in the money market.

"SAVING FAITU:\

;

■

Believing, then, is a kind of thinking ,
though not the same kind of thinking as
that by which we demonstrate a mathe-
matical proposition, or that by which we
obstrve the facts of science, or that by
which we weave a web of imagination.
It is that kind of thinking which is
founded upon evidence. It is a permasion
of the mind.

It is assuredly of great moment that
men should bear in mind that, when they
are called upon to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ in order to salvation, it is
thinking that is needed. It is our thoughts
of things that ultimately rule us. It is
thought that rules the world.

If, then, men would believe in God, —
they must think, and think the right
thought about God. In thus thinking,
they do believe in God, and will become, in
their moral character, men of good faith.
Their thought about God will rule them.
Being right thought, it will rule them
rightly. And so, if men would believe

FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE.

in the Lord Jesus Christ, they must think,
— and think the right thought about him.
They must think the Holy Spirit's thought.
And if they do, their thought will be not
simply /<xi^A, — it will be good faith, and
they will hence become, in their moral
character, persons of good faith. If they
be full of faith, it will be reasonably ex-
pected that they shall be found faithful
in all their relations.

FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE.

Saving Faith is a kind of knowledge.
This is rendered evident by what our
Saviour says in John xvii, 3, " This is
"life eternal, that they might know thee,
'' tJie only true God, and Jesus Christ
" tvhom thou hast sent." " Life eternal "
is the gift of God. (Kom. vi, 23.) It is
the gift of God to men. (1 John v, 11.)
It is given that men may know the only
trite God, and Jesiis Christ whom he has

"SAVING FAITH,"

sent, (John, xvii, 3.) And hence when
men come to this knowledge, they have
eternal life, and shall " never die." (John
xi, 26.) They may drop the body ; and
eyes that have fondly looked on them
here, may for a season see them no more.
Hands that have fondly pressed them
may touch them no more. But they
shall " never die." Their death will be
no death. It will be death without its
deadly element, — death without its
" sting." How glorious ! And all this
is to be attained by knowing God and
Christ

Hence we read in 1 Timothy ii, 4, that
God " will have all men to be saved, and
" to come unto the knowledge of the truth**
The last clause informs us how the first
is to be accomplished. Men are to be
saved, by coming to the knowledge of the
truth. As soon as any come to the know-
ledge of the truth, they enter into the en-
joyment of salvation. " They that know
" thy name" says the Psalmist, "• will put

FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE,

when
have
John
and
them
more,
them
they
ill be
It its
its
. this
and

, that
, and
uthr

first
be
fthe
noW'

en-
:now

" their trust in thee." (Psalm ix, 1 0.)
And if any do not put their trust in God,
it is because they are " alienated from
" the life of God, through the ignorance
" that is in them." (Ephes. iv, 1 8.) They
" are destroyed for lack of knowledge" —
" because they have rejected knowledge."
(Hos. iv, 6.) " Israel doth not know,"
says God, " my people doth not consider."
(Isaiah i, 3.) There are very many who
are " laden with sins, and led away with
" divers lusts," and who are " ever learn-
" ing" and yet " never able to come to the
" knowledge of the truth." (2 Tim. iii, 6,
7.) For this reason they remain un-
saved.

It is obvious, then, that saving faith is
a kind of knowledge. It is thinking that
corresponds to the reality of the thing
which is the glorious object of the thought.
He who thinks the right thought regard-
ing God and Christ, as God and Christ
stand related, in the scheme of mercy, to
sinners, knows the truth of truths. He

''SAVING faith:' I \

is a l)eliever of the glorious Gospel, and
has eternal life. ' • ^

Men often distinguish between faith
and knowledge ; but not always happily.
Tliere are indeed certain liinds of know-
ledge which could not be called faith.
AVhatsoever we know directly and intui-
tively, we do not believe. Friedrich H.
Jacobi called such knowledge faith ; ^ but
unhappily. We need to know that we
iiiay believe. Although it is also true
that there is a sphere of things in which
we need to believe that we may know.
But we do not believe that we exi^t.
We know that we do. We do not be-
lieve that we see, and hear, and smell,
and taste, and touch : we know that we
do. We do not believe that we are self-
conscious: we know that we are. We
do not believe that twice one is two : we
know that 1 + 1 is 2. But we may
either know by demonstration on the one
hand, or believe through credible testi-

^ See, especially, his Idealismus and ReaUamua.

FAITH AND KNOWLEDilE.

mony on the other, that the three angles
uf a triangle are equal to two riglit angles.
We may either know, or simply believe,
that the earth is round, and that the sun
is larger than the earth. We may either
know or simply believe that there is a
God. No man knows directly that there
is. He ascends to the knowledge. He
starts from some other knowledge, and
thence rises up, as on a ladder, to see.
He ascends, as Des Cartes beautifully
shows, ^ from his own consciousness. It
is there that he finds his first foothold.
Our knowledge of God is thus mediate ;
and hence it may be merely faith. We
" believe in God." " We believe that
" God is." (Heb. xi, 6.) But the steps
by which the higher i^iinds climb to this
conclusion are so real, — they so incontro-
vertibly lead to it, — that the conclusion
is an object of the highest possible subjec-
tive certainty. They * know' that God is.
When once we not only know that

* Discours de la M^thode.

** SAVING FAITH.'*

Ood is, but also know that he has re-
vealed himself in the volume of the Book,
and in the glorious Gospel of his grace —
us the central and all-pervading theme
of the volume of the Book, — then our
faith in the glorious object of the Gospel
may be most legitimately represented as
a kind of knowledge. Although faith in
some cases, may be only the certainty of
ignorance ; yet in other cases, and em-
phatically in the case before us, it may
be, and should be, and often is, the cer-
tainty of true knowledge.

FAITH AND TRUST.

There is an intimate connection be-
tween faith and trust. The connection
is so intimate that the Greek term which
is rendered faith and belief in the New
Testament, is very frequently in the
classics employed to denote trust. " Every
*' reader of Greek knows," says Julius

FAITH AND TRUST.

Charles Hare, " that the leading idea of
" the Greek word is that of confidence^ of
" reliance, of tntst." ( Victory of Faithy }).
18.) Luther and Melancthon constantly
reproduce this import of the word. With
them, as with Marshall the author of tlir
Gospel' Mystery of Sanctification, and
Bishop O'Brien, and many others, faith is
in a great mf;asure "trust." (Fides d
fiducia.)

We make no question that one could
preach the Gospel for years, and success-
fully too, though merging out of view the
word faith or belief and substituting in
its room the word trust Faith would
always be implied, and the object or objects
of faith would need to be carefully ex-
hibited ; but the word * faith * might be
dispensed with.

If the sinner really trust to the Saviour,
or tr^ist in the Saviour, or trust the
Saviour, it will be well with him.

We have a lively remembrance of
hearing Dr. Chalmers illustrating to the

•fw

''SAVING faith:'

Scottish mind, the part which the sinner
has to act in coming to the Saviour. " He
"has just to come," said the Doctor,
" with all his sins about him, and ' lippen *
" to the Saviour" If he do really lipjpen,
that is, if he trust, he will have peace.
He will have joy. He will have lively
hope. And his spiritual contact with the
great object of his trust will inspire him
with a spirit of admiration and adoration.
He will love the Lord his God with all
his heart and soul and mind and strength.
He will " follow holiness, without which
" no man shall see the Lord," and with
which every man would be meet to be
for ever in the glorious presence of the
Lord.

We have read of a father who had oc-
casion to be in a dark vault undr^rneath
his house, into which he entered by a
trap-door. While he was groping below,
his little daughter, who had been in quest
of him, came and called out. Father,
Father, wlure are ymi .^

FAITH AND TRUST.

" I am down here," he replied.

She leaned over the edge of the aper-
ture, but could not see anything. It was
pitchy dark. But she had heard her
father's voice, and she suddenly said, Let
iiu come dovm beside you.

Her father, looking up, saw her clearly
against the light, as, bending over, she
gazed into the darkness. He said to her,
Just drop down, and ' lipjpen ' to me ; I
will catch you in my arms. She had
" faith " in her father, though her father
did not use that term. She " believed '*
that her father would receive her in his
arms and take care that she should not
be injured; though he did not use the
word " believe." She * lippened ' to him,
as he had told her, and confidently let go
her hold of everything around her. She
was not disappointed. All was well ;
and she was gratified in getting to be
with her father, and looking up from his
side to the light. .

'\ V

SAVING faith:'

In the Old Testament Scriptures the
duty of tmst is frequently inculcated,
while the duty of faith, as distinguished
from trusty is just as frequently merged
out of view.

But it is of moment to bear in mind
two things : —

Firstly, that there is a connection be-
tween trii'St and tnith. Trust is, as it
were, the counterpart of truth. When
we see truth in an object, the truth seen,
shining into our minds, naturally reflects
itself back in the form of timst. We re-
spond to the truth and to the true ; we
trow, and we tru^t. It is thus that we
can trust Christ and God. It is thus
that we can trust in the atonement
wrought out by Christ, and accepted by
God, on our behalf. The belief of the
truth is in such a case the real basis of
our trust.

Secondly, Trust, while really the duty
of the sinner, is yet by no means his
primary duty. He must have a reason

FAITH AND TRUST.

for liis trust, and " a sufficient reason "
as Leibnitz delighted to express it, {une
raison suffisante). He must, in other
words, believe the truth as it is in Jesus,
In that truth he has a truly " sufficient
" reason " for trusting in the Saviour as
his Saviour, and in the Heavenly Father
as his propitiated and propitious God.
And hence when the sinner is called
upon, in the New Testament Scriptures,
to " believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,"
that he may be saved, and when he is
assured that, if he do thus believe, " he
" shall be saved " (Acts xvi, 3 1 ; John
iii, 16, 18, 36), the trust of the soul is
not lost sight of in the call to believe. It
is only, by a species of sublime philosophy,
analysed into its indispensable substrate.
It is, however, as it were, the last analysis.
The analyst cannot proceed farther arid
continue to find sufficient ground on which
to erect the unreserved promise, " thou shalt
" be saved" He may easily proceed far-
ther, indeed, if he be not in quest of the

'' SAVING faith:'

ground of that promise. There must be
antecedents to faith. Men must have
evidence ere they can rationally believe.
They must also willingly search and see
that they may be able to apprehend and
appreciate the evidence. But still it
could scarcely be said, Search into the
truth of the Gospel, and thou shalt he saved,
A man may search, and yet not search
sufficiently. He may take a wrong di-
rection in his search. He may search in
the dark with his torch unlighted. Or
he may carry his lighted torch into empty
vaults.

But it can be legitimately and confi-
dently said, " Believe in the Lord Jesus
" Christ, and thou shalt he saved." When
once the preliminary searching is com-
pleted, and the sinner helieves the truth as
it is in Jesus, then his spirit is in pre-
sence of those glorious realities, which,
when spiritually discerned, secure peace
and joy and hope and love and holiness.
We have reason to believe that God's

FAITH AND TRUST.

Lst be
have
)lieve.
d see
i and
:ill it
to the
saved.
search
ig di-
rch in
:; Or
empty

confi-

Jesus
When

com-
utli as
1 pre-
which,

peace
)liness.

God's

own infinite purity of heart, and conse-
quent infinite happiness, are everlastingly
secured, though not necessitated, by the
realities which are included within the
infinite scope of his knowledge. And,
correspondingly, there are certain grand
realities, which are so related to men, and
are of such heights and depths and widths
of adaptation to the wants of men, that,
if the hitman mind he consciously in their
presence, its peace and purity are secured.
These realities are divine ; and it is be-
cause all the chief realities in our human
sphere of being, have more or less of vital
relation to them, that there is ground for
plying, with encouragement and in hope,
the various instrumentalities within our
reach for advancing and consummating
the moral education of the world. There
is something to work upon. There are
grand correlations of being. We need
not despair of humanity. If once all
mankind were induced to stand conscious-
ly, " with open face," in the August Pre-

(( c»

SAVING faith:'

sence, so as to look upon Christ as he is,
and upon " God in Christ " as he is, they
would all be "changed into the same
" image from glory to glory, as by the
" Lord the Spirit " ; and the golden age
of humanity would be realized. . >.
Archdeacon Hare misunderstood the
philosophy of human thought and feeling,
when he imagined that belief " is not a
"practical principle," (Victory of Faith,
p. 30), and that " the understanding is
" powerless to jiroduce any lasting reno-
" vating effect on the heart and soul of
"man." (p. 26.) The understanding q/*
itself, indeed, is powerless. Its mere ab-
stract act can be of no moral avail. But
when the objectivity of the act is in cor-
relation with the wants of the spirit, it
makes all the difference conceivable.
Nothing is more practical in human pur-
suits, and in the shaping of human char-
acter, than belief

,» ..

IMPORTANCE OF OBJECT OF FAITH, 31

he is,
3, they

same
)y the
in age

3d the
eeling,

not a

Faith,

[ing is

reno-
joul of
ling of
ire ab-
. But
in cor-
)irit, it
ivable.
n pur-
1 char-

THE TRANSCENDENT IMPORTANCE
OF THE OBJECT OF FAITH

It is the object of faith, that is the
great matter, — the great great matter.
The act, indeed, is also indispensably-
necessary. Without it the object could
never take the least effect upon the soul.
It could not get access to the soul. But
the whole peculiarity of the moral' effect
is dependent on the peculiarity of the
object.

Compare faith to a hand, — Let us
suppose that the soul is indigent. It is
indigent. It has " wasted its substance
" on riotous living," and is reduced to the
most abject poverty. It needs to hold out
its hand for " an alms" That is the at-
titude of the convicted soul. But the
mere outstretching of the hand will not
satisfy its craving wants. And when
once the hand is held out, the mere fold-
ing of the fingers upon themselves will
do no good. It is the thing grasped that

<( t»

SAVING FAITH." x,..\v\

will do good. But what if it be a stone ?
What if it be a serpent ? What if it be
a counterfeit coin, or a forged bank note ?
What then ? No relief will be experi-
enced. Positive injury may be the re-
sult. j4ll depends on the nature of the
object tvhich is received by the hand.

Change the figure. The act of faith
may be compared to the act of eating.
— " Come ye, buy and eat." (Isai. Iv, 1.)
The soul is hungry. It is in danger of
perishing for want. It must eat or die.
But the mere act of eating will do no
good. It is the thing eaten, and it alone,
that can nourish. The thing eaten, how-
ever, must be of a nourishing nature.
Suppose that the man should eat what is
utterly indigestible. What then ? Sup-
pose that he should eat what is positively
poisonous. What then ? The act of
eating might be perfect; but could he
be nourished ? It is the thing eaten, or
the object on which the act of eating takes
effect, that is of transcendent importance.

IMPORTANCE OF OBJECT OF FAITH. 3:i

stone ?
f it be
I note ?
experi-
3he re-
of the

f faith
eating.
.. \y, 1.)
iger of
or die.
do no
} alone,
a, how-
nature,
ivhat is
Sup-
sitively
act of
uld he
tten, or
g takes
)rtance.

Or consider believing under the figure
of looking. — " Look unto me, and be ye
"saved." (Isai. xlv, 22.) Look unto
Jesus, as he was lifted up on the accursed
tree. The act of looking is indispensable.
If the eyes are closed and nothing be
seen, no benefit can be received. But
even though the eyes should look, — that
is not enough. Suppose that they look,
not to Jesus, but to the dust of the
ground, or to the fiery-flying serpents in
the air, or to self, or to some " sow wal-
" lowing in the mire," — the mere act of
looking at such objects will utterly fail
to give " peace and joy and hope," — hap-
piness and holiness. It is the nature of
the object looked at that affects the mind
of the beholder, either with pleasure or
with pain, either with delight, or with
disgust, or with indifference.

Compare believing to coming. — " Come
" unto me," says Jesus, " all ye that la-
bour and are heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest." (Matt, xi, 28.) The

((

"SAVING faith:'

act of cominj^ is indispensable, but the
result of the act is entirely dependent on
the direction taken by the locomotive
soul, and on the nature of the object that
is reached. Suppose that one conies,
not to a friend, but to a foe ! Suppose
that one comes, not to a home, but into
the heart of an ambush. What then ?
Or what if he comes toward a pitfall or a
precipice, and then continues to advance ?
What then ? The act of motion may, as
an acty be all that could be desired ; but
the result of the movement would be
disastrous.

It is the object, then, the object, that
is the matter of transcendent moment.
The inquiry of the spirit should not so
much be, how am I to believe ? as what
am I to believe ? The attention should
be fixed, not on the right loay of believing^
but on the right thing to be believed.

OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH TWOFOLD. 35

lut the
lent on
motive
ct that
conies,
uppose
it into
then ?
all or a
/ance ?
nay, as
i; but
Lild be

t, that
oment.
not so
J what
should
lieving,

THE OBJECT OF SA VING FAITH
■ TWOFOLD,

The object of saving faith is, in a cer-
tain important respect, twofold or dual.
It is something that has both a without
and a within. It is somewhat like a
casket enclosing a gem ; or a body con-
taining a soul ; or a word with a thought
within. That which is without is the
immediate, or direct, and primary object
of saving faith (the ohjectum quo). That
which is within is the mediate, or indi-
rect, and ultimate, object (the ohjectum
quod).

The immediate, direct, and primary
object of saving faith is the Gospel — the
divine Testimony — ' the * Truth — the
Truth as it is in Jesus. The mediate
indirect, and ultimate object is Jesus Him-
self in his living personality y doing or
suffering whatsoever was needed for the
salvation of men.

\ J

»« c

SAViNd faith:' KVrV'A \

THE IMMEDIATE AND PRIMARY OBJECT
OF SAVING FAITH, ^ ,

The immediate and primary object of
saving faith is, we have said, the Gospel,
or thr Testimony which God has given
coiicerniny his Son, or ' the ' Truth — the
Truth as it is in Jesus, It is thus a
proposition. All truth is propositional.
It is, from its very nature, subjective,
and therefore only subjectively real. It
is sul)jective reality in a state of cor-
respondence with objective reality. It
is the faithful mental mirroring of what
is objective to the mental mirror. And
being thus the correct reflection of ob-
jective realities, it is a secondary condition
of things. The primary realities are not
truths. God, for instance, is not a Truth.
It is a truth that God is. But when we
think and say that God is, we form and
utter a proposition. God's attributes too
are not truths, — though it is true that he
has attributes. They are objective reali-

UV'\

PRIMARY OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH. 37

OBJECT

ject of
Gospel,
given
h — the.
thus a
itional.
jective,
il. It
)f cor-

Y' It
t* what
And
of ob-
idition
ire not
Truth,
len we
m and
tes too
hat he
J reali-

ties. Tune is not a truth, though it is a
truth that time is. In like manner,
though it is true that space is, it is not
true that space is a truth. Powers, too,
as powers, are not truths. And acts and
facts, as acts and facts, are quite dis-
tinguishable from truths ; although, if we
rise to a standpoint of observation that
enables us to see an intended meaning in
all that is being brought to pass, and in
all that has been brought to pass, then
acts and facts may be regarded as im-
plicit propositions. God's acts and facts
will be implicit truths. Men's acts and
facts will be either implicit truths or im-
plicit falsehoods.

The proposition which is the immediate
and primary object of saving faith is, as
we have said, the Gospel, or the Truth as
it is in Jesus. — What is this ?

Th3 angel who appeared on the plain
of Bethlehem will inform us. He said,
Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great jog, which shall be to all

''■JBH

SAVING faith:'

• i '.

V '

people ; for unto you is horn this day, in
the city of Davids a Saviour, who is Christ
the Lord. (Luke ii, 10, 11.) The
" good tidings of great joy," were the
divine Testimony. They are " the Truth."
They are " to all people." They are to
you, sinner. Unto you was born,
eighteen hundred and fifty years ago, a
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Paul the apostle declares to us ex-
plicitly " the Gospel." He says to the
Corinthians (1st Ep. yv, 1—4), "Brethren,
•' I declare unto you the Gospel, which I
" preached unto you, which also ye re-
" ceived, and wherein ye stand ; by
" which also ye are saved, if ye keep in
" memory (or hold fast) what I preached
" unto you, unless ye have believed in
** vain," aTid this is impossible, unless it he
false that Christ rose from the dead, see
verse 14; "for I delivered unto you,
" first of all, that which I also received,
" how that Christ died for our sins accord-
" ing to the Scriptures, and that he was

PRIMARY OBJECT OF SA VING FAITH. 39

" buried, and that he rose again th£ third
"day according to the Scriptures" The
Gospel, then, is this, — " Christ died /or
" our sins, and was buried, and rose again."
It was " for our sin^," mark ; that is, for
yours and mine. Is not that enough ?

Hear again another announcement of
the Gospel, coming more immediately
from the lips of the Saviour himself. We
read in John iii, 1 6, that " God so loved
" the world that he gave his only begotten
" Son, that wliosoever believeth in him,
" should not perish, but have everlasting
" life." It is " the world *' which God
loved and loves. And the word " world"
just means, sinner, every other human
being ' and you' How glorious ! Yon
are not omitted or lost sight of. And
then God * so * loved every other human be-
ing ' and you! that he gave his only begot-
ten 'Son * for you all ! The greatness of
the gift is the measure of the greatness
of the love. How great then must God's
love have been ! How great must it still

''SAVING FAITH,""

kUi vi.

be ! And it is to you. Is not the reve-
lation of it " glad tidings " ? And then
the Son finished successfully and triumph-
antly the work which was given him by
the Father to do. He completed the
atonement for human sin. All your sins,
O sinner, have thus been fully atoned
for, — all without exception. " The blood
" of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us
"from all sin" (1 John i, 7.) " Herein
" is love, not that we loved God, but that
" he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
" propitiation for our sins," " and ho is the
" propitiation not for our sins • iiy, but
" also for the sins of the whole ivorld," (1
John iv, 10 ; ii, 2.) God is well pleased
for his Son's righteousness' sake. Such
is the truth as it is in Jesus. It is by
pre-eminence " the " Truth, the testimony
of God regarding his Son, — the gloriovs
Gospel of the grace of God. ' '"* '''''

-U'j

oil J o; '{ijjiiidm

-'.»,.

ULTIMATE OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH. 41

THE MEDIATE AND ULTIMATE
OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH.

Christ Himself, in his own living per-
sonality, is the mediate and ultimate
object of saving faith.

He is the mediate ouject. Now that
he is on the other side of the veil, which
divides the unseen from the seen, the
human mind, which is on this side, can-
not reach him immediately. It can reach
him only by means of the testimony con-
cerning him, — that testimony which, in
consequence of its peculiar delightfulness
on the one hand, and of its peculiar im-
portance on the other, is called * the '
Go^el and ' the ' Truth. This testimony
is the way by which the human soul
travels to the Saviour, and gets to be
consciously in his presence at the foot of
his cross, or on the footstool of his
throne.

Christ is also the ultimate object of
saving faith ; — ultimate relatively to the

''SAVING faith:'

\^^\\.S V

testimony as the primary object. So far
as there is a necessary dualism in the
objectivity of saving faith, Christ is the
ultimate object. When the mind goes
beyond this dualism into an interior or
higher sphere of relations, it meets with
another dualism in which Jesus is not
the ultimate but the primary Object of
faith, not the Last but the First, not the
End but " the Way." The Divine Father
is the Ultimate Object. Jesus is the way
to the Father. (John xiv, 6.) He is the
Mediator between God and men, and is
thus the Medium by which erring men
may get back to God. The Father is the
end of ends, — the Final End. He is the
absolutely Ultimate. The Son, as Sa-
viour, is " subject to the Father, that God
"may he all in all" (1 Cor. xv, 28 ;
John xiv, 28.) When, in the exercise of
saving faith, we believe in Jesus, as " the
" propitiation for our sins, and not for
" ours only, but also for the sins of the
" whole world" (1 John ii, 2), we natur-

ULTIMATE OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH. 43

ally ascend from the Propitiator to the
Propitiated. The propitiation was ren-
dered to the Father, and was accepted hy
Him. We thus believe, tdtimately, not
so much in the propitiation of the Son,
as in the propitiousness of the Father.

But relatively to the Gospel, or the
Testimony of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is
ultimate. He is beyond or within the
Gospel. He is on the farther or inner
side. We must penetrate the Gospel, to
get to Him. And the moment that the
soul does penetrate, or get through, it is
" with Jesus." There is nothing else in-
tervening. In an exceedingly sublime
sense, the soul is then " in Jesus."

The Gospel testimony, however, must
be penetrated. It will not suffice that
the mind be arrested on its superficies.
There is a dualism here too, in the testi-
mony itself, — a dualism with which the
mind has to deal, before it proceeds to the
interior dualism of the toord and the Word,
and the still grander dualism of the Son

SA VINO FAITH." Wl A VAA'A

and the Father. The testimony has an
outside and an inside, — a word and a
thought. The mind must not be arrested
at the outward word. It must go through
it to the inward thought. It is the
thought of the Holy Spirit of God. If
the mind do not go through the outward
word to the inward thought, then " the
" word may be nigh thee, in thy mouth,
" and in thy heart, even the word of faith,
" which we preach," and yet thou mayest
all the time be out at sea, and inconsist-
ently and inconsiderately saying in per-
plexity — " Who shall ascend into heaven,
" to bring Christ down from above ? or,
" who shall descend into the deep, to
" bring up Christ from beneath ? " (Rom.
X, 6 — 8.) The mind must go through
the word to the thought, and into the
thought, and through the thought, if it
would find the actual Saviour. But
whenever it does get to and into the
thought, and passes through it, it is
with the Saviour. It is with the Saviour

BELIEVING • ON' OR 'IN' THE SAVIOUR. 46

as he was. It is with the Saviour as he
is. It is with Christ crucified. It is
with Christ glorified. It is with Christ
the Propitiator, — the Propitiator for all
human sin. It is with Christ as " the
" Way " to the Father. It is on " the Way" ;
and it ascends ly " the Way," till it is
with the propitiated and propitious
Father. It is presented by the Propi-
tiator, and it is therefore present with the
propitious Father. How is it possible
for it to despair, in such a Presence ?
How is it possible for it to fear ? How
is it possible for it to be ungrateful, un-
adoring, unholy ?

.mi:ii>

BELIEVING 'ON' OR 'IN' THE SAVIOUR,

We not only speak of Miemng, We
also speak of believing on, and believing
in. And in the Greek language there is
still another idiom which has not been
reproduced in our English tongue, be-

''SAVING faith:'

1 A

lieving to. This phrase believing to occurs
very frequeiitly in the New Testament.
It is the phrase that occurs, for instance,
in John xiv, 1, " Let not your heart be
" troubled : believe in God, believe also in
" ine." In the original it is believe to
God, believe also to me. It is a beautifully
significant idiom. It represents believing
or faith as going out from the mind to
its object. " Let your believing," said
the Saviour to his disciples, "go out
*' to God ; let it go out to me." In our
English idiom we merge from view the
process of going, and fix our attention on
the rest or repose which is obtained at
the termination of the journey. Hence
we say Believe * on * God, believe also ' on '
me ; or Believe ' in * God, believe also * in '
me ; that is, Let ymir believing rest * on '
God and ' in ' God ; let it also rest * on *
and * in ' me. Or, we might express the
idea thus, Have faith in God, have faith
also in me.

We can speak not only of believing * m

BELIEVING 'ON' OB 'IN' THE SAVIOUR. 47

Jems ' and. * in God,' but also of helieving
* in the Gospel! The expression in Mark
i, 15 that is rendered in our Authorized
Version, believe the Gospel, is, in the
original, believe ' in * the Gospel, The
two phrases, though lying on one line of
import, are not absolutely identical.
When we speak of believing the Gospel,
we regard it as veraciously testifying to
some object beyond itself, on which our
believing is to terminate. When we
speak of believing in the Gospel, we regard
the Gospel for the moment as itself the
terminus of our faith, — the object in
which our believing gets repose.

There is another set of phrases that
occurs — believing Christ and believing in
or on Christ, Christ said to the Jews,
— " Because I tell you the truth, ye be-
" lieve me not " — if I say the truth, " why
do ye not believe me?" (John viii, 45,
46.) Paul, on the other hand, said to
the Philippian jailor, " believe on the Lord
" Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

''SAVING faith:'

(Acts xvi, 31.) He said also to the
Galatians "We have believed in Jesus
" Christ, that we might be justified by
"the faith of Christ." (Gal. ii, 16.)
The difference between the two phrases is
obvious. It does not involve a difference
in the act of believing. It only involves
a difference in the objectivity of the act.
When we believe Christ, we regard him
as veracious, or as truly exhibiting a testi-
mony — it may be a testimony concerning
himself. He is " the Amen, the faithful
" and true witness.'* (Kev. iii, 1 4.) Our
faith is ready to rise and fly to the thing
which he testifies, or to the object which
he testifyingly holds out to view. But
when we believe * in ' him or * on' him,
we regard him as himself truly exhibited
in a testimony. Our faith is supposed
to alight on him, and to remain where
it has alighted. It folds its wings and
is at rest. , ii > ^

DEGREES OF FAITH.

to the

Jesus
led by
i, 16.)
•ases is
ference
ivolves
)he act.
rd him
a testi-
cerning
faithful
) Our
e thing

which
But

' him,
vhihited
pposed

where
gs and

DEGREES OF FAITH.

V It arises from the very nature of faith,
that it is susceptible of dej^a-ees. The
mind in believing reaches its object, wliat-
ever that object may be, discursively or
mediately, not immediately. There is, in
other words, something in the middle be-
tween the mind and the object. This
something in the middle may be more or
less complex. It may be a pile of suc-
cessive complexities. At all events, and
whether simple or complex, it requires to
be interrogated and interpreted. Hence it
may be more or less thoroughly mastered :
and thus the faith thai reaches its object
through the intervening medium, may be
more or less coincident with absolute
knowledge on the one hand, or mere
opinion on the other.

In the case of the Gospel and the
Great Living Object exhibited in the
Gospel, there is scope for very varjnng
degrees of faith. If one's faith were

^'SAVING faith:'

founded on only a single passage of the
l^ible, it might stand indeed, but it could
not be exceedingly secure. If, for in-
stance, one's faith in the Trinity were
founded simply and singly on 1 John v,
7, " there are th: that bear record in
" heaven, the Fatner, the Word, and the
" Holy Ghost, and these three are one,"
it would be exceedingly insecure. The
verse is unauthentic. It is apocryphal,
as has been admitted for long by all
competent critics. It is not found in
the critical editions of the New Testa-
ment. It was not found in the first and
second editions of Erasmus's text. It
is not found in any of the old manu-
scripts. It could not be found in any
real revision of our Authorized English
Version.^ It should never have been at
all in any copy of the Bible. But what
then ? Is the doctrine of the Trinity in
peril ? Is it rendered uncertain, when
this passage is withdrawn ? Not in the

^ It is omitted in the Revised Version of 1881.

'isV.v

DEGREES OF FAITH.

least. But if any one's faith in the doc-
trine rested singly and exclusively on
the testimony of this passage, it would
falter and totter and collapse as soon as
he found himself compelled to surrender
the text.

If, in like manner, any one's faith in
the Gospel, and in the Great Living Object
exhibited in the Gospel, were dependent
on one passage only, or on one single
fibre and aspect of representation in the
volume of the Book, it would not be
very secure. A new view of a word or
of a phrase might overturn it. A single
wave of public or social thought, dashing
against the single support of his faith,
might any day shake it to its base, and
the man's faith would stagger and might
altogether fail and fall.

But if one's faith in the Gospel, and
in the Saviour as exhibited in the
Gospel, be grounded on a large induc-
tion and aggregation of individual pas-
sages, carefully tested, sifted, and in-

((

SAVING FAITH,''

terpreted; and if this grounding be
itself grounded on a judicious and com-
prehensive consideration of the entire
scope of the written revelation, there
will belong to the faith a very different
degree of stability and security. If there
be added to this, the experience in one's
self, and the observation in the case of
others, of the moral power of the object of
faith, — its power to give peace on the one
hand, and to restrain from evil on the
other, and to constrain to good, then there
will be gi'eat confirmation of the faith.
And if, in addition, there be haniiony
discerned between the history that is
within the Book, and the history that
li'js scattered about outside the Book; and
if there be also harmonies discerned
between the revelation that is written in
the volume, and the unwritten revelation
of things spiritual : and if science, too, as
it advances, is seen to furnish no antago-
nism at all to Scripture, but only to lift
us to loftier and still loftier standpoints

DEGREES OF FAITH,

m ones

of observation and interpretation, — then
the faith becomes still more settled and
fast. It grows broader. It grows deeper.
It rises higher and higher. It feels
stronger.

In consistency with these views, we
find in Scripture a recognition of very
different degrees of faith. Our Saviour
said to his disciples, on the Sea of Galilee,
when they were alarmed by the rising
storm, " Why are ye fearful, ye of little
faith r' (Matt, viii, 26.) He said to
Peter at another time, " thou of little
"faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? "
(Matt, xiv, 31.) He said, on the other
side of things, to the Syrophenician
woman, " O woman, great is thy faith."
(Matt. XV, 28.) He said too in reference
to the Eoman centurion at Capernaum,
" I have not found so great faith, no, not
" in Israel." (Luke vii, 9.)

There may then be little faith, and
there may be great faith. And hence
there may not only be assurance, there

"SAVING FAITH."

1 1

may likewise be the full assw^ance of
faith. (Heb. x, 22.) The disciples had
reason to say to the Lord, " Increase our
"faith." (Luke xvii, 5.) And the Lord
had good reason to say to the disciples,
" If ye had faith as a grain of mustard
" seed, ye might say unto this sycamme
" tree. Be thou plucked up by the root,
and be thou planted in the sea ; and it
should obey you." (Luke xvii, 6.)
The least real faith will do wonder's. It
will effect marvellous changes. It will
root up and transplant. It will remove
even " mountains," that would otherwise
be immovable and obstructions for ever.
(Mat. xvii, 20.)

LIVING FAITH AND DEAD FAITH.

James, " the servant of God, and of the
"Lord Jesus Christ," says in the 2nd
chapter of his Epistle, verses 14-20 : —
" What doth it profit, my brethren,

■^

LIVING FAITH AND DEAD FAITH, 55

•' though a man say he hath faith, and
" have not works ? Can faith save him ?
'* If a brother or sister he naked, and
" destitute of daily food, and one of you
" say unto them. Depart in peace, he ye
'* warmed and filled ; notwithstanding
** ye give them not those things which are
" needful to the body ; what doth it
" profit ? Even so faith, if it hath not
" works, is dead, being alone. Yea, ci
" man may say. Thou hast faith, and I
" have works : show me thy faith without
" thy works, and I ivill shotv thee my
''faith by m,y works. Thou believest that
" there is one God ; thou doest well. The
" devils also believe and tremble. But
**wilt thou know, vain man, that
''faith without works is dead ? "

Are we to conclude from these words,
that there are two distinct kinds of
faith, or two distinct ways of believing
the true Gospel, a right way and a
wrong ? So many have imagined, — but
without sufficient warrant.

I I

"SAVING faith:

The inspired ivriter is reprohatinf/
pretended faith of the Gospel. He is
supposing the case, not of a man who
has "faith without works!' but of a
man who " says he has faith " while he
lias no works. And he proceeds to
show that such a person's faith is unreal.
It is not merely of a wrong kind ; it is
a " sham." He adduces, for illustration,
the case of a destitute brother or sister
coming to a professed brother in the
faith, who has plenty of this world's
good things. This professed brother
has a philanthropic tongue, and liberal
lips. He "says" Depart in peace, he
tvar'ined, he filled. These are admirable
words, kind and charitable, such as
might be expected from an open-hearted,
open-handed, generous man. But the
liberality, it is supposed, is only from
the teeth outward. "Notwithstanding
"he gives not those things which are
needful to the body." Well, "What
doth it profit" — ^What is the profit

((

LIVING FAITH AND DEAD FAITH, 57

to the man io whom the gracious words
were spoken ? Manifestly, nothing. And
what is the profit, in the ledger-book
of heaven, to the man hy whom the
sracious words were uttered ? As
manifestly, nothing. "Even so," con-
tinue" the inspired writer, "faith, if it
" hath not works, is dead, being alone."
The person who "says he has faith,'*
whilst he has no corresponding works,
is as truly a mere prettiider to faith, as
the man with the liberal lips and close
pocket is a mere pretender to kindness
and generosity. His profession is mere
profession, without possession. It is
like a body without a soul. The life
is gone out of it, if life it ever had.
It is " dead."

No doubt the man who " says he has
" faith," while he has no " works of faith,"
may he believing something. He may
even be believing something that is very
intimately connected with the Gospel.
And hence the inspired writer adds, —

*' SAVING FAITH."

" Thou believest that there is one God.
"Thou doest well. The devils — the
'* demons — also believe, and tremble." The
man of liberal loquacity and loquacious
liberality might be believing, it is ad-
mitted, in some sucli doctrine as the
unity of the Godhead, — a most important
truth. " Thou doest well." It was good
that the man had got so far as to believe
that. Few in the days of the apostles
had got that length. The whole world
was running after " gods many." Men
in general were idolaters. To the eye
of the world it was one of the most
distinguishing and extraordinary features
of Christians, that they denied that
there were any more gods than one. It
was universally said of them, — " These
" Christians say that Jupiter is no god,
" and that Mars and Mercury are no
"more gods than stocks and stones are.
" Did you ever hear of such profanity ? "
The Christians indeed were often called
atheists, because they denied the godhead

LIVING FAITH AND DEAD FAITH, 59

of the gods of the nations. Hence the
idea of the unity of the Godhead was
regarded as one of the salient peculiarities
of the Christian ; and a man might be
apt to suppose that if he embraced that
idea, he would be a Christian.

It was a mistake, howeve . A man
might "believe that there is one God,"
and be a bad man after all. He might
have no good works. The very demons
believe it, says the inspired writer, and
continue demons still. There is nothing
wrong, to be sure, in the way in which
they put forth their act of faith. It is
not some peculiarity in the forth-putting
of that act that renders their believing
nugatory. By no means. Their belief
is followed by appropriate and power-
ful effects. They " tremble." They know
that there is a God to whom they
are responsible. And they know too
that there is no second God, into whose
dominions they might have a chance of
fleeing, so as to be beyond the reach of

''SAVING faith:'

the God whom they have offended. But
then this truth of the unity of the God-
head is not the Gospel, It is not Jesus.
There is thus no Gospel, there is no
Jesus, in the object of the faith of the
demons. They do not, and they cannot,
believe that the Son of God loved them,
and gave himself for them.

If any man, then, has never *'trem-
" bled " before God, we have good reason
to conclude that he has never believed
so much as even the demons believe.

But if any man has merely "trembled**
before God, we have good reason to con-
clude that he has never believed more
than the demons believe.^

If any man, however, is glad indeed,
and grateful to God, — if he loves God, —
if he loves his character and will, — he
has believed far more than that there is

^ Mr. Ecking, in his day, startled many people
unnecessarily by maintaining that "whosoever
"among men believes what devils do about the
"Son of God, is bom of God, and shall be saved."
Essays on Grace, Faith, and Experience, pp. 100,
169.

BELIEVING WITH THE HEART

one God. He has believed " the word of
" reconciliation " — " the glorious Gospel
" of God*s gi'ace " — the glad tidings that
" God was in Christ reconciling the
" world unto himself, not imputing their
" trespasses unto men " (2 Cor. v, 1 9). His
faith is thus alive with "life eternal,"
and is for ever shooting forth from its
vitality flowers of holiness and fruits of
good works. *

BELIEVING WITH THE HEART.

The apostle Paul expresses himself in
the following manner, — " If thou shalt
" confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
" and shalt believe in thine heart that
" God hath raised him from the dead,
" thou shalt be saved. For with the
" heart man helleveth unto righteous-
" ness ; and with the mouth confession
" is made unto salvation." (Kom. x, 9,
10.)

Many theologians, founding on the

'* SAVING faith:'

apostle's expression, have distinguished
between believing with the heart and
believing with the head. The latter they
represent as an insufficient kind of be-
lieving. The former they regard as the
right kind.

The distinction is pleasantly allitera-
tive and well meant. It proceeds, more-
over, on the correct assumption that if
the love of the heart is not stirred
toward God and toward goodness, no
amount of profession of faith will be of
the least avail, But it is nevertheless
an unhappy and unwarrantable dis-
tinction.

The word heart, as used by the
apostle, is not to be distinguished from
the word h^ad. There is no such dis-
tinction suggested by the apostle himself.
In using the word heart, he did not refer
to the seat of the emotions, as distin-
guished from the seat of the intelligence.
He did not employ the word in our
English conventional acceptation of the

BELIEVING WITH THE HEART.

shed
and

they
be-
the

term. He employed it in its usual
Biblical acceptation as denoting generi-
cally the heart, or interior part, of our
complex being. The term is thus very
much equivalent to our word mind, or to
the phrase the inner rnun as distinguished
from the outer man. Hence it is that we
read of " thinking in the heart " (Matt,
ix, 4) ; " understanding with the heart "
(Matt, xiii, 15); and " reasoning in the
heart" (Luke v, 22). In all such cases
there is no distinction intended between
the heart and the head. And assuredly
there is none intended in Eomans x, 9,
10 ; for the apostle explicitly points out
the distinction which was present to his
mind. It is the distinction between the
moicth and the heart. " If thou shalt
" confess ivith thy mouth and believe in
thine heart." It is the distinction be-
tween external profession and internal pos-
session. "With the mouth "confession is
made unto salvation," when with the
heart "man believeth unto righteousness."

"SAVING FAITUr

" There is in reality," says Kotheram,
" but one kind of faith." {Essay on Faith,
p. 50.) ,

•J?F' FAITH AND * THROUGH' FAITH, BUT
NOT ' FOR' FAITH.

We read frequently of being justified
or saved hj faith, o>: through faith, but
never ^. (/r /ai^/i. It is important to note
the phrese':'Iogy. It lays an interdict on
the idea that it is in consideration of the
merit of our faith, that justification or
salvation is conferred. There is no such
merit. The merit is in the great object
of faith. It is in Christ.

Faith indeed is itself a work, in a
small way. Jesus said, "This is the,
" work of God, that ye believe on him
'* whom He hath sent." (John vi, 29.)
Faith is an act of the energy of the soul.
In that particular sense, it is a work.
And in so far as it is r work at all, it is
a good work. God has enjoined it. He

FAITH THE OlFT OF OOD,

approves of it. There is a world-wide
difference between it, morally viewed,
and unbelief or rebellion. It is, more-
over, the mother of good works. " Faith
worketh." It is a working principle.
But still there is nothing in it of the
nature of an equivalent for salvation.
When we come with it, we do not
come with a price in our hand. We
only come to receive, in our empty handy
the divine alms of salvation. When we
stand, by means of it, upon the Eock of
Ages, there is nothing intervening be-
tween us and the Kock. We stand
" barefoot:' '

FAITH THE GIFT OF GOD.

Calvin supposed that it is not faith,
but salvation, that is said in Ephesians

***None are justified or saved /or believing."
** The active and passive obedience of Christ is the
" whole and alone cause of salvation." (Benjamin
Ingham, Treatise on the Faith and Hope of the
Gospel, p. 64, ed. 1822.) Certainly the work of
Ohnst is the only meritorious cause of salvation.

** SAVING FAITH.'

ii, 8, to be the gift of God. We pre-
sume, however, that it is to faith that
the Apostle parenthetically refers ; and
we conceive that he is drawing attention
to the fact that we are indebted to the
grace or lovingkindness of God not only
for the Saviour, and for the salvation
which he procured, but likewise for the
link of connection that unites us to the
Saviour, and thus makes us partakers of
the great salvation. Not that the
Apostle means to constrain us into the
conviction that we are utterly passive
in the matter of faith. It would be no
glory to God if we were merely acted on,
and did not act. Our responsibility
would be gone. We would be things,
not persons. It is necessary that we be
more than mere recipients, and cisterns.
We are well-springs of living activity.
And assuredly we act, and act voluntarily,
when we send out our thought believingly
to the Glorious Object who is revealed
in the glorious Gospel of God's grace.

FAITH THE GIFT OF GOD.

There is indeed something involuntary
in faith. We cannot absolutely deter-
mine what we shall believe, and what
we shall not believe. Evidence is
sometimes overwhelming, and we must be-
lieve, — ^however strongly we might desire
to come to a different conclusion. But
in multitudes of cases we require to go fn
quest of evidence ; or, if it is brought to
us and spread out before us, we require
to direct our minds to its consideration.
We require to sift and measure it, and to
weigh detail after detail. If there be
apparently conflicting evidence, we re-
quire to consider it too. Hence the need
for voluntary activity. And hence it is
that men are accountable for their belief
or for their unbelief in reference to the
Gospel of salvation.

Faith in the Gospel is the gift of God,
in a sense consistent with our voluntary
activity and accountability. The facilities
for faith are from God. All the grand
inducements are from Him. The chief

^'SAVING faith:\\

motives are from Him. It is He who
gives the light. It is He who draws the
heart; though he will not drag it. " No
man can come to me," says Jesus, " ex-
" cept the Father who has sent me draw
" him ; and I will raise him up at the
last day." But he immediately adds, in
a* way that is finely explanatory of what
he means by drawing, " as it is written
" in the prophets, and they shall be all
*' taught of God, Every man therefore
" that hath heard, and hath learned of the
" Father, cometh unto me." (John vi, 44,
45.) It is thus in the way of teaching
that the Father draws. He reveals real-
ities by his Holy Spirit, and presses them
home upon human attention by the same
divine Spirit ; so that, whenever any one
believes, he is ready to lift up his heart
adoringly and gratefully to his Heavenly
Father and to say, — It is through thy
grace that I see, and understand, and be-
lieve ! It is through thy grace that I am
what I am ! Unto thee he all the glory.

HELP MINE UNBELIEF,

HELP MINE UNBELIEF.

The words " Lord, I believe ; help thou
mine unbelief!" are, in some respects,
intensely interesting. But it is possible
to make too much of them. They indi-
cate a struggle to be right. The battling
spirit makes a desperate effort. It so far
overcomes the intervening and opposing
influences as to get its hand upon the
edge of the much-prized object. Yet it
feels as if it could not get a firm hold.
It is distressed at its comparative failure.
And *n its agony it turns aloft for help,
and cries to God. All this is such a
spectacle of moral weakness on the one
hand, and moral earnestness on the other,
as is fitted to enlist the sympathies of
every sensitive spectator

But it should be borne in mind, at the
same time, that we are nowhere enjoined
or invited to give utterance to the cry
" Lord, I believe ; help thou mine un-
" belief!" Neither was it any of the

■'

"SAVING FAITH.'*

representative men of revelation, such as
Paul or Peter or John, who uttered the
words. Neither was it Mary or Martha.
Neither is it the case that the words
were said vnth reference to the salvation
of the souL They were the words of the
anonymous father of the child, that was
" sore tried" with a dumb demon. (Mark
ix, 24.) This father had brought his
poor patient to the disciples of our Lord.
But they could do nothing for him. He
then applied to the Master, who said "
"faithless generation, how long shall I
be with you, how long shall I suffer
you ? Bring him unto me." When he
was brought, the father in a somewhat
despairing spirit said, " If thou canst do
** anything, have compassion on us, and
" help us." He was not sure whether
Jesus cotdd do anything for them. Jesus
said to him, " If thou canst believe, all
" things are possible to him that be-
** lieveth." The father stretched his
spirit forth, and at length attained to

CHRIST THE LEADER OF FAITH. 71

some persuasion of the ability of the
Lord, " and straightway cried out, and
" said with tears. Lord, I believe ; help
" thou mine unbelief !" Our Saviour did
not quench the smoking flax. He did
not break, or trample on, the bruised
reed. And yet he did not commend the
poor man's utterance. It is added by
the evangelist, " When Jesus saw thai
" the people came running together, he
" rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto
" him. Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I
" charge thee, come out of him, and enter
" no more into him." It would not be
advisable that any should rest contented
with the feeble flicker of faith that is
indicated in the words of the agitated
petitioner.

CHRIST THE LEADER
AND FINISHER OF FAITH,

In Hebrews xii, 2, Christ is referred
to as " the author and finisher of o^tr

"SAVING FAITH.''

" faith." The word our is a supplement,
and leads the mind astray from the
natural interpretation of the expression.
There is no specific reference to "mir
" faith." The reference is generic. Jesus
is " the author and finisher of faith"

Not only is the word 02ir a supple-
ment, the word author is an unhappy
translation. The word (ap-xriyo^) properly
means leader. In the only other pas-
sages in which it is found in the New
Testament, it is translated twice pnnce
and once captain. In the three instances
it is applied to Jesus. He is " a prince
and a Saviour." (Acts v, 31.) He is
" the prince of life." (Acts iii, 15.) He
is " the captain of our salvation." (Heb.
ii, 10.) He is the great • Leader of
sinful men, — the Guide. It is he only
that can lead or guide them into life
everlasting and eternal salvation. It is
he, too, who is the great " Leader and
" Finisher of faith."

In the matter of faith he leads the

CHRIST THE LEADER OF FAITH. 73

I
I

way. And he brings that principle of
faith in which he takes the lead, to a
" finished " perfection.

The inspired writer, then, does not
mean that Jesus woi^ks within us, from
its beginning to its ending, the act or exercise
of faith. It is not " our faith " that
is spoken of. Neither does he mean that
it is Jesus who is the authm^ and finisher
of the object of faith, the propitiation.
This idea, indeed, is emphatically true,
and emphatically evangelical. It is the
essence and quintessence of the Gospel.
But as the word translated author means
leader, it is not the case that the term
faith ii here employed to denote the object
of faith.

The mind of the inspired writer was
looking in a different direction. He
was looking to Jesus as the most Illus-
trious of Believers.

It cannot, of course, be meant that
Jesus needed, like men in general, to
believe in a propitiation for liis sins.

\ \ )

HAVING faith:'

That is abundantly obvious. He was
the "spotioss" Lamb of God.

But there are other things that may
be believed in, liesides the propitiation
for sin. There are myriads of things on
earth, to which explorers, scientific in-
vestigators, and travellers bear testimony.
And there are innumerable other things
besides, having some connection with our
earth, but yet not distinctively terrestrial,
that may be, and that should be, the ob-
jects of our faith. Indeed, it is a very
few things comparatively which we can
know by personal observation and ex-
perience, by actual touch and taste and
seeing and hearing and smelling, or by
the inner senses of the spirit, or by
demonstration. All other objects, if oc-
cupying our minds at all, must be objects
of faith.

True, we are apt to associate with the
word believer, when we use the term re-
ligiously, the idea of the propitiation for
sin as the great object of faith. And hence

CHRIST THE LEADER OF FAITH. 75

was

in-

we may feel some tlilticulty in so disin-
tegrating our associated ideas as to realize
that there is congriiity in thinking and
speaking about Jesus Christ as having
faith, and as being the Chief and Chief-
tain of Believers. But nevertheless, it is
of moment, while conceding to the pro-
pitiation for sin an exceedingly high and
towering pre-eminence to ourselves as an
object of faith, that we should bear in
mind that it is, after all, only one — though
resplendently conspicuous — among many
objects on which our faith may terminate.
The whole universe of spirit — the .whole
universe of spirits — with the small excep-
tion of what is made known to us concern-
ing ourselves in our own consciousness, is
brought within the sphere of our thought
and love and choice and appreciation by
the exercise of believing. It is possible,
then, that Jesus may have been the Chief
of Believers, and the great Exemplar who,
in respect to faith, as truly as in respect
to meekness and lowliness and love, " left

l) 'I

r«

*' SAVING faith:

\ t

" us an example that we should follow
" His steps."

The inspired writer, in the glorious
preceding context, has reference to faith
in thi>o(js spiritual t celestial, everlasting , —
in things ' not seen ' hut * hojjed for.* The
faith of which he speaks embraced within
its range, past and foremost, God himself
— the unseen God, the grandest, the
most glorious, the most gladdening of
all Realities. We must believe " that
" God is." We must believe that He
is " the Eewarder of them who " dili-
" gently seek him ; " — a most gladsome
feature of his glorious character. We
must believe that it is He, our own
personal Father, who made, the world ; —
a most gladsome fact. We must believe
that it was he who made ourselves, and
made us in his own image, so that, in-
deed, we are " his offspring ; " — a most
gladsome fact. We must believe that he
is good in himself, infinitely good, and
that he is " good unto all," and that " his

CHRIST THE LEADER OF FAITH. 77

" tender mercies are over all his W( >iks ; '*
— most gladsome and grand realities. We
must believe that his will is good-will, —
his will in relation to what he himself is
to do, and his will in relation to what we,
in our little spheres of operation, ought to
do. And truly it is a gladsome fact that
this his will is in all respects good-will.
We must believe, too, that lieaven is his
home, that it is the city that hath " the
" foundations," — whither, as towards oui
own sweet home, we should in the spirit
of pilgrims, be daily travelling, each day's
journey being "a day's march nearer home.'*
It was gladsome believing of this kind
that animated the bosoms of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob, and Enoch, and
Noah, who all " declared plainly that they
" were seeking a country," who " confessed
" that they were strangers and pilgrims
" on the earth," and that their faces were
set Zionwards. " They desired a better
" country, that is, an heavenly," and they
saw their way into it made clear and

<i cy

SAVING faith:'

strai^'lit, " for tliey saw the day of Jesus
" afar off, and were ^dad."

" These all lived and died in faith," and
left lis a noble example. They have gone
before, and yet they are intently and in-
tensely interested in those who are coming
after. They stoop down, or bend over
their parapeted glory, to be witnesses of
our progress. They line in spirit the
pathway of our ascent, that in spirit they
may cheer us on. " Wherefore, seeing we
" are compassed about with so great a
" cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
" every weight and the sin which doth
" so easilv beset us, and let us run with
" patience the race (of faith) that is set
" before us, looking unto Jesus, the Leader
" and the Finisher of Faith," — looking
unto Jesus, the greatest, the most per-
sistent, the most triumphant of all be-
lievers. He is the Leader of the 'whole
company of believers. They believe on
him, — they believe in him, — as the only
propitiation for their sins. They believe

VHRIST THE LEADER OF FAITH.

3U«

llljr

on him and in him as their Leader, who
was very tar indeed from living in a
merely sensuous manner while on earth,
— who was very far indeed from seekin;^:
as the great object of life the thinj^s that
appeal to the desire of the eye, the things
that appeal to the desires of the flesh, the
things that minister to the pride and
pomp of terrestrial life. He rose suh-
lime, in the whole of his earthly career,
amid and above all such objects. His
eye was turned to things spiritual, to
things celestial and eternal. He lived a
spiritual life on earth. He lived a hea-
venly life. He lived a God-like life. He
communed from the beginning to the
ending of his career with things unseen,
things eternal, things heavenly and divine.
He communed, that is to say, with the
things of faith. Never was there such
faith in the reality and transcendency
and glory of things unseen, and eternal,
and divine, as was wrapt up in the spirit
of Jesus. Never before, never since, was

' I

''SAViJsu faith:'

l!i

there such persistent and unfaltering
realization of the spiritual side of things,
— the everlasting side, — the divine side.
Never, in simple phrase, has there been
such believing. Hence it is that the
inspired writer, after saying — " let us run
" with patience the race that is set before
" us, looking unto Jesus the Leader and
" Finisher of faith," adds explanatorily,
" who, for the joy that was set before
" him," — and in which he had the most
unw^avering faith, — " endured the cross,
" despising the shame, and is set down at
*' the right hand of the throne of God. —
" For consider him that endured such con-
" tradiction of sinners against himself," —
consider how he had unwavering faith in
the glory wherewith his endurance was
by and by to be crowned, — " lest ye be
" wearied and faint in your minds. — Ye
*' have not yet resisted unto blood, striv-
" ing against sin."

It is true, then, that Christ's faith was
a complete and completely finislicd thing.

SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. 81

He finished it. It was perfect. He wafi
" the finisher of faith," — the great Exem-
plar, who, by the example of his own sub-
limely spiritual life, has shown us the way
to live by that faith which is "the sub-
" stance of things hoped for, the evidence
" of things not seen."

FAITH THE " SUBSTANCE OF
THINGS HOPED FOB:'

" Faith is the suhstancz of things lioped
"for!* So says the inspired writer of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, in the first
verse of the eleventh chapter. And
very likely he knew well enough, while
penning the words, tliat he was not
giving a description of faith which would
be intelligible at a glance to every child
and childish mind. Very likely he
intended that the words should be food
for mature meditation. He was accus-

" c

SAVING FAITH.''

tomed to discriminate between ideas of
milk and ideas of meaty (chap. 5, 12 —
14) ; and most probably he would be
quite well aware that his words here were
" strong meat," which would require
prolonged mastication and strong diges-
tion, that they might be thoroughly
triturated, assimilated, and made their
own, by the minds of his readers.

While it is matter of great gratitude
that there is abundance of milk for babes
in the Kevelation of the mmd of God,
it is also matter of almost equal grati-
tude that there are other elements and
aspects of things that require far more
than an infantile apprehension to master
and make use of. It would have been a
pity if there had been nothing in " the
volume of the Book " to task our mental
powers, and to keep* us recurring, and
recurring, with renewed effort and energy,
to the invigorating engagement of adding
research to research, and thinking to
thinking, till, after overcoming every sue-

SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, 83

cessive difficulty, we at last achieve suc-
cess, and stand on the elevated platform
of view which was occupied by the in-
spired writers, and by the Spirit of God
who inspired them. It is well that in
the ample domain of Scripture there are
lofty mountains and deep ravines, as well
as level plains.

What, then, is it that the inspired
writer means, when he says that " Faith
" is the substance of things hoped for " ?

There is something in the statement
that is sufficiently obvious. Faith has
to do with thincfs hoped for. Not indeed
with these things only. It has to do
with multitudes of other things, as is
evidenced by the writer's second affirma-
tion, in which he says that faith is " the
" evidence of thinfjs not seen" That is a
wider sphere of things than things hoped
for. Faith, in so far as it can occupy
itself at all, must deal with "things not
" seen," — things that are beyond the reach
of sight, and hearing, smelling, tasting.

''SAVING faith:' ' ^ ^ A '. •

touclmuf. And among these things, are
the things that we hope for.

Besides the unseen things that we hope
foTy there are indeed multitudes of other
unseen things, with which our faith has
to do. For example, it has to do with
God. (Heb. xi, 6.) He is not seen,
though he is not one of the things hoped
for. Things hoped for are to us in the
future ; but God is in the past and the
present as well as the future. Faith,
again, has to do, as the inspired writer
reminds us (Heb. xi, 3), with the crea-
tion of the world. " By faith we under-
" stand that the worlds were framed by
" the word of God, so that things which
" are seen were not made of things which
" do appear." This divine creation of the
worlds is to us a thing unseen, but not a
thing hoped for.

Christian faith, also, hfs much to do
with Christy ns he * w.fs * cjhtii upon the
earth. It has to do wiJi what he then
taught, with what he then did, v.ith

SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. 85

what he then suffered. Did he teach for
our sake as well as for the sake of others ?
Christian faith has to do with that. Did
he live on earth for our sake as well as
for the sake of others ? Christian faith
has to do with that ? Did he think of
us, when he was down here ? Did he
look forward to us ? Did he feel for us ?
Did he take our sins, — yes, ours ? Did
he lay them on himself ? Did he bear
them to the cross ? Did he bear them on
the cross ? Did he make full propitiation
or satisfaction for them all ? Did he, or
did he not ? Faith, Christian faith,
saving faith, has much to do with all that.
And it is in such things as these — long
ages past — that Christian hope for the
future finds a firm and sure foundation
on which to rest.

But, while all this is the case, it is
equally true that faith has much to do
with what is future and " hoped for." It
has much to do with everlasting bliss
and glory and honour. Is there to be a

''SAVING FAITH."

V^,

future existence ? Js it possible for this
future existence to be a state of glory ?
May cnir future existence, notwithstand-
ing our woful sinfulness, be a state of
life rjither than of death ? May it be a
state of blessedness ? Will it be ? Will
heaven be our home ? Shall we be
admitted to the fellowship of angels and
archangels ? Shall we get to a position
that will be within sight of the throne ?
Faith has to do with these (juestions.
Christian faith answers them all in a
gloriously unwavering affirmative. And
thus this Christian faith is "the substance
" of thinr/s hoped for."

Their suhsfance ! AVhat means the
inspired writer ? What can he
mean ?

We all know more or less about the
meaning of the word "substance." When
we take a piece of wood in our hand, we
say. This is a certain kind of mhsfa7icr.
It is quite a diflerent kind of thing from
iron. Iron, too, we denominate a svhstance.

SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. 87

the
he

As such, it is very different from silver
or j2[old. We speak of hard suhstances
and soft suhstances, rough suhstances and
smooth, malleable suhstances and brittle,
solid suhstances and fluid, and vapoury
and gaseous suhstances. Then philoso-
phers step in and speak of mental suh-
stances. They tell us that every mind is
a suhstancCy though a sjnritual suhstance,
and therefore a very different suhstance
from flesh, or bones, or brains, or wood, or
stone, or iron. Tlien, too, we are accus-
tomed to speak of the suhstance of a sermon,
or the suhstance of a poem, or of a book.
We speak of the suhstance of a conversa-
tion. And speaking of this same suh-
stance, we often call it the sum and
suhstance of the whole matter in liand.
We say, moreover, at other times, that
such and such a book, or pamphlet, or
sermon, or address, has little suhstance
in it. And reverting from these spiritual
or intellectual things to things material,
we say, perhaps of this fabric or of tliat,

(i!

** SAVING FAITH.

or even of this kind of food or of that, it
has little svhstance in it.

Now, what is the meaning of this word
" substance," which is so freely used in
reference to so many different things ? It
cannot mean what is hard; for though
iron is hard, water is not, neither is gas ;
and yet both of these are as really sub-
stances as iron. And then if it meant
what was hard, it could not be applied
to minds, and sermons, and poems, and
such like things. Every soft thing as
well as every hard thing, is a substance.
It is a soft substance. So every red
thing is a red substance. And every
sweet thing is a sweet substance. Every
tall thing is a tall substance ; and every
broad thing is a broad substance.

What, then, is this substance (this sub-
stantia, this vTroa-racrig) ? What is the
real meaning of the word ? It is this —
that lohich is standing under. That is
its real meaning ; and we shall never
fully understand the various applications

SVBHTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. 89

of the word, unless we carry with us the
idea, that a substance is something standing
under. When we lift a bit of iron, and
feel it hard and heavy, we say — That is
a liard and heavy substance. What do
we mean ? We feel hardness. We feel
heaviness. But there is more than hard-
ness and heaviness in our hand. There
is something standing under the hardness
and the heaviness. That something is
the substance we call iron. When we
lift a handful of down, we feel it to be soft
and light. What do we man ? We feel
softness and lightness, liut there is more
in our hand than the feeling of softness
and lightness. There is a thing that is
soft and light. There is, in other words,
something standing under the softness
and lightness which we feel. There is,
that is to say, a substance. The down
is a substance light and soft. When we
taste sugar, we feel sweetness, and we say,
there is sweetness in it. In it ? In
what ? In that which is under and

IK)

''SAVING FAITH."

standing' under the sweetness, — in the
substance of the sugar. In all other
cases, when the term is legitimately used,
it has the same meaning. The substance
of water is that which is standing under
the fluidity. The substance of steam is
that which is standing under the vapour.
It is, indeed, the very same substance
that is standing under the fluidity of
water, and the solidity of ice. The sub-
stance of every mind, also, is that which
is standing under its power and acts or
states of thinking, feeling, and willing.
The substance of a sermon is that which
is standing under all its explanations,
and illustrations, and argumentations.
The substance of a poem is that which is
standing under the entire superstructure
of its imagery and mental music. The
sum and substance of a speech is that
which gathers up all that was said into
its essence, and which was really stand-
ing under every head and particular of
thought. A speech without any sub-

SUBSTANCE OF THING'S HOPED FOR. 91

stance, is a speech whose words aiul
])lirases iind images and arguments go for
nothing, as really having nothing at all
standing under them that is wortliy of
consideration. And food too, without
suhstance, would he food that may have
bulk indeed, and the appearance of what
is nourishing, but which has really little
or no nourishing properties standing
under these appearances.

We have now before our minds what
a substance is. But how does this help
us to understand what the inspired writer
means when he says — " Faith is the sub-
'' stance of things hoped for " ? Is it the
case that faith is sometimes standing
under the heavenly things hoped for by
all Christian believers ? Yes, this is the
case. Faith is the condition of standing
under the heavenly things hoped for. The
heavenly things, as things hoped for,
inhere in faith. And thus faith is
stamiing umler them, so far as they are
hoped for. Is the reader puzzled ? Then,

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-S)

K<i^

1.0

1.1

mU^ UTS

u US

I U£ 12.0

1 — ill ' ^ '-^

►

'^z

I^iotographic

Sciences

CorpQralion

23 WIST MAIN STRUT

WIBSTIR,N.Y. MSrM

(716)t7a-4S03

rr'hiMaLM^Tfaiimlr»<iirflriiiSitf5^a

:-sl««HS>;.-.3?(-»W«!fmP»T^;?T

''SAVING faith:'

for a moment or two, transpose the words
standing under, and part of the iiispired
writer's idea — though of course only a
jpart — will become transparent. Faith
is the condition of under-standing the
heavenly things hoped for. Is not light
now looking in ? Faith in some of its
relations, is a kind of standing-imder ;
and such a kind of standing-under as is
kindred to under-standing. Christian
faith is, in an important sense, staTtding-
tender, or umler-standingy the heavenly
things hoped for. Whatever we under-
stand, that we stand-under. We not only
look at its surface, and on this side of it,
and that ; we go down to its foundation.
We search into its basis. We go under-
neath it, as it were, and stand under-
neath. Then we under-stand it. Do
we under-stand an argument, for in-
stance, on ojvy disputed point ? If we
do, then we have not only examined its
surface, or superficies, and gone over in
detail the points that strike everybody's

SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. 93

ords

light

view ; we go farther into our investiga-
tion. We go to the bottom of the sub-
subject. We go farther still. We wish
to see what it is on which it rests, what
it is that is underneath it altogether.
We must judge whether or not that
which is underneath it is sufficient to
support it. Hence we need, in our
search, to go down and stand under-
neath the whole intellectual erection.
When we go down in this manner, we
understand it. Now faith is a kind of
understanding. All faith is a kind of
under-standing: and Christian faith is a
kind of under-standing of the heavenly
things hoped for. It is, for instance,
understanding that they really are. It
is understanding that they are the gifts
of a Father's love. It is understanding
that they are given through the glorious
propitiation accomplished by the Son's
death upon the cross. It is understand-
ing that they are free to all, and reserved
in heaven for all them who joyfully anti-

'■4.

:1'

;

iHi

' '

i: I

''SAVING faith:'

cipate them, and who walk, and run, and
live, on earth by faith that terminates on
them. This is Christian faith in relation
to heavenly things. It is at once an
under -standing and a standing -under.
He icho lias the faith stands under the
things hoped for, as things hoped for.
Heaven is above his soul, — heaven as
his hoped-for home. He looks up as he
stands under, and he understands. He
sees not merely the stars that stud the
sky, — he sees beyond the sky, into the
interior of the temple not made with
hands, and he beholds at the right hand
of the Majesty, Jesus his Saviour and his
Advocate. The things hoped for — as
Jwped for — dip down into, and inhere in
his faith. His faith is, as it were, their
subjective substrate, or ground.'^

Hence it is that the word which is
translated substance in the text, and very

1 *' Faith gives, thus, things hoped for, and as they
are hoped for, a real subsistence in the minds and
soui<3 of them that do believe." — Owen, Exposition of
Hebrews, in loc.

SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. 95

literally and correctly so translated, is
rendered ground in the margin. It is
the rendering of Lefevre and Calvin.

It is also renderend confidence, and
quite properly so. This is the rendering
given in the versions of Luther, Tyndale,
and Coverdale ; and it is approved of by
such critics as Bohme, Bleek, de Wette,
Ebrard, Moses Stuart, Delitzsch, Alford.
He who in his soul stands-under, and
thus far under -stands, the heavenly
things hoped for, is confident in reference
to them. His standing under, and his
understanding, is confidence. He is con-
fident that the things really are ; that
they are altogether glorious; that they
are gloriously free, — the purchase of the
blood of him who shed his blood as " a
" ransom for all. His faith is, thus, con-
fidence. (Compare 2 Cor. ix, 4 ; xi, 17 ;
Heb. iii, 14.) But it is a departure
from accuracy to translate the word as
Grotius, Cameron, Ernesti, Rosenmuller,
and Kuinol do, expectation. The confi-

SAVING FAITHr

dence of ' expectation ' is not identical
with the confidence of ' iinderstandimj!
It is its result.

FAITH " THE EVIDENCE
OF THINGS NOT SEEN''

Faith is the evidence of things not
seen. This is the other and simpler part
of the description of faith, that is given
by the inspired writer of the Epistle to
the Hebrews (xi, 1).

He is not referring to logical evidence,
properly so called. Such logical evidence
is not itself faith, but the substrate and
reason of faith. The mind needs logical
evidence to warrant its belief. The in-
spired writer is referring to a species of
psychological evidence. He means that the
things not seen evidence themselves, psy-
chologically, by means of faith. They
make themselves evident to the mind by
means of faith, v n : < . n

uij'iio:)}!

I -

EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 97

The word rendered evidence may also
be rendered demonstration or proof. " The
" things hoped for " demonstrate, or show,
or p7we, themselves to the mind by means
of faith. Things visible evidence them-
selves to the mind by means of the eye ;
things tangible by means of the touch ;
things audible by means of the ears.
And so things that are beyond all 3ur
outer senses, things in heaven, the glorious
invisibilities that are there, evidence and
prove and demonstrate themselves to the
mind, by means of faith, — faith in the
testimony of God, written or unwritten.

The eye is the evidence we have for
what we see. The touch is the evidence
we have for what we feel. The ear is
the evidence we have for what we hear.
And, in like manner, faith — faith in the
sure testimony of God — is the evidence
we have for the heavenly invisibilities
which we hope for. By it we under-
stand them and find thera present to our

contemplation. Happy, therefore, is the

•if i:

"SAVING faith:*

man whose life on earth is " a life of
"faith." He keeps the earth under his
feet ; and he sees heaven overarching his
soul. He sojourns down here as in a
strange country, admitting and profess-
ing that he is a pilgrim. He declares
plainly that he desires a better country
— an heavenly. (Heb. xi, 8 — 16.) His
loins are girt. His heart is elate. His
aims are sublime. His whole demeanour
is a beautiful and solemn preparation for
glory, honour, and immortality.

NO FEAR OF
BELIEVING THE EIGHT THING
IN A WRONG WAY,

There is really no fear of believing the
right thing in a wrong wo.y.

There is very great danger of turning
the attention of the mind to the wrong
thing. Or if the object contemplated be
the right thing in the main, there is yet

BELIEVING THE RIGHT THING,

considerable danger of carrying to it, and
spreading over it, some wrong idea, through
which it is distortingly apprehended.

There is danger too of the mind be-
coming arrested on the superficies of mere
words, — though the words are in them-
selves the right words, and indeed the
very best words imaginable. It is the
thoughts behind the words, and the things
behind the thoughts, that are the all-im-
portant realities. It is Christ Himself,
or God in Christ, who is the Eeality of
realities. The mind must go to Him. It
must never rest on any stepping-stone
that keeps it out of sight of Him.

There is also danger of men looking to
their act of faith, instead of looking
through it to the Glorious Object. But
if you look to the telescope, instead of
through it, you will never see th6 rings of
Saturn or the satellites of Jupiter.

Faith is eating, as it were. " I am the
" living bread," says Jesus, " which came
" down from heaven ; if any man eat of

■. i'

100

''SAVING FAITH.''

" this bread, he shall live for ever."
(John vi, 51.) If the right bread be set
before men, when they are hungry, there
is little danger of them getting no good
from what they ept, hecmtse they eat it in
a wrong way. If you were to see two
men eating hungrily, each a piece of
bread ; and if the one were immediately
to sicken and die, while the other was
refreshed and invigorated, would you
naturally suspect the manner of eating,
and have no suspicion whatever in refer-
ence to the thing eaten ? Would you
naturally say — No dovht they hoth ate
what ivas very good in itself : hut unhap-
pily the one ate and masticated his morsel
in a very wrong way. Would you not
rather suspect that the difference of result
vas to be attributed to the difference of
what was eaten ? Would you not suspect
that, while in the one case the thing
eaten was wholesome, in the other it was
poisonous ?

Faith, again, is looking as it were.

BELIEVING THE RIGHT THING. 101

Suppose yourself in the midst of the
cauip of the dying Israelites. Two men
are lying before you who have been bitten
by the fiery Hying serpents. Moses calls
to them both to look to the brazen serpent
and he healed. The one complies, and
turns round and looks up, and is instantly
healed. The other thinks it an absurdity
that a mortal wound can be healed by
looking to a piece of brass ; and he turns
away his eyes and looks at some other
object, and expires. What is the reason
of the difference in the two men's condi-
tion ? Both looked ; and so far as the
act of looking is concerned, they looked
equally well. Why then did the one die
while the other lived ? The one looked at
the right object ; the other did not.

Faith is coming, as it were. It is
coming to Jesus. There is no fear of
coming to him by a wrong road. If a
man only get to the right point, it matters
very little, in all ordinary cases, by what
way he arrives. The great difficulty is

1 1

■%\

',■1 1

102

"SAVING faith:'

ill getting to the right ohject, not in get-
ting to it by a right way.

V I

TRYING TO BELIEVE.

There is probably something wrong
with a man's view of the Gospel, if he
be tryinrj to hdieve.

If a man say, / am trying to hdieve in
Jesus, — / am doing luhat I can, — and
trying as much as ever I am able, the
mental attitude indicated is not likely to
be right. It is too much akin to the
attitude of him who rather asks " Hoic
" am I to believe ?" than " What am I to
believe?"

A man might try to get himself
warmed at a painted fire. It would be
in vain. Whereas if once he should
have a real fire before him, he would in
all probability get warmed immediately,
without any trying in the matter.

So, if a sinner be believing something

TRYING TO BELIEVE.

103

lihc the tratJi as it is in Jesus, as like it
as a painted fire is like a real one, and
yet only like it, he will never feel it
filling liini witli spiritual sensations of
comfort, and warming his heart with love
to God and love to man. As soon, how-
ever, as the real truth is befoi3 his mind,
— the real truth revealing behind its
transparency the Glorious Saviour, as a
Saviour who gave himself for all, and
finished for each all that is needed for
his salvation, — then, unless he wilfully
turn away, he will feel his soul filled with
peace and joy and fired with gratitude
and love.

If a man come into a room where there
are only lilies, it would be in vain for
him to try hard to smell roses. There
are no roses there for him to smell. Let
him go, however, into a room where there
are roses, and only roses, and he will feel
their fragrance immediately, without try-
ing at all. In like manner, if a sinner
has present to his mind truths which are

104

*' SAVING FAITH.''

only somewhat kindred to the Gospel, it
will be in vain for him to try to believe
the truth as it is in Jesus, The truth as
it is in Jesus is just there to be believed.
But if once he have the real truth as it
is in Jesus, and the real Jesus in that
truth, fairly present to his mind, he will
be able to believe immediately without
trying at all.

ii II

SAVING FAITH THE RECEPTION OF
THE TESTIMONY OF GOD.

The Apostle John says, in his General
Epistle (v, 9 — 11), "If we receive the
" witness of men, the witness of God is
" greater ; for this is the witness of God,
" which he hath testified of his Son. He
that believeth on the Son of God hath

the witness in himself: he that believ-
" eth not God hath made him a liar ;
" because he believeth not the record that
" God gave of his Son. And this is the

((

RECEPTIOK OF GOD'S TESTIMONY. 105

" record, that God hath given to us eter-
" nal life, and this life is in his Son."

This is an exceedingly instructive
passage. The famous Scottish theolo-
gian Boston found it, " in his extremity,"
to be " the sweet and comfortable prop
" of his soul." From that time onward,
he made the passage one of the chief
themes of his ministry. The writer's
father, too, found peace in its represen-
tations, — peace, and something in addi-
tion that was the principle of an entirely
new career of life.

1. Note the words ivitness and record.
It is but one term in the original which
receives the two translations. It is the
same term that is rendered testimony in
Johniii, 32, 33 ; v, 34 ; viii, 17 ; xxi, 24;
Acts xxii, 18 ; Eev. i, 2, 9 ; vi, 9 ; xi, 7;
xii, 11, 17; xix, 10. The whole passage
might have been correctly and appropri-
ately thus rendered, — " If we receive the
" testimony of men, the testimony of God

" is greater ; for this is the testimony of

£ 2

f:i

lOG

''SAVING faith:'

'.'■A

" (?ocl, that (on) he has testified of his
" Son. He that belie veth on the Son of
*' God hath the testimony in himself ; he
*' that belie veth not God hath made him
*' a liar ; because he belie veth not on (e/V)
*' the testimony that God gave of his Son.
*' And this is the testimony, that God hath
" given to us eternal life, and this life is
" in his Son." In the Kheims version of
the N"ew Testament, it is the word testi-
mony that is used in all the clauses. In
Wyclifie's version the corresponding word
loitnesshuie is employed throughout.

2. " The testimony that God gave of
" his Son," is the testimony that he gave
by " the Spirit, the water, and the blood "
(ver. 8). It is the Gospel, It is the Glad
Tidings of salvation for sinners. The
tidings are true in all their elements.
Spiritual, Baptismal, Sacrificial. They
are God's testimony, No other one but
Himself could inform us whether he was
willing and wishing to save sinners. No
other one could inform us whether the

RECEPTION OF GOD'S TESTIMONY. 107

way was clear for us to obtain, or for him
to dispense, the wonderful gift of " ever-
" lasting life." Hence his testimony was
needed. Being needed, it was given.

3. God's Testimony or Record or Gospel
— he it remarked in passing — amounts
to this, — " God hath given to us eternal
" life, and this life is in his Son." God
hath made a gift to us of eternal life ;
and this life is in his Son. (Compare
Eom. vi, 23.) Such is the idea of the
" beloved disciple ;" and hence he adds, —
*• he that hath the Son hath life ; he that
" hath not the Son of God hath not life."

Boston and the " Marrow-men " used
to draw special attention to the words
" to us" in this testimony or record or
Gospel. The Gospel, they reasoned, is
good news to " all nations," and to all in
" all nations," — to " every creature ; "
and hence when it is testified in this
universal Gospel, that God has made a
gift " to us " of eternal life, the fulness of
the divine meaning, and of the divine

108

'* SAVING faith:'

generosity, is not apprehended, unless it
be clearly seen that the gift is to all with-
out distinction or exception, or, as Boston
and his fellow Marrow-men used to ex-
press it,^o us mankind-sinners as such. The
gift is really to you, my reader, " whoso-
" ever " you are, and whatsoever you have
been. The message of salvation, says Dr.
Chalmers, harmoniously with the Marrow-
men, " points the eye of each, and of every
" man, to an open heaven, and invites him
" to enter thereinto. Bv such terms as
" all and any and every and whosoever, it
" brings its offers of reconciliation most
" specifically to bear on each unit of the
" human population." ^

4. He wJw believes the record is just he
who receives the testimony. Hence we see
what it is to believe tJie Gospel. It is to
think the thought of God regarding what
is " in" his Son, Christ Jesus. Saving faith
is thus, most certainly, a kind of thinking.

^ Introductory Essay to Hall's Faith and Injluence
of the Gospel, p. xxiv. . . , , ... . . . ^ •

FAITH A SETTING TO THE SEAL. 109

5. This view of saving faith is remark-
ably confirmed by the solemn declaration
that " he who believeth not God hath
" made him a liar" He is acting toward
God as if he were a liar. He treats God*s
glorious Gospel as if it were an untruth.
God and he contradict one another. The
man says " No " to God. Although God
assures him that it is the case that there
is a gift of eternal life, and that the gift
is to him and to all, yet he does not take
in the idea; and thus he not only dis-
honours the divine Testifier, he continues
uninfluenced by the sublime moral power
of the idea. He exists indeed ; but he
does not really live. He has not " ever-
" lasting life."

SETTING TO THE SEAL
THAT GOD IS TRUE.

It is said by John the Baptist, — " He
*' that hath received his testimony " —

110

''SAVING faith:'

^ f s

the testimony of the Son of God — " hath
" set to his seal that God is true" (John
iii, 33.) The expression throws illustra-
tive light on the nature of saving faith.

Not only is it the case that the he-
liever receives the testimony of Christ
concerning the Father, and the concur-
rent testimony of the Father concerning
Christ. It is also the case that, in re-
ceiving this testimony, he sets to his seal
that God is true,wheTesiS the unbeliever acts
as if God were not truthful. The believer
holds- for-true, ps the Germans express it, ^
whatever God has testified. He is satis-
fied with the simple asseveration of the
living God.

Much, indeed, is " perilled " on that
simple asseveration. There are great
interests at stake. They are great at
all events to the sinner, — great in their
bearing on his bliss for time, and his
prospects for eternity. But the believer
does not hesitate. He just takes God

V " : •' "^ Filr-wahr-halt. ? -• ifi.ii:.'-

FAITH A KIND] 01 HEARING,

111

" haf/f

(John

ustra-

ith.

le be-
hrist

3ncur-
eminij

in re-
is seal
er acts
eliever
3SS it, ^
5 satis-
of the

at his word, — a tine old-fashioned defini-
tion of saving faith. He could not do
otherwise, for he "has set to liis seal
" that God is true."

The act and fact of faith is thus an
acknowledgment of confidence in the
divine veracity. And hence saving faith
itself is that kind of thinking which re-
sponds unfalteringly to the evangelical
Testimony of God. It recognizes in the
divine veracity the ground of its own
" assurance," and of the " full assurance "
of that " lively hope," which is the anti-
cipation of " glory, honour, and inimoi tal-
"ity." (Heb. vi, 11.)

^^i

n that
great
eat at
L their
id his
iliever
? God

■ ! 1

FAITH A KIND
OF HEARING AND SEEING.

The Apostle Paul asks the Galatians,
who had vacillated in their faith, the
following question, — " This only would I
" learn of you. Received yt> the Spirit by

112

** SAVING FAITH.''

" the 'Works of the law, or hy the licaring
" of faith ? " (Gal. iii, 2 .) The apostle admits
and assumes that the Galatian believers
had received " the Spirit." They had
received all those influences that were
needful in their peculiar circumstances.
They had received the specific efflux that
resulted in miracles. (Chap, iii, 5.)
They had received the more generic
efflux that resulted in the inward flow
and glow of " love, joy, peace, longsufler-
" ing, gentleness, goodness, faith (or faith-
" fulness), meekness, temperance." (See
Chap. V, 22.) These, says the Apostle,
are " the fruit of the Spirit." They are
" earnests " of the glory that is yet to be.
They are earnests which are needful for
all cycles of time, and in all circum-
stances of outward condition. They are
generically needful.

The Galatian believers had thus "re-
"ceived the Spirit;" and the Apostle
asks them whether they had received
His gifts " by the works of the law,"

FAITH A KIND OF HEARING.

113

hearmg
admits
elievers
ey had
it were
tances.
IX that
111, 0.)
generic
rd flow
gsuffer-
r faith-
(See
A^postle,
bey are
it to be.
Iful for
nrcum-
bey are

IS "re-
Ipostle
3ceived
} law,"

that is, hy ohedience to the ^ascriptions
of the ceremonial or moral law, " or by
" the hearing of faith." We know that it
was by " the hearing of faith." But
note the expression. It denotes the hear-
ing into which faith resolves itself, or of
which it consists. It thus graphically
represents /ai^/i as hearing.

The representation is very instructive.
It teaches us that, in exercising faith,
we do not need to turn inward to feel,
Neither do we need to turn inward to
will. We need to turn outward to
hear.

It is assumed that One is addressing
us, who may be heard, and who is
worthy of being heard. It is assumed
that he brings a message to us. It is
assuiiied that his message is true. It is
assumed that it is from God. The
message is divine. So is the messenger.
He is from God. He is God. It is God
the Holy Spirit wlw speaks. In Him
the Son speaks. In Him the Father

1 ? c

f ;

■ 1

1;'

"im

114

''SAVING faith:'

speaks. They unitedly speak to ns.
The tliree-one God speaks to all. His
voice is directed to men as men. He
"cries aloud, and spares not." He says,
" Unto you, men, I call ; and my voice
" is to the children of men ": — " hearken
" unto me " : — " he that heareth shall
" live," — he shall have peace, and joy, and
lively hope, and holiness, and everlasting-
life : — " earth, earth, earth, hear the
" word of the Lord and live " : — " Why
"wilt thou die?"

"VVe thus see the proper attitude of
the soul in putting forth the exercise of
faith. It is the attitude of a hearer in
oblation to a Divine Speaker, — the attitude
of a listener, a receiver of good news as
by the ear. Faith is heai^ing.

Or, if any prefer a transference to
another of the recipient senses, faith is
seeing. It is looking, — looking unto
Jesus. "As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness," that whosoever looked
to it might live, even so has the Son of

FAITH A KIND OF SEEING,

115

Man been lifted up, that whosoever looks-
to him " mi^lit not perish but have ever-
lasting life." (John iii, 14, 15.) Look,
the sight is glorious ! " Look unto nie/'
He calls aloud, " and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth." (Isaiah xlv, 22.)
Look, then, serpent-bitten sinner.
Look now. Lo, your sin was on the
Lamb of God. He bore it eighteen
hundred and fifty years ago. He bore it
away. He hore it out of the luay which
leads up to God and to glory.

The brave old African chief, who had
been led by Mr. Moffat to think of
heavenly things, came, in his dream, to
a mountain, — vast, precipitous, and insur-
mountable. It stretched right across the
pathway that led to the home of his
heart. What was he to do ? It was
the mountain of his iniquities. As he
looked, his spirit failed him. He gazed
wistfully from point to point of the vast
expanse, and scanned, and scanned again,
the whole frowning mass, to see if there

''SAVING FAITH."

was any trace of a possible pathway.
But there was none. He wept in an
agony of distress. What was he to do ?
He looked higher ; and lo, as he looked,
a drop of hloocl descended from heaven
on the mountains peak, and immediately
the whole tremendous mass melted away.
The way was clear ! The way is still
clear. It is clear, not by your efforts,
sinner, but by the grace of the great
Saviour.

BELIEF OF THE GOSPEL
NOT A PECULIAR KIND OF BELIEVING.

The words FAITH, belief, and believ-
ing, have the same meaning in the Bible,
which they have in the language of ordi-
nary life. They describe a certain act
or exercise of the mind which is one
and uniform whatever the object we be-
lieve. The phrases / believe it, I don't
believe it — / believe in him, I don't be-
lieve in him, are expressions which every

NO PECULIAR KIND OF BELIEVINd. 117

person is usin^' almost every day of liis
life ; and in these expressions the word
believe describes precisely the same act or
exercise of mind, which it describes when
John the Baptist says, " He that hdievdh
" on the Son hath everlasting life." (Jolni
iii, 36.) There is no difference between
the two states of the mind, so far as the
act of hclicving is concerned. If we know
exactly, therefore, what the word helievc
means in the language of ordinary life,
we know exactly what it means in the
inexpressibly important language of the
Bible.

It could not well be otherwise. For
did not the Holy Spirit, who animated
the Bible- writers, and who is therefore
the Divine Author of the Bible, intend
it to be understood ? Surely it could
not be his design to make the Bible a
Mystery, or an Enigma. He meant it to
be a lievelation. And hence, that he
might speak to us intelligibly, he made
use, not of his own divine and infinitely

118

"SAVING FAITH.''

ii:;

' I'

perfect language, such as he may employ
in his ineffable communings with the
Father and the Son, but of our human
and imperfect phraseology. And not
■only does he employ our human words,
he employs them, as far as the circum-
stances will permit, in their ordinary
human acceptations. Our own words
would not otherwise be intelligible to us.
The Holy Spirit employs, for instance, in
addition to the word believing, multitudes
of such words as thinlcingy rememhering,
loving, hating, choosing, doubting, knowing.
But, if, while employing these words, he
metamorphosed or interchanged their
meanings, his communications would be
•either unintelligible or misleading. If, for
example, when using the word thinking he
meant by it loving or hating, how perplex-
ing it would be. If, when he says " Thou
*" shalt not kill," or when he still more
sublimely says " Thou shalt loi^e thy
*' neighbour as thyself," he neither meant
kill on the one hand, as men in general

NO PECULIAR KIND OF BELIEVING. 119

inploy

h the

mmaii

d not

words,

ircum-

dinary

words

to us.

nee, in

titudes

hering,

lowing.

rds, he

their
uld be

If, for
king he
erplex-
" Thou
1 more
ve thy
meant
general

understood the word, nor love on the
other, such as men in general understand
by the term, of what use would the
statutes be ? It could not be said of
them, " The commandment of the Lord is
" pure, enlightening the eyes " — " more-
" over, by them is thy servant warned."
(Psalm xix, 8-11.) Nothing seems
clearer than that the Holy Spirit em-
ploys those common words in their com-
mon acceptations. When he uses the
word standing, he does not mean by it
lea^huf. If he speaks of running, he
does not mean sitting. He uses these
words in their ordinary acceptation.
And can we suppose that when he uses
the word believing, he means something
as different from common believing, as
thinking is from choosing, or as choosing
is from knoiving ? It surely cannot be.

If a master were to command his ser-
vant to 7'un, and were then to reprove
him because he did not stand, what would
we think of him ? And if God were to

il ■

120

"SAVING FAITH."

command men to helieve, and were then
to punish them for not doing something
as different from believing as standing is
from running, would he not be acting iu
an utterly inexplicable way ?

If there had been, indeed, an Inspired
Preface to the Bible, in which we were
instructed to understand all other words,
descriptive of the well-known objects of
human consciousness, in their ordinary
acceptations, but to beware of under-
standing the term believing in its usual
sense, and defining plainly the peculiar
sense which was to be attributed to it,
then we could easily have supposed that
the Holy Spirit had given to it some
extraordinary signification. But as there
is no such Prefatory Note, we seem to be
shut up to understand the term in its
common acceptation.

Moreover, it is an undenied and un-
deniable fact that the word believing is
frequently used, in the Bible, in its ordi-
nary acceptation. See, for instance. Acts

NO PECULIAR KIND OF BELIEVING. 121

then
thing
Ing is

ng m

spired
were
words,
5cts of
linary
Linder-
usual
iculiar
to it,
d that
some
s there
to be
in its

id un-
ving is
;s ordi-
e. Acts

ix, 26, where it is said, " When Saul was
" come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join
" himself to the disciples ; but they were
" afraid of him, and believed not that he
" was a disciple." Here the word helieved
is admitted on all hands to have its ordi-
nary meaning. See too Acts xxvii, 11,
where it is said, " Nevertheless, the cen-
" turion helieved the master and the owner
" of the ship more than those things that
" were spoken by Paul." Here also the
word is used undeniably in its ordinary
acceptation. Dr. John Erskine, — the
venerable correspondent of Jonathan
Edwards,— after referring to some similar
passages, remarks, — " I may venture to
" say. If Christians had consulted systems
" less, and Scripture and their own ex-
" perience more, they would not have
" affixed to believing in other passages a
" sense entirely different from what it
" bears in these." ^ See also Exod. iv,

^ Dissertation on the Nature of Chrintian Faith,
§1.

I ( I

122

SAVING faith:'

1, 5 ; Jer. xii, G ; Matt, xxiv, 23 ; John
iv, 21 ; Acts xxiv, 14 ; xxvii, 25 ; xxviii,
24 ; Horn, xiv, 2, etc. In all these
passages the word is admittedly employed
in its ordinary acceptation. How ex-
tremely perplexing, then, it would be, if,
in multitudes of other passages, and more
especially in those that come home most
closely to our bosoms and our most im-
portant interests, the term were, without
any note or warning, used in a totally
different and altogether unexplained ac-
ceptation ! If the Bible were constructed
on such a principle, a man might guess,
indeed, at its meaning, but he could
scarcely be ever sure that he understood
it. He might accidentally alight upon
its true import, as some men draw prizes
out of a lottery, but it would be utterly
beyond his power to engage in a rational
and sober interpretation of " the words
which the Holy Ghost teacheth." " I
humbly apprehend," says Archibald Hall,
" that the act of hdieving is the same.

APPROPRIATING FAITH.

123

; John
xxviii,
these
iployed
)\v ex-
l be, if,
d more
le most
ost im-
vithout
totally
16(1 ac-
tructecl
i guess,
I could
erstood
t upon
T prizes
utterly
rational
1 words
I." " I
Id Hall,
} same.

" whether Christ, or the creation of the
" world, or the birth of Isaac, or the de-
" parture of Israel out of Egypt, or the
" falling down of the walls of Jeiicho, be

*' the thing believed.

»» 1

APPROPRIATING FAITH.

Some of our older theologians — inclu-
sive of many of " the Marrow-men " —

spoke much of the appropriating act of
faith. It was this act which they sup-
posed to be saving. " In the direct act
" of saving faith," says Anderson, " a
" person appropriates Christ crucified to
" himself, saying with the heart, / am
" verily persuaded that Christ is mine"
This idea was partly right and partly

wrong.

^ Treatise on the Faith and Influence of the Gospelt
Part I, Chap, ii, § 1.

^Scripture Doctrine of the Appropriation which
is in the Nature of Saving Faith, p. 76.

124

''SAVING faith:'

■' i I '■

i I

It was right in so far as it assumed
that it is indispensable on the part of the
sinner that he should realize Ms ovm
* proper ' interest in the grace of God and
the work of Christ. We think rightly,
when we think that it is not enough for
the sinner's peace that he believes that
God is gracious. He must believe that
God is gracious ' to him J It is not enough
that he believes that Christ made atone-
ment for sins. He must believe that
Christ made atonement for * his sins! He
must find the word me in the bosom of
the word world. The language of his
faith must be, — God so loved * me' that he
gave his only begotten Son that '/,' believing
in him, should not perish but have everlast-
ing life. — The Son of God loved * me ' and
gave himself for ' me.* The believer thus
realizes his property, or, as it was often
called, his " right of propriety** in the
grace of the Great Father, and the aton-
ing work of the Great Saviour. He
appropriates to himself what God is, and

APPROPRIATING FAITH.

125

isumecl
of the
IS oum
ocl and
iglitly,
igli for
!S that
e that
jnough
atone-
i that
I.' He
som of
of his
that he
dieving
verlast-
le ' and
er thus
s often
in the
3 aton-
. He
is, and

did, and does, in so far as he is exhibited
in the Gospel, — in so far as he is the
Father of mercies. He appropriates to
himself what Christ did, and does, and is,
in so far as he too is exhibited in the
Gospel, — in so far as he is a merciful
High Priest and Saviour. It is at once
the privilege and the duty of the sinner
to "ply diligently," as Luther used to
express it, " the first personal pronoun,"
and say me, me. All this is right. It is
of great practical moment. It is indis-
pensable in order to personal peace, and
personal joy, and personal hope of glory,
and the personal experience of the con-
straining power of the love of God and of
Christ, — the constraining power which
sweetly urges and impels the believer to
a life of reciprocative love and holy
devotedness.

"What avails to believe that God is
" a Father," asks John Eogers reasonably,
" if I believe him not to he mine ?" What
avails to believe " that Christ is a perfect

; \

126

SAVING FAITH."

" Saviour, who died for man's sins, and
** rose again for his righteousness, except
"I believe that he did these for meV
What avails to believe in " the forgive-
#* ness of sins, and the resurrection to
"- eternal life, exee'pt I believe they belong
" to me ? '* (Doctrine of Faith, p. 2 7, ed.
1632.)

But the idea of appropriation, as advo-
cated by the theologians named, and
many others, was partly wrong as well
as partly right. They combined with it
the doctrine that the grace of God was
restricted in its outflow, and that the
atonement of Christ was confined in its
compass, to a few of mankind — the un-
conditionally elected. They did not be-
lieve " that God so loved the (whole great)
" world," that he sent his only begotten
Son to be " a propitiation for the sins of
" the whole world." (John iii, 1 6 ; 1 John
ii, 2.) They did not believe that Christ
" gave himself a ransom for all," and that
"he tasted death" literally "for every

ins, and
3, except
')r me ? "

forgive-
ction to
y helong

27, ed.

as advo-
ed, and

as well

with it
jrod was
that the
3d in its
-the un-

not be-
ile great)
begotten
e sins of

1 John
it Christ
and that
or every

APPROPRIATING FAITH.

^^manr (1 Tiin. ii, 6 ; Heb. ii, 9.) They
thought only of God's love to the wlwle
elect world, and of Christ's ransom for
ronie of nil classes of men, and of his
death for every one of the many sons ivJiom
he hrinys to glory. They believed that
outside the number of these favoured
ones there is an immense world of the
unconditionally reprobated, whom God
never loved, and for whom Christ never
tasted death or gave himself a ransom.
They conceived that if Christ had shed
his blood for any who are finally lost, it
would have been a waste of suffering.
The idea that our Saviour's death should
be " in vain " in relation to any, appeared
to them a glaring incongTuity. They
could not reconcile themselves to the
notion that One, who saw the end from
the beginning, would buy with his blood
the souls of those who would " bring upon
" themselves swift destruction." Hence
they required to devise a theory of faith
which would supplement what was de-

Hi-

ill

:^i

128

** SAVING faith:'

1 i

ficieiit in their theory of the atonement.
In their doctrine of the atonement, and
of the grace of the Great Father, there
was nothing that enabled them to say to
sinners, without distinction or exception,
God loves 'you* Christ died for ' yoit!
And yet, as they saw clearly that the
sinner's conscience would not be satisfied,
nor his heart pacified, until he could say,
God loves ' mCy Christ died for * me, they
invented a doctrine of faith which enabled
the sinner to bring out of the Gospel what
the Holy Spirit, according to their theory,
had never put into it. It was an un-
warrantable doctrine. The appropriation
of antecedent non-existencies is an im-
possibility. The imagination of such an
fippropriation is a delusion. Faith cannot
make a fact of its own object. The notion
of Marshall, the author of 21ie Gospel
Mystery of Sanctiflcation, that the object
of saving faith " hecometh a certain truth
" when we believe it" (p. 142, ed. 1836),
is a manifest inversion of thought. To

THE LIFE OF FAITH.

120

have faitli is one tlnn<,' ; to have a fancy is
another. But happily, it was no fancy
that God loves all, and that Christ died
for all. It was only the limitarian creed
of the theologians referred to which was
at fault. It was it which was the fancv.
The Holy Spirit has, as a matter of fact,
put into the Gospel all that the worthy
preachers sought, by means of appropriaf-
iTig faithj to bring out of it. It is ac-
tually the case that the grace of God is
to all, and that the atonement of Christ
was for all ; and hence, when any appro-
priated to themselves their full share of
the universal grace and universal atone-
ment, they only took, though they knew
it not, what had been provided for their
use.

■ *

THE LIFE OF FAITH,

" The life which I now live in the
" flesh," says the Apostle Paul, " I live
" by the faith of the Son of God, who

■■» 9

' i

lao

l< C»

SAVING FAITH.'*

*' loved me, and jL^ave hiinselt' for lue."
(dal. ii, 20.) The Apostle, when pennin^jj
these words, realized that he was still
" in the flesh." He had not yet risen u])
into the more ethereal regions of the life
that is everlasting. He was " here,"
down here, " in the hody pent," cooped
np in his little earthly and earthy taber-
nacle-house. (2 Cor. V, 1.) Hence he
was not yet, in the highest sense of the
<3xpression, " present with the Lord," the
Lord Jesus. (2 Cor. v, G-8.) He was
not present " face to face." He did not
really " see " the Lord. He could only
see his reflection, as in a mirror. And
as the mirror which he possessed was far
from being unclouded, he could only "see
^' darkly." He hoped for more than he
possessed. He " walked by faith, not by
" sight." (2 Cor. v, 7.) He " lived by
'" the faith of the Son of God, who loved
*' him, and gave himself for him."

The expression " the faith of the Son
"* of God " has by some been supposed to

THE LIFE OF FAITH.

LSI

lilO."

still

mean " the faith which was Huhjedurif/
" character ifitic of the Sov of God " while
he was down here on the earth. It is
far more likely, however, that the phrase
is to be understood ohjectiveJy, as denot-
ing " the faith which terminateel on the
" Son of God." There need be no
difficulty with the genitive expression
" of the Son of God." The phrase " the
" love of God " may either mean, subjec-
tively, the love ivhich emanates from
God, or, objectively, the love ivhich
terminates on God. And so the phrase
" the faith of the Son of God," may, as
a phrase, mean either " the faith of
" which Christ is the subject," or " the
" faith of which Christ is the object."
The preceding and succeeding context
of the phrase seems to make it evi-
dent that the Apostle is thinking
not so much of Christ our Exemplar
as of Christ our Substitute and Sa-
viour.

We live in the flesh by the faith of

132

'* SAVING FAITH.'*

the ^on of God, when we draw the in-
spiration of our terrestrial life from what
our faith realizes in the Son of God.
We live hy the faith of the Smi of God,
when " the love of Christ " consciously
" constrains us/' — constrains us " to live
" not unto ourselves, but unto him who
" died for us, and rose again." (2 Cor.
V, 14, 15.) We live hy the faith of the
Son of God, when we live as Moses lived,
" as seeing him who is mvisible." (Heb.
xi, 27.) Faith is in the place of sight.
Jt is a kind of sight. We speak natur-
ally and finely of " the eye of faith." By
means of it, the veil which conceals the
spiritual side of the universe is partially
penetratec^, so that the purest and loftiest
of the motives, that can play on the
springs of human action, get access to
the soul. The life on earth, which is the
product of these motives, is the most
beautiful kind of life, the most useful,
the most Christ-like, the most satisfying,
the most holy.

. THE EFFECTS OF FAITH,

There are many consequences of the
greatest moment conditioned on faith.
There are consequences that are realized
beyond and above the sphere of the human
consciousness ; and there are conse-
quences that are realized in the conscious
experience of believers.

When man acts, God acts. Some of
the old theoretical thinkers found a
speculative difficulty in receiving such
an idea. It seemed to them to be incon-
sistent with the absolute supremacy and
independence of God. They had no diffi-
culty in seeing that human action was
conditioned on divine action. But they
were unable to understand the law of
reciprocal action, or of action and re-
action, in the inter-relationship of the
creature and the Creator.

There is no real difficulty, however.
It would be almost an infinite imperfec-
tion in God, were he not, in his own

% ■

1 1

' i

134

i( V

SAVING faith:'

conscious subjectivity, to feel and act
according to the reality of everythirig
that is, and of everything that becomes.
Were he merely to see everything that is
beyond the spht^re of his own self-
consciousness, and within the spheres of
the self-consciousness of other agents,
and to pass no judgement, and to experience
no feeling, in reference to what he sees,
would not his eye be unaccountably dis-
proportioned to his Judgement and his
Heart ? If there be a divine Eye, there
must also be a divine iTidgement, and a
divine Heart, even as ^]t 'le must also be
a divine Hand. And it will be no more
inconsistent with infinite supremacy and
independency, for the Judgement to judge,
and the Heart to feel, than for the Eye to
see, and the Hand to work.

When a man, then, acts in faith, God
acts too, and acts on the highest principle
of correspondency or harmony. He botli
feels and acts. He approves in his heart
of the act of faith. He smiles down-

THE EFFECTS OF FAITH.

135

I act

jomes.
hat is
self-
res of
Lgents,
erieowe
e sirs,
[j dis-
id his
, there
and a
tlso be
) more
y and
judge,
Eye to

h, God
inciple
e both
s heart
down-

ward. He beholds the believer " with
** a pleasant countenance." He judges
justifyingly. Pie justifies. And thus
the believer is ** justified by faith." (Acts
xiii, o9 ; Eom. iii, 26 ; v, 1 ; Gal. ii, 16.)
He is not only forgiveii (Acts xiii, 38 ;
E[)h. i, 7) ; he is recognized as having in
the hand of his faith the true title-deed
to the inheritance that is full of glory.
He is judged to be in possession of the
righteousness that entitles to eV'erlastinL>'
life. It is " the righteousness of God,"
— the righteousness provided by God,
the rija:hteousness which was wrou<jht
out by " Jesus Christ the righteous."
The believer is thus enrolled as " an
" heir of God," and " a joint- heir with
" Christ."

All this takes place above and beyond
the consciousness of the believer. It
takes place in the consciousness of God.
It is the action of God within the sphere
of his own self-consciousness.

But there are other and correspondent

■l i

l:^C

''SAVING faith:'

consequences within the sphere of the hu-
man consciousness, — consequences which
are the counterparts of the divine thoughts
and feelings. The judgement of God re-
flects itself, as iar as the intermediacies
that bridge divine and human thought
will permit, into the mind of the believer.
The believer gets to know about the
favourable feelings of God. They have
been telegraphed. They have been testi-
fied. They are involved within the pro-
mise which is enfolded within the glori-
ous object of faith, — the atonement.
They lie there, ready to be evolved into
the consciousness of the believer. And
hence the believer, as soon as he believes
in the Great Object revealed in the good
news, experiences ^eace with God. (Eom.
V, 1.) It is something like the 'peace of
Christ himself. (John xiv, 27.) It is
" peace that passeth all understanding."
(Phil, iv, 7.)

He also experiences joy unspeakable
and full of glory. (1 Pet. i, 8.) It is

THE EFFECTS OF FAITH,

137

"joy in the Holy Ghost/' (1 Thes. i, 6.)
It is "joy in God." (Eom. v, 11.) It is
the most joyful of joys.

He has also experience of peculiarly
lively hopCy (1 Pet. i, 3) ; — of hope the
most enlivening and animating. It is
the hope of the glory — the heavenly glory
— of God. (Eom. v, 2.)

And, hest of all, he has experience of
holiness. God " purifies his heart through
" faith," so that he longs to become per-
fectly good, and does become good. He
heartily loves goodness. He loves God.
He loves man. He loves both God and
man unselfishly. He loves God su-
premely, — " with his heart and soul and
" strength and mind," — with *' all his
" heart, and all his soul, and all his
" strength, and all his mind." Such at
least is the constant aim with which he
wings his flight in love. He loves his
neighbour too as he loves himself, — sovu-
what as. And more, and more, and still
more, does he aim thus to love his neigh-

f I

• i

138

*' SAVING FAITH."

bour, until he loves him with a love that
is entirely like the love which he bears to
himself, — a love that is " like " to the
love wLich he bears to God (see Matt,
xxii, 39), and that is in miniature, like
the love which God bears to him. (1
John iv, 11.) It is his continual aim, as
he moves along through the world, to
make himself, in meekness and in modesty,
a Living Blessing to his fellow-men.
Such love is at once " the fulfilling of the
" law " (Eom. xiii, 10), and the fulfilling
of the Gospel. When it is " full to the
" brim," it is goodness in the superlative
degree. It is godliness. It is godlike-
ness.

Thus is the believer sanctified, as well
as justified, — and all " through faith,"
through faith in Jesus, who is " made of
" God unto him sanctification." (1 Cor.
i, 30.) He seeks to " purify himself even
*' as Jesus is pure." (1 John iii, 3.) He
is a new creature, in respect of character.
(2 Cor. V, 17.) He is divinely recon-

))

A POSSIBILITY TO HEATHENS? 13^^

structed in the tissue of his life. " Old
" things are passed away ; behold, all
" things are become new." (2 Cor. v,
17.) He is a new man in his mode of
living, and in the motives of his life.
He sees differently. He feels differently.
He acts differently. And observing men
"take knowledge of him, that he has
" been with Jesus." (Acts iv, 13.) He
has power to resist the temptations that
continually assail him. He " can do all
*' things through Christ who strengtheneth
" him." (Phil, iv, 13.) He is panoplied
in " the armour of God." (Eph. vi, 13.)
And all along his way, to its end, and at
its end, " this is the victory that over-
"cometh the world, EVEN HIS faith."
(1 John V, 4.)

IS SAVING FAITH
A POSSIBILITY TO HEATHENS?

We should feel sad indeed, were we

140

** SAVING FAITH."

constrained to think that any individual
of the human race is absolutely shut out
from the possibility of salvation. " God
" is good unto all. His tender mercies
" are over all his works. He has not
" left himself luithout witness in any
" nation. The Gentiles^ which have not
" the law, are a law unto themselves.
" They shew the ivor'k of the law written
** in their hearts." (Ps. cxlv, 9 ; Acts xiv,
17 ; Rom. ii, 14, 15.) There is a Revela-
tion of God to all men, — a Revelation
not only of what he is in his relation to
men as men, but also of what he is in his
relation to men as sinners. God is not
dealing with any members of the human
race simply as they deserve. He is deal-
ing graciously. In wrath deserved he is
remembering mercy.

But if it be true that salvation is a
possibility to all men, it must also be
true that the mental state, which is on
man's part the means of attaining salva-
tion, will be a possibility. Faith will be

A POSSIBILITY TO HEATHENS? 141

a possibility, — for " without faith it is
" impossible to please God."

The great Object of faith cannot
indeed be known by heathens under
all the phases and phrases which are
familiar to students of the written Word.
But such knowledge, however desirable
and precious, and indeed inestimable, is
not absolutely indispensable. It w^as
unattainable even by prophets, priests,
and kings, in Old Testament times.
Abraham " saw afar off." It was a fact
that he " saw " : yet many things which
are sufficiently familiar to the simplest-
minded of modern believers, and even to
the little children of our Christian house-
holds, would be quite beyond the round
of the great patriarch's horizon. Other
things would be but dimly apprehended
by him as specks in the great distance.
He could not know the incidents of the
life and death of our Lord. They could
be only partially anticipated, even by
those who were furnished with the most

142

"SAVING FAITH.''

powerful telescopes of prevision or pro-
pi lecy. Yet he knew what was suffi-
cient for salvation. And we may easily
conceive that an area of knowledge, still
more and much more circumscribed than
that of Abraham, may suffice. If there
be such an amount of knowledge as to
quicken into activity penitence for sin,
find trust in the propitiousness of God,
and love for true goodness, may we not
hope that it will suffice ? A minutely
elaborated theology, a voluminously de-
fined " Confession of Faith," cannot be
absolutely essential. And the infinitely
microscopic as well as telescopic eye of
God will be quick to detect the very
primal germs of genuine faith.

We may confidently leave the poor
heathen abroad, and the poorer heathen
at home, in His hands. We have made
reference to the possibilities of their con-
dition, not so much to satisfy the inqui-
sitiveness that is natural to sympathy, as
to bring into view the incomplexity of

FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS.

143

that spiritual and evangelical truth that
is indispensable to salvation.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN
FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS,

It is noteworthy that there is an
intimate connection between the words
faith and faithfulness. The word faith,
as is obvious at once to the ear and to
the eye, is part and parcel of the word
/(XtY/ifulness. Faith is in faithfulness, be-
cause faithfulness is supposed to be the
quality of a person's character who is
faithful, that i^ faith-full or full of faith.
It is assumed in the connection of the
words, and it was assumed at the time
when the connection of the words was
established, that when a man was theo-
logically full of faith, he was, on that
account, morally faithful or characterized
hj faithfulness. It was assumed, in other
words, that when a man had faith and

144

*' SAVING FAITH/

;

was full of faith, he would be a man who
could be depended on, — a man who might
be trusted in all circumstances, and with
whatsoever might be committed to his
charge. This relationship of faith to
faithfulness is a ^st interesting connec-
tion. It is a relationship which still
continues, and will continue while the
world lasts — and a great deal longer. In
whomsoever there is genuine faith in
relation to the Gospel and the God of the
Gospel, there will be true faithfulness.
And in whomsoever, on the other hand,
there is true faithfulness in relation to
God and the Gospel, there will, sooner or
later, be genuine faith, at least in germ.
Faithfulness and faith, when we go to
the ultimates of things, imply one another.

It is interesting to note, in connection

with the relationship between faith and

faithfulness, two expressions, contrary to

one another, which are still in common

use in our e very-day language, good faith

FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS.

145

and had faith. We speak of a man acting
in [food faith, or in had faith. A man
who acts in had faith acts dishonestly.
He deceives you. He cheats, or tries to
cheat you. A man, aj]fain, who acts in
good faith, is a man who acts conscien-
tiously, uprightly, honourably, faithfully.
The expressions have an instructive his-
tory. They belong to tliat peculiar
phraseological group to which the word
miscreant belongs. This word miscreant
is a Norman or French word, meaning
mis-heliever, and its present meaning of
scoundrel points back to a time when it
was assumed, on the one hand, that no
true believer could be a scoundrel, and,
on the other, that if a man was not a
believer in God, as the God of the Gospel,
there was no security that he would not
turn out to be a scoundrel. It is thus
assumed that if faith in God were lost in
society, men would speedily degenerate
into a mob of scoundrels. And just as
faith is thus of immense moral moment, so

11)

146

'savijvg faith:'

is it of the greatest consequence that this
faith be fixed on the true God and the
true Gospel. Faith in a false God would
be had faith, and would ultimately exert
such a moral influence, that the man
would be apt to become, morally, a man
of had faith — a man not to be trusted —
a man who would not care to keep his
word to you if he could break it to his
own secular advantage. A man's worship
determines in the end his worthship. A
man of good faith is a man who is sup-
posed to have right faith — faith, that is
to say, in a right object — faith in the
true God and in the true Gospel. It is
expected that such a man will be trust-
worthy to the core. If he be not, his
faith is really bad, whatever his profes-
sion may be. It is either hypocritical,
or based on a mis-apprehension of the
grand realities of Revelation. "The
" word faith" as Dr. Samuel Clarke re-
marks, " always contains in it the notion
" of faithfvlnfi^s or jidvUiifr (Sirnums,
xxvi.)

fi THE WORD FAITH ,

r.. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, , ;

The word faith does not occur fre-
quently in the Old Testament. The
thing represented by the word would
no doubt be a common enough experi-
ence m those ancient times. There were
many Old Testament worthies, — of whom
the world was not worthy, — whose
prominent characteristic sprang from
faith. They lived and died in faith. In
the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the
Hebrews we have an illuminated roll of
some of these Old Testament believers.
Enoch was one. Abraham was one.
Moses was one. And yet in the Old
Testament Scriptures themselves, the
word faith occurs only twice ; and in one
of the passages where it occurs, it means
what we call faithfuhuss, rather than
what is called, in the New Testament,
faith.

The two passages are Deuteronomy

. -. , • .,,,,. . ^ Cf ■. ■ . , • . . , . , .

\Jt ml

i !

(

148

SAVING faith:'

xxxii, 20, and Habakkuk ii, 4. In Deiit-
eronom/ xxxii, 20, the people of Israel
are spoken of as " a very froward genera-
" tion, children in whom is no faith" that
is, " children in whom is v^o faithfulness.''
In the other passage, Habakkuk ii, 4, we
read, " the just shall live by faith" that
is, " the just by faith — the righteous by
faith — he who has righteousness by faith
— shall live." He shall have true life.
Here the word has, we should suppose,
its common New Testament acceptation.
Indeed, the wonderful apophthegm of
the prophet, in which it occurs, is the
fountain or well-spring of the most
peculiar and glorious element in the
teaching of the Apostle Paul. (Rom. i,
16, 17.)

THE WORD FAITH
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

In the New Testament the word faith
occurs frequently ; but not always with

FAITH'' IN NEW TESTAMENT. 141)

the same signification. It has two signi-
fications, — the same two which it has in
its Old Testament usage. In some few
cases, it means fccithfulrtess. For instance,
we read in Komans iii, 3 — " For what if
" some did not believe ? Shall their un-
" belief make the faith of God of none
" effect ?" Faith is here ascribed to God.
But it is impossible for us to suppose that
God is capable of exercising that hind of
faith which distinguished the Old Testa-
ment believers, and which luis rendered
illustrious so many of their New Testa-
ment . successors. God cannot be a
believer, in the ordinary acceptation of the
word. Belief is too imperfect an act or
state, having to do with its object medi-
ately rather than iynnudiatelyy to be rever-
ently ascribed to God. God's faith there-
fore is his faithfuhvess. There are some
few other passages, in which the term
seems to have this same signification ; and
indeed it is rendered fidelity y that is,
fa'ithfulnesiSy in Titus i1, 10, where servants

■J ,

150

''SAVjNff faith:'

are exhorted not to purloin, " shewing all
" good fidelity" or faithfuhuss, or faith.
The word is here TQ\\([eYQ(\. faithfidness in
Tyndale's version, and Coverdale's, and
the Geneva. It is rendered faith in
AYyeliffe's version and the Rheims.

THE END.

tiLASOOW : PKINTEP AT THE UNIVRRSITY PRRSg,
BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE,

I I

,^^<vA i

•I! ■■■•

Hi ^ ■^'''

New Books

AND

New Editions.

»;•: -JTi

. J *' - » ' i. '- ■'

;uA*u>'

New Books and New Editions.

THE RELIGIOUS ANECDOTES OF SCOTLAND.

Edited by William Adamson, D.D. Price 5s.

BIBLICAL HELP TOW i JDS HOLINESS IN
LIVING AND HAPPINESS IN DYING. By James Morison,
D.D. Price 2s 6d.

THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT. By

James Morisou, D.D. Price 28 6d.

A CRITICAL EXPOSITION OF THE THIRD
CHAPTER OF PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. By James
Morison, D.D. Price 128 6d.

A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF RUTH.

By James Morison, D.D. Price Ss.

SA VING FAITH: or the Faith by which the Sinner
is consciously United to the Saviour Practically Considered.
By James Morison, D.D. Price Is. 6d.

AN EVANGELICAL CATECHISM, tor the Use of

Sunday Schools and Parents. By James Morison, D. D. Price 2d.

THE BARDS OF THE BIBLE. By the Rev.

George Gilfillan. Price 8s 6d.

DAVID: KING OF ISRAEL. His Life and its
Lessons. By William M. Taylor, D.D. Price 2s 6d.

THE GOSPEL MIRACLES IN THEIR RELA-
TION TO CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY. By William M.
Taylor, D.D. Price 2».

«>

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

PEACE WITH GOD. A Treatise Designed Princi-
pally for Inquirers. By Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price Is 6d.

HOLINESS : or What We Should Be and What We
Should Do. By Fergus Fergiison, D.D. Price Is Cd.

THE SICK CHAMBER. A Book for the Sick and
SiilTering. By Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price 28 Od.

PASSING EVENTS IMPROVED. By Fergus
Ferguson, D.D. Price 2s Cd. • ,.

SACRED SCENES: Notes of Travel in Egypt and
the Holy Land. By Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price 5s.

THINGS NEW AND OLD. A Volume of Dis-
courses. By Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price 2s 6d.

THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. A
Homiletic Exposition. By Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price
2s 6d.

A HISTORY OF THE EVANGELICAL UNION
OF SCOTLAND. By Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price Cs 6d.

A POPULAR LIFE OF CHRIST. By Fergus
Ferguson, D.D. Price 10s 6d. *

THE PA TRIARCHS : Their Lives and Lessons. By
Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price 7s 6d.

THE BOOK OF FAMILY AND PRIVATE

DEVOTION. Being Morning and Evening Prayers for Three
Months. By Twenty-three Clergymen. Edited by Fergus
Ferguson, D.D. Price Cs 6d.

NOT FOUND WANTING. A Temperance Tale.
By^Fergus Ferguson, D.D. Price Is fid.

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

THE PHYSICAL CAUSE OF THE DEATH OF
CHRIST. By William Stroud, M.D. Price 38 Gd.

THE PR A YER MEETING AND ITS IMPRO VE-
MENT. By the Rev. Lewis O. Thompson. Price 4s 6d.

riX; \

Evangelical Doctrinal Series,

I.—REOENERA TION. Its Condition and Methods.
By the Rev. Robert Craig, M.A.

II.— THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. By the Rev.

Robert Mitchell.

III.— THE HOLY SPIRITS WORK: Its Nature
and Extent. By the Rev. George Cron.

IV.— THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT.
By William Adamson, D.D.

v.— THE DOCTRINES OF PREDESTINATION,

REPROBATION, AND ELECTION. By the Rev. Robert
Wallace.

VI.— THE DOCTRINE OF SIN. By the Rev.
Alexander Brown.

VII.— THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL. By the
Rev. Professor Taylor.

VIIL—THE CHARACTER OF GOD, By Fergus
Ferguson, D.D.

IX,— THE EXTENT OF THE A TON EM EN T. By

James Morison, D.D.

Friot 2« M piv Voluriu, or CotapUte Htl, lt>.s.

4 NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

THE DESTINY OF THE WICKED. By the Bev.
A. M. Wilson. Price 28.

THE WORTHIES OF THE EVANGELICAL

UNION. Their Lives and Labours. By various writers.
Price 8s 6d.

THE WINES OF THE BIBLE. By the Rev. A.

M. Wilson. Price 6s.

JESUS IN THE MIDST, By the Rev. George

Cron. Price 2s 6d.

THE RIGHTEO USNESS OF 00 D : Viewed in Its
Various Aspects. By William Adamson, D.D. Price 28.

A PRACTICAL BIBLE TEMPERANCE COM-
MENTARY. By the Rev. Alexander Stewart, M.D. Price
38 6d.

THE PjEDOBAPTISTS GUIDE: On Mode and
Subject and Baptismal Regeneration. By John Guthrie, D.D.
Price 28.

CHRIST A \D MAN: or, God's Answer to Our Chief
Questions. By William Bathgate, D.D. Price 6s.

THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD. By William
Bathgate, D.D. Price 58.

Glasgow: Thomas D. Morison.

London : Hamilton, Apams ^ Co.

Rev.

VAL

riters.

r. A.

eorge

D Its

'OM-
Price

I and
, D.D.

:hief

iliam