Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-04-03
&eadiua fpr the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
lOriginal ]
FAITH.

FAITH.
One, and perhaps the most, common deini-
ton of faith, is "Belief in testimony" This
is calculated to mislead, and, consequently,
needs some explanation. 1t is not true that
the whole of faith consists in belief Of tes-
timony, unless we put limit to faith which
is not justified by the Scriptures. When we
are commanded to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and we shall be saved, there is much
more than simple belief in testimony required
of US in order that we may obey this COM
mand. When God commands us to believe,
he commands US to do something which re-
quires the exercise of all the mental and
moral faculties of our natures. Faith is a
very comprehensive word. The true believer
exercises faith and in so doing, does all that
Gods law requires in order to salvation.
In the order of nature, and in fact, knowl-
edge, precedes faith. Faith" say the Scrip
lures, "cometh by hearing and hearing by the
word of God." We must know God before
we can exercise any faith in him. The main
use of a revelation is to make known to fallen
men, God, the creator and preserver OF all
things, and the redeemer of all who will be-
lieve in his son. The testimony of the Bible
is that God made all things, that he preserves
all things, and that he sent his son into the
world to save sinners. 1t is possible to be-
lieve all this and still have no faith in Jesus
Christ. Many believe that God sent Jesus
Christ, his son, into the world to save sinners,
that there is no other name under heaven
given among men whereby they can be saved,
and still are without God, without hope and
strangers to the covenants of the promise.
In Christian lands, in theory, there are few
persons who do not believe the testimony of
God as contained in the Bible, and still there
is convincing evidence that many do not have
faith in the Son of God. Faith, according to
the Scriptures, is peculiar power, which the
Holy Spirit bestows upon those who are re-
generated. None but those who have been
born from above-born not of water or of the
flesh, but of the spirit-can believe. The sim
ner, dead in trespasses, may give credence to
what God says. He may believe his testi'
mony. Devils do this and tremble; but none
but the regenerated can accept Of Jesus
Christ and trust in him for salvation as he is
offered in the Scriptures.
The power to believe in testimony is, to
some extent, the common inheritance of all
men; the power to accept Christ as the Sa-
viour and only Saviour of sinners, is the uni
versal inheritance of all the regenerated and
of them only.
AS regeneration is applicable to the whole
man, mentally and morally, so faith includes
in its exercise all the faculties of the soul. A
strong faith in lively and vigorous exercise,
is always preceded by a clear and extensive
knowledge of God as revealed in his word.
In such cases, the affections are always puri-
fed and the will subdued. In practice, the
exercise of faith in Jesus Christ consists in
loving him, in trusting in him, in confding
in him, and in patiently submitting to him.
No single word, nor no single sentence, can
give us complete idea Of what is meant in
the Scriptures by faith. We see something
in the timid child clinging to its mother
which resembles faith, more, perhaps, than in
anything else. To the child, the mother is
every thing. To the believer, Jesus Christ is
every thing