Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-06-24

Incited by this truth, but deluded by the Evil
One, they join the Church, and then and there
their religion ceases forever. They recline,
from that time to the day of their death, upon
their profession. According to their deluded
notions, they ceased, on the day of their pro-
fession, to be sinners. Still, the only feature
of Christianity which they possess is the name.
Their condition is sad one indeed. The ef
fort of some persons, whose business it is to
promote the spread of the Christian religion,
seems to be to influence persons to join the
Church. To this work and nothing else, they
devote themselves. 1t is beyond all doubt the
duty of all men to confess Jesus Christ but
before this can be done, something else must
take place. Before man confesses that he is
converted, he ought to be converted. The
man who processes to be a Christian, when in
fact he is not, is in great danger of never being
a Christian. So soon as a man is converted,
he will, without any persuasion, join the
Church. In fact, nothing but physical i'm
possibility can keep truly converted man
from making a profession of religion.
rorgnal.]
FAITH.
The Importance of faith in the plan of sal
vation, as revealed in the Scriptures, is admit
ted by every Bible reader. Christians and in
fdels, without dissenting voice, agree that
the Bible teaches that all who believe in Jesus
Christ, or all who have faith in him as the Sa-
viour, will be saved and that all who do not
believe in him will be lost. Faith, then, &C.
cording to the Scriptures, is the pivotal doc
trine upon which turns the destiny Of the hui
man family The tenor of the whole Scrip
lures is, that all men are lost and ruined, and
that the only way of recovery from this state
of condemnation, is by believing in Jesus
Christ.
If, then, faith in Jesus Christ is Of so great
Importance, it will be admitted that all should
have clear and we'll defined notion Of its true
Scripture import. So far as we know, there is
nowhere in the Bible definition of faith. In
Heb XII Il it is said "Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen" This is sometimes quoted as defni-
tion ; but it is not. There is no single word
in any language that will convey to the mind
the full and exact meaning Of the word faith,
as used in theScriptures. If we were asked to
define it, we would say, faith in Jesus Christ
is accepting and relying upon him as our only
and alone Saviour.
It is sometimes said, and by good authority,
that faith is belief in testimony. This is true
as far as it goes but it stops far short of full
definition of that faith without which no man
can be saved Faith in Jesus Christ is GER
tainly something more than simple belief in
testimony, unless the word belief be used in a
more comprehensive sense than what is com.
mon.
Faith is the gift Of God, consequently it is
with propriety said to be ''grace' and a
sssaving grace This, however, does not give
us anything but general notion of faith, for
repentance is also grace and saving grace !;
but faith and repentance are not the same
thing.
When it is said that faith is gift of God, it
is meant that it is the gift which enables the
sinner to accept of Jesus Christ and rely upon
him and him only and alone for salvation.
The sinner, in his natural state, is said to be
dead in trespasses and sins. Whether he is
able to believe the testimony of God as true or
not, weneed not inquire. One thing, however,
is absolutely true, no man, until he is born
again, can any more accept Jesus Christ as his
Saviour, than the dust Of the dead can resur-
rect itself from the grave.
God gives the sinner power or capability to
accept of Jesus Christ, and rely upon him for
salvation but the exercise of this gift is the
work of the individual upon whom the gift is
bestowed Before the sinner, dead in trespass-
es and sins, that is, spiritually dead, can have
faith in Jesus Christ, he must be born again.
This no one will deny who will admit that man
is wholly alenated from God, Before there
can be action, there must be life Faith in
the order of nature is then, we infer, preceded
by regeneration. But in accordance with the
constitution of the human mind, and also the
knowledge as well as life. Such is the consti
tuition of our minds that we cannot accept and
rely upon being of whom we are totally ig-
norant This is an impossibility. No man
can accept and rely upon Saviour of whom
he has not heard. The order of nature, or,
perhaps we would speak with more propriety
were we to say the order of.grace is regene-
ration by Gods Holy spirit first; then faith
and repentance. Faith is the motions of the
ance is the motions Of the soul from sin and
toward holiness. In regeneration, the soul is
quickened into life. The evidence of that life
is, that the soul accepts Jesus Christ as the
only Saviour of sinners This is faith.
The knowledge of Jesus is obtained from the
Scriptures "Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God" "Where there
is no vision, the people perish" my people
PERISH" says God, "for lack of knowledge"
Faith may he strong or weak, and is so, gen.
orally in proportion to the amount of Scriptu-
raj knowledge. Faith is always at first weak;
but it grows as time advances, and finally,
when time ceases, it becomes, in all believers,
fruition Faith is kind of regulator which
marks progress progress. Whoever has faith
in lively and vigorous exercise, is growing
rapidly in every other Christian grace, and the
contrary is equally true.
1t is very probable that it was want of
faith in God that led Adam to transgress the
command Of God, and all Adams seed have,
in their unregenerated state, been ever since
without faith.
"a The absolute unselfishness of Christ's
character is, indeed, its unique charm. His
own life is self-denial throughout, and he
makes similar spirit the test of all healthy