Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-12-11
Faith Not an Endowment.

'Hui'7 '', 'h't i"lti 10 tHt Sltt Oh hOl
But it IS "A gift which in the first stage
has to be struggled FOR as u prize, and
in the latter stages watched and quad
ed with more costly vigilance than the
great prima donna is said to devote TO
the security of her diamonds. 1t is
only by the highest effort Of sanctilied
character that the Christian can main
tain himself in the state of faith. II is
by IA great victory over himself and
over the world that ne reached it, and
to stand firm on that unworthy height
requires of him great control of him
self, with plenty OF exercise for his
Christian will.
kept by the power Of God hc@.4lo
doubt Is, but ne in any sense that
makes the guard of himself less vigi-
liant, nor the strain on his own facul-
ties less severe. Faith is u penetrative
and comprehensive act in which the
whole man unities. 1t is more than as
sent TO II creed. it is more than pions
affection or holy feeling. Intellectual
conviction does not describe it, and
much ss deliberate preference or moral
decision has to do with it, there is more
TO it than will. and even more than
obedience or Christian activity.
Whatever the deepest principle in
the soul is, it comes from that. lts
springs lie in the fundamental c%onvic-
tons OF the mind. 1t gives their char
acter TO the moral and ideal assump
tons which lie back of every mans
philosophy. 1t colors all his belief. 1t
tells him what is most worth living for.
what is best worth having and aiming
at in life, and where the path ofsaf~@~,
peace and good for mortals lies III
:he perpiexitieS of the present exist
cnce, and out into the dark world be-
yond.
He may take th? problem in "a very
simple fashion. He may say: | give up
these spcculations; | cannot flth0m
these difficulties; but | accept Christ rs
my example, my Saviour and my guide.
! will obey His word, trust in His mer-
cy, and live rs near Him and rs like
Him as | can.
That is a faith that will save him.
but not if he looks 10 it as n salvation
which God operates in him, and not if
there il nothing more OF it than Il de-
cision TO leave the matter in this form.
and not il he relies on that decision to
take him into heaven. The transfer
nation of the decision into faith is cf-
fected by n believing life. Faiths
grasp on salvation is not in the
strength of one faculty nor in the eff
liciency of one act, The faculty by
which we believe is the whole life
clinging to the worlds Redeemer.
We use the eve to see. the ear to hear:
we employ the muscles of the limbs to
walk md the organs of the throat 10
sing, we have special faculties in the
mind which enable us to remember. TO
compute. to love and to choose. But
there are no special organs in the body
nor in the mind by which we exercise
faith in God. The only valid confessor
before God is the man whose life shows
in it everywhere the color and reality
of what the lips only cxpress-"I be-
lievc." The believer is the man. The
believing is his life.
There are believers with whom faith
cannot be so simple "A matter rs this.
God has given them speculative pow
ers. or he has placed them in a net
work of secular entanglements, where
duty's plain and straight path is lost in
the windings and COMMISSIONS Of tho
world.
The church has a deal of this ex-
perience TO try, if not to threaten it.
The call on all sides is for men to carry
home the gospel into secular life. Never
before has the duty come home so close
to the breasts of Christian men to in
quire into what is meant by the words
they hear so often: kept 10y the power
of God"
Alas for them if they have set out on
the theory that faith is an endowment
policy, made safe and sure to them
when signed, sealed, paid for and
locked away IN the safety vault of a
double-barred confession.
Faiths validity is not that of a Sc
cure endowment o even of n past
achievement. 1t is IA championship
which wears the crown, only because it
holds the field to-day against all com
ers. The believer is sure to be chal-
lenged, if not by others, by antagonists
born in his w mind; and faith, if he
holds it, is a great victory--a victory
which shows that Gods light and
truth have penetrated to the depths 7
his being. 1t is by a great victory that
he holds himself above the speculations
which sophisticate mems minds. 1t is
Il great victory which keeps the heart
true and prevents the affections from
wandering into sin. It is Il great vic
tory TO triumph over the flood of secu-
lar Influences which do so deadcn con-
science, dull the sense OF honor, under
mine responsibility and sink the Chris
tian in the ways of the world. kept
by .he power of Cod is the last bitter
sarcasm that overwhelms the believer
who sleeps on his watch or who per
mits faith in the endowment from on
high TO relieve him from the daily and
uncnding warfare of the faith which is
the achievement of the faithful.
Sure Cure.
Worcester Gazette: s'My husband is