The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-09-11
THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

Boundless wealth Of Those Who Possess
It-No Excuse for Spiritual Poverty.
Peter addresses his second epistle
general Ito them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the
righteousness Of God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ" Some commentators
tell us that faith here is objective, and
Others that it is subjective. But evil
IDENTITY both Of them are right and both
OF them are wrong. The apostle is
writing to Christians. to those in whose
hearts faith has been wrought by the
Holy Spirit. and who, by faith. have
appropriated the great truths OF the
Gospel. This faith makes these truths
precious to them. 1t enables them to
see an inestimable value in what they
had previously regarded as compare
lively worthless. One writer defines
faith here as "a cycle of truths be-
lieved." The belief does not make the
truths valuable in themselves. but it
gives them value in the estimation Of
the believer. We might transpose the
definition. therefore, and say faith is
precious because 1t is the belief in a
cycle Of truths. Practically, the worth
OF the Gospel is measured by our faith
in it. 1t is precious to us only so far
as we have taken it into our hearts and
our lives
Two men are wandering over the
mountains in Nevada They find curl
GUS veins running through the rocks
One Of them studies these veins with
the interest Of a geologist, and chisels
out few specimens for his cabinet.
The other, who is an expert in ores,
believes that he has found silver mine
OF great richness. When his COM
panion has passed on with his speci-
mems In his pocket, he returns and
stakes out a claim. He periects his
title to that claim. He works it. and
becomes a millionaire. Now was It the
mine that enriched this man or his
faith in the miner Evidently his faith.
And so II is the world over It is not
enough to know Of good thing and to
be able to grasp it We must bellows
in it and take possession Of 1t.
There Is, of course, no value In faith,
il what we believe in is worthless A
lunatic whom We knew years ago, i'm.
agined that he was millionaire He
would take you into his little chamber.
and after carefully. locking the door
would open drawers full of bits Of pa
per on which he had written figures for
various amounts. He would say:
'.Here are bills and bonds worth mill
ions Of dollars" When asked why he
did not use them to buy what he need.
ed. he would reply: mo. no. they are
too precious" That mans faith was
great but it was baseless. 1t was like
the faith Of worldly men in material
things They are heaping up richie.
that are as worthless for the soul as his
bits OF paper were for the wants OF this
life.
Near that crazy man there was an
other who had in his trunk q large
bundle OF bonds His father hat
brought them from distant part Of thu
country, telling him that they wer,
valuable, and would be paid at matur
ity. Soon. however. the father died
The son took one Of these bonds to thu
village banker. who refused to uegoti
ate it. saying that he knew nothin,
about it; great many bonds wer,
worthless and these might be- So tn,
heir Of the original owner Of thos
bonds let them lie in his trunk 70
years He was poor. He had often
hard struggle to get the necessaries o
life. But he never thought OF trying Il
use those bonds again. At length, hav
ing visitor one dag from the State il
which the bonds had been issued, h
brought them out to show to him as
curiosity. The moment the strange
saw the bonds he said: "Why, man
they are worth their face. and all tn
accumulated interest in gold. Sen
them to New Orleans and they will b
paid" On inquiry this statement wa
verified. One of the bonds was sent b
way OF experiment. and the proceed
came back by return OF mail Now th