St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-05-25
FAITH AND FAITHFULNEss.
Deed Helps Greed AS Creed Helps
Deed.

w. j, Lhamon, Church of Christ.
Faith and Faithfulness." When Eu-
ther was a monk he went to Rome. He
believed in penances, and began to as
cend; on his knees Pilates staircase,
which the priests told him had been
m~iraculouSly transported from Jerus-
allen. Presently there rang through
his soul the text. 1.-The just shall live
by faith" He was startled; he arose.;
he left off p%enanceS, became the enemy
of that perverted system. and the leader
of the reformation. Justification by
faith became the cardinal doctrine
OF the reformers, and to
them it was very wholesome
and very full of comfort" If by faith
is meant fellowship with Christ and
childhood toward God: if it indicates
the certain style of life that Jesus sane
toned; if it is the mark of a character
formed for usefulness MAYNARD and
happiness GodWard; if faith in Christ
means life in God, then that we are
justified by 1t, and saved by it is not a
doctrine comforting and wholesome
merely, but absolutely true. If faith
means merely a wicked mans assent to
truth, then it is only mockery. Devils
believe and tremDle." The apostle
James insisted on works; Paul on faith;
they are both right, and they are one.
In our practical age Paul needs the help
of James to complete the statement.
"We are saved by faith and faithful
ness"
Deed helps creed as creed helps deed.
The age of clubs and swords and spears
made cruel, bloody creeds. Hard doc
trines were enforced by anathemaS and
accommodations and inquisitions s.
Our mora bnmana ona will not Fol IN
rid itself Of creeds inherited from half
barbarous times. The age of orphanages
and asylums and reform schools and col
legeS and associated charities and evan
gelical alliances and international arbi-
tration. and foreign missions will not be
satisfied with such a church, nor with
such a creed as Mark Twain's Yankee
found in King Arthur's court. Faith
fulnesS to Christ would have saved the
world a vast deal of sad history. and the
church likewise from false doctrines.
The revision of creeds is a necessary
consequence of the revision of deeds.
We are learning that there is heresy
of the hand as we'll as of the heart. The
fist is heterodox. Greed, cruelty,
hatred, lies and cannon balls are hetero-
dOX. The Samaritan had with him a
bottle of oil to heal his neighbours
wounds: he was orthodox. Conduct is
three-fourths of life, and in the imita-
ton of Christ there is both faith and
fa~ithfulness.
Ii it be true that 1.-THE heart makes the
t~heologiaR." then none but a good man
can possibly give you a good creed. We
know that Christ was thoroughly good;
we believe that his teaching was thor
oughly right. Right practice alone can
hold theory in check. The really holy
people make 10 noise about them
selves, but they are heroic work
ers, like William Carey and William
Wilberforce and John Howard and
Clara Barton and Elizabeth Fry and
David Livingstone. On the other hand,
where holiness becomes a fad the
people do nothing but shout about it.
Stagnant waters breed pestilence.
When Satan finds an idle Christian he
sets him to making a rosary or a system
of theology. or eXaltS him to the leader
ship of a fad or a sect.