El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-02-07

they pioJgo themselves 10 keep IOf
ever, with the help of God, 1.-The faith
o. ce delivered unto the air is I"
I hava taken these two verses, one
from the old, the other from the new
testament. and put them side by side,
because they appear somewhat anita
gonis,ic. The one procla!ms the par.
am ount obligation to contend for some
sort of a creed, some accepted cOnstitu-
ton, something iu the form of a
f, on one generation of disciples to au-
other. The other verse tells of the
paramount obligation of good works,
what does God require of US bu. just
! dealing. tender-heartedness, humility!
The picture shown us in the first of
these texts is graphic and Interesting
one. 1t shows US strenuous, eager,
devoted ideal of life. There is nothing
lukewarm or half-hearted. Christian
living was a daily standup for Christ,
with sword drawn, and lips firm-set,
and muscles rigid, and eyes fixed.
Torture, exile, death are ever ready.
Not only these, heresies threaten
Contend for the faith, the form of
words which mbody Christian doc
trine as it was received from those be-
fore; Stand Sta up up for the I Father =.
of Christ, the personality Of
the holy spirit. Stand up for the
visible church, for her sacraments.
Stand up for the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the blessed re-
surrection of the body, and the life
everlasting. This was the faith, with
u capital Litter, once and for all de-
livered unto tie saints.
| Iquote it to you now because we have
left this strenuous, Interesting.
apostolic age behind. The z-st, the
sp ce, the flavor have gone out of liv-
ing in SO far as we have ceased to fight
for our birth-right Now the spirit of
the times is, "What difference dos it
make what we believe, if we only liv~
r;ght?'' What difference whether we
go to church or not, If we are honest
men?'' What difference whether We
are Christians, Buddhists or nothing
at all. if only we are moral people?'
And they quote these words of Micah
and say, What doth the Lord require
OF thee, but to do justly, and to love
mercy and to walk humbly with thy
Lord?"
There is a revolt in our day from
creeds, from doctrinal ststements. ALI
we need, they say, is pure living, clean
hearts, clean hands. Character is the
only thing, not membership in any
| church, not acceptance of any
| theological formula. just purity, just
love. just henevoleuce. They say,
'some outside of churches are better
| than inside. therefore, all creeds are
wrong" away with creeds. Away
with churches. Give US individual
freedom to form our own belief, to read
the bible as we choose, to Understand
history for ourselves"
If there is one thing more than an
other which makes it hard today to
win converts to Christ, it is this claim,
that all that is required of any man is
to do the best he can according to his
lights, independently of any church or
creed. "What difference does it make,
fathers, good husbands, good wives,
good mothers?" So the world says.
Now let me say, first. that an age is
not advanced age because it is faith
less one. Faith is an accompaniment
Of great attainment. Faith lends
beauty to character. Faith is manly
thing as well as q womsnly thing.
Ages of faith have been ages of high
achievement, ages of power, ages in
Faithlessness is .ign of decay. Look
at that awful 18th century. There was
a reaction from faith. And when faith
went. there wen. with it all moral
worth. In our day we have had an
other period of unfaith.
Certain persons of great ability have
been again undermining the sacre-
beliefs of Christians. They have sue
ceeded in many cases in driving out
the trust in divine father, And now,
what do we hear? After the tares have
been sowed broadcast, after the bitter
harvest has been reaped in the despair,
and the ruin of many souls, now these
same people are saying. "There must
be more faith" Oh, if they had only
l. = ~
this for themselves instead of sowing
their ugly seed and then trying to undo
their own work.
doubt, and how bard it is to
have simple faith and keep it, we
sometimes repeat the Lords question?
"When the son of man cometh, shall
be find faith on the earth?' Or will it
not be given over to sel6shness and
pride?
And yet, faith has been called the
''fifth sense" 1t is natural to have
faith. 1t is sowing of tares when
ones life does not show it, when one
turns rather to scepticism. The lac
dean of LANDAU, DR.. Vaughan, in his
first sermon az preacher of the Temple,
said, II shall assume the truth of
Christ's religion. 1 do not intend to
argue it." Jesus does not argue. He
oUh UCS VIC lu 0udAO0 u1u tIl6b
men do not accept it. "If have told
you the truth, why have ye not be-
lieved me"' We are made to believe.
We only come to doubt when the
father of lies has had q chance at
US.
The child believes; he believes in
his mother, his father. The young
man b. lieves: he bell: yes in the young
woman who has won his love. He will
fight 70" her, not simply because he
loves her, but because he believes in
her. She has faith in him, and is hap
py so long as che can justify that fai9h.
Life'ss sorrows begin when we lose
faith, Faith is lost in q frie ndship,
and it is one of the bitterest things in
life. Faith is lost in wife, in husband,
and all the sweetness is forever gone
in the home. Then comes the heart
br+ ak and the tragedy. And so when
faith is los. in holy things in the
simple beliefs of the mother of the
church we o. &c loved, when we can no
longer say with trimming eyes be-
cause we believe it with our whole