The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-08-26

Op today. Only educate and tram, that
10 sufficient. Your section Is not 81 white
washed with this system oi ethical culture
az some Others / know. But We never can
emphasize too often or too positively the
axial tenet of Christs creed that what
man needs primarily ~ not accession of
hrain, but a fresh heart; not illumination,
but reconstruction. the establishment IN
hlm by grace OF something that II Lot IN
HIM by nature Illumination a the BRAN
Is never claritcstlon Of the heart. There
Was a man IN our American HE who VAS
born of the best family, with personal
force that commanded men and eapuvated
women. whose Furnishings could scarcely
he surpassed and yet there has not walked
across the pages OF American history
hlaCker hearted william than Aaron Burr.
l am as far as possible from saying that
knowledge makes q man worse; my only
contention is that II has not IN ltseh the
power of making men better. Ideas, edn-
cation alone. can neither reconstruct the
hte nor reCreats the heart.
THIS Is a thoughtful age; men are
brainy; all about Us there If passion for
new ideas; hut our most urgent necessity
Is not of idea but of power What We
need most of all is not schooling but hap
tlsm. aud that Is to come through faith.
What ls thus faith that ~ to give us the
supreme victory and insure our safety! liz
is at tins distinct point that We begin to
learn the real meaning aud purpose OF
faith. Every little while am told by one
and another that he would like to have
faith IN tins particular matter IN regard 10
the Bible, or IN regard 10 Christ in the fu-
ture life as though If his mind could only
bee brought intellectually 10 consent 10 II.
the consummation would be reached and
great result achieved. Being prepared Ia
assent Ia this or that particular statement
in regard 10 Christ, for example, - very
distinct thing from faith. Faith Is per
sonal attitude, personal relationship. Faith
is such personal yielding OF ourselves Ia
another as brings us INTO living contact
with that other and so makes US recipient
of what it lies in that other 10 confer. lhe
chld becomes like has father hy faith IN
his father, because his faith rs that inward
surrender that makes him susceptible 10
every impression that goes forth IRON has
father. A child's faith toward has mother
is not faith that what his mother says is
true. 1t is faith IN his mother, the hiding OF
himself IN the one lite that enwraps them
both, SO that he lives in the sweep OF her
inspiration and grows up toward manhood
by the Appropriation OF personal Nigor, WIS
dom and sweetness hourly made over hlm.
And that Is cast IN the same mold as Cos
pei faith, which is as a cord by which the
living Christ holds the believer to HIM
self Faith is not condition wherein we
hold to something or somebody. as that IN
which we are held by something or some
body. IL is not holding doetrine, but Toe,
ing held by person. Il know whom
have believed" The iron filings stick To
the magnet, not because they try so hard
to stick. but because they are mastered
by the magnet.
Faith. then. has for its very essence
personal self.commitment, one ounce oil
which Is worth a whole ton of intellectual
affirmation. II is this sense OF beng held
by God that makes a man safe and secure
| do not know how The grace OF God can
take a man like Saul of Tarsus and make
him Paul the Apostle; but no man will
question hls knowledge when he says
live. vet not /, but Christ hveth IN me.
That is exactly what John H. Cough erred
as he went like flaming torch blazing the
way for a multitude of hopeless drunk
ards The hope, and the only hope, Tor
us all is in the grace of God. VI i were 70
strike tuning fork on TINS desk ana ho,a
it 10 my ear not one IN this room conld
hear the sound thereof but l could hear
il and tune my violin. Strike IT again and
instead of holding II TO my ear, set ~ up.
on this desk Instantly the sound would
be heard everywhere. But what do you
hear? Not the tuning fork, FOR the tuning
fork makes no louder sound the second
time than II did the first. What do YOU
hear? You hear this hard wood desk,
which has 10 music IN Itself, but Just as
soon as IL comes IN contact with musical
instrument it itself becomes musical and
delights every one that has music IN hls
soul.
The individual life may be insignificant
alone by itself: IT may come from good
family or bad IT may have great force
or little; il may have choice furnishings or
not: but the safety and security of all VIII
depend upon the PERSONA self surrender
to the Son of God, who alone has the pow.
or 10 make them Sons of God. which are
born not Of a family or Of force or oi fur
nishings, but Of faith.