Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-25
CHRlST'S TEACHINGS ANSWER
MODERN PERPLEXlTlES
"Faith, Social Principle" Is Topic
Of Rev. William Horace Day at
First Congregational
Church

At the First Congregational church last
night Rev. William Horace Day preached
or Faith, a Social Principle" The
musical service was of special interest
The choir was assisted by a flute quartet
from the Congregational orchestra, un-
der the leadership of w. H. Mead.
The speaker said in part:
Jesus came preaching the new social
order in which life was to be based upon
repentance and faith. Faith was to be
& principle of social value.
1.-The boy who said faith was believ-
ing something which you know is not
true was wrong. Faith in Jesus teach
ihgs is not mere affirmation of creed.
The Pharisees of his time repeated the
Hebrew shema, or creed, every week,
but the Lord said they had faith in neith-
er God, Moses nor the Son of Man. Faith
is active, not passive, not mere assent
to what some one else has called the
truth. With him it was never abstract
but was coupled with doin,5 things. If
ye had faith, you could do things is
what he said in effect to his followers.
The Greek word used is the same as
faithfulness.
when you say a man is faithful in
business what do you mean? Not that
he believes in business but that he does
his duty. toward those he meets in busi-
ness. 1t was the man that did something
and actually made the five talents ten
that Jesus called the good and faithful
man. The unfaithful workman seems to
have had wrong creed; he made mis-
take in the character of his Lord, but
the test of his faithfulness was because
he did not do anything with the one tall
ent intrusted to him.
There is a great difference between
faith and belief. A belief is something
the mind assents to as real. 1t may be
impersonal and may never affect mans
will
Faith is chiefly personal and must be
capable of moving q man to action or it
never rises to the dignity of the faith
Jesus made the basis of his kingdom.
Faith in the good faith of other men
is the string which ties the bundle of
society together. Faithless men have cut
the string and we are all down in the
mud of the street on our hands and knees
trying to pick up the pieces. Jesus
recognized repeatedly that faith is the
basis of the highest social acts.
"a man came asking healing for his be-
loved servant and the Master said, I have
not found such faith, no not in Israel,
as he cured the invalid When they let
down a palsied man for him to help he
was able to do so Seeing their faith as
those four lowered the bed through the
roof. When he wanted to teach his fol-
lowers to get rid of the friction which
prevents social effectiveness he told them
t. stop worrying and have faith. 1t is
this faith which is capable of producing
action by which the sores of the social
order are healed.
"The faith upon which social life rests
is the gift Of Christ. We have been
studying his social teachings for several
weeks. AS we have examined one social
problem after another which seemed to
threaten the very life of the nation,
wealth--poverty, crime-we repeatedly
have found that the clearest answers
modern experts have been able to make
to our perplexities could have been
found in the life and words of this Teacn-
ell of social truth. Through Christ we
may come to the truth which makes us
free. Through him we enter into the
faith by which men live. But as many as
received him. to them gave he the right
TO become the children of God. f"