The Penn's Grove record., 1910-03-25
dVertisementS

man may respond trustfully and 10y
ally, and it is this response which we
call faith. The mission of Christ Is
to bring us to God, that we may love
Him and believe in Him, and, there
fore, serve Him. And l am per-
suaded that many a man finds God In
Christ with whose technical theology
/ could not agree. If all men had to
believe the same creed, salvation
would be impossible to many of us
who do not find It difficult to believe
in the same God and the same Christ
with difference of definition.
What, then, is faith? Four our
purposes to-day as it relates to God
it is the continued and loyal move
ment of the entire soul of a man to-
ward God as the revealer of truth and
the authoritative Lord of life.
We may note also two other mean
ings Of faith which grow out of this
larger meaning, for faith not only
comprises the entire nature of the in
%dividual, but also the whole field Of
his activities. Faith in God implies
faith in our fellowmen as the creation
of God, or from the Christian point
of view, the children of God. BY this
we may not mean a foolish disregard
of all distinctions of character, nor
the assertion that all men are equally
to be relied upon; but 1t does mean
a recognition Of humanity as in
volved in the purpos of a trust
worthy God, and therefore, itself
worthy of confidence. He who be-
lieves in God as his Father, believes
also in man as his brother. Faith in
God implies also good faith on the
part Of the believer. To accept God
as the giver Of light and the Lord Of
life is to acknowledge ourselves
bound to be utterly sincere in our re-
lations to Him. And to acknowledge
the brotherhood of man, including
ourselves, is to enthrone the princi-
pie of good faith among men. In a
word, faith is the expression of the
souls love of truth and its loyalty to
truth; to God who is truth and whose
plans, though not understood by uE,
are the embodiment of His truth; to
man, who, created in the image of
God and redeemed by Gods only be-
gotten Son, preserves yet amid the
ruinous results of his sin, some traces
of the Fathers image and the eapac-
ity for unlimited development; to self
as the creature of the true God and
as part of the constituted order of
things where truth forms the only re-
liable basis of harmonious action.
Faith thus defined bulks large. Il
is seen to be not merely the transient
activity of a single phase Of mans
nature, the intellect, but the contin-
ued movement of mans entire being,
intellect, sensibilities, will, toward
truth and ultimately toward the God
of truth. 1t is not for a day o an
hour, but for all time and for all eter-
nifty. 1t is not limited to a single fac
ulty of the human soul, but involves
the whole soul. 1t has not for its OBJ
ject a limited area Of truth, but
reaches out toward all truth, even the
infinite God of truth.
1t is difficult, If not impossible, to
draw a clear line Of distinction be-
tween what is called natural" and
what is called religious" faith. To
one who believes as I do that man is
a religious being through and
through, the faith which arises in the
ordinary so-called secular" processes
of life and has to do with practical
daily affairs is itself a fruit Of the
spirit. By this I e that man is a
creation of the Almighty, upon whose
soul and It's consequent activities God
has stamped His own nature. Fur
thermore, God has interviewer Him
self in the very fabric of the universe.
If, as we have said, faith is necessary
to all progress, then the exercise OF
faith on the part of man displays
something of the divine nature within
him. 1t is because God has sent forth
His spirit into the heart of mar that
man is able to think Gods thoughts
after Him in the universe and to
reach forward with those majestic
reaches of confident expectation
which have wrought the great accom-
plishments in the material and intel
lectual development of human life in
relation to the world outside Of man.
Yet it must be conceded that re-
ligious faith is of a higher order than
this general faith because it deals
with a higher order of facts. The
moral nature of man is his GROWING
possession. The apprehension of God
marks the highest reach of his moral
intelligence. Fellowship with God is
at once his browning glory and u
DIGIu6 DI1fllCSC- u DOAlCFO IL oO4 a.
the highest attribute to faith and the
exercise of this attribute Is condi-
toned by personal fellowship with
God. AS with every n else, God
must first be known and then be-
lieved. When one knows God, es-
pecially as a personal friend and
Saviour, it Is not difficult to believe
what otherwise would be most in
COMPREHENSIVE, nor to trust God
where without such knowledge trust
would be impossible. This knowl-
edge of God is made possible through
the Holy Spirit whom God hath sent
into the hearts of teose who believe,
crying, abba, Father"
In like manner it is this knowl-
edge of God which ur 5erlies and con-
ditions faith in our fellowmen and
good faith on the part of ourselves.
If God has faith In man, the believer
in God must have also, and If God
has faith in man, then the individual
who realizes that God has faith In
him must make a fitting response Of
good faith.
Great heights give wide visions to
open eye 1t is only when the spirit
of God leads men to those exalted ex-
periences where he kpows and feels
that God Is, that the very ground
about him becomes holy ground and
the horizon is pushed back so that he
can behold the infinite glory beyond.
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