it, by this phenomenon of modern life, that a divorce has been
proclaimed between philanthropy and religion. The end of the commandment
is love, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience.

III. Lastly, notice the condition of such purifying.

To recur to my former illustration, we have to go up country to a still
higher level. What feeds the two reservoirs that feed the love? What
makes the heart pure and the conscience good? Paul answers, 'faith
unfeigned'; not mere intellectual apprehension, not mere superficial or
professed, but deep, genuine, and complete faith which has in it the
element of reliance as well as the element of credence. Belief is not
all that goes to make faith. Trust is not all that goes to make faith.
Belief and trust are indissolubly wedded in the conception of it. Such a
faith, which knows what it lays hold of--for it lays hold upon definite
truth, and lays hold on what it knows, for it trusts in Him whom the
truth reveals--such a faith makes the heart pure and the conscience
good.

And how does it do so? By nothing in itself. There is no power in my
faith to make me one bit better than I am. There is no power in it to
still one accusation of conscience. It is only the condition on which
the one power that purges and that calms enters into my heart and works
there. The power of faith is the power of that which faith admits to
operate in my life. If we open our hearts the fire will come in, and it
will thaw the ice, and melt out the foulness from my heart. It is
important for practice that we should clearly understand that the great
things which the Bible says of faith it says of it only because it is
the channel, the medium, the condition, by and on which the real power,
which is Jesus Christ Himself, acts upon us. It is not the window, but
the sunshine, that floods this building with light. It is not the opened
hand, but the gift laid in it, that enriches the pauper. It is not the
poor leaden pipe, but the water that flows through it, that fills the
cistern, and cleanses it, whilst it fills. It is not your faith, but the
Christ whom your faith brings into your heart and conscience, that
purges the one, and makes the other void of offence towards God and man.

So, brethren, let us learn the secret of all nobility, of all power, of
all righteousness of character and conduct. Put your foot on the lowest
round of the ladder, and then aspire and climb, and you will reach the
summit. Take the f