Scripture has
been subject to worse misconstructions than this one. It has been made
to teach that a mere declaration of faith in Christ procures the
instantaneous forgiveness of all sin, passes the sinner out of death
into life, makes him a regenerate child of God, and gives him an
inalienable title to citizenship in heaven. But I have not so learned
Christ, nor do I understand Paul to teach anything like this. I do not
deny that a sincere and heart confession of Christ is a step, the
first step, to these heavenly blessings; but I do deny that Christian
perfection rests upon a naked confession of him by the mouth. The
thoughtless sinner does not know Christ. He has never in heart so much
as asked the question: "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?"
God has never been in all his thoughts. "The world knew him not," and
the world knows him not now. When one, then, is suddenly wrought upon
by some influence as was the Philippian jailer, by which, in his
distress, he cries out, "What must I do to be saved?" the answer that
Paul gave is exactly the right answer. "Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And this leads to my second and last
question:

_What is faith?_ I will here give Paul's definition. We come to God by
faith. "And he that cometh unto God"--or to Christ the same--"must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him." Faith must, then, be the very first step in the direction
of receiving good from the Lord. We see striking examples of this in
the life of Jesus on earth. What brought the throng from all
directions that attended and even pressed him? It was faith, the
belief that he could do them good. But it was not spiritual or
heavenly good they sought so much as bodily good. Jesus reminded them
of this in the words: "Ye seek me, not because of the miracles,--" not
because you desire proofs of my divine power to save your souls from
eternal death,--"but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled."
But true faith, the faith that saves the soul, the faith by which the
just shall live, is _a loving acceptance of the Word of God; every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; for by this doth man
live_. And how does man live by it? By obeying it, by making its
precepts the rule and guide of his life. By faith the Word becomes "a
lamp unto his path." "It is as the light that shineth more and more
unto the perfect day." All who believe the Lord's