There is no unbelief! Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod. And waits to see it push away the clod.
He trusts in God.
Whoever says, when clouds are in the sky. Be patient, heart, light breaketh by and by, Trusts the Most High.
Whoever lies down on his couch to sleep, Content to lock each sense in slumber deep, Knows God will keep.
Whoever says "to-morrow," "the unknown," " The future " — trusts unto that Power alone He dares disown.
The heart that looks on when the eyelids close. And dares to live when life has only woes, God's comfort knows.
196 THE HEART AND THE MOUTH
There is no unbelief; And still by day and night, unconsciously, The heart lives by the faith the lips decry,
God knoweth why.
II.
Confession.
" With the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
The beginning of the Christian life has two sides : internally it is the change of heart which faith implies; this leads to righteousness, the position of acceptance before God ; externally it implies the ** confession of Christ crucified " which is made in baptism, and this puts a man into the path by which in the end he attains salvation ; he becomes one who is " being saved." ^
^ At times, the elders of the Hurons, the repositories of their ancient traditions, were induced to assemble at the house of the Jesuits, who explained to them the principal points of their doctrine, and invited them to a discussion. The auditors proved pliant to a fault, responding, " Good," or " That is true," to every proposition ; but when urged to adopt the faith which so readily met their approval, they had always the same reply: "It is good for the French ; but we are another people, with different customs." *
L A Baptismal Confession.
1. There seems to be no doubt that St. Paul has in mind Bome form of Baptismal Confession of Faith. Such a confession marks the external side of the beginning of the Christian life. The first formal creeds we meet with are Baptismal Confessions. The story of the Ethiopian baptized by Philip is an instance. Philip told him about Christ, and the Ethiopian, impressed by what he heard, asked to be baptized. "Philip said. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
2. No idea existed at first of an exclusive creed; indeed, there was no one universal, unvarying form of creed. Each Church, while teaching the same truths as the others, had its
1 Sanday and Headlam.
• Francis Parkman, TJu Jesuits in North America, i. 150.
ROMANS X. 10 197
own form of expressing them. The candidate for baptism who had been taught the Christian history and doctrine in a class with others, freely and discursively, had no suspicion of the creed with which at length he was entrusted, which he had to commit to memory, but which was never written down. He had no disposition to doubt, nor the Church to be inquisitorial. Men became Christian because they were eager to believe the Gospel message ; anxious to know more of it ; and to know it soon, before they died a martyr's death.
^ The creed in early days was called the Symbolum or symbol. Various meanings have been given to this name. But whether we regard it as meaning a military sign, tessera militaris, or whether it was adopted from the Greek mysteries, which committed a sign to the keeping of the initiated, it was a sign which the Christian carried about with him. By it he gained admission, wherever he might be, to the Christian Church, and by it he claimed the brotherly service of those who shared in the same faith. Their creed was their symbol, their secret, their pride.^
Think not the Faith by which the just shall live
Is a dead creed, a map correct of heaven ;
Far less a feeling, fond and fugitive,
A thoughtless gift, withdrawn as soon as given ; —
It is an Af&rmation and an Act
That bids eternal youth be present fact.*
ii. Unto Salvation. " Confession is made unto salvation."
In what sense is it true that confession is thus closely con- nected with salvation ? Two replies may be given to this question.
1. First of all, confession of faith is necessary to the salvation of others. It has pleased God to make the saving of men de- pendent on the work and activity of those who are already saved, and there is no single part of that work more important or more fruitful in results than the open confession "with the mouth" of the authority and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is some- times said that it is harder to live for Christ than to speak about
* "W. P&ge-Eobert*. « Hartley Ooleridg*.
198 THE HEART AND THE MOUTH
Him, but the statement is far from being universally true. There may be some who find little or no difficulty in speaking for Jesus to those who know Him not, but the greater number of Christian people know only too well how difficult a task it is to say anything to others of what is deepest and most sacred in their own hearts ; and the difficulty grows greater and not less when they have to speak to those nearest and dearest to them. Many of us who would find little or no difficulty in speaking for Christ to a stranger are stricken dumb within our own homes.