2. Faith working through love. — Faith is the first act, or state, of the new creation. It is the new creature come to the conscious- ness of himself, of his relations to his Maker, of his surroundings and of his meaning. Certainly he must know and believe that there is a God ; and he must understand His character, as a just as well as a beneficent Being ; then he must become acquainted with God's law, as holy and decisive, reaching to the inmost intents of the heart ; and then, far above everything else, he must be forced to see plainly that — out of His sovereign grace — God has opened a way of pardon through an atoning death of His own Son. These must be known as primal truths under the gospel ; then they must be believed, and that \q faith.
Now faith, according to St. Paul, when once it lives in the soul, is all Christian practice in the germ. The living apprehen- sion of the Crucified One, whereby the soul attains light and liberty, may be separable in idea, but in fact it is inseparable, from a Christian life. If the apprehension of revealed truth does
' 4' Strindberg, Zones of the Spirit, 112.
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not carry within itself the secret will to yield the whole being to God's quickening grace and guidance, it is spiritually worthless. Faith, if it is to be good for anything, must be a working faith. If our faith puts us to sleep instead of awakening activity, if it sends us to bed instead of sending us to the field or the workshop, it is not worth having. It is a grace which saves and justifies, but it is also a grace "which worketh" There must be corre- spondence between our emotional faith and our daily lives. In proportion as we feel fervent emotions of love towards God, so will our lives exhibit earnestness of purpose and activity of energy in " doing good " to the souls and bodies of our fellow-men. This sacred energy of the soul manifests itself in a life of holy love. It is set in active hostility to all forms of evil, to all selfishness, and to everything which tends to hinder its appropriation of Christ. So faith leads us into wider knowledge, into more active self-mastery, and to the growth of the whole man in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. It sets free every power of man for further growth and for ampler service. And the goal is the fulness of the stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus.
f The early Christians felt that virtue, like sin, was a subtle universal thing, entering into every act and thought, appearing outwardly in ten thousand diverse ways, diverse according to the separate framework of every heart in which it dwelt ; but one and the same always in its proceeding from the love of God, as sin is one and the same in proceeding from hatred of God. And in their pure, early, and practical piety, they saw that there was no need for codes of morality, or systems of metaphysics. Their virtue comprehended everything, entered into everything; it was too vast and too spiritual, to be defined ; but there was no need of its definition. For through faith, working by love, they knew that all human excellence would be developed in due order ; but that, without faith, neither reason could define, nor effort reach, the lowest phase of Christian virtue.^
^ I never have stopped, I hope I shall never stop, to consider what set or sect of people are at work, if I thoroughly and entirely approve of the work. I may think the work incomplete ; but, if it comes in my way, and I think it good as far as it goes, I do help it with the little power I have. Above all I would not in this age refuse help to a society because it did not state that it was working in Christ's cause. I do believe we want all generous
* Euskin, Stones of Venice, ii. ch. viii. ( Works, x. 365).
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and good work recognized as Christ's, whether conscious or un- conscious. I think the tendency is very much for doubters to think the best work is done by benevolent unbelievers ; to think our faith cramps our labours and narrows our hearts. I would like, so far as in me lies, to show them we care for men as men, we care for good as good. I never would deny faith. I care very little to express it anywhere but in life. How much these people lose by their omission I believe they will one day know. I think the time will come when all this round world will seem to them mainly precious, because it was made by a Father and redeemed by His Son.i
3. Keeping the commandments of God. — As the new creation is the beginning of the distinctively Christian life, and as faith work- ing through love marks the evolution of its growth, so the third thing, keeping the commandments of God, may be said to indicate its consummation. The loftiest purpose of God, in all His deal- ings, is to make us like Himself ; and the end of all religion is the complete accomplishment of that purpose. " Be ye imitators of God as dear children," is the pure and comprehensive dictate which expresses the aim of all devout men.