^ Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton, ii. 224, ^ Browning, Bishoji Blougram's Apology.
I JOHN V. 4 397
Cold iron is precisely identical with iron heated in the fire ; but though the metal is the same, the fire that has entered into it entirely transforms its condition, and endows it with a new power. And the fire also, by entering the iron, takes upon itself new action, making of the metal a vehicle of its dynamic potency. So does the Spirit of God take and transfuse and transform our ordinary faculties for His own great ends.
Thus faith is the conquering principle in religion. For Christian faith is not a thing apart from one's ordinary human nature and imposed upon it from without ; it is the expansion of an original inherent moral quality, common to us all ; it is the spiritualization of a natural faculty; it is the daily energizing, vitalizing power in which we live and do our best work, brought into contact with the Divine power. So glorified, it overcomes the world — the worldly spirit with its carnal aims, countless tempta- tions, and unholy methods, being the hardest there is to overcome. But even unglorified, it has this overcoming power, and if we only come to see this clearly, we shall not find so much difficulty in transferring to the life of religion a quality which we have learnt to regard as the supreme essential in every secular sphere.
^ Without belonging to any religious communion, Eenan has his full share of religious feeling. Though he himself does not believe, he is infinitely apt at seizing all the delicate shades of the popular creeds. I may perhaps be understood when I say that faith does not possess him, but that he possesses faith.i
2. The virtue of faith lies in its object. Faith is in itself nothing better than an organ, an instrument ; and it derives its character entirely from that upon which it is fixed. The adorable majesty of God, His omnipotence, holiness, and love, His nature, so far as it has been revealed to us, the union of perfect God and perfect Man in the person of Jesus, the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction offered by Him for the sins of the whole world, the free and gracious offers of pardon which are made in Him, His mediatorial sovereignty over the world, the secret and mysterious workings of God the Holy Ghost — these are the objects proposed to faith, upon which, if we fix the eye of the soul, we shall assuredly have power to overcome the world in
^ Anatole France, 0?i Life and Letters, 284.
398 VICTORY OVER THE WORLD
the strength of that Divine vision. And in all this there is one central figure, even the Son of God made very Man, nailed to the Cross, pouring forth His precious blood for our sakes and in our stead, and then in triumph risen, exalted, crowned, sitting on the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
^ The Power is all in Christ. Faith is the link that binds us to Him. Is there any power in faith ? None whatever. Is there any power in a railway coupling ? No ; but look at these carriages, look at that train, look at that locomotive. Where is the power ? You see it moving along, and you say, " All the power is in the locomotive." Well, how do these carriages manage to get along if it is all there? You say: "There is a coupling, a link, a very simple thing." There is no power in the coupling, but it links the power in the locomotive with the carriages, and if you break the link, all the power is gone.^
^ People say, " Lord, increase our faith." Did not the Lord rebuke His disciples for that prayer ? He said, " You do not want a great faith, but faith in a great God. If your faith were as smaU as a grain of mustard-seed, it would suffice to remove this mountain ! " ^
3. The faith that conquers is a personal force or power in the soul. Not only does the truth conquer all that is false ; not only does union with our invincible head make our victory sure ; but we also conquer in the exercise of a personal faith, sustaining us in all the conflicts in which we engage. Such was the faith of Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and all the host of worthies whose names and deeds illustrate the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It was hj faith that " Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." It was by faith that " Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." It was by faith that he chose " rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." It was by faith that he esteemed " the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Faith made men strong, courageous, and capable of daring exploits. Through faith common men subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the