FAITH AND REPENTANCE NOT ALL OF RELIGION.
By Albert Stone
We would earnestly contend for faith and repentance as cardinal points in religion. They are as essential to religion as life is to motion, and bear the same relation to it. But it is not all of life to live, neither does the whole of religion consist merely in repenting and believing. These are only first principles. They are simply generative and initiatory. If Gen. Washington had never been born, he would not have fought the battles of the Revolution. But he might have been born and well trained in military tactics, and yet never fought the battles. Faith, repentance, and love are simply affections of the mind; and we need not be informed that they are, in their own nature, invisible to every eye but that of Omniscience. We cannot look into the heart and see them glowing there. They can be discerned only by the effects they produce, and the external signs which constitute their language. Where their genuine effects are most abundantly displayed, there we conclude they exist in the highest degree. We see them as they exist, not in the fountain, but in the streams; and from the copiousness of the streams we infer the fullness of the fountain. It is by this rule that we are to estimate our Saviour's love for man. His love was great, without a parallel. In itself it was invisible. No one could look into the great heart of Jesus and see it glowing there. The action inspired by love is all that can be seen. Did Jesus act? Then we know that he loved. Otherwise we could not know it. And the intensity of his action was the measure of his love. It is the same in regard to faith and repentance. True faith is known to exist only by the works it inspires. True repentance is known only by the reformation of the penitent. It is a painful fact that the nature of faith is but imperfectly understood by many professed Christians of the present time. By many it seems to be regarded as an abstract principle, meaning no more than to believe in Christ as our Saviour, and to trust in him for salvation; and they think that this constitutes a Bible union with Christ, and entitles us to salvation. Such an attainment once made, we are at liberty to embrace any view of Christian doctrine that lies inside the large circle of church creeds. Said an intelligent Methodist lady the other day, as her attention was invited to the subject of the soon-coming of Christ: "Why, I am a Methodist; my parents were Methodists; they died happy and have gone to Heaven. I am satisfied with Methodist religion." An aged deacon lately made virtually the same reply, when we called his attention to the subject of the sanctuary of the Bible. Said he, "What need have I of more truth? I have truth enough to save me, and have no need to trouble myself with those outside issues." And thus it is generally; the people are satisfied with the religion they have at present, both as to quantity and quality. Being at ease in Zion, they measure themselves, not by the law of God, the proper rule, but by any false standard that happens to have the approval of others, and thus feel that they are safe. They look not for any change of dispensation, or any further development of truth. To many there are no practical duties connected with the advent doctrine; they are prepared for death, and to be thus is the sum total of true religion. They feel quite sure that their experience, in years past, includes faith and repentance, and to these is linked salvation. They realize not on which side they stand in the great controversy between the true and the false, now soon to be ended. They have not been careful to heed the counsel of the apostle Peter, and thus add to their "faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity." 2 Peter 1:5-7. Faith that does not add to itself the other graces, is not faith in the Bible sense of the term. What if I do believe there is one God? What if I embrace in my belief the whole system of revealed truth? The devils believe all this, but they do not perform good works. Temperance, patience, godliness, and charity possess value in themselves. But faith is only valuable as it relates us to God, and is the basis of good works, and an incentive to their performance. Thousands make profession of faith. It is cheap to do this. But to keep faith in a condition to bear fruit, costs something. It is a warfare in which few care to engage. It seems as though many were trying to get to Heaven with the least possible outlay of faith; with the least watching, praying, reforming, and enduring hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. There seems to be a tendency at the present time to bind religion within the limits of a dead faith, to cast off restraint, and give license to sin. A defective faith carries rottenness and decay into every branch of Christian doctrine and duty. Constant effort is required to keep this part of the armor in working order. As the apple hangs on the tree by its stem, and requires its support and growth through it, so all the genuine fruit of Christianity hangs on the stem of faith. Hence, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Men may be most persuaded to be a Christian, and yet through neglecting to obey God, grieve his Spirit, "put light for darkness, and darkness for light," and accept "for doctrines the commandments of men." Here lies one of the great dangers of the present time. The world is being enlightened on the fourth commandment. The time has come to proclaim the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The time has come for the church of God to heed the injunction, "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." While many will be obedient to this divine mandate, the great majority will disobey, and by actions emphatically say, "We will not walk therein." It is easy to say, "Lord, Lord," but to do the will of our Father in Heaven requires moral courage and decision of character. "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls." "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:22, 25. Here it seems to me we have both sides. One person is a doer of the word, he continues in the perfect law of liberty, and thus secures the blessing of obedience. Another hears the word, and perhaps trembles under it, but does not obey. He shuns the cross and is made to hope all is well. He confers with flesh and blood, waiting to see the cross removed.