FAITH AND WORKS | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 8, 1874

FAITH AND WORKS.

Two gentlemen were one day crossing a river in a ferry boat. A dispute about faith and works arose, one saying that good works were of small importance and that faith was everything, the other asserting the contrary. Not being able to convince each other, the ferryman, an enlightened Christian, asked permission to give his opinion. Consent being granted, he said, “I hold in my hand two oars. That in my right hand I call faith; the other, in my left, works. Now, gentlemen, please to observe; I pull the oar of faith, and pull that alone. See! the boat goes round and round, and makes no progress. I do the same with the oar of works, and with a precisely similar result—no advance. Mark! I pull both together, we go on apace, and in a very few moments we shall be at our landing place. So, in my humble opinion,” he added, “faith without works, or works without faith, will not suffice. Let there be both, and the haven of eternal rest is sure to be reached.”