Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/61

Rh the better qualified to regulate and keep in subjection those selfish and worldly affections, which have too long had the ascendency in our minds, and which are the only obstacles to our loving the Lord above all things, and our neighbour as ourselves.

FAITH in general may be defined a belief in the truths of divine revelation, and that whosoever liveth well, and believeth aright, will be saved by the Lord. It therefore implies a knowledge concerning the Lord, his descent from heaven, his birth in the world, his miraculous works, his temptations, trials, and sufferings, even to the passion of the cross, together with his successive victories over the powers of darkness, and finally his resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Yet the mere knowledge of these things, with many others relating to the Lord, to the church, to heaven, and to eternal life, does not of itself constitute a saving faith: for so long as truths remain only in the understanding, as subjects of thought and science, they do not carry with them the power of salvation; but when they are embraced by the affections of the heart, and enter into the actions of the life, they then constitute a true and saving faith, being at the same time accompanied with a firm trust and confidence in the divine mercy and protection of the Lord. Hence the Lord says, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them," John xiii. 17.

As faith, to be truly such, must be in agreement with the genuine sense of the Sacred Scriptures, and not founded on an erroneous interpretation of them, it is of the first importance, that a just and correct view