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to its acceptance. In others they suggest trust in a person. Thus a distinction is often drawn between believing a doctrine about Christ and believing in Christ. The distinction is a real one, but it is easy exaggerate it; for the two things are closely connected together, and both are required in Scripture. It was because they believed Him to be the Messiah and the Son of God (i.e. believed a doctrine about Him) that the early disciples believed (or trusted) in Jesus, and looked for salvation through Him. There is, further, yet another different shade of meaning given to the word 'faith' or 'belief' (for it must always be remembered that there is but one Greek word, πioris, to represent both these English words)—a meaning which became very common in later days, and is already found in Holy Scripture. The faith' ( Tiors with the definite article) sometimes means the substance of what is believed, i.e. what we might fairly call the Christian Creed, understanding by this phrase not the actual formulary which we know, but its contents or substance. The phrase is so used in the Epistle of S. Jude, who speaks of the faith once for all delivered to the saints,' and again a little lower down uses the expression 'your most holy faith.' So in the Acts of the Apostles we read of Elymas the sorcerer seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith, 22 where the word is apparently used with something of the same shade of meaning; and this use of the term becomes increasingly common in the later 1 S. Jude 3, 20. 2 Acts xiii. 8.

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Epistles of S. Paul, who speaks of 'preaching the faith which he once destroyed,' of 'striving for the faith of the Gospel,' 'making shipwreck concerning the faith,'' falling away from the faith'; of Timothy being 'nourished in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine'; of 'denial of the faith'; of men being led astray from the faith,' 'erring concerning the faith,'' reprobate concerning the faith'; of 'keeping the faith,' and being sound in the faith.'1 such expressions and phrases are very noteworthy. They clearly imply that the Christian creed or belief was something definite, something which needed to be jealously guarded, something from which men might fall away to their great spiritual loss.

All

And yet in the present day it requires some courage for a man to stand up and admit that he attaches importance to a definite belief and soundness in the faith. The tendency of much of modern thought is to disparage the value of a definite faith, to belittle the importance of what is sometimes scornfully termed 'credal Christianity.' Any definite belief is apt to be set down as narrow and sectarian; and the familiar lines,

"For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight,
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right,'

'2

would be accepted by many persons as expressing their views and needing no qualification whatever.

1 See Gal. i. 23; Phil. i. 27; 1 Tim. i. 19; iv. 1, 6; v. 8; vi. 10, 21; 2 Tim. iii. 8; iv. 7; Tit. i. 13.

2 Pope's Essay on Man.

Under these circumstances, it becomes necessary for churchmen to review their position and ask themselves why it is that Holy Scripture lays such stress not only upon the possession of faith (subjective), but but also upon holding the faith' (objective); and further, why it is that the Church has from the very first required profession of a definite Creed from all who seek shelter within her fold and are received by baptism into her Communion; why she has, if not from the first, yet from comparatively early times, called for a profession of faith from all Communicants before they draw near in the most sacred service of all, to receive the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ; and why, lastly, she bids her ministers, when visiting the sick and dying, examine them whether they believe as a Christian man should or no.'1

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There is, of course, an element of truth in Alexander Pope's lines quoted above. It does not really matter what a man says that he believes, if that is all. True belief is not a mere matter of words; practice may, and often does, belie profession. To have faith in a doctrine,' it has been truly said, 'is to believe, and not to make-believe.' Moreover, men are often better than their Creed, and even after faith in a definite Creed has been lost, the effect of past belief may still

1 Then shall the minister exhort the sick person after this form, or other like. Therefore I shall rehearse to you the Articles of our Faith, that you may know whether you do believe as a Christian man should or no.'-The Order for the Visitation of the Sick.

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be seen in the life; while tradition and Christian environment may influence the conduct of many who would disown the Christian faith. But though this holds good to some extent, yet in the long-run and on a wide scale it will be found that belief affects conduct far more profoundly, and that Creed and character correspond far more closely, than men in general recognise. Some striking testimonies to this may here be cited. The late Bishop Westcott says that all experience goes to show that conduct in the long-run corresponds with belief.' The Christian bishop does not stand alone in such an assertion. Thomas Carlyle is no less emphatic: When belief waxes uncertain, practice becomes unsound.' Nor has any one expressed the truth more forcibly and picturesquely than Emerson in his fine saying: 'A man's action is but the picture-book of his Creed.'1 These sayings are absolutely true; but in order to recognise their truth we must realise what belief really means, and that much which passes in the world for belief is not worthy of the name. Unless belief manifests itself in conduct it is unreal. No belief,' says Professor Bain, is real unless it guide our actions.' With equal emphasis Professor Clifford asserts that preparedness to act upon what we affirm is the sole, the genuine, the unmistakable criterion of belief." 2

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1 These three citations are all given in the Rev. A. W. Robinson, The Church Catechism Explained, p. 37.

2 Cited in Page Roberts, Liberalism in Religion, p. 78.

The truth of these sayings may easily be tested in matters not connected with religion; and it will be found that they hold good equally in regard to religious faith. Do you want to know whether belief affects conduct? You may apply a very simple test by putting a pistol to your neighbour's head. If he believes it to be unloaded, he may smile at your act as a piece of harmless folly; but if he believes it to be loaded, you will soon find to your cost that his belief guides his actions. He will knock up the pistol at once, and you will soon find yourself stretched on the floor, or carried off to gaol as a dangerous person.

Again, a man tells you that he believes in homeopathy. You accept his statement without question at the moment. He says he does, and that is enough for you until the occasion arises for him to put his belief into practice. His wife or child is struck down by some disease. At once you inquire who is the medical practitioner for whom he sends. If he be a homeopath, his action is the picture-book of his creed, and illustrates his belief. If, however, you find that it is not the homeopath who is called in and entrusted with the care of the sick person, you can scarcely help questioning the reality of his faith. Or take the case of the famous German pessimist who denounced life as not worth living. 'Schopenhauer was bound by his own principles to seize the first opportunity that fairly offered of "shuffling off this mortal coil." The cholera came

to Berlin. Here was a door to Nirvana-cessation of existence-open to him. He packed his portmanteau