Faith

Improvement Era Vol. XX JUNE, 1917 No. 8 Faith By Nephi Jensen On the 10th day of December, 1916, the Rev. Fred Winslow Adams, of New York City, preached a sermon on the subject, "What is the greatest safeguard against temptation?" The fol- lowing answers elicited from persons of note formed the basis of the discourse: "High aims," Andrew Carnegie. "Influence of a good mother," Dr. Lyman Abbott. "The will to resist," Oscar S. Strauss. "Influence of a good home to those who have it, and fear to those who have not," Booth Tarkington. "Knowledge," Arthur Brisbane. "Will," Irving Bacheller. "Healthy interest in good things," Sir R. Tagore. Dr. Adams' question calls for an answer that should contain the name of the strongest force in the world for righteousness. What is it? Faith! Why did these noted persons, most of whom are Christians, fail to use this word of words? Was it because of the false modern notion that Christian faith is a mere insipid, passive leaning upon the arm of God? If some of them had had Paul's depth of understanding of the religion of Jesus they would probably have given his answer to this question of questions: "Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Eph. 6:16). Every temptation speaks in the serpent's original words: "It is desirable." Only the deep-rooted living assurance of the supreme desirability of good and pure things makes the soul invulnerable to sin's deceitful enticing. It is not enough to merely resist evil. Nothing but the deep love of the good and true which completely quenches the desire for sinful pleasures, wholly disarms the tempter. This love is born of the faith that gives the soul the saint's certainty of the reality and everlasting glory of the great trinity of graces, goodness, truth and beauty.

666 IMPROVEMENT ERA Andrew Carnegie's antidote, "high aims," suggests Goethe's words, "The important thing in life is to have a great aim." But what is most important is the principle that inspires "high aims." Why does one "hitch his wagon to a star"? Why does he resolve to make the development and perfection of character the most important business of life? There can be only one answer. As is one's faith so is his aspiration. Arthur Brisbane concludes that "knowledge" is the best safeguard against temptation. Without doubt knowledge is power. But sin is a foe so deadly that nothing short of supreme power can repel its deceptive advances. Almost daily we meet men held in slavery by the cigarette and other bad habits, who say very frankly, "I know it is harmful to smoke, but I can't quit." What do these unfortunates lack? Knowledge? No. They lack the power to turn "can't" into "can." Faith is the name of this power, faith that transmutes the desire for evil things into the love of God and his righteousness. A few days ago we ate lunch with a doctor. In spite of his scientific knowledge that tobacco is injurious to health, he smoked cigarettes after his lunch. That evening we called on a Dutch family in the capacity of ward teachers. During the conversation the Dutchman said, "We joined the Church seven years ago. The first elders who came to our house told us that it was wrong to use tobacco. I have never used tobacco since that time." What is the difference between the doctor and the Dutchman? The one has facts in his head, the other has a living principle in his heart. Knowledge is awareness of facts; faith is an attitude, a disposition. Nobility of heart is a better moral guide than a head full of philosophy. The answers of Bacheller and Strauss in the one word "Will" suggest a question which calls for a deeper answer. Why does anyone "will" to resist temptation? Is it not because of the soul-rooted conviction that virtue leads to joy and vice is the way to despair? Would one "will" to become a saint if he did not believe that sainthood is the highest human achievement and possible of attainment through ceaseless resolution and striving? The conclusion is irresistible. Back of "will" is faith, and back of faith is God. "There is no destiny, no chance, no fate Can circumvent or hinder or control The firm resolve of a determined soul. Gifts count for nothing, will alone is great, All things give way before it soon or late." These strong words are only true of the "will" to which faith has welded the strength of God. Such a "will" is the im- perial sovereign in this world of clashing forces and enticing deceits. Before it every foe of the soul cowers in defeat.

FAITH 667 Tagore thinks a "healthy interest in good things" is the surest safeguard against temptation. But what is really needed is the power that awakens a "healthy interest in good things." What is this power? What is it that unfailingly sends the soul in eager quest of "good things?" Faith! Can there be any doubt about it? Why does anyone adore truth, practice virtue and thereby attain the beauty of holiness? Is it not because of his undoubting conviction that truth alone sets the soul free, and goodness is the only way to genuine, lasting happiness and peace? It is only when faith wavers that vice seems more fair than virtue and temptation does its deadly work. In every age the heroic souls who have ceaselessly shunned sin as a deadly viper, and clung to virtue as the fairest thing beneath the stars, have continually had before their eyes and in their hearts the sentiment, which is the soul of all morals, "God is the great final jndge of all my thoughts, deeds and aspirations." "A healthy interest in good things," is a very desirable pos- session. But the "thirst" of the soul for "good things" is more potential for righteousness than a "healthy interest in good things." The "hunger and thirst for righteousness," which is only awakened by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, sends the soul toward God and truth with an eagerness that makes vice seem hideous. This "hunger and thirst for righteousness," is only found in the hearts of those who have through faith drawn so close to God that they have become certain that truth alone satisfies the soul's deepest craving. These souls receive a "testi- mony of the truth," which makes them so certain of the glory of truth, the nobility of goodness and the beauty of purity, that sin becomes utterly loathsome to them. It is most disheartening that the answer of Dr. Lyman Ab- bott, one of the most noted living divines, indicates that he has forgotten or never knew that "God" is not only the most sacred but the most powerful word spoken. No one would dispute with him the "mother's" right to a very prominent place among the names of the great factors and forces for righteousness. But does it not smack a little of sentimentalism for a minister of Christ to put the "influence of a good mother" above the "in- fluence of God," which the docotor's answer seems to do? Has the doctor forgotten the "matchless power of Jesus' name?" Does he expect that men can become Christians without Christ, or godlv without God? If he does, he puts himself in a class with the majority of modern divines who have not yet learned that faith in Christ is the awakened consciousness of the divinity in man, which more powerfully and certainly than any other force keeps man from sin and draws him towards God, the goal of all good! That not one of these answers even hints at the availability

668 IMPROVEMENT ERA of divine power to nerve the soul with strength and courage to combat sin is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the age. A few centuries ago the teachers of religion strove to make the race godly without goodness. The pendulum has swung to the other extreme. Now they are trying to make the race good without godliness. On every hand we hear men say, "I believe morality but I don't take any stock in religion." As well might they say, "A watch without a mainspring is just as good as one with a spring." Faith is the mainspring of the soul. It is the moral energy of the heart. It is for this reason that attendance at church services, prayer, the reading of the scriptures, and all those activities that make for an increase of faith, send the soul truth-ward with an impetus unknown to those who only practice godless morality- God is at the heart of all things, good, true and beautiful. To leave his name out of a plan intended for the moralization of the race is as vain as an attempt to put harmonious tints into the heart of a flower without sunlight. Just as the sunlight puts the glory of beauty in the soul of the rose, so God's Spirit puts the glory of purity and goodness in the human soul. It is not enough that one "wills to resist" temptation. If he merely strives to refrain from sinful indulgence he will still be subject to temptation. What is needed is the supreme aspira- tion for good and pure things that sends the soul truth-ward with an impetus that leaves the tempter's schemes far in the rear of the advancing soul. Faith is the name of this aspiration. Only living faith in God and his Christ, nerves the soul with all con- quering strength in his warfare against evil. This faith makes him conscious of the divinity in him, gives him the martyr's certainty of the everlasting glory of pure and holy things; and awakens in the depths of his soul a "hunger and thirst for right- eousness" that impels him to reach out for God with divine strength in answer to the call, "Come unto me." Faith is the highest "aim." It is the soul's supreme aspira- tion. It is more than "will." It is will plus the strength of God. It is deeper than a "healthy interest in good things." It is a "hunger and thirst" for the best things. It leads to the "knowl- edge" of God which is life eternal, and which enables one to tiuthfully say and live: "It matters not how straight the gate, How charged with punishment the shoal, I am master of my fate I am captain of my soul." Carlisle was right. "Belief is great, life-giving. The his- tory of a nation becomes fruitful, soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes." Forest Dale, Utah