tion' could find their
way into a man's heart but through the channel of his trust. Have you
opened that channel? If you have not, you need not wonder it cannot be
otherwise--that salvation does not come unto you.

Consider its worth as a defence. The Apostle in one place speaks about
'the shield of faith.' But there is nothing in the belief that I am safe
to make me safe. It is very often a fatal blunder. All depends upon that
or Him, to which or whom I am trusting for my safety. Put yourself
beneath the true Shield--'The Lord God is a sun and shield'--and then
you will be safe. Your way of running into the strong tower which alone,
with its massive walls, protects us from all danger and from all sin, is
by trusting Him.

Just as light things on a ship's deck have to be lashed in order to be
secured and lie still, you and I have to lash ourselves to Jesus Christ;
then, not by reason of the lashings, but by reason of Him, we are
fastened and secured.

Consider the worth of faith as a means of purifying. This very Apostle,
in his great speech in Jerusalem, when vindicating the reception of the
Gentiles into the Church, spoke of God as having 'purified their hearts
by faith.' And here again, I say, there is no cleansing power in the
act of trust. Cleansing power is in that which, by the act of trust,
comes into my heart. Faith is not simple receptivity, not mere passive
absorbing of what is given, but it is the active taking by desire as
well as by confidence. And when we trust in Jesus Christ, His blood and
righteousness, there flows into our hearts that Divine life which, like
a river turned into a dung-heap, will sweep all the filth before it. You
have to get the purifying power by faith. Ay! and you have to utilise
the purifying power by effort and by work. 'What God hath joined
together, let not men put asunder.'

III. Now, lastly, note the identity of faith.

'_Like_ precious,' says Peter, and, as I said, there may be defended a
double application of the word, and two sets of pairs of classes may be
supposed to have been in his mind. I do not discuss which of these may
be the case, only I would suggest to you that from this beautiful
gathering together of all the diversities of the Christian character,
conception, and development into one great whole, we are taught that the
one thing that makes a Christian is this trust. That is the universal
characteristic; that is uniform, whatever may differ. Ah! how much an