A Principle of Power.--"As we receive by faith all temporal blessings that we do receive, so we in like manner receive by faith all spiritual blessings that we do receive. But faith is not only the principle of action, but of power also, in all intelligent beings, whether in heaven or on earth. Thus says the author of the epistle to the Heb. 11:3: `Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.' "Had it not been for the principle of faith the worlds would never have been framed, neither would man have been formed of the dust. It is the principle by which Jehovah works, and through which he exercises power over all temporal as well as eternal things. Take this principle or attribute--for it is an attribute--from the Deity, and he would cease to exist. "Who cannot see, that if God framed the worlds by faith, that it is by faith that he exercises power over them, and that faith is the principle of power? And if the principle of power, must be so in man as well as in the Deity? This is the testimony of all the sacred writers, and the lesson which they have been endeavoring to teach to man. * * * * "It was by faith that the worlds were framed. God spake, chaos heard, and worlds came into order by reason of the faith there was in him. So with man also; he spake by faith in the name of God and the sun stood still, the moon obeyed, mountains removed, prisons fell, lions' mouths were closed, the human heart lost its enmity, fire its violence, armies their power, the sword its terror, and death its dominion; and all this by reason of the faith which was in him. "Had it not been for the faith which was in men, they might have spoken to the sun, the moon, the mountains, prisons, the human heart, fire, armies, the sword, or to death, in vain! "Faith, then, is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things; by it they exist, by it they remain, agreeable to the will of God. Without it there is no power, and without power there could be no creation nor existence!" A Negative Opinion.--A Christian minister (a Unitarian) once tried to convince me that faith was anything but an admirable quality. He called it contemptible, declaring that it consisted simply of a willingness to believe anything, however improbable or absurd: it was mere credulity, nothing more. When I spoke of faith as a spiritual force, he said I was attaching to the term a significance that it had never borne, and for which there was no warrant. I reminded him of the Savior's words in Matt. 17:19,20: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Whereupon he answered flippantly: "Oh, it takes picks and shovels to move mountains."