Systematic Theology (Volume 3 of 3)Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Religion
Systematic Theology (Volume 3 of 3)
Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Baptists -- Doctrines; Theology, Doctrinal
A better doctrine is that of the Puritan divine: “It is not the
quantity of thy faith that shall save thee. A drop of water is as
true water as the whole ocean. So a little faith is as true faith
as the greatest. It is not the measure of thy faith that saves
thee,—it is the blood that it grips to that saves thee. The weak
hand of the child, that leads the spoon to the mouth, will feed as
well as the strong arm of a man; for it is not the hand that
feeds, but the meat. So, if thou canst grip Christ ever so weakly,
he will not let thee perish.” I am troubled about the money I owe
in New York, until I find that a friend has paid my debt there.
When I find that the objective account against me is cancelled,
then and only then do I have subjective peace.
A child may be heir to a vast estate, even while he does not know
it; and a child of God may be an heir of glory, even while,
through the weakness of his faith, he is oppressed with painful
doubts and fears. No man is lost simply because of the greatness
of his sins; however ill‐deserving he may be, faith in Christ will
save him. Luther’s climbing the steps of St. John Lateran, and the
voice of thunder: “The just shall live by faith,” are not certain
as historical facts; but they express the substance of Luther’s
experience. Not obeying, but receiving, is the substance of the
gospel. A man cannot merit salvation; he cannot buy it; but one
thing he must do,—he must take it. And the least faith makes
salvation ours, because it makes Christ ours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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