Transcriber's Note: Italics are indicated by _underscores_. Daily quotations from published prayers, which are italicised here and in the original, have been indented. Bolding is indicated by =equal signs=. Daily quotations from Scripture, which are bolded here and in the original, have also been indented. Small capitals have been rendered in upper case. Inconsistencies in spelling (e.g. "Savior" and "Saviour") and in hyphenation have been retained. In the two chemical formulae in Chapter 4 "^" is followed by a superscript and "_" by a subscript. Minor changes have been made to the format of biblical references; and corrections made to apparent punctuation errors elsewhere in the text. The Meaning of Faith HARRY EMERSON FOSDICK AUTHOR OF "THE MANHOOD OF THE MASTER," "THE MEANING OF PRAYER," "THE CHALLENGE OF THE PRESENT CRISIS," ETC. ASSOCIATION PRESS NEW YORK: 347 MADISON AVENUE 1922 COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS Printed in the United States of America The Bible Text used in this volume is taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. TO MY MOTHER IN MEMORIAM "_'Tis human fortune's happiest height to be A spirit melodious, lucid, poised, and whole; Second in order of felicity To walk with such a soul._" PREFACE A book on faith has been for years my hope and intention. And now it comes to final form during the most terrific war men ever waged, when faith is sorely tried and deeply needed. Direct discussion of the war has been purposely avoided; the issues here presented are not confined to those which the war suggests; but many streams of thought within the book flow in channels that the war has worn. Since the conflict had to come, I am glad for this book's sake that it was not written until it had Europe's holocaust for a background. Against one misunderstanding the reader should be guarded. If anyone approaches these studies, expecting to find detailed and special views of Christian doctrine, he will be disappointed. The perplexities of mind and life and the affirmations of religious faith, with which these studies deal, lie far beneath sectarian doctrinal controversy. I have tried to make clear a foundation on which faith might build its thoughts of Christian truth. And while I have spoken freely of God and Christ and the Spirit, of the Cross and life eternal, I have not intended or endeavored a complete theology. I have had in mind that elemental matter of which Carlyle was thinking when he wrote: "The thing a man does practically lay to heart, and know for certain concerning his vital relations to the mysterious Universe, and his duty and destiny there, _that_ is in all cases the primary thing for him, and creatively determines all the rest. _That_ is his religion."