Of all true excellence, then, love is the root, the pri-
mal form, the comprehensive character^ God is love^
not faith. Faith is an attribute of imperfect natures.
But now, in such natures, what place does faith hold '/
I answer, that of the most immediate motive power.
I cannot act, as an intellectual and moral being, with-
out faith; i. e. without conviction. I cannot obey
God unless I believe in him. I cannot follow Christ,
unless I believe in him. I cannot yield to the influ-
ence of any truth, unless I believe in it. I cannot care
for the soul, my own or another's, unless I believe in
the soul. I cannot resist temptation, unless I believe
in virtue and purity. I cannot live in hope of immor-
tality, unless I believe in a future life. The immediate
motive power then is faith.
Faith, if I may say so, stands between love and
works. To draw a comparison from the mill that
grinds com; love is the stream, faith is the water-
wheel, good works are the product Thus faith works
by love, and purifies the soul — ^purifies the life. And the
result is certain ; it is involved in the principle that
produces it Thus when St Paul says that men are



328 ON FAITH, AND

saved by faith, and St. James, that they are saved by
works, both mean the same thing : the one speaks of
the necessary impulse, the other of the inevitable act
that follows.
From all this then it appears that the immediate,
manifest, practical obstacle to our salvation, appears in
the form of imbeUef. Let us consider for a few
moments in this serious light, this great evil of
unbelief.
