THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Take heed unto … the doctrine.’
I. The source of faith.—The sacred Scriptures are the source—the infallible source—of the doctrines of our most holy religion. They are profitable for teaching; they were written for our learning; they, and they alone, are able to make men wise unto salvation.
II. The defence of the faith.—But if the Scriptures are the sacred fount of Divine truth, the Church and the ministers of the Church are the guardians and keepers of that truth.
III. The temper of the faith.—Following the source of the Christian faith and the defence of the Christian faith are the vows reminding us of the temper of the Christian faith—quietness, peace, love.
IV. The discipline of the faith.—There is one more vow to be considered—the vow of obedience—the godly discipline of submission to lawful authority as represented by the bishop and chief ministers of the Church.
—Archdeacon Madden.
Illustration
‘The attack upon the fortress of revealed truth changes with the ages. Yesterday it was Voltaire and Tom Paine; to-day it is Haeckel, Herbert Spencer, and the Encyclopædia Biblica. Each have their little day and pass away—the truth of God abideth for ever.’