by Abraham Kuyper
In ePub and .mobi formats
"Through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." -- Ephes. ii.8.
When the judicial act of the Triune God, justification, is announced to the conscience, faith begins to be active and expresses itself in works. This leads us to call the attention of our readers to the work of the Holy Spirit, which consists in the imparting of faith.
We are saved through faith; and that faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. It is very specially a gift of the Triune God, by a peculiar operation of the Holy Ghost; "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor. xii.3). St. Paul calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of faith (2 Cor. iv.13). And in Gal. v.22 he mentions faith as the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
In salvation nearly everything depends upon faith: hence a correct conception of faith is essential. It has always been the aim of error to poison faith's being, and thus to destroy weak souls as well as the Church itself. It is therefore the urgent duty of ministers to instruct the churches concerning faith's being and nature; by correct definitions to detect prevailing error, and thus to restore the joy of a clear and well-founded consciousness of faith.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Faith in General.
II. Faith and Knowledge.
III. Brakel and Comrie.
IV. Faith in the Sacred Scriptures.
V.. The Faculty of Faith.
VI. Defective Learning.
VII. Faith in the Saved Sinner Alone.
VIII. Testimonies.