Faith differs from opinion.  When a man believes his mind is made up.  By whatever process it may have been reached, the conclusion commends itself as one that is fixed and irreversible.  Opinion, on the other hand, is held loosely.  It is based not on certainty but on probability.  The possibility of error is recognised, and the opinion is readily surrendered when the grounds on which it was formed are seen to be insufficient or misleading.  “A man,” says Coleridge, “having seen a million moss roses all red, concludes from his own experience and that of others that all moss roses are red.  That is a maxim with him—­the greatest amount of his knowledge upon the subject.  But it is only true until some gardener has produced a white moss rose,—­after which the maxim is good for nothing."[012]

The testimony on which faith rests is human or Divine.  It is human in so far as it is based on human experience and observation.  It is Divine in so far as it rests upon the direct revelation of God.  Faith in man is continually exercised in business and in all the departments of life.  It is necessary to the very existence of society.  Faith in God moves in another sphere.  Its objects are not seen or temporal, and they do not rest for proof upon the testimony of man.  It receives and assents to statements which are made on the authority of God, who knows all things, who therefore cannot be deceived, and who is truth and therefore cannot deceive us.  On this Divine rock of faith, and not upon her own knowledge, the Christian Church rests.  “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater."[013] Among Christian virtues faith stands first.  It must precede everything else.  It is the foundation on which all Christian character and life are built.  “He that cometh unto God must believe that he is."[014] “Without faith it is impossible to please God."[015]

That which Christian faith realises and grasps is expressed in doctrine.  Faith is not a separate and self-dependent grace.  Its existence and growth arise from those things which are believed, and therefore it is necessary to study and understand, as far as we can, the doctrines of the Christian faith before we can possess or manifest belief.  It is important that we should have a definite knowledge of these doctrines; that we should study them in relation to the Scriptures upon which they profess to be founded, and that we should be in a position to defend them against assailants.  Thus faith will gather strength, and believers will be “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them with meekness and fear."[016]

SECTION 2.—­GOD—­[017]