Gospel Themes. Whitney Orson Ferguson
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that faith is the principle of power? And if the principle of power, must be so in man as well as in the Deity? This is the testimony of all the sacred writers, and the lesson which they have been endeavoring to teach to man. * * * *
"It was by faith that the worlds were framed. God spake, chaos heard, and worlds came into order by reason of the faith there was in him. So with man also; he spake by faith in the name of God and the sun stood still, the moon obeyed, mountains removed, prisons fell, lions' mouths were closed, the human heart lost its enmity, fire its violence, armies their power, the sword its terror, and death its dominion; and all this by reason of the faith which was in him.
"Had it not been for the faith which was in men, they might have spoken to the sun, the moon, the mountains, prisons, the human heart, fire, armies, the sword, or to death, in vain!
"Faith, then, is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things; by it they exist, by it they remain, agreeable to the will of God. Without it there is no power, and without power there could be no creation nor existence!"
A Negative Opinion.—A Christian minister (a Unitarian) once tried to convince me that faith was anything but an admirable quality. He called it contemptible, declaring that it consisted simply of a willingness to believe anything, however improbable or absurd: it was mere credulity, nothing more. When I spoke of faith as a spiritual force, he said I was attaching to the term a significance that it had never borne, and for which there was no warrant. I reminded him of the Savior's words in Matt. 17:19,20: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Whereupon he answered flippantly: "Oh, it takes picks and shovels to move mountains."
The Positive View.—I presume he would have conceded, had I pursued the subject further, that there are other ways of removing mountains. I fancy he would have admitted the power of the earthquake in the premises; though he might not have agreed with me that all intelligent action, human or divine, is the result of faith, and that whether mountains are moved with pick-axes or with earthquakes, by man or by his Maker, it is faith that precedes the action and renders it possible. This professed minister of Christ, who denied what Christ had taught, overlooked the fact that the smallest as well as the greatest acts of our lives spring from the exercise of faith.
Faith Fundamental.—God made faith the first principle of the gospel, because that is its proper place. It is the bottom round in the ladder of salvation, the first step in the stairway to perfection. "All things are possible to them that believe."
"As a Grain of Mustard Seed."—When the Savior spoke of the faith that "removes mountains," he was not measuring, either satirically or hyperbolically, the quantity of the faith by the size of the mustard seed. He probably meant that if man would obey the divine law given for his government, as faithfully as the mustard seed obeys the divine law given for its government, he would have infinitely more power than he now possesses. How difficult it seems for man, "the noblest work of God," to live in obedience to the highest principles revealed from heaven for his guidance. Yet the earth, we are told, "abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law" (D&C 88:25).
Faith and Credulity.—Faith, in its incipient stages, may resemble at times mere credulity. The untutored savage who was told by one of the early settlers of New England that if he planted grass seed it would produce gunpowder, believed it, not yet having learned that the white man would lie. He therefore parted with his valuable furs, in exchange for some of the seed, showing that he had faith in the settler's word. But it did not bring the desired result. Faith, to be effectual, must be based upon truth, and though higher than reason, must have a reasonable foundation. The spirit of truth must inspire it. This was not the case with the poor, misguided Indian; he trusted in a falsehood and was deceived. But some good came of it. He ascertained the falsity of the settler's statement. His faith induced him to plant the seed, and though it did not produce gunpowder—that being contrary to its nature—it produced a growth of grass-and a wiser Indian.
CHAPTER III
Faith Founded on Evidence.—The second of the Lectures on Faith is a discussion of the object upon which faith should rest; that object being God, the evidences of whose existence, as the foundation of all rational belief, are abundantly shown. Lecture Third contains these paragraphs, pertinent to the point now raised:
Essentials for a Perfect Faith.—"Three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.
"First, the idea that he actually exists.
"Second, a correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes.
"Third, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he [man] is pursuing is according to his [God's] will. For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive; but with this understanding it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding in righteousness, unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Possibilities of Faith.—Had the Indian's faith been properly founded—had it been a perfect faith, intelligent, rational, heaven-inspired, he could have produced gunpowder or any other commodity from the all-containing elements around him; and that, too, without planting a seed or employing an ordinary process of manufacture. The turning of water into wine, the miraculous feeding of the multitude, the walking upon the waves, the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, and other wonderful works wrought by the Savior, the apostles, and the ancient prophets—what were they but manifestations of an all-powerful faith, to possess which is to have the power to remove mountains—without picks and shovels, my skeptical Unitarian to the contrary notwithstanding. Such a faith is not mere credulity; it is a divine energy, operating upon natural laws and by natural processes—natural, though unknown to "the natural man," and termed by him supernatural.
The Universal Mainspring.—Faith is the beating heart of the universe—the incentive, the impulse, to all action, the mainspring of all achievement. Nothing was ever accomplished, small or great, commonplace or miraculous, that was not backed up by confidence in some power, human or superhuman, that impelled and pushed forward the enterprise.
An Impelling Force.—It was not doubt that drove Columbus across the sea; it was faith—the impelling force of the Spirit of the Lord (1 Ne. 13:12). It was not doubt that nerved the arm and fired the soul of Washington, inducing him and his ragged regiments to fight on through heat, frost, and hunger of seven long years, to win their country's freedom. It was not doubt that inspired Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin, and the other patriot fathers, to lay broad and deep the foundations of this mighty republic. It is not doubt that has caused nations to rise and flourish, and raised up great men in all ages and in all climes, to teach, toil, and sacrifice for the benefit of mankind. It is faith that does such things. Doubt undoes, or hinders, what faith achieves. The men and women who have moved this world were men and women who believed, who were earnest and sincere, even if in part mistaken.
Mahomet and Islam.—Carlyle portrays vividly the wondrous transition from weakness to strength that came over the descendants of Ishmael, when they became a believing nation, abandoning idolatry, and accepting Allah as their god, with Mahomet as his prophet:
"To the Arab nation it was as a birth from darkness into light; Arabia first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world; a hero-prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe; see, the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has become world-great; within one century afterwards Arabia is at Granada on this hand, at Delhi on that—glancing in valor and splendor and the light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages over a great section of the world. Belief is great, life-giving. The history of a nation becomes fruitful, soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes. These Arabs, the man Mahomet, and that one century—is it not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world of what seemed black, unnoticeable sand; but lo, the sand proves explosive