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the more to me than I could have credited. Perhaps we shall have an opportunity of
looking at the subject from another angle.
#3. Faith.
"Historic" and "Saving" Faith.
pp. 156 - 158
A.--While I admit that there is much more in the Word as to faith being the belief of a
testimony than I had thought, yet I am conscious that there is something not quite
satisfactory to my mind. You will remember that James says:--
"Thou believest that there is one God: thou doest well; the demons also believe, and
tremble" (James 2: 19).
This is what I call "historic faith" as distinct from "saving faith". Yet "faith that
believes a testimony" is historic faith, and I am therefore left rather perplexed.
B.--Your perplexity arises out of confusing things that differ. For the moment let us step
outside the scope of Scripture and use some everyday illustration. We both believe the
testimony of historians as to the date of the Norman Conquest--"1066 William the
Conqueror". Do you call such belief "historic faith"?
A.--Yes, I should, and moreover it is a good illustration that "historic faith" differs from
"saving faith", for no one can be the better for believing "1066 William the Conqueror".
B.--Let us try again. Demons believe that there is one God, some men do the same, but
that belief saves neither demons nor men. Why is this?
A.--I cannot quite see.
B.--Well, I think the most obvious reason is that nowhere in Scripture does salvation
depend upon believing that there is one God. It is not the "faith" but the object of faith
that makes the difference. If I believe that "Jesus died and rose again", that is "historic
faith", and you will remember that throughout the "Acts" and in many of the epistles
evidences and witnesses are brought forward to prove that death and resurrection to be an
historic fact. Now how is it that if I really believe that "Jesus died and rose again" such
faith bring salvation, whereas believing another historic fact of Scripture, viz., "there is
one God", does no such thing?
A.--Is there not more than mere history in the death and resurrection of Christ?
B.--There you touch upon the difference, though possibly you do not mean just what I
see. When I believe the historic fact that "Jesus died and rose again", it is impossible to