In remarking on the relation of faith in God to faith in the creature, it will be kept in mind, that we are speaking of religious
faith, in distinction from natural faith. It is undoubtedly true, that
as natural men, that is to say, as men without religion, we may properly
exercise a degree of confidence or faith in others, considered as
natural men. Perhaps we may say, it is unavoidable. Man is so
constituted, that he naturally and necessarily has faith in something.
He cannot live without it. If a man has not faith in God, it is a matter
of course, that he has faith in something which is not God. And just in
proportion as that faith, which is due to God, fails to be placed where
it is due, it will invariably be found to be given and placed somewhere
else. Those, therefore, who have not faith in God, are consistent with
themselves, and consistent with their fallen nature, in placing faith in
men. They cannot well do otherwise. Man, such as he is, and with such
power as he can impart, is their support. In a word, by the very fact of
not placing faith in God, who is the “I AM,” the ALL in ALL, and by
placing it in man, they make man their God. This is natural; it is the
unavoidable result of the natural life.
The religious man,
considered as a religious man, (that is to say, considered as acting for
religious objects and on religious principles,) cannot place faith in
his fellow-men, except in a certain way and on certain conditions. The
degree and the mode of the faith, which is to be exercised by the
religious man in his fellow creatures, are to be determined by the
relation which exists between God and man. It is well understood, that
God and man sustain certain definite relations to each other; God as the
Creator, man as the created; God as infinite in knowledge, man as
comparatively knowing nothing; God as all powerful in the possession and
control of all things, man in himself considered as entirely without
strength. The relation in the objects of faith furnishes the rule, which
regulates the relation of the faith itself. Accordingly if as
Christians, we exercise faith in God, and at the same time exercise
faith in man, it can be so only under the restriction and on the
condition of keeping faith in man in proper subordination, by making it
conform precisely to the relations actually existing.
And on
the principle just laid down, we may undoubtedly, as religious persons,
have faith in man, just so far as he is entitled to the exercise of
faith. And he is entitled to faith, just so far as he is in union with
God; deriving from God, who is the source of all good, that true
strength and wisdom, of which he is naturally destitute. If we trust in
man under other circumstances, that is to say, independently of God and
out of God, we trust in that, which is obviously full of weakness; and
may be said, in the most emphatic manner, to “lean upon a broken reed.”
The principle, therefore, is, that, as religious men, we cannot place
any real confidence in our fellow-men, considered in their natural life,
or merely as men; but can have confidence in them only as they
themselves have faith in God, and may be regarded as in some degree
partakers of the divine nature. If as Christians we have faith in God as
God, namely, as a being possessed of all wisdom, all goodness, all
strength, and as the true source of wisdom and strength to all other
beings, we shall have no inducement, nor can any reason at all be
suggested, why we should repose confidence, except in the subordinate
manner already mentioned, in any other being. To do it would obviously
imply a secret distrust of God, and could not be otherwise than
offensive to him.
— The Life of Faith (1852) Part 2, Chapter 2.