Her creed was very short and simple. She abjured idols, and believed
that Jehovah was the one God. She knew nothing of even the Mosaic
revelation, nothing of its moral law or of its sacrifices. And yet the
_Epistle to the Hebrews_ has no scruple in ascribing faith to her. The
object of that Epistle is to show that Christianity is Judaism
perfected. It labours to establish that objectively there has been
advance, not contradiction, and that subjectively there is absolute
identity. It has always been faith that has bound men to God. That
faith may co-exist with very different degrees of illumination. Not the
creed, but the trust, is the all-important matter. This applies to all
pre-Christian times and to all heathen lands. _Our_ faith has a fuller
gospel to lay hold of. Do not neglect it.
Beware lest people with less light and more love get in before you,
'who shall come from the east and the west.'