once admitted. We know that two and two make four, we know that two
straight lines cannot enclose a space; but we do not know in the same
sense those things which the Creed affirms. It deals with statements
that, for the most part, have never been, and cannot be, tested by
sense, and that cannot be demonstrated by such proof as will compel us
to accept them. We believe them, not because it is impossible to
withhold our assent, nor only because nature, history, and conscience
confirm them, but on the ground of testimony. "Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God."[010] We believe because we are assured
on sufficient and competent authority that these things are so. We know
that we live in a material universe, but our knowledge does not extend
to the manner in which the universe came into being. That is a matter of
belief. "Through faith"--not by ocular or logical proof, but on
testimony--"we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of
God."[011]

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