THE PROBLEM OF FAITH 221 



that he cannot beget a child without handing on 

 to that child a nature which will be as bad as if 

 his father had never been forgiven, is not salvation 

 in any real sense. What we need is not only par- 

 don, but such a clarification of the fountains of 

 being as will make us the parents of those whose 

 tendencies shall be upward ; and nothing less is 

 worthy the name of salvation. It was said of the 

 Master, "His name shall be called Jesus, because 

 He shall save the people from their sins ; " but 

 the people are not saved from their sins when 

 there are within them streams of tendency waiting 

 only an opportunity of sweeping away all noble 

 aspirations and holy volitions. There is a pro- 

 found significance in the phrase " new birth," or 

 "birth from above." It indicates that the whole 

 personality is so changed that that which was 

 foul has become pure, and that which formerly 

 begat evil, now by a law equally binding produces 

 a progeny with a movement toward holiness. 

 When we speak of what we need, an attempt to 

 put evident facts into Biblical forms is unneces- 

 sary. Salvation can mean no less than deliverance 

 from tendencies toward evil and voluntary wrong- 

 doing ; it means also deliverance from the necessity 

 of transmitting to others a polluted nature. If it 

 be said that that is contrary to facts, the only reply 



