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Article PEOVIUeiAL ← Page 5 of 7 →
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Peoviueial
u i Never was amarvel done on earth but it had sprung of faith ; Nothing noble , generous , or great , bnt faith was the root of the a ^ Nothing comely , nothing famous , but its praise is M Leohidas fought in human faith as Joshua In divine . ,, ¦ ¦ ' # ¦• ' ' * ¦ y . ¦" . # * * ~ ¦* ' 1 ( ' There is a faith towards men , and there is a faith toward God ; The latter Is the gold and the former is the brass ; but both are sturdy metal . "
" It is not for me to stipulate for creeds : Bible , church , and reason , These three shall lead the mind , if any can , to truth . But I must stipulate for faith , both God and man demand it . " < € What , then , is faith ? " Faith is the substance of things hoped for , and the evidence of things not seen . " Faith is a sure evidence that things not seen do nevertheless exist ; but more especially in divine things , it substantiates the fulfilment of the promises of the Grand Geometrician of the Universe . There is a strong analogy hetween things human and divines-faith tovvards man
and faith towards God . In the first , the object of our faith is fallible , in the other infallible . Through man , in his best estate , we may be deceived ; through God never . The nearer we approach to God , the inevitable consequence is that we are the more faithful to each other . The fraternity that lives beneath the shade of a system of morality that all must acknowledge to he divine , and lifts its heart and voice to the one Being , supreme over all , may justly and warrantably be trusted wherever they may be scattered over the face of earth or water . But I inquire again—What then is faith % Faith is to trust , to confide in , to rely upon another .
Have you ever experienced what it Is to have faith in a friend ! This is what we treat of ; not historical faith , such as that Alexander the Great once lived , and was the conqueror of the world—not faith in testimony , such as that we believe there is a city in Italy called Rome , though we may not have seen it , yet we believe the testimony of others . It is the faith in connexion with the eternal destiny of man that I would impress npon your minds . A beloved friend is laid by the hand to Providence on the bed of sickness ; I am deeply anxious for his restoration of health ; I know a physician in whom I have implicit faith ; I send for him ,
believing that all that can be done by human skill he will do . Hence , knowing what it i « to have faith in a physician , explains to us , though imperfectly , the nature of faith in the Physician of our souls . In the Bible , we find that when persons are rebuked for want of faith , it is simply for the want of trust , confidence , reliance . The same holds good in every place where we find faith commended . It was so with the Syro-Phenician woman , when she deigned to accept , nay , implored for , the crumbs that fell from the table of the Jew . What saith He , who spake as
never man spake ?— " Woman , great is thy faith , be it nnto thee even as thou wilt . " Again , with the nobleman , when he was so importunate with the Saviour of man , exclaiming , " Sir , come down , ere my child die . " Hear the gracious reply ; " Go thy way , thy son liveth . " The man believed the word which was spoken to him , and he went his way—his son was restored , " and himself believed and his whole house ; " or , in other words , himself had faith , and his whole house . To establish the sense of the noun is to fix : the meaning of the verb likewise . When it is said , " Believe and thou shalt be saved / ' it is as literal a translation to say , have faith and thou shalt be saved . Wherefore , when we
find the words " believe , " and "have faith , " used promiscuously in the sacred writings , we should bear in mind that it is the same word in the original . Indeed , to trust all we have , and all we hope for , to an Infinite Being who cannot err , and has promised to save us , is fully realized by the most learned of the Apostles , when he pronounced faith to be " the substance of things hoped for / ' The
perfections of God are of such a nature as to render every promise so sure of fulfilment as to justify the man of God in acting , feeling , and speaking , as though he were already in possession . Faith is no phantom ; it lays hold upon realities . Noah by faith substantiated the promises of God , when he through a series of years was the willing instrument in preparing the ark , whereby be and his household were saved from the great inundation . David by faith triumphed , with a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Peoviueial
u i Never was amarvel done on earth but it had sprung of faith ; Nothing noble , generous , or great , bnt faith was the root of the a ^ Nothing comely , nothing famous , but its praise is M Leohidas fought in human faith as Joshua In divine . ,, ¦ ¦ ' # ¦• ' ' * ¦ y . ¦" . # * * ~ ¦* ' 1 ( ' There is a faith towards men , and there is a faith toward God ; The latter Is the gold and the former is the brass ; but both are sturdy metal . "
" It is not for me to stipulate for creeds : Bible , church , and reason , These three shall lead the mind , if any can , to truth . But I must stipulate for faith , both God and man demand it . " < € What , then , is faith ? " Faith is the substance of things hoped for , and the evidence of things not seen . " Faith is a sure evidence that things not seen do nevertheless exist ; but more especially in divine things , it substantiates the fulfilment of the promises of the Grand Geometrician of the Universe . There is a strong analogy hetween things human and divines-faith tovvards man
and faith towards God . In the first , the object of our faith is fallible , in the other infallible . Through man , in his best estate , we may be deceived ; through God never . The nearer we approach to God , the inevitable consequence is that we are the more faithful to each other . The fraternity that lives beneath the shade of a system of morality that all must acknowledge to he divine , and lifts its heart and voice to the one Being , supreme over all , may justly and warrantably be trusted wherever they may be scattered over the face of earth or water . But I inquire again—What then is faith % Faith is to trust , to confide in , to rely upon another .
Have you ever experienced what it Is to have faith in a friend ! This is what we treat of ; not historical faith , such as that Alexander the Great once lived , and was the conqueror of the world—not faith in testimony , such as that we believe there is a city in Italy called Rome , though we may not have seen it , yet we believe the testimony of others . It is the faith in connexion with the eternal destiny of man that I would impress npon your minds . A beloved friend is laid by the hand to Providence on the bed of sickness ; I am deeply anxious for his restoration of health ; I know a physician in whom I have implicit faith ; I send for him ,
believing that all that can be done by human skill he will do . Hence , knowing what it i « to have faith in a physician , explains to us , though imperfectly , the nature of faith in the Physician of our souls . In the Bible , we find that when persons are rebuked for want of faith , it is simply for the want of trust , confidence , reliance . The same holds good in every place where we find faith commended . It was so with the Syro-Phenician woman , when she deigned to accept , nay , implored for , the crumbs that fell from the table of the Jew . What saith He , who spake as
never man spake ?— " Woman , great is thy faith , be it nnto thee even as thou wilt . " Again , with the nobleman , when he was so importunate with the Saviour of man , exclaiming , " Sir , come down , ere my child die . " Hear the gracious reply ; " Go thy way , thy son liveth . " The man believed the word which was spoken to him , and he went his way—his son was restored , " and himself believed and his whole house ; " or , in other words , himself had faith , and his whole house . To establish the sense of the noun is to fix : the meaning of the verb likewise . When it is said , " Believe and thou shalt be saved / ' it is as literal a translation to say , have faith and thou shalt be saved . Wherefore , when we
find the words " believe , " and "have faith , " used promiscuously in the sacred writings , we should bear in mind that it is the same word in the original . Indeed , to trust all we have , and all we hope for , to an Infinite Being who cannot err , and has promised to save us , is fully realized by the most learned of the Apostles , when he pronounced faith to be " the substance of things hoped for / ' The
perfections of God are of such a nature as to render every promise so sure of fulfilment as to justify the man of God in acting , feeling , and speaking , as though he were already in possession . Faith is no phantom ; it lays hold upon realities . Noah by faith substantiated the promises of God , when he through a series of years was the willing instrument in preparing the ark , whereby be and his household were saved from the great inundation . David by faith triumphed , with a