Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred- fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, Woe unto you, Lawyers! for ye have taken away the key SERMON I. HEBREWS, xi. 1. Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. EVERY one, who has ever heard so much as the very name of Christianity, knows how much the word Faith has to do with it: he may not know what it means, still less may he know all that it means; but still he knows that it has a great deal to do with religion, that a great deal of stress has been laid upon it, and a great deal said and written for and against it. He knows too that it is a word of which he does not hear much, except as connected with religion: that it is not like honesty, honour, courage, wisdom, kindness, cruelty, &c.; that is, a thing which is continually brought forward in common life, which all seem to understand, and all, in word at least, to value. He knows, in short, that it is something peculiar to religion, and in an especial manner peculiar to the religion of Christ. VOL. II. B So in truth it is: it is among the most perfect proofs of God's wisdom, to those who can understand, that in his revelation to man he has taken hold in a manner, if I may so speak, of that one part of our nature which was lying most neglected, and yet in which the seed of our highest perfection is alone to be found. Faith is indeed that which most raises us from a state of brute selfishness and brute ignorance, and leading us on gradually, according to our gradual growth, from one high object to another, ends by offering to the mind of the Christian the most perfect object of all, even God himself, our Father, and Saviour, and Sanctifier. And again, as faith is so powerful and so excellent when once awakened, and steadily kept alive, so it is that part of our nature in which the effects of our corruption are seen most strongly. Infinitely different as are the causes which check and destroy it at different ages, in different stations, and in different characters, still all of us at every part of our lives must feel that it is in a manner our weak point; and all of us have the greatest need to join in the prayer of the original disciples of Christ, and to say to him as they did, "Lord, increase our faith." But now comes the question, What is faith? And as an answer to it I have chosen the words of the text; "It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." That is to say, it is that feeling or faculty within us, by which the future becomes to our minds greater than the present and what we do not see, more powerful to influence us than what we do see. But perhaps some few common instances will explain what I mean more fully. I will take, first, one of the simplest and lowest. A child is told by his parents to be careful and tidy; he is threatened with punishment if he is not so; he is promised some little reward if he is. The parents are not present; the punishment and the reward are not actually before the eyes of the child; while the temptation is: that is to say, he feels that it is a trouble to put his things together, and that at the very moment when he sees something which he wishes to be doing immediately. Now, then, if he thinks more of the future reward and punishment than of the present trouble and pleasure; if he cares more for his parents, whom he may not see for an hour or two, than for the plaything which lies before his eyes; if he accordingly puts his things together, and is careful and tidy, then this child has, after his humble measure, acted by faith; he has gained some experience of that principle which, if he is a follower of Jesus, must be the guide of his life till that hour when all earthly things shall pass away. I have purposely begun with an instance of the humblest kind; let us now ascend a step higher. |