ILLUSTRATIONS OF FAITH AS A PRACTICAL POWER IN LIFE
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
THIS chapter contains a series of illustrations, taken from the heroic ages of Hebrew history, of the nature and influence of faith in God. The writer desires to show that faith makes a motive and inspiration for daily life and conduct as sufficient and as satisfactory as distant announcements and demonstrative proofs. In impressing the temporary character of the Mosaic religious system, the writer is careful to preserve everything belonging to the older age that had a universal, a simply human character. And faith is the same thing sustaining patriarchs, prophets, and martyrs of the olden time or the new.
Hebrews 11:1. Substance of things hoped for.—Here the word means “confident expectation”; and this is so real that the man of faith acts as if he already had what he hoped for. Things only “hoped for” have no actual present reality to us. They gain practical reality in the faith that grasps them. That faith gives the present enjoyment of them. Evidence.—Demonstration, proof. Faith in the Divine word supplies the place of and is equivalent to proof. It satisfies the mind, and it inspires conduct just as a proof or demonstration should do. Stuart points out that the “faith” mentioned here is not specifically what is understood by “saving faith”; but rather faith as a practical principle and power, influencing all life and conduct. “The true and essential nature of faith is confidence in God, belief in His declarations.” Faith here is the principle of pious and virtuous belief and action.
Hebrews 11:2. Elders.—Heroes and saints of the older age.
Hebrews 11:3. Worlds.—Greek “ages,” i.e. the world regarded from the standpoint of human history. “The ‘time-world’ necessarily presumes the existence of the space-world also” (Farrar).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Hebrews 11:1-3
Faith and Reason.—It is necessary to consider precisely what idea of faith this writer has, and illustrates in this chapter. It is manifest at once that he is not attempting any general description of faith. If we had to understand him in that sense, we should have to say that his definition was an imperfect one, because it excludes so much. His mind was full of a particular class of people, who were under particular circumstances of temptation and difficulty, and his setting of truth is strictly and exactly adapted to them. The Jewish Christians had entered the spiritual dispensation in which faith is the medium, and they were seriously tempted to drift back into the material dispensation in which sense is the medium. The case is put strongly in the words, “But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition, but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.” But it would seem to those Jewish Christians as if he were urging them to break altogether away from their old history and old associations, and that was a very hard thing for the Jew, who had such a passionate attachment to the old. The writer seems to say that he advises nothing of the kind. There is a spiritual element in that old history and old ceremonial; that spiritual element is the real glory of them. That is precisely akin with the spirit of the new dispensation, which really is the very heart of the old, freed from its swathing bandages and its material limitations. “By faith”—just the very faith he is urging them to retain—“the elders obtained a good report,” or “had witness borne to them.” Definitions of faith are seldom satisfactory, because it can be viewed from several sides, and the definition may give only one of its sides. Locke describes faith as the assent to any proposition not made out by the deductions of reason, but upon the credit of the proposer. But that sees faith only on one side, and is altogether unsatisfactory to the Christian mind. The precise idea of faith in this chapter may be seen by a consideration of the similar terms, belief, saving faith, and trust. The writer is certainly not meaning belief, or the assent to particular statements of truth; nor does he mean “saving faith,” or that acceptance of Christ as Saviour, and that soul-surrender to Him, which is the proper beginning of the Christian life; nor can he be referring to “trust,” which is a personal feeling of confidence in Christ, and a daily renewed attitude of dependence. Neither of these aspects of faith are appropriate to this occasion.
I. Faith is the power in man which makes real to him the unreal.—By unreal is only to be understood the “unseen.” Man calls material things real and spiritual things unreal, and we take man’s standpoint. The deeper truth which he is to grow to apprehend is, that the spiritual is the real, and the material is but as its shadow, and so unreal. The mischievous teachers might urge on the Jewish Christians that in leaving Mosaism for Christianity they were leaving the real, the tangible, that which was known and proved, for the unreal, the vague, the uncertain, the intangible. What therefore needs to be made clear is, that man has within him a power which is altogether higher than sense. He can come into relation with that which cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be touched. He can see the unseen; he can hear the unheard; he can feel the unreal. It is man’s power to live in the unreal that is his sublime dignity. This lifts him up out of the animal range, for the creatures have no up-looking eyes. This lifts him up out of the range of animal, carnal man. Faith makes him a new creature, another creature, an altogether higher creature. That power in man which puts him into relation with the spiritual world, and makes that unreal world real to him, the very world in which he lives, is the faith with which the writer deals in this chapter. And it is strictly to the point for him to plead that, in urging the Jewish Christians to keep in that spiritual world to which they had been lifted, he was but urging them to do what the noblest heroes of the ages had done, what alone accounted for the patience of their achievements, and the splendour of their triumphs. They endured through the faith-power that was in them. They “endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” Faith as a power in man is kin to spiritual vision, and gets its best illustration from our bodily vision. The body looks out from the eyes, discerns something outside it which it regards as real, and lets that something influence feeling and direct conduct. And the soul looks out from the eyes of faith, sees something outside it which it regards as real, which is spiritual and eternal, and it lets that something influence feeling and direct conduct. This is precisely what is illustrated for us in Abel, and Enoch, and Abraham, and Moses. It is the power in man which Christianity cultures, develops, purifies, ennobles, and guides to fitting objects. The two sentences, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen,” are really one thought repeated in the usual Hebraic mode. Taking the Authorised Version, we may see that the “substance of things hoped for” is simply this—making a present, real, and active power to us the unreal. And the “evidence of things not seen” is the making evident to us—manifesting to us, so as to be practically influential upon us—that which the bodily eye fails to discern. “Evidence” here is not “proof.” We can never get any proof of spiritual things. They are “spiritually discerned.” We speak of things being “in evidence” when they are presented to us for serious consideration. Faith brings unseen and eternal things into evidence; presents them for our consideration, with a view to the right ordering and shaping of our conduct and relations, both as regards God and as regards man. That then is the faith that is impressively, and we may say attractively, illustrated in this chapter. It is the faith that makes a present power on us of what is not materially present—that makes the unseen God a present inspiration to duty, the unseen Christ a present persuasion on feeling, and the promises of spiritual blessing a realised present possession of the blessing. Faith makes God real, and He is with us now. Faith makes righteousness real, and it becomes our attainment now. Faith makes heaven real, and it is about us now. It is the power which makes the unreal real to us. It is the power which keeps the unseen related to the seen. And “that which is seen is temporal, that which is unseen is eternal.”
II. Faith is the power which does for the unreal what reason does for the real.—“By faith we understand.” Just as man takes the facts that are apprehensible by his senses, examines them, inquires about them, reasons concerning them, and thus comes to understand them, and then acts upon them, so the spiritual man takes the facts of the unseen and eternal world, which are apprehensible by his faith, examines them, inquires into them, uses his quickened spiritual faculties about them, and so comes to apprehend them, to understand them, and then acts upon them. Much difficulty is needlessly made in defining the relations of faith and reason. They simply belong to two distinct spheres. Reason moves in the sphere of sensible and material things, and concerns itself entirely with that which takes forms which are apprehensible by the human senses. Faith moves in the sphere of intangible and immaterial things, and concerns itself entirely with that which takes no form which the senses can apprehend. A man is not a mere bundle of senses. The distinction is illustrated by a reference to the Creation. Nobody knows anything about the origin and first forms of material things by any evidence that the senses can give him. Nobody saw its birth; nobody watched the unfolding order. The obervations of the earth’s form and crust on which modern geological studies are based only give rise to conflicting theories, which change with each passing generation, and are all untrustworthy. The scientific man knows more about the Creation through his beliefs than through his observations. But the spiritual man knows, by his faith in what God has revealed, all that we really need to know concerning the material creation. But observe a distinction. The writer only deals with what the spiritual man needs to understand concerning the Creation. Let the sense-man go on inquiring as freely as he may please. Our faith satisfies us; it is to us just the same as if we had been able to reason it all out; God—God alone—the God of Judaism and of Christianity, made the worlds; and there was nothing existing before Him out of which He could make them, and which could possibly set up a rivalry against Him. “By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which do appear.” Unbiassed reason does but reaffirm the conclusions of faith; and he who has the faith is beforehand with the man of reason in his apprehension of the primary truths of science and religion. What is thus illustrated in relation to the material creation is further illustrated by reference to selected heroes of the older Bible history. The principle for the spiritually renewed man that “through faith we understand” is capable of extensive application in all the actual spheres and practical relations and multiplied difficulties of life. The godly men of old really lived their daily life, really met and mastered their cares and perplexities, in the power of their faith. What has been done can be done. What has been done we can do.
1. Look at Abel. By faith he understood what offering, and what spirit in his offering, would gain his acceptance with God. By faith he understood the primary conditions of acceptable human worship.
2. Look at Enoch. By faith he understood the spirit of the earthly life that would secure the favour of God. He understood how to please God.
3. Look at Noah. By faith he understood how to act when God’s judgments were abroad in the earth. By faith he understood the safety in which a man always stands who is actively obedient to the will of God.
4. Look at Abraham. By faith he understood where to go, what to do, and how to order his household. By faith he understood the holy mystery of the Divine control of human careers.
5. Look at Sarah. By faith she understood how to meet the surprise events of life. For surprise indeed it was to gain her motherhood in her old age.
6. Look again at Abraham. There is one scene of surpassing interest in his life-story. It is his being called to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. By faith he understood something of the mystery of Divine discipline, and something of the absolute claim of Divine obedience.
7. Look at Isaac. By faith he understood that the interest of a man is not bound up in this life, but belongs to a future, of which he can provide but a part.
8. Look at Jacob and Joseph. Both by faith understood how the world triumphs over the death, and passing away, of individuals; both by faith understood how man lives again in the fulfilment of God’s sublime purposes in their race.
9. Look at Moses. By faith he understood what his great life-work was to be. And knowing what it was, he did it, and did it nobly. The triumphs of faith can be summarised. They cover all life—all commonplace life of duties, all special calls to service. Faith everywhere takes the place of understanding, and does for us all that understanding could do. Have we fully entered into apprehension of this most practical relation of faith to life? Even in the new spiritual life we want to reason out everything, and say we will believe nothing that we do not fully understand. Then we must be below our spiritual level. This is the standpoint of spiritual men: “By faith we understand.” The apostle Paul puts his position as a spiritual man quite plainly. “The life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” A striking New Testament illustration of faith as a practical power on conduct is found in the behaviour of St. Paul during the great storm at sea. “In that desperate crisis one man retained his calm and courage. It was Paul the prisoner, probably in physical health the weakest among them, and the greatest sufferer of them all. But it is in such moments that the courage of the noblest souls shines with the purest lustre, and the soul of Paul was inwardly enlightened. As he prayed, in all the peacefulness of a blameless conscience, it was revealed to him that God would fulfil the promised destiny which was to lead him to Rome, and that, with the preservation of his own life, God would also grant to him the lives of those unhappy sufferers for whom, all unworthy as some of them soon proved to be, his human heart yearned with pity. While the rest were abandoning themselves to despair, Paul stood forth on the deck; and after gently reproaching them for having rejected the advice which would have saved them from all that buffeting and loss, he bade them cheer up; for though the ship would be lost, and they would be wrecked on a certain island, not one of them should lose his life. For they knew that he was a prisoner who had appealed to Cæsar; and that night an angel of the God whose child and servant he was had stood by him, and not only assured him that he should stand before Cæsar, but also that God had, as a sign of grace, granted him the lives of all on board.” “Wherefore, sirs,” Paul said, “be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Hebrews 11:1. Faith is more than Belief.—Faith is that power within us which makes the things of another world seem as real to us as the things of this world—which brings home to us the things not seen, and makes them as clear and sure to us as if we could see them with our very eyes. The great work of faith is to realise—make real to us—the things of the world unseen. And so faith is sometimes called the eye of the soul, because it looks upon the great truths of religion, and sees them as clearly, certainly, and constantly as the bodily eye looks upon and sees all the outward things around us. The bodily eye has no doubt that the things it sees are true and real. When it looks upon the mountains and fields and trees, it is quite sure that they are really there as it sees them. And so faith, the eye of the soul, has no doubt about the things it looks upon. It is quite sure that there is a God, and that God is ever present, and knows all we think and speak and do; it has no doubt about a Saviour who died for us, and about a Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts. But still more, the bodily eye not only is sure about the truth of what it sees, but also cannot help seeing the things before it. When you walk along the road, you do not try to see everything in your way; you see it without trying. So too faith. Faith is not only sure of the truth and reality of the things not seen, but also has them ever in mind, keeps them ever in view, as it were. Faith means a great deal more than mere belief. It means making a thing real to our souls, having it ever present to our minds, keeping it so clearly before us that we cannot help acting upon it. So faith is the root of good works and holiness. We cannot help, when the unseen world seems so real and present to us—we cannot help living for that unseen world, instead of for the world we see. That power which keeps the great realities of another world clearly, constantly, steadfastly, before our souls is the only power which can conquer the snares and temptations, the power and the perils, of this world.—W. Walsham How, D.D.
Faith as Assent.—Faith is an assent unto truths credible upon the testimony of God (not on the reasonableness of the thing revealed, though by this we may judge as to whether it be what it professes, a genuine revelation), delivered unto us in the writings of the apostles and prophets. Thus Christ’s ascension is the cause, and His absence the crown, of our faith; because He ascended we the more believe, and because we believe in Him who hath ascended our faith is the more accepted.—Bishop Pearson.
The Evidence of Things not seen.—The evidence that the “fool” wanted when he “said in his heart there is no God”; the evidence that Pharaoh wanted when he inquired, “Who is the Lord that I should serve Him? or what profit shall I have if I pray unto Him?” the evidence that Goliath wanted when he disdained David “because he was but a youth”; the evidence which Pilate wanted when he so scornfully inquired, “What is truth?” the evidence that Gallio wanted when “he cared for none of these things”; the evidence that St. Peter wanted when he exclaimed, “Lord, we have left all and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore?”—such evidence had Noah during one hundred and twenty years. Caring nothing for the gibes of the ungodly, he went on quietly building his extraordinary boat. The wise man had it when he said, “Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after many days.” The three Jews had it when they said, “Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods.” Job had it when he said, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Daniel had it when he said, “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.” True faith is totally distinct from sectarian canting, which springs from ignorance and conceit. It is totally distinct from fanatical excitement, which in the nature of things is a transient emotion, powerless to change the heart and life. True faith leads you on, leads you ever. A man looking for the evidence of things not seen is a patient, earnest, careful, constant creature. But the practical man says, Where is the evidence? Illustrate by the mystery of Baptism, Confirmation, the Lord’s Supper. Men are better or worse according to the measure of their faith, i.e. their power to realise the evidences of things not seen. Columbus said, “When I passed across the sea to find a land that men thought dwelt only in my fancy, they scorned me for my toil, yet had I faith in God, that He would prosper and direct my purpose.”—Hawthorn Homilies.
Faith a Soul-principle.—Faith is that principle, that exercise of mind and soul, which has for its object things not seen, but hoped for, and which, instead of sinking under them as too ponderous, whether from their difficulty or from their uncertainty, stands firm under them, supports and sustains their pressure—in other words, is assured of, confides in, and relies on them.—Dr. Vaughan.
The Power of Faith Man’s Dignity.—Every one knows how much the word “faith” has to do with Christianity. The word is, indeed, peculiar to religion, and in an especial manner peculiar to the religion of Christ. In His revelation to man God has taken hold 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. But faith is also that part of our nature in which the effects of our corruption are seen most strongly. What does the text say faith is? 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. When we are told of God, we see at once that He is an object of faith, far more excellent than any other, and that it is when directed to Him that the feeling can be brought forward to its full perfection. Faith in God seems to be perfect in all the points required to perfect it; it rests on the word of Him who is all-good, all-wise, and all-powerful; it points to objects so distant that faith must be strong and well matured in order to reach them; it encourages and terrifies by blessings and miseries so far removed from our present conceptions, that the faith must be far more powerful which can overcome actual temptations by dwelling on objects which our understandings are as unable to grasp fully, as our bodily eyes to see and to hear them. This, then, is religious faith. There is a peculiar species of religious faith, called Christian faith: that is, not only a faith in God our heavenly Father, but a faith in God as He has revealed Himself to us in the New Testament; that is, in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Christian faith is of a more excellent kind, because it shows us more of God’s perfections than any other; and from that view becomes even yet stronger, and more pure, and more self-abandoning. But this faith cannot be understood by all. How can they who live wholly by sight, who do not practise even the lower kinds of faith, how can they so much as understand the highest? (See Sermon on 1 John 5:4-5.)—Thomas Arnold, D.D.
The Psychology of Belief.—We can only believe what is intelligible, what we can understand. Not, however, completely understand; if we could believe nothing unless we understood it completely, we should never believe it at all. Because we can believe what we do not understand completely, it has often been assumed that we can believe what we do not understand at all. Language which we do not comprehend is for us an unknown tongue. It is a mere sound. Sound is not the object of belief, but sense. A meaningless proposition cannot be believed, for the very simple reason, that since it is meaningless, there is nothing to believe. We can only believe what is possible. We cannot believe that which is contrary to reason. Reason contradicts a statement when it shows that it never could be true. Belief would not be possible unless there were some things which it is impossible to believe. We can only believe what is probable. We can neither believe without evidence nor against it. Evidence is to mental vision what light is to physical. Of mental vision there are two kinds—knowledge and belief. The evidence of certainty produces knowledge; the evidence of probability produces belief. The amount of evidence required to produce belief is different in different individuals, and the amount of evidence required will be different in the same individual for different subjects. Belief is independent of volition. The profession of belief is not so limited. We cannot believe to order or at will.—Prof. Alfred Momerie.
A Genuine Act of Faith.—Every genuine act of faith is the act of the whole man, not of his understanding alone, not of his affections alone, not of his will alone, but of all three in their central, aboriginal unity; and thus faith becomes the faculty in man through which the spiritual world exercises its sway over him, and thereby enables him to overcome the world of sin and death.—Hare.
Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 11:6. Faith includes Belief.—The terms we constantly use in religious conversation and in our preaching may be compared to current coin, which the whole community have an interest in keeping perfectly pure and of the true weight. So it is with terms such as faith, justification, sanctification. They are apt, like coins, to be clipped of some small portion of their Scriptural meaning; and we do well constantly, as it were, to take them to the mint and compare them, or rather the meaning we have come to attach to them, with Holy Scripture. The word translated “faith” is equivalent to trust in a person. Those who “come to God” are those who are on their way to faith; yet we are told that before they can have faith they must at least “believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Faith is a Scripture term which is used in a larger sense than belief. Every one who has faith believes; but every one who believes has not necessarily all that is comprehended in the term “faith.” Belief is a part of faith, not the whole. Belief is an act of the intellect. Faith is that unshaken trust in God as our heavenly Father, in Christ as our Saviour, and in the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier, which is wrought in the heart of the Christian by the Holy Spirit. We cannot believe without being convinced; if we are intellectually convinced that Jesus is the Christ, we cannot say so from the heart, except by the Holy Ghost—“cannot come to Christ except the Father draw us.” It is not the profession of belief alone that God requires, although He requires this, but the acting out of the belief. We must be careful not to assert that there are no degrees in faith, and so make sad the hearts of children of God, whom He has not made sad.—Robert Barclay.
Hebrews 11:2. The Inspiration of High Examples.—“For by it the elders obtained a good report.” R.V. “For therein the elders had witness borne unto them.” A recent review-writer on “Modern Socialism and Economics” points out that all forms of society, aristocratic or democratic, despotic or republican, have recognised qualitative differences in their individual members. A better soldier or sailor, inventor or planter, poet or singer, soon made an impression on these societies, and found his reward. This principle, if not rejected, is oppressed by socialism. The mass of society, and not the essential quality of the individual members, occupies the attention, and stimulates the inventive plans of socialists. This is not the method of nature, which improves by variation, and not by mere succession and repetition. Progress comes by diffusing quality through the mass, and not by merely increasing the bulk of the mass; and the quality of individuals, once attained, becomes a common heritage. In no sphere of life does God ever permit man to keep on one dead level. Everywhere God sends forth the advanced man, the superior man, that he may be the inspiration to effort and attainment to others. Every superior man starts in other men the hopeful restlessness of discontent and ambition. The natural tendency of men on a level is to sink to a lower level. So there are always among us best men, elect men, who save humanity by preventing it from sinking, and inspiring it to rise higher. This is the fact in the moral and religious spheres, and Jesus Christ is the supreme Example who declares what is possible for humanity and helps to the attainment of it.
Hebrews 11:3. Faith and Philosophy dealing with a Material World.—It needs to be clearly seen that faith and philosophy do not ask the same thing concerning creation. Philosophy asks, “How did these things come to be?” Faith asks,” Who brought these things into being and order?” It is of the very essence of the faculty of faith that it bears relation to person, not to force. This is plain if we remember how closely associated faith is with “trust” and with “love.”
Hebrews 11:3-4. Faith and Reason.—How “faith” properly stands related to “reason” may be illustrated by the reference to the Creation How “faith” stands related to “religion” may be illustrated by the reference to Abel. Faith cannot be satisfactorily defined; it can be described in what it does, or helps us to do.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11
Hebrews 11:1. Teaching what Faith is.—The Rev. R. Cecil imprinted upon the mind of his little daughter the true idea of faith, by the following method: “She was playing,” said he, “one day with a few beads, which seemed wonderfully to delight her. Her whole soul was absorbed in her beads. I said, ‘My dear, you have some pretty beads there.’ ‘Yes, papa.’ ‘And you seem vastly pleased with them. Well, now, throw them behind the fire.’ The tears started into her eyes; she looked earnestly at me, as if she ought to have a reason for so cruel a sacrifice. Summoning up all her fortitude, her breast heaving with the effort, she dashed them into the fire. Some days after, when I returned home, I opened a treasure, and set before her a bagful of large beads and toys of the same kind; she burst into tears with excessive joy. ‘These, my child,’ said I, ‘are yours, because you believed me when I told you to throw those paltry beads behind the fire; your obedience has brought you this treasure. But now, my dear, remember as long as you live what faith is. I did all this to teach you the meaning of faith. You threw your beads away when I bade you, because you had faith in me that I never advised you but for your good. Put the same confidence in God; believe everything that He says in His word. Whether you understand Him or not, have faith in Him that He means you good.”—Sunday Readings.
Walking by Faith.—Andrew Fuller was to preach before a ministerial association. On his way there, the roads in several places were flooded by recent rains. Mr. Fuller came to one place where the water was very deep, and, being a stranger to its exact depth, was unwilling to go on. A countryman acquainted with the water cried out, “Go on, sir! you are quite safe!” Fuller urged on his horse; but the water soon touched the saddle, and he stopped to think. “Go on, sir! all is right!” shouted the man. Taking the man at his word, Fuller proceeded, and the text was suggested, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
Faith and Sight.—By constant sight the effect of objects seen grows less; by constant faith the effect of objects believed in grows greater. The probable reason is, that personal observation does not admit of the influence of the imagination in impressing the facts; while unseen objects, realised by faith, have the auxiliary aid of the imagination, not to exaggerate them, but to clothe them with living colours, and impress them upon the heart. Whether this is true or not, the more frequently we see the less we feel the power of an object; while the more frequently we dwell upon an object by faith, the more we feel its power.—J. B. Walker.
Faith.—
My faith, it is an oaken staff,
The traveller’s well-loved aid;
My faith, it is a weapon stout,
The soldier’s trusty blade:
I’ll travel on, and still bestirred
By silent thought or social word,
By all my perils undeterred,
A soldier-pilgrim staid.
My faith, it is an oaken staff,
Oh let me on it lean;
My faith, it is a trusty sword,
May falsehood find it keen!
Thy Spirit, Lord, to me impart,
Oh make me what Thou ever art—
Of patient and courageous heart,
As all true saints have been.
T. T. Lynch.