The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1883-05-02
Aaraiialr 6azette,
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2. 1883.
We Walk By Faith.
IA SERNoS PREACHED IN MADISON sQuAi'k
Crunch, ny TIE PASTOR, The nv
G. II. PARKHURsT, d. d.
Tnrt-2 Cor. V. z


Text--2 Cor. VI
We walk bv faith, said Paul. And we d.
panl meant It in a particular sense. He was
thinking of religion, the Lord, and the life to
como. But it is true in his sense, because it
is first true in a wider sense. We are walk
ing by faith everywhere, and in all things.
Religion, the Lord, and Immortality, are quite
Of kind with other matters, SO far as relates
to our apprehension of them, and the mode Of
becoming assured Of them. do not discover
that there is any heavier draft made on faith
in the matter of religion, than in other spheres
Of thinking, living, and working. We, all Of
US, in everything believe a great deal more
than We know. We are all of US believers. l
do not say believers in Christ, believers in
Immortality, but believers. We are believers
constitutionally. Belief is about the first
instinct that shows itself in US Most, at any
rate, of the knowledge we have was belief
before it was knowledge.
1t seems strange that men should find so
much difficulty with the faith element in the
Gospel, seeing we are In such hourly familiar
ity with it on other ground. l have thought
that perhaps by considering the matter to-
gether little, relief might come to some Of us
who are preiudiced against religion because it
taxes faith so heavily. We have got to deal
gently with people here. All minds do not
work alike. Believing is more natural to
some than to others Some men wish they
could believe more than they see their way
clear to believe. Christ never hurried nor
crowded mems faith. Let His manner be to
us always an example. The Catholic Church
offers to take charge Of mems faiths. Some
enter that communion as an escape from per-
plexity; like Alexander at Gordiuh, do not
see how to unite the knot, and so cut it. |
trust we shall be guided here to the utterance
of words that shall prove helpful to them that
are in sincere need Of help.
We walk by faith not by sight. We walk
not seeing where we are going. We can think
things little ways, but cannot think them to
the end. We cannot tell it all cannot prove
it all. 1t is so in matters of religion; equally
so in other matters. We run presently against
an interrogation point, in whatever direction
VIC go. These interrogation points stand in
thick circuit around about us, and that circuit
we call our horizon. There was veil in the
old Hebrew tabernacle. That veil we now
call horizon 1t is the same thing. There is
something outside Of your horizon? You
judge that there is; you act as if there were.
Something behind the curtain We expect so;
We dCb Us IL lllClt NGlG bU We GsluuOk lullh
things to the end, but what lies between our
farthest thought and the end really makes out
a large part Of lIfo's weight-in other matters
at any rate even if not in religious ones.
When the sun is sliding up over our hori
ION, we blieve the half Of it we cannot see.
Faith and knowledge touch, almost touch
only the horizon line between. The world
moves a little on its axis, and the line slides
along the SUMS disk and faith flashes into
knowledge. That is faith: supposing, feeling,
resting in what we cannot see. The Bibles
definition of it is that; almost the only defini-
tion the Bible gives; and that not Of a kind
to mean much TO US till the New Revision put
upon it its retouch: "Faith is the assurance
Of things hoped for, the conviction Of things
not seen" living in the confidence OF things
we cannot prove. That we do SO much Of
that in religion is made an argument against
religion. We cannot see a soul. We have no
premises large enough to yield lis God in the
third term. We cannot demonstrate immor-
tality. And men with whom it is not natural
to feel ahead Of their thinking get troubled by
this. When you have entered an unlighted
room in the night, and have groped your way
about in it, as you approached the wall you
probably felt its nearness to you even before
your hand reached it. 1t is a singular kind
of intuition. Most men have it. 1t is in the
physical realm good deal like what faith is
in the mental and spiritual, feeling running
ahead Of thought, and resting in what cannot
be seen. A part of our infdelity and atheism
is mental habit. Certain occupations and pro-
fessions embarrass faith. Dealing with men
inclines US toward faith. Dealing with things
inclines us away from faith. And SO while
William Humboldt was believer, his brother
Alexander wrote the Cosmos, and left God out
of it.
To any thinking man here, then, whose
sharp thinking does not bring him nearer God
and the Bible, but away from it, / want tC
illustrate that while faith is an important fac.
tor in religion, it is Just the same important
factor in everything else We live in all re-
spects by our convictions Of the things We
cannot see. Every step we take anywhere W.
take in faith. We step down upon unknown
ground with no knowledge of what lies al
inch under the surface. Not football bu
takes much for granted. That is near ant
just picture of what holds everywhere. W.
| see one per cent. and assume ninety-nine. We
90 but little ways before we bring up agains
| the unknown. We treat the unknown as
though il were known That is faith, treat.
ing the unknown as though it was known. We
are continually cracking the shell to get at tht
hidden meat. When you step aboard train
how much do you know of the man whose
hand is on the valve? A thousand lives e
| speeding along the track, forty miles an hour
and that one man holds those lives in his hand
Do we as Christians live by faith in the Son o
| God? Yes; and so on the railway train you
live by faith in the engineer; and so on the
steamer you live by faith in the man ON thu
lrfJ . - II, IL I,,rf
We ride by faith. And all along the line are
men whom you do not know; fagmen, road
repairers, yet in whose hand you put you
life. You ride by faith. On the fidelity o
the man at the switch depend hundred live!
and million interests. "But somebody
knows him." o yes. But you don't Tha
is the point You travel by faith. You wall
by your conviction of the things you canno
see. We take men at their word. Are mel
false? Not nearly so much as they are true
Otherwise society would be impossible. NJ
| faith, no society; no faith, no trade Faith il
among men what gravity is among planets anC
suns. Count Cavour said that the man wit
trusted nen would make fewer mistakes thar
the man who distrusted them.
We should never get single days worl
done if we stopped to prove every step Til,
element of faith and of daring enters int
every successful life. Business can 20 on OF
the street because men believe in each other
That is why you will not deal with a man oil
Change whose word is not as good as hi.
bond. Ii the business men Of this city should
commence tomorrow morning to walk only by
sight, there is not a business interest in th,
country that would not be fiat before night.
fall. Shaken confidence in men has always
beenlthe prolific mother Of mercantile disaster
And SO when Paul says eve walk by faith,
we will remember that faith plays in religion
only the same part as that with which we arr
made daily familiar in the concerns of society
the home, and the street.
might say word about science in thii
connection. Science is like society and trade
in resting at bottom upon a basis of faith
There are some things here, too, that we can.
not prove, otherwise there would be nothing
that We could prove. Science is busy witt
the hither-end of things, not the thither-eDd
1t is a mistake to contrast religion and science
in this respect. and TO think Of religion az
taking everything for granted, and science az
doing only clean work, and having all the
loose ends gathered up and tucked in. w,
never reach the roots of things in science more
than in religion. To begin with, What do yol
know about yourself? | am Just as much O
mystery TO myself as God is a mystery t.
me. You can tell me what you do, and what
you think, and what you feel; but about tht
"you that does, and thinks, and feels, yoU
cannot tell me the first thing, and you do no