The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-04-14
The Power of Faith.

Faith is living power; it is the very
highest power of life. 1t is life in its
highest and most powerful exercise.
Take the case of man who has II large
amount of faith in himself. That faith
will give him q resoluteness Of char
acter, an energy of will, singeness
Of eye, which will enable him to over
come all difficulties. In the accom-
rr!ishment of his object he will submit
to any privatior, and deny himselfany
Indulgence; he will give his days to
hard labor, and his nights to anxious
thought. He will inspire others with
a conviction of his capacity, and enlist
their services on his behalf and thus
achieve results which others less en-
dowed with this quality cannot hope to
obtain. What but this personal faith
has actually removed mountains, and
cast trees into the midst of the sea. 1t
was faith that enabled engineers to
pierce tunnels through the Alps, to
drain the German Ocean, and plant
trees in its old bed in Northern Hol-
land. It was faith that bridged the
ocean with its swift ships, and linked
the Mediterranean with the Red Sea,
and the German ocean with the Baltic
by means of their wonderful canals.
1t has achieved the most marvellous re-
suits in every department of human
industry.
But there is q higher faith still-viz.,
that which man has in others, and
which has the power of calling forth all
that is the best in them. Such faith
makes the objects of it great, develops
in them the germs of goodness, and
stimulates them to attain their ideal.
A man must be believed in order to do
his best. Contempt or indifference
has always tendency to diminish his
power. Our Saviour himself could not
do many mighty works among his own
people because they did not believe in
him. 1t was the faith of people in him
that enabled him to perform miracles
in their behalf. "Believest thou that
can do this?n was the crucial ques-
ton upon the right answer to which
depended Chrst's power. And so in
every case, faith in man, sympathy
with him sets all his faculties free for
the efforts of which they are capable,
and produces results which astonish
himself. 1t is by such faith that all
the mighty reformations of the world
are effected. Faith in humanity lies
at the root of every good work.
But there is a higher faith tt an these
two kinds of faith in self and in others
viz, faith in God. This is the high
est faith of all, the highest manifesto
ton OF life, the greatest force in the
universe for it is susceptibility to or
recantiyiiy for that which is divine
and communicates to the person who
possesses it the very nature itself Of
that which is divine. This faith in
God is not thing apart from our ma
ture, and imposed upon it from with
out. 1t is, on the contrary, the exer-
ci>e and spirtualization of an original
quality Of our nature. 1t is the daily
faith by which we live brought into
contact with the highest possible sub
iect, and in this contact with the d.
vine made itself divine. And so glori-
fled, it is an all-conquering principle.
1t brings heaven to our help: it allies
Omnipotence with our own power.
Faith in God is the source of all the
greatness of man. Believing in Christ,
we become kings unto God we are in
spired with all might to rule our own
nature royalty for him we 60 forth to
subdue the world to his sway: for to
believe in Christ is to believe in the
highest ideal that has actually been re-
allied in the ordinary molds of human
life and by Christ who has realized all
our ideals strengthening US, we can DO
all things.