The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-28
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
THE FAITH or TRUST AND THE
THINGS THAT LEAD Up TO 1T.
By the Rev. Charles Morris Addison,
Rector Of st. Johns Episcopal
Church, Stamford, Conn.

| him he decided to take ship and go to
| the other side of the Galilean lake TO the
shore of Gadara. And his disciples took him
into the ship, as Mark says, even as he
was tired with preaching and healing.
| While they were on thelr way across the
lake there arose great storm of wind and
the waves began to heat into the ship And
Jesus was in the hinder part OF the ship
asleep on pillow and they awol1e him and
said unto him, Master, carest thou not
that we perish?" And he arose and rebulxed
the wind and said unto the sea, Peace. be
STILL and the wind ceased and there was
great calm. After it was all over he said
unto them, why are We so fearful? How
| is it that we have faith?" How surprised
| they must have felt to hear Christ say aft
er such a signal exhibition of what they
would have been sure to call successful
| faith in prayer. "How is it that We have
no faith?" Let us look at this strange reply.
| L shall not speak of the power of prayer
| nor discuss what we ought to mean by an
| swers to prayer. Doubtless must
that the apostles eager prayer was an
swered, but we to look now solely at
| the question of faith which lies behind the
special manifestation in the frightened
prayer. Christ answered the latter by deed,
q gracious and necessary accommodation;
but when He comes to speak of it He reach
es back of the plea to it's cause and finds
there not strong faith, but faith at all.
Men must pray and God will answer
prayer in His all-wise way; so we must
pray and pray earnestly, but we must also
| look beneath both the prayer and its
swer and examine ourselves. Whether we be
| in the faith, whether really trust God or
not, that is the real point. Now 1 say, and
| r hot
that the frightened disciples in the little
| fishing boat on the lake of Galilee showed
more faith in prayer and in what they could
do by it's power than they showed faith in
God, which is what Christ seeks to develop
| in us.
| DO YOU TRUST OTHERS?
You have perhaps entrusted your small
| fortune to the care of some friendly bank
err. or the life of one you love to your fam
| lily physician, or perhaps the secret trouble
| no one else knows to your trusted pastor
! How shall we tell whether you trust these
| men? If you run frantically to them and
| beg reassurances, if you ask daily for your
| bankers trial balance, if you call in other
| physicians or remind your minister con-
| stantly that he must not betray your conf
| dence-then while they may answer your
request, may submit to your ungracious and
You have no faith in US: you do not trust
us; if you trusted us you would be calm,
you would fear nothing; you would say, L
have laid off my care, my interest my Sc
| cret burden upon you. l believe you will
bear 1t, because 1 trust you"
So it is, / am sure, that God speaks to U.S.
He does not tell us not to pray, but he says,
Pray, not because you are uncertain of me,
| not because you think cannot take care of
| my world and you but pray because you
| are sure of me, because you trust me, be-
| cause you know l will take care of you"
| The difficulty and defect in many a prayer,
| as it was in the case which we are consider
J ing, lies just here. If the disciples of old
| had trusted Christ they would have come to
| him in confidence and said, Master, we
know that thou carest for us, save us if it
be possible. Nevertheless, not as we will,
but thou wilt Whereas, they came to
Christ with fear, not with trust. They were
not sure that God really meant to save
| them.
But if they doubted God they had a belief
in prayer, feeling that if only they prayed
| with enough fervor, strongly and earnestly
! enough, they might change his mind and so
| be saved, having wrought some change in
God. And this is what Christ rebuked not
his fear and desire, but the setting of that
desire, of the human will before and as SUI
perior to the divine will. The trust was in
| the prayer rather than in God.
| The faith Christ wants is trust in God
| first, and then the prayer becomes the nat
| ural expression of that trust; and so he
| sometimes questions whether when He
comes he will find this kind of faith on
earth. He will find plenty of faith in
| creeds and schemes of salvation, plenty of
| faith in measures and some in men, but
| shall He find faith in God which is what He
wants?
| He will not find it in you, my friend, who
| once had a vision of duty calling you TO
| help the world, to set right some wrong,
| to put your shoulder to some wheel of OPP
preston and roll it away, and now look at
| the work to be done and doubt whether it
| be possible, whether after all the best plan
| is not to let the world take it's course. Why
is it that you have no faith? Because God
| has dropped from your calculations. You
do not see God as Isaiah did sitting upon
His throne high and lifted up. ruling this
world, and calling this man and that, you
especially, to arise and help this great work
for God
WORK FOR HUMANITY.
| God is here and interested and means to
do this work. To know this to feel you can
depend on this, is to have faith; it is to
have the same faith with those great
men of all ages who believed very little
about God but placed most absolute trust
in Him, simply relying Him to do what
is best, to fulfill His promises in spite of
every outward appearance to the contrary.
Christ would not find this kind of faith
in you, my friend, who have prayed so long
for that husband or son, and are utterly
discouraged because no answer seems to
come. You love some one whose days are
darkened by some error in thought or de-
graded by some viciousness of life, and you
trust to your own efforts to save him. You
trust in your prayers as if you might some
how move God to help him by your impor-
tunities. You get your most religious
friends to pray with you. Why have you
so little faith? Does God need to be en-
treated to save one of His children? Does
He ever despair, as you are tempted to, or
abandon the case, as you say you must?
Will He not go into the wilderness and seek
the soul which is lost? Has He not only
the desire but the power to follow and
quicken and restore him whom He loves as
much as you do? If you had the faith of
trust Won would believe these things of God.