New-York tribune., 1901-08-14

until Gods part in the transaction could be com
puted.
FAITH NEVER a COMPETE ACT.
In the light of this conception we that i faith
is never complete act considered in itse1-
II always has an invisible correlative. namely tne
expressed. and thus works out a result worthy
of Himself. and unspeakably more glorious than
IN this chapter is telling that the. reason why
making. is because faith did not stand alone. but
Gods attestaton was eo-operaitns With !. It'll IN
Apply this for moment to a specific instance
Abel IS first referred to. We conceive OF hin, nm az
worship will be accentable to Him In the patrl-
God in two different forms Cain brings Sof the
fruits Of the ground" not even the nrst fruits.
down before the Lord. as i sayns There tn, t. is;
such an oernF 1 instead Of atfesinc IL He sets
it aside, and the worshpper returns angry and
Abel comes bringing the 'hTstling OF his flock
with the fat thereof" His whole heart Is In II
the altar. tGou wRefeupon the downd rtins flame the
fire Of God ignites the altar and the Offering is
proved acceptable. Abel tests and God 9ttests
is to be worshipped by sinful man.
THE CASE OF ABRAHAM.
e fbee eee ot of OF t1 Country and from thy kin
dred and from thy fathers house. into land
great nation He has nothing but the naked
th9t pTo1ise 't9 TO the test: viii try IL He rose
and started and Into the land of Canaan he
came And what happened? God met him, CIV
ing him the covenant with Isaac. made him the
head of the Jewish nation and OF all its history
since the father and archetype of all them thaJ
believe" until this hour Thus God attested the
test Tnfh en- n4ad bs4dTr Of his own career
Moses made similar test concerning the kind Of
have succeeded to the throne of the Pharaohs. but
he heard Gods voice calling him to identify himself M
with the life Of his oppressed people He II ms
He returned to Egvpt He challenged Pharaoh on
e He the Red Sea. He re-
ceived the law the flaming mount and the pat
legislation of succeeding ages and Of all civilized
nations The whole career of the man was altered
by the attesting providences Of God. and he at
ancient history He stands at its head today, and no
where are the Pharaohs? Where is Egypt, With It's
proud assumptions? -,
Ing how God attested the testing faith of each sue
cessive worthy. and has given them position IN
the worlds history which they never would nave
had otherwise. Now for the application OF this
THE APPLICATION
When at a certain dark crisis of my own life;
where I stood discouraged, broken in heart and
hope, with no prospect humanity viewed. worth
ers and Saw this principle-naneIy that God is
pledged throughout the Scripture. in old economy
and new TO attest the soul that dares to cOnfide
itself Him under whatever circumstances-the
whole Bible sprans into new meaning for me
reasoned Men tested. God attested. Their history
was cared for by omnipotence Is that principle
applicable 70 me? II thus test God in my condi-
tiOns will He attest me in my realm and measure
He did them? He viii make all my future
greater than man. as He did that Of these ancient
could not shrink from the conclusion. 1t was
worth the uttermOst experiment that / could try.
1t worth the complete abandon Of myself to
infinitely greater for me than my could bs for
myself so could afford to accept His Gltlmatum
to my failure even. But the interests OF HIS
own glory conceived sublime things for me. and if
1 would trust Him for it eternity would show my
best destiny thus secured.
Thus and thus only, can any human life prove the
reality of its faith and the fidelity of God. Faith
is not speculation. 1t is pre-eminently expert
tist does in his work in the laboratory. We say a
man is a walking chemist or "a walking mathe,
matician' because he has so repeatedly performed
his experiments and got his demonstrations; that
books on the science were burned he could repro
duce the books out of the memory of his own life
history Such man is an expert man who has
proved the processes of nature
ACTING ON THEORY. THE PROOF.
hold in my hand two liauids-ths one an a! acid cid
combine the Xo shall get o a pToxe this?
Not by ta king about it by accommodating books
on the subject. but by acting on the theory The
This is exactly what David said in the twenty
first Psalm when mis- soul was brought into relation
even nature thus faithful in attestinE scentihG
test the God of Grace as well as OF nature, VIII
also attest the faith of him who risks the expert
ment. Ill,
The form in which God M gnen 6Tqs & H PTfS but T te
fact that He viii attest in divine results is as cer-
Third now pass to the third announcement
afforded the chapter. namely, unique philoso-
ply of history. This brings TO one of the most
ordinary deliveranCes of this remarkable chap
ter namely. that the great epOchs of history are
determined by the two factors to which nave Just
referred: namely by that faith on the part OF be-
levers which puts God to the test. and by that CO.
working of OmnpOtence which bears witness TO II
My basis for this statement Is contained IN the
third OF the chapter. The language or the
authorized version is Through faith understand
that the worlds framed by the word of God
that things that are seen were not made OF
things which do appear This commonly has been
understood refer 10 the creation of the cOSmic
worlds but a closer investigation into the thought
this: Through faith understand that the ages,
the dispensatiO were outlined or shaped by the
word of God The reference is to the framing
or the historic worlds the dSpeESaouS, the epochS
of history, which under the experimenting prOvi-
dence Of God have been taking form; not the
geologic worlds 1t is certain that the word for
ages aeons and that the kosmos such. is not
referred to. Moreover, the word framed used In
the text iS not the word which describes the
creation. the bringing into being of something from
shape the ordering OF relations. The word
is used in the Gospels descriptive of the 'mend!ng
Of nets with which the Disciples were engaged when
Jesus called them.
Accept for a moment my hypothesis that
inspiration is here laying down the basis for a
philosophy of history and then observing that the
given in chronological order, and you will see how
fitting II is that this third should stand a.
the caption OF the chapter. Thus II will be seen
that the atTiaChal world in the form 10 took is
accounted for primarily by the twofoId fact that
Abel and Abraham and others believed God they
did and hence Gods power cO-worked with them
and gave TO the framing of events Of that age the
form II took.
THE MOSAIC AGE.
The Mosaic age became what 1t was primarily
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