The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1902-08-22

This is natural desire. Let alOn
God, it is a natural desire to pleas
our fellow men, to be on pleasan
terms with them and to make our re
lationships with men of a friendl,
and agreeable character.
But st. Paul tells us it is impos
sible to please God without faith
and faith appears to many Of us as al
attitude of the soul which cannot b.
purchased, like an article of merchan
disc, but must dawn upon us, with
out any exercise of the will, as tn,
sun dawns upon the world over tn,
eastern hills.
1 am afraid the trouble with many
is that they fail to go beneath thu
surface of st. Paul's assertion ant
that they confuse faith with Ger
tainty.
Theologians, with their iron clat
definitions of faith, are some of then
much to blame for this disposition
on the part of some men.
St. Paul, elsewhere in his writings
tells us that faith is not certainty but
is "the substance of things hoped
for AS matter of fact man car
be certain of very little, of almost no.
thing, from the evidence of the senses
or personal investigation. When one
engages in a speculation it is his
faith in the probable result of that
speculation which leads him on. The
principle which God insists upon as
essential in man in his Relationship
with the Creator is principle which
enters upon and into all human rela.
tionships. Memory is trusted because
we have faith in it's accuracy. Friends
are chosen because we have faith in
their sincerity and discretion. Occu-
pations are engaged in because we
have faith in their yielding certain
revenues. Historical staten ents are
accepted as true because we have
faith in the veracity of the records of
| past ages.
Here in Morristown, we find Wash
ington's Headquarters with sold
Nat" and Grown Prince of 1873. -
The weather vane of Lord Stirling
of 1776'' and utensils, and clothing
and arms and host of other interest.
in articles associated with the first
president of the United States and
the Revolutionary period. We have
faith that all of these things are what
they purport to be and they are so
accepted. Unfortunate indeed is the
man who has lost faith in his fellow
men and the romantic associations
connected with the history of the hu-
man race, but more unfortunate is the
man who has lost faith IN his God and
those romantic associations connected
with God as revealed in the doctrines
of the church.
Mark you, brethren, in neither case
fasA ko
tainty The facts of the faith may be
certain but ones attitude towards
these facts cannot be that of certain
ty but that of faith is trust and hope.
Without faith it is impossible to
please God" This is true. 1t is also
true, without faith it is impossible
to please men, +" and without faith
it is impossible to please one self. /"
When ot. Paul says, Without faith
it is impossible to please God" he
does not mean faith which is to be
defined as certainty, nor faith salts
| fed with its projections, nor q
faith which consists of an unthinking
conception of the revelation of the
Divine Will.
The faith pleasing in Gods sight
must have it's struggles with doubt.
1t must exist in mans heart and mind
as progressive, by no means a per
feet, understanding of matters Divine.
The human intellect is finite and
God does not demand from finite
minds anything beyond this
strength. Because faith is not GER
tainty, but hope and trust and conf.
dence, its possession is not beyond the
capability of any man. We have
faith in the declarations of men, why
not in the declarations of God? We
place trust and confidence in worldly
matters, why not in spiritual affairs,
Sacred history is just as much en-
| titled to mems faith as secular his
tory.
And why does God insist upor
faith as essential to happy relation
ship between Him and man? Consider
for q moment, who and what God il
and who and what man is. Why
should God interest Himself i'll man
Is God benefited by mans faith in
things divine? Not an iota. Does
mans faith in God and the doctrines
of God add to that glory which Goo
had before the planets sung to one
another as they revolved in space OF
before the first candles, the stars,
were lighted in the skies? Not
particle.
If God were a selfish being HI
would not concern Himself will
man and mans faith. When, there
fore God, through His Church, utter'
counsels and warnings and insists
upon certain disposition of the hear
and the mind, evidenced by ones
life. it is not for Gods profit but fol
mans good.
Without faith it is impossible tt
please God" for without faith maj
is most unhappy and in the unhappi
ness of man God takes no pleasure
A man without faith is like a ship
wrecked vessel tossed about upon 8
shoreless sea. His earthly joys are
tinged with the gloom which issues
from grave from which he has nc
hope of a resurrection Faith creates
an atmosphere in which hope, trust
and confidence reign. Because this
is fact it is said:
"True faith is swift and flies with
swallows wings,
Kings it makes Gods, and meaner
creatures Kings. "
"Without faith it is impossible tc
please God" simply and solely
because God loves man and would
have him cultivate that which is es-
sential to mans happiness.
Have faith, that is to say trust
and hope and confidence, in God and
in the doctrines of God as contained
in the Bible and explained by the
Church, not because God needs our