The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-05-06
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
mlNcREASE OF FAITH" i


Down Upon Us.
NEW York CITY. - The Rev. Quincy
Ewing, of st. James Episcopal Church,
Greenville. Miss, who was at one time un,
der consideration for one Of the important
thoughtful sermon on Increase of Faith:
Mr.. Ewing took his text from Luke XVII:
S: "Iord, increase our faith In the
course of the sermon he said: :.
We do not know why precisely the dlscl-
ples should have made this request at THIS
particular time. Jesus had lust said to
them: eff thy brother trespass against thee
rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him.
and il he trespass against thee seven times
in day, and seven times in day turn to
thee. saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive
him." Then very abruptly comes. IRON RON
them the request, increase our faith.
Possibly there was some tone OF impatienee
in their voices as they spoke. They may
have recalled that in the old book of Ie-
yiticus was to be found practically the
same commandment that He was giving
them; that in the book Of Leviticus they
were taught not to hate their brethren:
nor to bear grudge against the children OF
their people, but to love their neighbor as
Themselves: and they may have felt that
there was. no need for them to bear this
old teaching over again from the lips OF
the Master; that He was but wasting
time in telling them what they already
knew so well.
So their request. Increase our faith may
have meant, "Tell us something that we 40
not already know-something, hid from the ,1
prophets and wise men of old times; tell
us something, show US something, DO some
thing which will make us surer that you
L ,oh nd
have looked for; that our hope in You IS
not misplaced; that You are truly the
promised Deliverer. Make us more certain
that we were justified in breaking away
from the authority of the Scribes and
Pharisees, in forsaking all to follow You.
Do not be simply repeating to us what we
NAV read ourselves in an ancient book;
saw something, do something, reveal some
thing which will certify our faith in You
as the Messiah"
Or the request may have had profound:
er import and been uttered in q tone or
self.distrust, of unfeigned humility and
supplication. Suddenly while Jesus was
speaking there may have awakened IN the
souls of His hearers the accusing conscious
ness that, though they had known for so
long the divine law of duty toward their
neighbors, yet never had they or their
ize in their human life the divine ideal, and
accompanying the consciousness of past
failure may have been the reflection that
never should they be able to realize that
divine ideal, to expel from their human
hearts all hatreds, all resentments, all con-
tempts. all unforgivingness and look upon
their fellow-men with the steady Christ
vision of redcmptive charity.
And so their request may have meant,
HaQpen wider our spiritual eyes, that we
NAV zee with You; lead US, draw US up to
Your spiritual height; let us share, with
You Your Vision Of God and man; let us
drink from the Invisible fountain OF our
vast strength and goodness; les ns kno"
the secret of Your Christliness, that we
may rise to full sympathy with Your ol-
vine purpose and build with You the klng,, k!,
dom OF God among men as You woNIa
have it builded." But whatever may have
been the character Of the disciples re-
quest, whether of impatient criticism or
humble speculation in the words that came
from their lips. Increase our faith, we
may all utter the deepest and devoutest
prayer of the most needful moments OF
our human life, Increase our faith" How
inevitably that becomes the prayer OF our
souls at times when the infinite problems
and perplexities of this problematical, per.
picking world bear down upon us and
threaten to weigh us down; when we are
forced to give ourselves to reflection upon
the long and cruel and, apparently, nnend-
ing suffering of good and evil; the suffering
Of unnumbered millions; the vast failures
Of justice and triumphs of injustice; the
tragic defeat of right and victories OF
wrong; the bitter battles Of uplifting truth
for recognition by the mind and heart OF
humanity; the painful, questionable pro-
gress of indubitable good everywhere upon
earth; and. so rejecting, are tempted to
cry out in loud despair, or in danger OF
being mastered by that deep hopelessness
which utters no sound and shows itself In
no outward sign; hopelessness, that a
deathless heart of good does, indeed. throb
on to victory in things evil; hopelessness.
that the to-morrows of humanity will be
gladler and nobier than its Yesterdays:
hopelessness, that the wrongs we know will
be done away, and the good we dream en-
body itSelI in fact; hopelessness, that ouI
individual efforts, all that we can say, all
that we can do, are not mere vain, tran
sient strivings against eternal fate, power
less. as the wings of insects huttering in
the storm, to effect any betterment of
things that are! How much that prayer
of the apostles, Increase our faith, may
mean, then, to our individual souls! "A 81
lent, unsyllabled cry for rescue to the In
visible Power that made US and the world; !;
a pleading with that Power Invisible,
whose name we cannot then utter. whose
attributes we hesitate then to declare, that
again we may be privileged to pray, Our
Father" that again we may feel ourselves
His children; that real enough may be-
come His presence in our lives. to Danish
from us all doubt that the world intelligi'
III 81 'lqS!I 10 N1ep 'sIq!S!Uelu!!un 10 'elo
His keeping; all suspicion. that any gooc,
dies, that any right fails. that any throned
and crowned power of iniouity can swing
this earth outside the circle of His Faith
er's purpose and His Fathers love.
But it is not only in times of sorrow. sad
ness, perplexity that the request of the
apostles should be our prayer, for that re.
quest of theirs points to an eternal and
universal need of the human soul, the need
to-day, tomorrow and forever of q firmer
grasp of God, a clearer vision of His pur.
poses, a deeper reading of His will, in or
der that we may live and save ourselves in
the way divine. Perhaps from the stand
point of the need of some Of US it is more
necessary for US to pray fervently that
prayer, Increase our faith" in the sea.
sons of our greatest joy than in the days Of
our deepest anguish; more necessary at
times when the world shines bright about
us and we are conscious of the burden OF
no perplexity and no misgiving, and dis
posed to be thoroughly satisfied with our
selves, our performances and with things
as they are; for then, it may be-, we. are in
greatest danger of forgetting God, Of grow
ing unmindful of our personal dependence
upon Him, of crowding Him out OF our life,
OF skimming gayly the gay surface of things
with eyes and ears blind and deaf to their
eternal aspect. their profound and supreme
appeal. Perplexed, bewldered,- crushed.
under the stress of deep personal anguish:
we may think God far from US, all out of
touch with our lives and their needs. But
to think God at all, however far we pu.
selves all col coinsoling faith in His wisdom
and goodness-to think God at all is inf