The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-25

! Faith Is one Of the great words IN
our language. It is SO often used
lin sermons that. at the beginning. l
am afraid you may think that am
going to preach to you. But am not
Il | am Just going to tallx with you Ano
| our chat is not going to deal with
soTne of the hard meanings Of this
| word. but only with some OF the very
simple things that we meet every day.
! BY saying that ] am going to talk
with you. ] find right away my nIst
| meaning of faith. And IT Is tpis.
Faith IL the very thing that makes US
| meet a friend and talk about yester-
days rainstorrn. or tomorrow'S excur-
sion. or what you are going to 90
next week because you beiieve-that
is. YOU have fa!th---that he is interest
ed in these things. just as you are.
| So faith Is the link that oinds US
together, and II we should do away
with 1t, our lives would stop We
should soon cease TO act at all. II
a man halts me on the street and
asks, Where does Mr.. Harrison live.
please?' he believes that I VIII tell
him correctly II / can If / get on
a trolley car, believe. OF have faith.
in a great many things. I believe that
( 1t Is a safe car; believe 1t will take
me where / want to go: believe the
motorman knows how to run It. IL l
did not. l would just stand on the
corner IN doubt and fear. all the
time.
You see. faith In each other makes
the world go round. When i post a
letter. / have faith that the United
States government, II I have stamped
the letter. will deliver 1t, even thou
sands of miles away. have no real
guarantee that it will do so. i act on
faith.
And then, too, when we say a per-
son has broken faith with US, we say
about the worst thing of him that
can be said. We know that in war the
safety of the whole army depends
very often. and nearly always at
night. on a few chosen men. If a
sentinel IL unfaithful, the whole army
not worthy for others to have faith
in us. we put everything in danger.
Now there is another meaning to
the word faith. It means keeping at
It," keeping at the thing we have
started out to do, no matter what the
discouragements are: 1t means keep
ing before us all the time the real
value of any tasks. It is not always
easy to do this, and the only possible
way to do II at all Is by faith. Every
thing In the world grows tiresome to
us unless we again and again remind
ourselves that 1t is worth doing. We
must see some real result at the end
and put faith in that. Then We can
go on. If we sit down and say, -Oh,
what's the user" we spoil IT all. For,
unless we believe there is use in what
we do. then, indeed, there really isn't
any use In 1t. but IL we keep at II. !"
the use and meaning OF II come to U.S.
Think OF those men in Libby prison
who dug their way out by using just
a knife and their own hands, covering
up their work. too, each day. and hav-
ing to d opart of 1t over again next
day, What made them go on7 Only
faith. They saw the light OF liberty
at the end; they saw, too. what 1t real
ly meant, and they kept at it."
! really believe that keeping at IT.
Ii almost the greatest thing in the
world. There may, indeed, come
times when we have to change our
plans, or give them up for something
with us, and see worth-whileness in 1t
all. The only way to prevent discour-
agement Is to ask ourselves constant
~, isn't this worth doing in spite Of
its being very hard?" And IL we can
honestly say that 1t n, then we will
find ourselves able to go on,
| Now let me have one more word
with you about faith before we end
our chat. To faith In people and faith
In what we are doing add one thing
more--faith in yourself You will get
discouraged with yourself perhaps
oftener than with anything else. But
remember that you are worth while,
that u y0aa had snUxvxlu6 Wotfld
not be here at all. II you undertake
something, having no faith IN your