The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-12-21

sS$s k# younger members
sM .M@M Of the party seiz-
ed baby croco-
ollie by the tail and dashed 1t against
stone, bursting it open. To his aston
ishment out rolled bundles of manu-
scripts of every description; legal doc
uments, court records, bills of ex-
change. receipts for taxes and house
rents, private letters Of all sorts, and
even a schoolboy's examination pa
pers! The other crocodiles were also
made to yield up the treasures with
which they were stuffed. Imagine the
excitement when they discovered that
many of these 'papyri'' were written
in the age of the Caesars and in the
identical Greek Of the New Testament.
Great floods of light have been
thrown by these manuscripts on the
meaning of New Testament words,
many of them standing forth with
picturesque vividness never before
seen. From the 'papyri" we now know
that the word in common use in the
apostolic age for "title deed" is the
word in our text above given translat-
ed Substance" "Faith is the title
deed of things hoped for" What
find!
An old saying has it, "Soeing is be-
lieving." Should it not read, "Believ-
Ing is seeing?" Here lies before me
crumpled, dirty five-dollar bill. 1t was
issued dozen years ago and has been
handled by innumerable fingers, but
the stamp of the United States govern
ment on it is still plainly visible.
Which one of it's possible holders ever
saw the five silver dollars it claims to
represent? No one cares to see them;
the promise Of the government is
enough. Here, believing is seeing.o
My five-dollar bill is only promise,
and yet my faith in 1t is my title deed
for things I hope for: potatoes, flour,
butter and what not.
But faith, to be valid, must rest upon
the trustworthiness of the word of an
other. The support Of faith is always
outside of one. A five-peso note i~sued
by the state of Chihuahua, Mex, may
be worth five pesos, and again it may
not. That is where the bandit, Villa,
lives, and the scene of his most spec
tacular depredations. Is the state of
Chihuahua solvent? And If so, will it
continue to be so in case want to re-
deem this promissory note? My faith
In promissory note is the measure of
my confidence In the promissor.
The very essence of faith is strik-
ingly illustrated in our word ''amen."
We use this ancient word every time
we pray, but do we understand its
meaning? It is really Greek way of
pronouncing an old Hebrew word. Je.
sus used it each time our version
reads 'verily, verify I say unto YOU"
The old Hebrew word dates back to
Abraham's time, and earlier, only he
called 1t "aman." Anything is 'aman"
that is solid, firm, secure and abso-
lutely dependable. Abraham and his
wife Sarah We're old and stricken In
years, but childless. God promised
them son in their old age in spite of
the fact that, humanity speaking, such
u thing was impossible. Romans :19-
II describes how this startling promise
affected Abraham: "Being not weak in
faith, he considered not his own body
cow dead when he was about an hun
dred years old, neither yet the dead
ness of Sarah's womb; he staggered
not at the promise Of God through I'M
belief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God; and being fully persuad.
ed that what he had promised he was
able also to perform" That is to say,
Abraham recognized the fulfillment of
this promise as entirely u miracle of
Gods power. What he said to God
was, "Thou art samaD.'" In other
words. "Thou canst be depended upon!
Thy word Is firm, secure, absolutely re.
liable" Abraham's rest Of faith was In
the almightiness of God and the faith |
fulness of his word, just as my conf
dence In a five-dollar note rests In the |
firmness and the security Of the United |
States government.
God In his Word has offered to us
eternal life In Christ Jesus. He tells
me this is gift bestowed miraculously
from above by the Holy Spirit. How |
my heart eagerly reaches out for this
alluring prize. He offers this to "who-
soever will" That includes me. I be-
lieve and 1t is mine. Faith is the
title deed" to things hoped for. My
faith makes God real and his wonder
full salvation blessed fact hers and
now; end "beiag fully persuaded that
What he has promised he is able also
b perform" Il rejoice In hope of the
glory Of God.''