Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-12-20

l. Si$33$&s#I lilies. Han IN us
I#$## ~ gust one Of the
|S$## #$# younger members
lsSSss$ssSA .A@&@ Of the party seiz-
ed baby crOcO-
ollie bJ the tail and dashed it 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 cTocodiles were also
made to yield up the treasures with
which they were stuffed. Imagine the
excitement when theS discovered that
many of these "papyri" were written
in the age Of the Caesars AMI 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 a
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 "substante." Faith is the title !
deed of things hoped for" What a
find!
An old saying has it, "Seeing is be-
lieving." Should it not read, ''Believ-
ing is seeing?" Here lies before me a
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 its 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"
My five-dollar bill is only promise,
and yet my faith in it is my title deed
for things I hope for: potatoes, -four:
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 issued
| 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
u Chihuahua solvent? And if so, will it
continue to be so in case want to re-
y deem this promissory note? My faith
in prOmissory note is the measure of
o. my confidence in the promissor.
The very essence Of faith is strik
SYoo1v7 11,1c%~ tod tn &C.,
h We use this ancient word every time
we pray, but do we understand Its
ID meaning? 1t is really Greek way Of
r. pronOuncing an old Hebrew word. Je
ne Sus used it each time our version
reads ''verily, verify say unto you
as The old Hebrew word dates back t,
all Abraham's time, and earlier, only h.
called it "aman." Anything is "aman
nd that is solid, firm, secure and abso
IT. lutely dependable. Abraham and hi
os wife Sarah were old and stricken Il
es years, but childless. God promise
them son in their old age in spite O
ks the fact that, humanity speaking, sue
od a thing was impossible. Romans 4 rs
if p describes how this startling promis
# affected Abraham: "Being not weak
,k. faith, he considered not his own bod
now dead when he was about an hui
an. dred years old, neither yet the dea,
roe ness of Sarah's womb; he staggere
tn not at the promise Of God through Vi
OF belief, but was strong in faith, givir
ito glory to God; and being fully persua
1ed ed that what he had promised he W.
1ch able also to perform" That is to sa
Abraham recognized the fulfllment
,as. this promise as entirely a miracle
Il Gods power. What he said to &c
was, "ThOu art 'aman'" In othe
icb words, 'Thou canst be depended upo1
hit Thy word is firm, secure absolutely r
,.d- liable" Abraham's rest of faith was
md the almightiness of God and the fat
fulness of his word, just as my con
limo dence in five-dollar note rests in t
ene f1rmness and the security of the Unit
obi States government.
,vor God in his Word has offered to
eternal life in Christ Jesus. He tie
,Irs me this is gift bestowed miraculous
Tile from above by the Holy Spirit. HI
act my heart eagerly reaches out for tt
and a1luring prize. He offers this to "wl
!, If soever WILL" That includes me. II
lade lieve and it is mine. Faith is t
d it 'title decd to things hoped for. !
faith makes God real and his wond
tul salvation blessed fact here q
now; and 'being fully persuaded IL
are what he has promised he is able al
to perform" II rejoice in hone of +
over glory of God"