The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1919-05-29
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Especially Prepared For Readers of
The Republican.

ne kepuDllCan.
SUNDAY. JUNE 1st.
Faith Hebrews ll:l-l2:2.
The righteous shall live by faith.
Romans LII.
u. S. WRIGHT.
FAITHS PRESENCE.
Faith is the universal fact in a world
of persons. 1t is present in every man.
No home can be busit without it, no
business can prosper, no organization
succeed. no society live, no civilization
progress; faith is fundamental to every
step forward that has been taken since
the Individual cave dwellers emerged
from his governed fortress and
reached his hand across the chasm of
has always been the first step in any
advance. Some men had faith in the
future of New York and invested every
dollar they could gather in real estate.
They reaDed fortune. So have the
men wise enough to discern human
movements in every quarter of the
globe. Some men have faith in the
automobile, in the telephone, in wire
less communication. in every article
that man uses before it had been
tested by experience and their faith
has brought the return it always
holds within it. This is precisely
what the lesson tells US it is, an as
surance of things hoped for, con-
viction of things not seen. Cyrus
W. Field had the most profound con-
Viction of things not seen in ocean
cables, Benjamin Judah in trans-con-
tinental railways, Edison in electric
light. Their faith gave them an as
surance of the thing hoped for long
before the rest of US woke to the pos
sibility of it and its continued follow
ing led them to accomplishment
Religious faith is different? By no
manner of means. This long list of
who were heroes of faith exposes
the same power present in all men
turned toward God and moral life.
The realm in which they exercised is
the same. The faith l had in God
is the same that | have in the bank
but in the first case it is not affected
by panics, runs. defaulting cashiers,
bad business judgment and therefore
yields an invariable return which the
bank may not. The difference is not
in my faith but in the object of it.
FAITHS POWER.
There is no power in faith itself but
it appropriates that which inheres
in its object. l may have the great
est faith in a mans honesty and
honor but if my judgement is mistak-
en- my faith is vain. Faith gives one
the absolute entirety of power poss-
essed by its object. no more, no less.
A woman has faith in a man and
gives the keeping of her life to him
If he is a poltroon she has dishonor,
heart-ache, and shame. If he is a
real husband she has home, joy, pro-
lection, life but in either case her
faith has given her exactly what was
in its object all that was there Read
thru this list of men in the lesson
and they were exercising great faith
all of hem but it was in God and
oYl Tho iy,o,rs4nb 1o
suit followed for with Him is no
lack to redeem the word and they
found all His power poured into them
and into their moral endeavors so
that they build great lives. The
great war revealed the same thing.
One side had faith in military ma
chine, the other in a righteous cause
and in each case the object delivered
its powers into believers in it so that
when the object of ones faith UNI
bled all the nation crumbled with it
FAITHS VISION.
1t is the invisible world that holds
the vision of faith. 1t supported
France as it supported Moses. Their
is great picture in the beginning of
the 18th chapter. The faith-Glled
soul stands in the great arena ready
for the race of his life. All around,
ties on ties, are these heroes of other
days and it is not that they behold
him but he is conscious of their pre-
sence, he sees the invisible throng
and catches their indomitable spirit.
And among them is Another, even
Jesus, the file-leader of all the faith
full, that he sings out from all the
throng as the supreme incentive for
his endeavor. If the stimulus from
these others and from those added
names that the centuries have gath
cred is not sufficient, Jesus is there
also. And the cross, not despised
but endured. There is scorn in the
phrase, "despised the shame" that
was such an infinitely small thing to
hinder any endeavor that held within
it redeemed world as the object
of His faith. 1t is the shame of the