Year: 1879

"wE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT "-

 FROM A sERMoN. BY REV. JOHN HALL.

 The Rev. John Hall preached on the

 well-known text contained in the IT.

 Corinthians, v., 7-" We walk by faith, not by sight" This, said the reverend preacher, is very concise enunciation of the true principles which should un. derlie. Christian life. The belief in the Redeemer, as we'll as in His death and resurrection, must fill every one with holy gladness. The Creator has never made Himself visible to men they have never touched His hand; but still He is noar to them-not to their sight, but to their faith. The sailor, when he commits his bark and himself to sea, does not see the operation of the law by which the treacherous waves carry him safely from continent to continent, but by an instinctive faith and confidence he relies upon that which his senses can- not perceive. This is true of all the various departments of life-without faith society, commerce, the army, the navy could never exist. It is only nec- essary that men should carry this prin- ciple of faith into the religious domain, into futurity.

 But what is to be the basis of faith " Faith cometh by Him. It is the reve- lation of Gods character in His own peculiar fashion, of His pitiful love of all mankind. We know that this love is everlasting, it is retrospective as we'll as looking to the future, it is gratuitous. A man will love his kindred because they are near to him. There was no such tie between us and God. There Him, and still He bestowed upon us this wholly unmerited love, this sov- ereign grace7of salvation. This pitiful love of His is strong. Who can describe or conceive the depths to which the Lord descended in order that He might atone for the sins of mankind? Men might write pages and pages about this, but they could hardly realize it. Only this they know--that with an infinite attach ment God had sent His Son down and sacrificed Him in order to bring men to Him by the ties of grace. It is com mon thing to love ones native land, ones own 'countrymen, but such love IS wholly collective, it is impossible to make it personal and individual. It is only He who can embrace every indi- vidual with this supreme personal love.

 The testimony of the Bible is that which affords us the faith by which we walk. Here is a great city, for instance, which needs vast supply of cold water and it has to be brought from a distant spring. We'll, it might be brought in flood, but that would destroy the habi- tations of men. Or it might be brought here in canal, but that would bring it to us with all it's impurities. Thewater must be brought here in proper aque- ducts and pipes, in order that it may be clear and pure, and so the testimony of love of God must be brought to us through pure and proper channels. And, therefore, he sends His Son to bring us this great outflow of love, and in Him are hid all the ttreasures of knowledge and wisdom. We believe the testament it is Christ who is testified to and "we walk by faith and not by sight,"

 Let me look within myself. When I first knew the truth, Christian man would say, I became conscious of my own sinfulness, and it has grown more and more. I am finding out more and more my own blackness. Gan be sure that Jehovah will ever receive and glo- rify me? Why, yes; He saw all that when He made the way for this pitiful love. You are making discoveries, but He is making none. He knew it all be- fore, and as mans Christian experience deepens he becomes more and more familiar every day with his own nature. There is no one here who would dare to say that he had never done wrong. Your heart has condemned you-that is the manifestation of the Divine power. The stain in your heart will remain until you are regenerated, and the regenerated again becomes aware that he is still sinful and still requires the grace of God. This domain of my heart by surrender ing it to God becomes part of Christ's realm. No rock in it so hard that He cannot soften it; no ground so wasted and neglected that He cannot make it bloom with the verdure of faith and love. Bereavements, mortifcations, losses, disappointments, physical suffer- ings, all teach us the necessity of walking by faith" Take St. Paul's life, which at first looked so promising, and, later on, became one of hunger, poverty, peril, captivity and constant danger of death. One must wonder how this refined and lofty soul could endure all this through Christ, who strength ened him in all these trials. It is to be the game with us. If God continues good to you you should continue to be thankful for his gifts :; if He sends evil and want and distress, then even in these he will shed upon you the light of glory and show you the way to safe delivery and redemption.