eChurch Blog

A Christian registrar has been demoted to receptionist after she refused to preside over gay ‘marriages’.

Theresa Davies said she was forced to move from her £26,000 a year job at Islington Council because of her deeply-held religious objections to same-sex civil partnerships, which were introduced in 2005.

Miss Davies, 58, is the second registrar at the North London council to leave the post.

Last year her colleague Lillian Ladele, 48, refused to carry out any “sinful” gay weddings and proceeded to take the council to court for alleged discrimination on the grounds of her religious beliefs.

However an Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled in December that the council had acted lawfully in expecting all its registration staff to perform the ceremonies, a decision she seeks to challenge in the Court of Appeal.

Miss Davies, who has worked for the council for 18 years, said: “Doctors can opt out of performing abortions on conscience grounds so why can’t I opt out of civil partnerships?”

Miss Davies said that in June 2006 she took four months’ sick leave with stress after she told her managers that her beliefs stopped her from conducting gay marriages.

On her return she claims she was told that she would have to be demoted to an entry-level job on reception or she risked facing dismissal.

She said: “I know of other councils that have allowed Christian registrars to carry on by ensuring that colleagues are given civil partnerships – but I was told this was not Islington’s policy.

“I was very disappointed, very saddened and angry. It was humiliating to be back on reception, where I had started,” she said.

Miss Davies, with the support of the Christian Legal Centre, is now launching a grievance procedure against the council, claiming she has been the victim of discrimination on the grounds of her religious beliefs.

She said: “Britain is supposed to be a nation that respects freedom of conscience. But my conscience is not being respected. If Islington Council believes in dignity for all, why can’t my beliefs be accommodated and why is my dignity not being respected?

“I have nothing against homosexuals. My colleagues in the office will tell you that – and the openly gay ones have no problem with me. All I am asking is that the system can be arranged so I do not have to perform civil partnerships,” she said.

Miss Davies will also be sending a letter to all members of the House of Lords today, complaining of an alleged “militant political-sexual libertarian lobby” at the council.

An Islington Council spokeswoman said: “Ms Davies indicated that she is not willing to conduct civil partnerships because of her religious beliefs. As a consequence, and following detailed discussion with Ms Davies, a year ago she accepted another job in the same team which did not require her to conduct civil partnerships or marriages.

“Ms Davies made no formal response to a recent consultation on a restructure in the registrars’ department, and we had no reason to think she was unhappy with her role.

“Islington Council expects its employees to provide services to all sections of the community. A recent court ruling backed the council’s stance that registrars must carry out civil partnerships as well as marriages.”

Rev Sharon Ferguson, chief executive of Britain’s Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said: “It annoys me the number of people who are going straight to legal action with issues which can be resolved with employers. The fact remains there is legislation that all people must be treated equally.

“It is fine for people to hold opinions but you can’t use views to discriminate against other people. For example, the BNP, we all know they support white supremacy, they can believe what they like but they cannot be allowed to act on it.”

Lead us, Evolution, lead us
Up the future’s endless stair;
Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us.
For stagnation is despair:
Groping, guessing, yet progressing,
Lead us nobody knows where.

Wrong or justice, joy or sorrow,
In the present what are they
While there’s always jam tomorrow,
While we tread the onward way?
Never knowing where we’re going,
We can never go astray.

To whatever variation
Our posterity may turn
Hairy, squashy, or crustacean,
Bulbous-eyed or square of stern,
Tusked or toothless, mild or ruthless,
Towards that unknown god we yearn.

Ask not if it’s god or devil,
Brethren, lest your words imply
Static norms of good and evil
(As in Plato) throned on high;
Such scholastic, inelastic,
Abstract yardsticks we deny.

Far too long have sages vainly
Glossed great Nature’s simple text;
He who runs can read it plainly,
‘Goodness = what comes next.’
By evolving, Life is solving
All the questions we perplexed.

Oh then! Value means survival -
Value. If our progeny
Spreads and spawns and licks each rival,
That will prove its deity
(Far from pleasant, by our present,
Standards, though it may well be).

By C S Lewis

An interesting article on ‘Twittering’ and social networking websites…at least Christians are talking about this technology now.

From my own experience, sadly there are many Christians today disenfranchised from the ‘traditional’ church structure for one reason or another and they are opting to go online to network and fellowship with one another and this is especially true for those Christians who have certain ‘needs’ in common.

I’m not saying if this is right or wrong (In this instance I will keep that opinion to myself – which is unlike me), but this is a new and growing trend that cannot be ignored. I have seen some instances when (for one reason or another) a ‘non believer – seeker’ has entered a Christian forum and I must say that it can afford a great opportunity to ‘witness’.

Christian forums and social networking do afford people a certain amount of anonymity, which allows for honest and frank discourse (without the need for the ‘church face’). This does have a flip side however, whereby folks can become quite aggressive and punt their particular theology or agenda.

Christian folks can become offended and hurt online, but can’t the same be said for the ‘real’ church? I do believe that Christian folks feeling safer online, sharing and praying and networking with one another is a sad indictment on the traditional church structure today.

It is a mistake in my humble opinion to simply ‘look down on’ the virtual church as somehow not as real as the physical church because it can be very real indeed to folks that participate.

The Devil prowls (and often dominates) cyberspace and I’m frankly glad to see Christians responding. Our younger generation is more likely to be online now than watch the telly and surely we have to communicate with them ‘where they are’?

Article from the Christian Post

Some would argue that Twitter hit the big leagues long ago, but the cover of TIME magazine is the ultimate sign that Twitter has arrived at the forefront of our cultural conversation. As TIME managing editor Richard Stengel commented, Twitter and other social networks “are changing the way we communicate and live.”

According to recent reports, Twitter may have over 12 million users by year-end. Facebook, by contrast, has almost 200 million users. But, like some earlier technologies and platforms, Twitter seems to have reached a transformational moment. The question seems to have shifted from “Why do you use Twitter?” to “Why not?.”

Most commentary about social media looks like cheerleading. There is no shortage of voices ready to predict that this or that technology will rule the world and that those who opt out will be – to use a phrase evangelicals will recognize – left behind.

Believe it or not, there are faithful Christians who do not even use a computer. There are pastors who are still using nothing but books, pencils, pens, and paper. God love them, they are probably not as distracted as the rest of us. Hold on, I need to post a Tweet.

Ok, back. We need to be very careful that we do not become overly enamored with any technology. As observers like Jacques Ellul and Neil Postman reminded us, our technologies shape our lives perhaps more than we realize. As followers of Christ, Christians have a special stake in this, for everything must come down to what most honors God and serves the Kingdom.

Can Twitter serve the Kingdom? Can a technology that limits users to 140 characters be used for anything meaningful? Is my time well spent reading about what someone had for breakfast? Is all this an exercise in communal narcissism? Well, my answer is evident in my own use of Twitter. I find the advantages to outweigh the dangers by far.

Let’s admit the obvious – much of what we read in Twitter is useless, at least from an informational point of view. It is not the place to find the deepest moral, theological, and spiritual reflection. On the other hand, it can be used to point to more substantial offerings on the Web. Like any medium, it is only as worthy as its users. There is the potential to do great harm and the responsibility to do great good, but this is true of almost any technology. The potential to do good or evil did not appear only with the Internet.

Is Twitter just a fad? The specific platform may change, but TIME’s Steven B. Johnson answers that question quite well:

Social networks are notoriously vulnerable to the fickle tastes of teens and 20-somethings (remember Friendster?), so it’s entirely possible that three or four years from now, we’ll have moved on to some Twitter successor. But the key elements of the Twitter platform – the follower structure, link-sharing, real-time searching – will persevere regardless of Twitter’s fortunes, just as Web conventions like links, posts and feeds have endured over the past decade. In fact, every major channel of information will be Twitterfied in one way or another in the coming years.

We can see this happening already. In one sense, anyone who can say something meaningful in 140 characters on Twitter can probably learn to use that skill elsewhere.

I use Twitter because I find it to be a powerful (if sometimes perplexing) means of connecting. I am able to pass things along and make some points to people who I would otherwise never reach. I hope this makes a Great Commission impact and serves a wholesome Kingdom purpose. I’ll quickly admit something else – Twitter can be fun. In a life of serious endeavor, that is no small gift. I like how technology writer Clive Thompson defines the experience of Twitter – “ambient awareness.”

This is a fantastic poem written by one of my friends:-

Gordon Brown is to appear on Songs of Praise as he attempts to “reconnect” with voters in the wake of the political crisis which almost cost him his job, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

Hmmm good luck with that Mr Brown

The Prime Minister will be interviewed in Downing Street this week by Sally Magnusson, one of the regular presenters of the BBC’s popular religious programme.

When the show – during which Mr Brown will speak about courage and the people who have inspired him – is broadcast next month the chosen hymns will include Be Still My Soul, Fight the Good Fight and Psalm 23, The Lord is My Shepherd.

Aides hope the move will help to reconnect the Prime Minister with Middle Britain after a torrid few weeks which have seen him struggle to survive the MPs’ expenses scandal, Labour’s worst election results since 1910 and a series of bitter ministerial resignations.

The interview will form part of a “fightback” strategy which will see Mr Brown attempt to put forward a more human image to voters.

In a far franker-than-usual newspaper interview this weekend the Prime Minister admitted the attempted coup by his Labour opponents had been the worst weeks of his political life.

He told The Guardian also said he had been “hurt” by personal attacks and added: “To be honest, you could walk away from all this tomorrow.

“I’m not interested in what accompanies being in power. I wouldn’t worry if I never returned to those places – Downing street, Chequers… And it would probably be good for my children.”

Although he insisted Labour could still win the next election under his leadership, he admitted weaknesses.

“I’m not as great a presenter of information or communicator as I would like to be,” he said.

He added, in comments likely to raise eyebrows among MPs, that he was “not very good” at political manoeuvring. He also claimed he could become a teacher after leaving politics.

Some Labour MPs last night detected the hand of Lord Mandelson, the all-powerful Business Secretary, in Mr Brown’s new penitent tone.

One said: “If I was being cynical I would say this is all a device – and just the sort of thing Peter [Mandelson] would get up to. Gordon may not have great presentational strengths but he is a political schemer to his inner core.”

Mr Brown, who is expected to get on to the front foot with a series of interviews and media appearances over the next few days and weeks, said there was a “common purpose” linking him and Lord Mandelson and that the Labour Party was finally coming around to the Business Secretary.

“I think there’s a great affection for him now,” the Prime Minister said.

With his appearance on Songs of Praise, Mr Brown, the son of a Church of Scotland minister, will use the opportunity to court Britain’s Christian vote in particular.

The BBC’s flagship religious programme receives an audience of around three million viewers every Sunday.

While Songs of Praise normally features churchgoers talking about their favourite hymns, Mr Brown will appear in a special edition focusing on courage.

He wrote a book on the subject, which was published in 2007 and detailed the lives of eight figures whom he believed to exemplify courage. Other guests will include a woman who has campaigned against gun crime.

The BBC is understood to have approached the Prime Minister before the expenses scandal engulfed parliament, but the programme could nevertheless present him with an opportunity to reassert his credentials as a devout and honest politician.

He has previously referred to being guided by a “moral compass”, and last month claimed that the revelations over expenses had offended his “Presbyterian conscience”.

A BBC spokesman said that it was likely that David Cameron, the Conservative leader, would be invited to appear on the show at a later date.

Even though Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor, declared “We don’t do God”, Tony Blair was advised in 2006, after Mr Campbell had left Downing Street, that he should appear on the show, before departing office.

Whilst Mr Blair did not appear on Songs of Praise on that occasion, he gave an interview to the show in 2000, as did William Hague, then the Conservative leader.

The BBC faces a clash with the Church of England over claims that its new head of religious broadcasting has given preferential treatment to minority faiths.

Concerns over the appointment of Aaqil Ahmed, who was poached by the corporation from Channel 4 last month, will be raised in a Church document to be published tomorrow.

It calls his move to the BBC a “worrying” development and accuses the corporation of treating religion like “a freak show”.

Senior bishops have signalled their backing for the paper, which is set to trigger a debate at the General Synod, the Church’s parliament, over the alleged marginalisation of religious broadcasting.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, met with Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director-general, in March to challenge him about the issue.

Now a motion prepared for the Synod calls on the corporation to explain the decline in its coverage of religion and its failure to provide enough programming during key Christian festivals.

The document accompanying the motion, published ahead of next month’s General Synod in York, criticises the lack of regular religious programmes on BBC television and alleges that Mr Ahmed, a Muslim, displayed anti-Christian bias while in charge of commissioning at Channel 4.

“The regular BBC Television coverage of religion consists of just two programmes.” the Church paper says.

“BBC 3 tackles religion rarely but does so from the angle of the freak show, and many of the Channel 4 programmes concerned with Christianity, in contrast to those featuring other faiths, seem to be of a sensationalist or unduly critical nature.

“From this point of view it is worrying that the Channel 4 religion and multicultural commissioning editor, Aaqil Ahmed, who is a Muslim, is soon to be responsible for all the religious output from the BBC.”

Last summer, Channel 4 screened a week of special programmes on Islam including a feature-length documentary on the Koran, and a series of interviews with Muslims around the world talking about their beliefs.

The main Christian documentary broadcast for Easter that year, called The Secrets of the 12 Disciples, cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Pope’s leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.

Nigel Holmes, a General Synod member and former BBC producer, who has tabled the motion and who wrote the paper, said that the Church needed to tackle the issue at a time when the future of religious broadcasting was under threat.

“There is an element of uncertainty at the BBC with all of the changes there, and the appointment of Aaqil Ahmed gives rise to an element of concern,” he said.

“He has been involved with programmes that have tended to look at the fringes of Christianity where it can be brought into disrepute.

“Religion is higher on the political agenda than ever before and we are crying out for programmes that give a moral view.”

Mr Holmes attacked the BBC for the lack of religious television programmes at Easter, but said that ITV has also failed to give enough coverage.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, has signalled he would support the motion.

He told The Sunday Telegraph that Mr Ahmed is “duty bound to provide adequate time and fair representation to the Christian faith and to Christian concerns”.

The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, the Bishop of Manchester, has previously accused the BBC of “overlooking” Good Friday.

“Many people want an appropriate marker of religious significance, whether it is life and death or Easter and Christmas,” he said.

While the BBC’s total output of television hours has doubled over the past 20 years, the amount of religious coverage has fallen by nearly 15 per cent, from 177 hours in 1988 to 155 in 2008.

Critics of the corporation are upset that respected programmes such as Everyman and Heart of the Matter have not been replaced.

They argue that well-produced and promoted programmes can attract a large audience. The Passion, which received a big budget and prime-time slot, attracted more than five million viewers when it was broadcast last year.

Mr Ahmed is understood to have impressed BBC executives by commissioning a series on Christianity that featured high-profile names, including Cherie Blair and Michael Portillo.

Samir Shah, a non-executive director at the corporation, said that the programme-maker’s critics might be surprised to find that he raises the profile of religion at the BBC.

“I think that they’ll find that ultimately it will be a Muslim who drives up the amount of Christianity on the schedules,” Mr Shah said.

The Rev Jonathan Alderton-Ford, vicar of Christ Church, Bury St Edmunds, and a General Synod member, said that he would support the motion.

“It gives voice to the concerns many of us have about the drift of the BBC over the last decade,” said Mr Alderton-Ford, who has advised the Church on media issues.

“The BBC’s bias permeates its programme-making, so that the Christians get criticised while the minority faiths escape the same treatment. It’s necessary that we debate this.”

A spokesman for the BBC said that Mr Ahmed was the best-qualified candidate for the role and rejected claims that religious affairs has been covered in a “sensationalist manner”.

She added: “The BBC’s commitment to religion and ethics broadcasting is unequivocal. As the majority faith of the UK, Christians are and will remain a central audience for the BBC’s religious and ethics television and other output.”

I have been interacting online with Christian friends on a forum and two brothers posted the following ‘green prayers’ which I thought were great and really reflect the heartbeat of the world today:-

Our mother, who art on Earth,
Greenery be thy name.
Our kingdom come,
Our will be done on Earth,
Because there is no heaven.
Give us this day our granary bread
And we don’t care about temptation,
Because there is no evil one.
Forgive us when our dogs sin against thy trees
As we dance round them at midsummer.
For ours is the kingdom,
And the power,
And the glory,
But it won’t be forever.

Our Gaia, who art of nature
Hallowe’d be thy name
Thy garden come
Thy climate be calm
On earth, as it is in Green
Give us this day our daily carbon allowance
And forgive us our carbon debits
As we forgive those whose carbon usage exceeds ours
Lead us not into gestation
But deliver us from sanity
For thine is the spirit, The Green and the Power, now and for a month or two

Classic!!

A newsletter from our friends at Christian Concern for our Nation:-

Christians Urged to Urgently Sign Petition over ‘Gagging of Free Speech’ on Biblical View of Sexual Conduct and Marriage

CHRISTIANS across the UK have been urged to sign a petition calling on the Prime Minister to abandon plans to prevent Christians from openly explaining what they believe the Bible says about sexual conduct.

The Christian Legal Centre, which has represented many Christians in high profile cases where employers have denied Christians the right of freedom of speech on moral issues, has placed a Petition on its website (www.ccfon.org/petition.php) for individuals to sign on-line, or download and encourage fellow church members to sign up to before posting on to CCFON, which will hand collated petitions to the Queen, Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Lords. CCFON believes there will be “devastating consequences” to Christian witness if the Coroners and Justice Bill goes through Parliament as it stands.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and founder of the CLC says few Christian leaders or individuals realize that buried deep within the Bill is a clause which could prevent any Christian openly stating what the Bible says, and Christians have believed for 2,000 years, about issues such as homosexual conduct or even marriage.

She said: “No-one would imagine that a Bill to do with Coroners could contain anything about free speech and with all the media attention on MP expenses, this vital issue is going unreported by the media.  If it got through as it stands, it would have devastating consequences for Christian witness and integrity in the UK. Church leaders and individuals Christians answering questions about their faith could well find themselves the subject of a police investigation and arrest just for speaking and living according to the Bible’s teaching on sexuality and marriage.”

Members of the House of Lords are likely to debate the clause on 23rd June (unless date gets pushed back due to pressures of parliamentary timetable), and Mrs Williams urges Christians across all denominations to log on to www.ccfon.org/petition.php and act immediately.

The petition reads: “Preserving the sanctity of life and freedom of speech are vitally important to the preservation of liberty and good governance under the rule of law in the United Kingdom. These are under immediate threat by measures in the Coroners and Justice Bill. We the undersigned, therefore, petition HM the Queen, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House of Lords to:

1) Protect the value of human life in the UK by opposing proposed amendments authorizing state-sanctioned assisted suicide; and 2) Protect freedom of speech by abandoning its opposition to the free speech protection clause currently within the sexual orientation hatred offence which preserves the right to, discuss, criticise and urge to refrain from certain forms of sexual conduct or practices.”

CCFON is also co-ordinating a Prayer Meeting on June 22, 6.30 -9pm at Emmanuel Centre, 9 -23 Marsham Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3DW, where Christians are invited to attend and bring their friends with them.

Christian Concern for our Nation Prayer Flyer

I rather pertinent article from the Church Times this morning:-

Don’t take state favour for granted

by Bill Bowder

IF the Church of England does not change its relationship with the state, it could find itself suddenly under threat from a future court decision on religious equality in Europe, con­stitutional experts were warned this week.

Bob Morris, the editor and main author of a new work, Church and State in 21st-century Britain (Books, 5 June), suggested that the Church might lose control of its destiny, speaking in a debate at the Constitu­tion Unit of University College, London, on Mon­day. Experts and members of the public questioned the continued place of the established Church in England.

The Church should take the initia­tive to change its relationship with the state if it did not want to find it­self the victim of events outside its control, Mr Morris said. It should not take for gran­ted the continued sup­port of other religions for estab­lishment. Opponents were growing more confident.

There had been “more toleration by others of the Church of England than toleration of others by it”, Mr Morris suggested. A future de­cision about religious equality in the UK or European courts, however, could have a “sudden impact” on the Church.

“It is better to change ahead than to be forced to change,” he said although the current situation suited those church leaders who did not believe it was up to them to act. They were, however, acquiescing in a sys­tem of “pragmatic hypocrisy”.

Others in the debate, held under Chatham House rule to ensure anonymity, said that the Church was fighting a rearguard action to protect establish­ment. The issue of equal treatment of all religions and denominations be­fore the law “has not gone cold”.

Establishment was defended as en­suring that the Church could protect the place of God “in the public square”. Fears were expressed that a secular society would “ban” God, but op­ponents of such views countered that these arguments were “highly intelli­gent obfuscation”: secular con­stitu­tions such as that in the United States found plenty of space for religion.

The appeal to 17th-century pre­cedents by supporters of the status quo revealed the Church’s inherent con­servatism, they were told. Argu­ments from tradition “have no general currency”. The Church was ac­cused of believing: “We don’t have an ecclesiology if we don’t have an Establishment.”

Britain remained “a religious monarchy”, not, pace Hazel Blears in a recent interview quoted at the meeting, a secular democracy. It would not be “the end of the world” if that were altered, but it would usher in many changes. Bishops could find themselves having to stand for election in a fully elected House of Lords; the royal coat of arms with the motto “Dieu et mon droit” could be removed from above the doors of courts and Crown buildings; “God save the Queen” would have to be re­written; prayers at the start of the parlia­mentary day would cease; and even the Remembrance Day service at the cenotaph would end. The monarch could act more as a patron to the Church than its supreme governor.

William Fittall, secretary general of the Archbishops’ Council, responded to Mr Morris and to questions from the floor in the debate.

“And the apostle said unto the Lord, increase our faith” Luke 17:5

VERILY if the apostle said this, one and all of us had need take up the
prayer. If the twelve mightiest in the army of the Lord of hosts had need of
such a supplication, what shall we say who are but the interior soldiers-the
feeblest saints? If ye hope to win the day, does it not well become us to
pray, “Increase our faith?”

It is a matter of dispute as to the occasion when these words were uttered.
Some think that we must look at the connection of the chapter for the
explanation. Jesus Christ had been teaching his disciples that if their
brother should trespass against them seven times a day, and seven times a
day turned again to them, saying, I repent, they were to forgive him, and
that constrained the apostle to say “increase our faith.” They conceived it
to be so hard a duty incessantly to pardon and constantly to forgive, that
they felt unable to accomplish it without a large increase of faith. Others
think-very possibly with greater truth-that the prayer was offered when the
apostles endeavored to cast out the evil spirits from the poor demoniac and
failed in the attempt. “And they said to Jesus, why could not we cast him
out? And he said, verily, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might
say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou
planted in the sea, and it should obey you.” Then they said to the Lord,
“Increase our faith.” However, whatever was the occasion in this particular
instance we shall always find good enough occasion for presenting the
prayer: and I know not but this morning may be a season when each of us
may have special necessity to put it up to God.

“increase our faith.” Proceeding at once to the subject, the first thing we
shall consider is the object of their solicitude. It was their “faith.”
Secondly, the desire of their hearts-”Increase our faith.” And then, thirdly
the person on whom they trusted to strengthen their faith — “They said to
the Lord, increase our faith.”

I. First, then, THE OBJECT OF THEIR SOLICITUDE WAS THEIR FAITH. Faith
is of the utmost importance to a Christian. There is nothing of which we
should have a greater and a more earnest concern than our faith. I shall
endeavor to show you this from seven or eight reasons, and may God press
them to your hearts and send them so home, that every one of us may
become deeply anxious as to whether we have a real vital faith which
unites us to the Lamb and brings salvation to our souls.

1. We ought; my friends, to be extremely careful of our faith-both of its
rightness and of its strength, First of all: when we consider the position
which faith occupied in salvation. Faith is the salvation-grace. We are not
saved by love; but we are saved by grace, and we are saved by faith. We
are not saved by courage, we are not saved by patience; but we are saved
by faith. That is to say, God gives his salvation to faith and not to any other
virtue. It is nowhere written-he that loveth shall be saved. It is nowhere
recorded-that a patient sinner shall be saved. But it is said, “He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Faith is the vital part of salvation.
If a man lacks faith he lacks everything. “Without faith it is impossible to
please God.” If a man has true faith-however little he has of any other
virtue-that man is secure. But supposing it possible for a man to possess
every virtue in the world, let him be as much a Christian in his exterior; the
apostle Paul himself; let him be as earnest as a seraph; let him be as diligent
in the service of his Master as you could conceive even an angel on high to
be, still “Without faith”-so God’s Word declares — “it is impossible to
please God.” Faith is the saving grace-it is the connecting-link between the
soul and Christ. Take that away and all is gone. Remove faith, you have
sawn through the ship’s keel, and she must sink. Take away faith, you have
taken away my shield and I must be slain. Remove faith, and Christian life
becomes a nonentity: it is extinct at once, for “the just shall live by faith:”
and without faith how could they live at all? Consider then, that since faith
is so important in salvation, it becomes each of us more earnestly to inquire
whether we have faith or not? O, my brethren, there are a thousand shams
in the world-a thousand imitations of faith; but there is only one true vital
saving faith. There are scores of notional faiths-a faith which consists in
holding a sound creed, a faith which bids men believe a lie, by wrapping
them up with assurances of their safety, when they are still in the gall of
bitterness and the bonds of iniquity, a faith which consists in
presumptuously trusting to ourselves. There are scores of false faiths; but
there is only one true one. Oh! as ye wish to be saved at last; as ye would
not be self-deceived and go marching to damnation with your eyes shut,
take your faith in your hand this morning and see whether it is genuine
sterling coin. We ought to be more careful of our faith than of anything
else. True, we ought to examine our conduct, we ought to search our
works, we ought to try our love, but, above all, our faith: for if faith be
wrong all is wrong; if faith be right, we may take that as the touchstone of
our sincerity. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath eternal life abiding
in him.”

2. Secondly:-Be anxious about your faith, for all your graces hang upon it.
Faith is the root-grace: all other virtues and graces spring from it, Tell me
of love; how can I love him in whom I do not believe. If I do not believe
that there is a God, and that he is the rewarder of all them that diligently
seek him, how can I possibly love him? Tell me of patience: how can I
exercise patience unless I have faith? For faith looks to the recompense of
the reward: she says, that “all things are working together for our good,”
she believes that from our distresses the greater glory shall spring, and
therefore she can endure. Tell me of courage: but who can have courage if
he has not faith? Take what virtue you will, and you will see that it depends
on faith. Faith is the silver thread upon which the pearls of the graces are to
be strung. Break that, and you have broken the string-the pearls lie
scattered on the ground, nor can you wear them for your own adornment.
Faith is the mother of virtues. Faith is the fire which consumes the sacrifice.
Faith is the water which nurtures the root. Faith is the sap which imparts
vitality to all the branches. If you have not faith all your graces must die.
And in proportion as your faith increases so will all your virtues, not all in
the same proportion, but all in some degree. The man of little faith is the
man of little love. The man of great faith is the man of great affection. He
that has great faith in God could give himself to die for God, but he who
has little faith in him would shrink at the stake because his love would be
feeble. Have care of your faith, for on that your virtue depends; and if you
would cultivate things that are goodly, “things that are lovely, things that
are of good repute,” things that are honorable to yourself, and pleasing to
God, guard well your faith, for on your faith all things must rest.

3. Thirdly:-Take heed of your faith, because Christ thinks much of it.
There are three things in the New Testament which are called precious:-
One of them, you know, is the precious blood of Christ; another is the
exceeding great and precious promises; and faith has the honor of being the
third thing — “To them that have obtained like precious faith.” So that
faith is one of God’s three precious things, It is one of the things which he
values above all others. I was astonished yesterday, when I met with an
idea in an old divine, concerning the honor which God puts on faith: says
he, “Christ takes the crown off his own head to put it on to faith’s head.”
Mark you how often he says, “Thy faith hath saved thee.” Now it is not
faith that saves, it is Christ that saves. “Thy faith hath healed thee,” says
Christ. Now faith did not heal, it was Christ that healed, but Christ did
uncrown himself to crown faith. He took the royal diadem of salvation
from his own head and placed it on the brow of faith, and therein he made
faith “the King of kings” — for it wears the crown which the King of kings
alone can wear-”the crown of salvation.” Do you not know that we read,
“We are justified by faith.” Now, in one sense this is not the fact, for the
matter of justification is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. We are
justified by Christ, but Christ arrays faith in his own royal garments, and
renders it truly illustrious. Jesus Christ always puts faith in the seat of
honor. When that poor woman came whose daughter was ill, he said, “O
woman great is thy faith!’” He might have said, “Woman, great is thy love”
for it was great love that made her force her way through the crowd and
speak on her daughter’s behalf, or, “Great is thy patience,” for when he
called her “dog,” she still stuck to him, and would not depart: or, he might
have said, “Great is thy courage;” for she said, “Yet the dogs eat of the
crumbs.” Or, he might have said, “Great is thy wisdom;” for she was a wise
woman to extract sweets out of the bitters, and to say, “Truth, Lord, but
the dogs eat of the crumbs.” But he overlooks all that, and says, “Great is
thy faith.” Well, if Christ thinks so much of faith ought we not to esteem it
most highly. Is it possible to think too highly of that jewel which Christ
reckons to be the most valuable? If he sets faith in the forefront of the
forehead of virtue, and if he regards it as the choicest gem in the crown of
the Christian, oh! will it not awaken us to see whether we have it or not?
For if we have it we are rich-rich in faith and promises; but if we possess it
not, whatever we have, we are poor-poor in this world, and poor in the
next.

4. Next, Christian, take good care of thy faith, for recollect faith is the only
way whereby thou canst obtain blessings. If we want blessings from God,
nothing can fetch them down except faith. Prayer cannot draw down
answers from God’s throne except it is the earnest prayer of the man who
believes. Faith is the ladder on which my soul must walk to ascend to
heaven. If I break that ladder how can I ever approach my God? Faith is
the angelic messenger between the soul and heaven. Let that angel be
withdrawn, I can neither send prayer up nor receive the answers down.
Faith is the telegraphic wire which links earth and heaven-on which God’s
blessings move so fast that before we call he answers, and while we are yet
speaking he hears us. But if that telegraphic wire of faith be snapped, how
can we receive the promise? Am I in trouble: I can obtain help for trouble
by faith. Am I beaten about by the enemy: my soul on that dear refuge
leans by faith. But, take faith away-in vain I call to God. There is no road
betwixt my soul and heaven. In the deepest winter time faith is a road on
which the horses of prayer may travel-ay, and all the better for the biting
frost! But blockade the road, and how can we communicate with our great
king? Faith links me with divinity. Faith clothes me with the robes of deity.
Faith engages on my side the omnipotence of Jehovah. Faith gives me the
might of God; for it ensures that power on my behalf. It gives me to defy
the hosts of hell. It makes me march triumphant over the necks of my
enemies. But without faith how can I receive anything of the Lord? Let not
him that wavereth-who is like a wave of the sea-expect that he will receive
anything of God! O then, Christians watch well thy faith; for with it thou
canst win all things, however poor thou art, but without it thou canst
obtain nothing. It is said of Midas, that he had the power to turn everything
into gold by the touch of his hand; and it is true of faith-it can turn
everything into gold; but destroy faith, we have lost our all; we are
miserably poor, because we can hold no fellowship with the Father and
with his Son Jesus Christ.

5. Next, my friends, take care of your faith perpetually, because of your
enemies; for if you do not want faith when you are with friends, you will
require it when you have to deal with your foes. That good old warrior,
Paul, once led the Ephesians into the armoury and after he had shown them
the shoes they were to wear, the girdle, the breast plate, the helmet, and
the sword, he solemnly said, “Above all take the shield of faith.” Even if
you forget the helmet, be quite sure of the shield, for if your helmet should
be off you may ward off a blow with the shield, and save it from your head.
You had better put on the “shoes of peace and the breast-plate of
righteousness,” but if you omit one of them, take care that you have “the
shield of faith, where with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked one.” Well, now, faith makes a man very mighty when he deals
with enemies. If a man believes he is right, only taking it in a natural point
of view-bring that man before princes and kings, for the sake of truth, how
lion-like will he be! He will say, “I cannot yield, I must not, for I have the
truth on my side.” Ay, though others may style it dogged obstinacy, it is a
true nobility of soul which bids a man declare, “I will not yield.” Much
more strong is true spiritual faith; it has taken the martyr to the stake, and
enabled him to sing when the flames have girdled him. It has led another to
the sea; and like him of whom we read in the old martyrologies, it has
helped even the aged matron to cry, “Christ is all yet.” Faith has quenched
the violence of the flames, shut the mouth of lions, and out of weakness it
has made us strong. It has overcome more enemies than the whole host of
conquerors. Tell me not of the victories of Wellington; mention not the
battles of Napoleon; tell me of what faith has done! Oh! if we should erect
a monument to the honor of faith, what various names should we carve
upon the mighty pedestal! We should inscribe, here “The lion’s den,” there,
“The battle of the leopards;” or, here, we should have recorded how faith
divided the Red Sea; and there, how faith smote the Midianites; and there,
how Jael slew Sisera by faith. What conflicts of faith should we have to
engrave? O, faith! thy banner high shall wave! Thine escutcheon is most
glorious! Great art thou and full of victories! With thee, O faith, I cast the
gauntlet to the world, secure of victory. Give me a child to fight with, and
without faith-like poor Peter before the little maid, I should tremble and
deny my Master. But that same Peter, with faith, fears not to stand before
a frowning sanhedrim; to speak of his Master amid the scoffings of the high
priests. Mary, Queen of Scots, said she was “more afraid of John Knox’s
prayers and faith than she was of an army of ten thousand men,” and a
sensible enemy may well tremble when such invincibles are at war with
him. I should not like to have a man of faith opposing me. Tell me the
world hates me, and I will rejoice at it; but tell me that a man of faith has
determined to crush me, and I have need to tremble then, for there is a
potency in that man’s arm; his blows strike hard; and, when he does smite,
he smites home, as with a rod of iron. Tremble, ye foes of God, for faith
must overcome. And O ye servants of the living God, guard well your
faith, for by this shall ye be victorious; and shall stand like rocks, unmoved
amid the storms, unshaken by the tempests of persecution.

6. And now for a sixth reason. Take care of your faith, because otherwise
you cannot well perform your duty. Faith is the foot of the soul by which it
can march along the road of the commandments. Love can make the feet
move more swiftly; but faith is the foot which carries the soul. Faith is the
oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest piety to move well;
but without faith the wheels are taken from the chariot and we drag along
heavily. With faith I can do all things; without faith I shall neither have the
inclination nor the power to do anything in the service of God. If you
would find the men who serve God the best, you will find them the men of
the most faith. Little faith will save a man, but little faith cannot do great
things. Poor Little Faith could not have fought “Apollyon.” No, it wanted
“Christian” to do that. Poor Little Faith could not have slain “Giant
Despair;” it required “Greatheart’s” arm to knock that monster down.
Little faith can get to heaven very surely, but it often has to run and hide
itself in a nutshell; and to lose all but its jewels. If there are great battles
and great works to do, there must be great faith. Assurance can carry
mountains on its back; little faith stumbles at a mole-hill Great faith, like
Behemoth, can “snuff’ up Jordan at a draught:” little faith is drowned in a
drop of rain: it beginneth to think of going back at the slightest trouble.
Great faith can build temples; she can pile castles; she can preach the
gospel; she can proclaim Christ’s name before enemies; she can do all
things; and if you would be great indeed, and serve your Master much, as I
trust you will, you will seek increased faith! for by so doing you will be
more diligent in duty. O ye active Christians, be full of faith! ye busy
Christians, be sure to guard that I for once let that fall, what will ye do? As
Sabbath-school teachers, as preachers, as visitors of the sick, or whatever
ye have to do, rest assured that faith must be your strength and confidence.
If that fails, where are you then?

Again take care of your faith; for only faith can comfort you in your
troubles. Ay, say some, this is about all we think of, the uses of faith to
console us in our troubles. Now I never like to laugh at God’s people
because they desire comfort. I believe that it is a very great proof that they
are children that they like sweet things. If they did not, I should fear they
were not God’s children at all. But I hear ministers saying, “Ah, you are
always saying you want comfort, you want comfort.” Ay, to be sure, I say,
they do; and they want it because they never get it from you, sir. I believe
God’s people do need comfort, though, it is true, they want too much of it
when they ought not to have it. But they require a promise very often, and
they ought to have it. Now faith is the best cordial to the soul. O, how faith
will realize a promise at a time when there is great trouble coming! “Ah!”
says faith, “God says, ‘As thy days so shall thy strength be.’ “Ah!” says
faith, “it is a rough road; the thorns are sharp; the flints are strewn about it,
but then; thy shoes shall be iron and brass,’” and faith looks at the strong
old shoes, and say, “I will even venture,” and off she goes. Little faith sits
murmuring in a corner; great faith is singing in the fire. “They shall praise
him aloud in their beds, they shall sing his high praise in the fire.” Little
faith stands desponding, mingling her tears with the flood. Great faith says,
“When thou passest through the river, I will be with thee, the flood shall
not overflow thee; when thou passest through the fire, thou shalt not be
burned; neither shall the flames kindle upon thee.” Would you be
comfortable and happy? Would you enjoy religion? Would you have the
religion of cheerfulness and not that of gloom? Then seek more faith. You
will be saved with ever so little faith, but you will not be saved happily.
You will be happy hereafter if you believe in the slightest degree; but you
will not be happy here unless you fully, habitually, and earnestly believebelieve
strongly in the faithful promises of Jehovah, in all the glorious
dignity of his person, and in all the faithfulness and immutability of his
grace. If ye would be Christian larks, and not Christian owls, seek to have
more faith. If ye love darkness, and would fly about in it in gloom and
misery, then be content with little faith. But if ye would mount in sunshine,
and carol like the bird of day, then seek strong confidence.

One more reason. Take care of your faith, my friends; for it’s very often so
weak, that it demands all your attention. I do not know whether any of
you feel that your faith is too strong; but I never feel mine strong enough.
It seems to be exactly strong enough to bear the day’s troubles, but it
would not stand cutting in the least degree with the plane. I could not
afford to take the least atom off; it is just enough, and no more. As for
some of us, our faith is so weak that the least trouble threatens to devour
it. The goat passes and nips its tender shoot, the winter chills and freezes it;
it is almost ready to die. And my faith very often hangs upon the feeblest
thread; it appears ready to expire. Take care of your faith, Christian take
care of your faith whatever you leave out of doors of a night, do not leave
that little child of faith, whatsoever plant is exposed to the frost, be sure to
put faith within. Take care of faith, for it is so weak generally, it needs well
to have a good preservation.

Thus have I tried, as well as I can, this morning, to set forth the great
necessity of looking to our faith; and our prayer must be, as it was that of
the apostles, “increase our faith.”

II. This brings us, secondly, to consider THE HEART’S DESIRE OF THE
APOSTLES. “Increase our faith.” They did not say, “Lord keep our faith
alive: Lord sustain it as it is at present,” but, “Increase our faith.” For they
knew very well that it is only by increase that the Christian keeps alive at
all. Napoleon once said, “I must fight battles, and I must win them:
conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me.” And it
is so with the Christian. It is not yesterday’’ battle that will save me to-day;
I must be going onwards. A wheel will remain erect as long as it moves,
but when it begins to stand still it falls. Christian men are saved by
progress: constantly going onwards keeps the Christian alive. If it were
possible for me to stop, I know not where my life would be. The Christian
must be going onward; for the arrow will mount while still it is in progress,
but it stalls the moment the power stops that keeps it aloft. So the apostle
said unto the Lord, “increase our faith.”

First: “Increase our faith,” in its extent; the extent of what it will receive.
Usually, when we commence the Christian life, faith does not grasp much;
it only believes a few elementary doctrines. I find that many young
converts have not gone much farther than believing that Jesus Christ died
for sinners, by-and-bye they get a little advanced, and believe election; but
there is something a little beyond that they do not receive, and it is not until
after years that they believe the entire gospel. Some of you, my hearers,
and a great many that are not my hearers are miserable little cramped souls;
you have learned a cast-iron creed, and you will never move out of it. A
certain somebody drew up five or six doctrines, and said, “There are the
doctrines of the Bible,” and ye believe these, but you want to have your
faith increased, for you do not believe a great deal more that is in the Bible.
I do not think I differ from any of my hyper-calvinistic brethren in what I
do believe, but I differ from them in what they do not believe. I do not
believe any less than they do, but I believe a little more, and think, as we
grow we shall have our belief increased; not only are there a few cardinal
doctrines that will be enough to steer our ship by, north, south, east, or
west, but we shall begin to learn something about the north-west and
north-east, and that which lies between the four points. Many people, when
they hear something a little contrary to what they have usually heard, say at
once, “That is not sound.” But who made you a judge of what is sound?
And there are some little souls who set themselves up for princes in Israel,
and think every man must believe as they believe, or else he is decidedly
wrong, and will hold no Christian communication or fellowship with him. I
am sure I may pray to the Lord for them-”Increase their faith!” Help them
to believe a little more; help them to believe there may be Christian
Wesleyans; that there are good Church people; and not only that particular
Baptists are very good sort of people, but that there are some of God’s
elect everywhere. I am sure I pray for all bigots, that they may have a little
wider heart. I should like to stretch their hearts a little. But, no, they have
reached the ultima thule, they have come to the last of the fortunate
islands, there cannot be any shore beyond. It is dangerous for a mariner to
spread his sails on untried seas. “Hitherto,” says pious Crisp, and therefore
many fancy, “hitherto shalt thou go, and no further.” Dr. Gill declares just
so much, and who shall venture to say more; or perhaps Calvin is made the
standard and what business has any man to think a single thought beyond
Calvin? Blessed be God, we have gone a little beyond that; and we can say,
“Increase our faith.” With all our admiration for these great standard
divines, we are not prepared to shut ourselves up in their little iron cages;
but we say, “Open the door, and let me fly-let me still feel that I am at
liberty. Increase my faith, and help me to believe a little more.” I know I
can say I have had an increase of faith in one or two respects within the last
few months. I could not, for a long time, see anything like the Millenium in
the Scriptures; I could not much rejoice in the Second Coming of Christ,
though I did believe it; but gradually my faith began to open to that subject,
and I find it now a part of my meat and drink, to be looking for, as well as
hastening unto, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe I have only
just begun to learn the A B C of the Scriptures yet, and will constantly cry
to the Lord, “Increase my faith,” that I may know more and believe more,
and understand thy Word far better. “Increase my faith,” in its extent.
Next, “Increase my faith,” in its intensity. Faith needs to be increased in its
power, as well as in its extent. We do not wish to act as some do with a
river, when they break the banks, to let it spread over the pasture, and so
make it shallower but we wish, while it increases in surface, that it may
increase likewise in its depth. Increase “the intensity of our faith!” Faith at
first takes God’s mercy with an open palm: as it increases it holds it with
his fingers, and not more firmly; but when faith grows strong, ah! she takes
it, as with an iron vice, and grasps it, and not death nor hell could rend a
promise from faith’s hand when faith is strong. The young Christian at first
is not constant in his faith a little wind comes, and he shakes, when he gets
an old Christian he will take old Boreas, with fifty of his winds, to move
him. Do you not feel, my dear friends, that you want faith to be increased
in its intensity? Would you not sing with Watts:

“Oh! that I had a stronger faith,
To look within the veil;
To credit what my Savior saith,
Whose word can never fail?”

Your poor little faith cannot see many yards before it, for there are clouds
of darkness all around; but strong faith can climb the hill that is called
“Clear,” and from the top thereof can see the celestial city, and the land
that is very far off. Oh! may God increase your faith to such a degree, that
you may often have visions of heaven”-that you may sweetly sing, as
Moses might have done at the top of Pisgah,-

“Oh! the transporting rapturous scene
That rises to my sight.
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
And rivers of delight.”

That you may climb up there, bathe your eyes in splendor, plunge your soul
in rivers of bliss, and be thoroughly transported and carried away by
visions of that state of beatitude which shortly shall be yours, let me exhort
you to cry to the Lord, “Increase my faith “in its power of realizing heaven
and in every other way.

III. I have no time to dwell upon this, but must close up by very briefly
mentioning THE PERSON TO WHOM THE APOSTLES ADDRESSED THEIR
PRAYER. The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” They went to
the right person. They did not say to themselves, “I will increase my faith,”
they did not cry to the minister, “Preach a comforting sermon, and increase
my faith,” they did not say, “I will read such-and-such a book, and that will
increase my faith.” No, they said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” Faiths
author can alone increase it. I could inflate your faith till it turned into
presumption, but I could not make it grow. It is God’s work to feed faith,
as well as to give it life at first; and if any of you desire to have a growing
faith, go and take your burden this morning to God’s throne, crying “Lord,
increase our faith!” If you feel that your troubles have been increased, go
to the Lord, and say, “increase our faith!” If your money is accumulating,
go to the Lord, and say, “Increase our faith;” for you will want more faith
as you get more prosperity. If your property is diminishing, go to him, and
say, “increase our faith,” so that what you lose in one scale you may gain in
the other. Are you sickly and full; of pain this morning? Go to your Master,
and say, “increase my faith,’ so that I may not be impatient, but be able to
bear it well.” Are you tired and weary? Go and supplicate, “Increase our
faith!” Have you little faith? Take it to God, and he will turn it into great
faith. There is no hot-house for growing tender plants in, like a house that
is within the curtains-the tabernacle of God, where the Shekinah dwelleth.
I have been speaking in very great pain; but I would, if possible, close by
asking you, who are Christians, whether you do not think this prayer very
necessary to your own state. Let each one ask himself, Do not I want more
faith? My brethren and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, rest assured, you
will never get too much of this precious grace. If you pay all the way to
heaven, you will never have a penny to spare when you get to heaven’s
gate, if you live on faith all your journey through, you will not have a pot
of manna left. Pray, then, for an increase of faith. You want this church to
stand, do you not? It can stand only in proportion as you are men of faith. I
know I might exhort you to be men of prayer; but faith is the foundation
stone; prayer comes next. Prayer without faith would be an empty
mockery; it would win nothing of God. Do you want us to stand? Do you
know how the world speaks of us-how the enthusiasm of the renting
people of Park Street is talked of? How is it to be kept up, except through
your faith. How shall your minister’s hands be held up, except by your faith
and your prayers? Let faith be the Aaron; let prayer be the Ur; and faith
and prayer can hold up the hands of Moses, whilst the army below is
fighting the enemy. Would ye be kept from falling? Ye must be strong in
faith. Little faith falls, strong faith stands. Would ye win the day, and reign
in heaven, with a starry crown more brilliant than you might otherwise
expect? Then be ye increased in faith. And would ye honor God much, and
enter heaven, after having fought a good fight and won a crown? Then I
will offer the supplication, “increase the faith of my people,” and put up the
prayer, “increase my faith.”

But there are some of you, dear friends, who could not use this petition,
and dare not. What would it avail you if you did so? Seeing you have no
faith, how could that be increased which has no existence. Rather, your
first need is the possession of the simple germs of faith. Oh! my hearers, I
marvel what some of you do without the comforts which faith can alone
afford. Some of you are very poor people: how do you manage to endure
your toils and troubles without faith? Where is your comfort? I do not
wonder at your going to get drunk, or rioting in the ale-house, if you have
no other comfort in this world. When I have penetrated some of our back
streets and seen the poverty of the people, I have thought, “If these people
have no religion, what have they to comfort them? They are not like the
rich man, who can indulge himself in every way: what have they got in this
world worth living for?” I suppose they have some kind of happiness: what
sort of a thing it is I cannot tell: it is to me a source of continual inquiry.
And you rich men, what will you do without faith? You know that you
must leave all your properly behind you; surely this will make the idea of
death dreadful to you. I cannot understand even your happiness, if you
have any. I know this-that

“I would not change my blest estate
For all the earth calls good or great;
And while my faith can keep her hold,
I envy not the sinner’s gold.”

But I want to ask you what would you do in the next world without faith.
Remember, you are standing now upon the edge of the vast gulf of an
unknown future. Your soul stands quivering on the verge of the dark
abyss; each time your pulse heats your soul is brought nearer to eternity.
Faith gives wings to the soul; but what will you do without wings? There is
a narrow gulf dividing earth from heaven; the Christian flaps his wings, and
borne upon them, he flies to heaven; but what will you do without wings?
It will be a leap-a leap into perdition, to sink for ever, without the power of
ever recovering yourself. If a Christian could sink on his journey to heaven
he would not sink far for he would flap his wings and be up again. But
there you will be, perpetually descending through that pit that has no
bottom-struggling to rise, but you cannot, for you have no wings. Once
more, oh! unbeliever, what will you do without faith? For faith gives eyes
to the soul; faith gives us to see things that are not seen: it is “the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The Christian, when
he dies, will enter the land of death with his eyes open; by means of which,
goodly hosts of angels shall cheer his vision; but you must die a blind and
eyeless spirit. Unhappy is the lot of the blind in this present world, but how
infinitely deplorable that eternal blindness which shall prevent a sight of the
splendours of paradise, and shut out for ever even the feeblest ray of joy or
hope. And, once more; faith is the hand of the soul. The Christian, when he
dies, catches hold of Christ’s garment, and Christ bears him into heaven. A
bright angel descends,-I clasp that angel, and on his wings he wafts me up
to bliss. But when the unbeliever dies the angel would have a useless
errand, for he has no hands. Suppose, O sinner, Christ is there, but you
cannot even touch his garments, for you have no hands to do it with. What
will you do in the next world without hands? Do you think God will suffer
such deformed souls in heaven, without hands and without eyes? No, not
at all. But how could you get in without hands? You could not open the
gates of heaven. What would you do? You would call on God for mercy;
and if the mercy were held out to you, you have not hands with which to
lay hold upon it. I do not understand how some of you are happy without
religion, I do not know what you mean to do if you die without faith. Go
home and think of what you will do if you die without religion; whether
you intend to brazen it out before the face of the Eternal, or tamely to
submit. Sinner! thou canst not enter into heaven without faith, but what
hast thou made up thy mind to do? Dost thou intend to rend down the
gates of heaven? Dost thou think thou hast omnipotence enough to force
thy way through squadrons of cherubim and legions of angels, and so to
enter by main force? Or what dost thou design to do? Dost thou intend
quietly to lie down in beds of sulphur? Dost thou design to be willingly
tossed perpetually in that brimstone lake where there is no bottom; where
briny tears for ever fall? Will ye do that? Will ye make your bed in hell?
Sirs, are you so besotted that ye are content with such a doom eternally? Is
your reason clean gone? Are your senses so benighted that ye can thus cast
yourselves away? Surely ye have resolved to do something. What, then,
will ye do? Do you fancy that without faith you will enter heaven, when it
is written, “Without faith it is impossible to please God?” And when God
has said. “He that believeth not shall be damned,” dost thou think thou
canst reverse the decree? Wilt thou mount the throne of Jehovah, and
forswear Jehovah’s self? Wilt thou change his mandate and admit the
unbeliever into heaven? No, thou canst not! Tremble, then, unbeliever,
tremble; for there awaits thee nothing but “a fearful looking for of
judgment and of fiery indignation.” What will ye do in the swellings of
Jordan, without faith to keep your heads above the waters? God give faith
to those that have none; and as for others, may he increase their faith!