5 
 
 CM 
 
IN KiEMORIAM 
 BERNARD MOSES 
 
Booklets in !(ew t -Fancy Bindings. 
 
 BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS (THE). By the 
 
 Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 
 CHILDREN'S WING (THE). By Elizabeth Glover. 
 CONFLICTING DUTIES. By E. S. Elliott. 
 CULTURE AND REFORM. By Anna Robertson Brown. 
 DO WE BELIEVE IT ? By E. S. Elliott. 
 EXPECTATION CORNER. By E. S. Elliott. 
 FAMILY MANNERS. By Elizabeth Glover. 
 GENTLE HEART (THE). By the Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 
 GIRLS: FAULTS AND IDEALS. By the Rev. J. R. 
 
 Miller, D.D. 
 GOLDEN RULE IN BUSINESS (THE). By the Rev. 
 
 C. F. Dole. 
 HAPPY LIFE (THE). By Charles W. Eliot, LL.D. 
 J. COLE. By Emma Gellibrand. 
 JESSICA'S FIRST PRAYER. By Hesba Stretton. 
 KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER (THE). By John 
 
 Ruskin. 
 LADDIE. By the author of " Miss Toosey's Mission." 
 LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. By Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 MASTER AND MAN. By Count Lyof N. Tolstoi. 
 MISS TOOSEY'S MISSION. By the author of "Laddie." 
 PATHS OF DUTY (THE) : Counsels to Young Men. 
 
 By Dean Farrar. 
 REAL HAPPENINGS. Bv Mrs. Mary B. Claflin. 
 SECRETS OF HAPPY HOME LIFE. By the Rev. J. 
 
 R. Miller, D.D. 
 SHIPS AND HAVENS. By the Rev. Henry Van Dyke, D.D. 
 STILLNESS AND SERVICE. By E. S. Elliott. 
 SWEETNESS AND LIGHT. By Matthew Arnold. 
 TALKS ABOUT A FINE ART. By Elizabeth Glover. 
 TELL JESUS. By Anna Shipton. 
 TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Bv E. S. Elliott. 
 TWO PILGRIMS (THE). Bv Count Lyof N. Tolstoi. 
 VICTORY OF OUR FAITH(THE). By Anna Robert- 
 son Brown, Ph.D. 
 WHAT IS WORTH WHILE. By Anna Robertson 
 
 Brown, Ph.D. 
 WHAT MEN LIVE BY. By Count Lvof N. Tolstoi. 
 WHEN THE KING COMES TO HIS OWN. By 
 
 E. S. Elliott. 
 WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO. By 
 
 Count Lyof N>. Tolstoi. 
 YOUNG MEN : FAULTS AND IDEALS. By the Rev. 
 
 J. R. Miller, D.D. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, by the 
 publishers, on receipt of 35c. 
 
 Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., NewYork & Boston. 
 
THE 
 
 VICTORY OF OUR FAITH 
 
 ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN, 'JPh.D, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " WHAT IS WORTH WHILE? " 
 
 "And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus 
 is the Son of Godt " — St. John. > 
 
 Ninth Thousand 
 
 New York: 46 East 14th Street 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 
 
 Boston : 100 Purchase Street 
 
J> W-b-s 
 
 Ul> 
 
 Copyright, 1894, 
 By Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. 
 
 RFfWJARD BfJSEt 
 
 C. J. Peters & Son, 
 
 Type-Setterb and Electeotypers, 
 
 145 High Street, Boston. 
 
& 
 
 Not long ago a young man incidentally calling at my 
 home was speaking of some of the more serious problems 
 of life and mind. He is a brilliantly educated and tal- 
 ented man, but in his attitude and conversation there was 
 an undertone of deep sadness ; one heard the modern note 
 of despair. He had lost faith in God; and life appeared to 
 him dark, desolate, tormenting, uncertain, without pur- 
 pose, and altogether not worth while. 
 
 That his experience is typical, and not unique, is a 
 striking phase of the University life of to-day. Faith too 
 often fails in college halls : Teufelsdrockh has many 
 brothers. 
 
 That conversation has haunted and troubled me. I 
 have since been thinking of the supreme importance of 
 faith, — of what it really means to those who have it; 
 and to-day I would speak at least a passing word to other 
 college men and women about the worth of faith to life. 
 
 887336 
 
" It is not the weariness of mortality,' but the strength 
 of divinity, which we have to recognize in all mighty 
 things. 11 — Ruskin. 
 
 "'/So near are we, even in this troublous world, to the 
 land of Everlasting Best"\ 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 Faith links us with, the Eternal. It makes 
 us one with God. This gives the soul the most 
 majestic possible pose. Its attitude is the 
 sublime. Standing above this puny earth-ball 
 and the flying shadow which we call time, it 
 looks out over endless reaches and unimagined 
 joys. It sees the universe in its true relations, 
 flashingly perceives the significance of the triv- 
 ial and the temporal, judges kindly of the com- 
 monplace, and learns to wait patiently among 
 the things that are for the things that are to 
 be. 
 
 There comes a feeling that one has now 
 really begun to live. Life rolls off into far re- 
 cesses of joy and light, and the soul quivers 
 with happy awe. I used to have twinges of 
 fright at the happiness of faith. The strange, 
 infinite possession seemed too good to be be- 
 lieved. How could it last forever ? But every 
 day steadies my confidence. It flows on and 
 5 
 
6 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 on, without noticeable jar or break. Eternal 
 life beats like a full pulse under all we are and 
 feel and know ; unharassed in sorrow, and giv- 
 ing a touch of calm and wisdom to the moment 
 of most excitable rapture. 
 
 It is not only that life fills the soul, but that 
 it is so rich, tranquil, and serene. Nothing 
 tires the spirit overmuch. Days and duties 
 bound by, and one exults in a sense of glowing 
 inward health. Nothing finally hurts or grieves 
 but sin. 
 
 Faith shows the soul its final goal. "Eter- 
 nity : thither, of a truth, and not elsewhither, 
 art thou and all things bound ! " We plunge 
 towards the forever, and that with leaps of joy. 
 Unconsciousness nowhere awaits us ; our souls 
 are quick, and that for endless years. 
 
 This gives a large prospective to our lives. 
 We are not afraid of the glorious endeavor. 
 We project to-day into a hereafter in which 
 our aspirations may come true. Our possibili- 
 ties sweep out into space, unlimited and vast. 
 There is room to strive and grow, without fear 
 of a future spiritual confine. We are un- 
 cramped by the bitter human. Of no real 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 7 
 
 thing need we ever say, To this there comes 
 an end. Love, hope, peace, are ours forever. 
 Our every action has repose. 
 
 Faith calls us to the heroic. The " child of 
 eternity " is brave. Do we not grow along the 
 line of what we think and read of ? The hours . 
 of silence chiefly make us all. But the mind of 
 the Christian is filled with thoughts of God. 
 Jehovah is the figure of his dreams. This gives 
 grandeur to his impulses, tenderness to his af- 
 fections, and a ringing resolution to his deeds ! 
 
 We do not really wish a languid life of lotos- 
 calm. Youth is filled with fiery rages. We are 
 all admirers of the triumphant, and worship at 
 its feet. To the conqueror, the chariot; but he 
 who fails returns in rags or chains. Ever we 
 adore the strong. " It is not to taste sweet 
 things," says Carlyle, " but to do true and 
 noble things, and vindicate himself under God's 
 Heaven as a god-made Man, that the poorest 
 son of Adam dimly longs. Show him the way 
 of doing that, the dullest day-drudge kindles 
 into a hero ! " 
 
 But the world's idea of the heroic is fiercely 
 cruel. "Les Conqu^rants," a striking picture 
 
8 TBB VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 lately brought from the Paris Salon, represents 
 a phalanx of stern, set warriors — Sesostris, 
 Alexander, Philip, Napoleon, and others — rid- 
 ing to victory through the surging bodies 
 of the starved and naked dead. Faith cries 
 grandly to the human spirit, Endure, Serve, 
 Love, Sacrifice, Forgive ! In its onward march 
 it wakes a dying world, and rouses it to ever- 
 lasting life. 
 
 Faith gives us an adequate ideal. It moulds 
 us in the image of the Divine. Virtue is, after 
 all, the supreme charmer. The soul does not 
 cling to this vain self forever. Faith holds up 
 the large and loving figure of the Son of man, 
 and says, Into this incomparable likeness thou, 
 too, O soul, mayst grow ! /Ah, tender, thrilling 
 thought, — that we, so weak, so poor, so stung 
 by life, so tempted, distressed, sad, weeping, 
 and most often overcome, may silently, resist- 
 lessly, and as certainly as the flowers bloom, 
 attain to a heavenly sweetness of spirit, to cour- 
 age, cheer, gentleness, patience, love ! J 
 
 This hope of the divine is worth all other 
 creeds and tenets of the world. Nothing stirs 
 the passionate heart so deeply as this, that holi- 
 
TEE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 9 
 
 ness may yet be won. To that end, we are will- 
 ing to endure the cross, to weep, suffer, strive. 
 It is the promise of the fulfilment of our high- 
 est dream, — of that which we whisper to our- 
 selves in the night-watches, and when none are 
 by. fit is not transmigration of soul we long 
 for, but this blessed transfiguration, radiant and 
 supreme. What we wish to be, we are to be : 
 this gives signal comfort to the race. / 
 
 Faith triumphs over the hard conditions of 
 life. lHard conditions exist/ For a time they 
 bend our backs and wring our hearts. Life 
 has appalling aspects for us all. In what sad 
 outlines it looms up before the soul ! The 
 Grendel of this present world creeps out by 
 night, and carries off our dearest hopes. Fam- 
 ine and plague draw near. At each step there 
 is something not to our mind. The longed-for 
 heroic has many foes. Obstacles spring up 
 before each manly wish. The colossal, when 
 builded at last, proves worm-eaten, and leans 
 and totters while we gaze. We cannot desert 
 our post with honor, but it is easy to be mal- 
 contents. Shall we take life with whimpers? 
 Shall we fight, or weep and give up ? Shall 
 
10 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 we stoically accept our fate? Nay, rather let 
 us endure, as seeing Him who is invisible !f 
 
 It is well that there are hard things in life. 
 They bring dignity into the conflict, and make 
 the combat worth while. The strong soul 
 craves stout foes ; it thrills at the clash of steel 
 on steel. They also prove the real value of 
 faith. If it should ever fail us in an emer- 
 gency, we should give it up at once. Our be- 
 lief shall be the competent; our ally must be 
 strong. 
 
 But it is equal to life at every turn. This is 
 a great excitement to me, — to watch it con- 
 quer things, one by one. There is a spice of 
 mischief in seeing surprised impediments go 
 down. They show their astonishment in their 
 leave-taking. The incredible has happened, 
 and they rub their eyes. 
 
 Faith conquers life by a large trust, and by 
 stalwart strokes of loving work. It says, These 
 things are tests and charms. They are the 
 best condition — nay, the only condition — of 
 achieving that Godlike which we desire. They 
 are God's ways of making strong, perfect, and 
 complete His own. The iron " ring of Neces- 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 11 
 
 sity whereby we are #11 ^egirti" becomes there- 
 by a robe of strength, — the ^mor ;> of ; great 
 might. ••'.*'% »*•* « •■»' • '• ' 
 
 We grieve at Providence only because we 
 have as yet imperfect insight and petulant 
 wills. 'A human soul is always let down from 
 eternity at the exact spot where it can best live 
 and grow. \ No God-given condition is inhospit- 
 able. God never asks us to stay where there 
 is no Ideal. He never places us in a squirrel- 
 cage of drudgery, and requires us to wear out 
 the body and weary the spirit in any useless 
 activity or routine. To all His paths there is 
 a goal. Our every task counts, if it be done 
 well. If it be done idly or ill, it weighs down 
 the hopes of the universe, and is a drag upon 
 human progress, f 
 
 The man of grand faith says, Any place is 
 good enough and big enough for me. Give me 
 but a foot of earth to stand on, or to die on, and 
 I will make the spot in God's eyes historic! 
 Give my life a radius of present influence of 
 but half a mile, and I will some day shake the 
 corners of the globe ! Here in this great crea- 
 tion which, misinterpreted, maligned, and mis- 
 
12 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 understood, groans \/nnd • travails with pain, I 
 will shpw t wbat<iaitb can-do !/ I will look out 
 upon ' life 'c&lmly ;" I will see it truly ; I will 
 trust superbly, and, God helping me, act well ! f 
 I am at home in caves, in deserts, in dungeons. 
 I With God and heaven above me, I can never 
 \ be unhoused. Nothing discomfits me. Condi- 
 tion ? Thou shalt be my bond-slave ! Circum- 
 stance ? I will lead thee with a whip-cord ! 
 Opportunity ? I can do my work in Wart- 
 burg Castle and in Bedford Prison! My tub 
 is large enough — yau may even take my 
 sunshine — I will carve out destinies in the 
 dark. 
 
 No soul is meanly endowed, or hampered by 
 Heaven in its toil. God has given every crea- 
 ture his own peculiar gift. In all the universe 
 there is no wholly stupid person. Each has his 
 mission, and is necessary, in some wise, to the 
 health and happiness of all. The orie problem 
 for each soul to solve is that of faithful and 
 earnest work. The gift is surely there, and 
 God will bless its honest use. 
 
 Woman weeps for beauty. That she was 
 not born rarely lovely is to her a daily pang. 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 13 
 
 The gift she has, she toys with , what she 
 imagines she has not, preys upon her and robs 
 her of her rest. But what charm in a face can 
 exceed the clear, steady shining of eyes that 
 look on God? When we dry our tears for the 
 human, God puts upon our looks a touch of 
 the radiant, compassionate Divine. 
 
 Poverty constrains many. That it strangles 
 the powers is a general belief. But St. Fran- 
 cis of Assisi chose poverty, in order to have 
 freedom and large time. The Son of man was 
 poor, and yet walked on earth the most majestic 
 spirit that the world has ever known. Ah, it 
 delights me — this untamable grandeur of the 
 soul! That heroic life proves that humanity 
 stripped of its gew-gaws may yet be regal and 
 complete. 
 
 What we were born to is like a fatal coil. 
 We are told that one's grandfather cannot be 
 shaken off; that he is to be a lasting night- 
 mare. But faith teaches the veriest vagabond 
 the way of escape from his ancestors. The soul 
 may slip the leash of heredity. Fate pursues, 
 but it eludes the lasso. It is doomed to nothing 
 but itself. It is heir to nothing which God can- 
 
14 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 not regenerate, use, soften, or restrain. Some- 
 times the supposed hindrance turns out to be 
 an unusual and unlooked-for talent or oppor- 
 tunity. The slave-boy becomes ere long the 
 Bishop of the Niger. 
 
 /What we mis-name loneliness, faith shows us 
 to be a chance for the companionship of the Di- 
 vine. / The world parts us from God. Friends 
 draw us away. Love puts mists and veils be- 
 fore our eyes. But when the world recedes, 
 or when the dear one dies, then we may take 
 counsel with the Eternal, listen to His voice, 
 and prepare ourselves in silence to meet again 
 the terrors and combats of our fate. We see 
 God face to face — not in the midst of a multi- 
 tude, or over the heads of a crowd. Even sad 
 Bernardine Holme has glimpses of this truth. 
 She says, j If I believed in God as a personal 
 God, I should be inclined to think that loneli- 
 ness were part of his scheme ; so that the soul 
 of man might turn to Him, and Him alone."* 
 
 I know of no kingly soul which has not been 
 trained for sovereignty in long and lonely 
 hours. Moses, Paul, and John had all their 
 meditative years. ItJ^Jlcd!3JOyj)£^sahooling 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 15 
 
 for grandeur. The great deed springs from a 
 time of solitude and prayer./ 
 
 We cannot escape sorrow. To some form of 
 ache of body, mind, or spirit we are all born. 
 Grief will find us, though we seek a far covert. 
 The thing we needs must meet, let us meet hon- 
 orably. From the uncertain possible it is per- 
 mitted to draw back with dread ; but let us ever 
 meet the inevitable with no visible qualm. Let 
 us be hospitable to grief. Grief has a grand 
 mien that chills and awes, but his inmost heart 
 is kind. Let us meet our grave-visaged guest 
 with gracious ease. Hereafter we may find that 
 we have entertained an angel unawares. 
 
 (Faith bravely says of sorrow, Let it be a 
 tonic — a bracer-up of my eternal health! /To be 
 granted pain to bear is a spiritual honor. This 
 thing shows that God takes me for some sort of 
 a hero. Let me rise to the occasion, and act 
 well the grand role assigned me. Life is meant 
 for discipline — there remains no more mystery 
 nor woe in pain. It is what makes us grow. 
 The allotted grief is in each case the fit one 
 for strength and insight. No other experience 
 would answer. Grief gives truth and tender- 
 
16 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 ness to life. Also, sorrow is a most uplifting 
 thing : it makes the jubilant possible. Ever I 
 find that the steeds of grief may draw a char- 
 iot of triumphant joy. 
 
 A strong soul is not afraid of pain. He who 
 wishes to help the world says, In me I find 
 the make-up of my race. Let deep life come 
 my way — spare not a single pang. If I may 
 thereby better understand, I would forego no 
 hurt nor bitter lesson. He realizes all so ten- 
 derly, dear lover of humanity, that /We must 
 live through things ourselves, either in experi- 
 ence or sympathy, before we can tell others 
 what to do in an emergency. Hearts break, 
 that the world may be kept informed. \ 
 
 Other limitations of life are ignorance, folly, 
 and mistakes of judgment. It seems incredible 
 that an earnest soul could ever be silly. But 
 life daily proves to us that we all are human. 
 Folly is a point of contact between man and 
 man, and a leveller of pride. Each man- must 
 at some time say grimly to himself, It does not 
 disturb me, — it refreshes me, rather, — that on 
 one supreme occasion I was an utter fool. Be- 
 fore that hour I stood apart from human kind ; 
 
TEE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 17 
 
 I was somewhat lonely in the world. But now 
 I have loving comrades, and legion kin ; I com- 
 prehend the antics of my race. Moreover, I 
 now have compassion for every brother-fool. 
 He is to me no more a lunatic, but mine own 
 familiar friend. 
 
 Our judgment is neither adequate nor iner- 
 rant. /We are but half-witted, and we get so 
 nervous when the crucial hour arrives ! / What 
 we did for our best good turns out to have been 
 a wild act. We throw our powers recklessly 
 away, and take steps that we can nevermore 
 retrace. This cuts us, that we had a chance 
 to choose, and chose wrong. /Our blunders 
 cause us tears and pain. / 
 
 Life is pitiful, in that it is full of these 
 mistakes. They are grotesque gaucheries, 
 and seem so unnecessary and sad. And each 
 mistake exacts an inevitable penalty. Nature 
 cannot forgive; fate refuses to forget. But 
 Faith turns even our mistakes to account, and 
 says with soothing accent, These, too, are a 
 part of the wondrous ways of GocL./ It is thus 
 He upbuilds the soul in humility and wisdom. 
 It is thus He trains it to rely on Him alone. 
 
18 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 What has happened, God knew would happen 
 — He allowed to happen. He can make the 
 best of the deed, if we give it honestly to Him. 
 This solace stills repining, lulls regret. 
 
 Faith endues our work with power. Do we 
 not all wish to make our lives effective ? /* How 
 we scorn the weak, uncertain touch ! Belief 
 puts the soul into such harmony with God 
 and the universe roundabout, that its every 
 deed becomes efficient. It meets with no con- 
 fusion of impulse or desire, and proves nobly 
 incapable of the puny. 
 
 Negation is nerveless; the affirmative alone 
 inspires. What great work is easily built upon 
 this, I do- not know ? That premise stifles the 
 soul. But faith quenches no enthusiasm: it 
 arouses our vigorous zest. 
 
 Some souls think to display strength by defy- 
 ing the Creator, and running counter to His 
 will. What of their lasting success? Can 
 one oppose Omnipotence and escape injury? It 
 is as if an engine-wheel should turn against 
 the belt that guides it, and defy the power with- 
 out which it would be but a motionless, dead 
 mass. But the child of God may in every 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 19 
 
 emergency call Omnipotence to his help and 
 succor. 
 
 There is an inspiration of the Holy Ghost. I 
 have seen it working in the world. It is a 
 strange, electric, vivifying force. Those who 
 have it need no tongues of fire upon the head 
 to-day. They are everywhere marked men and 
 women. Their presence shoots forth spiritual 
 sparks and thrills. A flaming, loving energy 
 is in all their words and ways. The efficiency 
 of faith cannot be computed in earth's dynamic 
 phrase : it achieves the superhuman at each 
 historic step. 
 
 Faith also gives our work point and poise. 
 How many of us know exactly what we are 
 about in this world, or are consistent with our 
 own ideas? Left to ourselves, we halt with 
 indecision. But faith establishes a duty-cen- 
 tre, around which life swings very simply, with- 
 out friction, without discord, without regret. 
 It teaches plainly and at once that our work in 
 the world is to do — not something remark- 
 able, but something right ; and that this right 
 is ever and always the present will of God. 
 From the moment that we accept this truth, 
 
20 THE VICTORY OF OUE FAITH. 
 
 we have a purpose in our lives, unshakable, 
 uncountable, and triumphant in solving the 
 problems of our career. "What is God's will 
 for me to-day ? This is our one care. 
 
 Faith gives us the word of God. College 
 thinkers grow up in libraries, and they know 
 the great books of the world. But the more 
 one reads the Bible, and studies it sincerely, 
 the more one realizes how surprisingly and 
 majestically it towers above all other books. 
 From all other scriptures one turns away with 
 sighs; somewhere one comes upon the incon- 
 sequent or the base. /The Bible is power- 
 ful, dazzling, consoling, heart-searching, and 
 inspired, p 
 
 Faith saves us from sin and hell. It is a 
 terrible thing for a human soul to be let loose 
 in the world. Darkness is about its path ; gins 
 and snares await the coming of its feet. Each 
 man is a possible prey of Satan; the universe 
 is hostile to each new-born soul. Temptation 
 is nothing that we can play with, or put grace- 
 fully from us at the tip of the fan or cane. 
 The Arch-Enemy arrays his whole armament, 
 strengthened by success through these six thou- 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 21 
 
 sand years, against the struggling soul, to 
 drag it down. Terrific combat! Plight of 
 shock and horror! "Name it as we choose," 
 says Carlyle, "with or without visible Devil, 
 whether in the natural Desert of rocks and 
 sands, or in the populous moral Desert of self- 
 ishness and baseness, — to such Temptation are 
 we all called. Unhappy if we are not! Un- 
 happy if we are but Half-men." 
 
 Temptation is the most baffling thing I have . 
 j ever thought about, and yet it is the most real. 
 What is it ? It seems to be something within 
 us, beckoned to and abetted by something 
 without. Each of us is two. Half the soul 
 enlists for evil, and is looked upon by the other 
 half with scorn and shame. 
 
 Temptation is not a disgrace ; it is a test of 
 strength. It is not the number of temptations 
 escaped, but the number met and conquered, 
 that marks our heavenward progress. The 
 work of the world is done by men and women 
 who know life at its fiercest. Christ Himself 
 had every typical temptation possible to the 
 soul; for He was in all points tempted like 
 as we are, yet without sin. 
 
22 - THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 We cannot meet and conquer temptation in 
 our own strength. Something higher we must 
 have. I wonder if any human being really 
 thinks he has power in himself to be good — 
 good not only in the eyes of the world, which 
 is at times unobservant, or purblind, but in 
 the grave, searching eyes of his own heart? 
 We all feel that perhaps we could withstand 
 temptation better if it came under more fa- 
 vorable circurnstances. But the affable hour 
 delays. 
 
 The value of Christianity is that it takes 
 hold of temptation at the root, — in the mind 
 and heart. It says little of actions, but deals 
 squarely with the thoughts and feelings and 
 desires. When they are pure, the deed is 
 upright. 
 
 Temptation at the moment of spiritual exal- 
 tation has its absurd, sad side. { Strange that 
 the soul should be so deluded and misled ! 
 Strange that it should consent to cut the sorry 
 figure that it does ! Take pride, for instance. 
 The strut of pride is the most ludicrous possi- 
 ble gait. What are the things that we are 
 proud of? — that make us hold our heads so 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 23 
 
 high, and take such haughty, mincing steps? 
 Name one that is worthy of our unbiassed 
 praise. When we think of the many genera- 
 tions of men, so swiftly passing over the human 
 stage, there is the incongruity of the absolutely 
 ridiculous in attaching importance to the deeds 
 of any special one. /The greatest of men can 
 scarcely be seen at a distance of two thousand 
 years, and his million comrades not at all./ 
 They are as gnats in the sun, or as motes that 
 swim beneath the moon. Whatever we are 
 proud of in ourselves, is in the sum of things 
 insignificant, we may be sure. The only thing 
 God sees of mark in us is the immortal soul. 
 Faith helps us to gauge all things by the ab- 
 solute eternal. 
 
 Greed? What matters it in the end whether 
 we have grasped at a kingdom or at a ginger- 
 dog? Sloth? And what do we enjoy, curled 
 up in the lazy lair? Lying? The man who 
 lies is not only a present knave, — he is a 
 future laughing-stock. Hardness of heart? 
 
 This last is a temptation both subtle and 
 pervasive. Most men b^joature are not kind. 
 They do not sympathize deeply with those 
 
24 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 whose experiences they have not known. 
 They turn coldly from distress, not realizing 
 that life is a most deadly boomerang, — /that 
 every unkind word or deed becomes a mis- 
 sile to hurt ourselves hereafter, f The exact 
 event returns. 
 
 Nor do they get along well with each other. 
 Every human being is to every other, at 
 times, an infuriation. This gives a serious 
 aspect to life, for we all have neighbors. With- 
 out faith, humanity is a chagrin. The half- 
 god pierces and forgets. People change, — they 
 grow away from us ; they deceive us ; they are 
 not what we thought. Instead of smiling 
 flesh, we find a skeleton of vanity and self- 
 ishness revealed. (Death is the easiest way 
 of parting from many a one. ) If it come before 
 the unveiling of the bones, it is a day of 
 mercy: we are spared the sternest shock of 
 life. 
 
 Christianity dispels bitterness of spirit, and 
 eases the friction of life. It helps us con- 
 quer our antipathies, and does away with 
 wrath and revenge. It knows no rancor, and 
 harbors no grievance. It lifts us to the mag- 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 25 
 
 nanimous. It shows that crossness is either 
 extreme weariness, or else a most childish dis- 
 temper of soul. Faith gently says, Let me for- 
 bear. Let me ever follow the way of God. 
 That is, always and immediately to forgive. 
 /We do not achieve the angelic in this life. 
 There are certain people whom we cannot yet 
 meet with safety. They provoke us immeas- 
 urably. And they always come our way 
 when a trying combination of weather, fatigue, 
 and wearing work gets us off our guard. 
 Then temptation springs upon us like a tiger. 
 How humiliating it is to fall from patience ! 
 But that one is not in absolutely unfailing 
 good temper is no proof that the Christian 
 life is unreal. Many silent victories mark the 
 triumphant and lasting progress. Such ex- 
 periences are given to teach the soul greater 
 patience, and to keep us from spiritual pride. 
 Nothing upsets self-righteousness so quickly 
 as an adventure with the bete noire. Our pet 
 aversion is a salient means of grace. / 
 
 Again we shrink from people because they 
 are not refined. They grate upon us, and 
 vex us with their dull instincts and their 
 
26 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 crude taste. What we dislike and object to 
 is the vulgar. Faith takes away the common- 
 ness from life. It shows us that all things 
 human are God's children, co-heirs with us to 
 glory, and therefore not too mean for asso- 
 ciation, help, and love. In heaven we may 
 be neighbors for a thousand years ! The soul 
 that has found God says, To me there ex- 
 ists no more the Horde ; everywhere I see 
 flashing the Divine ! 
 
 Doubt? Doubt, except that of honest in- 
 quiry, is a shakes, a sort of ague; while faith 
 is vigorous health of soul. 
 
 Unbelief is a paralysis of one of the best 
 powers of the soul. For consider, when a man 
 is unbelieving, he is without hope. But hope 
 is alert vitality of spirit. Why is it ever im- 
 agined to be a mark of intellect to be in doubt ? 
 When a man is unbelieving, he can neither love 
 truly nor work grandly. He is handicapped, and 
 that to a fatal degree. " The affirmative class," 
 says Emerson, " monopolize the homage of man- 
 kind. They originate and execute all the great 
 feats." When a true Christian is born of God, 
 there comes into the world not only a believer, 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 27 
 
 but a new thinker, lover, doer ! He is a man of 
 sudden and surprising action. 
 
 Faith takes away doubt, and gives us trust. 
 This brings an immeasurable gain into our 
 lives; for every impulse to trust enlarges the 
 soul, but doubt in time shrivels the finest na- 
 ture. /Faith says, I am in the hands of my 
 Maker. Two things will never happen to me, 
 — the thing that is too much for me, and the 
 thing that is not best for me. God never over- 
 loads the soul. / 
 
 Doubt brings nervelessness and fear. But 
 of the grandly believing soul the world must 
 ever say, There walks a man we cannot scare. 
 Though we shake death before his eyes, he is 
 not afraid ! His comrades were " stoned, they 
 were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain 
 with the sword : they wandered about in sheep- 
 skins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, 
 tormented," and yet he maintains his calm, 
 unswerving way. Has any one ever seen a 
 man of the moral courage of the man of rooted 
 faith? His fearless bearing is historic and 
 superb. 
 
 Doubt also brings despair, — that sad some- 
 
28 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 thing which comes when tears are gone, f As 
 long as we can weep, we can somehow live 
 dully on. { But despair is the soul in final 
 anguish, and groping for the bitter end. Faith 
 — O loving contrast — brings us joy ! What 
 the Christian joy is cannot be set down in 
 words. It is a buoyancy of spirit that lifts 
 the soul into fresh, measureless, and unfatigued 
 delight. 
 
 In all our strong temptations, God not only 
 hears and helps us — He forgives. He rids 
 
 jus of remorse. Remorse! Remorse! Goad 
 and scorpion of the soul! What dost thou, 
 sad, unbelieving world, with thy load of care 
 and sin ? How dost carry thine oppressed and 
 troubled heart? To whom are thy longings 
 uttered, and before whom are thy quick tears 
 shed? But we, forgiven, go our way in happy 
 peace. Majestically we gaze on eternity, and 
 that without a dread. There remains to us 
 no fearful looking forward to of judgment 
 and of fiery indignation. We are redeemed by 
 the blood of Jesus : the Sacrifice avails. 
 
 / Faith gives wisdom in the affairs of . life. 
 If we only knew a little more ! If we could 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 29, 
 
 only guess how things are coming out! Our 
 worldly wisdom is at fault — it always comes 
 an hour too late. We are inadequate to deal 
 with our careers, and those careers impinge 
 upon the universal good or harm. What shall 
 the blind soul do ? /'' 
 
 " Commit thy way unto the Lord," says 
 faith, " and He shall bring it to pass." This 
 allays our frets. God arranges the events of 
 our lives with perfect love and foresight. 
 God — O grand thought! — stands even now 
 in the silence and shadow of eternity, mark- 
 ing out happy ways for our feet to tread. 
 Only let us listen for His kindly guidance. 
 Faith helps a man to find his real best in re- 
 lation to his business, his country, and his 
 home. 
 
 God not only chooses the work of the man 
 who trusts in Him — He gives him growing 
 opportunities, and builds up his business upon 
 truth and honor. Every business man of 
 loyal faith is a possible proof of God's help 
 in the minute details of daily life, 'it is 
 pointed out that the first miracle of Jesus 
 was to help a housekeeper.'' When we pray 
 
30 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 over our work in hand, the matter is apt to 
 come to a good conclusion. / 
 / Citizenship is a sacred trust. Where a man 
 is born is neither his virtue nor his fault; but 
 that he should live and vote uprightly is a 
 divine decree. / Countries cannot be ruled at 
 random — though at times the scheme is tried. 
 It takes Godlike wisdom for the task. " The 
 highest conception of the State," says Phillips 
 Brooks, " is that it is a thought of God." But 
 who can uphold, develop, and farther this 
 thought, except the man who works with 
 God? Let us take counsel of the Eternal, 
 and our civic problems will soon be somewhat 
 solved./ 
 
 Christianity creates and conserves the high- 
 est type of home. The truest manhood and 
 womanhood can be attained by faith alone. 
 Faith builds all life upon eternal aims. Faith 
 gives fidelity, patience, tenderness, wisdom, 
 and forbearing love. It exalts and blesses all 
 human relations, making one in heart and soul 
 both father and mother, parent and child, 
 brother and sister, friend and lover ; and thus 
 it gives to our passing earthly affections some 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 31 
 
 touch of the grandeur and steadfastness 01 that 
 love in heaven which is to be. 
 
 Faith wipes away our tears. Ah, the heart- 
 breaks there are in this weeping world ! Tears 
 of which no one knows but God; fierce rebel- 
 lions and longings ; inward anguish of spirit ; 
 grief unutterable, deep, and sad ! Looking over I 
 the city at twilight, I sometimes think, Under ! 
 each roof there is a heartache* Yes, every eye 
 we have yet looked into has at some time wept! 
 Broken health, perished dreams, thwarted^ ambi- 
 tions, quenched aspirings, pangs of ingratitude, 
 wounded love, outraged trust, stings of hate 
 and scorn, bitter lamentations and grievings for 
 a vanished voice and hand, — these, ah these, 
 are the unwritten histories of those we all too 
 idly meet and pass ! 
 
 But faith is a supreme comforter. It says, 
 The event passes — the Ideal remains. True 
 happiness is elsewhere thine. Give heaven thy 
 grief, and turn at once to matters that con- 
 cern the world. \ Rise above the individual 
 catastrophe ; look out upon God's grave and 
 unharmed Whole. Turn thy mourning from 
 thyself ; feel thou henceforward for the world's 
 
32 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 woe ! " O my Brother, my Brother," cries- 
 Teuf elsdrockh, moved with sobs of pity, " why 
 cannot I shelter thee in my bosom, and wipe 
 away all tears from thy eyes ! " 
 
 O thou who treadest the wine-press alone, lay 
 this thy whatsoever pain upon the breast of 
 God ! Hath he not known our griefs, and car- 
 ried our sorrows? That which to-day breaks 
 the heart shall to-morrow shine as the crown- 
 ing mercy of one's years ! God is not maiming 
 thy life, but is leading it to greater blessings, 
 that shall make thy heart rejoice. | Trust thou 
 the Eternaly " In all their affliction He was 
 afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved 
 them: in His love and in His pity he redeemed 
 them ; and He bare them, and carried them all 
 the days of old."! 
 
 Faith conquers our final foe. O death, where 
 is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? 
 This is the last, great triumph of our faith. 
 
 O soul of man, to what inheritance of glory 
 art thou redeemed! The centuries winging 
 their way across the sky of time shall fade 
 and pass ; the planets circling round their suns 
 shall find their light grow dim ; the graves shall 
 
THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 33 
 
 be opened ; the sea shall be no more ; the 
 heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll ; the 
 mountains shall dissolve with trembling, and 
 the elements with fervent heat; — but thou, 
 with many generations of men, of all nations, 
 and kindreds and people and tongues, shalt 
 stand before the throne and before the Lamb 
 forever! 
 
 There thou shalt meet the good and the 
 great of the world's years. There thou shalt 
 see thy dear ones yet once more, and that for 
 everlasting days! Heart shall speak to heart 
 again, and eye to eye. Thou shalt know no 
 more toil, nor care, nor weeping, nor farewells. 
 The peal of gladness is forever. Love shall 
 always be. 
 
 There, encompassed in glory, and adored by 
 myriad hosts, thou shalt see in that heavenly 
 city the Light thereof, — Him that ever liveth, 
 the Faithful and True, the Author and Finisher 
 of our faith, the King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords. 
 
 Standing before Him, with that multitude of 
 them which came out of great tribulation, and 
 have washed their robes, and made them white 
 
34 THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 in the blood of the Lamb, thou, too, shalt join 
 the angels' song of victory, saying, — 
 
 "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and 
 thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, 
 be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen." 
 
 AND AMEN. 
 
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