U Arrows

U United faith—questionable faith.

We cannot say we are blessed till our graces have been tried and proved; but when they have been tried and proved, and we have endured the test in God's great proof house, then we are blessed—not till then. Here is a man who has received a file of what look to be bank notes, and he thinks he is very rich. Have you tried to pass one of them? Have you taken one of them to a bank? No, poor fool! He does not wish to have his fine fortune tried ; he is angry when you suggest a doubt, and yet his wealth is mere fiction ; those bank notes are bank notes of the Bank of Elegance ; and if he were to attempt to pass them, he might rather be suspected to be a thief, than be judged to be a rich man. Much faith in this world is no better than that; and he is not blessed, but blinded, who possesses it. He is blessed who has tried his faith, who has gone to God with a promise, and received an answer to his prayer. He is blessed who has had his faith tried, who, having been put into the furnace, has by that faith in God been made to walk safely amid the flaming coals, and to come out unharmed. Untried faith is questionable faith. Is it faith at all? Was there ever in this world a believer altogether without trouble, or a grain of faith that had undergone no trial