Clues #1-10
Clues of the Maze: Honest Faith - #1-10
1. Let us live The most important part of human life is not its end, but its beginning. Our death-day is the child of the past; but our opening years are the sires of the future. At the last hour men summon to their bedside a solemnity of thought which arrives too late for any practical result. The hush, and awe, and faraway look, so frequent in departing moments, should have come much sooner. Commend us to the example of the Hebrew King, who fasted, and wore sackcloth, while the child was yet alive. "Wisely did he foresee the uselessness of lamenting when the scene should close." Can I bring him back again?" was one of the most sensible of questions.
It may be a serious business to take the cold iron from the anvil; it seems to us far sadder to be standing still, and seeing the hot bar grow chill. Brother, at my side, whoever you may be, let us strike!
2. How shall we live? With what hammer shall we strike? Ay, there's the rub. Not that it is any question to me personally; but desiring to be a true brother to you, my reader, I put it so; and for your sake, and in fellowship with you, I look around the work-shop. Here are hammers, light, bright, many! See the trade-mark,—Warranted brand-new. The old smith over yonder says he knows nothing of them. They were left here by a new firm, who are always inventing fine things. "Leastwise," says he," they call themselves a new firm, but I believe they might better be called 'the long firm': they trade under new names, but they are old rogues." The smith swings aloft, with brawny arm, a hammer which makes the sparks fly and the iron yield:—"There," says he, "the old hammer suits me best" You see, good friend, he is only a blacksmith, and knows no better. Some people are unreasonably fond of old things. Are these mental Tories any more foolish than those who are fascinated by novelties? We think not. The old hammer in our forge is Faith in God.
3. Faith has wrought Wonders
Faith is a great worker. The men of strong convictions fashion the world upon their anvils. Confidence girds a man's loins, and nerves him to the putting forth of all his energy. In the eleventh chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul brings forth a bead-roll of faith's heroes, and erects an Arc de Triomphe to their memory. The names stand out in capitals of light, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and the sculptured scenes are such as these,—" subdued kingdoms,"—"stopped the mouths of lions,"—"quenched the violence of fire." If the panegyrist of faith comes to a pause it is not because matter fails him; but he exclaims, "What shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the Prophets."
4. What has Doubt achieved?
How is it that no such trophy has ever been raised to the honour of unbelief? Will the poet of infidelity and the historian of scepticism yet appear? If so, what will be their record? "Working righteousness" and "obtaining promises" are rather out of the line of doubt, and it is not likely to endure much suffering to "obtain a better resurrection," for it sneers at the mention of such a thing: the eulogist of doubt would have to content himself with lower achievements. But what would they be? What hospitals or orphanages has doubt erected? What missions to cannibal tribes has infidelity sustained? What fallen women or profligate men has scepticism reclaimed and new-created?
"Sing, muse! If such a theme, so dark, so wrong, May find a muse to grace it with a song."
The Milton of this subject may well turn out to be like him whom Gray describes in his Elegy as "mute, inglorious." "By their fruits ye shal know them." What are the precious outcomings of "modern thought," which is the alias for new-fashioned unbelief? "We hear the shouts of the craftsmen as they repeat their cry, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" But where are the holy and happy results of the "advanced criticism" which is so busily undermining the foundations of faith?
5. Doubt is sterile The fact is that doubt is negative, destructive, sterile. It constrains no man to nobler things, and begets in the human mind no hopes or aspirations. It is by no means a principle upon which to base life's fabric; for whatever force it has is subversive, and not constructive. A principle which tends to nothing but universal smash is not one to which an ordinary man may contentedly commit the ruling of his life. What if some religious notions be mere fancy, impractical, and imaginary? It is no great thing after all to be good at breaking up the bric-à-brac of the house. However much the coldly-wise may rejoice to be rid of what they call rubbish, it will be no great feat to sweep away all the frail fabrics; the genius required is akin to that which is incarnate in a monkey or a wild bull. Our ambition lies in a higher region: we would construct rather than destroy. Since we aspire to honourable and useful lives, we seek a positive force which will bear us onward and upward. Those who prefer to do so may doubt, and doubt, and doubt to the dregs of nothing; but our choice is to find truth and believe it, that it may be a life-force to us. No partisan has yet had the hardihood to preach an evangel of "doubt and live"; for too manifestly doubt is akin to death: but believe and live is the essence of the message from heaven, and we accept it.
6. Self-reliance and a better Reliance
Self-reliance is inculcated as a moral virtue, and in a certain sense, with due surroundings, it is so. Observation and experience show that it is a considerable force in the world. He who questions his own powers, and does not know his own mind, hesitates, trembles, falters, fails: his diffidence is the author of his disappointment. The self-reliant individual hopes, considers, plans, resolves, endeavours, perseveres, succeeds: his assurance of victory is one leading cause of his triumph. A man believes in his own capacity, and unless he is altogether a piece of emptiness he gradually convinces others that his estimate is correct. Even self-conceit, immodest though it be, has sometimes acted forcefully, just as, at a pinch, Dutch courage has supplied the place of valour. The essence of the matter is that confidence of some sort is an item of great importance in accomplishing our designs, and distrust or doubt is a source of weakness in any and every case. Faith, then, we choose, rather than doubt, as the mainspring of our life.
7. Reliance in God—our chosen Life-principle
Now if self-reliance can make a man, how much more can God-reliance! This latter is more justifiable, more humble, more sure, more ennobling. Our own powers can only reach so far and no further: we are all tethered, and cannot go beyond our limit. But the divine power is unlimited and unchangeable, and therefore he who makes it his trust has a force at his back incomparably beyond all other. For all ends which he may wisely pursue he will have no need to calculate his strength: he may draw upon All-sufficiency. The Greatest Power must in all emergencies prove great enough for us. That power being immutable we may depend upon it as long as eternity endures. It is no small advantage to place our reliance where we may increase it from day to day without hazard of excessive confidence.
8. This Reliance works for good The moral results of trust in God are admirable. Setting out in life with a sincere and unaffected reliance upon God, a man's success will not make him vain, for he will give the honour to him in whom he trusted; and could such a man sustain an entire defeat while thus depending upon the divine arm, he need not be crushed by the disaster. His failure would involve more dishonour upon God than upon himself. It were an awfully sublime fate to perish through too great a faith in God. It is clear that in case either of success or failure, the influence of faith in the living God must be beneficial. As to whether or no faith in God will produce for us that which is best worth living for, we must each one prove for himself. The probabilities all look that way. It is reasonable that a man trusting in his Maker should find himself largely benefited by his faith. Certain of us are so well assured of the excellence of faith by many joyful facts already ascertained, that we are content to run all the future risks of an experiment in our own case upon the largest scale. We deliberately say, "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him."
9. Scepticism—no very great Achievement
It has been well said, "Nothing is easier than to doubt. A man of moderate ability or learning can doubt more than the wisest men believe." Faith demands knowledge, for it is an intelligent grace, able and anxious to justify itself; but infidelity is not required to give a reason for the doubt that is in it: a defiant mien and a blustering tone answer its purpose quite as well as argument. In fact, the present acme of unbelief is to know nothing: and what is this but the apotheosis of ignorance?
Great is the glory of knowing nothing! A man may glide into Agnosticism insensibly, and remain in it languidly; but to believe is to be alive,—alive to conflict and watchfulness. Those who think faith to be a childish business will have to make considerable advances towards manliness before they are able to test their own theory. Shall we prefer doubt because it is so ready to our hand, or shall we become truth-seekers even if we have to dive like pearl-fishers? That depends upon the mind which is in us. We shall elect our life-rule according to the spirit within. A brave soul will not tamely follow the ignoble way of the many, but will aspire to the higher paths even if they be the more difficult.
10. Faith in the Unseen That we should limit our confidence to the region of our senses is an absurd supposition. No man has seen, or heard, or tasted the greatest of known forces. Steam, electricity, gravitation, and the rest of the giants are all invisible. The earth is preserved in its orbit by forces which we cannot grasp. "He hangeth the world upon nothing." The visible powers are of minor rank: the more completely a force can be compassed by human thought, the more insignificant it must be. Take an illustration from daily life: the old Latin proverb hath it, that it is the mark of a poor man that he can count his flocks. The few pounds which he has saved can be handled by the artisan every hour of the day if their jingle pleases him; but the great banker has never seen his millions, and the evidence that he possesses them lies in certain bonds and bills in which he places unquestionable reliance. He is rich by faith. He could hardly be very rich, and actually see his wealth. For a great life a man must trust a great force; and that force must be to a large extent unseen, and beyond ordinary comprehension. This surely can be no difficulty to a reasonable man. If we must inevitably depend in some circumstances upon forces beyond our sight, why should we not in all circumstances rest ourselves upon the Eternal God, though he is and must be invisible? The practice of trusting in a higher power will prove to be elevating, and help to raise us above the dull level of materialism. May not the habit, if pursued in life, be the best possible preparation for death, which, according to the judgment of so many, is a pilgrimage to a dark and unknown land? The blind man is as well off in the darkness as those who have their eyes; nay, his habit of finding his way in the dark makes him the better of the two. If, therefore, faith teaches us to go where sight fails, we shall be the readier for that region which mortal eye has not seen. This much is certain, that if we follow God by faith, we need not be distressed because of his apparent absence and his actual invisibility; for as the dog, which hunts by scent, needs not to see its game, so he that follows in the way of obedience by faith, has no necessity to seek signs and tokens, for his faith supplies him with a surer sense.