October 18

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.

3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh

5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive

for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

9 By faith he sopsomed in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker at God.

11 Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, to many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore unimpeachable.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth

14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

16 But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed

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to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.

18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

What a sublime thing is faith! The sight of the unseen; the reality of the unreal; the substance of the unsubstantial; the invisible pitted against the visible—this it is that enables men to endure with patience whatever trials they may be called to pass through in this world.

The grandest triumph of faith is just the acknowledgment of a mystery. Where reason bows, where the senses are palled, and where the man trembles and shivers as he enters into the cloud,—there faith comes in. Real faith carries a man above and over many of the perplexing questions with which our lives are troubled, as the eagle flying through the sky is not worried how to cross the rivers.

"The life of a Christian is described as walking by faith, and to my mind walking by faith is the most extraordinary miracle ever beheld beneath the sun. Walking on the waves, as Peter did, is a type of the life of every Christian. I have sometimes likened it to ascending an invisible staircase far up into the clouds. You cannot see a step before you, but you wind up towards the light. When you look downward all is dark, and before you lies nothing visible but cloud, while beneath you yawns a fathomless abyss. Yet we have climbed, some of us, now for years up this perpetually ascending stair, never seeing an inch before us. We have often paused almost in horror, and asked in wonder, 'What next, and what next?' Yet what we thought was cloud has proved to be solid rock; darkness has been light before us, and slippery places have been safe."—C. H. Spurgeon.

Closet Promise.—I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.—Psalm lvii. 2.

The beautiful old translation says, He "shall perform the cause which I have in hand." Does not that make it very real to us to-day? Just the very thing that "I have in hand," my own particular bit of work to-day,—this cause that I cannot manage, this thing that I undertook in miscalculation of my own powers, this is what I may ask Him to do "for me," and rest assured that He will perform it. "The wise and their works are in the hands of God."