August 29

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth.—John 8:31, 32.

Shall continue, because ye are initiated, because ye have begun to be therein. If ye continue, that is, in the faith which began to be in you when ye believed, whither shall ye come? See what sort of beginning it is, whither it bringeth a man. Thou hast loved the foundation, mark the summit of the edifice, and from this lowliness seek other loftiness. For faith hath lowliness; knowledge and immortality and eternity have not lowliness but loftiness; a raising up, no falling short; an eternal stability, no storming by an enemy, no fear of failing. Great is that which begins with faith, but it is despised. The foundation in a building, too, is wont to be despised by the ignorant. A great ditch is made; stones are thrown in at random; no polish there, no beauty apparent; just as in the root of a tree there is no beauty apparent; yet all that delights thee in the tree sprung from the root. But thou seest the root, and hast no delight in it. Thou fool, that which thou admirest sprung from that in which thou hast no delight! It seems to thee a small thing, the faith of believers; thou hast not a balance wherewith to weigh it. Hear then what it comes to in the end, and see how great it is: as the Lord saith in another place, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed. What more lowly, what more forcible? What more minute, what hotter? Then ye also, saith he, if ye continue in my word, in which ye have believed, to what shall ye be brought in the end? Ye shall be my disciples indeed. And what advantageth it us? And ye shall know the truth.

What does he promise to them that believe, my brethren? And ye shall know the truth. What? know they it not, when the Lord spake? if they knew it not, how did they believe? They did not believe because they knew, but in order that they might know, therefore they believed. For we believe in order to know, not know in order to believe. The thing we are to know, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath ascended into the heart of man. For what is faith, but, to believe what thou seest not? Faith then is, what thou seest not, to believe; truth is, what thou hast believed, to see: as himself in a certain place saith. To this end, the Lord first, in order to make faith, walked on earth. He was man, he had been made lowly; he was seen of all, not known of all; by many he was rejected, by the multitude put to death, by few mourned: but yet even of them by whom he was mourned was he not yet known as he was. All this is a kind of first outlines of faith, and of the structure that was to be. Which thing the Lord having in view, saith in a certain place, He that loveth me, keepeth my commandments; and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and show myself unto him. Whom they that heard, of course did already see; yet to them, if they loved, he promised the seeing of him. So likewise here, Ye shall know the truth. How? What thou hast said, is that not truth? It is truth; only, as yet it is believed, not seen. If there be a continuing in that which is believed, there shall be a coming unto that which may be seen. Thence saith John himself the holy Evangelist in his Epistle, Beloved, saith he, we are the sons of God, but it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. Already we are, and something we shall be. What more shall we be than we are? Hear: It hath not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Wherefore? Because we shall see him as he is. A mighty promise! but it is the wages of faith. Thou seekest the wages; let the work go before. If thou believest, demand the wages of faith; but if thou believest not, with what face wilt thou seek the wages of faith? If then ye continue in my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed: that ye may behold the truth itself as it is: not by words that sound, by light that shines, when that shall have satiated us which we read in the Psalm, It is signed upon us, even the light of thy countenance, O Lord. We are money of God's mint, we are coin that has wandered far from the treasury. By our wandering, the impress that was upon us is worn out; there is One come to reform us, because it was he that formed us: he too seeks his own coin, and Cæsar does his; therefore saith he, Render unto Cæsar the things that be Cæsar's, and unto God the things that be God's; to Cæsar, the coin of the realm; to God, your own selves. Then, I say, shall the truth be expressed in us.

What shall I say to you, my beloved? O that there were an heart in any measure panting for that ineffable glory! O that we felt with groans our state as pilgrims and foreigners, and loved not the world, and at the door of him who hath called us did with pious mind keep up a perpetual knocking! Desire is to the heart as its bosom and lap; we shall receive, if we stretch out our desire as widely as we can. This is the very purpose of the Scripture concerning us, for this very purpose is the assembling of the congregations, for this the celebrating of sacraments, for this holy baptism, for this the chanting of the praises of God, for this our very preaching; that this desire may not only be sown, and may take root, but also grow to the measure of such capacity, that it may be equal to receive what eye hath not seen, ear heard, nor hath ascended into the heart of man. But then, love ye with me. He loveth not much money, who loveth God! Even I have gently handled your infirmity; I dare not say, Loveth not money; but only, Not much loveth money: as if money might be loved, only not much! Oh, if we worthily love God, we shall not love money at all! Money will be to thee the furnishing of the pilgrimage, not provocative of lust; a thing to use for necessity, not to enjoy for delight. Love God, if that which thou hearest and praisest hath wrought any thing with thee. Use the world, let not the world take thee! That thou hast entered into the world, is because thou art on a journey: thou camest to depart hence, not to remain: thou art on a journey, this life is the inn. Use money, as the traveller in the inn uses table, cup, pitcher, bed, to leave them, not to remain. If such you be, ye shall come to his promises. For it is not much for you, because mighty is the hand of him who called you. He hath called, let him be called upon; let it be said to him, thou hast called us, we call upon thee; lo, we have heard thy vocation, hear thou our invocation; bring us whither thou hast promised, perfect that thou hast begun; forsake not thine own gifts, forsake not thine own field, let thy plants enter into thy barn! Temptations abound in the world, but greater is he that made the world: temptations abound, but that man fails not, who puts his trust in him, in whom is no failing.