Some Essentials of Religion Part 4

IV.

WHAT IS FAITH?

By The Rev. H. M. Little, L.S.T., Rector of the Church of the Advent, Montreal.

A careful reader of the Gospels must be struck with the insistence which Jesus Christ places upon faith. "Verily I say unto you I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" "Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, son be of good cheer." "According to your faith be it done unto you." "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." "O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt." "Dost thou believe on the Son of G.o.d?" "Ye believe in G.o.d, believe also in me."

What then is this faith which Jesus Christ asks of people? Is it nothing more than a "looking upward" by one in need to one able to supply the need? Jesus was never satisfied with this att.i.tude.

THE TRUE NATURE OF FAITH.

In the case of the twelve Apostles we see what the nature of true faith is. Jesus Christ chose them that they might be with Him in order that they might learn His "secret"--the knowledge of His Personality. He wished for such confidence in Him that they would commit themselves wholly to His keeping. For the lack of this faith He rebuked them in the storm on the lake. Their faith failed them again at the Crucifixion; and it was the first task of the Master after the Resurrection to build again this confidence which was shattered by the tragedy of His death. He was successful. The early chapters of the Acts record the degree of calm confidence with which these same men committed their lives to His keeping (though absent from their sight) as to One possessing all authority in heaven and on earth. Such is the true nature of Faith.

THE EVERLASTING WHISPER.

Perhaps it will be better to clear away a misconception existing in some minds arising from a confusion of thought between the exercise of personal faith and the facts themselves of which the Christian revelation consists. The two are quite distinct. "The Faith" means the facts of revealed religion made known to us through the Church and interwoven into the very texture of the Creeds and the Book of Common Prayer,--originally the content of the oral gospels. We speak of the Articles of the Christian Faith, meaning the Apostles' Creed. The doctrine of the Holy Communion or of the Ministry of the Church, etc., are parts also of "The Faith"; of this "faith" the Church is the guardian and the teacher. This is essentially different from that inward personal movement of the soul towards G.o.d which we are now considering. The former may be thought of collectively as an objective thing--something quite apart from the individual,--which he may disregard or fail to understand; whereas personal faith is a movement of the soul of man which as we shall see vitalizes his being and calls into operation all his capacities. It is possible to be thoroughly instructed in the verities of "The Faith", and at the same time to be devoid of personal faith; while on the other hand persons are to be met with who possess an intense personal faith in the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity who have through no fault of their own but a very slight intellectual grasp of the contents of "The Faith" as it has been committed to the Church of G.o.d. Yet "The Faith", "the Christian Faith"

must be cherished by faith (that movement in the soul of man towards G.o.d) if the believer is to grow up unto the knowledge of G.o.d.

FAITH NOT ANTAGONISTIC TO REASON.

We find ourselves in a world of material things and physical phenomena.

We watch and study nature; we witness its orderly movements. We ask questions. Is matter the real thing and the true explanation of it all? Does nature reveal an intelligence behind the universe and working in it? Are the movements in nature the product of law,--and how did the laws begin to operate and when? We listen to the answer of the materialist, but it does not satisfy, because somehow or other it does not account for everything. Surely, we say, if the operation of law accounts for everything, there must be a lawgiver. Besides this we observe in nature both design and beauty. This suggests to us a mind behind nature. Man looks also within himself as part of creation and finds he has a moral sense. He makes distinctions between right and wrong; there are present to his mind ideas of justice and mercy and love,--whence came these, he enquires, for these are not material forces at all, they are intellectual and spiritual? He sees men die and infants born, and he asks whence do they come and whither are they going. He refuses to believe that this life sees the end of man for he has within himself the witness that he is spirit and not matter. It is in this refusal of the innermost being of a man to consent to any materialistic explanation of the phenomena of nature or of human life that faith declares itself. The judgment which insists that the only adequate explanation of the universe (as science has made it known) must be sought on the basis of the existence of a spiritual world permeating all that is seen in human life, and that behind it all as its source and origin, as its upholder and controlling power, is G.o.d--this is faith.

Further. Faith--living faith--is the elemental act within man going forth from him as a son in search for the knowledge of G.o.d as Father.

It is the greatest energising force within man, for it includes within itself the other capacities within man's personality, such as his emotions and his will; and in the case of the intellect,--it embraces all that the intellect can accomplish, and then goes beyond the limit which intellect can reach. For faith takes all the conclusions arrived at by man's intellect, and then, supported by these conclusions, makes its venture as it were by the very power which is its own.

FAITH GOES FURTHER THAN REASON.

Think for the moment of the subordinate part played by reason in relation to both heroism and love. Heroism is universally admired. It springs spontaneously from within. It makes few calculations. It seldom weighs the pros, and cons. It may act rationally or in defiance of reason. It cannot stop to argue. It may court certain destruction.

The challenge is accepted. The heroic action is done. And is it not the same with the affections? Whoever met the lover who became so through his intellect? Who can know what love is except by loving?

The lover does not sit down and reason the matter out, and after weighing all considerations say, "Yes, I will now love." Tell him to act thus and he will laugh outright. Love it is which draws him and causes him to act. He finds himself acting as he does just because he is in love, that is all. 'Tis true that reason exercises her part.

Reason may show him that his love is harmful, or on the contrary that it has the sanction of his best judgment. But it can do no more.

Evidence can be found everywhere to the fact of love recklessly pursuing its career in spite of reason. Reason has its limitations and love goes beyond it; outstrips it like heroism. It is exactly the same with faith. If you want to know what faith is, give yourself up to its influence, let yourself go out in response to it, let it carry you along, until by experience you will come to know the power of faith and the illumination of faith and the reality of faith. Other faculties will come to your aid to a.s.sist and to guide, but they can never be a subst.i.tute for faith. The personal knowledge of G.o.d can only be reached through faith. (Heb. II. 6.).

FAITH GOES FURTHER THAN REASON IN HUMAN AFFAIRS.

There are people who feel that they can only tread where the ground is solid; where they see quite clearly what is ahead; who take no risks; who venture nothing. Yet it is utterly impossible to live so in real life. Most of the business transacted in the world is based on a system of credits; and credit is but another name for faith in personal honesty. The financial investments that are made are ventures of faith as to profits and returns. Business foresight which is a great a.s.set to success in life relies upon the invariableness and calculated changes likely to occur. The invalid carries out the doctor's instructions to the extent of his faith in his physician. The reader of the daily newspaper has faith in the reliability of the news served up to him. The history that men read, or the school textbooks used by children, postulate the veracity of the authors of these works.

Friendships are an impossibility without the repose of faith. In short everywhere and in every department of life there can be no knowledge nor growth nor progress without faith. As I write the International Conference is taking place at Genoa where the chief obstacle to the task of putting Europe upon a peaceful economic basis is the suspicions, the lack of faith in one another that prevails, not without cause, among the nations.

So when G.o.d, Who is Spirit, tells us He can only be apprehended by faith it is childish to quarrel with this necessary condition, because He is only asking of His children the same att.i.tude towards Him which is everywhere adopted by humanity in its social relationships, consciously or unconsciously, as an essential condition of human happiness and progress.

FAITH A BOND OF FRIENDSHIP WITH G.o.d

Faith is required of men, not because G.o.d grudges information, but because He desires for man the unspeakable blessing of a willing, longing, intimate friendship with Himself. Among the heathen nations "He left not Himself without witness, if haply they might seek after Him and find Him." He selected Abram and called him forth from Ur to be a father of a nation. To that nation, tried and disciplined, He disclosed Himself "in fragmentary portions and in divers manners," by a long line of inspired writers and prophets, until at last "in the fulness of time G.o.d sent forth His Son."

The Incarnation discloses the distance the Father will travel to meet His lost children, if by faith they will return to Him, and live the life of restored fellowship. Thus we understand why Jesus pleads and entreats and warns; it is because the loss of faith has such terrible consequences--consequences which in their harm to oneself and to others are incalculable. Through Jesus G.o.d has revealed the pa.s.sion of His heart, His yearning love for the souls of men.

G.o.d DEMANDS OUR ENTIRE PERSONALITY.

The faith which G.o.d requires will include within it the exercise of all man's capacities and powers; there will be in the end no part of his personality and no department of his life which is not contributary to, or influenced by, his faith; for faith will be the means for the rounding out and the perfecting of the character. It will include the directing of the will, it will find scope for the emotions, it will receive the sanction of the intellect--it will be the movement of the entire man G.o.dwards.

How very necessary it is for people to do some thinking regarding their religion, and how very little is done. Many people think that what is good enough for their parents, is good enough for them in religion.

But this is the only department of life to which this idea is attached.

These people make no enquiries, they conform to certain formularies and rules of conduct, they have prejudices and great limitations. The fruit of this is an extraordinary haziness existing in men's minds regarding religion. Here a purely moral life is deemed the same thing as a life built upon faith in Christ. Or compare the emphasis put upon ethical duties directed towards one's neighbour (e.g. he is a good husband and pays his debts); when little or no account is taken of the obligations due to G.o.d (such as Christian worship or the sinfulness of profanity). Or again, people put their trust in the reception of the sacraments without clear ideas as to the "necessary dispositions" for the proper receiving of the sacraments, a tendency to treat them as charms.

There are difficulties connected with our faith, such as the problems of pain and suffering, or inequality of opportunity, the prosperity of the unG.o.dly, which require much thought. Besides all this the trust which men repose in G.o.d, not only in their everyday affairs, but also in those crises that happen from time to time, is strengthened immensely when the intellect contributes its support, when man knows he is pa.s.sing through a desolating experience, but knows also that many others have pa.s.sed through the like upheld in the darkness by faith.

Every Churchman should make an effort to bring his intellect by reading and study to the support of his faith.

And the emotions, too, have their right place in the development of faith. Have we not been somewhat suspicious of the emotional element in religion, due perhaps to a disproportionate and exaggerated use of it by some religious bodies? Has there not been a tendency to suppress the emotions because there are emotional religious cults almost divorced from morality and the intellect? Perhaps, too, it has something to do with temperament? British people used to be little moved by feelings; lately they have changed somewhat. We need the vision of Jesus Christ, Who is the revelation of G.o.d the Father, as One to be supremely loved above all others--as Mary Magdalene, as St. Peter and St. John, loved Him. It would help us in worship if we used fewer subjective hymns and more hymns of the type of S. Bernard's, "Jesu the very thought of Thee," or "O Love, how deep! how broad, how high!" if we could have some simple litanies of devotion bringing to the mind of the worshipper the purity, gentleness, tenderness, patience, sympathy and meekness of Jesus Christ; our faith in him would become more tender, warmer, more personal, and without this our faith cannot be complete.

FAITH MUST ISSUE IN CHRIST'S SYSTEM OF MORALS.

A further feature in this venture after the knowledge of G.o.d is the moral one. It is only to the pure in heart that the vision of G.o.d will become a reality. To believe in Jesus is to accept His teaching in the sphere of morals quite as much as to appropriate His promises of present pardon and future rewards. In fact the promise of pardon is interwoven with the condition of doing His will, and the heavenly life is held out as a reward to those who follow His example. Jesus claims the sovereignty over man's whole personality. Those who call Him "Lord, Lord," must do the things He says. It is just at this point that the world tests the Christian faith. The world is practical; it demands not profession, but works. It knows that Jesus bequeathed a system of morals to His followers, especially in the Sermon on the Mount; and, while it is ignorant of the grace Jesus bestows to enable human nature to rise above itself, yet in its rough and ready way it holds faith of no value which is not shown in "fruits". When Society talks about the "failure" of Christianity what it usually has in mind is the failure of Christian people to conform to the Christian standard of truthfulness and justice, of honesty and straight dealing, of continence and self-respect; being like other people, lovers of money and applause rather than examples of that love for their neighbour commanded in the Gospels. The human will needs supernatural strength to live Christ's system of morals. G.o.d demands that the entire personality, intellect, emotion, will, should be committed to Him in an all-embracing, loving faith.

A FINAL PERSONAL WORD.

A few words must be said as to the outcome of vital Christian faith.

How will it be recognized or known? We answer by its interest in, and its works on, behalf of others' good. Christian faith must justify itself in service. The sphere and the nature of that service must be sought from Him Who has drawn the disciple to Himself. Sometimes it means the taking up of the old task in an unselfish way; sometimes it will lead to a new departure or an additional undertaking; sometimes it sends one far off among the Gentiles. It is not so much the kind of work that needs the emphasis, but rather the fact that if faith is being perfected it falls short of completion unless the disciple views all his activities, even the most humble ones, as occasions for service for others' good.

There is need of caution, however. We live in a busy age, and activity is nearly idolised. It is not that we must always be busy, but rather that what we do is not a mere fad or notion taken up enthusiastically and, when difficulties present themselves, then just as quickly dropped. The outcome of faith is a task done for G.o.d on behalf of others, when toil will cheerfully be borne, drudgery endured, trials met with patience, and--through evil report and good report--the work continued.

V.

PRAYER

By The Very Rev. D. T. Owen, D.D., Dean of Niagara.

I would ask you to think with me as simply and directly as possible about one of the greatest things in the world. It is something that we can all do, for it requires no special learning; it is something which we can all do at once, for it requires, from one point of view, no special training; and it is something, which if we will do, will bring guidance, peace and power, into our own lives and into the lives of others. What is this thing which is so great, and yet so close to hand, which is so worth while doing, and which we can all do, and do at once? It is prayer. It is just saying our prayers. "Oh! how humdrum and commonplace!" we say, or "How difficult and discouraging I have found it; I know I should pray, and I make resolutions sometimes to that end, but somehow it gets either formal, or crowded out, or forgotten". Yes, while we all know about these difficulties and appreciate their strength, let us think this subject out again.

WHAT IS PRAYER.