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Faith. Sermons by the Late Rev. Robert A. Lee. 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 righteousS ness which is l>v faith.- Hebrews .\i:7. This eleventh chapter of the Epistle of the Hebrews, from which our text is taken, is a catalogue of the heroes and heroic deeds of faith. The author makes out a long list of the famous names in the history of God's people; and declares to us that faith was the controlling motive in the lives of these men ; he recounts a long narrative of brilliant achievements, and tells us that they were wrought by faith. Now, the reason for putting forth such a narrative of the accomplishments of faith seems to be this : The author is writing to Jews ; He desires to tell them that the faith in Christ with they now for the first time hear preached everyhere, and so emphasized and insisted on,?that this faith is no new thing, that it had been the active power in all their past history and in the achievements of their forefathers. And so, that he might commend to them faith in Christ, he cites the great names, and the great deeds of their ancestors, with which they were so familiar, H ^md of which they were so proud. And so, in words that ' ? r t x 1 must have touched trie very neart 01 jewisn pairousm unu love of the past, he tells them that it was because of faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain ; that it was because of the same great power that Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and likewise that it was by faith that Noah prepared the ark and became the heir of the righteousness which is by faith. And so the narrative goes on, and there pass before us Abraham, father of the faithful, and Isaac and Jacob, and Moses?mighty men, founders and legislators of the nation, but mighty, as the author of the epistle shows, through faith; until, carried away by the magnificence and glory of the past, the writer cries out that "time would fail him to tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson ; of David, and Samuel, and the prophets;" who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the moutns 01 lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. What a magnificent appeal ; to Jewish feeling and patrotism! It is an appeal like that of Demosthenes to the Athenians?"By the immortal spirits of your ancestors who died at Thermopylae?by those who fought the sea-fight of Salamis." With what consummate art and skill is faith?faith in Christ?here presented to the Jews ; not any new and strange thing, but the flower and fruit of eighteen centuries of national life and character. And then the writer, forgetting the glories of the past, re? 11 ~ n-. rronflo ftm 1 n tVio co rl i n rl nn tVlincc Hi It'llUUl auu gV-lH.1V OU aill UlU JUVI aura |na?u<..>v > ? ' of the years that were gone, -and shows that in these, too, the power of faith was exemplified. "Others hid," he tells us, "trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned, and sawn asunder; being destitute, afflicted, tormented ; of whom the world was not worthy?these all obtained a good report through jj faith." Written then for Jews, the full force and power of this presentation of faith could be felt and appreciated only by a Jew. It is in this connection then, in this presentation and $ display of the ancient place and power of faith in the world, and among the Jewish people, that our text occurs. In it we are told that, "Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, by faith prepared an ark, and saved his . house ; and so condemned the world ; and oecame tne neir of the righteousness which is by faith." And so Noah's faith had to do with things not seen. Being warned of God of things not seen as yet, he prepared an ark and saved his house. And so it is always ; faith is opposed to sight. It is the substance of things not seen. Now, this might seem to be the weakness of faith. I take it that in this fact consists its chief value and reality. Faith says " that what we see is not all?that back and behind this , vision of the world that ever confronts us there is that which eye hath not seen nor ear heard. Faith inspires in us the belief that all the truth and beauty that we see about us is but the shadow and symbol of a divine Essence and Reality. Surely, then, it is its chief glory that it is opposed to sight?that it transcends sight. By it we have apprehension of that which otherwise would be unknown to us. Faith, then, because it takes hold of things not seen, does broaden immeasurably, and add to our lives. Without it, existence for any man would be meagre and shallow and empty. We cannot, then, but pity the man who rejects all faith because it has to do with that which he cannot see. He is distinctly the loser who will accept only what his various senses perceive ; while that other ,who by faith catches a vision of an invisible God, whom no man hath seen or can see, has that which alone dignifies and transforms this common-place world. But again, Noah's faith while opposed to sight, having to do with things not seen as yet, was not opposed to reason. While Noah had never seen God, it was altogether reasonable to him that there was a God, and that this God should bring punishment upon sinners. And under the in fluence of this reasonable belief he prepared an ark to tlie saving of his house. And so it is always : Faith, while opposed to sight, is never opposed to reason. We can give credence to that which we have not seen, but never to v that which would contradict our reason. We can only believe that which does commend itself to our reason. For example, the existence of God is something that you can k never demonstrate or prove, and yet it is eminently reasonable. The very exigencies and necessities of thought demand it. You can form no concept of this universe without a God as the Centre and Creator, in and behind it all. Take away this thought, and the whole world becomes an unsolved enigma, its various parts warring and conflicting with one another. And so in regard to the creation of the world. Every mark and characteristic of this world leads us to believe that it has not existed always, that it came into being at some point in past time, and that it will not endure forever. And thus when we are asked to . profess our belief in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, we find ourselves already disposed to hold such a truth. It is then a thought well worth keeping before us that faith does not contradict reason. Some people seem to suppose that a Christian has blindly to bow down and accept certain truths. Such a thought as this is unworthy of the God who made us. He has made men thinking and reasoning creatures, and He asks of men the acceptance of nothing that does not commend itself to their true sense of right and goodness. We could not, and God nowhere asks us to exercise faith in that which is absurd, or unnatural, or impossible, or grotesque. Faith, then, is the handmaid and associate and guide of reason. It transcends sight, it supplements the dificiencies of sight, and thus affords a sphere and opportunity for the exercise and development of reason. But again, we are told that by faith Noah prepared an ark, and thus became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Now the expression?heir of the righteousness which is by faith?means that ^oan first ol all and preeminently was righteous; and so Noah is the first in the Bible who is called righteous. And so, too, he is called by St. Peter in his second epistle, "a preacher of righteousness"?and of k I I righteousness, too, that comes by faith. In no one, then, (could we have a better example of righteousness that is attained by faith. Nowhere could we find more light and J information as to the nature and characteristics of that 'righteousness which we receive by faith than by studying the example of Noah. Noah's righteousness, then, was positive, actual, right-doing. Through his faith he accepted God's warning, and proceeded to built the ark. He and his house were saved through faith?but it was a faith ' ' * ? ? ^ ?i i ii i 1x1 J, iL!_ which enabled him to duuci ine arw, ana inus ao tins rigm thing. His righteousness thus was positive and real?it jwas actual right-doing, building the ark. There was nothing assumed, or pretended, or imputed, about Noah's I righteousness. It was in and though faith, positive welldoing. Now, my friends, this righteousness of Noah is the only kind in this work! that is worth anything ; in must be, I however, attained?actual right-conduct, and goodness of [character and life. And, yet you often hear of a righteousness which is assumed or ascribed to a man through his faith?that in this way Christ's righteousness is ascribed, or imputed to us. The thought seems to be that, Christ by His life of perfect obedience, has laid up a good total of credit for the human race, and that through our faith this is made available for us. And so our righteousness is not actual well-doing, but is Christ's righteousness imputed to i < - vt r_: 1_ 4u?i US Dy iaun. i\OW, iuy UlCUUb, null was u<Jl luc i/iiaiauici of Noah's righteousness. Because of his faith right-doing was not ascribed, or imputed to him ; his faith did not excuse him from obedience ; from building the ark. This faith was the means and inspiration to him to do this. And so if by faith Christ's right conduct and goodness are to be merely imputed to us it will avail little. Through our faith in Him we must be enabled actually to accomplish His righteousness in our lives if we are ever to be saved. Noah and his house were,saved not by faith alone, but by a faith that induced him to build the ark. And so of what worth to any man is a righteousness imputed to him by faith and trust in Christ, if he is still going on in sin ? Of what value to you is Christ's righteousness imputed to you through faith, if you are impure and lustful in your thoughts, and in your life ; of what avail to you is Christ's righteousness imputed to you by faith, if your life is full" of envy and malice and hatred ? It is a hollow mockery to speak of such a man as being in a state of salvation. We are saved through faith in Christ ; but that which constitutes the salvation is not the faith, but is Christ's righteousness?His freedom from sin, His love and labours for men?in some measure reproduced in our lives by faith. Finally then, Noah is for all time the heir of the righteousness which is by faith. He first of all enjoyed the blessings and benefits of faith?he entered upon faith's inheritance?which is goodness realized and accomplished in our lives. Would that we might do the same ! Our attitude, then, would not be that of relying upon Christ simply, and trusting Him ; it would be rather that of loving Him, of admiring and adoring Him with all one's being? so revering Him, so adoring Him, that the one thought and purpose of our lives would be to live as He lived. And we would not have this faith in Christ without knowing it. And so, if we had such a faith as that, we would not have to be turning our eyes within, and looking at ourselves in doubt and fear as to whether we have any faith in Christ or not. The whole life of the man who has such a faith is transformed and made new after the image of Christ. It is the one power in his life. He knows that he has it. "T.mrp Vrm-p "Flrmrrnes " M \/ V V/ ^ \/ VfcA Love yonr enemies.?St. Matthew 5:44. A hard saying ; so this teaching of our Lord has seemed to men. It has seemed to go contrary to some of the strongest impulses of his nature. Men have clung to revenge for injury as one of the dearest and sweetest things of life, they have claimed this as a right ; they have taken pleasure in giving way to their feelings of anger and hostility ; and they have risen in fierce rebellion against the suggestion or admonition, that they should forgive and forget. And so, time and again, men have sacificed everything rather than lay aside their hostility and desire for revenge. Rather than to do this, they have, by litigation or other means of annoyance, frittered away their lives and fortunes. Rather than be reconciled and forget some long past cause ol offense, men have ruthlessly sacrificed the happiness of those they love. Indeed, men have clung to malice and resentment at whatever cost?of money, and happiness, and even life. And so it is, perhaps, that this our text 4 'Love your enemies," has seemed to very many men as a hard saying. It has, perhaps, so seemed no us. A hard saying ; and yet, is not that its power ? Would you have this gospel descend to you?to the level of your impulses and erratic inclinations ? Then indeed it would have no hard sayings ; but what would be the worth of the gospel ?of such a gospel to you ? It is the power of this gospel that it has its hard sayings; that it requires us to come up to its high plane of living, its ideals of feeling and conduct. Hard : ah! ves. but that is its power and its bless , " * ing for us. It is easy to ascend the outlying foot-hills of any mountain system ; beyond these lie the central mountain range, with its Matterhorn and other peaks, hard indeed to scale, but bringing fame and reward to him who accomplishes the feat ; hard to scale, and therefore appealing to men everywhere to make the effort. So, the command of our text is not easy; that is for us its value, and its appeal. While, then, this duty which our text enjoins may be hard, it is not impossible. Christ gave it ; and He knew what was in man. Out of this knowledge and understanding of men, Hu knew that they could and ought to love their enemies. Men can love their i enemies. I ins is tne great and inspiring mougnt underlying this command of Christ. Not something impossij ble ; not something lying beyond his utmost hopes and aspirations. This is something he can do ; something that he must do, therefore. That seems to be the thought underlying this command of the Master. Knowing man as no other ever did; seeing into him, and beholding all of his weakness and deficiency ; He yet believes in him ; yet looks for him to reach a very high and exalted plane and so says, "Love your enemies." And so this command conies from One Who had an exalted opinion of mankind; be lieved in him and in his future, and in his possi bilities of development. So Christ had a more exalted opinion of man, greater faith in him than any other; for no other teacher until Christ's time had ever ventured j to ask men to love their enemies. They did nqt have suflijcient faith in men to risk that. Again, I take it, this I command is not really contrary to nature ; it may seem to us unnatural, against reason. It is something that belongs 'to man in his highest state and development. He who does not learn to love his enemies fails to reach that high state, and to be all that of which he is capable. This may be I contrary to man's lower nature; to his natural instincts and reason ; but not to his true and developed nature. If j nature means that in man which is most manly, best and most highly developed, and nearest perfection, then to love our enemies we may well say is natural?the highest and best nature. Let me, then, never say that it is unnatural to do right, to live under the influence of Christ's ? existence, and our belief in God. Surely it must be abnormal and unnatural to do wrong, surely it is only natural? man's best and highest nature?to do that which man ought to do. Surely, then, it cannot be unnatural to love our enemies. Again ; our enemy, we may say, is the man who has any way trespassed against us ; the man who has injured or wronged us. The man who by word or act has grieved or offended us. Now the command is to love such. In the first place, then, there are a number of things, as I conceive it, that this does not require. Christ does not ask that we excuse or palliate wrong-doing : He does not ask that we shall overlook or countenance evil in any man. He does not ask that we shall regard evil as a matter of no importance or consequence, and simply treat the offender and evil doer as though he had done no wrong. The very love which he asks that we show and exercise would prevent this ; the very love we are to have to our enemy would, perhaps, require us to tell him of his offense, urge him for 1 - -_i-- i. j j.u? nis; own saKe 10 repemmiue cuiu mc iuumh^ wi i^ouiuhui.. This love, then, that Christ asks of us is not a full and unlimited wiping out of "old scores," a treating of past wrongs as though they had never occurred, without any regard to whether your enemy is repentant and willing to lead a better life in future. The very love you ought to bear your enemy?desire for his highest and truest interest ?might prevent this. Your very love to him?the love that Christ requires?would prevent you from telling him that his sin was a trifle any way ; because sin is not a trifle, and your love would prevent you from so telling him. Again, our text does not require that we should not feel 1 ' J-- 1 1 i 4-U A tiifAnr* /^Ano 11C TVlIC grieved ana inciigiiam uc^a-usc ui uic wiung n^. * n?^ love does not require that we should be indifferent to the offense committed, or feel that it was not an injury. All of these feelings are natural to beings of developed moral sense ; they are true, and, I do not hesitate to say, are in no sense evil, but commendable?these feelings of indignation that we feel in the presence of wrong. They become evil when they rise up between us and the man who has offended; prevent us from doing towards him that duty which we owe?and which on act no his part can excuse ?the duty of love and helpfuless. When Christ asks us, then, to love our enemies, He _ does not forbid that we shall feel grieved and indignant at the presence of wrong-doing. Nor does He expect that we shall, in the exercise of this love, feel an admiration and esteem for the man ; least of all, that we should be drawn to him in accord and sympathy of character and disposition. This is rr mifestly in many cases impossible : and in the case we are assuming?that you are the innocent party, and your enemy the agressor?it might be wrong for you to feel esteem and sympathy with his life and disposition. This love, then, is not of esteem and approval, or of sympathy of taste and character. What is this love, then, that we are to exercise towards our enemies ? It is that we should feel that he, the offender, is more to be pitied than I, the offended. It is a love of pity and compassion, a love of the man's truest welfare, and a desire to help him. Out of this pity and compassion that I bear the man, while I am not in sympathy with his character, and while I disapprove of his actions, I must strive to help him. Because he is not what he ought to be, I shall, out of the love and desire I have for his best welfare, strive to bring him to a better mind. This love, then, is a concern and solicitude for the true welfare of the man who has offended us : a love so strong that I will not harbor resentment in my heart towards him ; I will not desire to have revenge for the evil he has done me; but all that shall be forgotten in the nobler and truer impulse that comes from the thought of the man's good; his interest and happiness. That is what our text requires of us, then, as I conceive it. Now, can you obey it ? Can you meet the expectations of the Master ? Is our week human nature capable of that which the Master expected and believed of it ? It is not a love of esteem or approval?this love that we must have for our enemies ; it is not one of accord, of sympathy of tastes and feelings. It is rather a love of pity and compassion ; that which grows out of the man as having interests?joys that he may lose, disasters that he ?nc T rvnirco If u ovo en T will lip n fripnd to I iiidy cn^wuiiL^I cio x aiijcvn HUT ^ A ~w ? ? him, in spite of his ill conduct. It is such a love, then, that will make us willing to live with him who has wronged us, in peaceable relation ; live by his side as a brother. It is such a love as will leave in you no room from malice and the desire for revenge, because you desire only his best welfare. Now, my friends, will you say that you cannot do this ; that you cannot exercise love of this kind ? You, a sinner, look to God, not to approve your evil actions, but to pity and forgive you; yet cannot forgive those who have injured you ? You look to God for forgiveness and love; and yet you will cherish in your heart malice against the man who has offended you ? You hope and pray that God will not punish you for your past misdeeds ; and yet you are hoping 'that some punishment may befall your enemy ? You believe that while we were yet ? - ' /--j sinners ano uncinicb 01 uou, n.e m hiiiuilc \Jlx-y v-umpassion, hating our wrong-doing, but desiring our happiness, came to save us; you, to-day, are rejoicing that God did so love "those who had offended Him that He came to save ; and yet you are not loving but hating those who have injured you ? You live today in the very thought of a love of God which offenses against Him do not check or destroy, but a love that, in spite of all sin, goes out to seek and save the lost; and yet you allow offenses against yourself to check and to destroy in you all love to the offender ? God loves His enemies; but you won't love your enemies. You assume to be unbending, and inflexible, and unforgiving, when the Creator and Kuler ol tne universe has not been so. That is what it implies, and is, if you say that you cannot love your enemies. Again, among all the statements, and terms, thaf in the Bible are applied to God to convey to us some thought and understanding of His existence, there is none, perhaps, that tells us more, enables us better to appreciate God's nature and character than St. John's statement that "God is love." God's existence is one of love, and his acts are acts of love; all His thoughts are thoughts of :ove. This world and universe, then, is the expression of love ; whether we can see it or not, behind all of its misery and suffering, the behests and purposes of an infinite and impartial love are being carried [out. God is love; and the universe-is controled and permeated by love. And yet, my friends, will any one say that in any degree he will not be controled by this love ? That lie towards any one of his fellowmen will not bear in heart, and in his life give expression to, feelings of love? If so, he cuts himself off from that which is the very nature and life of God. He puts himself out of accord and harmony with that which is working in and through this world to brine it to its true end. The man who harbors malice in o his heart toward anyone is separating himself from the life of God ; lie is commiting moral and spiritual suicide. Can we dare cherish malicious and resentful feelings against any one ? Again, not to love our enemies is to prove unworthy of Him who makes this requirement ; it is utterly to fail in following Christ's example: ; it is to fail to come up to the model of His good and beneficent life. Christ had enemies, * '' -*- ri: 1 4.1 those who injured Him, spaKc against mm, uuu mtn |uuceedcd to open and cruel persecutions. And yet Christ loved all men. It is impossible to think or to conceive of Christ as declining to speak to any man, however deeply mmm He might have been wronged by him. It is impossible to imagine Christ as cherishing ill-will toward anyone ; impossible to think of Him as declining to live in friendly and rr\rr\ in 1 rnlntinrm with nnv OI1P! illinossihlfi to think that SPlB He ever ceased His efforts and labours for anyone because ^ He felt personally grieved or affronted; impossible to think that Christ did not love all men. Now, that is the life we are trying to reproduce. And the man sadly fails who does not love his enemies ; fails to catch the spirit of Christ's life ; fails to manifest that life to the world. Finally, I have been speaking all the while of enemies as those who have offended us ; but our enemies are not only those who have trespassed against us, but also those whom we ourselves have wronged. We always regard the man we have injured as our enemv. Now, if there is likely to be a barrier between us and those who wrong us, tenfolded greater is the barrier between us and those we have wronged. And if we bear malice in our hearts towards the man who injures us, we bear a deeper and more intense hatred to the man we have injured. A sad fact of our human nature, yet it is a fact. The man whom we have most deeply wronged, we regard as our greatest . ' enemy. We loathe and hate none such as those we have wronged. Now if there is any reason why we should love those who have wronged us, tenfold greater must be the obligation to love those we have wronged ?make reparation, and seek their true interests. Surely in this matter there can be no room for argument. We must admit the duty ; not to fulfil it is to be self-condemned. We must love our enemies?those who trespass against us, and those against whom we have trespassed . Where Shall \ye |l J EDUCATE I AT THE^=?? I Our Daughters? !|j L7UC Y Y ? . .?... ^IS Female Why 9^- | College. Ill BECAUSE : 1st-It Is a Christian Institution. . 2d. It Is thoroughly equipped In every depart raent. 3d. 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