was the answer; and nothing could persuade the traveler that night that there was no bridge. But early next morning he went to the river-side, and found, as he had been told, that the bridge was gone. His horse had taken him safely over three planks, left by the workmen, where one false step, to the right or to the left, would instantly have plunged him into the swollen river beneath. The man stood aghast at the dreadful danger he had gone through, and so marvelously escaped. (Text.)
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FAITH CURE
Among the numerous applicants at the dispensary
of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a
few days ago, was a negro who confided in
awe-stricken tones that he was suffering
from snakes. He declared he felt them
wriggling inside of him ever since he had endeavored
to quench his thirst by drinking
from a garden hose when, he believed, at
least one or two had slipt down his throat.
Argument being in vain, the patient was turned over to one of the physicians who, after hearing the story, pretended an examination. Deeming it a case for faith cure, he told the negro he would be all right as long as he would keep his mind off the subject of the creeping things of the earth. With smiles of gratitude he left the hospital.—Baltimore Sun.
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FAITH ESSENTIAL TO ACTION
All great leaders have been inspired with
a general belief. In nine cases out of ten,
failure is born of unbelief. Tennyson sings,
"Faith and unfaith can ne'er be equal
powers." To be a great leader and so always
master of the situation, one must of
necessity have been a great thinker in action.
An eagle was never yet hatched from a
goose's egg. Dante speaks in bitter sarcasm
of Branca d'Oria, whom he placed among
the dead, when he says, "He still eats and
sleeps and puts on clothes." In a case of
great emergency, it took a certain general in
our army several days to get his personal
baggage ready. Sheridan rode into Winchester
without even a change of stockings
in his saddle-bags.—James T. Fields.
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FAITH FULFILLED BY WORKS
A youthful owner of swine had a wealthy
uncle. His uncle cribbed corn for the market.
One day he told his nephew that he
could have all the corn that he could carry
in a basket from the cribs, where the men
were shelling, across the alley to the barn
where the swine were kept. To his uncle's
surprize and delight, the boy took him at his
word, and carried corn all day. The boy did
this because he had faith in his uncle's word.
The nephew's faith pleased him when he
saw how much corn he had. If the boy had
profest belief in his uncle's promise without
acting upon it, there would have been
intellectual assent but no real faith.
This is a type of our relation to God. Faith takes God at his word. "His divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises." Every gift of God that we accept and use for Him is a new proof of our faith.
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FAITH IN A MORAL UNIVERSE
Dr. George A. Gordon, in a sermon on "The Land of Pure Delight," says:
The world of our ultimate and supreme
concern, the world to which we give the
name heaven, paradise, eternity, is the world
of pure spirituality. I ask, what grounds
have we for believing in the reality of that
world? The answer, the sole answer which
assumes many forms, is that we believe in
the moral conception of the universe in
which we live.
Let me illustrate. Longfellow, in one of his beautiful sonnets, speaks of being at Newport News after the war, and while there he sees a nameless grave, over which there was this inscription:
"A Union Soldier, Mustered Out!"
That is all—"A Union Soldier, Mustered Out!" And Longfellow said: "Here was a man who gave his all, his life, his name, that I might live. He gave his all, his life, his name, and went into oblivion that the Union might live." On what basis did he make his sacrifice? The sense of duty. He died because he felt that it was his duty to die, because he felt that if he was true to himself he could not withhold that sacrifice. If the universe is worthy of that servant, will it let that soldier die forever?
Jesus gave himself on the cross for the world. Why did he do it? Because his moral nature told him to do it. He believed in the moral ideal of human life and died that men might be pure and come to their best. He died for an ideal—that alone explains His sacrifice.
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