Effectual Working of Faith

1 Thess. ii. 13. — “The AYord of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

Keligion is not the tame ana sleepy thing which some suppose. This misapprehension is derived partly from erroneous views of doctrine, but yet more from the examples of actual Christianity among us, which fall so far short of the biblical standard. In its beo-inninors, the religion of Jesus must have had an extraordinary fund of warmth and power, or it never would have accomplished such changes. Even of false religions, however we may detest their pretensions, we judge rightly that they have an inward motive power of great expansive force, when we behold them rapidly pervading whole nations. Such is our just conclusion in reference to this particular, when we see Mohanimedism diffusing itself like a conflagration over the most celebrated countries of the East, and even sending its victorious flame into southeastern Europe. And such must be our conviction respecting certain forms of popery, as, for example, Jesuitism, which embodies most of what belongs to the Komish system. But never was this more true than of the early progress of Christianity. Wherever it came, it was hailed as a mighty revolution. Those that turned the world upside down were its 2:)ropagators. Without aid from philosophy, government, or arms, nay, in the face of all these, it began a triumphal march, which for a while looked as if it would reach the limits of the habitable globe, and which did attain to boundaries, compared with which all later missionary successes have been small and insignificant. To reach such results, there must have been a secret, operative, and indomitable force in the souls of early disciples. And it is the absence of this to which we ascribe the tardy pace of modern evangelism. The new religion did not simply claim to be admitted to a purity with existing superstitions, nor was Jesus offered for a coequal jplace among the divinities of the Pantheon; but the conquering faith, claimed to reign alone, and pushed with a mighty assault against all that had hitherto prevailed over the minds of men. It not only transformed rude and violent men into the gentlest creatures, full of graceful love; but elevated the humblest and meekest into heroes and martyrs; so that women, slaves, and children went joyfully to chains, peril, and death in the fulness of their persuasions. The point to which I ask attention, is, that the minds, thus nerved and thus proyelled, must have been actuated by a principle of immense force; and accordingly that this belongs to the Christian religion, in its vigorous condition. This actuating principle was, in its simplest form, the conviction of divine truth. Here we arrive at one of the great constituents of the true Christian character, the consideration of which will explain much of the extraordinary operation concerning which we inquire. This persuasion of the truth wrought by the Holy Spirit, is faith; which occupies so high a place in the inspired account of grace.

At present we are to look at it simply in regard to its tendency to stimulate and exalt the nature. Strong belief makes strong characters. We see this in common life. The man who clings to some great conviction, even though it be of error, becomes a man of energy. He has a hidden fire perpetually urging him to act. His motive power is sometimes wonderful to all beholders. Genuine belief propels its subject to a degree far beyond all that can be imitated by simulation and hypocrisy. The fixed idea is always driving on the wheels of fervid action. This is apparent every day, among men of science, artisans, inventors, speculators, bold’ traders, popular reformers, enthusiasts, and fanatics, as well as in great discoverers, commanders, and philanthropists. The man is energetic, hopeful, laborious, and untiring, simply because he believes. Difiiculties vanish before him, and the scoffs of those who predict disaster, pass by him unheeded. This conviction distinguishes him from the half-persuaded, who desist from the race, and the unbelieving, who never commence it. To this must we trace the toil, patience, and success of Columbus, “Watt, Fulton, Dewy, and

Henry; of Cesar, Marlboro, and Napoleon. Bring this principle into the field of religion, and its power is so much the more apparent, because religion deals so much with mental and spiritual objects, the proper nutriment of faith. Men are strong and influential just so far as they have some darling thought, some immovable conviction, some urgent belief And their strength lies in the precise direction of this their inward judgment. In other matters they may be as weak as other men. In nothing do we more observe the pow-er of mind over mind, than in great revolutions of human opinion. The champions who have accomplished these have been those who had each some cherished truth, or cherished falsehood, to which he clung, even amidst peril of death. Whether a Pelagius or a Luther, a Loyola or a Calvin, a Wesley or a Pusey, there was a certain strength of purpose and action, and this was traceable to the great controlling idea. And the true reason why many men of fertile minds and a most diffusive activity, leave little mark upon their age, is that they lack this high commanding belief of some grand truth which they deem all-important.

Such, then, is the manifest influence of faith, considered barely as a general principle; it enlarges, and fortifies, and impels the character. Each of us, my brethren, in his own little sphere, is strong or weak, according to the presence or absence of inward hearty belief. And he is the feeblest of mortals who has nothing to which the power of his mind adheres tenaciously as true and excellent. It is very evident that this force is not wanting, when applied to religious truth. Here, pre-eminently, earnestness of conviction works upon the character with a moulding and inesistible efficacy.

Thus far we have contemplated faith in its most general idea, without reference to the things believed; but when we come to inquire for its appropriate objects, the reality and extent of its power rise before us with increased importance. We shall see then that the objects of faith are of such a nature and magnitude, that the belief of them awakens the strongest principles of our nature, elevates the aims, sustains the purposes, and confirms the manly ardour. We are no longer concerned with the faith of earthly things. Our field is exclusively that of religion. Here faith erects her throne and predominates over her wide dominion. .And how much more extended is the world of faith than the world of science or of sense! It is the opposite supposition which keeps multitudes from taking the sweep of this great sj)iritual horizon. Their views are bounded by the little hills which embosom their confined valley, an area which to them is all the world. The thinsfs of eternity seem to them airy, visionary, unreal. But true faith gives intense reality to these spiritual existences, and introduces the wonderinir, awed, and delighted spectator to new heavens and a new earth, which he smveys from his mountain-top of observation, without a lingering doubt. When one comes, under the influence of the Spirit, and by the aid of Scripture, to believe in spiritual and eternal things, the visible frame of nature and all the objects of our senses, the matters which surround and touch us every moment, dwindle away in the comparison, and become as nothing. And this is the great change which is wTought in a truly religious man. The first and greatest object of faith is God; that he is, and what he is. To the mind of the unbeliever, God can scarcely be said to exist. For him, and to Lis apprehension, there is no God. Walking amidst the multitudinous traces and signatures of divine power, wisdom, and beneficence, and receiving showers of favour from his hand every moment, the unbeliever entertains no willing thought of his Creator and Preserver. Faith works here an entire revolution. God is seen, by the inward vision, in all his excellent glory and mysterious presence. The great truth that God is, that most undeniable, precious, and fundamental of all truths, enfolds the soul, as its very atmosj)here. In Him we henceforth live, and move, and have our being. We set the Lord always before our face. It is good for us to draw nigh to God. We walk with God. Now, can a human being come under the impression of this sublime principle without a change of thought, feeling, habit, and character? Can he be the same sordid, or selfish, or trifling one as before? Nay, can such a great belief enter the soul without at once advancing to the throne, and reigning over all the propensities and passions? Faith of such a reality takes guidance of the soul, and gives it new motives and a nv direction. But this, though the greatest, is only one of the truths of religion. You will not expect me to enter into all the details of things believed; this would require an epitome of all theology. Let me notice one or two of these objects of faith, still with reference to their j)ower to confer strength and greatness on the man. Sin and its remedy are matters of revelation, and so of faith. When a man comes to believe that he is a sinner, comprehending the dreadful import of these terms, he lives in a new world. He is a sadder and a wiser man. Till this eclipse, that darkens all his skies, has passed away, no other thought can interest his soul. His mind runs on beyond the boundaries of the present life, and seeks to explore the palpable obscure of that untried state, where this tremendous evil of sin shall have full development, and work out dire results, and this forever.

And when the sun breaks in upon the lurid prospect, and God’s grace is manifested, and salvation is proclaimed, and the Lord Jesus Christ, now the most lovely object in the universe, stands forth revealed as the most accessible, and the freeness of heavenly love irradiates the soul, and the bliss of pardon and communion sends wave after wave over the reconciled conscience; of a truth, faith has wrought its chief earthly wonder! Now the earth is forgotten, as it was by the three upon the mount, when they said “Lord, it is good to be here!” Now the grandeur of the new spiritual objects occupies the entire faculties. And as these are occupied, so are they also shaped, warmed, and expanded. Who can think largely, deeply, and constantly of the glorious Emmanuel and his work without having a glow, a hopefulness, and an energy which he never knew before! We see this, as matter of fact, in all the history of the church, and all the round of our religious observation. It is transforming. The vile are purified. The grovelling are caused to soar. The fickle are established. The feeble are made strono;. Faith, as terminatins: in Jesus and his cross, proves the renovator of human habits and will. He who continually thinks of Christ, with firm belief, such as makes him real to the soul, and present as truly as things of sight, as friends, as family, as the very body; he who lives on this truth and so dwells in fellowship with the Son of God, hearkening to him, speaking to him, consulting him, loving, enjoying, adoring him, cannot but be transformed. The littleness of earth and self must in some measure pass away. And the reason why our common religious warmth and vigour are so small, is that we have so faint and wavering a faith.

People of the world are remarkable for this, that they live entirely in time. The temporary and the transient absorb their thoughts. Then future is only a little snatch of days or years that shall presently be over. True, if pressed, they will acknowledge that there is such a thing as death. It is found ujDon them, hj badges, obituaries, processions, vacancies in their circle. Ah! sometimes the dart strikes in the very bosom of their families, and they owai, for an instant, that they are mortal. Or they are shaken, in the mighty hand of God, over the gaping vault, and terrified with the certain prospect. But these are thoughts which they love not; and to the worldly eye a thick veil hangs at that point, which they care not to lift, and beyond which all is darkness. Dreadful infatuation! For beyond that sable pall is Eternity, — awful, deligbtful word, Eternity! — compared with wliicli all the lifetime here, nay, all the lifetimes of our race together, are but as the breath, the moment, before continued existence; Eternity, fraught with happiness or woe; Eternity, which you and I must inevitably enter and experience, after a lapse of time, which, in the retrospect, shall seem but the twinkling of an eye! My brethren, here is enough, at this single point, to account for peculiarities of character, and to mark the difference between two souls, one of whom neglects this whole subject wdth averted eye, while the other lives in full view of that boundless, endless existence. It is the Word of God which reveals these sublimities! It is Faith which takes hold of that Word. And the Word, so believed, energizes [such is the term] in the soul of the true disciple. For Faith is the substance of things hoj)ed for, substantiating them to the apprehension, realizing them to the heart, making them operative motives, as much as the gain, the pleasuie, and the fear of our daily walks.

Keflect, moreover, that in the case of the established Christian, the eternity wliicli perpetually floats before his thoughts and colours all his prospect, is an eternity of consummate knowledge, immaculate purity, angelic society, and absolute bliss. Shall such a belief lie dormant in a soul made up of susceptibilities? Shall it not cause the believer to leap for joy? Shall it not arm him for all adventures, and quicken him for every labour, and steel him for thorough endurance? But this is the idea which rules in the minds of all God’s ]3eople, and which, according to our text, works mightily in them, pervading their nature, stimulating their activity, and altering every lineament of their moral countenance.

Thus have a few leadins truths been sinoled out, to show that, as objects of faith, they have an energy in changing the character. The same is true of all the contents of Scripture, of all the revelation of God. All doctrines have not, indeed, the same importance or the same potency. But all do their part, and faith works by all. There is no lesson of the Word which does not contribute to form the Christian man. And there is no moment of life in which some part of the work is not going on under the hand of the new-creative power. As in the studio of the statuary, all the operations are not of the same dignity, yet all conduce to the harmonious and exquisite result. There must be the beautiful idea in the artist’s soul; the careful moulding of his clay model; the choice of his rude material; the measurement and blocking out of his marble; the rough removal of unsightly masses; the patient work of mallet and chisel; and the final polish of the resplendent surface; all needful to secure a thing of beauty to be a joy forever. So, in the hands of God, who carries out his perfect and loving idea, it is Faith which, by a patient and perpetual energy, operates with ten thousand separate shaping influences of Truth, all carrying forward the living sculpture and bringing out the eventual form of holy grace, which shall be the everlasting delight of angels and of God. How happy are we, if, indeed, we are the subjects of such a process! And how low are the views which we ordinarily take of this plastic force, continually operating through faith of the operation of God. IS’o wonder Paul so eloquently dilates on the virtue of faith in transforming the saintly characters of every age. “Who, through faith, subdued kingdoms, M:ought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again; and others W’Cre tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resuiTection; and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.”

Although the subject has already been touched in the way of allusion, we must spend a few moments on the power which truth, as believed, exercises upon the afi’ections. Man is made up of emotions and passions. From these spring his actions, and hence they have been philosophically classed as the active powers.

At the first presentation of the objects of faith they are undoubtedly seized upon by the intellectual faculties; but their influence does not cease here. Even after knowledge has been elevated into belief, there is a further work upon the emotional part of man. And just here the prime energies of faith are expended. While the affections take their origin and complexion from the nature or character, it is also true that they react, and by reflex operation mould Jhe habits and tendencies, and even remotely the intellectual exercises. It is from the affections that all actions take their first motion; for will is inward action, and will is moved by the feelings and desires. The grand problem, then, is, if we would change the character, what lever shall we bring to bear upon the affections. Here we ariive at the energy of faith. Truth believed operates upon the emotions and passions, and so upon the will and its acts. The force of genuine belief is obvious and universally acknowledged. This force will be in proportion to the strength of the persuasion. A wavering confidence mil scarcely stir the heart, but let it swell like a torrent, and it will carry all before it. Hence faith works mightily in them that believe, to produce the other graces. Slight views of Christ’s atonement and of the future glory which it ]3urchases, may give a man cold and doubtful expectations; but let him be persuaded that these things are as real as his own existence, and straightway he rejoices in hope of the glory of God. Here is faith engendering hope. Faint apprehensions of the love of God in Christ may leave the heart void of corresponding affections, but let the full excellency of the benignant dying Redeemer overpower the soul, and it is dissolved in tender attachment. Here is faith working by love. The same is true of all these ever busy emotions, which, like a ceaseless sea, forever fluctuate in the soul of man. Faith rises over these waves of feelins: and commands them. The cordial belief of unseen things makes the heart’s pulses play with new animation. And then these moving powers give animation to the whole Christian life. The main spring of all, however, still is “the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

Study the terms of the text, and you will recognize that form of expression which indicates an action now in progress, actually going on at the moment, and always going on; a regular and constant operation of this great principle, to which all things in religion are due. It ‘’ effectually worketh,” or puts forth its energizing and transforming virtue, now and at all times. The work of truth and faith in the soul is a continual progress. Growth in grace is growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As knowledge of the truth is gradual, Iby continual fiesh apprehensions of Christian doctrine by the intellect, so faith which takes up and employs this knowledge goes on from step to step. Mere knowledge may increase, indefinitely, without saving effect; here there is no energy, no renewal; but knowledge believed and appropriated spiritually, diffuses its illumination through the entire nature. Knowledge resting in the understanding gives a certain light, which may be compared to the taper, confined within the sides of the lanthorn, on which, nevertheless, it works no change. But knowledge transformed to faith, is like the mass of crystal which the artificer brings from the furnace of the glassliouse, a molten globe of fire, all luminous, in every particle, all pervaded by the principle of light. Oui’ progress is real, when there is advance in faith, corresponding to the advance in knowledge. And this may be going on during all our Christian course. Every perusal of the Scriptures, eveiy hearing of the preached Word, should make us stronger and happier Christians, by the energy of faith within. And this is most likely to be the case, when we look away most from the particular instrumentality, and regard the divine authoritative source. So was it with the Thessalonians, to whom Paul says: “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” And here we close what may be considered the doctrinal part of this discussion. A few words of application may be allowed.

What is the grand defect of our popular Christianity, in this busy, bustling city? It is want of faith. Let me apply the question in another form: Why is it, that, knowing many things in religion, you nevertheless are conscious of no such energy of transformation, as has been described? It is because you do not believe. I anticipate your reclamation. You reply, We do believe; we are unwilling to be ranked among infidels. Ah! beloved hearers, I protest to you that you believe not! This faint, inoperative assent to the august truths of religion, which works no repentance, no love, no joy, which hardly ruffles the surface of the stagnant pool within, this is not the faith of God’s elect. This is not that mighty, heaven-wrought spiritual persuasion, which has made saints and confessors, and shall one day revolutionize the world. You have only to compare it with your convictions respecting worldly things, to find how weak it is. The news of the day, brought across the ocean, and affecting the trade of nations, how differently does it agitate your bosoms! Here, all is clear and undeniable. Men of the world, ye need no tables of self-examination to settle the question whether your interest in the things of earth is sincere or not. But how nice a scrutiny must be instituted, in order to discover your faith of things divine! And after the inquiry, how often does the search result in absohite negation. O, how long shall we trifle on the brink of that dread spiritual world which stretches away beside our very path! When shall we awake to consider the stupendous interests which shall soon burst upon us to the utter obliteration of all our temporal fancies! The single truth of the incarnation and death of the Son of God, duly inwrought into the soul, would arouse, and attract, and transform. But to influence, it must be believed. And to be believed, it must be contemplated and pondered. And in order to this, you must come to a deliberate pause in your whirl of engrossing occupations. Wonder not that I repeat this again and again to the children of this world. For your salvation depends on it. You must consider, or be lost. While you wait for some sudden shock, to rend you from your idol, you tempt God’s providence and rush upon his indignation. Let me cry once more in your ears, that unless you turn the concentrated powers of thought on revealed truth, and unless you believe it, you will live on as you have lived hitherto, and die in your sins.

Dear brethren of the Christian profession, we have failed to exemplify the truths which we profess. Who, that beholds our daily walk, would infer that we are living under the powers of the world to come? Our faith, if we believe at all, is too feeble to evince the energy of the Word. All churches among us need a deepening of the inward experience. Should such an influence come over us, we should become a wonder to each other, and a blessing to the world.