(3) The things unseen strengthen us. — The feebleness, fading- ness, vanity, poverty of things which we do see here are very enfeebling and disheartening; whereas the greatness, euduring- ness, glory, excellence of the things which we do not see strengthen, nerve, animate, invigorate us. These glorious invisi- bilities quicken our steps, kindle zeal and love, make us willing to endure hardness, to count labour, privation, suffering, poverty, as nothing. Thus we walk in strength, with erect heads, zealous, earnest, untiring, because of what faith shows us — the things within the veil.
^ One who was present in Christ Church Cathedral on New Year's Day 1864, when Richard Chenevix Trench was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin, has vividly described the impression which the ceremony made upon him. The utter unself-consciousness, the deep humility, the intense devotion, and the almost divine spirituality of the new Archbishop was what struck this onlooker, who says, after catching a glimpse of Dr. Trench's beautiful face lit up with a strange peace of joy, " From that one moment all things, eternal and unseen, seemed invested for me with a depth of reality they had never had before. Since then I have passed
* A. Daintree, Studies in Hajye, 6.
420 FAITH
through many experiences of spirit and of heart. I have had fiaslies of doubt. Who, in these days, of perhaps too great mental activity, has escaped them ? I have had days and hours of sorrow and of joy. I have had hopes and fears. But I can truly say that the countenance of Archbishop Trench as I saw it during that one moment of my life, expressing, as it did, the deepest devotion and the most perfect realization of the Unseen, and rising, as it does, entirely unbidden before my mental vision, has dispelled doubts, soothed sorrows, sanctified joys, strengthened hope, and calmed fear, by leading me to realize for myself, as nothing else has ever done, the personal existence of that living God, whose power and Spirit were so vividly portrayed before me in that one moment of my life." ^
(4) The things unseen comfort us. — Our walk here is not all smoothness and sunshine. Tribulation, weariness, pain, sickness, bereavement, throw their thick clouds over us. We take refuge in the future from the present. Our prospects, ever bright, ever glorious, cheer, sustain, and console us. Life is so brief; its sorrows will so soon be done ; Christ will so soon be here ; resurrection and glory and gladness will so soon dawn on us. We need not be over-burdened or over-sorrowful because of the present. Faith shows us the light beyond the darkness, and that comforts us. The eternal kingdom will make up for all.
^ As years go on, and the sadness of life comes home to us, we feel that we get comfort and strength nowhere else but in the reality of God and in a simple trust in Christ's " Hereafter." It is like a strong hand in the dark to believe that God our Father loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. That is the infallible way of finding comfort for our hearts and stablishing them in every good work and word. The only way to make peace secure, and to save our work from futility and our lives from vanity, is the way of faith. Without faith in God and God's love and God's future for us, there cannot be for us any true and permanent comfort. Without it, we are open at every turn to any shock of chance and to every alarm of fate. But with such faith we can lift up our burden with serenity, and perform our tasks with peace, and find joy in our work, looking upon it simply and sweetly as service. And if, and when, the very worst comes, when all our activities are taken from us, we are not robbed of everything ; nay, we are robbed of nothing; for our life is hid with Christ in God. True faith
^ Archbisho}) Trench : Letters aiid Memorials, ii. 3.
HEBREWS XI. I 421
expands for every fresh need, and when the need comes the comfort comes also, and out of weakness men are made strong. When we are oppressed by the burden and overwhelmed by the spectacle of human misery, we must learn that there is a deeper thing than happiness, and that is peace ; and eternal peace is only to be had in communion with the eternal God.^
0 Love, the indwelling, by Thee are we shriven,
Ineffable Comforter, Lord of delight! To those who are born of Thy Spirit, is given
The quickening of peace in the thick of the fight.
Thou comest, and swift, through the doorways of dulness,
Come joy and vitaUty, glory and grace ! Who loves Thee will serve Thee with life in its fulness.
Or die at his post with Thy joy on his face.
0 Christ, the unconquered, how dimly we know Thee, Thou Sun of the universe, Light of the world !
For all the sweet fire of our life that we owe Thee, Thy heart took the anguish the enemy hurled!
0 Thou who wast bom of a brave human Mother,
Some kneel in Thy presence, some, worshipping, stand !
Life's Symbol and Mystery ! Master and Brother ! We grope in the darkness and feel for Thy hand.^