67 Sermon Illustrations on Faith

The things which most concerned men in past ages—food, raiment, wealth, place, personal honor—are all forgotten now; but those things which seemed to them the most shadowy and unsubstantial,—their faith, their ideals, their principles,—these are now the only abiding remembrancers. Thus men are kept alive on earth by that which is invisible, and sunk to the bottom by that which is material. Time is made up of waters so thin, that nothing may float thereon which is heavier than unseen truths and heart-treasures. Beecher.

A traveller, going to a certain village to see a friend, met an old man, and asked him the way. The old man said, "Go straighton, sir, and, when you come to the end of this path, turn to the left." The gentleman went on, and, coming to the end, found two turnings, and thought, "Surely the old man is wrong: this must be the way,—to the right." So reason seemed; but faith is the simple belief of competent testimony: so he took the turn to the left, and found faith proved itself a better guide than reason.

Faith may lay hold of truths far transcending reason or experience. An African king had never seen water become solid so that men could walk on it; but he did right to believe it on the testimony of Englishmen. Reason can climb high mountains; but faith is like the eagle, which can soar upwards from their summits. The cashier at a banker's counter uses his utmost skill in deciding whether the signature in a check be the genuine handwriting of a customer of the bank who has funds there; but, having once decided the point, he hesitates no further, and pays over the amount. So reason is usefully employed in answering the question, "What hath God spoken?" but, that settled, we must doubt no longer.

— Union Magazine

A maniac, while listening to a thrilling recital, was moved to tears. Liling her withered finger, she exclaimed, "Do you see that tear? It is the first tear that I have shed for seven years; and it will relieve my poor burning head. I have often wished that I could weep; but I could not."

Dr. Samuel Johnson is distinguished as a writer on morals; his compositions have seldom been excelled in energy of thought and beauty of expression. To a young gentleman, who visited him on his death-bed, he said, "Young man, attend to the voice of one who has possessed a certain degree of fame in the world, and who will shortly appear before his Maker: read the Bible every day of your life."

Collins is well known as a celebrated English poet. In the latter part of his life, he withdrew from his general studies, and travelled with no other book than an English New Testament, such as children carry to school. A friend was anxious to know what companion a man of letters had chosen; the poet said, "I have only one book, but that book is the best."

Lord Bacon, towards the latter end of his life, said, that a little smattering of philosophy would lead a man to Atheism, but a thorough insight of it will lead a man back again to a first cause, and that the first principle of right reason is religion; and seriously professes, that, after all his studies and inquisitions, he durst not die with any other thoughts than those of religion, taught, as it is professed, among the Christians.

A king of Sweden was under great impressions of spiritual religion for some time before his death. A peasant being once, on a particular occasion, admitted to his presence, the king, knowing him to be a person of singular piety, asked him, "What he took to be the true nature of faith?" The peasant entered deeply into the subject, and much to the king's comfort and satisfaction. The king, at last, lying on his death-bed, had a return of his doubts and fears as to the safety of his soul; and still the same question was perpetually in his mouth, to those about him, "What is real faith?" His attendants advised him to send for the Archbishop of Upsall: who, coming to the king's bedside, began in a learned, logical manner, to enter into the scholastic definition of faith. The prelate's disquisition lasted an hour. When he had done the king said with much energy, "All this is ingenious, but not comfortable; it is not what I want. Nothing, after all, but the farmer's faith will do for me."

Some years ago, two little boys, decently clothed, the elder about thirteen years of age, and the younger eleven, called at a lodging house for vagrants, in Warrington, to stay for the night. The keeper of the house, very properly, took them to the Vagrant Office to be examined, that, if proper objects, they might be relieved. The account they gave of themselves was very affecting, but no doubt was entertained of its truth. It appeared, that but a few weeks had elapsed since these poor little wanderers had resided with their parents in London. The typhus fever, however, in one day, carried off both father and mother, leaving them orphans. Immediately after their parents were buried, the children, having an uncle in Liverpool, resolved to go and throw themselves upon his protection; and, tired and faint, they arrived in the town of Warrington, on their way thither.

Two bundles contained their little all. In the youngest boy's was found neatly covered and carefully preserved, a Bible. The keeper of the lodging house said to the boy, "You have neither money nor meat, will you sell me this Bible? I will give you five shillings for it." "No," exclaimed he; "I'll starve first." "The keeper then said, 'there are plenty of books to be bought besides this; why do you love the Bible so much?'" The boy replied, "No book has stood my friend so much as the Bible." "Why, what has the Bible done for you?" He answered, "When I was a boy about seven years of age I became a Sunday scholar in London where I learned to read my Bible. This Bible showed me that I was a sinner, and a great one too. It also pointed me to the Savior, and I thank God, I have found mercy at the hands of Christ, and I am not ashamed to confess him before the world." To try the boy still farther, six shillings were offered to him for his Bible. "No," said he, "it has been my support all the way from London. Hungry and weary, often have I sat down to read my Bible, and have found refreshment from it, and I have experienced the comfort David felt, when he said, 'In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.'" He was then asked, what he would do when he got to Liverpool, should his uncle refuse to take him in? His reply may excite a blush in many other Christians; "My Bible tells me, 'When my father and mother forsake me the Lord will take me up.'" The children had in their pockets tickets, as rewards from the Sunday school to which they belonged, and thankfulness and humility were visible in all their deportment. At night they committed themselves to God in prayer, and the next day pursued their journey to Liverpool.