I.

FAITH, PHILOSOPHY, AND REASON.

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 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.-Hebrews, xi. 33, 34.

WHA

Still,

HAT more heroic action have we on record than those of the men who through faith subdued king. doms. The word "hero," does not occur in the Bible. Nothing can be more opposite to its spirit than that selfsufficiency and recklessness of human rights and sufferings which are commonly associated with this term. there are no higher examples of a true heroism than the Bible presents. These exploits were performed, indeed, in ancient times, but are such as we should be glad to see emulated in the midst of the light and advantages of our day. We have a right to expect, as the stream of time rolls on and pours its accumulated wealth at the feet of new generations, that there shall not only be an increase in the knowledge of nature, but that there shall be, at least, no failure in the breadth and compass of a comprehensive wisdom, or in the might of a true manhood that is ready to do and to suffer in the cause of humanity and of God.

But not only may we expect this; it is also intimated by the Apostle that it is expected and watched for by those who have gone before us. He represents, those worthies and veterans who had finished their own course, as gathered into a vast assembly, forming "a cloud of witnesses," and watching with intense interest the bearing of those who

AUGUST 18, 1850.

follow them. "Seeing then," says he, "that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the race that is set before us."

This race, my friends, I would now invite you to run. You are especially called upon to emulate the example of the great and good,—to do deeds that shall not only cause joy on earth, but shall send a new thrill through the vast assembly of those who have gone before you.

But if you are to do the deeds of these ancient heroes you must be girded with the same armor, be controlled by the same principle, must have the same prize in your eye, and be sustained by the same power. Fruitful as the nineteenth century has been in inventions, it yet furnishes none for making great and good men. The great tree must grow now from the same earth, and under the same sun, and by the same processes and ministrations of dew and rain and storms, as the great tree of old; and so, now, as of old, must the life and might of true greatness be drawn from the same fountains, and work themselves out by essentially the same processes. Were these deeds performed of old only by faith? then only by faith will they be performed now.

What then is Faith? Avowed by Christianity as its peculiar principle of action, ridiculed by the philosophers, is it indeed some new, or peculiar, or blind, or fanatical principle? Or is it one of those grand and universal principles which underlie human action, which are necessary to true heroism, to a right philosophy, to individual and social perfection, and which must, in the progress of light, come more and more into distinct recognition and general acknowledgment?

Whatever faith may be, it must be conceded that the accounts given of it by its advocates have been neither uniform nor consistent. It has been said to be simple

belief founded on evidence, and not differing from any other belief; to be belief in testimony; to be belief for reasons not derived from intrinsic evidence; to be a belief on the ground of probable, as distinguished from demonstrative evidence; to be a belief in things invisible and supernatural; to be a trust; and more recently, and transcendentally, it has been said to be an organ of the soul by which it becomes cognizant of the invisible and the supernatural.

To some, this diversity of statement may seem to indicate that there can be nothing in faith very definite or important. To me it indicates the reverse; for while men do certainly differ about things which are indefinite and obscure, yet it is also found that they come latest, if at all, to the investigation of those principles which are the most intimate and essential, and that they are nowhere less likely to come to a uniform and satisfactory result. in mathematics the truths that are most nearly intuitive are the last and the most difficult to be demonstrated, so here the principles and processes which are so essential that they seem inwoven into our being, are the last to be investigated and the most difficult to be satisfactorily explained. Men are no better agreed what reason is, or what personal identity consists in, than they are what faith is; and yet as those who think wrongly on these subjects may, and do, exercise their reason, and continue the same persons precisely as they would if they thought rightly, so those who make different statements in regard to faith, or exercise faith, receive the benefits of faith in precisely the same way.

That the term faith may not be used loosely and popularly to designate the ideas just mentioned, and also others, I would not say; but the inquiry now is, What, generically, and specifically, is that Faith upon which the

Bible insists as essential to salvation, and by which the great deeds it records were performed? Can this faith be so defined that our idea of it shall be distinct, that it shall harmonize with philosophy and with reason, and that it shall be adequate to the great offices assigned to it in the Bible?

I propose, first, to answer these inquiries; and secondly, to speak of the offices of faith-more particularly, of its office as a principle of action to be adopted by every young man.

The generic definition of faith which I would propose, is, that it is confidence in a personal being. Faith lives and moves and has its being only in the region of personality. Whatever we may believe respecting things visible or invisible, on any other ground than our confidence in a personal being. does not seem to me to be faith. It implies the recognition of a moral nature, and a conviction of the trustworthiness of the being possessed of such

a nature.

This definition of faith implies a division of this universe into two departments, that of persons, and that of things; and, in connection with this division, will give us a clear distinction between philosophy and faith. The sphere of faith is the region of personality, that of philosophy is the region of things. Each of these spheres addresses our sensibilities and calls for investigation, but in accordance with its own nature and laws.

By things, are called forth in the region of sensibility, the emotions of beauty, of sublimity, and of admiration; by persons, in addition to these, confidence, affection, passion.

In her investigations in the department of things, philosophy is concerned, not with all knowledge, but chiefly

These

with resemblances in those things that exist together, and with uniformities in those that exist in succession. are the basis of all classification, of all inductive reasoning and it is through these that we get all our ideas of physical order and law.

Philosophy presupposes a knowledge of things as they exist separately. This being given, she neglects all individual peculiarities, and proceeds to group them according to their resemblances, and to give them collective names. In doing this she acquires for man power, and practical guidance, because a resemblance in external signs denotes a resemblance in essential properties. This gives value to the signs of nature, and shows that in the department of resemblances she is constituted on the basis of truth.

But not only does philosophy notice resemblances in beings and phenomena that exist together, she also notices uniformity of succession; and is thus enabled to foretell the future, and to act wisely with reference to it. She believes in a uniformity of succession according to the order that is established. She investigates the laws in accordance with which this succession moves on. As among things that exist together, she knows nothing of individual peculiarities, so in phenomena that exist in succession, she knows nothing of exceptions, and admits with great reluctance, or not at all, that such exceptions really exist.

Such, except as she may be said to investigate causes, is philosophy. She stands in the centre of things that coexist, and passes onward and outward to the farthest star, stepping more or less firmly as the resemblances, by which alone she proceeds, are more or less perfect; she stands at the present point in things that succeed each other, and binds the future to the past by what she conceives to be an inexorable law.

* When this was written philosophy had not, in this country, been distinguished from science, as it has since been. Writing now, the word science would be substituted for philosophy in many instances in this discourse.