'As the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam
and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.' There is no such quickener of
all a man's natural force as even the lowest forms of faith. He who
throws himself into any enterprise sure of success will often succeed
just because he was sure he would. The world's history is full of
instances where men, with every odds against them, have plucked the
flower safety out of the nettle danger, just because they trusted in
their star, or their luck, or their destiny. We all know how a very
crude faith turned a horde of wild Arabs into a conquering army, that
in a century dominated the world from Damascus to Seville. The truth
that is in 'Christian Science' is that many forms of disease yield to
the patient's firm persuasion of recovery. And from these and many
other facts the natural power of faith is beginning to dawn on the
most matter-of-fact and unspiritual people. They are beginning to
think that perhaps Christ was right after all in saying 'All things
are possible to him that believeth,' and that it is not such a blunder
after all to make faith the first step to all holiness and purity, and
the secret of victory in life's tussle. Leaving out of view for the
moment the supernatural effects of faith, which Christianity alleges
are its constant consequences, it is clear that its natural effects
are all in the direction of increasing the force of the trusting man.
It calms, it heartens for all work, effort, and struggle. It imparts
patience, it brightens hope, it forbids discouragement, it rebukes and
cures despondency. And besides all this, there is the supernatural
communication of a strength not our own, which is the constant result
of Christian faith. Christian faith knits the soul and the Saviour in
so close a union, that all that is Christ's becomes the Christian's,
and every believer may hear His Lover's voice whispering to him what
one of His servants once heard in an hour of despondency, 'My grace is
sufficient for thee, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Faith
joins us to the Lord, and 'he that is joined to the Lord is one
spirit'; and that Lord has said to all His disciples, 'I give thee
Myself, and in Myself all that is Mine.' We do not go to warfare at
our own charges, but there will pass into and abide in our hearts the
warlike might of the true King and Captain of the Lord's host, and we
shall hear the ring of His encouraging voice saying, 'Be of good
cheer! I have overcome the world.'