_Thomas_, _because thou hast seen me_, _thou hast believed_: _blessed
are they that have not seen_, _and yet have believed_.
DOES our LORD mean to say that there was no blessedness in the sight
which he then presented?—that it was not a precious privilege actually to
see Him, to hear Him, to be perceptibly with Him? Would He, too,
withdraw and reverse the blessing He had formerly pronounced—“Blessed are
the eyes which see the things that ye see”? Would He tell us that the
kings and prophets, who saw the promises only afar off, who fancied and
conjectured, and died in hope, were more blessed than the hearers of the
Sermon of the Mount, the spectators of the Transfiguration, the
companions of that three years’ ministry, the guests at Emmaus, the
disciple that reclined on His bosom? No, surely! The blessedness of the
Apostles, in certainly seeing, and being with CHRIST in the flesh, is, in
its peace and joy, a blessedness which stands pre-eminent and alone, and
must do till again He is seen in Heaven. But peace and joy are not the
greatest blessings. That which calms, that which gladdens, is nothing in
comparison with that which sanctifies and elevates; and there is a
blessedness which does this; and which, therefore, is greater. It is the
blessedness which faith produces. “Blessed (_i.e._, more blessed) are
they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Belief, faith—what is
it? It may be described as the assent of the understanding, to that
which is not proved to any of our senses, but which appears credible
because of the testimony given to it. We all have this faith, in human
affairs. We all of us accept as true—are convinced of their truth, and
act upon the conviction—things which are not proved to us, but are
supported by reliable statement. If you serve for wages, or sell goods
on credit, or become surety for another, or go out to seek a new home in
a distant land, you do it in faith. You cannot see into the heart, and
be sure of the honesty of your employer, your customer, your friend; but
what appears, from what you are told by others of him, you rely on him.
And so again, you do not actually know that there is such a land as you
propose to seek, but you believe it, because of all that travellers have
said of it, of the goods you have seen, the letters you have read, which
are stated to have come from it. Of course, as the testimony varies in
its credibility, this faith is of different degrees. You have such faith
in your well-tried friend, in his integrity and his wisdom, that you
know, you say, that he will not deceive you, and that he cannot be
deceived himself. Others, of whom you know less, you believe more
slowly. Some, you think, are not qualified to give testimony; they have
the thing second-hand, or they were not competent to judge of what they
saw, and heard, and felt; or they are not truthful, and may wilfully
misrepresent: and even, in the best cases, faith is sometimes misplaced.
Therefore, your faith in human things, has always, perhaps (and should
have) a trace of doubt in it—sometimes is weak, sometimes fails
altogether. It would be wrong and injurious to have equal faith in all;
but, on the other hand, to be always doubting, to refuse to believe
without seeing, would be misery, and folly, and mockery of self. Divine
faith is different: the accepting (that is) of what is recommended to us
by the testimony of GOD, by well-proved miracles, by prophecies since
fulfilled, by any other of GOD’S witnesses. This is perfect. It admits
of no doubts and qualifications. It is as sure of what it believes, as
if it handled, and heard, and saw it: yea, surer, for its own judgment
might be deceived; but GOD knows all things and judges rightly, and GOD
cannot deceive. Therefore, when GOD reveals, we may not question the
plausibility of what is shown; we have no room for doubt as to His
opportunities of knowing, His truthfulness in communicating what is
narrated. All we may do, is to ask—Has GOD spoken, are these things His
testimony? And this we ought to do; for there is no blessing pronounced
by the text on the credulous, who take everything as from GOD, without
examination. Thomas surely would have erred, if, simply because some one
told him of CHRIST’S resurrection, he had straightway believed it. We
are exhorted not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits whether
they be of GOD. We have to examine miracles, to see whether they are
real or pretended, and prophecies, to see that they were not written
after the professed fulfilments, and all revelations, lest they should be
spurious. Failing to do this, we might have followed Theudas, who came
to nought, or Joan of Arc: we might become Mohammedans or Mormonites. We
have to guard against this; not to be credulous; to be sure that it is
GOD that speaks: but then, being sure, whatever He describes, however
incomprehensible or improbable, whatever He commands, no matter how
apparently unreasonable, whatever He promises, against experience,
against opinion, against hope, to accept all, and rely on all, and lead
the life of reliance. Yes, brethren, this is the believing which alone
is blessed; the believing which leads to doing. Faith is the evidence by
which we see things naturally unseen; it is the substance, the very
handled reality, of things naturally only hoped for; and which, by its
revelations of beauty and bliss, by its sanctions and persuasions, and by
all that it shows us of the present, and promises or threatens in the
future, makes us fly to GOD, and cling to Him, and depend on Him, and
live for Him, and look for Him. Less than this—mere assent of the
understanding, without heart-embracing, and life-demonstrating, and
exercising—is not the belief that is blessed. Faith without works is
dead, being alone. If then, brethren, you would be partakers of the
blessedness promised in the text, you must have fully received, and be
acting upon the form of religion which GOD has given you. You must have
implicit trust in Him for help and support and peace and blessing. You
must know that whatever He has described is real, whatever He has
promised or threatened will surely be fulfilled, on the conditions He has
laid down; and you must testify and act upon your knowledge by a
corresponding life. I do not say that all this is demanded of you in
perfection; that the hope of blessing is gone, if you fail of aught of
it: but I do say that, if in anything you distrust GOD, if you question
or demand further proof of, or are indifferent to anything He has
revealed, and deliberately do not live by it, then you cannot claim the
benediction of the text.
But it occurs to you to ask, perhaps, how it is that GOD selects
believing, rather than seeing, on any other way of reception for special
blessing.
Now, it is not necessary that GOD should account to us for what He does
or wills. Creatures of His hand, we are made for Him; dependents on His
bounty, we must thankfully receive it in any way and form of bestowal.
But still there are reasons which may be briefly suggested for the
selection of faith.
First, then, faith embodies the entire trustful devotion to GOD, which,
above any assent to what is proved, any following of what is seen or
heard, magnifies the honour of GOD, and so sets forth His glory. It owns
His truth, His providence, His love, and prompts to a free-will,
spiritual, glorifying service of Him. Secondly, unless there are to be
perpetual miracles, faith alone can be permanently and universally
influential. If we are to be guided by sight, or hearing, or touching,
then the revelations to one generation would have to be repeated to each
following generation, and those of one country performed again in every
other. Thus CHRIST would have had to continue on earth, to have visited
every land, and been crucified and raised from the dead in every land, or
to have gathered all nations into Judea to witness what was done; and
this would have had to be repeated over and over again to our fathers, to
us, to our children, or else some would have been without the necessary
influence to serve, and love, and depend on Him. And more than this,
since the sights we see and the sounds we hear, are soon over, and leave
but a faint remembrance behind, we should be imperfectly influenced by
them, when CHRIST ceased to speak; or when He passed into another place
we should be without our object of worship, our instructor or hope. And
even if these objections can be met, still the perpetuity of CHRIST’S
visible presence, the beholding of His miracles, and hearing of His
words, would necessarily put a stop to all worldly occupations; would
make probation little more than a name; would constrain men by natural
influences to a carnal or slavish adherence to Him, or would drive them
into reckless rebellion, and instant and irrevocable condemnation.
But again, faith is more blessed because it has greater
privileges—because it reveals more clearly, brings nearer, than any sense
could do. If you only hear a loved one, do you not desire to see him?
If you see him, are you not unblessed unless you embrace him? And then,
is there not an influence, a way of communicating, that surpasses this—a
purer, a more spiritual influence, one which brings you together, and
keeps you together, and makes you one—love, which surpasses, which is
independent of, or only uses as accessories, the bodily senses? We are
too apt, brethren, to talk of seeing as believing; to count sense above
feeling; to exalt what belongs to the body, above what belongs to the
mind or spirit. Doubtless, the error arises from the way in which we
speak of faith giving way to sight in heaven, as though the eyes of the
body only, and not the mind and spirit, were to behold CHRIST then; as
though mental and spiritual perception were not better than bodily; as
though there were no assurance that faith is an abiding gift, and that,
therefore, while in heaven there will be much to gratify the eye of the
body, there will still be much more which faith alone can realise. My
brethren, the greatest eternal blessedness will be vouchsafed to faith,
and the greatest blessedness of this state belongs to faith, because it
is the exercise of man’s noblest and best, and most reliable faculties,
far superior in excellence, far more certain in ascertaining the truth,
than ears, or eyes, or hands.
Once more, faith is blessed above seeing, because it grasps a set of
truths, and enjoys a class of pleasures which are different from those of
the senses, and which the senses cannot touch. GOD the Father invisible
for ever, GOD the Holy Ghost, blowing like the wind where it listeth, so
that you cannot see whence it cometh and whither it goes, ministering
angels, spiritual influences, and consolations, and helps—what can ear,
or eye, or hand know of these? But faith knows them, hears them, sees
them, handles them, and joys in them. And this, brethren, exhibits the
nature of faith’s blessedness; that to it is revealed the whole spiritual
world; that the evidence which it needs, the object of its worship, its
Saviour, its LORD, its hopes and fears, and encouragements and promises
are never absent, and never missed, (but by its own dimness or voluntary
blindness) whatever may become of the outward signs and boding presences.
Picture to yourselves, brethren, the scene of that chamber where the
raised CHRIST stood manifest, in the posture of blessing, before His
adoring disciples. Imagine what Thomas had before felt, and what he now
felt. Then hear CHRIST say—“The bliss of this moment might have been
yours before, if you had sought to attain it by faith, and not by sight;
and what you now see may be yours for ever, for in spirit I shall ever be
with you, and by faith you may ever behold Me! Blessed are they that
have not seen, and yet have believed”; and that blessing, brethren, was
for us, if we will have it. If we believe, then we are thus blessed. If
we are not blessed, we may be. O let us lay hold on this truth, let us
cultivate faith, let us pray to GOD for an increase of it, and let us
perpetually exercise it in beholding Him Who is ever with us, to pardon
our faithless sins, to restore us to His company, to breathe upon us
peace and blessing.
SERMON VI.
FAULTLESSNESS BEFORE GOD.
(INNOCENTS’ DAY.)