I have already half apologised for using the metaphor of a foundation
and a building. I must repeat the confession that the symbol is an
inadequate one. For the Apostle does not conceive of the work and labour
and patience which are respectively allocated to these three graces as
being superimposed upon them, as it were, by effort, so much as he
thinks of them as growing out of them by their inherent nature. The work
is 'the work of faith,' that which characterises faith, that which
issues from it, that which is its garment, visible to the world, and the
token of its reality and its presence. Faith works. It is the foundation
of all true work; even in the lowest sense of the word we might almost
say that. But in the Christian scheme it is eminently the underlying
requisite for all work which God does not consider as busy idleness. I
might here make a general remark, which, however, I need not dwell upon,
that we have here the broad thought which Christian people in all
generations need to have drummed into their heads over and over again,
and that is that inward experiences and emotions, and states of mind and
heart, however good and precious, are so mainly as being the necessary
foundations of conduct. What is the good of praying and feeling
comfortable within, and having 'a blessed assurance,' a 'happy
experience,' 'sweet communion,' and so on? What is the good of it all,
if these things do not make us 'live soberly, righteously, and godly in
this present world'? What is the good of the sails of a windmill going
whirling round, if the machinery has been thrown out of gear, and the
great stones which it ought to actuate are not revolving? What is the
good of the screw of a steamer revolving, when she pitches, clean above
the waves? It does nothing then to drive the vessel onwards, but will
only damage the machinery. And Christian emotions and experiences which
do not drive conduct are of as little use, often as perilous, and as
injurious. If you want to keep your 'faith, love, hope,' sound and
beneficial, set them to work. And do not be too sure that you have them,
if they do not crave for work, whether you set them to it or not.
'Your work of faith.' There is the whole of the thorny subject of the
relation of faith and works packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what
James said and it is exactly what a better than James said. When the
Jews came to Him with their externalism, and thought that God was to be
pleased by a whole rabble of separate good actions, and so said, 'What
shall we do that we might work the works of God?' Jesus said, 'Never
mind about _works_. This is _the work_ of God, that ye believe on Him
whom He hath sent,' and out of that will come all the rest. That is the
mother-tincture; everything will flow from that. So Paul says, 'Your
work of faith.'
Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other people rather than you.
Do men see that your faith works; that its output is different from the
output of men who are not possessors of a 'like precious faith'? Ask
yourselves the question, and God help you to answer it.
Love labours. Labour is more than work, for it includes the notion of
toil, fatigue, difficulty, persistence, antagonism. Ah! the work of
faith will never be done unless it is the toil of love. You remember how
Milton talks about the immortal garland that is to be run for, 'not
without dust and sweat.' The Christian life is not a leisurely
promenade. The limit of our duty is not ease of work. There must be
toil. And love is the only principle that will carry us through the
fatigues, and the difficulties, and the oppositions which rise against
us from ourselves and from without. Love delights to have a hard task
set it by the beloved, and the harder the task the more poignant the
satisfaction. Loss is gain when it brings us nearer the beloved. And
whether our love be love to God, or its consequence, love to man, it is
the only foundation on which toil for either God or man will ever
permanently be rested. Do not believe in philanthropy which has not a
bottom of faith, and do not believe in work for Christ which does not
involve in toil. And be sure that you will do neither, unless you have
both these things: the faith and the love.
And then comes the last. Faith works, love toils, hope is patient. Is
that all that 'hope' is? Not if you take the word in the narrow meaning
which it has in modern English; but that was not what Paul meant. He
meant something a great deal more than passive endurance, great as that
is. It is something to be able to say, in the pelting of a pitiless
storm, 'Pour on! I will endure.' But it is a great deal more to be able,
in spite of all, not to bate one jot of heart or hope, but 'still bear
up and steer right onward'; and that is involved in the true meaning of
the word inadequately rendered 'patience' in the New Testament. For it
is no passive virtue only, but it is a virtue which, in the face of the
storm, holds its course; brave persistence, active perseverance, as well
as meek endurance and submission.
'Hope' helps us both to bear and to do. They tell us nowadays that it is
selfish for a Christian man to animate himself, either for endurance or
for activity, by the contemplation of those great glories that lie
yonder. If that is selfishness, God grant we may all become a great deal
more selfish than we are! No man labours in the Christian life, or
submits to Christian difficulty, for the sake of going to heaven. At
least, if he does, he has got on the wrong tack altogether. But if the
motive for both endurance and activity be faith and love, then hope has
a perfect right to come in as a subsidiary motive, and to give strength
to the faith and rapture to the love. We cannot afford to throw away
that hope, as so many of us do--not perhaps, intellectually, though I am
afraid there is a very considerable dimming of the clearness, and a
narrowing of the place in our thoughts, of the hope of a future
blessedness, in the average Christian of this day--but practically we
are all apt to lose sight of the recompense of the reward. And if we do,
the faith and love, and the work and toil, and the patience will suffer.
Faith will relax its grasp, love will cool down its fervour; and there
will come a film over Hope's blue eye, and she will not see the land
that is very far off. So, dear brethren, remember the sequence, 'faith,
love, hope,' and remember the issues, 'work, toil, patience.'