Faith

Improvement Era Vol. XX DECEMBER, 1916 No. 2 Faith By Nephi Jensen Paul, the prophet-philosopher of primitive Christianity, said, faith is "the evidence of things not seen." What did he niean? Manifestly, that faith in a sense takes the place of ordinary evidence; or, in other words, it is the capacity to believe without the evidence that appeals directly to the physical senses. Faith is a state of soul keenly sensitive to truth, because of the soul's purity and spirituality. Is not this the meaning of Christ's words to Thomas? "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Why should they be "blessed" who believe a great truth without the most positive proof to the senses? Simply because their souls are so nearly tuned to truth that they perceive the truth without witnessing that complete outward demonstration required by smaller souls. We are told that "Faith comes by hearing the word of God," and yet two men may hear the same preacher speak the same words, at the same time, and the one will believe, and the other will scoff. What is the conclusion? That the one is deluded, and the other is too intelligent to be deceived? Not at all. The one is so far estranged from truth that it may take years to dispel his doubts. While the other, in the nobility of his soul, is as sensitive to truth as a pure, delicate soul is to beautiful things. Faith is susceptibility to the knowledge of spiritual things. The skeptic sees only matter in the universe. The man of faith sees the eternal meaning, of which visible things are but the symbols. The skeptic feels only the coarse grating of visible things. The man of faith feels the serene spirit that emanates from the heart of things. A man of science and a spiritual-minded man walked together in a park early in the morning. They came to a perfectly formed rose, nestled snugly in a foliage of green. As they came near the flower, the spiritual-minded man instantly experienced

100 IMPROVEMENT ERA an elevation and ennoblement of spirit, and he remarked, "That is a beautiful rose." The scientist said nothing for a moment, but leaning close to the flower, he discovered a mole on a leaf nearby, and remarked, "I see a peculiar mole on this leaf. I shall take it to my laboratory and analyze it, and attempt to discover what whim of nature is responsible for it." For days and weeks he studied the mole, and discovered some new botanical truths. But he did not see the rose. He saw only its petals. But the spiritual-minded man both saw and felt the rose. He saw in it a symbol of the beautiful, and felt in it the divine manifestation of tenderness and purity. Should this man of science cease studying the mole? Not at all. But he should not expect to find the truth that glows in the heart of the rose through a process of scientific analysis that can only reveal cold, botanical facts. If he ever sees, feels and knows the rose, it will be because he has become so tender and pure of spirit that the beauty and fragrance of the rose will melt into his soul. Faith is the only key to the knowledge of God. Science may strive for this knowledge, but it will strive in vain. Reason may search for it, but only to be balked by the prophet's old and enduring challenge, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" The man of science tries to find the heart of things through an endless analysis of the shell of things. He clings so loosely to some isolated fact that he often fails to get the big meaning beyond his fact. But the man of faith ventures boldly into the realm of the unknown, seeking to know the heart of things by getting close to the heart of things. A man of science and a man of faith were walking together in a canyon one day. They came to a large towering rock with a deep, dark seam across it. The man of science stopped and peered into the dark seam, and remarked, "I will stop here and study this seam." He stayed and investigated the seam. The man of faith went on to a grove in the distance. As he penetrated the deep forest, the gentle breeze singing through the bows of the trees seemed to say, "God is here." His faith was intensified. He said, "I will draw yet nearer to my Maker." He prayed; and as he prayed a spirit of calmness, peace and harmony came into his soul and made him feel certain that he was very near to the ever-beating heart of the Eternal. He found God. The other man became a geologist. The two men met again a few years later. The man of science eargerly told of the many things he had learned from his study of the seam in the rock. The man of faith spoke of what he discovered in the grove. The man of science laughed, and said, "The only way to find out God is to learn all about his universe."

FAITH 101 Is the conclusion of this man of science correct? Can one learn to know God by learning all about his universe? Yes; but only in eternity. If man learns to know God here and now, he will learn to know him in the same way that one man knows another. How does one man know another? Not through a technical knowledge of the other's mental capacity and achievements, but through the other's manifestation of favor, friendship and love. So, too, we learn to know God by drawing so near to him that we become as certain of his disposition towards us as a delicate and tender soul is of the beauty and fragrance of a flower. Should this geologist, then, cease studying the seam in the rock? By no means. But he should learn that he must not only go direct to nature for a knowledge of nature, but also direct to God for a knowledge of God. Herbert Spencer truthfully said, "we only know things through phenomenon," manifestation, and yet he spent most of a lifetime, and the vigor of his great brain, trying to find out God through an analysis of the structure of his universe, instead of seeking through faith for a manifestation of his favor and power. No wonder he reached the sad conclusion of many other scientists that God is "unknowable." To know God, in the way Spencer sought to know him, one would have to be omniscient. A child does not and cannot know its mother in the way Spencer sought to know God. And yet the child knows all that it needs to know now about its mother. How? By going with its troubled soul to the altar of her love and feeling her assuring words, "Peace be still." Faith is the sovereign faculty of the soul. It is consciousness intensified. Through faith we see farther than the reach of the eyes, hear things that the ears fail to detect, and feel things that elude physical touch. It is the soul of nobility. It is the matchless instrumentality with which man conquers his most deadly foes. It is the key to truth and the only way to the heart of God. The supremacy of Christ as a teacher is established by the emphasis he gave to the two big words of religion, — "faith," and "love." And the greatness of Christ's modern prophet is completely proven by the fact, that he had the largeness of mind, the limitless reach of soul, and the splendid courage, in an age of darkest doubt, to go direct to God for a knowledge of God! It is most heartening that the century that produced Ingersoll's famous funeral oration, which contains the sad lamentation, "We cry aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry," also witnessed the triumph of a great prophet's faith, the story of which is a complete answer to the doubter's "wailing cry."