It is not that the world can not suffer: a myriad of instances could be cited of men who gamely endured cruelest agonies that they might gain some worldly end. It is not that they can not sacrifice: fifty thousand Abrahams cheerfully left their homes and their kindred a few years ago to go in search of the Alaskan gold fields; and they went out, as it were, not knowing whither they went. It is not that it is too much for human nature to see a child or a loved one go to foreign shores, for they send their boys as soldiers to fever-stricken lands and among the murderous tribes, and are proud of it; they give their daughters in marriage to army and navy officers, and to travelers, and to foreign nobles, rarely or never to see them again, and think it is a good match. But to do these things for God, to do them by faith--that is what they will not and can not do; and when they see another do it, it seems exceeding great folly and total loss to them. To suffer loss of money, comforts, friends, and good name for Christ's sake; to see their children and loved ones go to the far fields to tell the glad tidings of a Savior--that is the bitter cup. And why? They have no faith. "Now, faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen;" and the unseen things (I will not speak of the world, but of us, even of us Christians) do not appeal to us, do not so vividly [204] impress us, are not as real to us, as the things that are seen. Yet, on our faith depends everything--our knowledge of God, our approach to God, our work, our present and final salvation. Faith is what makes the man excellent above the animal and lifts him out of his fleshly life. Who will have faith--will let the things-of God's word be as real to him as the world of the senses? Him will God meet and distinguish and save. We see souls going to spiritual perdition; let us be as earnest in trying to save them as if their terrible lot were physical. We hear of God's salvation, and also of his high rewards to servants and workers; let us esteem these things as high as we would dollars and cents. Let us hold God's warnings and promises at face value; it is the safest, best, worthiest life we can live, and God will not ignore it or fail us.

[TAG 204-205]