FAITH AND SALVATION - APPENDIX
An Essay by John W. Hawkins
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Letter to the Hebrews - Chapter 11 (RSV)
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen. For by it the
men of old received divine approval. By faith we
understand that the world was created by the word
of God, so that what is seen was made out of things
which do not appear.
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable
sacrifice than Cain, through which he received
approval as righteous, God bearing witness by
accepting his gifts; he died, but through his
faith he is still speaking. By faith Enoch
was taken up so that he should not see death;
and he was not found, because God had taken him.
Now before he was taken he was attested as having
pleased God. And without faith it is impossible
to please him. For whoever would draw near to God
must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned
by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed
and constructed an ark for the saving of his
household; by this he condemned the worldand
became an heir of the righteousness which comes
by faith.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to
go out to a place which he was to receive an
inheritance; and he went out,not knowing where
he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the land
of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents
with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same
promise. For he looked forward to the city which
has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive,
even when she was past the age, since she considered
him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one
man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants
as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable
grains of sand by the seashore.
These all died in faith, not having received what
was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from
afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers
and exiles on the earth.
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are
seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that
land from which they had gone out, they would have had
an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a
better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has
prepared for them a city.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up
Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready
to offer up his only son, of whom it was said,
"Through Isaac shall your descendants be named." He
considered that God was able to raise men even from
the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did
receive him back. By faith Isaac invoked future
blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when
dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph,bowing in
worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph,
at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus
of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his
burial.
By faith Moses, when he was born,was hid for
three months by his parents, because they saw that
the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid
of the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he was
grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment
with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting
pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for
the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of
Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith he
left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the
king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the
blood, so that the Destroyer of the first-born
might not touch them.
By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as
if on dry land; but the Egyptians, when they
attempted to do the same, were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after
they had been encircled for seven days. By faith
Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who
were disobedient, because she had given friendly
welcome to the spies.
And what more shall I say? For time would fail
me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
of David and Samuel and the prophets - who through
faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice,received
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched
raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won
strength out of weakness, became mighty in war,
put foreign armies to flight. Women received their
dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing
to accept release, that they might rise again to a
better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging,
and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned,
they were sawn in two, they were killed with the
sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats,
destitute, afflicted, ill-treated - of whom the
world was not worthy - wandering over deserts and
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And all these, though well attested by their
faith, did not receive what was promised, since God
had foreseen something better for us, that apart
from us they should not be made perfect.
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
It was six men of Indostan to learning
much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant
though all of them were blind),
That each by observation might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant, and happening
to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, at once
began to bawl: "God bless me! but the Elephant
is mighty like a wall!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk, cried: "ho! what
have we here So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant
is very like a spear!"
The Third approached the animal, and happening to
take The squirming trunk within his hands, thus
boldly up and spake: "I see", quoth he, "the
Elephant is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out an eager hand, and felt
about the knee "What most this wondrous beast
is like is mighty plain," quoth he: "'Tis clear
enough the Elephant is very like a tree!"
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said:
"E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most, deny the fact
who can, This marvel of an Elephant is mighty
like a fan!
The Sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to
grope, Than seizing on the swinging tail that fell
within his scope,] "I see, quoth he, "the Elephant
is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
all were in the wrong!
- John Godfrey Saxe
A PRAYER OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console.
To be understood as to understand.
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are born
to eternal life.
THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS
This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main, -
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their
streaming hair.
Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed, -
Its irised ceiling rent,
its sunless crypt unsealed!
Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft-step its shining archway
through, Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew
the old no more.
Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice
that sings: -
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell
by life's unresting sea!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
"No man is an island, entire of itself.
Every man is a piece of the Continent,
a part of the Main;
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a manor of thy friends
or thine own were;
Any man's death diminishes me
Because I am involved in mankind;
And therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee."
John Donne
From an Address to President Franklin Pierce in 1855
"Human kind has not woven the web of life -
we are but the thread of it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are connected;
Whatever befalls the earth,
befalls also the children of the earth."
Chief Seattle