A Door of Hope

“The valley of Achor for a door of hope.” — Hosea ii. 15.

*“This date is an approximation of when this sermon was delivered.”

A CHRISTIAN must walk by faith; not by sight. The way to heaven is not one which is to be trodden by the carnal foot of the man who must see before he can believe. It is a dark way to those who have not the eyes of faith; it is a way through the air, utterly inaccessible to those who have not faith’s wings; it is a way upward, quite impassable to the man who has not faith’s ladder. The way through this world, under the guardianship of God, and upward to the eternal homo of the faithful, is by faith, and not by sight. Yet, nevertheless, the Lord is pleased to humour our weakness and our frailties, — albeit that we should be quite as safe if we had to walk in the dark, by faith, as we are when we walk in the light of the supernatural inward sight of faith, still seeing a light brighter than that which glistens around us; — yet it does please God to give us, in this wilderness, comfortable tokens and sure evidences, by which we are enabled to understand, even by reason, and judgment, and sense, that we are his reconciled people. When God withholds the presence of his comforting Spirit, or when the sunlight of his countenance is taken from us, we are, nevertheless, quite safe, for then we are enabled to cling to Christ in the dark with the arms of faith; but God often gives us more than is absolutely necessary; he gives us glimpses of heaven while here below, and rich spiritual enjoyment while we are in this otherwise barren land.