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Lessons In Truth
Lesson 6
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[Lessons In Truth]
[Emily Cady's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
Faith
Lesson Six
"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall
not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he
saith cometh to pass; he shall have it." --Mk. 11:23
"Science was faith once."--Lowell
1. The word faith is one that has generally been thought to
denote a simple form of belief based mostly on ignorance
and superstition. It is a word that has drawn forth
something akin to scorn from so-called "thinking
people"--the people who have believed that intellectual
attainment is the highest form of knowledge to be reached.
"Blind faith" they have disdainfully chosen to call it--fit
only for ministers, women, and children, but not a
practical thing on which to establish the everyday business
affairs of life.
2. Some have prided themselves on having outgrown the
swaddling clothes of this blind, unreasoning faith, and
having grown to the point, as they say, where they have
faith only in that which can be seen or intellectually
explained.
3. The writer of The Epistle to the Hebrews, obviously a
most intellectual man, and a learned theologian, before
writing at length on the nature of faith
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and the marvelous results attending it, tried to put into a
few words a condensed definition of faith:
4. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1 A.V.).
5. In other words, faith takes right hold of the substance
of the things desired, and brings into the world of
evidence the things that before were not seen. Further
speaking of faith, the writer said, "Things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear" (Heb. 11:3 A.V.);
that is, things that are seen are not made out of visible
things, but out of the invisible. In some way, then, we
understand that whatever we want is in this surrounding
invisible substance, and faith is the power that can bring
it out into actuality to us.
6. After having cited innumerable instances of marvelous
things brought to pass in the lives of men, not by their
work or efforts, but by faith, the Epistle says,
7. "And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me to
tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and
Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped
the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong,
waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens.
Women received their dead by a resurrection (Heb. 11:32-35).
8. Do you want any more power or any greater thing than is
here mentioned--power to subdue kingdoms, to stop the
mouths of lions, quench fire, turn
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to flight whole armies, raise the dead to life again? Even
if your desires exceed this, you need not despair or
hesitate to claim their fulfillment, for One greater than
you, One who knew whereof He spoke, said: "All things are
possible to him that believeth" (Mk. 9:23).
9. Until very recently, whenever anyone has spoken of faith
as the one power that can move mountains, we have always
felt a sort of hopeless discouragement. While we have
believed that God holds all good things in His hand, and is
willing to be prevailed upon to dole them out according to
our faith, yet how could we, even by straining every nerve
of our being toward faith, be sure that we had sufficient
to please Him? For does it not say, "Without faith it is
impossible to be well-pleasing unto him" (Heb. 11:6)?
10. From the moment we began to ask, we began to question
our ability to reach God's standard of faith on which hung
our fate. We also began to question whether, after all,
there is any such power in faith to prevail with the Giver
of "every good gift" so as to draw out of Him something
that He had never let us have before.
11. Viewing faith in this light, there is not much wonder
that logical minds have looked on it as a sort of
will-o'-the-wisp, good enough for women and children to
hang their hopes on, but not a thing from which any real,
definite results could ever be obtained--not a thing that
the business world could rest upon.
12. There is a blind faith, to be sure. (Someone
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has truthfully said that blind faith is better than none at
all; for, if held to, it will get its eyes open after a
time.) But there is also an understanding faith. Blind
faith is an instinctive trust in a power higher than
ourselves. Understanding faith is based on immutable
principle.
13. Faith does not depend on physical facts, or on the
evidence of the senses, because it is born of intuition, or
the Spirit of truth ever living at the center of our being.
Its action is infinitely higher than that of intellectual
conclusions; it is founded on Truth.
14. Intuition is the open end, within one's own being, of
the invisible channel ever connecting each individual with
God. Faith is, as it were, a ray of light shot out from the
central sun--God--one end of which rays comes into your
being and mine through the open door of intuition. With our
consciousness we perceive the ray of light, and though
intellect cannot grasp it, or give the why or wherefore
thereof, yet we instinctively feel that the other end of
the ray opens out into all there is of God (good). This is
"blind" faith. It is based on Truth, but a Truth of which
everyone is not at the time conscious. Even this kind of
faith will, if persisted in, bring results.
15. What is understanding faith? There are some things that
God has so indissolubly joined together that it is
impossible for even Him to put them asunder. They are bound
together by fixed, immutable laws; if we have one of them,
we must have the other.
16. This is illustrated by the laws of geometry.
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For instance, the sum of the angles of a triangle is equal
to two right angles. No matter how large or small the
triangle, no matter whether it is made on the mountaintop
or leagues under the sea, if we are asked the sum of its
angles we can unhesitatingly answer, without waiting an
instant to count or reckon this particular triangle, that
it is just two right angles. This is absolutely certain. It
is certain, even before the triangle is drawn by visible
lines; we can know it beforehand, because it is based on
unchangeable laws, on the truth or reality of the thing. It
was true just as much before anyone recognized it as it is
today. Our knowing it or not knowing it does not change the
truth. Only in proportion as we come to know it as an
eternal truth can we be benefited by it.
17. It is also a simple truth that one plus one equals two;
it is an eternal truth. You cannot put one and one together
without two resulting. You may believe it or not; that does
not alter the truth. But unless you do put the one and one
together you do not produce the two, for each is eternally
dependent on the other.
18. The mental and spiritual world or realms are governed
by laws that are just as real and unfailing as the laws
that govern the natural world. Certain conditions of mind
are so connected with certain results that the two are
inseparable. If we have the one, we must have the other, as
surely as the night follows the day--not because we believe
some wise person's testimony that such is the case, not
even because the voice of intuition tells us that it is so,
but because the whole
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matter is based on laws that can neither fail nor be broken.
19. When we know something of these laws, we can know
positively beforehand just what results will follow certain
mental states.
20. God, the one creative cause of all things, is Spirit,
and visible to spiritual consciousness, as we have learned.
God is the sum total of all good. There is no good that you
can desire in your life which, at its center, is not God.
God is the substance of all things--the real thing within
every visible form of good.
21. God, the invisible substance out of which all visible
things are formed, is all around us waiting to come forth
into manifestation.
22. This good substance all about us is unlimited, and is
itself the supply of every demand that can be made; of
every need that exists in the visible or natural world.
23. One of the unerring truths in the universe (by
"universe" I mean the spiritual and natural worlds
combined) is that there is already provided a lavish
abundance for every human want. In other words, the supply
of every good always awaits the demand. Another truth is
that the demand must be made before the supply can come
forth to fill it. To recognize these two statements of
Truth and to affirm them are the whole secret of
understanding faith--faith based on principle.
24. Let us square this by the definition of faith, given
earlier in the lesson: "Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb.
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11:1). Faith takes hold of the substance of the thing hoped
for, and brings into evidence, or visibility, the things
not seen.
25. What are usually called the promises of God are certain
eternal, unchangeable truths that are true whether they are
found in the Bible or in the almanac. They are unvarying
statements of truth that cannot be altered. A promise,
according to Webster, is something sent beforehand to
indicate that something unseen is at hand. It is a
declaration that gives the person to whom it is made the
right to expect and claim the performance of the act.
26. The Nazarene recognized the unchangeable truth that, in
the unseen, the supply of every want awaits demand. When He
said, "Ask, and ye shall receive" (Jn. 16:24), He was
simply stating an unalterable truth. He knew that the
instant we ask or desire (for asking is desire expressed)
we touch a secret spring which starts on its way toward us
the good we want. He knew that there need not be any
coaxing or pleading about it; that our asking is simply our
complying with an unfailing law which is bound to work;
there is no escape from it. Asking and receiving are the
two ends of the same thing. There is a very close
connection between them.
27. Asking springs from desire to possess some good. What
is desire? Desire in the heart is always God tapping at the
door of your consciousness with His infinite supply--a
supply that is forever useless unless there be demand for
it. "Before they call, I will
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answer" (Is. 65:24). Before ever you are conscious of any
lack, of any desire for more happiness, for fullness of
joy, the great Father-Mother heart has desired them for
you. It is He in you desiring them that you feel, and think
it is only yourself (separate from Him) desiring them. With
God the desire to give, and giving, are one and the same
thing. Someone has said, "Desire for anything is the thing
itself in incipiency"; that is, the thing you desire is not
only for you, but has already been started toward you out
of the heart of God; and it is the first approach of the
thing itself striking you that makes you desire it, or even
think of it at all.
28. The only way God has of letting us know of His infinite
supply and His desire to make it ours is for Him to push
gently on the divine spark living within each one of us. He
wants you to be a strong, self-efficient man or woman, to
have more power and dominion over all before you; so He
quietly and silently pushes a little more of Himself, His
desire, into the center of your being. He enlarges, so to
speak, your real self, and at once you become conscious of
new desire to be bigger, grander, stronger. If He had not
pushed at the center of your being first, you would never
have thought of new desires, but would have remained
perfectly content as you were.
29. You think that you want better health, more love, a
brighter, more cheerful home all your very own; in short,
you want less evil (or no evil) and more good in your life.
This is only God pushing at the inner door of your being,
as if He were saying: "My child,
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let Me in; I want to give you all good, that you may be
more comfortable and happy." "Behold, my servants shall
eat. . .behold, my servants shall drink. . .behold my
servants shall rejoice. . .behold, my servants shall sing
for joy of heart. . .And they shall build houses, and
inhabit them" (Is. 65:13, 14, 21).
30. Remember this: Desire in the heart for anything is
God's sure promise sent beforehand to indicate that it is
yours already in the limitless realm of supply, and
whatever you want you can have for the taking.
31. Taking is simply recognizing the law of supply and
demand (even if you cannot see a sign of the supply any
more than Elijah did when he had affirmed for rain, and not
a cloud even so big as a man's hand was for a long time to
be seen). Affirm your possession of the good that you
desire; have faith in it, because you are working with
divine law and cannot fail; do not be argued off your basic
principle by anyone; and sooner will the heavens fall than
that you fail to get that which you desire.
32. "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mk. 11:24).
33. Knowing the law of abundant supply, and the truth that
supply always precedes the demand, demand simply being the
call that brings the supply into sight; knowing that all
desire in the heart for any good is really God's desire in
us and for us, how shall we obtain the fulfillment of our
every desire, and that right speedily?
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34. "Delight thyself also in Jehovah; And he will give thee
the desires of thy heart" (Ps. 37:4). Take right hold of
God with an unwavering faith. Begin and continue to
rejoice, and thank Him that you have (not will have) the
desires of your heart, never losing sight of the fact that
the desire is the thing itself in incipiency. If the good
were not already yours in the invisible realm of supply,
you could not, by any possibility, desire it.
35. Someone asks: "Suppose I desire my neighbor's wife, or
his property; is that desire born of God? And can I see it
fulfilled by affirming that it is mine?"
36. You do not and cannot, by any possibility, desire that
which belongs to another. You do not desire your neighbor's
wife. You desire the love that seems to you to be
represented by your neighbor's wife. You desire something
to fill your heart's craving for love. Affirm that there is
for you a rightful and an overflowing supply, and claim its
manifestation. It will surely come, and your so-called
desire to possess your neighbor's wife will suddenly
disappear.
37. So you do not in reality desire anything that belongs
to your neighbor. You want the equivalent of that for which
his possessions stand. You want your own. There is today an
unlimited supply of all good provided in the unseen for
every human being. No man must needs have less that another
may have more. Your very own awaits you. Your understanding
faith, or trust, is the power that will bring it to you.
38. Emerson said that the man who knows the law
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"is sure that his welfare is dear to the heart of being. .
.He believes that he cannot escape from his good."
39. Knowing divine law and obeying it, we can forever rest
from all anxiety, all fear, for "Thou openest thy hand, And
satisfiest the desire of every living thing" (Ps. 145:16).
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