Plain and Parochial Sermons: Volume 4 Sermon 20 The Ventures of Faith

“They say unto Him, We are able.”—Matt. xx. 22.

• “These words of the holy Apostles James and John were in reply to a very solemn question addressed to them by their Divine Master.”
• “They coveted, with a noble ambition, though as yet unpractised in the highest wisdom, untaught in the holiest truth,-- they coveted to sit beside Him on His Throne of Glory.”
• Jesus’ reply was that “they must venture for it.”
• He asked them if they were able to drink of the cup he’ll drink and if they would be baptized with the baptism he would baptized with
• They reply, “we are able”
• “Here then a great lesson is impressed upon us, that our duty as Christians lies in this, in making ventures for eternal life without the absolute certainty of success.”
• “Success and reward everlasting they will have, who persevere unto the end. Doubt, we cannot, that the ventures of all Christ’s servants must be returned to them at the last day with abundant increase.”
• “But I am speaking of individuals, of ourselves one by one. No one among us knows for certain that he himself will persevere; yet every one among us, to give himself a chance of success at all, must make a venture.”
• A venture always has that sense of risk, danger and anxiety and “in this consists the excellence and nobleness of faith”
• Faith is singled out among other graces in the course of our justification “because its presence implies that we have the heart to make a venture.”
• Paul shows this in Hebrews 11 which opens with a definition of faith and then gives examples of it
• Faith is the “realizing” of things hoped for and the evidence or “ground of proof” of things not seen
• The Apostles had this faith. They saw the promises and mysteries afar off and were persuaded of them and were willing to drink of the cup and be baptized with suffering for the sake of the promise of eternal life, even though they did not understand fully
• These were ventures made in faith and in uncertainty
• Jesus in Luke 14 gives a parable that illustrates that to be disciples we must be willing to give up all we have, warning us of the full sacrifice we must make
• The rich young man however was unwilling to make such a sacrifice. He did not have the “faith to make the venture of this world for the next, upon His word.”
• “If then faith be the essence of a Christian life, and if it be what I have now described, it follows that our duty lies in risking upon Christ’s word what we have, for what we have not; and doing so in a noble and generous way, not indeed rashly or lightly, still without knowing accurately what we are doing, not knowing either what we give up, nor again what we shall gain; uncertain about our reward, uncertain about our extent of sacrifice, in all respects leaning, waiting upon Him, trusting in Him to enable us to fulfill our own vows, and so in all respects proceeding without carefulness or anxiety about the future.”
• We need to ask ourselves what stake we have in the truth of Christ’s promise
• “What have we ventured for Christ? What have we given to Him on a belief of His promise?”
• In our world, when people venture on certain things, like a business, there is hope of gain, but risk of personal failure
• “What have we ventured?”
• Do we abandon anything on the faith of Christ’s word?
• If the Gospel turned out to be a fable, would we have any loss? If not, then we have not ventured anything for Christ
• We trust human words in our daily transactions, but many Christians would not risk on the basis of Christ’s word
• The giving of alms, as seen in Scripture, is an “intelligible venture” and “evidence of faith.”
• Those who give up good prospects in this world to be nearer to Christ have ventured in faith
• Those who give up worldly comforts in order to work for Christ have ventured in faith
• Those who live lives of public penance or those who submit their will to Christ’s have ventured in faith
• “Such a one is taken at his word, while he understands not, perhaps, what he says; but he is accepted, as meaning somewhat, and risking much.”
• These generous hearts are taken at their word when they say “we are able” to drink of your cup, even though they have no idea what all it entails, their promise is recorded in heaven
• So also at sacramental moments like confirmation and holy orders, when promises are made, yet without full knowledge of what all it entails, the promise is record in heaven
• “I repeat it; what are our ventures and risks upon the truth of His word? For He says expressly, ‘Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”

If the Gospel of Christ turned out to be a fable, what you lose anything? Have you risked anything for your faith? Do you believe it so absolutely that if it wasn't true, you have much to lose?

We are called to take Christ at his word and risk it all for him, just as he risked it all for us in his incarnation, life and death.

Plain and Parochial Sermons: Volume 4 Sermon 19 The Mysteriousness of Our Present Being

“I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.”—Ps. cxxxix. 14

• It is worth noting that the inspired writer “finds in the mysteries without and within him, a source of admiration and praise.”
• This subject is appropriate for the feast day being celebrated, Trinity Sunday
• The doctrine of the Trinity is set forth as clearly as humanly possible in the Athanasian creed
• However, the difficulty we have in expressing the doctrine of the Trinity is no more difficult than we have when speaking about earthly things that we experience and whose existence we cannot deny
• 1. We are made of body and soul
• If we weren’t then, how do we account for the idea of the soul and abstract reason?
• “By soul we mean that invisible principle which thinks.”
• “We are conscious we are alive, and are rational; each man has his own thoughts, feelings, and desires; each man is one to himself, and he knows himself to be one and indivisible,—one in such sense, that while he exists, it were an absurdity to suppose he can be any other than himself; one in a sense in which no material body which consist of parts can be one.”
• We know that our souls are distinct from our bodies but that both are not a collection of different unities.
• Our souls can use the body thus show themselves superior to the body
• No one can possible mistake his body for himself. “It is his, not he.”
• The soul is spiritual and immaterial, it has no size or form
• How then do we say that the soul is in the body or joined or connected to the body?
• “It is certain, then, that experience outstrips reason in its capacity of knowledge, why then should reason circumscribe faith, when it cannot compass sight?”
• 2. “Again: the soul is not only one, and without parts, but moreover, as if by great contradiction even in terms, it is in every part of the body.”
• The soul is in every part of the body otherwise it would not be called one
• When put into words we appear to have a contradiction, when we know that there is no contradiction in fact
• This is the same problem we encounter with the Trinity
• God himself is hidden from us and all we know is what has been revealed to us from the inspired writers and from the Son of God
• The Trinity is a fact for us as Christians but there appear to be contradictions in terms when we articulate what it is we believe
• 3. “Further consider what a strange state we are in when we dream, and how difficult it would be to convey to a person who had never dreamed what was meant by dreaming.”
• He would have no vocabulary to express what was going on
• There is nothing wrong with being wrong on matters of opinion, but in matters that bear upon our soul, it is unwise to stumble at mysteries
• We should be thankful for the ministry of the Apostles who presented the mysteries of God in limited human language
• We take what we are taught and are content with them
• We are mysterious and this is normal, just as many other situations we find in life in which we know things to be true, yet, we are unable articulate them fully
• If it is this difficult to articulate our nature then how much more difficult is it then to articulate God’s nature
• The religious mind looks at these mysteries and marvel while the proud scoff
• The benefit of the mystery of the Trinity is to humble the wise in this world and elevate the lowly


How do we respond to mystery? How should we respond to mystery? It is a complicated question that provides no easy answer. On the one hand, we are called to humilty in accepting the mysteriousness of the world and of God, on the other hand, it is not in our nature to not seek out answers.

This problem is solved by the state of mind we assume. Seeking answers is commensurate with our nature, but we cannot prod and probe without the knowledge that we are limited beings and unable to conquer mystery. If we put on a humble spirit, then our achievements do not become marred by pride.