ble to virtue generally, it tends also to
produce displays of superior excellence; of unusual courage,
perseverance, and endurance. The believer in God may brave the most
appalling dangers. His feeling is, that he who is for him is greater
than all that can be against him. It is no vain boast in him to say, 'I
fear God, and know no other fear.' It is natural that he should say,
when threatened by mistaken or malignant men, 'You may kill me, but you
cannot hurt me.' The Christian believer can afford to be a martyr. When
excited by ungodly or inhuman opposition, he naturally displays the
martyr's courage. He can bear too to suffer disrepute. He can trust his
reputation to his omniscient and almighty Friend. He can bear to look
with patience both on the adversity of the good, and the prosperity of
the bad. He knows the fate,--he sees the end,--of both. The Judge of all
the earth will do right. He knows no evil but sin. He knows no security
but righteousness.

And Christian faith is a fountain of all conceivable _comfort_. It is a
comfort to feel secure. It is a comfort to feel strong. It is a comfort
to feel assured that we are beloved of God. It is a comfort to feel that
we love Him in return. It is a comfort to believe that the universe has
a Head, a Lord, a Ruler. It is a comfort to believe that we are not
orphans, fatherless inhabitants of a Godless world. There is pleasure in
admiration and reverence. There is pleasure in feelings of gratitude.
There is a pleasure in tracing the wonders and beauties of creation to a
living, loving Creator. It adds to the pleasure of science to believe,
that behind the wonderful phenomena which we behold, there is a Great
Unseen from whose all-loving heart they all proceed. It is a pleasure to
believe that our ways are ordered by infinite wisdom. It is a pleasure
to believe that our sorrows are known to an almighty sympathizing
Friend. It is a pleasure to believe that our kindred and friends have a
helper greater than ourselves. It is a pleasure to believe that our lot
is appointed by an infinite Father; that we shall not be permitted to be
tried beyond our strength; that in every temptation, a way will be made
for our escape; that nothing can harm us, however painful; that nothing
can destroy us, however terrible; that all things work together for our
good. In short, there is no end to the strength which a Christian belief
in God is calculated to give to our virtue, or to the consolati