Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/253



reason of its faith combined with boldness, received all it could appropriate in the time. It had no need to plead with the pathetic look of its eye; it simply realized its need, and recognizing the means of supplying it, gladly availed itself of it.

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Faith is the standing-ground of the hopeful, the conviction of facts unseen. Sam Jones used to illustrate it in this way. Out West they have a place for watering cattle where the animals have to mount a platform to reach the troughs. As they step upon the platform their weight presses a lever, and this throws the water into the troughs. They have to get on the platform through faith, and this act provides the water. The steer that slips round to the barnyard and looks into the trough will find it dry, for it needs his weight on the platform to force the water up. If you slide back you will find life barren and dry, but if you step upon the platform of full assurance in God's Word, blessings will flow abundantly.

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Herman S. Reichard is the author of this:

I dreamed a dream Of white-robed Faith; with words of cheer and love She took me by the hand and led me on; And by some magic art smoothed out the way Until my lagging zeal was fired anew By future visions of unmeasured bliss. I saw beyond the wintry cold and snow The days of springtime, full of flowers and song To greet and satisfy the longing heart.

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The following incident is related of Rev. John Wilkinson and his Mildmay (London) Mission to the Jews:

On one occasion two American gentlemen sat at Mr. Wilkinson's breakfast-table and noted his opening of letters which brought God's supply for the day. "This is all very well, so far," said one of the gentlemen, "but what would you do, Mr. Wilkinson, if one morning the expected supply did not come?" The answer is clear in my memory, "That can only happen, sir, when God dies." (Text.)

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William J. Long, in "English Literature," writes thus of Samuel Johnson:

Since the man's work fails to account for his leadership and influence, we examine his personality; and here everything is interesting. Because of a few oft-quoted passages from Boswell's biography, Johnson appears to us as an eccentric bear, who amuses us by his growlings and clumsy antics. But there is another Johnson, a brave, patient, kindly, religious soul, who, as Goldsmith said, had "nothing of the bear but his skin"; a man who battled like a hero against poverty and pain and melancholy and the awful fear of death, and who overcame them manfully. "That trouble passed away; so will this," sang the sorrowing Deor in the first old Anglo-Saxon lyric; and that expresses the great and suffering spirit of Johnson, who in the face of enormous obstacles never lost faith in God or in himself.

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In the self-appointed task of educating the public to an appreciation of the best in music, Mr. Theodore Thomas had a long and uphill struggle which would have broken a weaker man. During those days he once said to an intimate friend, says the New York Herald:

"I have gone without food longer than I should, I have walked when I could not afford to ride, I have even played when my hands were cold, but I shall succeed, for I shall never give up my belief that at last the people will come to me, and my concerts will be crowded. I have undying faith in the latent musical appreciation of the American public." (Text.)

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One day, at a little prayer-meeting, our deacon, Yi Chun Ho, startled the Koreans, as well as the missionary, by the suggestion that the natives should put up the new church without foreign aid. I at once said: "You have raised twenty yen, and believed that you had done all you could; it will take almost one thousand yen to put up the church. Can you do it?" I felt strongly rebuked by his quiet reply: "We ask such questions as 'Can you do it?' about men's work, but not about God's work."—, "The Miracles of Missions."

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See ; ;.

FAITH, A CHILD'S

A child's faith and good will are manifested in connection with his idea of a personal, intelligent power in the world. In the latter part of his fourth year, a little boy was awakened one night by a violent thunder-storm.