Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/320

 XJ04 ESSAYS AND LETTERS

they imagine they have faith. Faith according to that ■definition is ' the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ^ (Heb. xi. 1). But — not to mention the fact that faith cannot be a 'substance/ since it is a mental condition and not an objective reality — faith is also not 'the evidence of things not seen/ for the ' evidence ' referred to in the Epistle, as the context shows, is simply credulity, and credulity and faith are two different things.*

Faith is neither hope nor credulity, but a special
 * state of the soul. Faith is man^s consciousness that

his position in the world is such as obliges him to do •certain things. Man acts in accord with his faith not because, as is said in our Russian Catechism, he believes in the unseen as in the seen, nor because he hopes to attain his expectation, but only because, having defined his position in the universe, he naturally acts according to that position. An agriculturist cultivates the land, and a navigator sets out to sea, not because, as the Catechism says, they believe in the unseen, or hope to receive a reward for their activity (such hope exists, but it is not what guides them), but because they consider that activity to be their calling. So also a religiously- believing man acts in a certain way, not because he believes in the unseen or expects a reward for his activity, but because, having understood his position in the universe, he naturally acts in accord with that position. If a man has decided that his position in society is that of a labourer, an artisan, an official, or a merchant, then he considers it necessary to work ; and

the author of the Epistle to the Hehretvs defines faith without indicating that it relates man to God rationally, and supplies guidanctfor conduct; while, in Tolstoy's apprehension, these are just the essential characteristics of faith, as of religion. The paragraph has been altered for the present edition because, as Tolstoy first wrote it, it was aimed chiefly against the Russian and Slavonic versions of Hebrews xi. 1, and was therefore perplexing to English readers. It has now been worded to fit the English authorized version, and can, ■ with equal ease, be worded to fit the Greek text.
 * What is fundamental in the above argument is, that