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THE FAITH THAT OVERCOMETH.

A
SE EMO N
PEEACHED IN
*
THE PARISH CHURCH OF WIVENHOE,
ESSEX,
ON SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 1856.
BY R. H. BAYNES, B.A.
CUBATE OF CHEIST CHUKOH, SURREY.

PRINTED BY REQUEST.

LONDON,
T. HATCHARD, 187, PICCADILLY:
T. & G. SHRIMPTON, OXFORD.
1856.

1 John v. 4.
And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith.
The history of the first planting of the Church,
my brethren, as recorded by St. Luke, is most full
of interest and instruction. From the " upper
chamber" in Jerusalem the twelve Apostles, endued
with power from on high, went forth to proclaim
every where the healing message of Christ the
Lord. They were men of no note, as the world
counts greatness ; but three years since had they
left their old employments of sitting at the receipt
of custom, or of mending their nets by the sea of
Galilee. They had, .however, obeyed the call of
the Teacher sent from God, and had left all, and
followed Him.
For the short but eventful period of His earthly
mission had they been His constant attendants ;
they had listened to His words, Who spake as never
man spake; they had seen His mighty works as
He went about doing good. True, indeed, at the
hour of His bitter anguish and cruel mockery by
wicked men, their faith failed them, and they all
forsook Him and fled : yet, when the sacrifice of
Calvary had been offered, and when the Lord of
Life had passed through the grave and gate of death,
they saw Him again ; and their heart rejoiced, and
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their joy no man could take from them. He, their
Master and their Lord, breathed on them His own
benediction of peace; and bade them, when they
should have received the promise of the Father, go
forth to all nations, teaching and baptising them in
the Name of the all-sacred Three.
And soon was this promise abundantly fulfilled.
The Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the Teacher of
His Church, the Sanctifier of man in all His manifold
gifts of grace and of power, came mightily upon
them. The darkness that had so long lingered over
their spiritual vision was now removed ; the words
so full of meaning which Christ Jesus had spoken
to them were brought to their remembrance ; and
for the first time they realized in all its blessedness
the great truth, that it was no earthly kingdom He
had come to set up; no worldly glory He had
suffered to secure ; but that His death was to be
the means of everlasting life to all who should
believe; and that He was to reign in renewed and
redeemed souls, that should yield to His sway with
a glad and willing' obedience.
And full of holy earnestness, these twelve wit
nesses of the resurrection went forth to proclaim to
all men the good tidings of a Prince and a Saviour,
exalted to give remission of sins. To the self-
righteous Jews, who asked vainly for a sign ; to the
philosophic Greeks, who boasted of their knowledge ;
Christ crucified was the one great theme of their
teaching. The benefits of His cross and passion in
restoring us to that favour and love of God which

were lost in Eden ; in cleansing that nature which
sin had so defiled ; in opening the way for the guilty
and the outcast to return to God, and call upon Him
as their Father in heaven ; — these were the great
truths which formed the burden of their constant
ministry, and which they set forth amid the ceaseless
opposition and persecution of an ungodly world.
And the secret of their great success is brought
before us in the text I have read to you : they
endured as seeing Him who is invisible : they looked
beyond the passing present into that future which
abideth for ever ; and relying on His strength Who
is stronger than the strong man armed, they went
forth to the conflict ; and amid all danger and all
difficulty, their language was the same : " This is
the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith." And for us, too, my brethren, the secret of all
true strength in the Christian warfare is still the
same ; and these words apply to us as truly as they
did to the first witnesses for Christ. Our outward
circumstances are indeed far different from theirs :
no longer does the fierce storm of persecution rage
around ; no longer are we in the midst of idolatrous
rites and heathen shrines ; no longer in upper rooms
with closed doors, or in dens and caves of the earth,
are we compelled to worship Him Who is our
Redeemer and our Hope ; but because these things
are changed, are there no dangers left to fear 1 Has
the way that leadeth unto life become less strait
and narrow ? has the offence of the cross yet ceased ?

Nay, brethren, not so. If possible, our temptations
are more deep and strong, because less manifest;
the perils that beset our path are the more fatal,
because we too often perceive them not. The
world's opposition to the faith of the Gospel is as
strong as ever : the Christian man has still to endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ : the
enemies with whom he has still to contend are
subtle and powerful, and their name is Legion ; still
as ever must be the strife and the conflict even unto
death, before the crown of victory can be won.
Let us then trace these thoughts out somewhat
further ; and these words of St. John set before us
most plainly.
I. A foe to be vanquished : and,
II. The weapon whereby the victory is to be
secured. " This is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith."
The world then is an enemy which must be
overcome by all those who would enter into the
kingdom. What saith this same Apostle in another
place ? " Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him." What then
are we to understand by this phrase, " the world ?"
Not indeed that outward creation, the handiwork of
God, which is still fair and good, though thorns
have sprung up, and briers are found therein : but
the world of living men who inhabit it, on whom
the stain of guilt and of sin is so deeply marked.

• i

The evil nature, and the . hardened will, and the
corruption which has passed on all, have defaced
the image of God in which man was created, and
have turned away his allegiance from Him to the
god of this world, who leads men captive at his will.
When sin entered, what a great gulph was fixed
between the Father of spirits and the spirits He had
made! It transformed our earth which God had
declared very good, and had designed to be, as it
were, one great temple, in which His intelligent
creatures should ever celebrate His praise, into a field
of strife, where the great adversary should rest not,
going about seeking whom he might devour.
And so it comes to pass, that in Holy Scripture
by "the world" is to be understood all those sinful
influences, those snares and temptations, which
every where abound, and which draw off the heart
from God. Hence such exhortation as that of the
Apostle, " Be not conformed to the world ;" hence
the prayer of our blessed Lord for His disciples,
" I pray that Thou shouldest keep them from the
evil." And do we enquire in what special way the
world is to be regarded as the foe of every Christian
warrior ? First of all, in that it seeks by false pro
mises and delusive hopes to make us rest content in
its service, and so to neglect that higher service, in
which alone is life and peace.
We all know the deep yearning after happiness
that is planted in the heart ; from how many is the
cry continually ascending, ' Who will show us any

8
good ?' And, on the one hand, there is placed before
their choice a new and higher life in Christ the
Lord ; a life, it may be, of outward trials and inward
struggles, yet cheered by never-failing springs of
joy; and with the sure promise, when earth's light
afflictions are over, of a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. And, on the other hand,
there is the world with its false charms and unreal
joys, bidding us find in it the rest for which we long;
and our own evil hearts are too ready to catch at its
delusions, and to be taken in its snares. But how
unsatisfying, how empty, how fleeting are they all !
the cup of her pleasures is soon drunk to the dregs,
and then what remains ? Do we need an illus
tration of this ? We shall find it in the sad history
of the king of Israel, who left the fair promise of his
youth unfulfilled, and departed from the ways of the
Lord his God. He gathered around him in his
royal home every pleasure earth could give, and
made himself their willing captive ; and at the end of
all what was the mournful confession wrung from
his disappointed lips, but, ' Vanity of vanities,' saith
the preacher, ' all is vanity !'
And yet, O how ready are we to listen to the
world's charmed voice ! It comes to the young, and
sets before them promises of good which it can
never satisfy ; representing the service of God as a
dreary and unwelcome thing, fit it may be for
declining years, but altogether unsuited to the glad
ness and buoyancy of youth ; and so, with a lie in
its right hand, it does effectually turn many an

unwatchful soul from the only source of all true
blessedness, into the broader and more frequented
way that leadeth unto death !
And then again, the world is a foe to the Christian
man, inasmuch as it is to him a perpetual hin
drance in his onward course. The cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, are evermore entering
in to choke the good seed of the kingdom, and to
render it unfruitful. Here, at best, he who seeks to
follow his Lord most earnestly, is sanctified but in
part. Like the Psalmist of old, he is compelled
evermore to confess, " My soul cleaveth unto the
dust : quicken thou me according unto Thy word."
How do the manifold cares and exceeding anxieties
of this present world beset us in every step of our
journey ! When even we are in the house of our
God, in the still hour of holy communion with Him,
when we are bringing our sinful souls to be cleansed,
and our wearied hearts to be refreshed at the Foun
tain of all strength, how do earthly thoughts distract,
and rob us of the grace we need !
True, indeed, we are in the world, but we are
called not to be of it ; our high vocation is to be of
another spirit, and to be watchful, lest it overtake us
unawares, and find us sleeping.
The persecutions to which our blessed Lord
referred when He forewarned His disciples, " in the
world ye shall have tribulation," have indeed passed
away, and it plies us now with temptations of a
different kind; but never let us forget, that it is and
ever must be the constant enemy of all the faithful in

10
Christ Jesus. We cannot serve God and Mammon.
There can be no compromise between the two, for
they are most directly opposed. The world would
chain our thoughts and affections to lower things,
and make us altogether of the earth, earthy. God
calls us to set our hearts on things above, and to
rise with our risen Lord to heavenly places. The
world holds out present pleasures, fleeting and un
satisfying at the best ; God offers to us freely, fulness
of joy at His own right hand, and pleasures undefiled
that cannot fade away. The world has no hope to
give beyond this mortal life ; its choicest gifts, its
wealthiest possessions, must in the hour of death be
left behind, and the man that trusted in them pass
all unprepared into the very presence of the Judge
of all ! but the service of God is full of the promise
of immortality, giving us even here pledges and
foretastes of that everlasting blessedness which God
has prepared for all them that love Him.
Manifestly then, my brethren, is the world our
enemy, around our own path besetting us with its
alluring snares. Nor let us underrate its power.
For how many has it drawn into its ever-opened
net ! how many has it wounded who have listened
to its voice! But it may be overcome. The text
before us, which tells us of our danger, points us to
our remedy : while it reveals to us the foe, it sets
before us yet further,
II. The weapon whereby the victory may be gained.
" This is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith."

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And the Apostle who gave utterance to these
words knew full well their truth. When he wrote
them, he was drawing near the close of his earthly
life ; but he had lived to mark something of the
world's opposition to the faith of Christ. Many of
his fellow-labourers, those on whom their ascending
Lord had breathed the Holy Ghost, and gifted with
His high commission, had already yielded up their
lives, and passed through the fires of martyrdom to
their rest and their reward. He himself had been
called to know what persecution was, and the lone
isle of Patmos bore witness to his banishment for
the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus
Christ. And in the text he makes known to us the
strength which, amid all outward trial and worldly
scorn, worked mightily in them, and enabled them
to endure even unto the end. It was the shield of
faith that nerved them for the conflict, and made
them strong to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked. And now let us enquire for a moment into the
nature and character of this heavenly weapon, this
faith which overcometh. What then is faith ? We
are told by St. Paul, that it is "the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
In other words, it is the full and hearty belief of all
that God has told us in His word, and the carrying
it out in our daily lives; it is the unquestioning
repose of the soul's deepest trust in the promise and
the truth of Him, whose word standeth fast for ever ;
it is the constant habit of the renewed man ; it is the

12
gift of God. There is a lower sense indeed in which
faith is exercised by many in even their worldly call-
ings and pursuits. The husbandman, as the spring
time draws near, prepares the ground, and casts into
it the seed, in full assurance of a harvest it will yield
hereafter. The mariner commits himself and his
vessel to the trackless ocean, and, trusting to the
faithfulness of a balanced needle, seeks a country
which he has never seen, to deal with people of
whose existence his eyes have never certified him.
All that long and weary way, through clear and
stormy weather, by faith in his needle, by faith in
the changeful winds of Heaven and in what he has
been told, he pursues his voyage, and arrives at the
haven where he would be.
And just as the mariner, trusting to the evidence
of voices or of books, launches forth to unknown
shores, so in a deeper because a spiritual sense
does the Christian man listen to the voice from
Heaven, which tells of One who laid aside His glory,
and came into the world that the world might be
redeemed from sin, and that the sinful might be
brought back to God : of One who died for us, that
our evil affections might be nailed to His cross :
of One who rose from the dead, and entered into
glory, that we might rise to a holier life, and seek
a better country, even the heavenly.
And do we ask, how in all ages of the world this
mighty principle of faith has displayed itself? We
have only to take ourselves in thought to the palace
of a king, as it stood by the banks of the far-famed

13
Nile more than three thousand years ago. Brought
up amid its grandeur, learned in all the lore of the
Egyptians, surrounded by all that to the outward
eye could make life desirable and full of honour,
there dwelt within those royal precincts a Hebrew
youth, miraculously preserved from the cruel edict
of a godless monarch. But all the fair prospects
that lay before him he renounced. He obeyed
that secret call, which comes to every one of us, to
take up our cross, and live to God ; and of him the
record of Holy Scripture is this ; that " by faith
Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the
recompense of reward."
And pass a few centuries on in Jewish story. In
the plains of Dura a heathen king causes to be set
up a golden image, before which all the people are
bidden to fall down and worship. And this homage
is to be universal ; for should there be any who dare
to dispute the king's authority and to disobey his
command, their doom is fixed and certain ; for in
that same hour the burning fiery furnace, from which
there is no escape, awaits them. And there are at
least three noble hearts in that far-off heathendom,
who have learnt to obey God rather than man.
Three captives from the Judaean land, in whose
ears had often sounded the higher mandate of the

14
King of kings, ' Thou shalt not make to thyself
any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that
is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in
the water under the earth ; thou shalt not bow down
to them, nor worship them ; for I the Lord thy God
am a jealous God.' And although they know that
in disappointed rage the king may send and cause
the furnace to glow with a seven times more than
usual heat, yet strong in the faith of the delivering
power of God most High, no faltering language is
on their lips ; no indecision marks their course ; and
their only answer is, ' Be it known unto thee, O
king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
thy golden image which thou hast set up.' And
their faith rested on no insecure foundation ; to
them, as to Apostles, it was still the victory that
overcometh the world ; for they walked in the midst
of the fire unharmed, and not alone, for the Angel of
the Covenant was discerned amongst them ; and the
form of the fourth was like unto the Son of God.
And we might multiply instances, were there need
to do so. The eleventh chapter of St. Paul's Epistle
to the Hebrews is one great commemoration of those
in whom this divine principle of faith was specially
manifested; of those who through faith wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, and out of weakness
were made strong. And so it came to pass, that they
confessed that they were but strangers and pilgrims
on the earth ; they had not indeed received the
promises, but the eye of faith made clear to them
the glad realities of the coming time ; and having

15
seen them afar off, they were persuaded of them,
and all unmindful of the country from whence they
came out, they pressed ever onward to that city
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker
is God.
And for ourselves, my brethren, this great lesson
is just the same. Our own most urgent need is the
gift of faith, by which alone we shall be able to
overcome the foes that beset our way. And what
after all is the Gospel' we have received of the Lord,
but one great call to every man to believe on the
Son of God ? ' He that believeth and is baptized,
shall be saved,' are the solemn words of our Saviour
Christ. ' Repent ye, and believe the Gospel,' was the
message which He became incarnate to proclaim.
Nor let us forget, that this faith is no mere cold
assent to the truth of certain facts or doctrines, no
outward confession of the lip only. ' With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness.' It is the con
fiding trust of our spirits in Him who alone is able
to give them pardon and peace ; in short, it is the
reception and the realization in our inmost hearts of
that one blessed truth of which the Bible is so full,
that ' the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin.' And do we enquire how this faith
overcomes the world ? It takes from us the false ideas
we had formed of this life we are leading, and sets it
before us in all its awfulness, as well as in all its joy.
It bids us remember, that here we are passing through
a trial scene, through an enemy's country ; that here
is not our rest, because it is polluted. It teaches us

16
in its true proportion the value to be set on things
temporal, when weighed with those things that are
eternal. It transforms the afflictions and sorrows
of life from hard things, bitter to be borne, into
heavenly messengers, sent for our profiting, and to
refine us by their cleansing fires from the earthly
dross which clings so fastly to our souls. And as
we draw near the gates of the grave, it is this
divinest gift of faith which alone can minister a true
consolation, and take away the sting from the last
enemy that shall be destroyed ; nor does it forsake
us in the dark cold river of death, that rolls be
tween our earthly foot-tread and the heavenly land.
' Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of
death,' is the Christian man's exulting cry, ' I will
fear no evil, for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy
staff they comfort me.' And then only, when all
foes are for ever vanquished, and sin can no more
harass, and temptations no more annoy, then only
does faith grow dim, when in beatific vision it is lost
in sight, and the redeemed behold the King in His
beauty, and are for ever satisfied with awaking in
their Saviour's likeness !
And now, my brethren, let us seek to gather some
practical lessons from the subject on which we have
been dwelling. First of all we have found, that the
life of every Christian man must be one of conflict,
a strife in which the world must be overcome. Do
we then know any thing of this hidden warfare ?
Do we know what it is to renounce the world, to
crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts ?

17
When the world comes to us with its fairest
promises ; when our thoughts linger, it may be, on
its riches, its honours, its pleasures ; does the warn
ing voice of conscience bid us give heed how we
listen to the suggestions of the charmer 1 Brethren,
let us examine ourselves, and deal honestly with
ourselves. ' Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom, but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven.'
It is quite possible to have been born in a Christian
land, to have been baptized into Christ's visible
Church, to have grown up amid all holy associations,
and in the midst of every outward privilege, and
every hallowed rite, and yet after all to know
nothing really of that true life of the soul which is
hid with Christ in God.
And then, once more : of what kind is our faith ?
Doubtless, there is not one in this church to-day
but has joined with a willing response in the declara
tion of our ancient Creed, ' I believe in Jesus Christ
His Son, our Lord.' But is this more to us than a
simple declaration ? Is it the great reality, the
hope, the solace of our lives ? Is ours that true and
real faith which purifies the heart, and overcometh
the world 1 And this is a question with which each
one of us has most closely to do. It is not one we
may put aside, as though with it we had no concern;
for ' he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.' This is the
only refuge from the storm, the only hiding-place
from the tempest, which shall one day break on the

18
unsheltered heads of the despisers of the Son of
God! What the life-boat is to the shipwrecked
sailor, cast adrift on the ocean, and already sinking
beneath its foam, such is faith to all who are tossed
about amid the waves of this troublesome world.
What the escape is to the sleeping family in the
midnight time, when all unconsciously to them the
flames are gathering round them in their fiery rage,
such is faith to those who are slumbering in the
death-quiet of trespasses and sins ! yea, it is as the
ladder, seen of old by the Patriarch in vision, set
upon the earth, whose top reacheth unto the heaven,
whereby every sinful child of man may ascend, and
enter into the presence of his Redeemer and his
Lord. And then, lastly, the text is full of consolation to
all who are engaged with true earnestness of soul
in this Christian warfare. True, our enemies are
strong and manifold, they beset us on every hand,
they are restless in their endeavour to take from us
our weapons, and to gain an advantage over us.
But it is no mortal arm on which we lean for
strength ; and we may, if we will, put on the whole
armour of God, against which all the fiery darts of
the wicked shall be cast in vain. And the conflict
will soon be over, the journey in the wilderness soon
come to an end, and in that promised land to which
we haste, we shall find rest from our toil, and crowns
of triumph for the victory won. Let us not then be
discouraged by the dangers of the way, but seek to
follow the great Captain of our salvation, who Himself

19
has trod its every step, and vanquished its every foe.
Let the eye of our faith look onward to the end ;
let us think of the multitude whom no man can
number, before the throne, who were once as we are
now struggling against all the evils of this conflict-
scene, for the strength in which they overcame is
still freely given to all who seek it ; and these words
of St. John may in every age receive their full ac
complishment ; " and this is the victory that over-
cometh the world, even our faith."
Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Ghost, Three Persons and One God, be
rendered and ascribed, as is most justly due, all
might, majesty, and dominion, for ever and ever.
Amen.

BAXTEB, PRINTER, OXFORD.

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