To them it is not a thing
incredible, that God should have come down and died upon the cross.
When they hear the good news of him who gave his own life for them,
it seems a natural thing to them, a reasonable thing: not of course
a thing which they could have expected; but yet not a thing to doubt
of or to be astonished at. For they know that God is love.
And now some of you may say, 'Then are we more blessed than Thomas?
We have not seen, and yet we have believed. We never doubted. We
never wanted any arguments, or learned books, or special inward
assurances. From the moment that we began to learn our catechisms
at school we believed it, of course, every word of it. Do we not
say the Creed every Sunday; I believe in--and so forth?' O my
friends, do you believe indeed? If you do, blessed are you. But
are you sure that you speak truth?
You may believe it. But do you believe in it? Have you faith in
it? Do you put your trust in it? Is your heart in it? Is it in
your heart? Do you love it, rejoice in it, delight to think over
it; to look forward to it, to make yourselves ready and fit for it.
Do you believe in it, in short, or do you only believe it, as you
believe that there is an Emperor of China, or that there is a
country called America, or any other matter with which you have
nothing to do, for which you care nothing, and which would make no
difference at all to you, if you found out to-morrow that it was not
so.
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