Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
EVERY one, who has ever heard so much as the very name of Christianity, knows how much the word Faith has to do with it: he may not know what it means, still less may he know all that it means; but still he knows that it has a great deal to do with religion, that a great deal of stress has been laid upon it, and a great deal said and written for and against it. He knows too that it is a word of which he does not hear much, except as connected with religion : that it is not like honesty, honour, courage, wisdom, kindness, cruelty, &c.; that is, a thing which is continually brought forward in common life, which all seem to understand, and all in word, at least, to value. He knows, in short, that it is something peculiar to religion, and in an especial manner peculiar to the religion of Christ.