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I. YOU WILL OBSERVE THE EXPRESSION, "If thou canst believe!" — not, if thou dost believe; — "If thou canst believe." Cannot, then, everyone believe? Is or is not a man responsible for the character of his faith, and its degree? I want to examine that a little carefully. I lay down two broad first principles. Every man — at least, every man who has not, by his own wilfulness, destroyed it — every man who has not made himself lower than a man, and so lost the position of our common humanity — every man has some faith. And secondly, every man who uses the faith he has, will increase its power, and acquire more. If you deny either of those two premises, I do not see how a man can be brought in accountable for his faith. But admit them, and observe what follows. Can everyone, at every moment, believe everything which he ought to believe? I think not; I think not at any moment. But then, had that man lived altogether as he ought to have lived, then he would, at that moment, have been able to believe a great deal more than he can believe now. The faith would have been in a stronger and clearer exercise. Probably, he would have been able to believe everything which at that particular time he was called upon to believe. And now, if that man will be true to his convictions, his faith will be sure to rise up to the level of believing what at that time he is unable to believe. For faith is progressive: faith must go to school, as patience must, or holiness must. Our Lord's words imply attainment — the difficulty of the attainment — and they sympathize with the difficulty of the attainment. But the power of believing is a moral thing, which a man holds in his own hands. We all know indeed, that there cannot be a believing thought, nor one true conception, or any spiritual thing, without the inworking of the Holy Ghost. But then, the Holy Ghost is always inworking. All that is contingent is our reception of the Holy Ghost.

II. THE OUTSIDE BOUNDARY LINE OF THE PROVINCE OF FAITH, PROPERLY SO CALLED, IS PROMISES. Faith is laying hold: I do not say of what God is, for God may be and is much which we cannot understand enough even to believe — but it is laying hold of what God has covenanted Himself to us — what God is to His people. The promises are what God is to His Church — therefore faith confines itself to promises.

III. I must not, and I need not, stop now, to show THAT WITHIN THAT CIRCUMFERENCE, THE RANGE OF GOD'S UNDERTAKINGS FOR US, IS LEFT ENOUGH, BECAUSE IT IS LEFT STILL INFINITE. But how to get this faith? "What is the road to it? First, be sure that you are living a good, moral life. Secondly, do God's will, whatever, in your conscience, you feel God's will is. Thirdly, cherish convictions, and obey the "still small voices." Fourth, act out the faith you have, and let it be a constant prayer, "More faith, Lord; more faith." Fifth, go up and down among the promises, and be conversant with the character and the attributes of God. Sixth, wrestle with some one promise in spirit every day, till you get it. Seventh, take large, loving views of Jesus, make experiments of His love, — and always sit and wait, with an open heart, to take in all that He most assuredly waits to give.

(J. Vaughan, M. A.)

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KJV: Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

WEB: Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."