is a higher faith than that. There is a better part. The
same part which Mary chose. The same faith of which our Lord says,--
'Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.' The
faith of the heart; the childlike, undoubting, ready, willing faith,
which welcomes the news of the Lord; which runs to meet it, and is
not astonished at it; and, if it ever doubts for a moment, only
doubts for very joy and delight; and feeling that the news of the
gospel is good news, cannot help feeling now and then that it is too
good news to be true; shewing its love and its faith in its very
hesitation. This is the childlike heart, whereof it is written,
'Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in
no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

The hearts of little children; the hearts which begin by faith and
love toward God himself; the hearts which know God; the hearts to
whom God has revealed himself, and taught them, they know not how,
that he is love. They are so sure of God's goodness, so sure of his
power, so sure of his love, his willingness to have mercy, and to
deliver poor creatures, that they find nothing strange, nothing
difficult, in the mysteries of faith. 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