84] and the writer of this Epistle sounds quaint, if not
childish. They hid him because he was comely. Yet they hid him by faith.
The beauty of a sleeping babe was to them a revelation, as truly a
revelation as if they had heard the voice of the angel that spoke to
Manoah or to Zacharias. The _Scripture_ narrative contains no hint that
the child's beauty was miraculous, and, what is more to the purpose, we
are not told that God had given it as the token of His covenant. It is
an instance of faith making a sacrament of its own, and seeking in what
is natural its warrant for believing in the supernatural. Nothing is
easier, and perhaps nothing would be more rational, than to dismiss the
entire story with a contemptuous smile.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews must admit that Jochebed's
faith was unauthorised. But does not faith always begin in folly? Is it
not at first a blind instinct, fastening on what is nearest to hand? Has
not our belief in God sprung out of trust in human goodness or in
nature's loveliness? To many a father has not the birth of his
first-born been a revelation of Heaven? Is not such faith as Jochebed's
the true explanation of the instinctive rise and wonderful vitality of
infant baptism in the Christian Church? If Abraham's faith dared to look
for the city which hath the foundations when God had promised only the
wealth of a tented nomad, was not the mother of Moses justified, since
God had given her faith, in letting the heaven-born instinct entwine
with her earth-born love of her offspring? It grew with its growth, and
rejoiced with its joy; but it also endured and triumphed in its sore
distress, and justified its presence by saving the child. Faith is God's
gift, no less than the testimony which faith accepts. Sometimes the
faith is implanted when no fitting revelation is vouchsafed. But faith
will live on in the darkness, until the day dawn and the day-star arise
in the heart.

A wise teacher has warned us against phantom notions and bidden us
interpret rather than anticipate nature. But another great thinker
demonstrated that the clearest vision begins in mere groping.
Anticipations of God precede the interpretation of His message. The
immense space between instinct and genius is in religion traversed by
faith, which starts with _mera palpatio_, but at last attains to the
beatific vision of God.

2. Faith chooses the work of life. The Apostle has spoken of the faith
that induced the