e sight was
perfect? It is not my taste, but it is what I taste, that satisfies
my appetite. So, dear friends, it is taking God at His Word that is
the means of our salvation. The truth cannot be made too simple.

There is a man living in the city of New York who has a home on the
Hudson River. His daughter and her family went to spend the winter
with him: and in the course of the season the scarlet fever broke
out. One little girl was put in quarantine, to be kept separate from
the rest. Every morning the old grandfather used to go and bid his
grandchild, "Goodbye," before going to his business. On one of these
occasions the little thing took the old man by the hand, and, leading
him to a corner of the room, without saying a word she pointed to the
floor where she had arranged some small crackers so they would spell
out, "Grandpa, I want a box of paints." He said nothing. On his
return home he hung up his overcoat and went to the room as usual:
when his little grandchild, without looking to see if her wish had
been complied with, took him into the same corner, where he saw
spelled out in the same way, "Grandpa, I thank you for the box of
paints." The old man would not have missed gratifying the child for
anything. That was faith.

Faith is taking God at His Word; and those people who want some token
are always getting into trouble. We want to come to this: God says
it--let us believe it.

But some say, Faith is the gift of God. So is the air; but you have
to breathe it. So is bread; but you have to eat it. So is water; but
you have to drink it. Some are wanting a miraculous kind of feeling.
That is not faith. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God" (Rom. x. 17). That is whence faith comes. It is not for me to
sit down and wait for faith to come stealing over me with a strange
sensation; but it is for me to take God at His Word. And you cannot
believe, unless you have something to believe. So take the Word as it
is written, and appropriate it, and lay hold of it.

In John vi. 47, 48 we read: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that Bread of life."
There is the bread right at hand. Partake of it. I might have
thousands of loaves within my home, and as many hungry men in
waiting. They might assent to the fact that the bread was there; but
unless they each took a loaf and commenced eating, their hunger would
not be satisfied. So Christ is the Bread of