Evidence of things unseen

1. Faith in general is defined by the apostle Ἔλεγχος πραγμάτων οὐ βλεπομένων An evidence, a divine evidence and conviction (the word means both) of things not seen: not visible, not perceivable either by sight, or by any other of the external senses. It implies both a supernatural evidence of God and of the things of God, a kind of spiritual light exhibited to the soul, and a supernatural sight or perception thereof: accordingly the scripture speaks of God’s giving sometimes light, sometimes a power of discerning it. So St. Paul. God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. And elsewhere the same apostle speaks, of the eyes of our understanding being opened. By this twofold operation of the Holy Spirit, having the eyes of our soul both opened and enlightened, we see the things which the natural eye hath not seen, neither the ear heard. We have a prospect of the invisible things of God: we see the spiritual world, which is all round about us, and yet no more discerned by our natural faculties, than if it had no being: and we see the eternal world, piercing through the veil which hangs between time and eternity. Clouds and darkness then rest upon it no more, but we already see the glory which shall be revealed.