The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-07-27
81 srd SERMON PREACHED
Atthe Funeral of David 8. Evans, M. d.,
: in the Universalist Church at Bos.
eHf ton, Suaday, July 11th, by 9a
SE s- Rev. H. f. Miller. @4s

/ in the Universalist Church at Bos.
IS ton, Suaday, July I1th, by ga
s. Rev. H. F. Miller. 1 se
"Whch hope we have as an anchor Of the soul
both sure and steadast and that which entereth in
to that within tie yeil.-Heb. vi, 49," = 7s
The question of his destiny has al
ways engaged the most serious atten-
ton of man, as he has seen his friends
falling around him like autumn leaves,
and felt the sands of time slipping from
under his sLfeet,he has been ever asking,
with the utmost solicitude, eff man
die. shall he live again ?" and the divin-
ity Of his own nature, his possibilities,
and his meagre attachments in this life ;
the innate conviction that he is capable Of
far greater and grander intellectual and
spiritual attainments than he is able to
make in the few years allotted him here,
have always suggested to him hereaf-
ter life. In the language of the poet,
"Man feels his immortality o'erleap all pains, and
groans, and griefs, and fears,
And peal like the elevated thunders of the deep into
his ears
oh, man! thou livest forever; and
one of the strongest proofs outside of
characterization, Of a future life, is the
truth that all men have believed in such
life. 9.as ~
"Lo, the poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in cloud and hears Him in the wind IS
Proud science never taught his soul to stray
Far as the lunar path Or milky way;
Of pla toh hiSh hov hofh Ton
Beyond the cloud capped hills some humber heav
Henceforth, God has, from time to
time from the beginning, revealed Him
self, His plans and His purposes to
man. He has revealed the doctrine of
life and Immortality for man has made
known His gracious purpose that, thro'
Saviour,
"Good should fall at last-far off-at last to all,
And every winter change to spring.
Away back, in the dawn of creation,
there cleaned through the shadows a
hope in the promise, The seed of the
woman shall bruise the serpents head
But we come down to Abraham, the
chosen of God, the father Of multitudes,
through whom God was to raise up u
peculiar people, and through whose
loins the NJ essiah should come to bless
all men and, here we find clearly sta
ted, the promise Of final good for all.
{ On this promise, as we shall see,
rests the christian hope spoken of in my
text; and this brings me to examine
the subject of hope. This is matter of
igreat Importance to us, as Paul says,
I'VE are saved by hope
Hope is compound idea, made up of
desire and expectation It differs
from wish or desire and expectation =
W e may desire or wish for thing that
we cannot expect. We may desire to
keep all our friends with US, but we can
not expect it, and hence do not hope for
it, q ~ ~ ii5z
On the other hand, we may expect
what we do not desire or wish. We may
expect death to enter our homes and
take our loved ones, but we do not de-
sire it, and hence do not hope for it.
y Expectation is founded on evidence
Hence, as hope is compounded of de-
sire and expectation, and expectation is
based on evidence, we can only hope
for what we have evidence to believe
will be. sz
We often hear minister Of the Par>
tialist faith say, at the funeral of one
who has died unprepared according to
his faith, .thatlie hopes it will be well
with the man or woman in the eternal
world. He does not hope for any such
result. In the benevolence of his heart
he may desire such an end, but he can
net hope for it, as he has no evidence
on which to base a hope. If he had,
that would make him Universalist,
and, with Paul, he might have hope.
The christian hope spoken of in my
text. is the hope of future immortal
good for ourselves and tb human fam
lily.
Z The promise to Abraham was, that in
his seed, 'all the nations, families and
kindreds of the earth should be blessed;'
and in my text this is referred to the
future life, which hope we have, and
which entereth into that within the veil;'
see also, Heb. xI $40
Hope being compounded of desire
and expectation, let us examine these
two elements of christian hope. As 70
the desire for future, immortal good
for ourselves and loved ones we ALI
have it to some extent at least by nature.
Each one Of US wants to live beyond
the grave Let u man bring himself to
believe what he may on this point, he is
still only satisfied when he fully believes
that eg 7ssT0 ~ II 46H.ar = 8 ..sseza3 :
'There is no sleep,
.,so And no grave so deep, ..s-. 5ss.sss
sa.z1sfag That can hold the human SOUL"
II ia only aiH7@9 81 st-.a