The Portland daily press., 1874-07-27
SUNDAY SERVICES.

| SECOND PARISH CHURCH.
Rev. DIR. Carruthers preached yesterday upon
"Christian Hope taking for his text Rom.
WIN, "a: 1--WE are saved by hope; but hope that
Is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth why
doth be yet hope for?'
When Alexander the Great, after manv
munifcent largesse was asked by one of his
obsequious courtiers what would be left to
himself he answered-Hope. AS an unscrupu-
lous and ambitious man, he would repair his
resources by future conquests and could there
fore be thus liberal in his donations. Few in
deed have in any sense been so impoverished
as not to foresee in the future something to
compensate for the losses of the past and
present. slope springs immortal in the hu-
man breast" 1t survives thousand forms of
disaster 1t whispers consolation to such as
are most deeply sunk in distress and bordering
even on despair. 1t is merciful provision of
divine benevol ence, that the star of hope
CLEANS through the darkest sky, and that
hopelessness is the very rarest condition of hu
mainly.
Hope is the expectation of some future good.
But "who knoweth what is good for man, all
the days of his vain life which he spendeth as
shadow?' He is deceived by false appear
ances. Future difficulties are hidden from his
view slope tells fattering tale' and
spreads out pictures of the future which speed
lily dissolve but are succeeded by others equally
fallacious and fleeing; Yet the advantages of
all human labor. 1t aleviates all human
sufferings 1t brings all human faculties into
active exercise. 1t moves the entire mechan-
ism of human society: Its extinction would
arrest every industrial pursuit, loosen every
.igameut that holds men together in com
munity, and convert the world into the prison
of despair. The value and advantage of hope
in general are beyond all calculation.
But if so, what imagination can conceive, or
tongue describe the worth and practical utility
of the hope of the Christian? In ITSELF it is the
same emotion as that which glows in the bosom
of the unregenerated and ungodly-but it is
sanctifed, it is sublimat,d 1t rests on the
surest of all foundations. 1t is directed to the
noblest purest, and most permanent of objects.
1t stimulates to holy activity. 1t stays the
mind in the toughest storms of adversely. 1t
surmounts the most formidable difficulties 1t
speaks OF safety in the midst Of danger-of
comfort amidst correding cares-of joy and sat-
isfaction under wasting disease, and in the ex-
tremity of death.
Our subject, then, is Christian hope properly
so called-the hope which the Christian, as
such, Is authorized to entertain and cherish, the
Influence it exerts on the activities, enjoyments,
and endurances of the present life,-and its
happy issues in the life that is to come. do
not speak of that hope which dawns upon the
mind when the tidings of salvation, hitherto
unknown or neglected, are heard as direct
communication from God to the individual soul;
when faith lays hold on etc rnal life," as Pur-
chased by Christs obedience unto death, and
when forgiveness of sin-the first of long, in
terminable series of spiritual blessngs-be-
comes conscious personal possession. That
hope had been already realized by Paul and
those to whom he wrote. They were already
saved. An enlightened faith had struck its
roots deep into the. moral soil, and 1.-THE first
fruits OF the spirit gave evidence of its in
cipient growth. This period of their spiritual
history was past. Hope had merged into
fruislon-expectation into enjoyment. They
did not expect to be saved They aoere saved.
The day of grace had dawned The seal of
adoption had been placed upon them. They
knew in whom they trusted and to whom they
bad committed the precious deposit of the soul.
The good part-the one thing needful-the
pearl OF great price, was already theirs. This
was not matter OF expectation but of actual
attainment.
Yet this attainment was preparatory to 9TH
ers in the nearer or more distant future. There
was much of necessary, desirable and expected
good in earth and in heaven. For themselves,
for many near and dear to them by the ties of
kindred, friendship and acquaintance, for the
church of God, and for the world at large, there
was much to be expected, desired. and sought
py earnest, persevering prayer and the assidu-
Gus use OF available and appointed MEANS
The groundwork of Christian hope lies in
the faithful promises of God, and these cover
all possible conditions, occasions and emergen-
cies of the Christian life. Thus might
we survey the entire field of promise and find
everywhere the flowers that decorate the path
of Christian bope, the fruits of paradise on
which she feeds, and the perfume thrown by
these into the atmosphere she breathes The
good soldier of Jesus Christ has "for helmet
the hope of salvation" The Christian voyager
across life's ocean has this as ''the anchor of
the soul" Christian hope, as regards all per-
sonal expectation, has no higher aim than to
be free from sin, to be with Christ, and to dwell
In the house OF the Lord forever
No sooner, however, is the soul consciously
saved by grace through faith in the Redeemer,
than 1t desires and seeks for others an interest
In the great salvation, Christian hope breathes
IN the intercessions of the closet, in the entrea-
ties OF the domestic altar, in the calculations
unheard by all put God, that rise from the
bosom of the believing parent, the redeemed
brother or sister, the. Christ-loving child.
Christian hope delights in the reiteration of the
prayer THY kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on earth as 1t is done in heaven" 1t comforts
and sustains and animates the earnest Chris
tian, the faithful minister, the devoted mission
airy.
The preacher concluded by urgently entreat-
ing bis bearers to seek, through faith in Christ
the forgiveness of sin and the inheritance of
heaven, reminding them that "every man that
hath this hope in him, purifeth himself even
as Christ is pure"