Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-04-13
Hope


more full, more expressive and more
abundant in commentator than upon
the subject of hope; and the apostle
Peter was so full of it and had so much
to saw about it that, Christian hopeful
ness is a grace of such transcendent
power and glory that, however much
J anybody may feel disposed to say. or
write about it, there is no danger OF its
becoming more commonplace and stale;
and neither is there any possibility OF
exhausting it's freshness or lessening its
power of inspiration. 'e
In their treatment, of the. subject the
apostles call particular attention to the
effects which hope produces upon the
life and spirituality of the outer and
inner man. This effect they uniformly
and unanimously. represent as being
two-fold: first, the effect which it pro-
duces upon the life and the spirituality
of both the inner and outer man. He
that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself even as He is pure;" and, sec
ond: '.But, if we hope for that we see
not. then do we with patience wait for
it." Thus showing the effect upon the
inward man to be that of purity, and
that upon the outward man to be the
cultivation of patience purity within
and patience without-the adornment
of the inward and the outward life with
the browning graces of the Spirit.
Christian hope is made up by the
combination of two of the strongest and
most intense emotions and powers OF
the human soul-desire for the thing
hoped for, and faith to believe in the
possibility of its attainment. We may
have desire for certain thing, and yet
l. &C. - LII Ion
attain to it. The result of this state of
things is constant unrest. vexation, wor-
iment, WEAKNESS, exhaustion, and, final
ly, despair, not unfrequently ending in
self-destruction; but that is never the
tendency of Christian hope, because, in
the formation of Christian hope, faith is
fundamental element, and, therefore,
we can see why religion is such an inf
mite and inestimable blessing to human
ity even in this life and this state of
moral consciousness. 1t produces rest,
repose, confidence, security, and lifts hui
mainly above the dropping and drivel-
ing and idiocy of despair, and sends
men out to engage in the conflicts and
struggles of life with the flush of hope,
of success, of victory already painted
on the face ere they have grappled and
engaged in the hand-to-hand work of
life in earnest. 1t mans them with con-
fidence to say at every step: II know
in whom I have believed and they
press forward with an assurance that
emo good thing will be withheld from
him that walketh uprightly,' and that.
''all things shall work together for good
to them that love God. had
Dependency and despair can no more
find place in such a life than midnight
can find place in the glory of midday.
Hope begotten in the human soul by the
divine power Of the almighty working
of the Holy Spirit and the inspired
Word, and embodying such elements as
the enkindled desires for holiness and
God-likeness, and the faith of diviner
life that comes by the hearing of the
Word of God, lifts humanity as high
above the murky atmosphere which
breeds dependency and despair as the
heavens are above the earth. The eagle
scars too high to inhale the malaria that
floats in the fogs that rise from and lay
along over the low marsh lands. and he
whose soul is buoyed up by Christian
hope, animated and inspired by faith in
the ultimatum of eternal righteousness
and truth, amounts up as eagles -
"runs without becoming weary and
.'walks without becoming faint
Baptist Weekly. s.fs.F- #sssfk*