Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-06

| into His image-this we hope for. To see
Him whom our soul loveth, to- behold Him
who for our sake, gave up His life. to hear
His gracious words, to be with Him, nay
more. 10 be like Him-what happiness un-
speakableI Here we see through glass
darkly; we seem to lose sight of that divine
face; the thick cloud Of our transgressions
hangs between us and Him; our prayers are
cold, our aspirations weak. even our filth
seems sometimes to fail, even our love grows
dim. even our hope is near to losing its
hold; we see Him far away, the sins, the
troubles. the distractions OF our earthly
lives between us and Him; but there We
we shall behold Him lace to face, we shall
look upon the King in His beauty, we shall
see Him ''as He is"
Here we are, oh, so sadly unlike Him, so
grievously unchristlike, stained and marred
with evil thoughts, full OF purposes half
ormed and rarely so much as half per-
formed, our ideals low enough, but our
lives tar below our ideals; here the struggle,
the grief of spiritual defeat, the pain OF con-
quest; here no peace, unless false peace,
which means surrender-no peace because
we are not what we would be; but there the
struggle ended, the battle finished, peace
won.
A PICTURE OF THE FUTURE.
We shall be like Him because we will
live every day, in that blessed life beyond.
within the radiance of His upli ting pres
ence. Somebody said to me the other day,
questioning about the future, that, in his
opinion, il all Pittsburg should be suddenly
taken up into heaven, heaven would be
very much like Pittsburg. Yes, if all the
temptation and the evil opportunity came
along with it. But suppose that all
Plttsburg is taken up into heaven and every
maj ar.d
hnitely closer than is recognized here, with
the hero OF heroes and the saint of saints,
comes really to know Christ. The railroads
are gone, the iron mills and the glass fac
tories are gone. all has passed away which
claimed so much of the time and thought OF
many men that they had no space for look
ing up into Gods sky, and every man,
woman and child in Pittsburg is in place
which is perfectly clean and perfectly gov
erned, where there is plenty of leisure for
thought and rest after weary days and
nights. and every body has chance.
Just imagine thatl Would it be the same
Pittsburg after all, up there? Why, an
hour in the company of one whom we recog-
nize as better than we are, uplitts everyone
OF US.
THE TRANSPORTATION.
And what will come anew into our imper-
ACSb auu lives hucu we budll see
Christ "as He Is?" Away pass all the
shadows which mistaken doctrines have cast
about Him, away fall the curtains behind
which skepticism and superstition alike
have hidden Him, and there is Christ, the
real, true Christ, just "ss He is" o course
we will grow ''like Him." Who could help
it?
See how in the heart Of that disciple
whose words we are studying hope has
changed into assurance. We do not read,
1--WE hope that when He shall appear we shall
be like Him, Tor we hope we shall see Him
as ne is." And yet in moment he calls
this hope-''every man that hath this
hope in him." But the word here is one OF
certainty-"We know" Even as ST. Paul
had said before, 81 know whom 1 have be-
lieved."
That is what we need, this translation of
hope into assurance. We need to put hope
into loves furnace, so that all dross being
purged out OF it, it may come forth bright
and clear to be named knowledge. We
want more and more of that spirit which
shall make Us able to say as we looK for
ward toward the celestial country, not 81
hope" but 81 know"
GEORGE HODGES.