The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-01-29
THE CHRISTIAN HOPE.
An Everlasting Consolation and Co
Hope Through Grace"

THE CHRISTIAN HOPE.
An "Everlasting Consolation and Good
Hope Through Grace"
1t is the characteristic of all hope that
it always looks beyond the present into
the future. In that future it sees some
good which it anticipates and desires,
and expects ultimately to attain. 1t is
hence complex state of mind, in part
made up of desire and in part made up
of expectation. What one hopes for he
desires and more or less expects to gain
at some future time. This is true of all
hope, no matter what may be its par
ticular object or what the reasons for
anticipating its attainment. Take away
either element and the exercise ceases
to be one of hope.
The two criteria Of good hope are
furnished by the character of the good
which is it's object and by the evidence
that authorizes and sustains the ex-
pectation of attaining that good. One
who anticipates for himself some i'm
! portant good in the future, without any
| just reasons therefor, certainly has not
good hope. He simply deceives him
SELF and is in fact the victim of his own
decisions. His hope is not good in its
basis or supporting evidence. And SO
one whose hopes relate exclusively to
the things of the present world, even if
he gains all that he hopes for, equally
deceives himself, since the things of
this world are but transient in their
character and must at last be of no value
whatever to him. Death is certain to
blast all such hopes, whether realized or
not.
What, then about the Christian hope?
Is that a good hope? Regarded simply
as an exercise of the mind, it does not
differ in it's nature from any other hope;
and yet, when contemplated in its OBJ
jectS and its reasons as set before us in
the Bible, it differs widely from all 9th
err hopes possible to man. 1t was to the
Christian that Paul referred when he
spoke to the Thessalonians of the good
hope through grace which God had Inn
parted to them, and when he exhorted
them to comfort their hearts in the light
Of this hope. I'll Thess. ii,l6,17) No man
ever better understood the doctrine of
hope in connection with Christianity
than Paul himself; and no one was ever
better illustration of its power as Q
living experience in the mind and heart.
He lived and died in the sweet luxury
of hope as Christian, and because he
was such. The Gospel which he preached
to others he also preached to himself
and accepted it for himself as the Cos
pei of hope.
This Gospel-in the "crown of right
eousness" which it promises to the Chris
tian, in the ''far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory" which it re-
veals and guarantees, and in the Sin
heritance incorr uptible, and indebted,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in
Heav en-" for all the spiritual children of
God gives the Christian something to
hope for and makes hope in relation to
its object the grandest form of the exer-
; else that can be conceived. Immortali-
ty in Heaven, with all it's purity and
blessedness, is the final object on which
the eye of Christian hope rests. No one
J familiar with the Bible can fail to see
that the Bible Heaven, to being capa-
BILE of having character, and capable
of happiness, is an indefinite desidera-
} tum. BE it true that the language OF
the Bible on this subject is for the most
part necessarily the language of figure;
yet let Il not be forgotten that God has
exhausted the power of such language in
giving us an impressive and soul-stirring
idea of the glory and blessedness of the
Heavenly life. N
So, also, this Gospel, in the foundation
of hope and the reason thereof, makes
the Christian hope good hope through
grace" 1t has its basis in the grace OF
God manifested in Jesus Christ, and the
finished work of Christ in behalf of all
who accept Him as their Saviour. 1t is
"a faithful saying and worthy OF all ac
ceptation, tl.atChrist Jesus came into the
world to save sinners" Il Tim. /, 49,
: He who makes his peace with God
: through Christ is sure of Heaven, and
he may hope for Heaven with absolute
!, assurance not on the basis of his owl
, merits but on the basis of Christ'
: merits, ana the grace which is Gods
good pleasure to bestow on sinners
through Christ. For God, says the
!, Apostle, hath not appointed us to wrath
= but to obtain salvation by our Lore
Jesus Christ, who died for us, that
whether we wake or sleep llive or diel
:, we should live together with Him..
q Thess. :. 9. 1O.) If we are in Chris
= as believers, and He is in us as ''tht
hope of glory" then we have the ''goot
hope through grace" to which Paul re
/. ferred. This "hope maketh not asham
: ed" 1t rests on the grace of God II
:. Christ, and this always secures saliva
:, ton and Heaven. The man who il
. united to Christ by faith has nothing Il
= fear. 1t is perfectly safe for him to di'
% and meet God in the spirit realm. ''Fo
if, when we were enemies" says Paul
we were reconciled to God by tn,
q death of His Son, much more, bein,
is reconciled. shall we be saved by Hi
e life" Rom. V, l0.) Being justified b,
h faith we have peace with God through
IS our Lord Jessls Christ" There is m
d condemnation TO them which are Il