Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-13
Saint John Said Every Man That
Hath 1t Purifeth Himself.
RIGHT LIVING is THE PROOF OF 1T.
Men Who Trust to Luck for an Opportunity
to Amend Life Later.
SALVATION MUST BEGIN AT ONCE
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.I

S'Si, anu sO WAS DeSL aOle W unucisSonu
Him. They were all remote enough from
adequate understanding of Christ, all the
twelve. Anybody who reads the gospels
with any attention can see that; but the
apostle John, whom they spoke of as "the
disciple whom Jesus loved" had the clear
est vision in that dim-sighted company.
AS we are, we see, John was an evidence
OF that. His singularly gentle, pure and
loving nature, with no lack of strength and
nre about it either, gave him an appre-
citation and an understanding which none
of the others had.
In his first epistle this apostle wrote as
follows: "Beloved now are we, the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be; but we know that when He shall ap-
pear we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is. And every man that
hath this hope in him purifeth himself,
even as He Is pure"
The ground OF hope is the assurance of the
fatherhood of God. The object of hope is
the vision of Christ at His appearing, when
we shall not only see Him, but shall be our
selves trans ormed into His likeness when
we see Him as He is. What 1 have to say
to-day is about the effect, the influence, the
helptulness of hope. That is the subject
The Helpiulness of Hope"
IT MUST BE IN HIM.
Every man.'tha hath this hope in him
In his heart, not merely In his Bible or his
prayer book, not only upon his tongue as he
recites the creed, nor in his mind only, as
an unconsldered matter which his fathers
have told him and which his brethren con-
fess, but which is not really his because it is
not part of him, is not Gin" him. Every
man that hath this hope and blessed assur-
ance in him does something-cannot refrain
from doing something-"purifes himself
and this not after low standard which he
sets up for himself, not after the worlds
standard only, is not content to purify him
self even as his neighbors are pure, but even
as "He," the divine and sinless Lord and
Savior, the ideal of ideals-even as He is
pure.
That is the ideal which Christian hope
sets. George Herbert reminds us that he
who aims at the moon shoots higher than he
who sights a tree. And Emerson talks
about the wisdom Of a mans hitching his
wagon to star. But all the aspirations
and all the high ideals Of all literature and
all time are summed up here in five words
which iRclude and 60 beyond them all
"even as He is pure" And we are told
that the inspiration to further this ideal is
hope. Look ahead beyond to-day, to-mor-
row, beyond Ii e, beyond death, to the cees.
tial country, to the life everlasting. All is
yours-this Is st. Johns message. You are
the child Of God, yours the heavenly In
heritaDce, yours the mansion prepared,
yours the Joy beyond words, beyond concep-
tion, Of the vision and the presence of God.
All is yours. You have but to follow the
guide; you have but to keep In the way, you
have but to bear the cross as He who has
gone along before as bore 1t; you have but
to purify yourself
NO FEAR OR THREATENINo..
Ours is the religion oi hope and Of love,
not OF fear and OF threatenings. God does
not cry out, as men have falsely reported
Him: "Here Is the strait aud narrow way,
II you vary from 1t to right or lett, will
punish you; II you turn back and walk no
longer In II, will destroy you forever and
forever In the unquenchable burnings Of the
pit" No; thousand times mol beloved,
we are the sons Of God"-not the slaves. not
the enemies, not the hated and despised Of
God, who must struggle YEARLY up toward
the CLEAN OF the sunshine OF His face, fear
ing lest He repel aud thrust US back. We
are the sons God.
God, our loving Father, In His infinite
kindness and compassion, in His tender
mercy, calls US, invites, urges US, holds out
the hand of hope TO us, helps us Us much as
we will let Him; desires that each one of
US may be saved; has made ready III heaven
place Gor every one 0 US; has prepared hell
only for the devil and his angels; has given
us our free choice between the two; leaves
it in our own power whether we will obey
God or the devil; even allows us-so abso-
lutte is His gilt o perfect freedom OF will to
II ALA g.
life in making ourselves unfit for His pres
ence, but in His great love and longing for
our love, holds out this blessed hope, that
we may be induced to prepare ourselves for
the place prepared for us, that we may be
led to purify ourselves that we may enter in
where only the pure may dwell.
GOOD LIVING AS PROOF.
He that hath this hope in him purifeth
himself This hope, this worthy and true
hope. So that as hope is the inspiration to
good being, good being is the proof and the
test OF hope. Whoever has this hope in
him is daily purifying himself, daily fight
ing down all that is unworthy in him, and
gaining little ground at least toward some
likeness to the great ideal. Whoever is not
so purifying himself, but is rather content
to lead a careless, easy lie, in which re-
ligion has no great part; or while protesting
a regard for religion and being mum bered- |
so far as the register OF names goes-among
the declared followers of Christ, is SO acting |
or so speaking, SO dealing with his fellow |
men, as to be unworthy ol the ideal which |
he claims to set before him; he who SO sets |
his practice to contradict his profession is |
upon some other hope than this |
which st. John speaks Of; it is not "tbls |
hope" but some deceptive and misleading
hope. For whosoever hath this hope" in |
him purifeth himself.
That is a deceptive and misleading hone
which permits man TO postpone amend
lnent his life, under the persuasion that
Everything will come out all right some-
how Ia the end" There IL hope, under
whose oounseling one may understand all
that the Christian revelation has to say about |
The certainty o Judgment. and the insvita-
bility OF consequences and the absolute de. |
psndsnee Of the next II upon this, and yet
10 Oh living eafelessly and lightly. "Beme
liHe will repent" such one says, "seme |
time will amend my life, some time | try |,
b little better 10 be genuine Christian, but
not new"
DON'T WAIT ron THE SOME TIME,
"seme time"=whe knows that he will |
ever have any some timer In this brief life, |
when the unexpected ID almost always the |
thing which happens, when the future IL 40
evidently uncertain, who can wisely walt
Tor any Some time7"
That, again, Isl deceptive and mislead.
Ing hope which whispers that without
effort, without any real endeavor against
sin and towards Righteousness, one mny be
sayed-to be sayed-what IL "? II IL 10 be
able 10 appreciate spiritual and divine
things, 70 eDJoy that which b best, 10 have .
home feeling In heaven, IL IL that eondi-
tlon OF the understanding, and the Judg-
meht and the will which can alone make
heaven toleTable. Heaven, whatever else
u 10, 10 n state of mind. And the "un-
saved" man though he be set down before
lhe very throne OF God, In the midst Of oil
nc glerles ineoneeivable which assist the
blessed, such q man would be In hsll. Does
. reprobate Ieel at homo ~ prayer meet
ingY Does On irrsliFious person enJoy the
services Of the church? Multiply that dis
TASTE And discomfort By . hundred millions.