The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-08-21
SUNDAY %ADMoNTTI0Ns.
The Blessings of Disappointment-Erring
Oollossians Called Back to the
True Hope.
PRESBYTERIAN U r

PRESBYTERIAN HURcH
"A good hope and a good ground for
it' was the topic OF yesterday mornings
sermon. The text chosen was Colossians
first chapter, last clause OF t~wenty-sev-
enth verse, Christ in you the hope OF
glory"
1t is said that In the Tamil language
there is no word for hope. Do we not
pity these poor people? But the Ameri-
can Bible society has translated the
scriptures into their language and now
the bright beams OF the blessed hope
that is in Christ's gospel shines upon
them. May they open their darkened
hearts to It's enlightening rays. Now
the Colossians were in danger of losing
their hope in Christ. The foundation OF
the faith of these Christians was being
undermined. Certain so-called philoso-
pliers had come among them teaching
the false and dangerous heresy that
Christ was not equal with God. They
taught that the Savior was not eternal,
that he had been created, that he was
not almighty, that he was merely one of
a number OF s~'eff1uences" or 'off shoots"
from God, in short these false teachers
tried to corrupt the Colossian Christians
by trying to make them believe that
Christ was rot God. This terror de-
manded st. Pauls attention and SO In
the gloom and confinement of his Roman
Jail he wrote these strong, cheering epis-
ties which have established the faith Of
millions of wavering, doubling minds in
the divinity and glory OF Jesus in his all
suffering to save to the very uttermost
all who cam unto God by Him.
Tell me that Christ is a created being.
a mere ''effluence" or s'off shoot" from
God and you at once lead me to believe
that there are other "efiuences" or "off.
shoots" from God. You thereby quench
my hope in Christ as the all-sufficient
Savior OF the world. For I want and |
need an all-suficient Savior or I need
and want none at all. No mere created
being can satisfy the deep necessities OF
mans sin-burdened soul. And this is
Pauls argument. So he writes to the
Colossians (chapter u that instead OF
Christ being himself created the fact is
that "by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible" land lie is before
all things and by Him all things con
sist."
Far too numerous to quote here are
the passages in st. Paul establishing the
divinity of Jesus Christ. On the basis
of that truth the Apostle proceeds to
teach that Christ in US is the hope oil
glory and if the hope then the only hope
/. This is a good hope In the truest,
highest sense. In this work-a-day world
we need the bright star of hope to cheer
us on. Coleridge says: "Work without
hope draws nectar in a sieve, and hope
without al object cannot live" What
we hope for should be (D worthy of III
ais men and as immortal beings anc
should therefore draw out the best anC
noblest things in us. A farmer comes
west, buys a farm, builds ana furnishes
a house, puts in a crop and sends for bis
family. His aim is to provide for him
self and his dear ones and surround
himself and them with all that will
make them comfortable and happy in
this world. That is a laudable desire
and a worthy hope 10 far a it goes
But it pursued alone it is "a dangerous
hope. Because that farmer and his
family are worthy of a higher, nobler
sweeter hope than even a competence
and the comforts Of life, AID IL they Sc,
their hearts on the latter exclnsivel,
they are in danger of losing what is fan
better and more enduring, viz: the hope
Of immortality, the hope of possessing 9
sshouse not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens" The hope of possessing
an inheritance unfading and imperisha
BILE.
But the higher blessing brings with il
the lower. And Jesus bids us therefore
"seek first the kingdom Of God and his
righteousness and all these things (tha1
ye need) shall be added unto you Matt
6:33). Besides CD our hopes should b
capable OF realization. We should no
indulge a hope in anything which W,
can never reach. Now we have the as
surance in Gods word over and Owe
again repeated and weaved into the yer.
fabric OF the bible that we look forward
to final victory over sin and death ant
to an eternal inheritance in heaven i
legitimate, right, and that such q hops
can be realized. The scriptures ar
radiant from Genesis to Revelation witt
the light of this blessed truth. And thi
leads us to examine, secondly
2. The good grounds for this goot
hope. The apostle @Christ il
you, the hope Of glory Here we ar