The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-11
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
THE POWER OF HOPE: INSPIR ALTON
IN CHARACTER AND CONDUCT.
BY the Late Randolph s. Foster. ID. D.,
LII. d., Bishop of Epis-
copal Church., Boston,, Mass.

wherefore, grid up the ioins or your
mind. be sober, and hope to the END Tor
the grace that is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus CErlsI relef'
l; IL. ,on ara
love, are the abiding graces. vital in their
influence upon character. The text sug-
gests the power of hope as an inspira-
ton in character and conduct.
First. look at the power of hope In
human character. What makes the Of
lerences between human beings and
beasts? Very largely. tb. presence OF
nope as a factor. in character. 1.-The foxes
nave holes and the birdc OF the air have
nests" They are satisfied with a hole In
the ground or a nest in the branches and
have no aspirations for al ything better.
Man is distinguished from the animals
by the fact that you cannot so easily sat
isfy Inn. In the remote ages he may
nave begun by living in a hole in the
ground or possibly lodging In the
branches; but as he becomes civilized the
hole is only good enough fol the cellar of
his palace and the branches furnish the
graceful arches which adcrn his home.
Something in man demands improve
ment. However degraded. he may rise
from his degradation Until he sits beside
a cnerub for intellect and a seraph for
love.
And as hope is one of the foremost ele-
ments and a necessary factor in human
character, distinguishing nan as man. CIV
ing him a higher rank than all the rest
of the animal creation, so it is in human
progress. Any conditions in human society
which tend to repress or suppress hope
are abnormal and unnatural. and hostile
60 mans welI-being. We glory in our Amer
lean civilization because, more than in any
ether country on the face Of the earth,
men may here rise. give scope to hope.
foster ambitions and aspirations. and en-
courage all rational expectations.
Garfield said that our American life diff
fcrs from European and Asiatic c~iviliza-
ton i'm this, that they, like the strata OF
the earth, lie in layers that are compare
lively fixed and impenetrable; whereas
American civilization is like the water OF
the seattle drop that touches the sandy
bottom to-day may sparkle from the crest
Of the topmost wave tomorrow. He who
Is to-day at the bottom or society may,
under the encouragement OF our republican
Institutions and freedom. rise until he oc-
cupies the highest position that the people
can bestow.
A PERPETUAL INCENTIVE.
Hope presents a perpetual incentive to
progress; not a win-o-the-wisp. beguiline
us into mire and marsh, but impelling US
continually onward to things higher and
better. The hopes Of boyhood do not salts
fly manhood. and the hopes even of man
rood do not satisfy maturer years: and 50
that which once beckoned you forward, as
you reach up and move up toward 1t, keeps
still ahead Of you, and becomes . perpetual
inspiration. urging you ever onward and
upward. II hope could be quenched or
ment. II we could reach our own ideal,
further progress would be impossfble- So.
when Thorwaldsen, the great Danish
sculptor. perfected the last OF all his great