The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-12-04
DIR, TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The Power Of Hopc-No Better
Medicine Did Man Ever Take-For-
give the Repentant-The Perfect Life
to Come-Cultivate Hope.


give the Repentant-The Perfect Life
to Come-Cultivate Hope.
Copyright. loull
WASHINGTON, D. C.-In this discourse
DR.. Talmage would lift people out of de-
spondency and bring something of future
JOY into earthly depression. The text is
Hebrews vi, 10, (Which hope"
There is an Atlantic Ocean of depth
my text is taken, and | only wade into
the wave at the beach and take two
words. We have all favorte words ex-
pressive of delight or adherence, words
that easily find their way from brain
to lip, words that have in them mornings
and midnights, laughter and tears, thun-
derbolts and dewdrops. In all the lexi-
cons and vocabularies there are few words
that have for me the attractions Of the
last word of my text. (Which hope"
There have in the course of our life
been many good angels of God that have
looked over our shoulders, or met us on
the road, or chanted the darkness away,
or lifted the curtains, of the great future,
or pulled US back from the precipices,
or rolled down upon US the rapturous
music of the heavens, but there is one of
these angels that has done so much for us
that we wish throughout all time and
sternity to celebrate 1.-THE angel of Hope.
St. Paul makes it the center of a group
of three, saying, "Now abideth faith,
hope, charity" And, though he SAYS that
charity is the greatest Of the three, he
does not take one plume from the wing, or
one ray of luster from the brow, or one
aurora. from, the cheek, or one melody
from from the voice OF the angel OF my
text, (Which hope"
rrl.A ,,.o, n ,,roaf r;obf for our world
when in a Bethlehem caravansary the
Infant Royal was born. and that will
be a great night in the darkness Of your
soul when Christian hope is born. There
will be chanting in the skies and star
pointing to the Nativity. will not
bother you with the husk of a definition
and tell you what hope is. When we sit
down hungry at table, we do not want
an analytical discourse as to what bread
is. Hand it on; pass it round: give us a
slice of it. John speaks of hop. .o,, as a
hope" Paul styles it a "good hope," q
"sure hope" "rejoicing hope" And all
up and down the Bible it is spoken of as
an anchor, as harbor, as helmet, as a
door.
When we draw a check on bank, we
must have reference to the amount OF
money we have deposited, but Hope
makes draft on bank in which for her
benefit all heaven has been deposited.
Hope! May it light up every dungeon,
stand by every sickbed, lend a helping
hand to every orphanage, loosen every
chain, caress every forlorn. soul and
house into the vestibule of heaven! How
suggestive that mythology declares that
when all other deities fled the goddess
of Hone remained
It was hope that revived John Knox
when on shipboard near the coast OF
Scotland he was fearfully i'll, and he was
requested to look shoreward and asked If
he knew the village near the coast, and he
answered.: IT know it well, for see the
steeple of that place where God first
opened my mouth in public to His, glory,
ever T now appear shall not depart this
life till I shall glorify His holy name in
the same place" His hope was rewarded,
and for twenty-five years more he
preached. That is the hope which sus.
tanned Mr.. Morrell of Norwich when de-:
parting this life at twenty.four years, OF
age he declared, ri should like to. under
stand the secrets of eternity before to-.
morrow morning." That was the kind OF
hope that the corporal had in the battle
when, after several standard bearers, had
q
and said, eff fall. tell my dear wife that
I die with a good hope in Christ and
that I am glad to give my life for my
country" That was the good hope that
DR.. Goodwin had in his last hour when
he said: "Ah, is this death? How have
I dreaded as an enemy this smiling
friend!"
No better medicine did man ever take
than hope. 1t is stimulant, ,febrifuge,
a tonic, a catholcon. Thousands of peo.
ple long ago departed this life would
have been living to-day but for the reason
they let hope slip their grasp. have
known people to live on hope after one
lung was gone and disease had seemed to
lay hold of every nerve and muscle and
artery and bone. .
Alexander the Great, starting for the
wars in Persia, divided his prop pcrty, among
the Macedonians. He gave, village, to
one, a port to another, field to another
and all his estate to his friends: Then
Perdiccas asked, "What have you kept for
YOURSELF" He answered triumphantly,
'Hope."
And, whatever else you and give away,
we must keep for ourselves hope,all com
forting, all cheering hope. In the heart
of every man, woman and child that hears
or reads this sermon may God implant this
prlnclple right now! =, - 1.
Many have full assurance that all is
heaven as if they had passed the pearly
panels of the gate, as though they were al
ready seated in the temple of God unroil-
ing the libretto Of the heavenly cnorister.
I Congratulate all such. l wish had it,
too-full. assurance-but with me it IS
hope. (Which hope" Sinful, it expects
forgiveness; troubled, it expects, relief:
bereft, it expects reunion; clear down, 1t
expects wings to lift; shipwrecked, it en-
poets lifeboat; bankrupt, it expects eter.
nal riches; prodigal it expects the wide
open door of the fathers farmhouse. 1t
does not wear itself out by. looking back
ward; it always looks forward. What IS
the use of giving so much time to the re-
hearsal of the past? Your mistakes are
not corrected by review. Your losses
cannot, by brooding over them, be turned
into gains. 1t is the future that has the
most for US, and hope cheers US on. we
have all committed blunoers, but does the
calling of the roll of them make them any
the less blunders? Look ahead in all mat
ters of usefulness. However, much, YOU
may have accomplished for God and the
worlds betterment your greatest useful
"my "nsS is money nj eiI is gone" NO, says some
one, "the most Of my years are gone and
therefore my usefulness" Why, you talk
like an infdel. Do you suppose that all
your capacity to do good is fenced in by
this life? Are you going to. be lou1Ser
and do nothing after you have quit this
world?
It is my business to tell you that your
faculties are to be enlarged and intensified
and your qualifications for usefulness mul-
tiplied tenfold, hundredfold, thousand
fod.
Is your health gone? Then that is.
sign that you are to enjoy a celestial
health compared with which the most lo-
cund and hilarious vitality of earth is in
validism. Are your fortunes spent: Re
member, you are to be kings and queens