Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-26
HOPE CONSIDERED AS
ANCHOR OF THE SOUL

DR.. Charles Edward Locke preached
yesterday at the First Methodist church
on "The Bright Side of Things" His
text was Hope we have as an anchor
of the SOUL" Hebrews 6:19. DR.. Locke
said In part:
Faith. hope and charity, these three,
but the greatest of these is charity, be-
cause it adjusts us to our fellowmen IN
one vast brotherhood. Faith comes
first, because II relates us to our
Heavenly Father, and to seek first the
kingdom of God and his Righteousness
must take priority over all other duties
The second of this triumvirate OF
manly virtues is hope; it is subjective:
it has to do with the inner life of the
individual; 1t is a kind of storage bat
terry, Indispensable to the movements
and progress and happiness or man.
Paul uses another figure when he strik-
ingly refers to hope as an anchor OF the
soul, both sure and steadfast,' which.
in the wild storms on life's bollowy
sea, preserves our frail bafks from
destruction.
There is bright sire of things, and
1t is the factorship of hope to find the
bright side, to dwell among the bright
things, to preach the gospel of the
light, to rejoice evermore and to keep
this old earth ringing with gladdest
black night with it's blazing shafts, so
must hope run it's aisles of brightness
through all the gloom and despair of
life.
There is a bright side of things, but
it will not be found in the false, fash
ionable, fatalistic philosophy of Pope,
which teaches that whatever is, is
right and partial evil is the general
good and every creature is as happy
as is consistent with the happiness of
the whloe.' This Calvinistic philosophy.
with its inexorable predestination ex-
ploitations, was abandoned long ago as
utterly inconsistent with human voli-
tion and divine goodness.
Upward Tendency Manifest
but the bright side of things may
be logically predicated and established
upon a few simple principles of Chris
tian philosophy. God rules. Sometimes
in a mysterious way, his wonders to
perform, but
His purposes are ripening fast.
Unfolding every hour.
There is a distinct upward tendency
in the trend of human events. God has
been present at all of the pivotal points
in history, constraining, rebuking and
controlling. A careful study OF the
philosophy of history shows unmistak-
ably the influence of great presiding
power There is g. nlanirest surViVal OF
the fittest-all history sustains the
claim of Jesus Christ-'the meek shall
inherit the earth PauPs dictum, all
things work together for good has
been continually demonstrated In the
lives of those who fill the condition of
the promise, to them that love God
Love is obedience. obedience is order,
order is peace, and peace is happiness.
There is bright side of Mistakes.
Milton used to say, I care not how
many errors are loose in the world, so
long as truth Is left to run among
them John Browns error at Harper'S
Ferry helped a nation of patriots to find
out the true way. There is great cause
for anxiety and for awakening from
lethargy on account of the evils around
us, but there is really no ground for
pessimisn. A principle of Schopen-
hauer's pesslmistic philosophy is that
life is an evil'; she joins hands with the
Buddhist In welcoming death. Pes
simism and paganism are despair. but
Christianity is hope"