Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-03-13
zHHp'1 1y.a.
PulpiU
INSPIRATION OF HOPE.
0A "|-"
By Rev. Guy A. Jameson.

a IACJOlClUS III hOpS'T ..-
This is but one link in a chain OIL
tersely put elements that go into the
making Of Christian character. But
without this one link, that ST. Paul mas
II the very heart of the chain, tne
strength of the chain, whatever the
beauty and " of the other links,
will be a rope of sand.
When the soul has no longer the pow
err to hope, no matter h the dErk-
ness of the passing hour, it has lost the
divine spark that makes life worth
while. AS long as the soul has nope IL
has courage, it has faith, 1t has life
and it will fight and struggle and re-
fuse to know defeat.
Hope ~engenders all the qualities OF
strength is the very foundation OF
them. It gives joy and sunshine to
life, to work, to every aspiration. we
can rejoice in hope, but without 1t we
can only wall and mourn. Out of hope
grows patience and endurance, II
these virtues are twins. Patience to
endure; endure because we are patient,
and both because we have hOpe-be-
cause we can look beyond the moment
and see the flush of sunrise on b dis
tant horizon.
Hope enables a man to keep a cool
head, a dumb tongue, a sweet temper
under the most trying circumstances,
because he can rejoice in hope in the
knowledge that nothing lasts forever,
that perhaps the next turn of the wheel
of fortune may lift him to the coveted
height and if it doesn't because of his
hope he Ices not despair, but silently
works and struggles On.
But let the a lose hope, let the
divine spark die in his bosom and set
him down amid all that perplexes, an
noys, condemns and hinders and you
make Of him a weakling OF. a mailman.
But all these are insignificant things
when the soul that hopes compares
them with the victories and achieve
ments he believes await him in the fu-
ture and he finds strength to master
the spirit of resentment, anger and de-
spair.
1t was a hope of this kind that en-
abled st. Paul to say Our light attic
tons, which are but for a moment,
worketh for US a far more exceeding
and eternal weight Of glory"
So hope not only works in us the
power to endure present struggles and
h%ardships but it gives US the oppor-
tunity to develop the strength through
which we are to overcome in the end.
Find the strongest and most firmly
rooted oak Of a forest and you will find
one that has best combatted the fury
Of a thousand storms. Go find a man
who stands high among his fellows and
you will find a man who has passed
through some of the hard places Of life,
who has suffered and fought, but be-
cause of his hope and the vision 1t in
splred has overcome and won. He re-
joiced in hope. Go find the saint, the
beautiful poised Christian character,
who breathes the spirit of the Christ,
who is touched with sympathy and
loves everything that is weak and help
less, everything that struggles and suf-
fers, and you will find a soul that has
passed through the fire, a soul that has
1lcL IculpldlIOu III HAS lOuSuC ; duu
fallen and got up and struggled on till
with the fighting there has come
strength and understanding and the
spirit that in the end has conquered,
rejoicing in the hope, rejoicing in the
victory seen from afar.
We must not despair ; we cannot af-
ford to grow skeptical because the
Christ does not come in our w way
and in our day. But He is coming, He
is here, if the world will only look up
and behold Him. 1t is only by rejoic-
ing in hope that we will in a measure
attain. I know how disappointed we
are often with u lives, how some
times we almost despair Of ever max
ing Of them the beautiful thing we
would like to see them. but, rejoicing
in hope, in patience, WE must endure
till the Christ comes to us, till we come
to Christ. Hope will steady our lives,
fill them with visions Of attainment;
with inspiration hat will carry us to-
ward the heights and anchor our soul
to the eternal.