The Penn's Grove record., 1910-07-15
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. JOHN e. ADAMS.
Theme: Hope.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Sunday night
the Rev. John Erskine Adams, pas
tor of the Ross Street Presbyterian
Church, preached the second sermon
in a series of three on !. Corinthians
1918: NOW abideth Faith. Hope.
Love, these three, but the greatest of
these is Love" The subject last
night was Hope" Mr.. Adams said:
The mar who wrote these words
practiced what he preached. 1t was
he who said: Brethren, be We fol-
he pointed up the steep slopes of
duty he was ready to jump into the
lead and show the way. He was the
first to lay himself upon the altar
when he enjoined upon others the
duty of sacrifice. He never slum-
bered while others were on the
bridge; he never stopped to rest
while others were on the march.
Men had not only the enlightenment
of his counsel, they had the energy
of his conduct; not only the illum-
nation of exegesis, but the inspira-
ton of example. Great as was his
preaching, the practical illustration
In his own life of the things he urges
upon others is still greater. Unlike
the modern general who, from the
distance of miles, perhaps upon some
eminence. from which he surveys the
entire field of battle, mebilizes and
moves his men by semaphore, aide or
telephone: himself far removed from
danger of shrapnel or Mauser. Paul
never sounded the charge that he did
not plunge into the thickest of the
fight. Did he preach Christ as the
ultimate ideal and goal for which
men should strive? OF himself he
says: mot as though / had already
attained But one thing l
dol press toward the mark for the
prize"
We are not surprised, then, to
When he places it among the graces,
le does so because it had graced his
own life. He can urge upon others
the duty and privilege of optimism
because he knows what it is to glory
n his own infirmities, and count all
worldly losses as gains. He ever
walks with buoyant and springy
step. With him the shadows never
'engthen and the night never deep
Ems, it is always day. He walks in
The light; he is a child of light; he
-ejoices in tribulation, and through
is leaden skies the star of hope ever
shines.
Hope is defined as the desire of
tome good, accompanied with an ex-
)ectation of attaining it. or a belief
hat it is o~btainable. 1t is more than
IN emotion, therefore, or a wish. or a
iesire; it is a confidence, an expecta-
ion; it almost reaches the stage of
conviction. 1t is the philosophy of
optimism. and as such it abides and
deserves to abide. We are told that
travellers in the Alps. standing upon
he "middle ground" see, beneath
hem, the shadows and valleys and
iarkly flowing river, and above them
he snow-clad heights on which n
,un rests long after the valley be-
heath is in the grip of the night. At
me time, then, it is possible to look
Town into the shadows or up into the
sunshine. Pessimism is the philoso-
,hy of the downward look; hope lifts
is eyes unto the hills from whence
.ometh mans help; and believes that
The best and not the worst is yet to
.ome.
David vas an optimist. In the
-Torty-second Psalm he is facing a
.risis. He cannot stand upon middle
ground. He must either descend or
lscend; it is the abyss or the noun
ain top. And so, he lays hold upon
he one refuge from pessimism and
7esnair. and calls upon his soul to
lone. "Why art thou cast down. 0
nv soul? And why art thou dis
yuieted within me? Hope thou in
God, for I shall yet praise Him for
he health of His countenance."
Hope abides because it is the sur
,ival of the fttest. Dependency I'M
it's, humbles, dethrones. 1t saps the
,ery strength from manhood. Fran
,es H. Burnett in 1.-THE Shuttle"
gives us the picture of the English
ord. sitting hour after hour, hold
ng the wasted hand of n OF his
common laborers, who is stricken
With typhoid fever, and calling BACK
through the power of hope the lie
that had almost gone out in despair.
rhe great specialist, who has been
called in in the hour OF crisis, When
he faces of the watchers are pale,
and fear has frozen the very foun-
,ains Of life and energy, gives the
verdict of "Hope," and instantly the
body straightens, the back stiffens,
the blood courses through the veins.
Hone is energy. The provisions
have failed: the boat leaks, the seas
rise, strength is gene, and intoierable
thirst alone remains. But, upon the
horizon there rise the masts and then
the hull Of the liner. Hope at once
energies. With the vestige OF re-
naming strength, the distress signal
is hoisted, it is seen; it is answered.
he steamers course is changed, ana
rescue is at hand. Hope is the gran
ttic element of nature. OF Samuei
Adams, Bancroft says: %Diflcultles
could not discourage his decision, nor
dangers appall his fortitude. OF des-
pendency he knew nothing; trials
only nerved him for superior strug-
giles. His sublime and unfalter1ng
home had a cast of solemnity, and
was AS much a part of his nature as
If his confidence sprung from insight
into the divine DEGREES, and was as
Arm as a sincere Calvinists assur-
ance of his election"
Hope is life's song. Once Elijah
lost it, and life was paralyzed. Hav-
ing seen hope slip away from him, he
was ready to die. The wilderness is
about him and within him. The best
thing God can give him is the grave.
And this man is not a coward. He
has fought to death, on Carmel,
Baal's priests. He has WOE many
other battles, but now he is in the
grin of dependency, and his imper-
ial shirt is broken. But God calls
him up from the depths, and when
natures elementary forces, when fire
and wind and earthquake fail to
reuse his slumbering soul, the still.
small voice of God sings to him the
song of Hope, and the prophet is
strengthened.
The worst thing that has ever been
thought of hell is that in its fiery
dtpths all hope is abandoned: so
long as the man waits, through the
long hours, for the dawn, and so long
as he believes that the dawn Will
~ Ill a. ,,of roady for him the