Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
With me it has been 'friends ahead' for many a year." The
veteran pilgrim was getting nearer home. The sun of righteousness
flooded his western sky. At evening-time it was light.
Dr. Cuyler.
HOPE
431. It is well that hope is denied to none, for dull indeed
would the world be without it. Hope is animating—an incentive
to effort. God bestows this precious gift liberally to His
servants. Paul declares that "by hope were we saved" (Rom.
8:24), and writes of the duty of "patience of hope" (1 Thess.
1:3), "rejoicing in hope" (Heb. 3:6) and "abounding in hope"
(Rom. 15:13).
It is needful to test the reality of our hope. There is a
"scene in 'Don Quixote' in which the immortal knight put upon
himself a helmet made of pasteboard. That helmet being smitten
and pierced by a sword, he sewed it up again, and would not
part with it, but in his insanity wore it, and felt that he had an
all-sufficient helmet on his head. Are there not many Don
Quixotes among men, who put on armour that looks very well
till some sword or spear is thrust into it, but which then is
found to be like the pasteboard helmet that went to pieces the
moment it was touched?" Hope is "an anchor of the soul,
both sure and stedfast," and the question is
"Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?"
The supreme hope of the Christian is that of seeing Christ,
and being like Him. The church hopes for the Bridegroom's
coming. Many shattered hopes are but a part of life's experience,
but in this we shall not be disappointed. "And every one that
hath this hope set on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure"
(1 John 3:3).
432. Hope differs from faith, in that it looks only forward
to future objects. It looks not back, nor does it contemplate
the present : "for," says Paul, "what a man sees, why does he
yet hope for?" nor looks it on all the future; but only on future
good. It desires and expects good, and nothing else. There is
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