Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
image of hope, he would make it a high, light form with beaming
eyes and a crown upon its head, as a sign of power, which hope
exercises over the race of man. Where there is hope, there the
miseries of life can be overcome or carried: when hope is gone,
then life has lost its attractions. Therefore we are told, in the
deeply significant Greek fable, that when all the misfortunes
were scattered abroad among men, as a punishment of the gods,
men were permitted to retain hope. If this, too, had been taken,
then nothing would have been left except despair. James Paulli.
436. Many a time in "dark" hours—for sometimes there are
dark hours—the memory of this which some one else has written
has come to me, singing its song of a cheerful hope : "Here is
Cyrus Field conceiving the idea of binding the Atlantic with a
cord, of making that awful crystal dome a whispering gallery
between two worlds. In carrying out this idea the man has two
servants to help him, the Faith that it can be done, 2nd the 'Hope
that he shall do it. With these ideas he goes to work. Faith
steadies him; Hope inspires him. Faith works; Hope flies.
Faith deliberates ; Hope anticipates. Faith lets the cable go, and
it breaks and is lost ; 'Nay, not lost,' cries Hope, and fishes it
up again. Faith threw the cord; Hope caught it." W. Hoyt.
437. If we set our hopes on God, we can face very quietly
the darkness that lies ahead of us. Earthly hopes are only the
mirrors in which the past reflects itself, as in some great palace
you will find a lighted chamber, with a great sheet of glass at
each end, which perpetuates in shining rows the lights behind
the spectator. A curtain veils the future, and earthly hope can
only put a looking-glass in front of it that reflects what has
been. But the hope that is set on God draws back the curtain,
and lets us see enough of a fixed, eternal future to make our
lives bright and our hearts calm. The darkness remains ; what
of that if "I know I shall not drift beyond His love and care"?
Set your hopes on God, and they will not be ashamed. A. Maclaren.
438. At one time I was sorely vexed and tried by my own
sinfulness, by the wickedness of the world, and by the dangers
that beset the church. One morning I saw my wife dressed in
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