II.
The Opekation of Christian Hope.
1. The Christian hope has a purifying power. — There are very few religions which have not made purifying of some kind a part of their duty. The very savage, when he enters (as he fancies) the presence of his God, will wash and adorn himself that he may be fit, poor creature, for meeting the paltry God which he has invented out of his own brain ; and he is right as far as he goes. The Englishman, when he dresses himself in his best to go to church, obeys the same reasonable instinct. Whatsoever we re- spect and admire we shall also try to copy, if it be only for a time. If we are going into the presence of a wiser man than ourselves, we shall surely recollect and summon up what little wisdom or knowledge we may have; if into the presence of a holier person, we shall try to call up in ourselves those better and more serious thoughts which we so often forget, that we may be, even for a few minutes, fit for that good company. And if we go into the presence of a purer person than ourselves, we shall surely (unless we be base and brutal) call up our purest and noblest thoughts, and try to purify ourselves, even as they are pure. It is true what poets have said again and again, that there are women whose mere presence, whose mere look, drives all bad
^ J. Flew, Studies in Brovming, 12G.
I JOHN III. 3 303
thoughts away — women before whom men dare no more speak, or act, or even think, basely, than they would dare before the angels of God.
^ It has been truly said that children cannot be brought up among beautiful pictures, even among any beautiful sights and sounds, without the very expression of their faces becoming more beautiful, purer, gentler, nobler ; so that in them are fulfilled the words of the great and holy Poet concerning the maiden brought up according to God, and the laws of God —
And she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face.
But if mere human beings can have this "personal influence," as it is called, over each others' characters, if even inanimate things, if they be beautiful, can have it — what must be the personal influence of our Lord Jesus Christ ? ^
^ From Bethel " Jacob went on his journey " (Gen. xxix. 1). He " lifted up his feet," as the livelier Hebrew has it. He went forward with a new buoyancy in his step and a higher courage in his heart. He was animated by the hope which always thrills the soul when it is fresh from real communion with God. There are spiritual experiences after which "we become physically nimble and lightsome ; we tread on air ; life is no longer irksome, and we think it will never be so." It is a rapture to face the unknown future, if God has promised to be with us and guide us. As the Hebrew prophet says : " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not be weary ; they shall walk, and not faint." ^
2. This hope will materially weaken our hold on this world. — What is wealth, when we have illimitable riches laid up in heaven ? What are pleasures, when we have before us endless joys — the most pure and intelligent that the wisdom and resources of God can create ? What are earthly attachments, when compared with the society of saints and angels, and, above all, the Lord Himself, which awaits the child of God ? What is knowledge — even the profoundest that earth's sages can fathom — compared
* C. Kingslej, All Saints' Day, 24.
* J. Strachan, Hebrew Ideals, ii. 49.
304 THE POWER OF THE CHRISTIAN HOPE
with that ocean of all that is knowable in the near future ? While it is certainly a gain to have a cupful of knowledge instead of a thimbleful, yet, in either case, it is a mere nothing in comparison with knowing fully, even as we have been known
fully.
Clearly, then, just in proportion to our having such bright hopes lighting up the gloomy recesses of our earthly lives shall we be able to sit loosely to the things of only passing interest, and set our affections on heavenly things. We shall use earth's mammon only as a handmaid to add lustre to the " everlasting habitations."
^ We cling too much to this world's affairs. Many of us are like the little boy of whom Mr. McNeill tells, who was one day playing with a vase, and who put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. The father failed to free his boy's hand, and was talking of breaking the vase. But he suggested another trial first. He told his boy to open his hand and hold his fingers straight out and then to pull his hand away. To his astonish- ment the little fellow said that he could not put his fingers out as his father had shown him, for if he did he would have to drop his penny. He had been holding on to a penny all the time.^