Esperance

“ That expectation brings its own fulfilment, and is always God's way of preparing the path for His own large gifts, like the strange, indefinable attitude of expectation which we know filled the civilised world before the birth of Jesus Christ—like the breath of the morning that springs up before the sun rises, and says, 'The dawn; the dawn,' and dies away. The expectation is the precursor of the gift, and the prayer is the guarantee of the acceptance. ”

“ Believing reader, do you really mean to say that you have no desire to exchange hope for confidence, trust for persuasion, uncertainty for knowledge? Because weak faith will save you, will you therefore rest content with it? Because assurance is not essential to your entrance into heaven, will you therefore be satisfied without it upon earth? ”

“ Thou hast said, O my God, that those hoping in Thee shall never be confounded. I place all my confidence in Thy promises, and I hope that, having nourished myself with Thy body on earth, I shall have the happiness of seeing and possessing Thee eternally in heaven. ”

“ Faith draws back the curtain, and Hope gazes into the supernal abysses. My hope, if it be anything else than the veriest will-o'-the-wisp and delusion, is the answer of my heart to the revealed truth of God. ”

“ I confide in Thy promises, because Thou art faithful, powerful, and merciful, and hope, through the merits of Jesus Christ, for the pardon of my sins, final perseverance, and the everlasting glory of paradise. ”

“ Have faith in the Eternal who implanted those cravings in your nature; and remember that all knowledge rests on the assurance that the Eternal can not be false. Be loyal to the truth of that witness in your hearts, [Pg 292] and advancing years will only bring you increased reliance on the promises he ever whispers to those who trust him; and he will certainly lead you, at last—as he has led the faithful in all ages—into the clear light of the perfect day. ”

“ Trust in our own dreams of ambition, or in our country's expansive destinies, and faith in the providence of God, all have their source in that onrush of our sanguine impulses, and in that sense of the exceedingness of the possible over the real. ”

“ I trust indeed that the Lord will perfect what He hath begun in you the elect, and will grant unto you perseverance when you are tempted. For myself, likewise, I trust in the kindly goodness of our Saviour, although now I can say with the apostle, that to me to live is Christ and to die gain: and if to live in the flesh, this is to me the fruit of labour: and what I shall choose, I know not. ”

“ Is there any secret of strength and comfort by which we can with courage and hope encounter all the possibilities of the future? There is. Let us only trust God, and we need not fear anything, but welcome everything! ”

“ Those who expect a gracious reward for the labour of love must continue in it as long as they have ability and opportunity: You have ministered to the saints, and you do minister; and we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence. 3. Those who persevere in a diligent discharge of their duty shall attain to the full assurance of hope in the end. Observe, (1.) Full assurance is a higher degree of hope, is full assurance of hope; they differ not in nature, but only in degree. (2.) Full assurance is attainable by great diligence and perseverance to the end. ”

“ Wishing to hope without a hope, some fears
About my future worldly maintenance,
And, more than all, a strangeness in the mind,
A feeling that I was not for that hour,
Nor for that place. But wherefore be cast down?
For (not to speak of Reason and her pure
Reflective acts to fix the moral law
Deep in the conscience, nor of Christian Hope,
Bowing her head before her sister Faith
As one far mightier) , hither I had come,
Bear witness Truth, endowed with holy powers
And faculties, whether to work or feel. ”

“ Hope when regarded as objective, as the substance of our experience, is full of promise, on which the believer fixes his faith. Hope when regarded as subjective, as the possession of the soul, is full of inspiration, as it encourages and confirms belief that “He is faithful that promised.” Hope as an objective reality is fixed on Christ, and since God has a purpose in calling us, we can exercise hope. ”

“ I have not heard from other mortal lips—I do not hope to hear again—such an expression of humble hope and doubt, such a tone of complete abasement before the Divine Ideal, such a final triumphant note of praise in the far-off haven to which creation moves. ”

“ He will give them, not the expectations of their fears, nor the expectations of their fancies, but the expectations of their faith, the end which he has promised and which will turn for the best to them. ”

“ I have asked for a right spirit under a trial of a new character, for prosperity is a trial, and our Saviour has denounced a woe on us 'when all men speak well of us.' May it not then be in answer to this prayer that He shuts me up, to strengthen me against the temptations which the praises of the world present, and so, by meditation on his dealings with me and reviewing the way in which He has led me, showing me my perfect helplessness without Him, He is preparing to bless me with stronger faith and more unreserved faith in Him? ”

“ For that piety which has humanity for its object—must not that heart feel most of which tenderness has become the element? Must not the spirit which is most exercised in hope and fear be most familiar with hope and fear wherever found? ”

“ No, we are not ashamed, for we all know why we hope. You can and will, all of you, from the least of you to the greatest, old or young, when inquired of for the reason of your hope, open your Bibles and with meekness and fear show the inquirer why you hope in the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. You need not in a single instance refer the inquirer to your minister to give the reason of your faith and hope. ”

“ We must be followers of those “who through faith and patience inherit the promises”—the faith that accepts the promise, and knows it has what it has asked—the patience that obtains the promise and inherits the blessing. ”

“ What is the perfection of hope? Two qualities, certainty and continuity. Certainty; the definition of earthly hope is an anticipation of good less than certain, and so, in all the operations of this great faculty, which are limited within the range of earth, you get blended as an indistinguishable throng, 'hopes and fears that kindle hope,' and that too often kill it. But the Christian has a certain anticipation of certain good, and to him memory may be no more fixed than hope, and the past no more unalterable and uncertain than the future. ”

“ What will come to all of us before we all meet again no one can say, but this we all know, that we have, most of us, been living now for many years in expectation. We have been taught, by the goodness of God, to believe that we must be ready at any moment to obey His call, and that call may come, in the middle of our work, of our prayers, of our love for others, of our pursuit of our own ambitions, and that whenever it does come we must be ready to obey it. ”

“ For He willeth that we be as assured in hope of the bliss of heaven while we are here, as we shall be in sureness while we are there. And ever the more pleasance and joy that we take in this sureness, with reverence and meekness, the better pleaseth Him, as it was shewed. ”

“ And so let us not fill our minds with vain hopes which, whether they be fulfilled or not, will not satisfy us, but lift our eyes to and stay our anticipations on those glories beyond, as real as God is real, and as certain as His word is true. Let these hopes concentrate and define for us the aims of our life; and let the aims, clearly accepted and recognised, be pursued with earnestness, with 'diligence,' with haste, with the enthusiasm of which they, and they only, are worthy. ”

“ Hope, if it is certain, will gladden, and if our Christianity grasps, as it ought to do, the only hope that is absolutely certain, and as sure as if it were in the past and had been experienced, then our hearts, too, will sing for joy. ”

“ If we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope, firmly to the end; that is, if we maintain a bold and open profession of the truths of the gospel, upon which our hopes of grace and glory are built, and live upon and up to those hopes, so as to have a holy rejoicing in them, which shall abide firm to the end, notwithstanding all that we may meet with in so doing." So that you see there must not only be a setting out well in the ways of Christ, but a stedfastness and perseverance therein unto the end. ”

“ Not that I would shake the confidence of any sound believer, whose graces are of the right kind: build your confidence sure: see that you get the certain marks of salvation, and make sure, by observing your own hearts, that these marks be in you, and then you cannot be too confident. But as you love your souls, take heed of a groundless confidence. Take heed of being confident before you have tried. ”

“ For they that are full of faith, ask all things with confidence, and receive from the Lord, because they ask without doubting. But he that doubts, shall hardly live unto God, except he repent.
6 Wherefore purify thy heart from doubting, and put on faith, and trust in God, and thou shall receive all that thou shalt ask. But if thou shouldest chance to ask something, and not immediately receive it, yet do not therefore doubt, because thou hast not presently received the petition of thy soul. ”

“ Reluctantly and gradually her ardent mind, by nature ever either buoyant in the heaven of assured hope or cast down to the depths of despair, bowed to the middle conclusion, and consented to look through the eyes of wisdom and experience. ”

“ These are two workings that may be seen in this Vision: the one is seeking, the other is beholding. The seeking is common,—that every soul may have with His grace,—and ought to have that discretion and teaching of the Holy Church. It is God's will that we have three things in our seeking:—The first is that we seek earnestly and diligently, without sloth, and, as it may be through His grace, without unreasonable [6] heaviness and vain sorrow. ”

“ IF mankind lives by confidence, it lives also by hope—that form of confidence which turns toward the future. All life is a result and an aspiration, all that exists supposes an origin and tends toward an end. ”

“ But sweet as are God’s promises, the Promiser is greater and better. Finite human words fetter the expression of the heart of the Infinite Giver. Hence if we had claimed all the promises, and had opened our mouths most wide, and had asked with all the blessed presumption of loved and favoured children – yet, above and beyond the promises, He would still be able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. ”

“ Oh! you are but just beginning to know what life truly is in its solemn discipline. The great book of religious experience is now but opening to you; and, believe me, you will find in it treasures of happiness of which the heart of man cannot conceive without such experience. You say you feel something of 'fear' coming over you. I will not say, put away all apprehension; uncertainty does hang over you, but let it not produce fear. I would advocate a courageous contemplation of possibilities, for in this way, I believe, the benefits of all trial may be made greater. ”

“ It is enough they believe a resurrection and that with a glorious and incorruptible body, for that was the ancient hope. Now, as to eternal rewards, they not only believe in them, but as the Apostle says of old, have the most reason to do so. It is their faith, their hope, their interest, and what they wait and have suffered for, and press, as an encouragement to faithfulness, upon one another. ”

“ If when we turn the eye inward, we discover faith in Christ, sorrow for sin, love to God, devotedness to his service, and reliance on his grace through a Mediator, and these are evidenced by fruits of holiness, we need no other evidence that our names are written in heaven: But if there are wanting, hope is vain and confidence delusive—Gifts, the most extraordinary, even those of prophecy and miracles are totally unavailing. ”

“ And faith further breeds hope because it kindles joy and peace, which are the foretastes and earnests of the future blessedness. On the other hand, the very opposite experiences work to the same end, for 'tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.' Sorrow rightly borne tests for us the power of the Gospel and the reality of our faith, and so gives us a firmer grip of hope and of Him on whom in the last result it all depends. ”

“ But from the marvellous dealings of Divine Providence in overruling all things for our good—in bringing us safely through difficult scenes, we may look forward without the least anxiety—having everything to hope and nothing to fear. ”

“ These blessings let us desire with all eagerness, let us ask with all perseverance, not with length of words, but with the witness of groans. Longing desire prayeth always, though the tongue be silent. ”

“ For the seeking, to which God mercifully invites us, is but the turning of the direction of our desires to Him, the recognition of the fact that His face is more than all else to men, the recognition that whilst there are many that say, 'Who will show us any good?' and put the question impatiently, despairingly, vainly, they that turn the seeking into a prayer, and ask, 'Lord! lift Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us,' will never ask in vain. ”