The Christian's Hope

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 17, 1870

The Christian's Hope.

The skeptic rejects the religion of the Bible, and adopts a system of philosophy which he considers vastly superior. He admits that there is a First Great Cause, but denies that he has ever revealed himself to man in any other way than through his works. He looks abroad upon the beauties of nature, and through these beauties up to nature's God, and professes to believe that an admiration of him through his handiwork is all the worship required. He believes that the universe is governed by fixed laws, founded in the wisdom of its Author, and dating from the commencement of all things; that man, too, is subject to regulations adapted to his physical constitution, and if he violates any law of his being, he suffers the penalty only in this world. He also denies the power of the Law-Maker to change, or accommodate his system of regulations to any particular circumstances, and rejects the idea that God has manifested any care for the human family save that exhibited in his first great arrangement.

The Christian, too, beholds the beauties of nature, and admires the wisdom that formed them. He views the regularity with which all things in the universe move onward, and feels that there are great natural laws in reference to himself which he may not violate with impunity—believes still more. He believes that man was originally formed in the image of his Maker—that he was free to obey the requirements of God, and retain his purity and innocence, or disobey, and suffer the penalty. He looks into his own nature, and finds there a disposition that is constantly prompting him to evil; he sees, too, this disposition manifesting itself in the infant before it is susceptible of being influenced by the example of those around, and therefore he receives the account of the fall of Adam, and through him the necessary depravity of all mankind as given in the Bible.

But a precious hope buoys up the heart of the Christian. While he views mankind in this fallen, condemned state, he learns in his Bible that a Saviour has been given. The Son of the Lawgiver, moved with love for the human race, comes forward, and suffering the penalty of the broken law in place of offending man, offers pardon and peace to all who will renounce sin and believe on him. His repentant heart feels that this is just the Saviour he needs—a mediator between himself and an offended God. In the Gospel of Christ he perceives a provision for every want—every spiritual want—and accepts the terms of salvation. He rejects sin in all its forms and receives Christ by faith into his heart, and henceforth has an evidence that no skeptic can gainsay, that Jesus is the Son of God.

While prosperity alike attends both characters, the careless observer may decide that the skeptic gains much and loses nothing. To him seed-time and harvest are as sure as to the believer. The cooling shower, and the genial warmth of the sun come as certainly to the unbeliever as to the Christian. The skeptic participates in the amusement of the gay, or he gains the honor of the world, and inscribes his name high in the annals of fame, and he is called happy. But we cannot see his heart—we cannot read the wretchedness he feels in his solitary moments when he realizes that there is still a void which neither wealth, nor pleasure, nor earthly honor, can fill, and he is forced to admit, in silent communings with his own heart, that he fears to meet God just as he is.

Neither can we perceive the peaceful feelings of the Christian arising from the distant consciousness that God is his friend. But let sorrow, adversity, and affliction, come, and we behold the excellency of the Christian religion—we see the power of the Christian's hope. I would not for the wealth of worlds, feel the cords that bind me to earth severed one by one, with no other consoling reflection—no other balm for my lacerated heart—than that found in the cold philosophy of the skeptic. While death robs me of my dearest friends, and consigns them to the deep, dark grave, I would with the Christian rejoice that the power of death has been broken by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The hope of immortality and blissful life beyond the grave cheers the heart of the afflicted, sorrow-stricken believer; and when his last hour comes, and the Jordan of death lies just in view, he rejoices in a hope that reaches beyond its swelling waves, and anchors by the throne of God.—New Yorker.