The Blessed Hope by Eliza H. Morton

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 31, 1877

The Blessed Hope.

By Eliza H. Morton

Hope is expectation mingled with earnest desire. “When hope faileth, the whole heart grows sick.” Hope acts as a buoy to keep the soul out of the depths of despondency and gloom. All, at times, have a hope that extends beyond this life. The worldling hopes that God will not, in the Judgment, deal harshly with him. The infidel hopes that death is an eternal sleep. The heathen hopes that his idols will deliver him in that hour. These hopes are delusive, and have no foundation in the word of God.

The Christian has a hope which “is an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast.” This hope looks through the “valley of the shadow of death” into Immanuel’s land, and paints scenes of glory such as mortal eye never looked upon. In times of affliction, it comforts the heart. In days of darkness, it shines brighter than the sun. In seasons of anguish, it whispers of peace and joy. In moments of weariness, it points to the land of rest. In the hour of death, it sings of the resurrection morn.

Glory to God for this blessed hope! The fires of persecution cannot consume it. All the ills which flesh is heir to cannot destroy it; and even Satan himself cannot put an end to it.

Brethren and sisters, we may well rejoice. Hope sets before us a glorious prospect, and sings in our ears of a land fairer than any fairy bower ever described by mortal tongue, and whispers of an inheritance richer than all the diamonds in the mines.

The visions and dreams of loveliness painted by hope are not fleeting and delusive like the mirage of the desert; but they are shadows of a glad substance yet to be revealed, and foretastes of a joy, the fullness of which is known only to the King eternal.

ELIZA H. MORTON.

Allen’s Corner, Me.