p. 5 | HOPE by Dr. Samuel Johnson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 22, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 12.

HOPE.

By Dr. Samuel Johnson

HOPE is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish shall be at last satisfied and the heart filled up to its utmost extent.

Hope is, indeed, very fallacious, and promises what it seldom gives; but its promises are more valuable than the gifts of fortune, and it seldom frustrates us without assuring us of recompensing the delay by a greater bounty. —Dr. Samuel Johnson.