SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16408, 9 December 1916, Page 8 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

THE HELMET' OF HOPEBfJfSisiißY. J. H. JOWETT, D.D. j. h. jowprr, d.d. Teit'S&But let US. who are of the dev. lx* sober, patting on the breastplate ot faith and 'lore: aad>for ac helmet, the hope of salvalion."—Thfess. i., 8. Tin: helmet of hope ! Who lias not experienced the energy of a mighty hope? It is always a force to be reckoned with in the day "of life's battle. Hope is a splendid helmet. 'firmly covering the head, and defending all its thoughts and purposes and visions', from the subtle assaults of the Evil One. The helmet of hope is one of the hc«t protections against " losing one head it is the best security against ail tiie attacks made upon the mind by small but deadly fears ; it is the only effective safeguard 'against petty but deadly compromise. Far way the best, defence distraction is to have the executive chambers of the life encircled and possessed bv A Strong and Brilliant Hope. Now. every student of the apostle Paul knows that he is an optimist. But he is an optimist, not because he closes his eyes, but because he opens them, and uses them, and uses them to survey the entire field of vision and possibility. He is an optimist, not because he cannot see the gross darkness—-no one has painted ihe darkness in the blacker lines—but because he can also see the light; and no one has portrayed the light with more alluring brilliance and glory, He is an optimist, not because he cannot see the loathsome presence of wickedness, but because lie sees the unutterable grace and love A God.

Now. our ordinary experience tenches us how much energy resides in a commanding hope. A big expectation is stored witn wonderful dynamic, and it transmits its power to every faculty in the soul. The influence of a great, hope tills the mind with an alert and sensitive " trembling, inspiring every thought to rise as it were on tiptoe to await and . greet the expected guest. A great hope poors.- its energy into the will, endowing it with the strength of marvellous patience and perseverance. Every sphere of human interest provides examples of this principle. Turn to the realm of invention. An inventor has a great hope shining before him as a brilliant vision of possible achievement. With what energy of will it endows him, and with what tireless, sleepless, invincible patience! Think of the immeasurable endurance of the . brothers Wright who were inspired by the great hope of achieving the conquest of the air! Their hope was, indeed, a helmet defending them: against all withering suggestions 'of ease, protecting them against the call of an ignoble indolence, which is so - »

Often Heard in Hours of : Defeat. Or seek examples in ibe realms of -i iscovew. Read the chapters in Lard Lister's life, which tells how he, burning and inspired by a mighty hope, laboured -and laboured in the quest of antiseptics. Or turn to the equally fascinating pages which tell how v l3ir James Simpson toiled and moiled and. dared, and suffered in the long researches ' which led to the discovery of chloroform?- ffJKa will was rendered indomitable bj the splendid hope of assuaging human pain.

Think again of the restless, tireless labours of hundreds of men who are to-day engaged ii* searching for the microscopic cause of cancer that, having found it, they might isolate it. and discover an antagonist which shall work its complete destruction. There is a glorious hope shining across the cancer waste, and it is i ?rving the will* of research with uuconquerable perseverance. Yes, indeed, men wear a splendid hefrnet even in the ways of common experience, when they wear the helmet of hope. Mark their condition when they lose it. Turn to the scriptural record of the voyage when Paul and his fellow-prisoners were being escorted by soldiers to take their trial tif -Kdme." "A tempestuous storm arose, and in the power of a mighty hope to save the boat and themselves, the men called out every ounce of their strength. But, now mark this connection in the narrative as-1 read it to you ! "All hope was taken away. . . ." "We let her drift.'' That is it, and it offers a striking symbol of a common experience,. While our hope ib burning we steer when our hope is gone out we drift.,- The motive power 's gone, and the hopeless man is like a drifting hull iii the midSt of a wild and desolate sea. '■% » j* 1? Turn? to the pages of Captain "Scott's journals when he and his party are surmounting colossal tasks in the chivalrous hope of winning for their country the honourable distinction of first discovery of the South Pole. The - narrative just blaze? with hope, and therefore it tingles with energy and shouts with song. But when Amundsen's fiag was seen at the Pole, and their strong hope was gone, and the disappointed company began the ,e----tuTs; 0 wjiat heavy feet, and what accumulated burdens, and what fiercely added labcrionsness to an already laborious road. Pope had gone, and they noblv trudged; 'arid:' tnidged and trudged, to faint and die! Ay, hope is a tremendous' ; powsr. To have hope is to have alwaytFsfre«!3 reserves to meet every new expenaffere-■ the will. To lose hope is like"losing the dynamo, the secret of inspiration, and the once indomitable will droops and faints away. It just makes an difference whether or not

We are Wearing the Helmet of Hope.

But now, if; all this is true of common hope and common experience, how is t with the supreme hope, "the hope of salvation ?" What is • this 'hope, " the hope of salvation?" To whom is the apostle Paul giving this counsel ? He is giving jt to Christian believers in Thessalonica. But were, they not already saved ? Why should he speak to them of " the hope of salvation" as though it were something still to be won ? They had taken a great step in discipleship in that vast and wicked city of--Thcssalonica, crowded with all sorts of antagonisms, and they had boldly* confessed themselves on the side of Christ. And yet the apostle counsels them to wear as a helmet "the hop- x" salvation. 1

The truth is that the apostle Paul uses all the three primary tenses in speaking of salvation. ' He speaks to believers in tilt past tense, and he says: Ye were saved." And to the 1 same believers he uses the present tense, and he says : " Ye are beinsr saved." And vet again to the same believers he uses the future tense, "Ye shall be saved." All of which means that to this great apostle a gloriously full salvation stretches-across the years' from past to future, gathering riches with every passing day. Salvation to Paul was more than a step, and also a walk. It was more than a "crisis, it -was t-lso a prolonged process. It was more than the gift of new life, it- was the maturing in growth and power. A drowning ; man, when be is lifted out of the water, is in a very profound sense vitally saved. -But after this initial snlvatian there is $I^..further salvation of -e.••illecting bis scattered--fciitiseiousiie's. md of recovering his exhausted streni'tli. And . in a v<*rv glorious sense a man is spiritual] v saved in a moment r in a. moment in Christ Jesus he passed from death into life". But- it is also Equally " True That a Man is onlv saved in a lifetime, as he appropriates t<> himself more and more the grace and truth of the risen Lord. Yes, after ye have been converted and saved, there is a further salvation in self-recovery, in f elf-discovery, all of which becomes oars i.i a fuller and richer discovery of Christ.. Our possibilities of salvation in Christ Jesus stretch before lis like range upon range qf 'jloriou? mountains. When we have attained one range we have onlv obtained a new 'vantage ground for beholding'anot hei": when that, too. has been climbed-, still vaster and grander ranges r..se intb view. Every fresh addition U> our Ch*istlikenfess increases our power >f . discernment, and every added power >,f discernment unfolds a larger vision and a J more glorious and alluring hone. All believers in Christ .Testis have been stvnd. All believers in, Christ Jesus are being saved. ; All believers in Christ Jesus will! - he saved- And therefor, savs the apostle always "wear the helmet of hope, " the -hope of 'Salvatioh."' "' • ■■■ - 1