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Christian Hope. 
I OPE, my dear reader, is. our comfort and support in all our sufferings 
during life. 
Holy Job, describing our life, says: “Man born of woman, living 
for a short time, is filled with many miseries” (xiv, 1). We seem to have 
been born only to suffer, .for our path is everywhere bestrewed with crosses, 
beset with thorns; we are forced to eat the bread of affliction and to ‘mingle 
our drink with our weeping 7 (Ps. ci, 10). 
Yes, trials, contradictions, troubles and sufferings of different kinds, 
pour in upon us from all sides. 
At one time, a relation abandons us, a friend betrays us, our affairs 
are unprosperous; at another time, sickness attacks us and ruins our 
health, leaving behind it many painful infirmities which must be patiently 
endured. Such is the life of man from the cradle to the grave, from the 
cottage to the throne. Amidst all these trials and afflictions, Hope alone 
can soothe our pains and dry up our tears, by the pleasing prospect of what 
we expect. 
For, when it sets before us our future reward— those immortal joys 
—that “eternal weight of glory, 77 with which our sufferings are to be re¬ 
warded (2 Cor. iv, 17) ; oh, then our prospect brightens, our mind recovers 
its calm , peace returns to the heart, and consolation to the soul. 
What a solid comfort do we feel when we can say within ourselves: 
“I suffer, it is true, in this life; I am left to weep for a short time , in this 
vale of tears; but the day will come when all these sufferings will be at an 
end, and that day will not be long a-coming ! 77 
“Thou shalt not labor here long, 77 says the Following of Christ* 
“nor shalt thou be always oppressed with sorrows. Wait a little while, 
and thou shalt see a speedy end of all thy evils. And are not all painful 
labors to be endured for life everlasting? 77 (Book iii, chap. 47). 
*A little book, even by Fontenelle, emphatically pronounced the most excellent produc¬ 
tion that ever issued from the hand of man, the Gospel being of Divine origin. 
