have hope.

If a man has lost hope, he is out of communion with God; he has not
the Spirit of God resting upon him for service; he may be a son of
God, and disheartened so that he can not be used of God. Do you know
there is no place in the Scriptures where it is recorded that God ever
used even a discouraged man. Some years ago, in my work I was quite
discouraged, and I was ready to hang my harp on the willow. I was very
much cast down and depressed. I had been for weeks in that state, when
one Monday morning a friend, who had a very large Bible class, came
into my study. I used to examine the notes of his Sunday-school
lessons, which were equal to a sermon, and he came to me this morning
and said, "Well, what did you preach about yesterday?" and I told him.
I said, "What did you preach about?" and he said that he preached
about Noah. "Did you ever preach about Noah?" "No, I never preached
about Noah." "Did you ever study his character?" "No, I never studied
his life particularly." "Well," says he, "he is a most wonderful
character. It will do you good. You ought to study up that character."
When he went out, I took down my Bible, and read about Noah; and then
it came over me that Noah worked 120 years and never had a convert,
and yet he did not get discouraged; and I said, "Well, I ought not to
be discouraged," and I closed my Bible, got up and walked down town,
and the cloud had gone. I went down to the noon prayer-meeting, and
heard of a little town in the country where they had taken into the
church 100 young converts; and I said to myself, I wonder what Noah
would have given if he could have heard that; and yet he worked 120
years and didn't get discouraged. And then a man right across the
aisle got up and said, "My friends, I wish you to pray for me; I think
I'm lost;" and I thought to myself, "I wonder what Noah would have
given to hear that." He never heard a man say, "I wish you to pray for
me; I think I am lost," and yet he didn't get discouraged! Oh,
children of God, let us not get discouraged; let us ask God to forgive
us, if we have been discouraged and cast down; let us ask God to give
us hope, that we may be ever hopeful. It does me good sometimes to
meet some people and take hold of their hands; they are so hopeful,
while other people throw a gloom over me because they are all the time
cast down, and looking at the dark side, and looking at the obstacles
and difficulties that are in the way.

THE B