The Power of Prospect

2 Samuel xxii. 13 v.

“Through the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled.”

There are two kinds of brightness — memory and hope. Memory is the glass of old age; it is the brightness behind. Hope is the glass of youth; it is the brightness before. Memory sees a glorified past, with its clouds transmuted into gold; hope beholds a radiant future, with no clouds to be transmuted. Memory is beautiful, but it is not kindling; it stirs not the fire of enthusiasm; the vision of a brightness behind me is allied to tears. But hope makes me glow.

The vision of to-morrow fires me. It is not brighter than yesterday; hut yesterday is past, and this is coming. The record of the past can make me grateful, but only the sight of the future can make me strong; in “the brightness before” are coals of fire kindled.

My Father, give me back my youth. Give me back that glow of expectation which lived in to-morrow, and had no yesterday. Give me back the glass of hope which swept the coming horizon and saw no cloud therein. Give me back the sight of the jasper sea, and the view of the emerald rainbow, and the glimpse of a world without night. Let Thy Christ make me a child again — a child on fire with promises. If His flame shall kindle my bush, no earthly care shall consume it. The plagues of Egypt will not; the waters of Marah will not; the thunders of Sinai will not; the dearth of the desert will not; the sunset of Nebo will not. If the Promised Land be before me, clouds and darkness shall in vain be round about me; their elements shall melt with fervent heat in the brightness of hope’s gloiy.