'Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be
diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and
blameless.'--2 Peter iii. 14.
As we pass the conventional boundary of another year, most of us, I
suppose, cast glances into the darkness ahead. To those of us who have
the greater part of our lives probably before us, the onward look will
disclose glad possibilities. To some of us, who have life mostly behind
us, the prospect will take 'a sober colouring from an eye that hath kept
watch over man's mortality,' and there will be little on the lower
levels to attract. My text falls in with the mood which the season
fosters. It directs our onward look to a blessed certainty instead of a
peradventure, and it deduces important practical consequences from the
hope. These three things are in the words of our text: a clear vision
that should fill the future; a definite aim for life, drawn from the
vision; and an earnest diligence in the pursuit of that aim, animated
by that hope.
Now these three--a bright hope, a sovereign purpose, and a diligent
earnestness--are the three conditions of all noble life. They themselves
are strength, and they will bring us buoyancy and freshness which will
prolong youth into old age, and forbid anything to appear uninteresting
or small.
So I ask you to look at these three points, as suggested by my text.