A SERMON
Preached on Sunday Morning November 15th, 1863
By Mister JAMES WELLS
At the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road
Volume 5 Number 256
THIS paragraph, commencing with the 29th verse, stands alone, and is a threatening to the whole of the land of Palestine; that is, the whole of the land of Canaan, the whole of the nation of the Jews. And we find that the prophet had shown that the Lord would, and therefore it was prophetically done, that he would break the power of the Assyrian empire, which he did; and the people then were forbidden to take comfort from that, seeing they were still in a state of apostasy from God; and therefore it says, “Rejoice not you, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote you is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice,” or adder, “and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.” That is, that while the Assyrian power was broken, the Babylonish power should come forth in future time, and should destroy their nationality for a time, and then there should be a third Satanic power come forth, which should be the Roman empire. And thus you have in these few words, in the first place, the satanic power of Assyria against the Jews; you then have the satanic power of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians, against the Jews; you then have the satanic power of the Romans against the Jewish nation. And then, synchronically with the operations of this last satanic power, namely, the Roman power, synchronically with this, one should appear in the character described in our text, “the firstborn of the poor;” synchronically with tile destruction to which the others were exposed, that the needy should lie down in safety. Hence, then, it goes on again in relation to that destruction of the Jewish nation which took place by the instrumentality of the Romans; and that temporal judgment to which they were subjected is only a type, a mere shadow, of that eternal judgment that awaits every man and woman that lives and dies out of Christ, out of the faith of Christ, destitute of the spirit of Christ and of the grace of God. Hence it goes on again, “Howl, O gate; cry, O city; you, whole Palestina, are dissolved;” which never took place until the time of the Romans; “for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.” What, now?
Yes. Here is Zion ploughed as a field; here is Jerusalem destroyed; here is the land inundated with the judgments of God; here is the Lord sweeping with the broom of destruction the land from one end to the other; and yet at this very same time one should answer the messengers of the nation “that the Lord has founded Zion.” What Zion? Not the literal Zion, for that was subjected to destruction; but that the Lord has founded another Zion, a spiritual Zion, a Zion where he has commanded the blessing, even life for evermore; and that the poor of his people shall trust in it. And thus that Zion which was founded by the Lord Jesus Christ, he having laid the foundation of an everlasting kingdom, should be the refuge of the people of God in all ages, down to the end of time, and their glory when time shall be no more. The meaning, therefore, of this paragraph simply this: here is a succession of adverse powers, until the Jews have become scattered as they now are; and that these adverse powers are a figure, of course, of powers that will rise, down to the end of time. And I believe that the time will never come, while the world stands, that those words will be literally fulfilled, namely, that “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” I believe the time will never come when that will have a political, a literal fulfilment, because I do not believe that it has a literal meaning; I believe it has a spiritual meaning, and that it shall be fulfilled in the one universal church out of all nations, kindreds, peoples, and tongues, and that these, and these only, are the people that will live in eternal harmony and in everlasting peace.
But coming, then, to the language of our text, we have, in the first place, the description, “the firstborn of the poor.” Secondly, the safety; “the needy shall lie down in safety.” Third, the judgment; “I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant.”
I notice, then, first, the description; “the firstborn of the poor.” The learned have very well observed that this is a phrase, “the firstborn of the poor,” that means one who is pre-eminently poor, means one who is poor in the extreme. And I shall in the very commencement of my discourse this morning make no hesitation in saying that the poorest man that ever appeared upon the face of the earth was the Lord Jesus Christ. There never was a man so poor as he was; he was worse off than any man that ever did live, or ever will live. He was the poorest of the poor; he was the firstborn of the poor; he was pre-eminently, he was extremely, he was exceedingly poor. Never was a man so poor and so bad off as the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let us prove this; and in proving it, if it does not at all endear him as I go along unto your souls, then I shall be almost sorry that I attempted to say a word about that which in the love of his heart he underwent for us. For I trust, yes, I am sure of it, that unto hundreds of you I can say, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.” I will not dwell upon the literal poverty of Jesus Christ, because therein does not lie the extremity and greatness of his poverty; still I think it is right that I should just say a word upon that. You must understand, then, that sin deprived us of all right to any temporal comfort whatever. Now, then, the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to come into the world, and to go through the world, in a state of daily, and hourly, and I may say momentary dependence upon God. Hear his own description, which we never seem weary of repeating: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head;” depending entirely upon the Lord from day to day for temporal sustenance. And yet our text was fulfilled, that the firstborn of the poor should feed; he was sustained. And I must say after all, that this path of the dear Savior does consecrate the path of poverty. He walked that path and underwent all the privation there described. And I cannot forbear saying that this is certainly one expression of his love. Christ even temporally underwent privation that we might be supplied; and I am sure it is by him that the covenant stands good, and will stand good while time shall last, that “while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” But wherein was Jesus Christ the poorest man that ever existed? Well, in three things. First, sin is a privation, and the sins of untold millions were set to his account; their original sins, their heart sins, their lip sins, and the most awful life sins that have ever, been committed; for he has saved some of the worst characters, I mean the worst characters morally or practically; all are alike by nature, but all are not alike by practice. Take Manasseh, and we may take many more, the worst of characters, and yet their sins, some of which sins, civilized, at all regulated nature revolts at the very thought of them, sins altogether un-nameable, and yet they were perpetrated by the depravity of human nature in gone-by ages, and are now in some parts of the world, and yet such sins, with all their awfulness, were set to the account of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was there ever a man that stood in such a position as this, for the sins of untold millions to be laid at his door, to be laid upon his shoulders, to be set down over against his name, to be made one with him, that he must be the surety for the whole, and yet had not committed one? If, therefore, sin be poverty, then, I say, Jesus Christ was the poorest man that ever existed. He underwent the greatest privation, and he stood farther from mercy than any man ever could stand; because your original and personal sin may stand between you and God, but here, with Jesus Christ, it was all the sins of all the people that stood between him and God. Such was the poverty of Jesus Christ, and such was the extreme state of responsibility into which the dear Savior came. And then, secondly, as all these sins were set to his account, so all the wrath due to them, all the curse due to them, all the indignation of God's eternal law, all the thunderbolts, and lightnings, and reservoirs of almighty wrath were set to his account. If this be not being bad off, and if to be very poor means to be bad off, and to be in a trying position, if this does not surpass all that we have ever heard of elsewhere, then I know not what does. Here, then, he walks the path of our poverty; second, he takes all our sins; and third, all the wrath due thereto is set to his account. Then, fourth, death is another part of the poverty. He must be deprived of his reputation, for he was put to death as a bad character in the eyes of the world, as a blasphemer, and as everything that was bad; and to indicate the same was crucified between two thieves, as we see. He, therefore, thus became poor; gives up life, gives up himself, gives up everything; so that his person alone could bring him out of his poverty. Bless his holy name! his obedient life magnified the law; his atoning death swallowed up the poverty, our sins; his atoning death swallowed up the curse; his atoning death swallowed up death in eternal victory; so that now, where there was sin, and nothing but sin, there is now nothing but salvation; and where there was wrath and the curse, there is now nothing but blessing; and where there was death, there is now nothing but eternal life. How the blest Redeemer has changed the scene! Thus, then, taking the words in this sense, he was the firstborn of the poor. And happy the man that knows his own condition as a sinner, exposed to almighty wrath, exposed to the second death. If we know what poor creatures we are, we shall receive the testimony of what Christ has done, and we shall hold fast the testimony of what Christ done, and we shall hold fast the testimony of Christ until we possess Christ himself. If we know something of the wrath to which we are exposed, we shall hold fast the testimony of what Christ has done in having borne the curse for us until we receive the blessing. If we know something of the second death to which we are exposed, we shall hold fast the testimony of eternal life by Jesus Christ until we possess manifestly the life itself. I do not know whether I am understood, but I am now speaking chiefly to those that are just beginning to seek the Lord. You can see what Jesus Christ has done; that sin is a privation of everything we had originally; that Jesus Christ took sin upon himself; and if you see that, and believe that, you will hold fast that testimony ; and that there is a curse between us and God, and that Christ has, put away that curse. If you see that, you believe that, understand and hold fast that testimony, that Jesus Christ has swallowed up death in victory, and that by him is eternal life, if you see that, you will hold fast the testimony. And the little one will say, Yes, I can see that, I understand that, I believe that, and receive that, but then I cannot call God mine; I cannot say that God loves me, or that Christ died for me, or that this is my happy lot thus to escape, and to be made eternally rich by him. Now, then, if you do not know, still hold fast the testimony; do not give that up. Go and hear the word where it is clearly, and faithfully, and earnestly preached, and read the word of God, and pray the Lord to enable you to distinguish between the covenant where salvation is not, and the covenant where salvation is; to enable you to distinguish between the law, where there is nothing but indignation and wrath, and the gospel which breathes everlasting love, pity, compassion, and mercy; and hold fast the testimony. If you do this for a few weeks, it may be for a few months, by-and-bye the Lord will come at an hour when you think not; and while you now have the testimony of his grace, by-and-bye will come the grace of the testimony; and while you have the testimony of God the Father, by-and-bye will come God the Father himself; while you have thus the testimony of Christ, by-and-bye the Savior will come as he did to the disciples. They held fast the testimony of Christ, and they were speaking about him, and were sad, and fearing they had been altogether deceived, but he joined with them, and opened up unto them the Scriptures, and assured them that he was the Christ, that he was their Jesus Christ, that they were still his disciples; and their hearts burned within them, and they rejoiced that it was the Lord. If we, therefore, are among the spiritually poor, and feel our need thus of what he has done, and receive the testimony of what he has done, hold fast the testimony, by-and-bye the testimony will bring us that of which it speaks. Hence the Lord said to the church, “Because you hast kept the word of my patience,” they could not get just so much enjoyment as they could wish, “I also will keep you from the hour of temptation.” That indicates the importance of holding fast the truth. It is only now and then we enjoy the grace of the truth, but at all times we are to hold fast the truth of God's grace. Let us hold fast the truth at all times, because we well know, if ever we get any good, it must be by the truth; if we realize deliverance, it must be by the truth; if we rejoice in God, it must be by the truth that makes us free.
But, second, the Savior is called not only thus “the firstborn of the poor,” because he was in a position that no other ever was, or ever can be, and yet he righteously worked himself out of that position, and thereby delivered his people, but he is also called “the firstborn.” There is a threefold sense in which the Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn. He is never once in all the Bible called the firstborn in the order of time. I am aware that there are good people that believe that Jesus Christ was actually a complex person before time was, and that his soul had a pre-existent oneness with his divinity. That is a tradition I never could see; and I am sure no one would wish me to hold it if I cannot see it. I cannot myself receive that doctrine; I cannot, therefore, find in all the Bible one scripture where Jesus Christ is called the firstborn in the order of time. Now there is a threefold respect in which he is called the firstborn, and on each occasion, he is called the firstborn, not in the order of time, but in the order of dignity and of place. Hence, in the 89th Psalm, “I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.” There, you observe, he is represented as a firstborn king. Now he was born at Bethlehem, King of the Jews, but he was not the firstborn that ever was king, and yet he is said to be the firstborn, that is, in the order of dignity and of place. Was there ever such a king born before? What kind of a king is that which is born now? “Your king comes unto you, having salvation.” He, therefore, in the order of dignity, is the first king, the firstborn king. There never was such a king born before; there never was such a kingdom before. It was never said of any other king that “He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
What a delightful thing it is to be brought into this kingdom, then! into the kingdom of the firstborn king. Here, then, the kings of the earth, how little are the greatest monarchs when set by the side of the kingdom, government, and eternal glory of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christi Then he is also, secondly, the firstborn, heir of all things, not in the order of time, but in the order of dignity and of place. Hence, you will find that the people of God are in God's foreknowledge, God's comprehension of them, God's notice of them, he notices them, takes notice of them, in a way of everlasting love; he takes knowledge of them in a way of electing grace; and then, having taken this knowledge of them, he determines them to all the blessedness that should be expressive of the love wherewith he has loved them, expressive of the grace by which he has chosen them, and expressive of the mediatorial perfection of his dear Son. Hence, the apostle expresses it like this, “Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed unto the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Now, then, the Lord Jesus Christ was born holy; no other was ever born holy; he was the only child that ever was born holy, or ever will be, he was born holy. And thus, as he was born holy, having no sin and doing no sin, he was heir of all things, and never invalidated that heirship. It was sin that invalidated our heirship in the first Adam of the first Paradise; it was sin that invalidated and destroyed the right of the Israelites to possess their land in peace; but here the Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn, holy. And then, second, not only holy, but also in place. He stands the representative heir of all things; that is, all the things that make up everlasting glory; and the people are given to him, and ordained to be made holy by his atoning blood, by his Spirit, and to be made righteous by his righteousness, for they are to be brought to know this, and to receive this, and to enjoy this; and this is called conformity to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn. So that our right to eternal glory can never be invalidated until the Savior's blood shall lose its power; our right to eternal glory can never be shaken until Christ's righteousness shall cease to be what it is. He is the heir, and his people are joint heirs with him; his right is their right, and their right is his right; and thus, he is the firstborn among many brethren. The apostle Paul traces this out beautifully in the 1st of Colossians, where he says that Jesus Christ is “the firstborn of every creature;” not in the order of time, nor does the “every creature” there mean every man and every woman, no; he is the firstborn of every creature; that is, of every new creature. He is not the firstborn of the man dead in sin. When I was dead in sin, Jesus Christ was not my sanctification then, not in the manifestation thereof; I did not hold him then as my sanctification, as the firstborn, as I do now. When I was dead in sin, I did not hold him as the Lord my righteousness; I did not know him; he was not the firstborn to me then. But when I became a new creature, then Jesus Christ became my sanctification, and he became my justification, and thus he stands the firstborn, the rightful heir, and I continue in the faith, rooted and grounded therein, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, and as sure to come into glory as he himself is there, and as welcome as he himself. The apostle says of this same Jesus Christ, “firstborn of every creature,” that is, of every new creature; he stands as heir of all things. Do you not see that if your right to eternal glory in any measure lay with you, how soon you would lose it? Is there a day that you do not sin? Is it not written that “the just man falls seven times a day”? Is it not written that “there is not a just man upon the earth that does good, and sins not”? Do you not see, brethren, that you would cease to have any right to heaven, any right to life, any right to God's presence? Whereas, notwithstanding your sins, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, he becomes your firstborn, he becomes your right. So then, “be not high minded, but fear; for you stand by faith;” “it is by faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;” because Jesus Christ did no sin, took away the sins of those that did sin. Hence, the apostle goes on to show that Jesus Christ is the root and the cause of everything to make up our salvation. “For by him were all things created.” Now, mind. I wish you to take notice of it, that the apostle is not here speaking of the creation of this world; he is not here speaking of the creation of Adam, nor of angels, nor of things literal at all; “by him were all things created, that are in heaven,” not heaven itself, you see; “and that are in earth, not earth itself, you see; the apostle is not speaking of that, he is speaking of the new creation; “by him were all things created,” that is, all things formed. How was the everlasting covenant created? That is invisible. By Jesus Christ. How were all things that make up our eternal welfare brought into shape and form? By Jesus Christ. He prepared heaven for us. Second, he creates all things that are in the earth. Who is it that creates a Christian? Jesus Christ. Who is it that creates ministers? Jesus Christ. Who created, shall I say, the ordinances that are visible? Jesus Christ. So, “whether they be thrones, or principalities,” and every Christian has his principality; I have mine, no man can take it from me, I shall never lose it, because Jesus Christ holds that and me too; and he will never let that slip, and he will never let me slip; and the consequence is, my principality must come to me, and I must come to that; no doubt about it. “Or dominions;” so I have my dominion, my dominion as a Christian over all the powers of darkness and shall come off conqueror at the last. I have my dominion as a minister, just as far as the Lord is pleased to extend my dominion. “Or powers;” all are by Jesus Christ; and “he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.” Now, what “all things”? Why, say some, as in all things he has the pre-eminence, he will have the pre-eminence in number. But the apostle is there not speaking of creation at all; he is not there speaking of numerical pre-eminence; he is speaking of Jesus Christ there as the head of the church, and that in the church and in the things that make up our eternal welfare, in all those things he has the preeminence, because he is the firstborn from the dead; not the firstborn from the dead in the order of time; there were some raised from the dead in the Old Testament age, and Christ himself raised persons from the dead; but he is the first begotten from the dead in dignity and place. Whoever rose from the dead without seeing corruption, as Christ did? Whoever rose as the resurrection of others, as Christ did? So, it is in the things that make up our eternal glory that Christ will have the pre-eminence. If we speak of the love of God, who stands first in that love? Christ. If we speak of election, who stands first? Predestination, justification, or righteousness, who stands first? Jesus Christ. If we speak of sacrificial perfection, who stands first? If we speak of eternal life and eternal glory, who stands first? Jesus Christ. And if we speak of the hearts, and affections, and songs, and praises of the people of God, who stands first? Jesus Christ. In all things he has the pre-eminence; that is, in all things belonging to the new heavens and to the new earth. Men are eternally generalizing the Scriptures, and thereby making infidels. Infidels challenge us, and rightly too. Why, they say, where is the fulfilment of your Scriptures? Your Scriptures say so and so, where is the fulfilment? There is no sign, going on now for two thousand years, and they have never been fulfilled. The whole earth, say they, your Scriptures say, was to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord; why, say they, it is not done yet, and I see but little signs of its being done. Certainly not, because it does not mean the old earth, it means the new earth; no other earth will ever be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Nevertheless, though the apostle there does not refer to numerical pre-eminence, it is possible, perhaps probable, perhaps certain, that Jesus Christ may have the preeminence in numbers. I believe, I will not stop now to state my reasons for it, I believe that all that die in infancy are saved, whether they be the infants of heathen, savages, the most degraded savages, or whether they be the infants of Christians, or mere professed Christians, all infants throughout the globe. We have now somewhere about twelve hundred million, making up the population of the globe, and I believe that all infants throughout the globe, heathen and all that they all that die in infancy are saved. And we know that the population of heathen lands increases very slowly, owing to the vast number of infants that die while they are infants. Taking this item of my belief into account, it is just possible, perhaps probable, and perhaps a close calculation may go very much in favor of the idea that even in point of numbers Christ, after all, will have the preeminence. Now I dare to say someone will go away this morning and say, I do not believe in infant salvation: well, I heard that minister say that there are infants in hell not a span long. Why, they cannot say that after you have said what you have. That is just the time they do say it. I recollect, many years ago, making similar remarks, and a man came to me the next morning, pretty well out of breath, and he said, “I am very sorry to trouble you, sir, but I was not at the chapel yesterday; I was in the country yesterday, and I arrived in town this morning.” “Well, what is the matter?” “Why, I met with a man who heard you say that everyone who dies in infancy is sure to be damned, and that no infant was ever saved, or ever could be, all lost together.” Just the reverse of what I had been saying. Liars will be liars, enemies will be enemies, envy will be envy, malice will be malice. Why, look at the Savior. I am faulty in many things; but he, who had no fault, yet see how they belied him; how they hated him; how they despised him. As an old divine some time ago said, when he was dying, “Well,” said one, “brother, aren't you sorry you are going?” “No,” he said, “I look upon the world, with very few exceptions, as a kind of den of wild beasts, preying upon one another, and I am glad I am going out of it.” I have often thought of his words: too much truth in that awful testimony: such is human nature. Now, then, I thought I would make these few remarks for the sake of our friends, not of our foes; they will say just the same; but then those of you that are sober-minded, and that do fear God, I have given you thus solemnly my sentiment upon that matter. Nevertheless, that scripture where it is said that in all things, he shall have the preeminence, the apostle is not there speaking of generalities but of specialties, not of universalities but of particularities, these things that make up our eternal welfare. Thus, then, Jesus Christ was poor; by his poverty we become rich: thus he was the firstborn in dignity and in place; he was the firstborn Son, the only begotten Son, holy, and was heir of all things, and never invalidated that heirship; the firstborn from the dead, not in order of time, but in dignity and place; he knew no corruption, he did no sin, and he rose as the resurrection of others, and when he destroyed all these powers, and led captivity captive, turns round and says to his disciples, “Because I live you shall live also.”
Now it is said here, “The firstborn of the poor shall feed;” and so, as I have hinted, he was sustained. And I suppose a few remarks upon this part will close my sermon, without touching the other parts. Jesus Christ was sustained. We break down pretty well everywhere. I break down in preaching; wish myself a thousand miles away from the pulpit sometimes. I break down in prayer, and break down in some of the things that belong to my office as a minister in private; sometimes break down in my temper, break down in my faith, and break down in my hope, and break down everywhere, pretty well, that I am glad to call myself a poor leaf, a piece of stubble, a poor moth, a poor worm, helpless creature; I am glad to have the privilege of confessing that before God. And therefore, what dependence can I have upon a poor, bruised reed, or upon a piece of smoking flax, poor creature that I am, broken down everywhere? But the blest Redeemer broke down nowhere; no, honor to his dear name! there he was, holy in his infancy, holy in his adolescence, grace was poured into his lips, he received in eternal perfection the covenant of grace, practically carried out all the designs of that covenant by the sacrifice of himself, putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He did not break down as a prophet; never erred, never: those pure lips of his never uttered one word that had not been lying in the deep thoughts of the blessed God from all eternity. Christ never spoke one word of his own; what a wonderful thing is this, is it not? never spoke a word of his own; he spoke the words of God, and only the words of God. Not a shadow of an error; every syllable his pure lips uttered was eternally true, pure as he was pure. He might well say concerning his words, “The heavens and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away.” Then depend not on yourself, but upon the pure, infallible testimony of him that spoke as never man spoke. And I am sure he did not break down as a priest. Oh, how wondrously he went through his sacrificial work! See him overnight, tired as he was; see him led away early the next morning to Pilate; see him hurried off from Pilate to Herod; see Herod with his men of war set him at nothing; see him brought back again to Pilate; see him hurried off to the cross; see the gibes and jeers; see the blasphemous things they said, and all put together could not move him. His patience was perfect; his self-possession was perfect; he met it all without weakness, except that he took our weakness upon himself; he met it all as the prophet foresaw he would, led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, opened not his mouth. Pear Lamb of God! blissful Mediator! Here, poor, broken down believer, hangs your everlasting all upon him that never broke down, never can break down, and never will. And I am sure he did not break down as an intercessor; he ascended up on high: as he went through his sacrificial work till he said, “It is finished,” so he did not break down as an intercessor. I will go to plead your cause, and where shall be the evidence that. I prevail; where shall be the evidence that I succeed? “When the day of Pentecost was fully come,” how did the Holy Spirit come? Did he come sparingly, or conditionally, or ineffectually? Here, then, was the demonstration of the efficiency of the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I am sure he does not break down as a mediator, for he has made peace; he does not break down as a king; he does not break down as a surety, nor a shepherd, nor any character he sustains. So “the firstborn of the poor shall feed;” meaning he shall be sustained, and so he was; yes, it is even said of him that he should not fail, nor be discouraged, until he had brought forth judgment unto victory.
Thus, then, as far as time permits, though I had a thousand things more to say, I have tried to set before you, in my humble way, how the Lord Jesus Christ took our poverty; second, the several respects in which he is the firstborn, and that our right to eternal glory stands good by him; and third, that while we poor creatures break down everywhere, he broke down nowhere, and, bless the Lord! we shall not break down as to the faith; he has prayed for us; our faith shall not fail, and our very hope shall prove at last to be as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.