MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I want to talk to you to-day about a very important subject. The Bible speaks of hope, and says, "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." (Hebrews vi: 19.) [Illustration: The Anchor.] I suppose most of you have been on board a ship or large boat. Very near the bow, or front end of the boat, you have doubtless noticed a chain, at the end of which was an anchor, made in the form of this one which I hold in my hand. Now, I would not care to go out to sea on any ship which did not have an anchor on board. In crossing the Atlantic you may sometimes be out for days and weeks, and sometimes even for months, and have no need of using the anchor. But all the time, while the weather is pleasant and everything is moving along prosperously, the fact that the anchor is on board the ship and that it can be used in time of danger, gives a sense of security to all the passengers. If it were not there you would constantly fear, lest the storms or fog might come when your ship was near land or dangerous rocks or shoals, and then your ship might be lost with its many hundreds of lives on board, simply because it had no anchor. Every man and woman, and every boy and girl, needs to have hope as an anchor to his soul. We should have faith in God, and then at times when all is well, when we are prosperous and blest, and everything goes along like the ship in pleasant weather, we will constantly have peace and rest in our minds and hearts, because we know that our hope is staid on God, and that though the world be removed, yet God will not disappoint us. Some people seem to think that religion is a good thing to have when they get sick, or when adversity or sorrow or great affliction comes. But the fact is that religion is a necessary thing at all times. We need it when we are well and strong, as well as when we are sick and weak. We need religion in this world to live by, as well as to die by, as well as for our salvation in the world to come. The anchor is very serviceable indeed in time of storm. Often it has to be used in order to secure the ship and save the lives of all who are on board. If it were not for the anchor the ship might be thrust upon the rocks, or it might be dashed to pieces by the waves that break upon the coast. The anchor is oftentimes very serviceable. So it is with the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. When trials and perplexities and adversities come, as they do in every life, then it is that this anchor is a source of very great blessing, because it saves from shipwreck, occasioned by unbelief and the perplexities into which those are cast who have no hope, or trust in God. [Illustration: Anchor Laying Hold of the Rocks.]