enjoyment of the good things promised in the word of God, accompanied with a love and desire for them." The grace of hope, as all other Christian graces, is wrought in the soul of a believer by the Holy Ghost. Jas. i. 17. Moreover, it is one of the chief or cardinal graces mentioned by St. Paul. 1 Cor. xiii. 13. The difference between natural hope, the hope of the natural man; and Christian hope, the hope of the spiritual man, is clearly discerned by the things their hopes are set upon. The desires of the natural man being set wholly and principally upon earthly things, his hopes rise no higher than these, the things that are in the world, exclusively engage his affections, and by these is he wrought upon, and shapes his actions and conduct accordingly. Earthly pleasures and enjoyments are the very heaven of the natural man. He desires no other, and would be content to live here alway, provided he was shielded from poverty and disease, and could retain and enjoy his pleasures, and not feel the want of enjoyment through declining years and approaching old age, and fear of approaching death. We ask the men of the world, where are your hearts? Do they not rove entirely after the world, and things pleasing to self? Are not your desires and hopes quite still in the affairs of the soul and of heaven? Are not your hopes and fears all bounded by this terrestrial scene? and when this shall have passed away, your hopes will be, as Job says, "as the giving up of the ghost." They will all perish, and leave the soul ashamed and wretched; with no well grounded hope of a future state of happiness, and filled with fears of a judg

ment to come. And mark what it is that is at the root of all this, namely, unbelief. When He (the Holy Spirit) is come, He will reprove the world of sin-of sin, because they believe not on Me. John xvi. 8, 9.

In contradistinction to the hope of the natural man, that perisheth-the hope of the spiritual man is set upon heavenly things, that perish not. He hath set his heart and affections upon things unseen and eternal, things which never fail, which will not disappoint his hope, or make him ashamed of his trust. And so far from the things he has set his hopes upon failing him at death-death does but put him into the full possession of them, by removing all those obstacles that prevented the full enjoyment of the things hoped for. It is the property of the grace of hope to pierce through the future, and fill the soul with joy and peace in believing. Does the believer hope that he shall conquer death, and obtain heaven with all its blessedness? The hope that he shall will not deceive him. It is fixed upon the word of Him who hath said, “heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." Mark xiii. 31.

(2.) As to the particular objects of hope.

There are two principally. (1) The Christian's hope is fixed chiefly and primarily upon God. He is the glorious object of his hope. But since all the promises of God are yea and amen, in Christ Jesus; since they all center in Him, and derive all their efficacy and certainty from his eternal power and Godhead; and by Him they are all fulfilled to his church and people, for their everlasting comfort and joy, and that Christ also is said to be

our hope, and Christ in us, by his Holy Spirit, the hope of glory; therefore, the glorious object upon which the hope of the believer is chiefly and primarily fixed, is God-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But (2) though the promises generally are objects of hope to all true believers; yet, there is one particularly specified by the Apostle as the object of hope, namely, the promise of eternal inheritance. Verses 13-15. Now, the promise to Abraham was twofold; first, of "the Messiah," which was the great promise; Gen. xxii. 16-18; Gal. iii. 8 and 16: and, secondly, of "eternal inheritance," of which Canaan was a type, 1 Peter i. 3, 4; Heb. xi. 8-10 and 14-16; Heb. vi. 19, 20. Since, then, Canaan was not given to Abraham-no, not so much as to set his foot upon-it became to him as a type of heaven, properly, an object of hope. As saith the Apostle-Heb. xi. 8-"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God;" shewing that believers, alike under both the Old and New Testaments, look for the same inheritance by faith with Abraham, which inheritance the Apostle distinctly states to be "heavenly." "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made," and specially this of eternal inheritance. The two great objects, therefore, upon which the hope of believers is fixed, are, A 2

first and primarily, God Himself; and, secondly, the inheritance prepared for them by God, into which Jesus hath for them entered, and taken possession of as their forerunner; and, who says to them, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John xiv. 3. II. The grounds upon which it rests. Christian hope has a sure foundation. It is based upon a full persuasion of God's faithfulness and righteousness. It has in it an assurance of faith, which cannot deceive; or make him ashamed of his hope, who trusts in God. And though all things else should fail, this hope cannot. "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished." Is. li. 6. Now, for the encouragement of the heirs of promise, and that their faith and hope might be in God, and not in themselves; for then would their hope be inconstant and wavering; the Apostle proceeds to state, that God hath confirmed his word and counsel by an oath, though his own bare word were sufficient; yet, knowing the weaknesses and infirmities of his people, and the numerous enemies and difficulties that encompass them, hath been graciously pleased, to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel by confirming it by an oath; "That, by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, they might have a strong consolation," (a full assurance of hope,) "who have fled for refuge

to lay hold upon the hope set before them." But, the promise of God made to Abraham, of eternal inheritance, thus confirmed by an oath, the Apostle informs us, Heb. xiii. 20, was further ratified by blood-by the blood of the

everlasting covenant. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." All legal hindrances to the fulfilment of the promise being, by that blood, for ever put away. So also the prophet Zech. ix. 11, 12: "As for thee also, by the blood of the covenant, I have set forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to-day do I declare I will render double unto you.' The inheritance therefore being ratified by the blood of the everlasting covenant, and confirmed by the word and oath of God, is thus made for ever sure to the heirs of promise. And if, as the Apostle says, an oath among men is an end of all strife; and, we put full confidence in the veracity of him who solemnly swears, as in the presence of the Almighty; how much more, with what unbounded confidence, should we believe and rely upon the word and oath of the Almighty Himself; and never afterwards doubt his word, or disregard his oath. Yes, some one perhaps may say, I see all this; nor can I ever doubt, but that the word and oath of God have made the promise eternally sure