Christian hope is not a mere feeble and fluctuating expectation of eternal happiness, partaking more of the nature of uncertainty than of confidence; for it "because," and the twenty-first verse, connected with the nineteenth, allowing for the intervening parenthesis, would thus read; "The earnest expectation of the creature looketh for the revelation of the sons of God; in hope that the creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption;" i. e. death; to which the Apostle afterwards opposes "the redemption of the body," or the resurrection into the glorious liberty of the children of God. "For we know that the whole creation," or every rational creature, "groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they; i. e. the whole heathen world; "but ourselves," the believers in the Gospel of Christ, "who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, namely, the redemption of our body," the resurrection, and consequent full revelation, of our dignity and immortal glory as the sons of God. Such is the meaning of this passage, in which the Apostle, to give importance to the subject of future glory, represents it as the object of longing desire to the whole rational creation, the various tribes of which are exhibited as lifting up their heads from beneath the bondage of misery and death, and directing an exploring eye and eager hope towards IMMORTALITY; as that alone which could relieve their sorrows, and satisfy their desires. They knew not with certainty that there was such a state; their notions were obscure and fluctuating; it was rather a wish than a belief: but it was that which they may be truly said to have groaned after, as what alone could compensate for the sorrows and the brevity of human life. It is no objection to this view of the passage, to say that the heathen could be scarcely said, in their state of ignorance, to hope to be delivered "from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God:" for things are frequently set forth by the sacred writers, not as they are actually contemplated by the persons in connexion with whom they are introduced, but as they are in themselves. Thus, Christ is is, by a beautiful figure of speech, called a sure and stedfast anchor; and in other places, without a figure, it is called a lively hope, a good hope, and a confident one; and we are also admonished to go on to the full assurance of hope: expressions, especially the last, which amount to the highest degree of confident and triumphant expectation. Many Christians seem to err on this subject, by supposing that the grace of which we are now speaking, means nothing more than a state of mind, partaking of so much doubt, as leaves them very little above the level of absolute despondency. Hope must ever be in proportion to our faith; if the latter be weak, the former will inevitably be so too. It will be perceived, that although these three graces are, in some respects, very different, yet there are others in which they have points of strong resemblance. Faith has something of the expectation of hope, and hope something of the desire of love. Hope touches faith at the point of expectation; love touches hope at the point of desire: and thus, like the colours of the rainbow, maintain their distinction, while, at the same time, they soften down into each other by almost insensible degrees. called the "desire of all nations;" not that all nations really desired him, but desired happiness, which his advent alone could introduce. So, in this case, every creature longs for that immortality, or future state of happiness, which is in itself, though not contemplated as such by them, the glorious revelation of the sons of God. This most striking and beautiful passage has no reference to the brute creation, as groaning under the effects of man's sin, and from which they will be delivered by a resurrection; no reference to any physical change to be produced during the Millennium in the material world, now by a bold figure represented as burdened and pained by human guilt; for what has this to do with the context, or with the design of the Apostle, which is to comfort believers under the sufferings of this, mortal state? but it relates to that glory, honour, and eternal life, which God has promised to them that love him; in reference to which he so sublimely affirms, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The view here given is that which is taken also by Hammond and McKnight. But how are we to understand the Apostle, when he says, "there remain these three?" He here alludes to the miraculous operations of the primitive church, and contrasts with their transient existence the permanent continuance in the Christian church of these cardinal virtues. Miracles were introduced to establish the credibility of the Gospel testimony, and having delivered their evidence, retired for ever; but faith, and hope, and love, are to remain as the very essentials of true religion. Particular forms of church government are only the attire which piety wears, or the habitation in which it dwells; but these graces are the body, soul, and spirit, of vital religion. When these are no longer to be found on earth, godliness may be said to be retired and gone. But are these the only Christian virtues which have outlived the age of miracles, and which are destined still to live and flourish on the earth? Certainly not. Penitence, temperance; yea, whatsoever things are true; whatsoever things are honest; whatsoever things are just; whatsoever things are lovely; whatsoever things are of good report;-are as permanent and as strong in their obligations, as faith, and hope, and love: but these three either represent, or imply, or excel, all others. They are the main trunk, from which all others issue as the branches, and by which they are supported. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity; but the greatest of these is charity!" Love among the Christian virtues is, as poets have described Gabriel among archangels, a seraph loftier than all the seraph train. But we are not to suppose that it was the Apostle's intention to depreciate the value and importance of the other two. What can be more important and necessary than the faith by which we are united to Christ, and justified in the sight of God; by which we purify our hearts and overcome the world? Turn to the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews, where the sacred writer seems to conduct you into the temple of Christianity; and after exhibiting the names, and the statues, and the recorded deeds, of the heroes of the church, and displaying before you the spoils they have won in the battles of the Lord, says to you, "Behold the triumphs of faith!" Faith is the means of love: hence said the Apostle, "Faith, which worketh by love." Nor could it be his intention to depreciate hope, which is called, "the anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, which entereth into that within the veil:" of which it is said, "we are saved by hope;" and every man that hath this hope, "purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Much less are we warranted, from this expression, to select love, as the exclusive object of our pursuit, and to cultivate it to the neglect of the other two. Separate from them it can have no existence. Any attempt to build it up without them, is like the effort to raise a superstructure without a foundation. "Add to your faith, brotherly kindness and charity," says the Apostle. It is only as we believe the testimony of God's love to us, which is contained in the Gospel, that we can possess Christian charity to our fellow-men. What the Apostle means is, that there are some views of love, in which it must be allowed to possess a higher degree of moral excellence than either faith or hope. 1. It is the END which faith and hope are the means of producing. Love is what might be called an ultimate virtue; but faith and hope subordinate ones. Justification itself is but part of the divine means for bringing the soul of man into a state of moral perfection. The ultimate end to be obtained by redemption is the restoration of the image of God to the human spirit; and pardon is the introductory and subsidiary means. Hence faith, by which we are justified, is an exercise of mind, which produces, and is intended to produce, in us a conformity to the divine character. It is not a grace which terminates in itself, without being calculated or designed to originate and support any thing else, which is the case with love. Sanctity is the end of truth: so our Lord teaches us-"Sanctify them by the truth." The truth is received into the mind by faith, that it may impart sanctity, which includes love. Similar remarks will apply to hope, of which it is said, "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." Christian charity, then, attains this eminence by being the ultimate virtue, to which |