has already marked them with his Divine seal. They have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the day of the Redemption.

V. 24. For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

For we are saved by hope.-According to the original, this phrase may either be translated by hope, or in hope; but from the connexion it appears that it ought to be translated, as in the French versions, in hope. The word salvation, or saved, signifies all the benefits of our redemption-namely, remission of sins, sanctification, and glorification. "The Son of man is come

to save that which was lost." In this sense Jesus Christ is called the Saviour, because it is by him that we are justified, and sanctified, and glorified. This word has in Scripture sometimes a more limited, and sometimes a more extended meaning. In particular places salvation is spoken of as already possessed, as where it is said, God has "saved us by the washing of regenera tion, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Generally it signifies all the benefits of our redemption, when fully possessed by our final admission to glory, as when it is said, "he that endureth to the end shall be saved." In this verse it is regarded as enjoyed only in hope; that is to say, in expectancy, since we have not yet been put in possession of the glory of the kingdom of heaven.

In order to distinguish the measure of salvation which believers have in possession, and what they have of it in hope, we must consider its gradations. The first of these is their eternal election, of which the Apostle speaks, Eph. i. 3, 4, according to which their names were written in heaven before the creation of the world. The second gradation is their effectual calling, by which

God has called them from darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son, so that their souls are already partakers of grace, and their bodies habitations of God through the Spirit, and members of Jesus Christ. Of these gradations of their salvation they are already in possession. But the third gradation, in which sin shall be entirely eradicated from their souls, and their bodies shall be made like to the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ, is as yet enjoyed by them only in hope.

The term hope is used in two different senses, the one proper, and the other figurative. Properly it means the mixture of expectation and desire of that to which we look forward; so that we are kept stedfast to one object, as where it is said, "hope is the anchor of the soul." Figuratively, it signifies that which we hope for, as when God is called our hope-" Thou art my hope, O Lord God," Ps. lxxi. 5; or "Jesus Christ which is our hope," 1 Tim. i. 1 ; and as when it is said, we give thanks to God" for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven," Col. i. 5. The word hope, then, either denotes, as in the verse before us, the grace of hope, in reference to the person hoping, or the object of hope, in reference to the thing hoped for.

They are, however, By faith we believe

Hope is so closely allied to faith that sometimes in Scripture it is taken for faith itself. distinct, the one from the other. the promises made to us by God; by hope we expect to receive the good things which God has promised, so that faith hath properly for its object the promise, and hope for its object the thing promised, and the execution of the promise. Faith regards its object as present, but hope regards it as future. Faith precedes hope, and is its foundation. We hope for life eternal, be

cause we believe the promises which God has made respecting it; and if we believe these promises we must expect their effect. Hope looks to eternal life as that which is future in regard to its remoteness; but in regard to its certainty faith looks to it as a thing that is present. Hope, says the Apostle, maketh not ashamed, and he declares that we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Thus he ascribes to it the same certainty as to faith, and in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he speaks of the full assurance of hope. Faith and hope are virtues of this life which will have no place in the life that is to come. Now abideth faith, hope, and love. Faith and hope will cease; and in this respect love is the greatest, as love will abide for ever.

The objects of the believer's hope are spiritual and heavenly blessings. They are different from earthly blessings. The men of the world hope for riches and the perishable things of this life; the believer hopes for an inheritance in heaven that fadeth not away. For this hope Moses gave up the riches and treasures of Egypt. By this hope David distinguishes himself from the ungodly. "Deliver me from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure, they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness," Ps. xvii. 13-15. And contrasting his condition with that of the children of this world, he says, Ps. lxxiii. 7. "Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish ;" but as to himself he had been plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning; yet he adds, "Nevertheless I am continually with thee;

Thou shalt

thou hast holden me by my right hand. guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." If it should be said by believers, may not we also hope for perishable and temporal blessings, the answer is, that christian hope is founded on the promises of God, and on them it is rested. The hope which exceeds these promises is carnal and worldly. To know, therefore, what is the object of christian hope, we must observe what are the promises of God. It is true that Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come; but respecting this life God's promises are conditional, and to be fulfilled only as he sees their accomplishment to be subservient to his glory and our good, while as to the life that is to come they are absolute. Are we, then, to expect only ease and happiness in this world, to whom it has been declared that " we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God," and to whom the Lord himself says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me?" The people of God should therefore rest their hope on the absolute promises of God, which cannot fail, of blessings that are unperishable, and of a real and permanent felicity.

The foundations and support of christian hope are firm and certain. First, the word and immutable promise of God; for heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall remain for ever. God has promised heaven as the eternal inheritance of his people; shall they doubt his fidelity? He has said, "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed," Isa. liv. 10. He

has accompanied his promise with his oath: "willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us," Heb. vi. 17. We have, besides, the blood of the Son of God with which his promise has been sealed, and his obedience, even unto death, which he has rendered to his Father, for the foundation of this hope. We have also the intercession of our Great High Priest, of whom the Apostle, in establishing the grounds of the assurance of faith and hope, says not only that he is dead, but that he is risen and at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. He declares, too, that our hope enters into heaven where Jesus our forerunner has entered for us. To these foundations of our hope may be added, that it is said, "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." The Apostle calls this hope an anchor of the soul, representing the believer, in the temptations and assaults to which he is exposed, under the similitude of a ship tossed by the sea, but which has an anchor fixed in the ground, firm and stedfast, which prevents its being driven away by the waves. This hope is not only necessary in adversity, but also in prosperity, in raising our affections to things above, and disengaging them from the world. The good hope through grace tranquilizes the soul. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why are thou disquieted within me? hope in God for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my