God," Psal. xliii. 5. This hope consoles us in life and in death. It softens the bitterness of affliction, supports the soul in adversity, and in prosperity raises the affections to heavenly objects. It promotes our sanctification, for he who hath this hope of beholding Jesus as he is, purifieth himself even as he is pure, 1 John, iii. 3. It assures us that if Jesus died and rose again, that them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Let believers renounce their vain hopes of happiness in this world. Here they are strangers and pilgrims, and absent from the Lord. Let them hope for his presence and communion with him in glory. "Now," says the Apostle, "the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

Christian hope is a virtue produced by the Holy Spirit, in which, through his power, we should abound, and by which, resting on the promises of God in Jesus Christ, we expect our complete salvation. This hope is a part of our spiritual armour against principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness, with which we have to wrestle. We are commanded to put on "for an helmet the hope of salvation," 1 Thes. v. 8.

In the preceding verse the Apostle had said we wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Here he gives it as a reason of our waiting, that as yet we are saved only in hope. As far as the price of redemption is concerned we are already saved, but in respect to the power by which we shall be put in possession of that for which the price has been paid, namely, our deliverance from the remainder of sin under which we groan, the resurrection of our bodies, and the enjoyment

of the eternal inheritance, we are saved only in hope. The hope of all this is present with us, but the enjoyment is future. Hope that is seen is not hope. That is, hope cannot respect any thing which we already enjoy. For it is impossible, as the Apostle subjoins, for a man to hope for that which he possesses. Hope and possession are ideas altogether incongruous and contradictory.

Believers, then, are as yet saved only in hope. They have received but the earnest and foretaste of their salvation. They groan under the weight which is borne by them, and their bodies are subject to the sentence of temporal death. If they were in the full possession of their salvation, faith would no longer be the conviction of things hoped for, as things hoped for are not things enjoyed. This corresponds with what the Apostle says elsewhere, when he exhorts believers to work out their salvation, and when he remarks that our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. When it is said we are saved in hope, as it supposes our felicity to be future, so it implies that all the good we can for the present enjoy of that distant and future felicity is obtained by hoping for it, and, therefore, if we could not hope for it we should lose all the encouragement we have in the prospect.

V. 25.-But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Hope produces patience with respect to all the trials, and labours, and difficulties that must be encountered before we obtain its object. Since we hope for what we see not, that is, for what we possess not, there must consequently be a virtue by which being held firm we wait for it, and that is patience. For between

hope and enjoyment of the thing hoped for a delay intervenes, and there are many temptations within and afflictions from without, by which hope would be turned into despair if it were not supported by patience. As long as hope prevails the combat will not be given up. In the 23d verse believers are said to be waiting for the adoption; here the inducement to their waiting and patiently waiting, is stated; it is their hope supported by patience. Patiently bearing their present burden and waiting for heaven, implies their expectation that it is reserved for them. They have been begotten again to a lively hope of possessing it by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which is a sure pledge of the redemption of their bodies from the grave. This verse and the preceding teach the importance of hope to believers, and of their obeying the exhortation to give all diligence to the full assurance of hope. The hope of beholding Jesus as he is, and of obtaining "a better resurrection," is calculated to enable them patiently to sustain the sufferings of the present time. This hope is represented as encouraging the Lord himself, "Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame," Heb. xii. 2.

V. 26.-Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Believers have need of patience, that after they have done the will of God, they may receive the promise; but their patience is not perfect as it ought to be, and they are often ready to cast away their confidence, although it hath great recompense of reward. For their support, then, in their warfare, which is attended with so much difficulty, the Apostle presents a variety of

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considerations. He had reminded them in the 17th verse of their communion with Jesus Christ, and that if they suffer with him they shall with him also be glorified. In the 18th verse, he had told them that their sufferings bear no proportion to that glory of which they shall be made partakers. He had next drawn an argument from the present state of creation, suffering, but waiting for, and expecting its deliverance, and the manifestation of the sons of God; and, reminding them of the pledges they had already received of that glorious manifestation, he had spoken of its certainty, although still future, and therefore as yet enjoyed only in hope. But as they might still object, how, even admitting the force of these encouragements, can we who are so weak in ourselves, and so inferior in power to the enemies we have to encounter, bear up under so many trials? the Apostle, in the verse before us, points out an additional and internal source of encouragement of the highest consideration, namely, that the Holy Spirit helps their infirmities, and also prays for them, which is sufficient to allay every desponding fear, and to communicate the strongest consolation.

At the close of the sacred canon, the church is represented as saying, "Come, Lord Jesus." Being a stranger on earth, and her felicity consisting in communion with her glorious Lord, she groans on account of his absence, and ardently desires his holy and blessed presence. In the meantime, however, he vouchsafes to his people great consolation to compensate for his absence. He assures them that he has ascended to his Father and their Father, to his God and their God; that in his Father's house are many mansions; that he is gone to prepare a place for them; and that when he

has prepared a place, he will return and receive them to himself, that where he is they may be also. They also know the way, he himself being the way and their guide. How encouraging is this doctrine, and how well calculated for the support of hope and patience in expecting the return of the bridegroom. If he is gone to their common Father, communion in his glory will not long be delayed. If there be many mansions in the house of their heavenly Father, these are prepared to receive not only the elder brother, but all his brethren, for were there only one abode it would be for him alone. If he is gone to prepare a place, and if he is soon to come again to receive them to himself, is it not calculated to fill them with joy in the midst of troubles and afflictions? But all these consolations would be insufficient unless Jesus had added, that he would not leave them orphans, but would give them another Comforter to abide with them for ever, even the Spirit of Truth. Without such support they would be overwhelmed by the weight of their afflictions, and overcome by their manifold temptations. But since they have not only an Almighty Surety, but also an Almighty Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, who dwells in them, and abides with them, this is sufficient to confirm their joy, to establish their hope, and to give them the assurance that nothing shall separate them from the love of Christ. Such is the consolation, in addition to all the others, which, in the passage before us, the Apostle presents.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.Likewise, or in like manner, as we are supported by hope, so the Spirit also helps our infirmities. The expression, helpeth our infirmities, is very significant.