Rom. viii. 24, 25. We are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? But if tve hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
IF it be asked, What is that feeling of the mind, which, beyond all others, gives life and activity to rational agents ? we answer, It is hope. Influenced by this, all persons in every department of life put forth their energies : the merchant braves the storms ; the soldier encounters his enemies ; the student con- sumes the midnight oil in his laborious researches. To this also is chiefly to be referred the Christian's exertions in the service of his God. True it is, that love and gratitude have a constraining influence upon him : but it is also true, that these principles would be ineffectual to carry his soul through all its trials, if they were not confirmed and animated by the yet more powerful operation of hope. Great, no doubt, are the privileges and enjoyments of the Christian in this present world : he is a child of the Most High God ; and has " a spirit of adoption within him, enabling him to cry, Abba, Father." He has also " the witness of the Spirit testifying both in and by his own spirit, that he is a child of God." But, after all, little solid comfort would he derive from these reflections, if he did not look forward to an inhe- ritance, to which, by virtue of his relation to God, he is entitled. Hence the Apostle represents the Lord's people as deriving their chief consolation from the prospect which they have beyond the grave % yea, and " as being saved by hope," through the operation of which upon their minds "they patiently wait for" the termination and issue of all their present trials.
We propose on the present occasion to consider the nature and effects of the Christian's hope :
I. Its nature —
a ver. 23.