angels ? They believe it, as much as we do : but, having no evidence in themselves that they comply with the terms on which that mercy is vouchsafed, they do not hope in it : " they believe and tremble0." It is the penitent alone that has hope in God: and his hope arises from his consciousness, that he does embrace the mercy offered him, and conform to the terms which God in his wisdom has prescribed to all who shall ulti- mately be saved by it.
They differ also in their qualities. Faith is properly a virtue ;
and the want of it under all circumstances is a sin. As a virtue,
there is no other so frequently or so highly commended ; (where
that has been exercised, humility, and love, and every other
grace that has been exercised with it, has been overlooked, and
that alone commended":) and as a sin, no other is so strongly
reprobated as unbelief q. Hope, on the other hand, may rather
be called a privilege than a virtue ; and despondency, a curse,
rather than a sin. So far indeed as hope agrees with faith in
its foundation, so far it agrees with it in its moral qualities :
but as far as it is founded, not on the word of God, but in a
man's own conformity to that word, so far its moral qualities
differ from those of faith : for instead of its being a sin for an
ungodly man to despair of salvation in his present state, it is a
sin for him to indulge a hope : it is the vilest presumption in
him to think that he can ever be saved in an impenitent and
unbelieving state : and to despair of salvation in such a state is
his very first step towards heaven.
They differ yet further in their objects. Faith is incom- parably more extensive than hope. Faith has respect to both good and evil : it embraces in its view both heaven and hell : but hope has good alone for its object. Faith comprehends every thing that God has revealed, whether past, present, or future : hope looks only to what is future. Faith regards every declaration of God, whether historical or prophetic, promissory or menacing, hortatory or preceptive : but hope has respect to the promises alone. It invariably terminates on some good, which is yet future, and which God has promised.
Lastly, They differ also in their offices. Though both of them agree in their general use, to promote the salvation of men, they have exceedingly distinct offices. Faith apprehends the Lord Jesus Christ, and, by uniting us to him, interests us in all that he has done and suffered for us : it also receives out of his fulness all those graces and blessings which the Father has been pleased to treasure up in him for the benefit of his Church. Hope merely expects those blessings : and, by pre- senting future good to our view, stimulates us to diligence in the pursuit of it. Both of these principles " save us ;" but
0 Jam. ii. 19. p Luke vii. 50. i Mark xvi. 16.