IT. ABRAHAM IS THE FATHER OF THE FAITRFUL ESPECIALLY BECAUSE 1N HIM FAITH WAS SHOWN TO BE THE SPRING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. We are told by the apostle that Abraham's faith was reckoned to him for righteousness. This doctrine of imputa- tion ha.• been misunderstood, when it has been inferred from the teaching of the apostle that, faith being present, righteousness may be dispensed with, 'l.'he real teaching of St. Paul aims at removing religion from outward actions to inward dispositions. 'l'he right.eou1111ess which God values is not the performance of services or the submission to rites, so much as the pure thoughts and intents of the heart. So far as what is external is valuable, it is as an indication of what is deep-seated within. Faith brings the soul into right relations with God, and these seoure habits of obedience and sub- jection which display themselves in the words, the deeds, and the oourse of moral lifo by which a man is judged by his fellow-men. Ver. 18.-HOJ)P against hope. Faith and hope are allied. though separate, exercises and habits of created, finite mind. Neither of the two is possfble to God, who is independent and eternal, and can neither confide in a superior nor anticipate a future, Man's highest welfare depends upon faith, which is the principle of a high and noble life. Hope is less necessary, yet it belongs to a complete development of human nature, which looks forward to the future as well as upward to the unseen. Faith must have an object, and hope must have a ground. Faith is in a person; hope has respect to experience anticipated. If there be faith in a Being who has given definite promises, there will be hope in whatever is the matter of those promises. He who believes in God will hopefully expect the fulfilment of Divine assurances. I. TJDmE IS HOPE WHICH IS JIASED UPON NATURAL HUMAN EXPERIENCES. To some extent, hope is a matter of temperament; circumstances which to a despondent man seem to afford no gleam of comfort in looking forward to the future, will arouse the brightest expect.a.lions on the part of the man of sanguine disposition. Still, hope is often precluded by the st.em t.ea.ching of constant experience; and a man would prove himself mad if, in cert.a.in circumstances, he should look forward hopefully to the enjoy- ment of health, honour, or r.ches. Abraham, in the circumstances referred to in the context, might hope for m.a.ny blessings; but, if illumined only by the experience ot his own life and by the experience of preceding generations, he could not hope for a post.erity which should take possession of the land of Canaan as their inheritance. And we, if enlightened only by earthly wisdom, could not venture to anticipate bless- ings which the gospel, upon Divine authority, assures to the believing and obedient, Human hope conld not so far delude us. Il. THERE IS HOPE WHICH 18 BASED UPON THE FAITHFUL PROMISER OF THE ETERNAL, With God nothing is impossible; from God nothing is concealed. Therefore, when ho deigns t.o reveal his purposes to men, and when those purposes are purposes of mercy, those to whom they are made are justified in embracing them aud in acting upon them. In the case of Abraham, that which human hope would have had no ground for anticipating was assured by the firm and unchanging promises of the Supreme; and Divine hope justly prevailed. He hoped in God against any hope or failure of hope which might be natural to him as man. And Abraham did not hope in vain. He eIILbraced. and believed the promises. He and his family, "not having received the promises but having seen them and greeted them from afar, confessed that they were stranger; and pilgrims on the earth." ~ope triumphed, even over t~e bitter ~rial con- r,ectt:d with the sacrifice of Isaac. Looking forward to the future with the bright and piercing eye of hope, our father Abraham saw the day of the Messiah, and he rejoiceu d wu glad. ar,_A.PJ'LWATIOJi'. Often the ,..,_..,_ • if r ed uced to t he 1·1D11t.s vun.,tian, • of ear thly an t·1c1pa • t·ions, might give way to diacouragement and fear. But he has hope, as "an anchor to his suul," by me&IlJI of which he may ride out the storms of time. Let him ho_Pe against Lope, and hiB confidence shall be ju.atified, and his anticipations shall be reahzed.. His ii; a 1.oJ,e which, in the beautiful language of the Apocrypha, is "full of immortality."
Ver. 20__.. &rong in.faith." There is nothing upon which men are wore gl ven to pride theIW10lv• than upor, their streDgth. The athlete boasts of his atrength of muscle wd of bodily con.stitution, the thinker of his 11trength of intellect, the monarch of hit 011, IV, 1-25,] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 113