On the Nature of Christian Hope, and Its Distinction from Faith and Love

All Christians are not metaphysicians, nor is it necessary, either for their safety or their sanctity, that they should be. Philosophy has done little for theology but to corrupt it; and yet a sound philosophy nmst ever be in harmony with a sound theology. A clear view of our mental economy would help us to clearer views, if not of the doctrines of Christianity, yet of the best method of reducing them to practice in our daily walk. A correct analysis of our spiritual nature in all its faculties, besides the gratification which a knowledge of the science of ourselves will never fail to impart, will be some assistance to us in carrying forward and advancing to a higher perfection the duties of the divine life. A philosophical view of the nature of hope, will therefore be of some service to us in guiding its exercises.

Hope is not a simple, but a complex passion, and consists of the desire of some object, the expectation of obtaining it, together with that joy which arises from both these. Its basis may be said to be desire, which may exist in different forms, according to the degree of probability of the attainment of its object. When there is little, if any probability, it constitutes, what is termed, a mere wAh when the probability is stronger, it connects 14 CHSISTIAN HOPE.

itself with expectation, and becomes hope; and with probability that amounts almost to certainty, it settle into confidence. Desire, without expectation, is despair expectation, without desire, is dread. Strong desir< with faint expectation, is feeble hope; but with confidec expectation, is assurance. These distinctions will b found to be of some service in the christian life, a shewing what states of mind to cultivate, in order to th full enjoyment of Christian privilege. For instance, — i order to a lively hope,’* it is not only necessary t inflame desire after spiritual blessings; but also t strengthen expectation. We must not only see that thea things are necessary, but attainable, and attainable by us and as this persuasion of attainableness constitutes faitl in order to strengthen hope, we must increase in faitl And as expectation is never likely to be excited without sense of the desireableness of its object, if we would rous up a lively expectation, we must first kindle an intens desire. It is when the soul has a longing desire afte future glory, and a confident expectation of it, that it rise in hope, till it reaches to a full assurance.

The object of hope must be something good, and some thing future* No one by possibility can desire what i evil — or to speak with greater precision, what appears I be evil. Good, or apparent good, must be the object o hope. Here, it will be perceived, it differs from faith which may and does believe in what is evil as well a what is good. Christian faith has respect to all thi threatnings of God, no less than to his promises; bu hope has respect only to his invitations and promises.

Hope must have respect to some future good, as thi apostle has most correctly said, “Hope that is seen is no hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope fo it?” — Rom. viii. 24. Here again it differs both from faith and love, for these may have existence in relation to present object. But while differing in some views from these graces, it has a resemblance to them in others. Hope resembles faith in regard to expectation, “Faith,” says the apostle, “is the substance (or confident expectation) of things hoped for.” — Heb. xii. 1. There can be neither faith nor hope where there is no expectation. This is an important remark as bearing on Christian experience. Many persons imagine, and it can be but imagination, that they really believe in Christ, whilst they have no expectation of salvation. This is impossible. Expectation is at once the exercise and the evidence of faith; and faith is strong or weak according to the degree of expectation. The same may be said of hope. And as hope touches faith on the side of expectation, so it touches love on the side of desire. There can be no love where there is no desire; and in proportion to the fervour of love, is the strength and intensity of desire. This also may be said of hope.

Hope resembles these two kindred graces in another particular, and that is in joy. We read, and I trust we feel, that there is “joy and peace in believing;” and we read also of “the comfort of love:” and does not the apostle speak of “Rejoicing in hope?” Holy joy is the evidence of both faith and hope. If there be no consolation in the troubled breast, can there be any belief of the truth as it is in Jesus, or a confident expectation of glory everlasting?

How beautifully do the graces of the Holy Spirit in the soul of the Christian, like the colours of the rainbow, soften down into one another. Look at that glorious ethereal arch, and separate the colours, if you can, by a visible line of demarcation. The eye cannot tell where each begins and ends; and as the union of all these forms the pure white light of day, so the union of faith, hope, and love, though distinct graces, yet blending together, forms th piety of the real Christian.

And as these graces are homogeneous in nature, they are harmonious in their exercise; like certain strings of music, touch one, and the others vibrate. They are a trinity in unity, which cannot be separated and exist apart. We cannot really believe and not love, for “faith worketh by love;” nor can we love without faith, for love is the fruit of faith, and the fruit cannot be produced without the tree. So neither can we hope without faith, for hope is the desire and expectation of something promised. And then see how love excites hope, for if we love Christ, shall we not long to be with him, and that in exact proportion as our love to him is intense? This relation to each other, and the operation of the graces in producing, or at any rate, strengthening each other, is beautifully described by the apostle, where he says, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom we have access into this grace, wherein we now stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only 80, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.” — Rom. v. 1-5.

The Boot of the other two graces is faith. The gospel brings us the glad tidings of salvation, by the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The message meets the ear, is unfolded to the understanding, and applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit. Conviction of sin is produced, and an earnest desire after pardon, peace, and ftemal life is felt. But this desire is not yet hope, for the poor distressed soul is in doubt and fear of his acceptance with God. He cannot yet attain to a blissful expectation. Wandering about in gloom and anxiety, he is yet a stranger to joy, to hope, to love; in fact, a stranger to everything but sin, sorrow, and alarm. He desires salvation, but dares not expect it, and therefore, of course, cannot hope for it. Why not? Simply because be does not believe the glad news that Christ died for him as well, and as really, and as much, as for others. His sins are felt to be too great to be pardoned, or there is something else necessary to obtain their pardon. At length further light and teaching from the divine comforter and illuminator leads him to see that he is included- in the objects of divine mercy, and invited to partake of its rich benefits. He believes in Christ, and now what follows? Hope. He now expects to be forgiven — to be saved. The promise holds up the blessing, faith believes it; hope not only desires, but looks for it. “Yes,** says the poor distracted sinner, “I believe that God has loved me, that Christ has died for me *, that / am invited to him; and now my doubts and fears are scattered, and I expect salvation.” Thus you see, that faith believes the great object attainable, and hope desires and expects it. It is well to see this connection between faith and hope, not only at the outset of the christian life, but through all its future progress. Can I hope for any favour from one on whom I have no claim, if he has not promised it, or does not exhibit in hid character and usual conduct some ground for my expectation — for my faith P And if he promise me, can I hope till I believe his promise: and if I believe, shall I not hope? This is so plain that it scarcely needs either confirmation or illustration. Yet it is so important to see the 18 CHXItTIAll HOPS.

eoaotdkm. between fidih and hope, that one or two esMaafik$ wmj be here cited. I rrfer the nadcr to tltt caae of Abndiam — Bomanii it. 16, 21. If he will tun to the paiaige, he wiH aee that ooneening the promiaed aeed ‘’he bdiefed, and against hope bdieved in hope.” Heie the fidth and the hope are piopcnrtionals. Aa he idieved the promiae which was eontiaiy to natore, ao he toped Ua what was contrary to natore. So again it ia aaid of Moaea, ‘< Who by fidth refiiaed to be called the aon of Fhaioah’s daughter/* ‘’f<Nr he had reject uto the reeompeaae of reward.” He bdieved the proniae of God, and he hoped for the things promised. Another instance of this may be seen in Paul — Romans TiiL S3-39; where we see the assnrsnoe ol ftiih and the aasonnce of hope amnected; the one arising from the other, and both blending into one delightful sentiment of trimnphant ccmfidence. Some Christians complain of the feebleness of their hope, and want it to be in livelier exercise. The object ol their desires appears dim and distant, and their eqiectations of it tremukms and flucto* ating. Pear oHea preyaOs and deepens into despcmdency. What would they give ht a clearer view, and a more animated antidpation of divine and heavenly realitiea; but alas 1 they know not how to obtain it. Th seek, but do not find it; prey, but do not get it; wait but it does not come. The secret is easily found. Thdr foith is weak. They do not grasp the promise. They give way to their dcwbta, and their foare must of necea* sity rise and prevaiL Pear is the shadow of doubt; and hxap the sunshine of laith. Let us be more conversant with the tnms of the promiae and the attributes of the pramiaer. Let us Wttgh the evidmoes of the of Iha word of Gtodi and thtti make ooiaelvea fond* liar with his omnipotence and immutability, and we shall be strong in hope when we are strong in faith.

And now love will of necessity follow the exercise of the other two. Can I really believe that Christ loves me with all that wondrous benevolence which brought him from heaven to earth; made him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; led him to agonise in Gethsemane, and expire on the cross for me: and not love him in return P Is this the only exception to the rule which says, that love begets love P Shall we not on the contrary say, and feel what we say, ‘’We love him, because he first loved us P And does not hope equally inflame love? When I range over the prospects of eternal life and glory; when I survey the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away; when by sanctified imagination I walk through the new Jerusalem, and see her streets of gold, her gates of pearl, her foundations all of precious stones; when I see her glorified population, and hear their anthems of praise, their songs of delight; when I see the Lamb in the midst of the throne, and the liver of water of life, clear as (»rystal, proceeding from it; and the tree of life on the banks of the river, with its twelve kinds of fruits, and all this shining brightly with the glory of God; and then say, I hope for all this; all this is my future possession — shall I not love Him who has given me this good hope, this everiasting consolation P*

We see in all this the connection of the graces of true religion, their mutual dependence and influence upon each other. They all spring from the same principle of grace in the soul, and are the action of the same spiritual life. In the tree there are the root, the trunk, the branch, the ka the fruit; yet all nourished from the soil and

mutually dependent and operatiTe. In the flower there are the root, the stem, the petal, the fragrance; yet all sustained by the same principle of vegetable vitality. In the human body there is the variety of organs and limbs; yet all united to the head, and by receiving influence £rom that, and being fully ‘’ joined together and compacted by that which eveiy joint supplieth, according to the effeotual working in the measure of eveiy part, maketh increase of the body.” So is it in the soul, and its holy dispositions; there is variety of parts and of functions, yet unity of construction and operation. If we believe, there is the operation of the principle of renewing and sanctifying grace; if we hope, there is the operation of the same principle; and if we love, there is also the same. There are not only diversities of gifts, the working of the self-same Spirit in the same church, but diversities of operations of the Spirit in the individual Christian.

Is there not something to be gathered from this, affecting the experience of the believer, and auxiliaij. to his consolation in those painful exercises of soul to which he is liable in his present state of discipline id probation? Seasons of gloom, depression and doubt, do occur in the history of most Christians, and more frequently in the life of some than others. I would be far from writing any thing that would tend to nou-s rish those morbid conditions of the soul, and there is an injudicious mode of treating them which has this ten-» dency. Still I would do any thing to comfort the perturbed heart under them, and lead that heart out of its perplexities. Such a person is sometimes troubled because he cannot find all the graces in full and vigorous action; at others, because he cannot find some one that has ^pecia]ly engaged his attention. SopaeUmea

he doubts of his state, because his faith is weak; at others, because his hope is dull; and at others, because hid love is lukewarm. “Is it faith,” says good old Gumall, “that thou hast been looking after, and it has not been heard of; well. Christian, do not presently unsaint thyself, till thou hast made further trial of thyself. Send out, therefore, thy spies to search for some other grace, as thy love for Christ; may be thou wilt hear some tidings of this grace, though the other is not in view. Has not thy love to Christ been seen by thee in such a temptation, chasing it away with Joseph’s answer: ‘How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against GodP’ Yea, mayest thou not see it all the day long, either in thy sincere care to please him, or hearty sorrow when thou hast done any thing that grieves him? in which two veins runs the life’s blood of a soul’s love to Christ. Now, know to thy comfort, that thy love can tell thee news of thy faith. But may be thy love to Christ is lodged in A cloud. Well, then, see whether thou cannot spy no evangelical repentance loading thee with the sight of thy sins, as also in firing thee with revenge against them, as those enemies which drew thee into rebellion against God. Behold the grace thou lookest after stands by thee; for what is love to God, if zeal against sin, which is God’s enemy, be notP”

Now this goes upon the supposition, which is a true one, that all the graces of the renewed soul are in every soul that is truly renewed, and that the existsence of one, implies all the rest, though one may be more fully developed, or at least more clearly ascertained in one person than- in another, and in the same person lift different times and stages of his religious experience.

There is another thing to be observed in reference tp these states of the sanctified mind, that they are veiy closely connected in their growth and decay. We would again borrow our illostration from vegetable and animal life. When the young sapling grows, it is, in all Its parts, the root, the trunk, the branch, the leaf, tb fruit: so in the human body, as to its various limbs, the increase of one is also the increase of the other. And like this, generally, is the process of decay. Observe the process of decline in the human frame under the wasting power of consumption. The signs and proofs of emadi* ation are visible in every part. And in other cases a diseased limb may impart disease to the whole body. So it is in the new creature, the spiritual man, when faith grows, hope and love grow with it; and when love decays, faith and hope will decay at the same time. Here again is a source of instruction, warning, and caution. The christian must be watchful over the state and condition of his whole soul, just as a person who would maintain good health must be attentive to all the organs of his body: not only guard against blindness, but take care of his hearing; nor guard against consumption, but against fever; and while he looks well to his power of walking, not neglect the muscles of his arms, and especially be observant of diseases of the head, and of the heart. Ah, this is what is wanted to our spiritual health — a recollection that a deficiency of action or disease in one grace, may lead to the same things in others: we should look well to the whole new nature. If one grace begins to weaken, we should instantly take alarm lest the deeay extend to others, and the whole man become weak and sickly. If our faith in Christ or heaven grow feeble, let ns tremble lest our hope of our eternal life diminish, and we sink into m earthly and

0HEI8TIAN HOPS. 23

lukewarm condition. If our love become lukewarm, our hope will languish, and the decay of both will act back upon our faith. Our spiritual life is so fine and delicate a thing, that one deficiency left unsupplied, one little ain unmortified, may be attended with most serious con* sequences. Decay is always progressive in its tendency. A single stone falling out of a wall, if the hole be not stopped, may lead to the falling out of one stone after another, till the whole tumbles down. A single beam in a roof infected with the dry rot, may, if suffered to remain, extend to all the timbers, till the whole falls in. Attention must therefore be paid to all the graces of the Spirit; for if one be neglected, the rest will suffer. But on the other hand, for our encouragement, we may recollect that the cultivation and strengthening of one power is the growth of all the rest. While we are growing in faith, we jure growing in hope and love. It is well, however, to endeavour to ascertain in which of the three our deficiency is likely to lie, and from the deficiency in which our chief danger is likely to arise, that we may direct our attention with especial care to the weak parts. Just as we do in our bodily health; whatever organ or limb is more likely than the rest to be affected, to that we direct our chief solicitude and care. As regards our states of mind, we have our constitutional tendencies, our besetting sins. One christian is more tempted to a weak faith, another to a languid hope, and another to a lukewarm affection. We should know (mr tendencies; in order to this, we should study ourselves. What science is so valuable to us, as the science of our own hearts P Yet, how few possess it! With all the opportunities and incentives to obtain this self-knowledge which they possess, how small is the number which make any proficiency in it! S<Hne are wil fully ignorant; they desire not to know their ownselves; they shun acquaintance with their own hearts Others are carelessly ignorant; they treat their own souls, in spiritual matters, with a thoughtlessness and levity which are truly pitiable. Even good people are far greatcar strangers at home in themselves than they ought to be. The whole concern of religion is of such momentous importance, the great discipline and probation for eternity are of such tremendous consequence, that nothing should be neglected which has a bearing upon it. And how can we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling if we do not know towards which of the besetting sins in the christian life our tendency lies.

Such then, I mean the union and exercise of those three graces, faith, hope, and love, is the true religion of Jesus Christ. “Now,” said the apostle, “abideik these three;” as much as to say, amidst all the changes of external administration, after the cessation of many things such as miracles, granted only for a temporary purpose; and after the rejection of many things which are the offi* eious meddling and divers inventions of man’s carnal wisdom; these will ever remain the soul and substance of the Gospel scheme. No change of administration will nullify or weaken these; no devices of an inge nious and busy superstition will supersede these; no mysticism or pietism will ever render these secondary matters in the christian life. As long as there is a church on earth, these will remain the vital, essential, substantial elements of true evangelical piety.

It is worthy the observation of all times, and espe* oially of the present age, how little is said in the New Testament about rites and ceremonies, and even o(

CHRISTIAN HOFB. 2S!

sacraments and the Sabbath, compared with what is said about faith, hope, and love. The ritualists must go back to the ceremonial law of Moses to find their system, and spirit, and prevailing practice; for the teaching of Christ and his apostles relates to other and higher matters. These things, it is true, have their place; the Sabbath and the sacraments are indeed inculcated; but where in the gospels and epistles do we find the remotest hint of all that paraphernalia of ritualism, those pantomimic services, and spiritual histrionics, which constitute so large a portion of the worship of the Church of Rome, and of those who have the folly to imitate her practice, without the honesty to assume her profession 1 Where do we find that all but endless enumeration of saints’ days, fasts, and festivals, which in that corrupt communion is made the essence of piety, and which, if observed, would rob the nation of so large a portion of the productive industry of its population without elevating their religion, or improving their morals 1 How strange a contrast does the religion of a Popish chapel, or Puseyite church, present to that of Paulf Peter, James, or John.^ Surely, if all that the Papists and Tractarians prescribe as necessary to acceptable worship be indeed required, how deficient is the Bible as a nile of faith and practice, and how far short are the teachings of inspiration of what we need on such matters for our guidance-How admirable and how true are the words of John Smith, that fine Christian Platonist: ‘’But, alas, I doubt we generally arrive not at this pitch of religion to deny the world and all the glory and pomp of this largely extended train of vanity, but we easily content ourselves with some external forms of religion. We are too apt to look at a garish dress and attire of religion, to be enamoured rather with some more specious and seemingly spiritual forms, than with the spirit and power of god* Uaess and religion itself. We are more taken commonly with the several fashions that the luxuriant fancies of men are apt to contrive for it, than with the real power and simplicity thereof, and while we think ourselves to be growing in our knowledge, and moving on towards a state of perfection, we do but turn up and down from one form to another; we are as apt still to draw it down into as low, worldly, and mundane rites and ordi* nances, as ever it was before our Saviour made that glorious reformation therein, which took away these material crutches, made up of carnal ordinances, which earthly minds lean so much upon, and are found to underprop their religion with, which else would tumble down and fall to nothing.”

If faith, hope, and love constitute the vital elements of true religion, and we know they do — -what a view do they afford us of its nobleness and excellence. How clearly does it appear that it is not like the prophet’s roll, sweet as honey in the mouth and bitter as gaU in the belly. It is no sullen stoicism, no sour pharisaism* It does not consist in a few gloomy rites or melancholy passions, in dejected looks, lugubrious lamentations and mental depressions; but it consists in freedom, love, peace, life, and power. In its rise and origin, it comes from heaven, and is ever moving towards it. The man who pursues it lives above the world and all its mundane delights and excellences, in converse with his own reason and his God. He receives an influence from God which carries him back to Gkpd. The very faculties of his soul are strengthened by it in their exercise, and

OHBISTIAK HOPE* 27

the sphere of their operation widened, and the objects of their contemplation not only multiplied but elevated into sublimity. By faith, and hope, and love he acquires a just power over himself, aohieyes the noblest victories over all that is low, sinful, and worldly in his nature, and rises into the puissant state, not only of a moral hero, but of a confessor, and, if need be, a martyr. By a religion formed of these graces he renounees the mean and unworthy ends for which the multitude around him live, escapes the imprisonment of an abject selfishness, and by seeldng to glorify Grod, enters into a sympathy and fellowship with Him in the ends of his conduct and the pursuit of his schemes. Faith, and hope, and love, all lead his soul to God as the source of his happiness, the model of his character, and the supreme object of his existence, and thus unite him with the Author of his being. It is utterly impossible that such a religion should not beget in him the greatest serenity and composedness of mind, and the purest and most satisfying pleasures of souL Each of these graces, by itself and all united, have this effect upon his happy spirit. His religion is the commencement of an eternal progress in moral excellence, for though faith and hope will cease, love will remain for ever. To this bliss he is ever carried forward by the impulses and aspirations of hope; which, when he reaches it, will land him on a shore where perfect and eternal felicity will arise out of a perfect and eternal sanctity. True religion, then, the religion of faith, hope, and love, is no mere mechanical, artificial, ritual, external thing, not ‘* the boiling up of our imaginative powers, nor the glowing heats of passion, though these two are often mistaken for it, when in our jugglings of religion we cast a mist before our own eyes; but it is a new nature

^8 CHRISTIAN HOPEf.

informing the souls of men; it is a godlike frame of spirit discovering itself, most of all, in serene and clear minds, in deep humility, meekness, self-denial, universal love of God, and all true goodness, without partiality and without hypocrisy, whereby we are taught to know Grod, and, knowing, to love Him, and conform ourselves as much as may be to all that perfection which shines forth in Him.”

I have lately met with the following parable, in prosepoetry, of the relation and influence of Faith and Hope, which, if evangelised, may be as instructive to the judgment, and as useful to the heart, as it is pleasing to the imagination.

‘’One morning as the sun arose, two spirits went forth upon the earth.

“And they were sisters; but Faith was of mature age, while Hope was yet a child.

“They were both beautiful. Some loved to gaze upon the countenance of Faith, for her eye was serene, and her beauty changed not; but Hope was the delight of every heart.

“And the child sported in the freshness of the morning; and as she hovered over the gardens and dewy lawns, her wings glittered in the sunbeams like the rainbow.

“*Come, my sister,’ she cried, and chase with me this butterfly from flower to flower?’

“But her sister was gazing at the lark as it arose from its low nest and warbled among the clouds.

“And when it was noon, the child said again, ‘Come, my sister, and pluck with me the flowers of the garden, for they are beautiful, and their fragrance is sweet.’

“Bat Faith replied, ‘Nay, my sister, let the flowers be thine, for thou art young, and delightest thyself in their beauty. I will meditate in the shade till the heat of the day be past. Thou wilt find me by the fountain in the forest. When thou art weaty, come and repose on my bosom.’ And she smiled and departed.

‘^ After a time Hope sought her sister. The tear was in her eye, and her countenance was mournful.

Then Faith said, ‘My sister, wherefore dost thou Weep, and why is thy countenance sad?’

‘’And the child answered, ‘Because a cloud is in the sky, and the sunshine is overcast. See, the rain begins to fall.’

“* It is but a shower,’ Faith replied, * and when it is over the fields will be greener than before.’

*’ Now the place where they sat was sheltered from the rain, as it had been from the noontide heat. And Faith comforted the child, and showed her how the waters flowed with a fuller and clearer stream as the shower fell.

‘’And presently the sun broke out again, and the woods resounded with song.

*’ Then Hope was glad, and went forth to her sports pnce more.

“After a time the sky was again darkened, and the young spirit looked up, and behold! there was no cloud in the whole circle of the heavens.

Therefore Hope marvelled, for it was not yet night.

“And she fled to her sister, and cast herself down at her feet, and trembled exceedingly.

“Then Faith raised the child, and led her forth from the shade of the trees, and pointed to the sun, and said, / -”A 9|iiadQW is passing over the face thereof, but no lay of his gloiy is extinguished. He still walketh in brightness, and thou shalt again delight thyself in bis beams. See, even yet his face is not wholly hidden from us.’

“But the child dare not look up, for the gloom stmek upon her heart. And when all was bright again she feared to wander from her sister, and her sports were less gay than before.

‘* When the eventide was come. Faith went forth from the forest shade, and sought the lawn, where she might watch the setting of the sun.

‘’Then said she to her young sister, * Come and behold how far the glories of the sunset transcend the beauties of the morning. See how softly they melt away and give place to the shadows of the night.’

“But Hope was now weary, her eye was heavy, and her voice languid. She folded her radiant wings, and dropped on her sister’s bosom, and fell asleep.

‘* But Faith watched through the night, she was never weary, nor did her eyelids need repose.

^’ She laid the child on a bed of flowers, and kissed her cheek. She also drew her mantle round the head of the sleeper, that she might sleep in peace.

“Then Faith looked upwards, and beheld how the stars came forth. She traced them in their radiant courses, and listened to their harmonies, which mortal ear hath not heard.

“And as she listened, their music entranced her soul.

‘’ At length a light appeared in the east, and the sun burst forth from the portals of the heavens. Then the spirit hastened to arouse the young sleeper.

*” Awake! my sister 1 awake V she cried; ’ a new day hath dawned, and no cloud shall OYershadow it. Awake I for the sun hath arisen which shall set no more.’” *

Now what is the moral of this ingenious and pleasing parable P That faith and hope are naturally related and inseparably united; that faith is the strength of hope, can clear up its difficulties, chase away its apprehensions, revive its languors, inflame its desires, and confirm its expectations. Yes, and more than this, for it shows us that when hope falls into slumber, it is faith that awakens it from its sleep, and points it to the rising and nnsetting sun of Heaven’s eternal day. There are, however, one or two things in the piece which are not quite correct, inasmuch as it represents hope as too young a sister, too childish, and too earthly; for hope in Jesus and in heaven, though the younger sister of faith, is nearly of the same age, and instead of chasing the butty and plucking the flowers, gazes not only at the lark and listens to its warblings, but looks up to the sky into which it soars. Still the beautiful and poetic lesson is, that faith in Christ and heaven sustains our hope of both; that faith is the guardian of hope, and that when our hope wanders from the side of faith, it must, of necessity, fall into doubt, and fear, and gloom.

* Pen and Ink SketdMS of Poeta, Preadien, and FolitioianB.’