strength for his weakness, redemption from his sins, and support and confidence under his trials? If Faith did not unite us to that divine Saviour who has brought life and immortality to light; and did not direct our view, shuddering at the gloom, the silence, the corruption of the tomb, to the glories of that state, where corruptible shall put on incorruption, and mortal immortality; what could support the soul struggling with the King of terrors, and animate her to enter triumphantly the dark valley of the grave?

-Faith is thus essential to the Christian life, and the only source of holiness and virtue. It is the powerful principle by which religious truth is received into the mind, and, there embraced,. made to operate on the heart. It is "the substance," the strong and lively expectation, "of things hoped for"-it is "the evidence of things not seen "." It makes the unseen things of eternity operate upon the heart, as if they were seen and present.

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Thus does Faith tend to excite the Christian grace of Hope.

That there is a God, and "that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him ""-that "it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to

save sinners' "that to those who humbly "wait for his coming, he will appear a second time unto salvation "that he has gone to prepare, for his faithful followers, mansions in his Father's house, that where "he is, there they may be also.” These are truths the most important and interesting that can possibly be presented to us. If our belief be lively and sincere, it will naturally excite the desire and the expectation, that we may finally obtain these exalted blessings, which are the objects of our faith.

This lively expectation of obtaining those divine blessings, which faith represents to us as attainable, constitutes that virtue of Hope, from which spring all the joys of the Christian. Hope aspires after those rewards which God will bestow on those who diligently seek him. It is Hope which leads the contrite soul to the throne of him who came to save sinners, and there rejoices in the riches of his mercy; and which anticipates, with holy ardour, the period when the Saviour and Judge of the world will appear to satisfy us with the fulness of his salvation. Strengthened and elevated by Faith, Christian Hope shakes off the cares and incumbrances and sorrows of this state of exile, spurns the empty pleasures of appetite and passion, and soars to her heavenly home, to drink at the fountain of divine joys. Hope, therefore, is the solace of the

1 Tim. i. 15.

Heb. ix. 28.

■ John xiv. 3.

Christian; inspiring him with those expectations of future bliss, with those prospects of celestial felicity, which cheer him under all his sorrows, and lead him to run on his race rejoicing. Continually presenting the lively view of the mercy, the power and love of his Saviour, and of the crown of glory which awaits the faithful and successful combatant in the Christian warfare, Hope becomes "an anchor of the soul," preserving her stedfast amidst the severest assaults of temptation.

But the most exalted efficacy of this grace is displayed in its leading the Christian to purify himself as the master whom he serves, by whose name he is called, and whose favor he hopes to obtain, is also pure. The object at which Hope aims-is the salvation of the soul; everlasting felicity and glory in the presence of God. And, mindful that this salvation is promised only to those, who seek to "be perfect as their Father in Heaven is perfect," Hope thus excites the Christian to the vigorous pursuit and cultivation of Charity, of that lively love to God which leads us to keep his commandments.:

From this divine principle of Charity or love to God must all virtue proceed. In him only who is the source of perfection, does virtue appear with full lustre. And from him only, who is the fountain of goodness and felicity, as well as of authority and power, arise the obli

gation, the aids, and the sanctions of virtue. Love to God, on which virtue is thus founded, arises only from the lively exercise of Faith and Hope.

Faith displays God, in all his glorious attributes and characters, as not only holy, powerful, and just, but wise, merciful, and gracious-the Father, the Benefactor, the Redeemer of man. Hope looks forward with eager desire to the attainment of those "good things which" this infinitely gracious "God hath prepared for those that love him'." And thus Faith and Hope both unite to form in the soul the divine principle of Charity; of lively and active love to him who, the fountain of felicity, thus delights in doing good to his creatures, and "so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life "." Faith, in the discoveries which it affords of the goodness and mercy of God in the redemption of the world by his Son Jesus Christ, in the means of grace and in the hope of glory, presents to us the most animating motives to love and to serve God. And Hope, pressing forward to the attainment of those exalted blessings which God has provided, keeps constantly on the mind a lively sense of his goodness, and thus excites and cherishes the sentiments of love to him.

This Charity or love, first exercised upon God, extends its operations to Man. Love to man is

the evidence, the inseparable companion of love to God. He whose soul is animated by love to God, feels the highest obligation in that command which enjoins him to "love his neighbour as himself," and as he loves God, to "love his brother also"." These virtues are reciprocal in their influence. He who loves God, will love his brother formed in the image of God; for whom the Son of God died; and whom the Spirit of God sanctifies; and for whom is prepared the same inheritance of glory. And he who loves his brother, will be naturally and more powerfully led to love that Being in whom dwell, in an infinitely perfect degree, all those virtues which in man command admiration and esteem.

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This love to God and man is that Charity of which the Apostle gives so eloquent a description, and which he ranks as the highest of the Christian graces. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity; these three: but the greatest of these is charity."

Charity is the end and perfection of faith and hope, the glorious object at which all their powers aim, and in which all their exercises terminate. Faith and Hope, as we have seen, are lively and active principles in their natural and genuine exercise, terminating in that " Charity which is the end of the commandment "," on which "hang all the