news, will in like manner gladden every heart at the moment of its being relied upon as true: And, it being good news of pardon and eternal life to all and every, he, one of the all, will, if he believe, take the whole comfort of the declaration to himself, and have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and rejoice in the hope of His glory.

Now the second hope is distinct from this first, and is grounded on distinct considerations-not upon what the believer sees to be in the testimony of God, but upon what he finds to be in himself— It is the fruit, not of faith, but of experience; and is gathered, not from the word that is without, but from the feeling of what passes within. One would like to know how the first and the second hopes find their adjustment, and their respective places, in the bosom of a disciple; and what is the precise addition which the latter of these brings the former of them-whether the want of the second would darken and extinguish the first, by making him ashamed of it.

This matter can be illustrated as before by the case of Abraham. God, in his first communication with him, made him a twofold promise-one of which was to have its fulfilment many ages after, and another of which was to be fulfilled in his own life time. He promised that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed; and He also promised that, upon his leaving his own country, He should meet with him and show him the land that his posterity were to inherit. Abraham simply in virtue of faith would hope for the accomplish-、 ment of both promises. He would both see afar

the meeting the promised manifesto-to have Lad no other means & rauda from the heavens are the fint vid by raming the hope of amber the die wild give him grand to women me a delusive one. World not Ainham in this mes Lore been ashamed of his rah mndiente, and of his busty enterprise, and d de ma ci ha dins els with he had thrown himself! World on the fallary of the promise that he looked for in life, lead him to withdraw all sonflense in the promise that was to have Íte ocnsummation at a period of exceeding distance away from him! Azi on the other hand, did not the actual fulfilment of the near, brighten and confirm all his original expectations of the distant fulfilment? Were not all his subsequent meetings with God, to him the pledges and the earnests of the great accomplishment, that still lay in the depths of a very remote futurity? Did not they serve to convince him, that the hope which he conceived at the first, and which had been so confirmed afterwards, was a hope that maketh not ashamed? And that hope which had nothing at first but the basis of faith to rest upon, did it not obtain a reinforcement of strength and of security when it further rested on the basis of experience?

I make a twofold promise to an acquaintance—

the lesser part of which should be fulfilled to-morrow, and the latter on this day twelvemonth. If he believe me to be an honest man, then, simply appended to this belief, will there be a hope of the fulfilment of both; and, for a whole day at least, he may rejoice in this hope. To-morrow comes; and, if to-morrow's promise is not fulfilled, who does not see that the hope which emanated direct from faith is thereby darkened and overthrown, and that the man will be ashamed of his rash and rejoicing expectations? But if, instead of a failure, there is a punctual fulfilment, who does not also see, that the hope he conceived at first obtains a distinct accession from the experience he met with afterwards; and that, without shame or without suspicion, he will now look to the coming round of the year with more confident expectation than ever? It is quite true, that there is a hope in believing; but from this plain example you will perceive it to be just as true, that experience worketh hope.

Now it is just so in the gospel. There is a promise addrest in it, the accomplishment of which is far of; and a promise, the accomplishment of which is near at hand. The fulfilment of the one is the pledge or token of the fulfilment of the other. By faith in God we may rejoice in hope of the coming glory; and it will be the confirmation of our hope, if we find in ourselves a present holiness. He who hath promised to translate us into a new heaven hereafter, has also promised to confer on us a new heart here. Directly appended to our belief in God's testimony, may we hope for both these fulfil

ments; but should the earlier fulfilment not take place, this ought to convince us, that we are not the subjects of the latter fulfilment. A true faith would ensure to us both; but as the one has not cast up at its proper time, neither will the other cast up at its time—and, having no part nor lot in the present grace, we can have as little in the future inheritance.

You hear

Let us therefore not be deceived. people talk of their peace with God, while art and malignity and selfishness are at full work in their unregenerate bosoms-while no one evidence is apparent of any gracious influence at all having been shed abroad in their hearts-while the nearer promise has had no fulfilment upon them, though guaranteed by the same truth with the more remote and ulterior one, and though the same God who ordains life everlasting also ordains all the heirs of it to be conformed to the image of His Son; and no one enters upon the inheritance on the other side of death, without the Spirit being given to him as the earnest of his inheritance on this side of death. By this test then let us examine ourselves; and have done, conclusively done, with that odious and hypocritical slang, into which the terms of orthodoxy and all the phrases of common-place professorship enter so abundantly-at the very time perhaps when the heart rankles with purposes of mischief; or, in the contest between faith and sense, the latter has gained a wretched ascendancy over him. Should this be the melancholy condition of any professor who now hears us, let him rest assured that he has lost the things that he has

wrought, that he has the whole of his original distance from God to recover anew, that he has to lay again the foundation, and has in short to do all over again. The promise of life eternal is still addrest to him, but the promise of meetness for it in a holy and renewed character goes along with it; and this present world is the place where it must be realized; and it is only by making himself sure of repentance here, and of the clean heart here, and of the right spirit here, that he can make himself sure of his calling and election hereafter. the language of the apostle then—work out your salvation, and labour with all diligence unto the full assurance of hope unto the end.

In

We shall be happy if we have succeeded in impressing a clear distinction upon your minds between the hope of faith and the hope of experience; and how if the latter is wanting, the former on that account may come to be darkened and extinguished altogether. But remember you are not to wait for the second hope, till you conceive the first. It is the first, in fact, which draws the second in its train. It is the first which originates a purifying influence upon the soul. It is in proportion to the strength and habitual ascendancy of the first over the soul, that such a character is formed as may furnish the second with a solid basis to rest upon. It is the hope of the second verse which germinated the whole of that process, that led at length to the hope of the fourth verse. You cannot be too sure of the truth of God's sayings. You cannot have too much peace and joy in thinking that the remission of sins is preached unto all, and that you are