or foundation of Hope. This, therefore, is now, its proper place, to be considered.

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When the root of Faith is once planted in the heart, Hope will naturally grow out of it. The word of God is a seed, which, by the operation and power of divine grace, will be unfolded, and yield its fruits. Of these Hope is the first: for when Faith has received the promises, Hope will rejoice in the expectation of their accomplishment. Faith informs us, that Christ is risen from the dead: Hope learns from thence, that he is the first fruits of an harvest, and that all the sheaves of the field shall follow him. Faith tells us, that he is seated at the right hand of God: Hope infers, that he is gone there to prepare a place for us. Faith knows that he shall return to judge the world: Hope is assured, that his reward is with him in a word, Hope expects what Faith promises; and therefore, where there is no faith, there can be no hope: so that it is better not to be born, than not to be a Christian. Such as the world would be, without the light of the sun, to gild and adorn the objects of the creation, such is the life of man without the hope of a Christian. To the unbeliever all things are dark and dismal pleasure is worthless, and pain is insupportable. How miserable would be the condition of the sailor, when he is traversing the wide ocean, if he had no hope of reaching the desired haven? It is this expectation, which supports him under the dangers of the storm, and the labours and sufferings of a tedious voyage. And every Christian is supported on the same principle: he looks forward to the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul; and the faculty, or passion of the mind, with which he looks forward, is no other than Hope. Faith accepts the means of salvation, and Hope looks to the

end of it. The object of a Christian's hope is the appearance of Christ in glory, to dispel the shades of death, and put his disciples in actual possession of the promised inheritance. At present a cloud has received him out of our sight; but we know, that other clouds shall restore him to us! and that, when he appears the second time, he will appear without sin unto salvation. We see the blessed Apostle St. Paul so animated with this hope, that he triumphed over the afflictions and sufferings, under which an ordinary man, with the greatest human fortitude, must have sunk; we hear him even uttering praises to God, that he had the honour to suffer for the name of Christ and, when the time of his martyrdom was approaching, "I am now, says he, ready to be offer"ed, and the time of my departure is at hand. I "have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, "I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for “ me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the " righteous judge, shall give me at that day." There is a day approaching, when all they, who suffer from unrighteous judges upon earth, shall be tried and rewarded by a righteous judge from heaven: and this hope is an anchor to the soul, which keeps it steady to its profession in life and in death; even when the winds rage, and the waves beat, and the deep threatens to swallow it up in destruction. While the body is confined to the objects of sense, and circumscribed by this lower world, their thoughts enter within the veil to survey and enjoy the heavenly things there laid up in store for them. This glorious light, which is presented to the imagination of every believer, was realized to the senses of the blessed St. Stephen. When the Jews gnashed upon him with their teeth, and were prepared to stone him to death, he, being

full of the holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into hea ven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and said, "Behold, I see "the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the

right hand of God." This happened for an assurance to that noble army of martyrs, who were afterwards to suffer in the same cause: the very name of Stephen, the first of martyrs, expresses the reward of those who were to suffer after his example: it signifies a crown. From St. Paul and St. Stephen we may understand the nature and efficacy of Christian hope; which they, who love the appearing of our blessed Saviour as much as these disciples did, may experience in the same degree. But such hope must be founded upon faith it is never to be attained on any other condition. St. Paul had kept the Faith; otherwise he would not have rejoiced at the approach of death. The martyr, Stephen, was first full of faith; without which he had never beheld the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Through faith and hope, thus depending on each other, we are led to the consideration of charity; the third and greatest of the Christian virtues.

The word, which we translate charity in the new testament, is love; and, according to the Apostle's description of it, it means that brotherly love and affection, that spirit of peace, unity, and benevolence, which is the life and soul of the Christian society.

There are two mistakes in regard to the nature of charity, which are so current amongst us, that it is necessary to remove them, before the nature of this virtue can be understood by a modern audience.*

Some think that charity consists entirely in giving money to the poor: but in this they are greatly mistaken. Almsgiving is a branch, and a necessary

branch, of charity; but it is no more; and very often it is not so much; for many are bountiful, who are not charitable; and many are charitable, who have it not in their power to be bountiful. Though I give all my goods to feed the poor, saith St. Paul, and have not charity, I am nothing. It is therefore possible to give every thing to the poor, and still to have no charity. And it is possible for a Christian to be very charitable, who has nothing more to give than a cup of cold water; because he gives it upon a right principle. Charity, therefore, is something more sublime than the bare giving of money, or feeding of the poor: if this were all, what must they do, who have no money to give? Yet the poorest Christian must have charity, if he hopes to be saved.

There is a second mistake concerning charity, which deceives many. Charity, according to a fashionable opinion of it, is a virtue which finds excuses for those who depart from the doctrines and worship of the Christian church. Such charity makes light of all differences among Christians; it can sit by quietly, and see the church of Christ converted into a Babel of confusion; pretending, that morality, like that of sober heathens, is all that gives excellence to Christianity; and that, if the moral precepts be secured, it matters not what becomes of creeds, articles, and sacraments. But, my brethren, that is a poor sort of charity, which knows nothing more than to find excuses for the breach of charity, and thinks itself authorised to publish indulgences for errors, which are destructive to men's souls: nor is that charity any better, which, while it feeds the poor, can delight itself in a proud, pharisaical singularity, and look with contempt and hatred upon pious Christians, because they set a proper value upon ortho

doxy and uniformity. All this will appear to you, if you listen to the instruction of the Apostle, and learn from thence what charity really is.

Upon occasion of some divisions and disturbances, which had arisen in the church of Corinth, from some who were proud of their spiritual gifts, and had set themselves up in opposition to their brethren; the Apostle teaches them, that whatever differences there might be in their qualifications, they were all to be animated by the same spirit, and to behave themselves peaceably, as members of the same body. That it was as unnatural for Christians, who had but one communion, to divide themselves into parties, as for the members of the body to oppose one another, and follow separate interests not consistent with the unity of the whole. That no superior knowledge of the Gospel, no miraculous gifts, no qualification whatsoever, would warrant any man to make a division in the body of Christ. This is the subject of the 12th chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians; as you will understand, if you read it with attention. Thence the Apostle proceeds to describe charity, in the 13th chapter, from the last verse of which I have taken the words of the text: and he recommends' this virtue to them, as superior to all gifts and endowments: for all faith and all knowledge were intended as introductory to this virtue. All knowledge is given to Christians, to keep them together in one body, not to be a pretence for dividing them. selves into parties: their knowledge is then worth nothing, because it does not answer its chief purpose: for peace and unity, the objects of it, are so far supe-, rior, that they shall be perfected in heaven, when all prophecy, all preaching, all the knowledge we now, have, shall be at an end,