with themselves, and with God. It works, first, an experimental acquaintance with themselves; so that, when exercised with afflictions, they have a large experience both of their corruptions and of their graces. For, on the one hand, their afflictions lead them to feel and acknowledge that blindness and perverseness of heart, which had hitherto, perhaps, been concealed from their knowledge, and to mourn over that weakness of their corrupted nature, which renders them so unable to bear, and so apt to faint under the burthens of their trials. And, on the other hand, they have, in their afflictions, a blessed experience of their love to God, and of the reality and power of divine grace in their hearts. But this is not all; for

patience in tribulation "8 worketh in believers an experimental acquaintance, not only with themselves, but with God. When under his chastising hand, they acknowledge and adore, from the very ground of their hearts, his faithfulness to his promises, his readiness to answer their prayers, and, above all, the love which he manifests to them in thus "conforming them to the image of his Son," and thereby emboldening them to cry, “Abba Father."9 And if such is the character, such the salutary operation of christian experience, well may the apostle say of it, that it worketh hope. For surely, brethren, if, under the "trials of affliction," with 9 See Chap. viii. 29 and 15. 12 Cor. viii. 2.

9 Chap. xii. 12.

which it may please God to visit us, we shall become experimentally acquainted with our own helplessness, and with the goodness, the faithfulness, and the power of God, we shall have abundant cause to rejoice in HOPE of the glory of God!

Thus does the apostle show how those afflictive dispensations, through which believers are appointed to pass, yield a large increase of that blessed hope, which he has already described as the crowning privilege of those who are justified by faith. In the affecting passage before us, we behold, as it were, a "ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reaching to heaven :" 2 or, to borrow the illustration of the Psalmist, we here behold the manner in which Christians are commanded and enabled to go on "from strength to strength," i. e. from tribulation to patience, from patience to experience, and from experience to hope, "until every one of them appeareth before God in Zion.” 3

5. And now it is that, having thus directed our attention to that glorious hope, which is cherished and supported by an experimental acquaintance with God and with ourselves, the apostle emphatically declares, respecting it, that, unlike the baseless confidence of the children of this world, it maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. He seems here to speak of believers, as actually having within themselves the very be

2 Gen. xxviii. 12.

3 Psalm xxxiv.7.

4

ginning of that heaven, after which hope aspires. For the love of God toward them, in the full manifestation of which the blessedness of heaven consists, is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto them. God loved us, it is true, brethren, before the foundation of the world; but, to adopt the striking illustration of an old commentator, as the costly and precious ointment spoken of by the Evangelists,5 gave no fragrance while it was in the box, but being shed and poured out, did yield a most refreshing and delightful odour to all who were in the room; even so, the love of God, while shut up in his decree, is not felt by his children; but when the soul has embraced the promises of salvation by Jesus Christ, then it is that his love is as "ointment poured forth,"6 to comfort, strengthen, and refresh the believer, amidst all the dangers, and under all the trials and bereavements, of his earthly pilgrimage.

In interpreting the above verse, I have considered the expression of the love of God, as denoting here the love which God manifests towards us in his Son. For this is the love spoken of in the passage which will form the subject of the next section, and it is certain also, that our hope is firm and unshaken, not because we love God, but because God loveth us! But we are, at the same time, plainly taught, in

4 T. Wilson in loc.

5 Matt. xxvi. 7. Mark xiv. 3. John xii. 3.

6 Sol. Song. i. 3.

7 See verses 6 and 8.

the verse before us, that the sense of this love is wrought in the believer's heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us; and it is evident that the sense of God's love will, under the blessed influences of the same Holy Spirit, work in the believer's heart a fervent and unfeigned love to God, teaching him to feel the force of St. John's declaration, that "we love God, because he first loved us." And, in truth, it is only our love to God, as written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which clearly and indisputably proves that we really enjoy a hope, which shall never make us ashamed.

8

Yes, brethren, we may rest assured that the sweet persuasion of God's love to us, will always be accompanied by our love of his holy name. And if we desire to know, therefore, whether we really understand the unutterable love of God to man, as manifested in the redemption of the world, let us continually ask ourselves, whether the lovingkindness of God has been so discovered to us, and whether, through the sacred influences of the Holy Spirit, it has been so shed abroad in our hearts, and so poured forth through all the faculties of our souls, as to produce a conformity to the Saviour's image; a love of the divine perfections; a lively gratitude for God's mercies; a zeal for his glory; a delight in his service; and, to crown all, a continual increase of joyful hope, arising from the

8 1 John iv. 19.

full persuasion that he, who has done such great things for us, cannot leave us or forsake us in time or in eternity! And think not, I beseech you, that it is presumption in the believer thus to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. No, brethren, it would be presumption to lean upon our own strength and wisdom; upon our own merits and works. But to rest stedfastly upon the mercy and truth of God, is the duty of christian hope; and how is it possible, indeed, that the children of God should have a growing acquaintance, from day to day, with the riches of his goodness, without rejoicing, from day to day, in hope of the glory of God, and without feeling that this is a hope, which maketh not ashamed?*

SECTION XV.

CHAP. V. ver. 6-11.

IF RECONCILED, WHEN ENEMIES, BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, MUCH MORE SHALL WE BE SAVED, BEING RECONCILED.

The passage, selected as the subject of the last section, closed with the declaration, made in the name of all true believers, that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." To strengthen and illus

* See note 19.

G