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I. The second step in the development of the super natural life, after the enlightenment of the intelligence, is the movement of the will. The soul first knows and understands the great object of attainment exposed to it, and then aspires towards it, desires it, and is moved to attain it. This movement of the faculties is different from the first one contained in faith, and requires a different impulse from God, a new habit or facility or potentiality in the soul. This habit is the supernatural virtue of Hope. Hope is not a positive assurance of attaining, it is a desire joined with confidence and expectation, encouraging the soul to make the necessary effort; it presupposes that there are difficulties to be surmounted, and it prevents the soul from being cast down by them. Hope is involved with Faith and Charity; they are three methods by which the soul apprehends God, or three views that it takes of the one great object, or a triple form of its one service. So the Apostle speaks of faith as "the substance of things hoped for" (Heb. xi. 1). Hope belongs only to the present life. It does not exist in the blessed, for they are in the state of possession and not of anticipation; they no longer desire God or expect Him, for they enjoy Him and have nothing more to look forward to. Always exercise this virtue as part of the consequence of faith, and as a homage that God requires of you. Take care not to waste your desires on any other object, but seek better things,. "forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth to those that are before" (Phil. iii. 13).
II. The first and direct object of the theological virtue of Hope is God, and God alone, or the possession of God, in which is constituted our eternal beatitude. The secondary object follows from the first. Aspiring to God, the soul aspires to and expects from His goodness the necessary means of attaining to Him, We hope therefore for the (Page169) grace of God, forgiveness of our sins, strength in our conflicts, light to guide us, perseverance to the end, the resurrection and deliverance from evils, the society of the angels and the just. We may desire and expect special benefits from God of a temporal character; and these also may be the object of the same theological virtue, if we seek them in reliance on God s promises, and for the supernatural purpose of advancing His glory and our salvation. The merely natural requirements and conceptions of mundane existence could not inspire such lofty aspirations in us, nor any expectation of rising so high. It is necessary therefore that the suggestion should come from God, with the strength to carry it out in the form of the infused theological virtue of Hope. The spiritual man has thus new wants and new supernatural perceptions not comprehended by the carnal man nor desired by him, and therefore not to be attained by him, unless he convert himself thoroughly to God.
III. It is most necessary for the faithful to exercise this gift of God in frequent action.
1. In order to our justification and sanctification; because, approaching to God, we have to believe in Him as rewarding us, i.e., as the object of our hope (Heb. xi. 6).
2. It is part of the homage that we owe to God, that we should recognize Him as our last end and the great and worthy object of our desires.
3. Confidence in God and in His promises is necessary that we may obtain them. Of him that wavers in his hope the Apostle says, "Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord" (Jas. i. 7).
4. Hope is a necessary spur to all ordinary activity; there must be some resultant benefit in prospect; when hope is gone all efforts cease, and nothing remains but death. The same is true in the spiritual life. God places the greatest of all possible prospects before us for our encouragement. If we reflect on these as we ought, and stimulate our hope, we shall become capable of every thing, of life-long endurance, heroic effort, renunciation of all things, joy in martyrdom, and imperturbable peace.
