Section I. — But more particularly I shall shew what powerful influence hope hath on the Christian in affliction, and how. First, it stills and silenceth him under affliction. It keeps the king's peace in the heart, which else would soon be in an uproar. A hopeless soul is clamorous : one while it chargeth God, another while it reviles his instrinnents. It cannot long rest, and no wonder, when hope is not there. Hope hath a rare art in stilling a froward spirit, when nothing else can ; as the mother can make the crying child quiet by laying it to the breast, when the rod makes it cry worse. This way David took, and found it effectual ; when his soul was imquiet, by reason of his present affliction, he lays it to the breast of the promise, — ' Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me ? Hope thou in God ;' Psa. xlii. 5. And here his soul sweetly sleeps, as the child with the breast in his mouth ; and that this was his usual way, we may think by the frequent instances we find ; thrice we find him taking this course in two Psalms, xlii. and xliii. When Aaron and Miriam were so uncivil with Moses, and used him so ill in their foul language, no doubt it was a heavy affliction to the spirit of that holy man, and aggravation of his sorrow, to consider out of whose bow those sharp arrows came ; yet it is said, ' Moses held his peace,' waiting for God to clear his innocency ; and his patience made God, no doubt, the more angry, to see this meek man wronged, who durst trust him with the vindication of his name ; and, therefore, with great speed he wiped off the dirt which they had thrown on him, before it could prejudice his good name in the thoughts of others. Indeed this waiting on God for deliverance in an afflicted state consists much in a holy silence, Psa. Ixii. 1 : ' Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh salvation ;' or, as the Hebrew, ' My soul is silent.' It is a great mercy, in an affliction, to have our bodily senses, so as not to lie raving, but still and quiet, much more to have the heart silent and patient; and we find the heart is as soon heated into a distemper as the head. Now what the sponge is to the cannon, when hot with often shooting, hope is to the soul in multiplied afflictions ; it cools the spirit, and meekens it, so that it doth not break out into distempered thoughts or words against God. Secondly, This hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath ; it is called ' the rejoicing of hope,' Heb. iii. 6. And hope never affords more joy than in affliction. It is on a watery cloud that the sun paints those curious colours in the rainbow. ' Rejoice in hope of the glory of God ; and not only so, but we glory in tribulations,' Rom. v. 3. Glorying is rejoic- ing in a ravishment, when it is so great, that it cannot contain itself within the Christian's own breast, but comes forth in some outward expression, and lets others know what a feast it sits at. The springs of comfort lie high indeed when the Christian's joy pours out at the mouth; and all this joy, with which the suflTering saint is entertained, is sent in by hope at the cost of Christ, who hath provided such vmspeakable glory for them in heaven as will not suffer them to bemoan themselves for those tribulations that befall them on the way to it. Hope breaks the alabaster-box of the promise over the Christian's head, and so dif- fuseth the consolations thereof abroad, which, like a pi'ecious ointment, have a virtue to exhilarate and refresh the spirit, so to heal the wounds, and remove the smart, which the Christian's poor heart may feel from its affliction. Accord- ing to the apostle, ver. 5, ' Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. ' There are twS graces, which Christ useth above any other, to fill the soul with joy, — faith and hope, because these two fetch all their wine of joy without door. Faith tells the soul what Christ hath done for it, and so comforts it: hope revives the soul with the news of what Christ will do : both draw at one tap, — Christ and his promise ; whereas the other graces present the soul with its own inherent excellences : what it doth and suffers for him, rather than what he does and suffers for them ; so that it were neither honourable for Christ, nor safe for the saint, to draw his joy from this vessel. Not honourable to Christ ! This were the way to have the king's ci'own set on the subject's head, and cry hosannah to the grace of Christ in us, which is due only to the mercy of God to us ; for thither we will can-y our praise, whence we have our joy ; and therefore upon our allegiance we are only to ' rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,' Phil. iii. 3. And it woidd be more safe for us than honourable for him, because of the instability of our
AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. ^g/J