' that after we have done the will of God, we may receive the promise,' Heb. X. 36. And if of patience then of hope, because patience bears all on hope's back. Now, because we know not the certain degree of hope that will serve our turn, (God having purposely concealed the weight of affliction and tempta- tion he intends to lay on us,) therefore we should never cease our endeavour to strengthen it. There are hard duties to be performed, and strong trials to be endured, and these require a hope proportionable. We are ' to hold fast the rejoicing of our hope vmto the end,' Heb. iii. 6. Now, will the Christian of Aveak hope do this ? He, alas ! is like a leaky ship with a rich lading, — the fear of sinking before she gets the port takes away the owner's joy. Bid such an one rejoice in his inheritance that is laid up in heaven for him, and he will tell you he questions whether ever he shall come there. Patient waiting for mercy deferred is another hard duty : ' It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.' Now weak hope is short breathed, and cannot stay long with any quietness. Weak persons are commonly hardest to please ; soon peevish and froward, if they have not what they would when they desire it. When David's faith and hope were under a distemper, then he falls out with all. The prophet himself, that brought him the news of a kingdom, cannot escape his censure, and all because the promise stayed longer before it was delivered than he expected. ' I said in my haste, AH men are liars,' Psa. cxvi. 1 1 ; whereas the promise went not a day beyond its due time, but he missed of its true reckoning through his inordinate desire : but take him when his faith and hope are strong, and he is not so hasty, but thinks his estate in God's hand as safe as if it were paid into his own ; Psa. Ixv. 1, ' Praise waiteth for thee, O Lord ;' or, as the Hebrew maybe rendered, ' Praise is silent for thee.' As if the holy man had said, Lord, I quietly wait for a time to praise thee : my soul is not in an uproar because thou stayest ; I am not murmuring, but rather stringing my harp, and tuning my instrument with much patience and confidence, that I may be ready to strike up when the joyful news of my deliverance come. You have much ado to make the child quiet till dinner, though he sees preparations for a great feast ; but one that is grown up will be soon pacified when he is kept a little longer than ordinary from his meal upon such an occasion. O Christian ! it is our childishness and weakness of grace, especially of our hope, that makes us so soon out of patience to wait God's leisure : strengthen hope, and patience will grow v/ith it. In a word, Christian, thou hast great trials and strong temptations to conquer before you enter the gates of heaven. Now defend thy hope, and that will defend thee in these ; sti'engthen that, and that will carry thee through them. The head, every member is ofiScious to preserve ; the hands are lift up to keep off the blow, the feet run to carry it from danger, the mouth will receive any unsavoury pill to draw fumes and humours from it. Salvation is to the soul what the head is to the body, the principal thing it should labour to secure ; and hope is to our salvation what the helmet is to the head. Now, if he be unwise that ventures his head under a weak helmet in the midst of bullets in time of battle, then much more unwise is he that hazards his salvation with a weak hope. Know, Christian, the issue of the battle depends on thy hope ; if that fail, all is lost. Thy hope is in conflicts with temptations and suft'erings, as a prince is amidst his army, who puts life into them all, while he looks on and encourageth them to the battle ; but if a report of the king's being slain comes to their ears, their coui-age fails, and hearts faint; therefore Ahab would be held up in his chariot to conceal his danger from his people, the knowledge of v/hich would have cast a damp on their courage. Thy hope is the mark Satan's arrows are levelled at ; if possible keep that from wounds ; or if at any time his dart reach it, and thy spirit be- gins to bleed of the wound which he hath given thee, by questioning whether svich great sins can be pardoned as thou hast committed, such old festered sores , as thy lusts have been can be ever cured, or afflictions so heavy, and which have continued so long, can possibly be either endured or removed, now labour to hold up thy hope though wounded in the chariot of the promise, and bow not by despairing, to let the devil trample on thy soul. So soon as thy hope gives up the ghost, will this ciu'sed fiend stamp thee under his feet, and take his full revenge of thee, and that without any power of thy soul to strike a stroke for thy defence. This will so dispirit thee, that thou. wilt be ready to throw up
AND TAKE THE HKl.MET UF SALVATION. 54.7