(2.) By the final cause, to wit, sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience.
(3.) By the subservient cause, to wit, reconciliation, conferred in obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
In the third verse you have, (1.) A very stately proem, and such as can hardly be matched again, ' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ/ (2.) You have regeneration or effectual calling described, and that
[1.] First, By the principal efficient cause thereof, which is, 'God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ/
[2.] By the impulsive cause thereof, the mercy of God, which is described by the quantity of it, ' abundant.'
[3.] By the immediate effect thereof, a ' lively hope/ the singular
1 Pareus. Compare the 2d of the Acts, the 8th of the Acts, and the 11th of the Acts, with the 1st and 2d verses of this chapter.
410 A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PETER I. 4.
cause whereof La shewed to be the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 John iii. 2, 3.1 Now hope is called a lively hope,
[1.] Because it makes a man lively and active for God and goodness.
[2.] Because it cheers, comforts, and revives the soul. It brings, it breeds, it feeds, it preserves spiritual life in the soul. This lively hope is Like Myrtilus his shield, which after the use he had of it in the field, having it with him at sea, and suffering shipwreck, it served him for a boat to waff8 him to shore, and so preserved his life.3 This lively hope is a shield ashore, and an anchor at sea.
[3.] It is called a lively hope, in opposition to the fading, withering, dying hopes of hypocrites, and profane persons, ' Whose hope is as a spider's web,' ' the crackling of thorns under a pot,' and ' the giving up of the ghost.'4
A Christian's hope is not like that of Pandora, which may fly out of the box, and bid the soul farewell ; no, it is like the morning light : the least beam of it shall commence into a complete sunshine ; it is aurora gaud ii, and it shall shine forth brighter and brighter till perfect day ; but the hypocrite's hope, the presumptuous sinner's hope is like a cloud, or the morning dew.
Now, in my text you have the object about which this ' lively hope' is exercised; and that is, 'an inheritance incorruptible, and undefined, and that fadeth not away' [What these words import I shall shew you when I open that doctrine which I intend to stand upon at this time], 'reserved in heaven for you.'
There are three heavens : the first is caelum aerium, the airy heaven, where the fowls of heaven do fly; the second is caelum astriferum, where the stars of heaven are ; the third is caelum beatorum, the heaven of the blessed, where God appears in eminency, and where Christ shines in glory ; and this is the heaven the text speaks of.
The text Avill afford several points, but I shall only name one, which I intend to stand on at this time, and that is this,
Doct. That God reserves the best and greatest favours and blessings for believers till they come to heaven.
Now, I shall prove this proposition by an induction of particulars ; and then give you the reasons of it. I will begin with the inheritance spoken of in the text.
I. The best inheritance is reserved for believers till they come to heaven. This is clear and fair in the text,5 yet I shall make this fur- ther out to you thus :
(1.) First, The inheritance reserved for believers till they come to heaven, is a pure, undefiled, and incorruptible inheritance. It is an inheritance that cannot be defiled nor blemished with abuse one way or another. Other inheritances may, and often are, with oaths, cruelty, blood, deceit, &c. The Greek word d^lavrog signifies a precious stone, which, though it be never so much soiled, yet it cannot be blemished nor defiled ; yea, the oftener you cast it into the fire, and take it out, the more clear, bright, and shining it is.6 All earthly inheritances are true
1 Corpus spirando, anima sperando vivit, as the body lives by breathing, so the soul by hoping. « The early form of ' waft '?— G.
3 The giver of its name to the Myrtoan sea. — G.
4 Job viii. 13, 14, xi. 20, xxvii. 8 ; Prov. xi. 7. b Vide Zanchium. 6 tyuam sordet mihi terra, cum calum mtueor. — Adrian.
1 Peter I. 4.] a string of pearls. 411
gardens of Adonis, where we can gather nothing but trivial flowers, sur- rounded with many briers, thorns, and thistles, Gen. iii. 18, Isa. xxiii. 9. Oh the hands, the hearts, the thoughts, the lives that have been defiled, stained, and polluted with earthly inheritances! Oh the impure love, the carnal conscience, the vain boastings, the sensual joys, that earthly inheritances have filled and defiled poor souls with! All earthly in- heritances, they are no better than the cities which Solomon gave to Hiram, which he called Cabul, 1 Kings ix. 13, that is to say, displeasing or dirty. The world doth but dirt and dust us. But,
(2.) Secondly, It is a sure, a secure, inheritance : ' To an inherit- ance reserved in heaven for you.' See the text. The Greek word that is here rendered 'reserved,' is from ryota, tereo, which signifies to keep solicitously, to keep as with watch and ward. This inheritance is kept and secured to us by promise, by power, by blood, by oath ; and there- fore must needs be sure.1 It is neither sin, nor Satan, nor the world that can put a Christian by his inheritance. Christ hath already taken possession of it in their names and in their rooms ; and so it is secure to them. If weakness can overcome strength, impotency omnipotency. then may a Christian be kept out of his inheritance, but not till then. But earthly inheritances they are not sure, they are not secure. How often doth might overcome right, and the weakest go to the wall! How many are kept out, and how many are cast out, of their inherit- ances, by power, policy, craft, cruelty. It was a complaint of old, our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens, James v. 2.