because it brings life and comfort into the soul ; and it is called a lively hope in opposition to the withering and dying hopes of hypocrites and wicked men ; and it is called a lively hope, because it flows from lively causes, viz. the Spirit of Christ, and the soul's union and communion with Christ ; but mainly it is called a lively hope because it puts the soul upon lively endeavours. Hope will make a man pray as for life, hear as for life, and mourn as for life, and obey as for life, and work and walk as for life. Hope will not say this work is too hard, and that work is too hot ; this work is too high, and the other work is too low.' Hope will make a man put his hand to every work. Hope makes a man more motion than notion ; it makes a man better at doing than at saying, &c. Hope gives life and strength to all religious duties and services : 1 Cor. ix. 10, ' He that plougheth should plough in hope ; and he that thrasheth in hope shall be partaker of his hope.' Hope will put a Christian upon ploughing and thrashing, that is, upon the hardest and difficultest services for God and his glory. If fleshly hopes of gaining the honours, riches, and favours of this world made Absalom, Ahithophel, Jehu, Haman, and many heathens, full of life and activity, full of motion and action, verily holy and heavenly hopes will make men much more lively and active, by how much heavenly hopes are more excellent than earthly. A man full of hope will be full of action. A lively hope and a diligent hand are inseparable companions. Hope will make a man do though he dies for doing.^
[4.] The fourth iJropeHy of that hope that accompanies salvation is this : It will rnake a Ttian sit, Noah-like, quiet and still in the midst of all storms and tempests, in the midst of all combustions, concus- sions, and mutations. When others are at their wits' end, then hope will house the soul, and lodge it far^ and quiet in the bosom of God : Job xi. 18, ' And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope : yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.' The Hebrew word that is here rendered rest, is from a root that signifies to rest and sleep quietly, as in one's bed.* Hope will bring the soul to bed safely and sweetly, in the darkest night, in the longest storm, and in the greatest tempest : Heb. vi. 19, ' Which hope we have as [an] anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.' Hope is that anchor of the soul, that keeps it quiet and still in all storms and tempests ; it keeps the soul from dashing upon the rocks, and from being swallowed up in the sands. Hope is an anchor that is fastened above, not below ; in heaven, not in earth ; within the veil, not without ; therefore the ship, the soul of a believer, must needs be safe and secure. That ship will never be split upon the rocks, whose anchor is in heaven. Hope enters within the veil, and takes fast anchor-hold on God himself ; and therefore blow high, blow
I A man's duties and services usually are as his hopes are : if his hopes are weak and low, so will his services be ; but if his hopes are spiritual, noble, and high, so will his motions and actions be. Divine hope makes saints as far excel all other men in their actings, as the angels do excel them. Some say hope and fasting are the two wings of prayer. Fasting is but as the wing of a bird, but hope is as the wing of an angel, bear- ing our prayers to the throne of grace.
* Fleshly hopes put the Romans upon doing very strange and wonderful exploits, as you may see in Plutarch, and other historians. ^ Spelled ' fare': qu. 'fair'? — G.
* ^DKTl, from 23tJ*, to rest as men in their beds, or as the body rests in the grave.
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low, rain or shine, the soul of a saint is safe. Divine hope settles the heart. He that cannot look for more than he hath, can never be settled nor satisfied. Our best and greatest estate lies in invisibles. Our per- fect and complete estate here lies not in re, but in spe ; it lies not in what we have in possession, but in what we have in expectation, in reversion.^
[5.] The fifth property of that hope that accompanies salvation is this : It vjill work the soul to a quiet and patient waiting upon God for mercy, though God should delay the giving in of mercy .^ Rom. viii 25, ' But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.' Ps. cxxx. 5, 6, 'I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning ; I say, more than they that watch for the morning.' Hope will make a man wait, yea, wait long for a mercy, as it did Abraham, Rom. iv. 18-21. Though the vision stay, yet hope will wait for it, Hab. ii. 1-3 ; yet a little, little while, says hope, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry, Heb. x. 36, 37. The longer I wait for a mercy, the greater, better, and sweeter, at last, the mercy will prove, says hope.^ It is not mercy, if it be not worth a wait- ing for, says hope ; and if it be a mercy, thou canst not wait too long for it, says hope.
The men of Bethulia resolved to wait upon God but five days longer, but deliverance stayed seven days, and yet came at last. So says hope, though deliverance stay, though this and that mercy stays, as it were in the birth, yet it will come at last, therefore wait. Hope is not hasty in prefixing the time when God shall shew mercy, neither will it limit God to the way or manner of shewing mercy, but leave both the time and the manner to him that is wise and faithful. Says hope, Christ knows his own time, and his own time is best ; though he stays long, yet he will certainly come, and he will not stay a moment beyond the time he hath prefixed ; and therefore, says hope, be not weary, O soul, but still wait patiently upon the Lord : 1 Thes. L 3, * Remembering with- out ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope.' Hope is the mother of patience and the nurse of patience ; hope breeds patience, and hope feeds patience. If it were not for hope, the heart would die ; and if it were not for hope, patience would die. Look, as faith gives life and strength to hope, so doth hope give life and strength to patience, therefore patience is called patience of hope. Hope main- tains patience, as the fuel maintains the fire.*
[6.] The sixth property of that hope that accompanies salvation is this : It is soul-purifying hope ; it puts a Chnstian upon purifying himself, as ChHst is pure : 1 John iii. 3, ' And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as Christ is pure.'* Divine
^ Chrysostom saith that hope is not only the anchor, but the ship to that good anchor. Hypocrites in stormy times are like ships without anchors, tossed up and down with every wave, and in danger of being split upon every rock, Job xxvii. 9, 10.