222 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XXXIII.
a distance move us not, though they be never so great ; it will not be long ere our great change come about, and therefore we should have more effectual thoughts about the world wherein we shall shortly live, and make what preparations are necessary thereunto ; as 2 Tin), iv. 6, ' The time of my departure is at hand ; ' therefore we should watch, and be always ready ; we must be gone hence ere long ; therefore do not set objects of faith at a greater distance than God hath set them, lest your time be stolen from you, and you step into the other world before you thought of it, or prepared for it.
Use 3. Do we hope for that which we see not ? [1 .] It may be known by the victory and overruling influence of these hopes, if they govern the design and business of our lives. If they do, then these things will take up more of our time and hearts and care than things sen- sible and visible : 2 Cor. iv. 18, ' While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' If your hope be not powerful and effectual to overcome your inclinations to things seen, and break the force of them, it is but a slight hope. [2.] If we hope for things unseen, they will be the life and joy and solace of our actions. Some have no other joys and sorrows than what are fetched from fleshly and sensible things, and speak of nothing so com- fortably and so seriously as of this worldly life ; the pleasures of the flesh revive them, but they take little comfort in the joys of the other world. But where the eye of the soul is opened to behold the glory of the world to come, it lets in an abundance of heavenly pleasure : Eom. V. 2, ' And rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.' [3.] More eager desires and diligent seeking after this blessedness. For hope is an industrious affection : Col. iii. 1, ' If 3'e be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above ; ' Mat. vi. 33, ' First seek the kingdom of God and his right- eousness.' His great business is to get what he hopeth for ; his endea- vours are serious and constant, and the course of his life is for heaven.
Secondly, The inference thence deduced, ' Then do we with patience wait for it.'
Doct. They only hope for eternal life who continue in the pursuit of it with patience. As hope is bred by faith, so is patience bred by hope. It is sometimes made the fruit of faith, or a steadfast reliance on God's promises ; as Heb. vi. 12, ' But followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises ; ' sometimes of hope : Eom. xii. 12, ' Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation.' The great work of hope is to provide us patience to endure the hardships which at present lie upon us.
1. Let me speak of the kinds of patience. There is a threefold sort of patience.
[1.] The bearing patience, which is a constancy in adversity, and worketh constancy and perseverance, notwithstanding the difficulties and trials that we meet with in our passage to heaven : Heb. x. 36, ' Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.' A child of God cannot be without patience, because he cannot be without troubles and molestations in the flesh ; a man would think that he that hath done the will of God, and been careful in all things to keep a good conscience, should have nothing else to do but go
VeR. 25.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. 223
<and take possession of his blessed liopes ; but it is not enough to do good, but before we can go to heaven we must suffer evil ; God hath some- thing to do by us, and something to do with us. Now we must be pre- pared to do all things rather than fail of our duty, nor desert a good way because it is difficult to follow it ; but suffer the greatest evils, and suffer long and constantly, even to death, and that readily and willingly. And this is patience.
[2.] There is the waiting patience, to tarry God's leisure. Evil is present, and good is absent, and to come ; a trouble may arise from the absence of the good we hope for, and the long delay of it, as well as from the evil that we endure ; in the meantime, therefore, the scriptures recom- mend to us ' the patience of hope,' 1 Thes. i. 3, or waiting the good pleasure of God, till our final deliverance be accomplished : Lam. iii. 36, 'It is good to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God.' Time is certainly determined in God's purpose, and it will not be long ere it come about ; and it is not only decreed and determined, but pro- mised. We must undergo death before we can have life ; and we are not lords of our own lives, but guardians to keep them for God, and he will in time deliver the soul into a state of light, life, and glory. This wait- ing patience is delivered to us under the similitude of an husbandman, James v. 7, who ' waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, till he receive the early and latter rain.' The husbandman cannot look for a present harvest ; but the seed that is cast into the ground must endure all weathers before it can spring up into a blade and ear ; so must we expect our season.