[1.] Let me press you to get an assured title to heaven. In a matter of such moment, would a man be at an uncertainty ? Can he be quiet and not sure of heaven ? Not to look after it is a bad sign. A godly man may want it, but a godly man cannot shght it. A man may want it, he may creep to heaven ; some are ' scarcely saved,' 1 Peter iv. 18. Others have ' an abundant entrance ; ' 2 Peter i. 10, 11, ' Give diligence to make your calling and election sure ; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall : for so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' For want of this you quite lose your heaven upon earth, which consisteth in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ; and you lose much of the influence of hope. Uncertain wavering thoughts have little eflicacy. But a good man cannot slight it ; it is a breach of a command which requireth diligence. It argueth spiritual security when men can bo content to live long, and yet do not know what will become of them. How can you think of the coming of Christ without terror ? That which others look for and long for is your fear ; as Felix trembled as soon as he heard of judgment to come.
186 SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. [SeR. XIII.
[2.] I shall tell you what application there must be if we cannot attain to assurance. There are three degrees of application beneath assurance — •
(1.) Acceptation of God's offer, that is one degree of application : Job V, 27, ' Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.' Put in for these hopes ; and take God on his word ; stipulate with him, and undertake thy part of the covenant upon a confidence God will not fail thee. As Moses, when the book of the law was read, Exod. xxiv. 6, ' took half the blood and sprinkled it on the altar,' to show that God undertook to bless them ; and ver. 8, ' the other half he sprinkled on the people/ by which they were engaged to obey. There must be in all christians 'the answer of a good conscience,' 1 Peter iii. 21.
(2.) Adherence. Stick close to this hope in a course of obedience. If we do God's work, we shall not fail of wages : 1 Cor. ix. 26, ' I therefore so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.'
(3.) Affiance, resting, waiting upon God, though with some doubts and fears, for the revelation of this glory. Though you cannot say, It is yours, yet wait with hope till your change come, looking for the mercy of Christ, so that you durst"^ venture your soul in that bottom. This is ' committing our souls to him in well-doing, as to a merciful and faithful Creator,' 1 Peter iv. 19. You put your souls into God's hands that made them.
3. Expect it. This is the formal act of hope which is pressed in the text. This hope and expectation of blessedness is the strength of the inward man. The devils have a faith, but because it is without hope it yieldeth no refreshment : James ii. 19, ' Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well ; the devils also believe and tremble.' The word signifies such a trembling as the raging of the sea ; it is a light that does not refresh, but scorch. There would be comfort in hell if there could be hope there. It is the duty now in season ; here we must expect : Kom. viii. 24, ' We are saved by hope.' In innocency there was little or no use of hope, and in heaven there will be none at all ; the object of man's happiness will be present and enjoyed ; but now all is to come ; we have only a taste and pledge to make us long for more and expect more. Faith by hope maketh them present sub- stance : Heb. xi. 1, ' Faith is the substance of things hoped for.' Things of eternal life seem as a shadow and fiction to a carnal heart. This hope is an earnest elevation of the mind to look for what faith counteth real.
Use 3. To direct us how to look for this blessed hope.
1. Consider it. Hope is a temperate ecstasy, a survey of the land of promise. As God said to Abraham, Gen. xiii. 14, 15, ' Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward ; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever ; ' so Ps. xlviii. 12, * Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the towers thereof.' It is a great advantage to think often of heaven, it maketh it present to us. Heaven deserve th our best thoughts. We should always do it ; in the morning it were a good preservative to keep us from being under the power of present things : Ps. xvii. 15, ' I shall be satisfied when I