VeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. 187
awake "with thy likeness.' In some special seasons doth hope set the mind a- work. In times of trouble and present sufferings we enjoy a happy dedolency ; the mind is untouched, whatever the body suffereth. When we are summoned to the grave, and bodily sicknesses put you in mind of death, when sense and speech fail, the love of God never fails ; this pale horse is sent from Christ to carry us to glory ; and though we go down to the grave to converse with worms and skulls, this hope may comfort us, Job xix. 26, 27, ' And though after my skin worms de- stroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me.'
2. Long for it. Hope cannot be without gi'oans. Every day wind up your affections, for here is nothing but conflicts and sorrows. Love to Christ cannot be without him, it will never be content. Nature desires perfection: Col. iii. 1, 2, ' If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God ; set your aftections on things above, not on things on the earth.' There is our God, our Christ, our rest : ' Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' Mat vi. 22 ; not only the mind, but the heart ; what we are much thinking of, the desires will be working that way. The new nature cannot be without these desires ; every- thing tendeth thither whence it came : Eph. i. 3, ' Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings iv roi^ ovpavLoc^, in heavenly places.' God sits in heaven that dispenseth grace, Christ that conveyeth it ; thence come our mercies, comforts, and joys ; therefore it is against the ten- dency of the new nature not to be tending thither, where Christ is, who is our greatest happiness. There is your father, your elder brother, the best of the family, and your spiritual relations, whom you most valued; the best company is in the other world. Here you have maintenance as in a foreign land, but there is your interest and estate. How unworthy soever we are, there is infinite mercy to give it, there it acts like itself ; infinite merit to purchase it, there we receive the full fruits of our redemption ; and the present fruits of the Spiiit are the earnest of it, as an earnest is something in part of a greater sum.
3. Wait for it. There are groans of expectation as well as of desire. You have a fair charter gi-anted by God the Father, written with the blood of Christ, sealed by the Spirit. To make your expectation more fii'm, consider —
[1.] Christ's goodness and mercy : ' Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,' Jude 21. He never discovered any backwardness to thy good, or inclination to thy ruin.
[2.] God's faithfulness : Heb. ix. 18, 19, ' That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation.' God stands more on his word than on heaven and earth. If an honest man has made a promise of anything, he will make it good ; much more may we depend on the faithful God.
[3.] God's power. If our souls were in our own keeping, we might fear ; but ' we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salva- tion,' 1 Peter i. 5. Abraham, being persuaded of God's power, 'against hope believed in hope,' Kom. iv. 18.
188 SERMONS uroN TITUS II. 11-14. [Ser. XIV.
[4.] Christ's merit and intercession : Eom. viii. 34, ' Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, "who is even at the right hand of God, who also mal^eth intercession for us.' By his merit our right to heaven is purchased, and by his intercession it is maintained for us.
SEEMON XIV. .
That blessed Jiope, &c. — Titus ii. 13.
DocT. 2. The hope of christians is a blessed hope.
Hope is here put for the thing hoped for ; as Col. i. 5, ' For the hope that is laid up for you in heaven,' where hope is put for the object of hope. Now this matter or object of our hope is sometimes called life, sometimes glory, sometimes joy and pleasure. It is a life that never shall be quenched or put out : Jude 21, ' Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.' It is a glory that is eternal for duration ; 2 Cor. iv. 17, it is called ' a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' For the measure of it, it is above our conceit and expression, as much as a creature can bear. It is joy and pleasure without mixture and without end : Ps. xvi. 11, 'In thy presence is ful- ness of joy, at thy right hand there are jjleasures for evermore.' Now this hope is said to be blessed, because it puts us into the fruition of absolute blessedness. We cannot conceive of it now to the full ; when we come to enjoy it, we shall find it above all that ever we could conceive or hear of it. As much as we see and know of it showeth it is a blessed thing, but we shall understand it best when we hear the great voice calling us, Come up and see.