Secondly, It implieth an earnest hope as well as a lively faith. Hope iraplieth two things — (1.) A frequent meditation ; (2.) A desirous expectation.
1. Frequent meditation ; for faith is acted by serious thoughts. Carnal men are described to be those ' who mind earthly things,' Phil, iii. 19 ; and again, ' Who mind the things of the flesh,' Kom. viii. 5. As a man is in the constitution of his heart, so are his musings and meditations ; for thouglits, being the genuine birth and immediate offspring of the soul, do discover the temper of it. But those that are of
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an heavenly temper and frame do often exercise their minds in heavenly things. Their happiness lieth there, and their business tendeth thither. Our Lord telleth us, ' That where the treasure is; there the heart will be,' Mat. vi. 21. A man's treasure draweth his heart after it ; and therefore if his treasure be laid up in him, his heart will be there also. The mind is wholly taken up by these great things, that other things are little minded by them. But alas ! it is otherwise with the generality of men. Our thoughts of heavenly blessedness are few and cold. Oh ! that we should throng our hearts with all manner of vanity, when we have eternity to think upon ; that all the day long we should be regard- ing this perplexing business, that carnal vanity and delight, and thoughts of heavenly things should be such strangers to us ! Is this looking to things not seen ? We are continually thinking of what we love ; worldly men, of gathering and increasing wealth, Luke xii. 17, 18 ; ambitious men, of preferment and applause ; voluptuaries, of sports and pastimes. Philopcemen, wherever he walked, was thinking of battles : if he should be assaulted on such a piece of ground, how he would model and dispose his army for his defence. A christian should be thinking of heaven, how he may get thither, and what he shall enjoy there. They who do not think often, earnestly, and warmly of heaven and heavenly things, surely have little expectation this way. They are transported with pleasing sensualities, and have cold thoughts of the hope of the glory of God.
2. A desirous expectation. Looking is often made the act of hope in scripture ; as Titus ii. 13, ' Looking for the blessed hope ; ' and Phil, iii. 20, ' Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.' And so to look to things unseen noteth an affectionate and desirous expectation of them. A man may believe things terrible, and yet he cannot be said to look to them ; that is, longingly to wait for them. Therefore this looking hath the earnest- ness of hope in it, as well as the firm persuasion of faith. There is a vehement longing and desire after the actual possession of these things, without which faith is a dead opinion or a speculative assent ; our hope is but a few cold inefi'ectual thoughts, or an hasty wish or a slight desire, not that earnest looking which the scripture calleth for : Col. iii. 2, ' Set your affections on things above, not on things on earth.' There must be lively affections; there must be groaning earnestly, 2 Cor. V. 2 ; longing, and desiring to be with Christ, Phil. i. 23. Affec- tions add a strong bent and poise to the will.
Thirdly, This looking argueth a fixing of the mind upon these things as our aim and scope, o-kottovvtvwv ; that is the word used. That is our scope which influences all our actions ; when we do all things to eternal ends, either nextly or ultimately. That we may obtain eternal life, that is the great drift, purpose, and business of a christian. This is the end of our faith, 1 Peter i. 9 ; the end of our diligence, and of all our service and waiting upon God, and that which sets us a-work in our general and particular calling : Acts xxvi. 7, ' Unto which promise our twelve tribes, serving God day and night, hope to come.' This is our great ambition, the end of all our labours, 2 Cor. v. 9 ; still to drive on a trade for heaven, this is the end of our sufferings : 1 Tim. iv. 12, * Therefore we both labour and sufi'er reproach, because we trust
SERMON UPON 2 CORINTHIANS IV. 18. 279
in the living God.' He had spoken of godliness having the promise of this life and that which is to come ; therefore this is our aim and scope. I now come to show you —
Secondly, Why such have an advantage above other men, and can more easily do and suffer great things for God. This appeareth —
1. From the object. They that look to things unseen and eternal are acquainted with greater things than those are whose thoughts, and j)rojects, and designs, are confined within the narrow bounds of time. Every one hath a choiceness, greatness, and excellency of spirit, according to the objects he most con verseth withal. We count them children of mean spirit who converse only with pins and points, and toys and rattles ; we count those of a meaner spirit that have only a cow to milk, or a field to till, or a lute to play upon, than those that have a commonwealth to manage, or to make a little city great. So those that are gotten upon the mount of eternity can look upon the most serious business of the world as a mere May-game in comparison of enjoying God, and living for ever in delightful communion with him. They that have made eternal things their choice and scope have this advantage above other men, that they are acquainted with such excellent things as will darken the glory of all worldly things, and lessen them in their opinion, estimation, and afiection (as a man that hath looked upon the sun in its brightness, for a while can look upon nothing else, as being dazzled with the splendour and brightness of it) ; things invisible, whether present or future, either because of nature or distance. They can set God against the creature, the terrors of God against all the terrors of sense, and the everlasting enjoyment of God against all the delights of sense.