3. A holy conversation, and suitable walking : 1 Peter iv. 14, 15, 'As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts of your ignorance : but as he that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.' A sincere endeavour of keeping all your Father's commands, and devoting yourselves wholly to his work, is the best way to demonstrate yourselves to be truly the Lord's children : Eph. v. 1, ' Be ye followers of me, as dear children.'
SERMON IV.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. — 1 John iii. 3.
We have showed you —
1. That the love of God, in acknowledging us for his children, can- not be sufficiently considered and admired by us.
2. That though God hath admitted us into the glorious estate of his children, yet little of this glory is seen in our present condition in this world.
3. That though the glory of adoption be now obscured, yet we are certain that at the appearing of Christ we shall see him as he is, and be like him.
Now having showed what knowledge and certainty of it we have for the present, the apostle comes here to show how this hope worketh ; and so this first argument receiveth new strength. If God hath made us children, and children that may expect so great a happiness for their portion, we should endeavour to purify ourselves more and more, that we may both be like our heavenly Father, and also show our thankfulness for so great a privilege : ' And every man that hath this hope in him,' &c.
Ter. 3.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 471
In the words observe three things —
[1.] That a christian is described by his hope, and that hope specified or restrained to the tenor of the christian faith, ' Every man that hath this hope in him.'
[2.] This hope is described by the effect of it, ' He purifieth him- self.'
[3.] And this effect by the pattern of it, ' Even as he is pure,' that is, Christ.
From which I shall make this observation —
JDoct. That the hope of this blessed estate hereafter should put us upon a serious endeavour after purity of life, and a more exact confor- mity to Christ here.
In the handling of this I shall observe this method —
1. I shall discourse something concerning this hope.
2. Of the purity or likeness to Christ, which is the effect of it.
3. The respect or connection between both these, or how the one is inferred from the other.
I. A christian is described by his hope. Hope is a special act of the new life, and an immediate effect of our regeneration : 1 Peter i. 3, ' He hath begotten us to a lively hope.' As soon as we are made children, we begin to think of a child's portion. The new nature was made for another world ; it came from thence, and carrieth the soul thither. The animal life fits us to live here, but .the spiritual life hath another aim and tendency ; it inclinethand disposeth us to look after the world to come, and the happiness which God hath provided for us in the heavens. All men hope for something as their happiness. The new creature liveth upon things future and unseen ; for our happiness now consists not in fruition, but hope, and hope carrieth us to something beyond this life, which is our comfort and support during the absence and want of the chiefest good, and the troubles we meet with by the way. Men are as their potent principle is, flesh or spirit : Kom. viii. 5, ' They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.' The flesh in- clineth us to present things, the Spirit to future things. I shall a little open the nature, and show you the necessity of this hope.
1. The nature of it ; it is a certain and desirous expectation of the promised blessedness : the promise is the ground of it; for hope runneth to embrace what faith has discovered in the promise : Titus i. 2, ' According to the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, hath promised before the world began.'
[1.] The expectation is certain, because it goeth upon the same grounds that faith doth, the infallibility of God's promise, backed with a double reason, both of which do strongly work upon our hope. First, The goodness of Christ ; he would never proselyte us to a religion that should undo us in this world, if there were not a sufficient recompense appointed for us in another world : 1 Cor. xv. 19, ' If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.' Surely religion was never intended to make us miserable, but happy. The design of true religion is to persuade us of God's being and bounty. Secondly, The simplicity, and faithful and open plainness which Christ ever used ; this is pleaded, John xiv. 2, ' In my Father's house are
472 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN Til. [SeB. IV.