VER. 3.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 475
wines served in large goblets of gold. I am loath to rake further in this puddle. In all this do you hear, christians, the voice of a beast or a man ? With these baits of wantonness and carnal pleasure he sought to inveigle the minds of his followers. This is a hope fit to make brutes of us, and turn us wholly into flesh : but Christ hath propounded another manner of hope ; we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is ; not only a state of perfect blessedness and glory, but a conformity to Christ in purity and holiness, which is begun here, and perfected there. We shall see the Lord whom we have served, loved, and pleased, and shall be like him ; similes, non pares, not equal with him, but like to him ; you shall be pure and holy, as he is holy. This is the hope which Christ propoundeth, and wherewith a believer comforteth himself ; this is a hope that doth not debase the spirit of a man, but raise it to the greatest excellency and perfection it is capable of.
Thirdly, This hope in him. If we expect to receive it from God, we must receive it upon God's terms, and according to his manner of promising it. Now he promiseth it not absolutely, but conditionally, to the pure and holy, and to none else ; for it is said, Mat. v. 8, ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' Now the pure in heart are they that hate sin, and love righteousness. And again, Heb. xii. 14, ' Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' To see God is to behold his glory, the privilege reserved for us in heaven, where all unspeakable joys and eternal delights are communicated to us by the sight of God. Now we can never hope for this from God's hands, without holiness, or some con- formity to him begun here ; this is absolutely, and indispensably re- quired of us. Hope in him is hope according to his word, such as he alloweth and warranteth, and raiseth in our hearts ; for he doth not speak of an imaginary hope, but a solid hope, such as is justifiable by God's promises ; not a lazy, but a lively hope.
Fourthly, Observe the quantity of the proposition ; it is not particular nor indefinite, but it hath an expression of universality affixed ; every man that hath this hope. It is not spoken of some eminent saints, who shall have a greater degree of glory than the ordinary sort of christians, but of all who have any interest or share in it. You might imagine else, that common christians might get through in the throng, though they be not so careful of exact purity and holiness as others are. No ; every man that hath this hope ; which is to show that our hope is groundless and fruitless if we be not always purging both heart and life ; it is a dead, not a lively hope, a hope that hath neither com- fort or virtue in it, if it doth not run out into holiness, and a continual endeavour to mortify and subdue sin. Some wicked men live in a direct counter-motion to their hopes ; they hope well, that that God that made them will save them; but they live as if they fled from heaven and salvation, and were galloping apace to hell. They abandon the company of God, as if his sight were a trouble, and his presence a burden to them, and the everlasting sabbath they shall keep with God were a misery, and not a blessedness. For these to hope, it is as if they went to heaven backward, with their backs turned upon it. And if any pre- sume upon their good estate, and grow remiss and negligent in holy
476 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [See. IV.
duties, they cut off their claim ; for this is the constant universal rule of all that have this hope, that they are always purifying and cleansing themselves from sin, and using the means that conduce to the obtain- ing what they hope for ; otherwise it is a hope that will leave us ashamed : Rev. xxi. 27, ' There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.' No unclean thing, no loathsome and filthy creature can enter into heaven.
II. The purity and likeness to Christ, which is the effect of this hope ; he purifieth himself as Christ is pure.
1. Here is an act done on the believer's part, he 'purifieth him- self,' or a serious endeavour of purity and holiness. God giveth the new nature, first infuseth the habits of grace, and then exciteth them ; and being renewed and excited by God, we set ourselves to seek after holiness and purity in heart and life. It is God's work to cleanse the heart ; but we must not be idle. We are said ' to cleanse ourselves,' 2 Cor. vii. 1, to ' purge ourselves from these,' 2 Tim. ii. 21. How can a man that is unclean by nature, purify himself ?
Ans. (1.) No question it is our duty, and must be charged upon us to purify ourselves. I say, this debt of duty lieth upon us, and we must discharge it as well as we can. ' Wash you, make you clean,' Isa. i. 16 ; and ' cleanse your hands, ye sinners ; and purify your hearts, ye double- minded,' James iv. 8. The scripture calls upon man to cleanse his own soul.