506 THE PATTERN OF PUEITT.
tnow that when he appears, we shall he like him as he is, that is, they they that look to be like to the Lord Jesus in glory, they must be conform- able in grace. Wilt thou be glorious as he is in heaven, thou must have the image of his grace on earth ; so that if we will be glorious, we must be pure.
Thou must not continue with a common heart, as foul hands are called common hands in the Scripture, we must wash ourselves, make ourselves clean. Now from hence I observed in another place this doctrine,
Doct. 1. That a man that is careless of purifyinfj himself, that man must have no hope.
A harsh point, to bring a thing to desperate issue, but what shall we do ? Shall we encourage men to that hope, that they shall carry with them to hell ? May we say, thou mayest hope to be like Christ in glory, when thou dost not labour to be like him in purity in this world ? We should betray souls. And do you know, this is the beginning of salvation.
AVhen a man hath run hitherto in a naughty course, and now comes to be resolved in his conscience, that if he continue thus and thus, and alter not his course, he shall perish, I say the revolving of his conscience that way is the beginning of his conversion. W^hen a man sees no hope, if he do not alter and turn, this will make him good or nothing, — I proved it from many places of Scripture, — so that, * he that purifies not himself hath no true hope.' The point I then chiefly insisted upon was, to take away all the objections that the devil, and flesh and blood, could make to keep a man from purifying himself with a false hope, that sui-ely men may come to heaven notwithstanding this hard task ; I put to you the infiniteness of God's mercy, the mediation of Jesus Christ, the intercession of all saints, all the prayers thou canst make, all thy cries to Grod in extremity, all thou canst say, I proved they should not help thee one whit. No ; the more infinite God's mercy is, the heavier his wrath shall burn against thee, that dost not prepare thyself to receive that mercy ; thou hast counted the blood of the covenant an unclean thing. He hath washed us with his blood, but thou wilt not be washed ; thou rejectest that blood, delighting in un- cleanness, that it had been better for thee Christ had never been incarnate, he is so far from helping thee that he shall pronounce sentence of damna- tion against thee, ' Go, thou cursed, I know thee not.' If all the saints in the world should lift up their hands to God for thee, all will do no good as long as a man resolves to continue in iniquity : ' If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer.' If thou continuest in the course of the world, and wilt not take pains to cleanse thy heart, there is no hope of thy salvation ; so that this is harsh, but I say it is true, it is a thing not possible to be altered. Heaven and earth shall pass, before the truth of this I have delivered shall pass. That man that taketh not pains to purify himself, that man must have no hope to be saved.
Obj. But if a man object, How doth this stand true, as soon as men have this hope they purify themselves ?
Ans. I answer. Where the Scripture speaks of hope it is a divine hope, a work of grace that shall never disappoint a man ; for hope is upheld and sustained by faith, as Hebrews xi. 1. For what is faith ? ' It is the sub- stance of things hoped for.' It is that that sustains and bears up the thing hoped for ; so that hope is a pillar that is grounded on faith. Nothing is hoped for but what is first believed, on grounds taken from the word of God. As in faith, there is a dead faith, and a lively faith; now it is not every faith that saveth, but only that faith that is lively, and shews itself
THE PATTERN OF PURITY.
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by good works ; as James saith, ' Wliat profiteth it, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, and not works? can that faith save him ? No', James ii. 14. Therefore the Scripture speaks of a lively hope, as well as of a lively faith : * Blessed be the Lord, that hath regenerated us to a lively hope,' 1 Peter i. 3.
So that here is the difference between this hope and the other : the one hath for his foundation faith, laying hold firmly on the mercies of God — it is as sure every whit ; Christian hope, that divine grace, is a thing as certain and infallible as faith is ; for all that is hoped is picked from faith, faith is the ground of the thing hoped for; so that if faith cannot be shaken, hope cannot, which is settled upon and sustained by it.