that are falne out should come and endeavour to decide the difference first going to one and desiring him to be reconciled to the other and then going to the second and entreating him to be pacified towards the first till he hath united and reconciled them both together so it is here Christ is a friend both to God and man he is the Son of God and he is husband of his Church and being the Mediatour of the new covenant he comes first to his Father and sayes Father I know that all mankind hath broken that first covenant which they made with thee and are thereby justly lyable to all that wrath punishment due to the breach of it and I know thy anger and displeasure against them but I pray thee oh Father be reconciled and well pleased with thy people give them the sanctification of their Natures while they live here and give them heaven and happinesse when they dye and then Christ comes to Beleevers and tels them Sirs I have procured peace and pardon and reconciliation for you the sanctification of your Natures here and heaven when you dye and therefore lift up your heads with joy Christ first goes to his Father and sues to him for pardon and then comes to us and begs of us to be comforted 5. Adam under the Covenant of Works he had nothing but Works to save him and he was to keep this Covenant of Works only by his own strength he had no strength but his own to perform any duty he had no bottome no foundation but himselfe to stand on but under the Covenant of Grace we are kept by the mighty power of God through Faith unto Salvation we are under a far better condition under the Covenant of Grace then Adam was at first in the State of innocency for though hee was perfectly holy yet he was not immutably holy but now the foundation of God standeth sure we are kept by the mighty power of God unto Salvation 6. The Covenant of Workes if a man did once break them that did admit of no repentance had Adam and Eve after the fall wept their eyes out or prayed their hearts out all would have done them no good repentance will no way avail the Covenant of Works as it is in the civill Law if a man hath committed murder the Law does not enquire whether the man does repent or is sorry for what he hath done no but the Law takes notice whether he hath done the fact or no if he hath he must dye no repentance will avail but in the Covenant of Grace it is far otherwise for though you have done the fact and broken Gods Commandemants yet if you repent and mourn and grieve for the sins you have committed against God the Lord will pardon and forgive them as if they had never been committed so that this is another great happinesse you enjoy in being under the Covenant of Grace 7. Adam being under the Covenant of Works God took the very first forfeiture of breaking of this Covenant and one sinne made God to disanul that covenant whereas the Covenant of Grace is not made void nor disanul'd although you commit many sins as you may see in Ro. 5. 16 17. says the Apostle there Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgement was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification that is under the Covenant of Works there one sin did condemne all the world but being under the Covenant of Grace there the free gift is of many offences unto justification many sins are pardoned and many offences are passed over the Covenant of Grace pardons many sins and over lookes many weaknesses and failings though you break your Covenant often time after time yet the Covenant of Grace shall not be broken the first Covenant was disanuld for one sin but the second Covenant shall not be disanuld for many sins as you may see in Psal 89. 31 32 33. sayes God there If they break my statutes and keep not my Commandements then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes neverthelesse my loving kindenesse will I not uttery take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to fail my Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips and so in Psal 11. 5. The Lord will ever be mindefull of his Covenant so that this is another part of your happinesse 8. Pray observe this had Adam continued still under the Covenant of Works and kept the Covenant performing exact and perfect obedience to it yet he could never have come to heaven he should have had onely an ever lasting continuance in Paradise he should never have enjoyed heaven but being under the Covenant of Grace that entitles you to everlasting Salvation and happinesse in heaven by Jesus Christ 9. Under the Covenant of Workes though God did promise life to Adam upon the performing of the Covenant yet God did not promise pardon to Adam upon the breach of the Covenant God promised him thus Do this and thou shalt live but God did not promise him that though he should break his commands and sin against him yet hee should bee saved notwithstanding in the Covenant of works there is no promise at all of pardon but only of life but under the Covenant of Grace you have a double promise 1. You shall obtain life eternall and Salvation by Christ And 2. you shall have all your sins pardoned and washed away in the bloud of Christ that you doe commit against him you shall have pardon and remission of sins by Christ so that no sin shall be charged upon you 10. Under the Covenant of Works God did accept the person for the worke-sake but under the Covenant of Grace he doth accept of the Work for the persons sake and herein lies our happinesse under the Covenant of Works God did accept of Adams person meerly because his works were altogether righteous and good and he accepted his person no longer then his works were good for as soon as ever he broke the command God was displeased with him but under the Covenant of Grace God doth accept of the works for the person sake as you see in Abel he was first accepted and then the sacrifice first his person was well pleasing to God and then the sacrifice for the persons sake so God accepts of our praying reading hearing and all that we doe through Jesus Christ he being well pleased with our persons in Christ he is delighted and well pleased with all our services in him 11. The Covenant of Works was made to all men generally and universally without exception but the covenant of grace was made onely to a select and chosen people all mankinde were in Adam under a Covenant of Workes if Adam had kept the Law all mankinde had lived by him but herein lies your happinesse in being under the Covenant
hast thou to do to meddle with my covenant of grace you can lay no claim to the Covenant till you have cast off the old man and subdued and overcome your sins and corruptions 2. Another concomitant of the covenant of grace that will accompany you is this you will be a people wholly devoted and given up to the service of God Jer. 31. I will be your God and you shall be my people the covenant of grace is called an holy covenant Luk. 1. 72. not so much because it was made by a holy God as because it was made for the holy creature it will make them holy that do enter into it and therefore those that are in Covenant with God are called a holy people and they must be a holy people as in 1 Cor. 6. 20. sayes the Apostle You are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and souls which are Gods and in 2 Cor. 7. 1. Seeing therefore we have these promises dearly beloved Let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God those that are in covenant with God they are a holy and crucified people 3. Another concomitant is this that man that hath a share in the blessings of the Covenant he doth make conscience to walk in the wayes of the Covenant hee will not only close with the promise of the Covenant but also make conscience of keeping the commands of the Covenant for the covenant of grace does not onely bestow blessings upon you but require something of you too as in Esai 55. sayes God Incline your ears and come unto me and hear hearken and your souls shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David the covenant of grace is a sure and everlasting covenant but sayes God you shall come unto me first and then I will make with you an everlasting covenant God will have you to obey him if ever you think to have any share in the covenant of grace those that let God command what he will will doe what they please this argues that they doe not belong to the covenant of grace but if the blessings of the covenant of grace are given by God to you and the concomitants of it found with you and lastly the conditions of it found in you which is faith the only condition of the covenant of grace beleeve and be saved if God hath brought thee into a believing estate that there is not one promise in the Gospell but you do beartily assent unto and close with if it be thus then you may conclude that you do belong to the covenant of grace And thus I have done with these charactars by way of tryall Use I have only now a word or two more by way of use and so have done with this third part of mans misery and the Use that I shall make of this shall be for consolation to all those whose hearts can bear them witnesse that they doe enjoy the saving blessings of the Covenant of grace God to be their God and they to be his people and that God hath sanctified and renewed your natures and pardoned and passed by all your sins and iniquities and hath written his Law in your hearts that you doe not depart from him if you have the concomitants of the Covenant that you are disingaged from the league and covenant you have made with sin and death and hell if you are wholly devoted and given up to the service of God and doe make conscience to walk in the ways of the Covenant and if the conditions of the Covenant of Faith in Christ be found in you if you are brought into a beleeving condition if all these things be wrought in you then hearken to the great happinesse and benefit you enjoy by being under the Covenant of Grace 1. Thou hast that which is more worth then a kings ransome nay then all the world thou hast God to be thy God which is all in all it is more then that which was promised to Esther by King Ahasuerus to the half of his Kingdome you have more then the Devill promised to Christ when he carryed him to the top of the mountain and shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them thou hast more then the whole world for thou hast God to be thy God and thou hast an interest in the Covenant of Grace which is a bundle of promises and includes in it all the promises of the Gospell which are all yours and you may goe and apply them to your own soules in whatsoever condition you are in 2. You that are in Covenant with God labour to admire the great condescension of God that he would be pleased to proceed with you by way of a Covenant I have read of some Authors that have more wondred and stood amazed at this then at any thing else in the World that God that is the Soveraign Lord of all the workes of his hands that he should not rule us and command us by a Law but deal with us by way of a Covenant for God is not bound to give us a reward though we should serve him all the dayes of our lives God might command us as we are his creatures to serve and obey him to pray read hear and walk holily and humbly before him and when we have done all this yet he might say to us I will never give you heaven nor happinesse nor any reward at all he might have said thus to us but he hath condescended so far as to make a bargain with us that if we will beleeve in his Son Jesus Christ and live holily and walk uprightly before him then he will be our God and we shall be his people he will write his Law in our hearts and sanctifie and renew our natures and pardon and forgive all our sins and give us heaven and hapninesse when we dye Oh what an infinite condescension is this in God and what unspeakable bounty and free grace that when he might say to us you are bound to serve me and obey me and to love and fear me but I am not bound to make a Covenant with you and promise you my Son and life and Salvation through him but though I am not bound to it yet I will give you my Son and heaven and happinesse and I will be your God and you shall be my people and I will regenerate and sanctifie your natures and create in you new hearts and write my Law in your inward parts I will freely do all this for you sayes God Oh what infinite condescension and free grace and mercy is this 3. Another great happinesse you doe enjoy under the Covenant of Grace is this the Lord will pardon all the great sinnes you commit against him and accept of all the weak duties and services you perform to him though you commit great and mighty sins
there are two sorts of people that run into very dangerous errours concerning this particular As 1. The Socinians that are of an opinion that all the Patriarchs and good men in the old Testament did none of them go to heaven till Christ came in the flesh a very uncharitable and ungodly opinion And 2. There are others that hold that living in obedience to the Morall Law of Moses is to tye the people to the Covenant of Works to be justified by it they hold the Jews did not live under a Covenant of Grace till Christ came but if it were so none of them could possibly be saved for by the workes of Law shall no flesh living be justified no man in the World can ever goe to heaven by the Covenant of Works This I doe onely mention by the way that you may see and understand that since the fal of Adam al men are saved by the Covenant of Grace the Covenant of Works was no longer in force then while Adam lived and continued in Innocency but as soon as ever he fell the Gospel was presently preached unto them as well as it is to us now only it was preached unto them more darkly and to us more clearly Christ was preached unto them as to come but he is preached unto us as come already Quest II We come now to the second question to stir you up and put you upon enquiry how you may know whether you are the people that are in Covenant with God yea or no so as that you can lay a just claim to the Covenant of Grace and to all the promises therein contained for salvation and life eternall by Christ I shall handle this Query not in the positive but in the negative part of it how you may know that you are not in the Covenant of Grace I shall give you three or four discoveries of it Answ 1 1. Thou oh man art not in Covenant with thy God that hast not yet broken the League and Covenant which thou hast made with thy lusts you that doe still keep up and maintain the League and Covenant with your lusts and corruptions you are not as yet come within the Covenant of Grace that man that makes a Covenant with death and hell cannot be under the Covenant of Grace and therefore you that have not broken off your sins by repentance and righteousnesse and your iniquities by shewing mercy you that are in a wicked course and resolve to continue so lay no claim to the Covenant of Grace you that are engaged to your lusts you have been bad and you will be so stil you have no interest in the Covenant of Grace 2. You that think to be saved by a Covenant of works cannot be under a covenant of grace You that hope to be justified by Works are faln from Grace as the Apostle says in Gal. 5 4. you are faln from Grace that is not that you are faln from the habit of Grace you are faln from the Doctrine of Grace that holds out justification by Christ that man shall never be saved by Christ that thinks he cannot be saved by Christ and therefore a Papist living and dying in this very opinion that he must be saved by a Covenant of works cannot be saved if you be not cast out of your selves so as to rely wholly and only upon Christ for life and Salvation you can lay no just claime of being under the Covenant of Grace 3. You are strangers to the Covenant of grace that do make no conscience of breaking the engagements promises you have made to God you that are careless of keeping the Covenants you have made with God this is an evident demonstration that you are not in Covenant with God those that are in Covenant with God make conscience of keeping their Covenants with God if in times of affliction trouble you can make large promises to God of better obedience and yet afterwards return with the dogge to his vomit and are as bad or worse then ever you were this argues that you have no interest at all in the Covenant of Grace Thus I have done with the second Query the discoveries of those that are not in the Covenant of Grace I have onely now the Application of the point to speak to and the Use that I shall make of it shall be Use 1. For consolation to all that are in the Covenant of Grace you have a bundle of promises to which you may have recourse and lay claim to them as your own 2. By way ofterrour to shew the misery of those that are strangers to this Covenant of Grace 1. This may be matter of great consolation to you that are under the Covenant of Grace that are in Covenant with God this should provoke you to joy and comfort in the consideration of the great happinesse you enjoy in being under the Covenant of Grace from the misery you would be exposed to did you live under a Covenant of Works And now Beloved lend me your thoughts a little while I shew you in fourteen particulars the great happinesse you are now in being in Covenant with God under a Covenant of Grace from the misery you had lain under in being only under a Covenant of Workes Doe this and live I shall but only name them to you and run over them very briefly 1. The Covenant of Works was given by God to Adam as a Creator but the Covenant of Grace is given by God to a Believer as a Father God had not this term of a Father before the fall but only of a God and Creator but being under a covenant of Grace you may look upon that God that was only a Creator to Adam as a Father to you 2. This had been your misery under a Covenant of Works for that exacts perfect obedience and does punish the offendour in case of disobedience but being under a Covenant of Grace the Lord accepts through Christ of sincere obedience though it be not perfect 3. The Covenant of Works is not contented with perfect obedience neither unlesse it be personall it must not be perfect done for thee by another but done by thy self in thy own person but now the Conant of Grace accepts of perfect obedience though it be not done by thy self but in the person of Jesus Christ God the Father doth as fully accept of Christ obeying and fulfilling his will in doing and suffering in our behalfe as if we had done and suffered what he did in our own persons and herein lies the great happinesse of a man under the Covenant of Grace 4. The Covenant of Works was made by God to Adam without a Mediator there was no third person between God and Adam but the covenant of Grace was made by God with us in the hand of a Mediator Jesus Christ You may conceive it thus suppose two men should be at discord and variance one with another and a third person a friend to both these
yet yours shall be accepted when theirs shall be rejected Thus I have done with the use of terrour in laying down to you this sixfold misery of those men that are strangers to the covenant of grace and here because I would not have any poor soul that is under the covenant of grace and partaker of all the great priviledges of it to goe away with a sad heart I shall onely leave with you two or three words of comfort to them You children of the covenant that are under the covenant of grace let not your hearts be troubled at what hath been said this day concerning the misery of those men that are strangers to this covenant and to bear up and support your spirits I shall give you two or three comfortable considerations 1. That all the outward blessings that you enjoy comes to you in a covenant way God hath given you these blessings as an appendix to the covenant and by vertue of an entail to his covenant the Lord never gives you a common blessing but you see the love of a Father and of a husband and of a friend and the love of God in that blessing and therefore as I told you before in that very chapter where God promiseth the blessings of the covenant of grace he promiseth the blessings of this life too as an intail to the covenant wicked men may have blessings but not by vertue of a promise not by vertue of the covenant of grace But now if you ask mee how you may know whether the blessings you enjoy come unto you by vertue of the Covenant of Grace I answer you may know it by these two things 1. In case you doe use and imploy all the blessing you receive from God to the honour of God thus Abraham did as you may see in Gen. 17. 1 2 8 12. his using the blessings of God to promote the service of God did demonstrate that those blessings came to him from God in a covenant way but those that are strangers to this Covenant the mercies they enjoy are given them for their hurt 2. When blessings are as cords to draw you nearer to God and as bands to tye you fast to God then they come to you in a Covenant way as in Jer. 31. 11 12. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him that is stronger then he therefore they shall come and rejoice in the height of Sion and shall run to the bountifulnesse of the Lord even for the wheat and for the wine and for the oyle and for the increase of sheep and bullocks c. That is all the mercies of God shall make them to come nearer and nearer and cleave closer to God you then that do enjoy your share of the blessings of God and they do not endeer you and draw you nearer to God you cannot look upon them as flowing in upon you in a Covenant way 2. You that are in covenant with God know this for your comfort that the Lord does accept of a little that you do in his service better then a great deal that a wicked man performs to him God will accept of a few turtle doves of you when he will not accept of 1000 Rams or 10000 rivers of oyle of the wicked he will accept of a cup of cold water given to a righteous man in the name of a righteous man when he will not accept of the costliest sacrifice from the wicked Oh what a happy condition art thou in that art under the covenant of grace wicked men may heare more Sermons and performe more duties and say more prayers to God then you and yet in all their duties be rejected when thou art accepted 3. Take this for your comfort that when ever you offend God and provoke him to anger you have a Mediator to stand between God and you though you are guilty yet you have an Advocate to plead your cause for you you that are under the covenant of grace you may say to Christ your Mediator as the Israelites said to Moses when they had offended God goe thou and speak unto God for us so may you say when you have nothing but thundring and lightning and tempests in your souls and the flashings of hell fire in your consciences then you may say to Christ go now to God and speak for me mediate with thy Father for the pardon of all my sins I have offended God oâ— intercede with him in my behalf I have committed a great offence oh plead with thy Father and beg a pardon for me thus thou maist say to Christ being under the covenant of grace But here lest any one should lye under a spirituall delusion and think himself under the covenant of grace when he is a stranger to it lest the Dogs should snatch at the Childrens meat I shall lay down to you some distinguishing Characters whereby you may know whether you are under the covenant of grace or no and before I make entrance upon this I will only premise four sad and dismall conclusions which will make way the better for what I have to handle in the examination 1. Take in this conclusion that a man may be within the outward and common priviledges of the covenant of grace and yet be without the saving and spirituall priviledges of it as pardon of sin having God to be your God and Christ to be your Saviour c. as in Deut. 29. 10 11 12. sayes Moses there You stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains of Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the men of Israel your little ones your wives and the stranger that is in thy camp from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water that thou shouldst enter into covenant with the Lord thy God Now here you see were all from the rich to the poor to enter into covevenant with God and yet it is not imaginable that all these did partake of the inward priviledges of the Covenant of grace they did all partake of circumcision which was the seal of the covenant of the outward priviledges of it but not all did partake of the inward and speciall mercies of the covenant of grace as pardon of sin peace of conscience joy in beleeving God to be their God and Christ to be their Saviour and so in Rom. 9. 4 5. sayes the Apostle They are the Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises of whom are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came these were very great priviledges and yet saies the text in vers 8. These are not all the children of God though they had the externall blessings of the Covenant yet they were not all the children of God so that you see you may be within the Church of God and partake of the outward blessings
yet the Lord is gracious and mercifull and will pardon them the Covenant of Grace covers great sins as the sea can cover a mountain as wel as a mole-hill so the Covenant of Grace can pardon mountainous sins as well as small ones And again the Covenant of Grace does accept of weak and imperfect duties nay those very duties which wicked men doe perform though they be more for the matter of them then ours are yet by vertue of the Covenant of Grace the Lord does accept of ours and will not accept of theirs as in Prov. 15. 8. the place that I quoted before The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight a sacrifice is a great deal more costly then a prayer and yet the Lord will accept of a poore pennilesse prayer coming from a godly man when he will reject a costly Sacrifice from a wicked man God will accept of a cup of cold water from one in Covenant with him when he will not accept of 10000 rivers of oile from a wicked man he will pardon your great sins and accept of your weak services indeed were you under a Covenant of works that would require perfect obedience but being under a Covenant of grace the Lord accepts of sincere though it be imperfect obedience and thus I have done with the third part of mans misery being strangers to the Covenant of grace SERMON XI EPHES. 2. 12. Having no hope WEE come now to fall upon the fourth part of an unconverted mans misery which you will think to be a very strange one that he is without hope while these Ephesians were in a state of Gentilism unconverted to the Faith of Christ they were without hope the reason of it was because they were without Christ who is the way the truth and the life there is no other way to heaven but onely by Jesus Christ and seeing they were out of the way to heaven they must needs be without any hopes of coming to heaven it was the first branch of their misery in being without Christ that exposed them and made them lyable to all the rest because they were without Christ therefore they were aliens to the Common-wealth of Israel therefore they were strangers to the Covenant of Promise and without hope and without God in the World Object Ob. But here some will be ready to say How can this be that the Apostle should say they were without hope when were it not for hope the heart would break and therefore it is not possible they should be without hope Answ I answer it is true they had a hope but it was a vain hope an ungrounded and a deluding hope and this kinde of hope is no better then no hope at all so that the Apostle might well say they had no hope that is no good nor well grounded hope for heaven they had onely a presumptuous hope such a hope as would make them ashamed in the latter end they had only the hope of the hypocrite that shall perish and therefore when the Apostle sayes that these Ephesians during their unregeneracy were without hope his meaning is that they were without any wel grounded hopes for heaven they had no Scripture grounds to bottome or build any hopes upon that God would bring them to heaven this is a very sad and dreadfull point I am now upon in shewing you this part of mans misery without hope the Observation I shall draw out from hence shall be this Doctr. That all men during the state of their unregeneracy are without any true or well grounded hopes of heaven In the handling of this I shall first prove it in the generall and then improve it first to prove it an unconverted mans condition in reference to his hopes for heaven is just like Pauls and those Mariners that were with him in the ship sailing towards Rome Act. 27. 20. when neither Sun nor Stars appeared but the winde and waves did beat upon the ship insomuch that all the hopes they had of being saved were quite taken away so it is just your case that are without Jesus Christ there is neither Sun nor Star does shine upon you if Christ does not shine upon you you are like Paul and the other Mariners in the ship all hopes of your being saved is quite taken away from you I shall confirm this truth to you by three or four demonstrations that a wicked man is without any hopes for heaven Reas 1 1. An unregene rate man must needs be without hope because he is without Christ who is the foundation of a christians hope Wherefore remember sayes the Apostle that at that time ye were without Christ and therefore he tels them afterward that they were without hope in Tit. 2. 2. Christ is there called our hope Christ is that person in and upon whom we are to build all our hopes for heaven and therefore he is called our hope and this is the meaning of that expression Christ in you the hope of glory intimating that you cannot hope for glory but in and through Jesus Christ that man that is a Christlesse man must needs be a hopelesse man that is the first demonstration Reas 2 2. A man without Christ must needes be without hope because he is without a title to any promise of life and salvation which is the onely support and prop of mans hope you would count this a very fond and vain hope for any man to hope that such a rich man would make him heir of all he hath though hee never promised him one foot of Land why just so vaine are the hopes of wicked men but now the Word of Promise is like a pillar of marble to bear up the hearts of Gods people as in 1 Tit. 2. In hope of eternall life which God that cannot lye promised before the World began the promises doe ground that man that hath interest in them to a hope of eternall life he that is without the Lord Jesus Christ the foundation of hope and without the promises which is the pillar of hope must needs be without all true hopes of heaven Reas 3 3. He cannot but be without hope because he is without Faith which is the ground of hope as in Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the ground of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen where no true Faith is there can be no hope for Faith is the Mother and Hope is the Daughter Hope is begotten by Faith an unregenerate man must needs be without hope because he is without Christ the foundation of hope and the promises the pillar of hope and Faith the ground of hope Reas 4 4. It appeares that he is without hope because when hee leaves the world his hopes leave him whereas the hope of a godly man never leaves him till it brings him to heaven when a wicked man dies his hopes are gone and leave him when
whom beleevers do build all their hopes for heaven so likewise they build their hope on the mercies of God in Psal 147. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in those that fear him in those that hope in his mercy and again in Psal 33. 18. The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that trust in his mercy and so in Psal 52. 8. saies David there I trust in the mercies of God for ever and ever A godly man he is cast out of himself and out of an opinion of his own righteousnesse and his hopes are only built upon the mercy of God and on the merits of Christ But now the false and presumptuous hopes that wicked men have are not built so much upon Gods mercy as their own duties and not so much upon the merits of Christ what he hath done for them as upon their own duties what they have done for themselves 3. True hope doth comfort and bear up the heart under all the discomforts that it meets with in the world as David saies I had fainted under my afflictions but that thy word is my hope and hence it is that you have those two admirable expressions put together Rom. 5. 2 3. Rejoycing in hope and glorying in tribulation these are put together to shew that when a man can rejoyce in hope he can glory in all the tribulations he meets with in the world But now presumptuous hopes are like lead and ponderous weights that will make you sink under every affliction It is only a true and saving hope that will enable you to hold up your heads under all afflictions and troubles 4. True hope does as well act for heaven as hope for heaven but a presumptuous hope that hopes for heaven as its end but yet never acts holinesse as its way to heaven true hope as it hopes for heaven so it labours to work out its salvation with fear and trembling You have an admirable passage for this in Psal 119. 166. saies David there Lord I have trusted in thy salvation and I have done thy commandements here is both hoping and acting for heaven put both together wicked men they hope for heaven but they do not do Gods commands and so in Psal 37. 3. Trust in the Lord and do good saies the Psalmist here is trusting and doing put together true hope doth act for heaven as well as hope for heaven but false hope doth hope much and act little wicked men will hope for salvation but not work out their salvation hope for heaven but not labour for heaven this is the fourth difference 5. That man that hath true hope he makes conscience to keep his heart pure and free both from the love of sin and from the dominion of sin while he lives here in this world you have a plain text for this in 1 Joh. 3. 3. He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as God is pure he doth labour and endeavour to keep his heart upright and pure and free from sin But now a false hope will hope for heaven though they walk on after the imaginations of their own hearts as in Esai 51. 10. Thou hast walked in the greatnesse of thy wicked wayes yet saidst thou not there is no hope though they had great sins yet they had great hopes for heaven if thou art such a one as is mentioned in Deut. 59. 18. that saiest Thou shalt have peace though thou walkest after the imaginations of thy own heart to adde drunkennesse to thirst if thou art such a one thy hope is only a presumptuous hope 6. True hope flowes from a long and well grounded experience this is the reason of that expression in Rom. 5. 4. Patience worketh experience and experience hope True hope flowes from a long and well grounded experience in the waies of God and from an experience of the grace and bounty and love of God to his soul and from experiences of the goodnesse and mercy and promises of God and likewise from an experience of his own heart in withstanding temptations subduing corruption and performing holy duties Such experiences as these are inlets to a well grounded hope for heaven but now the hopes of wicked men are only the results of ignorance they that never had any experience of themselves nor of the waies of God they have most hopes but their hopes are only deluding and presumptuous hopes wicked men that do so quickly get into a state of hope without any former experiences of the wayes of God it is a sign that their hopes are only vain and empty hopes they are but pithy hopes just like your pithy trees as Elders and Withies and such like trees they shoot up fastest and grow up soonest whereas the more firm and stronger wood as Oaks and Elme and the like are a great while longer in growing before they come to maturity why so it is a great while before a Godly man can get a well grounded assurance of his hopes for heaven Use And thus I have done with the Doctrinall part of this fourth branch of mans misery without hope we come now to the application and the Use that I shall make of it shall be threefold 1. For consolation 2. For terror and 3. For instruction 1. For consolation to the people of God though the Scripture saies a wicked man hath no hope yet it sayes otherwise of you that are a people of God the Scripture tels you that your hope is laid up in heaven for you and the Lord is your hope though wicked men have no hopes for heaven yet you have grounded and assured and certain hopes for heaven your hope is laid up for you in another world the wicked have only their hopes in this life and when they die their hopes shall perish as in Prov. 11. 7. When a wicked man dyeth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth but it is not so with you for the godly hope in their death And this hope of a godly man is not as the Papists hold for though they grant a beleever hath hope yet they deny that any have assurance they say that all a beleevers evidence for heaven is only a hope a pâ—â—l adventure a most uncomfortable tenent whereas the Scripture sayes there is as full an assurance of hope as of faith in Heb. 16. 11. saies the Apostle use all diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end and so in Rom. 15. 5. Your hope is such as will not make you ashamed your hopes are not like the hopes of men that hope for dead 〈◊〉 shoes as the proverb is for they may go on barefoot before they die but Christ who is our hope he hath dyed already and risen again he hath made his will and testament and hath left us legacies and be queathed riches to us our hopes are well grounded hopes not as other