1 Thes 5. 8. Heb. 6. 19. from capital dangers in warlike encounters and as an Anchor to prevent shipwrack upon a stormy Sea in which cases men are careful to make such provision that the Head-piece and Anchor may not be brittle and easily broken 3. The hopes of multitudes will be lamentably frustrated Our Saviour brings in many pleading with confidence at the last day for life who shall be rejected with miserable disappointment Many shall say to me at that day Lord Lord c. Mat. 7. 22 23. and I will professe unto them I never knew you q. d. I never approved you depart from me 4. We know not how soon our hopes may be assaulted by others and shaken by the recoylings of our own consciences As good Job had his hopes questioned by his Friends Is this thy confidence and thy hope So the Church Iob 4. 6. Lam 3. 18. in an afflicted condition doth this dolefully bewail her self I said My hope is perished from the Lord. Now if upon these meditations helps for hopes-discovery shall be enquired after I shall briefly hint 1. whose hopes will fail 2. Whose hopes will hold in the time of triall As for the former the holy Ghost tels us plainly that their hopes are perishing who are 1. either wicked 2. or hypocrites Pro. 11. 7. Iob 8. 13. When the wicked man dieth his expectation shall perish and the hypocrites hope shall perish Here though I may not be large in characterizing the wicked man or in uncasing the Hypocrite yet take these short touches and enlarge them with application in your own thoughts First A wicked man is 1. A sin-lover The wicked and him Psa 11. 5. who loveth iniquity doth Gods soul hate saith the Psalmist And mens love of sinne is manifested by their unwillingness to have it spoken against As David would have Absalom gently 2 Sam. 18. 5. Psal 50. 16. dealt with 2. And a man who liveth in sin upon choice and deliberation Like as the fish liveth in water He is as a Tradesman a Practitioner in sin a Sin-maker a worker of 1 Ioh. 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 7. 23. iniquity as the Scripture expresseth it Therefore lay your hands upon your hearts and observe whether they breathe loving allowance of sin and deliberate resolutions to drive a trade in waies of known transgressions though both God and your own consciences condemn them Secondly An hypocrite may be described An outside Mat. 15. 8 9. 23. 25. 23. 5. self-seeking man-pleasing man Thus our Lord doth stigmatize them Ye hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesie of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is farre from me Ye make clean the outside and all their works they do to be seen of men When they either fast or feast religiously it is to themselves Hereby a plain-dealing self-reflecting Christian Zech. 7. 5 6. may give a good guesse at his own estate viz. whether upright or an hypocrite and consequently whether his hope will be holding or perishing And I wish people to consider these hints for triall the rather because the hopes of these persons will fall and fail them at death if not sooner What is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God Iob 27. 8. taketh away his soul As for the latter viz whose hopes will hold attend the expressions of the Apostle Peter Blessed be the God and Father of 1. Pet. 1. 3. our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you Hence two things are notable for our purpose to discover good hope 1. The Regeneration of the person hoping 2. The activity of the hope it self 1. The persons are begotten again 2. Their hope is lively That both these particulars may be practically applied for triall I will for brevity sake suggest that the spirituall birth and hopes vivacity may be evidenced by effectuall vocation Hence it is that God in the Eph. 1. 18. 4. 4. Scripture speaketh once and again of the hope of his calling Now our effectuall calling doth discover it self 1. Partly by our coming off from sin with detestation and this is the effect of good hope Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth 1 Ioh. 3 3. himself as he is pure 2. And partly by our coming up unto God in an obedientiall submission unto his government in a studious conformity to his laws These are conjoyned in the experience and practice of Gods people viz. hope and holinesse As of David Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and Psa 116. 166. done thy Commandments And of Paul After the way which Act. 24. 14. 15 16. they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers beleeving all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets and have hope towards God And herein do I exercise my self to have alwaies a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Therefore consciencious endeavours against all sinfull pollutions both of heart and life together with care fully to answer the minde of the Lord in a religious conversation notwithstanding hardships and reproaches in the world will give good testimony unto the truth of our hopes of eternal glory whereas loosenesse of life and heart in waies of carnall self-seeking and man-pleasing following the multitude and swimming down the stream of declining times may administer just occasion of doubting that mans expectations of eternal glory will be disappointed To perswade all them who have hitherto flattered themselves Vse 3 with false hopes of heaven to lay in better grounds for the future It is the earnest desire of Gospel-Ministers that you would use diligence to attain the full assurance of hope Heb. 6. 11. And 1. Because you have heard that it is attainable therefore you should take encouragement to seek it 2. Adde to the possibility of getting assured hope the necessity thereof that you may be prevailed with to look after it You heard before that hope is that unto a Christian in his passage unto heaven which an Helmet is to a Souldier and 1 Thes 5. 8. Heb. 6. 19. an Anchor is to the Mariner Therefore let this consideration move us to make out for the Helmet and Anchor of good hope And I would entreat you the rather to minde this my earnest exhortation because of the rocks of dissolutenesse and destruction upon which you will be in danger to be driven when Satan and your own consciences shall discover the sandinesse of all your former hopes Noteable for the proof hereof is that passage in the prophecy of Jeremiah where the people being perswaded to repentance return this answer There is no hope we will
is rooted in Christ therefore Heavens glory with all the requisites belonging thereto are from grace and mercy And this will make way for the Use following To perswade Christians the heirs of glory to praise God Vse 4 for Jesus Christ because all their hopes do spring from him As Simeon expecting salvation by Christ blessed God All Luk. 2. 28. our hearts should breathe forth Saint Peters doxology Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who 1. Pet. 1. 3 4. according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you Hence I might note to quicken gratitude 1. The admirable worth of the inheritance in glory which hope expecteth viz an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away 2. The means whereby this hope is begotten in us viz. the death and resurrection of Christ 3. And the motive moving the Lord in this way to give us ground of hope viz. His abundant mercy In all which regards it may well become us to joyn with our souls in Zacharies Song Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he Luk. 1. 68 69. hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David This thankfulnesse may be perswaded by a double consideration the one more generall and the other more particular In generall because this ground of hope is revealed to us Gentiles and that upon no other account but Gods good pleasure â—his is M. Bains his Observation from the words before the Text God maketh known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles This was an high priviledge peculiar to the Jews that to them were committed the Rom. 3. 1. Eph. 1. 9. Oracles of God but how much greater is our preferment in these times God having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself And the Apostle elsewhere discoursing of some differences betwixt Old-Testament and New-Testament dispensations telleth us that the Gospel bringeth in a better hope by which we draw nigh to God More particularly in Heb. 7. 19. reference to our own persons take notice of these things 1. That the revelation of this should reach our understandings when multitudes of more pregnant capacities Mat. 11. 25 26 continue ignorant hereof I thank thee O Father said Christ Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Evenso Father for it seemeth good in thy sight 2. That we do not only perceive but also participate personally in this hope through Jesus Christ whereas there are millions whose heads are full of this light and yet their hearts are empty of this lively hope of glory by Christ And if I by grace be a partaker saith Saint Paul I give God 1 Cor. 10. 30. thanks 3. That the riches of the glory of this Inheritance hoped for by the Saints is unexpressible And that we may be abundantly Eph. 1. 18. thankfull for this hope in Christ as we should pray for a more clear apprehension thereof so should we endeavour to know assuredly our peculiar interest therein by finding the Lord Jesus dwelling in our hearts by his Spirit Because my Text tels us That Christ in us is the hope of glory which is the next and last Doctrine here considerable That Christ by being in beleevers is unto them the hope of Doct. 4 glory The existency of Christ in beleeving Christians giveth existency to their hopes of glory This connexion of Christ in them and of their glory through him is considerable in his most heavenly Prayer in which having spoken of the glory given unto them with the same breath as it were he suggests Joh. 17. 22 23. Vnde colligimus nos unum cum Christo esse non quia suam in nos substantiam transfundat sed quia Spiritus sui virtute nobiscum vitam suam quicquid accepit a Patre bonorum communicet Calvin in Joh. 17. 22. Act. 20. 28. 2 Cor. 5. 19. his being in them The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them c. Before I proceed in the further handling of this doctrine These words which speak the in-being of Christ in Christians do call for some explication Therefore let us enquire 1. Both what the phrase doth not 2. And what it doth hold forth to our consideration First It doth not intimate such a being of Christ in any Christian as of the Godhead in Christ by reason whereof Godhead and Manhood in Christ made one person in regard whereof he was from his conception absolutely free from the least tincture of sinne and was made able to compleat the work of Mediatorship both by bearing up under the infinite weight of Gods displeasure without sinking and also to give sufficient vertue and value unto his obedience active and passive that it might be satisfactory and meritorious Gal. 4. 6. Eph. 2. 22. â— Joh. 1. 12. But it doth suggest Christs peculiar abode in beleevers by his Spirit being received by faith whereby he dwelleth and operateth spiritually in their hearts Naturae nomen hic non substantiam sed qualitatem designat Naturae divinae mundi corruptionem opponit Vt siâ—us unum cum Deo quantum modulus noster fâ—ret Calvio in 2 Pet. 1. 4. which union betwixt him and them doth in some measure by way of similitude though not fully in way of parity represent the union betwixt his father and himself And whereas the Apostle Peter speaketh of our being made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. which words are much abused There are two things notable from that Scripture to manifest the difference betwixt Christ and Christians in that participation 1. The words are not we are made partakers of the God-head but of the divine nature viz. of the qualities of God according to our capacity whereby we escape that corruption which is in the world through lust and do in holy dispositions resemble God so far as such creatures can As David speaketh of shewing the kindenesse of God unto Jonathans posterity 2 Sam. 20. 15. whereas God-head it self was in such sort in Christ 1 Tim. 3. 16. that he was God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. coequall with God the Father Phil. 2. 6. 2. The Apostle Peter is open and expresse that Christians are partakers of the divine nature in the sense aforesaid by means of the exceeding great and precious promises of Gods grace whereas Christ was God by an eternall naturall unexpressible generation Having thus briefly explicated the expression in the Text and the like used by our Saviour I proceed to
gracious heart 5. From the end of his Ascention We all do beleeve that Christ is received up into glory And himself before his 1 Tim. 3. 16. departure from earth said I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive Ioh. 14. 2 3. you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Here is good Anchor-hold for hope which entreth into that within the veil whither the forerunner is for us entred Christ Heb. 6. 19 20. is gone into Heaven as our Harbinger to provide glorious mansions for us and to take possession in our behalf And the Apostle Peter writeth thus unto the scattered Christian Jews God raised Christ from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God From all these considerations jointly considered this conclusion is confirmed by Scripture-strength and evidence That Christ is unto beleeving Christians the hope of glory The application followeth Vse 1 Therefore without Christ there cannot be any well-grounded 1 Pet. 1. 21. Extra Christum non gloria sed ignominia expectanda est Hun. in Text. Eph. 2. 12. Iob 21. 7 13. Psa 73. 7 Iob 7. 6. expectation of future glory As this smart inference followeth undeniably from the Text under hand so the same Apostle is open and expresse for this truth elsewhere Suggesting to the Ephesians their sad condition in an unchristian estate he connecteth these two particulars viz. ye were without Christ having no hope Although prophane godlesse and Christlesse men may have their expectations of outward comforts accomplished and possesse more then heart could wish yet in regard of spirituals and eternals we may be confident that they spend their daies without hope In which respect they should rather be looked upon as objects of pity then of envy when they are in their greatest jollity and prosperity because being Christlesse they are poor hopelesse creatures Take man in his best estate imaginable out of Christ and upon the serious Survey of himself he shall have cause to say What is my strength that I should hope Iob 6. 11. And as Paul said in reference to himself and them who sailed with him in a sad Sea-voyage that when neither Sunne nor Starres in many daies appeared and no small tempest lay on Act. 17. 20. us all hope that we should be saved was then taken away So let the chiefest Sonnes of men with their highest parts be laid under the storms of divine displeasure without Gospel-light discovering Christ and all hope of salvation will be quite removed Hence fair occasion is offered to discover their dangerous Vse 2 delusion who build their hopes of heaven upon creaturefoundations As the Papists who in their Ave-Maries call Spes nostra the Virgin the mother of Christs humanity Our Hope who also trust unto their works as meritorious causes of Salvation So others also who imagine happinesse attainable from the right improvement of Natures abilities without the meritorious satisfaction of Jesus Christ whereas the Scripture doth not only assert that there is not salvation in Act. 4. 12. Gal. 5. 4. Sclus Christus is est per quem vitam aeternam expect are licet Piscat in Text. any other besides Christ but doth also affirm that Christ is become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law Oh that this short sharp expression from an Apostolical pen might warn the wanton wits of these unwary times to take heed of crying up Nature and morall abilities with the neglect of Jesus Christ who alone is the foundation hope of future glory Vse 3 Therefore the communication of glory is from meer mercy Rom. 6. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Donum gratis datum Eternall life is the gift of Gods grace through Jesus Christ Although I touched upon this before yet I take it up again upon a double account partly because the Apostle in this Text intends a check unto them who mixed their own righteousnesse with Christ and partly because many in these daies not only Papists but other proud Opinionists do derogate from Gospel-mercy by ascribing too much unto mans naturall strength morally improved whereby Gods design in making man happy by Christ is directly crossed and disappointed Let the words of the Apostle Paul be seriously considered Ye are in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto 1 Cor. 1. 29 30 31. us wisedom and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption that no flesh should glory in his presence that according as it is written He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord Our All in tendency unto peace comfort and glory is therefore from Christ according to divine project and purpose that man when at the highest might be abased in himself being necessitated to acknowledge that all his advantagious incomes both in regard of glory begun on earth and compleated in heaven are from Christ Now that I may more clearly advance Gods rich grace and free mercy in bringing beleevers to glory by Christ I heartily desire that these three things may be observed viz. 1. That Christ himself was the gift of God Vnto us a Isa 9. 6. Sonne is given saith the Gospel-Prophet And our Saviour himself in his conference with the woman of Samaria calleth himself That gift of God by way of superlative eminency Ioh. 4. 10. being the richest and freest gift that ever God bestowed upon the children of men 2. That the grace of faith whereby the Soul receiveth Christ and happinesse by him is the free gift of God likewise To you saith Saint Paul to the Philippians it is given to beleeve Phil. 1. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 18. 27. The Originall suggests that it was given of grace which our Translation doth elsewhere expresse Apollo is said to help them much who had beleeved through grace And this our Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans affirming that our Justification is from mercy not merit addeth these words Therefore it is of faith that it might be of grace Rom. 4. 16. 4. That all our spirituall priviledges received from Christ himself are from him upon terms of mercy and grace Forgivenesse Eph. 1. 7. Tit. 3. 7. Eph. 1. 6. Joh. 17. 22. Jude 21. of sin is according to the riches of his grace We are justified by his grace We are accepted in the beloved to the praise of the glory of his grace And himself in his prayer to the Father saith The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Answerable hereunto is the advice of Saint Jude Keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternall life It 's meer mercy not merit that holdeth up the heart in expectation of Heaven All these particulars being put together will undenably evidence the strength of this my Inference viz. That Because the Christians hope of glory