whom he has redeemed from all iniquity, and effectually calls by his grace, and who appear in due time to be Israelites indeed; and even all sensible sinners, who are quickened and born again, come under this character, and are encouraged to hope in the Lord for mercy and salvation; Let Israel hope in the Lord, Psalm cxxx. 7; hence he is called, The hope of Israel, Jer. xiv. 8. — 6. The separate souls of saints, after death, in heaven, seem to be possessed of, and to be in the exercise of, the grace of hope, particularly with respect to the resurrection of their bodies; as the flesh of Christ, by a figure, is said to rest in hope of its resurrection; that is, his soul rested or waited in hope of the resurrection of his body, whilst in the grave, being confident of it, Psalm xvi. 9; so the souls of the saints, whilst in a separate state in heaven, and during the abode of their bodies in the grave, rest, wait, and hope for the resurrection of them; and this may be what Job has a reference to when he says, If a man die, shall he live again? He shall, in the resurrection-morn. All the days of my appointed time of lying in the grave will I wait till my change come, until Christ changes the vile bodies of his people, and makes them like his glorious one, Job xiv. 14; and something of this kind may be observed in the answer to the souls under the altar, crying, How long, O Lord! &c., to whom it was said, that they should rest yet for a little season, be still and quiet, hope and wait, until their fellow-servants and brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

III. The causes of the grace of hope, or from whence it springs; and the rather this should be inquired into, because all men in a state of nature are without it. 1. The efficient cause of it is God; hence he is called, The God of hope, Rom. xv. 13; not only because he is the object of it, but because he is the author of it; even God, Father, Son, and Spirit. It is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who begets men again to a lively hope of a glorious inheritance; and this is owing to the virtue of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, 1 Pet. i. 3; and indeed it is the gift both of the Father and of Christ; Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, who hath given us good hope through grace, 2 Thess. ii. 16; and as it is, through the power of the Holy Ghost that saints abound in hope, in the exercise of the grace of hope; it may well be thought that it is by this same power that it is first produced in them, Rom. xv. 13.-2. The moving cause of it is the grace and mercy of God, hence it is called, good hope through grace; it is not of nature; for it is not naturally in men; but is owing to the grace of God; it is not through the merits of men, nor any motives in them; but entirely through the grace of God, it is given; it is a gift of free grace, and is sometimes ascribed to the abundant mercy of God, as the spring of it, 1 Pet. i. 3; it is owing to mercy, and to the aboundings of mercy.-3. The gospel is the means of it, by which it is wrought, encouraged, and confirmed, and therefore called, the hope of the gospel, Col. i. 23: the doctrines of it greatly animate to it, the good news and glad tidings the gospel brings of free and complete salvation by Christ, of full pardon of sin by his blood, of peace, reconciliation, and atonement by his sacrifice, and of the fulness of

grace that is in him, give great encouragement to hope in the Lord, as do the many exceeding great and precious promises in it; by means of which the heirs of the promise have strong consolation, Heb. vi. 18; these are that, on which God causes his people to hope, what are the ground and foundation of it, support it, and encourage to the exercise of it.-4. There are many things which serve to promote and increase it; the whole Scripture has a tendency thereunto, which is written that men through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope, Rom. xv. 4; particularly the promises contained in it; and the goodness, power, and faithfulness of God displayed both in making and fulfilling them; and especially when opened and applied by the holy Spirit of promise, serve greatly to cherish the grace of hope; the things said concerning the person, offices, and grace of Christ, his resurrection from the dead, ascension to heaven, session at the right hand of God, intercession for his people, and the glorification of him in heaven, are all subservient to this end, that our faith and hope might be in God, 1 Pet. i. 21; the experience of the saints in all ages, of the grace, goodness, &c. of God, and particularly the saints' own experience of the same in times past, greatly strengthen the grace of hope, and encourage to the exercise of it; experience, hope; that is, works it, exercises it, and tends to increase it, Rom. v. 4.

IV. The effects of hope; which are produced through it, and follow upon it.1. It is said of it, that it maketh not ashamed, Rom. v. 5; the reason given of which is, because the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of such who have it, which supports it and gives it life and vigour; so that a soul possessed of it is not ashamed to appear before God and men is not ashamed in his present circumstances; nor will be ashamed at the coming of Christ: this grace makes not ashamed, because it does not disappoint those that have it, who will most certainly enjoy the things that are hoped for: and as this grace makes not ashamed, those who have it, need not be ashamed of it; as David prays, Let me not be ashamed of my hope, Psalm cxix. 116; when hope is a good one, he that has it, has no reason to be ashamed of it; nor will he. 2. It weans from the world, and the things of it, and makes a man sit loose unto them, when he knows that he has in heaven a better and more enduring substance, and can rejoice in hope of the glory of God; when he seeks those things that are above, and has hope of enjoying them, his affections are drawn off of things on earth, and are set on things in heaven; and he longs to be unclothed, that he might be clothed upon with his house from heaven, and chooses rather to be absent from the body, that he might be present with the Lord. -3. It carries cheerfully through all the difficulties of this life, and makes hard things sit easy; whereas, if in this life only saints had hope, they would be of all men the most miserable; but hope of a future state of happiness beyond the grave, bears them up under all the troubles of the present state, and carries them comfortably through them, so that they glory in tribulation. 4. It yields support in death; for the righteous hath hope in his death, Prov. xiv. 32; not founded on his own righteousness, but on the righteousness of Christ;

a hope of being with Christ for ever, and of enjoying eternal life and happiness with him; and which gives him peace and joy in his last moments, and causes him to exult in the view of death and the grave. There are many other fruits and effects of a good hope, some of which may be gathered from what follows under the next head.

V. The properties and epithets of the grace of hope; which will more fully show the nature, excellency, and usefulness of it.

1. It is called a good hope; And hath given us—good hope through grace, 2 Thess. ii. 16.-1. In distinction from, and in opposition to, a bad one. A bad one is that which is the hope of the moralist and legalist, which is founded on their own works of righteousness and deeds, done in obedience to the law; and is but a sandy foundation to build a hope of eternal salvation upon; and such is the hope of a carnal and external professor of religion, which is laid on birth-privileges, education-principles, a bare profession of religion, subjection to external ordinances, and a performance of a round of duties; and the hope of a profane sinner, formed upon the absolute mercy of God, without any regard to the merits, blood, and righteousness of Christ. -2. A good hope is that which has God, his grace and promises, for its object, Christ and his righteousness for its foundation, the Spirit of grace for its author, and is a part of the good work of grace begun upon the soul, and is a hope of good things to come, of which Christ is the high-priest: in this, hope differs from expectation; hope is an expectation of good things; and he that fears, expects, but he does not expect good things, for fear is an expectation of evil things; but hope is of good things; wicked men expect things which have no substance and solidity in them, and their hope perishes. 3. A good hope is that which is of great use both in life and death; it is the Christian sailor's anchor, and the Christian soldier's helmet; it carries through all the troubles in life, as before observed, and supports in the hour of death; whilst the hope of the hypocrite is like the giving up of the ghost, and expires with him; this continues, and the man that has it is saved eternally; for we are saved by hope, Rom. viii. 24. II. It is also a lively or living one, 1 Pet. i. 3. So called, 1. Because the subject of it is a living man, one spiritually alive: a man dead in trespasses and sins is without hope; but a man regenerated and quickened by the Spirit of God, is begotten again to a lively hope. -2. Because it has for its object eternal life: one that is justified by the grace of God, is made an heir according to the hope of eternal life, Tit. iii. 7.-3. Has for its ground and foundation a living Christ, and not dead works; as faith lives upon a crucified Christ, hope receives its virtue and vigour from the resurrection of Christ; Christ, as risen, and at the right-hand of God, greatly encourages to seek and hope for things above, where he is. 4. It is of a cheering and enlivening nature; Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life, Prov. xiii. 12; it causes gladness and joy; hence we read of the rejoicing of the hope, and of rejoicing in hope, Heb. iii. 6, Rom. v. 2.-5. It is an abiding, ever-living grace, and is always more or less in exercise; as water that is always flowing and running is called,

living water; this grace is lively or living, when others seem to be ready to die; and though it is sometimes in a low state itself, and a man puts his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope, yet still there is hope; and when he is in the worst case, a saint cannot give up his hope; nor will he part with it for all the world.

I. It is represented as of a purifying nature; Every man that hath this hope in him, of appearing with Christ, and being like him, and seeing him as he is, purifieth himself even as he is pure, 1 John iii. 3, that is, as Christ is pure: all men are by nature and through sin impure; no man can purify himself by anything that he can do; it is peculiar to the blood of Jesus to cleanse from sin. Neither faith, nor hope, nor any other grace, have such virtue in them as to make a man pure from his sin; no otherwise can they purify from it but as they deal with the blood of Christ; and he that has hope in the blood and righteousness of Christ for justification and salvation, and expresses it, does thereby declare that he is righteous, as Christ is righteous, verse 7, being made the righteousness of God in him.

IV. Hope is sometimes compared to an anchor, because of its great usefulness to the Christian in this life; Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, Heb. vi. 19; this world is a sea; the church, and so every believer, is like a ship sailing on it; Christ is the pilot that guides it; hope is the anchor of it; and a good hope is like an anchor cast on a good foundation, where remaining fixed, it is sure and stedfast; and as the ground on which an anchor is cast is out of sight; so Christ, on which hope is fixed, is unseen; as are also the glories of a future state, it is concerned with; and as an anchor is of no service without a cable; so not hope without faith; which is the substance and support of it; a ship when at anchor is kept steady by it; so a soul by hope: none of the things it meets with, afflictions, troubles, and temptations, can move it from the hope of the gospel, from the service and cause of Christ; but it remains stedfast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. In some things hope and an anchor disagree; an anchor is not of so much use in storms and tempests at sea as when in a calm, or in danger near rocks and shores; but hope is of use when the soul is in a storm sadly ruffled, discomposed, disquieted, and tossed about with sin, temptation, and trouble; hence David, in such a spiritual storm, cast out the anchor of hope; Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God! Psalm xlii. 11; and says the prophet Jeremy, chap. xvii. 17, Thou art my hope in the day of evil! A cable may be cut or broke, and so the anchor useless; but faith, which is that to hope as the cable is to the anchor, will never fail, can never be destroyed; an anchor is cast on what is below, on ground underneath; but hope has for its objects things above where Jesus is; when a vessel is at anchor, it continues where it is, it moves not forward; but a soul, when it abounds in the exercise of the grace of hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost, it is moving upwards, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and enters into that within the vail; and what gives it the preference is, that it is the anchor of the soul, and its epithets, sure and stedfast,

serve to recommend it; and which certainty and steadfastness of it arise from the author, object, ground, and foundation of it.

v. Hope of salvation by Christ is compared to a helmet; And for a helmet the hope of salvation, 1 Thess. v. 8; this is a piece of armour that is a defence of the head, a cover of it in the day of battle, and an erecter of it of such use is hope of salvation by Christ; it serves to defend the head from false doctrines; a man whose hope of salvation is fixed on Christ, cannot give into errors contrary to the proper Deity and eternal Sonship of Christ, to justification by his righteousness, and atonement, and satisfaction by his sacrifice; for these take away the foundation of his hope; and therefore he whose hope is sure and steadfast, cannot easily be carried away with divers and strange doctrines, nor with every wind of doctrine. Hope of salvation by Christ, is like a helmet which covers the head in the day of battle; it makes a man courageous to fight the Lord's battles, and fear no enemy; to engage even with principalities and powers, having on the whole armour of God, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, and particularly having such a helmet, an enemy cannot hurt his head, or give him a mortal wound on it. Hope, like a helmet, is an erecter or lifter up of the head; in the midst of difficulties hope keeps the head above water, above the fear of danger; so that the hoping, believing soul can even glory in tribulation, Rom. v. 3.

OF THE GRACE OF LOVE.

AFTER Faith and Hope follows Love; for in this order they stand, Now abide faith, hope, charity, or love, these three, 1 Cor. xiii. 13, but the greatest of these is charity, or love; not that it is of greater use than the other; faith is of more use to the believer himself, and such things are ascribed to it, as cannot be ascribed to love; but love is more diffusive of its benefits to others, and is of a longer duration. Love, in order of nature, follows faith and hope, as the effect its own cause, for because by faith and hope we taste how good the Lord is, therefore we love him. Faith receives and embraces the promises of eternal life; and hope, on that, is entertained of enjoying it, and waits for it; hence flows love to God, who has promised it, and gives hope of it; faith spies it in the promise, and hope rejoices in it; and both attract the affections to God, the giver of it. Of which grace of love, there are these three principal branches, and to be treated of, Love to God, Love to Christ, and Love to the Saints.

I. Love to God, Jehovah, our God, the one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might: This is what God requires of his people, and enjoins as a command to be obeyed; and it is but reasonable service; What doth the Lord thy God require of thee - but to love him? and says Moses, in his name, I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, Deut. vi. 4, 5, and x. 12, and xxx. 16; and this is the chief and principal, the first