Looking emto :}t[m. Book V. 1127 is but a flut'tuating hope, but the hope of ce!tlinty is a fetled hope ; {uch an hope fweetens all the thoughts of God and Chrifr, of death and judgement, of heaven, ye,a, and of hell too, whiles we hope that we are faved from it; and are ~ot the Rom.a ~ ; , , Scriptures written to this very purpofe, that we might ~ave thu Tic. 3• 7, hope? are we not jufiified by his grace, tha, we might be heirs in hope , heirs llCCording to the hope ofeternllllife? ar.d was not this PCal.ai9oJ66. David's confidence, Lord 1 have hope-d for thy (11/vation? why ·then art thou cail down 0 mJ [oul? and wh] art thoH difquietttd rC.l.l'l·li. within me? hope thoH in God, fiJr I jhaB7et praife him, 1Jiho i4 the health of m7 countenance 11nd my God. · If I may here enter into a Dialogue with my own poor, trembling, wavering foul.-Per(on-why art thou hope· Ieffe 0 my foul! wouldfr tho~a not hope, if an honefl: mao had made thee a promi(e of any thing within his power ? and wilt thou not hope when thou hafi the promife, the oath , and the covenant of God in Cbrifi? -SoHI---Ycs; methinks I feel fome little hope, but alas it is but a little, a very little.----Prrfon ·--Ay but go on my foul, true hope is called a /ivtly hopt, and a lively hope is an efficacious hope; no fooner faith commends the promife unto hope , but hoptt takes it, and huggs it, and reckons it as its Treafure, and feeds 1 on it as Manna, whicn God hlth given to refrelh the ..yeary foul in the defert of fin; go on then, till thou comefi up to the higiH·It pitch, even to that triumphant joyfultxp~8;ation, snd wa~mg for of Cbrifl in g1ory. --Soul_,_ Why , methinks I would hope , I would afcend the highefi ilep of.hope; but alas I cannot; 03 I am expofed to many contravei'Ges:, . I am prone to many unquiet agitations ; r hough I have a prefcnt promife , yet I extend my cares and fears even to et~rnity; Alas, I cannot comprehend, and therefore 1 am har_dly fatisfied ; my finful- rcafon f~ es not its own .way and end., ,and becaufe it muft take all on trult and credit, therefore it fait to wrangling; nay, Sa than himfelf fo fnarles rbe quefl:ion, and I am fo apt to liflen to hi~ dot?bts , that in the conclulion I know not how to extricate my {c\f.-Perfon- Sayfi thou fo? furcly In this cafe there is · no cure, no remedy, but onely the tefiimony of Gods Spirir ; bot fa-ith not the Apoale,Rom.St6• that the Spirit it felf bears ")!!itnr§e ")!!ith otlr fPirits, th~t we Art the chttdrm of GQd? if a Man , or Angel ., or Archangel !houll
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