Corn. r . Of Hope,;Prefuniption, andDelimit'. Chaps®. t 3, The 1;falmift faith, The Lords delight is in them that fear him, and put their truft in Pfat.147.1 r; his mercy. , Again, faith breedeth fear inus, in raped of our weaknefs, and it breeds hope in refpe& of the mercies of God : fo that they being contraries, non fecundum idem, they may well hand together in the Soul of a juit man. Fordiftin¿tionfake. Fides credit promos, faith believeth thepromife, andfeet expeEtr tcredita, Hope looketh forthe things we believe. Again, a thing may be believed and yetnot hoped for ; as no true Chriftian, though lac hopes not for hell; yet he believes there is fuch a place. So thegeneral truth of God, being the objeft of our faith, and containing many threatnings bringeth forth fear, and the mercy of God in hisPromifes, being likewifean Objeft of our faith, produceth hope. And fo we fee they are diftinguithed ab objeílo, the one having Gods Juftice, and the o- therhis goodnefs forits objeft. St. Bernard diftinguifheth the three virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, by pre- serm.to. to renting tousthree fpeeches, from eachof them one. Pfa1.9t. t. Faith faith, Repofitafont bona, good things that pals the conceitofman are laid up for the faithful. . 2. Hope faith, Alibi ilia fervantur, they are laid upfor me. 3. Charity faith, Carro ad illa, and to I run to them, that I may attain them. And thus out of the faith of the Gofpel hope arifeth , as fear doth from the faith of the Law. And therefore hope is called by the Fathers , The Ifaac of faith. This vermeof hope hath two ufes. The firlt is, that it is our Anchor : for our life -is"as aSea, and our faith theShip. Heb.6.t9. Nowwhen aman failing in the Sea of this life, feels his Ship touted with the waves of a Confeience terrifiedwith the Juflice of God, and is in the Apoftles cafe. when Aas 57.59: Tackling-and Mafts were fpent, then fearingto be cart upon the rockof defpair, he carts out this Anchor. And it is called by Tome of the Fathers our Interim, that which ftayethus in themean time, till God performs that which hehath promiled to us. z. The fecond Ufeis, not only to flay and fupport us, but alto to flay and retain Chrift withusl and accordingly the precept is, Cuftodifpem, culiodemChrifti. Se, theApoftle counfelleth us to take fart hold of it, and as when we are in danger of drowning, or falling into apit, we cart from us whatfoever wehold inour hands,and Heb.te.2 . take fart hold of whatfoever cometh firft to hand to flay us, fuch an nfe hath hope. 3. And under this Ufe may beanother , that by hope thus holding and keeping Chrift here, we haveakinde of poftellìon of Heaven in this life, as a man may be prefensabfens, fo a thing abfentis prefent by hope ; and as it was faid of fear, that it wrought humility, by removing all impediments, fo it may be laid of hope, that it fills the Soul by making things abfent and future to becomeprefent, and ina man ner enjoyed here. And thisis one thing whichthe Philofophers never knew, that thefe which they calledAffe ìions, Hope and Love ; are become Virtutes theologies to Gods Chil- dren, and the cxcellentel Vertues in Divinity : the Reafon is, becaufe they make them good that poffefs them. For our Nature not being able to be a Rule to it felf, but diretáted by a higher and moft excellent Nature, whatfoever that is, which applieth that Rule to us, mutt needs bring Tome part of goodnefs to us : which hope partly doth in refpc I of the Promiles, and therefore is a Vertue to us, This the Heathen man expreffeth by Pandoras Box ; at the opening whereof all flew out, and only Hope remained, under the lid. There- fore Philo fudsa calleth it, .;,cot: 'e i ", an inbred Comforter, which for- fakes us not when all other things have left us ; durafpirofpero, hope nevermakes Rom.5'.3. afhamed. And in the Regenerate hope hath the fame ufe, as the Prophet aflìrmeth ; I fhould P14L2711. utterly have fainted, but that I trufi verily to fee the goodnefs of the Lord in the Land of the living ; and in another place he faith, that his flefh refleth in s6.11o; hope. And this fpes vita immort,lis, hope of immortal life,as St.;Augufiine callt it
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