DYING THOUGHTS. 239 But "happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth, which keepeth truth for ever. W o to me, if in this life only I had hope. But the righteous bath hope in his death. And hope maketh not ashamed. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Lay hold, then, 0 my soul, upon the hope set before thee ; it is thy sure and steadfast anchor, without which thou wilt be as a shipwrecked vessel. 'I'hy foundation is sure, even God himself. Our faith and hope are both in God. Christ, who dwells in our hearts by faith, is in us the hope of glory. By this hope, better than the law of .Moses could bring, we draw nigh unto God. '"'"e hope for that we see not, and with patience wait for it. We are saved by hope." It is an encouraging grace, it excites our diligence, and helps to full assurance unto the encl. It is a desiring grace, and is earnest to obtain the glory hoped for. It is a comforting grace, for "the God of hope fills us with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." God needs not flatter such worms as 1ve are, nor promise us what he never means to perform. He has laid the rudiments ofour hope in a nature capable of desiring, seeking, and thinking of another life. He has culled me by grace to actual desires and endeavours, and has vouchsafed some foretastes. I look for no heaven, but the perfection of divine life, light, and love in endless glory, with Christ and his saints; and this he has already begun in me. And shall I not boldly hope, \Vhen I have capacity, the promise, and the earnest and foretaste ? Is it not God himself that caused me to hope ? Was not nature, promise, and grace from him ? And can a soul miscarry and be deceived, that departs hence in a hope of God's own producing and encouraging ? " Lord, I have liveJ in hope, I have prayed, laboured, suffered, and ·waited in hope, and by thy grace I will
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