True Happinej.r. heeds b~ che Hopes of chafe things, which cannot anfwer what is eXp:tted -from chem; like a Golden Dream eo a Beggar, or che Dream of a furmlhed ~Table c9 one chat is Hunger-ftarv'd. But .now. the Hopes of H:a'(en ?an never .iiTipoverifh the Glories of it, for they are rnfintre and mexhau{h~le; and God h~th laid up for his, chat which che Hea~t of Man cannot conceive. .·•J-· A Chri!tian 'sHope hach Two Prerogatives above any worldly Hope. . Two _Pr,.. One is That it may attain eo .a full and final AfTurance, as the .Apo/fle fpeaks pmw_ of," to the I-I:bre1v1, ~here he_calls it! !he full ..Ajfurance of Hope untg the End. An ~!;?.11171 7 Hope i~ il, becaulc the Objetl: of 1t IS a furure Good de fired and expctl:ed. But Heb. 6'. -yet it is ~n Hope chat is joined with- a full Affurance of the Event; an Hope u • .. · that m~y flower up imo fuch a Certainty, as to have no Mixture of F.ear or 1 poubtingin irs Compofition; bur _may he as fure of the_Heavenly lnhenrance~ ;!S if Ollf Reverfion were already m atl:ual Polfeffion: Whereas Worldly Hope Can nev~r. be fecure but fome Providence or other may imerpofe todifappoint it. · The other Prerolarivc of a Chrifiian's Hope, is, that though it he. thus fully affured, ye,rrhe Acc,omplilhmem of ir /hall always have the fweet Rehlh of Surprjze and Wonder; for the Happinefs '-Yill be far greater than the Hop~, and ~he Inheritance laJgcr than the Expectation ; whereas Earthly Hopes, 1f r_heJ: grow to any degree of Confidence of Succefs, upon Fruilration they turn uuo Impatience and- Rage: Or if perhaps they do fucceed, the Sweetnefs _of the Accomplilhmem was long before fuck'd ouc and devoured by our greedy ExpeCtation ; the Game is torn and eaten, before the H1mt{man can come in. And upon both thefe Accounts, the piou~ and obedient C:hriftian is hlei'red in Hope. le is a hlelfed Hope char /hall cercarnly &e accomphlhed, ·and a bleifed Hope, the accompli/hinJ' of which /hall infinitely exceed our Expetl:ations, and fill us nor with Shame, but Eternal Admiration and Wonder. . . . Fourthly, They are blelfed in Right and T;rle: And upon chis very Accdunt hi I~;- !.- efpecially my Text pronounceth thofe bleffed that do God's Commandments, becaufe' Rtfhfll. m they have a Right to the Tree of Life, and to enter m through the Gates mto the Csty. Now chefe Exp1effions, according to the Genius and Style of this whole " · t Book, myllical and allufive; and for the explaining of them I muff lhew_,{ Firft, Wlift the Tree of Life M • L . Slcondly, WbaJ iJ this City, into 1vhich they have a Right to etlfer. Thi.U.j, What it is to tnter through the Gates into the Cit;. Ill. Fourth!;·, What Right it is which Obedimce to God's C~mmandments givts m fd' IV.;.. u. the Tree of Lifi, and to (71/u into the City. For the Firji of thefe, ~at the 7i·ee of Life is? 'h I. i _I an[wer, We find Mention. m.ade of this Trte ~f Life in Two other places of ¥;~:o{i;j,_ rh1s dark Propheq; rhe one ts tn Vn-. 2. of this Cbapttr: 01J either SiJe.of the u-. Rivtr Was there the Trtt of Life, 7vbich bare t1velve mamur of Fruits, and Jielded Rev. 22.2, h~ Fruit every Month; tmd the Lr:ave! of the Tree were for the healing_ of the Natunu. But this, very probably, maybe only an Enigmatical Reprefentation of . the Dodrine of the Gofpel; lee us rhen confute the othc:rpJace, where Mention · is made of this Tree Qf Life, and that is in Rro. z. 7· To him that (YT.)trcometb 'RJi/l Rev. 2.1. I-$ive to. eat of. ~he Tree of Life that it in !he. midjl of the Pnradi[e of f.€od. Now chrs carnes a plam Allufion ~o .rhac_Defcnprron of the Earchly Paradile of which we read, Gm. z. 9· where It IS fa1d, GOtl planted the 71·ee of Life iu the mid{! ofGi:n. 2. ,. rl}e Garden. Now this Tree nf Li(t was fo called, nor that it had any natural V er~ we to perpetuate Man's Life to Immortality, but only from its typical and (aeramental Ule; God having appoinred the Eating thereof as a Sign and Pledge of our Immortality, had we continued in our Innocency and Obedience. And · ~herefore we find, .that upon rhe Fall, God fer a G~ard upon this Tree, and as 1t were excommuntcates finful Adam from partakmg of this Sacrament of the Covehant of Work;, which was both a Sign and Seal of Immortality • fignifying thereby, that Sinners have no Right to Eternal Life, according to :he Terms of the firft Covenanr : Buc this Righc being again reftored eo us by Jefus Chrift therefore _they are pronounce? bleffed _that do God't Conmta~dmentt, becaufe tb~ hav.e a.Rtgbt to the T~ee of Life; that ts, to that Eternal Life and Immortality whrch rs liroughc co Jrghr by the Gofpel, and co which the Tree of Lift in Par:tdife was a Sacrament and Emblem. Yyy Secondly, Let
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