222 SERMONS upon Serm.XXXI' SE R MON XXXI. ROM. VIII. 24. For we are faxed by hope : but hope that is feen,is not hope : for what feeth, why loth he yet hope for ? N this Verfe the Apoftle giveth a Reafon why Believers do groaningly expea the Adoption, the Redemption of their bodies,and fo by confe- quence, falvation ; Becaufe yet they had it not ; and in this reafon, there is fecretly couched a Prolepfir,or an Anticipation of an Objeai- on, as if the Apoale had faid,If any (hall objea, We are adopted alrea- dy, redeemed already, faved already : This I would anfwer him; We are not aaually faved, but in right and expeaation only ; falvation in- deed is begun in the new birth, but is not tompleat, till body and foul (hall be g orified in the day of judgment ; then we are redeemed or Paved from all evils, and then do prefently enter into the anual poffeffion of the fupreme happinefsor glory which we expect : He proveth it by the nature of hope, becaufe hope is of a future thing : For we are Paved by hope; but hope, &c. In theWords Two Things. r. An account of the prefent flare of a believer ; For we are Paved by hope. 2. The proof of it by two reafons. The fir(t is taken from the nature of hope, For hope that it feen is not hope. 2. The fecund from the abfurdity of the contrary ; For what a man feeth, why doth heyet hope for? r. An account of the prefent (late of a believer, We are faved by hope : A Chriflian is already Paved, but he is only now Caved by hope, fpe, non re ; he bath compleat falvation,not in anual poffeffron,but earnell expeaation ; that's the Apo(tles drift here; he doth not (hew for what we are accepted at the laft day, but how Paved now; he doth not fay, we fhall be Caved by hope, but the are Caved by hope, which expeaeth the fulfil- ling of Cods Promifes in our falvation. 2. The Paoof. r. By a Reafon taken from the nature of hope; 'Tis converfant about things unfeen; Hope that is feen,irnot Lope, irak casaoµtrn is the thing hoped for, the a t is put for the objea, as alit) Col. r. 5. The hope . which is laid up for you you in heaven. Hope is wrought in our hearts, but the thing hoped for isréferved in Heaven for us. (Is not hope ), There , 'cis taken for the as of hoping ; is not hoped for; the meaning is, things liable to hope are not vifible and prefenr, but future and unfeen, for vifion and pofeffion do exclude hope. 2. From the abfurdity of the contrary fuppoftion : for what a man feeth , why doth he yet hope for it that is, things injoyed, are no longer looked for. To fee, is to injoy, as alto 2 Cor. 5. 7. We walk by faith and not by fight. That is,we believe now, but do not injoy. So here, where the thing hopedfor is poffeffed already,it is Paid to he feen. Otherwife if you take feeing properly,a man may hope for that which he feetltr as the wreftler or racer bath the crown in view, but whileft he is wreftling and racing, heho. peth to have it, but hath net yet obtained it. Well then,the Apoftles meaning is,Who would look for that which ,he bath in his hands? 'Tis foolifh to fay he hopeth for it, or looketh for it when he Both already injoy it. Doa: man
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