Ver. 24. the 8tb Chapter to the ROMANS. 2 2 9 SERMON XXXII. ROM. VIII. s4. For we are faved by hope : but hope that is feen, is not hope : for what a man feeth, why cloth he yet hope for ? E muff diftinguith of hope. There are feveral kinds of hope. 1.There is an hope in the creature, and an hope in God 5 all things betides God are falte confidences. Carnal men hope for that in the creature which is only to be found in God : dream of an uninter- rupted tenor ofworldly felicity in prefect enjoyments 5 therefore their hopes are compared to a fpiders web, which is gone with the turn of a beCom, Job 8. r3, 1¢. they lay their designs in their minds as curioufly as the fpiders web is woven 5 but the below of providence cometh, and fpider and web are both fweptaway,and trodden under foot. By the prophet I,làiah it is com- pared to a dream, ICa. 29. 8. At when an hunger,. man dreameth, and behold he eatetb, but he ewaketh and his foul is empty: or as a thirfi) man dreameth, and behold he drir. keth, but he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and hisfoul bath appetite. A false hope is but a waking dream, which faileth in extremity, and giveth but an imaginary re- frefhmeat and latisfa&ion. This may befal Gods Children, who fall afleep in the midli of worldly profperity, PCa]. 30. 6. In my profperity IPaid, I Pall never be moved. 'Tis hard to keep from fleep when we lean our heads upon a loft carnal pillow, and in our deep we have many fantafies and dreams ; this is hope in the creature. But then there is an hope in God, whole immutable mercy and truth malceth him a fit objett for hope, Pfal. 13o. 7. Let Ifrael hope in the Lord 5 fo Pfal, 42. 5. Hepe thou in God, for I(ball yet praife him. He bath the fovereign command of all things; and in vain do we look for good apart from him t if the creature fay yea, and God no, all the promifes of' the creature prove but a lie ; hope in God is that which we press as our refpet`i to him as God 5for faith, hope, and love, are duties of the firft commandment; negatives include their .poltives. If no other Gods before him, then we own the true God for our God. The pofìtive duties of the fitti commandment are cultur natnralis non in, fluutu ¡, fuch as are our duty to God as God, tho he give no direlhion about them ; if God be our God, then hope in him, Lam. 3. 24. The Lord is my portion, faith my fouls thereforé will I hope in him. That is, expel all my happinefs from him. 2, Hope in God is two -fold, either irrational and groundless, or a rational hope that is built upon lolid grounds. I. There is a vain and groundlefs hope, which is irrational, Cuch as is in carnal and carders finners,who fay they hope well; but their hope will one day leave them afhamedi Rom. 5. 5. For it is not an hope built on the word of God; rho they live in their fins, yet they hope they thall do well enough, tho they be not fo arid and nice as others are 5 like condemned men in bolts and irons, that dream of Crowns and Septets, when they are near unto, and ready for their execution; fo they hope for Heaven with as much confidence as the holieft of them all, tho God hash told them, bleb. 12. ¡4. That without holinefo, no man (hall fee the Lord. This hope is but a vain dream, and an awakening time will come ; this hope is not only without faith, but againfi faith. This hope is nothing elfe but a confidence that God will prove a lyar 5 fo that 'cis a blafphemy
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