Ver. 25. -_-- the 8th Chapter to the ROMANS. SERMON XXXIII. ROM. VIII. 25. But if we hope for that we fee not, then do we with patience wait for it. N this Verfe the formerboftrine is improved to the main End of this Difcourfe,which is to perfwade to a patient waiting forGlory to come; in the midi} of the fgfferings and troubles of this life : The Apoftle goeth to work by way of Suppoftion and Jeferenee. i. The fuppofition, If we hope for that melee not. 2. The inference thence deduced, then dome with patience wait for it From the firft obferve, That hope is cónverfant about what we fee not. Hope may be taken for a natural apfeiion, or for a Jpiritual grace 5 the one will help to explain the other. I. The objea of Hope as it is a naturalafeaion : 'Tis a good, future, pofbi, and hard \L to be obtained. Fir(i, A good it Aft be, for hope is one of the affeílions of profecuti- on,not avèrfation; man hath an irafcible and eoncupifcible faculty, called by the Apoftie paffions and lofts; a defiring or efchewing faculty the one is converfant about good, the other about evil 5 for evil is not hoped for, but feared ; herein the affeflions and the grace agree; they both aim ar good, but the obje& of the Chriftian hope is fummum ho,; rum, the bell andchiefe1r good, which is theViGon and Fruition. of God, incomparifon of which all the good things of the earth are but trifles, and poor irconliderable vani- ties. 2. A good future; For when any thing is poffeffed,it ceaf th to be hoped for.; when the thing defired is frn and enjoyed, hope hath no more to do, herein alto the two hopes agree ; the objeEt of Chriflian hope is fomething future, not }et received or en- joyed 5 in this lower world our God is unfeen, our bleflednefs is }et to come, and lyeth in another world, which we cannot come at, till we (hoot the gulph of death : There- fore the Chriftian hope needeth to be more prong and fixed. a. 'Tis poffìble s For the ferions and regular delresof nature can never be carried to that which is imps$ble 5 a man may with for Mountains of Gold, and pleafe his fancy with Ch) mera's of ((large things, but his reafon and will is only affeaed with things feifible, and filch as probably maybe obtained, and lye within hisgrafp ant reach ; the indu(irious hope is only of things poffible. 4. 'Tis not only pof iible, but difeelt,not to be procured without fcne induf(ry and labour; for things eafre to be compaflèd, are as if they were already en- joyed: Thefe twola(t qualifications of the obje& pf hope, (hew, that 'sis a middle thing between defpair and prefumption ; defpair only looketh at the difficulty, and leaveth out the poffibility, and fotaketh off all endeavours 5 as Paula companions, ( Al's 27.2oè When all hope they fhoreld be faved was taken away) ceafed ftriving,and let the (hip go whi- ther it would. Men will not labour for that which they defpair to obtain; it holdeth good in fpirituals 5 when men defpair of mending their condition, they give over all care about it 5 as thole wretches, Jer. 18. 12. And tleyfard, there is no hope, but we will walk after Bier own devices, and and we will every one do the imagination of lis evil heart. We have a laying, Pali cure, pail care. On the other fide, prelùmption never confidereth the difficulty, but only pleafeth its Pelf with a loofe and flight refleaion upon the potfibility; and therefsre do unreafonably imagine. to obtajp their end without Petting themfelves to ufe the means, or bellowing that colt and pats by which all worldly good is obtäined. Now
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