free gift of God through Christ; and therefore there is encouragement to trust in him for it; since it is not owing to the merit of the saints, but it is their Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. Christ, as Mediator, has power to give eternal life, and he gives it to all his sheep; This is the record, that God has given unto us eternal life ; and this life is in his Son, 1 John v. 11.

Secondly, There is encouragement to trust in the Lord always, Trust in him at all times, ye people, Psalm lxii. 8.-1. In times of darkness and desertion; it is said to a saint walking in darkness, and has no light, Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God, Isa. 1. 10, and wait upon the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob; since light is sown for the righteous, in the purposes and decrees, counsel and covenant of God, and gladness for the upright in heart, in the gospel, and doctrines of it; and sooner or later it will arise; hence the trust and confidence of the church; When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me, Mic. vii. 8, 9.2. In times of temptation, saints may trust in the Lord, and be confident that his grace will be sufficient for them; and that his strength will be made perfect in their weakness; that he will bear them up, and not suffer them to sink under the weight of them; but will in due time make a way for their escape out of them, and deliver them from them; and as Christ has suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted; and whereas he has a sympathy with them being in all things tempted as they, so he prays for them that their faith fail not; and therefore they have great reason to trust in him. 3. In times of adversity and affliction. God leaves in the midst of his church, an afflicted and poor people; and it is said of them, And they shall trust in the name of the Lord, Zeph. iii. 12, believing, that when they pass through the waters of adversity, and fiery trials, the Lord will be with them and preserve them, and carry them through them, and not suffer them to be overwhelmed by them; will make all things work together for their good, and deliver them out of all their afflictions.-4. In the hour of death, they are encouraged to trust in the Lord, and believe, that when strength and heart fail, the Lord will be the strength of their heart and their portion for ever; that he will be, not only their God and Guide unto death, but through it; and that even when they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, they shall fear no ill; God will be with them, and his rod and staff shall comfort them.

Thirdly, What that is in the Lord which gives encouragement to trust in him; and that is every thing in God, and belonging to him; his nature, and the excellencies of it; all his perfections and attributes; the several names by which he has made himself known: his covenant and promises; his word and oath; his gospel, and the doctrines of it; the methods of his grace; and the dispensations of his providence: in particular. 1. He is El-Shaddai: God all sufficient; and therefore to be trusted in for every thing that is wanted for soul and body, for time and eternity. Creatures are insufficient, and therefore not to be depended on; friends oftentimes would help, assist, and supply, but

cannot; but God is a help in every time of need, and is a neverfailing supply, an inexhaustible fountain of all goodness; he has a sufficiency in himself and for himself, and for all his creatures, who all wait on him, and whom he satisfies with his good things; and his grace is sufficient for his people at all times, in all places, and in all ages; and therefore they have always encouragement to trust in him. 2. He is Jehovah, the rock of ages, the everlasting strength of those that put their trust in him; Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, Isa. xxvi. 4, to support his people under all their trials and exercises; to carry them through all their difficulties and distresses; to bear them up under all their temptations and afflictions; to enable them to do and suffer what is his will and pleasure; to bring them on in their journey through the wilderness of this world, and out of it: he has promised, that as their day is, their strength shall be; and which is continually experienced by them; and therefore they have reason to trust in him.-3. The loving-kindness, grace, mercy, and pity of God, give great encouragement to trust in him; How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings, Psalm xxxvi, 7; the proclamation the Lord has made of himself, as gracious and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, is sufficient to engage trust and confidence in him; says David, I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever, Psalm lii. 8.-4. His truth and faithfulness in his covenant and promises, strongly induce to trust in him; he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor break his covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips; to which he has added his oath for the confirmation thereof, Psalm lxxxix. 33-35.-5. The experience of the saints in all ages, and a man's own, animate him to put his trust in God; our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them; they cried unto thee, and were delivered; they trusted in thee, and were not confounded! Psalm xxii. 4, 5, and having such a cloud of witnesses before them; and such gracious experiences of their own in times past of the goodness of God unto them, they encourage themselves in the Lord their God.

IV. The happiness of those that trust in the Lord.

1. They are in great peace, and will be in greater still; Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee, Isa. xxvi. 3, they have peace with God through Christ; they have peace in him, when in the world they have tribulation; a peace which the world cannot take away; great peace have they which love the Lord and trust in him; even perfect peace, at least hereafter; for the end of such a man is peace, everlasting peace. 2. They are in great safety; They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, they are like mount Zion, well fortified with the towers, walls, and bulwarks of salvation; and are as immoveable as that, fixed in the love of God, settled in the covenant of grace and peace, and secured in the hands of Christ, and can never be removed from either; but will abide in the state of grace until they come into the unalterable state of glory; the Lord is round about them, as the

mountains about Jerusalem; a wall of fire about them, and they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.-3. They need be in no fear of any enemy whatever: Behold God is my salvation, says the church, I will trust and not be afraid, Isa. xii. 2; not of men, the greatest, most powerful and numerous; nor of devils, Satan, and all other enemies, are conquered ones by Christ; he has destroyed him that had the power of death, the devil, and spoiled his principalities and powers; he has abolished death, and made an end of sin; he has ransomed his people from death and hell, so that they shall not be hurt of the second death, and has saved them from wrath to come; and therefore they have nothing to fear now nor hereafter; happy men that trust in the Lord.-4. They want no good thing, nor ever shall; O taste and see that the Lord is good, says the Psalmist ; Blessed is the man that trusteth in him! they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing, no good thing is withheld now from them that trust in the Lord; and great goodness, inconceivable and unspeakable, is laid up for them to be enjoyed hereafter.

OF THE GRACE OF HOPE.

HAVING treated of Faith in God, and of Trust and Confidence in him, the next in course to be considered is the Grace of Hope; for in this order they stand, faith, hope:- Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and therefore go together; and the same word is rendered sometimes trust, and sometimes hope, so near akin are these graces: thus in Eph. i. 12, what we translate, Who first trusted in Christ, is in the Greek text, and so in the margin, Who first hoped in Christ. Concerning which grace, the following things may be observed:

I. The object, ground, and foundation of it, Jehovah, God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Not any creature whatever, angel or man; not the virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord, as the Papists impiously and blasphemously address her, Salve, regina, spes nostra: Save us, O queen, our hope! Nor any creature enjoyment; if I have made gold my hope, the object of it, says Job, meaning, he had not; though some have, placing their hope of future good in it, in this life, to the neglect of a dependence on divine providence, and indeed, have carried it so far, as to hope and imagine, that they are the persons whom God will delight in to honour in the world to come with happiness and bliss, who have had so great a share of it in this; forgetting, or not knowing, that not many noble are called. Nor creature-merits; of which there are none: a creature cannot merit any thing at the hand of God: he is not deserving of the least temporal mercy from him, having sinned against him; nor can he give him any thing which may lay him under an obligation to him, or which God has not a prior right unto; much less can he merit eternal happiness of him, and so have any hope of it on that account; for that is the free gift of God through Christ. Nor any creature-righteousness, which is the hope of the moralist and legalist, who fancy they have kept all the precepts of the law from

their youth, and that touching the righteousness of the law they are blameless, and are not as other men are; and therefore hope for eternal life and happiness; but such hope is like a spider's web, spun out of their own bowels, and which has no strength, solidity and substance in it; which, if they lean upon, it shall not stand; and if they attempt to hold it fast, it shall not endure, nor any supposed privileges of birth and education, and of profession of religion; as being born of religious parents, educated in the Christian religion, and having some notions of the principles of Christianity; and going yet further, making a profession of faith in Christ, subjecting to the ordinances of Christ, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and continuing in a round of religious exercises, and yet destitute of the grace of God in truth. What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained a place and a name in the Church of God, when God taketh away his soul? Job xxvii. 8. But Jehovah, the creator and Lord of all, and the covenant God of his people, is the principal object of hope, and the only solid sufficient ground and foundation of it; as David said, Thou art my hope, O Lord God; thou art my trust from my youth! Psalm lxxv. 5. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is!

1. God, essentially considered, is the object of hope; Hope in God, says the Psalmist, for I shall yet praise him, Psalm xlii. 11. So the church speaks of him; O the hope of Israel, &c. Jer. xiv. 8. The grounds of which hope in God are his grace, and mercy, and goodness; he has proclaimed his name, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, abundant in goodness, and it is the abundance of his mercy, grace, and goodness, which lays a solid foundation for hope in him, and encourages to it; Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy! he is plenteous in it, rich in mercy, there is a multitude of tender mercies with him; he takes pleasure in those that hope in his mercy, and his eye is upon them to do them good; and therefore there is great encouragement to make the Lord God the object of their hope.

1. God personally considered is the object of hope, God, Father, Son, and Spirit: God the Father, who is called, The God of hope; not only because he is the author and giver of that grace; but because he is the object of it, Rom. xv. 13; by whom Christ is said to be raised from the dead, that faith and hope might be in God, that is, in God the Father, 1 Peter i. 21; and Christ the Son of God is called, our hope, and Christ in you the hope of glory; that is, the object, and ground, and foundation of it; which are his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice. The Spirit of God also is equally the object of hope, as of faith and confidence; that he will assist in the exercise of every grace, and the performance of every duty; and particularly, that he will carry on and finish the work of grace upon the soul.

II. The less principal objects of hope, connected with the divine persons, are the promises of God, and the things therein promised; hence the word of God, the word of promise, is represented as the object of hope; says the Psalmist, In his word do I hope, Psal. cxxx. 5; the ground and foundation of which hope is in the faithfulness and power

of God. The faithfulness of God; for he is faithful that has promised; nor will he suffer his faithfulness to fail; and therefore the performance of his promises may be hoped for; besides, he is able also to perform; and upon this footing Abraham believed in hope against hope: the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save; he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think; and therefore may hope, yea, believe, there will be a performance of whatsoever is spoken and promised by him.

Things to be hoped for are represented, -1. As things unseen, of which faith is the evidence; and gives encouragement to the exercise of hope upon them; Hope that is seen, is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? Rom. viii. 24, 25; the glories of another world are things not seen, so as thoroughly to understand and comprehend, yet hope of enjoying them, upon the divine promise, is conversant with them, which enters into that within the vail, Heb. vi. 19.-2. They are things future, yet to come, and therefore hoped for; hence saints are exhorted, to hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto them, at the revelation of Jesus Christ, when he shall be revealed from heaven, and appear a second time; and therefore are directed, to look for that blessed hope, the hope laid up in heaven, the hope of happiness to be enjoyed, at the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. i. 13.-3. Things hoped for are difficult to come at and possess; many tribulations lie in the way to the kingdom, through which men must enter into it; the righteous, by reason of many afflictions, trials, and temptations, are scarcely saved, though at last certainly saved; and since the gate is strait and the way narrow, which lead to eternal life; hence there must be a labouring and striving to enter in; of which there is hope: and therefore, -4. Hope is of things possible, or otherwise it would turn to despair, as in Cain, and those who said, there is no hope, Jer. xviii. 12; but there is hope in Israel concerning this thing, eternal life and happiness, as well as concerning all things leading on to it; and which will certainly issue in it; and therefore it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for salvation of the Lord, Ezra x. 2; at least he has encouragement to put his mouth in the dust, seeing hope of salvation is to be entertained.

the

Things, the objects of hope, are more particularly salvation by Christ, pardon of sin through him, all blessings of grace, and the supplies of it for the present life; and things after death, as the resurrection of the body and eternal life.

1. Salvation by Christ: as soon as ever a soul is made sensible of its lost state and condition by nature, its enquiry is, What must I do to be saved? and being shown the way of salvation by Christ, and directed to him for it, in whom it is complete, perfect, and every way suitable, it is encouraged to hope in him for it, and say, as David did, Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation. Salvation, though wrought out, yet the full possession of it is to come; and the difficulties in the enjoying it many; and yet it is possible to be had, and therefore hope is conversant about it.-1. It has been thought of, contrived, and fixed; the thoughts of God were employed about it in eternity; he

way

of