does Imply, that it is of it self Sufficient unto Salvation. If we do not intirely Affent to the Truth Revealed, we shall be found Inexcufable, in the great and terrible day of the Lord; and when we have fulfilled this Fundamental Duty: and do ftedfastly Believe the Truth, if we do not, in all refpects, Obey the Truth, we shall be found Unfaithful and Inexcufable ftill. Though Faith Begins in the Understanding, it must not Finally Terminate there, but bring down its Influences to the Will and Affections, and cannot be Imagined to have its perfect work in us, that we may be perfect and intire, till we become Holy in all manner of converfation. And therefore those places of Scripture which afcribe our Salvation unto Faith, are to be understood of that Perfect and efficacious* Faith, which is Productive of a Holy Life: For, as the body without the Spirit is Dead; † So faith without works is dead alfo, and cannot be a Proper and Sure foundation of Chriftian Hope; which is

* Πίσις δι ̓ ἀγάπης ΕΝΕΡΓΟΥΜΕΝΗ. Gal. v. 6. † James ii. 26.

2. The Second Grace to be confider'd, and which confifts in a Juft and Joyful Expectation of That Happiness, which God hath promised in the Holy Scripture. As the Object of our Faith is Supernatural Truth; fo the Object of our Hope is Supernatural Good. The one is a firm Dependence upon the Certainty of God's Being, and of Things revealed; the Other, a firm Expectation of Seeing him as he is, and of enjoying all the Bleffings he hath Promised. The One is our Duty; the Other our Encouragement and Inducement to it. And This alfo becomes a Duty, Confequentially, and upon Suppofition of our Discharging the Other. For, as we are ftedfaftly to Believe, that God hath determin'd to Beftow the Bleffings, which are Tender'd to us in the Scripture; fo are we affuredly to Expect those Bleffings, which He hath Determin'd to Bestow.

And as those Bleffings are Different in their Greatness and Perfection; there is a suitable Difference in them, as they are the Objects of our Hope. The Blissful Enjoyment of God, in a Future State,

is the Highest and most Desirable Bleffing, and, Therefore the Principal Object of our Hope; which St. Paul speaks of, Rom. v. 2. By whom we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Thofe Directions and Affiftances, which are the Means of attaining Eternal Happiness, though they be Divine Vouchfafements which we can never fufficiently value, are yet Inferiour to that Happiness it felf, and are therefore a Secundary object of our Hope. So we find the Apoftle expreffing his Hope of Divine Grace, whereby he might be enabled to Persevere in his Duty, howsoever Difficult or Hazardous it might be; Phil. i. 20.

The Principal Hope of a Christian, or, the firm Expectation of Everlasting Felicity, is a Conditional Duty, and properly found in Those alone, who fincerely Obferve the Divine Commands. And in fuch perfons 'tis a Duty, as of Neceffary Obligation, fo likewise highly Excellent and Acceptable upon Two accounts; Firft, because 'tis an intire Reliance upon God's Power, Goodness and Fidelity, for Favours Future and Unseen,

and Thofe fuch, as are in pure Humane appearance scarce to be expected, and no otherwife to be Firmly Depended on, than from an Affurance of the Power, and Goodness, and Faithfulness of God. Thus thofe Full measures of Hope, which crowned Abraham's Faith, were in the most Signal manner Approved and Accepted: For against hope he believed in hope; And therefore it was Imputed to him for Righteousness. And the Excellen

cy

*

of this Divine Grace is ftill Further. Evident from the Bleffed Influence, which it is Apt to have, in concurrence with the Operations of the Holy Spirt, upon mens Lives and Actions: † For every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth bimfelf, even as he is pure; Does not only confider the Neceffity of mens leading Holy Lives, in order to Proper Hope, but is inftigated and excited by it, to Fulfil the conditions of it; and is ftrengthen'd and supported by it under all

*Rom. iv. 18, 22.

John. iii. 3.

St. Paul Speaks of Hope as the Anchor of the Soul, and an Helmet. Accordingly St. Chryfoftom, Expof. in Pf. ix. and his moft Pious and Excellent Disciple, Ifidor. Peleus. lib. ii.

the

the Difficulties and Conflicts of the Chriftian Life.

But, though the Virtue be reprefented in General, as a Conditional Duty; yet that Limitation is to be looked upon, in a Different View, with regard to the Different Circumftances of Good and Bad men. For when those Conditions, which are the Ground of it, are Actually performed, as they are by all Sincere Chriftians, the Obligation of the Duty upon them becomes Abfolute. But the relation, which it bears to Difobedient men, is purely Conditional; and it cannot be either Neceffary, or Allowable in Them, to hope for Salvation, but upon Condition that they fhall attain a State of Sincere Obedience, which they have not already attain'd. And yet even this Conditional and Distant Hope fhould, in all Reason, be very conducive to their Reformation; for what Reasonable man would not be very Strongly inclined to

ep. 17. have in most significant words expressed the Mighty Power of Hope, as rendring Men Steddy and Impregnable, under the most violent Affaults of Temptation. Vide etiam S. Chryfoft. in Pf. xlv. & Homil. ad Pop. Antioch, 2.