A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

4. Especially when Desire is accompanied with Hope. All the Pleasures of this world, are far short of affording that Rest and quiet to the soul, as the Hope of Glory doth to the believer. O happy soul that is acquainted by experience, with the lively Hopes of the everlasting Happiness! It is not the Hope of corruptible Riches, nor of a fading inheritance, but of the Crown that sadeth not, and of the precious, certain, durable treasure! It is not a Hope in the promise of a deceitful man, but in the word of the everliving God! The soul that hath this Anchor, needs not be tossed with those fears and cares and anxieties of mind, that worldly men are subject to. This Hope will never make them ashamed. If a man were in a consumption, or sentenced to Death, would not the Hopes of Life, upon certain Grounds, be pleasanter to him, then sport, or mirth, or lustful objects, or any such present sensitive delights? Much more if with the hopes of Life, he had the hopes of all the felicities of Life, and of the perpetuity of all these? O may I but be enabled by faith to lift up the eye of my soul to God, and view the everlasting mansions and by hope to take possession of them, and say, All this is mine in Title, even upon the Promise of the faithful God! what greater Pleasure can my soul possess, till it enter on the full Possession of those eternal Pleasures! O poor deluded worldly men! What is the Pleasure of your wealth to this? O brutish sinners! what is the Pleasure of your mirth and jollity, your meat and drink, your pride and bravery, your lust and filthiness in comparison of this! O poor Ambitious dreaming men, that make such a stir for the Honour and Greatness of this world! What is the Pleasure of your Idol-honour, and short vainglory in comparison of this! while you have it, you have no Hope of Keeping it: you are troubled with the thought of leaving it: Had we no higher Hopes then yours, how miserable should we be?

5. The Trust and repose of the soul on God, which is another part of the life of grace, is exceeding Pleasant and quieting to the soul. To find that we stand upon a Rock, and that under us ⟨p. 280⟩are the everlasting arms, and that we have so full security for our salvation, as the promise and Oath of the immutable God, what a stay, what a Pleasure is this to the Believer? The troubles of the godly are most from the remnants of their unbelief: The more they believe, the more they are comforted and established: The life of faith is a Pleasant life. Faith could not conquer so many enemies, and carry us through so much suffering and distress, as you find in that cloud of testimonies,