Discourses, or, Sermons on several Scriptures

Thirdly, ¹They are blessed in Spe, in Hope; whence it is called by the Apostle, That blessed Hope. A blessed Hope it is, because that which we hope for is Eternal Blessedness. The Hope of worldly Things is commonly more tormenting, than the Enjoyment of them can be satisfying. It is an Hope that vitiates and deflowers its Object, and so ⟨p. 50⟩mightily over-rates them in the Fancy, that when they come to pass, our Hope is rather frustrated than accomplished: And were it not for that Impatience, which is the constant Attendant of this Hope, it would be a Problem hard to be resolved, whether Expectation or Fruition were the more eligible Estate. Vain therefore and wretched must needs be the Hopes of those things, which cannot answer what is expected from them; like a Golden Dream to a Beggar, or the Dream of a furnished Table to one that is hunger-starved. But now the Hopes of Heaven can never impoverish the Glories of it, for they are infinite and inexhaustible; and God hath laid up for his, that which the Heart of Man cannot conceive.

Thirdly, ¹They are blessed in Spe, in Hope; whence it is called by the Apostle, That blessed Hope. A blessed Hope it is, because that which we hope for is Eternal Blessedness. The Hope of worldly Things is commonly more tormenting, than the Enjoyment of them can be satisfying. It is an Hope that vitiates and deflowers its Object, and so ⟨p. 50⟩mightily over-rates them in the Fancy, that when they come to pass, our Hope is rather frustrated than accomplished: And were it not for that Impatience, which is the constant Attendant of this Hope, it would be a Problem hard to be resolved, whether Expectation or Fruition were the more eligible Estate. Vain therefore and wretched must needs be the Hopes of those things, which cannot answer what is expected from them; like a Golden Dream to a Beggar, or the Dream of a furnish'd Table to one that is hungerstarv'd. But now the Hopes of Heaven can never impoverish the Glories of it, for they are infinite and inexhaustible; and God hath laid up for his, that which the Heart of Man cannot conceive.