A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

2. It informs us of the Reason why the World and Sin have such a Power over Men, why they lie under the Power of present things; we do not awaken our Hopes, and consider Blessedness to come so much as we should. It is not only a difference between Sinners and Saints, but between Christian and Christian, one is more heavenly than another. As there is a difference between ordinary Subjects and Courtiers, those that are always in their Princes Eye and Company are more polite in their Manners than others: so the oftener the Soul is in God's Court, the more holy; our Hopes will have an Influence upon our Practice. It is Hope that carries the Soul aloft out of the reach of Temptation; as Birds when flying on high in the Air, need not fear Nets nor Snares, nor the Crafts of the Fowler. Keep Hope alive, and then a Christian cannot fail, Heb. 3.6. — Whose House we are, if we hold fast the Confidence, and the rejoicing of Hope firm unto the end. If a Man had such a lively Hope, and some taste and feeling of Heaven, and Blessedness to come, and a constant groaning after them; if we could but glory in our Hopes as much as if we had present Possession, then we need not fear miscarrying.

2. It informs us of the Reason why the World and Sin have such a Power over Men, why they lie under the Power of present things; we do not awaken our Hopes, and consider Blessedness to come so much as we should. It is not only a difference between Sinners and Saints, but between Christian and Christian, one is more heavenly than another. As there is a difference between ordinary Subjects and Courtiers, those that are always in their Princes Eye and Company are more polite in their Manners than others: so the oftner the Soul is in God's Court, the more holy; our Hopes will have an Influence upon our Practice. It is Hope that carries the Soul aloft out of the reach of Temptation; as Birds when flying on high in the Air, need not fear Nets nor Snares, nor the Crafts of the Fowler. Keep Hope alive, and then a Christian cannot fail, Heb. 3.6. — Whose House we are, if we hold fast the Confidence, and the rejoycing of Hope firm unto the end. If a Man had such a lively Hope, and some taste and feeling of Heaven, and Blessedness to come, and a constant groaning after them; if we could but glory in our Hopes as much as if we had present Possession, then we need not fear miscarrying.