The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 9-11, Treatise 2 · Chapter 15
CHAP. XV.
The Hope of the Saints makes them purifie themselves. First, Because the Hope of the Saints is of such high, great, wonderful, glorious things: Their Hopes, 1 Are great, and therefore doth elevate their hearts: 2 Their Hopes being great and high makes them jealous of any thing may contradict their Hopes: 3 The greatness of their Hopes, fills their hearts with comfort, and therefore purifies: 4 The greatness of their Hope purges their hearts because it inflames their spirits with Love to God.
THat which remains, is, That this Hope of his doth make him purifie himself. That which I intend now, is to open how this Hope doth cause him to purifie himself, together with the Application of it, [He that hath this Hope purifies himself.]
The Hopes of the Saints are the things that makes them to purifie themselves.
There is a great many reasons why those that are the people of God should endeavor to purge out all sin out of their hearts, and not to live in any known sin, but make it their work to set themselves against every sinful way. But the thing that I am now to shew, is, How the Hopes that they have of seeing the face of God, and enjoying so much mercy from God another day, is that which doth clense their hearts: we have divers Scriptures for this end, to shew that this is that which clenses the hearts of the Saints; in Psal. 37. 3. the Scripture joyns these two together, as having a special relation one unto another, Trust in the Lord, and do good; doing good is the fruit of trusting or hoping in the Lord, for Hope is the daughter of Faith; and in Psal. 78. 7. That they might set their Hope in God, and not forget the Works of God, but keep his Commandements: That they might set their Hope in God: what follows that? and not forget his Works, but keep his Commandements: That soul that sets his Hope in God, will not forget his Works, but endeavor to keep his Commandements: so in 1 Pet. 3▪ 15. there likewise ye have these two together, But sanctifie ye the Lord in your hearts, and be ready to give an account to every man that asketh you a reason of the Hope that is in you, with meekness and fear, kaving a good conscience: Those that are able to give a reason of the Hope that is in them, they are such as have a good conscience; a good conscience and a grounded Hope is alwaies joyned together. That man or woman that hath not a good conscience, is not able to give a reason of the Hope that is in them; you say, you hope that God will have mercy upon you, and all will be well at last; but can you give a reason of your Hope? Certainly upon that all depends, for if your Hopes should fail, you are lost for ever; Are you able to give a reason of it? will you lay the weight of your eternal Estate upon that which you are not able to give a good reason of? Every man and woman when they think of the Hope of Gods Mercies, should say, what reason am I able to give of it? Certainly your Hopes must be examined one day before the Lord and his blessed Angels and Saints, they must be examined, and therefore it is good for you now to think what reason you are able to give of it; if there be not a good conscience, there can be no reason given of it: We might name many reasons this way, how these two are joyned together, Hope and Godliness; but that the main work to shew you what there is in this hope that works the heart unto Holiness, and that causes the heart to purifie its self even as Christ is pure.
The first is this, He that hath this Hope purges himself as Christ is pure.
First, Because it is so great a Hope, as it is wheresoever it is truly, it is a Hope of such great and high things, the wonderful and glorious things that are the Objects of this Hope cannot but purge the heart from the filth of sin. Oh the difference that there is in the state of the soul before this Hope came into it, and when this Hope is in it, before I was a vile wretched worm, one that was a child of wrath, and under the curse of the Law, one liable to all the fruits of Gods eternal wrath, to be a castaway for ever for ought I knew, and the Lord now hath given me Hopes that I shall see his face with joy, that all my sins are pardoned, that my soul is accepted, that I am one that belongs to his eternal election, one that he hath separated for good; I hope I am one that shall have the fruit of all the purchase of the blood of Jesus Christ, that I shall live for ever with God to enjoy communion with him, that I shall be with Christ in his Kingdom to all Eternity, and have a crown of glory incorruptible, that I shall joyn with Saints and Angels to be eternally blessing and praising God in the highest Heavens, I have hopes of such things as these are: Certainly the greatness of the Hopes of the Saints, hath a great deal of efficacy in it for the purging of the heart, and that upon these grounds, because the Hopes are Hopes of such great things. Only one Scripture that the greatness of the Hopes of the Saints is that which causes them to purge themselves from the filth of sin: the text is in Tit. 2. 11, 12, 13. For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed Hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ. The Grace of God hath appeared: What doth it teach us? To deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; not to reserve our godliness for the world to come: And what's the ground of this? Looking for that blessed Hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ.
There are these three or four Particulars in this, that the greatness of the Hopes of the Saints is that which causes them to purifie themselves.
As first, The Hopes of the Saints being so great, such things, as indeed were they not revealed in the Word were blasphemy to hope for, that ever such a creature should come to enjoy so much as this Hope doth raise up the heart to expect from God.
Now it doth first elevate the heart, because the things are so high that the soul hopes for; the heart of a man or woman before God puts in these Hopes, lies grovelling upon the ground, and even the curse of the Serpent is upon such a one, upon his belly he goes, and dust he eats, he knows no other things than these that are in the world, and therefore his heart closes with them; but these Hopes they elevate and raise up the heart on high, because the things are high; as men that are busied about high things, you know they scorn the baseness that there is in others; men that are busied about high State Affairs in the Nation, they scorn the sordidness that there is in other men whose business is altogether about low and mean things. Commonly mens spirits are according to the Objects that they are busied about, as those kind of people that have not other Objects to be busied about but scraping of dust-heaps, and raking of channels, they have low spirits; but men that are bred in other things, as in the knowledg of the Heavens, or State Affairs, they have spirits elevated accordingly: Now the Hopes of the Saints being such great and glorious things, do elevate the spirits of the children of God, and makes them scorn baseness; sin, it is baseness, and of all things in the world their hearts must be above sin, that is the greatest baseness in the world, that which carnal hearts account their chiefest good; the Saints scorn that which is below them, and under them; there is in the hearts of the Saints, a holy kind of elevation of Spirit that God loves, that is, that they should think themselves too good for those base, low, and sordid things, that the men of the world take delight in: Surely a man would think it a very sad thing to have his child love to be among Swine in the Hogs-stie, and be slapping with them in the Swill-tub; a man that is of any worth would account it a great affliction to have his child of such a low spirit, but he would have him of a higher Nature, and to scorn that: So the Hopes of the Saints puts an ingenious spirit into that which is suitable to the things that he hopes for. I remember I have read in Ambrose, he reports of one Theodosa (a godly and gracious Virgin Maid) that she being put upon to sacrifice to the Idol gods, refused it, and the Judges to invent some kind of torment to force her to do it, they could think of nothing that would more provoke her than this, To condemn her to the Stews, that she should go and live in the Stews, that she should go and live in the Stews, and so have her Body abused there; that was the Judgment that they would condemn her to, for that they thought would prevail with her above any thing; and when she was to go thither, and some others likewise with her, they made a great fire, and put it to their choice, either to be cast into this fire, or to go to the Stews; and when they saw it, they freely leap't themselves into the fire, rather than to go into that place of uncleanness: Thus you see what spirits the people of God have, how much above they are, that which the world accounts happiness: many filthy, unclean, wretched hearts, will venture the loss of God and all for to satisfie the flesh in uncleanness, and think it the greatest joy and contentment that they can have to satisfie the flesh in filthiness and uncleanness, if they might have liberty: but now we see the spirits of these, that they account that the greatest misery, for their hearts were elevated above such base things. And that is the first thing, The greatness of the Hopes of the Saints, doth elevate and raise them higher above the baseness of sin.
Secondly, The Hopes of the Saints, because they are such great things that they hope for, therefore it must needs be that they must be jealous and fearful of every thing that any way may contradict their Hopes, because their Hopes are Hopes of such high and great things as they are indeed; the Hopes of carnal hearts are low and mean things, and therefore they are not so fearful and jealous of that which may hinder them, because they do not see the reality of such blessed and glorious things, as the Saints do that they Hope for; but now when it is hoping for a Kingdom, Glory, Immortality, Eternal Communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the highest Heavens, certainly any thing in the world that may be a crossing to this Hope, the hearts of the Saints must needs rise against: Now sin in its own Nature is such as would deprive the Saints of the enjoyment of these Hopes; howsoever, through the strength of the Covenant of Grace, God carries them on, that they shall not utterly be deprived, but yet they see that sin of its own nature would undo them.
Thirdly, The greatness of their Hopes doth fill their hearts with so much comfort, and so much satisfaction, their souls are so satisfied with the good that they hope for, that they account they have enough, so that they need not shark out to any other thing for comfort and contentment, because they have enough in their own hearts; their Hopes doth fill their souls with joy unspeakable and glorious. What's the reason why carnal hearts that seek up and down for comfort in this lust and the other lust? Because they have not enough in God: But now the Saints they have the Spring of consolation within, through these Hopes, these Hopes do fill them with so much comfort that the temptation that would draw them to sin, hath no power to prevail against them; for where lies the power of a temptation to sin but in this, It doth proffer some contentment that the heart had not before? and therefore people that are discontented are objects of temptation, and you do not know how liable you make your selves to temptations, when you are discontented and want comfort within; the Devil when he sees such an one, saith, here's an Object fit for me, he wants comfort, now I will go and present some comfort to him, for he is vext and troubled, and I may draw him to such and such an evil way; there's no people in more danger of temptations than melancholly and discontented persons, for the strength of a temptation lies in the proffering some contentment that I want: now if the heart be filled with comfort, and Spiritual and Heavenly things, that I find my soul fully satisfied and quieted, that I can say, Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me, for whatsoever I want in the Creature I have the light of the face of God, and I know I have enough laid up in God, and Christ, and in Heaven, and the Covenant, and the Promises▪ now the Devil sees that there's little Hope of prevailing with such a soul to draw it to sin; what shall I offer contentment to them, their hearts are satisfied with better contentments than I can offer to them; but here's the ground why a temptation prevails, because the Devil thinks that he hath better comforts and contentments than you have in your own hearts; but the Devil, and World, and Flesh (put them all together) cannot offer better and sweeter comforts than this Hope in the hearts of the Saints doth fill them withal; and hence it is that the greatness of the Hopes of the Saints help to purge and …o keep the h…art from sin, because they do fill the heart with so much joy and comfort. If a man should have his body fill'd with sweet Wines, if you should come now to offer him a little dead smal Beer, do you think you could prevail with him to drink it? The Saints have the rich Wine of Heavenly consolation, and they do fill themselves through the Hopes that they have in those great things of the Gospel; they do fill their hearts with the rich Wine of the consolation of the Spirit of God, and that which the Devil, or World, or Flesh offer, it's but a little sapless stuff, dead Beer, after they are so filled with other comforts.
In the last place, The greatness of the Hopes of the Saints doth purge their hearts, because it doth inflame their spirits with love to God; Oh that ever God should look upon such a worm, a vile wre…ch in my self, a child of wrath, and an heir of Hell, that might have been fewel for the anger of the infinite God to have burnt upon to all eternity, that God should raise up my condition so as he hath done, and given me Hope, and not vain Hopes but grounded Hopes of enjoyment of such glorious and blessed things; Oh what shall I render to the Lord, the love of Christ must needs constrain such a heart: Now when a temptation to sin comes, what saith the heart, shall I do such a thing, and sin against such a God, that hath raised me from the gulf of despair, and given me the Hope of that glorious Kingdom, that he hath provided for his Saints, and shall I sin against this God, Oh these Hopes do inflame the heart whatever they are, with love unto God, and there is nothing can purifie the heart from sin more than the Love of God, the love of God in Jesus Christ is a mighty purging thing; as fire we know purge… and clenses, so the Love of God is hot in the heart, it is as a fire in the very bones, Oh it purifies the heart from the dross that before was in it, the Love of God being shed abroad in the soul, there's nothing in the World clenses so as that doth: And that's the first ground of the purifying of the heart by these Hopes, because they are so great Hopes, and therefore he that hath this Hope purifies himself.