The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 9-11, Treatise 2 · Chapter 20
CHAP. XX.
APPLICATION.
Use 1. Of Reproof of those Hopes that are so far from purging sin, that they are great nourishers of sin. Use 2. To get the hearts of the most vile sinner to hope in Gods mercy. Use 3. To help the Saints against that great Temptation, That they have much sin in them. Use 4. It cuts the sinews of all false Hope. The Hope of most people, It's 1 A meer contradiction: 2 It's contrary to Gods Plot in Election, and in Redemption.
Application.
HEnce in the first plaee: Certainly then, those Hopes are to be reproved that are so far from purging from sin that they are the great nourishers of sin; they are abominable Hopes, they are therefore wicked because they have so much Hopes; if they did not beleeve that God were so merciful as he is, they would be more careful of their lives than they are: Now this is a desperate kind of beleeving, for men to be the more wicked because they beleeve God is the more merciful, and yet I dare appeal to most people, if you did think that God were not so merciful as he is, if you did beleeve that God were more severe than indeed you do beleeve, would not you be more careful of your waies? we see it by experience that at such times when men have least Hopes, that is, upon the sick bed, and death bed, and that the very Ice is cracking, and they are ready to be swallowed up of the gulf of eternal misery as they think, Oh then they would be godly, and be purging themselves, but when they have health and peace, and have some Hopes, now they are ungodly, so that the best condition that many people are in, is when they are most in despair, when they are ready to die, when their Hopes are most shak'd, then are they in the best tune: Oh but it's otherwise with the Saints; when their Hopes are most raised, then are their hearts most sanctified, and that's an excellent sign, it's as good a sign of Grace as any. If thou canst say thus, Blessed be God, when my Hopes are most raised, then is my heart most sanctified; the Scripture doth speak abundance of peace and comfort to such a soul.
USE, II.
The Second Use is this, If such Hopes do purifie, hence we have warrant for to labor to get the hearts of the most vile sinners in the world to beleeve, and so to get hope of Gods Mercy; we have warrant to open the Treasures of Grace to the vilest sinners in the world, and to labor to draw their hearts at the very first unto Jesus Christ, and to these Hopes, because that the very Hopes will purge as much as any thing; we can never use any means to purge their hearts so much as by shewing them the Grace of God that they may Hope in. But you wil say, that hope cannot stand with living in sin & corruption. No, but the way to get the soul from sin and corruption, it is the manifestation of the Object of this glorious Hope of the Saints to the soul, the very first work that shall draw the heart to beleeve and hope in Jesus Christ, will draw the heart from the love of every sin and corruption whatsoever.
USE, III.
A third Use might be to help the Saints against that great temptation and discouragement that they have because there is so much sin and corruption in their hearts, they think that therefore it is presumption for them to beleeve because their corruptions are so great; this point may help against that temptation. Certainly it is not presumption for thee to beleeve and Hope if it doth purge thy heart, why art thou afraid that it is presumption? Oh, because I have such a naughty and vile heart, therefore it's presumption for me to hope: but if I can say, because thou dost hope thou shalt not have so naughty a heart, certainly it's as pleasing to God that we should have a better heart by hoping, as well as have a better heart, and then hope, yea, it's more Evangelical to have a purged heart by hoping, than to hope because I have a purged heart; in the other thou goest on in a more legal way, to say, I'le first be purged, and then I'le hope, but if thou canst say, I'le first hope, and then my hope shall purge me: Oh go that way to understand Hope, and then thou wilt find as much and more comfort in that way than in the other.
USE, IV.
Again, Oh how doth it cut the sinews almost of all false Hope, for they neither are purged, neither do they hope, and so are purged, purged they are, neither before Hope, nor after their Hope; and when it is neither of both, then certainly those Hopes can never do good to the soul in the day of Jesus Christ. The Scripture compares the Hopes of the wicked to the Spiders Web, in Job, 8. 14. A great deal of pains you know a Spider takes in making the Web, and then comes the Beesom of the Maid, and one dash takes it all away: So there's many people spin out their Hopes, and they spin them out of themselves as the Spider doth, and not out of the Word, nor out of the bowels of Jesus Christ, but out of themselves, their good meanings, their good actions, their good serving of God, and a fine Web is made; but when the Beesom of death comes, it's all dash't; When a wicked man dies, his Hopes perish, Prov. 11. 7. In Job, 14. 19. there the Hopes of the wicked are compared to a thing that grows out of the dust; and indeed the Hopes of wicked men they grow out of the very dust, they grow not out of the Word, and the Covenant of Grace, but out of the dust, and therefore they quickly vanish and come to nothing. Those two are joyned together in Eph. 2. 12. Without God, and without Hope: Certainly abundance of people live without God in the world, and yet they will say, they have Hope; but if without God in the world, then certainly you are without Hope, without this true saving Hope: now the hopes therfore of the most people in the world, certainly they are vanishing things, and will come to nothing.
For first, They hope, but their Hope is a meer contradiction; as thus, Suppose a man should go into his ploughed field, and sow Tares in the field, well saith he, I hope I shall have as good a crop of Wheat as any man in all the Country; would not any man in the world think that man mad… that should hope for Wheat when he lowed Tares? Certainly the hopes of Heaven and Eternal life in most people are as foolish and as contradictory in themselves as this kind of Hope. What dost thou sow in thy life? thou sowest nothing but wickedness in the course of thy life, and yet thou hopest for Heaven, and Glory, and Immortality, and the like, when as the Scripture tells thee plainly, As a man soweth, so shall he reap; and there's a most wicked presumption in thy Hope, for thee to go on in hope, and on in sin, I say, there is an impious wicked presumption in thy hope, and it doth provoke God exceedingly against the soul, that he cannot but with indignation look upon such a heart as vile and wretched, and he will cast thee off (one day) with indignation. If a man should come and say, Sir, I do depend upon you for help in such a business, and I am undone if you help me not, for all my expectation is upon you; presently I direct him in a way that he shall go; now if he should go quite contrary to what I give him directions about, and yet say he hopes that I will help him, would not any man account himself mock'd in this case? Truly in this manner do wicked and ungodly men mock God to his very face. God doth protest in the most solemn manner that is possible for any to protest that such and such that do such things, they shall never inherit the Kingdom of Heaven; hope and hope as much as you will, yet in such a way if I be a God you shall perish; and yet saith one, I hope that God will not do as he saith; you dare not say so openly, but in effect you do, in your hearts you say so: this is a mocking God to his very face; but God will not be mock'd. And know, there's a great deal more evil in vain hopes than you are aware of, it doth dishonor God in his holiness, it's apparant that you do not know as yet what an infinite holy God it is that you have to deal with, God takes this extream ill at thy hands, and looks upon this wickedness of thy heart with indignation, that thou shouldest da…e to flatter thy self with such hopes, when as the Word of God in such a solemn manner doth detest against it.
This hope of thine is quite contrary to all the plot of God in his Election, in the work of Redemption; the great plot in his Election, what was it? He hath chosen us that we might be a holy People unto him: Now if thou thinkest, I hope that God intends good unto me, and yet goest on in wickedness, thou dost cross the plot of Gods Election.
And so of Redemption, he hath purchased us to himself that we might be zealous of Good Works, and redeemed us from the hands of our Enemies that we might serve him in holiness all the daies of our lives; it's the very compact between God the Father and God the Son, That such as are redeemed, they should be redeemed that they might be holy to God; so that thou hoping that thou art one of Gods elect ones, and art a redeemed one of God, thou dost cross the very design that God had in the work of Election, and in the Work of Redemption: the love of sin, and hopes of Gods mercy cannot stand together.