The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 9-11, Treatise 2 · Chapter 5
CHAP. V.
Of the Act of Hope: 1. Quiet waiting. 2. Long expecting.
THen the Third thing: There is the Act; and there is Two things.
First, The quiet Waiting.
Secondly, the long Expecting.
The quiet waiting of the soul, though things seem to go cross, and are long delayed, yet Hope doth quietly wait till the storm be over, and doth not murmur and repine against God, doth not go out to any shifting waies, but is quiet, notwithstanding things seem to go never so cross: Thus you have it in the 40. Psalm, at the beginning, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry: Mark what a condition the Psalmi…t was in, when he doth profess he waited patiently for the Lord; in verse 2. He brought me also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and yet waited patiently: and again in verse 5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee, if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered: and he goes on in speaking of great and wonderful things that the Lord hath done for him; but yet see what a condition he was in, in the 12. verse: For innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart failed me: My heart was even ready to fail, as I said of the Ship, though it be at the Anchor, yet one that hath not been at Sea before, when it is raised up by the waves, and plunged down again, he would think that it would even sink; and so saith the Psalmist, Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore mine heart faileth me. And in the 14 verse, he speaks against the many enemies that he had at that time that would seek his soul to destroy him, and so he praies against them. And in the 17. verse, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me; Thou art my help, and my deliverer, make no tarrying O my God: yet in such a condition as here he was in, he did wait patiently upon the Lord: Hope is that which quiets the heart when things seem to go quite cross and contrary, and it is called patiently, Patience is the immediate fruit of Hopes: 1 Thess. 1. 3. And Patience of Hope; that's the work of Hope, to be quiet and patient under the hand of God, when any evil doth befal them that seems to cross the things that we hope for; and hence in Heb. 10. the text saith, For ye have need of Patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the Promise: Between the doing the will of God, and the fulfilling the Promise; between the making the Promise, and the fulfilling, there falls out many things that are cross; you had need of patience, therefore saith the holy Spirit, you had need of this Grace to quiet your hearts in the hoping for the Salvation of God, when things are thus cross.
And Secondly: There's not only a quieting the heart, but a going out of the heart by expectation, that is, the heart goes out to look for the coming of the Promise that the Lord hath made: there's a Metaphor in Scripture to express this second Act of Hope; in Phil. 1. 20. where the Apostle speaks of Hope, According to my earnest expectation, the stretching out of the neck, so the word signifies, and so the same word is used of the Creature that doth expect the fulness of the Redemption of the Children of God, in Rom. 8. 19. [The stretching out of the Creature] It is a similitude that is taken from a man that expects a friend to come to him which is of great use to him, he stands at his door and puts out his neck, and looks at such a place to see whether he be coming yea or no; as a Malefactor that was ready to die, and expects a pardon to come, he puts out his neck to see his friend when he comes that brings his pardon; Expectation, the putting out of the neck to see when the thing will come: So the Saints of God, as they have hopes of glorious things to come, so they do as it were put out their necks to look for those glorious things that God hath revealed in the Word; but when the soul can quietly wait, and look after those things as the only things that he accounts his happiness to consist in. As a Marriners wife that should dwell by the main Sea, when the time comes that her husband should come home, will go neer the Sea shore, and be looking out, because it's a thing that she would fain have, and her mind is upon it, and so she looks out for it: So the truth is, the hopes in the hearts of the Saints above all things is upon the fulfilling of the Promises of the Gospel, and therefore they look out for those things, their thoughts are upon them, and their hearts open for them; Oh when will the Lord come, and when will he fulfil such a Promise: That's the propriety of the Grace of Hope.