The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 9-11, Treatise 2 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
Of the Ground of Hope; and that is Faith, Which, First, Makes the thing real. Secondly, It gives us an interest in it.
THe last thing is, The Ground of Hope, and that is the Grace of Faith.
First, The Soul by Faith beleeves the thing is so,
Faith doth make it to be real, and a true thing to the soul.
Secondly, And Faith doth give an interest in the thing. Those are the two Acts of Faith.
First, To make it real to the soul, that it is not a fancy, but a real truth.
And then Secondly, Faith gives an Interest: It's that which belongs to me, and then Hope builds upon Faith; so you have it in Heb. 11. that we opened in the shewing the excellency of the Grace of Faith, It's the evidence of things not seen, and the substance of things hoped for; so that Faith doth give the substantial being to a thing that is hoped for, and Hope hath no bottom at all to rest upon, but what bottom Faith doth give; that's a very considerable thing for the examination of your Hope, You hope that all shall be well with you when you die, but now what is it that is the Foundation of your Hope? how is your Hope raised? is your Hope upon the Sand, or upon a sure Foundation? Certainly, if so be that your Hopes are true, they have a solid bottom and Foundation upon wh…ch they are laid: You will say, What's that? It must be that which is made by Faith in this manner, The Lord discovers to the soul the wretched condition that it is in by sin, and the woful misery that it hath brought upon it's self, and the breach between God and it, and then the Lord discovers the infinite riches of his free Grace in Jesus Christ, and holds forth that unto the soul, and discovers that, and by his Almighty Power enables the soul to close with that free and rich Grace of his, and to apply it to its self for the portion of it, so as it rests and ventures its Eternal Estate upon that free Grace of his offered: This is the work of Faith. Now this coming into the soul doth enlighten it to see the glorious things of the Covenant of Grace, they are the most real things in the world, and they are made over to the soul by this Grace of Faith, they are such things in which my soul hath an interest, such things as I can venture my soul and eternal Estate upon. Faith giving this Foundation, upon this, hope is raised; well then, saith the soul, notwithstanding I have been such a wretched vile Creature as I have been, yet doth the Lord manifest such a blessed Covenant, and such glorious free Grace in his Word to receive such a guilty vile Creature as I am; Oh what a mercy is this▪ I cannot say but that I am convinced of the freeness of this Grace, and I have felt the Lord drawing my heart to close with it, I cannot say but I have found through Gods mercy some ability to venture my soul and eternal Estate upon that free and rich Grace of his offered in the Covenant: well, is this so, that I find this made good to me by this means? then saith the soul, what though I find not all these things made good to me? yet saith the Devil, what hast thou gotten? thou hast rested upon the free Grace of God in Christ, what hast thou gotten ever since? thou ar… to Sence and Reason in as mi…erable a condition as ever thou wert? I but then saith the soul here, this bottom I will rest upon, and upon this will I raise my hopes, and I am resolved to wait upon God to my dying day, and to quiet my heart in the Promises that God hath made unto me, and to look after the fulfilling of them, it will come though it be long, I'le wait, and I'le look out for the fulfilling of them, and so I am resolved to continue as long as I remain in the Body. Thus you see that Hope is raised upon a foundation that Faith doth lay, therefore for any people to talk of their hope to be saved, they hope that when they are sick God will deliver them, whereas indeed that is not the Object of Hope, but a supernatural good is the proper Object of Hope, that which is the Object of Eternal Life; what hath given a foundation to your Hope? have you found the mighty Grace of Faith, the work of Gods Spirit upon your souls working Faith, that precious Faith? then your Hopes may have somwhat to bottom its self upon, but otherwise your Hope is like an Anchor thrown into the water that hath no solid substance to rest upon. So that here you have seen somwhat about this Grace of Hope that we do so much speak of; both the Efficient, the power of the holy Spirit; the Object of it to be the Good, future Good, and the Good of the Covenant of Grace, and the Object Eternal Life, and that with some difficulty; and then you have the Act, the quiet waiting, and the going out of the soul in way of expectation; Lastly, you have the Ground and Bottom of it, Faith; first making the Promises real, and giving us interest in the Promises; Faith is the Foundation of this Hope; Hope, it is but the Daughter of Faith, if it have not Faith to be the Mother of it, it is not of the right breed, and never will do good to the soul. Now then to give you some Evidences that the Saints are men of Hopes: you see what their Hope is, and in the opening of it, somthing you see about the preciousness of this Grace, and the usefulness of it: That they are men of Hopes, there are many Considerations for to manifest this by.