The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 9-11, Treatise 2 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
Of the Saints being men of Hopes: For, 1. God hath excellent things to communicate, and the Saints are those God hath set apart for the manifesting himself unto. 2. God hath promised glorious things to the Saints. 3. The Saints are born to great Hopes. 4. They are called to glorious Hopes.
FIrst, Certainly the Eternal God that is the Fountain of all Good, that is the infinite treasure of all Excellency, he hath infinite Excellency in himself, and doth delight to communicate those glorious things that are in himself unto his Creatures: the Creatures that God hath to communicate his choice excellencies to, are either Angels, or the Children of Men: Now then, if so be that God hath such things to communicate, and the children of men are the only Creatures in this World that God hath to let▪ out himself to, surely then, those that are the choice of the Children of men, those that are his own▪ Children by adoption they must needs be the Objects that God hath set apart for the manifesting himself unto; therefore they must needs be men of Hopes, because God hath so much to communicate, and there are no other Creatures on Earth that are capable of those glorious things, but only the Saints; therefore▪ there are glorious things for them, however they appear for the present, God hath great thoughts concerning them, to communicate▪ much good to them.
Yea Secondly, Not only from the Nature of God, because he hath excellent things to communic…te we may raise our Hopes, but God hath revealed glorious things that he doth intend to communicate to the Children of men; yea, he hath promised glorious things, he hath bound himself in a way of Covenant to make good most glorious things that he hath promised in his Word: Yea, and the Saints of God have the first fruits of those glorious things already, and that's the reason of their Hope. In Rom. 8. 23, 24. And not only they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the spirit▪ &c. We have the …rst fruits of the Spirit, and therefore we groan within our selves, and we wait for the adoption, and are saved by Hope saith the Text: surely they that have received so much of the first fruits of the Spirit, they are men of Hopes.
Yea Thirdly, They are men that are begotten, born to Hopes, and therefore they are men of great Hopes, because they are of a great Birth, as we use to say of such and such men that are great Heirs; Oh such a one is born to great Hopes, and those are not dead and vain Hopes that are l…ke to come to nothing, but lively Hopes. In that place of Peter it's very remorkable, where the Apostle speaking of the happy condition of the Saints, in 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: Mark, he hath begotten us again to a lively Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: the Saints have not only good things promised, but they are born to them; and a man makes account that his hopes are sure enough if he be born to great things. All the people of God are so: you that are Beleevers, it may be your Parents left you little or nothing in the World, but know, if you be godly you were born to great Hopes, to be Heirs of a Kingdom, of a Kingdom of Glory, you were born to greater things than if you were born to be the Kings and Queens of the whol World, begotten to a lively Hope, those Hopes that you have in you are not weak things nor fancies, but have a great deal of life in them, and should put life into your souls in the midst of all your sorrows: Yea, they are begotten to a lively Hope; How? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: You may see what the Spirit of God laies upon the Hopes of the Saints; if your souls have Hope of Life and Salvation that are true Hopes, that are the Hopes of the Saints, how came you by them? you came by your Hopes through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
YOu will say, How comes the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to be a means to get our Hopes?
How? The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead doth work in this manner, It is the caus of true lively Hope in the hearts of the Saints, namely, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, God hath declared that he is fully satisfied for the sins of man, and that the work of Redemption is fully wrought out, otherwise Christ must have been held in the Prison of the Grave for ever; but now when Jesus Christ is let out of the prison of the grave, and the bonds of death taken from him, this doth declare to Men and Angels that the work of Redemption is perfect, it doth hold out this to the soul upon which Faith is grounded, and Hope is raised; so there's an efficacie in this to work Hope in the soul, nay then saith the poor wretched sinners that apprehended such an infinite gulf between God and it, and saw it self through the guilt of sin sunk down into such a bottomless gulf of misery. If God the Father shall testifie to all the world by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that he is satisfied, and that all the work is finished, why may not such a sinful wretch as I am have hope of Salvation and Eternal Life through him, and indeed the consideration of this helps the soul against that temptation of presumption, for so the Devil will come when as a sinner begins to have Hope, yet I hope for all this that even this vile body of mine, may come to be hereafter like the body of Jesus Christ, glorious, and that I shall enjoy eternal communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, when thou seest the Devil come and say, what a presumptuous wretch art thou? darest thou presume that ever thou shouldst see the face of God at the great day with comfort, that thou should'st be raised up to have everlasting communion with God, and Christ, and the Saints? what high presumption is this? No, saith the sinner, I am content to own what thou canst charge me with in vileness and baseness, I am as vile and wretched as thou canst make me, I but yet it is not presumption for me to Hope; Why? Because that which I make the ground & bottom of my hope is not in my self, but I have revealed in the Doctrine of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ hath come and taken my Nature upon himself, and being in the form of a servant hath had the sins of the people of God laid to his charge, and hath stood before the Father clad with their sins, and he hath satisfied the Justice of God the Father, and wrought out a perfect work of Reconciliation and Redemption, and I hear that the Father hath discharged him, and he is raised now to the Heavens, and sits at the right hand of God the Father, and there makes intercession for sinners, and upon this it is that I ground my Hope., I am begotten to a lively Hope through this that Jesus Christ hath done, and therefore though I be never so poor, and vile, and sinful, yet I have enough to raise a lively Hope, that I shall one day attain to such things that are writtnn in the Book of God. Indeed the things that are written in the Book of God, they appear to me somtimes as if they were too good to be true, what is it possible that ever such a wretch as I should attain to such great and glorious things? were they not so great and glorious, I could hope for them: but now if thou understandest aright the Doctrine of Grace, and this Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, it's not the greatness of the thing that any way should discourage thy Hopes, for thou hast enough to raise thy Hopes for the enjoyment of the greatest things that God is able to communicate, or thy soul to receive; that's certain, thou hast encouragement to hope for these, let the distance between them and thee be never so great, yet Jesus Christ being between the Father and thee, he makes up all the distance; and therefore by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, we are begotten to a lively Hope, they are men of Hopes then certainly that are born to Hope, and that through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
And Fourthly, They are called to Hopes; that you have in Ephes. 1. the Apostle there praies very earnestly for the Ephesians that they might understand this, in the 18. verse, Oh that the eyes of your understanding may be opened, that ye may know what is the Hope of his Calling: you are people that are called to glorious Hopes, but you understand them but little; Oh saith the Apostle, that the eyes of your understanding might be but opened, to know what is the Hope of his Calling, and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints; Oh this were a good prayer to pray for many poor distressed souls: Oh they would live as men and women above the world, if the eyes of their understanding were but opened, that they might know what is the Hope of his Calling, and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints.
And besides that, there's a further evidence that the Saints certainly are men of Hopes, because they do so constantly follow after God in the midst of all discouragements, they can endure so much persecution, and rejoyce so much in tribulations, and nothing can take off their hearts from God, had they not Hopes, certainly it were impossible that they should go on in that evennes in following after God, that they should endure so much persecution here in this world, it's an evidence that they are men of Hopes because they receive so little from God in this world; you know the Apostles Argument, If we had Hope only in this world, we were the most miserable of all men: Do you not see how the Saints of God are persecuted and contemned? That thing that the Devil would labor to beat down our Hopes withal, is the very thing that the Apostle labors to help to raise our Hopes upon. The Devil saith, if you be sons and daughters to God, why doth God let the Devil and ungodly men prevail over you? Now the Saints turn the reason quite upon the Devil, And doth God suffer the Devil and wicked men to prevail upon us now, surely then God hath reserved Great things for us hereafter: the Devil saith, surely God doth not regard you, and it's but a fancy for you to hope seeing God leaves you so here; nay, saith a Beleever, because God suffers me to be afflicted so here, therefore there is glorious things a coming; if we had Hope in this life only, of all men we were most miserable: And so divers other Evidences might be to prove that the Saints are men of Hopes; a word or two now for Application.