Works of John Bunyan: WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH. 590

 

For these are formed for that very end, that they might hope in the Lord; yea, the word, and testament are given to them for this purpose (Psa 78:5-7). These are prisoners of hope all the time they are in the state of nature, even as the whole creation is subjected under hope, all the time of its bondage, by the sin and villainy of man. Unto them, it shall be said, in the dispensation of the fullness of time, 'Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope' (Zech 9:12); as indeed as that which is called the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:18-21). Only here, as I said before, let all men have a care in this thing: this is the pinnacle, the point; he that is right here, is right in all that is necessary to salvation; but he that misses here, can by no means be right anywhere to his soul's advantage in the other world.

[Improvement.] If I should a little improve the text where this title is first given to man, and show the posture he was in when it was said to him, 'Thy name shall be called Israel'; and should also debate upon the cause or ground of that, 'An Israelite indeed,' thou mightiest not repent it who shall read it; and therefore a few words to each.

1. When Jacob received the name of Israel, he was found wrestling with the angel; yea, and so resolved a wrestler was he, that he purposed, now he had begun, not to give out without a blessing, 'I will not let thee go,' said he, 'except thou bless me' (Gen 32:26). Discouragements he had while he wrestled with him, to have left off before he obtained his desire; for the angel bid him leave off; 'let me go,' said he. He had wrestled all night and had not prevailed. Now the day brake upon him, and consequently, his discouragement was like to be the more significant, for that now the majesty and terribleness of him with whom he wrestled would be seen more apparently; but this did not discourage him: besides, he lost the use of a limb as he wrestled with him; yet all would not put this Israel out. Pray he did, and pray he would, and nothing should make him leave off prayer until he had obtained it; therefore, he was called 'Israel.' 'For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed' (Gen 32:28,30). A wrestling spirit of prayer is a demonstration of an Israel of God; this Jacob had, this he made use of, and by this he obtained the name of 'Israel.' A wrestling spirit of prayer in straits, difficulties, and distresses; a wrestling spirit of worship when alone in private, in the night, when none eye seeth but God's then to be at it, then to lay hold of God, then to wrestle, to hold fast, and not to give over until the blessing is obtained, is a sign of one that is an Israel of God.

2. 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile' (John 1:47). This was the testimony of the Lord Jesus concerning Nathaniel (v 46). Nathaniel was persuaded by Philip to come to Jesus, and as he was coming, Jesus said to the rest of the disciples concerning him, 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' Then said Nathaniel to Jesus, 'Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree I saw thee' (v 15). Nathaniel, as Jacob, was at prayer, at prayer alone under the fig tree, wrestling in prayer, for what no man can certainly tell, but probably for the Messias, or for the revelation of him: for the seeing Jews were convinced that the time of the promise was out; and all men were in expectation concerning John, whether he might not be the (Luke 3:15). But Nathaniel was under the fig-tree, alone with God, to inquire of him, and that with great earnestness and sincerity; else the Lord Jesus would not thus have excused him of hypocrisy, and justified his action as he did, concluding from what he did there that he was a true son of Jacob; and ought, as he, to have his name changed from what his parents gave him, to this given him of Christ, 'An Israelite indeed.' Wherefore, from both these places, it is apparent that a wrestling spirit of prayer, in private, is one of the best signs that this or that man or woman is of Israel; and, consequently, such who are within the compass of the exhortation here, saying, 'Let Israel hope in the Lord.' I say there is this wrestling spirit of prayer with God alone, for as for public prayer, though I will not condemn it, it gives no ground for this character, notwithstanding all the flourishes and excellencies that may appear. I am not insensible what pride, what hypocrisy, what pretenses, what self-seekings of commendations and applause, may be countenanced by those concerned in, or that make public prayers; and how little thought or savor of God may be in all so said; but this closet, night, or alone prayer, is of another stamp, and attended, at least so I judge, with that sense, those desires, that simplicity, and those strugglings, wherewith that in public is not. Nay, I think verily a man cannot addict himself to these most solemn retirements, without some of Jacob's and Nathaniel's sense and sincerity, wrestlings and restlessness for mercy; wherefore, laying aside all other, I shall abide by this, That the man that is as I have here described, is not an Israelite of the flesh, nor one so only in his fancy or imagination, but one made so of God; one that is called a child of promise, and one to whom this exhortation doth belong: 'Let Israel hope in the Lord'; to wit, they that serve God by prayer day and night (Luke 2:37; Acts 26:5-7). I say these are Israel, the Israel of God, and let these hope in the Lord, from now, 'henceforth, and forever' (Psa 131:3).

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His faithfulness also greatly encourages his hope for the accomplishment of all that he has promised to his people. 'Hath he said it, and shall he not make it good?' When he promised to bring Israel into the land of Canaan, he accomplished it with a title. 'There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass' (Josh 21:45, 23:14). Also, what he with his mouth had promised to David, with his hand he fulfilled to Solomon in the view of all the thousands of Israel (1 Kings 8:22-24; 2 Chron 6:7-10).

[Third. The persons who are concerned in the management of this duty of hope.]

I will omit making mention again of the encouragements spoken of before, and shall now come to the third thing specified in this part of the text, to wit, to show more distinctly, who, and what particular persons they are, who are concerned in this exhortation to hope.

They are put, as you see, under this general term Israel; 'Let Israel hope in the Lord.' And, 'He shall save Israel from all his troubles.' Israel is to be taken three ways, in the Scripture. 1. For such that are Israel after the flesh. 2. For such as are such neither after the flesh nor the Spirit; but in their own fancies and carnal imaginations only. 3. For such as are Israel after God, or the Spirit.

1. Israel is to be taken for those that are such after the flesh; that is, for those that sprang from the loins of Jacob, and are called, 'Israel after the flesh, the children of the flesh.' Now these, as such, are not the persons interested in this exhortation, for by the flesh comes no true spiritual and eternal grace (Rom 9:6-8; 2 Cor 1:10-18). Men are not within the bounds of the promise of eternal life, as they are the children of the flesh, either in the more gross or more refined sense (Phil 3:4-6). Jacob was as spiritual a father as any HE, I suppose that now professeth the gospel; but his spiritualness could not convey down to this children, that were such only after the flesh, that spirit and grace that causeth sound conversion, and salvation by Jesus Christ. Hence Paul counts it a carnal thing to glory in this; and tells us plainly, If he had heretofore known Christ thus, that is, to have been his brother or kinsman, according to the flesh, or after that, he would henceforth know him, that is, so, 'no more' (2 Cor 5:16-18). For though the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet not that multitude, but the remnant that the Lord hath chosen and shall call, shall be saved (Rom 9:27; Joel 2:32). This, therefore, is as an arrow against the face of that false doctrine that the Jews leaned upon, to wit, that they were in the state of grace, and everlasting favour of God, because the children and offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But,

2. Israel may be taken for such as are neither so after the flesh, nor the Spirit, but in their own fancy and imagination only. And such I take to be all those that you read of in Revelation 2:9 which said 'they were Jews, and were not,' 'but did lie' (3:9).

These I take to be those carnal gospellers,[15] that from among the Gentiles pretended themselves to be Jews inwardly, whose circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, when they were such only in their own fancies and conceits, and made their profession out as a lie (Rom 2:28,29). Abundance of these there are at this day in the world; men who know neither the Father, nor the Son, nor anything of the way of the Spirit, in the work of regeneration; and yet presume to say, 'They are Jews'; that is, truly and spiritually the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 'For' now, 'he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit,—whose praise is not of men, but of God.' And although it may please some now to say, as they of old said to them of the captivity, 'We seek your God as ye do' (Ezra 4:2); yet at last it will be found, that as they, such have 'no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem' (Neh 2:20). And I would from hence caution all to take heed of presuming to count themselves Jews, unless they have a substantial ground so to do. For to do this without a good bottom makes all our profession a lie; and not only so, but it hindereth us of a sight of a want of an interest in Jesus Christ, without which we cannot be saved; yea, such an one is the great self-deceiver, and so the worst deceiver of all: for he that deceives his own self, his own heart, is a deceiver in the worst sense; nor can any disappointment be like unto that which casts away soul and body at once (James 1:22,26). O slender thread! that a man should think, that because he fancieth himself 'an Israelite indeed,' that therefore he shall go for such a one in the day of judgment; or that he shall be able to cheat God with a pitiful say-so!

3. But the Israel under consideration in the text, is Israel after God, or the Spirit; hence they are called 'the Israel of God,' because they are made so of him, not by generation, nor by fancy, but by Divine power (Can 6:16). And thus was the first of this name made so, 'Thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel' (Gen 32:28). This then is the man concerned in the text, 'Let Israel hope in the Lord'; to wit, Israel that is so of God's making, and of God's allowance: for men are not debarred from calling themselves after this godliest name, provided they are so indeed; all that is dangerous is, when men shall think this privilege comes by carnal generation, or that their fancying of themselves to be such will bear them out in the day of judgment. Otherwise, if men become the true servants of God by Christ, they have, as I said, an allowance so to subscribe themselves. 'One shall say, I am the Lord's and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel' (Isa 44:5). But then, for the further describing of such, they must be men of circumcised and tender hearts; they must be such 'which worship God in the spirit, and that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and that have no confidence in the flesh' (Phil 3:3), for these are the Nathaniels, the Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile (John 1:47), and these are they that are intended in the exhortation, when he saith, 'Let Israel hope in the Lord.'

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So then, that we might in the next world be heirs of the highest good, God has made us heirs of his own good self; 'Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ'; heirs of God through Christ (Rom 18:17; Gal 4:7). This God, this eternal God, therefore, is of necessity to be the object of our hope, because he is, of grace, become our hope. The church in heaven, called the body and temple of God, is to be a habitation for himself and, when it is finished, to dwell forever and ever. We hope for, to wit, to be possessed on that day with eternal life, eternal glory (1 Tim 6:12,19). Now this eternal life and eternal glory are through God the hope of his people (1 Peter 5:10; 1 John 5:20). And for this end, and to this bliss, are we called and regenerate in this world, 'That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life' (Titus 3:7). Nor can it be, that heaven and happiness should ever be the portion of them that make not God their hope, any more than such a lady should hope to enjoy the estate of such a lord, who first makes not the lord himself her husband. Heaven, heaven is the talk of the ignorant, while the God of heaven they cannot abide. But shall such ever come to glory? But,

II. God must be the special object of our hope, and he is unique and must be enjoyed by us in the next world, or nothing can make us happy. For the illustrating of this matter, we will suppose that which is not to be considered. As,

1. Suppose a man, when he dieth, should go to heaven, that golden place; what good would this do him if he was not possessed of the God of it? It would be, as to sweetness, but a thing unsavory; as to durableness, but a thing uncertain; as to society, as a thing forlorn; and as to life, but a place of death. All this is made to appear by the angels that fell, for what was heaven to them when fallen? Suppose they stayed but one-quarter of an hour after their fall before they were cast out; what sweetness found them there but guilt? What remains but a continual fall of heart and mind? What society, but to be abandoned of all? And what life, but death in its perfection? Yeah, if it is true that some think that for the promotion of grace, they are admitted yet to enter that place to accuse the saints on earth, what do they find there, but what is grievous to them? It is the presence of God that makes heaven Heaven in all its beauteousness. Hence, when he speaks of heaven, David says, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee?' (Psa 73:25). As who should say, What would heaven yield to me for delights if I was there without my God? It is the presence of God that will make heaven sweet to those who are his. And as it is that that makes the place, so it is interest in him that makes the company, and the deeds done there, pleasant to the soul. What solace can he have without God, though he were in heaven, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the prophets and angels? How could he join in their thanks, praises, and blessings forever and ever, in whose favor, mercy, and grace they are not concerned?

2. Suppose a man, when he dies, should be made to live forever, but without the enjoyment of God, what good would his life do him? Why would it be filled with horror, darkness, desolation, sorrow, and all things that would tend to make it bitter to the soul? Witness they that live in hell; if it be proper to say they live in hell? It is no more possible for a man to live happily, were he possessed of all that heaven and life could afford him, suppose him to be without interest in God, than it is for a man that hath all the enjoyments of this world if the sun was taken from him out of the firmament. All things, whether heaven, angels, heavenly pleasures, and delights, have had their being of him, so their being is continued by him and made sweet of him.

Now, for the good managing of our hope concerning this unique object, these things must be considered. And now I speak to all. We must know him, right; we must come to him. (1.) We must know him right. It is essential to happiness, and so to the making of the God of heaven our hope, to know him rightly (John 17:1-3). It is not every fancy, or every imagination of God, that thou mayst have, that will prove that thou knowest God aright. In him, there 'is no variableness, neither shadow of turning' (James 1:17). He is only what he is, whatever imagination we have of him. We may set up idols and images of him, as much in our minds as some do in their houses and temples, and be as great, though not so gross, idolaters as they. Now, if thou wouldst know him, thou must diligently feel for him in his works, in his Word, and in his ways, if perhaps thou mayst find his knowledge (Prov 2:1-5; Acts 17:27). (2.) Beware, when thou hast seen him, that thou go to him by his Son, whom he has sanctified and sent into the world, to be the way for sinners to go to God; and see that thou keepest in this path always, for out of him he is found intolerable, and a consuming-fire. (3.) Busy thyself with all thy might to make an interest in his Son, and he will willingly be thy Saviour, for he must become thine before his Father can be the object of thy hope (John 3:36). He that hath the Son, hath the Father, but contrariwise, he that hath not him has neither (2 John 9). (4.) Stay not in some transient comforts, but abide restless till thou seest a union betwixt thee and this Blessed One; to wit, that he is a root, and thou a branch; that he is head, and thou a member. And then shalt thou know that the case is so between thee and him when grace and his Spirit has made thee to lay the whole stress of thy justification upon him and has subdued thy heart and mind to be 'one spirit' with him (Rom 4:4,5; 1 Cor 6:17). (5.) This done, hope thou in God, for he is become thy hope, that is, the object of it. And for thy encouragement, consider that he can bear up thy heart, and has said he will do it, as to this very thing, to all those who thus hope in him. 'Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart,' all ye that hope in the Lord (Psa 31:24). It is manifest, as was said before, that many difficulties lie in the way of hoping, but God will make those difficulties easy, by strengthening the heart of him that hopeth, to hope. He has a way to do that, which no creature can hinder, by the blessed work of his Holy Spirit. He can show us he loves us and may encourage our hope. And as he can work in us for our encouragement, so he can and will, as was said before, himself, in his time, answer our hope by becoming our hope himself. 'The Lord shall be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel' (Joel 3:16).

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4. Yea, that all ground of doubt and scruple as to this might be removed out of the way, when Christ, who as to what was last said, is our hope (1 Tim 1:1), shall come, he shall bring that grace and mercy with him that shall even from before his judgment-seat remove all those things that might have any tendency in them to deprive us of our hope, or of the thing hoped for by us. Hence, Peter bids us, 'Be sober and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:13). Also, as to this, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, joins with him, saying, 'Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life' (Jude 21). Here, then, you see that there is grace and mercy still for us in reversion; grace and mercy to be brought unto us at the revelation, or second coming of Jesus Christ. How, then, can we be hindered by our hope? Transporting mercy will then be busy for them, who indeed have the hope of eternal life here. 'And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him' (Mal 3:17). None knows the mystery of God's will in all things revealed in his Word. Therefore, many texts are looked over, or laid by, as those whose key doth go too hard; nor will I boast of any singular knowledge in any particular thing. Yet methinks since grace and mercy were not only brought by Christ when he came into the world but shall be brought again with him when he comes in his Father's glory, it signifies that as the first brought the beginning of eternal life to us. At the same time, we were enemies; this second will bring us full enjoyment while we are saints, attended to by also be spared many imperfections. And that as by the first grace of all unworthiness was pardoned and passed by; so by this second grace, the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, all shortness in duties, and failings in performances, shall be spared also; and we made possessors by this grace and mercy of the blessings hoped for, to wit, the blessings of eternal life. But thus much for the duty contained in the exhortation, to wit, of hoping.

Second. A direction to the well managing of the duty of hope.

I shall, therefore, come, in the next place, to treat the good managing of this duty with reference to this primary object, which is the Lord himself. 'Let Israel hope in the Lord.' There is a general object of hope, and there is a particular object; there is a common object, and there is a special one. Of the general and common object, to wit, of heaven and happiness, I have said something already; wherefore it remains that now we come and treat this particular and unique object of our hope: 'Let Israel hope in the Lord.' The Lord, therefore, is to be the particular and unique object of our hope: 'Let Israel hope in the Lord.' Now, in that there is not only a duty here exhorted to but a direction for the better management of that duty, to the particular and special object upon which this duty should be exercised, it suggested how apt good men are, especially in times of trouble, the case of Israel now, to fix their hopes in other things than on the Lord. We have seen a great deal of this in our days; our days indeed have been days of trouble, especially since the discovery of the Popish plot, for then we began to fear cutting of throats, of being burned in our beds, and of seeing our children dashed in pieces before our faces. But looking about us, we found we had a gracious king, brave parliaments, a stout city, good lord-mayors, honest sheriffs, substantial laws against them, and these we made the object of our hope, quite forgetting the direction in this exhortation, 'Let Israel hope in the Lord.' For indeed,entirely the Lord ought to be our hope in temporals, as well as in spirituals and eternals. Wherefore Israel of old were checked, under a supposition of placing their hope for temporals in men; 'It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man. Trusting the Lord is better than puttinunique confidence in princes' (Psa 118:8,9). And again, 'Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help' (Psa 146:3). This implies that there is in us an incident means that there is in us an incident to forget God,  our hope to forget God our hope, and to put confidence in something else. And to be sure, we shall find it the more difficult to make the Lord our hope only when things that are here, though deceitfully, proffer us their help.[12] But my design is not to treat the object of hope but with reference to the next world. And as to that,was checked, under a supposition of placing their hope for temporals in men; 'It is better to trust in the Lord we must take heed that we set our hope in God, in God in the first place, and in nothing below or beside himself. To this end it is that he has given us his word, and appointed a law to Israel.

I. Because of his own grace, it is that he has given us his word, he is become the unique object of hope, designating himself in the most remarkable sense to be the portion of his people (Psa 78:5-7)—' The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him' (Lam 2:24). Wherefore this we must look well to, and take heed that we miss not of this object (Psa 146:5). This is the unique object, the ultimate object, the object that we cannot be without; and that, short of which, we cannot be happy as God willing, shall be shown more anon (Jer 50:7). God is not only happiness in himself, but the life of the soul, and he that puts goodness into everything in the next world, in which goodness shall be found (Jer 17:13). And this our Lord Jesus Christ himself affirmeth, when he saith, 'I am the way,' to wit, the way to life and happiness. And yet he saith, 'I am the way to the Father,' for HE is the fountain and ocean of joy and bliss.

Works of John Bunyan: WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH. 586

 

If Christians do not have much here, their hope, as I may so say, lies idle and as a grace out of its exercise. For as faith cannot feed upon patience, but upon Christ, and as the grace of hungering and thirsting cannot live upon helpfulness, but upon the riches of the promise; so hope cannot make what is enjoyed its object: 'for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for?' (Rom 8:24). But the proper object of hope is that we see not. Let faith then be exercised upon Christ crucified for my justification, and hope upon the next world for my glorification; and let love show the truth of faith in Christ, by acts of kindness to Christ and his people; and patience, the truth of hope, by a quiet bearing and enduring that which may now be laid upon me for my sincere profession's sake, until the hope that is laid up for us in heaven shall come to us, or we are gathered to that, and then hope is in some measure in good order, and exercised well. But,

IV. We now come to the last thing propounded to be spoken to, which is, they that have hope and exercise it well shall assuredly, at last, enjoy that hope that is laid up for them in heaven; that is, they that do regularly exercise the grace of hope shall at last enjoy the object of it, or the thing hoped for. This must of necessity be concluded, else we overthrow the whole truth of God at once, and the expectation of the best of men; yea, if this be not concluded, what follows, but that Atheism, unbelief, and irreligion, are the most right, and profane and debauched persons are in the rights way?

1. But to proceed, this must be, as is evident, for the things hoped for are put under the very name of the grace that lives in the expectation of them. They are called HOPE, 'looking for that blessed hope'; 'for the hope that is laid up for them in heaven' (Titus 2:13; Col 1:5). God has set that character upon them to signify that they belong to hope and shall be the reward of hope. God doth in this, as your great traders do with the goods that their chapmen have either bought or spoke for; to wit, he sets their name or mark upon them, and then saith, This belongs to this grace, and this belongs to that; but the kingdom of heaven belongs to HOPE, for his name is set upon it. This, therefore, is one thing, to prove that the thing hoped for shall be thine; God has marked it for thee: nor can it be given to those that do not hope. That is, to the same purpose that you read of, 'That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer' (2 Thess 1:5). Suffering flows from hope; he that hopes not for a house in heaven, will not for it choose to suffer the loss of the pleasures and friendships of this world. But they that suffer for it, and that all do, one way or other, in whom is placed this grace of hope, they God counted worthy of it, and therefore, hath marked it with their mark, HOPE; for that, it belongs to hope and shall be given to those that hope. That is the first.

2. They that do, as afore is said, exercise this grace of hope shall assuredly enjoy the hope that is laid up for them in heaven, as is evident also from this because, as God has marked and set it apart for them, so what he has done to and with our Lord and Head, since his death, he hath done it to this very end; that is, to beget and maintain our hope in him as touching this thing. He 'hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' (1 Peter 1:3). The meaning is that Christ is our undertaker and suffered death for us that we might enjoy happiness and glory so God, to show how willing he was that we should have this glory, raised up Christ again, and delivered him from their sorrows of death. Wherefore, considering this, Paul said, 'He rejoiced in the hope of willing the glory of God'; to wit, of that glory, that sin, had he not had Jesus for his undertaker, would have caused that he should undoubtedly have come short of (Rom 3:23, 5:2). But, again, God 'raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory,' too, and that to this very end, 'that your faith and hope might be in God' (1 Peter 1:21). I say, he did it to this very end, that he might beget in you this good opinion of him, as to hope in him, that he would give you that good thing hoped for—to wit eternal life. He 'gave him glory,' and put it into his hand for you who is your head and Saviour, that you might see how willing God is to give you the hope you look for, 'that your faith and hope might be in God.'

3. We that have hope and rightly exercise it might assuredly enjoy that hope laid up for us in heaven: God has promised it, and that to our Saviour for us. Had he promised it to us, we might have feared, for with our faults, we give him a cause of continual provocation. But since he hath promised it to Christ, it must assuredly come to us by him, because Christ, to whom it is promised, never gave occasion of provocation to him to take it back. And that it was promised to Christ, it is evident, because it was promised before the world began: 'In the hope of eternal life,' saith Paul, 'which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began' (Titus 1:2). And this is, that we might hope. Men that use to hope to enjoy that money or estate that by those that are faithful is promised to them used and put into the hands of trusty persons for them; why this is the case, God that cannot lie, has promised it to the hopers, and has put it into the hand of the trusty Jesus for us, therefore let us hope that in his times we shall both see and enjoy the same we hope for.

Works of John Bunyan: WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH. 585

ISRAEL'S HOPE ENCOURAGED; OR, WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH: WITH ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR A HOPING PEOPLE

Hope is excellent, 1. Against those discouragements that arise out of our bowels. 2. It is excellent to embolden a man in the cause of God. 3. It is excellent at helping one over the difficulties that men, by frights and terrors, may lay in our way.

1. It is excellent to help us against discouragements arising out of our bowels (Rom 4). This is clear in the instance last mentioned about Abraham, who had nothing but discouragements arising from himself, but he had hope, and as well he exercised it; wherefore, after a bit of patience enduring, he overcame the difficulty and obtained the promise (Heb 6:13-18). The reason is that it is the nature of genuine hope to turn away its ear from opposing challenges to the word and mouth of faith and perceive that faith has got hold of the promise of hope, notwithstanding problems that do or may attempt to intercept, will expect, and so wait for the accomplishment thereof.

2. Hope is excellent at emboldening a man in the cause of God. Hence the apostle saith, 'Hope maketh not ashamed'; for not to be ashamed there, is to be emboldened (Rom 5:5). So again, when Paul speaks of the troubles he met with for the profession of the gospel, he saith, that they should turn to his salvation. 'According to,' saith he, 'to my earnest expectation, and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death' (Phil 1:19,20). See here, a man at the foot of the ladder, now ready in will and mind to die for his profession, but how will he carry it now? Why, with all brave and innocent boldness! But how will he do that? O! By the hope of the gospel that is in him; for by that he is fully persuaded that the cause he suffereth for will bear him up in the day of God and that he shall be well rewarded for it.

3. It is also excellent at helping one over those difficulties that men, by frights and terrors, may lay in our way. Hence, when David was almost killed with the reproach and oppression of his enemies, and his soul full sorely bowed down to the ground therewith, that he might revive and get up again, he calls to his soul to put in exercise the grace of hope, saying, 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Psa 42:11). So again saith he in the next Psalm after, as afore he had complained of the oppression of the enemy, 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God (Psa 43:5). Hope, therefore, is a soul-encouraging grace, a soul-emboldening grace, and a soul-preserving grace. Hence, it is called our helmet or head-piece, the helmet of salvation (Eph 6:17; 1 Thess 5:8). This is one piece of the armor with which the Son of God was clothed when he came into the world, and it is that against which nothing can prevail (Isa 49:17). For as long as I can hope for salvation, what can hurt me! This word spoken in the blessed exercise of grace, I HOPE FOR SALVATION, drives down all before it. The truth of God is that man's 'shield and buckler' that hath made the Lord his hope (Psa 91:4).

[Encouragements to exercise this grace.]—And now to encourage thee, good man, to the exercise of this blessed grace of hope as the text bids, let me present thee with that which followeth. 1. God, to show how well he takes hoping in him at our hands, has called himself 'the God of hope' (Rom 15:13), that is, not only the author of hope but the God that takes pleasure in them that exercise it, 'The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy' (Psa 147:11). 2. He will be a shield, a defense to them that hope in him. 'Thou art my hiding-place and my shield,' saith David, 'I hope in thy word'; he knew he would be so, for he hoped in his word (Psa 119:114). 3. He has promised us the life we hope for, to encourage us still to hope, and to endure all things to enjoy it (Titus 1:2). 'That he that ploweth should plow in hope and that he that thresheth in hope, should be partaker of his hope' (1 Cor 9:10).

Quest. But you may ask, what is it to exercise this grace, right?

Answ. 1. You must look well to your faith, that that may prosper, for as your faith is, such your hope will be. Hope is never ill when faith is well, nor strong if faith is weak. Wherefore Paul prays that the Romans might be filled 'with all joy and peace in believing,' that they might 'abound in hope' (Rom 15:13). When a man by faith believes to joy and peace, then hope grows strong, and with an assurance looketh for a share in the world to come. Wherefore look to your faith and pray heartily that the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace in believing. 2. Learn of Abraham not to faint, stumble, or doubt at the sight of your weakness; if you do, hope will stay below and creak in the wheels as it goes because it will want the oil of faith. But say to thy soul, when thou beginnest to faint and sink at the sight of these, as David did to his, in the places mentioned before. 3. Be much in calling to mind what God has done for thee in former times. Keep thy experience as a choice thing (Rom 5:4). 'Remember all the way the Lord led thee these forty years in the wilderness' (Deut 8:2). 'O my God,' saith David, 'my soul is cast down within me, therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites from the hill Mizar' (Psa 42:6). 4. Be much in looking at the end of things, or rather to the end of this and the beginning of the next world. What we enjoy about God in this world may be an earnest of hope or a token that the thing hoped for is to be ours at last. Still, the object of hope is, in general, the next world (Heb 11:1). We must, therefore, put a difference betwixt the mother of hope, Faith; the means of hope, the Word; the earnest of hope, Christ in us; and the proper object of hope, to wit, the world to come, and the goodness thereof (Psa 119:49; Col 1:27).

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ISRAEL'S HOPE ENCOURAGED; OR, WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH: WITH ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR A HOPING PEOPLE.

4. Add to these, the hidings of the face of God from the soul; a thing to it more bitter than death; yet nothing more common among them that hope in the Lord. He 'hideth his face from the house of Jacob!' (Isa 8:17). Nor is this done only in fatherly displeasure, but by this means some graces are kept alive; faith is kept alive by the word, patience by hope, and hope by faith; but oft-times a spirit of prayer, by the rod, chastisement, and the hiding of God's face (Hosea 5:14,15; Isa 26:16; Cant 5:6). But I say, this hiding of this sweet face is bitter to the soul, and oft-times puts both faith and hope to a sad and most fearful plunge. For at such a day, it is with the soul as with the ship at sea, that is benighted and without light; to wit, like a man bewildered upon the land; only the text saith, for the help and succour of such, 'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God' (Isa 50:10). Yet as it is with children, so it is with saints; we are a great deal more subject to fears in the night than in the day. Therefore, that tends to the help of some graces; if not great care is taken, it will prove a hindrance to others.

5. Nor is the ruler of the darkness of this world wanting to apply himself and his engines so as, if possible, to use all these things to overthrow faith. For the removal of our hope from the Lord, as a tree is removed from rooting in the ground (Job 19:10). Behold! he can expound all things, so they shall fall directly in the way of our believing. As thus, we have sinned. Therefore, we have no grace; sin is a struggle in us. Consequently, we do not fear God; there is something on our side with sin. Consequently, we are wholly unregenerate; sin is in our best performances; therefore, wherefore should I hope? Thus, he can afflict us in our pilgrimage and make our hope difficult. Besides hiding God's face, he can make not only a cause of sorrow, for that indeed it should, but a ground of despair, and as desperately concluding he will never come again. How many good souls has he driven to these conclusions, who afterward have been made to unsay all again?

6. And though spiritual desertions, darkness of soul, and guilt of sin are the burdens most intolerable, they are not all; for there is to be added to all these, that common evil of persecution, another device invented to make void our hope. In this, I say, we are sure to be concerned; that is if we are godly. For though the apostle doth not say, 'All that will live in Christ,' that is, in the shared profession of him, shall suffer persecution; yet he saith, 'All that will live godly in him shall' (2 Tim 3:12). Now this in itself is a terror to flesh and blood and hath a direct tendency in it to make hope difficult (1 Peter 3:6,14). Hence, men of a persecuting spirit, because of their greatness and teeth (the laws), are said to be a terror and to carry amazement in their doings. God's people are apt to be afraid of them, though they should die, and to forget God their Maker, and this makes hoping hard work (Isa 51:12,13).

7. Besides that grimness that appears in the face of persecutors, Satan can tell how to lessen and make to dwindle in our apprehensions, those truths unto which our hearts have joined themselves afore, and to which Christ our Lord has commanded us to stand. So that they shall now appear but little, tiny, inconsiderable things; things not worth engaging for; things not worth running those hazards for, that in the hour of trial may lie staring us in the face. Moreover, we shall not want false friends in every hole, such as continually boring our ears with that saying, Master, do good to yourself. At such times also, 'stars' do use to 'fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken'; and so everything tends to weaken, or at least to lay stumbling blocks in their way, who are commanded to hope in the Lord (Matt 24).

8. Again, as Satan can make use of his subtilty, thus to afflict and weaken the hands and hearts of those that hope in God, so he can add to these the dismalness of a suffering state. He can make the loss of goods, in our imagination, ten times bigger than it is in itself; he can make an informer a frightful creature and a jail look like hell itself; he can make banishment and death utterly intolerable, and things that must be shunned with the hazard of our salvation. Thus, he can greaten and lessen, lessen and greaten, for the troubling of our hearts, for the hindering of our hope.

9. Add to all these that the things that we suffer for were never seen by us but are beyond our sight: things that are indeed said to be great and good, but we have only the word and the Bible for it. And be sure if he that laboureth night and day to devour us, can help it, our faith shall be molested and perplexed at such a time, that it may, if possible, be hard to do the commandment that here the text enjoins us to the practice of; that is, to hope in the Lord. And this brings me to the third particular.

III. That the grace of hope well exercised is the only way to overcome those difficulties.—Abraham had never laughed for joy, had he not hoped when the angel brought him tidings of a son; yea, had he not hoped against all things that could have been said to discourage (Gen 17:17). Hence it is said, that 'against hope' he 'believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be' (Rom 4:18). There is hope against hope; hope grounded on faith, against hope grounded on reason. Hope grounded on reason would have made Abraham expect that the promise should surely have been ineffectual because of the deadness of Abraham's body and the barrenness of Sarah's womb. But he hoped against the difficulty, by the hope that sprang from faith, which confided in the promise and power of God, and so overcame the difficulty and indeed obtained the promise. Hope, therefore, well exercised, is the only way to overcome. Hence, Peter bids those who are in a suffering condition, 'Be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:13). And therefore, it is, as you heard before, that we are said to be 'saved by hope' (Rom 8:24).

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ISRAEL'S HOPE ENCOURAGED; OR, WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH: WITH ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR A HOPING PEOPLE.

2. But as they are good, they are great: 'O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust,' that hope, 'in thee before the sons of men!' (Psa 31:19). (1.) Their greatness appears, in that they go beyond the Word; yea, beyond the word of the Holy Ghost; it doth not yet appear to us by the Word of God to the full, the greatness of what is prepared for God's people. 'Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be' (1 John 3:2). It doth not appear in the Word; there is a greatness in the things that we are to hope for that could never be expressed: they are beyond word, beyond thought, beyond conceiving of! Paul, when he came down again from out of paradise, into which he was caught up, could not speak a word about the words he heard and the things that he saw there. He saw and heard things and words, 'which it is not possible for a man to utter.' (2.) Their greatness is intimated by the word Eternal; he that knows the bottom of that word shall know what things they are. 'The things which are not seen are eternal' (2 Cor 4:18). They are 'incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,' reserved in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). (3.) Their greatness is shown in that one proper thought of them will fill the heart so complete, that both it and the eyes will run over together; yea, so complete, that the creature shall not be able to stand up under the weight of glory that by it is laid upon the soul. Alas! All the things in this world will not fill one heart; yet one proper thought of the things that God has prepared and laid up in heaven for us will, yea, and overfill it too. (4.) The greatness of the things of the next world appears in that when one of the least of them is shown to us, we cannot abide the sight thereof without support from thence. I count that the angels are of those things that are least in that world; and yet the sight of one of them, when the sight of them was in use, what work would it make in the hearts and minds of mortal men, the scripture plainly enough declares (John 13:22). (5.) Their greatness is intimated, in that we must be as it were new made again, before we can be capable of enjoying them, as we must enjoy them with comfort (Luke 20:36). And herein will be a significant part of our happiness, that we shall not only see them but be made like unto them, like unto their King. For 'when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is' (1 John 3:2). We shall see him, and therefore must be like him, for else the sight of him would overcome us and destroy us; but because we are to see him with comfort and everlasting joy, therefore we must be like him in body and mind (Rev 1:17; Phil 3:20,21).

II. But to come to the second thing, namely, That those that have believed there are such things as these will meet with difficulties before they come at them. This is such a grand truth that nothing can be said against it. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and we must, through many tribulations, enter into the kingdom of heaven (Acts 14:22). The cause from whence these afflictions arise is known to be,

1. From ourselves; sin, having got such hold in our flesh, makes that opposition against our soul and welfare, continually putting us in trouble. Fleshly lusts work against the soul, and so do worldly lusts too (1 Peter 2:11); yea, they quench our graces, and make them that would live, 'ready to die' (Rev 3:2). Yea, because of these, such darkness, such guilt, such fear, such mistrust, ariseth in us, that it is common for us, if we live any while, to make a thousand conclusions, twice told, that we shall never arrive with comfort at the gates of the kingdom of heaven. The natural tendency of every struggle of the least lust against grace is, if we judge according to carnal reason, to make us question the truth of a work of grace in us and our right to the world to come. This made Paul cry, 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me!' (Rom 7:24). Only he had more wisdom than to follow the natural conclusions that carnal reason was apt to make thereupon, and so hoisted up his soul to hope.

2. Sin, by its working in us, doth not only bring darkness, guilt, fear, mistrust, and the like; it doth oft-times as it were hamstring us and disable us from going to God by faith and prayer for pardon. It makes the heart hard, senseless, careless, lifeless, spiritless as to feel, in all Christian duty, and this is a grievous thing to a gracious soul. The other things will create doubt and drive it up to the head into the soul, but these will go on the other side and clench it. Now, all these things make hoping difficult.

3. For by these things, the judgment is not only clouded. The understanding considerably darkened, but all the powers of the soul were made to fight against itself, conceiving, imagining, apprehending, and concluding things that have a direct tendency to extirpate and extinguish, if possible, the graces of God that are planted in the soul; yea, to the making of it cry out, 'I am cut off from before thine eyes!' (Psa 31:22).

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ISRAEL'S HOPE ENCOURAGED; OR, WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH: WITH ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR A HOPING PEOPLE.

The Psalmist therefore, by exhorting us unto this duty, doth put us in mind of four things. I. The best things are yet behind and in reversion for the saints. II. Those who have believed will yet meet with difficulties before they come at them. III. The grace of hope, when well exercised, is the only way to overcome these difficulties. IV. Therefore, they who have hope and exercise it as they should shall assuredly at last enjoy that hope laid up for them in heaven.

For the first of these, the best things are yet behind and in reversion for believers; this is manifest by the natural exercise of this grace. For 'hope that is seen, is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it (Rom 8:24,25). Hope lives not by sight, as faith doth; but hope trusteth faith, as faith trusts the Word and bears up the soul in a patient expectation, at last, to enjoy what God has promised. But the very natural work of this grace proves that the believer's best things are behind in reversion.

You may ask me, what those things are? and I may tell you, first, in general, they are heavenly things, they are eternal things, they are the things that are where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God (John 3:12; 2 Cor 4:18; Col 3:1). Do you know them now? They are things that 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor that have entered into the heart of man to conceive of' (Isa 64:4; 1 Cor 2:9). Do you know them now? They are things that are referred to the next world, for the saints when they come into the next world; talked of they may be now, the actual being of them may be believed now, and by hope we may, and it will be our wisdom to wait for them now. Still, to know what they are like them, or in the enjoyment of them, otherwise than by faith, he is deceived that saith it. They are things too big as yet to enter into our hearts and things too big if they were there to come out or to be expressed by our mouths.

There is the imperial heaven itself; does anybody know what that is? There is the mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the innumerable company of angels; does anybody know what all they are? There is immortality and eternal life, and who knows what they are? There are rewards for services and labor of love shown to God's name here; and who knows what they will be? There are mansion-houses, beds of glory, and places to walk in among the angels, and who knows what they are? There will be badges of honor, harps to make merry with, and heavenly songs of triumph; doth any here know what they are? There will be a knowing, an enjoying, and a solacing of ourselves with prophets, apostles, martyrs, and all saints, but in what glorious manner we all are ignorant of. There we shall see and know, and be with forever, all our relations, as wife, husband, child, father, mother, brother, or sister that have died in the faith; but how gloriously they will look when we shall see them, and how gloriously we shall love when we are with them, it is not for us in this world to know (1 Thess 4:16,17). There are thoughts, words, and ways for us that we never dreamed of in this world. The law was but the shadow, the gospel the image; but what will be the substance that comes to us next, or that instead we shall go unto, who can understand? (Heb 10:1). If we never saw God nor Christ as glorified, nor the Spirit of the Lord, nor the bottom of the Bible, nor yet so much as one of the days of eternity,, and yet all these things we shall see and have them, how can it be that the things laid up for us, that should be the object of our hope, should by us be understood in this world? Yet there are intimations given to us of their goodness and greatness.

1. Of their goodness, and that, (1.) In that, the Holy Ghost scorns that things here should once be compared with them; hence, all things here are called vanities, nothings, less than nothing (Isa 40:15-17). Now, if the things, all the things that are here, are so contemptuously considered, when compared with the things that are to be hereafter, and yet these things so great in the carnal man's esteem, as that he is willing to venture life and soul, and all to have them, what are the things that God has prepared for them that wait, that is, that hope for him? (2.) Their goodness also appears in this, that whoever has had that understanding of them, as is revealed in the Word, whether king or beggar, wise mean or fool, he has willingly cast this world behind him in contempt and scorn, for the hope of that (Psa 73:25; Heb 11:24-26, 37-40). (3.) Their goodness even has testimony in their very consciences that hate them. Take the vilest man in the country, the man who is so wedded to his lusts that he will instead run the hazard of a thousand hells than leave them, and ask this man his judgment of the things of the next world, and he will shake his head, and say, They are good, they are best of all. (4.) But the saints have the best apprehension of their goodness, for the Lord doth sometimes drop some of their juice out of the Word, into their hungry souls.

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ISRAEL'S HOPE ENCOURAGED; OR, WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH: WITH ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR A HOPING PEOPLE.

[FIRST. AN EXHORTATION.]

In the exhortation, three things to be considered in the text presented themselves. FIRST, The matter contained in it; SECOND, How it is expressed; THIRD, The inferences that do naturally flow therefrom.

[FIRST. The matter contained in the exhortation.]

We will speak first to the matter in the text, which presented itself to us under three heads. First, A duty. Second, a direction for the proper management of that duty. Third, some people are so good at managing it.

First, I will speak about the duty, and that is HOPE: 'Let Israel HOPE.' By which word is there something pre-admitted, and something of great concern insinuated?

That which is pre-admitted is faith, for when we speak correctly of hope and put others distinctly to the duty of hoping, we conclude that such have faith already; for no faith, no hope. To hope without faith is to see without eyes, or to expect without a ground: for 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for,' as well concerning the grace, as to the doctrine of faith (Heb 11:1). Doth such a one believe? No. Doth he hope? Yes. If the first is true, the second is a lie; he never thought or hoped in the Lord. When he said, 'Let Israel hope in the Lord,' he pre-supposed faith and signified that he speaketh to believers.

That which is of great concern insinuated is that hope has in it an excellent quality to support Israel in all its troubles. Faith has its excellency in this, hope in that, and love in another thing. Faith will do that which hope cannot do. Hope can do that which faith doth not do, and love can do things distinct from both their doings. Faith goes in the van, hope in the body, and love brings up the rear: and thus 'now abideth faith, hope,' and 'charity' (1 Cor 13:13). Faith is the mother-grace, for hope is born of her, but charity floweth from them both.

But a little, now we are upon faith and hope distinctly, to let you see a little. 1. Faith comes by hearing (Rom 10:17), hope by experience (Rom 5:3,4).  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and hope by the credit that faith has given it (Rom 4:18). 3. Faith believes in the truth of the Word, and hope waits for its fulfillment. 4. Faith lays hold of that end of the promise that is next to us, to wit, as it is in the Bible; hope lays hold of that end of the promise that is fastened to the mercy seat, for the promise is like a mighty cable, that is fastened by one end to a ship, and by the other to the anchor: the soul is the ship where faith is, and to which the hither end of this cable is fastened. Still, hope is the anchor at the other end of this cable, entering into that within the veil. Thus, faith and hope get hold of both ends of the promise, and they carry it safely. 5. Faith looketh to Christ, as dead, buried, and ascended; and hope to his second coming (1 Cor 15:1-4). Faith looks to him for justification and hope for glory (Rom 4:1-8). Faith fights for doctrine and hope for a reward (Acts 26:6,7). Faith for what is in the bible, hope for what is in heaven (Col 1:3-5). 7. Faith purifies the heart from bad principles (1 John 5:4,5). Hope from bad manners (2 Peter 3:11,14; Eph 5:8; 1 John 3:3). 8. Faith sets hope on work, and hope sets patience on work (Acts 28:20, 9:9). Faith says to hope, look for what is promised; hope says to faith, So I do and will wait for it too. Faith looks through the word to God in Christ; hope looks through faith beyond the world to glory (Gal 5:5).

Thus, faith saves, and thus, hope saves. Faith saves by laying hold of God by Christ (1 Peter 1:5). Hope saves by prevailing with the soul to suffer all troubles, afflictions, and adversities that it meets with betwixt this and the world to come, for the sake thereof (Rom 8:24). Take the matter in this plain similitude. There was a king who adopted such a one to be his child, clothed him with the attire of the children of the king, and promised him that if he would fight his father's battles and walk in his father's ways, he should at last share in his father's kingdoms. He has received the adoption and the king's robe, but not yet his part in the kingdom; now, the hope of a share in that will make him fight the king's battles eac and tread the king's paths. Yea, and though he should meet with many things that have a tendency to deter him from so doing, thoughts of the interest promised in the kingdom and hopes to enjoy it will make him out his way through those difficulties and so save him from the ruin that those destructions would bring upon him, and will, in conclusion, usher him into a personal possession and enjoyment of that inheritance. Hope has a thick skin and will endure many a blow; it will put on patience as a vestment; it will wade through a sea of blood; it will endure all things, if it be of the right kind, for the joy set before it. Hence, patience is called 'Patience of hope' because it is hoped that makes the soul exercise patience and long-suffering under the cross until the time comes to enjoy the crown (1 Thess 1:3). The Psalmist, therefore, by this exhortation, persuadeth them that have believed the truth, to wait for the accomplishment of it, as by his own example he did himself—'I wait for the Lord,' 'my soul waiteth,' 'and in his word do I hope.' It is for want of hope that so many brisk professors who have so boasted and made brags of their faith have not been able to endure the drum in the day of alarm and affliction. Their hope in Christ has been such that it has extended itself no further than to this life, and therefore, they are, of all men, the most miserable.