THE apostle is commending faith from the examples of the patriarchs; after the flood he beginneth with Abraham, the father of the faithful. In the former verse he speaks of the place whence he was called, in this of the place to which he was called; there he had commended him for his self-denial in obeying God's call, and here for his patience and constancy in waiting for the promise. From God's training up Abraham in a course of difficulties, we see it is no easy matter to go to heaven; there is a great deal of ado to unsettle a believer from the world, and there is a great deal of ado to fix the heart in the expectation of heaven. First there must be self-denial in coming out of the world, and divorcing ourselves from our bosom sins and dearest interests; and then there must be patience shown in waiting for God's mercy to eternal life, waiting his leisure as well as performing his will. Here is the time of our exercise, and we must expect it, since the father of the faithful was thus trained up ere he could inherit the promises.
In these two verses we have a second effect of Abraham's faith and the reason of it.
In the ninth verse we have the second effect of Abraham's faith - 'By faith he sojourned in the land of promise,' &c. There you may take notice of.
1. The act of obedience - By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country.
2. The symbol and rite by which this obedience was signified and expressed - Dwelling in tabernacles.
3. His fellows and followers in the same obedience - With Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Of these in their order.
First, I begin with the act of obedience - 'By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country.' The words may be taken in a double sense, as they imply his condition of life and his disposition of heart. Abraham was both a literal and a spiritual stranger in the land of promise.
1. Let us look upon the expression as implying his condition of life. Abraham was not in the condition of an inheritor, but of a sojourner in the land of Canaan; therefore it is called the land of his sojournings, or in which he was a stranger: Gen. xvii. 8, 'I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger;' and so he confesseth to the children of Heth, Gen. xxiii. 4, 'I am a stranger and a sojourner with you.' This sojourning was an act of faith, because he was borne up by faith in the promise against all the troubles which he suffered. He had large lands and possessions in Ur of the Chaldees; but these he left, and when he came to Canaan, the land of promise, he might expect the fruit of his faith and labours; or else, having seen the land, to return with God's leave to the place from whence he came. But God had not yet done with the trial of his faith; from his father's house he was a voluntary and obedient exile; and in Canaan, where God brought him, he is still in the condition of a sojourner; the same faith that moved him to go he knew not whither, bindeth him there to wait God's leisure till he should enjoy the benefit of the promise, being contented in the meanwhile with what estate divine providence should allot.
I shall discuss but one question, and then come to the observations.
Quest. Why God would have Abraham tarry in Canaan? He might have shown him in the land, and then returned him to Ur of the Chaldees among his friends again. What are the reasons?
Ans. God's will is reason enough; but yet it seemed to be for these causes: -
1. Partly to avoid idolatry: Joshua xxiv. 2, 3, 'Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they worshipped other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan.' This was more dangerous among them of his own kindred, than among the Canaanites, and more plausible, there being a greater acknowledgment of the true God, and so aptest to take.
2. For his trial and exercise, the father of the faithful was to be an example of self-denial, faith and patience.
3. To take livery and seizin of the land in behalf of his posterity, his faith was more stirred up by seeing it, and being constantly in it; by faith he could say, This is mine.
4. That he might be a means to bear forth the name of God among that people. The sins of the Amorites were not yet full. God sent them Abraham, as he sent Lot to Sodom.
5. To be a pattern of divine blessing and providence; for there he increased in riches wonderfully: Gen. xiii. 2, 'And Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold;' and so was an instance of the reward of obedience to the people of that land. He had not all in hope, but something in hand.
I come now to the notes; they may be taken from his condition, and from his submitting to that condition; for it was an act of his faith to sojourn in the land of promise, as in a strange laud.
[1.] From his condition appointed by God upon special reasons.
(1.) Observe - From what inconsiderable beginnings the promise of God taketh place. Abraham cometh into Canaan as a poor sojourner; but yet to take seizin of the land, and there he is forced to borrow an habitation, and buy a burying-place. He borroweth an habitation, or place wherein to set his tent: Gen. xiv. 13, 'He dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite.' He was as it were tenant and farmer to Mamre; the whole land was his by right and by the grant of God, but others had the possession. And he buyeth a place of burial: Gen. xxiii. 8, 9, 'Entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field: for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me, for a possession of a burying-place among you.' Otherwise he had not land enough whereon to set his foot: Acts vii. 5, 'And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on.' A strange beginning for so great promises. The first thing he takes possession of was a place of burial for the dead; that was all the purchase he made; so that his infeoffment and entrance was rather a resignation and farewell, and he seemed to provide more for a departure than an abode. Thus wonderfully is God wont to work, and by unlikely means to bring about the greatest effects: dead bones keep possession for four hundred years. Hereby his power is known: Ps. cv. 11 - 13, 'Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; when they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people.'
(2.) Observe, that God's promise is not always made good in kind. Abraham is called to a land which he should after receive for an inheritance; and instead of Canaan he hath heaven - a city founded not by the Amorites, but God. In performing temporal promises, God doth not always observe the letter, and give the particular blessing; but he giveth what is equivalent, or that which is better. This is the land that I will give thee; but yet 'he looked for a city that had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' God's people have never cause to complain of his breach of promise; if he change their wages it is for the better; a secret sense of his favour and possession of heaven is much better than to be king of all the world. Jacob complains of Laban, Gen. xxxi 7, 'Your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times,' but none have cause to complain so of God. Temporal promises are not always fulfilled in the letter, because God is not absolutely bound; but usually they have that which far exeeedeth. If a man should promise another two hundred pounds, and give him an inheritance of so many hundreds or thousands by the year, here is no deceit. God is often better than his word; but never cometh short.
(3.) Observe, that temporal blessings are usually made good to the posterity of the faithful. Abraham was a stranger in the land of promise, and had not a foot of land there; but his posterity possessed it, and drove out the Canaanites. Believers have enough in God; and however he dealeth with them, they can wait upon him; but usually their posterity, if they have nothing else, enjoy many temporal blessings with respect to their father's faith. A land of promise contents Abraham; he leaveth the possession to his posterity. Thus it often falleth out - the father is rich in faith, and the children, though carnal, are rich in this world; they have the blessing of Ishmael, if not the blessing of Isaac.
(4.) Observe, that though God giveth a title, yet we must wait till providence giveth us fair possession. Abraham had a title given him by God, but the Amorites had the possession, therefore 'he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange land.' Whatever our hopes are, faith maketh not haste. If we may have right as an heir to his land, or a lord to an estate that is leased out, or an unjustly exiled man to his possessions, yet we must use no irregular means, not secretly with the death of those that enjoy it - that is murder, but we must be contented for awhile to be as mere strangers, as Abraham was in the land of promise.
(5.) Observe, that God doth not cast a people out of their possessions till their iniquities be full. He had given the land of Canaan to Abraham, but he giveth him not the possession; and the reason is rendered, Gen. xv. 16, 'For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.' His posterity was not to possess it till four hundred years after the first grant. Thus God gave the kingdom to David, but Saul possessed it a good while afterwards. Great is the patience of God to sinners, and the sentence is not executed as soon as past.
(6.) Observe, that the accomplishment of promises is delayed till a fit time. It was a land under promise; but yet to Abraham and his seed for awhile it was as a strange land. When Abraham wandered up and down like a stranger, where was the heritage that was promised to him? He might say, Is this my land which others possess? but he lets God alone with his promise. God is not slack, but we are hasty: Gal. iv. 4, 'When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.' Our times are always present, but God's time is not come. The Lord tarried so long, till it was high time to take vengeance of the Amorites for their sins; and till it was high time for the Israelites to shift dwellings, and the people were grown to such a number, that they might not come by way of miracle to take possession, but by conquest. When the oven is hot, then is the loaf set in; so when all circumstances concur, then shall the promise be accomplished.
(7.) Observe, a man that is called to converse with idolaters must converse with them as sparingly as may be. While Canaan was full of idolaters, Abraham must be but a sojourner, and must dwell in tents to profess his religion. Thus we have considered Abraham's sojourning as appointed by God.
[2.] Let us consider it as an act of faith and obedience. 'By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country.' In his faith there are three things notable - his patience, his contentation, and his constancy.
(1.) His patience, not only in digesting the troubles of his present estate, but in waiting God's leisure. Observe, we must not be offended with delay, but must patiently wait for the accomplishment of God's promises. Abraham borrowed a place wherein to fix his tent; Isaac is fain to struggle for a well; and Jacob lived in a wandering and movable condition; and yet they waited till God should make way for the possession of Canaan. What can we do in such a case? can we live upon the reversion of a promise, especially of promises that are to be made good to posterity? God is much glorified in our patient expectation, when we can think ourselves as well for that which shall come as if we were in actual and present possession. This is the property of faith: Heb. xi. 1, 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.' The word of God is enough to a believer, but carnal men are all for present possession; they will trust God no further than they can see him.
(2.) His contentation. Observe, contentment with a small portion of earthly things is a great fruit of faith. By faith Abraham sojourned, though he had neither house nor home in the land of promise, but only a sepulchre; this was enough. Faith doth not only beget a confidence, but also a composure of spirit, and submission to the Lord's will. A little thing will serve on earth, because we expect so much in heaven. Well then, do not always look to confidence, but to this contentation. Are carnal affections mortified? can you submit to hardships? Though in regard of temporals you find loss by trusting in God, yet is it enough that you have a promise of better things? Then do you believe. Abraham was not covetous; he looketh upon the spiritual rather than the earthly part of the promise; he was not for fields and lands; he saw that his Canaan must be heaven, and was content.
[3.] His constancy. You. may observe in Abraham an unwearied constancy in obeying God and believing his promises, though all things seemed contrary. He sojourned where God would have him, and waited for what God would give him. Observe, that true faith adhereth to God, though it find not what it believeth, but is often disappointed, and seeth no probability of the thing promised. Abraham leaveth Ur of the Chaldees; had not a foot of land in Canaan; sojourneth among the Canaanites; thence by a famine is driven into Egypt; is often burdened with envy; at length is told that the land belongeth to his seed; yet he remaineth without issue for a long time, till he was a hundred years old; his seed threatened to suffer a long captivity, yet he hopeth against hope. Faith doth not look on the things promised, but on God; if it altogether looked on the things promised, it would soon fail and wax faint. Abraham's case was just like David's; the Canaanites were strong and mighty, and dwelt in cities, as wicked men, in David's time, when he was afflicted, 'prosper in the world, and increase in riches,' Ps. lxxiii. 12; but yet read verses 23 - 26, 'Nevertheless I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength my heart and my portion for ever.' They have God, and they have heaven, and thence ariseth this constancy of faith. Thus through all temptations must we be constant to the end. When difficulties arise, we think of returning into Egypt, still bear up.
Obj. But this is the property of strong faith.
Ans. No, but of all faith; strong faith overcometh temptations with less difficulty; but yet weak faith, it true, persevereth to the end through a thousand temptations. The disciples were oligopistoi, of little faith; yet saith Christ to them, Luke xxii. 28, 29, 'Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.' Now though we have not such clear grounds to hope as Abraham, yet we have God's promises, and his word is as sure as an oracle. We trust in the same God, and look for the same heaven; therefore do not draw back, but continue with God, and own his cause in all trials.
Secondly, Let us look upon this expression of Abraham's sojourning in the land of promise as in a strange land; as it implieth the disposition of Abraham's heart, and not only the condition of his life. Canaan was assigned to Abraham, not only as a place of trial, but as a figure and pledge of heaven; therefore, because he expected a better country, and cities not built by the Amorites, but a city that hath foundations, built by God himself, therefore he is said to dwell there as in a strange country; he looked for another home, and therefore in Canaan he lived as a stranger. Thus the expression is taken elsewhere. When Abraham's seed was in a settled condition, and had taken possession of that land of which Abraham had only the promise, God tells them they were but strangers and sojourners: Lev. xxv. 23, 'The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me;' not only the wandering patriarchs, who flitted from place to place, but their posterity, even in the time of their greatest happiness and settled abode. David was a king; yet he saith, Ps. xxxix. 12, 'I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.' Now, lest this should seem an expression suited to David's case, when he was chased like a flea, or hunted like a partridge upon the mountains, you shall see; when he was settled in his kingdom towards the end and close of his life; when he had gotten so many victories, and his people lived quietly in their own possessions; and they offered so many cart-loads of gold and silver, yet then he confesseth, 1 Chron. xxix. 15, 'We are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.' The land never enjoyed greater peace, never flowed in greater wealth; the people never seemed to be more at home, everyone sitting and singing under his own vine and fig-tree, yet saith he, 'We are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were.' So we are taught in the gospel, 1 Peter. ii. 11, 'Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.' They to whom Peter wrote were strangers in a literal sense: 1 Peter. i. 1, 'To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,' &c. But it is there taken in a spiritual sense, as appears by the exhortation. Out of all -
Observe, that the children of God there, where they have best right and most possessions, are but strangers and pilgrims. How settled soever their condition be, yet this is the temper of the saints upon earth, to count themselves but strangers. All men indeed are strangers and sojourners; but the saints do best discern it, and most freely acknowledge it. Wicked men have no firm dwelling upon earth, but that is against their intention; their inward thoughts and desire is, that they may abide for ever; they are strangers against their wills, their abode is uncertain in the world, and they cannot help it. And pray mark, there are two distinct words used in this case in Peter, 'as strangers and pilgrims ' - hoos paroikous kai parepidèmous; and in the old testament 'strangers and sojourners.' A stranger is one that hath his abode in a foreign country; that is not a native and denizen of the place, though he liveth there; and in opposition to the natives he is called a stranger; as if a Frenchman should live in England, he is a stranger. But a pilgrim and a sojourner is one that intendeth not to settle, but only passeth through a place, and is in motion travelling homeward. So the children of God, in relation to a country of their own in another place - namely, heaven, they are denizens there, but strangers in the world; and they are sojourners and pilgrims in regard of their motion and journey towards their own country. Now, wicked men are only strangers in regard of their unsettled abode in the world but they are not pilgrims; they have no inheritance to expect in heaven; here is the place where they would abide for ever. Let God keep heaven to himself, so they might have the world; they are sure to go out of the world, but they are not sure to go to heaven; and so they are strangers, but not pilgrims. But briefly I shall show you - (1.) How christians are strangers and pilgrims; (2.) The inferences of duty from hence; (3.) How we may get our hearts into such a frame;
1. The resemblance between the temper of the saints and the condition of a stranger and pilgrim. The allusion may be taken from an ordinary strangership and pilgrimage, or from the pilgrimage of Israel through the desert into Canaan.
[1.] From an ordinary pilgrimage.
(1.) A stranger is one that is absent from his country, and from his father's house. So are we; heaven is our country; God is there, and Christ is there. The apostle saith, 2 Cor. v. 6, 'Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.' We are strangers there, where we are absent from God and Christ - Ubi pater, ibi patria; our birth is from heaven, and thither we tend. Rivers run away from their springs, and never return more; but it is not so with us; our springs are in Christ, and our streams are to him; the tendency is according to the principle. Our birth is from heaven, and thither are the motions and tendencies of renewed souls; thence they came, and thither they tend.
(2.) A stranger in a foreign country is not known, nor valued according to his birth and breeding; so the saints walk up and down in the world like princes in disguise - 'The king's daughter is all glorious within,' Ps. xlv. 13. The world knoweth not our birth, nor our breeding, nor our hopes, nor our expectations. - 'Our life is hid with Christ in God,' Col. iii. 3; and therefore we are often judged according to the flesh and outward appearance, but live unto God in the Spirit.
(3.) Strangers are liable to inconveniences; so are godly men in the world - Religio scit se peregrinam esse in terris, saith Tertullian, it is like a strange plant brought from a foreign country, and doth not agree with the nature of the soil, it thriveth not in the world. Wicked men prosper here; they are like thistles and nettles, that grow of their own accord; the world is their native soil.
(4.) A stranger is patient, standeth not for ill-usage, and is contented with pilgrim's fare and lodging. We are now abroad, and must expect hardship - 'In the world you shall have tribulation,' John xvi. 33. God permitteth inconveniences to arise to wean us from the world, and make us long for home.
(5.) A stranger is wary that he may not give offence and incur the hatred and displeasure of the natives. We had need to 'walk wisely towards them that are without,' Col. iv 5; we are in the land of our observers.
(6.) A stranger is thankful for the least favour; so must we be thankfully contented with the things God hath bestowed on us. Anything in a strange country is much: 1 Chron. xxix. 13 - 15, 'We thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners as were all our fathers.'
(7.) A stranger that hath a journey to go would pass over it as soon as he can; and so we, who have a journey to heaven desire to be dissolved: Phil. i. 23, 'Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.' It is the joy of their souls to think to be at home with Christ.
(8.) A stranger buyeth not such things as he cannot carry with him; he doth not buy trees, house, household stuff, but jewels and pearls, and such things as are portable. So such things as we can carry with us to heaven should take up our time and care. Piety and godliness outlives the grave; our wealth doth not follow us but our works follow us; and therefore our great care should be to get the jewels of the covenant, the graces of God's Spirit, those things that will abide with us.
(9.) A stranger's heart is in his country; so is a saint's: Phil. iii. 20, to politeuma hèmoon - 'Our conversation is in heaven;' these are his thoughts, thither he is drawing home his trade; so is a christian drawing his heart heavenward: heaven is his home, this life is but the way. But now when men lavish out their respects by wholesale upon the world, and can scarce retail a thought on heaven, they are not passengers but inhabitants ; here they are at home.
(10.) A stranger is inquisitive after the way, fearing lest he should go amiss; so is a christian: Ps. cxix. 19, 'I am a stranger in the earth, hide not thy commandments from me.' We need direction in a strange place; there are so many byways in the world that we may soon miscarry, and be led by our own lusts, or the suggestions of others, into such ways and practices as God doth not allow.
(11.) A stranger provides for his return, as a merchant that he may return richly laden. When you send a child for breeding beyond the seas, he taketh care that when he returns he may return as a man accomplished, so as to please his father. So we must appear before God in Sion; what manner of persons ought we to be? Let us return from our travel well provided.
[2.] It carryeth some resemblance with Israel's travelling in the wilderness, when they came out of Egypt to go into the land of Canaan. They were brought out of Egypt, and we are taken out of the power of darkness: Col. i. 13, 'Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.' They had the law given them in the wilderness, and God's word is our light during our pilgrimage: Ps. cxix. 105, 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.' They were fed with manna from heaven, and we have Christ, who is hidden manna, the bread that came down from heaven: John vi. 31, 32, 'Our fathers did eat manna, in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.' They were guided by the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, which never forsook them till they came to Canaan, and we are under God's providence and fatherly care: Ps. lxxiii. 24, 'Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.' In the wilderness they were troubled with fiery serpents as we are with fleshly lusts: 1 Peter ii. 11, 'Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, that war against your souls.' Then Amalek rose up against them, and smote their rear, and we have our persecutors and oppressors in the world: 2 Tim. iii. 12, 'Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.' The clusters of grapes and excellent fruits of Canaan were brought to them in the wilderness, and we have the first-fruits of the Spirit: Rom. viii. 23, 'And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' We have the beginnings of heaven during our pilgrimage, grace, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost; these fruits are brought as a taste of the goodness of the land, and as a pledge of their interest in it. By the cluster of grapes God gave them livery and seizin of Canaan; so by the first-fruits of the Spirit we have a taste and earnest of the heavenly state. Moses brought them to the borders of Canaan, but Joshua led them into the land, as Jesus leadeth us into heaven. Good works are the way, but not the cause of entrance.
2. What are the inferences of duty that may be drawn hence.
[1.] We learn to mortify fleshly lusts, because these weaken our desires of heaven, and hinder us in our journey. This is the apostle's inference: 1 Peter ii. 11, 'Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.' If we were not pilgrims bound for another world, it were more tolerable to gratify the senses, and to give contentment to every carnal desire; but we are in a journey, and therefore should mortify fleshly lusts. Brutish affections are all for the present, and weaken our desires of things to come; like the flesh-pots of Egypt, they make us forget heaven, and forget home. They distract the mind, and draw it another way, that it is cumbered with much serving; as it was said of Martha, Luke x. 40, 'Martha was cumbered about much serving.' The soul must have some oblectation and delight; love cannot remain idle. When the pipes leak, the course of the stream is diverted. And as they distract so they load and clog the soul, we feel no more weight than a bird under her feathers, but indeed they are the soul's load: Heb. xii. 1, 'Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us' Immoderate and carnal affections, like a weight, press the soul downward 2 Tim iii 6, 'They lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.' Fishes feel no weight, though they swim ever so low in the waters; heavy bodies are never heavy in their proper places A man that hath set up his rest here doth not feel lust to be a weight and load to him, but to one that looketh towards heaven they are burdensome as a clog to his soul, that depresseth him in all his heavenly flights and motions And they do not only distract and clog, but they distemper the soul. The racers were dieted for the Isthmic games: 1 Cor. ix. 25, 'Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.' So saith the apostle, 'I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection,' ver. 27. Lusts put us quite out of temper for a heavenly journey. Therefore as strangers and pilgrims you must mortify fleshly lusts by prayer, watchfulness, beating down the body, cutting off the provisions of the flesh, and the like means.
[2.] Do not embroil yourselves in the cares of this world. God is called a stranger and a wayfaring man when he seems not to administer to the wants and necessities of his people: Jer. xiv. 8, 'Why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?' Do not entangle yourselves in worldly pursuits and practices; your abode is here but for a time, and you know not how soon you may be called hence: 1 Cor. vii. 29 - 31, 'The time is short: it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away.' Use the world as if you used it not. You do not stay but lodge here, therefore use the things of the world as passengers do things in an inn; they use them as being willing and ready to leave them the next morning. Who would trouble himself to hang his room in an inn for a night? We are strangers, and our days are but as a shadow, and to-morrow we must be gone; and therefore, though we may follow our callings with cheerfulness and diligence, yet we should not make worldly gain our business. You make the world your home when the heart is filled with sins and the head with cares, and all to grow great, and shine in pomp and pleasure. A pilgrim doth not make purchases in a foreign country, but he is contented with a viaticum, so much as will serve him in his journey; but when men join field to field as if they would shine alone, it is a sign they make this their home. Follow your callings, and be content with God's allowance, - it is enough to make your journey comfortable, - and let not these things take up your heart as if here were your rest; use them as an instrument of piety and charity, as a help to a better life; delight in them only as a help to the journey, then they will not prove a hindrance. We cannot get out of the world when we please, we are tenants at will to God, but let us get the world out of us; and so shall we do if we use it as if we used it not, when we do not make the world our end, our rest, our main work, but only mind it in a subordination to a better life. When we make it our end by an irregular aim, our work by an intemperate use, our rest by an immoderate delight, we are at home; God may keep heaven to himself for us. God in mercy appoints us callings to busy our minds as a fit diversion after worship - sins settle in us by idleness, as wheat grows musty in the garner if it be not turned and stirred; - and as a means of our support and usefulness: Eph. iv. 28, 'Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.' But if we labour in them with other ends, we seek not another country, even heaven, and are contented with our pilgrimage.
[3.] Mind home more. We should always be winding up our affections, as those that keep clocks; the weights run down of their own accord, but we wind them up morning and evening: Ps. xxv. 1, 'Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.' Some there are who may despise the profits of this world, but they are not heavenly; they lose something, but they find nothing in the room of it. If we are pilgrims, we should seek a city that is to come Heb. xiii. 14, ' For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come;' that is, in our desires, thoughts, endeavours, and groans after it: Ps. cxx. 5, 'Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.' Daily desires and groans are the saint's harbingers, which are sent into heaven before us; and by this means we tell God that we would be at home. Therefore you should be ever setting of your minds this way; some time should be redeemed for this purpose every day, that we may stir up our affections and serious thoughts to converse with God. We have no help else against the snares of the world; it is an infectious air, and we had need take cordials and antidotes: 2 Peter i. 4, 'Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.' This refresheth the divine nature in us, and keepeth our hopes alive. There are a great many temptations in the world through lust, and it is needful, as well as sweet and pleasant, to have our thoughts upon heaven.
[4.] Do not conform yourselves according to the fashions of the world: Rom. xii. 2, 'And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.' You are strangers here; live not according to the customs and fashions of the world. If an Englishman were in America, where he saw none but rude savages that had not shame enough to cover their nakedness, would he conform himself to their fashions and guises? We are in danger to miscarry by example, as well as by lust. It is the fashion of the world to be profane and unmortified, to be careless of God and heavenly things, to break the sabbath, to neglect private duties, and the exercise of religion in their families, to spend their whole time in eating and drinking, buying, selling, trading. You are of another country, Jerusalem that is above is the mother of us all; therefore you are to live by other laws, and in another fashion. Besides, in every age there is some wicked custom afoot, which, by being common, becomes less odious, and your course must be contrary to it. Dead fishes swim with the stream, and wicked men walk kat' aioona, 'according to the course of this world,' Eph. ii. 2. Sin, when common, is less odious. But a stranger should by his habit and appearance declare his country, and that he is not ashamed to own it; so do you declare that you are acted by higher principles and more glorious hopes than the men of the world are acted by. God hath chosen us out of the world, and we should discover the excellency of our principles and hopes by not conforming ourselves to the present world.
[5.] It teacheth us patience, to endure the inconveniences of this life without murmuring. Many that travel abroad are ill entreated, not respected according to their birth. But consider, we have but a little while to stay, and in the midst of all troubles remember home: Ps. xxvii. 13, 'I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.' Heaven is the true land of the living. There are commotions in the world, but heaven is a quiet place. If we are assaulted with troubles, it is to make us long for home, to better our hearts or hasten our glory. If the world did not vex the godly, it might possibly ensnare them, and entice their affections to love it and desire to abide in it. The world's hostility is the security of the saints: Gal. vi. 14, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' The world never cared much for me, nor I much for the world, Their injuries turn to our gain, and mortification to make us look home-ward.
[6.] It teacheth us submission to the hand of God for our godly departed friends. Let us not grieve for the departed in the Lord, they are but gone home. The apostle speaketh of some 'that were in Christ before him,' Rom. xvi. 7. They are in heaven before us, and we must wait our time; after a wearisome journey they rest from their labours, and solace themselves in the bosom of Jesus Christ.
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