3. I NOW come to the means how to get our hearts into such a frame as I have before discoursed on.
[1.] Let us enjoy as much of heaven as we can in our pilgrimage, in the beginnings of grace, the first-fruits of the Spirit, and in the ordinances.
(1.) In the first-fruits of the Spirit: grace is young glory, and joy in the Holy Ghost is the suburbs of heaven. You enter upon your country and inheritance by degrees; fulness of joy is for the life to come, and joy in the Holy Ghost is the beginning of it. As the winds carry the odours and sweet smells of Arabia into the neighbouring provinces; so the joys of heaven, those sweet smells and odours of the upper paradise, are by the breathings and gales of the Spirit conveyed into the hearts of believers. This is our advance-money, our taste in the wilderness, our morning-glances of the daylight of glory. Union with Christ is the beginning of heaven, it is heaven in the moulding and framing.
(2.) In the ordinances. The time of our pilgrimage is a sad time. How should we solace ourselves? Ps. cxix. 54, 'Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage,' our cordials to cheer and strengthen us. The ordinances are types of heaven. Prayer bringeth us to the throne of grace, and giveth us an entrance into God's presence. In the word 'preached' is the presence of the blessed Trinity, bringing down heaven itself to us, and the angels are attending on our congregations: I Cor. xi. 10, 'For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head, because of the angels.' The Lord's supper is a pledge of that new wine we shall drink in our Father's kingdom. By reading we talk with the saints departed, prophets and apostles, that wrote what we read. Meditation bringeth us into the company of God, and where we walk God walketh with us, and at home or abroad we are still with God. The sabbath is a type of heaven: Heb. iv. 9, 'There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God.' Here is a ceasing from work, and there is a ceasing from sin and misery, and an eternal rest and repose in the bosom of Christ. Psalms do fitly resemble hallelujahs, the word lectures of praise that shall be read over the free grace of God and redemption by Christ to all eternity. The congregation signifies the general assembly and congregation of saints and angels above, Heb. xii. 23. So that a christian is even seated in heaven when in and about the ordinances.
[2.] The enjoyment of any temporal blessing should stir us up to the more serious consideration of heavenly blessings; there are better things laid up in heaven. As the prodigal's husks put him in mind of the bread that was in his father's house, and the cities of the Amorites put Abraham in mind of the city that had foundations, whose builder and maker is God; so should we be put in mind of heaven by those things we enjoy here. If a strange place affords us content and refreshment, will not our country much more? If the creature be sweet, heaven is better. Look through the glass to the sun, it is our medium, not our object. A spiritual use of the creature doth much raise our hearts. We help our souls by our bodies, and make the senses which were wont to be the inlets of sin to be instruments of heavenly-mindedness. Grace can work matter out of anything it seeth; a good man can distil precious liquor out of common matters; he can see another world in this world, and doth not only make a temporal use of the creatures, but a spiritual.
[3.] Go to God to circumcise the foreskin of the heart. There is a fleshliness that cleaves to us which maketh us altogether for a present good, the world is at hand. God can only cure this by infusing a divine nature: 2 Peter i. 4, 'That by these ye may be made partakers of a divine nature, having escaped the corruptions that are in the world through lust.' There must be a heavenly birth, or else a man taketh himself for this world's child, and will go no further.
[4.] Get a clearer and more sensible interest in Christ. He that is in Christ is in heaven already: Eph. ii. 6, 'And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.' He is there in his head; a christian holdeth all in capite. When Christ was glorified, he seized on heaven in our right. We use to say of an old man, He hath one foot in the grave; so a believer that is in Christ hath more than a foot in heaven, his head is there, he is ascended with Christ. - Nothing but faith can unriddle this mystery, how a believer should be on earth and yet in heaven; his head is there, and this draweth the heart after it; head and heart must be together. And therefore acquaint yourselves with Christ, clear up your interest in him, this will wean you from the world. The woman left her pitcher when she knew Christ, John iv. 28. There is your treasure, and your affections will carry you where Christ is: Col. iii. 1, 'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God;' Phil. iii. 20, 'For our conversation is in heaven, whence we look for a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.'
[5.] Meditation is of great use; it bringeth a believer into the company of the blessed, and puts his head above the clouds, in the midst of the glory of the world to come. Meditation is but a more temperate ecstasy. As Paul by his rapture was in the third heavens, so are we by our thoughts; we get upon the top of Nebo or Pisgah, and take a view of the promised land. Great hopes are known by thoughts; thoughts are the spies of the soul. Where a thing is strongly expected, the thoughts are wont to spend themselves in creating images and suppositions of contentment we shall receive when we enjoy this thing. If a poor man be adopted into the succession of a crown, he would be feasting and entertaining himself with the happiness and pleasure of that estate. When a man minds only earthly things, earthly thoughts salute him first in the morning, busy him all day, lay him down in his bed, play in his fancy all night; the thoughts of God and his kingdom find no access. Glances only on heaven are an evidence of a carnal heart that is at home. The more heavenly a christian is, the more he is himself; as the more rational and considerate a man is, the more he is a man.
[6.] Prize the communion of saints, this is heaven begun. A godly man, when he was to die, said, I shall change my place, but not my company. They that expect to be there where God, and Christ, and the saints are, should delight more in converse with them here. In a foreign land a man is glad to meet with his own countrymen; we should be glad to meet with those that go with us to heaven. A christian will converse with such as he shall be with hereafter; it is of great use and quickening to him. Good discourse conveyeth warmth: Luke xxiv. 32, 'Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?' Saul in the company of the prophets became a prophet. Earthly men will gain benefit hereby; as a dead man will have some heat, being plied with warm clothes.
Use 1. Put in your name among them that profess themselves to be strangers and pilgrims: Heb. xi. 13, 'They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth;' and that in your best estate, if it be in the land of promise, where you have most right, in the midst of peace, tranquillity, and worldly enjoyments, where you have most possessions. Consider what reason you have to count yourselves strangers and pilgrims, and what profit you will have by it.
1. What reason you have so to count yourselves. Consider how frail we are, how uncertain our comforts; how frail we are, this is not our rest. In our best estate we are but frail: Ps. xxxix. 5, 'Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity.' Every word is emphatical; there is an asseveration, 'verily;' a universal particle, 'every man,' and that 'at his best estate.' The sun in the zenith beginneth to decline. Paul's rapture was seconded with a messenger of Satan; after a sight of heaven he had a taste of hell. When worldly happiness is at the full, it beginneth to decline. And he is not only vain and weak, but vanity itself, and altogether vanity. No man hath a constant fixed abode in the world. And then the uncertainty of worldly things; we are mortal, and all our enjoyments have their mortality. The world is full of changes. Who would build a house where there were continual earthquakes? or set up his abode and dwelling-place upon the sea? or lay a foundation upon the ice, that is gone with the next heat and warmth? Especially God's children, who have least of the world. And then it is not our rest; if you had the world at will, you have higher things to look after; this is not your happiness. As that pilgrim said that was travelling to Jerusalem, But this is not the holy city: Micah ii. 10, 'Arise you, and depart, for this is not your rest.' It is the greatest judgment God can inflict upon thee, for thee to take up thy rest here, to be condemned to successes and worldly felicity; better never have a day of rest and case in the world: Luke xvi. 25, 'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things;' Ps. xvii. 14, 'From men of the world, which have their portion in this life;' Jer. xvii. 13, 'They that depart from me shall be written in the earth,' - it is a punishment laid on them that depart from God.
2. What profit you will have by it; it will keep you from lusts and snares. Birds when they soar aloft, need fear no snares; he that counts heaven his home, and the world a strange country, hath a great advantage of others, for he is delivered from the snares of the world. This disposition doth hurt to nothing but to carnal mirth; but it makes way for heavenly refreshings and sweet comforts. Nay it is the best piece of good husbandry, for it is the best way to provide for the world: Mat. vi. 33, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you;' you drive on two cares at once. None hold the world by a better tenure than those that are strangers, Abraham dwelt in tents, and Lot dwelt in a city; and Lot in the pleasant valley found less rest than Abraham in his tent: his lingering in Sodom had cost him dear if God had not pulled him out. It will make us end our days with comfort. Death is an advantage to a spiritual stranger and pilgrim here; it is a going home after a tedious journey. A man readily leaveth the place he abhorreth, and goeth to the place he loveth; so if once we could get our affections from the world, death would not be so dreadful. Carnal affections make us unwilling to die; we are wedded to present things and that makes us loth to depart hence.
Use 2. Reproof to those that fix their rest here. 'It is good to be here,' saith Peter, but as applied to the world is a brutish speech it is contrary to sense, experience, and reason.
I. Contrary to sense. Let me confute you by your eyes. Look to the frame of man's body, not only the constitution of his soul, but the frame of his body; we do not go grovelling on the earth as beasts, nor are we stuck into the ground as trees; man is of an upright stature, his head is to heaven and his feet to the earth, the seat of the senses is nearest heaven: Ps. viii. 6, ' Thou hast put all things under his feet-.' But now when men spurn at heaven, when their heads and hearts are fixed on the earth, this is like a man standing upon his head. Worldly men are like worms that come out of the earth, live on it, creep on it, and at length creep into it, and that is all. Let me again confute thee by thine eyes. Consider the frame of heaven; those aspectable heavens are the most glorious part of the creation, far more glorious than the lower world, and yet it is but the under part of the pavement of heaven. What then is the heaven of heavens, if the lowest part of heaven be so beautiful.
2. Contrary to our experience, as men or as christians.
[1.] To our experience as men. Why do you fix here? The world thrusteth us from itself by miseries, and at last by death; then there is a violent ejection, here it entertaineth us as a stepmother; but we linger in it as Lot lingered, he was loth to go out of pleasant Sodom till the angels pulled him out: Gen. xix. 16, 'And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.' We are often frustrated by a just and merciful providence, and we should make use of our disappointments. Providence doth often buffet us when it finds us busy where we should not; where we are more strangers, there we are most employed. When we stick to the earth, God cometh to pull us off.
[2.] To our experience as christians. Afflictions serve to make a divorce between us and the world, but much more sins. Crosses are grievous to all, but sins to the godly; sin hindereth us of the free enjoyment of heaven, as crosses do of the comforts of the world. Sin is evil in itself, though we feel it not. Affliction is only evil to our feeling because it smarts; affliction is as wormwood, bitter; but sin is as poison, deadly; it separates us from God, which affliction does not. Sin is contrary to the new man, eclipseth the light of God's countenance, hindereth the enjoyment of God in Christ, which is a heaven upon earth, as desertion is the souls hell. Many complain of crosses that complain not of sins; they look upon heaven as a reserve and place of retreat when beaten out of the world, which is neither a mark nor a work of grace. A beast will leave a place where it findeth neither meat nor rest. But this makes the children of God weary. Here is a condition of sinning and offending God which is most grievous to the godly. Paul groans on this account: Rom. vii. 24, 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' If any had cause to complain of misery Paul had, being in perils and sufferings often; but that which he complains of is sin. What a grief is it to a christian to meet with a temptation at every turn, to find every sense a snare and every creature a bait; we can scarce open our eyes but we are in danger.
3. It is contrary to reason. We were not made for the world but the world for us. Whenever we enjoy the world, we see the error of our esteem; it cannot satisfy our desires, nor recompense our pains. Those that enjoy it least are safest; the world cannot make us better, it may make us worse; all the riches and honours of the world cannot endue thy person with any true good. That is good that makes us good, reason will judge so; now the whole world cannot make us better, but grace will. Beware then of fixing your rest here below, which is bewrayed by the complacency of your souls in worldly things, by your lothness to die, by seldom thoughts of heaven. Oh, this wretched disposition is contrary to sense, experience, and reason!
Secondly, We are now come to the ceremony and rite by which this obedience of Abraham was signified and expressed - 'Dwelling in tents.' A tent is opposed to a house, or settled dwelling: 1 Chron. xvii. 5, 'For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.' The tabernacle was a figure of the church, and the temple of heaven. Houses were then in fashion; Lot had his house in Sodom, Gen. xix. 2 - 4, and Abraham was rich and able to build; it was not out of necessity but choice that he dwelt in tents. You may look upon it, partly, as an act of policy; partly, as an act of religion.
1. As an act of policy, that they might live in a strange country peaceably, free from the envy and grudge of the natives, who are not wont to brook the increase and greatness of strangers, but thenceforward seek to root them out. Thus the Rechabites, who were strangers in Israel, dwelt in tents: Jer. xxxv. 7, 'Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers;' it was the advice of Jonadab their father to them. Such a thing befell Isaac, the grudge of the natives at the prosperity of his flocks: Gen. xxvi. 12 - 14, 'Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundred-fold, and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great For he had possession of flocks and possession of herds, and great store of servants. And the Philistines envied him,'
2. As an act of religion, to express their heavenly hopes, or to acknowledge the hopes and desires of a world to come in the midst of a profane age. Here they had no settled abode, as the tent was an ambulatory kind of dwelling, removed from place to place. As afterwards at the feast of tabernacles, for seven days the people remained in booths to put them in mind of heaven and their forefathers dwelling in tents: Lev. xxiii. 42, 43, 'Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to the land of Egypt.' Now what shall we learn out of this? I answer, Several lessons.
[1.] It teacheth us patience and contentation, if we have but a mean house and dwelling, or if we are forced to wander, or if we are burdened with the envy of a strange country.
(1.) If we have a mean house and dwelling. Abraham had none at all, but only a tent; yet there God appeared to him, and there he entertained angels, Gen. xviii. 1, 2. No place can be so mean as to exclude God; you may have as much communion with him in a thatched cottage as in a lofty palace, yea, many times more. The sun shineth as merrily on a hovel as on a magnificent structure; so doth God visit the poor, and shine upon them in Christ as well as the great and rich. Seine of them, 'of whom the world was not worthy, wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth,' Heb. xi. 38, places of mean retirement. John had his revelation in Patmos in an obscure cave; he had more visions of God in a cave than others could have in a palace.
(2.) If you are driven up and down, and have no certain dwelling-place, remember the patriarchs lived in tents, movable habitations, that were often shifted and changed. David had sweet experiences of God in the wilderness, when he was hunted up and down like a flea: Ps. lxiii. 3, 'Thy loving-kindness is better than life.' There, where others did converse with beasts, there did David converse with God; he was banished from his friends, from the temple, but still he had fellowship with God. So Ps. xc. 1, 'Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations;' compare it with the title, and you shall see that psalm was penned by Moses when they were wandering in the wilderness. God's people, though they have no certain residence, yet they want not a dwelling-place; they find rest, and food, and protection, and room enough in God's own heart. A christian is everywhere at home but there where he is a stranger to God.
(3.) In case we are burdened with the envy of a strange country; so was Abraham, and so was Isaac. The patriarchs lived a wandering life, but still God was with them; and though they did what they could to avoid envy, yet still they met with it. This may be the case of persons exiled for religion and a good conscience; they may be driven abroad, and thrive abroad, and there meet with envy and opposition; as the Albigenses, wherever they had land they made it fruitful, which drew troubles upon them, and enforced their frequent removes. In such a case remember, if we have God's favour, no matter for man's envy.
[2.] It is caution to you that have stately houses, you have need look to yourselves that you do not forget heaven. God would have the patriarchs dwell in tents, 'that they might look for a city which hath foundations.' Let not your hearts be taken with earthly things. You have city houses and country houses, houses of profit, pomp, and pleasure; when you walk up and down in them, remember God, to do something for him that hath given you these comforts. And remember those that want such dwellings; Christ himself had not where to lay his head; many of his members, of whom the world is not worthy, have not any settled habitation, and make a hard shift for a short abode, they have no house but the wide world, no bed but the hard ground, and no other canopy then the heavens. And remember heaven. 'We look for a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,' 2 Cor. v. 1; not of masons' and carvers' work, but of God's own handiwork. There are field meditations and house meditations. When you walk up and down in your stately houses, you should have these thoughts: Here I am for a while; I know not how soon God may destroy this cedar work by fire, by rough winds, or by the fury of men: Zeph. ii. 14, 'He shall uncover the cedar work.'
[3.] Here is instruction to us not to make a vain ostentation of riches and greatness, that draweth envy. This was one reason why God would have the patriarchs dwell in tents. When men hang out the ensigns of pride and vanity to public view in their costly apparel, pompous buildings, they do but court the envy and robbery of others. God will send the emptiers to empty them, Amos vi. 7. This note principally concerneth strangers that thrive in a foreign land; pomp and ostentation of riches have been fatal to them. I might bring several stories in England and France. The natives think the sap proper to them; when a foreign plant spreadeth in branches, it draweth envy and rage: Gen. xix. 9, 'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge.' And it concerneth persons of a mean original, advanced to offices, and places of trust and power. And it concerneth ministers, whose maintenance is dependant; they had need be sober in apparel, in household stuff, &c. People are apt to begrudge their portion, and therefore they should less put forth in the eye of the world than others; their thriving has always been an eyesore.
[4.] It exhorteth us to a profession of our hopes and expectations of another world, as the patriarchs did in the midst of the Canaanites; by dwelling in tents 'they declared plainly that they sought a country,' Heb. xi. 14. The rite bindeth not, but we should have a tent-disposition, and set the face of our conversations heavenward, renounce worldly conveniences, live as those that are not ashamed of their country, that we may draw others to be fellow-citizens with us: Phil. ii. 15, 16, 'That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.' A man should discover his hopes in his language, let it be the language of Canaan; in a mortified course of life, that all the world may see you are of another country. The world is in the dark; as the stars are the shining part of heaven, so the saints, if they live answerably to their condition, they are as stars, the glory of the world; as the stars guided the wise men to Christ, so that is their office to guide to Christ by their conversations. There are greater lights and lesser lights: ministers are as the greater lights to hold forth the word of God in doctrine, christians as the lesser lights to hold forth the word of life in practice. It is a prodigy to see the lights of heaven eclipsed; so to see blackness, darkness, and worldliness in your conversations would be as a prodigy. When your cares, griefs, desires, endeavours are carnal, you suffer an eclipse; you do not shine so brightly to the world, and make such an open profession as those should do that do spiritually live in tents.
[5.] The next duty we learn is moderation in houses and furniture. Abraham and the patriarchs dwelt in tents; we cannot be contented unless we have so many walks, galleries, turrets, pyramids; such setting up and pulling down, transposing and transplacing to make gay houses, and so much yearly spent in costly furniture, that we are much departed from the primitive simplicity. I know God hath given us a liberal allowance to make our pilgrimage comfortable, and that this allowance is straitened and enlarged according to our quality and degree in the world, and that in strength of buildings the safety and glory of a nation is much concerned, and that as nations are civilised, so their buildings are more fair and commodious; but yet there must be a restraint in pomp and excess. The scriptures often take notice of the vanity of sumptuous buildings and household stuff: Amos iii. 15, 'I will smite the winter house and summer house; the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end.' It is made one of the causes of Israel's judgments: so Amos vi. 8, 'I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces,' and in many other places. Now the limits are, when they exceed our estate, and if not our estate, yet our degree and rank; when they divert our charity; - house-builders are not house-keepers; the walls are double clothed when the poor go naked, and that is spent upon polishing of stones which is due to the members of Christ; - and when men feed their luxury with oppression: Hab. ii, 11, 12, 'For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!' The stone shall cry, Lord, avenge us against the builder, we were laid in blood; and the beam shall answer, And we were purchased with rapine and public spoil.
[6.] The next thing we learn is self-denial, and enduring hardness for God's sake. Abraham dwelt in tents when God called him thereunto. God hath work for the patriarchs to do up and down the world, and therefore would not have their dwellings settled. So should we learn upon a call to give up all conveniences to God, and to be content with a mean condition; as for instance, when we can no longer keep them with a good conscience, when by particular impulse we are urged to such works as will forfeit our worldly conveniences, and the like.
[7.] It is a check to covetousness, when men seek to root here, and 'to join house to house, and field to field, till there be no place they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth,' Isa. v. 8. This is quite contrary to Abraham, who left all and dwelt in tents; they are still purchasing, till they have engrossed all to themselves, and there be no room for any to dwell by them.
Thirdly, The next circumstance is his fellows and followers in this practice and profession, with Isaac and Jacob, 'the heirs with him of the same promise.' The words will undergo a double sense, they imply imitation or cohabitation.
1, Imitation: they dwelt with them; it implieth likeness of practice; they did it after Abraham's death.
2. Cohabitation: for Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born, and Isaac at sixty years old begat Jacob and Esau; so that Abraham lived with Isaac seventy-five years, and with Jacob fifteen years. Compare Gen. xxi. 5, and. xxv. 8, 26. But Abraham and Isaac lived in distinct families when Jacob was born, therefore it is to be understood successively that Isaac dwelt in tents as well as Abraham Gen. xxvi. 17, 'Isaac pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar;' Gen. xxiv. 67, 'Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent.' And of Jacob it is said: Gen. xxv. 27, 'He was a plain man, dwelling in tents.' in opposition to Esau, who built cities. Therefore Jacobs tents are used proverbially in scripture; see Num. xxiv. 5, Jer. xxx. 18.
[1.] Observe, that saints are of the same spiritual dispositions.
(1.) Because acted by the same spirit: Acts iv. 32, 'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.' If it were possible that two bodies were acted by the same soul, they would weep together and rejoice together, and have the same gestures and motions. These old believers were not only united to the same head, but acted by the same spirit; Christ is the head of the church, and the Spirit is as it were the soul of the church.
(2.) They are governed by the same laws: Jer. xxxii. 39, 'I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever.' There are many ways to hell, and but one way to heaven. They are all alike in regard of newness of heart, and there is but one rule of life and worship. Men that will find out new ways to heaven put themselves into the highway to hell; all the saints have trodden this path: Heb. vi. 12, 'Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.' They that seek to make the way to heaven more easy will find themselves at last mistaken.
(3.) They have all but one scope, to please God, and to glorify him upon earth. Wicked men differ in their particular scope, though they agree in their hatred of the power of godliness; like Samson's foxes that were tied by their tails, though their heads looked several ways it is but a faction and conspiracy. But all the saints make this their scope. Many times they differ in judgment, but agree in scope; as two physicians that consult for the cure of a man that is dangerously sick may propose different courses, but both design the recovery of the sick man.
(4.) They are called to the same privileges, they are heirs of the same promise: 2 Peter i. 1, 'To them that have obtained like precious faith with us;' as a jewel held by a child and by a man is of the same worth. Jude 3, 'Beloved, when I gave diligence to write unto you of the common salvation.'
Use 1. It informeth us of the reason of differences in the children of God, partly, because they do not regard the spirit of communion, or mingle with those that have no share in it; partly, because of some partial error about the law and way they ought to walk in; partly, because through corruption they seek their own things, and forget they are called to the same privileges. In practicals, and in the power of godliness, they all agree, and in things necessary to salvation.
Use 2. It presseth us to search whether or no we have the same spirit by which all God's saints are acted, the same spirit of faith and of holiness, and of self-denial, and of heavenly-mindedness. Do we behave ourselves as heirs of the same promises? Ps. xxxix. 12, 'I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.'
[2.] Observe the fruit of godly education. Abraham dwelt in tents, and trained up Isaac in the same profession, and Isaac trained up Jacob. This is the way to continue religion in families, to bring up children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,' Eph. vi. 4. God reckoneth upon it from those that are faithful; as he saith concerning Abraham, Gen. xviii. 19, 'For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.' Alas! many parents are negligent in this kind, whom in charity we may judge godly. We are careful to leave our children great estates, that they may be rich; but who is careful to leave them thus mortified, to train them up in the contempt of the world; nay, we rather strive to make them worldly. We do not teach them to dwell in tents; all that we care for is that they may not be given to prodigality and excess, that they may not waste what we have scraped up for them; but let them be as worldly as they will, we like that. Plutarch, taxing the abuse of parents that strive to leave their children rich and not virtuous, he saith, They do like those that are solicitous about the shoe, but care not for the foot. Oh, begin with them betimes! Jerome compareth youth to water spilt upon the table; it runneth after you that way which you draw your finger. Train them up to self-denial before their affections are stiffened by long use in the world. The best riches you can leave them is to teach them the art to despise riches, saith Chrysostom in one of his homilies on Timothy.
[3.] Observe the force of example, especially of parents. Abraham lived in tents, and so did Isaac and Jacob. You must not only educate your children, but give them an example; this works more than precepts. Nature is very catching at ill examples, therefore beware of them.
Ver. 10, For he looked for a city which. hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Here is the reason rendered of this effect of his faith, his thoughts did not run upon Canaan so much as heaven.
1. Observe, that serious thoughts and hopes of heaven make us to carry ourselves with a loose heart towards worldly comforts. This was the reason why Abraham was contented to be a stranger in Canaan.
1. I shall show you what is this looking.
2. The influence of it on our christian practice.
1. What is this looking for heaven. It is not a blind hope, such as is not advised, and is found in men that are ignorant and presumptuous, that regard not what they do; - the presumption of ignorant persons is a child of darkness. Not some glances upon heaven, such as are found in worldly and sensual persons; such are not operative, they come but now and then, and leave no warmth upon the soul; as fruit is not ripened that hath but a glance of the sun. But it is a serious hope, well built, such as ariseth from grace longing after its own perfection; therefore we are said, 'to be begotten again to a lively hope,' 1 Peter i. 3. Seed desireth growth, everything aimeth at perfection; as soon as grace is infused, there is a motion this way. And it is an earnest hope, such as is accompanied with longings and frequent thoughts: Rom. viii. 23, 'We ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' It is a lively hope, such as stirreth up rejoicing, as if the thing hoped for were already enjoyed: Rom. v, 2, 'We rejoice in hope of the glory of God;' as 'Abraham rejoiced to see Christ's day, and he saw it, and was glad,' John viii. 56. And yet it is a patient, contented hope: Rom. viii. 25, 'If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.'
2. The influence of it. It maketh us strangers in the world; partly, by purging the heart from vile and worldly affections: 1 John iii. 3, 'He that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure;' partly, by carrying us within the veil, by which the glory of the world is obscured: 2 Cor. iv. 18, 'We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal;' partly, by counterbalancing our afflictions with the future glory; it sets the joy before us in our sufferings, Heb. xii. 2, and so works a sweet and comfortable carriage in all states and conditions.
Use 1. It showeth us that they do not truly despise the world who despise it merely out of a slightness of disposition, and not out of the sense of glorious hopes; they do not despise the whole world; they are taken not with worldly pleasures, but they mind worldly profits; their corruptions run out another way: this is not to leave the world, but to make choice of it.
Use 2. It informeth us of the reason why the world hath such a power upon us; we do not awaken our hopes, and look for the city to come. We have a blind hope, that is ill built; we have a loose slight hope, that doth not stir up serious thoughts, earnest sighs, hearty groans, and lively tastes of heaven.
2. Observe, heaven is a city. it is so called in opposition to those solitary tents which Abraham and his family pitched in Canaan, and in allusion to those cities which the Canaanites then lived in. There are diverse resemblances betwixt heaven and a city. A city is a civil society that is under government; so is heaven a society of saints, there all believers meet: Heb. xii. 22, 23, 'Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven.' Sometimes it is compared to a house where there are many mansions: John xiv. 2, 'In my Father's house are many mansions;' but lest that comparison should straiten our thoughts, it is compared to a city where there is a great deal of company, and Christ is the governor. In cities they live in concord and amity; there is a sweet communion of saints in heaven, other manner of saints than we have here, without weakness and imperfection. A city is a storehouse of good things, as of food and treasure; there is enough in heaven for our complete comfort. A city hath liberties; there we are freed from Satan's tyranny, from the law's curse and condemning power, from all weakness, from all ill company, nothing that defiles shall enter there, from all temptations to sin - 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God,' Ps. lxxxvii. 3. All that are there speak one language, praising and glorifying God, though in the church here our language is divided. The church is the suburbs of heaven, and we must first live in the suburbs before we come to live in the city: Eph. ii. 19, 'Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.' The church is the seminary of heaven, where we first live and trade into heaven. O you that are citizens labour to be citizens of heaven: Heb. xiii. 14, 'For we have here no continuing city, but we seek one to come.' And you that are countrymen seek to get a right to the freedoms of this city; there is an excellent governor, Jesus Christ; excellent company, all the saints that ever have been from the beginning of the world to the end; there is a constant communion with God: Ps. xxvii. 4, 'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord,' &c. This is the chiefest thing that above all other things we are to care for.
3. Observe, heaven is a city that hath foundations. Tents are moving and ambulatory dwellings, they had no foundations; but this hath foundations, that is, it is a fixed and certain habitation, therefore called 'an abiding city,' Heb. xiii. 14. We cannot have an abiding city in a perishing world. Man must be suited to his happiness, and have a fit place wherein to enjoy it.
1. We are not suited and fitted to happiness while we are here; old bottles will not hold the new wine of glory. Here we are not capable of the glorious presence of God; a mortal creature cannot endure the splendour of it. We would have it here as Peter: Mat. xvii. 4, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here.'
2. The place wherein we live is not a fit place to enjoy it. The world is not a fit place, because it is full of changes, - night and day, calm and tempest, summer and winter; The earth is cursed for our sakes; we cannot have our blessings here; it is a fit place for our punishment and exercise, to be as a stage on which we act a part, or a scaffold on which we are executed, but it is not our city. There is no country of so gentle a temperature as to preserve the inhabitants from all misery, sin, grief, sickness, and death. Heaven then is the only place, it hath foundations, it is the fixed place of our rest and eternal abode. There is hope of quiet, it is a sure blessed place of rest. Here all things are fading - 'Time and chance happeneth to all,' Eccles. ix. 11; but the safe commodious dwelling-place is there where we shall be never molested more. The whole employment of our lives is to seek how to get thither; get a right and interest, and you are sure to enter at death. Christ hath purchased it by his merit, and hath taken possession of it for us.
4. Observe, God is the builder and maker of heaven. It is put in opposition to cities built by men. God made the earth as well as heaven; but the making of heaven is peculiarly ascribed to him because it is a rare piece of work. God hath spent most of his art on it; there he hath fixed his throne: Ps. ciii. 19, 'The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens.' There is most of his majesty seen, there he is fully enjoyed, and there is an everlasting manifestation of his glory. And he that is the maker of it is the disposer of it, please God, and he will give it thee.
5. Observe, that the fathers looked for an entry into this eternal rest after the ending of their pilgrimage. Here is a clear proof of it - 'He looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.'
Hebrews
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