I 94 · Th_e l'lue.fllty of Regeneration. ' State H! • . meado.w? or fend his oxen ·to feed in the fea ? Even as lit– ,tle are the unregenerate meet for heaveo, or is heaven ~eet for them. It would never be liked of by them. - The unreg.eoerate would find fault with heaven on fever~l accouots. As, ( r.) That it is a tlrange country. Heaven is the renewed man's native country: his Father is in ·bea.. ven; his mother is Jerujalem •wbicb iJ ab(;'ve, GaL iv. 26. He is born from above, John iii. 3· Heaven is his home 1 2 Cor. v. L therefore he l.ooks on himfelf.as a flranger on this- earth, and his head is homeward, Heb. xi. 16. They diftre a better ~ountt')' , that iJ, ,an heavenly. But ·the unre– generate man is the man of the earth, Pf;;Jl X'. 18. .-!llritten in.tbe earth, Jer. xvii. I 3· Now, Home is .hom.e, be il-ne·uer· fo homely: therefore l'e minds earthly thing; , Phi!. iii . 19 . There is a peculiar fweetnefs in our native ioil; and hpdly are men drawn to leave !t , :tnd dweJ l' in a 11-range.country. In no cafe does that prevail more, than in this; for unre– newed men WOt1Jd, quit their. prctcnfions to hea ve41, were it nut that they fee they cannot make a better of i r. (2.) T here is nothi_ng there, of what they delight mon in; as mon- a.. greeab~e to the carnal heart; Rev. xxi.27. A :;d there/hall in ·m rwiJ~ enter i1zto it, any thing that defileth. ·when ll1ahomct g<!ve out par.ldife to be a, place of fenfual delights, his reii– ~icn was greedily embraced; for that is the . heaven men JJaturally- chufe. If the coveto.us man could get bags full · , of gold there, anJ the' voluptuous man could promife hirn– fel_f his fenfua~ deligh,ts · there; they might be reconciled to / hea~·en, • and meet for it too: but fioce it is not fo, tho' th~y mp.y·uttH fair words about it, truly it has little of their hearts. · (3.) · Every c01ner there is filled with that which, of all things, they haV·e the.Jea!l: liking of; and that is holinefs, true holinefs, perfectllolinefs. Were one that abhors [wine's ' ftefh _bidden to a feaH, where all the di!bes were of that fort ot meat, but varioufiy prep<?red, he w.ould find fault w·ith everY' difh at the table, no twith!1anding all the art ufe4 to m'<lke thern .pdatable. It is true, there is joy in heaven, but it is l}<?IY joy·; there are p!eafures in heaven. be : they are holy pJealures; there are p.iaces tO flan,fb y in heaven, but it is holy ground. That holinefs thatc:tfts up in every'Place, ~nd in every thing there, would mar a! I to the unrq:enerate. ( 4 .) w.ere they _,anicd thither., .they would.l)o~ on ly cha.ngf i ' theu·
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