1 o4 Good Men Strangers and Vol. I. journeys in a Land which was promifed to be theirs afterwards. They dwelt in it themfelves as Strangers, but were in Expe&ation that it would one Day become the Inheritanceoftheir Pofterity. Now in this, as by a Type and Shadow, the Apoftle reprefents to us the Condition of Good Men, while they are puffing through this World. They are Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth ; they travel up and down the World for a time, as the Patriarchs did in the Land of Canaan; but, are in Expe&ation of a better and more fettled Condition hereafter ; they defire a better Country, that is, an Heavenly lays the Apoftle at the 16th Verfe of this Chapter. That .which I deign from thefe Words, is to reprefent to us our prefent Con- dition in this World, and to awaken us to a due Senfeand ferious Confideration of it. It is the fame Condition, that all the Saints and Holy Men that are gone be- fore us were in, in this World ; and every one of us may fay with David, Pfalin 39 12. I am a Stranger with thee, and a Sojourner, as all ny Fathers were. It is a Condition very troublefome and very unfettled, fuch as that ofPilgrims aid Strangers ufeth to be.- This we inuft all acknowledge, if we judge rightly ofour prefent State and Condition. They confefed, that they were Strangers andPil- grims on the Earth; but yet it was not without the Hope and Expectation of a bet and happier Condition in Reverfion. So it follows juft after ; They that fay fueh .things, (that is, that con fef themfelves to be Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth) declare plainly, that theyPeek a Country. This bore up the Patriarchs under all the Evils and Troubles of their, Pilgri- mage, that they expelled an Inheritance, and a quiet and fettled Poffeflion of that Good Land which God had promifed to them. Anfwerably to which, Good Men do eiped, after thefew and evil Days of their Pilgrimage in this World are over, a bleffed Inheritance in abetter Country, that is, an Heavenly ; and with bleffed Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, they look for a City which bath Foundations, whole Builder and Maker is God, as it is faid of that good Patriarch at the Tenth Verfe of this Chapter. It is very frequent, not only- in Scripture, but in other Authors, to reprefent our Condition in this World, by that of Pilgrims and Sojourners in a Foreign Country : For the Mind, which is the Man, and our immortal Souls, which are by fat the molt noble and excellent part of our felves, are the Natives of Hea- ven, and but Pilgrims andStrangers here in the Earth ; and when the Days of our Pilgrimage shall be over, are defigned to return to that Heavenly Country from which they came, and to which they belong. And therefore the Apoftle tells us, Phil. 3. 2o. that Chriftians have relation to Heaven, as their native Place and Country, `H/.an 15 rl uroni-rotuto it 4eçcro7s vrápxnr, Our Converfation is in Heaven, fo we render the Words ; but they properly fignify, that Chriftians are Members of that City and Society which is above; and tho' theyconvene at prefent here below, while they are paflingthrough this World, yet Heaven is the Coun- try to which they do belong, and whither they are continually tending, Sedes obi fata quietas oflendúnt, where a quiet Habitation, and a perpetual Reft, is defigned and prepared for them. This Acknowledgment David makes concern- ing himfelf, and all the People of God, t Chron. 29. 15. For 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. So likewife St. Peter, t Pet. e. t 7. Pal the timeofyourfojourning here in fear ; and Chap. 2. Verfe i s. Dearly be- loved, I befeechyou, as Strangers andPilgrims, abfiainfromfiefhly Lu/Is. And not only the infpited Writers of HolyScripture, but Heathen Authors, do frequently make ufe of this Allufion. Plato tells us, it was a common Sa ing, and almoft in every Man's Mouth, irapevnótyíra ass' v I Berg., the Life of Man is i kind of Pilgrimage. And Tully, in his excellent Difcourfe de Senedlute, (con- cerning Old Age) brings in Cato defcribing our Paffsge out of this World, not as a Departure from our Home, but like a Man leaving his Inn, in which he hath lodged for a Night or two, ex vita Oa difcedo, tanquam ex hofpitio, non tan ex dorm); commorandi enim natura Diverforium nobis , non habitandi deda : ", When I leave. this World (lays he) I look upon my felt as departing out of " an
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=