lie "was, a stranger; and the place where, upon earth; not in heaven, he was familiar there. And how a stranger upon earth, in point of happiness, — I do not find here that which satisfieth my soul ; he had his home, his rest elsewhere ; but not in point of service, for he had much work to do.
Doct. God's children are strangers upon earth, and do so account themselves.
They live here as others do, but they are not at home ; their hearts are above, they do not take up their rest here ; they are strangers, and account themselves to be so when they have most of worldly con- veniences.
First, To open it. Sometimes it may be understood in a literal sense, and sometimes in a moral.
(1.) Sometimes in a literal sense. Thus the patriarchs, that had a wandering life, and were forced to flit from place to place without any certain abode, they confessed themselves to be strangers. Jacob saitli, Gen. xlvii. 9, ' Few and evil have the years of my life been.' (2.) Morally also, and more generally, it is true of the saints, they are strangers. In some sense it is true of good and bad. We are all travelling into another world, and are every day nearer to eternity. As in a ship, whether men sleep or wake, stand or sit, whether they think of it, yea or nay, the voyage still goes onward. So, whatever we think, and whatever we do, we hasten towards death. In this sense even
174 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [fSER. XX.
wicked men may be strangers and pilgrims in condition, though not in affection. All men in condition, will they nill they, must into the other world, as they yield to the decays of nature, and every day they are a step nearer to their long home. Heathens have had a sense of this notion. Saith one of them, Ex Jiac vita discedo tcmquam ex hos- pitio, non tcmquam ex domo — I go out of this life as out of an inn. Here we are but passengers, not inhabitants to dwell. But now to be strangers and pilgrims in affection, that is proper to the children of God ; Heb. xi. 13-15, it is made the fruit of their faith ; ' Because they were persuaded of the promises, therefore they confessed them- selves pilgrims and strangers on earth.' The voice of nature saith, It is good to be here ; let God do with heaven what he pleaseth. Natural men are contented with their present portion, and cannot en- dure to think of change ; and therefore, though they are travelling to eternity, yet they are not pilgrims in affection. But now God's chil- dren are so in condition and in affection too ; they count heaven their home, and the world to be a strange place. They are pilgrims in affection in a threefold regard : —
1. Because they are most sensible of their frailty. The frailty of the present life is a common lesson, but not easily believed. None have such a sense of it upon their hearts as they that are taught by God : Ps. xc. 12, ' So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom ;' and, ' Teach me to know how frail I am/ saith David. Worldly men, though they are of this opinion, and can- not deny it, yet they do not consider it ; in seeing they see not ; their minds are taken up with other things ; they are not sensible.
2. The term is proper to the children of God, because they are un- satisfied with their present estate ; they would not abide here for ever if God would give them leave. Wicked men are pilgrims against their will ; but saints are ever looking for, longing for, groaning for a better estate : Kom. viii. 23, ' We which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop- tion, the redemption of our body.' They deshe and ' groan to be clothed upon,' 2 Cor. v. 2.
3. The notion is most proper to them, because they have an interest in a better inheritance. Wicked men are sure to go out of the world, but they are not sure to go to heaven. Now, the children of God they know there is an inheritance kept for them ; here they have the right, but there they shall have the possession, 1 John iii. 1. So that well might I form the point thus : That godly men are, and count them- selves to be, strangers and pilgrims upon earth. Others are in a journey, but they are not sensible of it, and they have no home to go to, and no desire to part with the world.
Now take some instances of this. That this is proper to God's children to count the world a strange place, and heaven to be their home. Those that had the best right and the greatest possessions here, they will do so ; those that had the greatest right : Heb. xi. 9, ' Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country.' What right could there be greater than that which was demised and made over to him by God ? Yet in the land of promise he lived as in a strange place. So David here, and in other places, that had so ample