VeR. 19.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 175
a possession ; he was king over, an opulent and flourishing kingdom ; yet, Ps. xxxix, 12, ' I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.' Not only he that was a wandering partridge, and flitted up and down ; but David that was settled in a throne, he that was so powerful and victorious a prince. But you will say, Possibly David might speak thus when he was chased like a flea upon the mountains, when he was hunted to and fro like a partridge. No ; but when he had peace, and was fully settled in the throne ; when he could ofl:lr so many cart-loads of gold and silver, 2 Chron. xxix. 13 ; then he doth acknowledge, ' Lord, I am a stranger.' Jesus Christ, who was Lord paramount, he tells us, ' I am not of this world,' John xvii. 14. He was ' a stranger to his brethren, and an alien among his mother's chil- dren,' Ps. Ixix. 8. He that was Lord of all had neither house nor home. He passed through the world to sanctify it for a place of ser- vice ; but his heart and constant residence was not here, to fix it as in a place of rest. And so all that are Christ's have the spirit of Christ, and say, as David in the text, ' I am a stranger upon earth.' We do not dwell npon earth, but only pass through it.
But why do the children of God count themselves to be strangers here ?
1. They are born elsewhere. Everything tends to the place of their original, as men love their native soil ; things bred in the water return thither ; inanimate things tend to their centre ; a stone will fall to the ground, though it be broken in pieces Avith the fall ; wind that is im- prisoned in the bowels of the earth raiseth terrible convulsions and earthquakes until it get up to its own place. All things seek to return thither from whence they came. And so grace, which came from heaven, it carrieth the soul thither again : ' Jerusalem from above is the mother of us all.' Heaven is our native country, and therefore thither is the tendency and aim of the gracious soul that is born from above. It is very notable that contempt of the world is usually made the fruit of our regeneration : 1 John v. 4, ' Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world ;' and 2 Peter i. 4, ' Made partakers of the divine nature, that we might escape the corruptions of the world through lust.' There is somewhat of God in it then ; and that which comes from God carries the soul thither where God is. In the new nature there is a strong inclination which disposeth us to look after another world ; therefore it is said, ' Begotten to a lively hope,' 1 Peter i. 3. As soon as we are made children, we begin to look after a child's portion. There is another aim when we are born again ; then the heart is carried out to God.
2. There lies their inheritance : Eph. i. 3, ' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.' Why ! he hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in earthly places. Why is it said only ' in heavenly places'? There was their beginning, and there is their accomplishment. The main thing Christ aimed at was that we might be translated to heavenly places. Christ will set us high enough, and therefore he will not give us our portion in the world ; that is an un- quiet place. Here we are not out of gunshot and harm's way. He would not give it us in an earthly paradise ; there Adam enjoyed God among beasts. He would give it us in the most glorious manner, that
176 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XX.
we might enjoy God among the angels. The world is not a fit place. Here (xod will show his bounty to all his children. It is a common inn, where sons and bastards are entertained ; a place of trial, not of recompense ; God's footstool, and not his throne, Isa. Ixvi. 1. The world is Satan's walk, the devil's circuit : ' Whence coraest thou ? From compassing the earth,' Job i. A place defiled with sin, Isa. xxiv. 5 ; ' given to the children of men,' Ps. cxv. IG. Here God will show his bounty to all his creatures, to beasts, and to all kinds of men. It is sometimes the slaughter-house and shambles of the saints : they are ' slain upon earth,' Rev. xviii. 24 ; a receptacle for elect and repro- bate. Therefore here they have not their blessing; our inheritance lies elsewhere.
3. There are all our kindred. Ubi jMter, ihi patria — where our father is, there our country is. Now when we pray, we say to him, ' Our Father which art in heaven.' There are we strangers, where we are absent from God, Christ, and glorified saints ; and while we are here upon earth we have not such enjoyment of God. There is our Father ; it is his house. Heaven is called our Father's house ; and there is ' our elder brother : ' Col. iii. 1, ' Set your hearts upon things above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God ; ' and there is the best of our kindred and family : ' They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,' Mat. viii. 11. Well, then, the children of God, they count themselves to be strangers here, because their kin- dred are elsewhere,