3. ' In the house of my pilgrimage.' You may take it literally for the time of David's exile, when banished by Saul, or driven from his palace by Absalom : when he fled from place to place, and wandered up and down in great distress, then God's statutes, by which his life was directed, innocency vindicated, hopes confirmed both of present sup- port and seasonable deliverance, were as songs to him, his real and cordial solaces. Wheresoever the believer is, or whatsoever his case and condition be, he hath still matter of rejoicing in the word of God. So had David when he was exposed to continual wanderings, without any fixed habitation. Indeed the children of God in Babylon say, Ps. cxxxvii. 4, ' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ? ' The meaning is not to exclude their own spiritual delight and solace ; but they would not gi'atify the carnal pleasure of their enemies with a temple song, or subject religion to their sportive fancies and humours. Eather metaphorically for the whole course of his life, whether spent in the palace, or in the wilderness ; in whatsoever place he was, he was still in the house of his pilgrimage : so he accounted his best and his worst condition ; compare ver. 19, ' I am a stranger in the earth,' and Ps. xxxix. 12, 'I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were ;' with 1 Chron. xxix. 15, 'We are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers.' Not only when hunted like a partridge upon the mountains, but also when he was at rest, and
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able to offer so vast a quantity of treasure for the building of the house of God.
Two points are observable : —
Doct. 1. That the godly count this world, and their whole estate therein, the house of their pilgrimage.
Doct. 2. That during this estate, and the inconveniences thereof, they find matter of rejoicing in the word of God,
Doct. 1. That the godly count, this world and their whole estate therein, the house of their pilgrimage.
1 shall not handle this doctrine in its full latitude, having spoken largely thereof in the 19 th verse ; only now a few considerations.
1. Here is no fixed abode; there where we live longest we count our home and dwelling ; not an inn which we take up in our passage, but the place of our constant residence in this world. We are only in passage, and so should consider it : Heb. xiii. 14, ' Here we have no abiding city, but we look for one to come, whose builder and maker is God.' Here we stay but a little while, passing through to a better country. The mortality of the body and the immortality of the soul showeth that we are all strangers here ; for if here we do not live for ever, and yet we have souls that will live for ever, there must be some other place to which we are tending. The body is dust in its compo- sition and resolution : Eccles. xii. 7, ' Then shall the body return to the earth as it was.' Nature may teach us so much, but faith, that assureth us of the resurrection of the dead, doth more bind this con- sideration upon us. We are mortal, and all things about us are liable to their mortality ; and therefore here we must be still passing to another place.
2. Here we have no rest : Micah ii. 10, ' Arise, and depart hence, for this is not your rest ; ' that is hereafter ; Heb. iv. 9, ' There re- maineth therefore a rest for the people of God.' Our home we count the place of our repose. Now there is no rest and content in this world, which is a place of vanity, misery, and discomfort. Yea, to the children of God there are stronger motives than crosses to drive them from the world — daily temptations, and our often falling by them. Crosses are grievous to all, but sin is more grievous to the godly ; and nothing makes them more weary of the world than the constant in- dwelling and frequent outbreaking of corruption and sin : Kom. vii. 24, ' O miserable man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? ' The apostle was exercised with many crosses, but this doth make him complain in the bitterness of his soul, not of his misery, but of his corruption, which he found continually rebelling against God. Many complain of their crosses that complain not of sin. To loathe the world for crosses alone, is neither the mark nor work of grace. A beast can forsake the place where he findeth neither meat nor rest ; but because we are sinning here, whilst others are glorifying God, this is the trouble of the saints.
3. They believe and look for a better estate after this life is over : 2 Cor. V. 1, ' We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' No man can be a right sojourner on earth who doth not look for an abode in heaven : for that which doth