2. As an act of religion, to express their heavenly hopes, or to acknowledge the hopes and desires of a world to come in the midst of a profane age. Here they had no settled abode, as the tent was an ambulatory kind of dwelling, removed from place to place. As after- wards at the feast of tabernacles, for seven days the people remained in booths to put them in mind of heaven and their forefathers dwelling in tents : Lev. xxiii. 42, 43, ' Ye shall dwell in booths seven days ; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I biought them out of the land of Egypt.' Xow what shall we learn out of this ? I answer, Several lessons.
[1.] It teacheth us patience and contentation, if we have but a mean liouse and dwelling, or if we are forced to wander, or if we are bur- dened with the envy of a strange country.
(1.) If we have a mean house and dwelling. Abraham had none at all, but only a tent; yet there God appeared to him, and there he entertained angels, Gen. xviii. 1, 2. I^o place can be so mean as to exclude God ; you may have as much communion with him in a thatched cottage as in a lofty palace, yea, many times more. The sun shineth as merrily on a hovel as on a magnificent structure ; so doth God visit the poor, and shine upon them in Christ as well as the great and rich. Some of them, ' of whom the world was not worthy, wan- dered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth,' Heb. xi. 38, places of mean retirement. John had his revelation in Patmos in an obscure cave ; he had more visions of God in a cave than others could have in a palace.
(2.) If you are driven up and down, and have no certain dwelling- place, remember the patriarchs lived in tents, movable habitations, that were often shifted and changed. David had sweet experiences of God in the v«ilderness, when he was hunted up and down like a flea : Ps. Ixiii. 3, * Thy loving-kindness is better than life.' There, where others did converse with beasts, there did David converse with God ; he was banished from his friends, from the temple, but still he had fellowship with God. So Ps. xc. 1, 'Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations;' compare it with the title, and you shall see that psalm was penned by Moses when they were wandering in the wilder- ness. God's people, though they have no certain residence, yet they want not a dwelling-place ; they find rest, and food, and protection, and room enough in God s own heart. A christian is everywhere at home but there where he is a stranger to God.
(3.) In case we are burdened with the envy of a strange country ; so was Abraham, and so was Isaac. The patriarchs lived a wandering life, but still God was with them ; and though they did what they coTild to avoid envy, yet still they met with it. This may be the case
266 SERMONS UPON HEBREV/S XI. [SeR. XLIII.
of persons exiled for religion and a good conscience ; they may be driven abroad, and thrive abroad, and there meet with envy and opposition ; as the Albigenses, wherever they had land they made it i'ruitful, which drew troubles upon them, and enforced their frequent removes. In such a case remember, if we have God's favour, no matter for man's envy.
[2.] It is caution to you that have stately houses, you have need look to yourselves that you do not forget heaven. God would have the patriarchs dwell in tents, ' that they might look for a city which hath foundations.' Let not your hearts be taken with earthly things. You have city houses and country houses, houses of profit, pomp, and pleasure ; when you walk up and down in them, remember God, to do something for him that hath given you these comforts. And remember those that want such dwellings; Christ himselt had not where to lay his head ; many of his members, of whom the world is not worthy, have not any settled habitation, and make a hard shift for a short abode, they have no house but the wide world, no bed but the hard ground, and no other canopy than the heavens. And remember heaven — ' We look for a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,' 2 Cor. v. 1 ; not of masons' and carvers' work, but of God's own handiwork. There are field meditations and house meditations. AVhen you walk up and down in your stately houses, you should have these thoughts: Here I am for a while ; I know not how soon God may destroy this cedar work by fire, by j-ough winds, or by the fury of men : Zeph. ii. 14, ' He shall uncover the cedar work.'
[3.] Here is instruction to us not to make a vain ostentation of riches and greatness, that draweth envy. This was one reason why God would have the patriarchs dwell in tents. When men hang out the ensigns of pride and vanity to public view in their costly apparel, pompous buildings, they do but court the envy and robbery of others. God will send the emptiers to empty them, Amos vi. 7. This note principally concerneth strangers that thrive in a foreign land; pomp and ostentation of riches have been fatal to them. I might bring several stories in England and France. The natives think the sap proper to them ; when a foreign plant spreadetli in branches, it draweth envy and rage : Gen. xix. 9, ' This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge.' And it concerneth persons of a mean original, advanced to offices, and places of trust and power. And it concerneth ministers, whose maintenance is dependant ; they had need be sober in apparel, in household stuff, &c. People are apt to begrudge their portion, and therefore they should less put forth in the eye of the world than others; their thriving has always been an eyesore.