5. Observe how they are made good. You will have a double ad- vantage hereby, for you will have a more clear ground for faith and thankfulness. It will show you what mercies come as blessings. It is not enough to observe nakedly how a mercy comes to us, but whether it comes by virtue of a promise, pleaded, trusted in, and believed by us. And it will strengthen our thankfulness ; they are blessings that come out of the womb of the covenant : Ps cxxviii. 8, ' The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion.' It is observable in the text that the ble.ssing is called ' the promise ; ' it is not a blessing, nor so sweet to us, except it come by virtue of a promise. And by this means God's truth is more confirmed, which still keepeth the heart thankful and believing: Ps. ix. 10, ' They that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee ' You can give no instance to the contrary : it increaseth our trust for the future to observe what he hath done in time past ; what he hath spoken with his mouth he hath fulfilled with his hand. By this means your own faith will be confirmed, and you will invite others to trust in God; we have had experience of the trutli of his promises, and we shall be witnesses of his faithfulness to others.
SERMON XLVIII.
These all died in failli, not Jiaving received the promises, hut having seen them afar off, and loere persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confesaed thai they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. — Heb. xi. 13.
I OBSERVED in the whole verse the trial of faith and the victory of faith. The trial of faith — ' These all died in faith, not having received the promises; ' that is, they went to the grave ere the blessings God had promised were accomplished. The victory of faith is set forth —
1. By a threefold act of faith in and upon the promises — ' They saw them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.'
2. By the effect and fruit of it in their lives and conversations^
316 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. XLVIII.
* And confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth.* This I come now to speak to.
' Strangers and ijilgrims! The notion of strangers and pilgrims I opened to you in the 9th. verse. But how were these holy meu strangers and pilgrims? Men may be strangers and j^ilgi'ims two ways : either in regard of condition, or in regard of disposition and affection.'
1. In regard of condition, so all men are strangers. For that is our home where we live longest. Now all men live longest in another world ; there they are for ever, and here but for a while. And as all men are strangers, so they are pilgrims ; they are hastening home- wards as they yield to tlie decays of nature ; and draw nearer to their long home every day. Every man, both good and bad, is on a journey, travelling homewards ; all the difference is in the way that they take. There are some that take the broad way that leadeth to destruction, that as they grow in years they inciease in sins, and so are going down to destruction, and hastening to the chambers of eternal death ; they are strangers and pilgrims, going out of this world into a worse. But others take the narrow way, and they are entering upon their ever- lasting happiness by degrees ; here is not their home, they are going- to God and Christ.
2. In regard of affection and disposition ; so these latter sort, the- children of God, are only strangers and pilgrims. The voice of wicked men is, * It is good to be here ; ' let God do with heaven what he pleaseth, they are contented with their present portion ; they would not give their portion in this world for a portion in paradise. But the children of God are strangers in affection ; they count them- selves so and they confess themselves so, for that is implied in theii- confession, that it is not only their inward thoughts, but their outward profession before all the world.
But how do they count themselves so ?
[1.] By considering the shortness of their present abode, which wicked meu do not. There is no truth more obvious and common, and yet none less thought of by wicked and carnal men, than the frailty of our present condition. Wicked men have no firm dwelling upon earth, but that is against their intention, their inward thought and desire is that they may abide here for ever : Ps. xlix. 11, ' Their inward thought is that their houses shall abide for ever, and their dwelling-place to all generations.' Tliey are strangers against their wills ; their abode is uncertain in this world, and they cannot help it, and they govern their lives as if they should abide here for ever, and were never come to a reckoning. David begs of God in Ps. xc. ver. 12, * So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.' It is a lesson we learn by grace to know the shortness and frailty of our present life ; therefore they that have grace in their hearts, and are taught of God, count themselves strangers in this sense because they are sensible, and reckon upon it, that here they shall abide but for a while,