326 SEEMONS UPON HEBREWS XL [SeR. XL VIII.
thing hath its season ; or when others may receive detriment, and we are hke to give offence to our weaker brethren : Rom. xiv. 1, * Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.' Our liberty in indifferent tilings is not to be urged to the prejudice of our brethren. Again we are not to make a profession till we have matured and ripened our persuasion ; rash men that profess suddenly whatever they conceive to be right put themselves upon a double in- convenience, either of continuing in the defence of an error when their opinion is declared, or lie under the scandal of changeableness if they submit to the truth, which doth much weaken their testimony.
Boct. 3. Christians should more plainly discover that their journey lies heavenward.
Here I siiall show you why they should do so, and how they should do it.
1. Why they should do so. And that for these reasons —
[1.] It is for the glory of God that we should profess our hopes, that the world may know that we have wages that we expect in another world. Grod would be ashamed to be called our God if we did not seek a country : Heb. iii. 6, ' Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end.' We should not only comfort ourselves in our hopes but boast of them, and glory in our hopes that we have such a good master ; we may boast of our wages.
[2.] It is for the comfort and quickening of others. A man is glad to meet with his own countrymen in a foreign land ; so when others see you ready to go with them to heaven, it is a great comfort and support to them, especially when we are talking and discoui-sing of heaven ' : 1 Thes. iv. 18, ' Wherefore comfort one another with these words.' Good discourse conveys a warmth ; Saul in the company of pro])hets prophesieth.
[3.] It is for the reproof of the world, for the more explicit our pro- fession is, the more are wicked men condemned ; the blind careless world is awed by these means. Noah by building the ark, ' condemned the world,' Heb. xi. 7. So when they see you so busy for heaven, it is a real reproof of their carelessness and wickedness.
2. How we should make this discovery.
[1.] By often speaking to one another : Mat. xxvi. 73, ' Surely thou art one of them, for thy speech bewrayeth thee.' So the speech of God's people bewrays them. Christ is often speaking of heaven, and of his Father's house. The primitive christians were impeached of treason because they were often speaking of the happiness of that kingdom which they expected: John iii. 31, ' He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth.' Worldly men will be talking of worldly things ; so they that are for heaven will be confessing and declaring that they seek a country, and they will be speaking to one another of these things.
[2.] By practice and conversation ; hereby you should make your confession more explicit. Show what you are by your lives : Phil. iii. 20, • For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.' A christian's heart is not only above, but his life is above. But how should we show forth this heavenly conversation ? I answer — •
VeR.- 13.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 327
(1.) By a contempt of worldly things. A self-denying christian showeth whither his journey lieth ; they dare not take all advantages of growing great ; they do not make it their business to be high in the world : Heb. xiii. 5, ' Let your conversation be without covetous- ness, and be content with such things as you have.' Covetousness is a sin in the heart, but many times it is seen in the life, and when it breaketh out, men shame their profession.
(2.) By our garb and behaviour ; thus should you make a distinction between yourselves and the men of the world : Eom. xii. 2, ' Be not con- formed to this world.' A christian is a man of another garb, he doth not put himself into the world's dress. He lives a distinct life from the world, and doth not do as the most do, so as the world wonders at them as we do at a foreigner that goes in a distinct garb and habit : 2 Peter iv. 4, ' Wherein they think it strange that you run not \Yitli them to the same excess of riot.'
(o.) By special holiness and strictnes.s, that your lives and conversar- tions should carry an express conformity and likeness to your hopes. 1 Thes. ii. 12, ' That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.' You should discover what manner of hopes you have by the holiness, raisedness, and heavenliness of your lives and conversations.
Use 1. This may reprove those that are Nicodemites, christians too much in the dark. In times of persecution fear takes off from an open profession, but in times of profaneness shame is an hindrance ; men are ashamed to own Christ, coguntur esse viles, ne mali haheantur. Men are ashamed of strict carriage and good discourse, they had rather be wicked than base and vile in the esteem of the world. No, rather say, If this be to be vile, I will be more vile ; as David, 2 Sam. vi. 23, ' I will be yet more vile than thus' ; and Paul, Eom. i. 16, ' I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.' If you are ashamed of Christ, he will be ashamed of you : Luke ix. 26, ' Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory, and in the Father's, and of his holy angels.' Who would endure a servant that will be ashamed to own his master ? We should not be ashamed to be forward in godlines:-i and religion, it is a sign we esteem as basely as the world doth of godliness. It argues a mighty deprav^ation when our shame is there, where our confidence and our glorying should be ; you condemn hereby your profession, and justify the reproaches and slanders that wicked men cast on it. Christ despised the shame : Heb. xii. 2, ' Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, and despised the shame.' It argueth too great a desire of the love and praise of men : John xii. 42, 43, ' jSTevertheless among the chief rulers also many be- lieved on him ; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue ; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.' Wicked men declare their sin openly : Isa. iii. 9, ' The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.' God is not ashamed of us though we be vile, base, and despicable : Heb. xi. 16, ' God is not ashamed to be called their God ;' and shall we be ashamed of God, and of his recompenses ? If dogs bark at you, they will do so at strangers, it is their kind.