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the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.' He had no certain place of residence, not so much as a fox's hole or a bird's nest. So, considering our condition, God's people are strangers, and so must look to be ill-treated by the men of the world. Rdigio scit se peregrinam esse in terris — Religion is a stranger in the earth : Euth ii. 10, ' Why have I found grace in thy sight, that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger ? ' a kind word was much. Now, that God should give us a resting-place in our pil- grimage is a great mercy, and if we are not thankful for it, God may make us to wander. Or their little compassion to other exiled and shiftless ones provokes God that he thus corrects them, and maketh their abode more uncertain. Till we have felt misery ourselves we cannot pity others. Israel learned to pity strangers by being a stranger in the land of Egypt : Exod. xxiii. 9, ' Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger ; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.' Experience showeth us more than guess and imagination.
2. For their trial ; to see how they will bear it for God's sake, and when God's will and pleasure is so ; as those in the Hebrews. God trieth the strength of our resignation : Mark x. 29, 30, ' There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel, but he shall receive an hundredfold in this life, houses and brethren,' &c. Not in kind, as Porphyry and Julian scoffed, but in value. The fortitude and courage of God's children is seen upon those occasions when they are shiftless and harbourless, or threatened by men to be cast forth of house and home : 1 Cor. iv. 13, ' We are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things to this day,' TreplylrTj/jba Koi TrepLKaddp/jLUTa, the sweeping of the city. The apostle saith, Heb. xiii. 13, ' Let us go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.' The good Levites left their possessions : 2 Chron. xi. 14, ' The Levites left their suburbs, and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem ; for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the Lord.' When we are thrust forth contemptibly, and rejected of the world, let us bear it with patience. Eudoxia threatened Chrysostom with banish- ment; he replied, Nihil iimeo nisi peccatum — I fear nothing but .sin. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof ; God is our liabitation. An heathen could say, Ibi exilium, uhi viriuti non est locus — There is banishment where there is no place for virtue ; where a man hath no service to do, and no opportunity to own or glorify God.
3. Sometimes to show his sovereignty over us, and all our temporal interests and concernments. So by noisome diseases God sees fit to drive us for a while from our dwellings, and we are exposed to sad scatterings ; as ia the case of the le})er : Lev. xiii. 46, ' All the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled ; he is unclean, he shall dwell alone ; without the camp shall his habitation be.'
4. Sometimes to spread knowledge, to scatter the seeds of the word among those that are strangers to God. The good figs were put into the basket to be carried out of the country for food, Jer. xxiv. 5. The
174 SERMONS UPON PSALM XC. 1.
disciples that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word, Acts viii. 1, Grod scattereth his enemies as smoke is scattered by the wind, but he scattereth his people as corn is scattered by the hand of the sower : Micah v. 7, * The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as dew from the Lord ; ' to refresh and make others fruitful towards God. So Zech. x, 9, ' I will sow them amon^ the people, and they shall remember me in far countries.' God would make their scattering to be a means to bring in the fulness of the Gentiles. Well, then, this may be, and often is, the condition of the people of God.
Thirdly, In this appellation and title a metaphor is ascribed to God, and so there is implied, that whatever may be expected from an habi- tation and dwelling-place, that may be and eminently is found in God. An house serveth for three uses — (1.) For our defence and shelter from the storms ; (2.) It is the seat of our blessings, and the storehouse of our comforts ; (3.) It is the place of our rest and repose. Now all these a believer findeth in God ; protection, provision, and peace, and com- fort ; yea, whatever a soul can wish for : therefore here a child of God may and must dwell.
1. Here is defence, or the warm and comfortable protection of God Almighty. We have many enemies, spiritual and bodily ; we need a defence, and God alone is the only proper object for our trust for this benefit.