184 SERMONS UPON PSALM XC. 1.
fix in it as a place of rest. All that are Christ's have the spirit of Christ. T)]v yrjv ov KaroLKovjiev, dWa TrapoLKovfiev, saith Chryso- stora — We pass through, but do not inhabit this world. Here we are absent from our own country, yea, from our God, who is our house and home : 2 Cor. v. 6, ' Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.' We are at home there where we may enjoy the full of God. Our hearts should be still homeward, and we should take little and moderate pleasure in the delights that offer themselves in the course of our pilgrimage, and esteem it an honour if we may get a little leave and respite to do any piece of service to God while we are upon our journey.
Use of all. To press us to dwell in God. This is the happiness and honour of the people of God, that they dwell in God, and God dwelleth in them. He holdeth comfortable communion with them by the influences of his grace, and they have free recourse to him upon all occasions. Oh ! how sweet and comfortable is it to have a lodging in God's heart, to take up our mansion-house in his all-sufficiency, and to find there protection, provision, and all manner of consolation ! I shall — (1.) Press you to it by some motives ; (2.) Show you what it is, and in what manner it is done. 1. To press you to it.
[1.] Nothing else will be a sure refuge and dwelling-place for us on this side God.
(1.) Will you dwell in your own wit ? How soon can God turn that into folly, and bring you to such exigencies as you know not what to do nor say. Many skilful men have perished: Job v. 13, 'He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.'
(2.) Will you dwell in your own wealth ? It is a usual sin. A man is known by his trust ; his constitution of mind and heart is according to it : Ps. cxv. 8, ' So is every one that trusts in them.' That this is a usual sin, see Prov. xviii. 10, 11, ' The name of the Lord is a strong tower ; the righteous runneth into it and is safe : the rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.' What the name of the Lord is to the one, that a man's wealth is to the other ; by it he thinks to repel all evil and obtain all good. They promise themselves all happiness ; they can shift and run from God. This is a great sin : Eph. v. 3, ' But fornication, and all uncleanness and coveteousness, let it not be once named among you ; ' Mark x. 24, ' How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God ! ' Yet hardly avoidable. Therefore that caution given, Ps. Ixii. 10, 'If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.' As soon as we have anything in the world, we" are apt presently to build our hopes upon it, to the wrong of God and our own souls ; but all things on this side God will prove a ruinous habitation, ready to fall on the head of the inhabitant: 1 Tim. vi. 17, 'Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches.' These pass from hand to hand and from house to house ; those whom they seem to make happy one day, they leave empty and naked the next. To promise ourselves a long enjoyment of them is to play the fool: Luke xii. 19, ' Thou fool 1 this night thy soul shall be required of
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thee ; then whose shall those things he which thou hast provided ? '
* Kiches profit not in the day of wrath/ Prov. xi. 4. They will not allay the displeasure of God, nor keep off a noisome disease ; they cannot purchase a pardon, buy health, or prolong life for one day.
(3.) Will you dwell in, or trust in strength of body, good constitu- tion, natural beauty ? Ps. xxxix. 5, ' Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity.' Alas ! how soon can God arm the humours of your own body against you ; bring on a noisome disease, while you are in your prime, and turn this beautiful body into a loathsome carcase 1
(4.) Will you dwell in honour and greatness ? A king confuted his flatterers, that told him what a mighty prince he was, what a great command he had by sea and land, by causing his chair to be set near the waves upon the sand. It will not keep off one wave, not a sickness, nor approaches of death. Kow soon can God lay your honour in the dust ! Ps. cxlvi. 4, ' His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his thoughts perish ; ' Ps. xlix. 20, ' Man, that is in honour and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish ; ' a house of clay soon crumbled into dust. How many may stand on their fathers' graves, and say. Where is all the glory and honour they once enjoyed ? Now what good have their pleasures and prosperity done them ? when he that dwelleth in God is on a sure foundation.