4. So they are strangers iii regard of their place. Heaven is their hope. They are ' begotten to an inheritance immortal, undefiled,' &c., 1 Pet. i. 4 ; they live in a place where they are strangers ; they are every way strangers.
Obj. But you will say. Wicked men are strangers, and pilgrims too ?
Ans. I answer. They are indeed so, for in regard of the shortness _ of their lives, and the uncertainty of the things they enjoy, — for they outlive all their happiness here,— they are snatched hence before they be aware, therefore they are but travellers here ; but they go from ill to worse. Yet in regard of their affections they are no strangers, but account themselves at home from a spirit of infidelity, and pride, and earthliness. Therefore they are called men of the earth, and those that ' dwell on the earth,' in the Kevelation, Rev. iii. 10, because they look no further than the earth ; and here they root and fix their affections upon this earth. They do not fix their hearts and affections upon the things above ; they look not after them ; they care not for them ; they value them not, nor esteem them. Therefore, answerable to their thoughts, and bent of their soul and mind, is their discourse, their speech and carriage ; and thereupon they are called ' men of the earth,' and called ' the world,' because they love nothing but the world ; they are as it were changed into the things they love ; they are earth, as the prophet saith, '0 earth, earth,' &c., Jer. xxii. 29; and they are the world, because their affection of love joins them to these earthly things. The church in the Revelation is called heaven ; but the beast is said ' to rise out of the earth,' Rev. xiii. 11 ; for that which bred the carnal religion of popery, it was nothing but earth and earthly respects. Therefore, however they are strangers here, that they cannot be here long, and they have souls that are of an everlasting continuance ; yet because their affections and the bent of their souls are all here, they account them- selves at home here, and here they plant themselves and their posterity ; therefore, though in some sense they be strangers, yet not in that sense that the children of God are.
Every Christian is born from above, and born to things above, and he is a stranger here. All his course, from his new birth till he come to the pos- session of his inheritance in heaven, it is nothing but a travelling. He never sits down, but is alway in his motion and passage. Every good work is a step of his way : he is in motion still ; he takes degrees from better to better, from grace to grace, from knowledge to knowledge, till he come to his home.
Let us make a trial of ourselves, how our affections stand to these things, whether our hearts be weaned from earthly things. Undoubtedly, if we have embraced Christ, we shall use the world as though we used it not. We shall be transformed into the image of Christ ; and he used the things
454 FAITH TKIUMPHANT.
of this world as a stranger, only to comfort him in the way. We shall have the same mind that he had. We shall carry ourselvers as strangers, as those that hope for a country in heaven. Therefore I will name some particulars, to shew the condition and carriage of a stranger.
1. First of all, a stranger is travelling to miother country — to join both in one ; for the one follows the other. He that is a stranger, that apprehends what he is, and apprehends that he hath a country to go to, he travels toward it.
2. A stranger that is travelling homeward, he is content with ids present condition, for he knows he shall have better at home. In Jer. xlv. 4, God, by Jeremiah, speaks to Baruch, a good man : ' I will destroy all these things ; and dost thou seek great things for thyself ?' If a Christian did consider, I am going to heaven, to God, what do I seeking great things here, which God will destroy ? What will become of heaven and earth, and all things here ere long ? And if the time be long ere heaven and earth be destroyed, yet what will become of me ere long ? I shall be turned to earth, and shall I seek great things here upon earth ? Shall I not be content with my portion ? Certainly a stranger is content with his present portion. He that is a traveller, when he comes to his inn, if per- haps things be not so clean, if his usage be not so good, he thinks it is but a night and away : it is no great matter. This is not the main. He will not be over much discontent, and quarrel at any unkind usage in the way, for he knows he shall have better usage when he comes home. Therefore, as he will be content with little, be it what it will be, he knows it is not the main.
3. So he will be patient if he meet with unkind usage : he will not stand quarrelling by the way, and so hinder himself in his journey ; he will be patient in the injuries and wrongs in this life. If a prince be misused in another country, he is contented, and thinks with himself, I have a coun- try where I shall be more respected ; and therefore he bears it the more willingly. So a Christian is a king, he is an heir ; and being a stranger, he shall meet with dogs in this world ; as, who do dogs bark at, but at strangers ? Now being strangers we must look for dogged usage. It is no wonder that dogs bark at strangers ; it is their kind. They consider it is the disposition of wicked men to do so ; they do but their kind. Would a man have dogs not to bark ? And would we have wicked men that have evil tongues not to scorn that they know not ? To do otherwise is to forget their kind. A Christian knows they do but their kind. He pities them ; and he doth not stop his journey and his course for it. He will not be scorned out of his religion by a company of profane spirits ; he will not be laughed out of his course ; he knows what he doth better than they. They are mad and fools ; he knows it, and they shall know it them- selves ere long. He knows that he is in a serious judicious course that he can approve, and they cannot theirs ; therefore he will not be scorned out of his course.