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SERMON XVII.

PSALM Xxxix. 12.

-For I am a ftranger with thee, and a fo journer, as all my fathers were.

AD thefe words been spoken by one of

HAD ed by their father Jonadab, "That they

the Rechabites, who were command

"fhould drink no wine, neither build houses, "nor fow feed, nor plant vineyards, nor "have any; but that they fhould dwell in "tents all their days," we might perhaps have confidered them as pointing merely at the peculiarities of that fequeftered tribe, by which they were diftinguifhed from the rest of mankind: but as they are the words of David, who himself was a king, one of the lords of this earth, who had every inducement to magnify his office, and to make his importance appear in its utmost extent, they can lie under no fufpicion of partiality; and therefore challenge the greatest regard.

It must indeed be acknowledged, that David wrote this Pfalm under the heavy preffure of affliction; which may induce fome to think, that what he faith in my text, is no other than the natural language of a dispirited man, whofe mind was unhinged and broken by adverfity: but if we attend to what is written, 1 Chron. xxix. 15. we shall find him ufing the fame language in the height of his profperity: "We are "ftrangers," faid he, "before thee, and fo

journers, as were all our fathers; our 66 days on earth are as a fhadow, and there " is none abiding." Never did the Jewish nation appear to be more at home than at that time: As for David, his happiness was fo complete, that, inftead of afking any additional favours, he could hardly find words. to exprefs his gratitude for thofe he had already received. Yet, amidft all his affluence, when he poffeffed every outward comfort his heart could with, still he called himself a Stranger and a fojourner before God.

We must therefore confider the words of my text, as expreffing the fixt and habitual fentiments

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fentiments of David's heart. In his most profperous condition, he did not look upon this earth as his home; but extended his views to the heavenly world, that glorious and permanent inheritance of the faints, which is "incorruptible and undefiled, and "which fadeth not away."

Among the various fubjects of inquiry that might readily occur to us upon reading this paffage, the two following appear to me the most interesting and profitable.

First, Whence is it that holy men confider themselves as ftrangers and fojourners upon earth? And,

Secondly, What manner of life is most expreffive of this character, and best suited to the condition of strangers and fojourners? To thefe, therefore, I fhall confine myself in the following difcourfe.

I begin with inquiring, Whence it is that holy men, while they live upon earth, confider themselves as frangers and fojourners with God?And to account for this, one might declaim at great length upon the unfatisfying nature, and precarious duration,

of

of

every thing below the fun. I might remind you, that as we came but lately into this world, fo we muft fhortly go out of it, and leave all our poffeffions to be enjoyed by others; who, in their turn, likewife fhall die, and part with them. I might descend to the various calamities that embitter human life, from which none of mankind are altogether exempted; and to thefe I might add the peculiar fufferings of the righteous, those sharp and painful trials to which the best of men are most frequently expofed in this state of difcipline. But I am unwilling to enlarge upon topics of this nature; becaufe I would not have it thought, that the godly confider themselves as strangers and fojourners, folely, or even principally, for fuch reafons as thefe. They renounce the world, not becaufe it is unfriendly to them, but because it is unfuitable: they would defpife its fmiles no lefs than its frowns; they are not violently thruft out of it, but voluntarily refign it, and leave it to those who have nothing elfe for their portion.Accordingly, you may obferve, that David ftyles himself not only a ftranger, but a fo

journer.

journer.Every man is a stranger, who is not a native of the place where he refides : but a fojourner is one who maketh only a paffing visit to a place, with a resolution to leave it again, and to proceed on his journey. Now, this laft is the distinguishing character of the faints. Wicked men

must leave this earth, they know they must, and wish it were otherwise with all their heart; and as they have no prospect of going to a better world, they do all they can to banish the thoughts of their removal from this, that they may relish their prefent enjoyments with as little alloy as poffible. Whereas the godly, who are made citizens of the heavenly Jerufalem, can look forward without difmay to the time of their departure from this "ftrange land,” “ know❝ing, that when the earthly house of this "tabernacle fhall be diffolved, they have a "building of God, an houfe not made with "hands, eternal in the heavens.' They would not choose to live here always; they are frangers in affection, as well as in condition; their hearts are elsewhere; they

defire,