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which he fo folemnly declares himself to be their God do hereby plainly fhew, that they expect fome happier condition hereafter, wherein that great promife of God will be made good to them to the full; fo that he need not be ashamed to have been called their God.

Having handled at large these two particulars, I come now to fhew what influence the confideration of them ought to have upon our lives and practices. And if this

be our condition in this world, and these our hopes and expectations as to another life; if we be ftrangers and pilgrims on the earth, and look for a better country, that is, an heavenly, this ought to have a great influence upon us, in these following refpects, which I did but briefly mention before, but shall now profecute and prefs more largely.

1. Let us intangle and incumber ourselves as little as we can in this our pilgrimage: let us not engage our affections too far in the pleafures and advantages of this world; because we are not to stay in it, but to pass through it. Upon this confideration, the Apostle St. Peter doth fo earnestly exhort Chriftians to preferve themfelves from fleshly lufts, 1 Pet. ii. 11. Dearly beloved, I befeech you as ftrangers and pilgrims, to abstain from flefbly lufts, which war against the foul. The gratifying of our inordinate lufts and our carnal and fenfual inclinations, is directly oppofite, both to the nature of our immortal fpirits, and to their great defign and business in this world. Fleshly lufts do not only pollute and defile, but even quench and extinguifh our diviner part, and do work the ruin and destruction of it: they fink our affections into the mud and filth of this world, and do intangle and detain them there: in a word, they do wholly indifpofe and unfit us for that pure, and fpiritual, and divine life, which alone can qualify us for our heavenly country and inheritance. And therefore, while our fouls are fojourning in this world, we fhould abftain from them, and preferve ourselves unfpotted and untainted by them, as being altogether unufeful, and perfectly contrary to the laws and manners of our heavenly country. If we wallow in brutish and filthy lufts as we pafs through this world, our native country, when our fouls think to return to it, will reject us, and caft us out: when

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when we come to heaven's gate, and knock there, expecting to be admitted, and fhall cry, Lord, Lord, open unto us, he will bid us to depart from him, because we have been workers of iniquity. Nothing that is unclean can enter into heaven. He who is to receive us into those bleffed manfions, hath declared it to be his immutable refolution and decree, that without holiness no man fhall fee the Lord. And therefore, as ever we hope to fee God in that happy and blefsful ftate, we must cleanse ourfelves from all filthiness of the flesh and fpirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God; that having rendered ourfelves as like him as we can in this world, we may be capable of the bleffed fight and enjoyment of him in the other.

And as for the advantages in this world, let us not pursue them too eagerly: we may take the conveniences which fairly offer themselves to us, and be content to want what we cannot honestly have, and without going out of the way of our duty, confidering that we are travellers, and that a little will ferve for our paffage and accommodation in our pilgrimage. And beyond that why fhould we fo earnestly covet more, and trouble ourfelves for that which is not neceffary to our journey? Why should we at any time deal unjustly, to attain any of this world's goods? They will ftand us in ftead for fo little a while, that we can have no temptation to injure or oppress any man, to break the peace of our confciences, and to wound our fouls for the attaining of them. If the providence of God offer them to us, and bring them to our hands, in the use of honeft diligence and lawful means; as we are not to refuse them, fo neither are we to fet our hearts upon them, nor to fuffer our affections to be intangled in them.

The wifest use we can make of them, will be, to do like those who traffick in foreign parts, to confign our eftates into our own native country; to fend our treafures before us into the other world, that we may have the benefit of them when we come there. And this we may do by alms and charity. Whatever we spend upon the flesh, we leave behind us, and it will turn to no account to us in our own country. But whatever we lay out for the relief of the poor, is fo much treasure laid

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out and fecured to ourselves against another day. our bleffed Saviour affures us, Luke xii. 33. that giving of alms is providing for curfelves bags that wax not old, a treafure in the heavens that faileth not.

2. If we be ftrangers and pilgrims, then it concerns us to behave ourselves with great caution, and to live blamelessly and inoffenfively; remembering that the eyes of people are upon us; and that thofe among whom we fojourn, will be very prying and curious, and narrow obfervers of our manners and carriage. They that are in a ftrange country, are not wont to take that liberty and freedom which the natives of the place may do, but to keep a perpetual guard upon themfelves; knowing how ftrictly they are obferved, and that they live among those who bear no good-will to them; and that every bad thing we do, reflects upon our nation, and is a reproach to the country to which we belong. Ye are not of the world, (fays our Lord): if ye were of the world, the world would love its own but ye are not of the world; therefore the world hateth you. Upon this account, the Apoítle chargeth Chriftians to be harmless and blameless, and as it becomes the fons of God to be, in the midst of a crooked and perverfe nation, among whom we fhould shine as lights. The fame argument St. Peter ufeth, 1 epift. ii. 11. 12. I beseech you as pilgrims and ftrangers, to abftain from flefly lufts; having your converfation honeft among the Gentiles; that is, confidering that you are among ftrangers and enemies, and therefore ought to be very careful to bring no fcandal upon your holy profeffion, among those who will be ready to take all advantages against you. Particularly, we who pretend to the fame heavenly country, must be kind to one another; and whilft we live among ftrangers, have no quarrels amongst ourselves. In a ftrange country, it useth to be a mighty endearment of men to one another, that they are of the fame country, and fellow-citizens; and this alone is commonly fufficient to unite their affections, and to link their interefts together. But how little of this is to be feen among Chriftians! how fhamefully do they quarrel among themselves, in the midst of enemies and ftrangers! as if they had no relation to one another,

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and never expected to meet at last in the fame country, and there to live together for ever.

3. Let us be as patient and chearful as we can, under all the troubles and afflictions which we meet with in this life. They who are in ftrange countries, muft expect to encounter many injuries and affronts, and to be put to great difficulties and hardships. Those which are lighter and more tolerable, we must bear with chearfulness. Upon a journey men ufe to put on all the pleafantnefs they can, and to make fport of all the inconveniences of the ways and weather, and little crofs accidents that befal them. And thus, if we had but the art and wifdom to do it, many of the leffer inconveniences of human life might well enough be played off, and made matter rather of mirth and diverfion, than of melancholy and ferious trouble.

But there are fome evils and calamities of human life, that are too heavy and serious to be jested withal, and require the greatest confideration, and a very great degree of patience to fupport us under them, and enable us to bear them decently; as the lofs of friends and dearest relations; as the lofs of an only fon, grown up to be well fixed and fettled in a virtuous courfe, and promifing all the comfort to his parents that they themfelves can wifh thefe certainly are fome of the greatelt evils of this world, and hardest to be borne. For men may pretend what they will to philosophy, and contempt of the world, and of the perifhing comforts and enjoyments of it; to the extirpation of their paffions, and an infenfibility of these things, which the weaker and undifciplined part of mankind keep fuch a wailing and lamentation about: but when all is done, nature hath framed us as we are, and hath planted in our nature ftrong inclinations and affections to our friends and relations; and these affections are as naturally moved upon fuch occafions, and pluck every string of our hearts as violently, as extreme hunger and thirst do gnaw upon our ftomachs.

And therefore it is foolish for any man to pretend to love things mightily, and to rejoice greatly in the enjoyment of them; and yet to be fo easily contented to lofe them, and to be parted from them. This is to fe

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parate things which nature hath ftrongly linked together. Whatever we mightily love, does thereby, in fome fort, become part of ourselves; and it cannot hang loose to us, to be feparated and divorced from us without trouble; no more than a limb that is vitally and by strong ligaments united to the body, can be lopped off when we please, or rent from the body without pain. And whoever pretends to have a mighty affection for any thing, and yet at the fame time does pretend that he can contentedly, and without any great fenfe or fignification of pain, bear the lofs of it, does not talk like a philofopher, but like an hypocrite; and under a grave pretence of being a wife, is in truth an ill-natured man. For most certainly, in proportion to our love of any thing, will be our trouble and grief for the loss. of it.

So that, under these great and heavier strokes, we had need both of faith and patience. And indeed nothing but the firm belief of a better country, that is, an heavenly of another life after this, and a bleffed immortality in another world, is fufficient to fupport a man in the few and evil days of his pilgrimage, and to fuftain his fpirit under the great evils and calamities of this life. But this fully anfwers all, that the afflictions and fufferings of this prefent time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us: nay, that if we bear these afflictions patiently, and with a due fubmiffion to the will of God, efpecially our fufferings for his truth and cause, it will certainly increase our happiness in the other world, and work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

The confideration of our prefent condition, and of our fature hopes, fhould fet us above the fondness of life, and the flavish fears of death: for our minds will never be raised to their true pitch and height, till we have in fome good measure conquered thefe two paffions, and made them fubject to our reafon.

As for this prefent life, and the enjoyment of it, what is it that we fee in them that fhould make us fo ftrangely to dote upon them? Que lucis miferis tam dira cupido! This world at the beft is but a very indifferent place; and he is the wifeft man that bears himself to

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