Emblematical Sermons (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1850. Excerpt: ... SERMON V. THE FAITHFUL ARE STRANGERS IN THE EARTH. "/ am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me, My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times."--Psalm cxix. 19, 20. Not to make this world their home; not to take up their rest in this life, to consider themselves as strangers and pilgrims in the earth; seems to have been a characteristic of the true servants of God in every age; and, on the contrary, to make this world their home; to live as though there will be no hereafter; to receive in their lifetime their good things; to exclaim, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die; seem equally to distinguish those, who have their portion here below. And though ages have rolled away; though the sweet singer of Israel has for nearly three thousand years been gathered to his fathers; though the ashes of patriarchs and prophets have long since mingled with the dust; is the case altered? If so why do we see the greater part of mankind living as though this world was their eternal home, and the few only, who have the love of God in their hearts, considering themselves, what they really are, strangers and pilgrims in the earth. What avails it to tell the money-getting man, and the man of pleasure, that they are strangers in the earth; and that this world is not their home? What avails it to tell the one that his treasures, how great soever they may be, must soon be torn away from his possession, and that himself must soon be ushered into a new state of being, to which his brief career on earth ought, under God, to be preparatory? What avails it to tell the other, that the good things of this life ought to be used with that moderation, with which a traveller would use the fruits of a country through which he is haste...