Commentary

Here is the second example of Abraham's faith, and the fifth in order; and is concerning Abraham's abiding, or dwelling in that land whereinto God had called him: and this he also did by faith. As he went out of his own Country, and came into Canaan, by the power, and leading of his faith: So by the same faith he abode and dwelt in the same Land.

The parts are two: 1. The Action of Abraham's faith, in the ninth verse. 2. The Reason of that his so doing, in the tenth.

The action in the ninth verse, is spoken of two ways.

- 1. It is laid down to be his abiding in the Land of Promise. - 2. It is amplified by two circumstances: 1. The manner how he dwelt there, in two points: 1. As a Stranger, or in a strange Country. 2. As one that dwelt in Tents, and not in houses. 2. The persons with whom: with Isaac, and Jacob, Heirs with him of the same Promise.

The first point in order, is his dwelling in the land of Canaan (called here the land of Promise).

By faith he abode in the land of Promise.

Canaan is now called the land of Promise, because it was promised in the verse afore-going, as we then heard: so that the meaning is, he abode in that Land, which was promised him, when he came out of his own Country. Which Country Abraham knew not by name, when he left his own, nor till he came thither: but then God told him, This is the Land I will give thee and thy seed. Genesis 12.7. In this Land thus promised, Abraham dwelt and remained, the rest of his life, which was a hundred years.

In this Action of Abraham, are three particular points.

- 1. He dwelt in Canaan. - 2. That Canaan was the Land of Promise. - 3. He dwelt there by faith.

For the first:

Concerning Abraham's dwelling in Canaan, diverse questions may be moved.

First, how it is true, that he abode or dwelt there? Seeing it is apparent in the Story, he dwelt in Egypt, Genesis 12.10. and in Gerar. Genesis 20.1.

I answer: The meaning is not, that he stayed there every day of his life; but that he lived and died there, and made it the place of his residence and ordinary habitation, whereunto he always resorted again, if any occasion drew him abroad.

And further, he went not into Egypt, but upon such special cause, as could not be otherwise helped, as upon a famine or such like, Genesis 12.10. Then there came a famine in the Land, therefore Abraham went down into Egypt to sojourn there. Where it appears: first, that the cause was extraordinary: secondly, that he went not to make any dwelling, but to sojourn there for a time, and then to repair home again.

Where we learn, that as a man is not to depart out of that Land, where God hath appointed him to dwell, but upon good and sufficient causes: So, when those causes cease, which drew him out, he is not to stay longer from home; but to repair again to the place of his ordinary dwelling. God would have a man dwell at home: and it is levity, and a token of an unconstant mind, and a running-head, for a man to desire to be always abroad.

Birds fly abroad, but so as they may come to their nests at night: So men should endeavor, as much as may be, to take few occasions of being from their dwellings: and when they needs must, to let it be for as short a time as may be. For, as it is a sign of a light woman, Proverbs 7.11, Her feet cannot abide in her house: So is it of an unstayed man, Upon every occasion to be carried from home.

We must therefore follow holy Abraham, who is here commended for abiding, or dwelling in the Country, which God had given him.

Again, this practice of Abraham's faith, condemns the wandering beggar, to be an unfaithful and ungracious generation. Our Land (by the abuse of our peace and plenty) is full of such. Ask them where they dwell: their answer is, They have small dwelling; but, look into the matter, and they have the largest dwelling of all: for they dwell every where, and all abroad; they count it bondage to be tied to one Town, or dwell in one Parish, and think it freedom and liberty to dwell every where. These are Caterpillars of a Common-wealth, and the greatest robbers of the poor that are. Common Thieves steal from rich men: but these steal from the poor; they get that from men, which the true poor should have. No good comes to Church nor Common-wealth by these men, but much hurt to both. For, a finger cut off from his place, is of no use: so, a man living out of his calling, and out of his place, is of no use in the body politic.

Happy will it be with our Church and State, when we have such laws, and such execution of them, as that this disorder may be reformed, and every man confined to his own dwelling, and none suffered to live in our Kingdom, who is not of some Parish: for let us be assured, so many wandering beggars, so many blemishes in our government.

Thirdly, Abraham's dwelling in this Land (being a fruit of his faith) teaches us it is no good token, but an ill sign for a man to be uncertain in his dwelling. It is the fashion of many men, if they travel, they never lodge at one place twice: and for their dwelling, it is not certain; but now in the North, now in the South: now in this Parish, now in that: now in this jurisdiction, now in another: Sometime in the City, sometime in the Country. Who be these? But either such as be in debt, and purpose to deal ill with their Creditors: or that are malefactors, and hereby labor to avoid the censure of Authority: or else they be Papists, which by this means labor to lurk unseen, and to escape the law; as many of them do, either by skipping out of one Parish, Diocese, County, or Province into another, and so avoiding the authority of all: or else, by lurking in great Cities, and so lying as Sojourners, and not as Parishioners, unseen or unmarked in so great multitudes. Let our Authority take the more careful notice of such men, the more craftily they labor to creep from under it: and let such men know, they discover themselves the more by this practice, to be unfaithful either to GOD, or Men, or both; seeing that GOD here commends Abraham for dwelling or staying in that place, which GOD had appointed him. And so much for this question.

Again, it may here be demanded: How Abraham might lawfully dwell in Canaan, seeing it was then Idolatrous. It may seem, that therefore it is not unlawful for men to dwell in Popish or Idolatrous Countries.

I answer: Abraham did not so upon any private motion, nor for any worldly cause, but upon special warrant and calling from God: otherwise his so doing, had not been justifiable: therefore that practice of his cannot be a warrant for any to do the like, without the like cause and calling.

But how could Abraham be preserved from the contagion of Idolaters, living amongst them? I answer:

First, God that called him thither, did there preserve him. Again, Abraham lived in the Country, but conversed not with the people at all, but in some necessary and civil affairs: and by this means he escaped the danger of infection.

Where we may learn, that if any man would live in such places without hurt to their conscience, let them first be sure that they have a calling and warrant from God, to live in those Countries. Secondly, let them converse with Idolaters warily and sparingly: and so shall they preserve themselves from the occasions of evil, as Abraham did, who abode in an Idolatrous Country: and so, though not without danger, yet without hurt to his religion. Thus we see Abraham dwelt in the Land of Canaan.

Now secondly, this Land is called the Land of Promise: that is, the Land formerly promised him by GOD, when he called him out of his own Country. And it is likely that the Apostle doth not here first of all call it so: but that it was known generally amongst the Patriarchs by that name: and that Abraham himself did first of all so call it; who, when he looked upon it, and considered the fruitfulness and excellency of it, did evermore remember, and call to mind, this Land is promised to me, this is mine by promise. And herein he rested and satisfied himself, though he had not the possession of it.

Here we may see the excellency of true faith: which depends upon the promises of God, though they be unperformed. A Land of promise contents Abraham, he leaves the possession to his posterity. It is hard to find such faith in the world: It is Land in possession which we look for. A Land of promise cannot content us: but let us labor to practice faith, and to take comfort in the promises of God, and leave the performance to God's appointed time.

Thirdly, he dwelt in this Land by faith. And no marvel. For had it not been by faith, he would never have dwelt there, where he had not so much as a room for his Tent to stand in, but he must borrow it; nor to bury his dead in, but he must buy it. This was against reason, yet by faith he dwelt there, as afore by faith he left his own, which was also against reason. Where still the power of faith is magnified to be such, as it will carry a man over all impediments of obedience, and will give him victory not against one, but against all objections; and power to perform not one, but many things contrary to carnal wisdom.

We must here learn to examine, whether we have a true and sound faith or no. If we have, then we must not do some one or few actions in faith, or die in faith, but we must live by faith, the whole course of our lives. We must walk by faith, and not by sight, says the Apostle, 2. Corinthians 5.7. So says he of himself, Galatians 2.20. I live by the faith in the Son of God: he says not, he hopes to die in that faith, but he lives by it. And in the former place he says not, we must set a step or two, but we must walk by faith, which argues a continued action: and therefore it is that Saint Peter says, God's children are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, 1. Peter 1.5. In which words two things are spoken of faith: the first is affirmed; namely, that faith preserves a man to salvation through all hindrances, either of inward temptations, or outward crosses, which the devil or the world can lay in his way. This preservation is one of the greatest works in the world, and therefore it is worthily ascribed to God: the power of God preserves us, but through faith. The second is implied; that therefore we must labor to keep that faith evermore with us, which must keep us, and to cherish and preserve that that must preserve us to salvation. David was an excellent practitioner hereof: no man was more tried and tossed than he, yet he ever drew near unto God, Psalm 73.28. Indeed sometime he said, all men were liars, but that was in his fear, Psalm 116.11. And again, I am cast out of thy sight, but that was in his haste, Psalm 31.22. that is, when the force of some passion, or the violence of some temptations did carry him headlong: but otherwise he ever lived the life of faith.

So must we, not think to live in sensuality, and die in faith: but to live by faith, in all our actions, from one day to another, meditating daily on God's promises, and believing them, and relying on them, and applying the generals to our own selves, and practicing faith by making conscience of sin, and inuring our selves to patience and long suffering. Thus doing, we shall be children of faithful Abraham, who first by faith left his own Country, and then by faith also dwelt still in the Land of Canaan. And thus much for the action of his faith: He abode in the Land of Promise. Now follow the circumstances of the action, which are two: 1. The manner how: 2. The Persons with whom.

The manner is laid down in two points: 1. As a stranger: 2. As one that dwelt in tents.

The first point, for the manner, is laid down in these words: As in a strange Country.

The meaning is: he esteemed it a strange Country to him, and accounted himself a stranger in it. Against which, it may be objected, that he was familiarly acquainted with Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol, three great and mighty men of that Country: then he and they were confederates together, Gen. 14.13. therefore it seems he lived not like a stranger in the Country.

Some answer, that these three were not Cananites, but near akin to Abraham, and had other names: but the Text is plain in that place, that Mamre was an Amorite, and the other two were his brethren. Therefore the answer is, that in all likelihood they three were Proselytes; and that by Abrahams godly persuasions they had renounced Idolatry, and were come to the knowledge of the true God, and that they joined with Abraham in the worship of the true God, and so were his converts: whereupon Abraham (as he might lawfully) conversed with them as his familiar friends. And hereof there are two Inducements:

First, it is said, Gen. 14.13. that they were confederates with Abraham: and it appeared so by their deeds; for they joined their powers, and assisted him in the war against the Kings (Gen. 14.24).

Secondly, it is said, Gen. 14.13. That Abraham dwelt on the Land of Mamre: he was his Tenant or Farmer. Now, it is more than likely, Abraham would not have so far been beholden to them, but that they were true Christians, and of his own religion.

Therefore this hinders not, but he might be a stranger notwithstanding, unto the body of the people, and that it is true that Abraham saith of himself unto some of them, Gen. 23.4. I am a stranger and Sojourner amongst you.

But it may be then demanded, Why did Abraham live amongst them as a stranger, and in that Land as a Sojourner?

I answer; the reasons were diverse: First, he had title given to that Land, but no possession; he therefore contented himself with that that God gave him, and challenged not any possession all the days of his life, but bought or borrowed of Mamre the place where he lived and dwelt (Gen. 14.13) and of the Hittites a place of burial. Gen. 23.3. etc.

This may teach all men not to be too hasty, in seeking for that, that it may be, is their right: let not men prescribe their own times, nor be their own carvers, but leave their affairs to Gods disposing, and enter no further than they see God goeth afore them. Abraham must be a stranger in his own land; and you sometime must be content for a time to be a stranger to that which is your own.

Secondly, they were all of them for the most part heathen Idolaters: amongst whom Abraham would not converse, but as sparingly as might be. Now if Abraham would be a stranger in his own Country, rather than live familiarly with Idolaters; It shows how little faith, and less conscience they have, who can be content to live in the midst amongst Idolaters, where they have nothing to do, and can converse with them in all familiarity, without any scruple of conscience. Abraham made himself a stranger at home to avoid Idolatry; but they will make themselves at home in a strange Country, to entangle themselves in Idolatry: these men will hardly prove the children of Abraham.

These reasons Abraham himself had in this his so doing.

There is a third, a more spiritual or mystical reason: and that reason God had in making Abraham live in Canaan as a stranger; Namely, to teach all Christian men their duty, to the worlds end.

Abraham is the Father of the faithful, Rom. 4.11. And this is our honour to be the children of Abraham; we must therefore follow our Father in his faith, and in the practice of it: we must live in this world as Pilgrims and Strangers, even in the midst of all our peace and prosperity, of all our liberty, riches, lands, and possessions; yea, of all our friends and worldly acquaintance. If it seem strange how this can be: I answer, the practice of it consists in six actions.

First, we must not bathe ourselves in the pleasures of this world. Pilgrims take but little delight in their journeys, because they think themselves not at home. This is Saint Peters argument: Dearly beloved, as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which fight against the soul, 1 Peter 2.11. For, too much delight in fleshly pleasures, smothers the grace of God in us, and lets loose all sins, and gives life unto all corruptions.

Secondly, we must use this world as though we used it not; that is, even the necessary comforts and delights thereof: they be the very words of the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 7.31. For, so the Pilgrim, when he passes through a strange Country, has not his mind troubled with looking or thinking on the goods or commodities of that Country where he is: but using as much thereof, as is necessary for him, all his thoughts are on his own Country. So should we, when we are in our best estates, in our greatest jollity, in the midst of our wealth, and abundance of pleasures, cast our minds from them, and have our thoughts even then conversing in heaven, where is the place of our abode. This is likewise the Apostles exhortation, Philippians 3.20. Worldly men make their belly their God: that is, drown themselves in carnal pleasures, so far; as they forget any other God, any other heaven. But we must not do so: our conversation must be in heaven, from whence we look for our Savior Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, we must have a serious care and endeavor to please God: for, all the earth is his, and we are but sojourners in his sight; therefore as the Pilgrim is careful to please the Lord of the Country, by whose leave he travels through it: so must we be to please the Lord; seeing as God saith, Leviticus 25.23. The land is his, and we are but strangers and sojourners with him.

And hereunto add a fourth, which is near akin unto it: We must cast all our care on God, seeing that he is Lord of the earth, and we are but Pilgrims and Sojourners. David says, Psalm 24.1. The earth is the Lords, and all that therein is: The same David confesses, Psalm 39.12, He is a stranger before God, and a sojourner as all his Fathers were, and thereupon desires God to hear his prayer, hearken to his cry, and not to keep silence at his tears: as though he had said, Inasmuch as I sojourn with thee, thou art to hear my complaint. For, as a Sojourner cares, nor looks for nothing, but depends on them for all things with whom he sojourns: so must we cast all our care on God; for he careth for us, he is our Landlord, we are his Farmers, and Tenants, we hold the earth from him, by no lease for years, but at his will, and it is lent us: let us therefore but have care to please this our Landlord, and care for nothing.

Fifthly, we must give continual thanks and praise to God for his good blessings we receive in this world: for all are his, and we are but strangers. Thus did all Gods Saints in old time; Jacob, He was less than the least of Gods mercies. But especially there is one memorable example of David, and the Church in his days, 1 Chronicles 29.13.14.15.16. When he had prepared abundantly for the building of the Temple, he prostrated himself before God: and in his own name, and the peoples said thus; Riches and honour come of thee, therefore our God we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should offer unto thee? for, all is thine, and of thine own have we given thee: for we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our Fathers were. Thankfulness beseems all men, especially strangers. Therefore, as Pilgrims do thankfully accept the favors showed them in a strange Country: So must we, all the blessings God gives us in this world, where we are but strangers.

Sixthly and lastly, we must hasten to the kingdom as a Pilgrim does to his journeys end, or to his own Country; and till he can, is always thinking of it, and sighing after it. So must we (who are not dwellers but sojourners in these houses of clay) long after heaven and (as Saint Paul says he did) covet to remove from hence, and to dwell with the Lord. Strangers are not to take such pleasure in foreign Countries, as to forget their own. So Christians must not be so in love with this world, as to forget or neglect the world to come. If they do, they are unworthy of it, and show themselves not strangers, as Abraham here was; but men of this world, who have their portion in this life, Psalm 17.14.

In performing these six actions, men show themselves strangers in this world. And thus must we do, even in the midst of all worldly prosperity, if we look ever to enjoy the glory of a better: And thus doing, we shall be children of faithful Abraham, who dwelt in the land of Canaan, as in a strange Country.

As one that dwelt in tents.

The second point for the manner, how Abraham dwelt in Canaan, is, that he built himself no houses, nor made Orchards or Gardens, but dwelt in tents or tabernacles; which were such houses, as now are used in war, and are yet called by the same name, Tents, or Pavilions: whose matter is not wood, nor stone, but cloth, stuff, or skins; and are easily reared and soon taken down: and when a man departs, he may carry his house with him. That Abraham did thus, appears in the Stories written of him. He came to Bethel, and there pitched his tent, Gen. 12.8: and Gen. 13.18. he removed his tent: and 18.1. God appeared unto him, as he sat in his tent door: and 18.9. being asked where Sarah was, answered, she is within in the tent: and these tents are called his place, Gen. 18.33: and his house, 24.2. Out of all which places it is plain, that he dwelt in tents, and that not only at his first coming, when he had not time to build him an house; but even all the days of his life, after his coming into the land of Canaan.

But why did Abraham dwell in tents, and not in houses? Was it because then there were no houses? Not so. For there were Cities built even before the flood, Gen. 4.17. Cain built a City: no marvel therefore if there were many after, as Sodom and all her sisters. And though it appears not they dug into the earth for natural stone, yet had they Brick, which they made themselves, Genesis, 11.3: and surely, the world which built the huge tower of Babel, Gen. 11. would not stick to build themselves houses. Nor can it be said, that those Cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the rest, were nothing but a multitude of Tents together. For, we read Genesis 19.3. that Lot dwelling in Sodom, received two Angels into his house; and in the fourth verse, that the Sodomites came and surrounded his house round about to take them, thinking they had been men: and when Lot refused to deliver them, that they pressed sore upon the house to have broken up the door: but all this might have been spared, if it had been nothing but a tent, which a child may cut in pieces with a knife. It is manifest then, that there were houses in those days. Why then did Abraham build none? Was it because he was poor and could not? Nor so: for contrariwise, Gen. 12.5, He carried with him from his own country, all the substance he possessed: And what that was, is particularized, Gen. 13.2. He was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. His riches were both great, and of the best. So then he could, but would not. But why would he not? Was it upon a proud humor, or in a conceited singularity, because he would not be like other men, but have a singular way of his own? No: Abraham was none of those, who allow nothing, but that that is done of themselves; and who think nothing good, if it be ordinary: for he was a holy man, and famous for his faith. So then none of these were the reasons of this his so doing.

The reasons then why Abraham, and other holy Patriarchs, used to dwell in tents, and not to build them houses, were of two sorts; Civil and Holy.

The Civil or Politic respect that they had, was this:

They holding themselves God's servants, did depend on his word; and therefore did submit themselves to go up and down the world, whithersoever God did call them. Being then to remove, every day (they knew not when nor whither) it was therefore both the fittest and cheapest to dwell in tents, which were soon pitched up, and soon taken down. Neither need it to seem strange, that they could live for cold, in those poor thin tents, all the year long; for the country and climate there, was always temperate enough for cold: and rather inclining to too much heat.

The Holy or religious respect was this: They held themselves but strangers upon earth, and therefore would not build themselves cities or houses; as looking or caring to live upon earth; but dwelled in tents, as seeming desirous, to remove from the earth to heaven; the sooner the better. And this did the Fathers of the old Testament: not that they thought it unlawful to build cities, or dwell in houses; but that they might testify their religion, and their expectation of another world, in the midst of that profane age wherein they lived: wherein there were almost none, that either regarded, remembered, or acknowledged, a world to come.

And this was not the particular, or singular deed of Abraham alone. All holy men in those days, lived in tents. Genesis 9:21, It is clear that Noah dwelt in tents, though then he was king of all the world. And so did Lot also, as long as he lived with Abraham: Genesis 13:5, Lot had sheep, and cattle, and tents. And thus they did, because (as the Apostle says) they had here no enduring city, but they sought for one to come. Hebrews 13:14. And they thought, they ever heard that voice sounding in their ears, (Micah 2:10) Arise and depart, for this is not your rest.

Contrariwise, the wicked of the world, because they set up their rest in this world, and cared for no other; they began presently to build them houses, nay cities, (as Cain did even in the beginning) Genesis 4:17. And the Sodomites had a city, even walled (as is likely) for Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom, when the two Angels came to him, Genesis 19:1, 2. And the Canaanites had cities walled exceeding high: (Numbers 13). But we find not, that ever God's children built them cities, until they came to have a settled Church of their own. But contrariwise, it is worth observing, that God promises his people, that they shall come and dwell in cities which they built not: namely, which were built by worldly men to their hand. And thus we see the reasons why Abraham dwelt in tents. Now let us see the use of it.

First, here we learn frugality, out of the civil use of their tents; that is, to use the blessings and comforts of this life, as soberly and sparingly as may be: and to bestow as little cost as may be of ourselves, in such things as perish in the using: namely, meat, drink, apparel, and houses. For what is spent herein, is spent only on ourselves: and being spent, is gone; therefore the less, the better: always provided, there be a discreet care had of our healths, and of the credit of the places we hold: and of our enabling to the duties of our calling. Which being sufficiently provided for, it is a Christian frugality to spare, what further may be spared: And he has the less to answer for, who spends the least in superfluities.

Again, here we are taught contentment in the state which God has appointed us, and not to strive too fast to climb to wealth. These holy men can be content to dwell in tents, and tabernacles, though they might have compassed much more; for they were great and mighty men. Abraham had 318 men, able to bear a sword, in his house daily; and with them, and a little help more, he overthrew diverse kings, and rescued Lot, (Genesis 14:14). He that durst encounter, and did overcome such an host; How many inhabitants of the country, could he have beat out of their houses? And how many tenants could he have put out of their livings? And how much of that country could he have enclosed to himself? Surely, even as much, and as many as he had pleased. Yet does he no such thing: but contrariwise considering himself to be but a tenant under God, he is content to let every man sit quietly by him, and himself to dwell in tents; rather than to encroach one foot further than God bade him, though he had been able.

This checks the pride, or covetousness, or ambition, or all, of such as join house to house, Land to Land, Lordship to Lordship, Town to Town; and care not how many men's houses they pull down, to build one of their own: nor how many men want land and living; so they have their parks, and pastures, gardens, and orchards, and all other delights they can devise. These are so far from Abraham's mind, who desired only so much land, as his tent might stand on, and might feed his cattle; as they can enclose and make several to themselves, that which in common should be the living of many souls. But what can befall such men? But that that Isaiah prophesies to them, (Isaiah 5:8) Woe be unto them that join house to house, and land to land, till there be no place for the poor to dwell in.

Thirdly, in that Abraham lived thus, as ready ever to depart into any other country, when God would call him: It shows, that true faith does never limit God's hand, either in the greatness, or length of trials, but submits itself wholly to his will; being resolved and content to suffer all trials, how great soever, and how many soever God pleases to lay upon a man. Reason would have said, I have left one country at God's word: if I must leave another, then I shall never know an end, nor have anything certain to trust to. But faith says, As I have left one country at God's calling, so upon his word I will leave twenty more: For God has as good reason to bid me the second time, as the first; and his love cannot fail me: he may still try me, but can never leave me. Thus spoke Abraham's faith. And not he alone: For Job, though he cry out of the violence of his temptation, The arrows of the Almighty are in me, and the venom thereof does drink up my spirits, and the terrors of God do fight against me (Chapter 6:4). Yet when faith comes to play his part, he then protests, that though God kill him, yet he will trust in him, and he shall be his salvation. (Chapter 13:15). See, Abraham's faith will lead him from country to country; and Job's will carry him through life and death. And noble David is not behind for his part; for he will lose his kingdom, if God will have it so: 2 Samuel 15:26. If (says David) God say, I have no delight in you, lo here I am, let him do to me (not what I in my reason could wish, but) what seems good in his eyes. Behold now, in these holy men the practice and obedience of true faith. It prescribes not God the measure, [8 pages missing] ther; and thus doing, we have our conversation in heaven, though we live on the earth. And this we should do the rather, because generally the world is full of such men; who (as the same place says) do mind nothing but earthly things. Now it is a hard thing for a man to be unlike the world, and to resist multitudes, and general examples: but we must still remember we are Abraham's children, and children must labor to be like their father, and not the common multitude: and it must more move a good child, what his father alone does, than what is done by many other.

Thirdly, let us observe, how God promising Abraham only the Land of Canaan, that is, a temporal inheritance; he looks further, for a City in heaven. This he did out of his faith; for he knowing that Canaan was but a type of heaven, therefore in consideration of the earthly Canaan, he arose to a consideration of the heavenly: and in the promise of the earthly, apprehended the heavenly. This is the true and Christian use of all God's blessings, given in this life; in them to behold better things laid up in heaven, and shadowed in the other. Men use for their use, spectacles in reading: but they take no pleasure in looking upon them, but at other things by and through them: So should Christians, through all temporal blessings, look at spiritual and eternal, which are promised and shadowed under the temporal. Thus does Christ himself teach us, in the very order of the Lord's prayer: directing us to pray for temporal blessings first, in the fourth petition; and then for eternal, in the fifth and sixth: as though that the one were introductions and passages to the other. And this made the Prophets so ordinarily cover spiritual blessings under temporal, and put temporal deliverances, for spiritual, and confusedly oftentimes one for another; because that the holy men of the old Church, did never rest in view of any temporal promise, or blessing, but ascended to the contemplation of higher things in them. How pitiful then is the practice of worldly men? who use God's blessings so, as they daily abuse and pervert them; using meat to gluttony, raiment to pride, learning to vainglory, speech to flattery, wit to deceit, authority to revenge, callings to oppression; whereas they are all given to be helps in God's service, and furtherances in religion, and means to help us towards heaven. These men look at God's gifts, with the eye of reason, and no further: but if they looked at them, with the eye of faith, as Abraham did; it would teach them to make a heavenly and spiritual use of them, as he did.

Lastly, in the general state of the reason, and of Abraham's practice; observe, how he having promise of Canaan, waited for heaven. Now, no man waits for anything, but that which he has hope of; nor hopes truly and properly, for anything, but that which he has assurance of: for hope makes not ashamed, Romans 5:5. Not worldly hope, for that has deceived no more than ever trusted it: But Hope in God, never deceived man; nor went any away disappointed, that hoped in God. Therefore, here it is apparent, that hope of heaven, goes with assurance: and this assurance must be particular to the believer, as the belief and faith is.

But the Papists say, This is true indeed of Abraham, he had not only hope, but even full assurance; but that came by extraordinary revelation: So that this is a rare example, and his particular revelation, is no general warrant to us.

We answer from Saint Paul, (Romans 4:11) that Abraham is the father of the faithful; and that his faith is a pattern for all Christians to follow: for else, why does the Apostle so far extol, and set forth that faith of his, above 1300 years after his death? Shall it be only for his commendation, and not for our imitation also? Therefore every man that will walk in the steps of holy Abraham, may come with him to that measure of faith, that he may wait for heaven, with assurance to enjoy it.

Now let us come to the particular description of that heaven, which Abraham thus waited for.

A City having a foundation, whose maker and builder is God.

The description has three parts: 1. It is said to be a City. 2. That has a foundation. 3. That God made and built it.

For the first:

Abraham by his faith waited for heaven: But for which? For there are three heavens, or differences of heaven in the scripture.

The first, that wherein we live and breathe, birds fly, and clouds move.

The second, that wherein the stars are.

The third, is that, that is above them both, and is invisible; the seat of God's glory, where God reveals his Majesty in special manner to men and Angels. This heaven Abraham waited for. For as for the first, he lived in it: And for the second, he knew it as well as most men; for it is credibly thought, he was a notable Astronomer. So that it was the third and highest heaven, he waited for: which he knew this world could not give him: and therefore expected it in another.

Now, this heaven which was Abraham's hope, is called a City.

A City, properly is a place for the habitation of men, compassed with walls, and distinguished by streets and houses. Now properly heaven (or the estate of holy men in heaven) is not a city; but, as elsewhere in the scripture, it is called a house, a tabernacle, a temple, an inheritance, a kingdom: so is it here called a city; namely, for the resemblance it has thereunto, which consists specially in four points.

1. A City has many houses, greater, less, and for all sorts. So in heaven also, there are many mansions, John 14:2. Places of glory for all men: none need to fear that he shall not have fullness of joy, and perfect happiness.

A City is built, and at first was ordained to this end; that many citizens might live together in concord and amity. So the kingdom of heaven, is a heavenly city, where the Saints of God shall live in perfect peace and love, with fullness of joy every one in himself, and each one in another.

3. The goodness or excellency of a City consists in this; To have good laws, good Magistrates to execute them, and good people performing subjection and obedience. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is the most perfect City, wherein God's laws are the only laws, and they shall be written in men's hearts: where each one is a sufficient governor of himself, and yet all subject to God; and their God unto them all in all.

4. A City is a place, where generally are all necessaries and comforts for man's life: one part of the country has this commodity, another that; but in the city are all, either brought into it, or of itself. So in heaven are all parts of perfection, and all complements of happiness, to make the state of God's children there infinitely blessed.

Such a glorious place is the City that was Abraham's hope.

Now for the use hereof.

First, Is heaven such a City? Here is a notable comfort to the poor and plain country-man, who lives in the simplicity of the country life, tilling the ground, or keeping cattle; and it may be, never saw, or (at the least) never tasted of the pleasures and delights of cities: If he serve God, and keep a good conscience, here is his happiness; he shall be citizen in the high and heavenly Jerusalem: that City which was the hope of the holy men of God in all ages.

Secondly, this may teach Citizens, in the great, populous and pompous cities of this world, to labor also to be Citizens in heaven; for that is a city also, and the best on earth are but shadows of it. And it may shame them that are drowned in the pleasures and delicacies of earthly cities, and care not, nor look after the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem: as it is called, Hebrews 12:22. But alas, it seems they care not for this shame; for where is security, wantonness, profaneness, oppressions, so common, as in these great cities? And as in the Apostles' times, the country town Berea, was more zealous and religious, than the rich and stately city of Thessalonica, Acts 17:11: So is it generally to this day, especially at such places in the country, where teaching and knowledge is. But let such cities know, that as they have better means, and more comforts, and their very name should put them in mind, and make them in love with heaven; so they shall receive greater damnation.

Lastly, Cities are places of freedom, and all such great places have some notable privileges; therefore men desire to be free in such places: as is to be seen in London, Rome, Venice, etc. Even the greatest persons will be content to be free of them, and many seek it, and pay dear for it; or at least, work a long time for it.

But heaven is the City of cities, the perfection of beauty and true happiness: therefore let every one, that desires either honor or happiness, labor and strive to be a free-man of heaven, and never rest till he know he be. And let those that live in cities, when they are admitted free-men, (as daily some are) remember what a blessedness it will be, if they can be admitted free-men of the glorious City which is above; and how little that shall avail them, if they want this, which was the hope and joy of Abraham, and all holy men.

To go further: This City which Abraham's faith waited for, is described by two points: 1. That it has a foundation. 2. That the maker and builder was God.

For the first: Heavenly Jerusalem has a foundation, such a one as no city in this world has: and by this phrase, the Holy Ghost insinuates unto us, what be the properties of heaven; which be two: 1. The state of heaven is unchangeable. 2. Everlasting and eternal.

First, the state of the Elect in heaven, and their glory there, is not subject to corruption, or the least alteration; as appears in that notable and lofty description of the heavenly Jerusalem, Apocalypse 21:14, and from the 10th verse, to the 21st: It has a great wall and high, 12 gates, 12 Angels for Porters: and the wall had 12 foundations, of 12 sorts of most excellent precious stones: and the wall itself was Jasper, and the city pure gold, like crystal. The state of it is shadowed by precious stones, and gold; to signify, as well the durableness, as the excellency thereof. And in the 15th Psalm, verse 1 it is called the mountain of God's holiness: Hills are hardly removed; and therefore David says, that Mount Zion cannot be removed but remains for ever, Psalm 125:1. Now, if that be true of Mount Zion, in this world; which must needs be taken either literally, for the state of the visible Church, which cannot be utterly overthrown: or mystically, for the state of God's grace, which in this world cannot totally and finally be lost: I say, if this Mount Zion stands fast, and cannot be removed; how much more true is it, of the state of glory in heaven, and of the triumphant Church, and of heavenly Zion; that it is so unchangeable, so durable, so unremovable that it cannot be shaken, but stands fast for ever. And in this respect, well may the Apostle say here, It has a foundation; which the Holy Ghost in the Revelation says, to have 12 foundations.

Secondly, the state of the Elect in heaven, is not only sure, but everlasting; that is, without end: Psalm 37:18. the Inheritance of holy men is perpetual: And therefore Saint Peter, 1 Peter 1:4, says, that the inheritance reserved in heaven for us is immortal, and not fading away. It fades not away; there is the unchangeableness: It is immortal; there is the eternity of it. And this is meant, by having a foundation: for in this world, so much the longer does anything endure, as the foundation is stronger. Therefore, seeing the heavenly city has such a foundation, no marvel though it endure for ever.

Now put these two together, and they show the perfect excellency of that city, which is both unchangeable and eternal. Where we learn, the great difference betwixt the state of that world, and this present world wherein we live in the body: For, what is there in this world so excellent, so precious, so costly, so artificial; but is subject both to alteration, and in the end to dissolution? The longest day has his night; and the longest life ends in death after many miseries, and tossings; the longest Empires, and mightiest Monarchies, had their period, after many mutations: the stateliest and strongest cities, ended in ruin, after many civil broils, massacres, and other miseries. So that no glory, no strength, no happiness, nothing at all is there in this world, that is either constant or perpetual, but subject to utter dissolution in the end; and in the mean time, to pitiful alterations. So weak a foundation has this world, and the best things in it. But contrariwise, the glory of heaven has such a foundation, as it is both unchangeable and eternal.

The consideration of this difference, has manifold and profitable use. First, we may see how reasonable the counsel of the Apostle is, 1 Timothy 6:17, Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, and put not their trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. For, what a misery and vanity is it, to trust in that that is uncertain, and therefore will deceive them? The Apostle tells them what to do: namely, Do good, and be rich in good works, and be ready to distribute, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may obtain eternal life: that is, that they so spend their riches in holiness and charity that they may in the end attain heaven, which is the City that has a foundation: and who would not spend riches, which are so uncertain; for heaven, which is so certain a glory?

Secondly, this must teach us to follow the Counsel of Christ Jesus, Matthew 6:19-20, Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and canker corrupt, and thieves steal: but in heaven, where is neither canker, moth, thief, nor any other corruption. Every man naturally must have his treasure, and that is it whereon he sets his heart: now that is unworthy of a man's heart, which will be lost we know not how soon. But let us make heaven our treasure, the glory whereof is both eternal and unchangeable.

Again, seeing nothing here is certain, we must learn to seek sound comfort, where it may be had. Seek it in this world, and it will fail us; but seek it in the sincere worship of God, and that will minister such comfort in this life, and such glory in heaven, as has a foundation, and will never fail us.

Further, this must put us in mind of the holy King's advice; which is, to remember our Creator in the days of our youth, Ecclesiastes 12:1. Seeing this world is so uncertain, and our life has so weak a foundation, as we are not sure to live to come to old age: every man therefore, is to hear the conclusion of all; which is, to fear God, and keep his commandments: and this, the sooner the better. For else, for a little foolish and vain pleasure, transitory, and which has no foundation; we shall venture the losing of that glorious city, which has a sure foundation.

It follows in the description; Whose maker and builder is God.

The second point in the description of this city is, that God was the maker, builder, or author of it. These two words are both one, and therefore it is a needless labor of some that would distinguish betwixt them: for, the meaning is, God made, that is, prepared the glory of heaven, and he built it; as though he should say, Heavenly Jerusalem is a glorious city: and no marvel though it be so, for God made it. And if you will needs, that being a city, it must be built, be it so; for God is the builder of it.

This doctrine is evident in the Scriptures, Psalm 136:5. God by his wisdom made the Heavens. And here is another main difference betwixt this world, and the glory of heaven: The Cities of this world were built by man, but Heaven by God himself. The art and skill of men built the cities of the earth, and sometime the covetousness, or other corruption of man, as is manifest in the beginning; for Cain, a covetous, cruel, and ambitious man, built the first city in the world: but holy and good men, have not the honor to be builders of this City; No, they are Citizens of it, but God only is the author and builder of it.

No man may doubt hereof, because this third heaven is invisible: for the Angels also are invisible, and yet God's creatures. Besides, our Creed teaches, that God is Creator of all things visible and invisible.

If we doubt why God made it, seeing he made all things for man, and man in this world has no sight nor use of it. The answer is, God made it for two ends.

First, to be his own glorious palace (not wherein he would confine his being, or his presence, but) wherein he would make his glory most apparent; and wherein his glory should in a sort dwell. In which regards, it is called his throne, Isaiah 66. And in our Lord's prayer we say, by Christ's own teaching, that God our father is in heaven. Therefore as Princes build themselves palaces, to show their power and puissance, and to magnify themselves, and to be fit habitations for their greatness; So God made the third heaven to be the throne of his glory.

Secondly, he had also a respect herein to his creatures; for, he made that heaven, therein to reveal his majesty and glory to his reasonable creatures, Angels and Men: and (by showing them his glory) to glorify them. For in God's presence is the fullness of joy, Psalm 16 last verse. And in this sense is it true, that God made all things for man, (as man for himself:) namely, all things, either for his soul, or body, or both; either for his use in this life, or in the other. And so the third heaven was made for man's use; not in this life, but in the life to come: for his soul, until the last judgment; and after that, for both soul and body.

Hence we learn diverse instructions.

First, in that the third heaven, which never was seen with the eye of man, is here positively affirmed to be made by God: We learn, that therefore it is one of God's creatures; and not eternal, as some hold, and go about to prove, thus: God is eternal; but he must be in some place: and heaven is the seat and place of God; therefore it is coeternal with God. But I answer, from God's word; that though heaven be the seat and throne of God's glory, and where he manifesteth, and magnifieth his glory; yet is it not the place of his substance and being, for that is infinite, and incomprehensible: and it is against the Christian faith, to imagine the Godhead to be comprehended or contained in any place. 1 Kings 8:27, The heavens, yea the heavens of heavens cannot comprehend thee, O Lord; how much more unable is this house that I have built?

Nor is it material, that we know not on what day it was created; or that it is not named amongst the works of the creation. For the same is true of the Angels also: and it pleased God's wisdom, for special causes, to name no creatures particularly in the creation, but visible; whereas we know, both from our Creeds, and God's word itself, that he is the creator of all things both visible and invisible. Therefore, though we know not what day the third heaven was made; yet is it sufficient, that here is said, It was made and built by God himself. Whereupon it necessarily follows, it is a creature, and not coeternal with the Godhead.

Secondly, here appears the weakness of one of the commonest arguments, used for the defense of the Ubiquity and Consubstantiation. Christ (say they) is present bodily in the Eucharist, and they prove it thus: Christ is in heaven, and he is God: But heaven is everywhere; for God is everywhere: and where God is, there heaven is: (as where the King is, there the Court is.) Therefore Christ may be in the Sacrament, and yet be in heaven notwithstanding.

I answer, the ground is false: Heaven is not everywhere; for then it is in Hell: which to affirm, is absurdity, confusion, and impiety. Indeed God's presence is everywhere; and where his presence is, there is his power: as where the King's presence is, there is also his power and authority; and there may be any seat or course of Justice: and so where he is, the Court is. But if you take the Court, for some one of his chief houses, then the saying is not true. But contrariwise, as the King's power is, wheresoever his presence is; and yet he may have one house more sumptuous, and magnificent than all the rest, which may be called his Court, by an excellency above other: and that Court is not always where the King is, but in some set and certain place, and not removable:

So God's power and glory is everywhere; and yet his most glorious Court, the third heaven, is not everywhere, but in his limited and appointed place, where God's glory shineth more than in any other place.

Again, if heaven properly taken, be everywhere, then it is God himself: for that that is everywhere, must needs be deified; and indeed some, to maintain this opinion, have said little less. But if the Holy Ghost may moderate this disputation, he plainly tells us here, That God is the maker and builder of it. Therefore, assuredly it is not God, but one of God's creatures.

Thirdly and lastly, let us observe the description of heaven, included in these two words, maker and builder. God made it, that is, it is one of his creatures; he made it as well as the rest: and he built it; that is, (as the word signifies) made it with art; or he bestowed skill and wisdom upon it. For, though we may not imagine any substantial difference betwixt these two words, for matter; yet in signification they differ: and so far we are to observe it.

Here then we learn, that the third Heaven is like a piece of work, wherein an excellent workman hath spent his art, and showed his skill; that is, that the highest heaven is a most glorious place, and surpasses all other creatures of God in glory and excellency, so far as therein shineth the glory, skill, and wisdom of the Creator, more than in any other creature. In which regard, it is no marvel though the Holy Ghost say in another place, That the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor man's heart conceived, what God hath there prepared for them that love him: 1 Corinthians 2:9. And Saint Paul himself, though he had the honor to be taken up into this third heaven, and to see and hear the glory which is there; yet afterwards could not he express the glory he had seen. And this was figured in the Temple of Jerusalem, which was the mirror, and beauty of the world; for the building whereof, God both chose the most skillful men, and endued them also, with extraordinary gifts: namely, Bezaleel and Aholiab. Now, as thereby that Temple was the most excellent piece of work that ever was in this world, made by man; so the highest heaven (which was mystically prefigured in Solomon's Temple) is the most excellent of all the works of God.

The use of this doctrine is not to be omitted.

First, if that be so excellent and glorious a place, we must all labor to come thither; for above all things, it seems worthy to be sought for. People come out of all places of the country, to dwell in great towns, and rich cities; and men labor to be free-men there, and to have their children free in them: and even the greatest men, will have their houses either in, or near them; that so, though they will not always dwell in them, yet they may sojourn in them at their pleasures now and then. And why all this? but because, first, they are places beautiful, and many ways pleasant to the eye. Secondly, full, and frequented with the best company. Thirdly, replenished with abundance of all things needful for man's life, for necessity, comfort, and delight. Fourthly, they enjoy many privileges and freedoms. And lastly, all this is most true of such cities, where the King keeps his Court.

If this be so, then how is heaven to be sought for? Behold here a goodly city, a city of God (whereof, London, Paris, Rome, Venice, nay Jerusalem, are scarce shadows) the true Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth; nay the joy of the world, and the glory of all God's creatures, made immediately with the hand, and built with the skill and cunning of God himself. The Princes of the world, and even of Rome itself, wondered at the beauty, and were amazed at the magnificence of Jerusalem's city and Temple; and yet it was but a type and figure hereof. For, that had indeed, the glory of the world upon her: But the new Jerusalem hath the glory of God upon her, Revelation 21:4.

Shall we then seek to dwell in the cities of this world, and not labor to come to heaven? Are they any way excellent, wherein heaven is not much more to be desired? Are they beautiful, and is not it the beauty of the world? Read the 21 chapter of the Revelation, and suppose that the beauty of it were but outward, and worldly, and sensible to human capacity; yet is it far more excellent, than ever any was in this world. And is not there the company of the deity, of Christ's humanity, of the holy Angels, and all good men? And is not there abundance of whatsoever belongs to perfect happiness? And is not there freedom from the devil, sin, and death? And is it not the Court of God, the King of glory? Then why do we not sigh and groan, and long to be free-men of this glorious city? And though we cannot come to it, as long as we live in this world; yet why do we not strive to come as near it as may be? In this world, when a man cannot dwell in the heart of a City, yet he will rather dwell in the suburbs, than he will not be near it; and being there, he knows he can soon step into the city. So let us in this life come as near heaven as we may; let us get into the suburbs and dwell there.

The suburbs of heaven is God's true Church on earth, where his word is freely known and preached, and his holy Sacraments administered, and therein God truly served. Let us associate ourselves to this Church, and live according to the holy laws thereof. This is the suburbs of heaven; so shall we be ready to enter into the glorious city itself, when the Lord calls us.

And as this is for ourselves; so if we love our children, or care for their advancement, let us make them free-men of that city, whose maker and builder is God: So shall we be sure to have comfort and joy of them here, and with them in heaven. But if we will have them free-men in heaven, we must make them God's apprentices on earth: they must serve out their time, else they get no freedom. This time, is all their life. Men are deceived that let their children be the devil's slaves here, and think to have them free in heaven; let us then bind our children prentices to God, that is, make them his servants here: then assuredly, as in their repentance and regeneration here, they are born free-men of heaven; so after this life they shall enjoy the freedoms and privileges of that heavenly city, which was made and built by the wisdom of God.

Lastly, here we see how true it is that David teaches, Psalm 15:4, No vile person can come in heaven. And no marvel: for if men thus and thus defamed, cannot be free men in the Cities on earth, built by men; is it likely that sinners, and profane men, that care not for repentance, and regeneration, (for they be the vile men) shall be admitted into that city, whose maker and builder is God? It is the holy city, no unclean thing can enter into it, Revelation 21. It is God's holy mountain, how shall ungodliness ascend thither? Psalm 15:1. It is the new Jerusalem: how shall the old man, that is, sinful corruption, get into it? We must therefore cast off the old man, with his lusts, and be renewed in holiness: We must become penitent sinners for our lives past, and new men for hereafter; or else let us not look to have any part in heaven.

And good reason, for God is the maker and builder of it: But he is not the maker of sin; but the devil, and ourselves brought it out: and think we the devil's work shall come in heaven? or that God will build a house for the devil's slaves to dwell in? Let us not be deceived: But contrariwise, grace and holiness is God's work: as our souls and bodies were the work of his hands, so our regeneration is much more the work of his own power and mercy. That man therefore, who can say, God as once he made me a man, so he hath again made and built me a new man, and a new creature; that man is he, that shall be an inhabitant in that heavenly city, whose maker and builder is the same God.

In this holy way of faith and repentance, did the holy Fathers walk to this city; as David saith, in the name of them all, Thus I will wait for thee in holiness, Psalm. And thus doubtless did the noble Patriarch Abraham, who as he was the father of our faith, so was he also a pattern of repentance and holy life and in that holiness he waited for this city that hath a foundation, whose maker and builder is God.

Hitherto we have heard the holy practice of Abraham's faith, in two examples.

There is much more spoken of the excellency of his faith: but by the way, the Holy Ghost interlaces a worthy example, even of a woman's faith; namely, Sarah, his wife.

The sixth Example, in the order of the whole, follows in the words of the two next verses.

This is the second example of Abraham's faith and the fifth in the overall sequence. It concerns Abraham's remaining and dwelling in the land to which God had called him — which he also did by faith. Just as he went out of his own country and came into Canaan by the power and leading of his faith, so by that same faith he stayed and lived in that land.

This passage has two parts: 1. The action of Abraham's faith, in verse 9. 2. The reason for that action, in verse 10.

The action in verse 9 is described in two ways.

1. It is stated as his remaining in the land of Promise. 2. It is developed through two circumstances: first, the manner in which he lived there, described in two points: (1) as a stranger in a foreign country, and (2) as one who lived in tents rather than permanent houses. Second, the persons with whom he lived: with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise.

The first point is his dwelling in the land of Canaan, which is here called the land of Promise.

By faith he dwelt in the land of Promise.

Canaan is here called the land of Promise because it had been promised to him in the preceding verse, as we noted. The meaning is that he lived and remained in that land which had been promised to him when he left his own country. Abraham did not know the name of that land when he departed, nor until he arrived there. Then God told him: 'This is the land I will give to you and your offspring' (Genesis 12:7). In this promised land, Abraham dwelt and remained for the rest of his life — a hundred years.

In this action of Abraham, there are three specific points.

1. He dwelt in Canaan. 2. Canaan was the land of Promise. 3. He dwelt there by faith.

For the first point:

Concerning Abraham's dwelling in Canaan, several questions may be raised.

First, how is it true that he dwelt there, given that the account in Genesis shows he also dwelt in Egypt (Genesis 12:10) and in Gerar (Genesis 20:1)?

The answer is: the text does not mean he never left. It means he lived and died there — it was his principal residence and regular home, to which he always returned when anything drew him away.

Furthermore, he only went to Egypt when driven by a compelling necessity he could not otherwise address — a famine, as stated in Genesis 12:10: 'Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there.' Two things are clear from this: first, the reason was extraordinary; second, he did not go to settle there but only to stay temporarily and then return home.

This teaches us that just as a person should not leave the place where God has appointed him to live except for good and sufficient reasons, so when those reasons cease, he should not linger away but return promptly to his regular home. God intends for a person to live at home. A restless desire to always be elsewhere is a sign of an unstable mind and a wandering spirit.

Birds fly out from their nests but return to them at night. In the same way, people should seek to minimize unnecessary time away from home, and when they must be away, let it be for as short a time as possible. As it is a mark of a loose woman, Proverbs 7:11, that 'her feet do not remain at home,' so it is a mark of an unsteady man to be pulled away from home on every occasion.

We must follow holy Abraham, who is here commended for remaining and dwelling in the country God had given him.

Furthermore, this example of Abraham's faith exposes wandering vagabonds as faithless and ungodly people. Our land — through the misuse of peace and prosperity — is full of such people. Ask them where they live, and they claim to have little fixed dwelling. But look more closely and they have the widest dwelling of all — they live everywhere and nowhere; they consider it bondage to be tied to one town or one parish, and think it freedom to roam wherever they please. These people are parasites on the community and the worst robbers of the poor there are. Common thieves steal from the rich, but these steal from the poor — taking what the genuinely poor should receive. They are of no benefit to the church or the nation, but do great harm to both. A finger cut off from the hand serves no purpose. In the same way, a person living outside his calling and out of his proper place is of no use in the community.

It will be well for our church and nation when we have laws — and the enforcement of them — that correct this disorder, confining every person to his own place of residence and allowing no one to live in the kingdom without belonging to some parish. For we may be sure: so many wandering vagrants, so many blemishes on our government.

Third, since Abraham's dwelling in this land was a fruit of his faith, it teaches us that uncertainty about one's place of residence is not a good sign but a bad one. Many people, when they travel, never stay in one place twice. Their residence is never fixed — now in the north, now in the south; now in this parish, now in that; now in this jurisdiction, now in another; sometimes in the city, sometimes in the country. Who are these people? Either those who are in debt and intend to deal dishonestly with their creditors; or those who are criminals and are trying to escape legal accountability; or those who hold to false religion and are using this method to hide, avoiding the law — some by slipping from one parish, diocese, county, or region to another, evading all authority; others by lurking in large cities and living as transients rather than as registered members of any parish, unseen and unnoticed in the crowds. Those in authority should pay all the closer attention to such people, the more craftily they try to slip out from under oversight. And such people should know that by this very practice they reveal themselves as unfaithful — either to God, or to their fellow men, or to both — since God here commends Abraham for dwelling in the very place God appointed him. And so much for this question.

Another question may be raised: how could Abraham lawfully dwell in Canaan, given that it was a land full of idolatry? One might argue that this justifies Christians living in lands given over to false religion.

The answer is that Abraham did not do this on his own initiative or for any worldly reason, but by God's specific command and calling. Without that warrant, his choice would not have been defensible. Therefore his example cannot serve as authorization for anyone else to do the same without an equivalent calling from God.

But how could Abraham be protected from the corrupting influence of idolaters while living among them? The answer is twofold.

First, the God who called him there also preserved him there. Second, Abraham lived in that country but kept very limited contact with its people, engaging with them only when necessary for ordinary civil affairs. By this means he avoided the danger of spiritual infection.

From this we learn that anyone who finds himself in such a place without harm to his conscience must first be sure he has a genuine calling and warrant from God to live there. Second, he should deal with those given to false religion carefully and sparingly — and in this way he will preserve himself from occasions of evil, as Abraham did. Abraham lived in an idolatrous country and, while not without danger, suffered no injury to his faith. So we see that Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan.

Now second, this land is called the land of Promise — that is, the land previously promised to Abraham by God when He called him out of his own country. It is likely that the apostle did not coin this name himself but that it was already known among the patriarchs by that title — and that Abraham himself was the first to call it so. Looking out over it and considering its richness and excellence, he would always have remembered and said to himself, 'This land is promised to me — it is mine by promise.' In this assurance he rested and found contentment, even without possessing it.

Here we see the excellence of true faith, which rests on God's promises even when they remain unfulfilled. A land of promise was enough for Abraham; he left the actual possession to his descendants. Such faith is hard to find in the world today. We look for land in hand — an immediate possession. A land of promise is not enough for us. But let us labor to practice faith, to draw comfort from God's promises, and to leave the timing of their fulfillment to God.

Third, he dwelt in this land by faith. No wonder — for if it had not been by faith, he would never have stayed in a place where he had not so much as a spot for his tent without borrowing it, nor a place to bury his dead without purchasing it. This was against all human reason — yet by faith he dwelt there, just as by faith he had left his own country, which had also been against human reason. Here again the power of faith is shown to be great enough to carry a person over every obstacle to obedience, giving him victory not over one but over all objections, and enabling him to do not just one but many things that are contrary to worldly wisdom.

We must examine here whether we have a true and sound faith. If we do, then we must not merely perform a few acts of faith, or resolve to die in faith — we must live by faith throughout the entire course of our lives. As the apostle says, 'We walk by faith, not by sight' (2 Corinthians 5:7). He says the same of himself in Galatians 2:20: 'I live by faith in the Son of God.' He does not say he hopes to die in faith, but that he lives by it. And in the earlier passage he does not say we should take a step or two in faith — we must walk by faith, which implies a continual and sustained action. This is why Peter says God's children 'are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed' (1 Peter 1:5). Two things are affirmed here about faith: first, faith preserves a person through to salvation, through every obstacle — whether inward temptations or outward trials that the devil or the world can place in his path. This work of preservation is one of the greatest in the world, and so it is rightly attributed to God. His power preserves us — but through faith. Second, it is implied that we must therefore work to keep faith with us always — to cherish and maintain the very thing that is keeping us and will bring us safely to salvation. David was an excellent example of this. No one was more tested and tossed about than he, yet he always drew near to God (Psalm 73:28). It is true that at one point he said 'all men are liars' — but that was in his alarm (Psalm 116:11). And at another time he said, 'I am cut off from Your sight' — but that was in his haste (Psalm 31:22). Those were moments when the force of emotion or the violence of temptation swept him off course. But his settled way of life was always the life of faith.

In the same way, we must not expect to live in self-indulgence and die in faith. We must live by faith in all our actions from one day to the next — meditating daily on God's promises, believing them, resting on them, applying their general truths to our own lives, and practicing faith by keeping a tender conscience toward sin and cultivating patience and endurance. Doing this, we will be children of faithful Abraham, who first by faith left his own country, and then by faith continued to dwell in the land of Canaan. So much for the action of his faith: he dwelt in the land of Promise. Now follow the circumstances of the action — two of them: 1. The manner how. 2. The persons with whom.

The manner is described in two points: 1. As a stranger. 2. As one who lived in tents.

The first point regarding the manner is expressed in these words: as in a foreign country.

The meaning is that he regarded Canaan as a foreign land and considered himself a stranger in it. Against this, an objection may be raised: Abraham was on friendly terms with Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol — three powerful men of that country — and he entered into alliance with them (Genesis 14:13). This seems to suggest he did not live as a stranger at all.

Some have argued that Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol were not Canaanites but relatives of Abraham who happened to bear different names. But the text is plain that Mamre was an Amorite and the other two were his brothers. The better answer is that in all likelihood all three were converts. Through Abraham's godly influence, they had renounced idolatry and come to know the true God. They joined Abraham in worshiping God and became his converts — and on that basis Abraham rightly maintained close friendship with them. Two things support this conclusion.

First, Genesis 14:13 says they were allied with Abraham, and their actions proved it — they joined forces with him and helped him in the war against the kings (Genesis 14:24).

Second, Genesis 14:13 says Abraham was living on Mamre's land — he was, in effect, Mamre's tenant. It is more than probable that Abraham would not have placed himself in such dependence on these men unless they had been true believers who shared his religion.

This does not prevent Abraham from having been a stranger to the broader population — and indeed, it is exactly what Abraham says of himself to some of the Canaanites in Genesis 23:4: 'I am a stranger and a sojourner among you.'

But one may then ask: why did Abraham choose to live among the Canaanites as a stranger and a temporary resident?

The answer involves several reasons. First, he had been given title to that land but not yet possession of it. He was therefore content with what God had given him and did not press any claim to actual ownership during his lifetime. Instead, he rented or borrowed the land from Mamre where he lived (Genesis 14:13), and he purchased a burial site from the Hittites (Genesis 23:3 and following).

This teaches us all not to be too impatient in seeking what may indeed be our right. People should not set their own timetables or appoint themselves as the agents of their own advancement, but leave their affairs to God's ordering and move no further than they see God going before them. Abraham had to be a stranger in his own land — and sometimes you too must be content to remain, for a time, a stranger to that which is rightfully yours.

Second, the people of Canaan were for the most part pagan idolaters, and Abraham limited his contact with them as much as possible. If Abraham chose to be a stranger in his own country rather than live in close company with idolaters, this shows how little faith and even less conscience is displayed by those who are perfectly content to settle in the midst of false religion where they have no calling to be, and to mix freely with its practitioners without any twinge of conscience. Abraham made himself a stranger at home in order to avoid idolatry — but such people make themselves at home in a foreign land specifically to entangle themselves in idolatry. These are not the children of Abraham.

These were Abraham's own reasons for living as he did.

But there is a third reason — a more spiritual one — which God had in causing Abraham to live in Canaan as a stranger: to teach all Christians their duty until the end of the world.

Abraham is the father of the faithful (Romans 4:11), and it is our honor to be called his children. We must therefore follow our father in his faith and in the practice of it. We must live in this world as pilgrims and strangers — even in the midst of all our peace and prosperity, our freedom, our wealth, our lands and possessions, our friends and worldly connections. If this seems hard to understand, the practice of it consists in six specific actions.

First, we must not immerse ourselves in the pleasures of this world. Pilgrims take little delight in the places they pass through, because they know they are not home. This is Peter's point: 'Beloved, I urge you as strangers and aliens to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul' (1 Peter 2:11). Excessive indulgence in bodily pleasures smothers the grace of God in us, unleashes sin, and gives life to all our corrupting tendencies.

Second, we must 'use the world as though we did not use it' — that is, even in our enjoyment of the necessary comforts and pleasures of this life. These are the apostle's own words in 1 Corinthians 7:31. For the pilgrim passing through a foreign land does not preoccupy himself with the goods and attractions of that country. He uses as much as he needs, but his thoughts are on his own homeland. So too we, even in our best circumstances — at our most prosperous, in the midst of our wealth and pleasures — should lift our thoughts above all of it and keep our minds in heaven, the place of our true home. This is also the apostle's exhortation in Philippians 3:20. Worldly people make their appetite their god — that is, they drown themselves so deeply in earthly pleasures that they forget any other God or any other heaven. But we must not do so. 'Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.'

Third, we must have a genuine and active concern to please God. All the earth is His, and we are only sojourners in His sight. As the pilgrim is careful to please the lord of the land he is passing through, so we must be eager to please the Lord — for as God says in Leviticus 25:23, 'The land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.'

Closely related to this is a fourth point: we must cast all our care on God, since He is Lord of the earth and we are merely pilgrims and sojourners. David says in Psalm 24:1: 'The earth is the Lord's and all it contains.' The same David confesses in Psalm 39:12 that he is a stranger before God and a sojourner as all his fathers were, and on that basis he asks God to hear his prayer, listen to his cry, and not remain silent at his tears — as if to say: since I dwell with You, it is Your place to hear my complaint. Just as a tenant neither worries about nor claims anything for himself but depends entirely on those with whom he lives, so we must cast all our care on God — for He cares for us. He is our landlord; we are His tenants and farmers. We hold the earth from Him not on a fixed lease but at His pleasure, as a loan. Let us therefore simply concern ourselves with pleasing this landlord and care for nothing else.

Fifth, we must give continual thanks and praise to God for the good gifts we receive in this world — for everything is His, and we are only strangers. This is what all of God's people did in former times. Jacob said he was 'unworthy of all the lovingkindness' God had shown him. But there is one especially memorable example from David and the congregation in his day (1 Chronicles 29:13-16). After he had prepared abundantly for the building of the temple, he bowed before God and said in his own name and on behalf of the people: 'Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all... so now, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. For we are sojourners before You and strangers, as all our fathers were.' Gratitude is fitting for everyone, but especially for strangers. Just as pilgrims gratefully accept the kindness shown to them in a foreign land, so we must gratefully receive all the blessings God gives us in this world, where we are nothing more than strangers.

Sixth and finally, we must press on toward the kingdom as a pilgrim presses on toward the end of his journey — or toward his own country — and until he arrives, is always thinking of it and longing for it. So we too — who are not permanent residents but temporary sojourners in these bodies of clay — must long for heaven, and as Paul says of himself, 'prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.' Strangers should not enjoy foreign countries so much that they forget their own. Christians must not love this world so much that they neglect or forget the world to come. If they do, they show themselves unworthy of it, and prove themselves not strangers as Abraham was here, but 'men of this world whose portion is in this life' (Psalm 17:14).

By practicing these six things, people show themselves to be strangers in this world. This is how we must live — even in the midst of all worldly prosperity — if we ever hope to enjoy the glory of a better world. And in doing so, we will be children of faithful Abraham, who 'dwelt in the land of Canaan as in a foreign country.'

As one who lived in tents.

The second point about the manner of Abraham's dwelling in Canaan is that he built no permanent houses and made no orchards or gardens — he lived in tents. These were the kind of portable shelters used in warfare and still called by the same name today — tents or pavilions. Made not of wood or stone but of cloth, fabric, or animal skins, they could be set up quickly and taken down just as fast, and when a person moved on, he could carry his shelter with him. That Abraham lived this way is clear from the accounts written about him. Genesis 12:8 says he came to Bethel 'and there he pitched his tent.' Genesis 13:18 says 'he moved his tent.' In Genesis 18:1, God appeared to him 'as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.' In verse 9, when asked where Sarah was, he answered, 'She is in the tent.' These tents are called 'his place' in Genesis 18:33 and 'his house' in Genesis 24:2. From all of this it is clear that he lived in tents — not only at first when he had just arrived and had not yet had time to build, but throughout the entirety of his life in the land of Canaan.

But why did Abraham live in tents rather than build a house? Was it because there were no houses in those days? Not at all. Cities were being built even before the flood — Genesis 4:17 says Cain built a city. There were certainly many more afterward, including Sodom and all its neighboring cities. And even if they could not quarry natural stone, they had brick that they made themselves (Genesis 11:3). The people who built the massive tower of Babel (Genesis 11) were surely capable of building houses for themselves. Nor can it be claimed that those cities — Sodom, Gomorrah, and the rest — were nothing more than collections of tents. Genesis 19:3 says that Lot, who lived in Sodom, welcomed two angels 'into his house.' Verse 4 records that the Sodomites came and 'surrounded the house on all sides,' intending to seize them. When Lot refused to hand them over, 'they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door' — none of which would have been necessary if it had been a tent, which a child could cut through with a knife. It is clear, then, that houses existed in those days. Why then did Abraham build none? Was it because he was too poor? Not at all. Genesis 12:5 says he took with him from his own country 'all his possessions.' What those possessions were is detailed in Genesis 13:2: 'Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.' His wealth was both great and of the finest kind. So he could have built a house — he simply chose not to. Was it out of pride, or a wish to appear different from others and maintain an eccentric way of life all his own? No. Abraham was not one of those people who approve of nothing unless they thought of it themselves, and think nothing worth doing if it is ordinary. He was a holy man and one whose faith was renowned. None of these were the reasons for his way of living.

The real reasons why Abraham and the other holy patriarchs chose to live in tents rather than permanent houses were of two kinds: practical and spiritual.

The practical reason was this:

They considered themselves God's servants and depended on His word. Therefore they held themselves ready to move anywhere in the world whenever God called them. Since they could be required to relocate at any time — not knowing when or where — it was both most practical and most economical to live in tents, which could be set up quickly and taken down just as fast. Nor should it seem remarkable that they could endure the cold in such thin and simple shelters year-round, for the climate of that region was always mild enough and if anything inclined toward warmth rather than cold.

The spiritual reason was this: they considered themselves strangers on earth, and therefore refused to build cities or permanent houses as though they intended to make the earth their permanent home. By living in tents, they expressed their desire to move on from earth to heaven — the sooner, the better. This was the practice of the Old Testament patriarchs — not because they thought it sinful to build cities or live in houses, but because they wanted to bear witness to their faith and their expectation of another world, in the midst of the godless age in which they lived, when almost no one remembered, regarded, or believed in a world to come.

This was not Abraham's private practice alone. All holy men of that era lived in tents. Genesis 9:21 makes clear that Noah lived in a tent, even though at that time he was in a sense the patriarch of all humanity. Lot did the same, for as long as he lived with Abraham: Genesis 13:5 says 'Lot had flocks and herds and tents.' They did this because, as the apostle says, 'here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come' (Hebrews 13:14). They felt as though they constantly heard this voice ringing in their ears: 'Arise and depart, for this is no place of rest' (Micah 2:10).

The wicked of the world, by contrast — because they settled their hopes in this world and cared for no other — immediately set about building houses and even entire cities, just as Cain did at the very beginning (Genesis 4:17). The Sodomites had a city with gates — for we read that 'Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom when the two angels came to him' (Genesis 19:1-2). And the Canaanites had cities with exceptionally high walls (Numbers 13). But we find no record of God's people building cities until they had an established church of their own. Remarkably, God's promise to His people was in fact that 'they would come to dwell in cities they did not build' — cities built by worldly people and then given to them. And so we see the reasons why Abraham lived in tents. Now let us consider what we can learn from it.

First, their practical use of tents teaches us frugality — that is, to use the comforts and blessings of this life soberly and sparingly, and to spend as little as possible on things that are consumed in the using: food, drink, clothing, and housing. What is spent on these things is spent only on ourselves, and once spent it is gone — so the less, the better. This is always provided that reasonable care is taken of our health, of the dignity appropriate to our position, and of our ability to fulfill the duties of our calling. Once those needs are adequately met, it is a Christian virtue to save wherever we can. The person who spends the least on luxuries will have the least to account for.

This practice also teaches contentment with the station God has assigned us, and not straining too eagerly after greater wealth. These holy men were content to live in tents and temporary shelters even though they could have secured far more — for they were great and powerful men. Abraham had 318 fighting men in his household at all times. With them, and a little additional help, he defeated a coalition of kings and rescued Lot (Genesis 14:14). A man who dared to take on and defeat such a force — how many of the country's inhabitants could he have driven out of their homes? How many tenants could he have displaced? How much of the land could he have seized for himself? As much as he pleased. Yet he did none of this. Instead, recognizing himself as merely a tenant under God, he was content to let every man live quietly beside him and to dwell in tents himself — rather than encroach one step further than God had directed, even though he had the power to do so.

This stands as a rebuke to the pride, greed, and ambition of those who join house to house, land to land, estate to estate, town to town — who care nothing about how many people's homes they pull down to build one of their own, and who give no thought to how many people are left without land and livelihood, as long as they themselves have their parks, pastures, gardens, orchards, and every luxury they can devise. These people are as far from Abraham's spirit as possible — he asked only for enough land to pitch his tent and graze his cattle, while they enclose and wall off for themselves what should by right be shared among many. What can await such people but what Isaiah pronounces: 'Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no more room, so that you have to live alone in the midst of the land' (Isaiah 5:8).

Third, Abraham's willingness to live always ready to depart at God's call shows that true faith never tries to set limits on God — neither on the severity nor the duration of trials — but submits entirely to His will, resolved and content to endure whatever trials God chooses to send, however great or however many. Human reason would say: I have left one country at God's word. If I am to leave another, I will never have any certainty or settled ground to stand on. But faith says: just as I left one country at God's call, so at His word I would leave twenty more. God has as good a reason to command me a second time as He did the first. His love cannot fail me. He may test me further, but He can never forsake me. This was Abraham's faith speaking. And Abraham was not alone in this. Job, though he cried out under the violence of his trial — 'The arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison my spirit drinks; the terrors of God are arrayed against me' (Job 6:4) — yet when faith stepped in, he declared: 'Though He slay me, I will hope in Him... He also shall be my salvation' (Job 13:15). See how Abraham's faith would lead him from country to country, and Job's faith would carry him through life and death. And noble David was no less resolute. He was willing to lose his kingdom if God willed it (2 Samuel 15:26). 'If God says,' said David, 'I have no delight in you — here I am, let Him do to me, not what my reason might wish, but what seems good in His eyes.' In these holy men we see faith in action. True faith does not prescribe limits to God. And living this way, we have our true home in heaven even while we live on earth. We should do this all the more because the world around us is filled with people who, as the apostle says, 'set their minds on earthly things.' It is difficult to be unlike the world and to go against the crowd and common example. But we must remember we are Abraham's children — and children should strive to resemble their father, not the common multitude. What a good father does alone should move a good child more than what the many do.

Third, observe how Abraham, though God had promised him only the land of Canaan — a temporal inheritance — looked further and waited for a heavenly city. He did this through faith. Knowing that Canaan was a type and shadow of heaven, he used the earthly promise as a springboard to contemplate the heavenly reality, and in the promise of the earthly inheritance he grasped the heavenly one. This is the true and Christian use of all God's blessings in this life: to see through them to the better things stored up in heaven and foreshadowed by them. People use spectacles when reading — not to look at the spectacles themselves, but to see other things clearly through them. In the same way, Christians should use all temporal blessings to look through them toward the spiritual and eternal things that are promised and prefigured by the temporal. This is in fact how Christ teaches us in the Lord's Prayer — directing us to pray first for temporal blessings in the fourth petition, and then for eternal ones in the fifth and sixth, as though the one were a doorway leading to the other. This is also why the prophets so commonly expressed spiritual blessings in the language of temporal ones, and treated earthly deliverances as figures of spiritual ones, often using the two interchangeably — because the holy people of the old church never rested in any temporal promise or blessing but always rose from it to contemplate something higher. How sad, then, is the practice of worldly people, who take God's blessings and daily abuse them: using food for gluttony, clothing for pride, learning for vanity, speech for flattery, intelligence for deception, authority for personal revenge, and their callings as tools of oppression — when all these things were given to help us serve God, grow in faith, and move toward heaven. These people look at God's gifts with the eye of reason and no further. But if they looked at them with the eye of faith, as Abraham did, they would learn to put them to a heavenly and spiritual use, as he did.

Finally, observe from the reason given and from Abraham's practice: having received the promise of Canaan, he waited for heaven. Now, no one waits for something unless he has hope of it — and no one truly and properly hopes for something unless he has assurance of it. As the apostle says, 'Hope does not disappoint' (Romans 5:5). Not the hope of this world — that has disappointed more people than any other thing. But hope in God has never let anyone down. No one who hoped in God went away empty-handed. It is therefore clear that hope of heaven carries with it assurance — and that assurance must be personal to each believer, just as the faith on which it rests is personal.

Roman Catholics object that this is true of Abraham — he had not only hope but full assurance — but that this came through an extraordinary direct revelation. Therefore, they say, Abraham is a unique case and his private revelation provides no general basis for others to claim the same assurance.

We answer from Paul's own words in Romans 4:11: Abraham is the father of the faithful, and his faith is the pattern for all Christians to follow. Otherwise, why does the apostle go to such lengths to exalt and hold up Abraham's faith more than 1,300 years after his death? Was it only to honor Abraham, and not also to call us to follow him? Therefore every person who walks in the steps of holy Abraham may come with him to that measure of faith by which he may wait for heaven with the assurance of enjoying it.

Now let us consider the specific description of the heaven that Abraham waited for.

A city having a foundation, whose maker and builder is God.

This description has three parts: 1. It is called a city. 2. It has a foundation. 3. God made and built it.

For the first point:

Abraham by faith waited for heaven. But which heaven? For Scripture speaks of three heavens, or three distinct realms called heaven.

The first is the atmosphere in which we live and breathe — where birds fly and clouds move.

The second is the expanse in which the stars are set.

The third is above both of these and is invisible — the throne of God's glory, where God reveals His majesty in a special way to people and angels. This is the heaven Abraham waited for. He already lived in the first; and he understood the second as well as almost any man — it is widely believed he was a gifted astronomer. It was therefore the third and highest heaven he looked forward to — the one he knew this world could not give him, and so he expected it in the world to come.

This heaven, which was Abraham's hope, is described as a city.

A city, properly speaking, is a place built for human habitation — enclosed by walls and laid out with streets and houses. Heaven — the state of God's people in eternity — is not literally a city, but as Scripture elsewhere describes it using various images (a house, a tabernacle, a temple, an inheritance, a kingdom), so here it is called a city. The resemblance between heaven and a city consists especially in four points.

1. A city has many houses — large, small, and suited for all kinds of people. So in heaven there are 'many rooms' (John 14:2) — places of glory for all. No one needs to fear that they will not find complete joy and perfect happiness there.

2. A city was built and originally intended for this purpose: that many citizens could live together in harmony and friendship. So the kingdom of heaven is a heavenly city, where God's people will live in perfect peace and love — each filled with joy in himself and in one another.

3. The excellence of a city consists in having good laws, good rulers to enforce them, and good citizens who live in willing submission and obedience. The kingdom of heaven is therefore the most perfect city: God's laws are the only laws there, and they will be written on people's hearts. Each one will be a sufficient governor of himself, and yet all will be subject to God — and God will be all in all to each of them.

4. A city is a place where all the necessities and comforts of life are gathered together. Different parts of the countryside may have different resources, but in the city all things are available — either brought in from outside or produced within. So in heaven are found all dimensions of perfection and all elements of happiness, making the state of God's children there infinitely blessed.

Such is the glorious city that was Abraham's hope.

Now for the application of this.

First, is heaven such a city? Here is a remarkable comfort for the poor and ordinary person living the simple life of the countryside — tilling the ground or tending livestock — who has perhaps never seen, or at least never tasted, the pleasures and attractions of great cities. If such a person serves God and keeps a good conscience, here is his joy: he will be a citizen of the high and heavenly Jerusalem — that city which was the hope of God's holy people in every generation.

Second, this should speak to the people of great, populous, and celebrated cities of this world — they must also labor to become citizens of heaven. For heaven is a city too, and the finest earthly cities are only shadows of it. It should put to shame those who are absorbed in the pleasures and luxuries of earthly cities and give no thought to 'the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,' as it is called in Hebrews 12:22. But it seems such shame has little effect. For where else are security-seeking, self-indulgence, irreverence, and oppression as common as in these great cities? Even in the apostles' day, the country town of Berea was more earnest and devout than the wealthy and famous city of Thessalonica (Acts 17:11). The same is generally true today, especially in country places where sound teaching and knowledge are present. But let such cities understand that because they have greater resources, better opportunities, and a name that ought itself to remind them of heaven and make them love it, they will also face greater judgment if they despise it.

Finally, cities are places of privilege and freedom. Every great city has notable liberties and honors attached to it, and people greatly desire to be made free citizens of such places — as can be seen in London, Rome, Venice, and elsewhere. Even the greatest people are glad to hold citizenship in such cities. Many seek it and pay dearly for it, or at least work long to obtain it.

But heaven is the city of cities — the perfection of beauty and true happiness. Therefore let everyone who desires either honor or happiness labor and strive to be a citizen of heaven, and never rest until they know they are. And those who live in earthly cities, whenever someone is made a freeman of the city — as happens daily — should remember what a blessing it would be to be made a citizen of the glorious city above. And they should consider how little their earthly citizenship will profit them if they lack this, which was the hope and joy of Abraham and all God's people.

Going further: the city that Abraham's faith waited for is described in two ways: 1. It has a foundation. 2. God made and built it.

For the first: the heavenly Jerusalem has a foundation unlike anything any earthly city possesses. By this phrase, the Holy Spirit indicates to us two properties of heaven: 1. The state of heaven is unchangeable. 2. It is everlasting and eternal.

First, the state of the elect in heaven and their glory there is not subject to decay or the slightest alteration. This appears in the magnificent description of the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation 21:10-21: 'It had a great, high wall with twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates... The wall had twelve foundations adorned with twelve kinds of precious stones... The wall was built of jasper, and the city was pure gold, clear as glass.' Its nature is pictured through precious stones and gold, signifying both its durability and its excellence. In Psalm 15:1 it is called 'the mountain of God's holiness.' Mountains are not easily moved, and so David says that 'Mount Zion cannot be moved but remains forever' (Psalm 125:1). Now, if that is true of Mount Zion in this world — which must be understood either literally, as the state of the visible church that cannot be utterly overthrown, or spiritually, as the state of God's grace in a believer's soul that cannot be wholly and finally lost — then how much more is it true of the state of glory in heaven, of the triumphant church, of the heavenly Zion, that it is so unchangeable, so durable, so unmovable that it cannot be shaken but stands firm forever. It is well then that the apostle says here it 'has a foundation' — which the Holy Spirit in Revelation describes as having twelve foundations.

Second, the state of the elect in heaven is not only certain but everlasting — without end. Psalm 37:18 says 'the inheritance of the godly is forever.' And Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:4 that the inheritance reserved in heaven for us is 'imperishable and will not fade away.' It will not fade away — there is its unchangeableness. It is imperishable — there is its eternity. This is what is meant by having a foundation, for in this world the longer a thing endures, the stronger its foundation. Since the heavenly city has such a foundation, it is no wonder that it endures forever.

Put these two qualities together and they reveal the perfect excellence of that city, which is both unchangeable and eternal. From this we learn the vast difference between the state of that world and the present world in which we now live. What is there in this world, however excellent, precious, costly, or beautifully made, that is not subject to change and ultimately to dissolution? The longest day ends in night, and the longest life ends in death after many sorrows and upheavals. The longest-lasting empires and mightiest kingdoms reached their end after many transformations. The most magnificent and strongest cities ended in ruin after civil wars, massacres, and other catastrophes. There is no glory, no strength, no happiness — nothing at all in this world that is either constant or lasting. Everything is subject to final destruction in the end, and to painful change in the meantime. This world and the best things in it rest on a weak foundation. But the glory of heaven rests on such a foundation that it is both unchangeable and eternal.

Recognizing this difference between earth and heaven has many practical applications. First, we see how reasonable is the apostle's counsel in 1 Timothy 6:17: 'Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.' What a misery and foolishness it is to set one's hope on what is uncertain and will ultimately disappoint! The apostle tells them what to do instead: 'Do good, be rich in good works, be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.' That is, let them spend their wealth in holiness and generosity so that they may in the end inherit heaven — the city that has a foundation. And who would not gladly spend riches that are so uncertain in exchange for heaven, which is so certain a glory?

Second, this teaches us to follow the counsel of Christ in Matthew 6:19-20: 'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.' Every person naturally must have a treasure — the thing on which his heart is set. And nothing is worthy of a person's heart if it can be lost at any moment. Let us make heaven our treasure, whose glory is both eternal and unchangeable.

Furthermore, since nothing in this world is certain, we must learn to seek sound comfort where it can actually be found. Look for it in this world and it will fail you. But seek it in the sincere worship of God, and it will give you such comfort in this life, and such glory in heaven, as truly 'has a foundation' and will never let you down.

This should also bring to mind the counsel of Solomon: 'Remember your Creator in the days of your youth' (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Since this world is so uncertain and our lives rest on so weak a foundation that we cannot be sure of reaching old age, every person should hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 'fear God and keep His commandments' — and the sooner, the better. For otherwise, for the sake of a little foolish and fleeting pleasure that has no foundation, we will risk losing that glorious city which has a sure foundation.

The description continues: 'whose maker and builder is God.'

The second point in this description of the heavenly city is that God was its maker, builder, and author. These two words — maker and builder — mean essentially the same thing, and it is unnecessary to try to distinguish between them. The meaning is simply this: God made and prepared the glory of heaven. And since it is called a city, and cities must be built, then God is its builder. The heavenly Jerusalem is a glorious city — and no wonder, for God made it.

This is plain from Scripture. Psalm 136:5 says that 'God by wisdom made the heavens.' Here again is a fundamental difference between this world and the glory of heaven: the cities of this world were built by human beings, but heaven was built by God Himself. Human skill and ingenuity built the cities of the earth — and sometimes human greed or other sin drove the work, as is clear from the very beginning: Cain, a covetous, cruel, and ambitious man, built the first city in the world (Genesis 4:17). But holy and godly people do not have the honor of being builders of heaven. They are its citizens — but God alone is its author and builder.

No one should doubt this simply because the third heaven is invisible. Angels are also invisible, yet they are God's creatures. Furthermore, our creed teaches that God is the Creator of all things, both visible and invisible.

One might ask why God made it, since He made all things for humanity, and in this life no person sees or makes use of it. The answer is that God made it for two purposes.

First, to be His own glorious dwelling place — not as though His being were confined there, but as the place where His glory is most fully displayed and where it dwells in a special sense. For this reason it is called 'His throne' in Isaiah 66, and in the Lord's Prayer Christ Himself teaches us to address God as 'our Father who is in heaven.' Just as princes build palaces to display their power and greatness and to have a residence fitting their dignity, so God made the third heaven as the throne of His glory.

Second, He also made it for the benefit of His creatures. He made that heaven to reveal His majesty and glory to His rational creatures — angels and human beings — and by showing them His glory, to glorify them. 'In Your presence is fullness of joy' (Psalm 16:11). In this sense it is true that God made all things for humanity — as He made humanity for Himself — namely, everything either for the soul or the body or both; either for use in this life or in the life to come. So the third heaven was made for human use — not in this life, but in the life to come: for the soul until the last judgment, and after that, for both soul and body together.

From this we draw several lessons.

First, since the third heaven — which no human eye has ever seen — is here plainly affirmed to have been made by God, we learn that it is one of God's creatures, not something eternal. Some hold that it is coeternal with God, arguing as follows: God is eternal; He must exist somewhere; and heaven is God's dwelling place — therefore it is coeternal with Him. But the answer from God's word is this: although heaven is the throne and seat of God's glory, and the place where He most fully reveals and magnifies His glory, it is not the place of His essential being — for that is infinite and beyond all comprehension. It is contrary to Christian faith to imagine God's being as contained or confined to any place. As Solomon prayed: 'But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built' (1 Kings 8:27).

Nor does it matter that we do not know on which day of creation the third heaven was made, or that it is not specifically named among the works of creation. The same is true of the angels. God, in His wisdom, chose to name only visible creatures in the creation account, even though we know from our creeds and from God's word itself that He is the Creator of all things, both visible and invisible. Therefore, even though we do not know what day the third heaven was made, it is enough that the text here plainly says it was made and built by God Himself. From this it necessarily follows that it is a creature and not coeternal with the Godhead.

Second, here we see the weakness of one of the most common arguments used to defend the doctrines of ubiquity and consubstantiation. Proponents of that view argue that Christ is bodily present in the Eucharist, and they prove it this way: Christ is in heaven, and He is God. But heaven is everywhere, because God is everywhere, and wherever God is, there heaven is -- just as wherever the king is, there is his court. Therefore Christ can be present in the Sacrament while still being in heaven.

I answer: the foundational claim is false. Heaven is not everywhere, for if it were, then heaven would also be in hell -- which is absurd, confused, and impious to say. God's presence is indeed everywhere, and wherever His presence is, His power is also -- just as wherever a king is present, his authority and power are there too, and justice can be administered. In that sense, wherever the king is, his court is there. But if you mean by 'court' one specific royal residence, then the saying no longer holds true. For just as a king's power extends wherever he is present, and yet he may have one palace more magnificent and splendid than all the rest -- which may be called his court by excellence above all others -- and that court is not wherever the king happens to be, but in a fixed and certain place that does not move --

So God's power and glory extend everywhere, and yet His most glorious court -- the third heaven -- is not everywhere but has a specific, appointed place where God's glory shines more brightly than anywhere else.

Furthermore, if heaven in the proper sense is everywhere, then it would be God Himself -- for whatever is everywhere must be divine. And indeed some advocates of this position have said as much, or nearly so. But if the Holy Spirit may settle this dispute, He tells us plainly here that God is the maker and builder of it. Therefore it is certainly not God, but one of God's creatures.

Third and finally, let us consider the description of heaven contained in these two words: maker and builder. God made it -- that is, it is one of His creatures, made just like the rest of creation. And He built it -- that is, as the word implies, He made it with skill and care, pouring His wisdom into its construction. Although we should not imagine any substantial difference between these two words in subject matter, they differ in emphasis, and that distinction is worth noting.

Here we learn that the third heaven is like a masterwork in which the supreme craftsman put forth all His art and displayed all His skill. The highest heaven is a place of surpassing glory that exceeds all other creatures in splendor and excellence, because God's glory, skill, and wisdom shine there more brightly than in any other created thing. No wonder, then, that the Holy Spirit says elsewhere: Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man -- all that God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). Paul himself, though he was given the honor of being caught up to this third heaven and of seeing and hearing its glory, could not afterward express what he had witnessed. This was foreshadowed in the temple of Jerusalem, which was the wonder and beauty of the ancient world. For its construction, God both selected the most skilled craftsmen and endowed them with extraordinary gifts -- namely, Bezaleel and Aholiab. Just as the temple was therefore the most excellent work of human hands ever made in this world, so the highest heaven -- which was mystically foreshadowed by Solomon's temple -- is the most excellent of all the works of God.

The practical application of this teaching must not be overlooked.

First, if heaven is such an excellent and glorious place, we must all strive to get there, for above all things it is worth seeking. People come from every part of the country to live in great towns and prosperous cities. They work to become citizens there and to secure citizenship for their children. Even the greatest people choose to have their houses in or near such cities, so that even if they cannot always live there, they may visit whenever they please. Why all this? First, because such cities are beautiful and pleasing to the eye. Second, because they are filled with the best company. Third, because they are stocked with everything a person needs for life -- necessities, comforts, and pleasures. Fourth, because they come with many privileges and freedoms. And finally, all of this is especially true of cities where the king keeps his court.

If this is so, then how much more should heaven be sought? Here is a glorious city, a city of God -- compared to which London, Paris, Rome, Venice, and even Jerusalem are hardly shadows. It is the true Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth -- no, the joy of the whole world and the glory of all God's creatures, made directly by the hand of God and built with the skill and craftsmanship of God Himself. The rulers of the world, and even those of Rome itself, were astonished at the beauty and overwhelmed by the magnificence of Jerusalem's city and temple. And yet it was only a type and shadow of heaven. For Jerusalem had the glory of the world upon it, but the new Jerusalem has the glory of God upon it (Revelation 21:4).

If all this draws us to seek earthly cities, how much more should we labor to reach heaven? Is there anything that makes earthly cities desirable that is not surpassingly true of heaven? Are they beautiful? Heaven is the beauty of the world. Read Revelation 21, and even if you imagine the glory described there in purely outward and earthly terms within the reach of human perception — it still far exceeds anything this world has ever seen. And is not heaven where God Himself dwells, where Christ in His humanity reigns, where the holy angels and all redeemed people live together? Is there not there an abundance of everything that belongs to perfect happiness? Is there not freedom from the devil, sin, and death? And is it not the court of God, the King of glory? Why then do we not sigh and groan and long to be citizens of this glorious city? And even though we cannot arrive there while we live in this world, why do we not strive to draw as close to it as we can? When a person cannot live in the center of a city, he will choose to live in the outskirts rather than be far from it — and from there he knows he can quickly step inside. Let us in this life draw as near to heaven as we can, and live in its outskirts.

The outskirts of heaven is God's true church on earth — where His word is freely known and preached, His holy sacraments properly administered, and God truly worshiped. Let us join ourselves to this church and live according to its holy teaching. This is the outskirts of heaven — and dwelling there, we will be ready to enter the glorious city itself when the Lord calls us.

And as this is for ourselves, so if we love our children and care for their future, let us make them citizens of that city whose maker and builder is God. That way we may be sure of both comfort and joy with them in this life, and with them in heaven. But if we want our children to be citizens of heaven, we must make them God's apprentices on earth. They must serve their time, or they will receive no citizenship. That time of service is their whole life. People are deceived who let their children be the devil's servants in this life and then hope to have them free in heaven. Let us instead bind our children in service to God — that is, make them His servants here. Then, as they are born as citizens of heaven through their repentance and regeneration here, so after this life they will enjoy all the freedoms and privileges of that heavenly city, which was made and built by the wisdom of God.

Finally, here we see the truth of what David teaches in Psalm 15:4 — no vile person can enter heaven. No wonder: if people with a shameful reputation cannot be made citizens of earthly cities built by human hands, is it reasonable to think that sinners and irreverent people who have no regard for repentance and regeneration — for these are the truly vile — will be admitted into the city whose maker and builder is God? 'It is the holy city; nothing unclean will enter into it' (Revelation 21). It is God's holy mountain — how can ungodliness ascend there? (Psalm 15:1). It is the new Jerusalem — how can the old man, that is, sinful corruption, enter it? We must therefore put off the old self with its lusts and be renewed in holiness. We must become repentant sinners for our past lives and new people going forward — or else we have no claim on any part of heaven.

And rightly so — for God is its maker and builder. But He is not the maker of sin; sin was brought in by the devil and by ourselves. Do we think the devil's work will be welcome in heaven? Do we think God would build a house for the devil's servants to live in? Let us not deceive ourselves. Grace and holiness, on the other hand, are God's work. Just as our souls and bodies were the work of His hands, so our regeneration is all the more the work of His own power and mercy. Therefore the person who can truly say, 'God, who once made me a man, has made and built me a new man, a new creation' — that person is the one who will be an inhabitant of that heavenly city, whose maker and builder is that same God.

It was in this holy way of faith and repentance that the patriarchs walked toward that city, as David says on behalf of them all: 'Thus I will wait for You in holiness.' And so certainly did the noble patriarch Abraham, who was not only the father of our faith but also a pattern of repentance and holy living — and in that holiness he waited for 'this city that has a foundation, whose maker and builder is God.'

So far we have considered the holy practice of Abraham's faith in two examples.

There is much more said about the excellence of his faith, but at this point the Holy Spirit interweaves a remarkable example of a woman's faith — namely, that of Sarah, his wife.

The sixth example in the overall sequence follows in the next two verses.