The sacrifice of thankfulness A sermon preached at Pauls Cross, the third of December,…The sacrifice of thankefulnesse A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, the third of December,…

1. Their contempt of the world. They that dwell in Tents, intend not a long dwelling in a place. They are movables, ever ready to be transferred at the occasion and will of the Inhabiter, Hebr. 11.¹ Abraham dwelt intents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same Promise. The reason is added. For he looked for a City which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD. These Saints studied not to enlarge their barns, as the rich Cosmopolite, Luke 12. or to sing Requiems to their souls,² in the hoped perpetuity of earthly habitations. Soul live; thou hast enough laid up for many years: Fool! he had not enough for that night. They had no thought, that their houses should continue for ever,³ and their dwelling places to all generations; thereupon calling their lands after their own names. God convinceth the foolish security of the Jews, to whom he had promised (by the Messiah to be purchased) an everlasting royalty in heaven;⁴ by the Rechabites; who built no houses, but dwelt in Tents; as if they were strangers, ready on a short wa•ning for removal. The Church esteems Heaven her home, this world but a Tent. A Tent, which we must all leave, build we as high as Babel, as strong as Babylon. When we have fortified, combined, feasted, death comes with a Voider,⁵ and takes away all, Dost thou ⟨p. 19⟩think to reign securely because thou closest thy self in Cedar? Friends must part, Jonah and his gourd, Nebuchadnezzar and his palace, the covetous churl and his barns. Arise, ⁶and depart, for this is not your rest. Though you depart with grief, from Orchards full of fruits, grounds full stocked, houses dightly furnished, purses richly stuffed; from music, wine, junkets, sports: yet go; you must go, every man to his own home. He that hath seen heaven, with the eye of Faith, through the glass of the Scripture, slips off his coat with Joseph, and springs away. They that lived thrice our age, yet dwelt in Tents; as Pilgrims that did not own this world. The shortness and weakness of our days, strengthens our reasons to vilipend it. The world is the field, thy body the Tent, heaven thy free-hold. The world is full of troubles; winds of persecutions, storms of menaces, cold of uncharitableness, heat of malice, exhalations of prodigious terrors, will annoy thee. Love it not: