A51842:888
One Hundred and Ninety Sermons on Psalm 119
One hundred and ninety sermons on the hundred and nineteenth Psalm preached by the late reverend and learned Thomas Manton, D.D. ; with a perfect alphabetical table directing to the principal matters contained therein.
London: printed for T.P. &c, 1681
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But why do the children of God count themselves to be strangers here?
1. They are born elsewhere. Every thing tends to the place of their original, as men love their native soil; things bred in the water, return thither; Inanimate things tend to their centre; a stone will fall to the ground, though it be broken in pieces with the fall: Wind, that is imprisoned in the bowels of the earth, raiseth terrible convulsions and earthquakes, until it get up to its own place. All things seek to turn thither from whence they came. And so grace which came from Heaven, it carrieth the soul thither again. Jerusalem from above is the mother of us all. Heaven is our native Country, and therefore thither is the tendency and aim of the gracious soul that is born from above. It is very notable, the contempt of the world is usually made the fruit of our Regeneration, 1 John 5. 4. Whosoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and 2 Pet. 1. 4. Made partakers of the divine nature, that we might escape the corruptions of the world through lust. There is somewhat of God in it then; and that which comes from God, carries the soul thither where God is. In the new nature there's a strong inclination, which disposeth us to look after another world; therefore 'tis said, Begotten to a lively hope, 1 Pet. 1. 3. As soon as we are made children, we begin to look after a child's portion. There is another aim when we are born again, then the heart is carried out to God.
1. They are born elsewhere. Every thing tends to the place of their original, as men love their native soyl; things bred in the water, return thither; Inanimate things tend to their center; a stone will fall to the ground, though it be broken in pieces with the fall: Wind, that is imprisoned in the bowels of the earth, raiseth terrible convulsions and earthquakes, until it get up to its own place. All things seek to turn thither from whence they came. And so grace which came from Heaven, it carrieth the soul thither again. Ierusalem from above is the mother of us all. Heaven is our native Countrey, and therefore thither is the tendency and aim of the gracious soul that is born from above. It is very notable, the contempt of the world is usually made the fruit of our Regeneration,