When dwelling upon those deeply interesting subjects, the necessity of repentance, the inestimable value of the soul, and the certainty of a future state of rewards and punishments, what a variety of beautiful illustration is employed by our Lord! Well aware that these truths supply the most powerful motives to spiritual diligence and moral obedience, he presents them under various forms and different aspects, that, being thus forcibly impressed, they may be permanently retained. It has been well remarked, that parables were a sort of touchstone, by which the humble and earnest inquirer after truth might be distinguished from the obstinate and perverse hearers of the Gospel; to the one they were a cloud of darkness, to the other a pillar of light. The justice of this observation is confirmed by our blessed Lord himself, who, in allusion to the inveterate obstinacy of the Jews, declares that "seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not." And should not the melancholy truth, that these beautiful lessons were taught in vain to thousands by that divine Teacher whose "lips were full of grace and truth," speak to the hearts of those who are privileged to listen to them in the present day? should it not act as a stimulus and a warning? The oracles of God are placed in our hands; but upon the spirit and temper in which they are studied how much depends! A day may come, in which the precepts, the threatenings, the invitations of these sacred oracles, may witness against us, in which they may serve only to aggravate our guilt and quicken our remorse, when they may be, indeed, as a dark cloud augmenting our distress and desolation ;but let us rather cherish the delightful hope, that to us and to countless myriads of our fellow-pilgrims they will prove a pillar of light, guiding us through many difficulties and perils to our Father's kingdom; and in opening the sacred volume let a mingled feeling of awe and gratitude be kindled in our hearts as we recall the solemn and reiterated assurance of our beloved Lord, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." THE ABIDING CITY OF GOD'S PEOPLE: A Sermon, BY THE REV. CHARLES HEBERT, M.A. "Here have we no continuing city; but we seek one to come." THE influence which religious poetry exercises upon mankind, is a subject well worthy of the consideration of Christian parents and teachers; for unquestionably the truths that are embodied in good Christian hymns exert great power over us, and sink into the inmost recesses of the mind. How few have not felt the touching and ennobling influence of that hymn which is founded on this text, and teaches us to turn the thought to joy and singing, that we have no abiding city below! Sacred poetry of itself alone, or wedded to harmonies of a sacred character, seems to strike the very chords of the heart, and often wins a reception for doctrines, which without such friendly aid would have been rejected at the very entrance with aversion or contempt. Receive the important truth, ye guardians of youth, that wish for the conversion of their souls to God; and receive it, ye youths, who would become children of the Father in heaven, that if a taste for learning hymns is once acquired, one of God's chosen engines has begun to batter at the high walls of the rebellious heart; yea, one of the outworks, formerly in the possession of vice, or paganism, or philosophy at best, is now in the way of being Christianised! Happy are the sons and daughters whose youth is cheered by the melody of sacred sounds!—the melody shall not diminish, but the sacred instruction shall increase as they advance in years. This text especially appeals to minds of a poetical bias; but, methinks, there is that in it which appeals to every soul among us; for who is there that is not arrested with this Divine warning, "Here we have no continuing city; but we seek one to come?" Brethren, may the blessing of the Lord be upon us while I endeavour to extract the true spirit of these words, by dwelling successively upon four points to which they seem to lead our thoughts. I. The object yearned after by every soul, a condition of security and settlement-" a continuing city." II. A picture of this world, which seems to be drawn at one stroke, as a place where no such blessing is to be found" here we have no continuing city." III. A declaration that there is such a thing elsewhere, revealed in the emphatic words, one to come;" and 66 IV. The characteristic description of every Christian, that he is a seeker of that future state of security — we seek one to come." O may something of fire from on high enkindle our meditations, that the Christian may rejoice in the lot which he hath chosen, and the man who has never wept over sin be brought to long for a better inheritance than the things and pleasures of sense and time! I. I shall trace in these words the object yearned after by every man's heart, viz. a settled and secure condition. 66 Brethren, do I err in saying that there is a special charm to every heart in the words a continuing city?" What is it that stirs men up to undertake so many toils in the various walks of society; which sends the mariner to buffet with unknown seas; and urges men to rise early and late take rest; and supports them in undergoing the severest mental and bodily fatigues day by day, and year by year? It is not simply the thirst of distinction, the feverish passion for fame; there is also a desire of providing a fixed and settled retirement under the coming infirmities of declining years. This is one chief spring of the young man's endeavours; and as time and accident thicken, the desire increases, till that which was in youth an elemental seed, almost absorbs the mind in advancing age. Every disappointed hope renews its strength; every calamity that happens, and every infirmity that grows upon us, augments the yearning of the heart after a place of permanent security, feelingly depicted here under the terms, "a continuing city." Fully to enter into the beauty and force of this expression, it is necessary to imagine ourselves transported to a country exposed to the frequent devastation of war. The good hand of God over England, which has so long kept our soil from the tread of armed foes, or the blacker horrors of civil bloodshed, makes us scarce able to feel the significancy of the term, "a continuing city." But imagine yourselves in a land where the broken framework of the law cannot restrain each castle and town from pouring forth its band of marauding ruffians; or, suppose an enemy's host landed and spreading fire and ruin far and wide, you will then partly estimate the desirableness of dwelling in "a continuing city." The solitary house is plundered and in flames; the father is slain, and his unprotected wife and household carried into sad captivity: but to dwell in a city that hath bolts and bars, that is planted on a lofty rock, and fenced all around with battlements, and furnished with provision to sustain, and weapons of defence to repel the enemy, this is the figure under which the text represents that settled security which is the latent object of every man's heart. To be able to say to want, I fear thee not; to be able either to sit at ease under the shadow of our own roof, or actively to follow the bent of our own minds by living like bees in winter, without a care for the morrow, upon the produce which industry has secured, this is the condition after which every man yearns; and most men think that if they could obtain and enjoy it without fear of disturbance, they should have reached true happiness. II. Therefore, secondly, God condescends to give man a warning respecting it, drawing at one stroke a picture of this world, by saying that no such permanent security is to be found here" here we have no continuing city." But how is it? are not all men pursuing after a phantom of this sort? Look into your own minds, and mark the features of the flitting vision that allures you onward. Is it not, "Could I but secure this object, and add to my state that other comfort, and extricate myself from the entanglement and pressure of these incumbrances and difficulties; could I once plant myself and family in that envied position, I should be at ease, I should have attained to the object of my yearning heart, and henceforth the stream of life would drift my little bark tranquilly onwards?" I stay not to remind you how objects of worldly desire lose half their value when attained, and how hope's brilliant light flies forward to settle on some other object more in advance ; so that a successful man generally never is blest, but always thinks himself on the point of being so nor must I dwell long on the acknowledged truth, that where so many are running in the race of advancement, many will be thrust aside, or so overthrown as to be trodden under foot and wounded in spirit, to rise no more. All will not gain the prize. But since each man is allured by hope to think that he shall be the successful one, or at least one of the successful, let us suppose you some years hence, or it may be now, so felicitous in your efforts, and so measured in your wishes, as to be in possession of every object of desire; suppose that divine Providence heaps upon you with a liberal hand all manner of blessings-riches, and houses, and lands, more than sufficient for your desires, or, as you term them, your wants-a contented temper, without which all would be vain-a circle of friends of sufficient taste, and intellect, and affection, to make intercourse lively and congenial,-suppose that the vine on the walls of thine house beareth her goodly clusters, and that health glisteneth in the myrtle-plants, and shineth on the polished corners of an abounding family; nay, more (though some omit it in their pictures of future happiness, I must add one feature necessary, not as a finish to the whole, but as its life and soul), imagine that your once vague hopes of some day turning to God are realised, and that you serve, and honour, and love him in your daily walk-and that Divine grace daily sought makes your children and servants trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified-suppose all this, and who will not say, how lovely a picture! what a place of rest! a sheltered garden! a haven of peace! Yes; if God be not forgotten in his gifts, it is a little Eden on earth-as it were one glade of paradise restored. But hearken, O ye that possess these blessings, and ye too that nourish your hearts by looking forward to such scenes, God's warning is, that you cannot so find a " continuing city." Satan, that stole into Paradise and brought in sin, often and often casts the seeds of misery unperceived into the heart of one of the members of such a household, and all is disturbed and marred, as when Cain hated Abel and slew him. You look in vain here for a city whose bolts and bars can shut out temptation, and sin, and trouble. Are riches secure? Your city has no bolts and bars to confine them. How often is it verified that they take to themselves wings and fly away! Friends, the nearest and dearest,what risk of their becoming estranged and chilled by misunderstanding, arising, perhaps, from pride unsubdued on the part of both! O beware of giving or taking offences; how soon is the bloom of voluntary friendship brushed away! But, suppose we all these averted, and yet as to the continuance of this fabric of happiness which long years have reared, how frail and glassy are the first stones of its very foundation, the lives of its members! Who has not heard the piteous tale of the withering of many a lovely flower before it reached its prime? how art and tenderness in vain united their efforts!-a worm was at the root! Earthquake, and hurricane, and plague, and war, are not necessary to brand instability on our comforts of this life. In the form of a slight cold, death lays its imperceptible touch upon the frame, and ere long comes to claim his own, and to testify by the chasm that is made, and the shadow on the countenances of them that are left behind, that here we have no bliss that endureth, "no continuing city!" no continuing city!" How much more, if the fair and lovely vine herself, or the master-tree which bears her up, is stricken with a secret blow! Yet men will seek for these things, as if they were to endure, and will confide in their continuance to the last hour. It is necessary, then, that ye be warned by no less than the voice of God himself, that "here ye have no continuing city." The saints and patriarchs of old time believed God in this; and we doubt not they enjoyed this life's blessings more in the enjoyment, and were comforted when the loss of them came, because they had learned to hold them in uncertain tenure, as daily pensioners of God's free grace. For instance; Abraham felt comforted by this when he stood before his dead, in the presence of the children of Heth, saying, "I am a stranger and a sojourner" (Gen. xxiii. 4); Jacob meekly bare the full prosperity of declining years, while he thought, as he spake to Pharaoh, of life as "a pilgrimage ;" and when David was gathering his nobles to the magnificent task of building a temple to the God of Israel (1 Chron. xxix. 15), he repeats to them all this salutary truth, "We are all strangers before God, and sojourners, as were all our forefathers: our days are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." Thus did they confess, as St. Paul declares how slow are we to confess the same of ourselves that they were "strangers and | pilgrims on the earth;" for by continual changes God had taught them what he hath here expressed in plain and touching terms, "Here we have no continuing city." III. But, thirdly, God assures us that there is such a state to be attained unto elsewhere -there is "one to come." The original is more explicit, for the existence of such a state is expressly affirmed. It is spoken of not as a hope, an imagination, like those which man sets before his own eyes, but as a reality. The true force of the expressions, "the one to come," is, "the city that is to come." Yes, revelation sets before us a place of security beyond the utmost dream of human hope"a continuing city," more complete than it hath entered into the heart of man to conceive, hath God prepared for them that love him. It is figured forth as a city (Heb. xi. 16): "God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city." It hath walls and gates: "Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise." As it is written, again, in Revelations: "It had a wall great and high;" and again, Isaiah saith, "We have a strong city: salvation shall God appoint for walls and bulwarks." It is set forth specially under the figure of the "holy city," the New Jerusalem: "the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon." No enemy can burst open its pearly gates, nor leap over its jasper walls, nor pollute its golden streets: "There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth." Sin, temptation, sorrow, sickness, tears, death, shall not be known there. Our breaches shall be repaired, never to be broken down again; our wounds shall be healed, and infirmity removed altogether. The majesty of God is security for the peace and safety of that place. The Lord shall keep that city, and his watchmen shall not wake in vain; and there the universal yearning after a state of safety, and freedom from mischance and the shock of accident, shall be fully gratified. Believe it, brethren, that it is to this that the general desire in the breast of all men is pointing; and you direct your aim too low, if you bend it chiefly at things below the skies. But mark, that if the city be such as I have described, it is eminently "a continuing city." Methinks I now understand why this gorgeous imagery is used. Walls of precious stone denote not only security, but continuance. As the name of each tribe in Israel was not written in parchment on the fringe or phylacteries of the high priest's dress; nor graven on a tablet of stone, as the ten commandments, which were to endure as long as the world; but wrought in precious stones, as a seal, on his heart and arm, with the work of an engraver in stone, as the engraving of a signet, to denote that a believer's interest in Christ is to outlive the law itself, and endure for ever; even so, notwithstanding the appearance of lavish expenditure, which makes it strange, the walls of the New Jerusalem, and all its twelve foundations, are significantly depicted as of the most precious stones, to denote the permanence of a believer's place; that he will be at last in "a continuing city." If the city is such as this, and the inhabitants are to go no more out, and if in these earthly things I am to see (whatever else may be deemed to be therein) a strong type of heavenly things, then it follows certainly, as far as figures can establish it, that however frail and changeable the fabrics of earthly happiness, however instability is the very condition of the tenure of our cities of rest on earth, the one to come is indeed "a continuing city;" as it is written, "Christ is gone to prepare mansions for his people." IV. But, fourthly, the apostle lets fall by the way a short characteristic description of every true Christian, viz. that he is a "seeker" of that heavenly condition: "We seek one to come." things clash with heavenly, and you will see where his heart is, that he is earnestly seeking his native city, into whose privileges he was new born, though at a distance, precisely as Paul was born into the privileges of Rome, though his native place was in Cilicia. The earnestness of a Christian will shew itself in all he does; and in proportion as he is earnest, is the development of his Christianity. Another remark to which this characteristic description of a Christian gives rise, is an encouraging one to those Christians who, though earnest, are cast down. A Christian's character is evidently that of an expectant, not a possessor. Ye are not yet come into the place which the Lord hath said he will give unto you. Be not therefore discouraged at being only an expectant of coming blessings. But the timorous may reply, "O, if I did expect, if my heart were full of expectation, nay, if I had but a few rays of fixed hope abiding in me, I should be at ease, and go on my way rejoicing." What! hast thou not? Well; perhaps at times thou hast none; all hope of being saved may at times be taken away; yet whom doth the text describe as Christians?-not them that expect, but simply them that seek. No Christian need shut him self out from this consolation. He may, indeed, do so, for he may cease to seek; and that is danger. But take up courage to be found seeking, and if death itself so finds you still seeking heartily, though not yet assured, we should not fear for you. All that is said here of Christians is, they "seek one to come." Go, then, seek steadfastly, and peace be unto you. You will be laying hold on the promises made to them that seek; to them that wait on God; to them that look for the coming of Christ. Only strive towards the heavenly city. Recognise in this description, that earnestness is an implied characteristic of the people of God. This remark, so near the end of this epistle, is evidently to bring to remembrance much more that had been said on this point in the 11th chapter, to which we have already made brief reference, but which will now much more appropriately illustrate the earnestness with which true Christians seek the city of rest to come. In the 14th verse of that chapter St. Paul argues," they that say such things" (viz. that they are strangers and pilgrims,) "declare plainly that they seek a country;" the original here is, "their native country," for heaven is termed When professors sink in the slough of desthe believer's native land, his father - land, pond, you may know which is the true pilgrim; his father's city. He then proceeds," and for Pliable will go nearer the world to get out truly, if they had been mindful of that from of his dejection of spirit, but the Christian, in which they came out" (Abraham's worldly the midst of the mire of unbelief, will struggle connexions were in Ur of the Chaldees), "they towards the heavenly city. It seems to be at might have had opportunity to have returned; once a comprehensive, comforting, and most but now they desire a better, that is an heaven-accurate and safe delineation of a true Chrisly: God hath prepared for them a city." Learn, then, brethren, that as an exile seeks his father's land, or his native city, where the great majority of his kindred dwell, so the Christian soul feels towards heaven-it is his Father's dwelling; and as a pilgrim presses onward hastily with his staff and scallop-shell to reach his native shores, so the true Christian is daily seeking his city of continuance in heaven; and his conversation (i. e. his citizenship) is in heaven. He need not affect stoic indifference to the stations and duties on earth. St. Paul said, "I am of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city." But let earthly tian, that he seeks the continuing city to come. I would now fain bind this subject yet closer upon your individual hearts, by addressing three classes of persons. First, those that have suffered much from the mutability of earthly things; secondly, those that have been prosperous hitherto; and, thirdly, those that are entering on the trials of life. Let me then speak, first, to them that have suffered much from the mutability of earthly things. I speak feelingly unto such; a conviction of the transiency of my own earthly comforts makes me deal tenderly with you: • See Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. it may be well, at times, to turn back the mind on the periods of actual bereavement and the fear of being bereaved; on times of sickness and trouble, and the fear of worse calamities impending. All these strokes were but practical inculcations of this truth, "Here we have no continuing city." Why is it that you have had so many? Have you been slow to receive them; reluctant to confess to your own heart that your tenure is insecure? Had you set your best affections on earthly objects? or was it that God saw them insensibly unwinding from himself, and entwining themselves more and more about them than about him? What could he then do, if he loved your soul? He whetted his glittering sword, and severed at one blow the ties that were periling your immortal salvation. It may be that the sword was long hanging over you before the blow was given; that God waited to see if he might yet be gracious; that he endured your idolatry with much long-suffering, till he saw that nothing short of the sword could cure and save. O, have you now learned the true lessons of affliction? Where is your heart? Has it found its rest in God, the true antepast and foretaste of the continuing city above? If so, rejoice; now ye desire a better lot than this world, that is, an heavenly city. The blows that wrought this effect, or that took away that which hindered it, were gracious strokes; and ye sorrow not as they which are without hope; for them that are asleep in Jesus shall God bring with him: they shall rise first, and you be restored to them. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. But if it be otherwise, and your deceased relatives rest in the Lord, and your heart is not turned to seek the heavenly kingdom, separation for ever from them, as well as from God, is at present before you. Turn, then, while life lasts, be it but a moment longer; for then should be weeping indeed, if ye were to see them enter, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, into the city of God, and ye yourselves shut out. day flourishing, to-morrow cast into the fire; nay, more, perhaps God may now be saying to the strongest and securest among us, "Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required;"" then whose shall those things be," and where shall that respect of man be dissipated which thou hast acquired? Is this aught more than a divine comment, of a rather startling character, upon the truth, "Here we have no continuing city?" Ah! woe to him that useth life to lay up treasure on earth, and considereth not how to be rich before God. O let the truth, "here no continuing city," strike upon your inmost ears, and shake your inmost heart, and awaken you to seek the Lord Jesus before the command goeth forth: "Down with him and his vain confidence at once; the Lord saith his time shall be no longer." Oh! brethren, I beseech you, if you are alarmed by the first part of the text, "here we have no continuing city," pause not, rest not, be not content; before you give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids, go to Christ in prayer, give him your heart in a solemn vow, and ask him to make a covenant with you, and put you among the number of those who are distrusting the city here, and seeking the one to come. But now, thirdly, I must say one word more, in conclusion, to those before whom life lies expanded as a land unknown, a deep untried. You have heard its character. Is it a land?-there are hurricanes that devastate it, and earthquakes that rend it. Is it a great deep ?—the ocean's calm itself is not less treacherous. At God's word the stormy winds of perils arise, the waves of life are lifted up. This is its true description; therefore be warned. Enter upon it to use it, not to abuse it: weep as though ye wept not, rejoice as though ye rejoiced not, buy as though you possessed not: hold it lightly, sit loose to it: wear it not as a flowing garment, but gird it and keep it in order, as a steward that knoweth not when his lord will come and take account of his stewardship. But first you must begin aright: lay I would, secondly, speak to them that have down your first principles: balance this world hitherto known little but prosperity. What is against the world to come, and see which your prosperity? One hath the honour that will henceforth seek. Make up your minds man payeth to his refinement, his intellect, his to decide at once: to-morrow may be too late; rank, his connexions. Another clotheth him- and, if not, why may you not procrastinate self in purple and fine linen, and fareth sump- to-morrow also, or many to-morrows? You tuously every day. Another saith to his soul, never will think death so near as to require "Soul, thou hast much merchandise laid up in instant decision. You may always, you will store; buy and sell, and get gain." O know think, postpone it one day more. Therefore ye not that ye are living on the sides of a vol- you really enlist yourself among those who that the earth beneath your feet is seek for rest here, where there is no secuunsound-that prosperity is like the smooth-rity, no city of continuance, unless you will ness that the torrent puts on the moment before it shoots from that precipice into the gulf below? Your life is even as a vapour; your health is as the flower of the grass; to cano throw in your lot with the people of God. Be willing to wait for your portion, and begin heartily to seek the continuing city which is to come. |