A Treatise of Self-Denial, Treatise · Chapter 35
CHAP. XXXV. Our Native Country and Habitations denied.
18. ANother part of Carnal ſelf-intereſt to be denied, is, Our Native Country, or place of habitation, with all the Comforts and Accommodations they afford us. It is lawful to have ſome ſpecial Love to our own Country; but not ſuch as ſhall prevail againſt the love of Chriſt, or ſeem ſufficient to entangle us in ſin. We muſt ſhew our Love to it principally by deſiring and endeavouring, that Gods name may be hallowed, and his Kingdom maintained, and his will fulfilled among and by our Countrymen: But if they ſhould turn enemies to the Goſpel or to Godlineſs, we muſt love the ſervants of God abroad much better than his enemies at home; and wiſh the ſucceſs of his ſervants though of other Countries, againſt his enemies, though they were of our own. And if we cannot ſerve God or enjoy the freedom of a good conſcience at home, another Nation, though it were in the utmoſt parts of the Earth, where we may better ſerve God, muſt ſeem a better place to us. And if we be baniſhed or neceſſitated to forſake our Country, we muſt not ſtick at it, for the cauſe of Chriſt. It is none of the greateſt tryals to be put to remove from one Country to another, as long as we have neceſſaries, whereever we come. We have the ſame God to be with us, and take care of us, beyond ſea, as at home: the ſame earth, and air, and ſun to ſhine upon us: The ſame Spirit, and grace, and promiſes do accompany us: The ſame Saints of God, and Ordinances of Worſhip may be had in other Countries as our own. It's a kind of childiſhneſs to make ſuch a matter of being driven out of one Kingdom into another, when we have the ſame or greater mercies in the other. All is but our Fathers houſe; and we do but remove from room to room. The Earth is the Lords and the fulneſs thereof. As I ſaid before of Impriſonment, ſo I ſay of Baniſhment; It is in our own Wills by conſenting to it, to make it no baniſhment. If you will make an affliction and a great matter of it, you may. A Merchant or Factor can live for his commodity, far from home, even among Turks and Infidels, and take it for no baniſhment: Much more ſhould you do ſo, for the ſake of Chriſt. Every place is our own Country where our Maſters work lieth. We are but pilgrims; and as long as we are not out of our way, we need not complain much for being out of our Country. Indeed we are here but ſtrangers, and this is not our Country, and therefore let us not overlove it upon a miſtake. The Apoſtles of Chriſt did purpoſely leave their Countreys, and travel about the Countreys of the World, to bring them the Doctrine of ſalvation by Chriſt. And is it not better be walking Lights to illuminate the world, than Candles ſhut up within the walls of our own habitation? Heb. 11. 8, 9, 19. [By faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place which he ſhould after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he ſojourned in the Land of promiſe as in a ſtrange Country, dwelling in Tahernacles —for he looked for a City which had foundations, whoſe builder and maker is God, ver. 13, 14, 15, 16. They confeſſed that they were ſtrangers and pilgrims on the earth; For they that ſay ſuch things, declare plainly that they ſeek a Country: And truly if they had been mindful of that Country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned: But now they deſire a better Country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not aſhamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a City.] It was the ſoreſt kind of baniſhment that the Saints endured, that's mentioned, Heb. 11. 37, 38. and yet they patiently underwent it. [They wandred about in ſheepskins and goatskins, being deſtitute, afflicted, tormented: Of whom the world was not warthy: they wondred in deſerts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.] We judge our ſelves unworthy of Chriſt and the new Jeruſalem and our Heavenly Country, if we cannot deny an earthly ſinful Country for them.