ear would God have within us, that we guard
ourselves against sin, and serve our neighbor, while we live here
upon the earth.

A Christian, if he truly believes, possesses all the good things of
God, and is God's child, as we have heard. But the time which he yet
lives is only a pilgrimage: for the spirit is already in heaven by
faith, through which he becomes Lord over all things. But to this end
God permits him yet to live in the flesh, and his body to remain on
earth, that he may help others and bring them also to heaven.
Therefore we are to use all things on earth as a guest, who goes on
wearily and arrives at an inn where he must tarry over night, and can
receive nothing from it but food and lodging; yet does not say that
the property of the inn is his. So must we also proceed in regard to
our temporal possessions, as though they were not ours, and we
enjoyed only so much of them as is needful to sustain the body, and
with the rest we are to help our neighbor. Thus the christian life is
only a night's sojourning; for we have here no abiding city, but must
find it, where our Father is, in heaven. Therefore we should not here
live in wantonness, but stand in fear, says St. Peter.

V. 18. _And be aware that ye are not redeemed with corruptible silver
or gold, from your vain conduct in the traditions of your Fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ._ This should draw you, he
would say, to the fear of God, wherein ye should stand, that ye
should remember how much it has cost that ye might be redeemed.
Before, ye were citizens of the world, and were held in subjection to
the devil, but now, God has rescued you from such a state, and set
you firm in another, so that your citizenship is in heaven; but ye
are strangers and guests upon earth. And see at how great a cost God
has reclaimed you, and how great the treasure is, wherewith ye are
purchased, and brought into this state, to become the children of
God. Wherefore pass your sojourning in fear, and see to it that ye do
not despise such redemption, and lose the noble, precious treasure.

What now is the treasure wherewith ye are ransomed? Not corruptible
gold or silver, but the precious blood of Christ the Son of God: the
treasure is so costly and noble, that no human sense or reason can
conceive it, insomuch that only one drop of this innocent blood were
more than enough for the sin of all the world: yet has the Father
been willing to dispense his grace so ric