Hebrews 13:14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. I. No sooner are we capable of looking round us, and considering the frame of our nature, and the condition of our being, than we may observe THAT, DERIVED FROM DUST, WE NATURALLY HASTEN TO DUST AGAIN; that none can claim the privilege of an exemption from the common necessity; that the human, like the vegetable race, have their periods of growth and declension, and are either cut down by the hand of violence, or soon fade and drop of themselves. Strangers and sojourners here, as were all our fathers, we soon pass away, and are gone. II. I proceed to deduce SOME REFLECTIONS AND INFERENCES FROM THE SHORT DURATION AND TRANSITORY: CONDITION OF HUMAN LIFE. 1. Melancholy indeed would be the reflection that we pass away as a shadow if this life were the whole of our existence, and we had no hope beyond it, But, setting aside other considerations, the short term of our existence here may give us grounds to hope that it will be renewed and prolonged hereafter. For can we think that man was not designed by his Maker to attain that perfection in wisdom, and virtue, and happiness of which his nature is susceptive? 2. Meditation on our short and uncertain state in this world may wean us from an over-fondness for anything in it. 3. The consideration of the shortness of life may assist us in supporting us under its afflictions. 4. If the time of our sojourning in this world be but short, let the great and habitual object of our attention be that state which may soon begin but can never end. If "we have here no continuing city, let us seek one to come." (G. CarT, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.WEB: For we don't have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come. |
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