LIBIIA.RY Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N.J. BV A831 .BA F3 1838 f Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. The saints' everlasting rest SELECT CHRISTIAN AUTHORS, INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS. N? 10. m r-^ I J" 4K PllliI.B»lIE.l.i £Y WILMAM n [JIMS CHUASGOW -Kng^ # Steel bv W^I.ii^p* ROua' THE saijN'ts eyerlasting rest. BY THE y REV. RICHARD BAXTER. ABRIDGED BY BENJAMIN FAWCETT, A.M. WITH AJs^ INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY THOMAS ERSKINE, ESQ., ADVOCATE. EIGHTH EDITION. GLASGOW: WILLIAM COLLINS, 7, S. FREDERICK STREET. EDINBURGH: OLIVER & BOYD; WILLIAM WHYTE & CO.: AND WILLIAM OLIPHANT & SON. DUBLIN: WILLIAM CURRY, JUNIOR, & CO. LONDON: WHITTAKER&CO.; HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO.; AND SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 1838. GLASGOW : VILLIAM COLLINS & Co., PRINTERS, CANDLEftlGG COOBT. J'^SOL OGIGAL \ INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. We do not arrogate to ourselves so much as to sup- pose, that our commendation can add any thing to the authority of such a name as that of Richard Baxter. It is not to commend him, but to ren- der our own series of practical divinity more complete, that we introduce his Saints' Everlasting Rest to our readers. He belonged to a class of men, whose characters and genius, now universally venerated, seem to have been most peculiarly adapted, by Divine Providence, to the circumstances of their age and country. We do not speak only of those who par- took in Baxter's views of ecclesiastical poUty; but of those who, under any name, maintained the cause of truth and Hberty, during the eventful period of the seventeenth century. They were made of the same firm stuff with the Wickliffs, and the Luthers, and the Knoxes, and the Cranmers, and the Lati- raers, of a fonner age. They formed a distinguished division of the same glorious army of reformation; they encountered similar obstacles, and they were directed, and supported, and animated, by the same ^pil•it. They were the true and enUghtened cru- saders, who, with all the zeal and courage wh.ich conducted their chivalrous ancestors to the earthly Jerusalem, fought their way to the heavenly city; and rescuing, by their sufferings and by their labours, the key of knowledge from the unworthy hands in which it had long lain rusted and misused, gener- ously left it as a rich inheritance to all coming gener- ations. Tliey speak with the solemn dignity of martyrs. Tliey seem to feel the importance of their theme, and the perpetual presence of Him who is the great subject of it. There are only two things which they seem to consider as realities, the favour of God, and the enmity of God ; and only two par- ties in the universe to choose between, the party of God, and the party of his adversaries. Hence that lieroic and noble tone, which marks their lives and their writings. Tliey had chosen their side, and they knew that it was worthy of all they could da or suffer for it. They were born in the midst of conflicts civil and religious ; and as they grew up, their ears heard no other sounds than those of defiance and controversy. Thus life was to them, in fact and reality, that war- fare, which is to many of us only its rhetorical em- blem. To this is to be attributed that severity of rebuke, and sternness of denunciation, which we are sometimes almost sorry to meet with in then* expos- tulations. But they were obhged to speak loud, in order to be heard in those troublous days. They Mere trained in the lanfruasre of strife, as their mo- ther tongue ; and they used that language even in delivering the message of peace. But tbev did de- Vll liver the message of peace, they declared tlic way of salvation, and tlicy were highly honoured, and in- vincibly supported by Him who sent them. The agitated state of surroundinij circumstances crave them continual proof of the instability cf ail things temporal ; and inculcated on them the neces- sity of seeking a happiness wliich might be inde- pendent of external things. They thus practically learned the vanity and nothingness of life, except in its relation to eternity; and they declared to their fellow-creatures the mysteries of the kingdom of God, with the tone of men who knew that the lightest word which they spoke, outweiglied in the balance of reason, as well as of the sanctuary, the value of ;ill earth's plans, and politics, and interests. They were upon high and firm ground. They stood in the midst of that tempestuous ocean, secure on the Rock of Ages ; and as they uttered to those around them their invitations, or remonstrances, or consola- tions, they thought not of the tastes but of the ne- cessities of men — they thought only of the difference between being lost and being saved, and they cried aloud, and spared not. There is no doubt a great variety of thought, and feehng, and expression, to be met with in the theo- logical writers of that class ; but deep and solemn seriousness is the common character of them all. They seem to have felt much. Religion was not allowed to remain as an unused theory in their heads; they were forced to Hve on it as their food, and to have recourse to it as their only strength and com- fort. Hence their thoughts are never given as ah- Vlll stract views; they are always deeply impregnated with sentiment. Their style reminds us of the liffht wliich streams through the stained and storied windows of an ancient cathedral. It is not light merely, but light modified by the rich hues, and the quaint forms, and the various incidents of the pic- tured medium through which it passes. So these venerable worthies do not give us merely ideas, but ideas coloured by the deep affections of their own hearts ; they do not merely give us truth, but trutij in its historical application to the various struggles, and difficulties, and dejections of their strangely chequered lives. This gives a great interest to their writings. They are real men, and not books that we are conversing with. And the peace, and the strength, and the hope, which they describe, are not the fictions of fancy, but the positive and substan- tial effects of the knowledge of God on their own minds. They are thus not merely waymarks to di- rect our journey ings ; they seem themselves pilgrims travelhng on the same road, and encouraguig us to keep pace with them. In their books, they seem thus stiU to journey, still to combat ; but O let us think of the bright reality ! — then* contests are past, their labours are over; they have fought the good fight, and they are now at rest, made perfect in Christ Jesus. They are joined to that cloud of witnesses, of whom the world was not worthy ; and their names are inscribed in the rolls of heaven ; yet not for their own glory, but for the glory of him Vvho washed them from their sins in his own blood, and whose strength was made perfect in their weak- ness. IX These were the great men of England, and to tliem, under God, is England indebted for inucli of that which is valuable in her pubHc institutions, and in the character of her people. They were, indeed, a noble army ; they were born from above to be the combatants for truth; they were placed in the gap, and they held their ground, or fell at their posts. In this army Richard Baxter was a standard- bearer. He laboured much, as well in preaching as in writhig; and with an abundant blessing on both. He had all the high mental quahties of his class in perfection. His mind is inexhaustible, and vigor- ous, and vivacious, to an extraordinary degree. He seizes irresistibly on the attention, and carries it along with him ; and we assuredly do not know any author who can be compared with him, for the power with which he brings his reader directly face to face, with death, and judgment, and eternity; and compels him to look upon them, and converse with them. He is himself most deeply serious, and the holy solemnity of his own soul seems to envelop the reader, as with the air of a temple. But on such a subject praise is superfluous, as it is easy; and we shall rather hes the attention of our readers to some observations on his manner of stating di- vine truth, and on the interesting subject of the work before us. In the first place, then, there is perhaps, too little appearance of compassion, and too mucli detail in his descriptions of the punishments after death. The general idea is all that is given in Scripture, and a3 even that is rarely insisted on, except by our Lord liimself ; as if such a fearful denunciation could only have its right effect, when pronounced by the lips of him who is love itself. It is not to the statement of the doctrine that we object ; but to the manner o+" doing it. A^^hatever men may think or feel on the subject, there can be no doubt, that the doctrine does stand in Scripture, and assuredly it docs not ^tand there in vain. We must leave the difficulties ',vith God. The light of the last day Mill dispel all darkness. In the mean time, it must be stated ; but let it be stated in Scripture language. Let not man use his own words, and far less his own fancy, in describing the future punishments of the impeni- tent; and above all, let him not speak of them as one at ease; and let him not describe God as taking pleasure in the infliction. There can be no real ad- vantage gained by agitating the imagination on sucli a subject. Even fear, to be useful, ought to have some calmness in it. And it ought to be remem- bered, that men are not made Christians by terror, but by love. It is tlie genial ray of the Sun of Hijrliteousness, and not the storm of the divine wrath, which compels the sinner to lay down the weapons of his rebellion. The steady conviction that misery, intolerable, must be for ever connected with reject- ing tlie offered mercy of God, is the true impression produced by the declarations of the Bible on this matter ; and this is a much more efficient and prac- tically useful principle, tlian the terrors of an ima- gination worked up by a picture of the secrets ol XI tliat prison-liousc. Our gracious master, who suf- fered in our stead, and whose deep, and solemn, and tender interests in our welfare, could not be doubted, did, indeed, in his dicourses, always set before men life and death, as tlic solemn alternatives of their choice ; but in his mouth it is still the language of affectionatf". thougli urgent persuasion ; and he does not lift the veil, except in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus ; nor terrify the fancy, nor represent God as taking pleasure in the misery of his creatures. He docs not even represent this punishment so much under the form of a positive infliction, as of the na- tural result of the operation of evil principles on the soul. " Their worm dieth not, their fire is noi quenched.'' Whose ? Their own — the worm and fire within them. Thus also, in other pajts of .Scripture, the state of the wicked is represented as tlie reaping of what they had sown, as eating of the Iruit of their own way, and being filled with their own devices. Gal. vi. 7, 8. Prov. iii. 31. And in Psalm Ixxxi. punishment is described thus, " He gave them up to their own hearts' lusts." 7^he compassion of God lor the miseries which sinners bring upon themselves, is also often strongly maiked by the Bible : for example, in the tears shed by oi r Lord over the bloody city; in the divine tenderness exhibited through the whole course of that remark- able history contained in the book of Jonah ; and in tile duties of a watchman described in Ezekiel xxxiii. " I have no pleasure, saith the Lord, in the death of him that dieth ; wherefore turn ye and live." The threatenings of God are all expressions of love. xu They are the descriptions of the misery of being strangers to God ; given for this very pui-pose, that we may be persuaded to come into his family, and to become fellow-citizens \vith the saints, and mem- bers of the household of faith. God seemed to say in these threatenings, " I cannot bear to lose you, or that you should lose such happiness; be- hold and see what you are rushing into — a soul at enmity with me must be miserable ; come then, and be my friend, and my child." Detailed and pro- longed descriptions of future misery seemed calcidated to injure our view of the Divine character; or to agi- tate the imagination ; or, hke \aolent stimulants to the bodily constitution, to lose their effect, and to deaden the sensibilities to calmer exhibitions of the truth. But there is another and a more important charge which has been brought ajjainst the writings of this great and good man. It is alleged that he does not always mark with sufficient clearness, the dis- tinction between the work of God, and the work of man, and that he even sometimes gives the idea, that we are called on to work out our own pardon, as well as our own salvation or spiritual healing. The dose appeals which he so frequently makes to the consciences of his readers, may, perhaps, in some degree, have given rise to this accusation. A wri- ter who presses so strongly as Baxter does, the ne- cessity of a change of heart and character in the Christian, needs great caution and accuracy of lan- guage, in order to avoid expressions which may seem to attribute too much, in the work of salvation, to human effort. Just as a writer, .wliose great XIll theme is the free grace of the Gospel, would need to be very much on his guard, il" he would avoid the charge of Antinomianism. The nature of the subject treated on in the book before us, may also have assisted in giving this tone to his instructions. He connects pardon and everlasting rest so much toge- ther, that he sees them, and speaks of them as if they were one and the same thing. Now, though in truth they are parts of the same grand plan, yet the one is the commencement, and the other is the consummation of the plan — and the language which is suited to the one is not always suited to the other. Pardon is the starting point of the Christian course. The saints' rest is the goal. Pardon precedes the race, the saints' rest crowns it. The pardon is universally and freely proclaimed to all ^vithout mo- ney and without price, without respect to character or condition, as the recompense of the atoning sac- rifice of Christ. To this pardon man cannot add, and from it he cannot detract; though he may bar himself from the benefit of it by refusing it ad- mission into his heart. Wliereas the saints' rest is entirely dependant on character : it is, in fact, only another name for a character conformed to the will of God. It is, in a sense, the natural reward of dili- gence in the cultivation of those principles which are implanted by a belief of the pardon. Diligence, therefore, and exertion, ought to be strenuously insisted on in pursuit of the saints' rest; but we must beware of thinking such thoughts, or using such language with regard to the pardon. By do- ing so, we shall obscure our views both of the love XIV of God, and of the evil of sin. Pardon is tlie medicine, the saints' rest is the cure accomphshed, it is salvation perfected, it is spiritual health. We ought not then to think of labouring for pardon; for it is proclaimed as a thing already past and recorded in heaven ; but we ought to labour for the saints' rest ; for it is a thing future, and depends on the jierfection of principles which are perfected by la- ])our. We ought not to labour for pardon, for it is a medicine already prepared, and freely bestowed, b" *''e great physician of souls ; but we ought to labour for spiritual health, in which the saints' rest consists, by continual application to the medicine, and by using the Spirit, and the strength which it supplies to support us, amidst the events which be- lal us, and the duties which we are called to fulfil. Now, though we are well persuaded, that all the parts of divine truth are so linked together, that if one part is taught to the soul by the Spirit of God, all the other parts will certainly foUow; and that, therefore, a partial obscurity or indistinctness of statement, in the midst of much surrounding light, and perspicuity, and power, may not materially im- pede the progress of a heart towards God ; yet we do regret that a greater prominency is not given in ]3axtcr's M^orks to the doctrine of justification by faith ; because the peace of the mind, and the sta- bility of its hopes, and the ardour and confidence of Its love, must depend on the degree of fuhiess with which it can look on God as a Father, who nath forgiven all its iniquities, on a ground altor- getlicr independent of its own deservings. XT 'lliis doctrine is in truth the great centre of the Christian system, wliich gives to all the other j)arts their symmetry and just proportion. It, in tact, con- tains all the rest, and we only know them truly, wlien we know them in relation to it. This doc- trine it is which constitutes the grand difference be- tween the religion of God, and all the religions in- \cnted by men. Human systems always place par- don, or the {h\ine favour, at tlic end of the race; they would remove condemnation by just making men cease from sinning. Whereas God makes men cease from sinning, by first removing the condem- nation. This is a stumbhngblock to the world, and its pliilosophers. They argue, that as sin is the root from which the condemnation sprung, it would be more reasonable to lay the axe to it, than merely to lop the bitter fruit that has sprung from it — and tliat it is unwise to enfeeble the motives of exer- tion, by giv^ng that in possession which ought to be reserved as the excitement and reward of diligence and obedience. But the difficulty lies not in the thing itself, but in tlicir ignorance of the signification of the terms employed. They do not know the meaning of sin, or punishment, or obedience, or reward. They con- sider them merely as external things. If we wish a porter to go a mile for us, we make much siu'cr of his going, by promising liim half-a-crown on liis return, than by paying him beforehand. But if we wisli to gain the confidence and affection of a man who has prejudices against us, we must begin by substantially proNing to him that he may rely on our XVI friendship and services. Now God desires and re- quires our confidence and affection. Nothing short of this can satisfy Him. It is His great command- ment, that we should love him with all the faculties of our being ; and without this love, the most punc- tual external conformity to His external command- ments, is a mere . mockery and delusion. He is not obeyed by our going the mile, but by our go- ing it out of love to Him. He, therefore, begins not merely by holding out to us a future happiness, though he does that too, but by proving himself worthy of all our confidence, and all our affection. Obedience then consists in active love. And this love can only proceed from a sense of God's excel- lence and amiableness in general, and of his favour in relation to ourselves. Without this behef in a higher or lower degree, of his favourable regard to- wards ourselves, there may be a solemn and distant respect, but there can be no filial love, and there- fore no full obedience. \Ve are persuaded, that an erroneous view of the object of the ten commandments, has misled many as to the nature and extent of religious duty, in this respect particularly. It is true, that the ten com- mandments were given by God's voice from heaven ; and it is also true, that in the last of them the Legis- lator claims to himself the sovereignty over the thoughts and intents of the heart, as well as over the act of the hand, or the word of the hp ; but yet it is no less true, that they contain rather a Hst of prohibitions, and of the most prominent and overt acts of disobedience to the will of God, than a do- XVll clarntlon of what that will absolutely is. In human governments, laws are considered as restraints upon natural liberty, and, therefore, every thing which is not forbidden by them is permitted. Thus a man may, without being amenable to the law, hate the king as much as he pleases, if he only avoid the com- mission of any of those acts which arc, by statute, construed into high treason. It is certain, that the ten commandments are very often interpreted in the same way. They are often supposed to permit that which they do not expressly prohibit. And on this subject we are disposed to think, that the error does not so much consist in the misinterpretation of the commandments, as in mistaking the purpose for which they were given, and in supposing that they were ever intended to convey a ftdl and spiritual view of the duty of man to God. For it ought to be remembered, that the ten commandments, besides being a religious rule, formed also a part of a code of civil jurisprudence. Jehovah was not only the God of Israel, as well as of all the universe, he was also the political King of Israel ; and the law of Moses not onlv o-ives a view of the Divine cha- racter, but also contains the statutes of the state, ac- cording to which property was determined, and of- fences were judged and punished. Religion binds the mind, the law of the land binds the body; God is the only judge of faithfulness or rebeUion in the first; man can judge of obedience or disobedience to the second. In the Jewish government, these two principles were united — the spirit of religion breathes through the law, and yet the acts prohibited xvni are, with the single exception of the injunctions of the tenth commandment, such as the eye of man could judge of, and such as required to be proved or disproved before their courts, by the testimony of liuman witnesses. This union, however, did not change or materialize the essence of relimon. An Israelite who kept the ten commandments to the letter, was innocent and righteous in the eye of the law, and of God, considered as the political king of the nation; but he might keep them most strictly to the letter, and yet stand under a heavy charge of guiltiness before God, as the spiritual judge of man. This important distinction between the spi- ritual religion and the material letter of their law, appears however to have been very generally over- looked by the Jews — they learned to limit their idea of sin, to the mere perpetration of the pro- hibited overt acts of disobedience — they looked to God only as their temporal king, and they became blind to the embracing universality of his claims upon them as their Creator and Spuitual Judge. And the same error is often committed amongst our- selves, without the same apology as the Jews had. There were positive miraculous blessings comiected with external obedience, under the theocracy, which might naturally lead them to lay great stress on this outside righteousness. And God appeared to them as their national Lawgiver and Judge, requiring this external obedience, and expressmg his approbation of it. But the temporal theocracy is no more. God reveals himself in the Gospel solely in his spiritual relation. And when we think of satisfying him by XIX nn external obedience, wc tlo liim dishonour, and we dcfrrade his law down to a level \vith our own Acts of Parliament. Tlie offences proliihited in the ten commandments, may be considered as the top brandies of that tree of revolt, which grows naturally in the heart, and brings forth correspond- ing fruit more or less in the life of every man un- renewed by the Spirit of God. But these brandies may be lopped or checked, and yet tlie strength of the poison may remain undiminished in the root, and in tlie trunk. The true and full law of God, is not only directed against tliis pernicious tree in its root, as well as its branches; but it also requires tliat the soil should be occupied by another plant, which may bring forth fruit to the glory of God. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy lieart, and mind, and soul, and strength." This is the universal and spii'itual law of God, and it was given to the Jews, though it does not make a part of their judicial code. It is contained in that so- lemn and touching recapitulation of mercies, and judgments, and obligations, and duties, which Mo- ses makes to the generation which had been either born or brought up in the wUderness, a short time l)cfore his own death, and their entrance into the land promised to their fathers. In this address, the spirit of the future dispensation breaks forth more distinctly, than in that part which was, strictly speak- ing, their law. Judaism was throughout a t}^e of Christianity. 'Die wonderous history of the chosen people — their deliverance from Egypt — their wanderings through XX the desert — their miraculous support during their long pilgrimage — their separation from other na- tions — their settlement in Canaan — their visible theocracy, were all material emblems of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and of the spiritual history of the children of God, in their journey from this vale of sin and sorrow, to the rest prepared for them. Even so their law, in all its parts, not mere- ly in its ceremonial, but even in its moral precepts, though it embraced and illustrated the principles of the succeeding dispensation, yet was in itself, to a great degree, literal, and material, and external; and the law of the ten commandments bore to the spiritual law of love, a relation somewhat analogous to that which the sacrifices of the tabernacle bore to the perfect atonement of Christ. Those who saw in the sacrifices no more than a ceremonial puri- fication from external pollutions, or a mode of de- liverance from external evils, would see no more in the ten commandments than a rule of external obe- dience. Whilst those who saw under that veil of rites a manifestation of the combined mercy and ho- liness which constitute the spiritual character of God, in relation to sinners — those who saw under it the type of that great atonement, on the ground of which the divine justice is even glorified in the par- don of the offenders, such Israelites would also dis- cover the spiritual law of love under the ten com- mandments, and would feel their hearts drawn to its observance. And in like manner, those who had found out that heart-love was the obedience •which God required, would not rest satisfied until XXI they had also discovered the true meaning of the sacrifices. They would feel assured, that the same principle in the mind of God, which prompted him to demand the hearts of his creatures, would prompt hun also to make such a discovery of his own cha- racter as would draw their hearts, and make obe- dience easy and delightful. They would look for something else than mere authority, to enforce such a command ; and they would find it in the spiritual antitype of all these ceremonies. Christ came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fill them out. They were but sketches and cartoons. He came to fill up their shadowy outlines with all the substance of real action, and all the rich colouring of spiritual affections. The ten commandments, taking into account the Christian modification of the fourth, are as binding now as ever they were, be- cause the duties contained in them spring out of the eternal relation between God and man ; but the most exact adherence to their letter will not defend us from the charge of spiritual delinquency before the Searcher of hearts. When the law of God comes to a man only in the shape of prohibitions, he is apt to consider it as a hard and severe tiling, and to count his own uneasy submission to it, an act of price and merit. He has unwUlingly abstained from some indulgence, and he lays up this price of self-denial in his treasury, as something on which he may afterwards found a hope or a claim before God. But when the law makes a demand upon our heart, the matter is changed en- tirely. In the first place, it is evident that he who XXll inakes the demand is himself full of affection towards us, for what but love could make him desire pos- session of our hearts ? and, in the next place, the idea of merit is altogether thrown out, because who is it that can say, that he has loved with all his heart ; and besides, the very thought of forming to ourselves a claim, destroys the fulness of the obe- dience, as it taints the freedom and generosity of love. A prohibitory law allows a man to think that he has fulfilled duty, and even that he has done certain things beyond the requirements of duty; or, in other words, supererogatory. But the law of love sets duty, hke the horizon, always before us, at the utmost extent of vision ; for love urges to do all that we can do, and then thinks all too little. If the law of God could be truly obeyed by mere self-denial and exertion, then pardon, or the ex- pression of divine favour, might properly have been reserved, and held out as the ultimate reward of diligence. But if the heart is positively required, and if love be the obedience demanded, as well as the heaven promised by the Bible, then we must have something to enforce it more cogent than either a command, or the expectation of a reward. And this we have in the gift of Christ, which is both the pledge of pardon and the proof of love. It may appear to some, that the argument which lias been stated, is not of much importance in these Christian days, as they are called. But the error which it combats, is not confined to any country, or to any age. Men still desire to change the spiri- XXIII tiKil, heart-searching God, into a temporal king, who judges only by the outward act, and who is sa tisficd with pious forms, and social integrity. It is this error which has, to a great degree, unchristian- ized even the form and profession of the Churcli ot Rome, and which, more or less, unchristianizes the rcUgion of Protestants. We may call it Judaism, or we may call it Popery, but it is the error of the human heart, more openly professed indeed by some than others, but prevalent universally under various shapes and names, until rooted out by the Spirit of the Uxing God. It is the knowledge of duty which gives us the knowledge of sin. And a knowledije of the true nature of these two things, makes the Gospel abso- lutely necessary to the heart. Sin is the transgres- sion of the first and great commandment — it is a departure of the heart from God. And why does the heart depart from God? Is he not good; is he not gracious; is he not worthy of our highest love, and gratitude, and confidence? Yes, no one denies this. How then does it come to pass, that the heart departs from God ? The explanation is, that our affections are bound to God only whilst the view of his love and his excellency is present to the mind. Had the tempter dared to assail Adam, whilst he was walking with God in the garden, and drinking; in life and light from his communion with him, can we doubt what the result would have been? God is light, and walks in Ught — a light pure and unapproachable by evil; and when Adam walked with him, he also was surrounded by that XXIV light, and was defended by it as by a shield. It is in the absence of the sun that the glow-worm, and the ignis-fatuus are seen ; and it is in the absence of the hght of the divine presence, that the things of sense and of time assume a false splendour, and like the wandering fires of nature, lure men to de- struction. He who walketh in the day, stumbleth not, for he hath the hght of this world; he sees things as they are ; he is not exposed to the delu- sion of false appearances ; he can distinguish be- tween the beaten road and the morass; he walks confidently and safely, for it is Hght which leads him. It is the property of light to make manifest ; and the more elevated the kind and the degree of the hght is, the greater will be the perfection and the truth of the manifestation. What then must the perfection and truth of that manifestation be, which is made by the spiritual presence of the Fa- ther of lights : and how great must be the security and confidence of those who walk in it. In this light Adam walked during the happy days of innocence. And whilst he thus looked on the excellence and the beauty of God, he was ir- resistibly attracted to him, and he could not sin, for the law of love was written on his heart. The presence of God was thus the source and the security, as well as the reward of his continued love and obedience. But he went out from the presence of God — he ceased to contemplate God — and the light of the divine perfections faded from his spiri- tual vision. In this season of absence or forgetful- ness, love abated, (for love lives by contemplating XXV Avliat is excellent,) the tempter came and Adam fell. All ! wherefore did he leave the blessed light, which was a glory and a defence — which would have scared away the powers of darkness, and guided his steps, and kept him from falling? Verily, it is an evil and bitter thing to depart from God. Wliat was his condition now ? Alas how changed ! Instead of walkinii with God as a friend, he dreaded and shunned him as an enemy. His back-slidings re- proved him ; and his own conscience became the dreadful executioner of that sentence, which ex- cluded him from the family and favour of God. As he had refused to walk in the light, he was shut out from the light — he had chosen a lie, and he re- ceived it for his portion — he had disregarded the smile of Jehovah, and now he could think only of his frown. Thus not only did sin become its own punish- ment, but this punishment became a fruitful source of farther sin. It was the contemplation of the ex- cellency, and a sense of the paternal favour of God, which produced and expanded the principles of holy love and obedience hi the heart of Adam. The cessation of this contemplation, and the forgetfulness of this paternal favour, were the very causes of his fall : and now these causes are fixed upon him — tlicy become the very circumstances of his existence. He cainiot contemplate Ciod, for he feels himself Ijanishcd from His j)resence — he cannot enjoy the sense of his paternal favour, for condemnation has been pronounced against him. iVdam's perfection had flowed from, and consisted B 10 XXVI in this, — that his affections were powerfully and permanently attracted by the contemplation of tlic holy love and kindness of God. When this at- traction ceased, his perfections ceased. What tlien must the consequence have been, when the divine love and favour were changed into displeasure .'' Evidently repulsion instead of attraction. It is the smile, and not the frown — it is the favour, and not tlie condemnation of God, wliicli shows forth love ; but it is only His frown, and His condemnation which the convicted and unpardoned rebel contem- plates — and thus the estrangement of his heart be- com.es more and more confirmed — darkness is his guide, and it leads him to thoughts and deeds of darkness. These thoughts and deeds, he feels, call for a flirther condemnation; and the fear of this removes him still farther from God. There is no limit to this tremendous series, but in the riches of divine grace. Perhaps the most overwhelming cir- cumstance in the miserable condition supposed is, that even the remaining good of the heart opposes our return to God. All our remaining sense of the ex- cellency of holiness, and all the loathing and condem- nation of our own pollution, which we may yet feel, makes us shun the divine presence. The know- ledge and approbation of what is right, witliout some view of forgiving love, can do little more, in the heart of a weak and sinful creature, than record and repeat the sentence of condemnation agahist itself, — and teach it, that • any misery is to be preferred to that of looking in the face of an offeiulcd God. Is there not then a true philosophy in that system XXV 11 which would make men cease from sinning, by re- moving the coiulcmnation of sin ? Is there not ;\ true wisdom in that rehgion, which would draw men from works of darkness, by surrounding them again with heavenly hght? And is there not a divine glory in that plan, which would overcome evil by <;;)od — which would annihilate distance, by annihi- lating fear — and which would expel enmity from the soul, by satisfying it with the abundance of grace ? The perfection of a creature docs not consist in its own seli-possessed powers, but in the maintenance of its proper place, in relation to its Creator : and the name of that place i& Constant Dependence. This place can be held only by affectionate confi- dence; and this requires a constant sense of the favourable presence and protection of God. Men sometimes puzzle themselves, by contrasting the moral strength attributed to Adam, with the facility of his fall. But Adam's strength is only another jiamc for his love to God ; and that love depended entirely on the view which he took of His charac- ter in general, and of His relation to himself in par- ticular. W hilst he viewed Him as his omnipresent and cvcr-gracious Friend, he loved Him; or, in other words, he was strong. When he lost this view, from any cause, there would be a proportional di- minution of his strength. And after his offence, when he viewed Hiin as his condemning Judge, his love would be changed into fear and estranj^ement; that is to say, his strength would become weakness. It must be so — it cannot be otherwise, in the nature of things. Love is the obedience of the b2 XXVIU heart : and that is the obedience which God requires. And this love, in the heart of a hitherto sinless crea- ture, can only proceed from, or be maintained by a sense, and continued sense — of the holy compla- •ency of God; and, in the heart of a sinful creature, i)ya sense, and a continued sense — of the holy com- passion of God. This going forth of the heart and the thought towards God, is to the spiritual man, what his locks were to the unshaven champion of Israel. It is the channel through which the omni- potent God communicates himself to his children. Whilst this channel continues unbroken and unin- terrupted, all is safe. But when a created thing is •ermitted to interpose itself between the soul, and the face of God, the charm is broken — the divine urrent ceases to flow in — he who before was strong becomes weak — and those Philistines, who had often ready begun, though too much impeded here by cor- ruption within, and sorrow without. Christianity was not an entirely new thing to pious Jews ; but yet its Hght so far excelled that of their introductory dis- pensation, as to make it appear but darkness in the comparison. They saw it afar off; but the prospect xxxu was so dim, tliat Isaiah calls it, " that which eye had not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man. conceived." Even so we may say of Christian joy, as we must confess of Christian character, in this life, that it hath no glory, by reason of the glory that excelleth. We can place no limits to that fu- ture glory, but in the will of Him whose goodness and power are equally unlimited. That family which God hath adopted in Christ Jesus, for their spiritual good. He hath subjected in this world, as He did the Captain of their salva- tion, to afiiiction. They are, however, supported, under it by the assiu'ance, that as they are joint heirs with Christ in suffering, they shall be so also with him in glory. The anticipation of that gloiy is a characteristic feature of the family. Whilst they remain on earth, their eyes are fixed on it, and their earnest expectation waiteth for its perfect de- velopment, in the full manifestation of their privi- leges as the sons of God. As the Gospel was the same in kind, from the first promise of the woman's seed in Eden, untU the day of Christ's ascension from mount Olivet, and only varied in the degree and clearness of its revelation ; so also the character and joy formed upon it, and by it, must be the same in kind for ever, and will only vary in the degree of" its development. This accounts for the same name being sometimes given to different stages in the pro- cess. Thus, in one place we are told, that behevers have aheady received the charter of adoption, in that revelation which addresses them as children, and authorizes them to speak of God as their Father. XXXlll And, at the distance of a few verses, these same he- licvcrs arc described as waiting for the adoption, namely, the redemption of their body. The resur- rection is here called the adoption, l)ecause it is the concluding step in the process of adoption; it is tii.;r act of omnipotent mercy, by which the last trace of condemnation shall he obliterated — by which this mortal shall be clothed with immortality, and this corruptible with ihcorruption. There is but one joy, and one adoption ; but tliey contain the principle of infinite expansion and enlargement. The hght of revelation enables us to trace their progress till the morning of the resurrection, when the risen saints shall sit down with Christ upon his throne ; and there it leaves them, hid in the future eternity. Then their joy shall be full — they shall ever be with the Lord — they shall be made pillars hi His temple, and go no more out. But still the princi- ple of progress will be in action. The joy which fills them will expand their capacity of enjoyment ; and their increasing capacity wiU be filled with an increasing joy. Their joy will increase, because their powers and capacities of comprehending and loving God will increase; but still the great object itself, the source of all their joy, remains eternally the same — the character of God, revealed in Christ Jesus. It is sweet to look forward to the restitution of all things — to think of a world where God is entirely glorified, and entirely loved, and entirely obeyed — where sin and sorrow are no more — where severed friends shall meet, never again to part — where the b3 XXXIV body shall not weigh down the spirit, but shall be its fit medium of communication with all the glorious inhabitants and scenery of heaven — where no dis- cordant tones, or jarring feelings, shall interrupt or mar the harmony of that universal song, which shall burst from every heart and every tongue, to Him who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. And it is not only sweet, but most profitable to me- ditate on these prospects. It is a most healthful exercise. It brings the soul into contact with that society, to which it properly belongs, and for which it was created. The world thinks that these heavenly musings must unqualify the mind for present exertion. But this is a mistake, arising from an ignorance of the nature of heaven. The happiness of heaven con- sists in the perfection of those principles which lead to the discharge of duty; and therefore, the contem- plation of it must increase our sense of the impor- tance of duty That happiness, as has been already observed, is not entirely a future thing; but rather the completion of a present process, in which every duty bears an important part. The character and the happiness of heaven Hke the light and heat of the sunbeams, are so connected, that it is impossible to separate them; and the natural and instinctive desire of the one is thus necessarily linked to the desu-e of the other. Full of peace as the prospect of heaven is, there is no indolent relinquishment of duty, connected with the contemplation of it : for heaven is full of action. Its repose is Uke the re- pose of nature — the repose of planets in their orbits. XXXV It is a rest from all controversy with God — from all opposition to his will. His servants serve Him. Farewell, vain world ! no rest hast thou to offer, which can compare with this. The night is far spent ; soon will that day dawn, and the shadows flee away. " The Saints' Everlasting Rest" was written on a bed of sickness. It contains those thoughts and feeUngs, which occupied, and fortified, and animated the Author, as he stood on the brink of eternity. The examples of heavenly meditation which he gives, really breathe of heaven; and the importance of such meditation, as a duty, and as a mean of spiritual growth, is admirably set forth, and most powerfully enforced. And is it not a most pernicious madness and stupidity to neglect this duty ? Is it not strange that such prospects should excite so little interest ? Is it not strange that the uncertainty of the duration of life, and the certainty of its sorrows, do not com- pel men to seek refuge in that " inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not away?" Is it not strange that the offers of friendship, and intimate relationship, which God is continually hold- ing out to us, should be shghted, even in competi- tion \vith the society of those, whom we cannot but despise and reprobate? Is it not strange that we should, day after day, allow ourselves to be duped by the same false promises of happiness, which have disappointed us, just as often as they have been trusted ? O ! let us be persuaded, that there is no rest in created things. No : there is no rest, except in Him who made us. Who is the man that can XXXVl say he has found rest elsewhere ? No man says it. May God open our hearts, as well as our understand- ings, to see the truth ; that we may practically know the insufficiency, and hoUowness, and insecurity of all earthly hopes ; and that we may be led, in simphcity and earnestness, to seek, and so to find our rest in Himself T. E. JSdinburgh) February) 1824. CONTENTS. Page Dedication, 39 Compiler's Preface, 41 CHAP. I. The Introduction to the Work, with some ac- count of the Nature of the Saints' Rest, . . .55 CHAP. II. The great Preparatives to the Saints' Rest, . 79 CHAP. III. The Excellencies of the Saints' Rest, . . 92 CHAP. IV. The Character of the Persons for whom this Rest is designed, . . . . . . .115 CHAP. V. The misery of those that lose the Saints' Rest, 139 CHAP. VI. The misery of those, who, besides losing the Saints' Rest, lose the enjoyments of time, and suffer the torments of Hell, ....... 159 CHAP. VII. The necessity of diligently seeking the Saints' Rest, 17!) CHAP. VIII. How to discern our title to the Saints' Rest, 207 CHAP. IX. The duty of the people of God to excite others to seek this Rest, 235 CHAP. X. The Saints' Rest is not to be expected on earth, 204 XXXVm CONTENTS. rage CHAP. XI. The importance of leading a lieavenly life upon earth, 292 CH.\P. XII. Directions how to live a heavenly life upon earth, 321 CHAP. XIII. The Nature of heavenly Contemplation ; with the Time, Place, and Temper, fittest for it, . . . 349 CHAP. XIV. What use heavenly Contemplation makes of Consideration, Affections, Soliloquy, and Prayer, . . 3G8 CHAP. XV. Heavenly Contemplation assisted by sensihlc Objects, and guarded against a treacherous Heart, . . 392 CHAP. XVI. Heavenly Contemplation exemplified, and the whole Work concluded, . . . . . .417 TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE ROROUGH AND FOREIGN OF KIDDERMINSTER, BOTH MAGISTRATES AND PEOPLE. MY DEAR FRIENDS, There are obvious reasons for prefixing your names to tliis book. It contains tlie substance of what was first preached in your parish church, and was first published from the press with a Dedication to your worthy Ancestors. Your trade and manufac- tures can never render your town so famous, as the name and writings of Mr. Baxter have already made it, both in this Island and in" many remote parts of the Protestant world. His intimate and important relation to Kidderminster, and the years he abode in it, afforded him the most delightful re- flection as lontj as he lived. Long experience has enabled me to testify for you, that, notwithstanding your share in those com- mon distinctions which so unhappily divide fellow- protestants, you possess an unusual degree of candour and friendship for each other. Thus you show, that Kidderminster has not totally lost the amiable spirit which it imbibed more than a century ago. There are no excellencies personal or relative, no species of domestic or public happiness, no beauties of civil or rehgious life, but what will be naturally promoted by a care to secure to ourselves an interest in tlie rest which remaineth to the people of God. They are the people for whom alone that rest is de- 40 signed, both by the promises of God, and by tlie purchase of the Son of God. A care to secure that rest to yourselves, is the one thing needfuL But neither this people, nor this care, you well know, are the pecuharities of any age, or of any party. If the inhabitants of Kidderminster, formerly excelled in this care, you must allow, that it was their greatest glory. And this more than any improvements of trade, or increasing elegancies of life, will be the greatest glory of their successors. To excite this care, is the noblest design of all religious instruction. This, and nothing else, ani- mates the following pages. Here, God and Christ, heaven and holiness, in\ate your most attentive and affectionate regards. Here, you may peruse, what multitudes in the same town have heard and read before you to their everlasting joy, till your blessings prevail above the blessings of your progenitors. Here, by the help of divine grace, you may learn the heavenly art of walking with God below, oi living in a constant view and foretaste of the glories of the new Jerusalem, and of making all you say or do, suffer or enjoy, subservient to the brightening your immortal crown. — Nothing has the Compiler of this Abridgment to wish like such consequences as these ; even, to see the same holy and heavenly conversation in himself, and in those around him, now, as Mr. Baxter saw in his day. This would be the greatest joy, and shall be the constant and fervent prayer, of your affectionate Friend, and obe- dient Servant, B. FAWCETT. Kidderminster, Jan. 1, 1739. PRIHCETOIT 'A THEOLOGIC&Lzr COMPILER'S PREFACT Mr. Richard Baxter, the Author of the " Suintt.' Rest," so well known to the world by tins, and many other excellent and useful writhigs, was a learned, laborious, and emmently holy Divine of the last age. He was born near Shrewsbury in 1615, and died at London in 1691. His ministry in an unsettled state, was for many years employed with great and extensive success, both in London and hi several parts of the country ; but he was nowhere fixed so long, or with such entire satisfaction to himself, and apparent advantage to others, as at Kidderminster. His abode there was indeed interrupted, partly by his bad health, but chiefly by the calamities of a civil war, yet in the whole it amounted to sixteen years ; nor was it by any means the result of his own choice, or that of the inhabitants of Kidderminster, that he never settled there again, after his going from thence in 1660. Before his coming thither, the place w;is over-run with ignorance and profaneness; but, by the divine blessing on his wise and faithfid cultivation, the fruits of righteousness sprung up in rich abundance. He at first found but a single instance or two of daily family prayer in a whole street; and at his 42 going away, but one family or two could be found in some streets that continued to neglect it. And on Lord's-days, instead of the open profanation to which they had been so long accustomed, a person, in passing through the town, in the intervals of juiblic worship, might overhear hundreds of families engaged in singing Psalms, reading the Scriptures iind other good books, or such sennons as they had wrote down, while they heard them from the pulpit. His care of the souls committed to his charge, and the success of his labours among them, were truly remarkable ; for the number of his stated com- municants rose to six hundred, of whom he himself declared, there were not twelve concerning whose sincere piety he had not reason to entertain good hopes. Blessed be God the rehgious spirit which was thus happily introduced, is yet to be traced in the town and neighbourhood in some degree: (O that it were in a greater!) and in proportion as that spirit remains, the name of Mr. Baxter continues in the most honourable and affectionate remembrance. As a writer, he has the approbation of some of his greatest cotemporaries, who best knew him, and were under no temptations to be partial in his favour. Dr. Barrow said, " His practical writings were never mended, and his controversial ones seldom con- futed." With a view to his casuistical writings, the honourable Robeil Boyle, declared, " He was the fittest man of the age for a casuist, because he feared no man's displeasure, nor hoped for any man's preferment." Bishop Wilkins observed of him, " that he had cultivated every subject he had han- 43 died ; that if he had lived in the primitive times he Avonld have been one of the fathers of the church ; and that it was enough for one age to produce such a person as Mr. Baxter." Archbishop Usher had such high thoughts of him, that by his earnest im- portunity he put him upon writing several of his practical discourses, particularly that celebrated piece, liis Call to the Unconverted. Dr. Manton, as he freely expressed it, " thought Mr. Baxter came nearer the apostolical writings than any man in the age." And it is both as a preacher, and a writer, that Dr. Bates considers him, when, in his funeral sermon for him, he says, " In his sermons there was a rare union of arguments and motives, to convince the mind, and gain the heart. All the fountains of reason and persuasion were open to his discerning eye. Tliere was no resisting the force of his dis- courses, without denying reason and divine revela- tion. He had a marvellous facility and copiousness in speaking. There was a noble negligence in his style, for his great mind could not stoop to the af- fected eloquence of words; he despised flashy ora- tory; but his expressions were clear and powerful, so convincing the understanding, so entering into the soul, so engaging the affections, that those were as deaf as adders who were not charmed by so wise a charmer. He was animated with the Holy Spi- rit, and breathed celestitd fire, to inspire heat and lite into dead sinners, and to melt the obdurate in their frozen tombs. His books, for their number, (which it seems was more than one hundred and 44 twenty) and variety of matter in tliem, make a li- brary. Tliey contain a treasure of controversial, casuistical, and practical divinity. His books of practical divinity have been effectual for more nume- rous conversions of sinners to God, than any printed' in our time ; and, while the church remains on earth, will be of continual efficacy to recover lost souls. There is a vigorous pulse in them, that keeps the reader awake and attentive." To these testimonies may not improperly be added that of the editors of his practical works in four folio volumes; in the Pre- face to which they say, " Perhaps there are no writings among us that have more of a true Chris- tian spirit, a greater mixture of judgment and af- fection, or a greater tendency to revive pure and undefiled religion; that have been more esteemed abroad, or more blessed at home, for the awakening the secure, instructing the ignorant, confirming the wavering, comforting the dejected, recovering the profane, or improving such as are truly serious, than the practical works of this author." Such were the apprehensions of eminent persons, who were well ac- quainted with Mr. Baxter and his writings. It is therefore the less remarkable that Mr. Addison, from an accidental and a very imperfect acquaintance, but with his usual pleasantness and candour, should men- tion the following incident; " I once met with a page of Mr. Baxter. Upon the perusal of it, I conceived so good an idea of the author's piety, that I bought the whole book." Whatever other causes might concur, it must 45 chiefly be nscrihcd to ]VIr. Baxter's distinguished reputation as a preacher, and a writer, tliat presently ; t'ter the restoration he was appointed one of the rhaplains in ordinary to King Charles II. and preach- ed once before him in that capacity ; as also that he had an oft'er made him by the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, of the bishopric of Hereford, which, in n respectiul letter to his Lordship, he saw proper to decline. The Saints' Rest is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable parts of his practical works. He v.rote it when he was far from home, without any book to consult but his Bible, and in such an ill state or health, as to he in continual expectation of death for many months ; and, therefore, merely for his own use, he fixed his thoughts on this heavenly sub- ject, " which, says he, hath more benefitted me than all the studies of my life." At this time he could ho little more than thirty years old. He afterwards ju-eached over the subject in his weekly lecture at Kidderminster, and in 1656 he published it; and indeed it appears to have been the first that ever he pubUshed of all his practical writings. Of this book Dr. Bates says, " It is written by him when lan- guishing in the suspense of life and death, but has the signatm-cs of his holy and vigorous mind. To allure our desires, he unveils the sanctuary above, and discovers the glories and joys of the blessed in the divine presence, by a light so strong and lively, that all the glittering vanities of this world vanish in that comparison, and a sincere beUever will de- ripis-e them, as one of mature age does the toys and 46 baubles of children. To excite our fear, he removes the screen, and makes the everlasting fire of hell so visible, and represents the tormenting passions of the damned in those dreadful colours, that, if duly considered, would check and control the unbridled licentious appetites of the most sensual wretches." Heavenly rest is a subject, in its own nature so universally important and interesting, and at the same time so truly engaging and dehghtful, as suffi- ciently accounts for the great acceptance which this book has met with ; and partly also for the uncom- mon blessing which has attended Mr. Baxter's man- ner of treating the subject, both from the pulpit, and the press. For where are the operations of divine grace more reasonably to be expected, or where have they in fact been more frequently discerned, than in concurrence with the best adapted means? And should it appear, that persons of distinguishing judgment and piety, have expressly ascribed their first rehgious impressions to the hearing or reading the important sentiments contained in this book ; or, after a long series of years, have found it, both the counterpart, and the improvement, of their own divine life, wiU not this be thought a considerable recommendation of the book itself. Among the instances of persons that dated their true conversion from hearing the sermons on the Saints' Rest, when Mr. Baxter first preached them, was the Rev. Thomas Doolittle, A. M. who was a native of Kidderminster, and at that time a scholar, about seventeen years old ; whom Mr. Bax- ter himself afterwards sent to Pembroke-Hall, in 47 Cambridge, where he took liis degree. Before his going to the university, he was upon trial as an at- torney's clerk, and under that character, being or- dered by his master to write something on a Lord's day, he obeyed it with great reluctance, and the next day returned home, >vith an earnest desire tliat he might not apply himself to any thing, as the employment of life, but serving Christ in the minis- try of the gospel. His praise is yet in the churches, for his pious and useful labours, as a minister, a tutor, and a writer. In the life of the Rev. John Janeway, Fel- low of King's College, Cambridge, who died in 1657, we are told, that his conversion was, in a great measure, occasioned by his reading several parts of the Saints' Rest. And in a letter which he afterwards wrote to a near relative, speaking with a more inmicdiate reference to that part of the book which treats of heavenly Contemplation, he says, " There is a duty, which, if it were exercised, would dispel all cause of melancholy; I mean, hea- venly meditation, and contemplation of the things which true Christian religion tends to. If we did but walk closely with God one hour in a day in this duty, O what influence would it have upon the whole day besides, and, duly performed, upon the whole life ! This duty, ^vith its usefulness, manner and directions, I knew in some measure before, but had it more pressed upon me by Mr. Baxter's Saints' Everlasting Rest, a book that can scarce be over- valued, for which I have cause for ever to bless God." This excellent young minister's life is worth read- ing, were it only to see how dehghtfuUy he was en- 48 gaged in heavenly contemplation, according to the directions in the Saints' Rest. It was the example of heavenly contemplation, at tlie close of this book, which the Rev. Joseph AUeine, of Taunton, so frequently quoted in con- versation -with, this solemn introduction, " Most divinely says that man of God, holy Mr. Baxter." Dr. Bates, in his dedication of his funeral sermon for Mr. Baxter to Sir Henry Ashurst, Bart, tells that religious gentleman, and most distinguished friend and executor of Mr. Baxter, " He was most v.orthy of your highest esteem and love ; for the first impressions of heaven upon your soul, were in read- ing his invaluable book of the Saints' Everlasting Rest." In the life of the Rev. Matthew Henr)', we iiave the following character given us of Robert Warburton, Esq. of Grange, the son of the emi- nently rehgious judge Warburton, and the father of Mr. Matthew Henry's second wife. " He was a gentleman that greatly aflFected retirement and pri- vacv, especially in the latter part of his hfe ; the Bible, and Mr. Baxter's Saints' Everlasting Rest, used to lie daily before him on the table in his par- lour ; he spent the greatest part of his time in read- ing and prayer." In the life of that honourable and most reli- gious knight, Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston, we are t'jld, that " he was constant in secret prayer and reading the Scriptures; afterwards he read other choice authors : but not long before his death he took a singular delight to read Mr. Baxter's Saints' Everlasting Rest, and preparations thereunto ; which 49 was esteemed a gracious event of divine Providence, sending it as a guide to bring him more speedily and directly to that rest." Besides persons of eminence, to whom this book has been precious and profitable, we have an instance, in the Rev. Mr. James Jancway's Token for Chil- dren, of a little boy, whose piety was so discovered and promoted by reading it, as the most dehghtful book to him next the Bible, that the thoughts of everlasting rest seemed, even while he continued in health, to swallow up all other thoughts ; and he lived in a constant preparation for it, and looked more like one that was ripe for glory, than an inha- bitant of this lower world. And when he was in the sickness of which he died, before he was twelve years old, he said, " I pray, let me have Mr. Bax- ter's book, that I may read a little more of eter- nity, before I go into it." Nor is it less observable, that Mr. Baxter him- self, taking notice, in a paper found in his study after his death, what numbers of persons were con- verted by reading his call to the unconverted, ac- counts of which he had received bv letter every week, expressly adds, " This little book, the Call to the Unconverted, God hath blessed with unex- pected success, beyond all that I have written, ex- cept the Saints' Rest." With an evident reference to this book, and even during the life of the author, the pious Mr. Flavel aftectionately says, " Mr. Baxter is almost in heaven: living in the daily views, and cheerful expectation of the saints' everlasting rest with God ; and is left for a little while among c 10 50 us, as a great example of the life of faith." And Mr. Baxter himself says, in his preface to his Trea- tise of Self-Denial, " I must say, that of all the books which I have written, I peruse none so often for the use of my own soul in its daily work, as my Life of Faith, this of Self-Denial, and the last part of the Saints' Rest." On the whole, it is not with- out good reason that Dr. Calamy remarks concern- ing it, " This is a book, for whicli multitudes wUi have cause to bless God for ever." This excellent and useful book now appears in the form of an abridgment ; and, therefore, it is presumed, wiU be the more likely, under the divine blessing, to diffuse its salutary influence among those that would otherwise have wanted opportunity or inclination to read over tlie larger volume. In re- ducing it to this smaller size, I have been very desir- ous to do justice to the author, and at the same time promote the pleasure and profit of the serious reader. And, I hope, these ends are, in some measure, an- swered ; chiefly by dropping things of a digressive, controversial, or metaphysical nature ; together with prefaces, dedications, and various allusions to some peculiar circumstances of the last age ; and particu- larly, by throwing several chapters into one, that the number of them may better correspond with the size of the volume ; and sometimes by altering the form, but not the sense, of a period, for the sake of brevity ; and when an obsolete phrase occurred, changing it for one more common and inteUigible. I should never have thought of attempting this work, if it had not been suggested and urged by others ; 51 and by some very respectable names, of whose learn- ing, judgment, and piety, I forbear to avail my- self. However defective this performance may ap- pear, the labour of it (if it may be called a labour) has been, I bless God, one of the most delightful labours of my life. Certainly the thoughts of Everlasting Rest may be as delightful to souls in the present day, as they have ever been to those of past generations. I am sure such thoughts are as absolutely necessary now ; nor are temptations to neglect them, either fewer, or weaker, now than formerly. The worth of ever- lastinjr rest is not felt, because it is not considered : it is forgotten, because a thousand trifles are prefer- red before it. But were the divine reasonings of this book duly attended to, (and O that the Spirit and grace of a Redeemer may make them so !) then an age of vanity would become serious ; minds ener- vated by sensuality, would soon resume the strength of reason, and display the excellence of Christiani- ty ; the delusive names of pleasure would be blotted out, by the glorious reality of heavenly joy upon earth; eveiy station and relation in life would be filled up with the propriety and dignity of serious re- ligion ; every member of society would then effectu- ally contribute to the beauty and happiness of the whole, and every soul woidd be ready for life or death, for one world or another, in a well-grounded and cheerful persuasion of having secured a title to tliat rest which remaineth to the people of God. B. F. Kidderminster^ Dec. 25th, 1758. c2 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. IIkbrews IV. 9. THERE REMAINETIl TIIERKFORE A REST TO THE PEOPLE OF GOU. CHAP. I. The Introduction to the Work, with some account of the nature of the Saints^ Rest. Stct. 1. The important design of the Apostle in the text, to which tlie Author earnestly bespeaks the attention of the Reader. 2. The Saints' Rest defined, with a general plan of the Work. 3. What this rest presupposes. 4. The Author's humble sense of his inability fully to show what this rest contains. 5. It contains, (1.) A ceasing from means of grace ; 6. (2.) A per- fect freedom from all evils ; 7. (3.) The highest degree of the saints' personal perfection, both in body and soul ; 8. (4.) The nearest enjoyment of God the Chief Good; 9 — 14. (5.) A sweet and constant action of all the powers of soul and body in this enjoyment of God ; as, for instance, bodily senses, know- ledge, memory, love, joy, together with a mutual love and joy. 15. The Author's humble reflection on the deficiency of this account. 1. It was not only our interest in God, and ac- tual enjoyment of him, which was lost in Adam's fall, but all spiritual knowledge of him, and true dis- position towards such a fehcity. When the Son of 56 God comes with recovering grace, and discoveries of a spiritual and eternal happiness and glory, he finds not faith in man to beUeve it. As the poor man, that would not believe any one had such a sum as an hundred pounds, it was so far above what himself possessed : so men wUl hardly now believe there is such a happiness as once they had, much less as Christ hath now procured. When God would give the Israelites his Sabbaths of rest, in a land of rest, he had more ado to make them believe it, than to overcome their enemies, and procure it for them. And when they had it, only as a small intimation and earnest of an incomparably more glorious rest through Christ, they yet believe no more than they possess, but say, with the glutton at the feast. Sure there is no other heaven but this ! Or, if they ex- pect more by the Messiah, it is only the increase of their earthly fehcity. The apostle bestows most of this Epistle against this distemper, and clearly and largely proves, that the end of all ceremonies and shadows, is to direct them to Jesus Christ the sub- stance ; and that the rest of Sabbaths, and Canaan, should teach them to look for a farther rest, whicli indeed is their happiness. My text in his conclusion after divers arguments ; a conclusion, which contains the ground of all the believer's comfort, the end of all his duty and sufferings, the life and sum of all gospel promises and Christian privileges. What more welcome to men, under personal afilictions, tiring duties, successions of sufferings, than rest? It is not our comfort only, but our stability. Our live- liness in all duties, our enduring tribulation, our 57 honouring of God, the vigour of our love, thankful- ness, and all our graces ; yea, the very being of our religion and Christianity, depend on the beUeving serious thoughts of our rest. And now, reader, whatever thou art, young or old, rich or poor, I en- treat thee, and charge thee, in the name of thy Lord, who will shortly call thee to a reckoning, and judge thee to thy everlasting unchangeable state, that thou give not these things the reading only, and so dis- miss them with a bare approbation; but that thou set upon this work, and take God in Christ for thy only rest, and fix thy heart upon him above all. May the hving God, who is the portion and rest of his saints, make these our carnal minds so spiritual, and our earthly hearts so heavenly, that loving liim, and dehghting m him, may be the work of our hves ; and that neither I that write, nor you that read this book, may ever be turned from this path of hfe ; lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, we should come short of it, tlurough our own unbe- lief or negligence ! 2. The Saints' Rest is the most happy state of a Christian ; or it is the perfect endless enjoyment of God by the perfected saints, according to the mea- sure of their capacity, to which their souls arrive at death, and both soul and body most fiiUy after the resurrection and final judgment. According to this definition of the Saints' Rest, a larger account of its nature will be given in tliis Chapter ; of its pre- paratives. Chap. II. its excellencies. Chap. III. and Chap. IV. the persons for whom it is designed. Farther to illustrate the subject, some description c 3 58 will be given, Chap. V. of their misery who lose this rest; and Chap. VI. who also lose the enjoy- ments of time, and suffer the torments of hell. Next will be showed, Chap. VII. the necessity of diligently seeking this rest; Chap. VIII. how our title to it may be discerned; Chap. IX. that they who discern their title to it should help those that cannot ; and Chap. X. that this rest is not to be expected on earth. It will then be proper to consider Chap. XI. the importance of a heavenly life upon earth; Chap. XII. how to live a heavenly life upon earth ; Chap. XIII. the nature of heavenly contemplation, with the time, place, and temper fittest for it; Chap. XIV. what use heavenly contemplation makes of consideration, affections, soliloquy, and prayer ; and likewise Chap. XV. how heavenly contemplation may be assisted by sensible objects, and guarded against a treacherous heart. Heavenly contempla- tion will be exemplified, Chap. XVI. and the whole work concluded. 3. There are some things necessarily presupposed in the nature of this rest; as, for instance — that mortal men are the persons seeking it. For angels and glorified spirits have it already, and the devils and damned are past hope. — That they choose God only for their end and happiness. He that takes any thing else, for his happiness, is out of the way the first step. — That they are distant from this end. This is the woful case of all mankind since the fall. When Christ comes with regenerating grace, he finds no man sitting still, but aU posting to eternal ruin, and making haste towards hell ; till by con- 59 \iction, lie first brinies them to a stand, and tlicn, by conversion, turns their hearts and Hves sincerely to himself". — l^his end, and its excellency, is supposed to be known, and seriously intended. An unknown good moves not to desire or endeavour. And not on'y a distance from this rest, but the true know- ledixe of this distance, is also supposed. They that never yet knew they were without God, and in the wav to hell, did never yet know the way to heaven. Can a man find he hath lost his God, and his soul, and not cry, I am undone ? The reason why so few obtain this rest, is, they will not be convinced, that they arc, in point of title, distant from it ; and, in point of practice, contrary to it. Who ever sought for that, which he knew not he had. lost? " They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." — Tlie influence of a superior moving cause is also supposed; else we shall all stand still, and not move toward our rest. If God move us not, we cannot move. It is a most necessary part of our Christian wisdom, to keep our subordination to God, and dependence on him. " We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." " Without me," sa)^ Christ, " ye can do nothing." — It is next supposed, that they M'ho seek this rest, have an inward prin- ciple of spiritual life. God does not move men like stones, but ho endows them with life, not to enable them to move without him, but in suborcUnation to himself the first mover. And farther, this rest sup- poses such an actual tendency of soxd towards it, as is regular and constant, eai'nest and laborious. He 60 that hides his talent shall receive the wages of a slothful servant. Christ is the door, the only way to this rest. " But strait is the gate, and narrow is the way ;'' and we must strive, if we wiU enter, for " many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able ;" wliich implies, that "the kingdom of heaven sufFereth violence." Nor will it bring us to the end of the saints, if we begin in the spirit, and end in theflesli. He only " that endureth to the end shall be saved." And never did a soul obtain rest with God, whose desire was not set upon him above all things else in the world. " Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The remainder of our old nature will much weaken and interrupt these desires, but never overcome them. And considering the opposition to our desires, from the contrary princi- ples in our nature, and from the weakness of our graces, together with our continued distance from the end, our tendency to that end must be laborious, and with all our might. — AU these things are pre- supposed, in order to a Christian's obtaining an inte- rest in heavenly rest. 4. Now we have ascended these steps into the outward court, may we look within the vail? May we show what this rest contains, as well as what it presupposes ? Alas, how Httle know I of that glory ! The glimpse which Paul had, contained what could not, or must not be uttered. Had he spoken the things of heaven in the language of heaven, and none understood that lano-uage, what the better? The Lord reveal to me what I may reveal to you ! The Lord open some light, and show both you and me 61 our inheritance ! Not as to Balaam only, whose eyes were opened to sec the goodliness of Jacob's tents, and Israel's tabernacles, where he had no por- tion, and from whence must come his own destruc- tion ! Not as to Moses, who had only a discovery, instead of possession, and saw the land which he never entered ! But as the pearl was revealed to the merchant in the gospel, who rested not till he had sold all he had, and bought it ! And as heaven was opened to the blessed Stephen, which he was shortly to enter, and the glory showed him which should be his own possession ! — The things con- tained in heavenly rest ai'e such as these ; — a ceas- ing from means of grace ; — a perfect freedom from all evils ; — the highest degree of the saints' personal perfection, both of body and soul; — the nearest en- joyment of God the chief good; — and a sweet and constant action of all the powers of body and sovd in this enjojTnent of God. 5. (1.) One thing contained in heavenly rest is, the tcasintj from means of jjrace. When we have obtained the haven, we have done sailing. When the workman receives his wages, it is imphed he has (lone his work. AVhen we are at our journey's end, we have done with the way. " Whether prophecies, they shall fail ; whether tongues, they shall cease ; whether knowledge, it also," so far as it had the na- ture of means, " shall vanish away." There shall be no more prayer, because no more necessity, but the friU enjoyment of what we prayed for : neither shall we need to fast and weep, and watch any more, being out of the reach of sin and temptations. 62 Preaching is done ; the ministry of man ceasetli ; sacraments become useless; the labourers are caJled in, because the harvest is gathered, the tares burned, and the work finished ; the unregeuerate past hope, and the saints past fear, for ever. 6. (2.) There is in heavenly rest a perfect free- dom from all evUs. All the evils that accompanied us through our course, and which necessarily follow our absence from the chief good ; besides our free- dom from those eternal flames, and restless miseries, which the neglecters of Clirist and grace must re- medilessly endure ; a woful inheritance, which, both by birth, and actual merit, was due to us, as well as to them. In heaven there is nothing that defileth or is unclean. All that remains without. And doubtless there is not such a thing as grief and sor- row known there : nor is there such a thing as a pale face, a languid body, feeble joints, unable infancy, decrepit age, peccant humours, painfid, or pining sickness, griping fears, consuming cares, nor what- soever deserves the name of evil. We did weep and lament when the world did rejoice ; but our sorrow is turned into joy, and our joy shall no man take from us. T. (3.) Another ingredient of this rest is, the highest degree of the saint's personal perfection, 'both of body and soul. Were the glory ever so great, and themselves not made capable of it, by a personal perfection suitable thereto, it would be Httle to them. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath nrepared for them that love him." For 63 the eye of flesh is not capable of seeing them, nor tliis ear of hearing them, nor this heart of under- standing them: but tliere the eye, and ear, and heart are made capable ; else how do they enjoy them .•' The more perfect the sight is, the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, tiie sweeter the food. The more musical the ear, tiic more pleasant the melody. The more perfect tlie soul, the more joyous those joys, and the more glorious to us is that glory. 8. (4.) The principal part of this rest, is our nearest enjoyment of God the chief good. And here, reader, wonder not if I be at a loss; and if my apprehensions receive but Uttle of that which is in my expressions. If it did not appear, to the beloved disciple, what we shall be, but only in gen- eral, " that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him," no wonder if I know Uttle. When I know so little of God, I cannot much know what it is to enjoy him. If I know so Uttle of spirits, how Uttle of the Father of spirits, or the state of my own soul, when advanced to the enjoyment of him? I stand and look upon a heap of ants, and see them all with one view ; they know not me, my being, nature, or thoughts, though I am their fellow-crea- ture; how Uttle then must we know of the great Creator, though he with one view clearly beholds \is all ? A glimpse the saints behold as in a glass ; which makes us capable of some poor, dark appre- hensions of what we shaU behold in glory. If I should tell a worldUng what the holiness and spiritual joys of the saints on earth are, he cannot know ; for 64 grace cannot be cleai'ly known without grace : how much less could he conceive it, should I tell him of this glory ? But to the saints I may be somewhat more encouraged to speak; for grace gives them a dark knowledge and sHght taste of glory. If men and angels should study to speak the blessedness of that state in one word, what could they say beyond this, that it is the nearest enjoyment of God? O the full joys offered to a believer in that one sentence of Christ, " Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me." Every word is fuU of hfe and joy. If the queen of Sheba had cause to say of Solomon's glory, " Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom;" then sure they that stand continually before God, and see his glory, and the glory of the Lamb, are more than happy. To them will Christ give to eat of the tree of life ; and to eat of the hidden manna : yea, he will make them pillars in the temple of God, and they shall go no more out ; and he will write upon them the name of his God, and the name of the city of his God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from his God, and he wiU write upon them his new name ; yea, more, if more may be, he will grant them to sit with him in his throne. " These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb : there- fore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sitteth 65 on the throne shall dwell among them. Ilic Lamb wliicli is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God sh;ill wipe away all tears from their eyes." ( ) bhnd, deceived world ! Can you show us such a glory ? This is the city of our God, where the taheniaclc of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God liiiiLsoLt" shall be with them, and be their God. The glory of God shall ligliten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And there shall be no more curse; l)Ut the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. These sayings are faithful and true, and the things which must shortly be done. And now we say, as Mephibosheth, " Let the world take aU, for as much as our Lord will come in peace." Rejoice therefore in the Lord, O ye righteous, and say with his ser- vant David, " The Lord is the portion of mine in- lieritance : the lines arc fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I have set the Lord always ])cfore me : because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth ; my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of Ufe ; in thy presence is fulness of joy ; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." What presumption would it have been, once to have thought or spoke of such a thing, if God had not G6 spoken it before us ? I durst not have thought of the saints' preferment in this hfe, as Scripture sets it forth, had it not been the express truth of God. How indecent to talk of being sons of God — speak- ing to him — having fellowship with him — dwelhng in him and he in us : if this had not been God's own language, how much less durst we have once thought of shining forth as the sun — of being joint heirs with Christ — of judging the world — of sitting on Christ's throne — of being one in him and the Father, if we had not all this from the mouth, and under the hand of God ? But hatli he said, and shall he not do it ? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good ? Yes, as the Lord God is true, thus shall it be done to the man whom Christ delighteth to hon- ovir. Be of good cheer, Christian, the time is near, when God and thou shalt be near, and as near as thou canst well desire. Thou shalt dwell in his family. Is that enough ? It is better to be a door- keeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Thou shalt ever stand before him, about his tlirone, in the room with him, in his presence-chamber. Woiddst thou yet be nearer? Thou shalt be his child, and he thy Father; thou shalt be an Iieir of his kingdom ; yea, more, the spouse of his Son. And what more canst thou de- sire ? Thou shalt be a member of the body of his Son ; he shall be thy head ; thou shalt be one with liim, who is one vnth the Father, as he himself hatli desired for thee of his Father, "that they all may be one, as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; and the glory which 67 thou fijavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one ; I in them and thou in me, tliat they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and liast loved them as thou hast loved me." 9. (5.) We must add, that this rest contains a sweet and constant action of all the powers of the . soul and body in this enjoyment of God. It is not the rest of a stone, which ceascth from all motion when it attains the centre. This body shall be so changed, that it shall no more be flesh and blood, which cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; but a spiritual body. We saw not that body that shall be, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. If grace makes a Christian differ so much from what he was, as to say, I am not the man I was ; how much more will glory make us differ ? As much as a body spiritual, above the sun in glory, exceeds these frail, noisome, diseased lumps of flesh, so far shall our senses ex- ceed those we now possess. Doubtless as God ad- vanceth our senses, and enlargeth our capacity, so will he advance the happiness of those senses, and fill up with himself all that capacity. Certainly the body should not be raised up and continued, if he should not share in the glory. As it hath shared in the obedience and sufferings, so shall it also in the blessedness. As Christ bought the whole man, so shall the whole partake of the everlasting benefits of the purchase. O blessed employment of a glorified body ? to stand before the throne of God and the Lamb, and to sound forth for ever, " Thou art wor- 68 thy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing; for thou hast re- deemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kin- dred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests. Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God. Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." O Christians ! this is the blessed rest ; a rest, as it were, without rest : for " they rest not day and night, saying. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." And if the body shall be thus employed, O, how shall the soul be taken up ? As its powers and capacities are greatest, so its actions are strongest, and its enjoyments sweetest. As the bodily senses have their proper actions, whereby they receive and enjoy their objects, so does the soul in its own actions enjoy its own objects, by knowing, remembering, loving, and delightful joying. Tliis is the soul's en- joyment. By these eyes it sees, and by these arms it embraces. 10. Knowledge of itself is very desirable. As far as the rational soul exceeds the sensitive, so far the delights of a philosopher, in discovering the se- crets of nature, and knowing the mystery of sciences, exceed the dehghts of the glutton, the drunkard, the unclean, and of all voluptuous sensuahsts what- soever. So excellent is all truth. What then is their delight who know the God of truth ? How noble a faculty of the soul is the understanding ? It 69 can compass the earth ; it can measure the sun, moon, stars, and heaven ; it can foreknow each ecUpse to a minute, many years before. But this is the top of all its excellency, that it can know God, who is in- finite, who made all these, a little here, and more, much more hereafter. O the wisdom and goodness of our blessed Lord ! He hath created the under- standing with a natural bias and inclination to truth, as its object; and to the prime truth, as its prime object. Christian, when, after long gazing heaven- ward, thou hast got a glimpse of Christ, dost thou not sometimes seem to have been with Paul in the third heaven, whether in the body, or out, and to have seen what is unutterable ? Art thou not, with Peter, ready to say, " Master, it is good to be here?" " O that I might dwell in this mount ! O that I might ever see what I now see !" Didst thou never look so long upon the Sun of Righteousness, till thine eyes were dazzled with his astonishing glory ? And did not the splendour of it make all things be- low seem black and dark to thee? Especially in the day of suffering for Christ, when he usually appears most manifestly to his people, didst thou never see one walking in the midst of the fiery furnace with thee, like the Son of God ? BeUeve me, Christians, yea, beheve God; you that have known most of God in Christ here, it is as nothing to what you shall know: it scarce, in comparison of that, deserves to be called knowledge. For as these bodies, so that knowledge must cease, that a more perfect may succeed. Knowledge shall vanish away. " For we know in part. But when that which is perfect is 70 come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I M-as a child, I spake as a child, I under- stood as a child, I thought as a child ; but when I jjecame a man, I put away childish things. For now we sec through a glass, darkly, but then face to face ; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." Marvel not therefore, Christian, how it can be Life eternal, to know God, and Jesus Christ. To enjoy God and Christ, is eternal life ; and the soul's enjoying is in knowing. They that savour only of earth, and consult with flesh, think it a poor happiness to know God. But " we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness : and we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true ; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." 11. The memory will not be idle, or useless, in this blessed work. From that height the saint can look behind him, and before him. And to compare past with present things, must needs raise in the blessed soul an inconceivable esteem and sense of its condition. To stand on that mount, whence we can see the Wilderness and Canaan, both at once ; to stand in Heaven, and look back on earth, and weigh them together in the balance of a comparing sense and judgment, how must it needs transport the soul, and make it cry out, " Is this the purchase that cost so dear as the blood of Christ ? No wonder. O blessed price ! and thrice blessed love, that in- vented, and condescended ! Is this the end of be- 71 lieving ? Is this the end of the Spirit's workings? Have the sales of cfrace blown me into such an har- hour? Is it hither that Christ hath allured my soul ! O blessed way, and thrice blessed end ! Is this the glory which the' Scriptures spoke of, and ministers preached of so much ? I see the gospel is indeed good tidings, even tidings of peace and good things, tidings of great joy to all nations. Is my mourning, my fjisting, my sad humblings, my heavy walking come to this ? Is my praying, watching, tearing to offend, come to this ? Are all my afflic- tions, Satan's temptations, the world's scorns and jeers come to this ? O vile nature, that resisted so much, and so long, such a blessing ! Unworthy soul, is this the place thou camest so unwillingly to? Was duty wearisome ? Was the world too good to lose ? Didst thou stick at leaving all, denying all, and suffering any thing, for this ? Wast thou loath to die, to come to this? O false heart, thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory ! Art thou not now ashamed, my soul, that ever thou didst question that love which brought thee hither? that thou wast jealous of the faith- fulness of thy Lord? that thou suspectedst his love, when thou shouldst only have suspected thyself? that ever thou didst quench a motion of his Spirit? and that thou shouldst misinterpret those provi- d'.Mices, and repine at those ways, which have such an end ? Now thou art sufficiently convinced, that thy blessed Redeemer, was saving thee, as well when he crossed thy desires, as when he granted them ; when lio broke thv heart, as when he bound it up. No 72 thanks to thee, unworthy self, for this received crown ; but to Jehovah, and the Lamb, be glory for ever." 12. But, O ! the full, the near, the sweet enjoy- ment, is that of love. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. Now the poor soul complains, " O that I could love Christ more ! " Then, thou canst not choose but love him. Now thou knowest httle of his amiable- ness, and therefore lovest Httle : then, thine eyes will affect, thy heart, and the continual viewing of that perfect beauty will keep thee in continual transports of love. Christians, doth it not now stir up your love, to remember all the experiences of his love? Doth not kindness melt you, and the sunshine of divine goodness warm your frozen hearts? What will it do then, when you shall Hve in love, and have all in him, who is all? Surely love is both work and wages. What a high favour, that God will give us leave to love him ! That he will be em- braced by those, who have embraced lust and sin before him 1 But more than this, he returned love for love ; nay, a thousand times more. Christian, thou wilt then be brim-fuU of love ; yet, love as much as thou canst, thou shalt be ten thousand times more beloved. Were the arms of the Son of God open upon the cross, and an open passage made to his heart by the spear, and wiU not his arms and heart be open to thee in glory? Did he begin to love before thou lovedst, and ^vill not he continue now ? Did he love thee, an enemy ? Thee, a sin- ner? Thee, who even loathedst thyself? and own 73 tliee, when thou didst dischiim tliysclf ? And will he not now immeasurably love thee, a son? Thee, a perfect saint? Thee, who returncdst some love for love ? He tliat in love wept over the old Jeru- salem when near its ruin, with what love will he re- joice over the new Jerusalem in her glory ? Chris- tian, believe this, and think on it — thou shalt be eternally embraced in the arms of that love, which was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting; of that love which brouffht the Son of God's love from heaven to earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to glory ; that love, which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spit upon, crucified, pierced; which did fast, pray, teach, heal, weep, sweat, bleed, die ; — that love will eternally embrace thee. When perfect created love, and most perfect uncreated love, meet together, it will not be hke Joseph and his brethren, wlio lay upon one another's necks weep- ing: it wiU be loving and rejoicing, not loving and sorrowing. Yet it will make Satan's court ring with the news, that Joseph's brethren are come, that the saints are arrived safe at the bosom of Christ, out of the reach of hell for ever. Nor is there any such love as David's and Jonathan's breathing out its last into sad lamentations for a forced separation. Know this, behevcr, to thy everlasting comfort, if those arms have once embraced thee, neither sin, nor hell, can get thee thence for ever. Thou hadst not to deal with an inconstant creature, but with him " with whom is uo variableness, nor shadow of turning.'* His love to thee will not be as thine was on earth to D 10 74 him, seldom, and cold, up and down. He that would not cease nor ahate his love, for all thine en- mity, unkind neglects, and churUsh resistances, can he cease to love thee, when he had made thee truly lovely? He that keepeth thee so constant in thy love to him, that thou canst challenge tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, to separate thy love from Christ, how much more will himself be constant ? Indeed thou mayest be " persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor an- gels, nor prmcipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And now are we not left in the apostle's admiration, " What shall we say to these things ?" Infinite love must needs be a mystery to a finite capacity. No wonder angels desire to look into this mystery. And if it be the study of saints here, to know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, "of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge ;" the saints' everlasting rest must consist in the enjoyment of God by love. 13. Nor hath joy the least share in this fruition. It is that, which all the former lead to, and conclude in ; even the inconceivable complacency which the blessed feel in their seeing, knowing, loving, and being beloved of God. This is the white stone which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Surely this is the joy which a stranger doth not in- termeddle with. All Christ's ways of mercy tend to, and end in the saints' joys. He wept, sorrowed, 75 suffered, that they might rejoice; he sendeth the Spirit to be their Comforter; he multipHes promises; he discovers tlicir future happiness, that their joy may be full. He opens to them the fountain of liv- ing waters, that tliey may thirst no more, and that it may spring up in tliem to everlasting life. He chastens them, that he may give them rest. He makes it their duty to rejoice in him alway, and again commands them to rejoice. He never brings them into so low a condition, wherein he does not leave them more cause of joy than sorrow. And hath the Lord such a care of our comfort here? O what will that joy be, where the soul, being perfectly prepared for joy, and joy prepared by Christ for the soul, it shall be our work, our business, eternally to rejoice ! It seems the saints' joy shall be greater than the damned's torment : for their torment is the torment of creatures, prepared for the devil and his angels ; but our joy is the joy of our Lord. The same glory which the Father gave the Son, the Son hath given them, to sit with him in his throne, even as he is set down with his Father in his throne. Thou, poor soul, who pray est for joy, waitest for joy, complainest for want of joy, longest for joy; thou then shalt have full joy, as much as thou canst hold, and more than ever thou thoughtest on, or thv heart desired. In the mean time, walk carefully, watch constantly, and then let God measure out to thee thy times and degrees of joy. It may be he keeps them until thou hast more need. Thou hadst better lose thy comfort than thy safety. If thou shouldst die full of fears and sorrows, it wiU be but d2 76 .1 moment, and they are all gone, and concluded in joy inconceivable. As the joy of the hypocrite, so the fears of the upright are but for a moment. " God's anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life ; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." O blessed morning ! Poor, humble, drooping soul, how would it fill thee with joy now, if a voice from heaven should teU thee of the love of God, the pardon of thy sins, and as- sure thee of thy part in these joys ! What then will thy joy be, when thy actual possession shall con- vince thee of thy title, and thou shalt be in heaven before thou art well aware? 14. And it is not thy joy only ; it is a mutual joy, as well as a mutual love. Is there joy in hea- ven at thy conversion, and will there be none at thy fflorification ? Will not the angels welcome thee thither, and congratulate thy safe arrival? — Yea, it is the joy of Jesus Christ; for now he hath the end of his undertaking, labour, suffering, dying, when we have our joys ; when he is glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe ; when he sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied. This is Christ's harvest, when he shall reap the fruit of his labours ; and it will not repent him concerning his sufferings, but he will rejoice over his purchased in- heritance, and his people wiU rejoice in him. — Yea, the Father himself puts on joy too, in our joy. As we grieve his Spirit, and weary him with our iniqui- ties, so he is rejoiced in our good. O how quickly does he now spy a returning prodigal, even afar off! How does he run and meet him ! And with what 77 compassion does he fall on his neck, and kiss him, and nut on bim the best robe, and a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and kills the fatted calf to eat and be merry. This is indeed a happy meet- ing; but nothing to the embracing and joy of that last and great meeting. Yea, more; as God doth mutually love and joy, so he makes this His rest, as it is our rest. What an eternal Sabbatism, when the work of redemption, sanctification, preservation, glorification, is all finished, and perfected for ever ! " The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy, he wiU rest in his love, he will joy over thee with sing- ing." Well may we then rejoice in our God \vith joy, and rest in our love, and joy in him with singing. 15. Alas ! my fearful heart scarce dares proceed. Methinks I hear the Almighty's voice saying to me, " Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" But pardon thy servant, O Lord, 1 have not pried into unrevealed things. I bewail that my apprehensions are so dull, my thoughts so mean, my affections so stupid, and my expressions so low, and unbeseeming such a glory. I have onlv heard by the hearing of the ear; O, let thy servant see thee and possess these joys; and then shall I have more suitable conceptions, and shall give thee fuller glory; I shall abhor my present self, and disclaim and renounce all these imperfections — " I have ut- tered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I know not." Yet " I beheved, and therefore have I spoken." What, Lord, canst thou expect from dust but levity ? or from corruption but 78 defilement ? Though the weakness and irreverence be the fruit of my own corruption, yet the fire is from thine altar, and the work of thy commanding. I looked not into thy ark, nor put forth my hand unto it, without thee. Wash away these stains also in the blood of the Lamb. Imperfect, or none, must be thy service here. O take thy Son's excuse — *< The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 79 CHAPTER II. The great Preparatives to the Saints' Rest. Sect. 1. The happiness of Christians in having a way open into paradise. There are four things which principally prepare the way to enter into it; 2, 3. particularly, (1.) The glorious ap- pearing of Christ ; 4. (2.) The general resurrection ; 5 — 8. (3.) The last judgment; 9, 10, and, (4.) The saint's corona- tion ; 11. Transition to the subject of the next chapter. 1 . The passage of paradise is not now so blocked up, as when the law and curse reigned. Wherefore finding, beloved Christians, a new and hving way consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, the flesh of Christ, by which we may, with boldness enter into the holiest, I shall draw near with fuller assurance. And finding the flaming sword removed, shall look again into the paradise of our God. And because I know that this is no forbidden fruit, and withal that it is good for food, and pleasant to the spiritual eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one truly wise and happy, I shall, through the assistance of the Spirit, take and eat thereof myself, and give to you according to my power, that you may eat. The porch of this temple is exceeding glorious, and the gate of it is called Beautiful. Here are four things, as the four corners of this porch. PIcre is the most glorious coming and appearance of the Son of God ; — that great work of Jesus Christ in rais- ing our bodies from the dust, and uniting them again so to the soul ; — tlie public and solemn process at their judgment, where they shall first themselves be ac- quitted and justified, ami then wit.'i Christ judge the world ; — together with their solemn coronation, and receiving the kingdom. 2. (1.) The most glorious coming and appearance of the Son of God may well be reckoned in his peo- ple's glory. For their sake he came into the world, suffered, died, rose, ascended ; and for their sake it is that he will return. To this end will Christ come again to receive his people unto himself, that where he is, there they may be also. The bridegroom's departure was not upon divorce. He did not leave us with a purpose to return no more. He hath left pledges enough to assure us to the contrary. We have his word, his many promises, his sacraments, which show forth his death till he come; and his Spirit, to direct, sanctify, and comfort, till he return. We have frequent tokens of love from him, to show us he forgets not his promise, nor us. We daily behold the forerunners of his coming, foretold by himself. We see the fig-tree putteth forth leaves, and therefore know that summer is nigh. Though the riotous world say, " My Lord delayeth his coming;" yet let the saints lift up their heads, for their redemp- tion draweth nigh. Alas, fellow Christians, what should we do if our Lord should not return ? What a case are we here left in ? Wliat ! leave us in the midst of wolves, and among lions, a generation of vipers, and here forget us ? Did he buy us so dear, and then leave us sinning, suffering, groaning, dying dailv. and wiU he come no more to us? It cannot 81 be. Tliis is like our unkind dealing with Christ, who, when we feel ourselves warm in the world, care not for coming to him : but this is not like Christ's dealing with us. He that would come to sufTer, will surely come to triumph. He that would come to purchase, will surely come to possess. Wliere else were all our hopes ? What were become of our faith, our prayers, our tears, and our waiting ? What were all the patience of the saints worth to them ? Were we not left of all men the most miserable ? Chris- tians, hath Christ made us forsake all the world, and be forsaken of all the world? to hate all, and be hated of all .'' and all this for him that we might have him, instead of all ? And will he, think you, after all this, forget us, and forsake us himself? Far be such a thought from our hearts ! But why staid he not with his people while he was here ? Wliy ? Was not the work on earth done ? Must he not take possession of glory in our behalf? Must he not intercede with the Father, plead his sufferings, be filled with the Spirit to send forth, receive authority, and subdue his enemies ? Our abode here is short. If he had staid on earth, what would it have been to enjoy him for a few days, and then die? He hath more in heaven to dwell among; even the spirits of many generations. He will have us live by faith, and not by sight. 3. O Fellow-Christians, what a day will that be, when we, who have been kept prisoners by sin, by sinners, by the grave, shall be fetched out by the Lord himself! It will not be such a coming as his first was, in poverty and contempt, to be spit upon, d3 82 and buffeted, and crucified again. He will not come, O careless world ! to be sligbted and neglected by you any more. Yet that coming wanted not its glory. If the heavenly host, for the celebration of his nativity, must praise God, with what shoutings will angels and saints at tliat day proclaim glory to God, peace and good-will towards men ! If a star must lead men from remote parts of the world to come to worship a child in a manger, how will the glory of his next appearing constrain all the world to acknowledge his sovereignty ! If, riding on an ass, he enter Jerusalem with hosannas, with what peace and glory will he come toward the New Jeru- salem ! If, when he was in the form of a servant, they cry out, " What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" what will they say, when they shall see him coming in his glory, and the heavens and the earth obey him ! " Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." To think and speak of that day with horror, doth well beseem the impenitent sinner, but ill the beheving saint. Shall the wicked behold him, and cry, " Yonder is he whose blood we neglected, whose grace we resisted, whose counsel we refused, whose government we cast off?" And shall not the saints, with inconceivable gladness, cry, " Yonder is he whose blood redeemed us, whose Spirit cleansed us, whose law did govern us, in whom we trusted, and he hath not deceived our trust ; for whom we long waited, and now we see we have not waited in vain ! O cursed corruption ! that would have had us turn to the world, and present things, and say, Why 83 sliould we wait for the Lord any longer? Now we see, Blessed are all they that wait for him." And now, Christians, should we not put up that petition heartily, " Thy kingdom come ? The Spirit and the bride say, Come: and let him that heareth," and readcth, " say. Come." Our Lord himself says, " Surely I come quickly, Amen : even so, come, Lord Jesus." 4. (2.) Another thing that leads to paradise is, that great work of Jesus Christ, in raising our bodies from the dust, and uniting them again unto the soul. A wonderful effect of infinite power and love ! Yea, wonderful indeed, says unbchef, if it be true. What ! shall all these scattered bones and dust become a man? — Let me with reverence plead for God, for that power whereby I hope to arise. What beareth the massy body of the earth ? What Hmits the vast ocean of the waters ? Whence is that constant ebbing and flowing of the tides ? How many times bigger than all the earth is the sun, that glorious body of hght? Is it not as easy to raise the dead, as to make heaven and earth, and all of nothing ? — Look not on the dead bones, and dust, and difficulty, but at the promise. Contentedly commit these caixasses to a prison that shall not long contain them. Let us he down in peace, and take oui' rest ; it will not be an everlasting night, nor endless sleep. If un- clothing be the thing thou fearest, it is that thou mavest have ])etter clothinjj. If to be turned out of doors be the thing thou fearest, remember that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, thou hast a building of God, an ]ious;c' not made 84 with hands, eternal in the heavens. Lay down cheerfully this lump of corruption; thou shalt un- doubtedly receive it again in incorruption. Lay down freely this terrestrial, this natural body ; thou shalt receive it again a celestial, a spiritual body. Though thou lay it down with great dishonour, thou shalt receive it in glory. Though thou art separated from it through weakness, it shall be raised again in mighty power — In a moment, in the twink- ling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorrup- tible, and we shall be changed. " The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then they who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." Triumph now, O Christian, in these promises; thou shalt shortly triumph in their performance. This is the day which the Lord will make, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. The grave, that could not keep our Lord, cannot keep us. He arose for us, and by the same power will cause us to arise. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. Let us never look at the grave, but let us see the resurrection beyond it. " Yea, let us be stead- fast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as we know our labour is not in vain in the Lord." 5. (3.) Part of this prologue to the saint's rest, is the public and solemn process at their judgment, where they shall first themselves be acquitted and justified, and then with Christ judge the world. 85 Voung and old, of all estates and n:itions, that ever were from the creation to that day, must here come, and receive their doom. O terrible ! O joyful day ! Terrible to those tiiat have forgot the coming of their Lord ! Joyful to the saints, whose waiting and hope was to see this day ! Then shall the world behold the goodness and severity of God : on them who perish, severity; but to his chosen, goodness. Kvcry one must give an account of his stewardship. Every talent of time, health, wit, mercies, afflictions, means, warnings, must be reckoned for. The sins of youth, those which they had forgotten, and their secret sins, shall all be laid open before angels and men. They shall see the Lord Jesus, whom they neglected, whose word they disobeyed, whose minis- ters they abused, whose servants they hated, now sitting to judge them. Their own consciences shall cry nut against them, and call to their remembrance aJl their misdoings. Which way will the wretched dinner look? Who can conceive the terrible thoughts of his heart ? Now the world cannot help him ; his old companions cannot ; the saints neither can nor will. Only the Lord Jesus can; but, there is the misery, he will not. Time was, sinner, when Christ would, and you would not ; now, fain would you, and he will not. All in vain, to cry to the moun- tains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne ; for thou hast the Lord of mountains and rocks for thine ene- my, whose voice they will obey, and not thine. I charge thee therefore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the 86 dead at his appearing, and his kingdom, that thou set thyself seriously to ponder on these things. 6. But why tremblest thou, O humble gracious soul ? He that would not lose one Noah in a com- mon deluge, nor overlook one Lot in Sodom : nay, that could do nothing till he went forth ; will he forget thee at that day? The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to re- serve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. He knoweth how to make the same day the greatest terror to his foes, and yet the greatest joy to his people. " There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" Shall the law? The law of the spiiit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made them free from the law of sin and death. Or shall conscience ? The Spirit itself beareth witness with their spirit, that they are the children of God. *' It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemn- eth?" If our judge condemn us not, who shall? He that said to the adulterous woman, " Hath no man condemned thee? Neither do I;" will say to us, more faithfully than Peter to him, " Though all men deny thee, or condemn theo, I wJU not." Having con- fessed me before men, thee " will I also confess be- fore my Father who is in heaven." T. What inexpressible joy, that our dear Lord, who loveth our souls, and whom our souls love, shall be our Judge ! WiU a man fear to be judged by his dearest friend? Or a wife by her own husband? Christian, did Ch'-ist come down and suffer, and 87 weep, and bleed, and die for thee, and will he now condemn thee? Was he judged, condemned, and executed in thy stead, and now will he condemn thee himself? Hath he done most of the work already, in redeeming, regenerating, sanctifying, and preserving thee, and will he now undo all again? Well then, let the terror of that day be never so great, surely our Lord can mean no ill to us in all. Let it make the devils tremble, and the wicked tremble ; but it shall make us leap for joy. It must needs affect us deeply with the sense of our mercy and happiness, to see the most of the world tremble with terror, while we triumph with joy; to hear them doomed to everlasting flames, when we arc proclaimed heirs of the kingdom; to see our neighbours that lived in the same towns, came to the same congre- gation, dwelt in the same houses, and were esteemed more honourable in the world than ourselves, now by the Searcher of hearts eternally separated. This, with the great magnificence and dreadfulness of the day, the apostle pathetically expresses : " It is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you who are trou- bled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be re- vealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flam- ing fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall be punished with everlasting de- struction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power ; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all tliem that beheve in that day." 88 8. Yet more, we shall be so far from the dread of that judgment, that ourselves shall become the judges. Christ will take his people, as it were, into commis- sion with himself, and they shall sit and approve his righteous judgment. Do you not know that the saints wiU judge the world ? Nay, " know ye not that we shall judge angels?" Were it not for the word of Christ tliat speaks it, this advancement would seem incredible, and the language arrogant. Even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied this, saying, *' Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their un- godly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Tlius shall the saints be honoured, and the upright shall have dominion in the mornincp. O that the careless world " were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end." That they would be now of the same mind as they will be, when they shall see the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein, burnt up ! When aU shall be in fire about their ears, and all earthly glory consumed. For the heavens and the earth, which are now, are reserved unto fire against tiie day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. " Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein th 89 heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ?" 9. (4.) Tiic last preparative to the saints' rest is tlieir solemn coronation, and receiving the kingdom. For, as Christ their Head, is anointed both King and Priest, so under him are his people made unto God both kings and priests, to reign, and to offer praises for ever. The crown of righteousness, which was laid up for them, shall by the Lord the righte- ous Judge be given them at that day. They have been faithful unto death, and tlicrefore he will give them a crown of life. And according to the im- provement of their talents here, so shall their rule and dignity be enlarged. They are not dignified with empty titles, but real dominion. Christ will grant them to sit with him on his throne ; and will give them power over the nations, even as he re- ceived of his Father; and he " will give them the morniufj star." The Lord himself will give them possession with these applauding expressions; *' Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 10. And with this solemn and blessed proclama- tion shall he enthrone them : " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Eveiy word is full of life and joy. Come — this is the holding forth of the golden sceptre, to warrant our approach unto this glory. Come now as near as you will; fear not the Bethshcmite's judgment; for the enmity 90 is utterly abolished. This is not such a Come as we were wont to hear, " Come, take up your cross, and follow me." Though that was sweet, yet this much more. Ye blessed — Blessed indeed, when that mouth shall so pronounce us ! For tliough the world hath accounted us accursed, and we have been ready to account ourselves so; yet certainly those that he blesseth, are blessed; and those whom he curseth, only are cursed, and his blessing cannot be reversed. Of my Father — blessed in the Father's love, as well as the Son's, for they are one. The Father hath testified his love in their election, dona- tion to Christ, sending of Christ, and accepting his ransom, as the Son hath also testified his. Inherit — No longer bondmen, nor servants only, nor chil- dren under age, who differ not in possession, but only in title, from servants ; but now we are heirs of the kingdom, and joint heirs with Christ. The kingdom — No less than the kingdom ! Indeed to be King of kings, and Lord of lords, is our Lord's own proper title: but to be kings, and reign with him, is ours. The enjoyment of this kingdom is, as the light of this sun; each have the whole, and the rest never the less. Prepared for you — God is the Alpha, as well as the Omega of our blessedness. Eternal love hath laid the foundation. He prepared the kingdom for us, and then prepared us for the kingdom. This is the preparation of his counsel and decree; for the execution whereof Christ was yet to make a further preparation. For vju — Not for believers only in general, who, without individual persons, are nobody; but for you personally. 91 From the foundation of the world — Not only from the promise after Adam's fall, but from eternity. 1 1 . I'hus we have seen the Christian safely landed in paradise, and conveyed honourably to his rest. Now let us a little further, in the next chapter, view those mansions, consider their privileges, and see whether there be any gloiy like unto this glory. 93 CHAPTER III. The Excellencies of the Saints' Rest. Sect. 1. The excellencies of the Saints' Rest are enuraerated- 2. (1.) It is the purchased possession. 3, 4. (2.) A free gift. 5. (3.) Peculiar to Saints. 6. (4.) An association with saints and angels. 7. (5.) It derives its joys immediately from God himself. 8. (6.) It will be seasonable. 9. (7.) Suitable. 10 — 12. (8.) Perfect, without sin and suffering. 13. (9.) And everlasting. 14. The chapter concludes with a serious address to the reader. 1. Let us draw a little nearer, and see what fur- ther excellencies this rest affordeth. The Lord hide us in the clefts of the rock, and cover us with the hands of indulgent grace, while we approach to take this view ! This rest is excellent for being — a pur- chased possession, — a free gift, — peculiar to saints, — an association with saints and angels', — yet de- riving its joys immediately from God : — and because it will be a seasonable — suitable — perfect — and eter- nal rest. 2. (L) It is a most singular honour of the saints' rest, to be called the purchased possession. That is, the fruit of the blood of the Son of God ; yea the chief fruit, the end and perfection of all the fruits and efficacy of that blood. Greater love than this there is not, to lay down the hfe of the lover. And to have this our Redeemer ever before our eyes, and the liveliest sense and freshest remem- r'3 brancc of tliat tlyinir, blccdiufr love still upon our souls ! How will it fill our souls with pcipctual joy, to think, that in the streams of this blood we have swam through the violence of the worlil, the snares of Satan, the seduccmcnts of flesh, the curse of the law, tlie wrath of an offended God, the accusations of a guilty conscience, and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart, and are arrived safe at the presence of God ! Now, he cries to us, Is it " nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? behold, and sec if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow ! " and we scarce regard the mournful voice, nor scarce turn aside to view the wounds. But then our per- fected souls will feel, and flame in love for love. With what astonishing apprehensions will redeemed saints everlastingly behold their blessed Redeemer ! the purchaser, and the price, together, with the pos- session ! Neither will the view of his wounds of love, renew our wounds of sorrow. He, whose first words after his resurrection were to a great sinner, " Woman, why weepest thou?" knows how to raise love and joy, without any cloud of sorrow, or storm of tears. If any thing we enjoy was purchased with the life of our dearest friend, how highly should we value it? If a dying friend deliver us but a token of his love, how carefully do we preserve it ! And still remember him when we behold it, as if his own name were written on it ! And will not then the death and blood of our Lord everlastingly sweeten our possessed glory? As we write down the price our goods cost us; so on our righteousness and glory, write down the price, the precious blood of Christ. 94 His sufferings were to satisfy the justice that re- quired blood, and to bear what was due to sinners, and so to restore them to the life they lost, and the happiness they fell from. The work of Christ's re- demption so well pleased the Father, that he gave him power to advance his chosen, and give them the glory which was given to himself, and all this *' ac- cording to his good pleasure, and the counsel of his own will." 3. (2.) Another pearl in the saints' diadem is, that it is a free gift. These two, purchased and free, are the chains of gold which make up the wreaths for the tops of the pillars in the temple of God. It was dear to Christ, but free to us. When Christ was to buy, silver and gold were nothing worth ; prayers and tears could not suffice, uor any thing below his blood ; but our buying is receiving; we have it freely, without money, and without price. A thankful acceptance of a free acquittance, is no paying of the debt. Here is all free : if the Father freely give the Son, and the Sou freely pay the debt ; and if God freely accepts that way of payment, when he might have required it of the principal; and if both Father and Son freely offer us the pur- chased life on our cordial acceptance, and if they freely send the Spirit to enable us to accept; what is here then that is not free ? O the everlasting admiration that must needs surprise the saints to think of this freeness ! " What did the Lord see in me, that he should judge me meet for such a state? That I, who was but a poor, diseased, de- spised wretch, should be clad in the brightness of 95 this glory ! That I, a creeping worm, should be advanced to this liii^h dii^nity ! That I, who waa but lately groaning, weeping, dying, should now be as full of joy as my heart can hold ! yea, should be taken from tlie grave, where I was rottmg, and from the dust and darkness, where I seemed for- gotten, and be here set before his throne ! That I should be taken, with Mordecai, from captivity, and be set next unto the king; and, with Daniel, from the den, to be made ruler of princes and provinces ! Wlio can fathom unmeasurable love?" If worthi- ness were our concUtion for admittance, we might sit down and weep with St. John, Because no man was found worthy. But the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is worthy, and hath prevailed; and by that title we must hold the inheritance. We shall offer there the offering that David refused, even praise for that which cost us nothing. Here our commission runs, freely ye have received, freely give; but (>hri6t has dearly bought, yet freely gives. 4. If it were only for nothing, and without our merit, the wonder were great; but it is moreover against our merit, and against our long endeavour- ing our own ruin. Wliat an astonishing thought it \vill be, to think of the unmeasurable difference be- tween our deservintjs and receivings ! Between the State we should have been in, and the state we are in ! To look down upon hell, and see the vast differ- ence that grace hath made between us and them ! To see the inheritance there, which we were born to, so different from that which we are adopted to ! What pangs of love will it cause within us to think, " Yon- 96 der was the place tliat sin would have brought me to, but this is it that Christ hath brought me to ! Yonder death was the wages of my sin, but this eternal life is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ my Lord! Who made me to differ? Had I not now been in those flames, if I had had my own way, and been let alone to my own will ? Should I not have lingered in Sodom, till the flames had seized on me, if God had not in mercy brought me out?" Doubtless this will be our everlasting admiration, that so rich a crown should fit the head of so vile a sinner ! That such high advancement, and such long unfi-uitftdness and unkindness, can be the state of the same person ! And that such vile rebellions can conclude in such most precious joys ! But no thanks to us, nor to any of our duties and labours, much less to our neglects and laziness: we know to v/hom the praise is due, and must be given for ever. In- deed to this very end it was, that infinite wisdom cast the whole design of man's salvation into this mould of purchase and freeness, that the love and joy of man might be perfected, and the honour of grace most highly advanced; that the thought of merit mijrht neither cloud the one nor obstruct the other; and that on these two hinges the gate of heaven mijiht turn. So then let deserved be writ- ten on the door of hell, but on the door of heaven and life, the free gift. 5. (3.) This rest is pecuhar to saints, belongs to no other of all the sons of men. If all Egypt had been Ught, the Israelites would not have had the less; but to enjoy that light alone, while their neigh- 97 hours lived in thick darkness, must make them more sensible of their privilege. Distinguishing mercy affects more than any mercy. If Pharaoh had passed as safely as Israel, the Red Sea would have been less remembered. If the rest of the world had not been drowned, and the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah not burned, the saving of Noah had been no won- der, nor Lot's deliverance so much talked of. When one is enhghtened, and another left in darkness; one reformed, and another by his lust enslaved; it makes the saints cry out, " Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?" When the prophet is sent to one widow only of all that were in Israel, and to cleanse one Naaman of all the lepers, the mercy is more observ- able. That will surely be a day of passionate sense on both sides, when there shall be two in one bed, and two in the field, the one taken and the other left. The saints shall look down upon the burning lake, and in the sense of their own happiness, and in the approbation of God's just proceedings, they shall rejoice and sing, " Thou art righteous, O Lord, who wast, art, and shall be, because thou hast judged thus." 6. (4.) But though this rest be proper to the saints, yet it is common to all the saints ; for it is an association of blessed spirits, both saints and angels ; a corporation of perfected saints, whereof Christ is the head; the communion of saints completed. As we have been together in the labour, duty, danger, and distress ; so shall we be in the great recompense arid deliverance. As we have been scorned and E 10 98 despised; so shall we be owned and honoured to- gether. We, who have gone through the day of sadness, shall enjoy together that day of gladness. Those, who have been with us in persecution and prison, shall be with us also in that palace of con- solation. How oft have our groans made, as it were, one sound? our tears one stream? and our desires one prayer? But now all our praises shall make up one melody; aU our churches, one church, and all ourselves, one body; for we shall be all one in Christ ; even as he and the Father are one. It is true, we must be careful, not to look for that in the saints, which is alone in Christ. But if the fore- thought of sitting down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, may be our lawful joy; how much more the real sight and actual possession? It cannot choose but be comfortable to think of that day, when we shall join with Moses in his song, with David in his psalms of praise, and with aU the redeemed in the song of the Lamb for ever; when we shall see Enoch walking with God; Noah enjoying the end of his singularity; Joseph of his integrity; Job of his patience; Hezekiah of his uprightness ; and all the saints the end of their faith. Not only our old acquaintance, but all the saints, of all ages, whose faces in the flesh we never saw, we shall there both know and comfortably en- joy. Yea, angels as well as saints, will be our bles- sed acquaintance. Those who now are willingly our ministering spirits, wiR wiUingly then be our com- panions in joy. They, who had such joy in heaven tor our conversion, will gladly rejoice with us in our 99 glorification. ITien wc shall truly say, as David, •' I am a companion of all them that fear thee ;" when " we arc come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to 1) innumerable company of angels: to the general assembly, and church of the first-born, who are writ- ten in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant." It is a sin- gular excellence of heavenly rest, that " we are fel- low-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." 7. (5.) As another property of our rest, we shall derive its joys immediately from God. Now we have nothing at all immediately, but at the second or third hand, or how many, who knows ? From the earth, from man, from sun and moon, from the ministration of angels, and from the Spirit, and Christ. Though in the hand of angels, the stream savours not of the imperfection of sinners, yet it does of the imperfec- tion of creatures; and as it comes from man, it sa- vours of both. How quick and piercing is the word in itself! Yet many times it never enters, being managed by a feeble ai-m. What weight and worth is there in every passage of the blessed gospel ! Enough, one would think, to enter and pierce the dullest soul, and wholly possess its thoughts and af- fections ; and yet how oft does it fall as water upon a stone ! The things of God, which we handle, are divine ; but our manner of handling is human. There is Uttle we touch, but we leave the print of our fin- gers behind. If God speak the word himself, it i: 2 100 will be a piercing, melting word indeed. The Chris- tian now knows by experience, that his most imme- diate joys are his sweetest joys ; which have least of man, and are most directly from the Spirit. Chris- tians, who are much in secret prayer and contempla- tion, are men of greatest life and joy ; because they have all more immediately from God himself. Not that we should cast off hearing, reading, and con- ference, or neglect any ordinance of God ; but to Uve above them, while we use them, is the way of a Christian. Tliere is joy in these remote receivings ; but the fulness of joy is in God's immediate pre- sence. We shall then have light without a candle, and perpetual day without the sun; for "the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the hght thereof: there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun ; and they shall reign for ever and ever." We shall then have enlightened understandings without Scrip- ture, and be governed without a written law ; for the Lord will perfect his law in ovu- hearts, and we shall be all perfectly taught of God. We shall have joy, which we drew not from the promises, nor fetched home by faith or hope. We shall have communion without sacraments, without this fruit of the vine, when Christ shall cbrink it new with us in his Fa- ther's kingdom, and refresh us with the comforting wine of immediate enjoyment. To have necessities, but no supply, is the case of them in hell. To have necessity supplied by means of the creatures, is the case of us on earth. To liave necessity supplied 101 immediately from God is the case of the saints in heaven. To have no necessity at all, is the prero- gative of God himself. 8. (6.) A farther excellence of this rest is, that it will be seasonable. He that expects the fruit of his vineyard at the season, and makes his people "like a tree planted by the rivers of water, tliat bringeth forth his fruit in his season," will also give them the crown in his season. He that will have a word of joy spoken in season, to him that is weary, will surely cause the time of joy to appear in the fittest season. They who are not weary in well- doing, shall, if they faint not, reap in due season. If God giveth rain even to his enemies, both the former and the latter in his season, and reserveth the appointed weeks of harvest, and covenants that there shall be day and night in their season ; then surely the glorious harvest of the saints shall not miss its season. Doubtless he that would not stay a day longer than his promise, but brought Israel out of Egypt on the self-same day, when the four liundred and thirty years were expired ; neither will lie fail of one day or hour of the fittest season for his people's glory. When we have had in this world ;i long night of darkness, will not the day breaking and the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, be then seasonable? When we have passed a long and tedious journey, through no small dangers, is not home then seasonable ? When we have had a lone and perilous war, and received many a wound, would not a peace with victory be seasonable ? • Men live in a continual weariness ; especially the saints, who 102 are most weary of that which the world cannot feel. Some weary of a blind mind ; some of a hard heart ; some of their daily doubts and fears ; some of the want of spiritual joys; and some of the sense of God's wrath. And when a poor Christian hath desired and prayed, and waited for deliverance many years, is it not then seasonable ? We grudge that we do not find a Canaan in the Wilderness ; or the songs of Sion in a strange land ; that we have not a harbour in the main ocean, nor our rest in the heat of the day, nor heaven before we leave the earth ; and would not aU this be very unseasonable ? 9. (17.) As this rest will be seasonable, so it will be suitable. The new nature of the saints doth suit their spirits to this rest. Indeed their holiness is nothing else but a spark taken from this element, and by the Spirit of Christ kindled in their hearts ; the flame whereof, mindful of its own divine original, ever tends to the place from whence it comes. Tem- poral crowns and kingdoms could not make a rest for saints. As they were not redeemed with so low a price, neither are they endued with so low a nature. As God will have from them a spiritual worship, suited to his own spiritual being, he will provide them a spiritual rest, suitable to their spiritual na- ture. The knowledge of God and his Christ, a dehghtful complacency in that mutual love, an ever- lasting rejoicing in the enjoyment of our God, with a perpetual singing of his high praises; this is a heaven for a saint. Then we shall Uve in our own element. We are now as the fish in a vessel of water, only so much as wHl keep them alive : but 103 what is that to the ocean? We have a little air let into us, to afford us breathing; but what is that to the sweet and fresh gales upon Mount Sion? We have a beam of the sun to lighten our darkness, and a warm ray to keep us from freezing; but then we shall live in its light, and be revived by its heat for ever. — As the natures of saints are, such are their desires; and it is the desires of our renewed nature which this rest is suited to. Whilst our desires remain corrupted and misguided, it is a far greater mercy to deny them, yea, to destroy them, than to satisfy them; but those w'hich are spiritual are of his own planting, and he avUI surely water them, and give the increase. He quickened our hunger and thirst for righteousness, that he might make us happy in a full satisfaction. Christian, this is a rest after thy own heart; it contains all that thy heart can wish ; that which thou longest, prayest, labourest for, there thou shalt find it all. Thou hadst rather have God in Christ, than all the world ; there thou shalt have him. What wouldst thou not give for assurance of his love? There thou shalt have assurance without suspicion. Desii-e what thou canst, and ask what thou wilt, as a Chris- tian, and it shall be given thee, not only to half of the kingdom, but to the enjoyment both of kingdom and King. This is a life of desire and prayer, but that is a life of satisfaction and enjoyment. — This rest is very suitable to the saints' necessities also, as well as to their natures and desires. It contains whatsoever they truly wanted; not supplying them with gross created comforts, which, like Saul's ar- 104 raour on David, are more burden than benefit. It was Christ and perfect hohness which they most needed, and with these shall they be suppUed. 10. (8.) Still more, this rest wiU be absolutely perfect. We shall then have joy without sorrow, and rest without weariness. There is no mixture of corruption with our graces, nor of suffering with our comfort. There are none of those waves in that harbour, which now so toss us up and down. To-day we are well, to-morrow sick; to-day in esteem, to-morrow in disgrace; to-day we have friends, to- morrow none : nay, we have wine and vinegar in the same cup. If revelation raise us to the third heaven, the messenger of Satan must presently buffet us, and the thorn in the flesh fetch us down. But there is none of this inconstancy in heaven. If perfect love casteth out fear, then perfect joy must needs cast out sorrow, and perfect happiness exclude all the reliques of misery. We shall there rest from all the evil of sin, and of suffering. 11. Heaven excludes nothing more directly than sin, whether of nature, or of conversation. " There shall in nowise enter any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a he." What need Christ at all to have died, if heaven could have contained imperfect souls ? " For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." His blood and Spirit have not done all this, to leave us after all defiled. "What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Be- lial?" Christian, if thou be once in heaven, thou 105 slialt sin no more. Is not this glad news to tliee, who hast prayed, and watched against it so long? I know, if it were offered to thy choice, thou wouldst rather choose to be freed from sin, than have all the world. Thou shalt have thy desire. — That hard heart, those vile thoughts, which accompanied thee to every duty, shall now be left behind for ever. — Thy understanding shall never more be troubled with darkness. All dark Scriptures shall be made plain; ail seeming contradictions reconciled. The poorest Christian is presently there a more perfect divine than any here. O that happy day, when error shall vanish for ever ! When our understand- ing shall be filled with God himself, whose light will leave no darkness in us ! His face shall be the Scripture, where we shall read the truth. Many a godly man hath here, in his mistaken zeal, been a means to deceive and pervert his brethren, and when he sees his own error, cannot again tell how to un- deceive them. But there we shall conspire in one truth, as beuig one in him who is the truth. — We shall also rest from all the sin of our will, affection, and conversation. We shall no more retain this rebelling principle, which is still drawing us from God : no more be oppressed with the power of our corruptions, nor vexed with their presence : no pride, passion, slothfulness, insensibility, shall enter with us ; no strangeness to God, and the things of God ; no coldness of affections, nor imperfection in our love; no uneven walking, nor grieving of the Spirit; no scandalous action, nor unholy conversation ; we shall rest from all these for ever. Then shall our will e3 106 correspond to the divine will, as face answers face in a glass, and from which, as our law and rule, we shall never swerve. " For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." 12. Our sufferings were but the consequences of our sinning, and in heaven they both shall cease to- gether. We shall rest from all our doubts of God's love. It shall no more be said, that " Doubts are like the thistle, a bad weed, but growing in good ground." They shall now be weeded out, and trouble the gracious soul no more. We shall hear that kind of language no more, " What shall I do to know my state ? How shall I know that God is my Father ? that my heart is upright ? that my con- version is true ? that faith is sincere ? I am afraid ;ny sins are unpardoned ! that all I do is hypocrisy ! that God will reject me ! that he does not hear my prayers !" All this is there turned into praise. We shall rest from all sense of God's displeasure. Hell shall not be mixed with heaven. At times the gracious soul remembered God, and was troubled ; complained, and was overwhelmed, and refused to be comforted ; divine wrath lay hard upon him, and God afflicted him with all his waves. But that blessed day shall convince us, that though God hid his face from us for a moment, yet with everlasting kindness will he have mercy on us. We shall rest from all the temptations of Satan. What a grief is it to a Christian, though he yield not to the tempta- tion, yet to be solicited to deny his Lord ! What a torment, to have such horrid motions made to his 107 soul ! such blasphemous ideas presented to his ima- gination ! Sometimes cruel thoughts of God, under- valuing thoughts of Christ, unbeUeving thoughts of Scripture, or injurious thoughts of Providence ! To be tempted sometimes to turn to present things, to play with the baits of sin, and venture on the de- lights of flesh, and sometimes to atheism itself! Especially, when we know the treachery of our own hearts, ready, as tinder, to take fire, as soon as one of those sparks shall fall upon them ! Satan hath power here to tempt us in the wilderness, but he entercth not the holy city : he may set us on a pin- nacle of the temple in the earthly Jerusalem, but the new Jerusalem he may not approach; he may take us up into an exceeding high mountain, but the Mount Sion he cannot ascend ; and if he could, all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, would be a despised bait to a soul possessed of the kingdom of our Lord. No, it is in vain for Satan to offer a temptation more. All our temptations from the world and the flesh shall also cease. O the hourly dangers that we here walk in ! Every sense and member is a snare; every creature, every mercy, and every duty, is a snare to us. We can scarce open our eyes, but we are in danger of envying those above us, or despising those below us; of coveting the honours and riches of some, or beholding the rags and beggary of others with pride and unmerci- fulness. If we see beauty, it is a bait to lust ; if deformity, to loathing and disdain. How soon do slanderous reports, vain jests, wanton speeches, creep 'uto tlic heart ! How constant and strono- n watrlx 108 does our appetite require ! Have we comeliness aiid beauty ? What fuel for pride ! Are we de- formed? Wliat an occasion of repining! Have we strength of reason, and gifts of learning? O how prone to be puffed up, hunt after applause, and despise our brethren ! Are we unlearned ? How apt then to despise what we have not ! Are we in places of authority ? How strong is the temptation to abuse our trust, make our will our law, and cut out all the enjoyments of others by the rules and model of our own interest and policy ! Are we in- feriors? How prone to grudge at other's pre-emi- nence, and bring their actions to the bar of our judgment ! Are we rich, and not too much exalted ? Are we poor, and not discontented? Are we not lazy in our duties, or make a Christ of them? Not that God hath made all these things our snares; but through our own corruption they become so to us. Ourselves are the greatest snare to ourselves. This is our comfort, our rest will free us from aU these. As Satan hath no entrance there, so neither any thing to serve his malice : but all things there shall join with us in the high praises of their great De- liverer. As we rest from the temptations, we shall likewise from the abuses and persecutions of the world. The prayers of the souls under the altar will then be answered, and God will avenge their blood on them that dwell on the earth. This is the time for crowning with thorns; that for crowning with glory. Now, "all that live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution ;" then they that suf- fered with him, shall be glorified with him. Now, 109 we must be hated of all men for Christ's name's sake. Then, Christ will be admired in his saints that were thus hated. We are here made a spec- tacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men ; as the filth of the world, and the ofFscouring of all things; men separate us from their company, and reproach us, and cast out our names as evil : but we shall then be as much gazed at for our glory, and they wdl be shut out of the church of the saints, and separated from us, whether they will or not. We can scarce pray in our families, or sing praises to God, but our voice is a vexation to them : how must it torment them then, to see us praising and rejoicing, while they are howling and lamenting ! You, brethren, who can now attempt no work of God, without losing tlie love of the world, consider, you shall have none in heaven but will further your work, and join heart and voice with you in your everlasting joy and praise. Till then, possess ye your souls in patience. Bind all reproaches as a crown to your heads. Esteem them greater riches than the world's treasures. " It is a righteous fhing with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you, who are troubled, rest with Christ." We shall then rest from all our sad divisions, and unchristian quarrels with one another. How lovingly do thousands live together in heaven, who lived at variance upon earth ! There is no con- tention, because none of this pride, ignorance, or other corruption. There is no plotting to strengthen our party, nor deep designing against our brethren. If there be sorrow or shame in heaven, we shall then 110 be both sorry and ashamed, to remember all this carriage on earth; as Joseph's brethren were to be- hold him, when they remembered their former un- kind usage. Is it not enough that all the world is against us, but we must also be against one another ? O happy days of persecution, which drove us toge- ther in love, whom the sunshine of Hberty and pros- perity crumbles into dust by our contentions ! O happy day of the saints' rest in glory, when, as there is one God, one Christ, one Spirit, so we shall have one heart, one church, one employment for ever ! We shall then rest from our participation of our brethren's sufferings. The church on earth is a mere hospital. Some groaning under a dark understand- ing, some under an insensible heart, some languish- ing under unfruitful weakness, and some bleeding for miscarriages and wilfxJness, some crying out of their poverty, some groaning under pains and infir- mities, and some bewailing a whole catalogue of ca- lamities. But a far greater grief it is, to see our dearest and most intimate friends turned aside from the truth of Christ, continmng their neglect of Christ and their souls, and nothing wiU awaken them out of their security: to look on an ungodly father or mother, brother or sister, wife or husband, child or friend, and think how certainly they shall l)e in heU for ever, if they die in their present un- regenerate state : to think of the gospel departing, the glory taken from our Israel, poor souls left wil- lingly dark and destitute, and blowing out the light that should guide them to salvation ! Our day of rest will free us from all this, and the days of mourn- Ill ing shall be ended : then tliy people, () Lord, shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of thy planting, the work of thy hands, that thou raayest be glorified. Then we shall rest from all our own personal sufferings. This may seem a small thing to those that live in ease and prosperity but to the daily afflicted soul it makes the thoughts of heaven delightful. O the dying life we now live ! as full of sufierings as of days and hours ! Our Redeemer leaves this measure of misery upon us, to make us know for what we are beholden, to mind us of what we should else forget, to be ser- viceable to his wise and gracious designs, and ad- vantageous to our full and final recovery. Grief enters at every sense, seizes every part and power of flesh and spirit. What noble part is there, that suffereth its pain or ruin alone ? But sin and flesh, (lust and pain, will all be left behind together. O the blessed tranquillity of that region, where there is nothing but sweet, continued peace ! O health- ful place, where none are sick ! O fortunate land, where all are kings ! O holy assembly, where all are priests ! How free a state, where none are ser- vants, but to their supreme Monarch ! The poor man shall no more be tired with his labours : no more hunger or thirst, cold or nakedness ; no pinch- ing frosts or scorching heats. Our faces shall no TTiore be pale or sad; no more breaches in friend- ship, nor parting of friends asunder ; no more trouble accompanying our relations, nor voice or lamentation heard in our dwellings : God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. O my soul, bear with the in- 112 firmities of thine earthly tabernacle ; it will be thus but a little while; the sound of thy Redeemer's feet is even at the door. We shall also rest from all the toils of duties. The conscientious magistrate, parent, and minister, cries out, "O the burden that lieth upon me ! " Every relation, state, age, hath variety of duties ; so that every conscientious Chris- tian cries out, " O the burden ! O my weakness that makes it burdensome ! " But our remaining rest will ease us of the burdens. Once more we shall rest from all these troublesome afflictions which necessarily accompany our absence from God. The trouble that is mixed in our desires and hopes, our longings and waitings, shall then cease. We shall no more look into our cabinet, and miss our trea- sure ; into our hearts, and miss our Christ ; no more seek him from ordinance to ordinance; but all be concluded in a most blessed and full enjoyment. 13. (9.) The last jewel of our crown is, that it will be an everlasting rest. Without this all were comparatively nothing. The very thought of leav- ing it, would imbitter all our joys. It would be a hell in heaven, to think of once losing heaven : as it would be a kind of heaven to be damned, had they but hopes of once escaping. Mortality is the dis- grace of all sublunary delights. How it spoils oui- pleasure, to see it dying in our hands ! But, () blessed eternity ! where our lives are perplexed with no such thoughts, nor our joys interrupted with any such fears ! where " we shall be pillars in tlie temple of God, and go no more out." While we were servants, we held by lease, and that but for the 113 term of a transitory life ; " but the son abidetli in the house for ever." " O my soul, let go thy dreams of present pleasures, and loose thy hold of earth and flesh. Study frequently, study thoroughly, this me word — Eternity. What ! Live and never die ! Rejoice, and ever rejoice ! " O happy souls in hell, should you but escape after millions of ages ! O miserable saints in heaven, should you be dispos- sessed, after the age of a million of worlds ! This word, everlasting, contains the perfection of their torment, and our glory. O that the sinner would study this word ! methinks it would startle him out of his dead sleep. O that the gracious soul would study it, methinks it would revive him in his deepest agony ! " And must I, Lord, thus live for ever ? Then will I also love for ever. Must my joys be immortal? And shall not my thanks be also im- mortal ? Surely, if I shall never lose my glory, 1 will never cease thy praises. If thou wilt both per- fect and perpetuate me and my glory ; as I shall be thine, and not my o^vn; so shall my glory be thy glory. And as thy glory was thy ultimate end in my glory ; so shall it also be my end, when thou hast crowned me with that glory which hath no end. ' L^nto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever.'" 14. Thus I have endeavoured to show you a glimpse of approaching glory. But how short are my expressions of its excellency ! Reader, if thou be an humble sincere believer, and waitest with long- ing and labouring for this rest, thou wilt shortly see, 114 and feel the truth of all this. Thou wilt then have' so high an apprehension of this blessed state, as will make thee pity the ignorance and distance of mortals, and will tell thee, all that is here said falls short of the whole truth a thousand-fold. In the mean time, let this much kindle thy desires, and quicken thy endeavours. Up, and be doing ; rmi, and strive, and fight, and hold on ; for thou hast a certain, glo- rious prize before thee. God wiU not mock thee : do not mock thyself, nor betray thy soul by delay- ing, and all is thine own. What kind of men, dost thou think, would Christians be in their lives and duties, if they had still this glory fresh in their thoughts ? What frame would their spirits be in, if their thoughts of heaven were lively and believ- ing ? Would their hearts be so heavy ? their coun- tenances be so sad? or would they have need tc. take up their comforts from below? Would thev be so loath to suffer ; so afraid to die : or would they not think every day a year till they enjoy it ? May the Lord heal our carnal hearts, lest we enter not into this rest, because of unbelief. 115 CHAPTER IV. The Character of the Persons for whom this Rest is designed. Sect. I. It is wonderful that such rest sliould be designed for mortals. 2. The people of God, who shall enjoy this rest, are, (1.) Chosen from eternity. 3. (2.) Given to Christ. 4. (3.) Born again. 5 — 8. (4.) Deeply convinced of the evil of sin, their misery by sin, the vanity of the creature, and the all-suf- ficiency of Christ. 9. (5.) Their will is proportionably changed. 10. (6.) They engage in covenant with Christ. 11. and, (7.) They persevere in their engagements. 12. The reader invited to examine himself by the characteristics of God's people. 13. Further testimony from Scripture that this rest shall be en- joyed by the people of God. 14. Also that none but they shall enjoy it. 15, 16. And that it remains for them, and is not to be enjoyed till they come to anotiier world. 17. The chapter concludes with showing, that their souls shall enjoy this rest while separated from their bodies. 1. While I was in the mount, describing the e.x.cellencies of the saints' rest, I felt it was good being there, and therefore tarried the longer ; and was there not an extreme disproportion between my conceptions and the subject, much longer had I been. Can a prospect of that happy land be tedious ? Having read of such a high and unspeakable glory, a stranser would wonder for what rare creatures this mighty preparation should be made, and expect some illustrious sun should break forth. But, be- hold ! only a shell-full of dust, animated with an invisible rational soiJ, and that rectified with as un- seen a restoring power of grace; and this is the 116 creature that must possess such glory. You wo\ild think it must needs be some deserving piece, or one that brings a valuable price : but, behold ! one that hath nothing; and can deserve nothing; yea, that deserves the contrary, and would, if he might, pro- ceed in that deserving: but being apprehended by love, he is brought to him that is All; and most affectionately receiving him, and resting on him, he doth, in and through him, receive all this. More particularly, the persons for whom this rest is de- signed, are — chosen of God from eternity — given to Christ, as their Redeemer — born again — deeply convinced of the evil and misery of a sinful state, the vanity of the creature, and the all-sufficiency of Christ — their will is renewed — they engage them- selves to Christ in covenant — and they persevere in their engagements to the end. 2. (1.) The persons for whom this rest is de- signed, whom the text calls "the people of God," are " chosen of God before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love." That they are but a smaU part of mankind is too apparent in Scripture and ex- perience. They are the little flock to whom "it is their Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom." Fewer they are than the world imagines; yet not so few as some drooping spirits think, who are sus- picious that God is unwilling to be their God, when they know themselves willing to be his people. 3. (2.) These persons are given of God to his Son, to be by him redeemed from their lost state, and advanced to this glory. God hath given all 117 things to his Son. "God hath given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him." The Father hath given him all who repent and believe. The difference is clearly expressed by the apostle — " he hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church." And though Christ is, in some sense, a ransom for all, yet not in that special manner, as for his people. 4. (3.) One great qualification of these persons is, that they are bom again. To be the people of God without regeneration, is as impossible as to be the children of men without generation. Seeing we are born God's enemies, we must be new-born his sons, or else remain enemies still. The greatest reformation of life that can be attained to without this new life wrought in the soul, may procure our farther delusion, but never our salvation. 5. (4.) This new life in the people of God dis- covers itself by conviction, or a deep sense of divine things. As for instance : they are convinced of the evil of sin. The sinner is made to know and feel, that the sin, which was his delight, is a more loath- some thing than a toad or serpent, and a greater evil than plague or famine; being a breach of the righteous law of the most high God, dishonourable to him, and destructive to the sinner. Now the sinner no more hears the reproof of sin, as words of course ; but the mention of his sin speaks to his very heart, and yet he is contented you should show him the worst. He was wont to marvel, what made men keep up such a stir against sin; what harm it 118 was for a man to take a little forbidden pleasure; he saw no such heinousness in it, that Christ must needs die for it, and a Christless world be eternally tormented in hell. Now the case is altered : God hath opened his eyes to see the inexpressible vileness in sin. 6. They are convinced of their own misery by reason of sin. They who before read tjie threats of God's law, as men do the story of foreign wars, now find it their own story, and perceive they read their own doom, as if they found their own names written in the curse, or heard the law say, as Nathan, " Thou art the man." The wrath of God seemed to him before but as a storm to a man in a dry house, or as the pains of the sick to the healthful stander- by; but now he finds the disease is his own, and feels himself a condemned man, that he is dead and damned in point of law, and that nothing was want- ing but mere execution to make him absolutely and irrecoverably miserable. This is a work of the Spi- rit, wrought ui some measure in all the regenerate. How should he come to Christ for pardon, that did not first find himself guilty, and condemned ? or for life, that never found himself spiritually dead? " The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." The discovery of the remedy, as soon as the misery, must needs prevent a great part of the trouble. And perhaps the joj^ful apprehensions of mercy may make the sense of misery sooner forgotten. 7. They are also convinced of the creature's vanity and insufficiency. Every man is naturally an 119 idolater. Our hearts turned from God in our first tall; and, ever since, the creature hath hcen our god. Tiiis is the grand sin of nature. Every unregen- erate man ascribes to the creature divine prerogatives, and allows it the highest room in his soul ; or, if he is convinced of misery, he flics to it as his saviour. Indeed, God and his Christ shall be called Lord and Saviour; but the real expectation is from the creature, and the work of God is laid upon it. Pleasure, profit, and honour are the natural man's trinity ; and his carnal self is these in unity. It was our first sin to aspire to be as gods ; and it is the greatest sin that is propagated in our nature from generation to generation. When God should suide us, we guide ourselves ; when he should be our sov- ereign, we rvJe ourselves : the laws which he ga\'e us we find favdt with, and would correct ; and, if we had the making of them, we would have made them otherwise: when he should take care of us, (and must, or we perish,) we will take care for our- selves ; when we should depend on him in daily re- ceivings, we had rather have our portion in our own hands : when we should submit to his providence, we usually quarrel at it, and think we could make a better disposal than God hath made. When we should study and love, trust and honour God, we study and love, trust and honour our carnal selves. Instead of God, we would have all men's eyes and dependence on us, and all men's thanks returned to us, and would gladly be the only men on earth ex- tolled and admired by all. Thus we are naturally our own idols. But down falls this Dagon, when 120 God does once renew the soul. It is the chief de- sign of that great work to bring the heart back to God himself. He convinceth the sinner, that the creature can neither be his God, to make him happy, nor his Christ, to recover him from his misery, and restore him to God, who is his happiness. God does this, not only by his word, but by providence also. This is the reason, why affliction so frequently concurs in the work of conversion. Arguments which speak to the quick, wiU force a hearing, when the most powerful words are sUghted. If a sinner made his credit his god, and God shall cast him into the lowest disgrace, or bring him, who idolized his riches, into a condition wherein they cannot help him; or cause them to take wing, and fly away; what a help is here to this work of conviction ! If a man made pleasure his god, whatsoever a roving eye, a curious ear, a greedy appetite, or a lustful heart could desire, and God should take these from him, or turn them into gall or wormwood, what a help is here to conviction ! When God shall cast a man into languishing sickness, and inflict wounds on his heart, and stir up against him his own con- science, and then, as it were, say to him, " Try if your credit, riches, or pleasures can help you. Can they heal your wounded conscience ? Can they now support your tottering tabernacle ? Can they keep your departing soul in your body ? or save you from mine everlasting wrath ? or redeem your soul from eternal flames? Cry aloud to them, and see now whether these will be to you instead of God and Christ." O how this works now with the sinner ! 121 Sense acknowledges the truth, and even the flesh is convinced of the creature's vanity, and our very de- ceiver is undeceived. 8. Tl>e people of God are likewise convinced of the absolute necessity, the full sufficiency, and per- fect excellency of Jesus Christ : as a man in famine is convinced of the necessity of food ; or a man that had heard or read his sentence of condemnation, of the absolute necessity of pardon ; or a man that lies in prison for debt, is convinced of his need of a surety to discharge it. Now the sinner feels an unsup- portable burden upon him, and sees there is none but Christ can take it off: he perceives the law pro- claims him a rebel, and none but Christ can make his peace : he is as a man pursued by a lion, that must perish if he finds not a present sanctuary : he is now brought to this dilemma ; either he must have Christ, to justify him, or be eternally condemned; have Christ to save him, or burn in hell for ever ; have Christ to bring him to God, or be shut out of his presence everlastingly. And no wonder if he cry out as the martyr, " None but Christ ! none but Christ !" Not gold, but bread, will satisfy the hungry ; nor any thing but pardon will comfort the condemned. " All things are counted but dung now, that he may win Christ ; and what was gain, he counts loss for Christ." As the sinner sees his misery, and the inability of himself, and all things to relieve him, so he perceives there is no saving mercy out of Christ. He sees, though the creature cannot, and himself cannot, yet Christ can. Though the fig- leaves of our own unrighteous righteousness are too F 10 1-22 short to cover our nakedness, yet the riglitcousness of Christ is large enough : ours is disproportionate to the justice of the law, but Christ's extends to every tittle. If he intercede, there is no denial : such is the dignity of his person, and the value of his merits, that the Father grants all he desires. Before, the sinner knew Christ's excellency, as a blind man knows the light of the sun ; but now, as one that beholds its gloiy. 9. (5.) After this deep conviction, the will dis- covers also its change. As for instance — The sin, which the understanding pronounces evil, the will turns from with abhorrence. Not that the sensitive appetite is changed, or any way made to abhor its object : l)ut when it would prevail against reason, and carry us to sin against God, instead of Scrip- ture being the rule, and reason the master, and sense the servant ; this disorder and evil the will abhors. — The misery also which sin hath procured, is not only discerned, but bewailed. It is impossible that the soul should now look, either on its trespass against God, or yet on its own self-procured calamity, without some contrition. He that truly discerns that he hath killed Christ, and killed himself, wiU surely in some measure be pricked to the heart. If he cannot weep he can heartily groan; and his heart feels what his understanding sees. The creature is renounced as vanity, and turned out of the heart with disdain. Not that it is undervalued, or the use of it disclaimed ; but its idolatrous abuse, and its unjust usurpation. Can Christ be the way, where the creature is the end ? Can we seek to Christ to 123 reconcile us to God, while in our hearts wc pre- fer the creature before him? In the soul of every uurecrenorate man, the creature is both God and Christ. As turning from the creature to God and not by Christ, is no true turning: so beUeving in Clirist, while the creature hath our hearts, is no true believing. Our aversion from sin, renouncing our idols, and our right receiving Christ, is all but one work, which God ever perfects where he begins. At the same time, the will cleaves to God the Fa- ther, and to Christ. Having been convinced that nothing else can be his happiness, the sinner now fi)uls it is in God. Convinced also, that Christ alone is able and \viUing to make peace for him, he most affectionately accepts of Christ for Saviour and Lord. Paul's preaching was " repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." And life eternal consists, first in " knowing the only true God, and then Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent." To take the Lord for our God, is the natural part of the covenant: the supernatural part is, to take Christ for our Redeemer. The former is first ne- cessary, and implied in the latter. To accept Christ without affection and love, is not justifying faith. Nor does love follow as a fruit, but immediately con- curs ; for faith is the receiving of Christ with the whole soul. " He that loveth father and mother more than Christ, is not worthy of him," nor is jus- tified by him. Faith accepts him for Saviour and Lord : for in both relations wdl he be received, or )iot at all. Faith not only acknowledges his suffer- ings, and accepts of pardon and glory, but acknow- f2 124 ledges his sovereignty, and submits to his government and way of salvation. 10. (6.) As an essential part of the character of God's people, they now enter into a cordial covenant with Christ. The sinner was never strictly, nor comfortably, in covenant with Christ tiU now. He is sure by the free offers, that Christ consents ; and now he cordially consents himself; and so the agree- ment is fully made. — With this covenant Christ de- Hvers up himself in all comfortable relations to the sinner; and the sinner deUvers up himself to be saved, and ruled by Christ. Now the soul resolutely concludes, " I have been bUndly led by flesh and lust, by the world and the devil, too long, almost to my utter destruction; I will now be wholly at the disposal of my Lord, who hath bought me with his blood, and will bring me to his glory." 11. (7.) I add, that the people of God persevere in this covenant to the end. Though the believer may be tempted, yet he never disclaims his Lord, renounces his allegiance, nor repents of his covenant ; nor can he properly be said to break that covenant, while that faith continues which is the condition of it. Indeed, those that have verbally covenanted, and not cordially, may " tread under foot the blood of the covenant, as an vinholy thing, wherewith they were sanctified," by separation from those without the church ; but the elect cannot be so deceived. Though this perseverance be certain to true believers, yet it is made a condition of their salvation ; yea, of their continued life and fruitfulness, and of the con- tinuance of their justification, though not of their 125 first justification itself. But eternally blessed be that hand of love, which hath drawn the free pro- mise, and subscribed and sealed to that which as- certains us, both of the grace which is the condi- tion, and the kingdom which o'.i that condition is offered ! 12. Such are the essentials of this people of God: not a full portraiture of them in all their excellencies, nor all the notes whereby they may be discerned- I beseech thee, reader, as thou hast the hope of a Christian, or the reason of a man, judge thyself, as one that must shortly be judged by a righteous God, and faithfully answer these questions. I will not inquire whether thou remember the time or the order of these workings of the Spirit: there may be much uncertainty and mistake in that. If thou art sure they are wrought in thee, the matter is not so great, though thou know not when or how thou earnest bv them. But carefully examine and inquire. Hast thou been thoroughly convinced of a prevailing deprava- tion through thy whole soul ? and a prevailing wick- edness through thy whole life? and how vile sin is?. and that, by the covenant thou hast transgressed, tlie least sin deserves eternal death? Dost thou consent to the law, that it is true and righteous, and perceive thyself sentenced to this death by it? Hast thou seen the utter insufficiency of every creature, either to be itself thy happiness, or the means of removing this thy misery? Hast thou been con- vinced, that thy happiness is only in God, as the end ; and in Christ, as the way to him ; and that thou must be brought to God through Christ, (>r 126 perish eternally? Haat thou seen an absohite ne- cessity of thy enjoying Christ, and the full sufficiency in him, to do for thee whatsoever thy case requires ? Hast thou discovered the excellency of this pearl, to be worth thy " seUing all to buy it ?" Have thy convictions been like those of a man that thirsts; and not merely a change in opinion, produced by reading or education ? Have both thy sin and mi- sery been the abhorrence and burden of thy soul? If thou couldst not weep, yet couldst thou heartily groan under the insupportable weight of both? Hast thou renounced all thy own righteousness ? Hast thou turned thy idols out of thy heart, so that the creature hath no more the sovereignty, but is now a servant to God and Christ? Dost thou accept of Christ as thy only Saviour, and expect thy justifica- tion, recovery, and glory, from him alone ? Are his f^ laws the most powerful commanders of thy life and soul ? Do they ordinarily prevail against the com- mands of the flesh, and against the greatest interest of thy credit, profit, pleasure, or life ? Has Christ the highest room in thy heart and affections, so that tliough thou canst not love him as thou wouldst, yet nothing else is loved so much? Hast thou to this end made a hearty covenant with him, and delivered up thyself to him ? Is it thy utmost care and watch- ful endeavour that thou mayest be found faithful in this covenant; and though thou fall into sin, yef^A) wouldst not renounce thy bargain, nor change thy Lord, nor give up thyself to any other government for all the world ? — If this be truly the case, thou art one of the people of God in my text ; and as 127 sure as the promise of God is true, this blessed rest remains for thee. Only see thou " abide in Christ," and " endure to the end ;"' for " if any man draw back, liis soul shall have no pleasure in him." But if no such work be found within thee ; whatever thy deceived heart may tliink, or how strong soever thy false hopes may be ; thou wilt find to thy cost, ex- cept thorougli conversion prevent it, tlmt the rest oi liie saints belongs not to thee. " O that thou wert wise, that thou wouldst understand this, that thou wouldst consider thy latter end ! Th;;t yet, while thy soul is in thy body, and " a price in thy hand," and opportunity and hope before thee, thine ears may be open, and thy heart yield to the persuasions of God, that so thou niightest rest among his people, and enjoy " the inheritance of the saints in light !" 13. That this rest shall be enjoyed by the people of God, is a trutli which the Scripture, if its testi- mony be further needed, clearly asserts in a variety of ways : as, for instance, that they are " fore- ordained to it, and it for them. — God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prcjiared for them a city." They ai-e styled " vessels of mercy, afore prepared unto glory." " In Christ they have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated accord- ing to the puqiose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." And " whom he did predestinate, them he also glorified." Who can bereave his people of that rest which is designed lor them by God's eternal purpose ? — Scripture tells us, they are redeemed to this rest. " By the blood of Jesus we have boldness to enter into the holiest;" 128 whether that entrance means by faith and prayer here, or by full possession hereafter. Therefore the saints in heaven sing a new song unto hira who has " redeemed them to God by his blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them kings and priests unto God." Either Christ then must lose his blood and sufferings, and never " see of the travail of his soul," or else " there remaineth a rest to the people of God." In Scrip- ture this rest is promised to them. As the firma- ment with stars, so are the sacred pages bespangled with these divine engagements. Christ says, " fear not, Httle flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." " I appoint unto you a Jdngdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my king- dom." All the means of grace, the operations of the Spirit upon the soul, and gracious actings of the saints, every command to repent and believe, to fast and pray, to knock and seek, to strive and labour, to run and fight, prove that there remains a rest for the people of God. The Spirit would never kindle in us such strong desires after heaven, such love to Jesus Christ, if we should not receive what we desire and love. He that " guides our feet into the way of peace," will undoubtedly bring us to the end of peace. How nearly are the means and end con- joined ! " The kingdom of heaven suffereth vio- lence, and the violent take it by force." They that " follow Christ in the regeneration, shall sit upon thrones of glory." Scripture assures us, that the saints have the " beginnings, foretastes, earnests. 129 and seals" of this rest here. " The kingdom of God is within them." " Though tliey have not seen Christ, yet loving him, and beUcving in him, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory : receiving the end of their faith, even the salvation of tlieir souls." They "rejoice in hope of the glory of God." And does God "seal them with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of their inheritance," and will he deny the full possession .'' The Scripture also mentions, by name, those who have entered into this rest, — as Enoch, Abraham, Lazarus, the thief that was crucified with Christ, &c. And if their be a rest for these, sure there is a rest for all believers. But it is vain to heap up scripture })roofs, seeing it is the very end of Scripture, to be a guide to lead us to this blessed state, and to be the charter and grant by which we hold all our title to it. 14. Scripture not only proves that this rest re- mains for the people of God, but also that it remains for none but them, so that the rest of the world shall have no pait in it. " Without hoUness no man shall see the Lord. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He that be- lieveth not the Son shaU not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. No whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idola- ter, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. They all shall be damned, who beheve not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. The Lord Jesus shall come, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that f3 130 know not God, and th.at obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall be punished with ever- lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." Had the ungodly returned before their life was expired, and been heartily willing to accept of Christ for tlieir Saviour and then* Kmg, and to be saved by him in his way, and upon his most reasonable terms, they might l;ave been saved. God freely offered them life, and they would not accept it. The pleasures of tlie flesh seemed more desirable to them than the glory of the saints. Satan offered them the one, and God of- fered them the other ; and they had free liberty to choose which they would, and they chose " the plea- sures of sin for a season," before the everlasting rest with Christ. And is it not a righteous thing tliat they should be denied that which they woidd not ac- cept? When God pressed them so earnestly, and persuaded them so importunately, to come in, and yet they would not, where should they be but among the doffs without ? Though man be so wicked, that he will not yield tiQ the mighty power of grace pre- vail with him, yet still we may truly say, that lie may be saved, if he will, on God's terms. His in- abiUty being moral, and lying in wilful wickedness, is no more excuse to him, than it is to an adulterer that he cannot love his own wife, or to a malicious person that he cannot but hate his own brother : is he not so much the worse, and deserving of so much the sorer punishment? Sinners shall lay all the blame on their own wills in hell for ever. Hell is a i.itional torment by conscience, according to the nr.- 131 tmc oF the rational subject. If sinners could but tlien say, It was wrong of God, and not of us, it would (juict their consciences, and ease their torments, and make lieli to them to be no hell. But to remember their wilfulness, will feed the fire, and cause the worm of conscience never to die. 15. It is the will of God, that this rest should yet remain for his people, and not be enjoyed till they come to another world. Who should dispose of the creatures, but he that made them ? You may as well ask. Why have we not spring and harvest without winter ? or, why is the earth below, and the heavens above ? as, why have we not rest on earth ? All things must come to their perfection by degrees. The strongest man must first be a child. The greatest scholar must first begin with the alphabet. The tallest oak was once an acorn. This life is our infancy ; and would we be perfect in the womb, or born at full stature? If our rest was here, most of God's providences must be useless. Should God lose the glory of his church's miraculous deliverances, and the fall of his enemies, that men may have their happiness here? If we were all happy, innocent, and perfect, what use was there for the glorious works of our sanctification, justification, and future salvation? — If we wanted nothing, we should not depend on God so closely, nor call upon him so ear- nestly. How little should he hear from us, if we had what we would have ! God would never have had such songs of praise from Moses at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness from Deborali and Han- nah, from David and Hezekiah, if they had been the 132 choosers of their condition. Have not thy own highest praises to God, Reader, been occasioned by thy dangers or miseries ? The greatest glory and praise God has through the world, is for redemp- tion, reconciliation, and salvation by Christ; and was not man's misery the occasion of that ? — And where God loses the opportunity of exercising his mercies, man must needs lose the happiness of en- joying them. Where God loses his praise, man will certainly lose his comforts. O the sweet com- forts the saints have had in return to their prayers ! How should we know what a tender-hearted Fa- ther we have, if we had not, as the prodigal, been denied the husks of earthly pleasure and profit? We should never have felt Christ's tender heart, if we had not felt ourselves weary and heavy laden, hungry and thirsty, poor and contrite. It is a'^de- light to a soldier, or traveller, to look back on his escapes when they are over ; and for a saint in hea- ven to look back on his sins and sorrows upon earth, his fears and tears, his enemies and dangers, his wants and calamities, must make his joy more joy- ful. Therefore the blessed, in praisings the Lamb, mention his " redeeming them out of every nation, and kindred, and tongue;" and so, out of their misery, and wants, and sins, " and making them kings and priests to God." But if they had had nothing but content and rest on earth, what room would there have been for these rejoicings hereafter ? 16. Besides, we are not capable of rest upon earth. — Can a soul that is so weak in grace, so prone to sin, so nearly joined to such a neighbour 133 as this flesh, have full content and rest in such a case ? What is soul-rest, but our freedom from sin, and imperfections, and enemies? And can the soul have rest that is pestered with all these, and tliat continually ? Why do Cliristians so often cry out, in the language of Paul, " O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" What makes them " press towards the mark, and run that they may obtain, and strive to enter in," if they are capable of rest in their present condition ? — And our bodies are incapable as well as our souls. They are not now those sunlikc bodies which they shall be, when this corruptible hath put on incorruption, and this mor- tal hath put on immortality. They are our prisons and our burdens ; so full of infirmities and defects, tliat we aie fain to spend most of our time in repair- ing them, and supplying their continual wants. Is it possible that an immortal soul should have rest in such a distempered, noisome habitation. Surely these sickly, weary, loathsome bodies, must be re- fined, before they can be capable of enjoying rest. The objects we here enjoy ait insufficient to affi)rd us rest. Alas ! what is there in all tlie world to give us rest ? They that have most of it, have the greatest burden. They that set most by it, and rejoice most in it, do aU cry out at last of its vanity and vexation. Men promise themselves a heaven upon earth ; but when they come to enjoy it, it flies from them. He that has any regard to the works oi' the Lord, may easily see, that the very end of them is to take down our idols, to make us weary of the world, and seek our rest m him. Where does 134 he cross vis most, but where we promise ourselves most content ? If you have a child you dote upon, it becomes your sorrow. If you have a friend you trust in, and judge unchangeable, he becomes your scourge. Is this a place or state of rest ? And as tlie objects we here enjoy are insufficient for our rest, so God, who is sufficient, is here little enjoyed. It is not here that he hath prepared the presence- chamber of his glory. He hath drawn the curtain between us and him. We are far from him as crea- tures, and further as frail mortals, and furthest as sinners. We liear now and then a word of comfort from him, and receive his love-tokens to keep up our hearts and hopes ; but this is not our fuU enjoyment. And can any soul, that hath made God his portion, as every one hath that shall be saved by him, find rest in so vast a distance from him, and so seldom and small enjoyment of him ? Nor are we now capable of rest, as there is a worthiness must go be- fore it. Christ will give the crown to none but the worthy. And are we fit for the crown, before we lifive overcome ? or for the prize, before we have run the race ? or to receive our penny, before we have wrought in the vineyard ? or to be rulers of ten ci- ties, before we have improved our ten talents ? or to enter into the joy of our Lord, before we have well done, as good and faithful servants? God wiU not alter the course of justice, to give you rest before you have laboured, nor the crown of glory till you have overcome. There is reason enough why our rest should remain till the life to come. Take heed, then. Christian Reader, how thou darest to contrive 135 and care for a rest on earth ; or to murmur at God for tliv trouble, and toil, and wants in the flesh. Doth thy poverty weary thee ? Thy sickness, thy bitter enemies, and unkind friends ? It should be so here. Do the abominations of the times, the sins of professors, the hardening of the wicked, all weary thee ? It must be so while thou art absent from thy lest. Do thy sins, and thy naughty distempered licait weary thee ? Ec thus wearied more and more. But under all this weariness, art thou willing to go to God thy rest, and to have thy warfare accom- plished, and tliy race and labour ended? If not, complain more of thy own heart, and get it more weary, till rest seem more desirable. IT. I liave but one thing more to add, for the close of this chapter, — that the souls of believers do enjoy inconceivable blessedness and glory, even while they remain separated from their bodies. What can be more plain than those words of Paul — " We are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home," or rather sojourning " in the body, we are absent from the Lord ; for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and wilhng rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." — Or those, " I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, tv'hich is far better." — If Paul had not expected to enjoy Christ till the resurrection, why should he be in a strait, or desire to depart? Nay, should he not have been loath to depart upon the very same ■jrounds? For while he was in the flesh, he enjoyed something of Christ. — Plain enough is that of Christ 13G to the thief, " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." — In the parable of Dives and Lazarus, it seems unhkely Christ would so evidently intimate and suppose the soul's happiness or misery presently after death, if there were no such matter. Our Lord's argument for the resurrection supposes, that, " God, being not the God of the dead, but of the living," therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were then Uving in soul. — If the " blessedness of the dead that die in the Lord," were only in resting in the grave, then a beast or a stone were as blessed ; nay, it were evidently a curse, and not a blessing. For was not life a great mercy? Was it not a greater mercy to serve God, and to do good; to enjoy all the comforts of life, the fellowship of saints, the com- fort of ordinances, and much of Christ in all, than to lie rotting in the grave? Therefore some further blessedness is there promised. — How else is it said, " We are come to the spirits of just men made perfect." Sure, at the resurrection, the body will be made perfect, as well as the Spirit. Does not Scripture tell us, that Enoch and Elias are taken up already? And shall we think they possess that glory alone? — Did not Peter, James, and John, see Moses also with Christ on the mount ? yet the Scripture saith, Moses died. And is it likely that Christ deluded their senses, in showing them Moses, if he should not partake of that glory till the resur- rection? — And is not that of Stephen as plain as we can desire? "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Surely, if the Lord receive it, it is neither asleep, nor dead, nor annihilated; but it is where he is, and beholds 137 his glory. — That of the wise man is of the same Import : " The spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Why are we said to have eternal life; and that to "know God is life eternal;" and that a behever " on the Son hath everlasting life ? " Or how is " the kingdom of God within us ?" If there be as great an interruption of our life as till the re- surrection, this is no eternal life, nor everlasting kingdom. — " The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah" are spoken of as Suffering the vengeance of eter- nal fire." And if the wicked already suffer eternal fire, then, no doubt, but the godly enjoy eternal blessedness. — When John saw his glorious revela- tions, he is said to be "in the Spirit," and to be " carried away in the Spirit." And when Paul was caught up to the third heaven, he knew not "whether in the body or out of the body." This implies, that spirits are capable of these glorious thhigs, without the help of their bodies. — Is not so much implied, when John says, " I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God ?" When Christ says, " Fear not them who kill the body, but arc not able to kill the soul," does it not plainly imply, that whei> wicked men have killed our bodies, that is, have separated the souls from them, yet the souls are still alive? The soul of Christ was alive when his body was dead, and therefore so shall be ours too. This appears by his words to the thief, " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise ;" and also by his voice on the cross, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." If the spirits of those that were disobedient in the 138 days of Noah, were in prison, that is, in a living and suffering state ; then certainly the separate spirits ot" the just are in an opposite condition of happiness. Therefore, faithful souls will no sooner leave their prisons of flesh, but angels shall be their convoy ; Christ, with all the perfected spirits of the just, will be their companions ; heaven will be their residence, and God their happiness. Wlien such die, they may boldly and behevingly say, as Stephen, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ;" and commend it, as Christ did, into a Father's hands. 139 CHAPTER V. The Great Misery of those who lose the Saints' Rest. Sect. 1. The Reader, if unregenerate, urged to consider what the loss of heaven will be. 2. (I.) The loss of heaven parti- cularly includes. 3. (1.) The personal perfection of the saints ; 4. (2.) God himself; 5. (3.) All delightful affections towards God; 6. (4.) The blessed society of angels and glori- fied spirits. 7. (II.) The aggravations of the loss of heaven . 8. (I.) The understanding of the ungodly will then be cleared; 9. (2.) also enlarged ; 10. (3.) Their consciences will make a true and close application. 11. (4.) Their affections will be more lively: 12 — IS. (5.) Their memories will be large and strong. 19. Conclusion of the cliapter. 1. If thou, Reader, art a stranger to Christ, and to the holy nature and Ufe of his people, who are before described, and shalt hve and die in tliis con- dition, let me tell thee, thou shalt never partake of the joys of heaven, nor have the least taste of the saints' eternal rest. I may say, as Ehud to Eglon, " I have a message to thee from God ;" that as the word of God is true, thou shalt never see the face of God with comfort. Tliis sentence I am com- manded to pass upon thee ; take it as thou wilt, and escape it if thou canst. I know thy humble and hearty subjection to Christ would procure thy escape: lie would then acknowledge thee for one of his peo- ple, and give thee a portion in the inheritance of his cliosen. If this might be the happy success of mv message, I should be so far from repining, like 140 Jonah, that the threatenings of God are not execu- ted upon thee, that I should bless the day that ever God made me so happy a messenger. But if thou end thy days in thy unregenerate state, as sure as the heavens are over thy head, and the earth under thy feet, thou shalt be shut out of the rest of the saints, and receive thy portion in everlasting fire. I expect thou wilt turn upon me, and say, When did God show you the Book of Life, or tell you who they are that shall be saved, and who shut out ? I answer, I do not name thee, nor any other; I only conclude it of the unregenerate in general, and of thee, if thou be such a one. Nor do I go about to determine who shall repent, and who shall not ; much less, that thou shalt never repent. I had rather show thee what hopes thou hast before thee, if thou wilt not sit still, and lose them. I would far rather persuade thee to hearken in time, before the door be shut against thee, than tell thee there is no hope of thy repenting and returning. But if the foregoing description of the people of God does not agree with the state of thy soul, is it then a hard question, whether thou shalt ever be saved ? Need I ascend up into heaven to know, that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord ;" or, that only " the pure in heart shall see God;" or, that " ex- cept a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God?" Need I go up to heaven, to inquire that of Christ, which he came down to earth to tell us; and sent his Spirit in his apostles to tell us; and which he and they have left upon record to all the world ? And though I know not the secrets 141 of thy heart, and therefore cannot tell thee by name, whether it be thy state or not ; yet, if thou art but willing and diligent, thou mayest know thyself, whether thou art an heir of heaven or not. It is the main thing I desire, that if thou art yet miser- able, thou mayest discern and escape it. But how canst thou escape, if thou neglect Christ and salva- tion ? Jt is as impossible as for the devils them- selves to be saved : nay, God has more plainly and frequently spoken it in Scripture of such sinners as thou art, than he has of the devils. Methinks a sight of thy case would strike thee with amazement and horror. When Belshazzar " saw the fingers of a man's hand that wrote upon the wall, his counte- nance was changed and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." What trembling then should seize on thee, who hast the hand of God himself against thee, not in a sentence or two, but in the very scope of the Scriptures, threatening the loss of an everlasting kingdom ! Because I would fain iiave thee lay it to heart, I will show thee — the nature of thy loss of heaven, — together \vith its aggravations. 2. (I.) In their loss of heaven, the ungodly lose — the saints' personal perfection, — God himself, — all delightful affections towards God, — and the bles- sed society of angels and saints. 3. (1.) The glorious personal perfection which the saints enjoy in heaven, is the great loss of the ungodly. They lose that shining lustre of the body surpassing the brightness of the sun at noonday. 142 Though the bodies of the wicked will be raised more spiritual than they were uJ)on earth, yet that will only make them capable of the more exquisite torments. They would be glad then, if every mem- ber were a dead member, that it might not feel the punishment inflicted on it ; and if the whole body were a rotten carcass, or mig-lit lie down acrain in the dust. Much more do they want that moral perfec- tion which the blessed partake of; those holy dispo- sitions of mind ; that cheerful readiness to do the will of God ; that perfect rectitude of all their actions : instead of these, they have that perverseness of will, that loathing of good, that love of evil, that violence of passion, which they had on earth. It is true, their understandings will be much cleared by the ceasing of former temptation, and experiencing the falsehood of former delusions; but they have the same dispo- sitions still, and fain would they commit the same sins, if they could: they want but opportunity. There will be a greater difference between these wretches, and the glorined Christians, than there is betwixt a toad and the sun in the firmament. The rich man's purple and fine Hnen, and sumptuous fare, did not so exalt him above Lazarus while at his fjate full of sores. 4. (2.) They shall have no comfortable relation to God, nor communion with him. " As they did not like to retain God in their knov/ledge ;" but said unto him, " Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways ;" so God will abhor to re- tain them in his household. He will never admit them to tiie inheritance of his saints, nor endure 143 them to stand iii his presence, but " will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity." They are ready now to lay as confident claim to Christ and heaven, as if they were sincere believing saints. The swearer, the drunkard, the whoremonger, the worldling, can say, Is not God our Father as well as yours ? But when Christ separates his followers from his foes, and his faithful friends from his deceived flatterers, where then will be their presumptuous claim ? Then they shall find, that God is not their Father, because they would not be his people. As they would not con- sent that God by his Spirit should dwell in them, so the tabernacle of wickedness shall have no fellow- ship with him, nor the wicked inhabit the city of God. Only they that walked with God here, shall live and be happy with him in heaven. Little does the world know what a loss that soul hath who loses God ! What a dungeon would the earth be, if it had lost the sun ! What a loathsome carrion the body, if it had lost the soul ! Yet all these are no- thing to the loss of God. As the enjoyment of God is the heaven of the saints, so the loss of God is the hell of the ungodly ; and as the enjoying of God is the enjoying of all, so the loss of God is the loss of all. 5. (3.) They also lose all delightful affections towards God. That transporting knowledge ; those delightful views of his glorious face ; the incon- ceivable pleasure of loving him; the apprehensions of his infinite love to us; the constant joys of his saints, and the rivers of consolation with which he 144 satisfies then* — Is it nothing to lose all this ? The employment of a king in ruling a kingdom, does not so far exceed that of the vilest slave, as this heavenly employment exceeds that of an earthly king. God suits men's employments to their natures. Your hearts, sinners, were never set upon God in your hves, never warmed with his love, never longed after the enjoyment of him ; you had no dehght in speaking or hearing of him; you had rather have continued on earth, if you had known how, than to be interested in the glorious praises of God. Is it meet then that you should be members of the celes- tial choir? 6. (4.) They shall be deprived of the blessed society of angels and glorified saints. Instead of being companions of those happy spirits, and num- bered with those triumphant kings, they must be members of the corporation of hell, where they shall have companions of a far different nature and quality. Scorning and abusing the saints, hating them, and rejoicing in their calamities, was not the way to obtain their blessedness. Now you are shut out of that company, from which you first shut out your- selves ; and are separated from them, with whom you would not be joined. You could not endure them in your houses, nor towns, nor scarce in the kingdom. You took them, as Ahab did Ehjah, for the " troub- lers of the land," and, as the apostles were taken for " men that turned the world upside down." If any thing fell out amiss, you thought all was owing to them. When they were dead or banished, you were glad they were gone, and thought the country 145 freW rid of them. They molested you by laitht'iiUy reproving yovir sms. Their holy conversation trou- bled your consciences, to see them so far excel you. It was a vexation to you, to hear them pray, or sing praises in their families. And is it any wonder if you be separated from them hereafter? The day is near, when they will trouble you no more. Be- twixt them and you will be a great gulf fixed. Even in this Ufe, while the saints were mocked, destitute, afflicted, tormented, and while they had their personal imperfections; yet, in the judgement of the Holy Ghost, they were such " of whom the world was not worthy." Much more unworthy will the world be of their fellowship in glory. 7. (II.) I know many will be ready to think, they could spare these things in this world well enough, and why may thev not be without them in the world to come? Therefore to show them that this loss of heaven will then be most tormenting, let them now consider — their understandings will be cleared to know their loss, and have more enlarged apprehensions concerning it — their consciences will make a closer application of it to themselves — their affections will no longer be stupified, nor their memories be treacherous. 8. (1.) The understanding of the ungodly will then be cleared, to know the worth of that which they have lost. Now they lament not their loss o£ God, because tliey never knew his excellence ; nor the loss of that holy employment and society, for they were never sensible what they were worth. A inan that has lost a jewel, and took it but for a com- G 10 146 mon stone, is never troubled at his loss ; but when he comes to know what he lost, then he laments it. Though the understanding of the damned will not be sanctified, yet they will be cleared from a multi- tude of errors. They now think that their honours, estates, pleasures, health and life, are better worth tlieir labour, than the things of another world ; but when these things have left them in misery, when they experience the things which before they did but read and hear of, they will be of another mind They would not believe that water would drown, till they were in the sea ; nor the fire burn, till they were cast into it; but when they feel, they will easily l)elieve. All that error of mind which made them set Hght by God, and abhor his worship, and vilify his people, will then be confuted and removed by experience. Their knowledge shall be increased, that their sorrows may be increased. Poor souls ! they would be comparatively happy, if their under- standings were wholly taken from them, if they had no more knowledge than idiots, or brute beasts: or if they knew no more in hell, than they did upon earth, their loss would less trouble them. How happy would they then think themselves, if they did not know there is such a place as heaven ! Now, whe]i their knowledge would help to prevent their misery, they will not know, or wlU not read or study that they may know ; therefore, when their know- ledge will but feed their consuming fire, they shall kiow whether they will or not. They are now in a dead sleep, and dream they are the happiest men in the world ; but when death awakes them, how will 147 their judgments be changed in a moment ! and they that would not see, shall then see and be ashamed. 9. (2.) As their understanding will be cleared, so it will be more enlarged, and made more capacious to conceive the worth of that glory which they have lost. The strength of their apprehensions, as well as the truth of them, will then be increased. What deep apprehensions of the wrath of God, the mad- ness of sinning, the mijsery of sinners, have tliose souls that now endure this misery, in comparison with those on earth, that do but hear of it. What sensibility of the worth of life has the condemned man that is going to be executed, compared with what he was wont to have in the time of his pros- perity ! Much more will the actual loss of eternal blessedness make the damned exceedingly apprehen- sive of the greatness of their loss : and as a large vessel will hold more water than a shell, so will their more enlarged understandings contain more matter to feed their torment, than their shallow capacity can now do. 10. (3.) Their consciences also will make a truer and closer application of this doctrine to themselves, which will exceedingly tend to increase their tor- ment. It will then be no hard matter to them to say, " This is my loss ! and this is my everlasting lomediless misery ! " The want of this self-appli- ation is the main cause why they are so little trou- bled now. They are hardly brought to believe that there is such a state of misery ; but more hardly to believe that it is like to be their own. This makes ^o many sermons lost to them, and all threatenings g2 148 and warnings in vain. Let a minister of Christ show them their misery ever so plainly and faithful- Ivn they will not be persuaded they are so miserable. Let him tell them of the glory they must lose, and the sufferings they must feel, and they think he means not them, but some notorious sinners. It is one of the hardest things in the world, to bring a wicked man to know that he is wicked, or to make him see himself in a state of wrath and condemna- tion. Though they may easily find, by their strange- ness to the new-birth, and their enmity to holiness, that they never were partakers of them : yet they as verily expect to see God, and be saved, as if they were the most sanctified persons in the world. How seldom do men cry out, after the plainest discovery of their state, I am the man ! or acknowledge, that if they die in their present condition, they are undone for ever ! But when they suddenly find themselves in the land of darkness, feel themselves in scorching flames, and see they are shut out of the presence of God for ever ; then the application of God's anger to them- selves will be the easiest matter in the world ; they will then roar out these forced confessions, " O my misery ! O my folly ! O my inconceivable, irrecover- able loss!" IL (4.) Then will their affections likewise be more lively, and no longer stupified. A hard heart now makes heaven and hell seem but trifles. We have showed them everlasting glory and misery, and they are as men asleep ; our words are as stones cast against a wall, which fly back in our faces. We talk of terrible things, but it is to dead men ; we 149 search the wounds, but they never feel us : we speak to rocks rather than to men ; the earth will as soon tremble as they. But wlien these dead souls are revived, what passionate sensibility ! what working' affections ! what pangs of horror ! what depth of sorrow will there then be ! How ^^olently will thev fly in their own faces ! How will they rage against their former madness ! The lamentations of the most affectionate wife for the loss of her husband, or of the tenderest mother for the loss of her chil- dren, will be nothing to theirs for the loss of heaven. O the self-accusing and self-tormenting fury of those forlorn creatures ! How will they even tear their own hearts, and be God's executioners upon them- selves ! As themselves were the only meritorious cause of their sufferings, so themselves will be the chief executioners. Even Satan, as he was not so (jreat a cause of their sinning as themselves, he will not be so great an instrument of their torment. How happy would they think themselves then, if they were turned into rocks, or any thing that had neither passion nor sense ! How happy, if they could then feel, as lightly as they were wont to hear ! if they could sleep out the time of execution, as they did the time of the sermons that warned them of it ! But their stupidity is gone : it will not be. 12. (5.) Their memories will moreover be as large and strong as their understanding and affec- tions. Could they but lose the use of their me- mory, their loss of heaven being forgot, would little trouble them. Though they would account anni- hilation a singular mercy, thev cannot lay aside any 150 part of their being. Understanding, conscience, affections, memory, must all live to torment them, which should have helped to their happiness. As by these they should have fed upon the love of God, and drawn forth perpetually the joys of his presence, so by these must they feed upon his wrath, and draw forth continually the pains of his absence. Now tliey have no leisure to consider, nor any room in their memories for the things of another life; but then they shall have nothing else to do : their me- mories shall have no other employment. God would have had the doctrine of their eternal state " written on the posts of their doors, on their hands and hearts:" lie would have had them mind it, " and mention it when they lay down and rose up, when tliey sat in their houses, and when they walked by the way :" and seeing they rejected this counsel of the Lord, therefore it shall be written always before them in the place of their thraldom, that, which way soever they look, they may still behold it. It will torment them to think of the greatness of the glory they have lost. If it had been what they coiJd have spared, or a loss to be repaired with any thing else, it had been a smaller matter. If it had been health, or wealth, or friends, or life, it had been nothing. But, O ! to lose that exceeding eternal weight of glory ! — It will also torment them to think of the possibility they once had of obtaining it. Then they will remember, " Time was, when I was as fair for the kingdom as others. I was set upon tlie stage of the world : if I had played my part wisely and faithfully, I might now have had possession of 161 tlie inheritance. I, who am now tormented with these damned fiends, might have been among yonder blessed saints. The Lord did set before me lite nd death; and having chosen death, I deserve to suffer it. The prize was hekl out before me ; if I had run well, I might have obtained it ; if I had striven, 1 might have had the victory; if I had fought valiantly, I had been crowned." — It will yet more torment them to remember, that their obtain- ing the crown was not only possible, but very pro- bable. It will wound them to think, " I had once the gales of the Spirit ready to have assisted me. 1 was proposing to be another man, to have cleaved to Christ, and forsake the world. I was almost re- solved to have been wholly for God. I was once even turning from my base seducing lusts. I had cast off my old companions, and was associating with the godly — Yet I turned back, lost my hold, and broke my promises. I was almost persuaded to be a real Christian, yet I conquered those persuasions. What workings were in my heart, when a faithful minister pressed home the truth ! O how fair was I once for heaven ! I almost had it, and yet I have lost it. Had I followed on to seek the Lord, 1 had now been blessed among the saints." 13. It will exceedingly torment them to remem- ber their lost opportunities. " How many weeks, and months, and years, did I lose, which if I had improved, I might now have been happy ! Wretch that I was ! could I find no time to study the work, for which I had all my time? no time among all my labours, to labour for eternity ? Had I time to lo2 eat, and drink, and sleep, and none to save my soul ? Had I time for mirth and vain discourse, and none for prayer ? Could I take time to secure the world, and none to try my title to heaven? O precious time ! I had once enough, and now I must have no more. I had once so much, I knew not what to do with it; and now it is gone, and cannot be recalled. O that I had but one of those years to live over again ! How speedily would I repent ! How earnestly would I pray ! How dihgently would I hear I How closely would I examine my state ! How strictly would I live ! But it is now too late, alas ! too late I " 14. It will add to their calamity to remember how oft they were persuaded to return. " Fain would the minister have had me escape these tor- ments. With what love and compassion did he beseech me ! and yet I did but make a jest of it. How often did he convince me ! and yet I stifled all these convictions. How did he open to me my very heart ! and yet I was loath to know the worst of myself. O how glad would he have been, if he could have seen me cordially turn to Christ ! My godly friends admonished me : they told me what would become of my wilfulness and negligence at last; but I neither beheved nor regarded them. How lonff did God himself condescend to entreat me ! How did the Spirit strive with my heart, as if he was loath to take a denial ! How did Christ stand knocking, one Sabbath after another, and crying to me, ' Open sinner, open thy heart to thy Saviour, and I wiU come in, and sup with tliee, and 153 thou with me ! Why dost thou delay ? How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee ? Wilt thou not be pardoned, and sanctified, and made happy ? Wlien shall it once be ? ' " — O how tiie re- collections of such divine pleadings will passionately transport tlie damned with self-indignation ! " Must I tire out the patience of Christ? Must I make the God of heaven follow me in vain, till I had wearied him with crying to me, Repent ! return ! how justly is that patience now turned into fury, which falls upon me with irresistible violence ! When tlie Lord cried to me. Wilt thou not be made clean ? when shall it once be ? my heart, or at least my practice, answered, Never. And now when I cry, How long shall it be till I am freed from this torment ? How justly do I receive tlie same answer. Never, never." 15. It will also be most cuttino to remember on what easy terms they might have escaped their mi- sery. This work was not to remove mountains, nor conquer kingdoms, nor fulfil the law to the smallest tittle, nor satisfy justice for all their transgressions. 'I he yoke was easy, and the burden light, which Christ would have laid upon them. It was but to repent, and cordially accept him for their Saviour; to renounce all other happiness, and take the Lord for their supreme good ; to renounce the world and the flesh, and submit to his meek and gracious go- venunent ; and to forsake the ways of their own de- visiiig, and walk in his holy delightful way. " Ah,"' thinks the poor tormented wretch, " how justly do 1 suffer all this, who would not be at so small pains g3 154 to avoid it ! Where was my understanding, when I neglected that gracious ofFer; when I called the Lord a hard master, and thought his pleasant ser- vice a bondage, and the service of the devil and the flesh the only freedom? Was I not a thousand times worse than mad, when I censured the holy way of God as needless preciseness ; when I thought the laws of Christ too strict, and all too much that I did for the life to come ? What would all suf- ferings for Christ and well-doing have been, com- pared with these sufferings that I must undergo for ever ! Would not the heaven, which I have lost, have recompensed all my losses ? And should not all my sufferings have been there forgotten ? What if Christ had bid me to do some great matter ; whe- ther to live in continual fears and sorrows, or to suf- fer death a hundred times over : should 1 not have done it ? How much more, when he only said, ' Believe and be saved. Seek my face, and thy soul shall hve. Take up thy cross, and follow me, and I will give thee everlasting hfe.' O gracious offer ! O easy terms ! O cursed wretch, that would not be persuaded to accept them !" 16. This also will be a most tormenting consid- eration, to remember what they sold their eternal v/elfare for. When they compare the value of the pleasures of sin, with the value of "the recompense of reward," how will the vast disproportion astonish them ! To think of the low delights of tlie flesh, or the applauding breath of mortals, or the possessing heaps of gold, and then to think of everlasting glory. " This is all I had for my soul, my God, my hopes 155 of blessedness ! " It cannot possibly be expressed how these thoughts will tear his very heart. Then will he exclaim against his folly — " O miserable wretch ! Did I set my soul to sale for so base a price? Did I part with my God for a little dirt and dross ; and sell my Saviour, as Judas, for a lit- tle silver? I had but a dream of delight, for my hopes of heaven ; and now I am awakened, it is all vanished. INIy morsels are now turned to gall, and my cups to wormwood. When they were past my taste, the pleasures perished. And is this all that 1 have had for the inestimable treasure ? What a mad exchange did I make ! What if I had gained all the world, and lost my soul ? But, alas ! how small a part of the world was it for which I gave uy my part in glory ! " O that sinners would think ot this, when they are swimming in the delights of tht: flesh, and studying how to bo rich and honourable in the world ! When they are desperately ventur- ing upon known transgression, and sinning against the checks of conscience ! 1 7. It will add yet more to their torment, when they consider that they most wilfully procured their own destruction. Had they been forced to sin, it would much abate the rage of their consciences ; or if they were punished for another man's transgres- sions ; or any other had been the chief author of their ruin. But to think it was the choice of their own will, and that none in the world could have forced them to sin against their wills ; this will be a cutting thought. " Had I not enemies enough in the world, (thinks this miserable creature,) but I must 156 be an enemy to myself? God would never give the devil, nor the world, so much power over me, as to force me to commit the least transgression. They could but entice ; it was myself that yielded, and (lid the evil. And must I lay hands upon my own soul ; and imbrue my hands in my own blood ? Never had I so great an enemy as myself. Never did God offer any good to my soul, but I resisted him. He hath heaped mercy upon me, and re- newed one deliverance after another, to draw my heart to him ; yea, he hath gently chastised me, and made me groan under the fruit of my disobedience : and though I promised largely in my affliction, vet never was I heartily wilHng to serve him." Thus wiE it gnaw the hearts of these sinners, to remem- ber that they were the cause of their own undoing : and that they wilfully and obstinately persisted in their rebellion, and were mere volunteers in the ser- vice of the devil. 8. The wound in their consciences wiU be yet deeper, when they shall not only remember it was their own doing, but that they were at so much cost and pains for their own damnation. What great undertakings did they engage in to effect their ruin ; to resist the Spirit of God ; to overcome the power of mercies, judgments, and even the word of God ; to subdue the power of reason, and silence conscience ! All this they undertook and performed. Though they walked in continual danger of the wratli of God, and knew he could lay them in the dust, and cast them into hell in a moment ; yet would they run upon ail this. O the labour it costs sinners to be 157 damned ! Sobriety, with health and ease, they might have had at a cheaper rate; yet they wijl ra- ther liave gluttony and drunkenness, with poverty, shame, and sickness. Contentment they might have, with ease and deliglit; yet they will rather have covctousncss and ambition, though it costs them cares and fears, labour of body, and distraction i)f mind. Though their anger be self-torment, and revenge and envy consume their spirits ; though uncleanness destroy their bodies, estates, and good names ; yet will they do and suffer all this, rather than suffer their souls to be saved. With what rage will they lament their folly, and say, " Was dam- nation worth all my cost and pains ? Might I not have been damned on free cost, but I must purchase it so dearly? I thought I could have been saved without so much ado, and could I not have been destroyed without so much ado ? Must I so labori- ously work out my own damnation, when God com- manded me to work out my own salvation? If I had done as much for heaven, as I did for hell, I had surely had it. I cried out of the tedious way of godliness, and the painful course of self-denial ; and yet I could be at a great deal more pains for Satan and for death. Had I loved Christ as strongly as I did my pleasures, and profits, and honours, and thought on him as often, and sought him as pain- fully, O how happy had I now been ! But justly do I suffer the flames of hell, for buying them so dear, rather than have heaven when it was purchased to mv hands !" 19. O that God would persuade thee, Reader, 158 to take up these thoughts now, for preventing the inconceivable calamity of taking them up in hell as thy own tormentor ! Say not that they are only imaginary. R-ead what Dives thought, being in torments. As the joys of heaven arc chiefly en- joyed by the rational sovJ in its rational actings, so must the pains of hell be suffered. As they will be men stUl, so will they feel and act as men. 159 CHAPTER VI. The Misery of those, who, besides losing the Saints' Best, lose the Enjoyments of Time, and suffer the Torments of Hell. Sect 1. The connection of this with the preceding chapter. 2. (I.) The enjoyments of time which the damned lose : 3. (1.) Their presimiptuous belief of their interest in God and Christ; 3. (2.) All their hopes ; 5. (3.) All their peace of conscience ; 6. (4.) All their carnal mirth; 7. (5.) All their sensual de- lights. 8. (II.) The torments of the damned are exceeding great: 9. (1.) The principal Author of them is God himself: 10. (2.) The place or state of torment; 11. (3.) These tor- ments are the effects of divine vengeance ; 12. (4.) God will take pleasure in executing them; 13. (5.) Satan and sinners themselves will be God's executioners ; 14. (6.) These tor- ments will be universal; 15. (7.) without any mitigation; 16. (8.) and eternal. 17. The obstinate sinner convinced of his folly in venturing on these torments; 18. and entreated to fly for safety to Christ. 1. As godliness hath a promise of the hfe that now is, and of that which is to come ; and if we " seek first the kinvith the mention of it. But who can do any of these heartily, that is not in some measure sure that he is the child of God ? 5. (2.) Among the many hinderances which keep men from self-examination, we cannot doubt but Satan will do his part. If all the power he hath, or all the means and instruments he can employ, can do it, he will be sure above all duties to keep you from this. He is loath the godly should have the joy, assurance, and advantage against corruption, which the faithful performance of self-examiuatioii would procure them. As for the ungodly, he knows if they should once earnestly examine, they would find out his deceits, and their own danger, and so be very likely to escape him. How could he get so many millions to hell willingly, if they knew they were going thither ? And how could they avoid knowing it, if they did but thoroughly try : having such a clear hght and sure rule in the Scripture to discover it ? If the snare be not hid, the bird will escape it. Satan knows how to angle for souls bet- ter than to show them the hook and line, or fright them away with a noise, or with his own appear- ance. Therefore he labours to keep them from a searching ministry; or to keep the minister from helping them to search, or to take off the edge of the Word, that it may not pierce and divide j or to turn away their thoughts : or to possess them with prejudice. Satan knows when the miruster has pro- 214 vided a searching sermon, fitted to the state and ne- cessity of a hearer ; and therefore he will keep him away that day, if it be possible ; or cast him into a sleep ; or steal away the Word by the cares and talk of the world ; or some way prevent its operation. 6. Another great huiderance to self-examination arises from wicked men. Their examples; their merry company and discourse ; their continually insisting on worldly concerns ; their raOlery and scoffs at godly persons ; also their persuasions, allurements, and threats, are each of them exceedingly great tempta- tions to security. God doth scarcely ever open the eyes of a poor sinner, to see that his way is wrong, but presently there is a multitude of Satan's apostles ready to deceive and settle him again in the quiet possession of his former master. " What !" say they, " do you make a doubt of your salvation, who have lived so well, and done nobody any harm ? God is merciful; and if such as you shall not be saved, God help a great many ! What do you think of all your forefathers? And what will be- come of all your friends and neighbours that live as you do ? Will they all be damned ? Come, come, if you hearken to these preachers, they will drive you out of your wits. Are not all men sinners? And did not Christ die to save sinners? Never trouble your head with these thoughts, and you shall do well." O how many thousands have sucli charms kept asleep in deceit and security, till death and hell have awakened them ! The Lord calls to the sinner and tells him, " The gate is strait, the way is naxrow, and few find it : try and examine. '215 ^ive diligence to make sure." The world cries, " Never doubt, never trouble yourselves with these thoughts." In this strait, sinner, consider, it is Christ, and not your forefathers, or neighbours, or friends, that must judge you at last; and if Christ «. ondemn you, these cannot save you : therefore com- mon reason may tell you, that it is not from the words of ignorant men, but from the word of God you must fetch your hopes of salvation. When Ahab would inquire among the multitude of flatter- ing prophets, it was his death. They can flatter men into the snare, but they cannot tell how to bring them out. " Let no man deceive you with vain words ; for because of these things coraeth the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience : be not ye tlierefore partakers with them." 7. But the greatest hinderances are in men's own hearts. — Some are so ignorant, that they know not what self-examination is, nor what a minister means when he persuadeth them to try themselves : or they know not that there is any necessity for it, but think every man is bound to beheve that his sins are par- doned, whether it be true or false, and that it is a great fault to make any question of it; or they do not think that assurance can be attained; or that there is any great difference between one man and another, but that we are all Christians, and there- fore need not trouble ourselves any further ; or at least they know not wherein the difference lies. They have as gross an idea of regeneration as Nico- demus had. — Some will not believe that God will never make such a difference betwixt men in the life 216 to come, and therefore will not search themselves, whether they differ here. — Some are so stupified, say what we can to them, that they lay it not to heart, but give us the hearing, and there is the end. — Some are so possessed with self-love and pride, that they will not so much as suspect they are in danger: like a proud tradesman, who scorns the pradent advice of casting up his books ; as fond pa- rents will not beUeve or hear any evil of their chil- dren. — Some are so guilty, that they dare not try, and yet they dare venture on a more dreadful trial. — Some are so in love with sin, and so dislike the way of God, that they dare not try their ways, lest they be forced from the course they love, to that which they loathe. — Some are so resolved never to change their present state, that they neglect exami- nation as a useless thing. Before they will seek a new way, when they have lived so long, and gone so far, they will put their eternal state to the venture, come of it what will. Many men are so busy in the world, that they cannot set themselves to the trying their title to heaven. Others are so clogged with slothfulness of spirit, that they will not be at the pains of an hour's examination of their own hearts. — But the most common and dangerous impediment is that false faith and hope, commonly called pre- sumption, which bears up the hearts of the greatest part of the world, and so keeps them from suspecting their danger. 8. And if a man should break through aU these hinderances, and set upon the duty of self-examina- tion, yet assurance is not presently attained. Too 217 many deceive themselves in their inquiries after it, through one or other of the follomng causes — There is such confusion and darkness in the soul of man, especially of an unregenerate man, that he can scarcely tell what he doth, or what is in him. — As in a house, where nothing is in its proper place, it will he difficult to find what is wanted; so it is in the heart wlierc all things are in disorder. — Most men accustom themselves to be strangers at home, and too little observe the temper and motions of their own hearts. — Many are resolved what to judge before they try; like a bribed judge, who examines as if he would judge uprightly, when he is previously re- solved which way the cause shall go. — Men are par- tial in their own cause ; ready to think their great sins small, and their small sins none; their gifts of nature to be the work of grace, and to say, " All these have I kept from my youth ; I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing. — Most men search but by the halves. If it will not easily and quickly be done, they are discouraged, and leave off. They try themselves by false marks and rules ; not knowing wherein the truth of Christianity doth consist ; some looking beyond, and some short of the Scripture-standard. And frequently they mis- carry in this work by attempting it in their own strength : as some expect the Spirit should do it without them, so others attempt it themselves, with- out seeking or expecting the help of the Spirit. Both these will certainly miscarry in their asssurance. 9. Some other hinderances keep even true Chris- tians from comfortable certainty. As for instance ; K 10 218 The weakness of grace. Small things are hardly discerned. Most Christians content themselves with a small measure of grace, and do not follow on to spiritual strength and manhood. The chief re- medy for such would be to follow on their duty, till their grace be increased. Wait upon God in the use of his prescribed means, and he mil undoubted- ly bless you with increase. O that Christians would ])estow most of that time to getting more grace, which they bestow in anxious doubtings whether they have any or none; and lay out those serious affections in praying for more grace, which they bestow in fruitless complaints ! I beseech thee. Christian, take this advice as from God; and then, when tliou believest strongly, and lovest fervently, thou canst no more doubt of thy fliith and love, than a man that is very hot can doubt of his warmth, or a man that is strong and lusty, can doubt of his be- ing alive. Christians hinder their own comfort by looking more at signs, which tell them what they are, than at precepts, which tell them what they should do : as if their present case must needs be their everlasting case ; and if they be now unpardoned, there were no remedy. Were he not mad, that would lie weeping because he is not pardoned, when his prince stands by all the while offering him par- don, and persuading him to accept of it ? Justifying faith. Christian, is not thy persuasion of God's spe- cial love to thee, but thy accepting Christ to make thee lovely. It is far better to accept Christ as offered, than spend so much time in doubting whe- ther we have Christ or not. — Another cause of dis- tress to Christians is, their mistaking assurance for 219 tlie joy that sometimes accompanies it. As if 'a cliilcl should take liimself for a son no longer than while he sees the smiles of his father's face, or hears the comfortable expressions of his mouth ; and as if the father ceased to be a father, whenever he ceased those smiles and speeches. — The trouble of souls is also increased by their not knowing the ordinary way of God's conveying comfort. They think they have nothing to do but to wait when God will bestow it. But they must know, that the matter of their com- fort is in the promises, and thence they must fetch it as often as they expect it, by daily and diligently medi- tating upon the promises; and in this way they may ex- pect the Spirit will communicate comfort to their souls. The joy of the promises, and the joy of the Holy Ghost, are one : add to this, their expecting a greater measure of assurance than God usually bestows. As long as they have any doubting, they think they have no assurance. They consider not that there are many degrees of certainty. While they are here, they shall " know but in part." — Add also, their deriv- inf; their comfort at first from insufficient grounds. This may be the case of a gracious soul, who hath better grounds, but doth not see them. As an in- fant hath life before he knoweth it, and many mis- apprehensions of himself and other tilings, yet it will not follow that he hath no life. So when Christians find a flaw in their first comforts, they are not to judge it a flaw in their safety. Many continue un- der doubting, through the exceeding weakness o5 their natural parts. Many honest hearts have weak heads, and know not how to perform the work of K 2 220 self-trial. They will acknowledge the premises, and yet deny the apparent conclusion. If God do not some other way supply the defect of their reason, I see not how they should have clear and settled peace. One great and too common cause of distress is, the secret maintaining some known sin. This abates the degree of our graces, and so makes them more undiscernible. It obscureth that which it destroy- eth not ; for it beareth such sway that grace is not in action ; nor seems to stir, nor is scarce heard speak for the noise of this corruption. It puts out or dimmeth the eye of the soul, and stupifies it, that it can neither see nor feel its own condition. But especially it provokes God to withdraw himself, his comforts, and the assistance of his Spirit, without which we may search long enough before we have assurance. God hath made a separation between sin and peace. As long as thou dost cherish thy pride, thy love of the world, the desires of the flesh, or any unchristian practice, thou expectest comfort in vain. If a man setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the -stumbUngblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a minister, or to God, to in- tjuire for comfort, instead of comforting him, God •' will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols." — Another very great and common cause of the want of comfort is, when grace is not kept in constant and lively exercise. The way of painful duty, is the way of fullest comfort. Peace and comfort are Christ's great encourage- ments to faithfnlness and obedience ; and therefore, though oiu: obedience does not merit them, yet they 2-21 usually rise and fall with our diligence in duty. As prayer must have faith and fervency to procure it success, besides the blood and intercession of Chiist, so must all other parts of our obedience. If thou grow seldom, and customary, and cold in duty, especially in thy secret prayers to God, and yet findest no abatement in thy joys, I cannot but fear thy joys are either carnal or diabolical. Besides, grace is never apparent and sensible to the soul, but while it is in action ; therefore want of action must cause want of assurance. And the action of the soul upon such excellent objects, naturally bringeth consolation with it. The very act of loving God in Christ is inexpressibly sweet. The soul that is best furnished with grace, when it is not in action, is like a lute well stringed and tuned, which while it lieth still, raaketli no more music than a common piece of wood ; but when it is handled by a skilful musician, the melody is deUghtful. Some degree of comfort follows every good action, as heat accompanies fire, and as beams and influence issue from the sun. A man that is cold, should labour till heat be excited; so he that wants assurance must not stand still, but exercise his graces, till his doubts vanish. The want of con- solation in the soul is also very commonly owing to bodily melancholy. It is no more wonder for a con- scientious man, under melancholy, to doubt, and fear, and despair, tlian for a sick man to groan, or a child to cry when it is chastised. Without the physician in this case, the labours of the divine are usually in vain. You may silence, but you cannot comfort them. You may make them confess they 222 have some grace, and yet cannot bring them to the comfortable conclusion. All the good thoughts of their state which you can possibly help them to, are .seldom above a day or two old. They cry out of sin, and the wrath of God, when the chief cause is in their bodily distemper. 10. (3.) As for motives to persuade to the duty of self-examination, I entreat you to consider the following : — To be deceived about your title to hea- ven is very easy. Many are now in hell, that never suspected any falsehood in their hearts, that excelled in worldly wisdom, that lived in the clear light of the gospel, and even preached against the negligence of others. To be mistaken in this great point is also very common. It is the case of most in the world. In the old world, and in Sodom, we find none that were in any fear of judgment. Almost all men among us verily look to be saved; yet Christ tells us, " there be few that find the strait gate, and nar- row way, which leadeth unto life." And if such multitudes are deceived, should we not search the ]nore diligently, lest we should be deceived as well as they? — Nothing is more dangerous than to be thus mistaken. If the godly judge their state worse than it is, the consequences of this mistake wiU be sorrowful ; but the mischief flowing from the mistake of the ungodly is unspeakable. It wiU exceedingly confirm them in the service of Satan. It will ren- der ineffectual the means that should do them good. It will keep a man from compassionating his own soul. It is a case of the greatest moment, where everlasting salvation or damnation is to be deter- 223 I'.iinccl : and if you mistake till deatli, you are un- done for ever. Seeing then the danger is so great, what wise man would not follow the search of his heart both day and night, till he were assured of his safety? Consider how small the labour of this duty is in comparison of that sorrow which followeth its neglect. You can endure to toil and sweat from year to year, to prevent poverty, and why not spend a little time in self-examination, to prevent eternal misery? By neglecting this duty, you can scarce do Satan a greater pleasure, nor yourselves a greater injury. It is the grand design of the dcvd, in aU his temptations, to deceive you, and keep you igno- rant of your danger, till you feel the everlasting flames ; and will you joui with liira to deceive your- self? If you do this for him, you do the great- est part of his work. And hath he deserved so well of you, that you should assist him in such a design as your damnation? The time is nigh when God will search you. If it be but in this life by afflic- tion, it will make you wish that you had tried and judged yourselves, that you might have escaped the judgment of God. It was a terrible voice to Adam, " Where art thou ? Hast thou eaten of the tree ?" And to Cain, " Where is thy brother ?" Men " con- sider not in their hearts that I," saith the Lord, " remember all their \vickcdness : now their own doings have beset them about ; they are before my face." Consider also what would be the sweet effects of this self-examination. If thou be upright and godly, it will lead thee straight towards assurance of God's love ; if tliou be not, though it will trouble 224 thee at the present, yet it will tend to thy happiness, and at length lead thee to the assurance of that hap- piness. Is it not a desirable thing to know what shall befall us hereafter ? especially what shall befall our souls ? and what place and state we must be in for ever ? And as the very knowledge itself is de- sirable, how much greater will the comfort be of that certainty of salvation ? What sweet thoughts wilt thou have of God? All that greatness and justice, which is the terror of others, will be thy joy. How sweet may be thy thoughts of Christ, and the blood he hath shed, and the benefits he hath procured ! How welcome will the word of God be to thee, and how beautiful the very feet of those that bring it ! How sweet will be the promises when thou art sure they are thine own ! The very threatenings will occasion thy comfort, to remember that thou hast escaped them. What boldness and comfort raayest thou then have in prayer, when thou canst say, " Our Father," in fuU assurance ! It will make the Lord's supper a refreshing feast to thy soul. It v/ill multiply the sweetness of every common mercy. How comfortably mayest thou then luidergo all afflictions ! How will it sweeten thy forethoughts of death and judgment, of heaven and hell ! How lively wiU it make thee in the work of the Lord, and how profitable to all around thee ! What vigour will it infuse into all thy graces and affections, kindle thy repentance, inflame thy love, quicken thy desires, and confirm thy faith, be a fountain of continual rejoicing, overflow thy heart with thankflilness, raise thee hiffh in the delightful 225 work of praise, help thee to be heavenly-minded, and render thee persevering in all ! All these sweet effects of assurance would make thy life a heaven upon earth. 11. Thouffh I am certain these motives have o weight of reason in them, yet I am jealous. Reader, lest you lay aside the book, as if you had done, and never set yourself to the practice of the duty. The case in hand is of the greatest moment, whether thou shalt everlastingly Hve in heaven or hell. I here request thee, in behalf of thy soul; nay, I charge thee, in the name of the Lord, that thou defer no longer, but take thy heart to task in good earnest, and thmk with thyself, " Is it so easy, so common, and so dangerous to be mistaken? Are there so many wrong ways ? Is the heart so deceit- fiU ? Why then do I not search into every corner, till I know my state ? Must I so shortly undergo tlie trial at the bar of Christ ? And do I not pre- sently try myself? What a case were I in, if I shoiUd then miscarry? May I know by a little diligent inquiry now; and do I stick at the labour?" But perhaps thou wilt say, " I know not how to do it." In that I am now to give thee dii-ections ; but, alas ! it ^vill be in vain, if thou art not resolved to practise them. Wilt thou, therefore, before thou goest any further, here promise before the Lord, to set thyself upon the speedy perforaiance of the duty, according to the directions I shall lay down from the word of God. I demand nothing; unreasonable or impossible. It is but to bestow a few hours, to know what shall become of thee for ever. If a neighbour, k3 226 or a friend, desire but an hour's time of thee in con- versation, or business, or any thing in which thou mayest be of service, surely thou wouldst not deny it ; how much less shouldst thou deny this to thyself in so great an affair ! I pray thee to take from me this request, as if, in the name of Christ, I presented it to thee on my knees ; and I will betake me on my knees to Christ again, to beg that he will persuade thy heart to the duty. 12. (4.) The directions how to examine thyself are such as these : — Empty thy mind of all other cares and thoughts, that they may not distract or divide thy mind. This work wiU be enough at once, without joining others with it. Then fall down before God in hearty prayer, desiring the as- sistance of his Spirit, to discover to thee the plain truth of thy condition, and to enlighten thee in the whole progress of this work. Make choice of the most convenient time and place. Let the place be the most private ; and the time, when you have no- thing to interrupt you ; and if possible, let it be the present time. Have in readiness, either in memory or writing, some Scriptures, containing the descrip- tions of the saints, and the gospel terms of salvation ; and convince thyself thoroughly of their infallible truth. Proceed then to put the question to thyself. Let it not be, whether there be any good in thee at all? nor, whether thou hast such or such a degree and measure of grace ? but whether such or such a saving grace be in thee in sincerity or not ? If thy lieart draw back from the work, force it on. Lay thy command upon it. Let reason interpose, and 227 use its authority. Yea, lay the command of God upon it, and charge it to obey, upon the pain of his displeasure. Let conscience also do its office, till thy heart be excited to the work. — Nor let thy heart trifle away the time, wlien it should be diligently at the work. Do as the Psalmist — " My spirit made diligent search." He that can prevail with his own heart, shall also prevail with God. — If, after all thy pains, thou art not resolved, then seek out for help. Go to one that is godly, experienced, able, and faith- ful, and tell him thy case, and desire his best ad- vice. Use the judgment of such a one, as that of a physician for thy body : though this can afford thee no full certainty, yet it may be a great help to stay and direct thee. But do not make it a pretence to put off thy own self-examination. Only use it as one of the last remedies, when thy own endeavours will not serve. When thou hast discovered thy true state, pass sentence on thyself accordingly; either that thou art a true Christian, or that thou art not. Pass not this sentence rashly, nor with self-flattery, nor with melancholy terrors ; but deUberately, truly, and according to thy conscience, convinced by Scrip- ture and reason. Labour to get thy heart affected with its condition, according to the sentence passed on it. If graceless, think of thy misery : if renewed and sanctified, think what a blessed state the Lord hath brouffht thee into. Pursue these thoughts till they have left their impression on thy heart. Write this sentence at least in thy memory — " At such a time, upon thorough examination, I found my state. to be thus, or thus." Such a record will be very 228 useful to thee hereafter. Trust not to this one dis- covery, so as to try no more ; nor let it hinder thee in the daily search of thy ways : neither be dis- couraged, if the trial must be often repeated. Espe- cially take heed, if unregenerate, not to conclude of thy future state by the present. Do not say, " Be- cause I am ungodly, I shall die so ; because I am a hypocrite, I shall continue so." Do not despair. Nothing but thy unwillingness can keep thee from Christ, though thou hast hitherto abused him,*' and dissembled with him. 13. (5.) Now let me add some marks by which you may try your title to the saints' rest. I will only mention these two, — taking God for thy chief good — and heartily accepting Christ for thy only Saviour and Lord. 14. Every soul that hath a title to this rest, doth place his chief happiness in God. This rest con- sisteth in the full and glorious enjoyment of God. He that maketh not God his chief good and ulti- mate end, is in heart a pagan and a vile idolater. Let me ask then, dost thou truly account it thy chief happiness to enjoy the Lord in glory, or dost thou not ? Canst thou say, " The Lord is my portion ? Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee?" If thou be an heir of rest, it is thus with thee. Though the flesh wiU be pleading for its own de- lights, and the world will be creeping into thine affections ; yet in thy ordinary, settled, prevailing judgment and affections, thou preferrest God before all things in the world. — Thou makest him the very 229 end of thy desires and endeavours. The very rea- son why thou hearest and prayest, and desirest to live on earth, is chiefly this, ITiat thou mayest seek the Lord, and make sure of thy rest. Thougli thou dost not seek it so zealously as thou shouldst ; yet it has the chief of thy desires and endeavours, so that nothing else is desired or preferred before it. Thou wilt think no labour or suffering too great to obtain it. And though the flesh may sometimes shrink, yet thou art resolved and contented to go through all. Tliy esteem for it wUl also be so high, and thy affection to it so great, that thou wouldst not exchange thy title to it, and hopes of it, for any worldly good whatsoever. If God should set be- fore thee an eternity of earthly pleasures on one hand, and the saints' rest on the other, and bid thee take thy choice; thou wouldst refuse the world, and choose this rest. But if thou art yet un- sanctified, then thou dost in thy heart prefer thy worldly happiness before God ; and though thy tongue may say, that God is thy chief good, yet thy heart doth not so esteem him. For the world is the chief end of thy desires and endeavours. Thy very heart is set upon it. Thy greatest care and labour is to maintain thy credit, or fleshly de- lights. But the life to come hath little of thy care or labour. Thou didst never perceive so much excellency in that unseen glory of another world, as to draw thy heart after it, and set thee a labour- ing heartily for it. The little pains thou bestowest that way, is but in the second place. God hath but the world's leavings; only that time and labour 230 which thou canst spare from the world, or those few, cold, and careless thoughts which follow tliy con- stant, earnest, and delightful thoughts of earthly things. Neither wouldst thou do any thing at all for heaven, if thou knewest how to keep the world. But lest thou shouldst be turned into hell, wlien thou canst keep the world no longer, therefore tliou wilt do something. For the same reason, thou thinkest the way of God too strict, and will not be persuaded to the constant labour of walking accord- ing to tlie Gospel rule ; and when it comes to the trial, that thou must forsake Christ, or thy worldly happiness, then thou wilt venture heaven rather than earth, and so wUfuUy deny thy obedience to God. And certainly if God would but give thee leave to live in health and wealth for ever on earth, thou wouldst think it a better state than rest. Let them seek for heaven that would, thou wouldst think this thy chief happiness. This is thy case, if thou art yet an unregenerate person, and hast no title to the saints' rest. 15. And as thou takest God for thy chief good, so thou dost heartily accept of Christ for thy only Saviour and Lord, to bring thee to this rest. The former mark was the sum of the first and great command of the law, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." The second mark, is the sum of the command of the Gospel, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And the performance of these two is the whole of godliness and Christianity. This mark is but the definition of faith. Dost thou heartily consent 231 that Christ alone sliall be thy Saviour? and no further trust to thy duties and works, than as means appointed in subordination to him ? and looking at them as not in the least measure able to satisfy the curse of the law, or as a legal righteousness, or any part of it ; but consent to trust thy salvation on the redemption made by Christ ? Art thou also content to take him for thy only Lord and King, to govern and guide thee by his laws and Spirit; and to obey him, even when he commandcth the hardest duties, and those which most cross tlie de- sires of the flesh ? Is it thy sorrow when thou breakest thy resolution herein ? and thy joy when thou keepest closest in obedience to him ? Wouldst thou not change thy Lord and Master for all the world ? Thus is it with every true Christian. But if thou be a hypocrite, it is far otherwise. Thou mayest call Christ thy Lord and thy Saviour ; but thou never foundcst thyself so lost without him, as to drive thee to seek him and trust him, and lay thy salvation on him alone. At least, thou didst never heartily consent that he should govern thee as thy Lord, nor resign up thy soul and Ufe to be ruled by him, nor take his word for the law of thy thoughts and actions. It is likely thou art content to be saved from hell by Christ when thou diest ; but in the mean time he shall command thee no further than will stand with thy credit, or pleasure, or oth.er worldly ends. And if he would give thee leave, thou hadst far rather live after the world and flesh, than after the Word and Spirit. And though thou mayest now and then have a motion or purpose to 232 the contrary ; yet this that I have mentioned is the ordinary desire and choice of thy heart. Tliou art therefore no true behever in Christ ; for though thou confess him in words, yet in works thou dost deny him, " being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." This is the case of those that shall be shut out of the saints' rest. 16. Observe, it is the consent of your hearts, or wills, which I especially lay down to be inquired after. I do not ask, whether thou be assured of salvation, nor whether thou canst beheve that thy sins are pardoned, and that thou art beloved of God in Christ ? These are no parts of justifying faith, but excellent fruits of it, and they that receive them, are comforted by them; but, perhaps, thou mayest never receive them while thou livest, and yet be a true heir of rest. Do not say then, " I cannot be- lieve that my sins are pardoned, or that I am in God's favour ; and therefore I am no true behever." This is a most mistaken conclusion. — The question is, whether thou dost heartily accept of Christ, that thou mayest be pardoned, reconciled to God, and so saved ? Dost thou consent that he shall be thy Lord, who hath bought thee, and that he shall bring thee to heaven in his own way " This is justifying, saving faith, and the mark by which thou must try thyself. Yet stiQ observe, that all this consent must be hearty and real, not feigned or with reservations. It is not saying, as that dissem- bling son, " I go, Sir ; and went not." If any have more of the government of thee than Christ, 233 thou art not his disciple. I am sure these two marks are such as every Christian hath, and none but sincere Christians. O that the Lord would now persuade thee to the close performance of this self-trial ! that thou mayest not tremble with horror of soul, when the Judge of all the world shall try thee ; but be so able to prove thy title to rest, that the prospect and approach of death and judgment may raise thy spirits, and fill thee with joy. 17. On the whole, as ever Christians would have comforts that will not deceive them, let them make it the great labour of their lives to grow in grace, to strengthen and advance the interest of Christ in their souls, and to weaken and subdue the interest of the flesh. Deceive not yourselves with a per- suasion, that Christ hath done all, and left you no- thing to do. To overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil ; and in order to that, to stand always armed upon our watch, and valiantly and patiently to fight it out, is of great importance to our assu- rance and salvation. Indeed it is so great a part of our baptismal vow, that he who performeth it not, is no more than a nominal Christian. Not to every one that presumptuously believeth, but " to him that overcom.eth, will Christ give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knowetb, saving he that receiveth it ; he shall cat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, and shall not be hurt of the second death. Christ will confess his name before his father, and before his angels, and make him a pillar in the 234 temple of God, and he shall go no more out; and will write upon him the name of his God, and the name of the city of his God, which is New Jeru- salem, which coraeth down out of heaven from his God, and will write upon him his new name." Yea, " He will grant to him to sit with him on his throne, even as he also overcame, and is sit do^vn with his Father on his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 235 CHAPTER IX. The Duty of the People of God to excite others to seek this Rest. Sect. 1. The Author laments tliat Christians do so little to help others to obtain the saints' re.it : 2. (I.) Shows the nature of this duty; pardcularly, 3. (1.) In having our hearts affected with the misery of our brethren's souls; 4 — 6. (2.) In taking all opportunities to instruct them in the way of sal- vation ; 7. (3.) In promoting their profit by public ordi- nances : 8. (II.) Assigns various reasons why this duty is so much neglected, 9. And answers some objections against it: 10 — 13. Then, (III.) Urges to the discharge of it, by several considerations, 14. Addressed to such as have knowledge, learning, and utterance; 15. Those that are acquainted with sinners; IG. Physicians that attend dying men; 17. Per- sons of wealth and power; 18. Ministers; 19. And those that are intrusted with the care of children or servants. 20. The chapter concludes with an earnest request to Christian parents to be fiithful to their trust. 1. Hath God set before us such a glorious prize as the saints' rest, and made us capable of such in- conceivable happiness ? Why then do not all the children of this kingdom exert themselves more to help others to the enjoyment of it ? Alas, how little are poor souls about us beholden to most of us ! We see the glory of the kingdom, and they do not : we see the misery of those that are out of it, and they do not : we see some wandering quite out of the way, and know, if they hold on, they can never come there ; and they themselves discern it not. 236 And yet we will not seriously show them their dan- ger and error, and help to bring them into the way, that they may Hve. Alas, how few Christians are there to be found, that set themselves with all their might to save souls ! No thanks to us, if heaven be not empty, and if the souls of our brethren perish not for ever. Considering how important this duty is, to the glory of God, and the happiness of men, I will show — how it is to be performed — why it is so much neglected — and then offer some considera- tions to persuade to it. 2. (I.) The duty of exciting and helping others to discern their title to the saints' rest, doth not mean that every man should turn a public preacher, or that any should go beyond the bounds of then* parti- cular callings ; much less does it consist in promoting a party spirit ; and, least of all, in speaking against men's faults behind their backs, and be silent before their faces. This duty is of another nature, and consists of the following things — in having our hearts affected with the misery of our brethren's souls, in taking all opportunities to instruct them in the way of salvation — and in promoting their profit by pubUc ordinances. 3. (1.) Our hearts must be affected with the mi- sery of our brethren's souls. We must be compas- sionate towards them, and yearn after theii" recovery and salvation. If we earnestly longed after their conversion, and our hearts were soHcitous to do them good, it would set lis on work, and God would usu- ally bless it. 4. (2.) We must take every opportunity that we 237 possibly can, to instruct them how to attain salvation. If the person be ignorant, labour to make him un- derstand the chief happiness of man ; how far he was once possessed of it ; the covenant God then made with him ; how he broke it ; what penalty he incurred ; and what misery he brought himself into « teach him his need of a Redeemer ; how Christ did mercifully interpose, and bear the penalty; what the new co- venant is ; how men are drawn to Christ ; and what are the riches and privileges which believers have in him. If he is not moved by these things, then show him the excellency of the glory he neglects ; the ex- tremity and eternity of the torments of the damned ; the justice of enduring them for wilfuUy refusing grace; the certainty, nearness, and terrors of death and judg- ment ; the vanity of all things below ; the sinfulness of sin ; the preciousness of Christ ; the necessity of re- generation, faith, and holiness, and the true nature of them. If, after all you find him entertaining false hopes, then urge him to examine his state ; show him the necessity of doing so ; help him in it ; nor leave him till you have convinced him of his misery and remedy. Show him how vain and destructive it is to join Christ and his duties, to compose his justify- ing righteousness. Yet be sure to draw him to the use of aU means : such as hearing and reading the word, calling upon God, and associating vrith the godly : persuade him to forsake sin, avoid all temptations to sin, especially evil companions, and to wait patiently on God in the use of means, as the way in which God will be found. 5. But because the manner of performing this 238 work is of great moment, observe therefore tliese rules. — Enter upon it with right intentions. Aim at the glory of God in the person's salvation. Do it not to get a name, or esteem to thyself, or to bring men to depend upon thee, or to get thee followers ; but in obedience to Christ, in imitation of him, and tender love to men's souls. Do not as those, who labour to reform their children or servants from such things as are against their own profit or humour, but never seek to save their souls in the way which God hath appointed. Do it speedily. As you w^ould not have them delay their return, do not you delay to seek their return. Wliile you are purpos- ing to teach and help him, the man goes deeper in debt ; wrath is heaping up ; sin is taking root ; custom fastens him ; temptations to sin multiply ; conscience grows seared ; the heart hardened ; the devil rules ; Christ is shut out; the Spirit is resisted; God is daily dishonoured ; his law violated ; he is without a servant, and that service from him which He should have ; time runs on ; death and judgment are at the door; and what if the man die, and drop into hell, while you are purposing to prevent it ? If in the case of his bodily distress, you must not say to him, " Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee ;" how much less may you delay the succour of his soul ? That physician is no better than a murderer, who neghgently delayeth till his patient is dead or past cure. Lay by ex -uses then, and aU lesser business, and " exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day ; lest any be har- dened through the deceitfulness of sin." Let youi 239 exhortation proceed from compassion and love. To jeer and scofF, to rail and vilify, is not a likely way to reform men, or convert them to God. — Go to poor sinners with tears in your eyes, that they may see you believe them to be miserable, and tliat you unfcignedly pity their case. Deal with them with earnest humble entreaties. Let them perceive, it is the desire of your hearts to do them good ; that you have no other end but their everlast- ing happiness ; and that it is your sense of their dan- ger, and your love to their souls that forceth you to speak ; even because you know the terrors of the Lord, and for fear you should see them in eternal torments. Say to them, " Friend, you know I seek no advantage of my own : the method to please you, and keep your friendship, were to soothe you in your way, or let you alone ; but love will not suffer me to see you perish, and be silent. I seek no- thing at your hands, but that which is necessary to your own happiness. It is yourself that will have the gain and comfort, if you come to Christ." If we were thus to go to every ignorant and wicked neighbour, what blessed fruit should we quickly see ! — Do it with all possible plainness and faithfulness. Do not make their sins less than they are, nor en- courage them in a false hope. If you see the case dangerous, speak plainly — " Neighbour, 1 am afraid God hath not yet renewed your soul ; I doubt you are not yet recovered from the power of Satan to God ; I doubt you have not chosen Christ above all, nor unfeignedly taken him for your sovereign Lord. If you had, surely you durst not so easily 240 disobey him, nor neglect his worship in your family, and in public ; you could not so eagerly follow the world, and talk of nothing but the things of the world. If you were in Christ, you would be a new creature : old things would be passed away, and all things would become new. You would have new thoughts, new talk, new company, new endeavours, and a new conversation. Certainly, without these you can never be saved : you may think otherwise, and hope otherwise, as long as you will, but your hopes vsdll all deceive you, and perish with you." Thus must you deal faithfully with men, if ever you intend to do them good. It is not in curing men's souls, as in curing their bodies, where they must not know their danger, lest it hinder the cure. They are here agents in their own cure ; and if they know not their misery, they will never bewail it, nor know their need of a Saviour. Do it also seriously, zealously, and effectually. Labour to make men know that heaven and heU are not mat- ters to be played with, or passed over with a few careless thoughts — " It is most certain, that one of these days thou shalt be in everlasting joy or tor- ment ; and doth it not awaken thee ? Are there so few that find the way of life ? So many that go the way of death ? Is it so hard to escape ? so easy to miscarry? and yet do you sit still and trifle ? What do you mean ? The world is passing away : its plea- sures, honours, and profits, are fading and leaving you : eternity is a Httle before you : God is just and jealous : his threatenings are true : the great day will be terrible : time runs on : your life is uncertain : you 241 arc far bcliiiuiliand : your case is dangerous : if you dio to-morrow, how unready arc you ! With what terror will your souls go out of your bodies I And (!:) you yet loiter? Consider, God is all this while w.-iiting your leisure: his patience bearcth; his long- suffering forbcareth : his mercy entre.itctli you : Christ offercth you his blood and merits : the Spirit is per- suading: conscience is accusing: Satan waits to liavc you. This is your time, now or never. Had you rather burn in hell, than repent on earth ? have d(.vils your tormentors, tlian Christ your governor? V/.ll you renounce your part in (iod and glorj', rather than renounce your sins ? O friends, what do you tliink of these tilings ? God hath made you men: do not renounce your reason where you should chiefly use it." Alas ! it is not a few dull words between jest and earnest, between sleep and awake, tli.t will rouse a dead-hearted sinner. If a house ho iv.\ fire, you will not make a cold oration on the iKitiuc and danger of fire, but will run and cry. Fire! fi'.L' ! To tell a man of his sins as softly as Eli did li: i sons; or to reprove him as gently as Jehosliaphat did Ahab, " Let not the king say so ;" usually doth :is much harm as good. Loathncss to displease men, makes us undo them. G. Yet, lest you run into extremes, I advise you t ) do it with prudence and discrctio:i. — Choose tlie fittest season. Deal not with men when they are i:i a passion, or where they will take it for a dis- grace. When the earth is soft, the plough will en- tt'r. Take a man when he is under affliction, or newly impressed under a seiTnon. Christian faith- L 10 242 fulness requires us, not only to do good when it falls in our way, but to watch for opportunities. Suit yourselves also to the quaUty and temper of the per- son. You must deal with the ingenious more by ar- gument than persuasion. There is need of both to the ignorant. The affections of the convinced should be chiefly excited. The obstinate must be sharply reproved. The timorous must be dealt with ten- derly. Love and plainness, and seriousness, take with all; but words of terror some can scarce bear. Use also the aptest expressions. Unseeming lan- guage makes the hearers loathe the food they should live by ; especially if they be men of curious ears, and carnal hearts. — Let all your reproofs and exhorta- tions be backed with the authority of God. Let sin- ners be convinced that you speak not of your own head. Turn them to the very chapter and verse where their sin is condemned, and their duty com- manded. The voice of man is contemptible, but the voice of God is awful and terrible. They may re- ject yoiu- words, that dare not reject the words of the Almighty. — Be frequent with men in this duty of exhortation. If we are always to pray, and not to faint, because God will have us importunate with liimself ; the same course, no doubt, will be most pre- vailing with men. Therefore we are commanded "to exhort one another daily ;" and " with all long-suf- fering." The fire is not always brought out of the ilint at one stroke ; nor men's aftettions kindled at tiie first exhortation. And if they were, yet if they !)e not followed, they will soon grow cold again. Follow sinners with your lovinj^ and earnest en- 243 treaties, and give them no rest in their sin. Iliis is true cliarity, the way to save men's souls, and v»ill aiford you comfort upon review. — Strive to bring all your exhortations to an issue. If we speak the mort convincincT words, and all our care is over with our speech, we sliall seldom prosper in our labours ; br.t God usually blesses their labours, whose very heart is set upon the conversion of their hearers, and who are therefore inquiring after the success of their work. If you reprove a sin, cease not till the sin- ner promises you to leave it, and avoid the occasion of it. If you are exhorting to a duty, urge for a promise to set upon it presently. If you would draw men to Christ, leave not till you have made them confess the misery of their present unregen- erate state, and the necessity of Christ, and of a change, and have promised you to fall close to the use of means. O that all Christians would take this course with their neighbours that are enslaved to sin, and strangers to Christ ! — Once more, be sure your example exhort as well as your words. Let them see you constant in all the duties you persuade them to. Let them see in your lives that superio- rity to the world which your lips recommend. Let them see, by your constant labours for heaven, that you indeed believe what you would have them be- lieve. A holy and heavenly life is a continual pain to the consciences of sinners around you, and con- tinually solicits them to change their course. 7. (3.) Besides the duty of private admonition, you must endeavour to help men to profit by the l2 •24-i public ordinances. In order to tliat — endeavour to procure for them laitliful ministers, where they are wanting. " How shall they hear without a preaclier?" Improve your interest and diligence to this end, tiU vou prevail. Extend your purses to the utmost. How many souls may be saved by the ministry you Iiave procured ! It is a higher and nobler char'ty, than relieving their bodies. What abundance of 'iood might great men do, if they would support, ill academical education, such youth as they have iirst carefully chosen for their integrity and pietv, ;ill they should be fit for the ministry ! And when ri faithful ministry is obtained, help poor souls to receive the fruit of it. Draw them constantly to •ittend it. Remind them often what they have heard; and, if it be possible, let them hear it repeated in tlieir ftunilies, or elsewhere. Promote theii' frequent meeting together, besides publicly in the congrega- tion; not as a separate church, but as a part of the church, more diligent than tlie rest in redeeming time, and helping the souls of each other heaven- \v;ird. Labour also to keep the ordinances and ministry' in esteem. No man will be much wrought on by that which he despiseth. An apostle says, " We beseech you, brethren, to know them who la- i)our among you, and are over you in the Lord, and a;hnonish you ; and to esteem them very higlily in love for their work's sake." 8. (11.) Let us now a little inquire, what may be the causes of the gross neglect of this duty ; that tlie hinderances being discovered, may the more 245 easily be overcome. — One hinderancc is, men's own sin and guilt. They have not themselves been ravished with heavenly delights ; how tlicn should they draw others so earnestly to seek them .'' They have not felt their own lost condition, nor their need of Christ, nor the renewing work of the Spirit : how then can they discover these to others ? Thi y are guilty of the sins they should reprove, and this makes them ashamed to reprove. — Another is, a secret infidelity prevailing in men's hearts. Did we verily believe, that all the unregencrate and unholy should be eternally tormented, how could wc hold our tongues, or avoid bursting into tears, when we look them in the face, especially when they ;nc' our near and dear friends ? Thus doth secret mi- belief consume the vigour of each grace and duty. O Christians, if you did verily believe that your ungodly neighbours, wife, husband, or child, should certainly lie for ever in hell, except they be tho- roughly changed before death shall snatch them away, would not this make you address them day and night till they were persuaded? Were it not for this cursed unbelief, our own and our neigh- bours' souls would gain more by us than they do. — These attempts are also much hindered by our want of charity and compassion for men's souls. Vv'o look on miserable souls, and pass by, as the Priest and Levite by the wounded man. What thoug'i the sinner, wounded by sin, and captivated by Satan, do not desire thy help himself; yet liis misery cries aloud. If God had not heard the cry of our miseries, before he heard the cry of our prayers, 246 and be moved by his own pity before he was moved by our importunity, we might long have continued the slaves of Satan. You will pray to God for them to open their eyes, and turn their hearts ; and why not endeavour their conversion, if you desire it ^ And if you do not desire it, why do you ask it ? Why do you not pray them to consider and return, as well as pray to God to convert and turn tliem ? If you should see your neighbour fallen into a pit, and should pray to God to help him out, but neither put forth your htind to help him, nor once direct him to help himself, would not any man censure you for your cruelty and hypocrisy ? It is us true of the soul as of the body. If any man ■' seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his l)owels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" Or what love hath he to liis brother's soul ? — We are also hindered by a l)ase, man-pleasing disposition. We are so desirous to keep iu credit and favour with men, that it makes us most unconscionably neglect our own duty. He is a foolish and unfaithful physician that will let a sick man die for fear of troubling him. If our friends are distracted, we please them in nothing that tends to their hurt. And yet when they are beside themselves in point of salvation, and in their madness posting on to damnation, we will not stop them, for fear of displeasing them. How can we be Christians, that " love the praise of men more than the praise of God ?" For, if we " seek to please men, we shall not be the servants of Christ." — It is common to be hindered by sinful bashfulness 247 When \vc ishould shame men out of their sins, mc are ourselves asliamed of our duties. May not these sinners condemn us, wlien they blush not to swear, be drunk, or neglect the worship of God; and we blush to tell them of it, and persuade them from it ? l5ashfulness is unseemly in cases of necessity. It is not a work to be asliemed of, to obey God in persuading men from their sins to Christ. Reader, hath not thy conscience told thee of thy duty many a time, and put thee on to speak to poor sinners : and yet thou hast been ashamed to open thy mouth, and so let them alone to sink or swim ? O read and tremble, " Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful genera- tion, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with tlie holy angels." An idle and impatient spirit hin- dereth us. It is an ungrateful work, and some- times makes men our enemies. Besides, it seldom succeeds at the first, except it be followed on. You must be long teaching the ignorant, and jiersuading the obstinate. We consider not what patience God used towards us when we were in our sins. Woe to us if God had been as impatient with us as we are with others. — Another hinderance is, self- seeking. " All seek their own, not the things whicli are Jesus Christ's and their brethren's. — With many, pride is a great impediment. If it were to speak to a great man, and it would not displease him, they would do it ; but to go among the poor, and take pains with them in their cottages, where is the person that will do it ? jVIany will ic- 248 joice in being instrumental in converting a gentleman, and they have good reason ; but overlook the multi- tude, as if the souls of aU were not ahke to God. Alas, these men little consider how low Christ stooped to us ! Few rich and noble, and wise are called. It is the poor that receive the glad tidin, abbaths, of pleasant studies, of precious companions, oi" wonderful deliverances, of excellent opportunities, of fruitful labours, of joyful tidings, of sweet expe- riences, of astonishing providences, hath thy life par- N 10 290 taken of i Hath thy life been so sweet, that thou art loath to leave it ? Is this thy thanks to him, \vho is thus drawing thee to his own sweetness ? O fooUsh soul ! would thou wast as covetous after eternity, as thou art for a fading, perishing life ! and after the presence of God in glory, as thou art for continuance on earth ! Then thou wouldst cry, ' Why is his chariot so long in coming ? Why tarry the wheels of his chariot ? How long, Lord ? how long?' — WTiat if God should let thee live many years, but deny thee the mercies which thou hast hitherto enjoyed ? Might he not give thee life, as lie gave the murmuring Israelites quails ? He might give thee life, till thou wert weary of living, and as glad to be rid of it as Judas, or Ahithophel ; and make thee Hke many miserable creatures in the world, who can hardly forbear lying violent hands on themselves. Be not therefore so importunate for life, which may prove a judgment, instead of a bles- sing. How many of the precious servants of God, of all ages and places, have gone before thee ! Thou art not to enter an untrodden path, nor appointed nrst to break the ice. Except Enoch and Elijah, which of the saints have escaped death ? And art thou better than they? There are many millions of saints dead, more than now remain on the earth. What a number of thine owti bosom-friends, and companions in duty, are now gone, and why shouldst thou be so loath to follow? Nay, hath not Jesus Christ himself ixone this wav? Hath he not sanc- tified the grave to us, and perfumed the dust with his own body, and art thou loath to follow him too ? 291 Rather say as Tliomas, < Let us also go, that we may the with him.' " 24. If what hath been said, will not persuade, Scripture and reason hath Uttle force. And I have said the more on this subject, finding it so needful to myself and others; finding among so many Chris- tians, who could do and suffer much for Christ, so few that can wilUngly die ; and of many, who have somewhat subdued other corruptions, so few have