BV 4831 .B4 W4 1847 
 Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. 
 The saints' everlasting res 
 

 THE 
 
 SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST 
 
 OB, 
 
 A TREATISE 
 
 'iSiOUi. 
 
 BLESSED STATE OF THE SAINTS, 
 
 THEIR ENJOYMENT OF GOD IN GLORY. 
 
 EXTRACTED FROM TIJE WORKS OF 
 
 MR. RICHARD' BAXTER, 
 BY JOHN WESLEY, M. A. 
 
 LATE FELliOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE. OXFORD. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY LANE & TIPPETT, 
 
 >: HE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 200 MULBERRY-STREET. 
 
 JOSEPH LONGKINO, PRINTER. 
 1847. 
 

 X3% 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface ------ Page 5 
 
 PART I. 
 Chapter I. This rest defined - - - - 7 
 
 II. What this rest presupposeth - - - 11 
 
 III. What this rest containeth - - - - 15 
 
 IV. The four great preparations to our rest - - 27 
 
 V. The excellences of our rest - - - - 38 
 
 VI. The people of God described - - - - Gl 
 The conclusion - - - - - - 71 
 
 PARTIi. 
 Chapter I. The inconceivable misery of the ungodly in their 
 
 loss of this rest - - - - - - 72 
 
 II. The aggravation of the loss of heaven to the ungodly - 77 
 
 III. They shall lose all things comfortable, as well as 
 heaven - - - - - - -89 
 
 IV. The greatness of the torments of the damned discovered 95 
 
 V. The second use, — reprehending the general neglect of 
 
 this rest, and exciting to diligence in seeking it - 105 
 
 VI. An exhortation to seriousness in seeking rest - - 116 
 VIL The third use, — persuading all men to try their title 
 
 to this rest ; and directing them how to try, that they 
 may know ---___ 135 
 
 VIII. Farther causes of doubting among Christians - 145 
 
 IX. Containing directions for examination, and some marks 
 
 of trial - - - - - - - 150 
 
 X. The reason of the saints' afflictions here - - 154 
 
 XI. An exhortation to those that have got assurance of this 
 rest, that they would do all they possibly can to help 
 others to it - - - - - - 162 
 
 XII. An advice to some more particularly, to help others 
 
 to this rest ------ 192 
 
 PART III. 
 Chapter I. Reproving our expectations of rest on earth - 219 
 
 II. Motives to heavenly mindedness - _ _ 229 
 
 III. Containing some hinderances of heavenly mindedness 247 
 
 IV. Some general helps to heavenly mindedness - - 258 
 
 V. A description of heavenly contemplation - - 266 
 
 VI. The fittest time and place for this contemplation, and 
 
 the preparation of the heart unto it - - - 273 
 
 VII. What affections must be acted, and by what considera- 
 tions and objects, and in what order - - - 282 
 
 VIII. Some advantages and helps for raising the soul by 
 meditation ___.-_ 295 
 
 IX. How to manage and watch over the heart through the 
 whole work - - - - - - 308 
 
 X. An example of this heavenly contemplation, for the help 
 
 of the unskilful 313 
 
 The conclusion - ----- 329 
 
TO THE 
 
 INHABITANTS OF KIDDERMINSTER. 
 
 My Dear Friends, — If either I or my labours have any thing 
 of public use or worth, it is wholly (though not only) yours. 
 And I am convinced by Providence, that it is the will of God it 
 should be so. This I clearly discerned in my first coming to 
 you, in my former abode with you, and in the time of my forced 
 absence from you. When I was separated by the miseries of 
 the late unhappy war, I durst not fix in any other congregation, 
 but lived in a military unpleasing state, lest I should forestall 
 my return to you. The offers of greater worldly accommodations 
 were no temptation to me once to question whether I should 
 leave you : your free invitation of my return, your obedience to 
 my doctrine, the strong affection which I have yet toward you 
 above all people, and the general hearty return of love which I 
 find from you, do all persuade me that 1 was sent into the world 
 especially for the service of your souls : and that even when I ' 
 am dead I might be yet a help to your salvation, the Lord hath 
 forced me, quite beside my own resolution, to write this treatise, 
 and leave it in your hands. It was far from my thoughts 
 ever to have become thus public, and burthened the world with 
 any writing of mine ; therefore have I often resisted the request 
 of my reverend brethren, and some superiors, who might else 
 have commanded much more at my hands. But see how God 
 overruleth and crosseth our resolutions ! 
 
 Being in my quarters far from home, cast into extreme lan- 
 guishing, (by the sudden loss of about a gallon of blood, after 
 many years' foregoing weakness,) and having no acquaintance 
 about me, nor any book but my Bible, and living in continual 
 expectation of death, I bent my thoughts on my everlasting rest : 
 and because my memory, through extreme weakness, was im- 
 perfect, I took my pen and began to draw up my own funeral 
 sermon, or some help for my own meditations of heaven, to 
 sweeten both the rest of my life and my death. In this condi- 
 tion God was pleased to continue me about five months from 
 home ; where, being able for nothing else, I went on with this 
 work, which lengthened to this which you here see. It is no 
 wonder, therefore, if I be too abrupt in the beginning, seeing I 
 then intended but the length of a sermon or two. Much less 
 may you wonder if the whole be very imperfect, seeing it was 
 written, as it were, with one foot in the grave, by a man that 
 was betwixt the living and dead, that wanted strength of nature 
 to quicken invention, or affection, and had no book but his Bible, 
 while the chief part was finished. But how sweet is this pro-* 
 vidence now to my review, which so happily forced me to thai 
 
6 DEDICATION TO SAINTS' EVERLASTING BEST. ■* 
 
 work of meditation, which I had formerly found so profitable to 
 my soul ! and showed me more mercy, in depriving me of other 
 helps than I was aware of! and hath caused my thoughts to 
 feed on this heavenly subject, which hath more benefited me 
 than all the studies of my life. 
 
 And now, dear friends, such as it is, I here offer it you ; and 
 upon the knees of my soul, I offer up my thanks to the merciful 
 God, who hath fetched up both me and it, as from the grave, 
 for your service : who reversed the sentence of present death, 
 which by the ablest physicians was passed upon me : who in- 
 terrupted my public labours for a time, that he might trace me 
 to do you a more lasting service, which else I had never been 
 like to have attempted! That God do I heartily bless and 
 magnify, who hath rescued me from the many dangers of four 
 years' war, and after so many tedious nights and days, and so 
 many doleful sights and tidings, hath returned me, and many of 
 yourselves, and reprieved us now to serve him in peace ! And 
 though men be ungrateful, and my body ruined beyond hope of 
 recovery, yet he hath made up all in the comforts I have in you. 
 To the God of mercy I do here offer up my most hearty thanks, 
 who hath not rejected my prayers, but hath by a wonder deli- 
 vered me in the midst of my duties ; and hath supported me 
 these fourteen years in a languishing state, wherein I have 
 scarce had a waking hour free from pain : who hath above 
 twenty several times delivered me when I was near death. And 
 though he hath made me spend my days in groans and tears, 
 and in a constant expectation of my change, yet he hath not 
 wholly disabled me for his service ; and hereby hath more effec- 
 tually subdued my pride, and made this world contemptible to 
 me, and forced my dull heart to more importunate requests, and 
 occasioned more rare discoveries of his mercy than ever I could 
 have expected in a prosperous state. 
 
THE 
 
 SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 * There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God,* Hebrews iv, 9. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE REST DEFINED. 
 
 It was not only our interest in God, and actual frui- 
 tion of him, which was lost in Adam's fall ; but all spirit- 
 ual knowledge of him, and true disposition toward such 
 felicity. Man hath now a heart too suitable to his estate ; 
 a low state, and a low spirit. As the poor man that would 
 not believe that any one man had such a sum as a hun- 
 dred pounds, it was so far above what he possessed ; so 
 man will hardly now believe, that there is such a happi- 
 ness as once he had, much less as Christ hath now 
 procured. 
 
 The apostle bestows most of this epistle in proving to 
 the Jews that the end of all ceremonies and shadows is 
 to direct them to Jesus Christ, the substance ; and that 
 the rest of Sabbaths, and Canaan, should teach them to 
 look for a future rest. My text is his conclusion after 
 divers arguments to that end ; a conclusion so useful to 
 a believer, as containing the ground of all his comforts, 
 the end of all his duty and sufferings, that you may easily 
 be satisfied why I have made it the subject of my present 
 discourse. What more welcome to men under afflictions 
 than rest ? What more welcome news to men under pub- 
 lic calamities ? Hearers, I pray God your entertainment 
 of it be but half answerable to the excellence of the sub-, 
 ject ; and then you will have cause to bless God, while 
 you live, that ever you heard it, as I have that ever I 
 studied it. 
 
 Let us see, 1. What this rest is. 2. What these peo- 
 ple of God, and why so called. 3. The truth of this from 
 other Scripture arguments. 4. Why this rest must yet 
 remain. 5. Why only to the people of God. 6. What 
 use to make of it. 
 
 And though the sense of the text includes in the word 
 rest all that ease and safety which a soul, wearied with 
 
8 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 the burden of sin and suffering, and pursued by law, 
 wrath, and conscience, hath with Christ in this life, the 
 rest of grace ; yet because it chiefly intends the rest of 
 eternal glory, I shall confine my discourse to this. 
 
 The rest here in question is, the most happy state of 
 a Christian having obtained the end of his course ; or, it 
 is the perfect endless fruition of God by the perfected 
 saints, according to the measure of their capacity, to 
 which their souls arrive at death ; and both soul and body 
 most fully after the resurrection and final judgment. 
 
 1. I call it the estate of a Christian, to note both the 
 active and passive fruition wherein a Christian's bless- 
 edness lies, and the established continuance of both. 
 Our title will be perfect, and perfectly cleared ; our- 
 selves, and so our capacity perfected ; our possession 
 and security for its perpetuity perfect ; our reception 
 from God perfect ; and therefore our fruition of hira, and 
 consequently our happiness, will then be perfect. And 
 this is the estate which we now briefly mention, and 
 shall afterward more fully describe. 
 
 2. I call it the most happy estate, to diflference it not 
 only from all seeming happiness which is to be found in 
 the enjoyment of creatures, but also from all those be- 
 ginnings, foretastes, a^d imperfect degrees which we 
 have in this life. 
 
 3. I call it the estate of a Christian, where I mean only 
 the sincere, regenerate, sanctified Christian, whose soul 
 having discovered that excellence in God through Christ, 
 closeth with him, and is cordially set upon him. 
 
 4. I add, that this happiness consists in obtaining the 
 end where I mean the ultimate and principal end, not 
 any subordinate or less principal end. O how much 
 doth our everlasting state depend on our right judgment 
 and estimation of our end ! 
 
 But it is a doubt with many, whether the attainment 
 of this glory may be our end ? Nay, concluded, that it 
 is mercenary ; yea, that to make salvation the end of 
 duty, is to be a legalist, and act under a covenant of 
 works, whose tenour is, " Do this and live." And many 
 that think it may be our end, yet think it may not be our 
 ultimate end ; for that should be only the glory of God. 
 I shall answer these briefly. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 9 
 
 1. It is prox^erly called mercenary, when we expect it 
 as wages for work done ; and so we may not make it our 
 end. Otherwise it is only such a mercenariness as Christ 
 commandetli. For consider what this end is ; it is the 
 fruition of God in Christ ; and if seeking Christ be mer- 
 cenary, I desire to be so mercenary. 
 
 2. It is not a note of a legalist neither. It hath been 
 the ground of a multitude of late mistakes in divinity to 
 think that " Do this and live," is only the language of 
 the covenant of Avorks. It is true, in some sense it is ; 
 but in other, not. The law of works only saith. Do this 
 (that is, perfectly fulfil the whole law) and live ; (that 
 is, for so doing.) But the law of grace saith, " Do this 
 and live," too : that is, believe in Christ, seek him, obey 
 him sincerely, as thy Lord and King : forsake all, suffer 
 all things, and overcome, and by so doing, or in so doing, 
 you shall live. If you set uj) the abrogated duties of the 
 law again, you are a legalist ; if you set up the duties of 
 the Gospel in Christ's stead, in whole or in part, you err 
 still. Christ hath his place and work ; duty hath its place 
 and work too ; set it but in its own place, and expect from 
 it but its own part, and you go right : yea more, (how un- 
 savoury soever the phrase may seem,) you may, so far as 
 this comes to, trust to your duty and works, that is, for 
 their own part ; and many miscarry in expecting nothing 
 from them, (as to pray, and to expect nothing the more,) 
 that is, from Christ in a Avay of duty. For if duty have 
 no share, why may we not trust Christ as well in a way 
 of disobedience as duty ? In a word, you must both use 
 and trust duty in subordination to Christ, but neither use 
 them nor trust them in co-ordination with him. So that 
 this derogates nothing from Christ ; for he hath done, 
 and will do, a.ll his work perfectly, and enableth his peo- 
 ple to do theirs ; yet he is not properly said to do it him- 
 self ; he believes not, repents not, but worketh these in 
 them ; that is, enableth and exciteth them to it. No man 
 must look for more from duty than God hath laid upon 
 it ; and so much we may and must. 
 
 3. If I should quote all the scriptures that plainly prove 
 this, I should transcribe a great part of the Bible : I will 
 therefore only desire you to study what tolerable inter- 
 pretation can be given of the following places, which will 
 
 1* 
 
10 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 not prove that life and salvation may be, yea, must be, 
 tthe end of duty. John v, 40, " Ye will not come to me, 
 that ye might have life." Matt, xii, 12, " The kingdom 
 of heaven sufTereth violence, and the violent take it by 
 force." Matt, vii, 13 ; Luke xiii, 24, " Strive to enter in 
 at the strait gate." Phil, ii, 12, " Work out your own 
 salvation with fear and trembling." Romans ii, 7, 10, 
 " To them who by patient continuance in well doing, 
 seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eternal life. 
 Glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh 
 good." 1 Cor. ix, 24, " So run that ye may obtain." 2 
 Tim. ii, 12, " If we suffer with him, we shall reign with 
 him." 1 Tim. vi, 12, " Fight the good fight of faith, lay 
 hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. vi, 18, 19, " That they do 
 good works, laying up a good foundation against the 
 time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 
 Revelation xxii, 14, " Blessed are they that do his com- 
 mandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, 
 and enter in by the gates into the city." Matt, xxv, 
 34-36, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit," &c. 
 " For I was a hungered, and ye," <fec. Luke xi, 28, 
 " Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep 
 it." Yea, the escaping of hell is a right end of duty to 
 a believer : Heb. iv, 1, " Let us fear, lest a promise being 
 left us of entering into his rest, any of you should come 
 short of it." Luke xii, 5, " Fear him that is able to de- 
 stroy both soul and body in hell ; yea," (whatsoever 
 others say,) " I say unto you, fear him." 1 Cor. ix, 27, 
 "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection ; 
 lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should be 
 a castaway." Multitudes of scriptures and scripture 
 arguments might be brought, but these may suffice to 
 any that believe Scripture. 
 
 4. For those that think this rest may be our end, but 
 not our ultimate end, that must be God's glory only ; I 
 will not gainsay them. Only let them consider, " What 
 God hath joined, man must not separate." The glorify- 
 ing himself, and the saving of his people, (as I judge,) 
 are not two ends with God, but one ; to glorify his 
 mercy in their salvation ; so I think they should be with 
 us together intended ; we should aim at the glory of God 
 not alone considered without our salvation, but in our 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 11 
 
 salvation. Therefore I know no warrant for putting 
 such a question to ourselves, as some do, Whether we 
 could be content to be damned, so God were glorified ? 
 Christ hath put no such questions to us, nor bid us put 
 such to ourselves. Christ had rather that men would 
 inquire after their true willingness to be saved, than their 
 willingness to be damned. Sure I am, Christ himself is 
 offered to faith, in terms for the most part respecting the 
 welfare of the sinner, more than his own abstracted 
 glory. He would be received as a Saviour, mediator, 
 redeemer, reconciler, and intercessor. And all the pre- 
 cepts of Scripture being backed with so many promises 
 and threatenings, every one intended of God as a motive 
 to us, imply as much. 
 
 5. I call a Christian's happiness the end of his course, 
 thereby meaning, as Paul, 2 Tim. iv, 7, the whole scope 
 of his life. For salvation may and must be our end ; and 
 not only the end of our faith, (though that principally,) 
 but of all our actions : for as whatsoever we do must be 
 done to the glory of God, so must they all be done to 
 our salvation. 
 
 6. Lastly. I make happiness to consist in this end 
 obtained ; for it is not the mere promise of it that imme- 
 diately makes perfectly happy, nor Christ's mere pur- 
 chase, nor our mere seeking, but the apprehending and 
 obtaining, which sets the crown on the saint's head. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH. 
 
 For the clearer understanding the nature of this rest, 
 you must know, 
 
 I. There are some things presupposed to it. 
 
 II. Some things contained in it. 
 
 I. All these things are presupposed to this rest. 
 
 1. A person in motion, seeking rest. This is man here 
 in the way : angels have it already ; and the devils are 
 past hope. 
 
 2. An end toward which he moveth for rest. This 
 can be only God. He that taketh any thing else for 
 
13 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 happiness, is out of the way the first step. The princi- 
 pal damning sin is, to make any thing besides God our 
 end or rest. And the first true saving act is, to choose 
 God only for our end and happiness, 
 
 3. A distance is presupposed from this end, else there 
 can be no motion toward it. This sad distance is the 
 case of all mankind since the fall : it was our God that 
 we principally lost, and were shut out of his gracious pre- 
 sence, and since are said to be without him in the world : 
 nay, in all men at age here, is supposed not only a dis- 
 tance, but also a contrary motion. When Christ comes 
 with regenerating, saving grace, he finds no, man sitting 
 still, but all posting to eternal ruin ; till by conviction, 
 he first brings them to a stand, and by conversion, turns 
 first their hearts, and then their lives to himself. 
 
 4. Here is presupposed the knowledge of the true 
 ultimate end and its excellency ; and a serious intending 
 it. For so the motion of the rational creature proceed- 
 eth. An unknown end is no end ; it is a contradiction. 
 We cannot make that our end which we know not ; nor 
 that our chief end which we know not, or judge not, to 
 be the chief good. Therefore, where this is not known 
 that God is this end, there is no obtaining rest in any 
 ordinary way, whatsoever may be in ways that by God 
 are kept secret. 
 
 5. Here is presupposed, not only a distance from this 
 rest, but also the true knowledge of this distance. If a 
 man have lost his way, and know it not, he seeks not to 
 return : therefore they that never knew they were with- 
 out God, never yet enjoyed him : and they that never 
 knew they were actually in the way to hell, did never 
 yet know the way to heaven. Nay, there will not only 
 be a knowledge of this distance and lost estate, but affec- 
 tions answerable. Can a man find himself on the brink 
 of hell, and not tremble ? Or find he hath lost his God 
 and his soul, and not cry out, / am undone ? 
 
 6. Here is also presupposed a superior moving cause, 
 else should we all stand still, and not move a step for- 
 ward toward our rest, no more than the inferior wheels 
 in the watch would stir if you take away the spring, or 
 the first mover. This is God. If God move us not, we 
 cannot move. Therefore it is a most necessary part of 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 13 
 
 our Christian wisdom to keep our subordination to God, 
 and dependence on him ; to be still in the path where 
 he walks, and in that way where his Spirit doth most 
 usually move. 
 
 7. Here is presupposed an internal principle of life in 
 the person. God moves not man like a stone, but by 
 enduing him first with life, not to enable him to move 
 Avithout God, but thereby to qualify him to move him- 
 self, in subordination to God, the first mover. 
 
 8. Here is presupposed also suieh a motion as is 
 rightly ordered and directed tow^ard the end. Not all 
 motion or labour brings to rest. Every way leads not 
 to this end ; but he whose goodness hath appointed the 
 end, hath in his wisdom, and by his sovereign authority, 
 appointed the way : Christ is the door, the only way to 
 this rest. Some will allow nothing else to be called 
 the way, lest it derogate from Christ. The truth is, 
 Christ is the only way to the Father ; yet faith is the 
 way to Christ ; and Gospel obedience, or faith and v/orks, 
 the way for those to walk in that are in Christ. 
 
 9. There is supposed also a strong and constant 
 motion, which may reach the end. The lazy world, that 
 think all too much, will find this to their cost one day. 
 They that think less ado might have served, do but re- 
 proach Christ for making us so much to do. They that 
 have been most holy, watchful, painful to get to heaven, 
 find, when they come to die, all too little. We see daily 
 the best Christians, when dying, repent their negligence : 
 I never knew any then repent his holiness and diligence. 
 It would grieve a man's soul to see a multitude of mis- 
 taken sinners lay out their care and pains for a thing of 
 naught, and think to have eternal salvation with a wish. 
 If the way to heaven be not far harder than the world 
 imagines, Christ and his apostles knew not the way ; 
 for they have told us, that " the kingdom of heaven 
 suffcreth violence ; that the gate is strait and the way 
 narrow, and we must strive, if we v/ill enter ; for many 
 shall seek to enter, and not be able ;" (which implies the 
 faintness of their seeking, and that they put not strength 
 to the work,) and that " the righteous themselves are 
 scarcely saved." 
 
14 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 I have seen this doctrine also thrown by with con- 
 tempt by others, who say, What ! d-o ye set us a work- 
 ing for heaven ! Doth our duty do any thing ? Hath 
 not Christ done all ? Is not this to make him a half 
 Saviour, and to preach the law ? 
 
 Answer. It is to preach the law of Christ ; his sub- 
 jects are not lawless : it is to preach duty to Christ. 
 None a more exact requirer of duty, or hater of sin, than 
 Christ. Christ hath done, and will dg, all his work ; 
 and therefore is a perfect Saviour : but yet leaves us a 
 work to do. He hath paid all the price, and left us none 
 to pay ; yet he never intended his purchase should put 
 us into absolute title to glory in point of law, much less 
 into immediate possession. He hath purchased the 
 crown to bestow only on condition of believing, denying 
 all for him, suffering with him, persevering and over- 
 coming. He hath purchased justification to bestow 
 only on condition of believing, yea, repenting and be- 
 lieving ; though it is Christ that enableth also to per- 
 form the condition. It is not a Saviour offered, but 
 received also, that must save. It is not the blood of 
 Christ shed only, but applied also, that must fully 
 deliver ; nor is it applied to the justification or salvation 
 of a sleepy soul. Nor doth Christ carry us to heaven 
 in a chair of security. Our righteousness, which the 
 law of works requireth, and by which it is satisfied, is 
 v/holly in.j^hrist, and not one grain in ourselves : nor 
 must we dare to think of patching up a legal righteous- 
 ness of Christ's and our own together ; that is, that our 
 doings can be the least part of satisfaction for our sins. 
 But yet ourselves must personally fulfil the conditions 
 of the new covenant, and so have the perfect evangelical 
 righteousness, or never be saved by Christ's righteous- 
 ness. Therefore say not it is not duty, but Christ ; for 
 it is Christ in a way of duty. As duty cannot do it 
 v/ithout Christ, so Christ will not do it without duty. 
 
 And as this motion must be strong, so must it be con- 
 stant, or it will fall short of rest. To begin in the spirit, 
 and end in the flesh, will not bring to the end of the 
 saints. Men as holy as the best of us, have fallen off. 
 Read but the promises, Revelation ii, and iii, " to him 
 
THE SAINTS* EVERLASTING REST. 15 
 
 that overcometh." Christ's own disciples must be com- 
 manded to continue in his love, and that by keeping his 
 commandments ; and to abide in him, and his word in 
 them : see John xv, 4-7, 9, 10. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH. 
 
 There is contained in this rest, 
 
 1. A cessation from motion or action. Not from all 
 action, but of that which implies the absence of the end. 
 "When v/e have obtained the haven, we have done sailing : 
 when we are at our journey's end, we have done with 
 the way. Therefore prophesying ceaseth, tongues fail, 
 and knowledge shall be done away ; that is, so far as it 
 was imperfect. There shall be no more prayer, because 
 no more necessity, but the full 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. Nor will there be use for instructions and 
 exhortations. Preaching is done ; the ministry of man 
 ceaseth ; sacraments useless ; the labourers called in, 
 because the harvest is gathered ; the unregenerate past 
 hope, the saints past fear, for ever. Much less shall 
 there be any need of labouring for inferior ends, as here 
 we do, seeing they shall all devolve themselves into the 
 ocean of the ultimate end, and the lesser good be swal- 
 lowed up in the greatest. 
 
 2. This rest containeth a perfect freedom from all the 
 evils that accompany us through our course, and which 
 necessarily follow our absence from the chief good ; 
 beside our freedom from those eternal flames which 
 the neglecters of Christ must endure. There is no such 
 a thing as grief and sorrow known there ; nor is there 
 such a thing as a pale face, a languid body, feeble joints, 
 unable infancy, decrepit age, peccant humours, painful 
 sickness, griping fears, consuming cares, nor whatsoever 
 deserves the name of evil. Indeed a gale of groans and 
 sighs, a stream of tears, accompanied us to the very 
 gates, and there bid us farewell for ever. " We did 
 
16 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 weep and lament, when the world did rejoice ; but ou - 
 sorrow is turned into joy, and our joy shall no man take 
 from us." 
 
 3. This rest containeth the highest degree of perfec- 
 tion, both of soul and body. This qualifies them to 
 enjoy the glory, and thoroughly to partake the sweet- 
 ness of it. Were the glory never so great, and them- 
 selves not made capable of it, it would be little to them. 
 But the more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. 
 The more musical the ear, the more pleasant the melody. 
 The more perfect the soul, the more joyous those joys, 
 and the more glorious is that glory. Nor is it only 
 sinful imperfection that is removed, nor only that which 
 is the fruit of sin, but that which adhered to us in our 
 pure nature. There is far more procured by Christ, 
 than was lost by Adam. It is the misery of wicked 
 men here, that all without them is mercy, but within 
 them a heart full of sin shuts the door against all, and 
 makes them but the more miserable. When all is well 
 within, then all is well indeed. Therefore will God, as 
 a special part of his saints' happiness, perfect them- 
 selves as well as their condition. 
 
 4. This rest containeth, as the principal part, our 
 nearest fruition of God. As all good whatsoever is 
 ijomprised in God, and all in the creature are but drops 
 of this ocean, so all the glory of the blessed is comprised 
 in their enjoyment of God ; and if there be any mediate 
 joys there, they are but drops from this. If men and 
 angels should study to speak the blessedness of that 
 estate, in one word, what can they say beyond this, 
 That it is the nearest enjoyment of God ? Say they 
 have God, and you say they have all that is worth the 
 having. O the full joys offered to a believer in that one 
 sentence of Christ's ! I would not for all the world that 
 verse had been left out of the Bible : " 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," .John xvii, 24. Every word is full of life 
 and joy. If the queen of Slieba had cause to say of 
 Solomon's glory, " Happy are thy men, happy are these 
 thy servants that stand continually before thee, and that 
 hear thy wisdom ;" then sure they that stand continually 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 17 
 
 before God, and see his glory, and the glory of the 
 Lamb, are somewhat more than happy. To them will 
 Christ " give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the 
 midst of the paradise of God," Rev. ii, 7. 
 
 5. This rest cpntaineth a sweet and constant action 
 of all the powers of the soul and body in this fruition 
 of God. But great will the change of our bodies and 
 senses be ; even so great as now we cannot conceive. 
 If grace makes a Christian differ so much from what he 
 was, that the Christian could say to his companion. Ego 
 non sum ego, " I am not the man I was," how much 
 more will glory make us differ? We may then say 
 much more, This is not the body I had, and these are 
 not the senses I had. Yet because we have no other 
 name for them, let us call them senses ; call them eyes 
 and ears, seeing and hearing ; but conceive that as much 
 as a body spiritual, above the sun in glory, exceedeth 
 these frail, noisome, diseased lumps of flesh that we nov,- 
 carry about us ; so far shall our senses of seeing and 
 hearing exceed these we now possess : for the change 
 of the senses must be conceived proportionable to the 
 change of the body. And doubtless as God advancetli 
 our sense, and enlargeth our capacity, so will he advance 
 the happiness of those senses, and fill up with himself 
 all that capacity. And certainly the body should not 
 be raised up, if it should not share in the glory ; for as 
 it hath shared in the obedience and sufferings, so shall 
 it also do in the blessedness ; and as Christ bought the 
 whole man, so shall the whole partake of the everlasting 
 benefits of the purchase. 
 
 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 apti- 
 tude and action, whereby they receive and enjoy their 
 object ; so doth the soul in its own action enjoy its ov^-n 
 object, by knowing, by thinking, and remembering, by 
 loving, and by delightful joying ; by these eyes it sees, 
 and by these arms it embraceth. If it might be said of 
 the disciples with Christ on earth, much more that 
 behold him in his glory, " Blessed are the eyes that see 
 the things that you see, and the ears that hear the things 
 
18 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 that you hear : for many princes and great ones have 
 desired (and hoped) to see the things that you see, and 
 have not seen them," &c., Matt, xiii, 16, 17. 
 
 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 secrets of nature, and 
 knowing the mystery of sciences, exceeds the delights 
 of the glutton, the drunkard, and of all voluptuous sen- 
 sualists whatsoever ; so excellent is all truth. What 
 then is their delight who know the God of truth? 
 What would I not give, so that all the uncertain princi- 
 ples in logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, and 
 medicine, were but certain ? And that my dull, obscure 
 notions of them were but quick and clear ? O what then 
 would I not perform or part with, to enjoy a clear and 
 true apprehension of the most true God ! How noble 
 a faculty of the soul is the understanding ! It can com- 
 pass the earth ; it can measure the sun, moon, stars, and 
 heaven ; it can foreknow each eclipse to a minute, many 
 years before : yea, but this is the top of all its excellence, 
 it can know God, who is infinite, who made all these ; 
 a little here, and much more hereafter. O the wisdom 
 and goodness of our blessed Lord ! He hath created 
 the understanding with a natural bias to truth and its 
 object ; and to the prime truth as its prime object : and, 
 lest we should turn aside to any creature, he hath kept 
 this as his own divine prerogative, not communicable to 
 any creature, viz., to be the prime truth. 
 
 Didst thou never look so long upon the Son of God, 
 till thine eyes were dazzled with his astonishing glory ? 
 and did not the splendour of it make all things below 
 seem black and dark to thee ; when thou lookedst down 
 again, especially in the days 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?" If thou 
 know him, value him as thy life, and follow on to know 
 him ; and thou shalt know incomparably more than this. 
 Or if I do but renew thy grief, to tell thee what thou 
 once didst feel, but now hast lost, I counsel thee to 
 *' remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do 
 the first works, and be watchful, and strengthen the 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 19 
 
 things which remain ;" and I dare promise thee (because 
 God hath promised) thou shalt see and know that which 
 here thine eye could not see, nor thy understanding 
 conceive. Believe me, Christians, yea, believe God, 
 you that have known most of God in Christ here, it is 
 nothing to that you shall know : it scarce, in comparison 
 of that, deserves to be called knowledge. The differ- 
 ence betwixt our knowledge now, and our knowledge 
 then, will be as great as that between our fleshly bodies 
 now, and our spiritual bodies then. For as these bodies, 
 so that knowledge must cease, that a more perfect may 
 succeed. Our silly childish thoughts of God, which 
 now is the highest we can reach to, must give place to 
 a more manly knowledge. 
 
 Marvel not, therefore, how it can be "life eternal to 
 know God and his Son Jesus Christ :" to enjoy God 
 and his Christ is eternal life, and the soul's enjoying is 
 in knowing. They that savour only of earth, and have 
 no way to judge but by sense, and never were acquainted 
 with this knowledge of God, think it a poor happiness 
 to know God. Let them have health, and wealth, and 
 worldly delights, and take you the other. Alas, poor 
 men ! they that have made trial of both, do not envy 
 your happiness. O that you would come near, and 
 taste and try as they have done, and then judge ; then 
 continue in your former mind, if you can. For our 
 parts we say with that knowing apostle, (though the 
 speech may seem presumptuous,) 1 John v, 19, 20, 
 ** 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, in his Son Jesus Christ : this is the true God and 
 eternal life." The Son of God is come to be our head 
 and fountain of life, and hath given us an understandings 
 that the soul may be made capable to know him (God) 
 that is true, the prime truth ; and we are brought so 
 near to this enjoyment, that we are in him that is true ; 
 we are in him, by being in his Son Jesus Christ : this 
 is the true God, and so the fittest object for our under- 
 standing ; and this knowing of him, and being in him, 
 in Christ, is eternal life. 
 
30 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 Arid doubtless the memory will not be idle in this 
 blessed work ; if it be but by looking back, to help the 
 soul to value its enjoyment. Our knowledge will be 
 enlarged, not diminished ; therefore the knowledge of 
 things past shall not be taken away. 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 sense of its condition. 
 To stand on that mount, whence we can see the wilder- 
 ness and Canaan both at once ; to stand in heaven and 
 look back on earth, and weigh them together in the 
 balance, how must it transport the soul, and make it 
 cry out. Is this the purchase that cost so dear as the 
 blood of God ? O blessed price, and thrice blessed 
 love ! Is this the end of believing ? Is this the end of 
 the Spirit's workings ? Have the gales of grace blown 
 me into such a harbour ? Is it hither that Christ hath 
 enticed my soul ? O blessed way, and thrice blessed 
 end ! Is this the glory which the Scriptures spoke of, 
 and ministers preached of so much ? Now I see the 
 Gospel indeed is good tidings, even " tidings of great 
 joy to all nations !" Are my mourning, my fasting, my 
 heavy walking, groanings, and complainings, come to 
 this ? Are all my afflictions and fears, all Satan's temp- 
 tations, and the world's scorns, come to this ? O vile 
 nature, that resisted such a blessing ! Unworthy soul ! 
 is this the place thou camest so unwilling to ? Was the 
 world too good to lose ? Didst thou stick at leaving 
 all, denying all, and suffering any thing, for this ? O 
 false heart ! that had almost betrayed me to eternal 
 flames, and lost me this glory! O base flesh! that 
 would needs have been pleased, though to the loss of 
 this felicity ! Didst thou make me to question the truth 
 'of this glory ? Didst thou draw me to distrust the Lord ? 
 My soul, art thou not ashamed that ever thou didst ques 
 tion that love that hath brought thee hither ? That thou 
 wast jealous of the faithfulness of thy Lord ? That thou 
 suspectedst his love, when thou shouldst have only sus- 
 pected thyself? That thou didst not live continually 
 transported with thy Saviour's love ? and that ever thou 
 quenchedst a motion of his Spirit? Art thou not 
 ashamed of all thy hard thoughts of such a God ? Of 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 21 
 
 all thy misinterpreting those providences, and repining 
 at those ways that have such an end ? Now thou art 
 convinced that the ways thou calledst hard, and the cup 
 thou calledst bitter, were necessary: that thy Lord 
 meant thee better than thou wouldst believe : and that 
 thy Redeemer was saving thee, as well when he crossed 
 thy desires as when he granted them ; as well when he 
 broke thy heart, as when he bound it up. No thanks 
 to thee for this crown ; but to Jehovah and the Lamb 
 for ever. 
 
 Thus as the memory of the wicked will eternally 
 promote their torment to look back on the sin committed, 
 the grace refused, Christ neglected, and time lost ; so 
 will the memory of the saints for ever promote their joys. 
 
 But O the full, the near, the sweet enjoyment, is that 
 of the affections, love and joy ; it is near, for love is the 
 essence of the soul, and love is the essence of God. 
 *' God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in 
 God, and God in him." The acting of this affection 
 wheresoever, carrieth much delight Avith it, especially 
 when the object appears deserving, and the affection is 
 strong. But what will it be when perfect affections 
 shall have the strongest perfect acting upon the most 
 perfect object ? Now the poor soul complains, O that 
 I could love Christ more ! But I cannot, alas, I cannot: 
 yea, but then thou canst not choose but love him ; I had 
 almost said, forbear if thou canst. Now thou knowest 
 little of his amiableness, and therefore lovest little : 
 then thine eye will affect thy heart, and the continual 
 viewing of that perfect beauty will keep thee in con- 
 tinual ravishments of love. Now thy salvation is not 
 perfected, nor all the mercies purchased, yet given in ; 
 but when " the topstone is set on, thou shalt with shout- 
 ings cry, Grace, grace." Christians, doth it now stir up 
 your love, to remember all the experiences of his love ; 
 to look back upon a life of mercies ? Doth not kindness 
 melt you ? and the sunshine of Divine goodness warm 
 your frozen hearts ? What will it do then when you 
 shall live in love, and have all in Him who is all ? O the 
 high delights of love ! of this love ! the content that 
 the heart findeth in it ! the satisfaction it brings along 
 with it ! Surely love is both work and wages. 
 
22 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 And if this were all, what a high favour, that God will 
 give us leave to love him ! That he will vouchsafe to 
 be embraced by such arms that have embraced sin before 
 him. But this is not all, he returneth love for love : 
 nay, a thousand times more ; as perfect as we shall be, 
 we cannot reach his measure of love. Christian, thou 
 wilt then be brimful of love ; yet, love as much as thou 
 canst, thou shalt be ten thousand times more beloved. 
 Dost thou think thou canst overlove him ? What, love 
 more than love itself ! Were the arms of the Son of 
 God open upon the cross, and an open passage made to 
 his heart by the spear ? and will not arms and heart be 
 open to thee in glory? Did he begin to love before 
 thou lovedst, and will he not continue now ? Did he 
 love thee, an enemy ? thee, a sinner ? thee, who even 
 loathedst thyself ! and own thee, when thou didst dis- 
 claim thyself? and Avill he not now unmeasurably love 
 thee, a son ? thee, a perfect saint ? thee, who returnest 
 love for love ? Thou wast wont injuriously to question 
 his love : doubt of it now if thou canst. As the pains 
 of hell will convince the rebellious sinner of God's 
 wrath, who would never before believe it : so the joys 
 o"*- heaven will convince thee thoroughly of that love 
 wnich thou wouldst so hardly be persuaded of. He 
 that in love wept over the old Jerusalem near her ruin, 
 with what love will he rejoice over the new Jerusalem 
 in her glory ? Methinks I see him groaning and weep- 
 ing over dead Lazarus, till he forced the Jews that stood 
 by to say, " Behold, how he loved him !" Will he not 
 then much more, by rejoicing over us, make all (even 
 the damned, if they see it) say, " Behold, how he loveth 
 them !" 
 
 Here is the heaven of heaven ! the fruition of God : 
 in these mutual embracements of love doth it consist. 
 To love and be beloved : " These are the everlasting 
 arms that are underneath : his left hand is under their 
 heads, and with his right hand doth he embrace them." 
 
 Stop here, and think awhile what a state this is. Is 
 it a small thing to be beloved of God ? To be the son, 
 the spouse, the love, the delight, of the King of glory ? 
 Believe this, and think on it : thou shalt be eternally 
 embraced in the arms of that love which was from ever- 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 23 
 
 lasting, and will extend to everlasting ; of that love, 
 which brought 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 them. When perfect created love, and most 
 perfect uncreated love meet together, O the blessed 
 meeting ! It will not be like Joseph and his brethren, 
 who lay upon one another's necks weeping ; it will 
 break forth into pure joy, not a mixture of joy and 
 sorrow : it will be loving and rejoicing, not loving and 
 sorrowing : yet will it make Pharaoh's (Satan's) court 
 to 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. 
 
 And now are wc 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 won- 
 der if angels desire to pry into the mystery ; and if it 
 be the study of the saints here, " to know the height, 
 and breadth, and length, and depth, of this love, thou^cli 
 it passeth knowledge ;" this is the saints' rest in tue 
 fruition of God by love. 
 
 Lastly. The affection of joy hath not the least share 
 in this fruition — the inconceivable complacency which 
 the blessed feel in their seeing, knowing, loving, and 
 being beloved of God. The delight of the senses here 
 cannot be known by expressions as they are felt ; how 
 much less this joy 1 This is " the white stone, which 
 none knoweth but he that receiveth :" and if there be 
 any joy which the stranger meddleth not with, then 
 surely this, above all, is it. All Christ's ways of mercy 
 tend to, and end in, the saints' joys. He wept, sor- 
 rowed, suffered, that they might rejoice ; he sendeth 
 the Spirit to be their comforter ; he multiplieth promises, 
 he discovers their future happiness, that their joy might 
 be full ; he aboundeth to them in mercies of all sorts ; 
 "He maketh them lie down in green pastures, and 
 leadeth them by the still waters ;" yea, " openeth to 
 them the fountain of living waters, that their joy may 
 
24 THE. saints' EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 be full, that they may thirst no more, and that it may 
 spring up in them to everlasting life ;" he causeth them 
 to suffer, that he may cause them to rejoice ; and chas- 
 teneth them, that he may give them rest ; and maketh 
 them (as he did himself) " to drink of the brook in the 
 way, that they may lift up the head," Psalm ex, 7. And 
 lest after all this they should neglect their own com- 
 forts, he maketh it their duty, commanding them " to 
 rejoice in him alway." And he never brings them into 
 so low a condition wherein he leaves them not more 
 cause of joy than of sorrow. And hath the Lord such 
 a care for us here, where, the Bridegroom being from 
 us, we must mourn ? O what will that joy be, where, 
 the soul being perfectly prepared for joy, and joy pre- 
 pared by Christ for the soul, it shall be our work, our 
 business, eternally to rejoice 1 
 
 And 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, even our Lord's own 
 joy shall we enter. *' And the same glory which the 
 Father giveth him, doth the Son give them," John xvii, 
 22. " And to sit down with him in his throne, even as 
 he is set down in his Father's throne," Rev. iii, 2L 
 Thou that now spendest thy days in sorrow, who know- 
 est no garments but sackcloth, no food but the bread 
 and water of afflictions, what sayest thou to this great 
 change ? from all sorrow to more than all joy ? Thou 
 poor soul, who prayest for joy, complainest for want of 
 joy, then thou shalt have full joy, as much as thou canst 
 hold, and more than ever thou thoughtest on, or thy 
 heart desired. 
 
 And in the meantime walk carefully, watch con- 
 stantly, and then let God measure out thy times and 
 degrees of joy. It may be he keeps them till thou hast 
 more need ; thou mayest better lose thy comfort than 
 thy safety. As the joy of the hypocrite, so the fears of 
 the upright are but for a moment. "Weeping may 
 endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." 
 O blessed morning ! Poor drooping soul, how would it 
 fill thee with joy now, if a voice from heaven should 
 assure thee of thy part in these joys ! What then will 
 
THE SAlN'i'b' EVERLASTING REST. 35 
 
 thy joy be when thy actual possession shall convince 
 thee of thy title : when the angels shall bring thee to 
 Christ, and when Christ shall (as it were) take thee by 
 the hand, and lead thee into thy purchased possession 1 
 Wilt thou not be almost ready to draw back, and to say, 
 "What I, Lord, I, the unworthy neglecter of thy grace ! 
 I, the unworthy disesteemer of thy blood, and slighter 
 of thy love ! must I have this glory ? " Make me a 
 hired servant, I am no more worthy to be called a son :" 
 but love will have it so ; therefore thou must enter into 
 his joy. 
 
 And it is not thy joy only ; it is a mutual joy, as well 
 as mutual love : is there such joy in heaven at thy con- 
 version, and will there be none at thy glorification? 
 Will not the angels welcome thee thither, and congratu- 
 late thy safe arrival ? Yea, it is the joy of Jesus Christ : 
 for now he hath the end of his labour, suffering, dying, 
 M'hen we have our joys ; " when he is glorified in his 
 saints, and admired in all them that believe. We are 
 his seed, and the fruit of his soul's travail, which when 
 he seeth, he will be satisfied :" he will rejoice over hi? 
 purchased inheritance, and his people shall 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 
 here doth he spy a returning prodigal, even afar off! 
 How doth he run and meet him, fall on his neck, and 
 kiss him ! This is indeed a happy meeting : but nothing 
 to the joy of that last and great meeting. 
 
 And now look back upon all this ; I say to thee as 
 the angel to John, " What hast thou seen?" Or if yet 
 thou perceive not, draw nearer, come up higher. Come 
 and see : dost thou fear thou hast been all this while in 
 a dream ? Why, These are the trite sayings of God. 
 Dost thou fear (as the disciples) that thou hast seen but 
 a ghost instead of Christ? a shadow instead of the rest? 
 Come near and feel : a shadow contains not those sub- 
 stantial blessings, nor rests upon such a sure word of 
 promise, as you have seen these do. Go thy way now, 
 and tell the disciples, and tell the drooping souls thou 
 meetest with, that thou hast, in this glass, seen heaven : 
 2 
 
26 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 that " the Lord indeed is risen, and hath here appeared 
 to thee ; and behold he is gone before us into rest ; and 
 that he is now preparing a place for them, and will come 
 again, and take them to himself, that " where he is, 
 there they may be also." 
 
 But alas 1 my fearful heart dare scarce proceed. Me- 
 thinks I hear the Almighty's voice saying to me, as to 
 Elihu, Job xxxviii, 2, " Who is this that darkeneth 
 counsel by words without knowledge ?" 
 
 But pardon, O Lord, thy servant's sin : I have not 
 pried into unrevealed things, nor curiously searched into 
 thy counsels ; but indeed I have dishonoured thy holiness, 
 wronged thine excellence, disgraced thy saints' glory, 
 by my disproportionable portraying : I will bewail from 
 my heart that my apprehensions are so dull, my thoughts 
 so mean, my affections so stupid, and my expressions 
 so low. But I have only heard by the hearing of the 
 ear; O let thy servant see thee, and possess these joys, 
 and then I shall have more suitable conceivings, and 
 shall give thee fuller glory. " I have now uttered that 
 I understood not ; things too wonderful for me which I 
 knew not. Yet I believed, and therefore spake. Re- 
 member with whom thou hast to do : what canst thou 
 expect from dust, from corruption, but defilement? Our 
 foul hands will leave, where they touch, the marks of 
 their urcleanness ; and most on those things that are 
 most pure. " I know thou wilt be sanctified in them 
 that come nigh thee, and before all the people thou wilt 
 be glorified : and if thy jealousy excluded from that land 
 of rest thy servants Moses and Aaron, because they 
 sanctified thee not in the midst of Israel, what then may 
 I expect ? But though the weakness be the fruit of my 
 own corruption, yet the fire is from thine altar, and the 
 work of thy commanding. I looked not into thine ark, 
 nor put forth my hand unto it without thee. O there- 
 fore wpsh away these stains also in the blood of the 
 Lamb. 
 
27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FOUR GREAT PREPARATIONS TO OUR REST. 
 
 Having thus showed you a small glimpse of that re- 
 semblance of the saint's rest which I had seen in the 
 Gospel glass ; it follows, that we proceed to view a little 
 the blessed properties of this rest. And why doth my 
 trembling heart draw back ? Surely the Lord is not 
 now so inaccessible, nor the ways so blocked up, as 
 when the law and curse reigned. Wherefore, finding 
 the flaming sword removed, I shall look again into the 
 paradise of our God. 
 
 And first, let us consider the great preparations ; for 
 the porch of this temple is exceeding glorious. Let us 
 observe, 
 
 1. The most glorious coming of the Son of God. 
 
 2. His raising our bodies, and uniting them again 
 with the soul. 
 
 3. His solemn proceedings in their judgment, where 
 they shall be justified before all the world. 
 
 4. His enthroning them in glory. 
 
 1. And well may the coming of Christ be reckoned 
 with those ingredients that compound this precious rest; 
 for to this end it is intended, and to this end it is of ap- 
 parent necessity. F\)r his people's sake he sanctified 
 himself to his office : for their sake he came into the 
 world, sufiered, died, rose, ascended ; and for their sake 
 it is that he will return. To this end will Christ come 
 acrain to receive his people to himself, " that where he 
 is, they may be also," John xiv, 3. He that would 
 come to suffer, will surely come to triumph ; and he that 
 would come to purchase, will surely come to possess. 
 
 But why stayed he not with his people while he was 
 here ? Why ; must not the Comforter be sent ? Was 
 not the work on earth done ? Must he not receive the 
 recompense of reward, and enter into his glory? Must 
 he not take possession in our behalf? Must he not go 
 to prepare a place for us? Must he not intercede with 
 tlic Father, and plead his suflTerings, and be filled with 
 the Spirit to send it forth, and receive authority to sub- 
 
28 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 due his enemies ? Our abode here is short : if he had 
 stayed on earth, what would it have been to enjoy him 
 for a few days, and then die ? But he hath more in 
 heaven to dwell among : even the spirits of the just of 
 many generations, there made perfect. O what a day 
 will that be ! when we, who have been kept prisoners 
 by the grave, shall be fetched out by the Lord himself; 
 when Christ shall come from heaven to plead with his 
 enemies, and set his captives free ? It will not be such 
 a coming as his first was, in meanness, and poverty, and 
 contempt. He will not come to be spit upon, and buf- 
 feted, and scorned, and crucified again. He will not 
 come, O careless world, to be slighted by you any more. 
 And yet that coming, which was in infirmity and re- 
 proach for our sakes, wanted not its glory. If the 
 angels of heaven must be the messengers of that coming, 
 as being tidings of joy to all people; and the heavenly 
 host must accompany his nativity, and must praise God 
 with that solemnity ; O with what shoutings will angels 
 and saints at that day proclaim, " Glory to God, and 
 peace and good will toward men !" If the stars of hea- 
 ven must lead men to come to worship a child in a man- 
 ger, how will the glory of his next appearing constrain 
 all the world to acknowledge his sovereignty ! If, when 
 he was in the form of a servant, they cry out, " What 
 manner of man is this, that both wind and sea obey 
 him !" what shall they say when they shall see him 
 coming in his glory, and the heavens and earth obey 
 him ? " Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man 
 in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth 
 mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 
 
 This coming of Christ is frequently mentioned in the 
 prophets, as the great support of his people's spirits till 
 then. And whenever the apostles Avould quicken to 
 duty, or encourage to patient waiting, they usually do it 
 by mentioning Christ's coming. Why then do we not 
 use more this cordial consideration whenever we want 
 support and comfort ? Shall the wicked with inconceiv- 
 able horror behold him, and cry out, " Yonder is he 
 whose blood we neglected, whose grace we resisted, 
 whose counsels we refused, whose government we cast 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 29 
 
 off?" And shall not the saints, with inconceivable 
 gladness, cry out, " Yonder is he whose blood redeemed 
 us, whose Spirit cleansed us ! Yonder comes he in whom 
 we trusted, and now ye see he hath not deceived our 
 trust : he for whom we long waited, and now we see we 
 have not waited in vain! O how should it then be the 
 character of a Christian " to wait for the Son of God 
 from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, 
 which delivered us from the wrath to come," 1 Thess. 
 i, 10 ; and with all faithful diligence to prepare to meet 
 our Lord with joy. And seeing his coming is of pur- 
 pose " to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all 
 them that believe," what thought should glad our 
 hearts more than the thought of that day ? A little 
 while indeed we have not " seen him, but yet a little 
 while and we shall see him," for he hath said, " I will 
 not leave you comfortless, but will come unto you." 
 We were comfortless should he not come. And while 
 we daily gaze and look up to heaven after him, let us 
 remember what the angel said, " This same Jesus which 
 is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
 manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Let 
 every Christian that heareth and readeth say, Come ; 
 and our Lord himself saith, " Surely I come quickly ; 
 amen : even so, come. Lord Jesus." 
 
 The second stream that leadeth to paradise is that 
 great work of Jesus Christ, in raising our bodies from 
 the dust, uniting them again unto the soul. What, saith 
 the atheist, shall all these scattered bones and dust be- 
 come a man ? Thou fool, dost thou dispute against the 
 power of the Almighty ! Dost thou object difliculties ta 
 infinite strength ? thou blind mole ! thou little piece 
 of creeping, breathing, clay ? But come thy way, let me 
 take thee by the hand, and with reverence (as Elihu) 
 plead for God ; and for that power whereby I hope to 
 arise. Seest thou this great massy body of the earth ? 
 Upon what foundation doth it stand ? Seest thou this 
 vast ocean of waters ? What limits them, and why do 
 they not overflow and drown the earth ? Whence is 
 that constant ebbing and flowing of her tides ? Wilt 
 thou say from the moon, or other planets ? and whence 
 have they that influence ? Must thou not come to a 
 
30 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 cause of causes, that can do all things ? And doth not 
 reason require thee to conceive of that cause as a per- 
 fect intelligence, and voluntary agent, and not such a 
 blind worker and empty notion as that nothing is which 
 thou callest nature ? What thinkest thou ? Is not that 
 power able to effect thy resurrection, which doth all 
 this ? Is it not as easy to raise the dead, as to make 
 heaven, and earth, and all, out of nothing ? But if thou 
 be unpersuadable, all I say to thee more is as the pro- 
 phet to the prince of Samaria, 2 Kings vii, 19, " Thou 
 shalt see that day with thine eyes, but little to thy com- 
 fort ; for that which is the day of relief to the saints, 
 shall be a day of revenge on thee." 
 
 Come then, fellow Christians, let us commit these car- 
 casses to the dust : that prison shall not long contain 
 them. Let us lie down in peace, and take our rest : it 
 will not be an everlasting night, or endless sleep. What 
 if we go out of the troubles and stirs of the world, and 
 enter into those chambers of dust, and the doors be shut 
 upon us, and we hide ourselves, as it were, for a little 
 mom.ent "until the indignation be overpast?" Yet,' 
 *' behold the Lord cometh out of his place, to punish the 
 inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity :" and then the 
 earth shall disclose us, and the dust shall hide us no 
 more. As sure as we awake in* the morning, when we 
 have slept out the night, so sure shall we then awake. 
 
 Lay down then cheerfully this lump of corruption : 
 thou shalt undoubtedly 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 : and though thou art separated 
 from it through weakness, it shall be raised again in 
 mighty power. When the trumpet of God shall sound 
 the call, " Come away, rise, ye dead," who shall then 
 stay behind ? Who can resist the powerful command of 
 our Lord ? When he shall call to the earth and sea, 
 " O earth, O sea, give up thy dead," the first that shall 
 be called are the saints that sleep ; and then the saints 
 that are alive shall be changed. For " they which are 
 alive, and remain till the coming of the Lord, shall not 
 prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 31 
 
 shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
 of the archangel, and with the trump of God ; and the 
 dead in Christ shall rise first. Then they which are 
 alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them 
 in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall 
 we ever be with the Lord." Triumph, now, O Christian ! 
 in these promises ; thou shalt shortly triumph in their 
 performance : for this is the day that the Lord will 
 make ; " We shall be glad and rejoice therein." The 
 grave that could not keep our Lord, cannot keep us. 
 He arose for us, and by the same power wall cause us to 
 arise. " For if we believe that Jesus died and rose 
 again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 
 bring with him." Therefore let our hearts be glad, and 
 our glory rejoice, and our flesh also rest in hope ; for 
 he will not leave us in the grave, nor sufl^er us still to 
 see corruption. Yea, " therefore let us be steadfast, un- 
 movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
 forasmuch as we know our labour is not in vain in the 
 Lord." 
 
 The third part of this prologue to the saints' rest, is 
 the solemn process at their judgment, where they shall 
 first themselves be justified ; and then with Christ judge 
 the world. All the world must there appear, young and 
 old, of all estates and nations, that ever were from the 
 creation to that day. The judgment shall be set, and 
 the books opened, and the book of life produced : "and 
 the dead shall be judged out of those things which were 
 written in the books, according to their works ; and 
 whosoever is not found written in the book of life, 
 is cast into the lake of fire." O terrible ! O joy- 
 ful day ! Terrible to those that have not watched, 
 but forgot the coming of their Lord ! joyful to the 
 saints, whose waiting and hope was to ^ee this day ! 
 Then shall the world behold the goodness and severity 
 of the Lord ; on them who perish, severity ; but to his 
 chosen, goodness. When every one must give account 
 of his stewardship : and every talent of time, health, wit, 
 mercies, affliction, means, warnings, must be reckoned 
 for. When the sins of youth, and those which they 
 had forgotten, and their secret sins, shall be laid open 
 before angels and men. When they shall see all their 
 
32 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 friends, wealth, old delights, all their confidence and 
 false hopes, forsake them. When they shall see the 
 Lord Jesus whom they neglected, whose word they dis- 
 obeyed, whose ministers they abused, whose servants 
 they hated, now sitting to judge them. When their own 
 consciences shall cry out against them, and call to their 
 remembrance all their misdoings. Remember, at such 
 a time, such or such a sin ; at such a time, Christ sued 
 hard for thy conversion ; the minister pressed it home 
 to thy heart, thou wast touched to the quick with the 
 word ; thou didst purpose and promise returning, and 
 yet thou didst cast off all. O which way will the 
 wretched sinner look ! O who can conceive the thoughts 
 of his heart ! Now the world cannot help him ; his old 
 companions cannot help him ; the saints neither can nor 
 will ; only the Lord Jesus can : but there is the misery, 
 he will not ; nay, without violating the. truth of his 
 word, he cannot : though otherwise, in regard of his ab- 
 solute power, he might. The time was, sinner, when 
 Christ would, and you would not ; and now, fain would 
 you, and he will not. What then remains but to cry to 
 the mountains, " Fall on us ; and the hills, cover us 
 from the presence of Him that sits upon the throne !'* 
 But all in vain ! for thou hast the Lord of mountains 
 and hills for thine enemy, whose voice they will obey, 
 and not thine. Sinner, make not light of this ; for as 
 thou livest, (except a thorough change prevent it,) thou 
 shalt shortly, to thy inconceivable horror, see that day. 
 Poor careless sinner, I did not think here to have said 
 so much to thee : but if these lines fall into thy hands, 
 " I charge thee, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, 
 and his kingdom," that thou make haste and get alone, 
 and set thyself sadly to ponder these things. Ask thy 
 heart. Is this true, or is it not? Is there such a day, 
 and must I see it? What do I then ! Is it not time, full 
 time, that I had made sure of Christ and comfort long 
 ago? Should I sit still another day, who have lost so 
 many ? Friend, I profess to thee from the word of the 
 Lord, that of all thy sweet sins there will then be no- 
 thing left but the sting in thy conscience, which will 
 be never out through all eternity. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 33- 
 
 But why tremblest thou, O gracious soul ! He that 
 would not overlook one Lot in Sodom ; nay, that could 
 do nothing till he went forth ; will he forget thee at that 
 day? ''Thy Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly 
 out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust to 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." And, " who shall lay any 
 thing to the charge of God's elect!" Shall the law? 
 Why, " whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that 
 are under the law ; but we are not under the law, but 
 under grace ; for the law of the spirit of life, which is 
 in Christ Jesus, hath made us free from the law of sia 
 and death." Or shall conscience ? We were long ago 
 justified by faith, and so have peace with God, and have 
 our hearts sprinkled from an evil co?iscience ; and the 
 Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the- 
 children of God. " It is God that justifieth, who shall 
 condemn ?" If our Judge condemn us not, who shall ? 
 He that said to the adulterous woman, "Hath no man 
 condemned thee ? Neither do I condemn thee ;" he will 
 say to us, (more faithfully than Peter to him,) " Though 
 all men deny thee, or condemn thee, I will not. Thou 
 hast confessed me before men, and I will confess thee 
 before my Father and the angels in heaven." 
 
 What inexpressible joy may this afford a believer ? 
 Our dear Lord shall be our Judge. Will a man fear to 
 be judged by his dearest friend, by a brother, by a fa- 
 ther, or a wife by her own husband ? Did he come 
 down, and suffer, and weep, and bleed, and die for thee ; 
 and will he now condemn thee? Was he judged and 
 condemned, and executed in thy stead, and now will he 
 condemn thee ? Hath it cost him so dear to save thee ! 
 and will he now destroy thee ? Hath he done the most 
 of the work already, in justifying, preserving, and per- 
 fecting thee? and will he now undo all again ? O what 
 an unreasonable sin is unbelief, that will charge our 
 Lord with such absurdities ! Well, then, fellow Chris- 
 tians, let the terror of that day be never so great, our 
 Lord can mean no ill to us in all. Let it make the de- 
 2* 
 
34 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 vils tremble ; and the wicked tremble ; but it shall make 
 us leap for joy. And it must needs affect us deeply 
 with the sense of our mercy and happiness, to behold 
 the contrary condition of others. To see most of the 
 world tremble with terror, while we -triumph with joy : 
 to see them thrust into hell, when we are proclaimed 
 heirs of the kingdom ; to see our neighbours that lived 
 in the same towns, came to the same congregations, 
 dwelt in the same houses, and were esteemed more ho- 
 nourable in the world than ourselves ; now so differenced 
 from us, and by the Searcher of hearts eternally sepa- 
 rated. This, with the great magnificence and dreadful 
 ness of the day, doth the apostle pathetically express, 
 in 2Thess. i, 6-10, " It is a righteous thing with God to 
 recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to 
 you who are troubled, rest with us ; when the Lord 
 Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 
 angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that 
 know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting 
 destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the 
 glory of his power." And now is not here enough to 
 make that day a welcome day, and the thoughts of it 
 delightful to us ? But yet there is 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 commission with him ; and they shall sit 
 and approve his righteous judgment. 
 
 " Do you not know that the saints shall judge the 
 world?" Nay, "Know you not that we shall judge 
 angels ?" Surely, were it not the word of Christ that 
 speaks it, this advancement would seem incredible ; yet 
 even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of this, 
 saying, " Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of 
 his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and convince 
 all that are ungodly among them, of their ungodly 
 deeds, which they have ungodly committed ; and of all 
 their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken 
 against him," Jude 14, &c. Thus shall the saints be 
 honoured, and the " righteous have dominion in the 
 morning." O that the careless world weye " but wise 
 to consider this," and " that they would remember their 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 36 
 
 latter end I" 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 ; the earth also, and the works that 
 are therein be burnt up !" When all shall be on lire 
 about their ears, and all earthly glory consumed. For 
 *' the lieavens and the earth which are now by the same 
 word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the 
 day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. Seeing 
 then all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of 
 persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and 
 godliness ; looking for, and hasting to the coming of the 
 day of God ; wherein the heavens being on fire, shall be 
 dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat." 
 
 The fourth antecedent to the saints' advancement is, 
 their solemn coronation, and receiving into the king- 
 dom. 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," Rev. v. 10 : " The crown of righteousness 
 which was laid up for them, shall by the Lord, the 
 righteous judge, be given them at that day," 2 Tim. iv, 
 8 : " They have been faithful to the death, and therefore 
 shall receive the crown of life :" and according to the 
 improvement of their talents here, so shall their rule and 
 dignity be enlarged. So that they are not dignified with 
 empty titles, but real dominions. For " Christ will 
 take them and set them down with himself, in his own 
 throne ; and will give them power over the nations, 
 even as he received of his Father : and will give them 
 the morning 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." And 
 with this solemn and blessed proclamation shall he en- 
 throne them ; " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
 the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of 
 the world." Every 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 Bethshem- 
 
36 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 ites' judgment : for the enmity is utterly taken away. 
 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 is much more so. [" Ye bless- 
 ed."] Blessed indeed, when that mouth shall so pro- 
 nounce us. For though the world hath accounted us 
 accursed, yet certainly those that he blesseth are blessed : 
 and those whom he curseth only, are cursed : and his 
 blessing shall not be revoked. But he hath blessed us, 
 and we shall be blessed. ["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 sending Christ 
 and accepting his ransom ; as the Son hath also testified 
 his. p' Inherit."] No longer bondmen, nor servants 
 only, nor children under age who differ not in posses- 
 sion, but only in the title from servants ; but now, we 
 are " heirs of the kingdom, co-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 title : but to be kings and reign with him, is ours : 
 the fruition of this kingdom is as the fruition of the light 
 of the sun, each hath the whole, and the rest never the 
 less. [" Prepared for you."] 'God is the Alpha, as well 
 as the Om-cga 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 pre- 
 paration of his counsel ; for the execution whereof 
 Christ was yet to make a farther preparation. [" For 
 you."] Not for believers only in general, but for you 
 in particular. ["From the foundation of the world."] 
 Not only from the promise after Adam's fall, but from 
 eternity. 
 
 But a difficulty ariseth in our way. In v/hat sense is 
 our improvement of our talent, our well doing, our over- 
 coming, our harbouring, visiting, feeding Christ in his 
 little ones, alleged as a reason of our coronation and 
 glory? Is it not the purchased possession, and mere 
 fruit of Christ's blood ? If every man must be judged 
 according to his works, and receive according to what 
 they have done in the flesh, whether good or evil ; if 
 God " will render to every man according to his deeds," 
 Rom. ii, 6, 7, and give eternal life to all men, if they 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 37 
 
 patiently continue in well doing ; if he will give right to 
 the tree of life, Rev. xxii, 14, and entrance into the city, 
 to the doers of his commandments ; and if this last 
 absolving sentence be the completing of our justification ; 
 and so " the doers of the law be justified," Rom. ii, 13, 
 then what is become of free grace ? or justification by 
 faith only ? of the sole righteousness of Christ to make 
 us accepted ? I answer, 
 
 1. Let not the names of men draw thee one way or 
 other, nor make thee partial in searching for the truth : 
 dislike the men for their unsound doctrine ; but call not 
 doctrine unsound, because it is theirs : nor sound 
 because of the repute of the writer. 
 
 2. Know this, that as an unhumbled soul is far apter 
 to give too much to duty and personal righteousness, 
 than to Christ ; so an humble self-denying Christian is 
 as likely to err on the other hand, in giving less to duty 
 than Clir-ist hath given, and laying all the work from 
 himself on Christ, for fear of robbing Christ of the 
 honour ; and so much to look at Christ without him, 
 and think he should look at nothing in himself ; that he 
 forgets Christ within him. 
 
 3. Our giving to Christ more of the work than Scrip- 
 ture doth, or rather our ascribing it to him out of the 
 Scripture way, doth but dishonour, and not honour him ; 
 and depress, but not exalt his free grace ; while we deny 
 the inward sanctifying work of his Spirit, and extol his 
 free justification, which are equal fruits of his merit, 
 we make him an imperfect Saviour. 
 
 4. But to arrogate to ourselves any part of Christ's pre- 
 rogative, is most desperate of all, and no doctrine more 
 directly overthrows the Gospel almost, than that of 
 justification by the merits of our own, or by works of 
 the law. 
 
 And thus we have seen the Christian safely landed in 
 paradise ; and conveyed honourably to his rest. Now 
 let us a little farther view those mansions, consider his 
 privileges, and see whether there be any glory like unto 
 this glory. 
 
38 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 CHAPTER V, 
 
 THE EXCELLENCES OF OUR REST 
 
 Let us see more immediately from the pure fountain 
 of the Scriptures what farther excellences this rest 
 aftbrdeth. And 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. 
 
 And first, it is a most singular honour of the saints' 
 rest, to be called the purchased possession ; that it is 
 the fruit of the blood of the Son of God : yea, the chief 
 fruit : yea, the end and perfection of all the fruits of 
 that blood. Surely love is the most precious ingredient 
 in the whole composition ; and of all the flowers that 
 grow in the garden of love, can there be brought one 
 more sweet than this blood 1 Greater love than this 
 there is not, to lay down the life of the lover. And to 
 have this our Redeemer ever before our eyes, and the 
 liveliest sense and freshest remembrance of that dying 
 bleeding love still upon our souls ; O how will it fill our 
 souls with perpetual ravishments to think that in the 
 streams of this blood we have sv/am through the vio- 
 lence of the world, the snares of Satan, the seduce- 
 ments of the flesh, the curse of the law, the wrath of an 
 ofl?ended God, the accusations of a guilty conscience, 
 and the doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart, and 
 are passed through all and arrived safely at the breast of 
 God ! Now we are stupified with vile and senseless 
 hearts, that can hear all the story of this love, and read 
 all the sufferings of love ; and all with dulness, and 
 unaftectedness. He cries to us, " Behold and see, is it 
 nothing to you, O all ye that pass by 1 Is there any 
 sorrow like unto my sorrow?" And we will scarce 
 hear or regard the voice ; or turn aside to view the 
 wounds of Him who Jiealed our wounds at so dear a rate. 
 But O ! then our perfected souls will feel as well as hear, 
 and with feeling apprehensions flame in love for love. 
 Now we set his picture wounded and dying before our 
 eyes, but can get it no nearer our hearts than if we 
 believed nothing of what we read. But then when the 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 39 
 
 obstructions between the eye and the understanding are 
 taken away, and the passage opened between the head 
 and heart, surely our eyes will everlastingly affect our 
 heart ! And while we view with one eye our slain, 
 revived Lord, and with the other eye our lost recovered 
 souls, these views will eternally pierce us, and warm 
 our very souls. And those eyes through which folly 
 hath so often stolen into our hearts let in the love of 
 our dearest Lord for ever. 
 
 We shall then leave these hearts of stone and rock 
 behind us, and the sin that here so close besets us, and 
 the sottish unkindness that followed us so long, shall 
 not be able to follow us into glory. But we shall behold, 
 as it were, the wounds of love, with eyes and hearts of 
 love for ever. Now his heart is open to us, and ours 
 shut to him : but when his heart shall be open, and our 
 hearts oj^en, O ! the blessed congress that will then be ! 
 What a passionate meeting is there between our new 
 risen Lord and the first sinful woman that he appears 
 to ! How doth love struggle for expressions ? and the 
 straitened fire shut up in the breast strive to break 
 forth ? Mary ! saith Christ : Master ! saith Mary : and 
 presently she clasps about his feet, having her heart as 
 near to his heart as her hands were to his feet. What a 
 meeting of love then will there be between the newly 
 glorified saint and the glorious Redeemer ! But I am 
 here at a loss, my apprehensions fail me, and fall too 
 short. Only this I know, it will be the singular praise 
 of our inheritance, that it was bought with the price of 
 that blood ; and the singular joy of the saints, to behold 
 the purchaser and the price, together with the posses- 
 sion : neither will the views of the wounds of love 
 renew our wounds or sorrow : He whose first words 
 after his resurrection were to a great sinner, " Woman, 
 why weepest thou ?" knows how to raise love and joy 
 by all those views, without raising any cloud of sorrow. 
 If a dying friend deliver 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 ? Well then, 
 Christians, as you use to do in your books, and on your 
 
40 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 goods to write down the price they cost you : so on 
 your righteousness, and on your glory, write dcwn the 
 price, the precious blood of Christ. 
 
 Yet understand this rightly : not that this highest 
 glory was in the strictest sense purchased, so as that it 
 was the most immediate effect of Christ's death ; we 
 must take heed that we conceive not of God as a tyrant, 
 who so delighteth in cruelty as to exchange mercies for 
 stripes. God was never so pleased with the sufferings 
 of the innocent, much less of his Son, as to sell his 
 mercy properly for their sufferings. But the sufferings 
 of Christ were primarily and immediately to satisfy 
 justice, and. to bear what was due to the sinner, and so 
 to restore him to the life he lost, and the happiness he 
 fell from : but this dignity, which surpasseth the first, 
 as it were, from the redundancy of his merit, or a 
 secondary fruit of his death. The work of his redemp- 
 tion so well pleased the Father, that he gave him power 
 to advance his chosen to a higher dignity than they fell 
 from ; and to give them the glory which was given to 
 himself; and all this according to the good pleasure of 
 his own will, 
 
 2. The second pearl in the saints^ diadem is, that it 
 is free. This seemeth, as Pharaoh's second kine, " to 
 devour the former." But the seeming discord is but a 
 pleasing diversity which constitutes the melody. These 
 two attributes, purchased and free, are the two chains 
 of gold which make up the wreath for the head 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 ; nor any thing below his blood ; but when we 
 come to buy, our buying is but receiving : we have it 
 freely, " without money and without price." Nor do 
 the Gospel conditions make it the less free. If the Gos- 
 pel conditions had been such as are the laws, or pay- 
 ment of the debt required at our hands, the freeness 
 then were more questionable. Yea, if God had said to 
 us, ^^ Sinners, if you will satisfy my justice for one of 
 your sins, I will forgive you all the rest,^^ it would 
 have been a hard condition on our part, and the grace 
 of the covenant not so free, as our disability doth re- 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 41 
 
 quire. But if all the condition be our cordial accepta- 
 tion, surely we deserve not the name of purchasers. 
 Thankfully accepting of a free acquittance, is no paying 
 of the debt. If life be offered to a condemned man, 
 upon condition that he shall not refuse the offer, the 
 favour is nevertheless free. Nay, though the condition 
 were, that he should beg, and wait before he have his 
 pardon, and take him for his Lord who hath thus re- 
 deemed him, this is no satisfying the justice of the law : 
 especially when the condition is also given by God. 
 Surely then here all is free : if the Father freely give 
 the Son, and the Son freely pay the debt ; and if God 
 freely accept that way of payment, when he might have 
 required it of the principal ; and if both Father and Son 
 freely offer us the purchased life upon those fair con- 
 ditions ; and if they also freely send the Spirit to enable 
 us to perform those conditions, then what is here 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 despised 
 wretch, should be clad in the brightness of this glory ? 
 that I, a silly creeping worm, should be advanced to this 
 high dignity? He that durst not lift up his eyes to 
 heaven, but stood afar off smiting his breast, and crying, 
 " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner !" now to be lifted 
 up to heaven himself ! He who was wont to write his 
 name in Bradford's style, the unthankful, the hard- 
 hearted^ the unworthy sinner ! and was wont to admire 
 that patience could bear so long, and justice suffer him 
 to live : sure he will admire at this alteration, when he 
 shall find, by experience, that unworthiness could not 
 hinder his salvation, which he thought would have 
 bereaved him of every mercy. Ah ! Christian, there is 
 no talk of our worthiness or unworthiness. If worthi- 
 ness were our condition for admittance, we might sit 
 down with St. John and weep, " because none in heaven 
 or on earth is found Avorthy. But the Lion of the tribe 
 of Judah is worthy, and hath prevailed ; and by that 
 title must we hold the inheritance." We shall offer 
 there the offering that David refused, *' even praise for 
 that which cost us nothing." Here our commission 
 
43 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 runs, " Freely ye have received, freely give." But 
 Christ hath dearly received, yet freely gives. Yet this 
 is not all. 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 endeavouring our own 
 ruin. The broken heart that hath known the desert of 
 sin, doth both understand and feel what I say. What 
 an astonishing thought it will be, to think of the un- 
 measurable difference between our deservings and our 
 receivings ! between the state we should have been in, 
 and the state we are in ! to look down upon hell, and 
 see the vast difference that free grace hath made betwixt 
 us and them ! to see the inheritance there which we 
 were born to, so different from that which we are 
 adopted tt) ! O ! what pangs of love will it cause 
 within us to think, yonder was the place that 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." Doubtless this will be our 
 everlasting admiration, that so rich a crown should fit 
 the head of so vile a sinner ! that such high advance- 
 ment, and such long unfruitfulness and unkindness can 
 be the state of the same persons ! and that such vile 
 rebellions can conclude in such most precious joys ! 
 But no thanks to us : nor to any of our duties and la- 
 bours, much less to our neglects and laziness ; we know 
 to whom the praise is due, and must be given for ever. 
 And indeed to this very end it was, that Infinite Wisdom 
 did cast the whole design of man's salvation into the 
 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 might 
 neither cloud the one, nor obstruct the other ; and that 
 on these two hinges the gates of heaven might turn. 
 So then let [deserved] be written on the door of hell, 
 but on the door of heaven and life, [the free gift.] 
 
 A third comfortable adjunct of this rest is, that it is 
 the fellowship of tlie blessed saints and angels of God. 
 Not so singular will the Christian be, as to be solitary. 
 Though it be proper to the saints only, yet is it common 
 to all the saints. For what is it, but an association of 
 
43 
 
 blessed spirits in God ? A corporation of perfected 
 saints, whereof Christ is the head ? The communion 
 of saints completed ? For those that have prayed, and 
 fasted, and wept, and watched, and waited together ; 
 now to enjoy, and praise together, methinks should 
 much advance their pleasure. He who mentioneth the 
 qualifications of our happiness, of purpose that our joy 
 may be full, and maketh so oft mention of our conjunc- 
 tion in his praises, sure doth hereby intimate to us that 
 this will be some advantage to our joys. Certain I am 
 of this, fellow Christians, that as we have been together 
 in labour, duty, danger, and distress, so shall we be in 
 the great recompense ; and as we have been scorned and 
 despised, so shall we be crowned and honoured together; 
 and we who have gone through the day of sadness, 
 shall enjoy together that day of gladness. And those 
 who have been with us in persecution and prison, shall 
 be with us also in that place of consolation. When I 
 look in the faces of the people of God, and believingly 
 think of this day, what a refreshing thought is it ! Shall 
 we not there remember our fellowship in duty and in 
 sufferings ? How oft our groans made, as it were, one 
 sound, our tears but one stream, and our desires but one 
 prayer ? And now all our praises shall make up one 
 melody ; and all our Churches one Church ; and all our- 
 selves but one body ; for we shall be one in Christ, even 
 as he and the Father are one. It is true, we must be 
 very careful that we look not for that in the saints 
 which is alone in Christ, and that we give them not his 
 prerogative ; nor expect too great a part of our comfort 
 in the fruition of them : we are prone enough to this 
 kind oi idolatry. But yet He who commands us so to 
 love them now, Avill give us leave, in the same subordi- 
 nation to himself, to love them then, when himself hath 
 made them much more lovely. And if we may love 
 them, we shall surely rejoice in them ; for love cannot 
 stand without an answerable joy. If the forethought 
 of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the 
 prophets in the kingdom of God, may be our lawful joy ; 
 then how much more that real sight and actual posses- 
 sion ! It cannot but he comfortable to me to think of 
 that day when I shall join with Moses in his song, with 
 
44 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 David in his psalms of praise, and with all 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. O happy day, when I shall 
 depart out of this crowd, and sink and go to that same 
 council of souls ! I know that Christ is all in all, and 
 that it is the presence of God that maketh heaven to be 
 heaven. But yet it much sweeteneth the thoughts of 
 that place to me, to remember that there are such a 
 multitude of my most dear and precious friends in 
 Christ : " with whom I took sweet counsel, and with 
 whom I went up to the house of God, who walked with 
 me in the fear of God, and integrity of their hearts :" 
 in the face of whose conversation there was written the 
 name of Christ : whose sensible mention of his excel- 
 lences hath made my heart to burn within me. To 
 think such a friend that died at such a time, and such a 
 one at another time, and that all these are entered into 
 rest : and we shall surely go to th(3m. It is a question 
 with some, whether we shall know each other in heaven 
 or not ? Surely, there shall no knowledge cease which 
 now we have ; but only that which implieth our imper- 
 fection. And what imperfection can this imply ? Nay, 
 our present knowledge shall be increased beyond be- 
 lief : it shall indeed be done away, but as the light of 
 the stars is done away by the rising of the sun ; which 
 is more properly doing away our ignorance than our 
 knowledge. Indeed, we shall not know each other after 
 the flesh ; but by the image of Christ, and spiritual rela- 
 tion, and former faithfulness in improving our talents, 
 beyond doubt, we shall know and be known. Nor is it 
 only our old acquaintance, but all the saints of all ages, 
 whose faces in the flesh we never saw, whom we shall 
 there both know and comfortably enjoy. Yea, and 
 angels as well as saints will be our blessed acquaintance. 
 Those who now are willingly ministerial spirits for our 
 good, will willingly then be our companions in joy for 
 the perfecting of our good : and they who had such joy 
 in heaven for our conversion, will gladly rejoice with 
 us in our glorification. I think. Christian, this will be 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 45 
 
 a more honourable assembly than ever you have beheld ; 
 and a more happy society than you were ever of before. 
 Then we shall truly say as David, " I am a companion 
 of all them that fear thee : when we are come to mount 
 Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly 
 Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels ; 
 to the general assembly, and Church of the first-born, 
 which are written 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." So then I 
 conclude this is one singular excellence of the rest of 
 heaven : " That we are fellow citizens with the saints, 
 and of the household of God." 
 
 4. Another excellent property of our rest will be, 
 that the joys of it are immediately from God : " We 
 shall see God face to face, and stand continually in his 
 presence ; and consequently derive our life and comfort 
 immediately from him. Whether God will make use of 
 any creatures for our service then ; or if any, of what 
 creatures, and what use, is more than I yet know : but 
 it is certain, that at least our greatest joys will be imme- 
 diate, if not all. Nov/ vv^e have nothing at all immedi- 
 ately, but at the second or third hand, or how many who 
 knows ? From the earth, from man, from the sun and 
 moon, from the influence of the planets, from the mi- 
 nistration of angels, and from the spirit of Christ ; and 
 doubtless, the farther the stream runs from the fountain, 
 the more impure it is. It gathers some defilement from 
 every unclean channel it passeth through. Though it 
 savours not, in the hand of angels, of the imperfection 
 of sinners, yet it doth of the imperfection of creatures ; 
 and as it comes from man, it savours of both. How 
 quick and piercing is the word in itself! Yet many 
 times it never enters, being managed by a feeble arm. 
 O what weight and worth is there in every passage of 
 the blessed Gospel ! enough, one would think, to enter 
 and force the dullest soul, and wholly possess its 
 thoughts and affections : and yet how oft doth it drop 
 as water upon a stone ? The things of God which we 
 handle are Divine : but our manner of handling is 
 human : and there is little or none that ever we touch, 
 but we leave the print of our fingers behind us ; but if 
 
46 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 God should speak this word himself, it would be a 
 piercing, melting word indeed. 
 
 If an angel from heaven should preach the Gospel, 
 yet could he not deliver it according to its glory ; much 
 less we who never saw what they have seen, and keep 
 this treasure in earthen vessels. The comforts that flow 
 through sermons, sacraments, reading, conference, and 
 creatures, are but half comforts, in comparison of those 
 which the Almighty shall speak with his own mouth, 
 and reach forth with his own hand. The Christian 
 knows by experience now that his most immediate joys 
 are his sweetest joys ; which have least of man, and are 
 most directly from the Spirit. That is one reason, I 
 conceive, why Christians who are much in secret prayer 
 and meditation are men of greatest life ; because they 
 are nearer the well head, and have all more immediately 
 from God himself. And that I conceive the only reason 
 why we are more indisposed to those secret duties, and 
 can easier bring our hearts to hear and read, than to 
 secret prayer, self-examination, and m.editation ; because 
 in the former is more of man, and in these we approach 
 the Lord alone, and our natures draw back from the 
 most spiritual duties. Not that we should therefore cast 
 off the other, and neglect any ordinance of God : to 
 live above them while we use them, is the way of a 
 Christian. But to live above ordinances, so as to live 
 without them, is to live without the government of 
 Christ. It is then we shall have light without a candle ; 
 and a perpetual day without the sun : " For the city 
 hath no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in 
 it : for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb 
 is the light thereof," Rev. xxi, 23. Nay, " There shall 
 be no night there, and they need no candle, nor light of 
 the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they 
 shall reign for ever and ever." We shall then have 
 rest without sleep, and be kept from cold without our 
 clothing, and need no fig leaves to hide our shame : for 
 God will be our rest, and Christ our clothing, and 
 shame and sin will cease together. We shall then have 
 health without physic, and strength without the use of 
 food ; for the Lord God will be our strength, and the 
 light of his countenance will be health to our souls, and 
 
47 
 
 marrow to our bones. We shall then (and never till 
 then) have enlightened understandings without Scripture, 
 and be governed without a written law. For the Lord 
 will perfect his law in our hearts, and we shall be all 
 perfectly taught of God : his own will shall be our law, 
 and his own face shall be our light for ever. We shall 
 then have communion without sacraments, when Christ 
 shall drink with us of the fruit of the vine new, that is, 
 refresh us with the comforting wine of immediate 
 fruition in the kingdom oF his Father. 
 
 5. A farther excellence of this rest is this : it will be 
 a suitable rest, — suited, 1. To our natures. 2. To our 
 desires. 3. To our necessities. 
 
 1. To our natures. If suitableness concur not with 
 excellence, the best things may be bad to us ; for it is 
 not that which makes things good in themselves, to be 
 good to us. In our choice of friends, we often pass by 
 the more excellent, to choose the more suitable ; every 
 good agrees not with every nature. The choicest dain- 
 ties which we feed upon ourselves would be to our 
 beasts as an un pleasing, so an insufficient, sustenance. 
 
 Now here is suitableness and excellence conjoined. 
 The new nature of the saints doth suit their spirits to 
 this rest : and 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, as mindful of 
 its Divine original, doth ever mount aloft and tend to the 
 place from whence it comes. Gold and earthly glory, 
 temporal crowns and kingdoms, could not make a rest 
 for saints. As they were not redeemed with so low a 
 price, so neither are they endued with so low a nature. 
 As God will have from them a spiritual worship, suit- 
 able to his own spiritual being ; so will he provide them 
 a spiritual rest, suitable to his people's spiritual nature. 
 
 A heaven of the knowledge of God, and his Christ ; 
 and a delightful complacency in that mutual love and 
 everlasting rejoicing in the fruition of our God, a perpe- 
 tual singing of his high praises : this is a heaven for a 
 saint ; a spiritual rest, suitable to a spiritual nature. 
 Then we shall live in our element. We are now as the 
 fish in some small vessel of water, that hath only so 
 much as will keep him alive : but what is that to the full 
 
48 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 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. 
 
 2. It is suitable to the desires of the saints : for such 
 as is their nature, such are their desires ; and such as 
 their desires, such will be their rest. Indeed we have 
 now a mixed nature : and from contrary principles arise 
 contrary desires. But it is the desires of our renewed 
 nature which this rest is suited to. While our desires 
 remain corrupt and misguided, it is- a far greater mercy 
 to deny, yea, to destroy them, than to satisfy them : but 
 those which are spiritual are of his own planting, and he 
 v/ill 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 con- 
 taineth all that thy heart can wish, that which thou long- 
 est for, prayest for, labourest for, there thou shalt find 
 it all. Thou hadst rather have God in Christ, than all 
 the world : why there thou shalt have him. Desire 
 what thou canst, and ask what thou wilt, as a Christian, 
 and it shall be given thee ; not only to half of the king- 
 dom, but to the enjoyment of both kingdom and king. 
 This is a life of desire and prayer ; but that is a life of 
 satisfaction and enjoyment. 
 
 3. This rest is 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 armour on 
 David, are more burden than benefit : but they shall 
 there have the benefit without the burden ; and the pure 
 spirits extracted (as it were) shall make up their cordial, 
 without the mixture of any drossy or earthly substance. 
 It v^-as Christ and perfect holiness which they most 
 needed, and with these shall they be supplied. 
 
 4. Another excellence of our rest will be this, that it 
 will be absolutely perfect and complete ; and this both 
 in the sincerity and universality of it. We shall then 
 have joy without sorrow, and rest without weariness : 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 49 
 
 as there is mo mixture of our corruption with our graces, 
 so MO mixture of sufferings with our solace : there are 
 jionc of these waves in that harbour which now toss us 
 u]) anil down. To-day we are well, to-morrow sick : 
 to-day ill esteem, to-morrow in disgrace : to-day we 
 Juive friends, to-morrow none: nay, we have wine and 
 vinegar in the same cup. If revelation should raise us 
 up to tlic third heaven, the messenger of Satan must 
 j)resently bullet us : but there is none of this inconstancy 
 in lieaven. if perfect love cast out fear, then perfect 
 joy must needs cast out sorrow, and perfect happiness 
 exclude all the relics of misery. There will be a uni- 
 versal ])crfecting of all our parts and powers, and a 
 universal removal of all our evils. And though the po- 
 sitive part be the sweetest, and that which draws the 
 other after it, even as the rising of the sun excludes the 
 darkness ; yet is ^not the negative part to be slighted, 
 even our freedom from so many and great calamities. 
 Let us therefore look over these more punctually, and see 
 what it is we shall there rest from. In general, it is from 
 all evil. Particularly, ^r^^^, from sin ; secondly^ suffering. 
 First. It excludeth nothing more directly than sin ; 
 whether original, and of nature ; or actual, and of con- 
 versation ; for "there enteieth notliing that defileth, 
 nor that worketh abomination, nor that maketh a lie." 
 What need Christ have died, if heaven could have con- 
 tained imperfect souls ? For " to this end came lie into 
 the world, that he might put away the Avorks of the 
 devil." His blood and Spirit have not done all this, to 
 leave us, after all, defiled : " For what communion hath 
 light with darkness ? And what fellowship hath Christ 
 with Belial?" He that hath prepared for sin the tor- 
 ments of hell, will never admit it into the blessedness of 
 heaven. Therefore, Christian, never fear this : if thou 
 be once in heaven, thou shalt sin no more. Is not this 
 glad news to thee, who hast prayed, and watched, and 
 laboured against it so long ? I know if it ^vere offered 
 to thy choice, thou wouldst rather choose to be freed 
 from sin, than to be made heir of the world. Thou 
 shalt have thy desire : that hard heart, those vile 
 thoughts, which thou couldst no more leave behind thee 
 than leave thyself behind thee, shall be now left behind 
 3 
 
50 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 for ever. If they accompany thee to death, they cannot 
 proceed a step farther. Thy understanding shall never 
 more be troubled with darkness : ignorance and error 
 are inconsistent with this light. Now thouwalkest like 
 a m n in the twilight, ever afraid of being out of the 
 way : but then will all darkness be dispelled, and our 
 blind understandings fully opened. 
 
 O what would we give to know clearly all the pro- 
 found mysteries in the doctrine of redemption, of justi- 
 fication, of the nature of grace, of the Divine attributes ! 
 What would we give to see all dark scriptures made^ 
 plain ; to see all seeming contradictions reconciled ! 
 Why, when glory hath taken away the veil from our 
 eyes, all this will be known in a moment ; we shall then 
 see clearl}' into all the controversies about doctrine or 
 discipline that now perplex us. The poorest Christian 
 is presently there a more perfect divine than any is here. 
 We are now, through our ignorance, subject to such 
 mutability, that in points not fundamental we change as 
 the moon : but when once our ignorance is perfectly 
 healed, then shall we be settled, resolved men ; then shall 
 our reproach be taken from us, and we shall never 
 change our judgment more. Our ignorance now doth 
 lead us into error, to the grief of our more knowing 
 brethren, to the disturbing the Church's quiet, to the 
 scandalizing of others, and weakening ourselves. How 
 m.any a faithful soul is seduced into error ! Loath they 
 are to err, God knows ; and therefore read and pray, 
 and yet err still. And in lesser and more difficult 
 points how can it be otherwise ? 
 
 Can it be expected that men void of learning and 
 strength of parts, unstudied and untaught, should at the 
 first onset know those truths which they are almost in- 
 capable of knowing at all, when the greatest divines of 
 clearest judgment acknowledge so much difficulty that 
 they could almost find in their hearts someiimes to pro- 
 fess them quite beyond their reach ? But O that happy 
 approaching day, when error shall vanish away for ever, 
 when our understanding shall be filled with God him- 
 self, whose light will leave no darkness in us ! His face 
 shall be the Scripture, where we shall read the truth : 
 and himself, instead of teachers and counsellors, to per- 
 
THE .saints' everlasting REST. 51 
 
 feet our understandings, and acquaint us with himself. 
 No more error, no more scandal to others, no more dis- 
 quiet to our own spirits, no more mistaken zeal for false- 
 hood. Many a good 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 
 undeceive them ; but there we shall all conspire in one 
 truth, as being one in Him who is the truth. 
 
 And as we shall rest from all the sin of our under- 
 standing, so of our wills, affections, and conversation. 
 We shall no more retain this rebelling principle, which 
 is still withdra\ving us from God. We shall no more 
 be oppressed with the power of our corruptions, nor 
 vexed with their presence : no pride, passion, slothful- 
 ness, senselessness, shall enter with. us ; no strangeness 
 to God, and things of God ; no coldness of affections, 
 nor imperfections in our love ; no uneven walking, nor 
 grieving of the Spirit ; no scandalous action, or luiholy 
 conversation : we shall rest from all these for ever. 
 Then shall our understandings receive their light from 
 the face of God, as the full moon from the open sun : 
 then shall our wills correspond to the Divine will, as 
 face answers face in the glass; and his will shall be 
 our law and rule, from which we shall never swerve 
 again. I conclude, therefore, with the words next my 
 ^text, "He that is entered into his rest, has ceased from 
 his own works, as God from his." So that there is a 
 perfect rest from sin. 
 
 Secondly. It is a perfect rest from suffering. When 
 the cause is gone, the effect ceaseth. Our sufferings 
 were but the consequents of our sinning, and here they 
 shall cease together. 
 
 1. We shall rest from all the temptations of Satan. 
 What a grief is it to a Christian, though he yield not to 
 the temptation, yet to be still soHcited to. deny his Lord? 
 That such a thought should be cast into his heart ? That 
 he can set about nothing that is good, but Satan is still 
 dissuading him from it, distracting him in it, or discou- 
 raging him after it? What a torment, as well as a 
 temptation is it, to have such horrid motions made to 
 his soul ? Sometime cruel thoughts of God ; sometime 
 undervaluing thoughts of Christ; sometime unbelieving 
 
52 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 thoughts of Scripture ; sometune injurious thoughts of 
 Providence ; to be tempted sometime to turn to pre- 
 sent things ; sometime to play with the baits of sin ; 
 sometime to venture on the delights of the flesh; 
 and sometime to Atheism itself! especially when we 
 know the treachery of our own hearts, that they are as 
 tinder, ready to take fire as soon as one of these sparks 
 shall fall upon them ; but w^hen the day of our deliver- 
 ance comes, we shall fully lest from these temptations. 
 Satan is then bound up, the time of tempting is 
 done ; the time of torment to himself, and his conquered 
 captives, is then come ; and the victorious saints shall 
 have triumph from temptation. Noav we walk among 
 his snares, and are in danger to be circumvented with 
 his wiles : but then we are quite above his snares. He 
 hath poAver here to tempt us in the wilderness, but he 
 entereth not the holy city ; he may set us on the pinna- 
 cle of the temple in the earthly Jerusalem, but the New 
 Jerusalem he may not approach. Perhaps he may bring 
 us to an exceeding high mountain ; but the mount Sion, 
 and city of the living God, he cannot ascend. Or if he 
 should, yet all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory 
 of them, would be but a poor bait to the soul which is 
 possessed of the kingdom of our Lord. 
 
 2. We shall rest from all our temptations which v/e now 
 undergo from the Avorld and the flesh, as well as Satan: 
 and that is a number inexpressible. O the hourly dangers 
 that we here walk in ! Every sense is a snare ; every 
 member a snare ; every creature a snare ; every mercy 
 a snare ; and every duty a snare to us. We can scarce 
 open our eyes but we are in danger : if we behold them 
 above us, we are in danger of envy : if we see sumptuous 
 buildings, pleasant habitations, honour, and riches, we 
 are in danger to be drawn away with covetous desires : 
 if the rags and beggary of others, we are in danger of 
 self-applauding thoughts, or unmercifulness : if we see 
 beauty, it is a bait to lust ; if deformity, to loathing and 
 disdain. We can scarcely hear a word spoken, but con- 
 tains to us matter of temptation. How soon do slander- 
 ous reports, vain jests, or wanton speeches, creep into 
 the heart ? How strong and prevalent a temptation is 
 our appetite ? And how constant and strong a watch 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 53 
 
 (loth it require? Have we comeliness and beauty? 
 wliat fuel for pride ! Are we deformed? what an occa- 
 sion of repining ! Have we strength of reason and 
 learning ? O how hard is it not to be puffed up ! to hunt 
 after applause ! to despise our brethren ! Are we un- 
 learned, of shallow heads, and slender parts ? how apt 
 then to despise what we have not ! and to undervalue 
 that which we do not know ! and to err with confidence 
 because of our ignorance ! and if conceitedness and 
 pride do but strike in, to become a zealous enemy to 
 truth, and a leading troubler of the Church's peace, un- 
 der pretences of truth ! Are we men of eminence and 
 authority ? how strong is our temptation to slight our 
 brethren ! to abuse our trust ! to seek ourselves ! to 
 stand upon our honour and privileges ! to forget our- 
 selves, our poor brethren, and the public good ! how 
 hard to devote our power to His glory, from whom we 
 have received it ! how prone to make our wills our law ! 
 Are we inferiors ? how prone to grudge at others' pre- 
 eminence ! and to bring their actions to the bar of our 
 judgment ! Are we rich, and not too much exalted ? 
 Are we poor, and not discontented ? Do we set upon 
 duties ? they are snares too : either we are stupid and 
 lazy, or rest in them, and turn from Christ. In a word, 
 not one word that falls from the mouth of a minister or 
 Christian, but is a snare ; nor a place we come into : 
 not a word that our tongues speak, not any mercy we 
 possess, not a bit we put into our mouths, but they are 
 snares ; not that God hath made them so, but through 
 our own corruption they become so to us. So that what 
 a sad case are we in ! especially they that discern them 
 not ! for it is almost impossible they should escape 
 them. It was not for nothing that our Lord cried out, 
 "What I say to one, I say to all. Watch." We are like 
 the lepers at Samaria, " If we go into the city, there is 
 nothing but famine ; if we sit still, we perish." 
 
 But for ever blessed be omnipotent Love, which saves 
 us out of all these, and makes our straits but the advan- 
 tages of the glory of his grace ! And " blessed be the 
 Lord who hath not given our souls for a prey : our soul 
 is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler ; the 
 snare is broken, and we are escaped." Now, our 
 
54 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 houses, our clothes, our sleep, our food, our physic, our 
 father, mother, wife, children, friends, goods, lands, are 
 all so many temptations ; and ourselves the greatest 
 snare to ourselves : but in heaven, the danger and trou- 
 ble is over : there is nothing but what will advance our 
 joy. Now every companion is beckoning us to sin, and 
 we can scarce tell how to say to them. Nay ; but our 
 rest will free us from all these. As Satan hath no en- 
 trance there, so neither any thing to serve his malice : 
 but all things there with us conspire the praises of our 
 great Deliverer. 
 
 3. And as we rest from temptations, so also from all 
 abuses and persecutions which we suffer at the hands of 
 wicked men. We shall be scorned, derided, imprisoned, 
 banished by them no more. The prayers of the souls 
 under the altar will then be answered, and God '* will 
 avenge their blood on those that dwell on the earth." 
 This is the time for crowning with thorns, buffeting, 
 spitting on : that is the time for crowning with glory. 
 Now the law is decreed on, " That whosoever will live 
 godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions : then 
 they that suffered with him shall be glorified with him." 
 Now we must be " hated of all men for Christ's name- 
 sake :" then " will Christ be admired in his saints" that 
 were thus hated. We are here as the scorn and off- 
 scouring of all things ; as men set up for a gazing stock 
 to angels and men, even for signs and wonders among 
 professing Christians ; they put us out of their syna- 
 gogues, and cast our name out as evil, and separate us 
 from their company : but we shall then be as much gazed 
 at for our glory, and they will be shut out of the Church 
 of the saints, and separated from us, whether they will 
 or not. They now " think it strange that we run not 
 with them to all excess of riot :" they will then think 
 more strange that they ran not with us in the despised 
 ways of God. We can now scarce pray in our families, 
 or sing praise 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 ? 
 
 Brethren, you that now can attempt no work of God 
 without resistance, and find you must either lose the 
 love of the world, and your outward comforts, or else 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 55 
 
 the love of God, and your eternal salvation, consider 
 you shall in heaven have no discouraging company, nor 
 any but those who will farther your work, and gladly 
 join heart and voice with you in your everlasting joy 
 and praise. Till then " possess your souls in patience :" 
 bind all reproaches as a crown to your heads : esteem 
 them greater riches than the world's treasure : " account 
 it matter of joy when ye fall into tribulation." You 
 have seen that our God is able to deliver us ; but this is 
 nothing to our final deliverance : " he will recompense 
 tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you that are 
 troubled, rest with Christ." 
 
 4. We shall then also rest from all our sad divisions 
 and unchristian quarrels with one another. As he said 
 who saw the carcasses lie together, as if they had em- 
 braced each other, who had been slain by each other in 
 a duel, " How lovingly do they embrace one another, 
 who perished through their mutual enmity !" so, how 
 lovingly do thousands live together in heaven who lived 
 in divisions on earth! As he said who beheld how 
 quietly and peaceably the bones and dust of mortal ene- 
 mies did lie together, "You did not live together so 
 peaceably ;" so we may say of multitudes in heaven now 
 all of one mind, one heart, and one employment, you 
 lived not on earth in so sweet familiarity. There is no 
 contention, because none of this pride, ignorance, or 
 other corruption : Paul and Barnabas are now fully re- 
 conciled. There they are not every man conceited of 
 his own understanding, and in love with the issue of his 
 own brain ; but all admiring the Divine perfection, and 
 in love with God and one another. As old Gryneus 
 wrote to his friend, " If I see you no more on earth, yet 
 we shall there meet, where Luther and Zuinglius are 
 now well agreed." There is no recording our breth- 
 ren's infirmities ; nor raking into the sores which Christ 
 died to heal. There is no plotting to strengthen our 
 party ; nor deep designing against our brethren. 
 
 And is it not a shame and pity that our course is now 
 so contrary ? Surely, if there be sorrow or shame in 
 heaven, we shall then be both sorry and ashamed to look 
 one another in the face : and to remember all this car- 
 riage on earth, even as the brethren of Joseph were to 
 
56 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 behold him when they remembered their former unkind 
 usage. Is it not enough that all the world is against us, 
 but we must also be against ourselves ? Did I ever 
 think to have heard Christians so to reproach and scorn 
 Christians ? and men, professing the fear of God, to 
 make so little conscience of censuring, vilifying, and 
 disgracing one another ? O what hellish things are igno- 
 rance and pride, that can bring men's souls to such a 
 case as this ! Paul knew what he said when he com- 
 manded that "a novice should not be a teacher, lest 
 being lifted up he fall into the condemnation of the de- 
 vil," 1 Tim. iii, 6. He discerned that such young Chris- 
 tians that have got but a little smattering knowledge in 
 religion lie in greatest danger of this pride and condemn- 
 ation. Who but Paul could have foreseen that among 
 the very teachers and governors of so choice a Church 
 as Ephesus, there were some that afterward should be 
 notorious sect masters ? " That of their own selves men 
 should arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away 
 disciples after them ?" Acts xx, 30. Who then can ex- 
 pect better from any society now, how knowing and holy 
 soever ? To-day tliey may be unanimous, and joined in 
 love : and perhaps within a few weeks be divided, and 
 at bitter enmity, through their doating on questions that 
 tend not to edify. 
 
 5. We shall then rest from all which we now undergo, 
 by participating with our brethren in their calamities. 
 Alas, if we had nothing upon ourselves to trouble us, 
 yet what heart could lay aside sorrows that lives in the 
 sound of the Church's sufferings? If Job had nothing 
 upon his body to disquiet him, yet the message of his 
 children's overthrow must needs grieve the most patient 
 soul. Except we are turned into steel or stone, and 
 have lost both Christian and human affection, there 
 needs no more than the miseries of our brethren to fill 
 our hearts with sorrows. The Church on earth is a 
 mere hospital ; which way soever we go, we hear com- 
 plaining ; and into what corner soever we cast our eyes, 
 we behold objects of pity : some groaning under a dark 
 vmderstanding, some under a senseless heart, some lan- 
 guishing under unfruitful weakness, and some bleeding 
 for miscarriages and wilfulness, and some in a lethargy, 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 57 
 
 that they are past complaining ; some crying out of their 
 pining poverty, some groaning under pains and infirm- 
 ities, and some bewailing a whole catalogue of calami- 
 ties, especially in days of common sufferings : but our 
 day of rest will free us and them from all this. Now 
 we may enter many a poor Christian's cottage, and see 
 poverty possessing and filling all : how much better is 
 that day when we shall see them filled with Christ, 
 clothed with glory, and equal with the greatest princes ? 
 
 But a far greater grief it is to our spirits to see the 
 spiritual miseries of our brethren ; to see such a one, 
 with whom we took sweet counsel, now falling off to 
 sensuality, turned drunkard, worldling, or a persecutor, 
 and these trying times have given us too large occasion 
 for such sorrows ! To see our dearest friends turned 
 aside from the truth of Christ, and confident in the flesh, 
 continue their neglect of Christ and their souls, and 
 nothing waking them out of their security; and to think 
 how certainly they shall be in hell for ever, if they die 
 in their present state : and will it not be a blessed day, 
 when we shall rest from all these sorrows ? " When 
 the people shall be all righteous, even the work of God's 
 hands, the branch of his planting, that he may be glo- 
 rified ?" Thus shall we rest from our participation of 
 our brethren's sufferings. 
 
 6. We shall rest from all our personal sufferings. 
 And though this may seem a small thing to those that 
 live in continual ease, and abound in all kind of pros- 
 perity ; yet methinks to the daily afflicted soul it should 
 make the forethoughts of heaven delightful : and I think 
 I shall meet with few of the saints, but will say that 
 this is their own case. 
 
 Though we are reconciled by the blood of the cove- 
 nant, and the price is paid for our full deliverance, yet 
 our Redeemer sees fit to leave this measure of misery 
 upon us, to mind us of what we would else forget ; to 
 be serviceable to his wise and gracious designs, and 
 advantageous to our full and final recovery. As all our 
 senses are the inlets of sin, so they are the inlets of 
 sorrow. Grief creeps in at our eyes, at our ears, and 
 almost everywhere: it seizeth upon our heads, our 
 hearts, our flesh, our spirits ; and what part dolh escape 
 3* 
 
58 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 it? Fears devour us, and darken our delights, as the 
 frost nips the buds : cares feed upon our spirits, as the 
 scorching sun doth wither the delicate flowers. Or, if 
 any hath fortified his inwards against these, yet he is 
 naked still without. 
 
 What tender pieces are these dusty bodies ? What 
 brittle glasses do we bear about us ? And how many 
 thousand dangers are they hurried through ? And how 
 hardly cured if once cracked? O the multitude of 
 slender veins, of tender membranes, nerves, fibres, 
 muscles, arteries ; and all subject to obstructions, ten- 
 sions, contractions, resolutions, ruptures, or one thing 
 or other to cause their grief! Every one is a fit subject 
 for pain, and fit to communicate that pain to the whole : 
 but sin, and flesh, and dust, and pain, will all be left 
 behind together. 
 
 O the blessed tranquillity of that region, where there 
 is nothing but sweet continued peace ! No succession 
 of joy there, because no intermission. Our lives will 
 be but one joy, as our time will be changed into one 
 eternity. O healthful place, where none are sick ! 
 O fortunate land, where all are kings ! O place most 
 holy, where all are priests ! How free a state where 
 none are servants, save to their supreme monarch ! 
 Our face shall no more be pale or sad : our groans and 
 sighs will be done away, and God " shall wipe away all 
 tears from our eyes." No more parting of friends, nor 
 voice of lamentation heard in our dwellings ; no more 
 breaches nor disproportion in our friendship, nor any 
 trouble accompanying our relations : nq more care of 
 masters for servants, or parents for children, or magis- 
 trates over subjects, or ministers over people. O what 
 room can there be for any evil, where the whole is per- 
 fectly filled with God ! " Then shall the ransomed of 
 the Lord return and come to Sion with songs, and ever- 
 lasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and 
 gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away," 
 Isaiah XXXV, 10. Hold out then a little longer, O my 
 soul ; bear with the infirmities of thine earthly taber- 
 nacle ; endure that share of sorrows that the love of thy 
 Father shall impose ; submit to his indignation also, 
 because thou hast sinned against him ; it will be thus 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 59 
 
 but a little while ; the sound of thy Redeemer's feet is 
 even at the door ; and thine own deliverance nearer 
 than many others. And thou, who hast often cried in 
 the language of the divine poet, 
 
 " Sorrow was all my soul ; I scarce believed, 
 Till grief did tell me roundly that I lived ;" 
 
 shalt then feel that God and joy is all thy soul ; the 
 fruition of whom, with thy freedom from all these sor- 
 rows, will more sweetly and more feelingly make thee 
 know, and to his eternal praise acknowledge that thou 
 livest. And thus we shall rest from all afflictions. 
 
 The last blessed attribute of this rest is, that it is an 
 eternal rest. This is the crown of our crown ; without 
 which all were comparatively nothing. The very 
 thougiht of leaving it would embitter all our joys ; and 
 the more, because of the singular excellences we must 
 forsake. It would be a hell in heaven to think of once 
 losing heaven ; as it would be a kind of heaven to the 
 damned, had they but hopes of once escaping. 
 
 It makes our present life of little value, (were it not 
 for the reference it hath to eternity,) to think that we 
 must shortly lay it down. How can we take delight in 
 any thing, when Ave remember how short that delight 
 will be ? But, O blessed eternity ! where our lives are 
 perplexed with no such thoughts, nor our joys inter- 
 rupted with any such fears ! O what do I say when I 
 talk of eternity 1 Can my shallow thoughts conceive 
 it ? To be eternally blessed, and so blessed ! Surely 
 this, if any thing, is the resemblance of God ; eternity 
 as a piece of inliniteness. Then, " O death, where is 
 thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ?" Days, 
 and nights, and years, time, and end, and death, are 
 words which there have no signification ; nor are used, 
 except perhaps to extol eternity ; as the mention of 
 hell, to extol heaven. All the years of our Lord, and 
 the years of our life, are swallowed up and lost in this 
 eternity. 
 
 While we Avere servants we held by lease ; and that 
 but for the term of transitory life : — " But the son 
 abideth in the house for ever." Our earthly paradise in 
 Eden had a way out, but none that ever we could jfind 
 
60 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 in again : but this eternal paradise hath a way in, (a 
 milky way to us, but a bloody way to Christ,) but no 
 way out again : " For they that would pass from hence 
 to you," saith Abraham, " cannot :" a strange phrase ! 
 Would any pass from such a place, if they might? 
 Could they endure to be absent from God again one 
 hour ? No : but upon supposal they would, yet they 
 could not. O then, my soul, let go thy dreams of 
 present pleasures ; and loose thy hold of earth and 
 flesh. Fear not to enter that estate where thou shalt 
 ever after cease thy fears. Sit down, and sadly once 
 a day bethink thyself of this eternity. Among all the 
 arithmetical numbers, study the value of this infinite 
 cipher, which, though it stand for nothing in the vulgar 
 account, doth yet contain all our millions, as much less 
 than a simple unit. Lay by the perplexed and con- 
 tradicting chronological tables, and fix thine eye on 
 this eternity ; and the lines which remote thou couldst 
 not follow, thou shalt see altogether here concentred. 
 Study less these tedious volumes of history, which con- 
 tain but the silent narration of dreams, and are but the 
 pictures of the actions of shadows : and instead of all, 
 study frequently, study thoroughly, this one word 
 [eternity,] and when thou hast thoroughly learned that 
 one word, thou wilt never look on books again. What ! 
 live and never die! Rejoice, and ever rejoice! O 
 what sweet words are these ! This word [everlasting] 
 contains the accomplished perfection of our glory. O 
 that the wicked sinner would but soundly study this 
 word [everlastiiig ;] methinks it would startle him out 
 of his deep sleep ! O that the gracious soul would 
 believingly study this word [everlasting;] methinks it 
 should revive him in the 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 immortal ? Surely, if I shall never lose my 
 glory, I will never also cease thy praises. If thou wilt 
 both perfect and perpetuate me, and my glory ; as I 
 shall be thine, and not mine own, so shall my glory be 
 thy glory ; and as they did take their spring from thee, 
 so all shall devolve to thee again : and as thy glory was 
 thine ultimate end in my glory, so shall it also be mine 
 
61 
 
 end, when thou hast crowned me with that glory which 
 hath no end. And to " thee, O King eternal, immortal, 
 invisible, the only wise God, shall be the honour, and 
 glory, for ever and ever. Amen." 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF GOD DESCRIBED. 
 
 Having thus performed my first task of describing 
 the saints' rest ; it remains that now I proceed to the 
 second, and show you what these people of God are, 
 and why so called, for whom this blessed rest remaineth. 
 
 Regeneration is the first and great qualification of the 
 people of God. 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 
 his enemies still. 
 
 Christ hath spoken it with his mouth, that " Except a 
 man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God." The greatest reformation of life, without this 
 new life, wrought in the soul, may procure our farther 
 delusion, but never our salvation. 
 
 But by what acts doth this new life discover itself? 
 
 The first work I call conviction, which comprehends 
 the knowledge of what the Scripture speaks against 
 sin and sinners ; and that this Scripture which speaks 
 so is the word of God himself. It comprehends, also, 
 some knowledge of ourselves, and our own guilt, and 
 an acknov/ledgment of the verity of those consequences, 
 which, from the practice of sin in us, and threats in 
 Scripture, conclude us miserable. 
 
 2. As there must be conviction, so also sensibility. 
 God works on the heart, as well as th& head ; both were 
 corrupted and out of order. The principle of new life 
 doth quicken both. All true spiritual knowledge doth 
 pass into the affections. The great things of sin, of 
 grace, and Christ, and eternity, which are of weight, 
 one would think, to move a rock ; yet shake not the 
 heart of the carnal professor, nor pierce his soul to the 
 
62 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 quick : though he should be a constant preacher of them 
 to others, yet they little affect himself: when he is 
 pressing them upon the hearts of others, you would 
 little think how insensible is his own soul : his invention 
 procureth him zealous and moving expressions, but they 
 cannot procure him answerable affections. 
 
 The things that the soul is thus convinced afld sensible 
 of, are especially these : — 
 
 1. The evil of siil. The sinner is made to know and 
 feel that the sin which was his delight, is a more loath- 
 some thing than toads or serpents, and a greater evil 
 than plague or famine, or any other calamity : it being 
 a breach of the righteous law of the Most High God, 
 dishonourable to him, and destructive to the sinner. 
 
 Now the sinner reads and hears the reproofs of sin, 
 as words of course ; but when you mention his sin, he 
 feels you speak at his very heart, and yet is contented 
 you should show him the worst : he was wont to marvel, 
 what made men keep such a stir against sin, what harm 
 it was for a man to take a little pleasure ; he saw no 
 such heinousness in it. But now the case is altered : 
 God hath opened his eyes to see its inexpressible 
 vileness. 
 
 2. The soul in this great work is convinced and sen- 
 sible, as of the evil of sin, so of its own misery by 
 reason of sin. They who before read the threats of 
 God's law, as men do the stories of foreign wars, now 
 find it is their own story, and perceive they read their 
 own doom, as if they found their names written in the 
 curse, or heard the law say, as Nathan, " Thou art the 
 man." The wrath of God seemed to him but as a storm 
 to a man in a dry house ; but now he finds the disease 
 is his own, and feels the pains in his own bowels. In a 
 word, he finds himself a condemned man, dead and 
 damned in point of law, and that nothing is wanting but 
 mere execution to make him absolutely and irrecover- 
 ably miserable. 
 
 Whether you will call this a work of the law or Gospel, 
 it is a woik of the Spirit wrought in some measure in 
 all the regenerate : and though some judge it unneces- 
 sary bondage, yet it is beyond my conceiving how he 
 should come to Christ for pardon that first found not 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 63 
 
 himself guilty and condemned : " The whole need not 
 the physician, but they that are sick." Yet I deny not 
 but the discovery of the remedy as soon as the misery 
 may prevent a great part of the trouble, and the distinct 
 effect on the soul to be with much more difficulty dis- 
 cerned : nay, the actings of the soul are so quick, and 
 oft so confused, that the distinct order of these work- 
 ings may not be apprehended or remembered at all ; 
 and perhaps the joyful apprehensions of mercy may 
 make the sense of misery the sooner forgotten. 
 
 3. So doth the Spirit also convince the soul of the 
 creature's vanity and insufficiency. Every man naturally 
 is a flat idolater. Our hearts were turned from God in 
 our first fall ; and ever since the creature hath been our 
 God : this is the grand sin of nature : when we set up 
 to ourselves a wrong end, we must needs err in all the 
 means. The creature is, to every unregenerate man, 
 his god : he ascribeth to it the Divine prerogatives, and 
 alloweth it the highest room in his soul ; or if ever he 
 come to be convinced of misery, he fleeth to it as his 
 Saviour. Indeed God and his Christ have usually the 
 name ; but the real expectation is from the creature, 
 and the work of God is laid upon it. His pleasure, his 
 profit, and his honour, is the natural man's trinity ; and 
 his self, that is these in unity : indeed, it is that flesh 
 that is the principal idol ; the other three are deified in 
 their relation to ourselves. It was our first sin to 
 aspire to be as gods ; and it is the greatest sin that runs 
 in our blood, and is propagated in our nature from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 When God should guide us, we guide ourselves ; when 
 he should be our sovereign, we rule ourselves. The 
 laws which he gives us, we find fault w ith ; and if we 
 had 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 care for ourselves : when we 
 should depend on him daily, we had rather keep our 
 stock ourselves, and have our portion in our own hands : 
 when we should stand at his disposal, we would be at 
 our own ; and when we should submit to his providence, 
 we usually quarrel at it : as if we knew better what is 
 good for us than he, or how to dispose all things more 
 
64 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 wisely. This is the language of a carnal heart, though 
 it doth not always speak out. When we should study 
 God, Ave study ourselves ; when we should mind God, 
 we mind ourselves ; when we should love God, we love 
 ourselves ; when we should trust God, we trust our- 
 selves ; Avhen we should honour God, we honour our- 
 selves ; when we should ascribe to God, and admire him, 
 we ascribe to, and admire ourselves ; and 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 admired and extolled 
 by all. 
 
 And thus we are naturally our own idols ; but down 
 falls this Dagon, when God does once renew the soul : 
 it is the great business of that great work to bring the 
 heart back to God. He convinceth the sinner, 1. That 
 the creature can neither be his God to make him ; 2. 
 Nor yet his Christ, to recover him from his misery, to 
 restore him to God, who is his happiness. This God 
 doth, not only by preaching, but by providence also ; 
 because words will hardly take off the raging senses, 
 therefore doth God make his rod to speak, and continue 
 speaking, till the sinner hear, and hath learned this 
 great lesson. 
 
 This is the great reason why affliction doth so ordi- 
 narily concur in the work of conversion: these real 
 arguments which speak to the quick, will force a hearing 
 when the most powerful words are slighted. When a 
 sinner made his credit his God, and God shall cast him 
 into the lowest disgrace ; or bring him that idolized his 
 riches into a condition wherein they cannot help him, 
 or cause them to take wings and fly away ; what a help 
 is here to this work of conviction? When a man that 
 made his pleasure his God, whether ease, or sports, or 
 mirth, or company, or gluttony, or drunkenness, or 
 clothing, or buildings ; or whatsoever a ranging eye, a 
 curious ear, a raging appetite, or a lustful heart could 
 desire, and God shall take these from him, or give him 
 their sting and curse with them, and turn them all into 
 gall and wormwood, what a help is here to conviction? 
 When God shall cast a man into a languishing sickness, 
 and inflict wounds and anguish on his heart, and stir up 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 65 
 
 against him his own conscience, and then as it were 
 take him by the hand, and lead him to credit, to riches, 
 to pleasure, to company, to sports, to whatsoever was 
 dearest to him, and say. Now try if these can help you ; 
 can these heal thy wounded conscience ? Can they now 
 support thy tottering cottage ? Can they keep thy 
 departing soul in thy body? or save thee from mine 
 everlasting wrath ? Will they prove to thee eternal 
 pleasure ? or redeem thy soul from the eternal flames ? 
 Cry aloud to them, and see now whether these will be 
 instead of God and his Christ unto thee. O how this 
 works with the sinner ! when sense itself acknowledgeth 
 the truth, and even the flesh is convinced of the crea- 
 ture's vanity. 
 
 4. The fourth thing that the soul is convinced and 
 sensible of, is the absolute necessity, the full sufficiency, 
 and perfect excellence of Jesus Chiist. 
 
 This conviction is not by mere argumentation, as a 
 man is convinced of some unconcerning consequence 
 by dispute ; but also by the sense of our desperate mi- 
 sery, as a man in a famine of the necessity of food ; or 
 a man that had read or heard his condemnation, is con- 
 vinced of the absolute necessity of a pardon. Now the 
 sinner finds himself in another case than ever he was 
 aware of: he feels an insupportable burden upon him, 
 and sees there is none but Christ can take it off": he 
 perceives that he is under the wrath of God, and that 
 the law proclaim.s him a rebel and outlaw, and none 
 but Christ can make his peace : he is as a man pur- 
 sued by a lion, that must perish if he find not present 
 sanctuary : he feels the curse doth lie upon him, and 
 upon all he hath, for his sake, and Christ alone can 
 make him blessed : he is now brought to this dilemma, 
 either he must have Christ to justify him, or be eter- 
 nally condemned ; he must have Christ to save him, or 
 burn in hell for ever ; he must have Christ to bring him 
 again to God, or to be shut out of his presence ever- 
 lastingly. And no wonder if he cry, as the martyr 
 Lambert, " None but Christ : none but Christ." It is 
 not gold but bread that will satisfy the hungry : nor 
 any thing but pardon that will comfort the condemned. 
 " All things are now but dross and dung : and what he 
 
66 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 counted gain, is now but loss in comparison of Christ:" 
 for as the sinner seeth his utter misery, and the disa- 
 bility of himself, and all things to relieve him ; so he 
 doth perceive that there is no saving mercy out of 
 Christ. There is none found in heaven or on earth that 
 can open the sealed book, save the Lamb ; without his 
 blood there is no remission, and without remission there 
 is no salvation. Could the sinner now make any shift 
 without Christ, or could any thing else supply his wants, 
 and save his soul, then might Christ be disregarded : 
 but now he is convinced that there is no other name, 
 and the necessity is absolute. 
 
 2. And as the soul is thus convinced of the necessity 
 of Christ, so also of his full sufficiency : he sees, though 
 the creature cannot, and himself cannot, yet Christ can. 
 Though the fig leaves of our own unrighteous righteous- 
 ness are too short to cover our nakedness, yet the 
 righteousness of Christ is large enough : ours is dispro- 
 portionable to the justice of the law, but Christ's doth 
 extend to every tittle : his sufferings being a perfect sa- 
 tisfaction to the law, and "all power in heaven and 
 earth being given to him," he is now able to supply 
 every of our wants, and "to save to the uttermost all 
 that come to him." 
 
 3. The soul is also here convinced of the perfect ex- 
 cellency of Jesus Christ, both as he is considered in 
 himself^, and as considered in relation to us : both as he 
 is the only way to the Father, and as he is the end, be- 
 ing one with the Father. Before, he knew Christ's 
 excellency as a blind man knows the light of the sun ; 
 but now aa one that beholdeth his glory. 
 
 And thus doth the Spirit convince the soul. 
 
 4. After this sensible conviction, the will discovereth 
 also its change ; and that in regard of all the foremen- 
 ticned objects. 
 
 1. The sin which the understanding pronounceth evil 
 the will doth turn from with abhorrency. Not that the 
 sensitive appetite is changed, or any way made to abhor 
 its object ; but when it would carry us to sin against 
 God, this disorder and evil the will abhorreth. 
 
 2. The misery also which sin hath procured, as he 
 discerneth, so he bewaileth. It is impossible that the 
 
67 
 
 soul now living, should look either on its trespass 
 against God, or its own self-procured calamity, without 
 some compunction. He that truly discerneth that he 
 hath killed Christ, and killed himself, will surely in 
 Bome measure be pricked to the heart. If he cannot 
 weep, he can heartily groan ; and his heart feels what 
 his understanding sees. 
 
 3. The creature he now renounceth as vain, and turn- 
 eth it out of his heart with disdain. Not that he under- 
 valueth it, or disclaimeth its use ; but its idolatrous 
 abuse, and its unjust usurpation. 
 
 There is a two-fold error very common in the de- 
 scriptions of the work of conversion. The one, of those 
 who only mention the sinner's turning from sin to God, 
 without mentioning the receiving Christ by faith. The 
 other, of those who only mention a sinner's believing, 
 and then think they have said all : nay, they blame them 
 as legalists, who make any thing but the bare believing 
 of the love of God in Christ to us to be part of the 
 work ; and would persuade poor souls to question all 
 their former comforts, and conclude the work to have 
 been only legal, because they have made their change 
 of heart, and turning from sin, part of it ; and have taken 
 up part of their comfort from the reviewing of these. 
 
 Indeed, should they take up here without Christ, or 
 take such a change instead of Christ, in whole or in part, 
 the reprehension were just. But can Christ be the way, 
 where the creature is the end ; is he not the only way 
 to the Father ? Can we seek to Christ to reconcile us 
 to God, while in our hearts we prefer the creature before 
 him ? In the soul of every unregenerate man, the crea- 
 ture is both God and Christ. Can Christ be believed in, 
 where our own righteousness, or any other thing, is 
 trusted as our saviour ? 
 
 The truth is ; as turning from the creature to God, 
 and not by Christ, is no true turning ; so believing in 
 Christ, while the creature hath our hearts, is no true be- 
 lieving. And therefore, in the work of self examination, 
 whoever would find in himself a thorough sincere work, 
 must find an entire work ; even the one of these as well 
 as the other. 
 
 In the review of which entire work, there is no doubt 
 
68 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 but his soul may take comfort. And it is not to be made 
 so light of, as most do, that Scripture doth so ordinarily 
 put repentance before faith, and make them jointly con- 
 ditions of the Gospel ; which repentance contains those 
 acts of the will before expressed. 
 
 It is true, if we take faith in the largest sense, then it 
 contains repentance in it ; but if we take it strictly, no 
 doubt there are some acts of it go before repentance, 
 and some follow after. 
 
 4. And as the will is thus averted from the foremen- 
 tioned objects ; so at the same time doth it cleave to 
 God the Father, and to Christ. Its first acting consists 
 especially in intending and desiring God for his portion 
 and chief good ; having before been convinced that no- 
 thing else can be his happiness, he now finds it in God; 
 and therefore looks toward it. But it is yet rather with 
 desire than hope. For alas, the sinner hath already 
 found himself to be a stranger and an enemy to God, 
 under the guilt of sin and curse of the law, and knows 
 there is no coming to him in peace till his case be altered ; 
 and therefore, having before been convinced also that 
 only Christ is able and willing to do this, and having 
 heard this mercy in the Gospel freely offered, his next 
 act is to accept of Christ as his Saviour and Lord. 
 
 Therefore both mistake ; they who only mention our 
 turning to Christ, and they who only mention our turn- 
 ing to God in this work of conversion. St. Paul's 
 preaching was "repentance toward God, and faith to- 
 ward our Lord Jesus Christ." And "life eternal con- 
 sists, first in knowing the only true God," and then 
 " Jesus Christ whom he hath sent," John xvii, 3. The 
 former is the natural part of the covenant, to take the 
 Lord only for our God. The latter is the supernatural 
 part, to take Christ only for our Redeemer. The former 
 is first necessary, and implied in the latter. 
 
 Though repentance and good works are required to 
 our full justification at judgment, as subservient to, or 
 concurrent with faith ; yet is the nature of this justifying 
 faith itself contained, in accepting of Christ for Saviour 
 and Lord. I call it accepting, it being principally an 
 act of the will ; but yet also of the whole soul ; this 
 accepting being that which the Gospel presseth to, and 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 69 
 
 calleth the receiving or accepting Christ; I call it an 
 affectionate accepting, though love seem distinct from 
 faith, yet I take it as essential to that faith that justifies. 
 To accept Christ without love, is not justifying faith. 
 Nor doth love follow as a fruit, but immediately concur, 
 as essential to a true accepting. 
 
 It is an accepting him for our Saviour and Lord. For 
 in both relations will he be received, or not at all. It 
 is not only to acknowledge his sufferings, and accept of 
 pardon and glory, but to acknowledge his sovereignty, 
 and submit to his government and way of saving. 
 
 The work (which Christ thus accepted of, to per- 
 form,) is to bring the sinners to God, that they may be 
 happy in him ; and this both really by his Spirit, and 
 relatively in reconciling them, and making them sons ; 
 and to present them perfect before him at last, and to 
 possess them of the kingdom. The obtaining of these 
 are the sinner's lawful ends in receiving Christ ; and to 
 these uses doth he offer himself to us. 
 
 5. To this end doth the sinner now enter into a cor- 
 dial covenant with Christ. But he was never strictly, 
 nor comfortably, in covenant with Christ till now. He 
 is sure Christ doth consent, and now doth he cordially 
 consent himself; and so the agreement is fully made. 
 
 6. With this covenant, concurs a mutual delivery ; 
 Christ delivereth himself in all comfortable relations to 
 the sinner, and the sinner delivereth up himself to be 
 saved and ruled by Christ. Now doth the soul resolv- 
 edly conclude, I have been blindly led by the flesh, the 
 world, and .the devil, too long, almost to my 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. And thus the complete work of saving faith con- 
 sisteth in this covenanting, or mystical marriage, of the 
 sinner to Christ. 
 
 Thus you have a naked enumeration of the essentials 
 of this people of God : not a full portraiture of them in 
 all their excellences, nor all the notes whereby they be 
 discerned. And though it will be part of the following 
 application to put you upon trial ; yet because the de- 
 scription is now before your eyes, and these evidencing 
 worlds are fresh in your memory, it will not be unsea- 
 
70 
 
 sonable to take an account of your own estates, and to 
 view yourselves exactly in this glass before you pass. 
 And I beseech thee, reader, as thou hast the hope of a 
 Christian, yea, or the reason of a man, to deal thorough- 
 ly, and search carefully, and judge thyself as one that 
 must shortly be judged ty the righteous God ; and faith- 
 fully ansv/er to these few questions : 
 
 And first, Hast thou been thoroughly convinced of a 
 universal depravation through thy whole soul ? And a 
 universal wickedness through thy whole life ? and how 
 vile a thing this sin is ? and that by the tenor of that 
 covenant which thou hast transgressed, the least sin de- 
 serves eternal death ? Dost thou consent to this law, 
 that it is true and righteous? Hast thou perceived thy 
 self sentenced to this death by it, and been convinced 
 of thy undone condition? Hast thou farther seen the 
 utter insufficiency of every creature, either to be itself 
 thy happiness, or the means of curing this thy misery, 
 and making thee happy in God ? Hast thou been con- 
 vinced, that thy happiness is only in God as the end ? 
 and only in Christ as the way to him ? and that thou 
 must be brought to God by Christ, or perish eternally ? 
 Hast thou seen hereupon an absolute necessity of enjoy- 
 ing Christ ? and the full sufficiency that is in him, to do 
 for thee whatsoever thy case requireth, by reason of the 
 fulness of his satisfaction, the greatness of his power, 
 the dignity of his person, and the freeness of his pro- 
 mises? Hast thou discovered the excellency of this 
 pearl, to be worth thy selling all to buy it ? Hath all 
 this been joined with some sensibility ? As ihe convic- 
 tions of a man that thirsteth, of the worth of drink? 
 And not been only a change of opinion produced by 
 reading and education, as a bare notion in the under- 
 standing ? Hath it proceeded to an abhorring sin ? 
 Have both thy sin and misery been a burden to thy 
 soul? and if thou couldst not weep, yet couldst thou 
 groan under the insupportable weight of both ? Hast 
 thou renounced all thine own righteousness ? Hast 
 thou turned thy idols out of thy heart, so that the crea- 
 ture hath no more the sovereignty, but God and Christ? 
 Dost thou accept of Christ as thy only Saviour, and ex- 
 pect thy justification, recovery, and glory, from him 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 71 
 
 alone ? Dost thou take him also for thy Lord and King ? 
 And are his laws the most powerful commanders of thy 
 soul ? Do they ordinarily prevail against the commands 
 of the flesh, of Satan, of the greatest on earth that shall 
 countermand? and against the interest of thy credit, 
 profit, pleasure, or life ; so that thy conscience is directly 
 subject to Christ alone? Hath he the highest room in 
 thy affections ; so that though thou canst not love him 
 as thou wouldst, yet nothing else is loved so much? 
 Hast thou made a hearty covenant to this end ? and de- 
 livered up thyself to him ? and takest thyself for his, and 
 not thine own ? Is it thy utmost care, and watchful en- 
 deavour, that thou mayest be found faithful in this cove- 
 nant ? If this be truly thy case, thou art one of the 
 people of God, and as sure as the promise of God is 
 true, this blessed rest remains for thee. Only see thou 
 abide in Christ, and continue to the end: "For if any 
 draw back, his soul will have no pleasure in them." 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 And thus I have explained to you the subject of my 
 text : and showed you darkly, what this rest is, and 
 briefly who are this people of God. O that the Lord 
 would now open your eyes to discern and be affected 
 with the glory revealed ! That he would take off your 
 hearts from those dung hill delights, and ravish them 
 with the views of these everlasting pleasures ! That he 
 would bring you into the state of his holy and heavenly 
 people, for whom alone this rest remaineth ! That you 
 would exactly try yourselves by the foregoing descrip- 
 tion ! That no soul of you might be so damnably de- 
 luded, as to take your natural or acquired parts for the 
 characters of a saint! O happy, and thrice happy you, 
 if these sermons might have such success with your 
 souls, that so you might " die the death of the righteous, 
 and your last end be like his !" 
 
 END OF THE FIRST PART. 
 
THE 
 
 SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 PART II. ' 
 
 " There remaincth therefore a rest to the people of God," Hebrews iv, 9. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I HAVE been hitherto presenting to your understand 
 ings the excellency of the rest of the saints. Let youi 
 hearts now cheerfully embrace it, and improve it, and 1 
 shall present it to you in its respective uses. 
 
 I will lay together all those uses that most concern 
 the ungodly, and then those that are proper to the godly 
 themselves. 
 
 THE INCONCEIVABLE MISERY OF THE UNGODLY IN THEIR LOSS OF 
 THIS REST. 
 
 And first. If this rest be for none but the people of 
 God, what tidings is this to the ungodly world? That 
 there is so much glory, but none for them ; so great joys 
 for the saints of God, while they must consume in per- 
 petual sorrows ! If thou "vvho readest these words art a 
 stranger to Christ, and to the holy nature and life of his 
 people, and shall live and die in the condition thou art 
 now in ; I am a messenger of the saddest tidings to thee 
 that ever yet thy ears did hear : that thou shalt never 
 partake of the joys of heaven, nor have the least taste 
 of the saints' eternal rest. I may say to thee, as Ehud 
 to Eglon, I have a message to thee from God : but it is 
 a mortal message, that as sure as the word of God is 
 true, thou shalt never see the face of God with comfort. 
 
 This sentence I am commanded to pass upon thee ! 
 Take it as thou wilt, and escape it if thou canst. I 
 know, if thy heart and life were thoroughly changed, 
 thy relation to Christ and eternity would be changed 
 also ; he would then acknowledge thee for one of his 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 73 
 
 people, and give thee a portion in the inheritance of his 
 chosen. But if thou end thy days in thy present condi- 
 tion, as sure as the heavens are over thy head, and the 
 earth under thy feet ; as sure as thou livest and breath- 
 est in this air, so sure shalt thou be shut out of this rest 
 of the saints, and receive thy portion in everlasting fire. 
 I expect that thou shouldst, in the pride of thy heart, 
 turn upon me, and say. And when did God show you 
 the book of life, or tell you who they are that shall be 
 saved, and who shut out ? 
 
 I will not answer thee according to thy folly; but 
 plainly discover this thy folly to thyself, that if there be 
 yet any hope, thou mayest recover thy understanding, 
 and return to God and live : First, I do not name thee 
 nor any other; I only conclude of the unregenerate in 
 general, and of thee conditionally, if thou be such a one. 
 Secondly, I do not go about to determine who shall re- 
 pent, and who shall not, much less, that thou shalt never 
 repent, and come to Christ. These things are unknown 
 to me ; I had far rather show thee what hopes thou hast 
 before thee, if thou wilt not sit still and lose them : and 
 I would far rather persuade thee to hearken in time, be- 
 fore the door is shut against thee, that so thy soul may 
 return and live, than tell thee that there is no hope of 
 thy repenting and returning. But if the foregoing de- 
 cription of the people of God does not agree with the 
 state of thy soul ; it is then a hard question, whether 
 thou shalt ever be saved ! even as hard a question as 
 whether God be true ! Do I need to ascend up into hea- 
 ven, to know, that " without holiness none shall see 
 God ?" or that " only the pure in heart shall see God ?" 
 or that "except a man be born again, he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of God ?" Cannot these be known 
 without searching into God's counsels? And yet dost 
 thou ask me, how I know who shall be saved ? What 
 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 prophets and apostles to tell us ? and hath left upon 
 record to all the world ? And though I do not know 
 the secrets of thy heart, and therefore cannot tell thee 
 by name, whether it be thy state or not ; yet if thou art 
 but willing or diligent, thou mayest know thyself whe- 
 4 
 
74 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 ther thou art an heir of heaven, or not. And that is the 
 main thing that I desire, that if thou be yet miserable, 
 thou mayest discern it, and escape it. But canst thou 
 escape, if thou neglect Christ and salvation ? " If thou 
 love father, mother, wife, children, houses, lands, or 
 thine own life, better than Christ ; if so, thou canst not 
 be his disciple." And consequently canst never be 
 saved by him. Is it not as impossible for thee to be 
 saved, " except thou be born again," as it is for the de- 
 vils themselves to be saved ? Nay, God hath more 
 plainly and frequently spoken it in the Scripture, .that 
 such sinners as thou shalt never be saved, than he hath 
 done, tliat the devils shall never be saved. And do not 
 these tidings go cold to thy heart ? Methinks, but that 
 there is yet life and hope before thee, and thou hast yet 
 time and means to have thy soul recovered, the sight of 
 thy case should even strike thee dead with amazement. 
 But because I would fain have thee, if it be possible, to 
 lay it to heart, I will here stay a little longer, and show 
 thee, first, the greatness of thy loss ; secondly, the ag- 
 gravations of thy unhappincss in this loss ; thirdly, the 
 positive miseries that thou must endure, with their ag- 
 gravations. 
 
 First, The ungodly, in their loss of heaven, lose all 
 that glorious personal perfection, which the- people of 
 God there enjoy. They lose that shining lustre of the 
 body, surpassing the brightness of the sun. Though 
 even the bodies of the v/icked will be raised incorrupt- 
 ible, yet that will be so far from being happiness to 
 them, that it only makes them capable of the more ex- 
 quisite torments. They would be glad then, if every 
 member were a dead member, that it might not feel the 
 punishment inflicted on it ; and the whole body were a 
 rotten carcass, or might again lie down in dust and dark- 
 ness. Much more do they want that moral perfection 
 which the blessed partake of; those holy dispositions; 
 that blessed conformity to the holiness of God ; that 
 cheerful readiness to do his will ; that perfect rectitude 
 of all their actions: instead of these, they have their old 
 ulcerous, deformed souls, that perverseness of will, that 
 disorder in their faculties, that loathing of good, that 
 love to evil, that violence of passion, which they had on 
 
75 
 
 earth. It is true, their understandings will be much 
 cleared, both by the ceasing of temptation and deluding 
 objects, and by the sad experience which they will have 
 in hell, of the falsehood of theii- former conceits and de- 
 lusions. But the evil disposition is never the more 
 changed ; they have the same disposition still, and fain 
 would commit the same sins, if they could ; they want 
 but opportunity. Certainly they shall have none of the 
 glorious perfections of the saints, either in soul or body. 
 There will be a greater difference between these 
 wretches and the glorified Christians, than there is be- 
 twixt a toad and the sun in the firmament. 
 
 Secondly, But the great loss of the damned, will be 
 their loss of God ; they shall have no comfortable rela- 
 tion to him, nor communion with him. As " they did 
 not like to retain God in their knowledge ;" but bid him 
 ♦' depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of 
 thy ways :" so God will abhor to retain them in his 
 household, or to give them entertainment in his fellow- 
 ship and glory. He will never admit them to the inhe- 
 ritance of his saints, nor endure them to stand among 
 them in his presence ; but bid them, " Depart from m.e, 
 ye workers of iniquity, I know you not." ' Now these 
 men dare belie the Lord, if not blaspheme, in calling 
 him by the title of their Father ; how boldly and confi- 
 dently do they daily approach him with their lips, and 
 indeed reproach him in their form9,l prayers, with that 
 appellation ? as if God would father the devil's children ; 
 or, as if the slighters of Christ, the friends of the world, 
 the haters of godliness, or any that delight in iniquity, 
 were the offspring of heaven ! They are ready now to 
 lay confident claims to Christ, as if they were sincere 
 believers. But when that time is comiC, and Christ will 
 separate 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, but their foe, because they would 
 not be his people. And as they would not consent that 
 God should, by his Spirit, dwell in them, so shall not 
 these evil doers dwell with him : the tabernacles of 
 wickedness shall have no fellowship with him ; nor the 
 wicked inhabit the city of God : "for without are dogs, 
 
76 
 
 sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and 
 whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie." God is first en- 
 joyed in part on earth, before he be fully enjoyed in hea- 
 ven. It is only they that walked with hitn here, who 
 shall live and be happy with him there. O, little doth 
 the world know what a loss that soul hath, who loseth 
 God ! What were the world but a dungeon, if it had lost 
 the sun ? .What were the body but a loathsome carrion, 
 if it had lost the soul ? Yet all these are nothing to the 
 loss of God. So that 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 enjoy- 
 ing of all ; so the loss of God is the loss of all. 
 
 Thirdly, As they lose God, so they lose all those 
 delightful affections and actions by which the blessed 
 feed on God : that transporting knowledge ; those ra- 
 vishing views of his glorious face ; the inconceivable 
 pleasure of loving God ; the apprehensions of his infi- 
 nite love to us ; the constant joys which his saints are 
 taken up with ; and the rivers of consolation wherewith 
 he doth satisfy them. Is it nothing to lose all this? 
 The employment of a king in ruling a kingdom doth 
 not so far exceed the employment of the vilest slave, as 
 this heavenly employment exceedeth his. 
 
 Fourthly, They shall be deprived of the blessed soci- 
 ety of angels and glorified saints. Instead of being 
 companions of those^ happy spirits, and numbered with 
 those joyful and triumphing kings, they must now be 
 members of the corporation of hell, where they shall 
 have companions of a far different nature. While they 
 lived on earth, they loathed the saints ; they imprisoned, 
 banished them, and cast them out of their societies, or 
 at least they would not be their companions in labour 
 and in sufferings ; and therefore they shall not now be 
 their companions in their glory. Now you are shut out 
 of that company, from which you first shut out your- 
 selves ; and are separated from them whom you would 
 not be joined with. You could not endure them in your 
 houses, nor in your town, nor scarce in the kingdom ; 
 you took them as Ahab did Elias, for the " troublers of 
 the land ;" and as the apostles were taken for " men 
 that turned the world upside down :" if any thing fell 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 77 
 
 out amiss, you thought all was through them. When 
 they were dead, or banished, you were glad they were 
 gone ; and thought the country was well rid of them. 
 They molested you with their faithful reproving your 
 sin ; their holy conversation troubled you. You scarce 
 ever heard them pray or sing praises in their families, 
 but it was a vexation to you ; and you envied their 
 liberty of worshipping God. And is it then any wonder 
 if you be separated from them hereafter ! The day is 
 near when they will trouble you no more : betwixt them 
 and you will be a great gulf set, that those that would 
 pass from thence to you (if any had a desire to ease you 
 with a drop of water) cannot, neither can they pass to 
 them, who would go from you. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE AGGRAVATION OF THE LOSS OF HEAVEN TO THE UNGODLY. 
 
 I KNOW many will be ready to think, if this be all, 
 they do not much care. What care they for losing the 
 perfections above ? What care they for losing God, his 
 favour, or his presence ? They lived merrily without 
 him on earth, and why should it be so grievous to be 
 without him hereafter ? And what care they for being 
 deprived of that love, and joy, and praising of God? 
 They never tasted sweetness in the things of that nature ; 
 or what care they for being deprived of the fellowship 
 of angels and saints ? They could spare their company 
 in this world well enough, and why may they not be 
 without it in the world to come ? To make these men 
 therefore understand the truth of their future condition, 
 I will here annex these two things : 
 
 1. I will show you why this loss will be intolerable, 
 and most tormenting then, though it seem as nothing 
 now. 
 
 2. I will show you what other losses will accompany 
 these ; which, though they are less in themselves, yet 
 will now be more sensibly apprehended. 
 
 • 1. Then that this loss of heaven will be most tor- 
 menting, may appear by these considerations : — 
 
78 THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 1. The understandings of the ungodly will be then 
 cleared, to know the worth of that which they have lost. 
 Now they lament not their loss of God, because they 
 never knew his excellence, nor the loss of that holy 
 employment and society, for they were never sensible 
 what they were worth. A man that hath lost a jewel, 
 and took it but for a common stone, is never troubled at 
 his loss ; but when he comes to know what he has lost, 
 then he lamenteth it. 
 
 Though the understandings of the damned will not 
 then be sanctified ; yet will they be cleared from a mul- 
 titude of errors. They think now that their honour, 
 their estates, their pleasures, their health and life, are 
 better worth their labour, than the things of another 
 world ; but when these things which had their hearts 
 have left them in misery, when they know by experi- 
 ence, the things which before they did but read and hear 
 of, they will be quite in another mind. They would not 
 believe that water would drown, till they were in the 
 sea ; nor that the fire would burn, till they were cast 
 into it ; but when they feel it, they will easily believe. 
 All that error of their mind which made them set light 
 by God, and abhor his worship, and vilify his people, 
 will then be removed by experience ; their knowledge 
 shall be increased, that their sorrows may be increased. 
 Doubtless those poor souls would be comparatively 
 happy, if their understandings 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 and misery would then 
 less trouble them. 
 
 How happy would they now think themselves, if they 
 did not know there is such a place as heaven ? Now, 
 when their knowledge would help to prevent their 
 misery, they will not know ; but then, when their know- 
 ledge will but feed their consuming fire, they shall know 
 whether they will or not. 
 
 2. The loss of heaven will more torment them, then, 
 because, as the understanding will be clearer, so it will 
 be more enlarged, and made more capacious, to conceive 
 of the worth of that glory which they have lost. The 
 strength of their apprehensions, as well as the truth of 
 
THE SA.INTS EVERLASTING REST. 79 
 
 them, will then be increased. What deep apprehensions 
 of the wrath of God, of the madness of sinning, of the 
 misery of sinners, have these souls that now endure this 
 misery, in comparison of those on earth that do but hear 
 of it ? What sensible apprehensions of the worth of 
 life, hath the condemned man that is going to be execu- 
 ted, in comparison of what he was wont to have in the 
 time of his prosperity? Much more will the actual 
 deprivation of eternal blessedness make the damned 
 exceeding apprehensive 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 now their shallow 
 capacity can do. 
 
 3. And as the damned will have deeper apprehensions 
 of the happiness they have lost, so will they have a 
 closer application of this doctrine to themselves, which 
 will exceedingly tend to increase their torment. It will 
 then be no hard matter for them to say, this is my loss, 
 and this is my everlasting misery. The want of this 
 is the main cause why they are now so little troubled at 
 their condition : 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 so 
 many sermons to be lost, and all threatenings and warn- 
 ings prove in vain. Let a minister of Christ show them 
 their misery never so plainly, they will not be persuaded 
 that they are so miserable. Let him tell them of the 
 glory they must lose, and the sufferings they must feel, 
 and they think it is not they whom he means. We find 
 in all our preaching, by sad experience, that it is one of 
 the hardest things in the world to bring a wicked man to 
 know that he is wicked ; a man that is in the way to 
 hell, to know that he is in that way ; or to make a man 
 see himself in a state of wrath and condemnation. How 
 seldom do we hear men,, after the plainest discovery of 
 their condemned state, cry out, " I am the man !" or to 
 acknowledge that if they die in their present condition, 
 they are undone for ever. 
 
 There is no persuading men of their misery till they 
 feel it, except the Spirit of the Almighty persuade them. 
 
 O, but when they find themselves suddenly in the 
 
80 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 land of darkness ; perceive, by the execution of the 
 sentence that they were indeed condemned, and feel 
 themselves in the scorching flames ; and see that they 
 are shut out of the presence of God for ever ; it will 
 then be no such difficult matter to convince them of 
 their misery. This particular application of God's 
 anger to themselves will then be the easiest matter in 
 the world ; then they cannot choose but know and apply 
 it, whether they will or not. 
 
 4. Again, as the understandings and consciences of 
 sinners will be strengthened, so will their affections be 
 more lively and enlarged ; as judgment will be no longer 
 blinded, nor conscience stifled, so the affections will be 
 no longer stupified. A hard heart now makes heaven 
 and hell seem but trifles : and when we have showed 
 them everlasting glory and misery, they are as men half 
 asleep, they scarce take notice what we say ; our words 
 are cast as stones against a hard wall, which fly back in 
 the face of him that casteth them. We talk of terribly 
 astonishing things, but it is to dead men that cannot 
 apprehend it : we speak to rocks rather than to men : 
 the earth will as soon tremble as they. But when these 
 dead wretches are revived, what passionate sensibility ! 
 what working affections ! what pangs of horror ! what 
 depth of sorrow will there then be ! How violently 
 will they fly in their own faces ! How will they rage 
 against their former madness ! The lamentations of the 
 most passionate wife for the loss of her husband, or of 
 the tenderest mother for the loss of her children, will 
 be nothing to theirs for the loss of heaven. O, the self- 
 accusing and self-tormenting fury of those forlorn 
 wretches ! How they will even tear their own hearts, 
 and be God's executioners upon themselves ! I am 
 persuaded, as it was none but themselves that committed 
 the sin, and themselves that were the meritorious cause 
 of their sufferings, so themselves will be the chief exe- 
 cutioners of those sufferings ; God will have it so for 
 the clearing of his justice ; even Satan himself, as he 
 was not so great a cause of their sinning as themselves, 
 so will he not be so great an instrument of their tor- 
 ment. How happy would you think yourselves then 
 if you were turned into rocks, or any thing that had 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 81 
 
 neither passion nor sense ! How happy were you, if 
 you could now feel as lightly as you were wont to hear ! 
 And if you could sleep out the time of execution, as 
 you did the time of the sermons that warned you of it ! 
 But your stupidity is gone, it will not be. 
 
 5. Moreover, it will much increase the torment of the 
 damned, that their memories will be as large and strong 
 as their understandings and affections. Were their loss 
 never so great, and their sense of it never so passionate, 
 yet if they could but lose the use of their memory, 
 those passions would die, and that loss, being forgotten, 
 would little trouble them. But as they cannot lay by 
 their life and being, so neither can they lay aside any 
 part of that being. ^ Understanding, conscience, affec- 
 tions, memory, must all live to torment them, which* 
 should have helped to their happiness. And 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 now feed upon the wrath of God, and draw 
 forth continually the pains of his absence. 
 
 And yet these men would never be brought to con- 
 sider. But in the latter days, saith the Lord, they shall 
 perfectly consider it; when they are ensnared in the 
 work of their own hands ; when God hath arrested 
 them, and judgment is passed upon them, and vengeance 
 is poured out upon them to the full, then they cannot 
 choose but consider it, whether they will or not. Now 
 they have no leisure to consider, nor any room in their 
 memories for the things of another life. But then they 
 shall have leisure enough, they shall be where they have 
 nothing else to do ; their memories shall have no other 
 employment ; it shall be engraven upon the tables of 
 their hearts. God would have had the doctrine of their 
 eternal state to have been written on the posts of their 
 doors, on their houses, on their hands, and on their 
 hearts : and seeing they rejected this counsel of the 
 Lord, therefore shall it be written always before them 
 in the place of their thraldom, that which way soever 
 they look, they may still behold it. 
 
 I will briefly lay down some of those considerations 
 which will thus feed the anguish of these damned 
 wretches. 
 
82 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 1. It will torment them to think of the greatness of 
 the glory which they have lost. O, if it had been that 
 which they could have spared, it had been a small 
 matter; or if it had been a loss reparable with any thing 
 else ; if it had been health, or wealth, or friends, or life, 
 it had been nothing ; but to lose " that exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory !" 
 
 2. It will torment them to think of the possibility that 
 once they were in of obtaining it. Then they will re- 
 member the time was, when I was in as fair a possibility 
 of the kingdom as others ; I was set upon the stage of 
 the world ; if I had played my part wisely and faith- 
 fully, now I might have had possession of the inherit- 
 ance ; I might have been among yonder blessed saints, 
 who am now tormented with these damned fiends ! The 
 Lord did set befoj-e me life and death, and having chosen 
 death, I deserve to sufter it. The prize was once held 
 out before me ; if I had run well, I might have obtained 
 it ; if I had striven, I might have had the mastery ; if I 
 had fought valiantly, I had been crowned. 
 
 3. It will yet more torment them to remember, not 
 only the possibility, but the great probability that once 
 they were in to obtain the crown. It will then wound 
 them to think. Why I had once the gales of the Spirit 
 ready to have assisted me. I was fully purposed to 
 have been another man, to have cleaved to Christ, and 
 to have forsook the world : I was almost resolved to 
 have been wholly for God : I had even cast off my old 
 companions, and yet I turned back, and lost my hold, 
 and broke my promises, and slacked my purposes ; al- 
 most God had persuaded me to be a real Christian, and 
 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 had 
 almost had it, and yet I have lost it ; if I had but fol- 
 lowed on to seek the Lord, and blown up the sparks of 
 desire which were kindled in me, I had now been 
 blessed among the saints. 
 
 4. Yet farther, it will much add to their torment to 
 remember that God himself did condescend to entreat 
 them ; how long he did wait, how freely he did offer, 
 how lovingly he did invite, and how importunately he 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 83 
 
 did solicit them ! how the Spirit did continue striving 
 with their hearts, as if he were loath to take a denial : 
 how Christ stood knocking at the door of their hearts, 
 sermon after sermon, and one Sabbath after another, 
 crying out. Open sinner, open thy heart to the Saviour, 
 and " I will come in and sup with thee, and thou with 
 me." Why dost thou thus delay ? What dost thou 
 mean that thou dost not open to me ? How long shall 
 it be till thou attain to innocency ? " How long shall 
 thy vain thoughts lodge within thee ?" Wo to thee, O 
 unworthy sinner ! Wilt thou not be made clean ? Wilt 
 thou not be pardoned, and sanctified, and made happy ? 
 When shall it once be ? O that thou wouldst hearken 
 to my word, and obey my Gospel ! " Then should thy 
 peace be as the river, and thy righteousness as the waves 
 of the sea : though thy sins were as red as crimson, I 
 would make them as white as the snow : O that thou 
 were but wise to consider this ! and that thou wouldst 
 in time remember thy latter end, before the evil days 
 come upon thee, and the years draw nigh, when thou 
 shalt say of all thy vain delights, I have no pleasure in 
 them !" Why, sinner ! shall thy Maker thus bespeak 
 thee in vain ? Shall the God of all the world beseech 
 thee to be happy, and beseech thee to have pity upon 
 thine own soul, and wilt thou not regard him ? Why 
 did he make thy ears, but to hear his voice ? Why did 
 he make thy understanding, but to consider ? Or thy 
 heart, but to entertain the Son in love ? " Thus saith 
 the Lord of hosts, consider thy ways." 
 
 O how all these passionate pleadings of Christ will 
 passionately transport the damned with self-indigna- 
 tion ! that they will be ready to tear out their own 
 hearts ! How fresh will the remembrance of them be 
 still in their minds, lancing their souls with renewed 
 torments ! What self-condemning pangs will it raise 
 within them, to remember how oft Christ would have 
 gathered them to himself, " even as the hen gathereth 
 her chickens under her wings, but they would not ?" 
 Then will they cry out against themselves. How justly 
 is all this befallen me ! Must I tire out the palience of 
 Christ? Must I make the God of heaven to follow me 
 in vain, till I had wearied him with crying to me. Repent^ 
 
84 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 return ? Must the Lord of all the world thus wait upon 
 me, and all in vain ? O how justly is that patience now 
 turned into fury, which falls upon my soul with irre- 
 sistible violence ! When the Lord cried out to me in 
 his v/ord, " How long will it be before thou wilt be 
 made clean and holy ?" my heart, or at least my prac- 
 tice, answered, Never ; I will never be so precise : and 
 now when I cr)^ out, " How long will it be till I be freed 
 from this torment, and saved Math the saints ?" how 
 justly do I receive the answer, Never, never ! O sinner, 
 I beseech thee, for thy own sake, think of this while the 
 voice of mercy soundeth in thine ears ! Yet patience 
 contirmeth waiting upon thee ; canst thou think it will 
 do so still ? Yet the offers of Christ and life are made 
 to thee in the Gospel, and the hand of God is stretched 
 out to thee ; but will it still be thus ? The Spirit hath 
 not yet done striving with thy heart ; but dost thou 
 know how soon he may turn away, and give thee over 
 to a reprobate mind ? Thou hast yet life, and time, and 
 strength, and means ; but dost thou think that this life 
 will always last ? O " seek the Lord while he may be 
 found, and call upon him while he is near : he that hath 
 an ear to hear, let him hear" what Christ now speaketh 
 to his soul. And " to-day, while it is called to-day, 
 harden not your hearts, lest he swear in his wrath that 
 y^ou shall never enter into his rest." For ever blessed 
 IS he that hath a hearing heart and ear, while Christ 
 hath a calling voice. 
 
 5. Again, it will be a most cutting consideration to 
 these to remember on what easy terms they might have^ 
 escaped their misery. If their work had been to re- 
 move mountains, to conquer kingdoms, then the impos- 
 sibility would somewhat assuage the rage of their self- 
 accusing conscience. If their conditions for heaven had 
 been the satisfying of justice for all their transgressions, 
 the suffering of all the law did lay upon them, or bearing 
 the burden which Christ was fain to bear ; this were 
 nothing but to suffer hell to escape hell. But their con- 
 ditions were of another nature. The yoke was light, 
 and the burden was easy, which Jesus Christ would have 
 laid upon them ; his commandments were not grievous. 
 It was but to repent, and accept him as their Saviour ; 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 85 
 
 to study his will, and seek his face ; to renounce all 
 other happiness but that which he procureth us, and to 
 take the Lord alone for our supreme good ; to renounce 
 the government of the world and the flesh, and to sub- 
 mit to his meek and gracious government ; to forsake 
 the ways of our own devising, and to Avalk in his holy, 
 delightful way ; to engage ourselves to this by covenant 
 with him, and to continue faithful in that covenant. 
 
 These were the terms on which they might have 
 enjoyed the kingdom. And was there any thing unrea- 
 sonable in all this? Was it a hard bargain to have 
 heaven upon these conditions ? 
 
 When the poor wretch shall look back upon these 
 easy terms which he refused, and compare the labour 
 of them with the pains and loss which he there sus- 
 taineth, it cannot be now conceived how it will rend his 
 very heart ! Ah, thinks he, how justly do I suffer all 
 this, who would not be at so small pains to avoid it. 
 Where was my understanding when I neglected thy 
 gracious oflfer ; when I called the Lord a hard master, 
 and thought his pleasant service to be a bondage, and 
 the service of the devil and my flesh to be the only 
 freedom ? Was I not a thousand times worse than mad, 
 when I censured the holy way of God as needless pre- 
 ciseness ? and cried out on it, as an intolerable burden ? 
 When I thought the laws of Christ too strict, and all too 
 much that I did for the life to come ? O what had all 
 the trouble of duty been, in comparison of the trouble 
 I now sustain ? or all the sufferings for Christ and well 
 doing, in comparison of these sufferings that I must 
 undergo for ever? What if I had spent my days in the 
 strictest life? What if I had lived still upon my knees? 
 What if I had lost my credit with m.en ? and been hated 
 of all men for the sake of Christ? and borne the re- 
 proach of the foolish ? What if I had been imprisoned, 
 or banished, or put to death ? O what had all this been 
 to the miseries that I now suffer ! Would not the heaven 
 which I have lost, have recompensed all my losses ? and 
 should not all my suff*erings have been there forgotten ? 
 What if Christ had bid me do some great matter; as to 
 live in continual tears and sorrow, to suffler death a hun- 
 dred times over, (which yet he did not ;) should I not 
 
86 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 have done it? How much more when he said, but 
 *' beheve, and be saved : seek my face, and thy soul 
 shall live : love me above all, walk in my sweet and 
 holy way, take up thy cross and follow me, and I Avill 
 save thee from the wrath of God, and I will give thee 
 everlasting life." O gracious offer ! O easy terms ! 
 O cursed wretch, that would not be persuaded to accept 
 them ! 
 
 6. This also will be a most tormenting consideration, 
 to remember what they sold their eternal welfare 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 a few 
 pleasant cups, or sweet morsels, a little ease, or low de- 
 light to the flesh ; and then to think of everlasting glory ! 
 What a vast difference between them will then appear ! 
 To think, this is all I had for my soul, my God, my 
 hopes of blessedness ! It cannot possibly be expressed 
 how these thoughts will tear his 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 little silver? O for how small a matter 
 have I parted with my happiness ! I had but a dream of 
 delight, for my hopes of heaven : and now I am awaked, 
 it is all vanished : where are now my honours and at- 
 tendance ? My morsels are now turned to gall, and my 
 cups to wormwood. They delighted me no longer than 
 while they were passing down : and is this all I have 
 had for the inestimable treasure ? O what a mad ex- 
 change 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 up my part of glory ! O 
 that sinners Avould think of this, when they are swim- 
 ming in delights, and studying to be rich and honoura- 
 ble ! When they are desperately venturing upon known 
 transgression, and sinning against the checks of con- 
 science ! 
 
 7. Yet much more will it add unto their torment, 
 when they consider that all this was their own doings, 
 and that they wilfully procured their own destruction : 
 had thev been forced to sin, it would much abate the 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 87 
 
 rage of their consciences, or if they were punished for 
 another man's transgressions : or if any other had been 
 the chief author of their ruin : but to think that it was 
 the choice of their own wills, and that God had set them 
 in so free a condition, that none in the world could have 
 forced them to sin against their wills, this will be a 
 griping thought. What! (thinks this wretched crea- 
 ture,) had I not enemies enough in the world, but I must 
 be an enemy to myself? God would give neither the 
 devil, nor the world, so much power over me, as to 
 force me to commit the least transgression. If I had 
 not consented, their temptations had been in v^in ; they 
 could but entice me, it was myself that yielded, and did 
 the evil ; and I must needs lay hands upon my own 
 soul, and imbrue my hands in my own blood. Who 
 should pity me, who pitied not myself, and who brought 
 all this r.pon mine own head ? Never did God do me 
 any good, or offer me any for the welfare of my soul, 
 but I resisted him : he hath heaped mercy upon me, and 
 renewed one deliverance after another, to entice my 
 heart to him, and yet was I never heartily willing to 
 serve him : he hath gently chastised me, and made me 
 groan under the fruit of my disobedience, and yet, 
 though I promised largely in my affliction, I was never 
 unfeignedly willing to obey him. 
 
 Thus will it gnaw the hearts of these wretches, to re- 
 member that they were the cause of their undoing ; and 
 that they wilfully and obstinately persisted in their re- 
 bellion, and were mere volunteers in the service of the 
 devil. They Avould venture, they would go on, they 
 would not hear him that spoke against it : God called to 
 them to hear and stay, but they would not : men called, 
 conscience called, and said to them, (as Pilate's wife,) 
 Have nothing to do with that hateful sin ; for I have 
 suffered many things because of it : but they would not 
 hear ; their will was their law, their rule, and their ruin. 
 
 8. Lastly, It will yet make the wound in their con- 
 sciences much deeper, when they shall remember that 
 it was not only their own doing, but that they were at 
 so much cost and pains for theii* own damnation. What 
 great undertakings did they engage in to effect their 
 ruin, to resist God, to conquer the Spirit, to overcome 
 
88 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 the power of mercies, judgments, and the word itself, 
 to silence conscience ? All this they did take upon 
 them and perform. What a number of sins did they 
 manage at once ! What difficulties did they set upon ! 
 Even the conquering the power of reason itself. What 
 dangers did they adventure on ! Though they walked 
 in continual danger of the wrath of God, and knew he 
 could lay them in the dust in a moment ; though they knew 
 they lived in danger of eternal perdition, yet would they 
 run upon all this. What did they forsake for the ser- 
 vice of Satan, and the pleasures of sin 1 They forsook 
 their God, their conscience, their best friends, their 
 hopes of salvation. 
 
 O the labour that it costeth poor wretches to be 
 damned ! Sobriety they might have at a cheaper rate, 
 and a great deal of health and ease too ; and yet they 
 will rather have gluttony and drunkenness, with poverty, 
 and shame, and sickness, with the outcries and lamenta- 
 tions of wife, and children, and conscience itself. Con- 
 tentedness they might have, with ease and delight : yet 
 will they rather have covetousness and ambition ; though 
 it cost them study, and cares, and fears, and labour of 
 body and m.ind, and continual unquietness, and destruc- 
 tion of spirit. Though their anger be nothing but a 
 tormenting themselves, and revenge and envy consume 
 their spirits, and keep them upon a continual rack ; 
 though uncleanness destroy their bodies, and estates, 
 and names ; yet will they do and suffer all this, rather 
 than suffer their souls to be saved. 
 
 O how the reviews of this will feed the flames in hell ! 
 With what rage will these damned wretches curse them- 
 selves, and say. Was damnation worth all this cost and 
 pains ? Was it not enough that I perished through my 
 negligence, and that I sat still while Satan played his 
 game, but I must seek so diligently my own perdition ? 
 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 ? How well is all my 
 care, and pains, and violence, now requited ! Must I 
 work out so laboriously my own damnation, when God 
 commanded me to work out my salvation ? O, if I had 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 89 
 
 done as much for heaven as I did for hell, I liad surely- 
 had it. I cried out of the tedious way of godliness ; 
 and yet I could be at more pains for Satan, and for 
 death. If I had loved Christ as strongly as I did my 
 pleasures, and profits, and honours, and thought on him 
 as often, and sought him as painfully, O how happy had 
 I now been ! But justly do I suffer the flames of hell, 
 who would rather buy them so dear, than have heaven 
 when it was purchased to my hands. 
 
 Thus I have showed you some of those thoughts 
 which will aggravate the misery of these wretches for 
 ever. O that God would persuade thee, who readest 
 these words, to take up these thoughts now, for the pre- 
 venting that inconceivable calamity, so that thou may- 
 est not take them up in hell as thy own tormentor. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THEY SHALL LOSE ALL THINGS THAT ARE COMFORTABLE, AS WELL 
 AS HEAVEN. 
 
 Having showed you those considerations which will 
 then aggravate their misery, I am next to show you their 
 additional losses, which will aggravate it. For as " god- 
 liness hath the promise both of this life, and that which 
 is to come ;" and as God hath said, " That if we first 
 seek his kingdom and righteousness, all things else shall 
 be added to us ;" so also are the ungodly threatened 
 with the loss both of spiritual and of corporal blessings ; 
 and because they sought not first Christ's kingdom and 
 righteousness, therefore shall they lose both it, and that 
 which they did seek, and there shall be taken from them 
 even that little which they have. If they could but have 
 kept their present enjoyments, they would not have 
 much cared for the los-s of heaven : but catching at the 
 shadow for the substance, they now find they have lost 
 both ; and that when they rejected Christ, they rejected 
 all things. If they had lost and forsaken all for Christ, 
 they would have found all again in him ; for he would 
 have been all in all to them : but now they have for- 
 
90 THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 saken Christ for other things, they shall lose Christ, and 
 that also for which they did forsake him. 
 
 But I will particularly open to you some of their other 
 losses. 
 
 1. They shall lose their present conceit of their 
 interest in God, and of his favour toward them, and 
 of their part in the merits and sufferings of Christ. 
 This false belief doth now support their spirits, and 
 defend them from the terrors that would else seize 
 upon them : but what will ease their trouble when this 
 is gone ? When they can believe no longer, they will 
 be quiet no longer. If a man conceit that he is in 
 safety, his conceit may make him cheerful till his 
 misery comes, and then both his conceit and comforts 
 vanish. 
 
 There is none of this believing in hell ; nor any per- 
 suasion of pardon or happiness, nor any boasting of 
 their honesty, nor justifying themselves. This was but 
 Satan's stratagem, that, being blindfold, they might fol- 
 low him the more boldly ; but then he will uncover 
 their eyes, and they shall see where they are. 
 
 2. Another addition to the misery of the damned will 
 be this : that Avith the loss of heaven, they shall lose all 
 their hopes. In this life, though they were threatened 
 with the wrath of God, yet their hope of escaping it did 
 bear up their hearts. We can now scarce speak with 
 the vilest drunkard, or swearer, or scorner, but he hopes 
 to be saved for all this. O happy world ! if salvation 
 were as common as this hope ; even those whose hellish 
 nature is written in the face of their conversation, whose 
 tongues plead the cause of the devil, and speak the lan- 
 guage of hell, yet strongly hope for heaven ; though 
 the God of heaven hath told them no such shall ever 
 come there. Nay, so strong are men's hopes, that they 
 will dispute the cause with Christ himself at judgment, 
 and plead " their eating and drinking in his presence, 
 their preaching in his name, and casting out devils ;" 
 (and these are more probable arguments than our bap- 
 tism, and common profession and name of Christians ;) 
 they will stiffly deny that ever they "neglected Christ 
 in hunger, nakedness, or prison," till Christ confute 
 them with the sentence of their condemnation. Though 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 91 
 
 the heart of their hopes will be broken at their death ; 
 yet, it seems, they would fain plead for such hope at the 
 general judgment. 
 
 But, O the sad state of these men, when they must bid 
 farewell to all their hopes ! when their hopes shall all 
 perish with them ! " The eyes of the wicked shall fail, 
 and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost." 
 The giving up of the ghost is a Jfit, but terrible, resem- 
 blance of a wicked man's giving up his hopes. 
 
 For, first, As the soul departeth not from the body 
 without the greatest pain, so doth the hope of the wick- 
 ed depart. O the pangs that seize upon the soul of the 
 sinner at death and judgment, when he is parting with 
 all his hopes ! 
 
 Secondly, The soul departeth from the body sud- 
 denly, in a moment, which hath there delightfully con- 
 tinued so many years ; just so doth the hope of the 
 wicked depart. 
 
 Thirdly, The soul which then departed will never 
 return to live with the body in this world any more ; 
 and the hope of tl.e wicked, when it departeth, taketh 
 an everlasting farewell of his soul. A miracle of resur- 
 rection shall again conjoin the soul and body, but there 
 shall be no such miraculous resurrection of the damned's 
 hope. 
 
 Methinks it is the most doleful spectacle that this 
 world affords, to see an ungodly person dying ; his soul 
 and hopes departing together ! With what a sad change 
 he appears in another world ! Then if a man could but 
 speak with that hopeless soul, and ask it, Are you now 
 as confident of salvation as you were wont to be ? Do 
 you now hope to be saved as soon as the most godly ? 
 O what a sad answer would he return ! 
 
 O that careless sinners would be awakened to think 
 of this in time ! If thou be one of them, who art reading 
 these lines, I do here, as a friend, advise thee, that as 
 thou wouldst not have all thy hopes deceive thee, when 
 thou hast most need, thou presently try them, whether 
 they will prove current at the touchstone of the Scrip- 
 ture ; and if thou find them unsound, let them go, what- 
 soever sorrow they cost thee. Rest not till thou canst 
 give a reason of all thy hopes ; till thou canst prove 
 
93 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 that they are the hopes which grace, and not nature, 
 haih wrought ; that they are grounded upon Scripture 
 promises ; that they purify thy heart; that they quicken, 
 and not cool, thy endeavours in godliness ; that the more 
 thou hopest, the less thou sinnest, and the more painful 
 thou art in following on the work, and not grown more 
 loose and careless by the increasing of thy hopes ; that 
 thou art willing to have them tried, and fearful of being 
 deceived ; that they stir up thy desires of enjoying what 
 thou hopest for, and the deferring thereof is the trouble 
 of thy heart. 
 
 There is a hope which is a singular grace and duty ; 
 and there is a hope which is a notorious, dangerous sin : 
 so, consequently, there is a despair which is a grievous 
 sin ; and there is a despair which is absolutely necessary 
 to thy salvation. 
 
 I would not have thee despair of the sufficiency of the 
 blood of Christ to save thee, if thou believe and heartily 
 obey him ; nor of the willingness of God to pardon and 
 save thee, if thou be such a one; nor yet absolutely of 
 thy own salvation, because while there is life and time 
 there is hope of thy conversion, and so of thy salvation ; 
 nor would I draw thee to despair of finding Christ, if 
 thou do but heartily seek him : but this is the despair 
 that I would persuade thee to, as thou lovest thy soul ; — 
 that thou despair of ever being saved, except thou be 
 born again ; or of seeing God, without holiness ; or es- 
 caping perishing, except thou suddenly repent; or of 
 ever having part in Christ, except thou love him above 
 father, mother, or thy own life ; or of ever truly loving 
 God, or being his servant, while thou lovest the world, 
 and servest it. 
 
 These things I would have thee despair of, and what- 
 ever else God hath told thee shall never come to pass. 
 And when thou hast sadly searched into thy own heart, 
 and findest thyself in any of these cases, I would have 
 thee despair of ever being saved in that state thou art in. 
 This kind of despair is one of the first steps to heaven. 
 
 Consider, if a man be quite out of his way, what must 
 be the first means to bring him in again ? Why, a de- 
 spair of ever coming to his journey's end in the way that 
 he is in. If his home be eastward, and he be going 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 93 
 
 westward, as long as he hopes he is in the right, he will 
 go on ; and as long as he goes on hoping, he goes far- 
 ther amiss. Therefore, when he meets with somebody 
 that assures him that he is clean out of his way, and 
 brings him to despair of coming home except he turn 
 back again, then he will return, and then he may hope. 
 
 Why, sinner, just so it is with thy soul ; thou art out 
 of" the way to heaven, and in that way thou hast pro- 
 ceeded many a year ; yet thou goest on quietly, and 
 hopest to be saved, because thou art not so bad as many 
 others. Why, I tell thee, except thou throw away these 
 hopes, and see that thou hast all this while been quite 
 out of the way to heaven : I say, till thou be brought to 
 this, thou wilt never return and be saved. Who will 
 turn out of his way while he hopes he is right ? Re- 
 member what I say ; — till thou feel God convincing thee, 
 that the way thou hast lived in will not serve thy turn, 
 and so break down thy former hopes, there is yet no 
 saving work wrought upon thee, how well soever thou 
 mayest hope of thyself. Yea, thus much more, if any 
 thing keep thy soul out of heaven, there is nothing in 
 the world likelier to do it than thy false hopes of being 
 saved, while thou art out of the way to salvation. 
 
 3. Another additional loss, aggravating their loss of 
 heaven, is this, they shall lose all their carnal mirth ; 
 they will say to themselves, (as Solomon doth,) " of 
 their laughter, thou art mad ; and of their mirth, what 
 didst thou ?" Eccles. ii, 2. Their pleasant conceits are 
 then ended, and their merry tales are all told ; " their 
 mirth was but as the crackling of thorns under a pot," 
 Eccles. vii, 6. It made a blaze for a while, but it was 
 presently gone, and will return no more. They scorned 
 to entertain any saddening thoughts : the talk of death 
 and judgment was irksome to them, because it damped 
 their mirth : they could not endure to think of their sin 
 or danger, because these thoughts did sad their spirits : 
 they knew not what it was to weep for sin, or to humble 
 themselves under the mighty hand of God : they could 
 laugh away sorrow, and sing away cares, and drive away 
 these melancholy thoughts : they thought if they should 
 meditate, and pray, and mourn, as the godly do, their 
 lives would be a continual misery. 
 
94 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 Alas, poor souls ! what a misery then will that life 
 be, where you shall have nothing but sorrow ; intense, 
 heart-piercing, multiplied sorrow ? When you shall have 
 neither the joys of the saints, nor your own former joys ? 
 Do you think there is one merry heart in hell ? or one 
 joyful countenance, or jesting tongue ? You cry now, 
 *' A little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow :" but 
 surely a little godly sorrow, which would have ended in 
 eternal joy, had been more worth than a great deal of 
 your foolish mirth, which will end in sorrow. 
 
 4. Another additional loss will be this : they shall lose 
 all their sensual delights ; that which they esteemed 
 their chief good, their heaven, their false god, must they 
 lose, as well as God himself. 
 
 O what a fall will the proud ambitious man have from 
 the top of his honours ! As his dust and bones will not 
 be known from the dust and bones of the poorest beg- 
 gars, so neither will his soul be honoured or favoured 
 any more than theirs. What a number of the great, 
 noble, and learned, are now shut out of the presence of 
 Christ ! They are shut out of their well contrived 
 houses, and sumptuous buildings ; their comely cham- 
 bers, with costly hangings ; their soft beds, and easy 
 couches. They shall not find their gallant walks, their 
 curiou^ gardens with variety of beauteous fruits and 
 flowers, their rich pastures, and pleasant meadows, and 
 plenteous harvest, and flocks, and herds. Their tables 
 will not be so spread and furnished, nor they so punctu- 
 ally attended and observed. They have not their va- 
 riety of dainty fare, oi several courses, to please their 
 appetites to the full. The rich man there fareth not de- 
 liciously every day, neither shall he wear there his pur- 
 ple and fine linen. 
 
 O that sinners would remember this in the midst of 
 their jollity, and say to one another. We must shortly 
 reckon for this. Will the remembrance of it then be 
 comfortable or terrible ? Will these delights accompany 
 us to another world ? How shall we look each other in 
 the face, if we meet in hell ? Will not the memorial of 
 them be then our torment ? Come, as we have sinned 
 together, let us pray together before we stir, that God 
 would pardon us, and let us enter into a promise with 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 95 
 
 one another that we will do thus no more, but will meet 
 together in the worship of God, and help one another 
 toward heaven, as oft as we have met for our sinful mer- 
 riments, in helping to deceive and destroy each other. 
 This would be the way to prevent this sorrow, and a 
 course that would comfort you when you look back 
 upon it hereafter. 
 
 CHAFfER IV. 
 
 THE GREATNESS OP THE TORMENTS OF THE DAMNED DISCOVERED. 
 
 Having thus showed you how great their loss is who 
 are shut out of rest, and how it will be aggravated by 
 those additional losses which will accompany it; I 
 should next here show you the greatness of those posi- 
 tive sufferings which will accompany this loss. But I 
 will not meddle with the quality of those sufferings, but 
 only show their greatness in some few discoveries, lest 
 the careless sinner, while he hears of no other punish- 
 ment but that of loss, should think he can bear that well 
 enough. That there are besides the loss of happiness, 
 actual, sensible torments for the damned, is a matter 
 beyond all doubt ; and that they will be exceeding great, 
 may appear by these arguments following : — 
 
 1. From the principal author of them, which is God 
 himself: as it was no less than God whom the sinners 
 had offended, so it is no less than God that will punish 
 them for their offences. He hath prepared those tor- 
 ments for his enemies. His continued anger will still 
 be devouring them. His breath of indignation will 
 kindle the flames. His wrath will be an intolerable 
 burden to their souls. If it were but a creature that 
 they had to do with, they might better bear it. But wo 
 to him that falls under the strokes of the Almighty ! 
 They shall feel to their soirow "that it is a fearful 
 thing to fall into the hands of the living God." It were 
 nothing in comparison to this, if all the world were 
 against them, or if the strength of all the creatures were 
 united in one to inflict their penalty. What a consuming 
 
96 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 fire is his wrath ! " If it be kindled here, and that but 
 a little," how do we wither before it, " as the grass that 
 is cut down before the sun !" How soon doth our 
 strength decay, and turn to weakness, and our beauty to 
 deformity ! The flames do not so easily run through the 
 dry stubble, as the wrath of God will feed upon these 
 wretches. O, they that could not bear a prison, or a 
 gibbet for Christ, scarce a few scorns, how will they 
 now bear the devouring fire ! 
 
 2. The place or state of torment is purposely or- 
 dained for the glorifying God's justice. As all the 
 works of God are great and wonderful, so those, above 
 all, which are specially intended for the eminent advan- 
 cing of some of his attributes. When he will glorify 
 his power, he makes the worlds. The comely order of 
 all and singular creatures declares his wisdom. His 
 providence is shown in sustaining all things, and main- 
 taining order, and attending his excellent ends, among 
 the confused, perverse, tumultuous agitations of a world 
 of wicked, foolish, self-destroying miscreants. When 
 a spark of his wrath doth kindle upon the earth, the 
 whole world, save only eight persons are drowned ; 
 Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, are burned 
 with fire from heaven to ashes ; the sea shuts her mouth 
 upon some ; the earth doth open and swallow others ; 
 the pestilence destroyeth them by thousands. The 
 present deplorable state of the Jews may fully testify 
 this to the world. And yet the glorifying of the two 
 great attributes of mercy and justice is intended most 
 eminently for the life to come. As, therefore, when God 
 will purposely glorify his mercy, he will do it in a way 
 that is now beyond the comprehension of the saints that 
 must enjoy it ; so that the blood of his Son, and the 
 enjoyment of himself immediately in glory, shall not be 
 thought too high an honour for them : so, also, when the 
 time comes that he will purposely manifest his justice, 
 it shall appear to be indeed the justice of God. The 
 everlasting flames of hell will not be thought too hot 
 for the rebellious : and when they have there burned 
 through millions of ages, he will not repent him of the 
 evil which is befallen them. O, wo to the soul that is 
 thus set up for a butt for the wrath of the Almighty to 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 97 
 
 shoot at ! and for a bush that must burn in the flames 
 of his jealousy, and never be consumed ! 
 
 3. Consider who shall be God's executioners of their 
 torment : and that is, first, Satan ; secondly, themselves. 
 First, he that was here so successful in drawing them 
 from Christ, will then be the instrument of their punish- 
 ment for yielding to his temptations. It was a pitiful 
 sight to see the man possessed, that was bound with 
 chains, and lived among tombs ; and that other that 
 would be cast into the fire, and into the water : but 
 alas ! that was nothing to the torment that Satan puts 
 them to in hell : that is the reward he will give them for 
 all their service ; for their rejecting the commands of 
 God, and forsaking Christ, and neglecting their souls at 
 his persuasion. Ah, if they had served Christ, as faith- 
 fully as they did Satan, he would have given them a 
 better reward. Secondly, and it is most just also, that 
 they should there be their own tormentors, that they 
 may see that their whole destruction is of themselves : 
 and they who were wilfully the meritorious cause, 
 should also be the efficient in their own sufferings ; and 
 then whom can they complain of but themselves ? 
 
 4. Consider also that their torment will be universal, 
 not upon one part alone, while the rest are free ; but as 
 all have joined in the sin, so must all partake of the 
 torment. The soul, as it was the chief in sinning, shall 
 be the chief in suffering : and as it is of a more sj^iritual 
 and excellent nature than bodies are, so will its torments 
 far exceed bodily sufferings. And as the joys of the 
 soul far surpass all sensual pleasures, so the pains of the 
 soul surpass corporal pains. 
 
 And it is not only a soul, but a sinful soul, that must 
 suffer : the guilt which stUl remains upon it will make 
 it fit for the wrath of God to work upon. As fire will 
 not burn, except the fuel be combustible; but if the 
 wood be dry, how fiercely will it burn then ! The guilt 
 of their sins will be as tinder to gunpowder to the 
 damned soul, to make the flames of hell take hold upon 
 them with fury. 
 
 And as the soul, so also the body, must bear its part. 
 That body that must needs be pleased, whatsoever 
 became of its eternal safety, shall now be paid for its 
 5 
 
98 THE saints' everlasting RESTc 
 
 unla\Yful pleasures. That body which was so carefully 
 looked to, so tenderly cherished ; that body which could 
 not endure heat or cold, or an ill smell, or a loathsome 
 sight : O what must it now endure ! How are its 
 haughty looks now taken down ! how little will those 
 flames regard its comeliness and beauty ! But as death 
 did not regard it, nor the worms regard it, but as freely 
 fed upon the face of the proud and lustful dames, and 
 the heart of the most ambitious lords and princes, as if 
 they had been but beggars ; so will their tormentors 
 then as little pity their tenderness, or reverence their 
 lordliness. Those eyes which were wont to be delighted 
 with curious sio;hts, must then see nothing but what shall 
 amaze and terrify them ; an angry God above them, and 
 those saints whom they scorned, enjoying the glory 
 Avhich they have lost; and about them will be only 
 devils and damned souls. Ah ! then how sadly will they 
 look back and say. Are all our feasts, our games, and 
 revels come to this ! Then those ears which were wont 
 to be delighted with music, shall hear the shrieks and 
 cries of their damned companions ; children crying out 
 against their parents that gave them encouragement and 
 example in evil ; husbands crying out upon their wives, 
 and Avives upon their husbands ; masters and servants 
 cursing each other ; ministers and people, magistrates 
 and subjects, charging their misery upon one another, 
 for discouraging in duty, conniving at sin, and being 
 silent or formal when they should have plainly told one 
 another of their misery, and forewarned them of their 
 danger. Thus will soul and body be companions in 
 calamity. 
 
 5. And the greater by far will their torments be, 
 because they shall have no comfort left to mitigate them. 
 In this life, when a minister told them of hell, or con- 
 science began to trouble their peace, they had comforts 
 enough at hand to relieve them : their carnal friends 
 were all ready to comfort them ; but now they have not 
 a word of comfort, either for him or themselves. For- 
 merly they had their business, their company, their 
 mirth, to drive away their fears ; they could drink away 
 their sorrows, or play them away, or sleep them away, 
 or at least, time did wear them away ; but now all these 
 
99 
 
 remedies are vanished. They had a hard, a presump- 
 tuous, unbelieving heart, which was a wall to defend 
 them against troubles of mind ; but now their experi- 
 ence hath banished these, and left them naked to the 
 fury of those flames. Yea, formerly Satan himself was 
 their comforter, and would unsay all that the minister 
 said against them, as he did to our first mother : " Hath 
 God said. Ye shall not eat ? Ye shall not surely die.'* 
 So doth he now. Doth God tell you that you shall lie 
 in hell? It is no such matter; God is more merciful: 
 he doth but tell you so to fright you from sinning : or if 
 there be a hell, what need you fear it ? Are not you 
 Christians ? and shall you not be saved by Christ ? Was 
 not his blood shed for you ? Ministers may tell you 
 what they please ; they would make men believe that 
 they shall all be damned except they will fit themselves 
 to their humour. Thus, as the Spirit of Christ is the 
 comforter of the saints, so Satan is the comforter of the 
 wicked : for he knows if he should now disquiet them, 
 they would no longer serve him: or if fears or doubts 
 should trouble them, they would bethink themselves of 
 their danger. Never was a thief more careful lest he 
 should awake the people, when he is robbing the house, 
 than Satan is, not to awaken a sinner. But when the 
 sinner is dead, and he hath his prey, then he hath done 
 flattering and comforting them. While the sight of sin 
 and misery might have helped to save them, he took all 
 the pains he could to hide it from their eyes ; but when 
 it is too late, and there is no hope left, he will make 
 them see and feel to the utmost. O, which way will the 
 forlorn sinner then look for comfort ! They that drew 
 him into the snare, and promised him safety, now for- 
 sake him, and are forsaken themselves. His ancient 
 comforts are taken from him, and the righteous God, 
 v.'hoso forewarning he made light of, will now make 
 good his word against him to the least tittle. 
 
 6. But the great aggravation of this misery will be its 
 eternity — that when a thousand millions of ages are 
 past, their torments arc as fresh to begin as at the first 
 day. If there were any hope of an end, it would ease 
 them to foresee it ; but when it must be for ever so that 
 thought is intolerable: much more will the misery 
 
100 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 itself be. They never heartily repented of their sin, 
 and God will never repent him of their suffering. They 
 broke the laws of the eternal God, and therefore shall 
 suffer eternal punishment. They knew it was an ever- 
 lasting kingdom which they refused ; and therefore what 
 wonder if they be everlastingly shut out of it? It was 
 their immortal souls that were guilty of the trespass, 
 and therefore must immortally suffer the pains. What 
 happy men would they think themselves, if they might 
 have lain still in their graves, or continued dust, or suf- 
 fered no worse than the gnawing of those worms ! O 
 that they might but there lie down again ! What a 
 mercy now would it be to die ? And how will they call 
 and cry out for it ? O death ! whither art thou gone? 
 3Vow come and cut off this doleful life. O that these 
 pains would break my heart, and end my being ! O 
 that I might once die at last ! O that I had never had a 
 being ! These groans will the thoughts of eternity 
 wring from their hearts. They were wont to think the 
 sermon long, and prayer long ; how long then will they 
 think these endless torments ? What difference is there 
 betwixt the length of their j^leasures and of their pains ? 
 The one continueth but a moment, the other endureth 
 through all eternity. O that sinners would lay this 
 thought to heart. Remember how time is almost gone. 
 Thou art standing all this while at the door of eternity, 
 and death is waiting to open the door and put thee in. 
 Go sleep out but a few more nights, and stir up and 
 down on earth a few more days, and then thy nights and 
 days shall end : thy thoughts, and cares, and pleasures, 
 and all, shall be devoured by eternity : thou must enter 
 upon the state which shall never be changed. As the 
 joys of heaven are beyond our conceiving, so also are 
 the pains of hell. Everlasting torment is inconceivable 
 torment. 
 
 But methinks I perceive the obstinate sinner despe- 
 rately resolving. If I must be damned, there is no reme- 
 dy ; rather than I will live so precisely, I will put it to 
 the venture ; I shall escape as well as the rest of my 
 neighbours, and we will even bear it as well as we can. 
 Alas, poor creature ! would thou didst but know what it 
 is that thou dost so boldly venture on : I dare say thou 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 101 
 
 wouldst sleep this night but very unquietly. Wilt thou 
 leave thyself no room for hope ? Art thou such an im- 
 placable enemy to Christ and thy own soul ? And dost 
 thou think, indeed, that thou canst bear the wrath of 
 God, and go away so easily with these eternal torments ? 
 Yet let me beg this of thee, that before thou dost so 
 flatly resolve, thou wouldst lend thine attention to these 
 few questions : 
 
 First, Who art thou that thou shouldst bear the wrath 
 of God ! Art thou a god ; or art thou a man ? What is 
 thy strength, to undergo so much? Is it not as the 
 strength of wax or stubble to resist the fire ? or as chaff 
 to the wind ? or as dust before the whirlwind ? Was he 
 not as stout a man as thyself who cried to God, " Wilt 
 thou break a leaf driven to and fro ? And wilt thou pur- 
 sue the dry stubble ?" If thy strength were as iron, and 
 thy bones as brass, thou couldst not bear. If thy found- 
 ation were as the earth, and thy power as the heavens, 
 yet sl*ouldst thou perish at the breath of his indignation. 
 How much more when thou art but a little, creeping, 
 breathing clay, kept a few days from stinking, and from 
 being eaten with worms, by the mere support and favour 
 of Him whom thou thus resistest ? 
 
 Secondly, If thou be so strong, and thy heart so stout, 
 why do those small sufferings so dismay thee? If thou 
 have but a fit of the gout or stone, what groans dost thou 
 utter? The house is filled with thy complaints. If 
 thou shouldst but lose a leg or an arm, thou wouldst 
 make a great matter of it. If thou lose thine estate, and 
 fatl into poverty and disgrace, how heavily wouldst 
 thou bear any one of these ? And yet all these laid to- 
 gether will be one day accounted a happy state, in com- 
 parison of that which is suffered in hell. Let me see 
 thee make as light of convulsive, gouty, rheumatic pains, 
 when they seize upon thee, and then the strength of thy 
 spirit will appear. Alas, how many such boasters as 
 thyself have I seen made to stoop, and eat their words ! 
 And when God hath but let out a little of his wrath, that 
 Pharaoh who before asked, " Who is the Lord ?" hath 
 cried, " I have sinned." 
 
 Thirdly, If all this be nothing, go try thy strength by 
 some corporal torment ; as Bilney, before he went to 
 
102 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 the stake, would first try his finger in the candle : so do 
 thou ; hold thy finger awhile in the fire, and feel there 
 whether thou canst endure the fire of hell. Austin 
 mentioned a chaste Christian woman, who, being tempted 
 to uncleanness by a lewd rufllian, desired him for her 
 aake to hold his finger one hour in the fire ; he answer- 
 ed, " It is an unreasonable request." " How much 
 more unreasonable is it," said she, " that I should burn 
 in hell for the satisfying your lust ?" So say I to thee ; 
 if it be an intolerable thing to sufier the heat of the fire 
 for a year, or a day, or an hour, what will it be to suffer 
 ten thousand times more for ever ? What if thou wert 
 to sufl^er Lawrence's death, to be roasted upon a grid- 
 iron ; or to be scraped or pricked to death, as other 
 martyrs were ? If thou couldst not endure such things as 
 these, how wilt thou endure the eternal flames ? 
 
 Fourthly, If thou be so fearless of that eternal misery, 
 why is the least foretaste of it so terrible ! Didst thou 
 never feel such a thing as a tormenting conscience? 
 If thou hast not, thou shalt do. Didst thou never see 
 and speak with a man that lived in desperation, or in 
 some degree of these wounds of spirit that was near de- 
 spair 1 How uncomfortable was their conference ! How 
 burdensome their lives ! Nothing doth them good which 
 they possess ; the sight of friends, or house, or goods, 
 which refresheth others, is a trouble to them : they feel 
 no sweetness in meat or drink ; they are weary of life, 
 and fearful of death. What is the matter with these 
 men ? If the misery of the damned itself can be en- 
 dured, why cannot they more easily endure these litfle 
 sparks ? 
 
 Fifthly, Tell me faithfully, what if thou should st but 
 see the devil appear to thee in some terrible shape, 
 would it not daunt thee ? What if thou shouldst meet 
 him in thy way home, or he should show himself to thee 
 at night in thy bedchamber, would not thy heart fail 
 thee, and thy hair stand on end ? I could name thee 
 those that have been as confident as thyself, who, by 
 such a sight, have been so appalled, that they were in 
 danger of being driven out of their wits. Or what if 
 some damned soul of thy former acquaintance should 
 appear to thee, would not this amaze thee ? Alas ! what 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 103 
 
 is this to the torments of hell ? Canst thou not endure 
 a shadow to appear before thee ? O how wilt thou en- 
 dure to live with them for ever, where thou shalt have 
 no other company but devils and the damned ; and shalt 
 not only see them, but be tormented wdth them and by 
 them ? 
 
 Lastly, Let me ask thee, if the wrath of God be to be 
 made so light of, why did the Son of God himself make 
 so great a matter of it ? When he had taken upon him 
 the payment of our debt, and borne that punishment we 
 had deserved, it makes him sweat water and blood ; it 
 makes the Lord of life to cry, " My soul is heavy, even 
 to the death." It makes him cry out upon the cross, 
 *'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 
 Surely if any one could have borne these sufferings, it 
 would have been Jesus Christ. He had another mea- 
 sure of strength to bear it than thou hast. 
 
 Wo to poor sinners for their mad security ! Do they 
 think to find that tolerable to them which was so heavy 
 to Christ? Nay, the Son of God is cast into a bitter 
 agony, and bloody sweat, under the curse of the law 
 only ; and yet the feeble, foolish creature makes nothing 
 to bear also the curse of the Gospel. The good Lord 
 bring these men to their right minds by repentance, lest 
 they buy their wit at too dear a rate. 
 
 And thus I have shown you somewhat of their misery, 
 who miss of this rest prepared for the saints. And now, 
 reader, I demand thy resolution, what use thou wilt 
 make of all this ? Shall it all be lost to thee ? or wilt 
 thou consider it in good earnest ? Thou hast cast by 
 many a warning of God, wilt thou do so by this also? 
 Take heed what thou dost, and how thou resolvest. God 
 will not always stand warning and threatening. The 
 hand of revenge is lifted up ; the blow is coming, and 
 wo to him on whom it lighteth. Little thinkest thou 
 hov/ near thou standest to thy eternal state, and how 
 near the pit thou art dancing in thy jollity. If thy eyes 
 were but opened, as they will be shortly, thou wouldst 
 see all this that I have spoken before thine eyes, with- 
 out stirring from the place in which thou standest. Dost 
 thou throw by the book, and say. It speaks of nothing 
 but hell and damnation ? Thus thou usest also to 
 
104 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 complain of the minister ; but wouldst thou not have 
 us tell thee of these things ? Should we be guilty of 
 the blood of thy soul, by keeping silent that which 
 God hath charged us to make known ? Wouldst thou 
 perish in ease and silence, and also have us to perish 
 with thee, rather than displease thee, by speaking 
 the truth? If thou wilt be guilty of such inhuman 
 cruelty, God forbid we should be guilty of such sottish 
 folly ! 
 
 There are few preachers so simple, but they know that 
 this kind of peaching is the ready way to be hated of 
 their hearers ; and the desire of the favour of men is so 
 natural, that few delight in such a displeasing way. But 
 I beseech thee, consider, are these things true, or are 
 they not? If they were not true, I would heartily join 
 with thee against any minister that should offer to preach 
 them, and to affright poor people w^hen there is no cause. 
 But if these threatenings be the word of God, what a 
 wretch art thou that wouldst not hear it, or consider it. 
 Why, what is the matter ? If thou be sure that thou art 
 one of the people of God, this doctrine will be a comfort 
 to thee : but if thou be yet unregenerate, methinks thou 
 shouldst be as fearful to hear of heaven as of hell, except 
 the bare name of heaven or salvation be sufficient. Sure 
 there is no doctrine concerning heaven in all the Scrip- 
 ture that can give thee any comfort, but upon the sup- 
 posal of thy conversion ; what comfort is it to thee to 
 hear that there is a rest remaining to the people of God, 
 except thou be one of them ? Nay, what more terrible 
 than to read of Christ and salvation for others, when 
 thou must be shut out ? Therefore, except thou wouldst 
 have a minister to preach a lie, it is all one to thee, for 
 any comfort thou hast in it, whether he preach of heaven 
 or hell to thee. His preaching heaven and mercy to 
 thee, can be nothing else but to entreat thee to seek 
 them ; but he can make thee no promise of it, but upon 
 condition of thy obeying the Gospel ; and his preaching 
 hell, is but to persuade thee to avoid it. And is not this 
 doctrine fit for thee to hear ? Indeed if thou wert quite 
 past hope of escaping it, then it were in vain to tell thee 
 of hell, but rather let thee take a few merry hours while 
 thou mayest ; but as long as thou art alive, there is hope 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 105- 
 
 of thy recovery, and therefore all means must be used 
 to av/aken thee from thy lethargy. 
 
 O that some son of thunder, who could speak as Paul,, 
 till the hearers tremble, were now to preach this doc- 
 trine to thee ! Alas ! as terrible as you think I speak, 
 yet it is not the thousandth part of what must be felt ; 
 for what heart can now conceive, or what tongue ex- 
 press, the pains of those souls that are under the wrath 
 of God ? Ah, that ever blind sinners should wilfully 
 bring themselves to such unspeakable misery ! You 
 will then be crying to Jesus Christ, O mercy ! O pity ! 
 Why I do now, in the name of the Lord Jesus, cry to 
 thee, O have mercy, have pity upon thine own soul ! 
 Shall God pity thee, who wilt not be entreated to pity 
 thyself? If thy horse see but a pit before him, thou canst 
 scarcely force him in ; and wilt thou so obstinately cast 
 thyself into hell, when the danger is foretold thee ! " O 
 who can stand before the Lord, and who can abide the 
 fierceness of his anger !" Methinks thou shouldst need 
 no more words, but presently cast away thy sins, and 
 deliver up thyself to Christ. Resolve on it immediately, 
 and let it be done, that I may see thy face in rest among 
 the saints. The Lord persuade thy heart to it without 
 longer delay : but if thou be hardened unto death, and 
 there be no remedy, yet do not say another day, but 
 that thou wast faithfully warned, and that thou hadst a 
 friend that would fain have prevented thy damnation. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SECOND USE REPREHENDING THE GENERAL NEGLECT OF THIS 
 REST, AND EXCITING TO DILIGENCE IN SEEKING IT. 
 
 I COME now to the second use. If there be so certain 
 and glorious a rest, why is there no more seeking after 
 it ! One would think that a man that did but once hear 
 of such unspeakable glory, and did believe what he 
 heareth to be true, should be transported with desire 
 after it, should almost forget to eat or drink, and mind 
 and care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after 
 nothing, but how to get this treasure ! And yet people 
 
 5* 
 
106 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 who hear it daily, and profess to believe it, do as little 
 mind it, or care, or labour for it, as if they had never 
 heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word 
 that they hear. 
 
 I shall apply this reproof more particularly to four 
 sorts of men : First, the worldly minded, who is so taken 
 up in seeking the things below, that he hath neither 
 heart nor time to seek this rest. 
 
 May I not well say to these men, as Paul to the Gala- 
 tians in another case. Foolish sinners ! " who hath be- 
 witched you?" It is not for nothing that divines used 
 to call the world a witch : for as in witchcraft men's 
 lives, senses, goods, or cattle are destroyed by a 
 strange, secret, unseen power of the devil, of which a 
 man can give no natural reason ; so here men will de- 
 stroy their own souls in a way quite against their own 
 knowledge. Would not a man wonder, that is in his 
 right senses, to see what riding and running, what 
 scrambling and catching, there is for a thing of naught, 
 while eternal rest lies by neglected ! What contriving 
 and caring, what fighting and bloodshed, to get a step 
 higher in the world than their brethren, while they ne- 
 glect the kingly dignity of the saints ! What insatiable 
 pursuit of fleshly pleasures, while they look upon the 
 praises of God, which are the joy of angels, as a burden ! 
 What unwearied diligence is there in raising their pos- 
 terity, enlarging their possessions, gathering a little sil- 
 ver or gold ! Yea, perhaps for a poor living from hand 
 to mouth, while in the meantime their judgment is dravv^- 
 ing near ; and yet how it shall go v/ith them then, or 
 how they shall live eternally, did never put them to one 
 hour's sober consideration. 
 
 What rising up early, sitting up late, labouring and 
 caring year after year, to maintain themselves and chil- 
 dren in credit till they die ; but what shall follow after, 
 that they never think on ; and yet these men cry to us. 
 May not a man be saved without so much ado ? How 
 early do they rouse up their servants to their labour ! 
 [Up, come away to work, we have this to do, and that to 
 do ;] but how seldom do they call them [Up, you have 
 your soul to look to, you have everlasting life to provide 
 for ; up to prayer, to the reading of the Scriptures.! 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 107 
 
 What a gadding up and down the world is here, like 
 a company of ants upon a hillock, taking incessant pains 
 to gather a treasure, which death will spurn abroad, as 
 if it were such an excellent thing to die in the midst of 
 wealth and honours ! Or as if it would be such a com- 
 fort to a man in another world, to think that he was a 
 lord, or a knight, or a gentleman, or a rich man, on 
 earth ! What hath tliis world done for its lovers and 
 friends, that it is so eagerly followed, and painfully 
 sought after, while Christ and heaven stand by, and few 
 regard them ? Or what will the world do for them for 
 the time to come? The common entrance into it is 
 'through anguish and sorroAV. The passage through it is 
 with continual care and labour. The passage out of it is 
 with the greatest sharpness and sadness of all. What 
 then doth cause men so much to follow and affect it? O 
 unreasonable, bewitched men ! Will mirth and pleasure 
 stick close to you ? Will gold and worldly glory prove 
 fast friends to you in the time of your greatest need ? 
 Will they hear your cries in the day of your calamity? 
 If a man should say to you, as Elias did to Baal's priests, 
 " Cry aloud :" O riches, or honour, now help us ! Vvlll 
 they either answer or relieve you ? Will they go along 
 with you to another world, and bribe the Judge, and 
 bring you off clear ; or purchase you a room among the 
 blessed ? Why then did so rich a m.an v^ant a drop of 
 water to cool his tongue ? Or are the sweet morsels of 
 present delight and honour of more worth than eternal 
 rest ? and will they recompense the loss of that endur- 
 ing treasure ? Can there be the least hope of any of 
 these? What then is the matter? Is it only a room for 
 our dead bodies, that we are so much beholden to the 
 world for ? Why this is the last and longest courtesy 
 that we shall receive from it. But we shall have this 
 whether we serve it or no ; and even that homely, dusty 
 dwelling it vvill not afford us always neither ; it shall 
 possess our dust but till the resurrection. How then 
 doth the world deserve so well at men's hands, that they 
 should part with Christ and their salvation, to be its 
 followers ? Ah, vile deceitful world ! how oft have we 
 heard thy fliithfullest servants at last complaining, O 
 
108 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 the world hath deceived me, and undone me ! And yet 
 succeeding sinners will take no warning. 
 
 So this is the first sort of neglecters of heaven which 
 fall under this reproof. 
 
 2. The second sort here to be reproved, are the pro- 
 fane, ungodly, presumptuous multitude, who will not be 
 persuaded to be at so much pains for salvation, as to 
 perform the common outward duties of religion. Yea, 
 though they are convinced that these duties are com- 
 manded, yet will they not be brought to the common 
 practice of them. If they have the Gospel preached in 
 the town where they dwell, it may be they will give the 
 hearing to it one part of the day, and stay at home the 
 other ; or if the master come to the congregation, yet 
 part of his family must stay at home.' If they want the 
 plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel, how few are 
 there in a whole town who will travel a mile or two to 
 hear abroad, though they will go many miles to the 
 market for their bodies. 
 
 And though they know the Scripture is the law of 
 God, by which they must be acquitted or condemned in 
 judgment ; and that it is the property of every blessed 
 man to delight in this law, and to meditate in it day and 
 night, yet will they not be at the pains to read a chapter 
 once a day, nor to acquaint their families with this doc- 
 trine of salvation. But if they carry a Bible to church, 
 and let it lie by them all the week, this is the m.ost use 
 that they make of it. And though they are commanded 
 to " pray without ceasing ;" and to " pray always, and 
 not to faint ;" to " continue in prayer, and watch in the 
 same with thanksgiving ;" yet will they not pray con- 
 stantly with their families, or in secret. You may hear 
 in their houses two oaths for one prayer. Or if they 
 do any thing this way, it is usually but a running over a 
 few formal words which they have got on their tongues' 
 end, as if they came on purpose to make a jest of prayer, 
 and to mock God and their own souls. 
 
 Alas ! he that only reads in a book that he is misera- 
 ble, and what his soul stands in need of, but never felt 
 himself miserable, or felt his several wants, no wonder 
 if he must also fetch his prayer from his book only, or 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 109 
 
 at farthest from the strength of his memory. Solomon's 
 request to God was, that " what prayer or suppUcation 
 soever should be made by any man, or by all the people, 
 ■when every man shall know his own sore, and his own 
 grief, and shall spread forth his hands before God, that 
 God would then hear and forgive," 2 Chron. vi, 29, 30. 
 If these men did thus know and feel every man the sore, 
 and the grief of his own soul, we should neither need so 
 much to urge them to prayer, nor to teach them how to 
 perform it. Whereas now they invite God to he back- 
 ward in giving, by their backwardness in asking ; and 
 to be weary of relieving them, by their own being weary 
 d*f begging ; and to be seldom and short in his favours, 
 as they are in their prayers ; and to give them but com- 
 mon and outward favours, as they put up but common 
 and outside requests. Yea, their cold and heartless 
 prayers invite God to a flat denial : for among men it 
 is taken for granted, that he who asks but slightly and 
 seldom, cares not much for what he asks. Do not these 
 men judge themselves unworthy of heaven, who think it 
 not worth their more constant and earnest requests ? If 
 it be not worth asking for, it is worth nothing. And yet 
 if you should go from house to house, through town and 
 parish, and inquire at every house as you go, whether 
 they do morning and evening call their family together, 
 and earnestly seek the Lord in prayer ; how few would 
 you find that constantly and conscientiously practise 
 this duty ? If every door were marked where they do 
 not thus call upon the name of God, that his wrath might 
 be poured out upon that family, our towns would be as 
 places overthrown by the plague, the people being dead 
 within, and the mark of judgment without. I fear where 
 one house would escape, ten would be marked out for 
 death ; then they might teach their doors to pray. Lord 
 have mercy upon ns ; because the people would not 
 pray themselves. But especially if you could see what 
 men do in their secret chambers, how iew should you 
 find in a whole town that spend one quarter of an hour, 
 morning and night, in earnest supplication to God for 
 their souls ? O how little do these men set by eternal 
 rest! 
 
 Thus do they slothfuUy neglect all endeavours for 
 
110 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 their own welfare, except some public duty in the con- 
 gregation, which custom or credit doth engage them to. 
 Persuade them to read good books, and they will not be 
 at so nmch pains. Persuade them to learn the grounds 
 of religion in some catechism, and they think it toilsome 
 slavery, lit for schoolboys. Persuade them to sanctify 
 the Lord's day, and to spend it wholly in hearing the 
 word, and repeating it with their families, and prayer 
 and meditation, and to forbear all their worldly thoughts 
 and speeches ; and what a tedious life do they take this 
 to be ; and how long may you preach to them, before 
 they will be brought to it? As if they thought heaven 
 were not worth all this ado. * 
 
 3. The third sort that fall under this reproof, are those 
 self-cozening, formal, lazy professors of religion, who 
 will be brought to any outward duty, but to the inward 
 work they will never be persuaded. They will preach, 
 or hear, or read, or talk of heaven, or pray customarily 
 or constantly in their families, and take part with the 
 persons and causes that are good ; and desire to be 
 esteemed among the godly ; but you can never bring 
 them to the more spiritual duties: as to be constant and 
 fervent in secret prayer ; to be conscientious in the duty 
 of self-examination, to be constant in meditation, to be 
 heavenly minded, to watch constantly over their hearts, 
 and words, and w^ays, to deny their bodily senses and 
 their delights, to mortify the flesh, and not make pro- 
 vision for it, to fulfil its lusts ; to love and heartily 
 forgive an enemy, and to prefer their brethren heartily 
 before themselves. The outside hypocrites will never 
 be persuaded to any of these. Above all other, tvv^o 
 sorts there are of these hypocrites : — 
 
 1. The superficial opinionative hypocrite. 
 
 2. The worldly hypocrite. 
 
 The former entertaineth the doctrine of the Gospel 
 with joy ; but it is only in the surface of his soul ; he 
 never gives the seed any depth of earth. He changeth 
 his opinion, and thereupon engageth for religion, as the 
 right way, but it never melted and new moulded his 
 heart, nor set up Christ there in full power and autho- 
 rity : as his religion is but opinion, so is his study, and 
 conference, and chief business, all about opinion. He 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. Ill 
 
 is usually an ignorant, proud, bold inquirer and babbler 
 about controversies, rather than an humble embracer of 
 the known truth, with love and subjection. You may- 
 conjecture, by his bold and forward tongue, and con- 
 ceitedness in his own opinions, and slighting the judg- 
 ments and persons of others, and seldom talking of the 
 great things of Christ with seriousness and humility, 
 that his religion dwelleth in the brain, and not in his 
 heart ; where the wind of temptation assaults him, he 
 easily yieldeth, and it carrieth him away as a feather, 
 because his heart is empty, and not balanced and esta- 
 blished with Christ and grace. If this man's judgment 
 lead him in the ceremonious way, then doth he employ 
 his chief zeal for ceremonies. If his judgment be 
 against ceremonies, then his strongest zeal is employed 
 in studying, talking, disputing against them, and cen- 
 suring the users of them. For, not having the essen- 
 tials of Christianity, he hath only the mint and cummin, 
 the smaller matters of the law, to lay out his zeal upon. 
 You shall never hear any humble and hearty bewailings 
 of his soul's imperfections, or any heart-bleeding ac- 
 knowledgments of his unkindnesses to Christ, of any 
 pantings and longings after him, from this man ; but 
 that he is of such a judgment, or such a religion, or 
 society, or a member of such a Church : herein doth he 
 gather his greatest comforts ; but the inward and spi- 
 ritual labours of a Christian he will not be brought to. 
 
 The like may be said of the worldly hypocrite, who 
 choketh the doctrine of the Gospel with the thorns of 
 worldly cares and desires. His judgment is convinced 
 that he must be religious, or he cannot be saved ; and 
 therefore he reads, and hears, and prays, and forsakes 
 his former company and courses ; but because his belief 
 of the Gospel doctrine is but wavering and shallow, he 
 resolves to keep his hold of present things ; and yet to 
 be religious, that so he may have heaven when he can 
 keep the world no longer. This man's judgment may 
 say, God is the chief good, but his heart and afiections 
 never said so, but looked upon God as to be tolerated 
 rather than the flames of hell, but not desired before the 
 felicity on earth. In a word, the world hath more of 
 his affections than God, and therefore is his god. This 
 
11!8 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 he might easily know and feel, if he would judge impar- 
 tially, and were but faithful to himself. And though 
 this man does not gad after novelties in religion as the 
 former, yet will he set his sails to the wind of worldly 
 advantage. And as a man whose spirits are seized on 
 by some pestilential malignity is feeble, and faint, and 
 heartless in all that he does ; so this man's spirits being 
 possessed by the plague of this malignant, worldly dis- 
 position, how faint is he in secret prayer ! how super- 
 ficial in examination and meditation ! how feeble in 
 heart watchings, and humbling, mortifying endeavours ! 
 how nothing at all in loving and walking with God, 
 rejoicing in him, or desiring him ! So that both these, 
 and many other sorts of lazy hypocrites there are, who, 
 though they will trudge on with you in the easy outside 
 of religion, yet will never be at the pains of inward and 
 spiritual duties. 
 
 4. And even good men themselves deserve this re- 
 proof, for being too lazy seekers of everlasting rest. 
 Alas, what a disproportion is there between our light 
 and our heat ! our professions and prosecutions ! Who 
 makes that haste as if it were for heaven ? How still 
 we stand ! How idly we work ! How we talk, and 
 jest, and trifle away our time ! How deceitfully we do 
 the work of God ! How we hear, as if we heard not ; 
 and pray, as if we prayed not ; and confer, and examine, 
 and meditate, and reprove sin, as if we did it not ; and 
 use the ordinances, as if we used them not , and enjoy 
 Christ, as if we enjoyed him not ; as if we had learned 
 to use the things of heaven, as the apostle teacheth us 
 to use the world ! Who would think that stood by us, 
 and heard us pray in private or public, that we were 
 praying for no less than everlasting glory? Should 
 heaven be sought no more earnestly than thus ? Me- 
 thinks we are none of us all in good sadness for our 
 souls. We do but dally with the work of God, and 
 play with Christ, as children play with their meat when 
 they should eat it : we hang upon ordinances from day 
 to day, but we stir not ourselves to seek the Lord. 
 
 I see a great many very constant in hearing and pray- 
 ing, but they do not hear and pray as if it were for their 
 lives. O, what a frozen stupidity hath benumbed us ! 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 113 
 
 The plague of Lot's wife is upon us, as if we were 
 changed into lifeless and immovable pillars ; we are 
 dying, and we know it, and yet we stir not ! we arc at 
 the door of eternal happiness or misery, and yet we 
 perceive it not : death knocks, and we hear it not : 
 Christ calls and knocks, and we hear not : God cries to 
 us, "To-day, if you will hear my voice, harden not your 
 hearts. Work while it is day, for the night cometh 
 when none can work." Now ply your business, now 
 labour for your lives ; now lay out all your strength. 
 Now or never ; and yet we stir no more than if we 
 were half asleep. What haste do death and judgment 
 make ! How fast do they come on ! They are almost 
 at us, and yet what little haste make we ! The spur of 
 God is in our side ; we bleed, we groan, and yet we do 
 not mend our pace. Lord, what a senseless, sottish, 
 earthly, hellish thing, is a hard heart ! that we will not 
 go roundly and cheerfully toward heaven without all 
 this ado ! No, nor with it either ! Where is the man 
 that is serious in his Christianity ? Methinks men every 
 where make but a trifle of their eternal state. They 
 look after it but a little by the by ; they do not make it 
 the task and business of their lives. 
 
 To be plain with you, I think nothing undoes men so 
 much as complimenting and jesting in religion. O, if I 
 were not sick myself of the same disease, with what 
 tears would I mix this ink ; and with what groans 
 should I express these sad complaints ; and with what 
 heart's grief should I mourn over this universal dead- 
 ness ! Do the magistrates among us seriously perform 
 their portion of the work ? Are they zealous for God ? 
 Do they build up his house ? Are they tender of his 
 honour ? Do they second the word ? encourage the good ? 
 relieve the oppressed? compassionate the distressed? 
 and fly at the face of sin and sinners, as being the dis- 
 turbers of our peace, and the only cause of all our 
 miseries ? Do they study how to do the utmost they 
 can for God? to improve their power, and parts, and 
 wealth, and honour, and all their interest for their great- 
 est advantage to the kingdom of Christ, as men that 
 must shortly give an account of their stewardship ? Or 
 do they build their own houses, and seek their advance- 
 
114 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 merits, and contest for their own honours, and do no 
 more for Christ than needs they must, or than lies in 
 their way, or than is put by others into their hands, or 
 than stands with the pleasing of their friends, or with 
 their worldly interest ? 
 
 And how thin are those ministers that are serious in 
 their work ! Nay, how mightily do the very best fail in 
 this ! Do we cry out of men's disobedience to the 
 Gospel, in the evidence and power of the Spirit, and 
 deal with sin, as that which is the fire in our towns and 
 houses, and by force pull men out of this fire? Do we 
 persuade our people, as those that know the terrors of 
 the Lord should do ? Do we press Christ, and regene- 
 ration, and faith, and holiness, as men that believe, 
 indeed, that without these they shall never have life? 
 Do our bowels yearn over the ignorant, and the careless, 
 and the obstinate multitude, as men that believe their 
 own doctrine ? When we look them in the face, do our 
 hearts melt over them, lest we should never see their 
 faces in rest ? Do we, as Paul, tell them weeping, of 
 their fleshly and earthly disposition ? and teach them 
 publicly, and from house to house, night and day with 
 tears ? And do we entreat them, as if it were indeed 
 for their lives ! that when we speak of the joys and 
 miseries of another world, our people may see us 
 affected accordingly, and perceive that we mean as we 
 speak? Or rather, do we not study words, as if a 
 minister's business were but to tell them a smooth tale 
 of an hour long, and so look no more after them till the 
 next sermon ? 
 
 O the formal, frozen, lifeless sermons which we daily 
 hear preached upon the most weighty, piercing subjects 
 in the world ! How gently do we handle those sins 
 which will handle so cruelly our people's souls ! And 
 how tenderly do we deal with their careless hearts, not 
 speaking to them as men that must be awakened or 
 damned ! We tell them of heaven and hell in such a 
 sleepy tone, and slight way, as if we were but acting a 
 part in a play ; so that we usually preach our people 
 asleep with those subjects which one would think 
 should rather endanger the driving some beside them- 
 selves. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 115 
 
 In a word, our want of seriousness about the things 
 of heaven doth charm the souls of men into formality, 
 and hath brought them to this customary, careless 
 hearing, which undoes them. .The Lord pardon the 
 great sin of the ministry in this thing, and in particular 
 my own. 
 
 And are the people any more serious than magistrates 
 and ministers? How can it be expected? Reader, 
 look but to thyself, and resolve the question. Ask con- 
 science, and suffer it to tell thee truly. Hast thou set 
 thine eternal rest before thine eyes, as the great business 
 which thou hast to do in this world ? Hast thou studied, 
 and cared, and watched, and laboured with all thy might, 
 lest any should take thy crown from thee ? Hast thou 
 made haste, lest thou shouldst come too late, and die 
 before the work be done ? Hath thy heart been set 
 upon it, and thy desires and thoughts run out this way? 
 Hast thou pressed on through crowds of opposition 
 " toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of 
 God in Christ Jesus ?" When you have set your hand 
 to the work of G )1, have you done it with all your 
 might? Can- conscience witness your secret cries, and 
 groans, and tears ? Can your families witness that you 
 have taught them the fear of the Lord, and warned them 
 all with earnestness and unweariedness to remember 
 God and their souls ? Or that you have done but as 
 much for them,' as that damned glutton would have had 
 Lazarus do for his brethren on earth, to warn them that 
 they come not to that place of torment ! Can your 
 ministers witness that they have heard you cry out, 
 " What shall we do to be saved ?" And that you have 
 followed them with complaints against your corruptions, 
 and with earnest inquiries after the Lord ? Can your 
 neighbours about you witness that you are still learning 
 of them that are able to instruct you ? And that you 
 plainly and roundly reprove the ungodly, and take pains 
 for the saving of your brethren's souls ? Let all these 
 witnesses judge this day between God and you, whether 
 you are in good earnest about eternal rest. 
 
 But if yet you cannot discern your neglects, look but 
 to yourselves : within you, without you, to the work 
 you have done. You can tell by his work whether your 
 
116 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 servant hath loitered, though you did not see him : so 
 you may by yourselves. Is your love to Christ, your 
 faith, your zeal, and other graces, strong or weak? 
 What are your joys ? What is your assurance ? Is all 
 right, and strong, and in order within you ? Are you 
 ready to die, if this should be the day ? Do the souls 
 among whom you have conversed, bless you ? Why, 
 judge by this, and it will quickly appear whether you 
 have been labourers or loiterers. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AN EXHORTATION TO SERIOUSNESS IN SEEKING REST. 
 
 I HOPE, reader, by this time thou art somewhat sen- 
 sible what a desperate thing it is to trifle about eternal 
 rest ; and how deeply thou hast been guilty of this thy- 
 self. And I hope, also, that thou darest not now suffer 
 this conviction to die ; but art resolved to be another 
 man for the time to come. What sa3-est thou? Is this 
 thy resolution? If thou wert sick of some desperate 
 disease, and the physician should tell thee. If you 
 will observe but one thing, I doubt not to cure you : 
 wouldst thou not observe it ? Why, if thou wilt observe 
 but this one thing for thy soul, I make no doubt of thy 
 salvation ; if thou wilt now but shake off thy sloth, and 
 put to all thy strength, and be a downright Christian, I 
 know not what can hinder thy happiness. As far as 
 thou art gone from God, if thou now return and seek 
 him with thy whole heart, no doubt but thou shalt find 
 him. As unkindly as thou hast dealt with Jesus Christ, 
 if thou didst but feel thyself sick and dead, and seek 
 him heartily, and apply thyself in good earnest to the 
 obedience of his laws, thy salvation were as sure as if 
 thou hadst it already ; but as full as the satisfaction of 
 Christ is, as free as the promise is, as large as the mercy 
 of God is ; yet if thou do but look on these, and talk 
 of them, when thou shouldst greedily entertain them, 
 thou wilt be never the better for them : and if thou 
 shouldst loiter when thou shouldst labour, thou wilt lose 
 the crown. O fall to work then speedily and seriously, 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 117 
 
 and bless God that thou hast yet time to do it; and 
 though that which is past cannot be recalled, yet re- 
 deem the time now by doubling thy diligence. 
 
 And because thou shalt see I urge thee not without 
 cause, I will here adjoin a multitude of considerations to 
 move thee : their intent and use is, to drive thee from de- 
 laying, and from loitering in seeking rest. Whoever thou 
 art, therefore, I entreat thee to rouse up thy spirit, and 
 give me awhile thy attention, and (as Moses said to the 
 people) " set thy heart to all the words that I testify to 
 thee this day ; for it is not a vain thing, but it is for thy 
 life." Weigh what I here write, with the judgment of 
 a man ; and the Lord open thy heart, and fasten his 
 counsel effectually upon thee. 
 
 1. Consider our affections and actions should be an- 
 swerable to the greatness of the ends to which they are 
 intended. Now the ends of a Christian's desires and 
 endeavours are so great that no human understanding 
 on earth can comprehend them ; whether you respect 
 their proper excellence, their exceeding importance, or 
 their absolute necessity. 
 
 These ends are, the glorifying of God, the salvation 
 of our own and other men's souls, in escaping the tor- 
 ments of hell, and possessing the glory of heaven. And 
 can a man be too much affected with things of such 
 moment? Can he desire them too earnestly, or love 
 them too violently, or labour for them too diligently? 
 When we know that if our prayers prevail not, and our 
 labour succeeds not, we are undone for ever, I think it 
 concerns us to seek and labour to the purpose. When 
 it is put to the question, whether we shall live for ever 
 in heaven or in hell ; and the question must be resolved 
 upon our obeying the Gospel, or disobeying it, upon the 
 painfulness or the slothfulness of our present endea- 
 vours ; I think it is time for us to bestir ourselves, and 
 to leave our trifling and complimenting with God. 
 
 2. Consider, our diligence should be answerable to 
 the greatness of the work which we have to do, as well 
 as to the ends of it. 
 
 Now, the works of a Christian here are very many, 
 and very great : the soul must be renewed ; many and 
 great corruptions mortified ; custom, temptations, and 
 
118 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 worldly interest must be conquered ; flesh must be mas- 
 tered ; life, and friends, and credit, and all must be 
 slighted ; conscience must be upon good grounds 
 quieted ; assurance of pardon and salvation must be 
 attained. And though it is God that must give us these, 
 and that freely, without our own merits ; yet will he not 
 give them without our earnest seeking and labour. 
 
 Besides, there is a deal of knowledge to be got, for 
 the guiding ourselves, for defending the truth, for the 
 direction of others, and a deal of skill for the right 
 managing of our parts : many ordinances are to be 
 used, and duties to be performed, ordinary and extraor- 
 dinary ; every age, and year, and day, doth requiie fresh 
 succession of duty : every place we come in, every 
 person we have to deal with, every change of our con- 
 dition, doth still require the renewing our labour, and 
 bringeth duty along with it : wives, children, servants, 
 neighbours, friends, enemies, all of them call for duty 
 from us ; and all this of great importance too : so that 
 for the most, if v/e miscarry in it, it would piove our 
 undoing. 
 
 Judge then yourselves, whether men that have so much 
 business lying upon their hands should not bestir them! 
 And whether it be their wisdom either to delay or to loiter ! 
 
 3. Consider, our diligence should be quickened, be- 
 cause of the shortness and uncertainty of the time 
 allotted us for the performing of all this work, and the 
 many and great impediments which we meet with. Yet 
 a few days and we shall be here no more. Time passeth 
 on : m.any diseases are ready to assault us ; we that 
 now are preaching, and hearing, and talking, and walk- 
 ing, must very shortly be carried, and laid in the dust, 
 and there left to the worms in darkness and corruption ; 
 we are almost there already ; it is but a few days, or 
 months, or years, and what is that when once they are 
 past? We know not whether we shall have another 
 sermon, or sabbath, or hour. How then should those 
 bestir them for their everlasting rest who know they 
 have so short a space for so great a work ? Besides, 
 every step in the way hath its difficulties . " the gate is 
 strait, and the way narrow: the righteous themselves 
 are scarcely saved." Scandals and discouragements 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 119 
 
 will be still cast before us ; and can all these be over- 
 come by slothful endeavours ? 
 
 4. Moreover, our diligence should be answerable to 
 the diligence of our enemies in seeking our destruction. 
 For if we sit still while they are plotting and labouring; 
 or if we be lazy in our defence, while they are dihgent 
 in assaulting us, you may easily conceive how we are 
 likely to speed. How diligent is Satan in all kinds of 
 temptations ! Therefore " be sober and vigilant, be- 
 cause your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walk- 
 eth about, seeking whom he may devour. Hov/ diligent 
 are all the ministers of Satan ! False teachers, scorners 
 at godliness, malicious persecutors, all unwearied ; and 
 our inward corruption, the most busy and diligent of all ; 
 whatever we are about, it is still resisting us ; depraving 
 our duties, perverting our thoughts, dulling our affec- 
 tions to good, exciting them to evil : and will a feeble 
 resistance serve our turn? Should we not be more 
 active for our own preservation, than our enemies for 
 our ruin ? 
 
 5. Our affections and endeavours should bear some 
 proportion with the talents we have received, and means 
 we have enjoyed. 
 
 It may well be expected that a horseman should go 
 faster than a footman : and he that hath a swift horse, 
 faster than he that hath a slow one. More work will 
 be expected from a sound man, than from the sick ; 
 and from a man at age, than from a child ; and to 
 whom men commit much, from them they will expect 
 the more. 
 
 Now the talents which we have received are many 
 and great; the means which we have enjoyed are very 
 many, and very precious. What people breathing on 
 earth, have had plainer instructions, or more forcible 
 persuasions, or constant admonitions, in season and out 
 of season ? Sermons, till we have been weary of them : 
 and Sabbaths till we profaned them ! Excellent books 
 in such plenty, that we knew not which to read ! What 
 people have had God so near them as we have had? Or 
 have seen Christ, as it were, crucified before their eyes, 
 as we have done ? What people have had heaven and 
 hell, as it were, opened unto them as we ? Scarce a day 
 
130 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 wherein we have not had some spur to put us on. What 
 speed then should such a people make for heaven ? How 
 should they fly that are thus winged ? And how swiftly 
 should they sail that have wind and tide to help them ? 
 Believe it, brethren, God looks for more from England, 
 than from most nations in the world : and for more from 
 you that enjoy these helps, than from the dark untaught 
 congregations of the land. A small measure of grace 
 beseems not such a people ; nor will an ordinary dili- 
 gence in the work of God excuse them ! 
 
 6. The vigour of our aff"ections and actions should be 
 answerable to the great cost bestowed upon us, and to 
 the deep engaging ^i ercies which we have received from 
 God. Surely we owe more service to our master from 
 whom we have our maintenance, than we do to a stran- 
 ger to whom we were never beholden. 
 
 O the cost that God hath been at for our sakes ! The 
 riches of sea and land, of heaven and earth, hath he 
 poured out unto us. All our lives have been filled up 
 with mercies : we cannot look back upon one hour of it, 
 or passage in it, but we may behold mercy. We feed 
 upon mercy, we wear mercy upon our backs, we tread 
 upon mercy ; mercy within us, mercy without us for 
 this life, and for that to come. O the rare deliverances 
 that we have partaken of, both national and personal ! 
 How oft, how seasonably, how fully have our prayers 
 been heard, and our fears removed ! What large 
 catalogues of particular mercies can every Christian 
 rehearse ! To ofler to number them would be as end- 
 less a task as to number the stars, or the sands of the 
 shore. 
 
 If there be any difference betwixt hell (where we 
 should have been) and earth, (where we now are,) yea, 
 or heaven, (which is ofi'ered to us,) then certainly we 
 have received mercy : yea, if the blood of the Son of 
 God be mercy, then are we engaged to God by mercy ; 
 for so much did it cost him to recover us to himself. 
 And should a people of such deep engagements be lazy 
 in their returns ? Shall God think nothing too much 
 nor too good for us ; and shall we think all too much 
 that we do for him ? Thou that art an observing sensi- 
 ble man, who knowest how much thou art beholden to 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 131 
 
 God, I appeal to thee, Is not a loitering performance of 
 a few heartless duties an unworthy requital of such ad- 
 mirable kindness ? For my own part, when I compare 
 my slow and unprofitable life with the frequent and 
 wonderful mercies received, it shames me, it silenceth 
 me, and leaves me inexcusable. 
 
 7. Consider, all the relations which we stand in to- 
 ward God call upon us for our utmost diligence. Should 
 not the pot be wholly at the service of the potter, and 
 the creature at the service of his Creator ? Are we his 
 children, and do we not owe him our most tender affec- 
 tions, and dutiful obedience ? Are we the spouse of 
 Christ, and do we not owe him our observance, and our 
 love? "If he be our father, where is his honour? and 
 if he be our master, where is his fear ? We call him 
 Lord and Master, and we do well :" but if our industry 
 be not answerable to our relations, we condemn our- 
 selves in saying, we are his children, or his servants. 
 How will the hard labour and daily toil that servants 
 undergo to please their masters, judge and condemn 
 those men who will not labour so hard for their great 
 Master ? Surely there is none have a more honourable 
 master than we, nor can expect such fruit of their la- 
 bours. 
 
 8. How close should they ply their work, who have 
 such attendants as we have ! All the world are our ser- 
 vants, that we may be the servants of God. The sun, 
 and moon, and stars, attend us with their light and influ- 
 jence : the earth, with all its furniture, is at our service : 
 how many thousand plants, and flowers, and fruits, and 
 birds, and beasts, do all attend us? The sea, with its 
 inhabitants, the air, the wind, the frost and snow, the 
 heat and fire, the clouds and rain, all wait upon us while 
 we do our work : yea, " the angels are ministering spi- 
 rits for us.*' And is it not an intolerable crime for us to 
 trifle while all these are employed to assist us ? Nay, 
 more ; the patience of God doth wait upon us : the Lord 
 Jesus Christ waiteth in the oflfers of his blood ; the Holy 
 Spirit waiteth, in striving with our backward hearts : 
 besides, all his servants, the ministers of his Gospel, who 
 study and wait, and preach and wait, and pray and wait 
 upon careless sinners : and shall angels and men, yea 
 
 6 
 
132 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 the Lord himself, stand by and look on, while thou dost 
 nothing ? 
 
 O Christians, I beseech you, whenever you are on 
 your knees in prayer, or reproving the transgressors, or 
 exhorting the obstinate, or upon any duty, do but re- 
 member what attendants you have for this work: and 
 then judge how it behooves you to perform it. 
 
 9. How forward and painful should we be in that 
 work where we are sure we can never do enough ? If 
 there were any danger in overdoing, then it might well 
 cause men to moderate their endeavours : but we know 
 *' that if we could do all, we were but unprofitable ser- 
 vants:" much more when we fail in all. 
 
 It is true a man may possibly preach too much, or 
 hear too much, (though I have known few that did so,) 
 but yet no man can obey or serve God too mucli. One 
 duty may be said to be too long when it shuts out ano- 
 ther ; and then it ceaseth indeed to be a duty. And all 
 superstition, or worship of our own devising, may be 
 called a righteousness overmuch ; yet as long as you 
 keep your service to the rule of the word, you never 
 need to fear " being righteous overmuch :" for else we 
 should reproach the Lord and Lawgiver of the Church, 
 as if he commanded us to do too much. 
 
 If the world were not mad with malice, they could ne- 
 ver be so blind in this point as they are ; to think that 
 diligence for Christ, is folly and singularity ; and that 
 they who set themselves wholly to seek eternal life are 
 but precise puritans ! The time is near, when they will 
 easily confess that God could not be loved or served too 
 much, and that no man can be too busy to save his soul. 
 For the world you may easily do too much, but herein 
 (in God's way) you cannot. 
 
 10. Consider, they that trifle in the way to heaven, 
 lose all their labour. If two be running in a race, he 
 that runs slowest had as good never run at all : for he 
 loseth the prize and his labour both. Many who, like 
 Agrippa, are but " almost Christians," v\all find in the 
 end they shall be but almost saved. God hath set the 
 rate at which the pearl must be bought : if you bid a 
 penny less, you had as good bid nothing. As a man 
 that is lifting up some weighty thing, if he put to almost 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 123 
 
 strength enough, it is as good he put to none at all, for 
 he cloth but lose all his labour. • 
 
 O how many professors of Christianity will find this 
 true to their sorrow, who have had a mind to the ways 
 of God, and have kept up a dull task of duty, but never 
 came to serious Christianity ! How many a duty have 
 they lost, for want of doing them thoroughly ! " Many 
 shall seek to enter in, and not be able ;" who, if they 
 had striven, might have been able. O therefore put to 
 a little more diligence and strength, that all be not in 
 vain that you have done already ! i 
 
 11. Furthermore, we have lost a great deal of time al • 
 ready, and therefore it is reason that we labour so much 
 the harder. If a traveller sleep, or trifle out most of 
 the day, he must travel so much the faster in the even- 
 ing, or fall short of his journey's end. With some of 
 us, our childhood and youth are gone ; with some also 
 their middle age ; and the time before us is very uncer- 
 tain. What a deal of time have we slept away, and 
 talked av/ay, and pi \yed away ? What a deal have we 
 spent in worldly thoughts and labours, or in mere idle- 
 ness ? Though in likelihood the most of our time is 
 spent, yet how little of our work is done? And is it not 
 time to bestir ourselves in the evening of our days ? The 
 time which we have lost can never be recalled ; should 
 we not then redeem it by improving the little which re- 
 maineth? You may receive indeed an " equal recom- 
 pense v/ith those that have borne the burden and heat 
 of the day, though you came not till the last hour ;" 
 but then you must be sure to labour diligently that 
 hour. It is enough sure that we have lost so much of 
 our lives. Let us not now be so foolish as to lose the 
 'est. 
 
 12. Consider,, the greater are your layings out the 
 greater will be your comings in. Though you may 
 seem to lose your labour at the present, yet the hour 
 cometh when you shall find it with advantage. The 
 seed which is buried and dead will bring forth a plenti- 
 ful increase at the harvest. Whatever you do, and 
 whatever you suffer, everlasting rest will pay for all. 
 There is no repenting of labours and sufferings in hea- 
 ven : none says, " Would I had spared my pains and 
 
124 THE saints' EVERLiySTING REST. 
 
 prayed less, or been less strict, and did as the rest of 
 my neighbours did :" there is never such a thought in 
 heaven as these. But, on the contrary, it will be their 
 joy to look back upon their labours, and consider how 
 the mighty power of God did bring them through all.- 
 Whoever complained that he came to heaven at too dear 
 a rate ; or that his salvation cost him more labour than 
 it was worth ? We may say of all our labours, as Paul 
 of his sufferings, *' I reckon that the sufferings" (and 
 labours) " of this present time, are not worthy to be 
 compared with the glory that shall be revealed." We 
 labour but for a moment, but we shall rest for ever. 
 Who would not put forth all his strength for one hour, 
 when he may be a prince while he lives ? 
 
 O, what is the duty and sufferings for a short life, in 
 respect to endless joys with God ? Will not " all our 
 tears then be wiped away ?" and all the sorrows of our 
 duties forgotten ? But yet the Lord will not forget them : 
 *' for he is not unjust, to forget our work and labour of 
 love." 
 
 13. Consider, violence and laborious striving for sal- 
 vation is the way that the wisdom of God hath directed 
 us to as best, and his sovereign authority appointed us 
 as necessary. Who knows the way to heaven better 
 than the God of heaven ? When men tell us that we 
 are too strict, whom do they accuse, God or us ? If we 
 do no more than what we are commanded, nor so much 
 neither; they may as well say, God hath made laws 
 which are too strict. Sure if it were a fault, it would 
 lie in him that commands, and not in us who obey. And 
 dare these men think that they are wiser than God ? Do 
 they know better than he what men must do to be 
 saved ? These are the men that ask us, Whether we 
 are wiser than all the world beside ? and yet they will 
 pretend to be wiser than God. What do they less, 
 when God bids us take the most diligent course, and 
 they tell us, it is more ado than needs ? Mark well the 
 language of God, and see how you can reconcile it with 
 the language of the world : " The kingdom of heaven 
 sufFereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 
 Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for many shall seek 
 to enter in, and not be able. Whatsoever thy hand 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 125 
 
 iindeth to do, do it with all thy might : for there is no 
 work, nor device, nor knowledge, or wisdom, in the 
 grave, whither thou goest. Work out your salvation 
 with fear and trembling. Give diligence to make your 
 calling and election sure. If the righteous scarcely be 
 saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" 
 
 This is the constant language of Christ : and which 
 shall I follow, God or men ; yea, and that the worst and 
 most wicked men ? Shall I think that every ignorant 
 worldly sot, that can only call a man a puritan, knows 
 more than Christ, or can tell God how to mend the 
 Scriptures? Let them bring all the seeming reason 
 they can against the holy, violent striving of the saints ; 
 and this sufficeth me to confute them all, that God is of 
 another mind, and he hath commanded me to do much 
 more than I do : and though I could see no reason for 
 it, yet his will is reason enough to me : I am sure God 
 is worthy to govern us, if we were better than we are. 
 Who should make laws for us, but he that made us ? 
 And who should mark out the way to heaven, but he 
 that must bring us thither ? And who should determine 
 on what conditions we shall be saved, but he that be- 
 stows the gift of salvation ? So that let the world, or 
 the flesh, or the devil, speak against a holy laborious 
 course, this is my answer, God hath commanded it. 
 
 14. Moreover, it is a course that all men in the world 
 either do, or will approve of. There is not a man that 
 ever was, or is, or shall be, but shall one day justify the 
 diligence of the saints. And who would not go that 
 way which every man shall applaud ? 
 
 It is true, it is now a way everywhere spoken against 
 and hated; but let me tell you, 1. Most that speak 
 against it, in their judgments approve of it ; only be- 
 cause the practice of godliness is against the pleasures 
 of the flesh, therefore do they, against their own judg- 
 ments, resist it. They have not one word of reason 
 against it, but reproaches and railing are their best ar- 
 guments. 2. Those that are now against it, whether in 
 judgment or passion, will shortly be of another mind. 
 If they come to heaven, their mind must be changed be- 
 fore they come there. If they go to hell, their judgment 
 will then be altered, whether they will or not. 
 
126 
 
 If you could speak with every soul that sufFereth 
 those torments, and ask, whether it be possible to be too 
 diligent and serious in seeking salvation ? you may 
 easily conjecture what answer they would return. Take 
 the most bitter derider or persecutor of godliness, even 
 those that will venture their lives to overthrow it, if 
 those men do not shortly wish a thousand times that 
 they had been the most holy, diligent Christians on 
 earth, then let me bear the shame of a false prophet for 
 ever. 
 
 Remember this, you that will be of the opinion and 
 way that most are of: why will you not be of the 
 opinion then that all will be shortly of? Why will you 
 be of a judgment which you are sure you shall all short- 
 ly change ? O that you were but as wise in this, as those 
 in hell. 
 
 15. Consider, they that have been the most serious, 
 painful Christians, when they come to die, exceedingly 
 lament their negligence. Those that have wholly ad- 
 dicted themselves to the work of God, and have made it 
 the business of their lives, and have slighted the world, 
 and mortified the flesh, and have been the wonders of 
 the world for their heavenly conversations ; yet when 
 conscience is deeply awakened, how do their failings 
 wound them? Even those that are hated and derided 
 by the world for being so strict, and are thought to be 
 almost beside themselves for their extraordinary dili- 
 gence ; yet commonly when they lie a dying, wish, O 
 that they had been a thousand times more holy, more 
 heavenly, more laborious for their souls ! What a case 
 then will the negligent world be in, when their con- 
 sciences are awakened, when they lie dying, and look 
 behind them upon a lazy, negligent life ; and look before 
 them upon a severe and terrible judgment? What an 
 esteem will they have of a holy life ? For my own part, 
 I may say as Erasmus, "They accuse me for doing 
 too much, but my own conscience accuseth me for doing 
 too little, and being too slow ; and it is far easier bear- 
 ing the scorns of the world, than the scourges of con- 
 science." The world speaks at a distance without me, 
 so that though I hear their words, I can choose whether 
 I will feel them ; but my conscience speaks within, at 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 127 
 
 the very heart, so that every check doth pierce me to 
 the quick. Conscience, when it reprehends justly, is 
 the messenger of God : ungodly revilers are the voice 
 of the devil. I had rather be reproached by the devil 
 for seeking salvation, than reproved of God for neglect- 
 ing it : I had rather the world should call me puritan in 
 the devil's name, than conscience should call me a loi- 
 terer in God's name. As God and conscience are more 
 useful friends than Satan and the world ; so are they 
 more dreadful, irresistible enemies. 
 
 And thus, reader, I have showed thee sufficient reason 
 against thy slothfulness and negligence, if thou be not a 
 man resolved to shut thine eyes, and to destroy thyself. 
 Yet, lest all this should not prevail, I will add somewhat 
 more, to persuade thee to be serious in thy endeavours 
 for heaven. 
 
 1. Consider, God is in good earnest with you ; and 
 why then should you not be so with him ? In his com- 
 mands, he means as he speaks, and will verily require 
 your real obedience. In his threatenings he is serious, 
 and will make them all good against the rebellious. In 
 his promises he is serious, and will fulfil them to the 
 obedient, even to the least tittle. In his judgments he 
 is serious, as he will make his enemies know to their 
 terror. Was not God in good earnest when he drowned 
 the world, when he consumed Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 when he scattered the Jews ? And very shortly will lay 
 hold on his enemies, particularly man by man, and make 
 them know that he is in good earnest : especially when 
 it comes to the great reckoning day. And is it time 
 then for us to dally with God 1 
 
 2. Jesus Christ was serious in purchasing our re- 
 demption. He was serious in teaching, " when he ne- 
 glected his meat and drink," John iv, 32. He was se- 
 rious in praying, " when he continued all night at it." 
 He was serious in doing good, " when his kindred came 
 and laid hands on him, thinking he had been beside him- 
 self." He was serious in suffering, "when he fasted 
 forty days, was tempted, betrayed, spit on, buffeted, 
 crowned with thorns, sweat blood, was crucified, pierced, 
 died." There was no jesting in all this. And should 
 we not be serious in seeking our own salvation ? 
 
128 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 3. The Holy Ghost is serious in soliciting us for our 
 happiness. His motions are frequent, and pressing, 
 and importunate : he striveth with our hearts. He is 
 grieved when we resist him ; and should not we then 
 be serious in obeying his motions, and yielding to his 
 suit? 
 
 4. How serious and diligent are all the creatures in 
 their service to thee ! "What haste makes the sun to 
 compass the world ! And how truly doth it return at 
 its appointed hour ! So do the moon and other planets. 
 The springs are always flowing for thy use ; the rivers 
 still running ; the spring and harvest keep their times. 
 How hard doth thy ox labour for thee from day to day ! 
 How painfully and speedily doth thy horse bear thee in 
 travel ! And shall all these be laborious, and thou only 
 negligent? Shall they all be so serious in serving thee, 
 and yet thou be so slight in thy service to God ? 
 
 5. Consider, the servants of the world and the devil 
 are serious and diligent : they ply their work continu- 
 ally, as if they could never do enough : they make 
 haste, and march furiously, as if they were afraid of 
 coming to hell too late : they bear down ministers, and 
 sermons, and counsel, and all, before them. And shall 
 they do more for the devil, than thou wilt do for God ? 
 Or be more diligent for damnation, than thou wilt be for 
 salvation ? Hast not thou a better master ; and sweeter 
 employment ; and sweeter encouragement ; and a better 
 reward ? 
 
 6. There is no jesting in heaven nor in hell. The 
 saints have a real happiness, and the damned a real mi- 
 sery ; the saints are serious and high in their joy and 
 praise, and the damned are serious and deep in their sor- 
 row and complaints. There are no remiss or sleepy 
 praises in heaven ; nor any remiss or sleepy lamenta- 
 tions in hell : all men there are in good earnest. And 
 should we not then be serious now ? I dare promise 
 thee, the thoughts of these things will shortly be se- 
 rious thoughts with thyself. When thou comest to 
 death or judgment, O what deep heart-piercing thoughts 
 wilt thou have of eternity ! Methinks I foresee thee 
 already astonished, to think how thou could st pos- 
 sibly* make so light of these things ! Methinks I 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. l^ 
 
 even hear thee crying out of thy stupidity and mad- 
 ness ! 
 
 And now having laid thee down these undeniable ar- 
 gum'ents, I do in the name of God demand thy resolu- 
 tion. What sayest thou? Wilt thou yield obedience 
 or not ? I am confident thy conscience is convinced of 
 thy duty. Barest thou now go on in thy common care- 
 less course, against the plain evidence of reason and 
 commands of God, and against the light of thy own con- 
 science ? Darest thou live as loosely, and sin as boldly, 
 and pray as seldom, and as coldly as before ? Darest 
 thou now as carnally spend the sabbath, and slumber 
 over the service of God as slightly, and think of thine 
 everlasting state as carelessly, as before ? Or dost thou 
 not rather resolve to gird up the loins of thy mind, and 
 to set thyself wholly about the work of thy salvation ; 
 and to do it with all thy might ; and to break over all 
 the oppositions of the world, and to slight all their 
 scorns and persecutions : " to cast off the weight that 
 hangeth on thee ; and the sin that doth so easily beset 
 thee ; and to run with patience and speed the race that 
 is set before thee ?" I hope these are thy full resolu- 
 tions : if thou art well in thy wits, I am sure they are. 
 
 Yet, because I know the strange obstinacy of the 
 heart of man, and because I would fain leave these per- 
 suasions fastened in thy heart, that so, if it be possible, 
 thou mightest be awakened to thy duty, and thy soul 
 might live, I shall proceed with thee yet a little farther : 
 and I once more entreat thee to stir up thy attention, 
 and go along with me in the free and sober use of thy 
 reason, while I propound these following questions : 
 and I command thee from God, that thou resist not con- 
 viction, but answer them faithfully, and obey accord- 
 ingly- 
 
 Question 1. If you could grow rich by religion, or 
 get lands and lordships thereby ; or if you could get 
 honour or preferment by it in the world ; or could be 
 recovered from sickness by it ; or could live for ever in 
 prosperity on earth ; what kind of lives would you then 
 lead, and what pains would you take in the service of 
 God ? And is not the rest of the saints a more excellent 
 happiness than all this ? 
 
 6* 
 
130 
 
 Question 2. If the law of the land did punish every 
 breach of the Sabbath, or every omission of family du- 
 ties, or secret duties, or every cold and heartless prayer, 
 with death : if it were felony or treason to be negligent 
 in worship, and loose in your lives ; what manner of per- 
 sons would you then be, and what lives would you lead ? 
 And is not eternal death more terrible than temporal ? 
 
 Question 3. If it were God's ordinary course to 
 punish every sin with some present judgment, so that 
 every time a man swears, or is drunk, or speaks a lie, 
 or backbiteth his neighbour, he should be struck dead, 
 or blind, or lame, in the place : if God did punish every 
 cold prayer, or neglect of duty, with some remarkable 
 plague ; what manner of persons would you be ? If you 
 should suddenly fall down dead, like Ananias and Sap- 
 phira, with the sin in your hands ; or the plague of God 
 should seize upon you, as upon the Israelites, while 
 their sweet morsels were yet in their mouths : if but a 
 mark should be set in the forehead of every one that 
 neglected a duty, or committed a sin ; what kind of 
 lives would you then lead ? And is not eternal wrath 
 more terrible than all this ? 
 
 Question 4. If you had seen the general dissolution 
 of the world, and all the pomp and glory of it consumed 
 to ashes : if you saw all on fire about you, sumptuous 
 buildings, cities, kingdoms, land, water, earth, heaven, 
 all flaming about your ears : if you had seen all that 
 men laboured for, and sold their souls for, gone ; friends 
 gone ; the place of your former abode gone ; the history 
 ended, and all come down ; what would such a sight as 
 this persuade you to do ? Why, such a sight thou shall 
 certainly see. I put my question to thee in the words 
 of the apostle, 2 Peter iii, " Seeing all these things shall 
 be dissolved, what manner of persons ouglit you to be 
 in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and 
 hasting unto, the coming of the day of God, wherein 
 the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, aud the 
 elements shall melt with fervent heat ?" As if he should 
 say, we cannot possibly conceive or express what man- 
 ner of persons we should be in all holiness and godli- 
 ness, when we do but think of the sudden, and certain, 
 and terrible dissolution of all thinsfs below. 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 131 
 
 Question 5. What if you had seen the process of 
 the judgment of the great day ? If you had seen the 
 judgment set, and the books opened, and the most stand 
 trembling on the left hand of the Judge, and Christ 
 himself accusing them of their rebellions and neglects, 
 and remembering them of all their former sligh tings of 
 his grace, and at last condemning them to perpetual 
 perdition ? If you had seen the godly standing on the 
 right hand, and Jesus Christ acknowledging their faithful 
 obedience, and adjudging them to the possession of the 
 joy of their Lord ; what manner of persons would you 
 have been after such a sight as this ? Why, this sight 
 thou shalt one day see, as sure as thou livest. And why 
 then should not the foreknowledge of such a day awake 
 thee to thy duty ? 
 
 Question 6. What .if you had once seen hell open, 
 and all the damned there in their ceaseless torments, 
 and had heard them crying out of their slothfulness in 
 the day of their visitation, and wishing that they had 
 but another life to live, and that God would but try 
 them once again? One crying out of his neglect of 
 duty, and another of his loitering and trifling, when he 
 should have been labouring for his life ; what manner 
 of persons would you have been after such a sight as 
 this ? What if you had seen heaven opened, as Stephen 
 did, and all the saints there triumphing in glory, and 
 enjoying the end of their labours and suflerings ; what 
 a life would you lead after such a sight as this ? Why, 
 you will see this with your eyes, before it be long. 
 
 Question 7. What if you had lain in hell but one 
 year, or one day, or hour, and there felt those torments 
 that now you do but hear of; and God should turn you 
 into the world again, and try you with another lifetime, 
 and say, I will see whether thou wilt be yet any better ; 
 what manner of persons would you be? If you were 
 to live a thousand years, would you not gladly live as 
 strictly as the precisest saints, and spend all those years 
 in prayer and duty, so you might but escape the torment 
 which you suffered ? How seriously then Avould you 
 speak of hell ! and pray against it ! and hear, and read, 
 and watch, and obey ! How earnestly would you ad- 
 monish the careless to take heed, and look about them 
 
132 THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 to prevent their ruin ! And will not you take God's 
 word for the truth of this, except you feel it ? Is it not 
 your wisdom to do as much now to prevent it, as you 
 would do to remove it when it is too late ? Is it not 
 more wisdom to spend this life in labouring for heaven, 
 while ye have it, than to lie in torment, wishing for more 
 time in vain ? 
 
 And thus I have said enough, if not to stir up the lazy 
 sinner to a serious working out his salvation, yet at least 
 to silence him, and leave him inexcusable at the judg- 
 ment of God. If thou canst, after reading all this, go 
 on in the same neglect of God, and thy soul, and draw 
 out the rest of thy life in the same dull and careless 
 course, as thou hast hitherto done ; and if thou hast so 
 far stupified thy conscience that it will quietly sufler 
 thee to forget all this, and to trifle out the rest of thy 
 time in the business of the world, when in the mean- 
 Avhile thy salvation is in danger, and the Judge is at the 
 door ; I have then no more to say to thee : it is as good 
 to speak to a rock. Only as we do by our friends, when 
 they are dead, and our words and actions can do them 
 no good, yet to testify our affections, we weep and mourn 
 for them ; so will I also do for these souls. It makes 
 my heart even tremble to think how they will stand 
 trembling before the Lord ! and how confounded and 
 speechless they will be when Christ shall reason with 
 them concerning their negligence and sloth ! When he 
 shall say, as the Lord doth in Jeremiah ii, 5, 9, 11, 13, 
 " What iniquity have your fathers (or you) found in me, 
 that ye are gone far from me, and have walked after 
 vanity? Did I ever wrong you, or do you any harm, 
 or ever discourage you from following my service ? 
 Was my way so bad that you could not endure it? or my 
 service so base that you could not stoop to it ? Did I 
 stoop to the fulfilling of the law for you, and could not 
 you stoop to fulfil the easy conditions of my Gospel? 
 Was the world, or Satan, a better friend to you than I ? 
 Or had they done for you more than I had done ? Try 
 now whether they will save you ; or whether they will 
 recompense you for the loss of heaven ; or whether they 
 will be as good to you as I would have been." O 
 what will the wretched sinner answer to anv of this ! 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 But, though man will not hear, yet we may have \ 
 in speaking to God : Lord, smite these rocks till 
 gush forth waters : though these ears are deaf, sa 
 them, Ephphatha, be opened ; though these sinneri 
 dead, let that power speak which sometime said, " 
 zarus, arise !" We know they will be awakened ati 
 last resurrection : O, but then it will be only to thoir 
 sorrow ! O, thou that didst weep and groan over dead 
 Lazarus, pity these sad and senseless souls, till they are 
 able to weep and groan for, and pity themselves. As 
 thou hast bid thy servants speak, so speak now thyself; 
 they will hear thy voice speaking to their hearts, that 
 will not hear mine speaking to their ears. Long hast 
 thou knocked at these hearts in vain ; now break thp 
 doors, and enter in. 
 
 Yet I will add a few more words to good men in par- 
 ticular, to show them why they above all men should be 
 laborious for heaven ; and that there is a great deal of 
 reason, that though all the world sit still, yet they 
 should abhor that laziness and negligence, and lay out 
 all their strength on the work of God. To this end, I 
 desire them also to answer soberly to these few ques- 
 tions ? 
 
 Question 1. What manner of persons should those 
 be, who have felt the smart of their negligence in the 
 new birth, in their several wounds and trouble of con- 
 science, in their doubts and fears, in their various afflic- 
 tions ; they that have groaned and cried out so oft, 
 luider the sense and effects of their negligence, and are 
 like enough to feel it again, if they do not reform it? 
 Sure one would think they should be slothful no more. 
 
 Question 2. What manner of persons should those 
 be, who have bound themselves to God, by so many co- 
 venants as we have done, and in special have covenanted 
 so oft to be more painful and faithful in his service ? At 
 every sacrament ; on many days of humiliation and 
 thanksgiving ; in most of our deep distresses and dan- 
 gerous sicknesses ; we are still ready to bewail our 
 neglects, and to engage ourselves, if God will but try 
 us and trust us once again, how diligent and laborious 
 we will be, and how we will improve our time, and re- 
 prove oflenders, and watch over ourselves, and ply our 
 
134 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 work ; and do him more service in a day than we did in 
 a month? The Lord pardon our perfidious covenant- 
 breaking ; and grant that our engagements may not 
 condemn us. 
 
 Question 3. What manner of men should they be in 
 duty who have received so much encouragement as we 
 have done ? who have tasted such sweetness in dili- 
 gent obedience as doth much more than countervail all 
 the pains ; who have so oft had experience of the wide 
 difference between lazy and laborious duty, by their dif- 
 ferent issues ; who have found all our lazy duties un- 
 fruitful : and all our strivings a^nd wrestlings Mith God 
 successful, so that we were never importunate with God 
 in vain ? We who have had so many deliverances upon 
 urgent seeking ; and have received almost all our solid 
 comforts in a way of close and constant duty : how 
 should we, above all men, ply our Avork ? 
 
 Question 4. What manner of persons should they be 
 in holiness who have so much of the great work yet 
 undone? So many sins in so great strength ; graces 
 weak ; sanctification imperfect ; corruptions still work- 
 ing, and taking advantage of all our omission ? When 
 we are as a boatman on the water ; let him row never 
 so hard, a month together, yet if he do but slack his 
 hand, and think to ease himself, his boat goes faster 
 down the stream than before it went up : so do our 
 souls, when we think to ease ourselves by abating our 
 pains in duty. Our time is short : our enemies mighty : 
 our hinderances many : God seems yet at a distance 
 from many of us : our thoughts of him are dull and un- 
 believing : our acquaintance and communion with Christ 
 is small, and our desires to be with him are as small ; 
 and should men in our case stand still ? 
 
 Question 5. Lastly, what manner of persons should 
 they be on whom the glory of the great God doth so 
 much depend ? Men will judge of the father by the 
 children, and of the master by the servants. We bear 
 his image, and therefore men will measure him by his 
 representation. He is nowhere in the world so lively 
 represented as in his saints : and shall they set him 
 forth as a pattern of idleness ? All the world is not ca- 
 pable of honouring or dishonouring God so much as we: 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 135 
 
 and the least of the honour is of more worth than all 
 our lives. Seeing then that all these things are so, I 
 charge thee that art a Christian, in my Master's name, 
 to consider and resolve the question, " What manner of 
 persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and 
 godliness ?" And let thy life answer the question as well 
 as thy tongue. 
 
 I have been larger upon this use, partly because of 
 the general neglect of heaven, that all sorts are guilty 
 of; partly because men's salvation depends upon their 
 present striving and seeking ; partly because the doc- 
 trine of free grace misunderstood, is lately so abused, to 
 the cherishing of sloth and security ; partly because 
 many eminent men of late do judge that to work or la- 
 bour for life and salvation is mercenary, legal, and dan- 
 gerous ; which doctrine, (as I have said before,) were it 
 by the owners reduced into practice, would undoubtedly 
 damn them : because they that seek not, shall not find ; 
 and they that strive not to enter, shall be shut out ; and 
 they that labour not, shall not be crowned ; and, partly 
 because it is grown the custom, instead of striving for 
 the kingdom, and contending for the faith, to strive with 
 each other about uncertain controversies, and to contend 
 about the circumstantials of faith ; wherein the kingdom 
 of God doth no more consist than in meats, or drinks, 
 or genealogies. Sirs, shall we who are brethren fall 
 out by the way home, and spend so much of our time 
 about the smaller matters, which thousands have been 
 saved without, but never any one saved by them, while 
 Christ and our eternal rest are almost forgotten ? The 
 Lord pardon and heal the folly of his people ! 
 
 CHAPTER A^I. 
 
 THE THIRD USE. — PERSUADING ALL MEN TO TRY THEIR TITLE TO 
 THIS REST ; AND DIRECTING THEM HOW TO TRY, THAT THEY 
 MAY KNOW. 
 
 I NOW proceed to the third use ; and because it is of 
 very great importance, I entreat thee to weigh it the 
 more seriously. 
 
136 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 Is there such a glorious rest so near at hand ? And 
 shall none enjoy it but the people of God ? What mean 
 the most of the world, then, to live so contentedly with- 
 out the assurance of their interest in this rest ? And to 
 neglect the trying of their title to it, when the Lord hath 
 so fully opened the blessedness of that kingdom which 
 none but obedient believers shall possess ; and so fully 
 express those torments which all the rest of the world 
 must eternally suffer ? A man would think now that 
 they who believe this should never be at any quiet till 
 they were heirs of the kingdom. Most men say they 
 believe this word of God to be true : how then can they 
 sit still in such an utter uncertainty, whether ever they 
 shall live in rest or not ? Lord, what a wonderful mad- 
 ness is this, that men who know they must presently 
 enter upon unchangeable joy or pain, should yet live as 
 micertain what shall be their doom as if they had never 
 heard of any such state : yea, and live as quietly, and as 
 merrily, in this uncertainty, as if nothing ailed them, and 
 there were no danger ! 
 
 Are these men alive or dead ? Are they waking or 
 asleep? What do they think on? Where are their 
 hearts ? If they have but a weighty suit at law, how 
 careful are they to know whether it will go for them or 
 against them ? If they were to be tried for their lives, 
 how careful would they be to know whether they should 
 be saved or condemned, especially if their care might 
 surely save them ? If they be dangerously sick, they 
 will inquire of the physician, What think you, sir, shall 
 I escape or not ? But for the business of their. salvation, 
 they are content to be uncertain. If you ask most men 
 a reason of their hopes to be saved, they will say, it is 
 because God is merciful, and Christ died for sinners, and 
 the like general reasons ; which any man in the world 
 may give as well as they , but put them to prove their 
 interest in Christ, and the saving mercy of God, and they 
 can say nothing at all ; at least nothing out of their 
 hearts and experience. 
 
 If God should ask them for their souls, as he did Cain 
 for his brother Abel, they could return but such an an- 
 swer as he did. If God or man should say to them, 
 What case is thy soul in, man ? Is it regenerated and 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 137 
 
 pardoned, or not ? Is it in a state of life, or a state of 
 death ? He would be ready to say I know not, am I 
 my soul's keeper ? I hope well ; I trust God with my 
 soul ; I shall speed as well as other men do ; I thank 
 God I never made any doubt of my salvation. Thou 
 hast the more cause to doubt a great deal, because thou 
 never didst doubt ; and yet more, because thou hast been 
 so careless in thy confidence. What do these expres- 
 sions discover, but a wilful neglect of thy own salva- 
 tion ? As a ship master that should let his vessel alone, 
 and say, I will venture it among the rocks, and the 
 waves, and winds ; I will trust God with it ; it will 
 speed as well as other vessels do. Indeed as well as 
 other men's that are as careless and idle, but not so well 
 as other men's that are diligent and watchful. AYhat 
 horrible abuse of God is this, for men to pretend they 
 trust God, to cloak their own wilful negligence ! If thou 
 didst truly trust God, thou wouldst also be ruled by him, 
 and trust him in that way which he hath appointed thee. 
 He requires thee to " give all diligence to make thy 
 calling and election sure," and so to trust him, 2 Peter 
 1, 10. He hath marked thee out a way by which thou 
 mayest come to be sure ; and charged thee to search and 
 try thyself till thou certainly know. Were he not a 
 foolish traveller that would go on when he doth not 
 know whether it be right or wrong ; and say, I hope I 
 am right; I will go on and trust God? Art thou not 
 guilty of this folly in thy travels to eternity ? Not con- 
 sidering that a little serious inquiry, whether the Avay be 
 right, might save thee a great deal of labour which thou 
 bestowest in vain, and must undo again, or else thou 
 wilt miss of salvation, and undo thyself. Did I not 
 know what a desperate, blind, carnal heart is, I should 
 wonder how thou dost to keep off continual terrors from 
 thy heart ; and especially in these cases following : 
 
 1. I wonder how thou canst either think or speak of 
 the dreadful God without exceeding terror and astonish- 
 ment, as long as thou art uncertain whether he be thy 
 father or thy enemy, and knowest not but all his attri- 
 butes may be employed against thee. If his " saints 
 must rejoice before him with trembling, and serve hira 
 with fear ;" if they that are sure to receive the immov- 
 
138 THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 able kingdom, must yet serve God " with reverence and 
 godly fear," because " he is a consuming fire :" how- 
 terrible should the remembrance of him_ be to them that 
 know not but this fire may for ever consume them. 
 
 2. How dost thou think without trembling, upon 
 Jesus Christ, when thou knowest not whether his blood 
 hath purged thy soul or not ; and whether he will con- 
 demn thee or acquit thee in judgment : nor whether he 
 be the corner stone and foundation of thy happiness, or 
 a stone of stumbling to break thee, and grind thee to 
 powder ? 
 
 3. How canst thou open the Bible and read a chapter, 
 or hear a chapter read, but it should terrify thee ? Me- 
 thinks every leaf should be to thee as Belshazzar's writ- 
 ing on the wall, except only that which draws thee to 
 try and reform. If thou read the promises, thou know- 
 est not whether ever they shall be fulfilled to thee, be- 
 cause thou art uncertain of thy performance of the con- 
 dition. If thou read the threatenings, for any thing thou 
 knowest, thou dost read thy own sentence. I do not won- 
 der if thou art an enemy to plain preaching, and if thou 
 say of it, and of the minister and Scripture itself, as 
 Ahab of the prophet, " I hate him, for he doth not pro- 
 phesy good concerning me, but evil." 
 
 4. What comfort canst thou find in any thing which 
 thou possessest? Methinks friends, and honours, and 
 houses, and lands should do thee little good, till thou 
 know thou hast the love of God withal, and shalt have 
 rest with him when thou leavest these. Ofter to a pri- 
 soner, before he know his sentence, either music, or 
 clothes, or lands, or preferment, and what cares he for 
 any of these, till he know how he shall escape for his 
 life ? Then he will look after these comforts of life, and 
 not before ; for he knows if he must die the next day, it 
 will be small comfort to die rich or honourable. Even 
 when thou liest down to take thy rest, methinks the un- 
 certainty of thy salvation should keep thee waking, or 
 amaze thee in thy dreams, and trouble thy sleep ; and thou 
 shouldst say, as Job in a smaller distress than thine. Job 
 vii, 13, 14, " When I say, my bed shall comfort me, my 
 couch shall ease my complaint, then thou scarest me 
 through dreams, and terrifiest me through visions." 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 139 
 
 5. What shift dost thou make to think of thy dying 
 hour ? Thou knowest it is hard by, and there is no 
 avoiding it, nor any medicine found out that can prevent 
 it : thou knowest it is the king of terror., and the inlet 
 to thine unchangeable state. If thou shouldst die this 
 day, (and " who knows what a day may bring forth ?") 
 thou dost not know whether thou shalt go straight to 
 heaven or hell. And canst thou be merry till thou art 
 got out of this dangerous state 1 
 
 6. What shift dost thou make to preserve thy heart 
 from horror, when thou rememberest the great judgment 
 day, and the everlasting flames ? Dost thou not tremble 
 as Felix, when thou hearest of it ? and as the elders of 
 the town trembled when Samuel came to it, saying, 
 Comest thou peaceably ? So methinks thou shouldst 
 do when the minister comes into the pulpit : and thy 
 heart, whenever thou meditatest of that day, should me- 
 ditate terror ; and thou shouldst even be a terror to thy- 
 self and all thy friends. If the keepers trembled, and 
 became as dead men, when they did but see the angels. 
 Matt, xxviii, 3, 4, how canst thou think of living in hell 
 with devils, till thou hast got some sound assurance that 
 thou shalt escape it ? Or if thou seldom think of these 
 things, the wonder is as great, what shift thou makest 
 to keep these thoughts from thy heart 1 Thy bed is 
 very soft, or thy heart is very hard, if thou canst sleep 
 soundly in this uncertain case. 
 
 I have showed thee the danger ; let me next proceed 
 to show thee the remedy. 
 
 If this general uncertainty of the world about their 
 salvation were remediless, then must it be borne as other 
 unavoidable miseries : but, alas, the common cause is 
 wilfulness and negligence : men will not be persuaded 
 to use the remedy, though it be at hand, prescribed to 
 them by God himself, and all necessary helps thereunto 
 provided for them. The great means to conquer this 
 uncertainty, is self-examination, or the serious and dili- 
 gent trying of a man's heart and state by the rule of 
 Scripture. But, alas, either men understand not the 
 nature and use of this duty, or else they will not be at 
 the pains to try. Go through a congregation of a thou^ 
 gand men, and how few of them will you meet with that 
 
140 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 ever bestowed one hour in all their lives in a close 
 examination of their title to heaven? Ask thy own 
 conscience, reader, when was the time, and where was 
 the place that ever thou solemnly tookcdst thy heart to 
 task, as in the sight of God, and examinedst it by Scrip- 
 ture, whether it be born again or not ? Whether it be 
 holy or not? Whether it be set most on God or on 
 creatures, on heaven or earth ? And didst follow on this 
 examination till thou hadst discovered thy condition, 
 and so passed sentence on thyself accordingly ? 
 
 But because this is a work of so high concernment, 
 and so commonly neglected, I will therefore, 
 
 1. Show you that it is possible, by trying, to come to 
 a certainty. 
 
 2. Show you the hinderances that keep men from 
 trying, and from assurance. 
 
 3. I will lay down some motives to persuade you to it. 
 
 4. I will give you some directions how to perform it. 
 
 5. And, lastly, I will lay you down some marks out 
 of Scripture, by which you may try, and come to an 
 infallible certainty, whether you arc the people of God 
 or not. 
 
 And, 1. I shall show you that a certainty of salvation 
 may be attained, and ought to be laboured for ; which 
 
 1 maintain by these arguments : — 
 
 1. Scripture tells us we may know, and that the saints 
 before us have known their justification and salvation, 
 
 2 Cor. V, 1 ; Romans viii, 36 ; John xxi, 15 ; 1 John v, 
 19, iv, 13, iii, 14, 24, ii, 3, 5 ; Rom. viii, 14, 19 ; Eph. iii, 
 12. I refer you to the places for brevity. 
 
 2. If we may be certain of the premises, then may 
 we also be certain of the conclusion. But here we may 
 be certain of both the premises. For, 1. "That who- 
 soever believeth in Christ shall not perish, but have 
 everlasting life," is the voice of the Gospel ; and, 
 therefore, that we may be sure of. That we are such 
 believers, may be known by conscience and internal 
 sense. 
 
 3. The Scripture would never make such a wide 
 difference between the children of God, and the chil- 
 dren of the devil, and set forth the happiness of the 
 one, and the misery of the other, and make this difler 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 141 
 
 ence to run through all the veins of its doctrine, if a 
 man cannot know which of these two states he is in. 
 
 4. Much less would the Holy Ghost bid us " give all 
 diligence to make our calling and election sure," if it 
 could not be done, 2 Peter i, 10. 
 
 5. And to what purpose should we be so earnestly- 
 urged to examine, and prove, and try ourselves, whether 
 we be in the faith, and whether Christ be in us, or we 
 be reprobates ? 1 Cor. xi, 28, xiii, 5. Why should Vve 
 search for that which cannot be found? 
 
 6. How can we obey those precepts which require us 
 to rejoice always ? 1 Thess. v, 16 ; to call God our 
 Father, Luke xi, 13 ; to live in his praises, Psa. xlix, 1-5 ; 
 and to long for Christ's coming, Rev. xxii, 17, 20; 2 
 Thess. i, 10 ; and to comfort ourselves with the men- 
 tion of it, 1 Thess. iv, 18 ; which are all the consequents 
 of assurance ? Who can do any of these heartily, that 
 is not in some measure sure that he is a child of God ? 
 
 The second thing I promised is, to show you what 
 are the hinderances w^hich keep men from examination 
 and assurance. I shall, 1. Show what hinders them 
 from trying ; and, 2. What hindercth them from knowing 
 when they do try ; that so when you see the impedi- 
 ments, you may avoid them. 
 
 And, 1. We cannot doubt but Satan will do his part 
 to hinder us from such a necessary duty as this ; if all 
 the power he hath can do it, or all the means and instru- 
 ments which he can raise up. He is loath the godly 
 should have that assurance and advantage against cor- 
 ruption v/hich faithful self-examination would procure 
 them ; and for the ungodly he knows that if they should 
 once fall close to this, they would find out his deceits 
 and their own danger. If they did but faithfully perform 
 this duty, he were likely to lose most of his subjects. 
 If the snare be not hid, the bird will escape it : Satan 
 knows how to angle for souls better than to show them 
 the hook or line, and to fright them away with a noise, 
 or with his own appearance. 
 
 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 ; or to turn away their thoughts, or possess 
 
143 THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 them with prejudice. Satan is acquainted with all the 
 preparations of the minister ; he knows when he hath 
 provided a searching sermon, fitted to the state and 
 necessity of a hearer ; and therefore he will keep him 
 away that day, if it be possible, or else cast him asleep, 
 or steal away the word by the cares and talk of the 
 world, or some way prevent its operation. 
 
 This is the first hinderance. 
 
 3. Wicked men also are great impediments to poor 
 sinners when they should examine and discover their 
 estates. 
 
 1. Their examples hinder much. When an ignorant 
 sinner seeth all his friends and neighbours do as he 
 doth, yea, the rich and learned as well as others, this 
 is an exceeding great temptation to proceed in his se- 
 curity. 
 
 2. The merry company and discourse of these men 
 do take away the thoughts of his spiritual state, and 
 make the understanding drunk : so that if the Spirit 
 had before put into them any jealousy of themselves, 
 or any purpose to try themselves, these do soon quench 
 all. 
 
 3. Also their continual discourse of matters of the 
 world doth damp all these purposes. 
 
 4. Their railings also, and scorning at godly persons, 
 is a very great impedimeut to multitudes of souls, and 
 possesseth them with such a prejudice and dislike of 
 the way to heaven, that they settle in the way they 
 are in. 
 
 5. Their constant persuasions, allurements, and 
 threats hinder much. God doth scarce 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 flatter him, and daub, and 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 harm ? God 
 is merciful : and if such as you shall not be saved, God 
 lielp a great many. What do you think is become of 
 all your forefathers ? And what will become of all your 
 friends and neighbours that live as you do ? Will they 
 all be damned ? Shall none be saved, think you, but a 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 143 
 
 few strict ones ? Come, come, if you hearken to these 
 books or preachers, they will drive you to despair, or 
 drive you out of your wits. Thus do they follow the 
 soul that is escaping from Satan, with restless cries, 
 till they have brought him back. O, how many thou- 
 sands have such charms kept asleep in security, till 
 death and hell have awakened and better informed 
 them ! The Lord calls to the sinner, and tells him, 
 "The gate is strait, the way is narrow, and few find it: 
 try and examine whether thou be in the faith or not : 
 give all diligence to make sure in time." And the world 
 cries out clean the contrary, " Never doubt, never 
 trouble yourselves with these thoughts." I entreat the 
 sinner that is in this strait to consider that it is Christ, 
 and not their fathers, or mothers, or neighbours, or 
 friends, that must judge them : and if Christ condemn 
 them, these cannot save them : and therefore common 
 reason may tell them that it is not from the words of 
 ignorant men, but from the word of God that they must 
 fetch their hopes of salvation. 
 
 When Ahab would inquire among the multitudes of 
 flattering prophets, it was his death. They can flatter 
 men into the snare, but they cannot bring them out. O, 
 take the counsel of the Holy Ghost, Ephesians v, 6, 7, 
 " Let no man deceive you with vain v/ords : for be- 
 cause of these things cometh the wrath of God upon 
 the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore par- 
 takers with them :" but save yourselves from, this unto- 
 ward generation. 
 
 3. But the greatest hinderances are in men's own 
 hearts. 
 
 1. Some are so ignorant that they know not what self- 
 examination 'is, nor what a minister means when he 
 pcrsuadeth them to try themselves ; or they know not 
 that there is any necessity of it ; but think every man 
 is bound to believe that God is his Father, and that his 
 sins are pardoned, whether it be true or false ; and that 
 it were a great fault to make any question of it: or they 
 do not think that assurance can be attained : or that 
 there is any such great difference betwixt one man and 
 another: but that we are all Christians, and therefore 
 need not trouble ourselves any farther ; or at least, they 
 
144 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 know not wherein the difference lies ; or how to set 
 upon this searching of their hearts. They have as 
 gross conceits of that regeneration which they must 
 search for, as Nicodemus had ; they are like those in 
 Acts xix, 2, that " knew not whether there were a Holy 
 Ghost to be received or not." 
 
 2. Some are so possessed with self-love and pride 
 that they will not so much as suspect any danger to 
 themselves. Like a proud tradesman who scorns the 
 motion when his friends desire him to cast up his books, 
 because they are afraid he will break. As some fond 
 parents that have an overweening conceit of their own 
 children, and therefore will not believe or hear any evil 
 of them. Such a fond self-love doth hinder men from 
 suspecting and trying their states. 
 
 3. Some are so guilty that they dare not try : they 
 are so fearful that they should fmd their estates unsound, 
 that they dare not search into them. And yet they dare 
 venture them to a more dreadful trial. 
 
 4. Some are so in love with their sin, and so in dis- 
 like with the way of God, that they dare not fall on the 
 trial of their ways, lest they be forced from the course 
 which they love. 
 
 5. Some are so resolved already never to change their 
 present state, that they neglect examination as a useless 
 thing. Before they will turn so precise, and 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. And when a man is fully resolved to hold 
 to his way, and not to turn back, be it right or wrong, 
 to what end should he inquire whether he be right or 
 not? 
 
 6. Most men are so taken up with their worldly af- 
 fairs, and are so busy in providing for the flesh, that 
 they cannot set themselves to the trying of their title to 
 heaven. They have another kind of happiness in their 
 eye, which will not suffer them to make sure of heaven. 
 
 7. But the most common impediment is, that false 
 faith and hope commonly called presumption ; which 
 bears up the hearts of most of the world, and so keeps 
 them from suspecting their danger. 
 
 Thus you see what abundance of difficulties must be 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 145 
 
 overcome, before a man closely sets upon the examining 
 of his heart. 
 
 And if a man break through all these impediments, 
 and set upon the duty, yet, of those few who inquire 
 after means of assurance, divers are deceived and mis- 
 carry, especially through these following causes : 
 
 1. 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 one 
 can hardly find any thing in a house where nothing 
 keeps its place, but all is cast on a heap together ; so it 
 is in the heart where all things are in disorder, especially 
 when darkness is added to this disorder : so that the 
 heart is like an obscure dungeon, where there is but a 
 little crevice of light, and a man must rather grope than 
 see. No wonder if men mistake in searching such a 
 heart, and so miscarry in judging their estates. 
 
 3. Besides, many are resolved what to judge before 
 they try. They use the duty but to strengthen their 
 present conceits of themselves, and not to find out the 
 truth of their condition. Like a bribed judge, who ex- 
 amines each party as if he wouJd judge uprightly, when 
 he is resolved which way the cause shall go before 
 hand. Just so do men examine their hearts. 
 
 3. Also men try themselves by false marks and rules ; 
 not knowing wherein the truth of Christianity doth con- 
 sist : some looking beyond, and some short of the Scrip- 
 ture standard. 
 
 Lastly. Men frequently miscarrj'- in this work, by 
 setting on it in their OAvn strength. As some expect 
 the Spirit should do it v/ithout them ; so others attempt 
 it themselves, without seeking or expecting the help of 
 the Spirit. Both these will certainly miscarry in their 
 assurance. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 FARTHER CAUSES OF DOUBTING AMONG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Because the comfort of a Christian's life doth so 
 much consist in his assurance of God's special love, and 
 because the right way of obtaining it is so much contro- 
 7 
 
146 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 verted, I will here proceed a little farther in opening to 
 you some other hinderances which keep us Christians 
 from comfortable certainty. 
 
 1. One great cause of doubting and uncertainty is, the 
 weakness of our grace. A little grace is next to none. 
 Small things are hardly discerned. Most content them- 
 selves with a small measure of grace, and do not follow 
 on to spiritual strength and manhood. They believe so 
 weakly, and love God so little, that they can scarce find 
 whether they believe and love at all. Like a man in a 
 swoon, whose pulse and breathing is so weak that they 
 can hardly be perceived whether they move at all, and 
 consequently whether the man be alive or dead. 
 
 The chief remedy for such would be, to follow on 
 their duty till their graces be increased : ply your work : 
 wait upon God in the use of his prescribed means, and 
 he will undoubtedly bless you with increase. O that 
 Christians would bestow most of that time in getting 
 more grace, which they bestow in anxious doub tings, 
 whether they have any or none ; and that they would 
 lay out those serious afl'ections in praying and seeking 
 to Christ for more grace, which they bestow in fruitless 
 complaints ! I beseech thee, take this advice as from 
 God ! and then, when thou believest strongly, and lovest 
 fervently, thou canst not doubt whether thou believe and 
 love or not : no more than a man that is burning hot can 
 doubt whether he be warm : or a man that is strong and 
 lusty can doubt whether he be alive. 
 
 2. Many a soul lieth long under doubting, through 
 the imperfection of their very reason, and exceeding 
 weakness of their natural parts. Grace doth usually 
 rather employ our faculties on better objects, than add 
 to the degree of their natural strength. Many honest 
 hearts have such weak heads, that they knovv^ not how 
 to perform the work of self- trial : they are not able to 
 argue the case ; they will acknowledge the premises, 
 and yet deny the apparent conclusion. Or if they be 
 brought to acknowledge the conclusion, yet they do but 
 stagger in their concession, and hold it so Aveakly that 
 every assault may take it from them. If God do not some 
 other way supply to these men the defect of their reason, 
 I see not how they should have clear and settled peace. 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 147 
 
 3. Another common cause of doubting and discomfort 
 is, the secret maintaining some known sin. 
 
 When a man liveth in some unwarrantable practice, 
 and God hath oft touched him for it, and yet he con- 
 tinueth it, it is no wonder if this person want both as- 
 surance and comfort. One would think that a soul that 
 is so tender as to tremble, should be as tender of sin- 
 ning: and yet sad experience telleth us that it is fre- 
 quently otherwise. I have known too many such, that 
 would complain and yet sin, and accuse themselves, and 
 yet sin still, yea, and despair, and yet proceed in sin- 
 ning : and all arguments and means could not keep them 
 from the wilful committing of that sin again and again, 
 which yet they themselves did think would prove their 
 destruction. Yea, some will be carried away with those 
 sins that seem most contrary to their dejected temper. 
 I have known them that would fill men's ears with the 
 constant lamentations of their miserable state, and ac- 
 cusations against themselves, as if they had been the 
 most humble people in the world ; and yet be as pas- 
 sionate in the maintaining their innocency when another 
 accuseth them, and as intolerably peevish, and tender of 
 their reputation in any thing they are blamed for, as if 
 they were the proudest persons on earth. 
 
 This cherishing sin doth hinder assurance these four 
 ways : — 
 
 1. It doth abate the degree of our graces, and so makes 
 them undiscernible. 
 
 2. It obscureth that which it destroyeth not ; for it 
 beareth such sway, that grace is not seen to stir, nor 
 scarce heard speak, for the noise of this corruption. 
 
 3. It putteth out or darken eth the eye of the soul, and 
 it benumbeth and stupifieth it. 
 
 4. But especially it provoketh God to withdraw him- 
 self, his comforts, and the assistance of the Spirit, with- 
 out which we may search long enough before we have 
 assurance. God hath made a separation betwixt 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 assurance and comfort in vain, 
 God will not encourage thee by his precious gifts in a 
 course of sinning. This worm will be gnawing upon 
 
148 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 thy conscience : it will be a devouring canker to thy 
 consolations. Thou mayest steal a spark of false com- 
 fort from thy worldly prosperity or delight : or thou 
 mayest have it from false opinions, or from the delu- 
 sions of Satan ; but from God thou wilt have no com- 
 fort. However an Antinomian may tell thee that thy 
 comforts have no dependence upon thy obedience, nor 
 thy discomforts upon thy disobedience ; and therefore 
 may speak peace to thee in the course of thy sinning ; 
 yet thou shalt find by experience that God will not. If 
 any man set up his idols in his heart, and put the stum- 
 bling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh 
 to a minister, or to God, to inquire for assurance and 
 comfort, God will answer that man by himself, and in- 
 stead of comforting him., he will set his face against 
 him, "he will answer him according to the multitude 
 of his idols." 
 
 5. Another common cause of want of assurance and 
 comfort is, when men grow lazy in the spiritual part of 
 duty. As Dr. Sibbs saith truly, " It is the lazy Chris- 
 tian commonly that lacketh assurance." The way of 
 painful duty is the way of fullest comfort. Christ car- 
 rieth all our comforts in his hand : if we are out of that 
 way Avhere Christ is to be met, we are out of the way 
 where comfort is to be had. 
 
 These two ways doth this laziness debar us of our 
 comforts : — 
 
 1. By stopping the fountain, and causing Christ to 
 withhold this blessing from us. Parents use not to 
 smile upon children in their neglects and disobedience. 
 So far as the Spirit is grieved, he will suspend his con- 
 solation. Assurance and peace are Christ's great en- 
 couragements to faithfulness and obedience ; and there- 
 fore (though our obedience do not merit them, yet) they 
 usually rise and fall with our diligence in duty. They 
 that have entertained the Antinomian dotage to cover 
 their idleness and viciousness, may talk their nonsense 
 against this at pleasure, but the laborious Christian 
 knows by experience. As prayer must have faith and 
 fervency to pi'ocure its success, beside the bloodshed 
 and intercession of Christ, so must all other parts of our 
 obedience. He that will say to us in that triumphing 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 149 
 
 day, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou 
 into the joy of thy Lord ;" will also comfort his serv- 
 ants in their most affectionate and spiritual duties, and 
 say, " Well done, good and faithful servant, take this 
 foretaste of thy everlasting joy." 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 that thy joys are either carnal or 
 diabolical. 
 
 2. The action of the soul upon such excellent objects 
 doth naturally bring consolation with it. The very act 
 of loving God in Christ, doth bring inexpressible sweet- 
 ness into the soul. 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, doth make no more 
 music than a common piece of wood ; but when it is 
 taken up and handled by a skilful lutist, the melody 
 is delightful. Some degree of comfort follows every 
 good action, as heat accompanies fire, and as beams and 
 influence issue from the sun : which is so true, that the 
 very heathens, upon the discharge of a good conscience, 
 have found comfort and peace answeiable. This is 
 praemium ante praemium : a reward before the reward. 
 
 As a man therefore that is cold should not stand still 
 and say, I am so cold that I have no mind to labour, but 
 labour till his coldness be gone, and heat excited ; so he 
 that wants the comfort of assurance, must not stand 
 still and say, I am so doubtful and uncomfortable that I 
 have no mind for duty ; but ply his duty, and exercise 
 his graces, till he finds his doubts and discomforts 
 vanish. 
 
 And thus I have shown you the chief causes why so 
 many Christians enjoy so little assurance and con- 
 solation. 
 
150 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONTAINING DIRECTIONS FOR EXAMINATION, AND SOME MARKS 
 OF TRIAL. 
 
 I WILL not stand here to lay down the directions 
 necessary for preparation to this duty, because you may 
 gather them from what is said concerning the hinder- 
 ances : for the contraries of those hinderances will be 
 the most necessary helps. Only before you set upon it, 
 I advise you to the observation of these rules : — 
 
 1. Come -not with too peremptory conclusions of 
 yourselves beforehand. Do not judge too confidently 
 before you try. 
 
 2. Be sure to be so well acquainted with the Scripture 
 as to know what is the tenor of the covenant of grace, 
 and what are the conditions of justification and glorifi- 
 cation, and consequently what are sound marks to try 
 thyself by. 
 
 3. Be a constant observer of the temper and motions 
 of thy heart : most of the difficulty of the work doth lie 
 in true and clear discerning of it. Be watchful in ob- 
 serving the actings both of grace and corruption, and 
 the circumstances of their actings : as, how frequent ? 
 how violent? how strong or weak were the outward 
 incitements ? how great or small the impediments ? 
 what delight, or loathing, or fear, or reluctancy, did go 
 with those acts ? 
 
 1. Empty thy mind of all thy other cares and thoughts, 
 that they do not distract or divide thy mind. This work 
 will be enough at once of itself, without joining others 
 with it. 
 
 2. Then fall down before God, and in hearty prayer 
 desire the assistance of his Spirit, to discover to thee 
 the plain truth of thy condition, and to enlighten thee 
 in the whole progress of the work. 
 
 I will not digress to warn you here of the false rules 
 and marks of trial of which you must beware. But 
 I will briefly adjoin some marks to try your title to 
 this rest. 
 
 1. Every soul that hath a title to this rest, doth place 
 
151 
 
 his happiness in it, and make it the ultimate end of his 
 soul. This is the first mark ; which is so plain a truth 
 that I need not stand to prove it. For this rest con- 
 sisteth in the full and glorious enjoyment of God ; and 
 he that maketh not God his ultimate end, is in heart a 
 pagan and vile idolater. 
 
 Let me ask thee then, Dost thou truly account it thy 
 chief happiness to enjoy the Lord in glory, or dost thou 
 ,not? Canst thou say with David, "The Lord is my 
 portion ? And whom have I in heaven but thee ? And 
 whom in earth that I desire in comparison of thee?" 
 If thou be an heir of rest, it is thus with thee. Though 
 the flesh will be pleading for its own delights, and the 
 world will be creeping into thine affection, yet in thy 
 ordinary, settled, prevailing judgment and afiections, 
 thou preferrest God before all things in the world. 
 
 1. Thou makest him the end of thy desires and en- 
 deavours : the very reason why thou hearest and pray- 
 est, why thou desirest to live and breathe on earth, is 
 this, that thou mayest seek the Lord. Thou seekest first 
 the kingdom of God and its righteousness : though thou 
 dost not seek it so zealously as thou shouldst ; yet hath 
 it the chief of thy desires and endeavours : and nothing 
 else is desired or preferred before it. 
 
 2. Thou wilt think no labour or suflering too great 
 to obtain it. And though the flesh may sometimes 
 shrink, yet art thou resolved and content to go through 
 all. 
 
 3. If thou be an heir of rest, thy valuation of it will 
 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 would set before 
 thee an eternity of earthly pleasure on one hand, and 
 the rest of the saints on the other, and bid thee take thy 
 choice : thou wouldst refuse the world, and choose this 
 rest. 
 
 But if thou be yet in the flesh, then it is clean con- 
 trary with thee. Then dost thou in thy heart prefer thy 
 worldly happiness before God : and though thy tongue 
 may say that God is the chief good, yet thy heart doth 
 not so esteem him. For, 
 
 1. The world is the chief end of thy desires and 
 
152 THE saints' everlasting rest. ^ 
 
 endeavours ; thy very heart is set upon it ; thy greatest 
 care and labour is to maintain thy estate, or credit, or 
 fleshly delights. But the life to come hath little of thy 
 care or labour. Thou didst never perceive so much 
 excellence in the unseen glory as to draw thy heart so 
 after it ; but that little pains which thou bestowest that 
 way, it is but in the second place. God hath but the 
 world's leavings, and that time and labour which thou 
 canst spare from the world, or those few cold and care- 
 less thoughts which follow thy constant, 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, when thou canst keep the world no longer, 
 therefore thou wilt do something. 
 
 2. Therefore it is that thou thinkest the way of God 
 too strict, and wilt not be persuaded to the constant 
 labour of walking according to the Gospel rule : and 
 when it comes to trial that thou must forsake Christ or 
 thy worldly happiness, and the wind which was in thy 
 back doth turn in thy face, then thou wilt venture 
 heaven rather than earth, and (as desperate rebels use 
 to say) thou wilt rather trust God's mercy for thy soul, 
 than man's for thy body ; and so deny thy obedience 
 to God. 
 
 3. 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 chiefest 
 happiness. This is thy case if thou be yet an unre- 
 generate person, and hast no title to the saints' rest. 
 
 The second mark which I shall give thee, to try 
 whether thou be an heir of rest, is this : — 
 
 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 of na- 
 ture, ["Thou shalt love the Lord thy God."l This 
 second mark is the sum of the command or condition 
 of the Gospel, [" Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou 
 shalt be saved."! And the performance of these two 
 is the whole sum or essence of godliness and Chris- 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 153 
 
 tianity. Observe therefore the parts of this mark, 
 which is but a definition of faith. 
 
 1. Dost thou find that thou art naturally a lost con- 
 demned man, for thy breach of the first covenant? 
 And believe that Jesus Christ is the mediator who hath 
 made a sufficient satisfaction to the law ? And hearing 
 in the Gospel that he is offered without exception unto 
 all, dost thou heartily consent that he alone shall be thy 
 Saviour ? and no farther trust to thy duties and works 
 than as conditions required by him, and means appointed 
 in subordination to him ? Not looking at them as in the 
 least measure able to satisfy the course of the law, or 
 as a legal righteousness, nor any part of it? But art 
 content to trust thy salvation on the redemption made 
 by Christ 1 
 
 2. 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 commandeth 
 the hardest duties, and those which most cross the 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 it is with 
 every true Christian. But if thou be an unbeliever, it 
 is far otherwise. Thou mayest call Christ thy Lord and 
 thy Saviour: but thou never foundest thyself so lost 
 without him as to drive thee to trust him, and lay thy 
 salvation on him alone : or at least thou didst never 
 heartily consent that he should govern thee as thy Lord ; 
 nor resign up thy soul and life to be ruled by him ; nor 
 take his word for the law of thy thoughts and actions. 
 It is like thou art content to be saved from hell by Christ 
 when thou diest ; but in the meantime he shall command 
 thee no farther than will stand with thy credit, or plea- 
 sure, or worldly estate and 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 the 
 contrary ; yet this that I have mentioned is the ordinary 
 desire and choice of thine heart: and so thou art no 
 true believer in Christ : for though thou confess him in 
 words, yet in works thou dost deny him, '* being diso- 
 
 7* 
 
154 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 bedient, and to every good work a disapprover and a 
 reprobate," Tit. i, 16. This is the case of those that 
 shall be shut out of the saints' rest. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE REASON OF THE SAINTS' AFFLICTIONS HERE. 
 
 A FARTHER use which we must make of the present 
 doctrine is, to inform us why the people of God suffer 
 so much in this life. What wonder when you see their 
 rest doth yet remain ? They are not yet come to their 
 resting place. We would all fain have continual pros- 
 perity, because it is pleasing to the flesh ; but wp con- 
 sider not the unreasonableness of such desires. We 
 are like children, who, if they see any thing which their 
 appetite desireth, cry for it ; and if you tell them that it 
 is unwholesome, or hurtful for them, they are never the 
 more quieted ; or if you go about to heal any sore that 
 they have, they will not endure you to hurt them, though 
 you tell them that they cannot otherwise be healed ; 
 their sense is too strong for their reason, and therefore 
 reason doth little persuade them. Even so it is with us 
 when God is afflicting us : he giveth us reasons why we 
 must bear it, so that our reason is oft convinced and 
 satisfied, and yet we cry and complain still : it is not 
 reason, but ease that we must have : spiritual remedies 
 may cure the spirit's maladies ; but that will not content 
 the flesh. 
 
 But methinks Christians should have another palate 
 than that of the flesh, to try and relish providences by : 
 God hath given them the Spirit to subdue the flesh. 
 And therefore I shall here give them some reasons of 
 God's dealing in their present suflerings, whereby the 
 equity and mercy therein may appear : and they shall 
 be only such as are drawn from the reference that these 
 afflictions have to our rest ; which being a Christian's 
 happiness and ultimate end, will direct him in judging 
 of all estates and means. 
 
 1. Consider, then, that labour and trouble are the com- 
 mon way to rest, both in the course of nature and of 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST 155 
 
 grace. Can there possibly be rest without motion and 
 weariness ? Do you not travel and toil first, and then 
 rest afterward ? The day for labour goes first, and then 
 the night for rest doth follow. Why should we desire 
 the course of grace to be perverted, any more than we 
 would do the course of nature ? God did once dry up 
 the sea to make a passage for his people ; and once 
 made the sun in the firmament to stand still ; but must 
 he do so always, or as oft as Ave would have him ? It 
 is his established decree, " That through many tribula- 
 tions we must enter into the kingdom of heaven," Acts 
 xiv, 22. " And that if we suffer with him, we shall also 
 be glorified with him," 2 Tim. ii, 12. And what are 
 we, that God's statutes should be reversed for our plea- 
 sure ? As Bildad said to Job, chapter xviii, 4, " Shall 
 the earth be forsaken for thee ? or the rock be removed 
 out of his place?" so must God pervert his established 
 order for thee ? 
 
 2. Consider, also, that afflictions are exceeding useful 
 to us, to keep us from mistaking our resting place, and 
 so taking up short of it. A Christian's motion heaven- 
 ward, is voluntary, and not constrained. Those means 
 therefore are most profitable to him which help his un- 
 derstanding and will in this prosecution. The most 
 dangerous mistake that our souls are capable of is, to 
 take the creature for God, and earth for heaven. And 
 yet, alas, how common is this ! Though we are ashamed 
 to speak so much with our tongues, yet how oft do our 
 hearts say, " It is best being here !" And how con- 
 tented are we with an earthly portion ! So that I fear 
 God would displease most of us more to afflict us here, 
 and. promise us rest hereafter, than to give us our 
 hearts' desire on earth, though he had n^ever made us a 
 promise of heaven. As if the creature without God 
 were better than God without the creature. Alas, how 
 apt are we, like foolish children, when we are busy at 
 our sports and worldly employments, to forget both our 
 Father and our home ! Therefore it is a hard thing for 
 a rich man to enter into heaven, because it is hard for 
 him to value it more than earth, and not think he is well 
 already. Come to a man that hath the Morld at will, 
 and tell him, " This is not your happiness, you have 
 
156 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 higher things to look after ;" and how little will he re- 
 gard you ? But when affliction comes, it speaks con- 
 vincingly, and will be heard when preachers cannot. 
 
 Sometimes a sincere man begins to be lifted up with 
 applause ; and sometimes being in health and pros- 
 perity, he hath lost his relish of Christ, and the joys 
 above ; till God break in upon his riches, and scatter 
 them abroad, or upon his children, or upon his con- 
 science, or upon the health of his body, and break down 
 his mount which he thought so strong : and then, when 
 he lieth in Manasseh's fetters, or is fastened to his bed 
 with pining sickness, O what an opportunity hath the 
 Spirit to plead with his soul ! When the world is worth 
 nothing, then heaven is worth something. 
 
 How oft have I been ready to think myself at home, 
 till sickness hath roundly told me, I was mistaken ! And 
 how apt yet to fall into the same disease, which prevail- 
 eth till it be removed by the same cure ! If our dear 
 Lord did not put these thorns into our bed, we should 
 sleep out our lives, and lose our glory. 
 
 3. Consider, afflictions are God's most effectual means 
 to keep us from straggling out of the way to our rest. 
 If he had not set a hedge of thorns on the right hand 
 and on the left, we should hardly keep the way to hea 
 ven. If there be but one gap open without these thorns, 
 how ready are we to turn out at it ! But when we can- 
 not go astray but these thorns will prick us, perhaps we 
 will be content to hold the way. When we grow wan- 
 ton, or worldly, or proud, what a not \ble means is sick- 
 ness, or other affliction, to reduce us ! It is every 
 Christian, as well as Luther, that may call affliction one 
 of his best schoolmasters. Many a one, as well as 
 David, may say by experience, " Before I was afflicted 
 I went astray, but now have I kept thy precepts." 
 Many a thousand poor recovered sinners may cry, O 
 healthful sickness ! O comfortable sorrows ! O gainful 
 losses ! O enriching poverty ! O blessed day that ever I 
 was afflicted ! It is not only " the pleasant streams, 
 and the green pastures, but his rod and staff also that 
 are our comfort." Though I know it is the word and 
 Spirit that do the work ; yet certainly the time of sufier- 
 ing is so opportune a season, that the same word will 
 
157 
 
 take them then, which before was scarce observed: it 
 doth so unbolt the door of the heart, that a minister or 
 a friend may then be heard, and the word may have 
 easier entrance to the afiections. 
 
 4. Consider, afflictions arc God's most effectual means 
 to make us mend our pace in the way to our rest. They 
 are his rod, and his spur : what sluggard will not awake 
 and stir when he feeleth them ? It were well if mere 
 love would prevail with us, and that we were rather 
 drawn to heaven than driven : but seeing our hearts are 
 so bad, that mercy will not do it, it is better we be put 
 on with the sharpest scourge, than loiter out our time 
 till the doors are shut. 
 
 O what a difference is there betwixt our prayers in 
 health and in sickness ! betwixt our prosperity and ad- 
 versity repentings ! He that before had not a tear to 
 shed, or a groan to utter, now can sob, and sigh, and 
 weep : he that was wont to lie like a block in prayer, 
 and scarce minded what he said to God : now affliction 
 presseth him down, how earnestly can he beg ! How 
 doth he mingle his prayers and his tears ! and cry out, 
 what a person he will be, if God will but hear him and 
 deliver him ! Alas ! if we did 'not sometimes feel the 
 spur, what a slow pace would most of us hold toward 
 heaven ! 
 
 Seeing then what our vile natures require, why should 
 we be unwilling God should do us good by sharp means ? 
 Sure that is the best dealing for us which surest and 
 soonest doth farther us for heaven. I leave thee. Chris- 
 tian, to judge by thy own experience, whether thou dost 
 not go more watchfully, and lively, and speedily in thy 
 way to rest, in thy sufferings, than thou dost in thy 
 more pleasing and prosperous state. 
 
 Lastly. Consider, God doth seldom give his people 
 so sweet a foretaste of their future rest as in their deep 
 afflictions. He keepeth his most precious cordials for 
 the time of our greatest faintings and dangers. God is 
 not so lavish of his choice favours as to bestow them 
 unseasonably : he gives them at so fit a time, when he 
 knoweth they are needful, and will be valued ; and when 
 he is sure to be thanked for them, and his people re- 
 joiced by them. Especially, when our sufferings are 
 
158 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 more directly for his cause, then doth he seldom fail of 
 sweetening the bitter cup. Therefore have the martyrs 
 been possessors of the highest joys, and therefore were 
 they so ambitious of martyrdom. I do not think that 
 Paul and Silas did ever sing more joyfully than when 
 they were sore with scourgings, and fast in the inner 
 prison, with their feet in the stocks. When did Christ 
 preach such comforts to his disciples, and assure them 
 of his providing them mansions with himself, but when 
 he was ready to leave them, and their hearts were sor- 
 rowful because of his departure ? When did he appear 
 among them, and say, " Peace be unto you," but when 
 they were shut up together for fear of the persecuting 
 Jews ? When did Stephen see heaven opened, but 
 when he was giving up his life for the testimony of Je- 
 sus ? And though we be never put to the suffering of 
 martyrdom, yet God knoweth that in our natural suffer- 
 ings we need support. 
 
 Seeing then that the time of affliction is the time of 
 our most pure, spiritual, and heavenly joy, for the most 
 part ; why should a Christian think it so bad a time ? 
 Is not that our best estate wherein we have most of 
 God ? Why else do we desire to come to heaven ? If 
 we look for a heaven of fleshly delights, we shall find 
 ourselves mistaken. Conclude then that affliction is not 
 so bad a state in our way to rest as the flesh would make 
 it. Are we wiser than God ? Doth not he know what 
 is good for us better than we ? Or is he not as careful 
 of our good as we are of our own ? Ah, wo to us if he 
 were not much more ! and if he did not love us better 
 than we love either him or ourselves ! 
 
 But let us hear a little what it is that we can object. 
 
 1. O, saith one, I could bear any other affliction save 
 this : if God had touched me in any thing else, I could 
 have undergone it patiently ; but it is my dearest friend, 
 or child, or wife, or my health itself. 
 
 I answer, it seemeth God hath hit the right vein, 
 where thy most inflamed, distempered blood did lie : it 
 is his constant course to pull down men's idols, and take 
 away that which is dearer to them than himself. There 
 it is that his jealousy is kindled ; and there it is that the 
 soul is most endangered. If God should have taken 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 159 
 
 from thee that which thou canst let go for him, and 
 not that which thou canst not ; or have afflicted thee 
 where thou canst bear it, and not where thou canst 
 not; thy idol would neither have been discovered nor 
 removed ; this would neither have been a sufficient 
 trial to thee, nor a cure, but have confirmed thee in thy 
 idolatry. 
 
 Objection 2. O but, saith another, if God would but 
 deliver me out of it at last, I could be content to bear it : 
 but I have an incurable sickness, or I am like to live and 
 die in poverty, or disgrace, or distress. 
 
 I answer, 1. Is it nothing that he hath promised, " it 
 shall work for thy good ?" Romans viii, 28, and " that 
 with the affliction he will make a way to escape ?" that 
 he will be with thee in it, and deliver thee in the fittest 
 manner and season ? 
 
 2. Is it not enough that thou art sure to be delivered 
 at death, and that with so full a deliverance ? O, what 
 cursed unbelief doth this discover in our hearts ! that 
 we would be more thankful to be turned back again into 
 the stormy sea of the world, than to be safely and 
 speedily landed at our rest ! And would be more glad 
 of a few years' inferior mercies at a distance, than to 
 enter upon the eternal inheritance with Christ ! Do we 
 call God our chief good, and heaven our happiness ? 
 and yet is it no mercy or deliverance to be taken hence, 
 and put into that possession ? 
 
 Ohjection 3. O but, saith another, if my affliction did 
 not disable me for duty, I could bear it ; but it maketh 
 me useless and utterly unprofitable. 
 
 Answer 1. For that duty which tendeth to thy own 
 benefit, it doth not disable thee ; but is the greatest help 
 that thou canst expect. Thou usest to complain of 
 coldness, and dulness, and worldliness, and security : 
 if affliction will not help thee against all these, by warn- 
 ing, quickening, rousing thy spirit, I know not what 
 will. Sure thou wilt lepent thoroughly, and pray fer- 
 vently, and mind God and heaven more seriously, either 
 now or never. 
 
 2. As for duty to others and service to the Church, it 
 is not thy duty when God doth disable thee. He may 
 call thee out of the vineyard in this respect, even before 
 
160 THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 he call thee by death. If he lay thee in the grave, and 
 put others in thy place, is this any wrong to thee? So 
 if he call thee out before thy death, and set others to do 
 the work, should thou not be as well content ? Must 
 God do all the work by thee ? Hath he not many others 
 as dear to him, and as fit for the employment? But, 
 alas, what deceitfulness lieth in these hearts ! When 
 we have time, and health, and opportunity to work, then 
 we loiter, and do our Master but poor service : but 
 when he layeth affliction upon us, then we complain that 
 he disableth us for his work, and yet perhaps we are 
 still negligent in that part of the work which we can do. 
 So, when we are in health and prosperity, we forgot the 
 public, and are careless of other men's miseries and 
 wants, and mind almost nothing but ourselves ; but when 
 God afflicteth us, though he excite us more to duty for 
 ourselves, yet we complain that he disableth us for our 
 duty to others : as if on a sudden we were grown so 
 charitable, that we regard other men's souls more than 
 our own ! But is not the hand of flesh, in all this dissi- 
 mulation, pleading its own cause ? What pride of heart 
 is this, to think that other men cannot do the work as 
 well as we ; or that God cannot see to his Church, and 
 provide for his people, without us ! 
 
 Objection 4. O but, saith another, it is my friends that 
 are my afflicters : they disclaim me, and will scarce look 
 at me : they censure me, and backbite me, and slander 
 me, and look upon me with a disdainful eye ; if it were 
 others, I could bear it, I look for no better from them : 
 but when those that are my delight, and that I looked 
 for comfort and refreshing from, when those are thorns 
 in my sides, who can bear it ? 
 
 Answer 1. Whoever is the instrument, the affliction 
 is from God, and the provoking cause from thyself; 
 and were it not fitter that thou look more to God and 
 thyself? 
 
 2. Dost thou not know that good men are still sinful 
 in part ? and that their hearts are naturally deceitful, 
 and desperately wicked, as well as others? Learn 
 therefore a better lesson from the prophet, Micah vii, 5, 
 6, 7, " Trust not (too much) in a friend, nor put confi- 
 dence in a guide : keep the doors of thy mouth from her 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 161 
 
 that lieth in thy bosom : but look rather for the Lord, 
 and wait for the God of thy salvation." 
 
 3. It is likely thou hast given that love and trust to 
 men which was due only to God, or which thou hast 
 denied him : and then no wonder if he chastise thee by 
 them. If we would use our friends as friends, God 
 would make them our helps and comforts : but when 
 once we make them our gods, by excessive love and 
 trust, then he suffers them to be our accusers and tor- 
 mentors. It is more safe to me to have any creature a 
 satan than a god ; to be tormented by them than to idol- 
 ize them. Till thou hast learned to suffer from the 
 good, as well as the ungodly, never look to live a con- 
 tented or comfortable life, nor ever think thou hast truly 
 learned the art of suffering. 
 
 Objection 5. O but, if I had that consolation which 
 you say God reserveth for our suffering times, I should 
 suffer more contentedly : but I do not perceive any such 
 thing. 
 
 Answer 1. The more you suffer for righteousness' 
 sake, the more of this blessing you may expect ; and the 
 more you suffer for your own evil doing, the longer you 
 must look to stay till that sweetness come. When we 
 have by our folly provoked God to chastise us, shall we 
 presently look that he should fill us with comfort? 
 "That were," as Mr. Paul Bayn saith, "to make afflic- 
 tion to be no affliction." What good would the bitter- 
 ness do us, if it be presently drowned in that sweetness? 
 It is well in such sufferings if you have but supporting 
 grace ; and if your sufferings are sanctified to work out 
 your sin. 
 
 2. Do you not neglect or resist the comforts which 
 you desire ? God hath filled precepts and promises, 
 and other of his providences, with matter of comfort : if 
 you overlook all these, and observe one cross more than 
 a thousand mercies, who maketh you uncomfortable but 
 yourselves ? If you resolve you will not be comfort- 
 able as long as any thing aileth your flesh, you may stay 
 till death before you have comfort. 
 
 3. Have your afflictions wrought kindly with you, 
 and fitted you for comfort? Have they humbled you, 
 and brought you to a faithful confession and reformation 
 
162 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 of your beloved sin? and made you set close to your 
 neglected duties ? and weaned your hearts from their 
 former idols ? and brought them unfeignedly to take 
 God for their portion and their rest? If this be not 
 done, how can you expect comfort ? Should God bind 
 up the sore while it festereth at the bottom? It is not 
 mere suffering that prepares you for comfort ; but the 
 success and fruit of suffering upon your hearts. 
 
 CHi^PTER XL 
 
 AN EXHORTATION TO THOSE THAT HAVE GOT ASSURANCE OF THIS 
 REST, THAT THEY WOULD DO ALL THEY POSSIBLY CAN TO HELP 
 OTHERS TO IT. 
 
 Hath God set before us such a glorious prize as this 
 everlasting rest, and made man capable of such an in- 
 conceivable happiness ? Why then do not all the chil- 
 dren of this kingdom bestir ■ themselves more to help 
 others to the enjoyment of it ? Alas, how little are poor 
 souls about us beholden to the most of us ! We see the 
 glory of the kingdom, and they do not : we see the 
 misery and torment of those that miss of it, and they do 
 not: we see them wandering quite out of the way, and 
 know if they hold on they can never come there, and 
 they discern not this themselves. And yet we will not 
 set upon them seriously, and show them their danger 
 and error, and help to bring them into the way that they 
 may live. Alas, how few Christians are there to be 
 found, that live as men that are made to do good, and 
 that set themselves with all their might to the saving of 
 souls ! No thanks to us if heaven be not empty, and if 
 the souls of our brethren perish not for ever. 
 
 But because this is a duty which so many neglect, and 
 so few are convinced that God doth expect it at their 
 hands, and yet a duty of so high concernment to the 
 glory of God, and the happiness of men, I will speak of 
 it somewhat the more largely, and show you, 1. Where- 
 in it doth consist. 2. What is the cause that it is so 
 neglected. 3. Give some considerations to persuade 
 you to the performance of it, and others to the bearing 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 163 
 
 of it. 4. Apply this more particularly to some persons 
 whom ifdoth nearly concern. 
 
 I would have you well understand what is this 
 work which I am persuading you to. Know then on 
 the negative, 
 
 1. It is not to invade the office of the ministry, and 
 every man to turn a public preacher. I would not have 
 you go beyond the bounds of your calling : we see by 
 daily experience what fruits those men's teaching doth 
 bring forth who run uncalled of God, and thrust them- 
 selves into the place bf public teachers, thinking them- 
 selves the fittest for the work in the pride of their 
 hearts, while they had need to be taught the very prin- 
 ciples of religion. How little doth God bless the la- 
 bours of these self-conceited intruders, even if they be 
 ordained ! 
 
 3. Neither do I persuade you to a zealous promoting 
 of factions and parties, and venting of uncertain opinions, 
 which men's sahation is little concerned in. Alas, what 
 advantage hath the devil always got in the Church by 
 this imposture ! The time that should be employed in 
 drawing men's souls from sin to Christ, is employed in 
 drawing them to opinions and parties : when men are 
 fallen in love with their own conceits, and think them- 
 selves the wisest, how diligently do they labour to get 
 them followers ? as if to make a man a proselyte to their 
 opinions were as happy a work as to convert him to 
 Christ ! and when they fall among the lighter, ignorant 
 sort of men, whose religion is all in the brain, and on 
 their tongue, they seldom fail of success. These men 
 shall shortly know that to bring a man to the know- 
 ledge and love of Christ, is another kind of work than 
 to bring him to be baptized again, or to be of such a 
 Church, or such a side. Unhappy are the souls that are 
 taken in their snare ; who, when they have spent their 
 lives in contending for the circumstantials of religion, 
 which should have been spent in studying and loving 
 the Lord Jesus, do in the end reap an empty harvest, 
 suitable to their empty profession. 
 
 3. Nor do I persuade you to speak against men's 
 faults behind their backs, and be silent before their faces, 
 as the common custom of the world is. To tell other 
 
164 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 men of their faults, tendeth little to their reformation, if 
 they hear it not themselves. To whisper men's faults 
 to others, as it cometh not from love, or from an honest 
 principle, so usually doth it produce no good effect ; for 
 if the party hear not of it, it cannot better him ; if he 
 do, he will take it but as the reproach of an enemy, and 
 not as the faithful counsel of a friend, and as that which 
 is spoken to make him odious, and not to make him 
 virtuous ; it tendeth not to provoke to godliness, but to 
 raise contention ; for " a whisperer separateth chief 
 friends." And how few shall we find that make con- 
 science of this horrible sin ? or that will confess it, 
 and bewail it, when they are reprehended for it ? espe- 
 cially if men are speaking of their enemies, or those 
 that have wronged them, or whom they suppose to have 
 wronged them ; or if it be of one that eclipseth their 
 glory, or that standeth in the way of their gain or es- 
 teem ; or if it be one that differeth from them in judg- 
 ment; or of one that is commonly spoke against by 
 others ; who is it that maketh any conscience of back- 
 biting such as these ? And you shall ever observe that 
 the forwarder they are in backbiting, the more backward 
 always to faithful admonishing ; and none speak less of 
 a man's faults to his face, than those that speak most of 
 them behind his back. 
 
 So far am I from persuading therefore to this pre- 
 posterous course, that I would advise you to oppose it 
 wherever you meet with it. See that you never hear a 
 man speaking against his neighbour behind his back, 
 (without some special cause or call,) but presently 
 rebuke him: ask him. Whether he hath spoke those 
 things in a way of love to his face ? If he hath not, 
 ask him. How he dare to pervert God's prescribed order, 
 who commandeth to rebuke our neighbour plainly, and 
 to tell him his fault first in private, and then before 
 witness, till he see whether he will be won or not? 
 And how he dare do as he would not be done by ? 
 
 The duty therefore that I would press you to is of 
 another nature, and it consisteth in these things fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 1. That you get your hearts aff*ected with the misery 
 of your brethren's souls ; be compassionate toward 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 165 
 
 them ; yearn after their salvation. If you did earnestly 
 long after their conversion, and your hearts were fully 
 set to do them good, it would set you on work, and God 
 would usually bless it. 
 
 2. Take all opportunities that possibly you can, to 
 instruct and help them to the attaining of salvation. 
 And, lest you should not know how to manage this work, 
 let me tell you more particularly what you are herein to 
 do. 1. If it be an ignorant person you have to deal 
 with, who is an utter stranger to the mysteries of re- 
 ligion, and to the work of regeneration, the first thing 
 you have to do is, to acquaint him with these doctrines : 
 labour to make him understand wherein man's chief 
 happiness doth consist ; and how far he was once pos- 
 sessed of it ; and what law and covenant God then 
 made with him ; and how he broke it ; and what penalty 
 he incurred, and what misery he brought himself into 
 thereby : teach him what need men had of a Redeemer ; 
 and how Christ in mercy did interpose, and bear the 
 penalty ; and what covenant now he hath made with 
 man ; and on what terms only salvation is now to be 
 attained ; and what course Christ taketh to draw men to 
 himself; and v/hat are the riches and privileges that 
 believers have in him. 
 
 If, when he understands these things, he be not moved 
 by them ; or if you find that the stop lieth in his will 
 and afiections, and in the hardness of his heart, and in 
 the interest that the flesh and the world have got in him ; 
 then show him the excellence of the glory which he 
 neglecteth, and the intolerableness of the loss of it, and 
 the extremity and eternity of the torments of the 
 damned', and how certainly they must endure them ; and 
 how just it is for their wilful refusals of grace ; and how 
 heinous a sin it is to reject such free and abundant 
 mercy, and to tread under foot the blood of the covenant: 
 show him the certainty, nearness, and terrors of death 
 and judgment, and the vanity of all things below, which 
 now he is taken up with ; and how little they will 
 bestead him in that time of his extremity : show him 
 that by nature he himself is a child of wrath, an enemy 
 to God ; and by actual sin much more : show him the 
 vile and heinous nature of sin; the absolute necessity 
 
166 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 he standeth in of a Saviour ; the freeness of the piomise; 
 the fulness of Christ ; the sufficiency of his satisfaction ; 
 his readiness to receive all that are willing to be his ; 
 and the authority and dominion which he hath purchased 
 over us : show him also the absolute necessity of regen- 
 eration, faith, and holiness ; how impossible it is to have 
 salvation by Christ without these ; and what they. are, 
 and the true nature of them. 
 
 If, when he understandeth all this, you find his soul 
 enthralled in false hopes, persuading himself that he is 
 a true believer, and pardoned, and reconciled, and shall 
 be saved by Christ, and all this upon false grounds, 
 (which is a common case,) then urge him hard to ex- 
 amine his state : show him the necessity of trying ; the 
 danger of being deceived ; the commonness and easiness 
 of mistaking through the deceitfulness of the heart ; the 
 extreme madness of putting it to a blind venture ; or of 
 resting in negligent or wilful uncertainty ; help him in 
 trying himself ; produce some undeniable evidences 
 from Scripture ; ask him whether these be in him or 
 not? Whether ever he found such workings or dis- 
 positions in his heart ? Urge him to a rational answer : 
 do not leave him till you have convinced him of his 
 misery ; and then seasonably and wisely show him the 
 remedy. 
 
 If he produces some gifts, or duties, or works, know 
 to what end he doth produce them : if to join with 
 Christ in composing him a righteousness, show him how 
 vain and destructive they are : if it be by way of 
 evidence to prove his title to Christ, show him wherein 
 the life of Christianity doth consist, and how far he 
 must go farther, if he will be Christ's disciple. In the 
 mean time that he be not discouraged with hearing of sn 
 high a measure, show him the way by Avhich he must 
 attain it ; be sure to draw him to the use of all means ; 
 set him on hearing and reading the word, calling upon 
 God, accompanying the godly ; persuade him to leave 
 his actual sin, and to get out of all ways of temptation, 
 especially to forsake ungodly company, and to wait 
 patiently on God in the use of means ; and show him 
 the strong hopes that in so doing he may have a blessing ; 
 this being the way that God will be found in. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 167 
 
 If you perceive him possessed with any prejudices 
 against the way of holiness, show him their falsehood, 
 and with wisdom and meekness answer his objections. 
 
 If he be addicted to delay duties he is convinced of, 
 or laziness and stupidity endanger his soul, then lay it 
 on more powerfully, and set home upon his heart the 
 most piercing considerations, and labour to fasten them 
 as thorns in his conscience, that he may find no ease or 
 rest till he change his estate. 
 
 But because in all works the manner of doing them 
 is of greatest moment, and the right performance doth 
 much farther the success, I will here adjoin a few direc- 
 tions, which you must be sure to observe in this work 
 of exhortation ; for it is not every advice that useth to 
 succeed, nor any manner of doing it that will serve the 
 turn. Observe therefore these rules ; — 
 
 1. Set upon the work sincerely, and with right inten- 
 tions. Let thy end be the glory of God in the party'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 
 many followers ; do not as many parents and masters 
 will do, viz., rebuke their children and servants for those 
 sins that displease them, and are against their profit or 
 their humours, as disobedience, unthriftiness, unmanner- 
 liness ; but never seek in the right way that God hath 
 appointed to save their souls. But be sure the main 
 end be to recover them from misery, and bring them 
 into the way of eternal rest. 
 
 2. Do it speedily, as you would not have them delay 
 their return, so do not thou delay to seek their return. 
 You are purposing long to speak to such an ignorant 
 neighbour, and to deal with such a scandalous sinner, 
 and yet you have never done it. Alas, he runs on the 
 score all this while ; he goes deeper in debt ; wrath is 
 heaping up ; sin taketh rooting ; custom doth more 
 fasten him ; engagements to sin grow stronger and more 
 numerous ; conscience grows seared ; the heart grows 
 hardened ; while you delay, the devil rules and rejoiccth ; 
 Christ is shut out ; the Spirit is repulsed ; God is daily 
 dishonoured ; his law is violated ; he is without a ser- 
 vant, and that service from him which he should have ; 
 time runs on ; the day of visitation hasteth ; death and 
 
168 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 judgment are at the door ; and what if the man die and 
 miss of heaven, while you are purposing to teach him 
 and help him to it ? If in case of his bodily distress, 
 you must not bid him go, and come again to-morrow, 
 when you have it by you ; how much less may you 
 delay the succour of his soul? If once death snatch 
 him away, he is then out of the reach of your charity. 
 That physician is no better than a murderer that negli- 
 gently delayeth till his patient be dead, or past cure. 
 Delay in duty is a great degree of disobedience, though 
 you afterward perform it. It shows an ill heart that is 
 indisposed to the work. O how many a poor sinner 
 perisheth, or grows rooted, and next to incurable in sin, 
 while we are purposing to seek their recovery ! Oppor- 
 tunities last not always. When thou hearest that the 
 sinner is dead, or removed, or grown obstinate, will not 
 conscience say to thee. How knowest thou but thou 
 mightest have prevented the damnation of a soul ? Lay 
 by excuses then, and all lesser business, and obey God's 
 command, " Exhort one another daily, while it is called 
 to-day, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness 
 of sin." 
 
 3. Let thy exhortation proceed from compassion and 
 love, and let the manner of it clearly show the person 
 thou dealest with that it does. It is not jeering, or 
 scorning, or reproaching a man for his fault that is a 
 likely way to work his reformation ; nor is it the right 
 way to convert him to God, to rail at him, and vilify 
 him with words of disgrace. Men will take them for 
 their enemies that thus deal with them ; and the words 
 of an enemy are little persuading. Lay by your passion, 
 therefore, and go to poor sinners with tears in your 
 eyes, that they may see you indeed believe them to be 
 miserable, and that you unfeignedly pity -their case ; 
 deal with them with earnest humble entreatings. Let 
 them see that your very bowels yearn over them, and 
 that it is the very desire of your hearts to do them good : 
 let them perceive that you have no other end but the 
 procuring their everlasting happiness ; and that it is 
 your sense of their danger, and your love to their souls 
 that forces you to speak ; even because you know the 
 terrors of the Lord, and for fear lest you should see 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 169 
 
 them in eternal torments. Say to them, Why, friend, 
 you know it is no advantage of my own that I seek. 
 The way to please you, and to keep your friendship, 
 were to soothe you in your own way, or to let you alone ; 
 but love will not sutler me to see you perish, and be 
 silent ; I seek nothing 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 in to Christ. 
 If men would thus go to every ignorant wicked neigh- 
 bour they have, and thus deal with them, O what blessed 
 fruit should we quickly see ! 
 
 I am ashamed to hear some lazy, hypocritical wretches 
 revile their poor ignorant neighbours, and separate from 
 their company, and judge them unfit for their society, 
 before ever they once tried them with this compassion- 
 ate exhortation ! O you little know what a prevailing 
 course this were like to prove ! And how few of the 
 vilest drunkards or swearers would prove so obstinate, 
 as wholly to reject or despise the exhortations of love ! 
 I know it must be God that must change men's hearts ; 
 but I know also that God worketh by means, and when 
 he meaneth to prevail with men, he usually fitteth the 
 means accordingly, and stirreth up men to plead with 
 them in a prevailing way, and so setteth in with his 
 grace, and maketh it successful. Certainly those that 
 have tried can tell you by experience that there is no 
 way so prevailing with men as the way of compassion 
 and love. So much of these as they discern in your 
 exhortation, usually so much doth it succeed with their 
 hearts : and therefore I beseech those that are faithful 
 to practise this course. Alas, we see most people among 
 us, yea, those that would seem godly, cannot bear a 
 reproof that comes not in meekness and love ! if there 
 be the least passion, or relish of disgrace in it, they are 
 ready to spit in your face. Yea, if you do not sweeten 
 your reproof with fair words, they cannot digest it; but 
 their heart will rise up against you instead of a thankful 
 submission and a reformation. O that it were not too 
 evident that the Pharisee is yet alive in the breasts of 
 many thousands that seem religious, even in this one 
 point of bearing plain and sharp reproof! " They bind 
 heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them 
 8 
 
170 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 on men's shoulders ; but they themselves will not move 
 them with one of their fingers," Matthew xxiii, 4. 
 So far are they from doing, in this, as they would be 
 done by. 
 
 4. Another direction I would give you is this : do it 
 with all possible plainness and faithfulness. Do not 
 dally with men, and hide from them their misery or 
 danger, or any part of it. Do not make their sins less 
 than they are ; nor speak of them in extenuating lan- 
 guage. Do not encourage them in a false hope, no 
 more than you would discourage the fond hopes of the 
 righteous. If you see his case dangerous, tell him 
 plainly of it : Neighbour, I am afraid God hath not yet 
 renewed your soul ; and that it is yet a stranger to the 
 great work of regeneration and sanctification : I doubt 
 you are not yet recovered from the power of Satan to 
 God, nor brought out of the state of wrath which you 
 were born in, and have lived in : I doubt you have 
 not chosen Christ above all, nor set your heart upon 
 him, nor unfeignedly taken him for your sovereign 
 Lord. If you had, sure you durst not so easily disobey 
 him : you could not so neglect him and his worship in 
 your family and in public : you could not so eagerly 
 follow the world, and talk of almost nothing but the 
 things of this world, while Christ is seldom mentioned 
 by you. If you were in Christ, you would become a 
 new creajLure : old things would be passed away, and 
 all things would become new; you would have new 
 thoughts, and new talk, 'and new com.pany, and new 
 endeavours, and a new conversation : certainly without 
 these you can never be saved : you may think other- 
 wise, and hope better as long as you will, but your 
 hopes will deceive you, and perish with you. Alas ! 
 it is not as you will, nor as I will, who shall be saved, 
 but it is as God will ; and God hath told us that " with- 
 out holiness none shall see him :" and " except we be 
 born again, we cannot enter into his kingdom :" and 
 " that all that would not have Christ to reign over them, 
 shall be brought forth and destroyed before him." O 
 therefore look to your state in time. 
 
 Thus must you deal roundly and faithfully with men, 
 if ever you intend to do them good. It is not hovering 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 171 
 
 at a distance in a general discourse that will serve the 
 turn : it is not in curing men's souls, as in curing their 
 bodies, where they must not know their danger, lest it 
 sadden them, and 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 how much 
 need they have of a Saviour : if they know not the 
 worst, they will not labour to prevent it ; but will sit 
 still or loiter till they drop into perdition, and will trifle 
 out their time till it be too late : and therefore speak to 
 men as Christ to the Pharisees, till they knew that he 
 meant them. Deal plainly, or you do but deceive and 
 destroy them. 
 
 5. And as you must do it plainly, so also seriously, 
 zealously, and effectually. The exceeding stupidity and 
 deadness of men's hearts is such, that no other dealing 
 will ordinarily work. You must call aloud to awake a 
 man in a swoon or lethargy. If you speak to the 
 common sort of men of the evil of their sin, of their 
 need of Christ, of the danger of their souls, and of the 
 necessity of regeneration, they wdll wearily and unwil- 
 lingly give you the hearing, and put off all with a sigh, 
 or a few good wishes, and say, God forgive us, we are 
 all sinners, and there is an end. If ever you will do 
 them good, therefore, you must sharpen your exhorta- 
 tion, and set it home, and follow it, till you have roused 
 them up, and made them begin to look about them. 
 Let them know that thou speakest not to them of indif- 
 ferent things, nor about children's games, or matters of 
 a few days or years' continuance, nor yet about matters 
 of uncertainty, which may never come to pass : but it 
 is about the saving and damning of their souls and 
 bodies ; and whether they shall be blessed with Christ, 
 or tormented with devils, and that for ever and ever : it 
 is how to stand before God in judgment, and what 
 answer to give, and how they are like to speed; and 
 this judgment and eternal state they shall very shortly 
 see, they are almost at it; yet a few more nights and 
 days, and they shall be at that last day ; a few more 
 breaths they have to breathe, and they shall breathe 
 their last ; and then as certainly shall • they see that 
 mighty change as the heaven is over their heads, and 
 
IT^ THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 the earth under their feet. O labour to make men 
 know that it is mad jesting about salvation or damnation : 
 and that heaven and hell are not matters to be played 
 with, or passed over with a few careless thoughts ! It 
 is most certain that one of these days thou shalt be either 
 in everlasting, unchangeable joy or torment ; and doth 
 it not awake thee ? Are there so few that find the way 
 of death ? Is it so hard to escape ? so easy to miscarry? 
 and that while we fear nothing, but think all is well? 
 And yet you sit still and trifle ! Why, what do you 
 mean ? What do you think on ? The world is passing 
 away ; its pleasures are fading ; its honours are leaving 
 you ; its profits will prove unprofitable to you ; heaven 
 or hell are a little before you ; God is just and jealous ; 
 his threatenings are true ; the great day of his judgment 
 will be terrible ; your time runs on ; your lives are 
 uncertain ; you are far behindhand ; you have loitered 
 long; your case is dangerous; your souls are far gone 
 in sin ; you are strange to God ; you are hardened in 
 evil customs ; you have no assurance of comfort to 
 show ; if you die to-morrow, how unready are you ! 
 And with what terror will your souls go out of your 
 bodies! And do you yet loiter? Why, consider God 
 standeth all this while waiting your leisure : his patience 
 beareth ; his justice forbeareth ; his mercy entreateth 
 you; Christ standeth offering you his blood and merits ; 
 you may have him freely, and live with him ; the Spirit 
 is persuading; conscience is accusing and urging you; 
 ministers are praying for you, and calling upon you ; 
 Satan stands waiting when justice will cut off your 
 lives that he may have you : this is your time ; now or 
 never. What! had you rather lose heaven than your 
 profits or pleasures ? Had you rather burn in hell than 
 repent on earth? Had you rather howl and roar there, 
 than pray day and night for mercy here ? Or have 
 devils your tormentors, than Christ your governor? 
 Will you renounce your part in God and glory, rather 
 than renounce your sins ? Do you think a holy life too 
 much for heaven ; or too dear a course to prevent end- 
 less misery? O friends, what do you think of these 
 things ? God 'hath made you men, and endued you with 
 reason : do you renounce your reason where you should 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 173 
 
 chiefly use it ? In this manner you must deal roundly 
 and seriously with men. Alas ! it is not a few dull 
 words between jest and earnest, between sleep and 
 waking, as it were, that will waken an ignorant dead- 
 hearted sinner. When a dull hearer and a dull speaker 
 meet together, a dead heart and a dead exhortation, it is 
 unlike to have a lively efl^ect. If a man fall down in a 
 swoon, you will not stand trifling with him, but lay 
 hands on him presently, and snatch him up, and rub him, 
 and call aloud to him : if a house be on fire, you will 
 not in a cold strain go tell your neighbour of it, or make 
 an oration of the nature and danger of fire ; but you 
 .will run out and cry. Fire, fire : matters of moment must 
 be seriously dealt with. To tell a man of his sins so 
 softly as Eli did his sons, or reprove him so gently as 
 Jehoshaphat did Ahab, " Let not the king say so," doth 
 usually as much harm as good. I am persuaded the 
 very manner of some men's reproof and exhortation 
 hath hardened many a sinner in the way of destruction. 
 To tell them of sin, or of heaven or hell, in a dull, easy, 
 careless language, doth make men think you are not in 
 good earnest ; but scarce think yourselves such things 
 are true. O sirs, deal with sin as sin, and speak of 
 heaven and hell as they are, and not as if you were in 
 jest. I confess I have failed much in this myself ; the 
 Lord lay it not to my charge ! Loathness to displease 
 men makes us undo them. 
 
 6. Yet lest you run into extremes, I advise you to do 
 it with discretion. Be as serious as you can ; but yet 
 with wisdom. And especially you must be wise in these 
 things following : — 
 
 I. In choosing the fittest season for your exhortation ; 
 not to deal with men when they are in a passion, or 
 where they will take it for a disgrace. Men should 
 observe when sinners are fittest to hear instructions. 
 Physic must not be given at all times, but in season. 
 It is an excellent example that Paul giveth us, Gala- 
 tians ii, 2. He communicated the Gospel to them, yet 
 privately to them of reputation, lest he should run in 
 vain. Some men would take this to be a sinful com- 
 plying with their corruption, to yield so far to their 
 pride and bashfulness as to teach them only in private, 
 
174 TKE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 because they would be ashamed to own the truth in 
 public : but Paul knew how great a hinderance men's 
 reputation is to their entertaining- of the truth, and that 
 the remedy must not only be fitted to the disease, but 
 also to the strength of the patient ; and that in so doing, 
 the physician is not guilty of favouring the disease, but 
 is praiseworthy for taking the right way to cure. Means 
 will work easily if you take the opportunity ; when the 
 earth is soft the plough will enter. Take a man when 
 he is under afiliction, or in the house of mourning, or 
 newly stirred by some moving sermon, and then set it 
 home, and you may do him some good. Christian faith- 
 fulness doth require us, not only to do good when it 
 falls in our way, but to watch for opportunities. 
 
 2. Be wise also in suiting your exhortation to the qua- 
 lity and temper of the person. All meats are not for 
 all stomachs : one man will vomit that up which another 
 will digest. 1. If it be a learned, or ingenious ra- 
 tional man, you must deal more by convincing argu- 
 ments, and less by passionate persuasions. 2. If it be 
 one that is both ignorant and stupid, there is need of 
 both. 3. If one that is convinced, but not converted, 
 you must use most those means that rouse the affec- 
 tions. 4. If they be obstinate and secure, you must re- 
 prove them sharply. 5. If they be of timorous, tender 
 natures, they must be tenderly dealt with. All cannot 
 bear that rough dealing that some can. Love, and plain- 
 ness, and seriousness take with all ; but words of terror 
 some can scarce bear. 
 
 3. You must be wise also in using the aptest expres- 
 sions. Many a minister doth deliver most excellent 
 matter in such harsh and unseeming language, that it 
 makes the hearers loathe the food that they should live 
 by, and laugh at a sermon that might make them quake ; 
 especially if they be men of curious ears, and carnal 
 hearts, and have more wit and parts than the speaker. 
 And so it is in private exhortation as well as public : if 
 you clothe the most amiable truth in the sordid rags of 
 unbeseeming language, you will make men disdain it, 
 though it be the offspring of God, and of the highest 
 nature. 
 
 4. Let all your reproofs and exhortations be backed 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 175 
 
 with the authority of God Let the sinner be convinced 
 that you speak not from yourselves, or of your own 
 head. Show them the very words of Scripture for what 
 you say : press them with the truth and authority of 
 God : ask them, whether they beUeve that this is his 
 word, and that his word is true. So much of God as 
 appeareth in our words, so much will they take. The 
 voice of man is contemptible ; but the voice of God is 
 awful and terrible. Be sure therefore to make them 
 know that you speak nothing but what God hath spoken 
 first. 
 
 5. You must also be frequent with men in this duty of 
 exhortation ; it is not once or twice that usually will 
 prevail. If God himself must be constantly solicited, as 
 if importunity could prevail with him Avhen nothing else 
 can ; and therefore requires us " always to pray and 
 not to faint," the same course, no doubt, will be most 
 prevailing 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 flint at 
 one stroke ; nor men's affections kindled at the first ex- 
 hortation." And if they were, yet if they be not fol- 
 loAved, they will soon grow cold again. Weary out sin- 
 ners with your loving and earnest entreaties : follow 
 them, and give them no rest in their sin. This is true 
 charity, and this is the way to save men's souls ; and a 
 course that will afford you comfort upon a review. 
 
 6. Strive to bring all your exhortations to an issue ; 
 stick not in the work done, but look after the success. 
 I have long observed it in ministers and private men, 
 that if they speak never so convincing words, and yet 
 all their care is over when they have done their speech, 
 pretending that, having done their duty, they leave the 
 issue to God ; these men seldom prosper in their la- 
 bours : but those whose very heart is set upon the work, 
 and that long to see it take for the hearer's conversion, 
 and use to inquire how it speeds, God usually blesseth 
 their labours, though more weak. Labour therefore to 
 drive all your speeches to the desired issue. If you are 
 reproving sin, cease not till (if it may be) you have got 
 the sinner to promise you to leave it, and to avoid the 
 occasions of it: if you are exhorting to a duty, urge the 
 
176 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 party to promise you presently to set upon it : if you 
 would draw them to Christ, leave not till you have made 
 them confess that their present state is misersble, and 
 not to -be rested in ; and till they have subscribed to the 
 necessity of a change, and promised you to fall close to 
 the use of means. O that all Christians would be per- 
 suaded to take this course with all their neighbours that 
 are yet enslaved to sin, and strangers to Christ ! 
 
 7. Lastly, Be sure your example exhort as well as 
 your words. Let them see you constant in all the du- 
 ties you persuade them to : let them see in your lives 
 that excellence above the world which you persuade 
 them to in your speeches. Let them see, by your con- 
 stant labours for heaven, that you indeed believe what 
 you would have them believe. 
 
 And thus I have opened to you the first and great part 
 of this duty, consisting in private exhortation, for the 
 helping of poor souls to this rest that have yet no title 
 to it ; and I have showed you also the manner how to 
 perform it. I will now speak a little of the next part. 
 
 1. Beside the duty of private admonition, you must do 
 your utmost endeavours to help men to profit by the 
 public ordinances. And to that end, first, do your en- 
 deavours for the procuring of faithful ministers where 
 they are wanting. This is God's ordinary means of 
 converting and saving. " How shall they hear without 
 a preacher ?" Not only for your own sakes, therefore, 
 but for the poor miserable ones about you, do all you 
 can to bring this to pass. Improve all your interest and 
 diligence to this end. Ride, and go, and seek, and 
 make friends till you prevail. Who knoweth how many 
 souls may bless you, who have been converted by the 
 ministry which you have procured ? It is a higher and 
 nobler work of charity, than if you gave all that you 
 have to relieve their bodies. 
 
 How small a matter were it (and yet how excellent 
 a work) for every gentleman of means in England to 
 cull out some one or two, or more boys in the country 
 schools, who are the choicest wits, and of the most pious 
 dispositions, who are poor, and unable to proceed in 
 learning ; and to maintain them till they are fit for the 
 ministry ! It were but keeping a few superfluous at- 
 
THE SA-INTS' EVERLASTING REST. 177 
 
 tendants the less : if they had hearts to it, it were easily- 
 spared out of their rich apparel, or superfluous diet : I 
 dare say they would not be sorry for it when they come 
 to their reckoning : one sumptuous feast, or one costly 
 suit of apparel, would maintain a poor boy a year or 
 two at the university, who perhaps might come to have 
 more true worth in him than many a glittering lord, and 
 to do God more service in his Church than ever they 
 did with all their estates and power. 
 
 2. And when you enjoy the blessing of the Gospel, 
 you must yet use your utmost diligence to help poor 
 souls to receive the fruit of it. To which end you must 
 draw them constantly to hear and attend it ; mind them 
 often of what they have heard ; draw them, if it be pos- 
 sible, to repeat it in their families ; if that «Binnot be, 
 then draw them to come to others that do repeat it, that 
 so it may not die in the hearing. The very drawing of 
 men into the company and acquaintance of the good 
 man, beside the benefit they have by their endeavours, 
 is of singular use to the recovery of their souls. It is a 
 means to take off prejudice, by confuting the world's 
 slanders of the ways and people of God. Use therefore 
 often to meet together, beside the more public meeting 
 in the congregation ; not to vent any unsound opinions, 
 nor at the time of public worship, nor yet to separate 
 from the Church whereof you are members ; but the 
 work which I would have you meet about is this, to re- 
 peat together the word which you have heard in public ; 
 to pour out your joint prayers for the Church and your- 
 selves ; to join in cheerful singing the praises of God ; 
 to open your scruples, and doubts, and fears, and get 
 resolution ; to quicken each other in love and heavenli- 
 ness, or holy walking : and all this not as a separated 
 Church, but as a part of the Church more diligent than 
 the rest in redeeming time, and helping the souls of each 
 other heavenward. 
 
 3. One thing more I advise you ; if you would have 
 souls saved by the ordinances, labour still to keep the 
 ordinances and ministry in esteem. No man will be 
 much wrought on by that which he despiseth. I shall 
 confirm you herein, not in my own words, but in his 
 that I know you dare not disregard, 1 Thess. v, 11-13, 
 
 8* 
 
178 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 " Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one 
 another, even as ye also do. And we beseech you, 
 brethren, to know them which labouf among you, and 
 are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to 
 esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake ; 
 and be at peace among yourselves." " Obey them that 
 have the rule over you, and submit yourselves ; for they 
 watch for your souls, as those that must give an account, 
 that they may do it with joy and not with grief: for that 
 is unprofitable for you," Heb. xiii, 17. 
 
 Thus you see part of your duty for the salvation of 
 others. 
 
 But where shall we find the man that setteth himself 
 to it with all his might, and that hath set his heart upon 
 the souls •f his brethren, that they may be saved ? 
 
 Let us here a little inquire what may be the causes 
 of the gross neglect of this duty, that the hinderances, 
 being discovered, may the more easily be overcome. 
 
 1. One hinderance is, men's own sinfulness and guilti- 
 ness. They have not been ravished themselves with 
 the heavenly delights : how then should they draw 
 others to seek them ? They have not felt the w icked- 
 ness of their own nature, nor their lost condition, nor 
 their need of Christ, nor felt the renewing work of the 
 Spirit : how then can they discover these to others ? 
 Ah that this were not the case of many a learned preacher 
 in England ! And the cause why they preach so fro- 
 zenly ! Men also are guilty themselves of the sins they 
 should reprove ; and this stops their mouths, and maketh 
 them ashamed to reprove. 
 
 2. Another hinderance is, a secret infidelity prevail- 
 ing in men's hearts. Alas, sirs, we do not sure believe 
 men's misery ; we do not believe sure the threatenings 
 of God are true. Did we verily believe that all the un- 
 regenerate and unholy shall be eternally tormented, O 
 how could we hold our tongues when we are among the 
 unregenerate ; how could we choose but burst out into 
 tears when we look them in the face, as the prophet did 
 when he looked upon Hazael ? especially when they are 
 our kindred or friends that are near and dear to us ? 
 Thus doth secret unbelief consume the vigour of each 
 each grace and duty. O Christians, if you did verily 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 179 
 
 believe that your poor neighbour, or wife, or husband, 
 or child, should certainly lie for ever in the Hamcs of 
 hell, except they be thoroughly changed before death 
 doth snatch them hence, would not this make you cast 
 off" all discouragements, and lay at them day and night 
 till they were persuaded ? How could you hold your 
 tongue, or let them alone another day, if this were 
 soundly believed ? If you were sure that any one of 
 your dear friends that are dead were now in hell, and 
 persuading to repentance would get him out again, 
 would not you persuade him day and night, if he were 
 in hearing? And why should you not do as much then 
 to prevent it, while he is in your hearing, but that you 
 do not believe God's word that speaks the danger ? O 
 were it not for this cursed unbelief, our own souls and 
 our neighbour's would gain more by us than they do. 
 
 3. This faithful dealing with men for theif salvation 
 is much hindered also by our want of compassion to 
 men's souls. We are hard-hearted and cruel toAvard 
 the miserable ; and therefore (as the priest and the Le- 
 vite did by the wounded man) we look on them, and 
 pass by. O what tender hearts could endure to look 
 upon a poor, blind, forlorn sinner, wounded by sin, 
 and captivated by Satan, and never once open their 
 mouths for his recovery ! What though he be silent, 
 and do not desire thy help I yet his misery cries aloud ; 
 misery is the most effectual suitor to one that is com- 
 passionate : if God had not heard the cry of our mise- 
 ries before he heard the cry of our prayers, and been 
 moved by his own ]>ity before he was moved by our im- 
 portunity, we might have long enough continued the 
 slaves of Satan. Alas, what pitiful sights do we daily 
 see ! The ignorant, the profane, the neglccters of Christ 
 and their souls : their sores are open and visible to all ; 
 and yet we do not pity tliem. You will pray to God 
 for them, in customary duties, that God would open the 
 eyes, and turn the hearts, of your friends and neigh- 
 bours ; and why do you not endeavour their conversion 
 if you desire it ? and if you do not desire it, why do you 
 ask it? Doth not your negligence convince you of hy- 
 pocrisy in your prayers, and of abusing the most high 
 God with your deceitful words ? Your nei«rl)bours are 
 
180 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 near you, your friends are in the house with you, yoil 
 sat, and drink, and work, and walk, and talk with them, 
 and yet you say little or nothing to them. Why do 
 you not pray them to consider and return, as well as 
 pray to God to convert and turn them? Have you as 
 oft begged of them to think on their ways, and to re- 
 form, as you have taken on you to beg of God that they 
 may do so ? What if you should see your neighbour 
 fallen into a pit, and you should presently fall down on 
 your knees, and pray God to help him out, but would 
 neither put forth your hand to help him, nor once per- 
 suade or direct him to help himself, would not any man 
 censure you to be cruel and hypocritical ? What the 
 Holy Ghost saith of men's bodily miseries, I may say 
 much more of the misery of their souls : " If any man 
 seeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compas- 
 sion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ?" 
 Or what love hath he to his brother's soul ? The cha- 
 rity of our ignorant forefathers may rise up in judgment 
 against us and condemn us : they would give all their 
 estates almost, for so many masses, or pardons, to de- 
 liver the souls of their friends from a feigned purgatory ; 
 and we will not as much as admonish and entreat them, 
 to save them from the certain flames of hell. 
 
 4. Another hinderance is, a base man pleasing dispo- 
 sition that is in us. We are so loath to displease men, 
 and so desirous to keep in credit and favour with them, 
 that it makes us neglect our own duty. A foolish phy- 
 sician he is, and a most unfaithful friend, that will let a 
 sick man die for feai of troubling him. And cruel 
 wretches are we to our friends, that will rather suffer 
 them to go quickly to hell, than we will anger them, or 
 hazard our reputation v/ith them. If they did but fall 
 in a swoon, we would rub them, and pinch them, and 
 never stick at hurting them. If they were distracted, 
 we would bind them with chains, and we would please 
 them in nothing that tended 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 those men be Christians that love the praise and fa- 
 vour of men more than the favour of God ?" John xii, 43. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 181 
 
 "For if they yet seek to please men, they are no longer 
 the servants of Christ," Gal. i, 10. To win thein, in- 
 deed, they must become all things. to all men; but to 
 please them to their destruction, and let them perish, 
 that we may keep our credit with them, is a course so 
 base and barbarously cruel that he that hath the face of 
 a Christian should abhor it. 
 
 5. Another common hinderance is, a sinful bashful- 
 ness. When we should labour to make men ashamed 
 of their sins, we are ourselves ashamed of our duties. 
 May not these sinners condemn us, when they will not 
 blush to swear or be drunk, and we blush to tell them of 
 it, and persuade them from it? Sinners will boast of 
 their sins, and show them in the open streets; and shall 
 not we be as bold in drawing them from sin ? Not that 
 I would have inferiors forget their distance in admonish- 
 ing their superiors ; but do it with all humility, and 
 submission, and respect. But yet I would much less 
 have them forget their duty to God and their friends, 
 be they never so much their superiors : it is a thing that 
 must be done. Bashfulness is unseemly in cases of 
 flat necessity. And indeed it is not a work to be 
 ashamed of: to obey God in persuading men from their 
 sins to Christ, and helping to save their souls, is not a 
 business for a man to blush at. Yet, alas, what abun- 
 dance of souls have been neglected through the prevail- 
 ing of this sin ! Even the most of us are heinously 
 guilty in this point. Reader, is not this thy own case ? 
 Hath not thy conscience told thee of thy duty many a 
 time, and put thee on to speak to poor sinners, lest they 
 perish ? And yet thou hast been ashamed to open thy 
 mouth to them, and so let them alone to sink or swim ; 
 believe me, thou wilt ere long be ashamed of this shame. 
 O read these words of Christ, and tremble : " He that 
 is ashamed of me, and my words, before this adulterous 
 generation, of him will the Son of man be ashamed be- 
 fore his Father and the angels." 
 
 6. With many, also, pride is a great impediment. If 
 it were to speak to a great man, they would do it, so it 
 would not displease him. But to go among a company 
 of ignorant beggars, or mean persons, and to sit with 
 them in a smoky, nasty cottage, and there to exhort 
 
1S3 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 them from day to day ; where is the person that will do 
 it? Many will much rejoice if they have been instru- 
 ments of converting a gentleman, (and they have good 
 cause,) but for the common multitude, they look not 
 alter them : as if God were a respecter of the persons 
 of the rich, or the souls of all were not alike to him. 
 Alas, these men little consider how low Christ did stoop 
 to us ! When the God of glory comes down in flesh to 
 worms, and goeth preaching up and down among them 
 from city to city ! Not the silliest woman that he 
 thought too low to confer with : few rich, and noble, 
 and wise, are called. It is the poor that receive the 
 glad tidings of the Gospel. 
 
 Ohjcction. O but, saith one, I am of so weak parts 
 that I am unable to manage an exhortation ; especially 
 to men of strong parts and understanding. 
 
 I answer, 1. Set those upon the work who are more 
 able. 2. Yet do not think that thou art so excused thy- 
 self, but use faithfully that ability which thou hast ; not 
 in teaching those of whom thou shouldst learn, but in 
 instructing those that arc more ignorant than thyself, 
 and in exhorting those that are negligent in the things 
 which they do know. If you cannot speak well your- 
 self, yet you can tell them what God speaketh in his 
 word. It is not the excellence of speech that winneth 
 the souls ; but the authority of God manifested by that 
 speech, and the power of his word in the mouth of the 
 instructor. A weak woman may tell what God saith in 
 the plain passages of the word, as well as a learned man. 
 If you cannot preach to them, yet you can say. Thus it 
 is written. One of mean parts may remember' the wisest 
 of their duty when they forget it. 
 
 Objection. It is my superior ; and is it fit for me to 
 teach or reprove my betters ? Must the wife teach tlie 
 husband, of whom the Scripture biddeth them to learn? 
 Or must the child teach the parents, whose duty it is to 
 teach them 1 
 
 I answer, 1. It is fit that husbands should be able to 
 teach their wives, and parents to teach their children ; 
 and God expecteth they should be so, and therefore 
 commandetli the inferiors to learn of them. But if they, 
 through their negligence, disable themselves, or through 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 183 
 
 their wickedness bring their souls into such misery, 
 then it is themselves, and not you, that break God's 
 order, by bringing themselves into disability and 
 misery. 
 
 Matter of mere orders and manners must be dispensed 
 with in cases of flat necessity. Though it were your 
 minister, you must teach him in such a case. It is the 
 part of parents to provide for their children, and not 
 children for their parents ; and yet if the parents fall 
 into want, must not llie children relieve them ? It is 
 the part of the husband to dispose of the affairs of the 
 family and estate ; and yet if he be sick, or beside him- 
 self, must not the wife do it ? The rich should relieve 
 the poor ; but if the rich fall into beggary, they must be 
 relieved themselves. It is the work of a physician to 
 look to the health of others ; and yet if he fall sick, 
 somebody must help him. So must the meanest servant 
 admonish his master, and the child his parent, and the 
 wife her husband, and the people their ministers, in 
 cases of necessity. Yet, secondly, let me give you these 
 two cautions here : — 
 
 1. That you do not pretend necessity when there is 
 none, out of a mere desire of teaching. There is scarce 
 a more certain discovery of a proud heart than to be 
 more desirous to teach than to learn ; especially toward 
 those that are fitter to teach us. 
 
 2. And when the necessity of your superiors doth call 
 for your advice, yet do it with all possible humility, 
 modesty, and meekness. Let them discern your reve- 
 rence and submission in the humble manner of your ad- 
 dresses to them. Let them perceive that you do it not 
 out of a mere teaching humour, or proud self-conceited- 
 ness. If a wife should tell her husband of sin in a mas- 
 terly railing manner ; or if a servant reprove his mas- 
 ter, or a child his father, in a saucy way, what good 
 could be expected from such reproof? But if they 
 should meekly and humbly open to him his sin and dan- 
 ger, and entreat him to bear with them in what God 
 commandeth ; and if they could by tears testify their 
 sense of his case ; what father, or master, or husband, 
 could take this ill ? 
 
 Ohjection. But, some may say, this will make all as 
 
184 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 preachers, and cause all to break over the bounds of 
 their callings. 
 
 I answer, 1. This is not taking a pastoral charge of 
 souls, nor making an office or calling of it, as preach- 
 ers do. 
 
 2. And in the way of our callings, every good Chris- 
 tian is a teacher, and hath a charge of his neighbour's 
 soul. Let it be only the voice of a Cain to say, " Am I 
 my brother's keeper ?" I would one of these men that 
 are so loath that private men should teach them, to tell 
 me, what if a man fall down in a swoon in the streets, 
 though it be your father or superior, would you not 
 take him up presently, and use all means to recover 
 him ? Or would you let him lie and die, and say. It is 
 the work of the physician, and not mine : I will not in- 
 vade the physician's calling ? In two cases every man 
 is a physician ; first, in case of necessity, and when a 
 physician cannot be had ; and secondly, in case the 
 hurt be so small, that every man can do as well as the 
 physician. And in the same two cases every man must 
 be a teacher. 
 
 Objection. Some will farther object to put off this 
 duty, that the party is so ignorant, or stupid, or care- 
 less, or rooted in sin, and hath been so oft exhorted in 
 vain, that there is no hope. 
 
 I answer. How know you when there is no hope? 
 Cannot God yet cure him ? And have not many as far 
 gone been cured? Should not a merciful physician use 
 means while there is life ? And is it not inhuman cru- 
 elty in you to give up your friend to the devil as hope- 
 less, upon mere backwardness to your duty, or upon 
 groundless discouragements ? What if you had been 
 so given up yourself when you were ignorant ? 
 
 Objection. But "we must not cast pearls before 
 swine, nor give that which is holy to dogs." 
 
 I answer, That is but a favourable dispensation of 
 Christ for your own safety. When you are in danger 
 of being torn in pieces, Christ would have you forbear; 
 but what is that to you that are in no such danger? 
 As long as they will hear, you have encouragement 
 to speak, and may not cast them off as contemptuous 
 swine. 
 
185 
 
 Objection. O but it is a friend that I have all my 
 dependence on ; and by telling him of his sin and misery, 
 I may lose his love, and so be undone. 
 
 I answer. Sure no man that hath the face of a Chris- 
 tian will for shame own such an objection as this. Yet, 
 I doubt, it oft prevaileth in the heart. Is his love 
 more to be valued than his safety ? Or thy own benefit 
 by him than the salvation of his soul ? Or wilt thou 
 connive at his damnation, because he is thy friend? 
 Is that thy best requital of his friendship? Hadst 
 thou rather he should burn for ever in hell, than thou 
 shouldst lose his favour, or the maintenance thou hast 
 from him ? 
 
 To conclude this use, that I may prevail with every 
 soul that feareth God, to use their utmost diligence to 
 help all about them to this blessed rest, let me entreat 
 you to consider these following motives : — 
 
 1. Consider, Nature teacheth the communicating of 
 good, and grace doth especially dispose the soul thereto; 
 the neglect therefore of this work, is a sin both against 
 nature and grace. 
 
 Would you not think that man or woman unnatural, 
 that would let their children or neighbours famish in the 
 streets, while they have provision at hand ? And is not 
 he more unnatural that will let his children or neigh- 
 bours perish eternally, and will not open his mouth to 
 save them ? Certainly this is most barbarous cruelty. 
 We account an unmerciful, cruel man, a very monster, 
 to be abhorred of all. Many vicious men are too much 
 loved in the world, but a cruel man is abhorred of all. 
 Now that it may appear to you what a cruel thing this 
 neglect of souls is, do but consider these two things : 
 First, how great a work it is. Secondly, how small a 
 matter it is that thou refusest to do for the accomplish- 
 ing so great a work. First, it is to save thy brother 
 from eternal flames, that he may not there lie roaring in 
 endless remediless torments. It is to bring him to the 
 everlasting rest, where he may live in inconceivable 
 happiness with God. Secondly, and what is it that you 
 should do to help him herein ? Why, it is to persuade 
 him, and lay open to him his sin, and his duty, his 
 misery, and the remedy, till you have made him willing 
 
186 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 to yield to the offers and commands of Christ. And is 
 this so great a matter for to do, to the attaining such a 
 blessed end ? Is not the soul of a husband, or wife, or 
 child, or neighbour, worth a few words ? It is worth 
 this, or it is worth nothing. If they lie dying in the 
 streets, and a few words would save their lives, would 
 not every man say, he was a cruel wretch that would let 
 them perish rather than speak to them? Even the 
 covetous hypocrite that James reproveth, would give a 
 few words to the poor, and say, " Go and be warmed, 
 and be clothed." What a barbarous, unmerciful wretch 
 then art thou, that wilt not vouchsafe a few words of 
 serious, sober admonition, to save the soul of thy 
 neighbour or friend ! Cruelty and unmercifulness to 
 men's bodies, is a most damnable sin ; but to their 
 souls much more, as the soul is of greater worth than 
 the body, and as eternity is of greater moment than 
 this short time. 
 
 Alas ! you do not see or feel what case their souls 
 are in when they are in hell, for want of your faithful 
 admonition. Little know you what many a soul may 
 now be feeling, who have been your neighbours and 
 acquaintance, and died in their sins, on whom you never 
 bestowed one hour's sober advice for preven^ting their 
 unhappiness. If you knew their misery, you would 
 now do more to bring them out of hell ; but, alas ! it is 
 too late, you should have done it while they were with 
 you ; it is now too late. As one said of physicians, 
 " That they were the most happy men, because all their 
 good deeds and cures were seen above ground to their 
 praise, but all their mistakes and neglects were buried 
 out of sight ;" so I may say to you. Many a neglect of 
 yours to the souls about you, may be now buried with 
 those souls in hell, out of your sight, and therefore now 
 it doth not much trouble you ; but, alas ! they feel it, 
 though you feel it not. Jeremiah cried out, " My 
 bowels, my bowels, I cannot hold my peace," because 
 of a temporal destruction of his people : and do not 
 our bowels yearn ? And can we hold our peace at men's 
 eternal destruction ? 
 
 2. Consider, What a rate Christ did value souls at, 
 and what he hath done toward the saving of them ; he 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 187 
 
 thought them worth his blood, and shall not we think 
 them worth the breath of our mouths ? Will you not 
 do a little where he hath done so much ^ 
 
 3. Consider, What a deal of guilt this neglect doth 
 lay upon thy soul. First, thou art guilty of the murder 
 and damnation of all those souls whom thou dost neglect. 
 He that standeth by, and seeth a man in a pit, and will 
 not pull him out if he can, doth drown him. And he 
 that standeth by, while thieves rob him, or murderers 
 kill him, and will not help him if he can, is accessory 
 to the fact. And so he that will silently suffer men to 
 damn their souls, or will let Satan and the world deceive 
 them, and not offer to help them, will certainly be judged 
 guilty of damning them. And is not this a most dread- 
 ful consideration ? O, sirs, how many souls then have 
 every one of us been guilty of damning ! what a number 
 of our neighbours and acquaintance are dead, in whom 
 we discerned no signs of sanctification, and we never 
 once plainly told them of it, or how to be recovered ! 
 If you had been the cause but of burning a man's house 
 through your negligence, or of undoing him, or destroy- 
 ing his body, how would it trouble you as long as you 
 lived ? If you had but killed a man unadvisedly, it 
 would much disquiet you. We have known those that 
 have been guilty of murder, that could never sleep 
 quietly after, nor have one comfortable day, their own 
 consciences did so vex and torment them. O what a 
 heart must thou have, that hast been guilty of murdering 
 such a multitude of precious souls ! Remember this, 
 when thou lookest thy friend or carnal neighbour in the 
 face ; and think with thyself. Can I find in my heart, 
 through my silence and negligence, to be guilty of his 
 everlasting burning in hell ? Methinks such a thought 
 should even untie the tongue of the dumb. 
 
 Secondly. And as you are guilty of their perishing, 
 so are you of every sin which in the meantime they 
 commit. If they were converted, they would break off 
 their course of sinning : and if you did your duty, you 
 know not but they might be converted. As he that is 
 guilty of a man's drunkenness, is guilty of all the sins 
 which that drunkenness doth cause him to commit : so 
 he that is guilty of a man's continuing unregenerate, is 
 
18^ THE SAINTS* EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 also guilty of the sins of his unregeneracy. How many 
 curses and oaths, and other sins of a most heinous 
 nature, are many of you guilty of that little think of it ? 
 You that take much pains for your own souls, and seem 
 fearful of sinning, would take it ill of one that should 
 tell you that you are guilty of weekly, or daily whore- 
 doms, and drunkenness, and swearing, and lying. And 
 yet it is too true, even beyond all denial, by your neglect 
 of helping those who do commit them. 
 
 Thirdly. You are guilty also of all those judgments 
 which those men's sins bring upon the town or country 
 where they live. I know you are not such atheists, but 
 you believe it is God that sendeth sickness, and famine, 
 |nd war ; and also that it is only sin that moveth him to 
 the r '^i^sition. What doubt then is there, but you are 
 
 I.- i> ^judgments, who do not strive against those 
 sms which CL-* \-, > Vi j i, *i, ^ ji • 
 +/^ ^«« -r isethemf Uod hath stayed long m patience 
 
 to see 11 any a\ u j i i • i -.i: ^t • r ii. 
 
 times, and so tft"''^.^^^?' P'^'^'y 'V'V' !J,""'"'^°^ *t 
 
 when he secth tha.'^*"■ r" ^°"'f ^'Tk ^u'lt: but 
 
 no wonder then if tT ''. "°1'=' ''"' "" become guilty, 
 
 have all seen the drun^^ !''<' ■"",'1'"'°,'.?°" ■'' 
 
 ^„^ ^. , 1 iards, and heard the swearers m 
 
 our streets, and we woui;; \ i ^ ^i. i, 
 
 all lived in the midst 0? ""'.^P'^^'' « *«"} = ^^« l^]^ 
 
 people, and we have not/^ ^" ^f r" ' T 5^' "? '^ 
 plainness, and love: „f ^Poke to them with earnestness, 
 
 his wrath, both to then'° 'r"'''''^','!^". j*^ ^°^ 'P'*^^ 
 sin himself, and yet r'' ^""^ T ,,^^' "^ i"j?' commit the 
 that he must bear the"'= «Pf l'^* ^"^"^^^,"^,1^' 
 clouds, because ,^p- Punishment. God locketh up the 
 
 earth is grown as ? ^^^ ? "' ."^ ""v """''"• 7^* 
 hardened our he. "''"^ ?' """ *° •?"' bef«se we have 
 The cries of '' '^'''^ against our miserable neighbours. 
 <.r;o= <,„oi„^( Jhe poor for bread are loud, because our 
 apace from house t""^ ^^^^ '^ 1^^' Sicknesses run 
 unprepared inhabitan-;^^"'^' '^""^ '^^^P ^^^7 ^he poor 
 sin that breedeth thf ^^^'' ^/^^"'^. ^^ fffP* ^^1^"* ^^^ 
 Luke xix SO '^ T^ ^"^* t^hrist said in another case, 
 
 stones would sry^'"} ^}}^^^ 1^^^^^ hold their peace, the 
 the iffnorar "^r*^^^ • s^» because we held our peace at 
 places i^ -"^^^^j ungodliness, and wickedness of our 
 ^ -'-siderefore do these plagues and judgments speak. 
 •Consider, what a thing it will be, to look upon 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 189 
 
 your poor friends in those flames, and to think that your 
 neglect was a great cause of it ! And that there was a 
 time when you might have done much to prevent it. 
 If you should there perish with them, it would be no 
 small aggravation of your torment ! If you be in 
 heaven, it would sure be a sad thought, were it possible 
 that any sorrow could dwell there, to hear a multitude 
 of poor souls there to cry out for ever: O if you 
 would but have told me plainly of my sin and danger, 
 and dealt roundly with me, I might have escaped all 
 this torment, and been now in rest ! O what a sad voice 
 will this be ! 
 
 5. Consider, how diligent are the enemies of these 
 poor souls to draw them to hell. And if nobody be 
 diligent in helping them to heaven, what is like to be- 
 come of them ? The devil is tempting them day and 
 night: their inward lusts are still working and with* 
 drawing them : the flesh is still pleading for its delights 
 and profits : their old companions are ready to entice 
 them to sin, and to disgrace God's ways and people to 
 them, and to contradict the doctrine of Christ that 
 should save them, and to increase their dislike of holi- 
 ness. Seducing teachers are exceeding diligent in sow- 
 ing tares, and drawing oft* the unstable from the way to 
 life : and shall a seducer be so unwearied in proselyt- 
 ing poor unguarded souls to his fancies? And shall 
 not a sound Christian be much more unwearied in la 
 bouring to win men to Christ and life ? 
 
 6. Consider, the neglect of this doth very deeply 
 wound when conscience is awakened. When a man 
 comes to die conscience will ask him. What good hast 
 thou done in thy lifetime ? The saving of souls is the 
 greatest good ; what hast thou done toward this ? How 
 many hast thou dealt faithfully with ? I have oft ob- 
 served that the consciences of dying men very much 
 wound them for this omission. For my own part, (to 
 tell you my experience,) xvhenever I have been near 
 death my conscience hath accused me more for this 
 than for any sin : it would bring every ignorant, pro- 
 fane neighbour to my remembrance, to whom I never 
 made known their danger : it would tell me. Thou 
 shouldst have gone to them in private, and told them 
 
190 THE SAINTS- EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 plainly of their desperate danger, without bashfulness 
 or daubing, though it had been when thou shouldst 
 have eaten or slept, if thou hadst no other time : con- 
 science would remember me how at such. a time or such 
 a time I was in company with the ignorant, or was 
 riding by the way with a wilful sinner, and had a fit 
 opportunity to have dealt with him, but did not ; or at 
 least did it by halves, and to little purpose. The Lord 
 grant I may better obey conscience hereafter, while I 
 live and have time, that it may have less to accuse me 
 of at death ! 
 
 7. Consider, lastly, the happy consequences of this 
 work, where it is faithfully done. To name some : — 
 
 1. You may be instrumental in that blessed work of 
 saving souls, a work that Christ came down and died 
 for, a work that the angels of God rejoice in : for, saith 
 the Holy Ghost, " If any of you do err from the truth, 
 and one convert him, let him know that he which con- 
 verteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save 
 a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins," 
 James v, 19, 20. And how can God more highly ho- 
 nour you than to make you instruments in so great a 
 work? 
 
 2. Such souls will bless you here and hereafter. 
 They may be angry with you at first ; but if your 
 words succeed, they will bless the day that ever they 
 knew you, and bless God that sent you to speak to 
 them. 
 
 3. It bringeth much advantage to yourselves : First, it 
 will increase your graces, both as it is a course that 
 God will bless, and as it is an acting of them in this 
 persuading of others : he that will not let you lose a 
 cup of water which is given for him will not let you 
 lose these greater works of charity ; besides, those who 
 have practised this duty must find by experience that 
 they never go on more prosperously toward heaven 
 than when they do mo^ to help others thither with 
 them. It is not here as with worldly treasure, the more 
 you give away the less you have : but the more you 
 give the more you have ; the setting forth Christ in his 
 fulness to others will warm your own hearts ; the open- 
 ing the evil and danger of sin to others will increase 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 191 
 
 your hatred of it. Secondly, it will increase your glory 
 as well as your grace, both as a duty which God will 
 reward, ("For they that convert many to righteousness 
 shall shine as the stars for ever and ever,") Dan. xii, 
 3, and also as we shall there behold them in heaven, and 
 be their associates in blessedness, whom God made us 
 the instruments here to convert. Thirdly, however, it 
 will give as much peace of conscience, whether we 
 succeed or not, to think that we were faithful and 
 did our best to save them, and that we are clear from 
 the blood of all men. Fourthly, besides that is a work 
 that, if it succeed, doth exceedingly rejoice an honest 
 heart : he that hath any sense of God's honour, or the 
 least ajffection to the soul of his brother, must needs re- 
 joice much at his conversion, whosoever be the instru- 
 ment, but especially when God maketh ourselves the 
 means of so blessed a work. 
 
 For my own part, it is an unspeakable comfort to me 
 that God hath made me an instrument for the recover- 
 ing of so many from bodily diseases, and saving their 
 natural lives : but all this is nothing to the comfort I 
 have in the success of my labours in the conversion and 
 confirmation of souls ; it is so great a joy to me that it 
 drowne4;h the painfulness of my daily duties, and the 
 trouble of my daily languishing and bodily griefs : and 
 maketh all these, with all oppositions and difficulties in 
 my work, to be easy : and of all the personal mercies 
 that ever I received, next to his love in Christ to my 
 soul, I most joyfully bless him for the plenteous success 
 of my endeavours upon others. O what fruits then 
 might I have seen if I had been more faithful, and plied 
 the work in private and public as I ought ! I know 
 we have need to be very jealous of our deceitful hearts 
 in this point, lest our rejoicing should come from our 
 pride. Naturally, we would every man be in the place 
 of God, and have the praise of every good work ascrib- 
 ed to ourselves : but yet to imitate our Father in good- 
 ness, and to rejoice in that degree we attain to, is the 
 part of every child of God. I tell you, therefore, to 
 persuade you from my own experience, that if you did 
 but know what a joyful thing it is to be an instrument 
 for the saving of souls, you would set upon i«. presently, 
 
192 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 and follow it night and day through the greatest dis- 
 couragements and resistance. 
 
 And thus I have showed you what should persuade 
 you to this duty. Let me now conclude with a word 
 of entreaty ; First, to all the godly in general. Se- 
 condly, to some above others in particular. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AN ADVICE TO SOME MORE PARTICULARLY TO HELP OTHERS TO 
 THIS REST. 
 
 Up then every man that hath a tongue, and is a ser- 
 vant of Christ, and do something of this your Master's 
 work. Why hath he given you a tongue, but to speak 
 in his service ? And how can you serve him more emi- 
 nently than in the saving of souls ? He that will pro- 
 nounce you blessed at the last day, and sentence you to 
 the kingdom prepared for you because you fed him, 
 and clothed him, and visited him in his members, will 
 surely pronounce you blessed for so great a work as 
 the bringing over of souls to his kingdom. He that 
 saith, " The poor you have always with you," hath left 
 the ungodly always with you that you might still have 
 matter to exercise your charity upon. O if you have 
 the hearts of Christians, or of men, in you, let them 
 yearn toward your poor, ignorant, ungodly neighbours ! 
 Alas, there is but a step betwixt them and death and 
 hell ; many hundred diseases are waiting ready to seize 
 them, and if they die unregenerate they are lost for ever. 
 Have you hearts of rock that cannot pity men in such a 
 case ? If you believe not the word of God how are you 
 Christians yourselves ? If you do but believe it why do 
 you not bestir you to help others ? Do you not care 
 who is damned so you be saved ? If so, you have as 
 much cause to pity your ownselves, for it is a frame 
 of spirit inconsistent with grace : should you not rather 
 say, as the lepers of Samaria, " Is it not a day of glad 
 tidings, and we sit still and hold our peace ?" Hath God 
 had so much mercy upon you, and will you have no 
 mercy on your poor neighbours ? You need not go far 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 193 
 
 to find objects for your pity : look but into the streets, 
 or into the next house to you, and you will probably 
 find some. Have you not a neighbour that sets his 
 heart below, and neglecteth eternity? What blessed 
 place do you live in where there is none such ? If 
 there be not some of them in thine own family it is 
 well ; and yet art thou silent ? Dost thou live close by 
 them, or meet them in the streets, or labour Avith them, 
 or travel with them, or sit still and talk with them, and 
 say nothing to them of their souls, or the life to come ? 
 If their houses were on fire thou wouldst run and help 
 them : and wilt thou not help them when their souls 
 are almost at the fire of hell ? If thou knowest but a 
 remedy for their diseases thou wouldst tell it them, or 
 else thou wouldst judge thyself guilty of their death. 
 Cardan speaks of one that had a recipe that would dis- 
 solve the stone in the bladder, and he makes no doubt 
 but that man is in hell, because he never revealed it to 
 any before he died • what shall we say then of them 
 that know the remedy for curing souls and do not re- 
 veal it, nor persuade men to make use of it? Is it not 
 hypocrisy to pray " that God's name may be hallowed," 
 and never endeavour to bring men to hallow it? And 
 can you pray, "' Let thy kingdom come," and yet never 
 labour for the coming or increase of that kingdom ? Is 
 it not grief to your hearts to see the kingdom of Satan 
 flourish, and to see him lead captive such a multitude 
 of souls ? You say you are soldiers of Christ : and 
 will you do nothing against his prevailing enemies? 
 You pray also daily " that his will may be done ;" and 
 should you not daily then persuade men to doit? You 
 pray " that God would forgive them their sins, and that 
 he would not lead them into temptation, but deliver 
 them from evil ;" and yet will you not help them 
 against temptations, nor help to deliver them from 
 the greatest evil, nor help them to repent and believe 
 that they may be forgiven ? Alas, that your prayers 
 and your practice should so much disagree ! Look 
 about you, therefore, Christians, with an eye of com- 
 passion on the sinners about you ; be not like the 
 priest or Levite that saw the man wounded, and passed 
 bv, God did not so pass bv you when it was vour own 
 
 9 
 
104 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 case. Are not the souls of your neighbours fallen into 
 the hands of Satan ? Doth not their misery cry out to 
 you, Help, help ! As you have any compassion toward 
 men in the greatest misery, help ! As you have the 
 hearts of men, and not of tigers, in you, help ! 
 
 But as this duty lieth upon all in general, so upon 
 some more especially, according as God hath called or 
 qualified them thereto. To them, therefore, more par- 
 ticularly, I will address my exhortation : whether they 
 be such as have more opportunity and advantages for 
 this work, or such as have better abilities to perform it. 
 
 1. Ail you that God hath given more learning and 
 knowledge to, or endued with better utterance than 
 your neighbours, God expecteth this duty especially at 
 your hand. The strong are made to help the weak, 
 and those that see must direct the blind. God looketh 
 for this faithful improvement of your parts and gifts, 
 which, if you neglect, it were better for you that you 
 never had received them : for they will but farther your 
 condemnation, and be as useless to your own salvation 
 as they are to others. 
 
 3. All those that have especial familiarity with some 
 ungodly men, and that have interest in them, God looks 
 for this duty at their hands. Christ himself did eat and 
 drink with the publicans and sinners, but it was only to 
 be their physician, and not their companion. God might 
 give you interest in them to this end, that you might be 
 a means of their recovery. They that will not regard 
 the words of another, will regard a brother, or sister, 
 01 husband, or wife, or near friend : beside that, the 
 bond of friendship doth engage you to more kindness 
 and compassion. 
 
 3. Physicians that are much about dying men should 
 in a special manner make a conscience of this duty : 
 they have a treble adva^itage. First, they are at hand. 
 Secondly, they are with men in sickness and dangers, 
 Vv'hen the ear is more open, and the heart less stubborn 
 tiian in time of health. He that made a scorn of god- 
 liness before, will hear counsel then, if ever he will 
 hear it. Thirdly, besides, they look upon their physi- 
 cian as a man in whose hand is their life: or who at 
 least may do much to save them, and therefore they will 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 19$ 
 
 the more regard his advice. Therefore you that are of 
 this honourable profession, do not think this a work 
 beside your calling, as if it belonged to none but minis- 
 ters : except you think it beside your calling to be com- 
 passionate, or to be Christians. Help to fit your pa- 
 tients for heaven, and whether you see they are for life 
 or death, teach them both how to live and how to die, 
 and give them some physic for their souls, as you do for 
 their bodies. Blessed be God that very many of the 
 chief physicians of this age have, by their eminent 
 piety, vindicated their profession from the common 
 imputation of atheism and profaneness. 
 
 4. Another sort that have excellent advantage for this 
 duty, are men that have wealth and authority, and are 
 of great place or command in the world, especially that 
 have many who live in dependence on them. O what a 
 world of good might gentlemen and lords do that have 
 a great many tenants, and that are the leaders of the 
 country, if they had but hearts to improve their interest 
 and advantage ! Little do you that are such, think of 
 the duty that lies upon you in this. Have you not all 
 honour and riches from God ? Is it not evident then 
 that you must employ them for the advantage of his 
 service ? Do you not know who hath said, " That to 
 whom men commit much, from them they will expect 
 the more ?" 
 
 You have the greatest opportunities to do good, of 
 most men in the world. Your tenants dare not contra- 
 dict you, lest you dispossess them or their children of 
 their habitations : they fear you more than the threaten- 
 ings of the Scriptures ; they will sooner obey you than 
 God. If you speak to them of God and their souls, you 
 may be regarded when even a minister shall be despised. 
 O, therefore, as you value the honour of God, your own 
 comfort, and the salvation of souls, improve your in- 
 terest to the utmost for God. Go visit your tenants* ' 
 and neighbours' houses, and see whether they worship 
 Go .1 in their families, and take all opportunities to press 
 them to their duties. Do not despise them because 
 they are poor or simple. Remember, God is no respec- 
 ter of persons ; your flesh is of no better metal than 
 theirs ; nor will the worms spare your faces or hearts 
 
196 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 any more than theirs ; nor will your bones or dust bear 
 the badge of your gentility : you must be all equals when 
 you stand in judgment ; and therefore help the soul of 
 a poor man, as well as if he were a gentleman : and let 
 men see that you excel others as much in piety, heaven- 
 liness, compassion, and diligence in God's work, as you 
 do in riches and honour. 
 
 I confess you are like to be singular if you take 
 this course ; but then remember, you shall be singular 
 in glory, for " few great, and mighty, and noble are 
 called." 
 
 5. Another sort that have special opportunity to help 
 others to heaven, are the ministers of the Gospel : as 
 they have, or should have, more ability than others, so 
 it is the very work of their calling ; and every one ex- 
 pecteth it at their hands, and will better submit to their 
 teachers than to others. I intend not these instructions 
 so much to teachers, as to others, and therefore I shall 
 say but little to them ; and if all, or most ministers 
 among us, were as faithful and diligent as some, I would 
 say nothing. But because it is otherwise, let me give 
 these two or three words of advice to my brethren in 
 this office. 
 
 1. Be sure that the recovering and saving souls be 
 the main end of your studies and preaching. O do not 
 propound any low and base ends to yourselves. This 
 is the end of your calling, let it be also the end of your 
 endeavours. God forbid that you should spend a week's 
 study to please the people, or to seek the advancing 
 your own reputations. Dare you appear in the pulpit 
 on such a business, and speak for yourselves, when you 
 are sent and pretend to speak for Christ ? Set out the 
 work of God as skilfully as you can ; but still let the 
 winning of souls be your end, and always judge that 
 the best means that most conduceth to the end. Do not 
 think that God is best served by a neat, starched oration ; 
 but that he is the able, skilful minister that is best 
 skilled in the art of instructing, convincing, persuading, 
 and that is the best sermon that is best in these. Let 
 the vigour also of your persuasions show that you are 
 sensible on how weighty a business you are sent. 
 Preach with that seriousness and fervour ,as men that 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 197 
 
 believe their own doctrine, and know their hearers must 
 either be prevailed with or be damned. What you would 
 do to save them from everlasting burning, that do while 
 you have the opportunity; and price in your hand, that 
 people may discern you mean as you speak ; and that 
 you are not stage-players, but preachers of the doctrine 
 of salvation. Remember what Cicero saith, " That if 
 the matter be never so combustible, yet if you put not 
 fire to it, it will not burn." And what Erasmus saith, 
 " That a hot iron will pierce when a cold one will not." 
 And if the wise men of the world account you mad, say 
 as Paul, " If we are beside ourselves, it is to God :" 
 and remehiber that Christ was so busy in doing of good 
 that his friends themselves began to lay hands on him, 
 thinking he had been beside himself, Mark iii. 
 
 2. The second and chief word of advice that I would 
 give you, is this : do not think that all your work is in 
 studies, and in the pulpit. I confess that is great : but, 
 alas ! it is but a small part of your task. You are shep- 
 herds, and must know every sheep, and what is their 
 disease, and mark their strayings, and help to cure them, 
 and fetch them home. 
 
 O learn of Paul, Acts xx, 19, 20, 31, to preach pub- 
 licly, and from house to house, night and day, with tears. 
 Let there not be a soul in your charge that shall not be 
 particularly instructed and watched over. Go from 
 house to house daily, and inquire how they grow in 
 knowledge and holiness, and on what grounds they build 
 their hopes of salvation ; and whether they walk up- 
 rightly and perform the duties of their several relations, 
 and use the means to increase their abilities. See 
 whether they daily worship God in their families, and 
 set them in a way, and teach them how to do it : confer 
 with them about the doctrines and practice of religion, 
 and how they receive and profit by public teaching, and 
 answer all their carnal objections ; keep in familiarity 
 with them that you may maintain your interest in them, 
 and improve all your interest for God. See that no 
 seducers creep in among them, or if they do, be dili- 
 gent to countermine them, and preserve your people 
 from the infection of heresies and schisms ; or if they 
 be infected, be diligent to procure their recovery; not 
 
198 
 
 with passion and lordliness, but with patience and con- 
 descension : as Masculus did by the Anabaptists, visit- 
 ing^ them in prison, where the magistrate had cast them, 
 and there instructing and relieving them ; and though 
 they reviled him when he came, and called him a false 
 prophet, and antichristian seducer that thirsted for their 
 blood, yet he would not so leave them, till at last by 
 his meekness and love he had overcome them, and 
 recovered many to the truth, and to unity with the 
 Church. 
 
 If any be " weak in the faith, receive him, but not 
 to doubtful disputation." If any be too careless of 
 their duties, and too little savour the things of the Spirit, 
 let them be pitied, and not neglected : if any walk scan* 
 dalously and disorderly, deal with them for their re- 
 covery, with all diligence and patience, and set before 
 them the heinousness and danger of their sin : if they 
 prove obstinate, after all, then avoid them, and cast 
 them off: if they be ignorant, it may be your fault as 
 well as theirs ; but, however, they are fitter to be in- 
 structed than rejected, except they absolutely refuse to 
 be taught. Christ will give you no thanks for keeping 
 or putting out such from his school that are unlearned, 
 when their desire or will is to be taught. I confess it 
 is easier to shut out the ignorant, than to bestow our 
 pains night and day in teaching them ; but wo to such 
 slothful, unfaithful servants. Who then is a faithful 
 and a wise servant whom his lord hath made ruler over 
 his household, to give them their meat in due season, 
 according to every one's age and capacity? "Blessed 
 is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall 
 find so doing." O be not asleep while the wolf is 
 waking ! Let your eye be quick in observing the dan- 
 gers and strayings of your people. If jealousies, heart- 
 burnings, or contentions arise among them, quench 
 them before they break out into raging, irresistible 
 flames. As soon as you discern any to turn worldly, 
 or proud, or factious, or self-conceited, or disobedient, 
 or cold, and slothful in his duty, delay not, but presently 
 make out for his recovery : remember how many are 
 losers in the loss of a soul. 
 
 3. Do not daub or deal slightly with any. Some will 
 
199 
 
 not tell their people plainly of their sins because they 
 are great men, as if none but the poor should be 
 plainly dealt with : do not you so, but reprove them 
 sharply, (though diffidently and with wisdom,) that they 
 may be sound in faith. God doth sufficiently engage 
 us to deal plainly ; he hath bid us speak and fear not ; 
 he hath promised to stand by us ; and he will be our 
 security. I had rather hear from the mouth of Balak, 
 *' God hath kept thee from honour ;" or from Ahab, 
 " Feed him with the bread and water of affliction ;" 
 than to hear conscience say. Thou hast betrayed souls 
 to damnation by thy cowardice and silence ; or to hear 
 God say, " Their blood will I require at thy hands :" 
 or to hear from Christ, the judge, " Cast the unprofita- 
 ble servant into outer darkness, where shall be weeping 
 and gnashing of teeth ;" yea, or to hear these sinners 
 cry out against me in eternal fire, and with implaca- 
 ble rage to charge me with their undoing. 
 
 And as you must be plain and serious, so labour to 
 be skilful and discreet, that the manner may somewhat 
 answer the excellence of the matter. How oft have I 
 heard a stammering tongue, with ridiculous expres- 
 sions, vain repetitions, tedious circumlocutions, and un- 
 seemly pronunciation, spoil most precious doctrine, and 
 make the hearers either loathe it, or laugh at it ! How 
 common are these extremes, while one spoils the food 
 of life by affectation, and new-fashioned mincing, and 
 pedantic toys, either setting forth a little and mean mat- 
 ter with a great deal of froth and gaudy dressing ; or 
 hiding excellent truths in a heap of vain rhetoric on the 
 other side ! How many by their slovenly dressing 
 make men loathe the food of life, and cast up that which 
 should nourish them ! Such novices are admitted into 
 the sacred function to the hardening of the wicked, and 
 the disgrace of the work of the Lord : and those that 
 are not able to speak sense or reason are made the am- 
 bassadors of the most high God. 
 
 O, therefore, let me beseech you, my brethren, in the 
 name of the Lord, especially those that are more young 
 and weak, that you tremble at the greatness of this holy 
 employment, and run not up into a pulpit as boldly as 
 into the marketplace : study and pray, pray and study, 
 
200 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 till you are become workmen that need not be ashamed, 
 rightly dividing the word of truth that your people may 
 not be ashamed or weary to hear you : but that, beside 
 your clear unfolding the doctrine of the Gospel, you 
 may also be masters of your people's affections. It is 
 a work that requireth your most serious, searching 
 thoughts : running, hasty, easy studies bring forth blind 
 births. When you are the most renowned doctors in 
 the Church of God, alas, how little is it that you know 
 in comparison of all that which you are ignorant of ! 
 
 4. Be sure that your conversation be teaching as well 
 as your doctrine. Do not confute your doctrine by 
 your practice. Be as forward in a holy and heavenly 
 life as you are in pressing it on others. Let your dis- 
 course be as edifying and spiritual as you teach them 
 theirs must be : for evil language give them good ; and 
 blessing for their cursing. Suffer any thing rather than 
 the Gospel and men's souls should suffer : " Become all 
 things [lawful] to all men, if by any means you may win 
 some." Let men see that you use not the ministry 
 only for a trade to live by, but that your hearts are set 
 upon the welfare of their souls. Whatsoever meek- 
 ness, humility, condescension, or self-denial, you teach 
 them from the Gospel, O teach it them also by your un- 
 dissembled example. This is to be guides, and pilots, 
 and governors of the Church indeed. 
 
 What an odious sight is it to see pride and ambition 
 preach humility ! and an earthly minded man preach for 
 a heavenly conversation ! 
 
 Do I need to tell you that are teachers of others that 
 we have but a little while longer to preach ? And but 
 a few more breaths to breathe ? And then we must 
 come down and be accountable for our work? Do I 
 need to tell you that we must die, and be judged as well 
 as our people? Or that justice is more severe about 
 the sanctuary ? And " judgment beginneth at the house 
 of God?" 
 
 5. The last whom I would persuade to this great 
 work of helping others to the heavenly rest is parents 
 and masters of families. All you that God hath intrust- 
 ed with children or servants consider what duty lieth 
 on you for farthering their salvation. That this exhoi ta- 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 201 
 
 lion may be the more effectual with you I will lay 
 down several considerations for you seriously to think 
 on : — 
 
 1. What plain and pressing commands of God are 
 there that require this great duty at your hand ! Deut. 
 vi, 6, 7, 8 : " And these words which I command thee 
 this day shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them 
 diligently to thy children, speaking of them when thou 
 sittest in thy house, and Avhen thou walkest by the way, 
 and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." 
 And how well is God pleased with this in Abraham, 
 Gen. xviii, 17, 19: "Shall I hide from Abraham that 
 thing which I do ? For I know him, that he will com- 
 mand his children, and his household after him, that 
 they shall keep the way of the Lord." Prov. xxii, 6 : 
 " Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
 he is old he will not depart from it." So that you see 
 it is a work that the Lord of heaven and earth hath laid 
 upon you, and how then dare you neglect it ? 
 
 2. You will else be witnesses against your own souls : 
 your great care and pains, and cost for their bodies, 
 will condemn you for your neglect of their precious 
 souls : you can spend yourselves in toiling and caring 
 for their bodies, and even neglect your own souls, and 
 venture them sometimes upon unwarrantable courses, 
 and all to provide for your posterity : and have you not 
 as much reason to provide for their souls?. Do you 
 not believe that your children must be everlastingly 
 happy or miserable? And should not that be fore- 
 thought in the first place ? 
 
 3. Consider, God hath made your children to be your 
 charge ; yea, and your servants too : every one will 
 confess they are the minister's charge, and what a dread- 
 ful thing is it for them to neglect them, when God hath 
 told them, that if they tell not the wicked of their sin 
 and danger, their blood shall be required at that minis- 
 ter's hands ! And is not your charge as great and as 
 dreadful as theirs ? Have not you a greater charge of 
 your own families than any minister hath ? Yea, doubt- 
 less, and your duty it is to teach, and admonish, and re- 
 prove them, and watch over them, at your hands else 
 will God require the blood of their souls. The greatest 
 
 9* 
 
202 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 charge it is that ever you were intrusted with, and wo 
 to you if you prove unfaithful and betray your trust, and 
 ■suffer them to be ignorant for Avant of your teaching, 
 or wicked for want of your admonition or correction. 
 4. Look into the dispositions and Uves of your chil- 
 dren, and see what a work there is for you to do. First, 
 it is not one sin that you must help them against, but 
 thousands ; their name is legion, for they are many : it 
 is not one weed that must be pulled up, but the field is 
 overspread with them. Secondly, and how hard is it 
 to prevail against one of them ! They are hereditary 
 diseases, bred in their natures : they are as near them 
 as the very heart, and how tenacious are all things of 
 that which is natural ! How hard to teach a hare not 
 to be afraid, or a lion or tiger not to be fierce ! Be- 
 sides, the things you must teach them are quite above 
 them ; yea, and clean contrary to the interests and de- 
 sires of their flesh : how hard is it to teach a man to be 
 willing to be poor and despised for Christ; to deny 
 themselves, and displease the flesh ; to forgive an en- 
 emy ; to love those that hate us ; to watch against temp- 
 tations ; to avoid occasions and appearances of evil ; to 
 believe in a crucified Saviour ; to rejoice in tribulation ; 
 to make God their delight and love; and to have their 
 hearts in heaven, while they live on earth ! I think 
 none of this is easy : they that think otherwise let them 
 try and judge ; yet all this must be learned, or they are 
 undone for ever. If you help them not to some trade 
 they cannot live in the world ; but if they be destitute 
 of these things they shall not live in heaven. If the 
 mariner be not skilful he may be drowned ; and if the 
 soldier be not skilful he may be slain : but they that 
 cannot do the things above mentioned will perish for 
 ever : " For without holiness no man shall see God." 
 * O that the Lord would make all you that are parents 
 sensible what a work and charge doth lie upon you ! 
 You that neglect this important work, and talk to your 
 families of nothing but the world, I tell you the blood 
 of souls lies on you : make as light of it as you will, if 
 you repent not and amend, the Lord will shortly call 
 you to an account for the guilt of your children's ever- 
 lasting undoing. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 203 
 
 5. Think with yourselves what a world of comfort 
 you may have if you be faithful in this duty ; if you 
 should not succeed yet you have freed your own souls ; 
 and though it be sad yet you may have peace in your 
 own consciences : but if you do succeed the comfort is 
 inexpressible. For, 1. Good children will be truly lov- 
 mg to their parents, when a little matter will make 
 ungodly children cast off their very natural affections. 
 2. Good children will be most obedient to you, they dare 
 not disobey you because of the command of God, except 
 you should command them that which is unlawful, and 
 then they must obey God rather than men. 3. And if 
 you should fall into want they would be most faithful 
 in relieving you, as knowing they are tied by a double 
 bond of nature and of grace. 4. And they will also be 
 helpers of your souls ; they will be delighting you with 
 holy conference and actions, when wicked children will 
 be grieving you with cursing, and swearing, or drunk- 
 enness or disobedience. 5. But the greatest joy will 
 be when you shall say, " Here am I, and the children 
 thou hast given me." And are not all these comforts 
 enough to persuade you to this duty ? 
 
 6. Consider, farther, that the very welfare of Church 
 and state lieth mainly on this duty of well educating 
 children ; and without this all other means are like to be 
 far less successful. I seriously profess to you that I 
 verily think all the sins and miseries of the land may 
 acknowledge this sin for their nurse. It is not good 
 laws and orders that will reform us if the men be not 
 good, and reformation begin not at home ; when chil- 
 dren go wicked from the hands of their parejits in every 
 profession they bring this fruit of their education with 
 them ; I tell you seriously this is the cause of all our 
 miseries in Church and state, even the want of a holy 
 education of children. Many lay the blame on this 
 neglect and that, but there is none hath so great a hand 
 in it as this. 
 
 7. r entreat you that are parents to consider what 
 excellent advantages you have above all others for the 
 saving of your children. 
 
 1. They are under your hands while they are young, 
 and tender, and flexible ; but they come to ministers 
 
S04 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 when they are grown older, and stifFer, and settled in 
 their ways, and think themselves too good to be cate- 
 chised. Yon have a twig to bend, and v/e an oak : you 
 have the young plants of sin to pluck up, and we the 
 deep-rooted vices. The consciences of children are not 
 so seared with a custom of sinning, and long resisting 
 grace, as others. You have the soft and tender earth 
 to plough in, and we have the hard and stony ways, that 
 have been trodden on by many years' practice of evil. 
 We have a double task, first to unteach them, and then 
 to teach them better ; but you have but one. "We must 
 unteach them all that the world, and the flesh, and 
 wicked company, and the devil have been diligently 
 teaching them in many years. You have them before 
 they are possessed with prejudice against the truth : but 
 we have them to teach when they have many years 
 lived among those that have taught them to think God's 
 ways to be foolish. Doth not the experience of all the 
 world show you the power of education? What else 
 makes all the children of the Jews to be Jews ? And all 
 the children of the Turks to be Mohammedans ? And 
 of Christians to be in profession Christian ? And of 
 each sect or party in religion to follow their parents ? 
 Now what an advantage have you to use all this for the 
 fartherance of their happiness ! 
 
 2. Consider, also, that you have the affections of your 
 children more than any others : none in the world hath 
 that interest in their hearts as you. You will receive 
 that counsel from an undoubted friend that you would 
 not from an enemy, or a stranger. Now, your children 
 know you are their friends, and advise them in love ; 
 and they cannot but love you again. Nature hath almost 
 necessitated them to love you. O, therefore, improve 
 this your interest in them for their good ! 
 
 3. You have also the greatest authority over them. 
 You may command them, and they dare not disobey 
 you, or else it is your own fault, for the most part ; for 
 you can make them obey you in your business.; yea, 
 you may correct them to enforce obedience. Your au- 
 thority also is the most unquestionable authority in the 
 world. The authority of kings and parliaments has 
 been disputed, but yours is past dispute. And therefore 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 205 
 
 if you use it not to bring them to God, you are without 
 excuse. 
 
 4. Besides, their dependence is on you for their main- 
 tenance. They know you can either give them or deny 
 them what you have, and so punish and reward them at 
 your pleasure. But on ministers or neighbours they 
 have no such dependence. 
 
 5. Moreover, you that are parents know the tem- 
 per and inclinations of your children, what vices they 
 are most inclined to, and what instruction or reproof 
 they most need : but ministers cannot so well know 
 this. 
 
 6. Above all, you are ever with them, and so have 
 opportunity, as you know their faults, so to apply the 
 remedy. You may be still talking to them of the word 
 of God, and minding them of their state and duty, and 
 may follow and set home every word of advice, as they 
 are in the house with you, or in the shop, or in the field. 
 O what an excellent advantage is this, if you have hearts 
 to use it ! Especially you, mothers, remember this ; 
 you are more with your children, while they are little 
 ones, than their fathers : be you therefore still teaching 
 them as soon as ever they are capable of learning : you 
 cannot do God such eminent service yourselves as men ; 
 but you may train up children that may do it, and then 
 you will have part of the comfort and honour. What a 
 deal of pains are you at with the bodies of your children 
 more than the fathers ? And what do you sutler to bring 
 them into the world ; and will not you be at as much 
 pains for the saving of their souls ? You are naturally 
 of more tender affections than men ; and will it not 
 move you to think that your children should perish for 
 ever ? Therefore I beseech you, for the sake of the 
 children of your bowels, teach them, admonish them, 
 watch over them, and give them no rest till you have 
 brought them to Christ. 
 
 And thus I have showed you reason enough to make 
 you diligent in teaching your children. 
 
 Let us next hear what is usually objected against this 
 by negligent men. 
 
 Objection 1. We do not see but those children prove 
 as bad as others that are taught the Scriptures, and 
 
206 THE saints' EVERLASTINCt REST. 
 
 brought up so holily ; and those prove as honest men 
 that have none of this ado with them. 
 
 Ans'we7\ Who art thou, O man, that disputest against 
 God? Hath God charged you "to teach your children 
 diligently his word, speaking of it as you sit at home, 
 and as you walk abroad, as you lie down, and as you 
 rise up ;" and dare you reply that it is as good let it 
 alone ? Why, this is to set God at defiance ; and as it 
 were to spit in his face, and give him the lie. Will you 
 take it well at your servants, if when you command them 
 to do a thing, they should return you an answer, that 
 they do not see but it were as good let it alone ? 
 W^retched worm! darest thou thus lift up thy head 
 against the Lord that made thee, and must judge thee ? 
 Is it not he that commandeth thee ? If thou believe that 
 this is the word of God, how darest thou say it is as 
 good disobey it ? This is devilish pride, indeed, when 
 such sottish, sinful dust, shall think themselves wiser 
 than the living God. 
 
 2. But what if some prove bad that are well brought 
 up ? It is not the generality of them. Will you say 
 that Noah's family was no better than the drowned 
 world, because there was one Ham in it ? nor David's, 
 because there was one Absalom ? nor Christ's, because 
 there was one Judas ? 
 
 3. But what if it were so? Have men need of the 
 less teaching, or the more ? You have more wit in the 
 matters of this world. You will not say, I see many la- 
 bour hard, and yet are poor, and therefore it is as good 
 never to labour at all : you will not say, many that go 
 to school learn nothing, and therefore they may learn as 
 much though they never go ; or many that are great 
 tradesmen break, and therefore it is as good never to 
 trade at all ; or many plough and sow and have nothing 
 come up, and therefore it is as good never to plough 
 more. What a fool were he that should reason thus ! 
 And is not he a thousand times \vorse that shall reason 
 thus for men's sovils ? Peter reasons the clean contrary 
 way, " If the righteous scarcely be saved, vvhere shall 
 the ungodly and sinner appear ?" 1 Peter iv, 18. And 
 so doth Christ, Luke xiii, 24, " Strive to enter in at the 
 strait gate ; for many shall seek to enter, and not be 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 207 
 
 able." Other men's miscarriages should quicken our 
 diligence, and not make us cast away all. What should 
 you lliink of that man that should look over into his 
 neighbour's garden, and because he sees here and there 
 a nettle or weed among much better stuff, should say, 
 Why, you may see these men that bestow so much pains 
 in digging and weeding, have weeds in their garden as 
 well as I, that do nothing, and thei efore who would be 
 at so much pains ? Just thus doth the mad world talk. 
 You may see now that those that pray, and read, and 
 follow sermons, have their faults as well as we, and have 
 wicked persons among them as well as we : yea, but 
 that is not the whole garden, as yours is ; it is but here 
 and there a weed, and as soon as they spy it, they pluck 
 it up, and cast it away. 
 
 Objection 2. Some farther object. It is the work of 
 ministers to teach both us and our children, and there- 
 fore we may be excused. 
 
 Answer 1. It is first your duty, and then the minis- 
 ter's. It will be no excuse for you, because it is their 
 work, except you could prove it were only theirs. Ma- 
 gistrates must govern both you and your children : doth 
 it therefore follow that you must not govern them ? It 
 belongs to the schoolmaster to correct them, and doth 
 it not belong also to you? There must go many hands 
 to this great work ; as to the building of a house there 
 must be many workmen, one to one part, and another to 
 another, and one must not leave their part, and say it 
 belongs to the other: so it is here in the .instructing of 
 your children : first, you must do your work, and then 
 the minister must do his ; you must be doing it private- 
 ly, night and day ; the minister must do it publicly and 
 privately, as oft as he can. 
 
 2. But as the case now stands with ministers, they are 
 disabled from doing that which belongs to their office, 
 and therefore you cannot now cast your work on them. 
 I will instance but in two things. 
 
 First, It belongs to their ofl[ice to govern the Church, 
 and to teach with authority ; and great and small are 
 commanded to obey them, Heb. xiii, 7, 17. But this is 
 unknown, and hearers look on themselves as free men, 
 that may obey or not, at their own pleasure. People 
 
208 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 think we have authority to speak to them when they 
 please to hear, and no more. Nay, few of the godly 
 themselves understand the authority that their teachers 
 have over them from Christ : they know how to value a 
 minister's gifts, but not how they are bound to obey him 
 because of his office : not that they should obey him in 
 evil, nor that he should be a final decider of all contro- 
 versies, nor should exercise his authority in things of 
 no moment ; but as a schoolmaster may command his 
 scholars when to come to school, and what book to read, 
 and what form to be of; and as they ought to obey him, 
 and learn of him, and not to set their wits against his, 
 but to take his word, and believe him as their teacher, till 
 they understand as well as he, and are ready to leave his 
 school ; just so are the people bound to obey and learn 
 of their teachers. Now this ministerial authority is un- 
 known, and so ministers are the less capable of doing 
 their work, which comes to pass, 1. From the pride of 
 man's nature, especially novices, which makes men im- 
 patient of the reins of guidance and command : 2. From 
 the popish error of implicit faith ; to avoid which, we 
 are driven as far into the contrary extreme : and 3. From 
 the modesty of ministers, that are loath to show their 
 commission, and make known their authority, lest they 
 should be thought proud : as if a pilot should let the 
 seamen run the ship whither they will, for fear of being 
 thought proud in exercising his authority. 
 
 Secondly, A far greater clog than this doth lie upon 
 ministers, which few take notice of; and that is, the 
 fewness of ministers, and the greatness of congregations. 
 In the apostles' time every Church had a multitude of 
 ministers, and so it must be again, or we shall never 
 come near that primitive pattern ; and then they could 
 preach publicly, and from house to house : but now, 
 when there is but one or two ministers to many thousand 
 souls, we cannot teach them one by one. So that you 
 see you have little reason to cast your work on the 
 ministers, but should the more help them by your dili- 
 gence in your several families, because they are already 
 so overburdened. 
 
 Objection 3. But some will say. We are poor men 
 and must labour for our living, and so must our children , 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 209 
 
 we cannot have time to teach them the Scriptures, we 
 have somewhat else for them to do. 
 
 Answer. And are not poor men subject to God as 
 well as rich ? And are they not Christians ? And must 
 they not give account of their ways ? And have not 
 your children souls to save or lose as well as the rich ? 
 Cannot you find time to speak to them as they are at 
 their work ? Have you not time to instruct them on 
 the Lord's day ? You can find time to talk idly as poor 
 as you are ; and can you find no time to talk of the 
 way to life ? You can find time on the Lord's day for 
 your children to play, or walk, or talk in the streets, but 
 no time to mind the life to come. Methinks you should 
 rather say to your children, I have no lands to leave 
 you : you have no hope of great matters here ; be sure 
 therefore to make the Lord your portion, that you may 
 be happy hereafter ; if you could get riches, they would 
 shortly leave you, but the riches of grace and glory 
 will be everlasting. Methinks you should say as Peter, 
 "Silver and gold I have none, but such as I have, I 
 give you." The kingdoms of the world cannot be had 
 by beggars, but the kingdom of heaven may. 
 
 O what a terrible reckoning will many poor men have, 
 when Christ shall plead his cause and judge them ! 
 May not he say, I made the way to worldly honours 
 inaccessible to you, that you might not look after it for 
 yourselves or your children ; but heaven I set open that 
 you might have nothing to discourage you : I confined 
 riches and honours to a few ; but my blood and salvation 
 I offered to all, that none might say, I was not invited : 
 I tendered heaven to the poor as well as the rich : I 
 made no exception against the meanest beggar ; why 
 then did you not come yourselves, and bring your chil- 
 dren, and teach them the way to the eternal inheritance ? 
 Do you say you were poor? Why, I did not set heaven 
 to sale for money ; I called those that had nothing to 
 take it freely ; only on condition they would take me 
 for their Saviour and Lord, and give up themselves to 
 me in obedience and love. 
 
 What can you answer Christ when he shall thus con- 
 vince you ? Is it not enough that your children are 
 poor and miserable here, but you would have them be 
 
210 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 worse for everlasting ? If your children were beggars, 
 yet if they were such beggars as Lazarus, they may be 
 conveyed by angels into the presence of God. But 
 believe it, as God will save no man because he is a 
 gentleman, so will he save no man because he is a 
 beggar. God hath so ordered it in his providence, that 
 riches are common occasions of men's damnation, and 
 will you think poverty a sufficient excuse ? The hardest 
 point in all our work is to be weaned from the world, 
 and in love with heaven : and if you will not be weaned 
 from it, that have nothing in it but labour and sorrow, 
 you have no excuse. The poor cannot have time, and 
 the rich will not have time, or they are ashamed to be 
 so forward : the young think it too soon, and the old 
 too late ; and thus most men instead of being saved, 
 have somewhat to say against their salvation ; and when 
 Christ sendeth to invite them, they say, " I pray thee 
 have me excused." O unworthy guest of such a 
 blessed feast, and worthy to be turned into everlasting 
 burnings. 
 
 Objection 4.- But some will object. We have been 
 brought up in ignorance ourselves, and therefore we are 
 unable to teach our children. 
 
 Answer. Indeed this is the very sore of the land ; but 
 is it not a pity that men should so receive their destruc- 
 tion by tradition ? Would you have this course to go on 
 thus still ? Your parents did not teach you, and there- 
 fore you cannot teach your children, and therefore they 
 cannot teach theirs : by this course the knowledge of 
 God would be banished out of the world, and never be 
 recovered. But if your parents did not teach you, why 
 did not you learn when you came to age ? The truth is, 
 you had no hearts for it, for he that hath not knowledge 
 cannot value it, or love it. But yet, though you have 
 greatly sinned, it is not too late, if you will but follow 
 my faithful advice in these four points : — 
 
 1. Get your hearts deeply sensible of your own sin 
 and misery, because of this long time which you have 
 spent in ignorance and neglect. Bethink yourselves 
 when you are alone ; did not God make you, and sus- 
 tain you for his service? Should not he have had the 
 youth and strength of your spirits ? Did you live all 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 21 X 
 
 this time at the door of eternity ? What if you had 
 died in ignorance, where had you been ? What a deal 
 of time have you spent to little purpose ? Your life is 
 near done, and your work all undone. You are ready 
 to die before you have learned to live. Should not God 
 have had a better share of your lives, and your souls 
 been more regarded and provided for ? In the midst of 
 these thoughts, cast down yourselves in sorrow, as at 
 the feet of Christ ; bewail your folly, and beg pardon 
 and recovering grace. 
 
 2. Then think as sadly how you have wronged your 
 children. If an unthrift that hath sold all his lands, 
 will lament it for his children's sake, as well as his own, 
 much more should you. 
 
 3. Next set presently to work and learn yourselves. 
 If you can read, do ; if you cannot, get some that can ; 
 and be much among those that will instruct you ; be 
 not ashamed to be seen among learners, but be ashamed 
 that you had not learned sooner. God forbid you should 
 be so mad as to say, I am now too old to learn ; except 
 you be too old to serve God, and be saved, how can you 
 be too old to learn to be saved ? Why not rather, I am 
 too old to serve the devil and the world, 1 have tried 
 them too long to trust them any more. What if your 
 parents had not taught you any trade to live by ? Would 
 not you have set yourselves to learn, when you had 
 come to age? Remember that you have souls to care 
 for, as well as your children, and therefore first begin 
 with yourselves. 
 
 4. While you are learning yourselves, teach your 
 children what you do know ; and what you cannot teach 
 them yourselves, put them to learn of others that can; 
 persuade them into the company of those who will be 
 glad to instruct them. Have you no neighbours that 
 will be helpful to you herein ? O do not keep your- 
 selves strange to them, but go among them, and desire 
 their help, and be thankful to them that they will enter- 
 tain you in their company. God forbid that you should, 
 be like those that Christ speaks of, Luke xi, 52, " that 
 would neither enter into the kingdom of God them- 
 selves, nor suffer those that would, to enter." God for- 
 bid you should be such barbarous wretches, as to hinder 
 
212 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 your children from being godly, and to teach them to be 
 wicked ! If any thing that walks in flesh may be called 
 a devil, I think it is a parent that hindereth his children 
 from salvation : nay, I will say more, I verily think that 
 in this they are far worse than the devil. God is a 
 righteous judge, and will not make the devil him.self 
 worse than he is : I pray you be patient while you con- 
 sider it, and then judge yourselves. They are the pa- 
 rents of their children, and so is not the devil : do you 
 think then that it is as great a fault in him to seek their 
 destruction, as in them ? Is it as great a fault for the 
 wolf to kill the lambs, as for their own dams to do it ? 
 Is it so horrid a fault for an enemy in war to kill a 
 child, or for a bear or mad dog to kill it, as for the 
 mother to dash its brains against a wall ? You know it 
 is not : do you think then that it is so hateful a thing in 
 Satan to entice your children to sin and hell, and to 
 discourage and dissuade them from holiness, as it is in 
 you: You are bound to love them by nature, more 
 than Satan is. O then, what people are those that will 
 teach their children, instead of holiness, to curse, and 
 swear, and rail, and backbite, to .be proud and revenge- 
 ful, to break the Lord's day, and to despise his ways, to 
 speak wantonly and filthily, to scorn at holiness, and 
 glory in sin ! O when God shall ask these children, 
 Where learned you this language and practice ? and they 
 shall say, I learned it of my father or mother : I would 
 not be in the case of those parents for all the world ! 
 Alas ! is it a work that is worth the teaching, to undo 
 themselves for ever ? Or can they not without teaching 
 learn it too easily of themselves? Do you need to 
 teach a serpent to sting, or a lion to be fierce ? Do you 
 need to sow weeds in your garden ? Will they not grow 
 of themselves? To build a house requires skill and 
 teaching, but a little may serve to set a town on fire : 
 to heal the wounded or the sick, requireth skill; but to 
 make a man sick, or to kill him, requireth but little. 
 You may sooner teach your children to swear than to 
 pray ; and to mock at godliness, than to be truly godly. 
 If these parents were sworn enemies to their children, 
 and should study seven years how to do them the 
 greatest mischief, they could not possibly find out a 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 213 
 
 surer way, than by drawing them to sin, and withdraw- 
 ing them from God. 
 
 I shall therefore conclude with this earnest request to 
 all Christian parents that read these lines, that they 
 would have compassion on the souls of their poor chil- 
 dren, and be faithful to the great trust God hath put on 
 them. O sirs ! if you cannot do what you would do for 
 them, yet do what you can. Both Church and state, 
 city and country, groan under the neglect of this weighty 
 duty : your children know not God, nor his laws ; but 
 take his name in vain, and slight hts worship ; and you 
 do neither instruct them nor correct them, and therefore 
 God doth correct both them and you. You are so 
 tender of them that God is the less tender both of them 
 and you. Wonder not if God make you smart for your 
 children's sins ; for you are guilty of all they commit, 
 by your neglect of doing your duty to reform them ; 
 even as he that maketh a man drunk, is guilty of all the 
 sin that he committeth in his drunkenness. Will you 
 resolve therefore to set upon this duty, and neglect it 
 no longer ? Remember Eli : your children are like 
 Moses in the basket, in the water, ready to perish if 
 they have not help. As ever you would not be charged 
 before God for murderers of their souls ; and as ever 
 you would not have them cry out against you in ever- 
 lasting lire, see that you teach them how to escape it, 
 and bring them up in holiness, and the fear of God. 
 
 You have heard that the God of heaven doth flatly 
 command it : I charge every man of you, therefore, 
 upon your allegiance to him, as you will very shortly 
 answer the contrary at your peril, that you will neither 
 refuse or neglect this most necessary work. If you are 
 not wiUing to do it, now you know it to be so plain and 
 so great a duty, you are flat rebels, and no true subjects 
 of Christ. If you are willing to do it, but know not 
 how, I will add a few words of direction to help you. 
 
 1. Teach them by your own example, as well as by 
 your words. Be yourselves such as you would have 
 them be : practice is the most effectual teaching of 
 children, who are addicted to imitation, especially of 
 their parents. Lead them the way to prayer, and read- 
 ing, and other duties. Be not like base commanders, 
 
214 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 that will put on their soldiers but not go on themselves. 
 Can you expect your children should be wiser or bet- 
 ter than you ! Let them not hear those words out 
 of your mouths, nor see those practices in your lives 
 which you reprove in them. Who should lead the 
 way in holiness but the father and master of the fami- 
 ly ? It is a sad time when a master or father will not 
 hinder his family from serving God, but will give them 
 leave to go to heaven without him. 
 
 I will but name the rest of your direct duty for your 
 family. 1. You must help to inform their understand- 
 ings. 2. To store their memories. 3. To rectify their 
 wills. 4. To quicken their affections. 5. To keep 
 tender their consciences. 6. To restrain their tongues, 
 and help them to skill in gracious speech ; and to re- 
 form and watch over their outward conversation. 
 
 To these ends, 1. Be sure to keep them, at least, so 
 long at school till they can read English. It is a thou- 
 sand pities a reasonable creature should look upon a 
 Bible as upon a stone or a piece of wood. 2. Get them 
 Bibles and good books, and see that they read them. 
 3. Examine them often what they learn. 4. Especially 
 spend the Lord's day in this work, and see that they 
 spend it not in sports and idleness. .5. Show them the 
 meaning of what they read and learn. 6. Acquaint 
 them with, and keep them in company where they may 
 learn good, and keep them out of that company that 
 would teach them evil. 7. Be sure to cause them to 
 learn some catechism containing the chief heads of 
 divinity. 
 
 The heads of divinity which you must teach them 
 first are these : — 
 
 1. That there is one only God, who is a Spirit, invisi- 
 ble, infinite, eternal, almighty, good, merciful, true, just, 
 holy. 2. That this God is one in three. Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost. 3. That he is the Maker, Maintainer, 
 and Lord of all. 4. That man's happiness consisteth in 
 the enjoying of this God, and not in fleshly pleasure, 
 profits, or honours. 5. That God made the first man 
 upright and happy, and gave him a law to keep, with 
 condition that if he kept it perfectly he should live 
 happy for ever ; but if he broke it, he should die. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 215 
 
 6. That man broke this law, and so forfeited his welfare, 
 and became guilty of death as to himself and all his 
 posterity. 7. That Christ the Son of God did here in- 
 terpose and prevent the full execution, undertaking to 
 die instead of man, and so redeem him. 8. That Christ 
 hereupon did make with man a better covenant, which 
 proclaimed pardon of sin to all that did but repent, and 
 believe, and obey sincerely. 9. That he revealed this 
 covenant and mercy to the world by degrees : first, in 
 darker promises, prophecies, and sacrifices ; then in 
 many ceremonious types ; and then by more plain fore- 
 telling by the prophets. 10. That in the fulness of 
 time Christ came and took our nature into union with 
 his Godhead, being conceived by the Holy Ghost, and 
 born of the Virgin Mary.. 11. That while he was on 
 earth he lived a life of sorrows, was croAvned with 
 thorns, and bore the pains that our sins deserved ; at 
 last being crucified to death, and buried, so satisfied the 
 justice of God. 12. That he also preached to the Jews, 
 and by constant miracles proved the truth of his doc- 
 trines before thousands of witnesses : • that he revealed 
 more fully his new covenant, that whosoever will believe 
 in him, and accept him for their Saviour and Lord, shall 
 be pardoned and saved, and have a far greater glory 
 than they lost ; and they that will not, shall lie under 
 the curse and guilt, and be condemned to the everlasting 
 fire of hell. 13. That he rose again from the dead, 
 having conquered death, and took possession of his do- 
 minion over all, and so ascended up into heaven, and 
 there reigneth in glory. 14. That before his ascension 
 he gave charge to his apostles to preach the Gospel to 
 all nations and persons, and to offer Christ, and mercy, 
 and life, to every one, without exception, and to entreat 
 and persuade them to receive him, and that he gave 
 them authority to send forth others on the same mes- 
 sage, and to baptize, and to gather Churches, and to 
 confirm and order them, and settle a course for the suc- 
 cession of ministers and ordinances to the end of the 
 world. 15. That he also gave them power to work fre- 
 quent and evident miracles for the confirmation of their 
 doctrine ; and to annex their writings to the rest of the 
 Scriptures, and so to finish and seal them up, and de- 
 
216 TflE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 liver them to the world as his infallible word, which 
 none must dare to alter, and which all must observe. 
 16. That for all his free grace is offered to the world, 
 yet the heart is by nature so desperately wicked, that 
 no man will believe and entertain Christ sincerely, ex- 
 cept by an almighty power he be changed and born 
 again ; and therefore doth Christ send forth his Spirit 
 with his word, which worketh holiness in our hearts, 
 drawing us to God and the Redeemer. 17. That the 
 means by Avhich Christ worketh and preserveth this 
 grace is the word read and preached, together v/ith fre- 
 quent, fervent prayer, meditation, sacraments, and gra- 
 cious conferences ; and it is much farthered also by 
 special providences keeping us from temptation ; fitting 
 occurrences to our advantage, drawing us by mercies, 
 and driving us by afflictions : and therefore it must be 
 the great and daily care of every Christian to use faith- 
 fully all the ordinances, and improve all providences. 
 18. That though the new law or covenant be an easy 
 yoke, and there is nothing grievous in Christ's com- 
 mands, yet so bad are our hearts, and so strong our 
 temptations, and so diligent our enemies that whosoever 
 will be saved must strive, and watch, and bestow his ut- 
 most care and pains, and deny his flesh, and forsake all 
 that would draw liim from Christ, and herein continue 
 to the end and overcome : and because this cannot be 
 done without continual supplies of grace, whereof Christ 
 is the only fountain, therefore we must live in continual 
 dependence on him by faith, and know " that our life is 
 hid with God in him." 19. That Christ will thus by 
 his word and Spirit gather him a Church out of all the 
 world, which is his body, and spouse, and be their head 
 and husband, and will be tender of them as the apple 
 of his eyes, and preserve them from danger, and con- 
 tinue among them his presence and ordinances ; and 
 that the members of this Church must live together in 
 entire love and peace, delighting themselves in God and 
 his worship, and the forethoughts of their everlasting 
 happiness ; forbearing and forgiving one another, and 
 relieving each other in need ; and all men ought to 
 strive to be of this society : yet will the visible Churches 
 be still mixed of good and bad. 20. That when the full 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 217 
 
 number of these are called home, Christ will come down 
 from heaven again, and raise all the dead, and set them 
 before him to be judged ; and all that have loved God, 
 and believed in Christ, and been willing that he should 
 reign over them, and have improved their mercies in 
 the day of grace, them will he justify, and sentence 
 them to inherit everlasting glory : and those that were 
 not such, he will condemn to everlasting fire : both 
 which sentences shall be then executed accordingly. 
 
 This is the brief sum of the doctrine which you must 
 teach your children. Though our ordinary creed, call- 
 ed the apostles' creed, contain all the absolute funda- 
 mentals ; yet in some it is so generally and darkly ex- 
 pressed, that an explication is necessary. 
 
 Then for matter of practice teach them the meaning 
 of the commandments, especially of the great com- 
 mands of the Gospel ; show them what is commanded 
 and forbidden in the first table, and in the second, to- 
 ward God and men, in regard of the inward and out- 
 ward man. And here show them, 1. The authority 
 commanding, that is, the almighty God, by Christ the 
 Redeemer. They are not now to look at the command 
 as coming from God immediately, merely as God, or 
 the Creator : but as coming from God, by Christ the 
 Mediator, "who is now the Lord of all ;" seeing "the 
 Father now judgeth no man, but hath committed all 
 judgment to the Son." 2. Show them the terms on 
 which* duty is required, and the ends of it. 3. And the 
 nature of duties, and the way to perform them aright. 
 4. And the right order, that they first love God, and 
 then their neighbour ; " first seek the kingdom of God 
 and his righteousness." 5. Show them the excellences 
 and delights of God's service. 6. And the flat neces- 
 sity of all this. 7. Especially labour to get all to their 
 hearts, and teach them not only to speak the words, but 
 to reduce them to practice. 
 
 And for sin, show them its evil and danger, and watch 
 over them against it. Especially, 1. The sins that 
 youth is commonly addicted to. 2. And which their 
 nature and constitution most lead them to. 3. And 
 which the time and place most strongly tempt to. 
 4. But especially be sure to kill their killing sins, those 
 10 
 
2!8 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 that all are prone to, and are of all most deadly : as 
 pride, worldliness, ignorance, profaneness, and flesh- 
 pleasing. 
 
 And for tlie manner you must do all this: — 1. Be- 
 times, before sin get rooting. 2. Frequently. 3. Sea- 
 sonably. 4. Seriously and diligently. 5. Affection- 
 ately and tenderly. 6. And with authority: compel- 
 ling where commanding will not serve ; and adding 
 correction where instruction is frustrated. 
 
 And thus I have done with the use of exhortation, to 
 do our utmost for the salvation of others. The Lord 
 give m.en compassionate hearts, that it may be practised, 
 and then I doubt not but he will succeed it to the in- 
 crease of his Church. 
 
 END OF THE SECOND PART. 
 
THE 
 
 SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 CONTAINING A DIRECTORY FOR THE GETTING AND KEEPING THE HEART 
 
 IN HEAVEN, BY THE DILIGENT PRACTICE OF THAT EXCELLENT 
 
 DUTY OF MEDITATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS OF REST ON EARTH. 
 
 Doth this rest remain? How great then is our sin 
 and folly to seek and expect it here ! Where shall we 
 find the Christian that deserves not this reproof? Sure- 
 ly we may all cry guilty to this. We know not how to 
 enjoy convenient houses, goods, lands, and revenues, 
 but we seek rest in these enjoyments. We seldom, I 
 fear, have such sweet and contenting thoughts of God 
 and glory, as we have of our earthly delights. How 
 much rest do we seek in buildings, walks, apparel, ease, 
 recreation, sleep, pleasing meats and drinks, company, 
 health, and strength, and long life ? Nay, we can scarce 
 enjoy the necessary means that God hath appointed for 
 our spiritual good, but we are seeking rest in them. 
 Our books, our preachers, sermons, friends, abilities for 
 duty, do not our hearts quiet themselves in them, even 
 more than in God ? Indeed, in words we disclaim, and 
 God hath usually the pre-eminence in our tongues and 
 professions : but do we not desire these more violently 
 when we want them than we do the Lord himself? Do 
 we not cry out more sensibly, O my friend, my goods, 
 my health ! than, O my God ? Do we not miss ministry 
 and means more passionately than we miss our God? 
 Do we not bestir ourselves more to obtain and enjoy 
 these, than we do to recover our communion with God? 
 Do we not delight more in the possession of these, than 
 we do in the fruition of God himself? Nay, are not 
 
220 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 those mercies and duties more pleasant to us, wherein 
 we stand at the greatest distance from God ? We can 
 read, and study, and confer, preach and hear, day aftei 
 day, without much weariness ; because in these we have 
 to do with instruments and creatures : but in secret 
 prayer and conversing with God immediately, where no 
 creature interposeth, how dull, how heartless, and 
 weary are we ! And if we lose creatures or means, doth 
 it not trouble us more than our loss of God ? If we lose 
 but a friend, or health, all the town will hear of it : but 
 we can miss our God and scarce bemoan our misery. 
 Thus it is apparent, we make the creature our rest. It 
 is not enough, that they are refreshing helps in our way 
 to heaven ; but they must also be made our heaven it- 
 self. Reader, I would as willingly make thee sensible 
 of this sin, as of any sin in the world ; for the Lord's 
 greatest quarrel with us is in this point. Therefore I 
 most earnestly beseech thee to press upon thine own 
 conscience these following considerations : 
 
 1. It is gross idolatry to make any creature or means 
 our rest : to settle the soul upon it, and say, Now I am 
 well, upon the bare enjoyment of the creature : what is 
 this, but to make it oui God ? Certainly, to be the 
 soul's rest is God's own prerogative. And as it is pal- 
 pable idolatry to place our rest in riches and honours ; 
 so it is but a more refined idolatry to take up our rest 
 in excellent means, in the Church's prosperity, and in its 
 reformation. When we would have all that out of God, 
 which is to be had only in God ; what is this but to run 
 away from him to the creature, and in our hearts to deny 
 him? When we fetch more of our comfort from the 
 thoughts of prosperity, and those mercies which we 
 have at a distance from God, than from the forethoughts 
 of our everlasting blessedness in him ; are we Chris- 
 tians in judgment, and Pagans in affection ? Do we give 
 our senses leave to be the choosers of our happiness, 
 while reason and faith stand by ? O how ill must our 
 dear Lord needs take it, when we give him cause to 
 complain, as sometime he did of our fellow idolaters, 
 Jer. i, 6, that we have been lost sheep, and have for- 
 gotten our resting place ! When we give him cause to 
 say, My people can find rest in any thing rather than in 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 221 
 
 1110 ! They can find delight in one another, but none in 
 mo ; thoy can rejoice in my creatures and ordinances, 
 but not in ine ; yea, in their very labours and duty they 
 seek for rest, but not in me ; they had rather be any- 
 where than be with me. Are these their gods 1 Have 
 these delivered and redeemed them? Will these be 
 better to them than I have been, or than I would be ? If 
 yourselves have but a wife, a husband, a son, that had 
 rather be anywhere than in your company, and is never 
 so merry as when farthest from you, would you not take 
 it ill yourselves? Why, so must our God needs do. 
 For what do we but lay these things in one end of the 
 balance, and God in the other, and foolishly prefer them 
 before him? As Elkanah said to Hannah, "Am not I 
 better to thee than ten sons ?" So when we are longing 
 after creatures, we may hear God say, Am not I better 
 than all the creatures to thee ? 
 
 2. Consider, how thou contradictest the end of God 
 in giving these things. He gave them to help thee to 
 him, and dost thou take up with them in his stead ? He 
 gave them that they might be refreshments in thy jour- 
 ney ; and wouldst thou now dwell in thy inn, and go no 
 farther ? Thou dost not only contradict God herein, 
 but losest that benefit which thou mightest receive by 
 them, yea, and makest them thy great hurt and hinder- 
 ance. Surely, it may be said of all our comforts and all 
 ordinances, and the blessedest enjoyments in the Church 
 on earth, as God said to the Israelites of his ark. Num- 
 bers X, 33, " The ark of the covenant went before them, 
 to search out for them a resting place." So do all God's 
 mercies here. They are not that rest, (as John profess- 
 eth he was not the Christ,) but they are voices crying 
 in this wilderness, to bid us prepare ; for the kingdom 
 of God, our true rest, is at hand. Therefore to rest 
 here were to turn all mercies clean contrary to their 
 own ends, and our own advantages, and to destroy our- 
 selves with that which should help us. 
 
 3. Consider, whether it be not the most probable way 
 to cause God either, first, to deny those mercies which 
 we desire ; or, secondly, to take from us these which 
 we enjoy ; or, thirdly, to imbitter them, or curse them, 
 to us ? Certainly God is nowhere so jealous as here 
 
223 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 if you had a servant whom your wife loved better than 
 she did yourself, would you not take it ill of such a 
 wife, and rid your house of such a servant ? Why, so 
 if the Lord see you begin to settle in the world, and say, 
 Here I will rest, no wonder if he soon in his jealousy 
 unsettle you. If he love you, no wonder if he take that 
 from you wherewith he sees you about to destroy your- 
 selves. 
 
 It hath been long my observation of many, that when 
 they have attempted great works, and have just finished 
 them ; or have aimed at great things in the world, and 
 have just obtained them ; or have lived in much trouble, 
 and just come to begin with some content to look upon 
 their condition, and rest in it, they are near to death and 
 ruin. When a man is once at this language, " Soul, 
 take thy ease ;" the next news usually is, " Thou fool, 
 this night," or this month, or this year, " shall thy soul 
 be required of thee, and then whose shall these things 
 be ?" O what house is there where this fool dwelleth 
 not? Let you and I consider, whether this be not our 
 own case. Have not I after such an unsettled life, and 
 after so many longings and prayers for these days, 
 have not I thought of them with too much content, and 
 been ready to say, " Soul, take thy rest ?" Have not I 
 comforted myself more in the forethoughts of enjoying 
 these, than of coming to heaven and enjoying God? 
 What wonder, then, if God cut me ofi*when I am just 
 sitting down in this supposed rest ? And hath not the 
 like been your condition ? Many of you have been sol- 
 diers, driven from house and home, endured a life of 
 trouble and blood, been deprived of ministry and means: 
 did you not reckon up all the comforts you should have 
 at your return ; and glad your hearts with such thoughts 
 more than with the thoughts of your coming to heaven? 
 Why, what wonder if God now cross you, and turn 
 some of your joy into sadness ? Many a servant of 
 God hath been destroyed from the earth by being over- 
 valued and overloved. I pray God you may take warn- 
 ing for the time to come, that you rob not yourselves 
 of all your mercies. I am persuaded our discontents 
 and murmurings are not so provoking to God, nor so 
 destructive to the sinner, as our too sweet enjoying, and 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 233 
 
 rest of spirit, in a pleasing state. If God hath crossed 
 any of you in wife, children, goods, friends, either by 
 taking them from you, or the comfort of them, try whe- 
 ther this be not the cause ; for wheresoever your desires 
 stop, and you say. Now I am well ; that condition you 
 make your god, and engage the jealousy of God against 
 it. Whether you be friends to God or enemies, you 
 can never expect that God should suffer you quietly to 
 enjoy your idols. 
 
 4. Consider, if God should suffer thee thus to take up 
 thy rest here, it were one of the greatest curses that 
 could befall thee : it were better for-thee if thou never 
 hadst a day of ease in the world : for then weariness 
 might make thee seek after true rest. But if he should 
 suffer thee to sit down and rest here, where were thy 
 rest when this deceives thee ? A restless wretch thou 
 wouldst be through all eternity. To have their good 
 things on the earth, is the lot of the most miserable pe- 
 rishing sinners. Doth it become Christians then to ex- 
 pect so much here? Our rest is our heaven : and where 
 we take our rest, there we make our heaven : and 
 wouldst thou have but such a heaven as this ? It will 
 be but as a handful of waters to a man that is drowning, 
 which will help to destroy, but not to save him. 
 
 5. Consider, thou seekest rest where it is not to be 
 found, and so wilt lose all thy labour. I think I shall 
 easily evince this by these clear demonstrations fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 First, Our rest is only in the full obtaining our ulti- 
 mate end ; but that is riot to be expected in this life. Is 
 God to be enjoyed in the best reformed Church here as 
 he is in heaven ? You confess he is not ; how little of 
 God, not only the multitude of the blind world, but 
 sometimes the saints themselves, enjoy ! And how poor 
 comforters are the best ordinances and enjoyments with- 
 out God ! Should a traveller take up his rest in the 
 way ? No, because his home is his journey's end. 
 When you have all that creatures and means can afford, 
 have you that you sought for ? Have you that you be- 
 lieve, pray, suffer for? I think ]^'0u dare not say so. 
 Why then do we once dream of resting here ? We are 
 like little children strayed from home ; and God is now 
 
224 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 fetching us home ; and we are ready to turn into any 
 house, stay and play with every thing in our way, and 
 sit down on every green bank, and much ado there is to 
 get us home. 
 
 Secondly, As we have not yet obtained our end, so 
 are we in the midst of labours and dangers : and is 
 there any resting here ? What painful work doth lie 
 upon our hands ! Look to our brethren, to our souls, 
 to God ; and what a deal of work in respect of each of 
 these doth lie before us ! And can we rest in our la- 
 bours? Indeed we may ease ourselves sometimes in 
 our troubles, but that is not the rest we are now speak- 
 ing of ; we may rest on earth as the ark is said to rest 
 in the midst of Jordan, Josh, iii, 13 ; or as the angels 
 of heaven are desired to turn in, and rest them on earth, 
 Gen. xviii, 4. They would have been loath to have 
 taken up their dwelling there. Should Israel have set- 
 tled his rest in the wilderness among serpents, and ene- 
 mies, and weariness, and famine ? Should Noah have 
 made the ark his home and been loath to come forth 
 when the waters were fallen ? Should the mariner 
 choose his dwelling on the sea, and settle his rest in the 
 midst of rocks, and sands, and tempests ? Though he 
 may adventure through all these for a commodity of 
 worth, yet I think he takes it not for his rest. Should 
 a soldier rest in the midst of fight, when he is in the 
 very thickest of his enemies ? And are not Christians 
 such travellers, such mariners, such soldiers? Have 
 you not fears within and troubles without ? Are we 
 not in the thickest of continual dangers? We cannot 
 eat, drink, sleep, labour, pray, hear or confer but in the 
 midst of snares ; and shall we sit down and rest here ? 
 O Christian, follow thy work, look to thy danger, hold 
 on to the end, Avin the field, and come off the ground, 
 before you think of settling to rest. I read that Christ, 
 when he was on the cross, comforted the converted 
 thief with this : " This day shalt thou be with me in 
 paradise :" but if he had oidy comforted him with tell- 
 ing him that he should rest there on the cross, would 
 he not have taken it for derision ? Methinks it should 
 be ill resting in the midst of sicknesses and pains, per- 
 secution and distresses ; one would think it should be 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 225. 
 
 no contented dwelling for lambs among wolves. I sayv 
 therefore, to every one that thinketh of rest on earth,, 
 "Arise ye, depart; this is not your rest." 
 
 6. Consult with experience, both other men's and 
 your own ; many thousands have made trial, but did 
 ever one of these find a sufficient rest for his soul on 
 earth ? Delights I deny not but they have found ; but 
 rest and satisfaction they never found : and shall we. 
 think to find that which never man could find before us ? 
 Ahab's kingdom is nothing to him except he hath also 
 Nabotli's vineyard, and did that satisfy him when he 
 had obtained it ? If we had conquered the whole world 
 we should perhaps do as Alexander, sit down and weep 
 because there was never another world to conquer. Go 
 ask honour. Is there rest here? Why you may as 
 well rest on the top of the tempestuous mountains or in 
 Etna's flames. Ask riches. Is there rest here ? Even 
 such as is in a bed of thorns. Inquire of worldly pleasure 
 and ease, can they give you any tidings of true rest ? 
 Even such as the fish in swallowing the bait, when the 
 pleasure 1.3 sweetest death is the nearest. Such is the 
 rest that all worldly pleasures afford. Go to learning, 
 to the purest, plentifulest, powerfulest ordinances, or 
 compass sea and land to find out the most perfect 
 Church, and inquire whether there your soul may rest? 
 You might haply receive from these an olive branch of 
 hope, as they are means to your rest, and have relation 
 to eternity ; but in regard of any satisfaction in them- 
 selves you would remain as restless as ever. O how 
 well might all these answer us as Jacob did Rachel, 
 "Am I instead of God?" So may the highest perfec- 
 tions on earth say. Are we instead of God ? Go, take 
 a view of all estates of men in the world, and see 
 whether any of them have found this rest. Go to the 
 husbandman, behold his endless labours, his continual 
 care, and toil, and weariness, and you will easily see 
 that there is no rest . go to the tradesman, and you 
 shall find the like: if I should send you lower you 
 would judge your labour lost: go to the painful minis- 
 ter and there you will yet more easily be satisfied ; for 
 though his spending, endless labours are exceeding 
 sweet,- yet it is not because they are his rest, but in 
 10* 
 
326 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 reference o his people's and his own eternal rest : if 
 you would ascend to magistracy, and inquire at the 
 throne, you would find there is no condition so restless. 
 Doubtless neither court nor country, towns or cities, 
 shops or fields, treasuries, libraries, solitariness, soci- 
 ety, studies, or pulpits can afibrd any such thing as 
 this rest. If you could inquire of the dead of all gene- 
 rations, or if you could ask the living through all do- 
 minions, they would all tell you. Here is no rest ; and all 
 mankind may say, " All our days are sorrow, and our 
 labour is grief, and our hearts take no rest," Eccles. 
 ii, 2.3. 
 
 If other men's experience move you not, do but take 
 a view of your own : can you remember the state that 
 did fully satisfy you ? Or if you could, will it prove a 
 lasting state ? For my own part, I have run through 
 several states of life, and though I never had the neces- 
 sities which might occasion discontent, yet did I never 
 find a settlement for my soul; and I believe we may all 
 say of our rest, as Paul of our hopes, " If it were in 
 this life only we were of all men most miserable." If 
 then either Scripture or reason, or the experience of 
 ourselves and all the world, will satisfy us, we may see 
 there is no resting here. And yet how guilty are the 
 generality of us of this sin ! How many halts and stops 
 do we make before we will make the Lord our rest ! 
 How must God even drive us, and fire us out of every 
 condition, lest we should sit down and rest there ! If 
 he give us prosperity, riches, or honour, we do in our 
 hearts dance before them, as the Israelites before their 
 calf, and say. These are thy gods, and conclude it is 
 good being here. If he imbitter all these to us by 
 crosses, how do we strive to have the cross removed, 
 and are restless till our condition be sweetened to us, 
 that we may sit down again and rest where we were ! 
 If the Lord, seeing our perverseness, shall now proceed 
 in the cure, and take the creature quite away, then how 
 do we labour, and care, and cry, and pray that God 
 would restore it, that we may make it our rest again ! 
 And while we are deprived of its enjoyment, and have 
 not our former idol, yet rather than come to God we 
 delight ourselves in our hopes of recovering our former 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 227 
 
 State ; and as long as there is the least likelihood of ob- 
 taining it we make those very hopes our rest : if the 
 poor by labouring all their days have but hopes of a 
 fuller estate when they are old, (though a hundred to 
 one they die before they have obtained it,) yet do they 
 rest themselves on those expectations. Or if God doth 
 take away both present enjoyments and all hopes of re- 
 covering them, how do we search about from creature 
 to creature to find out something to supply the room 
 and to settle upon instead thereof ! Yea, if we can find 
 no supply but are sure we shall live in poverty, in sick- 
 ness, in disgrace, ^vhile we are on earth, yet will we 
 rather settle in this misery, and make a rest of a wretch- 
 ed being, than we will leave all and come to God. 
 
 A man would think that a multitude of poor people 
 who beg their bread, or can scarce with their hardest 
 labour have sustenance for their lives, should easily be 
 driven from resting here, and willingly look to heaven 
 for rest ; and the sick who have not a day of ease or 
 any hope of recovery left them. But O the cursed 
 averseness of our souls from God ! We will rather ac- 
 count our misery our happiness, yea, that which we 
 daily groan under as intolerable, than we will take up 
 our happiness in God. If any place in hell were tolera- 
 ble the soul would rather take up its rest there than 
 come to God. Yea, when he is bringing us over to him, 
 and hath convinced us of the worth of his ways and 
 service, the last deceit of all is here, we will rather set- 
 tle upon those ways that lead to him, and those ordi- 
 nances that speak of him, and those gifts which flow 
 from him, than we will come clean over to himself. 
 
 Marvel not that I speak so much of resting in these ; 
 beware lest it prove thy own case : I suppose thou art so 
 convinced of the vanity of riches, and honour, and plea- 
 sure, that thou canst more easily disclaim these : but 
 for thy spiritual helps, thou lookest on these with less 
 suspicion, and thinkest thou canst not delight in them 
 too much, especially seeing most of the world despise 
 them or delight in them too little. But doth not the in- 
 crease of those helps dull thy longings after heaven? I 
 know the means of grace must be loved and valued ; 
 and he that delighteth in any worldly thing more than 
 
228 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 in them is not a Christian : but when we are content 
 with duty instead of God, and had rather be at a sermon 
 than in heaven ; and a member of a Cliurch here tlian 
 of that perfect Church ; and rejoice in ordinances but 
 as they are a part of our earthly prosperity ; this is a 
 sad mistake. 
 
 So far rejoice in the creature as it comes from God, 
 or leads to him, or brings thee some report of his love ; 
 so far let thy soul take comfort in ordinances as God 
 doth accompany them, or gives himself unto thy soul 
 by them : still remembering, when thou hast even what 
 thou dost most desire, yet this is not heaven ; yet these 
 are but the first fruits. It is not enough that God al- 
 loweth us all the comfort of travellers, and accordingly 
 to rejoice in all his mercies, but we must set up our 
 staff as if w^e Avere at home. While we are j^resent in 
 the body we are absent from the Lord ; and while we 
 are absent from him we are absent from our rest. If 
 God were as willing to be absent from us as we from 
 him, and if he were as loath to be our rest as we are 
 loath to rest in him, we should be left to an eternal 
 restless separation. In a word, as you are sensible of 
 the sinfulness of your earthly discontents, so be you 
 also of your irregular contents, and pray God to par- 
 don them much more. And above all the plagues and 
 judgments of God, on this side of hell, see that you 
 watch and pray against this, [of settling anywhere 
 short of heaven, or reposing your souls on any thing 
 below God.l Or else, wlien tlie bough which you tread 
 on breaks, and the things whicli you rest upon deceive 
 you, you will perceive your labour all lost, and your 
 highest hopes wall make you ashamed. Try if you can 
 persuade Satan to leave tempting, and the world to 
 cease troubling and seducing ; if you can bring the 
 glory of God from above, or remove the court from 
 heaven to earth, and secure the continuance of this 
 through eternity, then settle yourselves below, and say, 
 Soul, take thy rest here ; but till then admit not such a 
 thought. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 229 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 M0T1"VES TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 
 
 We have now, by the guidance of the word of the 
 Lord, and by the assistance of his Spirit, showed you 
 the nature of the rest of the saints ; and acquainted you 
 with some duties in relation thereto : we come now to 
 the close of all, to press you to the great duty which I 
 chiefly intended when I began this subject. 
 
 Is there a rest, and such a rest remaining for us ? 
 Why then are our thoughts no more upon it? Why 
 are not our hearts continually there ? Why dwell we 
 not there in constant contemplation ? Ask your hearts 
 in good earnest. What is the cause of this neglect? 
 Hath the eternal God provided us such a glory, and 
 promised to take us up to dwell with himself? And is 
 not this worth the thinking on ? Should not the strong- 
 est desires of our hearts be after it, and the daily de- 
 lights of our souls be there ? Can we forget and neglect 
 it!' Wliat is the matter? Will not God give us leave 
 to approacli this light ? Or M'ill he not suffer our souls 
 to taste and see it? Then what mean all his earnest 
 invitations ? Why doth he so condemn our earthly 
 mindedness, and command us to set our affections 
 above ? If the forethoughts of glory were forbidden 
 fruits, perhaps we should be sooner drawn unto them. 
 Sure I am, where God hath forbidden us to place our 
 thoughts and our delights, thither it is easy enough to 
 draw them. If he say, Love not the world, nor the 
 things of the world, we doat upon it nevertheless. How 
 unweariedly can we think of vanity, and day after day 
 employ our minds about it ! And have we no thoughts 
 of this our rest ? How freely and hoAv frequently can 
 we think of our pleasures, our friends, our labours, our 
 flesh, our studies, our news ; yea, our very miseries, 
 our wrongs, our sufferings, and our fears ! But where 
 is the Christian whose heart is on this rest? What is 
 the matter? Why are we not taken up with the views 
 of glory, and our souls more accustomed to these de- 
 lightful meditations ? Are we so full of joy that we 
 
230 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 need no more ; or is there no matter in heaven for our 
 joyous thoughts ; or rather, are not our hearts carnal 
 and blockish I Earth will tend to earth. Had we more 
 spirit, it would be otherwise with us. As St. Augustine 
 cast by Cicero's writings, because they contained not 
 the name of Jesus ; so let us humble and cast down 
 these sensual hearts that have in them no more of Christ 
 and glory. As we should not own our duties any far- 
 ther than somewhat of Christ is in them, so should we 
 no farther own our hearts: and as we should delight in 
 the creatures, no longer than they have reference to 
 Christ and eternity, so no farther should we approve of 
 our own hearts. Why did Christ pronounce his disci- 
 ples' eyes and ears blessed, but as they were the doors 
 to let in Christ by his works and words into their heart? 
 Blessed are the eyes that so see, and the ears that so 
 hear, that the heart is thereby raised to this heavenly 
 frame. Sirs, so much of your hearts as is empty of 
 Christ and heaven, let it be filled with shame and sor- 
 row, and not with ease. 
 
 But let me turn my reprehension to exhortation, that 
 you would turn this conviction into reformation. And I 
 have the more hope, because I here address myself to 
 men of conscience that dare not wilfully disobey God ; 
 yea, because to men whose portion is there, whose 
 hopes are there, and who have forsaken all that they 
 may enjoy this glory; and shall I be discouraged from 
 persuading such to be heavenly minded ? If you will 
 not hear and obey, who will? Whoever thou art there- 
 fore that readest these lines, I require thee, as thou 
 tenderest thine allegiance to the God of heaven, as ever 
 thou hopest for a part in this glory, that thou presently 
 take thy heart to task ; chide it for its wilful strange- 
 ness to God ; turn thy thought from the pursuit of vanity, 
 bend thy soul to study eternity; habituate thyself to 
 such contemplations, and let not those thoughts be 
 seldom and cursory, but settle upon them ; dwell here, 
 bathe thy soul in heaven's delights ; drench thine affec- 
 tions in these rivers of pleasure ; and if thy backward 
 soul begin to flag, and thy thoughts to fly abroad, call 
 them back, hold them to their Avork, put them on, bear 
 not with tlieir laziness ; and when thou hast once tried 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 231 
 
 this work, and followed on till thou hast got acquainted 
 Math it, and kept a close guard upon thy thoughts till 
 they are accustomed to obey, thou wilt then tind thyself 
 in the suburbs of heaven, and as it were in a new world ; 
 thou wilt then find that there is sweetness in the work 
 and way of God, and that the life of Christianity is a 
 life of joy: thou wilt meet with those abundant conso- 
 lations which thou hast prayed, and panted, and groaned 
 after, and which so few Christians obtain, because they 
 know not the way to them, or else make not conscience 
 of walking in it. 
 
 You see the work now before you ; this, this is that 
 I would fain persuade you to practise : let me bespeak 
 your consciences in the name of Christ, and command 
 you by the authority I have received from Christ, that 
 you faithfully set upon this duty, and fix your eye more 
 steadfastly on your rest. Do not wonder that I per- 
 suade you so earnestly : though indeed if we were truly 
 reasonable men, it would be a wonder that men should 
 need so much persuasion to so sweet and plain a duty : 
 but I know the employment is high, the heart is earthly, 
 and will still draw back ; the temptations and hinder- 
 ances will be many and great, and therefore I fear all 
 these persuasions are little enough : say not. We are 
 unable to set our own hearts on heaven, this must be the 
 work of God : therefore all your exhortation is in vain. 
 I tell you, though God be the chief disposer of your 
 hearts, yet next under him you have the greatest com- 
 mand of them yourselves, and a great power in the or- 
 dering of your own thoughts, and determining your own 
 wills : though without Christ you can do nothing, yet 
 under him you may do much, and must do much, or 
 else you will be undone through your neglect : do your 
 own parts, and you have no cause to distrust whether 
 Christ will do his. 
 
 I will here lay down some considerations, which, if 
 you will but deliberately weigh with an impartial judg- 
 ment, I doubt not will prove effectual with your hearts, 
 and make you resolve upon this excellent duty. 
 
 1. Consider, a heart set upon heaven will be one of 
 the most unquestionable evidences of a true work of 
 saving grace upon thy soul. Would you have a sign 
 
232 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 infallible, not from me, or from the mouth of any man, 
 but from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself, which all 
 the enemies of the use of marks can lay no exceptions 
 against? Why here is such a one, Matthew vi, 21, 
 " Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 
 Know once assuredly where your heart is, and you may 
 easily know that your treasure is there. God is the 
 saints' treasure and happiness : heaven is the place 
 where they fully enjoy him : a heart therefore set upon 
 heaven is no more but a heart set upon God, desiring 
 this full enjoyment : and surely a heart set upon God 
 through Christ is the truest evidence of saving grace. 
 External actions are the easiest discovered ; but those 
 of the heart are the surest evidences. When thy learn- 
 ing will be no good preof of thy grace ; when thy 
 knowledge, thy duties, and thy gifts will fail thee ; 
 when arguments from thy tongue and thy hand may be 
 confuted ; then will this argument from the bent of thy 
 heart prove thee sincere. Take a poor Christian ihut 
 can scarce speak English about religion, that hath a 
 weak understanding, a failing memory, a stammering 
 tongue, yet his heart is set on God, he hath chosen him 
 for his portion, his thoughts are on eternity, his desires 
 there, his dwelling there ; he cries out, O that I were 
 there ! he takes that day for a time of imprisonment, 
 wherein he hath not taken one refreshing view of eter- 
 nity. I had rather die in this man's condition, than in 
 the case of him that hath the most eminent gifts, and is 
 most admired for parts and duty, whose heart is not 
 taken up w4th God. The man that Christ will find out 
 at the last day, and condemn for want of a wedding 
 garment, will be he that wants this frame of heart. 
 The question will not then be. How much you have 
 known or talked ; but how much have you loved, and 
 where was your heart ? Why, then, as you would have 
 a sure testimony of the love of God, and a sure proof 
 of your title to glory, labour to get your hearts above. 
 God will acknowledge you love him, when he sees your 
 hearts are set upon him. Get but your hearts once truly 
 in heaven, and without all question, yourselves will 
 follow. If sin and Satan keep not thence your affec- 
 tions, they will never be able to keep away your persons. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 233 
 
 2. Consider, a heavenly mind is a joyful mind : this 
 is the nearest and the truest way to comfort : and with- 
 out this you must needs be uncomfortable. Can a man 
 be at the fire and not be warm ? Or in the sunshine 
 and not have light ? Can your heart be in heaven and 
 not have comfort ? What could make such frozen, un- 
 comfortable Christians, but living so far as they do 
 from heaven ? And what makes others so warm in 
 comforts, but their frequent access so near to God ! 
 When the sun in the spring draws near our part of the 
 earth how do all things congratulate its approach ! The 
 earth looks green, and casteth off her mourning habit ; 
 the trees shoot forth ; the plants revive ; the birds sing ; 
 the face of all things smiles upon us, and all the crea- 
 tures below rejoice. If we would but keep these hearts 
 above what a spring would be within us, and all our graces 
 be fresh and green ! How would the face of our souls 
 be changed, and all that is within us rejoice ! How 
 should we forget our winter sorrows, and withdraw our 
 souls from our sad retirements ! How early should we 
 rise (as those birds in the spring) to sing the praise of 
 our great Creator ! O Christians ! get above ; believe 
 it, that region is warmer than this below. Those that 
 have been there have found it so, and those that have 
 come thence have told us so ; and I doubt not but thou 
 hast sometimes tried it thyself. I dare appeal to thy 
 own experience : When is it that you have largest com- 
 forts ? Is it not after such an exercise as this, when 
 thou hast got up thy heart, and conversed with God, 
 and talked with ttie inhabitants of the higher world, 
 and viewed the mansions of the saints and angels, and 
 filled thy soul with the forethoughts of glory ? If thou 
 k newest by experience what this practice is, I dare say 
 thou knowest what spiritual joy is. If it be the counte- 
 nance of God that fills us with joy, then they that most 
 behold it must be fullest of these joys. If you never 
 tried this, nor lived this life of heavenly contemplation, 
 I never wonder that you walk uncomfortably, and know 
 not what the joy of the saints means : can you have 
 comforts from God, and never think of him? Can heaven 
 rejoice you when you do not remember it? Doth any 
 thing in the world glad you when you think not on it ? 
 
234 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 Whom should we blame, then, that we are so void of 
 consolation, but our own negligent unskilful hearts? 
 God hath provided us a crown of glory, and promised 
 to set it shortly on our heads, and we will not so much 
 as think of it : he holdeth it out to us, and biddeth us 
 behold and rejoice, and we will not so much as look 
 at it. What a perverse course is this, both against God 
 and our own joys I 
 
 I confess, though in fleshly things the presenting a 
 comforting object is suflicient to- produce an answerable 
 delight, yet in spirituals we are more disabled; God 
 must give the joy itself, as well as afford us matter for 
 joy : but yet withal, it must be remembered that God 
 doth work upon us as men, and in a rational way doth 
 raise our comforts ; he enableth and exciteth us to 
 mind these delightful objects, and from thence to gather 
 our own comforts ; therefore he that is most skilful and 
 painful in this gathering art is usually the fullest of the 
 spiritual sweetness. It is by believing that we are filled 
 with joy and peace, and no longer than we continue our 
 believing. It is in hope that the saints rejoice, yea, in 
 this hope of the glory of God ; and no longer than they 
 continue hoping. And here let me warn you of a dan- 
 gerous snare, an opinion which will rob you of all your 
 comfort: some think if they should thus fetch in their 
 own by believing and hoping, and work it out of Scrip- 
 ture promises by their own thinking and studying, then 
 it would be a comfort only of their own hammering out, 
 (as they say,) and not the genuine joy of the Holy 
 Ghost. A desperate mistake, raised upon a ground 
 that would overthrow almost all duty as well as this, 
 which is their setting the workings of God's Spirit and 
 their own spirits in opposition, when their spirits must 
 stand in subordination to God's : they are conjunct 
 causes, co-operating to the producing of one and the 
 same effect. God's Spirit worketh our comforts by 
 setting our own spirits at work upon the promises, and 
 raising our thoughts to the place of our comforts. As 
 you would delight a covetous man by showing him 
 money, or a voluptuous man with fleshly delights, so 
 God useth to delight his people by taking them, as it 
 were, by the hand, and leading them into heaven, and 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 235 
 
 showing them himself and their rest with him. God 
 useth not to cast in our joys while we are idle or taken 
 up with other things. It is true, he sometimes doth it 
 suddenly, but usually in the aforesaid order : and his 
 sometimes sudden, extraordinary casting of comforting 
 thoughts in our hearts should be so far from hindering 
 endeavours in a meditating way that it should be a 
 singular motive to quicken us to it, even as a taste 
 given us of some cordial will make us desire and seek 
 the rest; God feedeth not saints as birds do their 
 young, bringing it to them, and putting it in their 
 mouth, while they lie still in the nest, and only gape to 
 receive it : but as he giveth to man the fruits of the 
 earth, the increase of our land in corn and wine, while 
 we plough, and sow, and weed, and water, and dung, 
 and dress, and then with patience expect his blessing ; 
 so doth he give the joys of the soul. Yet I deny not 
 that if any should think so to work out his own com- 
 forts by meditation, as to attempt the work in his own 
 strength, the work would prove to be like the work- 
 man, and the comfort he would gather would be like 
 both ; even mere vanity ; even as the husbandman's 
 labour without the sun, and rain, and blessing of God. 
 So then you may easily see that close meditation on 
 the matter and cause of your joy is God's way to pro- 
 cure solid joy. For my part, if I should find my joy 
 of another kind I should be very prone to doubt of its 
 sincerity. If I find a great deal of comfort and know 
 not how it came, nor upon what rational ground it was 
 raised, nor what considerations feed and continue it, I 
 should be ready to question whether this be from God. 
 Our love to God should not be like that of fond lovers, 
 who love violently, but they know not why. I think a 
 Christian's joy should be rational joy, and not to re- 
 joice and know not why. In some extraordinary case 
 God may cast in such an extraordinary kind of joy : yet 
 it is not his usual way. And if you observe the spirit 
 of most uncomfortable Christians you will find the rea- 
 son to be their expectation of such kind of joys : and 
 accordingly are their spirits variously tossed, and in- 
 constantly tempered : when they meet with such joys 
 then they are cheerful and lifted up ; but because these 
 
236 tHE saints' everxasting rest. 
 
 are usually short lived, therefore they are straight as 
 low as hell. And thus they are tossed as a vessel at 
 sea, up and down, but still in extremes : whereas, alas ! 
 God is most constant, Christ the same, heaven the same, 
 and the proniise the same ; and if we took the right 
 course for fetching in our comfort from these, sure our 
 comforts would be more settled and constant, though 
 not always the same. Whoever thou art therefore that 
 readest these lines, I entreat thee, in the name of the 
 Lord, and as thou vainest the life of constant joy, and 
 that good conscience which is a continual feast, that 
 thou wouldst seriously set upon this work, and learn 
 the art of heavenly mindedness, and thou shalt find the 
 increase a hundredfold, and the benefit abundantly ex- 
 ceed thy labour. 
 
 3. Consider, a heart in heaven will be a most excel- 
 lent preservative against temptations, and a powerful 
 means to save the conscience from the wounds of sin : 
 God can prevent our sinning, though we be careless, and 
 sometimes doth ; but this is not his usual course ; nor 
 is this our safest way to escape. When the mind is 
 either idle or ill employed the devil needs not a greater 
 advantage : if he find but the mind empty there is room 
 for any thing that he will bring in ; but when he finds 
 the heart in heaven what hope that his motions should 
 take ? Let him entice to any forbidden course the soul 
 will return Nehemiah's answer, " I am doing a great 
 work, and cannot come," Neh. vi, 3. Several ways 
 will this preserve us against temptation. First, By keep- 
 ing the heart employed. Secondly, By clearing the un- 
 derstanding, and confirming the will. Thirdly, By pre- 
 possessing the affections. Fourthly, By keeping us in 
 the way of God's blessing. 
 
 First, By keeping the heart employed. When we 
 are idle we tempt the devil to tempt us, as it is an en- 
 couragement to a thief to see your doors open and no- 
 body within ; and as we used to say, " Careless per- 
 sons make thieves ;" so it will encourage Satan to find 
 your hearts idle : but when the heart is taken up with 
 God it cannot have time to hearken to temptations ; it 
 cannot have time to be lustful and wanton, ambitious 
 or worldly. 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 237 
 
 If you were but busied in your lawful railings you 
 would not be so ready to hearken to temptations : much 
 less if you were busied above with God. Will you 
 leave your plough and harvest in the field ? Or leave 
 the quenching of a fire in your houses to run hunting 
 of butterflies ? Would a judge rise, when he is sitting 
 upon life and death, to go and play among the boys in 
 the streets ? No more will a Christian, when he is busy 
 with God, give ear to the alluring charms of Satan. 
 The love of God is never idle ; it worketh great things 
 where it truly is; and Avhen it will not work it is not 
 love. Therefore, being still thus working, it is still 
 preserving. 
 
 Secondly, A heavenly mind is freest from sin because 
 it is of clearest understanding in spiritual matters. A 
 man that is much in conversing above hath truer and 
 livelier apprehensions of things concerning God and 
 his soul than any reading or learning can beget : though 
 perhaps he may be ignorant in divers controversies, and 
 matters that less concern salvation, yet those truths which 
 must establish his soul, and preserve him from temptation, 
 he knows far better than the greatest scholars ; he hath 
 so deep an insight into the evil of sin, the vanity of 
 the creature, the brutishness of sensual delights, that 
 temptations have little power on him ; for these earthly 
 vanities are Satan's baits, which with the clear-sighted 
 have lost their force. " In vain," saith Solomon, " the 
 net is spread in the sight of any bird." And in vain doth 
 Satan lay his snares 'to entrap the soul that plainly sees 
 them. When the heavenly mind is above with God he 
 may from thence discern every danger that lies below : 
 nay, if he did not discover the snare yet were he likelier 
 far to escape it than any others. A net or bait that is laid 
 on the ground is unlikely to catch the bird that flies in 
 the air ; while she keeps above she is out of the dan- 
 ger, and the higher the safer ; so it is with us. Satan's 
 temptations are laid on the earth ; earth is the place, 
 and earth is the ordinary bait : how shall these ensnare 
 the Christian, who hath left the earth, and walks with 
 God? 
 
 Do you not sensibly perceive that when your hearts 
 are seriously fixed on heaven you become wiser than 
 
238 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 before ? Are not your understandings more solid ; and 
 your thoughts more sober ? Have you not truer appre- 
 hensions of things than you had ? For my own part, 
 if ever I be wise, it is when I have been much above, 
 and seriously studied the life to come : methinks I find 
 mv understanding after such contemplations as much to 
 differ from what it was before, as I before differed from 
 a fool or an idiot : when my understanding is weakened 
 and befooled with common employment, and with con- 
 versing long with the vanities below, methinks a few 
 sober thoughts of my Father's house, and the blessed 
 provision of his family in heaven, doth make me (with 
 the prodigal) to come to myself again. Surely, when 
 a Christian withdraws himself from his earthly thoughts, 
 and begins to converse with God in heaven, he is a Ne- 
 buchadnezzar, taken from the beasts of the field to the 
 throne, and his understanding returneth to him again. 
 O when a Christian hath had but a glimpse of eternity, 
 and then looks down on the world again, how doth he 
 say to his laughter. Thou art mad I and to his vain 
 mirth. What dost thou ? How could he even tear his 
 flesh, and take revenge on himself for his folly ! How 
 verily doth he think that there is no man in bedlam so 
 mad as wilful sinners, and lazy betrayers of their own 
 souls, and unworthy 'slighters of Christ and glory ! 
 
 Do you not think (except men are stark devils) that 
 it w^ould be a harder matter to entice a man to sin when 
 he lies a dying, than it was before? If the devil, or 
 his instruments, should then tell him of a cup of sack, 
 of merry company, or of a stage play, do you think he 
 would then be so taken with the motion 1 If he should 
 then tell him of riches, or honours, or show him cards, 
 or dice, or a whore, would the temptation (think you) 
 be as strong as before ? Would he not answer, Alas ! 
 what is all this to me, who must presently appear be- 
 fore God, and give account of all my life, and straight- 
 way be in another world ? Why, if the apprehension 
 of the nearness of eternity will work such strange 
 effects upon the ungodly, and make them wiser than to 
 be deceived so easily as they were wont to be in time 
 of health ; what effects would it work in thee, if thou 
 couldst always dwell in the views of God, and in lively 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 239 
 
 thoughts of thine everlasting state ? Surely, a believer, 
 if he improve his faith, may have truer apprehensions 
 of the life to come, in the time of his health, than an 
 unbeliever hath at the hour of his death. 
 
 Thirdly, A heavenly mind is fortified against tempta- 
 tions, because the affections are prepossessed with the 
 delights of another world. When the soul is not affected 
 with good, though the understanding never so clearly 
 apprehend the truth, it is easy for Satan to entice that 
 soul. Mere speculations (be they never so true) which 
 sink not into the aflections, are poor preservatives 
 against temptations. He that loves most, and not he 
 that knows most, will easiest resist the motions of sin. 
 There is in a Christian a kind of spiritual taste, whereby 
 he knows these things, beside his mere reasoning 
 power : the will doth as sweetly relish goodness, as the 
 understanding doth truth ; and here lies much of a 
 Christian's strength. If you should dispute with a sim- 
 ple man, and labour to persuade him that sugar is not 
 sweet, or that wormwood is not bitter, perhaps you 
 might with sophistry overargue his mere reason, but 
 yet you could not persuade him against his sense ; 
 whereas a man that hath lost his taste is easier deceived 
 for all his reason. So it is here. When thou hast had 
 a fresh delightful taste of heaven, thou wilt not be so 
 easily persuaded from it ; you cannot persuade a very 
 child to part with his apple while the taste of its sweet- 
 ness is yet in its mouth. 
 
 O that you would be persuaded to be much in feeding 
 on the hidden manna, and to be frequently tasting the 
 delights of heaven ! It is true, it is a great way off from 
 our sense, but faith can reach as far as that. How 
 would this raise thy resolutions, and make thee laugh at 
 the fooleries of the world, and scorn to be cheated with 
 such childish toys ! What if the devil had set upon 
 Paul when he was in the third heaven ? Could he then 
 have persuaded his heart to the pleasures, or profits, or 
 honours, of the world? Though the Israelites below 
 may be enticed to idolatry, and from eating and drink- 
 ing to rise up to play ; yet Moses in the mount with 
 God will not do so : and if they had been where he was, 
 and had but seen what he there saw, perhaps they would 
 
240 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 not so easily have sinned. O if we could keep our 
 souls continually delighted with the sweetness above, 
 with w^hat disdain should we spit out the baits of sin ! 
 
 Fourthly, While the heart is set on heaven, a man is 
 under Gocl's protection : and therefore if Satan then as- 
 sault him, God is more engaged for his defence. 
 
 Let me entreat thee, then, if thou be a man that is 
 haunted with temptation, (as doubtless thou art, if thou 
 be a man,) if thou perceive thy danger, and wouldst fain 
 escape it, use much this powerful remedy : keep close 
 with God by a heavenly mind ; and when the temptation 
 comes, go straight to Heaven, and turn thy thoughts to 
 higher things ; thou shalt find this a surer help than any 
 other. Follow your business above with Christ, and 
 keej) your thoughts to their heavenly employment, and 
 you sooner will this way vanquish the temptation than 
 if you argued or talked it out with the tempter. 
 
 4. Consider, the diligent keeping of your hearts on 
 heaven will preserve the vigour of all your graces, and 
 put life into your duties. It is the heavenly Christian 
 that is the lively Christian : it is our strangeness to hea- 
 ven that makes us so dull: it is the end that quickens 
 all the means ; and the more frequently and clearly this 
 end is beheld, the more vigorous will all our motions 
 be. How doth it make men unweariedly labour, and 
 fearlessly venture, when they do but think of the gain- 
 ful prize ! How will the soldier hazard his life, and the 
 mariner pass through storms and waves ! How cheer- 
 fully do they compass sea and land when they think of 
 an uncertain perishing treasure ! O what life then 
 would it put into a Christian's endeavours, if he would 
 frequently think of his everlasting treasure ! We run 
 so sloM^ly, and strive so lazily, because we so little mind 
 the prize. W^hen a Christian hath been tasting the hid- 
 den manna, and drinking of the streams of the paradise 
 of God, what life doth this put into him ! How fervent 
 will his spirit be in prayer, when he considers that he 
 prays for no less than heaven ! 
 
 Observe but the man who is much in heaven, and you 
 shall see he is not like others; there is somewhat of that 
 which he hath seen above appeareth in all his duty and 
 conversation : nay, take but the same man immediately 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. ' 241 
 
 when he is returned from these views of bliss, and you 
 may easily perceive he excels himself. If he be a 
 preacher, how heavenly are his sermons ! What clear 
 descriptions, what high expressions hath he of that rest ! 
 If he be a private Christian, what heavenly conference, 
 what heavenly prayers, what a heavenly carriage, hath 
 he ! May you not even hear in a preacher's sermons, oi 
 in the private duties of another, when they have been 
 most above? When Moses had been with God in the 
 mount, it made his face shine, that the people could not 
 could not behold him. If you would but set upon this 
 employment, even so it would be Avith you : men would 
 see the face of your conversation shine, and say, 
 "Surely he hath been with God !" 
 
 It is true, a heavenly nature goes before this heavenly 
 employment ; but yet the work will make it more hea- 
 venly : there must be life, before we can feel : but our 
 life is continued and increased by feeding. Therefore, 
 let me inform thee, if thou lie complaining of deadness 
 and dulness, that thou canst not love Christ, nor rejoice 
 in his love; that, thou hast no life in prayer, nor any 
 other duty, and yet never triedst this quickening course, 
 or at least art careless and inconstant in it ; thou art the 
 cause of thy own complaints ; thou dullest thine own 
 heart ; thou deniest thvself that life which thou talkest 
 of. Is not " thy life hid with Christ in God ?" Whither 
 must thou go but to Christ for it ? And whither is that, 
 but to heaven, where he is? "Thou wilt not come to 
 Christ that thou mayest have life." If thou wouldst 
 have light and heat, why art thou then no more in the 
 sunshine ? If thou wouldst have more of that grace 
 which flows from Christ, why art thou no more with 
 Christ for it ? Thy strength is in heaven, and thy life 
 in heaven, and there thou must daily fetch it, if thou wilt 
 have it. For want of this recourse to heaven, thy soui 
 is as a candle that is not lighted, and thy duties as a sa- 
 crifice which hath no fire. Fetch one coal daily from 
 this altar, and see if thy offering will not burn. Light 
 thy candle at this flame, and feed it daily with oil from 
 hence, and see if it will not gloriously shine : keep close 
 to this reviving fire, and sec if thy affections will not be 
 warm. Thou bewailcst thy want of love to God ; (and 
 
 ii 
 
342 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 well thou mayest, for it is a heinous crime, a killing 
 sin ;) why, lift up thy eye of faith to Heaven, behold his 
 beauty, contemplate his excellences, and see whether 
 his amiableness will not fire thy affections, and his good- 
 ness ravish thy heart. As the eye doth incense the sen- 
 sual affections, by gazing on alluring objects ; so doth 
 the eye of faith in meditation inflame our affections to- 
 ward our Lord, by gazing on that highest beauty. Who- 
 ever thou art, that art a stranger to this employment, be 
 thy parts and profession ever so great, let me tell thee, 
 thou spend est thy life but in trifling or idleness ; thou 
 seemest to live, but thou art dead. I may say of thee, 
 as Seneca of idle Vacia, " Sci, latere, vivere, nestis ;" 
 thou knowest how to lurk in idleness, but how to live 
 thou knowest not. And as the same Seneca would say, 
 when he passed by that sluggard's dwelling, " Ibi situs 
 est Vacia ;" so it may be said of thee, there lies such a 
 one, but not, there lives such a one, for thou spendest 
 thy days liker to the dead than the living. One of Dra- 
 co's laws to the Athenians was, that he who was con- 
 victed of idleness, should be put to death ; thou dost exe- 
 cute this on thy own soul, while by thy idleness thou 
 destroyest its life. 
 
 Thou mayest many other ways exercise thy parts, but 
 this is the vv^ay to exercise thy graces : they are come 
 from God as their fountain, and lead to God as their 
 end, and are exercised on God as their chief object : so 
 that God is their all in all. From heaven they come, 
 and to heaven they will direct and move thee. And as 
 exercise maintaineth appetite, strength, and liveliness to 
 the body ; so doth it also to the soul. Use limbs, and 
 have limhs, is the known proverb ; and use grace and 
 spiritual life in these heavenly exercises, and you shall 
 find it quickly cause their increase. The exercise of 
 your mere abilities of speech will not much advantage 
 your graces ; but the exercise of these heavenly gifts 
 will inconceivably help the growth of both : for as the 
 moon is then most full and glorious, when it doth most 
 directly face the sun ; so will your souls be both in gifts 
 and graces when you most nearly view the face of God. 
 This will feed your tongue with matter, and make you 
 abound and overflow, both in preaching, praying, and 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 243 
 
 conferring. Besides, the fire which you fetch from hea- 
 ven for your sacrifices, is no false or strange fire. As 
 your liveliness will be much more, so will it be also more 
 sincere. 
 
 The zeal which is kindled by your meditations on 
 heaven is most like to prove a heavenly zeal ; and the 
 liveliness of the spirit which you fetch from the face of 
 God must needs be the Divinest life. Some men's fer- 
 vency is drawn only from their books, and some from 
 stinging afiiiction, and some from the mouth of a moving 
 minister, and some from the encouragement of an atten- 
 tive auditory : but he that knows this way to heaven, 
 and derives it daily from the pure fountain, shall have 
 his soul revived with the water of life, and enjoy that 
 quickening which is the saint's peculiar : by this faith 
 thou mayest offer Abel's sacrifice, more excellent than 
 that of common men, and by it obtain witness that thou 
 art righteous, God testifying of thy gifts, Heb. xi, 4. 
 When others are ready, as Baal's priests, to beat them- 
 selves, and cut their flesh, because their sacrifices will 
 not burn ; then if thou canst get but the spirit of Elias, 
 and in the chariot of contemplation soar aloft till thou 
 approachest near to the quickening spirit, thy soul and 
 sacrifice will gloriously flame, though the flesh and the 
 world should cast upon them the water of all their en- 
 mity. Say not now. How shall we get so high ? Or 
 how can mortals ascend to heaven ? For faith hath 
 wings, and meditation is its chariot ; its office is to make 
 absent things as present. Do you not see how a little 
 piece of glass, if it do but rightly face the sun, will so 
 contract its beams and heat as to set on fire that which 
 is behind it, which without it would have received but 
 little warmth ? Why thy faith is as the burning glass 
 to thy sacrifice, and meditation sets it to face the sun ; 
 only take it not away too soon, but hold it there awhile, 
 and thy soul will feel the happy eflfect. 
 
 If we could get into the holy of holies, and bring 
 thence the name and image of God, and get it closed up 
 in our hearts, this would enable us to work wonders ; 
 every duty we performed would be a wonder ; and they 
 that heard would be ready to say, Never man spake as 
 this man speaketh. The Spirit would possess us,' as 
 
244 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 those flaming tongues, and make us every one speak 
 (not in the variety of the confounded languages, but) in 
 the primitive pure language of Canaan, the wonderful 
 works of God. We should then be in every duty, whe- 
 ther prayer, exhortation, or brotherly reproof, as Paul 
 was at Athens ; when his spirit was stirred within him : 
 and should be ready to say, as Jeremiah did, Jer. xx, 9, 
 " His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in 
 my bones ; and I was weary with forbearing, and I could 
 not stay." 
 
 Christian reader, art thou not thinking when thou 
 seest a lively believer, and hearest his melting prayers 
 and ravishing discourse, O how happy a man is this ! O 
 that my soul were in his state ! Why, I here direct and 
 advise thee from God. Try this course, and set thy 
 soul to this work, and thou shalt be in as good a case. 
 Wash thee frequently in this Jordan, and thy dead soul 
 shall revive, and thou shalt know there is a God in Is- 
 rael ; and that thou mayest live a vigorous and joyous 
 life, if thou neglect not thine own mercies. If *thou 
 truly value this strong and active frame of spirit, show 
 it by thy present attempting this heavenly exercise. 
 Thou hast heard the way to obtain this life in thy soul, 
 and in thy duties ; if thou wilt yet neglect it, blame 
 thyself. 
 
 But, alas, the multitude of professors come to a minis- 
 ter just as Naaman came to Elias ; they ask us, how shall 
 I overcome a hard heart, and get the strength and life 
 of grace? But they expect that some easy means 
 should do it ; and think we should cure them with the 
 very answer to their question, and teach them a way to 
 be quickly well : but when they hear of a daily trading 
 in heaven, and constant meditation on the joys above, 
 this is a greater task than they expected ; and they turn 
 their backs as Naaman to Elias, or the young man on 
 Christ. Will not preaching, and praying, and confer- 
 ence serve, (say they,) without this dwelling still in 
 heaven ? I entreat thee, reader, beware of this folly ; 
 fall to the work : the comfort of spiritual health will 
 countervail all the trouble. It is but the flesh that re- 
 pines, which thou knowest was never a friend to thy 
 soul. If God had not set thee on some grievous work. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 245 
 
 shouldst thou not have done it for the life of thy soul ? 
 HoAV much more when he doth but invite thee to 
 himself? 
 
 5. Consider, the frequent believing views of gJory are 
 the most precious cordial in all afflictions : 1. To sus- 
 tain our spirits, and make our sufferings far more easy. 
 2. To stay us from repining. And 3. To strengthen 
 our resolutions, that we forsake not Christ for fear of 
 trouble. A man will more quietly endure the lancing of 
 his sores, when he thinks on the ease that will follow. 
 What then will not a believer endure when he thinks of 
 the rest to which it tendeth ? What if the way be never 
 so rough, can it be tedious if it lead to heaven ? O sweet 
 sickness, sweet reproaches, imprisonments, or death, 
 which is accompanied with these tastes of our future 
 rest i Believe it, thou wilt suffer heavily, thou wilt die 
 most sadly, if thou hast not at hand the foretastes of this 
 rest. Therefore as thou wilt then be ready with David 
 to pray, " Be not far from me, for trouble is near :" so 
 let it be thy chief care not to be far from God and hea- 
 ven when trouble is near, and " thou wilt find him a 
 very present help in trouble." 
 
 All sufferings are nothing to us so far as we have the 
 foresight of this salvation. No bolts, nor bars, nor dis- 
 tance of place, can shut out these supporting joys, be- 
 cause they cannot confine our faith and thoughts, al- 
 though they may confine our flesh. Christ and faith are 
 spiritual, and therefore prisons and banishments cannot 
 hinder their intercourse. Even when persecution and 
 fear hath shut the door, Christ can come in, and stand 
 in the midst, and say, " Peace be unto you." It is not 
 the place that gives the rest, but the presence and be- 
 holding of Christ in it. If the Son of God Avill walk 
 with us in it, we may walk safely in the midst of those 
 flames which shall devour those that cast us in : why, 
 then, keep thy soul above with Christ ; be as little as 
 may be out of his company, and then all conditions will 
 be alike to thee. What made " Moses choose affliction 
 with the people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasures 
 of sin for a season ? He had respect to the recompense 
 of reward." Yea, our Lord himself did fetch his encou- 
 ragements to sufferings from the foresight of his glory : 
 
846 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 "For to this end he both died, and rose, and revived, 
 that he might be Lord both of the dead and living," 
 Rom. xiv, 9. " Even Jesus, the author and finisher of 
 our faith, for the joy that was set before him, endured 
 the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the 
 right hand of the throne of God." 
 
 6. Consider, it is he that hath his conversation in 
 heaven, who is the profitable Christian to all about him: 
 with him you may take sweet counsel, and go up to the 
 celestial house of God. When a man is in a strange 
 country, far from home, how glad is he of the company 
 of one of his own nation ! How delightful is it to them 
 to talk of their country, of their acquaintance, and the 
 affairs of their home ! Why, with a heavenly Christian 
 thou mayest have such discourse ; for he hath been 
 there in the spirit, and can tell thee of the glory and rest 
 above. To discourse with able men, of clear under- 
 standings, about the difficulties of religion, yea, about 
 languages and sciences, is both pleasant and profitable ; 
 but nothing to this heavenly discourse of a believer. O 
 how refreshing are his expressions ! How his words 
 pierce the heart ! How they transform the hearers ! 
 " How doth his doctrine drop as the rain, and his speech 
 distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, 
 and as the showers upon the grass ; while his tongue is 
 expressing the name of the Lord, and ascribing great- 
 ness to his God'!" This is the man who is as Job, 
 ** when the candle of God did shine upon his head, and 
 when by his light he walked through darkness : when 
 the secret of God was upon his tabernacle, and when the 
 Almighty was yet with him : then the ear that heard 
 him, did bless him ; and the eye that saw him gave wit- 
 ness to him," Job xxix, 3, 4, 5, 11. Happy the people 
 that have a heavenly minister ; happy the children and 
 servants that have a heavenly father or master ; happy 
 the man that hath heavenly associates ; if they have but 
 hearts to know their happiness. This is the companion, 
 who will watch over thy ways, who will strengthen thee 
 when thou art weak, who will cheer thee when thou art 
 drooping, and comfort thee with the same comforts 
 wherewith he hath been so often comforted himself. 
 This is he that will be blowing the spark of thy spiritual 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 247 
 
 life, and always drawing thy soul to God, and will be 
 saying to thee, as the Samaritan woman, " Come and 
 see one that hath told me all that ever I did," one that 
 hath ravished my heart with his beauty, one that hath 
 loved our souls to the death : is not this the Christ ? Is 
 not the knowledge of God and him eternal life ? Is it 
 not the glory of the saints to see his glory ? If thou 
 travel with this man on the way, he will be directing 
 and quickening thee in thy journey to heaven : if thou 
 be buying, or selling, or trading with him in the world, 
 he will be counselling thee to lay out for the inestimable 
 treasure : if thou wrong him, he can pardon thee, re- 
 membering that Christ hath not only pardoned great 
 offences to him, but will also give him this invaluable 
 portion. This is the Christian of the right stamp ; this 
 is the servant that is like his Lord ; these be the inno- 
 cent that save the island, and all about them are the 
 better where they dwell. I fear the men I have de- 
 scribed are very rare, but were it not for our shameful 
 negligence, such men might we all be ! 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONTAINING SOME HINDERANCES OF HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 
 
 As thou valuest the comforts of a heavenly conversa- 
 tion, I here charge thee from God, to beware most care- 
 fully of these impediments : — 
 
 1. The first is, a living in a known sin. Observe 
 this : — "What havoc will this make in thy soul ! O the 
 joys that this hath destroyed ! The blessed communion 
 with God that this hath interrupted ! The ruins it hath 
 made among men's graces ! The duties that it hath 
 hindered ! And above all others, it is an enemy to this 
 great duty. 
 
 I desire thee, in the fear of God, stay here a little, 
 and search thy heart. Art thou one that hath used vio- 
 lence with thy conscience ? Art thou a wilful neglecter 
 of known duties, either public or private ? Art thou a 
 slave to thine appetite, in eating or drinking, or to any 
 other commanding sense? Art thou a seeker of thine 
 
248 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 own esteem, and a man that must needs have men's good 
 opinion ? Art thou a peevish or a passionate person, 
 ready to take fire at every word, or every supposed 
 slight? Art thou a deceiver of others in thy dealing: 
 or one that hath set thyself to rise in the world ? Not 
 to speak of greater sins, which all take notice of. If 
 this by thy case, I dare say, heaven and thy soul are 
 very great strangers ; I dare say thou art seldom with 
 God, and there is little hope it should be better as long 
 as thou continuest in these transgressions : these beams 
 in thine eye will not suffer thee to look to heaven ; these 
 will be a cloud between thee and God. How shouldst 
 thou take comfort from heaven, who taketh so much 
 pleasure in the lusts of the flesh? Every wilful sin will 
 be to thy comforts as water to fire ; when thou thinkest 
 to quicken them, this Avill quench them ; when thy heart 
 begins to draw near to God, this will presently fill thee 
 with doubting. Besides, it doth utterly indispose thee, 
 and disable thee to this work : when thou shouldst wind 
 up thy heart to heaven, it is biased another way : it is 
 entangled, and can no more ascend in Divine medita- 
 tion, than the bird can fly whose wings are clipped, or thai 
 is taken in the snare. Sin doth cut the very sinews of 
 the soul ; therefore I say of this heavenly life as Mr. 
 Bolton saith of prayer, " Either it will make thee leave 
 sinning, or sin will make thee leave it," and that quick- 
 ly too : for these cannot continue together. If heaven 
 and hell can meet together, then mayest thou live in thy 
 sin and in the tastes of glory. If, therefore, thou find 
 thyself guilty, never doubt but this is the cause that es- 
 trangeth thee from heaven ; and take heed lest it keep 
 out thee, as it keeps out thy heart. Yea, if thou be a 
 man that hitherto hast escaped, and knowest no reigning 
 sin in thy soul, yet let this warning move thee to pre- 
 vention, and stir up a dread of this danger in thy spirit ; 
 especially resolve to keep from the occasions of sin, 
 and, as much as possible, out of the way of tempta- 
 tions. 
 
 2. A second hinderance carefully to be avoided is an 
 earthly mind ; for you may easily conceive that this 
 cannot stand with a heavenly mind. God and mam- 
 mon, earth and heaven, cannot both have the delight of 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 249 
 
 thy heart. This makes thee like Anselm's bird, with a 
 stone tied to the foot, which, as oft as she took flight, 
 did pluck her to the earth again. If thou be a man that 
 hast fancied to thyself some happiness to be found on 
 earth, and beginnest to taste a sweetness in gain, and to 
 aspire after a higher estate, and art driving on thy de- 
 sign ; believe it, thou art marching with thy back upon 
 Christ, and art posting apace from this' heavenly life. 
 Hath not the world that from thee which God hath from 
 the believer ? When he is blessing himself in God, 
 and rejoicing in hope of the glory to come, then thou 
 art blessing thyself in thy prosperity. 
 
 It may be thou boldest on thy course of duty, and 
 prayest as oft as thou didst before ; it may be thou 
 keepcst in with good ministers, and with good men, 
 and seemest as forward in religion as ever : but what is 
 all this to the purpose ? Mock not thy soul, man ; for 
 God will not be mocked. Thine earthly mind may 
 consist with thy common duties ; but it cannot consist 
 with this heavenly duty. I need not tell thee this, if 
 thou wouldst not be a traitor to thy own soul : thou 
 knowest thyself how seldom and cold, how cursory and 
 strange, thy thoughts have been of the joys hereafter, 
 ever since thou didst trade so eagerly for the world. 
 
 Methinks I even perceive thy conscience stir now, 
 and tell thee plainly that this is thy case. Hear it, 
 man ! O hear it now ; lest thou hear it in another man- 
 ner, when thou wouldst be full loath. O the cursed 
 madness of many that seem to be religious ! who thrust 
 themselves into the multitude of employments, and 
 think they can never have business enough, till they 
 are so loaded with labours, and clogged with cares, that 
 their souls are as unfit to converse with God as a man 
 to walk with a mountain on his back. And when all is 
 done, and they have lost that heaven they might have 
 had upon earth, they take up a few rotten arguments to 
 prove it lawful, and then they think that they have 
 salved all. They miss not the pleasures of this heaven- 
 ly life, if they can but quiet their consciences, while 
 they fasten upon lower and baser pleasures. 
 
 For thee, O Christian ! who hast tasted of these plea- 
 sures, I advise thee, as thou valuest their enjoyment, 
 11* 
 
350 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 as ever thou wouldst taste of them any more, take heed 
 of this gulf of an earthly mind : for if once thou comest 
 to this, " that thou wilt be rich, thou fallest into temp- 
 tation, and a snare, and into divers foolish and hurtful 
 lusts." Keep these things as thy upper garments still 
 loose about thee, that thou mayest lay them by when- 
 ever there is cause ; but let God and glory be next thy 
 heart, yea, as the very blood and spirit by which thou 
 livest : still remember that of the Spirit, " The friend- 
 ship of the world is enmity with God ; whosoever there- 
 fore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." 
 And " love not the world, nor the things in the world : 
 if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not 
 in him." This is plain dealing ; and happy he that 
 faithfully receives it. 
 
 3. A third hindcrance of which I must advise thee to 
 beware is, the company of ungodly and sensual men. 
 Not that I would dissuade thee from necessary con- 
 verse, or from doing them any office of love : nor would 
 I have thee conclude them to be dogs and swine, that so 
 thou mayest evade the duty of reproof ; nor yet to judge 
 them such at all, before thou art certain they are such 
 indeed. 
 
 But it is the unnecessary society of ungodly men, 
 and familiarity with unprofitable companions, though 
 they be not so apparently ungodly, that I dissuade you 
 from. It is not only the open profane, the swearer, 
 the drunkard, that will prove hurtful to us; but dead- 
 hearted formalists, or persons merely civil, and moral, 
 or whose conference is empty, unsavoury, and barren, 
 may much divert our thoughts from heaven. As mere 
 idleness, and forgetting God, will keep a soul as cer- 
 tainly from heaven, as a profane, licentious, fleshly life : 
 so also will useless company as surely keep our hearts 
 from heaven, as the company of men more dissolute 
 and profane. Alas ! our dulness and backwardness is 
 such that we have need of the most constant and power- 
 ful helps : a clod, or a stone, that lies on the earth is 
 as prone to arise and fly in the air, as our hearts are to 
 move toward heaven. You need not hold them from 
 flying up to the skies ; it is sufficient that you do not 
 help them. If our spirits have not great assistance 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 261 
 
 they may easily be kept from flying aloft, though they 
 never should meet with the least impediment. O think 
 rf this in the choice of your company : when your 
 spirits need no help to lift them up, but as the flames 
 you are always mounting upward, and carrying with 
 you all that is in your way, then you may indeed be 
 less careful of your company ; but till* then be careful 
 therein. As it is reported of a lord that was near his 
 death, and the doctor that prayed with him read over 
 the litany : " For all women labouring with child, for 
 all sick persons, and young children," 6lc. — " From 
 lightning and tempest ; from plague, pestilence, and 
 famine : from battle and murder, and from sudden 
 death." — " Alas !" saith he, " what is this to me, who 
 must presently die ?" So mayest thou say of such 
 men's conference, Alas ! what is this to me, who must 
 shortly be in rest ? What will it advantage thee to a 
 life with God, to hear where the fair is such a day, or 
 how the market goes, or what weather it is, or is like 
 to be, or when the moon changed, or what news is stir- 
 ring ? What will it conduce to the raising thy heart 
 God ward, to hear that this is an able minister, or that 
 an able Christian, or that this was an excellent sermon, 
 or that is an excellent book ; to hear a discourse of 
 baptisms, ceremonies, the order of God's decrees, or 
 other such controversies of great difficulty, and less 
 importance ? Yet this, for the most part, is the sweet- 
 est discourse that you are likely to have of a formal 
 dead-hearted professor. If thou hadst newly been 
 warming thy heart with the joys above would not this 
 discourse quickly freeze it again ? I appeal to the judg- 
 ment of any man that hath tried it, and maketh obser- 
 vations on the frame of his spirit. 
 
 4. A fourth hinderance to heavenly conversation is, 
 disputes about lesser truths, and especially when a 
 man's religion lies only in his opinions; a sure sign of 
 an unsanctified soul. If sad examples be regarded, I 
 need say the less upon this. It is legibly written in the 
 faces of thousands ; it is visible in the complexion of 
 our diseased nation. They are men least acquainted 
 with a heavenly life who are the violent disputers about 
 the circumstantials of religion ; he whose religion is all 
 
252 THE saints' everlasting rest. , 
 
 in his opinions will be most frequently and zealously 
 speaking his opinions ; and he whose religion lies in 
 the knowledge and love of God in Christ, of that time 
 when he shall enjoy God and Christ. As the body doth 
 languish in consuming fevers when the native heat 
 abates within, and an unnatural heat inflaming the ex- 
 ternal parts succeeds : so when the zeal of a Christian 
 doth leave the internals of religion, and fly to externals, 
 or inferior things, the soul must needs consume and 
 languish. Yea, though you were sure your opinions 
 were true, yet when the chief of your zeal is turned 
 thither, and the chief of your conference there laid out, 
 the life of grace decays within. 
 
 Therefore let me advise you that aspire after this 
 joyous life, spend not your thoughts, your time, your 
 zeal, or your speeches, upon quarrels that less concern 
 your souls : but when others are feeding on husks or 
 shells, or on this heated food which will burn their lips 
 far sooner than warm and strengthen their hearts ; 
 then do you feed on the joys above. I could wish you 
 were all understanding men, able to defend every truth 
 of God ; but still I would have the chief to be chiefly 
 studied, and none to shoulder out your thoughts of eter- 
 nity : the least controverted points are usually most 
 weighty, and of most necessary use to our souls. 
 
 5. As you value the comforts of a heavenly life, take 
 heed of a proud and lofty spirit. There is such an an- 
 tipathy between this sin and God, that thou Vv'ilt never 
 get thy heart near him, as long as this prevaileth in it. 
 If it cast the angels from heaven that v/ere in it, it must 
 needs keep thy heart estranged from it. If it cast our 
 first parents out of paradise, and separated between the 
 Lord and us, it must needs keep our hearts from para- 
 dise, and increase the cursed separation from our God. 
 The delight of God is an humble soul, even him that is 
 contrite, and trembleth at his word : and the delight of 
 an humble soul is in God : and sure where there is 
 mutual delight there will be freest admittance, and 
 heartiest welcome, and most frequent converse. Well, 
 then, art thou a man of worth in thine own eyes ? And 
 very tender of thine esteem vnih others ? Art thou one 
 that much vainest applause, and feelest delight when 
 
THE saints' everlasting rest. 253 
 
 thou hearest of thy great esteem with men ; and art de- 
 jected when thou hearest that men slight thee ? Dost 
 thou loA'e those most who best honour thee ; and doth 
 thy heart bear a grudge at those that thou thinkest un- 
 dervalue thee ? Wilt thou not be brought to shame thy- 
 self, by humble confession, when thou hast sinned 
 against God, or injured thy brother? Art thou one 
 that honourest the rich ? And thinkest thyself some- 
 body if they value and own thee; but lookest strangely 
 at the poor, and art almost ashamed to be their com- 
 panion ? Art thou unacquainted with the deceitfulness 
 and wickedness of thy heart? Or knowest thyself to 
 be vile only by reading, not by feeling thy vileness ? 
 Art thou readier to defend thyself, and maintain thine 
 innocence, than to accuse thyself, or confess thy fault? 
 Canst thou hardly hear a close reproof, or plain dealing, 
 without difficulty and distaste ? Art thou readier in thy 
 discourse to teach than to learn : and to dictate to 
 others than to hearken to their instructions ? Art thou 
 bold and confident of thy own opinions, and little sus- 
 picious of the weakness of thy understanding, but a 
 slighter of the judgment of all that are against thee ? Is 
 thy spirit more disposed to command than to obey ? 
 Art thou ready to censure the doctrine of thy teachers, 
 the actions of thy rulers, and the persons of thy bre- 
 thren? and to think, if thou wert a judge, thou wouldst 
 be more just ; or if thou wert a minister, thou wouldst 
 be more fruitful and more faithfui? If these symptoms 
 be in thy heart beyond doubt thou art a proud person. 
 Thou art abominably proud ; there is too much of hell 
 abiding in thee, for thee to have any acquaintance at 
 heaven : thy soul is too like the devil to have any fami- 
 liarity with God. 
 
 I entreat you be very jealous of your souls in this 
 point: there is nothing will more estrange you from 
 God : I speak the more of it, because it is the most 
 <*ommon and dangerous sin, and most promoting the 
 great sin of infidelity : you would little think what hum- 
 ble carriage, what exclaiming against pride, what self- 
 accusing, may stand Avith this devilish sin of pride. O 
 Christian, if thou wouldst live continually in the pre- 
 sence of thy Lord, and lie in the dust, he would thence 
 
254 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 take thee up ; descend first with him into the grave, 
 and thence thou mayest ascend with him to glory. 
 Learn of him to be meek and lowly, and then thou 
 mayest taste of this rest to thy soul. Thy soul else 
 will be "as the troubled sea, which cannot rest;" and 
 instead of these sweet delights in God, thy pride will 
 fill thee with perpetual disquietude. 
 
 6. Another impediment to this heavenly life is lazi- 
 ness and slothfulness of spirit : and I verily think for 
 knowing men there is nothing hinders more than this. 
 If it were only the exercise of the body, the moving of 
 the lips, the bending of the knee, then men would as 
 commonly step to heaven, as they go a few miles to 
 visit a friend : yea, if it were to spend our days in num- 
 bering beads, and repeating certain words and prayers, 
 or in the outward parts of duties commanded by God, 
 yet it were comparatively easy : farther, if it were only 
 in the exercise of parts and gifts, it were easier to be 
 heavenly minded. But it is a work more difficult than 
 all this to separate our thoughts and affections from 
 the world ; to draw forth all our graces in their order, 
 and exercise each on its proper object ; to hold them to 
 this, till the work doth thrive and prosper in their 
 hands ; this is the difficult task. Heaven is above thee, 
 the way is upward ; dost thou think, who art a feeble 
 sinner, to travel daily this steep ascent without a great 
 deal of labour and resolution ? Canst thou get that 
 earthly heart to heaven, and bring that backward mind 
 to God, while thou liest still, and takest thine ease ? If 
 lying down at the foot of the hill, and looking toward 
 the top, and wishing we were there would serve the 
 turn, then we should have daily travellers for heaven. 
 But " the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and 
 the violent take it by force." There must be violence 
 used to get the first fruits, as well as to get the full 
 possession. Dost thou not feel it so, though I should 
 not tell thee? Will thy heart get upward except thou 
 drive it? Dost thou find it easy to dwell in the delights 
 above ? It is true the work is sweet, and no condition 
 on earth so desirable ; but therefore it is that our hearts 
 are so backward ; especially in the beginning, till we 
 are acquainted with it. O how many who can easily 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 255 
 
 bring their hearts to ordinary duties, as reading, hear- 
 ing, praying, conferring, could never yet, in all their 
 lives, bring them, and keep them, to a heavenly con- 
 templation one half hour together ! Consider here, 
 reader, as before the Lord, whether this be not thine 
 own case. Thou hast known that heaven is all thy 
 hopes ; thou knovvest thou must shortly be turned 
 hence, and that nothing below can yield thee rest ; thou 
 knowest also that a strange heart, a seldom and care- 
 less thinking of heaven, can fetch but little comfort 
 thence : and dost thou yet, for all this, let slip thy op 
 portunities, when thou shouldst walk above, and live 
 with God ? Dost thou commend the sweetness of a 
 heavenly life, and yet didst never once try it thyself? 
 But as the sluggard that stretched himself on his bed, 
 and cried, O that this were working ! so dost thou live 
 at thy ease, and say, O that I could get my heart to 
 heaven ! How many read books and hear sermons in 
 expectation to hear of some easy course, or to meet 
 with a shorter cut to comforts than ever they are like to 
 find ? And if they can hear of none from the preach- 
 ers of truth, they will snatch it with rejoicing from the 
 teachers of falsehood : and presently applaud the excel- 
 lence of the doctrine, because it hath fitted their lazy 
 temper ; and think there is no other doctrine will com- 
 fort the soul, because it will not comfort it with hearing 
 and looking on. And while they pretend enmity only 
 to the law, they oppose the easier conditions of the 
 Gospel, and cast off the burden which all must bear 
 that find rest to their souls : the Lord of light, and 
 Spirit of comfort, show these men in time a surer way 
 for lasting comfort. It was an established law among 
 the Argi, that if a man were perceived to be idle and 
 lazy, he must give an account before the magistrate 
 how he came by his victuals and maintenance : and sure 
 when I see these men lazy in the use of God's appointed 
 means for comfort, I cannot but question how they 
 came by their comforts. I would they would examine 
 it thoroughly themselves ; for God will require an ac- 
 count of it from them. Idleness, and not improving the 
 truth in painful duty, is the common cause of men's 
 seeking comfort from error ; even as the people of 
 
356 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 Israel, when they had no comfortable answer from God, 
 because of their own sin and neglect, would run to seek 
 It from the idols of the heathens; so when men are 
 false-hearted, and the Spirit of truth denies them com- 
 fort, because they deny him obedience, they will seek 
 it from a lying spirit. 
 
 My advice to such a lazy sinner, is this : as thou art 
 ccHivicted that this work is necessary to thy comfort, so 
 resolvedly set upon it : if thy heart draw back, and be 
 indisposed, force it on with the command of reason ; 
 and if thy reason begin to dispute the work, force it 
 with producing the command of God : and quicken it 
 with the consideration of thy necessity, and the other 
 motives before propounded : and let the enforcements 
 that brought thee to the work, be still in thy mind to 
 quicken thee in it. Do not let such an incomparable 
 treasure lie before thee, while thou liest still with thy 
 hand in thy bosom : let not thy life be a c'ontinual vex- 
 ation, which might be a continual feast, and all because 
 thou wilt not be at the pains. When thou hast once 
 tasted the sweetness of it, and a little used thy heart to 
 the work, thou wilt find the pains thou takest abundantly 
 recompensed. Only sit not still with a disconsolate 
 spirit, while comforts grow before thine eyes. Neither 
 is it a few formal, lazy, running thoughts, that will fetch 
 thee this consolation from above ; no more than a few 
 lazy, formal words will prevail with God instead of fer- 
 vent prayer. I know Christ is the fountain, and I know 
 this, as every other gift, is of God : but yet if thou ask 
 my advice, how to obtain these waters of consolation, I 
 must tell thee there is something also for thee to do : 
 the Gospel hath its conditions and works, though not 
 such impossible ones as the law ; Christ hath his yoke 
 and his burden, though easy, and thou must take it up, 
 or thou wilt never find rest to thy soul. I know so far 
 as you are spiritual, you need not all this striving and 
 violence, but that is but in part, and in part you are car- 
 nal ; and as long as it is so, there is no talk of ease. It 
 was the Parthians' custom, that none must give their 
 children any meat in the morning, before they saw the 
 sweat on their faces ; and you shall find this to be God's 
 most usual course, not to give his children the taste of 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 257 
 
 his delights, till they begin to sweat in seeking after 
 them. Therefore lay them both together, and judge 
 whether a heavenly life, or thy ease, be better ; and 
 make the choice accordingly. Yet this let me say, thou 
 needest not expend thy thoughts more than now thou 
 dost ; it is but only to employ them better : I press thee 
 not to busy thy mind much more than thou dost ; but 
 to busy it upon better and more pleasant objects. Em- 
 ploy but so many serious thoughts every day upon the 
 excellent glory of the life to come, as thou now em- 
 ployest on the affairs in the world ; nay, as thou daily 
 losest on vanities, and thy heart will be at heaven in a 
 short space. 
 
 7. It is also a dangerous hinderance to content our- 
 selves with the mere preparatives to this heavenly life, 
 while we are strangers to the life itself : when we take 
 up with the mere studies of heavenly things, and the 
 notions and thoughts of them in ovir brain, or the talking 
 of them with one another, as if this were all that makes 
 us heavenly people. There is none in more danger of 
 this snare than those that are much in public duty, es- 
 pecially preachers of the Gospel. O how easily may 
 they be deceived here while they do nothing more than 
 read of heaven, and study of heaven, and preach of hea- 
 ven, and pray and talk of heaven ! What, is not this 
 the heavenly life ? O that God would reveal to our 
 hearts the danger of this snare ! Alas, all this is but 
 mere preparation : this is not the life we speak of, 
 though it is a help thereto. I entreat every one of my 
 brethren in the ministry, that they search and w^atch 
 against this temptation : this is but gathering the mate- 
 rials, and not the erecting the building : this is but ga- 
 thering manna for others, not eating and digesting it 
 ourselves : as he that sits at home may study geography, 
 and draAv most exact descriptions of countries, and yet 
 never see them, nor travel toward them ; so may you 
 describe to others the joys of heaven, and yet never 
 come near it in your own hearts : if you should study 
 of nothing but heaven while you lived, and preach of 
 nothing but heaven to your people, yet might your own 
 hearts be strangers to it : we are under a more subtle 
 temptation than other men to draw us from this heavenly 
 
258 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 life : if our employments lay at a greater distance from 
 heaven, we should not be so apt to be thus deluded : 
 but when we find ourselves employed upon nothing else, 
 we are easier drawn to take up here. Studying and 
 preaching of heaven is more like to a heavenly life, than 
 thinking and talking of the world is, and the likeness it 
 is that may deceive us : this is to die the most miserable 
 death, even to famish ourselves, because we have bread 
 on our tables, and to die for thirst while we draw water 
 for others : thinking it enough that we have daily to do 
 with it, though we never drink it. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SOME GENERAL HELPS TO HEAVENLY MINDEDNESS. 
 
 Having thus showed thee what hinderances will re- 
 sist thee in the work, I shall now lay down some posi- 
 tive helps. But first, I expect that thou resolve against 
 the forementioned impediments, that thou read them se- 
 riously, and avoid them faithfully, or else thy labour 
 will be all in vain ; thou dost but go about to reconcile 
 light and darkness, Christ and Belial, heaven and hell, 
 in thy spirit. I must tell thee, also, that I expect thy 
 promise faithfully to set upon the helps which I pre- 
 scribe thee ; and that the reading of them will not bring 
 heaven into thy heart, but in their constant practice the 
 Spirit will do it. 
 
 As thou valuest then these foretastes of heaven, make 
 conscience of performing these following duties : — 
 
 1. Know heaven to be the only treasure, and labour 
 to know what a treasure it is : be convinced that thou 
 hast no other happiness, and be convinced what happi- 
 ness is there : if thou dost not soundly believe it to be 
 the chief good, thou wilt never set thy heart upon it ; 
 and this conviction must sink into thy affections : for if 
 it be only a notion, it will have little operation. 
 
 2. Labour as to know heaven to be the only happi- 
 ness, so also to be thy happiness. Though the know- 
 ledge of excellence and suitableness may stir up that 
 love which worketh by desire, yet there must be the 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 259 
 
 knowledge of our interest or propriety to the setting at 
 work our love of complacency. We may confess hea 
 ven to be the best condition, though we despair of en- 
 joying it ; and we may desire and seek it, if we see the 
 obtainment to be but probable ; but we can never de- 
 lightfully rejoice in it, till we are persuaded of our title 
 to it. What comfort is it to a man that is naked, to see 
 the rich attire of others ? Or, to a man that hath not a 
 bit to put in his mouth, to see a feast which he must not 
 taste of? What delight hath a man that hath not a 
 house to put his head in, to see the sumptuous buildings 
 of others ? Would not all this rather increase his an- 
 guish, and make him more sensible of his misery ? So, 
 for a man to know the excellences of heaven, and not to 
 know whether he shall ever enjoy them, may well raise 
 desire to seek it, but it will raise but little joy and con- 
 tent. 
 
 3. Another help to the foretaste of rest is this : labour 
 to apprehend how near it is : think seriously of its 
 speedy approach. That which we think is near at hand, 
 we are more sensible of than that which we behold at a 
 distance. When we hear of war or fam-ine in another 
 country, it troubleth us not so much ; or if we hear it 
 prophesied of a long time hence : so if we hear of plenty 
 a great way off, or of a golden age that shall fall out, 
 who knows when, this never rejoiceth us. But if judg- 
 ments or mercies draw near, then they affect us. This 
 makes men think on heaven so insensibly, because they 
 conceit it at a great distance : they look on it as twenty, 
 or thirty, or forty years off; and this it is that dulls their 
 sense. As wicked men are fearless and senseless of 
 judgment, because the sentence is not speedily exe- 
 cuted ; so are the good deceived of their comforts, by 
 supposing them farther off than they are. How much 
 better were it to receive the sentence of death in our- 
 selves, and to look on eternity as near at hand ? Surely, 
 reader, thou standest at the door, and hundreds of dis- 
 eases are ready waiting to open the door and let thee in. 
 Are not the thirty or forty years of thy life that are past, 
 quickly gone? Are they not a very little time when 
 thou lookest back on them ? And will not all the rest 
 be shortly so too ? Do not days and nights come very 
 
260 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 thick? Dost thou not feel that building of flesh to 
 shake, and perceive thy house of clay to totter ? Look 
 on thy glass, see how it runs : look on thy watch, how 
 fast it goeth ; what a short moment is between us and 
 our rest ; what a step is it from hence to everlasting- 
 ness ! While I am thinking and writing of it, it hasteth 
 near, and I am even entering into it before I am aware. 
 While thou art reading this, it posteth on, and thy life 
 will be gone as a tale that is told. Mayest thou not 
 easily foresee thy dying time, and look upon thyself as 
 ready to depart ? It is but a few days till thy friends 
 shall lay thee in the grave, and others do the like for 
 them. If you verily believed you should die to-morrow, 
 how seriously would you think of heaven to-night ! 
 The true apprehensions of the nearness of eternity 
 doth make men's thoughts of it quick and piercing ; put 
 life into their fears and sorrows, if they be unfit ; and 
 into their desires and joys, if they have assurance of its 
 glory. 
 
 4. Another help to this is, to be much in serious dis- 
 coursing of it, especially with those that can speak from 
 their hearts. It is pity (saith Mr. Bolton) that Chris- 
 tians should ever meet together, without some talk of 
 their meeting in heaven : it is pity so much precious 
 time is spent in vain discourses, and useless disputes, 
 and not a sober word of heaven. Methinks we should 
 meet together on purpose to warm our spirits with dis- 
 coursing of our rest. To hear a minister or private 
 Christian set forth that glorious state, with power and 
 life from the promises of the Gospel, methinks should 
 make us say, as the two disciples, " Did not our hearts 
 burn within us, while he was opening to us the Scrip- 
 ture ?" while he was opening to us the windows of 
 heaven ? Get then together, fellow Christians, and talk 
 of the affairs of your country and kingdom, and comfort 
 one another with such words. This may make our 
 hearts revive within us, as it did Jacob's to hear the 
 message that called him to Goshen, and to see the cha- 
 riots that should bring him to Joseph. O that we were 
 furnished with skill and resolution to turn the stream 
 of men's common discourse to these more sublime and 
 precious things ! And when men begin to talk of things 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 261 
 
 unprofitable, that we could tell how to put in a word for 
 heaven. 
 
 5. Another help is this ; make it thy business in 
 every duty to wind up thy affections nearer heaven. A 
 man's attainments from God are answerable to his own 
 desires and ends ; that which he sincerely seeks he 
 finds : God's end in the institution of his ordinances 
 was, that they be as so many stepping stones to our rest, 
 and as the stairs by which (in subordination to Christ) 
 we may daily ascend unto it in our affections : let this 
 be thy end in using them, as it was God's end in or- 
 daining them ; and doubtless they will not be unsucces- 
 ful. Men that are separated by sea and land, can yet, 
 by letters, carry on great trades, even to the value of 
 their whole estate : and may not a Christian in the wise 
 improvement of duties drive on this happy trade for 
 rest? Come not therefore with any lower ends to du- 
 ties ; renounce familiarity, customariness, and applause. 
 When thou kneelest down in secret or public prayer let 
 it be in hope to get thy heart nearer God before thou 
 risest off thy knees : when thou openest thy Bible or 
 other books let it be with this hope, to meet with some 
 passage of Divine truth, and some such blessings of the 
 Spirit with it, as may raise thine affections nearer hea- 
 ven : when thou art setting thy foot out of thy door to 
 go to the public worship, say, I hope to meet with some- 
 what from God that may raise my aftections before I 
 return ; I hope the Spirit will give me the meeting, and 
 sweeten my heart with those celestial delights ; I hope 
 that Christ will appear to me in the way, and shine 
 about me with light from heaven, and let me hear his 
 instructing and reviving voice, and cause the scales to 
 fall from mine eyes, that I may see more of that glory 
 than I ever yet saw ; I hope before I return to my 
 house my Lord will take my heart in hand, and bring 
 it within the view of rest, and set it before his Father's 
 presence, that I may return as the shepherds from the 
 heavenly vision glorifying and praising God. Remem- 
 ber also to pray for thy teacher, that God would put 
 some Divine message into his mouth which may leave a 
 heavenly relish on thy spirit. 
 
 If these were our ends, and this our course, when we 
 
262 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 set to duty, we should not be so strange as we are to 
 heaven. 
 
 6. Another help is this ; make an advantage of every 
 object thou seest, and of every passage of Divine provi- 
 dence, and of every thing that befalls thee in thy labour 
 and calling to mind thy soul of its approaching rest. As 
 all providences and creatures are means to our rest, so 
 do they point us to that as their end. Every creature 
 hath the name of God and of our final rest written upon 
 it, which a considerate believer may as truly discern, as 
 he can read upon a hand in a crossway the name of 
 the town or city it points to. This spiritual use of 
 creatures and providences is God's great end in bestow- 
 ing them on man ; and he that overlooks this end must 
 needs rob God of his chief praise, and deny him the 
 greatest part of his thanks. This relation that our 
 present mercies have to our great eternal mercies is the 
 very quintessence and spirit of all these mercies ; there- 
 fore do they lose the very spirit of all their mercies, 
 and take nothing but the husks, who overlook this rela- 
 tion, and draw not forth the sweetness of it in their 
 contemplations. God's sweetest dealings with us would 
 not be half so SM^eet as they are if they did not intimate 
 some farther sweetness. As ourselves have a fleshly 
 and spiritual substance, so have our mercies a fleshly 
 and spiritual use, and are fitted to the nourishing of 
 both our parts. He that receives the carnal part, and 
 no more, may have his body comforted by them, but 
 not his soul. O, therefore, that Christians were skilled 
 in this art ! You can open your Bibles and read there 
 of God and of glory : O learn to open the creatures, 
 and the several passages of providence, to read of God 
 and glory there. Certainly, by such a skilful improve- 
 ment, we might have a fuller taste of Christ and hea- 
 ven in every bit we eat, and in every draft we drink, 
 than most men have in the use of the sacrament. 
 
 If thou prosper in the world let it make thee more 
 sensible of thy perpetual prosperity ; if thou be weary 
 of thy labours let it make thy thoughts of rest more 
 sweet : if things go cross with thee let it make thee 
 more earnestly desire that day when all thy suflerings 
 and sorrow shall cease. Is thy body refreshed with 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 263 
 
 food or sleep ? remember the inconceivable refreshings 
 with Christ. Dost thou hear any news that makes thee 
 glad ? remember what glad tidings it will be to hear the 
 sound of the trump of God, and the absolving sentence 
 of Christ our judge. Art thou delighting thyself in the 
 society of the saints ? remember the everlasting amiable 
 society thou shalt have with perfected saints in rest. 
 Is God communicating himself to thy spirit? remember 
 that time when thy joy shall be full. Dost thou hear or 
 feel the tempest of wars, or see any cloud of blood 
 arising? remember the day that thou shalt be housed 
 with Christ, where there is nothing but calmness and 
 amiable union, and where we shall solace ourselves in 
 perfect peace, under the v/ings of the Prince of peace. 
 Thus you may see what advantages to a heavenly life 
 every condition and creature doth afford us, if we have 
 but hearts to apprehend and improve them. 
 
 7. Another singular help is this : be much in that 
 angelical work of praise. As the most heavenly spirits 
 will have the most heavenly employment, so the more 
 heavenly the employment the more will it make the 
 spirit heavenly : though the heart be the fountain of all 
 our actions, yet do those actions, by a kind of reflection, 
 work much on the heart from whence they spring ; the 
 like also may be said of our speeches. So that the 
 work of praising God, being the most heavenly work, is 
 likely to raise us to the most heavenly temper. This 
 is the work of those saints and angels, and this will be 
 our own everlasting work : if we were more taken up 
 in this employment now we should be liker to what we 
 shall be then. When Aristotle was asked what he 
 thought of music, he answers, " Jovem neque canere 
 neque citharam pulsare ;" that Jupiter did neither sing 
 nor play on the harp, thinking it an unprofitable art to 
 men which was no more delightful to God. But Chris- 
 tians may better argue from the like ground, that sing- 
 ing of praise is a most profitable duty, because it is, as 
 it were, so delightful to God himself, that he hath made 
 it his people's eternal work ; for " they shall sing the 
 song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb." As desire, 
 and faith, and hope, are of shorter continuance than 
 love and joy ; so also preaching, and prayer, and sacra- 
 
264 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 merits, and all means for confirmation, and expression 
 of faith and hope shall cease, when our thanks, and 
 praise, and triumphant expressions of love and joy shall 
 abide for ever. The liveliest emblem of heaven that I 
 know upon earth is, when the people of God, in the 
 deep sense of his excellence and bounty, from hearts 
 abounding with love and joy, join together both in heart 
 and voice in the cheerful and melodious singing of 
 his praise. Those that deny the use of singing disclose 
 their unheavenly, unexperienced hearts, as well as their 
 ignorant understandings. Had they felt the heavenly 
 delights that many of their brethren in such duties have 
 felt, they would have been of another mind ! And vdiere^ 
 as they are wont to question, whether such delights be 
 genuine, or any better than carnal or delusive ; surely, 
 the very relish of God and heaven that is in them, the 
 example of the saints, in Scripture, whose spirits have 
 been raised by the same duty, and the command of 
 Scripture for the use of this means one would think 
 should quickly destroy the controversy. And a man 
 may as truly say of these delights, as of the testimony 
 of the Spirit, that they witness themselves to be of God. 
 
 Little do we know hov/ we wrong ourselves by shut- 
 ting out of our prayers the praises of God, or allowing 
 them so narrow a room as we usually do. Reader, I 
 entreat thee, remember this : let praises have a larger 
 room in thy duties ; keep ready at hand matter to 
 feed thy praise, as well as matter for confession and 
 petition. To this end study the excellences and good- 
 ness of the Lord, as frequently as thy own necessities 
 and vileness ; study the mercies which thou hast re- 
 ceived, and which are promised ; both their own worth 
 and their aggravating circumstances as often as thou 
 studiest the sins thou hast committed. O let God's 
 praise be much in your mouths. Seven times a day did 
 David praise him : yea, his praise was continually of 
 him. As he that offereth praise glorifieth God, so doth 
 he most rejoice and glad his own soul. "Offer there- 
 fore the sacrifice of praise continually : in the midst of 
 the Church let us sing his praise." 
 
 I confess, to a man of a languishing body, where the 
 heart faints, and the spirits are feeble, the cheerful 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 265 
 
 praising of God is more difficult ; because the body is 
 the soul's instrument, and when it lies unstringed, or 
 untuned, the music is likely to be accordingly. Yet a 
 spiritual cheerfulness there may be Avithin, and the 
 heart may praise, if not the voice. But where the body 
 is strong, the spirits lively, and the heart cheerful, and 
 the voice at command, what advantage have such for 
 this heavenly work ? With what alacrity may they 
 sing forth praises ? O the madness of healthful youth, 
 that lay out this vigour of body and mind upon vain 
 delights, which is so fit for the noblest work of men ! 
 And O the sinful folly of many who drench their spirits 
 in continual sadness, and waste their days in com- 
 plaints and groans, and so make themselves unfit for 
 this sweet and heavenly work ! that when they should 
 join with the people of God in his praise, and delight 
 their souls in singing to his name, they are studying 
 their miseries, and so rob God of his praise, and them- 
 selves of their solace. But the greatest destroyer of 
 our comfort in this duty is our sticking in the tune and 
 melody, and suffering the heart to be all the while idle, 
 which should perform the chief part of the work. 
 
 8. Another thing I will advise you to is this : be a 
 careful observer of the drawings of the Spirit, and fear- 
 ful of quenching its motions, of resisting its workings : 
 if ever thy soul get above this earth, and get acquaint- 
 ed with this living in heaven, the Spirit of God must be 
 to thee as the chariot to Elijah ; yea, the very living 
 principle by which thou must move and ascend to hea- 
 ven. O then grieve not thy guide, quench not thy life : 
 if thou dost, no wonder if thy soul be at a loss : you 
 little think how much the life of all your graces depends 
 upon your ready and cordial obedience to the Spirit : 
 when the Spirit urgeth thee to secret prayer, and thou 
 refusest obedience ; when he forbids thee a known 
 transgression, and yet thou Vvdlt go on ; when he telleth 
 thee which is the way, and which not, and thou wilt 
 not regard, no wonder if heaven and thy soul be 
 strange : if thou wilt not follow the Spirit, while it 
 would draw thee to Christ, and to duty ; how 'should it 
 lead thee to heaven, and bring thy heart into the pre- 
 sence of God ? O what bold access shall that soul find 
 12 
 
266 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 in its approaches to the Ahnighty, that is accustomed to 
 a constant obeying of the Spirit. And how backward, 
 how dull, and strange, and ashamed, will he be to these 
 addresses, who hath long used to break away from the 
 Spirit that would have guided him ! I beseech thee 
 learn well this lesson, and try this course : let not the 
 motions of thy body only, but the thoughts of thy heart, 
 be at the Spirit's beck. Dost thou not feel sometimes 
 a strong impulsion to retire from the world, and draw 
 near to God ? O do not thou disobey, but take the offer, 
 and hoist up sail while thou mayest have this blessed 
 gale. When this wind blows strongest, thou goest fast- 
 est, either backward or forward. The more of this Spirit 
 we resist, the deeper will it wound, and the more we 
 obey, the speedier is our pace ; as he goes heaviest that 
 hath the wind in his face, and he easiest that hath it in 
 his back. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 
 
 The main thing intended is yet behind, and that 
 which I aimed at when I set upon this work. All that 
 I have said is but the preparation to this. I once more 
 entreat thee, therefore, as thou art a man that makest 
 conscience of a revealed duty, and that darest not wil- 
 fully resist the Spirit ; as thou vainest the high delights 
 of a saint, and as thou art faithful to the peace and pros- 
 perity of thine own soul ; that thou diligently study the 
 directions following, and that thou speedily and faith- 
 fully put them in practice : I pray thee, therefore, re- 
 solve before thou readest any farther, and promise here, 
 as before the Lord, that if the following advice be whole- 
 some to thy soul, thou wilt seriously set thyself to the 
 work, and that no laziness of spirit shall take thee off, 
 nor lesser business interrupt thy course, but that thou 
 wilt approve thyself a doer of this word, and not an idle 
 hearer only. Is this thy promise, and wilt thou stand 
 to it ? Resolve, man, and then I shall be encouraged to 
 give thee my advice ; only try it thoroughly, and then 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 267 
 
 judge : if in the faithful following of this course thou 
 dost not find an increase of all thy graces, and art not 
 made more serviceable in thy place ; if thy soul enjoy 
 not more fellowship with God, and thy life be not fuller 
 of pleasure, and thou have not comfort readier by thee 
 at a dying hour, and when thou hast greatest need ; then 
 throw these directions back in my face, and exclaim 
 against me as a deceiver for ever : except God should 
 leave thee uncomfortable for a little season, for the more 
 glorious manifestation of his attributes and thy inte- 
 grity ; and single thee out as he did Job, for an example 
 of constancy and patience, which would be but a prepa- 
 rative for thy fullest comfort. Certainly God will not 
 forsake this his own ordinance, but will be found of 
 those that thus diligently seek him^ God hath, as it 
 were, appointed to meet thee in this way : do not thou 
 fail to give him the meeting, and thou shalt find by ex- 
 perience that he will not fail. 
 
 The duty which I press upon thee so earnestly, I 
 shall now describe : it is the set and solemn acting of 
 all the powers of the soul upon this most perfect object 
 [rest] by meditation. 
 
 I will a little more fu]ly explain the meaning of this 
 description, that so the duty may lie plain before thee. 
 1. The general title that I give this duty is, meditation: 
 not as it is precisely distinguished from cogitation, con- 
 sideration, and contemplation ; but as it is taken in the 
 larger and usual sense for cogitation on things spiritual, 
 and so comprehending consideration and contemplation. 
 
 That meditation is a duty of God's ordaining, not 
 only in his written law, but also in nature itself, I never 
 met with the man that Avould deny : but that it is a duty 
 constantly practised, I must, with sorrow, deny: it is in 
 word confessed to be a duty by all, but by the constant 
 neglect denied by most : and (I know not by what fatal 
 security it comes to pass, that) men that are very tender 
 conscienced toward most other duties, yet as easily 
 overslip this as if they knew it not to be a duty at all; 
 they that are presently troubled if they omit a sermon, a 
 fast, a prayer in public or private, yet were never trou- 
 bled that they have omitted meditation, perhaps, all their 
 lifetime to this very day : though it be that duty by 
 
268 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 which all other duties are improved, and by which the 
 soul digesteth truths, and draweth forth their strength 
 for its nourishment. Certainly, I think, that as a man 
 is but half an hour taking into his stomach that meat 
 which he must have seven or eight hours to digest j so 
 a man may take into his understanding and memory 
 more truth in one hour, than he is able well to digest in 
 many. Therefore God commanded Joshua, " That the 
 book of the law should not depart out of his mouth, but 
 that he should meditate therein day and night : that he 
 might observe to do according to that which is written 
 therein." As digestion is the turning the food into 
 chyle and blood, and spirits and flesh ; so meditation, 
 rightly managed, turneth the truths received and remem- 
 bered into warm affection, raised resolution, and holy 
 conversation. Therefore what good those men are 
 likely to get by sermons or providences, who are unac- 
 customed to meditation, you may easily judge. And 
 why so much preaching is lost among us, and men can 
 run from sermon to sermon, and yet have such languish- 
 ing, starved souls, I know no truer cause than their ne- 
 glect of meditation. If men heard one hour and medi- 
 tated seven ; if they did as constantly digest their ser- 
 mons as they hear them, they would find another kind 
 of benefit by sermons, than the ordinary sort of Chris- 
 tians do. 
 
 But because meditation is a general word, and it is 
 not all meditation that I here intend, I shall therefore lay 
 down the difference whereby this I am urging is discerned 
 from all other sorts of meditation. And the difference 
 is taken from the act, and from the object of it. 
 
 From the act, which I call the set and solemn acting 
 of all the powers of the soul. 
 
 1. I call it the acting of them, for it is action that we 
 are directing you in now, and not dispositions ; yet these 
 also are necessarily presupposed : it must be a soul that 
 is qualified for the work, by the supernatural grace of 
 the Spirit, which must be able to perform this heavenly 
 exercise. It is a work of the living, and not of the 
 dead : it is a work of all other the most spiritual, and 
 therefore not to be well performed by a heart that is 
 merely carnal. 
 
269 
 
 2. I call this meditation the acting of the powers of 
 the soul, meaning the soul as rational. It is the work 
 of the soul ; for bodily exercise doth here profit but 
 little. The soul hath its labour and its ease, its busi- 
 ness and its idleness, as well as the body ; and diligent 
 students are usually as sensible of the labour and weari- 
 ness of their spirits, as they are of that of the members 
 of the body. This action of the soul is it I persuade 
 thee to. 
 
 3. I call it the acting of all the powers of the soul, 
 to difference it from the common meditation of students, 
 which is usually the mere employment of the brain. It 
 is not a bare thinking that I mean, nor the mere use of 
 invention or memory, but a business of a higher and 
 more excellent nature. 
 
 The understanding is not the whole soul, and there- 
 fore cannot do the whole work: as God hath made se- 
 veral parts in man, to perform their several offices for 
 his nourishment and life ; so hath he ordained the facul- 
 ties of the soul to perform their several offices for his 
 spiritual life ; so the understanding must take in truths, 
 and prepare them for the will, and it must receive them, 
 and commend them to the aifections : the best digestion 
 is in the bottom of the stomach ; the affections are as it 
 were the bottom of the soul, and therefore the best di- 
 gestion is there ; while truth is but a speculation swim- 
 ming in the brain, the soul hath not taken fast hold of 
 it : Christ and heaven have various excellences, and 
 therefore God hath formed the soul with a power of di- 
 vers ways of apprehending, that so we might be capable 
 of enjoying those excellences. 
 
 What good could all the glory of heaven have done 
 us ? or what pleasure should we have had in the good- 
 ness of God himself, if we had been without the affec- 
 tions of love and joy, whereby we are capable of being 
 delighted in that goodness ? So, also, what strength or 
 sweetness canst thou receive by thy meditations on 
 eternity, while thou dost not exercise those affections 
 which are the senses of the soul, by which it must re- 
 ceive this strength and sweetness ! 
 
 This is it that hath deceived Christians in this busi- 
 ness ; they have thought meditation is nothing but the 
 
270 
 
 bare thinking on truths, and the rolling of them in the 
 understanding and memory, when every schoolboy can 
 do this. 
 
 Therefore this is the great task in hand, and this is 
 the work that I would set thee on ; to get these truths 
 from thy head to thy heart ; that all the sermons which 
 thou hast heard of heaven, and all the notions thou hast 
 conceived of this rest, may be turned into the blood and 
 spirit of affection, and thou mayest feel them revive 
 thee, and warm thee at the heart, and mayest so think 
 of heaven, as heaven should be thought on. 
 
 If thou shouldst study nothing but heaven while thou 
 livest, and shouldst have thy thoughts at command, to 
 turn them thither on every occasion, and yet shouldst 
 proceed no farther than this, this were not the medita- 
 tion that I intended : as it is thy whole soul that must 
 possess God hereafter, so must the whole in a lower 
 manner possess him here. I have shown you, in the 
 beginning of this treatise, how the soul must enjoy the 
 Lord in glory, to wit, by knowing, by loving, by joying 
 in him ; why, the very same way must thou begin thy 
 enjoyment here. 
 
 So much as thy understanding and affections are sin- 
 cerely placed upon God, so much dost thou enjoy him : 
 and this is the happy work of this meditation. So that 
 you see here is somewhat more to be done, than barely 
 to remember and think of heaven : as running, and such 
 like labours, do not only stir a hand or foot, but strain 
 and exercise the whole body ; so doth meditation the 
 whole soul. 
 
 As the whole was filled with sin before, so the whole 
 must be filled with God now ; as St. Paul saith of know- 
 ledge, and gifts, and faith, to remove mountains, that if 
 thou hast all these without love, thou art but " as a 
 sounding brass, or as a tinkling cymbal," so I may say 
 of the exercise of these, if in this work of meditation, 
 thou exercise knowledge, and gifts, and faith of mira- 
 cles, and not love and joy, thou dost nothing; if thy 
 meditation fends to fill thy note book with notions and 
 good sayings, concerning God, and not thy heart with 
 longings after him, and delight in him, for aught I know 
 thy book is as much a Christian as thou. 
 
THE SAINTS* EVERLASTING REST. 271 
 
 I call this meditation set and solemn, to difference it 
 from that which is occasional. As there is prayer which 
 is solemn, when we set ourselves wholly to the duty ; 
 and prayer which is sudden and short, commonly called 
 ejaculations, when a man in the midst of other business 
 doth send up some brief request to God : so also there 
 is meditation solemn, when we apply ourselves only to 
 that work ; and there is meditation which is short and 
 cursory, when in the midst of our business we have 
 some good thoughts of God in our minds. And as so- 
 lemn prayer is either first set, when a Christian, observ- 
 ing it as a standing duty, doth resolvedly practise it in a 
 constant course ; or secondly, occasional, when some 
 unusual occasion doth put us upon it at a season extra- 
 ordinary : so also meditation. 
 
 Now, though I would persuade you to that meditation 
 which is mixed with your common labours, and to that 
 which special occasions direct you to ; yet these are not 
 the main things which I here intend ; but that you 
 would make it a constant standing duty, as you do hear- 
 ing, and praying, and reading the Scripture, and that 
 you would solemnly set yourselves about it, and make 
 it for that time your whole work, and intermix other 
 matters no more with it than you would do with pray- 
 ing, or other duties. Thus you see what kind of medi- 
 tation it is that we speak of, viz., the set and solemn 
 acting of all the powers of the soul. 
 
 The second part of the difference is drawn from its 
 object, which is rest, or the most blessed estate of man 
 in his everlasting enjoyment of God in heaven. Medi- 
 tation hath a large field to walk in, and hath as many 
 objects to work upon, as there are matters, and lines, 
 and words in the Scriptures, as there are known crea- 
 tures in the whole creation, and as there are particular 
 discernible passages of Providence in the government 
 of persons and actions through the world : but the me- 
 ditation that I now direct you in, is only of the end of 
 all these, and of these as they refer to that end : it is 
 not a walk from mountains to valleys, from sea to land, 
 from kingdom to kingdom, from planet to planet ; but it' 
 is a walk from mountains and valleys to the holy mount 
 Sion ; from sea and land to the land of the living ; from 
 
272 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 the kingdoms of this world to the kingdom of saints ; 
 from earth to heaven ; from time to eternity. It is a 
 walking upon the sun, and moon, and stars ; it is a walk 
 in the garden and paradise of God. It may seem far 
 oif ; but spirits are quick ; whether in the body, or out 
 of the body, their motion is swift : they are not so heavy 
 or dull as these earthly lumps, nor so slow of motion as 
 these clods of flesh. I would not have you cast off" your 
 other meditations ; but surely as heaven hath the pre- 
 eminence in perfection, so should it have the pre-emi- 
 nence also in our meditation : that which will make us 
 most happy when we possess it, will make us most joy- 
 ful when we meditate upon it ; especially when that 
 meditation is a degree of possession, if it be such aflfect- 
 ing meditation as I here describe. 
 
 You need not here be troubled with fear, lest study- 
 ing so much on these high matters should make you 
 mad. If I set you to meditate as much on sin and 
 wrath, and to study nothing but judgment and damna- 
 tion, then you might fear such an issue : but it is hea- 
 ven, and not hell, that I would persuade you to walk in; 
 it is joy, and not sorrow, that I persuade you to exer- 
 cise. I would urge you to look on no deformed object, 
 but only upon the ravishing glory of saints, and the un- 
 speakable excellences of the God of glory, and the 
 beams that stream from the face of his Son. Are these 
 sad thoughts ? Will it distract a man to think of his 
 happiness ? Will it distract the miserable to think of 
 mercy ? Or the captive, or prisoner, to foresee deliver- 
 ance? Neither do I persuade your thoughts to matters 
 of great difficulty, or to study knotted controversies of 
 heaven, or to search out things beyond your reach. If 
 you should thus set your wit upon the tenters, you 
 might quickly be distracted indeed : but it is your affec- 
 tions more than your inventions that must be used in 
 this heavenly employment we speak of. They are 
 truths which are commonly known, which your souls 
 must draw forth and feed upon. The resurrection of 
 the body and the life everlasting, are articles of your 
 creed, and not nicer controversies. Methinks it should 
 be liker to make a man mad, to think of living in a world 
 of wo, to think of abiding among the rage of wicked 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 273 
 
 men, than to think of living with Christ in bliss ; me- 
 thinks, if we be not mad already, it should sooner dis- 
 tract us, to hear the tempests and roaring waves, to see 
 the billows, and rocks, and sands, and gulfs, than to 
 think of arriving safe at rest. " But wisdom is justified 
 of all her children." Knowledge hath no enemy but 
 the ignorant. This heavenly course was never spoken 
 against by any, but those that never either knew it, or 
 used it. I more fear the neglect of men that do approve 
 it. Truth loseth much more by loose friends, than by 
 the sharpest enemies. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FITTEST TIME AND PLACE FOR THIS CONTEMPLATION, AND 
 THE PREPARATION OF THE HEART UNTO IT. 
 
 Thus I have opened to you the nature of this duty ; 
 I proceed to direct you in the work ; where I shall, 
 First, Show you how you must set upon it ; Secondly, 
 How you must behave in it ; and Thirdly, How you 
 shall shut it up. I advise thee, 1. Somewhat concern- 
 ing the time. 2. Somewhat concerning the place. And 
 3. Somewhat concerning the frame of thy spirit. 
 
 And 1. For the time, I advise thee that as much as 
 may be, it be set and constant. Proportion out such a 
 part of thy time to the work. 
 
 Stick not at their scruple who question the stating of 
 times as superstitious ; if thou suit out thy time to the 
 advantage of the work, and place no religion in the 
 time itself, thou needest not to fear lest this be super- 
 stition. As a workman in his shop will have a set 
 place for every one of his tools, or else when he should 
 use it, it may be to seek ; so a Christian should have a 
 set time for every ordinary duty, or else when he should 
 practise it it is ten to one but he will be put by it. 
 Stated time is a hedge to duty, and defends it against 
 many temptations to omission. God hath stated none 
 but the Lord's day himself: but he hath left it to be 
 stated by ourselves, according to every man's condition 
 and occasions, lest otherwise his law should have been 
 12* 
 
274 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 a burden or a snare. Yet halh he left us general rules, 
 which by the use of reason, and Christian prudence, 
 may help us to determine the fittest times. 
 
 It is as ridiculous a question of them that ask us, 
 Where Scripture commands us to pray so oft or at such 
 hours ? as if they asked, Where the Scripture com- 
 mands that the church stand in such a place? or the 
 pulpit in such a place ? or m.y seat in such a place ? or 
 where it commands a man to read the Scriptures with a 
 pair of spectacles ? 
 
 Most that I have known to argue against a stated time 
 have at last grown careless of the duty itself, and show- 
 ed more dislike against the work than the time. If 
 God gave me so much money or wealth, and tell me 
 not in Scripture how much such a poor man must have, 
 nor how much my family, nor how much in clothes, 
 and how much in expenses, is it not lawful, yea, and 
 necessary, that I make the division myself, and allow 
 to each the due portion ? So if God doth bestow on 
 me a day or week of time, and give me such and such 
 work to do in this time, and tell me not how much I 
 shall allot to each work ; certainly I must make the 
 division myself, and proportion it wisely and carefully 
 too. Though God hath not told you at what hour you 
 shall rise in the morning, or at what hours you shall 
 eat and drink ; yet your own reason and experience 
 will tell you that ordinarily you should observe a stated 
 time. Neither let the fear of customariness and for- 
 mality deter you from this. This argument hath brought 
 the Lord's Supper from once a week to once a quarter, 
 or once a year ; and it hath brought family duties, with 
 too many of late, from twice a day to once a week, or 
 once a month. 
 
 I advise thee, therefore, if well thou mayest, to allow 
 this duty a stated time, and be as constant in it as in 
 hearing and praying : yet be cautious in understanding 
 this. I know this will not prove every man's duty : 
 some have not themselves and their time at command, 
 and therefore cannot set their hours; such are most 
 servants, and many children of poor parents ; and 
 many are so poor that the necessity of their families 
 will deny them this freedom. I do not think it the 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 275 
 
 duty of such to leave their labours for this work just at 
 certain set times, no nor for prayer. Of two duties we 
 must choose the greater, though of two sins we must 
 choose neither. I think such persons were best to be 
 watchful, to redeem time as much as they can, and take 
 their vacant opportunities as they fall, and especially to 
 join meditation and prayer, as much as they can, with 
 the labours of iheir callings. There is no such enmity 
 between labouring, and meditating or praying in the 
 Spirit, but that both may be done together ; yet I say, 
 as Paul in another case, " If thou canst be free, use it 
 rather." Those that have more spare time I still ad- 
 vise that they keep this duty to a stated time. And in- 
 deed it were no ill husbandry, nor point of folly, if we 
 did so by all other duties, if we considered the ordinary 
 works of the day, and suited out a fit season and pro- 
 portion of time to every work, and fixed this in our 
 memory and resolution, or wrote it in a table, and kept 
 it in our closets, and never broke it but upon unexpect- 
 ed and extraordinary causes : if every work of the day 
 had thus its appointed time, we should be better skilled, 
 both in redeeming time, and performing duty. 
 
 3. I advise thee also concerning thy time for this 
 duty, that as it be stated, so it be frequent : just how 
 oft it should be I cannot determine, because men's con- 
 ditions may vary it ; but in general, that it be frequent, 
 the Scripture requireth, when it mentioneth meditating 
 continually, and day and night. Circumstances of our 
 condition may much vary the circumstance of our du- 
 ties. It may be one man's duty to hear or pray oftener 
 than another, and so it may be in this of meditation : 
 but for those that can conveniently omit other business, 
 I advise that it be once a day at least. Though Scrip- 
 ture tells us not how oft in a day we should eat or 
 drink, yet prudence and experience will direct us twice 
 or thrice a day. 
 
 Those that think they should not tie themselves to 
 order and number of duties, but should then only medi- 
 tate, or pray, when they find the Spirit provoking them 
 to it, go upon uncertain and unchristian grounds. I am 
 sure the Scripture provokes us to frequency, and our 
 necessity secondeth the voice of Scripture ; and if 
 
S76 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 through my own neglect, or resisting the Spirit, I do 
 not find it so excite me, I dare not therefore disobey 
 the Scripture, nor neglect the necessities of my own 
 soul. I should suspect that spirit which would turn m}'- 
 soul from constancy in duty : if the Spirit in Scripture 
 bid me meditate or pray, I dare not forbear it, because 
 I find not the Spirit within me to second the command : 
 if I find not incitation to duty before, yet I may find 
 assistance while I wait in performance. I am afraid of 
 laying my corruptions upon the Spirit, or blaming the 
 want of the Spirit's assistance, when I should blame 
 the backwardness of my own heart ; nor dare I make 
 one corruption a plea for another ; nor urge the inward 
 rebellion of my nature as a reason for the outward dis- 
 obedience of my life ; and for the healing of my na- 
 ture's backwardness I more expect that the spirit of 
 Christ should do it in a way of duty, than in a way of dis- 
 obedience and neglect of duty. Men that fall on duty 
 according to the frame of their spirit only, are like our 
 ignorant vulgar, who think their appetite should be the 
 only rule of their eating ; when a wise man judgeth by 
 reason and experience, lest, when his appetite is deprav- 
 ed, he should either surfeit or famish. Our appetite is 
 no sure rule for our times of duty ; but the word of 
 God in general, and our spiritual reason, experience, 
 necessity, and convenience, in particular, may truly di- 
 rect us. 
 
 Three reasons especially should persuade thee to 
 frequency in this meditation on heaven. 
 
 1. Because seldom conversing with him will breed a 
 strangeness betwixt thy soul and God : frequent soci- 
 ety breeds familiarity, and familiarity increaseth love 
 and delight, and maketh us bold and confident in our 
 addresses. This is the main end of this duty, that thou 
 mayest have acquaintance and fellowship with God 
 therein; therefore if thou come but seldom to it, thou 
 wilt keep thyself a stranger still, and so miss of the end 
 of the work. 
 
 2. Seldomness will make thee unskilful in the work, 
 and strange to the duty, as well -as to God. How 
 clumsily do men set their hands to a work they are sel- 
 dom employed in ! whereas, frequency will habituate 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 277 
 
 thy heart to the work, and thou wilt better know the 
 way in which thou daily walkest, yea, and it will be 
 more easy and delightful also : the hill which made 
 thee pant and blow at the first going up thou mayest 
 run up easily when thou art once accustomed to it. 
 
 3. And lastly, Thou wilt lose that heat and life by 
 long intermissions, which with much ado thou didst ob- 
 tain in duty. If thou eat but a meal in two or three 
 days thou Avilt lose thy strength as fast as thou gettest 
 it : if in holy meditation thou get near to Christ, and 
 warm thy heart with the fire of love, if thou then turn 
 away, and come but seldom, thou wilt soon return to 
 thy former coldness. 
 
 It is true the intermixed use of other duties may do 
 much to the keeping thy heart above, especially secret 
 prayer : but meditation is the life of most other duties ; 
 and the view of heaven is the life of meditation. 
 
 3. Concerning the time of this duty, I advise thee 
 that thou choose the most seasonable time. All things 
 are beautiful in their season. Unseasonableness may 
 lose thee the fruit of thy labour ; it may raise disturb- 
 ances and difficulties in the work ; yea, it may turn a 
 duty to sin ; when the seasonableness of a duty doth 
 make it easy, doth remove impediments, doth embolden 
 us to the undertaking, and ripen its fruit. 
 
 The seasons of this duty are either, first, ordinary ; 
 or secondly, extraordinary. 
 
 First, The ordinary season of your daily perform- 
 ance cannot be particularly determined, otherwise God 
 would have determined it in his word. Men's condi> 
 tions of employment, and freedom, and bodily temper, 
 are so various that the same may be a seasonable hour 
 to one which may be unseasonable to another. If thou 
 be a servant, or a hard labourer, that thou hast not thy 
 time at command, thou must take that season which thy 
 business will best afford : either as thou sittest in the 
 shop at thy work, or as thou travellest on the way, or as 
 thou liest waking in the night. Every man best knows 
 his own time, even when he hath the least to hinder 
 him in the world : but for those whose necessities tie 
 them not so close, but that they may choose what time 
 of the day they will, my advice to such is, that they 
 
378 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 carefully observe the temper of their body and mind 
 and mark when they find their spirits most active and 
 fit for contemplation, and pitch upon that as the stated 
 time. Some men are freest for duties when they are 
 fasting, and some are then unfittest of all. Every 
 man is the meetest judge for himself. The time I have 
 always found fittest for myself, is the evening, from sun- 
 setting to the twilight ; and sometime in the night when 
 it is warm and clear. 
 
 The Lord's day is a time exceeding seasonable for 
 this exercise. When should we more seasonably con- 
 template on rest, than on that day which doth typify it 
 to us ? Neither do I think that typifying use is ceased, 
 because the antitype is not fully come. However, it 
 being a day appropriated to worship and spiritual duties, 
 we should never exclude this duty, which is so emi- 
 nently spiritual. I think verily this is the chief work 
 of a Christian Sabbath, and most agreeable to the intent 
 of its positive institution. What fitter time to converse 
 with our Lord than on that day which he hath appro- 
 priated to such employment, and therefore called it the 
 Lord's day ? What fitter day to ascend to heaven than 
 that on which our Lord did arise from earth, and fully 
 triumph over death and hell, and take possession of 
 heaven before us ? 
 
 Two sorts of Christians I would entreat to take notice 
 of this especially. 
 
 1. Those that spend the Lord's day only in public 
 worship ; either through the neglect of meditation, or 
 else by their overmuch exercise of the public, allowing 
 no time to private duty : though there be few that oflend 
 in this kind ; yet some there are, and a hurtful mistake 
 to the soul.it is. They will grow but in gifts, if they 
 exercise but their gifts in outward performances. 
 
 3. Those that have time on the Lord's day for idle- 
 ness and vain discourse, and find the day longer than 
 they know how well to spend : were these but ac- 
 quainted with this duty of contemplation, they would 
 need no other recreation ; they would think the longest 
 day short enough, and be sorry that the night had 
 shortened their pleasure. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 279 
 
 Secondly, For the extraordinary performance, these 
 following are seasonable times : — 
 
 1. When God doth extraordinarily revive thy spirit. 
 When God hath enkindled thy spirit with fire frfrm 
 above, it is that it may mount aloft more freely. It is a 
 choice part of a Christian's skill, to observe the temper 
 of his own spirit, and to observe the gales of grace, and 
 how the Spirit of Christ doth move upon his. " With- 
 out Christ we can do nothing :" therefore let us be doing 
 when he is doing ; and be sure not to be out of the way, 
 nor asleep, when he comes. A little labour will set thy 
 heart a going at such a time, when another time thou 
 mayest take pains to little purpose. 
 
 2. When thou art cast into troubles of mind through 
 sufferings, or fear, or care, or temptations, then it is sea- 
 sonable to address thyself to this duty. When should 
 we take our cordials, but in our times of fainting ? When 
 is it more seasonable to walk to heaven than when we 
 know not in what corner on earth to live with com- 
 fort ? Or when should our thoughts converse above, 
 but when they have nothing but grief to converse with 
 below ? 
 
 Another fit season for this heavenly duty is, when 
 the messengers of God summon us to die : when either 
 our grey hairs, or our languishing bodies, or some such 
 forerunners of death, tell us that our change cannot be 
 far off; when should We more frequently sweeten our 
 souls with the believing thoughts of another life, than 
 when we find that this is almost ended, and when flesh 
 is raising fears and terrors ? Surely no men have greater 
 need of supporting joys than dying men; and those joys 
 must be fetched from our eternal joy. 
 
 It now follows that I speak a word of the fittest place. 
 Though God is everywhere to be found, yet some places 
 are more convenient than others. 
 
 1. As this is a private and spiritual duty, so it is most 
 convenient that thou retire to some private place : our 
 spirits have need of every help, and to be freed from 
 every hinderance in the work. For occasional medita- 
 tion I give thee not this advice ; but for set and solemn 
 duty, I advise that thou withdraw thyself from all soci- 
 ety, that thou mayest awhile enjoy the society of Christ. 
 
280 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 And as I advise thee to a place of retiredness, so also 
 that thou observe more particularly, what place or pos- 
 ture best agreeth with thy spirit ; whether within door, 
 or without ; whether sitting still, or walking. I believe 
 Isaac's example in this also, will direct us to the place 
 and posture which will best suit with most, as it doth 
 with me, viz., "his walking forth to meditate in the 
 fields at the eventide." And Christ's own example 
 gives us the like direction. Christ was used to a solitary 
 garden ; and though he took his disciples thither with 
 him, yet did he separate himself from them for more se- 
 cret devotions. 
 
 I am next to advise thee somewhat concerning the 
 preparations of thy heart. The success of the work 
 doth much depend on the frame of thy heart. When 
 man's heart had nothing in it that might grieve the 
 Spirit, then was it the delightful habitation of his Maker 
 God did not quit his residence there till man did repel 
 him by unworthy provocations. There grew no strange- 
 ness till the heart grew sinful, and too loathsome a dun- 
 geon for God to delight in. And were this soul restored 
 to its former innocence, God would quickly return to 
 his former habitation ; yea, so far as it is renewed and 
 repaired by the Spirit, the Lord will yet acknowledge 
 it his own, and Christ will manifest himself unto it, and 
 the Spirit will take it for its temple and residence. So 
 far as the soul is qualified for conversing with God, so 
 far it doth actually enjoy him. Therefore "keep thy 
 heart with all diligence, for from thence are the issues 
 oflifeV 
 
 More particularly, when thou settest on this duty, 
 1. Get thy heart as clear from the world as thou canst; 
 wholly lay by the thoughts of thy business, of thy trou- 
 bles, of thy enjoyments, and of every thing that may take 
 up any room in thy soul. Get thy soul as empty as 
 possibly thou canst, that so it may be the more capable 
 of being filled with God. It is a work that will require 
 all the powers of thy soul, if they were a thousand times 
 more capacious and active than they are, and therefore 
 you have need to lay by all other thoughts and affections 
 while you are busied here. 
 
 3. Be sure thou set upon this work with the greatest 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 281 
 
 seriousness that possibly thou canst. Customariness 
 here is a killing sin. There is no trifling in holy things ; 
 God will be sanctified of all that draw i\ear him. These 
 spiritual duties are the most dangerous, if we miscarry 
 in them, of all. The more they advance the soul, 
 being well used, the more they destroy it, being used 
 unfaithfully ; as the best meats corrupted are the 
 worst. 
 
 To help thee, therefore, to be serious when thou settest 
 on this work, first. Labour to have the deepest appre- 
 hensions of the presence of God, and of the incompre- 
 hensible greatness of the majesty which thou approach 
 est. Think with what reverence thou shouldst approach 
 thy Maker : think thou art addressing thyself to him 
 " that made the worlds with the word of his mouth ; that 
 upholds the earth as in the palm of his hand ; that keeps 
 the sun, and moon, and heaven, in their courses ; that 
 bounds the raging sea with the sands, and saith. Hitherto 
 go, and no farther." Thou art going to converse with 
 him, before whom the earth will quake, and devils trem- 
 ble ; before whose bar thou must shortly stand, and all 
 the world with thee, to receive their doom. O think, I 
 shall then have lively apprehensions of his majesty; my 
 drowsy spirits will then be wakened : why should I not 
 now be roused with the sense of his greatness, and the 
 dread of his name possess my soul ? 
 
 Secondly, Labour to apprehend the greatness of the 
 work which thou attemptest, and to be deeply sensible 
 both of its weight and height. If thou wert pleading 
 for thy life at the bar of a judge, thou wouldst be seri- 
 ous ; and yet that were but a trifle to this. If thou wert 
 engaged in such a work as David was against Goliath, 
 whereon the kingdom's deliverance depended, in itself 
 considered, it were nothing to this. Suppose thou wert 
 going to such a wrestling as Jacob's ; suppose thou 
 wert going to see the sight which the three disciples 
 saw in the mount ; how seriously, how reverently 
 wouldst thou both approach and behold ! If some angel 
 from heaven should but appoint to meet thee, at the 
 time and place of thy contemplation, how apprehen- 
 sively wouldst thou go to meet him ! Why, consider 
 then with what a spirit thou shouldst meet the Lord, and 
 
282 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 with what seriousness and dread thou shouldst daily con- 
 verse with him. 
 
 Consider also the blessed issue of the work. If it 
 succeed it will be an admission of thee into the presence 
 of God, a beginning of thy eternal glory on earth; a 
 means to make thee live above the rate of other men, 
 and admit thee into the next room to the angels them- 
 selves ; a means to make thee live and die both joyfully 
 and blessedly : so that the prize being so great, thy pre- 
 paration should be answerable. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHAT AFFECTIONS MUST BE ACTED, AND BY WHAT CONSIDERA 
 TIONS AND OBJECTS, AND IN WHAT ORDER. 
 
 To draw the heart nearer the work, the next thing 
 to be discovered is, what powers of the soul must here 
 be acted, what affections excited, what considerations 
 are necessary thereto, and in what order we must pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 1. You must go to the memory, which is the maga- 
 zine or treasury of the understanding ; thence you must 
 take forth those heavenly doctrines which you intend to 
 make the subject of your meditation. For the present 
 purpose, you may look over any promise of eternal life 
 in the Gospel ; any description of the glory of the saints, 
 of the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting ; 
 some one sentence concerning those eternal joys, may 
 afford you matter for many years' meditation ; yet it will 
 be a point of wisdom here, to have always a stock of 
 matter in our memory, that so when we should use it 
 we may bring forth out of our treasury things new and 
 old. If we took things in order, and observed some 
 method in respect of the matter, and did meditate first 
 on one truth concerning eternity, and then another, it 
 would not be amiss. And if any should be barren of 
 matter through weakness of memory, they may have 
 notes or books of this subject for their fartherance. 
 
 2. When you have fetched from your memory the 
 matter of your meditation, your next work is to present 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 283 
 
 it to your judgment ; open there the case as fully as thou 
 canst, set forth the several ornaments of the crown, the 
 several dignities belonging to the kingdom, as they are 
 partly laid open in the beginning of this book ; let judg- 
 ment deliberately view them over, and take as exact a 
 survey as it can ; then put the question, and require a 
 determination. Is there happiness in all this, or not ? 
 Is not here enough to make me blessed ? Can he want 
 any thing, who fully possesseth God ? Is there any 
 thing higher for a creature to attain ? Thus urge thy 
 judgment to pass an upright sentence, and compel it to 
 subscribe to the perfection of thy celestial happiness, 
 and to leave this sentence as under its hand upon re- 
 cord. 
 
 Thus exercise thy judgment in the contemplation of 
 thy rest; thus magnify and advance the Lord in thy 
 heart, till a holy admiration hath possessed thy soul. 
 
 3. But the great work, which you may either pre- 
 mise, or subjoin to this as you please, is to exercise 
 thy belief of the truth of thy rest ; and that both in re- 
 spect of the truth of the promise, and also the truth of 
 thy own interest and title. As unbelief doth cause the 
 languishing of all our graces ; so faith would do much 
 to revive and actuate them, if it were but revived and 
 actuated itself. 
 
 If we did soundly believe that there is such a- glory, 
 that within a few days our eyes shall behold it, O what 
 passions would it raise within us ! Were we thoroughly 
 persuaded that every word in the Scripture concerning 
 the inconceivable joys of the kingdom, and the inex- 
 pressible blessedness of the life to come, were the very 
 word of the living God, and should certainly be per- 
 formed to the smallest tittle, O what astonishing appre- 
 hensions of that life would it breed ! How would it 
 actuate every affection! How would it transport us 
 with joy upon the least assurance of our title ! If I 
 were as verily persuaded that I shall shortly see those 
 great things of eternity, promised in the word, as I am 
 that this is a chair that I sit in, or that this is paper that 
 I write on, would it not put another spirit within me? 
 Would it not make me forget and despise the world? 
 and even forget to sleep, or to eat ? and say, as Christ, 
 
284 THE saints' everlasting rest 
 
 " I have meat to eat that ye know not of?" O sirs, you 
 little know what a thorough belief would work. 
 
 Therefore let this be a chief part of thy business in 
 meditation. Read over the promises ; study all con- 
 firming providences ; call forth thine own experiences ; 
 remember the scriptures already fulfilled both to the 
 Church and saints in the former ages, and eminently to 
 both in this present age, and those that have been fulfil- 
 led particularly to thee. 
 
 Set before your faith the freeness and the universality 
 of the promise : consider God's ofi*er, and urge it upon 
 all, that he hath excepted from the conditional covenant 
 no man in the world, nor will exclude any from heaven 
 who will accept of his offer. Study also the gracious 
 disposition of Christ, and his readiness to welcome all 
 that will come : study all the evidences of his love, 
 which appeared in his suff'erings, in his preaching the 
 Gospel, in his condescension to sinners, in his easy 
 conditions, in his exceeding patience, and in his urgent 
 invitations. Do not all these discover his readiness to 
 save ? Did he ever manifest himself unwilling ? Re- 
 member also his faithfulness to perform his engage- 
 ments. Study also the evidences of his love in thyself. 
 Look over the works of his grace in thy soul : if thou 
 dost not find the degree which thou desirest, yet deny 
 not that degree which thou findest. Remember what 
 discoveries of thy state thou hast made formerly in the 
 work of self-examination. Remember all the former 
 testimonies of the Spirit ; and all the sweet feelings of 
 the favour of God ; and all the prayers that he hath 
 heard and granted ; and all the preservations and de- 
 liverances ; and all the progress of his Spirit in his 
 workings on thy soul, and the disposals of Providence 
 conducing to thy good ; and vouchsafing of means, the 
 directing of thee to them, the directing of ministers to 
 meet with thy state, the restraint of those sins that thy 
 nature was most prone to. Lay these all together, and 
 then think with thyself, whether all these do not testify 
 the good will of the Lord concerning thy salvation ? 
 And whether thou mayest not conclude with Samson's 
 mother, when her husband thought they should surely 
 die, " If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 285 
 
 have received an offering at our hands, neither would he 
 have showed us all these things ; nor would, as at this 
 time, have told us such things as these," Judges xiii, 
 22, 23. 
 
 2. When the meditation hath thus proceeded about 
 the truth of thy happiness, the next part of the work is 
 to meditate of its goodness ; that when the judgment 
 hath determined, and faith hath apprehended, it may- 
 then pass on to raise the affections. 
 
 1. The first affection to be acted is love ; the object 
 of it is goodness : here then is the reviving part of thy 
 work : go to thy memory, thy judgment, and thy faith, 
 and from them produce the excellences of thy rest; 
 take out a copy of the record of the Spirit in Scripture, 
 and another of the sentence registered in thy spirit, 
 whereby the transcendent glory of the saints is de- 
 clared ; present these to thy affection of love ; open to 
 it the cabinet that contains the pearl ; show it the pro- 
 mise, and that which it assureth ; thou needest not look 
 on heaven through a multiplying glass ; open but one 
 casement that love may look in ; give it but a glimpse 
 of the back parts of God, and thou wilt find thyself pre- 
 sently in another world : do but speak out, and love can 
 hear ; do but reveal these things, and love can see ; it 
 is the brutish love of the world that is blind ^ Divine 
 love is exceeding quick-sighted. Let thy faith, as it 
 were, take thy heart by the hand, and show it the 
 sumptuous buildings of thy eternal habitation, and the 
 glorious ornaments of thy Father's house ; show it 
 those mansions which Christ is preparing, and display 
 before it the honours of the kingdom ; let faith lead 
 thy heart into the presence of God, and draw as near as 
 possibly thou canst, and say to it, " Behold the Ancient 
 of days, the Lord Jehovah, whose name is I AM ;" 
 this is he who made the worlds with his word ; this is 
 the cause of all causes, the spring of action, the fount- 
 ain of life, the first principle of the creature's motions ; 
 who upholds the earth, who ruleth the nations, who dis- 
 poseth of events, and subdueth his foes ; who governeth 
 the depths of the great waters, and boundeth the rage 
 of her swelling waves ; who ruleth the winds, and mo- 
 veth the orbs, and causeth the sun to run its race, and 
 
286 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 the several planets to know their courses ; this is he 
 that loved thee from everlasting, that formed thee in 
 the womb, and gave thee this soul ; who brought thee 
 forth, and showed thee the light, and ranked thee with 
 the chief of his earthly creatures ; who endued thee 
 with thy understanding, and beautified thee with his 
 gifts ; who maintaineth thee with life, and health, and 
 comforts ; who gave thee thy preferments, and dignified 
 thee with thy honours, and differenced thee from the 
 most miserable and vilest of men. Here, O here is an 
 object worthy thy love ; here thou mayest be sure thou 
 canst not love too much ; this is the Lord that hath 
 blessed thee with his benefits, that hath spread thy 
 table in the sight of thine enemies, and caused thy cup 
 to overflow ; this is he that angels and saints praise, 
 and the host of heaven must magnify for ever. 
 
 Thus do thou expatiate in the praises of God, and 
 open his excellences to thine own heart, till thou feel 
 the life begin to stir, and the fire in thy breast begin to 
 kindle : as gazing upon the dusty beauty of flesh doth 
 kindle the fire of carnal love ; so this gazing on the 
 glory and goodness of the Lord will kindle spiritual 
 love. What though thy heart be rock and flint, this 
 often striking may bring forth the fire ; but if yet thou 
 feelest not thy love to work, lead thy heart farther, and 
 show it yet more ; show it the Son of the living God, 
 whose name is " Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty 
 God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace ;" 
 show it the King of saints on the throne of his glory, 
 *' who is, and was, and is to come ; who liveth and was 
 dead, and behold, he lives for evermore ; who hath 
 made thy peace by the blood of his cross, and hath pre- 
 pared thee. Math himself, a habitation of peace ;" his 
 office is to be the great peace-maker ; his kingdom is 
 a kingdom of peace ; his Gosjpel is the tidings of peace ; 
 nis voice to thee now is the voice of peace ; draw near 
 and behold him ; dost thou not hear his voice ? He 
 that called Thomas to come near and to see the print 
 of the nails, and to put his finger into his wounds, he it 
 is that calls to thee. Come near and view the Lord thy 
 Saviour, and be not faithless, but believing ; " Peace be 
 unto thee, fear not, it is I ;" he that calleth, Behold me, 
 
THE saints' everlasting r^st. 287 
 
 behold me, to a rebellious people that called not on his 
 name, doth call out to thee, a believer, to behold him ; 
 he that calls to them who pass by to behold his sorrow 
 in the day of his humiliation, doth call now to thee, to 
 behold his glory in the day of his exaltation. Look 
 well upon him : dost thou not know him ? Why, it is 
 he that brought thee up from the pit of hell ; it is he 
 that reversed the sentence of thy damnation ; that bore 
 the curse which thou shouldst have borne, and restored 
 to thee the blessing that thou hadst forfeited, and pur- 
 chased the advancement which thou must inherit for 
 ever ; and yet dost thou not know him ? Why, his 
 hands were pierced, his head was pierced, his sides 
 were pierced, his heart was pierced with the sting of 
 thy sins, that by these marks thou mayest always know 
 him. Dost thou not remember when he found thee 
 lying in thy blood, and took pity on thee, and dressed 
 thy wounds, and brought thee home, and said unto 
 thee,* Live? Hast thou forgotten since he wounded 
 himself to cure thy wounds, and let out his own blood 
 to stop thy bleeding? Is not the passage to his heart 
 yet standing open ? If thou know him not by the face, 
 the voice, the hands ; if thou know him not by the tears 
 and bloody sweat, yet look nearer, thou mayest know 
 him by the heart ; that broken-healed heart is his, that 
 dead-revived heart is his, that pitying, melting heart is 
 his ; doubtless it can be none but his. Love and com- 
 passion are its certain signatures ; this is he, even this 
 is he, who would rather die than thou shouldst die ; 
 who chose thy life before his own ; who pleads his 
 blood before his Father, and makes continual interces- 
 sion for thee. If he had not suffered, O what hadst 
 thou suffered ? What hadst thou been, if he had not 
 redeemed thee? Whither hadst thou gone, if he had 
 not recalled thee ? There was but one step between 
 thee and hell, when he stepped in and bore the stroke ; 
 he slew the bear, and rescued the prey ; he delivered 
 thy soul from the roaring lion ; and is not here fuel 
 enough for love to feed on ? Doth not this loadstone 
 snatch thy heart, and almost draw it forth from thy 
 breast? Canst thou read the history of love any far* 
 ther at once ? Doth not thy throbbing heart here stop 
 
to ease itself; and dost thou not, as Joseph, seek for a 
 place to weep in ? Or do not the tears of thy love be- 
 dew these lines ? Go, then, for the field of love is large 
 it will yield thee fresh contents for ever, and be thine 
 eternal work to behold and love ; thou needest not then 
 want work for thy present meditation. 
 
 Hast thou forgotten the time when thou wast weep- 
 ing, and he wiped the tears from thine eyes? when thou 
 wast bleeding, and he wiped the blood from thy soul? 
 when pricking cares and fears did grieve thee, and he 
 did refresh thee, and draw out the thorns? Hast thou 
 forgotten when thy folly wounded thy soul, and the ve- 
 nomous guilt seized upon thy heart? when he sucked 
 forth the mortal poison from thy soul, though therewith 
 he drew it into his own. 
 
 I remember it is written of good Melancthon, that 
 when his child was removed from him, it pierced his 
 heart to remember how he once sat weeping, with the 
 infant on his knee, and how lovingly it wiped the tears 
 from the father's eyes : how then should it pierce thy 
 heart to think how lovingly Christ hath wiped away 
 thine ! O how oft hath he found thee sitting weeping, 
 like Hagar, while thou gavest up thy state, thy Mends, 
 thy life, yea, thy soul, for lost ; and he opened to thee a 
 well of consolation, and opened thine eyes also that thou 
 mayest see it ? How oft hath he found thee in the pos- 
 ture of Elias, sitting under the tree forlorn and solitary, 
 and desiring rather to die than to live ; and he hath 
 spread thee a table from heaven, and sent thee away re- 
 freshed and encouraged ? How oft hath he found thee, 
 as the servant of Elias, crying out, " Alas ! what shall 
 we do, a host doth compass the city ?" and he hath 
 opened thine eyes to see more for thee than against thee, 
 both in regard of the enemies of thy soul and thy body? 
 How oft hath he found thee in such a passion, as Jonas, 
 in thy peevish frenzy, weary of thy life ; and he hath 
 not answered passion with passion, though he might 
 have done well to be angry, but hath mildly reasoned 
 thee out of thy madness, and said, " Dost thou well to 
 be angry," or to repine against me ? How oft hath he 
 set thee on watching and praying, or repenting and be- 
 lieving, and when he hath returned, hath found thee 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 289 
 
 fast asleep? and yet he hath not taken thee at the worst, 
 but instead of an angry aggravation of thy fault, he hath 
 covered it over Avith the mantle of love, and prevented 
 thy overmuch sorrow with a gentle excuse, " the spirit 
 is willing, but the flesh is weak." He might have done 
 by thee, as Epaminondas by his soldier, who, finding 
 him asleep upon the watch, run him through with his 
 sword, and said, " Dead I found thee, and dead I leave 
 thee :" but he rather chose to awake thee more gently, 
 that his tenderness might admonish thee, and keep thee 
 watching. How oft hath he been traduced in his cause, 
 or name, and thou hast, like Peter, denied him (at least 
 by thy silence) while he hath stood in sight? Yet all 
 the revenge he hath taken, hath been a heart-melting 
 look, and a silent remembering thee of thy fault by his 
 countenance. How oft hath conscience haled thee be- 
 fore him, as the Pharisees did the adulterous Avoman ; 
 and laid most heinous crimes to thy charge ? And when 
 thou hast expected to hear the sentence of death, he 
 hath shamed away the accusers, and put them to silence, 
 and said to thee, " Neither do I condemn thee ; go thy 
 way, and sin no more." 
 
 And art thou not yet transported with love? Can thy 
 heart be cold, when thou thinkest of this, or can it hold 
 when thou rememberest those boundless compassions ? 
 Rememberest thou not the time when he met thee in 
 thy duties ; when he smiled upon thee, and spake com- 
 fortably to thee ? when thou didst " sit under his sha- 
 dow with great delight, and when his fruit was sweet to 
 thy taste ?" when " he brought thee to his banqueting 
 hou^e, and his banner over thee was love ?" when " his 
 left hand was under thy head, and with his right hand 
 he did embrace thee ?" And dost thou not yet cry out, 
 " Stay me, comfort me, for I am sick of love ?" Thus I 
 would have thee deal with thy heart ; thus hold forth 
 the goodness of Christ to thy aflfections ; plead thus the 
 case with thy frozen soul, till thou say as David in ano- 
 ther case, " My heart was hot within me." 
 
 If these arguments will not rouse up thy love, thou 
 hast more of this nature at hand : thou hast all Christ's 
 personal excellences to study ; thou hast all his parti- 
 cular mercies to thyself; thou hast all his sweet and 
 
 13 
 
290 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 near relations to thee ; and thou hast the happiness of 
 thy perpetual abode with him hereafter. All these offer 
 themselves to thy meditation, with all their several 
 branches. Only follow them close to thy heart, ply the 
 work, and let it not cool : deal with thy heart, as Christ 
 did with Peter when he asked thrice over, " Lovest thou 
 me?" till he was grieved, and answered, "Lord, thou 
 knowest that I love thee." So say to thy heart, Lovest 
 thou the Lord ? and ask it the second time, and urge it 
 the third time, Lovest thou the Lord? till thou grieve it, 
 and shame it out of its stupidity, and it can truly say, 
 Thou knowest that I love him. 
 
 2. The next affection to be excited is desire. The 
 object of it is goodness not yet attained This being 
 so necessary an attendant of love, and being excited 
 much by the same considerations, I suppose you need 
 the less direction, and therefore I shall touch but briefly 
 on this ; if love be hot, desire will not be cold. 
 
 When thou hast thus viewed the goodness of the 
 Lord, and considered the pleasures that are at his right 
 hand, then proceed on thy meditation thus : think with 
 thyself, Where have I been ? what have I seen ? O the 
 incomprehensible, astonishing glory ! O the rare tran- 
 scendent beauty ! O blessed souls that now enjoy it ! 
 that see a thousand times more clearly what I have seen 
 but darkly at this distance, and scarce discern through the 
 interposing clouds ! VVhat a difference is there betwixt 
 my state and theirs ! I am sighing, and they are sing- 
 ing : 1 am sinning, and they are pleasing God : I have 
 an ulcerated soul, like the loathsome bodies of Job and 
 Lazarus, but they are perfect, and without blemish : I 
 am here entangled in the love of the world, when they 
 are taken up with the love of God: I live indeed among 
 the means of grace, and I possess the fellowship of my 
 fellow believers ; but I have none of their immediate 
 views of God, none of that fellowship that they possess : 
 they have none of my cares and fears ; they weep not in 
 secret ; they languish not in sorrows ; all tears are 
 wiped away from their eyes. O what a feast hath my 
 faith beheld, and what a famine is yet in my spirit ! I 
 have seen a glimpse of the court of God ; but, alas, 1 
 stand but as a beggar at the doors, when the souls of 
 
THE SAINTS^ EVERLASTING REST. 291 
 
 my compannions are admitted in. O blessed souls ! I 
 may not, I dare not, envy your happiness ; I rather re- 
 joice in my brethren's prosperity, and am glad to think 
 of the day when I shall be admitted into your fellow- 
 ship. But O that I were so happy as to be in your 
 place ; not to displace you, but to rest there with you. 
 Why must I stay and groan, and weep, and wait ? My 
 Lord is gone, he hath left this earth, and is entered into 
 his glory : my brethren are gone, my friends are there, 
 my house, my hope, my all, is there : and must I stay 
 behind to sojourn here ? "What precious saints have 
 left this earth ! If the saints were all here, if Christ 
 were here, then it were no grief for me to stay ; but 
 when my soul is so far distant from my God, wonder not 
 if I now complain ; an ignorant Micah will do so for 
 his idol, and shall not my soul do so for God ? And 
 yet if I had no hope of enjoying, I would go and hide 
 myself in the deserts, and spend my days in fruitless 
 w:ishes ; but seeing it is the promised land, the state I 
 must be advanced to myself, and my soul draws near, 
 and is almost at it, I will live and long ; I will look and 
 desire ; I will breathe out. How long, Lord, how long ! 
 How long, Lord, holy and true, wilt thou suffer this 
 soul to pant and groan ! and wilt not open and let him 
 in, who waits and longs to be with thee ! 
 
 Thus, reader, let thy thoughts aspire : thus whet the 
 desires of thy soul by meditation ; till thy soul long (as 
 David's for the waters of Bethlehem) and say, " O that 
 one would give me to drink of the wells of salvation !" 
 and till thou canst say as he, " I have longed for thy 
 salvation, O Lord !" 
 
 3. The next affection to be acted, is hope. This is 
 of singular use to the soul. It helpeth exceedingly to 
 support it in sufferings ; it encourageth it to adventure 
 upon the greatest difficulties ; it firmly establisheth it 
 in the most shaking trials ; and it mightily enlivens the 
 soul in duties. 
 
 Let faith then show thee the truth of the promise, and 
 judgment the goodness of the thing promised ; and what 
 then is wanting for the raising thy hope? Show thy 
 soul from the word, and from the mercies, and from the 
 nature of God, what possibility, yea, what probability, 
 
292 THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 yea, what certainty, thou hast of possessing the crown. 
 Think thus, and reason thus wfth thy own heart : why 
 should I not confidently and comfortably hope, when 
 my soul is in the hands of so compassionate a Saviour, 
 and when the kingdom is at the disposal of so bounteous 
 a God ? Did he ever manifest any backAvardness to my 
 good, or discover the least inclination to my ruin ? 
 Hath he not sworn to the contrary to me in his word, 
 that he delights not in the death of him that dieth, but 
 rather that he should repent and live ? Have not all his 
 dealings with me witnessed the same ? Did he not mind 
 me of my danger when I never feared it ? And why 
 was this, if he would not have me escape it ? Did he 
 not mind me of my happiness when I had no thoughts 
 of it? And why was this, but that he would have me 
 to enjoy it ? I have been ashamed of my hope in the 
 arm of flesh, but hope in the promise of God maketh 
 not ashamed : I will say, therefore, in my greatest suf- 
 ferings, " The Lord is my portion, therefore will I hope 
 in him. The Lord is good to them that wait for him, to 
 the soul that seeketh him ; it is good that I both hope, 
 and quietly wait, for the salvation of the Lord. The 
 Lord will not cast off for ever ; but though he cause 
 grief, yet will he have compassion, according to the 
 multitude of his mercies." Though I languish and die, 
 yet will I hope ; for he hath said, " The righteous hath 
 hope in his death." Though I must lie down in dust 
 and darkness, yet there " my flesh shall rest in hope." 
 And when my flesh hath nothing in which it may re- 
 joice, yet will I keep " the rejoicing of hope firm to the 
 end." 
 
 4. The last affection to be acted, is joy. This is the 
 end of all the rest ; love, desire, hope, tend to the rais- 
 ing of our joy. And is it nothing to have a deed of gift 
 from God ? Are his infallible promises no ground of 
 joy ? Is it nothing to live in daily expectation of enter- 
 ing into the kingdom ? Is not my assurance of being 
 glorified one day, a sufl[icient ground for inexpressible 
 joy ? Is it no delight to the heir of a kingdom, to think 
 of what he must hereafter possess, though at present he 
 Kttle diflfer from a servant ? Am I not commanded " to 
 rejoice in hope of the glory of God ?" 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 295 
 
 Here lake thy heart once again, as it were, by the 
 hand, bring it to the top of the highest mount; show it 
 the " kingdom of Christ, and the glory of it ;" say to it, 
 " All this will thy Lord bestow upon thee, who hast be- 
 lieved in him, and been a worshipper of him. It is the 
 Father's good pleasure to give thee this kingdom."' 
 Seest thou this astonishing glory above thee ? Why all 
 this is thy own inheritance. This crown is thine, these 
 pleasures are thine, because thou art Christ's, and Christ 
 is thine ; when thou wert married to him, thou hadst all 
 this with him. 
 
 Thus take thy heart into the land of promise ; show- 
 it the pleasant hills and fruitful valleys ; show it the 
 clusters of grapes which thou hast gathered, and by 
 those convince it that it is a blessed land, flowing with 
 better than milk and honey : enter the gates of the 
 holy city, walk through the streets of the New Jerusa- 
 lem, walk about Sion, go around about her, tell the 
 towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks, consider her 
 palaces, that thou mayest tell it to thy soul: "The 
 foundation is garnished with precious stones ; the 
 twelve gates are twelve pearls ; the street of the city is 
 pure gold, as it were transparent glass ; there is no 
 temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb* 
 are the temple of it. It hath no need of sun or moon 
 to shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and 
 the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them 
 which are saved shall walk in the light of it." This is- 
 thy rest, O my soul, and this must be the place of thy 
 everlasting habitation : " Let all the sons of Sion then 
 rejoice, and the daughters of Jerusalem be glad: for 
 great is the Lord, and greatly is he praised in the city 
 of our God : beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole 
 earth, is Mount Sion ; God is known in her palaces for 
 a refuge." 
 
 Yet proceed : " The soul," saith Austin, " that loves, 
 ascends frequently, and runs familiarly through the 
 streets of the heavenly Jerusalem, visiting the patri- 
 archs and prophets, saluting the apostles, and admiring 
 the armies of martyrs and confessors." So do thou- 
 lead on thy heart as from street to street, bringing it 
 into the palace of the great King ; lead it, as it were,. 
 
294 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 from chamber to chamber ; say to it, Here must I lodge, 
 here must I live, here must I love, and be loved. I 
 must shortly be one of this heavenly choir, I shall then 
 be better skilled in the music ; among this blessed com- 
 pany must I take my place ; my tears will then be 
 wiped away ; there it is that trouble and lamentation 
 cease, and the voice of sorrow is not heard. O when I 
 look upon this glorious place what a dungeon methinks 
 is earth ! O what a difference betwixt a man feeble, 
 pained, groaning, dying, rotting in the grave, and one 
 of these triumphant, blessed, shining saints ! Here 
 " shall I drink then of the river of pleasure, the streams 
 whereof make glad the city of God. For the Lord will 
 create a new earth, and the former shall not be remem- 
 bered ; we shall be glad and rejoice for ever in that 
 which he creates ; for he will create Jerusalem a re- 
 joicing, and her people a joy ; and he will rejoice in 
 Jerusalem, and joy in his people, and the voice of weep- 
 ing shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of cry- 
 ing ; there shall be no more thence an infant of days, 
 nor an old man, that hath not filled his days." 
 
 Why do I not then arise from the dust, and lay aside 
 my sad complaints, and cease my mourning ? Why do 
 I not trample down vain delights, and feed upon the 
 foreseen delights of glory ? Why is not my life a con- 
 tinual joy ? and the favour of Heaven perpetually upon 
 my spirit ? 
 
 I do not place any flat necessity in thy acting all the 
 forementioned affections in this order at one time, or in 
 one duty : perhaps thou mayest sometime feel some 
 one of thy affections more flat than the rest, and so to 
 have more need of exciting ; or thou mayest find one 
 stirring more than the rest, and so think it more sea- 
 sonable to help it forward ; or if thy time be short, thou 
 mayest work upon one affection one day, and upon an- 
 other the next, as thou findest cause ; all this I leave to 
 thy own prudence. 
 
295 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SOME ADVANTAGES AND HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL BY 
 MEDITATION. 
 
 The next part of this directory is to show you what 
 advantages you should take, and what helps you should 
 use, to make your meditations of heaven more quicken- 
 ing, and to make you taste the sweetness that is therein. 
 For this is the main work, that you may not stick in a 
 bare thinking, but may have the lively sense of all upon 
 your hearts : and this you will find to be the most diffi- 
 cult part of the work. It is easier to think of heaven a 
 whole day than to be lively and affectionate in those 
 thoughts one quarter of an hour. Therefore let us yet 
 a little farther consider what may be done to make your 
 thoughts of heaven piercing, affecting thoughts. 
 
 It will be a point of spiritual prudence, and a singu- 
 lar help to the farthering of faith, to call in our senses to 
 its assistance : if we can make us friends of those usual 
 enemies, and make them instruments of raising us to 
 God, which are the usual means of drawing us from 
 God, we shall perform a very excellent work. Sure it 
 is both possible and lawful to do something in this 
 kind ; for God would not have given us either senses 
 themselves, or their usual objects, if they might not 
 have been serviceable to his own praise, and helps to 
 raise us. to the apprehension of higher things : and it is 
 very considerable how the Holy Ghost doth conde- 
 scend, in the phrase of Scripture, in bringing things 
 down to the reach of sense ; how it sets forth the excel 
 lences of spiritual things in words that are borrowed 
 from the objects of sense. Doubtless, if such expres- 
 sions had not been best, and to us necessary, the Holy 
 Ghost would not have so frequently used them : he that 
 will speak to man's understanding, must speak in man's 
 language, and speak that which he is capable to con- 
 ceive. 
 
 1. Go to then ; when thou settest thyself to meditate 
 on the joys above, think on them boldly as Scripture 
 hath expressed them ; bring down thy conceivings to 
 
296 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 the reach of sense. Excellence, without familiarity, 
 doth more amaze than delight us ; but love and joy are 
 promoted by familiar acquaintance : when we go about 
 to think of God and glory without these spectacles we 
 are lost, and have nothing to fix our thoughts upon ; 
 we set God and heaven so far from us that our thoughts 
 are strange, and we look at them as things beyond our 
 reach, and are ready to say that which is above is 
 nothing to us : to conceive no more of God and glory 
 but that we cannot conceive them ; and to apprehend 
 no more but that they are past apprehension, will pro- 
 duce no more love but this, to acknowledge that they 
 are so far above us that we cannot love them ; and no 
 more joy but this, that they are above our rejoicing. 
 And therefore put Christ no farther from you than he 
 hath put himself, lest the Divine nature be again inac- 
 cessible. Think of Christ as in our own nature glori- 
 fied ; think of our fellow saints as men there perfected ; 
 think of the city and state as the Spirit hath expressed 
 it, only with caution. Suppose thou wert now behold- 
 ing this city of God, and that thou hadst been a com- 
 panion with John in his survey of its glory, and hadst 
 seen the thrones, the majesty, the heavenly hosts, the 
 shining splendour, which he saw : draw as strong sup- 
 positions as may be from thy sense for the helping of 
 thy affections : it is lawful to suppose we did see for 
 the present that which God hath in prophecies revealed, 
 and which we must really see in more unspeakable 
 brightness before long. Suppose, therefore, with thy- 
 self thou hadst been that apostle's fellow traveller into 
 the celestial kingdom, and that thou hadst seen all the 
 saints in their white robes, with palms in their hands : 
 suppose thou hadst heard those songs of Moses and of 
 the Lamb ; or didst even now hear them praising and 
 glorifying the living God : if thou hadst seen these 
 things indeed in what a rapture wouldst thou have 
 been ! And the more seriously thou puttest this sup- 
 position to thyself, the more will the meditation elevate 
 thy heart. 
 
 I would not have thee, as the Papists, draw them in 
 pictures, nor use such ways to represent them. This, 
 as it is a course forbidden by God, so it would but se- 
 
THE saints' EVERLAStiNG REST. 29T 
 
 duce and draw down thy heart : but get the liveliest 
 picture of them in thy mind that possibly thou canst ; 
 meditate on them, as if thou wert all the while behold- 
 ing them, and as if thou wert even hearing the halle- 
 lujahs ; till thou canst say, Methinks I see a glimpse 
 of the glory ! Methinks I hear the shouts of joy and 
 praise ! Methinks I even stand by Abraham and Da- 
 vid, Peter and Paul, and more of these triumphing 
 souls ! Methinks I see the Son of God appearing in 
 the clouds, and the world standing at his bar to receive 
 their doom ! Methinks I hear him say, *' Come, ye 
 blessed of my Father ;" and see " them go rejoicing 
 into the joy of their Lord !" My very dreams of these 
 things have deeply affected me ; and should not these 
 just suppositions affect me much more ? What if I had 
 seen with Paul those unutterable things ; should I not 
 have been exalted (and that perhaps above measure) as 
 well as he ? What if I had stood in the room of Ste- 
 phen, and seen heaven opened, and Christ sitting at the 
 right hand of God ? Surely, that one sight was worth 
 the suffering his storm of stones. O that I might but 
 see what he did see, though I also suffered what he did 
 suffer! What if I had seen such a sight as Micaiah 
 saw ? " The Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the 
 hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and on his 
 left." Why, these men of God did see such things ; 
 and I shall shortly see far more than ever they saw, till 
 they were loosed from the flesh, as I must be. And 
 thus you see how the familiar conceiving of the state 
 of blessedness, as the Spirit hath in a condescending 
 language expressed it, and our strong suppositions 
 raised from our bodily senses will farther our affections 
 in this heavenly work. 
 
 2. There is yet another way by which we may make 
 our senses serviceable to us, and that is, by comparing 
 the objects of sense with the objects of faith ; and so 
 forcing sense to afford us that medium from whence 
 we may conclude the transcendent worth of glory, by 
 arguing from sensitive delights as from the less to the 
 greater. And here, for your farther assistance, I shall 
 furnish you with some of these comparative arguments. 
 
 And I, You must strongly argue with your hearts 
 13* 
 
298 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 from the corrupt delights of sensual men. Think, then, 
 with yourselves when you would be sensible of the joys 
 above : is it such a delight to a sinner to live with God ? 
 Hath a drunkard such delight in his cups and compa- 
 nions that the very fears of damnation will not make him 
 forsake them ? Sure, then, there are high delights with 
 God ! If the way to hell can afford such pleasure, what 
 are the pleasures of the saints in heaven ? 
 
 2. Compare also the delights above with the lawful 
 delights of sense. Think with thyself, How sweet is 
 food to my taste when lam hungry ! especially, as Isaac 
 said, " that which my soul loveth." What delight hath 
 the taste in some pleasant fruits, in some well relished 
 meats ! O what delight then must my soul have in 
 feeding upon Christ, the living bread ! and in eating 
 with him at his table in his kingdom ! How pleasant 
 is drink in the extremity of thirst ! Then how delight- 
 ful will it be to my soul " to drink of that fountain of 
 living water which whoso drinks shall thirst no more!" 
 
 3. Compare also the delights above with the delights 
 that are found in natural knowledge. This is far beyond 
 the delights of sense, and the delights of heaven are 
 farther beyond it. Think, then, can an Archimedes be 
 so taken up with his mathematical invention, that the 
 threats of death cannot take him off? Should I not 
 much more be taken up with the delights of glory, and 
 die with these contemplations fresh upon my soul ; es- 
 pecially when my death will perfect my delights ? But 
 those of Archimedes die with him. What a pleasure is 
 it to dive into the secrets of nature ! to find out the 
 mysteries of arts and sciences ! If we make but any 
 new discovery in one of these, what singular pleasure 
 do we find therein ! Think, then, what high delights 
 there are in the knowledge of God and Christ ! If the 
 face of human learning be so beautiful that sensual 
 pleasures are to it but base and brutish ; how beautiful 
 then is the face of God ! When we light on some choice 
 and learned book, how are we taken with it ! we could 
 read and study it day and night ; we can leave meat, 
 and drink, and sleep, to read it ; what delights then are 
 there at God's right hand, where we shall know in a 
 moment more than any mortal can know ! 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 290 
 
 4. Compare also the delights above with the delights 
 of morality, and of the natural affections. What delight 
 had many sober heathens in the practice of moral 
 duties ; so that they took him only for an honest man 
 who did well through the love of virtue, and not only 
 for fear of punishment : yea, so highly did they value 
 virtue, that they thought the chief happiness of man 
 consisted in it. Think, then, what excellence there will 
 be in that rare perfection which we shall be raised to in 
 heaven ; and in that uncreated perfection of God which 
 we shall behold ! What sweetness is there in the exer- 
 cise of natural love : whether to children, to parents, to 
 yokefellows, or to friends ! The delight which special, 
 faithful friends find in loving and enjoying one another, 
 is a most pleasing, sweet delight : even Christ himself, 
 as it seemeth, had some of this kind of love, for he had 
 one disciple whom he especially loved. Think, then, 
 if the delights of cordial friendship be so great, what 
 delights shall we have in the friendship of the Most 
 High, and in our mutual amity with Jesus Christ, and in 
 the dearest love and comfort with the saints ? Surely 
 this will be a closer and stricter friendship than ever 
 was betwixt any friends on earth ; and these will be 
 more lovely and desirable friends than any that ever the 
 sun beheld : and both our affections to our Father, and 
 our Saviour, but especially his affection to us, will be 
 such as here we never knew ; as spirits are so far more 
 powerful than flesh, that one angel can destroy a host, 
 so also are their affections more strong and powerful : 
 we shall then love a thousand times more strongly and 
 sweetly than now we can ; and as all the attributes and 
 works of God are incomprehensible, so are the attributes 
 and work of love : he will love us many thousand times 
 more than we, even at the perfectest, are able to love 
 him : what joy then will there be in this mutual love? 
 
 5. Compare also the excellences of heaven with those 
 glorious works of the creation which our eyes now be- 
 hold. What a deal of wisdom, and power, and good- 
 ness, appeareth in and through them to a wise observer! 
 What a deal of the majesty of the great Creator doth 
 shine in the face of this fabric of the world ! Surely his 
 works are great and admirable, sought out of them that 
 
300 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 have pleasure therein. This makes the study of natu- 
 ral philosophy so pleasant, because the works of God 
 are so excellent : what rare workmanship is in the body 
 of a man ! yea, in the body of every beast ! which makes 
 the anatomical studies so delightful. What excellence 
 in every plant we see ! in the beauty of flowers ! in the 
 nature, diversity, and use of herbs ! in fruits, in roots, 
 in minerals, and what not ! but especially, if we look to 
 the greater work : if we consider the whole body of 
 this earth, and its creatures, and inhabitants ; the ocean 
 of waters, with its motions and dimensions, the varia- 
 tion of the seasons, and of the face of the earth ; the 
 intercourse of spring and fall, of summer and winter : 
 what wonderful excellence do these contain ! Why, 
 then think if these things, which are but servants to 
 sinful men, are yet so full of mysterious worth ; what 
 is that place where God himself doth dwell, prepared 
 for the just who are perfected with Christ ! 
 
 When thou walkest forth in the evening, look upon 
 the stars, in what number they bespangle the firmament; 
 if in the day time, look up to the glorious sun ; view 
 the wide expanded heavens, and say to thyself. What 
 glory is in the least of yonder stars ! What a vast, what 
 a resplendent body hath yonder moon, and every planet ! 
 What an inconceivable glory hath the sun ! Why, all 
 this is nothing to the glory of heaven. Yonder sun 
 must there be laid aside as useless ; for it would not be 
 seen for the brightness of God. I shall live above all 
 yonder glory ; yonder sun is but darkness to the lustre 
 of my Father's house ; I shall be as glorious as that 
 sun myself 
 
 So think of the rest of the creatures. This whole 
 earth is but my Father's footstool ; this thunder is no- 
 thing to his dreadful voice ; these winds are nothing to 
 the breath of his mouth ; so much wnsdom and power 
 as appear in these ; so much and far more greatness, 
 and goodness, and delight, shall I enjoy in the actual 
 fruition of God. Surely, if the rain which rains, and 
 the sun which shines, on the just and unjust, be so won- 
 derful ; the sun then which must shine on none but 
 saints and angels must needs be wonderful and ravishing 
 in glory. 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 301 
 
 6. Compare the things which thou shalt enjoy above, 
 with the excellence of those admirable works of Provi- 
 dence which God doth exercise in the Church and in 
 the world. What glorious things hath the Lord wrought ! 
 And yet we shall see more glorious than these. Would 
 it not be an astonishing sight to see the sea stand as a 
 wall on the right hand and on the left, and the people 
 of Israel pass safely through, and Pharaoh and his peo- 
 ple swallowed up 1 If we had seen the rock to gush 
 forth streams, or manna or quails rained down from 
 heaven, or the earth open and swallow up the M'icked ; 
 would not all these have been wondrous, glorious sights? 
 But we shall see far greater things than these. And as 
 our sights shall be more wonderful, so also they shall 
 be more sweet; there shall be no blood or wrath inter- 
 mingled ; we shall not then cry out as David, " Who 
 shall stand before this holy Lord God ?" Would it not 
 have been an astonishing sight to have seen the sun 
 stand still in the firmament ? Why, we shall see when 
 there shall be no sun to shine at all ; we shall behold 
 for ever a sun of more incomparable brightness. Were 
 it not a brave life, if we might still live amon^ wonders 
 and miracles ; and all for us, and not against us ? If 
 we could have drought or rain at our prayers, as Elias ; 
 or if we could call down fire from heaven to destroy 
 our enemies ; or raise the dead to life, as Elisha ; or 
 cure the diseased, and speak strange languages, as the 
 apostles ; alas! these are nothing to the wonders which 
 we shall see and possess with God, and all those won- 
 ders of goodness and love ! We shall possess that 
 pearl and power itself, through whose virtue all these 
 works were done ; we shall ourselves be the subjects of 
 more wonderful mercies than any of these. Jonas was 
 raised but from a three days' burial, from the belly of 
 the whale, in the deep ocean ; but we shall be raised 
 from many years' rottenness and dust, and that dust 
 exalted to a sunlike glory, and that glory perpetuated 
 to all eternity. What sayest thou? Is not this the 
 greatest of miracles or wonders ? Surely, if we observe 
 but common providences, the motions of the sun, the 
 tides of the sea, the standing of the earth, the warming 
 it, the watering it with rain as a garden, the keeping in 
 
302 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 order a wicked confused world, with multitudes of the 
 like, they are all very admirable ; but then to think of 
 the Sion of God, of the vision of the Divine Majesty, of 
 the comely order of the heavenly host, what an admi- 
 rable sight must that needs be ! O what rare and 
 mighty works have we seen ! what clear discoveries 
 of an Almighty arm ! what magnifying of weakness ! 
 what casting down of strength ! what wonders wrought 
 by most improbable means ! what turning of tears and 
 fears into safety and joy ! such hearing of earnest pray- 
 ers, as if God could have denied us nothing ! All these 
 are wonderful works : but what are these to our full 
 deliverance ! to our final conquest ! to our eternal tri- 
 umph ! and to that great day of great things ! 
 
 7. Compare also the mercies which thou shalt have 
 above with those particular providences which thou hast 
 enjoyed thyself. If thou be a Christian indeed, thou 
 hast, if not in thy book, yet certainly in thy heart, many 
 favours upon record ; the very remembrance and re- 
 hearsal of them is sweet ; how much more sweet was 
 the actual enjoyment ! But all these are nothing to the 
 mercies which are above. Look over the excellent 
 mercies 6f thy youth, the mercies of thy riper years, 
 the mercies of thy prosperity and of thy adversity, the 
 mercies of thy several places and relations : are they 
 not excellent and innumerable? Canst not thou think 
 on the several places thou hast lived in, and remember 
 that they have each had their several mercies ? The 
 mercies of such a place and such a place, and all of 
 them very rich and engaging mercies ? O how sweet 
 was it to thee when God resolved thy last doubts ! 
 when he overcame and silenced thy fears and unbelief! 
 when he prevented the inconveniences of thy life, which 
 thy own counsel would have cast thee into ! when he 
 eased thy pains, when he healed thy sickness, and 
 raised thee up as from the very grave ! Were not all 
 these precious mercies ? Alas ! these are but small 
 things for thee in the eyes of God ; he intendeth thee 
 far greater things than these, even such as these are 
 scarce a taste of. It was a choice mercy that God hath 
 so notably answered thy prayers, and that thou hast 
 been so oft and evidently a prevailer with him : but O, 
 
303 
 
 think, are all these so sweet and precious, that my life 
 would have been a perpetual misery without them ! 
 Hath his providence lifted me so high on earth, and his 
 merciful kindness made me great? How sweet then 
 will the glory of his presence be ! And how high will 
 his eternal love exalt me ! And how great shall I be 
 made in communion with his greatness ! If my pilgrim- 
 age and warfare have such mercies, what shall I find in 
 my home, and in my triumph ? If I have had so much 
 in this strange country, at such a distance from him, 
 what shall I have in heaven in his immediate presence ? 
 8. Compare the joy which thou shalt have in heaven 
 with that which the saints of God have found in the 
 way to it, and in the foretastes of it: when thou seest a 
 heavenly man rejoice, think what it is that so affects 
 him. It is the property of fools to rejoice in toys ; but 
 the people of God are wiser, they know what it is that 
 makes them glad. When did God reveal himself to 
 any of his saints, but the joy of their hearts was an- 
 swerable to the revelation? When Moses had been 
 talking with God in the mount, it made his visage so 
 shining and glorious that the people could not endure 
 to behold it ; but he was fain to put a veil upon it : no 
 wonder then if the face of God must be veiled till we 
 come to that state where we shall be capable of behold- 
 ing him, when " the veil shall be taken away, and we 
 all beholding him with open face, shall be changed into 
 the same image from glory to glory." Alas, what are 
 the back parts which Moses saw from the clefts of the 
 rock, to that open face which we shall behold here- 
 after ! What is that revelation to John in Patmos, to 
 this revelation which we shall have in heaven ! How 
 short doth Paul's vision come of the saints' vision above 
 with God ! How small a part of the glory which we 
 must see was that which so transported Peter in the 
 mount ! I confess these were all extraordinary fore- 
 tastes ; but little to the full, beatifical vision. When 
 David foresaw the resurrection of Christ and of him- 
 self how did it make him break forth and say, " There- 
 fore my heart was glad, and my glory rejoiceth, my 
 flesh also shall rest in hope." Think, then, if the fore- 
 sight can raise such ravishing joy, what will the actual 
 
304 
 
 possession do ! How oft have we read and heard of 
 the dying saints, who, when they had scarce strength 
 and life to express them, have been as full of joy as 
 their hearts could hold ! And when their bodies have 
 been under the extremities of their sickness, yea, ready 
 to feel the pangs of death, have yet had so much of 
 heaven in their spirits that their joy hath far surpassed 
 their sorrows ! And if a spark of this fire be so glori- 
 ous, and that in the midst of the sea of adversity, what 
 then is that sun of glory itself? 
 
 9. Compare also the glory of the heavenly kingdom 
 with the glory of the Church on earth, and of Christ in 
 his state of humiliation ; and you may easily conclude, 
 if Christ, standing in the room of sinners, was so won- 
 derful in excellences, what is Christ at the Father's 
 right hand ! And if the Church, under her sins and ene- 
 mies, hath so much beauty, she will have much more 
 at the marriage of the Lamb. How wonderful was the 
 Son of God in the form of a servant ! When he is born, 
 the heavens must proclaim him by miracles ; a new 
 star must appear in the firmament, and fetch men from 
 remote parts of the world to worship him in a manger ; 
 the angels and heavenly host must declare his nativity, 
 and solemnize it with praising and glorifying God ; 
 when he sets upon his office, his whole life is a wonder ; 
 water turned into wine, thousands fed with five loaves 
 and two fishes, the lepers cleansed, the sick healed, the 
 lame restored, the blind receive their sight, the dead 
 raised: if we had seen all this should we not have 
 thought it wonderful? The most desperate diseases 
 cured with a touch, with a word ; the blind eyes with a 
 little clay and spittle ; the devils departing by legions 
 at command ; the winds and the sea obeying his word ; 
 are not all these wonderful ? Think then how wonder- 
 ful is his celestial glory ! If there be such cutting down 
 of bouglis, and spreading of garments, and crying, Ho- 
 sanna, to one that comes into Jerusalem riding on an 
 ass, what will there be when he comes with his angels 
 in his glory ? If they that hear him preach the Gospel 
 of the kingdom have their hearts turned within them, 
 that they turn and say, " Never man spake like this 
 man :" then sure they that behold his majesty in his 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 305 
 
 kingdom, will say, " There was never glory like this 
 glory," If when his enemies come to apprehend him, 
 the word of his mouth doth cast them all to the ground; 
 if when he is dying, the earth must tremble, the veil of 
 the temple rend, the sun in the firmament hide its face, 
 and the dead bodies of the saints arise : O what a day- 
 will it be when he will once more shake, not the earth 
 only, but the heavens also, and remove the things that 
 are shaken ! when this sun shall be taken out of the fir- 
 mament, and be everlastingly darkened with the bright- 
 ness of his glory ! when the dead must all rise and 
 stand before him ; and " all shall acknowledge him to 
 be the Son of God, and every tongue confess him to be 
 Lord and King !" If when he riseth again the grave 
 and death have lost their power, and the angels of heaven 
 must roll away the stone, and astonish the watchmen 
 till they are as dead men, and send the tidings to his 
 dejected disciples ; if the bolted doors cannot keep him 
 out ; if the sea be as firm ground for him to walk on ; if 
 he can ascend to heaven in the sight of his disciples, 
 and send the angels to forbid them gazing after him : 
 O what power, and dominion, and glory then is he now 
 possessed of! and must we ever possess with him ! 
 
 Yet think farther, are his very servants enabled to do 
 such miracles when he is gone from them ? Can a few 
 poor fishermen and tent-makers cure the lame, and 
 blind, and sick ? open prisons, destroy the disobedient, 
 and raise the dead ? O then what a world will that be 
 where every one can do greater works than these ! It 
 were much to have the devils subject to us ; but more 
 to have our names written in the Book of Life. If the 
 very preaching of the Gospel be accompanied with such 
 power that it will pierce the heart, and discover its se- 
 crets, bring down the proud, and make the stony sinner 
 tremble ; if it can make men burn their books, sell their 
 lands, bring in the price, and lay it down at the preach- 
 er's feet ; if it can make the spirit of princes stoop, and 
 the kings of the earth resign their crowns, and do their 
 homage to Jesus Christ ; if it can subdue kingdoms, 
 and convert thousands, and turn the world thus upside 
 down ; if the very micntion of the judgment and life to 
 come can make the judge ou the bench to tremble, 
 
306 
 
 what then is the glory of the kingdom itself? What 
 an absolute dominion have Christ and his saints ! And 
 if they have this power and honour in the day of their 
 abasement, what will they have in their full advance- 
 ment ? 
 
 10. Compare the mercies thou shalt have above with 
 the mercies which Christ hath here bestowed on thy 
 souL; and the glorious change which thou shalt have at 
 last, with the gracious change which the Spirit has 
 wrought on thy heart. Compare the comforts of thy 
 glorification with the comforts of thy sanctification. 
 There is not the smallest grace in thee which is genu- 
 ine, but is of greater worth than the riches of the In- 
 dies ; nor a hearty desire and groan after Christ, but is 
 more to be valued than the kingdoms of the world ; a 
 renewed nature is the very image of God : Scripture 
 calleth it, " Christ dwelling in us," and " the Spirit of 
 God dwelling in us :" it is a beam, from the face of 
 God himself; it is the seed of God remaining in us; it 
 is the only inherent beauty of the rational soul ; it en- 
 nobleth man above all nobility ; it fitteth him to under- 
 stand his Maker's pleasure, to do his will, and to re- 
 ceive his glory : think then with thyself, if " this grain 
 of mustard seed" be so precious, what is " the tree of 
 life in the midst of the paradise of God ?" If a spark 
 of life be so much, how glorious then is the fountain 
 and end of this life ! If we are even now said " to be 
 like God, and to bear his image, and to be holy as he is 
 holy;" sure we shall then be much liker God when we 
 are perfectly holy, and without blemish. Is the desire 
 of heaven so precious a thing ! what then is the thing 
 itself? Is love so excellent ! what then is the beloved ? 
 Is our joy in foreseeing and believing so sweet ! what 
 will be the joy in the full possession ? O the delight 
 that a Christian hath in the lively exercise of some of 
 these affections ! What good doth it to his very heart 
 when he can feelingly say. He loves his Lord ! Yea, 
 even those troubling passions of sorrow and fear are 
 yet delightful, when they are rightly exercised : how 
 glad is a poor Christian when he feeleth his heart melt, 
 and when the thoughts of sinful unkindness will dis- 
 solve it ! Even this sorrow doth yield him matter of 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 307 
 
 joy : O what will it then be, when we shall do nothing 
 but know God, and love, and rejoice, and praise, and 
 all this in the highest perfection ! What a comfort is it 
 to my doubting soul when I have a little assurance of 
 the sincerity of my graces ! How much more will it 
 comfort me, to find that the Spirit hath safely conducted 
 me, and left me in the arms of Jesus ! What a change 
 was it that the Spirit made upon my soul when he first 
 " turned me from darkness to light, and from the power 
 of Satan unto God !" To be taken from that horrid 
 state of nature, wherein myself and my actions were 
 loathsome to God, and the sentence of death was passed 
 upon me, and the Almighty took me for his utter ene- 
 my; and to be presently numbered among his saints, 
 and called his friend, his servant, his son, and the sen- 
 tence revoked which was gone forth ; O what a change 
 was this ? To be taken from that state wherin I was 
 born, and had lived so many years, and if I had j»o died 
 I had been damned for ever ; and to be justified from all 
 these crimes, and freed from all these plagues, and put 
 into the title of an heir of heaven ; O what an astonish- 
 ing change was this ! How much greater will that glo- 
 rious change then \}e ! beyond expressing ! beyond con- 
 ceiving ! How oft, when I have thought of this change 
 in my regeneration, have I cried out, O blessed day ! 
 and blessed be the Lord that I ever saw it ! How then 
 shall I cry out in heaven, O blessed eternity ! and bless- 
 ed be the Lord that brought me to it ! Was the mercy 
 of my conversion so exceeding great that the angels of 
 God did rejoice to see it ? Sure then the mercy of my 
 salvation will be so great that the same angels will con- 
 gratulate my felicity. This grace is but a spark that is 
 raked up in the ashes ; it is covered with flesh from the 
 sight of the world ; but my everlasting glory will not 
 "be under a bushel, but upon a hill, even upon Sioi», 
 the mount of God." 
 
308 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW TO MANAGE AND WATCH OVER THE HEART THROUGH THE 
 WHOLE WORK. 
 
 The last part of this directory is to guide you in ma- 
 naging your hearts through this work, and to show you 
 wherein you had need to be exceeding watchful. I 
 have showed you before what must be done with your 
 hearts in your preparations to the work, and in your 
 setting upon it : I shall now show it you, in respect of 
 the time of the performance. Our chief work will here 
 be to discover to you the danger, and that will direct 
 you to the remedy. Let me therefore acquaint you be- 
 forehand, that whenever you set upon this heavenly 
 employment, you shall find your own hearts your great- 
 est hinderers, and they will prove false to you in one 
 or all of these four degrees : First, they will hold off, 
 that you will hardly get them to the work ; or else they 
 will betray you by their idleness in the work, pretend- 
 ing to do it when they do it not ; or they will interrupt 
 the work, by their frequent excursions, and turning 
 aside to every object ; or they will spoil the work by 
 cutting it short, and be gone before you have done any 
 good at it. Therefore I forewarn you, as you value the 
 invaluable comfort of this work, faithfully resist these 
 four dangerous evils. 
 
 1. Thou shalt find thy heart as backward to this, as to 
 any work in the world. O what excuses it will make ! 
 what evasions it will find out ! and what delays, when it 
 is never so much convinced ! Either it will question, 
 whether it be a duty or not ! or, if it be so to others, 
 yet whether it be so to thee ? It will take up any thing 
 like reason to plead against it ; or, if thy heart have no- 
 thing against the work, then it will trifle away the time 
 in delays, and promise this day and the next, but still 
 keep off; or lastly, if thou wilt not be so baffled with 
 excuses or delays, thy heart will give thee a flat denial, 
 and oppose its own unwillingness to thy reason : thou 
 shalt find it draw back with all the strength it hath. I 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 309 
 
 speak all this of the heart so far as it is carnal ; for so 
 far as it is spiritual, it will judge this work the sweetest 
 in the world. 
 
 But take up the authority which God hath given thee, 
 command thy heart ; if it rebel, use violence with it ; if 
 thou be too weak, call in the Spirit of Christ to thine 
 assistance ; he is never backward to so good a work, nor 
 will deny his help in so just a cause : God will be ready 
 to help thee, if thou be not unwilling to help thyself. 
 Say unto him, " Lord, thou gavest my reason the com- 
 mand of my thoughts and affections : the authority I 
 have received over them is from thee, and now behold 
 they refuse to obey thine authority : thou commandest 
 me to set them to the work of heavenly meditation,, but 
 they rebel, and stubbornly refuse the duty ; wilt thou 
 not assist me to execute that authority which thou hast 
 given mc ? O send down thy Spirit and power that I 
 may enforce thy commands, and effectually compel them 
 to obey thy will." 
 
 And thus doing, thou shalt see thy heart will submit: 
 fts resistance will be brought under ; and its backward- 
 ness will be turned to compliance. 
 
 2. When thou hast got thy heart to the work, beware 
 lest it delude thee by a loitering formality ; lest it say, 
 I go, and go not ; lest it trifle out the time, while it 
 should be effectually meditating. When thou hast per- 
 haps but an hour's time for meditation, the time will be 
 spent before thy heart will be serious. This doing of 
 duty, as if we did it not, doth undo as many as the flat 
 omission of it. To rub out the hour in a bare lazy think- 
 ing of heaven, is but to lose that hour, and delude thy- 
 self. What is to be done in this case ? W^hy, do here 
 also as you do by a loitering servant ; keep thine eye 
 always upon thy heart ; look not so much to the time it 
 spendeth in the duty, as to the work that is done : you 
 can tell by his work, Avhether your servant hath been 
 painful : ask, what affections have yet been acted ? How 
 much am I yet got nearer heaven? Verily many a 
 man's heart must be followed as close in this duty of 
 meditation, as an ox at the plough, that will go no longer 
 than you are calling or scourging; if you cease driving 
 but a moment, the heart will stand still. 
 
310 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 I would not have thee of the judgment of those who 
 think that while they are so backward, it is better let it 
 alone ; and that if mere love will not bring them to the 
 duty, the service is worse than the omission : these men 
 understand not, First, that this argument would certainly 
 cashier all spiritual obedience ; nor do they understand 
 well the corruptness of their own natures ; nor that their 
 sinful undisposedness will not suspend the commands 
 of God ; nor one sin excuse another ; especially they 
 little know the way of God to excite their affections ; 
 and that the love which should compel them, must itself 
 be first compelled, in the same sense as it is said to com- 
 pel : love I know is a most precious grace, and should 
 have the chief interest in all our duties ; but there are 
 means appointed by God to procure this love ; and shall 
 I not use those means, till I can use them from love ? 
 That were to neglect the means till I have the end. Must 
 I not seek to procure love, till I have it already? There 
 are means also for the increasing of love where it is 
 begun, and means for exciting it where it lieth dull : 
 and must I not use these means till it is increased and 
 excited ? Fall upon the work till thou art constrained 
 to love ; and then love will constrain thee to farther 
 duty. 
 
 3. As thy heart will be loitering, so will it be divert- 
 ing. It will be turning aside, like a careless servant, 
 to talk with every one that passeth by : when there 
 should be nothing in thy mind but the work in hand, it 
 will be thinking of thy calling, or of thy afflictions, or of 
 every bird, or tree, or place, thou seest, or of any im- 
 pertinence, rather than of heaven. The cure here is 
 the same with that before ; to use watchfulness and vio- 
 lence with your own imaginations, and as soon as they 
 step out, to chide them in. Drive away these birds of 
 prey from thy sacrifice, and strictly keep thy heart to 
 the work thou art upon. 
 
 4. Lastly, Be sure also to look to thy heart in this, 
 that it cut not off the wor]^ before the time, and run not 
 away through weariness, before it have leave. " Thou 
 shalt find it exceeding prone to this. Thou mayest 
 easily perceive it in other duties : if in secret thou set 
 thyself to pray, is not thy heart urging thee still to cut 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 311 
 
 it short? Dost thou not frequently find a motion to 
 have done ? Art thou not ready to be up, as soon almost 
 as thou art down on thy knees ? So it will be also in 
 thy contemplations of heaven ; as fast as thou gettest 
 up thy heart, it will be down again ; it will be weary of 
 the work ; it will be minding thee of other business to 
 be done, and stop thy heavenly walk, before thou art 
 well warm. What is to be done in this case also ? Why 
 the same authority and resolution which brought it to 
 the work, and observed it in the work, must hold it to 
 it, till the work be done. Stick to the work till thy 
 graces be acted, thy affections raised, and thy soul re- 
 freshed with the delights above ; or if thou canst not 
 obtain these ends at once, ply it the closer the next 
 time, and let it not go till thou feel the blessing. 
 ." Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, 
 shall find so doing." 
 
 Thus I have directed you. in this work of heavenly 
 contemplation, and led you into the path where you 
 may walk with God. But because I would bring it 
 down to the capacity of the meanest, and help their 
 memories who are apt to let slip the former particulars, 
 I shall here contract the whole, and lay it before you in 
 a narrower compass. But still I wish thee to remem- 
 ber it is the practice of a duty that I am directing thee 
 in, and therefore if thou wilt not practise it, do not 
 read it. 
 
 The sum is this, as thou makest conscience of pray- 
 ing daily, so do thou of meditation ; and more especially 
 on the joys of heaven. To this end, set apart one hour, 
 or half hour, every day, wherein thou mayest lay aside 
 all worldly thoughts, and with all possible seriousness 
 and reverence, as if thou wert to speak with God him- 
 self, or to have a sight of Christ, or of that blessed place : 
 so withdraw thyself into some secret place, and set thy- 
 self wholly to the following work : if thou canst, take 
 Isaac's time and place, who " went forth into the field 
 in the evening to meditate :" but if thou be a servant, 
 or poor man, that cannot have that leisure, take the 
 fittest time and place that thou canst, though it be when 
 thou art private about thy labours. 
 
 When thou settest to the work, look up toward hea- 
 
312 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 ven, let thine eye lead thee as near as it can ; remember 
 that there is thine everlasting rest ; study its excellence, 
 study its reality, till thy unbelief be silenced, and thy 
 faith prevail : if thy judgment be not yet drawn to ad- 
 miration, use those sensible helps and advantages which 
 were even now laid down. Compare thy heavenly joys 
 with the choicest on earth, and so rise up from sense 
 to faith ; if this mere consideration prevail not, then 
 plead the case with thy heart : preach upon this text of 
 heaven to thyself; convince, inform, confute, instruct, 
 reprove, examine, admonish, encourage, and comfort 
 thy own soul from this celestial doctrine ; draw forth 
 those several considerations of thy rest on which thy 
 several affections may work, especially that affection or 
 grace which thou intendest to act. If it be love which 
 thou wouldst act, show it the loveliness of heaven, and- 
 how suitable it is to thy condition ; if it be desire, con- 
 sider thy absence from this lovely object ; if it be hope, 
 consider the possibility and probability of obtaining it ; 
 if it be courage, consider the singular assistance and en- 
 couragements which thou mayest receive from God, the 
 weakness of the enemy, and the necessity of prevailing; 
 if it be joy, consider its excellent, ravishing glory, thy 
 interest in it, and its certainty, and the nearness of the 
 time when thou mayest possess it. Urge these consi- 
 derations home to thy heart ; whet them with all possi- 
 ble seriousness upon each affection : if thy heart draw 
 back, force it to the work ; if it loiter, spur it on ; if it 
 step aside, command it in again ; if it should slip away, 
 and leave the work, use thine authority : keep it close 
 to the business, till thou hast obtained thine end ; stir 
 not away, if it may be, till thy love flame, till thy joy be 
 raised, or till thy desire or other graces be lively. Call 
 in assistance also from God, mix ejaculations with thy 
 soliloquies ; till having seriously pleaded the case with 
 thy heart, and reverently pleaded the case with God, 
 thou hast pleaded thyself from a clod to a flame, from a 
 forgetful sinner to a mindful lover : from a lover of the 
 world, to a thirster after God : from a fearful coward, 
 to a resolved Christian. In a word, what will not be 
 done one day, do it the next, till thou hast pleaded 
 thy heart from earth to heaven : from conversing below, 
 
THE SAINTS* EVERLASTING REST. 313 
 
 to a walking with God ; and till thou canst lay thy heart 
 to rest, as in the bosom of Christ, in this meditation of 
 thy full and everlasting rest. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AN EXAMPLE OF THIS HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION, FOR THE HELP 
 OF THE UNSKILFUL. 
 
 Rest ! How sweet a word is this to mine ears ! Me- 
 thinks the sound doth turn to substance, and having en- 
 tered at the ear, descended down to my very heart ; me- 
 thinks I feel it stir and work, and that through all my 
 parts and powers, but with with a various work upon 
 my various parts. To my wearied senses and languid 
 spirits, it seems a quieting, powerful opiate ; to my 
 dulled powers, it is spirit and life ; to my dark eyes, it 
 is both eye salve and a prospective ; to my taste, it is 
 sweetness ; to mine ears, it is melody ; to my hands and 
 feet, it is strength and nimbleness : methinks I feel it 
 digest as it proceeds, and increase my native heat and 
 moisture, and lying as a reviving cordial at my heart, 
 from thence doth send forth lively spirits, which beat 
 through all the pulses of my soul. Rest! not as the 
 stone that rests on the earth, nor as these clods of flesh 
 shall rest in the grave ; so our beasts must rest as well 
 as we ; nor is it the satisfying of our fleshly lusts, nor 
 such a rest as the carnal world desireth : no, no ; we 
 have another kind of rest than these : rest we shall from 
 our labours, which were but the way and means to rest : 
 but yet that is the smallest part : O blessed rest, where 
 we shall never rest day nor night, crying, *' Holy, holy, 
 holy. Lord God of Sabaoth !" where we shall rest from 
 sin, but not from worship ! from suffering and sorrow, 
 but not from solace ! O blessed day, when I shall rest 
 with God ! when I shall rest in the arms and bosom of 
 my Lord ! when I shall rest in knowing, loving, rejoic- 
 ing, and praising ! when my perfect soul and body 
 together shall, in these perfect actings, perfectly enjoy 
 the most perfect God ! when God also, who is love 
 itself, shall perfectly love me ! and rejoice over me with 
 
314 TflE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 joy and singing, as I shall rejoice in him ! How near is 
 that most blessed joyful day ! it comes apace ; even " he 
 that comes will come, and will not tarry:" though my 
 Lord seem to delay his coming, yet a little while and he 
 will be here : what are a few hundred years when they 
 are over ? How surely will his sign appear ! and how 
 suddenly will he seize upon the careless world ! Even 
 as the lightning that shines from east to west in a mo- 
 ment. He who is gone hence, will even so return. 
 Methinks I hear the voice of his foregoers ! Methinks 
 I see him in the clouds, with the attendance of his an- 
 gels in majesty and glory ! O poor secure sinners, 
 what will you now do? where will you hide yourselves, 
 or what shall cover you ? Mountains are gone, the 
 earth and heavens that were, are passed away ; the de- 
 vouring fire hath consumed all except yourselves, who 
 must be the fuel for ever : O that you could consume as 
 soon as the earth, and melt away as did the heavens ! 
 Ah, these wishes are now but vain ; the Lamb himself 
 would have been your friend, he would have loved you, 
 and ruled you, and now have saved you: but you would 
 not then, and now it is too late : never cry. Lord, Lord : 
 too late, too late, man. Why doot thou look about ? 
 can any save thee ? Whither dost thou run ? can any 
 hide thee ? O wretch, that hast brought thyself to this ! 
 Now blessed are ye that have believed and obeyed ; this 
 is the end of your faith and patience ; this is that for 
 which ye prayed and waited ; do you now repent your 
 sufferings and sorrows? your self-denying and holy 
 walking ? are your tears of repentance now bitter or 
 sweet ? O see how the Judge doth smile upon you ! 
 there is love in his looks ; the titles of Redeemer, Hus- 
 band, Head, are written in his amiable face. Hark ! 
 doth he not call you ? he bids you stand here on his 
 right hand : fear not, for there he sets his sheep : O joy- 
 ful sentence pronounced by his mouth! "Come, ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
 you from the foundations of the world !" See how your 
 Saviour takes you by the hand : the door is open : the 
 kingdom is his, and therefore yours : there is your place 
 before his throne ; the Father receiveth you as the 
 spouse of his Son ; he bids you welcome to the crown 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 316 
 
 of glory : never so unvi^orthy, crowned you must be : 
 this was the project of free redeeming grace, the pur- 
 pose of eternal love. O blessed grace ! O blessed love ! 
 O the frame that my soul shall then be in ! But I can- 
 not express it, I cannot conceive it ! 
 
 This is that joy which was procured by sorrow ; this 
 is that crown which was procured by the cross ; my 
 Lord did weep, that now my tears might be wiped away ; 
 he did bleed, that I might now rejoice ; he was for- 
 saken, that I might not now be forsaken ; he did then 
 die, that I might now live. This weeping, wounded 
 Lord, shall I behold ; this bleeding Saviour shall I see, 
 and live in him that died for me. O free mercy that 
 can exalt so vile a wretch ! free to me, though dear to 
 Christ ! here must I live with all these saints ! O com- 
 fortable meeting of my old acquaintance, with whom I 
 prayed, and wept, and suffered ; with whom I spake of 
 this day and place ! I see the grave could not contain 
 you, the sea and earth must give up their dead ; the 
 same love hath redeemed and saved you also : this is 
 not like our cottages of clay, our prisons, our earthly 
 dwellings : this voice of joy is not like our old com- 
 plainings, our groans, our sighs, our impatient moans ; 
 nor this melodious praise like our scorns and revilings, 
 nor like the oaths and curses which we heard on earth : 
 this body is not like the body we had, nor this soul 
 like the soul we had, nor this life like the life that 
 then we lived ; we have changed our place, we have 
 changed our state, our clothes, our thoughts, our looks, 
 our language ; we have changed our company for the 
 greater part, and the rest of our company is changed 
 itself; before, we were weak and despised, but now how 
 glorious ! Where are now our different judgments, our 
 divided spirits ? Now we are all of one judgment, of 
 one name, of one heart, of one house, and of one glory. 
 O sweet reconcilement ! O happy union ! which makes 
 us first to be one with Christ, and then one with our- 
 selves ! Now our differences shall be dashed in our teeth 
 no more, nor the Gospel reproached through our folly, 
 O my soul, thou shalt no more lament the sufferings of 
 the saints ; never more condole the Church's riiins ; 
 never bewail thy suffering friends, nor lie wailing over 
 
316 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 their deathbeds, or their graves : thou shalt never suffer 
 thy old temptations from Satan, the world, or thy own 
 flesh ; thy body will no more be such a burden to thee ; 
 thy pains and sicknesses are all now cured ; thou shalt 
 be troubled with weakness and weariness no more ; thy 
 head is not now an aching head, nor thy heart now an 
 aching heart ; thy hunger and thirst, and cold and sleep, 
 thy labour and study are all gone. O what a mighty 
 change is this : from the dunghill to the throne ; from a 
 body as vile as the carrion in the ditch, to a body as 
 bright as the sun in the firmament ! from all my doubts 
 and fears, to this possession which hath put me out of 
 doubt ! from all my fearful thought of death, to this 
 most blessed joyful life ! O what a change is this ! 
 farewell sin and suffering for ever ; now welcome most 
 holy, heavenly nature ; which, as it must be employed 
 in beholding the face of God, so is it full of God alone ; 
 delighted in nothing but him. O who can question the 
 love which he doth so sweetly taste ? or doubt of that 
 which with such joy he feeleth ? Farewell, repentance, 
 confession, and supplication ; farewell, hope and faith ; 
 and welcome, love, and joy, and praise. I shall now 
 have my harvest without ploughing or sowing ; my wine 
 without the labour of the vintage ; my joy without a 
 preacher or a promise ; even all from the face of God 
 himself. Whatever mixture is in the streams, there is 
 nothing but pure joy in the fountain. Here shall I be 
 encircled with eternity, and come forth no more : here 
 shall I live, and ever live, and praise my Lord, and ever, 
 ever praise him. My face will not wrinkle, nor my 
 hair be grey ; but '* this mortal hath put on immortality, 
 and this corruptible incorruption, and death is swallowed 
 up in victory : O death ! where is thy sting ? O grave ! 
 where is thy victory?" The date of my lease will 
 no more expire, nor shall I lose my joys through fear 
 of losing them. When millions of ages are past, my 
 glory is but beginning ; and when millions more are 
 past, it is no nearer ending. Every day is all noontide, 
 and every month is May or harvest, and every year is 
 there a jubilee, and every age is full manhood : and 
 all this but one eternity. O blessed eternity ! the glory 
 of my glory ! the perfection of my perfection ! 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 317 
 
 Ah drowsy, earthly, blockish heart, how coolly dost 
 thou think of this reviving day ! Dost thou sleep when 
 thou thinkest of eternal rest ? Art thou hanging earth- 
 ward, when heaven is before thee ? Hadst thou rather 
 set thee down in dung, than walk in the court of the pre- 
 sence of God ? Dost thou now remember thy worldly 
 business ? Art thou thinking of thy delights ? Wretched 
 heart ! is it better to be here, than above with God ? is 
 the company better ? are the pleasures greater ? Come 
 away, make no excuse, make no delay ; God commands, 
 and I command thee, come away ; gird up thy loins ; 
 ascend the mount, and look about thee with seriousness 
 and with faith. Look thou not back upon the way of 
 the wilderness, except it be when thine eyes are dazzled 
 with the glory, or when thou wouldst compare the king- 
 dom with that howling desert, that thou mayest more 
 sensibly perceive the mighty difference. Fix thine eye 
 upon the sun itself, and look not down to earth as long 
 as thou art able to behold it ; except it be to discern 
 more easily the brightness of the one by the darkness 
 of the other. Yonder is thy Father's glory: yonder 
 must thou dwell when thou leavest this earth: yonder 
 must thou remove, O my soul, when thou departest from 
 this body : and when the power of thy Lord hath raised 
 it again, and joined thee to it, yonder must thou live 
 with God for ever. There is the glorious " New Jeru- 
 salem, the gates of pearl, the foundations of pearl, the 
 streets and pavements of transparent gold." Seest thou 
 that sun which lighteth all the world ? Why, it must 
 be taken down as useless there, or the glory of heaven 
 will darken it, and put it out ; even thyself shall be as 
 bright as yonder shining sun ; " God will be the sun, 
 and Christ the light, and in his light shalt thou have 
 light." 
 
 O wretched heart ! hath God made thee a promise of 
 rest, and wilt thou come short of it, and shut out thyself 
 through unbelief? Thine eyes may fail thee, thy ears 
 deceive thee, and all thy senses prove delusions, sooner 
 than a promise of God can delude thee. Thou mayest 
 be surer of that which is written in the word, than if 
 thou see it with thy eyes, or feel it with thy hands. Art 
 thou sure thou livest? or sure that this is the earth 
 
318 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 which thou standest on ? Art thou sure thine eyes see 
 the sun ? As sure is all this glory to the saints ; as sure 
 shall I be higher than yonder stars, and live for ever in 
 the holy city, and joyfully sound forth the praise of my 
 Redeemer, if I be not shut out by the " evil heart of 
 unbelief, causing me to depart from the living God." 
 
 And is this rest so sweet and so sure ? O then what 
 means the careless world? Do they know what it is 
 they so neglect ? Did they ever hear of it ? or are they 
 yet asleep ? Do they know for certain that the crown 
 is before them, while they thus sit still, or follow trifles, 
 when they are hasting so fast to another world, and 
 . their eternal happiness lies at stake ? Were there left 
 one spark of reason they would never sell their rest for 
 toil, their glory for wordly vanities. Ah, poor men ! 
 that you would once consider what you hazard, and 
 then you would scorn these tempting baits. O blessed 
 for ever be that love that hath rescued me from this 
 mad, bewitching darkness ! 
 
 Draw nearer yet, O my soul ; bring forth thy strong- 
 est love ; here is matter for it to work upon : O see 
 what beauty presents itself ! Is it not exceeding lovely ? 
 Is not all the beauty in the world contracted here ? Is 
 not all other beauty deformity to it ? Dost thou need to 
 he persuaded now to love ? Here is a feast for thine 
 eyes : a feast for all the powers of thy soul. Dost thou 
 need to be entreated to feed upon it ? Canst thou love 
 a little shining earth ? Canst thou love a walking piece 
 of clay ? And canst thou not love that God, that Christ, 
 that glory, which is so truly and unmeasurably lovely ? 
 Thou canst love thy friend because he loves thee : and 
 is the love of friends like the love of Christ? Their 
 weeping or bleeding for thee doth not ease thee, nor 
 stay the course of thy tears or blood : but the tears and 
 tlood that fell from thy Lord have all a sovereign, heal- 
 ing virtue, and are waters of life, and balsam to thy 
 fainting sores. O my soul ! if love deserve, and should 
 procure love, what incomprehensible love is here be- 
 fore thee ! Pour out all the store of thy affections 
 here : and all is too little. O that it were more ! Let 
 him be first served that served thee first : let him have 
 the strength of thy love, who parted with strength and 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 319 
 
 life in love to thee : if thou hast any to spare when he 
 hath his part let it be imparted then to standers-by. 
 See what a sea of love is here before thee : cast thy- 
 self into this ocean of his love : fear not, though it 
 seems a furnace of fire, and the hottest that was ever 
 kindled upon earth, yet it is the fire of love and not of 
 wrath ; a fire most effectual to extinguish fire ; never 
 intended to consume, but to glorify thee ; venture into 
 it then in thy believing meditations, and walk in these 
 flames with the Son of God : when thou art once in 
 thou wilt be sorry to come forth again. O my soul ! 
 what wantest thou here to provoke thy love ? Dost 
 thou love for excellence 1 Why thou seest nothing be- 
 low but baseness, except as they relate to thy enjoy- 
 ments above. Yonder is the Goshen, the region of 
 light: this is a land of palpable darkness. Yonder 
 stars, that shining moon, the radiant sun, are all but as 
 the lanterns hanged out at thy Father's house, to light 
 thee while thou walkest in the dark streets of the 
 earth : but little dost thou know the glory that is with- 
 in ! Dost thou love for suitableness ? Why, what per- 
 son more suitable than Christ ? his godhead, his man- 
 hood, his fulness, 'his freeness, his willingness, his con- 
 stancy, do all proclaim him thy most suitable friend. 
 What state more suitable to thy misery than that of 
 mercy ? Or to thy sinfulness and baseness than that of 
 honour and perfection ? What place more suitable to 
 thee than heaven ? Thou hast had a sufficient trial of 
 this world : dost thou find it agree with thy nature or 
 desires ? Are these common abominations, these heavy 
 suff*erings, these unsatisfying vanities, suitable to thee ? 
 Or dost thou love for interest and near relation ? Where 
 hast thou better interest than in heaven ? or where hast 
 thou nearer relation than there ? Dost thou love for 
 acquaintance and familiarity ? Why, though thine eyes 
 have never seen the Lord yet he is never the farther 
 from thee. If thy son were blind yet he would love 
 thee his father, though he never saw thee. Thou hast 
 heard the voice of Christ to thy very heart ; thou hast 
 received his benefits ; thou hast lived in his bosom ; 
 and art thou not yet acquainted with him ? It is he that 
 brought thee seasonably and safely into the world ; it 
 
330 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 is he that nursed thee in thy tender infancy, and helped 
 thee when thou couldst not help thyself; he taught thee 
 to go, to speak, to read, to understand ; he taught thee 
 to know thyself and him ; he opened thee that first 
 window whereby thou sawest into heaven ; hast thou 
 forgotten since thy heart was careless, and he did 
 quicken it, and make it yield ? When it was at peace, 
 and he did trouble it? And broken, till he did heal 
 it again? Hast thou forgotten the time, nay, the many 
 times, when he found thee in secret, all in tears ; when 
 he heard thy sighs and groans, and left all to come and 
 comfort thee ? When he came in upon thee, and took 
 thee up, as it were, in his arms, and asked thee. Poor 
 soul, what aileth thee ? Dost thou weep, when I have 
 wept so much ? Be of good cheer, thy wounds are 
 saving and not deadly. It is I that have made them, 
 who mean thee no hurt ; though I let out thy blood, I 
 will not let out thy life. 
 
 Methinks I remember yet his voice, and feel those 
 arms that took me up. How gently did he handle me ! 
 How carefully did he dress my wounds, and bind them 
 up ! Methinks I hear him still saying, Though thou 
 hast dealt unkindly with me, yet will not I do so by 
 thee ; though thou hast set light by me, and all my 
 mercies, yet both I and all are thine. What wouldst 
 thou have that I cannot give thee ? and what dost thou 
 want that I cannot give thee ? If any thing in heaven 
 and earth will make thee happy it is all thine own. 
 Wouldst thou have pardon ? thou shalt have it. I free- 
 ly forgive thee all the debt. Wouldst thou have grace 
 and peace ? thou shalt have them both. Wouldst thou 
 have myself? behold I am thine, thy friend, thy Lord, 
 thy husband, and thy head. Wouldst thou have the 
 Father ? I will bring thee to him ; and thou shalt have 
 him in and by me. These were my Lord's reviving 
 words ; these were the melting, healing, quickening 
 passages of love. After all this, when I was doubtful 
 of his love, methinks I yet remember his convincing 
 arguments : Have I done so much to testify my love, 
 and yet dost thou doubt ? Have I made thy believing 
 it the condition of enjoying it, and yet dost thou doubt ? 
 Have I offered thee myself so long, and yet dost thou 
 
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. 321 
 
 question my willingness to be thine? What could I 
 have done more than I have done ? At what dearer rate 
 should I tell thee that I love thee ? Read the story of 
 my bitter passion ; wilt thou not believe that it pro- 
 ceeded from love ? Did I ever give thee cause to be so 
 jealous of me? or to think so hardly of me as thou 
 dost? Have I made myself in the Gospel a lion to 
 thine enemies, and a lamb to thee ; and dost thou so 
 overlook my lamblike nature ? Have I set mine arms 
 and heart there open to thee, and wilt thou not believe 
 but they are shut ? If I had been willing to let thee 
 perish, I could have done it at a cheaper rate : what 
 need I follow thee with so long patience and entreat- 
 ing ? What, dost thou tell me of thy wants ? have I not 
 enough for me and thee ? and why dost thou tell me of 
 thy unworthiness, and thy sin ? I had not died if man 
 nad not sinned : if thou wert not a sinner, thou wert 
 not for me ; if thou wert worthy thyself, what shouldst 
 thou do with my worthiness ? Did I ever invite the 
 worthy and righteous? or did I ever save or justify 
 such ? or is there any such on earth ? Hast thou no- 
 thing ? art thou lost and miserable ? art thou helpless and 
 forlorn ? dost thou believe that I am a sufficient Sa- 
 viour ? and wouldst thou have me ? why then take me. 
 Lo, I am thine ; if thou be willing, I am willing, and 
 neither sin nor devils shall break the match. 
 
 These, O these were the blessed words which his 
 Spirit from his Gospel spoke unto me, till he made me 
 cast myself at his feet, yea, into his arms, and cry out, 
 " My Saviour and my Lord, thou hast broke my heart, 
 thou hast revived my heart, thou hast overcome, thou 
 hast won my heart ; take it, it is thine ! if such a heart 
 can please thee, take it: if it cannot, make it as thou 
 wouldst have it." 
 
 Thus, O my soul, mayest thou remember the sweet 
 familiarity thou hast had with Christ ; therefore if^ ac- 
 quaintance will cause affection, O then knit thy heart 
 unto him ; it is he that hath stood by thy bed of sick- 
 ness, that hath cooled thy heats, and eased thy pains, 
 and refreshed thy weariness, and removed thy fears ; 
 he hath been always ready when thou hast earnestly- 
 sought him ; he hath given thee the meeting in public 
 14* 
 
322 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 and in private ; he hath been found of thee in the con- 
 gregation, in thy house, in thy chamber, in the field, in 
 the way as thou wast walking, in thy waking nights, in 
 thy deepest dangers. If bounty and compassion be an 
 attractive of love, how unmeasurably then am I bound 
 to love him ! All the mercies that have filled up my 
 life tell me this ! all the places that ever I did abide in, 
 every condition of life that I have passed through, all 
 my employments, and all my relations, every change 
 that hath befallen me. all tell me that the fountain is 
 overflowing goodness. 
 
 Lord, what a sum of love am I indebted to thee, and 
 how doth my debt continually increase ! How should 
 I love again for so much love ! But what ! shall I dare 
 to think of making thee requital, or of recompensing all 
 thy love with mine ? Will my mite requite thee for 
 golden mines ? or mine, which is nothing, or not mine, 
 for thine, which is infinite and thine own ? Shall I dare 
 to contend in love with thee ? or set my borrowed spark 
 against the sun of love ? Can I love as high, as deep, 
 as broad, as long, as love itself; as much as he that 
 made me, and that made me live, that gave me all that 
 little which I have ? Both the heart, the fire, the fuel, 
 and all were his : as I cannot match thee in the works 
 of thy power, nor make, nor preserve, nor guide the 
 world ; so why should I think any more of matching 
 thee in love ? No, Lord, I yield, I am overcome ; O 
 blessed conquest ! go on victoriously, and still prevail, 
 and triumph in thy love ; the captive of love shall pro- 
 claim thy victory when thou leadest me in triumph 
 from earth to heaven, from death to life, from the tri- 
 bunal to the throne ; myself and all that see it shall ac- 
 knowledge that thou hast prevailed, and all shall say, 
 " Behold how he loved him !" Yet let me love thee, in 
 subjection to thy love as thy redeemed captive, though 
 I cannot reach thy m.easure. 
 
 O my soul, begin it here ; be sick of love now, that 
 thou mayest be well with love there: "Keep thy- 
 self now in the love of God," and let neither life, nor 
 death, nor any thing separate thee from it, and thou 
 shalt be kept in the fulness of love for ever ; for the 
 Lord hath prepared a city of love, a place for the com- 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 323 
 
 municating of love to his chosen, and those that love 
 his name shall dwell there. 
 
 Away then, O my drowsy soul, from this world's un- 
 comfortable darkness ! The night of thy ignorance 
 and misery is past, the day of glorious light is at hand ; 
 this is the daybreak betwixt them both : though thou 
 see not yet the sun itself appear, methinks the twilight 
 of promise should revive thee ! Come forth, then, and 
 leave these earthly cells, and hear thy Lord that bids 
 thee rejoice, and again rejoice ! Thou hast lain here 
 long enough in thy j)rison of flesh, where Satan hath 
 been thy jailer ; where cares have been thy irons, and 
 fears thy scourge, and the bread and water of aflliction 
 thy food ; where sorrows have been thy lodging, and a 
 carnal, hard, unbelieving heart, the iron gates and bars 
 that have kept thee in, that thou couldst scarce have 
 leave to look through the lattices, and see one glimpse 
 of the immortal light : the angel of the covenant now 
 calls thee, and strikes thee, and bids thee arise and fol- 
 low him : up, O my soul, and cheerfully obey, and thy 
 bolts and bars shall all fly open ; do thou obey, and all 
 will obey ; follow the Lamb which way soever he leads 
 thee : art thou afraid, because thou knowest not whi- 
 ther ? Can the place be worse than where thou art ? 
 Shouldst thou fear to follow such a guide ? Can the 
 sun lead thee to a state of darkness ? Or can he mis- 
 lead thee that " is the light that lighteth every man that 
 Cometh into the world?" Will he lead thee to death, 
 who died to save thee from it? Or can he do thee any 
 hurt, who for thy sake did suffer so much? Follow 
 him, and he wdll show thee the paradise of God, he will 
 give thee a sight of the New Jerusalem, he will give 
 thee a taste of the tree of life : thy winter is past, and 
 wilt thou house thyself still in earthly thoughts ; and 
 confine thyself to drooping and dulness ? 
 
 Come forth, O my drooping soul, and lay aside thy 
 winter, mourning robes ; let it be seen in thy believing 
 joys and praise that the day is appearing, and the spring 
 is come ; and as now thou seest thy comforts green,- 
 thou shalt shortly see them Avhite and ripe for harvest ; 
 and then thou, who art now called forth to see and 
 taste, shalt be called forth to reap, and gather, and take 
 
324 THE SAINTS* EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 possession. Shall I suspend and delay my joys till 
 then? Should not the joys of the spring go before the 
 joys of harvest? Is the heir in no better a state than 
 the slave ? My Lord hath taught me to rejoice in the 
 hope of his glory, and to see it through the bars of a 
 prison ; and even when I am " persecuted for righteous- 
 ness' sake," when I am '* reviled, and all manner of 
 evil said against me for his sake," then he hath com- 
 manded me " to rejoice and be exceeding glad, because 
 of this my great reward in heaven." How justly is an 
 unbelieving heart possessed by sorrow, and made a 
 prey to cares and fears, when itself doth create them, 
 and thrust away its offered peace and joy ! I know it 
 is the pleasure of my bounteous Lord that none of his 
 family should want comfort, nor live such a poor and 
 miserable life, nor look with such a famished, dejected 
 face. I know he would have my joys exceed my sor- 
 rows ; and as much as he delights in the humble and 
 contrite, yet doth he more delight in the soul as it de- 
 lighteth in him. Hath my Lord spread me a table in 
 this wilderness, and furnished it with promises of ever- 
 lasting glory, and set before me angels' food, and 
 broached for me the side of his beloved Son, that 1 
 might have a better wine than the blood of the grape f 
 Doth he so importunately invite me to sit down, and 
 draw forth my faith, and feed, and spare not? Nay, 
 hath he furnished me to that end with reason, and faith, 
 and a rejoicing disposition ? And yet is it possible that 
 he should be unwilling I should rejoice ? Never think 
 it, O my unbelieving soul : nor dare charge him with 
 thy uncomfortable heaviness, who offereth thee the 
 foretastes of the highest delight that heaven can afford, 
 and God can bestow. Doth he not bid thee " delight 
 thyself in the Lord?" and promise to give thee " the 
 desires of thy heart ?" Hath he not charged thee " to 
 rejoice evermore ?" Yea, " to sing aloud, and shout 
 for joy ?" 
 
 Away, you cares and fears ! away, you importunate 
 sorrows ! stay here below, while I go up and see my 
 rest. The way is strange to me, but not to Christ. 
 There was the eternal dwelling of his glorious Deity ; 
 and thither hath he also brought his glorified flesh. It 
 
325 
 
 was his work to purchase it ; it is his work to prepare 
 it, and to prepare me for it, and to bring me to it. The 
 eternal God of truth hath given me his promise, his 
 seal, and his oath to assure me, that " believing in 
 Christ I shall not perish, but have everlasting life :" 
 thither shall my soul be speedily removed, and my 
 body shortly follow. And can my tongue say that I 
 shall shortly and surely live with God, and yet my 
 heart not leap within me ? Can I say it believingly, 
 and not rejoicingly? Ah faith ! how do I perceive thy 
 weakness ! Ah unbelief! if I had never known it before, 
 how sensibly do I now perceive thy malicious tyranny! 
 But were it not for thee what abundance might I have ! 
 The light of heaven would shine into my heart, and I 
 might be as familiar there as I am on earth. 
 
 Come away, my soul, then ; stand not looking on that 
 grave, nor turning those bones, nor reading thy lesson 
 vin the dust : those lines will soon be wiped out : but 
 lift up thy head and look to heaven, and read thy in- 
 structions in those fixed stars : or yet look higher than 
 those eyes can see, into that foundation which standeth 
 sure, and see thy name written in the Book of Life. 
 What if an angel should come from heaven and tell 
 thee that there is a mansion prepared for thee ; that 
 it shall certainly be thine own, and thou shalt possess it 
 for ever ; would not such a message make thee glad ? 
 And dost thou make light of the infallible word of pro- 
 mises which were delivered by the Spirit, and by the 
 Lord himself? 
 
 What delight have I found in my private studies, 
 especially when they have prospered to the increase of 
 knowledge ! Methinks I could bid the world farewell, 
 and immure myself among my books, and look forth no 
 more, (were it a lawful course,) but shut the door upon 
 me, and among those Divine souls employ myself in 
 sweet content, and pity the rich and great ones that 
 know not happiness. Sure then it is a high delight in- 
 deed which in the lap of eternity is enjoyed ! 
 
 If the queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to hear the 
 wisdom of Solomon, and see his glory ; O how gladly 
 should I pass from earth to heaven, to see the glory of 
 that eternal majesty ; and to attain myself that height 
 
326 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 of wisdom, in comparison of which the most learned on 
 earth are but fools and idiots ! If the heaven of glass 
 which the Persian emperor framed were so glorious a 
 piece, and the heaven of silver which the Emperor 
 Ferdinand sent to the great Turk, because of their rare 
 artificial representations and motions, what will the 
 heaven of heavens be, which is not formed by the art 
 of man, or beautified like these childish toys, but it is 
 the matchless palace of the great King, built by himself 
 for the residence of his glory, and the perpetual enter- 
 tainment of his beloved saints ! • 
 
 I cannot here enjoy my parents, or my beloved 
 friends, without some delight ; what will it then be to 
 live in the perpetual love of God ! For brethren here 
 to live together in unity, how good and pleasant a thing 
 is it ! to see a family live in love : husbands, wives, pa- 
 rents, children, servants, doing all in love to one ano- 
 ther ! O then, what a blessed society will be the family 
 of heaven, and those peaceable inhabitants of the New 
 Jerusalem ! where is no division, no disaffection, nor 
 strangeness, nor deceitful friendship ; never an angry 
 thought or look ; never an unkind expression ; but all 
 one in Christ, who is one with the Father, and live in 
 the love of Love himself. 
 
 Awake, then, O my drowsy soul, and look above this 
 world of sorrow ! Hast thou borne the yoke of afflic- 
 tions from thy youth, and so long felt the smarting rod, 
 and yet canst no better understand its meaning? Is not 
 every stroke to drive thee hence ? and is not the voice 
 like that to Elijah, " What dost thou here ? up, and 
 away." Dost thou forget that sure prediction of the 
 Lord, " In the world ye shall have trouble, but in me 
 ye shall have peace?" The first thou hast found true 
 by long experience ; and of the latter thou hast had a 
 small foretaste ; but the perfect peace is yet before, 
 w^hich, till it be enjoyed, cannot be clearly understood. 
 
 Ah, my Lord, I feel thy meaning ; it is written in my 
 flesh ; it is engraven in my bones : my heart thou aim- 
 est at : thy rod doth drive, thy silken cord of love doth 
 draw ; and all to bring it to thyself: can such a heart 
 be worth thy having ? Make it so, Lord, and then it is 
 thine : take it to thyself, and then take me. I can but 
 
EVERLASTING REST. 327 
 
 reacli it toward thee, and not unto thee : I am too low, 
 and it is too dull : this clod hath life to stir, but not to 
 rise : as the feeble child to the tender mother, it look- 
 ethup to thee, and stretcheth out the hands, and fain 
 would have thee take it up. Indeed, Lord, my soul is 
 in a strait, and what to choose I know not, but thou 
 knowest what to give ; to depart and be with thee is 
 best ; but yet to be in the flesh seems needful. Thou 
 knowest I am not weary of thy work ; I am willing to 
 stay while thou wilt here employ me, and to despatch 
 the work which thou hast put in my hands ; but I be- 
 seech thee stay no longer when this is done ; and while 
 I must be here let me be still amending and ascending ; 
 make me still better, and take me at the best. I dare 
 not be so impatient of living as to importune thee to cut 
 off my time, and urge thee to snatch me hence : nor yet 
 would I stay when my work is done ; and remain under 
 thy feet while they are in thy bosom : I am thy child as 
 well as they ; Christ is my head as well as theirs ; why 
 is there then so great a distance 1 I acknowledge the 
 equity of thy ways : though we are all children, yet I 
 am the prodigal, and therefore meeter in this remote 
 country to feed on husks, while they are always with 
 thee and possess thy glory ; but they were once in my 
 condition, and I shall shortly be in theirs : they were of 
 the lowest form before they came to the highest ; they 
 suffered before they reigned ; they came out of great 
 tribulation, who now are standing before thy throne; 
 and shall not I be content to come to the crown as they 
 did ? and to drink of their cup before I sit with them in 
 the kingdom ? I am contented, O my Lord, to stay thy 
 time, and get thy way, so thou wilt exalt me also in thy 
 season, and take me into thy barn when thou seest me 
 ripe. In the meantime I may desire, though I am not to 
 repine ; I may believe and wish, though not make sinful 
 haste ; I am content to wait, but not to lose thee : and 
 when thou seest me too contented with thine absence, 
 quicken then my dull desires, and blow up the dying 
 spark of love : and leave me not till I am able unfeign- 
 edly to cry out, " As the hart panteth after the brooks, 
 and the dryland thirsteth for water streams, so thirsteth 
 my soul after thee, O God : when shall I come and ap- 
 
338 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 pear before the living God ?" What interest hath this 
 empty world in me ! and what is there in it that may 
 seem so lovely as'to entice my desires and delight from 
 thee, or to make me loath to come away ? Draw forth 
 my soul to thyself by the secret power of thy love, as 
 the sunshine in the spring draws forth the creatures 
 from their winter cells ; meet it half way, and entice it 
 to thee, as the loadstone doth the iron : dispel the clouds 
 that hide from me thy love, or remove the scales that 
 hinder mine eyes from beholding thee : for only the 
 beams that stream from thy face, and the taste of thy 
 salvation, can make a soul unfeignedly say, " Lord, 
 now let thy servant depart in peace." 
 
 Send forth thy convoy of angels for my departing 
 soul, and let them bring it among the perfect spirits of 
 the just, and let me follow my dear friends that have 
 died in Christ before ; and when my friends are crying 
 over my grave, let my spirit be reposed with thee in 
 rest ; and when my corpse shall lie there rotting in the 
 dark, let my soul be in the inheritance of the saints in 
 light. And O thou that numberest the hairs of my 
 head, number all the days that my body lies in the dust ; 
 thou that writest all my numbers in thy book, keep an 
 account of all my scattered bones ; and hasten, O my 
 Saviour, the time of my return ; send forth thine angels, 
 and let that dreadful, joyful trum.pet sound ; delay not, 
 lest the living give up their hopes ; delay not, lest earth 
 should grow like hell, and lest thy Church, by divisions, 
 be crumbled to dust ; delay not, lest thine enemies get 
 advantage of thy flock, and lest pride, and hypocrisy, 
 and sensuality, and unbelief should prevail against thy 
 little remnant, and share among them thy whole inhe- 
 ritance, and when thou comest thou find not faith on the 
 earth ; delay not, lest the grave should boast of victory, 
 and refuse to deliver up thy due. O hasten that great 
 resurrection day ! when thy command shall go forth, 
 and none shall disobey ; when the sea and earth shall 
 yield up their hostages, and all that sleep in the grave 
 shall awake, and the dead in Christ shall first arise ; 
 when the seed that thou sowedst corruptible shall come 
 forth incorruptible ; and graves that received but rot- 
 tenness, and retained but dust, shall return thee glorious 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 329 
 
 stars and suns : therefore dare I lay down my carcass 
 in the dust, intrusting it not to a grave, but to thee ; 
 and therefore my flesh shall rest in hope, till thou raise 
 it to the everlasting rest. Return, O Lord, how long! 
 O let thy kingdom come ! thy desolate bride saith, 
 Come ; for thy Spirit within her saith. Come, who 
 teacheth her thus to pray, with groanings which cannot 
 be expressed: the whole creation saith. Come, waiting 
 to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the 
 glorious liberty of the sons of God : thyself hath said, 
 " Surely I come : Amen ; even so, come, Lord Jesus." 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus, reader, I have given thee my best advice for 
 the attaining and maintaining a heavenly conversation. 
 The manner is imperfect, and too much my own : but 
 for the main matter, T received it from God. From him 
 I deliver it thee, and his charge I lay upon thee, that 
 thou entertain and practise it. If thou canst not do it 
 fully, do it as thou canst ; only be sure thou do it seri- 
 ously and frequently. If thou wilt believe a man that 
 hath made some small trial of it, thou shalt find it will 
 make thee another man, and elevate thy soul, and clear 
 thy understanding, and leave a pleasant savour upon thy 
 heart ; so that thy own experience will make thee con- 
 fess, that one hour thus spent will more effectually re- 
 vive thee than many in bare external duties ; and a day 
 in these contemplations will afford thee truer content 
 than all the glory and riches of the earth. Be acquainted 
 with this work, and thou wilt be acquainted with God ; 
 thy joys will be spiritual and lasting ; thou wilt have 
 comfort in life, and comfort in death ; when thou hast 
 neither wealth, nor health, nor the pleasures of this 
 world, yet wilt thou have comfort ; comfort without the 
 presence or help of any friend, without a minister, with- 
 out a book ; when all means are denied thee, or taken 
 from thee, yet mayest thou have vigorous, real comfort. 
 Thy graces will be active and victorious ; and the daily 
 joy which is thus fetched from heaven, will be thy 
 
330 THE saints' everlasting rest. 
 
 strength : thou wilt be as one that standeth on tne top 
 of an exceeding high mountain ; he looks down on the 
 world as if it were quite below him : how small do the 
 fields, and woods, and countries seem to him ? cities 
 and towns seem but little spots. Thus despicably wilt 
 thou look on all things here below : the greatest princes 
 will seem but as grasshoppers, and the busy, conten- 
 tious, covetous world but as heaps of ants. Men's 
 threatenings will be no terror to thee ; nor the honours 
 of this world any strong enticement ; temptations will 
 be harmless, as having lost their strength ; and afflic- 
 tions less grievous, as having lost their sting ; and every 
 mercy will be better known and relished. 
 
 Reader, it is (under God) in thy own choice now, 
 whether thou wilt live this blessed life or not ; and 
 whether all these pains which I have taken for thee, 
 shall prosper or be lost. If it be lost through thy lazi- 
 ness (which God forbid) thou wilt prove the greater loser 
 thyself. 
 
 O man, what hast thou to mind, but God and heaven? 
 art thou not almost out of this world already ? dost thou 
 not look every day, when one disease or other will let 
 out thy soul ? doth not the bier stand ready to carry 
 thee to the grave ? and the worms wait to feed upon thy 
 face and heart ? what if thy pulse must beat a few 
 strokes more ? and what if thou hast a few more breaths 
 to fetch, before thou breathe thy last ? and what if thou 
 hast a few more nights to sleep, before thou sleep in the 
 dust ? Alas, what will this be when it is gone ? and is 
 it not almost gone already? Shortly thou wilt see thy 
 glass run out, and say thyself. My life is done ! my time 
 is gone ! there is nothing now but heaven or hell : 
 where then should thy heart be now, but in heaven? 
 Didst thou but know what a dreadful thing it is to have 
 a doubt of heaven when a man lies dying, it would rouse 
 thee up. 
 
 O what a life might men live, if they were but willing 
 and diligent ! God would have our joys to be far more 
 than our sorrows ; yea, he would have us to have no 
 sorrow but what tendeth to joy ; and no more than our 
 sins have made necessary for our good. How much do 
 those Christians wrong God and themselves, that either 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 331 
 
 make their thoughts of God the inlet of their sorrows, 
 or let these offered joys lie by, as neglected or forgot- 
 ten ! Some there be that say, It is not worth so much 
 time and trouble to think of the greatness of the joys 
 above. But as these men obey not the command of 
 God, which requireth them to have their affections on 
 things above ; so do they wilfully make their own lives 
 miserable, by refusing the delights that God hath set 
 before them. And yet if this were all, it were a smaller 
 matter ; if it were but loss of their comforts, I would 
 not say much ; but see what abundance of other mis 
 chiefs follow the absence of these heavenly delights. 
 
 First, It will damp, if not destroy, our very love to 
 God ; so deeply as we apprehend his exceeding love to 
 us, and his purpose to make us eternally happy, so much 
 will it raise our love : love to God, and delight in him, 
 are still conjunct. They that conceive of God as one 
 that desireth their blood and damnation, cannot heartily 
 love him. 
 
 Secondly, It will make us have rare and unpleasing 
 thoughts of God ; for our thoughts will follow our love 
 and delight. Did we more delight in God than in any 
 thing below, our thoughts would as freely run after him 
 as they now run from him. 
 
 Thirdly, And it will make men have as rare and un- 
 pleasing speech of God ; for who will care for talking 
 of that which he hath no delight in ? What makes men 
 still talking of wordliness, or wickedness, but that these 
 are more pleasant to them than God ? 
 
 Fourthly, Men will have no delight in the service of 
 God when they have no delight in God, nor any sweet 
 thoughts of heaven, which is the end of their services. 
 No wonder if such Christians complain that they are 
 still backward to duty ; that they have no delight in 
 prayer, in sacraments, or in Scripture itself: if thou 
 couldst once delight in God, thou wouldst easily delight 
 in duty ; especially that which bringeth thee into the 
 nearest converse with him ; but till then, no wonder if 
 thou be weary of all. 
 
 Fifthly, This want of heavenly delight will leave men 
 under the power of every affliction ; they will have no- 
 thing to comfort them and ease them in their sufferings, 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 
 
 but the empty, ineffectual pleasures of the flesh ; and 
 when that is gone, where then is their delight ? 
 
 Sixthly, It will make them fearful and unwilling to 
 die : for who would go to a God, or a place, that he hath 
 no delight in ? Or who would leave his pleasure here, 
 except it were to go to better ? But if men take delight 
 in God while they live, they will not tremble at the 
 tidings of death. 
 
 If God would persuade you now to make conscience 
 of this duty, and help you in it by the blessed influence 
 of his Spirit, 5^ou would not change your lives with the 
 greatest prince on earth. But I am afraid, if I may 
 judge of your hearts by the backwardness of my own, 
 that it will prove a hard thing to persuade you to the 
 work. Pardon my jealousy ; it is raised upon too many 
 and sad experiments. What say you ? Do you resolve 
 on this heavenly course or not ? Will you let go all 
 your sinful pleasures, and daily seek these higher de- 
 lights ? I pray thee, reader, consider of it, and resolve 
 on the work before thou goest farther. Let thy family 
 perceive, let thy neighbours perceive, let thy conscience 
 perceive, yea, let God perceive it, that thou art a man 
 that hast thy conversation in heaven. God hath now 
 offered to be thy daily delight ; thy neglect is thy re- 
 fusal. Take heed what thou dost : refuse this, and re- 
 fuse all : thou must have heavenly delights, or none that 
 are lasting. God is willing thou shouldst daily walk 
 with him, and fetch in consolation from the everlasting 
 fountain : if thou be unwilling, bear the loss ; and when 
 thou liest dying, then seek for comfort where thou canst. 
 O how is the unseen God neglected, and the unseen glory 
 forgotten ! and all for want of that *' faith which is the 
 substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things 
 that are not seen." 
 
 But for you, whose hearts God hath weaned from all 
 things here below, I hope you will fetch one walk daily 
 in the New Jerusalem ! God is your love, and your 
 desire ; and I know you would fain be more acquainted 
 with your Saviour, and I know it is your grief that 
 your hearts are not more near him ; and that they do 
 not more passionately love and delight in him. As 
 
THE saints' everlasting REST. 333 
 
 ever you would enjoy your desires try this life of medi- 
 tation on your everlasting rest. 
 
 O thou, the merciful Father of spirits, the attractive 
 of love, and ocean of delights, draw up these drossy 
 hearts unto thyself, and keep them there till they are 
 spiritualized and refined, and second these thy servant's 
 weak endeavours, and persuade those that read these 
 lines to the practice of this delightful, heavenly work. 
 O suffer not the soul of thy most unworthy servant to 
 be a stranger to those joys which he unfoldeth to thy 
 people, or to be seldom in that way which he hath 
 marked out to others ; but O keep me, while I tarry on 
 this earth, in daily, serious breathings after thee, and 
 in a believing, affectionate walking with thee ; and when 
 thou comest, O let me be found so doing, not hiding my 
 talent, nor serving my flesh, nor yet asleep, with my 
 lamp unfurnished, but waiting and longing for my Lord's 
 return ; that those who shall read these directions may 
 not reap only the fruit of my studies, but the breathings 
 of my active hope and love ; that if my heart were open 
 to their view they might there read the same most 
 deeply engraven with a beam from the face of the Son 
 of God ; and not find vanity, or lust, or pride within, 
 where the words of life appear without; that so these 
 lines may not witness against me : but, proceeding from 
 the heart of the writer, may be effectual, through thy 
 grace, upon the heart of the reader, and so be the 
 savour of life to both. 
 
 Glory be to God in the highest i: on earth peace, 
 good will toward men. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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