Full text of "The saints' everlasting rest; or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory"

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P^'^UC |.i

LiL^^lt LRN«*r AND

Richard Baxter

There are txvo fandliar portraits of Baxter :
one painted hi his fifty-fifth year, and the
other, ivhich is here reproduced, evidently taken
at a7i earlier age. The original painting may
be seen in Dr. Williams's Library, Gordon
Square, W.C. The publisher is indebted to
the Trustees for their hind permission to
repj'oduce it.

^-^THE SAINTS
EVERLASTING REST

A TREATISE OF THE BLESSED STATE OF THE

SAINTS IN THEIR ENJOYMENT OF

GOD IN GLORY

RICHARD BAXTER

TEACHER OF THE CHURCH OP KIDDERMINSTER IN WORCESTERSHIRE

A NEW EDITION, EDITED BY

WILLIAM YOUNG, B.A.

PHILADELPHIA

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

LONDON : GRANT RICHARDS

MDCCCCIX

10552811

ia4i

Trintecl by

BALLANTYNE, HANSON 6- CO.

Edinburgh

" You need not fear any danger from hence of being
influenced for or against any party of Christians ; for
in all his writings you will find the evidences of a large
and truly Christian spirit, too great to be confined to
the narrow limits of one or other party ; and that
noble Catholic temper is what he everywhere labours
to infuse into his readers ; a temper not only most
pleasant to the persons themselves in whom it has its
place, but which at last must heal all the unhappy
differences in the Christian world, if ever God have
so much mercy for us.""

\Prefatory note to the folio edition of Baxter s Practical
Works, signed by thirty-four eminent men of their dayJ]

C.D.u^<o.u . -^'^941

EDITOR'S PEEFACE

Richard Baxter was bom in 1615 and died in 1691.
Momentous events in the history of our country were
crowded into the intervening years. That strange, stir-
ring time saw the first Charles governing England for
eleven years without a Parliament ; John Hampden's
resistance to the illegal levying of ship-money ; the
"'Petition of Right"" and the "Grand Remonstrance";
the iniquitous proceedings of the Star Chamber and
High Commission and Council of York ; the meeting
and varied fortunes of the Long Parliament; the in-
dictment and execution of Strafford and Laud ; the
Civil War ; the abolition of Episcopacy ; the vigorous
rule of the great Protector ; the abdication of the
Protectorate by his feeble successor ; the Restoration
of monarchy and Episcopacy; the inglorious reign of
Charles the Second ; the Act of Uniformity with its
fateful results ; the Great Plague and the Great Fire of
London ; the death of Charles and the accession of his
brother; the butcheries of the infamous Chief- Justice
JefFeries; the flight and dethronement of James the
Second ; and the Revolution of 1688 which issued in the
accession of William and Mary.

Baxter's lifetime was associated also with some of the
most famous names in English Literature. When Baxter
was born, Shakespeare was still living at Stratford-on-
Avon. Baxter was three years of age when Sir Walter
Raleigh was beheaded. When Baxter was a boy of

PREFACE

eleven years, Bacon's great works, " The Advancement of
Learning"" and the "Novum Organum,"" were still new
and fresh, and their author was still alive. When Baxter
was a youth of twenty-two, "rare Ben Jonson"" was laid
to rest in Westminster Abbey. About two years after
Baxter's short educational residence at Ludlow Castle,
Milton's " Comus " was presented there ; while Baxter
was a chaplain in the army of the Parliament, the " Areo-
pagitica "" was published; and the "Paradise Lost "may
have come into his hands in his country home at Acton,
whither he had retired when his preaching had been made
a crime, and "in order," as he says, "that I might give
myself to writing and to do what service I could for
posterity and live, as much as possibly I could, out of the
world." Bunyan\s immortal allegory, "The Pilgrim's
Progress," three editions of which were called for within
a year, was published in 1678 when Baxter had returned
to London, enfeebled by a^e and ill-health, and was being
persecuted by fine and imprisonment, and forbidden to
preach even in the chapel at Oxendon Road which he
had built at his own expense. Baxter was thirteen years
older than Bunyan and survived him three years; but
though they were contemporary, and must have been
sometimes near to one another, there is no evidence that
they ever met.

Baxter was one of the great men of that great time.
How large a space he filled in the religious life and
literature of England it is difficult for us now to realise.
The Rev. William Orme in his " Life and Times of
Richard Baxter" gives a chronological list of Baxter's
works to the number of one hundred and sixty-eight,
and many of them were large folio and quarto volumes.
Baxter's " Practical Works " alone fill four thick folio
volumes closely printed. The foreword given on a pre-
vious page was copied from the Preface to that edition

PREFACE

in the vestry of the " New Meeting " at Kidderminster
where Baxter's pulpit is preserved. Ornie's edition of
Baxter's "Practical Works'' (1830) extends to twenty-
three goodly octavo volumes. What are called his
" Practical Works "" are but a fraction of what he wrote
and published. " After a familiarity of many years with
his writings, we must avow," says Sir James Stephen,^
" that of the one hundred and sixty-eight volumes com-
prised in the Catalogue of his })rinted works, there are
many which we have never opened and many with which
we can boast but a slight acquaintance. These, however,
are such as (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Hallam) have
ceased to belong to men, and have become the property
of moths. From the recesses of the library in Red Cross
Street they tower, in the sullen majesty of the folio age,
over the pigmies of this duodecimo generation — the ex-
pressive, though neglected, monuments of occurrences,
which can never lose their place or their interest in the
history of theological literature." ^

But not only were Baxter's writings voluminous, they
were also of an exceptionally high order. Many testi-
monies might be quoted. Let the following suffice. Dr.
Barrow said : " His practical writings were never mended
and his controversial ones seldom confuted." Dr. Wilkins,
bishop of Chester, believed that "if Baxter had lived in
the primitive time, he would have been one of the Fathers
of the Church " ; and that " it was enough for one age to
produce such a man as Richard Baxter." " Perhaps no
thinker," says a writer in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica,"
"has exerted so great influence on Nonconformity as
Baxter has done, and that not in one direction only, but

^ " Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography," vol. ii. p. 24.

2 The allusion is to Dr. Williams' Library, formerly housed in Red
Cross Street, now in Gordon Square, London, W.C. My indebtedness
to the Librarian for kind attention and help is gratefully acknowledged.

PREFACE

in every form of development, doctrinal, ecclesiastical,
and practical. He is the type of a distinct class of the
Christian ministry ; that class which aspires after scholarly
training ; prefers a broad to a sectarian theology, and
adheres to rational methods of religious investigation and
appeal. The rational element in him was very strong."^
" Baxter," says another writer, " was one of the giants
of the Commonwealth. He was to its theology what
Cromwell was to its politics, what Milton was to its
liberties, and what Owen was to its nonconformity."^
" Whatever may have been the faults,"" says Sir James
Stephen, "or whatever the motives of the Protector,
there can be no doubt that under his sway England
witnessed a diffusion, till then unknown, of the purest
influence of genuine religious principles. . . . To this
result no single man contributed more largely than
Baxter himself by his writings and his pastoral
labours."" ^

It is not easy to define in a word Baxter"s ecclesiastical
position. He is the great Catholic of Puritanism. He
and all his relatives, though Puritans, were conformists.
But though ordained by a prelate he was thoroughly
opposed to prelacy, and declined to be a bishop either in
England or in Scotland. He was, perhaps, nearer to the
Presbyterians than to any of the other denominations of
his day; but when in 1672 he took advantage of the
King's declaration dispensing with the penal laws against
Nonconformists, and sought a licence for preaching, it
was on condition that he might have it without the title
of Presbyterian, Independent, or any other party, but
only as a Nonconformist. Through a very wide course of

■1 " Encyclopaedia Britannica," ninth edition.

2 Thomas W. Jenkyn, D.D., F.G.S. Essay on the Life, Ministry, and
Theology of Baxter.

2 " Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography," vol. ii. p. 9.

PREFACE

reading, which was almost his only education, he groped
his way to conclusions which were not exactly those of
any of the sects. The study of Hooker's " Ecclesiastical
Polity *" had reconciled him to episcopal ordination,
but further reading and observation weakened his attach-
ment to the established discipline and ritual. He was
profoundly dissatisfied with the practice of indiscriminate
communion, with compulsory subscription to articles of
faith, and with the sign of the cross in baptism. He
objected to the surplice, and never wore one. While he
himself felt free to receive the sacred elements kneelins:,
he would not refuse them to those who conscientiously
objected to assume that posture. And he worshipped
and communicated in the Church of England even when
he was suffering persecution at her hands. In fact, as
Sir James Stephen says, " Baxter was opposed to every
sect and belonged to none. He can be properly described
only as a Baxterian — at once the founder and the single
member of an eclectic school, within the portals of which
he invited all men, but persuaded none, to take refuge
from their mutual animosities." ^

Yet he had intimate friends, and was himself personally
honoured and esteemed by many, in all the denominations.
He recognised, as few in his day seemed capable of doing,
special excellences in each. His ideal Church would have
been a blend of them all ; and more than any man that
ever lived he laboured long and painfully to bring them
all together in the unity of a national Church, which
should be a powerful bulwark of Protestantism and a
disseminator of the blessings of the Gospel among all
the people.

None of the Protestant Churches, therefore, can make

good an exclusive claim to Baxter. The relics of this

^ " Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography," vol. ii. p. 28.
xi

PREFACE

saint are not to be found at one shrine only. During a
visit to Kidderminster last year, this was found to be
strikingly illustrated. Three denominations in different
ways cherish his memory, and the town itself is, in a
sense, his monument. The town is, of course, greatly
changed since Baxter's time, but some of the older parts
give a good idea of what it was when he was its "teacher"*'
and discharged among the inhabitants of its "Borough
and Foreign " ^ the duties of his famous pastorate. The
large and beautiful parish church of St. Mary is externally
what it was in his day, but the interior has been greatly
changed. The five galleries which were added to accom-
modate the crowds attracted by his preaching are no
longer there; but the spacious interior justifies his
appreciative remark : " the church itself being very
capacious, and the most commodious and convenient that
ever I was in." The pulpit from which he preached is no
longer in its place. The only relic of Baxter which the
church contains is an ancient oak chair used by him in
his study, and now reverently placed within the Com-
munion rails. It bears the well-known initials of some of
his friends, from whom perhaps it was a gift. The quaint
Jacobean pulpit from which he preached was, with the
old pews and other woodwork, sold by auction more than
a hundred years ago. It was afterwards presented by an
admirer to the Presbyterians worshipping in the " New
Meeting'" (now a Unitarian chapel), and is preserved

1 This designation is still used at Kidderminster. The " Borough "
comprised that part which in medieeval times the Lord of the Manor
kept in his own hands as a sort of home farm ; and the "Foreign "
all the outlying district which was either assigned to his A^illeins for
cultivation or left waste for hunting ground.

The name Kidderminster seems to be derived from a monastery
named after St. Chad {Oeaclda), Bishop of Mercia, who died in 672
" Ceadda Minster" would easily be corrupted into '• Kederminster,"
as Baxter spelled it, and then into " Kidderminster."

xii

PREFACE

not for use but as a relic in the lecture hall or vestry.
It is of octagonal form. On the panels are carved flowers
painted in different colours, and some gilding still remains.
There is a large sounding-board surmounted by a crown
upon a cushion. Around the top is inscribed : " And
call upon His name, declare His works among the
people." It seems to have been presented to the church
by a lady about twenty years before Baxter went to
Kidderminster.^ A modern Congregational Church,
formerly known as the " Old Meeting,"" perpetuates the
connection of Baxter with the evangelical nonconformity
of the town by its name, " Baxter Church."

In the " Bull Ring," * in the centre of the town and
close to the house in which Baxter lived, stands an
excellent statue by Brock. It was fitly inaugurated in
1875 by Dr. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, and Dr.
Stoughton, an eminent nonconformist, who delivered
addresses on the occasion. It bears the following in-
scription : —

" Between the years 1(S41 and 166O

this town

was the scene of the labours of

Richard Baxter,

Renowned equally for his Christian learning

and his pastoral fidelity.

In a stormy divided age he advocated unity

and comprehension, pointing the way to

*the Everlasting Rest,'

Churchmen and Nonconformists united to raise

this Memorial a.d. 1875."

The house in which Baxter lived is in High Street.

1 Orme, " Life and Times," vol. i. p. 1G9.

^ Tlie place where the bull was fastened when baited by dogs for
sport in former days.

xiii

PREFACE

He never occupied the Vicarage though legally entitled
to do so ; for he was kindly unwilling to eject the worth-
less incumbent of the parish who had, for good reason,
been superseded by the ecclesiastical authorities of the
Commonwealth. The house is now a confectioner's shop
and is called " Baxter House.''

It was while living in this house that Baxter witnessed the
incident connected with the civil war which he has thus
graphically described : " Kidderminster being but eleven
miles from Worcester, the flying army passed, some of
them through the town and some by it. I had nearly
gone to bed when the noise of the flying horses acquainted
us with the overthrow; and a piece of one of Cromwell's
troops that guarded Bewdley Bridge, having tidings of it,
came into our streets, and stood in the open market-place
before my door, to the surprise of those that passed by.
So when many hundreds of the flying army came together,
and the thirty troopers cried ' Stand,' and fired at them,
they either hastened away or cried quarter, not knowing
in the dark what number it was that charged them.
Thus as many were taken there as so few men could lay
hold on; and till midnight the bullets flying towards
my door and windows, and the sorrowful fugitives has-
tening by for their lives, did tell me the calamitousness
of war." ^

Baxter's theology, like his church polity, was of an
eclectic character. Extreme Calvinists wrote against his
Arminianism ; extreme Arminians denounced his Calvin-
ism. His theology was a blend of both. He saw what
was excellent and scriptural in each, and he did not
hesitate to combine them even at the risk of appearing
to believe in contradictories. In our day he would be
regarded as a moderate Calvinist who proclaimed the
sovereignty of God in a way that was not incompatible

^ Reliquioi Baxteriance, Part i. p. 110.
xiv

PREFACE

with fervent appeals to the wicked to forsake theiv way,
and to unrighteous men to forsake their thoughts, and to
turn to the Lord that He might have mercy upon them.
It was this feature in Baxter's theology and presentation of
the Gospel that moved Archbishop Usher to importune him
to write such books as " The Call to the Unconverted,'"' of
which Baxter himself wrote :

" God hath blessed it with unexpected success beyond
all the rest that I have written, except the ' Saints' Rest."*
In a little more than a year there were about twenty
thousand of them printed by my own consent, and about
ten thousand since, besides many thousands by stolen
impression, which poor men stole for lucre' sake. Through
God's mercy, I have had information of almost whole
households converted by this small book, which I set so
light by; and as if all this in England, Scotland, and
Ireland were not mercy enough to me, God, since I was
silenced, hath sent it over on His message to many beyond
the seas."i

Much more might be told of this eminent ecclesiastic
and saintly man of God : of his fame as a preacher ; of
the results of his wonderful pastorate ; of the strange
vicissitudes and experiences of his life ; of his interviews
with Cromwell and with Charles II., before both of whom
he preached; of the severe and long-continued persecu-
tions which he suffered on account of his nonconformity ;
and of the almost incredible bodily infirmities which
made him feel that death was ever near, and spurred him
on to increased ardour and diligence in his work as a
Minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. But enough, I trust,
^s been said to awaken the interest of those to whom

^ Meliquice Baxteriance, Part i. p. 115.

XV b

PREFACE

the subject is new and to lead them to a further study
of Baxter's life and works.

" The Saint's Everlasting Rest," some parts of which
are reproduced in the following pages, was the first of
Baxter's literary efforts, and one of the most popular
religious books ever published.

He has himself given us the genesis of the book.
When serving as chaplain in the army, he was taken
seriously ill, and being far from home and friends and
having little expectation of recovery, he turned his
thoughts to the " Everlasting Rest " into which he seemed
about to enter. " While I was in health," he says, " I
had not the least thought of writing books or of serving-
God in any more public way than preaching, but when
I was weakened with great bleeding and left solitary
in my chamber at Sir John Cook's in Derbyshire, without
any acquaintance but my servant about me, and was
sentenced to death by the physicians, I began to con-
template more seriously on the everlasting rest, which
I apprehended myself to be just on the borders of.
That my thoughts might not too much scatter in my
meditation, I began to write something on that subject,
intending but the quantity of a sermon or two ; but
being continued long in weakness where I had no books
and no better employment, I followed it on till it
was enlarged to the bulk in which it is published. The
first three weeks I spent on it was at Mr. Nowel's
house at Kirkby Mallory in Leicestershire; a quarter
of a year more, at the seasons which so great weak-
ness would allow, I bestowed on it at Sir Thomas Ron 's
in Worcestershire, and I finished it shortly after t
Kidderminster." ^

^ Reliquice Baxteriance, p. 108.
xvi

PHEFACE

What he wrote first was almost entirely devotional,
and is contained in the first and fourth parts.^

The first edition was licensed in 1649 and published in
1650. Copies of it are now rare. It was considerably
shorter than the later editions. It was dedicated, as a
whole, to his " dearly beloved friends the inhabitants of
the Burrough and Forreign of Kederminster both Magis-
trates and people." The first part was dedicated to Sir
Thomas and Lady Jane Rous.

The second edition, 1651, was carefully revised and
considerably enlarged. It contains a long " Premonition,""
in which the author explains the alterations and addi-
tions. Though he could have found in his heart, he says,
to have supplied divers other defects, yet he forbears,
because the Stationer persuaded him that it would be
an offence to those that had bought the first edition.
He added one chapter (the ninth) in the second part,
which, being promised in the beginning in the method
propounded, was forgotten. Also he "added the
eleventh chapter in the third part, containing a more
exact inquiry into the nature of sincerity and the use of
marks." He added also a " Preface " to the second part,
" both for defence and fuller explication of the doctrine
there contained." This Preface is directed (1) to Unbe-
lievers and Anti-Scripturists, (2) to Papists, and (3) to
the Orthodox. It extends to thirty-five pages of small
and closely printed type. Lastly, he " added many mar-
ginal quotations, especially of the Ancients," in order to
free himself, as he says, " from the charge of singularity."

That edition contained three new Dedications. The

second part thus : " To my dearly beloved Friends the

inhabitants of Bridgnorth, both Magistrates and People,

Richard Baxter devoteth this Part of this Treatise, in

testimony of his unfeigned love to them, who were the

^ See Appendix IV.
xvii

PREFACE

first to whom he was sent (as fixed) to publish the
Gospel."" The third part thus : " To my dearly beloved
friends the inhabitants of the City of Coventry, both
Magistrates and People, especially Col. John Barker and
Col. Thos. Willoughby, late Governors, with all the
Officers and Soldiers of their garrison, Richd. Baxter
devoteth this part of this Treatise in thankful acknow-
ledgment of their great affection toward him and ready
acceptance of his labours among them (which is the
highest recompence, if joined with obedience, that a
faithful Minister can expect)." And the fourth part
thus : " To my dearly beloved friends in the Lord, the
inhabitants of the town of Shrewsbury, both Magistrates,
Ministers, and People, as also of the neighbouring parts,
Richard Baxter devoteth this practical part of this
Treatise, as a testimony of his love to his native soil, and
to his many godly and faithful friends there living.""

The third edition, which was the same as the second,
was published in 1652. The text of that edition has
been carefully followed in this book.

Almost yearly, new editions continued to appear.

The eighth in 1659 is marked by the omission of the
names of Lord Brooke, Pym, and Hampden, from the
distinguished place of honour which they held in the
previous editions.^ This is Baxter"'s account of it : " The
need which I perceived of taking away from before such
men as Dr. Jane anything which they might stumble at,
made me blot out the names of Lord Brooke, Pym, and
Hampden in all the impressions of the book which were
since 1659 ; yet this did not satisfy. But I must tell the
reader that I did it not as changing my judgment of the
persons, well known to the world ; of whom Mr. John
Hampden was one whom friends and enemies acknow-
ledged to be most eminent for prudence, piety, and

1 See p. 121.
xviii

PREFACE

peaceable counsels; having the most universal praise of
any gentleman that I remember of that age." ^

The twelfth edition in 1688 was the first to appear
with a portrait of the author taken in his fifty-fifth year.

Other editions continued to appear at somewhat longer
intervals. Baxter died in 1691, but his book lived on,
and still holds a high place in the religious literature of
his country.

Sixty-seven years after Baxter ""s death the Rev. Benjamin
Fawcett, minister at Kidderminster " published," says
Mr. Orme, " an excellent abridgment of it. It makes no
alteration on the sense or even language of the author,^
but diminishes the bulk of the work by omitting many
digressions, controversial discussions, together with the
prefaces, dedications, and other things of a temporary or
local nature. . . . Those, however, who wish to do full
justice to Baxter will not be satisfied with anything but
the original."^ Since that time reprints of the abridg-
ment, or of parts of it, have often appeared.

In 1830 a handsome and complete edition of Baxter's
Practical Works was published in twenty-three volumes,
carefully edited by the Rev. William Orme. The " Saints'
Rest" fills the last two volumes. Mr. Orme's "Life and
Times of Richard Baxter," in two volumes, and largely in
Baxter's own words, is a fascinating biography.

In 1887 an edition of the " Saints' Rest," in two
volumes, was published by Messrs. Griffith, Farran & Co.
in their "Ancient and Modern Library of Theological
Literature," but there is nothing to indicate which of the
earlier editions it reproduces. This is the latest edition
of the work which I know.

1 Reliquice Baxteriance, Part iii. p. 177.

2 It may not alter the sense, but a patchwork of the words and sen-
tences used by Baxter cannot be regarded as his unaltered language.

3 Orme, " Life and Times," vol. ii. p. 411.

xix

PREFACE

The present edition is unlike any other which has been
published, and will, it is hoped, fill a place which has long
been vacant. It has some features which ought to
commend it to those who would like to see a great religious
classic treated with the same consideration and scrupulous
care as any other famous literary work. For many years
most readers of " The Saints' Everlasting Rest "" have had
to be satisfied with editions which were only an abstract
or condensation of the original work, and yet without
anything to indicate that fact, or to show how much or
how little of the original was really given. Sometimes
even a further condensation of such an abstract has been
published as " Baxter's Saints' Rest," without any indica-
tion of its real character. The motive of such publications
is, of course, pure enough, viz., a desire to do good. Not
less good, however, would have been done if, in a few
prefatory words, the real nature of the publication had
been given ; and no one would then have been led to
believe that he was reading Baxter's original work. Even
a good end ought not to be held to justify what is, after
all, a literary deception.

The present edition does not contain the whole of
"The Saints' Everlasting Rest," yet it is neither a
condensation nor an abstract of it. In the exhaustive
treatment of his subject followed by Baxter, after the
manner of his time, he was led into the discussion of
topics which are not indicated by the title but which he
considered germane to the subject. These discussions in
his copious hands grew into treatises and might have been
published as distinct and separate works. If the reader
will glance at Appendix IV. he will have no doubt of this.
For example. Chapter VIII. in the First Part is really a
treatise which might be entitled "The People of God
Described." Seven chapters in the Second Part make up
an elaborate treatise on " Scripture Proved to be the

PREFACE

Word of God." The Third Part, which embraces fourteen
chapters and extends to the size of a goodly volume,
contains a treatise on " The Sinner's Everlasting Misery '';
another on " Self-Examination and Assurance of Faith";
another on "The Afflictions of the Saints in this Life";
and yet another on " The Duty of Christians towards the
Unsaved."

These have been omitted bodily from this edition.
What is left pertains immediately and directly to the
subject of " The Saints' Everlasting Rest " ; and is prac-
tically what Baxter first intended, and what he originally
wrote. A glance at the full table of contents drawn up
by Baxter himself, and given in Appendix IV., will show
in detail what has been omitted, and perhaps will also
indicate why it has been omitted. But what is given
is in Baxter's own words and exactly as he wrote it. If
any word has been inserted it is enclosed in square
brackets ; if words or sentences have been omitted,
asterisks reveal the fact.

But Chapters IV., VII., and IX., in the Fourth Part,
have been reluctantly omitted for another reason. Those
chapters treat directly of •' The Saints' Everlasting Rest,"
and would have been included had it not been considered
necessary to limit this volume to its present size. Some-
thing had to be sacrificed, and the omission of the matter
contained in those chapters seemed to inflict on the book
the smallest amount of injury.

In this edition the spelling and punctuation have been
modernised ; the numerals indicating divisions and sub-
divisions, sometimes quite bewildering, have been almost
entirely omitted; Biblical references have been retained
only when passages are quoted in proof of the author's state-
ments, or when the allusion might not be recognised by
the general reader; antique or obsolete words have not been
altered when their meaning is perfectly obvious ; and the

PREFACE

mode of breaking up the chapters into conspicuous
sections, which was adopted by Baxter in the early edi-
tions, has, with great advantage in regard to appearance,
been strictly followed. The numerous marginal notes and
quotations, mostly in Latin and often from authors now
little known, were not in the first edition and are not
here reproduced.

With the following striking appreciation by the late
Archbishop Trench^ this introduction to the book may
fitly close. " Let me mention here," he says, " before
entering into deeper matters, one formal merit which
'The Saints' Everlasting Resf eminently possesses. I
refer to that without which, I suppose, no book ever won
a permanent place in the literature of a nation, and
which I have no scruple in ascribing to it — I mean its
style. A great admirer of Baxter has recently suggested
a doubt whether he ever recast a sentence or bestowed a
thought on its rhythm and the balance of its several
parts; statements of his own make it tolerably certain
that he did not. As a consetjuence he has none of those
bravura passages which must have cost Jeremy Taylor, in
his ' Holy Living and Dying ' and elsewhere, so much of
thought and pains, for such do not come of themselves
and unbidden to the most accomplished masters of
language. But for all this there reigns in Baxter's
writings, and not least in 'The Saints' Rest,' a robust
and masculine eloquence; nor do these want from time
to time rare and unsought felicity of language which
once heard can scarcely be forgotten. In regard, indeed,
of the choice of words, the book might have been written
yesterday. There is hardly one which has become
obsolete, hardly one which has drifted away from the

^ "Companions of the Devout Life: Baxter and the Saints'
Best," quoted in an article by Dr. A. B. Grosart in the " Dictionary of
National Biogra^jhy."

xxii

PREFACE

meaning which it has in his writings. This may not be
a great matter, but it argues a rare insight, conscious or
unconscious, into all which was truest, into all which was
furthest removed from affectation and untruthfulness in
the language, that after more than two hundred years so
it should be ; and one may recognise here an element, not
to be overlooked, of the abiding popularity of the book.""

The passage on page 436, where Baxter describes a
football field in words that bring it before us as we know
it to-day, aff'ords a striking confirmation of Trench's
appreciation ; and in the sustained tide of eloquence that
rolls like a broad river through the last sixty pages of the
volume we recognise the voice, not only of the passionate
mystic and Puritan saint, but also of one of the greatest
masters of English prose.

W. Y.

Bramhall, Cheshire,
August 1, 1907.

xxin

CONTENTS

Editor's Preface

I. The Text Explained

II. The Rest Defined .

III, What this Rest Presupposeth

IV. What this Rest Containeth

V. The Four Great Preparatives to our Rest

VI. This Rest most Excellent, Discovered by
Reason

VII. The Excellencies of our Rest

VIII. Whether the Departed Enjoy this Rest
before the Resurrection .

IX. Reproving our Expectations of Rest on Earth

X. Reproving our Unwillingness to Die

XL Motives to a Heavenly Life ....

XII. Some General Helps to a Heavenly Lh'e

XIII. Description of the Great Duty of Heavenly
Contemplation ......

XXV

PAQB

vii

27
58

90
102

182
190
209
241

303

326

CONTENTS

CHAP.

XIV. Of Consideration, the Instrument of this
Work, and what Force it hath to Move
THE Soul ....... 340

XV. By what Actings of the Soul to Proceed in

this Work of Heavenly Contemplation 348

XVI. Some Advantages and Helps for Raising and

Affecting the Soul by this Meditation 357

XVII. How TO Manage and Watch over the Heart

THROUGH the WHOLE WoRK . , . 389

XVIII. The Abstract or Sum of All, for the Use

OF the Weak ...... 398

XIX. An Example of this Heavenly Contempla-
tion, FOR THE Help of the Unskilful . 401

XX. The Conclusion ....,, 453

Appendix . = ....» 465

THE
SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

THERE REMAINETH THEREFORE A REST TO THE PEOPLE

OF GOD." — Heb. iv. 9«

CHAPTER I

THE TEXT EXPLAINED

It was not only our interest in God and actual fruition of
Him which was lost in Adam's covenant-breaking fall, but
all spiritual knowledge of Him and true disposition to-
wards such a felicity. Man hath now a heart too suitable
to his estate, a low state, and a low spirit. And (as some
expound that of Luke xviii. 8) when the Son of God comes
with recovering grace, and discoveries and tenders of a
spiritual and eternal happiness and glory, He finds not
faith in man to believe it. But as the poor man that
would not believe that any one man had such a sum as an
hundred pounds, it was so far above what he possessed, so
man will hardly now believe that there is such a happiness
as once he had, much less as Christ hath now procured.
When God would give the Israelites His Sabbaths of rest,
in a land of rest. He had more ado to make them believe
it than to overcome their enemies, and procure it for them.
And when they had it, only as a small intimation and

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

earnest of a more incomparably glorious rest through
Christ, they stick there, and will yet believe no more than
they do possess, but sit down and say, as the glutton at
the feast, " Sure there is no other Heaven but this.'' Or
if they do expect more by the Messiah, it is only the
increase of their earthly felicity. The apostle bestows
most of this Epistle against this distemper, and clearly
and largely proves unto them : That it is the end of all
ceremonies and shadows to direct them to Jesus Christ
the substance, and that the rest of Sabbaths and Canaan
should teach them to look for a further rest, which
indeed is their happiness. 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, the life and sum of
all Gospel promises and Christian privileges, that you
may easily be satisfied why I have made it the subject
of my present discourse. What more welcome to men
under personal afflictions, tiring duty, successions of suffer-
ings, than rest ! What more welcome news to men under
public calamities, unpleasing employments, plundering
losses, sad tidings, &c. (which is the common case), than
this of rest ! Hearers, I pray God your attentions, inten-
tion of spirit, entertainment and improvement of it, be
but half answerable to the verity, necessity, and excellency
of this subject; 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.

The text is, as you may see, the apostle's assertion in
an entire proposition with the concluding illative. The
subject is "Rest"; the predicate, "It yet remains to
the people of God.'' It is requisite we say somewhat,

THE TEXT EXPLAINED

briefly, for explication of the terms, and of the subject
of them.

"Therefore,"' i.e, it clearly follows from the former
argument. "There remains,'" in order of speaking, as
the consequence follows the antecedent, or the conclusion
the premises ; so there remains a rest, or it remains that
there is another rest. But rather in order of being ; as
the bargain remains after the earnest, the performance
after the promise, the anti-type after the type, and the
ultimate end after all the means, so there remains a rest.
"To the people of God."' God hath a twofold people
within the Church ; one His only by a common vocation,
by an external acceptation of Christ and covenanting,
sanctified by the blood of the covenant so far as to be
separated from the open enemies of Christ and all with-
out the Church ; therefore not to be accounted common
and unclean in the sense as Jews and Pagans are, but
holy, and saints in a larger sense, as the nation of the
Jews and all proselyted Gentiles were holy. before Christ's
coming. These are called branches in Christ not bearing
fruit, and shall be cut off, for they are in the Church and
in Him by the foresaid profession and external covenant,
but no further. There are in His kingdom things that
offend and men that work iniquity which the angels at the
last day shall gather out, and cast into the lake of fire.
There are fishes good and bad in His net, and tares with
wheat in His field. The " son of perdition " is one of those
given to Christ by the Father, though not as the rest.^
These be not the "people of God'" my text speaks of.
But God hath a peculiar people that are His by special
vocation, cordial acceptation of Christ, internal, sincere
covenanting, sanctified by the blood of the Covenant,
and the Spirit of Grace, so far as not only to be separated

1 John xvii. 12.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

from open infidels, but from all unregenerate Christians ;
being branches in Christ bearing fruit : and foi these
remains the Rest in my text.

To be God's people by a forced subjection, i.e. under
His dominion, is common to all persons, even open
enemies, yea, devils: this yields not comfort.

To be His by a verbal covenant and profession and
external call, is common to all in and of the visible Church,
even traitors and secret enemies. Yet hath this many
privileges, as the external seals, means of grace, common
mercies, but no interest in this Rest.

But to be His by election, union with Christ, and
special interest (as before-mentioned), is the peculiar
property of those that shall have this Rest.

Ill

But is it to a determinate number of persons by name,
or only to a people thus and thus qualified, viz. persever-
ing believers, without determining by name who they are ?

I purpose in this discourse to omit controversies ; only
in a word thus: It is promised only to persevering be-
lievers, and not to any particular persons by name. It
is purposed, with all the conditions of it and means to it,
to a determinate number, called the Elect, and known by
name ; which evidently followeth these plain propositions.

There are few will deny that God foreknows from
eternity who these are and shall be, numerically, person-
ally, by name.

To purpose it only to such, and to know that only
these will be such, is in effect to purpose it only to these.

Especially if we know how little "knowledge" and
" purpose " in God do differ.

However, we must not make His knowledge active and

THE TEXT EXPLAINED

His purpose idle, much less to contradict each other, as it
must be, if from eternity He purposed salvation alike to
all and yet from eternity knew that only such and such
should receive it.

To purpose all persevering believers to salvation, and
not to purpose faith and perseverance absolutely to any
particular persons, is to purpose salvation absolutely to
none at all. Yet I know much more is necessary to be
said to make this plain, which I purpose not (at least
here) to meddle with.

Is it to the people of God upon certainty, or only upon
possibility ? If only possible, it cannot thus be called
theirs.

While they are only elect, not called, it is certain to
them (we speak of a certainty of the object) by Divine
purpose; for they are ordained to eternal life first, and
therefore believe;^ and not first believe, and therefore
elected.

When they are called according to His purpose, then
it is certain to them by a certainty of promise also, as
sure as if they were named in that promise; for the
promise is to believers, which they may, though but im-
perfectly, know themselves to be; and though it be yet
upon condition of overcoming, and abiding in Christ, and
enduring to the end, yet that condition being absolutely
promised, it still remaineth absolutely certain upon pro-
mise. And indeed, if glory be ours only upon a condi-
tion, which condition depends chiefly on our own wills,
it were cold comfort to those that know what man's will
is, and how certainly we should play the prodigals uitli

^ Acts ziii. 48.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

this as we did with oar first stock. But I have hitherto
understood that in the behalf of the elect Christ is resolved,
and hath undertaken for the working and finishing of
their faith, and the full effecting His people's salvation ;
and not only gives us a feigned suflicient grace, not
effectual, leaving it to our wills to make it effectual, as
some think. So that though still the promise of our
justification and salvation be conditional, yet God having
manifested His purpose of enabling us to fulfil those con-
ditions, He doth thereby show us a certainty of our salva-
tion, both in His promise and His purpose. Though God's
eternal purpose gives us no right to the benefit (whatsoever
some lately say to the contrary, it being the proper work
of God's law or covenants to confer right or due), yet the
event, or futurition of it, is made certain by God's un-
changeable decree; His eternal willing it being the first
and infallible cause that in time it is accomplished or
produced.

CHAPTER II

THIS REST DEFINED

Now let us see, what this rest is ; what these people of
God, and why so called; the truth of this from other
Scripture arguments; why this rest must yet remain;
why only to this people of God ; 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
the burden of sin and suffering, and pursued by lav/, wrath,
and conscience, hath with Christ in this life, the " rest "
of grace; yet because it chiefly intends the "rest" of
eternal glory, as the end and main part, I shall therefore
confine my discourse to this last.

Rest is the end and perfection of motion. The saints'
rest, here in question, is the most happy estate 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.

I call it the "estate" of a Christian (though perfec-
tion consists in action, as the philosopher thinks), to note
both the active and passive fruition wherein a Christian'^s

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

blessedness lies, and the established continuance of both.
Our title will be perfect and perfectly cleared ; ourselves,
and so our capacity, perfected ; our possession and security
for its perpetuity perfect ; our reception from God perfect ;
our motion or action in and upon Him perfect; and
therefore our fruition of Him, and consequently our
happiness, will then be perfect. And this is the estate
which we now briefly mention, and shall afterwards more
fully describe and open to you ; and which we hope by
Jesus Christ very shortly to enter upon, and for ever to
possess.

Ill

I call it the " most happy estate,""* to difference 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, earnests, first-fruits, and imperfect
degrees which we have here in this life, while we are but
in the way. It is the chief good which the world hath so
much disputed, yet mistaken or neglected ; without which
the greatest confluence of all other good leaves a man
miserable ; and with the enjoyment of which all misery is
inconsistent. The beginnings in our present state of
grace, as they are a real part of this, may also be called
a state of happiness. But, if considered disjunctly by
themselves, they deserve not that title except in a com-
parative sense, as a Christian is compared to men out of
Christ.

I call it the estate of " a Christian," where I mean only
the sincere, regenerate, sanctified Christian, whose soul,
having discovered that excellency in God through Christ

THIS REST DEFINED

which is not in the world to be found, thereupon closeth
with Him, and is cordially set upon Him. I do not mean
every one that being born where Christianity is the re-
ligion of the country, takes it up as other fashions, and is
become a Christian he scarce knows how or why ; nor
mean I those that profess Christ in words but in works
deny Him. (I shall describe this Christian to you more
plainly afterward.) It is an estate to which many pre-
tend, and that with much confidence; and because they
know it is only the Christian's, therefore they all call
themselves Christians. But multitudes will at last know,
to their eternal sorrow, that this is only the inheritance
of the saints ; and only those Christians shall possess it
who are not of the world and therefore the world hates
them ; who have forsaken all for Christ and, having
taken up the cross, do follow Him with patient waiting
till they inherit the promised glory.

I add, that this happiness consists in obtaining "the
end," where I mean the ultimate and principal end, not
any end secundum quid, so called, subordinate or less
principal. Not the end of conclusion in regard of time,
for so every man hath his end ; but the end of intention
which sets the soul a work and is its prime motive in all
its actions. That the chief happiness is in the enjoyment
of this end I shall fully show through the whole discourse,
and therefore here omit. Everlasting \voe to that man
who makes that his end here (to the death) which, if he
could attain, would not make him happy. Oh ! how^
much doth our everlasting state depend on our right
judgment and estimation of our end.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

But it is a great doubt with many, whether the obtain-
ment 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 tenor 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 particularly and briefly.

It is properly 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
commandeth. For consider what this end is; it is the
fruition of God in Christ; and if seeking Christ be
mercenary, I desire to be so mercenary.

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 Hve," is only the language of
the covenant of works. 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 hve"
(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, as the conditions which the Gospel propounds
for salvation, you shall live. If you set up 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
rio-ht Yea, more (how unsavoury soever the phrase may
° ' 10

THIS REST DEFINED

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 no more from them (as to pray,
and to expect nothing the more) that is, from Christ in a
way 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 sub-
ordination to Christ, but neither use it nor trust it in
co-ordination with Him. So that this derogates nothing
from Christ; for He hath done and will do all His work
perfectly, and enableth His people to [do] theirs. Yet He
is not properly said to do it Himself; He believes
not, repents not, &c., but worketh these in them ; that
is, enableth and exciteth them to do it. No man must
look for more from duty than God hath laid upon it;
and so much we may and must [look for].

If I should quote all the Scriptures that plainly prove
this, I should transcribe a great part of the Bible. I
will bring none out of the Old Testament, for I know
not whether their authority will here be acknowledged ;
but I desire the contrary minded, whose consciences are
tender of abusing Scripture and wresting it from the
plain sense, to study what tolerable interpretation can be
given of these following passages, which will not prove
that life and salvation may be, yea, must be the end of
duty: "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have
life.^i "The kingdom of heaven sufFereth violence, and
the violent take it by force.'' 2 "Strive to enter in at
the strait gate.'' ^ « Work out your salvation with fear

1 John V. 39, 40. 2 ^att. xi. 12.

^ Matt. vii. 13 ; Luke xiii. 24.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

and trembling."^ "To them who by patient continu-
ance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and im-
mortality, eternal life. Glory, honour, and peace to
every mL that worketh good," &c.^ "So run that ye
may obtain." = " A man is not crowned, except he strive
lawfully " * " If we sufter with Him, we shall reign with
Him"*' "Fio-ht the good fight of faith, lay hold on
eternal life""" "That they do good works, laying up a
good foundation against the time to come, that they
Ly lay hold on eternal life."' ""by any means I
might attain to the resurrection of the dead I pres
towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling &c.
" Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they
may have right to the tree of life, and enter m by the
gates into the city."^ " Come ye blessed of my father
inherit," &c., " for I was hungry, and ye," &c.i» Blessed
are the pure in heart," &c., "they that hunger and
thirst" &c "Be glad and rejoice, for great is your re-
ward in heaven." " " 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. "Let us fear, lest, a
promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it."' "Fear him
that is able to destroy both soul and body in helU yea
(whatsoever others say), I say unto you, fear him. 1

keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest,
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
cast-away."'* Multitudes of Scriptures and Scnpture
argun.ents might be brought, but these may suffice to
any that believe Scripture.

■ Phil ii 12 ' Rom. ii. 7, 10. ' 1 Cor. ix 24

^TrnMs. •2Tta.u.l2. ,' I, ^i- - If

' 1 Tim. vi. 18, 19. » Phil. iii. H. J fT ™'-4

.0 Matt. .XV. " Matt. v. ^"t ta 27

i» Heb. iv. 1. " Luke ^"- 5- ^ °'"- ^ ^^■

THIS REST DEFINED

VIII

For those that think this Rest may be our end, but not
our ultimate end, which must be God's glory only ; I will
not gainsay them. Only let them consider, what God
hath joined man must not separate. The glorifying Him-
self and the saving of His people, as I judge, are not
two decrees with God but one decree, to glorify His mercy
in their salvation ; though we may say, that one is the
end of the other. So I think they should be with us to-
gether intended ; we should aim at the glory of God not
alone considered without our salvation, but in our salva-
tion. 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 enquire
after their true willincjness to be saved than their m illinir-
ness 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, Re-
conciler, Intercessor, &c. And all the precepts of Scrip-
ture being backed with so many promises and threatenings,
every one intended of God as a motive to us, do imply
as much. If any think they should be distinguished as
two several ends, and God's glory preferred ; so they
separate them not asunder, I contend not. But I had
rather make that high pitch, which Gibieuf and many
others insist on, to be the mark at which we should all
aim, than the mark by which every weak Christian should
try himself.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING HEST

In the definition, I call a Christian's happiness the end
of " his course,'' thereby meaning, as Paul,i the whole scope
of his life. For as salvation may, and must be our end ; so
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, whether eating, drinking, &c.,
so must they all be done to our salvation. That we may
believe for salvation some will grant, who yet deny that
we may do or obey for it. I would it were well under-
stood, for the clearing of many controversies, what the
Scripture usually means by faith. Doubtless the Gospel
takes it not so strictly as philosophers do, but in a larger
sense, for our accepting Christ for our King and Saviour.
To believe in His name, and to receive Him, are all one ; ^ ]
but we must receive Him as King as well as Saviour ; 1
therefore beheving doth not produce heart subjection ;
as a fruit but contains it as an essential part ; except ^
we say that faith receives Christ as a Saviour first, |
and so justifies before it take Him for King (as some :
think) ; which is a maimed, unsound, and no Scripture \
faith. I doubt not but the soul more sensibly looks at j
salvation from Christ than government by him in the ,
first work ; yet, whatever precedaneous act there may be, j
it never conceives of Christ, and receives him to justifica- j
tion, nor knows Him with the knowledge which is eternal |
life, till it conceive of Him and know Him and receive |
Him for Lord and King. Therefore there is not such a j
wide difference between faith and Gospel obedience or j
works as some judge. Obedience to the Gospel is put for j
faith, and disobedience put for unbelief, ofttimes in the !
New Testament. But of this I have spoken more fully :
elsewhere. I

1 2 Tim. iv. 7. " John i. 12. j

THIS REST DEFINED

Lastly, I make happiness to consist in this ''end
obtained,"" for it is not the mere promise of it that
immediately makes perfectly happy, nor Christ's mere
purchase, nor our mere seeking, but the apprehending and
obtaining which sets the crown on the saint's head ; when
we can say of our work, as Christ of the price paid, " It is
finished''; and as Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I
have finished my course ; henceforth is laid up for me a
crown of salvation."^ Oh that we did all heartily and
strongly believe that we shall never be truly happy till
then. Then should we not so dote upon a seeming
happiness here.

1 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.

CHAPTER III

WHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH

Foe the clearer understanding yet of the nature of this
rest you must know there are some things necessarily
presupposed to it; some things really contained in it
All these [twelve] things are presupposed to this Kest:
A person in motion seeking rest. This is man here in
the way. Angels and glorified spirits have it already.
And the devils and damned are past hope.

An end toward which he moveth for rest, which end
must be sufficient for his rest, else when it is obtained it
deceiveth him. This can be only God, the chief good
He that taketh anything else for his happiness is out
of the way the first step. The principal damning sm is
to make anything besides God our end or rest And
the first true saving act is to choose God only for our
end and happiness.

Ill

A distance is presupposed from this end, else there can
be no motion towards it. This sad distance is the wofu
case of all mankind since the fall. It was our God that

WHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH

we principally lost, and were shut out of His gracious
presence. Though some talk of losing only a temporal,
earthly felicity, sure I am, it was God we fell from, and
Him we lost, and since are said to be without Him in the
world. And there would have been no death but for sin ;
and to enjoy God without death is neither an earthly nor
temporal enjoyment; nay, in all men at age, here is sup-
posed not only a distance from God but also a contrary
motion ; for sin hath not overthrown our being, nor taken
away our motion, but our well-being and the rectitude
of our motion. When Christ comes with regenerating,
saving grace. He finds no man sitting still, but all posting
to eternal ruin, and making haste toward hell ; till, by con-
viction. He first bring them to a stand ; and, by conversion,
turn first their hearts, and then their lives sincerely to
Himself. Even those that are sanctified and justified from
the womb are yet first the children of Adam, and so of
wrath ; at least in order of nature, if not in time.

Here is presupposed a knowledge of the true ultimate
end and its excellency, and a serious intending it. For
so the motion of the rational creature proceedeth ; an un-
known 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. An unknown good moves not to desire or en-
deavour. Therefore, where it is not truly known that God
is this end and containeth all good in Him, there is no
obtaining rest in an" ordinary known way ; i whatsoever
may be in ways that by God are kept secret.

^ I speak all this of men of age converted by the Word, not of those
sanctified in infancy.

17 B

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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. If he lose his gold and know it not, he seeks it
not Therefore they that never knew they were without
God, never yet enjoyed Him; and they that never knew
they' were naturally and 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
also affections answerable. Can a man be brought to
find himself hard by the brink of hell and not tremble?
or to find he hath lost his God and his soul, and not cry
out, "I am undone".? Or can such a stupid soul be so
recovered .? This is the sad case of many thousands, and
the reason why so few obtain this rest, they will not be
convinced or made sensible that they are, in point of
title distant from it, and in point of practice contrary
to it. They have lost their God, their souls, their rest,
and do not know it; nor will believe him that tells
them so. Who ever travelled towards a place which
he thought he was at already ; or sought for that which
he knew not he had lost.? "The whole need not the
physician, but they that are sick.''

Here is also presupposed a superior moving cause and
an influence therefrom ; else should we all stand still, and
not move a step forward toward our rest; no more than
the inferior wheels in the watch would stir if you take

1 I mean those that were converted at years of discretion and
received not holiness insensibly in their infancy, as I doubt not but
many thousands do.

WHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH

away the spring or the first mover. This Prhnum Movens
is GOD. What hand God hath in evil actions, or whether
He afford the like influence to their production, I will
not here trouble this discourse and the reader to dispute.
The case is clear in good actions ; if God move us not we
cannot move. Therefore it is a most necessary part of
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. Take heed of being estranged or sepa-
rated from God, or of slacking your daily expectations
of renewed help, or of growing insensible of the necessity
of the continual influence and assistance of the S})irit.
When you once begin to trust your stock of habitual grace,
and to depend on your own understanding or resolution
for duty and holy walking, you are then in a dangerous
declining state. In every duty remember Christ's words:
" Without Me ye can do nothing." ^ And 2 Cor. iii. 5 :
"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any-
thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God."

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
without God, but thereby to qualify him to move him-
self in subordination to God the first mover. What the
nature of this spiritual life is, is a question exceeding
difficult: whether, as some think (but, as I judge,
erroneously), it be Christ Himself in person or essence;
or the Holy Ghost personally ; or as some will dis-
tinguish (with what sense I know not), it is the person
of the Holy Ghost but not personally ; whether it be an

^ John XV. 5.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

accident or quality ; or whether it be a spiritual substance
as the soul itself; whether it be only an act, or a dis-
position, or a habit, as it is generally taken; whether a
habit infused, or acquired by frequent acts, to which
the soul hath been morally persuaded ; or whether it
be somewhat distinct from a habit, i.e. a power ; viz.
potentia proxima intelligendi, credendi, volendi, &c., m
spiritualibus, which some think the most probable and
that it was such a power that Adam lost, and that the
natural man is still devoid of; whether such a power can
be conceived which is not reason itself; and whether
reason be not the soul itself; and so we should make the
soul diminished and increased as bodies; whether spirits
have accidents as corporeal substances have. A multi-
tude of such difficulties occur, which will be difficulties
while the doctrine of spirits and spirituals is so dark to
us ; and that will be while the dust of mortality and cor-
ruption is in our eyes. This is my comfort, that death
will shortly blow out this dust, and then I shall be resolved
of these and many more. In the meantime I am a sceptic
and know little in this whole doctrine of spirits and
spiritual workings, further than Scripture [has] clearly
revealed; and think we might do well to keep closer to
its language.

VIII

Here is presupposed before rest, an actual motion;
rest is the end of motion ; no motion, no rest. Chris-
tianity is not a sedentary profession and employment,
nor doth it consist in mere negatives. It is for not feed-
ing, not clothing, &c., that Christ condemns. Not doing
good is not the least evil; sitting still will lose you
heaven as well as if you run from it. It is a great
question, whether the elicit acts of the Will are by
motion, or by subitaneous mutation ? But it is a logo-

AVHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH

iimchy. I know when we have done all we are unprofit-
able servants ; and he cannot be a Christian that relies
upon the supposed merit of his works in proper sense ;
but yet he that hides his talent shall receive the wages of
a slothful servant.

Here is presupposed also, as motion, so such motion as
is rightly ordered and directed toward the end. Not all
motion, labour, seeking, that 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. Our own in-
vented ways may seem to us more wise, comely, equal,
pleasant; but that is the best key that will open the
lock, which none but that of God's appointing will do.
Oh, the pains that sinners take, and worldlings take, but
not for this rest ! Oh, the pains and cost that many an
ignorant and superstitious soul is at for this rest, but
all in vain ! How many " have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge ; who being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God"; nor known, "that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that be-
Heveth."^ 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 works, the way for
those to walk in that are in Christ. There be (as
before) many ways requisite in subordination to Christ,
but none in co-ordination with Him. So, then, it is
only God's way that will lead to this end and rest.

1 Rom. X. 2-4.
21

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

There is supposed also, as motion rightly ordered, so
strong and constant motion, which may reach the end.
If there be not strength put to the bow the arrow will
not reach the mark ; 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 reproach Christ
for making us so much to do. They that have been
most holy, watchful, painful to get faith and assurance
do 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 mistaken sinners lay out their wit and care
and pains for a thing of nought, and think to have
eternal salvation with a wish. If the way to heaven be
not far harder than the world imagines, then Christ and
His apostles knew not the way, or else have deceived us ;
for they have told us, ^' that the kingdom of heaven
sufFereth violence ; that the gate is strait, and the way
narrow ; and we must strive, if we will 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." If ever souls obtain salvation in the
world's common, careless, easy way, then I will say there
is a nearer way found out than ever God in Scripture
hath revealed to the sons of men. But when they have
obtained life and rest in this way, let them boast of it;
till then, let them give us leave (who would fain go upon
sure grounds in point of eternal salvation) to believe that
God knows the way better than they, and that His word
is a true and infallible discovery thereof.

I have seen this doctrine also thrown by with contempt
22

WHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH

by others, who say, " What, do you set us a-working for
heaven ? Doth our duty do anything ? Hath not Christ
done all ? Is not this to make Him a half Saviour, and
to preach law ? "

It is to preach the law of Christ; His subjects 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 do, all His work, and there-
fore is a perfect Saviour ; but yet leaves for us a work too.
He hath paid all the price and left us none to pay ; yet
He never intended His purchase should put us into
absolute, immediate personal title to glory in point of
law, much less into immediate possession. What title
(improperly so called) we may have from His own and
His Father's secret counsel is nothing to the question. He
hath purchased the crown to bestow, only on condition
of believing, denying all for Him, suffering with Him,
persevering, and overcoming. He hath purchased justi-
fication to bestow, only on condition of our believing, yea,
repenting and believing. That the first grace hath any
such condition, I will not afiirm ; but following mercies
have ; though it is Christ that enableth also to perform
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.
Where He will pardon He will make you pray : '* Forgive
us our trespasses " ; and where He will give righteousness
He will give hungering and thirsting. It is not through
any imperfection in Christ that the righteous are scarcely
saved; no, nor that the wicked perish, as they shall be
convinced one day. In the same sense, as the prayer of
the faithful, if fervent, availeth for outward mercies ; in
the same sense it prevaileth for salvation also ; for Christ

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

hath purchased both. And as baptism is said to save us,
so other duties do; our righteousness, which the law of
works requireth, and by which it is satisfied, is wholly in
Christ, and not one grain in ourselves. Nor must we
dare to think of patching up a legal righteousness of
Christ's and our own together; that is, that our doings
can be the least part of satisfaction for our sins, or proper
merit. But yet ourselves must personally fulfil the con-
ditions of the New Covenant, and so have a personal
evangelical righteousness; or never be saved by Christ's
righteousness. Therefore say not, it is not duty but
Christ, for it is Christ in a way of duty. As duty cannot
do it without Christ so Christ will not without duty.
But of this enough before.

And as this motion must be strong, so constant, 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. The
certainty of the saints' perseverance doth not make ad-
monition to constancy unuseful. Men as seemingly holy
as the best of us have fallen off". He that knew it im-
possible in the foundation to deceive the elect, yet saw it
necessary to warn us that he only that endureth to the
end shall be saved. Read but the promises. Rev. ii. and
iii., "To him that overcometh.'' Christ's own disciples
must be commanded to continue in His love, and that by
keeping His commandments; and to abide in Him, and
His Word in them, and He in them. It will seem strange
to some that Christ should command us that " He abide

inus."i

There is presupposed, also, to the obtaining of this
rest, a strong desire after it. The souFs motion is not
that which we call violent or constrained (none can force

i John XV. 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and viii. 31 ; 1 John ii. 24, 28.
24

WHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH

it), but natural, viz. according to our new nature. As
everything inclines to its proper centre, so the rational
creature is carried on in all its motion with desires after
its end. This end is the first thing intended, and chiefest
desired, though last obtained. Observe it and believe
it, whoever thou art, there was never soul that made
Christ and glory the principal end, nor that obtained
rest with God, whose desire was not set upon Him, and
that above all things else in the world whatsoever.
Christ brings the heart to heaven first, and then the
person. His own mouth spoke it : " Where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also." A sad condition to
thousands of professed Christians. He that had truly
rather have the enjoyment of God in Christ than any-
thing in the world, shall have it ; and he that had rather
have anything else shall not have this except God change
him. It is true, the remainder of our old nature will
much weaken and interrupt these desires, but never
overcome them. The passionate motion of them is oft
strongest towards inferior sensible things ; but the serious,
deliberate will or choice, which is the rational desire, is
most for God.

Lastly, here is presupposed painfulness and weariness
in our motion. This ariseth not from any evil in the
work or way ; for Christ's yoke is easy. His burthen light,
and His commands not grievous, but from the opposition
we meet with ; the contrary principles still remaining in
our nature, which will make us cry out, " Oh, wretched
man""*; from the weakness of our graces, and so of our
motion. Great labour where there is a suitable strength
is a pleasure ; but to the weak, how painful ! With what
panting and weariness doth a feeble man ascend that hill
which the sound man runs up with ease ! We are all.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

even the best, but feeble. An easy, dull profession of
religion that never encountereth with these difficulties
and pains is a sad sign of an unsound heart. Christ,
indeed, hath freed us from the impossibilities of the cove-
nant of works, and from the burthen and yoke of legal
ceremonies, but not from the difficulties and pains of
Gospel duties. Our continued distance from the end
will raise some grief also ; for desire and hope, implying
the absence of the thing desired and hoped for, do ever
imply also some grief for that absence ; which all vanish
when we come to possession.

All these twelve things are implied in a Christian's
motion, and so presupposed to this rest. And he only
that hath the prerequisite qualifications shall have the
crown. Here, therefore, should Christians lay out their
utmost care and industry. See to your part, and God
will certainly see to His part ; look you to your hearts
and duties, in which God is ready with assisting grace,
and He will see that you lose not the reward. Oh how
most Christians wrong God and themselves with being
more solicitous about God's part of the work than their
own, as if God's faithfulness were more to be suspected
than their unfaithful, treacherous hearts. This rest is
glorious, and God is faithful. Christ's death is sufficient,
and the promise is universal, free, and true. You need
not fear missing of heaven through the deficiency or
fault of any of these. But yet, for all these, the false-
ness of your own hearts, if you look not to them, may
undo you. If you doubt of this, believe the Holy Ghost :
" Having a promise left us of entering into His rest, let
us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it.""^
The promise is true, but conditional. Never fear whether
God will break promise, but fear lest you should not
truly perform the condition ; for nothing else can bereave

you of the benefit.

1 Heb. iv. 1.

CHAPTER IV

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

But all this is only the outward court, or at least not
the holiest of all. Now we have ascended these steps,
may we look within the veil. May we show what this
rest containeth as well as what it prcsupposeth ? But,
alas ! how little know I of that whereof I am about to
speak. Shall I speak before I know ? But if I stay till
I clearly know I shall not come again to speak. That
glimpse which Paul saw, contained that which could not,
or must not be uttered, or both.^ And if Paul had had
a tongue to have uttered it, it would have done no good,
except his hearers had ears to hear it. If Paul had spoke
the things of heaven in the language of heaven, and
none understood that language, what the better ? There-
fore I will speak, while I may, that little, very little
which I do know of it rather than be wholly silent.
The Lord reveal it to me, that I may reveal it to you ;
and the Lord open some light, and show both you and
me His inheritance; not as to Balaam only, whose eyes
the vision of God opened to see the goodliness of Jacob's
tents and Israel's tabernacles, where he had no portion,
but from whence must come his own destruction ; not as
to Moses, who had only a discovery instead of possession,
and saw the land which he never entered. But as the
pearl was revealed to the merchant in the Gospel, who
rested not till he had sold ail he had, and bought it ; and

1 2 Cor. xii. 4.
27

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

as heaven was opened to blessed Stephen, which he was
shortly to enter, and the glory showed him which should
be his own possession.

There is contained in this rest, a cessation from motion
or action ; not of all action, but of that which hath the
nature of a means, and implies the absence of the end.
When we have obtained the haven, we have done sailing ;
when the workman hath his wages, it is implied he hath
done his work; when we are at our journey's end, we
have done with the way. All motion ends at the centre,
and all means cease when we have the end. Therefore
prophesying ceaseth, tongues fail, and knowledge shall
be done away ; that is, so far as it had the nature of a
means and was imperfect. And so faith may be said to
cease; not all faith, for how shall we know all things
past, which we saw not but by believing ? how shall
we know the last judgment, the resurrection of the body,
beforehand, but by believing ? How shall we know the
life everlasting, the eternity of the joys we possess, but
by believing? But all that faith which as a means re-
ferred to the chief end shall cease. There shall be no
more prayer, because no more necessity, but the full
enjoyment of what we prayed for. Whether the soul
pray for the body's resurrection, for the last judgment,
&c., or whether soul and body pray for the eternal con-
tinuance of their joys, is to me yet unknown. Otherwise
we shall not need to pray for what we have; and we
shall have all that is desirable. 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

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

labourers called in because the harvest is gathered, the
tares burned, and the work done ; the unregenerate past
hope; the saints past fear for ever. j\Iuch less shall
there be any need of labouring for inferior ends, as here
we do, seeing they will all devolve themselves into the
ocean of the ultimate end, and the lesser good be
wholly swallowed up of the greatest.

This rest containeth a perfect freedom from all the
evils that accompanied us through our course, and which
necessarily follow our absence from the chief good.
Besides our freedom from those eternal flames and
restless miseries which the neglecters of Christ and grace
must remedilessly endure ; an inheritance which, both by
birth and actual merit, was due to us as well as to them.
As God will not know the wicked so as to own them ;
so neither will heaven know iniquity to receive it :
" for there entereth nothing that defileth, or is unclean " ;
all that remains without. And doubtless there is not
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,
dolorous sickness, griping fears, consuming care, 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 weep and lament, when the world did rejoice;
but our sorrow is turned into joy, and our joy shall no
man take from us." God were not the chief and perfect
ffood if the full fruition of Him did not free us from all
evil. But we shall have occasion to speak more fully
of this in that which follows.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

III

This rest containeth the highest degree of the saints'
personal perfection, both of soul and body. This neces-
sarily qualifies them to enjoy the glory and thoroughly
to partake the sweetness of it. Were the glory never so
great, and themselves not made capable by a personal
perfection suitable thereto, it would be little to them.
There is necessary a right disposition of the recipient to
a right enjoying and affecting. This is one thing that
makes the saints'* joys there so great. Here, eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, what God hath
laid up for them that wait for Him. For the eye of flesh
is not capable of seeing it, nor this ear of hearing it, nor
this heart of understanding it; but there the eye, and
ear, and heart are made capable; else how do they enjoy
it ? The more perfect the sight is, the more delightful the
beautiful object. 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 to us is that glory. Nor
is it only our sinful imperfection that is here to be re-
moved ; nor only that which is the fruit of sin, but that
which adhered to us in our pure naturals. Adam's dress-
ing the garden was neither sin nor the fruit of sin ; nor is
either to be less glorious than the stars, or the sun in the
firmament of our Father ; yet is this the dignity to which
the righteous shall be advanced. There is far more pro-
cured by Christ than was lost by Adam. It is the misery
of wicked men here, that all without them is mercy, ex-
cellent mercies ; but within them a heart full of sin shuts
the door against all, and makes them but the more miser-
able. When all is well within, then all is well indeed.
The near good is the best, and the near evil and enemy

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

the worst. Therefore will God, as a special part of
His saints' happiness, perfect themselves as well as their
condition.

This rest containeth, as the principal part, our nearest
fruition of God, the chiefest good. And here, reader,
wonder not if I be at a loss, and if my apprehensions re-
ceive but little of that which is in my expressions. If to
the beloved disciple that durst speak and enquire into
Christ's secrets, and was filled with His revelations, and
saw the New Jerusalem in her glory, and had seen Christ,
Moses, and Elias, in part of theirs, if it did not appear to
him what we shall be, but only in general, that when
Christ appears we shall be like Him ; no wonder if I
know little. When I know so little of God, I cannot
know much what it is to enjoy Him. When it is so little
I know of mine own soul, either its quiddity or quality,
while it is here in this tabernacle, how little must I needs
know of the infinite majesty, or the state of this soul,
when it is advanced to that enjoyment? If I know so
little of spirits and spirituals ; how little of the Father
of Spirits ? Nay, if I never saw that creature which
contains not something unsearchable; nor the worm so
small which afforded not mattej* for questions to puzzle
the greatest philosopher that ever I met with ; no wonder
then if mine eye fail when I would look at God, my
tongue fail me in speaking of Him, and my heart in con-
ceiving ! As long as the Athenian superscription doth so
too well suit with my sacrifices, ^' to (he unknoxmi God'''' \
and while I cannot contiiin the smallest rivulet, it is little
I can contain of this immense ocean. We shall never be
capable of clearly knowing, till we are capable of fully
enjoying, nay, nor till we do actually enjoy Him. What
strange conceivings hath a man born blind, of the sun

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

and its light; or a man born deaf, of the nature of sounds
and music ; so do we yet want that sense by which God
must be clearly known.

I stand and look upon a heap of ants, and see them all
with one view, very busy to little purpose ; they know
not me, my being, nature, or thoughts, though I am their
fellow-creature ; how little then must we know of the
great Creator, though He with one view continually be-
holds us all. Yet a knowledge we have, though imperfect,
and such as must be done away. A glimpse the saints
behold, though but in a glass, which makes us capable
of some poor, general, dark apprehensions of what we
shall behold in glory. If I should tell a worldling
but what the holiness and spiritual joys of the saints on
earth are, he cannot know it ; for grace cannot be clearly
known without grace; how much less could he conceive
it should I tell him of this glory. But to the saints
I may be somewhat more encouraged to speak, for
grace giveth them a dark knowledge and slight taste of
glory.

As all good whatsoever is comprised 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. Oh the full joys offered to a
believer in that one sentence of Christ's ! I would not
for all the world that one 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 " ; ^ every word full of
^ John xvii. 24.

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

life and joy. If the Queen of Sheba 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
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 " ; and " to eat of the hidden manna/"*
Yea, " He will make them pillars in the temple of God,
and they shall go no more out ; and He will write upon
them the name of His God, and the name of the city of
His God, New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of
Heaven from God, and His own new Name." Yea more,
if more may be, " He will grant them to sit with Him
in His Throne/' " These are they who came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they
before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night
in His temple ; and He that sitteth on the throne shall
dwell among them. And the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them unto
living fountains of water ; and God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes." And may we not now boast with
the spouse, " This is my Beloved, O daughters of Jeru-
salem ! " And this is the glory of the saints.

O blind deceived world, can you show us such a
glory ? " This is the city of our God, where the tabernacle
of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and
they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with
them, and be their God"; "The glory of God shall
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "And
there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and
the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall sei-ve Him,
and they shall see His face, and His Name shall be in
their foreheads. These sayings are faithful and true,

33 c

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING KEST

and these are the things that must shortly be done/^
And now we say, as Mephibosheth, "Let the world take
all besides, if we may but see the face of our Lord ni
peace;' If the Lord lift up the light of His countenance
on us here, it puts more gladness in our hearts than the
world's increase can do; how much more, when in His
light we shall have light without darkness ; and He shall
make us full of joy with His countenance. "Rejoice,
therefore, in the Lord, O ye righteous''; and shout for
ioy all ye that are upright of heart ; and say with His
servant David, "The Lord is the portion of mine inherit- ,,
ance ; the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places ; yea,
I have a goodly heritage ; I have set the Lord always
before me ; because He is at my right hand I shall not
be moved ; therefore my heart is glad, and my glory
rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope; for He will
not leave me in the grave, nor suffer me, for ever, to see
corruption. He will show me the path of life, and bring
me into His presence, where is fulness of joy, and at His
right hand where are pleasures for evermore." "Whom
therefore have I in heaven but Him, or in earth that I
desire besides Him ? My flesh and my heart have failed,
and will fail me; but God is the strength of my heart
and will be my portion for ever ; He shall guide me with
His counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory ; and as
they that are far from Him perish, so is it good, the chief
good for us to be near to God."

The advancement is exceeding high. What unreverent
damnable presumption would it have been, once to have
thought or spoke of such a thing, if God had not spoke
it be'fore us? I durst not have thought of the saints'
preferment in this life, as Scripture sets it forth, had it
not been the express truth of God. What vile un-
mannerliness, to talk of "being sons of God"; speaking
to Him ; having fellowship and communion with Him ;

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

dwelling in Him, and He in us ; if this had not been
God's own language ? How much less durst we have
once thought of being brighter than the sun in glory,
of being co-heirs with Christ, of judging the world, of
sitting on Christ's throne, of being " one with Him,"" if we
had not all this from the mouth, and under the hand
of God ! But hath He said it, and shall it not come
to pass? Hath He spoken it, and will He not do it?
Yes, as true as the Lord God is true, thus shall it be
done to the man whom Christ delights to honour. " The
eternal God is their refuge, and underneath are the ever-
lasting arms; and the beloved of the Lord shall dwell
in safety by Him, and the Lord shall cover them all
the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders/'
" Surely goodness and mercy shall follow them all the
days of their lives, and then they shall dwell in the house
of the Lord for ever.""

O Christians, believe and consider this. Is sun, and
moon, and stars, and all creatures called upon to praise
the Lord ? What then should His people do ? Surely
they are nearer Him, and enjoy more of Him than the
brutes shall do. " All His works praise Him, but, above
all, let His saints bless Him.'" Oh " let them speak of the
glory of His kingdom, and talk of His power ; to make
known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the
glorious majesty of His kingdom ""; " let His praise be in
the congregation of His saints ; let Israel rejoice in Him
that made Him; let the children of Zion be joyful in
their King; let the saints be joyful in glory; let them
sing aloud upon their beds ; let the high praises of God
be in their mouth ; for the Lord taketh pleasure in
His people, and will beautify the meek with salvation."
"This is the light that is sown for the righteous, and
gladness for the upright in heart.'* Yea, "this honour
have all His saints." If the estate of the devils before

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

their fall were not much meaner than this (and perhaps
lower than some of their fellow-angels) surely their sin
was most accursed and detestable. Could they yet aspire
higher, and was there yet room for discontent ? What is
it then that would satisfy them ? Indeed the distance
that we sinners and mortals are at from our God leaves
us some excuse for discontent with our estate.

The poor soul out of the depth cries, and cries aloud,
as if his Father were out of hearing; sometimes he chides
the interposing clouds, sometimes he is angry at the vast
gulf that is set between, sometimes he would have the
veil of mortality drawn aside, and thinks death hath
forgot his business ; he ever quarrels with this sm that
separates, and longs till it be separated from the soul,
that it may separate God and him no more. Why, poor
Christian, be of good cheer; the time is near when God
and thou shall be near, and as near as thou canst well
desire. Thou shalt dwell in His family, is that enough ?
It is better to be a door-keeper in His house than enjoy
the portion of the wicked. Thou shalt ever stand before
Him, about His throne, in the room with Him, m His
presence-chamber. Wouldst thou yet be nearer ? Ihou
Shalt be His child, and He thy Father ; thou shalt be an
heir of His kingdom; yea, more, the spouse of His Son;
and what more canst thou desire? Thou shalt be a
member of the body of His Son, He shall be % H^ad;
thou shalt be one with Him who is One with the Father.
Read what He hath desired for thee of His Father:
"That they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me,
and I in Thee, that they also may be one m us, and the
.lory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them, that
they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and
Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect m one, that
the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast
loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.^'

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

What can you desire yet more, except you will, as some
do, abuse Christ's expression of oneness to conceive of
such a union as shall deify us ; which were a sin one step
beyond the aspiring arrogancy of Adam, and, I think,
beyond -that of the devils. A real conjunction (im-
properly called union) we may expect ; and a true union
of affections; a moral union (improperly still called
union), and a true relative union, such as is between the
members of the same politic body and the head ; yea, such
as is between the husband and the wife, who are called
one flesh ; and a real communion, and communication of
real favours, flowing from that relative union. If there
be any more, it is acknowledged unconceivable, and con-
sequently unexpressible, and so not to be spoken of. If
any can conceive of a proper real union and identity,
which shall neither be a unity of essence, nor of person
with Christ, as I yet cannot, I shall not oppose it ; but to
think of such a union were high blasphemy. Nor must
you think of a union, as some do, upon natural grounds,
following the dark mistaking principles of Plato and
Plotinus. If your thoughts be not guided and limited
by Scripture in this, you are lost.

But how is it we shall enjoy God? That is the fifth
and last we come to.

This rest containeth a sweet and constant action of all
the powers of the soul and body in this fruition of God.
It is not the rest of a stone, which ceaseth from all motion
when it attains the centre. The senses themselves, as I
judge, are not only passive in receiving their object, but
partly passive and partly active. Whether the external
senses, such as now we have, shall be continued and
employed in this work is a great doubt. For some of

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

them, it is usually acknowledged they shall cease ; because
their being importeth their use, and their use implieth
our estate of imperfection ; as there is no use for eating
and drinking, so neither for the taste. But for other
senses the question will be harder ; for Job saith, " I shall
see Him with these eyes/'

But do not all senses imply our imperfection ? If Job
did speak of more than a redemption from this present
distress (as it is like he did), yet certainly these eyes will
be made so spiritual, that whether the name of sense, in
the same sense as now, shall befit them, is a question.
This body shall be so changed that it shall no more be
flesh and blood (for " that cannot inherit the kingdom of
God "), but " a spiritual body." " That which we sow, we
sow not that body that shall be ; but God giveth it a
body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own
body.'"* As the ore is cast into the fire a stone but comes
forth so pure a metal that it deserves another name, and
so the diflference betwixt it and the gold exceeding great ;
so far greater will the change of our bodies and senses be ;
even so great as now we cannot conceive. If grace make
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.
But because we have no other name for them, let us call
them senses, call them eyes and ears, seeing and hearing.
But thus much conceive of the diflerence, that as much as
a body spiritual, above the sun in glory, exceedeth these
frail, noisome, diseased lumps of flesh or dirt that now we
carry about us, so far shall our sense 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 advanceth our sense, and

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

enlargeth our capacity, so will He advance the happi-
ness of those senses, and fill up with Himself all that
capacity. And certainly the body should not be raised
up and continued if it should not share of 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. The same difference is to be
allowed for the tongue. For though, perhaps, that which
we now call the tongue, the voice or language, shall
not then be; yet with the forementioned unconceivable
change it may continue. Certain it is, it shall be the
everlasting work of those blessed saints to stand before
the throne of God and the Lamb, and to praise Him for
ever and ever. As their eyes and hearts shall be filled
with His knowledge, with His glory, and with His love, so
shall their mouths be filled with His praises.

Go on, therefore, O ye saints, while you are on earth, in
that Divine duty. Learn, oh learn that saint-beseeming
work, for in the mouths of His saints His praise is comely.
Pray, but still praise; hear and read, but still praise.
Praise Him in the presence of His people, for it shall be
your eternal work ; praise Him while His enemies deride
and abuse you. You shall praise Him, while they shall
bewail it and admire you. Oh blessed employment ! to
sound forth for ever : " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to
receive honour, glory, and power "" ; and " worthy is the
Lamb who was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and bless-
ing ; for He hath redeemed us to God by His blood out
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ;
and hath made us unto our God, kings, and priests'';
"Alleluia, salvation, and honour, and glory, and power
unto the Lord our God; praise our God all ye His
servants, and ye that fear Him, small and great ; Alleluia ;

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."" O Christians,
this is the blessed rest ; a rest without rest ; for, " they
rest not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." Sing
forth His praises now ye saints. It is a work our Master
Christ hath taught us. And you shall for ever sing before
Him the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb : " Great
and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just
and true are Thy ways, thou King of Saints."

And if the body shall be thus employed, oh, how shall
the soul be taken up? As its powers and capacities
are greatest, so its actions strongest, and its enjoyments
sweetest. As the bodily senses have their proper aptitude
and action, whereby they receive and enjoy their objects,
so doth the soul in its own action enjoy its own object;
by knowing, by thinking, and remembering, by loving, and
by delightful enjoying; this is the soul's enjoying. By
these eyes it sees, and by these arms it embraceth. If it
might be said of the disciples with Christ on earth, much
rnorc [of those] that behold Him in His glory, " Blessed
are the eyes that see the things that you see, and the ears
that hear the things 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."

Knowledge of itself is very desirable, even the know-
ledge of some evil, though not the evil itself. 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, exceed the delights
of the glutton, the drunkard, the unclean, and of all
voluptuous sensualists whatsoever, so excellent is all

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

truth. What then is their delight who know the God
of truth ? What would I not give, so that all the un-
certain questionable principles in logic, natural philo-
sophy, metaphysics, and medicine were but certain in
themselves, and to me ; and that my dull, obscure notions
of them were but quick and clear. Oh, what then should
I not either perform or part with to enjoy a clear and
true apprehension of the most true God ? How noble a
faculty of the soul is this 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 excellency,
it can know God, who is infinite, who made all these ; a
little here ; and more, and much more hereafter.

Oh, the wisdom and goodness of our blessed Lord !
He hath created the understanding with a natural bias
and inclination to truth as 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. And though I think not, as some do,
that there is so near a close between the understanding
and truth as may produce a proper union or identity;
yet doubtless, it is no such cold touch or disdainful em-
brace, as is between these gross earthly heterogeneals.
The true, studious, contemplative man knows this to be
true; who feels as sweet embraces between his intellect
and truth, and far more, than ever the quickest sense did
in possessing its desired object. But the true, studious,
contemplative Christian knows it much more, who some-
time hath felt more sAveet embraces between his soul and
Jesus Christ than all inferior truth can afford. I know
some Christians are kept short this way, especially the
careless in their watch and walking, and those that are
ignorant or negligent in the daily actings of faith, who

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

look when God casts in joys, while they lie idle and
labour not to fetch them in by believing.

But for others, I appeal to the most of them : Chris-
tian, dost thou not sometime when, after long gazing
heavenward, thou hast got a glimpse of Christ, dost thou
not seem to have been with Paul in the third heaven,
whether in the body or out, and to have seen what is
unutterable? Art thou not, with Peter, almost beyond
thyself, ready to say, "Master, it is good to be here"?
Oh, that I might dwell in this mount. Oh, that I might
ever see what I now see ! 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 thy day of suffering
for Christ (when He usually appears most manifestly to
His people), didst thou never see one walking in the midst
of the fiery furnace with thee like to the Son of God ?
If thou do 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 of 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 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, be-
lieve God ; you that have known most of God in Christ
here, it is as nothing to that you shall know ; it scarce,
in comparison of that, deserves to be called knowledge.
The difference betwixt our knowledge now, and our
knowledge then, will be as great as that between our
fleshly bodies now and our spiritual glorified bodies then.

For as these bodies, so that knowledge, must cease that

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

a more perfect may succeed. Our silly, childish thoughts
of God, which now is the highest we reach to, must give
place to a manly knowledge. All this saith the apostle,
1 Cor. xiii. 8-12 : " Knowledge shall vanish away ; for
we know in part, &c. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a
child, I understood as a child; but when I became a
man, I put away childish things. For now we see through
a glass darkly, but then face to face : now I know in
part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known."
Marvel not, therefore. Christian, at the sense of that
place of John xvii. 3, how it can be life eternal to know
God and His Son Christ. You must needs know that
to enjoy God and His Christ is eternal life, and the
soul's enjoying is in knowing. They that savour only
of earth, and consult with flesh, and have no way to
try and judge but by sense, and never were acquainted
with this knowledge of God, nor tasted how gracious
He is, these think it is 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 grudge you your delights,
nor envy your happiness, but pity your undoing folly,
and wish, oh ! that you would come near, and taste
and try as they have done, and then judge. Then con-
tinue in your former mind, if you can. For our parts
we say with that knowing apostle (though the speech
may seem presumptuous), "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."^ Here one
1 1 John V. 19, 20.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

verse contains the sum of most that I have said. " The
Son of God is come" to be our head and fountain of
life, "and so hath given us an understanding" that
the soul may be personally qualified and made capable
"to know Him" (God) "that is true" (the prime truth),
"and we are" brought so near in this enjoyment, that
" we are in Him that is true," not properly by an
essential or personal union, but we are in Him, by
being " in His Son Jesus Christ : this " we have men-
tioned " is the " only " true God " and so the fittest
object for our understanding, which chooseth truth,
and this knowing of Him, and being in Him, in Christ
" is eternal life."

And doubtless the memory will not be idle or useless
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. And what is that
knowledge but remembrance ? Doubtless 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 unconceivable esteem and sense of its con-
dition. To stand on that mount whence we can see the
wilderness and Canaan both at once ; to stand in heaven,
and look back on earth, and weigh them together in the
balance of a comparing sense and judgment, how must it
needs transport the soul, and make it cry out : Is this the
purchase that cost so dear as the blood of God ? No
wonder, O blessed price, and thrice blessed love that
invented and condescended ! 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

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

Christ hath enticed my soul ? O blessed way, and thrice
blessed end ! Is this the glory Avhich the Scriptures spoke
of, and ministers preached of so much ? Why now I see
the Gospel indeed is good tidings, even tidings of peace
and good things, tidings of great joy to all nations ! Is
my mourning, my fasting, my sad humblings, my heavy
walking, groanings, complainings come to this? Is my
praying, watching, fearing to offend come to this ? Are
all my afflictions, sickness, languishing, troublesome
physic, fears of death, come to this? Are all Satan's
temptations, the world's scorns and jeers, come to this ?

And now, if there be such a thing as indignation left,
how will it here let fly ? O vile nature, that resisted so
much and so long such a blessing ! Unworthy soul, is
this the place thou camest so unwillingly towards ? Was
duty wearisome ? Was the world too good to lose ?
Didst thou stick at leavinsr all, denvino: all, and suflerino-
anything for this ? Wast thou loath to die, to come to
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 show me improbabilities, and
draw me to distrust the Lord ? Didst thou question the
truth of that Scripture which promised this ? Why, my
soul, art thou not now ashamed that ever thou didst
question 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 only have
suspected 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 all
thy misinterpreting of, and grudging at, those providences,
and repining at those ways that have such an end ? Now

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

thou art sufficiently convinced that the ways thou calledst
hard, and the cup thou calledst bittei', were necessary;
that thy Lord hath sweeter ends, and 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 ; and as well when He broke thy heart
as when He bound it up. Oh no thanks to thee, unworthy
self, but shame, for this received crown ; but to Jehovah
and the Lamb be glory for ever !

Thus, as the memory of the wicked will eternally
promote their torment, to look back on the pleasures
enjoyed, the sin committed, the grace refused, Christ
neglected, and time lost ; so will the memory of the
saints for ever promote their joys. And as it is said
to the wicked, " Remember that thou in thy lifetime re-
ceivedst thy good things "' ; so will it be said to the Chris-
tian : " Remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst
thine evils ; but now thou art comforted, and they are
tormented." And as here the remembrance of former
o-ood is the occasion of increasing our grief: " I remem-
bered God, and was troubled ; I called to remembrance
my songs in the night " ; so there the remembrance of our
former sorrows addeth life to our joys.

VIH

But oh, the full, the near, the sweet enjoyment is that
of the affections, love and joy. It is near, for love is of
the essence of the soul, and love is the essence of God,
"for God is love." How near therefore is this blessed
closure ! The Spirit's phrase is, " God is love, and he that
dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." The
acting of this affection, wheresoever, carrieth much de-
light along with it; especially when the object appears

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

deserving, and the affection is strong. But oh, what will
it be, when perfected affections shall have the strongest,
perfect, incessant actings upon the most perfect object,
the ever blessed God ! Now the poor soul complains ;
oh, 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
continual ravishments of love. Now thy salvation is not
perfected, nor all the mercies purchased yet given in ; but
when the top-stone is set on, thou shalt with shouting
cry, " Grace, Grace.'' Now thy sanctification is imperfect,
and thy pardon and justification not so complete as then
it shall be. Now thou knowest not what thou enjoyest,
and therefore lovest the less; but when thou knowest
much is forgiven, and much bestowed, thou wilt love
more. Doth David, after an imperfect deliverance, sing
forth his love : " I love the Lord because He hath heard
my voice and supplications." What think you will he do
eternally ! And how will he love the Lord, who hath
lifted him up to that glory ! Doth he cry out, " Oh how
I love Thy law ! " " My delight is in the saints on earth,
and the excellent." How will he say then, " Oh how I
love the Lord, and the King of saints, in whom is all my
delight ! " 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, w^ho is all ? Oh, 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.

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 bv such arms that have embraced lust aud sin
before Him. But this is uot all. He returueth love for
love ; nay, a thousand times more ; as perfect as we shall
be, we cannot reach His measure of love ; Christian, thou
wilt be then brimful of love; yet love as nuich as thou
canst, thou shalt be ten thousand times more beloved.
Dost thou think thou canst over-love 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 spoar, and will not arms and heart be
open to thee in glory? Did He begin to love before
thou loved st, and will not He continue now ? Did He
love thee an enemy ; thee a sinner ; thee who even
loathedst thvself ; and own thee when thou didst disclaim
thvself .? And will He not now unmeasurably love thee a
son ; thee a perfect saint ; thee who returnest some love
for love.f^ Thou was 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
jovs of heaven will convince thee thoroughly of that love
which 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 ? Oh, methinks I see Him groaning and weeping
over dead Lazarus, till He force the Jews that stood by
to sav, "Behold how He loved him." Will He not then
much more bv rejoicing over us and blessing us, make all
(even the damned if they see it) to say, Behold how He
loveth them ? Is His spouse, while black, yet comely ; is
she His love. His dove, His undeiiled ? Doth she ravish
His heart with one of her eyes ? Is her love better than
wine.? O believing soul, study a little, and tell me what

48'

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

is the harvest which these first-fruits foretell ; and the
love which these are but the earnest of?^ Here, oh, here
is the heaven of heaven ! This is the saints' fruition of
God ; in these sweet, mutual, constant actings and em-
bracements 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.""

Reader, stop here and think a while what a state this
is. Is it a small thing in thine eyes to be beloved of
God ; to be the son, the spouse, the love, the delight of
the King of glory ? Christian, believe this, and think on
it ; thou shalt be eternally embraced in the arms of that
love which was from everlasting, and will extend to ever-
lasting; 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 thee. When perfect created love, and
most perfect uncreated love meet together, oh 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 a pure joy, and not such a mixture of joy and
sorrow as their weeping argued ; 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.

Neither is there any such love as David's and Jonathan's,
shutting up in sorrows, and breathing out its last into
sad lamentations for a forced separation ; no, Christ is the
1 Cant. i. 5, and v. 2, and vi. 9, and iv. 9, 10, &c.

49 D

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

powerful attractive, the effectual loadstone who draws to
it all like itself. All that the Father hath given Him
shall come unto Him ; even the lover, as well as the love,
doth He draw; "and they that come unto Him He will
in no wise cast out." For know this, believer, to thy
everlasting comfort, that if these arms have once embraced
thee, neither sin, nor hell can get thee thence for ever.
The Sanctuary is inviolable, and the Rock impregnable,
whither thou art fled, and thou art safe locked up to all
eternity. Thou hast not now to deal with an inconstant
creature, but with Him with whom is no varying nor
shadow of change, even the immutable God. If thy
happiness were in thine own hand, as Adam's, there were
yet fear; but it is in the keeping of a faithful Creator.
Christ hath not bought thee so dear, to trust thee with
thyself any more. His love to thee will not be as thine
was on earth to Him, seldom and cold, up and down,
mixed, as aguish bodies, with burning and quaking, with
a good day and a bad.

No, Christian, He that would not be discouraged by
thine enmity, by thy loathsome hateful nature, by all thy
unwillingness, unkind neglects, and churlish resistances;
He that would neither cease nor abate His love for all
these; can He cease to love thee when He hath made
thee truly lovely ? He that keepeth thee so constant in
thy love to Him, that thou canst challenge " tribulation,
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword,
to separate thy love from Christ if they can " ; how much
more Avill Himself be constant? Indeed He that pro-
duced these mutual embracing affections will also produce
such a mutual constancy in both, that thou mayest con-
fidently be persuaded, as Paul was before thee, "that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any otlier creature, shall be able to separate

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."" And now are we not left in the Apostle'^s admira-
tion, " What shall we say to these things ? " Infinite
love must needs be a mystery to a finite capacity. No
wonder, if angels desire to pry into this mystery, and
if it be the study of the saints here, to know the height,
and breadth, and length, and depth of His love, though
it passeth knowledge. This is the saints' rest in the
fruition of God by love.

Lastly, the affection of joy hath not the least share in
this fruition. It is that which all the rest lead to, and
conclude in ; even the unconceivable 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 ! 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, sorrowed, suffered that
they might rejoice; He sendeth the Spirit to be their
comforter; He multiplieth promises. He discovers their
future happiness that their joy may 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 be full, that they may thirst
no more, and that it may spring up in them to everlasting
life.

Yea, He causeth them to suffer that He may cause
them to rejoice ; and chasteneth them that He may
give them rest; and maketh them, as He did Himself,

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

" to drink of the brook in the way, that they may lift
up the head." And lest, after all this, they should
neglect their own comforts, He maketh it their duty,
and presseth it on them, commanding them to "rejoice
in Him alway, and again to rejoice." 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 of our comfort here, where the
Bridegroom being from us, we must mourn ? Oh, what
will that joy be, where the soul being perfectly pre-
pared for joy, and joy prepared by Christ for the soul,
it shall be our work, our business, eternally to rejoice!
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 to them." And
" to sit with Him in His throne, even as He is set down
on His Father's throne."

What sayest thou to all this, O thou sad and drooping
soul ? Thou that now spendest thy days in sorrow, and
thy breath in sighings, and turnest all thy voice into
groaniiigs; who knowest no garments but sackcloth, no
food but the bread and water of affliction ; who minglest
thy bread with tears, and drinkest the tears which thou
weepest, what sayest thou to this great change ? From
all sorrow to more than all joy? Thou poor soul, who
prayest for joy, waitest for joy, complainest for want of
joy, longest for joy, why, 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 mean-
time, walk carefully, watch constantly, and then let God
measure out thy times and degrees of joy. It may be
He keeps them till thou have more need; thou mayest

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

better lose thy comfort, than thy safety ; if thou shouldst
die full of fears and sorrows, it will be but a moment,
and they are all gone, and concluded in joy uncon-
ceivable. As the joy of the hypocrite, so the fears of
the upright, are but for a moment. And as their hopes
are but golden dreams, which when death awakes, then
do all perish, and their hopes die with them ; so the
saints' doubts and fears are but terrible dreams, which,
when they die, do all vanish; and they awake in joyful
glory. For " God's anger endureth but a moment,
but in His favour is life; weeping may endure for a
night,"" darkness and sadness go together, "but joy
cometh in the morning." O blessed morning, thrice
blessed morning !

Poor, humble, drooping soul, how would it fill thee
with joy now, if a voice from heaven should tell thee of
the love of God ; of the pardon of thy sins ; and should
assure thee of thy part in these joys? Oh, what then
will thy joy be, when thy actual possession shall convince
thee of thy title, and thou shalt be in heaven before
thou art well aware; when the angels shall bring thee
to Christ, and when Christ shall, as it were, take thee
by the hand, and lead thee into the purchased posses-
sion, and bid thee welcome to His rest, and present thee
unspotted before His Father, and give thee thy place
about His throne ! Poor sinner, what sayest thou to
such a day as this ? 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 must thou enter into His joy.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

And it is not thy joy only, it is a mutual joy as well
as a 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 congratulate
thy safe arrival ? Yea, it is the joy of Jesus Christ ; for
now He hath the end of His undertaking, labour, suffer-
ing, dying, when we have our joys ; when He is "glori-
fied in His saints, and admired in all them that believe.""
We are His seed, and the fruit of His souFs travail,
which when He seeth He will be satisfied. This is
Christ's harvest, when He shall reap the fruit of His
labours; and when He seeth it was not in vain, it will
not repent Him concerning His sufferings ; but He will
rejoice over His 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 in-
iquities; so is He rejoiced in our good. Oh how quickly
here He doth spy a returning prodigal, even afar ofi'!
How doth He run and meet Him ! And with what com-
passion falls He on his neck, and kisseth him, and puts
on him the best robe, and a ring on his hand, and his
shoes on his feet, and spares not to kill the fatted calf
that they may eat and be merry. This is indeed a happy
meeting; but nothing to the embracements and the joy
of that last and great meeting.

Yea more yet; as God doth mutually love and joy, so
He makes this His rest, as it is our rest. Did He appoint
a Sabbath because He rested from six days' work, and
saw all good, and very good ? What an eternal Sab-
batism then, when the work of redemption, sanctification,
preservation, glorification are all finished, and His work

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

more perfect than ever, and very good indeed ! So the
Lord is said to rejoice, and to take pleasure in His
people. O Christians, write these words in letters of
gold. "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee, is
mighty; He will save; He wdll rejoice over thee with
joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee
with singing."^ Oh, well may we then rejoice in our
God with joy, and rest in our love, and joy in Him
with singing. See Isa. Ixv. 18, 19.

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 true sayings of God."
Dost thou fear, as the disciples, that thou hast seen but
a ghost instead of Christ ? A shadow instead of rest ?
Why, come near and feel. A shadow contains not those
substantial blessings, nor rests upon the basis of such a
foundation-truth and sure word of promise, as you have
seen these do. Go thy way now, and tell the disciples,
and tell the humble drooping souls thou meetest with,
that thou hast in this glass seen heaven ; 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. Yea, go thy ways, and tell the unbelieving world,
and tell thy unbelieving heart, if they ask what is the hope
thou boastest of, and what will be thy rest : Why, this is
my Beloved, and my Friend, and this is my Hope, and my
Rest. Call them forth and say, " Behold what love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be the
sons of God," and that we should enter into our Lord's
own rest.

1 Zeph. iii. 17.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

But alas ! my fearful heart dares scarce proceed.
Methinks I hear the Almighty's voice saying to me, as
to Job, "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 with audacious wits
curiously searched into Thy counsels, but, indeed, I have
dishonoured Thy Holiness, wronged Thine Excellency,
disgraced Thy saints'* glory by my own exceeding dispro-
portionable pourtraying. I bewail from my heart that
my conceivings fall so short, my apprehensions are so
dull, my thoughts so mean, my affections so stupid, and
my expressions so low and unbeseeming such a glory.
But I have only heard by the hearing of the ear. Oh,
let Thy servant see Thee and possess these joys, and
then I shall have more suitable conceivings, and shall
give Thee fuller glory, and abhor my present self, and
disclaim and renounce all these imperfections. " I have
now uttered that I understood not ; things too wonder-
ful for me, which I knew not.^ Yet I believed, and
therefore spake. Remember with whom Thou hast to
do ; what canst Thou expect from dust, but levity ? Or
from corruption, but defilement? Our foul hands will
leave, where they touch, the marks of their uncleanness ;
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.?

1 Job xlii. 3. 2 Lev. x. 3.

3 Num. XX. 12 ; Deut. xxxii. 51.

WHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH

But though the weakness and unreverence be the fruit of
mine 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. Oh
therefore wash away these stains also in the blood of
the Lamb ; and let not jealousy burn us up : lest Thou
affright Thy people away from Thee, and make them in
their discouragement to cry out, " How shall the ark of
God come to us ? '' ^ " Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God ? "" ^ Who shall approach and dwell with
the consuming fire ? Imperfect, or none, must be Thy
service here. Oh take Thy Son's excuse, " The spirit i'>^
willing, but the flesh is weak."

1 2 Sam. vi. 9. " 1 Sam. vi. 20.

CHAPTER V

THE FOUR GREAT PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

Having thus opened to you a window toward the temple,
and showed you a small glimpse of the back parts of that
resemblance of the saints' rest, which I had seen in the
Gospel-glass ; it follows that we proceed to view a little
the adjuncts, and blessed properties of this rest. But
alas, this little which I have seen, makes me cry out
with the prophet Isaiah, " Woe is me, for I am undone,
because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of Hosts.'"* Yet if He will send and
touch my lips with a coal from the altar of His Son, and
say, " Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged,"
I shall then speak boldly ; and if He ask, " Whom shall
I send ? " I shall gladly answer, " Here am I, send me."
And why doth my trembling heart draw back ? Surely
the Lord is not now so terrible and inaccessible, nor the
passage of Paradise so blocked up, as when the law and
curse reigned. Wherefore finding, beloved Christians,
"that the new and living way is consecrated for us,
through the veil, the flesh of Christ, by which we may
with boldness enter into the holiest, by the blood of
Jesus, I shall draw near with the fuller assurance; and
finding the flaming sword removed, shall look again into
the Paradise of our God ; and because I know that this
is no forbidden fruit; and withal that it is good for
food, and pleasant to the soiritual eyes, and a tree to be

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

desired to make one truly wise and happy ; I shall take
(through the assistance of the Spirit) and eat thereof
myself, and give to you, according to my power, that you
may eat. For you, Christians, is this food prepared, this
wine broached, this fountain opened ; and the message
my Master sends you, is this hearty welcome, which you
shall have in His own words, " Eat, O friends ; drink,
yea, drink abundantly, O beloved ! " And surely it is
neither manners nor wisdom for you or me to draw back
or to demur, upon such an invitation.

And first, let us consider of the eminent antecedents,
the great preparations; that notable introduction to
this rest ; for the porch of this temple is exceeding
glorious, and the gate of it is called " beautiful." And
here offer themselves to our distinct observation these
four things, as the four corners of this porch.

1. The most glorious coming and appearing of the
Son of God.

2. His powerful and wonderful raising of our bodies
from the dust, and uniting them again with the soul.

3. His public and solemn proceedings in their judg-
ment, where they shall be justified and acquit before all
the world.

4. His solemn celebration of their coronation, and His
enthronising of them in their glory.

Follow but this fourfold stream unto the head, and it
will bring you just to the garden of Eden.

And well may the coming of Christ be reckoned into
His people''s glory, and enumerated with those ingredients
that compound this precious antidote of rest ; for to this
end it is intended, and to this end it is of apparent necessity.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

For His people's sake He sanctified Himself to His office ;
for their sake He came into the world, suffered, died,
rose, ascended ; and for their sake it is that He will
return. Whether His own exaltation or theirs were
His primary intention, is a question, though of seeming
usefulness, yet so unresolved (for ought I have found) in
Scripture, that I dare not scan it, for fear of pressing into
the Divine secrets, and approaching too near the inacces-
sible light. I find Scripture mentioning both ends dis-
tinctly and conjunctly, but not comparatively. This is
most clear, that to this end will Christ come again to
receive His people to Himself, " that where He is, there
they may be also." The Bridegroom's departure was
not upon divorce ; He did not leave us with a purpose to
return no more. He hath left pledges enough to assure
us ; we have His Word in pawn. His many promises. His
sacraments, which show forth His death till He come,
and His spirit to direct, sanctify, and comfort till He
return. We have frequent tokens of love from Him to
show us He forgets not His purpose, nor us. We behold
the forerunners of His coming, foretold by Himself, daily
come to pass. We see the fig-tree put forth her branches,
and therefore know the summer is nigh. We see the
fields white unto harvest ; and though the riotous world
say : " Our Lord will be long a-coming," yet let the saints
lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh.

Alas, fellow-Christians, what should we do if our I^ord
should not return ? What a case are we here left in !
What ? Leave us among wolves, and in the lion's den,
among a generation of serpents, and here forget us ! Did
He buy us so dear, and then cast us off so ? To leave us
sinning, suffering, groaning, dying daily, and come no
more at us ! It cannot be ; never fear it ; it cannot be.
This is like our unkind dealing with Christ, who when we
feel ourselves warm in the world, care not for coming at

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

Him ; but this is not like Christ's dealing with us. He
that would come to suffer, will surely come to triumph;
and He that would come to purchase, will surely come to
possess. Alas, where else were all our hopes ; what were
become of our faith, our prayers, our tears, and our wait-
ing ? What were all the patience of the saints worth to
them ? Were we not left of all men most miserable ?
Christians, hath Christ made us forsake all the world,
and be forsaken of all the world ; to hate all, and to be
hated of all ; and all this for Him, that we might have
Him instead of all ; and will He, think you, after all this
forget us, and forsake us Himself? Far be such a thought
from our hearts !

But why stayed He not with His people while He was
here? Why, must not the Comforter be sent? Was
not the work on earth done ? IVIust 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 the Father ; and plead His sufferings ; and be filled
with the Spirit to send it forth ; and receive authoritv to
subdue 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. Besides, He will
have us live by faith, and not by sight.

O fellow-Christians, what a day will that be, when we
who have been kept prisoners by sin, by sinners, by the
grave, shall be fetched out by the Lord Himself; 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 buffeted, and
scorned, and crucified again. He will not come, O

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING KEST

careless world, to be slighted and neglected by you any
more. And yet that coming, which was necessarily in
infirmity and reproach 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 go before, or accompany, for the cele-
bration of His nativity, and must praise God with that
solemnity, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will towards men,'' oh then with what shout-
ings will angels and saints at that day proclaim, " Glory
to God, and peace and good will towards men '" ! If the
stars of Heaven must lead men from remote parts of the
world to come to worship a child in a manger, how will
the glory of His next appearing constrain all the world to
acknowledge His sovereignty! If the King of Israel,
riding on an ass, be entertained into Jerusalem with
hosannahs, " Blessed be the king that comes in the name
of the Lord ; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest,''
oh with what proclamations of blessings, peace and glory
will He come toward the New Jerusalem ! 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 will they say when they shall see Him coming in His
glory, and the heavens and the 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."

O Christians, it was comfortable to you to hear from
Him, to believe in Him, and hope for Him. What will
it be to see Him ? The promise of His coming, and our
deliverance, was comfortable. What will it be thus to see
Him, with all the glorious attendance of His angels, come
in person to deliver us.? "The mighty God the Lord
hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

sun, to the going down thereof; out of Zion the perfec-
tion of beauty God hath shined. Our God shall come,
and shall not keep silence ; a fire shall devour before Him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He
shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth,
that He may judge His people. Gather My saints to-
gether unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me
by sacrifice ; and the heavens shall declare His righteous-
ness; for God is Judge Himself."'^

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 would quicken to duty,
or comfort and 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 ? To think and speak of that day
with horror doth well beseem the impenitent sinner, but
ill the believing saint. Such may be the voice of a be-
liever, but it is not the voice of faith. Christians, what
do we believe, and hope, and wait for, but to see that day ?
This is PauPs encouragement to moderation, to " rejoic-
in<r in the Lord alwav ; the Lord is at hand."*' It is '* to
all them that love His appearing, that the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give the crown of righteousness at
that day." Dost thou so long to have Him come into
thy soul with comfort and life, and takest thyself but for
a forlorn orphan while He seemeth absent? And dost
thou not much more long for that coming which shall
perfect thy life, and joy, and glory? Dost thou so
rejoice after some short and slender enjoyment of Him in
thy heart? Oh, how wilt thou then rejoice! How full
of joy was that blessed martyr Mr. Glovei*, with the dis-
covery of Christ to his soul, after long doubting and waiting

1 Ps. 1. 1-6.
63

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

in sorrows, so that he cries out, " He is come. He is
come ! " If thou have but a dear friend returned, that
hath been far and long absent; how do all run out to
meet him with joy! Oh, saith the child, "My father is
come ! '"* saith the wife, " My husband is come ! *" and shall
not we, when we behold our Lord in His majesty return-
ing, cry out, " He is come ! He is come ! '"* Shall the
wicked with unconceivable horror behold Him, and cry
out, oh, yonder is He whose blood we neglected, whose
grace we resisted, whose counsels we refused, whose
government we cast off! And shall not then the saints
with unconceivable gladness, cry out, oh, yonder is He
whose blood redeemed us, whose spirit cleansed us, whose
law did govern us ! Yonder comes He in whom we
trusted, and now we see He hath not deceived our trust;
He for whom we long waited, and now we see we have
not waited in vain. O cursed corruption, that would
have had us turn to the world and present things, and
give up our hopes, and say, Why should we wait for the
Lord any longer ? Now we see, that, " blessed are all
they that wait for Him."

Believe it, fellow-Christians, this day is not far off.
"For yet a little while, and He that comes will come,
and will not tarry." And though the unbelieving
world and the unbelief of thy heart may say, as those
atheistical scoffers, " Where is the promise of His
coming? Do not all things continue as they were from
the beginning of the creation ? " Yet let us know,
"The Lord is not slack of His promise, as some men
count slackness ; one day with Him is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day." I have
thought on it many a time, as a small emblem of that
day, when I have seen a prevailing army drawing to-
wards the towns and castles of the enemy. Oh with
what glad hearts do all the poor prisoners within hear

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

the news, and behold their approach ! How do they
run up to their prison windows, and thence behold
their friends with joy! How glad are they at the
roaring report of that cannon, which is the enemy's
terror ! How do they clap each other on the back,
and cry, " Deliverance, deliverance ! " While in the
meantime the late insulting, scorning, cruel enemies
begin to speak them fair, and beg their favour; but
all in vain, for they are not at the dispose of prisoners,
but of the General. Their fair usage may make their
conditions somewhat the more easy, but yet they are
used as enemies still. Oh, when the conquering Lion
of the tribe of Judah shall appear with all the hosts
of heaven, when he shall surprise the careless world,
as a thief in the night, when as the lightning which
appeareth in the east, and shineth even to the west,
so they shall behold Him coming, what a change will
the sight of this appearance work, both with the world,
and with the saints !

Now, poor deluded world, where is your mirth and
your jollity? Now, where is your wealth and your
glory ? Where is that profane and careless heart, that
slighted Christ and His spirit, and out-sate all the
offers of grace ? Now where is that tongue that mocked
the saints, and jeered the holy ways of God, and made
merry with His people's imperfections, and their own
slanders? What? Was it not you? Deny it if you
can. Your heart condemns you, and " God is greater
than your heart," and will condemn you much more.
Even when you say, " Peace and safety, then destruc-
tion cometh upon you, as travail upon a woman with
child; and you shall not escape." Perhaps if you had
known just the day and hour when the Son of Man
would have come, then you would have been found
praving, or the like; but you should have watched,

65 E

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

and been ready, because you know not the hour. But
for that faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord,
when He comes shall find so doing; oh "blessed is
that servant; verily I say unto you" (for Christ hath
said it) " He shall make him ruler over all His goods/'
"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, he shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away/' Oh
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''; and with all faithful dili-
gence, to prepare to meet our Lord with joy; and seeing
His coming is of purpose "to be glorified in His saints,
and admired in all them that believe," oh, what thought
should glad our hearts more than the thought of that

day ?

A little while indeed we have not "seen Hnn, 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 angels 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." While He is now out of sight, it is a sword

to our souls, while they daily ask us, " Where is your

God?" But then we shall be able to answer our

enemies; See, O proud sinners, yonder is our Lord.

Oh now. Christians, should we not put up that petition

heartily, "Let Thy kingdom come," for "the Spirit

and the bride say, come"; and let every Christian,

that heareth and readeth say. Come; and our Lord

Himself saith, "Surely I come quickly." "Amen, even

so, come, Lord Jesus."

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

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. A wonderful effect
of infinite power and love. Yea, wonderful indeed, saith
unbelief, if it be true. What, saith the Atheist and
Sadducee, shall all these scattered bones and dust be-
come a man ! A man drowned in the sea is eaten by
fishes, and they by men again, and these men by worms ;
what is become of the body of that first man ; shall it
rise again ? Thou fool (for so Paul calls thee), dost thou
dispute against the power of the Almighty ? Wilt thou
pose Him with thy sophistry? Dost thou object diffi-
culties to the Infinite Strength.? Thou blind mole; thou
silly worm ; thou little piece of creeping, breathing clay ;
thou dust ; thou nothing ; knowest thou who it is, whose
power thou dost question ? If thou shouldst see Him,
thou wouldst presently die. If He should come and
dispute His cause with thee, couldst thou bear it.? Or
if thou shouldst hear His voice, couldst thou endure ?

But come thy way, let me take thee by the hand, and
do thou a little follow me; and let me with reverence,
as Elihu, plead for God ; and for that power whereby I
hope to arise. Seest thou this great massive body of the
earth ? What beareth it ? and upon what foundation
doth it stand ? Seest thou this vast ocean of waters ?
W^hat limits them, and why do they not overflow and
drown the earth.? Wlience is that constant ebbino^ and
flowing of her tides ? Wilt thou say, from the moon, or
other planets.? And whence have they that power of
effective influence .? Must thou not come to a cause of
causes, that can do all things .? And doth not reason
require thee, to conceive of that cause as a perfect in-
telligence, and voluntary agent, and not such a blind

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

worker and empty notion as that "nothing'' is which
thou callest nature? Look upwards; seest thou that
glorious body of Hght, the sun ; how many times bigger
is it than all the earth; and yet how many thousand
miles doth it run in one minute of an hour, and that
without weariness, or failing a moment ! What thinkest
thou ? Is not that power able to effect thy resurrection
which doth all this ? Dost thou not see as great work
as a resurrection every day before thine eyes, but that the
commonness makes thee not admire them. Read but the
xxxvii., xxxviii., xxxix., xL, xh. chapters of Job, and
take heed of disputing against God again for ever.
Knowest thou not that with Him all things are possible ?
Can He make a camel go through the eye of a needle ?
Can He make such a blind sinner as thou to see, and
such a proud heart as thine to stoop, and such an earthly
mind as thine heavenly, and subdue all that thy fleshly
foolish wisdom ? And is not this as great a work as to
raise thee from the dust ? Wast thou not any unlikelier
to be, when thou wast nothing, than thou shalt be when
thou art dead ? Is it not as easy to raise the dead as to
make heaven and earth, and all of nothing ? But if thou
be unpersuadable, all I say to thee more is, as the prophet
to the prince of Samaria, " Thou shalt see that day with
thine eyes," but little to thy comfort; for that which is
the day of relief to the saints shall be a day of revenge
on thee. There is a rest prepared, but thou canst not
" enter in because of unbelief."

But for thee, O believing soul, never think to compre-
hend in the narrow capacity of thy shallow brain the
counsels and ways of thy Maker; no more than thou
canst contain in thy fist the vast ocean. He never in-
tended thee such a capacity when He made thee, and
thee that measure thou hast; no more than He
intended to enable that worm, or this post, or stone, fully

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

to know thee. Therefore when He speaks, dispute not,
but believe, as Abraham, who " considered not his own
body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old,
nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb ; he staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong
in faith, giving glory to God ; and being fully persuaded
that what He had promised, He was also able to per-
form ''"' ; and " so against hope, believed in hope."" So,
look thou not on the dead bones, and dust, and diffi-
culties, but at the promise. Martha knew her brother
should rise again at the resurrection, but if Christ say he
shall rise before, it must be believed.

Come then, fellow-Christians, let us contentedly com-
mit these carcasses 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 moment, " until the indignation be over-
past " ! 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. And what if in the meantime we must be
loathsome lumps, cast out of the sight of men, as not fit
to be endured among the living ! What if our carcasses
become as vile as those of the beasts that perish ! What
if our bones be digged up, and scattered about the pit-
brink, and worms consume our flesh ! Yet we know our
lledeemer liveth, and shall stand at the last on earth,
and we shall see Him with these eyes.

And withal it is but this flesh that suffers all this,
which hath been a clog to our souls so long ; and what is

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST \

this comely piece of flesh, which thou art loth should j

come to so base a state ? It is not an hundred years j

since it was either nothing, or an invisible something. |

And is it not most of it for the present, if not an appear- |

ing nothing, seeming something to an imperfect sense ; j

yet at best a condensation of invisibles, which that they I

may become sensible, are become more gross, and so more '

vile? Where is all that fair mass of flesh and blood >

which thou hadst before sickness consumed thee ? Anni- \

hilated it is not ; only resolved into its principles ; show !
it me if thou canst. Into how small a handful of dust

or ashes will that whole mass if buried or burnt, return ! I
And into how much smaller can a chemist reduce that
little, and leave thee all the rest invisible ? What if God
prick the bladder, and let out the wind that puffs thee up
to such a substance, and resolve thee into thy principles !

Doth not the seed thou sowest die before it spring ? j

And what cause have we to be tender of this body ?
Oh, what care, what labour, what grief and sorrow hath
it cost us? How many a weary, painful, tedious hour?

O my soul, grudge not that God should disburden thee i

of all this. Fear not lest He should free thee from thy j

fetters. Be not so loth that He should break down thy |
prison, and let thee go. What though some terrible

earthquake go before. It is but that the foundations of i
the prison may be shaken, and so the doors fly open ; the

terror will be to thy jailor, but to thee deliverance. Oh i

therefore at what hour of the night soever thy Lord |

come, let Him find thee, though with thy feet in these \

stocks, yet singing praises to Him, and not fearing the '

time of your deliverance. If unclothing be the thing ;

thou fearest; why, it is that thou mayst have better |

clothing put on. If to be turned out of doors be the j

thing thou fearest; why remember, then when this i
earthly house of thy tabernacle is dissolved, thou hast

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

, "a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." How willingly do our soldiers
burn their huts when the siege is ended ; being glad that
their work is done, that they may go home and dwell in
houses. Lay down then cheerfully this bag of loathsome
filth, this lump of corruption; thou shalt undoubtedly
receive it again in incorruption. Lay down freely this
terrestrial, this natural body; believe it, thou shalt re-
ceive it again a celestial, a spiritual body. And though
thou lay it down into the dirt with great dishonour, thou
shalt receive it into glory with honour ; and though thou
art separated from it through weakness, it shall be raised
again, and joined to thee 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, give up thy
dead; O sea, give up thy dead'' — then shall our Samson
break for us the bonds of death. And as the ungodly
shall, like toads from their holes, be drawn forth whether
they will or no ; so shall the godly, as prisoners of hope,
awake out of sleep, and come with joy to meet their
Lord. The first that shall be called are the saints that
sleep ; and then the saints that are then alive shall be
changed. For Paul hath told us by the word of the
Lord, "that they which are alive, and remain till the
coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are
asleep. For the Lord Himself 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. Wherefore,
O Christians, comfort one another with these words." ^
1 1 Tbess. iv. 15-18.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

This is one of the Gospel mysteries : " That we shall
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye
at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put on incorrup-
tion; and this mortal, immortality. Then is death
swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting.?

0 grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be to God which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.""^
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 will 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."" Can the head live,
and the body and members remain dead ? Oh, write
those sweet words upon thy heart. Christian : " Because

1 live, ye shall live also." As sure as Christ lives, ye
shall live ; and as sure as He is risen, we shall rise. Else
the dead perish. Else what is our hope ; what ad-
vantageth all our duty or suffering.? Else the sensual
epicure were one of the wisest men ; and what better are
we than our beasts ? Surely our knowledge, more than
theirs, would but increase our sorrows ; and our dominion
over them is no great felicity. The servant hath oft-
times a better life than his master, because he hath few
of his master's cares. And our dead carcasses are no more
comely, nor yield a sweeter savour than theirs. But we
have a sure ground of hope. And besides this life, " we
have a life that is hid with Christ in God ; and when Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear
with Him in glory." Oh let us not be as the purblind

1 1 Cor. XV. 51-57.

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

world, that cannot see afar off; let us never look at the
grave, but let us see the resurrection beyond it. Faith
is quick-sighted, and can see as far as that is; yea, as
far as eternity. Therefore let our hearts be glad, and our
glory rejoice, and our flesh also shall rest in hope; for
He will not leave us in the grave, nor suffer us still to
see corruption. Yea, "therefore, let us be stedfast, un-
moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as we know our labour is not in vain in the
Lord."

God made not death, but Christ overcame it, when
sin had introduced it. Death is from ourselves, but life
from the Author and Lord of Hfe. " The devil had the
power of death till he was overcome by death."' ^ But
He that " liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore,
hath now the keys of death and hell."' That the very
damned live is to be ascribed to Him ; that they live in
misery is long of themselves. Not that it is more de-
sirable to them to live miserably, as there they must do,
than not to live. But as God's glory is His chief, if not
only, end in all His works, so was it the Mediator's chief
end in the world's reparation. They shall therefore live,
whether they will or no, for God's glory, though they
live not to their own comfort, because they would not.

But whatsoever is the cause of the wicked's resurrec-
tion, this sufficeth to the saints' comfort, that resurrection
to glory is only the fruit of Christ's death ; and this fruit
they shall certainly partake of. The promise is sure :
"All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and
come forth." - " And this is the Father's will which hath
sent Christ, that of all which He hath given Him, He
should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last
day."^ "And that every one that believeth on the Son
may have everlasting life, and He will raise him up at

I Heb. ii. 14, 15. 2 jobn v. 28. 2 jQ^m vi. 39.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

the last day." If the prayers of the prophet could raise
the Shunamite's dead child ; and if the dead soldier re-
vived at the touch of the prophet's bones ; how certainly
shall the will of Christ, and the power of His death raise
us. The voice that said to Jairus' daughter, " Arise ^ ; and
to Lazarus, " Arise, and come forth,"" can do the like for us.
If His death immediately raised the dead bodies of many
saints in Jerusalem, if He gave power to His apostles to
raise the dead ; then what doubt of our resurrection ?

And thus. Christian, thou seest that, Christ having
sanctified the grave by His burial, and conquered death,
and broke the ice for us, a dead body, and a grave, is not
now so horrid a spectacle to a believing eye. But as our
Lord was nearest His resurrection and glory when He
was in the grave, even so are we. And He that hath
promised to make our bed in sickness will make the dust
as a bed of roses. Death shall not dissolve the union
betwixt Him and us ; nor turn away His affections from
us. But in the morning of eternity He will send His
angels, yea, come Himself, and roll away the stone, and
unseal our graves, and reach us His hand, and deliver us
alive to our Father. Why, then, doth the approach of
death so " cast thee down, O my soul, and why art thou
thus disquieted within me .? " The grave is not hell ; if
it were, yet there is thy Lord present ; and thence should
His merit and mercy fetch thee out. " Thy sickness is
not unto death," though I die, " but for the glory of
God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby."
Say not then. He lifted me up to cast me down, and hath
raised me high that my fall may be the lower ; but He
casts me down that He may lift me up, and layeth me
low that I may rise the higher. An hundred experiences
have sealed this truth unto thee, that the greatest de-
jections are intended but for advantages to thy greatest
dignity and the Redeemer's glory.

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

The third part of this prologue to the saints^ rest is
the public and solemn process at their judgment, where
they shall first themselves be acquit and justified, and
then with Christ judge the world. Public I may well
call it ; for all the world must there appear. Young and
old, of all estates and nations, that ever were from the
creation to that day, must here come and receive their
doom. 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 joyful day ! Terrible to those that have
let their lamps go out, and have not watched, but forgot
the coming of their Lord ; joyful to the saints, whose
waiting and hope was to see this day. Then shall the
world behold the goodness and severity of the Lord; on
them who perish, severity ; but to His chosen, goodness ;
when every one must give an account of his stewardship ;
and every talent of time, health, wit, mercies, afflictions,
means, warnings, must be reckoned for ; when the sins of
youth, and those which they had forgotten, and their
secret sins shall all be laid open before angels and men ;
when they shall see all their friends, wealth, old delights,
all their confidences and false hopes of heaven to forsake
them ; when they shall see the Lord Jesus whom they
neglected, whose Word they disobeyed, 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. Bemember at such a time such or such a

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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 cast off all. When
an hundred sermons. Sabbaths, mercies, shall each step
up and say, " I am witness against the prisoner " ; " Lord,
I was abused, and I was neglected "''* ; oh, which way will the
wretched sinner look, oh who can conceive the terrible
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 oh, there is
the soul-killing misery, He will not : nay, without violat-
ing the truth of His word. He cannot ; though otherwise,
in regard of His absolute power. He might. The time
was, sinner, when Christ would, and you would not; and
now, oh fain would you, and He will not. Then He
followed thee in vain with intreaties; oh poor sinner,
what dost thou ? wilt thou sell thy soul and Saviour for
a lust ? look to Me, and be saved ; return, why wilt thou
die: but thy ear and heart was shut up against all.
Why, now thou shalt cry, "Lord, Lord, open to us";
and He shall say, " Depart, I know you not, ye workers
of iniquity." Now mercy, mercy, Lord ; oh but it was
mercy you so long set light by, and now your day of
mercy is over. What then remains but to cry out to
the mountains, " Fall upon us ; and the hills, oh, 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 enemy, whose voice they will obey, and not thine.
Sinner, make not light of this ; for as thou livest, except
a thorough change and coming in to Christ prevent it
(which God grant) thou shalt shortly, to thy unconceiv-
able horror, see that day.

O wretch, will thy cups then be wine or gall ; will they
be sweet or bitter ; will it comfort thee to think of all

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

thy merry days, and how pleasantly thy time slipped
away ; will it do thee good to think how rich thou wast,
and how honourable thou wast ; or will it not rather
wound thy very soul to remember thy folly ; and make
thee with anguish of heart, and rage against thyself, to
cry out, O wretch, where was mine understanding?
Didst thou make so light of that sin that now makes
thee tremble ? How couldst thou hear so lightly of
the redeeming blood of the Son of God ? How couldst
thou quench so many motions of His Spirit, and stifle so
many quickening thoughts as were cast into thy soul ?
What took up all that life's time which thou hadst given
thee to make sure work against this day ; what took
up all thy heart, thy love and delight, which should have
been laid out on the Lord Jesus ! Hadst thou room in
thy heart for the world, thy friend, thy flesh, thy lusts,
and none for Christ? O wretch, whom hast thou to
love but Him ? What hadst thou to do, but to seek
Him, and cleave to Him, and enjoy Him ? Oh, wast
thou not told of this dreadful day a thousand times, till
the commonness of that doctrine made thee weary ?
How couldst thou slight such warnings, and rage against
the minister, and say he preacheth danmation ? Had
it not been better to have heard and prevented it, than
now to endure it ? Oh, now for one offer of Christ,
for one sermon, for one day of grace more ; but too late,
alas, too late !

Poor careless sinner, I did not think here to have said
so much to thee ; for my business is to refresh the saints ;
but if these lines do fall into thy hands, and thou vouch-
safe the reading of them, I here "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 thvself
sadly to ponder on these things ; ask thy heart, Is this

77 ^

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

true, or is it not ; is there such a day, and must I see it ?
Oh what do I then ; why trifle I ; 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;
had I not rather be found one of the holy, faithful,
watchful Christians than a worldling, a good fellow, or
a man of honour ; why should I not then choose it now ;
will it be best then, and is it not best now ? Oh think
of these things ! A few sad hours spent in serious fore-
thoughts is a cheap prevention ; it is worth this, or it
is worth nothing.

Friend, I profess to thee, from the word of the Lord,
that of all thy sweet sins there will then be nothing left,
but the sting in thy conscience, which will never out
through all eternity ; except the blood of Christ believed
in, and valued above all the world, do now, in this day
of grace, get it out. Thy sin is like a beautiful harlot ;
while she is young and fresh she hath many followers;
but when old and withered every one would shut their
hands of her ; she is only their shame ; none would know
her. So will it be with thee ; now thou wilt venture on
it, whatever it cost thee ; but then, when men'*s rebellious
ways are charged on their souls to death ; oh, that thou
couldst rid thy hands of it ; oh, that thou couldst say.
Lord, it was not I ; " Lord, when saw we Thee hungry,
naked, imprisoned.^" how fain would they put it off!
Then sin will be sin indeed, and grace will be grace
indeed. Then say the foolish virgins, " Give us of your
oil, for our lamps are out; oh, for some of your faith
and holiness, which we were wont to mock at ! " But
what is the answer, " Go buy for yourselves ; we have
little enough; would we had rather much more."

Then they will be glad of anything like grace ; and
if they can but produce any external familiarity with
Christ, or common gifts, how glad are they ; Lord, we

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

have eat and drunk in Thy presence, prophesied in Thy
Name, cast out devils, done many wonderful works ; we
have been baptized, heard sermons, professed Chris-
tianity; but alas, this will not serve the turn; He will
profess to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, ye
workers of iniquity. O dead-hearted sinner, is all this
nothing to thee ? As sure as Christ is true, this is true ;
take it in His own words : " When the Son of Man
shall come in His glory ; . . . and before Him shall be
gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats ; and He shall set the sheep on the right hand, and
the goats on the left " ; and so on, as you may read in
the text.^

But why tremblest thou, O humble, gracious soul?
Cannot the enemies and slighters of Christ be foretold
their doom but thou must quake? Do I make sad the
soul that God would not have sad ? Doth not thy Lord
know His own sheep, "who have heard His voice and
followed Him "* ? He that would not lose the family of
one Noah in a common deluge, when him only He had
found faithful in all the earth ; He that would not over-
look one Lot in Sodom ; nay, that could do nothing till
he were forth ; will He forget thee at that day ? *' Thy
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of tempta-
tion, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment
to be punished''; He knoweth how to make the same
day the greatest for terror to his foes, and yet the
greatest for joy to His people. He ever intended it for
the great distinguishing and separating day, wherein
both love and fury should be manifested to the highest.
Oh then, "let the heavens rejoice, the sea, the earth,
the floods, the hills; for the Lord cometh to judge the
earth": "with righteousness shall He judge the world,
1 Matt. XXV. 31-33.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING HEST

and the people with equity " ; but especially, " let Zion
hear, and be glad, and her children rejoice"; for, "when
God arises to judgment,*" it is "to save the meek of the
earth."" They have judged and condemned themselves
many a day in heart-breaking confessions, and therefore
shall not be judged to condemnation by the Lord ; " for
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 anything 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 sin and death." Or shall con-
science.? Why, we were long ago "justified by faith,
and so have peace with God," "and have our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience"; "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 con-
demned 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 of heaven." He whose
first coming was not " to condenni the world, but that
the world through Him might be saved," I am sure
intends not His second coming to condemn His people,
but that "they through Him might be saved." He
hath given us eternal life in charter and title already,
yea, and partly in possession; and will He after that
condemn us ? When He gave us the knowledge of His
Father and Himself, He gave us "eternal life": and
He hath verily told us, " that he that heareth His word,

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

and believeth on Him that sent Him, hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed
from death to life." Indeed if our Judge were our
enemy, as He is to the world, then we might well fear.
If the devil were our judge, or the ungodly were our
judge, then we should be condemned as hypocrites, as
heretics, as schismatics, as proud, or covetous, or what
not. But our Judge is " Christ who died, yea rather
who is risen again, and maketh request for us " ; for,
" all power is given Him in heaven and in earth," " and
all things delivered into His hands," "and the P'ather
hath given Him authority to execute judgment also,
because He is the Son of Man." For though God judge
the world, yet the Father, immediately, without His
Vicegerent Christ, " judge th no man, but hath committed
all judgment to the Son, that all men should honour
the Son, even as they honour the Father."

Oh, what unexpressible joy may this afford to a be-
liever, that our dear Lord, who loveth our souls and
whom our souls love, shall be our Judge ? Will a man
fear to be judged by his dearest friend, by a brother,
by a father ; or a wife by her own husband ? Christian,
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 Himself? Did He make a bath
of His blood for thy sins, and a garment of His own
righteousness for thy nakedness, and will He now open
them to thy shame ? Is He the undertaker for thy salva-
tion, and will He be against thee? Hath it cost Him
so dear to save thee, and will He now Himself destroy
thee ? Hath He done the most of the work already, in
redeeming, regenerating and sanctifying, justifying, pre-
serving and perfecting thee, and will He now undo all
again? Nay, hath He begun, and will He not finish;

81 r

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

hath He interceded so long for thee to the Father, and
will He cast thee away Himself? If all these be likely,
then fear, and then rejoice not. Oh, what an unreason-
able sin is unbelief, that will charge our Lord with such
unmercifulness and absurdities !

Well then, fellow- Christians, let the terror of that day
be never so great, surely our Lord can mean no ill to us
in all. Let it make the devils tremble, and the wicked
tremble; but it shall make us to leap for joy. Let Satan
accuse us, we have our answer at hand ; our Surety hath
discharged the debt ; if He have not fulfilled the law,
then let us be charged as breakers of it ; if He have not
suffered, then let us suffer : but if He have, we are free.
Nay, our Lord will make answer for us Himself, " These
are Mine, and shall be made up with My jewels : for their
transgressions was I stricken, and cut off from the earth ;
for them was I bruised and put to grief; My soul was
made an offering for their sin, and I bore their transgres-
sions ; they are My seed, and the travail of My soul ; I
have healed them by My stripes; I have justified them
by My knowledge ; they are My sheep, who shall take
them out of my hands ? '' Yea, though the humble soul be
ready to speak against itself: "Lord, when did we see Thee
hungry, and fed Thee ? " &c., yet will not Christ do so.
This is the day of the believers' full justification. They
were before made just, and esteemed just, and by faith
justified in law ; and this, to some, evidenced to their
consciences; but now they shall both, by apology, be
maintained just, and, by sentence, pronounced just actually
by the lively voice of the Judge Himself; which is the
most perfect justification. Their justification by faith is
a giving them title in law to that apology and absolving
sentence, which at that day they shall actually receive
from the mouth of Christ ; by which sentence, their sin,
which before was pardoned in the sense of the law, is now

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

perfectly pardoned, or blotted out by this ultimate judg-
ment. Therefore well may it be called, "the time of
refreshing," as being to the saints the perfecting of all
their former refreshments. He who was vexed with a
quarrelling conscience, an accusing world, a cursing law,
is solemnly pronounced righteous by the Lord the Judge.
Though he cannot plead not guilty in regard of fact;
yet being pardoned, he shall be acquit by the proclama-
tion of Christ. And that is not all, but he that was accused,
as deserving hell, is pronounced a member of Christ, a
son of God, and so adjudged to eternal glory. The sen-
tence of pardon, passed by the spirit and conscience within
us, was wont to be exceeding sweet ; but this will fully
and finally resolve the question ; and leave no room for
doubting again for ever. We shall more rejoice that our
names are found written in the Book of Life, than if men
or devils were subjected to us. 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 hear them doomed to everlasting flames, and 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, sate in the
same seats, dwelt in the same houses, and were esteemed
more honourable in the world than ourselves ; to see them
now so differenced from us, and by the Searcher of hearts
eternally separated. This, with the great magnificence
and dreadfulness of the day, doth the apostle pathetically
express, in 2 Thess. i. 6-10, " It is righteous 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;

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His
power," &c. 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 com-
mission with Him ; and they shall sit and approve His
righteous judgment. Oh, fear not now the reproaches,
scorns and censures of those that must then be judged
by us. Did you think, O wretched worldlings, that those
poor despised men, whom you made your daily derision,
should be your judges? Did you believe this, when you
made them stand as offenders before the bar of your
judgment? No more than Pilate, when he was judging
Christ, did believe that he was condemning his Judge;
or the Jews, when they were whipping, imprisoning, kill-
ing the apostles, did think to see them sit on twelve
thrones judging the twelves tribes of Israel. "Do you
not know,"" saith Paul, " that the saints shall judge the
world?'' Nay, "know you not that we shall judge
ano-els ? " ^ Surely, were it not the word of Christ that
speaks it, this advancement would seem incredible, and the
language arrogant. Yet even " Enoch, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these saying; Behold the Lord cometh
with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon
all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all
their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed ;
and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have
spoke against Him." ^

Thus shall the saints be honoured, and the " righteous
have dominion in the morning." Oh, that the careless
world were "but wise to consider this, and that they

1 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. ^ j^^e 14.

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

would remember their latter end ! "" That they would
be now of the same mmd, as they will be when they
shall see the *' heavens pass away with a noise, and the
elements melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and
the works that are therein to be burnt up'*'; when all
shall be on fire about their ears, and all earthly glory
consumed ! " For the heavens and the earth which are
now, are reserved unto fire against the day of judg-
ment, and perdition of ungodly men." But alas, when
all this is said, "the wicked shall do wickedly, and
none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall
understand." Rejoice, therefore, O ye saints ; yet watch,
and what you have hold fast till your Lord come; and
study that use of this doctrine which the apostle pro-
pounds : " Seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and
hasting to the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the ele-
ments melt with fervent heat."^ But go your way,
keep close with God, and wait till your change come,
and till this end be ; '' for you shall rest, and stand
in the lot at the end of the days."^

The fourth antecedent, and highest step to the saints'
advancement, is their solemn coronation, enthronising,
and receiving into the kingdom. For as Christ their
head is anointed both king and priest, so under Him are
His people made unto God both kings and priests (for
prophecy ceaseth) to reign, and to offer praises for ever.
"The crown of righteousness, which was laid up for

1 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12. 2 j)an. xii. 13.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

them, shall by the Lord, the righteous Judge, be given
them at that day." "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 Him-
self on 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 Him-
self will give them possession with these applauding ex-
pressions ; " 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 enthrone them : " Come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda-
tion of the world." Every word 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 Bethshemites' 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 much more. " Ye blessed." Blessed indeed, when
that mouth shall so pronounce us. For though the
world hath accounted us accursed, and we have been
ready to account ourselves so, yet certainly those that
He blesseth are blessed, and those whom He curseth,
only are cursed. And His blessing 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 their election, donation to Christ, sending

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

of Christ, accepting His ransom, &c., as the Son hath
also testified His. " Inherit/' No longer bondmen, nor
servants only, nor children under age, who differ not
in possession but only in title from servants. But now
we are " heirs of the kingdom "" ; ^ coheirs with Christ.
"The kingdom."" No less than the kino-dom ? Indeed
to be a King of kings and Lord of lords is our Lord's
own proper title ; but to be kings and reign with Him
is ours. The fruition of this kingdom is as the fruition
of the light of the sun, each have the whole, and the
rest never the less. " Prepared for you." God is the
alpha as well as the omega of our blessedness. Eternal
love hath laid the foundation. He prepared the king-
dom for us, and then prepared us for the kingdom.
This is the preparation of His counsel and decree, for
the execution whereof Christ was yet to make a further
preparation. " For you." Not for believers only in
general, who without individual persons are nobody;
nor only for you upon condition of your believing;
but for you personally and determinately, for all the
conditions were also prepared for you. "From the
foundation of the world." Not only from the promise
after Adam's fall, as some ; but, as the phrase usually
signifieth though not always, from eternity. These
were the eternal thoughts of God's love towards us,
and this is it He purposed for us.

But a great difficulty ariseth in our way. In what
sense is our improvement of our talent, our well-doing,
our overcoming, our harbouring, visiting, feeding Christ
in His little ones, alleged as a reason of our coronation
and glory ? Is not it 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

1 Jas. ii. 5.
87

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST |

evil ; and God " will render to every man according to

his deeds ; ^^ and give eternal life to men if they patiently \

continue in well-doing ; and *' give right to the tree of :

life"" 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," why then, what is become of \

free grace, or justification by faith only, of the sole I

righteousness of Christ to make us accepted ? Then ;
the Papists say rightly, that we are righteous by our

personal righteousness, and good works concur to |

justification. j

I did not think to have said so much upon contro- j

versy ; but because the difficulty is very great, and the \

matter very weighty, as being near the foundation, I |

have in another book added to what is said before, ;

certain brief positions, containing my thoughts on this j

subject; which may tend to the clearing of these and i

many other difficulties hereabouts, to which I refer \

you. :

But, that the plain constant language of Scripture i

may not be perverted or disregarded, I only premise :

these advertisements by way of caution, till thou come i

to read the fuller answer: j

1. Let not the names of men draw thee one way or i
other, nor make thee partial in searching for truth; 1
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. i

2. Know this, that as an unhumbled soul is far I
apter to give too much to duty and personal righteous- ;
ness than to Christ ; so an humble, self-denying Christian !
is as likely to err on the other hand, in giving less to \
duty than Christ hath given, and laying all the work |
from himself on Christ, for fear of robbing Christ of |

FOUR PREPARATIVES TO OUR REST

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. As Luther said of
Melancthon's self-denying humility, " Soli Deo omnia
deheri tarn obstinate asserit, ut rniki plane vidcatur saltern
in hoc errare qiwd Christum ijjse fingat longius ahesse
cordi suo quam sit revera — Certe nimis nullus in hoc est
Philip pus. '''' " He so constantly ascribes all to God,
that to me he seems directly to err, at least in this,
that he feigneth or imagineth Christ to be further off
from his own heart, than indeed He is. — Certainly he
is too much nothing in this.""

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 and sense 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
prerogative 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, by the line and plummet of Scrip-
ture, fathomed this fourfold stream, and seen the Christian
safely landed in Paradise ; and in this four-wheeled fiery
chariot conveyed honourably to his rest. Now let us a
little further view those mansions, consider his privileges,
and see whether there be any glory like unto this glory ;
read, and judge, but not by outward appearance, but
judge righteous judgment.

CHAPTER VI

THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT, DISCOVERED
BY REASON

The next thing to be handled is, the excellent properties
of this Rest, and admirable attributes which, as so many
jewels, shall adorn the crown of the saints. And, first,
before we speak of them particularly, let us try this
happiness by the rules of the philosophers, and see
whether they will not approve it the most transcendently
good : not as if they were a sufficient touchstone ; but
that both the worldling and the saint may see, when any-
thing stands up in competition with this glory for the
pre-eminence, reason itself will conclude against it. Now
in order of good, the philosopher will tell you that by
these rules you may know which is best.

That which is desired and sought for itself is better
than that which is desired for something else ; or the end,
as such, is better than all the means. This concludeth
for heaven's pre-eminelice ; all things are but means to
that end. If anything here be excellent, it is because it
is a step to that ; and, the more conducible thereto, the
more excellent. The salvation of our souls is the end of
our faith, our hope, our diligence, of all mercies, of all
ordinances, as before is proved ; it is not for themselves,
but for this Rest, that all these are desired and used.

THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT

Praying is not the end of praying, nor preaching the end
of preaching, nor believing the end of beHeving; these
are but the way to Him, who is the way to this Rest.
Indeed Christ Himself is both the Way and the Rest, the
means and the end ; singularly desirable as the way, but
yet more as the end. If anything, then, that ever you saw
or enjoyed appear lovely and desirable, then must its end
be so much more.

In order of good, the last is still the best, for all good
tends to perfection; the end is still the last enjoyed,
though first intended. Now this Rest is the saints' last
estate. Their beginning was as a grain of mustard seed,
but their perfection will be an estate high and flourishing.
They were taken, with David, from the sheep-fold to
reio-n as kings for ever. Their first day was a day of
small things, but their last will be an everlasting per-
fection. They sowed in tears, but they reap in joy.
If their prosperity here, their " res secundce,''^ were de-
sirable, much more their " res ultima?,''' their final blessed-
ness. Rondeletius saw a priest at Rome, who would fall
down in an ecstasy, whenever he heard those words of
Christ : " Consuvimatum est. It is finished." But observ-
ing him careful in his fall ever to lay his head in a soft
place, he, suspecting the dissimulation, by the threats of a
cudgel quickly recovered him. But methinks the fore-
thought of that consummation and last estate we spake
of should bring a considering Christian into such an
unfeigned ecstasy that he should even forget the things of
the flesh, and no care or fear should raise him out of it.
Surely that is well which ends well, and that is good
which is good at last ; and therefore heaven must needs

be ffood.

^ 91

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

III

Another rule is this, That whose absence or loss is the
worst or the greatest evil, must needs itself be best, or
the greatest good. And is there a greater loss than to
lose this Rest ? If you could ask the restless souls that
are shut out of it, they would tell you more sensibly than
I can. For as none know the sweetness like those who
enjoy it, so none know the loss like those that are
deprived of it. Wicked men are here senseless of the
loss, because they know not what they lose, and have the
delights of flesh and sense to make them up, and make
them forget it; but when they shall know it to their
torment, as the saints do to their joy, and when they
shall see men from the east and west sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and
themselves shut out; when they shall know both what
they have lost, and for what and why they lost it, surely
there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. He that
loseth riches may have more ; and he that loseth honour
may repair it ; or if not, yet he is not undone ; he that
loseth life may save it; but what becomes of him that
loseth God, and who or what shall repair his loss ? We
can bear the loss of anything below ; if we have it not,
we can either live without it, or die, and live eternally
without it; but can we do so without God in Christ.?
As God gives us outward things as auctuaries, as overplus,
or above measure into our bargain ; so when He takes
them from us. He takes away our superfluities rather
than our necessaries; and pareth but our nails, and
toucheth not the quick ; but can we so spare our part in
glory ? You know whose question it is, " What shall it
profit a man to win all the world, and lose his own soul.?"
Will it prove a saving match ? Or, what " shall a man

THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT

give for the ransom of his soifi "" ? Christians, compare
but all your losses with that loss, and all your sufferings
with that suffering, and I hope you will lay your hand
upon your mouth, and cease your repining thoughts for
ever.

Another rule is this, That which cannot be given by
man, or taken away by man, is ever better than that
which can : and then I hope heaven will carry it. For
who hath the key of the everlasting treasures? And who
is the Disposer of the dignities of " the saints ? Who
saith, "Come ye blessed," and "go ye cursed""? Is it
the voice of God, or of mere man ? If " every good and
perfect gift cometh from above, from the Father of
lights,"" whence then cometh the gift of eternal light
with the Father? Whose privilege soever it is to be
key-keepers of the visible churches here below, sure no
mere man, but the ^lan of Sin, will challenge the keys of
that kingdom, and undertake to shut out, or take in, or
to dispose of that treasure of the Church. We may be
beholden to men, as God's instruments, for our faith,
but no further ; for, " what is Paul, or who is Apollos,
but ministers by whom we believed, even as the Lord
gave to every man ? "*' Surely, every step to that glory,
every gracious gift and act, every deliverance and mercy
to the Church, shall be so clearly from God that His
very name shall be written in the forehead of it, and His
excellent attributes stamped upon it, that he who runs
may read it was the work of God ; and the question may
easily be answered, whether it be from heaven or of men ?
Much more evidently is that glory, the gift of the God
of Glory ? What ! Can man give God, or earth and
dust give heaven ? Surely no.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

And as much is it be'yond them to deprive us of it.
Tyrants and persecutors may take away our goods, but
not our chief good ; our liberties here, but not that
state of freedom ; our heads, but not our crown. You
can shut us up in prisons, and shut us out of your church
and kingdom ; but now shut us out of heaven if you can.
Try in lower attempts. Can you deny us the light of
the sun, and cause it to forbear its shining ? Can you
stop the influences of the planets ; or deny us the dew of
heaven ; or command the clouds to shut up their womb ;
or stay the course of the flowing streams ; or seal up the
passages of the deep ? How much less can you deprive
us of our God, or deny us the light of His countenance,
or stop the influences of His Spirit, or forbid the dew of
His grace to fall, or stay the streams of His love, and
shut up His overflowing, everflowing springs, or seal up
the bottomless depth of His bounty ! You can kill our
bodies (if He permit you), but try whether you can reach
our souls. Nay, it is not in the saints'* own power to give
to, or take away from, themselves this glory. So that,
according to this rule, there is no state like the saints'
rest. For no man can give this Rest to us, and none can
take our joy from us.^

Another rule is this ; That is ever better or best which
maketh the owner or possessor himself better or best.
And sure, according to this rule, there is no state like
heaven. Riches, honour, and pleasure make a man
neither better nor best; grace here makes us better,
but not best ; that is reserved as the prerogative of glory.
That is our good that doth us good ; and that doth us
good which makes us good; else it may be good in
1 John xvi. 22.

THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT

itself, but not good to us. External good is at too
great a distance to be our happiness. It is not bread
on our tables but in our stomachs that must nourish;
nor blood upon our clothes or skin, but in the liver,
heart and veins, which is our life. Nay, the things of
the world are so far from making the owners good,
that they prove not the least impediments thereto, and
snares to the best of men. Riches and honour do seldom
help to humility, but of pride they occasionally become
most frequent fomenters. The difficulty is so great of
conjoining graciousness with greatness, that it is next to
an impossibility; and their conjunction so rare, that they
are next to inconsistent.

To have a heart taken up with Christ and heaven,
when we have health and abundance in the world, is
neither easy nor ordinary. Though soul and body com-
pose but one man, yet they seldom prosper both together.
Therefore that is our chief good which will do us good
at the heart, and that is our true glory that makes us
all glorious within, and that is the blessed day which will
make us holy and blessed men; which will not only
beautify our house but cleanse our hearts ; nor only give
us new habitations and new relations, but also new souls
and new bodies. The true knowing,^ living Christian
complains more frequently and more bitterly of the wants
and woes within him than without him. If you overheai
his prayers, or see him in his tears, and ask him, what
aileth him, he will cry out more. Oh, my dark under-
standing ! Oh, my hard, my unbelieving heart ! rather
than, Oh, my dishonour, or, oh, my poverty ! Therefore
it is his desired place and state which affords a relief
suitable to his necessities and complaints. And surely
that is only this Rest.

THE SAINTS' EVEELASTING HEST

Another rule is, That the difficulty of obtaining shows
the excellency. And surely, if you consider but what
it cost Christ to purchase it; what it costs the Spirit
to bring men's hearts to it ; what it costs ministers to
persuade to it ; what it costs Christians, after all this, to
obtain it ; and what it costs many a half-Christian, that
after all, goes without it ; you will say that here is
difficulty, and therefore excellence. Trifles may be had
at a trivial rate, and men may have damnation far more
easily. It is but lie still, and sleep out our days in
careless laziness. It is but take our pleasure, and mind
the world, and cast away the thoughts of sin and grace
and Christ and heaven and hell out of our minds ; and
do as the most do ; and never trouble ourselves about these
high things, but venture our souls upon our presump-
tuous conceits and hopes, and let the vessel swim which
way it will ; and then stream and wind and tide will all
help us apace to the gulf of perdition. You may burn
a hundred houses easier than build one, and kill a thou-
sand men than make one alive. The descent is easy, the
ascent not so. Xo bring diseases is but to cherish sloth,
please the appetite, and take what most delights us;
but to cure them will cost bitter pills, loathsome potions,
tedious gri pings, abstemious, accurate living; and perhaps
all fall short too. He that made the way, and knows the
way better than we, hath told us it is narrow and strait,
and requires striving ; and they that have paced it more
truly and observantly than we, do tell us it lies through
many tribulations, and is with much ado passed through.
Conclude, then, it is sure somewhat worth that must cost
all this.

THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT

VII

Another rule is this, That is best which not only sup-
plieth necessity but affordeth abundance. By necessity
is meant here, that which we cannot Hve without ; and
by abundance is meant, a more perfect supply, a comfort-
able, not a useless abundance. Indeed it is suitable to a
Christian state and use, to be scanted here, and to have only
from hand to mouth ; and that not only in his corjioral,
but in his spiritual comforts. Here we must not be filled
full, that so our emptiness may cause hungering, and our
hungering cause seeking and craving, and our craving
testify our dependence and occasion receiving, and our
receiving occasion thanks returning; and all advance
the glory of the Giver. But when we shall be brought
to the well-head, and united close to the overflowing
fountain, we shall then thirst no more, because we shall
be empty no more. Surely, if those blessed souls did
not abound in their blessedness, they would never so
abound in praises. Such blessing and honour and glory
and praise to God would never accompany common
mercies ; all those alleluias are not, sure, the language of
needy men. Now we ai-e poor, we speak supplications ;
and our beggar's tone discovers our low condition; all
our language almost is complaining and craving, our
breath fighting, and our life a labouring. But sure
where all this is turned into eternal praising and re-
joicing, the case must needs be altered, and all wants
supplied and forgotten. I think their hearts full of joy
and their mouths full of thanks, proves their state
abounding, full of blessedness.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

VIII

Reason concludes that for the best, which is so in the
judgment of the best and wisest men. Though it is
true, the judgment of imperfect man can be no perfect
rule of truth or goodness, yet God revealeth this good
to all on whom He will bestow it, and hides not from
His people the end they should aim at and attain. If
the holiest men are the best and wisest, then their lives
tell you their judgments; and their unwearied labour
and sufferings for this Rest, shows you they take it for
the perfection of their happiness. If men of greatest
experience be the wisest men, and they that have tried
both estates ; then surely it is vanity and vexation that
is found below, and solid happiness and rest above. If
dying men are wiser than others, who by the world's
forsaking them, and by the approach of eternity, begin
to be undeceived ; then surely happiness is hereafter,
and not here. For though the deluded world, in their
flourishing prosperity, can bless themselves in their fooPs
paradise, and merrily jest at the simplicity of the saints,
yet scarce one of many, even of the worst of them, but
are ready at last to cry out with Balaam, " Oh that I
might die the death of the righteous, and my last end
might be like his ! '"* Never take heed therefore what
they think or say now, for as sure as they shall die they
will one of these days think and say clean contrary. As
we regard not what a drunken man says, because it is not
he, but the drink ; and when he has slept he will awake
in another mind ; so why should we regard what wicked
men say now, who are drunk with security and fleshly
delights; when we know beforehand for certain, that
when they have slept the sleep of death at the furthest,
they will awake in another mind.

THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT

Only pity the perverted understandings of these poor
men who are beside themselves; knowing that one of
these days, when too late experience brings them to their
right minds, they will be of a far different judgment.
They ask us, " What, are you wiser than your forefathers ;
than all the town besides; than such and such great
men, and learned men? And do you think in good
sadness we may not with better reason ask you. What,
are you wiser than Enoch and Noah ; than Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Samuel ; than David and Solomon ; than
Moses and the Prophets; than Peter, Paul, all the
Apostles, and all the saints of God, in all ages and
nations, that ever went to heaven ; yea, than Jesus Christ
Himself? Men maybe deceived; but we appeal to the
unerring judgment of wisdom itself, even the wise All-
knowing God, whether "a day in His courts be not
better than a thousand elsewhere"; and whether "it be
not better to be door-keepers there, than to dwell in the
tents of wickedness "" ? Nay, whether the very " re-
proaches of Christ,'"' even the scorns we have from you
for Christ's sake and the GospePs, " be not greater riches
than all the treasures of the world "^ ? If wisdom, then,
may pass the sentence, you see which way the cause will
go; and " Wisdom is justified of all her children.''

Lastly, another rule in reason is this. That good which
containeth all other good in it must needs itself be best.
And where do you think, in reason, that all the streams
of goodness do finally ^mpty themselves? Is it not in
God, from whom by secret springs they first proceed ?
Where else do all the lines of goodness concentre ? Are
not all the sparks contained in this fire; and all the

105528R

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

drops in this ocean ? Surely the time was when there
was nothing besides God ; and then all good was only
in Him. And even now the creature's essence and exist-
ence is secondary, derived, contingent, improper, in com-
parison of His, who is, and was, and is to come ; whose
name alone is called " I AM." What do thine eyes see,
or thine heart conceive desirable, which is not there to
be had ? Sin indeed there is none, but darest thou call
that good ? Worldly delights there are none, for they
are good but for the present necessity, and please but the
brutish senses. Brethren, do you fear losing or parting
with anything you now enjoy.? What, do you fear you
shall want when you come to heaven ; shall you want the
drops, when you have the ocean ; or the light of the
candle when you have the sun ; or the shallow creature,
when you have the perfect Creator ? " Cast thy bread
upon the waters, and after many days thou shalt find
it."" Lay abroad thy tears, thy prayers, pains, boldly
and unweariedly : as God is true, thou dost but set them
to usury, and shalt receive an hundredfold.

Spare not, man, for state, for honour, for labour; if
heaven do not make amends for all, God hath deceived
us; which who dare once imagine.? Cast away friends,
houses, lands, life, if He bid thee ; leap into the sea, as
Peter, if He command thee ; lose thy life, and thou shalt
save it everlastingly ; when those that saved theirs, shall
lose them everlastingly ; venture all, man, upon God's
word and promise ; there is a day of rest coming will
fully pay for all. All the pence and farthings thou
expendest for Him are contained, with infinite advantage,
in the massy gold and jewels of thy crown. When
Alexander had given away his treasure, and they asked
him where it was, he pointed to the poor, and said, " In
scriniis, in my chests.'' And when he went upon a
hopeful expedition, he gave awav his gold ; and when he

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THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT

was asked what he kept for himself, he answers, " Spent
majorum et meUoruin, the hope of greater and better
things." How much more boldly may we lay out all,
and point to heaven, and say, it is "i^i scrmi'hs,^'' in our
everlasting treasure ; and take that hope of greater
and better things, instead of all ! Nay, lose thyself for
God, and renounce thyself, and thou shalt at that day
find thyself again in Him. Give Him thyself, and He
will receive thee upon the same terms as Socrates did
his scholar JEschines, who gave himself to his master
because he had nothing else : *' Accipio, sed ea lege ut te
tihi meliorem reddam quam acccpi ; "^ that He may return
thee to thyself better than He received thee. So then,
this Rest is the good which containeth all other good
in it.

And thus you see, according to the rules of reason, the
transcendent excellency of the saints'" glory in the general.
We shall next mention the particular excellencies.

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CHAPTER VII

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

Yet let us draw a little nearer, and see more immediately
from the pure fountain of the Scriptures what further
excellencies this Rest affordeth. 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 the Lord grant we may put off from our feet the
shoes of unreverence and fleshly conceivings, while we
stand upon this holy ground !

And first, it is a most singular honour and ornament,
in the style 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 and efficacy 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 and beautiful to the
garland, than this blood ? 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, oh, how will it fill our souls
with perpetual ravishments ! To think that, in the

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streams of this blood, we have swam through the violence
of the world, the snares of Satan, the seducements of
flesh, the curse of the law, the wrath of an offended God,
the accusations of a guilty conscience, and the vexing
doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart, and are passed
through all, and are arrived safely at the breast of God !
Now we are stupefied with vile and senseless hearts, that
can hear all the story of this bloody love, and read all
the dolors and sufferings of love ; and hear all His sad
complaints, and all with dulness, and unaffected. He
cries to us, " Behold and see, is it nothing to you, O all
ye that pass by ? Is there any sorrow like unto My
sorrow ? "" and we will scarce hear or regard the dolorous
voice ; nor scarce turn aside to view the wounds of Him
who turned aside and took us up to heal our wounds at
this so dear a rate. But oh, then our perfected souls
will feel as well as hear and, with feeling apprehensions,
flame again 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 obstructions between the
eye and the understanding are taken away, and the
passage opened between the head and the 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 and transcendent
glory, these views will eternally pierce us and warm our
very souls. And those eyes, through which folly and
lust hath so often stole into our hearts, shall now be the
casements to let in the love of our dearest Lord for ever.
Now, though we should, as some do, travel to Jerusalem,
and view the Mount of Olives where He prayed and wept ;
and see that dolorous way by which He bare His cross ;
and enter the temple of the holy grave ; yea, if we should
with Peter have stooped down and seen the place where

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He lay, and beheld His relics ; yet these bolted doors
of sin and flesh would have kept out the feeling of all
that love. But, oh, that is the joy ! 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 that glory. But we shall behold, as it were, the
wounds of love, with eyes and hearts of love for ever.
Suppose (a little to help our apprehensions) that a saint
who hath partaken of the joys of heaven had been trans-
lated from as long an abode in hell and, after the ex-
perience of such a change, should have stood with Mary
and the rest by the Cross of Christ, and have seen the
blood, and heard the groans of his Redeemer ; what
think you, would love have stirred his breast or no ;
would the voice of his dying Lord have melted his heart
or no? Oh, that I were sensible of what I speak ! With
what astonishing apprehensions then will redeemed saints
everlastingly behold their blessed Redeemer.

I will not meddle with their vain, audacious question
who must needs know whether the glorified body of
Christ do yet retain either the wounds or scars. But
this is most certain, that the memory of it will be as
fresh, and the impression of love as deep, and its working
as strong as if His wounds were still in our eyes, and
His complaints still in our ears, and His blood still
streaming afresh. Now His heart is open to us, and
ours shut to Him ; but when His heart shall be open,
and our hearts open, oh, the blessed congress that there
will be then ! What a passionate meeting was there
between our new-risen Lord and the first sinful silly
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

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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 new^ glorified saint and the
glorious Redeemer! But I am here at a loss; my
apprehensions fail me, and fall too short. Only this 1
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 possession.

Neither will the views of the wounds of love renew
our wounds of sorrow. He whose first words after His
resurrection were to a great sinner, " Woman, why
weepest thou ? '" knows how to raise love and joy by all
those views, without raising any cloud of sorrow, or
storm of tears at all. He that made the sacramental
commemoration of His death to be His Church's feast
will sure make the real enjoyment of its blessed purchase
to be marrow and fatness. And if it afforded joy to
hear from His mouth, " This is My body which is given
for you, and this is My blood which was shed for you " ;
what joy will it afford, to hear, "This glory is the fruit
of My body and My blood."" And what a merry feast
will it be " when we shall drink of the fruit of the vine
new with Him in the kingdom of His Father," as the
fruit of His own blood ? David would not drink of the
waters which he longed for, because they were the blood
of those men who jeoparded their lives for them; and
thought them fitter to offer to God than to please him.^
But we shall value these waters more highly, and yet
drink them the more sweetly, because they are the blood
of Christ, not jeoparded only, but shed for us. They
will be the more sweet and dear to us because they were
so bitter and dear to Him. If the buyer be judicious we
estimate things by the price they cost. If anything we

1 John XX. 15, 16. 2 2 Sam. xxiii. 16, 17.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

enjoy were purchased with the life of our dearest friend,
how highly should we value it ! Nay, 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 ?

Methinks England should value the plenty of the
Gospel with their peace and freedom at a higher rate
when they remember what it hath cost ; how much pre-
cious blood, how many of the lives of God's worthies
and our most dear friends, besides all other cost !
Methinks when I am with freedom preaching, or hear-
ing, or living, I see my dying friends before mine eyes
whose blood was shed for this ; and I look the more
respectively ^ on them yet living whose frequent dangers
did procure it. Oh then, when we are rejoicing in
glory, how shall we think of the blood that revived
our souls ! And how shall we look upon Him whose
sufferings did put that joy into our heart ! How care-
fully preserve we those prizes which, with greatest
hazard, we gained from the enemy ! Goliath's sword
must be kept as a trophy, and laid up behind the
ephod ; and in a time of need David says, " There is
none to that." Surely when we do divide the spoil,
and partake of the prize which our Lord so dearly won,
we shall say indeed, " there is none to that." How dear
was Jonathan's love to David, which was testified by
"stripping himself of the robe that was upon him, and
giving it to David, and his garments, even to his sword,
and to his bow, and to his girdle " ; 2 and also by saving
him from his father's wrath ? How dear for ever will
the love of Christ be then to us, who stripped Himself,
as it were, of His majesty and glory, and put our mean
1 [i.e. reverentially.] ^ 2 Sam. xviii. 4.

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

garment of flesh upon Him, that He might put the
robes of His own righteousness and glory upon us ;
and saved us, not from cruel injustice, but from His
Father's deserved wrath? Well then, Christians, as
you use to do in your books, and on your goods, to
write down the price they cost you; so do on your
righteousness, and on your glory ; write down the price :
" The precious blood of Christ."

Yet understand this rightly: not that this highest
glory was in strictest proper sense purchased, so 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, or to give a crown on condition He
may torment men. 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. " Fury
dwelleth not in Him, nor doth He willingly correct the
sons of men, nor take pleasure in the death of him
that dieth.'' But the sufferings of Christ were, primarily
and immediately, to satisfy justice that rec^uired blood,
and to bear what was due to the sinner, and to receive
the blow that should have fallen upon him, and so to
restore him to the life he lost, and the ha])piness he
fell from. But this dignity, which surpasseth the first,
is as it were, from the redundancy of His merit, or a
secondary fruit of His death. The work of His re-
demption 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 His counsel,
and the good pleasure of His own will.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

The second pearl in the saints' diadem is, that it is
free. This seemeth, as Pharaoh's second kine, to devour
the former; and, as the angel to Balaam, to meet it
with a drawn sword of a full opposition. But the seem-
ing discord is but a pleasing diversity composed into
that harmony which constitutes the melody. These two
attributes "purchased'' and "free," are the two chains
of gold which, by their pleasant twisting, do make up
the wreath for the heads of the pillars in the temple of
God.i It was dear to Christ, but free to us. When
Christ was to buy, silver and gold was nothing worth;
prayers and tears could not suffice ; nor anything below
His blood; but when we come to buy, the price is
fallen to just nothing; our buying is but receiving;
we have it freely " without money, and without price."
Nor do the Gospel conditions make it less free; or the
covenant tenor ^ before mentioned contradict any of this.

If the Gospel conditions had been such as are the
Law's, or payment 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
but 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 necessarily require. But if all the condition be
our cordial acceptation, surely we deserve not the name
of purchasers. Thankful accepting of a free acquittance
is no paying of the debt. If life be offered to a con-
demned man, upon condition that he shall not refuse
the offer, I think the favour is nevertheless free. Nay,

1 1 Kings vii. 17. ^ U meant for " tenure."]

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

though the condition were, that he should beg and wait
before he have his pardon, and take him for his lord
who hath thus redeemed him ; all this is no satisfying
of the justice of the law, especially when the condition
is also given as it is by God to all His chosen. Surely
then here is all free. If the Father freely give the Son,
and the Son freely pay the debt; and if God do freely
accept that way of payment, when He might have re-
quired it of the principal ; and if both Father and Son
do 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.? Is not every stone that builds this temple
free-stone ? Oh, the everlasting admiration that must
needs surprise the saints to think of this freeness !

What did the Lord see in me, that He should judge
me meet for such a state, that I, who was but a poor,
diseased, despised wretch, should be clad in the brightness
of this glory ; that I, a silly, creeping, breathing worm,
should be advanced to this high dignity ; that I, who was
but lately groaning, weeping, dying, should now be as
full of joy as my heart can hold, yea, should be taken
from the grave, where I was rotting and stinking, and
from the dust and darkness where I seemed forgotten,
and here set before His throne ; that I should be taken,
with Mordecai, from captivity to be set next unto the
king, and, with Daniel from the den, to be made ruler
of princes and provinces; and, with Saul from seekino-
asses, to be advanced to a kingdom ! Oh, who can fathom
unmeasurable love ! Indeed, if the proud-hearted, self-
ignorant, self-admiring sinners should be thus advanced,
who think none so fit for preferment as themselves,
perhaps, instead of admiring free love, they would with
those unhappy angels be discontented yet with their
estate. But when the self-denying, self-accusing humble

109

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

soul, who thought himself unworthy the ground he trod
on, and the air he breathed in, unworthy to eat, drink,
or Hve, when he shall be taken up into this glory ; he
who durst scarce come among, or speak to the imperfect
saints on earth, because he was unworthy ; he who durst
scarce hear, or scarce read the Scripture, or scarce pray
and call God Father; or scarce receive the sacraments
of His covenant, and all because he was unworthy ; for
this soul to find itself rapt up into heaven, and closed
in the arms of Christ even in a moment: do but think
with yourselves, what the transporting, astonishing ad-
miration of such a soul will be ! He that durst not lift
up his eyes to heaven, but stood afar off smiting on his
breast, and crying, " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner " ;
now to be lift 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 worthiness
were our condition for admittance, we might sit down
with St. John, and weep, "Because none in heaven or
earth is found worthy. 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 runs, " Freely ye have received, freely give."
But Christ hath dearly received, yet freely gives. The
Master heals us of our leprosy freely; but Gehazi, who
had no finger in the cure, will surely run after us, and
take something of us, and falsely pretend, it is his

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

Master's pleasure. The Pope and his servants will be
paid for their pardons and indulgences; but Christ will
take nothing for His. The fees of the prelates' courts
were large, and our commutation of penance must cost
our purses dear, or else we must be cast out of the syna-
gogue, and soul and body delivered up to the devil. But
none are shut out of that Church for want of money, nor
is poverty any eyesore to Christ. An empty heart may
bar them out, but an empty purse cannot. His kingdom
of grace hath ever been more consistent with despised
poverty than wealth and honour ; and riches occasion the
difficulty of entrance far more than want can do. " For
that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination
in the sight of God.'"* And so it is also, " Hath not God
chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of
that kingdom, which He hath promised to them that love
Him."

I know the true labourer is worthy of his hire. And
they that serve at the altar, should live upon the altar.
And it is not fit to muzzle the ox that treadeth out the
corn. And I know it is either hellish malice, or penu-
rious baseness, or ignorance of the weight of their work
and burthen that makes their maintenance so generally
incompetent, and their very livelihood and subsistence so
envied and grudged at ; and that it is a mere plot of the
Prince of Darkness for the diversion of their thouorhts,
that they must be studying how to get bread for their
own and children's mouths when they should be prepar-
ing the bread of life for their people's souls. But yet let
me desire the right-aiming ministers of Christ to consider
what is expedient, as well as what is lawful, and that the
saving of one soul is better than a thousand pound a vear ;
and our gain, though due, is a cursed gain, which is a
stumbling-block to our people's souls. Let us make the
free Gospel as little burthensome and chargeable as is

]11

THE SAINTS' EV^ERLASTING REST

possible. I had rather never take their tithes while I
live, than by them to destroy the souls for whom Christ
died ; and " though God hath ordained, that they which
preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel,"' yet I had
rather suffer all things than hinder the Gospel ; and it
were better for me to die, than that any man should
make this my glorying void.

Though the well leading elders be worthy of double
honour, especially the laborious in the word and doctrine,
yet if the necessity of souls, and the promoting of the
Gospel should require it, I had rather preach the Gospel
in hunger and rags than rigidly contend for what is my
due. And if I should do so, yet have I not whereof to
glory ; " for necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto
me, if I preach not the Gospel," though I never received
anything from men. How unbeseeming the messengers
of this free grace and kingdom is it rather to lose the
hearts and souls of their people than to lose a groat of
their due; and rather to exasperate them against the
message of God than to forbear somewhat of their right ;
and to contend with them at law for the wages of the
Gospel ; and to make the glad tidings to their yet carnal
hearts seem to be sad tidings because of this burthen !
This is not the way of Christ and His apostles, nor ac-
cording to the self-denying, yielding, suffering doctrine
which they taught. Away with all those actions that
are against the main end of our studies and calling, which
is to win souls ; and fie upon that gain which hinders the
gaining of men to Christ. I know flesh will here object
necessities, and distrust will not want arguments ; but we
who have enough to answer to the diffidence of our
people, let us take home some of our answers to ourselves,
and teach ourselves first before we teach them. How
many have you known that God suffered to starve in His
vineyard ?

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

But this is our exceeding consolation, that though we
may pay for our Bibles and books and sermons, and, it
may be, pay for our freedom to enjoy and use them ;
yet as we paid nothing for God's eternal love, and
nothing for the Son of His love, and nothing for His
Spirit, and our grace and faith, and nothing for our
pardon ; so we shall pay nothing for our eternal rest.
We may pay for the bread and wine but we shall not
pay for the Body and Blood, nor for the great things
of the covenant which it seals unto us. And indeed we
have a valuable price to give for those ; but for these we
have none at all.

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 en-
deavouring of our own ruin. Oh, 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 to ! Oh, what pangs
of love will it cause within us to think : " Yonder was
my native right, my deserved portion ; those should have
been my hideous cries, my doleful groans, my easeless
pains, my endless torment; those unquenchable flames I
should have lain in ; that never dying worm should have
fed upon me ; 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. Did not I neglect grace, and make light of the

113 H

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST |

offers of Life, and slight my Redeemer's blood a long |

time, as well as yonder suffering souls? Did I not let j

pass my time, and forget my God and soul, as well as I
they ? And was not I born in sin and wrath, as well as
they? Oh, who made me to differ? Was my heart

naturally any readier for Christ than theirs? Or any |

whit better affected to the Spirit's persuasions ? Should j

I ever have begun to love, if God had not begun to me ? ,
Or ever be willing, if He had not made me willing ? Or

ever differed, if He had not made me to differ? Had I :

not now been in those flames, if I had had mine own way, i

and been let alone to mine own will? Did I not resist [
as powerful means, and lose as fair advantages as they f
And should I not have lingered in Sodom till the flames

had seized on me, if God had not in mercy carried me ]

out?'^ Oh, how free was all this love! And how free ;

is this enjoyed glory ! i . ^. ^i. 4- '

Doubtless this will be our everlasting admiration, that ^
so rich a crown should fit the head of so vile a sinner;

that such high advancement and such long unfruitfulness ,

and unkindness can be the state of the same persons; i

and that such vile rebellions can conclude in such most ■

precious joys. But no thanks to us, nor to any of our ]

duties and labours, much less to our neglects and lazi- |

ness. 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 salva- ;

tion into the mould of "Purchase" and " Freeness," that j

the love and joy of man might be perfected, and the |

honour of grace most highly advanced ; that the thought j

of merit might neither cloud the one nor obstruct the j

other; and that on these two hinges the gates of heaven ]

might turn. So then let " Deserved " be written on the :

door of hell, and on the door of heaven and life, "The ]

Free Gift." I

114

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

III

The third comfortable attribute of this rest is that it
is the saint's proper and peculiar possession. It belongs
to no other of all the sons of men ; not that it would
have detracted from the greatness or freeness of the gift,
if God had so pleased that all the world should have
enjoyed it; but when God hath resolved otherwise, that
it must be enjoyed but by few, to find our names among
that number must needs make us the more to value our
enjoyment. If all Egypt had been light the Israelites
should not have had the less; but yet to enjoy that
light alone, while their neighbours live in thick darkness,
must make them more sensible of their privilege. Dis-
tinguishing, separating mercy affecteth more than any
mercy. If it should rain on our grounds alone, or the
sun shine alone upon our habitations; or the blessing
of heaven divide between our flocks and other men's, as
between Jacob's and Laban's, we should more feelingly
acknowledge mercy than now, while we possess the same
in common. Ordinariness dulleth our sense, and if
miracles were common they would be slighted. If
Pharaoh had passed as safely as Israel, the Red Sea
would have been less remembered. If the firstborn of
Egypt had not been slain, the firstborn of Israel had not
been the Lord's peculiar. If the rest of the world had
not been drowned, and the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah
burned, the saving of Noah had been no wonder, nor
Lot's deliverance so much talked of. The lower the
weighty end of the balance descends, the higher is the
other lifted up ; and the falling of one of the sails of
the windmill is the occasion of the rising of the other.

It would be no extenuation of the mercies of the
saints here, if all the world were as holy as they and

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

the communication of their happiness is their greatest
desire; yet it might perhaps dull their thankfulness;
and differencing grace would not be known. But when
one shall be enlightened, and another left in darkness;
one reformed, and another by his lusts enslaved; it
makes them cry out with the disciples, '' Lord, what is
it, that thou wilt reveal thyself to us, and not unto
the world ? " When the prophet shall be sent to one
widow only of all that were in Samaria, and to cleanse
one Naaman of all the lepers, the mercy is more observ-
able. Oh, that will sure be a day of passionate sense
on both sides, when two shall be in a bed, and two
in the field, the one taken, and the other forsaken.^ . . .

By this time the impenitent world will see a reason for i
the saints' singularity while they were on earth ; and will <
be able to answer their own demands, " Why must you be ,
more holy than your neighbours?"' Even because they ,
would fain be more happy than their neighbours. " And !
why cannot you do as others, and live as the world about
you ? "" Even because they are full loath to speed as
those others, or to be damned with the world about
them. Sincere singularity in holiness is by this time
known to be neither hypocrisy nor folly. If to be sin-
gular in that glory be so desirable, surely to be singular
in godly living is not contemptible. As every one of :
them now knows his own sore and his own grief, so shall
every one of them feel his own joy. And if they can now !
call Christ their own, and call God their own God, how ;
much more then upon their full possession of Him ; for
as He takes His people for His inheritance ; so will He i
Himself be the inheritance of His people for ever. \

;)

1 [About forty lines here omitted.] i

116 ]

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

A fourth comfortable adjunct of this rest is, that it is
the fellowship of the 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
blessed spirits in God ; a corporation of perfected saints
whereof Christ is the Head ; the communion of saints
completed ? Nor doth this make those joys to be there-
fore mediate, derived by creatures to us, as here ; for all
the lines may be drawn from the centre, and not from
each other, and yet their collocation make them more
comely than one alone could be. Though the strings
receive not their sound and sweetness from each other,
yet their concurrence causeth that harmony which could
not be by one alone. For those that have prayed and
fasted and wept and watched and waited together, now
to joy and enjoy and praise together, methinks should
much advance their pleasure. Whatsoever it will be
upon the great change that will be in our natures per-
fected; sure I am, according to the present tempera-
ture of the most sanctified human affections, it would
affect exceedingly ; and he who mentioneth the qualifica-
tions of our happiness, of purpose that our joy may be
full, and maketh so oft mention of our consociation and
conjunction 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 the labour, duty, danger, and distress, so
shall we be in the great recompense and deliverance ; 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

117

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING HEST

of gladness ; and those who have been with us in persecu-
tion and prison shall be with us also in that palace of con-
solation. Can the wilful world say, " If our forefathers and
friends be all in hell, we will venture there too"; and may
not the Christian say on better grounds, *' Seeing my faith-
ful friends are gone before me to heaven, I am much the
more willing to be there too " ? Oh the blessed day, dear
friends, when we that were wont to enquire together, and
hear of heaven, and talk of heaven together, shall then
live in heaven together ; when we who were wont to com-
plain to one another, and open our doubts to one another,
and our fears, whether ever we should come there or no,
shall then rejoice with one another, and triumph over
those doubts and fears ; when we who were wont formerly
in private to meet together for mutual edification shall
now most publicly be conjoined in the same consolation!
Those same disciples who w^ere wont to meet in a private
house " for fear of the Jews," are now met in the celestial
habitation without fear ; and as their fear then did cause
them to shut the door against their enemies, so will God's
justice shut it now.

Oh, when I look in the faces of the precious people of
God and, believing, think of this day, what a refreshing
thought is it ! Shall we not there remember, think you,
the pikes which we passed through here; our fellowship
in duty and in sufferings ; how oft our groans made as it
were one sound, our conjunct tears but one stream, and
our conjunct desires but one prayer? And now all our
praises shall make up one melody ; and all our churches
one church ; and all ourselves 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, in this case, that in our
thoughts we look not for that in the saints which is alone
in Christ, and that we give them not His own prerogative ;
nor expect too great a part of our comfort in the fruition

118

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

of them. We are prone enough to this kind of idolatry.
But yet He who commands us so to love them now, will
give us leave in the same subordination 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 and enjoyment 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 possession ! It cannot choose but be
comfortable to me to think of that day when I shall join
with Moses in his song, with 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. Will it be nothing
conducible to the completing of our comforts to live
eternally with Peter, Paul, Austin, Chrysostom, Jerome,
Wickliife, Luther, Zuinglius, Calvin, Beza, Bullinger,
Sanchius, Paraeus, Piscator, Camero ; with Hooper,
Bradford, Latimer, Glover, Saunders, Philpot ; with
Reignolds, Whitaker, Cartwright, Brightman, Bayne,
Bradshaw, Bolton, Ball, Hildersham, Pemble, Twisse,
Ames, Preston, Sibbs? O '^felicem diem,'''' said holy
Grynaeus, " quum ad illud ammm'um concilmm projiciscar,
et ex hac turha et colluvione dlscedam ! '" 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 pre-
sence of God that maketh heaven to be heaven. But yet
it much sweeteneth the thoughts of that place to me to
rememl)er that there are such a multitude of mv most
dear and precious friends in Christ, " with whom I took

119

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

sweet counsel, and with whom I went up to the house of
God ; who ^valked with me in the fear of God, and in integ-
rity of their hearts " ; in the face of whose conversations
there was written the name of Christ ; whose sweet and
sensible mention of His excellencies hath made my heart
to burn within me. To think of such a friend died at
such a time, and such a one at another time ; such a
precious Christian slain at such a fight, and such a one at
such a fight (Oh what a number of them could I name !),
and that all these are entered into rest, and we shall surely
go to them, but they shall not return to us.

It is a question with some, whether we shall know each
other in heaven or no. Surely there shall no knowledge
cease which now we have, but only that which implieth
our imperfection. And what imperfection can this
imply ? Nay, our present knowledge shall be increased
beyond belief. It shall indeed be done away, but as
the light of candles and stars is done away by the rising
of the sun ; which is more properly a doing away of our
io-norance than of our knowledge. Indeed we shall not
know each other after the flesh; nor by stature, voice,
colour, complexion, visage, or outward shape ; if we had
so known Christ, we should know Him no more ; nor by
parts and gifts of learning, nor titles of honour and
worldly dignity ; nor by terms of affinity and consan-
guinity, nor benefits, nor such relations; nor by youth
or age ; nor, I think, by sex ; but by the image of Christ,
and spiritual relation, and former faithfulness in im-
proving 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. Luther
in his last sickness being asked his judgment, whether
we shall know one another in heaven, answered thus,

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

" Quid accidit Adam ? Nunquam ille viderat Evam^
&€., i.e. How was it with Adam ? He had never seen
Eve : yet he asketh not, who she was, or whence she
came, but saith, " She is flesh of my flesh, and bone of
my bone." And how knew he that? Why, being full
of the Holy Ghost, and indued with the true knowledge
of God, he so pronounced. After the same sort shall we
be renewed by Christ in another life, and we shall know
our parents, wives, children, &c., much more perfectly
than Adam did then know Eve. Yea, and angels as well
as saints will be our blessed acquaintance and sweet
associates. We have every one now our own angels,
there beholding our Father's face.^ And those who now
are willingly ministering spirits for our good, will will-
ingly 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 glorifi-
cation.

I think. Christian, this will be a more honourable
assembly, than you ever here beheld ; and a more happy
society than you were ever of before. Surely Brooke and
Pym and Hampden and White, &c., are now members
of a more knowing, unerring, well-ordered, right-aiming,
self-denying, unanimous, honourable, triumphant Senate
than this from whence they were taken is, or ever Parlia-
ment will be. It is better to be door-keeper to that
Assembly whither Twisse, &c. are translated than to have
continued here the Moderator of this. That is the true
Parliamerdum Beatum^ the blessed Parliament, and that
is the only Church that cannot err. 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

1 Acts xii. 15 ; Matt, xviii. 10; Luke xvi. 22; xv. 10; Heb. i. 14.

2 Ps. cxix. 63.

121

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly
and Church of the firstborn, 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, and to the blood of sprinkling. "" We
are come thither already in respect of title and of
earnest and first fruits ; but we shall then come into
the full possession.

O beloved, if it be a happiness to live with the saints
in their imperfection, when they have sin to embitter,
as well as holiness to sweeten, their society, what will it
be to live with them in their perfection, where saints are
wholly and only saints ! If it be a delight to hear them
pray or preach ; what will it be to hear them praise !
If we thought ourselves in the suburbs of heaven when
we heard them set forth the beauty of our Lord and
speak of the excellences of the Kingdom, what a day will
it be when we shall join with them in praises to our Lord
in, and for, that kingdom ! Now we have corruption
and they have corruption, and we are apter to set awork
each other's corruption than our graces ; and so lose the
benefit of their company while we do enjoy it, because
we know not how to make use of a saint ; but then it
will not be so. Now we spend many an hour which
might be profitable, in a dull silent looking on each
other, or else in vain and common conference; but then
it will not be so. Now the best do know but in part,
and therefore can instruct and help us but in part ; but
then we shall with them make up one perfect man. 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."

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

Another excellent property of our rest will be, that the
joys of it are immediately from God. Nor doth this
contradict the former, as I have before made plain.
Whether Christ (who is God as well as man) shall be
the conveyer of all from the Divine nature to us; and
whether the giving up the kingdom to the Father do
imply the ceasing of the Mediator's office; and, conse-
quently, the laying aside of the human nature (though I
believe the negative in these last), yet are questions which
I will not now attempt to handle. But this is sure, 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. It seems by Rom. viii. 21, that
the creature shall have a day of deliverance, and that into
the glorious liberty of the sons of God ; but whether this
before, or at the great and full deliverance, or whether to
endure to eternity, or to what particular employment they
shall be continued, are questions yet too hard for me.
When God speaks them plainer, and mine understanding
is made clearer, then I may know these. But it is certain
that, at least, our most and great joys will be immediate,
if not all. Now we have nothing at all immediately, but
at the second, or third, or fourth, or fifth hand, or how
many, who knows ? From the earth, from man, from sun
and moon, from the influence of the planets, from the
ministration of angels, and from the Spirit, and Christ ;
and doubtless, the farther the stream runs from the
fountain the more impure it is. It gathers some defile-
ment from every unclean channel it passeth through.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Though it savours not in the hand of angels of the im-
perfection 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.
Oh, 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 fall as water upon
a stone ! And how easily can our hearers sleep out a
sermon-time, and much because these words of life do
die in the delivery, and the fruit of our conception is
almost still-born ! Our people's spirits remain congealed
while we who are intrusted with the word that should
melt them do suffer it to freeze between our lips. We
speak indeed of soul-concerning truths, and set before
them life and death, but it is, with such self-seeking
affectation, and in such a lazy, formal, customary strain,
like the pace the Spaniard rides, that the people little
think we are in good sadness, or that our hearts do
mean as our tongues do speak. I have heard of some
tongues that can lick a coal of fire till it be cold. I fear
these tongues are in most of our mouths, and that the
breath that is given us to blow up this fire, till it flame
in our people's souls, is rather used to blow it out. Such
preaching is it that hath brought the most to hear sermons
as they say their creed and paternosters, even as a few
good words of course. How many a cold and mean
sermon that yet contains most precious truths ! The
things of God which we handle, are divine; but our
manner of handling too human ; and there is little or
none that ever we touch but we leave the print of our
fingers behind us; but if God should speak this word
Himself, it would be a piercing, melting word indeed.
How full of comfort are the Gospel promises ; yet do

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

we oft SO heartlessly declare them that the broken,
bleeding-hearted saints are much deprived of their joys.
Christ is indeed a precious pearl, but oft held forth in
leprous hands. And thus do we disgrace the riches of
the Gospel, when it is the work of our calling to make
i+ honourable in the eyes of men ; and we dim the glory
of that jewel by our dull and low expressions and dung-
hill conversations, whose lustre we do pretend to discover,
while the hearers judge of it by our expressions, and
not its proper genuine worth. The truth is, the best of
men do apprehend but little of what God in His Word
expresseth, and what they do apprehend they are unable
to utter. Human language is not so copious as the
heart"'s conceivings are ; and what we possibly might
declare, yet through our own unbeliefs, stupidity, laziness,
and other corruptions we usually fail in ; and what we
do declare, yet the darkness of our people's understand-
ings, and the sad senselessness of their hearts, doth
usually shut out and make void.

So that as all the works of God are perfect in their
season, as He is perfect; so are all the works of man,
as himself, imperfect; and those which God performeth
by the hand of man, will too much savour of the
instrument. 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, through sacraments, through read-
ing, and company, and conference, and creatures, are
but half- com forts ; and the life that comes by these,
is but a half-life, in comparison to those which the
Almighty shall speak with His own mouth, and reach
forth to us 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

125

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

directly from the Spirit. That is one reason, as I
conceive, why Christians who are much in secret prayer,
and in meditation and contemplation, rather than they
who are more in hearing, reading, and conference, are
men of greatest life and joy; because they are nearer
the Well-head, and have all more immediately from God
Himself. And that I conceive the reason also, why we
are more indisposed to those secret duties, and can
easilier bring our hearts to hear and read and confer,
than to secret prayer, self-examination, and meditation ;
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 and fruitful 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 so to live above
ordinances as to live without them is to live without
the compass of the Gospel lines, and so without the
government of Christ. Let such beware lest while they
would be higher than Christians they prove in the end
lower than men.

We are not yet come to the time and state where we
shall have all from God's immediate hand. As God hath
made all creatures and instituted all ordinances for us,
so will He continue our need of all. We must yet
be contented with love-tokens from Him till w^e come
to receive our all in Him. We must be thankful if
Joseph sustain our lives by relieving us in our famine
with his provisions till we come to see his own face.
There is joy in these remote receivings, but the fulness
is in His own presence. O Christians, you will then
know the difference betwixt the creature and the Creator,
and the content that each of them affords. We shall
then have light without a candle ; and a perpetual day
without the sun : " For the city hath no need of the sun,

126

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of
God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
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 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. Then shall we have
joy which we drew not from the promises, nor was
fetched us home by faith or hope. Beholding and
possessing will exclude the most of these. 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. To have
necessities but no supply, is the case of them in hell ;
to have necessity supplied by the means of creatures,
is the case of us on earth ; to have necessity supplied
immediately from God, is the case of the saints in
heaven ; to have no necessity at all, is the prerogative
of God Himself. The more of God is seen and received
with and by the means and creature here, the nearer
is our state like that in glory.

In a word, we have now our mercies, as Benjamin had
127

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING EEST

Joseph's cup; we find them at a distance from God, and
scarcely know from whence they come, and understand
not the goodwill intended in them, but are oft ready
to fear they come in wrath, and think they will but
work our ruin. But when we shall feed at Joseph's own
house, yea, receive our portion from his own hand ; when
he shall fully unbowel his love unto us, and take us to
dwell in Goshen by him; when we shall live in our
Father's House and presence, and God shall be all, and
in all ; then we are indeed at home in rest.

Again, a further excellence is this, it will be unto us a
seasonable rest. He that expecteth the fruit of His
vineyard in season, and maketh His people as trees,
planted by the waters, fruitful in their season, He will
also give them the crown in season. He that will have
the words of joy spoken to the weary in season, will sure
cause that time of joy to appear in the meetest season.
And they who knew the season of grace, and did repent
and believe in season, shall also, if they faint not, reap in
season. If God will not miss the season of common
mercies, even to His enemies, but will give both the
former and latter rain in their season, and the appointed
weeks of the harvest in its season, and by an inviolable
covenant hath established day and night in their seasons ;
then sure the harvest of the saints, and their day of
gladness shall not miss its season. Doubtless He that
would not stay a day longer than His promise, but
brought Israel out of Egypt that self-same day that the
four hundred and thirty years were expired ; neither will
He fail of one day or hour of the fittest season for His
people's glory.

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

And as Christ failed not to come in the fulness of
time, even then when Daniel and others had foretold His
coming; so in the fulness and fitness of time will His
seaond coming be. He that hath given the stork, the
crane, the swallow, to know their appointed time, will
surely keep His time appointed. When we have had in
this world a long night of sad darkness, will not the day
breaking, and the arising of the Sun of Righteousness be
then seasonable ? When we have endured a hard winter
in this cold climate, will not the reviving spring be then
seasonable ? When we have, as Paul, sailed slowly many
days, and much time spent, and sailing now grown more
dangerous ; and when neither sun nor stars in many days
appear, and no small tempest lieth on us, and all hope
that we shall be saved is almost taken away; do you
think the haven of rest is not then seasonable ? When
we have passed a long and tedious journey, and that
through no small dangers, is not home then seasonable ?
When we have had a long and perilous war, and have
lived in the midst of furious enemies, and have been
forced to stand on a perpetual watch, and received from
them many a wound ; would not a peace with victory be
now seasonable ? When we have been captivated in
many years' imprisonment, and insulted over by scorn-
ful foes, and suffered many pinching wants, and hardly
enjoyed bare necessaries, would not a full deliverance to
a most plentiful state, even from this prison to a throne,
be now seasonable ?

Surelv a man would think, who looks upon the face of
the world, that rest should to all men seem seasonable.
Some of us are languishing under continual weakness,
and groaning under most grievous pains, crying in the
morning, " would God it were evening," and in the
evening, " would God it were morning'"; weary of going,
weary of sitting, weary of standing, weary of lying,

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING KEST

weary of eating, of speaking, of waking, weary of our
very friends, weary of ourselves: Oh, how oft hath
this been mine own case ; and is not rest yet season-
able ? Some are complaining under the pressure of the
times; weary of their taxes, weary of their quartering,
weary of plunderings, weary of their fears and dangers,
weary of their poverty and wants, and is not rest yet
seasonable ?

Whither can you go ; or into what company can you
come, where the voice of complaining doth not show that
men live in a continual weariness, but especially the
saints, who are most weary of that which the world
cannot feel? What godly society almost can you fall
into, but you shall hear by their moans that somewhat
aileth them? Some, weary of a blind mind, doubting
concerning the way they walk in, unsettled in almost all
their thoughts ; some, weary of a hard heart, some of a
proud, some of a passionate, and some of all these and
much more ; some weary of their daily doubtings and
fears concerning their spiritual estate ; and some of the
want of spiritual joys, and some of the sense of God's
wrath ; and is not rest now seasonable ? When a poor
Christian hath desired, and prayed, and waited for de-
liverance many a year, is it not then seasonable ? When
he is ready almost to give up, and saith, ' I am afraid I
shall not reach the end, and that my faith and patience
will scarce hold out'; is not this a fit season for rest?
If it were to Joseph a seasonable message which called
him from the prison to Pharaoh's court ; or if the return
of his Benjamin, the tidings that Joseph was yet alive,
and the sight of the chariots which should convey him
to Egypt, were seasonable for the reviving of Jacob's
spirits; then methinks, the message for a release from
the flesh, and our convoy to Christ, should be a season-
able and welcome message. If the voice of the king were

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seasonable to Daniel, early in the morning, calling him
from his den that he might advance him to more than
former dignity ; then methinks that morning voice of
Christ our King, calling us from our terrors among lions
to possess His rest among His saints, should be to us a
very seasonable voice. Will not Canaan be seasonable
after so many years' travel, and that through a hazardous
and grievous wilderness ?

Indeed to the world it is never in season ; they are
already at their own home, and have what they most
desire; they are not weary of their present state; the
saints' sorrow is their joy, and the saints' weariness is
their rest ; their weary day is coming, where there is no
more expectation of rest; but for the thirsty soul to
enjoy the fountain, and the hungry to be filled with the
bread of life, and the naked to be clothed from above ;
for the children to come to their Father's house, and the
disjoined members to be conjoined with their Head ;
methinks this should be seldom unseasonable. When the
atheistical world began to insult, and question the truth
of Scripture promises, and ask us, " Where is now your
God? Where is your long looked for glory? Where
is the promise of your Lord's coming ? " Oh, how season-
able then, to convince these unbelievers, to silence these
scoffers, to comfort the dejected waiting believer, will the
appearing of our Lord be! We are oft grudging now
that we have not a greater share of comforts, that our
deliverances are not more speedy and eminent, that the
world prospers more than we, that our prayers are not
presently answered ; not considering that our portion is
kept to a fitter season ; that these are not always winter
fi-uits, but when summer comes we shall have our harvest.
We grudge that we do not find a Canaan in the wilder-
ness, or cities of rest in Noah's ark, and the songs of
Zion in a strange land ; that we have not a harbour in

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the main ocean, or find not our home in the middle way,
and are not crowned in the midst of the fight, and have
not our rest in the heat of the day, and have not our
inheritance before we are at age, and have not heaven
before we leave the earth ; and would not all this be very
unseasonable ?

I confess in regard of the Church''s service, the re-
moving of the saints may sometimes appear to us un-
seasonable ; therefore doth God use it as a judgment, and
therefore the Church had ever prayed hard before they
would part with them, and greatly laid to heart their
loss; therefore are the great mournings at the saints'*
departures, and the sad hearts that accompany them to
their graves ; but this is not especially for the departed
but for themselves and their children, as Christ bid the
weeping women ; therefore also it is, that the saints in
danger of death, have oft begged for their lives, with
that argument ; " What profit is there in my blood,
when I go down to the pit? " " Wilt shou shew wonders
to the dead ? Shall the dead arise and praise thee ?
Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave ; or
thy faithfulness in destruction ? Shall thy wonders be
known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of
forgetfulness ? " " For in death there is no remembrance
of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks ? "*' And
this was it that brought Paul to a strait, because he knew
it was better for the Church that he should remain here.

I must confess, it is one of my saddest thoughts to
reckon up the useful instruments whom God hath lately
called out of His vineyard, when the loiterers are many,
and the harvest great, and very many congregations deso-
late, and the people as sheep without shepherds ; and
yet the labourers called from their work, especially when
a door of liberty and opportunity is open. We cannot
but lament so sore a judgment, and think the removal

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

in regard of the Church unseasonable. I know I speak
but your own thoughts ; and you are too ready to over-
run me in application.^ I fear you are too sensible of
what I speak, and therefore am loth to stir you in your
sore. I perceive you in the posture of the Ephesian
elders, and had rather abate the violence of your
passions; our applications are quicker about our suffer-
ings, than our sins ; and we will quicklier say, this loss
is mine, than, this fault is mine. But oh, consider, my
dear friends, hath God any need of such a worm as I ?
Cannot He a thousand ways supply your wants ? You
know when your case was worse, and yet He provided ;
hath He work to do, and will He not find instruments.?^
And though you see not for the present where they
should be had, they are never the further off for that.
Where was the world before the creation; and where
was the promised seed when Isaac lay on the altar; where
was the land of promise when Israel's burden was in-
creased ; or when all the old stock save only two were
consumed in the wilderness ? Where was David's king-
dom when he was hunted in the wilderness .^^ Or the
glory of Chrisfs kingdom when He was in the grave ; or
Avhen He first sent His twelve apostles ? How suddenly
did the number of labourers increase immediately upon
the reformation by Luther, and how soon were the
rooms of those filled up, whom the rage of the papists
had sacrificed in the flames ! Have you not lately seen
so many difficulties overcome, and so many improbable
works accomplished, that might silence unbelief, one
would think, for ever.^

But if all this do not quiet you (for sorrow and dis-
content are unruly passions), yet at least remember this :

^ These words were written by the author to his friends and con-
gregation, who could then discern no probability of his much longer
surviving.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST !

Suppose the worst you fear should happen, yet shall it
be well with all the saints ; your own turns will shortly ;
come; and we shall all be housed with Christ together
where you will want your ministers and friends no more.
And for the poor world which is left behind, whose un-
regenerate state causeth your grief; why consider, shall \
man pretend to be more merciful than God ? Hath not '
He more interest than we, both in the Church and in the \
world, and more bowels of compassion to commiserate
their distress ? There is a season for judgment as well \
as for mercy ; and if He will have the most of men to \
perish for their sins, and to suffer the eternal tormenting |
flames, must we question His goodness, or manifest our i
dislike of the severity of His judgment ? I confess we
cannot but bleed over our desolate congregations; and ]
that it ill beseems us to make light of God's indignation ; '
but yet we should, as Aaron when his sons were slain, ,
hold our peace and be silent, because it is the Lord's
doing; and say, as David, "If I" (and His people)
•' shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring
me again, and shew me them, and His habitations ; but '
if He thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, \
here am I, let Him do with me as seemeth good unto |
Him." I

I conclude, then, that whatsoever it is to those that i
are left behind, yet the saints' departure to themselves is
usually seasonable. I say usually, because I know that a ;
very saint may have a death, in some respect unseason- j
able, though it do translate him into this rest. He may I
die in judgment, as good Josiah ; he may die for his sin.
For the abuse of the sacrament many were weak and
sickly, and many fallen asleep, even of those who were |
thus judged and chastened by God, that they might not
be condemned with the world. He may die by the hand
of public j'ustice ; or die in a way of public scandal ; he

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

may die in a weak degree of grace, and consequently
have less degree of glory. He may die in smaller im-
provements of his talents, and so be ruler but of few
cities. The best wheat may be cut down before it is
ripe ; therefore it is promised to the righteous as a
blessing, that they shall be brought as a shock of corn
into the barn in season. Nay, it is possible he may die
by his own hands; though some divines think such
doctrine not fit to be taught lest it encourage the
tempted to commit the same sin ; but God hath left
preservatives enough against sin, without our devising
more of our own ; neither hath He need of our lie to His
glory. He hath fixed that principle so deep in nature,
that all should endeavour their own preservation, that I
never knew any whose understanding was not crazed or
lost, much subject to that sin ; even most of the melan-
choly are more fearful to die than other men. And this
terror is preservative enough of that kind ; that such
committing of a heinous known sin is a sad sign, where
there is the free use of reason ; that therefore they make
their salvation more questionable; that they die most
woful scandals to the Church ; that however the sin itself
should make the godly to abhor it, were there no such
danger or scandal attending it, &c. But to exclude
from salvation all those }:)oor creatures who in fevers,
frenzies, madness, melancholy, &c., shall commit this sin,
is a way of prevention, which Scripture teacheth not, and
too uncomfortable to the friends of the deceased. The
common argument which they urge, drawn from the
necessity of a particular repentance for every particular
known sin," as it is not universally true, so were it
granted, it would exclude from salvation all men
breathing, for there was never any man (save Christ)
who died not in some particular sin, either of commis-
sion or omission, great or small, which he hath no more

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING IlEST

time to repent of, than the sinner in question ; but yet,
this may well be called untimely death.

But in the ordinary course of God's dealings you may
easily observe that He purposely maketh His people's
last hour in this life to be of all other to the flesh most
bitter, and to the spirit most sweet ; and that they who
feared death through the most of their lives, yet at last
are more willing of it than ever, and all to make their
rest more seasonable. Bread and drink are always good ;
but at such a time as Samaria's siege, to have plenty of
food, instead of doves' dung, in one night's space ; or in
such a thirst, as Ishmael's or Samson's, to have supply of
water by miracle in a moment, these are seasonable. So
this rest is always good to the saints, and usually also is
most seasonable rest.

VII

A further excellence of this rest is this ; as it will be
seasonable, so a suitable rest ; suited, to the natures ; to
the desires ; to the necessities of the saints.

1. To their natures. If suitableness concur not with
excellence the best things may be bad to us ; for it is that
which make^ things good in themselves, to be good to us.
In our choice of friends we oft pass by the more excellent
to choose the more suitable. Every good agrees not
with every nature. To live in a free and open air, under
the warming rays of the sun, is excellent to man, because
suitable ; but the fish, which is of another nature, doth
rather choose another element ; and that which is to us
so excellent, would quickly be to it destructive. The
choicest dainties which we feed upon ourselves would be
to our beasts, as an unpleasing, so an insufficient sus-
tenance. The iron which the ostrich well digests would
be but hard food for man. Even among men, contrary

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

appetites delight in contrary objects. You know the
proverb, " One man's meat is another man's poison."
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
his own Divine original, doth ever mount the soul aloft,
and tend to the place from whence it comes. It worketh
towards its own centre, and makes us restless till there
we rest.

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. These might be a portion for
lower spirits, and fit those whose nature thev suit with ;
but so they cannot a saint-like nature. As God will
have from them a spiritual worship, suitable to His own
spiritual Being, so will He provide them a spiritual rest,
suitable to His people's spiritual nature. As spirits have
not fleshly substances, so neither delight they in fleshly
pleasures ; these are too gross and vile for them. When
carnal persons think of heaven their conceivings of it are
also carnal, and their notions answerable to their own
natures. And were it possible for such to enjoy it, it
would sure be their trouble and not their rest, because
«o contrary to their dispositions. A heaven of good
fellowship, of wine and wantonness, of gluttony and all
voluptuousness would far better please them, as being
most agreeing to their natures. But a heaven of the
knowledge of God and His Christ, a delightful com-
placency in that mutual love, an everlasting rejoicing in
the fruition of our God, a perpetual singing of His
high praises; this is a heaven for a saint, a spiritual
rest suitable to a spiritual nature.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Then, dear friends, 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 ocean ? We have a little air let in to us
to afford us breathing ; but what is that to the sweet and
fresh gales upon Mount Zion ? 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 re-
vived by its heat for ever. Oh, blessed be that hand which
fetched a coal, and kindled a fire in our dead hearts from
that same altar where we must offer our sacrifice ever-
lastingly. To be locked up in gold and in pearl would
be but a wealthy starving; to have onr tables with plate
and ornaments richly furnished without meat, is but to
be richly famished ; to be lifted up with human applause
is but a very airy felicity ; to be advanced to the sove-
reignty of all the earth, would be but to wear a crown
of thorns; to be filled with the knowledge of arts and
sciences would be but to further the conviction of our
unhappiness; but to have a nature like God, His very
imao-e, holy as He is holy, and to have God Himself to be
our happiness, how well do these agree ! Whether that
in 2 Peter i. 4, be meant, as is commonly understood,
of our own inherent renewed nature, figuratively called
divine, or rather of Christ's divine nature without us,
properly so called, whereof we are also relatively made
partakers, I know not, but certainly were not our own in
some sort divine, the enjoyment of the true divine nature
could not be to us a suitable rest.

2. It is suitable also to the desires of the saints ; for
such as their nature, such be their desires, and such as
their desires, such will be their rest. Indeed, we have
now a mixed nature, and from contrary principles do
arise contrary desires; as they are flesh, they have de-
sires of flesh ; and as they are sinful, so they have sinful

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

desires. Perhaps they could be too willing, whilst these
are stirring, to have delights, and riches, and honour, and
sin itself. But these are not prevailing desires, nor such
as in their deliberate choice they will stand to ; therefore
is it not they, but sin and flesh. These are not the
desires that this rest is suited to, for they will not
accompany them to their rest. To provide contents to
satisfy these were to provide food for them that are dead,
" for they that are in Christ, have crucified the flesh, with
the affections and lusts thereof." But it is the desires of
our renewed natures, and those which the Christian will
ordinarily own, which this rest is suited to. Whilst our
desires remain corrupted and misguided, it is a far greater
mercy to deny them, yea, to destroy them, than to satisfy
them ; but those which are spiritual are of His own
planting, and He will surely water them and give the
increase. Is it so great a work to raise them in us ; and
shall they after all this vanish and fail ? To send the
Word and Spirit, mercies and judgments, to raise the
sinner's desires from the creature to God, and then to
sufl'er them, so raised, all to perish without success; this
were to multiply the creature'^s misery ; and then were
the work of sanctiflcation a designed preparative to our
torment and tantalising, but no way conducible to our
happy rest. He quickened our hungering 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
longest 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. Oh, what
wouldst thou not give for assurance of His love ? Why,
there thou shalt have assurance beyond suspicion. Nay,
thy desires cannot now extend to the height of what thou

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

shalt there obtain. Was it not an high favour of God
to Solomon to promise to give him " whatsoever he would
ask "" ? Why every Christian hath such a promise. Desire
what thou canst, and ask what thou wilt as a Christian,
and it shall be given thee ; not only to half of the kingdom,
but to the enjoyment both of kingdom and King. This
is a life of desire and prayer ; but that is a life of satis-
faction and enjoyment. Oh, therefore, that we were but
so wise as to limit those which we know should not be
satisfied ; and those which we know not whether or no
they Avill be satisfied ; and especially those which we know
should not be satisfied, and to keep up continually in heart
and life those desires which we are sure shall have full
satisfaction. And oh, that sinners would also consider,
that seeing God will not give them a felicity suitable to
their sensual desires, it is therefore their wisdom to en-
deavour for desires suitable to the true felicity ; and to
direct their ship to the right harbour, seeing they cannot
bring the harbour to their ship.

3. This rest is very suitable to the saints'* necessities
also, as well as to their natures and desires. It contains
whatsoever they truly wanted ; not supplying them with
the gross created comforts, which now they are forced to
make use of, which like SauPs armour on David, are
more burden than benefit. But they shall there have
the benefit without the burden ; and the pure spirits ex-
tracted (as it were) shall make up their cordial, without
the mixture of any drossy or earthly substance. It was
Christ and perfected holiness which they most needed,
and with these shall they here be principally supplied.
Their other necessities are far better removed than sup-
plied in the present carnal way. It is better to have no
need of meat and drink and clothing and creatures than
to have both the need and the creature continued. Their
plaster will be fitted to the quality of the sore. The

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

rain which Elias" prayer procured was not more seasonable
after the three years' drought than this rest will be to
this thirsty soul. It will be with us as with the diseased
man, who had lain at the waters and continued diseased
thirty-eight years, when Christ did fully cure him in a
moment ; or with the woman, who having had the issue
of blood, and spent all she had upon ph3'sicians, and
suffered the space of twelve years, was healed by one
touch of Christ. So when we have lain at ordinances and
duties and creatures all our lifetime, and spent all, and
suffered much, we shall have all done by Christ in a
moment. But we shall see more of this under the next
head.

VIII

Another excellency 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. As there
is no mixture of our corruption with our graces, so no
mixture of sufferings with our solace. There is none of
those waves in that harbour which now so toss us up and
down ; we are now sometimes at the gates of heaven, and
presently almost as low as hell ; we wonder at those changes
of providence towards us, being scarcely two days together
in a like condition. To-day we are well, and conclude
the bitterness of death is past ; to-morrow sick, and con-
clude we shall shortly perish by our distempers ; to-day
in esteem, to-morrow in disgrace ; to-day we have friends,
to-morrow none ; to-day in gladness, to-morrow in sad-
ness ; nay, we have wine and vinegar in the same cup, and
our pleasantest food hath a taste of the gall. If revela-
tions should raise us to the third heaven the messengrer of
Satan must presently buffet us, and the prick in the flesh

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

will fetch us down. But there is none of this unconstancy,
nor mixtures in heaven. If perfect love cast out fear then
perfect joy must needs cast out sorrow ; and perfect happi-
ness exclude all the relics of misery. There will be an
universal perfecting of all our parts and powers, and an
universal removal of all our evils. And though the positive
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 that
we shall there rest from. In general, it is from all evil ;
particularly, first, from the evil of sin ; secondly, and of
suffering.

It excludeth nothing more directly than sin, whether
original and of nature ; or actual and of conversation ;
for there entereth nothing that defile th nor that worketh
abomination nor that maketh a lie. When they are there,
the saints are saints indeed. He that will wash them
with His heart-blood rather than suffer them to enter un-
clean will now perfectly see to that ; He who hath under-
taken to present them to His Father, " not having spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, but perfectly holy and with-
out blemish," will now most certainly perform His under-
taking. What need Christ at all to have died, if heaven
could have contained imperfect souls ? " For to this end
came He into the world, that He might put away the
works of the devil."' His blood and spirit have not done
all this to leave us, after all, defiled. ''For what com-
munion hath light with darkness.^ And what fellowship
hath Christ with Belial ? " He that hath prepared for
sin the torments 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

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to thee, who hast prayed and watched and laboured
against it so long? I know, if it were offered to thy
choice, thou wouldst rather choose to be freed from sin
tlian to be made heir of all the world. Why, wait till
then and thou shalt have thy desire; that hard heart,
those vile thoughts, which did lie down and rise with thee,
which did accompany thee to every duty, which thou
couldst no more leave behind thee than leave thyself
behind thee, shall be now left behind for ever. They might
accompany thee to death but they cainiot proceed a step
further. Thy understanding shall never more be troubled
with darkness, ignorance and error are inconsistent with
this light. Now thou walkest like a man in the twilight,
ever afraid of being out of the way ; thou seest so many
religions in the world that thou fearest thy one cannot be
only the right among all these ; thou seest the Scripture
so exceeding difficult, and every one pleading for his own
cause and bringing such specious arguments for so con-
trary opinions that it entangleth thee in a labyrinth of
perplexities ; thou scest so many godly men on this side,
and so many on that, and each zealous for his own way,
that thou art amazed, not knowing which way to take.
And thus do doub tings and fears accompany darkness,
and we are ready to stumble at everything in our way.
But then will all this darkness be dispelled, and our blind
understandings fully opened, and we shall have no more
doubts of our way. We shall know which was the right
side and which the wrong ; which was the truth and which
the error.

Oh, what would we give to know clearly all the pro-
found mysteries in the doctrine of decree, of redemption,
of justification, of the nature of grace, of the covenants,
of the Divine attributes, &c. ! What would we not give
to see all dark scriptures made plain, to see all seeming
contradictions reconciled ! Why, when glory hath taken

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THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST

the veil from our eyes all this will be known in a
moment; we shall then see clearly into all the contro-
versies about doctrine or discipline that nov/ perplex us.
The poorest Christian is presently there a more per-
fect 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 ; that it is cast as
a just reproach upon us that we possess our religion
with reserves, and resolvedly settle upon almost nothing;
that we are to-day of one opinion, and within this week,
or month, or year, of another; and yet alas, we cannot
help it. The reproach may fall upon all mankind as
long as we have need of daily growth. Would they
have us believe before we understand .^ Or say, " we
believe,"' when indeed we do not ? Shall we profess our-
selves resolved before we ever thoroughly studied ? Or
say, " we are certain,''"' when we are conscious that we
are not ?

But when once our ignorance is perfectly healed then
shall we be settled, resolved men ; then shall our re-
proach be taken from us, and we shall never change
our judgments more ; then shall we be clear and certain
in all, and cease to be sceptics any more. Our ignorance
now doth lead us into error, to the grief of our more
knowing brethren, to the disturbing of the Church's
quiet, and interrupting her desirable harmonious con-
sent ; to the scandalising of others, and weakening our-
selves. How many an humble faithful soul is seduced
into error, and little knows it ! Loth they are to err,
God knows, and therefore read and pray and confer,
and yet err still, and [are] confirmed in it more and more.
And in lesser and more difficult points how should it
be otherwise ? He that is acquainted amongst men, and
knows the quality of professors in England, must needs
know the generality of them are no great scholars, nor

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

have much read or studied controversies, nor are men
of profoundest natural parts ; nor have the ministers of
England much preached controversies to them, but were
glad if their hearers were brought to Christ, and got so
much knowledge as might help to salvation, as knowing
that to be their great work.

And 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 incapable of knowing at all, when the greatest
divines of clearest judgment acknowledge so much diffi-
culty that they could almost find in their hearts some-
times to profess them quite beyond their reach ? Except
we will allow them to lay aside their Divine faith, and
take up a human, and see with other men's eyes the
weight and weakness of arguments, and not with their
own, it cannot be thought that the most of Christians,
no, nor the most divines, should be free from erring in
those difficult points where we know they have not
headpieces able to reach. Indeed, if it were the way
of the Spirit to teach us miraculously, as the apostles
were taught the knowledge of tongues, without the inter-
vening use of reason ; or if the Spirit infused the acts of
knowledge as He doth the immediate knowing power,
then he that had most of the Spirit, would not only
know best, but also know most; but we have enough
to convince us of the contrary to this.

But oh, that happy approaching day, when error shall
vanish away for ever; when our understanding shall be
filled with God Himself whose light will leave no dark-
ness in us; His face shall be the scripture where we
shall read the truth; and Himself instead of teachers
and counsels to perfect our understandings, and acquaint
us with Himself who is the perfect truth. No more
error, no more scandal to others, no more disquiet to

145 K

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

our own spirits, no more mistaking zeal for falsehood,
because our understandings have no more sin. Many
a godly man hath here in his mistaken zeal been a
means to deceive and pervert his brethren, and when he
sees his own error cannot ao-ain tell how to undeceive

them. But there we shall all conspire in one truth, as
being one in Him who is that truth.

And as we shall rest from all the sin of our under-
standings, so of our wills, affection, and conversation.
We shall no more retain this rebelling principle which
is still withdrawing us from God, and addicting us to
backsliding; doubtless we shall no more be oppressed i
with the power of our corruptions, nor vexed with their ■
presence ; no pride, passion, slothfulness, senselessness j
shall enter with us; no strangeness to God and the \
things of God, no coldness of affections, nor imperfec- i
tion in our love, no uneven walking, nor grieving of the !
Spirit, no scandalous action or unholy conversation; we j
shall rest from all these for ever.

Then shall our understandings receive their light from 5
the face of God, as the full moon from the open sun, i
where there is no eartK to interpose betwixt them ; i
then shall our wills correspond to the Divine will, as '
face answers to face in a glass; and the same His will i
shall be our law and rule from which we shall never ;
swerve again. Now our corruptions, as the Anakims,
dismay us ; and, as the Canaanites in Israel, they are ''
left for pricks in our sides, and thorns in our eyes ; and j
as the bondwoman and her son in Abraham's house, they '
do but abuse us, and make our lives a burthen to us ; but
then shall the bondwoman and her son be cast out, and
shall not be heirs with us in our rest. As Moses said i
to Israel, " Ye shall not do after all the things that \
we do here this day, every one whatsoever is right in his i
own eyes; for ye are not as vet come to the rest and i

146" i

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you."'
I conclude therefore with the words next to my text,
"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God from His.""* So that
there is a perfect rest from sin.

It is also a perfect rest from suffering. When the
cause is gone the effect ceaseth. Our sufferings were
but the consequence of our sinning ; and here they both
shall cease together. I will show pai'ticularly ten kinds
of suffering, which we shall there rest from.

We shall rest from all our perplexing doubts and
fears. It shall no more be said that doubts are like
the thistle, a bad weed but growing in good ground;
they shall now be weeded out, and trouble the gracious
soul no more. No more need of so many sermons,
books, and marks, and signs to resolve the poor doubting
soul ; the full fruition of love itself hath now resolved
his doubts for ever. We shall hear that kind of lan-
guage no more, "What shall I do to know my state.?
how shall I know that God is my Father.? that my
heart is upright ? that conversion is true ? that faith is
sincere ? Oh, I am afraid my sins are unpardoned.
Oh, I fear that all is but in hypocrisy; I fear that
God will reject me from His presence; I doubt He
doth not hear my prayers; how can He accept so vile
a wretch; so hard-hearted, unkind a sinner; such an
undervaluer of Christ as I am ? "

All this kind of language is there turned into an-
other tune, even into the praises of Him who hath
forgiven, who hath converted, who hath accepted, yea,
who hath glorified a wretch so unworthy ; so that it

147

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

will now be as impossible to doubt and fear as to doubt
of the food which is in our bellies, or to fear it is night
when we see the sun shining. If Thomas could doubt
with his finger in the wounds of Christ, yet in heaven
I am sure he cannot; if we could doubt of what we
see, or hear, or taste, or feel ; yet I am sure we cannot
of what we there possess. Sure this will be comfort to
the sad and drooping souls whose life was nothing but
a doubting distress, and their language nothing but a
constant complaining. If God would speak peace, it
would ease them ; but when He shall possess them of
this peace, they shall rest from all their doubts and
fears for ever.

We shall rest from all that sense of God's displeasure,
which was our greatest torment, whether manifested
mediately or immediately, "for He will cause His fury
towards us to rest, and His jealousy to cease, and He
will be angry with us no more."" Surely hell shall not
be mixed with heaven ; there is the place for the glorify-
ing of justice, prepared of purpose to manifest wrath;
but heaven is only for mercy and love. Job doth not
now use his old language, "Thou writest bitter things
against me, and takest me for Thine enemy, and settest
me up as a mark to shoot at," &c. Oh, how contrary
now to all this ! David doth not now complain, that
"the arrows of the Almighty stick in him''; that "his
wounds stink and are corrupt"; that "his sore runs
and ceaseth not " ; that " his moisture is as the drought
of summer"; that "there is no soundness in his flesh,
because of God's displeasure; nor rest in his bones,
because of sin " ; that " he is weary of crying, his throat
is dried, his eyes fail in waiting for God " ; that " he

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

remembers God and is troubled ; that in complaining
his spirit is overwhelmed"; that "his soul refuseth to
be comforted " ; that " God's wrath lieth hard upon
him''; and that "He afflicteth him with all His waves.'"'
Oh, how contrary now are David's songs ! Now he saith,
" I spake in my haste, and this was my infirmity."
Here the Christian is oft complaining : " Oh, if it were
the wrath of man I could bear it, but the wrath of the
Almighty who can bear? Oh, that all the world were
mine enemies, so that I were assured that He were my
friend ! If it were a stranger, it were nothing ; but
that my dearest friend, my own Father, should be so
provoked against me; this wounds my very soul! If
it were a creature, I would contemn it, but if God be
angry who may endure ? If He be against me, who
can be for me ? And if He will cast me down, who
can raise me up?" But oh, that blessed day when all
these dolorous complaints will be turned into admiring
thankfulness, and all sense of God's displeasure swallowed
up in that ocean of infinite love, when sense shall con-
vince us that fury dwelleth not in God. And though
for a little moment He hide His face, yet with ever-
lasting compassion will He receive and embrace us
when He shall say to Sion, "Arise and shine, for thy
light is come, and the glorv of the Lord is risen upon
thee."

We shall rest from all the temptations of Satan
whereby he continually disturbs our peace. What a
grief is it to a Christian though he yield not to the
temptation, yet to be still solicited 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

149

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

is still dissuading him from it, distracting him in it,
or discouraging him after it ! What a torment, as well
as a temptation is it, to have such horrid motions made
to his soul; such blasphemous ideas presented to his
fantasy ; sometimes cruel thoughts of God ; sometimes
undervaluing thoughts of Christ; sometimes unbeliev-
ing thoughts of Scripture : sometimes injurious thoughts
of Providence; to be tempted sometimes to turn to
present things; sometimes to play with the baits of
sin ; sometimes to venture on the delights of flesh ;
and sometimes to flat atheism itself; especially, when
we know the treachery of our own hearts that they
are as tinder or gunpowder, ready to take fire as soon
as one of these sparks shall fall upon them. Oh, how
the poor Christian lives in continual disquietness, to
feel these motions; but more, that his heart should be
the soil for this seed, and the too fruitful mother of
such an offspring; and most of all through fear, lest
they will at last prevail, and these cursed motions
should procure his consent!

But here is our comfort; as we now stand not by
our own strength, and shall not be charged with any
of this, so when the day of our deliverance comes we
shall fully rest from these temptations; Satan is then
bound up, the time of tempting is then done ; the time
of torment to himself, and his conquered captives,
those deluded souls, is then come; and the victorious
saints shall have triumph for temptation. Now we
do walk among his snares, and are in danger to be
circumvented with his methods and wiles; but then
we are quite above his snares, and out of the hearing
of his enticing charms. He hath power here to tempt
us in the wilderness, but he entereth not the holy city ;
he may set us on the pinnacle of the temple in the
earthly Jerusalem, but the new Jerusalem he may not

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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 will
be but a poor despised bait to the soul which is pos-
sessed with the kingdom of our Lord and the glory
of it.

No, no, here is no more work for Satan now. Hopes
he might have of deceiving poor creatures on earth who
lived out of sight, and only heard and read of a kingdom
which they never beheld, and had only faith to live upon,
and were encompassed with flesh, and drawn aside by
sense. But when once they see the glory they read of,
and taste the joys they heard of, and possess that
kingdom which they then believed and hoped for, and
have laid aside their fleshly sense, it is time then for
Satan to have done ; it is in vain to offer a temptation
more. What, draw them from that glory ; draw them
from the arms of Jesus Christ; draw them, from the
sweet praises of God ; draw them from the blessed society
of saints and angels; draw them from the bosom of the
Father's love, and that to a place of torment among the
damned which their eyes behold ; why, Avhat charms,
what persuasions can do it ? To entice them from an un-
known joy and unknown God, were somewhat hopeful ; but
now they have both seen and enjoyed, there is no hope.

Surely it must be a very strong temptation that must
draw a blessed saint from that rest. We shall have no
more need to pray, " Lead us not into temptation " ; nor
"to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation";
nor shall we serve the Lord as Paul did, in " many tears
and temptations'"; no, but now they who continued with
Christ in temptation shall by Him be appointed to a
kingdom, even as His Father appointed to Him, that
they may eat and drink at His table in Llis kingdom.

151

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING UEST

" Blessed therefore are they that endure temptation ; for
when they are tried, they shall receive the crown of
life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love
Him/'' And then they shall be saved from the hour of
temptation ; then the malignant planet Saturn shall be
below usj and lose all its influence, which now is above
exercising its enmity ; and Satan must be suffering, who
would have drawn us into suffering : as Bucholtzer wittily,
" Ubi Satiirnus non supra nos sed infra nos conspicietiir^
luens pcenas pro sua in nos scevitia et malitia.^''

XII

We shall rest also from all our temptations which we
now undergo from the world and the flesh, as well as
Satan ; and that is a number unexpressible, and weight
utterly intolerable, were it not that we are beholden to
supporting grace. Oh, the hourly dangers that we poor
sinners here below 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
those above us, we are in danger of envy ; if those below
us, we are in danger of contempt ; 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 and 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
contains to us matter of temptation; how soon do
slanderous reports, vain jests, wanton speeches by that
passage creep into the heart ! How strong and preva-
lent a temptation is our appetite, and how constant and

152

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

strong a watch doth it require ! Have we comeliness and
beauty ; what fuel for pride ! Are we deformed ; what
an occasion of repining ! Have we strength of reason
and gifts of learning ; oh, how hard it is not to be puffed
up ; to seek ourselves ; to hunt after applause ; to despise
our brethren ; to mislike the simplicity that is in Christ,
both in the matter and manner of Scripture ; in doctrine,
in discipline, in worship, and in the saints ; to affect a
pompous, specious, fleshly service of God ; and to exalt
reason above faith ! Are we unlearned and 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 ignor-
ance; 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, under pretences of truth
and holiness ! Are we men of eminency, and in place of
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 ourselves, 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, and to cut out all
the enjoyments of others, both religious and civil, by the
cursed rules and model of our own interest and policy !
Are we inferiors and subject ; how prone to grudge at
others' pre-eminence, and to take liberty to bring all
their actions to the bar of our incompetent judgment ;
and to censure and slander them, and murmur at their
proceedings ! Are we rich, and not too much exalted !
Are we poor, and not discontented, and make our worldly
necessities a pretence for the robbing God of all His
service ! If we be sick, oh how impatient ! If in health,
how few and stupid are our thoughts of eternity ! If
death be near, we are distracted with the fears of it;

153

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

if we think it far off, how careless is our preparation !
Do we set upon duty ? why, there are snares too : either
we are stupid and lazy ; or rest on them, and turn from
Christ ; or we are customary, and notional only.^

In a word, not one word that falls from the mouth of
a minister or Christian, but is a snare ; not a place we
come into, not a word that our own 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 poor Christians in, and
especially they that discern them not ; for it is almost
impossible they should escape them. It was not for
nothing that our Lord cries 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 saving 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."' No,
our 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
trouble is over; there is nothing but what will advance
our joy. Now every old companion and every loose
fellow is putting up the finger, and beckoning us to sin,
and we can scarce tell how to say them nay. What, say
they, will not you take a cup ? Will you not do as your
neighbours ? Must you be so precise ? Do you think

1 Deut. xii. 30 ; vii. 25 ; Hosea ix. 8 ; Ps. Ixix. 22 ; Prov. xx. 25 ;
xxii. 25 ; xxix. 6, 25 ; 1 Tim. vi. 9 ; Job xviii. 8, 10.

154

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

none shall be saved but Puritans ? What needs all
this strictness, this reading and praying and preaching ?
Will you make yourself the scorn of all men ? Come,
do as we do, take your cups and drink away sorrow.
Oh, how many a poor Christian hath been haunted and
vexed with these temptations ; and it may be father, or
mother, or nearest friends will strike in, and give a poor
Christian no rest ; and alas, how many, to their eternal
undoing, have hearkened to their ;ieducements ! But this
is our comfort, dear friends, our rest will free us from all
these. As Satan hath no entrance there, so neither any-
thing to serve his malice ; but all things shall there with
us conspire the high praises of our great Deliverer.

XIII

And as we rest from the temptations, so also from all
abuses and persecutions which we suffer at the hands
of wicked men. We shall be scorned and derided, im-
prisoned, banished, butchered 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, and the Gospel "* ; then will Christ be
admired in His saints that were thus hated. Now be-
cause " we are not of the world, but Christ hath taken
us out of the w^orld, therefore doth the world hate us '*' ;
then because we are not of the world, but taken out of
their calamity, therefore will the world admire us.

155

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Now as they hated Christ, they will also hate us ; then
as they will honour Christ, so will they also honour us.
We are here as the scorn and offscouring 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 synagogues, and cast out our name 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 no.i They now think it strange
that we run not with them " to all excess of riot, speaking
evil of us " ; they will then think more strange that they
ran not with us in the despised ways of God ; and speak
evil of themselves; and more vehemently befool them-
selves for their carelessness than ever they did us for our
heaven liness. A poor Christian can scarce go along the
streets now but every one is pointing the finger in scorn,
but then they would be glad of the crumbs of his happi-
ness. The rich man would scarce have believed him that
would have told him that he should beg for water from
the tip of Lazarus' finger. Here is a great change ! We
can scarcely now pray in our families, or sing praises to
God, but our voice is a vexation to them. How must it
needs torment them then, to see us praising and rejoicing,
while they are howling and lamenting ! How full have
their prisons oft been, and how bitter their rage ! How
did they scatter the carcasses in the fields, and delight
themselves in the blood of saints ! How glad would
they have been, if they could have brought them to ruin,
and blotted out their name from off the earth ! How
did they prepare, like Haman, their gallows ; and if God
had not gainsaid it, the execution would have been
answerable; "but He that sitteth in heaven did laugh
them to scorn, the Lord had them in derision." Oh, how
1 1 Cor. iv. 9, 13 ; Lam. iii. 45 ; Heb. x. 33 ; Isa. viii. 18 ; Luke vi. 22.

156

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

full were their hearts of blood, and their hands of cruelty,
so that the next generations, that knew them not, will
scarcely believe the fury of their predecessors' rage.

Blessed be the Guardian of the saints, who hath not
suffered the pre valency of that wrath, which would have
made the gunpowder treason, the Turkish slavery, the
Spanish Inquisition, the French massacres to have been as
ordinary as inhuman. But the Lord of hosts hath oft
brought them down; and His power and justice hath
abated their fury, and raised to His name everlasting
trophies, and set up many a monument of remembrance
in England and in other places, which God forbid
should ever be forgotten. " So let all thine " incurable
'•enemies perish, O Lord.'' " When the Lord maketh in-
quisition for blood. He will remember the precious blood
which they have shed, and the earth shall not cover it
any more." The Jesuits' hopes are that they shall yet
again have a prevailing day. It is possible though im-
probable. If they should, we know where their rage
will stop. They shall pursue, but as Pharaoh, to their
own destruction ; and where they fall, there we shall pass
over safely, and escape them for ever. For our Lord
hath told them, " That whither He goes, they cannot
come." When their flood of persecution is dried up, and
the Church called out of the wilderness, and the new
Jerusalem come down from heaven, and mercy and justice
are fully glorified, then shall we feel their fury no more.
There is no cruel mockings and scourgings, no bonds, or
imprisonments, no stoning, or sawing asunder, tempting,
or slaying with the sword, wandering in sheep skins,
or goat skins, in deserts or mountains, dens or caves
of the earth ; no more being destitute, afflicted, or tor-
mented.

We leave all this behind us when once we enter the
city of our rest; the names of Lollard, Huguenots,

157

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Puritan, Roundheads, are not there used ; the Inquisi-
tion of Spain is there condemned ; the statute of the
Six Articles is there repealed, and the law De Hceretkis
comhurendis more justly executed; the date of the Interim
is there expired ; subscription and conformity no more
urged ; silencing and suspending are more than sus-
pended ; there are no bishops' or chancellors'* courts ; no
Visitations nor High Commission judgments; no cen-
sures to loss of members, perpetual imprisonment or
banishment. Christ is not there clothed in a gorgeous
robe, and blindfolded, nor do they smite Him, and say,
" Read who struck thee "' ; nor is truth clothed in the
robes of error, and smitten for that which it most directly
contradicteth ; nor a schismatic wounded, and a saint
found bleeding; nor our friends smite us, whilst they
mistake us for their enemies ; there is none of this blind
mad work there.

Dear 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
love of God and your eternal salvation; consider, you
shall in heaven have no discouraging company, nor any
but who will further your work, and gladly join heart
and voice with you in your everlasting joy and praises.
Till then, "possess your souls in patience"; bind all
reproaches as a crown to your heads ; esteem them
greater riches than the world's treasures : account it
matter of joy when you fall into tribulation. You
have seen in these days that our God is able to deliver
us; but this is nothing to our final conquest: He will
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to
you who are troubled rest with Christ. Only see to this,
brethren, that none of you suffer as an evil-doer, as a
busybody in other men's matters, as a resister of the
commands of lawful authority, as ungrateful to those

158

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

that have been instruments of our good, as evil speakers
against dignities, as opposers of the discipline and ordi-
nances of Christ, as scornful revilers of your Christian
brethren, as reproachers of a laborious, judicious, con-
scientious ministry, &c. " But if any of you suffer for
the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of God
and of glory resteth upou you.'' And if any of you
begin to shrink and draw back because of opposition,
and are ashamed either of your work or your Master;
let such a one know to his face that he is but a base-
spirited, cowardly wretch, and cursedly undervalueth the
saints' rest, and most foolishly overvalueth the things
below; and he must learn to forsake all these, or else
he can never be Christ's disciple; and that Christ will
renounce him and be ashamed of him before His Father
and the angels of Heaven.

But for those that have held fast their integrity, and
gone through good report and evil report, and undergone
the violence of unreasonable men, let them "hear the
word of the Lord ; Your brethren that hated you, that
cast you out for my name sake, said. Let the Lord be
glorified " ; (they had good words, and godly pretences)
"but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be
ashamed." " Your Redeemer is strong, the Lord of
hosts is His name ; He shall throughly plead your cause,
that He may give rest to His people, and disquietness
to " their enemies.^

XIV

We shall then also rest from all our sad divisions and
unchristian-like 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
^ Isa. Ixvi. 5 ; Jer. 1. 34.

159

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

a duel^ " Quanta se invicem, amplectuntur amicitia^ qui
mutua implacahili inimic'dia periere ? ''"' How lovingly do
they embrace one another, being dead, who perished
through their mutual implacable enmity ! So, how
lovingly do thousands live together in heaven, who lived
in divisions and quarrels on earth ! Or, as he said, who
beheld how quietly and peaceably the bones and dust of
mortal enemies did lie together; "iVon taiita vivi pace
essetis coiijimcti.'"' You did not live together so peace-
ably. 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 con-
tention, because none of this pride, ignorance, or other
corruption. Paul and Barnabas are now fully reconciled.
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 Grynseus wrote to
his friend, " Si te 7ion ampVms in terris videam, ibi tamen
conveniemus iibi Lutlierus cum Zuinglio opfmie jam con-
venit.'''' If I see you no more on earth, yet we shall
there meet, where Luther and Zuinglius are now well
ag-reed. There is a full reconciliation between Sacra-
mentarians and Ubiquitarians, Calvinists and Lutherans,
Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants, Disciplinarians
and Anti-Disciplinarians, Conformists and Nonconform-
ists. Antinomians and Legalists are terms there not
known. Presbyterians and Independents are perfectly
agreed. There is no discipline erected by state policy,
nor any disordered popular rule; no government but
that of Christ. All things are established Jure Divino ;
no bitter invectives, nor voluminous reproaches; the
language of Martin ^ is there a stranger ; and the sound

1 Two books full of bitterest scorns at the ministry and discipline,
thought to be written by one Overton.

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

of his echo is not heard. No recording our brethren's
infirmities; nor raking into the sores which Christ died
to heal.

How many sermons zealously preached, how many
books studiously compiled, will then by the authors be all
disclaimed. How many backbiting slanderous speeches,
how many secret dividing contrivances, must then be laid
upon the score of Christ, against whom and His saints
they were committed ! The zealous authors dare not
own them ; they would then, with the Ephesians, burn
their books,^ and rather lose their labour than stand to it.
There is no plotting to strengthen our party, nor deep
designing against our brethren. And is it not 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 there in
the face, and to remember all this carriage on earth,
even as the brethren of Joseph were to 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 one another ? 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, slandering, and disgracing one
another? Could I have believed him that would have
told me five years ago that when the scorners of godli-
ness were subdued and the bitter prosecutors of the
Church overthrown that such should succeed them who
suffered with us, who were our intimate friends, with
whom we took sweet counsel, and went up together to
the house of God? Did I think it had been in the
hearts of men professing such zeal to relio-ion and the
ways of Christ to draw their swords against each other,
and to seek each other's blood so fiercely ? Alas, if the
^ Acts xix. 19.

161 I

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

judgnient be once perverted, and error hath possessed the
supreme faculty, whither will men go, and what will they
do ? Nay, what will they not do ?

Oh, what a potent instrument for Satan is a misguided
conscience! It will make a man kill his dearest friend,
yea, father or mother, yea, the holiest saints, and think
he doth God service by it; and to facilitate the work, it
will first blot out the reputation of their holiness, and
make them take a saint for a devil, that so they may
vilify or destroy him without remorse. Oh, what hellish
things are ignorance and pride that can bring men's souls
to such a case as this ! Paul knew what he said when he
commanded that a novice should not be a teacher, lest
being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation
of the devil. He discerned that such young Christians that
have got but a little smattering knowledge in religion do
lie in greatest danger of this pride and condemnation.
Who but a Paul could have foreseen that among the very
teachers and governors of so choice a church as Ephesus,
that came to see and hear him, that pray and weep with
him, there were some that afterwards should be notorious
sect-masters; "that of their own selves men should arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them." Who then can expect better from any society
now, how knowing and holy soever? To-day they
may be orthodox, unanimous, and joined in love; and
perhaps within a few weeks be divided and at bitter
enmity through their doting about questions that tend
not to edify. Who that had seen how lovingly the godly
in England did live together, when they were hated and
scorned of all, would have believed that ever they would
have been so bitter against one another ; that when those
who derided us for preaching, for hearing, for constant
praying in our families, for singing Psalms, for sanctify-
inty the Lord's dav, for repeating sermons, for taking

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notes, for desiring discipline, Szc, had their mouths
stopped, we should fall upon one another for the very
same duties ; and that professors of religion should oppose
and deride almost all that worship of God, out of con-
science, which others did before them through profane-
ness? Did I not think, that of all other, the scornino-
at the worshippers of Christ had been a sure sign of
a wicked wretch ? But I see now we must distinguish
between scorners and scorners, or else I fear we shall
exclude almost all.

I read indeed in Pagan writers that the Christians were
as cruel as bears and tigers against one another; Am mi-
anus Marcellinus gives it as the reason of Julian's policy
in proclaiming liberty for every party to profess and
preach their own opinions, because he knew that cruel
Christians would then most fiercely fall upon one another;
and so by liberty of conscience, and by keeping their
children from the schools of learning, he thought to have
rooted out Christianity from the earth. But I had hoped
this accusation had come from the malice of the Pagan
writer ; little did I think to have seen it so far verified.
Lord, what devils are we unsanctified, when there is yet
such a nature remaining in the sanctified ! Such a nature
hath God in these days suffered to discover itself in the
very godly that if He did not graciously and powerfully
restrain, they would shed the blood of one another ; and
no thanks to us if it be not done. But I hope His design
is but to humble and shame us by the discovery, and
then to prevent the breaking forth. But alas, since the
first writing of this my hopes are frustrate.

But is it possible such should be truly godly ? Then
what sin will denominate a man ungodiv ?

Or else I must believe the doctrine of the saints'
apostasy, or believe there are scarce any godly in the
world. Oh, what a wound of dishonour hath this given

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

not only to the stricter profession of holiness, but even to
the very Christian name ! Were there a possibility of
hiding it, I durst not thus mention it. O Christian, if
thou who readest this be guilty, I charge thee before the
living God, that thou sadly consider how far is this
unlike the copy? Suppose thou hadst seen the Lord
Jesus, girded to the service, stooping to the earth, wash-
ing His disciples' dirty feet, and wiping them, and saying
to them ; This I have done to give you an example, that
if I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, you
also ought to wash one another's : would not this make
thee ashamed and tremble? Shall the Lord wipe the
feet, and the fellow-servant be ready to cut the throat ?
Would not thy proud heart scorn to stoop to thy Master's
work ? Look to thyself; it is not the name of a professor,
nor the zeal for thy opinions, that will prove thee a Chris-
tian, or secure thee from the heat of the consuming fire.
If thou love not thine enemy, much more thy Christian
friend, thou canst not be Christ's disciple. It is the
common mark, whereby His disciples are known to all
men, " that they love one another." Is it not His last
great legacy, " My peace I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you " ? Mark the expressions of that command,
'' If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, live peaceably
with all men " ; " Follow peace with all men, and holiness."
Oh, the deceitfulness of the heart of man, that those
same men who lately in their self-examination could find
nothing of Christ so clear within them as their love to
their brethren, and were confident of this when they
could scarce discover any other grace, should now look so
strangely upon them, and be filled with so much bitter-
ness against them ! That the same men, who would
have travelled through reproaches many miles, to hear
an able faithful minister, and not think the labour ill
bestowed, should now become their })itterest enemies, and

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the most powerful hinderers of the success of their labours,
and travel as far to cry them down ! It makes me
almost ready to say, O sweet, O happy days of persecu-
tion ; which drove us together in a closure of love ; who
being now dried at the fire of liberty and prosperity are
crumbled all into dust by our contentions. But it makes
me seriously both to say and to think, O sweet, O happy
day of the rest of the saints in glory, when as there is one
God, one Christ, one Spirit, so we shall have one judg-
ment, one heart, one church, one employment for ever;
when there shall be no more circumcision and uncircum-
cision, Jew and Gentile, Anabaptist or Psedobaptist,
Brownist, Separatist, Independent, Presbyterian, Episco-
pal; but Christ is all and in all. We shall not there
scruple our communion, nor any of the ordinances of
Divine worship; there will not be one for singing, and
another against it ; but even those who here jarred in
discord shall all conjoin in blessed concord, and make up
one melodious choir.

I could wish they were of the martyr's mind, who re-
joiced that she might have her foot in the same hole of
the stocks in which Master Philpots had been before her.
But, however, I am sure they will joyfully live in the same
heaven, and gladly participate in the same rest. Those
whom one house could not hold, nor one church hold
them, no, nor one kingdom neither; yet one heaven, and
one God may hold. One house, one kingdom could not
hold Joseph and his brethren, but they must together
again, whether they will or no ; and then how is the case
altered ! Then every man must straight withdraw, while
they weep over and kiss each other. Oh, how canst thou
now find in thy heart, if thou bear the heart or face
of a Christian, to be bitter or injurious against thy
brethren, when thou dost but once think of that time
and place where thou hopest in the nearest and sweetest

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

familiarity to live and rejoice with them for ever ! I
confess their infirmities are not to be loved, nor sin to be
tolerated because it is theirs. But be sure it be sin which
thou opposest in them ; and do it with a spirit of meek-
ness and compassion, that the world may see thy love to
the person, while thou opposest the offence. Alas, that
Turks and Pagans can agree in wickedness better than
Christians in the truth ; that bears and lions, wolves and
tio-ers can agree together, but Christians cannot; that a
legion of devils can accord in one body, and not the tenth
part so many Christians in one church ! Well, the fault
may be mine, and it may be theirs; or more likely
both mine and theirs; but this rejoiceth me, that my
old friends, who now look strangely at me, will joyfully
triumph with me in our common rest.

We shall then rest from all our dolorous hours and
sad thoughts 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 over-
throw 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 moi'e
than the miseries of our brethren to fill our hearts
with successions of sorrows, and make our lives a con-
tinued lamentation. The Church on earth is a mere
hospital; which way ever we go we hear complaining;
and into v/hat corner soever we cast our eyes we behold
objects of pity and grief; some groaning under a dark

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

understanding, some under a senseless heart, some lan-
guishing under unfruitful weakness, and some bleeding
for miscarriages and wilfulness, and some in such a
lethargy that they are past complaining; some crying
out of their pining poverty ; some groaning under pains
and infirmities ; and some bewailing a whole catalogue of
calamities, especially in days of common sufferings when
nothing appears to our sight but ruin; families ruined;
congregations ruined ; sumptuous structures ruined ;
cities ruined ; country ruined ; court ruined ; kingdoms
ruined. Who weeps not, when all these bleed?

As now our friends' distresses are our distresses, so
then our friends' deliverance will be part of our own
deliverance. How much more joyous now to join with
them in their days of thanksgiving and gladness, than
in the days of humiliation in sackcloth and ashes ! How
much then more joyous will it be to join with them
in their perpetual praises and triumphs, than to hear
them bewailing now their wretchedness, their want of
light, their want of life, of joy, of assurance, of grace,
of Christ, of all things ! How much more comfortable
to see them perfected, than now to see them wounded,
weak, sick, and afflicted ! To stand by the bed of their
languishing as silly comforters, being overwhelmed and
silenced with the greatness of their griefs, conscious of
our own disability to relieve them, scarce having a word
of comfort to refresh them ; or if we have, alas, they
be but words which are a poor relief when their suffer-
ings are real ; fain we would ease or help them but
cannot; all we can do is to sorrow with them, which
alas, doth rather increase their sorrows. Our day of
rest will free both them and us, from all this.

Now we may enter many a poor Christian's cottage,
and there see their children ragged, their purse empty,
their cupboard empty, their belly empty, and poverty

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

possessing and filling all ; how much better is that day
when we shall see them filled with Christ, clothed with
glory, and equalised with the richest and greatest
princes ! Oh, the sad and heart-piercing spectacles,
that mine eyes have seen in four years' space ; in this
fight a dear friend fall down by me; from another a
precious Christian brought home wounded or dead ;
scarce a month, scarce a week without the sight or
noise of blood ; surely there is none of this in heaven.
Our eyes shall then be filled no more, nor our hearts
pierced, with such fights, as at Worcester, Edgehill,
Newbury, Nantwich, Montgomery, Horncastle, York,
Naseby, Langport, &c. We shall then have the con-
quest without the calamity. Mine eyes shall never
more behold the earth covered with the carcasses of the
slain. Our black ribands and mourning attire will then
be turned into the white robes and garments of glad-
ness. Oh, how hardly can my heart now hold when I
think of such, and such, and such a dear Christian
friend slain or departed ! Oh, how glad must the same
heart needs be when we see them all alive and glorified !
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, and who zealously
joined with us in God's worship, to be now fallen off
to sensuality, turned drunkard, worldling, or a perse-
cutor of the saints ; and these trying times have given
us too large occasion for such sorrows ; to see our
dearest and most intimate friends to be turned aside
from the truth of Christ, and that either in or near the
foundation ; and to be raging confident in the grossest
errors; to see many near us in the flesh continue their
neglect of Christ and their souls, and nothing will
waken them out of their security ; to look on an ungodly
father or mother, brother or sister in the face; to look

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on a carnal wife or husband, or child, or friend ; and to
think how certainly they shall be in hell for ever, if they
die in their present unregenerate estate. Oh, what con-
tinual dolors do all these sad sights and thoughts fill
our hearts with from day to day ; and will it not be
a blessed day when we shall rest from all these?

What Christian now is not in PauPs case, and cannot
speak in his language: "Besides those things that are
\vithout, that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of all the churches ; who is weak, and I am not weak ?
Who is offended, and I burn not?" What heart is
not wounded to think on Germany's long desolations?
Oh, the learned universities, the flourishing churches
there, that now are left desolate! Look on England's
four years' blood, a flourishing land almost made ruined ;
hear but the common voice in most cities, towns, and
countries through the land; and judge whether here
be no cause of sorrow. Especially, look but to the
sad effects; and men's spirits grown more out of order.
When a most wonderful Reformation by such wonderful
means might have been well expected ; and is this not
cause of astonishing sorrows ? Look to Scotland, look
to Ireland, look almost everywhere, and tell me what
you see. Blessed that approaching day, when our eyes
shall behold no more such sights, nor our ears hear
any more such tidings !

How many hundred pamphlets are printed full of
almost nothing but the common calamities ! so that it
is become a gainful trade to divulge the news of our
brethren's sufferings. And the fears for the future
that possessed our hearts were worse than all that we
saw and suffered. Oh, the tidings that run from Edge-
hill fight, of York fight, &c. ; how many a face did
they make pale; and how many a heart did they
astonish. Nay, have not many died with the fears of

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

that which, if they had lived, they had neither suffered
nor seen. It is said of Melancthon, that the miseries
of the Church made him ahnost neglect the death of
his most beloved children ; to think of the Gospel de-
parting, the glory taken from Israel, our sun setting
at noon-day, poor souls left willingly dark and desti-
tute, and with great pains and hazard blowing out the
light that should guide them to salvation. What sad
thoughts must these be ! To think of Christ removing
His family ; taking away both worship and worshippers,
and to leave the land to the rage of the merciless;
these were sad thoughts. Who could then have taken
the harp in hand, or sung the pleasant songs of Sion .?
But blessed be the Lord who hath frustrated our fears,
and who will hasten that rejoicing day when Zion shall
be exalted above the mountains, and her gates shall be
open day and night, and the glory of the Gentiles be
brought into it, and the nation and kingdom that will
not serve her shall perish ; when the sons of them that
afflicted her, shall come bending unto her, and all they
that despised her, shall bow themselves down at the
soles of her feet; and they shall call her the city of
the Lord, the Zion of the holy One of Israel ; when
her people also shall be all righteous, even the work
of God's hands, the branch of His planting, who shall
inherit the land for ever, that He may be glorified.
When that voice shall sound forth, " Rejoice with
Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her:
rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her;
that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts
of her consolation; that ye may milk out, and be
delighted with the abundance of her glory.'"

Thus shall we rest from our participation of our
brethren's sufferings.

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

XVI

We shall rest also from all our own personal sufferings,
whether natural and ordinary, or extraordinary from the
afflicting hand of God. And though this may seem a
small thing to those that live in continual ease, and
abound in all kind of prosperity; yet, methinks, to the
daily afflicted soul it should make the forethought^ of
heaven delightful ; and I think we shall meet with few
of the saints but will say that this is their own case. Oh,
the dying life that we now live ; as full of sufferings as of
days and hours ! We are the carcasses that all calamities
prey upon ; as various as they are, each one will have a
snatch at us, and be sure to devour a morsel of our
comfort. When we bait our bulls and bears, we do but
represent our own condition ; whose lives are consumed
under such assaults, and spent in succession of fresh en-
counters. All creatures have an enmity against us ever
since we made the Lord of all our enemy.

And though we are reconciled by the blood of the
covenant, and the price is paid for our full deliverance ;
yet our Redeemer sees it fit to leave this measure of
misery upon us, to make us know for what we are be-
holden, and 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. He hath
sent us as lambs among wolves ; and sure there is little
rest to be expected. As all our senses are the inlets of
sin, so they are become the inlets of our sorrow. Grief
creeps in at our eyes, at our ears, and almost everywhere;
it seizes upon our head, our hearts, our flesh, our spirits,
and what part doth escape it ? Fears do devour us and
darken our delights, as the frosts do nip the tender buds :
cares do consume us and feed upon our spirits, as the

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

scorching sun doth wither the delicate flowers. Or, if
any saint or stoic have fortified his inwards against these,
yet is he naked still without ; and if he be wiser than to
create his own sorrows, yet shaJl he be sure to feel his
share, he shall produce them as the meritorious, if not
as the efficient cause. 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 ! Oh,
the multitudes of slender veins, of tender membranes,
nerves, fibres, muscles, arteries, and all subject to ob-
structions, exesions, tensions, contractions, resolutions,
ruptures, or one thing or other to cause their grief;
every one a fit subject for pain, and fit to communicate
that pain to the whole ; what noble part is there that
sufTereth its pain or ruin alone ?

Whatever it is to the sound and healthful, methinks,
to such as myself this rest should be acceptable, who in
ten or twelve years' time have scarce had a whole day
free from some dolor. Oh, the weary nights and days '
Oh, the unserviceable languishing weakness ! Oh, the
restless working vapours ! Oh, the tedious nauseous
medicines, besides the daily expectations of worse ! And
will it not be desirable to rest from all these ? There will
be then no crying out ; oh, my head ; oh, my stomach ,
oh, my sides ; or oh, my bowels. No, no, sin and flesh
and dust and pain wdll all be left behind together. Oh,
what would we not give now for a little ease, much more
for a perfect cure ! How then should we value that
perfect freedom ! If we have some mixed comforts here,
they are scarce enough to sweeten our crosses ; or if we
have some short and smiling intermissions, it is scarce
time enough to breathe us in, and to prepare our
tacklings for the next storm. If one wave pass by,
another succeeds : and if the night be over and the day

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

come, yet will it soon be night again. Some men'*s fevers
are continual and some intermittent ; some have tertians
and some quartans ; but, more or less, all have their fits.

Oh, 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, w^here 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 ! For it shall come to
pass, that in that day the Lord shall give us rest from
our sorrow, and our fear, and from the hard bondage
wherein we served. The poor man shall no more be tired
with his incessant labours; no more use of plough, or
flail, or scythe, or sickle ; no stooping of the servant to
the master, or the tenant to the landlord ; no hunger or
thirst or cold or nakedness ; no pinching frosts nor
scorching heats. Our very beasts who suffered with us
shall also be freed from their bondage ; ourselves there-
fore much more ; our faces shall no more be pale or sad ;
our groans and sighs will be done away ; and God will
wipe away all tears from our eyes.

No more parting of friends asunder, nor voice of
lamentation heard in our dwellings. No more breaches,
nor disproportion in our friendship, nor any trouble
accompanying our relations ; no more care of master for
servants, of parents for children, of magistrates over
subjects, of ministers over people. No more sadness for
our study lost, our preaching lost, our entreaties lost,
the tenders of Christ's blood lost, and our dear people's
souls lost. No more marrying nor giving in marriage,
but we shall be as the angels of God. Oh, what room
can there be for any evil where the whole is perfectly
filled with God ! Then shall the " ransomed of the Lord

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy
upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Hold out then
a little longer, O my soul ; bear with the infirmities of
thine earthly tabernacle ; 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 but a little while; the sound of thy
Redeemer's feet are 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
sorrows, 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.

xvn

We shall rest also from all the trouble and pain of
duty. The conscientious magistrate now cries out, oh,
the burden that lieth upon me ! The conscientious
parents that know the preciousness of their children's
souls, and the constant pains required to their godly
education, cry out, oh, the burden ! The conscientious
minister above all, when he reads his charge, and views
his pattern, when he hath tried a while what it is to
study, and pray, and preach, according to the weight
and excellence of the work ; to go from house to house,
and from neighbour to neighbour, and to beseech them
night and day with tears ; and after all to be hated and

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

persecuted for so doing; no wonder if he cry out, oh,
the burden ! and be ready to run away with Jonas ; and
with Jeremy to say, "I will not make mention of Him,
nor speak any more in His name; for His word is a
reproach to us, and a derision daily ; but that He hath
made His word as a fire shut up in our bones and heart,
that we are weary of forbearing, and cannot stay.""

How long may we study and labour before one soul
is brought clear over to Christ; and when it is done,
how soon do the snares of sensuality or error entangle
them ! How many receive the doctrine of delusion,
before they have time to be built up in the truth ; and
when heresies must of necessity arise, how few of them
do appear approved! The first new strange' apparition
of light doth so amaze them that the}^ think they are
in the third heavens, when they are but newly passed
from the suburbs of hell, and are presently as confident,
as if they knew all things, when they have not yet half
light enough to acquaint them with their ignorance;
but after ten or twenty years' study they become usually
of the same judgment with those they despised. And
seldom doth a minister live to see the ripeness of his
people ; but one soweth and planteth, another watereth,
and a third reapeth and receiveth the increase. Yet
were all this duty delightful, had we but a due pro-
portion of strength. But, to inform the old ignorant
sinner, to convince the stubborn and worldly wise, to
persuade a wilful resolved wretch, to prick a stony heart
to the quick, to make a rock to weep and tremble, to
set forth Christ according to our necessity and His ex-
cellency, to comfort the soul whom God rejected, to clear
up dark and difficult truths, to oppose with convincing
arguments all gainsayers, to credit the Gospel with
exemplarv conversations, when multitudes do but watch
for our halting; oh, " who is sufficient for these things?""

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

So that every relation, state, age, hath variety of duty :
every conscientious Christian cries out, Oh, the burden !
or, Oh, my weakness that makes it so burdensome !
But our remaining rest will ease us of the burden.
Then will that be sound doctrine which now is false,
that the law hath no more to do with us ; that it be-
comes not a Christian to beg for pardon, seeing all his
sins are perfectly pardoned already; that we need not
fast, nor mourn, nor weep, nor repent ; and that a sorrow-
ful countenance beseems not a Christian ; then will all
these become truths.

XVIII

And lastly, we shall rest from all those sad affections
which necessarily accompany our absence from God;
the trouble that is mixed in our desires and hopes, our
longings and waitings, shall then cease. We shall no
more look into our cabinet, and miss our treasure ; look
into our hearts, and miss our Christ ; nor no more seek
Him from ordinance to ordinance, and enquire for our
God of those we meet; our heart will not lie in our
knee, nor our souls be breathed out in our requests;
but all concluded in a most full and blessed fruition.
But because this with the former are touched before, I
will say no more of them now.

So you have seen what we shall rest from.

XIX

The ninth and last jewel in our crown, and blessed
attribute of this rest, is, that it is an eternal rest. This
is the crown of our crown; without which all were
comparatively little or nothing. The very thouo-ht of

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

once leaving it would else embitter all our joys; and the
more would it pierce us because of the singular excel-
lencies which 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. Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary
delights. It makes our present life of little value (were
it not for the reference it hath to God and eternity) to
think that we must shortly lay it down. How can we
take delight in anything when we remember how short
that delight would be ; that the sweetness of our cups
and morsels is dead as soon as they are once but past
our taste ? Indeed if man were as the beast, that knows
not his suffering or death, till he feel it, and little thinks
when the knife is whetting, that it is making ready to
cut his throat ; then might we be merry till death for-
bids us, and enjoy our delights till they shall forsake
us; but alas, we know both good and evil; and evil
foreknown is in part endured; and thus our knowledge
increaseth our sorrows.

How can it choose but spoil our pleasure while we see
it dying in our hands ? How can I be as merry as the
jovial world had I not mine eye fixed upon eternity ;
when methinks I foresee my dying hour, my friends
waiting for my last gasp, and closing mine eyes, while
tears forbid to close their own ; methinks I hear them
say, he is dead ; methinks I see my coffin made, my grave
in digging, and my friends there leaving me in the dust ;
and where now is that we took delight in ? Oh, but
methinks I see, at the same view, that gi'ave opening,
and my dead revived body rising; methinks I hear that
blessed voice, Arise and live, and die no more. Surely
were it not for eternity, I should think man a silly piece,
and all his life and honour but contemptible, I should call
him with David, " A vain shadow,"" and with the prophet,

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

" Nothing, and less than nothing, and altogether lighter
than vanity itself." It utterly disgraceth the greatest
glory in mine eyes if you can but truly call it mortal. I
can value nothing that shall have an end; except as it
leads to that which hath no end ; or as it comes from
that love which neither hath beginning nor end. I speak
this of my deliberate thoughts ; and if some ignorant or
forgetful soul have no such sad thoughts to disturb his
pleasure, I confess he may be merrier for the present; but
where is his mirth when he lieth dying ; alas, it is a poor
happiness that consists only in the ignorance or forgetful-
ness of approaching misery. '

But, O blessed eternity ! where our lives are perplexed
with no such thoughts, nor our joys interrupted with
any such fears ! Where we shall be " pillars in God''s
temple," and go out no more. Oh, what do I say when
I talk of eternity ? Can my shallow thoughts at all
conceive what that most high expression doth contain ?
To be eternally blessed, and so blessed ! Why, surely
this, if anything, is the resemblance of God ; eternity is
a piece of infiniteness. 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. No more use of our calendars or chronology ;
all the years of our Lord, and the years of our lives
are lost and swallowed up in this eternity. While we
were servants, we held by lease, and that but for the
term of a transitory life, but the son abideth in the
house for ever.

Our first and earthly paradise in Eden had a way out,
but none, that ever we could find, 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

178

THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR TIEST

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
that they would, yet they could not. Oh 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
thy arithmetical numbers study the value of this infinite
cypher, 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 thy perplexed and contra-
dictinc^ chronological tables, and fix thine eve on this
eternity ; and the lines which, remote, thou couldst not
follow, thou shalt see all together here concentred ; study
less those tedious volumes of history, which contain 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 eterniiy, and
when thou hast learned thoroughly that one word thou
wilt never look on books again. What ! live and never
die. Rejoice, and ever rejoice ! Oh, what sweet words
are those, never and ever ! O happy souls in hell, should
you but escape after millions of ages, and if the Origenist
doctrine were but true. O miserable saints in heaven,
should you be dispossessed after the age of a million of
worlds ! But oh, this word evcrlasthig contains the accom-
plished perfection of their torment and our glory. Oh,
that the wicked sinner would but soundly study this word
eve7^lasting ! Methinks it should startle him out of his
deadest sleep. Oh, that the gracious soul would believ-
ingly study this word everlasthig ! Methinks it should
revive him in his deepest agony.

And must I, Lord, thus live for ever? Then will I also
179

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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 also never cease Thy praises. Shouldst
Thou but renew my lease of these first fruits, would I not
renew Thy fine and rent ? But 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 all did take their spring from Thee, so all shall
devolve into Thee again ; and as Thy glory was Thine
ultimate end in my glory, so shall it also be mine end,
when Thou hast crowned me with that glory which hath
no end. And "to Thee, O King eternal, immortal, in-
visible, the only wise God, shall be the honour and glory
for ever and ever, Amen."

And thus I have endeavoured to show you a glimpse of
the approaching glory. But oh, how short are my expres-
sions of its excellence ! Reader, if thou be an humble,
sincere believer, and waitest with longing and labouring
for this rest, thou wilt shortly see and feel the truth of all
this ; then wilt thou have so high an apprehension of this
blessed state that will make thee pity the ignorance and
distance of mortals ; and will tell thee, then, all that is
here said is spoken but in the dark, and falls short of
the truth a thousand-fold. In the meantime, let this
much kindle thy desires, and quicken thine endeavours.
Up and be doing, run, and strive, and fight, and hold on,
for thou hast a certain glorious prize before thee. God
will not mock thee ; do not mock thyself, nor betray thy
soul, by delaying or dallying, and all is thine own. What
kind of men dost thou think Christians would be in their
lives and duties, if they had still this glory fresh in their
thoughts ? What frame would their spirits be in, if their

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THE EXCELLENCIES OF OUR REST

thoughts of heaven were lively and believing ? Would
their hearts be so heavy and their countenance so sad ?
Or would they have need to take up their comforts from
below, would they be so loath to suffer, and afraid to die,
or would they not think every day a year till they did
enjoy it ? The Lord heal our carnal hearts, lest we enter
not into His rest because of our unbelief.

181

CHAPTER VIII

WHETHER THE SOULS DEPARTED, ENJOY THIS
REST BEFORE THE RESURRECTION

I HAVE but one thing more to clear, before I come to
the use of this doctrine ; and that is, whether this rest
remain till the resurrection before we shall enjoy it ? Or
whether we shall have any possession of it before ? The
Socinians, and many others of late among us, think that
the soul separated from the body is either nothing, or at
least not capable of happiness or misery. Truly, if it
should be so, it would be somewhat a sad uncomfortable
doctrine to the godly at their death, to think of being
deprived of their glory till the resurrection ; and some-
what comfortable to the wicked, to think of tarrying
out of hell so long. But I am in strong hopes that this
doctrine is false, yea, very confident that it is so. I do
believe that as the soul separated from the body is not a
perfect man, so it doth not enjoy the glory and happiness
so fully and so perfectly as it shall do after the resurrec-
tion, when they are again conjoined. What the difference
is and what degree of glory souls in the meantime enjoy
are too high things for mortals particularly to discern.
For the great question : What place the souls of those
before Christ, of infants, and of all others since Christ,
do remain in till the resurrection ? I think it is a vain
enquiry of what is yet beyond our reach. It is a great
question, what place is. But if it be only a circumstant
body ; and if to be in a place be only to be in a circuni-

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BEFORE THE RESURRECTION

stant body, or in the superficies of an ambient body, or
in the concavity of that superficies, then it is doubtful
whether spirits can be properly said to be in place. We
can have yet no clear conceivings of these things. But
that separated souls of believers do enjoy inconceivable
blessedness and glory, even while they remain thus sepa-
rated from the body, I prove, as followeth : (Beside all
those arguments for the souPs immortality which you
may read in Alex. Ross' " Philosophical Touchstone,''
part last).

1. Those words of Paul, 2 Cor. v. 6-8, are so exceeding
plain, that I yet understand not what tolerable exception
can be made against them. " Therefore we are always
confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body,
we are absent from the Lord : (for we walk by faith, not
by sight). We are K^oniident, I say, and willing rather to
be absent from the body, and present with the Lord."
What can be spoken more plainly ? So also the verses
1 to 4 of the same chapter.

2. As plain is that in Phil. i. 23, " For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with
Christ, which is far better." What sense were in these
words, if Paul had not expected to enjoy Christ till the
resurrection ? Why should he be in a strait, or desire to
depart? Should he be with Christ ever the sooner for
that ? Nay, should he not have been loath to depart
upon the very same grounds ? For while he was in the
flesh, he enjoyed something of Christ ; but being departed
(according to the Socinian's doctrine) he should enjoy
nothing of Christ till the day of resurrection.

3. And plain enough is that of Christ to the thief,
" This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."" The dis-
location of the word, this day^ is but a gross evasion.

4. And sure if it be but a parable of tlie rich man in
hell and Lazarus, yet it seems unlikely to me that Christ

183

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

would teach them by such a parable as seemed evidently
to intimate and suppose the soul's happiness or misery
presently after death, if there were no such matter.

5. Doth not His argument against the Sadducees for
the resurrection run upon this supposition, that God
being not the God of the dead, but of the living, there-
fore Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were then living, i.e. in
soul, and consequently should have their bodies raised
at the resurrection.

6. Plain also is that in Rev. xiv. 13, ''Blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and
their works do follow them,'' i.e. close as the garments
on a man's back follow him, and not at such a distance
as the resurrection; for if the blessedness were only in
resting in the grave, then a beast or a stone were as
blessed ; nay, it were evidently a curse, and not a bless-
ing. For was not life a great mercy; was it not a
greater mercy to enjoy all the comforts of life; to
enjoy the fellowship of the saints; the comfort of the
ordinances; and much of Christ in all? To be em-
ployed in the delightful work of God, and to edify
His Church, &c. ; is it not a curse to be so deprived
of all these? Do not these yield a great deal more
sweetness than all the troubles of this life can yield us
bitterness? Though I think not, as some, that it is
better to be most miserable, even in hell, than not to
be at all; yet it is undeniable, that it is better to
enjoy life, and so much of the comforts of life, and so
miich of God in comforts and afflictions as the saints
do, though we have all this with persecution, than to
lie rotting in the grave, if that were all we could expect.
Therefore it is some further blessedness that is there
promised.

7. How else is it said, "That we are come to the

lb4

BEFORE THE RESURRECTION

mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, 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."*"* Heb. xii.
i^2, 23. Sure at the resurrection the body will be made
perfect, as well as the spirit. To say (as Lushington
doth) that they are said to be made perfect, because
they are sure of it as if they had it, is an evasion so
grossly contradicting the text, that by such commen-
taries he may as well deny any truth in Scripture;
to make good which, he as much abuseth that of
Phil. i. 23.

8. Doth not Scripture tell us that Enoch and Elias
are taken up already ? And shall we think they possess
that glory alone ?

9. Did not Peter and James and John see Moses
also with Christ on the Mount .-^ Yet the Scripture
saith, Moses died. And is it likely that Christ did
delude their senses in showing them Moses, if he should
not partake of that gloi-y till the resurrection ?

10. And is not that of Stephen as plain as we can
desire ? " Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Sure, if the
Lord receive it, it is neither asleep, nor dead, nor
annihilated ; but it is where He is, and beholds His
glory.

11. The like may be said of that, Eccles. xii. 7, " The
spirit shall return to God who gave it."

12. How else is it said, " that we have eternal life
already"'"'.'^ John vi. 54. And that "the knowledge of
God "*' (which is begun here) " is eternal life " ? John xvii.
3. So 1 John v. 13. " And he that believeth on Christ,
hath everlasting life " : John iii. 36 ; John vi. 47. " He
that eateth this bread, shall not die " (verse 50). " For
he dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in him"*' (verse 56).

185

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

"And as the Son liveth by the Father, so he that eateth
Him, shall live by him^' (verse 57). How is "the
kingdom of God, and of heaven" (which is eternal)
said to be "in us"? Luke xvii. 21; Rom. xiv. 17;
Matt. xiii.

Surely, if there be as great an interruption of our hfe
as till the resurrection, which with some will be many
thousand years, this is no eternal life, nor everlasting
kingdom. ' Lushington's evasion is, "That because there
is no time with dead men ; but they so sleep that when
they awake, it is all one to them as if it had been at
first; therefore the Scripture speaks of them as if they
were there already." It is true indeed, if there were
no joy till the resurrection, then that consideration
wouid'^be comfortable; but when God hath thus plainly
told us of it before, then this evasion contradicteth the
text. Doubtless there is time also to the dead, though
in respect of their bodies they perceive it not. He will
not sure think it a happiness to be petrified or stupefied,
while others are enjoying the comforts of life; if he
do, it were the best course to sleep out our lives.

13. In Jude 7 the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
are spoken of, as "suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire"; and if the wicked do already suffer eternal fire,
then no doubt but the godly do enjoy eternal blessed-
ness. I know some understand the place, of that fire
which consumed their bodies, as being a type of the
fire of hell. I will not be very confident against this
exposition, but the text seemeth plainly to speak more.

14. It is also observable, that when John saw his
o-lorious revelations, he is said to be "in the Spirit":
Rev. i. 10, and iv. 2, and to be " carried away in the
Spirit": Rev. xvii. 3, and xxi. 10. And when Paul had
his revelations, and saw " things unutterable, he knew
not whether it were in the body, or out of the body."

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BEFORE THE RESURRECTION

All implying that spirits are capable of these glorious
things without the help of their bodies.

15. And though it be a prophetical, obscure book, yet
it seems to me, that those words in the Revelations do
imply this, where John " saw the souls under the altar " :
Rev. vi. 9, &c.

16. We are commanded by Christ, "not to fear them
that can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul '' :
Luke xii. 4. Doth not this plainly imply that when
wicked men have killed our bodies, that is, separated the
souls from them, yet the souls are still alive ?

17. The soul of Christ was alive when His body was
dead, and therefore so shall ours too; for His created
nature was like ours, except in sin. That Christ's human
soul was alive is a necessary consequent of its hypostatical
union with the Divine nature, as I judge. And by His
words to the thief, " This day shalt thou be with me in
Paradise''; so also by His voice on the cross; Luke xxiii.
46, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And
whether that in 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, "That He went and
preached to the spirits in prison," &c., will prove it, I
leave to others to judge. Read Illyricus' arguments in his
" Clavis Scriptura? " on this text. Many think that the
opposition is not so irregular, as to put the dative
a-apKc for ei/ crapKl^ as the subject recipient, and the dative
TTvkvixaTL for 5ta Trvei^/xaros, as the efficient cause ; but that
it is plainly to be understood as a regular opposition,
that Christ was mortified in the flesh, but vivified in
the spirit, that is, in the spirit which is usually put
in opposition to this flesh, which is the soul, by which
spirit, &c. But I leave this as doubtful ; there is enough
besides.

18. Why is there mention of God's breathing into man
the breath of life, and calling His soul a living soul.?
There is no mention of any such thing in the creating of

"187

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

other creatures ; sure therefore this makes some difference
between the life of our souls, and theirs.

19. It appears in SauFs calling for Samuel to the witch,
and in the Jews' expectation of the coming of Elias, that
they took it for current then, that Elias' and SamuePs
souls were living.

20. Lastly, if the spirits of those that were disobedient
in the days of Noah, were in prison (1 Pet. iii. 19), then
certainly the separated spirits of the just are in an
opposite condition of happiness. If any say that the
word "prison" signifieth not their full misery, but a
reservation thereto, I grant it; yet it importeth a re-
servation in a living and suffering state, for were they
nothing they could not be in prison.

Though I have but briefly named these twenty argu-
ments, and put them together in a narrow room, when some
men cannot see the truth without a multitude of words ;
yet I doubt not but if you will well consider them, you
will discern the clear evidence of Scripture verit}^ It is a
lamentable case, that the brutish opinion of the souPs
mortality should find so many patrons professing godli-
ness, when there is so clear light of Scripture against
them, and when the opinion tends to no other end than
the emboldening of sin, the cherishing of security, and
the great discomfort and discouragement of the saints,
and when many pagans were wiser in this without the
help of Scripture. Surely, this error is an introduction to
paganism itself. Yea more, the most of the nations in
the world, even the barbarous Indians, do by the light of
nature acknowledge that which these men deny, even that
there is a happiness and misery which the souls go pre-
sently to, which are separated from their bodies. I know
the silly evading answers that are used to be given to
the forementioned Scriptures, which being carried with
confidence and subtile words may soon shake the ordinary

188

BEFORE THE RESURRECTION

sort of Christians that are not able to deal with a
sophister. But if they be thoroughly dealt with, they
presently appear to be mere vanity or contradiction.
Were there but that one text, 2 Cor. v. 8, or that 1 Pet.
iii. 19, or, that Phil. i. 23, all the seducers in the world
could not answer them.

Believe therefore steadfastly, O faithful souls, that
whatever all the deceivers in the world shall say to the
contrary, your souls shall no sooner leave their prisons of
flesh, but angels will be their convoy, Christ will be their
company with all the perfected spirits of the just ; heaven
will be their residence, and God will be their happiness.
And you may boldly and believingly when you die, say as
Stephen, " Lord Jesus receive my spirit,"" and commend
it, as Christ did, into a Father's hands.

189

CHAPTER IX

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? Surely we may
all cry " guilty " to this accusation. 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 heart-contenting thoughts of God and
glory as we have of our earthly delights. How much
rest do the voluptuous seek, in buildings, walks, apparel,
ease, recreation, sleep, pleasing meats antl drinks, merry
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. Do we want ministers, godly society, or
the like helps ? Oh, think we, if it were but thus and
thus with us we were well. Do we enjoy them ? Oh,
how we settle upon them, and bless ourselves in them,
as the rich fool in his wealth ! Our books, our preachers,
sermons, friends, abilities for duty, do not our hearts hug
them, and quiet themselves in them even more than in
God ? Indeed, in words we disclaim it, and God hath
usually the pre-eminence in our tongues and professions ;
but it is too apparent that it is otherwise in our hearts,
by these discoveries :

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REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

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, be
not those mercies and duties most pleasant to us wherein
we stand at greatest distance from God ? We can read,
and study, and confer, preach and hear, day after 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, &c., all the town will hear of it ; but we can
miss our God and scarce bemoan our misery. Thus it
is apparent we exceedingly make the creature our rest.
Is it not enough that they are sweet delights and refresh-
ing helps in our way to heaven; but they must also be
made our heaven itself? Christian reader, I would as
willingly make thee sensible of this sin as of any sin in
the world, if I could tell how to do it; 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 :

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

"191

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

is this, but to make it our god ? Certainly to be the
souPs rest is God's own prerogative. And as it is
palpable idolatry to place our rest in riches and honours,
so it is but a more spiritual and 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 turn away from Him to the creature, and in our
hearts to deny Him ? When we fetch more of our
comfort and delight from the thoughts of prosperity
and those mercies which here we have at a distance from
God, than from the forethoughts of our everlasting-
blessedness in Him ; nay, when the thought of that day
when we must come to God is our greatest trouble ; and
we would do anything in the world to escape it ; but
our enjoyment of creatures, though absent from Him, is
the very thing our souls desire ; when we had rather talk
of Him than come to enjoy Him ; and had rather go
many miles to hear a powerful sermon of Christ and
heaven, than to enter and possess it ; oh, what vile
idolatry is this !

When we dispute against epicures, academics, and all
pagans, how earnestly do we contend that God is the
chief good, and the fruition of Him our chief happiness !
What clear arguments do we bring to evince it ! But do
we believe ourselves, or are we Christians in judgment,
and pagans in affection, or do v/e give our senses leave
to be the choosers of our happiness while reason and
faith stand by ? O Christians, how ill must our dear
Lord needs take it, when we give Him cause to complain,
as sometime He did of our fellow-idolaters, that we have
been lost sheep, and have forgotten our resting-place ;
when we give Him cause to say, why, " My people can
find rest in anything rather than in Me ; they can find
delight in one another but none in Me; thev can rejoice

192

KEPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

in My creatures and ordinances but not in Me ; yea, in
their very labours and duty they seek for rest, and not
in Me ; they had rather be anywhere than be with Me ;
are these their gods ; 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 furthest
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 in our choice prefer them before
Him ? As Elkanah said to Hannah, " Am not I better
to thee than ten sons ? " so when we are lonsrino; after crea-
tures we may hear God say, " Am not I better than all
the creatures to thee ? "'''

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 comfortable refreshments
in thy journey, and wouldst thou now dwell in thy inn
and go no further ? Thou dost not only contradict God
herein, but losest that benefit which thou mightest re-
ceive by them, yea, and makest them thy great hurt and
hindrance. 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, "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 professeth
he was not the Christ), but they are voices crying in
thii wilderness to bid us prepare, for the kingdom of
God, our true rest, is at hand. Therefore to rest here

193 N

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

were to turn all mercies clean contrary to their own ends,
and our own advantages, and to destroy ourselves with that
which should help us.

Consider whether it be not the most probable way to
cause God either to deny these mercies which we desire ;
or to take from us those which we enjoy ; or to embitter
them at least, or curse them to us ? Certainly, God is
nowhere so jealous as here. If you had a servant whom
your own wife loved better than she did yourself, would
you not both take it ill of such a wife and rid your house
of such a servant ? You will not suffer your child to use a
knife till he have wit to do it without hurting him. 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 un-
settle you. If He love you, no wonder if He take that from
you wherewith He sees you about to destroy yourselves.

It hath been my long 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 unsettlement, and have just overcome them ; and
begin with some content to look upon their condition,
and rest in it, they are usually near to death or ruin.
You know the story of the fool in the Gospel ; when a
man is once at this language, " Soul take thy ease or
rest," the next news usually is, " Thou fool, this night, or
this month, or this year, shall they require thy soul, and
then whose shall these things be." Oh, what house is
there, where this fool dwelleth not! Dear Christian
friends, you to whom I have especially relation, let you
and I consider whether this be not our own case. Have
not I after such an unsettled life, and after almost i"ve
years' living in the weary condition of war, and the un -

194

REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

pleasing life of a soldier, and after so many years' groan-
ing under the Church's unreformedness, and the great
fears that lay upon us, and after so many longings, and
prayers for these days ; have I not thought of them with
too much content ; and been ready to say, " soul take thy
rest " ? Have not I comforted myself more in the fore-
thoughts of enjoying these than of coming to heaven,
and enjoying God ? What wonder, then, if God cut me
off when I am just sitting down in this supposed rest !

And hath not the like been your condition? Many
of you have been soldiers, driven from house and home,
endured a life of trouble and blood, been deprived of
ministry and means, longing to see the Church's settling.
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 somewhat 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 over-loved. 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 with unpleasing condition, and our covetous
desires after more, are not so provoking to God, nor so
destructive to the sinner, as our too sweet enjoying, and
rest of spirit in a pleasing state. If God have crossed
any of you in wife, children, goods, friends, &c., either by
taking them from you, or the comfort of them, or the
benefit and blessing, try whether this above all other 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 wink at such idolatry, or suifer you quietly
to enjoy your idols.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Consider, if God should suffer thee thus to take up thy
rest here, it were one of the surest plagues and greatest
curses that could possibly befall thee. It were better for
thee if thou never hadst a day of ease or content in the
world, for then weariness might make thee seek after the
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 portion in this life " " and their good
things on the earth" is the lot of the most miserable,
perishing sinners. And doth it become Christians, then,
to expect so much here ? Our rest is our heaven ; and
where we take our rest there we make our heaven. And
Avouldst thou have but such a heaven as this ? Certainly,
as SauPs messengers found but MichaPs man of straw when
they expected David ; so wilt thou find but a rest of straw,
of wind, of vanity, when thou most needest rest. 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. But
that is the next.

Consider, thou seekest rest where it is not to be found,
and so wilt lose all thy labour, and, if thou proceed, thy
souFs eternal rest too. I think I shall easily evince this
by these clear demonstrations following :

Our rest is only in the full obtaining of our ultimate

end, but that is not to be expected in this life, therefore,

neither is rest to be here expected. Is God to be enjoyed

in the best reformed church, in the purest and powerfullest

j^rdinances here, as He is in heaven ? I know you will

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REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

all confess, " He is not."' How little of God not only the
multitude of the blind world, but sometimes the saints
themselves do enjoy, even under the most excellent means,
let their own frequent complainings testify. And how
poor comforters are the best ordinances and enjoyments
without God, the truly spiritual Christian knows. Will
a stone rest in the air in the midst of its fall, before it
comes to the earth ? No, because its centre is its end.
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 believed, pray, suffer
for ? I think you 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 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.

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 godly, to ungodly, to the
Church, 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 the midst of all our labours ? Indeed we may
take some refreshing and ease ourselves sometimes in our
troubles, if you will call that rest ; but that is not the
settling rest we now are speaking of. We may rest on
earth as the ark is said to have rested in the midst of
Jordan, a short and small rest, no question; or as the
angels of heaven are desired to turn in, and rest them
on earth ; they would have been loath to have taken
up their dwelling there. Should Israel have settled his
rest in the wilderness, among serpents, and enemies, and
weariness, and famine.? Should Noah have made the ark

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

his home, and have 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 raging 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 the instruments of death compass him
about ? I think he cares not how soon the battle is over.
And though he may adventure upon war for the obtain-
ing of peace, yet I hope he is not so mad as to take that
instead of peace. And are not Christians such travellers,
such mariners, such soldiers ? Have we not fears within
and troubles without ; are we not in the thickest of con-
tinual dangers ; we cannot eat, drink, sleep, labour, pray,
hear, confer, &c. but in the midst of snares and perils ;
and shall we sit down and rest here.? O Christian,
follow thy work, look to thy danger, hold on to the end,
win the field, and come off the ground, before thou think
of a settling rest.

I read indeed that Peter on the Mount, when he had
seen a glimpse of glory, said, "It is good for us to be
here." But sure when he was on the sea, in the midst
of waves, he doth not then say it is good to be here ; no,
then he hath other language, " Save, Master, we perish."
And even his desires to rest on the Mount are noted
in Scripture to come from hence, "He knew not what
he said"; it was on earth, though with Christ in His
transfiguration. And I dare say the like of thee, when-
ever thou talkest of resting on earth ; "Thou knowest not
what thou sayest." 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
only comforted him with telling him that he should rest
there on that cross, would he not have taken it for a

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derision ? Methinks it should be ill resting in the midst
of sicknesses and pains, persecution and distresses; one
would think it should be no contentful dwelling for
lambs among wolves. The wicked have some slender
pretence for their sin in this kind ; they are among their
friends, in the midst of their portion, enjoying all the
happiness that they are like to enjoy; but is it so with
the godly ? Surely, the world is at best but a step-mother
to them; nay, an open enemy. But if nothing else would
convince us, yet sure the remainders of sin which doth
so easily beset us should quickly satisfy a believer that
here is not his rest. What, a Christian, and rest in a
state of sinning ! it cannot be. Or do they hope for a
perfect freedom here ; that is impossible. I say therefore
to every one that thinketh of rest on earth, as Micah,
"Arise ye, depart, this is not your rest, because it is
polluted."^

The nature of all these things may convince you that
they cannot be a Christian's true rest ; they are too poor
to make us rich ; and too low to raise us to happiness ;
and too empty to fill our souls ; and too base to make us
blessed ; and of too short continuance to be our eternal
contents. They cannot subsist themselves without sup-
port from heaven ; how then can they give subsistence to
our souls ? Sure if prosperity, or whatsoever we here can
desire, be too base to make us gods of, then are they too
base to be our rest.

That which is the soul's true rest must be sufficient to
afford it perpetual satisfaction ; but all things below do
delight us only with fresh variety. The content which
any creature aifordeth doth wax old and abate after a
short enjoyment. We pine away for them, as Amnon
for his sister, and when we have satisfied our desire we
are weary of them and loathe them. If God should rain
1 Micah ii. 10.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

down angels' food, after a while our souls would loathe
that dry manna. The most dainty fare, the most costly
clothing would not please us were we tied to them alone.
The most sumptuous house, the softest bed, were we con-
fined to them, would be but a prison. One recreation
pleaseth not long ; we must have supply of new, or our
delights will languish ; nay, our delight in our society and
friendship, especially if carnal, is strongest while fresh.

And in the ordinances of God themselves, so far as we
delight in them for themselves and not for God, if novelty
support not, our delight grows dull. If we hear still the
same minister ; or if in preaching and praying he use oft
the same expressions; or if he preach oft the same sermon ;
how dull grows our devotion, though the matter be never
so good, and at first did never so highly please us ! If
we read the most excellent and pleasing books, the third
or fourth reading is usually more heartless than the first
or second ; nay, in our general way of Christianity, our
first godly acquaintance, our first preachers, our first
books, our first duties, have too commonly our strongest
affections. All creatures are to us as the flowers to the
bee ; there is but little of that matter which affords them
honey on any flower, and therefore they must have supply
of fresh variety, and take of each a superficial taste, and
so to the next. Yea, some having gone through variety
of states, and tasted of the pleasures of their own country,
do travel for fresh variety abroad ; and when they come
home, they usually betake themselves to some solitary
corner, and sit down, and cry with Solomon, "Vanity
and vexation ! " and with David, *' I have seen an end of
all perfection."" And can this be a place of rest for the
soul ?

Those that know the creature least do affect it most ;
the more it is known the less it satisfieth ; those only
are taken with it, who can see no further than its

^00

REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

outward beauty, not beholding its inward vanity; it is
like a comely picture, if you stand too near it, it appears
less beautiful ; we are prone to over-admire the persons
of men, places of honour, and other men's happy con-
dition ; but it is only while we do but half know them ;
stay but a while till we know them thoroughly, and have
discovered the evil as well as the good, and the defects
as well as the perfections, and then do we cease our
admiration.

VII

To have creatures and means without God who is
their end, is so far from being our happiness, that it
is an aggravation of our misery; even as to have food
without strength, and starve in the midst of plenty,
and as Pharaoh's kine, to devour all, and be lean still.
What the better were you, if you had the best minister
on earth, the best society, the purest Church, and there-
withal the most plentiful estate, but nothing of God?
If God should say, "Take My creatures. My word. My
servants, My ordinances, but not Myself,'' would you
take this for a happiness ? If you had the word of God,
and not the Word which is God; or the bread of the
Lord, and not the Lord which is the true bread ; or
could cry with the Jews, "The Temple of the Lord,"
and had not the Lord of the Temple ; this were a poor
happiness. Was Capernaum the more happy, or the
more miserable, for seeing the mighty works which they
had seen, and hearing the words of Christ which they
did hear? Surely, that which aggravates our sin and
misery cannot be our rest.

If all this be nothing, do but consult with experience,
both other men's and your own. Too many thousands
and millions have made trial ; but did ever one of these

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

find a sufficient rest for his soul on this earth ? Delights
I deny not but they have found, and imperfect temporary
content, 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 had also Naboth's vineyard ; and did that satisfy him,
think you, when he obtained it? If we had conquered
to ourselves the whole world, we should perhaps do as
Alexander is fabled to have done, sit down and weep
because there is never another world to conquer.

If I should send you forth as Noah's dove, to go
through the earth, to look for a resting-place, you would
return with a confession that you can find none. 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, or on the pinnacle of the temple. If
you ask riches, "Is there rest here?"" Even such as is
in a bed of thorns; or were it a bed of down yet you
must arise in the morning and leave it to the next guest
that shall succeed you. Or if you inquire of worldly
pleasure and ease, can they give you any tidings of true
rest ? Even such as the fish or bird hath in the net, or
in swallowing down the deceitful bait ; when the pleasure
is at the sweetest death is the nearest; it is just such a
content and happiness as the exhilarating vapours of the
wine do give to a man that is drunk ; it causeth a merry
and cheerful heart, it makes him forget his wants and
miseries, and conceive himself the happiest man in the
world, till his sick vomitings have freed him of his disease,
or sleep have assuaged and subdued those vapours which
deluded his phantasy and perverted his understanding,
and then he awakes a more unhappy man than ever he
was before ; such is the rest and happiness that all worldly
pleasures do afford. As the phantasy may be delighted
in a pleasant dream when all the senses are captivated

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REPKOVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

by sleep, so may the flesh or sensitive appetite when
the reasonable soul is captivated by security; but when
the morning comes the delusion vanisheth, and where is
the pleasure and happiness then ? Or if you should go
to learning, to purest, plentifullest, powerfullest ordi-
nances, or compass sea and land to find out the perfectest
church and holiest saints, and inquire whether there your
soul may rest, you might happily receive from these in-
deed an olive branch of hope, as they are means to your
rest, and have relation to eternity, but in regard of any
satisfaction in themselves you would remain as restless
as ever before. Oh, how well might all these answer many
of us with that indignation, as Jacob did Rachel, " Am
I instead of God ? " Or as the king of Israel said of the
messengers of the king of Assyria when he required him
to restore Naaman to health, " Am I God, to kill and to
make alive, that this man sends to me to recover a man
of his leprosy ? " so may the highest perfections on earth
say, "Are we God, or instead of God, that this man
comes to us to give a soul rest ? "

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, and demand of him ; behold his
circular 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. Or go to the conscionable painful minister, and
there you will yet more easily be satisfied; for though
his spending, killing, endless labours are exceeding sweet,
yet is it not because they are his rest, but in reference
to his people's and his own eternal rest, at which he
aims, and to which they may conduce. If you should
ascend to magistracy and inquire at the throne, you
would find there is no condition so restless, and your

203

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

hearts would even pity poor princes and kings. Doubt-
less neither court nor country, towns or cities, shops or
fields, treasuries, libraries, solitariness, society, studies,
or pulpits, can afford any such thing as this rest. If
you could inquire of the dead of all generations, or ii
you could ask the living through all dominions, 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 not rest." Go to Geneva,
go to New England, find out the church which you
think most happy, and we may say of it, as lamenting
Jeremiah of the church of the Jews, "She dwelleth
among the heathen, she findeth no rest, all her perse-
cutors overtake her." The holiest prophet, the blessedest
apostle would say, as one of the most blessed did, " Our
flesh had no rest; without were fightings, within were
fears." If neither Christ nor His apostles, to whom was
given the earth and the fulness thereof, had rest here,
why should we expect it ?

Or if other men's experiences move you not, do but
take a view of your own. Can you remember the estate
that did fully satisfy you ? Or if you could, will it prove
a lasting state ? For my own part, I have run through
several places and states of life, and though I never had
the necessities 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." Or
if you will not credit your past experience, you may try
in your present or future wants. When conscience is
wounded, God offended, your bodies weakened, your
friends afflicted, see if these can yield you rest. If then
either Scripture, or reason, or the experience of yourselves
and all the world, will [not] satisfy us, we may see there is
no resting here. And yet how guilty are the generality

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REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

of professors 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 embitter all these to us by
crosses, how do we strive to have the cross removed,
and the bitterness taken away, 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 per-
verseness, 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, if
it may be, we may make it our rest again ! And while
we are deprived of its actual enjoyment, and have not
our former idol to delight in, yet, rather than come to
God, we delight ourselves in our hopes of recovering our
former state ; and as long as there is the least likelihood
of obtaining 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, or certainly at
least immediately after), yet do they labour with patience,
and rest themselves on these expectations. Or if God
do take away both present enjoyments and all hopes
of ever recovering 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 sickness, in disgrace, while we are on earth, yet will we
rather settle in this misery and make a rest of a wretched
being than we will leave all and come to God. A man
would think that a multitude of poor people, who beg

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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, nor any hope of
recovery left them. But oh, the cursed averseness of
these souls from God ! We will rather account our I
misery our happiness, yea, that which we daily groan j
under as intolerable, than we will take up our happiness I
in God. If any place in hell were tolerable, the soul
would rather take up its rest there than come to God. \

Yea, when He is bringing us over to Him, and hath i
convinced us of the worth of His ways and service, the ;
last deceit of all is here ; we will rather settle upon those !
ways that lead to Him, and those ordinances which speak i
of Him, and those gifts which flow from Him than we '
will come clean over to Himself. Christian, marvel not j
that I speak so much of resting in these ; beware lest it 1.
should prove thy own case. I suppose thou art so far |
convinced of the vanity of riches and honour and carnal 5
pleasure that thou canst more easily disclaim these (and |
it is well if it be so) ; but for thy more spiritual mercies
in thy way of profession, thou lookest on these with less
suspicion, and thinkest they are so near to God that 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 increase of those mercies dull ,
thy longings after heaven ? If all were according to thy i
desire in the Church, wouldst thou not sit down and say,
"I am well, Soul, take thy rest"; and think it a judg- '
ment to be removed to heaven ? Surely if thy delight in
these excel not thy delight in God ; or if thou wouldst
gladly leave the most happy condition on earth, to
be with God; then art thou a rare man, a Christian
indeed. !

I know the means of grace must be loved and valued, i
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REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS

and the usual enjoyment of God is in the use of them;
and he that delighteth in any worldly thing more than in
them is not a true 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 church here than of
that perfect Church ; and rejoice in ordinances but as
they are part of our earthly prosperity ; this is a sad
mistake. Many a one of us were most willing to go to
heaven in the former days of persecution, when we had
no hopes of seeing the church reformed, and the King-
dom delivered : but now we are in hopes to have all
things almost as we desire, the case is altered; and we
begin to look at heaven as strangely and sadly, as if it
would be to our loss to be removed to it. Is this the
right use of reformation ? Or is this the way to have it
continued or perfected ? Should our deliverances draw
our hearts from God ? Oh, how much better were it in
every trouble to fetch our chief arguments of comfort
from the place where our chiefest rest remains ; and when
others comfort the poor with hopes of wealth, or the sick
with hopes of health and life let us comfort ourselves with
the hopes of heaven. 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 with quickening or comfort,
or gives Himself unto thy soul by them ; still remember-
ing, when thou hast even what thou dost desire, yet this
is not heaven ; yet these are but the first fruits. Is it not
enough that God alloweth us all the comfort of travellers,
and accordingly to rejoice in all His mercies, but we must
set up our staff as if we were at home ? While we are
present 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

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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 con-
tents, and pray God to pardon them much more. And
above all the plagues and judgments of God on this side
hell, see that you watch and pray against this, of settling
anywhere shoH of heaven, or reposing your souls to rest on
anything below God. Or else, when the bough which you
tread on breaks, and the things which you rest upon
deceive you, you will perceive your labour all lost, and
your sweetest contents to be preparatives to your woe,
and your highest hopes will make you ashamed. Try,
if you can persuade Satan to leave tempting, and the
world to cease both troubling and seducing, and sin to
cease inhabiting and acting ; 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.

208

CHAPTER X

REPROVING OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

Is there a rest remaining for the people of God ? Why
are we then so loath to die, and to depart from hence
that we may possess this rest? If I may judge of
others' hearts by my own, we are exceeding guilty in this
point. We linger, as Lot in Sodom, till God being
merciful to us, doth pluck us away against our wills.
How rare is it to meet with a Christian, though of
strongest parts, and longest profession, that can die with
an unfeigned willingness ! Especially if worldly calamity
constrain them not to be willing! Indeed, we sometimes
set a good face on it, and pretend a willingness when we
see there is no remedy, and that our unwillingness is only
a disgrace to us, but will not help to prolong our lives :
but if God had enacted such a law for the continuance
of our lives on earth as is enacted for the continuance
of the Parliament, that we should not be dissolved till
our own pleasure ; and that no man should die till he
were truly willing ; I fear heaven might be empty for the
most of us ; and if our worldly prosperity did not fade,
our lives on earth would be very long, if not eternal.
We pretend desires of being better prepared, and of
doing God some greater service, and to that end we beg
one year more, and another, and another; but still our
promised preparation and service is as far to seek as ever
before, and we remain as unwilling to die, as we were

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

when we begged our first reprieval. If God were not
more willing of our company than we are of His, how
long should we remain thus distant from Him ? And
as we had never been sanctified if God had staid till
we were willing; so if He should refer it wholly to
ourselves, it would at least be long before we should
be glorified. I confess that death of itself is not desir-
able ; but the souPs rest with God is, to which death is
the common passage. And because we are apt to make
light of this sin, and to plead our common nature for to
patronize it, let me here set before you its aggravations ;
and also propound some further considerations, which
may be useful to you and myself against it.

Consider what a deal of gross infidelity doth lurk in the
bowels of this sin, either paganish unbelief of the truth
of that eternal blessedness and of the truth of the Scrip-
ture which doth promise it to us, or at least a doubting
of our own interest ; or most usually somewhat of both
these. And though Christians are usually most sensible
of the latter, and therefore complain most against it,
yet I am apt to suspect the former to be the main
radical master-sin and of greatest force in this business.
Oh, if we did but verily believe that the promise of this
glory is the word of God and that God doth truly
mean as He speaks and is fully resolved to make it
good ; if we did verily believe that there is indeed such
blessedness prepared for believers as the Scripture men-
tioneth, sure we should be as impatient of living as we
are now fearful of dying, and should think every day a
year till our last day should come; we should as hardly
I'efrain from laying violent hands on ourselves, or from

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OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

the neglecting of the means of our health and life, as we
do now from over-much carefulness and seeking of life
by unlawful means. If the eloquent oration of a philo-
sopher concerning the soul's immortality and the life to
come could make his affected hearer presently to cast
himself headlong from the rock as impatient of any
longer delay, what would a serious Christian's belief do,
if God's law against self-murder did not restrain ? Is
it possible that we can truly believe that death will
remove us from misery to such glory, and yet be loath
to die ? If it were the doubts of our own interest which
did fear us, yet a true belief of the certainty and excel-
lence of this rest would make us restless till our interest
be cleared. If a man that is desperately sick to-day did
believe he should arise sound the next morning, or a
man to-day in despicable poverty had assurance that he
should to-morrow arise a prince, would they be afraid
to go to bed ? Or rather think it the longest day of
their lives till that desired night and morning come ?
The truth is, though there is much faith and Christianity
in our mouths yet there is much infidelity and paganism
in our hearts, which is the main cause that we are so
loath to die.

Ill

And as the weakness of our faith, so also the coldness
of our love, is exceedingly discovered by our unwilling-
ness to die. Love doth desire the nearest conjunction,
the fullest fruition, and closest communion ; where these
desires are absent, there is only a naked pretence of
love ; he that ever felt such a thing as love working in
his breast hath also felt these desires attending it. If
we love our friend we love his company; his presence
is comfortable ; his absence is troublesome. When he

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fjoes from us we desire his return ; when he comes to us
we entertain him with welcome and gladness; when he
dies we mourn and usually over-mourn.

To be separated from a faithful friend is to us as the
rending of a member from our bodies ; and would not
our desires after God be such if we really loved Him ?
Nay, should it not be much more than such, as He is
above all friends most lovely ? The Lord teach us to
look closely to our hearts and take heed of self-deceit in
this point ; for certainly whatever we pretend or conceit,
if we love either father, mother, husband, wife, child,
friend, wealth, or life more than Christ we are yet none
of His sincere disciples. When it comes to the trial, the
question will not be, who hath preached most, or heard
most, or talked most, but who hath loved most.^ when
our account is given in Christ will not take sermons,
prayers, fastings, no, nor the giving of our goods, nor the
burning of our bodies instead of love. And do we
love Him and yet care not how long we are from Him ?
If I be deprived of my bosom-friend methinks I am as a
man in the wilderness, solitary and disconsolate ; and is
my absence from God no part of my trouble, and yet can
I take Him for my chiefest friend ?

If I delight but in some garden or walk or gallery I
would be much in it ; if I love my books I am much
with them and almost unweariedly poring on them.
The food which I love I would often feed on ; the clothes
that I love I would often wear ; the recreations which I
love I would often use them ; the business which I love
I would be much employed in ; and can I love God,
and that above all these, and yet have no desires to be
with Him ? Is it not a far likelier sign of hatred than
of love, when the thoughts of our appearing before God
are our most grievous thoughts ; and when we take our-
selves as undone, because we must die and come unto

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Him ? Surely, I should scarce take him for an un-
feigned friend who were as well contented to be absent
from me, as we ordinarily are to be absent from God.
Was it such a joy to Jacob to see the face of Joseph in
Egypt, and shall we so dread the sight of Christ in glory,
and yet say we love Him ?

I dare not conclude that we have no love at all when
we are so loath to die ; but I dare say, were our love
more we should die more willingly. Yea, I dare say, did
we love God but as strongly as a worldling loves his wealth,
or an ambitious man his honour, or a voluptuous man
his pleasure, yea, as a drunkard loves his swinish delight,
or an unclean person his brutish lust, we should not then
be so exceeding loath to leave the world and go to God.
Oh, if this holy flame of love were thoroughly kindled in
our breasts, instead of our pressing fears, our dolorous
complaints, and earnest prayers against death, we should
join in David's wilderness lamentations, " As the hart
panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after
Thee, O God; my soul thirsteth for God, for the living
God, when shall I come and appear before God?"" The
truth is, as our knowledge of God is exceeding dark, and
our faith in Him exceeding feeble, so is our love to Him
but little, and therefore are our desires after Him so dull.

It appears we are little weary of sinning when we are
so unwilling to be freed by dying. Did we take sin for
the greatest evil we should not be willing of its company
so long ; did we look on sin as our cruellest enemy and
on a sinful life as the most miserable life, sure we should
then be more willing of a change. But oh, how far are
our hearts from our doctrinal profession in this point

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also ! We preach and write and talk against sin, and call
it all that naught is, and when we are called to leave it
we are loath to depart ; we brand it with the most
odious names that we can imagine (and all far short of
expressing its vileness), but when the approach of death
puts us to the trial we choose a continuance with these
abominations before the presence and fruition of God.
But as Nemon smote his soldier for railing against
Alexander his enemy, saying, " I hired thee to fight
against him and not to rail against him " ; so may God
smite us also when He shall hear our tongues reviling
that sin which we resist so slothful ly and part with so
unwillingly. Christians, seeing we are conscious that our
hearts deserve a smiting for this, let us join together to
chide and smite our own hearts, before God do judge and
smite them.

O foolish sinful heart, hast thou been so long a sink of
sin, a cage of all unclean lusts, a fountain uncessantly
streaming forth the bitter and deadly waters of trans-
gression, and art thou not yet aweary ? Wretched soul,
hast thou been so long wounded in all thy faculties, so
grievously languishing in all thy performances, so fruitful
a soil for all iniquities, and art thou not yet more weary ?
Hast thou not yet transgressed long enough, nor long
enough provoked thy Lord, nor long enough abused love,
wouldst thou yet grieve the Spirit more, and sin against
thy Saviour's blood, and more increase thine own wounds,
and still lie under thy grievous imperfections ? Hath thy
sin proved so profitable a commodity, so necessary a com-
panion, such a delightful employment, that thou dost so
much dread the parting day ? Hath thy Lord deserved
this at thy hands, that thou shouldst choose to continue
in the suburbs of hell rather than live with Him in light,
and rather stay and drudge in sin and abide with His and
thy own professed enemy than come away and dwell with

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

God ? May not God justly grant thee thy wishes, and
seal thee a lease of thy desired distance, and nail thy
ear to these doors of misery, and exclude thee eternally
from His glory ?

Foolish sinner, who hath wronged thee, God, or sin ?
Who hath wounded thee and caused thy groans, who hath
made thy life so woful, and caused thee to spend thy days
in dolour, is it Christ, or is it thy corruption ? And art
thou yet so loath to think of parting ? Shall God be
willing to dwell with man, and the Spirit to abide in thy
peevish heart, and that where sin doth straiten his room
and a cursed inmate inhabit with him which is ever quarrel-
ing and contriving against him, and shall man be loath
to come to God, where is nothing but perfect blessedness
and glory? Is not this to judge ourselves unworthy of
everlasting life ? If they in Acts xiii. 46, who put the
gospel from them, did judge themselves unworthy, do not
we who fly from life and glory ?

It shews that we are insensible of the vanity of the
creature, and of the vexation accompanying our residence
here, when we are so loath to hear or think of a removal.
Whatever we say against the world, or how grievous
soever our complaints may seem, we either believe not,
or feel not what we say, or else we should be answerably
affected to it. We call the world our enemy, and cry out
of the oppression of our task-masters, and groan under
our sore bondage; but either we speak not as we think,
or else we imagine some singular happiness to consist in
the possession of worldly things for which all this should
be endured. Is any man loath to leave his prison, or to
remove his dwelling from cruel enemies, or to escape the

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hands of murderous robbers ? Do we take the world indeed
for our prison, our cruel, spoiling, murderous foe, and yet
are we loath to leave it ? Do we take this flesh for the
clog of our spirits, and a veil that is drawn betwixt us
and God, and a continual in-dwelling traitor to our souls,
and yet are we loath to lay it down ? Indeed Peter was
smitten by the angel before he arose and left his prison,
but it was more from his ignorance of his intended de-
liverance than any unwillingness to leave the place. I
have read of Joseph's long imprisonment, and Daniel's
casting into the den of lions, and Jeremiah's sticking fast
in the dungeon, and Jonah's lying in the belly of the
whale, and David from the deep, crying to God, but I
remember not that any were loath to be delivered. I
have read, indeed, that they suffered cheerfully, and
rejoiced in being afflicted, destitute and tormented, yea,
and that some of them would not accept of deliverance,
but not from any love to the suffering, or any unwilling-
ness to change their condition ; but because of the hard
terms of their deliverance, and from the hope they had of
a better resurrection. Though Paul and Silas could sing
in the stocks, and comfortably bear their cruel scourgings,
yet I do not believe they were unwilling to go forth, nor
took it ill when God relieved them.

Ah, foolish wretched soul, doth every prisoner groan for
freedom, and every slave desire his jubilee, and every sick
man long for health, and every hungry man for food, and
dost thou alone abhor deliverance ? Doth the seaman long
to see the land, doth the husbandman desire the harvest,
and the labouring man to receive his pay, doth the
traveller long to be at home, and the runner long to win
the prize, and the soldier long to win the field, and art
thou loath to see thy labours finished and to receive the
end of thy faith and sufferings, and to obtain the thing
for which thou livest ? Are all thy sufferings only seeming,

^16

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

have thy gripes, thy griefs and groans been only dreams ?
If they were, yet methinks we should not be afraid of
waking. Fearful dreams are not delightful. Or is it
not rather the world's delights that are all mere dreams
and shadows, is not all its glory as the light of a glow-
worm, a wandering fire, yielding but small directing light,
and as little comforting heat in all our doubtful and
sorrowful darkness ?

Or hath the world in these its latter days laid aside its
ancient enmity ? Is it become of late more kind, hath it
left its thorny rending nature .'' Who hath wrought this
great change, and who hath made this reconciliation?
Surely not the great Reconciler ; He hath told us, in the
world we shall have trouble, and in Him only we shall
have peace. We may reconcile ourselves to the world,
at our peril, but it will never reconcile itself to us. O
foolish unworthy soul ! who hadst rather dwell in this
land of darkness, and rather wander in this barren wilder-
ness than be at rest with Jesus Christ ; who hadst rather
stay among the wolves and daily suffer the scorpions'
stings than to praise the Lord with the hosts of heaven !
If thou didst well know what heaven is and what earth is,
it would not be so.

This unwillingness to die doth actually impeach us of
high treason against the Lord. Is it not a choosing of
earth before Him, and taking these present things for our
happiness, and consequently making them our very god ?
If we did indeed make God our god, that is, our end, our
rest, our portion, our treasure ; how is it possible but we
should desire to enjoy Him ? It behoves us the rather to
be fearful of this, it being utterly inconsistent with saving
grace, to value anything before God, or to make the
creature our highest end. Many other sins foul and

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

great may possibly yet consist with sincerity ; but so, I
am certain, cannot that. But concerning this I have
spoke before.

VII

And all these defects being thus discovered, what a
deal of dissembling doth it moreover show ? We take on
us to believe undoubtedly the exceeding eternal weight of
glory ; we call God our chiefest good, and say we love
Him above all ; and for all this we fly from Him, as if it
were from hell itself. Would you have any man believe
you when you call the Lord your only hope, and speak of
Christ as all in all, and talk of the joy that is in His
presence, and yet would endure the hardest life rather
than die and come in His presence? What self-contra-
diction is this, to talk so hardly of the world and flesh, to
groan and complain of sin and suffering, and yet fear no
day more than that which we expect should bring our
final freedom ?

What shameless gross dissembling is this, to spend so
many hours and days in hearing sermons, reading books,
conferring with others, and all to learn the way to a place
which we are loath to come to ; to take on us all our life-
time to walk towards heaven, to run, to strive, to fight for
heaven which we are loath to come to ? What apparent
palpable hypocrisy is this, to lie upon our knees in public
and private, and spend one hour after another in prayer
for that which we would not have ? If one should over-
hear thee in thy daily devotions crying out, "'Lord,
deliver me from this body of death, from this sin, this
sickness, this poverty, these cares and fears, how long
Lord shall I suffer these ? "" and withal should hear thee
praying against death, can He believe thy tongue agrees
with thy heart except thou have so far lost thy reason as
to expect all this here, or except the Papists' doctrine

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OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

were true, that we are able to fulfil the law of God, or
our late perfectionists are truly enlightened, who think
they can live and not sin; but if thou know these to
be undoubtedly false how canst thou deny thy gross
dissembling ?

VIII

Consider, how do we wrong the Lord and His promises,
and disgrace His ways in the eyes of the world ? As if we
would actually persuade them to question whether God
be true of His word or no, whether there be any such
glory as Scripture mentions ; when they see those who
have professed to live by faith, and have boasted of their
hopes in another world, and persuaded others to let go all
for these hopes, and spoken disgracefully of all things
below in comparison of these unexpressible things above,
I say, when they see these very men so loath to leave
their hold of present things, and to go to that glory
which they talked and boasted of, how doth it make the
weak to stagger, and confirm the world in their unbelief
and sensuality, and make them conclude : sure, if these
professors did expect so much glory, and make so light
of the world as they seem, they would not themselves be
so loath of a change. Oh, how are we ever able to repair
the wrong which we do to God and poor souls by this
scandal ! And what an honour to God, what a strength-
ening to believers, what a conviction to unbelievers would
it be, if Christians in this did answer their professions
and cheerfully welcome the news of rest ?

It evidently discovers that we have been careless
loiterers, that we have spent much time to little purpose,
and that we have neglected and lost a great many of [our]

219

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

warnings. Have we not had all our lifetime to prepare
to die, so many years to make ready for one hour, and
are we so unready and unwilling yet? What have we
done? Why have we lived that the business of our
lives is so much undone ? Had we any greater matters
to mind ? Have we not foolishly wronged our souls in
this ? Would we have wished more frequent warnings ?
How oft hath death entered the habitations of our
neighbours, how oft hath it knocked at our own doors !
We have first heard that such an one is dead, and then
such an one, and such an one, till our towns have changed
most of their inhabitants ; and was not all this a suffi-
cient warning to tell us that we were also mortals, and our
own turn would shortly come ? Nay, we have seen death
raging in towns and fields, so many hundred a day dead
of the pestilence, so many thousand slain of the sword ;
and did we not know it would reach to us at last ? How
many distempers have vexed our bodies, frequent languish-
ings, consuming weaknesses, wasting fevers, here pain and
there trouble, that we have been forced to receive the
sentence of death ! And what were all these but so many
messengers sent from God to tell us we must shortly die ;
as if we had heard a lively voice, bidding us, " delay no
more, but make you ready " ; and are we unready and un-
willing after all this? O careless dead-hearted sinners!
unworthy neglecters of God's warnings, faithless betrayers
of our own souls !

All these heinous aggravations do lie upon this sin
of unwillingness to die, which I have laid down to make
it hateful to my own soul (which is too much guilty
of it) as well as yours. And for a further help to
our prevailing against it I shall adjoin these following
considerations :

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

Consider, not to die were never to be happy. To
escape death were to miss of blessedness, except God
should translate us as Enoch and Elias, which he never
did before or since. If our hope in Christ were in this
life only we were then of all men most miserable; the
epicure hath more pleasure to his flesh than the Chris-
tian ; the drunkard, the whoremaster, and the jovial lads
do swagger it out with gallantry and mirth when a poor
saint is mournins: in a corner. Yea, the verv beasts of
the field do eat and drink and skip and play and care for
nothing, when many a Christian dwells with sorrows; so
that if you would not die and go to heaven what would
you have more than an epicure, or a beast P What doth
it avail us to fight with beasts, as men, if it were not for
our hopes of a life to come ? Why do we pray and fast
and mourn, why do we suffer the contempt of the world,
why are we the scorn and hatred of all, if it were not for
our hopes after we are dead ? Why are we Christians,
and not pagans and infidels, if we do not desire a life to
come ? Why Christian, wouldst thou lose thy faith, and
lose thy labour in all thy duties, and all thy sufferings ;
wouldst thou lose thy hope, and lose all the end of thy
life, and lose all the blood of Christ, and be contented
with the portion of a worldling, or a brute ? If thou say
no to this, how canst thou then be loath to die? As
good old Milius said when he lay a-dying, and was asked
whether he were willing to die or no ; " Illius est nolle
mori qui nolit ire ad Christum ; '' a saying of Cyprian's
which he oft repeated, " Let him be loath to die, who
is loath to be with Christ."

221

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Consider, is God willing by death to glorify us, and
are we unwilling to die that we may be glorified ? Would
God freely give us heaven, and are we unwilHng to re-
ceive it ? As the prince who would have taken the lame
beggar into his coach and he refused, said to him,
" Optime mereris qui in Into hcereas. Thou well deservest
to stick in the dirt.*" So may God to the refusers
of rest : You well deserve to live in trouble. Methinks
if a prince were willing to make you his heir you should
scarce be unwilling to accept it. Sure the refusing of
such a kindness, must needs discover ingratitude and
unworthiness. As God hath resolved against them who
make excuses when they should come to Christ, " Verily
none of these that were bidden shall taste of My supper" ;
so is it just with Him to resolve against us who frame
excuses when we should come to glory. Ignatius, when
he was condemned to be torn with wild beasts, was so
afraid, lest by the prayers and means of his friends he
should lose the opportunity and benefit of martyrdom,
that he often entreats them to let him alone, and not
hinder his happiness; and tells them he was afraid of
their love lest it would hurt him, and their carnal friend-
ship would keep him from death.

XII

The Lord Jesus was willing to come from heaven to
earth for us, and shall we be unwilling to remove from
earth to heaven for ourselves and Him ? Sure if we had
been once possessed of heaven, and God should have sent
us to earth again, as He did His Son for our sakes, we

222

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

should then have been loath to remove indeed. It was
another kind of change than ours is which Christ did
freely submit unto ; to clothe Himself with the garments
of flesh, and to take upon Him the form of a servant, to
come from the bosom of the Father's love, to bear His
wrath which we should have borne. Shall He come
down to our hell, from the height of glory to the depth
of misery, to bring us up to His eternal rest, and shall
we be after this unwilling ? Sure Christ had more cause
to be unwilling. He might have said, " What is it to
Me if these sinners suffer? If they value their flesh
above their spirits, and their lusts above My Father's
love, if they needs will sell their souls for nought, who is
it fit should be the loser, and who should bear the blame
and curse ? Should I whom they have wronged ? ]\Iust
they wilfully transgress My law, and I undergo their de-
served pain ? Is it not enough that I bear the trespass
from them, but I must also bear My Father's wrath, and
satisfy the justice which they have wronged ? Must I
come down from heaven to earth, and clothe Myself with
human flesh, be spit upon and scorned by man, and fast
and weep and sweat and suffer and bleed and die a cursed
death, and all this for wretched worms who would rather
hazard all they had, and venture their souls and God's
favour, than they would forbear but one forbidden morsel?
Do they cast away themselves so slightly, and must I
redeem them again so dearly ? "

Thus we see that Christ had much to have pleaded
against His coming down for man, and yet He pleaded
none of this. He had reason enough to have made Him
unwilling, and yet did He voluntarily condescend. But
we have no reason against our coming to Him, except we
will reason against our hopes, and plead for a perpetuity
of our own calamities. Christ came down to fetch us up,
and would we have Him lose His blood and labour, and

223

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

go away again without us? Hath He bought our rest
at so dear a rate ; is our inheritance purchased with the
blood of God ; and are we after all this loath to enter ?
Ah, sirs, it was Christ and not we that had cause to
be loath. The Lord forgive and heal this foolish in-
gratitude.

XIII

Consider, do we not combine with our most cruel,
mortal foes; and jump with them in their most malicious
design while we are loath to die and go to heaven?
Where is the height of their malice, and what is the
scope of all temptations, and what is the devil's daily
business ? Is it not to keep our souls from God ? And
shall we be well content with this, and join with Satan
in our desires? What though it be not those eternal
torments, yet it is the one half of hell which we wish to
ourselves while we desire to be absent from heaven and
God. If thou shouldst take counsel of all thine enemies,
if thou shouldst beat thy brains both night and day, in
studying to do thyself a mischief, what greater than this
could it possibly be, to continue here on earth from God,
excepting only hell itself? Oh, what sport is this to
Satan that his desires and thine should so concur ; that
when he sees he cannot get thee to hell he can so long
keep thee out of heaven, and make thee the earnest peti-
tioner for it thyself. Oh, gratify not the devil so much to
thy own displeasure.

XIV

Do not our daily fears of death make our lives a
continual torment, the fears of death, as Erasmus saith,
being a sorer evil than death itself? And thus as Paul

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OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

did die daily in regard of preparation, and in regard of
the necessary sufferings of his life ; so do we in regard
of the torments and the useless sufferings which we make
ourselves. Those lives which might be full of joys in
the daily contemplation of the life to come and the sweet
delightful thoughts of bliss, how do we fill them up with
terrors through all these causeless thoughts and fears?
Thus do we consume our own comforts, and prey upon
our truest pleasures. When we might lie down, and
rise up, and walk abroad with our hearts full of the joys
of God we continually fill them with perplexing fears.
For he that fears dying must be always fearing, because
he hath always cause to expect it. And how can that
man's life be comfortable who lives in continual fear of
losing his comforts ?

Moreover, all these are self-created sufferings ; as if
it were not enough to be the deservers, but we must also
be the executioners of our own calamities ! As if God
had not inflicted enough upon us, but we must inflict more
upon ourselves ! Is not death bitter enough to the flesh
of itself, but we must double and treble and multiply its
bitterness? Do we complain so much of the burden of
our troubles, and yet daily add unto the weight? Sure
the state of poor mortals is sufficiently calamitous; they
need not make it so much worse. The sufferings laid
upon us by God do all lead to happy issues ; the progress
is from suffering to patience, from thence to experience,
and so to hope, and at last to glory. But the sufferings
which we do make ourselves have usually issues answer-
able to their causes ; the motion is circular and endless,
from sin to suffering, from suffering to sin, and so to
suffering again, and so in injinitum. And not only so,

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

but they multiply in their course; every sin is greater
than the former, and so every suffering also greater. This
is the natural progress of them, which if mercy do inter-
cept, no thanks to us. So that except we think that God
hath made us to be our own tormentors we have small
reason to nourish our fears of death.

XVI

Consider further, they are all but useless, unprofitable
fears. As all our care cannot make one hair white or
black, nor add one cubit to our stature, so can neither our
fear prevent our sufferings, nor delay our dying time an
hour ; willing or unwilling we must away. Many a man's
fears have hastened his end, but no man's ever did avert it.
It is true, a cautelous fear or care concerning the danger
after death hath profited many, and is very useful to the
preventing of that danger ; but for a member of Christ
and an heir of heaven to be afraid of entering his own
inheritance, this is a sinful, useless fear.

XVII

But though it be useless in respect of good, yet to Satan
it is very serviceable. Our fears of dying ensnare our
souls, and add strength to many temptations ; nay, when
we are called to die for Christ, and put to it in a day
of trial, it may draw us to deny the known truth and
forsake the Lord God Himself. You look upon it now
as a small sin, a common frailty of human nature ; but
if you look to the dangerous consequences of it, methinks
it should move you to other thoughts. What made
Peter deny his Lord ; what makes apostates in suffering

S26

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

times forsake the truth ; and the green blade of unrooted
faith to wither before the heat of persecution ? Fear of
imprisonment and poverty may do much but fear of death
will do much more. When you see the gibbet or hear
the sentence, if this fear of dying prevail in you, you will
straight begin to say as Peter, " I know not the man/'
When you see the faggots set and fire ready, you will say
as that apostate to the martyr, " Oh, the fire is hot, and
nature is frail,*" forgetting that the fire of hell is hotter.
Sirs, as light as you make of it, you know not of what force
these fears are to separate your souls from Jesus Christ.
Have we not lately had frequent experience of it ?

How many thousands have fled in fight, and turned
their back on a good cause, where they knew the honour
of God was concerned, and their country's Avelfare was
the prize for which they fought, and the hopes of their
posterity did lie at the stake, and all through unworthy
fear of dying ! Have we not known those who, lying under
a wounded conscience and living in the practice of some
known sin, durst scarce look the enemy in the face, be-
cause they durst not look death in the face; but have
trembled and drawn back and cried, " Alas, I dare not
die ; if I were in the case of such or such, I durst die.''
He that dare not die dare scarce fight valiantly. There-
fore we have seen in our late wars that there is none more
valiant than these two sorts : those who have conquered
the fear of death by the power of faith, and those who
have extinguished it by desperate profaneness, and cast
it away through stupid security. So much fear as we have
of death, usually so much cowardice in the cause of God.
However, it is an evident temptation and snare. Beside
the multitude of unbelieving contrivances and discontents
at the wise disposals of God, and hard thoughts of most
of His providences, which this sin doth make us guilty
of; it also loseth us much precious time and that for

227

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

the most part near our end. When time should be most
precious of all to us, and when it should be employed to
better purpose, then do we vainly and sinfully waste it
in the fruitless issues of these distracting fears. So that
you see how dangerous a snare these fears are, and how
fruitful a parent of many evils.

y XVIII

Consider, what a competent time the most of us have
had ; some thirty, some forty, some fifty or sixty years.
How many come to the grave younger for one that lives
to the shortest of these ? Christ Himself, as is generally
thought, lived but thirty-three years on earth. If it
were to come, as it is past, you would think thirty years
a long time. Did you not long ago in your threatening
sickness think with yourselves, " Oh if I might enjoy but
one seven years more, or ten years more ! " and now you
have enjoyed perhaps more than you then begged, and
are you nevertheless unwilling yet ; except you would not
die at all, but desire an immortality here on earth, which
is a sin inconsistent with the truth of grace. If your
sorrow be merely this, that you are mortal, you might as
well have lamented it all your lives, for sure you could
never be ignorant of this. Why should not a man that
would die at all be as well willing at thirty or forty, if
God see it meet, as at seventy or eighty ? Nay, usually
when the longest day is come men are as loath to depart as
ever. He that loseth so many years hath more cause to
bewail his own neglect than to complain of the shortness
of his time, and were better lament the wickedness of his
life than the brevity. Length of time doth not conquer
corruption ; it never withers nor decays through age.
Except we receive an addition of grace as well as time we

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naturally grow the older the worse. Let us then be
contented with our allotted proportion.

And as we are convinced that we should not murmur
against our assigned degree of wealth, of health, of
honour, and other things here, so let us not be dis-
contented with our allowed proportion of time. O my
soul, depart in peace. Hast thou not here enjoyed a
competent share? As thou wouldst not desire an un-
limited state in wealth and honour, so desire it not in
point of time. Is it fit that God or thou should be the
sharer.'^ If thou wert sensible how little thou deservest
an hour of that patience which thou hast enjoyed, thou
wouldst think thou hast had a large part. Wouldst
thou have thy age called back again ; canst thou eat
thy bread and have it too.'' Is it not Divine wisdom
that sets the bounds.? God will not let one have all
the work nor all the offering, nor all the honour of the
work. He will honour Himself by variety of instruments,
by various persons, and several ages, and not by one
person or age. Seeing thou hast acted thine own part
and finished thine appointed course, come down con-
tentedly that others may succeed who must have their
turns as well as thou. As of all other outward things,
so also of that time and life, thou mayest as well have
too much as too little ; only of God and eternal life thou
canst never enjoy too much nor too long. Great re-
ceivings will have great accounts ; where the lease is
longer the fine and rent must be the greater. Much
time hath much duty. Is it not as easy to answer for
the receivings and the duties of thirty years, a^ of an
hundred ? Beg therefore for grace to improve it better,
but be content with thy share of time.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST
XIX

Consider, thou hast had a competency of the comforts
of life and not of naked time alone. God might have
made thy life a misery, till thou hadst been as weary of
possessing it as thou art now afraid of losing it. If
He had denied thee the benefits and ends of living thy
life would have been but a slender comfort. They in
hell have life as well as we, and longer far than they
desire. God might have suffered thee to have consumed
thy days in ignorance, or to have spent thy life to the
last hour before He brought thee home to Himself, and
given thee the saving knowledge of Christ; and then
thy life had been short though thy time long. But He
hath opened thine eyes in the morning of thy days, and
acquainted thee betimes with the trade of thy life. I
know the best are but negligent loiterers, and spend not
their time according to its worth ; but yet he that hath
an hundred years' time and loseth it all, lives not so
long as he that hath but twenty and bestows it well.
It is too soon to go to hell at an hundred years old, and
not too soon to go to heaven at twenty. The means are
to be valued in reference to their end ; that is the best
means which speediest and surest obtaineth the end.
He that hath enjoyed most of the ends of life hath had
the best life, and not he that hath lived longest. You
that are acquainted with the life of grace, what if you
live but twenty or thirty years ? Would you change it
for a thousand years of wickedness ?

God might have let you have lived like the ungodly
world, and then you would have had cause to be afraid
of dying. We have lived in a place and time of light ;
in Europe, not in Asia, Africa, or America ; in England,
not in Spain or Italy ; in the age when knowledge doth
most abound, and not in our forefathers'* days of dark-

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

ness; we have lived among Bibles, sermons, books, and
Christians. As one acre of fruitful soil is better than
many of barren commons ; as the possession of a kingdom
for one year is better than a lease of a cottage for twenty ;
so twenty or thirty years, living in such a place or age
as we, is better than Methuselah's age in the case of
most of the world besides. And shall we not then be
contented with our portion ? If we who are ministers
of the Gospel have seen abundant fruit of our labours;
if God hath blessed our labour in seven years more than
some others in twenty or thirty ; if God have made us
the happy, though unworthy, means of converting and
saving more souls at a sermon than some better men in
all their lives; what cause have we to complain of the
shortness of our time in the work of God? Would
unprofitable, unsuccessful preaching have been comfort-
able ? Will it do us good to labour to little purpose,
so we may but labour long ? If our desires of living
are for the service of the Church, as our deceitful hearts
are still pretending, then sure if God honour us to do
the more service though in the lesser time, we have our
desire. God will have each to have his share ; when we
have had ours let us rest contented.

Persuade then thy backward soul to its duty, and
argue down these dreadful thoughts. Unworthy wretch,
hath thy Father allowed thee so large a part, and caused
thy lot to fall so well, and given thee thine abode in
pleasant places, and filled up all thy life with mercies,
and dost thou now think thy share too small ? Is not
that which thy life doth want in length made up in
breadth, and weight, and sweetness? Lay all together,
and look about thee, and tell me how many of thy
neighbours have more, how manv in all the town or
country have had a better share than thou. Why
mightest not thou have been one of the thousands

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

whose carcasses thou hast seen scattered as dung on
the earth? Or why mightest not thou have been one
that is useless in the Church, and an unprofitable burden
to the place thou livest in ?

What a multitude of hours of consolation, of delightful
Sabbaths, of pleasant studies, of precious companions,
of wondrous deliverances, of excellent opportunities, of
fruitful labours, of joyful tidings, of sweet experiences,
of astonishing providences hath thy life partaken of; so
that many a hundred who have each of them lived an
hundred years have not all together enjoyed so much !
And yet art thou not satisfied with thy lot ? Hath thy
life been so sweet that thou art loath to leave it? Is
that the thanks thou returnest to Him who sweetened
it to draw thee to His own sweetness? Indeed, if this
had been all thy portion I could not blame thee to be
discontented ; and yet let me tell thee too, that of all
these poor souls who have no other portion, but receive
all their good things in this life, there is few or none
even of them who ever had so full a share as thyself.
And hast thou not then had a fair proportion for one
that must shortly have heaven besides ? O foolish soul !
would thou wert as covetous after eternity as thou art
for a fading perishing life ; and after the blessed presence
of God as thou art for continuance with earth and sin.
Then thou wouldst rather " look through the windows,
and cry through the lattices, ' Why is His chariot so long
a coming ; why tarry the wheels of His chariots?'" How
long. Lord, how long !

Consider, what if God should grant thy desire, and let
thee live yet many years, but withal should strip thee of
the comforts of life and deny thee the mercies which thou

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hast hitherto enjoyed. Would this be a blessing worth
the begging for ? Might not God in judgment give thee
life, as He gave the murmuring Israelites quails ; or as
He ofttimes gives men riches and honour when He sees
them over-earnest for it? Might He not justly say to
thee, "Seeing thou hadst rather linger on earth than
come away and enjoy My presence; seeing thou art so
greedy of life, take it, and a curse with it ; never let
fruit grow on it more, nor the sun of comfort shine upon
it, nor the dew of My blessing ever water it; let thy
table be a snare, let thy friends be thy sorrow ; let thy
riches be corrupted, and the rust of thy silver eat thy
flesh. Go, hear sermons as long as thou wilt, but let
never sermon do thee good more; let all thou hearest
make against thee and increase the smart of thy wounded
spirit ; if thou love preaching better than heaven, go and
preach till thou be aweary, but never profit soul more."
Sirs, what if God should thus chastise our inordinate
desires of living, were it not just; and what good would
our lives then do us? Seest thou not some that spend
their days on their couch in groaning; and some in
begging by the highway sides; and others in seeking
bread from door to door; and most of the world in
labouring for food and raiment, and living only that they
may live, and losing the ends and benefits of life ? Why,
what good would such a life do thee were it never 'so
long ; when thy soul shall serve thee only, instead of salt,
to keep the body from stinking ? God might give thee
life till thou art weary of living, and as glad to be rid of
it as Judas or Achitophel ; and make thee like many
miserable creatures in the world, who can hardly forbear
laying violent hands on themselves. Be not therefore so
importunate for life, which may prove a judgment instead
of a blessing.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

XXI

Consider, how many of the precious saints of God, of
all ages and places, have gone before thee. Thou art
not to enter an untrodden path, nor appointed first to
break the ice. Except only Enoch and Elias, which of
the saints have escaped death? And art thou better
than they? There are many millions of saints dead,
more than do now remain on earth. What a number of
thine own bosom friends and intimate acquaintance and
companions in duty are now there ? And why shouldst
thou be so loath to follow ? Nay, hath not Jesus Christ
Himself gone this way, hath He not sanctified the grave
to us, and perfumed the dust with His own body, and art
thou loath to follow Him too? Oh rather, let us say
as Thomas, " Let us also go, and die with Him ; " or
rather, let us suffer with Him, that we may be glorified
together with Him.

Many such like considerations might be added, as that
Christ hath taken out the sting ; how light the saints
have made of it ; how cheerfully the very pagans have
entertained it, &c. But because all that is hitherto
spoken is also conducible to the same purpose, I pass
them by. If what hath been said will not persuade,
Scripture and reason hath little force.

I have said the more on this subject, finding it so
needful to myself and others ; finding that among so
many Christians, who could do and suffer much for Christ,
there is yet so few that can willingly die ; and of many
who have somewhat subdued other corruptions, so few
have got the conquest of this. This caused me to draw
forth these arrows from the quiver of Scripture and spend
them against it.

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

XXII

I will only yet answer some objections, and so con-
clude :

" Oh, if I were but certain of heaven I should then
never stick at dying.""

Search, for all that, whether some of the forementioned
causes may not be in fault as well as this.

Didst thou not say so long ago ? Have you not been
in this song this many years ? If you are yet uncertain
whose fault is it ? You have had nothing else to do with
your lives, nor no greater matter than this to mind.
Were you not better presently fall to the trial, till you
have put the question out of doubt ? Must God stay
while you trifle, and must His patience be continued to
cherish your negligence ? If thou have played the loiterer,
do so no longer; go, search thy soul, and follow the
search close, till thou come to a clear discovery. Begin
to-night, stay not till the next morning. Certainty
comes not by length of time, but by the blessing of the
Spirit upon wise and faithful trial. You may linger out
thus twenty years more and be still as uncertain as now
you are.

A perfect certainty may not be expected ; we shall
still be deficient in that as well as in other things. They
who think the apostle speaks absolutely, and not com-
paratively, of a perfect assurance in the very degree
when he mentions a plerophory or full assurance, I know
no reason but they may expect perfection in all things
else as well as this. When you have done all, you will
know this but in part. If your belief of that Scripture
which saith, " Believe and be saved," be imperfect ; and
if your knowledge whether your own deceitful hearts do
sincerely believe or not, be imperfect ; or if but one

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

of these two be imperfect; the result or conclusion
must needs be so too. If you would then stay till you
are perfectly certain, you may stay for ever : if you have
obtained assurance but in some degree, or got but the
grounds for assurance laid, it is then the speediest and
surest way to desire rather to be quickly in rest ; for then,
and never till then, will both the grounds and assurance
be fully perfect.

Both your assurance and the comfort thereof is the gift
of the Spirit, who is a free bestower ; and God's usual
time to be largest in mercy is when His people are
deepest in necessity. A mercy in season is the sweetest
mercy. I could give you here abundance of late examples
of those who have languished for assurance and comfort ;
some all their sickness, and some most of their lives ; and
when they have been near to death they have received
in abundance. Never fear death then through imper-
fections of assurance ; for that is the most usual time of
all when God most fully and sweetly bestows it.

XXIII

" Oh, but the Church's necessities are great ; God hath
made me useful in my place ; so that the loss will be to
many ; or else, methinks, I could willingly die.""

This may be the case of some, but yet remember the
heart is deceitful. God is oft pretended, when ourselves
are intended. But if this be it that sticks with thee
indeed, consider, wilt thou pretend to be wiser than God ;
doth not He know how to provide for His Church ?
Cannot He do His work without thee, or find out in-
struments enough besides thee ? Think not too highly
of thyself because God hath made thee useful. Must
the Church needs fall when thou art gone.? Art thou

236

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

the foundation on which it is built? Could God take
away a Moses, an Aaron, David, Elias, &c., and find
supply for all their places ; and cannot He also find
supply for thine ? This is to derogate from God too
much, and to arrogate too much unto thyself. Neither
art thou so merciful as God, nor canst love the Church
so well as He. As His interest is infinitely beyond
thine, so is His tender care and bounty. But of this
before.

Yet mistake me not in all that I have said : I deny
not but that it is lawful and necessary for a Christian
upon both the forementioned grounds to desire God
to delay His death; both for a further opportunity
of gaining assurance, and also to be further serviceable
to the Church.^ Time and life is a most precious
mercy ; not so much because of what we here enjoy,
but because eternity of joy or torment dependeth on
this time, when it must go with man forever in heaven
or hell according to the provision he makes on earth ;
and they that will find a treasure in heaven, must now
lay it up there.

I do not blame a man that is well in his wits, if he
be loath to die, till he hath some comfortable assurance
that it shall certainly go well with him in another world.
And every man's assurance, as I have proved, is im-
perfect. And therefore I doubt not but we may pray
for recovery from sicknesses. And may rejoice in it
and give thanks for it as a great mercy. And may
pray hard for our godly and ungodly friends in their
sickness. And must value our time highly, and im-
prove it as a mercy which we must be accountable for.
And every godly man is so useful to the Church, ordi-
narily, that even for the Church's service he may desire to
live longer, as Paul did, even till he come to the full age
1 See Phil. ii. 26, 27.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST \

of man, and while he is able to serve the Church, and it i

hath need of him. No man should be over-hasty to a j

state that must never be changed, when both assurance '
of glory and his fitness for it are still imperfect; and

ordinarily the saints grow fitter in their age. But i

then this must not be in love of earth, but we must |

take it as our present loss to be kept from heaven, ;

though it may tend to the Church's and our own future :

advantage, and so may be desired; so that you must '

still see that heaven be valued and loved above earth !

even when you have cause to pray for longer time, as she \

that longs to be married to a prince may desire delay !

for preparation. ^

But, first, this is nothing to their case who are still ;

delaying and never willing, whose true discontents are I

at death itself, more than at the unseasonableness of j

dying. Secondly, though such desires are sometimes j

lawful, yet must they be carefully bounded and mode- i

rated ; to which end are the former considerations. We ]

must not be too absolute and peremptory in our desires, i

but cheerfully yield to God's disposal. The rightest j

temper is that of PauPs, to be in a strait between two, j

desiring to depart and be with Christ, and yet to stay, j

while God will have us, to do the Church the utmost ser- i

vice. But alas ! we are seldom in this strait ; our desires •;

run out all one way, and that for the flesh, and not the ;

Church ; our straits are only for fear of dying ; and not \
betwixt the earnest desires of dying, and of living.
He that desireth life only to prepare for heaven doth
love heaven better than life on earth; for the end is

still more beloved than all the means. • '

2S8

OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE

XXIV

" But is not death a punishment of God for sin ? Doth
not Scripture call it the king of fears, and nature, above
all other evils, abhor it ? "

I will not meddle with that which is controversial in
this; whether death be properly a punishment or not.
But grant that, in itself considered, it may be called evil,
as being naturally the dissolution of the creature, yet
being sanctified to us by Christ, and being the season
and occasion of so great a good, as is the present pos-
session of God in Christ ; it may be welcomed with a glad
submission, if not with desire. Christ affords us grounds
enough to comfort us against this natural evil ; and
therefore indues us with the principle of grace to raise
us above the reach of nature.

For all those low and poor objections, as leaving house,
goods, and friends, leaving our children unprovided, &c.,
I pass them over as of lesser moment than to take much
with men of grace.

XXV

Lastly, understand me in this also, that I have spoke
all this to the faithful soul. I persuade not the ungodly
from fearing death. It is a wonder rather that they
fear it no more, and spend not their days in continual
horror, as is said before. Truly but that we know a stone
is insensible, and a hard heart is dead and stupid, or else
a man would admire how poor souls can live in ease and
quietness that must be turned out of these bodies into
everlasting flames; or that be not sure at least if they
should die this night, whether they shall lodge in heaven
or hell the next; especially when so many are called and

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

so few chosen ; and the righteous themselves are scarcely
saved. One would think such men should eat their bread
with trembling ; and the thoughts of their danger should
keep them waking in the night; and they should fall
presently a-searching themselves, and enquiring of others,
and crying to God, that if it were possible they might
quickly be out of this danger, and so their hearts be
freed from horror ! For a man to quake at the thoughts
of death that looks by it to be dispossessed of his happi-
ness, and knoweth not whither he is next to go, this is
no wonder. But for the saints to fear their passage by
death to rest, this is an unreasonable hurtful fear.

240

CHAPTER XI

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

We have now, by the guidance of the Word of the
Lord and by the assistance of His Spirit, shewed
you the nature of the Rest of the saints, and ac-
quainted 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 begun
this subject; and have here reserved it to the last place
because I know hearers are usually of slippery memo-
ries, yet apt to retain the last that is spoken, though
they forget all that went before. Dear friends, it is
pity that either you or I should forget anything of
that which doth so nearly concern us as this eternal
rest of the saints doth. But if you must needs forget
something, let it be anything else rather than this; let
it be rather all that I have hitherto said (though I hope
of better) than this one ensuing use.

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 ? Sirs, ask your hearts in
good earnest what is the cause of this neglect ; are we
reasonable in this ; or are we not ? 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

241 Q.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

thinking on ? Should not the strongest desires of our
hearts be after it, and the daily delights of our souls be
there ? Do we believe this, and can we yet forget and
neglect it ? What is the matter ? Will not God give us
leave to approach this light, or will He not suffer our souls
to taste and see ? Why then, what means all His earnest
invitations ; why doth He so condemn our earthly-minded-
ness, and command us to set our affections above ? Ah,
vile hearts, if God were against it, we were likelier to be
for it ; when He would have us to keep our station, then
we are aspiring to be like God, and are ready to invade
the Divine prerogatives; but when He commands our
hearts to heaven, then they will not stir an inch. Like
our predecessors, the sinful Israelites, when God would
have them march for Canaan, then they mutiny and will
not stir ; either they fear the giants, or the walled cities,
or want necessaries, something hinders them ; but when
God bids them not to go, then will they needs be presently
marching, and fight they will, though it be to their over-
throw.

If the forethoughts of glory were forbidden fruit,
perhaps we should be sooner drawn unto them ; and we
should itch, as the Bethshemites, to be looking into this
ark. 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 dote upon it nevertheless. We
have love enough if the world require it, and thoughts
enough to pursue our profits. How delightfully and
unweariedly can we think of vanity, and day after day
employ our minds about the creature ! And have we no
thoughts of this our rest ? How freely and how frequently
can we think of our pleasures, our friends, our labours,
our flesh, our lusts, our common studies, our news, yea,
our very miseries, our wrongs, our sufferings and our

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

fears. But where is the Christian whose heart is on his
rest ?

Why, sirs, what is the matter ? Why are we not taken
up with the views of glory, and our souls more accustomed
to these delightful meditations ? Are we so full of joy
that we need no more, or is there no matter in heaven
for our joyous thoughts ? Or rather, are not our hearts
carnal and blockish ? Earth will to earth. Had we
more spirit, it would be otherwise with us. As the Jews
use to cast to the ground the book of Esther before they
read it because the name of God is not in it ; and as
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 further
than somewhat of Christ is in them, so should we no
further own our hearts ; and as we should delight in the
creatures no further than they have reference to Christ
and eternity, so should we no further approve of our own
hearts. If there were little of Christ and heaven in our
mouths, but the world were the only subject of our
speeches ; then all would account us to be ungodly ; why
then may we not call our hearts ungodly, that have so
little delight in Christ and heaven ? A holy tongue will
not excuse or secure a profane heart. Why did Christ
pronounce His disciples' eyes and ears so blessed, but as
they were the doors to let in Christ by His works and
words into their heart ? Oh, blessed are the eyes that so
see, and the ears that so hear that the heart is thereby
raised to this blessed heavenly frame. Sirs, so much of
your hearts as is empty of Christ and heaven, let it be
filled with shame and sorrow, and not with ease.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING HEST

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,
and to men whose relations to God are many and near,
and therefore methinks there should need the fewer words
to persuade their hearts to Him. Yea, because I speak to
no other men but only them 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 ? Why, fellow-
Christians, if you will not hear and obey, who will?
Well may we be discouraged to exhort the poor, blind
ungodly world, and may say as Moses, " Behold the
children of Israel not have hearkened unto me, how then
shall Pharaoh hear me ? ""'

Whoever thou art therefore 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 strangeness to God ; turn thy thoughts
from the pursuit of vanity, bend thy soul to study
eternity, busy it about the life to come ; habituate thy-
self 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, or rather in the sea of
consolation ; and if thy backward soul begin to flag and
thy loose thoughts to fly abroad, call them back, hold
them to their work, put them on, bear not with their
laziness, do not connive at one neglect.

And when thou hast once in obedience to God tried
this work, and followed on till thou hast got acquainted

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

with it, and kept a close guard upon thy thoughts till
they are accustomed to obey, and till thou hast got some
mastery over them, thou wilt then find thyself in the
suburbs of heaven, and as it were in a new world ; thou
wilt then find indeed 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 consolations
which thou hast prayed, and panted, and groaned after ;
and which so few Christians do ever here obtain because
they know not this way to them, or else make not con-
science of walking in it.

You see the work now before you. This, this is that
I would fain persuade your souls to practise. Beloved
friends and Christian neighbours who hear me this day,
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 weighty duty,
and fix your eye more stedfastly on your rest, and daily
delight in the forethoughts thereof. I have persuaded you
to many other duties, and, I bless God, many of you have
obeyed ; and I hope never to find you at that pass as to
say, when you perceive the command of the Lord, that
you will not be persuaded nor obey ; if I should, it were
high time to bewail your misery. Why, you may almost
as well say, " We will not obey," as sit still and not obey.

Christians, I beseech you, as you take me for your
teacher, and have called me hitherto, so hearken to this
doctrine ; if ever I shall prevail with you in anything, let
me prevail with you in this, to set your hearts where you
expect a rest and treasure. Do you not remember that
when you called me to be your teacher you promised me
under your hands, that you would faithfully and conscion-
ably endeavour the receiving every truth, and obeying
every command, which I should from the Word of God
manifest to you. I now charge your promise upon you.

245

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

I never delivered to you a more apparent truth, nor
pressed upon you a more apparent duty than this. If I
knew you would not obey, what should I do here preach-
ing ? Nor that I desire you to receive it chiefly as from
me, but as from Christ, on whose message I come. Me-
thinks, if a child should shew you Scripture and speak to
you the Word of God, you should not dare to disobey it.
Do not wonder that I persuade you so earnestly ; though
indeed if we were truly reasonable in spiritual things, as
we are in common, it would be a real 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
hindrances will be many and great, and therefore I fear,
before we have done, and laid open more fully the nature
of the duty, that you will confess all these persuasions
little enough. The Lord grant they prove not so too
little as to fail of success, and leave you as they find you.
Say not, " We are unable to set our own hearts on heaven,
this must be the work of God only, and therefore all your
exhortation is in vain, for I tell you, though God be the
chief disposer of your hearts, yet next under Him you
have the greatest command of them yourselves, and a
great power in the ordering of your own thoughts, and
for determining your own wills in their choice. Though
without Christ you can do nothing, yet under Him you
may do much and must do much, or else it will be undone
and you undone through your neglect. Do your own
parts, and you have no cause to distrust whether Christ
will do His. Do not your own consciences tell you when
your thoughts fly abroad that you might do more than
you do to restrain them ; and when your hearts lie flat
and neglect eternity and seldom mind the joys before
you, that most of this neglect is wilful ?

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

If you be to study a set speech you can force your
thoughts to the intended subject ; if a minister be to study
a sermon he can force his thoughts to the most saving
truths, and that without any special grace ; might not a
true Christian then mind more the things of the life to
come, if he did not neglect to exercise that authority over
his own thoughts which God hath given him, especially in
such a work as this, where he may more confidently expect
the assistance of Christ, who useth not to forsake His
people in the work He sets them on. If a carnal minister
can make it his work to study about Christ and heaven
through all his lifetime, and all because it is the trade he
lives by, and knows not how to subsist without it ; why
then, methinks a spiritual Christian should study as
constantly the joys of heaven because it is the very busi-
ness he lives for, and that the place he must be in for
ever. If the cook can find in his heart to labour and
sweat about your meat, because it is the trade that
maintains him, though perhaps he taste it not himself;
methinks then, you for whom it is prepared should
willingly bestow that daily pains to taste its sweetness
and feed upon it ; and if it were about your bodily food,
you would think it no great pains neither. A good
stomach takes it for no great labour to eat and drink of
the best till it be satisfied, nor needs it any great invita-
tion thereto. Christians, if your souls were sound and
right they would perceive incomparably more delight and
sweetness in knowing, thinking, believing, loving, and
rejoicing in your future blessedness in the fruition of God,
than the soundest stomach finds in its food, or the
strongest senses in the enjoyment of their objects; so
little painful would this work be to you, and so little
should I need to press you to it.

It is no great pains to you to think of a friend, or
anything else that you dearly love, and as little would it

247

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

be to think of glory, if your love and delight were truly
there. If you do but see some jewel, or treasure, you
need not long exhortations to stir up your desires ; the
very sight of it is motive enough. If you see the fire
when you are cold, or see a house in a stormy day, or see
a safe harbour from the tempestuous seas, you need not
be told what use to make of it ; the sight doth presently
direct your thoughts; you think, you look, you long, till
you do obtain it. Why should it not be so in the present
case ? Sirs, one would think, to shew you this crown and
glory of the saints should be motive enough to make you
desire it ; to shew you that harbour where you may be
safe from all dangers should soon teach you what use to
make of it, and should bend your daily studies towards it;
but l)«cause I know, while we have flesh about us, and any
remnants of that carnal mind which is enmity to God
and to this noble work, that all motives are little enough ;
and because my own, and others' sad experiences tell me,
how hardly the best are drawn to a constancy and faith-
fulness in this duty, I will here lay down some moving
considerations, which if you will but vouchsafe to ponder
thoroughly and deliberately weigh with an impartial
judgment, I doubt not but they will prove effectual with
your hearts, and make you resolve upon this excel-
lent duty. I pray you friends, let them not fall to the
ground, but take them up and try them, and if you find
they concern you, make much of them and obey them
accordingly.

Ill

Consider, a heart set upon heaven will be one of the
most unquestionable evidences of thy sincerity, and a
clear discovery of a true work of saving grace upon thy
soul. You are much in enquiring after marks of sincerity,

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

and I blame you not ; it is dangerous mistaking when a
man's salvation lies upon it. You are oft asking, " How
shall I know that I am truly sanctified ? "' Why, here is
a mark that will not deceive you if you can truly say
that you are possessed of it, even a heart set upon heaven.
Would you have a sign 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 exception against ? Why, here is such an one,
" 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 sainfs
treasure and happiness, heaven is the place where they
must fully enjoy Him, a heart therefore set upon heaven
is no more but a heart set upon God, desiring after
this full enjoyment. And surely a heart set upon God
through Christ is the truest evidence of saving grace.
External actions are easiest discovered, but those of the
heart are the surest evidences. When thy learning will
be no good proof 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, yet then will
this argument from the bent of thy heart prove thee
sincere.

Take a poor Christian that can scarce speak true
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, Oh, that I were there ! he takes that
day for a time of imprisonment wherein he hath not
taken one refreshing view of eternity ; I had rather die
in this man's condition and have my soul in his souFs
case, than in the case of him that hath the most eminent
gifts, and is most admired for parts and duty, whose

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

heart is not thus taken up with 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 professed, or talked," but,
" How much have you loved, and where was your heart?''
Why then, Christians, 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 that you really love Him, and take you for
faithful friends indeed 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 affections, they will
never be able to keep away your persons.

Consider, a heart in heaven is the highest excellence of
your spirits here, and the noblest part of your Christian
disposition. As there is not only a difference between
men and beasts, but also among men, between the noble
and the base ; so there is not only a common excellence,
whereby a Christian differs from the world, but also a
peculiar nobleness of spirit, whereby the more excellent
differ from the rest ; and this lies especially in a higher
and more heavenly frame of spirit. Only man, of all
inferior creatures, is made with a face directed heaven-
ward ; but other creatures have their faces to the earth.
As the noblest of creatures, so the noblest of Christians
are they that are set most direct for heaven. As Saul is
called a choice and goodly man, higher by the head than
all the company, so is he the most choice and goodly
Christian whose head and heart is thus the highest.

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

Men of noble birth and spirits do mind high and
great affairs, and not the smaller things of low poverty ;
their discourse is of the counsels and matters of state, of
the government of the commonwealth, and public things,
and not of the countryman's petty employments. Oh, to
hear such an heavenly saint, who hath fetched a journey
into heaven by faith, and hath been rapt up to God in
his contemplations, and is newly come down from the
views of Christ. What discoveries will he make of those
superior regions ! What ravishing expressions drop from
his lips ! How high and sacred is his discourse ! Enough
to make the ignorant world astonished, and say, " Much
study hath made them mad ; "" and enough to convince
an understanding hearer that they have seen the Lord ;
and to make one say, " No man could speak such words
as these except he had been with God."" This, this is
the noble Christian, as Bucholcer's hearers concluded
when he had preached his last sermon, being carried
between two into the church because of his weakness,
and there most admirably discoursed of the blessedness
of souls departed this life, " Cceteros concionatores a
Bucholcero semper omnes, illo autem die etiam ipsuvi a
sese super atum^'' that Bucholcer did ever excel other
preachers, but that day he excelled himself; so may I
conclude of the heavenly Christian, he ever excelleth the
rest of men, but when he is nearest heaven he excelleth
himself.

As those are the most famous mountains that are
highest ; and those the fairest trees that are tallest ; and
those the most glorious pyramids and buildings whose
tops do reach nearest to heaven ; so is he the choicest
Christian whose heart is most frequently and most de-
lightfully there. If a man have lived near the king, or
have travelled to see the Sultan of Persia or the great
Turk, he will make this a matter of boasting, and thinks

251

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

himself one step higher than his private neighbours that
live at home. What shall we then judge of him that
daily travels as far as heaven, and there hath seen the
King of kings ; that hath frequent admittance into the
Divine presence, and feasteth his soul upon the tree of
life ? For my part, I value this man before the ablest,
the richest, the most learned in the world.

Consider, a heavenly mind is a joyful mind; this is the
nearest and the truest way to live a life of comfort ; and
without 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.? The countries of Norway, Iceland,
and all the northward are cold and frozen, because they
are farther from the power of the sun ; but in Egypt,
Arabia, and the southern parts it is far otherwise, where
they live more near its powerful rays. What could make
such frozen uncomfortable Christians but living so far
as they do from heaven ? And what makes some few
others so warm in comforts, but their living higher than
others do ; and 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 pretty birds how
sweetly sing they ; the face of all things smiles upon us,
and all the creatures below rejoice.

Beloved friends, if we would but try this life with
God, and would but keep these hearts above, what a
spring of joy would be within us, and all our graces be
fresh and green ! How would the face of our souls be

252

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

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 Christian, 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 that thou hast
sometime tried it thyself. I dare appeal to thy own
experience, or to the experience of any soul that knows
what the true joys of a Christian are; when is it that
you have largest comforts ? Is it not after such an
exercise as this, when thou hast got up thy heart, and
conversed with God, and talked with the 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 know by experience what this practice
is, I dare say thou knowest what spiritual joy is. David
professeth that the light of God's countenance would
make his heart more glad than theirs that have corn, and
wine, and oil: "Thou shalt fill me full of joy with Thy
countenance."" If it be the countenance of God that fills
us with joy, then sure they that draw nearest, and most
behold it, must needs be fullest of these joys.

Sirs, if you never tried this art nor lived this life of
heavenly contemplation, I never wonder that you walk
uncomfortably ; that you are all complaining, and live
in sorrows, and know not what the joy of the saints
means. Can you have comfort from God, and never
think of Him? Can heaven rejoice you, when you do
not remember it.^^ Doth anything in the world glad
you, when you think not on it? Must not everything
first enter your judgment and consideration before it
can delight your heart and affection ? If you were
possessed of all the treasure of the earth; if you had

253

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

title to the highest dignities and dominions, and never
think on it; sure it would never rejoice you. 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
on it; He holdeth it out in the Gospel to us, and
biddeth us behold and rejoice; and we will not so much
as look at it; and yet we complain for want of comfort.
What a perverse course is this both against God and
our own joys ! I confess, though in fleshly things the
presenting of a comforting object is sufficient 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 remem-
bered, that God doth work upon us as men, and in a
rational way doth raise our comforts. He enableth and
exciteth us to mind and study these delightful objects,
and from thence to gather our own comforts, as the bee
doth gather her honey from the flowers ; therefore he
that is most skilful and painful in this gathering art is
usually the fullest of this spiritual sweetness.

Where is the man that can tell me from experience
that he has solid and usual joy in any other way but
this ; and that God worketh it immediately on his affec-
tions, without the means of his understanding and con-
sidering ? 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 dangerous
snare, an opinion which will rob you of all your comfort ;
some think if they should thus fetch in their own comfort
by believing and hoping, and work it out of Scripture
promises, and extract it by their own thinking and

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

studying, that 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, Mhen 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 a-work upon the promises,
and raising our thoughts to the place of our comforts.
As you would delight a covetous man by shewing him
gold, 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 shewing
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 sometime
doth it suddenly but yet usually in the foresaid order,
leading it into our hearts by our judgment and thoughts.
And His sometime sudden extraordinary casting of
comforting thoughts into 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 or choicer food will
make us desire and seek the rest. God feedeth not
saints as birds do their young, bringing it to them, and
putting it into their mouths, 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 their 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 so think to work
255

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

out his own comforts by meditation, as to attempt the
work in his own strength, and not do all in subordination
to God, nor perceive a necessity of the Spirit's assistance,
the work would prove to be like the workman ; 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 our joy is God's way to procure
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 in my heart,
and know not how it came thither, nor upon what
rational ground it was raised, nor what considerations
do feed and continue it, I should be ready to question
how I know whether this be from God. And though
as the cup in Benjamin's sack, it might come from love,
yet it would leave me but in fears and amazements,
because of the uncertainty. As I think our love to God
should not be like that of fond lovers who love violently,
but they know not why ; so I think a Christian's joy
should be a grounded rational joy, and not to rejoice
and know not why. Though perhaps in some extra-
ordinary case God may cast in such an extraordinary
kind of joy, yet I think it is not His usual way.

And if you observe the spirit of most forlorn, un-
comfortable, despairing Christians you shall find the
reason to be their ungrounded expectation of such un-
usual kind of joys; and accordingly are their spirits
variously tossed and most unconstantly tempered ; some-
time when they meet with such joys (or at least think so)
then they are cheerful and lifted up; but because these
are usually short-lived joys therefore they are straight
as low as hell ; and ordinarily that is their more lasting-
temper. And thus they are tossed, as a vessel at sea,

256

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

up and down, but still in extremes; whereas alas, God
is most constant, Christ the same, heaven the same, and
the promise 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 read est these lines,
I entreat thee in the name of the Lord, and as thou
valuest the life of constant joy and that good conscience
which is a continual feast, that thou wouldst but seriously
set upon this work, and learn this art of heavenly minded-
ness; and thou shalt find the increase an hundredfold,
and the benefit abundantly exceed thy labour. But
this is the misery of man's nature ; though every man
naturally abhorreth sorrow, and loves the most merry
and joyful life, yet few do love the way to joy, or will
endure the pains by which it is obtained. They will
take the next that comes to hand, and content themselves
with earthly pleasures, rather than they will ascend to
heaven to seek it ; and yet when all is done, they must
have it there, or be without it.

Consider, a heart in heaven will be a most excellent
preservative against temptations, a powerful means to kill
thy corruptions, and to save thy conscience from the
wounds of sin. God can prevent our sinning though we
be careless, and keep off the temptation which we would
draw upon ourselves; and sometimes doth so, 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 ; when he finds the thoughts
let out on lust, revenge, ambition, or deceit, what an

257 B

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST ;

opportunity hath he to move for execution, and to put j
on the sinner to practise what he thinks on ! Nay, if he
find the mind but empty there is room for anything that

he will bring in ; but when he finds the heart in heaven, i

what hope that any of his motions should take. Let him ;

entice to any forbidden course, or show us the bait of any [

pleasure, the soul will return Nehemiah's answer, " I am I

doing a great work, and cannot come." Several ways ]
will this preserve us against temptation ; first, by keeping

the heart employed ; secondly, by clearing the understand- j

ing and so confirming the will ; thirdly, by prepossessing j

the affections with the highest delights; and fourthly, !

by keeping us in the way of God's blessing. ;

By keeping the heart employed. When we are idle, i

we tempt the devil to tempt us. As it is an encourage- i

ment to a thief to see your doors open, and nobody !

within ; and as we use to say, " Careless persons make |
thieves " ; so it will encourage Satan to find your hearts
idle. But when the heart is taken up with God it

cannot have while to hearken to temptations ; it cannot :

have while to be lustful and wanton, ambitious or worldly ; j

if a poor man have a suit to any of you he will not come |

when you are taken up in some great man's company or i

discourse ; that is but an ill time to speed. |

If you were but busied in your lawful callings you j

would not be so ready to hearken to temptations ; much less i

if you were busied above with God. Will you leave your I

plough and harvest in the field, or leave the quenching of '

a fire in your houses, to run with children a-hunting of !

butterflies ? Would a judge be persuaded to rise from i

the bench, 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, and taking a ;

survey of his eternal rest, give ear to the alluring charms j

of Satan. '^ Non vacat ecvigiiis,'" &c., is a character of \

258 ^

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

the truly prudent man ; the children of that kingdom
should never have wliile for trifles ; but especially when
they are employed in the affairs of the kingdom. And
this employment is one of the saints' chief preservatives
against temptations. For as Gregory saith, '' Nunqicam
Dei amor otmsus est ,• operatur enim magna, si est : Si
vero operari renuit, non est amor'''' -^ the love of God is
never idle ; it worketh great things when it truly is ; and
when it will not work it is not love. Therefore being
still thus working, it is still preserving.

A heavenly mind is the freest from sin because it is
of clearest understanding in spiritual matters of greatest
concernment. 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 stablish 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 fleshly, sensual delights,
that temptations have little power on him ; for these
earthly vanities are Satan's baits, which though they may
take much with the undiscerning world, yet with the clear-
sighted they have lost their force. "In vain,"" saith
Solomon, "the net is spread in the sight of any bird,""
and usually in vain doth Satan lay his snares to entrap
the soul that plainly sees them.

When a man is on high he may see the further ; we use
to set our discovering sentinels on the highest place that
is near unto us that they may discern all the motions of
the enemy ; in vain doth the enemy lay his ambuscades
when we stand over him on some high mountain, and
clearly discover all he doth ; when the heavenly mind
is above with God he may far easier from thence discern

259

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST |

every danger that lies below, and the whole method of i
the devil in deceiving; nay, if he did not discover the i
snare yet were he likelier far to escape it than any others ;
that converse below. 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 danger, and the '
higher the safer; so it is with us. Satan's temptations i
are laid on the earth, earth is the place, and earth the
ordinary bait; how shall these ensnare the Christian who I
hath left the earth, and walks with God ? But alas ! |
we keep not long so high, but down we must to the
earth again, and then we are taken. '

If conversing with wise and learned men is the way to
make one wise and learned, then no wonder if he that
converseth with God become wise. If men that travel \
about the earth do think to return home with more
experience and wisdom, how much more he that travels '
to heaven ! As the very air and climate that we most ;
abide in do work our bodies to their own temper, no 1
wonder if he that is much in that sublime and purer region \
have a purer soul and quicker sight ; and if he have an |
understanding full of light who liveth with the Sun, the \
Fountain, the Father of light. As certain herbs and I
meats we feed on do tend to make our sight more clear, :
so the soul that is fed with angels' food must needs have \
an understanding much more clear than they that dwell
and feed on earth. And therefore you may easily see ;
that such a man is in far less danger of temptation, and
Satan will hardlier beguile his soul ; even as a wise man i
is hardlier deceived than fools and children. Alas, the i
men of the world that dwell below and know no other '
conversation but earthly, no wonder if their understand-
ings be darkened and they be easily drawn to every |
wickedness ; no wonder if Satan take them captive at his ;
will, and lead them about, as we see a dog lead a blind j

260 I

I
1
■ \

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

man with a string. The foggy air and mists of earth do
thicken their sight ; the smoke of worldly cares and busi-
ness, blinds them, and the dungeon which they live in,
is a land of darkness. How can worms and moles see,
whose dwelling is always in the earth ? While this dust
is in men's eyes, no wonder if they mistake gain for godli-
ness, sin for grace, the world for God, their own wills for
the law of Christ, and in the issue hell for heaven ! If
the people of God will but take notice of their own
hearts they shall find their experiences confirming this
that I have said.

Christians, do you not sensibly perceive that when
your hearts are seriously fixed on heaven you presently
become wiser than before ? Are not vour understandings
more solid, and your thoughts more sober ; have you not
truer apprehensions 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 my understanding, after such contemplations, as
much to differ from what it was before, as I before
differed from a fool or idiot. When my understanding
is weakened and befooled with common employment and
with conversing 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, as
Nebuchadnezzar, taken from the beasts of the field to the
throne, and his understanding returneth to him again.
Oh, when a Christian hath had but a glimpse of eternity,
and then looks down on the world again, how doth he
befool himself for his sin, for neglects of Christ, for his
fleshly pleasures, for his earthly cares ! How doth he say
to his laughter, " Thou art mad ] "" and to his vain nnrth,

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"What dost thou?" How could he even tear his very
flesh, and take revenge on himself for his folly ! How
verily doth he think that there is no man in bedlam
so truly mad as wilful sinners and lazy betrayers of their
own souls, and unworthy slighters of Christ and glory !

This is it that makes a dying man to be usually wiser
than other men are, because he looks on eternity as near,
and, knowing he must very shortly be there, he hath more
deep and heart-piercing thoughts of it than ever he could
have in health and prosperity. Therefore it is, that the
most deluded sinners that were cheated with the world,
and bewitched with sin, do then most ordinarily come to
themselves so far as to have a righter judgment than they
had ; and that many of the most bitter enemies of the
saints would give a world to be such themselves ; and
would fain die in the condition of those whom they
hated ; even as wicked Balaam, when his eyes are opened
to see the perpetual blessedness of the saints, will cry out,
" O that I might die the death of the righteous, and that
my last end might be like his.'' As witches when they
are taken and in prison, or at the gallows, have no power
left them to bewitch any more, so we see commonly the
most ungodly men, when they see they must die and go to
another world, their judgments are so changed, and their
speech so changed, as if they were not the same men;
as if they were come to their wits again, and sin and
Satan had power to bewitch them no more. Yet let the
same men recover and lose their apprehension of the life
to come, and how quickly do they lose their understand-
ings with it. In a word, those that were befooled with
the world and the flesh are far wiser when they come to
die, and those that were wise before are now wise indeed.

If you would take a man's judgment about sin, or
grace, or Christ, or heaven, go to a dying man, and ask
him which you were best to choose. Ask him, whether

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you were best be drunk or no ; or be lustful, or proud, or
revengeful, or no ? Ask him whether you were best pray,
and instruct your families, or no ; or to sanctify the
Lord's Day, or no ? Though some to the death may be
desperately hardened, yet for the most part I had rather
take a man's judgment then about these things than at
any other time. For my own part, if my judgment be
ever solid, it is when I have the most serious apprehen-
sions of the life to come ; nay, the sober mention of
death sometimes will a little compose the most distracted
understanding. Sirs, do you not think, except men
are stark devils, but that it would 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, of a stage-
play, or morice-dance, do you think he would then be
so taken with the motion ? If he should then tell him
of riches, or honours, or shew him a pair of 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 before God,
and give account of all my life, and straightways be in
another world."

Why Christian, if the apprehension of the nearness
of eternity will work such strange effects upon the un-
godly, and make them wiser than to be deceived so
easily as they were wont to be in time of health ; oh,
then what rare effects would it work with thee, and make
thee scorn the baits of sin, if thou couldst always dwell
in the views of God and in lively thoughts of thine
everlasting state ! Surely, a believer, if he improve
his faith, may ordinarily have truer and more quicken-
ing apprehensions of the life to come in the time of his
health, than an unbeliever hath at the hour of his death.

Furthermore, a heavenly mind is exceedingly forti-

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

fied against temptations, because the affections are so
thoroughly prepossessed with the high delights of another
world. Whether Satan do not usually by the sensitive
appetite prevail with the will, without any further pre-
vailing with the reason than merely to suspend it, I will
not now dispute; but doubtless when the soul is not
affected with good, though the understanding do 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 affections are poor preservatives
against temptations. He that loves most, and not he
that only knows most, will most easily resist the motions
of sin. There is in a Christian a kind of spiritual taste
whereby he knows these things, besides his mere discursive
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 simple
man, and labour to persuade him that sugar is not sweet,
or that wormwood is not bitter, perhaps you might by
sophistry over-argue his mere reason, but yet could you
not persuade him against his sense ; whereas a man that
hath lost his taste is easier deceived for all his reason. So
is it 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 sweetness is yet in his mouth. Oh, that
you would he persuaded to try this course, 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 !

Reader, I pray thee tell me in good sadness, dost thou
think if the devil had set upon Peter in the Mount, when

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he saw Christ in His Transfiguration and Moses and
Elias talking with Him, would he so easily have been
drawn to deny his Lord ? What, with all that glory in
his eye? No, the devil took a greater advantage, when
he had him in the High Priest's hall, in the midst of
danger and evil company, when he had forgotten the
sight of the Mount ; and then he prevails. So if he should
set upon a believing soul when he is taken up in the
Mount with Christ, what would such a soul say ? " Get
thee behind me, Satan, wouldst thou persuade me from
hence with trifling pleasures, and steal my heart from this
my rest, wouldst thou have me sell these joys for nothing?
Is there any honour or delight like this, or can that be
profit which loseth me this ? "" Some such answer would
the soul return. But alas, Satan stays till we are come
down, and the taste of heaven is out of our mouths, and
the glory we saw is even forgotten, and then he easily
deceives our hearts. What if the devil had set upon
Paul when he was in the third heaven, and seeing those
unutterable things, could he then, do you think, have
persuaded his heart to the pleasures, or profits, or honours
of the world ? If his prick in the flesh, which he after
received,were not affliction but temptation, sure it prevailed
not, but sent him to heaven again for preserving grace.
Though the Israelites below may be enticed to idolatry,
and from eating and drinking 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 not so easily have sinned. If ye
give a man aloes after honey, or some loathsome thing
when he hath been feeding on junkets, will he not soon
perceive and spit it out ? Oh, if we could keep the taste
of our soul continually delighted with the sweetness
above, with what disdain should we spit out the baits
of sin !

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Besides, whilst the heart is set on heaven a man is
under God's protection ; and therefore if Satan then
assault him God is more engaged for his defence, and will
doubtless stand by us, and say, " My grace is sufficient for
thee." When a man is in the way of God's blessing, he is
in the less danger of sin's enticing.

So that now, upon all this, let me entreat thee, Christian
reader, 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, oh, use much this
powerful remedy, keep close with God by a heavenly mind,
learn this art of diversion, 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 resisting whatsoever. As men will do with scolding
women, let them alone and follow their business as if they
heard not what they said, and this will sooner put them to
silence than if they answered them word for word, so do
by Satan's temptations. It may be, he can over-talk you
and over-wit you in dispute, but let him alone and study
not his temptations, but follow your business above with
Christ, and keep your thoughts to their heavenly employ-
ment, and you will this way sooner vanquish the tempta-
tion than if you argued or talked it out with the tempter ;
not but that sometime it is most convenient to over-reason
him ; but in ordinary temptations to known sin, you shall
find it far better to follow this your work, and neglect the
allurements, and say as Gryneus (out of Chrysost), when
he sent back Pistorius's letters, not so much as opening
the seal, " Inlionestum est, lionestam matronam cum meretrice
litigare^\' it is an unseemly thing for an honest matron
to be scolding with a whore ; so it is a dishonest thing for
a son of God, in apparent cases to stand wrangling with
the devil, and to be so far at his beck as to dispute with
him at his pleasure, even as oft as he will be pleased to

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tempt us. Christian, if thou remember that of Solomon,
Prov. XV. 24, thou hast the sum of what I intend, " The
way of life is above to the wise, to avoid the path of hell
beneath"; and withal remember Noah's example, "Noah
was a just man, and perfect in his generation'' (and no
wonder), for " Noah walked with Godf ; so I may say to
thee, even as God to Abraham, " Walk before God, and
thou wilt be upright."

VII

Consider, the diligent keeping of your hearts on heaven
will preserve the vigour of all your graces, and put life
into all your duties. It is the heavenly Christian that
is the lively Christian, it is our strangeness to heaven that
makes us so dull, it is the end that quickeneth to all the
means, and the more frequently and clearly this end is
beheld the more vigorous will all our motion be ! How
doth it make men unweariedly labour, and fearlessly
venture, when they do but think of the gainful prize !
How will the soldier hazard his life, and the mariner pass
through storms and waves ; how cheerfully do they compass
sea and land ; and no difficulty can keep them back, when
they think of an uncertain perishing treasure ! Oh, what
life then would it put into a Christian's endeavours if
he would frequently forethink of his everlasting treasure !
We run so slowly and strive so lazily because we so little
mind the prize.

When a Christian hath been tasting the hidden manna
and drinking of the streams of the paradise of God, what
life doth this ambrosia and nectar put into him ! How
fervent will his spirit be in prayer when he considers that
he prays for no less than heaven ! If Enoch, Elias, or
any of the saints who are now in heaven, and have
partaken of the vision of the living God, should be sent

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down to the earth again to live on the terms as we now
do, would they not strive hard and pray earnestly rather
than lose that blessed rest ? No wonder, for they would
know what it is they pray for. It is true, we cannot
know it here so thoroughly as they, yet if we would but
get as high as we can, and study but that which may
now be known, it would strangely alter both our spirits
and our duties. Observe but the man who is much in
heaven, and you shall see he is not like other Christians ;
there is somewhat of that which he hath seen above
appeareth in all his duty and conversation. Nay, take
but the same man immediately when he is returned from
these views of bliss, and you shall easily perceive that he
excels himself, as if he were not indeed the same as before.
If he be a preacher, how heavenly are his sermons, what
clear descriptions, what high expressions, what savoury
passages 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, or in the private duties of another,
when they have been most above? When Moses had
been with God in the Mount, he had derived so much
glory from God that made his face to shine, that the
people could not behold him.

Beloved friends, if you would but set upon this employ-
ment, even so would it be with you ; men would see the
face of your conversation shine, and say, " Surely he hath
been with God.'' As the body is apt to be changed into
the temper of the air it breathes in, and the food it lives
on, so will your spirits receive an alteration according
to the objects which they are exercised about. If your
thoughts do feed on Christ and heaven, you will be
heavenly ; if they feed on earth, you will be earthly. It
is true, a heavenly nature goes before this heavenly em-
ployment, but yet the work will make it more heavenly.

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There must be life before we can feed, but our life is con-
tinued and increased by feeding. Therefore, reader, let
me here inform thee, that if thou lie complaining of dead-
ness and dulness, that thou canst not love Christ, nor re-
joice 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 ; whv, thou
art the cause of thy own complaints ; thou deadest and
dullest thine own heart; thou deniest thyself 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 would st 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 soul is as a
candle that is not lighted, and thy duties as a sacrifice
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 see if thy affections will not be warm.
Thou bewailest thy want of love to God, and well thou
mayest, for it is a heinous crime, a killing sin. Why, lift
up thy eye of faith to heaven, behold His beauty, con-
template His excellences, and see whether His amiableness
will not fire thy affections, and His perfect goodness ravish
thy heart. As the eye doth incense the sensual affections
by its over-much gazing on alluring objects, so doth the
eve of our faith in meditation inflame our affections towards
our Lord, by the frequent gazing on that highest beauty.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Whoever thou art, that art a stranger to this employ-
ment, be thy parts and profession never so great, let me
tell thee, thou spendest 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, "^m latere, vivere nescis""^ ;
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 may it be said of thee, there lies such an one,
but not there lives such an one ; for thou spendest thy
days liker to the dead than the living. One of Draco's
laws to the Athenians was, that he who was convicted of
idleness should be put to death. Thou dost execute this
on thy own soul whilst by thy idleness thou destroyest
its liveliness.

Thou mayest many other ways exercise thy parts but
this is the way to exercise thy graces ; they all come from
God as their fountain, and lead to God as their ultimate
end, and are exercised on God as their chiefest object,
so that God is their all in all. From heaven they come,
and heavenly their nature is, 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 limbs ;"" 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 soul-exalting gifts will incon-
ceivably help to 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 do 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 conferring.

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

Besides, the fire which you fetch from heaven for your
sacrifices is no false or strange fire ; as your liveliness will
be much more, so will it be also more sincere. A man
may have a great deal of fervour in affections mid duties,
and all prove but common and unsound when it is raised
upon common grounds and motives. Your zeal will par-
take of the nature of those things by which it is acted ;
the zeal therefore which is kindled by youi- meditations
on heaven is more 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, sincerest life.

Some men's fervency is drawn only from their books,
and some from the pricks of some stinging affliction, and
some from the mouth of a moving minister, and some from
the encouragement of an attentive 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 saints'
peculiar. By this faith thou may est offer AbePs sacri-
fice, more excellent than that of common men, and by it
obtain witness that thou art righteous, God testifying of
thy gifts that they are sincere. When others are ready,
as BaaPs priests, to beat themselves and cut their flesh
because their sacrifice will not burn, then if thou canst
get but the spirit of Elias, and in the chariot of contem-
plation canst 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 opposing enmity. 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

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it would have received but little warmth ? Why, thy
faith is as the burning-glass to thy sacrifice, and medita-
tion sets it to face the sun ; only take it not away too
soon, bat hold it there a while, and thy soul will feel
the happy efff^ct.

The slanderous Jews did raise a foolish tale of Christ,
that He got in the Holy of Holies, and thence stole the
true name of God, and, lest He should lose it, cut a hole
in His thigh and sewed it therein ; and by the virtue of
this, He raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, cast
out devils, and performed all His miracles. Surely, if
we can 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 those
flaming tongues, and make us every one to 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, whether
prayer, exhortation, or brotherly reproof, as Paul was at
Athens, his spirit (Trapio^vvero) was stirred within him ;
and should be ready to say, as Jeremiah did, " 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 soul -melting
prayers and soul-ravishing discourse, " Oh, how happy a
man is this, oh, that my soul were in this blessed plight ! ""
Why, I here direct and advise thee from God ; try this
fore-mentioned course, and set thy soul conscionably to
this work, and thou shalt be in as good a case. Wash
thee frequently in this Jordan and thy leprous dead soul

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

will revive; and thou shalt know that there is a God
in Israel, and that thou mayest live a vigorous and joyous
life, if thou wilfully cast not by this duty, and so neglect
thine own mercies. If thou be not a lazy reserved hypo-
crite, but most truly value this strong and active frame
of spirit, shew it then by thy present attempting this
heavenly exercise. Say not now, but thou hast heard
the way to obtain this life into thy soul, and into thy
duties. If thou wilt yet neglect it, blame thyself.

But alas, the multitude of professors come to a minister,
just as Naaman came to Elisha ; they ask us, " How
shall I know I am a child of God ? How shall I over-
come a hard heart, and get such 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 the constant meditation on the joys
above, this is a greater task than they expected, and
they turn their backs as Naaman to Elisha, or the
young man on Christ, and few of the most conscionable
will set upon the duty. Will not preaching, and pray-
ing, and conference serve, say they, without this dwell-
ing still in heaven.? Just as country people come to
physicians ; when they have opened their case and made
their moan they look he should cure them in a day or
two, or with the use of some cheap and easy simple ; but
when they hear of a tedious method of physic and of costly
compositions and bitter potions, they will hazard their
lives with some sottish empiric who tells them an easier
and cheaper way ; yea, or venture on death itself, before
they will obey such difficult counsel. Too many that we
hope well of, I fear, will take this course here. If we
could give them life, as God did, with a word, or could
heal their souls, as charmers do their bodies, with easy

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

stroking and a few good words, then they would readily
hear and obey. I entreat thee, reader, beware of this
folly ; fall to the work ; the comfort of spiritual health
will countervail all the trouble of the duty. It is but
the flesh that repines and gainsays, which, thou knowest,
was never a friend to thy soul. If God had set thee
on some grievous work shouldst thou not have done it for
the life of thy soul ? How much more when He doth
but invite thee heavenward to Himself.

VIII

Consider, the frequent believing views of glory are
the most precious cordial in all afflictions. First, to sus-
tain our spirits and make our sufferings far more easy.
Secondly, to stay us from repining, and make us bear
with patience and joy. And, thirdly, to strengthen our
resolutions that we forsake not Christ for fear of trouble.

Our very beast will carry us more cheerfully in travel
when he is coming homeward where he expecteth rest,
A man will more quietly endure the lancing of his sores,
the cutting out the stone, when he thinks on the ease
that will afterwards follow. What then will not a be-
liever 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 accom-
panied with these tastes of our future rest ! This doth
keep the suffering from the soul, so that it can work
upon no more but' our fleshly outside, even as alexi-
pharmical medicines preserve the heart, that the con-
tagion reach not the vital spirits. Surely, our sufferings
trouble not the mind according to the degrees of bodily
pain, but as the soul is more or less fortified with this

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preserving antidote. Believe it, reader, thou wilt have
a doleful sickness, thou wilt suffer heavily, thou wilt die
most sadly, if thou have not at hand the foretastes of
rest. For my own part (if thou regard the experience of
one that hath often tried) had it not been for that
little, alas, too little taste which I had of rest, my suffer-
ings would have been grievous, and death more terrible.
I may say as David, " I had fainted, unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living.'" And as the same David, " I looked on my
right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would
know me; refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
I cried unto Thee, O Lord, I said. Thou art my refuge,
and my portion in the land of the living." I may say of
the promise of this rest, as David of God's law ; " Unless
this had been my delight, I had perished in mine afflic-
tion." " One thing," saith he, " I have desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple. For
in time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion;
in the secret of His tabernacle He shall hide me. He
shall set me up upon a rock. And then shall mine head
be lifted up above mine enemies round about me : there-
fore shall I offer in that His tabernacle sacrifices of joy,
and sing, yea sing praises unto the Lord."

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 own chiefest care not to be far from God and
heaven, when trouble is near, and thou wilt then find
Him to be unto thee a very preseiit help in trouble.
"Then though the fig-tree should not blossom, neither
should fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive
should fail and the fields should yield no meat, the flock
should be cut off" from the fold, and there were no herd

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in the stalls ; yet thou mightest rejoice in the Lord, and
joy in the God of thy salvation." All sufferings are
nothing to us, so far as we have the foresight of this
salvation. No bolts nor bars nor distance of place can
shut out these supporting joys, because they cannot
confine our faith and thoughts, although they may con-
fine our flesh. Christ and faith are both spiritual, and
therefore prisons and banishments cannot hinder their
intercourse. Even when persecution and fear hath shut
the doors, Christ can come in, and stand in the midst,
and say to His disciples, " Peace be unto you."" And
Paul and Silas can be in heaven, even when they are
locked up in the inner prison, and their bodies scourged,
and their feet in the stocks. No wonder if there be more
mirth in their stocks than on Herod's throne, for there
was more of Christ and heaven. The martyrs find more
rest in the flames than their persecutors can in their
pomp and tyranny, because they foresee the flames they
escape, and the rest which that fiery chariot is conveying
them to. It is not the place that gives the rest, but the
presence and beholding of Christ in it. If the Son of God
will 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. Christian, 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. For that is the best
estate to thee in which thou possessest most of Him.
The moral arguments of a heathen philosopher may make
the burden somewhat lighter, but nothing can make us
soundly joy in tribulation except we can fetch our joy
from heaven. How came Abraham to leave his country,
and follow God he knew not whither ? Why, because " he
looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God.'' What made Moses choose affliction
with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures

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of sin for a season, and to esteem the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt ? Why,
because he had respect to the recompense of reward.
What made him to forsake Egypt, and not to fear the
wrath of the king ? Why, he endured as seeing Him
who is invisible. How did they quench the violence of
fire, and out of weakness were made strong? Why
would they not accept deliverance when they were tor-
tured ? Why, they had their eye on a better resurrec-
tion which they might obtain. Yea, it is most evident
that our Lord Himself did fetch His encouragement to
sufferings from the foresight of His glory, " for to this
end He both died and rose and revived, that He might
be Lord both of the dead and living/" " 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."

Who can wonder that pain and sorrow, poverty and
sickness should be exceeding grievous to that man who
cannot reach to see the end ? Or that death should be
the king of terrors to him who cannot see the life beyond
it ? He that looks not on the end of his sufferings as
well as on the suffering itself, he needs must lose the
whole consolation; and if he see not the quiet fruit of
righteousness which it afterward yieldeth, it cannot to
him be joyous, but grievous. This is the noble advantage
of faith; it can look on the means and end together.
This also is the reason why we oft pity ourselves more
than God doth pity us, though we love not ourselves so
much as He doth; and why we would have the cup to
pass from us, when He will make us drink it up. We
pity ourselves with an ignorant pity, and would be saved
from the cross, which is the way to save us. God sees our
glory as soon as our suffering, and sees our suffering as it
conduceth to our glory. He sees our cross and our

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crown at once, and therefore pitieth us the less, and will
not let US have our wills.

Sirs, believe it, this is the great reason of our mis-
takes, impatience, and censuring of God, of our sadness
of spirit at sickness and at death, because we gaze on the
evil itself, but fix not our thoughts on what is beyond it.
We look only on the blood and ruin and danger in our
wars, but God sees these with all the benefits to souls,
bodies, church, state, and posterity, all with one single
view. We see the ark taken by the Philistines, but see
not their god falling before it and themselves returning
it home with gifts. They that saw Christ only on the
cross or in the grave do shake their heads, and think
Him lost; but God saw Him dying, buried, rising,
glorified, and all this with one view. Surely faith will
imitate God in this, so far as it hath the glass of a
promise to help it. He that sees Joseph only in the pit
or in the prison will more lament his case than he that
sees his dignity beyond it. Could old Jacob have seen so
far, it might have saved him a great deal of sorrow. He
that sees no more than the burying of the corn under
ground, or the threshing, the winnowing, and grinding of
it, will take both it and the labour for lost ; but he that
foresees its springing and increase, and its making into
bread for the life of man, will think otherwise. This is
our mistake; we see God burying us under ground, but
we foresee not the spring when we shall all revive ; we
feel Him threshing and winnowing and grinding us,
but we see not when we shall be served to our Master's
table. If we should but clearly see heaven as the end
of all God's dealings with us, surely none of His dealings
could be so grievous.

Think of this, I entreat thee, reader. If thou canst
but learn this way to heaven, and get thy soul acquainted
there, thou needest not be unfurnished of the choicest

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cordials to revive thy spirits in every affliction; thou
knowest where to have them whenever thou wantest ;
thou mayest have arguments at hand to answer all that
the devil or flesh can say to thy discomfort. Oh, if God
would once raise us to this life, we should find that
though heaven and sin are at a great distance; yet
heaven and a prison or remotest banishment heaven and
the belly of a whale in the sea, heaven and a den of lions,
a consuming sickness, or invading death, are at no such
distance. But as Abraham so far off saw Christ's day,
and rejoiced; so we in our most forlorn estate might
see that day when Christ shall give us rest, and therein
rejoice. I beseech thee. Christian, for the honour of the
gospel and for the comfort of thy soul, that thou be not
to learn this heavenly art when in the greatest extremity
thou hast most need to use it. I know thou expectest
suffering days, at least thou lookest to be sick and die;
thou wilt then have exceeding need of consolation.
Why, whence dost thou think to draw thy comforts ? If
thou broach every other vessel, none will come. It is
only heaven that can afford thee store. The place is far
off, the well is deep, and if then thou have not where-
with to draw, nor hast got thy soul acquainted with the
place, thou wilt find thyself at a fearful loss.

It is not an easy nor a common thing, even with the
best sort of men, to die with joy. As ever thou wouldst
shut up thy days in peace, and close thy dying eyes with
comfort, die daily. Live now above, be much with Christ
and thy own soul, and the saints about thee shall bless
the day that ever thou tookest this counsel. When God
shall call thee to a sick-bed and a grave, thou shalt
perceive Him saying to thee, as Isa. xxvi. 20, " Come
my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors
about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
until the indignation be overpast." It is he that, with

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Stephen, doth see heaven opened and Christ sitting at the
right hand of God who will comfortably bear the storm
of stones. Thou knowest not yet what trials thou mayest
be called to. The clouds begin to rise again, and the
times to threaten us with fearful darkness ; few ages so
prosperous to the Church but that still we must be saved
so '* as by fire,"" and go to heaven by the old road. Men
that would fall if the storm should shake them do fre-
quently meet with that which tries them. Why, what
wilt thou do if this should be thy case ? Art thou fitted
to suffer imprisonment or banishment ; to bear the loss of
goods and life ? How is it possible thou should st do this,
and do it cordially and cheerfully, except thou hast a taste
of some greater good, which thou lookest to gain by losing
these ? Will the merchant throw his goods overboard till
he sees he must otherwise lose his life? And wilt thou
cast away all thou hast before thou hast felt the sweetness
of that rest ^vhich else thou must lose by saving these ?

Nay, and it is not a speculative knowledge, which thou
hast got only by reading or hearing of heaven, which will
make thee part with all to get it; as a man that only
hears of the sweetness of pleasant food, or reads of the
melodious sounds of music, this doth not much excite his
desires ; but when he hath tried the one by his taste, and
the other by his ear, then he will more lay out to get
them ; so if thou shouldst know only by the hearing of
the ear what is the glory of the inheritance of the saints,
this would not bring thee through sufferings and death ;
but if thou take this trying, tasting course, by daily
exercising thy soul above, then nothing will stand in thy
way, but thou wouldst on till thou were there, though
through fire and water. What state more terrible than
that of an apostate, when God hath told us, "if any
man draw back, His soul shall have no pleasure in him.''
Because they take not their pleasure in God, and fill

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

not themselves with the delights of His ways, and of His
heavenly paths, which " drop fatness," " therefore do they
prove backsliders in heart, and are filled with the bitterness
of their own ways."" Nay, if they should not be brought
to trial, and so not actually deny Christ, yet they are still
interpretatively such, because they are such in disposition,
and would be such in action, if they were put to it.

I assure thee, reader, for my part, I cannot see how
thou wilt be able to hold out to the end if thou keep not
thine eye upon the recompense of reward, and use not
frequently to taste this cordially ; for the less thy dili-
gence is in this, the more doubtful must thy perseverance
needs be ; for the joy of the Lord is thy strength, and that
joy must be fetched from the place of thy joy ; and if thou
walk without thy strength, how long dost thou think thou
art like to endure?

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. What pleasant discourse was it to Joseph to talk
with his brethren in a strange land, and to enquire of
his father, and his brother Benjamin? Is it not so to
a Christian to talk with his brethren that have been
above, and enquire after his Father and Christ his Lord ?

When a worldling will talk of nothing but the world
and a politician of nothing but the affaii's of the state,

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and a mere scholar of human learning, and a common
professor of duties and of Christians, the heavenly man
will be speaking of heaven, and the strange glory which
his faith hath seen, and our speedy and blessed meeting
there. I confess, to discourse with able men, of clear
understandings and piercing wits, about the controverted
difficulties in religion, yea, about some criticisms in lan-
guages and sciences, is both pleasant and profitable, but
nothing to this heavenly discourse of a believer. Oh,
how refreshing and savoury are his expressions ; how his
words do pierce and melt the heart ; how they transform
the hearers into other men, that they think they are in
heaven all the while ? How doth his doctrine drop as
the rain, and his speech distil as the gentle 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 greatness to his God ? Is not his
feeling, sweet discourse of heaven, even like that box of
precious ointment, which being opened to pour on the
head of Christ, doth fill the house with the pleasure of
its perfume ? All that are near may be refreshed by it.
His words are like the precious ointment on Aaron's
head, that ran down upon his beard and the skirts of his
garments ; even like the dew of Hermon, and as the dew
that descendeth from the celestial mount Zion, where the
Lord hath commanded the blessing, even life for ever-
more. 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 witness to him.

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

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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 at the spark of
thy spiritual 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 not it the glory of the saints to see His
glory ? If thou come to this man*'s house and sit at his
table, he will feast thy soul with the dainties of heaven ;
thou shalt meet with a better than Plato's philosophical
feast, even a taste of that feast of fat things, " of wines
on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the
lees well refined," " that thy soul may be satisfied as with
marrow and fatness, and thou mayest praise the Lord
with joyful lips." 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, remembering that Christ hath not only
pardoned great offences to him, but will also give him
this invaluable portion. If thou be angry, he is meek,
considering the meekness of his heavenly pattern ; or if
he fall out with thee, he is soon reconciled, when he
remembereth that in heaven you must be everlasting
friends. This is the Christian of the right stamp; this
is the servant that is like his Lord ; these be the innocent
that save the island, and all about them are the better
where they dwell.

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O sirs, I fear the men I have described are very rare,
even among the religious, but were it not for our own
shameful negligence such men we might all be. What
families, what towns, what commonwealths, what churches
should we have, if they were but composed of such men ;
but that is more desirable than hopeful, till we come
to that land which hath no other inhabitants save what
are incomparably beyond this. Alas, how empty are the
speeches, and how unprofitable the society of all other sorts
of Christians in comparison of these ! A man might per-
ceive by his divine song and high expressions, that Moses
had been oft with God, and that God had showed him
part of His glory. Who could have composed such
spiritual Psalms, and poured out praises as David did,
but a man after God's own heart ; and a man that was
near the heart of God, and, no doubt, had God also near
his heart ? Who could have preached such spiritual doc-
trine, and dived into the precious mysteries of salva-
tion, as Paul did, but one who had been called with a light
from heaven, and had been rapt up into the third heavens
in the spirit, and there had seen the unutterable things ?
If a man should come down from heaven amongst us, who
had lived in the possession of that blessed state, how
would men be desirous to see or hear him ; and all the
country far and near would leave their business and crowd
about him ; happy would he think himself that could get
a sight of him ; how would men long to hear what reports
he would make of the other world ; and what he had seen ;
and what the blessed there enjoy. Would they not think
this man the best companion, and his discourse to be
of all most profitable ? Why, sirs, every true believing
saint shall be there in person, and is frequently there in
spirit, and hath seen it also in the glass of the Gospel ;
why then, do you value their company no more ; and why
do you enquire no more of them ; and why do you relish

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

their discourse no better ? AVell, for my part, I had rather
have the fellowship of a heavenl3^-minded Christian than
of the most learned disputers, or princely commanders.

Consider, there is no man so highly honoureth God as
he who hath his conversation in heaven ; and without this
we deeply dishonour Him. Is it not a disgrace to the
father when the children do feed on husks, and are clothed
in rags, and accompany with none but rogues and beggars ?
Is it not so to our Father, when we who call ourselves His
children, shall feed on earth, and the garb of our souls be
but like that of the naked world ? And when our hearts
shall make this clay and dust their more familiar and
frequent company, who should ahvays stand in our Father's
presence, and be taken up in His own attendance ? Sure
it beseems not the spouse of Christ to live among His
scullions and slaves, when they may have daily admittance
into His presence-chamber; He holds forth the sceptre,
if they will but enter. Sure, w^e live below the rates of
the Gospel, and not as becometh the children of a king,
even of the great King of all the world. We live not
according to the height of our hopes, nor according to
the plenty that is in the promises, nor according to the
provision of our Father's house, and the great pre])ara-
tions made for His saints. It is well we have a Father of
tender bowels, who will own His children even in dirt and
rags ; it is well the foundation of God stands sure, and
that the Lord knoweth who are His ; or else He would
hardly take us for His own, so far do we live below the
honour of saints. If He did not first challenge His in-
terest in us, neither ourselves nor others could know us
to be His people.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

But, oh, when a Christian can live above, and rejoice
his soul in the things that are unseen, how doth God take
Himself to be honoured by such an one ? The Lord may
say, " What, this man believes Me ; I see he can trust Me,
and take My word ; he rejoice th in My promise before he
hath possession; he can be glad and thankful for that
which his bodily eyes did never see; this man's rejoicing
is not in the flesh ; I see he loves Me, because he minds
Me ; his heart is with Me, he loves My presence ; and he
shall surely enjoy it in My kingdom for ever."" " Because
thou hast seen,"" saith Christ to Thomas, " thou hast be-
lieved ; but blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed."" How did God take Himself honoured by
Caleb and Joshua, when they went into the promised
land, and brought back to their brethren a taste of the
fruits, and gave it commendation, and encouraged the
people ! And what a promise and recompense do they
receive ! For those that honour Him, He will honour.

Consider, if thou make not conscience of this duty of
diligent keeping thy heart in heaven; first, thou dis-
obeyest the flat commands of God ; secondly, thou losest
the sweetest parts of Scripture ; thirdly, and dost frustrate
the most gracious discoveries of God.

God hath not left it as a thing indifferent and at thy
own choice, whether thou wilt do it or not. He hath
made it thy duty as well as the means of thy comfort,
that so a double bond might tie thee not to forsake thy
own mercies. " If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above ; set your affections on things above,
not on things on earth."" The same God that hath
commanded thee to believe and to be a Christian, hath

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

commanded thee to set thy affections above; the same
God that hath forbidden thee to murder, to steal, to
commit adultery, incest, or idolatry, hath forbidden thee
the neglect of this great duty ; and darest thou wilfully
disobey Him ? Why makest thou not conscience of the
one as well as of the other ?

Besides, thou losest the most comfortable passages of the
Word. All those most glorious descriptions of heaven,
all those discoveries of our future blessedness, all God's
revelations of His purposes towards us, and His frequent
and precious promises of our rest, what are they all but
lost to thee ? Are not these the stars in the firmament
of the Scripture, and the most golden lines in that book
of God ? Of all the Bible, methinks, thou shouldst not
part with one of those promises or predictions ; no, not for
a world. As heaven is the perfection of all our mercies,
so the promises of it in the Gospel are the very soul of
the Gospel. That word which was sweeter to David than
the honey and the honeycomb, and to Jeremiah " the joy
and rejoicing of his heart," the most pleasant part of this
thou losest.

Yea, thou dost frustrate the preparations of Christ
for thy joy, and makest Him to speak in vain. Is a
comfortable word from the mouth of God of so great
worth that all the comforts of the world are nothinor
to it; and dost thou neglect and overlook so many of
them ? Reader, I entreat thee to ponder it, why God
should reveal so much of His counsel, and tell us before-
hand of the joys we shall possess, but only that He would
have us know it for our joy ? If it had not been to
make comfortable our present life, and fill us with the
delights of our foreknown blessedness. He might have
kept His purpose to Himself, and never have let us know
till we come to enjoy it, nor have revealed it to us till
death had discovered it, what He meant to do with us

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

in the world to come. Yea, when we had got possession
of our rest He might still have concealed its eternity
from us, and then the fears of losing it again would
have bereaved us of much of the sweetness of our joys.
But it hath })leased our Father to open His counsel, and
to let us know the very intent of His heart, and to
acquaint us with the eternal extent of His love ; and all
this that our joy may be full, and we might live as the
heirs of such a kingdom. And shall we now overlook
all, as if He had revealed no such matter? Shall we
live in earthly cares and sorrows, as if we knew of no
such thing; and rejoice no more in these discoveries
than if the Lord had never writ it ? If thy prince had
sealed thee but a patent of some lordship, how oft
wouldst thou be casting thine eye upon it, and make
it thy daily delight to study it, till thou shouldst come
to possess the dignity itself; and hath God sealed thee
a patent of heaven, and dost thou let it lie by thee,
as if thou hadst forgot it ? Oh, that our hearts were
as high as our hopes, and our hopes as high as these
infallible promises !

Consider, it is but equal that our hearts should be on
God when the heart of God is so much on us. If the Lord
of glory can stoop so low as to set His heart on sinful
dust, sure one would think we should easily be persuaded
to set our hearts on Christ and glory, and to ascend to Him
in our daily affections, who vouchsafeth to condescend to
us. Oh, if God's delight were no more in us than ours
is in Him, what should we do, what a case were we in ?
Christian, dost thou not perceive that the heart of God
is set upon thee, and that He is still minding thee
with tender love, even when thou forgettest both thyself

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

and Him? Dost thou not find Him following thee
with daily mercies, moving upon thy soul, providing for
thy body, preserving both ? Doth He not bear thee
continually in the arms of love, and promise that all
shall work together for thy good, and suit all His deal-
ings to thy greatest advantage, and give His angels
charge over thee? And canst thou find in thy heart
to cast Him by, and be taken up with the joys below,
and forget thy Lord, who forgets not thee ? Fie upon
this unkind ingratitude ! Is not this the sin that Isaiah
so solemnly doth call both heaven and earth to witness
against ? " The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his
master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth
not consider.'' If the ox or ass do straggle in the day,
they likely come to their home at night ; but we will
not so much as once a day, by our serious thoughts,
ascend to God.

When He speaks of His own respects to us, hear what
He saith : " When Zion saith, the Lord hath forsaken,
my Lord hath forgotten me : Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will I
not forget; behold, I have graven thee upon the palms
of my hands, thy v.alls are continually before me." But
when He speaks of our thoughts to Him, the case is
otherwise. " Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a
bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten Me
days without number." As if He should say, " You
would not forget the clothes on your backs, you will not
forget your braveries and vanities, you will not rise one
morning but you will remember to cover your nakedness ;
and are these of more worth than your God, or of more
concernment than your eternal life, and yet you can
forget these day after day ? " O brethren, give not God
cause to expostulate with us, as Isa. Ixv. 11, "Ye are

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they that have forsaken the Lord, and that forget My
holy mountain " ; but rather admire His minding of thee,
and let it draw thy mind again to Him, and say as
Job vii. 17, 18, "What is man that Thou shouldst
magnify him, and that Thou shouldst set Thy heart
upon him, and that Thou shouldst visit him every
morning, and try him every moment ? " So let thy soul
get up to God, and visit Him every morning, and thy
heart be towards Him every moment.

XIII j

Consider, should not our interest in heaven and our ■
relation to it continually keep our hearts upon it, be- i
sides that excellence which is spoken of before ? Why, i
there our Father keeps His court. Do we not call Him |
our Father which art in heaven ? Ah ungracious, un- 1
worthy children that can be so taken up in their play I
below, as to be mindless of such a Father ! Also there i
is Christ our Head, our Husband, our Life ; and shall '
we not look towards Him and send to Him as oft as we .!
can, till we come to see Him face to face ? If He were, :
by transubstantiation, in the Sacraments, or other ordi-
nances, and that as gloriously as He is in heaven, then ;
there were some reason for our lower thoughts; but j
when the heavens must receive Him till the restitution (
of all things, let them also receive our hearts with Him.
There also is our mother. For "Jerusalem which is
above is the mother of us all.*" And there are multi-
tudes of our elder brethren. There are our friends and
our ancient acquaintance, whose society in the flesh we i
so much delighted in, and whose departure hence we ;
so much lamented. And is this no attractive to thy 1
thoughts ? If they were within thy reach on earth thou

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

wouldst go and visit them ; and why wilt thou not
oftener visit them in spirit, and rejoice beforehand to
think of thy meeting them there again ? Saith old Bul-
linger, '^ Socrates gaudet sibi viorwndum esse, propterea
quod Homerum, Hesiodum, et alios prcestantissimos viros
se visurum crederet : qnanto magis ego gaudeo, qui certiis
sum vie visurum esse Christum, Servatorem meum, ceternum
Dei Jilium, in assumptd came ; et prceterea tot sanctissimos
et eooimios Patriarchas?'''' &c. Socrates rejoiced that he
should die, because he believed he should see Homer,
Hesiod, and other excellent men ; how much more do I
rejoice, who am sure to see Christ my Saviour, the
eternal Son of God, in His assumed flesh ; and besides,
so many holy and excellent men !

When Luther desired to die a martyr, and could not
obtain it, he comforted himself with these thoughts, and
thus did write to them in prison, " Vestra vincida mea
sunt, vestri career es et ignes met sunt, dum confiteor, et
prcedico, vohisque simid compatior et congi'atidorr Yet
this is my comfort, your bonds are mine, your prisons
and fires are mine, while I confess and preach the doctrine
for which you suffer, and while I suffer and congratulate
with you in your sufferings. Even so should a believer
look to heaven, and contemplate the blessed state of the
saints, and think with himself, " Though I am not yet so
happy as to be with you, yet this is my daily comfort, you
are my brethren and fellow-members in Christ, and there-
fore your joys are my joys, and your glory by this near
relation is my glory, especially while I believe in the same
Christ, and hold fast the same faith and obedience by
which you were thus dignified ; and also while I rejoice
in spirit with you, and in my daily meditations congratu-
late your happiness.'"

Moreover, our house and home is above. "For we
know if this earthly house of our tabernacle were dissolved,

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

we have a building of God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens." Why do we then look no
oftener towards it, and groan not earnestly, "desiring to
be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven " ?
Sure, if our home were far meaner, we should yet remember
it, because it is our home. You use to say, "Home is
homely, be it never so poor," and should such a home
then be no more remembered ? If you were but banished
into a strange land, how frequent thoughts would you
have of home ; how oft would you think of your old
companions ; which way ever you went, or what company
soever you came in, you would still have your hearts and
desires there ; you w^ould even dream in the night that
you were at home, that you saw your father, or mother,
or friends, that you were talking with wife, or children,
or neighbours ; and why is it not thus with us in respect
of heaven.? Is not that more truly and properly our
home, where we must take up our everlasting abode, than
this which we are looking every hour when we are sepa-
rated from, and shall see it no more ? We are strangers,
and that is our country. We are heirs, and that is our
inheritance, even an inheritance incorruptible and un-
defiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us.

We are here in continual distress and want, and there
lies our substance, even that better and more enduring
substance. We are here fain to be beholden to others,
and there lies our own perpetual treasure. Yea, the very
hope of our souls is there ; all our hope of relief from our
distresses ; all our hope of happiness when we are here
miserable; all this hope is laid up for us in heaven,
whereof we hear in the true Word of the Gospel. Why,
beloved Christians, have we so much interest, and so
seldom thoughts; have we so near relation, and so little
affection ; are we not ashamed of this ? Doth it become
us to be delighted in the company of strangers so as to

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MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

forget our Father, and our Lord ; or to be so well pleased
with those that hate and grieve us as to forget our best
and dearest friends ; or to be so besotted with borrowed
trifles, as to forget our own profession and treasure ; or
to be so taken up with a strange place as not once a dav
to look toward home ; or to fall so in love with tears and
wants as to forget our eternal joy and rest? Christians,
I pray you think whether this become us, or whether this
be the part of a wise or thankful man ? Why, here thou
art like to other men, as the heir under age who differs
not from a servant, but there it is that thou shalt be
promoted, and fully estated in all that was promised.

Surely, God useth to plead His propriety in us, and
from thence to conclude to do us good, even because we
are His own people whom He hath chosen out of all the
world ; and why then do we not plead our interest in Him,
and thence fetch arguments to raise up our hearts, even
because He is our own God, and because the place is our
own possession ? Men use in other things to over-love
and over- value their own, and too much to mind their own
things. Oh, that we could mind our own inheritance,
and value it but half as it doth deserve !

XIV

Lastly, consider, there is nothing else that is worth the
setting our hearts on. If God have them not, who or
what shall have them ? If thou mind not thy rest, what
wilt thou mind ? As the disciples said of Christ : " Hath
any man given Him meat to eat that we know not of?''
So say I to thee : " Hast thou found out some other God,
or heaven that we know not of, or something that will
serve thee instead of rest ? Hast thou found on earth an
eternal happiness; where is it; and what is it made of;

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING KEST

or who was the man that found it out; or who was he
that last enjoyed it; where dwelt he; and what was his
name ? Or art thou the first that hast found this treasure,
and that ever discovered heaven on earth ? " Ah, wretch,
trust not to thy discoveries, boast not of thy gain, till
experience bid thee boast; or rather take up with the
experience of thy forefathers who are now in the dust and
deprived of all, though sometime they were as lusty and
jovial as thou.

I would not advise thee to make experiments at so dear
rates as all those do that seek after happiness below ; lest
when the substance is lost, thou find too late that thou
didst catch but a shadow ; lest thou be like those men
that will needs search out the philosopher's stone, though
none could effect it that went before them ; and so buy
their experience with the loss of their own estates and
time, which they might have had at a cheaper rate, if
they would have taken up with the experience of their
predecessors. So I would wish thee not to disquiet thy-
self in looking for that which is not on earth, lest thou
learn thy experience with the loss of thy soul which thou
mightest have learned at easier terms, even by the warn-
ings of God in His Word, and loss of thousands of souls
before thee. It would pity a man to see that men will
not believe God in this, till they have lost their labour,
and heaven, and all ; nay, that many Christians who have
taken heaven for their resting place, do lose so many
thoughts needlessly on earth; and care not how much
they oppress their spirits, which should be kept nimble and
free for higher things. As Luther said to Melancthon when
he overpressed himself wdth the labours of his ministry,
so may I much more say to thee who oppressest thyself
with the cares of the world : " Vellem te adhuc decks plus
obrui: Adeo me nihil tiii miser et, qui toties monifus, ne
onerares teipsum tot onei^ibus, et nihil audis, omnia bene

294

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

monita contemnis. Erit cum sero stulhim hium hunc
zelum frustra damnabls, quo javi ardes solus omnia 'poiiare^
quasi ferrum aut saocum sis.'"' " It were no matter if thou
wert oppressed ten times more ; so little do I pity thee,
who being so often warned that thou shouldst not load
thyself with so many burdens, dost no whit regard it,
but contemnest all these wholesome warnino-s : thou wilt
shortly, when it is too late, condemn this thy foolish for-
wardness, which makes thee so desirous to bear all this as
if thou wert made of iron or stone."''*

Alas, that a Christian should rather delight to have
his heart among these thorns and briars, than in the
bosom of his crucified, glorified Lord ! Surely, if Satan
should take thee up to the mountain of temptation, and
shew thee the kingdoms and glory of the world, he could
shew thee nothing that is worthy thy thoughts, much less
to be preferred before thy Rest. Indeed so far as duty
and necessity require it, we must be content to mind the
things below ; but who is he that contains himself within
the compass of those limits ? And yet if we bound our
cares and thoughts as diligently as ever we can, we shall
find the least to be bitter and burdensome ; even as the
least wasp hath a sting, and the smallest serpent hath his
poison. As old Hiltenius said of Rome, ^^ Est proprium
Romance potestatis id sit ferrum^ et licet digiti minorentur
ad parvitatem acus, tamen rnanent ferret,'''' "It is proper
to the Roman power to be of iron, and though the fingers
of it be diminished to the smallness of a needle, yet they
are iron still." The like may I say of our earthly cares,
it is their property to be hard and troublous, and so they
will be when they are at the least.

Verily, if we had no higher hopes than what is on
earth, I should take man for a most silly creature; and
his work and wages, all his travel and his felicity, to be
no better than dreams and vanity, and scarce worth the

THE SAINTS' EVEHLASTING REST

minding or mentioning. Especially to thee a Christian
should it seem so, whose eyes are opened by the Word
and Spirit to see the emptiness of all these things, and
the precious worth of the things above. Oh, then be not
detained by these silly things, but if Satan present them
to thee in a temptation, send them away from whence
they came, as Pellicanus did send back the silver bowl
which the bishop had sent him for a token with this
answer, '' Astricti sunt qiiotquot Tigu^i cives et inquilini,
his singulis annis, solemni juramento, 7ie quis eorum ulliim
munus ah ullo Principe accipiat.^^ " All that are citizens
and inhabitants of Tigurum, are solemnly sworn twice a
year, not to receive any gift from any prince abroad."
So say thou, " We the citizens and inhabitants of heaven
are bound by solemn and frequent covenants, not to have
our hearts enticed or entangled with any foreign honours
or delights, but only with those of our own country.
If thy thoughts should, like the laborious bee, go over
the world from flower to flower, from creature to creature,
they would bring thee no honey or sweetness home, save
what they gathered from their relations to eternity.

But you will say perhaps. Divinity is of larger extent
than only to treat of the life to come, or the way thereto ;
there are many controversies of great difficulty which
therefore require much of our thoughts, and so they must
not be all of heaven.

For the smaller controversies which have vexed our
times and caused the doleful divisions among us, I express
my mind as that of Graserus, " Cum in visitatione cegro-
torum, et ad emigrationem ex hac vita ad heat am prw-
paratione deprehendisset^ controversias illas theologicas,
quce scie7itiam quidem iriflantem pariunt, conscientias vero
fluctuantes non sedaiit, quasque hodie magna aniviorum
contentione agitantur, et niagnos tumidtus in rehus puhlicis
excitant, nullum pi^orsus usum hahere, quinimo conscientias

296

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

simpUciorum non aliter ac olim in Papatu humana fig-
menta mtricare : Coepit ah eis toto animo ahhorrere, et
in publicis concionihus tantum ea proponere, quce ad Jidem
salvificam in Christum accendendam, et ad pietatem veram
juxta verbum Dei eocercendam, veramque consolationem
in vita et morte prcestandam Jhciebant.^'' "When he
had found in his visiting the sick, and in his own
preparations for well dying, that the controversies in
divinity which beget a swelHng knowledge, but do not
quiet troubled consciences, and which are at this day
agitated with such contention of spirits, and raise such
tumults in commonwealths, are indeed utterly useless ;
yea, and moreover do entangle the consciences of the
simple, just as the human inventions in Popery formerly
did, he begun with full bent of mind to shun or abhor
them, and in his public preaching to propound only those
things which tended to the kindling a true faith in Jesus
Christ and to the exercise of true godliness according to
the Word of God, and to the procuring of true con-
solation both in life and death."" I can scarce express my
own mind more plainly than in this historian's expres-
sions of the mind of Graserus.

While I had some competent measure of health, and
looked at death as at a greater distance, there was no
man more delighted in the study of controversy; but
when I saw dying men have no mind on it, and how
unsavoury and uncomfortable such conference was to
them, and when I had oft been near to death myself, and
found no delight in them, further than they confirmed or
illustrated the doctrine of eternal glory, I have minded
them ever since the less. Though every truth of God is
precious, and it is the sin and shame of professors that
are no more able to defend the truth, yet should all our
study of controversy be still in relation to this perpetual
Rest, and consequently be kept within its bounds and,

297

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

with most Christians, not have the twentieth part of our
time or thoughts. Who that hath tried both studies
doth not cry out, as Summerhard was wont to do of the
Popish school divinity, " Quls me miserum tandem liber-
abit ah ista riocosa theologiaf Who will once deliver
me, wretch, from this wrangling kind of divinity ? '"* And
as it is said of Bucholcer, " Ctim eximiis a Deo dotibiis
esset decoratus, in certamen tamen cum, rabiosis illius
secidi theologis descendere iioluH. Desii, inquit, disputare^
cwpi supputare : quoniam illud dissipationem, hoc collec-
tiojiem significat. Vidit enim ah Us controversias moveri,
quas nulla unquam amwis Dei scintilla calefecerat : vidit
ex diutiirnis theologornm riocis^ utilitatis nihil, detr'i-
menti plurimum in ecclesias redundasse ; "" i.e. : Though he
was adorned by God with excellent gifts, yet would he
never enter into contention with the furious divines of
that age. I have ceased, saith he, my disputations, and
now begin my supputation; for that signifieth "dissipa-
tion,"" but this " collection." For he saw, that those men
were the movers of controversies, who had never been
warmed with one spark of the love of God ; he saw that
from the continual brawls of divines, no benefit, but
much hurt did accrue to the churches. And it is worth
the observing which the historian adds : " Qiia propter
omnis ejus cura in hoc erat, ut aiiditores Jidei suae com-
missos, doceret bene vivere et heate mori; Et annotaiiim
i/n adversariis aviici ejus repererunt, permultos in eoctrenw
agone constitutos gi'atias ipsi hoc nomine egisse, quod
ipsius ductu servaiorem suum Jesum agnovissent, citjus
in cognitione pulchrum vivere, mori vero longe pulcher-
rinnim ducereiit. At que hand scio annon hoc ipsum
longe Bucholcero coram Deo sit gloriosius futurum, quam
si aliquot contentiosorum libelloruvi myriadas posteri-
tatis memories consecrasset ; " i.e. : Therefore this was all
his care, that he might teach his hearers committed to

298

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

his charge, to live well, and die happily : and his friends
found noted down in his papers a great many of persons,
who in their last agony did give him thanks for this very
reason, that by his direction they had come to the
knowledge of Jesus their Saviour, in the knowledge of
whom the?/ esteem it sweet to live, hut to die far more
sweet. And I cannot tell whether this very thing will
not prove more glorious to Bucholcer before God, than if
he had consecrated to the memory of posterity many
myriads of contentious writings.

And as the study of controversies is not the most
pleasant nor the most profitable, so much less the public
handling of them, for, do it with the greatest meekness
and ingenuity, yet shall we meet with such unreasonable
men as the said Bucholcer did, '^ qui arrepta ex aliquibus
vocidis calumniandi materia, hwreseos insimidare et tradu-
cere optimum virum non eruhescerent ; frustra ohtestante
ipso, dextre data, dextre acciperent ; " i.e. : who taking
occasion of reproach from some small words, were not
ashamed to traduce the good man, and accuse him of
heresy, while he in vain obtested with them that they
should take in good part what was delivered with a good
intention. Siracides saith in Ecclesiasticus, chap xxvi.,
that a scolding woman shall be sought out for to drive away
the enemies; but experience of all ages tells us, to our
sorrow, that the wrangling divine is their chiefest inlet,
and no such scare-crow to them at all.

So then it is clear to me that there is nothing worth
our minding but heaven, and the way to heaven.

All the question will be about the affairs of Church and
State. Is not this worth our minding, to see what things
will come to, and how God will conclude our differences ?

So far as they are considered as the providences of God,
and as they tend to the settling of the Gospel, and
government of Christ, and so to the saving of our own,

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

and our posterity's souls, they are well worth our diligent
observation. But these are only their relations to eternity.

Otherwise I should look upon all the stirs and commotions |

in the world, but as the busy gadding of a heap of ants, j

or the swarming of a nest of wasps or bees ; the spurn of |

a man's foot destroys all their labour ; or as an interlude \
or tragedy of a few hours long. They first quarrel, and

then fight, and let out one another's blood, and bring j

themselves more speedily and violently to their graves, !

which, however, they could not long have delayed ; and so j

come down, and the play is ended. And the next genera- j

tion succeeds them in their madness, and makes the like i

bustle in the world for a time ; and so they also come I
down, and^lie in the dust. Like the Roman gladiators

that would kill one another by the hundreds, to make the ;

beholders a solemn shew ; or as the young men of Joab j

and Abner, that must play before them, by stabbing one |
another to the heart, and fall down and die, and there is

an end of the sport. And is this worth a wise man's !

observance ? I

Surely, our very bodies themselves, for which we make !

all this ado in the world, are very silly pieces : look upon !

them, not as they are set out in a borrowed bravery, but i

as they lie rotting in a ditch, or a grave; and you will ]
say, they are silly things indeed. Why, then, sure all our
dealings in the world, our buyings and sellings, and
eating and drinking, our building and marrying, our

wealth and honours, our peace and our war, so far as they ;

relate not to the life to come, but tend only to the support j
and pleasing of this silly flesh, must needs themselves be
silly things, and not worthy the frequent thoughts of a

Christian ; for the means, as such, is meaner than their end. '

And now doth not thy conscience say, as I say, that :
there is nothing but heaven and the way to it that is

worth thy minding.? i

soo 1

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

Thus I have given thee these twelve arguments to
consider of, and, if it may be, to persuade thee to a
heavenly mind. I now desire thee to view them over,
read them deliberately, and read them again, and then
tell me, are they reason or are they not ? Reader, stop
here while thou answerest my question. Are these con-
siderations weighty, or not ? Are these arguments con-
vincing, or not ? Have I proved it thy duty, and of
flat necessity, to keep thy heart on things above, or have
I not ? Say yea, or nay, man ! If thou say nay, I am
confident thou contradictest thine own conscience, and
speakest against the light that is in thee, and thy reason
tells thee thou speakest falsely. If thou say yea, and
acknowledge thyself convinced of the duty, bear witness,
then, that I have thine own confession. That very tongue
of thine shall condemn thee, and that confession be pleaded
against thee if thou now go home, and cast this off, and
wilfully neglect such a confessed duty ; and these twelve
considerations shall be as a jury to convict thee, which I
propounded, hoping they might be effectual to persuade
thee.

I have not yet fully laid open to you the nature and
particular way of that duty which I am all this while
persuading you to, that is the next thing to be done ; all
that I have said hitherto is but to make you willing to
perform it. I know the whole work of man's salvation
doth stick most at his own will ; if we could once get over
this block well, I see not what could stand before us. Be
soundly willing, and the work is more than half done.

I have now a few plain directions to give you, for to
help you in doing this great work ; but alas, it is in vain
to mention them except you be willing to put them in

301

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

practice. What sayest thou, reader ? Art thou willing,
or art thou not ? Wilt thou obey, if I shew thee the way
of thy duty ? However, I will set them down, and tender
them to thee, and the Lord persuade thy heart to the
work.

CHAPTER XII

SOME GENERAL HELPS TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

I SHALL now lay thee down some positive helps, and
conclude with a directory to the main duty itself. But
first, I expect that thou resolve against the fore-men-
tioned impediments,! that thou read them seriously, 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, and to conjoin heaven and
hell in thy spirit ; thou mayest sooner bring down heaven
to earth, than do this. 1 must tell thee also, that I
here expect thy promise, faithfully to set upon the helps
which I shall prescribe thee, and that the reading of
them will not bring heaven into thy heart, but in their
constant practice the Spirit will do it. It were better
for thee I had never written them, and thou hadst never
seen this book nor read them, if thou do not buckle
thyself to the duty. As thou valuest then the delights
of these foretastes of heaven, make conscience of per-
forming these following duties :

Know heaven to be the only treasure, and labour to
know also what a treasure it is ; be convinced once that
thou hast no other happiness, and then be convinced
what happiness is there. If thou do not soundly believe
it to be the chiefest good, thou wilt never set thy heart

^ The chapter on " Hindrances to a Heavenly Life " to which this
refers is omitted from this edition.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

upon it ; and this conviction must sink into thy affections,
for if it be only a notion, it will have little operation.
And sure we have reason enough to be easily convinced
of this, as you may see in what hath been spoken already.
Read over the description and nature of this Rest, in the
beginning of this book, and the reasons against thy
resting below (in chapter first), and conclude, that this
is the only happiness. As long as your judgments do
undervalue it your affections must needs be cold towards
it. If your judgment do mistake blear-eyed Leah for
beautiful Rachel, so will your affections also mistake
them. If Eve do once suppose she sees more worth in
the forbidden fruit than in the love and fruition of God,
no wonder if it have more of her heart than God. If
your judgments once prefer the delights of the flesh
before the delights in the presence of God, it is impossible
then your hearts should be in heaven. As it is the igno-
rance of the emptiness of things below that makes men so
over-value them, so it is ignorance of the high delights
above which is the cause that men so little mind them.

If you see a purse of gold, and believe it to be but
stones or counters, it will not entice your affections to
it ; it is not a thing''s excellence in itself, but it is an
excellence known that provokes desire. If an ignorant
man see a book containing the secrets of art or sciences,
yet he values it no more than a common piece, because he
knows not what is in it; but he that knows it doth
highly value it, his very mind is set upon it, he can pore
upon it day and night, he can forbear his meat and
drink and sleep to read it. As the Jews inquired after
Elias, when Christ tells them that verily Elias is already
come, and ye knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever
ye listed ; so men inquire after happiness and delight,
when it is offered to them in that promise of rest, and
they know it not, but trample it under foot ; and as

,%4

HELPS TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

the Jews killed the Messiah, while they waited for the
Messiah, and that because they did not know Him,
"for had they known Him, they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory," so doth the world cry
out for rest, and busily seek for delight and happiness,
even while they are neglecting and destroying their
rest and happiness, and this, because they thoroughly
know it not; for did they know thoroughly what it is,
they could not so slight the everlasting treasure.

Labour as to know heaven to be the only happiness ;
so also to be thy happiness. Though the knowledge of
excellency and suitableness may stir up that love which
worketh by desire ; yet there must be the knowledge
of our interest or propriety, to the setting a-work of our
love of complacency. We may confess heaven to be the
best condition, though we despair of enjoying it; and
we may desire and seek it, if we see the obtainment to
be but probable and hopeful ; but we can never delight-
fully rejoice in it till we are somewhat 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 anguish, and make him more sensible of his own
misery ? So, for a man to know the excellencies of
heaven, and not to know whether he shall ever enjoy
them, may well raise desire, and provoke to seek it, but
it will raise but little joy and content. Who will set
his heart on another man's possessions ? If your houses,

305 u

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

your goods, your cattle, your children were not your
own, you would less mind them, and delight less in them.

O therefore Christians, rest not till you can call this
rest your own ; sit not down without assurance ; get
alone, and question with thyself; bring thy heart to the
bar of trial ; force it to answer the interrogatories put
to it; set the conditions of the Gospel and qualifications
of the saints on one side, and thy performance of those
conditions and the qualifications of thy soul on the
other side; and then judge how near they resemble.
Thou hast the same word before thee to judge thyself
by now, by which thou must be judged at the great
day. Thou are there before told the questions that
must then be put to thee; put these questions now to
thyself. Thou mayest there read the very articles, upon
which thou shalt be tried ; why, try thyself by those
articles now. Thou mayest there know, beforehand,
on what terms men shall be then acquit and condemned ;
why try now whether thou art possessed of that which
will acquit thee, or whether thou be upon the same
terms with those that must be condemned ; and accord-
ingly acquit or condemn thyself. Yet be sure thou
judge by a true touchstone, and mistake not the Scrip-
ture's description of a saint, that thou neither acquit nor
condemn thyself upon mistakes. For as groundless hopes
do tend to confusion and are the greatest cause of most
men's damnation, so groundless doubtings do tend to
discomforts, and are the great cause of the disquieting
of the saints.

Therefore lay thy grounds of trial safely and advisedly ;
proceed in the work deliberately and methodically ;
follow it to an issue resolutely and industriously; suffer
not thy heart to give thee the slip, and get away before
a judgment, but make it stay to hear its sentence; if
once, or twice, or thrice will not do it, nor a few davs

306

HELPS TO A HEAV^ENLY LIP^E

of hearing bring it to issue, follow it on with unwearied
diligence, and give not over till the work be done, and
till thou canst say knowingly off or on, either thou art,
or art not a member of Christ; either that thou hast,
or that thou hast not yet title to this rest. Be sure
thou rest not in wilful uncertainties. If thou canst
not despatch the work well thyself, get the help of those
that are skilful; go to thy minister if he be a man of
experience ; or go to some able experienced friend ; open
thy case faithfully, and wish them to deal plainly. And
thus continue till thou hast got assurance. Not but
that some doubtings may still remain, but yet thou
mayest have so much assurance as to master them,
that they may not much interrupt thy peace. If men
did know heaven to be their own inheritance, we should
less need to persuade their thoughts unto it, or to press
them to set their delight in it. Oh, if men did truly
know that God is their own Father, and Christ their
own Redeemer and Head, and that those are their own
everlasting habitations, and that there it is that they
must abide and be happy for ever, how could they choose
but be ravished with the forethoughts thereof? If a
Christian could but look upon sun and moon and
stars, and reckon all his own in Christ, and say : " These
are the portion that my Husband doth bestow, these
are the blessings that my Lord hath procured me and
things incomparably greater than these ; " what holy rap-
tures would his spirit feel !

The more do they sin against their own comforts, as
well as against the grace of the Gospel, who are wilful
maintainers of their own doubtings, and plead for their
unbelief, and cherish distrustful thoughts of God, and
scandalous injurious thoughts of their Redeemer; who
represent the covenant, as if it were of works and not of
grace ; and represent Christ as an enemy, rather than as

307

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

a Saviour, as if He were glad of advantages against them,
and were willing that they should keep off from Him and
die in their unbelief ; when He hath called them so oft,
and invited them so kindly, and borne the hell that they
should bear. Ah, wretches that we are ! that be keeping
up jealousies of the love of our Lord, when we should be
rejoicing and bathing our souls in His love, that can
question that love which hath been so fully evidenced,
and doubt still, whether He that hath stooped so low,
and suffered so much, and taken up a nature and office of
purpose, be yet willing to be theirs who are willing to be
His ! As if any man could choose Christ before Christ
hath chosen him, or any man could desire to have Christ
more than Christ desires to have him, or any man were
more willing to be happy than Christ is to make him
happy! Fie upon these injurious (if not blasphemous)
thoughts !

If ever thou have harboured such thoughts in thy
breast, or if ever thou have uttered such words with thy
tongue, spit out that venom, vomit out that rancour, cast
them from thee, and take heed how thou ever entertainest
them more ! God hath written the names of His people
in heaven, as you use to write your names in your own
books, or upon your own goods, or set your marks on
your own sheep ; and shall we be attempting to rase
them out, and to write our names on the doors of hell ?
But blessed be our God, whose foundation is sure, and
who keepeth us by His mighty power through faith unto
salvation. Well then, this is my second advice to thee,
that thou follow on the work of self-examination, till
thou hast got assurance that this rest is thy own ; and
this will draw thy heart unto it ; and feed thy spirits
with fresh delights, which else will be but tormented so
much the more, to think that there is such rest for others,
but none for thee.

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III

Another help to sweeten thy soul with the foretastes
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 famine in
another country, it troubleth 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
judgments or mercies begin to draw near, then they
affect us : if we were sure we should see the golden age,
then it would take with us. When the plague is in a
town but twenty miles off, we do not fear it, nor much
perhaps if it be but in another street, but if once it come
to the next door, or if it seize on one in our own family,
then we begin to think on it more feelingly. It is so
with mercies as well as judgments. When they are far
off, we talk of them as marvels ; but when they draw
close to us, we rejoice in them as truths. This makes
men think on heaven so insensibly, because they conceit it
at too great a distance ; they look on it as twenty or
thirty or forty years off; and this is it that dulls their
sense. As wicked men are fearless and senseless of judg-
ment, because the sentence is not speedily executed, so
are the godly deceived of their comforts, by supposing
them further off than they are.

This is the danger of putting the day of death far
from us, when men will promise themselves longer time
in the world than God hath promised them, and judge
of the length of their lives by the probabilities they
gather from their age, their health, their constitution,
and temperature ; this makes them look at heaven as a
great way off. If the rich fool in the Gospel had not

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expected to have lived many years, he would sure have
thought more of providing for eternity, and less of his
present store and possessions ; and if we did not think of
staying many years from heaven, we should think on it
with far more piercing thoughts. This expectation of
long life doth both the wicked and the godly a great deal
of wrong. How much better were it to receive the sen-
tence of death in ourselves, and to look on eternity as
near at hand !

Surely, reader, thou standest at the door, and hundreds
of diseases 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 ? Is it not a very little time
when thou lookest back on it ? And will not all the rest
be shortly so too ? Do not days and nights come very
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 getteth ; what a short moment is between us and
our rest ; what a step is it from hence to everlastingness !
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
condemned prisoner knew before that he must die, and
yet he was then as jovial as any ; but when he hears the
sentence, and knows he hath not a week to live, then how
it sinks his heart within him ! So that the true appre-
hensions of the nearness of eternity doth make men's
thoughts of it to be quick and piercing, and put life into

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their fears and sorrows, if they are unfitted; and into
their desires and joys, if they have assurance of its glory.
When the witch's Samuel had told Saul, " By to-morrow
this time thou shalt be with me,'' this quickly worked
to his very heart, and laid him down as dead on the
earth. And if Christ should say to a believing soul,
" By to-morrow this time thou shalt be with me," this
would be a working word indeed, and would bring him in
spirit to heaven before. As Melancthon was wont to say
of his uncertain station, because of the persecution of his
enemies, " Ego jam sum hie, Dei benejicio, xL armos, et
minquam potui dicere aut certus esse, me per unam septi-
manam mansurum esse,'''' i.e., I have now been here this
forty years, and yet could never say, or be sure, that I
shall tarry here for one week ; so may we all say of our
abode on earth. As long as thou hast continued out of
heaven, thou canst not say thou shalt be out of it one
week longer. Do but suppose that you are still enter-
ing in it, and you shall find it will much help you more
seriously to mind it.

Another help to this heavenly life is to be much in
serious discoursing of it, especially with those that can
speak from their hearts, and are seasoned themselves
with an heavenly nature. It is pity, saith Mr. Bolton,
that Christians should ever meet together without some
talk of their meeting in heaven, or the way to it, before
they part. It is pity so much precious time is spent
among Christians in vain discourses, foolish j anglings,
and useless disputes, and not a sober word of heaven
among them. Methinks we should meet together of
purpose to warm our spirits with discoursing of our rest.
To hear a minister or other private Christian set forth

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that blessed 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 Scripture"; while he
was opening to us the windows of heaven ? If a Felix
or wicked wretch will tremble, when he hears his judg-
ment powerfully denounced, why should not the believing
soul be revived when he hears his eternal rest revealed ?

Get then together, fellow- Christians, and talk of the
affairs of your country and kingdom, and comfort one
another with such words. If worldlings get together they
will be talking of the world ; when wantons are together
they will be talking of their lusts ; and wicked men can
be delighted in talking of wickedness; and should not
Christians then delight themselves in talking of Christ,
and the heirs of heaven in talking of their inheritance ?
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 chariots that should bring him to Joseph.
Oh, 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 unprofitable, that we could tell
how to put in a word for heaven, and say (as Peter of
his bodily food, " Not so, for I eat not that which is
common and unclean"), this is nothing to my eternal
rest. Oh, the good that we might both do and receive
by this course ! If it had not been needful to deter us
from unfruitful conference, Christ would not have talked
of giving an account of every idle word at judgment.
Say then as David, when you are in conference, " Let
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer
not Jerusalem above my chiefest mirth."" And then
you shall find the truth of that (Prov. xv. 4), " A whole-
some tongue is a tree of life."

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HELPS TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

Another help to this heavenly life is this : Make it thy
business in every duty to wind up thy affections nearer
heaven. A man's attainments and receivings 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 subordi-
nation 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 ordaining them, and doubtless they will not
be unsuccessful. Though men be personally far asunder
yet they may even by letters have a great deal of inter-
course. How have men been rejoiced by a few lines
from a friend, though they could not see him face to
face; what gladness have we when we do but read the
expressions of his love; or if we read of our friend's
prosperity and welfare ! Many a one that never saw
the fight hath triumphed and shouted, made bonfires,
and rung bells, when they have but heard and read of
the victory, and may not we have intercourse with God
in His ordinances though our persons be yet so far
remote? May not our spirits rejoice in the reading
those lines which contain our legacy and charter for
heaven ? With what gladness may we read the expres-
sions of love, and hear of the state of our celestial
country? With what triumphant shoutings may w^e
applaud our inheritance, though yet we have not the
happiness to behold it? ]Men that are separated by
sea and land can yet, by the mere intercourse of letters,
carry on both great and gainful 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 ?

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Come not therefore with any lower ends to duties;
renounce formality, 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 blessing of the
Spirit with it, as may raise thine affections nearer heaven,
and give thee a fuller taste thereof. When thou art
setting thy foot at thy door, to go to the public
ordinance and worship, say, '* I hope to meet with some-
what from God that may raise my affections 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 that 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 for all the
things I have heard and seen," and say, as those that
beheld His miracles, "We have seen strange things
to-day"; remember 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 set to
duty, we should not be so strange as we are to heaven.

When the Indians first saw the use of letters by our
English, they thought there was sure some spirit in
them that men should converse together by a paper ; if
Christians would take this course in their duties, they
might come to such holy fellowship with God, and see so

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much of the mysteries of the kingdom, that it would
make the standers-by admire what is in those lines, what
is in that sermon, what is in this praying ; this fills his
heart so full of joy, and that so transports him above
himself. Certainly God would not fail us in our duties, if
we did not fail ourselves, and then experience would make
them sweeter to us.

Another help is this : Make an advantage of every
object thou seest, and of every passage of divine provi-
dence, and of everything that befalls 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 post or hand in a crossway, the
name of the town or city which it points to. This
spiritual use of creatures and providences is God's great
end in bestowing them on man ; and he that overlooks
this end must needs rob God of His chiefest praise, and
deny Him the greatest part of His thanks.

The relation that our present mercies have to our
great eternal mercies is the very quintessence and spirits
of all these mercies; therefore do they lose the very
spirits of their mercies, and take nothing but the husks
and bran, who do overlook this relation, and draw not
forth the sweetness of it in their contemplations. God's
sweetest dealings with us at the present would not be
half so sweet as they are, if they did not intimate some
further sweetness. As ourselves have a fleshly and a
spiritual substance, so have our mercies a fleshly and
a spiritual use, and are fitted to the nourishing of both

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our parts. He that receives the carnal part and no more
may have his body comforted by them, but not his soul.
It is not all one to receive sixpence merely as sixpence,
and to receive it in earnest of a thousand pound ; though
the sum be the same, yet I trow the relation makes a
wide difference. Thou takest but the bare earnest, and
overlookest the main sum, when thou receivest thy
mercies, and forgettest thy crown. Oh, therefore that
Christians were skilled in this art ! You can open your
Bibles, and read there of God, and of glory. Oh, learn
to open the creatures, and to open the several passages of
providence, to read of God and glory there. Certainly,
by such a skilful industrious improvement, we might
have a fuller taste of Christ and heaven in every bit of
bread that we eat, and in every draught of beer that we
drink, than most men have in the use of the sacrament.

If thou prosper in the world, and thy labour succeed,
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 and hard with
thee in the world, let it make thee the more earnestly
desire that way when all thy sorrows and sufferings shall
cease. Is thy body refreshed with food or sleep.? Re-
member the inconceivable refreshings with Christ. Dost
thou hear any news that make 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 fraternity
thou shalt have with perfected saints in rest. Is God
communicating Himself to thy spirit ? Why, remember
that time of thy highest advancement, when thy joy
shall be full, as thy communion is full. Dost thou hear
the raging noise of the wicked, and the disorders of the
vulgar, and the confusions in the world, like the noise

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HELPS TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

in a crowd, or the roaring of the waters ? Why, think
of the blessed agreement in heaven, and the melodious
harmony in that choir of God. Dost thou hear or feel
the tempest of wars, or see any cloud of blood arising ?
Remember the day when 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 wings of the Prince of Peace for ever.

Thus you may see what advantages to a heavenly life
every condition and creature doth aftbrd us, if we had but
hearts to apprehend and improve them. As it is said of
the Turks that they will make bridges of the dead bodies
of their men to pass over the trenches or ditches in their
way, so might Christians of the very ruins and calamities
of the times, and of every dead body or misery that thoy
see, make a bridge for the passage of their thoughts to
their rest. And as they have taught their pigeons, which
they call carriers in divers places, to bear letters of inter-
course from friend to friend at a very great distance,
so might a wise industrious Christian get his thoughts
carried into heaven, and receive, as it were, returns from
thence again by creatures of slower wing than doves, by
the assistance of the Spirit, the Dove of God. This is
the right Daedalian flight; and thus we may take from
each bird a feather, and make us wings and fly to Christ.

VII

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, and the actions will be usually of the quality of

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the heart; 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 em-
ployment 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 Christians may better
argue from the like ground, that singing of praise is a
most profitable duty, because it is so delightful as it were
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 preach-
ing and prayer and sacraments and all means for con-
firmation 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 excellency and
bounty, from hearts abounding with love and joy, do
join together both in heart and voice, in the cheerful and
melodious singing of His praises.'^ Those that deny
the lawful use of singing the Scripture Psalms in our
times do disclose their unheavenly, unexperienced hearts,
I think, as well as their ignorant understandings. Had
they felt the heavenly delights that many of their
brethren in such duties have felt, I think they would
have been of another mind. And whereas they are wont
to question whether such delights be genuine, or any

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HELPS TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

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 decide
the controversy.

And a man may as truly say of these delights, as
they use to say of the testimony of the Spirit, that
they witness themselves to be of God, and bring the
evidence of their heavenly parentage along with them.
And whereas they allow only extemporate Psalms imme-
diately dictated to them by the Spirit, when I am con-
vinced, that the gift of extemporate singing is so common
to the Church that any man who is spiritually merry can
use it; and when I am convinced that the use of Scripture
Psalms is abolished, or prohibited, then 1 shall more
regard their judgment. Certainly, as large as mine
acquaintance hath been with men of this spirit, I never
yet heard any of them sing a Psalm ex tempore that was
better than David's, yea, or that was tolerable to a judi-
cious hearer, and not rather a shame to himself and
his opinion. But sweet experience will be a powerful
argument, and will teach the sincere Christian to hold
fast his exercise of this soul-raising duty.

Little do we know how 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, while we are
copious enough in our confessions and petitions. Keader,
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 excellencies and goodness of the
Lord, as frequently as thy own necessities and vileness ;
study the mercies which thou hast received and which are
promised, both their own proper worth, and their aggra-

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vating circumstances, as often as thou studiest the sins
thou hast committed. Oh, let God's praise be much
in your mouths, for in the mouths of the upright
His praise is comely. 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 therefore the
sacrifice of praise continually. In the midst of the
Church let us sing His praise. Praise our God, for He
is good ; sing praises unto His name, for it is pleasant.
Yea, let us rejoice and triumph in His praise.

Do you think that David had not a most heavenly
spirit who was so much employed in this heavenly work ?
Doth it not sometime very much raise your hearts when
you do but seriously read that divine song of Moses, and
those heavenly iterated praises of David, having almost
nothing sometime but praise in his mouth ? How much
more would it raise and refresh us to be skilled and accus-
tomed in the work ourselves ! I confess, to a man of a
languishing body, where the heart doth faint, and the
spirits are feeble, the cheerful praising of God is more
difficult, because the body is the souFs instrument, and
when it lies unstringed, or untuned, the music is likely
to be accordingly but dull. Yet a spiritual cheerfulness
there may be within, and the heart may praise, if not the
voice. But where the body is strong, the spirits lively,
the heart cheerful, and the voice at command, what ad-
vantage have such for this heavenly work ! With what
alacrity and vivacity may they sing forth praises ! Oh,
the madness of healthful youth that lay out this vigour
of body and mind upon vain delights and fleshly lusts,
which is so lit for the noblest work of man ! And oh,
the sinful folly of many of the saints, who drench
their spirits in continual sadness, and waste their days
in complaints and groans, and fill their bodies with

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HELPS TO A HEAVENLY LIFE

wasting diseases, and so make themselves both in body
and mind unfit for this sweet and heavenly work ! That
when they should join with the people of God in His
praises, and delight their souls in singing to His name,
they are questioning their worthiness, and studying their
miseries, or raising scruples about the lawfulness of the
duty ; and so rob God of His praise, and themselves of
their solace. But the greatest destroyer of our comfort
in this duty is our sticking in the carnal delight thereof,
and taking up in the tune and melody, and suffering the
heart to be all the while idle, which must perform the
chiefest part of the work, and which should make use of
the melody for its reviving and exhilarating.

vni

If thou wouldst have thy heart in heaven, keep thy
soul still possessed with true believing thoughts of the
exceeding, infinite love of God. Love is the attractive
of love. No man's heart will be set upon him that hates
him, were he never so excellent; nor much upon him
that doth not much love him. There are few so vile,
but will love those that love them, be they never so
mean. No doubt it is the death of our heavenly life
to have hard and doubtful thoughts of God ; to con-
ceive of Him as a hater of the creature (except only of
obstinate rebels), and as one that had rather damn us
than save us, and that is glad of an opportunity to do us
a mischief, or at least hath no great good will to us;
this is to put the blessed God into the similitude of
Satan. And who then can set his heart and love upon
Him ? When in our vile unbelief and ignorance we
have drawn the most ugly picture of God in our imagi-
nations, then we complain that we cannot love Him and
delight in Him. This is the case of many thousand

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Christians. Alas, that we should thus belie and blas-
pheme God, and blast our own joys, and depress our
spirits ! Love is the very essence of God.

The Scripture tells us that God is love ; it telleth
us that fury dwelleth not in Him; that He delighteth
not in the death of him that dieth, but rather that he
repent and live. Much more, hath He testified His love
to His chosen, and His full resolution effectually to save
them. Oh, if we could always think of God but as we
do of a friend, as of one that doth unfeignedly love us,
even more than we do ourselves, whose very heart is set
upon us to do us good, and hath therefore provided us
an everlasting dwelling with Himself, it would not
then be so hard to have our hearts still with Him !
Where we love most heartily, we shall think most sweetly
and most freely; and nothing will quicken our love
more than the belief of His love to us. Get therefore
a truer conceit of the loving nature of God, and lay up
all the experiences and discoveries of His love to thee, and
then see if it will not further thy heavenly-mindedness.

I fear, most Christians think higher of the love of a
hearty friend than of the love of God ; and then what
wonder if they love their friends better than God, and
trust them more confidently than God, and had rather live
with them than with God, when they take them for better
and trustier friends than God, and of more merciful and
compassionate nature !

Another thing I would advise you to is this: Be a
careful observer of the drawings of the Spirit, and fearful
of quenching its motions, or resisting its workings. If
ever thy soul get above this earth, and get acquainted
with this living in heaven, the Spirit of God must be
to thee as the chariot to Elijah; yea, the very living

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principle by which thou must move and ascend. Oh,
then grieve not thy guide, quench not thy Hfe, knock
not off thy chariot wheels ; if thou do, no wonder if thy
soul be at a loss, and all stand still, or fall to the earth.
You little think how much the life of all your graces,
and the happiness of your souls doth depend 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 thy known transgres-
sions, and yet thou wilt 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 thy duty, how should it lead thee
to heaven, and bring thy heart into the presence of
God. Oh, what supernatural help, what bold access shall
that soul find in its approaches to the Almighty, 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 ! Even
as stiff and unfit will they be for this spiritual motion
as a dead man to a natural. I beseech thee. Christian
reader, learn well this lesson, and try this course ; let not
the motions of thy body only, but also the very 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 ? Oh, do not thou disobey, but
take the offer and hoist up sail while thou may est have
this blessed gale. When this wind blows strongest, thou
goest fastest, either forward or backward. 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.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Lastly, I advise, as a further help to this heavenly
work, that thou neglect not the due care for the health of
thy body, and for the maintaining a vigorous cheerfulness
in thy spirits. Nor yet over-pamper and please thy flesh.
Learn how to carry thyself with prudence to thy body.
It is a useful servant if thou give it its due, and but its
due; it is a most devouring tyrant, if thou give it the
mastery, or suffer it to have what it unreasonably de-
sireth. And it is as a blunted knife, as a horse that is
lame, as thy ox that is famished, if thou injuriously deny
it what is necessary to its support. When we consider
how frequently men offend on both extremes, and how
few use their bodies aright, we cannot wonder if they be
much hindered in their heavenly conversing. Most men
are very slaves to their sensitive appetite, and can scarce
deny anything to the flesh, which they can give it on easy
rates, without much shame or loss or grief. The flesh
thus used is as unfit to serve you as a wild colt to ride
on. When such men should converse in heaven, the flesh
will carry them to an ale-house, or to their sports, to
their profits, or credit, or vain company ; to wanton
practices, or sights, or speeches, or thoughts. It will
thrust a whore, or a pair of cards, or a good bargain into
their minds, instead of God.

Look to this, specially, you that are young and health-
ful and lusty. As you love your souls, remember that in
Rom. xiii. 14, which converted Austin, make not pro-
vision for the flesh, to fulfil its desires ; and that Rom.
viii. 4-8, 12-14. Some few others do much hinder their
heavenly joy by over-rigorous denying the body its
necessaries, and so making it unable to serve them. But
the most by surfeiting and excess do overthrow and

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disable it. You love to have your knife keen, and every
instrument you use in order; when your horse goes
lustily, how cheerfully do you travel! As much need
hath the soul of a sound and cheerful body. If they who
abuse their bodies and neglect their health did wrong the
flesh only, the matter were small, but they wrong the
soul also; as he that spoils the house, doth WTong the
inhabitant. When the body is sick, and the spirits do
languish, how heavily move we in these meditations and
joys ! Yet where God denieth this mercy, we may the
better bear it because He oft occasioneth our benefit by
the denial.

CHAPTER XIII

CONTAINING THE DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT
DUTY OF HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

Though I hope what is already spoken be not unuseful.
and that it will not by the reader be cast aside, yet I
must tell you that the main thing intended is yet behind,
and that which I aimed at when I set upon this work.
I have observed the maxim, that my principal end be
last in execution, though it was first in my intention.
All that I have said is but for the preparation to this ;
the doctrinal part is but to instruct you for this; the
rest of the uses are but introductions to this ; the motives
I have laid down are but to make you willing for this ;
the hindrances mentioned were but so many blocks in the
way to this; the general helps, which I last delivered,
are but the necessary attendants of this ; so that, reader,
if thou neglect this that follows, thou dost frustrate the
main end of my design, and makest me lose (as to thee)
the chief of my labour. I once more entreat thee there-
fore, as thou art a man that makest conscience of a
revealed duty, and that darest not wilfully resist the
Spirit, as thou vainest the high delights of a saint, and
the soul-ravishing exercise of heavenly contemplation, as
all my former moving considerations seem reasonable to
thee, and as thou art faithful to the peace and prosperity
of thine own soul, that thou diligently study these direc-

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HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

tions following, and that thou speedily and faithfully put
them into practice. Practice is the end of all sound
doctrine, and all right faith doth end in duty. I pray
thee, therefore, resolve before thou readest any farther,
and promise here, as before the Lord, that if the follow-
ing advice be wholesome to thy soul, thou wilt con-
scionably follow it, and 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.

If I spread not before thee a delicious feast, if I set thee
not upon as gainful a trade, and put not into thy hand
as delightful an employment as ever thou dealtest with in
all thy life, then cast it away, and tell me, I have deceived
thee. Only try it thoroughly and then judge. I say
again, if in the faithful following of this prescribed course,
thou dost not find an increase of all thy graces, and dost
not grow beyond the stature of common Christians, and
art not made more serviceable in thy place, and more
precious in the eyes of all that are discerning; if thy
soul enjoy not more fellowship with God, and thy life be
not fuller of pleasure and solace, and thou have not com-
fort readier by thee at a dying hour 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 integrity, and single thee out, as He
did Job, for an example and mirror of constancy and
patience, which would be but a preparative for thy fuller
comfort. Certainly God will not forsake this His own
ordinance thus conscionably performed, but will be found

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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
experience that He will not fail.

The duty which I press upon thee so earnestly I shall
now describe and open to thee, for I suppose by this time
thou art ready to inquire " What is this so highly ex-
tolled work ? '' Why, 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 fully explain the meaning of this
description, that so the duty may lie plain before thee.
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 would deny, but that it is a duty con-
stantly and conscionably practised even by the godly, so
far as my acquaintance extends, I must with sorrow deny
it. 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 customary security it comes to pass,
that men that are very tender-conscienced towards
most other duties, yet do as easily overslip this, as if they
knew it not to be a duty at all. They that are presently
troubled in mind if they omit but a sermon, a fast, a
prayer in public or private, yet were never troubled that
they have omitted meditation perhaps all their lifetime
to this very day, though it be that duty by which all

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HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

other duties are improved, and by which the soul digesteth
truths, and draweth forth their strength for its nourish-
ment and refreshing.

Certainly I think that as a man is but half an hour in
chewing and taking into his stomach that meat which he
must have seven or eight hours at least to digest, so a
man may take into his understanding and memory more
truth in one hour than he is able well to digest in many.
A man may eat too much, but he cannot digest too well.
Therefore God commanded Joshua that the book of the
law depart not out of his mouth, but that he meditate
therein day and night, that he may observe to do accord-
ing to that which is written therein. As digestion is the
turning of the raw food into chyle and blood, and spirits
and flesh; so meditation, rightly managed, turneth the
truths received and remembered into warm affection,
raised resolution and holy and upright conversation.

Therefore what good those men are like to get by
sermons or providences who are unacquainted with, and
unaccustomed to this work of meditation, you may easily
judge. And why so much preaching is lost among us,
and professors can run from sermon to sermon, and are
never weary of hearing or reading, and yet have such lan-
guishing starved souls, I know no truer nor greater cause
than their ignorance, and unconscionable neglect of medi-
tation. If a man have the lientery, that his meat pass from
him as he took it in ; or if he vomit it up as fast as he eats
it, what strength and vigour of body and senses is this
man like to have ? Indeed he may well eat more than a
sounder man, and the small abode that it makes in the
stomach may refresh it at the present, and help to draw
out a lingering, languishing, uncomfortable, unprofitable
life ; and so do our hearers that have this disease. Perhaps
they hear more than otherwise they needed; and the
clear discovery and lively delivery of the truth of God

329

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

may warm and refresh them a little while they are hear-
ing, and perhaps an hour or two after ; and it may be, it
may linger out their grace in a languishing, uncomfortable,
unprofitable life. But if they did hear one hour and
meditate seven, if they did as constantly digest their
sermons as they hear them, and not take in one sermon
before the former is well concocted, they would find
another kind of benefit by sermons than the ordinary sort
of the forwardest Christians do. I know many carnal per-
sons do make this an argument against frequent preach-
ing and hearing, who do it merely from a loathing of the
Word, and know far less how to meditate than they
know how under standingly to hear ; only they pretend
meditation against often hearing because that being a
duty of the mind, you cannot so easily discern their
omission of it. These are sick of the anorexia and apepsy,
they have neither appetite nor digestion; the other of
the boulimos, they have appetite, but no digestion.

Ill

But because " meditation " is a general word, and it
is not all meditation that I here intend, I shall there-
fore lay thee down the difference whereby this medi-
tation that I am urging thee to is discerned from all
other sorts of meditation. And the difference is taken
from the act, and from the object of it.

First, from the act, which I call the set and solemn
acting of all the powers of the soul. I call it the " acting
of them," for it is action that we are directing you in
now, and not relations or dispositions ; yet these also
are necessarily presupposed. It must be a soul that is
qualified for the work by the supernatural renewing
grace of the Spirit, which must be able to perform

HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

this heavenly exercise. It is the work of the living
and not of the dead. It is a work of all others most
spiritual and sublime, and therefore not to be well
performed by a heart that is merely carnal and ter-
rene. Also they must necessarily have some relation to
heaven, before they can familiarly there converse. I
suppose them to be the sons of God, when I persuade
them to love Him, and to be of the family of God,
yea, the spouse of His Son, when I persuade them
to press into His presence and to dwell with Him.
I suppose them to be such as have title to rest, when
I persuade them to rejoice in the meditations of rest.
These, therefore, being all presupposed, are not the duties
here intended and required, but it is the bringing of
their sanctified dispositions into act, and the delightful
reviewing of their high relations. Habits and powers
are but to enable us to action ; to say " I am able to
do this, or I am disposed to it,'"* doth neither please
God nor advantage ourselves, except withal we really
do it.

God doth not regenerate thy soul that it may be
able to know Him, and not know Him ; or that it
may be able to believe, and yet not believe; or that
it may be able to love Him, and yet not love Him;
but he therefore makes thee able to know, to believe
and love, that thou mayest indeed both know, believe,
and love Him. What good doth that power which is
not reduced into act ? Therefore I am not now exhort-
ing thee to be an able Christian, but to be an active
Christian according to the degree of that ability which
thou hast. As thy store of money or food or raiment,
which thou lettest lie by thee and never usest, doth
thee no good, but please thy fancy, or raise thee to
an esteem in the eyes of others; so all thy gifts and
powers and habits, which lie still in thy soul and

331

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

are never acted, do profit or comfort thee little or
nothing, but in satisfying thy fancy, and raising thee to
the repute of an able man, so far as they are discernible
to the standers-by.

I call this meditation "the acting of the powers
of the soul,"" meaning the soul as rational, to difference
it from the cogitations of the soul as sensitive. The
sensitive soul hath a kind of meditation by the common
sense, the phantasy and estimation; the fleshly man
mindeth the things of the flesh. If it were the work
of the ear or the eye or the tongue or the hands,
which I am setting you on, I doubt not but you
would more readily take it up, but 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, its intention and remission, as
well as the body ; and diligent students are usually as
sensible of the labour and weariness of their spirits
and brain, as they are of that of the members of the
body. This action of the soul is it I persuade thee to.

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. When truth is apprehended
only as truth, this is but an unsavoury and loose appre-
hension, but when it is apprehended as good as well

SS2

HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

as true, this is a fast and delightful apprehending.
As a man is not so prone to live according to the
truth he knows, except it do deeply affect him, so
neither doth his soul enjoy its sweetness, except specu-
lation do pass to affection. The understanding is not
the whole soul, and therefore cannot do the whole
work. As God hath made several parts in man to
perform their several offices for his nourishing and
life, so hath he ordained the faculties of the soul to
perform their several offices for his spiritual life; the
stomach must chylify and prepare for the liver, the
liver and spleen must sanguify and prepare for the
heart and brain, and these must beget the vital and
animal spirits, &c. So the understanding must take in
truths, and prepare them for the will, and it must re-
ceive them, and commend them to the affections. 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 digestion is there.

While truth is but a speculation swimming in the
brain, the soul hath not half received it, nor taken
fast hold of it. Christ and heaven have various ex-
cellencies, and therefore God hath formed the soul
with a power of divers ways of apprehending, that so
we might be capable of enjoying those divers excellencies
in Christ. Even as the creatures having their several
uses, God hath given us several senses that so we might
enjoy the delights of them all. What the better had
we been for the pleasant odoriferous flowers and per-
fumes, if we had not possessed the sense of smelling ;
or what good would language or music have done us,
if God had not given us the sense of hearing ; or what
delight should we have found in meats or drinks or
sweetest things, if we had been deprived of the sense
of tasting? Why so, what good could all the glory

333

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

of heaven have done us ; or what pleasure should we
have had even in the goodness and perfection of God
Himself, if we had been without the affections of love
and joy, whereby we are capable of being delighted in
that goodness; so also, what benefit of strength or
sweetness canst thou possibly receive by thy medita-
tions on eternity, while thou dost not exercise those
affections which are the senses of the soul, by which
it must receive this sweetness and strength?

This is it that hath deceived Christians in this busi-
ness, they have thought that meditation is nothing but
the bare thinking on truths and the rolling of them
in the understanding and memory, when every school-
boy can do this, or persons that hate the things which
they think on.

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, and that all the sermons
which thou hast heard of heaven, and all the notions
that thou hast conceived of this rest, may be turned
into the blood and spirits 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.

There are two accesses of contemplation, saith Bernard,
one in intellection, the other in affection; one in light,
the other in heat; one in acquisition, the other in
devotion. If thou shouldst study of nothing but
heaven while thou livest, and shouldst have thy thoughts
at command to turn them hither on every occasion,
and yet shouldst proceed no further than this; this
were not the meditation that I intend, nor would it much
advantage or better thy soul. As it is thy whole soul
that must possess God hereafter, so must the whole in a
lower measure possess Him here. I have showed you, in

334

HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

the beginning of this treatise, how the soul must enjoy
the Lord in glory, to wit, by knowing, by loving, and
joying in Him. Why, the very same way must thou
begin thy enjoyment here.

So much as thy understanding and affections are
sincerely acted 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
ringing and moving and such like labours, do not only
stir a hand or a foot, but do strain and exercise the
whole body, so doth meditation the whole soul.

As the affections of sinners are set on the world, and
turned to idols, and fallen from God, as well as the
understanding ; so must the affections of men be reduced
to God and taken up with Him, as well as the under-
standing; and as the whole was filled with sin before,
so the whole must be filled with God now. As St. Paul
saith of knowledge, and gifts, and faith to remove
mountains, that if thou have all these without love,
thou art but as " sounding brass, or as a tinkling
cymbal." So I may say of the exercise of these; If in
this work of meditation thou do exercise knowledge and
gifts and faith of miracles, and not exercise love and
joy, thou dost nothing; thou playest the child and not
the man ; the sinner's part and not the saint's ; for so
will sinners do also. If thy meditation tends 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. Mark but David's description of
the blessed man ; " His delight is in the law of the
Lord, and therein doth he meditate day and night."

335

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

I call this meditation " set and solemn **"* to difference
it from that which is occasional and cursory. 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 solemn prayer is either, first, "set,"'
when a Christian, observing 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 extraordinary ; so also meditation
admits of the like distinction. Now, though I would
persuade you to that meditation which is mixed with
your common labours in your callings, and to that which
special occasions do direct you to; yet these are not
the main thing which I here intend; but that you
would make it a constant standing duty, as you do by
hearing, 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
prayer, or other duties. Thus you see, as it is dif-
ferenced by its act, what kind of meditation it is that
we speak of; viz., it is the set and solemn acting of all
the powers of the soul.

SS6

HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

VII

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.
Meditation 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 Scripture, as there are known
creatures in the whole creation, and as there are par-
ticular discernible passages of providence in the govern-
ment of the persons and actions through the world ;
but the meditation 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 Zion ; from sea and land to the land
of the living; from the kingdoms of this world, to the
kingdom of saints ; from earth to heaven ; from time
to eternity. It is a walking upon sun and moon and
stars; it is a walk in the garden and paradise of God.
It may seem far off, 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-eminence also in our meditation. That
which will make us most happy when we possess it will
make us most joyful when we meditate upon it, especially
when that meditation is a degree of possession, if it be
such affecting meditation as I here describe.

You need not here be troubled with the fears of the
world, lest studying so much on these high matters

337 Y

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

should craze your brains, and make you mad, unless
you will go mad with delight and joy, and that of the
purest and most solid kind. If I set you to meditate
as much on sin and wrath, and to study nothing but
judgment and damnation, then you might justly fear
such an issue. But it is heaven and not hell that I would
persuade you to walk in. It is joy and not sorrow that
I persuade you to exercise. I would urge you to look
upon no deformed object, but only upon the ravishing
glory of saints, and the unspeakable excellencies of the
God of glory, and the beams that stream from the face
of His Son. Are these such saddening and maddening
thoughts ? Will it distract a man to think of his only
happiness? Will it distract the miserable to think of
mercy, or the captive or prisoner to foresee deliverance,
or the poor to think of riches and honour approaching ?

Neither do I persuade your thoughts to matters of
great difficulty, or to study thorny and knotty contro-
versies of heaven, or to search out things beyond your
reach. If you should thus set your wit and invention
upon the tenters you might be quickly distracted or
distempered indeed. But it is your affections more
than your wits and inventions that must be used in this
heavenly employment we speak of. They are truths
which are commonly known and professed, 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 woe, to think of abiding in poverty and sick-
ness, among the rage of wicked men, than to think of
living with Christ in bliss. Methinks, if we be not
mad already, it should sooner distract us to hear the
tempests and roaring waves, to see the billows, and
rocks, and sands, and gulfs, than to think of arriving

338

HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION

safe at rest. But wisdom is justified of all her children.
Knowledge hath no enemy but the ignorant. This
heavenly course was never spoke against by any but
those that never either knew it, or used it. I more
fear the neglect of men that do approve it than the
opposition or arguments of any against it. Truth loseth
more by loose friends than by sharpest enemies.

339

CHAPTER XIV

OF CONSIDERATION, THE INSTRUMENT OF THIS
WORK ; AND WHAT FORCE IT HATH TO MOVE
THE SOUL

Having shewed thee how thou must set upon this work, I
come now to direct thee in the work itself, and to shew
thee the way which thou must take to perform it. All
this has been but to set the instrument (thy heart) in
tune ; and now we are come to the music itself. All this
hath been but to get thee an appetite ; it follows now that
thou approach unto the feast ; that thou sit down and
take what is offered, and delight thy soul as with marrow
and fatness. Whoever you are that are children of the
kingdom, I have this message to you from the Lord,
" Behold the dinner is prepared ; the oxen and fatlings
are killed ; come, for all things are now ready."" Heaven
is before you, Christ is before you, the exceeding eternal
weight of glory is before you ; come, therefore, and feed
upon it. Do not make light of this invitation, nor
put off your own mercies with excuses ; whatever thou
art, rich or poor, though in alms-houses or hospitals,
though in highways or hedges, my commission is, if
possible, to compel you to come in. " And blessed is he
that eateth bread in the kingdom of God." The manna
lieth about your tents, walk forth into the wilderness,
gather it up, take it home, and feed upon it. So that
the remaining work is only to direct you how to use your

340

OF CONSIDERATION

hands and mouth to feed your stomach : I mean how to
use your understandings for the warmings of your affec-
tions, and to fire your hearts by the help of your heads.
And herein it will be necessary that I observe this
method : — First. To shew you what instrument it is that
you must work by. Secondly. Why, and how this way
of working is like to succeed and attain its end. Thirdly*
What powers of the soul should here be acted, and what
are the particular affections to be excited, and what
objective considerations are necessary thereto, and in
what order you should proceed. Fourthly. By what acts
you must advance to the height of the work. Fifthly.
What advantages you must take, and what helps you
must use for the facilitating your success. Sixthly. In
what particulars you must look narrowly to your hearts
through the whole. And I will be the briefer in all lest
you should lose my meaning in a crowd of words, or your
thoughts be carried from the work itself, by an over-
long and tedious explication of it.

The great instrument that this work is done by is
ratiocination, reasoning the case with yourselves, discourse
of mind, cogitation, or thinking ; or, if you will, call it
consideration. I here suppose you to know the things to
be considered, and therefore shall wholly pass over that
meditation of students which tends only to speculation
or knowing. They are known truths that I persuade you
to consider ; for the grossly ignorant that know not the
doctrine of everlasting life are, for the present, incapable
of this duty.

Man's soul, as it receives and retains the ideas or
shapes of things, so hath it a power to choose out any of

341

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST '\

these deposited ideas, and draw them forth, and act upon )

them again and again, even as a sheep can fetch up his j

meat for rumination ; otherwise nothing would affect us j

but while the sense is receiving it, and so we should be i

somewhat below the brutes. This is the power that here :

you must use. To this choice of ideas or subjects for \

your cogitations there must necessarily concur the act of ;

the will, which indeed must go along in the whole work ; |
for this must be a voluntary, not a forced cogitation.

Some men do consider, whether they will or no, and are \

not able to turn away their own thoughts ; so will God ^

make the wicked consider of their sins when He shall set \

them all in order before them. And so shall the damned j

consider of heaven and of the excellency of Christ, whom i

they once despised, and of the eternal joys which they '■
have foolishly lost. But this forced consideration is not

that I mean, but that which thou dost willingly and '

purposely choose ; but though the will be here requisite, ■
yet still consideration is the instrument of the work.

Ill

Next, let us see what force consideration hath for the
moving the affections, and for the powerful imprinting of
things in the heart.

Why, first, consideration doth, as it were, open the
door between the head and the heart ; the understanding,
having received truths, lays them up in the memory ;
now consideration is the conveyer of them from thence
to the affections. There are few men of so weak under-
standing or memory, but they know and can remember
that which would strangely work upon them, and make
great alterations in their spirits, if they wer*^. not locked
up in their brain, and if they could but convey them

342

OF CONSIDERATION

down to their heart ; now this is the great work of
consideration. Oh, what rare men would they be, who
have strong heads and much learning and knowledge,
if the obstructions between the head and the heart were
but opened, and their affections did but correspond to
their understanding ! Why, if they would but bestow
as much time and pains in studying the goodness and the
evil of things, as they bestow in studying the truths and
falsehood of enunciations, it were the readiest way to
obtain this. He is usually the best scholar, who hath the
quick, the clear, and the tenacious apprehension ; but he
is usually the best Christian, who hath the deepest,
piercing, and affecting apprehension. He is the best
scholar who hath the readiest passage from the ear to
the brain ; but he is the best Christian who hath the
readiest passage from the brain to the heart. Now con-
sideration is that on our parts that must open the passage,
though the Spirit open as the principal cause; incon-
siderate men are stupid and senseless.

Matters of great weight which do nearly concern us are
aptest to work most effectually upon the heart; now
meditation draweth forth these working objects, and
presents them to the affections in their worth and weight.
The most delectable object doth not please him that
sees it not, nor doth the joy fullest news affect him that
never hears it; now consideration presents before us
those objects that were as absent, and brings them to
the eye and the ear of the soul. Are not Christ and
glory, think you, affecting objects; would not they work
wonders upon the soul if they were but clearly dis-
covered ; and strangely transport us, if our apprehensions

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

were any whit answerable to their worth ? Wiiy, by con-
sideration it is that they are presented to us ; this is the
prospective-glass of the Christian, by which he can see
from earth to heaven.

As consideration draweth forth the weightiest objects
so it presenteth them in the most affecting way, and
presseth them home with enforcing arguments. Man is
a rational creature, and apt to be moved in a reasoning
way, especially when reasons are evident and strong ; now
consideration is a reasoning the case with a man"'s own
heart, and what a multitude of reasons both clear and
weighty, are always at hand for to work upon the heart.
When a believer would reason his heart to this heavenly
work, how many arguments do offer themselves ; from
God, from the Redeemer, from every one of the divine
attributes, from our former estate, from our present
estate, from promises, from seals, from earnest, from the
evil we now suffer, from the good we partake of, from
hell, from heaven ; every thing doth offer itself to pro-
mote our joy. Now meditation is the hand to draw
forth all these. As when you are weighing a thing in
the balance, you lay on a little more, and a little more,
till it weigh down ; so if your affections do hang in a dull
indifferency, why, due meditation will add reason after
reason till the scales do turn ; or, as when you are buying
any thing of necessity for your use, you bid a little more,
and a little more, till at last you come to the seller's
price; so when meditation is persuading you to joy, it
will first bring one reason, and then another, till it have
silenced all your distrust and sorrows, and your cause to
rejoice lies plain before you. If another man's reasons
will work so powerfully with us, though we are uncertain

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OF CONSIDERATION

whether his heart do concur with his speeches, and
whether his intention be to inform us, or deceive us;
how much more should our own reasons work with us,
when we are acquainted with the right intentions of our
own hearts ? Nay, how much more rather should God's
reasons work with us, which we are sure are neither
fallacious in His intent, nor in themselves, seeing He did
never yet deceive, nor was ever deceived ! Why now
meditation is but the reading over and repeating God's
reasons to our hearts, and so disputing with ourselves in
His arguments and terms ; and is not this then likely to
be a prevailing way ? What reasons doth the prodigal
plead with himself why he should return to his father's
house ? And as many and strong have we to plead with
our affections, to persuade them to our Father's everlasting
habitations. And by consideration it is that they must
all be set a-work.

Meditation putteth reason in its authority and pre-
eminence. It helpeth to deliver it from its captivity to
the senses, and setteth it again upon the throne of the
soul. When reason is silent, it is usually subject; for
when it is asleep, the senses domineer. Now considera-
tion awakeneth our reason from its sleep, till it rouse
up itself, as Samson, and break the bonds of sensuality
wherewith it is fettered ; and then as a giant refreshed
with wine, it bears down the delusions of the flesh before
it. What strength can the lion put forth when he is
asleep ? What is the king more than another man, when
he is once deposed from his throne and authority ?
When men have no better judge than the flesh, or when
the joys of heaven go no further than their fantasy, no
wonder if they work but as common things. Sweet
things to the eye, and beautiful things to the ear, will

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

work no more than bitter and deformed. Everything
vvorketh in its own place, and every sense hath its proper
object; now it is spiritual reason excited by meditation,
and not the fantasy or fleshly sense, which must savour
and j udge of these superior joys. Consideration exalteth
the objects of faith, and disgrace th comparatively the
objects of sense. The most inconsiderate men are the
most sensual men. It is too easy and ordinary to sin
against knowledge, but against sober, strong, continued
consideration men do more seldom offend.

VII

Meditation also putteth reason into his strength.
Reason is at the strongest when it is most in action ; now
meditation produceth reason into act. Before, it was as
a standing water, which can move nothing else when itself
moveth not, but now it is as the speedy stream which
violently bears down all before it. Before, it was as the
still and silent air, but now it is as the powerful motion
of the wind, and overthrows the opposition of the flesh
and the devil. Before, it was as the stones which lay still
in the brook, but now when meditation doth set it a- work,
it is as the stone out of David's sling, which smites the
Goliath of our unbelief in the forehead. As wicked men
continue wicked, not because they have not reason in the
principle, but because they bring it not into act and use,
so godly men are uncomfortable and sad, not because they
have no causes to rejoice, nor because they have not
reason to discern those causes, but because they let their
reason and faith lie asleep, and do not labour to set
them a-going, nor stir them up to action by this work of
meditation. You know that our very dreams will deeply
affect ; what fears, what sorrows, what joy will they stir up !
How much more then would serious meditation affect us !

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OF CONSIDERATION

VIII

Meditation can continue this discursive employment.
That may be accomplished by a weaker motion continued,
which will not by a stronger at the first attempt. A
plaster that is never so effectual to cure must yet have time
to do its work, and not be taken off as soon as it is on;
now meditation doth hold the plaster to the sore. It
holdeth reason and faith to their work, and bloweth the
fire till it throughly burn. To run a few steps will not
get a man heat, but walking an hour together may; so
though a sudden occasional thought of heaven will not
raise our affections to any spiritual heat, yet meditation
can continue our thoughts, and lengthen our walk till our
hearts grow warm.

And thus you see what force meditation or considera-
tion hath for the effecting of this great elevation of the
soul, whereto I have told you it must be the instrument.

347

CHAPTER XV

BY WHAT ACTINGS OF THE SOUL TO PRO-
CEED IN THIS WORK OF HEAVENLY CON-
TEMPLATION

The fourth part of this directory is to show you how,
and by what acts you should advance on to the height
of this work.

The first and main instrument of this work is that
cogitation or consideration, which I before have opened,
and which is to go along with us through the whole.
But because mere cogitation, if it be not pressed home,
will not so pierce and affect the heart, therefore we must
here proceed to a second step, which is called soliloquy,
which is nothing but a pleading the case with our own
souls. As in preaching to others, the bare propounding
and opening of truths and duties doth seldom find that
success as the lively application ; so it is also in meditat-
ing and propounding truths to ourselves. The moving
pathetical pleadings with a sinner will make him deeply
affected with a common truth which before, though he
knew it, yet it never stirred him. What heart-meltings
do we see under powerful application, when the naked
explication did little move them. If anywhere there be
a tender-hearted, affectionate people, it is likely under

^ [The third part, omitted from this edition, directed what powers
of the soul are to be acted ; what afifections excited ; by what objec-
tive considerations, and in what order.]

ACTINGS OF THE SOUL

such a moving, close applying ministry. Why, thus
must thou do in thy meditation to quicken thy own
heart ; enter into a serious debate with it ; plead with
it in the most moving and affecting language; urge it
with the most weighty and powerful arguments. This
soliloquy,! or self-conference hath been the practice of
the holy men of God in all times. How doth David
plead with his soul against its dejections, and argue it
into an holy confidence and comfort : " Why art thou
cast down O my soul, and why art thou so disquieted
within me ? Trust in God, for I shall yet give Him
thanks, who is the health of my countenance, and my
God." So in Psahn ciii. : '' Bless the Lord O my soul,
and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the
Lord O my soul, and forget not all His benefits," &c.
So doth he also end the psalm, and so doth he begin and
end Psalm civ. So Psalm cxlvi. i. So Psalm cxvi. 7,
"Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with thee." The like you may see in
the meditations of holy men of later times, Austin, Ber-
nard, &c. So that this is no new path which I persuade
you to tread, but that which the saints have ever used in
their meditation.

This soliloquy hath its several parts, and its due
method wherein it should be managed. The parts of it
are according to the several affections of the soul, and
according to the several necessities thereof, according to
the various arguments to be used, and according to the
various ways of arguing. So that you see if I should
attempt the full handling hereof, it would take up more

1 Gen. xlix. 6 ; Judges v. 21 ; Ps. xvi. 2 ; Jer. iv. 19.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

time and room than I intend or can allow it. Only thus
much in brief. As every good master and father of a
family is a good preacher to his own family ; so every
good Christian is a good preacher to his own soul.
Soliloquy is a preaching to one's self. Therefore the very
same method which a minister should use in his preach-
ing to others, should a Christian use in speaking to him-
self Dost thou understand the best method for a public
preacher ? Dost thou know the right parts and order of
a sermon ; and which is the most effectual way of appli-
cation ? Why then I need to lay it open no further ;
thou understandest the method and parts of this solilo-
quy. Mark the most affecting heart-melting minister;
observe his course both for matter and manner ; set him
as a pattern before thee for thy imitation ; and the same
way that he takes with the hearts of his people, do
thou also take with thy own heart. Men are naturally
addicted to imitation, especially of those whom they
most affect and approve of. How near do some ministers
come in their preaching to the imitation of others whom
they usually hear, and much reverence and value; so
mayest thou in this duty of preaching to thy heart. Art
thou not ready sometime when thou hearest a minister,
to remember divers things which thou thinkest might be
moving and pertinent, and to wish that he would have
mentioned and pressed them on the hearers? Why,
remember those when thou art exhorting thyself, and
press them on thy own heart as close as thou canst.

As therefore this is accounted the most familiar method
in preaching, so it is for thee in meditating ; first, explain
to thyself the subject on which thou dost meditate, both
the terms and the subject matter; study the difficulties,
till the doctrine is clear. Secondly, then confirm thy
faith in the belief of it by the most clear convincing
Scripture-reasons. Thirdly, then apply it according to

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ACTINGS OF THE SOUL

its nature, and thy necessity. As in the case we are upon,
that there is a rest remaining for the people of God.

Consider of the useful consectaries or conclusions, that
thence arise, for the clearing and confirming of thy judg-
ment, which is commonly called a use of information.
Here thou mayest press them also by other confirming argu-
ments, and adjoin the confutation of the contrary errors.
Proceed then to consider of the duties which do appear
to be such from the doctrine in hand, which is commonly
called a use of instruction, as also the reprehension of the
contrary vices.

Then proceed to question and try thyself, how thou
hast valued this glory of the saints ; how thou hast loved
it; and how thou hast laid out thyself to obtain it.
This is called, a use of examination. Here thou mayest
also make use of discovering signs, drawn from the nature,
properties, effects, adjuncts. Sec.

So far as this trial hath discovered thy neglect, and
other sins against this rest, proceed to the reprehension
and censuring of thyself. Chide thy heart for its omis-
sions and commissions, and do it sharply till it feel the
smart. As Peter preached reproof to his hearers till they
were pricked to the heart and cried out, and as a father
or master will chide the child till it begin to cry and be
sensible of the fault ; so do thou in chiding thy own heart.
This is called a use of reproof. Here also it will be very
necessary that thou bring forth all the aggravating circum-
stances of the sin, that thy heart may feel it in its weight
and bitterness ; and if thy heart do evade or deny the sin,
convince it by producing the several discoveries.

So far as thou discoverest that thou hast been faithful
in the duty, turn it to encouragement to thyself, and to
thanks to God ; where thou mayest consider of the several
aggravations of the mercy of the Spirit's enabling thee
thereto.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

So, as it respects thy duty for the future, consider how
thou mayest improve this comfortable doctrine, which
must be by strong and effectual persuasion with thy heart.
First, by way of dehortation from the fore-mentioned sins.
Secondly, by way of exhortation to the several duties.
And these are either internal, or external. First, there-
fore, admonish thy heart of its own inward neglects and
contempts, and then of the neglects and trespasses in thy
practice against this blessed state of rest. Set home these
several admonitions to the quick. Take thy heart as to
the brink of the bottomless pit, force it to look in,
threaten thyself with the threatenings of the Word ; tell
it of the torments that it draweth upon itself; tell it what
joys it is madly rejecting; force it to promise thee to do
so no more, and that not with a cold and heartless
promise, but earnestly with most solemn asseverations and
engagements. The next is, to drive on thy soul to those
positive duties, which are required of thee in relation to
this rest ; as to the inward duties of thy heart, and there
to be diligent in making sure of this rest; and to rejoice
in the expectation of it. This is called a use of consola-
tion. It is to be furthered by laying open the excellency
of the state ; and the certainty of it in itself; and our own
interest in it ; by clearing and proving all these, and con-
futing all saddening objections that may be brought
against them. And so also for the provoking of love, of
hope, and all other the affections in the way before more
largely opened.

And, secondly, press on thy heart also to all outward
duties that are to be performed in thy way to rest,
whether in worship or in civil conversation, whether
public or private, ordinary or extraordinary. This is
commonly called a use of exhortation. Here bring in all
quickening considerations, either those that may drive
thee, or those that may draw ; which work by fear, or

ACTINGS OF THE SOUL

which work by desire ; these are commonly called motives.
But above all be sure that thou follow them home. Ask
thy heart what it can say against them ; is there weight
in them, or is there not ? And then, what it can say
against the duty ; is it necessary ; is it comfortable, or is
it not.P When thou hast silenced thy heart and brought
it to a stand, then drive it further, and urge it to a
promise ; as suppose it were to the duty of meditation,
which we are speaking of. Force thyself beyond these
lazy purposes ; resolve on the duty before thou stir ; enter
into a solemn covenant to be faithful ; let not thy heart
go, till it have without all halting and reservations flatly
promised thee that it will fall to the work. Write down
this promise, show it to thy heart the next time it loiters.
Then study also the helps and means, the hindrances, and
the directions that concern thy duty. And this is, in brief,
the exercise of this soliloquy, or the preaching of heaven
to thy own heart.

Ill

But perhaps thou wilt say : Every man cannot under-
stand this method ; this is for ministers and learned men ;
every man is not able to play the preacher. I answer
thee : There is not that ability required to this as is to
the work of public preaching; here thy thoughts may
serve the turn, but there must be also the decent orna-
ments of language ; here is needful but an honest under-
standing heart, but there must be a good pronunciation
and a voluble tongue ; here if thou miss of the method
thou mayest make up that in one piece of application
which thou hast neglected in another, but there thv
failings are injurious to many, and a scandal and disgrace
to the work of God. Thou knowest what will fit thy own
heart, and what arguments take best with thy own affec-
tions, but thou art not so well acquainted with the

353 z

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

dispositions of others. I answer further, every man is
bound to be skilful in the Scriptures as well as ministers ;
kings and magistrates and the people also. Do you think,
if you did as is there commanded,^ write it upon thy heart,
lay them up in thy soul, bind them upon thy hand, and
between thine eyes, meditate on them day and night; I
say, if you did thus, would you not quickly understand as
much as this ? Doth not God command thee to teach
them diligently to thy children ; and to talk of them
when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest by the
way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up?
And if thou must be skilled to teach thy children, much
more to teach thyself; and if thou canst talk of them to
others, why not also to thine own heart ? Certainly our
unskilfulness and disability, both in a methodical and
lively teaching of our families and of ourselves, is for the
most part merely through our own negligence ; and a sin
for which we have no excuse. You that learn the skill of
your trades and sciences might learn this also, if you were
but willing and painful.

And so I have done with this particular of soliloquy.

Another step to arise by, in our contemplation, is,
from this speaking to ourselves, to speak to God. Prayer
is not such a stranger to this duty, but that ejaculatory
requests may be intermixed or added, and that as a
very part of the duty itself. How oft doth David
intermix these in his psalms, sometime pleading with
his soul, and sometime with God ; and that in the same
psalm, and in the next verses ? The apostle bids us speak
to ourselves in psalms and hymns ; and no doubt we may
also speak to God in them. This keeps the soul in mind

1 Deut. vi. 6-8.

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ACTINGS OF THE SOUL

of the Divine presence, it tends also exceedingly to quicken
and raise it; so that as God is the highest object of our
thoughts, so our viewing of Him, and our speaking to
Him, and pleading with Him, doth more elevate the
soul, and actuate the affections, than any other part of
meditation can do. Men that are careless of their
carriage and speeches among children and idiots will be
sober and serious with princes or grave men ; so, though
while we do but plead the case with ourselves, we are
careless and unaffected, yet when we turn our speech to
God, it may strike us with awfulness ; and the holiness
and majesty of Him whom we speak to, may cause both
the matter and words to pierce the deeper. " Isaac went
forth to pray " (saith the former translation) " to medi-
tate " (saith the latter) ; the Hebrew verb, saith Pancus
in loco, signifieth both " adorandum et meditcmdimi.'''' The
men of God, both former and later, who have left their
meditations on record for our view, have thus inter-
mixed soliloquy and prayer ; sometime speaking to their
own hearts, and sometime turning their speech to God.
And though this may seem an indifferent thing, yet I
conceive it very suitable and necessary, and that it is the
highest step that we can advance to in the work.

But why then is it not as good to take up with prayer
alone, and so save all this tedious work that you pre-
scribe us ?

They are several duties, and therefore must be per-
formed both. Secondly, we have need of one as well as
the other, and therefore shall wrong ourselves in the
neglecting of either. Thirdly, the mixture, as in music,
doth more affect ; the one helps on, and puts life into the
other. Fourthly, it is not the right order to begin at
the top ; therefore meditation and speaking to ourselves
should go before prayer, or speaking to God. Want of
this makes prayer with most to have little more than the

355

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

name of prayer, and men to speak as lightly and as
stupidly to the dreadful God, as if it were to one of their
companions, and with far less reverence and affection
than they would speak to an angel, if he should appear
to them, yea, or to a judge or prince, if they were
speaking for their lives ; and consequently their success
and answers are often like their prayers. Oh, speaking
to the God of heaven in prayer is a weightier duty than
most are aware of.

The ancients had a custom by apostrophes and proso-
popoeias to speak, as it were, to angels and saints de-
parted, which, as it was used by them, I take to be
lawful; but what they spoke in rhetorical figures were
interpreted by the succeeding ages to be spoken in strict
propriety ; and doctrinal conclusions for praying to saints
and angels were raised from their speeches; therefore I
will omit that course, which is so little necessary, and so
subject to scandalize the less judicious readers.

And so much for the fourth part of the direction, by
what steps or acts we must advance to the height of this
work. I should clear all this by some examples; but
that I intend shall follow in the end.

356

CHAPTER XVI

SOME ADVANTAGES AND HELPS, FOR RAISING
AND AFFECTING THE SOUL BY THIS MEDI-
TATION

The fifth 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 quickening,
and to make you taste the sweetness that is therein.
For that is the main work that I drive at through all :
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 difficult part of the work ; and
that it is easier barely 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 further
consider what may be done to make your thoughts of
heaven to be piercing, affecting, raising thoughts.

Here, therefore, you must understand that the mere
pure work of faith hath many disadvantages with us in
comparison of the work of sense. Faith is imperfect, for
we are renewed but in part ; but sense hath its strength
according to the strength of the flesh ; faith goes against
a world of resistance, but sense doth not. Faith is
supernatural, and therefore prone to declining, and to
languish both in the habit and exercise, further than
it is still renewed and excited ; but sense is natural,
and therefore continueth while nature continueth. The

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object of faith is far off, we must go as far as heaven for
our joys ; but the object of sense is close at hand. It is
no easy matter to rejoice at that which we never saw,
nor ever knew the man that did see it ; and this upon a
mere promise which is written in the Bible ; and that
when we have nothing else to rejoice in, but all our
sensible comforts do fail us. But to rejoice in that
which we see and feel, in that which we have hold of,
and possession already, this is not difficult. Well then,
what should be done in this case ? Why sure it will be
a point of our spiritual prudence, and a singular help
to the furthering of the work of faith, to call in our
sense to its assistance. If we can make us friends of
these usual enemies, and make them instruments of
raising us to God, which are the usual means of drawing
us from God, I think we shall perform a very excellent
work. Sure it is both possible and lawful, yea, and
necessary too, to do something in this kind ; for God
would not have given us either our senses themselves
or their usual objects, if they might not have been
serviceable to His own praise, and helps to raise us up
to the apprehension of higher things.

And it is very considerable, how the Holy Ghost doth
condescend in the phrase of Scripture, in bringing things
down to the reach of sense ; how He sets forth the excel-
lencies of spiritual things in words that are borrowed
from the objects of sense ; how He describeth the glory
of the New Jerusalem in expressions that might take
even with flesh itself, as that the streets and buildings
are pure gold, that the gates are pearl, that a throne
doth stand in the midst of it, &c. That we shall eat
and drink with Christ at His table in His kingdom;
that He will drink with us the fruit of the vine new;
that we shall shine as the sun in the firmament of our
Father : these with most other descriptions of our glory

358*^

HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

are expressed as if it were to the very flesh and sense ;
which though they are all improper and figurative, yet
doubtless if such expressions had not been best, and to
us necessary, the Holy Ghost would not have so fre-
quently used them. He that will speak to man's under-
standing must speak in man"'s language, and speak that
which he is capable to conceive. And doubtless as the
Spirit doth speak, so we must hear; if our necessity cause
Him to condescend in His expressions, it must needs cause
us to be low in our conceivings. Those conceivings and
expressions which we have of spirits, and things merely
spiritual, they are commonly but second notions without
the first ; but mere names that are put into our mouths,
without any true conceivings of the things which they
signify. Or our conceivings, which we express by those
notions or terms, are merely negative ; what things are
not, rather than what they are ; as when we mention
" spirits " we mean they are not corporeal substances, but
what they are, we cannot tell no more than we know
what is Aristotle's " Materia Prima.'''' It is one reason of
Christ's assuming and continuing our nature with the
Godhead, that we might know Him the better, when
He is so much nearer to us ; and might have more posi-
tive conceivings of Him, and so our minds might have
familiarity with Him, who before was quite beyond their
reach.

But what is my scope in all this ? Is it that we might
think heaven to be made of gold and pearl, or that we
should picture Christ, as the papists do, in such a shape ;
or that we should think saints and angels do indeed eat
and drink ? No, not that we should take the Spirit's
figurative expressions to be meant according to strict
propriety ; or have fleshly conceivings of spiritual things,
so as to believe them to be such indeed ; but thus to
think, that to conceive or speak of them in strict pro-

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

priety is utterly beyond our reach and capacity; and
therefore, we must conceive of them as we are able ; and
that the Spirit would not have represented them in these
notions to us, but that we have no better notions to
apprehend them by ; and therefore that we make use of
these phrases of the Spirit to quicken our apprehensions
and affections, but not to pervert them ; and use these low
notions as a glass, in which we must see the things them-
selves, though the representation be exceeding imperfect,
till we come to an immediate and perfect sight ; yet still
concluding, that these phrases, though useful, are borrowed
and improper. The like may be said of those expres-
sions of God in Scripture, wherein He represents Himself
in the imperfections of creatures, as anger, repenting,
willing what shall not come to pass, &c. Though these
be improper, drawn from the manner of men, yet there
is somewhat in God which we can see no better yet than
in this glass, and which we can no better conceive of than
in such notions, or else the Holy Ghost would have
given us better. I would the judicious reader would, on
the by, well weigh also how much this conduce th to recon-
cile us and the Arminians in those ancient and like to be
continuing controversies.

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
the reach of sense. Excellency without familiarity doth
more amaze than delight us; both love and joy are
promoted by familiar acquaintance. When we go about
to think of God and glory in proper conceivings, without
these spectacles we are lost, and have nothing to fix our
thoughts upon. We set God and heaven so far from

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HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

us that our thoughts are strange, and we look at them
as things beyond our reach, and beyond our line, 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 our apprehension, will produce 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 there-
fore put Christ no further from you than He hath put
Himself, lest the Divine Nature be again inaccessible.
Think of Christ as in our own nature glorified ; think of
our fellow-saints as men there perfected ; think of the
city and state as the spirit hath expressed it, only with
the caution and limitations before mentioned.

Suppose thou wert now beholding this city of God ;
and that thou hadst been companion 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 suppositions 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. Sup-
pose therefore with thyself 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 supposition to thyself, the more will the meditation
elevate thy heart. I would not have thee, as the Papists,
draw them in pictures, Txor use mysterious significant

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ceremonies to represent them. This, as it is a course
forbidden by God, so it would but seduce and draw
down thy heart ; but get the liveliest picture of them in
thy mind that possibly thou canst ; meditate of them, as
if thou were all the while beholding them, and as if thou
were even hearing the hallelujahs, while thou art thinking
of them ; 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 David,
Peter and Paul, and more of these triumphing souls!
Methinks I even see the Son of God appearing in the
clouds, and the world standing at His bar to receive
their doom ; methinks I even hear Him say, " Come ye
blessed of My Father ! " and even 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 Stephen, 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. Oh, 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 this
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
raising of suppositions from our bodily senses, will further
our affections in this heavenly work,

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III

There is yet another way by which we may make our
senses here serviceable to us, and that is, by comparing
of 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 further assistance, I shall
furnish you with some of these comparative arguments.

And first, you must strongly argue with your hearts
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 do wickedly,
and will it not be delightful indeed then to live with
God ? Hath a very drunkard such delight in his cups
and companions that the very fears of damnation will
not make him forsake them ? Hath the brutish whore-
master such delight in his whore that he will part with
his credit, and estate, and salvation, rather than he will
part with her ? 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 ? If the covetous
man hath so much pleasure in his wealth, and the ambi-
tious man in power and titles of honour, what then have
the saints in the everlasting treasures ; and what pleasure
do the heavenly honours afford, where we shall be set
above principalities and powers, and be made the glorious
spouse of Christ.'^ What pleasure do the voluptuous find
in their sensual courses; how closely will they follow their
hunting and hawking and other recreations from morning
to night ? How delightfully will they sit at their cards
and dice, hours and days and nights together ! Oh, the
delight that must needs then be in beholding the face of

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the living God, and in singing forth praises to Him and
the Lamb, which must be our recreation when we come
to our rest !

Compare also the delights above with the lawful de-
lights of moderated senses. Think with thyself; How
sweet is food to my taste when I am hungry, especially,
as Isaac said, that which my soul loveth, that which my
temperature and appetite do incline to ! What delight
hath the taste in some pleasant fruit, in some well relished
meats, and in divers junkets? Oh, what delight then
must my soul needs have in feeding upon Christ the
living bread, and in eating with Him at His table in
His kingdom ! Was a mess of pottage so sweet to Esau
in his hunger, that he would buy them at so dear a rate
as his birth-right ? How highly then should I value this
never-perishing food ! How pleasant is drink in the ex-
tremity of thirst ! The delight of it to a man in a fever
or other drought can scarcely be expressed ; it will make
the strength of Samson revive. Oh, then how delightful
will it be to my soul to drink of that fountain of living-
water, which whoso drinks shall thirst no more ! So
pleasant is wine, and so refreshing to the spirits, that it
is said to make glad the heart of man ; how pleasant then
will that wine of the great marriage be, even that wine
which our water was turned into, that best wine which
will be kept till then ! How delightful are pleasing odours
to our smell ! How delightful is perfect music to the ear !
How delightful are beauteous sights to the eye, such
as curious pictures, sumptuous, adorned, well-contrived
buildings, handsome necessary rooms, walks, prospects,
gardens stored with variety of beauteous and odoriferous
flowers ; or pleasant meadows which are natural gardens !

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Oh, then think every time thou seest or rememberest these,
what a fragrant smell hath the precious ointment which
is poured on the head of our glorified Saviour, and which
must be poured on the heads of all His saints, which will
fill all the room of heaven with its odour and perfume !
How delightful is the music of the heavenly host ! How
pleasing will be those real beauties above, and how
glorious the building not made with hands, and the
house that God Himself doth dwell in, and the walks
and prospects in the city of God, and the beauties and
delights in the celestial paradise ! Think seriously what
these must needs be. The like may be said of the delight
of the sense of feeling, which the philosopher saith, is the
m-eatest of all the rest.

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 further
beyond it. Think then, can an Archimedes be so taken
up with his mathematical invention that the threats of
death cannot take him off, but he will die in the midst
of these his natural contemplations; should I not much
more be taken up with the delights of glory, and die with
these contemplations fresh upon my soul ; especially when
my death will perfect my delights ; but those of Archi-
medes die with him. What a pleasure is it to dive into
the secrets of nature ; to find out the mystery of arts and
sciences, to have a clear understanding in logic, physics,
metaphysics, music, astronomy, geometry, &c. ! If we
make but any new discovery in one of these, or see a
little more than we saw before, what singular pleasure do
we find therein ! Why, think then what high delights
there are in the knowledge of God and Christ His Son.

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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 all
that is to be known !

Compare also the delights above with the delights
of morality, and of the natural affections. What delight
had many sober heathens in the rules and 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 this moral virtue that they thought the chief
happiness of man consisted in it. Why, think then
what excellence there will be in that rare perfection
which we shall be raised to in heaven, and in that un-
created perfection of God which we shall behold ! What
sweetness is there in the exercise of natural love, whether
to children, to parents, to yoke fellows, or to friends!
The delight which a pair of special faithful friends do
find in loving and enjoying one another is a most
pleasing, sweet delight; it seemed to the philosophers
to be above the delights of natural, of matrimonial
friendship, and I think it seemed so to David himself;
so he concludes his lamentation for him, " I am dis-
tressed for thee, my brother Jonathan ; very pleasant
hast thou been unto me, thy love to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women." Yea, the soul of Jonathan
did cleave to David. Even Christ Himself, as it seemeth,
had some of this kind of love; for He had one disciple

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whom He especially loved, and who was wont to lean
on His breast ; why think then, if the delights of close
and cordial friendship be so great, what delight 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 aflPections 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 an 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 is the attribute 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 ?

Compare also the excellencies of heaven with those
glorious works of the creation which our eyes do now
behold. 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 have pleasure therein ; this makes the study of
natural philosophy so pleasant, because the works of
God are so excellent.^ What rare workmanship is in

1 Ps. xcii. 4, 5 ; Ps. cxi. 2 ; Ps. cxlv. 6-12 ; Ps. cxxxvi. 4, &c. ; Job
xxxvi. 24-26.

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the body of a man, yea, in the body of every beast,
which makes the anatomical studies so delightful. What
excellency 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 works ; if we
consider the whole body of this earth, and its creatures
and inhabitants; the ocean of waters, with its motions
and dimensions, the variation of the seasons, and of the
face of the earth ; the intercourse of spring and fall,
of summer and winter; what wonderful excellency do
these contain ! Why, think then in thy meditations, if
these things which are but servants to sinful man are
yet so full of mysterious worth ; what then is that place
where God Himself doth dwell, and is prepared for the
just who are perfected with Christ ! When thou walkest
forth in the evening look upon the stars, how they
glisten, and in what numbers they bespangle the firma-
ment; if in the daytime, look up to the glorious sun;
view the wide expanded encompassing heavens, and say
to thyself; What glory is in the least of yonder stars;
what a vast, what a bright resplendent body hath
yonder moon, and every planet? Oh, what an incon-
ceivable 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 bright-
ness of God. I shall live above all yonder glory, yonder
is but darkness to the lustre of my Father's house ; I
shall be as glorious as that sun myself; yonder is but
as the wall of the palace-yard ; as the poet saith,

" If in heaven's outward courts such beauty be.
What is the glory which the saints do see ?"

So think of the rest of the creatures. This whole earth
is but my Father's footstool; this thunder is nothing

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to His dreadful voice; these winds are nothing to tlie
breath of His mouth ; so much wisdom and power as
appeareth in all these, so much, and far much more
greatness and goodness and loving delights 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 wonderful ; the sun then which must shine on none
but saints and angels, must needs be wonderful and

ravishing in glory.

■

VHI

Compare the things which thou shalt enjoy above with
the excellency of those admirable works of providence
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 dry
land appear in the midst, and the people of Israel pass
safely through, and Pharaoh and his people swallowed
up? What if we should see but such a sight now! If
we had seen the ten plagues of Egypt, or had seen the
rock to gush forth streams, or had seen manna or quails
rained down from heaven, or had seen the earth open,
and swallow up the wicked, or had seen their armies
slain with hailstones, with an angel, or by one another;
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 nor
wrath intermingled ; we shall not then cry out as David,
"Who can stand before this holy Lord God?'' Would
it not have been an astonishing sight to have seen the
sun stand still in the firmament; or to have seen Ahaz's

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dial go ten degrees backward ? Why, we shall see when
there shall be no sun to shine at all ; we shall behold
forever a sun of more incomparable brightness. Were
it not a brave life, if we might still live among wonders
and miracles, and all for us, and not against us ? If w^e
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 wonders 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 wonder-
ful 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 M^e shall be raised from many
years' rottenness and dust, and that dust exalted to a
sun-like glory, and that glory perpetuated to all eternity.
What sayest thou. Christian, 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 order a wicked
confused world, with multitudes the like ; they are all
very admirable. But then to think of the Zion of God,
of the vision of the Divine Majesty, of the comely order
of the heavenly host ; what an admirable sight must
that needs be ! Oh, what rare and mighty works have
we seen in Britain in four or five years ; what changes ;
what subduing of enemies ; what clear discoveries of an
Almighty arm ; what magnifying of weakness ; what
casting down of strength; what wonders wrought by
most improbable means; what bringing to hell, and
bringing back ; what turning of tears and fears into

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safety arid joy ; such hearing of earnest prayers, as if
God could have denied us nothing that we asked. All
these were wonderful heart - raising works. But, oh,
what are these to our full deliverance, to our final con-
quest, to our eternal triumph, and to that great day
of great things.

Compare also the mercies which thou shalt have above
with those particular providences w^hich thou hast enjoyed
thyself, and those observable mercies which thou hast
recorded through thy life. If thou be a Christian indeed,
I know thou hast, if not in thy book yet certainly in thy
heart, a great many precious favours upon record ; the
very remembrance and rehearsal 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 of thy youth and education,
the mercies of thy riper years or age, the mercies of thy
prosperity, and of thy adversity, the mercies of thy several
places and relations; are they not excellent and innu-
merable.^ 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 ? Oh, how sweet was it to thee, when God re-
solved thy last doubts, when He overcame and silenced
thy fears and unbelief, when He prevented the incon-
veniences 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
and death ! When thou prayedst, and wept as Hezekiah
and saidst, " My days are cut off, I shall go to the gates
of the grave ; I am deprived of the residue of my years ;

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I said I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land
of the living, I shall behold man no more with the in-
habitants of the world. Mine age is departed and re-
moved from me as a shepherd's tent ; I have cut off,
like a weaver, my life; He will cut me off with pining
sickness; from day to day wilt Thou make an end of
me," &c. Yet did He in love to thy soul deliver it from
the pit of corruption, and cast thy sins behind His back,
and set thee among the living to praise Him as thou dost
this day; that the fathers to the children might make
known His truth ; the Lord was ready to save thee, that
thou mightest sing the songs of praise to Him in His
house all the days of thy life.^

I say, were not all these most 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 so evidently a pre-
vailer with Him. But oh, think then, 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 pilgrimage and my warfare have
such mercies, what shall I find in my home and in my
triumph ! If God will communicate so much to me while
I remain a sinner, what will He bestow when I am a
perfect saint ? 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, where I shall ever
stand about His throne ?

1 Isaiah xxxviii. 10-20.

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HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

Compare the comforts which thou shalt have above
with those which thou hast here received in the ordi-
nances. Hath not the written Word been to thee as an
open fountain flowing with comforts day and night ?
When thou hast been in trouble, there thou hast met
with refreshing ; when thy faith hath staggered, it hath
there been confirmed. What suitable Scriptures hath
the Spirit set before thee ? What seasonable promises
have come into thy mind, so that thou mayest say with
David; If Thy Word had not been my delight, I had
perished in my trouble. Think then, if the Word be so
full of consolations, what overflowing springs shall we
find in God ? If His letters are so comfortable, what are
the words that flow from His blessed lips, and the beams
that stream from His glorious face? If Luther would
not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible, what
would he take for the joys which it revealeth ? If the
promise be so sweet, what is the performance ? If the
testament of our Lord, and our charter for the kingdom,
be so comfortable, what will be our possession of the
kingdom itself?

Think further, what delights have I found also in
this Word preached ; when I have sat under a heavenly
heart-searching teacher, how hath my heart been warmed
within me; how hath he melted me, and turned my
bowels. Methinks I have felt myself almost in heaven ;
methinks I could have been content to have sat and
heard from morning to night, I could even have lived
and died there. How oft have I gone to the congrega-
tion troubled in spirit, and returned home with quietness
and delight ! How oft have I gone doubting, concluding
damnation against my own soul, and God hath sent me

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

home with my doubts resolved, and satisfied me, and
persuaded me of His love in Christ. Flow oft have I
gone with darkness and doub tings in my judgment, and
God hath opened to me such precious truths, and opened
also my understanding to see them, that His light hath
been exceeding comfortable to my soul. What cordials
have I met with in my saddest afflictions ; what prepara-
tives to fortify me for the next encounter ! Well then,
if Moses''s face do shine so gloriously, what glory is in the
face of God ! If the very feet of the messengers of these
tidings of peace be beautiful, how beautiful is the face of
the Prince of Peace ! If the word in the mouth of a
fellow-servant be so pleasant, what is the living Word
Himself! If this treasure be so precious in earthen
vessels, what is that treasure laid up in heaven ! Think
with thyself, if I had heard but such a divine prophet as
Isaiah, or such a persuading moving prophet as Jeremiah,
or such a worker of miracles as Elijah or Elisha, how
delightful a hearing would this have been ! If I had
heard but Peter or John or Paul, I should rejoice in it as
Ions: as I lived : but what would I o;ive that I had heard
one sermon from the mouth of Christ Himself! Sure I
should have felt the comfort of it in my very soul. Why,
but alas, all this is nothing to what we shall have above.
Oh, blessed are the eyes that see what there is seen, and
the ears that hear the things that there are heard !
There shall I hear Elias, Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, John, not
preaching to an obstinate people in imprisonment, in
persecutions and reproach, but triumphing in the praises
of Him that hath advanced them. Austin was wont to
wish these three wishes : first, that he might have seen
Christ in the flesh ; secondly, that he might have heard
Paul preach ; thirdly, that he might have seen Rome in
its glory. Alas, these are small matters all to that which
Austin now beholds. There we see not Christ in the

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form of a servant, but Christ in His kingdom, in majesty
and glory ; not Paul preach in weakness and contempt,
but Paul with millions more rejoicing and triumphing;
not persecuting Rome in a fading glory, but Jerusalem
which is above in perfect and lasting glory.

So also think what a joy it is to have access and
acceptance in prayer, that when anything aileth me I
may go to God and open my case, and unbosom my
soul to Him as to my most faithful friend ; especially
knowing His sufficiency and willingness to relieve me !
Oh, but it will be a more surpassing unspeakable joy,
when I shall receive all blessings without asking them ;
and when all my necessities and miseries are removed ;
and when God Himself will be the portion and inheritance
of my soul.

What consolation also have we oft received in the
Supper of the Lord.? what a privilege is it to be
admitted to sit at His table, to have Plis covenant sealed
to me by the outward ordinance, and His special love
sealed by His spirit to my heart ! Why, but all the life
and comfort of these is their declaring and assuring me of
the comforts hereafter ; their use is but darkly to signify
and seal those higher mercies. When I shall indeed drink
with Him the fruit of the vine renewed, it will then be a
pleasant feast indeed. Oh, the difference between the last
supper of Christ on earth, and the marriage supper of the
Lamb at the great day ! Here He is in an upper-room,
accompanied with twelve poor selected men, feeding on no
curious dainties but a paschal lamb with sour herbs, and
a Judas at His table ready to betray Him ; but then His
room will be the glorious heavens ; His attendants all the
host of angels and saints ; no Judas, nor unfurnished
guest comes there ; but the humble believers must sit
down by Him, and the feast will be their mutual loving
and rejoicing.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Yet further think with thyself thus ; The communion
of the saints on earth is a most delectable mercy ; what a
pleasure is it to live with understanding and heavenly
Christians ! Even David saith, they were all his delight ;
oh, then what a delightful society shall I have above!
The communion of saints is there somewhat worth, where
their understandings are fully cleared, and their affections
so highly advanced. If I had seen but Job in his sores
upon the dunghill, it would have been an excellent sight
to see such a mirror of patience ; what will it be then to
see him in glory, praising that power which did uphold
and deliver him ! If I had heard but Paul and Silas
singing in the stocks, it would have been a delightful
hearing ; what will it be then to hear them sing praises in
heaven ! If I had heard David sing praises on his lute
and harp, it would have been a pleasing melody ; and
that which drove the evil spirit from Saul would sure
have driven away the dulness and sadness of my spirit,
and have been to me as the music was to Elisha, that the
Spirit of Christ in joy would have come upon me; why,
I shall shortly hear that sweet singer in the heavenly choir
advancing the King of saints ; and will not that be a far
more melodious hearing ? If I had spoke with Paul when
he was new come down from the third heavens, and he
might have revealed to me the things which he had seen, oh,
what would I give for an hour's such conference; how far
would I go to hear such a narration ; why, I must shortly
see those very things myself, yea, and far more than Paul
was then capable of seeing, and yet shall I see no more
than I shall possess. If I had but spoke one hour with
Lazarus when he was risen from the dead, and heard him
describe the things which he had seen in another world
(if God would permit and enable him thereto); what
a joyful discourse would that have been. How many
thousand books may I read before I could know so much

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HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

as he could have told me in that hour ? If God would
have suffered him to tell what he had seen, the Jews would
have more thronged to hear him than they did to see
him ; oh, but this would have been nothing to the sight
itself, and to the fruition of all that which Lazarus saw.

Once again, think with thyself, what a soul-raising
employment is the praising of God, especially in consort
with His affectionate saints ! What if I had been in the
place of those shepherds, and seen the angels, and heard
the multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and
saying, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will towards men." What a glorious sight and
hearing would this have been ; but I shall see and hear
more glorious things than this. If I had stood by Christ
when He was thanking His Father, I should have thought
mine ears even blessed with His voice ; how much more
when I shall hear Him pronounce me blessed. If there
were such great joy at the bringing back of the ark,i and
such great joy at the re-edifying the material temple,"
what joy will there be in the New Jerusalem ? Why, if I
could but see the church here in unity and prosperity, and
the undoubted order and discipline of Christ established,
and His ordinances purely and powerfully administered,
what an unspeakable joy to my soul it would be. If I
could see the congregations provided with able teachers,
and the people receiving and obeying the Gospel, and
longing for reformation and for the government of Christ,
oh, what a blessed place were England ! If I could see
our ignorance turned into knowledge, and error turned
into soundness of understanding, and shallow professors
into solid believers, and brethren living in amity and in
the life of the Spirit, oh what a fortunate island were this !
Alas, alas, what is all this to the reformation in heaven,
and to the blessed condition which we must live in there.

1 2 Sam. vi. ] 5. ^ Neh. xii. 27.

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

There is another kind of change and glory than this!
What great joy had the people and David himself to see
them so willingly offer to the service of the Lord, and
what an excellent psalm of praise doth David thereupon
compose ! When Solomon was anointed king in Jeru-
salem, the people rejoiced with so great joy that the earth
rent at the sound of them ; what a joyful shout will there
be then at the appearing of the King of the Church. If
when the foundations of the earth were fastened, and the
corner-stone thereof was laid, the morning stars did sing
together, and all the sons of God did shout for joy, why
then when our glorious world is both founded and finished,
and the corner-stone appeareth to be the top-stone also,
and the holy city is adorned as the bride of the Lamb, O
sirs, what a joyful shout will then be heard !

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, and to laugh at
nothing ; but the people of God are wiser than so, they
know what it is that makes them glad. When did God
ever reveal the least of Himself to any of His saints, but
the joy of their hearts was answerable to the revelation !
Paul was so lifted up with what he saw that he was in
danger of being exalted above measure, and must have a
prick in the flesh to keep him down ; when Peter had
seen but Christ in His transfiguration, which was but a
small glimpse of His glory, and had seen Moses and Elias
talking with Him, what a rapture and ecstasy is he cast
into ! " Master,"" saith he, " it is good for us to be here ;

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HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

let us here build three tabernacles, one for thee, and one
for Moses, and one for Elias ; " as if he should say, " Oh, let
us not go down again to yonder persecuting rabble ; let
us not go down again to yonder drossy dirty world ; let
us not return to our mean and suffering state ; is it not
better that we stay here now we are here; is not here
better company, and sweeter pleasures?"" But the text
saith, " He knew not what he said." 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 are
come to that state where we shall be more capable of
beholding Him ; when the veil shall be taken away, and
we all, beholding Him with open face, shall be turned
into the same image from glory to glory. Alas, what is
the back parts which IVIoses saw from the clefts of the
rock, to that open face which we shall behold hereafter?
What is the revelation to John in Patmos, to this
revelation which we shall have in heaven ? How short
doth PauFs vision come of the saint's 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 foretastes, but
little to the full beatifical vision. When David foresaw
the resurrection of Christ and of himself, and the
pleasures which he should have for ever at God's right
hand, how doth it make him break forth and say,
"Therefore my heart was glad, and my glory rejoiceth,
my flesh also shall rest in hope.'' Why, think then, if
the foresight can raise such ravishing joy, what will the
actual possession do ?

How oft have we read and heard of the dying saints
who, when they had scarce strength and life enough to
express them, have been as full of joy as their hearts

379

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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 glorious, and that in the midst
of the sea of adversity, what then is that sun of glory
itself? Oh, the joy that the martyrs of Christ have felt
in the midst of the scorching flames ! Sure they had life
and sense as we, and were flesh and blood as well as we ;
therefore it must needs be some excellent thing that must
so rejoice their souls while their bodies were burning.
When Bilney can burn his finger in the candle, and
Cranmer can burn off" his unworthy right hand; when
Bainham can call the Papists to see a miracle, and tell
them that he feels no more pain than in a bed of down
and that the fire was to him as a bed of roses; when
Farrier can say, if I stir, believe not my doctrine ; think
then, reader, with thyself in thy meditations, sure it must
be some wonderful foretasted glory that can do all this,
that can make the flames of fire easy, and that can make
the king of fears so welcome. Oh, what then must this
glory itself needs be, when the very thoughts of it can
bring Paul into such a strait that he desired to depart
and to be with Christ, as best of all ; when it can make
men never think themselves well till they are dead ; oh
what a blessed rest is this ! Shall Sanders so delightfully
embrace the stake, and cry out, " welcome, cross," and
shall not I more delightfully embrace my blessedness,
and cry, '' welcome, crown " ? Shall blessed Bradford
kiss the faggot, and shall not I then kiss the Son Plimself ?
Shall the poor martyr rejoice that she might have her
foot in the same hole of the stocks that Mr. Philpot's
foot had been in before her, and shall not I rejoice that
my soul shall live in the same place of glory where Christ
and His apostles are gone before me? Shall fire and

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HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

faggot, shall prisons and banishment, shall scorns and
cruel torments be more welcome to others, than Christ
and glory shall be to me ? God forbid. What thanks
did Lucius the martyr give them, that they would send
him to Christ from his ill masters on earth ! How
desirously did Basil wish, when his persecutors threatened
his death the next day, that they might not change their
resolution lest he should miss of his expectation ! What
thanks then shall I give my Lord for removing me from
this loathsome prison to His glory, and how loath should
I be to be deprived thereof ! When Luther thought he
should die of an apoplexy, it comforted him and made
him more willing, because the good Duke of Saxony and,
before him, the apostle John had died of that disease;
how much more should I be willing to pass the way that
Christ hath passed, and come to the glory where Christ
is gone ? If Luther could thereupon say, " Feri, Domine^
feri cle7nenter ; ipse paratus siirn^ quia verho tuo a
peccatis ahsokdus ; Strike Lord, strike gently, I am
ready, because by Thy W^ord I am absolved from my
sins ; " how much more cheerfully should I cry ; Come
Lord, and advance me to this glory, and repose my
weary soul in rest !

Compare also the glory of the heavenly kingdom with
the glory of the imperfect Church on earth, and with the
glory of Christ in His state of humiliation, and you may
easily conclude, if Christ under His Father's wrath, and
Christ standing in the room of sinners, were so wonderful
in excellencies, what then is Christ at the Father's right
hand ? And if the Church, under her sins and enemies,
have so much beauty, something it will have at the
marriage of the Lamb. How wonderful was the Son of

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

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
solemnise it with praising and glorifying God. When
He is but a child. He must dispute with the doctors and
confute them. When He sets upon His office. His whole
life is a wonder. Water turned into wine ; thousands fed
with five loaves and two fishes; multitudes following
Him to see His miracles; 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 speaking ; the blind
eyes with a little clay and spittle ; the devils departing by
legions at His command ; the winds and the seas obeying
His word ; are not all these wonderful ? Think, then,
how wonderful is His celestial glory ! If there be such
cutting down of boughs, and spreading of garments, and
crying Hosanna, 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 return and say, "Never man spake like
this Man : " then sure they that behold His majesty in
His 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 must hide its
face and deny its light to the sinful world, and the dead
bodies of the saints arise, and the standers-by be forced
to acknowledge, Verily this was the Son of God; oh,
then what a day will it be, when He will once more shake,

HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

not the earth only, but the heavens also, and remove the
things that are shaken; when this sun shall be taken
out of the firmament, and be everlastingly darkened with
the brightness of His glory ; when the dead must all
arise 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 watch-
men till they are as dead men, and send the tidings to
His dejected disciples; if the bolted doors cannot keep
Him forth ; 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 ; oh, what power and dominion and glory, then, is
He now possessed of, and must we for ever possess with
Him!

Yet think further. Are His very servants enabled to
do such miracles when He is gone from them ; can a few
poor fishermen and tent-makers and the like mechanics
cure the lame and blind and sick, open their prisons,
destroy the disobedient, raise the dead, and astonish their
adversaries ? Oh, then what a world will that be where
every one can do greater works than these, and shall be
more highly honoured than by the doing of wonders ! 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 secrets,
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 preacher's feet ;
if it can make the spirits 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

383

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

thousands, and turn the world thus upside down; if the
very mention of the judgment and life to come can make
the judge on the bench to tremble, when the prisoner at
the bar doth preach this doctrine ; oh, 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, and in the
time appointed for their suffering and disgrace, what
then will they have in their full advancement ?

XIII

Compare thy 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 hath 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 genuine and sincere, but is
of greater worth than the riches of the Indies; not 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 by
the name of Christ dwelling in us and the Spirit of God
abiding in us. It is as 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 ennobleth
man above all nobility. It fitteth him to understand
his Maker's pleasure, to do His will, and to receive His
glory. Why 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
which will but strive against corruptions, and flame out
a few desires and groans, be so much worth ; how glorious

HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

then is the fountain and end of this life ! If we be said
to be like God, and to bear His image, and to be holy
as He is holy, when, alas ! we are pressed down with a
body of sin ; sure we shall then be much liker God when
we are perfectly holy and without blemish, and have no
such thing as sin within us. Is the desire after heaven so
precious a thing; what then is the thing itself which
is desired ? Is the 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 possessing? Oh, 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 ; what
sweetness is there in the very act of loving ; 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 begin to melt,
and when the thoughts of sinful unkindness will dissolve
it! Even this sorrow doth yield him matter of joy. Oh,
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, when upon
examination I can but trace the Spirit in His sanctifying
works ! How much more will it comfort me to find that
this Spirit hath safely conducted me, and left me in the
arms of Jesus Christ ! 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 enemy; and to be
presently numbered among His saints, and called His

385 2 b

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

friend, His servant, His son ; and the sentence revoked
which was gone forth ; oh, what a change was this ! To
be taken from that state wherein I was born, and had
lived delightfully so many years, and was rivetted in it
by custom and engagements, when thousands of sins did
lie upon my score ; and if I had so died, I had been
damned for ever; and to be justified from all these
enormous crimes, and freed from all these fearful plagues,
and put into the title of an heir of heaven, oh, what an
astonishing change was this ! Why then consider, how
much greater will that glorious change then be ; beyond
expressing, beyond conceiving ! 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 ; "' why how then shall I cry out in heaven, " O
blessed eternity ! and blessed 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 congratulate 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, and covered with
corruption sometime from mine own sight ; but my ever-
lasting glory will not so be clouded, nor my light be under
a bushel but upon a hill, even upon Sion, the mount of
God.

XIV

Lastly, compare the joys which thou shalt have above
with those foretastes of it which the Spirit hath given
thee here. Judge of the lion by the paw, and of the
ocean of joy by that drop which thou hast tasted. Thou
hast here thy strongest refreshing comforts, but as that
man in hell would have had the water to cool him ; a little

386

HELPS FOR RAISING THE SOUL

upon the tip of the finger for thy tongue to taste ; yet by
this httle thou mayest conjecture at the quality of the
whole. Hath not God sometimes revealed Himself extra-
ordinarily to thy soul, anH. let a drop of glory fall upon
it ? Hast thou not been ready to say, " Oh that it might
be thus with my soul continually, and that I might ahvays
feel what I feel sometimes ! " Didst thou never cry out,
with the martyr, after thy long and doleful expectations,
" He is come. He is come."" Didst thou never in a lively
sermon of heaven, nor in thy retired contemplations on
that blessed state, perceive thy drooping spirits revive,
and thy dejected heart to lift up the head, and the light
of heaven to break forth to thy soul, as a morning star,
or as the daw ning of the day ? Didst thou never perceive
thy heart in these duties to be as the child that Elisha
revived, to wax warm within thee, and to recover life?
Why think with thyself, then, what is this earnest to
the full inheritance ? Alas, all this light that so amazeth
and rejoiceth me, is but a candle lighted from heaven, to
lead me thither through this world of darkness ! If the
light of a star in the night be such, or the little glimmering
at the break of the day ; what then is the light of the sun at
noon-tide ! If some godly men that we read of have been
overwhelmed with joy, till they have cried out, "Hold,
Lord, stay Thy hand ; I can bear no more ! '' like weak eyes
that cannot endure too great a light ; oh, what will then be
my joys in heaven, when as the object of my joy shall be
the most glorious God, so my soul shall be made capable
of seeing and enjoying Him ; and though the light be ten
thousand times greater than the sun's, yet my eyes shall
be able for ever to behold it !

Or if thou be one that hast not felt yet these sweet fore-
tastes (for every believer hath not felt them) then make
use of the former delights which thou hast felt, that thou
mayest the better discern what hereafter thou shalt feel.

387

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

And thus I have done with the fifth part of this
directory, and showed you on what grounds to advance
your meditations, and how to get them to quicken your
affections, by comparing the unseen delights of heaven
with those smaller which you have seen and felt in the
flesh.

S88

CHAPTER XVII

HOW TO MANAGE AND WATCH OVER THE
HEART THROUGH THE WHOLE WORK

The sixth and last part of this directory is to guide you
in the managing of your hearts through this work, and to
show you wherein you have need to be exceeding watchful.
I have showed 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 performance. Our chief work will here be to discover
to you the danger, and that will direct you to the fittest
remedy. Let me therefore here acquaint you, beforehand,
that whenever you set upon this heavenly employment
you shall find your own hearts your greatest hinderer,
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, secondly, they will betray
you by their idleness in the work, pretending to do it,
when they do it not ; or thirdly, they will interrupt the
work, by their frequent excursions and turning aside to
every object; or fourthly, they wall spoil the work by
cutting it short, and be gone before you have done any
good on it. Therefore I here forewarn you, as you value
the invaluable comfort of the work, that you faithfully
resist these four dangerous evils, or else all that I have
said hitherto is in vain.

389

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Thou shalt find thy heart as backward to this, I think,
as to any work in the world. Oh what excuses it will
make, what evasions it will find out; and what delays
and demurs, 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 rake up anything like reason to plead against it;
it will tell thee that this is a work for ministers that
have nothing else to study on; or for cloisterers or
persons that have more leisure than thou hast. If thou
be a minister, it will tell thee this is the duty of the
people : it is enough for thee to meditate for the in-
structing of them : and let them meditate on what they
have heard, as if it were thy duty only to cook their
meat, and serve it up, and perhaps a little to taste the
sweetness, by licking thy fingers while thou art dressing
it for others : but it is they only that must eat it, digest
it, and live upon it. Indeed, the smell may a little
refresh thee, but it must be digesting it that must main-
tain thy strength, and life.

If all this will not serve, thy heart will tell thee of
other business thou hast, this company stays for thee,
or that business must be done. It may be it will set
thee upon some other duty, and so make one duty shut
out another; for it had rather go to any duty than to
this. Perhaps it will tell thee that other duties are
greater, and therefore this must give place to them,
because thou hast not time for both ; public business is
of more concernment ; to study, to preach for the saving
of souls must be preferred before these private contem-
plations ; as if thou hadst not time to see to the saving
thy own soul, for looking after others ; or thy charity
to others were so great, that it draws thee to neglect
thy comfort and salvation; or, as if there were any
better way to fit us to be useful to others than to make

390

HOW TO MANAGE THE HEART

this experience of our doctrine ourselves. Certainly
heaven, where is the Father of lights, is the best fire to
light our candle at, and the best book for a preacher to
study ; and if they would be persuaded to study that
more, the Church would be provided of more heavenly
lights; and when their studies are divine, and their
spirits divine, their preaching will then be also divine,
and they may be fitly called "divines" indeed. Or if
thy heart hath nothing to say against the work, then
it will trifle away the time in delays, and promise this
day and the next, but still keep off from the doing of
the business. 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 come to the work as a bear to the
stake, and draw back with all the strength it hath. I
speak all this of the heart so far as it is carnal (which in
too great a measure is in the best), for I know so far as
the heart is spiritual it will judge this work the sweetest
in the world.

Well then, what is to be done in the fore-mentioned
case? Wilt thou do it, if I tell thee.? Why, what
wouldst thou do with a servant that were thus backward
to his work, or to thy beast that should draw back when
thou wouldst have him go forward ? Wouldst thou not
first persuade, and then chide, and then spur him, and
force him on ; and take no denial nor let him alone, till
thou hadst got him closely to fall to his work ? Wouldst
thou not say. Why, what should I do with a servant
that will not work ; or with an ox or horse that will
not travel or labour ? Shall I keep them to look on ?
Wilt thou then faithfully deal thus with thy heart ? If
thou be not a lazy self-deluding hypocrite, say, " I will,
by the help of God I will ; " set upon thy heart roundly,
persuade it to the work, take no denial ; chide it for

391

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

its backwardness; use violence with it; bring it to the
service, willing, or not willing. Art thou master of
thy flesh, or art thou a servant to it ; hast thou no com-
mand of thy own thoughts ? Cannot thy will choose
the subject of thy meditations, especially when thy judg-
ment thus directeth thy will ? I am sure God once gave
thee mastery over thy flesh, and some power to govern
thy own thoughts. Hast thou lost thy authority ? Art
thou become a slave to thy depraved nature? Take
up the authority again which God hath given thee, com-
mand 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 to
Him, " Why Lord, thou gavest my reason the command
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 me ? Oh, send me 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 ;
its resistance will be brought under; and its backward-
ness will be turned to a yielding compliance.

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. Certainly, the heart is

392

HOW TO MANAGE THE HEART

as likely to betray thee in this as in any one particular
about the duty. When thou hast perhaps but an hour's
time for thy 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 thinking of
heaven is but to lose that hour, and delude thyself.
Well, what is to be done in this case.? Why, 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 (juantity and quality of
the work that is done. You can tell by his work, whether
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 a horse in a mill, or
an ox at the plow, that will go no longer than you are
calling or scourging ; if you cease driving but a moment,
the heart will stand still ; and perhaps the best hearts
have much of this temper.

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, but there must be all this violence used to compel it,
that then the service is worse than the omission. These
men understand not that this argument would certainly
cashier all spiritual obedience, because the hearts of the
best, being but partly sanctified, will still be resisting so
far as they are carnal ; nor do they understand well the
corruptness of their own natures ; nor that their sinful
indisposedness will not baflle or 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

393

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

compel. Love, I know, is a most precious grace, and
should have the chief interest in all our duties ; but there
be 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 the exciting of it where it
lieth dull ; and must I not use these means till it is
increased and excited ? Why, this reasoning, considering
duty that we are in hand with is the most singular
means both to stir up thy love and to increase it; and
therefore stay not from the duty, till thou feel thy love
constrain thee (that were to stay from the fire till thou
feel thyself warm), but fall upon the work till thou art
constrained to love ; and then love will constrain thee to
further duty.

My jealousy, lest thou shouldst miscarry by these sottish
opinions, hath made me more tedious in the opening of
their error. Let nothing therefore hinder thee, while
thou art upon the work, from plying thy heart with con-
stant watchfulness and constraint, seeing thou hast such
experience of its dulness and backwardness ; let the spur
be never out of its side ; and whenever it slacks pace, be
sure to give it a remembrance.

Ill

As thy heart will be loitering, so will it be diverting.
It will be turning aside, like a careless servant, to talk
with everyone that passes by. When there should be
nothing in thy mind but the work in hand, it will be
thinking of thy calling, or thinking of thy afflictions, or
of every bird or tree or place thou seest, or of any imper-

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HOW TO MANAGE THE HEART

tinency, rather than of heaven. Thy heart in this also
will be like the husbandman's ox or horse ; if he drive not,
he will not go ; and if he guide not, he will not keep the
furrow ; and it is as good stand still as go out of the way.
Experience will tell thee thou wilt have much ado with
thy heart in this point, to keep it one hour to the work
without many extravagances and idle cogitations. The
cure here is the same with that before ; to use watchfulness,
and violence with your own imaginations, and as soon as
they step out, to chide them in. Say to thy heart; "What!
did I come hither to think of my business in the world ; to
think of places and persons, of news or vanity, yea, or of
anything but heaven, be it never so good. What ! canst
thou not watch one hour ? Wouldst thou leave this world,
and dwell in heaven with Christ for ever, and canst thou
not leave it one hour out of thy thoughts, nor dwell with
Christ in one hour's close meditation ? " Ask thy heart
as Absalom did Hushai : " Is this thy love to thy friend ? "
"Dost thou love Christ and the place of thy eternal,
blessed abode, no more than so ? " When Pharaoh's butler
dreamed that he pressed the ripe grapes into Pharaoh's
cup, and delivered the cup into the king's hand, it was
a happy dream, and signified his speedy access to the
king's presence ; but the dream of the baker, that the birds
did eat out of the basket on his head the baked meats
prepared for Pharaoh, had an ill omen, and signified his
hanging, and their eating of his flesh. So when the ripened
grapes of heavenly meditation are pressed by thee into
the cup of affection, and this put into the hands of Christ
by dehghtful praises (if thou take me for skilful) this is
the interpretation, that thou shalt shortly be taken from
this prison where thou liest, and be set before Christ in
the court of heaven, and there serve up to Him that cup
of praise, but much fuller, and much sweeter, for ever and
for ever. But if the ravenous fowls of wandering thoughts

395

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

do devour the meditations intended for heaven, I will not
say flatly, it signifies thy death ; but this I will say, that so
far as these intrude, they will be the death of that service ;
and if thou ordinarily admit them, that they devour the
life and the joy of thy thoughts; and if thou continue in
such a way of duty to the end, it signifies the death of thy
soul as well as of thy service. Drive away these birds of
prey then from thy sacrifice, and strictly keep thy heart to
the work thou art upon.

Lastly, be sure also to look to thy heart in this, that
it cut not off the work before the time, and run not away,
through weariness, before it have leave. Thou shalt find
it will be exceeding prone to this, like the ox that would
unyoke, or the horse that would be unburdened, and
perhaps cast off his burden, and run away. Thou may est
easily perceive this in other duties. If in secret thou set
thyself to pray, is not thy heart urging thee still to cut
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 ? Why, 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. Well, 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 also hold it to
it till the work be done. Charge it in the name of God
to stay. Do not so great a work by the halves ; say to
it, Why foolish heart, if thou beg a while, and go away
before thou hast thy alms, dost thou not lose thy labour ?
If thou stop before thou art at the end of thy journey,

HOW TO MANAGE THE HEART

is not every step of thy travel lost ? Thou earnest hither
to fetch a walk to heaven, in hope to have a sight of the
glory which thou must inherit ; and wilt thou stop when
thou art almost at the top of the hill, and turn again
before thou hast taken thy survey ? Thou earnest hither
in hope to speak with God, and wilt thou go before thou
hast seen Him ? Thou camest to bathe thyself in the
streams of consolation, and to that end didst unclothe
thyself of thy earthly thoughts ; and wilt thou put a foot
in, and so be gone ? Thou camest to spy out the land
of promise ; oh, go not back without the bunch of grapes
which thou mayest show to thy brethren, when thou comest
home, for their confirmation and encouragement ; till thou
canst tell them by experience, " That it is a land flowing
with wine and oil, with milk and honey." Let them see
that thou hast tasted of the wine, by the gladness of thy
heart ; and that thou hast been anointed with the oil, by
the cheerfulness of thy countenance ; let them see that
thou hast tasted of the milk of the land, by thy feeding
and by thy mild and gentle disposition ; and of the honey,
by the sweetness of thy words and conversation. The
views of heaven would heal thee of thy sinfulness and of
thy sadness; but thou must hold on the plaster that it
may have time to work. This heavenly fire would melt
thy frozen heart, and refine it from the dross, and take
away the earthly part, and leave the rest more spiritual
and pure ; but then thou must not be presently gone before
it have time either to burn or warm.

Stick therefore to the work till something be done ; till
thy graces be acted, thy aflections raised, and thy soul
refreshed 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."'

397

CHAPTER XVIII

THE ABSTRACT OR SUM OF ALL, FOR THE
USE OF THE WEAK

Thus I have, by the gracious assistance of the Spirit,
directed you in this work of heavenly contemplation, and
lined you out the best way that I know for your successful
performance, 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, and cannot well
lay together the several branches of this method that they
may reduce them to practice, I shall here contract the
whole into a brief sum, and lay it all before you in a
narrower compass. But still, reader, I wish thee to
remember that 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 praying
daily, so do thou of the acting of thy graces in meditation,
and more especially in meditating 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
going to speak with God Himself, or to have a sight of
Christ, or of that blessed place. So do thou withdraw
thyself into some secret place, and set thyself wholly to
the following work. If thou canst, take Isaac's time and
place, who went forth into the field in the evening to

398

THE ABSTRACT OR SUM OF ALL

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 heaven,
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 admira-
tion, 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 fiiith.
If yet this mere consideration prevail not (which yet hath
much force, as is before expressed), then fall a-pleading
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, consider of 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 encourage-
ments which thou mayest receive from God ; the weakness
of the enemy, and the necessity of prevailing. If it be
joy, consider of its excellent ravishing glory, of thy interest
in it, and of its certainty, and the nearness of the time
when thou must possess it.

Urge these considerations home to thy heart ; whet
them with all possible 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

399

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

would slip away, and leave the work, use thine authority.
Keep it close to the business, till thou have obtained thine
end. Stir not away, if it may be, till thy love do flame,
till thy joy be raised, or till thy desire or other graces be
lively acted. Call in assistance also from God, mix ejacu-
lations with thy cogitations and 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, from an
unfruitful sadness to a joyful life. In a word, what will
not be done one day, do it the next, till thou have pleaded
thy heart from earth to heaven ; from conversing below,
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.

And this is the sum of these precedent directions.

400

CHAPTER XIX

AN EXAMPLE OF THIS HEAVENLY CONTEMPLA-
TION, FOR THE HELP OF THE UNSKILFUL

"There remaineth a rest to the people of God."

Rest ! How sweet a word is this to mine ears. Methinks
the sound doth turn to substance and, having entered at
the ear, doth possess my brain; and thence descendeth
down to my very heart. Methinks I feel it stir and work,
and that through all my parts and powers, but 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. Me-
thinks 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 all 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 or night, crying, "Holy, holy, holv. Lord God of

401 " 2 c

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Sabbaths ; when 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, rejoicing, and praising,
when my perfect soul and body together shall in these
perfect actings perfectly enjoy the most perfect God,
when God also, M^ho is love itself, shall perfectly love
me, yea, and rest in His love to me, as I shall rest in
my love to Him; and rejoice over me with 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 do seem to delay His coming,
yet a little while and He will be here. What is 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 moment. He who is gone hence
will even so return; methinks I even hear the voice of
His foregoers. Methinks I see Him coming in the
clouds, with the attendance of His angels in majesty
and in 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 devouring fire hath con-
sumed all except yourselves, who must be the fuel for
ever. Oh, 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 too late. Never cry, " Lord, Lord." Too late, too
late, man. Why dost thou look about, can any save
thee; whither dost thou run, can any hide thee? O

402

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

wretch, thou hast brought thyself to this. Now, blessed
saints that have believed and obeyed, this is the end of
faith and patience ; this is it for which you 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 ? Oh, see how the
Judge doth smile upon you ! There is love in His looks ;
the titles of Redeemer, Husband, Head are written in
His amiable shining 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 joyful sentence pro-
nounced by that blessed 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 ; go along
you must, 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 of glory. Never so un-
worthy, crowned you must be. This was the project of
free redeeming grace, and this was the purpose of eternal
love. O blessed grace ! O blessed love ! Oh, the frame
that my soul will then be in ! Oh, how love and joy will
stir ! But I cannot 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 forsaken,
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
wretcli, free to me, though dear to Christ ! Free grace
that hath chosen me, when thousands were forsaken, when
mv companions in sin must burn in hell, and I must here

403

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

rejoice in rest, here must I live with all these saints !

0 comfortable meeting of my old acquaintance, with whom

1 prayed and wept and suffered ; with whom I spoke 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, nor like our prisons or 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, a
saint was weak and despised, so full of pride and peevish-
ness and other sins, that we could scarce ofttimes discern
their graces ; but now how glorious a thing is a saint !
Where is now their body of sin, which wearied them-
selves and those about them ?

Where are now our different judgments, our re-
proachful titles, our divided spirits, our exasperated
passions, our strange looks, our uncharitable censures ?
Now we are all of one judgment, of one name, of one
heart, of one house, and of one glory. O sweet reconcile-
ment ! O happy union, which makes us first to be one
with Christ, and then to be one among ourselves ! Now
our differences shall be dashed in our teeth no more,
nor the Gospel reproached through our folly or scandal.
O my soul, thou shalt never more lament the suff'erings
of the saints, never more condole the Church's ruins,
never bewail thy suffering friends, nor lie wailing over
their deathbeds or their graves. Thou shalt never suffer

404

AN EXAJMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

thy old temptations from Satan, the world, or thy own
Hesh. 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.

Oh, what a mighty change is this, from the dunghill to
the throne ; from persecuting sinners to praising saints ;
from a body as vile as the carrion in the ditch to a body
as bright as the sun in the firmament ; from complainings
under the displeasure of God to the perfect enjoyment
of Him in love; from all my doubts and fears of my
condition, to this possession which hath put me out of
doubt ; from all my fearful thoughts of death, to this
most blessed joyful life ! Oh, what a blessed change is
this ! Farewell sin and suffering for ever ; farewell my
hard and rocky heart; farewell my proud and unbelieving
heart; farewell atheistical, idolatrous, worldly heart;
farewell my sensual carnal heart ; and 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, and
delighted in nothing else but Him.

Oh, 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 ; fare-
well the most of 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. That is the sight that
is worth the seeing ; that is the book that is worth the
reading. 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

405

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

shall I live, and ever live, and praise my Lord, and ever,
ever, ever praise Him. My face will not wrinkle, nor my
hair be grey ; but this mortal shall have put on immor-
tality, and this corruptible, incorruption ; and death
shall be swallowed up in victory : " O death, where is now
thy sting ! O grave, where is thy victory ! " The date
of my lease will no more expire, nor shall I trouble myself
with thoughts of death ; nor 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 is one
eternity. O blessed eternity ! the glory of my glory, the
perfection of my perfection !

Ah, drowsy, earthy, blockish heart ! How coldly 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
sit thee down in dirt and dung, than walk in the court
of the palace of God ? Dost thou now remember thy
worldly business ? Art thou looking back to the Sodom
of thy lusts? Art thou thinking of thy delights and
merry company ? Wretched heart ! Is it better to be
there 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 kingdom 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

406

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

behold it ; except it be to discern more easily the bright-
ness of the one by the darkness of the other. Yonder,
far above yonder, is thy Father's glory, yonder must thou
dwell when thou ieavest 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 Jerusalem, the gates
of pearl, the foundations of pearl, the streets and pave-
ments of transparent gold. Seest thou that sun which
lighteth all this 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.

What thinkest thou, O my soul, of this most blessed
state ? What ! Dost thou stagger at the promise of
God through unbelief, though thou say nothing, or
profess belief. Yet thou speakest so coldly and so cus-
tomarily that I much suspect thee; I know thy infidelity
is thy natural vice. Didst thou believe indeed, thou
wouldst be more affected with it. Why, hast thou not
it under the hand and seal and oath of God ? Can God
lie, or He that is the truth itself, be false? Foolish
wretch ! What need hath God to flatter thee, or deceive
thee ? Why should He promise thee more than He will
perform ? Art thou not His creature, a little crumb of
dust, a scrawling worm, ten thousand times more below
Him than this fly or worm is below thee? Wouldst
thou flatter a flea, or a worm ? What need hast thou of
them ? If they do not please thee, thou wilt crush them
dead, and never accuse thyself of cruelty. Why yet they
are thy fellow-creatures, made of as good metal as thy-
self, and thou hast no authority over them, but what thou
hast received. How much less need hath God of thee, or

407

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

why should He care, if thou perish in thy folly ? Cannot
He govern thee without either flattery or falsehood?
Cannot He easily make thee obey His will, and as easily
make thee suffer for thy disobedience ?

Wretched unbelieving heart ! Tell a fool, or tell a
tyrant, or tell some false and flattering man, of drawing
their subjects by false promises, and procuring obedience
by deceitful means ; but do thou not dare to charge the
Wise, Almighty, Faithful God with this. Above all men
it beseems not thee to doubt, either of this Scripture
being His infallible Word, or of the performance of this
Word to thyself. Hath not argument convinced thee ?
May not thine own experience utterly silence thee.?
How oft hath this Scripture been verified for thy good ;
how many of the promises have been performed to thee 't
Hath it not quickened thee, and converted thee "^ Hast
thou not felt in it something more than human .? Would
God perform another's promise, or would He so powerfully
concur with a feigned word ? If thou hadst seen the
miracles that Christ and His apostles wrought, thou
wouldst never sure have questioned the truth of their
doctrine. Why, they delivered it down by such undoubted
testimony that it may be called Divine as well as human.
Nay, hast thou not seen its prophecies fulfilled ; hast thou
not lived in an age wherein such wonders have been
wrought that thou hast now no cloak for thy unbelief;
hast thou not seen the course of nature changed, and
works beyond the power of nature wrought ; and all this
in the fulfilling of the Scripture. Hast thou so soon
forgotten since nature failed me, and strength failed me,
and blood, and spirits, and flesh, and friends, and all
means did utterly fail.'' And how art and reason had
sentenced me for dead, and yet how God revoked the sen-
tence, and at the request of praying, believing saints, did
turn thee to the promise which He verified to thee ! And

408

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

canst thou yet question the truth of this Scripture ?
Hast thou seen so much to confirm thy faith, in the great
actions of seven years past, and canst thou yet doubt ?
Thou hast seen signs and wonders, and art thou yet so
unbelieving ? 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
may est be surer of that which is written in the Word
than if thou see it with thine eyes, or feel it with thy
hands. Art thou sure thou livest, or sure that this is
earth which thou standest on ? Art thou sure thine eyes
do see the sun ? As sure is all the 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 this evil heart of
unbelief causing me to depart from the living God.

And is this rest so sweet, and so sure? Oh, 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 ; or are they dead ? Do they know for certain
that the crown is before them, while they thus sit still,
or follow trifles? Undoubtedly they are quite beside
themselves, to mind so much their provision in the way,
and strive and care and labour for trifles, when they are
hastening so fast to another world, and their eternal
happiness lies at stake. Were there left one spark of
wit or reason, they would never sell their rest for toil,
or sell their glory for worldly vanities, nor venture
heaven for the pleasure of a sin. Ah, poor men ; that
you would once consider what you hazard, and then you
would scorn these tempting baits ! Oh, blessed for ever
be that love that hath rescued me from this mad be-
witching darkness !

409

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

Draw nearer yet then, O my soul ; bring forth thy
strongest burning love; here is matter for it to work
upon ; here is something truly worth thy loving. Oh,
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 be 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
immeasurably lovely? Thou canst love thy friend be-
cause he loves thee; and is the love of thy friend 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 blood that fell from thy Lord
have all a sovereign healing virtue, and are waters of
life and balsam to thy faintings and thy sores. O my
soul, if love deserve and should procure love, what in-
comprehensible love is here before thee ! Pour out all
the store of thy affections here; and all is too little.
Oh, that it were more ; oh, that it were many thousand
times more ! Let Him be first served, that served thee
first ; let Him have the first-born, and strength of thy
love, who parted with strength and 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 thyself in, and swim with the
arms of thy love in this ocean of His love ; fear not lest
thou shouldst be drowned or consumed in it. Though
it seem as the scalding furnace of lead, yet thou wilt
find it but mollifying oil : though it seem 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

410

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

effectual to extinguish fire ; never intended to consume,
but to glorify thee. Venture into it, then, in thy be-
lieving 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 wan test thou
here to provoke thy love ? Dost thou love for excellency ?
Why, thou seest nothing below but baseness, except as
they relate to thy enjoyments above. Yonder is the
Goshen, the region of light ; this is a land of palpable
darkness. Yonder twinkling 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 (ah, little indeed) the glory and blessed mirth that
is within ! Dost thou love for suitableness ? Why, what
person more suitable than Christ? His Godhead, His
manhood, His fulness. His freeness, His willingness. His
constancy 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
sufferings, these unsatisfying vanities suitable to thee?
Or dost thou love for interest and near relation ? Why,
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 thy Lord, yet He is never the
further 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

411

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

brought thee seasonably and safely into the world ; it is
He that nursed thee up 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 hard and stubborn, and He did soften
it, and made it yield ; when it was at peace, and He did
trouble it ; and whole, till He did break it ; and broken,
till He did heal it again ! Hast thou forgotten the
time, nay the many, very many times when He found
thee in secret all in tears; when He heard thy dolorous
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
doth ail 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."

Oh, methinks I remember yet His voice, and feel those
embracing 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 to
me : " Poor sinner, though thou hast dealt unkindly with
me, and cast me off, 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
can give thee ; and what dost thou want that I cannot
give thee ? If anything I have will pleasure thee, thou
shalt have it; if anything in heaven or earth will make
thee happy, why it is all thine own. Wouldst thou have
pardon? Thou shalt have it; I freely forgive thee all
the debt. Wouldst thou have grace and peace ? Thou

412

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

shalt have them both. Wouldst thou have myself? Why,
behold I am thine, thy friend, thy Lord, thy brother,
thy husband, and thy head. Wouldst thou have the
Father ? Why, I will bring thee to Him ; and thou
rhalt have Him in and by me."" These were my Lord's
reviving words ; these were the melting, healing, raising,
quickening passages of love.

After all this, when I was doubtful of His love;
methinks I yet remember His overcoming and convinc-
ing arguments. — " Why, sinner, 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 and
love so long, and yet dost thou question my willingness
to be thine ? Why, what could I have done more than
I have done ? At what dearer rate should I tell thee
that I love thee ? Read yet the story of my bitter
passion, wilt thou not believe that it proceeded from
love.f^ 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
lamb-like nature ? Have I set mine arms and heart
there open to thee, and wilt thou not believe but they
are shut ? Why, if I had been willing to let thee perish,
I could have done it at a cheaper rate; what need I
then have done and suffered so much ; what need I follow
thee with so long patience and entreating ? What dost
thou tell me of thy wants ? Have I not enough for me
and thee ? And why dost thou foolishly tell me of thy
unworthiness and thy sin ? I had not died, if man had
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
the righteous or did I ever save or justifv such, or is

413

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there any such on earth ? Hast thou nothing ? Art
thou lost and miserable ? Art thou helpless and forlorn ?
Dost thou believe that I am a sufficient Saviour, 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, oh, these were the blessed words which His
Spirit from His Gospel spoke unto me, tjH He made
me cast myself at His feet, yea into His arms, and to
cry out: "My Saviour and my Lord, Thou hast broke
my heart, Thou hast revived my heart, Thou hast over-
come. Thou hast won my heart ; take it, it is Thine.
If such a heart can please Thee, take it; if it cannot,
make it such as Thou wouldst have it."*"*

Thus, O my soul, mayest thou remember the sweet
familiarity thou hast had with Christ. Therefore if
acquaintance will cause affection, oh, then let out thy
heart unto Him ; it is He that hath stood by thy bed
of sickness, 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 and in private; He hath been found of thee
in the congregation, in thy house, in thy chamber, in
the field, in the way as thou wert walking, in thy
waking nights, in thy deepest dangers. Oh, if bounty
and compassion be an attractive of love, how immeasur-
ably then am I bound to love Him ! All the mercies
that have filled up my life do tell me this ; all the
places that ever I did abide in, all the societies and
persons that I have had to deal with, 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 good-
ness. Lord, what a sum of love am I indebted to Thee,

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AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

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 Thy golden mines, my
seldom wishes for Thy constant bounty, 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, languid spark against the element
and 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 love, that gave me all that little
which I have; both the heart, the hearth where it is
kindled, the bellows, 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 unable, I am overcome.

0 blessed conquest ! Go on victoriously, and still pre-
vail, and triumph in Thy love. The captive of love
shall proclaim Thy victory, when Thou leadest me in
triumph from earth to heaven, from death to life, from
the tribunal to the throne ; myself and all that see it
shall acknowledge 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 not Thy peer. Shall I not love at all,
because I cannot reach Thy measure ? Or at least, let me
heartily wish to love Thee. Oh, that I were able ! Oh, that

1 could feelingly say, " I love Thee," even as I feel I love
my friend, and myself! Lord, that I could do it, but
alas, I cannot ; fain I would, but alas, I cannot. Would
I not love Thee, if I were but able ? Though I cannot say
as Thy apostle, " Thou knowest that I love Thee ; '' yet
can I sav, " Lord, Thou knowest that I would love Thee.*'

415

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

But I speak not this to excuse my fault ; it is a crime
that admits of no excuse ; and it is my own, it dwelleth
as near me as my very heart; if my heart be my own,
this sin is my own, yea and more my own than my heart
is. Lord, what shall this sinner do ; the fault is my
own, and yet I cannot help it; I am angry with my
heart that it doth not love Thee, and yet I feel it love
Thee never the more ; I frown upon it, and yet it cares
not ; I threaten it, but it doth not feel ; I chide it, and
yet it doth not mend ; I reason with it and would fain
persuade it, and yet I do not perceive it stir; I rear it
up as a carcass upon its legs, but it neither goes nor
stands. I rub and chafe it in the use of Thine ordi-
nances, and yet I feel it not warm within me : O miser-
able man that I am. Unworthy soul, is not thine eye
now upon the only lovely object, and art thou not
beholding the ravishing glory of the saints ; and yet
dost thou not love; and yet dost thou not feel the fire
break forth? Why, art thou not a soul, a living spirit;
and is not thy love the choicest piece of thy life? Art
thou not a rational soul, and shouldst not thou love
according: to reason's conduct ? And doth it not tell
thee, that all is dirt and dung to Christ; that earth is
a dungeon to the celestial glory ? Art thou not a spirit
thyself, and shouldst thou not love spiritually, even God
who is a spirit, and the Father of spirits ? Doth not
every creature love their like ? Why, my soul, art thou
like to flesh, or gold, or stately buildings? Art thou
like to meat and drink, or clothes; wilt thou love no
higher than thy horse or swine ; hast thou nothing
better to love than they ?

What is the beauty that thou hast so admired ? Canst
thou not even wink or think it all into darkness or de-
formity ; when the night comes, it is nothing to thee ;
while thou hast gazed on it, it hath withered away; a

416

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

botch or scab, the wrinkles of consuming sickness, or of
age, do make it as loathsome as it was before delightful.
Suppose but that thou sawest that beautiful carcass lying
on the bier, or rotting in the grave, the scull digged up,
and the bones scattered, where is now thy lovely object ?
Couldst thou sweetly embrace it, when the soul is gone ;
or take any pleasure in it, when there is nothing left
that is like thyself? Ah, why then dost thou love a
skinful of dirt, and canst love no more the heavenly
glory ? What thinkest thou ? Shalt thou love when
thou comest there ; when thou seest ; when thou dost
enjoy ; when the Lord shall take thy carcass from the
grave, and make thee shine as the sun in glory, and when
thou shalt everlastingly dwell in the blessed presence ?
Shalt thou then love, or shalt thou not ; is not the place
a meeting of lovers ; is not the life a state of love ? Is
it not the great marriage-day of the Lamb, when He will
embrace and entertain His spouse with love? Is not
the employment there the work of love, where the souls
with Christ do take their fill ? O, then, my soul begin
it here ; be sick of love now, that thou mayest be well
with love there. Keep thyself now in the love of God,
and let neither life nor death nor anything separate thee
from it; and thou shalt be kept in the fulness of love
for ever, and nothing shall embitter or abate thy
pleasure; for the Lord hath prepared a city of love, a
place for the communicating of love to His chosen, and
those that love His name shall dwell there.

Awake then, O my drowsy soul; who but an owl or
mole would love this world's uncomfortable darkness,
when they are called forth to live in light? To sleep
under the light of grace is unreasonable, much more in
the approach of the light of glory; the night of thy
ignorance and misery is past, the day of glorious light
is at hand; this is the daybreak betwixt them both;

417 2 D

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

though thou see not yet the sun itself appear, nie thinks
the twilight of a promise should revive thee! Come
forth, then, O my dull congealed spirits, and leave these
earthly cells to dumpish sadness; and hear thy Lord
that bids thee rejoice, and again rejoice! Thou hast
lain here long enough in thy prison of flesh, where Satan
hath been thy jailer, and the things of this world have
been the stocks for the feet of thy affections, where cares
have been thy irons, and fears thy scourge, and the bread
and water of affliction thy food ; where sorrows have
been thy lodging ; and thy sins and foes have made the
bed; and a carnal, hard, unbelieving heart have been
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 follow 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
ever He leads thee. Art thou afraid because thou
knowest not whither.? 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 mislead thee that is the light of 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 will 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.

Sit no longer, then, by the fire of earthly common
comforts, whither the cold of carnal fears and sorrows did
drive thee. Thy winter is past, and wilt thou house thyself
still in earthly thoughts, and confine thyself to drooping
and dulness ? Even the silly flies will leave their holes

4a 8

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

when the winter is over and the sun draws near them ; the
ants will stir, the fishes rise, the birds will sing, the
earth look green, and all with joyful note will tell thee
the spring is come. Come forth, then, 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
white and ripe for harvest. And thon thou who art
now called forth to see and taste shall be called forth to
reap and gather and take possession. Shall I suspend
and delay my joys till then ? Should not the joys of
the spring go before the joys of harvest? Is title
nothing before possession? Is the heir in no better a
state than the slave? My Lord hath taught me to
rejoice in hope of His glory, and to see it through the
bars of a prison, and even when I am " persecuted for
righteousness' sake,"' when I am "reviled, and all manner
of evil sayings are said against me falsely for His sake,"
then hath He commanded me to " rejoice and be exceed-
ing 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 for 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 sorrows; and as much as He delighteth in
the humble and contrite, yet doth He more delight in
the soul as it delighteth in Him. I know He taketh no
pleasure in my self-procured sadness; nor would He call
on me to weep or mourn, but that it is the only way to
these delights. Would I spread the table before my
' guest, and bring him forth my best provision and bid

419

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

him sit down and eat, and welcome, if I did not un-
feignedly desire he should do so ? Hath my Lord spread
me a table in this wilderness, and furnished it with the
promises of everlasting glory, and set before me angels'
food, and broached for me the side of His beloved Son
that I might have a better wine than the blood of the
grape ? Doth He so frequently and 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 of
my joys! Never think it, O my unbeheving soul; nor
dare to charge Him with thy uncomfortable heaviness,
who offereth thee the foretaste of the highest delights
that heaven doth afford and God bestow. Doth
He not bid thee " delight thyself in the Lord," and
promise to give thee then " the desires of thy heart " ?
Hath He not charged thee to " rejoice evermore '' ! Yea
to sing " aloud and shout for joy." Why should I then
draw back discouraged ? My God is willing, if I were
but willing. He is delighted in my delights. He would
fain have it my constant frame and daily business to
be near to Him in my believing meditations and to
live in the sweetest thoughts of His goodness, and to be
always delighting my soul in Himself. O blessed work !
Employment fit for the sons of God !

But ah, my Lord, Thy feast is nothing to me without
an appetite. Thou must give a stomach as well as meat.
Thou hast set the dainties of heaven before me, but alas,
I am blind and cannot see them ; I am sick and cannot
relish them ; I am so benumbed that I cannot put forth a
hand to take them. What is the glory of sun and moon
to a clod of earth ? Thou knowest I need thy subjective
grace as well as thine objective, and that Thy works upon
mine own distempered soul is not the smallest part of my

420

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

salvation. I therefore humbly beg this grace, that as
Thou hast opened heaven unto me in Thy blessed Word,
so Thou wouldst open mine eyes to see it, and my heart to
affect it; else heaven will be no heaven to me. Awake
therefore, O thou Spirit of life, and breathe upon Thy
graces in me; blow upon the garden of my heart, that
the spices thereof may flow out ; " Let my Beloved come
into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits."" And take
me by the hand, and lift me up from earth Thyself; that
I may fetch one walk in the garden of glory, and see by
faith what Thou hast laid up for them that love Thee and
wait for Thee.

Away, then, you soul-tormenting cares and fears !
Away you importune heart-vexing sorrows ! At least
forbear me a little while ; stand by, and trouble not my
aspiring soul ; stay here below, whilst 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 brouorht His assumed elorified flesh. It 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 very shortly follow.
It is not so far, but He that is everywhere can bring me
thither ; nor so difficult and unlikely, but Omnipotency
can effect it. And though this unbelief may diminish
my delights, and much abate my joys in the way : yet
shall it not abate the love of my Redeemer, nor make
the promise of none effect. 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 sensibly now do I perceive
thy weakness ! xVh, unbelief, if I had never heard or

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

known it before, yet how sensibly now do I perceive thy
malicious tyranny ! But though thou darken my light,
and dull my life, and suppress my joys, yet shalt thou
not be able to conquer and destroy me. There shall I
and my joys survive when thou art dead ; and though
thou envy all my comforts, yet some, in despite of thee, I
shall even here receive; 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 ; stop thine ears to the
ignorant language of infidelity ; thou art able to answer
all its arguments ; or if thou be not, yet tread them under
thy feet. Come away, stand not looking on that grave,
nor turning those bones, nor reading thy lesson now in
the dust ; those lines will soon be wiped out. But lift up
thy head and look to heaven, and read thy instructions in
those fixed stars. Or yet look higher than those eyes can
see into that foundation which standeth sure, and see thy
name in golden letters written before the foundations of
the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb. What if
an angel from heaven should 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 promises which were delivered by
the Spirit, and by the Son Himself? Suppose thou hadst
seen a fiery chariot come for thee, and fetch thee up to
heaven like Elias ; would not this rejoice thee? Why,
my Lord hath acquainted me, and assured me, that the
soul of a Lazarus, a beggar, goes not forth of its corrupted
flesh, but a convoy of angels are ready to attend it, and
bring it to the comforts in Abraham's bosom. Shall a
drunkard be so merry among his cups, and a glutton in
his delicious fare, and the proud in his bravery and

422

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

dignity, and the lustful wanton in the enjoyment of his
mate; and shall not I rejoice who must shortly be in
heaven ?

How glad is voluptuous youth of their playtimes and
holy-days? Why, in heaven I shall have an everlasting
holy-day of pleasure. Can meat and drink delight me
when I hunger and thirst ? Can I find pleasure in walks
and gardens and convenient dwellings ? Can beauteous
sights delight mine eyes, and odours my smell, and
melody mine ears ? And shall not the forethought of the
celestial bliss delight me? My beast is glad of his fresh
pasture, and his liberty, and his rest ; and shall not I ?
What delight have I found in my private studies, especi-
ally when they have prospered to the increase of my know-
ledge ! Methinks I could bid the world farewell, and
immure myself among my books, and look forth no more
(were it a lawful course) but, as Heinsius in his library at
Leyden, shut the doors upon me, and as in the lap of
eternity, among those divine souls, employ myself in sweet
content, and })ity the rich and great ones that know not
this happiness. Sure then it is a high delight indeed,
which in the true lap of eternity is enjoyed! If Lipsius
thought when he did but read Seneca that he was even
upon Olympus top, above mortality and human things ;
what a case shall I be in when I am beholding Christ!
If Julius Scaliger thought twelve verses in Lucan better
than the whole German Empire ; what shall I think mine
inheritance worth ? If the mathematics alone are so
delectable that their students do profess that they should
think it sweet to live and die in those studies ; how delect-
able then will my life be, when I shall fully and clearly
know those things which the most learned do now know
but doubtfully and darkly ! In one hour shall I see all
difficulties vanish ; and all my doubts in physics, meta-
physics, politics, medicine, &c., shall be resolved ; so happy

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

are the students of that university ! Yea, all the depths
of divinity will be uncovered to me, and all the difficult
knots untied; and the book unsealed, and mine eyes
opened. For in knowing God, I shall know all things
that are fit or good for the creature to know. There
Commenius's attempt is perfected, and all the sciences re-
duced to one. Seneca thought that he that lived without
books was but buried alive ; but had he known what it is
to enjoy God in glory, he would have said indeed, that to
live without Him is to be buried alive in hell.

If Apollonius travelled into Ethiopia and Persia, to
consult with the learned there ; and if Plato and Pytha-
goras left their country to see those wise Egyptian
priests ; and if as, Hierom saith, many travelled thousand
miles to see and speak with eloquent Livy; and if the
queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to hear the wisdom
of Solomon and see his glory; oh, how gladly should I
leave this country, how cheerfully should I pass from
earth to heaven to see the glory of that eternal majesty,
and to attain myself that height of wisdom, in comparison
of which the most learned on earth are but silly, brutish
fools and idiots ! If Bernard were so ravished with the
delights of his monastery, where he lived in poverty,
without the common pleasures of the world, because of
its green banks, and shady bowers, and herbs, and trees,
and various objects to feed the eyes, and fragrant smells,
and sweet and various tunes of birds, together with the
opportunity of devout contemplations, that he cries out
in admiration, " Lord, what abundance of delights dost
Thou provide even for the poor ; '' how then should I be
ravished with the description of the court of heaven,
where instead of herbs, and trees, and birds, and bowers,
I shall enjoy God and my Redeemer, angels, saints, and
inexpressible pleasures ; and therefore should with more
admiration cry out, "Lord, what delights hast Thou

4iM

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

provided for us miserable and unworthy wretches that
wait for Thee " ! 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 then be, which
is not formed by the art of man, nor beautified like these
childish toys, but is the matchless palace of the great
King, built by Himself for the residence of His glory,
and the perpetual entertainment of His beloved saints !
Can a poor deluded Mahommedan rejoice in expectation
of a feigned sensual paradise? And shall not I rejoice
in expectation of a certain glory ? If the honour of the
ambitious, or the wealth of the covetous person do in-
crease, his heart is lifted up with his estate as a boat
that riseth with the rising of the water ; if they have but
a little more lands or money than their neighbours, how
easily may you see it in their countenance and carriage !
How high do they look ; how big do they speak ; how
stately and loftily do they demean themselves ; and shall
not the heavenly loftiness and height of my spirit discover
my title to this promised land ? Shall I be the adopted
son of God, and co-heir with Christ of that blessed in-
heritance, and daily look when I am put into possession ;
and shall not this be seen in my joyful countenance?
What if God had made me commander of the earth?
What if the mountains would remove at my command ?
What if I could heal all diseases with a word or a touch ?
What if the infernal spirits were all at my command ?
Should I not rejoice in such privileges and honours as
these; yet is it my Saviour's command, not to rejoice
that the devils are subject to us, but in this to rejoice,
that our names are written in heaven.

I cannot here enjoy my parents, or my near and beloved
friends without some delight. Especially when I did too

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freely let out my affections to my friend, how sweet was
that very exercise of my love ! Oh, 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 ; husband, wife,
parents, children, servants doing all in love to one
another; to see a town live together in love, without any
envyings, brawlings, heart-burnings or contentions, scorns,
law-suits, factions or divisions ; but every man loving his
neighbour as himself, and thinking they can never do too
much for one another; but striving to go beyond each
other in love; oh, how happy and delectable a sight is
this ! O sweetest bands, saith Seneca, which bind so
happily, that those that are so bound do love their
binders, and desire still to be bound more closely, and
even reduced into one. Oh then, what a blessed society
will be the family of heaven, and those peaceable in-
habitants of the new Jerusalem, where is no division, nor
dissimilitude, nor differing judgments, nor disaffection,
nor strangeness, nor deceitful friendship ; never an angry
thought or look ; never a cutting, unkind expression, but
all are one in Christ, who is one with the Father, and live
in the love of Love Himself! Cato could say that the
soul of a lover dwelieth in the person whom he loveth ;
and therefore we say the soul is not more where it
liveth and enliveneth, than where it loveth. How near
then will my soul be closed to God, and how sweet must
that conjunction be, when I shall so heartily, strongly,
and incessantly love Him ! As the bee lies sucking and
satiating herself with the sweetness of the flower; or
rather as the child lies sucking the mother's breast,
enclosed in her arms, and sitting in her lap ; even so shall
my loving soul be still feeding on the sweetness of the
God of love. Ah, wretched, fleshly, unbelieving heart,
that can think of such a day, and work, and life as this,

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AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

with so low and dull and feeble joys; but my enjoying
joys will be more lively.

How delectable is it to me to behold and study these
inferior works of God, to read those anatomical lectures
of Du Bartas upon this great dissected body, what a
beautiful fabric is this great house which here we dwell
in ! The floor so dressed with various herbs and flowers
and trees, and watered with springs and rivers and seas;
the roof so wide expanded, so admirably adorned ; such
astonishing workmanship in every part ! The studies of
an hundred ages more (if the world should last so long)
would not discover the mysteries of Divine skill which
are to be found in the narrow compass of our bodies.
What anatomist is not amazed in his search and ob-
servations! What wonders, then, do sun, and moon, and
stars, and orbs, and seas, and winds, and fire, and air,
and earth, &c., afford us ! And hath God prepared such
a house for our silly, sinful, corruptible flesh, and for a soul
imprisoned ; and doth He bestow so many millions of
wonderful rarities even upon His enemies ! Oh, then
what a dwelling must that needs be which He prepareth
for pure, refined, spiritual, glorified ones, and which He
will bestow only upon His dearly-beloved children, whom
He hath chosen out, to make His mercy on them glorified
and admired ! As far as our perfected glorified bodies
will excel this frail and corruptible flesh, so far will the
glory of the New Jerusalem exceed all the present glory
of the creatures. The change upon our mansion will be
proportionable to the change upon ourselves. Arise then,
O my soul, by these steps in thy contemplation, and let
thy thoughts of that glory (were it possible) as far in
sweetness exceed thy thoughts of the excellencies below.
Fear not to go out of this body, and this world, when
thou must make so happy a change as this ; but say, as
Zuingerus when he was dying : " I am glad and even leap ,

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for joy, that at last the time is come wherein that, even
that mighty Jehovah whose majesty in my search of
nature I have admired, whose goodness I have adored,
whom in faith I have desired, whom I have sighed for,
will now show Himself to me face to face." And let that
be the unfeigned sense of my heart, which Camerarius left
in his will should be written on his monument. Vita mihi
mors est, 7nors mihi vita nova est — "Life is to me a
death, death is to me a new life."

Moreover, how wonderful and excellent are the works
of Providence even in this life ; to see the great God
to engage Himself, and set a-work His attributes for
the safety and advancement of a few humble, despic-
able praying persons ! Oh, what a joyful time will it
then be, when so much love, and mercy, and wisdom,
and power, and truth shall be manifested and glorified
in the saints' glorification !

How delightful is it to my soul, to review the work-
ing of Providence for myself, and to read over the
records and catalogues of those special mercies where-
with my life hath been adorned and sweetened. How
oft have my prayers been heard, and my tears regarded,
and my groaning, troubled soul relieved, and my Lord
hath bid me, be of good cheer. He hath healed me
when, in respect of means, I was incurable; He hath
helped me when I was helpless ; in the midst of my
supplications hath He eased and revived me ; He hath
taken me up from my knees, and from the dust where
I have lain in sorrow and despair ; even the cries which
have been occasioned by distrust hath He regarded.
What a support are these experiences to my fearful,
unbelieving heart ! These clear testimonies of my
Father's love do put life into my afflicted drooping spirit.

Oh then, what a blessed day will that be, when I
shall have all mercy, perfection of mercy, nothing but

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AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

mercy, and fully enjoy the Lord of mercy Himself; when
I shall stand on the shore, and look back upon the raging
seas which I have safely passed; when I shall, in safe
and full possession of glory, look back upon all my
pains and troubles, and fears and tears, and upon all
the mercies which I here received ; and then shall
behold the glory enjoyed there, which was the end of
all this ; oh, what a blessed view will that be ! O
glorious prospect which I shall have on the celestial
Mount Zion ! Is it possible that there should be any
defect of joy, or my heart not raised, when I am so
raised ? If one drop of lively faith were mixed with
these considerations, oh, what work they would make
in my breast, and what a heaven-ravished heart should
I carry within me! Fain would I believe; "Lord,
help my unbelief."

Yet further, consider, O my soul, how sweet have
the very ordinances been unto thee. What raptures
hast thou had in prayer and under heavenly sermons.
What gladness in days of thanksgiving, after eminent
deliverances to the Church, or to thyself. What de-
light do I find in the sweet society of the saints ; to
be among my humble, faithful neighbours and friends,
to join with them in the frequent worship of God, to
see their growth and stability and soundness of under-
standing, to see those daily added to the Church which
shall be saved. Oh, then what delight shall I have to
see the perfected Church in heaven, and to join with
these p.nd all the saints in another kind of worship
than we can here conceive of. How sweet is it to
join in the high praises of God in the solemn assem-
blies. How glad have I been to go up to the house of
God, especially after long restraint by sickness, when I
have been, as Hezekiah, released and readmitted to join
with the people of God, and to set forth the praises of

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

my great Deliverer. How sweet is my work in preaching
the Gospel, and inviting sinners to the marriage feast of
the Lamb, and opening to them the treasures of free
grace, especially when God blesseth my endeavours with
plenteous success, and giveth me to see the fruit of my
labours. Even this alone hath been a greater joy to my
heart than if I had been made the lord of all the riches
on earth.

Oh, how can my heart then conceive that joy which I
shall have in my admittance into the celestial temple, and
into the heavenly host that shall do nothing but praise the
Lord for ever ; when we shall say to Christ, " Here am I,
and the children Thou hast given me "" ; and when Christ
shall present us all to His Father, and all are gathered,
and the body completed ! If the very Word of God were
sweeter to Job than his necessary food ; and to Jeremiah
was the very joy and rejoicing of his heart ; and to David
was sweeter than the honey and honey-comb, so that he
crieth out, " O how I love Thy law, it is my meditation
continually ! and if Thy law had not been my delight, I
had perished in my troubles,'' oh, then how blessed a day
will that be, when we fully enjoy the Lord of this Word,
and shall need these written precepts and promises no
more, but shall, instead of these love-letters, enjoy our
Beloved ; and instead of these promises have the happi-
ness in possession ; and read no book but the face of the
glorious God. How far would I go to see one of those
blessed angels which appeared to Abraham, to Lot, to
John, &c. Or to speak with Enoch, or Elias, or any
saint who had lived with God, especially if he would
resolve all my doubts, and describe to me the celestial
habitations. How much more desirable must it needs
be to live with these blessed saints and angels, and to see
and possess as well as they. It is written of Erastus
that he was so desirous to learn, that it would be sweet

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AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

to him even to die, so he might but be resolved of those
doubtful questions wherein he could not satisfy himself.
How sweet then should it be to me to die, that I may
not only be resolved of all my doubts, but also know
what I never before did think of, and enjoy what before
I never knew. It was a happy dwelling that the twelve
apostles had with Christ, to be always in His company,
and see His face, and hear Him open to them the myste-
ries of the kingdom ; but it will be another kind of happi-
ness to dwell with Him in glory. It was a rare privilege
of Thomas to put his fingers into His wounds to confirm
his faith ; and of John to be called the disciple whom
Jesus loved, on whose breast at supper he was wont to
lean. But it will be another kind of privilege which I
shall enjoy when I shall see Him in His glory, and not
in His wounds; and shall enjoy a fuller sense of His love
than John then did ; and shall have the most hearty
entertainment that heaven afFordeth. If they that heard
Christ speak on earth were astonished at His wisdom and
answers, and wondered at the gracious words which pro-
ceeded from His mouth ; how shall I be affected then to
behold Him in His majesty !

Rouse up thyself yet, O my soul, and consider. Can
the foresight of this glory make others embrace the stake
and kiss the faggot and welcome the cross, and refuse
deliverance, and can it not make thee cheerful under lesser
sufferings ? Can it sweeten the flames to them, and can
it not sweeten thy life, or thy sickness, or natural death ?
If a glimpse could make Moses' face to shine, and Peter
on the Mount so transported, and Paul so exalted, and
John so wrapped up in the Spirit; why should it not
somewhat revive me with delight ? Doubtless it would, if
my thoughts were more believing. Is it not the same
heaven which they and I must live in ? Is not their God,
their Christ, their crown and mine the same ? Nay, how

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many a weak woman, or poor despised Christian have I
seen, mean in parts, but rich in faith, who could rejoice
and triumph in hope of this inheritance ; and shall I
look upon it with so dim an eye, so dull a heart, so
dejected a countenance ? Some small foretastes also I
have had myself (though indeed small and seldom through
mine unbelief), and how much more delightful have they
been than ever was any of these earthly things. The
full enjoyment then will sure be sweet. Remember then
this bunch of grapes which thou hast tasted of, and by
them conjecture the fruitfulness of the land of promise.
A grape in a wilderness cannot be like the plentiful
vintage.

Consider also, O my soul, what a beauty is there in the
imperfect graces of the spirit here ; so great that they are
called the image of God ; and can any created excellency
have a more honourable title ? Alas, how small a part
are these of what we shall enjoy in our perfect state. Oh,
how precious a mercy should I esteem it, if God would
but take off my bodily infirmities, and restore me to any
comfortable measure of health and strength, that I might
be able with cheerfulness to go through His work. How
precious a mercy then will it be, to have all my corruptions
quite removed, and my soul perfected, and my body also
raised to so high a state, as I now can neither desire nor
conceive. Surely as health of body, so health of soul doth
carry an inexpressible sweetness along with it. Were
there no reward besides, yet every gracious act is a reward
and comfort. Never had I the least stirring of loving
God but I felt a heavenly sweetness accompanying it;
even the very act of loving was inexpressibly sweet.
What a happy life should I here live, could I but love as
much as I would, and as oft and as long as I would.
Could I be all love, and always loving, O my soul, what
wouldst thou give for such a life ! Oh, had I such true

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AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

and clear apprehensions of God, and such a true under-
standing of His Word as I desire ; could I but trust Him
as fully in all my straits ; could I have that life which I
would have in every duty ; could I make God my constant
desire and delight ; I would not then envy the world their
honours or pleasures, ;ior change my happiness with a
Caesar or Alexander. O my soul, what a blessed state
wilt thou shortly be in, when thou shalt have far more
of these than thou canst now desire ; and shalt exercise
all thy perfected graces upon God in presence and open
sight, and not in the dark and at a distance as now !

And as there is so much worth in one gracious soul, so
much more in a gracious society, and most of all in the
whole body of Christ on earth. If there be any true
beauty on earth, where should it be so likely as in the
spouse of Christ ? It is her that He adorneth with His
jewels, and feasteth at His table, and keepeth for her
always an open house and heart. He revealeth to her
His secrets, and maintaineth constant converse with her.
He is her constant guardian, and in every deluge encloseth
her in His ark. He saith to her. Thou art all beautiful,
my beloved ! And is His spouse, while black, so comely ;
is the afflicted, sinning, weeping, lamenting, persecuted
Church so excellent; oh, what then will be the Church,
when it is fully gathered and glorified; when it is as-
cended from the valley of tears to Mount Sion ; when
it shall sin no more, nor weep, nor groan, nor suffer any
more. The stars or the smallest candle are not darkened
so much by the brightness of the sun, as the excellencies
of the first temple will be by the celestial temple. The
glory of the old Jerusalem will be darkness and deformity
to the glory of the new. It is said in Ezra iii. 12, that
when the foundations of the second temple were laid
many of the ancient men, who had seen the first house,
did weep, Le., because the second did come so far short of

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it; what cause then shall we have to shout for joy, when
we shall see how glorious the heavenly temple is, and
remember the meanness of the Church on earth.

But alas, what a loss am I at in the midst of my con-
templation ! 1 thought my heart had all this while
followed after, but I see it doth not ; and shall I let my
understanding go on alone, or my tongue run on without
affections ? What life is in empty thoughts and words ;
neither God nor I find pleasure in them. Rather let me
run back again, and look and find, and chide this lazy
loitering heart, that turneth off from such a pleasant
work as this. Where hast thou been, unworthy heart,
while I was opening to thee the everlasting treasures.?
Didst thou sleep, or wast thou minding something else ;
or dost thou think that all this is but a dream or fable,
or as uncertain as the predictions of a presumptuous
astrologer ? Or hast thou lost thy life and rejoicing
power ? Art thou not ashamed to complain so much of
an uncomfortable life, and to murmur at God for filling
thee with sorrows, when He offereth thee in vain the
delights of angels, and when thou treadest under foot
these transcendent pleasures ? Thou wilfully pinest away
in grief, and art ready to charge thy Father with unkind-
ness for making thee only a vessel of displeasure, a sink
of sadness, a skin full of groans, a snowball of tears, a
channel for waters of affliction to run in, the fuel of fears,
and the carcass which cares do consume and prey upon,
when in the meantime thou mightest live a life of joy.
Hadst thou now but followed me close, and believingly
applied thyself to that which I have spoken, and drunk in
but half the comfort that those words hold forth, it would
have made thee revive and leap for joy, and forget thy
sorrows, and diseases, and pains of the flesh. But seeing
thou judgest thyself unworthy of comfort, it is just that
comfort should be taken from thee.

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AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

Lord, what is the matter that this work doth go on
so heavily? Did I think my heart had been so back-
ward to rejoice? If it had been to mourn, and fear,
and despair, it were no wonder. I have been lifting at
this stone, and it will not stir; I have been pouring
aqua vifce into the mouth of the dead. I hope, Lord,
by that time it comes to heaven, this heart by Thy
Spirit will be quickened and mended, or else even those
joys will scarce rejoice me.

But besides my darkness, deadness, and unbelief, I
perceive there is something else that forbids my full
desired joys. This is not the time and place where so
much is given ; the time is our winter and not our
harvest; the place is called the valley of tears. There
must be great difference betwixt the way and the end,
the work and wages, the small foretastes and full fruition.
But, Lord, though thou hast reserved our joys for
heaven, yet hast thou not so suspended our desires;
they are most suitable and seasonable in this present life ;
therefore, oh, help me to desire till I may possess, and let
me long when I cannot, as I would, rejoice. There is
love in desire as well as in delight ; and if I be not empty
of love, I know I shall not long be empty of delight.

Rouse up thyself once more, then, O my soul, and
try and exercise thy spiritual appetite. Though thou
art ignorant and unbelieving, yet art thou reasonable,
and therefore must needs desire a happiness and rest.
Nor canst thou sure be so unreasonable as to dream of
attaining it here on earth. Thou knowest to thy sorrow
that thou art not yet at thy rest, and thy own feeling
doth convince thee of thy present unhappiness. And
dost thou know that thou art restless, and yet art willing
to continue so ? Art thou neither happy in deed, nor
in desire? Art thou neither well, nor wouldst be well?
When my flesh is pained, and languisheth under con-

435

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

suming sickness, how heartily and frequently do I cry
out, Oh, when shall I be eased of this pain ; when shall
my decaying strength be recovered ? There is no dis-
sembling or formality in these desires and groans. How
then should I long for my final full recovery ! There is
no sickness, nor pain, nor weeping, nor complaints. Oh,
when shall I arrive at that safe and quiet harbour, where
is none of these storms, and waves, and dangers; when
I shall never more have a weary, restless, night or day!
Then shall not my life be such a medley or mixture of
hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, as now it is; nor
shall flesh and spirit be combating within me, nor my
soul be still as a pitched field, or a stage of contention,
where faith and unbelief, affiance and distrust, humility
and pride do maintain a continual distracting conflict.
Then shall I not live a dying life for fear of dying, nor
my life be made uncomfortable with the fears of losing
it. Oh, when shall I be past these soul-tormenting fears,
and cares, and griefs, and passions? When shall I be
out of this frail, this corruptible, ruinous body; this
soul-contradicting, ensnaring, deceiving flesh? When
shall I be out of this vain, vexatious world, whose
pleasures are mere deluding dreams and shadows; whose
miseries are real, numerous, and incessant? How long
shall I see the Church of Christ lie trodden under the
feet of persecutors; or else as a ship in the hands of
foolish guides ; though the supreme Master doth mode-
rate all for the best ? Alas, that I must stand by and
see the Church and cause of Christ, like a football in
the midst of a crowd of boys, tossed about in contention
from one to another ; every one running, and sweating
with foolish violence, and labouring the downfall of all
that are in his way, and all to get it into his own
power, that he may have the managing of the work
himself, and may drive it before him which way he

436

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

pleaseth; and when all is done, the best usage it may
expect from them is but to be spurned about in the dirt,
till they have driven it on to the goal of their private
interests or deluded fancies ! There is none of this dis-
order in the heavenly Jerusalem ; there shall I find a
government without imperfection; and obedience without
the least unwillingness, or rebellion ; even a harmonious
consent of perfected spirits in obeying and praising their
everlasting King. Oh, how much better is it to be door-
keeper there, and the least in that kingdom, than to be
the conqueror or commander of this tumultuous world !
There will our Lord govern all immediately by Himself,
and not put the reins in the hands of such ignorant
riders, nor govern by such foolish and sinful deputies as
the best of the sons of men now are.

Dost thou so mourn for these inferior disorders, O my
soul, and yet wouldst thou not be out of it ? How long-
hast thou desired to be a member of a more perfect
reformed Church, and to join with more holy, humble,
sincere souls in the purest and most heavenly worship !
Why, dost thou not see that on earth thy desires fly
from thee ? Art thou not as a child that thinketh to
travel to the sun, when he seeth it rising or setting, as
it were close to the earth ; but as he travelleth toward
it, it seems to go from him ; and when he hath long
wearied himself it is as far off as ever ; for the thing he
seeketh is in another world. Even such hath been thy
labour in seeking for so holy, so pure, so peaceable a
society as might afford thee a contented settlement here.
Those that have gone as far as America for satisfaction
have confessed themselves unsatisfied still. When wars
and the calamities attending them have been over, I have
said, " Return now my soul unto thy rest ; " but how
restless a condition hath next succeeded ! When God
had given me the enjovnient of peace and friends and

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

liberty of the Gospel, and had settled me even as my
own heart desired, I have been ready to say, " Soul, take
thy ease and rest;" but how quickly hath Providence
called me fool, and taught me to call my state by another
name ! When did I ever begin to congratulate my flesh
on its felicity, but God did quickly turn my tune, and
made almost the same breath to end in groaning which
did begin in laughter ? I have thought ofttimes in the
folly of my prosperity, " Now I will have one sweet
draught of solace and content," but God hath dropped
in the gall while the cup was at my mouth.

We are still weary of the present condition and desire
a change ; and when we have it, it doth not answer our
expectation ; but our discontent and restlessness is still
unchanged. In time of peace, we thought that war would
deliver us from our disquietments ; and when we saw the
iron red hot we caught it inconsiderately, thinking that it
was gold, till it burned us to the very bone, and so stuck
to our fingers that we scarce know yet whether we are rid
of it or not. In this our misery, we longed for peace;
and so long were we strangers to it, that we had forgot
its name, and begun to call it Rest or Heaven ; but as
soon as we are again grown acquainted with it we shall
better bethink us, and perceive our mistake. Oh, why
am I then no more weary of this weariness ; and why do
I so forget my resting-place ? Up then, O my soul, in
thy most raised and fervent desires ! Stay not till this
flesh can desire with thee ; its appetite hath a lower and
baser object. Thy appetite is not sensitive, but rational,
distinct from it ; and therefore look not that sense appre-
hend thy blessed object, and tell thee what and when to
desire. Believing reason, in the glass of Scripture, may
discern enough to raise the flame; and though sense
apprehend not that which must draw thy desires, yet
that which may drive them it doth easily apprehend. It

438

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

can tell thee that thy present life is filled with distress
and sorrows, though it cannot tell thee what is in the
world to come. Thou needest not Scripture to tell thee,
nor faith to discern that thy head acheth, and thy stomach
is sick, thy bowels griped, and thy heart grieved; and
some of these, or such like, are thy daily case. Thy
friends about thee are grieved to see thy griefs, and to
hear thy dolorous groans and lamentations, and yet art
thou loath to leave this woful life ! Is this a state to be
preferred before the celestial glory, or is it better to be
thus miserable from Christ, than to be happy with Him ;
or canst thou possibly be so unbelieving as to doubt
whether that life be any better than this ?

O my soul, doth not the dulness of thy desires after
rest accuse thee of most detestable ingratitude and folly ?
Must thy Lord procure thee a rest at so dear a rate,
and dost thou no more value it ? Must He purchase thy
rest by a life of labour and sorrow, and by the pangs of a
bitter, cursed death, and when all is done, hadst thou
rather be here without it ? Must He go before to prepare
so glorious a mansion for such a wretch ; and art thou
now loath to go and possess it ? Must His blood, and care,
and pains be lost ! O unthankful, unworthy soul ! Shall
the Lord of glory be willing of thy company, and art
thou unwilling of His ? Are they fit to dwell with God
that had rather stay from Him ? Must He crown thee
and glorify thee against thy will ; or must He yet deal
more roughly with thy darling flesh; and leave thee
never a corner in thy ruinous cottage for to cover thee,
but fire thee out of all, before thou wilt away ? Must
every sense be an inlet to thy sorrows, and every friend
become thy scourge, and Job's messengers be thy daily
intelligencers and bring thee the courrantoes of thy
multiplied calamities, before that heaven will seem more
desirable than this earth? Must every joint be the seat

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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

of pain, and every member deny thee a room to rest in,
and thy groans be indicted from the very heart and
bones, before thou wilt be willing to leave this flesh?
Must thy heavy burdens be bound upon thy back, and
thy so intolerable paroxysms become incessant, and thy
intermittent, aguish woes be turned into continual burn-
ing fevers ; yea, must earth become a very hell to thee,
before thou wilt be willing to be with God ? O impudent
soul, if thou be not ashamed of this. What is loathing
if this be love ?

Look about thee, O my soul ; behold the most lovely
creature, or the most desirable state, and tell me where
wouldst thou be, if not with God ! Poverty is a burden,
and riches a snare ; sickness is little pleasing to thee,
and usually health as little safe ; the one is full of sorrow,
and the other of sin. The frowning world doth bruise
thy heel, and the smiling world doth sting thee to the
heart ; when it seemeth ugly, it causeth loathing, when
beauteous, it is thy bane. When thy condition is bitter
thou wouldst fain spit it out, and when delightful, it is
but sugared misery and deceit ; the sweetest poison doth
often bring the surest death. So much as the world is
loved and delighted in, so much it hurteth and en-
dangereth the lover; and if it may not be loved, why
should it be desired ? If thou be applauded, it proves
the most contagious breath; and how ready are the
sails of pride to receive such winds ! So that it fre-
quently addeth to thy sin, but not one cubit to the
stature of thy worth. And if thou be vilified, slandered,
or unkindly used, methinks this should not entice thy
love. Never didst thou sit by the fire of prosperity and
applause but thou hadst with it the smoke that drew
water from thy eyes. Never hadst thou the rose without
the pricks; and the sweetness hath been expired, and
the beauty faded, before the fears which thou hadst in

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

gathering it were healed. Is it not as good be without
the honey as to have it with so many smarting stings?
The highest delight thou hast found in anything below
hath been in thy successful labours, and thy godly friends ;
and have these indeed been so sweet as that thou shouldst
be so loath to leave them ! If they seem better to thee
than a life with God, it is time for God to take them
from thee.

Thy studies have been sweet, and have they not been
also bitter ? My mind hath been pleased but my body
pained, and the weariness of the flesh hath quickly abated
the pleasures of the spirit. When by painful studies I
have not discovered the truth, it hath been but a tedious
way to a grievous end ; discontent and trouble purchased
by toilsome wearying labours. And if I have found out
the truth, by Divine assistance, I have found but an ex-
posed naked orphan, that hath cost me much to take in
and clothe and keep; which, though of noble birth, yea, a
Divine offspring, and amiable in mine eyes, and worthy,
I confess, of better entertainment, yet from men that know
not its descent, hath drawn upon me their envy and furious
opposition ; and hath brought the blinded Sodomites
(with whom I lived at some peace before) to crowd
about me, and assault my doors, that I might prostitute
my heavenly guests to their pleasure, and again expose
them whom I had so gladly and lately entertained ; yea,
the very tribes of Israel have been gathered against me,
thinking that the altar which I built for the interests of
truth and unity and peace, had been erected to the
introduction of error and idolatry ; and so the increase of
knowledge hath been the increase of sorrow.

My heart, indeed, is ravished with the beauty of naked
truth; and I am ready to cry out, "I have found it,'' or,
as Aquinas, " Conclusiim est contra^'' &c., but when I have
found it, I know not what to do with it. If I confine it

441

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

to my own breast, and keep it secret to myself, it is as a
consuming fire shut up in my heart and bones. I am as
the lepers without Samaria, or as those that were forbidden
to tell any man of the works of Christ ; I am weary of
forbearing, I cannot stay. If I reveal it to the world, I
can expect but an unwelcome entertainment and an un-
grateful return, for they have taken up their standing
in religious knowledge already, as if they were at Hercules'
pillars, and had no farther to go, nor any more to learn.
They dare be no wiser than they are already, nor receive
any more of truth than they have already received, lest
thereby they should accuse their ancestors and teachers of
ignorance and imperfection, and themselves should seem
to be mutable and inconstant, and to hold their opinions
in religion with reserves.

The most precious truth not apprehended doth seem to
be error and fantastic novelty ; every man that readeth
w^hat I write will not be at the pains of those tedious
studies to find out the truth, as I have been, but think it
should meet their eyes in the very reading. If the mere
writing of truth, with its clearest evidence, were all that
were necessary to the apprehension of it by others, then
the lowest scholar in the school might be quickly as good
as the highest. So that if I did see more than others, to
reveal it to the lazy prejudiced world would but make my
friends turn enemies, or look upon me with a strange and
jealous eye. And yet truth is so dear a friend itself, and
He that sent it much more dear, that whatever I suffer, I
dare not stifle or conceal it. Oh, what then are these
bitter sweet studies and discoveries to the everlasting
views of the face of the God of truth ? The light that
here I have is but a knowing in part, and yet it costeth
me so dear that, in a temptation, I am almost ready to
prefer the quiet silent night, before such a rough tempes-
tuous day. But there I shall have light and rest together

442

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

and the quietness of the night without its darkness. I
can never now have the lightning without the thunder,
which maketh it seem more dreadful than delightful.
And shouldst thou be loath then, O my soul, to leave this
for the eternal perfect light, and to change thy candle
for the glorious sun, and to change thy studies and
preaching, and praying, for the harmonious praises and
fruition of the blessed God ?

Nor will thy loss be greater in the change of thy
company than of thine employment. Thy friends here
have been indeed thy delight, and have they not been
also thy vexation and thy grief.? They are gracious, and
are they not also sinful ; they are kind and loving, and
are they not also peevish, froward, and soon displeased ?
They are humble, but withal, alas, how proud ! They will
scarce endure to hear plainly of their disgraceful faults ;
they cannot bear undervaluing or disrespect; they itch
after the good thoughts and applause of others ; they love
those best that highest esteem them ; the missing of a
courtesy, a supposed slighting or disrespect, the contra-
dicting of their words or humours, a difference in opinion,
yea, the turning of a straw, will quickly show thee the
pride and the uncertainty of thy friend. Their graces
are sweet to thee, and their gifts are helpful ; but are not
their corruptions bitter, and their imperfections hurtful ?
Though at a distance they seem to thee most holy and
innocent, yet when they come nearer thee, and thou hast
thoroughly tried them, alas, what silly, frail, and froward
pieces are the best of men ! Then the knowledge which
thou didst admire appeareth clouded with ignorance,
and the virtues that so shined as a glow-worm in the
night are scarcely to be found when thou seekest them by
daylight. When temptations are strong, how quickly do
they yield ; what wounds have they given to religion by
their shameful falls. Those that have been famous for

443

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

their holiness have been as inftxmous for their notorious
heinous wickedness; those that have been thy dearest
bosom friends, that have prayed and conferred with
thee, and helped thee toward heaven, and by their fer-
vour, forwardness, and heavenly lives have shamed thy
coldness, and earthliness, and dulness ; whom thou hast
singled out, as the choicest, from a world of professors,
whom thou madest the daily companions and delights of
thy life, are not some of them fallen to drunkenness, and
some to whoredom, some to pride, perfidiousness and
rebellion, and some to the most damnable heresies and
divisions ? And hath thy very heart received such wounds
from thy friends, and yet art thou so loath to go from
them to thy God ? Thy friends that are weak are little
useful or comfortable to thee ; and those that are strong
are the abler to hurt thee ; and the best, if not heedfully
used, will prove the worst. The better and keener thy
knife is, the sooner and deeper will it cut thy fingers, if
thou take not heed.

Yea, the very number of thy friends is a burden and
trouble to thee. Every one supposeth he hath some
interest in thee, yea the interest of a friend, which is not
little ; and how insufficient art thou to satisfy all their
expectations, when it is much if thou canst answer the
expectations of one. If thou wert divided among so many,
as each could have but little of thee, so thyself, and God
who should have most, will have none. And almost
every one that hath not more of thee than thou canst
spare for all, is ready to censure thee as unfriendly, and
a neglecter of the duty or respects which thou owest them ;
and shouldst thou please them, all the gain will not be
great, nor art thou sure that they will again please thee.

Awake then, O my drowsy soul, and look above this
world of sorrows. Hast thou borne the yoke of afflic-
tions from thy youth, and so long felt the smarting

444

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

rod, and yet canst no better understand its meaning?
Is not every stroke to drive thee hence; and is not the
voice of the rod like that to Elijah, " What dost thou
here ? " Up and away. Dost thou forget that sure
prediction of thy 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 which, till it be enjo^-ed, cannot be
alearly understood.

Ah, my dear Lord, I feel Thy meaning ; it is written
in my fiesh ; it is engraven in my bones ; my heart Thou
aimest at. Thy rod doth drive. Thy silken cord of love
doth draM', and all to bring it to Thyself. And is that
all. Lord ; is that the worst ? 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 reach
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; legs it hath, but wings it wanteth. As the feeble
child to the tender mother, it looketh up to Thee, and
stretcheth out the hands, and fain would have Thee take
it up. Though I cannot so freely say : " My heart is
with Thee, my soul longeth after Thee," yet can I say,
I long for such a longing heart. The twins are yet
a-striving in my bowels ; the spirit is willing, the flesh
is weak ; the spirit longs, the flesh is loath. The flesh
is unwilling to lie rotting in the earth ; the soul desires
to be with Thee. My spirit crieth, " Let Thy kingdom
come, or else let me come unto Thy kingdom " ; but the
flesh is afraid lest Thou shouldst hear my prayer, and
take me at my word. What frequent contradictions
dost Thou find in my requests, because there is such
contradiction in myself. My prayers plead against my
prayers, and one part begs a denial to the other. No

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

wonder if Thou give me such a dying life, when I know
not whether to ask for Hfe or death. With the same
breath do I beg for a reprieval and removal. And the
same groan doth utter my desires and my fears. My
soul would go, my flesh would stay. My soul would
fain be out, my flesh would have Thee hold the door.

Oh, blessed be Thy grace that makes advantage of
my corruptions, even to contradict and kill themselves !
For I fear my fears, and sorrow for my sorrows, and
groan under my fleshly groans; I loath my loathness,
and I long for greater longings ; and while my soul is
thus tormented with fears and cares, and with the tedious
means for attaining my desires, it addeth so much to the
burden of my troubles, that my weariness thereby is
much increased, which makes me groan to be at rest.
Indeed, Lord, my soul itself also is in a strait, and what
to choose I know not well, but yet 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, but of sorrow and sin I must needs
be weary. I am willing to stay while Thou wilt here
employ me, and to despatch the work which Thou hast
put into my hands, till these strange thoughts of Thee
be somewhat more familiar, and Thou hast raised me
into some degree of acquaintance with Thyself; but, I
beseech Thee, stay no longer when this is done. Stay
not till sin shall get advantage, and my soul grow
earthly by dwelling on this earth, and my desires and
delights in Thee grow dead.

But 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 unready, because I know my everlast-
ing state doth so much depend on the improvement of

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

this life. Nor yet would I stay when my work is done,
and remain here sinning when my brethren are triumph-
ing. I am drowning in tears while they swim in joys,
I am weeping while they are singing, I am under Thy
feet while they are in Thy bosom. Thy footsteps bruise
and break this worm, while those stars do shine in the
firmament of glory. Thy frowns do kill me, while they
are quickened by Thy smiles. They are ever living, and
I am daily dying. Their joys are raised by the know-
ledge of their endlessness, my griefs are enlarged by still
expecting more. While they possess but one continued
pleasure, I bear the successive assaults of fresh calami-
ties; one billow falls in the neck of another, and when
I am rising up from under one, another comes and
strikes me down. Yet I am Thy child as well as they.
Christ is my Head as well as theirs. Why is there then
so great a distance? How differently dost Thou use
us when Thou art Father to us all ! They sit at Thy
table, while I must stand without the doors. But 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. Though we
all are members, yet not the same ; they are the tongue
and fitter to praise Thee ; they are the hands and fitter
for Thy service ; I am the feet, and therefore meeter to
tread on earth and move in dirt, but unfit to stand so
near the head as they. They were once themselves 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 ?

447

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

The blessed souls of David, Paul, Austin, Calvin,
Perkins, Bayne, Parker, Ames, Bradshaw, Dod, Preston,
Stoughton, Sibbes, with all the spirits of the just made
perfect, were once on earth, as I am now, as far from
the sight of Thy face and glory, as deep in sorrows, as
weak and sick and full of pains as I, their souls were
longer imprisoned in corruptible flesh. I shall go but
the way that they all did go before me; their house of
clay did fall to dust, and so must mine. The world
they are now in was as strange to them, before they
were there, as it is to me. And am I better than all
these precious souls ? I am contented therefore, O my
Lord, to stay Thy time and go 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 look
over the hedge, though I may not break over; I may
believe and wish, though not make any sinful haste.
I am content to wait, but not to lose Thee ; and when
Thou seest me too contented with Thine absence, and
satisfying and pleasing myself here below, oh, quicken
up then my dull desires, and blow up the dying spark
of love, and leave me not till I am able unfeignedly to
cry out : " As the hart panteth after the brooks, and
the dry land thirsteth for the water streams, so thirsteth
my soul after Thee, O God; when shall I come and
appear before the living God ? "" ; " till my daily con-
versation be with Thee in heaven, and from thence I
may longingly expect my Saviour " ; " till my affections
are set on things above, where Christ is reigning, and
my life is hid " ; " till I can walk by faith and not by
sight; willing rather to be absent from the body and
present with the Lord.""

What interest hath this empty world in me.^ And
what is there in it that may seem so lovely as to entice

448

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

my desires and delights from Thee, or make me loath to
come away? When I look about me with a deliberate
undeceived eye, methinks this world is a howling wilder-
ness, and most of the inhabitants are untamed, hideous
monsters. All its beauty I can wink into blackness, and
all its mirth I can think into sadness, I can drown all its
pleasures in a few penitent tears, and the wind of a sigh
will scatter them away. When I look on them without
the spectacles of flesh, I call them nothing, as being
vanity ; or worse than nothing, as vexation. Oh, let not
this flesh so seduce my soul as to make it prefer this
weary life before the joys that are about Thy throne.

And though death of itself be unwelcome to nature,
yet let Thy grace make Thy glory appear to me so
desirable that the king of terrors may be the messenger
of my joy. Oh, let not my soul be ejected by violence,
and dispossessed of its habitation against its will, but
draw it forth 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, and as the greater
flame doth attract the less. Dispel therefore 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 foresight or
taste of Thy great salvation can make a soul unfeignedly
to say, " Now let Thy servant depart in peace.''

Reading and hearing will not serve; my meat is not
sweet to my ear or to my eye ; it must be a taste or feel-
ing that must entice away my soul. Though arguing is the
means to bend my will, yet if Thou bring not the matter
to my hand, and by the influence of Thy Spirit make it
not effectual, I shall never reason my soul to be willing to
depart. In the winter, when it is cold and dirty without,
I am loath to leave my chamber and fire, but in the

449 2 F

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

summer, when all is warm and green, I am loath to be
so confined ; show me but the summer-fruits and pleasures
of Thy paradise, and I shall freely quit my earthly cell.

Some pleasure I have in my books, my friends, and in
Thine ordinances; till Thou hast given me a taste of
something more sweet, my soul will be loath to part with
these. The traveller will hold his cloak the faster when
the winds do bluster, and the storms assault him, but
when the sun shines hot, he will cast it off as a burthen ;
so will my soul, when Thou frownest, or art strange, be
loather to leave this garment of flesh; but Thy smiles
would make me leave it as my prison. But it is not Thy
ordinary discoveries that will here suffice. As the work
is greater, so must be Thy help. Oh, turn these fears
into strong desires, and this loathness to die into longings
after Thee ! While I must be absent from Thee, let my
soul as heartily groan under Thine absence, as my pained
body doth under its want of health ; and let not those
groans be counterfeit or constrained, but let them come
from a longing, loving heart, unfeignedly judging it best
to depart and be with Christ. And if I have any more
time to spend on earth, let me live as without the world
in Thee, as I have sometime lived as without Thee in
the world.

Oh, suffer me not to spend in strangeness to Thee
another day of this my pilgrimage ! While I have a
thought to think let me not forget Thee, while I have a
tongue to move let me mention Thee with delight, while
I have a breath to breathe let it be after Thee and for
Thee, while I have a knee to bend let it bow daily at Thy
footstool ; and when by sickness Thou confinest me to my
couch do Thou make my bed, and number my pains, and
put all my tears into Thy bottle. And as when my spirit
groaned for my sins the flesh would not second it, but
desired that which my spirit did abhor; so now, when

450

AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPLATION

my flesh doth groan under its pains, let not my spirit
second it, but suffer the flesh to groan alone, and let me
desire that day which my flesh abhorreth ; that my friends
may not with so much sorrow wait for the departure of
my soul, as my soul with joy shall wait for its own de-
parture ; and then let me die the death of the righteous,
and let my last end be as his, even a removal to that
glory that shall never end.

Send forth Thy convoy of angels for my departing soul,
and let them bring it among the perfected spirits of the
just, and let me follow my dear friends that have died in
Christ before me. And when my friends are weeping
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 very hairs of my
head, do Thou number all the days that my body lies in
the dust ; and Thou that writest all my members in Thy
book, do Thou keep an account of all my scattered bones;
and hasten, O my Saviour, the time of Thy return ; send
forth Thine angels, and let that dreadful, joyful trumpet
sound. Delay not, lest the living give up their hopes ;
delay not, lest earth should grow like hell, and lest Thy
Church by division be crumbled all to dust, and dissolved
by being resolved into individual units. 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 inheritance ; and when Thou comest Thou find not
faith on the earth. Delay not, lest the grave should
boast of victory ; and, having learned rebellion of its
guest, should plead prescription, and refuse to deliver
Thee up Thy due.

Oh, hasten that great resurrection day, when Thy
command shall go forth, and none shall disobey ; when

451

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

the sea and earth shall yield up their hostages, and all
that slept in the graves shall awake, and the dead in

Christ shall first arise : when the seed that Thou sowest i

corruptible, shall come forth incorruptible ; and graves \

that received but rottenness, and retained but dust, shall ,

return Thee glorious stars and suns. Therefore dare I |

lay down my carcass in the dust entrusting it, not to a j
grave but to Thee, and therefore my flesh shall rest in

hope, till Thou raise it to the possession of the everlasting j

rest. Return, O Lord, how long ? Oh, let Thy kingdom |

come ! Thy desolate bride saith " Come ; " for Thy ;

Spirit within her saith " Come,'' who teacheth her thus to ;

pray with groanings after Thee, which cannot be ex- ;
pressed ; 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." |

452

CHAPTER XX

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 mine own, but for the
main matter, I dare say, I 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 methodically, and fully, yet do it as thou canst ; only,
be sure thou do it seriously 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 thine understanding, and
polish thy conversation, and leave a pleasant savour upon
thy heart, so that thy own experience will make thee
confess, that one hour thus spent will more effectually
revive 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, in
some remote sort, acquainted with God; thy joys will be
spiritual and prevalent and lasting according to the
nature of their blessed object; 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, without a
book, when all means are denied thee, or taken from

45S

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

thee, yet mayest thou have vigorous, real comfort. Thy
graces will be mighty and active, and victorious; and
the daily joy which is thus fetched from heaven will be
thy strength. Thou wilt be as one that standeth on the
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 below thee but as grasshoppers, and the busy,
contentious, covetous world, but as a heap of ants. Men's
threatenings will be no terror to thee ; nor the honours
of this world any strong enticement; temptations will
be more harmless, as having lost their strength ; and
afflictions less grievous, as having lost their sting; and
every mercy will be better known and relished.

Reader, it is under God in thine own choice now whether
thou wilt live this blessed life or not ; and whether all
this pains which I have taken for thee shall prosper or be
lost. If it be lost through thy laziness (which God
forbid) be it known to thee, thou wilt prove the greatest
loser thyself. If thou value not this heavenly, angelical
life, how canst thou say that thou valuest heaven ? And
if thou value it not, no wonder if thou be shut out. The
power of godliness lieth in the actings of the soul ; take
heed that thou stick not in the vain deluding form. 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 have a few more breaths to
fetch before thou breathe out thy last? And what if
thou have a few more nights to sleep before thou sleep

454

THE CONCLUSION

in the dust? Alas, what will this be when it is gone?
And is it not almost gone already ? Very shortly thou
wilt see thy glass run out, and say thyself, " My life is done,
my time is gone, it is past recalling, there is nothing now
but heaven or hell before me ! "" Oh, where then should
thy heart be now but in heaven ?

Didst thou but know what a dreadful thing it is to
have a strange and doubtful thought of heaven when a
man lies dying, it would sure rouse thee up. And what
other thoughts, but strange, can that man have, that
never thought seriously of heaven, till then ? Every
man's first thoughts are strange about all things ; famili-
arity and acquaintance comes not in a moment, but is
the consequent of custom and frequent converse. And
strangeness naturally raiseth dread, as familiarity doth
delight. What else makes a fish or a wild beast fly from
a man, when domestic creatures take pleasure in His com-
pany ? So wilt thou fly from God (if thou knewest how)
who should be thy only happiness, if thou do not get this
strangeness removed in thy lifetime.

And is it not pity, that a child should be so strange to
his own father, as to fear nothing more than to go into
his presence, and to think himself best when he is furthest
from him, and to fly from his face, as a wild creature will
do from the face of a man ? Alas, how little do many
godly ones differ from the world, either in their comforts
or willingness to die ! And all because they live so strange
to the place and fountain of their comforts. Besides a
little verbal, or other outside duties, or talking of con-
troversies and doctrines of religion, or forbearing the
practice of many sins, how little do the most of the re-
ligious differ from other men, when God hath prepared
so vast a difference hereafter ! If a word of heaven fall
in now and then in their conference, alas, how slightly
is it, and customary, and heartless! And if their prayers

455

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

or preaching have heavenly expressions, they usually are
fetched from their mere invention, or memory, or books,
and not from the experience or feeling of their hearts.

Oh, 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
make their thoughts of God the inlet of their sorrows,
or let these offered joys lie by, as neglected or forgotten !
Some there be that say, " It is not worth so much time
and trouble to think of the greatness of the joys above ;
so we can make sure they are ours, we know they are
great.**' But as these men obey not the command of God,
which requireth them to have their conversation in heaven,
and to set 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 the loss of their comforts, I would not say so
much; but see what abundance of other mischiefs do
follow the absence of these heavenly delights :

1. It will damp, if not destroy, our very love to God.
So deeply as we apprehend His bounty, and 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.

2. It will make us have seldom and unpleasing thoughts
of God, for our thoughts will follow our love and delight.
Did we more delight in God than in anything below, our
thoughts would as freely run after Him, as now they run
from Him.

456

THE CONCLUSION

3. And it will make men to have as seldom 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 worldliness or wickedness, but that these
are more pleasant to them than God ?

4. It will make men 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, further than some external excellence may
give thee a carnal delight. Doth not this cause many
Christians to go on so heavily in secret duties, like the
ox in the furrow, that will go no longer than he is
driven, and is glad when he is unyoked.

5. Yea, it much endangereth the perverting of men's
judgments concerning the ways of God and means of
grace, when they have no delight in God and heaven.
Though it be said, '' Perit omne judicium^ cum res transit
in affectum, that judgment perisheth when things pass
into affection," yet that is but when affection leadeth the
judgment, and not when it followeth. Affection holdeth
its object faster than bare judgment doth. The soul will
not much care for that truth which is not accompanied
with suitable goodness, and it will more easily be drawn
to believe that to be false, which it doth not delightfully
apprehend to be good; which, doubtless, is no small
cause of the ungodly 's prejudice against the ways of
God ; and of many formal men's dislike of extempore
prayers, and of a strict observation of the Lord's day.
Had they a true delight in God and heavenly things, it

457

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

would rectify their judgments better than all the argu-
ments in the world. Lose this delight once, and you
will begin to quarrel with the ordinances and ways of
God, and to be more offended at the preacher's imper-
fections than profited by the doctrine.

6. And it is the want of these heavenly delights in
God that makes men so entertain the delights of the
flesh. This is the cause of most men's voluptuousness and
flesh -pleasing. The soul will not rest without some kind
of delights. If it had nothing to delight in, either in
hand, or in hope, it would be in a kind of hell on earth,
vexing itself with continual sorrow and despair. If a
dog have lost his master, he will follow somebody else.
Men must have their sweet cups, or delicious fare, or
gay apparel, or cards, or dice, or fleshly lusts, to make
up their want of delight in God. How well these will
serve instead of God, our fleshly youths will be better
able to tell me when we meet at judgment. If men were
acquainted with this heavenly life, there would need
no laws against Sabbath -breaking and riotousness; nor
would men need to go for mirth to an alehouse or a
tavern; they would have a far sweeter pastime and re-
creation nearer hand.

7. Also, this want of heavenly delights will leave men
under the power of every affliction ; they will have
nothing to comfort them and ease them in their sufferings
but the empty, uneffectual pleasures of the flesh ; and
when that is gone, where then is their delight ?

8. Also, it will make men 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 ? Oh, if the people of God
would learn once this heavenly life, and take up their
delight in God, whilst they live, they would not tremble
and be disconsolate at the tidings of death.

458

THE CONCLUSION

9. Yea, this want of heavenly delight doth lay men
open to the power of every temptation ; a little thing will
tice a man from that which he hath no pleasure in.

10. Yea, it is a dangerous preparative to total apos-
tasy. A man will hardly long hold on in a way that
he hath no delight in ; nor use the means, if he have no
delight in the end ; but as a beast, if you drive him a
way that he would not go, will be turning out at every
gap. If you be religious in your actions, and be come
over to God in your outward conversation, and not in
your delight, you will shortly be gone, if your trial be
strong. How many young people have we known, who
by good education, or the persuasion of friends, or for
fear of hell, have been awhile kept up among prayers
and sermons and good company, as a bird in a cage;
when, if they durst, they had rather have been in an
alehouse, or at their sports ; and at last, they have broke
loose, when their restraint was taken off, and have for-
saken the way that they never took pleasure in ! You
see, then, that it is not a matter of indifferency whether
you entertain these heavenly delights or not ; nor is the
loss of your present comfort all the inconvenience that
follows the neglect.

And now. Christian friends, I have here lined you out
a heavenly, precious work ; would you but do it, it would
make you men indeed. To delight in God is the work
of angels, and the contrary is the work of devils. If
God would persuade you now to make conscience of this
duty, and help you in it by the blessed influence of His
Spirit, you would not change your lives with the greatest
prince on the 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, and
that much of this my labour will be lost. Pardon my
jealousy; it is raised upon too many and sad experiments,

459

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

What say you ? Do you resolve on this heavenly course
or no ? Will you let go all your sinful, fleshly pleasures,
and daily seek after these higher delights ?

I pray thee, reader, here shut the book, and consider
of it; and resolve on the duty before thou go further.
Let thy family perceive, let thy neighbours perceive, let
thy conscience perceive, yea, let God perceive it, that
thou art a man that hath thy daily conversation in
heaven. God hath now offered to be thy daily delight ;
thy neglect is thy refusal. What, refuse delight, and
such a delight ! If I had propounded you only a course
of melancholy, and fear, and sorrow, you might better
have demurred on it. Take heed what thou dost ; refuse
this, and refuse all ; thou must have heavenly delights, or
none that are lasting. God is willing that thou shouldst
daily walk with Him, and fetch in consolations from
the everlasting fountain ; if thou be unwilling, even bear
thy loss ; and one of these days when thou liest dying,
then seek for comfort where thou canst get it, and make
what shift for contentment thou canst ; then see whether
thy fleshly delights will stick to thee, or give thee
the slip; and then conscience, in despite of thee, shall
make thee remember that thou wast once persuaded to
a way for more excellent pleasures, that would have
followed thee through death, and have lasted thee to
everlasting.

What man will go in rags that may be clothed with
the best, or feed on pulse, that may feed of the best, or
accompany with the vilest, that may be a companion to
the best and admitted into the presence and favour of
the greatest? And shall we delight so much in our
clothing of flesh, and feed so much on the vain pleasures
of earth, and accompany so much with sin and sinners,
when heaven is set open, as it were, to our daily view, and
God doth offer us daily admittance into His presence .^

460

THE CONCLUSION

Oh, how is the unseen God neglected, and the unseen
glory forgotten, and made light of, and all because they
are unseen ; and 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, sincere believers, whose hearts God hath
weaned from all things here below, I hope you will value
this heavenly life, and fetch one walk daily in the new
Jerusalem. I know 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 no more freely and
passionately love Him and delight in Him. As ever you
would have all this mended, and enjoy your desires, oh, try
this life of meditation on your everlasting rest ! Here is
the Mount Ararat where the fluctuated ark of your souls
must rest. Oh, let the world see, by your heavenly lives,
that religion lieth in something more than opinions and
disputes and a task of outward duties ; let men see in
you, what a life they must aim at.

If ever a Christian be like himself, and answerable to
his principles and profession, it is when he is most serious,
and lively in this duty ; when as Moses, before he died,
went up into Mount Nebo, to take a survey of the land of
Canaan ; so the Christian doth ascend this mount of
contemplation, and take a survey by faith of his rest.
He looks upon the glorious delectable mansions, and
saith : Glorious things are deservedly spoken of thee, O
thou City of God ; he heareth, as it were, the melody of
the heavenly choir, and beholdeth the excellent employ-
ment of those spirits, and saith : Blessed are the people
that are in such a case ; yea, blessed are they that have
the Lord for their God ; he next looketh to the glorified
inhabitants of that region, and saith : Happy art thou, O
the Israel of God, a people saved by the Lord, the shield

461

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

of thy strength, the sword of thine excellence. When he
looketh upon the Lord Himself, who is their glory, he is
ready with the rest to fall down and worship Him that
liveth for ever, and say, " Holy, holy, holy. Lord God
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come : Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power .""*
When he looks on the glorified Saviour of the saints he
is ready to say, " Amen "" to that new song, " Blessing,
honour, glory, and power be to Him that sitteth on the
throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever : for He hath
redeemed us out of every nation by His blood, and made
us kings and priests to God." When he looketh back on
the wilderness of this world, he blesseth the believing,
patient, despised saints ; he pitieth the ignorant, obstinate,
miserable world ; and for himself, he saith as Peter, " It
is good to be here ; " or as David, " It is good for me to
draw near to God ; " for, all those that are far from Him
shall perish.

Thus as Daniel in his captivity did three times a day
open his window toward Jerusalem, though far out of
sight, when he went to God in his devotions ; so may the
believing soul, in this captivity to the flesh, look towards
Jerusalem which is above ; and as Paul was to the
Colossians, so may he be with the glorified spirits, absent
in the flesh but present in spirit, joying in beholding
their heavenly order. And as divine Bucholcer, in his
last sermon before his death, did so sweetly descant upon
those comfortable words "Whosoever believeth in Him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life," that he raised
and ravished the hearts of his, otherwise sad, hearers ; so
may the meditating believer do, through the Spirit's
assistance, by his own heart. And as the pretty lark doth
sing most sweetly, and never cease her pleasant ditty,
while she hovereth aloft, as if she were there gazing
into the glory of the sun, but is suddenly silenced when she

462

THE CONCLUSION

falleth to the earth ; so is the frame of the soul most de-
lectable and divine while it keepeth in the views of
God by contemplation ; but alas, we make there too short
a stay, but down again we fall, and lay by our music.

But, O Thou, the merciful Father of spirits, the At-
tractive of love, and Ocean of delights, draw up these
drossy hearts unto Thyself, and keep them there till they
are spiritualised and refined; and second these Thy
servant's weak endeavours ; and persuade those that read
Jhese lines to the practice of this delightful, heavenly
work. And oh, 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 here lined out to others ; but oh, 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, oh, 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 heavenly
directions may not read only the fruit of my studies, and
the product of my fancy, 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. Amen.

" Glory be to God in the highest ;
On earth peace :
Good will toward men.**

APPENDIX

465

[I. Title-Page of the Third Edition.]
THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST

A Treatise of the Blessed State of the Saints in their enjoy-
ment of God in glory : Wherein is shewed its Excellency
and Certainty; the Misery of those that lose it, the
way to Attain it and Assurance of it ; and how to live
in the continual delightful Foretasts of it, by lielp of
Meditation.

Written by the Author for his own use, in
the time of his languishing, when God
took him off from all Publike Imployment ;
and afterwards Preached in his weekly
Lecture ;

By Richard Baxter, Teacher of the Church of
Kederminster in Worcestershire.

THE THIRD EDITION

My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, '
and my portion for ever. Pm. Ixxiii. 26. ;

If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most
miserable. 1 Cor. xv. 19. i

Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the Earth, ;
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. j
When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also !
appear with him in glory. Coloss. iii. 2, 3, 4. |

Because I live, ye shall live also. John xiv. 19. j

London. Printed for Thomas Underbill and Francis Tyton, and ;j

are to be sold at the Blue Anchor and Bible in Paul's Church- j

yard near the little North-door, and at the Three Daggers ;i

in Fleet Street, near the Inner Temple gate, 1G52. |

466 I

APPENDIX

[II. Extract from the "Dedication of the Whole,""

WHICH extends to THIRTEEN CLOSELY PRINTED
PAGES.]

To my dearly beloved Friends^ the Inhahitants of the
Borough and Foreign of Kidderminster^ both Magis-
trates and People.

My dear Friends,

Being, in my quarters far from home, cast into extreme
languishing, by the sudden loss of about a gallon of blood
after many years foregoing weakness, and having no ac-
quaintance about me, nor any books 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 imperfect, I took my pen and began
to draw up my own funeral sermon or some helps for my
own meditations of heaven to sweeten both the rest of my
life and my death. In this condition God was pleased to
continue me about five months from home, where, being
able for nothing else, I went on with this work, which so
lengthened to this which here you 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 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, nor
had any mind of human ornaments if he had been furnished.
But oh, how sweet is this Providence now to my review,
which so happily forced me to that work of meditation
which I had formerly found so profitable to my soul, and
shewed me more mercy in depriving me of other helps
than I was aware of; and hath caused my thoughts to
\} About twice the length of this edition.]

467

APPENDIX

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 to
you, and upon the bended 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 interrupted my public labours for
a time that He might force me to do you a more lasting
service which elsel had never been like to have attempted.

Your most affectionate,

though unworthy Teacher,

Richard Baxter.
Kidderminster,
Jan. 15, 1649.

[III. Dedication of the First Part.]

To the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Rous, Baronet^
with the Lady Jane Rous, His Wife,

Right Worshipful, — This first part of this Treatise was
written under your roof, and therefore I present it not to
you as a gift, but as your own ; not for your protection, but
for your instruction and direction ; for I never perceived you
possessed with that evil spirit which maketh men hear their
teachers, as their servants, to censure their doctrine or be
humoured by them rather than to learn. Nor do I intend
this epistle for the publishing of your virtues. You know
to whose judgment you stand or fall. It is a small thing
to be judged by man's judgment. If you be sentenced as
righteous at the bar of Christ, and called by Him the blessed
of His Father, it matters not much by what name or title
you are here called. All saints are low in their own esteem,
and therefore thirst not to be highly esteemed by others.
He that knows what pride hath done in the world, and is now
doing, and how close that heinous sin doth cleave to all our

468

APPENDIX

natures, will scarce take him for a friend who will bring fuel to
the fire, nor that breath for amicable which will blow the coal.

Yet He that took so kindly by a woman's box of ointment
as to affix the history to His Gospel, that wherever it was
read that good work might be remembered, hath warranted
me by His example to annex the mention of your favours
to this treatise, which have many times far exceeded in cost
that which Judas thought too good for his Lord. And
common ingenuity commandeth me thankfully to acknow-
ledge that when you heard I was suddenly cast into extreme
weakness you sent into several counties to seek me in my
quarters, and, missing of me, sent again to fetch me to
your house, where for many months I found a hospital, a
physician, a nurse, and real friends, and (which is more than
all) daily and importunate prayers for my recovery ; and
since I went from you, your kindnesses still following me in
abundance. And all this for a man that was a stranger
to you, whom you had never seen before, but, among soldiers,
to burden you ; and for one that had no witty insinuations
for the extracting of your favours nor impudency enough
to return them in flatteries ; yea, who had such obstructions
betwixt his heart and his tongue that he could scarce hand-
somely express the least part of his thankfulness, much less
able to make you a requital.

The best return I can make of your love is in commending
this heavenly duty to your practice, wherein I much entreat
you to be the more diligent and unwearied because, as you
may take more time for it than the poor can do, so have
you far stronger temptations to divert you ; it being ex-
tremely difficult for those that have fulness of all things here
to place their happiness really in another life and to set
their hearts there as the place of their rest; which yet
must be done by all that will be saved. Study Luke xii.
16-22 and xvi. 19-25. How little comfort do all things
in this world afford to a departing soul ! My constant
prayer for you to God shall be that all things below may
be below in your heart, and that you may thoroughly master
and mortify the desires of the flesh ; and may daily live

469

APPENDIX

above in the Spirit, with the Father of Spirits, till you arrive
among the perfected spirits of the Just.

Your much obliged servant,

Richard Baxter.

IV. The following " Table,'''' compiled hy Baxter, is repro-
duced fi'om the edition of 1652, and will give readers
who desire it full information of the contents of the
hook as it was published hy the Author.
The chapters marked zvith an asterisk are those
ijicluded in the present edition.

CHAP.

PART I. [184 pp.]

* I. The Text Explained—

Qu. Doth this Rest remain to a determinate number

of Persons elect ? Or only to Believers in

general ?
Qu, Is it theirs only in possibility or in certainty ?

*ll. The definition of Rest ; and of this Rest —

Qu. Whether to make the obtaining of Rest and
avoiding misery the end of our duties be not
Legal or Mercenary ?

* III. Twelve things which are presupposed to this Rest.

* IV. What this Rest containeth —

1. Cessation from all that motion which is the

means to attain the end.

2. Perfect freedom from all evil.

3. The highest degree of personal Perfection.

4. Our nearest fruition of God, the chief good.

5. A sweet and constant action of all the powers

in this fruition. As 1. Of the senses and tongue
and whole body; 2. Of the Soul. And (1)
Understanding. As 1. Knowledge; 2, Memory.
(2) Affections. As by Love; by Joy. This
Love and Joy will be mutual.
470

APPENDIX

CHAP.

* V^. The four great antecedents and preparatives to this
Rest —

1. The Coming of Christ.

2. Our Resurrection.

3. Our justification in the great Judgment.

4. Our solemn Coronation and Inthroning.

*VI. This Rest tried by nine rules in Philosophy or
Reason, and found by all to be the most excellent
state in general.

* VII. The particular excellencies of this Rest —

1. It is the fruit of Christ's blood, and enjoyed

with the purchaser.

2. It is freely given us.

3. It is the Saints' peculiar.

4. In associating with Angels and perfect Saints.

5. Yet its joys immediate from God.

6. It will be a seasonable Rest.

7. And a suitable Rest. (1) To our Natures. (2)

Desires. (3) Necessities.

8. A perfect Rest. (1) In the Sincerity of it.

(2) And Universality.
1. Of good enjoyed. 2. And of the evil we are

freed from.
We shall Rest (1) from sin, and that (a) of the

understanding, (b) from sin of Will, Affection,

and Conversation.
(2.) From suffering. Particularly —

a. From all doubts of God's love.

b. From all sense of His displeasure.

c. From all Satan's temptations.

d. From temptations of the world and flesh.

e. From persecutions and abuser of the world,
yi From our own Divisions and Dissensions.

g. From participating in our brethren's sufferings.
h. From all our own personal sufferings.
i. From all the labour and trouble of duty.
k. From the trouble of God's absence.

9. As it will be thus perfect, so everlasting.

471

APPENDIX

CHAP.

VIII. The People of God described ; the several parts of the
description opened ; and therein many weighty
controversies briefly touched ; and, lastly, the
description applied by way of examination.

PART II. [114 pp.]

A Preface directed — 1. To them that doubt of the
truth of Scripture ; 2. To the Papists ; 3. To the
Orthodox, about the right way of asserting the
Divine Authority of Scripture.

I. The certain truth of this Rest proved by Scripture.

II. Persuasions to study and preach the divine authority

of Scripture.

III. Certain Distinctions concerning Scripture.

Sixty Positions concerning Scripture.

IV. The first argument to prove Scripture the Word of

God.
That arguing from Miracles testified by man is no

Popish resolving our faith into human Testimony.
The excellency of this argument from Miracles.
What the Sin against the Holy Ghost is.
The necessity of using human Testimony.
The use of Church governors and Teachers, and

how far they are to be obeyed.
The excellent use of Antiquities for matter of fact.

V. The second Argument to prove Scripture God's Word.

VI. The third Argument to prove Scripture God's Word.

VII. The fourth Argument to prove Scripture God's Word.
Of extraordinary Temptations.
Of Apparitions.

Of Satan's possessing and tormenting men's bodies.
Of Witches, and the devil's compact with them.
The necessity of a Written Word.
472

APPENDIX

CHAP.

VIII. This Rest remaineth to none but the People of God.

IX. Reasons why our Rest must remain till the Life to
come, and not be enjoyed in this Life.

* X. Whether separated souls enjoy Rest before the Resur-
rection. Proved that they do in a great measure
by twenty arguments.

PART III. [368 pp.]

I. The first Use, shewing the inconceivable misery of
the wicked in their loss of this Rest.
The greatness of their loss.

1. They lose all the personal perfection of Soul and

Body which the Saints have.

2. They lose God Himself.

3. They lose all those spiritual, delightful affections

by which the blessed do feed on God.

4. They lose the society of Angels and Saints.

II. The Aggravations of the wicked's loss of heaven.

1. Their understandings will be cleared to know its

worth.

2. And also enlarged to have deeper apprehensions

of it.

3. Conscience will fully apply it to themselves.

4. Their aflfections will be more lively and enlarged.

5. Their memories strong to feed their torments.
Ten things concerning their loss of this Rest which

it will for ever torment them to remember.

III. Aggravations from the losses which accompany the
loss of Rest.
1. They shall lose their present presumptuous con-
ceit of God's favour to them, and of their part
in Christ.

473

APPENDIX

2. They shall lose all their hopes.

3. They lose their present ease and peace.

4. They shall lose all their carnal mirth.

5. And all their sensual contentments and delights.

CHAP.

IV. The greatness of the damned's torments opened.
By eight aggravations of them.
The certain truth of these torments.
The intolerableness of this loss and torment dis-
covered by ten questions.

V. The Second Use. Reproving the general neglect of
this Rest, and exciting to the utmost diligence
in seeking it.

1. To the worldly-minded that cannot spare time.

2. To the profane, ungodly, presumptuous multi-

tude.

S. To lazy^ formal, self-deceiving Professors ; and
of these (1) to the opinionative hypocrite, and
(2) the worldly hypocrite.

4. To the godly themselves for their great negli-
gence ; Magistrates, Ministers, and People.

VI. An exhortation to the greatest seriousness in seeking

Rest.
Twenty lively considerations to quicken us up to

the greatest diligence that is possible.
Ten more very quickening considerations.
Ten more very quickening, by way of question.
Ten more peculiar to the godly, to quicken them.

VII. The Third Use. Persuading all men to try their
title to this Rest; and directing them in this
trial.
Self-examination defined and explained.
The nature of Assurance, or certainty of Salvation
opened ; How much, and what the Spirit doth to
474

APPENDIX

the producing it; And what Scripture, what
Knowledge, what Faith, what Holiness and
Evidences, what Conscience or internal sense,
and what Reason or Discourse do in this
Work.

What the seal of the Spirit is ; what the testimony
of the Spirit; and what the testimony of con-
science.

Against the common distinction of certainty of
evidence and of adherence.

That we are justified and beloved of God is not
properly to be believed, much less immediately,
and by all men.

That Assurance may be here attained, though not
perfect Assurance.

Hindrances that keep from Examination. 1. Satan.
2. Wicked men. 3. Hindrances in our own
hearts.

Hindrance of Assurance in those that do examine.

CHAP. ., ,

Vni. Further Causes of want of Assurance among the most
of the godly themselves.

1. Weakness and small measure of grace.

2. Looking more what they are, than what they

should do to be better.

3. Mistaking or confounding Assurance and the

Joy of Assurance.

4. Ignorance of God's way of conveying Assurance.

5. Expecting a greater measure than God usually

giveth here.

6. Taking up comfort in the beginning on unsound

or uncertain grounds, when yet perhaps they
have better grounds, and do not see them ;
and then when the weakness of their grounds
appears, they cast away their comforts too, as
if all were naught.
7 Imperfection of Reason and natural parts.
475

APPENDIX

8. The secret maintaining some known sin,

9. Growing lazy in the spiritual part of duty, and

not keeping graces in constant action.
10. Pre valency of melancholy in the body.

CHAP.

IX. An exhortation to examine our title to Rest. Several
Motives.

X. A direction how to manage the work of Self-Examina-
tion thoroughly that it may succeed. Two marks
whereby you may infallibly judge.

XL A more exact inquiry into the nature of sincerity,
and direction concerning the use of marks in self-
examination ; and discovery how far a man may
go and not be saved.

XII. The Fourth Use. The reasons of the Saints' afflictions
in this life.

Some considerations to help us to bear them joy-
fully, drawn from their reference to this Rest.

Some objections of the Afflicted answered.

XIII. An exhortation to those that have got Assurance of
this Rest or title to it, to do all that possibly
they can to help others to the like.

1. Here is shewed (1) Wherein the duty doth

consist. Directions are added for right per-
formance. Besides the great duty of private
exhortation, we must help them to enjoy, use,
and improve the public ordinances.

2. The Common Hindrances of faithful endeavours

to save men's souls.
Some objections against this duty answered.
Motives to persuade all Christians to this duty.

XIV. An Advice to some more especially to help others to
this Rest. Pressed largely on Ministers and Parents.

And—
1. To men of ability.

476

APPENDIX

2. Or interest.

3. Physicians.

4. Rich men, and men of command.

5. To Ministers. Five means which they must use.

6. To Parents and Masters of families. Several Con-

siderations to urge them to the performance.
Some of their objections answered.
Directions to Parents for teaching their children.
The sum or fundamentals of Divinity which

children and others must first be taught.
Some further directions, only named.

PART IV. [304 pp.]
Introduction.

CHAP.

* I, Reproving our expectation of Rest on earth, with

divers reasons against it.

* II. Reproving our loath ness to Die and go to our Rest.

The heinous aggravations of this sin.
Considerations against it, and to make us willing ;
and objections answered.

*III. A Directory for a heavenly life. Reproof of our
unheavenliness ; and exhortations to set our
hearts above.
Twelve moving considerations to heavenly-minded-
ness.

IV. Seven great Hindrances of heavenliness to be
avoided.

* V. Ten general Helps to a heavenly life.

* VI. The great duty of heavenly meditation described,

and the description explained.

477

APPENDIX

CHAP.

VII. Directions:

1. Concerning the fittest Time for tiiis meditation.

2. Concerning the fittest Place.

3. Concerning the preparation of the heart to it.

*^ VIII. Of Consideration, and what power it hath to move
the soul.

IX, What faculties and affections must be acted in this
Contemplation.

By what objects and considerations, and in
what order. More particularly —

1. The exercise of Judgment.

2. The acting of Faith.

3. The acting of Love.

4. The acting of Desire.

5. The acting of Hope.

6. The acting of Courage, or holy Boldness and

Resolution.

7. The acting of Joy.

* X. By what actings of the Soul to proceed to this work of
heavenly Contemplation, besides Cogitation. As :

1. Soliloquy. Its parts and method.

2. Speaking to God.

* XI. Some advantages for raising and affecting the Soul
in its meditations of heaven. In general by
making use of sense or sensitive things. Par-
ticularly (1) by raising strong suppositions from
sense. (2) By comparing the objects of sense
with the objects of faith.
Twelve helps by comparison to be affected with the
joys of Heaven.

* XII. Direction how to manage and watch over the heart,
while we are in this work of Contemplation,

478

APPENDIX

CHAP,

*XIII. An Abstract, or brief sum of all, for the help of the
Weak.

*XIV. An Example of the acting of Judgment, Faith,
Love, Joy, and Desire by this duty of Heavenly
Meditation.
* The Conclusion ; Commending this duty from its
necessity and excellency.

THE END

Printed by iiALLANTTNi:, Hanson &» Co.
Edinburgh <V London

1 -.

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Full text of "The saints' everlasting rest; or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory"

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