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           Title: The Saints' Everlasting Rest
      Creator(s): Baxter, Richard (1615-1691)
     Print Basis: New York: American Tract Society, 184?
          Rights: Public Domain
   CCEL Subjects: All; Christian Life;
      LC Call no: BV4831
   LC Subjects:

   Practical theology

   Practical religion. The Christian life

   Works of meditation and devotion
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                         THE SAINTS’ EVERLASTING REST

   BY THE
   REV. RICHARD BAXTER.


   ABRIDGED BY
   BENJAMIN FAWCETT, A.M.


   PUBLISHED BY THE
   AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
   150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW-YORK


   In this edition some obsolete or defective forms of expression are altered
   without changing the thought.


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PREFATORY NOTICE


   Mr. RICHARD BAXTER, the author of the Saints’ Rest; so well known to the
   world by this and many other excellent and useful writings, was a learned,
   laborious, and eminently holy divine of the last age. He was born near
   Shrewsbury in 1615, and died at London in 1691.

   His ministry, in an unsettled state, was for many years employed with great
   and extensive success both in London and in several parts of the country;
   but he was no where fixed so long, or with such entire satisfaction to
   himself, and apparent advantage to others, as at Kidderminster. His abode
   there was indeed interrupted, partly by his bad health, but chiefly by the
   calamities of a civil war; yet in the whole it amounted to sixteen years;
   nor was it by any means the result of his own choice, or that of the
   inhabitants of Kidderminster, that he never settled there again, after his
   going from thence in 1660. Before his coming thither, the place was overrun
   with ignorance and profaneness; but, by the Divine blessing on his wise and
   faithful cultivation, the fruits of righteousness sprung up in rich
   abundance. He at first found but a single instance or two of daily family
   prayer in a whole street; and on his going away but one family or two could
   be found in some streets that continued to neglect it. And on Lord’s days,
   instead of the open profanation to which they had been so long accustomed, a
   person in passing through the town in the intervals of public worship, might
   overhear hundreds of families engaged in singing psalms, reading the
   Scriptures and other good books, or such sermons as they had taken down
   while they heard them from the pulpit. His care of the souls committed to
   his charge, and the success of his labors among them, were truly remarkable;
   for the number of his stated communicants rose to six hundred, of whom he
   himself declared there were not twelve concerning whose sincere piety he had
   not reason to entertain a good hope. Blessed be God, the religious spirit
   which was thus happily introduced, is yet to be traced in the town and
   neighborhood in some degree; (O that it were in a greater!) and in
   proportion as that spirit remains, the name of Mr. Baxter continues in the
   most honorable and affectionate remembrance.

   As a writer, he has the approbation of some of his greatest contemporaries,
   who best knew him, and were under no temptation to be partial in his favor.
   Dr. Barrow said, “His practical writings were never mended, and his
   controversial ones seldom confuted.” With a view to his casuistical
   writings, the honorable Robert Boyle declared, “He was the fittest man of
   the age for a casuist, because he feared no man’s displeasure, nor hoped for
   any man’s preferment.” Bishop Wilkins observed of him, “that he had
   cultivated every subject he had handled; that if he had lived in the
   primitive times, he would have been one of the fathers of the church; and
   that it was enough for one age to produce such a person as Mr. Baxter.”
   Archbishop Usher had such high thoughts of him, that by his earnest
   importunity he put him upon writing several of his practical discourses,
   particularly that celebrated piece, his Call to the Unconverted. Dr. Manton,
   as he freely expressed it, “thought Mr. Baxter came nearer the apostolical
   writings than any man in the age.” And it is both as a preacher and a writer
   that Dr. Bates considers him, when, in his funeral sermon he says, “In his
   sermons there was a rare union of arguments and motives to convince the mind
   and gain the heart. All the fountains of reason and persuasion were open to
   his discerning eye. There was no resisting the force of his discourses,
   without denying reason and divine revelation. He had a marvellous facility
   and copiousness in speaking. There was a noble negligence in his style, for
   his great mind could not stoop to the affected eloquence of words; he
   despised flashy oratory, but his expressions were clear and powerful; so
   convincing the understanding, so entering into the soul, so engaging the
   affections, that those were as deaf as adders who were not charmed by so
   wise a charmer. He was animated with the Holy Spirit, and breathed celestial
   fire, to inspire heat and life into dead sinners, and to melt the obdurate
   in their frozen tomb. His books, for their number, (which it seems were more
   than one hundred and twenty,) and variety of matter in them, make a library.
   They contain a treasure of controversial, casuistical, and practical
   divinity. His books of practical divinity have been effectual for more
   numerous conversions of sinners to God, than any printed in our time; and
   while the church remains on earth, will be of continual efficacy to recover
   lost souls. There is a vigorous pulse in them, that keeps the reader awake
   and attentive.” To these testimonies may not improperly be added that of the
   editors of his practical works in four folio volumes; in the preface to
   which they say, “Perhaps there are no writings among us that have more of a
   true Christian sprit, a greater mixture of judgment and affection, or a
   greater tendency to revive pure and undefiled religion; that have been more
   esteemed abroad, or more blessed at home, for awakening the secure,
   instructing the ignorant, confirming the wavering, comforting the dejected,
   recovering the profane, or improving such as are truly serious, than the
   practical works of this author.” Such were the apprehensions of eminent
   persons who were well acquainted with Mr. Baxter and his writings. It is
   therefore the less remarkable that Mr. Addison, from an accidental and very
   imperfect acquaintance, but with his usual pleasantness and candor, should
   mention the following incident: “I once met with a page of Mr. Baxter. Upon
   the perusal of it I conceived so good an idea of the author’s piety that I
   bought the whole book.”

   Whatever other causes might concur, it must chiefly be ascribed to Mr.
   Baxter’s distinguished reputation as a preacher and a writer, that,
   presently after the Restoration, he was appointed one of the chaplains in
   ordinary to King Charles II. and preached once before him in that capacity;
   as also that he had an offer made him, by Lord Chancellor Clarendon, of the
   bishopric of Hereford, which, in a respectful letter to his lordship, he saw
   proper to decline.

   The Saints’ Rest is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable parts of
   his practical works. He wrote it when he was far from home, without any book
   to consult but his Bible, and in such an ill state of health as to be in
   continual expectation of death for many months; and therefore, merely for
   his own use, he fixed his thoughts on this heavenly subject, “which,” says
   he, “hath more benefitted me than all the studies of my life.” At this time
   he could be little more than thirty years old. He afterwards preached over
   the subject in his weekly lecture at Kidderminster, and in 1650 published
   it; indeed it appears to have been the first that ever he published of all
   his practical writings. Of this book Dr. Bates says, “It was written by him
   when languishing in the suspense of life and death, but has the signatures
   of his holy and vigorous mind. To allure our desires, he unveils the
   sanctuary above, and discovers the glories and joys of the blessed in the
   Divine presence, by a light so strong and lively, that all the glittering
   vanities of this world vanish in the comparison, and a sincere believer will
   despise them, as one of mature age does the toys and baubles of children. To
   excite our fear, he removes the screen, and makes the everlasting fire of
   hell so visible, and represents the tormenting passions of the damned in
   such dreadful colors, as, if duly considered, would check and control the
   unbridled, licentious appetites of the most sensual wretches.”

   Heavenly rest is a subject in its own nature so universally important and
   interesting, and at the same time so truly engaging and delightful, as
   sufficiently accounts for the great acceptance which this book has met with;
   and partly, also, for the uncommon blessing which has attended Mr. Baxter’s
   manner of treating the subject, both from the pulpit and the press. For
   where are the operations of Divine grace more reasonably to be expected, or
   where have they, in fact, been more frequently discerned, than in
   concurrence with the best adapted means? And should it appear that persons
   of distinguishing judgment and piety have expressly ascribed their first
   religious impressions to the hearing or reading the important sentiments
   contained in this book; or, after a long series of years, have found it both
   the counterpart and the improvement of their own divine life; will not this
   be thought a considerable recommendation of the book itself?

   Among the instances of persons that dated their true conversion from hearing
   the sermons on the Saints’ Rest when Mr. Baxter first preached them, was the
   Rev. Thomas Doolittle, M. A. who was a native of Kidderminster, and at that
   time a scholar about seventeen years old, whom Mr. Baxter himself afterward
   sent to Pembroke Hall, in Cambridge, where he took his degree. Before his
   going to the university, he was upon trial as an attorney’s clerk, and under
   that character, being ordered by his master to write something on a Lord’s
   day, he obeyed with great reluctance, and the next day returned home, with
   an earnest desire that he might not apply himself to any thing, as the
   employment of life, but serving Christ in the ministry of the Gospel. His
   praise is yet in the churches, for his pious and useful labors as a
   minister, a tutor and a writer.

   In the life of the Rev. John Janeway, Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge,
   who died in 1657, we are told that his conversion was, in a great measure,
   occasioned by his reading the Saints’ Rest. And in a letter which he
   afterwards wrote to a near relative, speaking with a more immediate
   reference to that part of the book which treats of heavenly contemplation,
   he says, “There is a duty, which, if it were exercised, would dispel all
   cause of melancholy: I mean heavenly meditation and contemplation of the
   things to which the true Christian religion tends. If we did but walk
   closely with God one hour in a day in this duty, O what influence would it
   have upon the whole day besides, and, duly performed, upon the whole life!
   This duty, with its usefulness, manner, and directions, I knew in some
   measure before, but had it more pressed upon me by Mr. Baxter’s Saints’
   Everlasting Rest, a book that can scarce be overvalued, and for which I have
   cause for ever to bless God.” This excellent young minister’s life is worth
   reading, were it only to see how delightfully he was engaged in heavenly
   contemplation, according to the directions in the Saints’ Rest.

   It was the example of heavenly contemplation, at the close of this book,
   which the Rev. Joseph Alleine so frequently quoted in conversation, with
   this solemn introduction, “Most divinely says that man of God, holy Mr.
   Baxter.”

   Dr. Bates, in his funeral sermon, dedicated to Sir Henry Ashurst, says to
   that religious gentleman and most distinguished friend and executor of Mr.
   Baxter, “He was most worthy of your highest esteem and love; for the first
   impressions of heaven upon your soul were in reading his invaluable book of
   the Saints’ Everlasting Rest.”

   In the life of the Rev. Matthew Henry we have the following character given
   us of Robert Warburton, Esq. of Grange, the son of the eminently religious
   Judge Warburton, and the father of Mr. Matthew Henry’s second wife. “He was
   a gentlemen that greatly affected retirement and privacy, especially in the
   latter part of his life; the Bible and Mr. Baxter’s Saints’ Everlasting Rest
   used to lie daily before him on the table in his parlor; he spent the
   greatest part of his time in reading and prayer.”

   In the life of that honorable and most religious knight Sir Nathaniel
   Barnardiston, we are told that “he was constant in secret prayer and reading
   the Scriptures; afterwards he read other choice authors; but not long before
   his death he took a singular delight in reading Mr. Baxter’s Saints’
   Everlasting Rest and preparations thereunto; which was esteemed a gracious
   event of Divine Providence, sending it as a guide to bring him more speedily
   and directly to that rest.”

   Besides persons of eminence, to whom this book has been precious and
   profitable, we have an instance, in the Rev. James Janeway’s Token for
   Children, of a little boy, whose piety was so discovered and promoted by
   reading it, as the most delightful book to him, next to the Bible, that the
   thoughts of everlasting rest seemed, even while he continued in health, to
   swallow up all other thoughts; and he lived in a constant preparation for
   it, and appeared more like one that was ripe for glory, than an inhabitant
   of this lower world. And when he was in the sickness of which he died before
   he was twelve years old, he said, “I pray, let me have Mr. Baxter’s book,
   that I may read a little more of eternity before I go into it.”

   Nor is it less observable that Mr. Baxter himself, taking notice, in a paper
   found in his study after his death, what a number of persons were converted
   by reading his Call to the Unconverted, accounts of which he had received by
   letter every week, expressly adds, “This little book, the Call to the
   Unconverted, God hath blessed with unexpected success, beyond all that I
   have written, except the Saints’ Rest.” With an evident reference to this
   book, and even during the life of the author, the pious Mr. Flavel
   affectionately says, “Mr. Baxter is almost in heaven—living in the daily
   views and cheerful expectation of the saints’ everlasting rest with God; and
   is left for a little while among us, as a great example of the life of
   faith.” And Mr. Baxter himself says, in his preface to his Treatise of
   Self-Denial, “I must say, that of all the books which I have written, I
   peruse none so often for the use of my own soul in its daily work, as my
   Life of Faith, this of Self-Denial, and the last part of the Saints’
   Rest.” On the whole, it is not without good reason that Dr. Calamy remarks
   concerning it, “This is a book for which multitudes will have cause to bless
   God for ever.”

   This excellent and useful book now appears in the form of an abridgment and
   therefore, it is presumed, will be the more likely, under the Divine
   blessing, to diffuse its salutary influence among those that would otherwise
   have wanted opportunity or inclination to read over the larger volume. In
   reducing it to this smaller size, I have been very desirous to do justice to
   the author, and at the same time promote the pleasure and profit of the
   serious reader. And I hope these ends are in some measure answered; chiefly
   by dropping things of a digressive, controversial, or metaphysical nature;
   together with prefaces, dedications, and various allusions to some peculiar
   circumstances of the last age; and particularly by throwing several chapters
   into one, that the number of them may better correspond with the size of the
   volume; and sometimes by altering the form, but not the sense, of a period,
   for the sake of brevity; and when an obsolete phrase occurred, changing it
   for one more common and intelligible. I should never have thought of
   attempting this work, if it had not been suggested and urged by others; and
   by some very respectable names, of whose learning, judgment and piety I
   forbear to avail myself. However defective this performance may appear, the
   labor of it (if it may be called a labor) has been, I bless God, one of the
   most delightful labors of my life.

   Certainly the thoughts of everlasting rest may be as delightful to souls in
   the present day, as they have ever been to those of past generations. I am
   sure such thoughts are as absolutely necessary now; nor are temptations to
   neglect them either fewer or weaker than formerly. The worth of everlasting
   rest is not felt, because a thousand trifles are preferred before it. But
   were the divine reasonings of this book duly attended to, (and O that the
   Spirit and grace of the Redeemer may make them so!) then an age of vanity
   would become serious; minds enervated by sensuality would soon resume the
   strength of reason, and display the excellence of Christianity; the delusive
   names of pleasure would be blotted out by the glorious reality of heavenly
   joy upon earth; every station and relation in life would be filled up with
   the propriety and dignity of serious religion; every member of society would
   then effectually contribute to the beauty and happiness of the whole; and
   every soul would be ready for life or death, for one world or another, in a
   well-grounded and cheerful persuasion of having secured a title to that rest
   which remaineth to the people of God.
   B.F.                 KIDDERMINSTER, Dec. 25th, 1758.

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                         THE SAINTS’ EVERLASTING REST.

   “There remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God.”—Hebrews, 4:9.


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CHAPTER I.

   THE INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NATURE OF THE
   SAINTS’ REST. 


   The important design of the apostle in the text, to which the author
   earnestly bespeaks the attention of the reader. The saints’ rest defined,
   with a general plan of the work. That this rest presupposes. The author’s
   humble sense of his inability fully to show what this rest contains. It
   contains, 1. A ceasing from means of grace; 2. A perfect freedom from all
   evils; 3. The highest degree of the saints’ personal perfection, both in
   body and soul; 4. The nearest enjoyment of God, the chief good; 5. A sweet
   and constant action of all the powers of soul and body in this enjoyment of
   God.


   It was not only our interest in God, and actual enjoyment of him, which was
   lost in Adam’s fall, but all spiritual knowledge of him, and true
   disposition towards such a felicity. When the Son of God comes with
   recovering grace, and discoveries of a spiritual and eternal happiness and
   glory, he finds not faith in man to believe it. As the poor man, that would
   not believe any one had such a sum as a hundred pounds, it was so far above
   what he himself possessed, so men will hardly now believe there is such a
   happiness as once they had, much less as Christ hath now procured. When God
   would give the Israelites his Sabbaths of rest, in a land of rest, it was
   harder to make them believe it, than to overcome their enemies, and procure
   it for them. And when they had it, only as a small intimation and earnest of
   an incomparably more glorious rest through Christ, they yet believe no more
   than they possess, but say, with the epicure at the feast, Sure there is no
   other heaven but this! or, if they expect more by the Messiah, it is only
   the increase of their earthly felicity. The apostle aims most of this
   Epistle against this obduracy, and clearly and largely proves that the end
   of all ceremonies and shadows is to direct them to Jesus Christ, the
   substance; and that the rest of Sabbaths, and Canaan, should teach them to
   look for a further rest, which indeed is their happiness. My text is his
   conclusion after divers arguments; a conclusion which contains the ground of
   all the believer’s comfort, the end of all his duty and sufferings, the life
   and sum of all gospel promises and Christian privileges.

   What more welcome to men under personal afflictions, tiring duties,
   disappointments, or sufferings, than rest? It is not our comfort only, but
   our stability. Our liveliness in all duties, our enduring of tribulation,
   our honoring of God, the vigor of our love, thankfulness, and all our
   graces; yea, the very being of our religion and Christianity depend on the
   believing, serious thoughts of our rest. And now, reader, whoever thou art,
   young or old, rich or poor, I entreat thee, and charge thee, in the name of
   thy Lord, who will shortly call thee to a reckoning, and judge thee to thy
   everlasting, unchangeable state, that thou give not these things the reading
   only, and so dismiss them with a bare approbation; but that thou set upon
   this work, and take God in Christ for thy only rest, and fix thy heart upon
   him above all. May the living God, who is the portion and rest of his
   saints, make these our carnal minds so spiritual, and our earthly hearts so
   heavenly that loving him, and delighting in him, may be the work of our
   lives; and that neither I that write, nor you that read this book, may ever
   be turned from this path of life; “lest, a promise being left us of entering
   into his rest,” we should “come short of it,” through our own unbelief or
   negligence.

   The saints’ rest is the most happy state of a Christian; or, it is the
   perfect endless enjoyment of God by the perfected saints, according to the
   measure of their capacity, to which their souls arrive at death, and both
   soul and body most fully after the resurrection and final judgment.
   According to this definition of the saints’ rest, a larger account of its
   nature will be given in this chapter; of its preparatives, chap. 2; its
   excellencies, chap. 3 and chap. 4, the persons for whom it is designed.
   Further to illustrate the subject, some description will be given, chap. 5,
   of their misery who lose this rest; and chap. 6, who also lose the
   enjoyments of time, and suffer the torments of hell. Next will be shown,
   chap. 7, the necessity of diligently seeking this rest; chap. 8, how our
   title to it may he discerned; chap. 9, that they who discern their title to
   it should help those that cannot; and chap. 10, that this rest is not to be
   expected on earth. It will then be proper to consider, chap. 11, the
   importance of a heavenly life upon earth; chap. 12, how to live a heavenly
   life upon earth; chap. 13, the nature of heavenly contemplation, with the
   time, place and temper most fit for it; chap. 14, what use heavenly
   contemplation makes of consideration, affections, soliloquy and prayer: and
   likewise, chap. 15, how heavenly contemplation may be assisted by sensible
   objects, and guarded against a treacherous heart. Heavenly contemplation
   will be exemplified, chap. 16, and the whole work concluded.

   There are some things necessarily presupposed in the nature of this rest:
   as,

   That mortal men are the persons seeking it. For angels and glorified spirits
   have it already, and the devils and damned are past hope:

   That they choose God only for their end and happiness. He that takes any
   thing else for his happiness is out of the way the first step:

   That they are distant from this end. This is the woful case of all mankind
   since the fall. When Christ comes with regenerating grace, he finds no man
   sitting still, but all posting to eternal ruin, and making haste toward
   hell; till, by conviction, he first brings them to a stand, and then, by
   conversion, turns their hearts and lives sincerely to himself. This end, and
   its excellency, is supposed to be known, and seriously intended. An unknown
   good moves not to desire or endeavor. And not only a distance from this
   rest, but the true knowledge of this distance, is also supposed. They that
   never yet knew they were without God, and in the way to hell, never yet knew
   the way to heaven. Can a man find he hath lost his God and his soul, and not
   cry, I am undone? The reason why so few obtain this rest, is, they will not
   be convinced that they are, in point of title, distant from it and, in point
   of practice, Contrary to it. Who ever sought for that which he knew not he
   had lost? “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are
   sick:”

   The influence of a superior moving Cause is also supposed; else we shall all
   stand still, and not move toward our rest. If God move us not, we cannot
   move. It is a most necessary part of our Christian wisdom, to keep our
   subordination to God, and dependence on him. “We are not sufficient of
   ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of
   God.” “Without me,” says Christ, “ye can do nothing.”

   It is next supposed, that they who seek this rest have an inward principle
   of spiritual life. God does not move men like stones, but he endows them
   with life, not to enable them to move without him, but in subordination to
   himself, the first mover.

   And further, this rest supposes such an actual tendency of soul toward it as
   is regular and constant, earnest and laborious. He that hides his talent
   shall receive the wages of a slothful servant. Christ is the door, the only
   way to this rest. “But strait is the gate and narrow is the way;” and we
   must strive, if we will enter; for “many will seek to enter in, and shall
   not be able; which implies, “that the kingdom of heaven suffereth
   violence.” Nor will it bring us to the end of the saints, if we begin in the
   spirit and end in the flesh. He only “that endureth to the end shall be
   saved.” And never did a soul obtain rest with God whose desire was not set
   upon him above all things else in the world. “Where your treasure is, there
   will your heart he also.” The remainder of our old nature will much weaken
   and interrupt these desires, but never overcome them. And, considering the
   opposition to our desires, from the contrary principles in our nature, and
   from the weakness of our graces, together with our continued distance from
   the end, our tendency to that end must be laborious, and with all our might.
   All these things are pre-supposed, in order to a Christian’s obtaining an
   interest in heavenly rest.

   Now we have ascended these steps into the outward court, may we look within
   the veil? May we show what this rest contains, as well as what it
   pre-supposes? Alas! how little know I of that glory! The glimpse which Paul
   had, contained what could not, or must not, be uttered. Had he spoken the
   things of heaven in the language of heaven, and none understood that
   language, what the better? The Lord reveal to me what I may reveal to you!
   The Lord open some light, and show both you and me our inheritance! Not as
   to Balaam only, whose eyes were opened to see the goodliness of Jacob’s
   tents, and Israel’s tabernacles, where he had no portion, and 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 all he had, and bought it; and as heaven was opened to blessed Stephen,
   which he was shortly to enter, and the glory showed him which should be his
   own possession.

   The things contained in heavenly rest are such as these: a ceasing from
   means of grace; a perfect freedom from all evils; the highest degree of the
   saints’ personal perfection, both of body and soul; the nearest enjoyment of
   God, the chief good and a sweet and constant action of all the powers of
   body and soul in this enjoyment of God.

   1. One thing contained in heavenly rest, is, the ceasing from means of
   grace. When we have obtained the haven, we have done sailing. When the
   workman receives his wages, it is implied he has done his work. When we are
   at our journey’s end, we have done with the way. Whether prophecies, they
   shall fail; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it also,
   so far as it had the nature of means, shall vanish away. There shall be no
   more prayer, because no more necessity, but the full enjoyment of what we
   prayed for: neither shall we need to fast, and weep, and watch any more,
   being out of the reach of sin and temptations. Preaching is done; the
   ministry of man ceases; ordinances become useless; the laborers are called
   in, because the harvest is gathered, the tares burned, and the work
   finished; the unregenerate past hope, and the saints past fear, for ever.

   2. There is in heavenly rest a perfect freedom from all evils: 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
   for ever endure; a woful inheritance, which, both by birth and actual merit,
   was due to us as well as to them! In heaven there is nothing that defileth
   or is unclean. All that remains without. And doubtless there is not such a
   thing as grief and sorrow known there; nor is there such a thing as a pale
   face, a languid body, feeble joints, helpless infancy, decrepid age, peccant
   humors, painful or pining sickness, griping fears, consuming cares, nor
   whatsoever deserves the name of evil. We wept and lamented when the world
   rejoiced but our sorrow is turned to joy, and our joy shall no man take from
   us.

   3. Another ingredient of this rest is, the highest degree of the saints’
   personal perfection, both of body and soul. Were the glory ever so great,
   and themselves not made capable of it by a personal perfection suitable
   thereto, it would be little to them. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
   neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
   prepared for them that love him.” For the eye of flesh is not capable of
   seeing them, nor this ear of hearing them, nor this heart of understanding
   them: but there, the eye, and ear, and heart are made capable; else, how do
   they enjoy them? The more perfect the sight is, the more delightful the
   beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, 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.

   4. The principal part of this rest is our nearest enjoyment of God, the
   chief good. And here, reader, wonder not if I be at a loss, and if my
   apprehensions receive but little of that which is in my expressions. If it
   did not appear to the beloved disciple what we shall be, but only, in
   general, “that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him,” no wonder if
   I know little. When I know so little of God, I cannot much know what it is
   to enjoy him. If I know so little of spirits, how little of the Father of
   spirits, or the state of my own soul, when advanced to the enjoyment of him!
   I stand and look upon a heap of ants, and see them all at one view: 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, clearly beholds us all! A glimpse, the saints behold as
   in a glass, which makes us capable of some poor, dark apprehensions of what
   we shall behold in glory. If I should tell a worldling what the holiness and
   spiritual joys of the saints on earth are, he cannot know; 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 gives them a dark knowledge and slight taste of glory.

   If men and angels should study to speak the blessedness of that state in one
   word, what could they say beyond this, that it is the nearest enjoyment of
   God? O the full joys offered to a believer in that one sentence of Christ,
   “Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
   that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me!” Every word is full
   of 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, who stand continually
   before thee, and hear thy wisdom;” then, surely, they that stand continually
   before God, and see his glory, and the glory of the Lamb, are more than
   happy. To them will Christ give to eat of the tree of life, and to eat of
   the hidden manna; yea, he will make them pillars in the temple of God, and
   they shall go no more out; and he will write upon them the name of his God,
   and the name of the city of his God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh
   down out of heaven from his God, and he will write upon them his new name;
   yea, more, if more may be, he will grant them to sit with him in his throne.
   “These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
   robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; 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. The Lamb, which is in the
   midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living
   fountains of water and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” 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 of the
   Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see
   his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. These sayings are
   faithful and true, and the things which must shortly be done.

   And now we say, as Mephibosheth, let the world take all, forasmuch as our
   Lord will come in peace. Rejoice, therefore, in the Lord, O ye righteous!
   and say, with his servant David, “The Lord is the portion of mine
   inheritance: the lines are fallen unto 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 thou wilt not leave my soul
   in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou
   wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy
   right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” What presumption would it have
   been, once, to have thought or spoken of such a thing, if God had not spoken
   it before 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.
   How unbecoming to talk of being sons of God—speaking to him—having
   fellowship with him—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 shining forth as
   the sun—of being joint heirs with Christ—of judging the world—of sitting on
   Christ’s throne—of being one in him and the Father—if we had not all this
   from the mouth, and under the hand of God! But hath he said, and shall he
   not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?—Yes, as the Lord
   God is true, thus shall it be done to the man whom Christ delighteth to
   honor.

   Be of good cheer, Christian; the time is at hand when God and thou shalt be
   near, and as near as thou canst well desire. Thou shalt dwell in his family.
   Is that enough? It is better to be a door-keeper in the house of God, than
   to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Thou shalt ever stand before him, about
   his throne, in the room with him, in his presence-chamber. Wouldst thou yet
   be nearer? Thou 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 thy head;
   thou shalt be one with him, who is one with the Father, as he himself 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 in us; and the glory
   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 in one,
   and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as
   thou hast loved me.”

   5. We must add, that this rest contains a sweet and constant action of all
   the powers of the soul and body in this enjoyment of God. It is not the rest
   of a stone, which ceaseth from all motion when it attains the centre. This
   body shall be so changed, that it shall no more be flesh and blood, which
   cannot inherit the kingdom of God; but a spiritual body. We sow not that
   body which shall be, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to
   every seed his own body. If grace makes a Christian differ so much from what
   he was, as to say, I am not the man I was; how much more will glory make us
   differ! As much as a body spiritual, above the sun in glory, exceeds these
   frail, noisome, diseased bodies of flesh, so far shall our senses exceed
   those we now possess. Doubtless, as God advances our senses, and enlarges
   our capacity, so will he advance the happiness of those senses, and fill up,
   with himself, all that capacity. Certainly the body would not be raised up
   and continued, if it were not to share in the glory. As it hath shared in
   the obedience and sufferings, so shall it also in the blessedness. As Christ
   bought the whole man, so shall the whole partake of the everlasting benefits
   of the purchase. O blessed employment of a glorified body! to stand before
   the throne of God and the Lamb, and to sound forth for ever, “Thou art
   worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power. Worthy is the Lamb
   that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
   honor, and glory, and blessing; for thou hast redeemed us to God, by thy
   blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast
   made us unto our God kings and priests. Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and
   honor, and power, unto the Lord our God. Alleluia, for the Lord God
   omnipotent reigneth.” O Christians! this is the blessed rest; a rest, as it
   were, without rest; for “they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy,
   holy Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” And if the body
   shall be thus employed, O how shall the soul be taken up! As its powers and
   capacities are greatest, so its actions are strongest, and its enjoyments
   sweetest. As the bodily senses have their proper actions, whereby they
   receive and enjoy their objects, so does the soul in its own actions enjoy
   its own objects, by knowing, remembering, loving, and delightful joying.
   This is the soul’s enjoyment. By these eyes it sees, and by these arms it
   embraces.

   Knowledge, of itself, is very desirable. As far as the rational soul exceeds
   the sensitive, so far the delights of a philosopher, in discovering the
   secrets of nature, and knowing the mystery of sciences, exceed the delights
   of the drunkard, the voluptuary, or the sensualist. So excellent is all
   truth. What, then, is their delight who know the God of truth! How noble a
   faculty of the soul is the understanding! it can compass the earth; it can
   measure the sun, moon, stars, and heaven; it can foreknow each eclipse to a
   minute, many years before. But this is the top of all its excellency, that
   it can know God, who is infinite, who made all these—a little here, and
   more, much more, hereafter. O the wisdom and goodness of our blessed Lord!
   He hath created the understanding with a natural bias and inclination to
   truth, as its object; and to the prime truth, as its prime object.
   Christian, when, after long gazing heaven-ward, thou hast got a glimpse of
   Christ, dost thou not sometimes seem to have been with Paul in the third
   heaven, whether in the body or out, and to have seen what is unutterable?
   Art thou not, with Peter, ready to say, “Master, it is good to be here?” “O
   that I might dwell in this mount! O that I might ever see what I now see!”
   Didst thou never look so long upon the Sun of Righteousness till thine eyes
   were dazzled with his astonishing glory? And did not the splendor of it make
   all things below seem dark and drear to thee? Especially in the day of
   suffering for Christ, when he usually appears most manifestly to his people,
   didst thou never see one walking in the midst of the fiery furnace with
   thee, like the Son of God? Believe me, Christians, yea, believe God; you
   that have known most of God in Christ here, it is as nothing to what you
   shall know: in comparison of that, it scarce deserves to be called
   knowledge. For as these bodies, so that knowledge must cease, that a more
   perfect may succeed. “Knowledge shall vanish away. For we know in part. But
   when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
   away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I
   thought 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, how it can be life eternal to know God and Jesus
   Christ. To enjoy God and Christ is eternal life; and the soul’s enjoying is
   in knowing. They that savor only of earth, and consult with flesh, think it
   a poor happiness to know God. “But we know that we are of God, and the whole
   world lieth in wickedness; and we know that the Son of God is come, and hath
   given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; and we are in
   him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and
   eternal life.”

   The memory will not be idle, or useless, in this blessed work. From that
   height the saint can look behind him and before him. And to compare past
   with present things must raise in the blessed soul an inconceivable esteem
   and sense of its condition. To stand on that mount, whence we can see the
   Wilderness and Canaan both at once; to stand in heaven and look back on
   earth, and weigh them together in the balance of a comparing sense and
   judgment, how must it needs transport the soul, and make it cry out,

   “Is this the purchase that cost so dear as the blood of Christ? No wonder. O
   blessed price and thrice blessed love, that 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 harbor? Is it hither that Christ
   hath allured my soul? O blessed way, and thrice blessed end! Is this the
   glory which the Scriptures spoke of, and ministers preached of so much? I
   see the Gospel is indeed good tidings, even tidings of peace and good
   things, tidings of great joy to all nations! Is my mourning, my fasting, my
   sad humblings, my heavy walking, come to this? Is my praying, watching,
   fearing to offend, come to this? Are all my afflictions, Satan’s
   temptations, the world’s scorns and jeers, come to this? O vile nature, that
   resisted so much, and so long, such a blessing! Unworthy soul! is this the
   place thou camest to so unwillingly? Was duty wearisome? Was the world too
   good to lose? Couldst thou not leave all, deny all, and suffer any thing for
   this? Wast thou loth to die, to come to this? O false heart, thou hadst
   almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory! Art thou not
   now ashamed, my soul, that ever thou didst question that love which brought
   thee hither? that thou wast jealous of the faithfulness of thy Lord? that
   thou suspectedst his love, when thou shouldst only have suspected thyself?
   that ever thou didst quench a motion of his Spirit? and that thou shouldst
   misinterpret those providences, and repine at those ways which have such an
   end? Now thou art sufficiently convinced that thy blessed Redeemer was
   saving thee as well when he crossed thy desires, as when he granted them;
   when he broke thy heart, as when he bound it up. No thanks to thee, unworthy
   self, for this received crown; but to Jehovah and the Lamb be glory for
   ever.”

   But, O! the full, the near, the sweet enjoyment, is that of love. “God is
   love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” Now the
   poor soul complains, “O that I could love Christ more!” Then thou canst not
   but love him. Now, thou knowest little of his amiableness, and therefore
   lovest little: then, thine eyes will affect thy heart, and the continual
   viewing of that perfect beauty will keep thee in continual transports of
   love. Christians, doth it not now stir up your love, to remember all the
   experiences of his love? Doth not kindness melt you, and the sunshine of
   Divine goodness warm your frozen hearts? What will it do then, when you
   shall live in love, and have all in Him, who is all? Surely love is both
   work and wages. What a high favor, that God will give us leave to love him!
   that he will be embraced by those who have embraced lust and sin before him!
   But more than this, he returneth love for love; nay, a thousand times more.
   Christian, thou wilt be then brim-full of love; yet, love as much as thou
   canst, thou shalt be ten thousand times more beloved. Were the arms of the
   Son of God open upon the cross, and an open passage made to his heart by the
   spear; and will not his arms and heart be open to thee in glory? Did not he
   begin to love before thou lovedst, and will not he continue now? Did he love
   thee, an enemy? thee, a sinner? thee, who even loathedst thyself? and own
   thee, when thou didst disclaim thyself? And will he not now immeasurably
   love thee, a son? thee, a perfect saint? thee, who returnest some love for
   love? He that in love wept over the old Jerusalem when near its ruin, with
   what love will he rejoice over the new Jerusalem in her 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
   everlasting; of that love which brought the Son of God’s love from heaven to
   earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave
   to glory; that love which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged,
   buffeted, spit upon, crucified, pierced; which did fast, pray, teach, heal,
   weep, sweat, bleed, die; that love will eternally embrace thee. When perfect
   created love and most perfect uncreated love meet together, it will not be
   like Joseph and his brethren, who lay upon one another’s necks weeping; it
   will be loving and rejoicing, not loving and sorrowing. Yes, it will make
   Satan’s court ring with the news that Joseph’s brethren are come, that the
   saints are arrived safe at the bosom of Christ, out of the reach of hell for
   ever. Nor is there any such love as David’s and Jonathan’s, breathing out
   its last into sad lamentations for a forced separation. Know this, believer,
   to thy everlasting comfort, if those arms have once embraced thee, neither
   sin nor hell can get thee thence for ever. Thou hast not to deal with an
   inconstant creature, but with Him with whom is no variableness nor shadow of
   turning. His love to thee will not be as thine was on earth to him, seldom,
   and cold, up, and down. He that would not cease nor abate his love, for all
   thine enmity, unkind neglects, and churlish resistances, 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, how much more will he himself be constant! Indeed thou
   mayest be “persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor
   principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
   height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
   the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And now, are we not left
   in the apostle’s admiration: “What shall we say to these things?” Infinite
   love must needs be a mystery to a finite capacity. No wonder angels desire
   to look into this mystery. And if it be the study of saints here “to know
   the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, which
   passeth knowledge;” the saints’ everlasting rest must consist in the
   enjoyment of God by love.

   Nor does joy share least in this fruition. It is this which all we have
   mentioned lead to, and conclude in; even the inconceivable complacency which
   the blessed feel in seeing, knowing, loving, and being beloved of God. This
   is “the white stone which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.”
   Surely this is the joy with which a stranger doth not intermeddle. All
   Christ’s ways of mercy tend to and end in the saints’ joys. He wept,
   sorrowed, suffered, that they might rejoice; he sends the Spirit to be their
   comforter; he multiplies promises; he discovers their future happiness, that
   their joy may be full. He opens to them the fountain of living waters, that
   they may thirst no more, and that it may spring up in them to everlasting
   life. He chastens them that he may give them rest. He makes it their duty to
   rejoice in him always, and again commands them to rejoice. He never brings
   them into so low a condition that he does not leave them more cause of joy
   than sorrow. And hath the Lord such a care of our comfort here? O what will
   that joy be, where the soul being perfectly prepared for joy, and joy
   prepared by Christ for the soul, it shall be our work, our business,
   eternally to rejoice! It seems the saints’ joy shall be greater than the
   damned’s torment; for their torment is the torment of creatures, prepared
   for the devil and his angels; but our joy is the joy of our Lord. The same
   glory which the Father gave the Son, the Son hath given them, to sit with
   him in his throne, even as he is set down with his Father in his throne.
   Thou, poor soul, who prayest for joy, waitest for joy, complainest for want
   of joy, longest for joy; thou then shalt have full joy, as much as thou
   canst hold, and more than ever thou thoughtest on, or thy heart desired. In
   the meantime walk carefully, watch constantly, and then let God measure out
   to thee thy times and degrees of joy. It may be he keeps them until thou
   hast more need. Thou hadst better lose thy comfort than thy safety. If thou
   shouldst die full of fears and sorrows, it will be but a moment, and they
   are all gone and concluded in joy inconceivable. As the joy of the
   hypocrite, so the fears of the upright are but for a moment. God’s “anger
   endureth but a moment; in his favor is life; weeping may endure for a night,
   but joy cometh in the morning.” O blessed morning! Poor, humble, drooping
   soul, how would it fill thee with joy now, if a voice from heaven should
   tell thee of the love of God, the pardon of thy sins, and assure thee of thy
   part in these joys! 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!

   And it is not thy joy only; it is a mutual joy as well as a mutual love. Is
   there joy in heaven at thy conversion, and will there be none at thy
   glorification? Will not the angels welcome thee thither, and congratulate
   thy safe arrival?—yes, it is the joy of Jesus Christ; for now he hath the
   end of his undertaking, labor, suffering, dying, when we have our joys; when
   he is “glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe;” when
   he “sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied.” This is Christ’s
   harvest, when he shall reap the fruit of his labors; and it will not repent
   him concerning his sufferings, but he will rejoice over his purchased
   inheritance, and his people will rejoice in him.—Yea, the Father himself
   puts on joy, too, in our joy. As we grieve his Spirit, and weary him with
   our iniquities, so he is rejoiced in our good. O how quickly does he now spy
   a returning prodigal, even afar off! How does he run and meet him! And with
   what compassion does he fall on his neck and kiss him, and put on him the
   best robe, and a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and kills the
   fatted calf, to eat and be merry! This is indeed a happy meeting; but
   nothing to the embracing and joy of that last and great meeting. Yea, more;
   as God doth mutually love and joy, so he makes this his rest, as it is our
   rest. What an eternal Sabbatism, when the work of redemption,
   sanctification, preservation, glorification, is all finished and perfected
   for ever! “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he
   will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over
   thee with singing.” Well may we then rejoice in our God with joy, and rest
   in our love, and joy in him with singing.

   Alas! my fearful heart scarce dares proceed. Methinks I hear the Almighty’s
   voice saying to me, “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without
   knowledge?” But pardon thy servant, O Lord. I have not pried into unrevealed
   things. I bewail that my apprehensions are so dull, my thoughts so mean, my
   affections so stupid, and my expressions so low and unbecoming such a glory.
   I have only heard by the hearing of the ear: O let thy servant see thee, and
   possess these joys; then shall I have more suitable conceptions, and shall
   give thee fuller glory; I shall abhor my present self, and disclaim and
   renounce all these imperfections. “I have uttered that I understood not,
   things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.” Yet “I believed, and
   therefore have I spoken.” What, Lord, canst thou expect from dust, but
   levity? or from corruption but defilement? Though the weakness and
   irreverence be the fruit of my own corruption, yet the fire is from thine
   altar, and the work of thy commanding. I looked not into thy ark, nor put
   forth my hand unto it without thee. Wash away these stains also in the blood
   of the Lamb. Imperfect, or none must be thy service here. O take thy Son’s
   excuse, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”


     _________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER II.

   THE GREAT PREPARATIVES FOR THE SAINTS’ REST. 


   There are four things which principally prepare the way to enter into it;
   particularly, 1. The glorious appearing of Christ; 2. The general
   resurrection; 3. The last judgment; and, 4. The saints’ coronation.


   The passage of paradise is not now so blocked up as when the law and curse
   reigned. Wherefore finding, beloved Christians, a new and living way
   consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, the flesh of Christ,
   by which we may with boldness enter into the holiest, I shall draw near with
   fuller assurance; and, finding the flaming sword removed, shall look again
   into the paradise of our God. And because I know that this is no forbidden
   fruit, and withal that it is good for food, and pleasant to the spiritual
   eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one truly wise and happy; I shall,
   through the assistance of the Spirit, take and eat thereof myself, and give
   to you, according to my power, that you may eat. The porch of this temple is
   exceeding glorious, and the gate of it is called Beautiful. Here are four
   things as the four corners of this porch.

   1. The most glorious coming and appearing of the Son of God may well be
   reckoned in his people’s glory. For their sake he came into the world,
   suffered, died, rose, ascended; and for their sake it is that he will
   return. To this end will Christ come again to receive his people unto
   himself, that where he is, there they may be also. The bridegroom’s
   departure was not upon divorce. He did not leave us with a purpose to return
   no more. He hath left pledges enough to assure us to the contrary. We have
   his word, his many promises, his ordinances, which show forth his death till
   he come; and his Spirit, to direct, sanctify, and comfort till he return. We
   have frequent tokens of love from him, to show us he forgets not his
   promise, nor us. We daily behold the forerunners of his coming, foretold by
   himself. We see the fig-tree putteth forth leaves, and therefore know that
   summer is nigh. Though the riotous world say, My Lord delayeth his coming;
   yet let the saints lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh.
   Alas! fellow-Christians, what should we do if our Lord should not return?
   What a case are we here left in! What! leave us in the midst of wolves, and
   among lions, a generation of vipers, and here forget us! Did he buy us so
   dear, and then leave us sinning, suffering, groaning, dying daily; and will
   he come no more to us? It cannot be. This is like our unkind dealing with
   Christ, who, when we feel ourselves warm in the world, care not for coming
   to him; but this is not like Christ’s dealing with us. He that would come to
   suffer, will surely come to triumph. He that would come to purchase, will
   surely come to possess. Where else were all our hopes? What were become of
   our faith, our prayers, our tears and our waiting? What were all the
   patience of the saints worth to them? Were we not left of all men the most
   miserable? Christians, hath Christ made us forsake all the world, and to be
   forsaken of all the world? to hate all, and be hated of all? and all this
   for him, that we might have him instead of all? And will he, think you,
   after all this, forget us and forsake us himself? Far be such a thought from
   our hearts! But why staid he not with his people while he was here? Why? Was
   not the work on earth done? Must he not take possession of glory in our
   behalf? Must he not intercede with the Father, plead his sufferings, be
   filled with the Spirit to send forth, receive authority, and subdue his
   enemies? Our abode here is short. If he had staid on earth, what would it
   have been to enjoy him for a few days and then die? He hath more in heaven
   to dwell among; even the spirits of many generations. He will have us live
   by faith, and not by sight.

   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 brought out by the Lord
   himself! It will not be such a coming as his first was, in poverty and
   contempt, to be spit upon, and buffeted, and crucified again. He will not
   come, O careless world! to be slighted and neglected by you any more. Yet
   that coming wanted not its glory. If the heavenly host, for the celebration
   of his nativity, must praise God; with what shoutings will angels and saints
   at that day proclaim glory to God, peace and good-will toward men! If a star
   must lead men from remote parts, to come to worship the child in the manger;
   how will the glory of his next appearing constrain all the world to
   acknowledge his sovereignty! If, riding on an ass, he enter Jerusalem with
   hosannas; with what peace and glory will he come toward the New Jerusalem!
   If, when he was in the form of a servant, they cry out, “What manner of man
   is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” what will they say when
   they shall see him coming in his glory, and the heavens and the earth obey
   him? “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn.” To think and speak of
   that day with horror doth well become the impenitent sinner, but ill the
   believing saint. Shall the wicked behold him, and cry, “Yonder is he whose
   blood we neglected, whose grace we resisted, whose counsel we refused, whose
   government we cast off!” and shall not the saints, with inconceivable
   gladness, cry, “Yonder is he whose blood redeemed us, whose Spirit cleansed
   us, whose law governed us; in whom we trusted, and he hath not deceived our
   trust; for whom we long waited, and now we see we have not waited in vain! O
   cursed corruption! that would have had us turn to the world and present
   things, and say, Why should we wait for the Lord any longer? Now we see,
   Blessed are all they that wait for him.” And now, Christians, should we not
   put up that petition heartily, “Thy kingdom come? The Spirit and the bride
   say, Come: and let him that heareth,” and readeth, “say, Come.” Our Lord
   himself says, “Surely I come quickly. Amen: even so, come! Lord Jesus.”

   2. Another thing that leads to paradise is that great work of Jesus Christ,
   in raising the body from the dust and uniting it again unto the soul. A
   wonderful effect of infinite power and love! “Yea wonderful indeed,” says
   Unbelief, “if it be true. What, shall all these scattered bones and dust
   become a man?” Let me with reverence plead for God, for that power whereby I
   hope to arise. What sustains the massy body of the earth? What limits the
   vast ocean of the waters? Whence is that constant ebbing and flowing of the
   tides? How many times larger than all the earth is the sun, that glorious
   body of light? Is it not as easy to raise the dead as to make heaven and
   earth, and all of nothing? Look not on the dead bones, and dust, and
   difficulty, but at the promise. Contentedly commit these bodies to a prison
   that shall not long contain them. Let us lie down in peace and take our
   rest; it will not be an everlasting night, nor endless sleep. If unclothing
   be the thing thou fearest, it is that thou mayest have better clothing. If
   to be turned out of doors be the thing thou fearest, remember that, when
   “the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, thou hast a building of
   God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Lay down
   cheerfully this lump of corruption; thou shalt undoubtedly receive it again
   in incorruption. Lay down freely this terrestrial, this natural body; thou
   shalt receive it again a celestial, a spiritual body. Though thou lay it
   down with great dishonor, thou shalt receive it in glory. Though thou art
   separated from it through weakness it shall be raised again in mighty power;
   “in a moment, in the 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.” “The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then they who are alive and
   remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
   Lord in the air.” Triumph now, O Christian, in these promises; thou shalt
   shortly triumph in their performance. This is the day which the Lord will
   make; we shall rejoice and be glad in it. The grave that could not keep our
   Lord, cannot keep us. He arose for us, and by the same power will cause us
   to arise. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them
   also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Let us never look at the
   grave, but let us see the resurrection beyond it. Yea, let us be “steadfast,
   unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know
   our labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

   3. Part of this prologue to the saints’ rest is the public and solemn
   process at their judgment, where they shall first themselves be acquitted
   and justified, and then with Christ judge the world. Young and old, of all
   estates and nations, that ever were from the creation to that day, must here
   come and receive their doom. O terrible! O joyful day! Terrible to those
   that have forgotten the coming of their Lord! joyful to the saints, whose
   waiting and hope was to see this day! Then shall the world behold the
   goodness and severity of God; on them who perish, severity; but to his
   chosen, goodness. Every one must give an account of his stewardship. Every
   talent of time, health, abilities, mercies, afflictions, means, warnings,
   must be reckoned for. The sins of youth, those which they had forgotten, and
   their secret sins, shall all be laid open before angels and men. They shall
   see the Lord Jesus, whom they neglected, whose word they disobeyed, whose
   ministers they abused, whose servants they hated, now sitting to judge them.
   Their own consciences shall cry out against them, and call to their
   remembrance all their misdoings. Which way will the wretched sinner look?
   Who can conceive the terrible thoughts of his heart? Now the world cannot
   help him; his old companions cannot; the saints neither can nor will. Only
   the Lord Jesus can; but there is the misery, he will not. Time was, sinner,
   when Christ would, and you would not; now, fain would you, and he will not.
   All in vain is it to “cry to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide
   us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne;” for thou hast the
   Lord of mountains and rocks for thine enemy, whose voice they will obey, and
   not thine. I charge thee, therefore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
   who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom,
   that thou set thyself seriously to ponder these things.

   But why tremblest thou, O humble, gracious soul? He that would not lose one
   Noah in a common deluge, nor overlook one Lot in Sodom; nay, that could do
   nothing till he went forth; will he forget thee at that day? “The Lord
   knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the
   unjust unto the day of judgment, to be punished.” He knoweth how to make the
   same day the greatest terror to his foes, and yet the greatest joy to his
   people. “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk
   not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Who shall lay any thing to the
   charge of God’s elect?” Shall the law? “The law of the spirit of life in
   Christ Jesus hath made them free from the law of sin and death.” Or shall
   conscience? “The Spirit itself beareth witness with their spirit, that they
   are the children of God. It is God that justifieth, who is he that
   condemneth?” If our Judge condemn us not, who shall? He that said to the
   adulterous woman, Hath no man condemned thee? neither do I; will say to us,
   more faithfully than Peter to him, Though all men deny thee, or condemn
   thee, I will not. Having confessed me before men, thee “will I also confess
   before my Father who is in heaven.”

   What inexpressible joy, 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? or a wife by her own husband? Christian, did Christ come
   down and suffer, and weep, and bleed, and die for thee, and will he now
   condemn thee? Was he judged, condemned, and executed in thy stead, and now
   will he himself condemn thee? Hath he done most of the work already, in
   redeeming, regenerating, sanctifying and preserving thee, and will he now
   undo all again? Well then, let the terror of that day be never so great,
   surely our Lord can mean no ill to us in all. Let it make the devils
   tremble, and the wicked tremble, but it shall make us leap for joy. It must
   affect us deeply with the sense of our mercy and happiness, to see the most
   of the world tremble with terror, while we triumph with joy; to hear them
   doomed to everlasting flames, when we are proclaimed heirs of the kingdom;
   to see our neighbors, that lived in the same town, came to the same
   congregation, dwelt in the same houses, and were esteemed more honorable in
   the world than ourselves, now, by the Searcher of hearts, eternally
   separated. This, with the great magnificence and dreadfulness of the day,
   the apostle pathetically expresses: “It is a righteous thing with God to
   recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are
   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 that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be
   punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and
   from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his
   saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, in that day.”

   Yet more: we shall be so far from the dread of that judgment, that ourselves
   shall become the judges. Christ will take his people, as it were, into
   commission with himself, and they shall sit and approve his righteous
   judgment. “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” Nay, “know
   ye not that we shall judge angels?” 1 Cor. 6:2,3. Were it not for the word
   of Christ that speaks it, this advancement would seem incredible, and the
   language arrogant. Even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied this,
   saying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to
   execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them,
   of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed, and of all
   their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” Thus
   shall the saints be honored, and “the upright shall have dominion in the
   morning.” O that the careless world “were wise, that they understood this,
   that they would consider their latter end!” that they would be now of the
   same mind as they will be when they shall see the heavens pass away with a
   great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth also,
   and the works that are therein, burnt up! when all shall be on fire about
   them, and all earthly glory consumed. “For the heavens and the earth which
   are now, are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition
   of ungodly men. Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what
   manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
   looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
   heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
   fervent heat?”

   4. The last preparative for the saints’ rest is their solemn coronation and
   receiving the kingdom. For as Christ, their head, is anointed both King and
   Priest, so under him are his people made unto God both kings and priests, to
   reign, and to offer praises for ever. The crown of righteousness, which was
   laid up for them, shall by the Lord, the righteous Judge, be given them at
   that day. They have been faithful unto death, and therefore he will give
   them a crown of life. And according to the improvement of their talents
   here, so shall their rule and dignity be enlarged. They are not dignified
   with empty titles, but real dominion. Christ will grant them to sit with him
   on his throne, and will give them power over the nations, even as he
   received of his Father; and he “will give them the morning star.” The Lord
   himself will give them possession, with these applauding expressions: “Well
   done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things,
   I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy
   Lord.”

   And with this solemn and blessed proclamation shall he enthrone them: “Come,
   ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
   foundation of the world.” Every word is full of life and joy. “Come “—this
   is the holding forth of the golden sceptre, to warrant our approach unto
   this glory. Come now as near as you will; fear not the Bethshemites’
   judgment; for the enmity is utterly abolished. This is not such a “Come” as
   we were wont to hear, “Come, take up your cross and follow me.” Though that
   was sweet, yet this is much more. “Ye blessed”—blessed indeed, when that
   mouth 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 only whom he curseth are cursed; and his
   blessing cannot be reversed. “Of my Father”—blessed in the Father’s love, as
   well as the Son’s; for they are one. The Father hath testified his love in
   their election, donation to Christ, and in the sending of Christ, and
   accepting his ransom, as the Son hath also testified his. “Inherit”—no
   longer bondsmen, 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, and joint-heirs with Christ. “The kingdom”—no less than the
   kingdom! Indeed, to be King of kings and Lord of lords is our Lord’s own
   proper title; but to be kings, and reign with him, is ours. The enjoyment of
   this kingdom is as the light of the sun; each has the whole, and the rest
   none the less. “Prepared for you”—God is the Alpha as well as the Omega of
   our blessedness. Eternal love hath laid the foundation. He prepared the
   kingdom for us, and then prepared us for the kingdom. This is the
   preparation of his counsel and decree, for the execution whereof Christ was
   yet to make a further preparation. “For you”—not for believers only, in
   general, who, without individual persons, are nobody; but for you
   personally. “From the foundation of the world”—not only from the promise
   after Adam’s fall, but from eternity.

   Thus we have seen the Christian safely landed in paradise, and conveyed
   honorably to his rest. Now let us a little further, in the next chapter,
   view those mansions, consider their privileges, and see whether there be any
   glory like unto this glory.


     _________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER III.

   THE EXCELLENCIES OF THE SAINTS’ REST. 


   1. It is the purchased possession; 2. A free gift; 3. Peculiar to saints; 4.
   An association with saints and angels; 5. It derives its joys immediately
   from God himself; 6. It will be seasonable; 7. Suitable; 8. Perfect, without
   sin and suffering; 9. And everlasting.


   Let us draw a little nearer, and see what further excellencies this rest
   affordeth. The Lord hide us in the clefts of the rock, and cover us with the
   hands of indulgent grace, while we approach to take this view.

   1. It is a most singular honor of the saints’ rest, to be called the
   purchased possession; that is, the fruit of the blood of the Son of God;
   yea, the chief fruit, the end and perfection of all the fruits and efficacy
   of that blood. Greater love than this there is not, to lay down the 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! How will it fill our souls with perpetual joy, to think that
   in the streams of this blood we have swum through the violence of the world,
   the snares of Satan, the seductions 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 arrived safely at
   the presence of God! Now he cries to us, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that
   pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow!” And we
   scarce regard the mournful voice,—scarce turn aside to view the wounds. But
   then our perfected souls will feel, and flame in love for love. With what
   astonishing apprehensions will redeemed saints everlastingly behold their
   blessed Redeemer! the purchaser, and the price, together with the
   possession! Neither will the view of his wounds of love renew our wounds of
   sorrow. He, whose first words after his resurrection were to a great sinner,
   “Woman, why weepest thou?” knows how to raise love and joy, without any
   cloud of sorrow or storm of tears. If any thing we enjoy was purchased with
   the life of our dearest friend, how highly should we value it! If a dying
   friend deliver us but a token of his love, how carefully do we preserve it,
   and still remember him when we behold it, as if his own name were written on
   it! And will not, then, the death and blood of our Lord everlastingly
   sweeten our possessed glory? As we write down the price our goods cost us;
   so, on our righteousness and glory write down the price, The precious blood
   of Christ. His sufferings were to satisfy the justice that required blood,
   and to bear what was due to sinners, and so to restore them to the life they
   lost, and the happiness from which they fell. The work of Christ’s
   redemption so well pleased the Father, that he gave him power to advance his
   chosen, and give them the glory which was given to himself; and all this
   “according to his good pleasure and the counsel of his own will.”

   2. Another pearl in the saints’ diadem is, that it is a free gift. These
   two, purchased and free, are the chains of gold which make up the wreaths
   for the tops of the pillars in the temple of God. It was dear to Christ, but
   free to us. When Christ was to buy, silver and gold were nothing worth;
   prayers and tears could not suffice, nor any thing below his blood; but our
   buying is receiving; we have it freely, without money and without price. A
   thankful acceptance of a free acquittance is no paying of the debt. Here is
   all free; if the Father freely give the Son, and the Son freely pay the
   debt; and if God freely accept that way of payment, when he might have
   required it of the principal; and if both Father and Son freely offer us the
   purchased life on our cordial acceptance; and if they freely send the Spirit
   to enable us to accept; what is here, then, that is not free? O the
   everlasting admiration that must 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 creeping 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 decaying, and from the dust and darkness
   where I seemed forgotten, and be here set before his throne! That I should
   be taken, with Mordecai, from captivity, and be set next unto the king; and
   with Daniel from the den, to be made ruler of princes and provinces! Who can
   fathom unmeasurable love?” If worthiness were our condition for admittance,
   we might sit down and weep, with St. John, because no man was found worthy.
   But “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” is worthy, and hath prevailed; and by
   that title we must hold the inheritance. We shall offer there the offering
   that David refused, even praise for that which cost us nothing. Here our
   commission runs, “Freely ye have received, freely give;” but Christ has
   dearly bought, yet freely gives.

   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 endeavoring our
   own ruin. What an astonishing thought it will be, to think of the
   immeasurable difference between our deservings and receivings! between the
   state we should have been in, and the state we are in! to look down upon
   hell, and see the vast difference from that to which we are adopted! What
   pangs of love will it cause within us to think, “Yonder was the place that
   sin would have brought me to; but this is it that Christ hath brought me to!
   Yonder death was the wages of my sin, but this eternal life is the gift of
   God, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Who made me to differ? Had I not now been
   in those flames if I had had my own way, and been let alone to my own will?
   Should I not have lingered in Sodom till the flames had seized on me, if God
   had not in mercy brought me out?” Doubtless this will be our everlasting
   admiration, that so rich a crown should fit the head of so vile a sinner;
   that such high advancement, and such long unfruitfulness and unkindness, can
   be the state of the same person, and that such vile rebellions can conclude
   in such most precious joys! But no thanks to us, nor to any of our duties
   and labors, much less to our neglects and laziness: we know to whom the
   praise is due, and must be given for ever. Indeed, to this very end it was
   that infinite wisdom cast the whole design of man’s salvation into this
   mould of purchases and freeness, that the love and joy of man might be
   perfected, and the honor of grace most highly advanced; that the thought of
   merit might neither cloud the one nor obstruct the other; and that on these
   two hinges the gate of heaven might turn. So then let DESERVED be written on
   the door of hell; but on the door of heaven and life, THE FREE GIFT.

   3. This rest is peculiar to saints, it belongs to no other of all the sons
   of men. If all Egypt had been light, the Israelites would not have had the
   less; but to enjoy that light alone, while their neighbors lived in thick
   darkness, must make them more sensible of their privilege. Distinguishing
   mercy affects more than any mercy. If Pharaoh had passed as safely as
   Israel, the Red Sea would have been less remembered. If the rest of the
   world had not been drowned, and the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah not burned,
   the saving of Noah had been no wonder, nor Lot’s deliverance so much talked
   of. When one is enlightened, and another left in darkness; one reformed, and
   another by his lust enslaved; it makes the saints cry out, “Lord, how is it
   that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” When the
   prophet is sent to one widow only of all that were in Israel, and to cleanse
   one Naaman of all the lepers, the mercy is more observable. That will surely
   be a day of passionate sense on both sides, when there shall be two in one
   bed, and two in the field, the one taken and the other left. The saints
   shall look down upon the burning lake, and in the sense of their own
   happiness, and in the approbation of God’s just proceedings, they shall
   rejoice and sing, “Thou art righteous, O Lord! who wast, art, and shalt be,
   because thou hast judged thus.”

   4. But though this rest be peculiar to the saints, yet it is common to all
   the saints; for it is an association of blessed spirits, both saints and
   angels: a corporation of perfected saints, whereof Christ is the head: the
   communion of saints completed. As we have been together in the labor, duty,
   danger and distress; so shall we be in the great recompense and deliverance.
   As we have been scorned and despised, so shall we be owned and honored
   together. We who have gone through the day of sadness, shall enjoy together
   that day of gladness. Those who have been with us in persecution and in
   prison, shall be with us also in that place of consolation. How oft have our
   groans made, as it were, one sound! our tears one stream and our desires one
   prayer! But now all our praises shall make up one melody; all our churches,
   one church; and all ourselves, one body; for we shall be all one in Christ,
   even as he and the Father are one. It is true, we must be careful not to
   look for that in the saints which is alone in Christ. But if the forethought
   of sitting down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
   heaven, may be our lawful joy; how much more the real sight and actual
   possession! It cannot but be comfortable to think of that day, when we shall
   join with Moses in his song, with David in his psalms of praise, and with
   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. Not only our old acquaintance, but all the
   saints of all ages, whose faces in the flesh we never saw, we shall there
   both know and comfortably enjoy. Yea, angels as well as saints will be our
   blessed acquaintance. Those who now are willingly our ministering spirits,
   will willingly then be our companions in joy. They who had such joy in
   heaven for our conversion, will gladly rejoice with us in our glorification.
   Then we shall truly say, as David, I am a companion of all them that fear
   thee; when “we are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living
   God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the
   general assembly and church of the first-born, who 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.” It is a singular excellence
   of heavenly rest, that we are “fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
   household of God.”

   5. As another property of our rest, we shall derive its joys immediately
   from God. Now we have nothing at all immediately, but at the second or third
   hand; or how many, who knows? From the earth, from man, from sun and moon,
   from the ministration of angels, and from the Spirit, and Christ. Though, in
   the hand of angels, the stream savors not of the imperfection of sinners,
   yet it does of the imperfection of creatures; and as it comes from man, it
   savors of both. How quick and piercing is the word in itself! yet many times
   it never enters, being managed by a feeble arm. What weight and worth is
   there in every passage of the blessed Gospel! enough, one would think, to
   enter and pierce the dullest soul, and wholly possess its thoughts and
   affections; and yet how oft does it fall as water upon a stone! The things
   of God which we handle, are divine; but our manner of handling is human.
   There is little we touch, but we leave the print of our fingers behind. If
   God speaks the word himself, it will be a piercing, melting word indeed. The
   Christian now knows, by experience, that his most immediate joys are his
   sweetest joys; which have least of man, and are most directly from the
   Spirit. Christians who are much in secret prayer and contemplation, are men
   of greatest life and joy; because they have all more immediately from God
   himself. Not that we should cast off hearing, reading, and conference, or
   neglect any ordinance of God; but to live above them while we use them, is
   the way of a Christian. There is joy in these remote receivings; but the
   fulness of joy is in God’s immediate presence. We shall then have light
   without a candle, and perpetual day without the sun for “the city has no
   need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God
   lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof; there shall be no night
   there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; and they shall
   reign for ever and ever.” We shall then have enlightened understandings
   without 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.
   We shall have joy, which we drew not from the promises, nor fetched home by
   faith or hope. We shall have communion without ordinances, without this
   fruit of the vine, when Christ shall drink it new with us in his Father’s
   kingdom, and refresh us with the comforting wine of immediate enjoyment. To
   have necessities, but no supply, is the state of them in hell. To have
   necessity supplied by means of creatures, is the state of us on earth. To
   have necessity supplied immediately from God, is the state of the saints in
   heaven. To have no necessity at all, is the prerogative of God himself.

   6. A further excellence of this rest is, that it will be seasonable. He that
   expects the fruit of his vineyard at the season, and makes his people “like
   a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his
   season,” will also give them the crown in his season. He that will have a
   word of joy spoken in season to him that is weary, will surely cause the
   time of joy to appear in the fittest season. They who are not weary in
   well-doing, shall, if they faint not, reap in due season. If God giveth rain
   even to his enemies, both the former and the latter in its season, and
   reserveth the appointed weeks of harvest, and covenants that there shall be
   day and night in their season; then surely the glorious harvest of the
   saints shall not miss its season. Doubtless, he who would not stay a day
   longer than his promise, but brought Israel out of Egypt on the self-same
   day when the four hundred and thirty years expired, neither will he fail of
   one day or hour of the fittest season for his people’s glory. When we have
   had in this world a long night of darkness, will not the daybreaking and the
   rising of the Sun of Righteousness be then seasonable? When we have passed a
   long and tedious journey through no small dangers, is not home then
   seasonable? When we have had a long and perilous war, and received many a
   wound, would not a peace, with victory, be seasonable? Men live in a
   continual weariness; especially the saints, who are most weary of that which
   the world cannot feel; some weary of a blind mind; some of a hard heart;
   some of their daily doubts and fears; some of the want of spiritual joys;
   and some of the sense of God’s wrath. And when a poor Christian hath
   desired, and prayed, and waited for deliverance many years, is it not then
   seasonable? We lament that we do not find a Canaan in the wilderness, or the
   songs of Sion in a strange land; that we have not a harbor in the main
   ocean, nor our rest in the heat of the day, nor heaven before we leave the
   earth; and would not all this be very unseasonable?

   7. As this rest will be seasonable, so it will be suitable. The new nature
   of the saints doth suit their spirits to this rest. Indeed, their holiness
   is nothing else but a spark taken from this element, and by the Spirit of
   Christ kindled in their hearts: the flame whereof, mindful of its own divine
   original, ever tends to the place from whence it comes. Temporal crowns and
   kingdoms could not make a rest for saints. As they were not redeemed with so
   low a price, neither are they endued with so low a nature. As God will have
   from them a spiritual worship, suited to his own spiritual being, he will
   provide them a spiritual rest, suitable to their spiritual nature. The
   knowledge of God and his Christ, a delightful complacency in that mutual
   love, an everlasting rejoicing in the enjoyment of our God, with a perpetual
   singing of his high praises; this is heaven for a saint. Then we shall live
   in our own element. We are now as the fish in a vessel of water, only so
   much as will keep them alive; but what is that to the 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 Sion? We have a beam of the sun to lighten
   our darkness, and a warm ray to keep us from freezing; but then we shall
   live in its light, and be revived by its heat for ever. As are the natures
   of the saints, such are their desires; and it is the desires of our renewed
   nature to which this rest is suited. 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. He quickened our
   hunger and thirst for righteousness, that he might make us happy in a full
   satisfaction. Christian, this is a rest after thy own heart; it contains all
   that thy heart can wish; that which thou longest, prayest, laborest for,
   there thou shalt find it all. Thou hadst rather have God in Christ, than all
   the world; there thou shalt have him. What wouldst thou not give for
   assurance of his love? There thou shalt have assurance without suspicion.
   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
   satisfaction and enjoyment. This rest is very suitable to the saints’
   necessities also, as well as to their natures and desires. It contains
   whatsoever they truly wanted; not supplying them with gross, created
   comforts, which, like Saul’s armor on David, are more burden than benefit.
   It was Christ and perfect holiness which they most needed, and with these
   shall they be supplied.

   8. Still more, this rest will be absolutely perfect. We shall then have joy
   without sorrow, and rest without weariness. There is no mixture of
   corruption with our graces, nor of suffering with our comfort. There are
   none of those waves in that harbor, which now so toss us up and down. Today
   we are well, tomorrow sick; today in esteem, tomorrow in disgrace; today we
   have friends, tomorrow none; nay, we have wine and vinegar in the same cup.
   If revelations raise us to the third heaven, the messenger of Satan must
   presently buffet us, and the thorn in the flesh fetch us down. But there is
   none of this inconstancy in heaven. If perfect love casteth out fear, then
   perfect joy must cast out sorrow, and perfect happiness exclude all the
   relics of misery. We shall there rest from all the evil of sin and of
   suffering.

   Heaven excludes nothing more directly than sin, whether of nature or of
   conversation. “There shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth, neither
   whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.” What need Christ at all to
   have died, if heaven could have contained imperfect souls? “For this purpose
   the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the
   devil.” His blood and Spirit have not done all this, to leave us, after all,
   defiled. “What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath
   Christ with Belial?” Christian, if thou be once in heaven, thou shalt sin no
   more. Is not this glad news to thee, who hast prayed and watched against it
   so long? I know, if it were offered to thy choice, thou wouldst rather
   choose to be freed from sin, than have all the world. Thou shalt have thy
   desire. That hard heart, those vile thoughts which accompanied thee to every
   duty, shall be left behind for ever. Thy understanding shall never more be
   troubled with darkness. All dark Scriptures shall be made plain; all seeming
   contradictions reconciled. The poorest Christian is presently there a more
   perfect divine than any here. O that happy day, when error shall vanish for
   ever! when our understanding shall be filled with God himself, whose light
   will leave no darkness in us! His face shall be the Scripture where we shall
   read the truth. Many a godly man here, in his mistaken zeal, has been the
   means of deceiving and perverting his brethren, and, when he sees his own
   error, cannot tell how to undeceive them. But there we shall join in one
   truth, as being one in Him who is the truth. We shall also rest from all the
   sin of our will, affections, and conversation. We shall no more retain this
   rebelling principle, which is still drawing us from God; no more be
   oppressed with the power of our corruptions, nor vexed with their presence:
   no pride, passion, slothfulness, insensibility, shall enter with us; no
   strangeness to God, and the things of God; no coldness of affections, nor
   imperfection in our love; no inconstant walking, nor grieving of the Spirit;
   no scandalous action, nor unholy conversation: we shall rest from all these
   for ever. Then shall our will correspond to the divine will, as face answers
   face in a glass, and from which, as our law and rule, we shall never swerve.
   “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own
   works, as God did from his.”

   Our sufferings were but the consequences of our sinning, and in heaven they
   both shall cease together.

   We shall rest from all our doubts of God’s love. It shall no more be said
   that “doubts are like the thistle, a bad weed, but growing in good
   ground.” They shall now be weeded out, and trouble the gracious soul no
   more. We shall hear that kind of language no more, “What shall I do to know
   my state? How shall I know that God is my Father? that my heart is upright?
   that my conversion is true? that faith is sincere? I am afraid my sins are
   unpardoned; that all I do is hypocrisy; that God will reject me; that he
   does not hear my prayers. All this is there turned into praise.

   We shall rest from all sense of God’s displeasure. Hell shall not be mixed
   with heaven. At times the gracious soul remembered God, and was troubled;
   complained, and was overwhelmed, and refused to be comforted; divine wrath
   lay hard upon him, and God afflicted him with all his waves. But that
   blessed day shall convince us, that though God hid his face from us for a
   moment, yet with everlasting kindness will he have mercy on us.

   We shall rest from all the temptations of Satan. What a grief is it to a
   Christian, though he yield not to the temptation, yet to be solicited to
   deny his Lord! What a torment to have such horrid suggestions made to his
   soul! such blasphemous ideas presented to his imagination! sometimes cruel
   thoughts of God, undervaluing thoughts of Christ, unbelieving thoughts of
   Scripture, or injurious thoughts of Providence! to be tempted sometimes to
   turn to present things, to play with the baits of sin, and venture on the
   delights of flesh, and sometimes on atheism itself! especially when we know
   the treachery of our own hearts, ready as tinder to take fire as soon as one
   of those sparks shall fall upon them! Satan hath power here to tempt us in
   the wilderness, but he entereth not the holy city; he may set us on a
   pinnacle of the temple in the earthly Jerusalem, but the New Jerusalem he
   may not approach; he may take us up into an exceeding high mountain, but the
   mount Sion he cannot ascend; and if he could, all the kingdoms of the world,
   and the glory of them, would be a despised bait to the soul possessed of the
   kingdom of our Lord. No, it is in vain for Satan to offer a temptation more.

   All our temptations from the world and the flesh shall also cease. Oh the
   hourly dangers that we here walk in! Every sense and member is a snare;
   every creature, every mercy, and every duty is a snare to us. We can scarce
   open our eyes but we are in danger of envying those above us, or despising
   those below us; of coveting the honors and riches of some, or beholding the
   rags and beggary of others with pride and unmercifulness. If we see beauty,
   it is a bait to lust; if deformity, to loathing and disdain. How soon do
   slanderous reports, vain jests, wanton speeches, creep into the heart! How
   constant and strong a watch does our appetite 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? O how prone to
   be puffed up, hunt after applause, and despise our brethren! Are we
   unlearned? How apt then to despise what we have not! Are we in places of
   authority? How strong is the temptation to abuse our trust, make our will
   our law, and mould all the enjoyments of others by the rules and model of
   our own interest and policy! Are we inferiors? How prone to envy others’
   pre-eminence, and bring their actions to the bar of our judgment! Are we
   rich, and not too much exalted? Are we poor and not discontented? Are we not
   lazy in our duties, or make a Christ of them? Not that God hath made these
   things our snares; but through our own corruption they become so to us.
   Ourselves are the greatest snares to ourselves. This is our comfort: our
   rest will free us from all these. As Satan hath no entrance there, so he has
   nothing to serve his malice; but all things there shall join with us in the
   high praises of our great Deliverer.

   As we rest from the temptations, so shall we rest from the abuses and
   persecutions of the world. The prayers of the souls under the altar will
   then be answered, and God will avenge their blood on them that dwell on the
   earth. This is the time for crowning with thorns; that, for crowning with
   glory. Now, “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
   persecution;” then, they that suffered with him shall be glorified with him.
   Now, we must be hated of all men for Christ’s sake; then, Christ will be
   admired in his saints that were thus hated. We are here made a spectacle
   unto the world, and to angels, and to men: as the filth of the world, and
   the offscouring of all things, men separate us from their company, and
   reproach us, and cast out our names as evil; but we shall then be as much
   gazed at for our glory, and they will be shut out of the church of the
   saints, and separated from us, whether they will or not. We can now scarce
   pray in our families, or sing praises to God, but our voice is a vexation to
   them: how must it torment them, then, to see us praising and rejoicing while
   they are howling and lamenting! You, brethren, who can now attempt no work
   of God without losing the love of the world, consider, you shall have none
   in heaven but will further your work, and join heart and voice with you in
   your everlasting joy and praise. Till then, possess ye your souls in
   patience. Bind all reproaches as a crown to your heads. Esteem them greater
   riches than the world’s treasures. “It is a righteous thing with God to
   recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are
   troubled, rest with Christ.”

   We shall then rest from all our sad divisions and unChristian quarrels with
   one another. How lovingly do thousands live together in heaven, who lived at
   variance upon earth! There is no contention, because none of this pride,
   ignorance, or other corruption. There is no plotting to strengthen our
   party, nor deep designing against our brethren. If there be sorrow or shame
   in heaven, we shall then be both sorry and ashamed to remember all this
   conduct on earth; as Joseph’s brethren 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? O happy days of
   persecution, which drove us together in love, whom the sunshine of liberty
   and prosperity crumbles into dust by our contentions! O happy day of the
   saints’ rest in glory, when, as there is one God, one Christ, one Spirit, so
   we shall have one heart, one church, one employment for ever.

   We shall then rest from our participation of our brethren’s sufferings. The
   church on earth is a mere hospital! Some groaning under a dark
   understanding, some under an insensible heart, some anguishing under
   unfruitful weakness, and some bleeding for miscarriages and wilfulness; some
   crying out of their poverty, some groaning under pains and infirmities, and
   some bewailing a whole catalogue of calamities. But a far greater grief it
   is, to see our dearest and most intimate friends turned aside from the truth
   of Christ, continuing their neglect of Christ and their souls, and nothing
   will awaken them out of their security: to look on an ungodly father or
   mother, brother or sister, wife or husband, child or friend, and think how
   certainly they shall be in hell for ever, if they die in their present
   unregenerated state; to think of the Gospel departing, the glory taken from
   our Israel, poor souls left willingly dark and destitute, and blowing out
   the light that should guide them to salvation! Our day of rest will free us
   from all this, and the days of mourning shall be ended. Then thy people, O
   Lord, shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the
   branch of thy planting, the work of thy hands; that thou mayest be
   glorified.

   Then we shall rest from all our own personal sufferings. This may seem a
   small thing to those that live in ease and prosperity; but to the daily
   afflicted soul it makes the thoughts of heaven delightful. O the dying life
   we now live! as full of sufferings as of days and hours! Our Redeemer leaves
   this measure of misery upon us, to make us know for what we are beholden, to
   remind us of what we should else forget, to be serviceable to his wise and
   gracious designs, and advantageous to our full and final recovery. Grief
   enters at every sense, seizes every part and power of flesh and spirit. What
   noble part is there that suffereth its pain or ruin alone? But sin and
   flesh, dust and pain, will all be left behind together. O the blessed
   tranquillity of that region, where there is nothing but sweet continued
   peace! O healthful place, where none are sick! O fortunate land, where all
   are kings! O holy assembly, where all are priests! How free a state, where
   none are servants but to their supreme Monarch! The poor man shall no more
   be tired with his labors: no more hunger or thirst, cold or nakedness: no
   pinching frosts or scorching heats. Our faces shall no more be pale or sad;
   no more breaches in friendship, nor parting of friends asunder; no more
   trouble accompanying our relations, nor voice of lamentation heard in our
   dwellings: God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. O my soul, bear with
   the infirmities of thine earthly tabernacle; it will be thus but a little
   while; the sound of thy Redeemer’s feet is even at the door.

   We shall also rest from all the toils of duties. The conscientious
   magistrate, parent and minister cries out, “O the burden that lieth upon
   me!” Every relation, state, age hath variety of duties; so that every
   conscientious Christian cries out, “O the burden! O my weakness, that makes
   it burdensome!” But our remaining rest will ease us of the burdens.

   Once more, we shall rest from all these troublesome afflictions which
   necessarily accompany our absence from God. The trouble that is mixed in our
   desires and hopes, our longings and waitings, shall then cease. We shall no
   more look into our cabinet and miss our treasure; into our hearts, and miss
   our Christ; no more seek him from ordinance to ordinance; but all be
   concluded in a most blessed and full enjoyment.

   9. The last jewel of our crown is, that it will be an everlasting rest.
   Without this all were comparatively nothing. The very thought of leaving it
   would embitter all our joys. It would be a hell in heaven, to think of once
   losing heaven; as it would be a kind of heaven to the damned, had they but
   hope of once escaping. Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary delights.
   How it spoils our pleasure to see it dying in our hands! 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 the temple of
   God, and go no more out.” 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.” “O my soul, let go thy dreams of present pleasure, and loose thy hold
   of earth and flesh. Study frequently, study thoroughly this one
   word—eternity. What! live and never die! rejoice, and ever rejoice!” O happy
   souls in hell, should you but escape after millions of ages! O miserable
   saints in heaven, should you be dispossessed after the age of a million of
   worlds! This word, everlasting, contains the perfection of their torment and
   our glory. O that the sinner would study this word; methinks it would
   startle him out of his dead sleep! O that the gracious soul would study it;
   methinks it would revive him in his deepest agony! “And must I, Lord, thus
   live for ever. Then will I also love for ever. Must my joys be immortal; and
   shall not my thanks be also immortal? Surely, if I shall never lose my
   glory, I will never cease thy praises. If thou wilt both perfect and
   perpetuate me and my glory, as I shall be thine, and not my own, so shall my
   glory be thy glory. And as thy glory was thy ultimate end in my glory, so
   shall it also be my end, when thou hast crowned me with that glory which
   hath no end. ‘Unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
   be honor and glory, for ever and ever.’“

   Thus I have endeavored to show you a glimpse of approaching glory. But how
   short are my expressions of its excellency! Reader, if thou be an humble,
   sincere believer, and waitest with longing and laboring for this rest, thou
   wilt shortly see and feel the truth of all this. Thou wilt then have so high
   an impression of this blessed state as will make thee pity the ignorance and
   distance of mortals, and will tell thee all that is here said falls short of
   the whole truth a thousandfold. In the mean time, let this much kindle thy
   desires, and quicken thy endeavors. 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,
   and all is thine own. What kind of men, dost thou think, would Christians be
   in their lives and duties, if they had still this glory fresh in their
   thoughts? what frame would their spirits be in, if their thoughts of heaven
   were lively and believing? Would their hearts be so heavy; their
   countenances so sad? or would they have need to take up their comforts from
   below? Would they be so loth to suffer; so afraid to die? or would they not
   think every day a year till they enjoy it? May the Lord heal our carnal
   hearts, lest we “enter not into this rest because of unbelief.”

     _________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER IV.

   THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSONS FOR WHOM THIS REST IS DESIGNED. 


   The people of God who shall enjoy this rest are, 1. Chosen from eternity; 2.
   Given to Christ; 3. Born again; 4. Deeply convinced of the evil of sin,
   their misery by sin, the vanity of the creature, and the all-sufficiency of
   Christ. 5. Their will is proportionably changed. 6. They engage in covenant
   with Christ. 7. They persevere in their engagements. The reader invited to
   examine himself by these characteristics of God’s people. Further testimony
   from Scripture, that this rest shall be enjoyed by the people of God: also
   that none but they shall enjoy it; and that it remains for them, and is not
   to be enjoyed till they come to another world. The chapter concludes with
   showing, that their souls shall enjoy this rest while separated from their
   bodies.


   While I was in the mount, describing the excellencies of the saints’ rest, I
   felt it was good being there, and therefore tarried the longer; and were
   there not an extreme disproportion between my conceptions and the subject,
   much longer had I been. Can a prospect of that happy land be tedious? Having
   read of such high and unspeakable glory, a stranger would wonder for what
   rare creatures this mighty preparation should be made, and expect some
   illustrious sun should break forth: but, behold! only a shellful of dust,
   animated with an invisible rational soul, and that rectified with as unseen
   a restoring power of grace; and this is the creature that must possess such
   glory! You would think it must needs be some deserving piece, or one that
   brings a valuable price: but, behold! one that hath nothing and can deserve
   nothing; yea, that deserves the contrary, and would, if he might, proceed in
   that deserving: but, being apprehended by love, he is brought to him that is
   all; and most affectionately receiving him, and resting on him, he doth, in
   and through him, receive all this! More particularly, the persons for whom
   this rest is designed are chosen of God from eternity; given to Christ as
   their Redeemer; born again; deeply convinced of the evil and misery of a
   sinful state, the vanity of the creature, and the all-sufficiency of Christ;
   their will is renewed; they engage themselves to Christ in covenant; and
   they persevere in their engagements to the end.

   1. The persons for whom this rest is designed, whom the text calls “the
   people of God,” are “chosen of God before the foundation of the world, that
   they should be holy and without blame before him in love.” That they are but
   a part of mankind is apparent in Scripture and experience. They are the
   little flock, to whom “it is their Father’s good pleasure to give the
   kingdom.” Fewer they are than the world imagines; yet not so few as some
   drooping spirits think, who are suspicious that God is unwilling to be their
   God, when they know themselves willing to be his people.

   2. These persons are given of God to his Son, to be by him redeemed from
   their lost state, and advanced to this glory. God hath given all things to
   his Son, but not as he hath given his chosen to him. “God hath given him
   power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the
   Father hath given him.” The difference is clearly expressed by the apostle;
   “he hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all
   things to the church.” And though Christ is, in some sense, a ransom for
   all, yet not in that special manner as for his people.

   3. One great qualification of these persons is that they are born again. To
   be the people of God without regeneration, is as impossible as to be the
   children of men without generation. Seeing we are born God’s enemies, we
   must be new-born his sons, or else remain enemies still. The greatest
   reformation of life that can be attained, without this new life wrought in
   the soul, may procure our further delusion, but never our salvation.

   4. This new life in the people of God discovers itself by conviction, or a
   deep sense of divine things.

   They are convinced of the evil of sin. The sinner is made to know and feel
   that the sin which was his delight, is a more loathsome thing than a toad or
   serpent, and a greater evil than plague or famine; being a breach of the
   righteous law of the most high God, dishonorable to him, and destructive to
   the sinner. Now the sinner no more hears the reproofs of sin as words of
   course; but the mention of his sin speaks to his very heart, and yet he is
   willing you should show him the worst. He was wont to marvel what made men
   keep up such a stir against sin; what harm it was for a man to take little
   forbidden pleasure; he saw no such heinousness in it that Christ must needs
   die for it, and a christless world be eternally tormented in hell. Now the
   case is altered; God hath opened his eyes to see the inexpressible vileness
   of sin.

   They are convinced of their own misery by reason of sin. They who before
   read the threats of God’s law as men do the story of foreign wars, now find
   it their own story, and perceive they read their own doom, as if they found
   their own names written in the curse, or heard the law say, as Nathan, “Thou
   art the man.” The wrath of God seemed to him before but a storm to a man in
   a dry house, or as the pains of the sick to the healthful stander-by; but
   now he finds the disease is his own, and feels himself a condemned man: that
   he is dead and damned in point of law, and that nothing is wanting but mere
   execution to make him absolutely and irrecoverably miserable. This is a work
   of the Spirit wrought in some measure in all the regenerate. How should he
   come to Christ for pardon who did not first find himself guilty and
   condemned? or for life, who never found himself spiritually dead? “The whole
   need not a physician, but they that are sick.” The discovery of the remedy
   as soon as the misery, must needs prevent a great part of the trouble. And
   perhaps the joyful apprehensions of mercy may make the sense of misery
   sooner forgotten.

   They are also convinced of the creature’s vanity and insufficiency. Every
   man is naturally an idolater. Our hearts turned from God in our first fall;
   and, ever since, the creature hath been our god. This is the grand sin of
   our nature. Every unregenerate man ascribes to the creature divine
   prerogatives, and allows it the highest room in his soul; or, if he is
   convinced of misery, he flies to it as his savior. Indeed, God and His
   Christ shall be called Lord and Savior; but the real expectation is from the
   creature, and the work of God is laid upon it. Pleasure, profit and honor,
   are the natural man’s trinity and his carnal self is these in unity. It was
   our first sin to aspire to be as gods and it is the greatest sin that is
   propagated in our nature from generation to generation. When God should
   guide us, we guide ourselves; when he should be our Sovereign, we rule
   ourselves: the laws which he gives us, we find fault with, and would correct
   and, if we had the making of them, we would have made them otherwise: when
   he should take care of us, (and must, or we perish,) we will take care for
   ourselves: when we should depend on him in daily receiving, we had rather
   have our portion in our own hands: when we should submit to his providence,
   we usually quarrel with it, and think we could make a better disposal than
   God hath made. When we should study and love, trust and honor God, we study
   and love, trust and honor our carnal selves. Instead of God, we would have
   all men’s eyes and dependence on us, and all men’s thanks returned to us,
   and would gladly be the only men on earth extolled and admired by all. Thus
   we are naturally our own idols. But down falls this Dagon when God once
   renews the soul. It is the chief design of that great work, to bring the
   heart back to God himself. He convinceth the sinner that the creature can
   neither be his God, to make him happy, nor his Christ, to recover him from
   his misery and restore him to God, who is his happiness. God does this not
   only by his word, but also by his providence. This is the reason why
   affliction so frequently concurs in the work of conversion. Arguments which
   speak to the quick, will force a hearing when the most powerful words are
   slighted. If a sinner made his credit his god, and God cast him into the
   lowest disgrace, or bring him, who idolized his riches, into a condition
   wherein they cannot help him, or cause them to take wing and fly away, what
   a help is here to this work of conviction! If a man made pleasure his god,
   whatsoever a roving eye, a curious ear, a greedy appetite, or a lustful
   heart could desire, and God take these from him, or turn them into gall and
   wormwood, what a help is here to conviction! When God casts a man into
   languishing sickness, and inflicts wounds on his heart, and stirs up against
   him his own conscience, and then, as it were, says to him, “Try if your
   credit, riches, or pleasures can help you. Can they heal your wounded
   conscience? Can they now support your tottering tabernacle? Can they keep
   your departing soul in your body? or save you from my everlasting wrath? or
   redeem your soul from eternal flames? Cry aloud to them, and see now whether
   these will be to you instead of God and Christ.” O how this works now with
   the sinner! Sense acknowledges the truth, and even the flesh is convinced of
   the creature’s vanity, and our very deceiver is undeceived.

   The people of God are likewise convinced of the absolute necessity, the full
   sufficiency, and perfect excellency of Jesus Christ: as a man in famine is
   convinced of the necessity of food; or a man that has heard or read his
   sentence of condemnation, of the absolute necessity of pardon; or a man that
   lies in prison for debt, of his need of a surety to discharge it. Now the
   sinner feels an insupportable burden upon him, and sees there is none but
   Christ can take it off: he perceives the law proclaims him a rebel, and none
   but Christ can make his peace: he is as a man pursued by a lion, that must
   perish if he finds not a present sanctuary: he is now brought to this
   dilemma; either he must have Christ to justify him, or be eternally
   condemned; have Christ to save him, or burn in hell for ever; have Christ to
   bring him to God, or be shut out of his presence everlastingly! And no
   wonder if he cry as the martyr, “None but Christ! none but Christ!” Not
   gold, but bread, will satisfy the hungry; nor will any thing but pardon
   comfort the condemned.

   All things are counted but dung now, that he may win Christ; and what was
   gain, he counts loss for Christ. As the sinner sees his misery, and the
   inability of himself and all things to relieve him, so he perceives there is
   no saving mercy out of Christ. He sees that though the creature cannot, and
   himself cannot, yet Christ can help him. Though the fig leaves of our own
   unrighteous righteousness are too short to cover our nakedness, yet the
   righteousness of Christ is large enough: ours is disproportionate to the
   justice of the law, but Christ’s extends to every tittle. If he intercede,
   there is no denial; such is the dignity of his person and the value of his
   merits, that the Father grants all he desires. Before, the sinner knew
   Christ’s excellency as a blind man knows the light of the sun; but now, as
   one that beholds its glory.

   5. After this deep conviction, the will manifests also its change. As, for
   instance, the sin which the understanding pronounces evil, the will turns
   from with abhorrence. Not that the sensitive appetite is changed, or any way
   made to abhor its object; but when it would prevail against reason, and
   carry us to sin against God, instead of Scripture being the rule, and reason
   the master, and sense the servant, this disorder and evil the will abhors.
   The misery also, which sin hath procured, is not only discerned, but
   bewailed. It is impossible that the soul should now look either on its
   trespass against God, or yet on its own self-procured calamity, without some
   contrition. He that truly discerns that he hath killed Christ, and killed
   himself, will surely in some measure be pricked to the heart. If he cannot
   weep, he can heartily groan and his heart feels what his understanding sees.
   The creature is renounced as vanity, and turned out of the heart with
   disdain: not that it is undervalued, or the use of it condemned; but its
   idolatrous abuse, and its unjust usurpation. Can Christ be the way, where
   the creature is the end? Can we seek Christ to reconcile us to God, while in
   our hearts we prefer the creature before him? In the soul of every
   unregenerate man the creature is both God and Christ. As turning from the
   creature to God, and not by Christ, is no true turning; so believing in
   Christ, while the creature hath our hearts, is no true believing. Our
   aversion from sin, renouncing our idols, and our right receiving Christ, is
   all but one work, which God ever perfects where he begins. At the same time,
   the will cleaves to God the Father, and to Christ. Having been convinced
   that nothing else can be his happiness, the sinner now finds it is in God.
   Convinced also that Christ alone is able and willing to make peace for him,
   he most affectionately accepts of Christ as his Savior and Lord. Paul’s
   preaching was “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus
   Christ.” And life eternal consists, first in “knowing the only true God;”
   and then “Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent.” To take the Lord for our God is
   the natural part of the covenant; the supernatural part is, to take Christ
   for our Redeemer. The former is first necessary, and implied in the latter.
   To accept Christ without affection and love, is not justifying faith: nor
   does love follow as a fruit, but immediately concurs; for faith is the
   receiving of Christ with the whole soul. “He that loveth father or mother
   more than Christ, is not worthy of him,” nor is justified by him. Faith
   accepts him as Savior and Lord: for in both relations will he be received,
   or not at all. Faith not only acknowledges his sufferings, and accepts of
   pardon and glory, but acknowledges his sovereignty, and submits to his
   government and way of salvation.

   6. As an essential part of the character of God’s people, they now enter
   into a cordial covenant with Christ. The sinner was never strictly, nor
   comfortably, in covenant with Christ till now. He is sure, by the free
   offers, that Christ consents and now he cordially consents himself; and so
   the agreement is fully made. With this covenant Christ delivers up himself
   in all comfortable relations to the sinner; and the sinner delivers up
   himself to be saved and ruled by Christ. Now the soul resolutely concludes,
   “I have been blindly led by flesh and lust, by the world and the devil, too
   long, almost to my utter destruction; I will now be wholly at the disposal
   of my Lord, who hath bought me with his blood, and will bring me to his
   glory.”

   7. I add, that the people of God persevere in this covenant to the end.
   Though the believer may be tempted, yet he never disclaims his Lord,
   renounces his allegiance, nor repents of his covenant; nor can he properly
   be said to break that covenant, while that faith continues which is the
   condition of it. Indeed, those that have verbally covenanted, and not
   cordially, may tread under foot the blood of the covenant, wherewith they
   were sanctified, as an unholy thing, by separation from those without the
   church; but the elect cannot be so deceived. Though this perseverance be
   certain to true believers, yet it is made a condition of their salvation;
   yea, of their continued life and fruitfulness, and of the continuance of
   their justification, though not of their first justification itself. But
   eternally blessed be that hand of love which hath drawn the free promise,
   and subscribed and sealed to that which ascertains us both of the grace
   which is the condition, and the kingdom which on that condition is offered!

   Such are the essentials of this people of God. Not a full portraiture of
   them in all their excellencies, nor all the marks whereby they may be
   discerned. I beseech thee, reader, as thou hast the hope of a Christian, or
   the reason of a man, judge thyself as one that must shortly be judged by a
   righteous God, and faithfully answer these questions. I will not inquire
   whether you remember the time or the order of these workings of the Spirit,
   there may be much uncertainty and mistake in that. If you are