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THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
OF THE
REV. RICHARD BAXTER.
/
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
OF
THE REV. RICHARD BAXTER:
A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,
AND
.4 CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF HIS WRITINGS,
BY THE
REV. WILLIAM ORME,
AUTHOR OF "the LIFE OF JOHN OWEN, D.D. j" " BIBLIOTHECA BIBLICA," ETC.
IN TWENTY-THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. XXIL
LONDON:
JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCXXX.
i^
-.^^
LONDO?J:
PRINTED BY MILLS, .lOWF.TT, AND .MILLS,
BOLI-rOL'RT, I I LET-STHFET..
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
OF THE
VOLUME XXII.
CONTAINING
THE SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.
VOL, XXII.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY MILLS, JOWETT, AND MILLS,
BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET.
CONTENTS
OF
THE TWENTY-SECOND VOLUME.
PAGE
Th e Dedication of the whole ......••*. 1
A Premonition 17
THE SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.
THE FIRST PART.
Chap. I. There remaineth, therefore, a rest for the people
of God 26
II. This rest defined 30
III. What this rest presupposeth , . . . 37
IV. What this rest containeth 46
V. The four great preparatives to our rest 70
VI. This rest most excellent, discovered by reason ... 97
VII. The excellencies of our rest 106
VIII. The people of God described 171
The conclusion 199
THE SECOND PART.
THE PROOFS OF THE TRUTH AND CERTAIN FUTU-
RITY OF OUR REST; AND THAT THE SCRIPTURE
PROMISING THAT REST TO US, IS THE PERFECT
INFALLIBLE WORD AND LAW OF GOD.
Dedication 203
Preface 204
iv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Chap. I 240
II. Motives to study and preach the divine authority
of Scripture 246
III 258
IV. The first argument to prove Scripture to be the
Word of God 268
V. The second argument , 298
VI. The third argument 305
VII. The fourth argument 317
VIIL Rest for none but the people of God, proved .... 336
IX. Reasons why this rest remains^ and is not here
enjoyed 339
X. Whether the souls departed enjoy this rest before
the resurrection = 348
THE THIRD PART.
SEVERAL USES OF THE FORMER DOCTRINE
OF REST.
Chap. I. Use 1. — Showing the unconceivable misery of the
ungodly in their loss of this rest 361
II. The aggravation of the loss of heaven to the un-
godly 371
III. They shall lose all things that are comfortable,
as well as heaven 395
IV. The greatness of the torments of the damned dis-
covered 415
V. Use 2. — R.eprehending the general neglect of this
rest, and exciting to diligence in seeking it . . 437
VI. An exhortation to seriousness in seeking rest .... 455
VII. Use 3. — Persuading all men to try their title to
this rest ; and directing them how to try, that*
they may kno\v 482
VIIL Further causes of doubting among Christians . . . 505
IX. Containing an exhortation, and motives to examine 517
X. Containing directions for examination, and some
marks for trial ..,,,,..,. , 529
TO
MY DEARLY BELOVED FRIENDS,
THE INHABITANTS OF THE
BOROUGH AND FOREIGN OF KIDDERMINSTER,
BOTH MAGISTRATES AND PEOPLE.
My dear Friends,
If either I or my labours have any thing of public use or
worth, it is wholly, though not only, yours ; and I am convinced,
by Providence, that it is the will of God it should be so. This
I clearly discerned in my first coming to you, in my former
abode with you, and in the time of my forced absence from you.
When I was separated by the miseries of the late unhappy war,
I durst not fix in any other congregation ; but lived in a military,
unpleasing state, lest I should forestall my return to you, for
whom I took myself reserved. The oflfers of greater worldly
accommodations, with five times the means which I receive with
you, was no temptation to me once to question whether I should
leave you : your free invitation of my return, your obedience to
my doctrine, the strong affection which I have yet towards you
above all people, and the general, hearty return of love which I
find from you, do all persuade me that I was sent into this world
especially for the service of your souls. And that even when I
am dead I might yet be a help to your salvation, the Lord hath
forced me, quite beside my own resolution, to write this treatise,
and leave it in your hands. It was far from my thoughts ever
to have become thus public, and burthened the world with any
writings of mine ; therefore have I oft resisted the requests of
my reverend brethren, and some superiors, who might else have
commanded much more at my hands : but see how God over-
ruleth and crosseth our resolutions.
Being in my quarters, far from home, cast into extreme lan-
guishing by the sudden loss of about a gallon of blood, after
many years' foregoing weaknesses, and having no acquaintance
VOL. XXfl, B
*Ci
2 THE DEDICATION
about me, nor any books but my bible, and living in continual ex-
pectation of deatb, I bent my thoughts on my 'Everlasting
Rest;' and because my memory, through extreme weakness, was
imperfect, 1 took my pen and began to draw up my own funeral
sermon, or some helps for my own meditations of heaven, to
sweeten both the rest of my life and my death. In this condi-
tion God was pleased to continue me about five months, from
home ; where, being able for nothing else, I went on with this
work, which so lengthened to this which here you see. It is no
wonder, therefore, if I be too abrupt in the beginning, seeing I
then intended but the length of a sermon or two ; much less
may you wonder if the whole be very imperfect, seeing it was
written, as it were, with one foot in the grave, by a man that
was betwixt living and dead, that wanted strength of nature to
quicken invention or affection, and had no book but his bible
while the chief part was finished, nor had any mind of human
r~ ornaments if he had been furnished. But O how sweet is this
! Providence now to my review, which so happily forced me to
that work of meditation which I had formerly found so profitable
to my soul, and showed me more mercy in depriving me of other
helps than I was aware of, and hath caused my thoughts to feed
on this heavenly subject, which hath more benefited me than
5 all the studies of my life !
^" And now, dear friends, such as it is I here offer it you ; and
upon the bended knees of my soul I offer up my thanks to the
L merciful God who hath fetched up both me and it, as from the
grave, for your service ; who reversed the sentence of present
death, which, by the ablest physicians, was passed upon me ;
who interrupted my public laboiu's for a time, that he might
force me to do you a more lasting service, which, else, I had
never been like to have attempted : that God do I heartily bless
and magnify, who hath rescued me from the many dangers of
four years' war, and after so many tedious nights and days, and
so many doleful sights and tidings, hath returned me, and many
of yourselves, and reprieved us till now to serve him in peace ',
and though men be ungrateful, and my body ruined beyond hope
of recovery, yet he hath made up all in the comforts I have in
you. To the God of mercy do J here offer my most hearty
thanks, and pay the vows of acknowledgment which I oft made
in my distress, who hath not rejected my prayers, which in my
dolor I put up,^ but hath, by a wonder, delivered me in the
8 Arriba Concil. de Gratia et Liber Arbit. 1. i. c. 10,
OF THK WHOLE. 3
midst of my duties ; and hath supported me this fourteen years
in a languishing state, wherein I have scarcely had a waking hour
free from pain ; who hath, above twenty several times, delivered
me when I was near to death : and though he hath made me
spend my days in groans and tears, and in a constant expecta-
tion of my change, yet hath he not wholly disabled me to his
service ; and hereby hath more effectually subdued my pride,
and made this world contemptible to me, and forced my dull
lieart to more importunate requests, and occasioned more rare
discoveries of his mercy than ever I could have expected in a
prosperous state. For ever blessed be the Lord, that hath not
only honoured me to be a minister of his Gospel, but hath also
set me over a people so willing to obey, and given me that suc-
cess of my labours which he hath denied to many more able and
faithful ; '' who hath kept you in the zealous practice of godli-
ness when so many grow negligent, or despise the ordinances of
God ; who hath kept you stable in his truth, and saved you from
the spirit of giddiness, levity, and apostasy, of this age ; who
hath preserved you from those scandals, whereby others have so
heinously wounded their profession, and hath given you to see
the mischief of separation and divisions, and made you eminent
for unity and peace when almost all the land is in a flame of
contention, and so many that we thought godly are busily de-
molishing the church, and striving in a zealous ignorance
against the Lord. Beloved, though few of you are rich or great
in the world, yet for this riches of mercy towards you, 1 must
say, ye are my glory, my crown, and my joy ; and for all these
rare favours to myself and you, as I have oft promised to pub-
lish the praises of our Lord, so do I here set up this stone of
remembrance, and write upon it, ' Glory to God in the highest :
■* Nam cum gaudere in hoc omnes fratres oportet, turn in gaudio communi
major est episcopi portio. Ecclesiae enim gloria praspositi gloria est. Quantum
dolemus ex illis quos tempestas inimica prostravit ; tantum laetamur ex vobis,
quosdiabolus superarenon potuit. Hortamur tamen per comrnunemfidem, per
pectoris nostri veram circa vos et simplicem charitatem ut adversarium prima
hac congressione vicistis, gloriam vestram forti et perseveranti virtute tenea-
tis. Adhuc in seculo sumus ; adhuc in acie constituti, de vita nostra quotidie
dimicamus. Danda opera est, ut post hsec initia, ad increnienta quocjue ve-
niatur, et coiisummetur in vobis, quod jam rudimentis foelicibus esse coepistis.
Parum adipisci aliquid potuisse : plus est quod adeptus es posse servare;
sicut et fides ipsa et nativitas salutaris, non accepta, sed custodita vivificat.
Nee statim consecutio, sed consummatio hominem Deo servat, ut John v. 14.
— Cyprian, Epist. vii. ad Rogat,, &c. p. (mihi) 19,
b2
4 THE DEDICATION
hitherto hath the Lord helped us : my flesh and my heart failed,
but God is the strength of mv heart, and my portion for ever.'
But have all these deliverances brought us to our rest ? No ;
we are as far yet from it as we are from heaven. You are yet
under oppression and troubles, and I am yet under consuming
sickness ; and feeling that I am likely to be among you but a
little while, and that my pained body is hastening to the dust,
I shall here leave you my best advice for your immortal souls,
and bequeath vou this counsel as the legacv of a dying man,
that you may here read it and practise it when I am taken from
you ; and, 1 beseech you, receive it as from one that you know
dolh unfeignedly love you, and that regardeth no honours or
happiness in this world in comparison with the welfare and salva-
tion of your souls ; yea, receive it from me as if 1 offered it you
upon my knees, beseeching you, for your souls' sake, that you
would not reject it, and beseeching the Lord to bless it to you ;
yea, as one that hath received authority from Christ to com-
mand you, I charge you in his name, as ever you will answer it,
when we shall meet at judgment, and as you would not have
me there be a witness against you, nor all my labours be charged
against you to your condemnation, and the Lord Jesus, your
Judge, to sentence you as rebellious, that you faithfully and
constantly practise these ten directions :
L Labour to be men of knowledge and sound understandings.
A sound judgment is a most precious mercy, and much conduceth
to the soundness of heart and life.'^ A weak judgment is easily
corrupted ; and if it be once corrupt, the will and conversa-
tion will quickly follow. Your understandings are the inlet or
entrance to the whole soul ; and if you be weak there, your
souls are like a garrison that hath open or ill-guarded gates; and
if the enemy be once let in there, the whole city will quickly be
his own. ignorance is virtually every error, therefore let the
bible be much in your hands and hearts : remember what I
taught you on Deut. vi. 6, 7. Read much the writings of our
old, solid divines, such as Perkins, Bolton, Dodd, Sibbs, espe-
cially Doctor Preston. You may read an able divine when you
cannot hear one : especially, be sure you learn well the principles
of religion. Begin with the 'Assemblies' Lesser Catechism,'
and then read the greater; and, next. Master Balls', with the
« Male autem vivitur, si de Deo non bene vrediXur^—Jugust. de Chit.
1. V. c. 10.
OF THE WHOLE. 5
^Exposition,' and then Doctor Ames' 'Marrow of Divinity/ now
Englished, or Usher's. If you see men fall on controversies before
they understand these, never wonder if they are drowned in errors.
I know your poverty and labours will not give you leave to read
so much as others may do ; but yet a willing mind v*'ill find some
time, if it be when they should sleep, and, especially, it will spend
the Lord's day wholly in these things. O be not ignorant of
God in the midst of such light ! as if the matters of your salva-
tion were less worth vour study than your trading in the world.
2. Do the utmost you can to get a faithful minister when I
am taken from you, and be sure you acknowledge him your
teacher, overseer, and ruler; (1 Thess. v. 12, 13; Acts xx.
28 ; Heb. xiii. 7, 17;) and learn of him, obey him, and submit
to his doctrine, except he teach you any singular points, and then
take the advice of other ministers in trying it. Expect not that
he should humour you, and please your fancies, and say and do
as you would have him ; that is not the way of God, for the
people to rule themselves and their rulers. If he be unable to
teach and guide you, do not choose him at first ; if he be able,
be ruled bv him, even in things that to you are doubtful, except
it be clear that he would turn you from the truth; if you know
more than he, become preachers yourselves ; if you do not, then
quarrel not wlien you should learn : especially, submit to his
private over-sight, as well as public teaching. It is but the least
part of a minister's work which is done in the pulpit: Paul
taught them, also, from house to house, day and night, with
tears. (Acts xx. 20, 31.) To go daily from one house to ano-
ther, and see how you live, and examine how you profit, and
direct you in the duties of your families, and in your preparations
for death, is the great work.'^ Had not weakness confined me,
and public labours forbidden me, I should judge myself heinously
guilty in neglecting this. In the primitive times, every church
of so manv souls as this parish had many ministers, whereof the
ablest speakers did preach most in public, and the rest did the
more of the less public work, which some mistake for mere ruling
elders.'^ But now, sacrilege and covetousness will scarcely leave
•' Wliicli since I have dealt in with comfortable success. See my ' Re-
formed Pastor.'
■•■ Clemens Alexand. saith, " In all bodies there are two ranks ; those that
better them by superiority and governing, and those that serve, as parents
and children, magistrates and sul)jects, &c. And so in the church, that part
which hettercth it bc-loi;geth to the presbyters, and that which serveth to the
deacons." Here is no mention of any other office, — Stromat. lib, vii. initio.
b THE DEDICATION
maintenance for one in a church ; which is it that hath brought
us to a loss in the nature of government.
3. Let all your knowledge turn into affection and practice ;
keep open the passage between your heads and your hearts, that
every truth may go to the quick. Spare not, for any pains, in
working out your salvation ; take heed of loitering, when your
souls lie at the stake ; favour not yourselves in any slothful dis-
temper : laziness is the damnation of most that perish among
us. God forbid you should be of the mad opinion of the world,
that like not serving God so much, nor making so much ado to
be saved : all these men will shortly be of another mind. Live
now as you would wish you had done at death and judgment.
Let no scorns dishearten you, no differences of opinion be an
offence to you : God, and Scripture, and heaven, and the way
thither, are still the same. It will do you no good to be of the
right religion, if you be not zealous in the exercise of the duties
of that religion. Read often the fifth and sixth chapters of the
third part of this book.
4. Be sure you make conscience of the great duties that you
are to perform in your families. Teach your children and ser-
vants the knowledge and fear of God ; do it early and late, in
season and out of season. Pray with them daily and fervently;
remember Daniel's example, (Dan. vi.,) and the command.
(1 Thess. V. 17.) Read the Scripture, and good books to them ;
restrain them from sin ; keep not a servant that will not learn,
and be ruled. Neighbours, I charge you, as you will shortly
answer the contrary before the Lord your Judge, that there be
never a family among you that shall neglect these great duties.
If you cannot do what you should, yet do what you can ; especi-
ally, see that the Lord's day be wholly spent in these exercises.
To spend it in idleness or sports, is to consecrate it to your flesh,
and not to God, and far worse than to spend it in your trades.
5. Beware of extremes in the controverted points of religion.
When you avoid one error, take heed you nm not into another,
especially if you be in the heat of disputation or passion. As I
have showed you, I think, the true mean in the doctrine of justi-
fication and redemption, so I had intended to have writ a pecu-
liar treatise with three columns, showing both extremes, and the
truth in the middle, through the body of divinity, but God takes
me off. Especially beware of these times : antinomianisni
comes from gross ignorance, and leads to gross wickedness.
Socinians are scarce Christians : Arminianisin is quite above
OF THE WHOLE. /
your reach, and, therefore, not fit for your study in most points.
The middle way which Camero, Ludov. Crocius, Rlartinus,
Amyraldus, Davenant, with all the divines of Britain and Breme,
in the synod of Dort, go, 1 think is nearest the truth of any that I
know who have written on those points of redemption and univer-
sal grace. And for the points of predestination, and the nature of
the divine influx on the will in the working of grace, which are
most hotly agitated, and where the heart of the controversy seems
to lie ; I think I had never yet the happiness to read, or speak
with the man that himself understood them : and those, least, that
are usually most confident. As for separation, the mischief of it
lies not in the bare error of judgment, but in the unchristian and
church-dissolving division and alienation which thence follovv-
eth; contrary to that humility and love which is the visible
character of Christians, and to that oneness which is still in
Scripture ascribed to the visible church. Alas, that pride and
ignorance should have such power among believers, that men
cannot be of several judgments in lesser points, but they must
needs be also of several churches ! God will make us value
peace and union a little more, before we shall taste of the per-
fect everlasting peace and union : yea, before we shall see the
blessing of union in the church. Wounding is a dividing; heal-
ing is a re-uniting. A building is of many stones or pieces or-
derly conjoined; a church is an aggregation of individuals; an
association of believers. What then, is it to demolish, but to
•separate and disjoin ? And what is it to dissolve churches, but
to break their association ; to reduce them to individuals ; to
cut them into shreds ?^ As for the differences, in way of govern-
f Doubtless, in Cyprian's time, every particular, completed church was
guided and ruled by a society of presbyters, having all authority to teach ;
the chief of whom was chosen constant moderator and president, and called
the bishop ; and under these were the deacons : and both presbyters and presi-
dent ordained by others of the same office, and chosen or accepted by the peo»
j)le. So that then there was no bishop over many churches, but only the pre-
sident to many ministers in one church ; nor did they once claim a power
over the officers of another church : nor was there such a thing as a presby-
ter that was no church governor, but merely a teacher : nor such a thing, I
think, as a presbyter that had no authority to teach : nor such a thing as a
church ruled by the vote of the people. " Salvo inter collegas pacis et con-
cordiae vinculo (there is the chief use of synods) qucedam propria quae apud
se semel sunt usurpata, quidani, retinent. Qua in re, nee nos vim cuiquam
faciraus, aut legem damns ; cum habeat in ecclesife administratione volun-
tatis sua; arbitrium liberum unusquique pra?positas, rationem actus sui Domino
redditurus." This was written to the Bishop of Rome — an undoubted testi-
mony against his usurped power, by blessed Cyprian, in Epist. Ixxii. p. 217,
8 THE DEDICATION
ment between the moderate presbyterians, independents, episco-
pal, and erastian, I make no doubt but if men's spirits stood not
at a greater distance than their principles, they would quickly be
united. But of all the four sorts, there are some that run so
high in their principles, that they run out of the hearing of peace
or truth. Will God never put it into the hearts of rulers, to
call together some of the most godly, learned, moderate, and
peaceable of all four opinions (not too many), to agree upon a
way of union and accommodation, and not to cease till they have
brought it to this issue ? To come as near together as they
can possibly in their principles : and where they cannot, yet to
unite as far as may be, in their practice, though on different
principles ; and where that cannot be, yet to agree on the most
loving, peaceable course in the way of carrying on our different
practices; that so, as Rup. Meldenius saith, we may have unity
in things necessary, liberty in things unnecessary, and charity in
all. The Lord persuade those who have power to this pacifica-
tory enterprise without delav.
For anabaptism and antinomianism, I have written against
them in two other books (s and more shall do against the latter, if
(edit. Goulartii.) By the fonseiit of a synod, yea, in the ordination of their
church guides, though the people cannot call them alone, without the elec-
tion and ordination of other church guides, who are fittest to judge of their
abilities ; yea, are the people also to judge of their lives, and no officer
ordinarily to be put on them without their consent ; if the same Cyprian, with
a whole synod, were not mistaken. *' Plebs ipsa maxime habet potestatem
vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes, vel indignos recusandi." — Eplst. Ixviii. Read
the rest ; which testimony 1 add, to show I am far from running into extremes
against independency : and if they will read Goulartius' notes, they shall see
that they are more beholden to Geneva presbvterians than they are aware of:
yea, Pamelius himself confesseth as much as I say. But let the people re-
member that they choose not ministers whom they must rule, but church
guides and rulers, whom God hath frequently charged them to obey, as cor-
porations choose magistrates to govern them, and not to be governed by
them. Yet more plainly, Cyprian in initio Concil. Carthage to 87 : —
Bishops, he saith — " Superest ut de hac re singuli quid sentiamus proferamus
neminem judicantes, aut k jure communionis aliquem si diversum sinccrit
amoventes. Neque enim quisquam nostrum ejiiscopum se esse episcoporum
constituit, aut tyrannico terrore collegas ad obsequendi nocessitatem adigit,
cum habeat omnis episcopus pro licentia libertatis etpotestatis sua» arbitrium
proprium, tanique judicari ab alio non possit, quam nee ipse potest alterum
juilicare. Sed expectemus universi judicium Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui
unus et solus habet potestatem et proponendi nos in ecclesise sute "^uberna-
tione, et de acta nostro judicandi." Can more be said against the pope, or
any bishop of many churches, or any tliat claim a decisive judgment of doc-
trinal controversies.' In ' Open Cypriani/ (edit. Pamel. et Goulart,) pp
443, 444.
B Since done in my ' Confession and Apology.'
OF THE WHOLE. 9
God will). But my guilty friends are offended with me for what
I have done. I dare not, therefore, be silent, as being the officer
and ambassador of Christ, and not of men ; God spoke effectu-
ally against them by those wondrous monsters in New England.
But wonders are overlooked where the heart is hardened, and
God intends to get his justice a name. The fearful delusions
that God hath formerly given them over to, and the horrid con-
fusion which they have introduced where they have sprung, hath
spoken fully against both these latter sects. The weeping eyes,
the bleeding sides, the lacerated members, of these churches ; the
reproached Gospel, the disappointed reformation, the hideous
doctrines, and unheard-of wickedness that hath followed them ;
the contemned ordinances, the reproached, slandered, and eject-
ed ministers^ the weak that are scandalised, the professors apos-
tatised, the wicked hardened, and the open enemies of the Gospel
that now insult : all these do ascribe them more plainly to England
than words can do, and cry loud in the ears of God and man.
What will be the answer, time will show : but, from Rev. ii.
14 — 16, 20 — 22, &c., we may probably conjecture.
6. Above all, see that you be followers of peace and unity,
both in the church, and among yourselves. Remember what I
taught vou on Heb. xii, 14. He that is not a son of peace, is
not a son of God. All other sins destroy the church conse-
quentially, but division and separation demolish it directly.
Building the church is but an orderly joining of the materials j
and what then is disjoining, but pulling down ? Many doctrinal
differences must be tolerated in a church. And why, but for
unity and peace ? Therefore, disunion and separation is utterly
intolerable. Believe not those to be the churches' friends that
would cure and reform her, by cutting her throat. Those that
say, no truth must be concealed for peace, have usually as little
of the one as the other. Study Gal. ii. 2 ; Rom. xiv. 1, &c. ;
Acts xxi. 24, 26 ; 1 Tim. i. 4, and vi. 4 ; Tit. iii. S, 9. I hope,
sad experience speaks this lesson to your very hearts, if I should
say nothing. Do not your hearts bleed to look upon the state
of England ; and to think - how few towns or cities there be,
where is any forwardness in religion, that are not cut into shreds,
and crumbled as to dust, by separations and divisions ? To
think what a wound we have hereby given to the very christian
name. How we have hardened the ignorant, confirmed the
doubting ; and are ourselves become the scorn of our enemies,
and the grief of our friends; and how many of our dearest, best
10 THE DEDJCATION
esteemed friends are fallen to notorious pride or impiety ; yea,
some to be worse than open infidels; these are pillars of salt, see
that you remember them. You are yet eminent for your unity,
steadfastness, and godliness ; hold fast that you have, that no
man take your crown from you; temptations are now come near
your doors, yet many of you have gone through greater, and,
therefore, 1 hope, will escape through these. Yet, lest your
temptation should grow stronger, let me warn you, that though
of your own selves men should arise speaking perverse things, to
draw disciples after them ; (Acts xx. 30 ;) yea, though an angel
from heaven should draw you to division, see that you follow
him not. If there be erroneous practices in the church, keep your-
selves innocent with moderation and peace ; do your best to re-
form them, and rather remove your dwellings, if vou cannot live
innocently, than rend the church. It must be no small error
that must force a separation. .Justin, a holy, learned martyr,
(in ' Dialog, cum Triphone,') who was converted within thirty-
one years of John's death, and wrote his first Apology within
fifty-one, (and therefore it is like he saw John's days,) profes-
seth, that if a Jew should keep the ceremonial law, so he did not
persuade the Gentiles to it as necessary, yet if he acknowledge
Christ, he judgeth that he may be saved ; and he would embrace
him, and have communion with him, as a brother. And Paul
would have him received that is weak in the faith, and not un-
church whole parishes of those that we know not, nor were ever
brought to a just trial. You know I never conformed to the
use of mystical, symbolical rites myself, but only to the deter-
mination of circumstantials necessary m^^enere; and yet, I ever
loved a godly, peaceable conformist, better than a turbulent
nonconformist. I yet differ from many in several things of con-
siderable moment, 8cc.^ As my 'Aphorisms of Justification,'
•> Of which I may say, as famous Camero : Etsi non spondebam fore ut
omnibus arrideret, attamen nunquam veritus sum iiequis piorum eo offen-
deretur, quasi is causam adversariorum juvaret. Nam nullus inde quicquara
potuit exculpere, quod causae quam agebam, obesset, et is sic institutus est,
ut ubique seuteutiam adversarii non niodo petat, sed feriat etiam et ju<rulet.
(2uod siquis eum paium aptum et coiicinnum judicet, ecjo quidem certe id
neque iudig-nor, iieque doleo, ut qui sciam probe, quam sit asquum et ration!
cousentaiieum, ut siat iti hoc S'^nere liliera hominum judicia. Taiitum id
peto (quod a bonis viris impetraturum me facile coufido) ne hie obruar praeju-
diciis, neu me quis nisi aduionitum et vi veritatis victum, neque cedenteni
tamen existiniet damiiauduni. Utinam me sic vobis purgariui I Quod si cui
vestrum ullus adhuc ha;ret scrupulus, mihi rem fecerit et pergratam, et ap-
prime utilem; si mecura volet aperte agere, mihique vel agnoscendi errorem
OF THE WHOLE. 11
show (as is explained in my ' Confession*). And yet if I should
zealcv<sly press my judgment on others, so as to disturb the
peace of the church, and separate from my brethren, that are
contrary minded, I should fear lest I should prove a firebrand in
hell, for being a firebrand in the church; and for all the interest
I have in your judgment and affections, ] here charge you, that
if God should give me up to any factious, church-rending course,
against which I daily pray, that you forsake me, and follow me
not a step.
And for peace with one another, follow it with all your might;
If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, live peaceably with all
men. (Rom. xii. IS.) Mark this : when you feel any sparks of
discontent in your breast, take them as kindled by the devil from
hell, and take heed you cherish them not. If the flames begin
to break forth in censoriousness, reproaches, and hard speeches
of others, be as speedv and busy in quenching it, as if it were
fire in the thatch of your houses : for why should your houses
be dearer to you than the church, which is the house of God ?
Or than your souls, which are the temples of the Holy Ghost ?
If any heart-burnings arise, do not keep strange, but go together
and lovingly debate it, or pray together, that God would reconcile
you ; or refer the matter to your minister, or others ; and let
not the sun go down on your wrath ; hath God spoken more
against any sin than unpeaceableness ? If you forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you,
which made Ludovicus Crocius say, that this is the measure and
essential property of the least degree of true faith, ' Syntag.'
lib. iv. c. 16. If you love not each other, you are no disciples
ei, vel tuendae atque illustraudae veritatis copiam facere, prulatis rationibus
ac testimoiiiis S. Scripturae, quibus vel cedere, si contra me faciuiit vel si
minus, respondere queam. — Ccnner. in Epist. Resp. nd Theol. Jjeidens. Oper.
fol. p. 71f), vel ut Augustin. " Sicut lectorem meum nolo mihi esse dedi-
tuin, ita correctorem nolo sibi. llle me non aniet amplius qiiani catholifam
(fidem : iste se nou amet amplius quam catholicam) veritatem. Sicut illi dico,
noli meis Uteris quasi Scripturis Cauonicis in servire ; sed in illis et quoil nou
credebas, cum iuveneris, incunctanter crede, in istis auteui, quod certum nou
habebas, nisi certum intellexeris, noli firmiter retinere, Ita illi dice ; noli meas
literasex tua opiuione vel conteniione, sed ex diviua lectione,ve] inconcussa
ratione corrigere. Si quid in eis veri comprehenderis, existendo non est meum :
at intelligendo, et amando, et tuum sit, et meum. (Siquid autem falsi conviceris
errando fuerit meum.) Sed jam cavendo nee tuum sit nee meum." — /lug\
Ptoem. 1. 3. de Trin. This is all 1 desire of the readers of my writings ;
Hoc erga me omnes observare vellem, quod erga te ipse servavi ; ut quic-
quid improbandum puiant in scriptis meis, nee claudant subdolo pcctore, nee
ita reprehendant apud alios, ut taceant apud me. — Aug. Epist, ad Hieron.
inter opera. Hieron, torn, iii, fol. 164. {edit, Ameibach.)
12 • THE DEDICATION
of Christ; nay, if you love not your enemies, and bless not them
that curse you, and pray not for them that hurt and persecute
you, you are no children of God. The wisdom from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, &c.
(Jam. iii. 17.) O remember that piercing example of Christ,
who washed his disciples' feet, to teach us, that we must stoop
as low to one another. Sure, God doth not jest with you in all
these plain Scriptures. I charge you, in the name of Christ, if
vou cannot have peace otherwise, that you suffer wrongs and re-
proaches, that vou go and beg peace of those that should beg
it of vou ; yea, that you beg it on your knees of the poorest
beggar, rather than lose it. And remember, Rom. xvi. 17, 18.
7. Above all, be sure you get down the pride of your hearts.
Forget not all the sermons I preached to you against this sin.
No sin more natural, more common, or more deadly. A proud
man is his own idol ; only from pride cometh contention. There
is no living in peace with a proud person ; every disrespect will
cast them into a fever of discontent. If once you grow wise in
your own eyes, and love to be valued and preferred, and love
those l)ost v.^ho think highest of you, and have secret heart-
risings against any that disregard you, or have a low esteem of
you, and caiuiot endure to be slighted, or spoke evil of; never
take yourselves for Christians, if this be your case. To be a true
Christian without bumilitv, is as liard, as to be a man without a
soul. O, poor England, how low art thou brought by the
pride of ignorant zealots I Dear friends, 1 can foretell you, with-
out the gift of prophecy, that if any among you do fall from the
truth, mark which is the proudest, that cannot endure to be con-
tradicted, and that vilify others, and those will likely be they ;
and if ever you be broken in pieces, and ruined, pride will be
the cause.
8. Be sure you keep the mastery over your flesh and senses.
Few ever fall from God, but flesh-pleasing is the cause ; many
think that i)y " flesh" the Scripture means our in-dwelling sin,
when, alas ! it is the inordinate, sensitive ajipetice that it chargcth
us to subdue. Nothing in the world damneth so many as flesh-
pleasing, while men generally choose it as their happiness instead
of God. O remember who hath said, " If ye live after the flesh,
ye shall die," and, " Make no provision for the flesh, to satisfy
its desires." (Rom. viii. 5 — 7, and xiii. 14.) Think of this when
you are tempted to drunkenness, and gluttony, and lustfuluess,
and worldliness ; and when you would fain have your dvt'ellings
OF IHE WHOLE. IS
and states more delightful. You little think what a sin it is,
even to please your flesh, further than it tends to help you in the
service of God.'
9. Make conscience of the great duty of reproving and ex-
horting those ahout you : make not your souls guilty of the
oaths, ignorance, and ungodliness, of others, hy your silence.
Admonish them lovingly and modestly, but be sure you do it,
and that seriously. This is the first step in discipline. Expect
not that your minister should put any from the sacrament, whom
you have not thus admonished once and again. Punish not
before due process.
10. Lastly: be sure to maintain a constant delight in God,
and a seriousness and spirituality in all his worship. Think it
not enough to delight in duties, if you delight not in God.
Judge not of your duties by the bulk and number, but by the
sweetness. You are never stable Christians till you reach this.
Never forget all those sermons 1 preached to you on Psalm
xxxvii. 4. Give not way to a customary dulncss in duty : do
every duty with all thy might : especially, be not slight in secret
prayer and meditation. Lay not out the chief of your zeal upon
externals, and opinions, and the smaller things of religion.
Let most of your daily work be upon your hearts : be still sus-
picious of them ; understand their mortal wickedness, and de-
ceitfulness, and trust them not too far. Practise that great
duty of daily watching : pray earnestly that you be not led into
temptation. Fear the beginnings and appearances of sin.
Beware lest conscience once lose its tenderness. Make up every
breach between God and your conscience betime. Learn how
to live the life of faith, and keep fresh the sense of the love of
Christ, and of your continued need of his blood. Spirit, and
intercession ; and how much vou are beholden and enffatred to
him. Live in constant readiness and expectation of death, and
be sure to get acquainted with this heavenly conversation which
' Fateor ins'.tam esse nobis corporis nostri cbaritatem. Fateor nos luijus
fjerere tutelain. Nee neiro iiiilulg^endum illi, serviendum iie<^o. Multis eiiini
serviet, qui corpori servit, qui pro illo nitiiiuui timet, qui ad iilud oniiiio refert ;
sic j(ereie nos del)fmus, iion tan((uain jiropter cor])iis vivere del)eauius, sed
tanquam non possimus sine corpore. Hujus nos niniius anu;r linioribus in-
(juietat, solicitudiiiiljus onerat, contuineliis ohjicit. Monestuin ei vile est, cui
corpus nimimn cliaruin est. i\ijatur ejus 'lilii^cntissima cura ; ita tanien ut
cum exi^et ratio, cum dignitas, cum fides, mittendum in ignem sit. — Seneca
Epi.it. xii. p. rj43. Happy wi-re many a Christian if they liad learned this
lesson wliiih an infidel teaclictli tlieni.
14 THE DEDICATION, &C.
this book is written to direct you in ; which I commend to your
use, hoping you will be at the pains to read it, as for your sakes
I have been to write it ; and I shall beg for you of the Lord,
while I live on this earth, that he would persuade your souls to
this blessed work, and that when death comes, it may find you
so employed, that I may see your faces with joy at the bar
of Christ, and we may enter together into the everlasting rest.
Amen.
Your most affectionate, though unworthy teacher,
RICHARD BAXTER.
Kidderminster, Jao. 15, 1649.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFOL
SIR THOMAS ROUS, BARONET,
i
WITH THE
LADY JANE ROUS, HIS WIFE.
Right Worshipful,
This first part of this treatise was written under your roof,
and therefore I present it not to you as a gift, but as your own ;
not for your protection, but for your instruction and direction :
for I never perceived you possessed with that evil spirit, which
maketh men hear their teachers as their servants, to censure
their doctrine, or be humoured by them rather than to learn.
Nor do I intend this epistle for the publishing of your virtues :
you know to whose judgment you stand or fall. It is a small
thing to be judged by man's judgment : if you be sentenced as
righteous at the bar of Christ, and called by him, the blessed of
his Father, it matters not much by what name or title you are here
called. All saints are low in their own esteem, and therefore
thirst not to be highly esteemed by others. He that knows
what pride hath done in the world, and is now doing, and how
close that heinous sin doth cleave to all our natures, will scarcely
take him for a friend who will bring fuel to the fire ; nor that
breath for amicable, which will blow the coal. Yet, he that
took so kindly a woman's box of ointment, as to affix the his-
tory to his Gospel, that wherever it was read, that good work
might be remembered, hath warranted me, by his example, to
annex the mention of your favours to this treatise, which have
many times far exceeded in cost, that which Judas thought too
16 THE DKDIC'A'riON
good for his Lord. And common ingenuity commandeth me
thankfullv to acknov/ledge, that when vou heard I was suddenly
east into extreme weakness, you sent into several counties to
seek me in my quarters, and, missing of me, sent again to fetch
me to your house, where for many months I found a hospital,
a physician, a nurse, and real friends, and, which is more than
all, daily and importunate prayers for my recovery : and since
I went from you, your kindnesses still following me in abun-
dance : and all this for a man that was a stranger to you, whom
you had never seen before but to burden you ; and for one
that had no witty insinuations for the extracting your favours,
nor impudence enough to return them in flatteries ; yea, who
had such obstructions between his heart and his tongue, that he
could scarcely handsomely express the least part of his thank-
fulness, much less able to make you a requital. The best return
I can make of your love is, in commending this heavenly duty
to your practice j wherein I must entreat you to be more dili-
gent and unwearied, because as you may take more time for it
than the poor can do, so have you far stronger temptations to
divert you. It being extremely difficult for those that have
fulness of all things here, to place their happiness really in
another life, and so set their hearts there, as the place of their
rest, which yet must be done by all that will be saved. Study
Luke xii. 16 — 22, xvi. 19, 25 ; and Matt. xix. 23. How little
comfort do all things in this world afford to a departing soul !
My constant prayer for you to God shall be, that all things
below may be below him in your hearts, and that you may
thoroughly master and mortify the desires of the flesh, and
may live above in the Spirit, with the Father of spirits, till
you arrive among the perfected spirits of the just.
Your much obliged servant,
RICHARD BAXTER.
A PREMONITION.
Concerning the alterations and additions in this second
edition, I thought meet to give you this brief account, though
I could have found in my heart to have supplied divers other
defects through the book, especially in the beginning of the
first and second part, where the effects of my weakness were
most evident ; yet, because the stationer persuaded me that it
would be an offence to those that had bought the first edition,
I forbear. Yet, because I knew no reason why any should deny
me leave to correct or amend my own work, especially for once,
I have made these necessary alterations and additions following.
1 . 1 have corrected several passages (especially in the beginning
of the first and second part) which I found to be most liable to
exception, or misinterpretation : and more I had done, would
my friends have been entreated to have informed me of what
they disliked. Also, some passages I have more cleared, that
were offensive, by touching on the late public quarrels, which I
could have gladly blotted out to avoid distaste, if conscience
would have given me leave : but he that will cast off all books
which contain any thing disagreeing from his judgment, shall
read or profit by few in the world. 2. I have added one chap-
ter, (the ninth,) in the second part ; which, being promised in the
beginning, in the method propounded, was forgotten. Also, I
have added the eleventh chaj)ter in the third part, containing a
more exact inquiry into the nature of sincerity, and the use of
marks ; which I judged of necessity, as being of so great con-
cernment both to men's comforts and to their safety : and I
hope none will think it needless curiosity. Also a preface, I
have added to the second part, both for defence and fuller ex-
plication of the doctrine therein contained ; wherein, also, I
expect to be free from the censure of needless curiosity, with all
those that know how much the peace and welfare of our souls
depend on the right apprehension of the verity of the Scrip-
tures. Lastly, I have added many marginal quotations, especi-
ally of the ancients j which, though some may conceive to be
VOL. XXII, c
18 A PREMONfTION.
useless, and others, to be merely for vain ostentation, yet I con-
ceived useful, both for the sweetness of the matter, (concerning
which I refer you to the perusal, to me it seemed so in the
reading,) as also to free myself from the charge of singularity.
If any say, that I should have prevented this by all greater care-
fulness at the first, I answer, 1. That which is past cannot be
recalled : it is well if it can be repented of and amended. 2. I
wrote so much of it in so exceeding debility of bodv, that it
was much wonder that my understanding was not utterly dis-
abled. 3. And I was distant from home, where I had no ])ook
but my Bible, and therefore could not add the consent of au-
thors. If you say. There was no such haste, but I might have
stayed till I had been better able and furnished, I answer, 1. Little
reason had I to expect to have survived till now, yea, or two
months longer. 2. Who knows not how little we are masters
of our own, that knows the interest of our friends, who are often
importunate for that which others distaste ; which, though it
be a poor excuse for doing evil, yet may sometimes partly ex-
cuse the unseasonable doing of good. 3. I repent not my haste,
though I do my imperfections : for God hath been pleased to
give the book such unexpected acceptance, that I have reason
enough to hope, that the good it hath done this one year,
already, is greater than the hurt which the imperfections have
done. 4. And I am so conscious of my own imperfections,
that I know they will appear in all that I do, and, therefore, I
doubt not but there is still that which deserves correction, and
would be, if I were to amend it a hundred times. If great
Austin so frequently and passionately confess so much by himself,
who am I, that I sliould hope of better ? So much of this
second edition.
Concerning the book itself, let me advertise you, that the first
and last part were all that I intended when I begun it, which I
fitted merely to my own use ; and, therefore, if you find some
strains of self-application, you may excuse them. And for the
second part, it fell from my pen besides my first intention, but
was occasioned partly by assaults that I had often suffered
in that point, and partly by my apprehensions of the exceeding
necessity of it, and that to the main end which I intended in
this book. Who will set his heart on the goodness of a thing,
that is not certain of the truth, or part with his present delights
till he is sure he may have better ? And, because I have only
in brief given you these reasons which most prevailed with
A PREMONITION. ' . 19
myself, having then no authors by nie, I wish you would read
Grotius, and the Lord Du Plessis " Of the Verity of Christian
Religion," (especially chap. 25, 26, and last,) both which are
translated into English.'* The third part I last added ; the four
first chapters, for the use of secure and sensual sinners, if any
of them should happen to read this book : the three last, for
the godly, to direct and comfort them in afflictions, and espe-
cially to persuade them to the great duty of helping to save
tlieir brethren's souls ; the seven middle chapters, for the use
both of the godly and the ungodly, as being of unspeakable
concernment to all. So that all parts of this book are not fitted
to the same persons.
Some, I hear, blame me for being so tedious, and say. All
this might have been in a lesser room : such I would inform,
that in thus doing, I have more crossed myself than them, hav-
ing naturally such a style as, because of brevity, is accused of
obscurity; and had much ado to bring myself to this which they
blame ; and did obey my reason in it, against my disposition.
For, as I thought my views of this glory should not be short,
nor my speeches too contracted, so I considered that I speak to
plain, unlearned men, that cannot find our meaning in too nar-
row a room, and that use to overlook the fulness of significant
words. As they must be long in thinking, so we must be long
in speaking : or else our words fall short of the mark, and die
before they can produce the desired effect, so great is the dis-
tance between these men's ears and their brains. Besides, I
know I am to speak to men's affections, which vet lie deep, and
far more remote. How guilty I am myself, let others judge ;
but surely I approve not tautologies, or a tedious style, or the
heaping up of useless matter or words; nor can I choose but judge,
those Tostatuses impudently proud, who think the world should
read nobody's works but theirs. Yet if the length of my discourse
do but occasion the reader's longer thoughts on this so sweet
and needful a subject, I shall scarcely repent of my reprehended
tediousness. And I confess I never loved affectation, or too
much industry about words, nor like the temper of them that
do. May I speak pertinently, plainly, piercingly, and somewhat
properly, I have enough. I judge, as judicious Dr. Stoughton,
out of Seneca, that, " He is the best preacher that feels what
» And since I have written a supplement, called * The Unreasonableness of
Infidelity.'
c2
20 A PREMONITION,
he speaks, and then speaks what he feels." I confess, also, that
I had made the first and fourtli parts of this book much longer ;
but that upon my return home, (to my books,) I found in Mr.
Burrough's 'Moses's Choice,' and others, the same things
already abroad which, 1 intended. And had I been at home,
when I begun this, or read so much on the like subjects as I
have since done, I think I should have left out all or most that
I have Written ; yet do I not repent it; for God, that compelled
me to it, knows how to make use of it. If this apology satisfy
not, I offer the plaintiff these three motions to take his choice :
1. Either let it alone, and then it will do you no harm : 2. Or
if you will needs read it, blame the author, and spare him not,
so you will but entertain the truth, and obey what you are con-
vinced to be your duty : 3. Or set on the work and do it better,
that God's church may yet have more help in so needful a busi-
ness. But no more of this. Were not the success of my labour
more desirable to me than the maintenance of my esteem, I
should think three lines long enough for apology.
But the chief thing which I intend, in this premonition, is,
to acquaint each reader with the main design of this book, and
to beseech him, for his soul's sake, that he will use it accord-
ingly. Though the right comforting of the soul is a matter of
great moment in life and at death, and worth much more la-
bour then I have here bestowed, yet the ends which I intended
are of far greater weight. Though I have heard many pious
men say, ' Let us study how to come to heaven, and let others
study how great the joys are,' yet have I found, by reason and
experience, as well as Scripture, that it is not our comfort only,
but our stability, our liveliness in all duties, our enduring tribu-
lation, our honouring of God, the vigour of our love, thankful-
ness, and all our graces • yea, the very being of our religion,
and Christianity itself, dependeth on the believing, serious
thoughts of our rest. The end directeth to, and in, the means.
It is the first thing intended, to which all the actions of our
lives must aim : ^ mistake in this, and you are lost for ever,
except you rectify your mistake in time. To know what is
indeed your end and happiness, and heartily to take it so to be,
is the very first stone in the foundation of religion : most souls
that perish in the christian world, do perish for want of being
sincere in this point. Men have learned in books, that God is
'' Gibeouf saitb that nothing is desired properly at all, but the ultimate end.
A PREMONITION. 21
the chief Good, and only the enjoyment of him In heaven will
make us happy ; but their hearts do not unfeignedly take him
to be so. Most men take the present contentments of the flesh,
consisting in pleasures, profits, and honours, to be their happi-
ness indeed. This hath their very hearts, while God hath the
tongue and knee ; this is seriously sought after, while God is
hypocritically complimented with ; heaven is heartlesslv com-
mended, while the world is eagerly pursued ; Christ is called.
Master, while this flesh bears all the sway : only because they
cannot choose but know that the world will shortly leave them
in the grave, and this flesh, which is so cherished, must lie rot-
ting in the dust ; therefore, they will allow God the leavings of
the world, and Christ shall have all that the flesh can spare; so
far they will be religious and godly, lest they should be thrust
into hell ; and they look for heaven as a reserve, when they can
keep their worldly happiness no longer. This is the self-de-
luding religion of thousands.
Reader, I pray God bring this close to thy heart, that it may
awake thee to a godly jealousy, to see that thy heart deceive thee
not in this one point. O, how many professors of zeal in religion,
of much knowledge, and excellent tongues, and blameless conver-
sations in other things, do yet so eagerly mind the world and the
flesh, and subtlely evade every danger, and distinguish themselves
out of every duty that isvery dear,or inconsistent with their worldly
happiness, that it is most evident they never cordially took God for
their portion and happiness ! When men lay not this foundation
in sincerity, they may build all their lives to little purpose, and
the fall will be great when this sand deceives them. When they
take this first principle, but as a notion into the brain, and never
lay it dee)) and close to the heart, all their lives after are spent
in hypocrisy, and all their duties increase their delusion, except
God call them back again to review their souls, and lay that
foundation which before they had neglected. Therefore, is it
said, that to be carnally minded is death, and if ye mind or live
after the flesh, ye shall die ; and that the carnal mind is enmity
to God ; and if any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him ; '^ and it is so hard for rich men to enter heaven ;
and you can scarce find any saint in Scripture charged with
covetousness, because it is as possible the devils should be saved,
<^ Rom. viii. o— S, 13; 1 John ii. 15. Vide excellent ' Epist. Colombani
Hcrbin. de pr£Esentis vitas vanitate, miseria,' &c. iu Usser. Arniach. Veteruin
Epist. Hibern. Syllog.' pp. 7, .
22 A PREMONITION.
as the man that finally takes up his chief rest and happiness in
any thing below God. And what is the cause of all this mis-
chief, but that men do not seriously and frequently think, first,
of the certain truth, and then, of the sweet, inconceivable ex-
cellencies that wait for them, if they will renounce the vanities
of the world, and cleave heartily to God in Jesus Christ ? Be-
sides, if men do not apprehend the excellency of this ' Rest,'
they cannot value Christ, or his blood that purchased it, and
therefore they cannot indeed be Christians; nor is it once know-
ing what heaven is that will serve the turn : if we have not a
continual or frequent taste of it in our souls, we shall live in
continual danger of being overcome. When temi)tatious take
you up into the mountain, and show you the kingdoms and glory
of the world, and say, ' All this will I give thee ; ' if, then, you
have not a greater and surer glory in your view, what danger
are you in ! O that the nefarious miscarriages of professors of
piety in this age, did not witness it to our sorrow, and the shame
of our profession I Not a day but the devil will be casting thee
a bait ; either sports, or mirth, or filthy lusts, or the pleasing of
thy appetite in meats and drinks, or reputation, or rising in the
world, or fears of men, or some such thing; and if thou have
been newlv in the consideration of thy rest with God, it will
make thee trample upon them all ; but if that be forgotten or
imdervalued,. all is gone. Besides, what life and vigour will it
maintain in all our duties ? How earnestly will that man pray,
that believingly and seriously apprehends what he prayeth for ?
How, also, will it fill the soul with love, when men do every day
view the face of love itself, and warm their hearts in these hea-
venly contemplations ? And if it were but to make our religion
delightful to us, it would have greater use than the mere pleasure
of that delight, as I have showed in the conclusion of the book :
how cheerfully would men go on through labour and suffering,
if once they had that delight in God which a heavenly life would
aflford. When life and joy, seriousness and sweetness, go to-
gether, it will make men profitable, victorious, and persevering
Christians. In a word, you can neither live safely, profitablv,
piously, conscionably, or comfortably ; nor die so, without be-
lieving serious considerations of your rest.
And now, reader, whatever 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
thine everlasting, unchangeable state, that thou give not these
A PREMONITION. 23
things the reading only, and so dismiss them with a bare ap-
proval ; but that thou set upon this work, and take God in
Christ for thy only rest, and set thy heart upon him above all.
Jest not with God : do not only talk of heaven, but mind it,
and seek it with all thy might; what greater business hast thou
to do ? Dally no longer, when thy salvation lies at the stake,
O turn off the world before it turn thee off; forsake thy fleshly
pleasures before they forsake thee ; and thou find that God also
hath forsaken thee. Wink at these withering beauties ; and
shut thy mouth against these pleasant poisons. Remember
what they will all be to thee, when thy friends are weeping over
thee, and looking for thy winding sheet; nay, when God shall
say, Give account of thy stewardship, thou shall be no longer
steward : thou fool, this night shall they require thy soul ; whose
then shall these things be ? Lord, how do men think so care-
lessly of that day, which they cannot choose but know is near,
and will make so great a change with them ! Surely (saith
noble Du Plessis),'^ if all the world were made for man, then
man was made for more than the world. Hearken, all you
worldlings and flesh- pleasers, the God of heaven chargeth you,
upon your allegiance, to change your pleasures. He offereth
you delights beseeming men; yea, the joys of angels; and
commandeth you to renounce the pleasures of sin, and delights
that only beseem a beast. Will you not take his offer ? Take
it now, lest he never offer it you more. He commandeth you,
as ever you will see his face in glory to your comfort, that now
you turn your thoughts seriously to him, and to that glory :
dare you deny, or neglect to obey ? If you will not part with
your merriments and vanities for that which is infinitely better,
be it now known to you, you shall shortly part with them for
nothing ; yea, for hell fire ; and you shall leave them with
groans and horror ere long, if you will not leave them for Go^
and glory now. Spit out these venomous, fleshly pleasures,
man ; come near, and taste of the heavenly delights. What say
you ? will you resolve ; will you covenant with God this day,
and do it? Do I speak to a post, that cannot feel; or to a
beast, that is incapable of heaven ? Will you pass over my
words, as if they concerned you not ? The great God that put
this doctrine into your bibles, and put this message into my
mouth, and bid me speak it to thee in his name, will one day
^ Epist, before the ' Verity of Christian Religion.'
24 A PREMONITION.
speak to thee so rousingly himself, as will make thine ears to
tingle, and that rocky heart of thine to tremble, in despite of all
thy security and stupidity. If thou have now sinned away thy
fear and feeling, that thou takest a sermon but for words of
course, believe it, God will shortly bring thy fear and thy feel-
ing again. It had need to be very precious liquor, which the
drunkard shall then pay so dear for ; and excellent content
which the lustful must so smart for ; and great honours and
riches, for which thou must lose thy hopes of heaven. If thou
hadst never heard or read of these things, there were the more
excuse j but if, when thou knowest of it, thou will needs run
into the fire, into the fire shalt thou go : but when thou feelest
the pain, thou shalt bethink thee of thy folly ; and when heaven
is lost, remember thou mightest have had it, and that upon very
reasonable, easy terms, if thou wouldest. Nothing but thy own
wilfulness could have shut thee out. I have warned thee : let
God do his will.
And for you that fear God, and have made him your portion,
your end, and rest, and are the heirs of this kingdom, let me
entreat you, more frequently to look homeward, and mind your
inheritance. Should we not think oft of the state we must be
in for ever ? Do you not perceive that God tumbles you up and
down the world, and crosseth your desires, to weary you out of
it ; that he setteth loose the winds to raise those storms, that
may make you long for the harbour, and may toss you to his
breast ; that he makes your dearest friends afflict you, and those
that you took sweet counsel with, and went up with to the house
of God as companions, to be scorpions to you, that so you might
not have here a resting place for the sole of your foot ? O, learn
God's gracious meaning, and look upwards ! When others are
roving after opinions, and running from sect to sect, and, with
contentions and vain j anglings, are firing the church of Christ,
do you tlien retire yourselves from these vanities to your God ;
humbly converse with him ; and think, believingly, of your
everlasting converse with him ; and thus fire your souls with his
rays of love. For my own part, even when I am constrained (as
teachers oft are more than the people) to study controversies,
though they be necessary, and in themselves about precious
truths, and though I prosper in my studies, yet do 1 find most
sensibly that they discompose my spirit, and waste my zeal, my
love, and delight in God, even by the interruption and diversion
of my contemplations ; so that I long to have done with them,
A PREMONITION, 25
that I may be more near to God. Disputings often lead to en-
vyings and heart-burnings, and those to hating our brethren,
and that to open violence and bloodshed, even of the saints, to
persecutions of ministers, and setting ourselves against Christ's
apparent interest for our own ; but heavenly meditations calm
the spirit, and, by winning our souls to the love of God, do not
only cause us to love our brethren, but to love them in God,
which is the only right love. And thus all men shall know that
you are Christ's true disciples, by your loving one another; for
he that loveth, dwelleth in God, and God in him. When they
that hate their brethren are murderers ; and we know that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.'' 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 rest, we should come short of it through our own
unbelief or negligence.^
May 17, 1651.
e John xiii. .'54, 35, and xv. 12; 1 John iii, 15, and ii. 'J — 11.
f Heb. iv. 1.
THE
SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.
HEBREWS iv. 9.
There retmineth, therefore, a rest for the jieoijle of God.
CHAP. I.
Sect. I. It was not only our interest in God, and actual frui-
tion of him, which was lost in Adam's covenant-breaking fall,
but all spiritual knowledge of him, and true disposition towards
such a felicity. IMan hath now a heart too suitable to his estate:
a low state, and a low spirit. And (as some expound that of
Luke xviii. 8) when the Son of God comes with recovering
grace, and discoveries and tenders of a spiritual and eternal
happiness and glory, he finds not faith in man to believe it.^
But as the poor man that would not believe that any one had
such a sum as a hundred pounds, (it was so far above what he
possessed,) so man will hardly now believe that there is such a
happiness as once he had, much less as Christ hath now pro-
cured. When God would give the Israelites his Sabbaths of rest
in a land of rest, he had more ado to make them believe it, than
to overcome their enemies and procure it for them ; and when
they had it, only as a small intimation and earnest of a more
incomparably glorious rest through Christ, they stuck there ; and
will yet believe no more than they do possess, but sit down and
a Recedentes enim ab unius et vcri Dei consideratione aifectuque in ilium
unico, in varias jam, et particulares corporis concupiscentias prolapsi sunt.
Dsinde ut solet fieri, cum in multa incidissent desideria, in eorum jam habi-
tum seusim trausiere : adeo ut deserere ipsa metuerent. Hinc jam et metus
et voluptates in aniniam irrepsere : mortaliaque sapere incepit. Nolens enim
concupiscentias reliiiquere, mortem metuit, ac separationem corporis liorruit.
Rursus eadem cupiens ut voti compos fieret, casdes exercere, atque jura violare
didicit. Abutens igitur iafcelix anima corporalibus particulatim actionibus,
corporisque oblectata specie, ac voluptafem bouum suum esse arbitrans, falsa
ac seducta honesti nomine abusa est : ijjsumque verum bonum voluptatem
esse putavit. Voluptatis igitur amore deteiita, variis haec modis operari c^pit.
— Athan, 1. i. con, gen, trcmslat.
EVERLASTING REST. 27
sa}', as the glutton at the feast, ' Sure there is no otlier heaven
but this : ' or if they do expect more by the Messiah, it is only
the increase of their earthly felicity. The apostle bestows most
of this epistle against this distemper ; and clearly and largely
proves unto them, that it is the end of all ceremonies and
shadows to direct them to Jesus Christ, the Substance; and that
the rest of Sabbaths'' and Canaan should teach them to look for
a further rest, which indeed is their happiness. My text is his
conclusion, after divers arguments to that end ; a conclusion so
useful to a believer, as containing the ground of all his comforts,
the end of all his duty and sufferings, the life and sum of all
Gosjjel promises and christian privileges, that you may easily be
satisfied why I have made it the subject of my present discourse.
^^^lat more welcome to men, under personal afflictions, tiring
duty, successions of sufferings, than rest ? What more welcome
news, to men under public calamities, unpleasing employments,
plunderings, losses, sad tidings, &c., which is the common case,
than this of rest ? Hearers, I pray God your attentions, inten-
tion of spirit, entertainment, and improvement of it, be but half
answerable to the verity, necessity, and excellency of this sub-
ject, and then you will have cause to bless God, while you live,
that ever you heard it, as I have, that ever I studied it.
Sect. 2. The text is, as you may see, the apostle's assertion
in an entire proposition, with the concluding illative : the sub-
ject is rest; ^ the predicate, it yet remains to the people of God.
Jt is requisite we say somewhat briefly : 1 . For explication of the
terms ; 2. Of the subject of them.
"Therefore," i.e., it clearly follows, from the former argument,
'^there remains: " 1. In order of speaking, as the consequence
follows the antecedent, or the conclusion, the premises ; so there
remains a rest, or it remains that there is another rest. 2. But
rather, in order of being, as the bargain remains after the earnest,
the performance after the promise, the antitype after the type,
and the ultimate end after all the means ; so there remains a
rest, " to the people of God. " God hath a twofold people
within the church : one his only, by a common vocation,'^ bv an
^ Lege de hoc epistolam FJieronymi ad Dardanum, torn. iv. fol. (edit.
Amerl)ach,) 28 — 30, ubi etiam de authoritate hujus Epist. ad Hebr. et modo
canoiiem disceniendi.
"^ De Sabbato spiritual! per Sabbatum antiquum figuratum. Vide S. Maca-
rium in Homil. xxxv. p. (inihi) 434.
"1 Heb. X. 30 ; Micali it. 8; 2 Pet. ii. 20 ; John ii. 23 ; Heb. vi. 4— G, and x.
29,30.
28 THE saint's
external acceptation of Christ, and covenanting, sanctified bv the
blood of the covenant so far as to be separated from the open
enemies of Christ, and all without the church, therefore not to
be accounted common and unclean in the sense, as Jews and
pagans are ; but holy, and saints, in a larger sense; as the nation
of the Jews, and all proselyted gentiles, were holy before Christ's
coming. These are called branches in Christ, not bearing fruit,
and shall be cut off, &c. ; '^ for they are in the church, and in
him, by the aforesaid profession and external covenant, but no
further. There are, in his kingdom, things that offend, and men
that work iniquity, which the angels, at the last day, shall gather
out and cast into the lake of fire ; ' there are fishes, good and
bad, in his net; and tares, with wheat, in his field.s The son of
perdition is one of those given to Christ by the Father, though
not as the rest ; these be not the people of God my text speaks
of. 2. But God hath a peculiar people that are his by special
vocation, cordial acceptation of Christ, internal, sincere cove-
nanting, sanctified by the blood of the covenant and Spirit of
grace, so far as not only to be separated from open infidels, but
from all unregenerate Christians, being branches in Christ, bear-
ing fruit ; and for these remains the rest in my text.''
1. To be God's people, by a forced subjection, i. e., under
his dominion, is common to all persons, even open enemies ;
vea, devils : this yields not comfort.
2. To be his by a verbal covenant and profession, and external
call, is common to all in, and of, the visible church, even
traitors and secret enemies ; yet hath this many privileges, as
the external seals, means of grace, common mercies, but no in-
terest in this rest.
3. But to be his by election, union with Christ, and special
interest, as before mentioned, is the peculiar properties of those
that shall have this rest.
Sect. 3. Quest. But is it to a determinate number of persons,
by name, or only to a people thus and thus qualified, viz., per-
severing believers, without determining by name who they are ? '
^ John XV. 2, G. f Matt. xiii. 41." « John xvii. 12.
'' Lege Zuiuglii fidei Ration, ad Carol, v. p. .540. Tom. secund. De Eccles.
■' Quid est prffiscientia, nisi scientia futurorum? Quid autem futurum est
Deo, qui omnia supersreditur tempora ? Si enim res ipsas in scientia haliet,
non sunt ei futurce, sed pra;sentes. Ac per hoc non jam praescientia, sed tan-
tum scientia dici potest. — Jugttstin. 1. ii. ad Simplkicoi. q. 2. Cavendum
est ne falsa quadam imag-iuatione, actum voluntatis divinffi quasi prsteritum
cogitemus. — ticotus, in 1, dist. 40.
EVERLASTING REST. 29
Answ. I purpose, in this discourse, to omit controversies ; only,
in a word, thus : 1. It is promised only to persevering believers,
and not to any particular persons by name. 2. It is purposed,
with all the conditions of it, and means to it,to a determinate
number, called the elect, and known byname, which evidently
foUoweth these plain propositions :
1. There is few will deny that God foreknows, from eternity,
who these are, and shall be, numerically, personally, by name.
2. To purpose it only to such, and to know that only these
will be such, is, in effect, to purpose it only to these.
3. Especially, if we know how little knowledge and purpose,
in God, do differ.
4. However, we must not make his knowledge active, and his
purpose idle, much less to contradict each other, as it must be,
if, from eternity, he purposed salvation alike to all, and yet from
eternity knew that only such and such should receive it.
5. To purpose all persevering believers to salvation, and not
to purpose faith and perseverance absolutely to any particular
persons, is to purpose salvation absolutelv to none at all ; yet
I know much more is necessary to be said to make this plain,
which I purpose not (at least here) to meddle with.
Sect. 4. I. Quest. Is it to the people of God, upon certainty,
or only upon possibility }^
Answ. If only possible, it cannot thus be called theirs.
1. While they are only elect, not called, it is certain to them,
we speak of a certainty of the object, by divine purpose, for they
are ordained to eternal life first, and therefore believe; and not
first believe, and therefore elected.
2. When they are called according to his purpose, then it is
certain to them by a certainty of promise also, as sure as if thev
were named in that promise ; for tiie promise is, to believers,
which they may, though but imperfectly, know themselves to
be; and though it be yet upon condition of overcoming, and
abiding in Christ, and enduring to the end, yet that condition
being absolutely promised, it still remaineth absolutely certain
^ 1. Theirs, by purpose, before conversion. Acts xiii. 48. 2. Tiieirs in law
title, or by j(roiiiise, after conversion. " (2uuin aeciwiliiiriiun illud hoc uiuun
prsestat juxta Arniiniuni, ut reddat saluteni honiinum rem contingentem, et
libratani in ancipiti, isne rem tantam inipense attectasse dicendus est qui vult
esse collocatani in loco taui lubrico, ac veluil teuui filo pendentem, adeo ut
vel levissimo moinento inipeliatur ad perniciein? — AmyruU Defens. Doct.
Calvini, p. 115.
30 THE saint's
upon promise : and, iiideetl, if glory be ours only upon a condi-
tion, which condition depends chiefly on our own wills, it
were cold comfort to those that know what man's will is, and
how certainly we should play the prodigals with this, as we did
with our first stock. But I have hitherto understood, that in
the behalf of the elect, Christ is resolved, and hath undertaken,
for the working and finishing of their faith, and the full effect-
ing his people's salvation ; and not only gives us a (feigned) suf-
ficient grace, not effectual, leaving it to our wills to make it
effectual, as some think ; so that, though still the promise of
our justification and salvation be conditional, yet God, having
manifested his purpose of enabling us to fulfil those conditions,
he doth thereby show us a certainty of our salvation, both in
his promise and his purpose. Though God's eternal purpose
gives us no right to the benefit whatsoever, (some lately say to
the contrary,) it being the proper work of God's law or covenant,
to confer right or due ; yet the event or fruition of it is made
certain by God's unchangeable decree, his eternal willing it,
being the first and infallible cause, that, in time, it is accom-
plished or produced.
CHAP. II.
This Rest defined.
Sect. 1. Now let us see, 1. What this rest is. 2. What
these people, and why so called. 3. The truth of this, from
other Scripture arguments. 4. Why this rest must yet remain.
5. Why only to this people of God. 6. Wliat use to make of it.
1. And though the sense of the text includes in the word 'rest,'^
all that ease and safety, which a soul, wearied with the burden
of sin and suffering, and pursued by law, wrath, and conscience,
hath with Christ in this life, the rest of grace ; yet, because it
chiefly intends the rest of eternal glory, as the end and main
part, I shall confine my discourse myself to this last.
' I doubt nut but the Holy Ghost, by this sabbatism, or rest, intends the
whole estate of reconciliation, peace, and happiness purchased by Christ :
but because that fulness and perfection in glory is the chiefest part, in com-
parison whereof the beginning in this life is very small, I may very well ex-
tend the text to that which itself inteuds as the principal part ; but I exclude
not the beginuiugs here, though I purpose uot the handling of them.
EVERLASTING REST. 31
Definition. Rest is the end and perfection of motion. The
saint's rest, here in question, is the most hayjpy estate of a
Christian, having ohtained the end of his course : or, it is the
perfect, endless fruition of God, by the perfected saints, accord-
ing to the measure of their capacity, to which their souls arrive
at death ; and both soul and body must fully, after the resurrec-
tion and final judgment.
Sect 2. I. I call it the estate of a Christian, though perfec-
tion consists in action, as the philosopher thinks, to note both
the active and passive fruition, wherein a Christian's blessedness
lies, and the established continuance of both."^ Our title will be
perfect, and perfectly cleared ; ourselves, and so our capacity,
perfected ; our possession and security for its perpetuity perfect ;
our reception from God perfect ; our motion or action in and upon
him perfect : and, therefore, our fruition of him, and conse-
quently our happiness, will then be perfect. And this is the
estate which we now briefly mention, and shall afterwards more
fully describe and open to you, and which we hope, by Jesus
Christ, very shortly to enter upon, and for ever to possess.
Sect. 3. II. I call it the most happy estate, to difference it,
not only from all seeming happiness, which is to be found in the
enjoyment of creatures, but also from all those beginnings, fore-
tastes, earns, first fruits, and imperfect degrees, which we have
here in this life, while we are but in the way. It is the chief
good which the world hath so much disputed, yet mistaken or
neglected, without which the greatest confluence of all other
good leaves a man miserable ; and with the enjoyment of which,
all misery is inconsistent. The beginnings, in our present state
of grace, as they are a real part of this, may also be called a
state of happiness : but, if considered disjunctly by themselves,
they deserve not that title, except in a comparative sense, as a
Christian is compared to men out of Christ.
Sect. 4. III. I call it the estate of a Christian, where I mean
only the sincere,regenerate, sanctified Christian, whose soul, hav-
ing discovered that excellency in God through Christ, which is
not in the world to be found, thereupon closeth with him, and is
cordially set upon him. I do not mean every one that, being born
where Christianity is the religion of the country, takes it up as
other fashions, and is become a Christian he scarcely knows how,
>" Beatis non actus proprie, sed status couvoiiit, inquit. Guil. Gibouul',
quod tamen caute iatelligendum est.
32 THE saint's
or why • nor mean I those that profess Christ in words, but in
works deny him. I shall describe this Christian to you more
plainly afterwards. It is an estate to which many pretend, and
that with much confidence ; and because they know it is only
the Christians, therefore thev all call themselves Christians. But
multitudes will at last know, to their eternal sorrow, that this is
onlv the inheritance of the saints, and only those Christians shall
possess it, who are not of the world : and, therefore, the world
hates them who have forsaken all for Christ, and having taken
up the cross, do follow him, with patient waiting, till they in-
herit the promised glory."
Sect. 5. IV. I add, that this happiness consists in obtaining the
end, where I mean the ultimate and principal end, not any end,
secundum quid, so called subordinate, or less principal. Not the
end of conclusion, in regard of time ; for so every man hath his
end 5 but the end of intention, which sets the soul to work, and
is its prime motive in all its actions. That the chief happiness
is in the enjoyment of this end, 1 shall fully show through the
whole discourse, and, therefore, here omit. Everlasting wo to
that man who makes that his end here (to the death), which, if
he could attain, would not make him happy. Oh, how much doth
our everlasting state depend on our right judgment and estima-
tion of our end !
Sect. (). But it is a great doubt with many, whether the obtain-
inent of this glory may be our end; nay, concluded, that it is mer-
cenary ; yea, that to make salvation the end of duty, is to be a
legalist, and act under a covenant of works, whose tenour is, 'Do
this and live.' And many that think it may be our end, yet think
it may not be our ultimate end, for that should be only the glory
of God. [ shall answer these particularly and briefly.
1. It is properly called mercenary, when we expect it as
wages for work done ;" and so we may not make it our end ;
otherwise it is only such a mercenariness as Christ commandeth.
For, consider what this end is ; it is the fruition of God in Christ :
and, if seeking Christ be mercenary, I desire to be so mercenary.
2. It is not a note of a legalist neither : it hath been the
ground of a multitude of late mistakes in divinity, to think that
» Col. i. 12; Acts xxvi. 18, and xx. 32; John xv. 19; Matt. x. 38; Luke
xiv. 27 ; Heb, x. 3C, and vi. 15.
" Viz. liy way of merit strictly so called.
EVERLASTING REST. S3
'Do this and live," is only the language of the covenant of works.P
It is^ true, in some sense it is ; but in other, not. The law of
works only saith, "Do this," that is, perfectly fulfil the whole
law, "and live," that is, for so doing: but the law of grace
saith, " Do this and live" too ; that is, believe in Christ, seek
him, obey him sincerely, as thy Lord and King ; forsake all,
suffer all things, and overcome; and by so doing, or in so doing,
as the conditions which the Gospel propounds for salvation, you
shall Hve.i If you set up the abrogated duties of the law again,
you are a legalist : if you set up the duties of the Gospel in
Christ's stead, in whole or in part, you err still. Christ hath his
place and work ', duty hath its place and work too : set it but
in its own place, and expect from it but its own part, and you
go right ; yea, more, how unsavoury soever the phrase may
seem, you may, so far as this comes to, trust to your duty and
works ; that is, for their own part ; and many miscarry in ex-
pecting no more from them, as to pray, and to expect nothing the
more, that is, from Christ, in a way of duty : for if duty have
no share, why may we not trust Christ, as well in a way
of disobedience as duty ? In a word, you must both use
and trust duty in subordination to Christ, but neither use
them nor trust them in co-ordination with him. So that
this derogates nothing from Christ : for he hath done, and will
P It was Simon Magus's doctrine, that men are not saved according' to reli-
gious works, but according to liis grace, as Irenajus repeateth it. — Lib. ii.
advers. Hceres. c. 20.
1 Notandum est alium esse loquendi modum contra J udaismum et contemp-
turn gratiae, alium contra securitatem et abusum gratia^. Cum disputatuc
contra Judaismum sive justitiam operum, utPaulus in Rom. et alibi fecit, turn
docemur sola fide hominem justificari, h. e. Nihil in nobis placere Deo nisi per
abnegationem meriti et acceptationem contra doni evangelici. At cum dispu-
tatur contra securitatem, et docetur quid respectu amicitiee divinie nobis agen-
dum sit, ut Jacobus fecit, et hodie vel maxime necesse est, ut D. Tossanus iu
disp. contra pseude evangelicos,et alii pie etprudenter jam pridem monuerint;
tunc negatur solam fidem sufficere et praecipiuntur omnia quee quoquo modo
prosunt; sive disponant ad fidem, sive in iis consummetur fides : sicut quse-
queres fineet elFectibussuisconsummatur, &c., sive praesens jam amicitia pep
ilia firmetur iti dissiliat, vel etiam augeatur quod ad efFectus aliquos et hoc
modo quasi impleatur. — Conrad. Berg. Prax.Cathol .Dissert, vii. r. 991. Saith.
Parens : Videtur notandum quod Deus praestationem prbmissionum suarum
videtur k nostra obedientia suspendere : non suspendit, sed illam cum ista con*
nectit tanquam cohaerentia, &c. Infidelibus promissiones facta sunt irritfe,
non Dei culpa, sed ipsorum perfidia : quoniam promissiones foederis sunt
mutuse obligatiouis. Nee ideo sunt incertse : quoniam Deus in electis obe-
dientiam operatur per gratiam suam immutabiliter. — Par, in Gen, xviii. 19,
p. (mihi) 1163.
VOL. XXII. D
34 THE saint's
do all his work perfectly, and enable his people to do theirs :
yet he is not properly said to do it himself;'' he believes not,
repents not, &c., but worketh these in them : that is, enableth
and exciteth them to do it. No man must look for more from
duty than God hath laid upon it ; and so much we may and
must.
Sect. 7. II. If I should quote all the scriptures that plainly prove
this, I should transcribe a great part of the Bible: I will bring none
out of the Old Testament ; for I know not whether their autho-
rity will here be acknowledged ; but I desire the contrary
minded, whose consciences are tender of abusing Scripture, and
wresting it from the plain sense, to study what tolerable inter-
pretation can be given of these following places, which will not
prove that life and salvation may be, yea, must be the end of
duty. " Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." (John
V. 39, 40.) " The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the
violent take it by force." (Matt. xi. 12.) " Strive to enter in at
the strait gate." (Matt. vii. 13 ; Luke xiii. 24.) " Work out your
salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil. ii. 12.) "To them
who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and
honour, and immortality, eternal life. Glory, honour, and peace,
to every man that worketh good," Sec. (Rom. ii. 7, 10.) " So
run that you may obtain." (1 Cor. ix. 24.) "A man is not
crowned, except he strive lawfully." (2 Tim. ii. 5.) " If we suffer
with him, we shall reign with him." (2 Tim. ii. 12.) "Fight the
good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." (1 Tim. vi. 12.)
"That they do good works, lay up a good foundation against the
time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." (1 Tim.
vi. 18, 19.) " If by any means I might attain to the resurrection
of the dead ; I press toward the mark for the prize of the high-
calling," &c. (Phil. iii. 14.) "Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life,
and enter in by the gates into the city." (Rev. xxii. 14.) " Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit, &c. For I was hungry, and
ye," &c. (Matt, xxv.) " Blessed are the pure in heart, &c. They
that hunger and thirst, &c. Be glad and rejoice, for great is your
reward in heaven." (Matt, ix.) " Blessed are they that hear the
word of God, and keep it." (Luke xi. 28.) Yea, the escaping
of hell is a right end of duty to a believer. " Let us fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
' Christ believed for us legally, or so far as the law required faith, but not
as it is the coudilion or command of the new covenant.
EVERLASTING REST. 3$
seem to come short of it/' (Heb. iv. 1 .) « Fear him that is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell ; yea, whatsoever others
say, I say unto you, Fear him." (Luke xii. 5.) "I keep under
my body, and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached
to others, T myself should be a cast-away." (1 Cor. ix. 27.)
Multitudes of scriptures and Scripture arguments might be
brought, but these may suffice to any that believe Scripture.^
Sect. 8. III. For those that think this rest may be our end, but
not our ultimate end, that must be God's glory only : I will not
gainsay them. Only let them consider, what God hath joined,
man must not separate. The glorifying himself, and the saving
of his people, as 1 judge, are not two decrees with God, but one
decree, to glorify his mercy in their salvation ; though we must
say, that one is the end of the other : so I think they should be
with us together intended. We should aim at the glory of God,
not alone considered, without our salvation, but in our salvation.
Therefore, I know no warrant for putting such a question to
ourselves, as some do. Whether we could be content to be damn-
ed, so God were glorified ? Christ hath put no such question
to us, nor bid us put such to ourselves. Christ had rather that
men would inquire after their true willingness to be saved, than
their willingness to be damned. Sure I am, Christ himself is
offered to faith in terms for the most part respecting the welfare
of the sinner, more than his own abstracted glory. He would be
received as a Saviour, Mediator, Redeemer, Reconciler, Inter-
cessor, &c. And all the precepts of Scripture, being backed
with so many promises and threatenings, every one intended of
God as a motive to us, do imply as much. If any think they
should be distinguished as two several ends, and God's glory
preferred; so they separate them not asunder, I contend not.
But I had rather make that high pitch, which Gibieuf and many
others insist on, to be the mark at which we should all aim, than
the mark by which every weak Christian should try himself.
^* I speak the more of this, because I find that many moderate men, who
think they have found the nieau between the antinomian and the legalist,
yet do foully err on this point. As Mr. F., in the ' Marrow of Modern Divinity/
a book applauded by so many eminent divines, in their commendatory epistles,
before it : and because the doctrine ' That we must act from life, but not for
life ; or in thankfulness to him that hath saved us, but not for the obtaining
of salvation,' is of such dang-erous consequence, that I would advise all men
to take heed of it, that regard their salvation. 1 Cor. xv.ult. ; 2 Cor. iv. 17,
and v. 10, 11; 2 Pet. i. 10, 11. I here undertake to prove that this fore-men-
tioned doctrine, reduced to practice, will certainly be the damnation of the
practiser : but I hope many autinomians do not practise their own doctrine.
D 2
36 THF. saint's
Sect. 9. IV. In the definition, I call a Christian's happiness,
the end of his conrse, thereby meaning, as Paul, (2 Tim. iv. 7,)
the whole scope of his life. For as salvation may, and must be,
our end, so not only the end of our faith, though that princi-
pally, but of all our actions ; for as whatsoever we do, must be
done to the glory of God, whether eating, drinking, &c., so must
they all be done to our salvation. That we may believe for sal-
vation, some will grant, who yet deny that we may do, or obey
for it.*^ 1 would it were well miderstood, for the clearing of
many controversies, what the Scripture usually means by faith.
Doubtless, the Gospel takes it not so strictly, as philosophers do;
but, in a larger sense, for our accepting Christ for our King and
Saviour. To believe in his name, and to receive him, are all
one :" but we must receive him as King, as well as Saviour :
therefore, believing doth not produce heart-subjection as a fruit,
but contains it as an essential part : except we say, that faith
receives Christ as a Saviour first, and so justifies before it take
him for King, as some think ; which is a maimed, unsound, and
no Scripture faith."" I doubt not but the soul more sensibly
looks at salvation from Christ, than government by him, in the
first work : yet, whatever precedaneous act there may be, it
never conceives of Christ, and receives him to justification, nor
knows him with the knowledge which is eternal life, till it con-
ceive of him, and know him, and receive him for Lord and King,
Therefore there is not such a wide difference between faith and
Gospel obedience, or works, as some judge.'' Obedience to the
Gospel is put for faith ; and disobedience put for unbelief, oft-
times in the New Testament. But of this I have spoken more
fully elsewhere.
V. Lastly : I make happiness to consist in this end obtained j
for it is not the mere promise of it that immediately makes per-
fectly happy, nor Christ's mere purchase, nor our mere seeking,
but the apprehending and obtaining, which sets the crown on
the saint's head. When we can say of our work, as Christ of
the price paid, ''It is finished;" and as Paul, "I have fought a
good fight, 1 have finished my course : henceforth is laid up for
' The scriptures before cited, do prove both.
^ John i. 12. ^' See more of this hereafter.
" In this point of works concurring in justification, I am wholly of Dave-
nant's judgment, ' De Justicia Actuaii.' I will not speak so harshly for works,
nor in describing faith, as Mr. Mead's sermon doth : yet I believe he meant
orthodoxly. See Diodate's notes on James ii., and abundance more cited iu
my ' Confessiou,'
EVERLASTING REST. 37
me a crown of salvation." (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) O that we did all
heartily and strongly believe, that we shall never be truly happy
till then. Then should we not so dote upon a seeming happiness
here.
CHAP. III.
What this Rest presvpposeth.
Sect. I. For the clearer understanding yet of the nature of
this rest, you must know :
1 . There are some things necessarily presupposed to it.
2. Some things really contained in it.
1 . All these things are presupposed to this rest.
1. A person in motion, seeking rest. This is man here in the
way ; angels and glorified spirits have it already : and the devils
and damned are past hope.
Sect. II. 2. An end toward which he moveth for rest : which
end must be sufficient for his rest ; else, when it is obtained, it
deceiveth him. This can be only God, the chief good. He that
taketh any thing else for his happiness, is out of the way the first
step. The principal damning sin, is to make any thing besides
God, our end or rest. And the first true saving act, is to choose
God only for our end and happiness.
Sect. III. 3. A distance is presupposed from this end ; else
there can be no motion towards it. This sad distance is the wo-
ful case of all mankind since the fall : it was our God that we
principally lost, and were shut out of his gracious presence^
Though some talk of losing only a temporal, earthly felicity;
sure I am, it was God that we fell from, and him we lost, and
since are said to be without him in the world ; and there would
have been no death, but for sin; and to enjoy God without death,
is neither an earthly, nor temporal enjoyment : nay, in all men
at age, here is supposed, not only a distance from God, but also
a contrary motiqn : for sin hath not overthrown our being, nor
taken away our motion : but our well-being, and the rectitude
of our motion. When Christ comes with regenerating, saving
grace, he finds no man sitting still, but all posting to eternal
ruin, and making haste towards hell ; till, by conviction, he first
brings them to a stand ; and by conversion, turn first their hearts,
y The only cause of this evil is aversion from good ; as a coachman, if he
let the horses run headlong over bauks, or which wa> they will, &.c,—^thanas,
lib. i. cont, Gent.
38 THE saint's
and then their lives, sincerely to himself. Even those that are
sanctified and justified from the womb, are yet first the children
of Adam, and so of wrath : at least, in order of nature, if not in
time.
Sect. IV. 4. Here is presupposed knowledge of the true ultimate
end, and its excellency, and a serious intending it.^ For so the
motion of the rational creature proceedeth : an unknown end is
no end ; it is a contradiction. We cannot make that our end,
which we know not ; nor that our chief end, which we know
not, or judge not to be the chief good. An unknown good
moves not to desire or endeavour : therefore, where it is not
truly known that God is this end, and containeth all good in
him 5 there is no obtaining rest in an ordinary, known way,
whatsoever may be in ways that by God are kept secret.^
Sect. V. 5. Here is presupposed, not only a distance from this
rest, but also the true knowledge of this distance. If a man have
lost his way, and know it not, he seeks not to return ; if he lose
his gold, and know it not, he seeks it not : therefore, they that
never knew they were without God, never yet enjoyed him ; and
they that never knew they were naturally and actually in the
way to hell, did never yet know the way to heaven."* Nay,
there will not only be a knowledge of this distance, and lost
estate, but also affections answerable. Can a man be brought
to find himself hard by the brink of hell, and not tremble ? or,
to find he hath lost his God and his soul, and not cry out, * I am
undone;' or can such a stupid soul be so recovered ? This is the
sad case of many thousands, and the reason why so few obtain this
rest : they will not be convinced, or made sensible, that they are,
in point of title, distant from it ; and in point of practice, con-
trary to it. They have lost their God, their souls, their rest,
and do not know it, nor will believe him that tells them so.
Whoever travelled towards a place which he thought he was
^ Bonum illud quod est finis hominis, operatis malum, bonum est particu-
lare, non universale et summum. DtAugustin. Peccare est deficere ab eo
quod summum est, ad id quod minus est. Prolabitur et propria imbecil-
litate et depravatione deturbatur ac dejicitur ad honum particulare, et iufe-
rius, frustra ibi quaerens rationeni summiboni. — Gibieuf. 1. 2. de Liber, c. 20.
sect,, 2. p. 424. Nemo fdelices dixerit, quibus non est foelicitatis intellectus ;
ut Senec. ' De Vit. Beat.' c. 5.
a I speak all this of men of age, converted by the word, not of those sanc-
tified in infancy,
•> I mean those that were converted at years of discretion, and received not
holiness insisenbly in their infancy, as I doubt not but many thousands do.
EVERLASTING REST. 39
at already, or sought for that which he knew not he had lost ?
" The whole need not the physician, but they that are sick.**
(Matt. ix. 12.)
Sect. VI. 6. Here is also supposed, a superior, moving cause, and
an influence therefrom, else should we all stand still, and not move
a step forward towards our rest ; any more than the inferior
wheels in the watch would stir, if you take away the spring, or
first mover. This primum movens is God. What hand God
hath in evil actions, or whether he afford the like influence to
their production, I will not here trouble this discourse and the
reader to dispute.'^ The case is clear in good actions. If
God move us not, we cannot move : therefore, it is a most
necessary part of our christian wisdom, to keep our subordina-
tion to God, and dependance on him ; to be still in the path
where he walks, and in that way where his Spirit doth most
usually move. Take heed of being estranged or separated
from God, or of slacking your daily expectations of renewed
help, or of growing insensible of the necessity of the continual
influence and assistance of the Spirit. When you once begin
to trust your stock of habitual grace, and to depend on your
own understanding or resolution for duty and holy walking, you
are then in a dangerous, declining state. In every duty remember
Christ's words, " Without me ye can do nothing ;" (John xv.
5 ;) and, " not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to do any
thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." (2 Cor.
iii. 5.)
Sect. VII. 7. Here is supposed an internal principle of life in
the person. God moves not man like a stone, but by enduing him
first with life, not to enable him to move without God, but
thereby to qualify him to move himself, in subordination to God
the first Mover. What the nature of this spiritual life is, is a ques-
tion exceeding difficult.'^ Whether, as some think, (but, as I judge,
erroneously,) it be Christ himself in person or essence, or the
" Qui rixas et disputationes inanes de hac re sapienter pensabit, et simul
rei ahitiidinem et humani ingenii imbecillitatem, mirabitur procul dubio ho-
minum pervicaciam, et audacem ignorantiani, qui nee adhuc banc litem et
animorum aeerbitatem deponere volunt ! Qui tandem produxit inter pontifi-
ciorum doctissimos protracta hac contentio? viz. inter Jesuitas et Domini-
canos, quos prajdeterminantes vocant ! Frustra tandem conciliante Aribal
(ut ex D. Petavii et Richardi scriptis contra August, et Vincent. Lirinensem,
et aliorum patet.) Quid tandem profecerunt nostrorum de hisce dissidia? et
tamen nee unauimes sunms qui videmur unanimes. O quando coguoscent
Theologi quam minimum de inscrutabilibus hisce norint prfficipue de aciibus
Dei immanentibus, qui sunt ipsius essentia !
•^ 1 speak not here de §rati& operante, but de gratid operatd ; not of the
40 THE saint's
Holy Ghost personally ; or as some will distinguish, with what
sense I know not, it is the person of the Holy Ghost, but not
personally. Whether it be an accident or quality; or whether
it be a spiritual substance, as the soul itself; whether it be
only an act, or a disposition, or a habit, as it is generally
taken; whether a habit infused, or acquired by frequent
acts, to which the soul hath been morally persuaded; or
whether it be somewhat distinct from a habit ; i. e. a power j
viz., potentia proxima intelligendi, credendi, volendi, ^c,
in spiritualibus ; which some think the most probable.^ A
multitude of such difficulties occur, which will be difficul-
ties while the doctrine of spirits and spiritualities is so dark
to us, and that will be while the dust of mortality and cor-
ruption is in our eyes. This is my comfort, that death will
shortly blow out this dust, and then I shall be resolved of these
and many more. In the meantime, I am a sceptic, and know
little in this whole doctrine of spirits and spiritual workings,
further than Scripture clearly revealeth, and think we might do
well to keep closer to its language.
Sect. VIII. Here is presupposed before rest, an actual motion :
rest is the end of motion : no motion, no rest. Christianity is not a
sedentary profession or employment, nor doth it consist in mere
negatives. It is not for feeding, or clothing, &c., that Christ
condemns. Not doing good, is not the least evil : sitting still
■will lose you heaven, as well as if you run from it. I know
when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants ; and he
cannot be a Christian, that relies upon the supposed merit of his
works, in proper sense ; but yet he that hides his talent, shall
receive the wages of a slothful servant.
cause, but the effect ; for I doubt not to affirm, so far as these obscure things
are known to us on the ordinary grounds, that it is the very essence of God
"Nvhich worketli grace on the soul ; for it is his vdle eff'ectivum, his will. God
needs do no more to jiroduce the creature or any ((uality in it, but only to will
it, as Dr. Twisse saith, and Bradvvardine more fully and peremptorily: and
God's will is his essence. I speak on the supposition of God's immediate ope-
ration ; for if God work grace by angels, or any second causes, then it cannot
be thus said of the act of the second cause, at least so certainly : hut of God's
act it is still true. So Clemens .'Mexandr. As God's will is his work, and that
is called the world; so his will is man's salvation, and that is , called the
church. — Cl.Al. Pa-dagog. 1. i. c. 6.
^ Nos enim qui totam fideni in carne adrainistrandum credimus, immo et
per carnem cujus est. et os, ad profereudum optimum quemque sermonem, et
lingua ad non blaspheniandum,et cor ad non iiidignandum, et manus ad ope-
randum et largiendum, tam vetustatem homiinsquam novitatem ad moralem,
nun ad substantialem differentiam pertinere del'endinius. — Terlul, 1. J)e
Aiima, c. xlv. p. (inihi) 412.
EVERLASTING REST. 41
Sect. IX. 9. Here is presupposed, also, as motion, so such
motion as is rightly ordered and directed toward the end ; not
all motion, labour, seeking, that brings to rest.^ Every way
leads not to this end ; but he whose goodness hath appointed
the end, hath in his wisdom, and by his sovereign authority,
appointed the way. Our own invented ways may seem to us
more wise, comely, equal, pleasant ; but that is the best key
that will open the lock, which none but that of God's appoint-
ing will do. O the pains that sinners take, and worldlings take,
but not for this rest 1 O the pains and cost that many an ig-
norant and superstitious soul is at for this rest, but all in vain !
How many have a zeal for God, but not according to know-
ledge ; who, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God : nor known, " that
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth." (Rom. x. 2 — 4.) Christ is the door 3 the only way
to this rest. Some will allow nothing else to be called the way,
lest it derogate from Christ. The truth is, Christ is the only
way to the Father ; yet faith is the way to Christ ; and Gospel
obedience, or faith and works, the way for those to walk in, that
are in Christ.^ There be, as before, many ways requisite in
subordination to Christ, but none in co-ordination with him ; so
then it is only God's way that will lead to this end and rest.
^Cuna enim homo sit per naturam mobilis, et si honesta sponte sua refugit,
non tamen ii. motu quievit. Movetur itaque non jam quidem ad virtutem,
nee ad videndum Deum ; sed quae non sunt, versans vires suas perverlit ; abu-
teus his ad eas, quas excogitavit concupiscenlias carnis ; est quippe condita
libera; potest bona uteligere, ita et adversari, &c. — Alhanas. lib. 1. cont.Gen.
Trans.
E Object. If many conditions are required in those that are to be justified,
then we are not justified of mere grace. Answ. 1 distinguish of conditions.
If many conditions are required in the justified which bear proportion with
tiod's justice, I grant all. But if the conditions which are required in those
that must be justified do bear no proportion with God's justice, I deny that
it thence follows that justification is not of mere grace. For it is not all con-
ditions that are excluded by grace, but those which may bear the nature of
merit. Camero, in * Op. Fol. impres.' p. 3(i.') ; " Cum is^itur operit)us justifi-
catio negatur, vis justificandi meritoria negatur." John Crocius ' De Justif.,'
disput. xii. p. G'Jfi. So Rivius Tractat. de Redemp. Dr. Fownds, of ' Christ's
three Offices;' Rivet. < On Genes.,* and generally our divines, against the
papists, do oppose the merit of works, as the point wherein our dilference
lieth. They make it all one to say that works do not justify, and they do not
merit: meaning by works, as Paul doth, such as make the reward to be not
of grace, but of debt. (Rom. iv. 3, 4.) But obedience to Christ, as a condi-
tion only, they deny not.
42 THE saint's
Sect. X. 10. There is supposed, also, as motion rightly or-
dered, so strong and constant motion, which may reach the end.
If there be not strength put to the bow, the arrow will not reach
the mark : the lazy world, that think all too much, will find this
to their cost one day. They that think less ado might have
served, do but reproach Christ for making us so much to do :
they that have been most holy, watchful, painful, to get faith
and assurance, do find, when they come to die, all too little.
We see, daily, the best Christians, Avhen dying, repent their
negligence : I never knew any, then, repent his holiness and
diligence. It would grieve a man's soul to see a multitude of
mistaken sinners lay out their wit, and care, and pains, for a
thing of nought, and think to have eternal salvation with a wish.
If the way to heaven be not far harder than the world imagines,
then Christ and his apostles knew not the way, or else have de-
ceived us ; for they have told us, " that the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence; that the gate is strait, and the way nar-
row; and we must strive, if we will enter ; for many shall seek
to enter, and not be able,"^ which implies the faintness of their
seeking, and that they put not strength to the work ; and, " that
the righteous themselves are scarcely saved." If ever souls ob-
tain salvation in the world's common, careless, easy way, then
I will say there is a nearer way found out than ever God, in
Scripture, hath revealed to the sons of men. But when they
have obtained life and rest in this way, let them boast of it; till
then, let them give us leave, who would fain go upon sure
grounds, in point of eternal salvation, to believe that God knows
the wav better than thev, and that his word is a true and infal-
lible discovery thereof.
I have seen this doctrine also thrown by with contempt by
others, who say, ' What, do you set us a-working for heaven ?
Doth our duty do any thing ? Hath not Christ done all ? Is not
this to make him a half Saviour, and to preach law ? '
Answ. It is to preach the law of Christ : his subjects are not
lawless.' It is to preach duty to Christ : no more exact a
h Matt. xi. 12; Matt. vii. 13 ; Luke xiii. 24, 25 ; 1 Pet. iv. 18.
' Age Marcion, omnesque jam cemmiserones et credibiles ejus haeretici,
quid audebitis dicere ? Resciditne Christus priora priecepta, noa Decidendi,
noil adulterandi, non furandi, non falsum testandi, diligendi patrem et matrem ?
An et ilia servavit, et quod deerat, adjecit ?—Tertul. udvers. Marcion, lib. 4.
c. xxxvi. p. 524. Christus interrogatus &, quodam, praeceptor optime, quid
faciens vitem aeternam possidebo ? De prseceptis creatoris, au ea sciret, id
est, faceret, expostulavit : ad coritestandum prseceptis creatoris vitani acquiri
sempiternatn.— 7b'<t(i. ubi supa.
EVERLASTING RKST. 4?
requirer of duty, or hater of sin, than Christ. Christ hath done,
and will do all his work, and therefore is a perfect Saviour j
but yet leaves for us a work too. He hath paid all the price,
and left us none to pay ; yet he never intended hjs purchase
should put us into absolute, immediate, personal title to glory,
in point of law, much less into immediate possession. What
title, improperly so called, we may have from his own, and his
Pather's secret counsel, is nothing to the question : he hath
purchased the crown to bestow only on condition of believing,
denying all for him, suffering with him, persevering and over-
coming.'^ He hath purchased justification, to bestow only on
condition of our believing ; yea, repenting and believing.^ That
the first grace hath any such condition, I will not affirm ; but
following mercies have ; though it is Christ that enableth also
to perform the condition. It is not a Saviour offered, but re-
ceived also, that must save : it is not the blood of Christ shed
only, but applied also, that must fully deliver ; nor is it applied
to the justification or salvation of a sleepy soul ; nor doth Christ
carry us to heaven in a chair of security. Where he will pardon,
he will make you pray, " Forgive us our trespasses ; " and where
he will give righteousness, he will give hungering and thirsting.
It is not through any imperfection in Christ, that the righteous are
scarcely saved ; no, nor that the wicked perish, as they shall be
convinced one day. In the same sense as the prayer of the faith-
ful, if fervent, availeth for outward mercies, in the same sense it
prevajleth for salvation also ; for Christ hath purchased both.
And as baptism is said to save us, so other duties too. Our righte-
ousness, which the law of works requireth, and by which it is
satisfied, is wholly in Christ, and not one grain in ourselves ; nor
must we dare to think of patching up a legal righteousness of
Christ's and our own together : that is, that our doings can be
the least part of satisfaction for our sins, or proper merit. But
yet ourselves must personally fulfil the conditions of the new
covenant, and so have a personal, evangelical righteousness, or
never be saved by Christ's righteousness j therefore, say not it is
'' Ut actus justificandi, sic ejus modus et ratio tota dependet kDei volun-
tate. — Johan. Crocius cle Justif. Disput. xii. p. 656.
' Adjunxit plane et addidit legem, certa nos conditione et sponsioue con-
striiigens, ut sic nobis dimitti debita postulemus, ut ipsi debitoribus nostris
dimittimus, scientes impetrari non posse quod pro peccatis petimus, nisi et
ipsi, &c. — Cyprian, in Oral, Dominic, sect, xvii, p. 314. Lege Clem. Aiex-
andr. Stromat. lib. 2, paulb post init, against those that cry down law and
fear. (Gal. ill. 3.)
44 THE saint's
not duty, but Christ ; for it is Christ in a way of duty. As duty
cannot do it without Christ, so Christ will not do it without
duty : but of this, enough before.
And as this motion must be strong, so must it be constant ;
or it will fall short of rest. To begin in the Spirit, and end in
the flesh, will not bring to the end of the saints. The certainty
of the saints' perseverance doth not make admonition to con-
stancy unuseful : men, as seemingly holy as the best of us, have
fallen off. He that knew it impossible, in the foundation, to
deceive the elect, yet saw it necessary to warn us, that he only
that endureth to the end, shall be saved."" Read but the pro-
mises, (Rev. ii. and iii.) " To him that overcometh." Christ's
own disciples must be commanded to continue in his love, and
that by keeping his commandments j and to abide in him, and
his word in them, and he in them. It will seem strange to
some, that Christ should command us, that " he abide in us."
(See John xv. 4 — 10, and viii. 31 ; 1 John xxii. 4, 28.)
Sect.XI. 11. There is presupposed, also, to the obtaining of this
rest, a strong desire after it. The soul's motion is not that
which we call violent or constrained, (none can force it,) but free.
As everything inclines to its proper centre, so the rational crea-
ture is carried on in all its motion, with desires after its end.
This end is the first thing intended, and chief desired, though
last obtained. Observe it, and believe it, whoever thou art ;
there never was a soul that made Christ and glory the principal
end, nor that obtained rest with God, whose desire was not set
upon him, and that above all things else in the world whatso-
ever. Christ brings the heart to heaven first, and then the per-
son. His own mouth spoke it, " Where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also." (Matt. vi. 21.) A sad conclusion to
thousands of professed Christians. He that had truly rather
have the enjoyment of God in Christ, than any thing in the
world, shall have it ; and he that had rather have any thing
else, shall not have this, except God change him. It is true,
the remainder of our old nature will much weaken and interrupt
these desires, but never overcome them. The passionate mo-
tion of them is oft strongest towards inferior, sensible things ;
but the serious, deliberate will or choice, which is the rational
desire, is most for God.
Sect. XII. 12. Lastly: here is presupposed painfulness and
" Matt. xxiv. 13 ; Mark xiii. 13, 22 ; Acts xiii. 43, and xiv. 22 ; Rom. xi. 22 j
Col. i. 23 ; Heb. viii. 9 ; Jam. i. 25.
EVERLASTING REST. 45
weariness in our motion. This ariseth not from any evil in the work
or way, for Christ's yoke is easy, his burden Hght, and his com-
mands not grievous :» but, 1. From the opposition we meet with;
2. The contrary principles still remaining in our nature, which
will make us cry out, " O, wretched men I" (Rom. vii. 24.)
3. From the weakness of our graces, and so of our motion.
Great labour, where there is a suitable strength, is a pleasure ;
but to the weak, how painful ! With what panting and weari-
ness doth a feeble man ascend that hill which the sound man
runs up with ease. We are all, even the best, but feeble. An
easy, dull, profession of religion, that never encountereth with
these difficulties and pains, is a sad sign of an unsound heart.
Christ, indeed, hath freed us from the impossibilities of the
covenant of works, and from the burden and yoke of legal
ceremonies, but not from the difficulties and pains of Gospel
duties. 4. Our continued distance from the end, will raise
some grief also ; for desire and hope, implying the absence of
the thing desired and hoped for, do ever imply also some grief
for that absence ; which all vanish when we come to possession.
All these twelve things are implied in a Christian's motion, and
so presupposed to his rest. And he only that hath the pre-re-
quisite qualifications, shall have the crown. Here, therefore,
should Christians lay out their utmost care and industry. See
to your part, and God will certainly see to his part. Look you
to your hearts and duties, in which God is ready with assisting
grace, and he will see that you lose not the reward." O, how
most Christians wrong God and themselves, with being more
solicitous about God's part of the work than their own, as if
God's faithfulness were more to be suspected than their unfaith-
ful, treacherous hearts ! This rest is glorious, and God is faithful;
Christ's death is sufficient, and the promise is universal, free,
and true. You need not fear missing of heaven through tlie
deficiency or fault of any of these. }iut yet, for all these, the
falseness of your own hearts, if you look not to them, may undo
you. If you doubt of this, believe the Holy Ghost. " Having
a promise left us of entering into his rest, let us fear lest any of
you should seem to come short of it." (Heb. iv. 1.) The pro-
mise is true, but conditional. Never fear whether God will
break promise, but fear lest you should not truly perform the
condition, for nothing else can bereave you of the benefit.
" Prov. iv. G ; Malt. xi. 36 ; 1 John v. 3.
" That salvation is given /^er modmn jnmniii Dr.Twisse saith oft, cent. Cor«
viii, is past all clouht.
46
THE SAINT'S
CHAP. IV.
What this Rest containeth.
But all this Is only the outward court, or at least not the
holiest of all. Now we have ascended the steps, may we look
within the veil ? May we show what this rest containeth, as
well as what it presupposeth ? But, alas 1 how little know I of
that whereof I am about to speak. Shall I speak before I
know ? But if I stay till I clearly know, I shall not come again
to speak. That glimpse which Paul saw, contained that which
could not, or must not, be uttered, or both.*! And if Paul had
had a tongue to have uttered it, it would have done no good,
except his hearers had ears to hear it. If Paul had spoken the
things of heaven in the language of heaven, and none under-
stood that language, what the better ? Therefore, I will speak
while I may, that little, very little which I do know of it, rather
than be wholly silent. The Lord reveal it to me, that I may
reveal it to you ; and the Lord open some light, and show both
you and me his inheritance : not, as to Balaam only, whose
eyes the vision of God opened, to see the goodliness of Jacob's
tents, and Israel's tabernacles, where he had no portion, but
from whence must come his own destruction :'' nor 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.*^
Sect. I. \. There is contained in this rest, 1. A cessation from
motion or action ; not of all the action, but of that which hath
the nature of a means, and implies the absence of the end.
When we have obtained the haven, we have done sailing. When
the workman hath his wages, it is implied he hath done his
work. When we are at our journey's end, we have done with
the way. All motion ends at the centre, and all means cease
when we have the end. Therefore, prophesying ceaseth,
tongues fail, and knowledge shall be done away ; that is, so far
1 2 Cor. xii. 4. ' Num. xxiv. 15, and xvi. 5.
» Deut. xxxiv. 1—4. ' Matt. xiii. 44— 46.
» Acts vii. 55, 56.
EviRtAktlNG kEST. -4/
as it had the nature of a means, and was imperfect.'^ And so
faith may be said to cease : not all faith, for how shall we know
all things past, which we saw not but by believing ? How shall
we know the last judgment, the resurrection of the body
beforehand, but by believing ? How shall we know the life
everlasting, the eternity of the joys We possess, but by believ-
ing ? But all that faith, which, as a means referred to the
chief end, shall cease. There shall be no more prayer,
because no more necessity, but the full enjoyment of what
we prayed for. Whether the soul pray for the body's resur-
rection, for the last judgment, &c., or whether soul and
body pray for the eternal continuance of their joys, is to me
yet unknown ; otherwise, we shall not need to pray for what we
have, and we shall have all that is desirable. Neither shall we
need to fast, and weep, and watch, any morie, being out of the
reach of sin and temptations. Nor will there be use for instruc-
tions and exhortations : preaching is done, the ministry of man
ceaseth, sacraments useless, the labourers called in because the
harvest is gathered, the tares burned, and the work done, the
unregenerate past hope, the saints past fear for ever, much less
shall there be aiiy need of labouring for inferior ends, as here
we do, seeing they will all devolve themselves into the ocean of
the ultimate end, and the lesser good be wholly swallowed up
of the greatest.
Sect. II. 2. This rest containeth a perfect freedom from all the
evils that accompanied us through our course, and which neces-
sarily follow our absence from the chief good. Besides our free-
dom from the eternal flames, and restless miseries, which the
neglecters of Christ and grace, Umst remedilessly endure; an in-
heritance which, both by birth and actual merit, Was due to us as
well as to them. As God will not know the wicked so as to owii
them ; so neither will heaven know iniquity to receive it : for there
entereth nothing that defileth, or is unclean ; all that remains
without.^ And, doubtless, there is not such a thing as grief and
sorrow known there : nor is there such a thing as a pale face, id
languid body, feeble joints, undble infancy, decrepit age, pecCant
" (1 Cor. xiii. 8.) There are two excellent parts of our glory, which
I have here omitted, and only put them among the adjuncts, which should
Eot have been done. 1. That we shall he members of the heavenly Jeru-
salem, and so glorify God in that blessed society. 2. That we shall
see the face of our glorified Redeemer; and his person shall ever-
lastingly be glorified in us. Were it again to do, I should more largely treat
of both these, as principal parts of our glory and felicity,
y Rev. xxi. 27.
48 THE saint's
Immours, dolorous sickness, griping fears, consuming cares, nor
whatsoever deserves the name of evil. Indeed, a gale of groans
and sighs, a stream of tears, accompanied us to the very gates,
and there bid us farewell for ever. We did weep and lament,
when the world did rejoice; but our sorrow is turned into joy,
and our joy shall no man take from us.^ God were not the
chief and perfect good, if the full fruition of him did not free us
from all evil. But we shall have occasion to speak more fully of
this in that which follows.
Sect. III. 3. This rest containeth the highest degree of the
saints* personal perfection, both of soul and body.^ This neces-
sarily qualifies them to enjoy the glory, and thoroughly to par-
take of the sweetness of it. Were the glory ever so great, and
themselves not made capable by a personal perfection suitable
thereto, it would be little to them. ,There is necessary a right
disposition of the recipient, to a right enjoying, and affecting.
This is one thing that makes the saints' joys there so great.
Here, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived,
what God hath laid up for them that wait for him." For this
eye of flesh is not capable of seeing it, nor this ear of hearing it,
nor this heart of understanding it ; but there the eye, and ear,
and heart, are made capable ; else how do they enjoy it ? The
more perfect the sight is, the more delightful the beautiful
object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food.
The more musical the ear, the more pleasant the melody. The
more perfect the soul, the more joyous those joys, and the more
glorious to us is that glory. Nor is it only our sinful imperfec-
tion that is here to be removed ; nor only that which is the fruit
of sin, but that which adhered to us in our pure naturals.
Adam's dressing the garden, was neither sin nor the fruit of sin :
nor is either to be less glorious than the stars, or the sun in the
iirmament of our Father : yet is this the dignity to which the
righteous shall be advanced. '^ There is far more procured by
Christ, than was lost by Adam. It is the misery of wicked men
here, that all without them is mercy, excellent mercies, but with-
in them a heart full of sin shuts the door against all, and makes
them but the more miserable. When all is well within, then all
» John xvi, 20—22.
Beata vita est conveniens naturae suas : quae non aliter contingere potest,
quam si primum saiia mens est, et in perpetua possessione sanitatis sune. —
iseneca, de vit, heat. c. 3.
'> Gen. ii. 15; Dan. x. 13.
EVERLASTING REST. 49
is well indeed. The near good is the best, and the near evil and
enemy the worst. Therefore will God, as a special part of his
saints' happiness, perfect themselves, as well as their condition.
Sect. IV. 4. This rest containeth, as the principal part, our near-
est fruition of God, the chiefest 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, to the beloved disciple that
durst speak and inquire into Christ's secrets, and was filled with
his revelations, and saw the New Jerusalem in her glory, and
had seen Christ, Moses, and Elias, in part of theirs; if it did not
appear to him what it shall be, but only in general, that when.
Christ appears we shall be like him,'-" no wonder if I know little.
When I know so little of God, I cannot know much what it is
to enjoy him. When it is so little I know of my own soul,
either its quiddity or quality, while it is here in this tabernacle,
how little must I needs know of the infinite Majesty, or the state
of this soul when it is advanced to that enjoyment ! If I know
so little of spirits and spirituals, how little of the Father of spirits I
Nay, if I never saw that creature which contains not something
unsearchable ; nor the worm so small, which affordeth not mat-
ter for questions to puzzle the greatest philosopher 1 ever met
with; no wonder, then, if mine eyes fail, when I would look at
God, my tongue fail me in speaking of him, and my heart in
conceiving.*^ As long as the Athenian superscription doth so
too well suit with my sacrifices, " To the unknown God," and
while I cannot contain the smallest rivulet, it is little I can con-
tain of this immense ocean. We shall never be capable of
clearly knowing, till we are capable of fully enjoying ; nay, nor
till we do actually enjoy him. What strange conceivings hath
a man, born blind, of the sun, and its light ; or a man born
deaf, of the nature of sounds and music 1 so do we yet want that
sense bv which God must be clearly known. I stand and look
upon a heap of ants, and see them all, with one view, very busy
to little purpose. They know not me, my being, nature, or
thoughts, though I am their fellow-creature ; how little, then,
must we know of the great Creator, though he with one view
continually beholds us all. Yet a knowledge we have, though
<= 1 John iii. 2.
^ O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernas,
Terrarum ccelique sator, qui tenipus ad sevum.
Ire jubes, stabilisque maneus das cuncta moveri !
Principium, rector, dux, semita, terminus idem ;
Tu re((uies tranquilla piis, tu ceruere finis ! &c. — lioetius,
Vid. Gerson. part. iii. ,Aiphabet.DiviniAmorisj cap. IJ, Egregie de attributis
VOL. X.\ll. Ji
50 THE saint's
imperfect, and such as must be done away. A glimpse the
saints behold, though but in a glass, which makes us capable of
some poor, general, dark apprehensions of what we shall behold
in glory, if J should tell a worldling but what the holiness and
spiritual joys of the saints on earth are, he cannot know it ; for
grace cannot be clearly known without grace : how much less
could he conceive it, should I tell him of this glory ! But to the
saints I may be somewhat more encouraged to speak ; for grace
giveth them a dark knowledge, and slight taste of the glory.
As all good whatsoever is comprised in God,*^ and all in the
creature are but drops of this ocean ; so all the glory of the
blessed is comprised in their enjoyment of God : and if there be
any mediate joys there, thev are but drops from this. If men
and angels should study to speak the blessedness of that estate in
one word, what can they say beyond this, ' That it is the near-
est enjoyment of God?' Say, 'They have God;' and you
say, 'They have all that is worth the having.' O the full joys
offered to a believer in that one sentence of Christ's ! I would
not, for all the world, that one verse had been left out of the
Bible : " Father, I will, that those whom thou hast given me, be
with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which
thou hast given me." (John xvii. 24.) Every word is full of
life and joy. Jf the Queen of Sheba had cause to say of Solo-
mon's glory, "Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants
that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom,"''
then, sure, they that stand continually before God, and see his
glory, and the glory of the Lamb, are somewhat more than
happv : to them will Christ " give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God ;" and " to eat
et excellentiis iliviuis expatiautem. Beatitudo sumitur objectivt' et fornialiter:
quod beatos facit ipso frueiites, hoc est, diviiia bonitas, qua; est summuin bo-
nuin. Beatitudo autem lormalis est ipsa fruiiio, &c. — Stella in Luc. 10, torn,
ii. p. 45.
*= God is defined to be one that wanteth nothing, and is sufiicient for him-
self, and full of i)imself, in whom all things do consist, and who himself
giveth being to all, saith Athanasius, lib. i. cont. Gentil. God is by na-
ture incorporeal, neither subject to sight nor touch. He is most powerful,
and nothing hoideth him ; but he holdeth or containeth all things, and ruleth
over all. — Idem ibid.
f 1 Kings X. 8. Some interpret most of those scriptures in the Revelations,
of the church's glory on earth : and then it would hold a minore. Tu es
recreatur omnium qui dixisli, Venile ad me omnes qui laboratis, &c. Anima
enim quae est in te, rudicata in centro suo et recreata, et quieta est; quae
veio in te non est, multis vanis phantasmatibus fatigatur. Tu sufficientissi-
nius es ; qui te habet, totum habet ; qui non, mendicus est, et pauper, quia
quicquid prater te est, non reficit, uou sufticit. — Cerson. part. iii. Jljikabet.
Amoris. Divini, cap. 14.
EVERLASTING REST. 51
of the hidden manna," (Rev. ii. 7, 17.) Yea, "He will make
them pillars in the temple of God, and they shall go no more out :
and he will write upon them the name of his God, and the name
of the city of his God, New Jerusalem, which cometh down
out of heaven from God, and his own new name." (Rev. iii. 12.)
Yea, more, if more may be, " He will grant them to sit with
him in his throne." (Rev. iii, 21.) "These are they who come
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb ; therefore are they before
the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple :
and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them : and
the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and lead them unto living fountains of water ; and God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Rev. vii. 14, 15, 17.)
And may we not now boast with the spouse, " This is my be-
loved, O daughters of Jerusalem !" And this is the glory of the
saints ! O blind, deceived world, can you show us such a glory?
" This is the city of our God, where the tabernacle of God is
with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his
people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.'*
*' The glory of God shall enlighten it, and the Lamb is the light
thereof." (Rev. xxi. .3, 2-1.) "And there shall be no more
curse, but the throne of God and 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 these are the things that must shortlv be done."
(Rev. xxii. 3, 4, 6.) And now we say, as Mephibosheth, 'Let
the world take all besides, if we may but see the face of our
Lord in peace.' If the Lord lift up the light of his counte-
nance on us here, it ])uts more gladness in our hearts than the
world's increase can do. (Psal. iv. 6, 7.) How much more,
when in his^ light we shall have light without darkness ; and he
shall make us full of joy with his countenance. " Rejoice,
therefore, in the Lord, O ye righteous ; and shout for joy, all ye
that are upright of heart ;" and say with his servant David, "The
Lord is the portion of mine inheritance ; the lines are fallen to
me in pleasant places : yea, I have a goodlv heritage : I have
set the Lord always before me : because he is at my right hand
I shall not be moved : therefore my heart is glad, and my glory
rejoiceth ; my flesh also shall rest in hope : for he will not leave
nie in the grave, nor suffer me for ever to see corruption. He
8 Psal. xxxvi. 9 ; Acts ii. 28, and Psal. xxxiii. 1.
e2
52 THE SAINT S
will show me the path of life, and bring me into his presence,
where is fulness of joy ; and at his right hand, where are pleasures
for evermore." (Psal. xvi. 5,0,8 — II.) " Whom, therefore,
have I in heaven but him, or in earth that I desire besides him ?
jVly flesh and my heart have failed, and will fail me j but God
is the strength of my heart, and will be my portion for ever ;
he shall guide me with his counsel, and afterwards receive me
to glory ; and as they that are far from him shall perish, so it is
good, the chief good, for us to be near to God." (Psal. Ixxiii.
24—28.)
The advancement is exceeding high : ^ what irreverent,
damnable 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 saint's preferment in this life, as
Scripture sets it forth, had it not been the express truth of God.
What vile unmannerliness, to talk of " being sons of God,"
" speaking to him," " having fellowship and communion with
liim," " dwelling in him and he in us ;" if this had not been
God's own language ! How much less durst we have once
thought of" being brighter than the sun in glory;" of '' being co-
heirs with Christ; of judging the world; of sitting on Christ's
throne ; of being one with him;" if we had not all this from
the mouth, and under the hand of God ! But hath he said it,
and shall it not come to pass ? Hath he spoken it, and will he
not do it ? Yes, as true as the Lord God is true, thus shall it
be done to the man whom Christ dclifrhts to honour. " The
eternal God is their refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms : and the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him,
and the Lord shall cover them all the day long, and he sha?l
dwell between their shoulders." (Deut. xxxiii. 27, 28.) " Surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days of their lives,
and then they shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."
(Psal. xxiii. 6.) O Christians ! believe and consider this. Is
sun, and moon, and stars, and all creatures, called upon to praise
the Lord ?' What then should his people do ? Surely they
are nearer him, and enjoy more of him than the brutes
shall do. All his works praise him, but, above all, let his saints
bless him. (Psal. cv. 10.) O let them speak of the glory of his
i> Admodum cautfe legenda existimo, quae post alios D. Gibieuf. scribit de
nostri deificatione in 1. ii. de Libert, c. xxvii. sect. 8—10, &c. ; ut et qua? Aug',
in P 1- xlii. et Serm. ki. de verb, Evaug. ab ipso citata. John i. 12}
1 Jobn i. 3; 1 John iv. 15, 16.
i Psal. cxlviii.
EVERT.ASTrNG REST. 53
kingdom, and talk of his power : to make known to the sons of
men, his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
(Ver. 11, 12.) "Let his praise be in the congregation of his
saints ; let Israel rejoice in him that made him : let the children
of Zion be joyful in their King. Let the saints be joyful in glory :
let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of
God be in their mouth ; for the Lord taketh j)leasure in his peo-
ple, and will beautify the meek with salvation." (Psal. cxlix. 1,
2, 4 — 6.) '" This is the light that is sown for the righteous, and
gladness for the upright in heart. (Psal. xcvii. 11.) Yea,
"this honour have all his saints." (Psal. cxlix. 9.) If the
estate of the devils, before their fall, were not much meaner
than this, and perhaps lower than some of their fellow-angels,
surely their sin was most accursed and detestable. Could they
aspire higher ? And was there yet room for discontent ? What
is it, then, that would satisfy them ? Indeed, the distance that
we sinners and mortals are at from our God, leaves us some ex-
cuse for discontent with our estate. Tlie poor soul out of the
depth cries, and cries aloud, as if his Father were out of hearing :
sometime he chides the interposing clouds, sometime he is
angry at the vast gulf that is set between ; sometime he would
have the veil of mortahty drawn aside, and thinks death hath
forgot his business ; he ever quarrels with this sin that separates,
and longs till it be separated from the soul, that it may separate
God and him no more : why, poor Christian, be of good cheer ;
the time is near, when God and thou 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 his house,
than enjoy the portion of the wicked. Thou shalt ever stand
before him, about his throne, in the room with him, in his pre-
sence chamber. Wouldst thou yet be nearer ? Thou shalt be
his child, and he thy father ; thou shalt be an heir of his king-
dom ; yea, more, the spouse of his Son ; and what more canst
thou desire ? Thou shalt be a member of the bodv of his Son,
he shall be thv head ; thou shalt be one with him, who is one
with the Father. Read what he hath desired for thee of his
Father. " That they all may be one, as thou. Father, art in me,
and I in thee, that they also may be one 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 nuiy
be made perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John
54 THE saint's
xvii. 2 — 23.) What can you desire yet more ? Except you
will, as some do, abuse Christ's expression of oneness, to con-
ceive of such a union, as shall deify us ; which were a sin one
step beyond the aspiring arrogancy of Adam ; and, I think, be-
yond that of the devils. A real conjunction, improperly called
union, we may expect ; and a true union of affections. A moral
union, improperly still called union, and a true relative union,
such as is between the members of the same politic body and the
head : yea, such as is between the husband and the wife, who are
called one flesh. And a real communion, and communication
of real favours, flowing from that relative union. If there be any
more, it is acknowledged unconceivable, and consequently un-
expressible, and so not to be spoken of. If any one can conceive
of a proper real"^ union and identity, which shall neither be
a unity of essence, nor of person with Christ, I shall not oppose
it : but to think of such a union were high blasphemy. Nor
must you think of a union, as some do, upon natural grounds,
following the dark mistaken principles of Plato and Plotinus.
If your thoughts be not guided and limited by Scripture in this,
you are lost.^
Quest. But how is it we shall enjoy God?
Answ. That is the fifth and last we come to.
Sect. V. This rest containeth a sweet and constant action of all
the powers of the soul and body in this fruition of God. It is not
the rest of a stone, which ceaseth from all motion, when it at-
tains the centre. The senses themselves, as I judge, are not
only passive in receiving their object, but partly passive and
partly active. Whether the external senses, such as now we
have, shall be continued and employed in this work, is a great
doubt. For some of them, it is usually acknowledged they shall
cease, because their being importeth their use, and their use
implieth our estate of imperfection : as there is no use for eat-
ing and drinking, so neither for the taste. But for other senses
the question will be harder ; for Job saith, " I shall see him
with these eyes."
But do not all senses imply our imperfection ? If Job did
speak of more than a redemption from this present distress, as
it is like he did, yet certainly these eyes will be made so spiritual,
that whether the name of sense, in the same sense as now, shall
^ 1 take not the word ' real' as opposite to feigned, but to relative. ee
Mr. Wallis's Answer to the Lord Brooks fully on this.
I De hoc lege Car. CausaU; vo!. ii. Exercit. 1. iv. fol. 66, 67.
EVERLASTING REST. 55
befit them, is a question. This body shall be so changed, that
it shall be no more flesh and blood,™ for " that cannot inherit the
kingdom of God;" (1 Cor. xv. 50;) but "a spiritual body,
(ver. 44.) "That which we sow, we sow not that body that
shall be ; but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and
to every seed his own body." (1 Cor. xv. 37, 38.) As the ore is
cast into the fire a stone, but comes forth so pure a metal, that
it deserves another name, and so the difference betwixt it and
the gold exceeding great : so far greater will the change of our
bodies and senses be ; even so great, as now we cannot conceive.
If grace make a Christian differ so much from what he was, that
the Christian could say to his companion, ' Ego non sum ego/
' I am not the man I was ;' how much more will glory make
us differ ? We may then say much more, ' This is not the body
I had, and these are not the senses I had.' But because we
have no other name for them, let us call them senses, call them
eyes and ears, seeing and hearing : but thus conceive of the dif-
ference ; that as much as a body spiritual, above the sun in
glory, exceedeth these frail, noisome, diseased lumps of flesh or
dirt that now we carry about us ; so far shall our sense of seeing
and hearing exceed these we now possess : for the change of
the senses must be conceived proportionable to the change of
the body. And, doubtless, as God advanceth our sense, and en-
largeth our capacity; so will he advance the happiness of those
senses, and fill up with himself all that capacity." And certainly
the body should not be raised up and continued, if it should not
share of the glory : for as it hath shared in the obedience and
sufferings, so shall it also do in the blessedness : and as Christ
bought the whole man, so shall the whole partake of the ever-
lasting benefits of the purchase. The same difference is to be
•" I think the apostle speaks of flesh and blood in a proper sense, and no*
of sin : for them that say the flesh is but the soul's instrument, and therefore
should no more suffer than a cup, because poison was put in it ; or a sword
for killing a man, &c. they may find this objection fully answered by Tertul-
lian, lib. de Resurrect. Carnis. c. xvi. p. 410, where he both shows that the
instruments may suffer according to their capacity, and that the flesh is more
than a mere instrument to the soul, e\en a servant and an associate.
" Nos vero etiam virtutes carnis opponimus ; ergo et bene operator tene-
bitur pra'-mio. Etsi anima est qute agit, et impellit in omnia; carnis obse-
quium est : dum non licet aut injustum judicem credi aut inertem ; injustum,
si sociam bonorum operum a praemiis arceat ; inertem, si sociam malorum k
suppliciis secernat. Quuni humaua censura eo perfectior liabeatur, quo
etiam ministros facti cujusque deposcit, nee parcens, nee invideus illis, (juo
minus cum autoribus, aut pcenfe aut gratia' comraunicent fructum.— T^a/M/.
lib, de Resurrect, Carnis^ c. xvi. p. (mihi) 410,
56 THE saint's
allowed for the tongue. For though, perhaps, that which we
now call the tongue, the voice, the language, shall not then be :
yet, with the forementioned, unconceivable change, it may con-
tinue. Certain it is, it shall be the everlasting work of" those
blessed saints, to stand before the throne of God and the Lamb,
and to praise him for ever and ever. As their eyes and hearts
shall be filled with his knowledge, with his glory, and with his
love ; so shall their mouths be filled with his praises. Go on,
therefore, O ye saints, while you are on earth, in that divine
duty. Learn, O learn, that saint-beseeming work : for in the
mouths of his saints his praise is comely. Pray, but still praise:
hear and read, but still praise :° praise him in the presence of
his people ; for it shall l)e your eternal work : praise him, while
his enemies deride and abuse you : you shall praise him, while
they shall bewail it, and admire you. O blessed employment,
to sound forth for ever, " Tiiou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
honour, glory, and power !" (Rev. iv. 11.) And "Worthy is the
Lamb who was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing ; for he hath
redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation 5 and hath made us unto our
God, kings and priests." (Rev. v. 9, 10, 12.) "AUelujah,
salvation, and honour, and glory, and power, unto the Lord
our God : praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, small and great. Allelujah : for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth." (Rev. xix. 1, 5, 6.) O Christians ! this is the blessed
rest ; a rest without rest : for, " they rest not day nor night,
saying. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and
is, and is to come." (Rev. iv. 8.) Sing forth his praises now, ye
saints ; it is a work our master Christ has taught us. And you
shall for ever sing before him the song of Moses, and the song of
the Lamb : " Great and marvellous are thy works. Lord God
Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."
(Rev. XV. 3.)
Sect. VI. And if the body shall be thus em})loyed, O how shall
the soul be taken up ! As its powers and capacities are greatest,
so its actions strongest, and its enjoyments sweetest; as the bodily
senses have their proper aptitude and action, whereby they re-
ceive and enjoy their objects, so doth the soul in its own action
enjoy its own object,' by knowing, by tliinking, and remember-
° Psal. xxxiii, 1,2, and cxlvii.
EVERLASTING REST. 57
ing, by loving, unci by deligbtful joying : this is the soul's en-
joying.P By these eyes it sees, and by tliese arms it embraceth.
If it might be said of the disciples with Christ on earth, much
more that behold him in his glory, " Blessed are the eyes that
see the things that ye see, and the ears that hear the things that
ye hear ; for many princes and great ones have desired, and
hoped, to see the things that ye see, and have not seen them,"
&c. (Matt. xiii. IG, 17.)
Knowledge of itself is very desirable, even the knowledge of
some evil, though not the evil itself. As far as the rational soul
exceeds the sensitive, so far the delights of a philosopher, in
discovering ^i the secrets of nature, and knowing the mystery
of sciences, exceed the delights of the glutton, the drunkard,
the miclean, and of all voluptuous sensualists whatsoever ;
so excellent is all truth. What then is their delight, who
know the God of truth ? What would I not give, so that all
the uncertain, questionable principles in logic, natural philoso-
phy, metaphysics, and medicine, were but certain in themselves,
and to me ; and that my dull, obscure notions of them were but
quick and clear ! O, what then should I not either perform or
part with to enjoy a clear and true apprehension of the most
true God ! How noble a ^ faculty of the soul is the understand-
ing ! 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 : yea, but this is the top of all its excellency,
P It is only by thy soul, and implanted understanding, that God can be be-
held and understood. — Atlianas. 1. 1. cont. Gentil. When we speak of seeing
God, we must take heed of expecting a proper, immediate sight of his essence,
more than the creature is capable of. See what great Camero saith : Scho-
lastici homines acuti quideni, sed in hoc argumento nimis acuti : invisibilis
est Deus vel angelis, quibus ad Dei conspectuni nulla peccati labes, sola na-
tura; imbecilitas (creatune enim sunt) adituni interclusit. — Camero, Priclecf.
de Verho Dei, cap. 7. p. (operuni in fol.) 41.^. Neque pugnant ista cum eorum
sententia ([ui beatitudiiiem huniaiiani in Dei li'uitioue collocant. Neque
enim frui Deo aliud quicquam est quani potential, sapientia;, bonitatis divinaj
fructuni percipere queni creaturae modus et ratio fei're potest. Id vero sane-
titas ea animffi est quani dixinius, et corporis ilia gloriosa iinmortalitas. Ne-
que diversum est quod Scripturaa docent, in Dei visione nostram fcelicitatem
esse sitam : nam videtur Deus, experiundo quis sit, et qualeni se erga nos
prffistat, &c. — Camero, ibidem. Hsec autem adhuc inysteria existimo.
1 Jam vero Nosse quantum ametur, quamque falli nolit humana natura,
vel hinc intelligi potest, quod lamentari quisque saua mente mavult, quam
liEtari in amentia. — j4ug. de CivitA. 11. c. 37.
' Scalig. Exercit. 17. Sect 3., dicit voluntatem nihil aliud esse quam intel-
lectum extensum, ad habendum et i'aciendum id quod cognoscit. Vid. D.
MaUowski Colleg, in disp, 18. vit, Pibonis de Just. Passiva.
58 THE saint's
it can know God, who is infinite, who made all these ; a little
here J and more, and much more hereafter. O the wisdom and
goodness of our blessed Lord ! He hath created the under-
standing with a natural hias and inclination to truth and its
object ; and to the prime truth, as its prime object : and lest
we should turn aside to any creature, he hath kept this as his
own divine prerogative, not communicable to any creature, viz.,
to be the prime truth. And though I think not, as ® some do,
that there is so near a close between the understanding and
truth, as may produce a proper union or identity ', yet, doubt-
less, it is no such cold touch or disdainful embrace, as is between
these gross, earthly heterogeneals. The true, studious, con-
templative man knows this to be true ; who feels as sweet em-
braces between his intellect and truth, and far more than ever
the quickest sense did in possessing its desired object. But the
true, studious, contemplative Christian knows it much more ;
who sometime hath felt more sweet embraces between his soul
and Jesus Christ than all inferior truth can afford. I know some
Christians are kept short this way, especially the careless in
their watch and walking ; and those that are ignorant or negli-
gent in the daily actings of faith, who look when God casts in
joys, while they lie idle, and labour not to fetch them in by
believing : but for others, I appeal to the most of them.
Christian, dost thou not sometime, when after long gazing hea-
venward thou hast got a glimpse of Christ, dost thou not seem
to have been with Paul in the third heaven, whether in the body
or out, and to have seen what is unutterable ; art thou not,
with Peter, almost beyond thyself, ready to say, " Master, it is
good to be here ?'' O that I might ever see what I now see !
Didst thou never look so long upon the Son of God, till thine
eyes were dazzled with his astonishing glory ; and did not the
splendour of it make all things below seem black and dark to
' Brook's ' Union of the Soul and Truth.' In vita aeterna praecipuum et
omnis hominis boiium summum est suavissima contemplatio, seu visio Dei, ut
nobis paterne faveutis. Suave est intellip;ere favorem Uei paternum ; suavius
eum amatum gustare; ethoc suavius, gustato acquiescere, et contentum esse:
omnium vero suavissimuni. Scire nos iutellecto Dei favore perfrui, et semper
fruituros esse. — 3fat. Martinius C'athoL Fid. 1. 3. c. 9. Beatorum foelicitas
base erit, quod visuri sunt Deum, h. e. intellectus ipsorum quantum in crea-
tum et finitum intellectum cadere potest, divinitatem plene et perfecte cognos-
cet et coiuemplabitur. Voluntas autem ad Deum cognitum inclinabitur, in
eoque tanquam summo bono tranquillissime; foelicissimoque amore acquies-
cet. Corpora quoque beatorum suas gloriosas quasdam dotes accipient, &c.
— Gear. Calutus 121 Efitom, Jlieo, p. 6(J.
EVERLASTING REST. 59
thee when thou lookedst down again, especially in tliy day of
suffering for Christ, when he usually appears most manifestly to
his people ? Didst thou never see one walking in the midst of
the fiery furnace with thee, like to the Son of God ? If thou
do know him, value him as thy life, and follow on to know him,'
and thou shalt know incomparably more than this ; or, if I do
but renew thy grief to tell thee what thou once didst feel, but
now hast lost, I counsel thee to remember whence thou art
fallen, and repent, and do the first works, and be watchful, and
strengthen the things which remain ;" and I dare promise thee,
because God hath promised, thou shalt see and know that which
here thine eye could not see, nor thy understanding conceive.
Believe me. Christians, yea, believe God, you that have known
most of God in Christ here, it is as nothing to that you shall
know; it scarcely, in comparison of that, deserves to be called
knowledge. The difference betwixt our knowledge now and
our knowledge then, will be as great as that between our fleshly
bodies now and our spiritual, glorified bodies then ; for as these
bodies, so that knowledge must cease, that a more perfect may
succeed. Our silly, childish thoughts of God, which now is the
highest we can reach to, must give place to a more manly
knowledge. All this saith the apostle, " Knowledge shall vanish
away ; for we know in part, &c. But when that which is per-
fect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, 1 thought as a child, I
understood as a child, but when I became a man I put away
childish things ; for now we see through a glass darkly, but then
face to face : now I know in part, but then I shall know even
as also I am known.^' (1 Cor. xiii. S — 12).)
Marvel not, therefore, Christian, at the sense of that place
of John xvii. 3, ^ how it can be life eternal to know God and
his Son Jesus Christ : you must needs know, that to enjoy God
' Hos. vi. 2, 3. » Rev. ii. 5, and iii. 2.
^ Scoti glossa est vera, viz. ut cognoscant te amando et fruendo. Vid. Sco-
tum ill 4 senten. distinct. 48. q. 1. p. 256. Vita sterna est cognoscere : vivere
est motus deiectabilissimus, qui iion est sine amore. Delectatio eiiiiu est
opus amoris, unde in vit^ aeterna est cognitio quae amor. Intellectus enini
quodam naturalissimo amore scire desiderat. Et hoc desiderium est quod in
se gestat veritatem. Et qui scire desiderat, veritateni scire desiderat. Scire
igitur hoc desiderium, est apprehendere desideratum in desiderio. Unde qui
concipit Deum esse charitatem, et fiiiem desiderii, scilicet bonitatem, ille
videtquomodo in apprehensione charitatissatiatur desiderium anirnae,— Crtr</.
Causanus,\Exercitat. 1. 10, fol. (raihi) 184.
60 THE saint's
and his Christ is eternal life, and the soul's enjoying is in know-
ing. They that savour only of earth, and consult with flesh, and
have no way to try and judge hut by sense, and never were ac-
quainted with this knowledge of God, nor tasted how gracious
he is, these think it is a poor happiness to know God : let them
have health and wealth, and worldly delights, and take you the
other. Alas, poor men, they that have made trial of both do
not grudge you your delights, nor envy your happiness, but pity
your undoing folly, and wish O that you could come near, and
taste and try as they have done, and then judge ; then continue
in your former mind if you can ! For our parts, we say with
that knowing apostle, though the speech may seem presumptu-
ous, "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth
in wickedness ; and we know that the Son of God is come, and
hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is
true ; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ :
this is the true God, and eternal Life." (1 John v. 19, 20.)
Here one verse contains the sum of most that I have said. The
Son of God is come to be our Head and Fountain of life, and so
liath given us an understanding, that the soul maybe personally
qualified and made capable to know him (God) that is true,
the prime Truth; and we are brought so near in this enjoyment
that we are in him that is true, not properly by an essential or
personal union, but we are in him by being in his Son Jesus
Christ. This, that we have mentioned, is the only true God, and
so the fittest object for our understanding, which chooseth
truth ; and this knowing of him, and being in him, in Christ, is
eternal life.
Sect. VII. And, doubtless, the memory will not be idle or useless
in this blessed work, if it be but by looking back to help the soul
to value its employment. Our knowledge will be enlarged, not
diminished ; therefore, the knowledge of things past shall not be
taken away : and what is that knowledge, but remembrance ?
Doubtless, from that height, the saint can look behind him and
before him ; and to comiKire past with present things, must
needs raise, in the blessed soul, an inconceivable esteem and
sense of its condition. To stand on that mount, whence we can
see the wilderness and Canaan both at once ; to stand in heaven,
and look back on earth, and weigh them together in the balance
of a comparing sense and judgment, how must it needs trans-
port the soul, and make it cry out. Is this the purchase that
cost so dear as the blood of God ? No wonder : O blessed
EVERLASTING REST. 61
price, and thrice blessed love, that invented and condescended 1
Is this the end of believing; is this the end of the Spirit's work-
ings ? Have the gales of grace blown me into such a harbour :
is it hither that Christ hath enticed my soul ? O blessed way,
and thrice blessed end ! Is this the glory which the Scriptures
spoke of, and ministers preached of so much ? Why, now I see
the Gospel indeed is good tidings, even tidings of peace and
good things ; tidings of great joy to all nations^ Is my mourn-
ing, my fasting, my sad humblings, my heavy walking, groan-
ings, complainings, come to this ; are all my afflictions, sickness,
languishing, troublesome physic, fears of death, come to this;
are all Satan's temptations, the world's scorns and jeers, come
to this ; and, now, if there be such a thing as indignatioti left,
how will it here let fly ! O vile nature, that resisted so much,
and so long such a blessing : unworthy soul ! Is this the place
thou camest so unwillingly towards : was duty wearisome ; was
the world too good to lose ? Didst thou stick at leaving aP,
denying all, and suffering any thing for this : wast thou loath to
die to come to this ? O false heart, that had almost betrayed
me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory 1 O base flesh, that
would needs have been pleased, though to the loss of this feli-
city ! Didst thou make me to question the truth of this gloiy ;
didst thou show me improbabilities, and draw me to distrust the
Lord ; didst thou question the truth of that scripture which
promised this ? Why, my soul, art thou not now ashamed that
ever thou didst question that love that hath brought thee hither ;
that thou wast jealous of the faithfulness of thy Lord ; that thou
suspectedst his love when thou shouldest only have suspected
thyself; that thou didst not live continually transported with
thy Saviour's love ; and that, ever, thou quenchedst a motion
of his Spirit ? Art thou not ashamed of all thy hard thoughts
of such a God ; of all thy misinterpreting of, and grudging at,
those providences, and repining at those ways that have such an
end ? Now, thou art sufficiently convinced that the ways thou
calledst hard, and the cup thou calledst bitter, were necessary ;
that thy Lord hath sweeter ends, and meant thee better than
thou wouldst believe ; and that thy Redeemer was saving thee,
as well when he crossed thy desires as when he granted them,
and as well when he broke thy heart as when he bound it up,
O, no thanks to thee, unworthy self, but shame, for this received
crown ; but to Jehovah and tlie Lamb be glory for ever,
y Luke i. 19, aud ii. 10 ; Acts xiii. 32.
62 THE SAINT*S
Thus, as the memory of the wicked will eternally promote
their torment, to look back on the pleasures enjoyed, the sin
committed, the grace refused, Christ neglected, and time lost ;
so will the memory of the saints for ever promote their joys.
And as it is said to the wicked, " Remember that thou in thy
lifetime receivedst thy good things ; " so will it be said to the
Christian, " Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thine
evils ; but now thou art comforted, and they are tormented." ^
And as here the remembrance of former good is the occasion of
increasing our grief, " I remembered God, and was troubled ;
I called to remembrance my songs in the night ;" (Psal. Ixxvii.
3, 6 ;) so there the remembrance of our former sorrows adds
life to our joys.
Sect. VIII. But O the full, the near, the sweet enjoyment is
that of the affections, love, and joy ; it is near ! for love is of the
essence of the soul, and love is the essence of God : " for God
is love." How near, therefore, is this blessed closure ! The
Spirit's phrase is, " God is love, and he that dvvelleth in
love dvvelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John iv. 8, 16.)
The acting of this affection, wheresoever, carrieth much delight
along with it, especially when the object appears deserving, and
the affection is strong ; but oh ! what will it be when perfect
affections shall have the strongest, perfect, incessant acting upon
the most perfect object, the ever-blessed God ! Now the poor
soul complains, O that I could love Christ more ! but I cannot :
alas ! I cannot ; yea, but then thou canst not choose but love him :
1 had almost said, forbear if thou canst. Now, thou knowest
little of his amiableness, and therefore lovest little ; then thine
eye will affect thy heart, and the continual viewing of that per-
fect beauty will keep thee in continual ravishments of love.
Now thy salvation is not perfected, nor all the mercies pur-
chased, yet given in ; but when the top-stone is set on, thou
shalt, with shouting, cry 'Grace, grace ! ' Now thy sanctification
is imperfect, and thy pardon and " justification not so complete
as then it ^ shall be j now thou knowest not what thou enjoyest,
^ Luke xvi. 25.
" I know it is commonly said that justification hath no degree?, but vet i*
is taken for several acts, whereof that of Christ absolving and acquittin"- us
at the last judgment, is the most complete justification, as Mr. Burgess, in
his last lectures on justification, affirraeth.
'' Creaturae rationalis alia beatitude nee potuit, nee potest esse, nee poterit ;
nisi ut agnoscens A quo non solum facta, xed etiam a quo rationalis facta,
majorem dilectionem exhibeat bono Creatori, quam sibi, Neque ei esse pos-
EVERLASTING REST. 63
and therefore lovest the less : but when thou knovvest much Is
forgiven, and much bestowed, thou wilt love more. Doth David,
after an imperfect deliverance, sing forth his love : " I love the
Lord, because he hath heard my voice and supplications ? "
(Psal. cxvi. 1.) What think you will he do eternally; and
how will he love the Lord, who hath lifted him up to that glory ?
Doth he cry out, "O how I love thy law 1 " (Psal. cxix. 97.)
"My delight is in the saints on earth, and the excellent."
(Psal. xvi. 3.) How will he say, then, 'O how I love the
Lord, and the King of saints, in whom is all my delight I '
Christians, doth it now stir up your love, to remember all the
experiences of his love ; to look back upon a life of mercies ?
doth not kindness melt you, and the sunshine of divine goodness
warm your frozen hearts ? What will it do, then, when you
shall live in love, and have all in him, who is All ? O the high
delights of love, of this love ; the content that the heart findeth
in it ; the satisfaction it brings along with it I Surely, love is
both work and wages.
And if this were all, what a high favour, that God will give us
leave to love him ; that he will vouchsafe to be embraced by
such arms, that have embraced lust and sin before him ! but this
is not all.*= He returneth love for love ; nay, a thousand times
more : as perfect as we shall be, we cannot reach his measure
of love; Christian, thou wilt be then brimful of love; yet
love as much as thou canst, thou shalt be ten thousand times
more beloved.'^ Dost thou think thou canst overlove him ?
What, love more than love itself ! were the arms of the Son of
God open upon the cross, and an open passage made to his
heart by the spear, and will not arms and heart be open to thee
in glory ; did he begin to love before thou lovedst, and will not
sit, uUa'enus ratio, nisi ei possit Creatoris inesse dilectio. Quia nee est alia
quae vera sit sapientia, vel intelligeiitia creaturae rationalis, nisi dilectio
Creatoris; inquatanto inagis minusve est dilectio sui, quanto niagis miuusve
dilectionem exhibet Creatori. — Fulg. lib., 1. ad Monini. c. 18.
" Dum Deum sibi sufficere cogjitas, quid aliud cogitas nisi Deum amare in
sequicquid amat aliud a se ? et rationem amandi res,non esse earum, sed sui
ipsius bonitatem, Amabit aliquid extra se : et pereg-rinabitur loiigius a se si
amorem ejus excitari conce&seris ab eo quod externum illi est. Amat ea quae
sunt extra se, sed amat ea in se : qui seipso contentus nunquam commoratur,
nunquam peregrinatur extra se. — Gibieuf. lib. 2. c. xxvii. p. 4b3. s. 7.
^ John xi. 33, 35, 36 ; Cant. i. 5 ; v. 2 ; vj. 9, and iv. 9, 10, &c. Ibi nee
minor erit laudatione nostra dilectio, nee inferior dilectione laudatio ; erit
enim plena nostra laudatio, quia tune in nobis erit Dei proximique perfecta
dilectio. Tunc laudabimus et habebimus ; tune hahebimus et amabimus;
tune satiabimur cum delectatione, et delectabimur cum satietate.— i'M/g«/<,
Epist. iv, ad Prob. c. 7, 8.
64 THE saint's
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 : thou wast wont injuriously to question his love;
doubt of it now if thou canst. As the pains of hell will con-
vince the rebellious sinner of God's wrath, who would never
before believe it ; so the joys of heaven will convince thee
thoroughly of that love which thou wouldst so hardly be per-
suaded of. He that in love wept over the old Jerusalem near
her ruins; with what love will he rejoice over the New Jerusa-
lem in her glory ? O, methinks 1 see him groaning and weeping
over dead Lazarus, till he forced the Jews that stood by to say,
" Behold how he loved him ! " Will he not then much more,
by rejoicing over us, make all (even the damned if they see it)
to say. Behold how he loveth them ? Is his spouse, while black,
yet comely : is she his love, his dove, his undefiled ; doth she
ravish his heart with one of her eyes ; is her love better than
wine ? O, believing soul, study a little, and tell me, what is the
harvest which these tirst-fruits foretell ; and the love which
these are but the earnest of ? Here ! O here is the heaven of
heaven ! this is the saint's fruition of God ; in these sweet,
mutual, constant actings and embracements of love, doth it
consist. To love, and be beloved : "These are the everlasting
arms that are underneath." (Deut. xxxiii. 27.) " His left hand
is under their heads, and with his right hand doth he embrace
them." (Cant. ii. G.) Reader, stop here, and think awhile what
a state this is. Is it a small thing in thine eyes to be beloved
of God ; to be the son, the spouse, the love, the delight of the
King of glory? Christian, believe this, and think on it; thou
shalt be eternally embraced in the arms of that love, which
was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting : of that
love, which brought the Son of God's love from heaven to earth,
from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the
grave to glory : that love, which was weary, hungry, tempted,
scorned, scourged, buffeted, spit upon, crucified, pierced; which
did fast, pray, teach, heal, weep, sweat, bleed, die : that love
will eternally embrace them. When perfect, created love, and
most perfect, uncreated love meet together, O the blessed meet-
ing ! It will not be like Joseph and his brethren, who lay upon
one another's necks weeping ; it will break forth into a pure
joy, and not such a mixture of joy and sorrow as their weeping
EVERLASTING REST. 65
argued ; it will be loving and rejoicing, not loving and sorrow-
ing: yet will it make Pharaoh's (Satan's) court to ring with
the news, that Joseph's bretluen are come ; tliat the saints are
arrived safe at the bosom of Christ, out of the reach of hell for
ever. Neither is there any such love as David's and Jonathan's;
shutting-iip in sorrows, and breathing out its last into sad la-
mentations for a forced sej)aration : no, Christ is the powerful,
attractive, the effectual Loadstone, who draws to it all like itself.
" All that the Father hath given him, shall come unto him ;
even the lover, as well as the love, doth he draw ; and they that
come unto him, he will in nowise cast out." (John vi. 37 — 39.)
For know this, believer, to thy everlasting comfort, that if these
arms have once embraced thee, neither sin nor hell can get
thee thence for ever r*^ the sanctuary is inviolable, and the rock
impregnable, whither thou art fled, and thou art safely locked up
to all eternity. Thou hast not now to deal with an inconstant
creature, but with him, with whom is no varying nor shadow of
change, even the immutable God. If thy happiness were in
thine own hand, as Adam's, there were yet fear ; but it is in
the keeping of a faithful Creator* Christ hath not bought
thee so dear, to trust thee with thyself any more. His love to
thee will not be as thine was on earth to him, seldom and cold,
up and down, mixed, (as agueish bodies,) with burning and
quaking, with a good day and a bad : no. Christian, he that would
not be discouraged bv thine enmitv, by thy loathsome, hate-
ful nature, by all thy unwillingness, unkind neglects, and churlish
resistances ; he that would neither cease nor abate his love for
all these, can he cease to love thee, when he hath made thee
truly lovely ? He that keepeth thee so constant in thy k)ve to
him, that thou canst challenge '' tribulation, distress, persecu-
tion, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, to separate thy love
from Christ if they can.'"' (Rom. viii. 35.) How much more
will himself be constant ! Indeed, he that produced these
nmtual, embracing affections, will also produce such a mutual
constancy in both, that thou mayest confidently be persuaded,
as Paul was before thee, " that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
" Prima erat perseverantiffi potestas, Bonum posse iion tleserere. Novissima
erit fcelicitas perbevcrautia", Bonum non posse deserere. — Jus', de Corr. et
Grat, cap. 9.
VOL. XXII. F
66 THE saint's
Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. viii. 38, 39.) And now are we
not left in the apostles' admiration ? What shall we say to these
things ? Infinite love must needs be a mystery to a finite capa-
city. No wonder if angels desire to pry into this mystery -J
and if it be the study of the saints here, to know the height,
and breadth, and length, and depth, of this love, though it
passeth knowledge : this is the saint's rest in the fruition of
God by love.
Sect. X. Lastly : The affection of joy hath not the least share
in this fruition. It is that which all the rest lead to, and con-
clude in ; even the inconceivable complacency which the blessed
feel in their seeing, knowing, loving, and being beloved of God.
The delight of the senses here, cannot be known by expressions,
as they are felt ; how much less this joy ! This is the "white
stone, which none knoweth but he that receiveth ;" ^ and if
there be any "joy which the stranger meddleth not with,'
then surely this, above all, is it. All Christ's ways of mercy tend
to and end in the saints' joys. He wept, sorrowed, suffered,
that they might rejoice ; he sendeth the Spirit to be their com-
forter; be multiplieth promises, he discovers their future hap-
piness; that their "joy may be full :" he aboundeth to them
in the mercies of all sorts ; he maketh them lie down in green
pastures, and leadeth them by the still waters ; yea, openeth to
them the fountain of living waters ; that their joy may be full :
that they may thirst no more ; and that it may spring up in
them to everlasting life.^ Yea, he causeth them to suffer, that
he may cause them to rejoice ; and chasteneth them, that he
may give them rest; and maketh them, as he did himself, " to
drink of the brook in the way, that they may lift up the head,"
(Psal. ex. 70 And lest, after all this, they should neglect their
own comforts, he maketh it their duty, and presseth it on them,
commanding them to " rejoice in him always, and again to re-
joice." And he never brings them into so low a condition,
wherein he leaves them not more cause of joy than of sorrow.
And hath the Lord such a care of our comfort here ; where,
the Bridegroom being from us. we must mourn?' Oh ! what
will that joy be, where the soul being perfectly pr-epared for joy^
f 1 Pet. i. 12; Eph. iii. 18.
e Rev. ii. 17 ; Prov. xiv. 10.
''John XV. 11; xvi. 24, and xvii. 13; Psal. xciv. 12, 13; 1 Thess, v. 16;
Psal. xxxii. 11, and xxxiii, 1, &c.
' Matt. ix. 15.
EVERLASTING REST. 67
and joy prepared by Christ for the soul, it shall be our work,
our business, eternally to rejoice ! And it seems the saints' joy
shall be greater than the damned's torment ; for their torment
is the torment of creatures, prepared for the devil and his
angels :^ but our joy is the joy of our Lord ; even our Lord's
ou'n joy shall we enter: " and the same glory which the Father
giveth him, doth the Son give to them;" (John xvii. 22;) " and
to sit with him in his throne, even as he is set down in his
Father's throne." (Rev. iii. 21.) What sayest thou to all this,
O thou sad and drooping soul ? Thou that now spendest thy
days in sorrow, and thy breath in sighings, and turnest all thy
voice into groanings : who knowest no garments but sackcloth,
no food but the bread and water of affliction ; who minglest thy
bread with tears, and drinkest the tears which thou weepest ;
what sayest thou to this great change ; from all sorrow to more
than all joy ? Thou poor soul, who prayest for joy, waitest for
joy, complainest for want of joy, longest for joy ; why, then,
thou shalt have full joy, as much as thou canst hold, and more
than ever thou thoughtest on, or thy heart desired. And, in
the meantime, walk carefully, watch constantly, and then let
God measure out thy times and degrees of joy. It may be he
keeps them till thou have more need : thou mayest 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
conclude in joy inconceivable. As the joy of the hypocrite, so
the fears of the upright are but for a moment. And as their
hopes are but golden dreams, which when death awakes, do then
all perish, and their hopes die with them ; so the saints' doubts
and fears are but terrible dreams, which, when they die, do all
vanish ; and they awake in joyful glory. For " God's anger
endureth but a moment, but in his favour is life : weeping may
endure for a night, darkness and sadness go together, but joy
Cometh in the morning." (Psal. xxx. 5.) O blessed morning,
thrice blessed morning 1 poor, humble, drooping soul, how
would it fill thee with joy now, if a voice from heaven should tell
thee of the love of God ; of the pardon of thy sins ; and should
assure thee of thy part in these joys ? O, what then will thy
joys be, when thy actual possession shall convince thee of thy
title, and thou shalt be in heaven before thoa art well aware ;
when the angels shall bring thee to Christ, and when Christ
^ Matt. XXV.
f2
6S THE saint's
shall, as it were, take thee by the hand, and lead thee into thy
purchased possession, and bid thee welcome to thy rest, and
present thee inispotted before his Father, and give thee thy
place about his throne ! Poor sinner, what sayest thou to such
a day as this ? wilt thou not be almost ready to draw back, and
to say, What I, Lord, I, the unworthy neglecter of thy grace !
I, the unworthy disesteemer of thy blood, and slighter of thy
love ! must I have this glory? "Make me a hired servant, I
am no more worthy to be called a son :" but love will have it
so ; therefore must thou enter into his jov.
Sect. XI. And it is not thy jov only ; it is a mutual joy as well
as a mutual love : is there such 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? yea, it is
the joy of Jesus Christ ; for now he hath the end of his under-
taking, labour, suffering, dying, when we have our joys ; when
he is " glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that be-
lieve."^ We are his seed, and the fruit of his soul's travail,
which, when he seeth, he will be satisfied. (Isa. liii. 10, 11.) This
is Christ's harvest, when he shall reap the fruit of his labours ;
and when he seeth it was not in vain, it will not repent him
concerning his sufferings; but he will rejoice over his purchased
inheritance, and his people shall rejoice in him.
Yea, the Father himself puts on joy, too, in our joy : as
we grieve his Spirit, and weary him with our iniquities, so he is
rejoiced in our good ™ O how quickly here he doth espy a return-
ing prodigal, even afar off: how doth he run and meet him ;
and with what compassion falls he on his neck, and kisseth
him ; and puts on him the best robe, and a ring on his hand,
and shoes on his feet, and spares not to kill the fatted calf,
that they may eat and be merry ! this is indeed a happy meet-
ing ; but nothing to the embracements and the joy of that last
and great meeting.
Yea, more yet ; as God doth mutually love and joy, so he
makes this his rest, as it is our rest. Did he appoint a Sabbath,
1 2 Thess. i. 10.
™ Quomodo passiones non esse in Deo, et tamen delectationem, paudium et
amorem esse in Deo scholastic! asserunt. Vid. in Aquin. cont. Gentil. I. 1,
q. 90 — 92, et sum. 1, &c. Sed lia;c nobis incoinprehensibilia et incog;nita ex-
istimo. Nam ut Aristot. in 2 Metapb. asserit, •' Intellectns noster sic se
habet ad prima entium qnse sunt manifestissima in natura, sicut oculus ves-
pertilionis ad solenj." Referente Tiioma. cout. Gemil. 1. i. c. 3. ubi plura
de hac re videre est.
EVERLASTING REST. 69
because he rested from six clays' work, and saw all good, and
very good ? What an eternal sabbatism, then, when the work of
redemption, sanetification, preservation, glorification, are all
finished, and his work more perfect than ever, and very good
indeed ! So the Lord is said to rejoice, and to take pleasure in
his people. (Psalm cxlvii. 11, and cxlix. 4.) O, Christians,
write these words in letters of gold ; " The Lord thy God in
the midst of thee, is mighty : he will save : he will rejoice over
thee with joy : lie will rest in his love : he will joy over thee
with singing." (Zeph. iii. 17-) O, well may we then rejoice in
our God with joy, and rest in our love, and joy in him with
singing. (See Isa. Ixv. IS, 19.)
And now look back upon all this ; I say to thee, as the angel
to John, "What hast thou seen ? " or if yet thou perceive not,
draw nearer, come up higher, come and see : dost thou fear
thou hast been all this while in a dream ? Why, these are the
true sayings of God. Dost thou fear, as the disciples, that thou
hast seen but a ghost, instead of Christ;" a shadow instead of
rest ? W^hv, come near and feel : a shadow contains not those
substantial blessings, nor rests upon the basis of such a founda-
tion truth, and sure word of promise, as you have seen these do.
Go thy way now, and tell the disciples, and tell the humble,
drooping souls thou meetest with, that thou hast, in this glass,
seen heaven ; that the Lord indeed is risen, and hath here ap-
peared to thee ; and behold he is gone before us into rest ; and
that he is novv' preparing a place for them, and will come again,
and take them to himself, that where he is, there they may be
also. (John xiv. 3.) Yea, go thy ways, and tell the unbelieving
world, and tell thy unbelieving heart, if they ask what is the
hope thou boastest of, and what will be thy rest. Why, this is
my beloved, and my friend, and this is my hope and my rest.
Call them forth, and say, " Behold what love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be the sons of God;" (1
John iii. 1 ;) and that we should enter into our Lord's own rest.
Sect. XII. But, alas ! my fearful heart dare scarce proceed :
methinks I hear the Almighty's voice saying to me, as to Elihu,
" Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without know-
ledge ? " (Job xxxviii. 2.)
But pardon, O Lord, thy servant's sin : I have not pried into
unrevealed things, nor, with audacious wits, curiously searched
into thy counsels ; but, indeed, I have dishonoured thy holiness,
" Luke xxiv. 37 — 39 ; Mark xvi. 7,
70 THE saint's
wronged thine excellency, disgraced thy saints' glory, hy my
own exceeding, disproportionable portraying. I will bewail,
from my heart, that my conceivings fall so short, my apprehen-
sions are so dull, my thoughts so mean, my affections so stupid,
and my expressions so low and unbeseeming such a glory. But
I have only heard by the hearing of the ear : O let thy servant
see thee, and possess these joys ; and then I shall have more
suitable conceivings, and shall give thee fuller glorv, and abhor
my present self, and disclaim and renounce all these imperfec-
tions. " I have now uttered that I understood not ; things too
wonderful for me, which I knew not. Yet I believed, and there-
fore spake." (Job xlii. 3.) Remember with whom thou hast
to do : what canst thou expect from dust, but levity ; or from
corruption, but defilement ? Our foul hands will leave, where
they touch, the marks of their uncleanness ; and most on those
things that are most pure. " I know thou wilt be sanctified in
them that come nigh thee, and before all the people thou wilt
be glorified." (Lev. x. 2, 3 ; Numb. xx. 12; Deut. xxxii. 51.)
And if thy jealousy excluded from that land of rest, thy servants,
JMoses and Aaron, because they sanctified thee not in the midst
of Israel, what then may I expect ? But, though the weakness
and irreverence be the fruit of my own corruption, yet the fire
is from thine altar, and the work of thv commanding. I looked
not into thine ark, nor put forth my hand unto it without thee.
O, therefore, wash away these stains also in the blood of the
LamI) : and let not jealousy burn us up ; lest thou affright the
people away from thee, and make them, in their discouragement,
to cry out, " How shall the ark of God come to us ? Who is able
to stand before this holy Lord God ? Who shall approach and
dwell with the consuming fire ? " (2 Sam. vi. 9 ; 1 Sam. vi. 20;
Matt. xxvi. 14.) Imperfect, or none, must be thy service here.
Oh ! take thy Son's excuse, " The spirit is willing, but the flesh
is weak."
CHAP. V.
Tliefour great Preparatives to our Rest.
Sect. I. Having thus opened you a window toward the
temple, and showed you a small glimpse of the back parts of
that resemblance of the saint's rest which I had seen in the
Gospel-glass, it follows, that we proceed to view a little the
EVERLASTING REST. 71
adjuncts and blessed properties of this rest ; but, alas ! this
little which I have seen makes me cry out, with the prophet
Isaiah, (chap. vi. 5 — 7,) "Wo is me, for 1 am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
Hosts ! " Yet, if he will send and touch my lips with a coal from
the altar of his Son, and say. Thine iniquity is taken away, and
thy sin purged, I shall then speak boldly; and if he ask, Whom
shall I send, 1 shall gladly answer, "Here am I, send me." (Ver.
8.) And why dotli my trembling heart draw back ? Surely,
the Lord is not now so terrible and inaccessible, nor the passage
of paradise so blocked up, as when the law and curse reigned.
Wherefore, finding, beloved Christians, " that the new and
living way is consecrated for us, through the veil, the flesh of
Christ, by which we may with boldness enter into the holiest,
by the blood of Jesus, 1 shall draw near with the fuller assur-
ance." (Heb. X. 20—22.) And finding the flaming sword
removed, shall look again into the paradise of our God : and
because I know that this is not 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, (Gen. iii. 6,)
I shall take, through the assistance of the Spirit, and eat thereof
myself, and give to you, according to my power, that you may
eat. For you. Christians, is this food prepared, this wine
broached, this fountain opened ; and the message my Master
sends you is this hearty welcome, which vou shall have in his
own words, " Eat, O friends ; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O
beloved." (Can. v. I.) And, surely, it is neither manners nor
wisdom for you or me, to draw back or to demur upon such an
invitation.
And, first, let us consider of the eminent antecedents, the
great preparations ; that notable introduction to this rest ; for
the porch of this temple is exceeding glorious, and the gate of
it is called beautiful : and here offer themselves to this distinct
observation, these four things, as the four corners of this porch.
1. The most glorious coming and appearing of the Son of God.
2. His powerful and wonderful raising of our bodies from the
dust, and uniting them again with the soul.
3. His public and solemn proceedings in their judgment,
where they shall be justified and acquitted before all the world.
4. His solemn celebration of their coronation, and his en-
thronizing of them in their glory. Follow but this fourfold
7? THE saint's
stream unto the head, and it will bring you just to the garden
of Eden.
Sect. I. And well may the coming of Christ be reckoned
into his people's glory, and enumerated with those ingredients
that compound this precious antidote of rest : for to this end it
is intended ; and to this end it is of apparent necessity. For
his people's sake he sanctihed himself to his office : for their sake
he came into the world, suffered, died, rose, ascended: and for
their sake it is that he will return. Whether his own exaltation,
or theirs, were his" primary intention, is a question, tliough of
seeming usefulness, yet, so unresolved, for aught I have found,
in Scripture, that f dare not scan it, for fear of pressing into the
divine secrets, and approaching too near the inaccessible light.
I find Scripture mentioning both ends distinctly and conjunctly,
but not comparatively. This is most clear, that to tbis end will
Christ come again to receive his people to himself, " that where
he is, they may be also." (John xiv. 3.) The Bridegroom's de-
parture was not upon divorce ; he did not leave us with a pur-
pose to return no more : he hath left pledges enough to assure
us; we have his word in pawn, his many promises, his sacra-
ments, which show forth his death till he come, and bis S])irit to
direct, sanctify, and comfort, till he return. We have frequent
tokens of love from him, to show us he forgets not his purpose,
nor us. We behold the forerunners of his coming, foretold by
himself, daily come to pass. W^e see the fig-tree put forth her
branches, and therefore know the summer is nigh. We see
the fields white unto harvest : and though the riotous world
say, " Our Lord will be long a-coming," yet let the saints lift up
their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh. Alas ! fellow-
Christians, what should we do, if our Lord should not return Ii'
What a case are we here left in ! What ! leave us among
wolves, and in the lion's den, among a generation of serpents,
and here forget us ! Did he buy us so dear, and then cast us
off so : to leave us sinning, suffering, groaning, dying daily,
and come no more to us ? It cannot be ; never fear it : it can-
not be. This is like our unkind dealing with Christ, who, when
we feel ourselves warm in the world, care not for coming at
him ; but this is not like Christ's dealing with us. He that
" Of the iiiau Clirist, i;e\t the glory of the Godhead. Rom. xiv. 9; 2
Thess. i. 10 ; Tit. ii. 14.
i> Matt. xxiv. 32, 48, and x. 16; Psal. Ivii. 4 ; Matt. iii. 7, The ancient
Christians siill worshipped in the churches with their faces eastward, to
EVERLASTING REST. 73
would come to suffer, will surely come to triumph ; and he that
would come to purchase, will surely come to possess. Alas !
where else were all our hopes ? What were hecome 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 most miserable ? Christians, hath Christ made
us forsake all the world, and be forsaken of all the world;
to hate all, and to be hated of all^ and all this for him, that we
may have him instead of all ? And will he, think you, after all
this, forget us, and forsake us himself? Far be such a thought
from our hearts. But why stayed he not with his people, while
he was here ? Why must not the Comforter be sent ? Was
not the work all on earth done ? Must he not receive the recom-
pense of reward, and enter into his glory ? Must he not take
possession in our behalf? Must he not go to prepare a place
for us ? Must he not intercede with the Father ; and plead his
sufferings, and be filled with the Spirit, to send it forth ; and re-
ceive authority, to subdue his enemies ? Our abode here is
short ; if he had stayed on earth, what would it have been to
enjoy him for a few days, and then die ? But he hath more in
heaven to dwell among ; even the spirits of the just of many
generations, there made perfect. Besides, he will have us live
by faith, and not by sight. O fellow-Christians, what a day
will that be, when we, who have been kept prisoners by sin, by
sinners, by the grave, shall be fetched out by the Lord himself ;
when Christ shall come from heaven to plead with his enemies,
and set his captives free ! It will not be such a coming as his
first was, in meanness, and poverty, and contempt : he will not
come to be spit upon, and buffeted, and scorned, and crucified
again : he will not come, O careless world, to be slighted and
neglected by you any more. And yet that coming, which was
necessarily in infirmity and reproach for our sakes, wanted not
its glory. If the angels of heaven must be the messenger.^ of
that coming, as being " tidings of joy to all people :"'" and the
heavenly host must go before, or accompany the celebration of
his nativitv, and must praise God with that solemnity, "Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards
men;" O, then, with what shoutings will angels and saints at
signify their continual expectation of Christ's coniint^, wlio they thoLij;ht
shouhl appear in the cast; from that of Matt. xx. 27; John xvi. 7, and
xvii. 4 ; Heb. xii. 2; Luke xxiv. 26; Johnxiv. 3; Heb, vii. 25,26; Gal. iii,
14 ; Eph. iv. 8, 9.
r Luke ii. 22.
74 THE saint's
that day proclaim, " Glory to God, and peace and good will to-
wards men !" If the stars of heaven must lead men from remote
parts of the world to come to worship a child in a manger; how
will the glory of his next appearing constrain all the world to
acknowledge his sovereignty ? If the King of Israel, riding on an
ass, made his entry into Jerusalem with hosannahs, "Blessed he
the King that comes in the name of the Lord : peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest ;"* O with what proclamations of bless-
ings, peace/ and glory, will he come toward the New Jerusalem !
If, when he was in the form of a servant, they cry out, " What
manner of man is this, that both wind and sea obey him ?"* what
will they say when they shall see him coming in his glorv, and
the heavens and the earth obey him ! " Then shall appear the
sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in
the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory/'" O Christ-
ians, it was comfortable to you to hear from him, to believe in
him, and hope for him. What will it be to see him ? The pro-
mise of his coming and our deliverance was comfortable. What
will it be thus to see him, with all the glorious attendance of
angels, come in person to deliver us }^ " The mighty God, the
Lord hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of
the sun to the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the
perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come,
and shall not keep silence ; a fire shall devour before him, and
it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to
the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he might judge
his people. Gather my saints together to me, those that have
made a covenant with me by sacrifice ; and the heavens shall
declare his righteousness ; for God is Judge himself," Selah.
(Psalm 1. 1 — 6.) This coming of Christ is frequently mentioned
s Luke xix. 33. t Matt, viii. 27.
" Mark iv. 41, and xxiv. 30.
^ Sloicis constans opinio est quod consurapto liumore, niundus hie omiiis
iguescet. Et Epicureis de elemeutorum conflagrationcj et raundi ruiua,
eadem ipsa sententia est. Loquitur Plato partes orbis nunc inuudare, uuncr
alteriiis vicibus ardescere. Et cum ipsuni niundum perpetuum et iusolubilem
diceret esse fabricaturn ; addit tamen ipsi artifici Deo soli et solubilem esse
et mortaiem. Ita nihil inirum est, si ista moles ab eo quo extructa est de-
struatur. — Minut. Felix. Octii. p. (mihi) 394. Cum teuipus advenerit quo
se mundus renovaturus, &c., omni flagrante materia uno igne, quicquid nunc
ex disposito lucet ardebit. Nos quoque fcelices aniinae et aeterna sortitias, cum
Deo visum erit iterum ista nioliri, &c. Foelicem filium tuum, Marcia, qui
ista (mortuus) jam ijovit. — Senec. Consol, ad Marciam,
EVERLASTING REST.
75
in the prophets, as the great support of his people's spirits till
then. And whenever the apostles would quicken to duty, or
comfort, and encourage to patient waiting, they usually do it by
mentioning Christ's coming. VV-'hy, then, do vve not use more
this cordial consideration, whenever we want support and com-
fort ? To think and speak of that day with horror, doth well
beseem the impenitent sinner, but ill the helieving saint. Such
may be the voice of a believer, but it is not the voice of faith.
Christians, what do Ave believe, and hope, and wait for, but to
see that day ! This is Paul's encouragement to moderation, to
" rejoicing in the Lord alwavs; The Lord is at hand." (Phil. iv.
4, 5.) It is " to all them that love his appearing, that the Lord,
the righteous Judge, shall give the crown of righteousness at that
day." (2 Tim. iv. 8.) Dost thou so long to have him come into
thy soul with comfort and life, and takest thyself but for a for-
lorn orphan, while he seemeth absent ? And dost thou not much
more long for that coming which shall perfect thy life, and joy,
and glory ? Dost thou so rejoice after some short and slender
enjoyment of him in thy heart ? Oh ! how wilt thou then rejoice !
How full of joy was that blessed martyr, Mr. Glover, with the dis-
covery of Christ to his soul, after long doubting and waiting in
sorrows 1 So that he cries out, ' He is come ! he is come !' If
thou have but a dear friend returned, that hath been far and long
absent; how do all run out to meet him with joy ! Oh ! saith
the child, 'My father is come !' saith the wife, 'My husband
is come !' And shall not we, when we behold our Lord in his
majesty returning, cry out, ' He is come ! He is come 1' Shall
the wicked, with inconceivable horror, behold him, and^ cry out,
Oh ! yonder is he whose blood we neglected, whose grace we re-
sisted, whose counsels we refused, whose government we cast
off ! And shall not then the saints, with inconceivable gladness,
cry out, 'Oh ! yonder is he whose blood redeemed us, whose Spirit
cleansed us, whose law did govern us ! Yonder comes he in
whom vve trusted, and now we see he hath not deceived our
trust ; he for whom we long waited, and now we see we have
not waited in vain ! O cursed corruption, that would have had
us turn to the world, and present things, and give up our hopes,
and say, 'Why should we wait for the Lord any longer ?' Now
we see, that " blessed are all they that wait for him." Believe it,
fellow-Christians, this day is not far off. " For yet a little
y That the sight of Christ in glory will be no blessedness to the damned,
vid. Scoium in 4 Seiiten. Dist, xlviii. q, 1, p. 256. contra Thorn.
76 THE saint's
while, and he that comes will come, and will not tarry." And
though the unbelieving world, and the unbelief of thy heart,
may say, as those atheistical scoffers, " Where is the promise of
his coming ? Do not all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation ? " Yet, let us know, " the Lord is
not slack of his promise, as some men count slackness: one day
with him is as a thousand vears, and a thousand years as one
day." (2 Pet. iii. 3, 4, 8, 9.) 1 have thought on it many a time,
as a small emblem of that day, when I have seen a prevailing
army drawing towards the towns and castles of the enemy. Oh 1
with what glad liearts do all the poor prisoners within, hear the
news, and behold their approach ! How do they run up to
their prison windows, and thence behold their friends with joy !
How glad are they at the roaring report of that cannon, wliich
is the enemy's terror ! How do they clap each other on the
back, and cry, 'Deliverance, deliverance !' While, in the mean
time, the late insulting, scorning, cruel enemies begin to speak
them fair, and beg their favour ; but all in vain, for they are not
at the disposal of prisoners, but of the general. Their fair usage
may make their conditions somewhat the more easy, but yet they
are used as enemies still. (Matt. xxiv. 27.) Oh ! when the con-
quering lion of the tribe of Judah shall ajjpear with all the
hosts of heaven : when he shall surprise the careless world, as
a thief in the night; when as the lightning, which appeareth in
the east, and shineth even to the west, so shall they behold him
coming : what a change will the sight of this appearance
work, both with the world, and with the saints ! Now, poor
deluded world, where is your mirth and your jollity ? Now,
where is your wealth and your glory ? W^here is that profane
and careless heart, that slighted Christ and his Spirit, and with-
stood all the offers of grace ? Now, where is that tongue that
mocked the saints, and jeered the holy ways of God, and made
merry with his people's imperfections, and their own slanders ?
What ! was it not you ? Deny it if you can. Your heart con-
demns you, and " God is greater than your heart, and will con-
demn you much more." (1 John iii. 20, 21.) Even, when you
say, " Peace and safety, then destruction cometh upon you,
as travail upon a woman with child ; and you shall not escape."
(1 Thess. V. 3.) Perhaps, if you had known just the day and hour
when the Son of Man would have come, then you would have
been found praying, or the like 5 but you should have watched,
and been ready, because you know not the hour. But for that
EVERLASTING REST. IT
faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord wlien he comes shall
find so doing ; " 0, blessed is that servant : verily I say unto
vou (for Christ hath said it), he shall make him ruler over all
his goods." (Matt. xxiv. 42 — 47.) " And when the chief Shep-
herd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth
not away." (I Pet. v. 4.) O, how should it then be the character
of a Christian, " to wait for the Son of God from heaven, whom
he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the
wrath to come!" (IThess. i. 10.) And with all faithful diligence,
to prepare to meet our Lord with joy. And seeing his coming
is on purpose "to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all
them that believe," (2 Thess. i. 10,) O, what thought should
glad our hearts more than the thought of that day ! A little
while, indeed, we have not " seen him, but yet a little while,
and we shall see him." (John xiv. 18.) For he hath said, "I
will not leave you comfortless, but will come unto you." We
were comfortless, should he not come. And while we daily
gaze and look up to heaven after him, let us remember what the
angel said, " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come, in like manner, as ye have seen him go
into heaven." (Acts i. 10.) While he is now out of sight, it is a
sword to our souls, while they daily ask us, " Where is your
God?" (Psal. xlii.) But then we shall be able to answer our
enemies ; " See, O proud sinners, yonder is our Lord." O now.
Christians, should we not put up that petition heartily, " Let
thy kingdom come ; for the Spirit and the bride say, Come,
And let every Christian that heareth and readeth, say, Come."
and our Lord himself saith, " Surely I come quickly, amen;
even so, come. Lord Jesus." (Rev. xxii. 17j 20.)
Sect. n. The second stream that leadeth to paradise, is that
great work of Jesus Christ, in raising our bodies from the dust,
uniting them again unto the soul.^ A wonderful effect of infi-
'■ Many heathens believe a resurrection, as Zoroaster, and Theopompus,
and Plato. And the stoics' opii;ion was, that the world would he dissolved by
fire or water, and all things brought to a better state, or to the first golden
age again. Read Seneca, Natural. QuEest. 1. iii. c. 26 — 30. Utrumqne (dilu-
vium et conflagratio) cum Deo visum est ordiri meliora, Vetera fiuiri : cap. 27.
Omne ex iutegro animal generabitur; dabiturque terris homoinscius sceleruin
et melioribus auspiciis natus : cap. 30. Optima et noxa carentia expectant
nos, si ex hac aliquaudo fcEce in illud evademus sublime etexcelsum ; tran-
quillitas animi et expulsis erroribus absoluta libertas. — Senec. Epist. 1. ii.
Ep. 75. Aspice nunc ad ipsaquoque exempla divinjE potestalis : lux moritur
in nocteni et tenebris usque quaque sepelitur. Funestatur mundi honor:
omnis substantia deuigratur ; sordent, silent, stupent cuncta; ubique justi-
78 THE SAFNT's
nite power and love. Yea, wonderful indeed, saith unbelief, if
it be true. What, saith the atheist and sadducee, shall all
these scattered bones and dust become a man? A man drowned
in the sea is eaten by fishes, and they by men again, and these
men by worms ; what is become of the body of that first man ;
shall it rise again? Thou fool (for so Paul calls thee), dost thou
dispute against the power of the Almighty : wilt thou pose him
with this sophistry : dost thou object difficulties to the in-
finite strength ? Thou blind mole ; thou silly worm ; thou
little piece of creeping, breathing clay ; thou dust ; thou no-
thing: knowest thou who it is, whose power thou dost question ?
If thou shouldst see him, thou wouldst presently die. If he
should come and dispute his cause with thee, couldst thou bear
it : or if thou shouldst hear his voice, couldst thou endure ?
But come thy way, let me take thee by the hand, and do thou
a little follow me; and let me, with reverence, as Elihu, plead
tium est, quies rerura ; ita lux amissa lugetur. Et tamen rursus cum suo
cultu, cum dote, cum sole, eadem et Integra, et tola universo orbi reviviscit,
interficiens mortem suam noctem ; rescindens sepulturam suam, tenebras ;
li£eres sibimet existeiis, dnuec nox reviviscal cum suo et ilia suggestu; redac-
cenduntur euim et stellarum radii, quos matutina succensio extinxerat. Re-
ducuntur et siderum absentia, quas temporalis distinctio exemerat. Redor-
nantur et sj)ecula lunae, quae menstruus numerus adtriverat. Revolvuntur
hyemes et aestates et verna, et autumna, cum suis viribus, moribus, fructi-
bus. — Terlid. de Rtsur. c. xii. p. 409. Die mihi, philosophe, quid plena
cognoscis ? putonon auderet te dicere quod parvulam vel miuimam creaturam.
Scio quod iiou peifecte cognoscis minimum atomum in sole ; nee niininunn
pulverem terrae : nee minimam guttam aqua. In omni namque corpusculo,
infinitae figurse lineares, superficiales et corporales, diversse numero, quanti-
tate, et qualitate, et specie continentur. Quare etiam correspondentur con-
clusiones geometricae infinitae etiam sese ordiiiabiliter consequentes, ita quod
posterior sciri non potest nisi per priorem. In omni quoque corpuscula infi-
nitae species numerorum, et infinitae conclusiones. Arithuieticfe continentur,
&c. Harum autem conclusionuni infinitarum demonstrative scibilium quod
scis ? &c. — Bradwardin. de Cau^a Dei, 1. I.e. i. corol. 32. Mira ratio ! de
fraudatrice, servatrix : ut reddat, intcrcipit : ut custodiat, perdit : ut iutegret,
vitiat; ut etiam anipliet, prius decoquil. Siquidem uberiora et cultiora resti-
tuit quam extermiuavit. Re ver^ fcenore, interitu, et injuria, usura, et lucro
damno, semel dixerim universa conditio recidiva est. Quodcunque conve-
ueris, fuit; quodcunque amiseris, niliil non iterum est; omnia in statum
redeunt, quern abscesserint ; omnia incipiunt, cum desierint : Ideo finiuntur,
ut fiant ; Nibil deperit nisi ad salutem. Tolus ijitur hie ordo revolubilis
rerum, testatio est resurrectionis mortuorum. (Jperil)us earn praescripsit Deus,
antequam Uteris. Praeuiisit tibi naturam magistram, submissurus et pro-
phetiam, quo facilius credas prophetise, discipulus naturae ; quo statim ad-
mittas cum audieris, quod ubique jam videris j nee dubites Deum carnis
etiam resuscitatorem, quem omnium noris restitutorem. — Tertul. uhi supra.
Read on further much of these excellent sayings there in him, which are so
savoury to me, that I could not but take some of them.
EVERLASTING REST. 79
for God ; and for that power whereby I hope to arise. Seest
thou this great, massy body of the earth : what beareth it, and
upon what foundation doth it stand ? Seest thou this vast ocean
of waters : what Hmits them, and why do they not overflow and
drown the earth : whence is that constant ebbing and flowing
,of her tides : wilt thou say from the moon, or other planets :
and whence have they that power of effective influence ; must
thou not come to a cause of causes, that can do all things ?
And doth not reason require thee, to conceive of that cause as
a perfect intelligence, and voluntary agent, and not such a blind
worker and empty notion as that nothing is, which thou callest
nature ? Look upward ; seest thou that glorious body of light,
the sun : how many times bigger it is than all the earth ; and
yet how many thousand miles doth it run in one minute of an
hour, and that without weariness, or failing a moment ? What
thinkest thou ; is not that power able to effect thy resurrection,
which doth all this : dost thou not see as great works as a re-
surrection every day before thine eyes, but that the common-
ness makes thee not admire them ? Read but Job, xxxvii.
to xli., and take heed of disputing against God again, or
ever. Knowest thou not, that with him all things are pos-
sible ; can he make a camel go through the eye of a needle ;
can he make such a blind sinner as thou to see, and such a
proud heart as thine to stoop, and such an earthly mind as
thine, heavenly ; and subdue all that thy fleshly, foolish wisdom ?
And is not this as great a work, as to raise thee from the dust,
wast thou any more unlikely to be, when thou wast nothing, than
thou shalt be when thou art dust : is it not as easy to raise the
dead, as to make heaven and earth, and all of nothing ? But if
thou be unpersuadable, all I say to thee more is, as the prophet
to the prince of Samaria (2 Kings vii. 20), "Thou shalt see that
day with thine eyes," but little to thy comfort; for that which
is the day of relief to the saints, shall be a day of revenge on
thee : there is a rest prepared, but thou canst not "enter in
because of unbelief." (Heb. iii. 19.) But for thee, O believing
soul, never think to comprehend, in the narrow capacity of thy
shallow brain, the counsels and ways of thy Maker ; any more
than thou canst contain in thy fist the vast ocean. He never
intended thee such a capacity, when he made thee, and gave thee
that measure thou hast, any more than he intended to enable
that worm, or this post, or stone, fully to know thee. Therefore,
when he speaks, dispute not, but believe, as Abraham, who
so THE saint's
considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah's wombj he
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was
strong in faith, giving glory to God ; and being fully persuaded,
that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. And
so, "against hope, beheved in hope." (Rom. iv. 18—21.) So
look thou not on the dead bones, and dust, and difficulties, but
at the promise. (Isa. xxvi. 20, 21.) Martha knew her brother
should rise again at the resurrection : but if Christ say, he shall
rise before, it must be believed. Come, then, fellow-Christians,
let us contentedly commit these carcasses to the dust : that pri-
son shall not long contain them. Let us lie down in peace, and
take our rest, it will not be an everlasting night, or endless
sleep.^ What if we go out of the troubles and stirs of the world,
and enter into those chambers of dust, and the doors be shut
upon us, and we hide ourselves, as it were, for a little moment,
until the indignation be over-past ? Yet, behold the Lord cometh
out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their
iniquity : and then the earth shall disclose us, and the dust shall
hide us no more. As sure as we awake in the morning, when
we have slept out the night, so sure shall we then awake. And
what if, in the meantime, we must be loathsome lumps, cast out
of the sight of men, as not fit to be endured among the living :
'^ Lactant. 1. vii. c. 25. Some lately came near the Jew's belief in this : Jii-
(loei etiim clicunt fiuuriim es>e ut Israelitae soli ex morte in vitam revocentnr;
Christian! vero populique alii omnes non resurgant. — Buxtorf. Si/n. Judaic.
c. 1. p. 25. Itaqiie hi Christianos solos resurrecturos asserunt. But, on the
contrar}', saith Tertullian : Caternm demutationem eliani post resurrectio-
nem consequutuius est inferos jam expertus : Adhinc enim definimus carnem
quidem omni modo rcsurrecturam, atque illam ex demutatione suj)erventura
hahituni an^eliciim suscejJturain, &c. Vide i)!ura. — Ttrtul. 1. de minima. 42.
Cum enim utrumc|ue proi)onitur, corpus atque animani oecidi in geheiinain,
distinguitur corpus ab anima; et relinquitur intelligi corpus, id quod in
promptu sit ; caro scilicet, cpite sicut occidetnr in gehennain si iion magis a
Deo timueiit oecidi, ita et vivificabilur in vitam seternam si maluerit ab ho-
minibus potius interfici : proiude siquis occisionem carnis atque animas in
gehennam ad interitnm et finem utriusque substantiae arripiet, nou ad sup-
plicium (quasi coasumendarum nou quasi puuiendarum} recordetur ignem
geheunae ssternum prjEdicari iu pnenam leternam, et iude seteruitatem occi-
sionis agnoscat, propterea humanse ut temporali prastimendam. Tunc et
aeternas substantias credet, quarum tetcrna fit occisio in poenam. Cert^ cum
post resurrectionem, corpus et anima oecidi habeaiit k Deo in gelieiinani,
satis de utroque cnnstabit, et de carnali resurrectione, et de Eeterna occisione.
Absurdissimum alioquin, si idciico resuscitata caro occidatur in gehennam,
uti fiuiatur: quod et non resuscitata pateretur. In hoc enim reficietur ne sit,
cui non esse jam evenit. — Terliil. lib. dc Resur. Carnis, c. 35. p. (milii) 41U.
Acts xvi. 25—27 ; 2 Cor. v. 1—4.
EVEllLASTING REST. 81
what, if our carcasses become as vile as those of the beasts that
perish : what, if our bones be dug up, and scattered about the
pit brink, and worms consume our flesh. Yet we know that our
Redeemer liveth, and shall stand at last on earth, and we shall
see him with these eyes. And withal it is but this flesh that
suffers all this ; and what is this comely piece of flesh, which
thou art^ loath should come to so base a state ? Is it not a hun-
dred years since it was either nothing, or an invisible something.
And is it not most of it for the present, if not an appearing
nothing, seeming something to an imperfect sense ; yet, at best,
a condensation of invisibles, which, that they may become
sensible, are become more gross, and so more vile. Where is all
that fair mass of flesh and blood which thou hadst, before sickness
consumed thee? annihilated, it is not; only resolved into its
principles ; show it me if thou canst. Into how small a hand-
ful of dust or ashes will that whole mass, if buried or burnt, re-
turn : and into how much smaller can a chemist reduce that
little, and leave all the rest invisible. What, if God prick the
bladder, and let out the wind that puff's thee up to such a sub-
stance, and resolve thee into thy principles ? Doth not the
seed thou sowest die before it spring ; and what cause have we
to be tender of this body ; oh, what care, what labour, what
grief and sorrow hath it cost us ; how many a weary, painful,
tedious hour ! O my soul, grudge not that God should dis-
burden thee of all this : fear not, lest he should free thee from
thy fetters : be not so loath tliat he should break down thy
prison, and let thee go : what, though some terrible earthquake
go before ; it is but that the foundations of the prison may be
shaken, and so the doors fly open ; the terror will be to thy
jailor, but to thee deliverance. O, therefore, at what hour of
the night soever thy Lord come, let him find thee, though with
thy feet in these stocks, yet singing praises to him, and not fear-
ing the time of thy deliverance. If unclothing be the thing thou
fearest, why it is that thou mayest have better clothing put on.
If to be turned out of doors be the thing thou fearest, why re-
member, then, when this earthly house of thy tabernacle is dis-
solved, thou hast " a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens." How willingly do our soldiers
barn their huts, when the siege is ended, being glad their work
is done, that they may go home and dwell in houses. Lay down,
then, cheerfully this bag of loathsome filth, this lump of cor-
ruption ; thou shalt undoubtedly receive it again in incorruption»
VOL. XXII. G
82 THE saint's
Lay down freely this terrestrial, this natural body ; believe it,
thou shalt receive it again a celestial, a spiritual body. And
though thou lay it down into the dirt with great dishonour, thou
shalt receive it into glory with honour : and though thou art
separated from it through weakness, it shall be raised again, and
joined to thee in mighty power. When the trumpet of God
shall sound the call, "Come awav, arise ye dead ;" (1 Cor. xv.
42 — 45 ;) who shall then stay behind ? Who can resist the
powerful command of our Lord ; when he shall call to the earth
and sea, " O earth, give up thy dead! O sea, give up thy dead?"
Then shall our Sampson break for us the bonds of death. And
as the ungodly shall, like toads from their holes, be drawn
forth whether they will or no ; so shall the godly, as prisoners of
hope, awake out of sleep, and come with joy to meet their Lord.
The first that shall be called, are the saints that sleep ; and
then the saints that are then alive shall be changed. For Paul
hath told us, by the word of the Lord, " That they which are
alive, and remain till the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, v/ith the voice of the archangel, and
witii the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then they which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up to-
gether with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and
so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, O Christians,
comfort one another with these words."^ This is one of the Gos-
pel mysteries : " That we shall all be changed in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption ;
and this mortal, immortality. Then is death swallowed up in
victory. O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy
victory ? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. xv. 51 — 57.) Triumph now, O
Christian, in these promises; thou shalt shortly triumph in their
performance. For this is the day that the Lord will make ; "we
shall be glad and rejoice therein." (Psalm cxviii.) The grave
that could not keep our Lord, cannot keep us : he arose for us,
and by the same power will cause us to arise. " For if we believe
that Jesus died, and rose again ; even so them also which sleep
in Jesus, will God bring with him." (1 Thess. iv. 14.) Can the
^ 1 Thess. iv. 15—18. That it is the same body that shall rise, and how far
changed, see Chr. Beckman, in Exercit. xxiv. p. 475.
EVERLASTING REST. 83
head live, and the hody and members remain dead ? O, write
those sweet words upon thy heart, Christian, " Because I Hve, ye
shall live also." (John xiv. 19.) Assure as Christ lives, ye shall
live : and as sure as he is risen, we shall rise. Else the dead
perish. Else what is our hope ; what advantageth all our duty
or suffering? Else the sensual epicure were one of the wisest
men; and what better are we than our beasts? Surely our
knowledge, more than theirs, would but increase our sorrows ;
and our dominion over them is no great felicity. The servant
hath ofttimes a better life than his master, because he hath few
of his master's cares. And our dead carcasses are no m.ore comely,
nor yield a sweeter savour, than theirs. But we have a sure
ground of hope. And besides this life, we have " a life that is
hid with Christ in God ; and when Christ, who is our life, shall
appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." (Col. iii. 3,
4.) O let not us be as the purblind world, that cannot see afar off;
let us never look at the grave, but let us see the resurrection
beyond it. Faith is quick-sighted, and can see as far as that is;
yea, as far as eternity. Therefore let our hearts be glad,
and our glory rejoice, and our flesh also shall rest in hope; for
he will not leave us in the grave, nor suffer us still to see corrup-
tion. Yea, " Therefore, let us be steadfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know our
labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. xv. SS.)*^
= 1 Cor. XV. 13, 14, 17 — ly, 30 — 32. Read Athanasius de Incarn.
Verbi throug-hout, who fully proveth tliat there sliould have been no resur-
rection, had not Christ died ; and that he died for all, so far as to raise them.
It is more large than to be here transcribed; only a touch of it I will give
you. And that he might recover man into the excellencies of iucorruption,
Avho was turned into corruption ; s^nd might recover them from death, by
the subjecting of his own body, and by the grace of resurrection he took,
them from death, even as a brand out of the fire : for when the Word knew
that the death of man was no way else to be dissolved, unless he himself did
die for all men, and that it was impossible that the Word himself could die,
as being the immortal Son of God ; he took to himself a body which could
die, that the Word, which is over all, being partaker thereof, might become
fit to die for all ; and that by the inhabiting Word, it might remain incor-
ruptible, and now corruption might be banished from all by the excellent
glory of a resurrection. And so offering the body v/hicli he had assumed to
death, as a sacrifice free from all spot, he expelled death from all, who were
shortly to be like him, that is, dead, l)y the offering of the like. For the
Word, being over all, he offering to God the animated temple and instrument
of his body, fulfilled that for all which in death was due. And in that com-
merce, in which he was made like to all, the incorruptible Son of God did me-
ritoriously clothe all men with iucorruption, — yJthanas. cle Incarn. Verhi,
g2
84 THE saint's
God made not deatli, but Christ overcame it, when sin had
introduced it. Death is from ourselves, but life from the Author
and Lord of life. The devil had the power of death till he was
overcome by death ; (Heb. ii. 14, 15 ;) but he that liveth and
was dead, and is alive for evermore, hath now the keys of death
and hell. (Rev. i. 18.) That the very damned live, is to be
ascribed to him ; that they live in misery, is long of themselves.
Not that it is more desirable to them to live miserably, as there
they must do, than not to live ; but as God's glory is his chief,
if not only end, in all his works, so was it the Mediator's chief
end in the world's reparation. They shall, therefore, live,
whether they will or no, for God's glory, though they live not to
their own comfort, because they would not.
But whatsoever is the cause of the wicked's resurrection,
this sufficeth to the saint's comfort, that resurrection to glory is
only the fruit of Christ's death : '^ and this fruit they shall cer-
tainly partake of. The promise is sure : " All that are in their
graves shall hear his voice, and come forth." (John v. 28.)
" And this is the Father's will which hath sent Christ, that of all
which he hath given him he should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day ; " (John vi. 39 ;) " and that every
one that believeth on the Son may have everlasting life, and he
will raise him up at the last day." (Ver. 40.) If the prayers
of the prophet could raise the Shunamite's dead child, and if
the dead soldier revived at the touch of the prophet's bones,
how certainly shall the will of Christ, and the power of his death,
raise us. The voice that said to Jairus' daughter, " Arise ; " and
to Lazarus, " Arise, and come forth," can do the like for us.
If his death immediately raised the dead bodies of many saints
in Jerusalem ; if he gave power to his apostles to raise the dead ;
then what doubt of our resurrection ? And thus. Christian,
thou seest that Christ, having sanctified the grave by his burial,
and conquered death, and broke the ice for us, a dead body and
'' Fiducia Christianorum, resurrectio mortuorum ; illam credentes surnus,
hoc credere Veritas cogit. Veritatem Deus aperit, sed vulgus irridet, existi-
maiis nihil superesse post mortem. — Tertul. de Resur. Carnk in initio, p. 40(;.
IC you would see more of tlie resurrection, and its enemies confuted, read
(Jypriaii. ' De Resur.,' Athena^. ' Ser. de. Resur.,' Ambros. ' De fide Resur.,*
August. Steuchus Eujjubin. ' De Perenni Philosophia,' Job. Baptista Aurelius
* De Mortuorum Resur.,' Mar. Ficin. ' De Immort. Animae.,' Petr. Opiner-
sensis ' De Resur.' and ' Immortal. Anim.,' Leouh. Lessius 1. ' De Provid.' and
I. ' De Immort. Animaj,' Caspar Contarenus cont. Pet. Pomponatium.,
besides every common-place book, and ' Zancb. deOper. Dei,* p. 3. 1. iii. c 8;
C'alviu. adv. Libtrtiu, xxii. 5 and in Psychopaunichia, &c,
EVERLASTING REST. 85
a grave is not now so horrid a spectacle to a believing" eye ; "^
but as our Lord was nearest his resurrection and glory when he
was in the grave, even so are we : and he that hath promised to
make our bed in sickness, will make the dust as a bed of roses.
Death shall not dissolve the union betwixt him and us, nor turn
away his affections from us ; but in the morning of eternity he
will send his angels, yea, come himself, and roll away the stone,
and unseal our grave, and reach us his hand, and deliver us alive
to our Father. Why, then, doth the approach of death so cast
thee down, O my soul ; and why art thou thus disquieted within
me ? The grave is not hell : if it were, yet there is thy Lord
present ; and thence should his merit and mercy fetch thee out.
Thy sickness is not unto death, though^ I die, but for the glory
of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. Say not,
then, he lifted me up to cast me down, and hath raised me high
that my fall may be the lower ; but he casts me down that he
may lift me up, and layeth me low that I may rise the higher.
A hundred experiences have sealed this truth unto thee, that
the greatest dejections are intended but for advantages to thy
greatest dignity, and the Redeemer's glory.
Sect. III. The third part of this Prologue to the Saint's Rest,
is the public and solemn process at their judgment, where they
shall first, themselves, be acquitted and justified ; and then, with
Christ, judge the world. Public I may well call it, for all the
world must there appear : young and old, of all estates and na-
tions, that ever were from the creation to that day, must here
come and receive their doom. The judgment shall be set, and
the books opened, and the book of life produced ; " and the
dead shall be judged out of those things which were written in
the books, according to their works, and whosoever is not found
written in the book of life, is cast into the lake of fire." (Rom.
ii. 16, and xiv. 10 j Rev. xx. 12 — 15.) O, terrible ! O, joyful
day ! Terrible to those that have let their lamps go out, and
have not watched, but forgot the coming of their Lord : joyful
to the saints, whose waiting and hope was to see this day.
Then shall the world behold the goodness and severity of the
Lord : on them who perish, severitv ; Imt to his chosen, good-
ness : when every one must give account of his stewardship,
^ Mors et vita duello conflixere mirand6 : rex mortuus, regiiat vivus. la
hoc duello mors et vita iu arenanti descenderunt : sed tandem vicit vita, et
gloriose exiit, de sepulchro, de inorte ipsa triumphaiis. Irrideatuus erg'o mor-
tem et cum apostolo dicamus, ubi mors victoria tua ? — Stella in Luc, xxiv.
p. 378. torn. ii. Psa!. xlii. ; John xi. 4 i Psal, cii. 10.
86
THE SAINT S
and every talent of time, health, wit, mercies, afflictions, means,
warnings, must be reckoned for ; (Matt, xxiv., and xxv. 5 — 7 ;
Rom. i. 22 j) when the sins of youth, and those which they had
forgotten, and their secret sins, shall all be laid open before
angels and men ; when they shall see all their friends, wealth,
old delights, all their confidence and false hopes of heaven, to
forsake them ; ^ when they shall see the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom they neglected, whose word they disobeyed, whose mi-
nisters they abused, whose servants they hated, now sitting to
judge them ; when their own consciences shall cry out against
them, and call to their remembrance all their misdoings. Re-
member at such a time, such or such a sin ; at such a time
Christ sued hard for thy conversion ; the minister pressed it
home to thy heart, thou wast touched to the quick with the
word; thou didst purpose and promise returning, and yet thou
cast off all. When a hundred sermons, sabbaths, mercies,
shall each step up and say, I am witness against the prisoner ;
Lord, I was abused, and I was neglected ; O, which way will
the wretched sinner look ! O, who can conceive the terrible
thoughts of his heart ! Now the world cannot help him; his
old companions cannot help him ; the saints neither can nor
will ; only the Lord Jesus can : but, oh ! there is the soul-killing
misery, he will not; nay, without violating the truth of his
word, he cannot ; though otherwise, in regard of his absolute
power, he might. The time was, sinner, when Christ would,
and you would not ; and now, oh ! fain would you, and he will
not. Then he followed thee, in vain, with entreaties; O, poor
sinner, what doest thou ; will thou sell thy soul and Saviour for
a lust : look to me, and be saved ; return, why wilt thou die ?
But thy ear and heart were shut up against all. Why, now thou
shalt cry. Lord, Lord, open to us ; and he shall say, " Depart,
I know you not, ye workers of iniquity." (Matt. vii. 22, 23.)
Now, mercy, mercy. Lord ; O, but it was mercy you so long set
light by, and now your day of mercy is over. What then re-
mains, but to cry out to the mountains, Fall upon us ; and the
hills, O cover us from the presence of him that sits upon the
throne I But all in vain ; for thou hast the Lord of mountains
and hills for thine enemy, whose voice they will obey, and not
thine. Sinner, make not light of this; for, as thou livest, ex-
f Quae tunc erit fidei gloria? quae poena perfidiae, cum judicii dies venerit.
Quae Icetitia credentium ? quae moestitia perfidorum ? noluisse istic prius cre-
dere et ut ere Jant jam redire non posse ?—Ci/p. ad Demetrian, sect. xxi. p. 330,
EVERLASTING REST. 87
cept a tliorough change and coming in to Christ prevent it,
which God grant, tliou shalt shortly, to thy inconceivable horror,
see that day. O, wretch, will thy cups then be wine or gall ;
will they be sweet or bitter ; will it comfort thee to think of thy
merry days, and how pleasantly thy time slipped away ; will it
do thee good to think how rich thou wast, and how honourable
thou wast 5 or will it not rather wound thy very soul to remem-
ber thy folly, and make thee, with anguish of heart, and rage
against thyself, to cry out, O wretch, where was mine under-
standing ! Didst thou make so light of that sin that now makes
thee tremble : how couldst thou hear so lightly of the redeeming
blood of the Son of God ; how couldst thou quench so many
motions of his Spirit, and stifle so many quickening thoughts as
were cast into thy soul ? What took up all that life's time
which thou hadst given thee to make sure work against this day ;
what took up all thy heart, thy love, and delight, which
should have been laid out on the Lord Jesus ? Hadst thou room
in thy heart for the world, thy friend, thy flesh, thy lusts, and
none for Christ ? O, wretch, whom hadst thou to love, but
him ; what hadst thou to do, but to seek him, and cleave to him,
and enjoy him ! Oh ! wast thou not told of this dreadful day a
thousand times, till the commonness of that doctrine made thee
weary ; how couldst thou slight such warnings, and rage against
the minister, and say he preached damnation : had it not been
better to have heard and prevented it, than now to endure it ?
O, now, for one oifer of Christ, for one sermon, for one day of
grace more ; but too late ; alas ! too late. Poor, careless sinner,
I did not think here to have said so much to thee ; for my busi-
ness is to refresh the saints ; but if these lines do fall into thy
hands, and thou vouchsafe the reading of them, I here charge
thee, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge
the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom ;
(2 Tim. iv. 1 ;) that thou make haste and get alone, and set
thyself sadly to ponder on these things : ask thy heart,^ Is this
true, or is it not ; is there such a day, and must 1 see it ? O,
what do I then ; why trifle I ; is it not time, full time, that I
had made sure of Christ and comfort long ago ; should I sit still
another day, who have lost so many ; had I not rather be found
s Nee ignoro plerosque coiiscieutia meritorum nihil se esse post mortem
inagis optare cjuam credere . nialunt enini extingui penitus, quam ad sup-
plicia reparari. (Quorum error augetur in seculo et lihertate remissa, et Dei
patientia maxima : cujiis quanto judicium tardum, tauto magis justum est,—
Minut, F/aiix. Oclav. p. 39().
88 THE saint's
one of the holy, faithful, watchful Christians, than a worldling,
a good fellow, or a man of honour : why should I not, then,
choose it now ; will it be best then, and is it not best now ?
O, think of these things ! A few sad hours spent in serious
fore-thoughts is a cheap prevention ; it is worth this, or it is
worth nothing. Friend, I profess to thee, from the word of the
Lord, that of all thy sweet sins, there will then be nothing left,
but the sting in thy conscience, which will never out through all
eternity ; except the blood of Christ, believed in, and valued
above all the world, do now, in this day of grace, get it out.
Thy sin is like a beautiful harlot : while she is young and fresh,
she hath many followers ; but when old and withered, every one
would shut their hands of her : she is only their shame ; none
would know her. So will it be with thee : now thou wilt venture
on it, whatever it cost thee ; but then, when men's rebellious
ways are charged on their souls to death,** O that thou couldst
rid thy hands of it ; O that thou couldst say. Lord, it was not
L Then, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, naked, imprisoned :
how fain would they put it off. Then sin will be sin indeed,
and grace will be grace indeed ; then, say the foolish virgins.
Give us of your oil, for our lamps are out. O, for some of
your faith and holiness, which we were wont to mock at ; but
what is the answer, " Go buy for yourselves ; we have little
enough ; would we had rather much more." Then they will be
glad of any thing like grace ; and if they can but produce any
external familiarity with Christ, or common gifts, how glad are
they ! Lord, we have eat and drunk in thy presence, prophesied
in thy name, cast out devils, done many wonderful works ', we
have been baptised, heard sermons, professed Christianity : but,
alas ! this will not serve the turn. He will profess to them, I
never knew you ; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. O,
dead-hearted sinner, is all this nothing to thee ! As sure as
Christ is true, this is true ; take it in his own words : " When
the Son of Man shall come in his glory : and before him shall
be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : and
^ Hear a heathen : " Sic certe vivendum est, tanquam in conspectu viva-
mus. Sic cogitandum tanquam aiifjuis in pectus intimum inspicere possit, et
potest. Quid enim prodest ab homine aliquid esse secretum ? Nihil Deo
clausum interest animis nostris, et cos^itatiouibus niediis intervenit. — Senec.
Epist. ml Luc. 83. p. 711. torn. ii. Which words Zuinglius repeating,
calls him " virum sauctissinuim." — Tom. oper. ii. p. 118. Declar. de Pec.
Grig.
EVERLASTING REST. 89
he shall set the sheep on the right hand, and the goats on the
left." (Matt. XXV. 31.) And so on, as you may read in the text.
But why tremblest thou, O humble, gracious soul ? Cannot
the enemies and slighters of Christ be foretold their doom, but
thou must quake : do I make sad the soul that God would not
have sad ? (Ezek. xiii. 22.) Doth not thy Lord know his own
sheep, *' who have heard his voice, and followed him ? " (John
X. 27.) He that would not lose the family of one Noah in a
common deluge, when him only he had found faithful in all the
earth ; (Gen. vii. I — 3, and xix. 22 ;) he that would not over-
look one Lot in Sodom ; nay, that could do nothing till he went
forth : will he forget thee at that day ? " Thy Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the
unjust to the day of judgment to be punished ; " (2 Pet. ii. 9 ;)
he knoweth how to make the same day the greatest for terror
to his foes, and yet the greatest for joy to his people. He ever
intended it for the great distinguishing and separating day j
wherein both love and fury should be manifested to the highest.
(Matt, xiii.) O, then, " Let the heavens rejoice, the sea, the
earth, the floods, the hills ; for the Lord cometh to judge the
earth : with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the
people with equity." (Psal. xcvi. 11 — 13.) But, especially,
" Let Sion hear, and be glad, and her children rejoice ; " (Psal.
xcviii. 7 — 9 ;) for, " when God ariseth to judgment, it is to
save the meek of the earth." (Psal. xcvii. 8.) They have
judged and condemned themselves many a day in heart-breaking
confessions, and therefore shall not be judged to condemnation
by the Lord ; " for there is no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
(1 Cor. xi. 31.) And, " Who shall lay any thing to the charge
of God's elect ? " (Rom viii. 1, 33.) Shall the law ? Why,
" Whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the
law; but we are not under the law, but under grace : for the
law of the Spirit of life, which is in Christ Jesus, hath made us
free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. iii. 19, v. 1, vi. 14,
and viii. 2.) Or shall conscience ? Why, we were, long ago,
"justified by faith, and so have peace with God, and have our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience 3 and the Spirit bearing
witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God." (Heb.
X. 22.) "It is God that justifieth; who shall condemn ? " (Rom.
viii. 16.) If our Judge condemn us not, who shall ? He that
said to the adulterous woman, " Hath no man condemned thee ?
90 THE saint's
neither do I condemn thee ;*' (John viii. 11 5) He will say to
us, more faithfully than Peter to him, " Though all men deny
thee, or condemn thee, I will not." (Mark xiv. 31.) "Thou
hast confessed me before men, and i will confess thee before
my Father, and the angels of heaven." (Matt. x. 32.) He,
whose first coming was not " to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved ;" (John iii. 17 ;) 1 am
sure, intends not his second coming to condemn his people, but
that they, through him, might be saved. He hath given us
eternal life in charter and title already, yea, and partly in pos-
session ; and will he after that condemn us ? When he gave
us the knowledge of his Father and himself, he gave us eternal
life ; and he hath verily told us, " that he that heareth his
word, and believeth on him that sent him, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death
to life." (John v. 24, and xvii. 8.) Indeed, if our Judge were
our enemy, as he is to the world, then we might well fear. If
the devil were our judge, or the ungodly were our judge, then
we should be condemned as hypocrites, as heretics, as schis-
matics, as proud, or covetous, or what not ? But our Judge is
Christ, who died ; yea, rather, who is risen again, and maketh
request for us : for, " all power is given him in heaven and in
earth, and all things delivered into his hands ; and the Father
hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he
is the Son of man." ' For, though God judge the world, yet
the Father, immediately, without his Vicegerent, Christ, judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.
Oh what inexpressible joy may this afford to a believer, 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 dear-
est friend, by a brother, by a father, or a wife by her own hus-
band ? Christian, did he come down, and suffer, and weep, and
bleed, and die for thee, and will he now condemn thee ; was he
judged, and condemned, and executed in thy stead, and now
will he condemn thee himself ; did he make a bath of his blood
■for thy sins, and a garment of his own righteousness for thy na-
kedness, and will he now open them to thy shame 5 is he the
' Rom. viii. 34, 35 ; Matt, xxviii. 18; John xiii. 3; John ix. 22, 23, 27.
That Christ's judging- power according to his human nature, is not the prin-
cipal, primitive, supreme; but only the supreme delegate derived power, is
certain ; sicut Scolus, in 1. iv. Sent. Dist.48. qu. i. p. 25(i. (mihi.)
EVERLASTING REST. 91
undertaker for thy salvation, and will he be against thee ; hath
it cost him so dear to save thee, and will he now himself destroy
thee J hath he done the most of the work already, in redeeming,
regenerating, and sanctifying, justifying, preserving, and per-
fecting tliee, and will he now undo all again : nay, hath he be-
gun, and will he not finish ; hath he interceded so long for thee
to the Father, and will he cast thee away himself? If all these
be likely, then fear, and then rejoice not. Oh what an unrea-
sonable sin is unbelief, that will charge our Lord with such un-
mercifulness and absurdities ! Well, then, fellow-Christians, let
the terror of that day be ever so great, surely our Lord can
mean no ill to us in all : let it make the devils tremble, and the
wicked tremble; but it shall make us to leap for joy : let Satan
accuse us, we have our answer at hand ; our surety hath dis-
charged the debt. If he have not fulfilled the law, then let us
be charged as breakers of it : if he have not suffered, then let
us suffer ; but if he have, we are free : nay, our Lord will make
answer for us himself. " These are mine, and shall be made
up with my jewels : for their transgressions was I stricken, and
cut off from the earth ; for them was I bruised and put to grief:
my soul was made an offering for their sin, and I bore their
transgressions. They are my seed, and the travail of my soul :
I have healed them by my stripes ; I have justified them by my
knowledge." (Isa. liii. 5, 8, 10, H.) " They are my sheep ;
who shall take them out of my hands ? " (John x. 28.) Yea,
though the humble soul be ready to speak against itself, " Lord,
when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee," &c., yet will not
Christ do so. This is the day of the believer's full justification.
They were, before, made just, and esteemed just, and by faith
justified in law; and this, to some, evidenced to their consciences.
But now they shall both, by apology, be maintained just ; and,
by sentence, pronounced just actually, by the lively voice of the
Judge himself; ^ which is the most perfect justification. Their
justification by faith, is a giving them title in law, to that apo-
logy and absolving sentence which at tliat day they shall actu-
ally receive from the mouth of Christ ; by which sentence, their
k Observ, That a complete and full absolution from all sin, is not enjoyed
till the day of judgment. Mr. A. Burgess, of ' Justification,' lect. xxIk. p. 258.
The Scripture^ not only in this privilege of remission of sin, but in others
also, makes the complement and fulness of them to be at the day of judg-
ment : Eph. i. 7, and iv. 30 ; Rom. viii. 23; 1 Joha iii. 2; Matt. xix. 23.
Mr. A. Burgess ubi supr.
92 THE saint's
sin, which before was pardoned in the sense of the law, is now
perfectly pardoned, or blotted out by this ultimate judgment.
(Acts iii. 19.) Therefore, well may it be called the time of re-
freshing, as being to the saints, the perfecting of all their former
refreshments. He who was vexed with a quarrelling conscience,
an accusing world, a cursing law, is solemnly pronounced righte-
ous by the Lord, the Judge.' Though he cannot plead Not guilty,
in regard of fact, yet, being pardoned, he shall be acquitted
by the proclamation of Christ : and that is not all ; but he that
was accused as deserving hell, is pronounced a member of Christ,
a son of God, and so adjudged to eternal glory. The sentence
of pardon, passed by the Spirit and conscience within us, was
wont to be exceeding sweet ; but this will fully and finally re-
solve the question, and leave no room for doubting again for
ever. We shall more rejoice that our names are found written
in the book of life, than if men or devils were subjected to us ;
and it must needs affect us deeply with the sense of our mercy
and happiness, to behold the contrary condition of others ; to
see most of the world tremble with terror, while we triumph
with jov ; to hear them doomed to everlasting flames, and see
them thrust into hell, when we are proclaimed heirs of the king-
dom ; to see our neighbours, that lived in the same towns, came
to the same congregations, sat in the same seats, dwelt in the
same houses, and were esteemed more honourable in the world
than ourselves ; to see them now so differenced from us, and by
the Searcher of hearts, eternally separated. Thus, with the
great magnificence and dreadfulness of the day, doth the apostle
pathetically express : " It is righteous with God, to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you who are
troubled, rest with us ; when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking ven-
geance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glorv
of his power,^' &:c. (2 Thess. 1, 6 — 10.) And, now, is not here
enough to make that day a welcome day, and the thoughts of
it delightful to us ? but yet there is more. We shall be so far
from the dread of that judgment, that ourselves shall become the
judges. Christ will take his people, as it were, into commission
' The sins before faith are forgiven ; not so as that they are not committed,
but so as if they had not been committed. — Clem. Jkxund. Stromal, 1. iv.
i EVERLASTING REST. 93
with him ; and they shall sit and approve his righteous judg-
ment. Oh fear not now the reproaches, scorns, and censures,
of those that must then be judged by us: did you think, O
wretched worldlings, that those poor, despised men, whom you
made your daily derision, should be your judges ; did you believe
this, when you made them stand as offenders before the bar of
your judgment ? No more than Pilate, when he was judging
Christ, did believe that he was condemning his Judge ; or the
Jews, when they were whipping, imprisoning, killing the apostles,
did think to see them sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel. " Do you not know," saith Paul, " that the
saints shall judge the world : nay, know you not that we shall
judge angels ? " (1 Cor. vi. 2, 3.) Surely, were it not the word
of Christ that speaks it, this advancement would seem incredible,
and the language arrogant ; yet even Enoch, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of this, saying, " Behold, the Lord cometh
with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,
and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their
ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed ; and of all
their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him." (Jude 14.) Thus shall the saints be honoured, and the
" righteous have dominion in the morning." (Psal. ix. 14.)
O, that the careless world were " but wise to consider this, and
that they would remember their latter end ! " (Deut. xxxii. 29.)
That they would be now of the same mind as they will be when
they shall see the "heavens pass away with a noise, and the ele-
ments melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that
are therein, to be burnt up." (2 Pet. iii. 10.) When all shall be
on fire about their ears, and all earthly glory consumed ; " for
the heavens, and the earth, which are now, are reserved unto fire
against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men."
(2 Pet. iii. 7.) But, alas ! when all is said, " the wicked will
do wickedly ; and none of the wicked shall understand ; but the
wise shall understand." (Dan. xii. 10.) Rejoice, therefore, O
ye saints, yet watch ; and what you have, hold fast till your Lord
come ; (Rev. ii. 25 ;) and study that use of this doctrine which
the apostle propounds. " Seeing, then, that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be, in
all holy conversation and godliness : looking for and hasting to
the coming of the day of God^ wherein the heavens being on
fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat."
(2 Pet. iii. 11, 12.) But go your way, keep close with God,
94 THE saint's
and wait till your change come, and till this end be ; " for you
shall rest, and stand in the lot at the end of the days." (Dan.
xii. 13.)
The fourth antecedent, and highest step to the saints' ad-
vancement, is their solemn coronation, enthronizing, and receiv-
ing into the kingdom. For, as Christ, their Head, is anointed
both King and Priest, so under him are his people made unto
God both kings and priests; (Rev. i. 5 ;) (for prophecy, that
ceaseth) "to reign and to offer praises for ever." (Rev. v. 10.)
** The crown of righteousness, which was laid up for them, shall
by the Lord the righteous Judge be given them at that day."
(2 Tim. iv. 8.) "They have been faithful to the death, and
therefore shall receive the crown of life." (Rev. ii. 10.) And
according to the improvement of their talents here, so shall
their rule and dignity be enlarged, (Matt. xxv. 21, 23,) so that
they are not dignified with empty titles, but real dominions :
for Christ " will take them and set them down with himself on
his own throne; (Rev. iii. 2 1 ;) and will give them power over the
nations, even as he received of his Father ; (Rev. ii. 26 — 28 ;)
and will give them the morning star. The Lord himself will
give them possession with these applauding expressions : " Well
done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a
few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord." (Matt. xxv. 21, 23.) 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 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 Bethshemite's judgment,
for the enmity is utterly taken away. This is not such a
*'come" as we were wont to hear. " Come, take up your cross
and follow me :" though that was sweet, yet this much more.
"Ye blessed;" blessed indeed, when that mouth shall so pro-
nounce us. For though the world hath accounted us accursed,
and we have been ready to account ourselves so, yet certainlv,
those that he blesscth are blessed, and those whom he curseth,
only are cursed ; and his blessing shall not be revoked : but he
hath blessed us, and we shall be blessed. " Of my Father ;"
blessed in the Father's love as well as the Son's, for they are
one. The Father hath testified his love in their election, dona-
tion to Christ, sending of Christ, accepting his ransom. Sec, as
EVERLASTING REST. 95
the Son hath also testified his. " Inherit ;" no longer bondmen^
nor servants only, nor children under age, who differ not in pos-
session, but only in title from servants; (Gal. iv. I, 5 — 7j) but
now we are heirs of the kingdom, (Jam. ii. 5,) coheirs with
Christ. " The kingdom ;" no less than the kingdom. Indeed,
to be a King of kings, and Lord of lords, is our Lord's own
proper title ; but to be kings and reign with him, is ours. The
fruition of this kingdom, is as the fruition of the light of the
sun, each have the whole, and the rest nevertheless. " Prepared
for you;" God is the alpha as well as the omega of our blessed-
ness. 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 ; nor only for you, upon condition of your
believing, but for you personally and determinately, for all the
conditions were also prepared for you. "From the foundation
of the world ;" not only from the promise after Adam's fall, as
some, but, as the phrase usually signifieth though not always,
from eternity. These were the eternal thoughts of God's love
towards us, and this is it he purposed for us, (Matt. xxv. 20,
21, 34, 35 ; Rev. ii. and iii.)
But a greater difficulty ariseth in our way.*" In what sense is
our improvement of our talent, our well-doing, our overcoming,
our harbouring, visiting, feeding, &c., Christ, in his little ones,
alleged as a reason of our coronation and glory ? Is not it the
purchased possession and mere fruit of Christ's blood ? If
every man must be judged according to his v.orks, and receive
according to what they have done in the flesh, whether good
or evil ; and God " will render to every man according to his
deeds ;" (Rom. ii. 6, 7 ;) and give eternal life to all men, if they
patiently continue in well-doing, and give right to the tree of
life, (Rev. xxii. 14,) and entrance into the city, to the doers of
his commandments : and if the last absolvins: sentence be the
'»
™ See what is after cited in cap. vii. sect. 2. In die judicii (juoniam foediis
gratise vim legis sen juris obtiiitt (promulgatuni est eiiim in toto urbe terra-
rum per prjEcones iduneos) idununi probaudum crit : niniirum, nos liabuisse
conditiouem fcederis gratia*, scilicet fidem. Itaque i)roferenda erunt in medio
opera; presertim cliaritatis tanquam illius condilionis, hoc est, fidei, effecta
alque argumenia demonstrativa, ut vulgo Inquiuitur il posteriori. — D. Ju.
Placeus, in Tkes. Salniur. vol. 1, p. 34 ; Lege et Tlusin, 43 — 45, of that most
solid dispute of Justification.
96 THE saint's
completing of our justification, and so "the doers of the law be
justified;"(Rom. ii. 13;) why,then, what is become of free grace;
or justification by faith only ; of the sole righteousness of Christ
to make us accepted ? Then, the papists say rightly. That we
are righteous by our personal righteousness ; and good works
concur to justification.
Answ. I did not think to have said so much upon controversy ;
but because the difficulty is very great, and the matter very
weighty, as being near the foundation, I have in another book
added to what I said before, certain brief positions, containing
my thoughts on this subject ; which may tend to the clearing of
these and many other difficulties hereabouts, to which I refer you.
But that the plain, constant language of Scripture may not be
perverted or disregarded, I only premise these advertisements by
way of caution, till thou come to read the fuller answer,
1. Let not the names of men draw thee one way or other,
nor make thee partial in searching for truth ; dislike the men
for their unsound doctrine ; but call not doctrine unsound, be-
cause it is theirs ; nor sound, because of the repute of the writer.
2. Know this, that as an unhumbled soul is far apter to give
too much to duty and personal righteousness, than to Christ ; so
an humble, self-denying Christian is as likely to err on the other
hand, in giving less to duty than Christ hath given, and laying
all the work from himself on Christ, for fear of robbing Christ
of the honour ; and so much to look at Christ without him,
and think he should look at nothing in himself: that he
forgets Christ within him. As Luther said of iVlelancthon's
self-denying humility, " Soli Deo omnia deberi tarn obstinate
asserit, ut mihl plane videatur saltem in hoc errare, quod Chris-
tum ipse fingat longius abesse cordi suo quam sit revera — Certe
nimis nuUus in hoc est Philippus." He so constantly ascribes
all to God, that to me he seems directly to err, at least in this,
that he feigneth or imagineth Christ to be further off from his
own heart than indeed he is. Certainly he is too much nothing
in this."
" Read Mr. Rich. Hooker's ' Discourse of Justification,' how far works
concur: and Mr. Mede's Sermon on Luke ii. 13, 14; and on Matt. vii. 21 ;
and on Acts x. 4 ; and on Nelieni. xiii. 14, 22; and Matt. x. 41. And, Dave-
nant de Justitia Habituali et Actuali, most fully and solidly. Agnitionem
accepit homo boni et mali; bonum est autem obedire Deo et credere ei, et
custodire ejus pra;ceptum, et hoc est vita hominis. Quemadmodum non obe-
dire Deo malum, et hoc est mors ejus. — Ircetieus adv. Hcereses, 1. iv. c. /(i.
EVERLASTING REST. 97
3. Our giving to Christ more of the work than Scripture
cloth, or rather our ascribing it to him out of the Scripture way
and sense, doth but dishonour, and not honour him ;" and de-
press, but not exalt his free grace ; while we deny the inward,
sanctifying work of his Spirit, and extol his free justification,
which are equal fruits of his merits we make him an imperfect
Saviour.
4. But to arrogate to ourselves any part of Christ's preroga-
tive, is most desperate of all, and no doctrine more directly
overthrows the Gospel, almost, than that of justification by the
merits of our own, or by works of the law.
And thus we have, by the line and plummet of Scripture,
fathomed this fourfold stream, and seen the Christian safely
landed in paradise ; and, in this four-wheeled fiery chariot, con-
veyed honourably to his rest. Now, let us a little further view
those mansions, consider his privileges, and see whether there
be any glory like unto this glory ; read and judge, but not by
outward appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
CHAP. VI.
This Rest most excellent, discovered by Reason.
The next thing to be handled is, the excellent properties of
this rest, and admirable attributes, which, as so many jewels,
shall adorn the crown of the saints. And first, before we speak
of them particularly, let us try this happiness by the rules of the
philosophers, and see whether they will not approve it the most
transcendently good : not as if they were a sufficient touch-
stone, but that both the worldling and the saint may see, when
any thing stands up in competition with this glory for the pre-emi-
nence, reason itself will conclude against it. Now, in order of
good, the philosopher will tell you, that by these rules you may
know which is best.
Sect. J. 1. That which is desired and sought for itself, is better
° Take heed lest thou love the Gospel, because it hath always glad tidings, and
thou canst not abide the precejits or threatenings, because they speak hard
things to thee. There may be a carnal gospeller, as well as a popish legalist. —
Mr. Burgess, of Justification, lect. xxviii. p. 256. Dicimus Deum judicare
secundum opera, quia prout ilia fuerint vel bona vel mala, aut feternani
vitam consequemur, aut seternam damnationeni. Sed non inde sequitur,
opera causas esse nostra salutis. — Pet. Mart, in Rom, ii, p. (mihi) 88.
VOL. XX 11. H
98 THE saint's
than that which is desired for something else : or the end, as
such, is better than all the means. This concludeth for hea-
ven's pre-eminence. All things are but means to that end. If
any thing here be excellent, it is because it is a step to that ;
and the more conducible thereto, the more excellent. The sal-
vation of our souls is the end of our faith, our hope, our dili-
gence, of all mercies, of all ordinances, as before is proved. It
is not for themselves, but for this rest, that all these are desired
and used. (1 Pet. v. 9; 1 Thess. v. 8 ; 2 Tim. ii. 10.) Praying
is not the end of praying, nor preaching the end of preaching,
nor believing the end of believing. These are but the way to
him, who is the way to this rest. Indeed, Christ himself is
both the way and the rest, the means and the end, singularly
desirable as the way, but yet more as the end. (John xiv. 6.) If
any thing that ever you saw or enjoyed, appear lovely and de-
sirable, then must its end be so much more.
Sect. II. 2. In order of good, the last is still the best; for all
good tends to perfection. The end is still the last enjoyed,
though first intended. Now, this rest is the saints' last estate.
Their beginning was as a grain of mustard-seed, but their per-
fection will be an estate high and flourishing. They were taken
withDavid from the sheep-fold, to reign as kings for ever. Their
first day was a day of small things, but their last will be an
everlasting perfection. They sowed in tears, but they reap in
joy. If their prosperity here, their res secunda, were desirable,
much more their res ultimce, their final blessedness. (Psal.
cxxvi. 5.) Rondeletius saw a priest at Rome, who would fall
down in an ecstasy whenever he heard those words of Christ,
Consicnimattim est, "his finhhed;" but observing him careful
in his fall ever to lay his head in a soft place, he, suspecting the
dissimulation, by the threats of a cudgel quickly recovered
him.P But, methinks, the forethought of that consummation and
last eatate we spake of, should bring a considering Christian
into such an unfeigned ecstasy, that he should even forget the
things of the flesh, and no care or fear should raise him out of
it. Surely, that is well which ends well, and that is good which
is good at last; and, therefore, heaven must needs be good.
Sect. III. 3. Another rule is this : That whose absence or loss
is the worst or the greatest evil, must needs itself be best, or the
greatest good : and is there a greater loss than to lose this rest ?
If you could ask the restless souls that are shut out of it, they
P RondeletiuSj in Method. Curan. c. cie Catalep. p. 98.
EVERLASTING REST. 99
would tell you more sensibly than I can ; for as none know the
sweetness like those who enjoy it, so none know the loss like
those who are deprived of it. Wicked men are here senseless
of the loss, because they know not what they lose, and have the
delights of flesh and sense to make them uj3, and make them
forget it : but when they shall know it to their torment, as the
saints do to their joy, and when they shall see men, from the
east and west, sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of God, and themselves shut out ; (Luke xiii. 29 ;)
when they shall know both what they have lost, and for what,
and why they lost it, surely there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. He that loses riches may have more, and he that
loseth honour may repair it ; or if not, yet he is not undone.
He that loseth life may save it ; but what becomes of him that
loseth God; and who, or what, shall repair his loss ? (Mark viii.
35.) We can bear the loss of any thing below : if we have it
not, we can either live without it, or die, and live eternally
without it: but can we do so without God in Christ? (Matt,
vi. 33.) As God gives us outward things as auctaries, as over-
plus, or above measure, into our bargain, so when he takes them
from us he takes away our superfluities, rather than our neces-
saries, and pareth but our nails, and toucheth not the quick.
But can we so spare our part in glory ? You know whose
question it is, " What shall it profit a man to win all the world,
and lose his own soul?" Will it prove a saving match? Or,
" What shall a man give for the ransom of his soul?" (Matt,
xvi. 26.) Christians, compare but all your losses with that loss,
and all your sufferings with that suffering ; and I hope you will
lay your hand upon your mouth, and cease your repining
thoughts for ever.
Sect. IV. 4. Another rule is this : That which cannot be given
by man, or taken away by man, is ever better than that which
can ; and then 1 hope heaven will carry it ; for, who hath the
key of the everlasting treasures, and who is the disposer of the
dignities of the saints ? Who saith, "• Come ye blessed, and
go ye cursed ?" Is it the voice of God, or of mere man ? If
" every good and perfect gift cometh from above, from the
Father of lights," (James i. 17,) whence, then, cometh the gift
of eternal light with the Father ? Whose privilege soever it is
to be key-keepers of the visible churches here below; surely no
mere man, but the man of sin, will challenge the keys of that
kingdom, and undertake to shut out, or take in, or to dispose
H 2
100 THE saint's
of that treasure of the church. We may be beholden to men,
as God's instruments, for our faith, but no further ; for " who
is Paul, or who is ApoUos, but ministers by whom we believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man ?" (1 Cor, iii. 4.) Surely,
every step to that glory, every gracious gift and act, every deli-
verance and mercy to the church, shall be so clearly from God,
that his very name shall be written in the forehead of it, and
his excellent attributes stamped upon it, that he who runs may
read it was the work of God ; and the question may easily be
answered, whether it be from heaven, or of men; much more
evidently that glory is the gift of the God of glory. What, can
man give God, or earth and dust give heaven ! Surely, no : and
as much is it beyond them to deprive us of it. Tyrants and
persecutors may take away our goods, but not our chief good ;
our liberties here, but not that state of freedom ; our heads,
but not our crown.i You can shut us up in prisons, and shut us
out of your church and kingdom, but shut us out of heaven if
you can. Try in lower attempts. Can you deny us the light of
the sun, and cause it to forbear its shining ? Can you stop the
influences of the planets, or deny us the dew of heaven, or com-
mand the clouds to shut up their womb, or stay the course of
the flowing streams, or seal up the passages of the deep ? How
much less can you deprive us of our God, or deny us the light
of his countenance, or stop the influences of his Spirit, or for-
bid the dew of his grace to fall, or stay the streams of his love,
and shut up his overflowing, everflowing springs, or seal up the
bottomless depth of his bounty ? You can kill our bodies, if he
permit you ; but try whether you can reach our souls. Nay, it
is not in the saints' own power to give to, or take away from
themselves this glory : so that, according to this rule, there is no
state like tbe saints' rest ; for no man can give this rest to us,
and none can take our joy from us. (John xvi. 22.)
Sect. V. 5. Another rule is this : That is ever better or best
which ever maketh the owner or possessor himself better or
best : and surely, according to this rule, there is no state like
heaven. Riches, honour, and pleasure, make a man neither
better nor best : grace here makes us better, but not best ; that
is reserved as the prerogative of glory ."■ That is our good which
1 Decrescere summuin bonum non potest. — Senec, Epist. Ixvi. p. 644,
Mortalia eminent, caduut; detenintur, crescunt; exhauriuutur, implentur :
tlivinorum una natura est. — Ibid, p, C45.
Ut Seneca de vita beata abunde contra Epicureos probavit.
EVERLASTING UEST. 101
doth us good, and that doth us good which makes us good ;
else it miiy he good in itself, hut not good to us. External
good is at too great a distance to he our happiness. It is not
bread on our tables, but in our stomachs, that must nourish ;
nor blood on our clothes or skin, but in the liver, heart, and
veins, which is our lile.^ Nay, the things of the world are so
far from making the owners good, that they prove not the least
impediments thereto, and snares to the best of men. Riches
and honour do seldom help to humility; but of pride they oc-
casionally become most frequent fomenters. The difficulty is
so great of conjoining graciousness with greatness, that it is next
to an impossibility : and their conditions so rare, that they are
next to inconsistent. To have a heart taken up with Christ and
heaven, when we have health and abundance in the world, is
neither easy nor ordinary. Though soul and body compose but
one man, yet they seldom prosper both together. Therefore,
that is our chief good which will do us good at the heart 3 and
that is our true glory which makes us all glorious within; and
that the blessed day which will make us holy and blessed men ;
which will not only beautify our house, but cleanse our hearts ;
not only give us new habitations, and new relations, but also
new souls and new bodies. The true knowing, living Christian
complains more frequently and more bitterly of the wants and
woes within him, than without him. If you overhear his pray-
ers, or see him in his tears, and ask him what aileth him, he
will cry out more, 'Oh ! my dark understanding! oh I my hard,
my unbelieving heart !' rather than, 'Oh ! my dishonour !' or 'Oh!
my poverty !' Therefore, it is his desired place and state, which
affords a relief suitable to his necessities and complaints. And
surely that is only this rest.
Sect. VI. 6. Another rule is, that the difficulty of obtaining
shows the excellency: and, surely, if you consider but what it cost
Christ to purchase it ; what it costs the Spirit to bring men's
hearts to it; what it costs ministers to persuade to it; what it
costs Christians, after all this, to obtain it; and what it costs
many a half-Christian that, after all, goes without it : you will
say, that here is difficulty, and therefore excellency. Trifles
may be had at a trivial rate, and men may have damnation far
s Quoniodo non summa faelicitate et vera tranquillitate fruerentur, quibus
nihil est quod divinae voluntati reluctetur, niiiil quod turbet et k mente Dei
alieuet, nihil quod desidereiur extra voluutatem Dei ? — 3Iuscul, in Malt, \\,
Jom, i. p. 127.
102
THE SAINT S
more easily, ft is but to lie still, and sleep out our days in care-
less laziness.' Jt is but to take our pleasure, and mind the world,
and cast away the thoughts of sin, and grace, and Christ, and
heaven, and hell, out of our minds ; and do as the most do, and
never trouble ourselves about these high things, but venture our
souls upon our presumptuous conceits and hopes, and let the
vessel swim which way it will ; and then stream, and wind, and
tide, will all help us apace to the gulf of perdition. You may
burn a hundred houses easier than build one ; and kill a thou-
sand men, than make one alive. The descent is easy, the ascent
not so. To bring diseases is but to cherish sloth, please the ap-
petite, and take what most delights us ; but to cure them, will
cost bitter pills, loathsome potions, tedious gripings, abstemious,
accurate living; and perhaps all fall short too. He that made
the way, and knows the way better than we, hath told us " it is
narrow and strait," and requires striving ; and they that have
placed it more truly and observantly than we, do tell us it lies
through many tribulations, and is with nnich ado passed through.
Conclude, then it is surely somewhat worth that must cost all
this.
Sect. VII. 7. Another rule is this : That is best, which not only
supplieth necessity, but affordeth abundance." By necessity
is meant here, that which we cannot live without; and, by
abundance, is meant a more perfect supply, a comfortable, not
a useless abundance. Indeed, it is suitable to a christian state
and use, to be scanted here, and to have only from hand to
mouth; and that, not only in his corporeal, but in his spiritual
comforts. Here we must not be filled full, that so our empti-
ness may cause hungering, and our hungering cause seeking and
craving, and our craving testify our dependance, and occasion
receiving, and our receiving occasion thanks returning, and all
advance the glory of the Giver. But when we shall be brought
to the well-head, and united close to the overflowing fountain,
we shall then thirst no more, because we shall be empty no
* Bion dicere solebat, facilem esse ad inferos viam, nam illic homines adire
clauiisoculis. — Laert.X. iv.c. 7; Quod ille dixit quia luorieritibus claiiduntur
oculi ; no3 dicere possumus de mentis ccEciiate et socordia. Facilis descensus
Averni, &c.
" (^uicquid prseter te est, non reficit, non sufficit; si ad tempus sufficit, con
tamen perpetuo satiat quin adhuc amplius quasratur ; qui autem te habet,
satiatus est ; finem suuni habet ; uon habet ultra quod (luaerat ; quia tu es super
omne visibile, audibile, odorabile, gustabile, tangibile, sensibile. — Gers. par.
3. Alphabet. Divini Amoris, cap. xiv.
EVERLASTING REST. 103
more. Surely, If those blessed souls did not abound in their
blessedness, they would never so abound in praises. Such bless-
ing, and honour, and glory, and praise to God, would never
accompany common mercies. All those Allelujahs are not,
surely, the language of needy men. Now, we are poor, we speak
supplications, and our beggar's tone discovers our low condition j
almost all our language is complaining and craving, our breath
sighing, and our life a labouring. (Prov. xviii. 23.) But,
surely, where all this is turned into eternal praising and rejoicing,
the case must needs be altered, and all wants supplied and for-
gotten. 1 think their hearts full of joy, and their mouths full
of thanks, proves their state abounding full of blessedness.
Sect. VIII. 8. Reason concludes that for the best, which is so
in the judgment of the best and wisest men. Though it is
true the judgment of imperfect man can be no perfect rule of
truth or goodness ; yet God revealeth this good to all on whom
he will bestow it, and hides not from his people the end they
should aim at and attain. If the holiest men are the best and
wisest, then their lives tell you their judgments ; and their un-
wearied labour and sufferings for this rest, show you they take
it for the perfection of their happiness. If men of the greatest
experience be the wisest men, and they that have tried both
estates, then, surely it is vanity and vexation that is found be-
low, and solid happiness and rest above. If dying men are
wiser than others, who, by the world's forsaking them, and by
the approach of eternity, begin to be undeceived ; then, surely,
happiness is hereafter, and not here : for though the deluded
world, in their flourishing prosperity, can bless themselves in
their fool's paradise, and merrily jest at the simplicity of the
saints, yet scarce one of many, even of the worst of them, but
are ready at last to cry out with Balaam, " O, that 1 might
die the death of the righteous, and my last end might be like
his ! " Never take heed, therefore, what they think or say
now ; for as sure as they shall die, they will one of these days
think and say clean contrary. As we regard not what a drunken
man says, because it is not he, but the drink ; and when he
hath slept he will awake in another mind ; so why should we
regard what wicked men say now, who are drunk with security
and fleshly delights, when we know beforehand, for certain,
that when they have slept the sleep of death, at the furthest,
they will awake in another mind. Only pity the perverted un-
104 THE saint's
derstandings of these poor men, who are beside themselves ;
knowing that one of" these days, when, too late experience
brings them to their right minds, they will be of a far different
judgment. They ask us, ' What are you wiser than your fore-
fathers ; than all the town besides ; than such and such great
men, and learned men?' And do vou think, in good sadness,
we may not, with better reason, ask you, ' What are you wiser
than Enoch, and Noah ; than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel ;
than David and Solomon ; than Moses and the propliets ; than
Peter, Paul, all the apostles, and all the sons of God, in all ages
and nations, that ever went to heaven ; yea, than Jesus Christ
himself?' Men may be deceived ; but we appeal to the unerring
judgment of wisdom itself, even the wise, all-knowing God,
whether " a day in his courts be not better than a thousand
elsewhere;" and whether "it be not better to be doorkeepers
there, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness?" (Psal. Iviii. 10.)
Nay, whether the very " reproaches of Christ (even the scorns
we have from you, for Christ's sake and the Gos])ers,) be not
greater riches than all the treasures of the world?" (Heb. xi.
25, 26.) If wisdom, then, may pass the sentence, you sec
which way the cause will go ; and " wisdom is justified of her
children." (Matt. xi. 19.)^
Sect. IX. Lastly : another rule in reason is this : That good
which containeth all other good in it, must needs itself be best.
And where do vou think, in reason, that all the streams of good-
ness do finally empty themselves ? Is it not in God, from whom,
by secret springs, they finally proceed ? Where, else, do all
the lines of goodness concentre ? Are not all the sparks con-
tained in this fire ; and all the drops in this ocean ? Surely, the
time was when there was nothing besides God, and then all
good was only in him.^ And even now the creature's essence
and existence are secondary, derived, contingent, improper, in
comparison of his, " who is, and was, and is to come ;" whose
'= Oiiffirendum est (ut summum bonum) quod not fiat iuilies deterius ; cui
non poss'u obstari ; quo ijil melius possit optari. Quid hoc est ? Animus:
sed hie rectus, bonus, magiius. (2uid aliud voces huiic quam Deuni in
humaiio corpore hospitantem? Hie animus tarn in equitem Romanum,
quam in servuni j)otest cadere. Quid est eques Romanus ? aut libertinus ?
aut servus ? Nomina ex anibitioiie aut ex injuria nata. Sub^ilire in cceIuuj
ex angulo licet ; exsur^e modo, et te quoque dignuiu iingeDeo ? finges autem
non auro, non argento. Non potest ex hac materia imago Deo expritni simi-
lis. — Senec. Epist. xxxi. ad Luc. torn, ii. p. 583. Who would think these
were a heathen's words ?
EVERLASTING REST. 105
name alone is called, " I am." What do thine eyes see, or
thine heart conceive desirable, which is not there to be had ?
Sin, indeed, there is none ; but durst thou call that good ?
Worldly delights there are none ; for they are good but for the
present necessity, and please but the brutish senses. Brethren,
do you fear losing or parting with any thing you now enjoy ?
What ! Do you fear you shall want when you come to heaven?
Shall you want the drops when you have the ocean ; or the light
of the candle, when you have the sun : or the shallow creature,
when you have the perfect Creator ? " Cast thy bread upon the
waters, and after many days thou shalt find it." (Eccles. xi. 1.)
Lay abroad thy tears, thy prayers, pains, boldly, and unweari-
edly : as God is true, thou dost but set them to usury, and shalt
receive a hundredfold. (Matt. xix. 29.) Spare not, man, for
state, for honour, for labour, if heaven do not make amends
for all, God hath deceived us ; which who dare once imagine.
Cast away friends, houses, lands, life, if he bid thee : leap into
the sea, as Peter, (Matt. viii. 35,) if he command thee : lose
thy life, and thou shalt save it everlastingly ; when those that
saved theirs, shall lose them everlastingly. Venture all, man,
upon God's word and promise. There is a day of rest coming
which will fully pay for all. All the pence and the farthings
thou expendest for him, are contained, with infinite advantage,
in the massy gold and jewels of thy crown. When Alexander
had given away his treasure, and they asked him where it was,
he pointed to the poor, and said, " In scriniis," In my chests.
And when he went upon a hopeful expedition, he gave away his
gold ; and when he was asked what he kept for himself, he an-
swers, " Spem majorum et meliorum," The hope of greater and
better things. How much more boldly may we lay out all, and
point to heaven, and say, it is in scriniis, in our everlasting
treasure ; and take that hope of greater and better things, in-
stead of all. Nay, lose thyself for God, and renounce thyself,
and thou shalt at that day find thyself again in him. Give him
thyself, and he will receive thee upon the same terms as Socrates
did his scholar, iEschines; who gave himself to his master, be-
cause he had nothing else, "Accipio, sed ea lege ut te tibi mclio-
rem reddam quam accepi :" that he may return thee to thyself
better than he received thee.y So, then, this rest is the good
y Machines pauper Socratis auditor: nihil, inquit, diguum to inveni quod
dare tibi possim : et hoc modo pauperein me esse sentio. Jtaque doiio tihi,
quod uuum habeo, meipsum. Hoc munus rog-o, quaiecuiujue est, boni consu-
106 THE saint's
which containeth all other good in it. And thus you see, ac-
cording to the rules of reason, the transcendent excellency of
the saints' glory in the general. We shall next mention the
particular excellencies.
CHAP. VII.
The Excellencies of our Rest.
Yet let us draw a little nearer, and see more immediately
from the pure fountain of the Scriptures, what further excel-
lencies this rest affordeth. And the Lord hide us in the clefts
of the rock, and cover us with the hands of indulgent grace,
while we approach to take this view. And the Lord grant we
may put off from our feet the shoes of irreverence and fleshly
conceivings, while we stand upon this holy ground.
Sect. I. And first, it is a most singular honour and ornament,
in the style of the saint's rest, to be called the purchased pos-
session ; that it is the fruit of the blood of the Son of God ;
vea, the chief fruit ; yea, the end and perfection of all the fruits
and efficacy of that blood. Surely, love is the most precious
ingredient in the whole composition ; and of all the flowers that
grew in the garden of love, can there be brought one more
sweet and beautiful to the garland, than this blood ? Greater
love than this there is not ; to lay down the life of the lover.
And to have this our Redeemer ever before our eyes, and the
liveliest sense and freshest remembrance of that dying, bleeding
love still upon our souls I O, how will it fill our souls with per-
petual ravishments, to think, that in the streams of this blood
we have swum through the violence of the world, the snares of
Satan, the seducements of flesh, the curse of the law, the
wrath of an offended God, the accusations of a guilty con-
science, and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart,
and are passed through all, and are arrived safely at the breast
of God ! Now we are stupified with vile and senseless hearts,
that can hear all the story of this bloody love, and read all the
dolors and sufferings of love, and hear all his sad complaints,
and all with dulne&s, and unaffected. He cries to us, " Behold
las cogitesque alios cum multum tibi dederint, plus sibi reliquisse. Cui
Socrates ; Quid ni tu, iiiquit, mihi maguura niuiius dederis, uisi forte parvote
ffistimas? Habeo itaque curae, ut te melioreai tibi reddain quam accepi. —
Senec. de Bene/. 1. 1. c. viii. p. 3^5.
EVERLASTING REST. 107
and see ; is it nothing to you, O, all ye that pass by ? Is there
any sorrow like unto my sorrow?" (Lam. i. 12.) And we will
scarce hear or regard the dolorous voice, nor scarce turn aside
to view the wounds of him who turned aside, and took us up to
heal our wounds at this so dear a rate.^ But, oh ! then our
perfected souls will feel as well as hear, and, with feeling appre-
hensions, flame again in love for love. Now we set his picture,
wounded and dying, before our eyes, but can get it no nearer
our hearts than if we believed nothing of what we read ; but,
then, when the obstructions between the eye and the under-
standing are taken away, and the passage opened batv/cen the
head and the heart, surely our eyes will everlastingly affect our
heart. And while we view, with one eye, our slain, revived Lord,
^ If Clirist came to bear the curse which was against us, hovv should he be
made a curse but by taking that death which the curse lay in ? And if the
death of our Lord was the redemjition of all men, and by his death the middle
wall id' partition was broken down, and the gentiles called, liuw should he
invite us to himself if he were not crucified ? for it is ouly on the cross that
men die ^vith their arms stretched out. — Athanas. lib. dc Incitrn. T'crbi^
Ha?c eniui cum sit principalis et suninia hominis faelicilas secundum animam,
nun poterat conferri nisi per principale et summum humanse reilemptionis, et
pro peccatis nostris saiistactionis principium sacrificium, viz. Messiffi. — Jos.
De l^oisin dc Lege Dwlna, c. 8. p. 1*7. Lege et eundem Vcisin Theolog.
Jndaeor. 1. 2. c. 5. pp. 293, 29-4 Quid mirum si caput pro membris accepit
curationem, quam tamen in seipso non babuit necessariain ? Nonne et in
membris nostris SEepe pro unius infirniitate alteri adhibetur curatio ? Dolet
caput et in brachio fit coctura ; doleut renes, el fit in til)ia ; ita hodie pro
totins ccirporis putredine, cauterium quoddam infi)tum est in capite Christi. —
Bern. Serm. 30. de Tempore. Facessat ergo maeror, tristitia fugiat ; eliminetur
dolor ; rancor abscedat ut iiceat vacare et videre cum Moysi visionem banc
grandem ; qualiter Deus in ventre virginis concipiatur, decipiatur diabolus,
recipiatur perditum, indebitum accipiatur ! Totum me trahit afFectio, sed
oratio deficit; dives cogitatio vocis paupertate confunditur. — Bern. Sertn. 24.
in Die Natal. Quid aeque mentem cogitantis impinguat? Numen Jesu mel
iu ore, in aure melos, in corde jubiijeus. Omiiis cibus qui non conditur hoc
sale infatuatus est. Scri[)tura quae non fuerit interlita oleo tanta; devotionis,
est itisi|)ida. — Bern. Serm. 23. Non ca]iio ine prae laetitia, quia iUa majestas
naturam suam naturae meae carnis et sanguinis suhlevat; et me miserum in
divitias glorias sua;, non ad horani, sed in sempiternum includit ; fit frater
mens dominus meus ; et timorem domini fratris viiicit affeclus. Doniine Jesu
Christe, liheuter audio te regnantem in ccelis ; libentius nascentem in lerris;
libentissime cruceni, clavos ct lanceam sustinentem. Haec siquidem effusio
rapit affectum me.um ; et istorum memoiia incalescit cor n\&nn\. — Bern. Serm.
23. in die Natal. For all the great seeming difference among us about the
grace of Christ, it is fully agreed between the Calvinists and Lutherans, saith
Hottonus, Ne guttulam quidem salutis extra Dei gratiam in solo Christo
Mediatore quaerendam esse, &c. Quod in ipso, per et propter ipsum solum,
non propter nierita sua, pondus asternae gloria; sint recepturi, cum Deus in ipsis
non eorum merita, sed sua dona coronaturus sit. — lloltonus de Toler. Christ-
ian, pp. 59, (iO.
lOS THi-; saint's
and with the other eye, our lost, recovered souls, and transcend-
ent glory, these views will eternally pierce us, and warm our
very souls. And those eyes, through which folly and lust have
so often stolen into our hearts, shall now be the casements to
let in the love of our dearest Lord for ever. Now, though we
should, as some do, travel to Jerusalem, and view the Mount of
Olives, where he prayed and wept, and see that dolorous way
by which he bare his cross, and entered the temple of the
holy grave 3 yea, if we should, with Peter, have stooped down
and seen the place where he lay, and beheld his relicts; yet these
bolted doors of sin and flesh would have kept out the feeling of
all that love. But, oh ! that is the joy ! We shall then leave
these hearts of stone and rock behind us, and the sin that here
so close besets us, and the sottish unkindness that followed us
so long, shall not be able to follow us into that glory. But we
shall behold, as it were, the wounds of love with eyes and hearts
of love for ever. Suppose, a little to help our apprehensions,
that a saint, who had partaken of the joys of heaven, hath been
translated from as long an abode in hell, and after the experi-
ence of such a change, should have stood with Mary and the
rest, by the cross of Christ, and have seen the blood, and heard
the groans of his Redeemer. What, think you, would love have
stirred in his breast or no ? Would the voice of his dying Lord
have melted his heart or no ? O, that 1 were sensible of what I
spea]v 1 With what astonishing apprehensions, then, will re-
deemed saints everlastingly behold their blessed Redeemer ! I
will not meddle with their vain, audacious question, who must
needs know, whether the glorified body of Christ do yet retain
either the wounds or scars. But this is most certain, that the
memory of it will be as fresh, and the impressions of love as
deep, and its working as strong, as if his wounds were still in
our eves, and his complaints still in our ears, and his blood still
streaming afresh. Now his heart is open to us, and ours shut to
him : but when his heart shall be open, and our hearts open, oh !
the blessed congress that there will then be ! What a passionate
meeting was there between our new-risen Lord and the first
sinful, silly woman that he appears to ! How doth love strug-
gle for expressions, and the straitened fire, shut up in the breast,
strive to break forth ! (John xx. 16 ; Matt, xxviii. 9.) " Mary!"
saith Christ : " Master ! " saith Mary : and presently she clasps
about his feet, having her heart as near to his heart as her
hands were to his feet. What a meeting of love then, there
EVERLASTING «EST. 109
will be, between the new glorified saint and the glorious Re-
deemer ! But I am here at a loss, my apprehensions fail me,
and fall too short ; only this, I know, it will be the singular
praise of our inheritance, that it was bought with the price of
that blood ; and the singular joy of the saints, to behold the
purchaser and the price together with the possession. Neither
will the views of the wounds of love renew our wounds of sor-
row : he whose first words, after his resurrection, were to a
great sinner: "Woman, why weepest thou?" (John xx. 13 5)
knows how to raise love and joy by all those views, without
raising any cloud of sorrow, or storm of tears at all. ("2 Sam.
xxiii. 16, 17.) He that made the sacramental commemoration
of his death to be his church's feast, will surelv make the real
enjoyment of its blessed purchase to be marrow and fatness.
And if it afforded joy to hear from his mouth, " This is my
body which is given for you," and "This is my blood which
was shed for you;" what joy will it afford to hear, "This
glory is the fruit of my body and my blood !" And what a merry
feast will it be, when we shall drink of the fruit of the vine new
with him in the kingdom of his Father, as the fruit of his own
blood ! David would not drink of the waters which he longed
for, because they were the blood of those men who jeoparded
their lives for them, and thought them fitter to offer to God,
than to please him.^ But we shall value these waters more
highly, and yet drink them the more sweetly, because they are
the blood of Christ, not jeoparded only but shed for them. They
will be the more sweet and dear to us, because they were so
bitter and dear to him. If the buyer be judicious, we estimate
things by the price they cost. If any thing we enjoy were pur-
chased with the life of our dearest friend, how highly should we
value it ! nay, if a dying friend deliver but a token of his love,
how carefully do we preserve it, and still remember him when
we behold it, as if his own name were written on it ! And will
not then the death and blood of our Lord everlastingly sweeten
'I Hanc gratiam Christus impertit pretio sanguinis, &c. Hanc sequamur
omnes : hujus sacraniento et signo censeamur. Hie nobis vitae viam aperit :
hie ad paradisum reduces facit : hie ad coglorum regna perducit : cum ipso
semper vivimus, facti per ipsum filii Dei : cum ipso cxultahimus semper
ipsius cruore reparati. Erimus Christiani cum Christo simul gloriosi; de
Deo Patre beati, de perpetua voluptate ]a;tantes semper in co:i«ipectu Dei, ct
agentes Deo gratias semper. Neque euim poterit nisi l.-ctus esse semper, et
gratus, qui cum morii fuisset obnoxius, factus est de immortalitate securus.
— Ci/pr. ltd Demetrian, verbis ultimis.
1 10 THE saint's
our possessed glory ? Methiiiks they should value the plenty
of" the Gospel with their peace and freedom at a higher rate,
who niav remember what it hath cost ; how much precious
blood ; how many of the lives of God's worthies and witnesses,
besides all other costs! Methinks, when I am preaching, or
hearing, or reading, I see them as before mine eyes, whose blood
was shed to seal the truth, and look the more respectively on
them yet living, who suffered to assert it. O, then, when we
are rejoicing in glory, how shall we think of the blood that re-
vived our souls, and how shall we look upon him whose suffer-
ings did put that joy into our heart! How carefully preserve
we those prizes which with greatest hazard we gained from the
enemy ! Goliah's sword must be kept as a trophy, and laid up
behind the ephod : and in a time of need, David says, "There
is none to that." (I Sam. xx. 9.) Surely, when we do divide
the spoil, and partake of the prize which our Lord so dearly
won, we shall say indeed, " There is none to that." How dear
was Jonathan's love to David, which was testified by stripping •
himself of the robe that was upon him, and giving it to David,
and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his
girdle ; and also by saving him from his father's wrath ! How
dear for ever will the love of Christ be then to us, who stripped
himself, as it were, of his majesty and glory, and put our mean
garment of flesh upon him, that he might put the robes of his
own righteousness and glory upon us ; and saved us, not from
cruel injustice, but from his Father's deserved wrath ! Well,
then. Christians, as you used to do in your books, and on your
goods, to write down the price they cost ; so do you on your
righteousness and on your glory, write down the price, " The
precious blood of Christ."'^
Yet understand this rightly : not this highest glory was in strict-
est proper sense purchased, so as that it was the most immediate
effect of Christ's death. We must take heed that we conceive not
of God as a tyrant, who so delighteth in cruelty, as to exchange
mercies for stripes, or to give a crown on condition he may
torment men.*^ God was never so pleased with the sufferings of
^ By the redundancy of which merit, after satisfaction thereby made unto
his Father's justice for our debt, tliere is a further purchase made of grace
and glory, and of all good things in our behalf. — Dr. Rnynold's Life of Christ,
p. 402. (Isa. xxvii. 4 ; Lara. iii. 3;i ; Ezek. xviii. 2;<, 32.)
•^ O. Nonne bona effecta est mors Christi per modum objecti.' Nonne
summe aniabilis taiujuam iiisirunieiitum praecipuum salutis nostra; ? R. (juod
dicitur mortem Christi esse iiistrumentum nostras salutis iion excedere ratio-
EVERLASTING REST. Ill
the innocent, much less, of his Son, as to sell his mercy properly
for their sufferings : fury dvvelleth not in him, nor doth he
willingly correct the sons of men, nor take pleasure in the death
of him that dieth. But the sufferings of Christ were primarily
and immediately to satisfy justice that required blood, and to
bear what was due to the sinner, and to receive the blow that
should have fallen upon him, and so to restore him to the life
he lost, and the happiness he fell from ; but this dignity, which
surpasseth the first, is, as it were, from the redundancy of his
merit, or a secondary fruit of his death. The work of his re-
demption so well pleased the Father, that he gave him power to
advance his chosen to a higher dignity than they fell from, and
to give them the glory which was given to himself; and all this
according to his counsel, and the good pleasure of his own will.
Sect. II. The second pearl in the saint's diadem, is, that
it is free. This seemeth, as Pharaoh's second kine, to de-
vour the former ; and, as the angel to Balaam, to meet it with
a drawn sword of a full opposition. But the seeming discord
is but a pleasing diversity, composed into that harmony which
constitutes the melody. These two attributes, purchased and free,
are the two chains of gold, which by their pleasant twisting, do
make up the wreath for the heads of the pillars in the temple of
God. (I Kings vii. 17.) It was dear to Christ, but free to us.
When Christ was to buy, silver and gold were nothing worth,
prayers and tears could not suffice, nor any thing below his
blood ; but when we come to buy, the price is fallen to just
nothing : our buying is but receiving, we have it freely, without
money, and without price.'^ Nor do the Gospel conditions make
nem medii: quod antera additur illam esse nobis summe amabilem, veruin
est; sed supposito Dei ordiue, qui earn et sibi in sacrificium, et nobis iu re-
demptioneni constituit. Nou sic porro intelligitur aliquid esse bonuui per
modum objecti : sensus enim est, iliud esse tale, ut secuudum se sit amabiie:
cujusmodi nequaquam est mors Christi, nee cujusvis alterius. — Gibieiif,\.2.
de Libert, c. 22. sect. 11. p. 441.
'' Yet our crown may truly be said to be our due; for God giveth it as
a righteous Judge: But it is not due as a debt upon our merit, but a
gift upon a testament, or upon promise. (2 Tim. iv. 7.) So Polycarp.
Epist. ad Philip, (edit. Usserii, p. 22,) saith, that "Ignatius, Zozimus,
Rufus, and Paul, did not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness."
Et ad debitum sibi locum a Domino cui et compassi sunt, abieruut : quia
non hoc seculum dilexerunt, sed eum qui pro ipsis et pro nobis mortuus,
est, &c. ; because they loved not this world, but him that died and rose for us
and them, they went to the place which was due to them, [ofetXifievou avTo7s)
from the Lord, with whom also they suffered : and Ignatius, another of John's
disciples, doth most frequently use the phrase of " worthy" and *' deserving,"
112 THE saint's
it the less free, or the covenant tenor before mentioned contra-
dict any of this. If the Gospel conditions had been such as are
the laws, or payment of the debt required at our hands, the
freeness then were more questionable ; yea, if God had said to
us, ' Sinners, if you will satisfy my justice but for one of your
sins, I will forgive you all the rest^' it would have been a hard
condition on our part, and the grace of the covenant not so
free, as our disability doth necessarily require. But if all the
condition be our cordial acceptation, surely we deserve not the
name of purchasers : thankful accepting of a free acquittance
is no paying of a debt. If life be offered to a condemned man,
upon condition that he shall not refuse the offer, I think the
favour is nevertheless free ; nay, though the condition were,
that he should beg, and wait before he have his pardon, and take
him for his Lord who hath thus redeemed him : and this is no
satisfying of the justice of the law ; especially when the con-
dition is also given, as it is by God to all his chosen ; surely,
then, here is all free, if the Father freely forgive the Son, and
the Son freely pay the debt ; and if God do freely accept that
way of payment, when he might have required it of the princi-
pal, and if both Father and Son do freely offer us the purchased
life upon those fair conditions, and if they also freely send the
Spirit to enable us to perform those conditions, then what is
here that is not free ? Is not every stone that builds this temple
free stone ? O, the everlasting admiration that must needs
surprise the saints to think of this freeness ! What did the
Lord see in me that he should judge me meet for such a state ?
That I, who was but a poor, diseased, despised wretch, should
be clad in the brightness of this glory ! That I, a silly, creeping,
as in the title to his epistle to the Romans, he calls them " worthy of God,
worthy of eminency, worthy of bJessetlness, worthy of praise, worthy of faith,
worthy of chastity, gruuiided in love and faith," &c. : and in the epistle itself
he often useth the same phrase of himself, " That I may be worthy to see
your face, as I much desire to deserve ;" and so often he speaks of deserving
his martyrdom, even through the whole epistle. This was the language of
this apostolical man : yet he, no doubt, spoke of deserving and merit only in
an evangelical, and not a legal sense. So Tertullian : Nou enim carnis
restitutionem negavit si compensalionem mercedis opposuit ; cum ipsi com-
jiensatio debeatur, cui dissolutio dejiutatur, scilicet cann.— Tertul. lib. de
Anima, c. iv. p. (edit. Pamel.) 418. ; sic idem Tertul. lib. de Resur. Carnis,
c. xvi. )i. 410. inquit : Beneticiis Deus (liberare) debet. But all this is meant
of n dehitinn ex promisso gratio only. This is evident in the following sen-
tence : (2uicquid omnino homini .\ Deo prospectum at(|ue promissum est,
nou solum anima;, verum et carni scias debitum. — J'eitul. L de Resur.
Cam, cap. v. p. 408.
EVERLASTING REST. 113
breathing worm, should be advanced to this high dignity ! That
I, who was but lately groaning, weeping, dying, should now be
as full of joy as my heart can hold; yea, should be taken from
the grave, where I was rotting and stinking, and from the dust
and darkness where 1 seemed forgotten, and here set before his
throne ! That I should be taken with Mordecai from captivity,
to be set next unto the King ; and with Daniel from the den, to
be made ruler of princes and provinces : and Avith Saul from
seeking asses, to be advanced to a kingdom ! O, who can fa-
thom unmeasurable love ? Indeed, if the proud-hearted, self-
ignorant, self-admiring sinners should be thus advanced, who
think none so fit for preferment as themselves, perhaps instead
of admiring free love, they would, with those unhappy angels,
be discontented yet with their estate. But when the self-deny-
ing, self-accusing, humble soul, who thought himself unworthy
the ground he trod on, and the air he breathed in, unworthy to
eat, drink, or live, when he shall be taken up into this glory I
he who dare scarce come among, or speak to the imperfect
saints on earth, because he was imworthy; he who dare scarce
hear, or scarce read the Scripture, or scarce pray and call
God Father, or scarcely receive the sacraments of his covenant,
and all because he was unworthy, for this soul to find itself wrapt
up into heaven, and closed in the arms of Christ even in a mo-
ment ! do but think with yourselves, what the transporting,
astonishing admiration of such a soul will be ! He that durst not
lift up his eyes to heaven, but stood afar off, smiting on his
breast, and crying, " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner 5" now
to be lift up to heaven himself! He who was wont to write his
name in Bradford's style, " The unthankful, the hard-hearted,
the unworthy sinner," and was wont to admire, that patience
could bear so long, and justice suflfer him to live ; surely he
will admire at this alteration, when he shall find by experience,
that unworthiness could not hinder his salvation, which he
thought would have bereaved him of every mercy ! Ah, Christian,
there is no talk of our worthiness or unworthiness ; if worthiness
were our condition for admittance, we might sit down with St.
John and weep, " because none in heaven or earth is found
worthy ; but the Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy and hath
prevailed;" and by that title must we hold the inheritance : we
shall offer there the offering that David refused, even praise for
that which cost us nothing. Here our commission runs, " Freely
ye have received, freely give :" but Christ hath dearly received,
VOL. XXII. I
114 THE saint's
yet freely glves.^ The Master heals us of our leprosy freely;
but Gehazi, who had no finger in the cure, will surely run after
us, and take something of us, and falsely pretend, it is his mas-
ter's pleasure. The pope, and his servants, will be paid for
their pardons and indulgences, but Christ v/ill take nothing for
his. The fees of their prelates' courts are large, and commuta-
tion of penance must cost men's purses dear, or else they must
be cast out of the synagogue, and soul and body delivered up to
the devil : but none are shut out of that church for want of
money, nor is poverty any eyesore to Christ. An empty heart
may bar them out, but an empty purse cannot : his kingdom of
grace hath ever been more consistent with despised poverty than
wealth and honour, and riches occasion the difficulty of entrance
far more than want can do, "for that which is highly esteemed
among men, is despised with God :" and so it is also ; " the
])oor of the world, rich in faith, whom God hath chosen to be
heirs of that kingdom, which he hath prepared for them that
love him." 1 know the true " labourer is worthy of his
hire :" and, " they that serve at the altar, should live upon
the altar :" and, " it is not fit to muzzle the ox that tread-
eth out the corn :" (James ii. 5 ; 1 Cor. vi. 4 — 13 :) and I
know, it is either hellish malice, or penurious baseness, or
ignorance of the weight of their work and burden, that makes
their maintenance so generally incompetent, and their very
livelihood and subsistence so envied and grudged at ; and that
it is a mere plot of the prince of darkness, for the diversion of
their thoughts, that they must be studying how to get bread for
their own and children's mouths, when they should be preparing
the bread of life for their people's souls ; but yet let me desire the
right-aiming ministers of Christ, to consider what is expedient as
well aswhat is ]a\vful,'and that the savingof one soul is better than
a thousand pounds a year, and our gain, though due, is a cursed
gain,vvhich is a stumbling-block to our people's souls : let us make
the free Gospel as little burdensome and chargeable as is possible.
I had rather never take their tithes while I live, than by them
to destroy the souls for whom Christ died ; (1 Cor. ix. 18, 19 ;)
and though God hath ordained, that " they which preach the
Gospel should live of the Gospel," yet I had rather suffer all
e Ad caelestis Hierusalem non ascendunt consortium, nisi qui toto corde
profitentur, non proprii operis sed divini esse niiineris quod ascendunt. —
Prosp. Sen. 31. Lege et ejus Carni. de Ingrat. c. xlv.
* Lege Zuingl. de hac re contra catabapt. optime disserentem. Tom. ii. in
Eccl. p. 47. et passim.
EVERLASTING REST. 115
things than huider the Gospel; (Rom. xiv. 13, 15, 20,21 5)
and it were better for me to die than that any man should make
this my glorying void. (Rom. xv. 1, 2; 1 Cor. ix. 12 — 15.)
T'hough the well-leading elders be worthy of double honour,
especially the laborious in the word and doctrine, yet if the
necessity of souls and the promoting of the Gospel require
it, I had rather preach the Gospel in hunger and rags, than
rigidly contend for what is my due ; and if J should do so, yet
have I not whereof to glory, for necessity is laid upon me; yea,
woe be to me if 1 preach not the Gospel, though I never received
any thing from men. (1 Tim. v. 17; 1 Cor. iv. 10—12 ; ix. 16.)
How unbeseeming the messengers of his free grace and kingdom
is it, rather to lose the hearts and souls of their people, than to
lose a groat of their due ; and rather to exasperate them against
the message of God, than to forbear somewhat of their right,
and to contend with them at law for the wages of the Gospel,
and to make the glad tidings to their yet carnal hearts seem to
be sad tidings because of this burden ! this is not the way of
Christ and his apostles, nor according to the self-denying, yield-
ing, suffering doctrine which they taught. Away with all those
actions that are against the main end of our studies and calling,
which is to win souls ; and woe be upon that gain which hinders
the gaining of men to Christ. I know, flesh will here object
necessities, and distrust will not want arguments ; but we who
have enough to answer to the diffidence of our people, let us
take home some of our answers to ourselves, and teach ourselves
first before we teach them. How many have you known that
God suffered to starve in his vineyard ?
But this is our exceeding consolation, that though we may
pay for our Bibles, and books, and sermons, and, it may be, paid
for our freedom too, to enjoy and use them ; yet as we paid no-
thing for God's eternal love, and nothing for the Son of his love,
and nothing for his Spirit, and our grace and faith, and nothing
for our pardon, so shall we pay nothing for our eternal rest.^
We may pay for the bread and wine, but we shall not pay for
the body and blood, nor for the great things of the covenant
s Antequam gratia justificetur ut Justus efficiatur iuipius, quid est nisi im-
pius ? Quern si debitum sequeretur, quid ejus uierito nisi supplicium redde-
retur? — August. Epist.lQQ. De me omniuo nihil pra!sumam. Quid enim
attuli boni ut niei misereris, et me justificares ? Quid in me invenisti nisi
solapeccata; tuum niliil aliud nisi natura quam creasti ; caetera mala me a
quae delevisti. Non ego prior ad te exsurrexi, sed tu ad me excitanduui veuisti,
— August, Enar. 1. in Psal. Iviii.
I 2
116 THE saint's
which it seals unto us ; and, indeed, we have a vahiable price
to give for those, but for these we have none at all : yet this is
not all : if it were only for nothing, and without our merit, the
wonder were great; but it is, moreover, against our merit, and
against our long endeavouring of our own ruin. O, the broken
heart that hath known the desert of sin, doth both understand
and feel what I say ! What an astonishing thought it will be to
think of tiie unmeasurable difference between our deservings
and our receivings ; between the state we should have been in,
and the state we are in ; to look down upon hell, and see the
vast difference that free grace hath made betwixt us and them ;
to see the inheritance there, which we were born to, so different
from that which we are adopted to ! O, what pangs of love will
it cause within us, to think. Yonder was my native right, my de-
served portion ; those should have been my hideous cries, my
doleful groans, my easeless pains, my endless torment ; those
unquenchable flames I should have lain in ; that never-dying-
worm should have fed upon me ; yonder was the place that sin
would have brought me to, but this is it that Christ hath
brought me to ; yonder death was the wages of my sin,
but this eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. Did not I neglect grace, and make light of the offers
of life, and slight my Redeemer's blood a long time, as well as
yonder suffering souls ? Did I not let pass my time, and forget
my God and soul, as well as they ; and was not I born in sin
and wrath as well as they ? O, who made me to differ ?'^ Was
my heart naturally any readier for Christ than theirs, or any
whit better affected to the Spirit's persuasions ? Should 1 ever
have begun to love, if God had not begun to me ; or ever be will-
ing, if he.had not made me willing; or ever differed, if he had
not made me to differ ? Had I not now been in those flames, if
I had had mine own wav, and been let alone to mine own
will ? Did I not resist as powerful means, and lose as fair ad-
vantages, as they ? And should 1 not have lingered in Sodom
till the flames had seized on me, if God had not in mercy carried
'' Sed nos earn gratiara volumus Pelagiani aliquanclo fateantur, qua futurae
gloriai raagnitudo, non solum proniittitur, veruni etiani crcditur et speratur ;
nee solum revelatur sapientia, verum etiam amatur ; iiec suadetur solum omne
quod bonum est, verum et persuadetur. Non enim omnium est fides, &c. —
August, de Gral. Christi, c. 10. Uiide coguoscimus Dei esse, et ut bonum
facere velimus,et ut bouum facere valeamus. — Fulgent, lib. 1. adMonim. cap. ix.
Multa Deus facit in iiomiue bona, qua; non I'acit homo ; nulla vero f'acit
homo, quit" non I'ucit Deus ut facit homo. — August. 1. ii. ad Bonif. cap. 8.
EVERLASTING REST. 117
me out ? O, how free was all this love ; and how free is this
enjoyed glory ! Doubtless this will be our everlasting admira-
tion, that so rich a crown should fit the head of so vile a sinner;
that such high advancement, and such long unfruitfulness and
unkindness can be the state of the same persons ; and that such
vile rebellions can conclude in such most precious joys : but no
thanks to us, nor to any of our duties and labours, much less to
our neglects and laziness : we know to whom the praise is due,
and must be given for ever ; and, indeed, to this very end it was,
that infinite wisdom did cast the whole design of man's salvation
into the mould of purchase and freeness,' that the love and joy of
man might be perfected, and the honour of grace most highly
advanced, that the thought of merit might neither cloud the one
nor obstruct the other, and that on these two hinges the gates
of heaven might turn. So then, let " Deserved" be written on the
door of hell, but on the door of heaven and life, "The free gift."
Sect. III. Thirdly, The third comfortable attribute of this rest is,
that it is the saint's proper and peculiar possession. It belongs to
' It is a fond conceit of the antinomians, to think that justification and sal-
vation are not free, if given on condition ; as long as the condition is but ac-
ceptance, and the freeness excludeth all our merit of satisfaction. The like
may be said of the conditionality of sincere evangelical obedience to the con-
tinuance and consummation of our justification, and to our salvation. In
both which points, 1 desire those men that will not receive the truth from me,
to receive it from learned Placeus in 'Thes. Salmurieus,' vol. i. p. 32, 34. I
will recite but two theses, which contain most that is misliked in my apho-
risms. Thes. xxxvii. : Fide justificamur ; non tanquam parte aliqua justitiie,
aut opere quod suo quodam pretio et merito justificationem nobis impetret,
aut dispositione aniniae ad introductionem justitiae inhaerentis ; sed tanquam
conditione fcederis gratiae quam Deus a nobis idcirco exigit, loco conditionis
foederis legalis (quas nobis carnisvitio facta est impossibilis) quod ea nihil aliud
Mt, quam doni justitiae in Christo Jesu per evangelium nobis oblati accieptatio,
qua fit ex Dei pacto gratuilo ut ilia justitia nostra sit. Mark, he saith,
' in Christo,' for Christ is first accepted, and so righteousnesness in and with
him ; not the gift without the person. Thes. xli. About justification by
works : Id ipsum fortasse hue ratione commodius explicabitur, opponitur
justificatio accusation!: a duahus autem accusationibus premimur in foro
divin(j. (la reference to tlie tlircatening and the righteousness of the two cove-
vants.) Primutn objicitiir, nos esse peccatores ; lioc est, reos violatae condi-
tionis, quae ioelere leguii lata est. Deinde ohjicitur, no? esse infideles ; hoc
est, non praestitisse conditionem foederis gratiae : videlicet fidem. Ab accusa-
tione priore, sola fide justificamur, qua Christi gratiam et justitiam amplec-
timur. A posteriore, justificamur etiam operibus, quateiuis lis fides ostendi-
tur. A posteriore, justificationem respiciens Jacobus aflirmavit merito, ex
operibus justificari hominem et non ex fide tantum. Paulus vero respiciens
ad priorem, sola fide hominem sine optribus justificari, multis rebus neces-
sariis addixit. This is phiin truth. So also Diodate in his ' Annotation on
Jam. ii. ;' Ludovicus De Dieu, Phil. Codurcus, and our Mead, say more for
works, though I believe they meant orthodoxly.
118 THE saint's
110 other of all the sons of men; not that It would have detracted
from the greatness or freeness of the gift, if God had so pleased,
that all the world should have enjoyed it : but when God hath
resolved otherwise, that it must be enjoyed but by few, to find
our names among that number must needs make us the more to
value our enjoyment. If all Egypt had been light, the Israel-
ites should not have had the less; but yet to enjoy that light
alone, while their neighbours live in thick darkness, must make
them more sensible of their privilege. Distinguishing, sepa-
rating mercy afFecteth more than any mercy. If it should rain
on our grounds alone, or the sun shine alone upon our habita-
tions, or the blessing of heaven divide between our flocks and
other men's, as between Jacob's and Laban's, we should more
feelingly acknowledge mercy than now, while we possess the
same in common. Ordinariness dulleth our sense ; and if
miracles were common they would be slighted. If Pharaoh had
passed as safely as Israel, the Red Sea would have been less
remembered; if the first-born of Egypt had not been slain, the
first-born of Israel had not been the Lord's peculiar ; if the rest
of the world had not been drowned, and the rest of Sodom and
Gomorrah burned, the saving of Noah had been no wonder, nor
Lot's deliverance so much talked of. The lower the weighty
end of the balance descends, the higher is the other lifted up ;
and the falling of one of the sails of the windmill, is the occasion
of the rising of the other. It would be no extenuation of the
mercies of the saints here, if all the world were as holy as they ;
and the communication of their happiness is their greatest de-
sire ; yet it might perhaps dull their thankfulness, and differ-
encing grace would not be known. But when one should be
enlightened, and another left in darkness ; one reformed, and
another by his lusts enslaved ; it makes them cry out, with the
disciples, " Lord, how is it, that thou wilt reveal thyself to us,
and not unto the world ? " (John xiv. 22.) When the prophet
shall be sent to one widow only of all that were in Samaria,
and to cleanse one Naaman of all the lepers, the mercy is more
observable. (Luke iv. 24 — 27.) Oh ! that will surely be a day
of passionate sense on both sides ; when two shall be in a bed,
and two in the field ; the one taken, and the other forsaken.
For a Christian, who is conscious of his own undeserving and
ill-deserving, to see his companion in sin perish, his neighbour,
kinsman, father, mother, wife, child, for ever in hell, while he
is preferred among the blessed ; to see other men's sins eternally
EVERLASTING REST. 11.0
))Iagued, while his are all pardoned ; ^ to see those that were
wont to sit with us in the same seat, and eat with us at the table,
and join with us in the same duties, now to lie tormented in
those flames, while we are triumphing in divine praises ; that
Lot must leave his sons-in-law in the flames of Sodom, and the
wife of his bosom as a monument of divine vengeance, and escape
with his two daughters alone ; here is choosing, distinguishing
mercy ! Therefore, the Scripture seems to affirm, that as the
damned souls shall, from hell, see the saint's happiness, to
increase their own torments, so shall the blessed, from heaven,
behold the wicked's misery to the increase of their own joy ; and
as they looked on the dead bodies of Christ's two witnesses, slain
in the streets, and they that dwelt on the earth rejoiced over them
and made merry, (Rev.xi. 10,) andas the wicked here behold the
calamities of God's people with gladness, so shall the saints look
down upon them in 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, which art,
and wast, and shalt bo, because thou hast thus judged ; for they
have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given
them blood to drink, for they are worthy. Allelujah, salvation,
and glory, and honour, and power to our God ; for true and
righteous are his judgments." (Rev. xvi. 5, 6.) And as the
command is over Babylon, so will it be over all the condemned
souls, " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles
and prophets ; for God hath avenged you on her." (Rev. xviii.
20, and xix. 7, S.) By this time the impenitent world will see
a reason for the saints' singularity while they were on earth, and
will be able to answer their own demands, Why must you be
more holy than your neighbours ? even because they would fain
be more happy than their neighbours : and why cannot you do
as others, and live as the world about you ? even because they
are full loth to speed as those others, or to be damned with the
world about them. Sincere singularity in holiness, is, l)y this
time, known to be neither hypocrisy nor folly. If to be singular
in that glory be so desirable, surely to be singular in godly living
is not contemptible. As every one of them knows his own sore,
and his own grief, so shall every one of them feel his own joy :
^ We shall there look upon them for ever who gazed on us for a time ; and
the short fruit of cruel eyes beholding us in persecution shall be then recom-
pensed with our everlasting beholding them in their sufferings. — Ci/p. ad
Demetri. s, xxi. p. 330.
120 THE saint's
and if they can now call Christ their own, and call God their
own God, how much more then upon their full possession of
liim ! for as he takes his people for his inheritance, so will he
himself he the inheritance of his people for ever. (2 Chron. vi.
29; Psal. xvi. 5, xxxiii. 12, Ixvii. 6, and Ixxviii. /I.)
Sect. IV. A fourth comfortable adjunct of this rest is, that
it is the fellowship of the blessed saints and angels of God. Not
so singular will the Christian be, as to be solitary. Though it
be proper to the saints only, yet is it common to all the saints ;
for what is it but an association of blessed spirits in God ; a
corporation of perfected saints, whereof Christ is the head ; the
communion of saints completed ? Nor doth this make those
joys to be therefore mediate, derived by creatures to us, as here ;
for all the lines may be drawn from the centre, and not from each
other, and yet their collocation make them more comely than one
alone could be. Though the strings receive not their sound and
sweetness from each other, yet their concurrence causeth that
harmony which could not be by one alone ; for those that have
prayed, and fasted, and wept, and watched, and waited together,
now to joy, and enjoy, and praise together, methinks should much
advance their pleasure.^ Whatsoever it will be upon the great
change, that will be in our natures perfected ; sure I am, ac-
cording to the present temperature of the most sanctified human
affections, it would affect accordingly : and he who mentioneth
the qualifications of our happiness on purpose that our joy may
be full, and maketh so oft mention of our consociation and con-
junction in his praises, sure doth hereby intimate to us that this
will be some advantage to our joys. Certain I am of this, fel-
low-Christians, that as we have been together in the labour,
duty, danger, and distress, so shall we be in the great recom-
pense and deliverance ; and as we have been scorned and
despised, so shall we be crowned and honoured together ; and
we who have gone through the day of sadness, shall enjoy to-
gether that day of gladness ; and those who have been with us in
^ Verissimum certe est, Deutn qui sufficit sibi, suflBcere quoque Sanctis
suis ; qui hoc verum arbitratur, earn sententiani amplectetur oportet, sanctos
nihil amare extra Deum ; amare quidem alia a Deo, amare ilia quiE sunt ex-
tra Deum ; sed ita ut ainoris iilius Divina Bonitas, non ea quae creaturaruni
propria, principiuni sit. Qui secus de Sanctis existiniant, et satis esse censent
eos amare quaecunque amant, propter Deum, etsi prseter et extra Deum, irro-
gant illis non niediocreni iiijuriam : non enini patiuntur beatorum nientes
totas in Deo quiescere et abscondi : sed partem inde abstrahuut; ali(juid
earum extra Deiun versari coutendentes. — Gibieiif, J. ii. c, 27, s. vii. p. 4B4.
EVERLASTING REST. 121
persecution and prison, shall be with us also in that palace of con-
solation. Can the wilful world say, If our forefathers and friends
be all in hell, we will venture there too ? ™ And mav not the
Christian say, on better grounds. Seeing my faithful friends are
gone before me to heaven, I am much the more willing to be
there too ? Oh ! the blessed day, dear friends, when we that
were wont to enquire together, and hear of heaven, and talk of
heaven together, shall then live in heaven together ; when we
who were wont to complain to one another, and open our doubts
to one another, and our fears, whether ever we should come
there or no, shall then rejoice with one another, and triumph
over those doubts and fears ; when we who were wont formerly,
in private, to meet together for mutual edification, shall now,
most publicly, be conjoined in the same consolation. Those
same disciples, who were wont to meet in a private house for
fear of the Jews, are now met in the celestial habitation without
fear ; and as their fear then did cause them to shut the door
against their enemies, so will God's justice shut it now. Oh !
when I look in the faces of the precious people of God, and be-
lievingly think of this day, what a refreshing thought is it ! Shall
we not there remember, think you, the pikes which we passed
through here ; our fellowship in duty and in sufferings ; how
oft our groans made, as it were, one sound, our conjunct tears
but one stream, and our conjunct desires but one prayer ? and
now all our praises shall make up one melody, and all our
churches one church, and all ourselves but one body ; for we
shall be one in Christ, even as he and the Father are one. It
is true we must be very careful in this case, that, in our thoughts,
we look not for that in the saints which is alone in Christ, and
that we give them not his own prerogative, nor expect too great
a part of our comfort in the fruition of them : we are prone
enough to this kind of idolatry. But, yet, he who commands
us so to love them now, will give us leave, in the same subordi-
nation to himself, to love them then, when himself hath made
them much more lovely : and if we may love them, we shall
surely rejoice in them ; for love and enjoyment cannot stand
"• Socrates Critoni vehementer suadenti ut si vitam ipse suam ne^li^eret,
certe liberis etiam turn parvulis et amicis ab ipso pendentibus servaret iiico-
lumem : Liberi, iiiquit, Deo qui niihi eos dedit, curffi eruiit ; ainicos hiiic dis-
cedeiis iuveiiiam, vobis aut similes aut etiani meliures, ne vestra quidem
coiisuetudiiie diu cariturus quandociuideni vos brevi eodeiu estis conniiigr;Uuri.
—Erusm, /Ipoth, l.iii. ex Pluton. Ztnophon,
122 THE saint's
without an answerable joy. If the forethought of sitting down
with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the king-
dom of God, may be our lawful joy, then how much more that
real sight and actual possession ! It cannot choose but be com-
fortable to me to think of that day, when I shall join with Moses
in his song, with David in his psalms of praise, and with all the
redeemed in the song of the Lamb for ever ; when we shall see
Enoch walking with God, Noah enjoying the end of his singu-
larity, Joseph of his integrity. Job of his patience, Hezekiah of
his uprightness, and all the saints the end of their faith. Will
it be nothing conducible to the completing of our comforts, to
live eternally with Peter, Paul, Austin, Chrysostom, Jerome,
Wickliffe, Luther, Zuinglius, Calvin, Beza, Bullinger, Zanchius,
Paraeus, Piscator, Camero ; with Hooper, Bradford^ Latimer,
Glover, Saunders, Philpot, with Reighnolds, Whitaker, Cart-
wright, Brightman, Bayne, Bradshaw, Bolton, Ball, Hildersham,
Pemble, Twisse, Ames, Preston, Sibbs ? " O foelicem diem
(said holy Grynaeus) quam ad illud animarum concilium pro-
ficiscar, et ex hac turba colluvione discedam ! " " O happy day,
when I shall depart out of this crowd and sink, and go to that
same council of souls ! I know that Christ is all in all ; and
that it is the presence of God that maketh heaven to be heaven.
But, yet, it much sweeteneth the thoughts of that place to me,
to remember that there are such a multitude of my most dear
and precious friends in Christ ; with whom I took sweet counsel,
and with whom I went up to the house of God ; who walked
with me in the fear of God, and integrity of their hearts : in
the face of whose conversations there was written the name of
Christ ; whose sweet and sensible mention of his excellencies
hath made my heart to burn within me. To think such a friend,
that died at such a time, and such a one at another time ; Oh !
what a number of them could I name ; and that all these are
entered into rest ; and we shall surely go to them, but they shall
not return to us. It is a question with some, whether we shall
know each other in heaven or no. Surely, there shall no
knowledge cease which now we have, but only that which im-
plieth our imperfection ; and what imperfection can this imply ?
" Junius writeth in his life, of a man tliat so esteemed him, that he di^^ged
up a turf of the ground where he stood, and carried it home ; how, then,
should we love the habitation of the saints in light ! By this example you may
see how worshipping of saints, relics, shrines, images, was brought in by
honest zeal (misguided).
EVERLASTING REST. 123
Nay, our present knowledge shall be increased beyond belief.
(2 Cor. V. 16.) It shall indeed be done av/ay, but as the light
of candles and stars is done away, by the rising of the sun; which
is more properly a doing away of our ignorance than of our
knowledge : indeed, we shall not know each other after the
flesh ; nor by stature, voice, colour, complexion, visage, or out-
ward shape. If we had so known Christ, we should know him
no more ; nor by parts and gifts of learning, nor titles of honour
and worldly dignity ; nor by terms of affinity and consanguinity,
nor benefits, nor such relations ; nor by youth or age ; nor, I
think, by sex : but by the image of Christ, and spiritual relation,
and former faithfulness in improving our talents, beyond doubt,
we shall know and be known. Nor is it only our old acquaint-
ance, but all the saints of all ages, whose faces in the flesh we
never saw, whom we shall there both know and comfortably
enjoy. Luther, in his last sickness, being asked his judgment,"
whether we shall know one another in heaven, answered thus,
" Quid accidit Adamo ? Nunquam ille viderat Evam," &c.,
i. e. How was it with Adam ? He had never seen Eve : yet he
asketh not, who she was, or whence she came ; but saith, ' She
is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone.' And how knew he
that ? Why, being full of the Holy Ghost, and indued with the
true knowledge of God, he so pronounced. After the same sort
shall we be renewed by Christ in another life, and we shall know
our parents, wives, children, &c. much more perfectly than
Adam did then know Eve ; yea, and angels as well as saints,
will be our blessed acquaintance and sweet associates. We
have every one now our own angels, then beholding our Father's
face; and those who now are willingly ministering spirits for
our good, will willingly then be our companions in joy for the
perfecting of our good ; and they who had such joy in heaven
for our conversion, will gladly rejoice with us in our glorification.
I think, Christian, this will be a more honourable assembly than
ever you beheld ; and a more happy society than you were ever
of before. Then we shall truly say, as David, " I am a com-
panion of all them that fear thee: when we are come to Mount
Sion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels ; to the general as-
sembly and church of the first-born, which are written in hea-
ven, 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,
° Melch. Adam in vita Luth.
124 THE saint's
and to the blood of sprinkling." (Acts xii. 15 ; Matt, xviii. 10 ;
Luke XV. 10, and xvi. 22; Heb. i. 7, &c., and xii. 22—24;
Psal. cxix. 16.) We are come thither already in respect of
title, and of earnest and first-fruits ; but we shall then come into
the full possession. O beloved, if it be a happiness to live
with the saints in their imperfection, when they have sin to im-
bitter, as well as holiness to sweeten their society, what will it
be to live with them in their perfection, where saints are wholly
and only saints ; if it be a delight to hear them pray or preach,
what will it be to hear them praise ; if we thought ourselves in
the suburbs of heaven when we heard them set forth the beauty
of our Lord, and speak of the excellencies of his kingdom, what
a day will it be when we shall join with them in praises to our
Lord in and for that kingdom ! Now we have corruption, and
they have corruption ; and we are more apt to set awork each
other's corruption than our graces ; and so lose the benefit of
their company while we do enjoy it, because we know not how
to make use of a saint: but then it will not be so. Now we
spend many an hour which might be profitable, in a dull, silent
looking on each other, or else in vain and common conference ;
but then it will not be so. Now the best do know but in part,
and therefore can instruct and help us but in part ; but then we
shall, with them, make up one perfect man. So then, I conclude,
this is one singular excellency of the rest of heaven, that we are
" fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
(Eph. ii. 19.)
Sect. V. Fifthly, Another excellent property of our rest will be,
that the joys of it are immediately from God. Nor doth this
contradict the former, as 1 have before made plain. Whether
Christ, who is God as well as man, shall be the conveyer of all
from the divine nature to us ; and whether the giving up the
kingdom to the Father do imply the ceasing of the Mediator's
office; or whether he shall he Med'mtorjruitio7iis, as well as
acquisitionis ; are questions which I will not now attempt to
handle. But this is sure : we shall see God face to face, and
stand continually in his presence, and consequently derive our
life and comfort immediately from him. Whether God will
make use of any creatures for our service then ; or, if any, of
what creatures, and what use, is more than I yet know. It
seems that the creature shall have a day of deliverance, and
that into the glorious liberty of the sons of God : (Rom.
viii. 21 :) but whether this before, or at the great and full de-
EVERLASTING REST. 125
liverance, or whether to endure to eternity, or to what parti-
cular employment they shall be continued, are questions yet too
hard for me. When God speaks them plainer, and mine un-
derstanding is made clearer, then 1 may know these : but it is
certain that at least our most and great joys will be immediate,
if not all. Now, we have nothing at all immediately, but at
the second, or third, or fourth, or fifth hand, or how many,
who knows ? From the earth, from man, from sun and moon,
from the influence of the planets, from the ministration of an-
gels, and from the Spirit and Christ ; and, doubtless, the fur-
ther the stream runs from the fountain, the more impure it is.
It gathers some defilement from every unclean channel it
passeth through. Though it savours not, in the hand of angels,
of the imperfection of sinners, yet it doth of the imperfection
of creatures ; and as it comes from man it savours of both.
How quick and piercing is the word in itself! yet many times
it never enters, being managed by a feeble arm. Oh ! what
weight and worth is there in every passage of the blessed Gos-
pel ! enough, one would think, to enter and force the dullest
soul, and wholly possess its thoughts and affections : and yet
how oft doth it fall as water upon a stone ; and how easily can
our hearts sleep out a sermon time ; and much because these
words of life do die in the delivery, and the fruit of our con-
ception is almost still-born \^ Our people's spirits remain con-
gealed, while we who are intrusted with the word that should
melt them, do suffer it to freeze between our lips. We speak,
indeed, of soul-concerning truths, and set before them life and
death ; but it is with such self-seeking affectation, and in such
a lazy, formal, customary strain, like the pace the Spaniard
rides, that the people little think we are in good sadness, or that
our hearts do mean as our tongues do speak. I have heard of
some tongues that can lick a coal of fire till it be cold. I fear
these tongues are in most of our mouths, and that the breath
that is given us to blow up this fire, till it flame in our people's
P Quanquam enim sistendo in gradu nature ; creatura rationalis praser-
tim, habeat ordinem ad Deura ; possitque ilium et nosse, et ainare ; noii nisi
tamen in creaturis id potest. Amat Deum ; sed quern cognoscit, et ut ilii per
lumen naturae proponitur; cognoscit autem ilium duntaxat in creaturis ; turn
in seipso turn in aliis. At in ordine gratiae, novit Deum ut in se est, et illi
immediate et non per creaturas uuitur ; unde procedit ejus immohilitas sive
immutabilitas, et beata aeternitas quam perfectam et integram habet in statu
gloriie : cum aiioqui creatura; omues in proj)ria quoque specie proprioque or-
dine sint mobiles possuntque deficeie, &ic. — Gibituf. lib, 2. de Libert. Dti,
cap. 27. sect. ii. p. 487.
126 THE saint's
souls, is rather used to blow it out. Such preaching is it that
hath brought the most to hear sermons, as they say their creed
and pater-nosters, even as a few good words of course. How
many a cold and mean sermon that yet contains most precious
truths! The things of God which we handle are divine ; but
our manner of handling too human : and there is little or
none that ever we touch, but will leive the print of our fingers
behind us ; but if God should speak this word himself, it would
be a piercing, melting word indeed. How full of comfort are
the Gospel promises ! yet do we oft so heartlessly declare them,
that the broken, bleeding-hearted saints, are much debarred of
their joys. Christ is indeed a precious pearl, but oft held forth
in leprous hands : and thus do we disgrace the riches of the
Gospel, when it is the work of our calling to make it honourable
in the eyes of men ; and we dim the glory of that jewel by our
dull and low expressions, and dunghill conversations, whose
lustre we do pretend to discover, while the hearers judge of
it by our expressions, and not its genuine proper worth. The
truth is, the best of men do but apprehend but little of what
God, in his word, expresseth, and what they do apprehend they
are unable to utter. Human language is iiot so copious as the
heart's conceivings are ; and what we possibly might declare, yet
through our own unbelief, stupidity, laziness, and other corrup-
tions, we usually fail in ; and what we do declare, yet the dark-
ness of our people's understandings, and the sad senselessness
of their hearts, do usually shut out and make void. So that
as all the works of God are perfect in their season, as he is per-
fect; so are all the works of man, as himself, imperfect: and
those which God performeth by the hand of man, will too
much savour of the instrument. If an angel from heaven should
preach the Gospel, yet could he not deliver it according to its
glorv; much less we, who never saw what they have seen, and
keep this treasure in earthen vessels. The comforts that flow
through sermons, through sacraments, through reading, and com-
pany, and conference, and creatures, are but half comforts ; and
the life that comes by these is but half a life, in comparison of
those which the Almighty shall speak with his own mouth, and
reach forth to us with his own hand. The Christian knows by
experience, now, that his most immediate joys are his sweetest
joys : those which have least of man, and are most directly
from the Spirit. That is one reason, as I conceive, why Christ-
ians who are much in secret prayer, and in meditation and
EVERLASTING REST. 127
ontcmplation, rather than they who are more in hearing, read-
ng, and conference, are men of greatest life and joy, because
they are nearer the well-head, and have all more immediately
from God himself: and that I conceive the reason also, why we
are more indisposed to those secret duties, and can more easily
bring our hearts to hear, and read, and confer, than to secret
prayer, self-examination, and meditation, because in the former
is more of man ; and in these we approach the Lord alone, and
our natures draw back from' the most spiritual and fruitful duties :
not that we should therefore cast off the other, and neglect any
ordinance of God. To live above them, while we use them, is
the way of a Christian : but to live above ordinances, as to live
without them, is to live without the compass of the Gospel lines,
and so without the government of Christ. Let such beware, lest
while they would be higher than Christians, they prove in the
end lower than men. We are not yet come to the time and
state where we shall have all from God's immediate hand. As
God hath made all creatures, and instituted all ordinances for
us, so will he continue our need of all. We must yet be con-
tented with love-tokens from him, till we come to receive our
all in him. We must be thankful if Joseph sustain our lives,
by relieving us in our famine with his provisions, till we come to
see his own face. There is joy in these remote receivings, but
the fulness is in his own presence. O, Christians ! you will
then know the difference betwixt the creature and the -Creator,
and the content that each of them affords. We shall then have
light without a candle, and a perpetual day without the sun ;
" for the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to shine in it ; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the
Lamb is the light thereof:" (Rev. xxi. 23:) nay, there shall be
no night there, and they need no candle, nor light of the
sun ; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign
for ever and ever." (Rev. xxii. 5.) We shall then have rest
without sleep, and be kept from cold without our clothing, and
need no fig-leaves to hide our shame: for God will be our rest,
and Christ our clothing, and shame and sin will cease together.
We shall then have health without physic, and strength Avithout
the use of food ; for the Lord God will be our strength, and the
light of his countenance will be health to our souls, and marrow to
our bones. We shall then, and never till then, have enlight-
ened understandings without Scripture, and be governed without
a written law : for the Lord will perfect his law in our hearts,
128 THE saint's
and we shall be all perfectly taught of God. His own will shall
be our law, and his own face shall be our light for ever. Then
shall we have joy, which we drew not from the promises, nor
was fetched us home by faith or hope. Beholding and possess-
ing will exclude the most of these. We shall then have com-
munion without sacraments, when Christ shall drink with us of
the fruit of the vine new, that is, refresh us with the comforting
wine of immediate fruition, in the kingdom of his Father. To
have necessities and no supply, is the case of them in hell; to have
necessity supplied by the means of creatures, is the case of us on
earth; to have necessity supplied immediately from God, is the case
of the saints in heaven; to have no necessity at all, is the preroga-
tive of God himself. The more of God is seen and received with,
and by the means, and creature here, the nearer is our state like
that in glory. In a word, we have now our mercies, as Benjamin
had Joseph's cup ; (Gen. xliv. 1 2 ;) we find them at a distance from
God, and scarcely know from whence they come, and understand
not the good-will intended in them, but are oft ready to fear
they come in wrath, and think they will but work our ruin.
But when we shall feed at Joseph's own house, yea, receive our
portion from his own hand ; when he shall fully unbowel his
love unto us, and take us to dwell in Goshen by him ; when we
shall live in our Father's house and presence, and " God shall
be all and in all ;" then we are, indeed, at home in rest.
Sect. VI. Sixthly, Again, a further excellency is this : it will be
unto us a seasonable rest. He that expecteth the fruit of this
vineyard in season, and maketh his people as trees planted by the
waters, fruitful in their season, he will also give them the crown
in season. He that will have the words of joy spoken to the
weary in season, will sure cause that time of joy to appear in
the meetest season. And they who knew the season of grace,
and did repent and believe in season, shall also, if they faint
not, reap in season. (Mark xii. 1 ; Luke xx. 10; Psal. i. 3 ;
Isa. I. 4 ; Gal. vi. 9.) If God will not miss the season of com-
mon mercies, even to his enemies, but " will give both the
former and the latter rain in their season, and the appointed
weeks of the harvest in its season," (Jer. v. 24, and xxxiii. 20,)
and by an inviolable covenant hath established day and night in
their seasons ; then, sure, the harvest of the saints and their
day of gladness shall not miss its season. Doubtless, he that
would not stay a day longer than his promise, but brought Israel
out of Egypt that self-same day that the four hundred and
EVERLASTING REST. 129
thirty years were expired ; neither will he fail of one day or
hour of the fittest season for his people's glory. (Exod. xii. 40,
41 ; Jer. viii. 70 And as Christ failed not to come in the ful-
ness of time, even then when Daniel and others had foretold
his coming; so in the fulness and fitness of time will his second
coming be. He that hath given the stork, the crane, the swal-
low, to know their appointed time, will surely keep his time ap-
pointed. When we have had in this world a long night of sad
darkness, will not the day breaking and the rising of the Sun
of Righteousness be then seasonable ? When we have endured
a hard winter in this cold climate, will not the reviving spring be
then seasonable ? When we have (as St. Paul, Acts xxvii. 7, 9)
sailed slowly many days, and much time spent, and sailing now
grown more dangerous ; and when neither sun, nor stars, in
many days appear, and no sm.all tempest lieth on us, and all
hope that we shall be saved is almost taken away, do you think
that the haven of rest is not then seasonable ? When we have
passed a long and tedious journey, and that through no small
dangers, is not home then seasonable ? When we have had a
long and perilous war, and have lived in the midst of furious
enemies, and have been forced to stand on a perpetual watch,
and received from them many a wound, would not a peace with
victory, be now seasonable ? When we have been captivated
in many years' imprisonment, and insulted over by scornful foes,
and suffered many pinching wants, and hardly enjoyed bare
necessaries, would not a full deliverance to a most plentiful
state, even from this prison to a throne, be now seasonable ?
Surely, a man would think, who looks upon the face of the
world, that rest should to all men seem seasonable. Some of
us are languishing under continual weakness, and groaning
under most grievous pains, crying, in the morning, * Would God
it were evening !' and, in the evening, ' Would God it were
morning!' weary of going, weary of sitting, weary of standing,
weary of lying, weary of eating, of speaking, of walking,
weary of our very friends, weary of ourselves. Oh ! how oft
hath this been mine own case : and is not rest vet seasonable ?
Some are complaining under the pressure of the times; weary
of their taxes, weary of their quartering, weary of plunder-
ings, weary of their fears and dangers, weary of their poverty
and wants, and is not rest yet seasonable ? Whither can you go,
or into what company can you come, where the voice of com-
plaining doth not show, that men live in a continual weariness,
VOL. XX [r. K
130 THE saint's
but especially the saints, who are most weary of that which the
world cannot feel ? What godly society almost can you fall
into, but you shall hear by their moans that somewhat aileth
them ? Some weary of a blind mind, doubting concerning the
way they walk in, unsettled in almost all their thoughts ; some
weary of a hard heart, some of a proud, some of a passionate,
and some of all these, and much more : some weary of their
daily doubtings, and fear concerning their spiritual estate ; and
some of the want of spiritual joys, and some of the sense of
God's wrath ; and is not rest now seasonable ? When a poor
Christian hath desired, and prayed, and waited for deliverance
many a year, is it not then seasonable ? When he is ready
almost to give up, and saith, ' I am afraid I shall not reach the
end, and that my faith and patience will scarce hold out ; is not
this a fit season for rest ? If it were to Joseph a seasonable
message, which called him from the prison to Pharaoh's court j
or if the return of his Benjamin, the tidings that Joseph was
yet alive, and the sight of the chariots which should convey
him to Egypt, were seasonable for the reviving of Jacob's spi-
rits ; then, methinks, the message for a release from the flesh,
and our convoy to Christ, should be a seasonable and welcome
message. If the voice of the king were seasonable to Daniel,
(Dan, vi. 19, &c.,) early in the morning calling him from his
den, that he might advance him to more than former dignity,
then methinks that morning voice of Christ our King, calling us
from our terrors among lions, to possess his rest among his
saints, should be to us a very seasonable voice, W^ill not Ca-
naan be seasonable after so many years' travel, and that through
a hazardous and grievous wilderness ? Indeed, to the world it
is never in season. They are already at their own home, and
have what they most desire. They are not weary of their pre-
sent state. The saints' sorrow is their joy, and the saints' wea-
riness is their rest : their weary day is coming, where there is
ao more expectation of rest, but for the thirsty soul to enjoy
the fountain, and the hungry to be filled with the bread of life,
and the naked to be clothed from above, for the children to
come to their Father's house, and the disjoined member to be
conjoined with their Head. Methinks this should be seldom
unseasonable. When the atheistical world began to insult, and
question the truth of Scripture promises, and ask us, ' Where is
now your God ? Where is your long-looked-for glory ? Where
is the promise of your Lord's coming?' O, how seasonable.
EVERLASTING REST. 131
then, to convince these unbelievers, to silence these scoffers, to
comfort the dejected,waiting believer, will the appearing of our
Lord be ! We are oft grudging now that we have not a greater
share of comforts; that our deliverances are not more speedy and
eminent; that the world prospers more than we; that our
prayers are not presently answered, not considering that our
portion is kept to a fitter season ; that these are not always win-
ter fruits, but when summer comes we shall have our harvest.
We grudge that we do not find a Canaan in the wilderness,
or cities of rest in Noah's ark, and the songs of Sion in a
strange land ; that we have not a harbour in the main ocean, or
find not our home in the middle way, and are not crowned in
the midst of the fight, and have not our rest in the heat of the
day, and have not our inheritance before we are at age, and have
not heaven before we leave the earth; and would not all this be
very unseasonable ?
I confess, in regard of the church's service, the removing of
the saints may sometimes appear to us unseasonable; therefore,
doth God use it as a judgment, and therefore the church had
ever prayed hard before they would part with them, and greatly
laid to heart their loss ; therefore are the great mournings at the
saints' departures, and the sad hearts that accompany them to
their graves; but this is not especially for the departed, but for
themselves and their children, as Christ bid the weeping woman ;
therefore, also, it is, that the saints, in danger of death, have
often begged for their lives, with that argument, " What profit
is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit ?" (Psal. xxx. 9.)
"Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise
and praise thee? Shall thy loving- kindness be declared in the
grave ; or thy faithfulness in destruction ? Shall thy wonders
be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of for-
getfulness ? " (Psal. Ixxxviii, 10.) " For in death there is no re-
membrance of thee ; in the grave who shall give thee thanks ?"
(Psal. vi. 5.) And this it was that brought Paul to a strait,
because he knew it was better for the church that he should re-
main here. I must confess, it is one of niy saddest thoughts, to
reckon up the useful instruments, whom God hath lately called
out of his vineyard, when the loiterers are many, and the harvest
great, and very many congregations desolate, and the people
as sheep without sheplierds ; and yet the labourers called
from their work, especially wlien a door of liberty and oppor-
tunity is open; we cannot but lament so sore a judgment, and
K 2
132 THE saint's
think the removal, in regard of the church, unseasonable. I know
1 speak but your own thoughts ; and you are too ready to over-
run me in application, 1 1 fear you are too sensible of what I
speak, and, therefore, am loath to stir you in your sore. I per-
ceive you are in the posture of the Ephesian elders, and had ra-
ther abate the violence of your passions ; our applications are
quicker about our sufferings, than our sins : and we will more
quickly say, this loss is mine, than, this fault is mine. But, O
consider my dear friends, hath God any need of such a worm as
I ? Cannot he a thousand ways supply your wants ? You know
when your case was worse, and yet he provided ; hath he work
to do, and will he not find instruments ? And though you see
not for the present where they should be had, they are never the
further off for that. Where was the world before the creation ;
and where was the promised seed, when Isaac lay on the altar ?
Where was the land of promise, when Israel's burden was in-
creased ; or, when all the old stock, save two, were consumed
in the wilderness ? Where was David's kingdom when he was
hunted in the wilderness ; or, the glory of Christ's kingdom,
when he was in the grave ; or, when he first sent his twelve
apostles ? How suddenly did the number of labourers increase
immediately upon the reformation by Luther ; and how soon
were the rooms of those filled up, whom the rage of the papists
had sacrificed in the flames ! Have you not lately seen so
many difficulties overcome, and so many improbable works ac-
complished, that might silence unbelief, one would think, for
ever ? But if all this do not quiet you, for sorrow and discon-
tent are unruly passions, yet at least remember this ; suppose
the worst you fear should happen, yet shall it be well with all
the saints ; your own turns will shortly come ; and we shall be
housed with Christ together, where you will want your ministers
and friends no more. And, for the poor world, which is left be-
hind, whose unregenerate state causeth your grief; why, con-
sider, shall man pretend to be more merciful than God ? Hath
1 These words were written by the author to his friends and congregation,
who could then discern no probability of his much longer surviving, and upon
the late death of some very useful ministers. Postea enim affectione liy-
pochondriaca iniiumerabilibus fere siipata symptomatibus per ainios 14. labo-
rasset, cum in longam tandem et inexpuguabiletn inciderat del)i]itatem et
contabescentiani, et demum in narium hjeniorrliagiam, ad lib. 8. et iiide in
atrophiani, pro deplorato a medicis peritissimis relictus est. In qua tanieu
atrophia in>nien=a Dei bonitate debilis adhue supervivit; raodis etiam postea
mirabilibui ex orci faucibus saepius ereptus.
EVERLASTING BEST. 133
not he more interest than we, both in the church and in the
world ; and more bowels of compassion to commiserate their
distress ? There is a season for judgment as well as for mercy;
and if he will have the most of men to perish for their sins, and
to suffer the eternal tormenting flames, must we question his
goodness, or manifest our dislike of the severity of his judgment ?
I confess we cannot but bleed over our desolate congregations j
and that it ill beseems us to make light of God's indignation ;
but yet we should, as Aaron when his sons were slain, (Lev. x. 3,)
hold our peace, and be silent, because it is the Lord's doing ;
and say, as David, " If I (and his people) shall find favour in the
eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me them,
and his habitations ; but if he thus say, I have no delight in
thee ; behold, here am I, let him do with me as seemeth good
unto him." (Psal. xxxix. 9; 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26.) I conclude,
then, that whatsoever it is to those that are left behind ; yet the
saints' departure, to themselves, is usually seasonable. I say
usually, because I know a very saint may have a death'' in some
respect unseasonable, though it do translate him into this rest.
He may die in judgment, as good Josiah ; (2 Chron. xxxv. 24;)
he may die for his sin. For the abuse of the sacrament many
were weak and sickly, and many fallen asleep, even of those who
were thus judged and chastened by God, that they might not be
condemned with the world. He may die by the hand of public
justice; or die in a way of public scandal. He may die in a
weak degree of grace, and consequently have less degree of
glory. (Luke xix. 17 — 19.) He may die in smaller improve-
ments of his talents, and so be ruler of but few cities. The best
wheat may be cut down before it is ripe ; therefore it is promised
to the righteous, as a blessing, " that they shall be brought
as a shock of corn into the barn in season." (Job v. 26.) Nay
it is possible he may die by his own hands; though some divines
think such doctrine not fit to be taught, lest it encourage the
tempted to commit the same sin f but God hath left preservatives
enough against sin, without our devising more of our own ;
neither hath he need of our lie to his glory. He hath fixed that
principle so deep in nature, that all should endeavour their own
preservation, that 1 never knew any whose understanding was
not crazed or lost, much subject to that sin ; even most of the
melancholy are more fearful to die than other men. And this
terror is preservative enough of that kind ; that such commit-
Secundum quid. >* Mr. Capel * Of Tempt.'
134 THE saint's
ting of a heinous known sin, is a sad sign, where there is the free
use of reason ; that, therefore, they make their salvation more
questionable; that they die most woful scandals to the church:
that, however, the sin itself should make the godly to abhor it,
were there no such danger or scandal attending it, &e. But to
exclude from salvation all those poor creatures, who in fevers,
frenzies, madness, melancholy, &c., shall commit this sin, is a
•way of prevention, which Scripture teacheth not, and too uncom-
fortable to the friends of the deceased. The common argument
which they urge, drawn from the necessity of a particular re-
pentance, for every particular known sin; as it is not universally
true, so were it granted, it would exclude from salvation all men
breathing ; for there was never any man, save Christ, who died
not in some particular sin, either of commission or omission,
great or small, which he hath no more time to repent of, than
the sinner in question : but yet, this may well be called un-
timely death :' but in the ordinary course of God's dealing, you
may easily observe, that he purposely maketh his people's last
hour in this life, to be of all other to the flesh most bitter, and
to the spirit most sweet ; and that they who feared death through
the most of their lives, yet at last are more willing of it than ever,
and all to make their rest more seasonable. Bread and drink
are always good ; but at such a time as Samaria's siege, to have
plenty of food instead of doves' dung, in one night's space ; or
in such a thirst, as Ishmael's or Sampson's, to have a supply of
water by miracle in a moment, these are seasonable. So this
rest is always good to the saints, and usually also is most season-
able rest.
Sect. VII. Seventhly : A further excellency of this rest is this ;
as it will be seasonable, so a suitable rest : suited, 1. To the
natures. 2. To the desires. 3. To the necessity of the saints.
1 . To their natures. If suitableness concur not with excellency,
the best things may be bad to us; for it is not that which makes
things good in themselves, to be good to us. In our choice of
friends, we often pass by the more excellent, to choose the more
suitable. Every good agrees not with every nature. To live in
a free and open air, under the warming rays of the sun, is excel-
lent to man, because suitable : but the fish, which is of another
nature, doth rather choose another element ; and that which is
to us so excellent, would quickly be to it destructive. The
choicest dainties which we feed upon ourselves, would be to our
' Secundum quid.
EVERLASTING REST. 135
beasts, as an unpleasing, so an insufficient sustenance. The
iron which the ostrich well digests, would be but hard food for
man ; even among men, contrary appetites delight in contrary
objects. You know the proverb, " One man's meat, is another
man's poison." Now, here is suitableness and excellency con-
joined. The new nature of saints doth suit their spirits to this
rest ; and indeed their holiness is nothing else but a spark taken
from this element, and by the spirit of Christ kindled in their
hearts, the flame whereof, as mindful of his own divine original,
doth ever mount the soul aloft, and tend to the place from
whence it comes. It worketh towards its own centre, and
makes us restless, till there we rest. Gold and earthly glory,
temporal crowns and kingdoms, could not make a rest for saints.
As they were not redeemed with so low a price, so neither are
they endued with so low a nature. These might be a portion
for lower spirits, and fit those whose nature they suit with j but
so they cannot a saint-like nature. (1 Pet. i. 18, 23.) As God
will have from them a spiritual worship, suitable to his own
spiritual being, so will he provide them a spiritual rest, suitable
to his people's spiritual nature. As spirits have not fleshly
substances, so neither delight they in fleshly pleasures : these are
too gross and vile for them. When carnal persons think of
heaven, their conceivings'^^ of it are also carnal; and their notions
answerable to their own natures. And were it possible for such
to enjoy it, it would surely be their trouble, and not their rest,
because so contrary to their dispositions. A heaven of good
fellowship, of wine and wantonness, of gluttony and all volup-
tuousness, would far better please them, as being most agreeing
to their natures. But a heaven of the knowledge of God, and
his Christ ; and a delightful complacency in that mutual love,
and everlasting rejoicing in the fruition of our God, a perpetual
singing of his high praises : this is a heaven for a saint, a spiritual
rest, suitable to a spiritual nature. Then, dear friends, we shall
live in our element. We are now as the fish in some small ves-
sel of water, that hath only so much as will keep him alive ; but
what is that to the full ocean ? We have a little air let in to us,
to afford us breathing ; but what is that to the sweet atid 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.
Oh ! blessed be that hand which fetched a coal, and kindled a
fire in our dead hearts, from that same altar, where we must
136 THE SA1NT*S
offer our sacrifice everlastiiiglv. To be locked up in gold, and in
pearl, would be but a wealthy starving; to have our tables with
plate and ornaments richly furnished without meat, is but to be
richly famished ; to be lifted up with human applause, is but a
very airy felicity ; to be advanced to the sovereignty of all the
earth, would be but to wear a crown of thorns; to be filled with
the knowledge of arts and sciences, would be but to further the
conviction of our unhappiness; but to have a nature like God's
very image, holy as he is holy ; and to have God himself to be our
happiness, how well do these agree? Whether that in 2 Pet. i. 4
be meant, as is commonly understood, of our own inherent re-
newed nature, figuratively called divine, or rather of Christ's
divine nature without us, properly so called, whereof we are also
relatively made partakers, I know not ; biit certainly were not
our own in some sort divine, the enjoyment of the true divine
nature could not be to us a suitable rest.
2. It is suitable also to the desires of the saints : for, such as
their nature, such be their desires ; and such as their desires, such
will be their rest. Indeed, we have now a mixed nature ; and
from contrary principles, do arise contrary desires : as they are
flesh, thev have desires of flesh ; and as they are sinful, so they
have sinful desires. Perhaps they could be too willing, whilst
these are stirring, to have delights, an«l riches, and honour, and
sin itself. But these are not prevaling desires, nor such as in
their deliberate choice they will stand to; therefore is it not they,
but sin and flesh. These are not the desires that this rest is
suited to, for they will not accompany them to their rest. To
provide contents to satisfy these, were to provide food for them
that are dead. " For they that are in Christ, have crucified the
flesh, with the aflfections and lusts thereof." (Gal. v. 25.) But
it is the desires of our renewed natures, and those which the
Christian will ordinarily own, which this rest is suited to.
Whilst our desires remain corrupted and misguided, it is a far
greater mercy to deny them, yea, to destroy them, than to satisfy
them ; but those which are spiritual, are of his own planting,
and he will surely water them, and give the increase. Is it so
great a work to raise them in us ; and shall they after all this
vanish and fail ? To send the word and Spirit, mercies and
judgments, to raise the sinner's desires from the creature to God,
and then to suifer them so raised, all to perish without success;
ibis were to multiply the creature's misery ; and then were
the work of sanctification, a designed preparative to our
EVERLASTING REST. 137
torment and tantalizing, but no way conducihle to our happy
rest. He quickened our hungering and thirst for righteousness,
that he might make us happy in a full satisfaction. Christian,
this is a rest after thy own heart ; it containeth all that thy
heart can wish; that which thou longest for, prayest for, labour-
est for, there thou shall find it all. Thou hadst rather have God
in Christ, than all the world ; why there thou shalt have him.
Oh ! what wouldst thou not give for assurance of his love ?
Why, there thou shalt have assurance bevond suspicion : nay,
thy desires cannot now extend to the height of what thou shalt
there obtain. Was it not a high favour of God to Solomon,
to promise to give him whatsoever he would ask ? Why, every
Christian hath such a promise. Desire what thou canst, and
ask what thou wilt as a Christian, and it shall be given thee ; not
only to half of the kingdom, but to the enjoyment both of
kingdom and king. This is a life of desire and prayer ; but
that is a life of satisfaction and enjoyment. Oh ! therefore, that
we were but so wise, as to limit those which we know should
not be satisfied ; and those which we know not whether
or no they will be satisfied; and especially those which we
know should not be satisfied ; and to keep up continually in
heart and life, those desires which we are sure shall have full
satisfaction. And, oh ! that sinners would also consider, that see-
ing God will not give them a felicity suitable to their sensual
desires, it is, therefore, their wisdom to endeavour for desires
suitable to the true felicity, and to direct their ship to the right
harbour, seeing they cannot bring the harbour to their ship.
3. This rest is very suitable to the saints' necessities also, as
well as to their natures and desires. It contains whatsoever
they truly wanted ; not supplying them with the gross-created
comforts which now they are forced to make use of, which, like
Saul's armour on David, are more burden than benefit. But
they shall there have the benefit without the burden ; and the
pure spirits extracted, as it were, shall make up their cordial,
without the mixture of any drossy or earthly substance. It was
Christ, and perfected holiness, which they most needed, and
with these shall they here be principally supplied : their other
necessities are far better removed than supplied in the present
carnal way. It is better to have no need of meat, and drink,
and clothing, and creatures, than to have both the need and the
creature continued : their plaster will be fitted to the quality of
their sore. The rain which Elias's prayer procured was not
more seasonable, after the three years'" drought, than this rest
138 THE saint's
will be to this thirsty soul. It will be with us as with the dis-
eased man, who had lain at the waters, and continued diseased
thirty-eight years, when Christ did fully cure him in a moment;
or with the woman, who, having had the issue of blood, and
spent all she had upon physicians, and suffered the space of
twelve years, was healed by one touch of Christ. (Luke viii. 43 ;
Mark v. 25.) So, when we have lain at ordinances, and duties,
and creatures, all our lifetime, and spent all, and suffered much,
we shall have all done by Christ in a moment : but we shall see
more of this under the next head.
Sect. Vlll. Eighthly : Another excellency of our rest will be
this, that it will be absolutely perfect and complete ; and this
both in the sincerity and universality of it. We shall then have
joy without sorrow, and rest without weariness : as there is no
mixture of our corruption with our graces, so no mixture of
sufferings with our solace. There are none of those waves in that
harbour, which now so toss us up and down : we are now some-
times at the gates of heaven, and presently almost as low as
hell; we wonder at those changes of Providence towards us,
being scarcely two days together in a like condition. To-day
we are well, and conclude the bitterness of death is past ; to-
morrow sick, and conclude we shall shortly perish by our dis-
tempers ; to-day in esteem, to-morrow in disgrace ; to-day we
have friends, to-morrow none ; to-day in gladness, to-morrow in
sadness : nay, we have wine and vinegar in the same cup, and
our pleasantest food hath a taste of the gall. If revelations
should raise us to the third heaven, (I Cor. xii. 7,) the mes-
senger of Satan must presently buffet us, and the prick in the
flesh will fetch us down ; but there is none of this inconstancy,
nor mixtures, in heaven. If perfect love cast out fear, then
perfect joy must needs cast out sorrow ; (I John iv, 18 ;) and
perfect happiness exclude all the relics of misery. There will
be a universal perfecting of all our parts and powers, and a
universal removal of all our evils : and though the positive part
be the sweetest, and that which draws the other after it, even as
the rising of the sun excludes the darkness ; yet is not the
negative part to be slighted, even our freedom, from so many
and great calamities. Let us, therefore, look over these more
punctually, and see what it is that we shall there rest from. In
general, it is from all evil. Particularly, first, from the evil of
sin ; secondly, and of suffering.
First : It excludeth nothing more directly than sin ; whether
original, and of nature 3 or actual, and of conversation : for there
EVERLASTrNG REST. 139
entereth nothing that defileth, nor that vvorketh ahomination,
nor that maketh a he. (Rev. xxi. 27.) When they are there,
the saints are saints indeed. He that will wash them with his
heart-blood, rather than suffer them to enter unclean, will now
perfectly see to that; he who hath undertaken to present them
to his Father, " not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but perfectly holy, and without blemish, will now most certainly
perform his undertaking.'"' (Ephes. v. 27.) What need Christ
at all to have died, if heaven could have contained imperfect
souls ? " For to this end came he into the world, that he might
put away the works of the devil." (1 John iii. 8.) His blood
and Spirit have not done all this, to leave us, after all, defiled.
" For what communion hath light with darkness ; and what
fellowship hath Christ with Belial ? " (2 Cor. vi. 14.) He that
hath prepared for sin the torments of hell, will never admit it
into the blessedness of heaven ; therefore. Christian, never fear
this : if thou be once in heaven, thou shalt sin no more. Is not
this glad news to thee, who hast prayed, and watched, and la-
boured against it so long. I know if it were offered to thy choice,
thou wouldst rather choose to be freed from sin than to be made
heir of all the world. Why, wait till then, and thou shalt have thy
desire : that hard heart, those vile thoughts, which did lie down
and rise with thee, which did accompany thee to every duty,
which thou couldst no more leave behind thee than leave thyself
behind thee, shall be now left behind for ever. They might ac-
company thee to death, but they cannot proceed a step further.
Thy understanding shall never more be troubled with darkness :
ignorance and error are inconsistent with this light. Now thou
walkest like a man in the twilight, ever afraid of being out of
the way; thou seest so many religions in the world, that thou
fearest thy own cannot be only the right among all these ; ^
" "If a man should defer his study of any art or science till the writers thereof
did fully and unitedly consent, it would be as vain a thing, as if a man did
purpose his journey from London to York, but should make a vow not to set
forward till all the clocks in London strike together." — Fulbeck's Directions
to study the Law, pp. 2, 6. The writers in all sciences differ, not from the
uncertainty of the sciences, but their own imperfection; yea, in history,
which reporteth matter of fact, Livy against Polybius, Plutarch against Livy,
Sigonius against Plutarch, Zamphilius against Dio, whom he inter[)reteth
and abridgeth. Non est litigiosi juris scientia sed ignorantia. — Cic. de Fini-
bus, lib. 2. " The best and most grave man will confess, that he is ignorant of
many things," saithCic.Tuscul. 3. Solon was not ashamed to say, " that in his
old age he was a learner ;" and Julianus the lawyer said, " that when he had
one foot in the grave, yet he would have the other in the school." Arrogantius
140 THE saint's
thou seest the vScripture so exceeding difficult, and every one
pleading for his own cause, and bringing such specious argu-
ments for so contrary opinions, that it entangleth thee in a
labyrinth of perplexities ; thou seest so many godly men on this
side, and so many on that, and each zealous for his own way,
that thou art amazed, not knowing which way to take : and
thus do doublings and fears accompany darkness, and we are
ready to stumble at every thing in our way ; but then will all
this darkness be dispelled, and our blind understandings fully
opened, and we shall have no more doubts of our way. We
shall know which was the right side, and which the wrong ;
which was the truth, and which the error. Oh! what would we
give to know, clearly, all the profound mysteries in the doctrine
of decree, of redemption, of justification, of the nature of grace,
of the covenants, of the divine attributes, &c. ; what would we
not give to see all dark scriptures made plain, to see all seeming
contradictions reconciled ! Why, when glory hath taken the
veil from our eyes, all this Avill be known in a moment ; we shall
then see clearly into all the controversies about doctrine or dis-
cipline that now perplex us. The poorest Christian is presently
there a more perfect divine than any is here. We are now,
through our ignorance, subject to such mutability, that, in points
not fundamental, we change as the moon ; that is cast as a just
reproach upon us, that we possess our religion with reserves, and
resolvedly settle upon almost nothing ; that we are to-day of one
opinion, and within this week, or month, or year, of another ;
and yet, alas 1 we cannot help it. The reproach may fall upon
all mankind, as long as we have need of daily growth. Would
they have us believe before we understand ; or say, ' We believe,'
when indeed we do not ? Shall we profess ourselves resolved
before we ever thoroughly studied; or say, 'We are certain' when
we are conscious that we are not ? But when once our igno-
loquor quam verius, si vel nunc dico me ad perfectionem sine ullo errore scri-
bendi jam in istaaetate venisse. — August, de Bono Persever. c.2i. Vide plurima
talia, c. 20, 21, &c. 24, et Prolog. Retr. et contr. Priscil. c. 11. Epist. 7. ad
Marcel, et Proem, lib. 3. de Trin. TuUius inquit (imllum unquam verbum
(juod revocare vellet emisi.) Q^^s laiis etsi praeclarissima videatur, tamen
credebilior est de nimium fatuo quani de sapiente perfecto : nam et illi quos
vulgo moriones vocant, quanto magis a, sensu communi dissonant, magisque
absurdi et insulsi sunt, tanto magis nullum verbum emittunt quod revocare
volint : quia dicti mail, vel stulti, vel incommodi pcEnitere, utique cordatorum
est. De hominibus Dei, qui Spiritu Sancto acti locuti sunt, dici potest. Ab
hac ego excellcntia tam longe absum, ut si nullum verbum quod revocare
vellum protulert), fatuo sim quam sapienti similior. Vide ultra, August.
Epist. 7. ad Marcellinum.
EVERLASTING REST. 14 I
ranee is perfectly healed, then shall we be settled, resolved men;
then shall our reproach be taken from us, and we shall never
change our judgments more; then shall we be clear and certain
in all, and cease to be sceptics any more.'' Our ignorance now
doth lead us into error, to the grief of our more knowing brethren,
to the disturbing of the church's quiet, and interrupting her
desirable, harmonious consent ; to the scandalizing of others,
and weakening ourselves. How many a humble and faithful soul
is seduced into error, and little knows it ! Loth they are to err,
God knows, and therefore read, and pray, and confer, and yet
err still, and confirmed in it more and more : and in lesser and
more difficult points how should it be otherwise ? He that is
acquainted amongst men, and knows the quality of professors
in England, must needs know the generality of them are no
great scholars, nor have much read or studied controversies, nor
are men of the most profound natural parts ; nor have the
ministers of England much preached controversies to them, but
were glad if their hearers were brought to Christ, and got so
much knowledge as might help to salvation, as knowing that to
be their great work. And can it be expected that men, void of
learning, and strength of parts, unstudied and untaught, should,
at the first onset, know those truths, which they are almost in-
capable of knowing at all ; ^ when the greatest divines, of clear-
est judgment, acknowledge so much difficulty that they could
almost find in their hearts sometimes to profess them quite be-
yond their reach ? Except we will allow them to lay aside their
divine faith, and take up a human, and see with other men's
eyes the weight and weakness of arguments, and not with their
own,* it cannot be thought that the most of Christians, no, nor
" Nam incaute cretluli circumveniuntur ab bis quos bonos putaveruiit.
Mox errore consimili jam suspectis omnibus ut improbos metuuut, etiam quos
optimos sentire potuerunt. Nos proiiicle soliciti quod utrinque in oinni ne^otio
disseratur; et ex altera parte plerunque obscura sit Veritas, ex altera lateat
niira subtilitas, quae nonnunquam ubertate dicendi, fidem confessae probatii)nis
imitetur : diligenter quantum potest singula ponderemus, nt arg-utias quidem
laudare, ea vero quas recta sunt eli^ere, probare, suscipere possimus. — Miniit.
Felix. Octav. p. (mibi) .36(5.
y In toto genere disputandi, plerumque pro disserentium viribus et eloquen-
tial potestate, etiam perspicuvK veritatis conditio mutetur. Id accidere perno-
tum est auditorum facilitate, qui dum verborum lenocinio a rerum intentioiii-
bus avocaiitnr, sine delectu assentiuutur diclis omnibus, nee a, rectis falsa
secernuiit, nescieiites inesse et in incredibili verum, et in verisimili nienda-
cium. — Miniit. F<zlix. uln. sup.
'■ Didicimus singulas quasque haere'^es intulisse ecdesiae proprias questio-
nes, contra (juas diligejitius UetV.nderctur scriptura diviua, quam si nulla talis
142 THE saint's
the most of divines, should be free from erring in those difficult
points, where we know they have not headpieces able to reach.
Indeed, if it were the way of the Spirit to teach us miraculously,
as the apostles were taught the knowledge of tongues, without
the intervening use of reason ; or if the Spirit infused the acts
of knowledge, as he doth the immediate knowing power, then
he that had most of the Spirit would not only know best, but
also know most : but we have enough to convince us of the con-
trary to this. But, oh 1 that happy, approaching day, when error
shall vanish away for ever ; when our understanding shall be
filled with God himself, whose light will leave no darkness in
us ! His face shall be the Scripture, where we shall read the
truth ; and himself, instead of teachers and counsels, to perfect
our understandings, and acquaint us with himself, who is the
perfect truth. No more error, no more scandal to others, no
more disquiet to our own spirits, no more mistaking zeal for
falsehood; because our understandings have no more sin. Many
a godly man hath here, in his mistaking zeal, been a means to
deceive and pervert his brethren, and when he sees his own error,
cannot again tell how to undeceive them ; but there we shall all
conspire in one truth, as being one in him who is that truth.
And as we shall rest from all the sin of our understandings, so
of our wills, affection, and conversation.'' We shall no more
retain this rebelling principle, which is still withdrawing us from
God, and addicting us to backsliding. Doubtless, we shall no
more be oppressed with the power of our corruptions, nor vexed
with their presence ; no pride, passion, slothfulness, senseless-
ness, shall enter with us ; no strangeness to God, and the things
of God ; no coldness of affections, nor imperfection in our love ;
no uneven walking, nor grieving of the Spirit ', no scandalous ac-
tion, or unholy conversation : we shall rest from all these for
ever : then shall our understandings receive their light from the
face of God, as the full moon from the open sun, where there is
no earth to interpose betwixt them ; then shall our wills corre-
spond to the divine will, as face answers to face in a glass ; and
necessitas cogeret. — y^ug-. cle Bono Persev. c. 20. IMulta ad fidem catliolicain
pertineotia, duin lia*reticoiuiii callida inquietudiiie exagitautur, ut auversiis
eas defend! possiut, et coiisideraiitur diligeiitius.et iiitelligmitur clariiis, et iii-
siatitins prsJicantur ; etab adversario iiiota quaestio, discendi existit occasio.
— Aug. de Civ. lib. 16. c. 2.
"■ Prima libertas voluntatis erat, posse non ptccare ; novissima eiit, niulto
major, iiuii posse peccare. I'rinia iiuniortalitas crat jiosse iion iiioii : novissi-
ma erit, niuUo major, iion posse mori. — yJug. dc Corrupt, el Crat. c. 9, 11.
EVERLASTING REST. 143
the same, his will, shall be our law and rule, from which we
shall never swerve again. Now our corruptions, as the Anakims,
dismay us ; and, as the Canaanites, in Israel, they are left for
pricks in our sides, and thorns in our eyes ; (Josh.xxiii. 13 j) and
as the bondwoman and her son in Abraham's house, (Gen. xxi.
9,) they do but abuse us, and make our lives a burden to us ;
but then shall the bondwoman and her son be cast out, and
shall not be heirs with us in our rest. As Moses said to Israel,
" Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day,
every one whatsoever is right in his own eyes, for ye are not as
yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your
God giveth you. (Dent. xii. 8, 9.) I conclude, therefore, with
the words next to my text ; " For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from
his." (Heb. iv. 10.) So that there is a perfect rest from sin.
Sect. IX. 2. It is a perfect rest from suffering : when the
cause is gone the effect ceaseth. Our sufferings were but the
consequents of our sinning, and here they both shall cease toge-
ther. I will show particularly ten kinds of suffering, which we
shall there rest from.
1 . We shall rest from all our perplexing doubts and fears ;
it shall no more be said that doubts are like the thistle, a bad
weed, but growing in good ground; they shall now be weeded
out, and trouble the gracious soul no more.'' No more need of
so many sermons, books, and marks, and signs, to resolve the
poor doubting soul : the full fruition of love itself hath now re-
solved his doubts for ever. 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 conversion
• is true, that faith is sincere ? Oh ! I am afraid my sins are un-
pardoned ; oh ! I fear that all is but hypocrisy ; I fear that God
will reject me from his presence ; I doubt he doth not hear my
prayers ; how can he accept so vile a wretch, so hard-hearted,
unkind a sinner, such an undervaluer of Christ as I am ! All
this kind of language is there turned into another tune ; even
into the praises of him who hath forgiven, who hath converted,
who hath accepted, yea, who hath glorified a wretch so unwor-
thy; so that it will now be as impossible to doubt and fear, as
to doubt of the food which is in our bellies, or to fear it is night
when we see the sun shine. If Thomas could doubt with his
finger in the wounds of Christ, yet in heaven I am sure he can-
^ Dr. PrestoH ' Of Effectual Faith,' p. 24.
144 THE saint's
not ; if we could doubt of what we see, or hear, or taste, or
feel, yet 1 am sure we cannot of what we there possess. Surely,
this will be comfort to the sad and drooping souls, whose life
was nothing but a doubting distress, and their language nothing
but a constant complaining. If God would speak peace, it
would ease them, but when he shall possess them of this peace,
they shall rest from all their doubts and fears for ever.
Sect. X. 2. We shall rest from all that sense of God's dis-
pleasure, which was our greatest torment, whether mani-
fested mediately or immediately ; " for he will cause his
fury towards us to rest, and his jealousy to cease, and he
will be angry with us no more." (Ezek. xvi. 42.) Surely,
hell shall not be mixed with heaven. There is the place
for the glorifying of justice, prepared of purpose to mani-
fest wrath, but heaven is only for mercy and love. Job doth
not now use his own language, " Thou writest bitter things
against me, and takest me for thine enemy, and settest me up
as a mark to shoot at," &:c. (Job iii.j xiii. 26 ; xvi. 12 — 14;
and vii. 10.) O, how contrary now to all this! David doth
not now complain, " that the arrows of the Almighty stick in
him : that his wounds stink and are corrupt ; that his sore runs
and ceaseth not ; that his moisture is as the drought of summer;
that there is no soundness in his flesh, because of God's displea-
sure, nor rest in his bones because of sin ; that he is weary of
crying, his throat is dried, his eyes fail in waiting for God ;"
(Psal. xxxviii.;) "that he remembers God, and is troubled;'
that in complaining his spirit is overwhelmed ; that his soul
refuseth to be comforted ; that God's wrath lieth hard upon
him, and that he afflicteth him with all his waves. (Psal. Ixvi.
3.) O, how contrary now are David's songs ! Now he saith :
I spake in my hi;istc, and this was my infirmity." (Psal. Ixxvii.
2, 3.) Here the Christian is often complaining, Oh ! if it were
the wrath of man, 1 could bear it; (Psal. Ixxxviii. 7 ;) but the wrath
of the Almighty, who can bear ? Oh ! that all the world were
mine enemies, so that I were assured that he were my friend !
If it were a stranger, it were nothing ; but that my dearest
friend, my own father, should be so provoked against me, this
wounds my very soul I If it were a creature, I would con-
temn it, but if God be angry who may endure ? If he be
against me, who can be for me ? And if he will cast me down,
who can raise me up ? But, oh ! that l.lessed day when all these
dolorous complaints will be turned into admiring thankfulness;
t(
EVERLASTING REST. 145
and all sense of God's displeasing swallowed up in that ocean
of infinite love ; when sense shall convince us that fury dwelleth
not in God : and though for a little moment he hide his face,
yet with everlasting compassion will he receive and embrace us ;
when he shall say to ISion, " Arise and shine, for thy light is
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." (Isa. Ix. 2.)
Sect. XI. 3, We shall rest from all the temptations of Satan,
whereby he continually disturbs our peace. What a grief is it
to a Christian, though he yield not to the temptation, yet to be
still solicited to deny his Lord : that such a thought should
be cast into his heart : that he can set about nothing that is
good, but Satan is still dissuading him from it, distracting him
in it, or discouraging him after it ! What a torment, as well as
a temptation is it, to have such horrid motions made to his
soul, such blasphemous ideas presented to his fantasy 1 Some-
times cruel thoughts of God, sometimes undervaluing thoughts of
Christ, sometimes unbelieving thoughts of Scripture, sometimes
injurious thoughts of Providence; to be tempted sometimes to
turn to present things, sometimes to play with the baits of sin,
sometimes to venture on the delights of the flesh, and some-
times to flat atheism itself; especially when we know the trea-
chery of our own hearts that they are as tinder or gunpowder,
ready to take fire, as soon as one of these sparks shall fall upon
them.'^ Oh ! bow the poor Christian lives in continual disquiet-
ness, to feel these motions : but more, that his heart should be
the soil for this seed, and the too-fruitful mother of such an off-
spring; and, most of all, through fear, lest they will at last pre-
vail, and these cursed motions should procure his consent. But
here is our comfort ; as we now stand not by our own strength,
and shall not be charged with any of this ; so when the day of
our deliverance comes, we shall fully rest from these tempta-
tions : Satan is then bound up, the time of tempting is then
done : the time of torment to himself, and his conquered cap-
"^ Non nobis certanduin est cum umbra asini, sed cum veris militibus qui eo
magis metuendi suntquo minus videri ilnobis possunt. Possuntenim nosonini
ex parte incaatos et quasi coecos adoriri. Et quales sunt hostes ? Audacia
promplissimi, viribus robustissimi, artibus callidissimi, diligentiaac celeritate
infatigabiles : machinis et armis omnibus munitissimi, puo^nandi scientia ex-
peditissimi; denique tales sunt quibus nihil ad veram militiam deest. — Zan-
chius, tova. 3. lib. 4. de Pugnat. Dcomon. cap. 21. p. 213. I Tim. iii. 7 ; 2 Tim. ii.
26; Ephes. vi. 11. Ratio est, quia Satan et omnes daemones sunt captivi
Christi : victoria igitur carta est electis Dei contra diabolum : non ex ipsis,
ipsorumque viribus; sedexChristo Christique gratia. — Zunch. torn. 3. lib. 4. c.
21. pp.214, 21G.
VOL. XXII. L
146 THE saint's
tives, those deluded souls, is then come, and the victorious saints
shall have triumph for temptation. Now we do walk among
his snares, and are in danger to be circumvented with his me-
thods and wiles ; but then we are quite above his snares, and
out of the hearing of his enticing charms. He hath power
here to tempt us in the wilderness, but he entereth not the holy
city. He may set us on the pinnacle of the temple in the earthly
Jerusalem ; but the new Jerusalem he may not approach. Perhaps
he may bring us to an exceeding high mountain, but the Mount
Sion and city of the living God he cannot ascend : or, if he should,
yet all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, will
be but a poor despised bait to the soul which is possessed with
the kingdom of our Lord and the glory of it. No, no, here is
no more work for Satan now. Hopes he might have of de-
ceiving poor creatures on earth, who lived out of sight, and only
heard and read of a kingdom which they never beheld, and had
only faith to live upon, and were encompassed with flesh, and
drawn aside by sense. But when once they see the glory they
read of, and taste the joys they heard of, and possess that king-
dom which they then believed and hoped for, and have laid aside
their fleshly sense, it is time, then, for Satan to have done : it is in
vain to offer a temptation more. What 1 draw them from that
glory; draw them from the arms of Jesus Christ; draw them
from the sweet praises of God ; draw them from the blessed
society of saints and angels ? draw them from the bosom of
the Father's love, and that to a place of torment among the
damned, which their eyes behold I Why, what charms, what
persuasions, can do it? To entice them from an unknown joy,
and unknown God, were somewhat hopeful ; but now they
have both seen and enjoyed, there is no hope. Surely, it must
be a very strong temptation that must draw a blessed saint from
that rest. We shall have no more need to pray, " Lead us not
into temptation," nor " to watch and pray that we enter not
into temptation;" (Matt. vi. 13, and xxvi. 41;) nor shall we
serve the Lord as Paul did, in " many tears and temptations ;"
(Acts XX. 19 ;) no : but now they who continued with Christ in
temptation, shall by him be appointed to a kingdom, even as his
Father appointed to him, (Rev. iii. 10,) that they may eat and
drink at his table in his kingdom. (Luke xxii. 28 — 30.) "Blessed,
therefore, are they that endure temptation; for when they are
tried, they shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him :" (James i. 12 :) and then they
EVERLASTFNG REST. * 14
T
shall be saved from the hour of temptation. Then the malig-
nant planet Saturn shall be below us, and lose all its influence,
which is now above us exercising its enmity : and Satan must
be suffering, who would have drawn us into suffering, as Bu-
choltzer wittily, "Ubi Saturnus non supra nos, sed infra nos con-
spicietur luens poenas, pro sua in nos seevitia et malitia."
Sect. XII. 4. We shall rest also from all our temptations
which we now undergo from the world and the flesh, as well as
Satan ; and that is a number inexpressible, and a weight, were it
not that we are beholding to supporting grace, utterlv intolera-
ble. Oh ! the hourly dangers that we poor sinners here below
walk in ! Every sense is a snare ; every member a snare ; every
creature a snare ; every mercy a snare ; and every duty a snare
to us. We can scarcely open our eyes, but we are in danger. If
we behold them above us, we are in danger of envy. If we see
sumptuous buildings, pleasant habitations, honour and riches,
we are in danger to be drawn away with covetous desires : if the
rags and beggary of others, we are in danger of self-applauding
thoughts and unmercifulness. If we see beauty, it is a bait to
lust ; if deformity, loathing and disdain. We can scarcely hear
a word spoken, but contains to us matter of temptation. How
soon do slanderous reports, vain jests, wanton speeches, by that
passage, creep into the heart 1 How strong and prevalent a
temptation is our appetite, and how constant and strong a watch
doth it require 1*^ Have we comeliness and beauty ? what fuel
for pride! Are we deformed? what an occasion of repining!
Have we strength of reason, and gifts of learning ? oh ! how hard
it is not to be puffed up ! (2 Cor. xi. 3, and i. 12, &c.) To seek
ourselves ; to hunt after applause ; to despise our brethren ; to
niislike the simplicity that is in Christ, both in the matter and
manner of Scripture, in doctrine, discipline, in worship, and
in the saints ; to aff"ect a pompous, specious, fleshly, service of
<• Of meats and drinks, read Clemens Alexand. Pasdago^. lib. 2. c. 1. excel-
lently; as also C.2 — 4 ejusd. Some men live to eat, as the beasts do, whose belly
is all their life ; but our Master comman<leth us to eat that we may live ; for
nourishment is not our business, nor is flesh-pleasing our aim and purpose :
but our nourishment is for our mansion here, which reason onlereth for incor-
ruptibility hereafter; and therefore we must make choice of food, and it must
be plain or simple, and not such as must have tuo much stir or labour to
prepare it, or is too curious, &c. ; it being; for life, and not for delights and
full provision. And our life consisteth of health and strength; for both which,
nothing is better than a light ayd easy diet, as being most helpful to digestion
and agiliiy of the hody. — Ciem. Alex, Padagog. lib. 2. c. 1. Take heed of
those meats that entice us to eat theui when we are not hungry, beguiling our
appetites by their deceits. — Qem, Alex, ubi sup,
l2
148 THE saint's
God, and to exalt reason above faith. Are we unlearned, and of
shallow heads and slender parts ? how apt, then, to despise
what we have not, and to undervalue that whieh we do not
know; and to err with confidence, because of our ignorance:
and if conceitedness and pride do but strike in, to become a
zealous enemy to truth, and a leading troubler of the church's
peace, under pretences of truth and holiness ! Are we men of
eminency, and in place of authority ? how strong is our tempta-
tion to slight our brethren, to abuse our trust, to seek ourselves,
to stand upon our honour and privileges; to forget ourselves,
our poor brethren, and the public good : how hard to devote
our power to his glory from whom we have received it : how
prone to make our wills our law, and to cut out all the enjoy-
ments of others, both religious and civil, by the cursed rules and
model of our own interest and policy ! Are we inferiors and
subject ? how prone to judge at others' pre-eminence, and to
take liberty to bring all their actions to the bar of our incompe-
tent judgment ; and to censure and slander them, and murmur at
their proceedings I Are we rich and not too much exalted ? Are
we poor and not discontented, and make our worldly necessi-
ties a pretence for the robbing God of all his service ? If we be
sick, oh ! how impatient : if in health, how few and stupid are
our thoughts of eternity! If death be near, we are distracted
with the fears of it : if we think it far off, how careless is our
preparation I Do we set upon duty ? why there are snares too :
either we are stupid and lazy, or rest on them, and turn from
Christ ; or we are customary and notional only. In a word, not
one word that falls from the mouth of a minister and Christian,
but is a snare ; nor a place we come into ; not a word that our
own tongue speaks; not any mercy we possess; nor a bit we put
into our mouths, but they are snares ; not that God hath made
them so, but through our own corruption they become so to us :
so that what a sad case are we poor Christians in, and especially
they that discern them not 1 for it is almost impossible they
should escape them. It was not for nothing that our Lord cries
out, " What 1 say to one, I say to all, Watch." We are like
the lepers at Samaria ; if we go into the city, there is nothing
but famine ; if we sit still, we perish. (Deut. xii. SO, and vii. 25;
Hos. ix. 8; Psal. Ixix. 22; Prov. xx. 25, xxii. 25, and xxix. 6,
25 ; 1 Tim. vi. 9 ; Job viii. 8, 10.
But for ever blessed be omnipotent love, which saves us out
of all these, and makes our straits but the advantages of the
EVERLASTrNG REST. 149
glory of his saving grace. And " blessed be the Lord, who hath
not given our souls for a prey; our soul is escaped as a bird out
of the snare of the fowler ; the snare is broken and we are
escaped." (Psal. cxxiv. 6, 7-) No, our houses, our clothes, our
sleep, our food, our physic, our father, mother, wife, children,
friends, goods, lands, are all so many temptations ; and ourselves,
the greatest snares to ourselves. But in heaven, the danger and
trouble are over; there is nothing but what will advance our joy.
Now every old companion, and every loose fellow, is putting up
the finger, and beckoning us to sin, and we can scarcely tell how
to say them nay. ' What,' say they, ' will not you take a cup ?
Will you not do as your neighbours ? Must you be so precise ?
Do you think none shall be saved but puritans ? What needs all
this strictness, this reading, and praying, and preaching ? Will
you make yourself the scorn of all men ? Come, do as we do,
take your cups, and drink away sorrow.' Oh ! how many a poor
Christian hath been haunted and vexed with these temptations :
and it may be father, or mother, or nearest friends will strike in,
and give a poor Christian no rest : and, alas ! how many, to their
eternal undoing, have hearkened to their seducements ! But this
is our comfort, dear friends, our rest will free us from all these.
As Satan hath no entrance there, so neither any thing to serve
his malice ; but all things shall there, with us, conspire the praises
of our great Deliverer.
Sect. XIII. 5. And as we rest from the temptations, so also
from all abuses and persecutions which we suffer at the hands of
wicked men. We shall be scorned, derided, imprisoned,banished,
butchered, by them no more ; the prayers of the souls under the
altar, will then be answered, and "God will avenge their blood
on these that dwell on the earth." (Rev. vi. 2, 10; 2 Tim. iii.
12.) This is the time for crowning with thorns, buffeting,
spitting on ; that is the time for crowning with glory : (Rom.
viii. 17 '^o^^ ^^^^ ^'^^^' ^s decreed on. That whosoever will live
godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution ; then they that
suffered with him, shall be glorified with him.*^ Now we must be
• Matt. X. 22, and xxiv. 9 ; 2 Thess. i. y, 10 ; John xv. 18—20, xvii. 14, vii.
7, V. 23, and xvii. 22 ; 1 Cor. iv. 9, 13 ; Lam. iii. 45 ; Heb. x. 33 ; Isai. viii.
18 ; Luke vi. 22. Ignatius, E|)ist. ad Roman., calls his condemnation to mar-
tyrdom the punishment of the devil, because his judges were but the devil's
mouth and instruments : fire, the cross, the cruelty of wild beasts, cutting off,
separating, breaking of my bones, renting of my members, destruction of my
whole body, and the punishment of the devil (/cJ/Vacris Tov5iafiu\ov'); let theiu
150 THE saint's
hated of all men for Christ's name-sake, and the Gospel ; then
will Christ be admired in his saints that were thus hated. Now,
because we are not of the world, hut Christ hath taken us out
of the world, therefore doth the world hate us ; then, because
we are not of the world, but taken out of their calamity, there-
fore will the world admire us. Now, as they hated Christ, they
will also hate us ; then, as they will honour Christ, so will they
also honour us. We are here as the scorn and offscouring of all
things ; as men set up for a gazing-stock to angels and men,
even for signs and wonders amongst professing Christians; they
put us out of their synagogues, and cast out our name as evil,
and separate us from their company : but we shall then be as
much gazed at for our glory, and they will be shut out of the
church of the saints, and separated from us, whether they will
or no. They now think it strange that we run not with them
" to all excess of riot, speaking evil of us;" (1 Pet. iv. 4;) they
will then think it more strange, that they ran not with us in the
despised ways of God, and speak evil of themselves ; and more
vehemently befool themselves for their carelessness, than ever
they did us for our heavenliness. A poor Christian can scarcely go
along the streets now, but every one is pointing the finger in
scorn, but then they would be glad of the crumbs of his happi-
ness. The rich man would scarcely have believed him that would
have told him, that he should beg for water from the tip of
Lazarus's finger. Here is a great change ! We can scarcely now
pray in our families, or sing praises to God, but our voice is a
vexation to them. How must it needs torment them then, to
see us praising and rejoicing, while they are howling and lament-
ing ! How full have their prisons often been, and how bitter
their rage ! How have they scattered their carcasses on the
earth, and delighted themselves in the blood of saints ! How
glad would they have been, if they could have brought them to
ruin, and blotted out their name from under heaven !' How
all come upon me, so I but deserve to obtain Christ. — Ignat. Edit. Usser, p. 86.
Agesilaus dicere solitus est, se vehementer admirari eos non haberi in sacri-
legorum nuniero, qui laederent eos qui Deo supplicarent vel Deum veneraren-
tur. Quo inuuit, eos non tantum sacrilegos esse qui Deos ipsos aut templo-
rum ornatum spoliarent; sed eos maxima qui Deorum ministros et praacones
contumeliis afiiciunt. — ^myl. Prob.
f In memorial of the Irish massacre, where the number of the murdered in
one province doubled all that the French massacre slew, vide Clark's ' Mar-
tyrology.' Luke xxvi. 44 ; Psal. Ixxxiii, 4, and ii. 4. God taketh the re-
proaching and injuring of believers as done to himself : and what other way
EVERLASTING REST. 151
have tliey prepared, like Haman, their gallows ! And if God
had not gainsaid it, the execution would have heen answerable ;
"But he that sitteth in heaven did laugh them to scorn, the
Lord had them in derision." Oh ! how full were their hearts of
blood, and their hands of cruelty ; so that the next generations,
that knew them not, will scarcely believe the fury of their pre-
decessors' rage. Blessed be the Guardian of the saints, who hath
not suffered the prevalency of that wrath, which would have
over-done the gunpowder treason, the Turkish slavery, the
Spanish inquisition, and the French massacres. But the Lord
of hosts hath often brought them dtjwn, and his power and
justice have abated their fury, and raised to his name everlasting
trophies, and set up many a monument for remembrance, which
God forbid should ever be forgotten, " So let all thine incu-
rable enemies perish, O Lord." (Judg. v. 23.) " When the
Lord maketh inquisition for blood, he will remember the precious
blood which they have shed ; and the earth shall not cover it
any more." (Psal. ix. 12.) They shall pursue, but as Pharaoh,
to their own destruction :^ and where they fall, there we shall
pass over safely, and escape them for ever. For our Lord hath
told them, " that whither he goes they cannot come." (John
vii. 34, 36, and viii. 21, 22 ; Rev. xii. 16 ; Heb. xi. ; Matt, xxvii.
29, 30.) When their flood of persecution is dried up, and the
church called out of the wilderness, and the New Jerusalem
cotne down from heaven, and mercy and justice are fully glori-
fied, then shall we feel their fury no more. There is no cruel
mockings and scourgings; no bonds, or imprisonments; no sto-
ning, or sawing asunder; tempting, or slaying with the sword;
wandering in sheep-skins, or goat-skins, in deserts and moun-
tains, dens or caves of the earth ; no more being destitute,
afflicted, tormented. We leave all this behind us, when once
we enter the city of our rest; the names of Lollards, Hugonots,
&c., are not there used ; the inquisition of Spain is there con-
demned ; the statute of the six articles is there repealed ; and
the law de hcereticis comburendis more justly executed ; the
date of the interim is there expired ; no censures to loss of
members, perpetual imprisonment, or banishment. Christ is
can reproach and dishonour touch God, hut as they thcit trouble his possesions
do injure the owner? And as to wron^ the soldiers is t) wrou^ the com-
mander, so is it a contempt of the Lord to vex those that are dedicated to him.
— Clem. Alex. Strornat. lib. 7,
8 Pictos a^nos adorant, vivos devorant, inquit Claud. Thaurinens.
152 THE saint's
not there clothed in a gorgeous robe, and blhidfolded; nor do
they smite him, and say, ' Read who struck thee :' nor is truth
clothed in the robes of error, and smitten for that which it most
directly contradicteth ; nor a schismatic wounded, and a saint
found bleeding ; nor our friends smite us, whilst they mistake us
for their enemies : there is none of this blind mad work there.
Dear brethren, you that now can attempt no work of God with-
out resistance, and find you must either lose the love of the
world, and your outward comforts, or else the love of God and
your eternal salvation ; consider, you shall in heaven have no
discouraging company, nor any but who will further your work,
and gladly join heart and voice with you in your everlasting joy
and praises. Till then, possess your souls in patience; bind all
reproaches as a crown to your heads ; esteem them greater
riches than tiie world's treasures ; account it matter of joy,
when you fall into tribulation. You have seen that our God is'
able to deliver us ; but this is nothing to our final deliverance :
he will recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and
to you that are troubled rest with Christ. Only see to this,
brethren, that none of you suffer as an evil-doer, as a busy-
body in other men's matters, as a resister of the commands of
lawful authority, as ungrateful to those that have been instru-
ments of our good, as evil-speakers against dignities, as oppo-
sers of the discipline and ordinances of Christ, as scornful re-
vilers of your christian brethren, as reproachers of a laborious,
judicious, conscientious ministry, &:c. " But if any of you suffer
for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of God and of
glory resteth upon you." And if any of you begin to shrink, and
draw back because of opposition, and are ashamed either of
your work, or your Master, let such a one know to his face,
that he is but a base-spirited, cowardly wretch, and cursedly
undervalueth the saint's rest, and most foolishly overvalueth the
things below ; and he must learn to forsake all these, or else he
can never be Christ's disciple ; and that Christ will renounce
him, and be ashamed of him, before his Father and the angels
of heaven. But for those that have held fast their integrity, and
gone through good report, and evil report, and undergone the
violence of unreasonable men, " let them hear the word of the
Lord ; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my
name-sake, said. Let the Lord be glorified ; (they had good
words, and goodly pretences;) but he shall appear to your joy,
and they shall be ashamed." (Isa. Ixvi. 5.) " Your Redeemer is
EVERLASTING REST. 153
strong, the Lord of hosts is his name. He shall throughly
plead your cause, that he may give rest to his people, and dis-
quietness to their enemies." (Jer. 1. 34.)'^
(i. We shall then also rest from all our sad divisions, and '
unchristianlike quarrels with one another. As he said, who
saw the carcasses lie together, as if they had embraced each
other, who had been slain by each other in a duel, " Quanta se
invicem amplectuntur amicitia, qui mutua implacabili inimicitia
periere !" "How lovingly do they embrace one another, being
dead, who perished through their mutual, implacable enmity \"
So how lovingly do thousands live together in heaven, who lived
in divisions and quarrels on earth 3 or, as he said, who beheld
how quietly and peaceably the bones and dust of mortal enemies
did lie together, " Non tanta vivi pace essetis conjuncti;" "You
did not live together so peaceably; so we may say of multi-
tudes in heaven now all of one mind, one heart, and one employ-
ment, You lived not on earth in so sweet familiarity. There is
no contention, because none of this pride, ignorance, or other
corruption ; Paul and Barnabas are now fully reconciled. There
they are, not every man conceited of his own understanding, and
in love with the issue of his own brain, but all admiring the
divine perfection, and in love with God, and one another. As
old Gryneus wrote to his friend, " Si te non amplius in his terris
videam, ibi tamen conveniemus ubi Lutherus cum Zuinglio opti-
me jam convenitj"'' *' If I see you no more on earth, yet we shall
•• De qua iniquitate sasvitise, non modo crecum hoc vul^us exsultat, sed et
quidam vestruin, &c. Quasi non totum quod in nos potestis, nostrum sit ar-
bitrium, Certe si velim, Christianus sum, tunc ergo me damnabis, si damnari
velim. Quum vero quod in me potes, nisi velim non potes, jam meae volun-
tatis est ([uod potes, non tuaj potestatis. Proinde et vulgus vane de nostra
vexatione g-audet ; proinde et nostrum est gaudium quod sibi viiidicant qui
malumus damnari quam Ti IJeo excidere. Contra, illi qui nos oderunt, dolere,
non gaudere debebaut, consecutis nobis quod eligimus. — I'ert. yjpu. c. 49.
Lulve xxi. 19 ; Job xxxi. 35 ; Heb. xi. 25 ; Jam. i. 2 ; Dan. iii. 17; 1 Thess. i.
7; 1 Pet. iii. 17, and iv. 14, 15 ; Jud. 8; 2 Pet. ii. 10. Dicturus es me Mani-
cha'um ; sed ut maledicus, non ut veridicus. — August. Oper. Jmperf. n. 55,
Luke xiv. 26, 27, 30 ; 2 'i'hess. iii. 2.- Inde est quod ibidem sententiis vestris
gratias agimus, ut est aemulatio rei divinae et humanae, cum damnamur 4
vobis, a Deo absolvimur. — Tcrtul. Apol. verbis ultintis.
' Absit ut talis sit ilia vita, ubi est animae nostrce ipsa Veritas vita! Ubi
nemo fallit, fallitur nemo; hie autem homines faliunt et falluntur; miseri-
oresque sunt cum mentiendo failunt, quam cum mentientibus credeudolallun-
tur. Usque adeo tameii rationalis natura refugit falsitatem, et quantum ))Otest
vitat errorem, ut falli iiolint etiam tjuicunque amant fallere. — ylug. Enchlrid,
cap. 17. Lege Praefat. D. Hemmiugii ante Postii. de Dissidiis et Scandalis.
'' Melch. Adam in vita Grynaei.
154 THE saint's
there meet, where Luther and ZuingHus are now well agreed."
There is a full reconciliation between sacramentarians and ubi-
quitarians, Calvinists and Lutherans ; remonstrants and contra-
remonstrants; non-conformists and anti-disciplinarians, conform-
ists and non-conformists, are terms there not known. There is
no discipline erected by state-policy, nor any disordered popular
rule ; no government but that of Christ ; no bitter invectives, nor
voluminous reproaches ; the language of Martin^ is there a
stranger ; and the sound of his echo is not heard. No record-
ing our brethren's infirmities ; nor raking into the sores which
Christ died to heal. How many sermons zealously preached,
how many books studiously compiled, will then by the authors
be all disclaimed ! " How many backbiting, slanderous speeches !
How many secret dividing contrivances," must then be laid upon
the score of Christ, against whom and his saints they were com-
mitted ! The zealous authors dare not own them ; they would,
then, with the Ephesians,burn their books, (Acts xix. 19,) and
rather lose their labour than stand to it. There is no plotting
to strengthen our party ; nor deep designing against our
brethren. And is it not shame and pity, that our course is now
so contrary ? Surely, if there be sorrow or shame in heaven, we
shall then be both sorry and ashamed to look one another there
in the face ; and to remember all this carriage on earth ; even
as the brethren of Joseph were to behold him, when they re-
membered their former unkind usage. Is it not enough that all
the world is against us, but we must also be against one another?
Did I ever think to have heard Christians so to° reproach and
* Two books full of the langiiagje of hell, iu bitterest scorns at the ministry
and discipline, thought to be written by one Overton. Non oportet nos mi-
rari super haereses istas, sive quia sunt : futurce enim praenunciabantur ;
sive quia fidem quorundam subvertunt ; ad hoc enim sunt, ut fides habendo
tentaiionem, habeat etiam probationem. Vane er^o et inconsiderate plerique
hoc ipso scandalizantur, quod tantum haereses valeant quantum sint. — Tertul.
lie Prcescript. initio.
•n Quemadmodum vero in multas et varias sectas scissa est catabaptistarum
liseresis, itaiu hoc omnes unatiiiniter consentiunt, ut pra;dicatoribus veritatis
negotium exhiljeant, et eos er^a auditores tauquam seductores suspectos red-
daut. — Epist. Leo Jiida ante Bullbi gerinn contra Catab.
" Horret animus cogitanti immania ilia judicia, conatus, facta, quibus hie
inundus, et ipse Christianus orbis plus satis circumfluit; impietatem specie
pietatis, iuhumanitatem specie charitatis, injustitiam prsetextu juris, intus
spiraiitia et foris contestantia. — Junius Irenic. in Psal. 122. torrs. 1. p. 690.
» Si Calvinus, quam a na^ura insitam habebat, vehementia ea ipse adversus
perditos sophistas usus est, ut interdum etiam modum non tenuisse videri
possit J rogo raoderatissimos istos homines, quibus nimium incalescere riden-
EVERLASTING REST. 155
scorn Christians ; and men professing the fear of God, to make
so little conscience of censuring, vilifying, slandering and dis-
gracing one another ? Alas ! if the judgment be once perverted,
and error hath possessed the supreme faculty, whither will men
go, and what will they do ? Nay, what will they not do ? Oh 1
what a potent instrument for Satan p is a misguided conscience!
It will make a man kill his dearest friend, yea, father or mother,
yea, the holiest saints, and think he doth God service by it ; and
to facilitate the work, it will first blot out the reputation of their
holiness, and make them take a saint for a devil, that so they
may vilify or destroy him without remorse. Oh ! what hellish
things are ignorance and pride,^ that can bring men's souls to
such a case as this ! Paul knew what he said, when he commanded
that a novice should not be a teacher, lest, being lifted up with
pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1 Tim. iii. 6.)
He discerned that such young Christians that have got but a
little smattering knowledge in religion, do lie in greatest dan-
ger of this pride and condemnation. Who but a Paul could
have foreseen, that among the very teachers and governors of so
choice a church as Ephesus, that came to see and hear him,
that pray and weep with him, there were some that afterwards
should be notorious sect-masters ?■" " that of their own selves
tur quicuuque ipsorum more non frig'ent, ut pro quo, et in quem dicatur,
paulo attentius expendant ; neque heereticos illos spiritus ex ingenio suo me-
tlantur. — Bezain Epist. Prafat. ante Calvini Tractatus Theologicos.
P Me quoque non latet, turbulentos homines movendis seditionibus, Satanas
esse flabella, ut in evang'elii odium placidos aliosque homines inflammet. Jta
nostro saeculo, sub evangelii nascentis initia, barbaros homines armavit, qui
legibus, judiciis, et omni politiae helium ex professo indicerent. Sed ab evan-
gelio recedere, ut seditionibus obviam eatur, nimis perversum est. — Calvin, de
Scandalis. Read Bishop Hall's twenty-ninth soliloquy, called ' The Spiritual
Bedlam,' p. 109. Religion is torn into divisions and fragments ; the swarm is
up, and settles into so many places, as without great mercy they will never be
got into one hive. — Mr. Vine's Sermon on Numb. xiv. 24. p. 23.
1 Quod multos videmus hoc vel illo errore captos a recta via abduci, nun-
quam nisi justa Dei vindicta accidit; vere August, superbiam nominat here-
sewn omnium matrem ; nullus enim unquam extitit erroris magister, quem
non prava ambitio in suum praecipitium extulerit. Scimus Deum parvulis
fidum esse doctorem ; proinde qui arrogantia turgent, eos non mirum est ab
hac schola pulsos vagis suis speculationihus sursum et deorsum raptari.
Quotquot hac nostra state a pura evaiigelii doctrina proJapsi falsorum dogma-
turn cceperunt esse authores, repericnius omnes superbia; morbo correptos,
ingenii tormenta sibi et aliis fabricasse. — Calv. de Scandalis.
' Are not the errors which are rife among us, either by infecting persons
of place and quality grown into that boldness ; or by carrying away Barnabas
also, crept into that credit ; or by spreading far and wide, risen to that strength ;
that they do face, if not seem able to put into danger of routing, our common
156 THE SAINT'S
men should arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away dis-
ciples after them?" (Acts xx. 30.) Who then can expect better
from any society now, how knowing and holy soever ? To-day
they may be orthodox, unanimous, and joined in love; and per-
haps, within a few weeks be divided, and at bitter enmity,
through their doting about questions that tend not to edify.*
Who that had seen how lovingly the godly of England did live
together, would have believed that ever they would have been so
bitter against one another 3 that we should fall upon one another
for the very same duties ; and that professors of religion should
oppose and deride almost all that worship God out of conscience,
which others did before them through profaneness ? Did I not
think, that of all other, the scorning at the worshippers of Christ,
had been a sure sign of a wicked wretch ? But I see now we
must distinguish between scorners and scorners, or else I fear
we shall exclude almost all. I read, indeed, in pagan writers,
faitl), public worship, authorised ministry, long and much-expected, and
promised reformation. — Mr. Vine on 2 Pet. ii. 1. p. 2.
^ Altera pestis est opinionum varietas et disseiitio in ecclesia: quae ut his
temporibus Jesuitarum inipulsu valde increbuit, ita tamen neque nova vobis,
neque mira videri debet. Ut enim palatorum, sic judiciorum magna est
varietas ; et ut muitae facies hominum, sic et corda diversa ; ut Hier. advers.
Pelag. lib. 3. Dr. Humfredus Jesuitis. part 2. 'in Epistola Dedicatoria. Mul-
tos subvertunt, abducentes ipsos praetextu cognitionis, ab eo qui universa
creavit, &c. Velut qui altius quid ac majus halieant quod ostendant Deo, &c,
Probabiliterquidem inducentes per verborum artificium simplices ad quaerendi
modum ; verum improbe perdentes ipsos, iu eo quod maledicam et impiam
ipsorum mentem efficiunt, &c. Nam error per seipsum non ostenditur, ne ut
deuudatus deprehendatur, sed amiculo splendido callide ornatus, utetiam ipsa
veritate veriorem seipsum exhibere videatur imperitioribus, per externam ap-
parentiam. — Ircnccus advers. Hares, p. 1. ProcEm. Diligenler insistendum,
ne quid ex peste (luaj grassatur ex vicinia, fidelibus curae uostrae commissis,
convictu, colloquiis, et quotidianis, qu£E vitari non possuut, disceptationibus
affletur. Serpit enim facile contagio, et nisi malo obviam iretur, falsorum
doctorum astus, et ha'reticorum consortium infirmorum fidem proculduhiu
vitiarent. Evaiigelii ergo praecones sese exerceaut iii refutatioue pontilicio-
rum, aiiabaptistaruui et Socinianorum, c&c, ab illis enim magnopere metuen-
dum, tum quia illis permixti vivimus, tum quia eorum ))lerique miro quodaui
studio ardent doctriu'-e suaj disseminanda;. — Andrnldus de Pace hita' £van-
gelicos CoHstituend. ji. 24(>. Yet Cyprian saith,l"hey that live in discord and
difference, and have not peace with their brethren, though they were slain for
the name of Christ, yet cannot escape the crime of dissention with brethren :
because it is written, "He that hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know
that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." He cannot live with
Christ that had rather imitate Judas than Christ. What a sin is this, which
cannot be washed away with the baptism of blood ! What a crime, that can-
not be expiated by martyrdom! — Ci/prian. de Oral. Doni. sect. 18. p. 315.
What martyrs, then, are they that lose their lives in war against their brethren
confessed to be godly !
EVERLASTING REST. 157
that the Christians were as cruel as bears and tigers against one
another: Ammianus Marcellinus' gives it as the reason of Julian's
policy, in proclaiming liberty for every party to profess and
preach their own opinions, because he knew that cruel Christians
would then most fiercely fall upon one another; and so by liberty
of conscience," and by keeping their children from the schools
of learning, he thought to have rooted out Christianity from the
earth. But I had hoped this accusation had come from the ma-
lice of the pagan writer; little did I think to have seen it so far
verified ! Lord, what devils are we unsanctified, when there is
yet such a nature remaining in the sanctified ! Such a nature
hath God in these days suffered to discover itself in the very
godly, that if he did not graciously and powerfully restrain, they
would shed the blood of one another; and no thanks to us, if it
be not done. But I hope his design is but to humble and shame
us by the discovery, and then to prevent the breaking forth.^
Object. But, is it possible such should be truly godly ? Then,
what sin will denominate a man ungodly?
' Ammian. Marcel, in vita Juliani.
" Oh quain beati eruiit in illo die judicii niagistratus illi qui subditos non
modo honestis legibiis, judiciis, et discipliua pra?clare rexeruiit : sed etiam
uinnium maxime in hoc studium incubueruut ut incorntpta religio apud suos
excultasit; doctriua coelestis per fidos, eruditos, et constantes ininistros sit
tradita, et ingens hominuni multitudo per spiritum et verbum renata in
conspectum Christi prodeant, quae tali magistratui seternas gratias agant !
Econtra quam infcelices qui, &c. Religionem per varias corruptelas passi sunt
adulterari '. — fVigandus in Epist. ante Com.in Proph. John xxiii. 8 — 12, 14.
Vse muudo k scandalis. Ecce fit, ecce prorsiis inipletur quod Veritas ait ; quo-
niam abundavit iniquitas, refrigescet charitas multoruni. Quae sibi jam fida
pectora tuto refundantur ? In cujus sensus tota se projiciat secura dilectio ?
Quis denique amicus non formidetur, quasi futurus inimicus, si potuit inter
Hieronymum et Ruffinum, hoc quod plangimus, exoriri ? O misera, et mise-
randa conditio ! O infida in voluntatibus amicorum scientia praesentium ubi
nulla est prasscientia futurorum 1 Sed quid hoc alteri de altero gemendum
putem, quando ne ipse quidem sibi homo est notus in posteruni ? Novit euim
utrumque vix forte nunc qualis sit; qualis autem postea sit futurus ignorant,
Augustine, in that excellent, christian pacificatory epistle. Ad Hieron. inter
opera. Hier. torn, iii. fol. 159. Leonum feritas inter se non diinicat. Serpen-
tum morsus non petit serpentes, &c. et tu homo a feris ratione praeditus, ah
expertibus vincaris ? Tu operam des ut feritate et abalienatione vincas
caetera ? et in tuo ipsius iiaturse funere triumphator tibi videaris ? — Junius in
Jrenic. Excellentis. in Psal. cxxii. tom. 1. (operuui) p. 687.
" This was written upon the war in Scotland, the death of Mr. Love, the
imprisonment of many more, and an ordinance for the sequestering of all
ministers that would not go to God on their errands, in fasting and prayer, or
in thankgivings for their successes. And an order made to put out all minis-
ters from the cities, market towns, and garrisons, that subscribed not their
engagements.
158 THE saint's
Answ. Or else I must believe the doctrine of the saints'
apostacy, or believe there are scarcely any godly in the world.
Oh ! what a wound of dishonour hath this given not only to the
stricter profession of holiness, but even to the very christian
name ; were there a possibility of hiding it, I durst not thus
mention it. O Christian, if thou who readest this be guilty, f
charge thee before the living God, that thou sadly consider how
far is this unlike the copy ! Suppose thou hadst seen the Lord
Jesus, girded to the service, stooping on the earth, washing his
disciples' dirty feet, and wiping them, and saying to them, "This
I have done to give you an example, that if your Lord and
Master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one ano-
ther's ;" would not this make thee ashamed, and tremble ? Shall
the Lord wipe the feet, and the fellow-servant be ready to cut
the throat ? Would not thy proud heart scorn to stoop to thy
Master's work? Look to thyself; it is not the name of a pro-
fessor, nor the zeal for thy opinions, that will prove thee a
Christian, or secure thee from the heat of the consuming fire.
If thou love not thine enemy, much more thy christian friend,
thou canst not be Christ's disciple. It is the common mar :,
whereby his disciples are known to all men, "that they love
one another." Is it not his last great legacy, "My peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you." (Matt. v. 44 ; John
xiii.35, and xiv. 17.) Mark the expressions of that command,
" Jf it be possible, as much as in you lieth, live peaceably with
all men." (Rom. xii. S.) " Follow peace with all men, and
lioliness." (Heb.xii. 14.) ^O the deceitfulness of the heart of
man ! that those same men, who lately in their self-examina-
tion, could find nothing of Christ so clear within them as their
y In TertuUian's time it was otherwise with Christians, He saith the hea-
thens did especially mark out the Christians by the work of love and their
great liberality ; ' See,' say they, ' how they love one another;' (for they them-
selves, saith he, hate one another) ; and ' How ready are they to die for one
another !' for they themselves are more ready to kill one another. — Tertul.
y^oZ. cap. xxxix. Alas I how is the case altered now, when the mark of
heathens is so common upon Christian?, and those that think themselves the
best of Christians ! And Justin Martyr, before him, saith, ' We, Christians,
■who before preferred the ^ains of money and farms before all, now do brinjf
forth our private estates for common use, and bestow them on all that need :
we who hated one another, and killed one another, and, throu2;h niorosity,
never feasted with any but our familiars ; now, since the coming' of Christ, we
are all of one table : we pray for our enemies, and labour to persuade those
that unjustly hate us, that living after the honest precepts of Christ, they
might have hope of the reward from the Lord God, as well as v/s.—Justin
Martyr, Apol. ii.
EVERLASTING REST. 159
love to their brethi-en, and were confident of this, wlien they
could scarcely discover any other grace, should now look so
strangely upon them, and be filled with so much bitterness
against them! That the same men, who would have travelled
through reproaches many miles, to hear an able faithful minister,
and not think tiie labour ill-bestowed, should now become their
bitterest enemies, and the most powerful hinderers of the suc-
cess of their labours, and travel as far to cry them down! It
makes me almost ready to say, O sweet, O happy days of per-
secution, which drove us together in a closure of love ! who
being now dried at the lire of liberty and prosperity, are crum-
bled all into dust by our contentions. But it makes me seriously^
both to say, and to think, O sweet, O happy day of the rest of
the saints in glory ! wheu as there is one God, one Christ, one
Spirit, so we shall have one judgment, one heart, one church,
one employment for ever I When there shall be no more cir-
cumcision and uncircumcision, Jew and gentile, anabaptist,
paedobaptist, Brownist, separatist, independent, presbyterian,
episcopal : but Christ is All in All. We shall not there scru-
ple our communion, nor any of the ordinances of divine wor-
ship ; there will not be one for singing, and another against it ;
but even those who have jarred in discord, shall all conjoin in
blessed concord, and make one melodious quire. I could wish
they were of the martyr's mind, who rejoiced that she might
have her foot in the same hole of the stocks in which Master
Philpot's had been before her. ^But, however, I am sure they
will joyfully live in the same heaven, and gladly participate in
the same rest. Those whom one house could not hold, nor one
church hold them, no nor one kingdom either ; yet one heaven
and one God may hold.^ One house; one kingdom could not
hold Joseph and his brethren ; but they must together again,
whether they will or not; and then how is the case altered 1
then every man must straight withdraw, wliile they weep over,
and kiss each other. O how canst thou now find in thy heart,
^ Christ that would not have us to be contentious, nor envy at wicked men,
but that by bearing and gentleness we should lead others from their reproach-
iugs and lusts. — Just. Mart. Apol. ii.
^ The cause of all our mischief lieth in making dark points to be articles
of our creed, as if salvation lay on them. Nihil pestilentius in ecclesia docerl
potest, quam si ea quae neccssaria non sunt necessaria fiant : hac enim tyran-
nide conscientiaB iUaqueantur, et libertas fidei extinguitur; mendacium pro
veritate, idolum pro Deo, abominatio pro sanctitate colitur. — Luther refei'ente
Hen. Hoffriero Sa.ron, Evangel, p. Ill), Mark these words of Luther.
160 THE saint's
if thou bear the heart or face of a Christian, to be bitter or inju-
rious against thy brethren, when thou dost but once think of
that time and place, where thou hopest in the nearest and
sweetest familiarity to live and rejoice with them for ever? I
confess their infirmities are not to be loved, nor sin to be tole-
rated, because it is theirs. But be sure it be sin which thou
opposest in them; and do it with a spirit of meekness and com-
passion, that the world may see thy love to the person, while
thou opposest the offence. Alas ! that Turks and Pagans can
agree together in wickedness, better than Christians in the
truth 1 That bears and lions, wolves and tigers, can agree toge-
ther, but Christians cannot ! That a legion*^ of devils can ac-
cord in one body, and not the tenth part of so many Christians in
one church ! (Matt. v. 9 ; Luke viii. 30.) Well, the fault may be
mine, and it may be theirs ; or more likely both mine and theirs:
but this rejoiceth me, that my old friends who now look strangely
at me, will joyfully triumph with me in our common rest.
Sect. XV. 7. We shall then rest from all our dolorous hours,
and sad thoughts which we now undergo, by participating with
our brethren in their calamities. Alas ! if we had nothing on our-
selves to trouble us, yet what heart could lay aside sorrows, that
live in the sound of the church's sufferings? Jf Job had nothing
upon his body to disquiet him, yet the message of his children's
overthrow, must needs grieve the most patient soul. Except
we are turned into steel or stone, and have lost both christian
and human affection, there needs no more than the miseries of
our brethren, to fill our hearts with successions of sorrows, and
make our lives a continued lamentation. The church on earth
is a mere hospital ; which way ever we go, we hear complain-
ing; and into what corner soever we cast our eyes, we behold
objects of pity and grief: some groaning under a dark under-
standing, some under a senseless heart, some languishing under
unfruitful weakness, and some bleeding for miscarriages and
wilfulness ; and some in such a lethargy that they are past
complaining ; some crying out of their pining poverty : some
groaning under pains and infirmities; and some bewailing
a whole catalogue of calamities, especially in days of common
sufferings, when nothing appears to our siglit but ruin ; '^ fami-
'' Quibus est communis amor, bis idem dolor est commune malum. — Na-
Zianz. '
= When Cbrist's doctrine came first into the world, it was the fruit of it, for
some ages, to make people lay by war, and turn to peace ; and is it not sad
EVEnLASTING REST. 161
lies ruined; congregations ruined; sumptuous structures ruined;
cities ruined; country ruined; court ruined; kingdoms ruined.
Who weeps not, when all these bleed ? As now our friends' dis-
tresses are our distresses, so then our friends' deliverance will be
part of our own deliverance. How much more joyous now to join
with them in their days of thanksgiving and gladness, than in the
days of humiliation in sackcloth and ashes! How much then
more joyous will it be to join with them in their perpetual praises
and triumphs, than to hear them now bewailing their wretched-
ness, their want of light, their want of life, of joy, of assurance,
of grace, of Christ, of all things ! How much more comforta-
ble to see them perfected, than now to see them wounded, weak,
sick, and afflicted ? To stand by the bed of their languishing as
silly comforters, being overwhelmed and silenced with the great-
ness of their griefs, conscious of our own disability to relieve
them, scarce having a word of comfort to refresh them; or if
we have, alas, they be but words, which are a poor relief, when
their sufferings are real ; fain we would ease or help them, but
cannot : all we can do, is to sorrow with them, which alas, dotli
rather increase their sorrows. Our day of rest will free both us
and them from all this. Now we may enter many a poor
Christian's cottage, and there see their children ragged, their
purse empty, their cupboard empty, their belly empty, and po-
verty possessing and filling all. How much better is that day,
when we shall see them filled with Christ, clothed with glory,
and equalised with the richest and greatest princes ! O the sad
and heart-piercing spectacles that our eyes have seen in four
years' space 1 In this fight a dear friend is slain ; scarce a month,
scarce a week, without the sight or noise of blood ; surely there
is none of this in heaven. Our eyes shall then be filled no more,
nor our hearts pierced with such dreadful sights, &c. Our eyes
shall never more behold the earth covered with the carcasses of
the slain. Our mourning attire will then be turned into the
white robes and garments of gladness. Oh I how hardly can our
that now it should work so contrary, as an occasion? Athan. 'De Incarn.
Verb.' saith of men of war, as soon as ever ihey entertained the doctrine of
Christ, presently they lay by their desire of war, and betake themselves to hus-
bandry; and the hands which they were wont to warm with iron, they de-
light now to stretch forth in inuocency, in earnest prayer; and instead of
war, which they waged against one another, they now join in arms against the
devil and evil spirits, and so conquer them by the chastity and virtue of the
mind.
VOL. xxri, M
162 THE saint's
hearts now hold, when we think of such, and such, and such a
dear christian friend slain or departed ! O how glad must the
same hearts be when we see them all alive and glorified ! But a
far greater grief it is to our spirits, to see the spiritual miseries
of our brethren ; to see such a one with whom we took sweet
counsel, and who zealously joined with us in God's worship, to
be now fallen off to sensuality, turned drunkard, worldling, or a
persecutor of the saints ! and these trying times have given us
too large occasion for such sorrows ; to see our dearest and most
intimate friends to be turned aside from the truth of Christ, and
that either in or near the foundation, and to be raging confident
in the grossest errors ; to see many near us in the flesh, con-
tinue their neglect of Christ and their souls, and nothing will
waken them out of their security ; to look an ungodly father or
mother, brother or sister, in the face ; to look on a carnal wife,
or husband, or child, or friend, and to think how certainly they
shall be in hell for ever, if they die in their present unregenerate
estate ! Oh ! what continual dolors do all these sad sights and
thoughts fill our hearts with from day to day ; and will it not
be a blessed day when we shall rest from all these ? What
Christian now is not in Paul's case, and cannot speak in his lan-
guage ? " Besides those things that are without, that which
Cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches; who is
weak, and I am not weak ? Who is offended, and I burn not ? "
(2 Cor. xi. 28, 29.) What heart is not wounded to think on
Germany's long desolations ? Oh ! the learned universities ;
the flourishing churches there that now are left desolate ! Look
on England's four years' blood, a flourishing land almost made
ruinate ; hear but the common voice in most cities, towns, and
countries through the land, and judge whether here be no cause
of sorrow ; especially, look but to the sad effects, and men's
spirits grown more out of order : and is this not cause of asto-
nishing sorrows ? Look to Scotland, look to Ireland ; look al-
most every where, and tell me what you see. Blessed be that
approaching day, when our eyes shall behold no more such
sights, nor our ears hear any more such tidings ! How many
hundred pamphlets are printed, full of almost nothing but the
common calamities ! so that it is become a gainful trade to di-
vulge the news of our brethren's sufferings ; and the fears for the
future that possessed our hearts, were worse than all that we saw
and suffered : nay, have not many died with the fears of that
EVERLASTING REST. 163
which, if they had lived, they had neither suffered nor seen ? It
is said of Melancthon,'' that the miseries of the church made
him ahuost neglect the death of his beloved children ; to think
of the Gospel departing, the glory taken from Israel, our sun
setting at noon-day, poor souls left willingly dark and desti-
tute, and with great pains and hazard blowing out the light that
should guide them to salvation ! What sad thoughts must these
be ! ^ To think of Christ removing his family ; taking away both
worship and worshippers, and to leave the land to the rage of
the merciless : these were sad thoughts. Who could then have
the harp in hand, or sing the pleasant songs of Sion ? (Isa. Ix.
11 — 14.) But blessed be the Lord, who hath frustrated our
fears, and who will hasten that rejoicing day, when Sion shall
be exalted above the mountains, and her gates shall be open
day and night, and the glory of the Gentiles be brought into it,
and the nation and kingdom that will not serve her shall perish :
when the sons of them that afflicted her shall come bending unto
her, and all they that despised her " shall bow themselves at the
soles of her feet ; and they shall call her the city of the Lord,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel ; " (Isa. Ix. 21, 22 ;) when her
people also shall be all righteous, even the work of God's hands,
the branch of his planting, who shall inherit the land for ever,
that he may be glorified. When that voice shall sound forth,
" Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love
her : rejoice for joy with her, all ye that love her 5 that ye may
suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation ; that
ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her
glory." (Isa. Ixvi. 10, 12.) Thus shall we rest from our partici-
pation of our brethren's sufferings.
Sect. XVI. 8. We shall rest also from all our own personal
sufferings, whether natural and ordinary, or extraordinary, from
the afflicting hand of God. And though this may seem a small
thing to those that live in continual ease, and abound in all kind
of prosperity, yet, methinks, to the daily afflicted soul, it should
make the fore-thoughts of heaven delightful ; and I think I shall
meet with few of the saints but will say, that this is their own
case/ O the dying life that we now live ! as full of sufferings,
'' Cainerar. in vit. Melanct.
" See Neh. i. 4, and ii. 3 ; Psal. cxxxvii.
f Maxima fiuasquEE bona solicita sunt ; nee uUi fortiinffi minus bene quam
optiniae creditur. Alia foeiicitate ad tuendam fcElicitatem opns est, et pro ipsis
qua successeriint votis, vota facienda sunt. Quo altius ali(|uid surrexit, vergit
protinus in occasum. Neminem porro casura delect ant ; miserrimam ergo
M 2
164 THE saint's
as of days and hours ! We are the carcasses that all calamities
prey upon : as various as they are, each one will have a snatch
at us, and he sure to devour a morsel of our comfort. When
we bait our bulls and bears, we do but represent our own con-
dition ; whose lives are consumed under sut-h assaults, and spent
in succession of fresh encounters. All creatures have an enmity
against us, ever since we made the Lord of all our enemy ; and
though we are reconciled by the blood of the covenant, and the
price is paid for our full deliverance, yet our Redeemer sees it
fit to leave this measure of misery upon us, to make us know for
what we are beholden, to mind us of what we would else forget,
to be serviceable to his wise and gracious designs, and advan-
tageous to our full and final recovery. He hath sent us as lambs
among wolves ; and sure there is little rest to be expected. As
all our senses are the inlets of sin, so they are become the inlets
of our sorrow. Grief creeps in at our eyes, at our ears, and al-
most every where : it seizeth upon our heads, our hearts, our
flesh, our spirits ; and what part doth escape it ? Fears do de-
vour us, and darken our delights, as the frosts do nip the tender
buds ; cares do consume us, and feed upon our spirits, as the
scorching sun doth wither the delicate flowers : or, if any saint
or stoic have fortified his inwards against these, yet he is naked
still without ; and if he be wiser than to create his own sorrows,
yet shall he be sure to feel his share ; he shall produce them as
the meritorious, if not as the efficient cause. What tender
pieces are these dusty bodies ! What brittle glasses do we bear
about us; and how many thousand dangers are they hurried
through ; and how hardly cured, if once cracked ! O the mul-
titudes of slender veins, of tender membranes, nerves, fibres,
muscles, arteries, and all subject to obstructions, exhesions, ten-
sions, contractions, resolutions, ruptures, or one thing or other,
to cause their grief; every one a fit subject for pain, and fit to
communicate that pain to the whole ! What nobler part is there
that suffereth its pain or ruin alone ? whatever it is to the sound
and healthful, methinks to such as myself this rest should be
acceptable, who in ten or twelve years' time, have scarce had
a whole day free from some dolour. Oh I the weary nights and
necesse est, non tantum brevissimam vitara eorum esse qui mag^no parant
labore quod majore possiileant; operose assequuiitur quae volunt ; anxie
tenent quas assecuti sunt. Nova; occupationes veterihus substituuntur ; spes
spem excitat ; ambitioneni auibitio, miseriarum non finis quaeritur, sed ma-
teria mutatur. — Sen, de hrev. vit.
EVERLASTING REST. 165
davs ; oh I the unserviceable, languishing weakness ; oh ! the
restless, working vapours ; oh ! the tedious, nauseous medicines,
besides the daily expectations of worse ! And will it not be de-
sirable to rest from all these ? There will be then no crying out.
Oh ! my head, oh ! my stomach, oh 1 my sides, or oh 1 my
bowels : no, no, sin, and flesh, and dust, and pain, will all be
left behind together. Oh ! what would we not give now for a
little ease, much more for a perfect cure ! How, then, should
we value that perfect freedom ! If we have some mixed com-
forts here, they are scarce enough to sweeten our crosses ; or if
we have some short and smiling intermissions, it is scarce time
enough to breathe us in, and to prepare our tacklings for the next
storm. If one wave pass by, another succeeds ; and if the night
be over, and the day come, yet will it soon be night again. Some
men's fevers are continual, and some intermittent ; some have
tertians, and some quartans ; but, more or less, all have their
fits. O the blessed tranquillity of that region, where there is
nothing but sweet continued peace ! No succession of joy there,
because no intermission. Our lives will be but one joy, as our
time will be changed into one eternity. O healthful place, where
none are sick ! O fortunate land, where all are kings ! O place
most holy, where all are priests ! How free a state, where none
are servants, save to their supreme Monarch ! For it shall come
to pass, that in that day the Lord shall give us rest from our
sorrow, and our fear, and from the hard bondage wherein we
served. (Isa. xiv. 3.) The poor man shall no more be tired with
his incessant labours ; no more use of plough, or flail, or scythe,
or sickle ; no stooping of the servant to the master, or the tenant
to the landlord ; no hunger, or thirst, or cold, or nakedness ; no
pinching frosts, nor scorching heats. Our very beasts who suf-
fered with us, shall also be freed from their bondage ; ourselves,
therefore, nmch more : our faces shall no more be pale or sad ;
our groans and sighs will be done away ; and God will wipe away
all tears from our eyes. (Rom. viii. 19 — 22; Rev. vii. 15 — 17.
xxi, 3, 4.) No more parting of friends asunder, nor voice of
lamentation heard in our dwellings. No more breaches, nor
disproportion, will be in our friendship, nor any trouble accom-
panying our relations ; no more care of master for servants, or
parents for children, or magistrates over subjects, or ministers
over people ; no more sadness for our study lost, our preaching-
lost, our entreaties lost, the tenders of Christ's blood lost, and our
dear people's souls lost 3 no more marrying, nor giving in mar-
166 THE SAINTS
riage, but we shall be as the angels of God.s O what room
can there be for any evil, where the whole is perfectly filled with
God ! Then shall the " ransomed of the Lord return and come
to Sion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads : they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away." (Isa. xxxv. 10.) Hold out then a little longer, O my
soul ; bear with the infirmities of thy earthly tabernacle ; en-
dure that share of sorrows that the love of thy Father shall im-
pose ; submit to his indignation also, because thou hast sinned
against him ; it will be thus but a little while ; the sound of thy
Redeemer's feet are even at the door; and thine own deliver-
ance nearer than many others. And thou who hast often criedj
in the language of the divine poet, Herbert,
" Sorrow was all my soul ; 1 scarce believed,
Till grief did tell me roundly, that I lived,"
shalt then feel, that God and joy is all thy soul ; the fruition of
whom, with thy freedom from all these sorrows, will, more
sweetly, and more feelingly, make thee knov/, and to his eternal
praise acknowledge, that thou livest.
And thus we shall rest from all afflictions.
Sect. XVn. 9. We shall rest also from all the trouble and pain
of duty. The conscientious magistrate now cries out. Oh ! the
burden that lieth upon me ! The conscientious parents, that
know the preciousness of their children's souls, and the constant
pains required to their godly education, cry out, Oh ! the bur-
den ! '* The conscientious minister above all, when he reads
his charge, (2 Tim. iv. 1,) and views his pattern ; (Mark iii. 20,
21, &c. ; Acts XX. 18, 31 ;) when he hath tried awhile what it
is to study, and pray, and preach, according to the weight and
excellency of the work ; to go from house to house, and from
neighbour to neighbour, and to beseech them night and day with
s 'ladyyeXoi, pares angelis. Hymo expoundeth this too boldly, and I think
falsely. Quod viri in suo sexu resurgent, faminiE in sexu muliebri, erunt
habentes membra genitalia, non autem voluntatem coeundi. — Horn, in Dom.
18. in Matt. xxii. I see no ground to conceit such a difference of sex
hereafter.
^ Tunc erit in nobis vera, perfecta, excelsa humilitas, cum et in carne, et
in mente nostra, nulla remanserit prava cupiditas, nee cogitationibus fatiga-
bitur spiritus, nee laboribus macerabitur corpus. Nulla erit solicitudo certa-
minis, sed perfecta erit securitas pacis. Nulla nobis erit justitiae indigentia,
sed cum delectatione securitas plena. Ibi erimus enim perfecta celsitudine
beati, quia perfecta erimus Deo carnis et spiritus hnmilitate subject!. — Ful'
gent. Ep. 4. ad Prob. c. 7, 8, The Work of the Ministry, Read Lockier on
Col. i. 2<). p. 524, &c. ' ' ,
EVERLASTING REST, 167
tears, and, after all, to be hated and persecuted for so doing,
no wonder if he cry out, O the burden ! and be ready to turn
away with Jonas ; and, with Jeremy, to say, " I will not make
mention of him, nor speak any more in his name ; for his word
is a reproach to us, and a derision daily; but that he hath made
his word as a fire shut up in our bones and heart, that we are
weary of forbearing, and cannot stay." (Jer. xx. S, 9.) How long
may we study and labour before one soul is brought clear over to
Christ ! and when it is done, how soon do the snares of sensu-
ality or error entangle them ! How many receive the doctrine
of delusion before they have time to be built up in the truth ;
and when heresies must of necessity arise, how few of them do
appear approved ! The first new, strange apparition of light
doth so amaze them, they think they are in the third heaven,
when they are but newly passed from the suburbs of hell, and
are presently as confident as if they knew all things, when they
have not half light enough to acquaint them with their ignorance;
but, after ten or twenty years' study, they become usually of the
same judgment with those they despised. And seldom doth a
minister live to see the ripeness of his people ; but one soweth
and planteth, another watereth, and a third reapeth and receiveth
the increase. Yet were all this duty delightful, had we but a
true proportion of strength. But, to inform the old ignorant
sinner, to convince the stubborn and worldly wise, to persuade
a wilful resolved wretch, to prick a stony heart to the quick, to
make a rock to weep and tremble, to set forth Christ according
to our necessitv and his excellencv, to comfort the soul whom God
dejected, to clear up dark and difficult truths, to oppose with
convincing arguments all gainsayers, to credit the Gospel with
exemplary conversations, when multitudes do but watch for our
halting ; Oh ! who is sufficient for these things ? So that every
relation, state, age, hath variety of duty : every conscientious
Christian cries out, O the burden ! or, O my weakness that
makes it so burdensome ! But our remaining rest will ease us
of the burden. Then will that be sound doctrine, which now is
false, that the law hath no more to do with us ; that it becomes
not a Christian to beg for pardon, seeing all his sins are perfectly
pardoned already ; that we need not fast, nor mourn, nor weep,
nor repent; and that a sorrowful countenance beseems not a
Christian : then will all these become truths.
Sect. XVIII. 10. And, lastly, v/e shall rest from all those sad
affections which necessarily accompany our absence from God j
168 THE saint's
the trouble that is mixed in our desires and hopes, our longings
and waitings, shall then cease. We shall no more look into
our cabinet, and miss our treasure ; look into our hearts, and
miss our Christ ; nor no more seek him from ordinance to or-
dinance, and inquire for our God of those we meet ; our heart
will not lie in our knee, nor our souls be breathed out in our
requests ; but all conclude in a most full and blessed fruition.
But because this, with the former, are touched before, I will say
no more of them now ; so you have seen what we shall rest from.
Sect. XIX. The ninth and last jewel in our crown, and blessed
attribute of this rest, is, that it is an eternal rest. This is the
crown of our crown ; without which, all were comparatively
little or nothing. The very thought of once leaving it, would
else embitter all our joys ; and the more would it pierce us, be-
cause of the singular excellencies which we must forsake. It
would be a hell in heaven to think of once losing heaven : as it
would be a kind of heaven to the damned, had they but hopes
of once escaping.^ Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary
delights. It makes our present life of little value (were it not
for the reference it hath to God and eternity), to think that we
must shortly lay it down. How can we take delight in any
thing, when we rememi)er how short that delight would be j
that the sweetness of our cups and morsels is dead as soon as
they are but once past our taste ! Indeed, if man were as the
beast, that knows not his suffering or death till he felt it, and
little thinks when the knife is whetting, that it is making ready
to cut his throat, then might we be merry till death forbid us,
and enjoy our delights till they shall forsake us ; but, alas ! we
know both good and evil ; and evil foreknown, is in part en-
' Transit hora, transit et poena; non accidunt sibi,sed cedunt potius etsuc-
cedunt. Non sic gloria, non sic reuumeratio ; non sic mercts ipsa laboris ;
rescit vicissitudinem, nescit finem ; maiiet toto simul, et manet in aeternum.
Sufficit nunc cuique diei malitia sua ; nee laboruni suuni poterit reservare
sequent! ; sed omnium nierces laborum in una ilia die reddetur, cui alter non
succedit : guttatim poena bibilur, aliquando sumitur ; per niinutias transit ;
sed in remuneratione torrens est voluptatis, et fluminis impetus ; torrens in-
undans Isetitiae, flunien glorise, et fiumen pacis. Flumen plane est ; sed quod
affluat; non quod fluat vel effluat. Fiumen vocatur, non quod transeat, vcl
pertranseat, sed quod abundet. Nobis non favum mellis ; purisbimum vero et
liquidissimum niel reposuit Deus ipsum, lastitiain, gloriam, pacem, aniaeni-
tatem, felicitatem, jucunditatem et exultationeni thesaurizavit nobis Deus
noster ; haec omnia unum ; ut sit participatio Hierusalem in idipsmn ; et hoc
unum et id ipsum non nisi Ipse; erit enini Deus omnia et in omnibus. Hffic
merces ; hiEc corona nostra, hoc brsevium nostrum ; ad (iuodutiqiie curramus
ut comprehendamus, — Bern, Serm, 145. iJe temp.
EVERLASTING REST. 169
durcd ; and thus our knowledge increaseth our sorrows. (Eccles.
i. 1 8.) How can it choose but spoil our pleasure, while we see
it dying in our hands ! How can I be as merry as the jovial
world, who have mine eye fixed upon eternity ! When methinks
I foresee my dying hour, my friends waiting for my last gasp,
and closing my eyes, while tears forbid to close their own ; me-
thinks I hear them say. He is dead. Methinks I see my coffin
made, my grave in digging, and my friends there leaving me in
the dust : and where, now, is that we took delight in? O but me-
thinks I see, at the same view, that grave opening, and my dead,
revived body rising ; methinks I hear that blessed voice, ' Arise
and live, and die no more.' Surely, were it not for eternity, I
should think man a silly piece ; and all this life and honour but
contemptible : I shall call him, with David, a vain shadow ; and
with the prophet, nothing, and less than nothing, and altogether
lighter than vanity itself. It utterly disgraceth the greatest glory in
mine eyes, if you can but truly call it mortal. 1 can value nothing
that shall have an end, except as it leads to that which hath no
end ; or as it comes from that love which hath neither beginning
nor end. I speak this of my deliberate thoughts ; and if some
ignorant or forgetfid soul have no such sad thoughts to disturb
his pleasure, I confess he may be merrier for the present ; but
where is his mirth when he lieth a- dying? alas ! it is a poor
happiness that consists only in the ignorance or forgetfulness of
approaching misery ; but, O blessed eternity ! where our lives
are perplexed with no such thoughts, nor our joys interrupted
with any such fears ; where we shall be " pillars in God's
temple," (Rev. iii. 12,) and go out no more. O, what do 1 say
when 1 talk of eternity ! Can my shallow thoughts conceive at
all what the highest expression doth contain ? To be eter-
nally blessed, and so blessed ! Why, surely this, if any thing,
is the resemblance of God : eternity is a piece of infiniteness.
Then, O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy
victory ? Days, and nights, and years, time, and end, and
death, are words which there have no signification ; ^ nor are
used, except perhaps to extol eternity, as the mention of hell,
to extol heaven. No more use of our calendars or chronology :
all the years of our Lord, and the years of our lives, are swal-
lowed up and lost in this eternity. While we were servants, we
^ Habet aeternitas suiim simul, in quo sunt omnia quae siniul sunt loco vel
tempore, et quae sunt diversis in locis vel temporibus ; ut Auseleni referente
Arriba.
170 THE saint's
held by lease ; and that but for the term of transitory life ; but
the son abideth in the house for ever. (Gal. vi. 8.) Our first
and earthly paradise in Eden had a way out, but none that
ever we could find in again ', but this eternal paradise hath a
way in (a milky way to us, but a bloody way to Christ), but no
way out again ; " for they that would pass from hence to you,^'
saith Abraham, " cannot." (Luke xvi. 24.) A strange phrase !
Would any pass from such a place if they might ? Could they
endure to be absent from God again one hour ! No, but upon
supposal that they would ; yet they could not. O then, my
soul, let go thy dreams of present pleasures ; and loose thy hold
of earth and flesli.^ Fear not to enter that estate, where thou
shalt ever after cease thy fears. Sit down, and sadly, once a
day, bethink thyself of this eternity : among all the arithmetical
numbers, study the value of this infinite cipher, whicb, though it
stand for nothing in the vulgar account, doth yet contain all our
millions, as much less than a simple unit. Lay by the per-
plexed and contradicting chronological tables, and fix thine eye
on this eternity; and the lines which remote thou couldst not
follow, thou shalt see all together here concentred. Study less
those tedious volumes of history, which contain but the silent
narration of dreams, and are but the pictures of the actions of
shadows ; and, instead of all, study frequently, study thoroughly
this one word, 'eternity,' and when thou hast learned thoroughly
that one word, thou wilt never look on books again. W^hat !
live, and never die ? Rejoice, and ever rejoice ! O, what sweet
words are these, ' never and ever ! ' O, happy souls in hell,
should vou but escape after millions of ages ! and if the Origenist
doctrine were but true ! O miserable saints in heaven, should
you be dispossessed after the age of a million of v/orlds ! But,
O this word, ' everlasting,' contains the accomplished perfection
of their torment and our glory. O that the wicked sinner would
but soundly study this word ' everlasting,' methinks it should
startle him out of his deadest sleep ! O that the gracious soul
would believingly study this word ' everlasting,' methinks it
should revive him in the deepest agony ! And must I, Lord,
' De coexistentia rerum in Dei aeternitate, lege Arribara plenissimo. Al-
var. ' de Aux.' lib. ii. disp. 8. Balthaz. Navarrer. in i. part. 'cont. 28. Cajet.'
et in i. p. q. 2-1. a. 3. Ferrar. ' cont. Gent.' lib. ii. c. 66, 67. Sic Nazar. &c.
et e cont. vid, Tv\iss. ' De Scientia Media,' p. 81. et alibi jiassim. Earlo.
* Exercit.' 5. Durand, dist. Iviii. q. 3. Bona, in i. sent. dist. 35 et 39, a. 2.
q. 3.
EVERLASTING REST. 171
thus live for ever ? Then will 1 also love for ever. Must my
joys be immortal ; and shall not my thanks be also immortal ?
Surely, if I shall never loose my glory, I will also never cease
thy praises. Shouldst thou but renew my lease of these first-
fruits, would I not renew thy fine and rent ? But if thou wilt
both perfect and perpetuate me and my glory, as I shall be thine,
and not mine own, so shall my glory be thy glory ; and as all
did take their spring from thee, so all shall devolve into thee
again ; and as thy glory was thine ultimate end in my glory,
so shall it also be mine end, when thou hast crowned me with
that glory which hath no end. And "to thee, O King eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, shall be the honour and
glory, for ever and ever : amen." (2 Tim. i. 17.)
And thus I have endeavoured to show you a glimpse of the
approaching glory : but, O, how short are my expressions of its
excellency ! Reader, if thou be an humble, sincere believer,
and waitest with longing and labouring for this rest, thou wilt
shortly see and feel the truth of all this ; then wilt thou have
so high an apprehension of this blessed state that will make
thee pity the ignorance and distance of mortals ; and will tell
thee then all that is here said is spoken but in the dark, and
falls short of the truth a thousand fold. In the mean time, let
this much kindle thy desires, and quicken thine endeavours. Up,
and be doing; run, and strive, and fight, and hold on, for thou
hast a certain, glorious prize before thee. God will not mock
thee : do not mock thyself, nor betray thy soul, by delaying or
dallying, and all is thine own. What kind of men dost thou
think Christians would be in their lives and duties, if they
had still this glory fresh in their thoughts ? What frame would
their spirits be in, if their thoughts of heaven were lively and
believing? Would their hearts be so heavy, and their counte-
nance so sad ? Or would they have need to take up their comforts
from below ? Would they be so loth to sufl^er, and afraid to die ?
or would they not think every day a year, till they did enjoy it ?
The Lord heal our carnal hearts, lest we enter not into his Vest
because of our unbelief.
CHAP. VIII.
The People of God described. '
Sect. I. Having thus performed my first task of describing
and explicating the saint's rest, it remains that now I proceed
172 THE saint's
unto the second, and show you what these " people of God" are,
and why so called, for whom this blessed rest remaineth ; and
I shall suit my speech unto the quality of the subject. While
I was in the mount, 1 felt it was good being there, and there-
fore tarried there the longer ; and were there not an ex-
treme disproportion between my conceivings and that subject,
yet much longer had I been. And could my capacity have con-
tained what was there to be seen, I could have been contented
to have built me a tabernacle there. Can a prospect of that
happy land be tedious, or a discourse of eternity be too long, ex-
cept it should detain us from actual possession, and our absence
move us to impatience ? But now I am descended from heaven
to earth, from God to man, and must discourse of a worm not
six feet long, whose life is but a span, and his years a? a post
that hasteth by ; my discourse also shall be but a span, and in a
brief touch I will pass it over. Having read of such a high and
unspeakable glory, a stranger would wonder for what rare crea-
ture this mighty preparation should be, and expect some illus-
trious sun should now break fortli ; but, ])ehold, only a shell full
of dust, animated with an invisible rational soul, and that recti-
fied with as unseen a restored 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, and confesseth this, yet cannot, of himself, confess it
neither, yea, that deserveth the contrary misery, and would, if
he might, proceed in that deserving; but being apprehended by
love, he is brought to him that is all, and hath done and de-
served all, and suffered for all that we deserved ; and most affec-
tionately receiving him, and resting on him, he doth, in and
through him, receive all this. But let us see more particularly
vet, what these " people of God" are.
They are a small part of lost mankind, whom God hath from
eternity predestinated to this rest, for the glory of his mercy, and
given to his Son, to be by him in a special manner redeemed,
and fully recovered from their lost estate, and advanced to this
higher glory : all which Christ doth, in due time, accomplish
accordingly bv himself for them, and by his Spirit upon them.
To open all the parts of this half-description to the full, will
take up more time and room than are allowed me. Therefore
briefly thus :
1 . I meddle only with mankind, not with angels ; nor will I
EVERLASTING REST. 173
curiously inquire whether there were any other world of men
created and destroyed before this had being ; nor whether there
shall be any other when this is ended. All this is quite above
us, and so nothing to us : nor sav I the sons of Adam only, be-
cause Adam himself is one of them.
2. And as it is no more excellent a creature than man that
must have this possession, so is it that man, who once was lost,
and had scarcely left himself so much as man. The heirs of
this kingdom were taken, even from the tree of execution, and
rescued by the strong hand of love from the power of the prince
of darkness, who having taken them in his snares, did lead theni
captive at his will : they were once within a step of hell, who
must now be advanced as high as heaven. And though I men-
tion their lost condition before their predestination, yet I there-
by intend not to signify any precedency it hath, either in itself,
or in the divine consideration."^ That question 1 dare not touch,
as being very suspicious that it is high arrogancy in us to dispute
of precedency in the divine consideration ; and that we no more
know what we talk of than this paper knows what I write of:
when we confess, that all these acts in God are truly one, and
that there is no difference of time with him : it is dangerous to
dispute of priority or posterity in nature ; at least of the decree of
the means, which is but one.
3. That they are but a small part of this lost generation, is
too apparent in Scripture and experience. " It is the little
flock to whom it is the Father's good pleasure to give the king-
dom." If the sanctified are few, the saved must needs be few:
fewer they are than the world imagines ; vet not so few as some
drooping spirits deem, who are doubtful that God would cast
off them, who would not reject them for all the world ; and are
suspicious that God is unwilling to be their God ; when yet they
know themselves willing to be his people.
4. It is the design of God's eternal decree to glorify his mercy
and grace to the highest in this their salvation ; and, there-
fore, needs must it be a great salvation. Every step of
™ Intellectum animae iiostrje oculum noctuam esse considerans, in i^iio-
rautia sola quietem illius iiiveiiio : melius est enim tarn fidei catholica! qiiam
j)liil(»sophije,faterl csecitatem iiostram, quam asserere tanqiiam evicleiitia qua-,
non quietant intellectum; evidentia namque qiiietatiVa est, iiit|iiit modtste
Cajetan. in torn. 1. p. q. 22. Art. 4. Etsi Arriba hoc sapienter dictum sui;il-
lat, lib. 1. cap. I'A. And if so great a man as Cajetan be forced to this, after
all his search and disputes upon these points, then inferior wits may well ease
themselves in a like modest resolution.
174 THE saint's
mercy to it was great ; how much more this end of all those
mercies, which stands next to God's ultimate end, his glory !
God cannot make any low or mean work to be the great business
of an eternal purpose.
5. God hath given all things to his Son, but not as he hath
given his chosen to him ;" the difference is clearly expressed by
the apostle. He hath made him " Head over all things to his
church." (Ephes. i. 22.)° And though Christ is, in some sense,
a ransom for all, yet not in that special manner as for his peo-
ple. He hath, according to the tenor of his covenant, procured
salvation for all, if they will believe ; but he hath procured for
his chosen even this condition of believing.P
6. Nor is the redeeming of them by death his whole task ;
but also the effecting of their full recovery: he may send his
Spirit to persuade others j but he intends absolutely his prevail-
ing only with his chosen. And as truly as he hath accomplished
his part on the cross for them, so truly will he accomplish his
part in heaven for them, and his part by his Spirit also on them.
And of all that the Father hath thus given him, he will lose
nothing.
But this is but a piece of their description, containing God's
work for them, and on then-; let us see what they are also in
" See John xvii. 2, a clear place. Sin ex prfficeclente priEvaricatione natural!
corruptioni mortales tenebantur obnoxii, g;ratiainque imaginis diviiisE pcr-
dideraiit ^ quid facto opus fiiit ad hujusmodi recuperaudam gratiara ? lllius
sane, illius hoc opus erat, qui ab initio, cum non essent, condidit omnia ;
divini scilicit verbi ; ipsius enim intererat, corruptibile hoc ad incorruptionem
revocare, ac pro omnibus rationabiliter patri satisfacere. — Athanas. lib. 1. dc
Incarnut. I'erbi. Vide uote'^ p. 83 of this volume.
" Christ taking to himself a body of the mass, and in all things like to ours,
because we were obnoxious to the death of all coriuptibleness, he delivered it
lo death for all, and offered it to God the Father. — j4than. ubl supra. Lege
Parffii Irenic. cap. 24. p. 124. art. 5 and G. For the Word, the Son of the
Father being above al!, might meritoriously alone recover all things, and
suffer for all men, and was alone sufficient to appease the Father for all men.
— Athanasius uhi supra; where he so often repeateth Christ's dying for
all, anil particulaily to procure tliem a resurrection, as if he could not incul-
cate it sufticiently. Vide Clem. Alexand. Stromal, lib. 7. prope initi.
I' That faith is properly called the condition of the covenant, and jus-
tifieth as a condition, besides what I have said in my confession, I refer
you to Master Wotton ' De Reconcil.' part 1. lib. 2. c. 19, where you have the
attestation of our chief divines. And, indeed, he must be a wiser man than
I that can reach to know, how faith can directly justify under any other notion
than that of a condition; that apprehensive nature which makes men call it
an instrument, being only its aptitude to its oflice, and not the formal reason
of its justifying.
EVERLASTING REST. 175
regard of the working of their own souls towards God, and their
Redeemer, again.i [These people of God then, are the (1) part
of the (2) externally called, (3) who being by the (4) Spirit of
Christ (5) thoroughly, though (G) imperfectly regenerate, are
hereupon (7) convinced, and (8) sensible of that (9) evil in sin,
(10) that misery in themselves, that (11) vanity in the creature,
and that (12) necessity, (13) sufficiency, and (14) excellency of
Jesus Christ, that they (15) abhor that evil, (16) bewail that
misery, and (17) turn their hearts from that vanity, and (IS)
accepting of Christ for their (19) Saviour and (20) Lord, to
bring them unto (21) God the chief good, and present them
(22) perfectly just before him, do accordingly enter into a (23)
cordial covenant with him, and so (24) deliver up themselves
unto him, and herein (25) persevere to their lives' end.]
I shall briefly explain to you the branches of this part of the
description also.
1 . I say, they are a part of " the externally called," because
the Scripture hath yet showed us no other way to the internal
call, but by the external. "For how shall they believe on him
of whom they have not heard ? And how shall they hear with-
out a preacher ?" All divulging of the substance of the Gospel,
whether by solemn sermons, by writing, printing, reading, con-
ference, or any other means that have a rational sufficiency, for
information and conviction, are this preaching ; though not
alike clear and excellent. The knowledge of Christ "" is none of
nature's principles :^ the book of the creatures is no means alone,
1 They that would see this work of God on the soul, handled most exactly,
judiciously, scholastically, and briefly, let them read Mr. Parker's excellent
'Theses de Traductione peccatoris ad vitam.* If you cannot get the book,
it is in the end of 'Ames, against Grevincho,' but maimed of fifteen Theses
left out ; though I own not every controverted assertion in it.
"■ Ego dice, voluntate quidem non est homo Justus ; nee natura potest sed
medicina poterit, quod vitio non potest. — August. 1. \. de Nat. et Grat. c. 43.
^ Quicquid illud est quod extriusecus oculis et mentibus hominum objici-
tur, destitutum est ilia via Sj)iritus quee sola potest homines abducere a pec-
cato, et ad vitse spem efficaciter revocare. — Amyrald. Defens. Calv. p. 154.
Quomodo causa ilia supernaturalis intellectum liberet a nativis quibus occu-
patur tenebris, mens humana non coniprehendit. EfFectum summo Dei bene-
ficio persentiscimus ; rationem operationis non tenemus. — Amyrald, Defens.
Doct. Calv. p. 200. Some confidently do, with Grotius, appeal to antiquity
in the points of universal sufficient grace and free-will, concerning which,
see Chamier, Bogerman's ' Annotations on Grot. Piet.' et Usher ' Ecdes. Brit.
Prim.,' what the ancient church thought and did against Felagius. So Jo.
Lacius ' De Pelag. Comment.,' Nic. Bodichir. in ' Sucin. Romonst. Videlius,'
&c. Yet, the truth is, most if not all the fathers of the first two or three
hundred years, speak in a language seeming to lean strongly that way ; and
176 THE saint's
much less a sufficient means to teach the knowledge of Christ.
It may discover mercy, but gives not the least hint of the way of
that mercy : it sjjeaks nothing of God incarnate; or two natures
in one person ; of Jesus the son of Alarv ; of Christ's surety-
ship, and suffering for us, rising, ascending, mediating, return-
ing ; of two covenants, and their several conditions, and the
reward of keeping them, and penalty of breaking them, &c. It
is utterly silent in these things. And to affirm that the Spirit
calls or teacheth men where the word is not, and where the
creature or nature speaks not, is, 1 think, a groundless fiction.
There is the light of the eye, and the light of the sun, or some
other substitute external light necessary to our seeing any object.
The Scripture and certain revelations from heaven, when and
where such are, is the sim of external light : the understanding
is our eye, or internal light ; this eye is become blind, and this
internal light in the best is imperfect ; but the external light of
Scripture is now perfected : therefore the work of the Spirit now
is, not to perfect Scripture, or to add any thing to its discovery,
or to be instead of a Scripture where it is wanting, much less
where the Scripture is : but to remove the darkness from our
understanding, that we may see clearly what the Scripture
speaks clearly : before the Scripture was perfect, the Spirit did
enlighten the prophets and penmen of Scripture both ways: but
now I know no teaching of the Spirit, save only by its illumina-
ting or sanctifying work ; teaching men no new lesson, nor the
old without book ; but to read with understanding, what Scrip-
ture, nature, creatures, and providences, teach." The asserting
therefore Calvin and Scultetus in ' Medul. Pat.' charge them with no less than
Pela°;ius's error : yet perhaps their laying the blame of evil actions on man's
will, and persuading men's wills, may occasion men to charge them so far, as
if therefore they supposed natural sufficiency; or they spealc of free-will as
opposed to fate, nature, and coaction, as you may find very many of them
favourably interjireted by Chamier. Panst. tom. 3. lib. .3. c. 16.
" As when Christ had opened tiie eyes of the man born blind, he did but
give him a jiower to see what present oljjects the sun or other external lights
sliould reveal, but not the actual sight of all the objects in the world, nor of
any without external light; he must yet travel to Rome, to India, &c. if he
will see them ; so God's illumination by the Spirit, doth give men ability to
see, but not without external revelation by the word ; and they must travel bv
long, jiainful study, from truth to truth, before they know them. See Heb. v.
11 — 14, fully for this. Lutherus de Cicerone, si sermonibiis convivalibus
creditur, 120, dicit, Cicero vir sapiens et sedulus multa fecit, et passus est.
Spero Deum ipsi et similibus ipsi propitiuni futurum. Dicant nobis Lutherus et
Zuinglius hoc sperant peccare gravius ; irao viderint ne dum culicem colant,
elejihautem devorent. — Pureus, Irenic, 28. p. (mihi) 245, 2i().
EVERLASTING REST. 177
of any more, is proper to tlie enthusiasts. If the Spirit's teaching
did without Scripture or tradition reveal Christ, surely some of
those millions of poor blind pagans would have before this be-
lieved, and the christian faith have been propagated among
them.
2. That these people of God are but a part of those that
are thus externally called, is too evident in Scripture and ex-
perience. "Many are called, but few chosen:" but the inter-
nally, effectually called, are all chosen : " for whom he called,
them he justified; and whom he justified, them he glorified."
(Rom. viii. 30.) The bare invitation of the Gospel, and men's
hearing the word, is so far from giving title to, or being an evi-
dence of Christianity and its privileges, that where it prevails not
to a thorough conversion, it sinks deeper, and casts under a
double damnation.
3. The first differencing work I affirm to be regeneration by
the Spirit of Christ ;" taking it for granted, that this regenera-
tion is the same with effectual vocation, with conversion, with
sanctification ; understanding conversion, and sanctification, of
the first infusion of the principle of spiritual life into the soul,
and not for the addition of degrees, or the sanctifying of the
conversation, in which last sense it is most frequently taken in
Scripture.
^ See Mr. Rich. Hooker, in his 'Discourse of Justification,' and Pet. Mar*
tyron Rom. c. 3. p. 157, showcth fully bow the Spirit goeth before faith, and yet,
in the increase, foUowetli after it. Fides est pars sanctitatis ; nostra ergo
fides fluit ex electione. Neque necesse est ut fides et sanctitas sit idem : suf-
ficit si modo fides sit pars sanctitatis nostras ; et qnis dubitat sanctificari nos
fide perinde atqiie ulla alia (lualitate sancta ? Ut Jud. 3.; Acts. xv. 9.
Itaqne non tantiini coujuncta est fides ciiin sanctitate in uno ct eodem sub-
jecto ; sed fides est formaliter sanctitas nostra; non quideni integralis, scd
partialis; quemadmodum etiani spes et charitds.— Dr. 7\i'iss. emit. Corvin.
p. 222. Cum Dominus per Ezsk. dicit, " Cor lapideum auferam etdabo,"
&c., utique per gratiae suae illuminatioiien niutat hominis voluntatem. Hffic
est mutatio non huniani arbitrii, sed dextrae excelsi : per quam filii hominum
graves corde, qui diligunt vanitatem, et quaerunt mendacium, ad diligendam
et quaerendam veritatem, non ipsi bonani voluntatem asserunt, sed ii Domino
donum bonae voluntatis recipiunt. — Fulgent, de P'erii. Prced. cap. 16. Sicut
in nativitate carnali omnem nascentis hominis voluntatem praecedit operis
divini formatio : sic in spiritnali nativitate qua veterem hoiniuem deponere
Jncipimus, ut novum, qui in justicia et sanctitate veritatis creatus est, indua-
mus : nemo potest habere bonam voluntatem motu proprio, nisi mens ipsa,
i. e. interior homo noster renovetur ac reformetur ex Deo. — Fulgent, de In-
carw. c. ly. Fulgentius saith, ubi sup. c. 23, 1 Cor. xii. 8, 9, " Alteri
fides in eodeni spiritu." Non ergo spiritum sanctum quia credimus, sed ut
crederemus acce|)imus.
VOL. XXII, N
178 THE saint's
This spiritual regeneration'^ then, is the first and great qualifi-
cation of these people of God; which, though habits are more for
their acts than themselves, and are only perceived in their acts,
yet by its causes and effects we should chiefly inquire after. To
be the people of God without regeneration,^ is as impossible
as to be the natural children of men without generation ; see-
ing we are born God's enemies, we must be new-born his sons,
or else remain his enemies still. O that the unregenerate world
did know or believe this ! in whose ears the new birth sounds
as a paradox, and the great change which God works upon the
soul, is a strange thing : who, because they never felt any such
supernatural work upon themselves, do therefore believe that
there is no such thing, but that it is the conceit and fantasy of
idle brains ; who make the terms of regeneration, sanctification,
holiness, and conversion, a matter of common reproach and
scorn, though they are the words of the Spirit of God himself;
and Christ hath spoken it with his mouth, "that except a man
be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The
greatest reformation of life that can be attained to, without this
new life wrought in the soul, may procure their further delusion,
but never their salvation.^
This regeneration I call thorough, to distinguish it from
those slight tinctures, and superficial changes, which other men
may pertake of; and yet " imperfect, " to distinguish our present
from our future condition in glory ; and that the Christian may
know, that it is sincerity, not perfection, which he must inquire
after in his soul.
Sect. III. Thus far the soul is passive. Let us next see by
what acts this new life doth discover itself, and this divine spark
doth break forth ; and how the soul, touched with this loadstone
of the Spirit, doth presently move toward God. The first work
I call " conviction," which comprehends knowledge, and assent.
^ De necessitate regenerationis, et Christi adventu ad earn procurandam,
lege Athan. ' de liicaru. Verbi.'
y Sananda est itaque (Juliane) hiimana, Deo miserante, natura ; iion te
inaniter dedamaute, tauquam sana laudanda. — August. Operis Imperf. lib. 2.
ji. 8. John iii. 3.
^ I mean that this is not a sufficient way to their salvation, but yet it may
con'luce to the good of others, to restrain their vicious actions, and somcwliat
more. — Ddnaus cont. Bcllar. ad Tom. Cont. 4. p. 231. Mea seutentia haec
est nt Christiauus judicetur legitimus, quisquis fuerit in ecclesia lege et jure
fidei divinamgratiam consecutus. — Cyprian. Eplst. 7G. ad Magnum. Aliter
pectus credentis abluitur, aliter mens homiais per fidei merita niandatur;
ut Cyprian. Epist. 76. ad Magnum.
EVERLASTING REST. 170
It comprehends the knowledge of what the Scripture speaks
against sin and sinners ; and that this Scripture which so speaks^
is the word of God himself. Whosoever knows not both these,
is not yet thus convinced. It comprehends a sincere assent to
the verity of the Scripture ; as also some knowledge of ourselves,
and our own guilt, and an acknowledgment of the verity of those
consequences, which, from the premises of sin in us, and threats
in Scripture, do conclude us miserable. It hath been a great
question, and disputed in whole volumes, v/hich grace is the first
in the soul ; where faith and repentance are usually the only
competitors. In regard of the principle, the power, or habitj
which soever it be that is infused, they are all at once ; being
-indeed all one ; and called several graces from the diversity of
their objects and subjects, as residing in the several faculties of
the soul; the life and rectitude of which several faculties and
affections, are in the same sense several graces; as the German,
French, British seas are several seas. And for the acts, it is
most apparent, that neither repentance, nor faith, in the ordi-
nary strict sense, is first, but knowledge.'' There is no act of
the rational soul about any object preceding knowledge. Their
evasion is too gross, who tell us, that knowledge is no grace, or
but a common act ; when a dead soul is by the Spirit enlivened,
its first act is to know ; and why should it not exert a sincere
act of knowing, as well as believing, and tlie sincerity of know-
ledge be requisite as well as of faith ; especially when faith in the «
Gospel-sense, is sometimes taken largely, containing many acts,
whereof knowledge is one ; in which large sense, indeed, faith
is the first grace. This conviction implieth also the subduing
and silencing, in some measure, of all their carnal reasonings,
which were wont to prevail against the truth, and a discovery of
the fallacies of all their former argumentations.
2. As there must be conviction, so also sensibility : God works
on the heart, as well as the head; both were corrupted, and out
of order. The principal of new life doth quicken both. All
true spiritual knowledge doth pass into affections. That religion
which is merely traditional, doth indeed swim loose in the!
brain ; and the devotion which is kindled but by men and
'^ Ista gratia quarn Deus vasis misericordiae gratis douat, ab illuminatione
cordis incipit: et honiiiiis voluntatem non boiiain inveiiit ipsa; sed facit
atque ut eligatur, ipsa prius digit: iieque suscipitur, aut iiligitur, nisi hoc
ipsa in cord^ liominis operetur. Ergo ut suscejitio et deslderiuin gratia;, opus
estipsius graliae. — Fulgtnt.de Vcrit. PrctiL c. 15.
N 2
ISO THE saint's
means, is liot in the mouth, and cold in the stomach. The
work that had no higher rise than education, example, custom,
reading, or hearing, doth never kindly pass down to the affec-
tions. The understanding which did receive but mere notions,
cannot deliver them to the affections, as realities. The bare
help of doctrine upon an unrenewed soul, produceth in the under-
standing but a superficial apprehension, and half assent, and
therefore can produce in the heart but small sensibility. As
hypocrites may know many things, yea, as many as the best
Christian, but nothing with the clear apprehensions of an ex-
perienced man j so may they with as many things be slightly
affected, but they give deep rooting to none. To read and hear
of the worth of meat and drink, may raise some esteem of them,
but not such as the hungry and thirsty feel; for by feeling they
know the worth thereof. To view in the map of the Gospel, the
precious things of Christ and his kingdom, may slightly affect;
but to thirst for, and drink of, the living ^-aters ; and to travel,
to live in, to be heir of that kingdom, must needs work another
kind of sensibility.*^ It is Christ's own differencing mark, and
I had rather have one from him than from any, that the good
ground gives the good seed deep rooting ; but some others en-
tertain it but into the surface of the soil, and cannot afford it
depth of earth. The great things of sin, of grace, and Christ,
and eternity, which are of weight, one would think to move a
rock, yet shake not the heart of the carnal professor, nor pierce
liis soul unto the quick ; though he should have them all ready
in his brain, and be a constant preacher of them to others, yet
do they little affect himself: when he is pressing them upon the
hearts of others most earnestly, and crying out on the senseless-
ness of his dull hearers, you would little think how insensible is
his own soul, and the great difference between his tongue and
his heart. His study and invention procure him zealous and
^ Deus autem ne fideles obliviscantur illius mortis in qua haeserunt, facit
perpetuo ut odor ipsius tain fcetidus, et tarn in?uavis, feriat ipsorum nares.
Jiam manent reliquiae illius mortis perpetuo dum hie vivimus : ut ex his
aestimeut quanta in morte jacuerint antequam coeperuut vivificari cum Chris-
to, et recentem ipsius retineant memoriam. — Rolloc. in Col. 2. 12. p. (niihi)
141. Neque profecto qui extra Christum est, serio sentit se mortuum esse
priusquam incipiat esse in Christo, et degustare illam quae ex ipso solo fluit
vitam tarn suavem et jucundam, postquam semel degustarunt homines, non
tantum sentire incipiunt mortem illam in ([ua jacuerunt, sed etiam ab ea totis
animis abhorrent ; neque ulla conditione vitam illam quam sentire incipiunt
cum ea commutarint. — Rolloc. ibid. p. 142.
EVERLASTING REST. 18l
moving expressions, but they cannot procure him answerable
affections. It is true, some soft and passionate natures may
have tears at command, when one that is truly gracious hath
none ; yet is this Christian, with dry eyes, more solidly appre-
hensive and deeply affected, than the other is in the midst of
his tears ; and the weeping hypocrite will be drawn to his sin
again with a trifle, which the groaning Christian would not be
hired to corSmit with crowns and kingdoms.
The things that the soul is convinced and sensible of, are
especially these in the description mentioned.
1. The evil of sin. The sinner is made to know and feel that
the sin which was his delight, his sport, the support of his cre-
dit and estate, is indeed a more loathsome thing than toads or
serpents, and a greater evil than plague or famine, or any other
calamities f it being a breach of the righteous law of the Most
High God, dishonourable to him, and destructive to the sinner.
Now the sinner reads and hears no more the reproofs of sin, as
words of course, as if the minister wanted something to say to
fill up his sermon ; but when you mention his sin, and stir in
his wounds, he feels you speak at his very heart, and yet is
contented you should show him the worst, and set it home,
though he bear the smart. He was wont to marvel what made
men keep such a stir against sin ; what harm it was for a[man to
take a little forbidden pleasure : he saw no such heinousness in
it, that Christ must needs die for it, and most of the world be
eternally tormented in hell. He thought this was somewhat hard
measure, and greater punishment than could possibly be de-
served by a little fleshly liberty, or worldly delight, neglect of
Christ, his word, or worship ; yea, by a wanton thought, a vain
word, a dull duty, or cold affection. But now the case is al-
tered : God hath opened his eyes to see that inexpressible vile-
ness in sin, whieh satisfies him of the reason of all this.
2. The soul in this great work is convinced and sensible, as
of the evil of sin, so of its own misery by reason of sin. They
who before read the threats of God's law, as men do the whole
° Nulla offensa Dei est venialis de se, nisi lantummodo per respectum ad
diviDam misericordiam, quae non vult de facto quamlibet offensam imputare
ad mortem, cum illud possit justissime. Et ita concluditur quod peccatum
mortale et veniale, in esse tali non distinguuntur intrinsece et essentialiter, sed
solum per respectum ad divinam gratiam, &c. — Gerson. de Vita Spirit. Corol,
1. Some Papists, then, confess the damning merit of every sin.
182
THE SAINT S
stories of foreign wars, or as they behold the wounds and the
blood in a picture, or piece of arras, which never makes them
smart or fear : now they find it is their own story, aiid they
perceive they read their own doom, as if they found their names
written in the curse, or heard the law say, as Nathan, " Thou
art the man," The wrath of God seemed to him but as a
storm to a man in a dry house, or as the pains of the sick to the
healthful stander-bv, or as the torments of hell to a child that
isees the story of Dives and Lazarus upon the wall ; but now he
finds the disease is his own, and feels the pain in his own bowels,
and the smart of the wounds in his own soul. In a word, he
finds himself a condemned man, and that he is dead and
damned in point of law, and that nothing was wanting but
mere execution to make him most absolutely and irrecoverably
■miserable.'^ Whether you will call this a work of the law or
-Gospel, as in several senses it is of both ; the law expressing,
and the Gospel intimating and implying, our former condemna-
tion ; sure I am, it is a work of the Spirit wrought, in some
measure, in all the regenerate: and though, some do judge it
unnecessary bondage, yet it is beyond my conceiving how he
.should come to Christ for pardon who first found not himself
guilty and condemned, or for life who never found himself dead^
" The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."
Yet I deny not, but the discovery of the remedy as soon as the
misery, must needs prevent a great part of the trouble, and
make the distinct effect on the soul, to be with much more dif?
ficulty discerned. Nay, the actings of the soul are so quick,
and oft so confused, that the distinct order of these workings
may not be apprehended or remembered at all ', and perhaps
the joyful apprehensions of mercy may make the sense of
misery the sooner forgotten.
3. So doth the Spirit also convince the soul of the creature's
vanity and insuflficiency.^ Every man naturally is a flat idolater ;
<* Quisquis desolationeni noii r.ovit, iiec consolationem agnoscere potest.
Et quisquis consolationem iguorat esse necessariam, soperest ut not) haheat
gratiam Dei. Inde est quod homines seculi negotiis et flagitiis implicati,
dun! miseriam non sentiunt, non attenduut misericordi^m. — Hern. Serni. 31 .
de Temp. Humiliation, though it do not properly cleanse your halids, yet it
plucks off the gloves, and makes them bare for washing. — Mr. Vine's Serin'.
on Jam. iv. 8. p. 12.
B Fecit Deus hominem ad se, fecit ilium sui capacem, et regno suo astemft
destinavit : cumque ipse sit immurtalis, infinitus, aiternus, quies, &c., efficit.
EVERLASTING REST. 183
our hearts turned from God in our first fall, and ever since the
creature hath been our god. This is the grand sin of nature.
.When we set up to ourselves a wrong end, we must needs err
in all the means. The creature is to every unregenerate man
his God and his Christ. He ascribeth to it the divine preroga-
tives, and alloweth it the highest room in his soul : or if ever
he come to be convinced of misery, he fleeth to it as his saviour
and supply. Indeed, God and his Christ hath usually the name,
and shall be still called both Lord and Saviour ; but the real
expectation is from the creature, and the work of God is laid
upon it. How well it will perform that work the sinner must
know hereafter. It is his pleasure, his profit, and his honour^
that is the natural man's trinity, and his carnal self that is
these in unity. Indeed, it is that flesh that is the principal idol :
the other three are deified in their relation to ourselves. It was
our first sin to aspire to be as gods ; and it is the greatest sin
that runs in our blood, and is propagated in our nature from
generation to generation. When God should guide us, we
guide ourselves; when he should be our sovereign, we rule our-
selves.' The laws which he gives us, we would correct and find
fault with; and if we had had the making of them, we would
have made them otherwise. When he should take care of us.
nos etiam capaces et appetentes immortalitalis, infinitatis, quietis, &c. Sed
in se acnon in nobis ; ut se nobis finein dedit, non nos ipsos; sed homo excinit,
&c., nen tamen ab ilia capacitate et desiderio, hsec enim est ejus natnra et
esseptia. Sed (res stupenda) ilia omnia indesinentur appetit, quseritve; sed
in seipso non in Deo adversus quem non minus perfidus quam miser ; et ideo
misei" quia perfidus rebellavit. Et haec est origo vitiorum, &c., quia coudi-
tus est capax et appetens celsitudiiiis, sed in Deo ; etsi a Deo separatus pergit
appetere celsitudinem ; sed in se ; et hsec est superbia ; quia honoris est
ciipidus ; sed in Deo permit honorem sectari, sed sibi et in se ; et haec ambi-
tio, &c. Lege ult. Gibieuf. de lib. 1. c. 21. sect. 6". p. 136.
' Etsi qui primum peccat per recessum k Deo peccat, quia tamen peccando
sibi ipse se afiixit, quando deinceps peccat non jam per nudum recessum a. Deo
peccat, sed per adha^sionem ad seipsuni ; qua? est illi quasi secunda quffidam
sed adulterina iiiclinatio, substituta in loco germanas illius, et sincerse quam
Creator omnipotens inseruerat, eamque paulatini debilitaus et obscurans.
Dixi non per nudum recessum a Deo, quia ilia ipsa adhaesio inordinata ad
seipsum, constat recessu k Deo, tauquam esse formali, et nialigno spiritu de-
pravationis et inordinationis sua-. — Gib. lib. 2. de Libert, c. 19. sect. 22. j). 422.
Hie est status hominis lapsi ; quem amorem propriuui conimuiiiter non cul-
pamiis ; de quo afiiriiiare licet nihil aliud esse nisi ilium niorem quern initio
preatur.'B Deus nobis iiiseruit; sed a Deo avulsimi, et ad nos ipsos derivatum
et detortura. — Gibieuf. lib.l. c. 21. sect. 7. p. 3(j.
184 THE saint's
and must, or we perish, we will care for ourselves : when we
should depend on him in daily receivings, we had rather keep
our stock ourselves, and have our portion in our own hands :
when we should stand at his disposal, we would be at our own;
and when we should submit to his providence, we usually quar-
rel at it ; as if we knew better what is good or fit for us than
he ; or how to dispose of all things more wisely : if we had the
disposal of the events of wars, and the ordering of the affairs
of churches and states, or the choice of our own outward con-
dition, it would be far otherwise than now it is j and we think
we could make a better disposal, order, and choice, than God
hath made. This is the language of a carnal heart, though it
doth not always speak out. When we should study God, we
study ourselves ; when we should mind God, we mind our-
selves ; when we should love God, we love our carnal selves ;
when we should trust God, we trust ourselves ; when we
should honour God, we honour ourselves ; and when we should
ascribe to God, and admire him, we ascribe to and admire our-
selves : and, instead of God, we would have all men's eyes and
dependance on us, and all men's thanks returned to us, and
would gladly be the only men on earth extolled and admired by
all. And thus we are naturally our own idols : but down falls
this Dagon, when God doth once renew the soul. It is the
great business of that great work, to bring the heart back to
God himself. He convinceth the sinner : 1. That the creature,
of himself, can neither be his god, to make him happy j 2. Nor
yet his Christ, to recover him from his misery, and restore him
to God, who is his happiness. This God doth, not only by
preaching, but by providence also ; because words seem but
wind, and will hardly take off the raging senses, therefore doth
God make his rod to speak, and continue speaking, till the sin-
ner hear, and hath learned by it this great lesson. This is the
great reason why affliction doth so ordinarily concur in the work
of conversion ; these real arguments, which speak to the quick,
will force a hearing, when the most convincing and powerful
words are slighted. When a sinner made his credit his god,
and God shall cast him into lowest disgrace ; or bring him that
idolized his riches into a condition wherein they cannot help
him, or cause them to take wing and fly away ; or the rust to
corrupt, and the thief to steal his adored god in a night, or an
hour J what a help is here to this work of conviction ! Wheu
EVERLASTING REST. 185
a man that made his pleasure his god, whether ease,"* or sports,
or mirth, or company, or gluttony, or drunkenness, or cloth-
ing, or huildings; or whatsoever a ranging eye, a curious ear, a
raging appetite, or a lustful heart, could desire, and God shall
take these from him, or give him their sting and curse with
them, and turn them all into gall and wormwood ; what a help
is here to this conviction 1 When God shall cast a man into a
languishing sickness, and inflict wounds and anguish on his
heart, and stir up against him his own conscience, and then, as
it were, take the sinner hy the hand, and lead him to credit, to
riches, to pleasure, to company, to sports, or whatsoever was
dearest to him, and say, ' Now, try if these can help you ; can
these heal thy wounded conscience? Can they now support
thy tottering cottage ? Can they keep thy departing soul in
thy body, or save thee from mine everlasting wrath ? Will they
prove to thee eternal pleasures, or redeem thy soul from the
eternal flames ? Cry aloud to them, and see now whether these
will be instead of God and his Christ unto thee.' O, how this
works now with the sinner ; when sense itself acknowledgeth the
truth, and even the flesh is convinced of the creature's vanity,
and our very deceiver is undeceived 1 Now he despiseth his
former idols, and calleth them all but silly comforters, wooden,
earthly, dirty gods, of a few days old, and quickly perishing ; he
speaketh as contemptuously of them as Baruk of the pagan
idols, or our martyrs of the papists' god of bread, which was
yesterday in the oven, and is to-morrow on the dunghill ; he
chideth himself for his former folly, and pitieth those that have
no higher happiness. O poor Croesus, Caesar, Alexander, thinks
he, how small, how short, was your happiness I Ah, poor
«" Finis operantis malum est bonum. Bonum est principium at finis malj
eo modo quo malum utroque gaudere potest ; estque axioma receptissimum ;
nemo intendens in malum operatur, et proinde ille etiam qui facit malum,
iuteudit bonum. — Ohservat. Dionysius. Aliud esse quod fit, aliud quod ap-
petitur. Appetitur bonum, fit malum ; dum scilicet bonum inordinate appe-
titur, dum appetitur bonum inferius eo, cui destinati sumus, et quod appetere
tenemur. — Gibieuf. lib. 2. de Libert, c. 20. sect. 2. p. 424. Sed qusestio est,
utrum prius sit in peccato, vel aversio k Deo, vel conversio adcreaturam. —
Resp. Aversionem praecedere, conversionem autem indebitam sequi : nee
uUum esse peccatum nisi praecesserit aversio 'k Deo ; conversio namque ad
creaturam, non est indebita et inordinata, nisi prout importat inhaasionem
absolutam ad creaturam, et derelictionem Dei : atque adeo nisi subest aver-
sioni k Deo tanquam formae. — Gib, lib. 2. c. 20. sect. 5. p. 425, This aveision
from God is from him both as the first and last, the principium et finis, the
lirst Ruler, and the chief Goodj as Gib. ubi sup, sect. 8.
186 THE saint's
wretches ! Base honours ; woful pleasures ; sad mirth ; igno-
rant learning ; defiled dunghill ; counterfeit righteousness !
Poor stuff to make a god of: simple things to save souls 1 Wo
to them that have no better a portion, no surer saviours, nor
greater comforts, than these can yield, in their last and great dis-
tress and need ! In their own place they are sweet and lovely ;
but in the place of God, how contemptible and abominable I
They that are accounted excellent and admirable within the
bounds of their own calling, should they step into the throne,
and usurp sovereignty, would soon, in the eyes of all, be vile
and insufferable.
4. The fourth thing that the soul is <;onvinced and sensible of,
is, the absolute necessity, the full sufficiency, and perfect excel-
lency, of Jesus Christ. It is a great question, whether all the
forementioned works are not common, and only preparation^
unto this ? They are preparatives, and yet not common ; every
lesser work is a preparative to the greater; and all the first works
of grace, to those that follow : so faith is a preparative to our
continual living in Christ, to our justification and glory. There
are, indeed, common convictions, and so there is also a common
believing ; but this, ds in the former terms explained, is both a
sanctifying and saving work : I mean a saving act of a sanctify-r
ing soul, excited by the Spirit's special grace. That it precedes
justification, contradicts not this ; for so doth faith itself too :
nor that it precedes faith, is any thing against it ; for I have
showed before, that it is a part of faith in the large sense : and
in the strict sense taken, faith is not the first gracious act, mucl\
less that act of fiducial recumbency, which is commonly taken
for the justifying act ; though, indeed, it is no one single act,
but many, that are the condition of justification."
This conviction is not by mere argumentation, as a man is
convinced of the verity of some inconcerning consequence by
dispute ; but also by the sense of our desperate misery, as a man
in famine, of the necessity of food j or a man that had read or
" Chamier saitb, " Fidem esse causam justificationisnego : tunc enim jus-
tilicatio non esset graluita, sed ex nobis ; at est fides mea gratuita, neque uUam
liabet causam jir?eter Dei misericordiam. Itaque dicitur fides justificare, noii
quia efficiat justifieationem ; sed quia efficitur iu justificato, et requiritur in
justificato, adeo ut nemo qui fruatur usnrationis,justificatus sit nisi, qui habeat
hauc fidem ; neque ulius habeat banc fidem qui non sit justificatus. — Chamier,
toni.iii. lib. 13. c. 6. And if it be no cause, it is certainly no proper instrument.
It is, saitli Cham, "tantum ratio, sen modus ageudi," c. (i. sect. C, 7.
EVERLASTING REST. flS?^
heard his sentence of condemnation, is convinced of the absolute
necessity of pardon ; or as a man that Hes in prison for debt, is
convinced of the necessity of a surety to discharge it.° Now
Xhe sinner finds himself in another case than ever he was aware
of; he feels an insupportable burden upon him, and sees
there is none but Christ can take it off. He perceives that he
js under the wrath of God, and that the laws proclaim him a
rebel and an outlaw, and none but Christ alone can make his
.peace : he is a man pursued by a lion, that must perish, if he
find not present sanctuary. He feels the curse doth lie upon
him, and upon all he hath for his sake, and Christ alone can
myke him blessed : he is now brought to this dilemma, either
he must have Christ to justify him, or be eternally condemned ; p
he must have Christ to save him, or burn in hell for ever ; he
must have Christ to bring him again to God, or be shut out of
his presence everlastingly ; and now no wonder if he cry as the
martyr, Lambert, " None but Christ, none but Christ 1 " It is no^
gold, but bread, that will satisfy the hungry ; nor any thing but
pardon that will comfort the condemned. " All things ai-e novy
but dross and dung ; " (Phil. iii. 7 — 9 ;) and what we counted
gain, is now but lo|s in comparison of Christ : for, as the sinr
ner seeth his utter misery, and the disability of himself, and all
things to relieve him, so he doth perceive that there is no saving
mercy out of Christ : the truth of the threatening, and teno|r
of both covenants, do put him out of all such hopes. There is
none found in heaven or earth that can open the sealed book,
save the Lamb : without his blood, there is no remission ; and
without remission, there is no salvation. (Rev. v. 3 — 6 ; Heb.
ix. 22, and xiii. 12.) Could the sinner now make any shift
without Christ, or could any thing else supply his wants and save
" That this was not per soltitionem stride sumptani, sed per satisfactionem,
viz. lion per solutioneni ejusdem (neque insensu moraii vel legali) sed tanti-
dem, vide Doctis. Parkerum ' de Descendu Christi,' p. 108; et Rivetuui 'in
Disputal. de Satisfac. •,' et Ball. ' de Foedere ;' et Cameronem saepius, ut
Oper. Fol. p.3();5, &c. But fully on this question, though in a contracted style,
is Grotius ' de Satisfaclione.'
1* Etsi in negotio justificationis magna periculo erratur, prout ea de re
controversia procedit inter nos et pontiticios, utruni, viz. gratia Dei justificar
tio vobis coutiugat, an meritis nostris. Mark, the question is not of the cun-
ditionality of obedieace to Christ, but of merit. Attamen prout inter nos et
])iscatoreui controversia iiistituitur, passivave tantum an etiani activa Christi
ybedieutia justificemur coram Deo, uuUo prorsus erralur periculo. Utrobique
eiiim justificationis causae Dei gratia? et Christi meritis ascribuntur, non
iutem operibus uostris. — Doct, Twiss, contra Corvinum, p. 3.
188 THE saint's
his soul, then might Christ be disregarded ; but now he is con-
vinced that there is no other name, and the necessity' is absolute.
(Acts iv. 12.)
2. And as the soul is thus convinced of the necessity of Christ,
' so also of his full sufficiency. He sees, though the creature
cannot, and himself cannot, yet Christ can. Though the fig-
leaves of our own unrighteous righteousness are too short to
cover our nakedness, yet the righteousness of Christ is large
enough : ours is disproportionable to the justice of the law, but
Christ's doth extend 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 granteth all he desireth : he tells us him-
self, "that the Father heareth him always." (John xi. 14.)
His sufferings being a perfect satisfaction to the law, and all
power in heaven and earth being given to him, he is now able to
supply every of our wants, and to save to the uttermost all that
come to him. (Heb. vii. 25.)
Quest. How can I know his death is sufficient for me, if not
for all J and how is it sufficient for all, if not suffered for all ?
Answ. Because I will not interrupt my present discourse with
controversy, I will say something to this question by itself in
another tract, if God enable me.i
3. The soul is also convinced of the perfect excellency of Jesus
Christ, both as he is considered in himself, and as considered in
relation to us ; both as he is the only way to the Father, and as
he is the End, being one with the Father. Before, he knew
Christ's excellency as a blind man knows the light of the sun j
but now, as one that beholdeth his glory.
And thus doth the Spirit convince the soul.
Sect. IV. 3. After this sensible conviction the will discovereth
also its change, and that in regard of all the four forementioned
objects.
1. The sin which the understanding pronounceth evil, the will
doth accordingly turn from with abhorrency. Not that the sen-
sitive appetite is changed, or any way made to abhor its object ;
but when it would prevail against the conclusions of reason, and
carry us to sin against God, when Scripture should be the rule,
and reason the master, and sense the servant : this disorder and
evil the will abhorreth.
2. The misery also which sin hath procured, as he discerneth,
t See Davenaijt's 'Dissertation,' and Dailseus's 'Apology,' and Amiraldus
* against Spanliemius.'
EVERLASTING REST. 189
SO he bevvaileth. It is impossible that the soul now living,
shouhi look either on its trespass against God, or yet on its own
self-procured calamity, without some compunction and contri-
tion. He that truly discerneth 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.
3. The creature he now renounceth as vain, and turneth it
out of his heart with disdain. Not that he undervalueth it, or
disclaimeth its use ', but its idolatrous abuse, and its unjust
usurpation.
There is a twofold sin : •" one against God himself, as well as
his laws, vvhen he is cast out of the heart, and something else
doth take his place. This is that I intend in this place. The
other is when a man doth take the Lord for his God, but yet
swerveth in some things from his commands : of this before. It
is a vain distinction that some make, that the soul must be
turned first from sin : secondly, from the creature to God : for
the sin that is thus set up against God, is the choice of some-
thing below in his stead j ^ and no creature in itself is evil, but
the abuse of it is the sin ; therefore, to turn from the creature,
is only to turn from that sinful abuse.
Yet hath the creature a twofold consideration : first, as it is
vain and insufficient to perform what the idolater expecteth, and
so I handle it here ; secondly,* as it is the object of such sinful
abuse, and the occasion of sin ; and so it falls under the former
branch of our turning from sin, and in this sense their division
may be granted. But this is only a various respect ; for, indeed,
it is still only our sinful abuse of the creature, in our vain ad-
mirations, undue estimations, too strong affections, and false
expectations, which we turn from.
' This sin directly against God himself, as it is *in the understanding- and
speech, is called blasphemy : but as it is in the judgment, will, affections, and
action altogether, it is called idolatry, or atheism. Great Athanasius approves
of this distinction of sin, in his judicious ' Discourse of the Sin against the
Holy Ghost.' He saith, between sin in the general, and blasphemy, this is
the ditference — " He that sinneth, transgresseth the law; he that blasphemeth,
committeth impiety against the Godhead itself."
' Ut enim debitus amor nostri non est, nisi prout includit ordiuem ad Deum ;
ita auior nostri inordinatus nequit intelligi, nisi prout importat recessum a
Deo. — Glbieuf. lib. 2, de Liberia t. Dei, cap. xix. sect. 32, p. 422.
' Peccare est subjici creaturae contra ordinem Dei, ut Gibieuf. lib. * De
Libertat. Creat.* p. 4, Et qui peccat semper appetit bonum particulare ;
ut idem Gibieuf, et Bradwardin., et Aquiu., et Twiss., et plerique scholastic!.
190 > THE saint's
,^ There is a twofold error very common in the description of
the work of conversion : the one, of those who only mention the
sinner's turning from sin to God, without mentioning any receiv-
ing of Christ by faith ; the other, of those who, on the contrary,
only mention a sinner's believing, and then think they have said
all : nay, they blame them as legalists, who make any thing but
the bare believing of the love of God in Christ to us, to be part
of the work, and would persuade poor souls to question all their
former comforts, and conclude the work to have been only legal
and unsound, because they have made their changes of heart,
and turning from sin and creatures, part of it, and have taken
up part of their comfort from the reviewing of these as evidences
of right work. Indeed, should they take up here without " Christ,
or take such a change instead of Christ, in whole or in part, the
reprehension were just, and the danger great ; but can Christ
be the way where the creature is the end ? Is he not the only
way to the Father ; and must not a right end be intended be-
fore right means ? Can we seek to Christ to reconcile us to God,
while in our hearts we prefer the creature before him ; or doth
God dispossess the creature, and sincerely turn the heart there-
from, when he will not bring the soul to Christ ? Is it a work
that is ever wrought in an unrenewed soul ? You will say,
" that without faith it is impossible to please God." ^ True ;
but what faith doth the apostle there speak of ? " He that
Cometh to God, must believe that God is, and that he is a re-
warder of them that diligently seek him." The belief of the
Godhead must needs precede the belief of the mediatorship; and
the taking of the Lord for our God, must, in order, precede the
taking of Christ for our Saviour, though our peace with God do
follow this : therefore, Paul, when he was to deal with the
Athenian idolaters, teacheth them the knowledge of the Godhead
first, and thelMediator afterwards. But, you will say, 'May not
an unregenerate man believe that there is a God ? ' True, and
" Peruse Master Pemble of this ' Vindic. Graliw,' p. 135, where he shows
you what darkness and coufusion is in the writings of many learned men, by
their restraining^ conversion to the bare act of believing, not so much as men-
tioning any other grace. And that to rejjeiit, to love God, and our neighbour,
to abstain from evil, to practise duties, are as proper parts of true conversion,
as faith ; and that the Scripture gives no ground for any such restraint, but
joins repentance and other godly acts with faith.
" Heb. xi. 16. Besides, though the person please not God, nor his actions,
so as for God to justify them, or to take delight in them as gracious ; yet some
actions of wicked men, tending to reformation, may please God in some re-
spect, secundum (fuid ; as Ahab's humiliation;
EVERLASTING REST. 191
SO may he also believe that there is a Christ ; but he cannot
more cordially accept of the Lord for his God than he can accept
of Christ for his Saviour. In the soul of every unregenerate
man, the creature possesseth both places, and is both God and
Christ.^ Can Christ be believed in, where our own righteousness
or any other thing is trusted as our Saviour ; or doth God ever
thoroughly discover sin and misery, and clearly take the heart
from all creatures, and self-righteousness, and yet leave the soul
unrenewed ? The truth is, where the work is sincere, there it is
entire ; and all these parts are truly wrought : and 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. And therefore in the work of self-examination,
whoever would find in himself a thorough sincere work, must
find an entire work ; even the one of these as well as the other.
In the review of which entire work, there is no doubt but his
soul may take comfort. And it is not to be made so light of as
most do, nor put by with a wet finger, that Scripture doth so
ordinarily put repentance before faith, and make them, jointly,''
conditions of the Gospel ; which repentance contains those acts
of the will's aversion from sin and creatures before expressed.
It is true, if we take faith in the largest sense of all,^ then it
contains repentance in it ; but if we take it strictly, no doubt
there are some acts of it go before repentance, and some follow
after.
Yet it is not of much moment which of the acts before-men-
tioned we shall judge to precede, whether our aversion from sin,
and renouncing our idols, or our right receiving Christ, seeing it
all composeth but one work, which God doth ever perfect wherei
he beginneth but one step, and layeth but one stone in sincerity ;
and the moments of time can be but few that interpose between
the several acts.
If any object, 'That every grace is received from Ciirist,
and therefore must follow our receiving him by faith,' I an-
swer. There be receivings from Christ before believing, and be-
^ Quum inter se comparantur et ilistinguuntur, seu ilistincte a nobis consi-
ilerautur, salutis illius partes : turn fides respectu justificatiouis rationera
habet coiiditionis praerequisitaj; nemo eiiim justificatur nisi per fidem ; re-
spectu autem sauctificatioiiis (i.e. a holy life, and holy motions of the heart,)
habet se ut ejus causa. — Doctis. Ludov. Capellus, in Thes. Salmur. vol. 2. p.
110. sect. 39.
" As it is put for all obedience to the commands proper to the Gospel,
192 THE saint's
fore our receiving of Christ himself. Such is all that work of
the Spirit, that l)rings the soul to Christ ; and there is a passive
receiving of grace before the active. Both power and act of
faith are, in order of nature, before Christ, actually received ;
and the power of all other gracious acts is as soon as that of
faith. Though Christ give pardon and salvation upon condition
of believing, yet he gives not, in the first degree, a new heart, a
soft heart, and faith itself, nor the first true repentance on that
condition ; any more than he gives the preaching of the Gospel,
the Spirit's motion to believe, &c., upon a pre-requisite condi-
tion of believing.
Sect. V. 4. And as the will is thus averted from the fore-
mentioned objects, so, at the same time, doth it cleave to God
the Father, and to Christ. Its first acting in order of nature,
is toward the whole divine essence ; and it consists, especially,
in intending and desiring God for his portion and chief good :
having before been convinced that nothing else can be his hap-
piness, he now finds it is in God, and therefore looks towards
it. But it is yet rather with desire than hope ; for, alas ! the
sinner hath already found himself to be a stranger and enemy to
God, under the guilt of sin and curse of his law, and knows there
is no coming to him in peace till his case be altered ; and, there-
fore, having before been convinced, also, that only Christ is able
and willing to do this, and having heard his mercy in the Gospel
freely offered, his next act is, secondly, to accept of Christ for
Saviour and Lord, I put the former before this, because the
ultimate end is necessarily the first intended, and the divine es-
sence is principally that ultimate end ; (John xiv. (j ;) yet not
excluding the human nature in the second person : but Christ,
as Mediator, is the way to that end ; and, throughout the Gospel,
is offered to us in such terms as import his being the means of
making us happy in God. And though that former act of the
soul toward the Godhead, be not said to justify as this last doth,
yet is it, I think, as proper to the people of God as this ; nor
can any man, unregenerate, truly choose God for his Lord, his
portion, and chief good 5 therefore do they both mistake : they
who only mention our turning to Christ, and they who only
mention our turning to God, in this work of conversion, as is
touched before. Paul's preaching was " repentance toward
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts xx. 21, v.
31, xi. 18, and xxvi. 20.) And life eternal consists, first, in
EVERLASTING REST. 193
knowing the only true God, and then Jesus Christ, whom he
hath sent. (John xvii. 3.) The former is the natural part of
the covenant, to take the Lord only for our God ; the latter is
the supernatural part, to take Christ only for our Redeemer.
The former is first necessary, and implied in the latter.
Though repentance and good works, Sec., are required to our
full justification, at judgment, as subservient to, or concurrent
with, faith ; yet is the nature of this justifying faith itself con-
tained in assent, and in this accepting of Christ for Saviour and
Lord: and I think it necessarily contains all this in it; some
place it in the assenting act only, some in a fiducial adherence,
or recumbency ; I call it accepting,*^ it being principally au
act of the will ; but yet also of the whole soul. "^ This accepting
being that which the Gospel presseth to, and calleth the receiv-
ing or accepting Christ : I call it an affectionate accepting, »
though love seem another act quite distinct from faith, and if
you take faith for assent only, so it is ; yet I take it as essential
to that faith which justifies. To accept Christ without love, is *
not justifying faith. Nor doth love follow as a fruit, but im-
mediately concur; nor concur as a mere concomitant, but essen-
tial to a true accepting. For this faith is the receiving of Christ,
either with the whole soul, or with part ; not with part only,
for that is but a partial receiving : and most clearly, divines of
late conclude, that justifying faith resides both in the understand- '
ing and the will ; therefore, in the whole soul ; and so can-
not be one single act. I add, it is the most affectionate ac-
cepting of Christ ; because he that loves father, mother, or any
thing more than him, is not worthy of him, nor can be his dis-
ciple ; (Luke xiv. 26 ;) and consequently not justified by him.
And the truth of this affection*^ is not to be judged so much by
^ So Dr. Preston's judgment is, and Dr. Wallis against the Lord Brook, *
p. 94. It is anacceptingof Christ offered, rather than the belief of a proposition
affirmed. So that excellent philosopher and divine. Love to Christ whether
it be not essential to justifying faith ; see more of this in the positions of
justification. Love to Christ must be the strongest love. To accept is only
velle bonum oblatum, and to love, as it is in the rational appetite, is only
velle bonum too (as Aquinas often) ; so that faith, as it is in the will, (in its
most proper act,) and love as in the same faculty towards the same object, are
but two names for one thing. But this with submission. The objections are
to be answered elsewhere.
■^ Scriptura fere utitur verbo Kafx^av^iv, quod propter sophistas est tutius.
lllud tribuitur tidei multoties ; John i. 12, ubi Jansenius, &c. et Bellarm.
Credere est Christum recipere. — Johan. Crocius de Just, Disj'. 12. p. Gb7,
•i Dr. Sibbs's « Soul's Conflict.'
VOL. XXII. O
194 THE saint's
feeling the pulse of it, as by comparing it with our affection for
other things. He that loveth nothing so much as Christ, doth
love him truly, though he find cause still to bewail the coldness
of his affections. ^ I make Christ himself the object of his ac-
cepting, it being not any theological axiom concerning himself,
but himself in person. I call it an accepting him for Saviour
and Lord. For in both relations will he be received, or not at
all. ^It is not only to acknowledge his sufferings, and accept of
pardon and glory, but to acknowledge his sovereignty, and sub-
mit to his government, and way of saving ; and I take all this to
be contained in justifying faith. The vilest sinner among us
will accept of Christ to justify and save him, if that only would
serve the turn to his justification.
The work (which Christ thus accepted of, is to perform) is, to
bring the sinners to God, that they may be happy in him : and
this both really by his Spirit, and relatively in reconciling them,
and making them sons ; and to present them perfect before him
at last, and to possess them of the kingdom. This will Christ
perform : and the obtaining of these, are the sinner's lawful ends,
in receiving Christ j^ and to these uses doth he offer himself unto
us.
5. To this end doth the sinner now enter into a cordial cove-
nant with Christ. As the preceptive part is called the covenant,
so he might be under the covenant before, as also under the offers
of a covenant on God's part. But he was never strictly nor
comfortably in covenant with Christ till now. He is sure by the
free offers, that Christ doth consent, and now doth he cordially
consent, himself ; and so the agreement is fully made ; and it
was never a match indeed till now.
6. With this covenant concurs a mutual delivery; Christ de-
livereth himself in all comfortable relations to the sinner, and
the sinner'^ delivereth up himself to be saved and ruled by
^ Fides considerat Christum ut redemptorem, adeoque sanctificatorum nos-
trum, inquit. — Cawero Prceiect. in Matt, xviii. 1. f. 78.
f The pitch of your love, if it be a right conjugal love, is upon the person
of Christ rather than any thing that comes from him, saith Burroughs on
Hosea, p. 603. Irenaeus, lib. 1. p. 6., saith, that the Valentinians would call
Christ their Saviour, but not Lord : justifying faith is the accepting Christ
both for Saviour and Lord,
e Christo servabatur, omnia retro occulta nudare, dubitata dirigere, praeli-
bata supplere, prsedicata repraesentare; mortuorum certe resurrectionem, non
niodo per semetipsum, verum etiam in semetipso, probare. — Tertul. in Lib. de
Resurrect, Carnis in principio, p. 405.
^ Si jgitur tradideris ei quod tuum est, id est, fidem in eum, et subjectionem,
EVERLASTING REST. 195
Christ. This which I call the delivering of Christ, is his act in
and by the Gospel ; without any change in himself. The change
is only in the sinner to whom the conditional promises become
equivalent to absolute, when they perform the conditions. Now
doth the soul resolvedly conclude, I have been blindly led by the
flesh and lust, and the world, and the devil, too long already,
almost to my utter destruction j I will now be wholly at the
disposal of my Lord, who hath bought me with his blood, and
will bring me to his glory. • And thus the complete work of
saving faith consisteth in this covenanting, or mystical marriage,
of the sinner to Christ.
7. And lastly, I add, that the believer doth herein persevere
to the end ', though he may commit sins, he never disclaimeth
percipies ejus artem, et eris perfectum opus Dei. Si autem non credideris ei,
et fue:eris manus ejus, erit causa imperfectionis in te, qui non obedisti; sed
non in illo qui vocavit. Ille enirn misit qui vocarent ad nuptias; qui autem
non obedierunt ei, seipsos privaverunt regia ccEna. Sed ille qui non conse-
quitur earn sibiniet suas imperfectionis est causa. Nee enim lumen deficit
propter eos, qui seipsos excoecaverunt, &c. — Irenaus adv. Hares, lib. iv. c. 7&»
' So Dr. Preston tells you frequently. And in the primitive times none were
baptised without an express covenanting, wherein they renounced the world,
flesh, and devil, and engaged themselves to Christ, and promised to obey him,
as you may see in Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and others, at large. I will
cite but one for all, who was before the rest, and this is Justin Martyr: speak-
ing of the way of baptising the aged, he saith, " How we are dedicated to God,
being renewed by Christ, we will now open to you. As many as being per-
suaded, do believe these things to be true which we teach, and do promise to
live according to them, they first learn by prayer and fasting to beg pardon of
God for their former sins, ourselves joining also our prayer and fasting. Then
they are brought to the water, and are born again, or baptised, in the same
way as we ourselves were born again : for they are washed with water, in the
name of the Father, the Lord and God of all, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of the Holy Ghost. Then we bring the person thus washed and instructed,
to the brethren, as they are called, where the assemblies are, that we may
pray both for ourselves and for the illuminated person, that we may be found,
by true doctrine and by good works, worthy observers and keepers of the com-
mandments, and that we may attain eternal salvation. Then there is brought
to the chief brother, (so they called the chief minister,) bread, and a cup of
wine, washed, which taking, he offereth praise and thanksgiving to the
Father, by the name of the Son and Holy Ghost : and so awhile he cele-
brateth tiianksgiving. After prayers and tlianksgiving, the whole assembly
saith Amen. Thanksgiving being ended by the president, or chief guide, and
the consent of the whole people, the deacons, as we call them, do give to every
one present part of the bread and wine, over which thanks were given, and
they also suffer them to bring it to the absent. 'J'his food we call the eucha-
rist; to which no man is admitted but only he that believeth the truth of our
doctrine : being washed in the laver of regeneration for remission of sin, and
that so liveth, as Christ hath taught.' — Jpol, 2. This, then, is no new over-
strict way, you see,
o2
196 THE saint's
his Lord, renounceth his allegiance, nor recalleth, nor repenteth
of his covenant, nor can be properly 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 yet
tread under foot the blood of the covenant, as an unholy thing,
(Heb. X. 29; Matt. xxiv. 13 ; Rev. ii. 26, 27, and iii. 11, 12 ;
John XV. 4 — 6, 9, and viii. 31; Col. i. 23; Rom. xii. 22,)
wherewith they were sanctified by separation from those without
the church ; but the elect cannot be so deceived. Though this
perseverance be certain to true believers ; yet it is made a con-
dition of their salvation, yea, of their continued life and fruit-
fulness, 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 sub-
scribed and sealed to that which ascertains us, both of the
grace which is the condition, and the kingdom on that condi-
tion offered.
Sect. VI. And thus you have a naked enumeration of the
essentials of this people of God : not a full portraiture of cheni
in their excellencies, nor all the notes whereby they be discerned;
both which were beyond my present purpose. And though it
will be part of the following application, to put you upon trial ;
yet because the description is now before your eyes, and these
evidencing works are fresh in your memory, it will not be un-
seasonable, nor unprofitable for you, to take an account of your
own estates, and to view yourselves exactly in this glass, before
you pass on any further. And I beseech thee, reader, as thou
hast the hope of a Christian, yea, or the reason of a man, to
deal thoroughly, and search carefully, and judge thj'self as one
that must shortly be judged by the righteous God ; and faithfully
answer to these few questions which I shall here propound.
I will not inquire, whether thou remember the time or the
order of these workings of the Spirit : there may be much un-
certainty and mistake in that ; but 1 desire thee to look into thy
soul, and see whether thou find such works wrought within thee ;
and then, if thou be sure they are there, the matter is not so
great, though thou know not when or how thou camest by them.
And first, hast thou been thoroughly convinced of an universal
depravation, through thy whole soul ; and an universal wicked-
ness through thy whole life ; and how vile a thing this sin is ;
and that by the tenor of that covenant which thou hast trans-
gressed, the least sin deserves eternal death ? Dost thou con-
sent to this law, that it is true and righteous ? Hast thou per-
EVERLASTING REST. 197
ceived thyself sentenced to this death by it, and been convinced
of thy natural, undone condition ? Hast thou further seen the
utter insufficiency of every creature, either to be itself thy hap-
piness, or the means of curing this thy misery, and making thee
happy again in God ? Hast thou been convinced, that thy hap-
piness is only in God as the end ; and only in Christ as the way
to him, and the end also as he is one with the Father ; and
perceived that thou must be brought to God by Christ, or perish
eternally ? Hast thou seen hereupon an absolute necessity of
the enjoying Christ ; and the full sufficiency that is in him, to do
for thee whatsoever thy case requireth, by reason of the fulness
of his satisfaction, the greatness of his power, and dignity of
his person, and the freeness and indefiniteness of his promises ?
Hast thou discovered the excellency of this pearl, to be worth
thy selling all to buy it? Hath all this been joined with some
sensibility; as the convictions of a man that thirsteth, of the
worth of drink ; and not been only a change in opinion, pro-
duced by reading or education, as a bare notion in the under-
standing ? Hath it proceeded to an abhorring that sin; I mean
in the bent and prevailing inclination of thy will, though the
flesh do attempt to reconcile thee to it ; have both thy sin and
misery been a burden to thy soul; and if thou couldst not
weep, yet couldest thou heartily groan under the insupportable
weight of both ? Hast thou renounced all thine own righteous-
ness ? Hast thou turned thy idols out of thy heart ;'^ so that
the creature hath no more the sovereignty, but is now a servant
to God and to Christ ? Dost thou accept of Christ as thy only
Saviour, and expect thy justification, recovery, and glory, from
him alone ? Dost thou take him also for Lord and King ? And
are his laws the most powerful commanders of thy life and soul ?
Do they ordinarily prevail against the commands of the flesh,
of Satan, of the greatest on earth that shall countermand ; and
against the greatest interest of thy credit, profit, pleasure, or
life ; so that thy conscience is directly subject to Christ alone ?
Hath he the highest room in thy heart and affections ; so that
though thou canst not love him as thou wouldst, yet nothing
'' In one word, the very nature of sincerity lieth in this ; when Christ hath
more actual interest iu thy heart, esteem, and will, than the flesh ; or when
Christ hath the supremacy or sovereignty in the soul ; so that his interest
prevaileth against the interest of the flesh. Try by this as an infallible mark
of srrace.
198 THE SAINT^S
else is loved so much ? Hast thou made a hearty covenant^ to
this end with him; and delivered up thyself accordingly to him ;
and takest thyself for his and not thine own ? Is it thy ut-
most care and watchful endeavour, that thou mayest be found
faithful in this covenant ; and though thou fall into sin, yet
wouldest not renounce thy bargain, nor change thy Lord,
nor give up thyself to any other government for all the
world ? if this be truly thy case, thou art one of these
people of God which my text speaks of: and as sure as
the promise of God is true, this blessed rest remains for thee.
Only see thou abide in Christ, and continue to the end ; for
if any draw back, his soul will have no pleasure in them.
But if all this be contrary with thee, or if no such work be
found within thee, but thy soul be a stianger to all this, and thy
conscience tell thee, it is none of thy case; the Lord have mercy
on thy soul, and open thine eyes, and do this great work uj)on
thee, and by his mighty power overcome thy resistance : for ™ in
the case thou art in, there is no hope. Whatever thy deceiving
heart may think, or how strong soever thy false hopes be, or
though now a little while thou flatter thy soul in confidence and
security; yet wilt thou shortly find to thy cost, except thy
thorough conversion do prevent it, that thou art none of these
people of God, and the rest of the saints belongs not to thee.
Thy dying hour draws near apace, and so doth that great day of
separation, when God will make an everlasting difference between
his people and his enemies : then wo, and for ever wo to thee,
if thou be found in the state that thou art now in. (Deut. xxxii.
25.) Thy own tongue will then proclaim thy wo, with a thousand
times more dolour and vehemence, than mine can possibly do
it now. O that thou wert wise to consider this, and that thou
wouldest remember thy latter end ! That yet while thy soul is
in thy body, and a price in thy hand, and day-light, and oppor-
tunity, and hope, before thee, thine ears might be open to instruc-
tion, and thy heart might yield to the persuasions of God ; and
thou mightest bend all the powers of thy soul about this great
work ; that so thou mightest rest among his people, and enjoy
^ Whether thy infant baptism will serve or no, I am assured thy infant
covenant will not now serve thy turn : but thou must actually enter covenant
in thy own person. (John xv. 4 — G ; Matt. xxiv. 13 ; Heb. x. 38^ 39.)
™ I speak net this to the dark and clouded Christian, who cannot discern
that which is indeed within him.
EVERLASTING REST. 199
the inheritance of the saints in light ! And thus I have shown
you who these people of God are.
Sect. VII. And why are they called the people of God > You
may easily from what is said discern the reasons.
1. They are the people whom he hath chosen to himself from
eternity.
2. And whom Christ hath redeemed with an absolute intent
of saving them ; which cannot be said of any other.
3. Whom he hath also renewed by the power of his grace,
and made them in some sort like to himself, stamping his own
image on them, and making them holy, as he is holy.
4. They are those whom he embraceth with a peculiar love,
and do again love him above all.
5. They are entered into a strict and mutual covenant, where-
in it is agreed for the Lord to be their God, and they to be his
people.
6. They are brought into near relation to him, even to be his
servants, his sons, and the members and spouse of his Son.
7. And lastly, they must live with him for ever, and be per-
fectly blessed in enjoying his love, and beholding his glory.
And I think these are reasons sufficient, why they peculiarly
should be called his people.
THE CONCLUSION.
And thus I have explained to you the subject of my text; and
showed you darkly, and in part, what this rest is ; and briefly
who are this people of God. O that the Lord would now open
your eyes, and your hearts, to discern, and be affected with the
glory revealed ! That he would take off your hearts from these
dunghill delights, and ravish them with the views of these ever-
lasting pleasures ! That he would bring you into the state of
this holy and heavenly people, for whom alone this rest remain-
eth I That you would exactly try yourselves by the foregoing
200 . THE saint's everlasting rest.
description ! That no soul of you might be so damnably de-
luded, as to take your natural or acquired parts, for the charac-
ters of a saint ! O happy and thrice happy you, if these sermons
might have such success with your souls, that so you might die
the death of the righteous, and your last end might be like his I
For this blessed issue, as I here gladly wait upon you in preach-
ing, so will 1 also wait upon the Lord in praying.
THE
SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.
THE SECOND PART.
CONTAINING
THE PROOFS OF THE TRUTH AND CERTAIN FUTURITY OF
OUR REST; AND THAT THE SCRIPTURE PROMISING THAT
REST TO US, IS THE PERFECT INFALLIBLE WORD AND
LAW OF GOD.
TO MY DEARLY BELOVED FRIENDS,
THE
INHABITANTS OF BRIDGNORTH,
BOTH MAGISTRATES AND PEOPLE,
Richard Baxter devoteth this part of this Treatise, in testimony of his
unfeigned love to them, who were the first to whom he was sent, as fixed, to
publish the Gospel : and in thankfulness to Divine Majesty, who there pri-
vileged and protected him :
Humbly beseeching the God of mercy, both to save them
from that spirit of pride, separation, and levity, which hath
long been working among them ; and also to awake them
thoroughly from their negligence and security, by his late heavy
judgments on them : and that as the flames have consumed
their houses, so the Spirit of God may consume the sin that wa§
the cause ; and by those flames they may be effectually warned
to prevent the everlasting flames; and that their new-built houses
may have new-born inhabitants ; and that the next time God
shall search and try them, he may not find one house among
them, where his word is not daily studied and obeyed, and where
they do not fervently call upon his name.
THE PREFACE.
DIRECTED
I. TO UNBELIEVERS AND ANTI-SCRIPTURISTS ;
II, TO PAPISTS;
III. AND TO THE ORTHODOX.
Because it is a point of such high concernment, to be assured
of the divine authority of the Scriptures ; and all men are not
of one mind in the way of proving it j and because I have not
handled this so fully as the difficulty and weight of the subject
doth require, as intending only a few arguments by way of digres-
sion, for the strengthening of weaker and less exercised Christ-
ians : I have thought meet, therefore, a little more fully to ex-
press my mind in this preface, being loth to stand to enlarge
the book any further. And that which I have to say, is to three
sorts of persons distinctly.
The first is, to all those that believe not the truth of the
Scriptures. Open pagans live not among us : but pagans pro-
fessing Christianity, are of late too common, under the name of
libertines, familists, seekers, and anti-scripturists. Had I not
known it by experience, and had conference with such, I should
not speak it. And there is a remnant of paganism and infidelity
in the best of Christians. The chief causes which pervert the
understanding of men in this point, in my observation, are these
two : 1 . When men have deeply wounded their consciences by
sinning against knowledge, and given the victory to their fleshly
lusts; so that they must either deeply accuse and condemn them-
selves, or deny the Scriptures ; they choose that which seemeth
the more tolerable and desirable to them, and so rather con-
demn the Scripture than themselves. And what malefactor
would not do the like, and except against the law which doth
condemn him, if that would serve his turn ? And when men
that are engaged in a sinful course, do see that the word of God
doth speak so terribly against it, they dare not live in that sin
while they believe the Scripture, because it is still awaking and
PREFACE. 205
galling their guilty consciences ; but when thev have cast away
their belief of the Scripture, then conscience will let them sin with
more quietness. These men believe not the Scriptures, principal-
ly, because they would not have them to be true, rather than be-
cause they do indeed seem untrue; for their fleshly concupiscence
having mastered their wills, their wills have also mastered thpir
understandings ; and so, as in a well-ordered, gracious soul, all
goes straight forward ; in these men all is perverted, and moves
backward. These men refuse their physic, because it is un-
pleasant, and not because it is unwholesome: yet at last their ap-
petite so mastereth their reason, that they will not believe any
thing can be wholesome which goes so much against their
stomachs. At least this makes them the readier to pick a
quarrel with it, and they are glad to hear of any argument
against it. Ahab believed not the message of Micaiah, not be-
cause he spoke falsely, but because he spoke not good of him
but evil : men will easily be drawn to believe that to be true,
which they would fain have to be true ; and that to be false,
which they desire should be false. But, alas, how short and silly
a cure is this for a guilty soul ; and how soon will it leave them
in incurable misery !
2. Another reason of those men's unbelief, is the seeming con-
tradictions that they find in the Scriptures, and the seeming im-
possibilities in the doctrines of them, which so far transcend the
capacity of man. To the former, let me say this much : 1. Jt
is merely through our ignorance, that scriptures seem contra-
dictory. I thought myself once that some places were hardly
reconcilable, which now I see do very plainly agree : plainly, I
say, to them that understand the true meaning of the words.
There are no human writings, but lie open to such exceptions of
the ignorant. It is rather a wonder that the Scriptures seem not
to you more self contradicting, if you consider, but 1. That they
are written in another language, and must needs lose much in
the translation, there being few words to be found in any lan-
guage, which have not divers significations. 2. That it being
the language also of another country, to men that know not the
customs, the situation of places, the proverbial speeches, and
phrases of that country, it is impossible but many words should
seem dark or contradictory. 3. Also, that the Scriptures are of
so exceeding antiquity, as no books else in the world are like
them. Now, who knows not that in all countries in the world,
customs alter, and proverbial speeches and phrases alter 3 which
206 PREFACE.
must needs make words seem dark, even to men of the same
country and language that live so long after. We have many
English proverbs, which if in after ages they should cease to be
proverbs, and men finding them in our writings, shall construe
them as plain speeches, they would seem to be either false, or
ridiculous nonsense. The like mav be said of alteration of
phrases. He that reads but Chaucer, much more elder writers,
will see that English is scarce the same thing now, as it was then.
Though the sacred languages have had no such great altera-
tions, yet by this it may appear, that it is no wonder, if to the
ignorant they seem contrary or difficult. Do not the mathema-
tics, and all sciences, seem full of contradictions and impossi-
bilities to the ignorant ; which are all resolved and cleared to
those that understand them ? It is a very foolish, audacious
thing, that every novice, or young student in divinity, should
expect to have all difficulties resolved presently, or else they will
censure the Scriptures, and speak evil of the things they know
not, instead of censuring themselves; when yet these men know,
that in the easiest science, yea, or basest manufacture, they must
have time to learn the reasons of them. It is usual with raw
scholars in all kinds of studies, to say as Nicodemus did at
first of regeneration, 'How can these things be?' '^Methinks
such frail and shallow creatures, as all men are, should rather
be so sensible of their own incapacity and ignorance, as to be
readier to take the blame to themselves, than to quarrel with
the truth. It is too large a work for me here to answer all the
particular objections of these men against the several passages
of Scripture : but if they would be at the pains to inquire of
their teachers, or study what is written to that end, they might
find that the matter is not so difficult as they imagine. Besides,
what Althamar, Cumeranus, Sharpius, and others have purposely
written for reconciling the seeming contradictions in Scripture,
they mav find much in ordinary expositors. Junius answereth
two-and-twenty cavils, which Simplicius the pagan raised, and
after him the antinomians used against Moses's ' History of the
Creation.* And he was fit for the work, having for a year's
* Sed queniadmodum apud eos qui semel providentiam probe perceperunt,
non niinuitur, aut peril fides providentJEe ob ea quae non comprehetiduntur ;
ita neque scripturae divinitati per earn totam dilfusae quidquam detrahitur,
ex eo quod ad singulas dictiones imbeciilitas nostra non possit adesse arcano
spleudori doctrinaj qui in tenui et contempta locutione delitescit. — Orii^en.
Philocat, (per Tariuum, Grffico-Lat. edit.) pj>. (milii) 12, 13.
PREFACE. 207
time continued in the desperate error of atheism himself. But the
fullest confutation of these blasphemous conceits, are in the pri-
mitive fathers, as Origen against Celsus, Tertul. Athanas. &:c. ;
where they shall find that the worst of pagans brought forth
these monsters, and by what weapons they were destroyed.
2. And what, if you could not see how to reconcile the seeming
contradictions of Scripture ? When you see arguments sufficient
to prove them to be the word of God (which I doubt not but you
may see, if you will search impartially and humbly), methinks
common reason might then conclude, that all that God speaks
must needs be true, though our blindness hinders us from a dis-
tinct discerning of it. 2. The like I say of the seeming impos-
sibilities in Scripture : is any thing too hard for Omnipotency
itself ? The atheist derides it, when he hears of the opening of
the Red Sea, of the standing still of the sun, &c. But, dost thou
believe that there is a God ? If thou dost, thou must needs
know that he is almighty : if not, thou hast put out the eye of
reason ; for most pagans in the world have acknowledged a God.
Canst thou think that all things thou seest are made and pre-
served without a first cause ? Do the heavens keep their courses,
and the earth produce that variety of beautiful creatures, and
the death of one cause the life of the other, and all kept in that
order of superiority and inferiority, and all this without a first
cause ? If thou say that nature is the cause, I would fain
know what it is that thou callest nature j either a reasonable
being and cause, or an unreasonable. If unreasonable, it could
not produce the reasonable spirits, as are angels, and the souls
of men ; for these would be more noble than itself : if reason-
able, is it not then God himself which thou dost call by the name
of nature ? To be the first reason, being, and cause of all, is to
be God. And then let me ask thee, dost thou not see as great
works as these miracles every day and hour before thine eyes ?
Is it not as great a work for the sun to move, as to stand still :
to move 10,388,442 miles an hour, being 166 times bigger than
all the earth ? Is it not as hard a matter for the sea to move,
and keep his times in ebbing and flowing, as for it to open and
stand still ? Is it not only the rarity and strangeness that makes
us think one impossible, when we see the other daily come to
pass ? If it were but usual for the sun to stand still, every man
would think it a far more incredible thing that it should move,
and so move. Why, then, cannot God do the lesser, who daily
doth the greater ? The like I might say of all the rest, but that
208 PREFACE.
it were too long to insist on them ; and for the truth of the
history, it is proved afterwards.
2. I would further ask these men : Must not a soul that is
capable of immortal happiness, have some guide in the way
thereto ? If they say no, then they either think God unfaithful
or unskilful, who having appointed man an end, hath not given
him direction thereto in the means. If they doubt whether man's
soul be immortal, and whether there be a life of happiness to
some, and misery to others, to be expected after this, I have said
enough against that doubt in this book following ; and further
let me ask them,** How comes it to be the common judgment of
all nations, even the most ignorant Indians, that there is a life
after this, where the good and the bad shall be differently re-
compensed ? This the ancient barbarians beheved, as Herodo-
tus testifieth of the Getae, (lib. iv. ;) and of the Egyptians, Dio-
dorus Siculus, (lib. i. Biblioth. numb. 93.) The very inhabitants
of Guinea, Virginia, Guiana, Peru, China, Mexico, &c., do be-
lieve this, as you may see, ' Descrip. Reg. Africse, Guianae,' (cap.
21, 24.;) Acost. (lib. v. c. 7, S ;) ?Iugh Luiscot. (part. i.
cap. 25;) Joannes Lerius, (cap. 16 3) Sir Walter Raleigh,
1* Socrates being near death, (apud Platonem, Cicerone interprete,) said
thus : " Magna me spes tenet, judices, bene mihi eveuire quod mittarad mor-
tem. Necesse est enim ut sit aiterum de duobus, ut aut sensus omnino mors
omnes auferat, aut in alium quendam locum ex his locis morte migretur.
Quamobrem, sive sensus extinguitur, morsque ei somno similis est, qui non-
nunquam etiam sine visis somniorum, pacatissimam quietem affert; Dii boni,
quid lucri est emori ? autquam multi dies reperiri possunt, qui tali nocti ante-
pouantur ? &c. Sin vera sunt qua; dicuntur, migrationem esse mortem in
eas oras, quas qui vita excesserunt, incolunt; id multo jam beatius est, te,
cum ab iis, qui se judicum numero haberi volunt, evaseris, ad eos venire, qui
vere judices appellentur, &c. convenireque eos qui justi et cum fide vixerint.
Haec peregrinatio mediocris vobis videri potest ? Ut vero colloqui cum Orplia?o,
MusiEO, Homero, Hesiodo, liceat, quanti tandem aestimatis ? Equidem SEepe
mori si fieri posset, vellem, ut ea quae dico, mihi liceret inveuire. Quanta
delectatione autera afficerei, &c. Ne vos quidem, judices, ii qui me absol-
vistis mortem timueritis; nee enim cuiquam bono mali quidquam evenire
potest, nee vivo nee mortuo ; nee unquam ejus res aDiis immortalibus negli-
genlur, &c. Sic Socrates. Qusedam et natura nota sunt, ut imniortalitas
animas penes plures, ut Deus noster penes omnes. Utar ergo et sententia
Platoiiis alicujus jironuntiantis, omnis aninia est immortaiis. Utar et cou-
scientia popuU coutestantis Deum Deorum. Utar et reliquis communibus
sensibus, qui Deum judicem pradicant 'Deus videt' et 'Deo commendo.' At
cum aiunt ' mortuum quod mortuum' et ' vive dum vivis' et post n)ortem
omnia fiuiuntur, etiam ipsa] tunc nieminero et cor vuigi cinerem a Deo de-
putatum, et ipsam sapientiam seculi stultitiam pronunciatam. Tunc si et
htereticus ad vulgi vitia vel seculi ingenia confugerit, discede, dicam ab
Ethnico, haretice, etsi unum estis omnes," &c, — Tertul. lib. deResurrect.
Cam, cap, 3. , . .
PREFACE. 20f)
Sec. What poets speak not de Taitaro, campis Elysiis,
Manibus? and so do philosophers of best note, except Galen,
Epicnrus, Plinius, &e. As for Pythagoras, and his master,
Pherecides, the Druids, the Indian Brahmins, Socrates, Plato,
Cicero, Seneca, they all acknowledge it. Lege Marcilium
Ficinum ^de Immort. Anim.j' yea, Aristotle himself saw this, as
appeareth ^De Anima,' (lib. i. context. 65, 66, lib. ii. context.
21, lib. iii. context. 4, 6, 7, 19, 20.) Sme then the light of
nature discerneth it.
Yet, if these men say that there must be a guide and law for
souls in their way to happiness, and yet deny that the Scripture
is it, I would fain know of them which is it, and where it is to
be found. Hath God any other word or law in the world above
this ? Sure, neither Plato nor Aristotle did ever call their books
the word of God ; and Mahomet's ' Alcoran' is far more unlike
to be it than theirs. If they say that reason is the only guide
and law, I reply, 1. Reason is but the eye by which we see our
directory and law, and not the directory and law itself: 2. Look
on those countries through the world that have no Scripture-
guides, but follow their reason, and see how they are guided,
and what diflferencc there is between them and Christians, as
bad as we are; and if you think of this well, you will be ashamed
of your error. Indians have reason, as well as we ; nay, look
into the wise Romans, and the great learned philosophers, who
had advanced tlieir reason so high, and see how lamentably they
were befooled in spirituals ; how they worshipped multitudes of
idols, even taking them for their gods, whom thev acknowledged
to be lecherous, adulterous, perfidious, bloodv, and wicked.
Read but Justin's 'A])olog.' Athenagoras, Tertullian's ' Apolog.,'
&c., Origen's 'Cont. Ccls.' Arnobius, Lactantius, Clemens
Alexand. Protreptic. Miniitius Felix, Athanas.j &c., fully of
this. Most certainly, either the Scriptures are God's word and
law, or else there is none in the known world ; and if there be
none, how doth the just, true, and righteous God govern the
rational creature, so as to lead him to the happiness prepared
for him ? But of this in the fourth argument following.
3. I would entreat these men, but soberlv, to consider this :
what if there were no full, absolute certainty of the truth of
Scripture or christian religion, but it were only probable, which
no considerate man can deny, were it not the wisest vvav to re-
ceive it ? What, if it should prove true that there is a hell for
the wicked, what a case are you in then ! You know your
VOL, XX n» p
210 PREFACE.
worldly happiness is a very dream and a shadow, and a brutish
delight, which is mixed with misery, and quieteth not the soul,
and perisheth in the using. If you do lose it, you lose but a
toy, a thing of nothing, which you must shortly lose whether
you will or no j but if you lose heaven, and fall into endless
misery, it is another kind of loss. Methinks, then, that com-
mon reason should persuade men to venture all, though it were
at uncertainty, upon that religion which tells us but of a possi-
bility of a heaven and a hell, rather than to venture on a possi-
bility of everlasting misery, for a little bestial pleasure, which is
gone while we are enjoying it ; yea, and when even in this life
these sensual men have not near so much content as the Christian.
Verily, if I doubted of the truth of the christian religion, I durst
not be of anv other; but should judge it the wisest course, to
venture all 1 had in this world upon the hopes that it propound-
eth ; yea, mere madness to do otherwise. If men that are at a
lottery will venture a small sum for a possibility of a great one,
though they know there is but one of twenty that shall get it,
how much more would any wise man leave a little vanity, in
hope of everlasting glory, and to avoid everlasting misery, though
it were uncertain : but, most of all, when we have that full cer-
tainty of it as we have !
4. Lastly: I would have these men consider, that though we
doubt not but to prove that Scripture is God's full and infallible
law, yet, if it were so that this could not be proved, this would
not overthrow the christian religion. If the Scriptures were but
the writings of honest men, that were subject to mistakes and
contradictions, in the manner and circumstances, yet they might
afford us a full certainty of the substance of Christianity, and of
the miracles wrought to confirm the doctrine. Tacitus, Sueto-
nius, Livy, Florus, Lucan, Sec, were all heathens, and very fal-
lible ; and yet their history affords us a certainty of the great
substantial passages of the Roman affairs which they treat of,
though not of all the smaller passages and circumstances. He
that doubteth whether there was such a man as Julius Caesar, or
that he fought with Pompey and overcame him, &c., is scarce
reasonable, if he knew the histories; so, though IMatthew Paris,
INIalmsbury, Hoveden, Speed, Cambden, and our own parlia-
ments that enacted our laws, were all fallible men, and mistaken
in divers smaller things, yet they afford us a full certainty that
there was such a man as William the Conqueror, William Rufus,
&:c. ; that there were such parliaments, such lords, such fights
PREFACE. 211
and victories, Sjc. He that would not venture all that he hath
on the trutii of these, especially to gain a kingdom by the ven-
ture, were no better in this than mad. Now, if Scripture were
but such common writings as these, especially joined with the
uncontrolled tradition that hath since conveyed it to us, may it
not yet give us a full certainty that Christ was in the flesh, and
that he preached this doctrine for the substance, and wrought
these miracles to confirm it, and enabled his followers to work
the like, which will afford us an invincible argument for our
Christianity ? Therefore, Grotius, &c., and so the old fathers,
when they disputed with the heathens, did first prove the truth
of christian religion before they came to prove the divine au-
thority of the Scriptures ; not that we are at any such uncer-
tainty, or that any Christian should take up here, as if the
Scriptures were not infallible and divine ; but being now speak-
ing to another sort of men according to their capacity, I say, if
it were otherwise, yet might we have certainty of our religion.
I shall say somewhat more to these men in speaking to the rest.
The second sort that I shall speak to, are the papists. I find
the chief thing that turns them from the reformed churches, and
confirms them against us, is, because they think they cannot
otherwise maintain their Christianity, but by deriving it from
their church. The first question, therefore, that papists will
dispute on with us, is, 'How know you the Scriptures to be the
word of God ?' For they fondly suppose, that because it cannot
be known without the help of tradition, or human testimony,
that, therefore, this must be only the testimony of the true
church, and that must be some visible church, and that church
must be presently in being, and must be judge in the case,
and must be infallible in the judging ; and all this can
agree to no other church; and, therefore, that theirs is the
only true church. And thus the particular church of Rotne
will prove herself the only or universal church. To stand here
to confute these vain, ungrounded conclusions, would be to
digress too far, and make this preface too long. Yet something
I wrote against their pretended papal infallil)ility, and of the un-
certainty of their faith ; but, being persuaded by others to insert
no more controversy here, I reserve it for a fitter place. Only I
would desire briefly any papist to show, whether their doctrine
do not leave the whole christian faith at utter uncertainty, and
consequently destroy it, as much as in them lies ? For seeing
they build all upon the supposed infallibility of the church and
p2
212 PREFACE.
that churcli*^ is the present church, and that is the Roman
church only ; and that is only the pope, as the Jesuits and most
papists say ; or a general council, as the French : see what a case
they hring Christianity to with their followers ! Every man
that will believe the Scripture, yea, or the christian faith, must,
1. Believe or know that Rome is the true church. 2. That it
hath authority to judge of God's word, and of the christian faith,
which is truly it, and whicli not. 3. That this authority was
given by God's word (this must be known, before men can know
that God hath a word, or what it is). 4. That they are infallible
in their judgment. 5. That Peter was at Rome, and was their
bishop, and conferred this sovereignty on them as his suc-
cessors.
6. That each particular pope is a true pope, and lawfully
called ; which all the world must know, that know neither him,
nor when, nor how, he was called. 7. That the pope determines
it as a matter of faith ; otherwise, they confess he may err, and
be an heretic. 8. And thoy must know where is the proper
subject of infallibility, whether in the pope or council, or they
know not which to build on, which yet they are far from agree-
ing on themselves. 9. When two or three popes sit together,
which is no new thing, the world must know which is the right,
for all the rest may err. 10. Or, if they join a council in the
infallibility, they must be certain that Christ hath given councils
this infallibility. 11. And that this is only to a council of Ro-
manists. 12. And so that the Roman church is the universal
church, and not only a part, as other churches are. 13. And
that they are free from error in council, and not out of it. 14.
That the council be general and lawful, else they confess it may
err. 15. Therefore, all men must he certain that it be sunnnon-
e<l by the pope. IG. And that the bishops that constitute it,
are lawfully called. 1/. And that the poj)e doth ratify the acts
* Vi(k' Crt J?. ' lie Valcnt.' torn. iii. tlisp. 1. qUsest. 1. pmict. 7. sect. 12 : et
liellarmin. 111). i>. 'tie Sacrament.' in ^en.cap. xxv. : et Suarez. 'do Fide,'
disiiutat. V. sect. 4, 7; et disputat. xi. sect. 3: Beilar. lib. i. ' tie Conciliis,'
c. 4. et I'J. el lib. ii. c. 2. Yet sonietiuies tlicy seem so jnous as to prefer
the Scfiptui'e belore the churcli. Nuncjuani sane niihi venit in mentem ec-
clesia; judiciiiui sacionim voluminum authoiitati antelerre, qua; Spiritiis
coelcstis afflatn exarata fiiisse tiini Petri) coutitennir, ciiin et pucri, qui lie
prinioribus quidem labris divina luoiiunienta attigerunt, satis iiitellit;anf,
vera; cccles;aj rationem sine verbi Dei integritate, quse fidei sedes est atque
lundaineutiiin, constare iiUo nuido pusse, (Sic. — Payiui D' Jnthatl. Defvns.
Cvnc.'l'i iihul. cv)il. Kemnil. lib. ii. p. (miiii) 202. Sed de alioruiu iuipu-
deutia, vide Cathol. Orthodox, tract. 1. q. ix. p. 94.
PREFACE. 213
of this council, as well as call the councils ; else they conclude
that they are unlawful, or may be fallible. He that knows not
all these, cannot be certain that Scripture is God's word, no,
nor of the truth of the christian faith, according to the papists'
grounds. And can all the world be certain of them ; or, are all
their laicks certain ; yea, or their clergy ; yea, or any man ?
Adrian VI. tells us, ' that the pope is fallible :' and shall we
not believe the pope himself, confessing his own ignorance ?
though councils have decreed against councils, and popes against
popes, over and over. Yet we must needs believe them infallible,
or forfeit our Christianity according to their doctrine : that is,
we must either renounce both experience, sense, and reason, or
our faith. Is not this the way to drive the world again to
heathenism ? And whether all the world lose not the certainty
of their Christianity, when there is an interregnum upon the
death of a pope, let them further study. I am fully certain,
that the christian world in Peter's days, did never pretend to
hold their faith upon his mere infallibility. Nor did Justin,
Irenseus, 1 ertuUian, Cyprian, or any of the ancientest that ever I
met with, hold their belief of Christ or Scripture on the infalli-
bility of the bishop of Rome. The contrary I shall manifest in
a more convenient place. I will only add this question : ' How
doth the pope and his council know the Scripture to be God's
word?' If they believe it on their own authority, that is, be-
cause themselves say so, then they are self-idolizers. And what
makes them affirm it to be so ; or what reason have they for
their belief? If they believe by any convincing reason, proving
Scripture to be a divine testimony, then why may not the clergy,
out of council, and others also, believe on the same grounds ?
Else the faith of the pope and his council will not have the same
grounds with the faith of the people or church besides ; and
then it is another faith ; and so either the people or the pope
are heretics. And why are we blamed for not believing on the
authortiy of the pope and council, when the pope and council
themselves believe not on that, that is, their own authority ? I
hope they will not turn enthusiasts, and pretend to private ex-
traordinary revelations of the Spirit. If they say, they receive
the Scripture by tradition of the ancient church, and so on their
credit ; why may we not know, as well as they, what the
ancients say in the point ? And is it not the honestest way^ '
if they knew more herein than we, to produce it, and show us"
what and where the ancients speak ? If they have it merely
214 PREFACE.
upon verbal tradition, have not other men as good ears as the
pope and his council ; and, therefore, being as honest, to be
as well credited in such reports ? And if it be their office to keep
traditions,*^ have they been so careless as to lose all the rest of
the things which Jesus did, which John saith will fill so many
volumes ; and also the traditions which themselves suppose Paul
to have delivered unwritten to the Thessalonians and others ?
Shall we believe them infallible, that have already so deceived
us ?
And for those that think it of absolute necessity, that the
church have some judge for final decision of controversies about
the sense of Scripture ; and that judge it so absurd a thing for
every man to be judge; and, therefore, they think we must needs
come to Rome for a judge. 1. I would know whether they
speak of fundamentals, and such other points as are plain in
Scripture, or smaller points that are dark : for the former, what
need is there of a judge ? No Christian denieth fundamentals,
and heathens will not stand to the papal infallibility. A teacher,
indeed, is necessary for the ignorant, but not a judge. It is the
vilest doctrine that almost ever Rome did forge, that funda-
mentals themselves are such to us, because they determine them;
and that we cannot know them but on their authority: yea, the
church (that is the pope) may by his determination make new
fundamentals. If they were not impudent, this abomination
would never have found so many patrons. They ask us, how
we know fundamentals ; and which be they? I answer, Those
things which God hath made the conditions of salvation. And
what if we take in both them and more, that so we may be sure
not to miss of them, so we go but to plain and weighty truths,
what danger is that? 2. Seeing all Christians in the world do
hold the fundamentals (else thev are not truly Christians), why
are they not fit deciders or judges of them, as well as the pope ?
3. And for lesser and darker points, by what means is the pope
^ So far have the Romanists been from being faithful keepers of their pre-
tended additional traditions, that by depraving: the monuments of anticjuity, and
by adding a multitude of legends and forged writings, to advance their own ends,
tliey have done the church of Christ more wrong' than ever they are able to
repair ; as the late King truly told the Marquis of Worcester in his printed
conference. But the vanity and forgery of llieir pretended monuments is
fully manifested by our Dr. James, and Cook's ' Censura Patrum,' Erasmus,
Uavenant, Blondellus, (on the by, in all his writings,) but most fully in
liis ' Examen Decretalem ;' so our Dr. J. Reynolds^ on other parts ; and many
more have opened their folly.
PREFACK. 215
and his council able to determine them, and to decide the con-
troversy ? If by any rational means, what are they? and why
may not as rational men decide it as truly ? 4. Will it not be
as hard a question, who shall judge of the meaning of the
pope's decretals or canons, where they are doubtful ? and so in
mfinitum. I see not but the council of Trent speaks as darkly
as the Scripture, and is as hard to be understood. 5. If God
leave a point dark and doubtful, will it not remain so, Avhatso-
ever confident men may determine ? G. If God have left a
certain means, and infallible judge, for determining all controver-
sies, and expounding scriptures, why then is it not done, but the
church left still in such uncertainties and contentions ? As some
anabaptists among us do boast of a power to work miracles,
and yet we can get none of them to show their power in one ;
just so doth the church of Rome boast of an infallibility in de-
ciding of controversies, yet they will not infallibly decide them.
If they should grow modest, and say, they do not determine
what is certain in itself, but what we are to rest in ; I answer,
so Christ thought them not all fit to be decided, and therefore
hath left many in doubtfulness 5 and is it not as fit that we should
rest in Christ's decision, and his judgment concerning points, fit
to be cleared and decided, as in man's ? The palpable mistake
of that one text, 2 Pet. i. 20, that no scripture is of private
interpretation, hath misled many men in this point; for they
think it speaks of the quality of the interpreter, as if private
men must not interpret it ; when the text plainly speaks of the
quality of the subject. The true paraphrase is evidently this,
q. d. Besides the voice from heaven, giving testimony to Christ,
we have also in the Old Scriptures a sure word of prophecy tes-
tifying of him (for to him give all the prophets witness), where-
unto ye do well to take heed, as to a light shining in a dark
place, &c. But then you must understand this, that no pro-
phecy of Christ in the Old Testament is of private interpreta-
tion; that is, it is not to be interpreted as speaking only of those
private persons who were but types of Christ, of whom indeed
it literally and first speaks. For though it might seem as if
the prophets spoke of themselves, or of the tvpe onlv, who was
a private person, yet indeed it is Christ that the Spirit that
spake by them intended : for the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man that spoke them, and therefore is not
to be interpreted privately of themselves, or what they might
seem to intend j but holy men spoke as they were moved by
216 PREFACE.
the Holy Ghost : and therefore his meaning must be looked to,
and he intended Christ the antitype. For example, David said,
"Yet will I set my King on my holy hill of Zion." (Psal. ii.)
You must not interpret this of David only, a private person and
Lut a type ; but of Christ the public person, and antitype.
But I must spend no more words here on this kind of manner.
Let me adventure on a few words to the ministers of the
Gospel ; not of advice (for that was judged presumptuous in my
last, though but to the younger) but of apology. Though the ac-
ceptance of this treatise be far beyond what I expected; yet some
have signified to me their dislike of some things in this second
part, of which I think it my duty to tender them satisfaction.
1. Some say it is a digression. Answ. And what hurt is
that to any man ? I confess it was fitted at first to my own
use (as all the rest was), and why may it not be useful to some-
body else ? My business was not to open a text ; but to help
Christians to enjoy the solid comforts which their religion doth
afford ', the greatest hinderance whereof in my observation, is
a weak or unsound belief of the truth of it. And, therefore,
I still think that the very main work lieth in strengthening their
belief. So that I am sure I digressed not from the way that
led to my intended end.
2. Othershave told me that I should not have mixed controversy
with such practical matter. Answ. And some, as wise, tell me they
l)ad rather all were omitted than this. For the truth must be known
before the goodness will be desired or delighted in. It seems
to me the ordinary cause of backsliding, when men either
begin at the affections, or bestow most of their labour there,
before they have laid a good foundation in the understanding.
And they are scarce likely to be the longest winded Christians,
nor to die for their religion, that scarceknow why they are Christians.
Methinks it is preposterous for men to bestow ten or twenty
years in studying the meaning of God's word, before they well
know or can prove that it is God's word. As the Italians men-
tioned by Melancthon, that disputed earnestly, that Christ was
really in the bread, when they did not well believe that he was
in heaven. If fundamentals be controverted, it concerns us to
be well seen in such controversies. However, if this be unuse-
ful to any man, if he will but let it aloncj it will do him no
harm.
3. Some blame me for making so much use of the argument
from miracles ; and, withal, they think it invalid, except it be
PRliFACE. 217
apparent truth which they are brought to confirm. Answ. 1.
If it be first known to be truth, there need no miracles to prove
it. 2. Do not all our divines use this argument from miracles?
3. And I do not by using this, hinder any man from producing
or using as many more as he can. 1 nowhere say, that this is
the only argument. 4. If these men were as wise as they
should be, they would take heed of shaking the christian cause,
and striking at the very root of it, for the maintaining of their
conceits. 5. If they take down the chief arguments which con-
firm it, what do they less ? 6. Search the Scripture, and see,
whether this were not the chief argument, 1. Which succeeded
then for bringing men to believe ; 2. And which Christ himself
laid the greatest weight on, and expected most from, Nathaniel
believing upon Christ's telling him of his conference at a dis-
tance. (John ii. 48, 49.) Upon his beginning of miracles at Cana,
in Galilee, he manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed
on him. (John ii. 1 1.) The Jews, therefore, inquired for signs,
as that which must confirm anv new revelation to be of God,
(Johnii. 18, and vi.30; 1 Cor. i. 22.) And though Christ blame
them for their unreasonable, unsatisfied expectations herein, and
would not humour them in each particular, that they would
saucily prescribe him ; yet still he continued to give them mi-
racles, as great as they required. Though he would not come
down from the cross to convince them (for then how should he
have sufferred for sin ?) yet he would rise again from the dead,
which was far greater. They that saw the miracle of the loaves,
said, "This is of a truth the prophet that should come into the
world," (John vi. 14.) "John," say they, "did no miracle;
but all that John spake of this man was true : and many be-
lieved on him there." (John x. 4 1 .) "Many believed when they
sawthe miracles which he did." (Johnii. 23. See also Acts iv. 16;
John vi. 2, vii. 31, xi. 47 ; Acts vi. 8, and viii. 6, 13; Gal. iii.5;
Acts ii. 43; iv. 30, v. 12; vii. 36, xiv. 3; Heb. ii. 4.) And
Christ himself saith, " If I had not done the works that no man
else could do, ve had had no sin in not believing." (Johnxv.24.)
And therefore he promiseth the Holy Ghost to his disciples, to
enable them to do the like to convince the world. (Mark xvi. 17,
18.) Yea, to do greater works than he has done. (John xiv 12.)
And he upbraideth, and most terribly threateneth the unbelievers
that had seen his mighty works. (Matt. xi. 20, 21, 23 ; Luke
X. 13.) Yea, the blaspheming of the power by which he wrought
them, and his disciples afterwards were to work them, and
ascribing them to the devil, he niaketh the unpardonable sin.
218* PREFACE.
(Matt. xli. 31, 32) See also Matt. xi. 2 — 4, xiii. .54, and
xiv. 2 ; Mark vi. 2, 14 ; John v. 19, 20, and vii. 3.) He tells
them, "The works that I do, bear witness of me." (John v. 30,
and 10, 25.) "Believe not me, believe the works that I do."
(John x. 37, 3S.) "Believe me for the very works' sake."
(John xiv. 11.) And how did the apostles preach to convince
the world ; but partly by telling them of Christ's resurrection,
the greatest of all his miracles, and his other works ; and
partly, by doing miracles themselves? They tell them, he
was approved of God by signs and wonders. (Acts ii. 22, and
vii. 36.) They declared also what miracles and wonders were
wrought by the apostles. (Acts xv. 12.) And Paul vindicated
the credit of his own apostleship, and so the truth of his testi-
mony, to the Corinthians thus : "Truly the signs of an apostle
were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders,
and mighty deeds." (2 Cor. xii. 12.) The way of bringing men
to believe in those days, is thus expressed, " How shall we escape,
if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard
him?" (Heb.ii.3,4.) There is sense to the first receivers, and then
tradition to the next. " God also bearing them witness both with
signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy
Ghost, according to his will."*^ And who dare question this wit-
ness of God ? And fear fell on them all, and the name of Jesus
was magnified, and men converted by the special miracles that
Paul did. (Acts xix. 11, 12, 16 — 19.) 1 will say no more to
the opposers of the sufficiency of this argument, but wish them
to answer or learn of that blind man, (John ix. 10;) Can a
man that is a sinner do such miracles ? VV^e know that God
heareth not sinners. Or, hear Nicodemus, We know thou art
a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles,
except God be with him ; John iii. 2. Natural reason shows
us, that God being the true and merciful Governor of the world,
the course of nature cannot be altered, but by his special ap-
pointment, and that he will never set the seal of his omnipo-
tency to a lie ; nor suffer the last and greatest inducement of
belief, to be used to draw men to falsehood : for then how de-
plorate were the condition of mankind !
Object. But you will say. False prophets may arise and show
signs. And antichrist shall come with lying wonders. Answ.
« Observe this text well, and it will help you to answer the question, How
know you the Scripture to be the word of God ?
PREFACK. 219
These are all lying wonders, indeed ; seeming to be miracles,
when they are not. Object. But the great question is, how we
shall know which are miracles indeed, when poor mortals may
be so easily deceived by superior powers ? Answ. For the dif-
ference between true miracles and false, Camero, Prideaux, and
most divines that write of this argument, have handled it; to
whom I refer you. I will only say this more, that we need not
be curious in this inquiry. For if any doubt, whether miracles
may not be wrought to delude, 1 would add these qualifications
to that medium, and thus form the major proposition, that doc-
trine, or those books, which were attested by apparent, frequent^
and uncontrolled miracles, must needs be of God. But such is
this, &c.; a wonder wrought once or twice, may easier deceive,
than that which is done one hundred times. A wonder in a
corner may be blazed falsely to be a miracle; but Christ had so
many thousand witnesses, as of the miracle and the loaves ; and
five hundred at once that saw him after his resurrection, and the
apostles appealed to whole churches, even when they had secret
adversaries, who might easily have disproved them, if it had not
been true ; and they spake with tongues before people of many
nations ; and it was not one, nor one hundred, but the multi-
tudes of Christians that had one gift or other of this sort, either
miracles especially so called, or healing, or prophesying, or
tongues, &:c. (See 1 Cor. xii. from ver. 1 to 12, and Mark xvi. 17.)
But especially no uncontrolled miracles shall ever be used to
deceive the world. Two ways doth God control even the seeming
miracles of deceivers. 1. By doing greater in opposition to
them, and so disgracing and confounding them, and the authors,
and the cause. So God did by the magicians in Egypt ; by the
exorcist, in Acts xix; and by SimonMagus^ as church history tells
us. In this case, it is no disparagement to God's mercy or faith-
fulness, to let men work false wonders ; for he doth but make
them the occasion of his triumph, that the victory of truth may
be more eminent, and men's faith more confirmed. 2. Also, by
some clear and undoubted truth, either known to common rea-
son, or by former scriptures, doth God often control deceiving-
wonders. For if they are used to attest an undoubted falsehood,
then the former established truth contradicting them, is sufficient
controlment. So that, as God will never set his own proper seal of
a true miracle to an untruth, so neither will he suffer a seeming
miracle to go uncontrolled when it may endanger the faith and
220 PREFACE.
safety of mankind. Nor can it be shown that ever he did other-
wise ; whereas, the miracles of Christ and his disciples were
uncontrolled, frequent, numerous, apparent, prevalent, and
triumphant.
Object. Then if miracles be wrought now, they will infer a
new Scripture.
Answ. No such matter ; they will prove the testimony to be
divine, where it is certain that they are wrought to confirm any
testimony ; but no more. God may work them without man,
to stir up men's hearts, and rouse them to repentance,^ and not
to confirm any new testimony ; or he may enable men to work
them for attestation of formerly-revealed truth.
Object. But wicked men may do miracles.
Answ. But not when they please, nor for what they please, but
as God pleases. Wicked men may be witnesses of the truth of
God.
I conclude with the argument. That which was the great
argument used by Christ and his apostles to win the world to
believe, should be the great argument now for every man to use
to that end with himself and others ', but that was this from
miracles ; therefore, &c.
4. The same men that make this exception are offended,
that I over-pass some other arguments, which are taken to be
the chiefest; as scripture efficacv, and the witness of the Holy
Ghost to the consciences of ))elievers.
Answ. 1. Why should I be tied to do that which so many
have done already ? 2. 1 never intended the full handling of
the point, but two or three arguments to strengthen the weak.
And may I not choose which I thought fittest, as long as I
hinder no man to use what other he please ? 3. The efficacy
is either on the understanding, or on the will and affections. If
on the understanding, then it is the belief of scripture-truth
which is thus effected : and so the argument should run thus :
Whatsoever is so effectual as to persuade men of its truth or
divinity, that is true or divine ; but the Scripture is such, &c. I
need not speak of the major. ^ Or if the efficacy be on the will
and affections, then it presupposeth, that it is first believed to be
true. For nothing works on the will, but by means of the un-
derstanding. But I neither dare, nor need to show the weak-
' Vide Suarez ' de Fide,' disp. iv. sect. 10.
s Lege R. Baronium Apol. tract, ix, puiict. 6. assert. 3. pp. 729, 730, ple-
nissiine.
PREFACE. 221
ness of such arguments ; the papists have done too much in it,
as their writings generally will show you. See Vane, Cressy,
Richworth's 'Dialogues,' Martin, Stapleton ; and most run
that way.
4. ''And for the testimony of the Spirit, it consisteth, 1. In
its testimony by the miracles which it enabled the apostles to
effect for the sealing of their doctrine. 2. And in the sanctify-
ing illumination of our understandings to see that which is
objectively revealed. So that this testimony is the efficient and
not objective cause of our behef in this latter sense. If men
should judge of the canon of Scripture by the immediate tes-
timony of the Spirit, as if this were some exterior revealer of
what is divinely inspired, we shoiild then have as great variety of
canons almost as of persons. Men talk of this in mere disputes,
but I know not the man that would undertake to determine of
the canon by retiring into his heart, and consulting merely with
the Spirit within him.
5. Another great exception of the same men is, that I seek
to satisfy reason so much of the Scripture's authority : and the
reasons which they urge against my reasoning, are these two.
It is too near the Socinian way. Answ. Socinians will believe
nothing without reason or evidence from the nature of the thing
revealed : that is, they believe nothing at all as certain : for if
the thing be evident, it is, as such, the object of knowledge, and
not of belief. I will believe any thing in the world which I know
certainly that God speaks or revealeth ; though the thing in it-
self seem ever so unreasonable. For I have reason to believe,
or ratlier to know, that all is true which God revealed, how im-
probable soever to flesh and blood. Is it not a shame that
learned men should charge this very opiuiim in Chillingv/orth,
Dr. Hammond, and others, as guilty of Socinianism? and there-
by, 1. Make the papists brag, that we cannot confute them, but
on Socinian principles ;' 2. And make young scholars, through
prejudice, turn off from the true ways of defending scrijjture
'' Vide Doctis. Rob. Baron Apodix. arl Jos. Turnebullum, p. fi26, 629 ; et
tiact. ix. pp 2, 9(), et 733. Maximopere dauuiainus illos qui, &c. Vi(Je
etiam Vegam. lib. ix. ; ' De Justificat.' c. 47 ; Greg. Valent. toin. iii. disj). 1.
quaest. 1. punct. I. sect. 5 ; et Suarez. disp. iii. ' de Fide,' sect. 3; et cout.
vide Stapletoii. ' Controv.' iv. quaest. 3, an. ii. resp. ad arg. 1 ; et in ' Defeus.
Autliuiitat. Eccles.' lib. iii. cap. 12. sect. 11; Malder, in ii. 2, qutest. 1.
art. 1 , sect. 8 ; ' Mel. Canit.' Ii!). ii. de loc. cap. 8.
' Read Viilelim's * Ilatioiial'i Theolos;. against Veronius,' and throughoutj
how far reason aud uatuial principles may be used in disputes of diviuity.
222 PREFACE.
authority; to the great wrong, (1.) Of their own souls. (2.)
And of their people. (3.) And of the protestant. (4.) And
christian cause. 3. And how could all the wits of the world do
more to advance Socinianisni than these men do, by making
men believe that only the Socinians have reason for their religion?
which if it were true, as nothing less, vvlio would not turn to
them ? 4. And what more can be done to the disgrace and
ruin of Christianity, than to make the world lielieve that we have
no reason for it ? nor are able to prove it true against an ad-
versary ? What would these men do if they lived among Christ's
enemies, and were challenged to defend their religion, or prove
it true ? Would they say, as they say to me, ' I will believe and
not dispute?' Christ's cause would then be little beholden to
them. And how would they preach for the conversion of infidels,
if they had not reason to give them, for what they persuade
them to ? How will they try the spirits, and try all things, and
hold fast that which is good, but by discourse ? But it seems,
these men themselves have no more reason for their believing in
Christ, than in Mahomet or antichrist. Tiiey are good Chris-
tians and teachers that while !
But the great argument is this, They say, and great ones write
so, that the divine authority of Scripture is, principiicm inclemon-
strabile, a principle not to be proved, but believed ; for no
science proves its principles.
To which I answer, 1. Wlien our R. Baronius and others do
afftrm it to he j^rincipium indemonstrabile, it is not as if it were
not at all demonstrable, but that it is not demonstrabile per
allam revelationem ; but they acknowledge that it contains in
it those characters of the divine authority, which by reason or
discourse may be discerned. 2. It is therefore improper to say
it is credendum, a thing to be believed first, and directly, that
these books are God's word, seeing it is, by consequence, con-
fessed that it is a point to be known by the aforesaid evidence ;
therefore, not first to be believed. 3. And, otherwise, they con-
tradict themselves when they bestow whole volumes to prove that
it is part of the formal object of faith, (which answers the cur
credis ?) and yet to affirm it to be principium primo credendum,
which makes it the material object of faith ; for in this sense it
cannot be both, as I shall show. 4. How the divine authority
of Scripture is the principium reliyionis ChristiancB, and how
not, would hold a long debate of itself. Our R. Baronius him-
self saith, that when we say all Christians should resolve their
PREFACE. 223
faith into the divine and canonical authority of Scripture, they
do not mean that this is the only way of resolving faith, as If no
other way were possible or available to salvation, but only that
this way is the most convenient, profitable, and certain j yea,
and is necessary, too, in those churches where the Scriptures are
known, * Apolog. advers. Turnebul.' (Tract, i. cap. 2, Observ. i.
pag. 46,) which words show how far Scripture is a principium.
5. As theology, Christianity, and all religion, do presuppose
reason, as all morality presupposeth naturality, so it is evident
that some of the principles of religion, or of Christianity, must
be first proved by reason ; and so we may compare it to those
inferior sciences, whose principles must be proved by superior
sciences, though not by the same science. Though Scripture,
in point of excellency, should not be said to be inferior to reason,
yet in point of order it mav, as still pre-requiring or pre-sup-
posing reason -. as the form is after the matter, and the habit
after the faculty. 6. Those characters of divine authority which
divines mention, may, at least some of them, be demonstrated
to others, as prophecies fulfilled, and all to ourselves ; therefore,
the scripture authority is not an indemonstrable principle. 7.
The very being of all belief lieth in this, that it be an assent to
the truth of an enunciation on the credit of the testifier or re-
vealer. Now, if we must first believe Scripture to be God's
word, and not know it, then we must believe it on the credit of
the revealer ; and then it is by some other revelation, or by itself.
If by some other, then how know I that other revelation to be
of God ? and so in infinitum ; but if [ believe it to be of God,
because it revealeth itself to be so, as our divines say, then*this
self-revelation is, 1. Either by way of proper testimony, or, 2.
By objective evidence, to be discerned by reason. If the former,
which must be said, or it cannot be the material object of faith ;
then either I must believe every book that affirms itself to be
divine, or else I must have some reason to believe this, so affirm-
ing of itself, more than others; and these reasons will be things
known and not believed. But if the latter, by objective evi-
dence,'^ which is it that divines generally say, then why do they
^ Vide Baron, tract. 9. per totum. Authoritateni Scripturae duplici mojo
Deus apud nos contestatur. 1. \i\ eo quod eandem oiiiavit notauclis qualitati-
bus et praerogativis supra omnia humana scripta. 2. In eo quod omnium suo-
rum corda spiritu suo afi'icit ; ut ar^noscant veritatem suam iu scriptis illis
micantem. — Rivtt. Cntholic. Orthodox-, in Tractat, prinio quasst. xii. p. 131.
col. 2.
224 PREFACE.
not observe that this is to unsay what they have said, and to say
plainly, that it is a thing to be known, and not strictly be-
lieved, that this is God's revelation ? Things evident, are the
objects of knowledge; things testified, are the objects of faith,
as testified.
8. Yet I confess, that when we first know this or that to be
a divine testimony, we may, in a second place, believe it ; for
it is revealed in Scripture, " Thus saith the Lord," &c. : and so
the same thing may be, and is, the object of knowledge, and of
belief; but it must, in the rational order, be known first, and
not believed first ; for, else, as is said, I should believe every
writing so affirming itself divine, or else believe the affirmation
of this without evidence and reason. 9. And, indeed, what else
can be the meaning of our divines, when they tell us that all
faith is resolved into the credit or authority of the testifier and
revealer ? as our Baronius, ' Apol. cont. Turnebul.' (Tract, iii.
sect. 3, cap. iv. pag. I OS,) saith, faith dependeth upon two prin-
ciples, which must necessarily be foreknown, that a thing may
be believed on one's authority, as Suarez rightly observeth,
(Disp. ii.) 'De Fide,' (sect 4, 5, and Disp. iii. sect. 12, sect. 1.)
One is, that the party doth speak this ; the other is, that he is
one worthy to be believed. Mark, he saith these two must be
fore-known, and not fore-believed. Though I know what he and
others say, to make it both the objectum formale et materiale in
several respects ; but that can be but secondarily, as 1 said. As for
their siniilitudefrom the sun, which reveals itself and other tilings;
besides that objects of sense and reason much differ in this, and
similitudes prove nothing ; in a sound sense, I grant the thing
inferred by it : to wit, that Scripture revealeth particular truths
to belief by way of divine testimony or affirmation ; but it re-
vealeth itself to be God's testimony, first, to knowledge, by its
own characters orexcellenciesjseconded by the external testimony
of miracles ; and then, 2. By testification to belief. Learned
Hooker, ' Eccles. Polit,' (lib. ii. and iii.) hath showed, that it is
not first to be believed that Scripture is God's word, but to i)e
proved by reason, which he affirmeth is not very difficult demon-
stratively to do. I dare stay no longer on tliis, (referring the
more exact discussion to some fitter place ;) only, if Scriptures
cannot be proved to be God's word by reason, 1. Why do all
our divines, in their common places, bring reasons to prove it ?
2. How will they deal with pagans and enemies ? 01)ject. But
they still tell you, the Spirit is only sufficient, when all reasons
PREFACE. 225
are brought. Ansvv. That is to remove the question ; or, when
the question is of the objective sufficiency, they answer, of the
efficient, rectifying and elevating the faculty. 2. Who knows
not that a man may believe or know the Scripture to be God's
word, without any more than a common help of the Spirit ?
The devils and damned believe, or know it, and so doth many
an ungodly man here ; but a saving knowledge or belief doth
indeed require a special grace of the Spirit.
In a word, if reason were of no more use here than some make
it, as it were in vain to preach or write in this point for Christi-
anity, so it would follow, that he that is drunk or mad, or an
infant, if not a brute, were the fittest to make a Christian, which
is so vile an imagination, that I dare say he that hath the best
and rightest reason, and by consideration makes the most use of
it, is the best Christian, and doth God best service ; and that all
sin is on the contrary, for want of right reason, and the using of
it by consideration. But methinks I should not need to plead
for reason, till beasts can speak and plead against me ! but, yet,
I must tell you, if you heard the accusation, you would excuse
my apology.
If none but the ignorant be an enemy to knowledge, sure none
but the unreasonable is an enemy to reason.
6. But the greatest offence of all is, that I lay so much upon
human testimony and tradition, which some think uncertain :
some think that it would make our faith too human, and some
think it is too like the papist's arguings.
To all which I answer, 1. See whether the best of our divines
do not the like. I will name some of the choicest that ever the
reformed church enjoyed. Rob. Baronius saith, ' Apol. con.
Turnebul.' (Tract, ii. punct. 2, p. 680:) The testification of the
present church is a condition necessarily requisite for our be-
lieving the Scripture authority, because faith comes by hearing.
2. From the consent of all the present church, or all Christians
now living, the chiefest argument may be drawn to prove the
authority of any canonical book. 3. From the perpetual and
universal tradition and practice of the whole church from the
apostles' time to ours, we may have a human persuasion, and
that certain and infallible, of the divine and canonical authority
of those books which were still undoubted, or which some call
the protocanonical. Doctor Whitaker saith it belongs to the
church: 1. To be a witness and keeper of the Scriptures ; 2.
To judge and discern between Scriptures which are true and
VOL, XXII. Q
226 PREFACE.
genuine, and which are false, suppositious, and apocryphal ; 3.
To divulge them; 4. To expound them. * De Sac. Script.;'
(quaest. iii. cont. 1, c. ii. p. 203, 204 ;) and in his *Duplicat.
Advers. Stapleton,' more fully, (p. 47.) Which of us knows
not the necessity of the ministers of the church ; and that it is
safely and wisely appointed of God ? so that to contemn the
ministry and testimony of the church, is nothing else but to err
from the faith, and rush into most certain destruction. See
more, (p. 15, 58, 59, &c., 364, 60, 62, 69, 77, 78, 438, 119,
328.) Davenant alloweth of historical tradition, * De Judice
Controv.' (p. 1 1, sect. 3, 24, 27, 30, 31, 32.) The like might
be showed out of Camer., Cham., Ames., and divers ^ others, but
that I must not enlarge.
2. I would have the contrary-minded tell me how they know,
* without human testimony or tradition, that these are the same
books which the prophets and apostles wrote ; and wholly the
* same : that they are not depraved and wilfully corrupted :
that these are all : how know you that one of the Books of
Esther is canonical and the other apocryphal ? Where is the
man that ever knew the canon from the apocryphal before it was
told him, and without tradition ? I confess, for my own part,
I could never boast of any such testimony, or light of the Spirit,
nor reason neither, which without human testimony or tradition
would have made me believe] that the Book of Canticles is
canonical, and written by Solomon, and the Book of Wisdom
apocryphal, and written by Philo, as some think ; or that Paul's
Epistle to the Laodiceans, which you may see in Bruno in
^ Epist.,' Sixtus Senensis, and others, is apocryphal, and the
second and third Epistles of John canonical. Nor could I have
known all or any historical books, such as Joshua, Judges, Ruth,
Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, &c. to be written
by divine inspiration, but by tradition ; nor could 1 know all or
any of those books to be God's word, which contain mere posi-
tive constitutions, as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, &c., were it
not for the same tradition ; nor could I know that anv of those
books were written by divine inspiration, which contain, besides
' Cheniiiitius examen Coiicil. Trident, par. i. p. (mihi) 109 — 111, &c,, is
so full, that, ill his eight sorts of tradition, he not only saith much more than
J liere do, but in some of them satisfieth Andradius himself. Vide Andrad.
Defens. Concil. Trident. lib. ii. p. (mihi) 217, usque ad 230. Nemo ex scrip-
toribus ecclesiasticis qui continuata temporum successione ab apostolis hue
usque vixerunt usquam in scriplis suisin memoriam redigere eos dignatus est.
— Euseb. Hut, Eicles. lib. iii. cap. 19. loquens de libris Apocrjph.
PREFACE. 227
such history and positives, nothing but the truths which are known
by the hght of nature, without further supernatural revelation,
if it had not been for tradition ; nor could I have known those
books to be written by divine inspiration, which speak of mere
supernatural things, (either historical, as Christ's incarnation,
resurrection, &c., or doctrinal,) had not tradition or human testi-
mony assured me that these are the books which those holy
men wrote, and that such undoubted, uncontrolled miracles
were wrought for the confirmation of their doctrine. Further,
I would know. How doth an illiterate man know but by human
testimony: 1. Whether it be indeed a Bible that the minister
reads ? 2. Or when he reads true, and when false ; and whe-
ther any of those words be in the Bible which men say are in it ?
3. Or that it is truly translated out of the Hebrew and Greek ?
4. Or that it was originally written in those languages? 5.
Or that copies were authentic out of which they were translated ?
6. Or how will they know many Jewish customs, or points in
chronology, geography. Sec, without which some scripture can
never be understood ? 7. Or how do the most learned critics know
the true signification of any one word of the Hebrew or Greek in
Scripture, or any other book, yea, Latin or English, or any
language, but only by tradition and human faith ?
Yea, there is ijo doubt but in some cases tradition may save
without any Scripture ; for, 1. Men were saved, from Adam to
Moses, without Scripture that we know of: and, as Dr. Usher
well observeth, one reason why they might be without it, was
the facility and certainty of knowing by tradition ; for Methu-
selah lived many hundred years with Adam, and Shem lived
longer with Methuselah, and Isaac lived fifty years with Shem;
so that three men saw from the beginning of the world till Isaac's
fiftieth year."" 2. And thousands were converted and saved by
the doctrine of the apostles and primitive preachers, before it
was committed to writing : so many Jews in the captivity had
not the Scripture. 3. And if any among the Abassines, Arme-
nians, or ignorant papists, do believe in Christ upon mere tra-
dition, (no doubt they may,) who can question their salvation ?
for Christ saith, that " whosoever believeth in him shall not
perish," which way soever he was brought to believe. Will you
hear Irenaeus in thivS, who lived before popery was born ? " Quid
enim et si quibus de aliqua modica quaestione disceptatio esset ?
■» Vide Euseb, Nireinberg. de Orig. Scni)turaBj praecipue, lib. 1 — 3.
q2
22S PREFACE.
Nonne oporteret in antiquissimas recurrere ecclesias ?" (Marl<,
he saith not * ad ecclesiam Romanam, vel ad unum principem.')
*' Jn quibus apostoli conversati sunt, et ab eis de praesenti quaes-
tione sumere quod certum et re liquidum est? Quid autem
si neque apostoli quidem scripturas reliquissent nobis ; nonne
oportebat oidinem sequi traditionis, quam tradiderunt iis quibus
committebant ecclesias ? Cui ordinationi assentiunt multae
gentes barbarorum eorum qui in Christum credunt, sine charac-
tere vel atramento scriptam habentes per Spiritum in cordibus
suis salutem, et veterem traditionem diligenter custodientes, &:c.
Hanc fidem qui sine literis crediderunt, quantum ad sermonem
nostrum barbari sunt ; quantum autem ad sententiam et consue-
tudinem et conversationem, propter fidem per quam sapientissimi
sunt, et placent Deo, &c. Sic per illam veterem apostolorum tra-
ditionem, ne in conceptionem quidem mentis admittunt quodcun-
que (haereticorum) portentiloquium est."('Adv.Haeres.' lib.3.c.4.)
As for those that think it favours the papists to argue thus
for tradition, they are quite mistaken, as 1 have showed after-
wards. The papists build on the authority of the church's de-
cisive judgment; but I use only the church's testimony. The
papists, by the church, mean, 1. The present church; 2. Only
their own Romish church ; 3. And in that only the pope, or
council, as infallible judge. But I mean, 1. The universal
church through the world ; 2. Especially the ancient church
next to the apostles; 3. And therein the godly writers and
Christians generally. The papists ground all on the church only,
and think that we must first know the true church, who is the
judge, before we can know the Scripture. But I value, in some
cases more, the testimony of heathens, Jews, and all heretics,"
an enemy's testimony being most valid against himself: and I
use not their testimony only, as they are of the church, or as
Christians, but also as men endued with sense and reason, and
the common remnants of moral honesty. In one word, the
papists receive the Scriptures on the authoritative, infallible
judgment of their own church, that is, the pope : and I receive
it as God's perfect law, delivered down from hand to hand to
this present age, and know it to be the same book which was
wrote by the prophets and apostles, by an infallible testimony of
" Origen against Celsus gives you many. Vide lib. 8. et Aug. ' de Civit. Dei,'
lib. 12, : et testimonium Porphyrii 'in (^yril.' lib. 10: 'contra Julian.' et
Hieronym. ' adver. lib. Vigilant.' Plura vide in '.^nnot. Grot, ia lib. de Verit.
Religionis' praecipue, in lib. 3.
PREFACE. 229
' rational men, friends, and foes, in all ages. And for them that
think tiiat this lays all our faith on uncertainties, I answer, 1.
Let them give us more certain grounds. 2. We have an
undoubted, infallible certainty of the truth of this tradition, as
I have after showed. He is mad that doubts of the certainty of
William the Conqueror's reigning in England, because he hath
but human testimony. We are certain that the statutes of this
land were made by the same parliaments and kings that are
mentioned to be the authors ; and that those statutes which we
have now in our books are the same which they made j for there
were many copies dispersed. Men's lands and estates were still
held by them. There were multitudes of lawyers and judges,
whose calling lay in the continual use of them ; and no one
lawyer could corrupt them, but his antagonist would soon tell
him of it, and a thousand would find it out. So that I do not
think any man doubteth of the certainty of these acts being the
same they pretend to be. And in our case about the Scripture,
we have much more certainty, as 1 have showed. These copies
were dispersed all over the world, so that a combination to cor-
rupt them in secret was impossible. Men judged their hopes
of salvation to lie in them, and therefore would sure be careful
to keep them from corruption, and to see that no other hand
should do it. There were thousands of ministers, whose office
and daily work it was to preach those Scriptures to the world,
and therefore they must needs look to the preserving of them ;
and God was pleased to suffer such abundance of heretics to
arise, perhaps of purpose for this end, among others, that no
one could corrupt the Scriptures, but all his adversaries would
soon have catched him in it : for all parties, of each opinion,
still pleaded the same Scriptures against all the rest, even as
lawyers plead the law of the land at the bar against their ad-
versaries. So that it is impossible that in any main matter it
should be depraved. What it may be in a letter or a word, by
the negligence of transcribers, is of no great moment.
Indeed, the popish doctrine of traditions, such as you may
find in * Richworth's Dialogues,' leads directly to heathenism,
and builds all our Christianity on such certain uncertainties,
yea, palpable untruths, that it is a wonder that they who be-
lieve them renounce not their Christianity.
But the great objection is, that by arguing thus, our faith is
finally resolved into human testimony, and so is but a human
faith.
530 I'REFACE.
Answ. If I said that those that make this objection, show
that they know not what faith is, nor what the resolving of it is
which they mention, I should not wrong them ; but because I
would give them a satisfactory account of my belief in this great
point, I will more particularly answer the several questions
which use to be here raised.
Quest. Why do you believe the incarnation, death, and resur-
rection of Christ, with all the rest of the articles or doctrines of
your faith ?
Answ. Because they are the word of God, or God hath testi-
fied or reported them, or hath revealed them to the world as
true; so that I have no higher or further reason to believe
them to be true, but only this, God hath spoken them.
Quest. How know you that God hath revealed or testified
these things ?
Answ. There are many questions comprehended in this one,
or else it is very ambiguous. In regard of the object, it is one
thing to ask how I know it to be revealed ; and another, how I
know it is God that revealed it ? In regard of the act, the
words " How know you ?" are doubtful. You may either
mean, in your inquiry, by what principal, efficient cause, or by
what nearest efficient, or by what means or convincing argu-
ments, or by what naturally requisite means, or by what instru-
ment ? all these must not be confounded.
Quest. How know you (that is, by what moving reasons) that
these things are revealed ?
Answ. I need not arguments ; my senses of seeing and hear-
ing tell me.
Quest. Bnt how did the prophets and apostles know that
they were revealed to them ?
Answ. Some by internal sense, who had it by inspiration,
and some by external sense, who heard it from God, or Christ,
or angels, or read the tablet which he wrote.
Quest. How did the other believers in those times know that
these things were revealed to the prophets or apostles ?
Answ, By their own testimony.
Quest. How knew they that their testimony was true ?
Answ. I have answered this at large in the fourth chapter,
and third section. If it had not been revealed to them, they
could not have revealed it to others.
Quest. But how do we in these times know that these things
were revealed to the apostles ?
PREFACE. 231
Answ. Some few parts of the world knew it only by un-
written tradition ; but most of the churches know it by the
Scripture which those holy men wrote, containing those doc-
trines.
Quest. But how know you that these Scriptures were written
by them ?
Answ. By infallible tradition."
Quest. But how know you that they be not, in the substance,
corrupted since ?
Answ. By the same infallible tradition assuring my reason of
of it, even as I know that the statutes of the land were made by
those kings in parliaments whose names they bear ; and as I
know that the works of Aristotle, Cicero, Virgil, Ovid, &:c., were
made by them, and are not, in the substance, corrupted ; yea,
far greater certainty doth tradition afford us.
Quest. But though you are thus assured of the revelation,
yet how know you it is divine, or that it was God, indeed, that
did reveal it ?
Answ. You must know, as presupposed, that themselves
affirm that God revealeth this to them, both by their speech to
those that heard tliem preach, and by this Scripture which
affirms itself to be of divine inspiration.
Quest. But how did they know themselves that they were not
mistaken ?
Answ. 1 . Those whom God inspired, or to whom he spake,
knew certainly, by an inexpressible sense, that it was God him-
self, and no delusion. God never speaks so extraordinarily, but
by the same act he both makes known the thing revealed, and
himself to be the speaker. 2. Besides, they were fully certain
it was no delusion, by the frequent, uncontrolled miracles which
Christ did, and which he enabled them to do themselves. See
more, chap. iv. sect. 3., where this is more fully answered.
Quest. But how shall we know that they delude us not, and
that the Scripture saith true in affirming itself to be of divine
inspiration ; for we must not believe every person or book that
so affirmeth ?
Answ. I have answered this in the before-cited chapter and
section.
To which I add : 1 . There are such characters p of verity and
° See Chemnit. Exam. Concil. Trident, part i. p. (mihi) 113, out of Origen,
Eusebius, and Austin, showing the use of this sort of tradition,
p Vide Greg, de Valent. Analys. Fid. lib. 1. c, 25.
232 PREFACE.
majesty in the Scriptures themselves, that may very strongly per-
suade us of the verity of them, at least as heing exceeding pro-
bable. Especially the exceeding spirituality and purity of them,
and the high, strange design of God manifested about the way
of advancing his glory and saving mankind ; which design, in
all the parts of its excellency concatenated, was not laid open
by one person only, nor in one only age ; but was in doing
many hundred years, and opened by many several persons at
that distance, so that it is impossible that they should lay their
heads together to contrive it. Also,! the fulfilled prophecies
show its verity. And if any one part have not these characters
so evident on it, yet it is certain, because it is attested by the
rest, or some of them, that have them. 2. But that which
fully persuades me, being thus prepared by the quality of the
writings, is the many apparent uncontrolled miracles^ which the
apostles themselves did work, who wrote those books. God
would not have enabled them to confirm a false, deluding testi-
mony, and that of such a moment, by miracles, and such mira-
cles. 3. And when I have once thus believed, I am much con-
firmed, both by the experience I have of the power and sweet
relish of the doctrine of the Scriptures on my own soul, and
the efficacy of it on the souls of others ; and also in that I find
all the rational causes of doubting of the truth of Scripture to
be removed.
Quest. But when you make miracles your great argument,
how know you that those miracles were indeed wrought ?
Answ. By infallible tradition, partly by the instrumentality of
Scripture, and partly by other writings, and universal confes-
sion : as I know that Julius Caesar conquered Pompey, and
William the Norman won England.
Quest. But did you at first believe the Scripture on these
grounds ? Or can it be expected that unlearned people should
understand the certainty of this tradition ?
Answ. 1. I first believed that the Scripture was God's word,
merely upon the common, uncontradicted affirmation of my
teachers ; and so do most others that I meet with : and so pro-
ceed to see the more certain arguments afterwards. 2. Yet if
they were wisely and diligently taught them, the unlearned are
capable of knowing the infallible certainty of that tradition; yea,
and the certainty of the truth of the translation in the substance;
1 Phlegon in lib. 13. of his Annals, confesseth the miracles done by Peter,
as Origen saitU* lib. 2, contra Celsum.
PREFACE. 233
and that you do read truly the Scripture to them, &c. For
there is a human testimony which is certain ; and so a human
faith ; yea, more certain than my own sense. Sense hath ahvays
greater evidence than beHef ; but not so great certainty some-
times. I will rather believe ten thousand sober, impartial wit-
nesses, that say, they see or hear such a thing, having no con-
siderable contradiction, than I would believe mine own eyes or
ears for the contrary.
Quest. But is that faith divine and saving, when men take
the Scripture for God's word merely on report, or other weak
arguments ?
Answ. It is a faith that lies open to great danger by tempta-
tion, when the weakness of the grounds shall appear ; and will
have much weakness in the mean time : but yet it may be divine
and saving. For still this man's faith is resolved into God's
veracity or authority. Though on weak grounds he take the
Scripture to be revealed by God, yet he believes it to be true
only because God spoke or revealed it. So that the error not
lying in the formal or material object of faith, but only in the
arguments persuading that it is from God, this destroys not the
soundness and truth of the belief.
Object. But how know we that the miracles were wrought to
confirm the truth of these books ?
Answ. They were wrought to confirm the testimony of the
men, whether delivered by word or writing. And this by writing
is that part of their testimony which the church now enjoyeth.
Object. But all that wrote the Scripture did not work miracles.
Answ. Their testimony is confirmed by those that did.
Quest. Into what, then, do you ultimately resolve your faith ?
Answ. If you imderstand the phrase of "resolving faith'*
strictly and properly, so it is resolved only into the credit or
veracity of the speaker, as being the cause of the verity of
he proposition which I believe, even the principal, efficient
cause ; the knowledge of whose infallible verity doth, above all,
and only in that kind, cause me to believe the things revealed
to be true.
But if you take the phrase of " resolving faith" in the largest
sense, as it containeth not only its resolution into its formal
object, but into all its causes in their several kinds, so it is re-
solved thus : 1 . As I have said, I resolve my faith into the
prime truth, that is, into God's infallible veracity, as the only
234 PREFACE.
formal object, or full, proper, efficient of the verity of proposi-
tions believed, and the principal reason of my belief. 2. I re-
solve my belief into God's revelation or testimony, as the prin-
dpium patefactionis, or the naturally necessary means of appli-
cation of the former, which is the principium certitudinis (it is
Rob. Baronius's own distinction. ('Apodix. Tract.' iii. c. 6.
p. 123.) Yet I am forced to dissent from Baronius, in that he
makes this revelation to be part of the formal object, though
the veracity of God revealing, and not the truth of God with-
out revelation, be the formal object of belief. Yet I con-
ceive the said revelation to be no part of the formal object,
but a natural means of the production of the material objeci
by the formal object which is its efficient; and that not directly
of the immediate material object, but of the remote only : for
the immediate material object is the truth of propositions, and
the remote is the proposition which is true. Now, the revela-
tion is directly a production of the proposition, as such; but
not of the verity of it directly. We, therefore, believe it to be
true, because the true God spoke it ; though, in a second place,
the patefaction may be said to produce the verity of the thing.
S. I resolve my belief into the characters of divinity which are
found in Scripture, and into the uncontrolled miracles by which
it was attested, as the principal motive conjunct, by which I
am persuaded that it was God, and no other, that was the au-
thor or revealer. 4. I resolve my belief into human testimony,
or infallible tradition, rationally, not authoritatively infallible, as
the means of discovering to me the matters of fact, viz., that
the apostles did write : that this delivered to me is the writing;
that it is all; that such miracles were wrought; that the Scrip-
tures are not depraved in any material points, or out of design;
which books are canonical, and which not. Had I been the
person to whom God from heaven, or Christ on earth, did reveal
these truths immediately, then this resolution of my faith should
be into my senses (made use of rationally); I should have known,
by external sense, what Christ spoke, and what not ; what mi-
racles he did ; and, by internal sense, that it was God, and no
other, that inspired me ; and, by both, that it was Christ, and
no other, that spake and wrought miracles. But seeing I live
at so great a distance, and God revealed not these things to
me immediately, but to the apostles, and they to others, and
they to others, and so down to this day : therefore tradition
PREFACE. 235
must do that for me which sense did to the first receivers ; as
I say what sense did for them, that human testimony doth for
us, or must carry it between their senses and our senses, and so
to our reason. 5. I resolve my belief into all truths revealed in
Scripture, as into the material object, if it were not too im-
proper to call that a resolving of it into that which answers the
quid credis, and not cur credis, or the cui ? 6. 1 resolve it
into the books or writings, as the authentic instrument reveal-
ing God's mind : not into the words, as in this or that language,
or as considered in themselves, but as considered in relation to
the truths which they express, viz. as they are signifiers of all
those enunciations which they contain. 7. I resolve my belief
into reason or understanding, as the nearest vital, efficient cause.
8. I resolve it into the Holy Ghost's illumination or grace, as
into the remote efficient, enabling and causing me to believe
sincerely and savingly, but not into any internal testimony of
the Spirit, as the object of my faith.
I know our Baronius opposeth Spalatensis for one of the
points which I here assert, ' Apol. Tract.' ix. punct. 4, 5, p. 71 1
— 714, &c. Were it not that I have been too tedious already,
I would answer those arguments of Baronius, which is very easy
to do; but to the unprejudiced and considerate I think it will
seem needless, or, at least, is fitter for another discourse.
And thus having catechised myself to give men an account
of my belief, and help those that are weaker herein, I shall con-
clude all with two or three words of advice to the reader.
1. Beware that you exclude not, in your arguing, any cause
or necessary medium of your faith, by quarrelling too eagerly
with other men's grounds : many men run upon this dangerous
rock. Lest they should give too much to reason, or to tradition,
or the church, or miracles, some further exclude them than will
stand with the rationality, and safety, and honour of Christianity.
Set not those things in opposition which may and must consist
in co-ordination, or subordination to others.
The removal of one necessary cause may destroy the effect ;
or of one pillar, may pull down the house ; or of one of the ne-
cessary parts, may kill the man; though all the rest be let
alone, or more regarded than before. It is no whit derogatory
to the law of the land, to say, I must read it with my eyes, and
by the help of spectacles, and must receive it with my hands or
ears, from a herald or other proclaimer, &c.
236 PREFACE.
2. Take heed of denying the perfection of Scripture in deed,
while you maintain it in words. Two sorts I would warn
of this.
1. Those that plead for traditional doctrines.' To these I
have spoken elsewhere : ' Appendix to Treatise of Baptism.'
2. Those that are so eager as to tie all men to their exposi-
tions of Scripture, and censure all for heretical that differ from
them therein. When we have disputed and contended ourselves
a-weary, and wrangled the church into flames and ashes, yet
that which God hath spoken obscurely, and so left difficult in
itself, will remain obscure and difficult still ; ^ and that which is
difficult through the weakness and incapacity of unlearned men,
will be far better cleared by a rational explication than by a bare
' Unde ista traditio ? utrumne de dominica et evangelica authoritate de-
scendens ? An de apostolorum mandatis atque epistolis veniens ? Ea enim
facienda esse quae scripta sunt Deus testatur ad Joshuam ; uon recedat liber
legis ex ore tuo, &c. Si ergo aut evangelio prsBcipitur, aut in apostolorum
epistolis aut actibus coutinetur, observetur divina haec et sancta traditio.
QujE ista obstiuatio, quaeve praesumptio, humanam traditionem divinae dispo-
sitioni anteponere? nee animadvertere indignari et irasci Deum, quoties
divina praecepta solvit et praeterit humana traditio ? Mark vii. 8 ; 1 Tim. vi.
3. Consuetudo sine veritate, Vetustas erroris est; propter quod relicto errore
sequamur veritatem. — Cyprian. Epist. 74. ad Pomp. pp. 229, 230. The
same place of Cyprian is vindicated by Dr. Whitaker ' De Sac. Scrip.' cont. 1.
Q. 6. de ' Perfect. Scrip.' mentioned also by Goulartius on Cyprian, ibid.
* Doctissimi Nazianzeni consilium ab omnibus Christianis audiendum,
"Divina contemplare, verum in terminis maneto; loquere quae suntSpiritus;
et si possibile est, nihil aliud. Ne patris naturam nimis curiose rimator,
unigeniti essentiam, Spiritus gloriam, unam in tribus deitatem ; utere verbis
consuetis. Ratio pertineat ad sapientiores. Sufficiat tibi ut habeas funda-
mentum ; super aedificeut artifices." Utinam soli artifices super aedificarent !
Utinam superstrucliones suas multas et poene infinitas cum paucis et planis
fundamentalibus pari afFectu et honore suscipiendas non commiscerent ! Si
hoc conentur, decet tamen pios et prudentes Christianos discernere, inter
prima ilia pauca ciedibilia a Christo et apostolis immediate revelata, et innu-
meras illas deductiones theologorum pro cuj usque ingenio et opinione cum
fundamentalibus in eundem locum contrusas. — Davenant. Adhort, ad Pacem
Eccks.pp. fi7, 88. It was sound counsel that Pomeranus gives the minis-
ters of God's word, (ne tot articulis, &c.,) that they should not, with so
many articles, and creeds, and confessions, confound the minds of plain
Christians, but that they should draw up the sum of their belief into some
few heads. Nothing hinders but that professors and licentiates in divinity
may busy their thoughts, and spend their hours upon the knotty and ab-
struse questions of that sacred faculty ; but why should the heads of ordinary
Christians be troubled with those curious disquisitions ? — Dr. Hall's • Peace-
maker,' sect. 16. pp. 118, 119. I pray read the rest of that small treatise,
and his ' Pax Terris,' a smaller, but both worthy of all our serious studying.
Read Usher's excellent Sermon on Ephes. iv. 13. before King James, June
20, 1624, throughout.
PREFACE. 237
canon. O when will the Lord once persuade his churches to
take his written word for the only canon of their faith ; and that
in its own naked simplicity and evidence, without the determi-
nations and canons of men, which are no parts of our creed, hut
helps to our understandings, and bounds to our practice in mat-
ters circumstantial, which God hath left to man's determination !
When will the Lord persuade us not to be wise above what is
written j but to acknowledge that which is unrevealed in the
word, to be beyond us ; and that which is more darkly revealed,
to be more doubtful to us ! Then the hot contentions of the
church about the mysteries of God's decrees, and nature and
order of his immanent acts ; the nature and way of the workings
of the Spirit on the soul, &c. ; with a hundred quarrels about
mere names and words, will be more lovingly and brotherly de-
bated, without such alienation of affections and reproachful
expressions.
Two things have set the church on fire, and been the plagues
of it above one thousand years; 1. Enlarging our creed, and
making more fundamentals than ever God ' made.
2. Composing, and so imposing, our creeds and confessions
in our own words and phrases.
When men have learned more manners and humility than to
accuse God's language as too general and obscure, as if they
could mend it, and have more dread of God, and compassion on
themselves, than to make those to be fundamentals or certain-
ties which God never made so ; and when they reduce their con-
fessions, L To their due extent, and, 2. To scripture phrase,
that dissenters may not scruple subscribing, then, and, 1 think,
never till then, shall the church have peace about doctrinals."
* Ausim confirmare, majorum tam veterum haeresium, quam praesentium,
dissidiorurn partem, iu ecclesia hinc praecipue natam fuisse et esse, quod con-
cilia, episcopi, doctores ecclesise, nullo discrimine, quaevis scliolaruin dogf-
mata, et cathedrarum placita pro articulis fidei catholicae vindicarunt, parique
ad salutem necessitate credenda conscientiis imposuerunt : ex quavis vero
interpretationis Scripturaium discrepantia, nimis facile haereses vel schismata
fecerunt. — Parceus in Iren. p. (uiihi) 19. Vide et pp. 14 et 15. All peace-
making divines still harp upon this string-, and yet some call it Socinian. If
any man would see more of the evil of making- points necessary which God
made not so, you may throughout Conrad. Bergius's ' Prax. Cathol.' see
enough ; and the words of very many divines, Lutherans and Calvinists, to
that end.
" Chillingworth, page last of the Preface. Shall men be judged Socinians
for advancing the Scriptures as the only rule ? I pray read well what that ex-
cellent divine Dr. Stoughtou hath written expressly and earnestly for what I
238 PREFACE,
It seems to me no heinous Socinian motion which Chillingworth
is blamed for, viz. Let all men believe the Scripture, and that
only, and endeavour to believe it in the true sense, and promise
this, and require no more of others ; and they shall find this not
only a better, but the only means to suppress heresy, and restore
unity, &c.
If you say men may subscribe to Scripture, and yet misinter-'
pret it, I answer, so they may do by human canons. If you
say, they may preach against fundamentals, or evident truths,
while yet they subscribe the Scripture misunderstood, I answer,
1. All such weighty truths are delivered expressly, or very
plainly. 2. I hope God will once not only bring into use
ministerial power, but also teach magistrates to rule for
Christ to the restraining of such as shall so palpably offend, as
openly to contradict what they subscribe.
But that was the third and last word of advice I here intend-
ed : viz. That seeing the Scripture is the sacred, perfect law of
the most high God, that man would use it reverently, and that
magistrates would restrain men that would bring God's Word
into contempt, under pretence of preaching it ; ^ that every
ignorant fellow, whose tongue has caught a lax, may not run
into the pulpit to ease himself; nor any one have leave to dis-
gorge himself in the holy assemblies, that hath got a surfeit of
pride and self-conceit. Oh ! if you knew the weakness of poor
people, and how apt they are to be deceived, you would not
give deceivers liberty to do their worst ! You that will not
give men leave to persuade your wives to adultery, your children
to lewdness, your soldiers or subjects to rebellion or treachery,
should surely be as regardful of men's souls, and the honour of
Christ. And you that will not give every fool leave to go in
your names on an embassage, who would but disgrace you,
should not let men speak publicly, as in the name of Christ,
that cannot speak sense, to the shame of our profession ; nor
should men turn preachers, as the river Nilus breeds frogs, saith
now urge, in his form of wholesome words, about forming church confes-
sions.
* Ordiuationes eorum temerariae, leves, inconstantes : nunc neophytos col-
locant, nunc seculo obstrictos nunc apostatas uostros, ut gloria eos obligent,
quia veritate non possunt. Nusquam facilius proficitur quam in castris
rebellium, ubi ipsum esse iilic, proniereri est; itaque alius hodie episcopus,
eras alius ; hodie diaconus, qui eras lector; hodie presbyter, qui eras laicus ;
nam et laicis sacerdotalia inuuera inj ungual. — Tt^rtul, de Prascript, advers.
Hares, c. 4 1 .
PREFACE. 239
Herodotus, when one half moveth before the other is made, and
while it is yet but plain mud.
But I must make this preface no longer. I pray observe
that in the margin, and see whether our times be not like Ter-
tullian's.
Reader, as thou lovest thy comforts, thy faith, thy hope, thy
safety, thy innocency, thy soul, thy Christ, thine everlasting
rest ; love, reverence, read, study, obey, and stick close to the
Scripture. Farewell.
4pril 2, 1652.
THE
SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.
THE SECOND PART.
CHAP. I.
Sect. 1. We are next to proceed to the confirmation of this
truth, which, though it may seem needless in regard of its own
clearness and certainty, yet in regard of our distance and infi-
delity nothing more necessary : but, you will say, to whom will
this endeavour be useful ? They who believe the Scriptures are
convinced already ; and for those who believe it not, how will
you convince them ? Answ. But sad experience tells, that those
that believe, do believe but in part, and, therefore, have need of
further confirmation; and, doubtless, God hath left us argu-
ments sufficient to convince unbelievers themselves, or else how
should we preach to pagans; or what should we say to the
greatest part of the world, that acknowledge not the Scriptures ?
Doubtless the Gospel should be preached to them; and though
we have not the gift of miracles to convince them of the truth,
as the apostles had, yet we have arguments demonstrative and
clear, or else our preaching would be in vain; we having nothing
left but bare affirmations.
Though I have all along confirmed sufficiently by testimony of
Scripture what I have said, yet I will here briefly add thus much
more, that the Scripture doth clearly assert this truth in these
six ways.
1. It affirms, that this rest is fore-ordained for the saints, and
the saints also fore-ordained to it. " God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city." (Heb.
xi. 16.) "Eve hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart con-
ceived, what God hath prepared for them that love him." ( I Cor.
ii. 9.) Which I conceive must be meant of these preparations
in heaven ; for those on earth are both seen and conceived, or
else how are they enjoyed ? To sit on Christ's right and left
EVERLASTING REST. 241
hand in his kingdom, shall be given to them for whom it is pre-
pared. (Matt. XX. 23.) And themselves are called "vessels
of mercy, before prepared unto glory." (Rom. ix. 23.) And in
Christ we have obtained the inheritance, " being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will." (Eph. i. 11.) " And whom he thus
predestinateth, them he glorifieth ; " (Rom. viii. 30;) " For he
hath, from the beginning, chosen them to salvation, through sanc-
tification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." (2Thess. ii. 13.)
And though the intentions of the unwise and weak may be
frustrated, and " without counsel purposes are disappointed,"
(Prov. XV. 22,) "yet the thoughts of the Lord shall surely come
to pass; and as he hath purposed, it shall stand. The counsel
of the Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to
all generations;" (Isa. xiv. 24;) therefore, " blessed are they
whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen
for his own inheritance." (Psal. xxxiii. 11, 12.) Who can be-
reave his people of that rest which is designed them by God's
eternal purpose ?
Sect. II. Secondly: The Scripture tells us that this rest is
purchased, as well as purposed for them ; or that they are re-
deemed to this rest. In what sense this may be said to be
purchased by Christ, I have showed before, viz., not as the im^
mediate work of his sufferings, which was the immediate payment
of our debt, by satisfying the law, but as a more remote, though
most excellent fruit ; even the effect of that power, which by
death he procured to himself. He himself, for the suffering of
death,^ was crowned with glory, yet did he not properly die for
himself, nor was that the direct effect of his death. Some of
those teachers who are gone forth of late, do tell us, as a piece
of their new discoveries, that Christ never purchased life and
salvation for us, but purchased us to life and salvation :^ not
understanding that they affirm and deny the same thing in seve-
ral expressions. What difference is there betwixt buying liberty
to the prisoner, and buying the prisoner to liberty ? Betwixt
buying life to a condemned malefactor, and buying him to life ;
or betwixt purchasing reconciliation to an enemy, and pur-
chasing an enemy to reconciliation ? but in this last they have
* Paul Hobsoii.
*> I confess the latter is the more proper expression, and oftener used ia the
Scriptures.
VOL. XXII. R
242 THE saint's
found a difference, and tell us that God never was at enmity
with man, but man at enmity with God, and therefore need not
be reconciled : directly contrary to Scripture, which tells us
that God hateth all the workers of iniquity, and that he is their
enemy: (Exod. xxiii. 22; Psal. xi. 5, and v. 5; Isa. Ixiii.
10; Lament, ii. 5 :) and though there be no change in God,
nor any thing properly called hatred, yet it sufficeth that there
is a change in the sinner's relation, and that there is something
in God which cannot better be expressed or conceived than by
these terms of enmity : and the enmity of the law against a
sinner, may well be called the enmity of God. However, this
differenceth betwixt enmity in God, and enmity in us ; but not
betwixt the sense of the fore-mentioned expressions : so that
whether you will call it purchasing life for us, or purchasing us
to life, the sense is the same, viz., by satisfving the law, and re-
moving impediments, to procure us the title and possession of
this life.'^
It is, then, by the "blood of Jesus that we have entrance into
the holiest." (Heb. x. 19.) Even all our entrance to the fruition
of God, both that by faith and prayer here, and that by full
possession hereafter. Therefore do the saints sing forth his
praises, " who hath redeemed them out of every nation by his
blood, and made them kings and priests to God." (Rev. v. 10.)
Whether that el; amXvTpcoa-iv tvj<; %epmoi-^<7€u<;, in Eph. i. 14, which
is translated " the redemption of the purchased possession," do
prove this or not; yet 1 see no appearance of truth in their
exposition of it, who, because they deny that salvation is pur-
chased by Christ, do affirm that it is Christ himself who is there
called the purchased possession."^ Therefore did God give his
Son, and the Son give his life, and therefore was Christ lifted
up on the cross, " as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder-
ness, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." (John iii. 15, IG.) So, then, I conclude
'The phrases are used from the effect to the affection, as we say, i.e. Goil
doth tliat to nil n, as tiuiiiies ilo ; and even to the elect before conversion, he
5.tands, as we may say, engaged liy iiis laws as a just judge, to do tliat which
en< inies do, and thence is said to be tlieir enemy, tliough his decree is to deal
in mercy with them. Else, speaking oF enmiiy properly, I say as Clemens
AleJtandrinus doth of God : viz., we say that God is an enemy to no n>an, for
he is the Creator of all ; anrl there is nothing comes to jiass but what he will :
hut we say that those are enemies to him that do not obey him, and walk not
by his precepts, for they bear an enmity to his testament. — Clemens ,4Uxundri'
mts, Stromut. lib. 4.
•i Paul Hobsou.
EVERLASTING REST. 243
either Christ must lose his hlood and sufferings, and "never see
the travail of his soul," (Isa. liii. 11,) but all his pains and
expectation be frustrated, or else there remaineth a rest to the
people of God.
Sect. III. Thirdly: And as this rest is purchased for us, so is it
also promised to us ; as the firmament with the stars, so are the
sacred pages bespangled with the frequent intermixture of these
divine engagements. Christ hath told us that " it is his vvill^
that those who are given to him should be where he is, that
they may behold the glory which is given him of the Father :"
(John xvii. 24 :) so also, " Fear not, little flock*; it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom ;" (Luke
xii. 32 ;) q. d. fear not all your enemy's rage, fear not all your
own unworthiness, doubt not of the certainty of the gift ; for
it is grounded upon the good pleasure of your Father. " I ap-
point to you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me
a kingdom, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my king-
dom." (Luke xxii. 29.) But because I will not be tedious in the
needless confirming of an acknowledged truth, I refer you to the
places here cited : 2 Thess. i. 7 ; Heb. iv. 1,3; Matt. xxv. 34,
and xiii. 43; 2 Tim. iv. IS; James ii. 5 ; 2 Pet. i. 11 ; 2
Thess. i. 5; Acts xiv. 22; Luke vi. 20, and xiii. 28,29;
1 Thess. ii. 12; Matt. v. 12 ; Mark x. 21, and xii. 25 ; 1 Pet.
i. 4 ; Heb. x. 3A, and xii. 23; Colos. i. 5 ; Phil. iii. 20; Heb.
xi. 16; Eph. i. 20; 1 Cor. xv.; Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, &:c.
Sect. IV. Fourthly: All the means of grace, and all the workings
of the Spirit upon the soul, and all the gracious actions of the
saints, are so many evident mediums to prove that there remaineth
a rest to the people of God. If it be an undeniable maxim that
God and naiure do nothing in vain, then it is as true of God and
his grace. '^All these means and motions imply some end to
' Intra nostrum rationalem spirituin est quaedam viva iniag'o divinje sapl-
entiae : ad quain diiin respicimus, n)oveinur per qiieiidam diviuum inipulsuiu,
ad pulsaiidum, ad peteiida, et quaerenda ea qua; sunt perficieutia iniaginem
sive ipsain ad exeiiiplaris cont'orinitatem diiceutia. — Cusanus Exercital. lil).
10. fol. (milii) 183. B. Yut 1 do not argue as some, that because the soul de-
sireth, it must eiijuy : for God fulfiUeth but sound desires, which are his owa
exciting' in us, whicli are limited desires. If a man desire to fly with wings,
or to i)e as God, these desires God is not to fulfil. Of which read Camero
Praelect. de Verbo Dei, cap. 7. p. (operum) fol. 4.5.i. Cum vitium creaturae
angelicae (et humanae) dicitur, quod nou adhaeret Deo, hinc aptissime decla-
ratur, ejus natura; ul Deo adhaereat con venire. Ouam porro magna sit laus
r2
244 THE saint's
which they tend, or else they cannot be called means, nov are
they the motions of wisdom or reasons : and no lower end than
this " rest" can be imagined. God would never have com-
manded his people to repent and believe, to fast and pray, to
knock and seek, and that continually, to read and study, to con-
fer and meditate, to strive and labour, to run and fight, and all
this to no purpose. Nor would the Spirit of God work them to
this, and create in them a supernatural power, and enable them
and excite them to a constant performance, were it not for this
end whereto it leads us. Nor could the saints reasonably attempt
such employments, nor yet undergo so heavy sufferings, were it
not for this desirable end. But whatsoever the folly of man
might do, certainly divine wisdom cannot be guilty of setting
to work such fruitless motions. Therefore, whatever I read of
duty required, whenever I find the grace bestowed, I take it as
so many promises of rest. The Spirit would never kindle in
us such strong desires after heaven, nor such a love to Jesus
Christ, if we should not receive that which we desire and love.
He that sets our feet in the way of peace will, undoubtedly,
bring us to the end of peace. (Luke i. 27.) How nearly are the
means and end conjoined ! (Matt. xi. 12.) "The kingdom of
heaven sufil'ereth violence, and the violent take it by force;" or,
(as Luke xv. 1(5,) everv man presseth into it : so that the vio-
lent apprehends the kingdom.^ Those whom he causeth to fol-
low him in the regeneration, he will surely provide them thrones
of judgment. (Matt. xix. 2S.)
Sect.V. Fifthly : Scripture further assures us that the saints have
the beginnings, foretastes, earnests, and seals of this rest here :
and may not all this assure them of the full possession? The very
kingdom of God is within them.^ (Luke xvii. 21.) They here,
adhffirere Deo, ut ei vivat, inde sapiat, illo gaudeat, tautoque bono sine
morte, sine errore, sine molestia perfruatur, quis cogitare digne possit, aut
eloqui ? — August, de Civ. lib. 12. cap. 10.
^ Mr, Burroughs thinks this is meant of the violence of persecution, but
Luke's phrase confuteth that: the sense is, that the door being now set
open, he that will crowd in first, doth get possession ; as the crowd, or common
people did, while the rulers that pretended to the chief title, stood without the
doors, or by unbelief refused to enter.
s Atqui si lumen ipsum Dei illud verum, quod est in persona Christi, vitam
in se continet, eaque vita cum lumine, quae committitur in carneni, peritura
est, in quam vita committitur : plane sic perituris et ipse Thesaurus : peritu-
ris enim peritura creduutur, sicut veteribus utribus novum vinum. Vita
Jesu manifestatur : Ubi ? In corpore nostro : in quo? In mortali. Ergo
in came plane mortali secuudum cuipara^ sed et vitali secundum gratiam.
EVERLASTING REST. 245
as is before snid, take it by force, they have a beginning of that
knowledge which Christ hath said is eternal life. (John xvii. 3.)
I have fully manifested that before, that the rest and glory of the
people of God doth consist in their knowing, loving, rejoicing,
and praising ; and all these are l)egun, though but begun here :
therefore, doubtless, so much as we here know of God, so much
as we love, rejoice, and praise, so much we have of heaven on
earth, so much we enjoy of the rest of souls. And do you
think that God will give the beginning where he never intends
to give the end ? Nay, God doth give his people oftentimes such
foresights and foretastes of this same rest, that their spirits are
even transported with it, and they could heartily wish they might
be present there. Paul is taken up into the third heaven, and
seeth things that must not be uttered. The saints are kept
by the pow-er of God through faith unto that salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last time, wherein they can greatly rejoice,
even in temptations : (1 Pet. i. 5, 6 :) and therefore the apostle
also tells us, that they who now see not Christ, nor ever saw
him, yet love him, and believing do rejoice in him with joy un-
speakable and full of glory ; receiving the end of their faith,
the salvation of their souls. (1 Pet. i. 8, 9.) Observe here,
first, how God gives his people this foretasting joy : secondly,
liow this jov is said to be fall of glory, and therefore must needs
be a beginning of the glory : thirdly, how immediately upon
this there follows " receiving the end of their faith, the salva-
tion of the soul." And Paul also brings in the justified "re-
joicing in hope of the glory of God." (Rom. v. 2.) And I
doubt not, but as some poor Christians among us, who have
little to boast of appearing without, have often these foretastes
in their souls. And do you think that God will tantalize his
people ? Will he give them the first-fruits and not the crop ?
Doth he show them glory to set them longing, and then deny
the actual fruition ? Or doth he lift them up so near this rest,
and give them such rejoicings in it, and yet never bestow it on
them ? It cannot be. Nay, doth he give them the " earnest of
the inheritance;" (Eph. i. 14:) and "seal them with the
Holy Spirit of promise;" (Eph. i. 13 ;) and yet will he deny
Vide quantum et ilia vita Cbristi manifestetur. In re ergo aliena salutis, sed
in substantia perpetua dissolutionis manifestabitur vita Christi aeterna, jugis,
incorrupta, jam Dei vita ? aut cuj us temporis vita Domini manifestabitur in
corpore nostro ? — Tertul. de Animas c. 54. p. edit. Pamel. 419. 2 Cor. i. 22,
and V. 5,
246 THE saint's
the full possession ? These absurdities may not be charged on
an ordinary man, much less on the faithful and righteous God.
Sect. VI. Sixthly, and lastly: The Scripture mentioneth par-
ticularly and by name, those who entered into this rest, as
Enoch, who was taken up to God. So Abraham, Lazarus, and
the thief that was crucified with Christ, &c. And if there be a
rest for these, surely there is a rest for all believers. But it is
vain to heap up scripture-proof, seeing it is the very end of the
Scripture, to be a guide to lead us to this blessed state, and to
discover it to us, and persuade us to seek it in the prescribed
way, and to acquaint us with the hinderances that would keep us
from it, and to be the charter and grant by which we hold all our
title to it. So that our rest, and thereby God's glory, is, to the
Scripture, as the end is to the way, which is frequently expressed
and implied through the whole. There is no one that doubts of
the certainty of this promised glory, but only they that doubt of
the truth of the Scripture, or else know not what it containeth.
And because 1 find the most temptations are resolved into this,
and that there is so much unbelief even in true believers, and
that the truth and strength of our belief of Scripture hath an
exceeding great influence into all our graces, I shall briefly say
something for your confirmation in this.
CHAP. II.
Motives to Study and Preach the Divine Authority
of Scripture.
Sect. I. Thus*^ much may suffice where the Scripture is be-
lieved, to confirm the truth of the point in hand, viz., the cer-
tain futurity of the saints' rest. And for pagans and infidels who
believe not Scripture, it is besides the intention of this discourse
^ Sedquo plenius et impressius tarn ipsuni quain dispositiones ejus, et vo-
luntates adiremus, instruiueiituni adjecit literaturre, siquis velitde Deo inqui-
rfei'e, et iiiquisitum invenire, et invento credere, et credito deservire. Viros
enim justitia et imiocentia di^tios Deum nosse et ostendere, a priniordio in
seculuin emisitSpiritu Diviuo iimiidalos, quo pra;dicareiit Deum uiiicum esse,
qui universa coudiderit, qui huminem de luiuio struxerit, &c., sed et obser-
vantibus pra?niia destinarit, qui produclo sevo isto judicaturus sit suos cul-
tores in vitae aeternae retributionem, profanos in ignem aque perpetem et
jugem, suscitatis omnibus ab initio defunctis, et reformatis et recensitis ad
utriusque meriti dispunctionem.— 7Vr^?</. JpoL c.' 18. operum edit. Pamel.
p. 34.
EVERLASTING REST. 247
to endeavour their conviction. I am endeavouring the consola-
tion and edification of saints, and not the information and con-
version of pagans. Yet do I acknowledge the subject exceed-
ing necessary, even to the saints themselves : for Satan's assaults
are oft made at the foundation ; and if he can persuade them
to question the verity of Scripture, they will soon cast away their
hopes of heaven.
But if I should here enter upon that task, to prove that Scrip-
ture to be the infallible word of God, I should make too broad
a digression, and set upon a work as large as that, for the sake
whereof I should u^ndertake it ; neither am I insensible of how
great a difficulty it would prove to manage it satisfactorily, and
how much more than my ability is thereto requisite.
Yet, lest the tempted Christian should have no relief, nor any
argument at hand against the temptation, I will here lay down
some few, not intending it as a full resolution of that great
question, but as a competent help to the weak, that have no
time nor ability to read larger volumes. And I the rather am
induced to it, because the success of all the rest that I have
written depends upon this : no man will love, desire, study,
labour for that which he believeth not to be attainable. And
in such supernatural points, we must first apprehend the truth
of the revelation, before we can well believe the truth of the
thing revealed. And I desire the Lord to persuade the hearts
of some of his choicest servants in these times, whom he hath
best furnished for such a work, to undertake the complete
handling of it; to persuade them to which, I will here annex,
first, some considerations, which also are the reasons of this
brief attempt of my own, and may also serve to persuade all
ministers to bestow a little more pains, in a seasonable ground-
ing their hearers in this so great and needful a point, by a more
frequent and clear discovery of the verity of tHe Scripture,
though some, that know not what they say, may tell them that
it is needless.*
1. Of what exceeding great necessity is it to the salvation of
ourselves and hearers, to be soundly persuaded of the truth of
Scripture ! As God's own veracity is tlie prime foundation of
our faith, from which particular axioms receive their verity, so
the Scripture is the principal foundation quoad yatefactionem,
• I have since written a supplement to tbis second part, called the • Un-
reasonableness of Infidelity.'
248 THE saint's
revealing to us what is of God, without which revelation it is
impossible to believe. And should not the foundation be both
timely and soundly laid ?
2. The learned divines of these latter times have, in most
points of doctrine, done better than any, since the apostles, be-
fore them ; and have much advantaged the church thereby, and
advanced sacred knowledge. And sliould we not endeavour it
in this point if possible above all, when yet the ancients
were more frequent and full in it, for the most part, than we?
I know there are many excellent treatises already extant on
this subject, and such as I doubt not may convince gainsayers,
and much strengthen the weak ; but yet, doubtless, much more
may be done for the clearing this weighty and needful point.
Our great divines have said almost as much against papists in this,
as need be said, especially Chamier, and our Robert Baronius,
Whitaker, Reignoldus, &c. But is not most of their industry
there bestowed, while they put off the atheist, the Jew, and
other infidels, with a few^ pages or none ? And so the great
master-sin of infidelity in the souls of men, whereof the best
Christians have too great a share, is much neglected, and the
very greatest matter of all overlooked. Grotius, Morney, and
Camero, above others, have done well ; but if God would stir
them up to this work, I doubt not but some, by the help of all
foregoers, and especially improving antiquities, might do it more
completely than any have yet done ; which I think would be as
acceptable a piece of service to the church as ever by human
industry was performed.
3. And ^ I fear the course that too many divines take this
way, by resolving all into the testimony of the Spirit, in a mis-
taken sense, hath much wronged the Scripture and church of
God, and much hardened pagans and atheists against the truth :
I know that the illumination of the Spirit is necessary : a special
illumination for the begetting of a special saving belief, and a
common illumination for a common belief. But this is not so
properlv called the testimony of the Spirit ; the use of this is to
open our eyes to see that evidence of scripture verity which is
already extant ; and as to remove our blindness, so by farther
'' Of the difference of sense, vision, illumination, and revelation, vide
Macarii Ilomil. 7. edit. Palthen. p. 99. Cognosci sine fide Scripturaj pos-
sunt, sive ex ecclesia- testiniouio, sive ex se noscantur. Ut liquido a^nos-
cantur cum certa assentione aninii, opus est Spiritus illuminatione. —
fVhitaker rectissime Duplicat, adv. Stapleton. lib. 3. c. 8. pp. 536, 53().
EVERLASTING REST. 249
sanctifying, to remove our natural enmity to tlic truth, and pre-
judice against it, which is no small hinderance to the believing
of it ; for all the hinderance lieth not in the bare intellect.
But it is another kind of testimony than this, which many
great divines resolve their faith into : for when the question is
of the objective cause of faith, how know you Scripture to
be the word of God ; or why do you believe it so to be ? They
finally conclude, by the testimony of the Spirit : but the Spirit's
illumination being only the efficient cause of our discerning,
and the question being only of the objective cau«e or evi^
dence, they must needs mean some testimony besides illu-
minating, sanctifying grace, or else not understand themselves :
and, therefore, even great Chamier calleth this testimony ' the
word of God,' and likens it to the revelations made to the
prophets and apostles, dangerously, I think. (Tom. iii. lib. 13.
c. 17.) To imagine a necessity, first, either of an internal
proper testimony, which is argumentum inartijiciale, as if
the Spirit, as another person, spoke this truth within me,
' The Scripture is God's word ;' or, secondly, of the Spirit's
propounding that, objective evidence internally in the soul,
which is necessary to persuade by an artificial argument,
without propounding it first ab extra; thirdly, or for the Spirit
to infuse or create in a man's mind an actual persuasion that
Scripture is God's word, the person not knowing how he is so
persuaded, nor why; or of any the like immediate injection of
the intelligible species; I say, to affirm that the Scriptures
cannot be known to be God's word, without such a testimony
of the Spirit as some of these, is, in my judgment, a justifying
men in their infidelity, and a telling them that there is not
yet extant any sufficient evidence of scripture truth, till the
Spirit create it in ourselves, and, wiihal, to leave it impossible to
produce any evidence for the conviction of an unbeliever, who
cannot know the testimony of the Spirit in me: and, ifideed, it
is direct expectation of enthusiasm, and that is ordinary to
every Christian. And it also infers that all men have the testi-
mony of the Spirit, who believe the Scriptures to be God's
word, which would delude many natural men, who feel that they
do believe this, though some unsoundly tell us that an unrege-
nerate man cannot believe it. 1 know that, savingly, he cannot;
but undissemblingly, as the devil does, he may. But I leave this
point, referring the reader that understands them, for full satis-
faction about the nature of the Spirit's testimony, to learned
250 THE saint's
Robert Baronius,^ ' Apol. con. Turnebullum,' p. 733 ; and also
to judicious Amyraldus, ' Thes. de Testim. Spir. in Thes. Sal-
niuriens.,' vol. i, p. 122 : in both whom it is most solidly
handled.
4. Doubtless, the first and chief work of preachers of the
Gospel, is to endeavour the conversion of pagans and infidels,
where men live within their reach, and have opportunity to do
it. And we all believe that the Jews shall be brought in ; and
it must be by means. And how shall all this be done, if we
cannot prove to them the divine authority of what we have to
say to them, but naked affirmation ? Or, how shall we main-
tain the credit of Christianity, if we be put to dispute the case
with an infidel ? 1 know somewhat mav be done bv tradition
where Scripture is not ; but that is a weaker, uncertain means :
I know also that the first truths, and those that are known by
the light of nature, may be evinced by natural demonstrations ;
and when we deal with pagans, there we must begin. But for
all supernatural truth, how shall we prove that to them, but by
proving first the certainty of the revelation ? As Aquinas, ut
in marg., " to tell them that the Spirit testifieth it, is no means
to convince them that have not the Spirit. And if they have
the Spirit already, then what need we preach to convince them ?
If the word must be mixed with faith in them that hear it,
before it profit them further to salvation ; then we cannot
expect to find the Spirit in infidels. He that thinks an unholy
person may not believe the Scriptures to be the word of God,
doth not surelv think that they may go so much further as our
divines and the Scripture tell us they may do.°
And to tell an infidel that it is principium indemonstrabile,
• Pessime, nifallor, arguraentatur virdoctiss. Keckerman. SystemaleTlieol.
lib. p. 179 : Soli electi habent fidem : ergo soli electi norunt quae sit noruia
fidei. This will teach the vilest man to conclude that he is elect, because he
knows the rule of faith.
'" See also the Act of the Conference at Paris, 1565, July in the beginning-.
n Ad primas veritatis manifestationem per rationes demonstrativas proce -
denduni est. Sed quia tales rationes (i.e. ah evidentia rei) ad secundara
verilatem haberi non possunt, uon debet esse ad hoc intentio, ut adversarius
rationibus (i.e. are) convincatur, sed ut ejus rationes quas contra veritatem
habet solvantur : cum veritati fidei ratio iiaturalis contraria esse non possit.
Singulafis vero modus convincendi adversarium contra hujusmodi veritatem,
est ex authorilate Scripturae divinitus confirmata niiraculis. Quae cnim supra
rationem humanani sunt ; non credimus, nisi Deo revelante. — Aqnin. Cont
Genlil. lib. 1. c. 9. Vid. etiam de hac re Spalatens. de Rep. Eccles. lib. 7. c. 9.
sect. 17, IS, 21 ; et c. 2. sect. 8 et 22.
EVERLASTING REST. 251
that Scripture is God's word, and that it is to helieved, and not
to be proved, as if the very revelation, Hoc esse testimonium di-
vinicm, and not only the thing testified. Hoc esse verum, were
not objectum scientice, sed puree fidei. This might sooner
harden infidels, than convince them. Sure 1 am, that both
Christ and his apostles used sufficient, in sua genere, convincing
arguments to persuade men to believe, and dealt with men as
rational creatures. Truly, saith Hooker," " It is not a thing-
impossible, nor greatly hard, even by such kind of proofs so to
manifest and clear that point, that no man living shall be able
to deny it, without denying some apparent principle, such as all
men acknowledge to be true. And Scripture teacheth us that
saving truth, which God hath discovered to the world by revela-
tion ; but it presumeth us taught otherwise, that itself is divine
and sacred. And these things we believe, knowing by reason,
that Scripture is the word of God." Again, saith he, ** It is
not required, nor can be exacted at our hands, that we should
yield it any other assent, than such as doth answer the evi-
dence." Again, how bold and confident soever we may be in
words, when it comes to the trial, sucli as the evidence is, which
the truth hath, such is the assent; nor can it be stronger, if
grounded as it should be."
5. Is not faith a rational act of a rational creature ? And so
the understanding proceeds discursively in its production. And
is not that the strongest faith which hath the strongest reasons to
prove the testimony to be valid upon which it resteth, and the
clearest apprehension and use of those reasons ?p And the
truest faith which hath the truest reasons truly apprehended and
used ? And must not that, on the contrary, be weak or false
faith which receives the verity and validity of the testimony
from weak or false grounds, though the testimony, of itself, be
the truest in the world ? Our divines use to say, concerning
° Hooker, Ecoles. Pol. 3. pp. 102, 103. and lib. 2. pp, 73, 74. I pray read
him there more fully opening this point.
1' Reli^io omnis Christiana per apostolos tradita et scripta est, et super
scripta prophetarum et apostolorum fundata. — Dr. Sutcliff. contra Bellar. de
Monach. p. 11. See Dr. Jackson ' Of Saving Faith,' sect. 2. cap. 2. p. 143,
&c. See since the first edition of this, a treati-e put forth by Dr. Hammond,
called 'The Reasonableness of Christian Religion.' As for those that cry
out of our producing of reason in this case, as if it were Socinianism, their
faith is unlike to be strong whose reason is so weak, or who renounce reason ;
else an infant, or a madman, would make the best Christian if reason were
at such odds with faith as they imagine.
252 THE saint's
love to Christ, that it is not to be nieiisurcd by the degree of
fervour so much as by the grounds and motives; so that if a
man should love Christ upon the same reason as the Turk loves
Mahomet, it vrere no true love : if he love him upon false
grounds, it must needs be false love ; and, if upon common
grounds, it can be but a common love. I will not conclude,
that to believe in Jesus Christ upon the grounds that a Turk
believes in Mahomet, or to believe Scripture upon the same
reasons that the Turks believe the Alcoran, is no true faith,
supposing that both have the like verity of their reasons ; but
at best, it must be more weak and doubtful.
6. Are the generality of Christians able to give any better
than some such common reason, to prove the verity of Scrip-
ture : nay, are the more exercised, understanding sorts of
Christians able by sound arguments to make it good, if an
enemy or a temptation put them to it : nay, are the meaner
sort of ministers in England able to do this ? Let them that
have tried, judge.
7. Can thesuperstructurebefirm, where the foundation is sandy;
"and can our affections and actions be sound and strongs when our
belief of Scripture is unsound or infirm ? Surely this faith will
have influence into all. For my own part, I take it to be the
greatest cause of coldness in duty, weakness in grace, boldness
in sinning, and unwillingness to die, &:c., that our faith is either
unsound or infirm in this point; Pfew Christians among us, for
aught I find, have any better than the popish implicit faith in
this point, nor any better'i arguments than the papists have to
prove Scripture the word of God. They have received it by
tradition, godly ministers and Christians tell them so, it is im-
pious to doubt of it, and therefore they believe it. And this
worm, lying at the root, causeth the languishing and decay of
the whole : yet it is usually undiscerned, for the root lieth
secret under ground. Buf 1 am apt to judge, that though the
P Origen expoundeth the words of the apostles, Luke xvii. 5, " Lord, increase
our faith," thus : Having that faith which is not according to knowledge, let us
have that which is according to knowledge. — 0»-igew, in cap. 10. ad Horn., •
which Dr. Willet also citeth, and approveth in Comment, on Jud. sect. p.
(mihi) 131.
1 See this more fully in Dr. Preston ' On the Attributes,' pp. 61 — 64.
^ See the danger and ill effects of believing Scripture on unsound grounds,
excellently manifested by that excellent man of God, Mr. Pemble ; Vindic.
Gratia;, pp. 218—220. If I am able to judge any thing of the methods of
Satan's temptations, I dare say that this weapon is reserved usually for tlie
EVERLASTING REST. 253
most complain of their uncertainty of salvation, through want
of assurance of their own interest, and of the weakness of the
applying act of faith ; yet the greater cause of all their sorrows,
and that which shakes the whole building, is the weakness of
their faith about the truth of Scripture ; though, perhaps, the
other be more perceived, and this taken notice of by few. There
may be great weakness and unsoundness of belief, where yet no
doubtings are perceived to stir. Therefore** though we could
persuade people to believe ever so confidently, that Scripture is
the very word of God, and yet teach them no more reason why
they should believe this, than any other book to be that word ;
as it will prove in them no right way of believing, so is it in us
no right way of teaching.
8. There is many a one who feels his faith shake here, who
never discovers it : to doubt of our evidence, is taken for no
great disgrace, and therefore men more freely profess such
doubts ; nay, and some, perhaps, who are not much troubled
with them, because they would be thought to be humble Christ-
ians. But to question the truth of Scripture, is a reproachful
blasphemy, and therefore all that are guilty here, speak not
their doubts.
9. Is not the greatest battery by all sorts of enemies, especi-
ally made against this foundation ? The first place that the
papist' assaults you in, is here ; How know you the Scripture to
be the word of God ? The seekers will accost you with the
like question ; How know you that your Scripture and your
ministry is of God ? The famillsts and libertines do spit their
venom here : and some Christians, by experience, are able to
testify, that Satan's temptations are most violent here. Yea,
last combat ; and that many a man's faith hath perished on this rock, both in
life, and especially in the last agonies and conflicts with the power of death
and darkness. — Pemble ubi supra.
* Yet we acknowledge it belongs to the church : first, to be a witness and
keeper of the Scriptures, which are true and genuine, and which are false and
superstitious, or apocryphal : secondly, to divulge and preach the Scriptures :
thirdly, to expound and iuterpret them. — Dr. IVhitaker de Sacra Scripturu,
q. 3. cont. 1. c. 2. pp.203, 204.
' 1 would fain know of any papist, why their church believes the Scripture
to be the word of God ; if the laity must believe it upou the authority of the
church, and this church be the pope and his clergy, then itfolloweth that the
pope and clergy believe it on their own authority ; as Paraeus in Themat.
Secul. XV. : Et quia papa solus vel cum prselatis est ecclesia, ideo papa et
praelati Scripturae creduut propter seipsos. Laicos volunt credere Scripturis
propter papam et praelatos.
254 THE saint's
and our own carnal, deluded reason, is most apt of all to stum-
ble here.
They talk of a toleration of all religions, and some desire that
the "Jews may have free commerce amongst us : it will then be
time for us, 1 think, to be well armed at this point. Let the ordi-
nary professors of our time, who are of weak judgments, and fiery
spirits, look to it, how they will stand in such assaults ; lest, as
now, when they cannot answer a separatist, they yield to him ;
and when they cannot answer an antinomian, they turn antino-
mians ; so, then, when they can much less answer the subtle
arguments of a Jew against Christ and the Gospel, they should
as easily turn Jews^ and deny Christ, and the verity of the
Gospel.
The libertines^ among us think it necessary that we should
have such a toleration to discover the unsound, who hold their
faith upon tradition and custom. I am no more of their minds
in this, than of his, who would have a fair virgin to lie with
him, and try his chastity, and make its victory more honourable :
but if we must needs have such a trial, it is time to look to the
grounds of our belief, that we may be ready to give a reason of
our hope.
1 0. However, though I were mistaken in all this, yet certain
I am, that the strengthening of our faith in the verity of Scrip-
ture, would be an exceeding help to the joy of the saints, and
would advance their confident hopes of rest. For myself, if my
faith in this point had no imperfection, if 1 did as verily be-
lieve the glory to come, as I do believe that the sun will rise
" Sicut in Polonia ubi non solum preces recitant, mala et criiniiiosa contra
Christianos et enrum niagistratus coiitinentes, sed etiam ct audacter et sine
oinui Cliristianoruin nietii ini])rimiint qua'cuiu|ue volunt, ut testatur ]5ux-
torfius Syna^ogae Judaicae, c. 5. p. 170. Nam si ad divinai traditionis (viz.
ill Scripturis) caput et origiiiem revertamur, cessat error huuiauus. Et quic-
((uid sub caiigiiie et uube tenebrarum obscurum latebat, in luce veritatis aperr
itur. In coinpendio est i^itur apu<l religiosas et siinplices nientes et erro-
rem deponeie, atque inveniie et eruere veritatem. — (.'yprian. Efist. 74. ad
Pomp. p. 231.
-'' If a bare connivance at these divibious have already occasioned such a
combustion, what do we think would a toleration do? A toleration of all
sorts ol' sects, and schisms, and heresies;, and blasphemies, which is by some
(and those more than a good many) , under the abused notion of liberty of con-
science, so earnestly pleaded for ? For my own part, should this be once yield-
edj (which 1 hope their e\es shall first fail that look for it,) I should look on
it as the passing-bell to the church's peace and glory, if not to the true reli-
gion of God ill this kjiigdom.— r^'i'ii/t^'A' Anaigntnent of Sej-aration, p. T6,
EVERLASTING REST. 255
again when it is set ; oh ! how would it raise my desires and my
joys ; what haste should I make ; how serious should I be ; how
should I trample on these earthly vanities, and even forget the
things below ; how restless should I be till my right were assured
to this rest ; and then, how restless, till I did possess it : how
should I delight in the thought of death, and my heart leap at
the tidings of its approach : how^ glad should I be of the body's
decay ; to feel my prison moulder to dust ! Surely, this would
be the fruit of a perfect belief of the truth of the promise of our
eternal rest ; which, though it cannot be here expected, yet
should we use the most strengthening means, and press on till
we have attained. "Truly," saith Mr. Pemble, (Vindic. Grat.
p. 219.) "this loose and unsettled faith is one of the fiery darts,
and forcible engines of Satan, whereby he assaults and over-
throws the hope and comfort of many a dying man ; who,
having not strengthened himself on this point, by undoubted
arguments and experiments, is there laid at where he lies open
and unarmed, by such cunning cavils, shifts, and elusions against
the authority of Scripture, that the poor man, not able to clear
himself of them, falls into a doubting of all religion, and sinks
into despair.
Sect. II. Thus much I have purposely spoken, as to stir uo
Christians to look to their faith, so especially to provoke some
choice servants of Christ, among the multitudes of books that
are written, to bestow their labours on this most needful sub-
ject; and all ministers to preach it more frequently and clearly
to their people. Some think it is faith's honour to be as cre-
dulous as may be, and the weaker are the rational grounds, the
stronger is the faith ; and therefore we must believe and not
dispute. Indeed, when it is once known to be a divine testi-
mony, then t!\e most credulous soul is the best. But when the
doubt is, whether it be the testimony of God, or no, a man
may easily be over credulous ; else, why are we bid, " believe
not every spirit, but try them, whether they be of God, or not."
And how should the false Christs, and false prophets be known,
who would "deceive, were it possible, the very elect?" "To be
given uj) of God to believe a lie," is one of the sorest of God's
judgments.
Some think the only way to deal with such temptations to
y As Graserus, when lie saw his legs begin to swell with a drojisy, said,
Isuge Deo sit laus et si;loria, quod jam uieii iastet liLerati) el hoiula giatissima.
— Mdch, Jdatn.in I'lta Graseri.
256 THE saint's
blasphemy, is to cast them awav, and not to dispute them ;^
and I think the direction is very good, so it be used with dis-
tinction and caution. The rule holds good against real blas-
phemy, known to be such ; but if the person know it not, how
shall he make use of this rule against it ? Further, it is sup-
posed, that he who knows it to be blasphemy, hath arguments
whereby to prove it such j else, how doth he know it ? There-
fore, here lies the sin ; when a man is, by sufficient evidence,
convinced, or, at least, hath evidence sufficient for conviction,
that it is a divine testimony, and yet is still cherishing doubts,
or hearkening to temptations which may feed those doubts;
when a man, like Balaam, will take no answer. But he who
will, therefore, cast away all doubts before he hath any argu-
ments sufficient against them, or could ever prove the thing in
question, he doth indeed cast aside the temptation, but not
overcome it, and may expect it should shortly return again ; it
is a methodical cure which prevents Si relapse. Such a neg-
lecter of temptations may be in the right, and may as well be in
the wrong ; however, it is not right to him, because not rightly
believed. Faith always implies a knowledge, and the know-
ledge usually of the matter and author of that testimony; divine
faith hath ever a divine =^ testimony, and supposeth the know-
ledge of the matter, when the faith is particular, but always of
the author of that testimony. An implicit faith in God, that
is, a believing that all is true which he testifieth, though we see
no reason for it, from the evidence of the matter, this is neces-
sary to every true believer : but to believe implicitly, that the
testimony is divine, or that Scripture is the word of God, this is
not to believe God, but to resolve our faith into some human
testimony ; even to lay our foundation upon the sand, where all
will fall at the next assault.
It is strange to consider how we all abhor that piece of popery,
as most injurious to God of all the rest, which resolves our
faith into the authority of the church : and yet that we do ; for
the generality of professors content ourselves with the same
kind of faith. Only with this difference : the papists believe
^ Tmpias argumentationes si ratio refutare non possit, fides irridere debet,
quae ratiocinatioiies evertit, et in captivitatem redigit omnem intellectum ia
Christi obsequium. — August.
a Though some extend belief so far as to confound it with opinion. A
natura ad niysteria, ab oculo ad oraculuni, a visu ad fidem, non valet con-
sequentia.
EVERLASTING REST. 257
Scripture to be the word of God, because their church saith so ;'^
and we, because our church, or our leaders say so. Yea, and
many ministers never vet gave their people better grounds, but
tell them, which is true, that it is damnable to deny it, but
help them not to the necessary antecedents of faith.
If any think that these words tend to the shaking of men's
faith, I answer, first, only of that which will fall of itself; se-
condly, and that it may, in time, be built again more strongly ;
thirdly, or at least that the sound may be surer settled. It is
to be understood that many a thousand do profess Christianity,
and zealously hate the enemies thereof upon the same grounds,
to the same ends, and from the same inward, corrupt principles,
as the Jews did hate and kill Christ.'" It is the religion of the
country, where every man is reproached who believes otherwise;
they were born and brought up in this belief, and it hath in-
creased in them upon the like occasions. Had they been born
and bred in the religion of Mahomet, they would have been
as zealous for him. The difference betwixt him and a Maho-
metan is more, that he lives where better laws and religion
dwell, than that he hath more knowledge or soundness of ap-
prehension.
Yet would I not drive into causeless doubtinga the soul of
any true believers, or make them believe their faith is unsound,
because it is not so strong as some others ; therefore I add,
some may, perhaps, have ground for their belief, though they
are not able to express it by argumentation ; and mav have ar-
guments in their hearts to persuade themselves, though they
have none in their mouths to persuade another ; yea, and those
arguments in themselves may be solid and convincing. Some
may be strengthened by some one sound argument, and yet be
ignorant of all the rest, without overthrowing the truth of their
faith. Some, also, may have weaker apprehensions of the
divine authority of Scripture than others ;'^ and as weaker
grounds for their faith, so a less degree of assent ; and yet that
assent may be sincere and saving, so it have these two qualifica-
'' Sequor te uon quo ducis, sed quo trains, inquit Scalijer ad Cardanum
in Exerc.
•^ He that doubts of this, let him see Dr. Jackson, of ' Saving Faith,'
pp. 14<J, 147 ; and Mr. Finke's ' Sermons of the Sincerity of Love to Christ.'
•^ Articulus vi. fideiJudaicie sic se habe: : Credo perfecta fide quod omne,
quodcunque propheia; docuerunt et locuti fuerunt, Veritas sincera sit, Octavus
auteni sic ; credo perfecta fide quod lex lota, jieritule ut ea hodierno tempore
in manihus nostris est, ita per Deum ipsummtt Mosi tradita sit. — Buxtorf.
Synagog. Judaica', cap. i, pp. 4, 5.
VOL, XXII. S
258 THE saint's
tions : 1. If the arguments which we have for believing the
Scripture, be in themseh'es more sufficient to convince of its
truth, than any arguments of the enemies of Scripture can be to
persuade a man to the contrary ; and do accordingly discover to
us a high degree, at least, of probability. 2. And if being thus far
convinced, it prevails with us to choose this as the only way of life,
and to adventure our souls upon this way, denying all other, and
adhering, though to the loss of estate and life, to the truth of
Christ, thus weakly apprehended. This, I think, God will ac-
cept as true belief.
But though such a faith may serve to salvation, yet when
the Christian should use it for his consolation he will find it
much fail him, even as legs or arms of the weak or lame,
which when a man should use them, do fail them according to
the degrees of their weakness or lameness ; so much doubting
as there remains of the truth of the word, or so much weakness
as there is in our believing, or so much darkness or imcertainty
as there is in the evidence which persuades us to believe ; so
much will be wanting to our love, desires, labours, adventures,
and, especially, to our joys.
Therefore 1 think it necessary to speak a little, and but a little,
to fortify the believer against temptations, and to confirm his
faith in the certain truth of that Scripture which contains the
promises of this rest.
CHAP. III.
Sect.I. And here itis necessary that we first distinguish betwixt,
1. The subject matter of Scripture, or the doctrine which it con-
tains : 2. And the words or writings containing or expressing
this doctrine. The one is as the blood, the other as the veins
in which it runs. Secondly, we must distinguish betwixt, I . Tlie
substantial and fundamental part of scripture doctrine, without
which there is no salvation : and, 2. The circumstantial and the
less necessary part, as genealogies, successions, chronology. Sec.
Thirdly: Of the substantial, fundamental parts, I. Some
may be known and proved, even without Scripture, as being
written in nature itself. 2. Some can be known only by the
assent of faith to divine revelation.
Fourthly: Of this last sort, 1. Some things are above reason,
as it is without divine revelation, both in respect of their proba-
EVERLASTING REST. 259
bility, existence, and futurity ; 2. Others may be known by mere
reason, without divine testimony, in regard of their possibility
and probability, but not in regard of their existence and futurity.
Fifthly: Again, matter of doctrine must be distinguished from
matter of fact.
Sixthly: Matter of fact is either, 1. Such as God produceth
in an ordinary, or, 2. Extraordinary and miraculous way.
Seventhly: History and prophecy must be distinguished.
Eighthly: We must distinguish also the books and writings
themselves: 1. Between the main scope, and those parts which
express the chief contents ; and, 2. Particular words and phrases
not expressing any substantial.
Ninthly: Also it is one question, 1. Whether there be a cer-
tain number of books which are canonical, or of divine autho-
rity ? And, 2. Another question, what number there is of these,
and which particular books thev are ?
Tenthly : The direct express sense must be distinguished from
that which is only implied or consequential.
Eleventhly: We must distinguish revelation unwritten, from
that which is written.
Twelfthly and lastly: We must distinguish that scripture
which was spoken or written by God immediately, from that
which was spoken or written immediately by man, and but me-
diately by God. And of this last sort, 1. Some of the instru-
ments or penmen are known; 2. Some not known. Of those
known, 1. Some that spoke much in Scripture were bad men;
2. Others were godly: and of these, some were, 1. More emi-
nent and extraordinary, as prophets and apostles ; 2. Others
were persons more inferior and ordinary.
Again ; As we must distinguish of scripture and divine testi-
mony, so must we also distinguish the apprehension of faith by
which we do receive it.
1 . There is a divine faith, when we take the testimony to be
God's own, and so ])elieve the thing testified as upon God's
words. Secondly, there is a human faith, when we believe it
merely upon the credit of man.
2. Faith is either, first, implicit, when we believe the thing
is true, though we understand not what it is ; or, secondly, ex-
plicit, when we believe, and understand what we believe. Both
these are, again, divine or human.
3. It is one thing to believe it as probable, another thing to
believe it as certain,
s 2
260 THE saint's
4. It is one thing to believe it to be true conditionally, ano-
ther to believe it absolutely.
5. We must distinguish betwixt the bare assent of the un-
derstanding, to the truth of an axiom, when it is only silenced
by force of argument, which will be stronger or weaker as the
argument seemeth more or less demonstrative. And, secondly,
that deep apprehension and firm assent which proceedeth from
a well-established, confirmed faith backed by experience.
6. It is one thing to assent to the truth of the axiom, another
to taste and choose the good contained in it, which is the work
of the will.
Sect. II. The use I shall make of these distinctions, is to open
the way to these following positions, which will resolve the great
questions on foot, how far the belief of the writtten word is of
necessity to salvation, and whether it be the foundation of our
faith, and whether this foundation hath been always the same ?
Pos. 1. The object of belief, is the will of God revealed, or a
divine testimony, where two things are absolutely necessary :
first, the matter; secondly, the revelation.*^
^ We must, therefore, know it to be a divine testimony, before we can believe
it fide divina. For if you do merely believe it to be God's word, it is either
by a divine testimony or without; if without, then it is not fides divina, a
belief of God; if by it, then why do you believe that testimony to be divine ? If
upon another divine testimony, so you may run in infinitum. But you will
say, the firsttestimony which witnesseth of truth doth also witness itself to be
of God. Answ. If you mean, that it so witnesseth as a testimony to be merely
believed, then the question, how you know it to be a divine testimony, will
still recur in infinitum ; but if you mean that it witnesseth itself to be divine
objectively to our reason, as having the evidence of a divine spirit and au-
thority, then you say right. But, then, as this supposeth the use of other helps
to our knowledge, as tradition by human, infallible testimony, &c., so this
granteth that it is more properly known than believed to be a divine testi-
mony. Yet this is not our resolving our faith into reason or human testimony,
but a discerning by reason and the help of human testimony the marks of a
divine author in the writing, and the miracles, &c.; and tlience also by reason
concluding tiie divineness of that testimony into which my faith is resolved.
As I detest their use of tradition, which would make it a part of God's law,
to supply the defect of Scripture; so I detest that infidelity, which rejecteth
all Scripture, save that which suiteth their reason, and where they can see the
evidence of the thing itself. If I once know that God speaks it, I will believe
any thing that he saith, though it seem ever so unreasonable : but yet I will
see reason for the divineness of the testimony, and knovv that it is indeed God
that speaks it, else I must believe every testimony which affirms itself to be
divine : and for those that say they only believe Scripture to be God's word,
because it so testifieth of itself, and do not know it, and so make it a ])roper
act of faith, and not of knowledge, I ask them, 1. Why, then, do you not be-
lieve (but hold him accursed) an angel from heaven, if he preach another
Gospel besides this, and say; ' It is come from God ;' and so every one that
saith, • I am Christ ?' 2. Why do you use to produce reasons from the objective
EVERLASTING REST. 261
2. All this revealed will is necessary'' to the completing of
our faith j^ and it is our duty to believe it. But it is only the
characters of divinity in the Scriptures, when you prove it to testify of itself ?
Do you not know, tliatto discern those characters as the premises, and thence
to conclude the divinity, is an act of knowledge, and not of faith ? Else you
should only say, when you are asked, how you know Scripture to he the word
of God, that you lielieve it, because it saith so, and not give any reason from
the thing why you believe it. 3. And then how will you prove it against a
Celsus, or Lucian, or Porphyry, or convince Turks and Indians ? 4. And why
were tlie Uereans commended for trying apostolical doctrine, whether it were
true or not? 5. And why are we bid to try the spirits whether tliey be of
God ? What, if one of these spirits say as the old prophet, or as Ilabshakeh
to Hezekiah, " that he comes from God, and God bid him speak," will you
believe, or try by reason ? 6. Dotli not your doctrine make your belief to be
wholly human, as having no divine testimony for the divinity of the first tes-
timony ? And so what are all your graces like to prove, which are built
hereon ? And what a sad influence must this needs have in all our duties
and comforts ? If you fly to tlie inward testimony of the Spirit, as distinct
from the sanctifying illumination of the Spirit, then the question is most dif-
ficult of all, How you know the testimony of that Spirit to be divine ? unless
you will take in the fearful delusion of the enthusiasts, and say, That the Spirit
manifesteth the divinity of his own testimony. And then 1 ask. Doth it ma-
nifest it to reason, or only to inward sense ? If to reason, then you come to
that you fly from ; and then you can produce that reason, and prove it. If
only to inward sense, then how know you but a counterfeit angel of light may
))roduce more strange ettects in your soul, than these which you take to be
such a manifestation .' especially seeing, (1.) AVe know so little of spirits, and
what they can do. (2.) And we have still known those that pretended to the
strongest sense of spiritual revelations, to have proved the most deluded per-
sons in the end. 7. Doth not your doctrine teach men, in laying aside reason,
to lay aside humanity, and to become brutes ? If faith and reason be so con-
trary, as some men talk ; yea, or reason so useless, then you may believe best
in your sleep ; and idiots, infants, and madmen, are the fittest to make Christ-
ians of. 8. And what an injurious doctrine is this to Christ, and disgraceful
to the christian faith ! 'J. And how would it harden infidels, and make them
deride us, rather than believe I Thus much I am forced here to add, both
because I see many teachers have need to be taught these princi})les (the more
is the pity), and, 2. Because some reverend brethren, by their exceptions,
have called me to it. In a word, reason rectified is the eye of the soul, the
guide of the life; the illumination of the Spirit is the rectifying it. No
small part of our sanctification lieth in tlie rectifying of our reason. The
use oF the word, and all ordinances and providences, is first to rectify reason,
and thereby the will, and thereby the life. Faith itself is an act of reason ;
or else it is a brutish act, and not human. The stronger any man's reasoa is,
the more strongly is he persuaded that God is true, and that he cannot lie ; and
therefore whatsoever he saith must needs be true, though reason cannot dis-
cern the thing in its own eviilence. He that hath the rightest reason hath
the most grace. Sincerity, and consequently our salvation, lieth in the
strength and prevalency of rectified reason over tne flesh, and all its interests
and desires. But, without Scrijtture or divine revelation, and the Spirit's pow-
erful illumination, reason can never be rectified in spirituals. By thus much,
judge of the ignorance and vanity of those men, who when they read any that
write of the reasonableness of christian religion, do presently accuse it, or
suspect it of Socinianism.
' AJ bene esse et fidei perfectiouem. t' Necessitate praecepti.
262 THE saint's
substance and tenor of the covenants, and the things necessa-
rily supposed to the knowing and keeping of the covenant of
grace, which are of absolute necessity to the being of faith, and
to salvation. A man may be saved, though he should not be-
lieve many things, which yet he is bound by God to believe.
3. Yet this must be only through ignorance of the matter, or of
the divineness of the testimony. For a flat unbelief of the
smallest truth, when we know the testimony to be of God, will
not stand with the being of true faith, nor with salvation. For
reason lays down this ground. That God can speak nothing but
truth ; and faith proceeds upon that supposition. 4. This
doctrine, so absolutely necessary, hath not been ever from the
beginning the same, but hath differed according to the different
covenants and administrations. That doctrine which is now so
necessary, was not so before the fall ; and that which is so ne-
cessary since the coming of Christ, was not so before his coming.
Then they might be saved in believing in the Messiah to come
of the seed of David : but now it is of necessity to believe, that
this Jesus, the son of Mary, is He, and that we lock not for
another. I prove ic thus : That which is not revealed, can be no
object of our faith ; much less so necessary : but Christ was not
revealed before the fall ; nor this Jesus revealed to be He, be-
fore his coming; therefore these were not of necessity to be be-
lieved, or, as some metaphorically speak, they were then no
fundamental doctrines. Perhaps, also, some things will be
found of absolute necessity to us, which are not so to Indians
and Turks. 5. God hath made this substance of scripture
doctrine to be thus necessary,^ primarily, and for itself. 6. That
it be revealed, is also of absolute necessity : but,' secondarily,
and for the doctrine's sake, as a means without which believing
is neither possible, nor a duty. And though where there is no
revelation, faith is not necessary as a duty ; yet it may be neces-
sary, I think, as a means, that is, our natural misery may be such
as can no other way be cured ; but this concerns not us that have
heard of Christ. T . Nature, creatures, and Providence, are no
sufficient revelation of this tenor of the covenants. 8. It is
necessary not only that this doctrine be revealed, but also that
it be revealed with grounds and arguments rationally sufficient
to evince the verity of the doctrine, or the divineness of the
testimony, that from it we may conclude the former. 9. The
revelation of truth is to be considered in respect of the first
•> Primario et propter se. ' Secundario et propter aliud.
EVERLASTING REST. 263
immediate delivery from God : or, secondly, in respect of the
way of its coming down to us, it is delivered by God immedi-
ately either by writing, as the two tables, or by informing
angels, who may be his messengers, or by inspiring some choice,
})articular men ; so that few in the world have received it from
God at the first hand. 10. The only ways of revelations that,
for aught 1 know, are now left, are Scripture and tradition.
For though God hath not tied himself from revelations by the
Spirit, yet he hath ceased them, and perfected his scripture re-
velations ; so that the Spirit only reveals what is revealed already
in the word, by ilUiminating us to understand it. 11. The
more immediate the revelation, cceteris paribus, the more sure;
and the more succession of hands it passeth through, the more
uncertain, especially in matter of doctrine. 12. When we re-
ceive from men, by tradition, the doctrine of God, as in the
words of God, there is less danger of corruption, than when
they deliver us that doctrine in their own words ; because here
taking liberty to vary the expressions, it will represent the truth
more uncertainly, and in more various shapes. 13. Therefore
hath God been pleased, when he ceased immediate revelation, to
leave his will written in a form of words which should be his
standing law and rule to try all other men's expressions bv.
14. In all the fore-mentioned respects, therefore, the written
word doth excel the unwritten tradition of the same doctrine.
15. Yet unwritten tradition, or any sure way of revealing this
doctrine, may suffice to save him who thereby is brought to be-
lieve ; as if there be any among the Abassines of Ethiopia, the
Coptics of Egvpt, or elsewhere, that have the substance of the
covenants delivered them by unwritten tradition, or by other
writings, if hereby they come to believe, they shall be saved.
For so the promise of the Gospel runs, giving salvation to all
that believe, by what means soever they were brought to it.
The like may be said of true believers in those parts of the
church of Rome, where the Scripture is wholly hid from the
vulgar, if there be any such parts. 16. Yet where the written
word is wanting, salvation must needs be more difficult and more
rare, and faith more feeble, and men's conversations worse or-
dered, because they want that clearer revelation, that surer rule
of faith and life, Avhich might make the way of salvation more
easy. 17. When tradition ariseth no higher, or cometh ori-
ginally but from this written word, and not from the verbal
testimonies of the apostles before the word was written, there that
264 THE saint's
tradition is but the preaching of the word, and not a distinctwayof
revealing. IS.Sucli is most of the tradition, for aught I can learn,
that is now on foot in the world, for matter of doctrine, but not for
matter of fact. ID. Therefore the Scriptures are not onlv necessary
to the well-being of the churchy and to the strength of faith, but,
ordinarily, to the very being of faith and churches. 20. Not
that the present possession of Scripture is of absolute necessity
to the present being of a church ; nor that it is so absolutely
necessary to every man's salvation, that he read or know this
Scripture himself; but that it either be at present, or have been
formerly in the church : that some knowing it, may teach it to
others, is of absolute necessity to most persons and churches,
and necessary to the well-being of all. 21. Though negative
nnbehef of the authority of Scripture may stand with salvation ^
yet positive and universal, I think, cannot : or, though tradi-
tion may save where Scripture is not known, yet he that reads, or
hears the Scripture, and will not believe it to be the testimony
of God, I think, cannot be saved, because this is now the
clearest and surest revelation; and he that will not believe it,
will much less l^elieve a revelation more uncertaia and obscure.
22. Though all Scripture be of divine authority, yet he that be-
lieveth but some one book, which containeth the substance of
the doctrine of salvation, may be saved ; much more they that
have doubted but of some particular books. 23. They that
take the Scripture to be but the writings of godly, honest men,
and so to be only a means of making known Christ, having a
gradual precedency to the writings of other godly men, and do
believe in Christ upon those strong grounds which are drav.'n
from his doctrine, miracles, Sec, rather than upon the testimony
of the writing, as being purely infallible and divine, may yet
have a divine and saving faith. 24. ]\Iuch more, those that
believe the whole writing to be of divine inspiration where it
handleth the substance, but doubt whether God infallibly guide
them in every circumstance. 2o. And yet more, those that
believe that the Spirit did guide the writers to truth, both in
substance and circumstance, but doubt whether he guided them
in orthography; or whether their pens were as perfectly guided
as their minds. 2C). And yet more, may those have saving faith,
who only doubt whether Providence infallibly guided any tran-
scribers, or printers, as to retain any copy that perfectly agrees
with the autograph : yea, whether the most perfect copy now
extant, may not have some inconsiderable literal or verbal errors,
EVERLASTING REST. 265
through the transcribers' or printers' oversight, is of no great
moment, as long as it is certain, that the Scriptures are not
de industria corrupted, nor any material doctrine, history, or
prophecy thereby obscured or depraved. God hath not engaged
himself to direct every printer to the world's end, to do his work
without any error. Yet it is unlikely that this should deprave
all copies, or leave us uncertain wholly of the right reading, es-
pecially since copies were multiplied, because it is unlikely that
all transcribers, or printers, will commit the very same error. We
know the true copies of oiir statute books, though the printer
be not guided by an unerring spirit. vSee Usher's 'Epistle to
Lud. Capell.' 27. Vet do all, or most of these, in my judg-
ment, cast away a singular prop to their faith, and lay it open
to dangerous assaults, and doubt of that which is a certain
truth. 23. As the translations are no further Scripture, than
they agree with the copies in the original tongues ; so neitiier
are those copies further than they agree with tlie autographs, or
original copies, or with some copies perused and approved by
the apostles. 29. Yet is there not the like necessity of having
the autographs to try the transcripts by, as there is of having the
original transcripts to try the translations by- For there is an
impossibility that any translation should perfectly express the sense
of the original. But there is a possibility, probability, and
facility, of true transcribing, and grounds to prove it true, de
facto, as we shall touch anon. 30. That part which was writ-
ten by the finger of God, as also the substance of doctrine
through the whole Scriptures, are so purely divine, that they
have not in them any thing human. 31. The next to these, are
the words that were spoken by the mouth of Christ, and then
those that were spoken by angels. 32. The circumstantials are
many of them so divine, as yet they have in them something
human, as the bringing of Paul's cloak and parchments, and,
as it seems, his counsel about marriage, &c. '^3. Much more
is there something human, in the method and phrase, which is
not so immediately divine as the doctrine. 34. Yet is there
nothing sinfully human, and therefore nothing false in all. 35.
But an innocent imperfection there is in the metliod and phrase,
which if we deny, we must renounce most of our logic and
rhetoric. 36. Yet was this imperfect way, at that time, all
things considered, the fittest way to divulge the Gospel. Tliat
is the best language which is best suited to the hearers, and
not that which is best simply in itself, and supposeth that under-
266 THi; saint's
standing in the hearers which they have not. Therefore it was
wisdom and mercy to fit the Scriptures to the capacity of all.
Yet will it not, therefore, follow, that all preachers at all times,
should as much neglect definition, distinction, syllogism, &:c., as
Scripture doth. 37. Some doctrinal passages in Scripture are
only historically related, and therefore the relating them is not
asserting them for truth ; and therefore those sentences may be
false, and yet not the Scriptures false : yea, some falsehoods are
written by way of reproving them, as Gehazi's lie, Saul's excuse,
&c. 38. Every doctrine that is thus related only historically,
is therefore of doubtful credit, because it is not a divine asser-
tion, except Christ himself were the speaker, and therefore it is
to be tried by the rest of the Scripture. 39. Where ordinary
men were the speakers, the credit of such doctrine is the more
doubtful, and yet much more, when the speakers were wicked ;
of the former sort are the speeches of Job's friends, and divers
others ; of the latter sort are the speeches of the Pharisees,
&c., and perhaps Gamaliel's counsels. (Acts v. 34.) 40. Yet
where God doth testify his inspiration, or approbation, the doc-
trine is of divine authority, though the speaker be wicked, as in
Balaam's prophecy. 41. The like may be said of matter of
fact;'^ for it is not either necessary or lawful, to speak such
words or do such actions, merely because men in Scripture did
so speak or do ; no, not though they were the best saints ; for
their own speeches or actions are to be judged by the law, and
therefore are no part of the law themselves. And as they ^re
evil where they cross the law, as Joseph's swearing, the ancients'
polygamy, &;c., so are they doubtful where their congruence
with the law is doubtful. 42. But here is one most observable
exception, conducing much to resolve that great doubt, whether
examples bind; where men are designed by God to such an
office, and act by commission, and with a promise of direction,
their doctrines are of divine authority, though we find not where
God did dictate ; and their actions done by that commission are
current and exemplary, so far as they are intended or performed
for example ; and so example may be equivalent to a law, and
the argument, a facto ad jus, may hold. So Moses being ap-
pointed to the forming of the old church and commonwealth
of the Jews, to the building of the tabernacle, &;c. His pre-
cepts and examples in these works, though we could not find his
•* A facto ad jus ad licilum vel debitura non valet argum.
EVERLASTING REST. 267
particular direction, are to be taken as divine. So also the apos-
tles, having commission to form and order the gospel-churches,
their doctrine and examples therein, are by their general com-
mission warranted ; and their practices in establishing the Lord's
day, in settling the offices and orders of churches, are to us as
laws, still binding with those limitations as positives only, which
give way to greater. 43. The ground of this position is, because
it is inconsistent with the wisdom and faithfulness of God; to
send men to a work, and promise to be with them, and yet to
forsake them, and suffer them to err in the building of that
house, which must endure till the end of the world. 44. Yet
if any of the commissioners do err in their own particular con-
versations,' or in matters without the extent of their commis-
sion, this may consist with the faithfulness of God ; God hath
not promised them infallibility and perfection ; the disgrace is
their own : but if they should miscarry in that wherein they
are sent to be a rule to others, the church would then have an
imperfect rule, and the dishonour would redound to God. 45.
Yet I find not that ever God authorized any mere man to be a
lawgiver to the church in substantials, but only to deliver the
laws which he had given to interpret them, and to determine
circumstantials not by him determined. 46. Where God owneth
men's doctrines and examples by miracles, they are to be taken as
infallibly divine; much more, when commission, promises, and mi-
racles, do concur, which confirmeth the apostles' examples for cur-
rent. 47-Sothatifanyofthekings or prophets had given laws,and
formed the church, as Moses, they had not been binding, because
without the said comniission ; or if any other minister of the
Gospel shall by word or action arrogate an apostolical privilege.
48. There is no verity about God, or the chief happiness of
man written in nature, but it is to be found written in Scrip-
tures,"^ 49. So that the same thing may, in these several
respects, be the objecc both of knowledge and of faith. 50.
The Scripture being so perfect a transcript of the law of
nature or reason, is much more to be credited in its super-
natural revelations. 51. The probability of most things, and
the possibility of all things contained in the Scriptures, may well
be discerned by reason itself, which makes their existence or
futurity the more easy to be believed. 52. Yet before this
existence or futurity of any thing beyond the reach of reason
1 As Peter, Gal. ii. 12, 13.
■n Sufficiunt quidem sanctae ac divinitus inspiratae Sciipturae ad omiiemiu-
structionem veritatis. — Athcmas, lib. \.cont. Gentil, initio.
268 THE saint's
can be soundly believed, tbe testimony must be known to be
truly divine. 53. Yet a belief of scripture doctrine as probable,
doth usually go before a belief of certainty, and is a good pre-
parative thereto. 54. The direct, express sense, must be believed
directly and absolutely as infallible, and the consequences where
they may be clearly and certainly raised : but where there is
danger of erring in raising consequences, the assent can be but
weak and conditional. 55. A consequence raised from Scrip-
ture, being no part of the immediate sense, cannot be called
any part of Scripture. 56. Where one of the premises is in
nature, and the other only in Scripture, there the conclusion is
mixed, partly known, and partly believed. That it is the con-
secjuence of those premises is known ; but that it is a truth, is,
as I said, apprehended by a mixed act. Such is a Christian's
concluding himself to be justified and sanctified, &c. 57.
Where, through weakness, we are unable to discern the conse-
quences, there is enough in the express direct sense for salva-
tion. 58. Where the sense is not understood, there the belief
can be but implicit. 59. Where the sense is partlv understood,
but with some doubting, the belief can be but conditionally ex-
plicit ; that is, we believe it, if it be the sense of the word.
60. Fundamentals must be believed explicitly and absolutely."
CHAP. IV.
The First Argument to prove Scripture to he the Word
of God.
Sect. 1. Having thus showed you in what sense the Scrip-
tures are the word of God, and how far to be believed, and
" Credere autem baec talia debenius IJeo, qui et nos fecit rectissime scientes,
quia Scriptura? quidem perfectse sunt; quippe a verbo Dei et s[)iritu ejus
dictata?. Nos auiem secundum quod miiiores sunius, et iiovissiuii a \erbo
Dei et spiritu ejus, secundum hoc et scientia niy;tenorum ejus indi^jenius.
Et lion est iniruiu si iu spiritualibus, ccelestibus, in his qua; habent reve-
lari, hoc ])atiiuur nos : quandoquidem etiam eoruni quiB ante pedes sunt,
(dico auteui quae sunt in hac creatura, quje et conteruntur a nobis,
et videntur, et sunt nobiscum) niuit.i fuj;;erunt nostrani scientiam, et Deo
hsec ij)ba coiniuiltimus. Oportet enini eum prai omnibus prasceliare.
Quid eniui si tentenius exponcre causaui ascensionis Nili ? MuUa quideiu
diciinus, et fortassis suasoria, ioriassis auiem iion suasoria ; quod auteni verum
est et certuin adjacet Deo. Sed et volantium animaliuai hahitatio, eoruin
qute \eris tempore ad\eiiiuut ad nos, et autumni receduut, cum in hoc mundo
hoc ipsum (iat, i'ugit iioitrdm scieuliciiu, &c. — Jvcnaus adv, Hares, lib, 2.
c. 47.
EVERLASTING REST. ' 269
what is the excellency, necessity, and authority of them, I shall
now add three or four arguments to help your faith, whicli, I
hope, will not only prove them to he a divine testimony to the
substance of doctrine (though that be a useful work against
unbelief), but also that they are the very written laws of God,
and a perfect rule of faith and duty. (2 Tim. iii.lG.) My argu-
ments shall be but few, because 1 handle it but on the by, and
those such as I find little of in ordinary writings, lest I siiould
waste time in doing what is done to my hands.
1. "Those writings and that doctrine which were confirmed
by many and real i' miracles, must needs be of God, and conse-
seijuently of undoubted truth. But the books and doctrines of
canonical Scripture were so confirmed : therefore, &c.
Against the major proposition nothing of any moment can be
said ; for it is a truth apparent enough to nature, that none but
God can work real miracles, or, at least, none but those whom
he doth especially enable thereto ; and it is as manifest that the
righteous and faithful God will not give this power for a seal to
any falsehood or deceit.
The usual objections are these: first, antichrist shall come
with lying wonders.*^
Answ. They are no true miracles : as they are repara xl/^vSovs,
(2Thess. ii. 9,) lying, in sealing to a lying doctrine : so also in
being but seeming and counterfeit miracles. The like may be
said to those of Pharaoh's magicians, and all other sorcerers
and witches, and those that may be wrought by Satan himself.
They may be wonders, but not miracles."^
° See this arg'umeiit from miracles, managed bv Camero Prrelect. ' De Verbo
T>ei,' (lol.) pp. 439—441, &c., and Grotius ' De Verit. Religioiiis Christian^.'
Vide et Polaii. Syntag. lib. 1. c. 17.
^ Donum et miracuiorum etiinguarum dandarum fiiisse et extraordinarium,
et a soils apostolis (peculiar! privile^io dato k Christo) coiiferri soiituin,
certo certius est.— Datiteus contr. Bellarm. de Bajitismo, p. 41;^. But this
certio certiusis a mistake, if he intend to exclude all besides apostles.
1 Nam ut jEcjyptiorum vatum nequaquam vis omnis aequari gratias potest,
quae Mosi miraiidum est in modum collata. Sed exitus arjjuit, ^g-yptios
praest!g;iis niti : Moysen vero quas gesserit, gessisse diviiiitu';. Sic ct eoruin
qui Chrisii falso sibi nomen adsciscunt, et qui perinde ac Jesu discipuli vir-
tutes mentiutitur et prodigia ; coarguuntur plane vel in oniiiis iniquitatis
seductiones fallaces, 6ic.— 0rigen. com. Celsum, lib. 2. fol. (niihi) 2S. G. I
ilo not not believe that God would have let the Eg'yptian sorcerers do so i^reat
thinofs as they did, had not Moses been present, that so his miracles might
discredit their wonders, and God be the more magnified by the conquest.
^ I'ueruiit miracula ut bucciiiae atque pra;cones quihus evangeliuni com-
mendabatur. Ut enim lex Mosis compluribus niiraculis in monte Sina; et
per desertum aulhuritatcm sibi couciUavit, qua; postea destivei uiit cum d
C«r« «cal/ Mt t» csiil tiK petMi dot
at rmmi— ifitiiil, mm 1m %m ^^ry^ Iwt tfxadwiGwIyaa^ferlHi
^0ms,ir,tvrr, imA40itkmmwmmtt.9m( tmatamakwA\m9t3kio
,«»<. 'WM-«,«,ia.^fajJi«rirti,».^i.r.wteS
^L^^i^A ^m m^^^s^A WSK^t^tt ^^f^ajl^t ^r^aai^^flr ■^^fl^b ^^^^^g^^^Bgi^^^^ ^Abs^ tftt^^Mnfl^vatf^^AflB
BB^^Hl fl^K K^^I^^La Xl^BV^T ffj^l^ufU sl^^B^^K HK^^^Vl ^^H^^^^^V^^^^^^H. ^^^^^^L ^^^^^■^^^^^H^^^^H.
^^W^^* ^^^ ^^^^^Pj •■*^>-'» ^^^i^^H^i^ m^h'^^9'^ nn^^^t^ ^^^•■ib^ibbW'^^ ■■■■■v •^■■••■■■^•^^^■^
-■Ml s winAf^ im G«l wnU «il: kwr «ak4 t» a fie.
t<i* W ^. fmfi m mr if dt € hmmatumt ami fMkte ; w
'iifu: . iei ia Ike fMifrfbcti ami afontfet «M «dC
->¥)«WBe, wmU iHM Wfieve it ?
i^ . 3i htuartu Usatek am t^iber
r.%ft>w, I »»*ir^ 3pr« S!»T l«il«« te^eJier the
y, UK •-« s i4» en.
lammcs 3I7C ziK XviK dssnuim
anmadk ami & iMoiies. ami $» iaoivs aoc^oir ar Mfe«e^ ao: "ms-
«iA v^ry ^icesc am£ ^ .n&isesv 3r ^vij^ vnert; aamni ami
VE^iifflirir uneHBS nit iMOKi^cun: jr^ ^nntin^^ imi isoaiK iir 3i«
he £icSt Tise 3:. ^ sarfhenaicV mamfeagct ;ait ^ r
— ^^ SataaV ^— mfe « » aB» anritas aamrV <toot . .^-
is£ ^iittu^ a«r!iua;s,. tsuno;^ tTur ie^aurao!^ sti^3uc
ctiniAi^amiSatata^gggMfeiBngAi. Jksz^r^saiu:vrt!aie<iBi&c:3/
:m: '^ Ttfeij* 3S7 JS5? i«f iinftiait aufttas.. secwcV aui- »
» aa 4^^ *jc asuaiy »«MCTf «««' ^ir ■-• ' - ;--^-
3&)» ^smi^e ami atsm:^ wcuki ^ifct;.
a^ iiJX ami «?c«t x^ssancn;:*^ >wt »?c war ex:.»*?vT
litifi^ o«C3cti.y^ ^ac rh«» ati^tkc ^nr 3u> -•> mi vr : . :»
$ujfii» ^kuii4. lisaDi^. iit»i ^jjsna: tlw "i^Axi x. -^
« lfi$«t <7jiKan£» 4ft IlK^ >«£ tiit^ >iuL I. :>tab ^<; D^-tL <tt. CS.'
272 THE saint's
multitudes of his followers, whom he enabled, when he was gone
from them, to do the like, to speak strange languages before
multitudes, to heal the sick and lame, and raise the dead. And
usually false wonders are done but among friends, that would
have it so, and are ready to believe ; but Christ wrought his in
the midst of enemies that gnashed the teeth, and had nothing
to say against it. And I am persuaded that it was one reason
why God would have Christ and all his followers have so many
and cruel enemies, that when they had nothing to say against it,
who doubtless would pry narrowly into all, and make the worst
of it, it might tend to the establishing of believers afterwards.
Again, usually false miracles, as they crept out in the dark, so
they were not divulged till some after ages, and only a little
muttered of at the present : but Christ and his apostles wrought
and published them openly in the world. If the Gospel history
had been false, how many thousand persons could have witnessed
against it, seeing they appealed to thousands of witnesses then
living, of several ranks and qualities, and countries ? It is true,
indeed, the magicians of Egypt did seem to go far. But
consider whether they were mere delusions, or real wonders by
secret, natural means; doubtless, they were no miracles directly so
called. And lest any should say that God tempted them by
such above their strength, you may observe that he doth not
suffer Satan to do what he can do, without a sufficient counter
testimony to undeceive men. When did God suffer the like
deceit as those sorcerers used ? Nor would he then have suf-
fered it, but that Moses was at hand to overcome their delu-
sions, and leave the beholders with full conviction, that so the
enemies' strength might make the victory the more glorious.
Balaam could not go beyond the word of the Lord. So that I
desire all weak believers to observe this, That as God is the
faithful Ruler of the world, so he will not let loose the enemy of
mankind to tempt us by wonders, further than he himself shall
give us a sufficient contradictory testimony. So that if we do not
know the difference between a miracle and a wonder, yet God's
faithfulness afibrds us a sufficient preservative, if we disregard
it not. And if we should grant that Satan can work miracles;
yet he being wholly at God's dispose, it is certain that God will
uot permit him to do it, without a full contradiction ; and,
therefore, such as Christ's miracles he shall never work. Else
should the creature be remcdilcssly deluded by supernatural
powers, while God looks on.
EVERLASTING REST. 273
Secondly: But the main assault I know will be made against
the minor projjosition of" the argument, and so the question will
be, tie facto, whether ever such miracles were wrought or not ?
I shall grant that we must not here argue circularly to prove
the doctrine to be of God by the miracles, and then the mira-
cles to have been wrought by the divine testimony of the doc-
trine, and so round. But yet, to use the testimony of the his-
tory of Scripture, as a human testimony of the matter of fact, is
no circular arguing.
Sect. II. Toward the confirmation of the minor, therefore, I
shall first lay these grounds : 1. That there is so much certainty
in some human testimony, that may exclude all doubting, or
cause of doubting jv or there is some testimony immediately
human, which yet may truly be said to be divine : 2. That such
testimony we have of the ^ miracles mentioned in Scripture. If
these two be cleared, the minor will stand firm, and the main
work here will be done.
First : I will therefore show you, that there is such a certainty
in some human testimony. Both experience and reason will
confirm this. First, I would desire any rational man to tell me,
whether he that never was at London, at Paris, or at Rome,
may not be certain, by a human faith, that there are such cities ?
for my own part, 1 think it as certain to me, nay, more certain,
than that which I see : and I should sooner question my own
sight alone, than the eyes and credit of so many thousands in
such a case. And I think the sceptic arguments brought against
the certainty of sense, to be as strong as any that can be
brought against the certainty of such a testimony. Is it not
somewhat more than probable, think you, to the multitudes that
never saw either parliament or king, that yet there is such an
assembly, and such a person : may we not be fully certain that
there was such a person as King James, as Queen Elizabeth, as
Queen Mary, &:c., here in England ; yea, that there was such a
y De certitudine Histor. lege Reignoldum ' De Lib. Apocr. Prselect.' 124—
126". Respondeo, esse quaudam famam, qua tanti esse debet ; tantiB, inquam,
authoritatis, ac si rem ipsam oculis usurpassemus. Camer. 'Praelect. de Verbo,"
fol. p. 440. See there his full proof that these miracles of Christ and the
disciples have such infaliibie testimony, and by what conditions certain fame
may be known from uncertain.
^ Fides humana non habet sua natura certitudinem infallibilem : quamvis
sit fides humana, quae moraliter loquendo, evidens et infallibilis censetur ; ut
quod Homa sit, quod ladi sint, &c. — Ames, in Disput, de Fidel Divin, Veritat.
thes. 3.
VOL. XXII. T
274 THE saint's
man as William the Conqueror : may we not be certain, also,
that he conquered England ; with many other of his actions ?
The like may be said of Julius Caesar, of Alexander the Great,
^'c.^' Surely, those who charge all human testimony with un-
certainty, do hold their lands then upon an uncertain tenure.
Secondly: It may be proved, also, by reason; for, 1. If the
first testifiers may infallibly know it ; and, 2. Also by an infal-
lible means transmit it to posterity ', and, 3. Have no intent to
deceive ; then their testimony may be an infallible testimony.
But all these three may easily be proved. I had thought to
have laid down here the rules, by which a certain human testi-
mony may be discerned from an uncertain ; but you may easily
gather them from what I shall lay down for the confirmation of
these three positions.
For the first, I suppose none will question, whether the testi-
fiers might infallibly know the truth of what they testify ? If
they should, let them consider : First, If it be not matter of doc-
trine, much less abstruse and difficult points, but only matter of
fact, then it is beyond doubt it mav be certainly known. Se-
condly, If it be those also who did see, and hear, and handle,
who do testify it. Thirdly, If their senses were sound and per-
fect, within reach of the object, and having no deceiving medi-
um. Fourthly, Which may be discerned, 1. If the witnesses be
a multitude ; for then it may be known they are not blind or
deaf, except they had been culled out of some hospitals ; espe-
cially when all present do both see and hear them : 2. When
the thing is done openly, in the daylight : 3. When it is done
frequently, and near at hand ; for then there would be full
opportunity to discover any deceit. So that in these cases it is
» Nothing commoner in Paul's Epistles than the mention of those miracles
which were done among them and by themselves to whom he wrote. This
had been stark madness., and not only folly in Paul, if he had lied. For he
hrought not arguments remote from their senses to whom he wrote, but he
mentioneth those miracles which they themselves did work to whom he
■wrote ; yea, he provoked them to miracles, that from thence they might judge
of his apostleship. There is no deceiver that dare do thus, especially if his
deceit be called into question. We conclude, therefore, that the report of
fame ought to be believed, the authors whereof have so commended the things
reported to posterity,, that they might easily be discovered by them that lived
in those times. — Camera in Prcelect. de Verho, folio, p. 441. The reasons why
no more mention is made of Christ's miracles by pagan writers, you may find
in Camero ' De Verbo Dei,' p. 441, where he shows also, as the malice, so the
gross ignorance of Suetonius, Tacitus, and the best of their writers, both in
the Syrian affairs and in the matters of the Jewish and Christian religion,
which caused their palpable, ridiculous errors.
EVERLASTING REST. 275
doubtless, sense is infallible, and, consequently, those that see
and hear, are most certain witnesses.
2. Next let us see, whether we may be certain that any tes-
timony is sincere, without a purpose to deceive us. And I take
that for undoubted in the following cases : 1. Where the party
is ingenious and honest : 2. And it is apparent he drives on no
design of his own, nor cannot expect any advantage in the
world ',^ 3. Nay, if his testimony will certainly undo him in the
world, and prove the overthrow of his ease, honour, estate, and
life. 4. And if it be a multitude that do thus testify, how can
they do it with an intent to deceive? 5. And if their several
testimonies do agree ; 6. And if the very enemies deny not this
matter of fact, but only refer it to other causes, then there is no
possibility of deceit, as 1 shall further, anon, evince, when I
apply it to the question : 7. And if no one of the witnesses in
life, or at the hour of death, did ever repent of his testimony,
and confess it a deceit ; as certainly some one would have done
for so great a sin, if it had been so.
Thirdly : We are to prove, that there are infallible means of
transmitting such testimony down to posterity, without depraving
any thing substantial. And then it will remain an undoubted
truth, that there is a full certainty in some human testimony,
and that to posterity at a remote distance.
Now, this tradition is infallible in these cases: 1. If it be
(as before said) in matter of fact only, which the meanest
understandings are capable of apprehending. 2. If it be also
about the substance of actions, and not every small circum-
stance. 3. And also if those actions were famous in their
^ Quinam isti sint fortasse'quseritis ? gentes, populi, nationes, et incredu-
lum illud genus humanum ; quod nisi aperta res esset, et luce ipsa clarior,
nunquam rebus hujusmodi credulitatis suae commodarent assensum. An
nunquid dicemus illius temporis homines, usque adeo fuissevanos, mendaces,
stolidos, brutes, ut quas nunquam viderant ? vidisse se fingerent ? et quae
facta omnino non erant, falsis proderent testimoniis aut puerili assertione fir-
marent ? Cumque possentvobiscuin etunanimiter vivere, et inoffensas ducere
conjunctiones, gratuita susciperent odia, et execrabili haberentur in nomine ?
— Arnobius advers. Gentes, lib. i. p. (mihi) 46. Nee dixerit aliquis opuin
assequeiidarum gratia eos id agere. Qui plerumque ue ad victuin quidem
necessaria capiunt. Et si forte aliquid pree rerum inopia capere quandoque
coguntur, sola sunt necessitate contenti. Cum ingens hominum multitudo
ad Christianam doctrinam accesserit, et praedivites quidam, et ex his aliqui
qui gesserint magistratus, et matronae insuper opulentae et nobiles, audebit
ne aliquis gloricB cupiditate hos illosve suae affirmareChristianae religionis an-
tistites fieri, &c. — Origen, cont. Celsu?n, lib. iii. fol. (mihi) 30.
t2
276 THE saint's
times, and of great note and wonder in the world, and such as
were tlie cause of public and eminent alterations. 4. If it be
delivered down in writing, and not only by word of mouth,
where the change of speech might alter the sense of the matter.
.5. If the records be public, where the very enemies may see
them ; yea, published on purpose by heralds and ambassadors,
that the world may take notice of them. 6. If they are men
of greatest honesty in all ages, who have both kept and di-
vulged these records. 7- And if there have been also a
multitude of these. 8. And this multitude of several countries,
where they could never so much as meet to agree upon any
deceiving counsels : much less all accord in such a design ;
and, least of all, be able to manage it with secrecy. 9. If also
the after-preservers and divulgers of these records could have
no more self-advancing ends, than the first testifiers. 10. Nay,
if their divulging and attesting these records, did utterly ruin
their estates and lives, as well as it did the first testifiers.
1 1. If there be such a dispersing of the copies of these records
all over the vvorld, that the cancelling and abolishing them is
a thing impossible. 12. If the very histories of the ene-
mies never affirm any universal abolishing and consuming of
them."^ 13. If all these dispersed copies through the world
do perfectly agree in everything material. 14. If it were a
matter of such moment in the judgment of the preservers,
neither to add nor diminish) that they thought their eternal
salvation did lie upon it. 15. If the histories of their enemies
do generally mention their attesting these records to the loss of
their lives, and that successfully in every age. 16. If these
records and attestations are yet visible to the world, and that in
such a form as none could coimterfeit. 17. If the enemies
that lived near, or in those times when the things were done,
do, 1. Write nothing against them of any moment.'^ 2. But
oppose them with fire and sword, instead of argument. 3. Nay,
"= I do confidently say, that for extrinsical testimonies contradicting these of
the Scripture, there are none such at all to be found, unless you will take the
sayings of such as were both born lonif after, and Mere professed enemies of
the christian name. — Grolius de f'er. Jielio-. l\h. iu. p. (niihi) 168. And it
is a strong confirmation, -when no man can produce one contradictory testi-
mony of that age. De legis instauratione per Esdram, et an amissae, an
tantum corruptee essent Scripture, lege Serrarii Prolegom. c. 12. q. 1. et quae
colligit Euseb. Nieremb. ' de Orig. S. Scrip.' lib.iv. c. 19.
^ Rabbini et aJii.
EVERLASTING HEST. 277
if they acknowledge the fact, but deny the cause only.^
18. And if all the enemies were incompetent witnesses. 1. Wit-
nessing to the negative, of which they could have no certainty.
2. And carried on with apparent malice and prejudice. 3. And
having all worldly advantages attending tlieir cause. 4. And
being generally men unconscionable and impious. 19. If all
these enemies, having all these worldly advantages, could
neither by arguments nor violence, hinder people from believing
these famous and palpable matters of fact, in the very age
wherein they were done, when the truth and falsehood might
most easily be discovered, but that the generality of beholders
were forced to assent. 20. If multitudes of the most ingenious
and violent enemies, have in every age from the very acting of
these things to this day, been forced to yield, and turned as
zealous defenders of these records and their doctrine, as ever
they were oppcsers of them before. 21. If all these converts
do confess upon their coming in, that it was ignorance, or pre-
judice, or worldly respects, that made them oppose so much
before. 22. If all the powers of the world, that can burn the
bodies of the witnesses, that can overthrow kingdoms, and
change their laws, could never yet reverse and abolish these
records. 23. Nay, if some notable judgment in all ages, have
befallen the most eminent opposers thereof. 24. And lastly,
if successions of wonders (though not miracles as the first) have
in all ages accompanied the attestation of these records. I sav,
if all these tvventy-four particulars do concur, or most of these,
T leave it to the judgment of any man of understanding, whether
there be not an infallible way of transmitting matter of fact
to posterity ? And, consequently, whether there be not more
than a probability, even a full certainty, in such a human tes-
timony?
Sect. III. 2. The second thing which I am to manifest, is,
that we have such a testimony of the miracles, which confirmed
the doctrine and writings of the IMble.''
And here 1 must run over the three foregoing particulars
again ; and show you. First, That the witnesses of scripture
^ Justin Martyr tellethTryphon, in his Dialogue, of the wickedness of the
Jews, tiiat they sent out into all parts of the world their choicest men, to per-
suade the people aj;ainst the Christians, that they are atheists, and would
abolish the Ueity; and thai they were convicted of i^ross inipiely. And yet
this mischievous industry of the Jews did not prevail.
f Episcopi cornniuniter tunc habebaut potestatem faciendi miracula, inquit
Dionysius, ' Carthu. ju Apocal.' c. 3.
278 THE saint's
miracles could, and did infallibly know the truth which they
testified : Secondly, That they had no intent to deceive the
world : and. Thirdly, That it hath been brought down to pos-
terity by a way so infallible, that there remains no doubt whether
our records are authentic. For the first of these, I think it will
be most easily acknowledged. Men are naturally so confident
of the infallibility of their own senses, that surely they will not
suspect the senses of others. But if they should, let them have
recourse to what is said before, to put them out of doubt. First,
It was matter of fact, which might be easily discerned. Secondly,
The apostles and others who bore witness to it were present,
yea, continual companions of Christ, and the multitude of
Christians were eye-witnesses of the miracles of the apostles.s
Thirdly, These were men neither blind nor deaf, but of as
sound and perfect senses as we. Fourthly, This is apparent ;
1. Because they were great multitudes, even that were present,
and therefore could not all be blind ; if they had, how did they
walk about ? Fifthly, These miracles were not done by night,
nor in a corner, but in the open light, in the midst of the people.
Sixthly, They were not once or twice only performed, but very
oft, of several kinds, by several persons, even prophets, and
Christ himself and his apostles, in many generations ; so that,
if there had been any deceit, it might have been easily disco-
vered. Seventhly, and lastly, It was in the midst of vigilant
^ Beholding the creatures with astonishment, they saw all confessing Christ
the Lord : they that had their cogitations intent on men, as if they had been
gods, comparing Christ's works with theirs ; they acknowledged that Christ
only amongst men, was God, and the Sou of God, and our Saviour, when they
saw that there was no such works wrought by men, as were by the Word of
God. They that had believed devils to be gods, seeing them overcome by
Christ, they were constrained to confess him only to be God. They, whose
minds went after the dead, as being accustomed to worship gallant men when
they were dead, whom the poets called gods, being better taught by our Sa-
viour's resurrection, they confessed them to be false and liars, and that the
Word of the Father was the only true God, who had the command of death. —
Atlianas. de Incnrnat. T'erbi. Maxima est differentia inter, 1. Testificatio-
nem primitivae ecclesiae quae fuit tempore apostolorum : 2. Inter testificatio-
nem ecclesiae quae proxime post apostolorum tempora secuta est, quaeque
primae ecclesiae testificationem acceperat : 3. Et inter testificatiouem praesentis
ecclesias de Scriptura. Quae enim et nunc et antea fuit ecclesia, si potest
ostendere testimonia eorum qui acceperant et noverant testificationem primae
ecclesiae de germanis scriptis, credimus ei, ut testi probanti sua dicta : non
autem habet potestatem statuendi aut decernendi aliquid de libris sacris, cujus
non possit certa documenta ex testificatione primitivae ecclesiae proferre. —
Chemnit. Exam. Cone. Tridentin. part. 1. initio, p. 80. Quisquisadhuc pro-
digia, ut credat, inquirit, magnum est ipse prodigium, qui mundo credeute^
non credit. — Dr. Humfredus in Jesuitis7n, p. 166. August.
EVERLASTING REST. 279
and subtle enemies, who were able and ready enough to have
evinced the deceit.
So that it remains certain that the first eye-witnesses thenv
selves were not deceived.
2. Let us next consider whether it be not, also, as certain
that they never intended the deceiving of the world ?
First : It is evident that they were neither fools nor knaves,
but men of ingenuity, and extraordinary honesty ; there needs
no more to prove this, than their own writings, so full of enmity
against all kind of vice, so full of conscientious zeal and hea-
venly affections. Yet is this their honesty also attested by their
enemies. Surely the very remnants of natural honesty are a
divine offspring, and do produce also certain effects according to
their strength and nature. God hath planted and continued
them in man, for the use of societies, and common converse :
for if all honesty were gone, one man could not believe ano-
tiier, and so could not converse together. But now supernar
tural, extraordinary honesty, will produce its effect more
certainly ; if three hundred, or three thousand honest, godly men
should say, they saw such things with their eyes, he is very
incredulous that would not believe it.
Secondly : It is apparent that neither prophets, apostles, nor
disciples, in attesting these things, could drive on any designs
of their own.^ Did they seek their honour, or ease, or profit,
or worldly delights ? Did their Master give them any hopes
of these ? Or did they see any probability of their attaining
it ? Or did they see any of their fellows attain it before them ?
'• Nemo jam infamiam incutiat : nemo aliud existimet : quia nee fas est ulli de
sua religioiie mentiri. Ex eo enim quod aliud a se coli dicit, quam colit, et cul-
turam, et honorem in alterum transfert: et transferendo jam non colit quod
negavit. Dicimus, et palam dicimus, et vobis torquentibus lacerati et cruenti
vociferamur, " Deum colimus per Christum," ilium hominem putate : per
eum, et in eo se cognosci vult Deus et coli. — Tertullinn. Apologet. c. 11.
Quod si falsa (ut dicitis) historia est ilia rerum, unde tam brevi tempore totus
mundus ista religione completus est? Asseverationibus allecti sunt nudis,
inducti in spes cassas, et in pericula capitis immittere se sponte temeraria
desperatione voluerunt ? Cum nihil tale vidissent, quod eos in hos cultus
novitatis suae possit excitare miraculo ? Immo quia hsec omnia ab ipso cer-
nebant geri, et ab ejus pra;conibus qui per orbem totum missi beneficia patris
et muuera hominibus portabant; veritatis ipsius vi victi, dederunt sese Deo :
nee in magnis posuere dispendiis membra vobis projicere, et viscera sua lani-
anda prcebere.— ^raofiJMS aduers. Gent. lib. i. p. 46, Julian coufesseth that
those were the writings of Peter, Paul, Mark, Luke, which the Christians
ascribed to them.
280 THE saint's
Thirdly : Nay, was it not a certain way to their ruin in the
world ? Did not their Master tell them, when he sent them
out, that they should be persecuted of all for his sake and the
Gospel's ? Did they not find it true, and therefore expected the
like themselves ? Paul knew, that in every city, bonds and
afflictions did abide him. And they lay it down as a granted
rule, that he that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer
persecution. Now I would fain know, whether a man's self, his
estate, his liberty, his life, be not naturally so near and dear to
all, that they would be loath to throw it away, merely to deceive
and cozen the world ? All that I know can be objected is, that
they may do it out of a desire to be admired in the world for
their godliness, and their suffering.
Answ. 1. Go see where you can find thousands or millions of
men that will cast away their lives to be talked of.
2. Did they not, on the contrary, renounce their own honour
and esteem, and call themselves vile and miserable sinners, and
speak worse of themselves than the most impious wretch will
do, and extol nothing but God and his Son .lesus ?
3. ]3id not their Master foretell them, that they should be so
far from getting credit by his service, that they should be
hated of all men, and their names cast out as evil-doers ? Did
they not see him spit upon, and hanged on a cross among thieves
before their eyes, some of them ? Did they not find by experi-
ence, that their way was every where spoken against ? And
the reproach of the cross of Christ was the great stumbling-
block to the world ? And could men possibly choose such a
way for vain-glory ? I am persuaded it is one great reason why
Christ would have the first witnesses of the Gospel to suffer so
much to confirm their testimony to future ages, that the world
might see that they intended not to deceive them.
Fourthly : Consider, also, what a multitude these witnesses
were.' How could so many thousands of several countries lay
the plot to deceive the world ? They were not only thousands
that believed the Gospel, but thousands that saw the miracles of
Christ, and many cities and countries that saw the miracles of
the apostles.
Fifthly : And the testimony of all doth so punctually accord,
that the seeming contradiction in some smaller circumstances,
• In unam coire qui potuerunt mentem Gentes regionibus disjunctje, ven-
tis, cceli convexionibusque dimotae ? &c, — Arnob, ubi svpra.
EVERLASTING REST. 281
doth but show their simplicity and sincerity, and their agree-
ment in the main.j
Sixthly: And is it possible that no one of them would so
much as at death, or in torments, have detected the deceit ?
Seventhly and lastly : The very enemies acknowledge this
matter of fact ; ^ only they ascribe it to other causes. They
could not deny the miracles that were wrought : even to this
day the Jews acknowledge much of the works of Christ, but
slanderously father them upon the power of the devil, or upon
the force of the name of God sewed in Christ's thigh, and such-
like ridiculous stories they have : even the Turks confess much
of the miracles of Christ, and believe him to be a great Prophet,
though they are professed enemies to the christian name.
So that I think by all this it is certain, that the first wit-
nesses of the miracles of Christ and his apostles, as they were
not deceived themselves, so neither had they any intent to de-
ceive the world.
3. We are next to show you, that the way that this testimony
hath come down to us, is a certain infallible way. For, ^
1. Consider, it is a matter of fact j (for the doctrine we are
not now mentioning, except de facto, that this was the doctrine
attested.)
2. They were the substances of the actions that they chiefly
related, and that we are now inquiring after the certainty of.
Though men may mistake in the circumstances of tiie fight at
such a place, or such a place, yet that there were such fights
we may certainly know. Or though they may mistake in smaller
actions, circumstances, or qualifications, of Henry the Eighth,
J Of the heathen ancient writers' attestations to the several histories of tlie
Bible, I shall particularly say little, it btiiug- done so fully by Grotius ' De
Ver. Christ. Rel.' lib. i. s. 16, 22. lib. ii. s. 7. lib. iii. s. 16. Tertul. tie pra;-
scriptione affirmat ipsas authenticas apostolorum literas, hoc est ipsa scripta
apostolorum suo adhuc tempore in ecclesiis apostolicis conservata extitisse.
'' Eodem momento dies, medium ordem signante sole, subductaest. Deli-
quium utique putaverunt, qui id quocjue sujier Cliristo praedicatum ncscierunt.
Et tamen euui mundi casum relatum in archivis vestris habetis. — Tartul,
Jpol. c. 21.
' Every sect that acknovvledojeth God and Christ, hath those books as we
have ; and every sect usinfj its testimony against the other, shows it was not
falsified; for if it had, the adverse sect would have discovered it, as Grot,
' De Verit. Rel.' lib. iii. s. 15. Irenteus, TertuUian, Cyprian, Lactaiitius, and
the rest of the eldest fathers, fully manifest, that the several books of the New
Testament were then current and uncorrupt in the church ; and alleg^e abun-
dance of places in the same words, as tliey are now in our Bibles, as Justin
Martyr, Arnobius, Lactantius, Atbenagoras, &c., do out of the Old,
282 THE saint's
of William the Conqueror, &c. ; yet that there were such men
we may certainly know. Now the thing we inquire after is,
whether such miracles were wrought, or not ?
3. They were actions then famous through the world, "^ and
made great alterations in states : they turned the world upside
down : cities were converted, countries and rulers were turned
Christians. And may not the records in eminent actions be cer-
tain ? We have certain records of battles, of sieges, of succes-
sions of princes among the heathens before the coming of
Christ, and of the great alterations in our own state for a very
long time.
4. It was a formal record" in the very words of the first wit-
nesses in writing, which hath been delivered to us, and not only
any unwritten testimony ; so that men's various conceivings or
expressions could make no alteration.
5. These records, which we call the Scripture, have been
kept publicly in all these ages ; so that the most negligent
enemy might have taken notice of its depravation. Yea, God
made it the office of his ministers to publish it, whatever came
of it, to all the world, and pronounced a wo to them if they
preach not this Gospel ; which preaching was both the divulging
of the doctrine and miracles of Christ, and all out of these
authentic records. And how then is it possible there should
be a universal depravation, and that even in the narration of
the matters of fact, when all nations almost, in all these ages
since the original of the history, have had these heralds who
have proclaimed it to the death ?
"' The occasion of writings the several books of the New Testament, you
may see in Chemnit. ' Exa. Concilii Trid.,' in the beginning.
"Dico evangeliuniLucae quod tuemur apud ecclesias apostolicas, et jam uni-
versas ab initio editionis suse stare. — Tertul. adv. 31arc. Vide Sibrand. Jiib-
bert. ' De Principiis Christianorum Dogmatiim,' 1. 2. &c. Jam etiam quemad-
modum dixinius, et mortui resurrexerunt, et perseveraverunt nobiscum annis
multis ; et quid autem ? Non est numerum dicere gratiarum, quas per uni-
versum mundum ecclesia .\ Deo accipiens, in nomine Christi per singulos dies
in opitulationem gentium perficit, neque scducens aliquem, nee pecuniam ei
auferens. Quemadmoduni enim gratis accepit a. Deo gratis administrat. Nee
invocationibus angelicis facial aliquid, nee iucantationibus, nee aliqua ]>rava
curiositate. Sed munde et pure et manifeste orationes dirigentes ad Doniinum
qui omnia fecit, et nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi invocans, virtutes
secundum utibtates hominum, sed non ad seductioneni perfecit. Si itaque et
nunc nomem Domini nostri Jesu Christi beneficia pra^stat et curat firmissime,
et vere omnes ubique credentes in eum, &c. — Irencrus advcrs. Hereses, lib. ii.
c. 57. Evangelium adulterasse alios nullos praeter Marcionistas quosdam
hereticos norini, et Valentini sectatores, et eos forte qui a Lucano quodam
prodierant. — Origen, cont. Celsum, lib. ii. fol. (mihi) 20.
EVERLASTING REST. 283
6. And It is most apparent that the keepers and publishers
of these records, have been men of most eminent piety and
honesty. The same testimony which I gave before to prove the
honesty of the first witnesses, will prove theirs, though in a
lower degree : a good man, but a Christian, was the character
given them by their very foes.
7. They have been a multitude, almost innumerable.
8. And these of almost every country under heaven. And
let, any man tell me how all these, or the chief of them, could
possibly meet, to consult about the depraving of ih^ history of
the Scripture ? And whether it were possible, if such a mul-
titude were so ridiculously dishonest, yet that they could carry
on such a vain design with secrecy and success.P
9. Also, the after-divulgers of the miracles of the Gospel,
could have no more self-advancing ends for a long time than
the first witnesses.
10. Nay, it ruined them in the world, as it did the first, so
that let any man judge whether there be any possibility that
so many millions of so many nations should ruin themselves,
and give their bodies to be burned, merely to deprave those
Scriptures which they do profess ?
11. Consider, also, when this sacred history was so dispersed
over the world, whether the cancelling and extirpation of it '
were not a thing impossible, especially by those means that
were attempted ?i
12. Nay, there is no history of the enemies that doth mention
" Even among the papists, the more learned and modest maintain the per-
fection of the HebreV text of the Old Testament, as Arias, Paffninus, Vata-
hlus, Cajetan. Quid est gens Judaeorum nisi quaedam scriniaria Christia-
norum hajulans legem et prophetas in testimonium assertionis ecclesiae? —
Aug. cont. Faust. Manichceum, lib. xii. c. 23.
P There were some of the first copies kept till two hundred years after : and
a book that was so dispersed in so many copies, and kept not by private men,
but by the public diligence of the church, could not be falsified. Moreover,
in the very first ages it was translated into the Syriac, the Ethiopic, the Ara-
bic, and Latin tongues ; which translations are all yet extant, and in nothing
of any moment differ from the Greek books. Besides, we have the writings
of those that were instructed by the apostles themselves, or their disciples,
who cite abundance of places out of the Scriptures in the same sense as we
read them now. Nor was there any man then of such authority in the church,
as that they who have obeyed him if he had changed any thing, as Irenaeus's,
Tertullian's, Cyprian's free dissent from those who were then most eminent,
doth show. Next to these times there succeeded men of great learning and
judgment, who, after diligent search, did receive these books as remaining in
their primitive purity. — Grotius de Ferit, Relig. lib. iii. sect. 15,
284 THE saint's
any universal abolition or depravation of these records. When
was the time, and where was the place, that all the Bibles in the
world were gathered together, and consumed with fire, or cor-
rupted with forgery r"" Indeed, Julian thought by prohibiting the
schools of learning to the children of Christians, to have extir-
pated Christianity; but Christ did quickly first extirpate him.
13. All those copies of those sacred writings do yet accord,
in all things material, which are found through the world.
And consider them if they had been depraved, whether multi-
tudes of copies, which had escaped that depravation, would not
by their diversity, or contradiction, have bewrayed the rest?
14. It was a matter of such a heinous quality, both by the
sentence of the law, and in the consciences of the preservers
and divulgers of it, to add or diminish the least tittle, that they
thought it deserved eternal danniation. And I refer it to any
man of reason, whether so many thousands of men through the
world, could possibly venture upon eternal torment, as well as
upon temporal death; and all this to deceive others, by deprav-
ing the laws which they look to be judged by; or the history
of those miracles which were the grounds of our faith? Is not
the contrary somewhat more than probable ?
15. Furthermore, the histories of the enemies do frequently
mention that these Scriptures have been still maintained to the
flames. Though thev revile the Christians, yet they report this
their attestation, which proves the constant succession thereof,
and the faithful delivery of Christianity and its records to us.
It would be but needless labour to heap up here the several
reports of pagan historians, of the numbers of Christians, their
obstinacy in their religion, tlieir calamities and torments.
16. These records and their attestations are yet visible over
the world, and that in such a form as cannot possibly be coun-
terfeit. Is it not enough to put me out of doubt, whether Homer
ever wrote his Iliads, or Demosthenes his Orations, or Virgil
1 Antiochus did what he could, but left the Jews their Scripture entire in
despite of him. Nam cum tot secula intercesserint, nemo tanien quic-
quam addere vel auferre vel permutare ausus iuit: omnibus enim nostrae
gentis hoiniiiibus insita quodainmodo atque ingenita fides est, credere haec
JJei esse consulta, et his acquiescere, ac pro ipsis, si ita res posceret, libenter
animam ponere. — Josejih. cont. Amnav.. lib. i. Sic el Euseh. Eccles. Hist,
lib. iii. c. 10. Ita Philo, refereiite Eusehio, ' Praeparat. Evanj.' lib. viii. c. 2.
Mirabile niihi videtur duohus annorutn miilibus, imo niajore tempore jam fere
transacto, nee verhum unum in lege illius esse immutatum, sed centies
unusquisque Juda!orum prius niorietur; quam legi Mosaicae derogabit.
EVERLASTING llEST. 285
and Ovid their several works, or iVristotle his volumes of so
many of the sciences, when 1 see and read these books yet
extant; and when I find them sucli, that I think can hardly now
be counterfeited, no, nor imitated? But if they could, who
would have been at the excessive pains, as to iiave spent his life
in compiling such books, that he might deceive the world, and
make men believe that they were the works of Aristotle, Ovid,
&c.; would not any man rather have taken the honour to
himself? so here the case is alike Yea, the Scriptures, though
they have less of arts and sciences, yet are incomparably more
difficult to have been counterfeited than the otlier; 1 mean
before the first copies were drawn. I would here stay to show
the utter impossibility of any man's forging these writings; but
that I intend to make that a peculiar argument.
17. Whether any enemy hath, with weight of argument,
confuted the christian cause ; whether, when thev have under-
taken it, it hath not been only arguing the improbability,'' or
assigning the miracles to other causes, or an opposing the doc-
trine delivered by the Christians,'' rather than these miraculous
actions in question ; I leave those to judge who have read their
writings; yea, whether their common arguments have not been
fire and sword.
18. It is an easy matter yet to prove, that the enemies of
Scripture have been incompetent witnesses; 1. Being men that
were not present, or had not the opportunity to be so well ac-
^ They think the Scripture miracles incredible ; aixl yet every age still hath
such wonders as the next ages will not believe. AViiy is not the raining of
manna or quails from heaven as credible as the raining of that grain about
ten years ago in England ? It fell in many parts of the kingdom, h was like
a withered wheat corn, but not so long, with a skin of a dark colour, which
being pulled otF, the grain had a taste somewhat sharp and hot. J tasted it,
and kept some of it long, which fell on the leads of the church, and of the mi-
nister's house in Bridgnorth, where 1 preached the Gospel : and within this
year I have seen grain that hath fallen twice since; of which the latter
seemed the same with the first above-mentioned ; but the other was of a dif-
ferent sort. Jan. ICfil. Tiberius, upon a letter from Pilate of the miracles,
death, and resurrection of Christ, did move in the senate to proclaim him to be
God; but they refused, because the motion was not first from themselves:
but the emperor did abide in his opinion still. — Egesip. Anaceplial. Where-
fore Tertullian bids them, '* Go look iu your registers, and the acts of your
senate," iu ' Apol.' Vide Usher, ' Brit. Eccl. Prim.' p. 3, 4.
* Notbeingable to resist such open truths, or say any thing against them, they
will not deny what is written, but say they yet expect these things, and that
the word is not yet come. — Athanas, de Incarn. Verbi. Malunt nescire, quia
jam oderunt : adeo quod nesciunt, pieejudicant id esse, quod si sciaut, odisse
uou poteraut. — Tertal. Jpol, 1.
286 THE saint's
quainted with the actions of Christ, of the prophets and apos-
tles, as themselves or others, that do attest them. 2. Being men
of apparent mahce, and possessed with much prejudice against
the persons and things which thev oppose. This I might easily
and fully prove, if I could stand upon it. 3. They had all
worldly advantages attending their cause, which they were all to
lose, with life itself, if they had appeared for Christ. 4. They
were generally men of no great conscience, nor moral honesty; and
most of them of most sensual and vicious conversation. This ap-
pears by their own writings, both doctrinal and historical.'' What
sensual interpretations of the law did the very strict sect of the
pharisees make ! What fleshly laws have the followers of Ma-
homet ! What vices did the laws of the heathens tolerate !
Yea, what foul errors are in the ethics of their most rigid moral-
ists ! And you may be sure that their lives were far worse than
their laws ; and, indeed, their own histories do acknowledge as
much. To save me the labour of mentioning them, read Dr.
Hackwell's apology on that subject. Surely such men are incom-
petent witnesses in any cause between man and man, and would
be so judged at any impartial judicature. And, indeed, how is
it possible that they should be much better, when they have no
laws that teach them either what true happiness is, or what is
the way and means to attain it ? 5. Besides all this, their tes-
timony was onlv of the negative, and that in such cases as it
could not be valid.
19. Consider, also, that all the adversaries of these miracles
and relations could not, with all their arguments or violence,
hinder thousands from believing them, in the very time and
country where they were done : but that they who did behold
them, did generally assent at least to the matter of fact'; so that we
may say with Austin, either they were miracles or not : if they
were, why do you not believe ? if they were not, behold the
greatest miracle of all, that so many thousands, even of the
beholders, should be so blind, as to believe things that never
were, especially in those very times when it was the easiest mat-
ter in the world to have disproved such falsehoods. If there
' Of the general wickedness of the Romans themselves, and all heathen
enemies to Christ, the testimonies are too lar^e here to be inserted. You may
find enough in Just. Martyr's ' Dialog, cum Triph.' and ' Apologies,' &c. In
Tertullian's < Apol.' et passim; in Origen. ' Cont. Celsum ;' Arnobius 'Ad-
vers. Gent. ;' Lactantius's 'Institutions;' Athenagoras, Tatianus, Minutius
Fcelix, ' Advers. Gentil. ;' Athanas. passim, IreujEus, Clemens Alexandrinus,
passim ; and all the writers of those times.
EVERLASTING REST. 287
should go a report now of a man at London, that should raise
the dead, cure the blind, the deaf, the sick, the possessed, feed
thousands with five loaves, fijc. ; and that a multitude of his fol-
lowers should do the like, and that a great many times over
and over, and that in the several parts of the land, in the pre-
sence of crowds, and thousands of people. I pray you, judge
whether it were not the easiest matter in the world to disprove
this, if it were false ; and whether it were possible that whole
countries and cities should believe it ? Nay, whether the easi-
ness and certainty of disproving it, would not bring them all
into extreme contempt ?
Two things will be here objected : first, that then the adver-
saries not believing, will be as strong against it, as the disciples
believing is for it. Answ. Read what is said before of the
adversary's incompetency, and it mav satisfy as to this. Secondly,
Consider, also, that the generality of the adversaries did believe
the matter of fact, which is all that we are now inquiring after."
The recital here of those multitudes of testimonies that might
be produced from antiquity, is a work that my strait time doth
prohibit, but is done by others far more able. Only that well-
known passage in Josephus I will here set down : " In the time
of Tiberius, there was one Jesus, a wise man, at least, if he
was to be called a man, who was a worker of great miracles,
and a teacher of such who love the truth, and had many, as
well Jews as gentiles, who clave unto him. This was Christ.
And when Pilate, upon his being accused by the men of our
nation, had sentenced him to be crucified, yet did they not who
had first loved him forsake him : for he appeared to them the
third day alive again, according to what the prophets, divinely
" Julian, when be scorneth Christ, doth acknowledge his miracles. " What,"
saith he, " hath this Jesus done worthy of memory, or of any account, in all
his life, save that he cured a few blind, and lame, and delivered some from
devils that possessed them?" &c. Hie est qui stellam signare fecit
nativitatem, &c. In Judea natum ex Perside supplices adorare venerunt
viri. — Athnnas. de Incarn. Verbl. Ea omnia super Cliristo Pilatus,
et ipse jam pro sua conscientia Christianus, Caesari tum Tiberio nun-
ciavit ; sed et CfBsares credidissent super Christo, si aut Csesares non essent
seculo necessarii; aut si et Cliristiaui potuissent esse Caesares. — Tertiil. Jpol.
c. xxi. Of the sun darkened in Tiberius's time, when Jesus was cruci-
fied, and of the earthquake, Phlegon hath written in the thirteenth or four-
teenth book, ' De Temporibus,' saith Origen ' Cont. Celsum,' lib. ii. fol.
' (mihi) 21. The star that appeared at Christ's birth is mentioned by Pliny,
lib. ii. c. 25. So do divers others, as Origen reports, ' Cont. Celsum.'
Herod's killing; the children is mentioned in Augustus's taunt : " I had
rather," saith he, '< be Herod's swine than his son, because he killed a
son of his own among the rest."— i?/acro&. Saturnal.
2S8 THE saint's
inspired, had foretold concerning him, as they had done an in-
numerable number of" very strange things besides. And even
to this day, both the name and sort of persons called Christians,
so named from him, do remain." Thus far Josephus, a Jew by
nation and religion, Avho wrote this about eighty-six years after
Christ, and fourteen years before the death of St. John, himself
being born about five or six years after Christ.
20. Consider, also, how that every age hath offered multitudes
of witnesses, who before were most bitter and violent enemies,
and divers of those men of note for learning and place in the
world.^ How mad was Saul against the truth ! Surely it could
be no favour to the cause, nor overmuch credulity, that caused
such men to witness to the death, the truth of- that for which
they had persecuted others to the death but a little before. Nor
could childish fables, or connnon flying tales, have so mightily
v/rought with men of learning and understanding : for some
such were Christians in all ages.
21. Nay, observe but the confessions of these adversaries,
when they came to believe : how generally and ingenuously
they acknowledge their former ignorance and prejudice to have
been the cause of their unbelief.
22. Consider, also, how unable all the enemies of the Gospel
have been to abolish these sacred records. They could burn
those witnesses by thousands, but yet they could never either
hinder their succession, or extinguish their testimonies.
23. Nay, the most eminent adversaries have had the most
eminent ruin : as Antiochus, Herod, Julian, with multitudes
more. This stone having fallen upon them, hath ground them
to powder.
* Josephus relates the life of John the Baptist as the evangelists do. The
darkness and earthciuake at Christ's death is acknowledged by Phlegon, in
lib. Chron. xiii. Lucian bids his tormentors search tlieir own clironicles, and
they should find that in Pilate's time the light failed in the midst of the day,
and the sun was darkened while Christ was suffering. TertuUian also ap-
pealeth to their own chronicles, ' Apol.' And tliat it was no natural eclipse is
known to astronomers. See Marcilius Ficiuus of the star. The death of
Herod is set out by Jose|)hus, * Autiq.' lib. xix. c. 7. as by Luke. Jrenaeus
affirmeth, that in his time the working of miracles, the raising of the dead,
the casting out of devils, healing the sick by mere laying on of hands, and
prophesying, were still in force ; and that some that were so raised from the
dead remained alive among them long after. See Niceph. ' Eccles. Histor.'
torn. 1. lib. iv. c. 23. And Justin Martyr saith that the gift of prophesying
was famous in the church in his time, ' Dialog, ad Tryph.' And Cyprian and
TertuUian mention the ordinary casting out of devils, and challenge the hea-
then to come and see it.
EVERLASTING REST. 289
24. It were not difficult here to collect from unquestioned
authors, a constant succession of wonders, at least, to have in
several ages accomi)anied the attestation of this truth 5 and
notable judgments that have befallen the persecutors of it. And
though the papists, by their fictions and fabulous legends, have
done more wrong to the christian cause, than ever they are able
to repair ; yet unquestionable history doth afford us very many
examples : and even many of those actions which they have de-
formed with their fabulous additions, might yet for the sub-
stance have much truth : and God might, even in the times of
popery, work some of these wonders, though not to confirm their
religion, as it was popish, yet to confirm it as it was christian;
for, as he had then his church, and then his Scrij)ture, so had
he then his special providences to confirm his church in their
belief, and to silence the several enemies of the faith. And
therefore I advise those who, in their inconsiderate zeal, are apt
to reject all these histories of Providence, merely because
they were written by papists, or because some witnesses to the
truth were a little leavened with some popish errors, that they
would first view them, and consider of their probability of truth
or falsehood, that so they may pick out the truth, and not reject
all together in the lump ; otherwise, in their zeal against popery,
they should injure Christianity.
And now I leave any man to judge, whether we have not had
an infallible way of receiving these records from the first wit-
nesses ?
Not that every of the particulars before mentioned, are neces-
sary to the proving our certain receiving the authentic records
without depravation ; for you may perceive, that almost any
two or three of them might suffice ; and that divers of them
are from abundance for fuller confirmation.
Sect. IV. And thus I have done with this first argument,
drawn from the miracles which prove the doctrines and writings
to be of God. But I must satisfy the scruples of some before
I proceed. First, Some will question, whether this be not, 1 . To
resolve our faith into the testimony of man : 2. And so make it
a human faith : and so, 3. To jump in this with the papists,
who believe the Scripture for the authority of the church, and
to argue circularly in this, as they. To this I answer :
First : I make in this argument the resolution of my faith
into the miracles wrought, as testimonies divine to confirm
VOL. XXII. U
290 THE saint's
the doctrine. y If you ask, why I believe the doctrine to be
of God ? I answer, because it was confirmed by many undenia-
ble miracles. If you ask, why I believe those miracles to be
from God ? I answer, because no created power can work a
niiracle : so that the testimony of man is not the reason of my
believing, but only the means by which this matter of fact is
brought down to my knowledge. Again, our faith cannot be
said to be resolved into that which we give in answer to your
last interrogation, except your question be only still of the proper
grounds of faith. But if you change your question, from What is
the ground of my faith ? to What is the means of conveying
down the history to me ? then my faith is not resolved into this
means. Yet this means, or some other equivalent, I acknow-
ledge so necessary, that without it, 1 had never been like to
have believed. 2. This shows you also that I argue not in the
popish circle, nor take my faith on their common grounds. For,
first, when you ask them, How know you the testimony of the
church to be infallible ? they prove it again by Scripture ; and
there is their circle. But as I trust not on the authority of the
Romish church only, as they do ; no, nor properly to the
authority of any church ; no, nor only to the testimony
of the church, but also to the testimony of the enemies them-
selves : so do I prove the validity of the testimony I bring from
nature, and well-known principles in reason, and not from
Scripture itself, as you may see before. 3. There is a human
testimony, which is also divine; and so a human faith, which is
also in some sort divine. Few of God's extraordinary revela-
tions have been immediate ; the best schoolmen think none at
all f but either by angels, or by Jesus himself, who was man as
well as God. You will acknowledge if God reveal it to an
angel, and the angel to Moses, and Moses to Israel, this is a
y Non fidem quEe verbis Dei habetur, etsi non prorsus nasci ex miraculis,
attainen ex eis confirmari possumus credere. — Pet. Mart. hoc. Commun, c. 8.
p. 38. Vide plura ibid. Lege VVhitak. Duplicat. adv. Stapleton. De Sac.
Script, lib. i. c.3. pp. &5 — 57, &c., plenissiine de hoc disserent. Sic c. 4.
p. 62, et C.5 et 6, de quatuor officiis ecclesiae circa Scriptur. viz. ut sit ta-
bellio vel registrarius. 2. Vindex qui veras Script, il falsis vindicet. 3. Prae-
co, qui Script. promulg;et et divulget. 4. Interpres. Vide etiani lib. ii. c. 5. pp.
332 — .334, &c. Et triplex officiuiii ecclesiae dat Polanus Syntag. lib. i. c. 28.
^ Non per alios dispositionem salutis nostra? cog^novimus, quam per eos per
quos evangelicuni perveiiit ad nos ; quod quidem tunc praconiaverunt, postea
vero per Dei voluntatem in Scripturis nobis tradiderunt. fundamentum et
columnam fidei nostra? futurum, — Iren. adv. Har, lib. iii. c, 1.
'■ Aquin. Sum. 3. q. 55. c. 2.
EVERLASTING REST. 291
divine revelation to Israel. For that is called a divine revela-
tion, which we are certain that God doth any way reveal. Now,
I would fain know, why that which God doth naturally and
certainly reveal to all men, may not as properly be called a di-
vine revelation,'' as that which he reveals by the Spirit to a few.
Is not this truth from God, that the senses' apprehension of
their object, rightly stated, is certain, as well as this, " Jesus
Christ was born of a Virgin ?" &c. Though a saint or an angel
be a fitter messenger to reveal the things of the Spirit, yet
any man may be a messenger to reveal the things of the flesh.
An ungodly man, if he have better eyes and ears, may be a
better messenger or witness of that matter of fact which he
seeth and heareth, than a more godly man that is blind or deaf,
especially in cases wherein that ungodly man hath no provoca-
tion to speak falsely; and, most of all, if his testimony be against
himself. I take that relation, whereby I know that there was a
fight at York, &c., to be of God, though wicked men were the
witnesses. For I take it for an undeniable maxim, that there is
no truth but of God, only it is derived unto us by various means.
Sect. V. 2. And as I have evidently discovered the full cer-
tainty of this testimony of man, concerning the forementioned
matter of fact ; so 1 will show you why I choose this for my
first and main argument ; and also that no man can believe
without the foresaid human testimony. First, then, 1 demand
with myself, by Avhat argument did Moses and Christ evince to
the world the verity of their doctrine ? and I find it was chiefly
by this of miracles ; and, surely, Christ knew the best argument
to prove the divine authority to his doctrine; and that which was
the best then, is the best still. If ourselves had lived in the
days of Christ, should we have believed a poor man to have
been God, the Saviour, the Judge of the world, without mira-
cles to prove this to us ; nay, would it have been our duty to
have believed ? doth not Christ sav, " If I had not done the
works that no man else can do, ye had not had sin?" that is,
your not believing me to be the Messias had been no sin : for
'' Though I know it is only a testimony, or revelation without evidence, bk
parte rei, that makes truth the object of faith, in a strict sense ; yet that which
is revealed to reason and sense in its own evidence, is also certain objectively,
and more certain sometimes, certitudine subjecti, as Hooker asjainst Mr,
Travers. Sacra Scriptura quani apud homines noiidum Spiritu Dei, et vera
fide donates habet authoritatem, propter quam ab illis incipit admitti, et au-
diri tanrjuatn verbum Dei, habet ab ecclesise testimouio. — Polan. Synt, lib. iii,
c. 28.
u2
292 THE saint's
no man is bound to believe that which was never convincingly
revealed.
And I think that this is it which is called the sin against the
Holy Ghost,'^ when men will not be convinced by miracles, that
Jesus is the Christ. That which some divines judge to be the sin
against the Holy Ghost, and opposing the known truth only out
of malice against it, it is a question whether human nature be
capable of. And whether all human opposition to truth be not
through ignorance, or prevalency of the sensual lusts : and so
all malice against truth, is only against it as conceived to be
falsehood, or else as it appeareth an enemy to our sensual de-
sires : else, how doth man's understanding, as it is an under-
standing, naturally choose truth, either real or appearing, for its
object ? so that, 1 think, none can be guilty of malice against
truth, as truth ; and to be at enmity with truth for opposing
our sensuality, is a sin that every man in the world hath been,
in some measure, guilty of. And, indeed, our divines do so de-
fine the sin against the Holy Ghost, that I could never yet un-
derstand by their definition what it might be : some placing it
in an act incompatible with the rational soul, and others making
it but gradually to differ from other sins,'^ which hath cast so
many into terror of soul, because they could never find out that
gradual difference.
The sense of the place, which the whole context, if you view
it deliberately, will show, seems to me to be this : as if Christ
had said, While you believed not the testimony of the prophets,
yet there was hope ; the testimony of John Baptist might have
convinced you 5 yea, when you believed not John, yet you
' I confess I kept silent this opinion and exposition some years, because I
knew no man that did hold it ; and I am afraid of rash adventuring- on no-
velty, though resolved not to reject any revealed truth. But since, I find
great Athanasius hath written a tractate on the sin af;;ainst the Holy Ghost,
maintaining- the very same exposition which I here give, (or with very small
difference : though I assent not to his ajiplication in the end of all to the
Ariaus;) which being from one of so great authority, and explaining it more
fully than I might do in this short digression, I desire the learned, who
rejected my exposition, to peruse it ; where also you may find his confutation
of the subtile, but unsound opinion of Origeu about this sin, as also of the
opinion of Theognostus, though 1 know some do question that hook, but on
■weak grounds. See my discourse of the sin against the Holy Ghost, in my
tnird part of the ' Unreasonableness of Infidelity.'
*> How Hunnius was assaulted with this temptation, " that he sinned against
the Holy Ghost," you may read in his life and death : and it is still a common
temptation. Matt. xii. 24, &c. ; Mark iii. 28 ; John v. 39, 43, 45 — 47 j John
XV. 22, 24.
EVERLASTING REST. 293
might have been convinced by my own doctrine : yea , though
you did not believe my doctrine, yet there was hope you might
have been convinced by my miracles,'^ But when you accuse
them to be the works of Beelzebub, and ascribe the work of the
divine Power, or Spirit, to the prince of devils, what more
hope ? I will, after my ascension, send the Holy Ghost upon my
disciples, that they may work miracles to convince the world,
that they who will believe no other testimony, may yet, through
this, believe : but if you sin against this Holy Ghost, that is, if
they will not believe for all these miracles, for the Scripture
frequently calls faith by the name of obedience, and unbelief by
the name of sin, there is no other more convincing testimony
left, and so their sin of unbelief is incurable, and consequently
unpardonable : and therefore he that speaketh against the Son
of Man, that is, denieth his testimony of himself, it shall be
forgiven him, if he yet believe this testimony of the Spirit, but
they that continue unbelievers for all this, and so reproach the
testimony that should convince them, as you do, shall never be
forgiven, because they cannot perform the condition of forgive-
ness.
This 1 think to be the sense of the text ; and the rather,
when I consider, what sin it was that these pharisees committed;
for surely that which is commonly judged to be the sin against
the Holy Ghost, I nowhere find that Christ doth accuse them
of; but the Scripture seemeth to speak on the contrary, " that
through ignorance they did itj" (Acts iii. 17;) "for had they
known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory."
(I Cor. ii. 8.) And, indeed, it is a thing to me altogether in-
credible, that these pharisees should know Christ to be the
Messiah, whom they so desirously expected, and to be the Son
of God, and Judge of all men, and yet to crucify him through
mere malice ; charge them not with this, till you can show
some scripture that charged them with it.
Object. Why, then, there is no sin against the Holy Ghost,
now miracles are ceased ?
Answ. Yes -J though the miracles are ceased, yet their tes-
« Deus ad confirmandum ea qus naturalem co^uitionem excedunt, opera
visibiliter ostendit, quae totius naturae superant I'acultatem : ut patet in rairablJi
curatione lai)s;uoruin, niorluorum suscitatione, coelestium corpurum niirabili
imitatioiie ; et quod est mirabili huuiaiiaruin nientium inspiratione, ut idiota;
siuiplices doao Spiritus Saiicti repleti, summaui sapienliaiu et i'acuudiam iu
instanti cousequerenlur. — yJquin, cord. Gentih lib. i. c. 6.
f Ex vetustissima antiquitate prodiit Veritas JDei, quceuain sit vera religio.
294 THE saint's
tiinonv cloth still live f the death and resurrection of Christ are
past, and yet men may sin a<;ainst the death and resurrection.
So that, I think, when men will not believe that Jesus is the
Christ, though they are convinced by undeniable arguments, of
the miracles which both himself and his discijDles wrought; this
is now the sin against the Holy Ghost. And, therefore, take
heed of slighting this argument.
Sect. VJ. 2. And here avouM I have those men, who cannot
endure this resting upon human testimony,'^ to consider of what
necessity it is for the producing of our faith. Something must
be taken upon trust from man, whether they will or not : and
yet no uncertainty in our faith neither. 1. The mere illiterate
man must take it upon trust, that the book is a Bible which he
hears read ; for else, he knows not but it may be some other
book : 2. That those words are in it, which the reader pro-
nounceth : 3. That it 'is translated truly out of the original lan-
guages : 4. That the Hebrew and Greek copies, out of which it
was translated, are true, authentic copies : 5. That it was ori-
ginally written in these languages : 6. Yea, and the meaning of
divers scripture passages, which cannot be understood without
the knowledge of Jewish customs of chronology, of geography,
&c., though the words were ever so exactly translated. All these,
with many more, the vulgar must take upon the word of their
teachers ; and, indeed, a faith merely human, is a necessary
preparative to a faith divine, in respect of some means, and|jr<e-
cognita necessary thereto. Jf a scholar will not take his mas-
ter's word that such letters have such or such a power, or do
spell so or so; or that such a Latin or Greek word hath such a
Cui confirmandaeDeus miranda testimonia addidit, quae essent velut perpetua
quaedam ct autheutica sigilla veritatis diviuae. — Hemming, in Prwfat. ante
Postil.
s Nunc non ut olim sunt necessaria miracula ; priusquam crederet mundus,
necessaria fuere ad hoc ut mundus crederet, ut ' Au!j. de Civ. Dei,' lib. xxii.
c. 8.
•> Yet do I believe that that of 2 Pet. i. 20. is generally mistaken ; as if the
apostle did deny private men the liberty of interpreting Scriptures, even for
themselves ; when it is in regard of the object, and not of the interpreter, that
the apostle calleth it " private ;" as if he should say the prophets are a sure
testimony of the doctrine of Christianity : but then you must understand that
they are not to be interpreted of the private men that spoke them ; for they
were but types of Christ the public person ; so Psal. ii., and xvi., &c. are to be
interpreted of Christ, and not of David only, a private person, and but a type
of Christ iu all ; as Philip answereth the question of the eunuch in Acts viii.
Of whom doth the prophet speak : of himself, privately, or some other more
public man ? This is, I think, the true meaning of Philip.
EVERLASTING REST. 295
signification ; when will he learn, or how will he know ? Nay
how do the most learned linguists know the signification of
words in any language, and so in the Hebrew or Greek Scrip -
tures, but only upon the credit of their teachers and authors ?
and yet certain enough too in the main. Tradition is not so
useless to the world or the church as some would have it.
Though the papists do sinfully plead it against the sufficiency
ot Scripture, yet scripture sufficiency or perfection is only in
suo genei'e, in its own kind, not in omni genere, not sufficient
for every purpose. Scripture is a sufficient rule of faith and
life ; but not a sufficient means of conveying itself to all gene-
rations and persons.' If human testimony had not been neces-
sary, why should Christ have men to be witnesses in the begin-
ning; and also still instruments of persuading others, and
attesting the verity of these sacred records to those that cannot
otherwise come to know them ?
And, doubtless, this is the chiefs use of ministers in the church, ^
and the great end of God in the stating and continuing their
function ; that what men are incapable of believing, explicitly,
with a faith properly divine, that they might receive implicitly,
and upon the word of their teachers with a human faith.
' I wish the papists would read Cyprian, 7. Epist. ad Pompeium, against
tradition and their pope's supremacy ; and Clciii. Alex, saith the apostles'
teaching ended in Nero's time. But, after that, about Adrian's time, those
that devised heresies arose, as Basilides, who said Glancia was his master, who
was Peter's interpreter : so Valentine, they say, heard Theodate, who was Paul's
familiar ; and Marcion, being born in the same age, was conversant with them,
as an old man with the younger : after whom he awhile heard Simon Peter
preach; which being so, it is clear that these latter churches are innovated
from the ancient true church, being heresies of adulterine note.— St rotnai.^
lib. vii. fine. You see heretics pretended tradition, and what church Clemeii
turns us to !
^ Oportet discentem credere. — Aristot. in Analytic, post. Titus i. 7 ; 1 Cor.
i. 4; xii. 24, and xvii. 21 ; Luke xii. 42; Heb. xiii. 3, 17, 24; 1 Tim. iii. 5 ;
Acts XX. 28 ; 1 Tim. iii. 4, 5 ; 1 Pet. v. 2 ; 1 Cor. iv. 15.
' If the revilers of the ministers of Christ, with whom this vicious age
aboundeth, did i<now what power ministers had, both in the apostles' times,
and many hundred years after, and what strict discipline was used, as they
may see in holy Cyprian among others, they would not for shame charge us
with tyranny and proud domination. It is wonderful that religion then had
that awe and power on men's consciences, that they would make men stoop to
public confessions and penitential lamentations, at the censure of the church
guides, even when the censures were rigid, and when the magistrates did not
second them, yea, when it was a hazard to their lives to be known Christians.
And yet now Christianity is in credit, even those that seem religious, do judge
Christ's discipline to be tyranny, and subjectiou to it to be intolerable slavery.
296 THE saint's
Every man should labour indeed to sec with his own eyes, and
to know all that God hath revealed, and to be wiser than his
teachers : but every man cannot bestow that time and pains
i'^ ciie study of languages and sciences ; without which that
knowledge is not now attained. We may rather wish than
hope, ' that all the Lord's people were prophets.' The church
of Christ hath been long in a very doleful plight betwixt these
two extremes, taking all things upon trust from our teachers,
and taking nothing upon trust : and yet those very men who so
disclaim taking upon trust, do themselves take as much upon
trust as others.
Why else are ministers called the eyes and the hands of the
body ; stev/ards of the mysteries, and of the house of God ;
overseers, rulers, and governors of the church ; and such as
must give the children their meat in due season ; fathers of
their people ? &c. Surely, they clearly know truth and duty
must be received from any one, though but a child ; and known
error and iniquity must be received from none, though an angel
from heaven. What, then, is that we are so often required to
obey our teaching rulers in ? Surely, it is not so much in the
receiving of new-instituted ceremonies from them, which they
call things indifferent : but, as in all professions, the scholar must
take his master's word in learning, till he can grow up to know
the things in their own evidence ; and as men will take the
words of any artificers in the matters that concern their own
trade ;'" and as every wise patient will trust the judgment of
his physician, excei)t he know as much himself; and the client
will take the word of his lawyer : so also Christ hath ordered
that the more strong and knowing should be teachers in his
school, and the young and ignorant should believe them and
obey them, till they can reach to understand the things them-
selves. So that the matters which we must receive upon
trust from our teachers, are those which we cannot reach to
know ourselves, and therefore must either take them upon the
word of others, or not receive them at all : so that, if these
™ Hsec duo dictat ipsa ratio; primo, in mysteriis quae siiperant rationem,
Hon uitendiim esse ratiocinantis lopcS., sed rcvelantis authoritate. Secundo,
in conseqiientiis dednceudis aut uhscuris in religioiie interpretandis, maris
fidendum esse ccetui in nomine Domini lepjitime con'jregato, quam privatis
spiritibus, seorsim sapientibus, recalcitrantibus. — Dr. Prideuu.c, lect. xxii. ;
J}e Auth. Eccl. J). 361. See Dr. Jackson's ' Eternal Truth of Scriptures,' lib. ii.
c. 1-— (i.
EVERLASTING REST, 297
rulers and stewards do require us to believe, when we know not
ourselves whether it be truth or not ; or if they require us to
obey, when we know not ourselves whether it be a duty com-
manded by God or not; here it is that we ought to obey them.
For though we know not whether God hath revealed such a
point, or commanded such an action, yet that he hath com-
manded us to obey them that rule over us, who preach to us the
word of God, this we certainly know. (Heb. xiii. 7.) Yet I
think we are not so strictly tied to the judgment of a weak
minister of our own, as to take his word before another's, that
is more judicious in a neighbour congregation. Nor do I think,
if we see but an appearance of his erring, that we should care-
lessly go on in believing and obeying him without a diligent
searching after the truth : even a likelihood of his mistake
must quicken us to further inquiry, and may, during that in-
quiry, suspend our belief and obedience. For where we are
able to reach to know probabilities in divine things, we may with
diligence possibly reach to that degree of certainty which our
teachers themselves have attained, or at least to understand the
reason of their doctrine. But still remember what I said before,
that fundamentals must be believed with a faith explicit, ab-
solute, and divine.
And thus I have showed the flat necessity of taking much
upon the testimony of man ; and that some of these human
testimonies are so certain, that they may well be called divine.
I conclude all with this intimation : you may see by this, of
what singular use are the monuments of antiquity, and the
knowledge thereof, for the breeding and strengthening of the
christian faith ; especially the histories of those times. 1
would not persuade you to bestow so much time in the reading
of the fathers, in reference to their judgment in matters of
doctrine ; nor follow them in all things, as some do." God's
word is a sufficient rule ; and latter times have afforded far better
expositors. But in reference to matters of fact, for confirming
the miracles mentioned in Scripture, and relating the won-
derful providences since, I would they were read an hundred
times more : not only the writers of the church, but even the
histories of the enemies, and all other antiquities. Little do
" I may say of many of them for doctrine, as Fulbeck of Bracton, Briton,
&c., Direct, p. 17 : Tliere be certain ancient writers whom, as it is not un-
profitable to read, so to rely on them is dangerous ; their books are mouumen-
ta adoranda; ruhiginis, of more reverence than authority.
29S THE saint's
most consider how useful these are to the christian faith. And
therefore our learned antiquaries are highly to be honoured,
and exceedingly useful instruments in the church.
If yet any man be so blind that he think it uncertain whether
these be the same books which were written by the apostles ; I
would ask him by what assurance he hokleth his lands ? 1. How
knoweth he that his deeds, conveyances, or leases, are not coun-
terfeit ; or that they are the same that his forefathers made ?
They have nothing but men's words for it ; and yet they think
they are certain that their lands are their own. 2. And whereas
they hold all they have by the law of the land, how know they
that these laws are not counterfeit ; and that they are the same
laws which were made by such kings and parliaments so long
ago, and not forged since ? They have nothing but men's
words for all this. And yet if this be uncertain, then any man,
lord, or knight, or gentleman, may be turned out of all he hath,
as if he had no certain tenure or assurance. And is it not evi-
dent that those laws which are so kept and practised through
all the land, cannot possibly be counterfeit, but it would have
been publicly known ? And yet a word in the statute-book
may be falsely printed. And much more certain it is that the
Scriptures cannot be counterfeit, because it is not in one
kingdom only, but in all the world that they have been used,
and the copies dispersed ; and ministers in office still to preach
it, and publish it. So that it could not be generally and pur-
posely corrupted, except all the world should have met and
combined together for that end, which could not be done in
secret, but all must know of it. And yet many Bibles may be
here or there mis-printed or mis-written ; but then there would
be copies enough to correct it by. So that if it be uncertain
whether these be the very books which the apostles wrote, then
nothing in the world is certain but what we see. And why we
may not as well question our eyesight, 1 do not know. I would
believe a thousand other men's eyesight before mine own
alone.
CHAP. V.
The Second Argument.
Sect. I. I come now to my second argument, to prove Scrip,
ture to be the word of God : and it is this :
EVERLASTING REST. 299
If the Scripture be neither the invention of devils nor of men,
then it cm be from none but God ; ° but that it is neither of
devils, nor merely of men, I shall now prove ; for, I suppose,
none will question that major proposition. First, Not from
devils ; for, First, They camiot work miracles to confirm them ;
Secondly, Jt would not stand with God's sovereignty over them,
or with the goodness, wisdom, and faithfulness of governing the
world, to suffer Satan to make laws, and confirm them with
wonders, and obtrude them upon the world in the name of God,
and all this without disclaiming them, or giving the world any
notice of the forgery j Thirdly,? Would Satan speak so much for
God ? So seek his glory as the Scripture doth ? Would he so
vilify and reproach himself, and make known himself to be the
most hateful and miserable of all creatures ? Would he so
fully discover his own wiles, his temptations, his methods of de-
ceiving, and give men such powerful warning to beware of his
snares, and such excellent means to conquer himself? Would the
devil laysuch a design for men's salvation? Would he show them
their danger, and direct them to escape it? Would he so mightily
labour to promote all truth and goodness, and the happiness of
mankind, as the Scripture doth ? Let any man tell me what
book or project in the world did ever so mightily overthrow the
kingdom of Satan as this book, and this Gospel- design : and
would Satan be such an enemy to his own kingdom ? Fourthly,
If Satan were the author, he would never be so unweariedlv and
subtilely industrious, to draw the world to unbelief, and to break
the laws which this book containeth, as his constant temptations
do sensibly tell many a poor soul that he is ; would he be so
earnest to have his own words rejected, or his own laws broken ?
I think this is all clear to any man of reason.
Sect. II. Secondly : That no mere men were the inventors of
Scripture, I prove thus : If men were the devisers of it, then it
was either good men or bad ; but it was neither good men nor
bad ; therefore, none.
Though goodness and badness have many degrees, vet under
some of these degrees do all men fall. Now, I will show you that
it could be neither of these ; and, First, Good men they could
o I take it for granted that good angels could not be guilty of forging the
Scripture.
P As Origen many times demands of Celsus, if magicians by evil powers
could work miracles, would they do it for the leading men from siu to exact
holiness and justice ?
300 THE saint's
not be ; for you might better say that murderers, traitors, adul-
terers, parricides, sodomites, &c. were good men, rather than
such. To devise laws, and father them upon God ; to feign
miracles, and father them upon the word of the Lord ; to pro-
mise eternal salvation to those that obey them ; to threaten
damnation to those that obey them not ; to draw the world into
a curse so destructive to all their worldly happiness, upon a pro-
mise of happiness in another world, which they cannot give ; to
endeavour so egrcgiously to cozen all mankind : if all this, or
any of this, be consistent with common honesty ; nay, if it be
not as horrible wickedness as can be committed, then I confess
1 have lost my reason. Much less, then, could such a number
of good men in all ages, till Scriptures were finished, be guilty
of such inexpressible crimes : neither will it here be any evasion
to say, they Avere men of a middle temper ; partly good, and
partly bad : for these are not actions of a middle nature, nor
such as will stand with any remnants of ingenuity or humanity.
We have known wicked persons, too many, and too bad ; yet
where or when did we ever know any that attempted any
so more than hellish an enterprise ? False prophets have sent
abroad indeed particular falsehoods ; but who hath adventured
upon such a system as this ? i Mahomet's example, indeed, comes
nearest to such a villany ; yet doth not he pretend to the
hundredth part of so many miracles, nor so great as the Scrip-
ture relateth, nor doth pretend to be God, nor any more than a
great prophet : trusting more to his sword for success, than to
the authority or truth of his pretended revelations ; not denying
the truth of much of the Scripture; but adding his Alcoran,
partly drawn from Scripture, and partly fitted with fleshly liber-
ties and promises to his own ends. And doth not every man
among us take that act of Mahomet to be one of the vilest that
1 Saith Duplessis : Mahomet was an Arabian, one of Heraclitus's soldiers ;
and, in a mutiny, chosen by the Arabian soldiers for their commander. In his
Alcoran lie conlesseth himself to be a sinner, an idolater, an adulterer, given
to lecherj' : his laws run thus : Avenge yourselves of your enemies ; take as
many wives as you can keep, and spare not; kill the infidels ; he that fight-
eth lazily shall be damned, and he that killeth the most shall be in paradise.
He saith that Christ had the Spirit and powei* of God, and the soul of God;
and that he is Christ's servant. See Alcoran Azoar, 2, 3, ; also, Azoar, 18,
4, 11, 13. He confesseth that Christ is the Spirit, and Word, and Messenger
of God ; that his dociriue is perfect, that it enlighteneth the Old Testament,
and that he came to confirm it, yet denieth him to be God. Magnus fuit sanc-
tus, magnus Dei amicus, magnus propheta, &c. Vid. Thom. Bradwin ' De
Causa Dei,' lib. i. c. 1. Carol, part. 32, and Aquin, cont. Gentil. lib. i. c. 6.
EVERLASTING REST. SOI
the sun hath seen ; and judge of the man himself accordingly ?
So that I think it beyond doubt, that no one good man, much
less so great a number as were the penmen of Scripture, could
devise it of their own brain, and thrust it on the world.
Secondly : And it is as certain that no bad men did devise the
Scriptures. Could wicked deceivers so highly advance the glory
of God, and labour so mightily to honour him in the world ;
would they have so vilified themselves, and acknowledged their
faults ; could such an admirable, undeniable spirit of holiness,
righteousness, and self-denial, which runs through every vein of
Scripture, have been inspired into it from the invention of the
wicked ? ^ Would wicked men have been so wise, or so zealous
for the suppression of wickedness ; or so earnest to bring the
world to reformation ? Would they have been such bitter ad-
versaries to .their own ways ; and such faithful friends to the
ways they hate ? Would they have vilified the ungodly, as the
Scripture doth ; and pronounced eternal damnation against
them ? Would they have extolled the godly, who are so con-
trary to them ; and proclaimed them a people eternally blessed ?
Would they have framed such perfect and such spiritual laws ;
and would they have laid such a design against the flesh, and
against all their worldly happiness, as the scope of the Scripture
doth carry on ? It is needless, surely, to mention anymore par-
ticulars : I think every man, of the least ingenuity, that con-
siders this, or deliberately vievveth over the frame of the Scrip-
tures, will easily confess that it is more than probable that it
was never devised by any deceiving sinner ; much less, that all
the penmen of it in several ages were such wicked deceivers.
So, then, if it was neither devised by good men nor by bad
men, then surely by no men; and, consequently, must of neces-
sity proceed from God.
Sect. III. Secondly, That it proceed not merely fron) man, I
also prove thus : That which was done without the help of
human learning, or any extraordinary endowments of nature,
and yet the greatest philosophers could never reach near it, must
needs be the effect of a power supernatural ; but such is both
the doctrine and the miracles in Scripture ', therefore, &:c.
"■ Origen. contra Cels., Arnob., Tertul., Justin, Athanas., Clemens Alexan«
in Protreptic, Athanag., Lactant., with the rest that dealt with the heathen,
do mai^e the pure excellency of Christ's doctrine, above all others, one of their
main arguments for the christian faith. Christiana fides si miraculis non
esset approbata, Uouestate sua recipi debuit, inquit Miass^s Sylvius, ut Pla-
tina, p. 32b.
302 • THE saint's
It is only the antecedent that here requires proof; which
consists of these two hranches, hoih which 1 shall make clear.
First : That the doctrine of Scripture was compiled, and the
miracles done without the help of much human learning, or any
extraordinary natural endowments.^
Secondly : That yet the most learned philosophers never could
reach near the Gospel-mysteries, nor ever work the miracles that
were then done.
But I shall say most to the doctrine. For the proof of the
former, consider :
First : The whole world was, in the times of Moses and the
prophets, comparatively unlearned.' A kind of learning the
Egyptians then had, and some few other, especially consisting in
some small skill in astronomy ; but it was all but barbarous ig-
norance, in comparison of the learning of Greece and Europe.
Those writings of greatest antiquity, yet extant, do show this.
See also Doctor Hackwell, as before.
2. As rare as learning then was, yet did God choose the un-
learned of that unlearned time to be instruments and penmen of
his choicest Scriptures. David, who was bred a shepherd, is the
penman of those divine, unmatchable psalms. Amos is taken
from a herdsman, to be a prophet.
3. But especially in those latter ages, when the world was
grown more wise and learned, did God purposely choose the
W'eak, the foolish, the unlearned, to confound them : a company
of poor fishermen, tent-makers, and such- like, must wrile the
laws of the kingdom of Christ; must dive into the spiritual
mysteries of the kingdom ; must silence the wise, and disputers
of the world ; must be the men that must bring in the world to
believe. Doubtless, as God sending David, an unarmed boy, with
a sling and a stone against an armed giant, was to make it ap-
pear that the victory was from himself ; so his sending these
unlearned men to preach the Gospel, and subdue the world, was
to convince both the present and future generations that it was
God, and not man, that did the work.
' Vide Wigandum in Method, ante comment, in miuores prophetas.
* Nam si, fueruut omnes rudes et imperiti rerum, quorum opera Deus est
usus in tradendo verbo, si non fuerunt summo loco nati, si nullis iiumanis in-
structi prassidiis hanc rem agressi sunt, profecto oportet doctrinam ab iis pro-
fectam esse plane divinara. — Camero Prakct. de Verho, p. 435. vid.ultr. Of
the characters of divinity which the Scripture hath in itself, read judicious
Amyraldus's ' Theses,* ' De Authoritate Scriplui'K in Thes. Salmuriens,' vol,
2. p.43, &c.
EVERLASTING REST. 303
4. Also, the course they took in silencing the learned adver-
saries, doth show us how little use they made of these human
helps. They disputed not with them by the precepts of logic :
their arguments were to the Jews, the writings of Moses, and
the prophets ; and both to Jews and Gentiles, the miracles that
were wrought : they argued more with deeds than with words.
The blind, lame, the sick that were recovered, were their visible
arguments. The languages which they spake, the prophecies
which they uttered, and other such supernatural gifts of the
Holy Ghost upon them ; these were the things that did convince
the world : yet this is no precedent to us, to make as little use
of learning as they, because we are not upon the same work, nor
yet supplied with their supernatural furniture.
5. The reproaches of their enemies do fully testify this, who
cast it still in their teeth, that they were ignorant and unlearned
men ; and, indeed, that was the great rub that their doctrine
found in the world. It was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and
to the Greeks foolishness ; and therefore it appeared to be the
power of God, and not of man. This was it that they discou-
raged the people with : " Do any of the rulers or pharisees be-
lieve on him ? But this people that know not the law are
accursed." (John vl. 48, 49.)
6. To conclude, the very frame and style of these sacred writ-
ings, do fully tell us, that they were none of the logicians, nor
eloquent orators of the world, that did compose them. This is
yet to this day, one of the greatest stumbling-blocks in the
world, to hinder men from the reverencing and believing the
Scriptures. They are still thinking, Surely if they were the very
words of God, they would excel all other writings in every kind
of excellency ; when, indeed, it discovcreth them the more cer-
tainly to be of God, because there is in them so little of man.
They may as well say, If David had been sent against Goliah
from God, he would surely have been the most complete soldier,
and most completely armed. The words are but the dish to
serve up the sense in ; God is content that the words should
not only have in them a savour of humanity, but of much infir-
mity, so that the work of convincing the world may be furthered
thereby. And I verily think, that this is God's great design,
in permitting these precious spirits of divine truth, to run in
the veins of infirm language, that so men may be convinced, in
all succeeding ages, that Scripture is no device of human policy.
If the apostles had been learned and subtle men, we should
304 THE saint's
sooner have suspected -their finger in the contrivance. Yea, it
is observable, that in such as Paul, that had some human learn-
ing, yet God would not have them make much use of it, lesttbe
excellency of the cross of Christ should seem to lie in the enti-
cing words of man's wisdom ; and lest the success of the Gos-
pel should seem to be more from the ability of the preacher,
than from the arm of God.
Besides all this, it may much persuade us that the apostles
never contrived the doctrine which they preached, by their sud-
den and not premeditated setting upon the work. They knew
not whither they should go, nor what they should do, when he
calls one from his fishing, another from his custom : they knew
not what course Christ would take with himself, or them ; no, not
a little before he leaves them. Nay, they must not know their
employment till he is taken from them. And even then is it
revealed to them by parcels and degrees, and that without any
study or invention of their own ; even after the coming down of
the Holy Ghost, Peter did not well understand that the Gen-
tiles must be called. (Acts x.) All which ignorance of his
apostles, and suddenness of revelation, I think was purposely
contrived by Christ, to convince the world that they were not
the contrivers of the doctrine which they preached.
Sect. IV. Let us next, then, consider, how far short the learned
philosophers have come of this. They that have spent all their
days in most painful studies, having the strongest natural en-
dowments to enable them, and the learned teachers, the excel-
lent libraries, the bountiful encouragement, and countenance of
princes, to further them, and yet, after all this, are very novices
in all spiritual things. They cannot tell what the happiness of
the soul is, nor where that happiness shall be enjoyed ; nor
when, nor how long, nor what are the certain means to attain
it; nor who they be that shall possess it. They know nothing
how the world was made, nor how it shall end ; nor know they
the God who did create, and doth sustain it : but, for the most
of them, they multiply feigned deities.
But I shall have occasion to open this more fully anon, under
the last argument.
EVERLASTING REST. 305
CHAP. V[.
The Third Argumenf,
Sect. 1. j\Iy third argument, whereby I prove tlie divine au-
thority of the Scriptures, is this : " Those writings which have
been owned and fulfilled in several ages by apparent extraordi-
nary providences of God, must needs be of God : but God hath
so owned and fulfilled the Scriptures : ei'go, thev are of God.
The major proposition will not surelv be denied. The direct
consequence is, that such writings are approved by God ; and if
approved by him, then must they needs be his own, because
they afiirm themselves to be his own. It is beyond all doubt,
that God will not interpose his power, and work a succession of
wonders in the world, for the maintaining or countenancing of
any forgery ; especially such as should be a blander against
himself.
All the work, therefore, will lie in confirming the minor :
where I shall show you. First, By what wonders of providence
God hath owned and fulfilled the Scriptures : and. Secondly,
How it may appear that this was the end of providences.
1. The first sort of providences here to be considered, are
those that have been exercised for the church universal. Where
these three things present themselves especially to be observed :
First, The propagating of the Gospel, and raising of the church :
Secondly, The defence and continuance of that church : Thirdly,
The improbable ways of accomplishing these. ^
And, First, Consider what an unlikely design, ^ in the judg-
" Vid. Polan. Synta^. lib. i. c\ 10.
^ Miserandam nierito quispiiim illonun censebit ameiUiain qui cum vitu-
perant crucein, non vident ejus virtutem orbem implessc uiiiversuui, ac ])er
ipsain IJei notitiam, ac diviiia opera, ouinihus iuuotuisse. — Alhanas. lil). i.
cont. Gentil. in prin.
y It' all this be not sufficient proof of the resurrection of Christ, ynu may g'ather
it froni the things that are continually done. For if the dead can work nothing,
and it belong only to the living to work, and to manage human affairs, let
any man then see and judge, and let him acknowledge the truth when he is
taught by things visible. For could our Saviour work so many things in
men, and by a wonderful power ))ersuade s\ich multitudes (invisibly) of Gre-
cians and barbarians to believe in him, ami by the force of bis power induce
them all to obey his doctrine .^ Dare any man yet doubt of Christ's resurrec-
tion, and that he lives ; yea, that he is the life of ijejievers i" Ciui a dead
VOL. XXII. X
306 THE saint's
merit of man, did Christ send his apostles upon. To bid a
few ignorant mechanics, Go, preach, and make him disciples of
all nations. To send his followers into all the world, to make
men believe him to be the Saviour of the world, and to charge
them to expect salvation no other way. Why, almost all the
world might say, they had never seen him : and to tell them in
Britain, &c. of one crucified among thieves at Jerusalem, and
to charge them to take him for their eternal king : this was a
design very unlikely to prevail. When they would have taken
him by force, and made him a king, then he refused, and hid
himself. But when the world thought they had fully conquered
him, when they had seen him dead, and laid him in his sepul-
chre, then doth he arise and subdue the world. He that would
have said, when Christ was on the cross, or in the grave ' that
within so many weeks many thousands of his murderers should
believe him to be their Saviour ; or within so many years, so
many countries and kingdoms should receive him for their Lord,
and lay down their dignities, possessions, and lives at his feet ;'
would have hardly been believed by any that had heard him:
and I am confident, they would most of them have acknow-
ledged, that if such a wonder should come to pass, it must needs
be from the finger of God alone. That the kingdoms of the
world should become the kingdoms of Christ, was then a mat-
ter exceeding improbable. But you may object that. First, It is
but a small part of the world that believes. And, Secondly,
Christ himself saith, that his flock is little. I answer. First, It
man persuade men's minds to renounce their father's laws, and obey the
precepts of Christ, or make an adulterer chaste, and the mausiayer and inju-
rious to do no wrong ? If he be not risen, but still dead, how doth he Lianisli
and overthrow all false gods ? For wherever his voice soundeth, and his faith
is held, thence all idol worship is destroyed, and all the subtle deceits of
devils disclosed ; and no devil can endure his holy name, but as soon as he
hears it doth presently fall down. Is this, I pray you, the work of a dead
irian, or rather, of ilie living God ? — yithanas. cle Incarnat, J'ej-hi. Christi-
anis vero quid simile? Neminem pudet ; neminem poenitet : nisi plane
retro non fuisse. Si denotatur, gloriatur. Si accusatur, non defendit : inter-
rogatus, vel ultro confitetur ; damnalus gratias agit. Quid hoc mali est,
quod naturalia niali non habet? timorem, pudoreni, tergiversationeni, poeni-
tentiam, deploralionem ? Quid hoc mali est, cujus reus gaudet ? cujus accu-
satio votum est; et poena felicitas ? — Tertullian. Jpolog: c. 1. Sed hoc
agite boni piasides, nieliores multo apud populum, si illos Christianos immo-
laveritis ; cruciate, torquete, damnate, atterite nos : probatio eiiim est iuno-
centiffi nostras iniquitas vestra.- Nee quicquam tamen proficit exquisitior
quffque crudelitas vestra; illecebra est magis sects ; plures efficiniur quoties
metinuir 5i vobis. Semen est sanguis Christiauoruin. — TtrtulUan, j/jolog-,
cap. ult.
EVERLASTING REST. 307
is a very great part of the world that are believers at this day,
if we consider besides Europe, all the Greek church, and all the
believers that are dispersed in Egypt, Judea, and most of the
Turlis' dominions : and the vast empire of Prestor-John in Afri-
ca. Secondly, Most countries of the world have received the
Gospel ; but they had but their time : they have sinned away
the light, and therefore are now given up to darkness. Thirdly,
Though the flock of Christ's elect are small, that shall receive
the kingdom ; yet the called, that profess to believe his Gospel,
are many.
2. Consider, also, as the wonderful raising of the kingdom of
Christ in the world, so the wonderful preservation and continu-
ance of it. He sends out his disciples as lambs among wolves,
and yet promiseth them deliverance and success. His followers
are everywhere hated through the world ; their enemies are nu-
merous as the sands of the sea : the greatest princes and poten-
tates are commonly their greatest enemies, who, one would
think, might command their extirpation, and procure their ruin
with a word of their mouths. The learned men, and great wits
of the world, are commonly their most keen and confident ad-
versaries; who, one would think, by their wit, should easily over-
reach them, and by their learning befool them, and by their
policy contrive some course for their overthrow. Nay, which
is more wonderful than all, the very common professors of the
faith of Christ are as great haters of the sincere and zealous
professors almost, if not altogether, as are the very Turks and
pagans; and those that do acknowledge Christ for their Saviour,
do yet so abhor the strictness and spirituality of his laws and
ways, that his sincere subjects are in more danger of them, than
of the most open enemies : whereas, in other religions, the for-
wardest in their religion are best esteemed. Besides the tempta-
tions of Satan, the unwillingness of the flesh, because of the
worldly comforts which we must renounce, and the tedious, strict
conversation which we must undertake, these are greater op-
posers of the kingdom of Christ than all the rest ; yet in despite
of all these, is this kingdom maintained, the subjects increased,
and these spiritual laws entertained and obeyed ; and the church
remains both firm and stedfast, as the rocks in the sea, while
the waves that beat upon it do break themselves in pieces.
3. Consider, also, in what way Christ doth thus spread his
Gospel, and preserve his church. First, Not by worldly might
and power, nor by compelling men to profess him by the sword,
x2
SOS THE saint's
Indeed, when men do profess themselves voluntarily to be his
subjects, he has authorised the sword to see in part to the exe-
cution of his laws, and to punish those that break the laws
which they have accepted. But to bring men in from the world
into his church, from paganism, Turkism, or Judaism, to Chris-
tianity ; he never gave the sword any such commission: he
never levied an army to advance his dominion ; nor sent forth
his followers as so manv commanders to subdue the nations to
him by force ; and spare none that will not become Christians ;
he will have none but those that voluntarily list themselves
tinder him f he sent out ministers, and not magistrates or com-
manders, to bring in the world. Yea, though he be truly willing
of men's haj)piness in receiving him, and therefore earnestly
inviteth them thereto, yet he lets them know that he will be no
loser by them ; as their service cannot advantage him, their
neglect cannot hurt him ; he lets them know that he hath no
need of them, and that his beseeching of them is for their own
souls, and that he will be beholden to none of them for all their
service ; if they know where to have a better master, let them
take their course; even the kings of the earth shall stoop to
his tern^.s, and be thankful too, or else they are no servants for
him : his house is not so open, as to welcome all comers, but
only those that will submit to his laws, and accept of him upon
his own conditions ; therefore hath he told men the worst, as
well as the best, that if they will be discouraged or frighted
from him, let them go; he tells them of poverty, of disgrace,
of losing their lives, or else they cannot be his disciples. And
is not this an unlikely way to win men to him ; or to bring in
so much of the world to worship him ? He flatters none, he
liumoureth none; he hath not formed his laws and ways to please
them. Nay, which is yet more, he is as strict in turning some
men out of his service, as other masters would be ready to take
them in. Therefore he hath required all his followers to dis-
claim all such as are obstinate offenders, and not so much as to
^ Formido ilia cessavit jam diu qua; divexare nos videbatur : et seqiic futu-
rmn est ut in posterum cesset ; iiec externo ullo tiiiiore teneatur iioster con-
veiitus. — Grig. cont. Cets. lib. iii. f. 33. Noii leve, itniuo prodigiosum
fuit miraculum tarn brevi spacio teiiiporis Christi doctrinam potuisse per
unlversuin orbeni diffuudi, cum tot baheret advcrsarios : et prfedicatonim
esset alioquiu magna siiiiplicitas et ruditas quoad humanas artes. Intra
20 vel 30 aunos Cbiisti praedicatio fere ubique audita est, ut Chrysostomus
scribit. Pbilosophi auten» iiigeniosi et docti sua dogmata nisi sero admodum
^xtra Graeciam protuleruut. — Pet, Martyr, hi Horn, 10. j). (milii) 781.
EVERLASTING REST. 309
eat, or be familiar uilh them. How contrary to all this is the
course of the great commanders of the world, when they would
enlarge their dominions, or procure themselves followers \'^ They
have no course but to force men, or to flatter them. How
contrary was Mahomet's course in propMgating his kingdom !
he levieth an army, and conquers some adjoining parties ; and,
as his success increascth, so doth his presumption ; he enticeth
all sorts to come to his camp ; he raakcth laws that would
please their fleshly lusts ; he promiseth beautiful sights, and
fair women, and such carnal delights in another world : in a
word^ as his kingdom was planted, so hath it been preserved by
no other ways, but force and flattery. But Christ hath not one
word for either of these : his compelling men to come in, is but
rational persuading.
2, Nay, yet more than this, he makes his church to grow by
sufferings; when others increase their dominions by the destroy-
ing of their enemies, he increaseth his by suffering them to
kill his subjects; an unlikely way, one would think, to make the
world either love or serve him. There have been few ages, since
the first appearing of the Gospel in the world, wherein the earth
hath not drunk in the blood of believers. In the beginning it
was a rare case to be a faithful pastor, and not a martyr.
Thirty-three Roman bishops successively are said to have been
martyred;'' thousands, yea, ten thousands slaughtered atatime;
insomuch that Gregory and Cyprian cry out, that the witnesses
who had died for the truth of the Gospel, were to men innu-
merable, that thcAvorld was all over filled with their blood; and
they that were left alive to behold it, were not so many as those
that were slain ; that no war did consume so many : and the
histories of the enemies acknowledge almost as much.
Now, whether this be a likely course to gain disciples, and
to subdue the world, you may easily judge. Yet did the church
never thrive better than by persecution ; what they got not in
" Ccrte (idem Sanctis vocibui! pascimus, spem erigimiis, fiiluciam fig^imus,
tlisciijliiiain priEce|)toruni iiiliiloiniiius inculcationihus dcnsamus : ibidem
etiam exliortationes, casti^ationes, et censura divina : nam et judicatur mag-
no cum pondere, ut apud certos de Deiconspectu ; summum<jue futuri judicii
jtra-judicium est, siquis ita deliquerit, x\t a. comniunicatione orationis et con-
ventus, et omuis sancti coinmercii relegetnr. — Tertullkm j^polog-. c. 39.
You liave liere tlie true description of the primitive cliurch censure, which
was performed in one particular church, as the foregoing" words show.
'' Some judicious historians do exempt divers of them ^as Hyg;inus, &c.)
from the honour of martyrdom, and affirm that they were only confessors.
310 THE saint's
number, yet they got in zeul and excellency of professors; and
seldom hath it lost more than in prosperity : yea, when the vul-
gar professors have enjoyed prosperity, yet persecution hath
ahnost ever been the lot of the zealous and sincere.
And thus 1 have showed you those wonders of Providence,
which have been exercised for the church universal.
Sect. II. Secondly, Consider, next, what strange providences
have been exercised to particular churches. I cannot stand to
heap up particular examples ; you may find them frequent in
the histories of the church ; wliat deliverances cities and coun-
tries have had, what victories those princes have had, who have
been their defenders ; as Constantine the Great, and many since :
and what apparent manisfestations of God's hand in all. Yea,
he that reads but the histories of latter times, where wars have
been managed for defence of the doctrine of this Scripture,
and obedience thereto, against the corruptions and persecutions
of Rome,'^ may see more apparent discoveries of the hand of
God ; yea, even in those wars where the enemy hath at last
prevailed, as in Bohemia, in Zisca's time, in France, at Merin-
dol and Cabriers. The history of Belgia will show it clearly:
so will the strange preservation of the poor city of Geneva.
But all these are further from us ; God hath brought such ex-
periments home to our hand. If we should overlook the strange
providences that produced the Reformation in the times of
Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, Queen Eli-
zabeth, and King James; yet even the strange passages of these
years past, have been such that might silence an atheist, or an
anti-scripturist : to see the various straits that God hath brought
his people through; the unlikely means by which he still per-
formed it; the unexpected events of most undertakings; the un-
contrived and unthought-of ways which men have been led
in ; the strange managing of councils and actions ; the plain
appearance of an extraordinary providence, and the plain
interposition of an almighty arm, which hath appeared in
almost all our public affairs, in all which God hath not only
<= Cum Romani in victoriosse antiquitatis menioriam templum singular!
schemate facere decrevissent, ab omni ilia deoruui, iiiiuio da-moniorum mul-
titudiiic, qusesieruiit usque quo durare posset tarn excelleutis ojieris tain
operosa constructio ; respousum est, Donee virgo pareret. Jlli ad impossibili-
tatem oracuhun retorquetites, templum seteriiuui solennem illam macliiiiani
vocavenuit. Nocte autem cum virginali thalamo virgineus flos Marice egres-
sus est, ita cecidit et confractum est illud niiral)ile et columnarium opus, ut
vix appareant vestigia ruinarum, — Bernard, in Natal. Domini, seroi. 23.
EVERLASTING REST. 31 J
manifested a special providence, but also notably disowned
men's sins, encouraged prayer, and fulfilled promises; though
as to the particular exposition of some of his providences, wc
may hear him say to us, as sometimes to Peter, " What 1 do
thou knowest not now, but hereafter thou shalt know."
Sect. III. Thirdly: Consider, also, of the strange judgments
which in all ages have overtaken the most eminent of the
enemies of the Scriptures.'' Besides Antiochus, Herod, Pilate, the
persecuting emperors, especially Julian; church-histories will
ac([uaint you with multitudes more : Fox's Book of Martyrs will
tell you of many undeniable remarkable'^ judgments on those
adversaries of pure religion, whose greatest wickedness is against
these Scriptures, subjecting them to their church, denying them
the people, and setting up their traditions as equal to them. Yea,
our own times have afforded us most evident examples. Surely
God hath forced many of his enemies to acknowledge in their
anguish the truth of his threatenings, and cry out, as Julian,
Vicisti Galilae.
Sect. IV. Fourthly : Consider, also, the eminent judgments of
God which have befallen the vile transgressors of most of his
laws. Besides all the voluminous histories that make frequent
mention of this, I refer you to Dr. Beard's ' Theatre of God's
Judgments,' andthe book intitled 'God's Judgments upon Sabbath
Breakers :' and it is likely your own observations may add much.^
Sect.V. Fifthly : Consider, further, of the eminent providences
that have been exercised for the bodies and states of particular
believers. The strange deliverance of many intended to martyrr
doin, as you have many instances in the * Acts and Monuments;'
besides those in Eusebius, and others, that mention the stories
of the first persecutions. If it were convenient here to make
particular mention of men's names, I could name you many,
^ Ut memorias taceamus antiquas, et ultiones pro cultoribus Dei sa;pe
repetitas, documeutimi recentis rci satis est, quod celeriter quodque in tanta
celcritatc, sic granditer nuper secuta del'eusio est, ruinis reguiii, jacturis
opuui, dispendio militum, diminutione castroiuni. Nee hoc caso accidisse,
&c. — Cyprian, ad Demetrian. sect. 14. p. 328.
« Not tliat miracles are still necessary, but special providences do much
confirm. Nee jam opus est miraculis, cum in omnem terram verbum so-
uuerit. — Doct. Humfredus Jtsuitin. part 1. p. 114.
f How many churches in England were torn at once with terrible lightning ;
and almost no place else but churches were touched, especially at the lower
part of Devonshire, where many were scorched, maimed, and some had their
brains struck out as they sat in church ! And at the church of Anthony, in
Cornwall, near Plymouth, on Whitsunday, l(i40. See the relation in print.
312 THE saint's
who, of late, have received such strange preservations, even
against the common course of nature, that might convince an
atheist of the finger of God therein. But tliis is so ordinary,
that I am persuaded there is scarcely a godly-experienced Chris-
tian that carefully observes and faithfully recordeth the provi-
dences of God toward him, hut is able to bring forth some such
experiment, and to show vou some strange and unusual mercies,
which may plainly discover an Almighty Disposer, making good
the promises of this Scrijiture to his servants : some, in despe-
rate diseases of body, some in other apparent dangers, deli-
vered so suddenly, or so much against the common course of
nature, when all the best remedies have failed, that no second
cause could have any hand in their deliverance.
Sixthly, and lastly: Consider the strange and evident dealing
of God with the souls and consciences both of believers and
imbelievers. What pangs of hellish despair have many enemies
of the truth been brought to ! How doth God extend the spirits
of his own people: bruising, breaking, killing them with terrors,
and then healing, raising, and lillingthem with joys which they
cannot utter ! How variously doth he mould them ! Some-
times they are brought to the gates of hell, sometimes they are
ravished with the foretastes of heaven: the proudest spirits are
made to stoop ; the lowest are raised to an invincible courage.
In a word, the workings of God upon the souls of his people, are
so clear and strange, that vou may trace a supernatural causality
through them all. ]3esides^' the admirable efficacy of them in
changing men's hearts, and making them to differ from what
they were, and from all others, in all holiness, righteousness,
and self-denial.
Sect. IV. Secondly : But though it be undeniable that all these
fe' AVas it not near a miracle, that G<k1 wrought for Mrs. Honywood, when
she threw the glass unto the wall, siijiu^, ' If this ^lass hreaU not, 1 maybe
saved,' &c., and yet took it up whole ?
^ See Cyprian's Epi^t. 1. to J^onat., expressing' the change on himself. At
Dei per Christum instituts ecclesias, si forte expenstc cum aliorum populornm
inultitudiiie coiiferantiir, veluti luminaria qiiBedara in niundo prajlucentia
fniura! sunt. O"-''* enim non id fatuatur vol dcicriores fiuos()iie nostra; cccle-
sia; quEe potiorum respectu inferiores sunt, noii longe plurimum bonitate
prtestare aliorum jiopuloruni mtdtituilini .-' I'-xtat Athenis Dei ectlesia, man-
suetior qua-dam et optinie insiiluta, ut (|nje Deo velit omnipotenti tuuctis in
rebus sese morigeram exhibere. Est contra Atheniensium ipsa respublica
seditiosa qnideni, et qvue nil prorsus cum Dei tadem fuerit ccclesia conipa-
randa. Ilaud secus de alia quadani ecciesia dixerit, qua; Corinthi sit vel Alex-
andriaB constituta, et ea quam seorsum habeat istarum urbium populus. —
Origen. cont. Celsian, lib. iv. fol, (edit. Ascens.) 33,
EVERLASTING REST. 313
arc tlie extraordinary working; of God ; yet how do they confirm
the a\ithority of Scripture ! How doth it appear that they have
any such ends ? Answer : that is it I come to show you next.
First : Some of these works do carry their end apparently
with them, and manifest it in the event. The forementioned
providences for raising and preserving the churchy arc such as
show us their own ends.
Secondly : They are most usually wrought for the friends and
followers of Scripture, and against the enemies anddisobevcrsof it.
Thirdly : They are the plain fulfilling of the predictions of
Scripture. The judgments on the offenders are the plain fulfil^
ling of its threatenings, and the mercies to believers are the
plain fulfilling of its promises. As for example ; as unlikely as
it was, yet Christ foretold his apostles that when he was lifted
up he would draw all men to him. He sent them upon an
errand as unlikely to be so successful as any in the world : and
yet he told them just what success they should find, how good
to their message, and how hard to their persons. The promise
was of old, to give Christ " the heathen for his inheritance, and
the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession." (Psal. ii.
2 — 5.) Christ promiseth to be with his messengers to the end
of the world. Why now how punctually doth he accomplish
all this ! What particular prophecies of Scripture have been ful-
filled, and when, and how, hath already been discovered by
others,' and therefore I shall overpass that.
Fourthly: These judgments ''■ have been usually executed on
oflfenders, at the very time when they have been either opposing
or violating Scripture : and these mercies bestowed chiefly upon
believers at such a time, when they have been most engaged in
defence of or obedience to the Scriptures.
Fifthly : They usually proceed in such effectual sort, that they
force the enemies and ungodly to confess the cause : yea, and
ofttimes the very standers-by; so do they force believers also to
see, that God makes good his word in all their mercies.
Sixthly : They are performed in answer to the prayers of be-
lievers ; while they urge God with the promises of Scripture,
then doth he appear in these evident providences. This is a
• Morney, Grotius, Dr. Jackson's * Resolut.' part 2. &c.
•' Ask them in New Knj^land whether Mrs. Hutchinson's and ISfrs. Dver's
most hideous monstnuis births were not convincinj^ providences aj^ainst tlieir
antitioniian, antiscriptural heresies, a? if God from heaven had spoken against
them ? and yet Old England vAiii not take warning. See Nicephor. ' Eccl. Hist.'
tom. l.lib. 4. c. 13, where Tertul., Jul., Capitolinus, Orosius, &c., do mention.
314 THE saint's
common and powerful argument, which most Christians may
draw from their own experiences. Had we no other argument
to prove Scripture to be the word of God, but only the strange
success of the prayers of the saints, while they trust upon, and
plead the promises with fervency, I think it might much
confirm experienced men. What wonders, yea what apparent
miracles, did the prayers of former Christians procure I hence
the christian soldiers,^ in their armj^, were called the thundering
legion ', they could do more by their prayers, than the rest by
their arms. Hence Gregory was called @ocvi/.arovpyoi, from his fre-
quent miracles among the heathen. And Vincentius reporteth,
that Sulpitius Bituricensis did exj)el the devils, heal the sick,
and raise the dead, by praying to God for them. When Myco-
nius,"" a godly divine, lay sick of that consumption, which is
called phthisis, Luther prayed earnestly that he might be reco-
vered, and that he might not die before himself. And so con-
fident was he of the grant of his desire, that he writes boldly
to ]\Iyconius, that he should not die now ; but should remain
yet longer upon this earth. Upon these prayers did Myconius
presently revive, as from the dead, and live six years after, till
Luther was dead: and himself hath largely written the story,
and professed, that when he heard Luther's letters, he seemed
to hear that voice of Christ, " Lazarus, come forth." Yea, so
powerful and prevailing was Luther in prayer, that Justus Jonas
writes of him, iste vir potidt quod voluit, that man could do
what he would."
What was it less than a miracle in Baynam the martyr, who
' The legion of Malta, in the time of Mar. Aurelius, who procured by
prayer both thunder on the enemies and raiu for the army. See the Eijistle
of IM. Aurelius, in Justin Martyr's *Apol.' et Xiphilin. in vita Aurclii. And
it is confidently averred by Tertullian's ' Ai)olos;et.' c. 5. with many more, as
you may read at large in Pamelius' notes on TertuUiau's ' Apologet.' uota G4.
n> Melth. Adam in vita Myconii.
" O si audire velles et videre, quando a nobis adjurantur et torquentur
spiritualibufi flagris, et verborum tormeiitisde obsessis corporibus ejiciuntur,
quando ejulaiites et gementes voce humaua, et jjotestate divina fiagella et
verbera seniieutes, venturum judicium confitciitur ! Veui, et cognosce vera
esse quae dicimus. Et quia sic Deos colere te dicis, vel ipsis quos colis crede :
aut si volueriset tihi credere, de te ipso loquetur, audieute te qui nunc tuum
pectus obsedit : videbis iios rogari ab eis quos tu rogas ; timeri ab eis quos tu
adoras, videbis sub manu nostra stare vinctos, et treniere captivos, quos tu
suspicis et veneraris ut Dominos. Certe vel sic confundi in istis erroribus
tuis poteris, cum conspexeris et audieris Deos tiios, quid sint, interrogatione
nostra statim prodere, &c. — Cypriaii,, ad Demetrkim, p. 328. This is an
excellent testimony.
EVERLASTING REST. 315
told his persecutors, ' Lo ! here is a miracle; I feel no more
pain in this fire than in a bed of down : it is as sweet to me as
a bed of roses ? ' So Bishop Farrar, who could say before he
went to the fire, ' If I stir in the fire, believe not my doctrine ;'
and accordingly remained unmoved. Theodorus the martyr,
in the midst of his torment, had one in the shape of a young
man, as he thought, came and wiped off his sweat, and eased
him of his pain.
But what need 1 fetch examples so far off; or to recite the
multitudes of them which church history doth afford us ? h
there ever a praying Christian here who knovveth what it is im-
portunately to strive with God, and to plead his promises with
him believingly, that cannot give in his experiences of most
remarkable answers ? I know men's atheism and infidelity will
never want somewhat to say against the most eminent provi-
dences, though they were miracles themselves. That nature
which is so ignorant of God, and at enmity with him, will not
acknowledge him in his clear discoveries to the world, but will
ascrilie all to fortune or nature, or some such idol, which indeed
is nothing. But when mercies are granted in the very time of
prayer, and that when to reason there is no hope, and that
without the help of any other means or creatures, yea, and
perhaps many times over and over, is not this as plain as if
God from heaven should say to us, ' I am fulfilling to thee the
true word of my promises in Christ, my Son ?' How many times
have I known the prayer of faith to save the sick, when all
physicians have given them up for dead?" (James v. 13 — 16.)
" Among abundance of instances that I could give, ray conscience command-
eth me here to give you this one, as belonging lo the very words here written.
I had a tumour rose on one of the tonsils, or almonds, of my throat, round like
a pea, and at first no bigger ; and at last, no bigger than a small button, and
hard like a bone. The fear lest it should prove a cancer, troubled me more than
the thing itself. I used first, dissolving medicines ; and alter, lenitives for
palliation : and all in vain for about a quarter of a year. At last my con-
science smote me for silencing so many former deliverances that I had in an-
swer of prayers ; merely in pride, lest I should be derided as making ostenta-
tion of God's special mercies to myself, as if 1 were a special favourite of
heaven, I had made no public mention of them : I was that morning to preach
just what is here written, and in obedience to my conscience, 1 spoke these
words which are now in this page, with some enlargement not here written ;
when 1 went to church 1 had my tumour as before, (for I frequently saw it in
the glass, and felt it constantly.) As soon as I had done preaching, I felt it was
gone, and hastening to the glass, I saw there was not the least vestigium, or
cicatrix, or mark wherever it had been ; nor did I at all discern what became
of it. I am sure I neither swallowed it, uor spit it out ; and it was unlikely
316 THE sAint's
It hath been my own case more than once, or twice, or ten
times : when means have all failed, and the highest art or
reason has sentenced me hopeless, yet have I been relieved
by the prevalency of fervent prayer, and that, as the physician
saith, ' tuto, cito, et jucunde ;'" ' My flesh and my heart failed,
but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.'
And though he yet keep me nnder necessary weakness, and
wholesome sickness, and certain expectation of further neces-
sities and assaults, yet am I constrained by most convincing
experiences, to set up this stone of remembrance, and publicly,
to the praise of the Almighty, to acknowledge that certainly
God is true to his j)romises, and that they are indeed his own
infallible word, and that it is a most excellent privilege to have
interest in God, and a spirit of supplication to be importunate
with him. 1 doubt not but most Christians that observe the
spirit and providences, are able to attest this prevalency of
prayer by their own experiences.
Object. Perhaps you will say. If these rare examples were
common, I would believe.
Answ. I. If they were common, they would be slighted, as
common wonders are.
Secondly : Importunate prayer is not common, though formal
babbling be.
Thirdly : The evident returns of prayer are ordinary to the
faithful.
Fourthly : If wonders were common, we should live by sense,
and not by faith.
Fifthly: 1 answer, in the words of Augustin,P God letteth
not every saint partake of miracles, lest the weak should he
deceived with this pernicious error, to prefer miracles as better
than the works of righteousness, wherel)y eternal life is attained.
And let me now add, that if the Scriptures were not the word
of God, undoubtedly there would have been as many wonders of
Providence for the disgracing it, as have been for the defending
it : and God would have destroyed the preachers of it, as the
greatest abusers of him, and all the world, that should father
to dissolve by any natural cause, that bad been hard like a bone a quarter of
a year, notwithstanding ail dissolving gargarisms. I thought fit to mention
this, because it was done just as I spoke the words bere written in this page.
Many such marvellous mercies I have received, and known that others have
received, in answer to prayer.
P August. ' De Civitate Dei,' lib, xxxiii.
EVERLASTING REST. oI7
such a thing on him. Can any man believe that God is the
just and gracious Ruler of the world, (that is, thatt here is a
God,) and yet that he would so long suffer such things to be
published as his undoubted laws, and give no testimony against
it, if it were not true ? As Perkins saith, ' Cases of Cons.' (lib.
ii. c. 3. p. 130. sect. 1.) If it had not been God's word, the
falsehood had been detected long ago. For there hath been
nothing falsely said of God at any time which he himself hath
not, at some time or other, opened and revealed ; as he did the
false prophets.
CHAP. Vil.
The Fourth Argument.
Sect. I. My fourth and last argument, which I will now
produce to prove the Scripture to be the word and perfect law of
God, is this:
Either tlie Scriptures are the written word and law of God,
or else there is no such extant in the world : but there is a
written word and law of God in the world : erc/o, this is it.
Here I have these two jjositions to prove; First, That God
hath such a written word in the world. Secondly, That it can
be no other but this.
That there is such a word, I prove thus : If it cannot stand
with the welfare of mankind, and consequently with that
honour which the wisdom and goodness of God hath by their
welfare, that the world should be without a written law, then,
certainly, there is such a written law. But that it cannot stand
with the welfare of the creature, or that honour of God, appears
thus : that there be a certain and sufficient revelation of the
will of God to man, more than mere nature and creatures do
teach, is necessary to the welfare of man, and the aforesaid
honour of God. But there is now no such certain and suffi-
cient revelation unwritten in the world : therefore, it is neces-
sary that there be such a revelation written.
The proof of the major is the main task,'! which if it be well
1 I do of purpose pass over those things which others have fully written of,
because I would not trouble the world so often with the same words which
others have said before us. In particular, to prove the absolute necessity
that there must be some written word among and above others, great Camero
318 THE saint's
performed, will clearly carry the who e cause ; for I believe all
the rest will quickly be granted, if that be once plain. There-
fore, I shall stand a little more largely to prove it, viz., that
there is a necessity for the welfare of man, and the honour of
God's wisdom and goodness, that there be some further reve-
lation of God's will, than is in mere nature or creatures to be
found. And first I prove it necessary to the welfare of man,
and that thus : If man have a happiness or misery to partake
of after this life, and no sufficient revelation of it in nature or
creatures, then it is necessary that he have some other revela-
tion of it, which is sufficient. But such a happiness or misery
man must partake of hereafter, which nature and creatures do
not sufficiently reveal, (either end or means,) therefore some
other is necessary. I will stand the largelier on the first branch
of the antecedent, because the chief weight lieth on it ; and I
scarce ever knew any doubt of Scripture, but they also doubted
of the immortal state and recompense of souls ; and that usually
is their first and chiefest doubt.
1 will, therefore, here prove these three things in order thus :
1. That there is such a state for man hereafter. 2. That it is
necessary that he know it, and the way to be so happy. 3. That
nature and creatures do not sufficiently reveal it.
For the first, 1 take it for granted, that there is a God, be-
cause nature teacheth that ; "■ and I shall pass over those argu-
ments drawn from his righteousness and just dispensation, to
prove the variety of men's future conditions, because they are
commonly known ; and I shall now argue from sense itself, be-
cause that works best with sensual men : and that thus. If the
devil be very diligent to deceive men of that happiness, and to
bring them to that misery, then sure there is such a happiness
and misery : but the former is true, ^ er^o the latter. They
hath done it fully, ' Prselect. de Verbo Dei,' c. 4 — 6, Operum, (fol.) pp. 4.^)0,
451, &c., and shows how lamentably even the wisest of the philosophers were
besotted and ignorant.
' See Justiu Martyr, Serm. ad Gent., proving^ the unity of the Godhead out
of the heathens themselves, Orpheus, the Sybils, Sophocles, Homer, Plato,
Pythagoras, &c.
* Hear what a heathen saith of the life to come. Miraris hominera ad
Deos ire? Deus ad homines venit ; immo, quod propius est, in homines venit.
Nulla sine Deo mens bona est. Semina in corporibus humanis divina dispersa
sunt ; quae si bonus cultor excipit, similia origine prodeunt, et paria his ex (jui-
bus orta sunt surgunt; si malus, nou aliter quam humus sterilis ac palustris
necat, ac deinde creat purganieuta pro frugibus. — Senec, Epist, Ixxiii. p. 278,
279. edit, Elsev. 1G72.
EVERLASTING REST. 319
that doubt of the major projjosition, do most of them doubt,
whether there be any devil, as well as whether he seek our
eternal undoing. I prove both together. First, By his temp-
tation ; Secondly, Apparitions ; Thirdly, Their possessions and
dispossessions ; Fourthly, His contracts with witches. I hope
these are palpable discoveries-
1. The temptations of Satan are sometimes so unnatural, so
violent, and so importunate, that the tempted person even feels
something besides himself persuading and urging him : he can-
not go about his calling, he cannot be alone, but he feels some-
what following him, with persuasions to sin, yea, to sins that he
never found his nature much inclined to, and such as bring him
no advantage in the world, and such as are quite against the
temperature of his body. Doth it not plainly tell us, that
there is a devil, labouring to deprive man of his happiness,
when men are drawn to commit such monstrous sins ? ^ Such
cruelty as the Romans used to the Jews at the taking of Jeru-
salem ; so many thousand Christians so barbarously murdered ;
such bloody actions as those of Nero, Caligula, Sylla, Messala,
Caracalla, the Roman -gladiators, the French massacre, the
gunpowder- plot, the Spanish inquisition, and their murdering
fifty millions of Indians in forty two years, according to the tes-
timony of Acosta, their Jesuit ; men invading their own neigh-
bours and brethren, with an. unquenchable thirst after their
blood, and merely because of their strictness in the common
professed religion : 1 say, How could these come to pass, but
by the instigation of the devil ? When we see men making a
jest of such sins as these, making them their pleasure, impu-
dently, and implacably against knowledge and conscience, pro-
ceeding in them, hating those ways that they know to be bet-
* Snadent autem miris invisibilibus modis, per illam subtilitatem suorum
corporum, corpora homiiium non sentienlium penetraiulo, seseque cogitationi-
hus eoruni per cjuajtlani iniaginaria, visa niisceiido, sive vigilautiuni, sive dor-
iiiientium. — ^iig. de Divln. Diemnn. cap. 5. Nou potest daemon instruere
novas formas in materiain corporalem, unde iiec per consequens in sensum
ct iniaginationcin in quibus nil recipitur sine orgjano corporali ; unde reHn-
quitur, ut alicjuid pra'existat in corpore, quoJ per quandam transniutationeni
localem spiritiuun ct humoniin reducitur ad principia sensualium organorum ;
ut sic videantur ab anima iniaginaria vel seusuali vjsioue. — Aquin. 1,<|. 16.
a. 1. Experiniur niultas sa;pe nobis invitis nialas cogitatioiies in nientem ob-
repere. Unde vero hae cogitationes ? Ab aliquo certe ag-eute eas commovente.
Non il nobis; quia inviti illas patimur ; non ab angelis bonis, neque ;i Deo
per illos, quia cogitationes malae sunt. A diabolis igitur sunt. — Zanch,
torn. 3. lib. iv. <De Potent, Dasinou.' c. 1. p, lyi.
320 THE saint's
ter, and all those persons that would help to save them ; yea,
choosing sin, though they believe it will damn them ; despairing,
and yet sinning still : doth not this tell men plainly, that there
is a devil ; their enemy ? When men will commit the sin which
they abhor in others, which reason is against ; when men of
otherwise a good nature, as Vespasian, &c., shall be so bloody
murderers ; when men will not be stirred from sin by any en-
treaty, though their dearest friends should beg, with tears, upon
their knees ; though preachers convince them, and beseech
them in the name of the Lord ; though wife and children, body
and soul, be undone by it ; nay, when men will be the same
under the greatest judgment, and under the most wonderful
convincing providences, as appears in England, yea, under mi-
racles themselves.
Surely I think all this shows that there is a devil, and that
he is diligent in working our own ruin. Why else should it be
so hard a thing to persuade a man to that, which he is convinced
to be good ?
Sect. II. But yet if this be not evidence sufficient, the fre-
quent apparitions of Satan in several shapes, drawing men, or
frighting them into sin, is a discovery undeniable. ^"' I know
many are very incredulous herein, and will hardly believe that
there have been such apparitions. For my own part, though I
am as suspicious as most in such reports, and do believe that
most of them are conceits or delusions, yet having been very
diligently incjuisitive in all such cases, I have received undoubted
testimony of the truth of such apparitions ; some from the
mouths of men of undoubted honesty and godliness, and some
from the report of multitudes of persons, who heard or saw.
Were it fit here to name the persons, I could send you to them
yet living, by whom you would be as fully satisfied as I : houses
that have been so frequently haunted with such terrors, that the
inhabitants successively have been witnesses of it.
Learned godly Zanchius, in his tom. S. lib. iv. cap. 10. * De
Potentia Daemonum,' saith, " he wonders that any should deny
that there are such spirits, as from the effects are called hags,
or fairies, that is, such as exercise familiarity with men, and
do, without hurting men's bodies, come to them, and trouble
them, and, as it were, play with them. 1 could (saith he) bring
" Lege Epistolam Vossii de Saiuuele apparente Saulo, in Joan. Beverovicii
Epistolis i et D. Reignol. de Samuele apparente, in variis praileclionlbus de
lib, Apoc.
EVERLASTING REST. 321
many examples of persons yet alive, that have experience of
these in themselves. But it is not necessary to name them,
nor indeed convenient. But hence it appears that there are
such spirits in the air : and that when God permits them, they
exercise their power on our bodies, either to sport, or to hurt."
So far Zanchy. And he makes this use of it : " Of this (saith
he), besides the certainty of God's word, we have also men's daily
experience. These devils, therefore, do serve to confirm our
faith of God, of the good angels, of the kingdom of heaven, of
the blessed souls, and of many things more which the Scripture
delivereth. Many deny that the soul of man remaineth and
liveth after death, because they see nothing go from him but his
breath ; and they come to that impiety, that they laugh at all
that is said of another life. But we see not the devils ; and
yet it is clearer than the sun, that this air is full of devils ; be-
cause, besides God's word, experience itself doth teach it." Thus
Zanchy pleads undeniable experience, (lib. iv. c. 20. p. 212.)
Luther affirmed of himself'^ that at Coburge, he ofttimes
had an apparition of burning torches ; the sight thereof did so
affright him, that he was near swooning ; also, in his own gar-
den, the devil appeared to him in the likeness of a black boar,
but then he made light of it. Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical
History, writes of Apelles, a smith, famous in Egypt for working
miracles, who, in the night, while he was at work, was tempted
to uncleanness by the devil, appearing in the shape of a beau-
tiful woman.y The like he tells of a strange apparition in An-
tioch, the night before the sedition against Theodosius. Theo-
dorus mentions a fearful sight that appeared to Gennadius,
patriarch of Constantinople, and the threatening words which
it uttered. The writings of Gregory, Ambrose, Austin, Chry-
sostom, Nicephorus, &c., make frequent mention of apparitions,
and relate the several stories at large. You may read in Lava-
ter de Spectris, ^ several other relations of apparitions out of
Alexander ab Alexandro, Baptista Fulgosius, and others. Ludo-
vicus Vives, (lib. i.) ' Ue Veritate Fidei,' saith, "that among the
savages in America, nothing is more common than to hear and
see spirits in such shapes both day and night."'* The like do
other writers testify of those Indians: so saith Glaus Mamms
of the islanders. Cardanus de Subtilit. hath many such stories,
'' Melch. Adam, in Vita Luther.
y Sozomen. lib. vi. c. 28, lib. vii. c. 23.
* Lavater, pp. 64, G5. ^ De Gent. Sep. lib. ii. c. 3.
VOL. XXII. Y
322 THE saint's
So Job. Manliiis in Loc. Commun. CoUectan. (cap. 4,) de Malis
Spiritibus, et de satisfactione.'^ Yea, godly, sober Melanctbon
affirms, tbat be bad seen some sucb sigbts or apparitions liimself ;
and many credible persons of bis acquaintance bave told bim,
tbat tbey bave not only seen tbem, but bad mucb talk witb
spirits; among tbe rest be mentions one of bis own aunts, wbo
sitting sad at tbe fire after tbe deatb of ber busband, tbere ap-
peared unto ber one in tbe likeness of ber husband, and anotber
like a Franciscan friar; the former told ber tbat he was her
husband, and came to tell ber somewhat; which was, that she
must hire some priests to say certain masses for bim, which he
earnestly besought ber ; then he took ber by tbe band, promis-
ing to do ber no harm, yet bis band so burned her, tbat it
remained black ever after, and so tbey vanished away. Thus
writes Melanctbon. Lavater also himself, wbo bath written a
book wboliy of apparitions, a learned godly protestant divine,
tells us, tbat it was then an undeniable thing, confirmed by the
testimonies of many honest and credible persons, both men and
women, some alive, and some dead, tbat sometime by night,
and sometime by day, have both seen and heard sucb things ;
some tbat going to bed bad tbe clothes plucked off them;
others had somewhat lying down in the bed witb them ; others
heard it walking in the chamber by tbem, spitting, groaning ;
saying, tbey were the souls of sucb or such persons lately de-
parted ; tbat tbey were in grievous torments, and if so many
masses were but said for tbem, or so many pilgrimages under-
taken to the shrine of some saint, they should be delivered.
These things, witb many such more, saith Lavater, were then
frequently and undoubtedly done, and, tbat where tbe doors
were fast locked, and the room searched, tbat there could be
no deceit.
" The like may he said of the apparition of good angels encouraging the
godly. Cyprian, ' De Mortalitate,' p, (inihi) 345, saith, that one like a glori-
ous young man stood by one of his fellow presbyters at his death, as he was
afraid, and prayini:^ against death, and said to him, 'Are you afraid to suffer?
Are you loatli to go forth ? What shall I do with you ?' as chiding him for his
loathness to die for Christ. — Exam, Theol. In obsidione Nolanse civitatis,
Nolanum cpiscopum felicem mortuum conspectum fuisse a niultis civitatem
illaiii defendentcni, refert Aul;usi . lib. de Mirab. Scriptura; (si ille liber sit
Augustini.) Scio innumera rel'erri fabulosa, vel a fraude, &c. sed (n) a viris
tum doctis, turn perspicacibus, turn gravibus et probis, et plurimis retro secu-
lis allata sunt, et hodie niemorantur innumera, ubi non possit non cum opera
humana concurrissa ijlusio aut vis diabolica, supplente, viz, spirit u maligno
• piod hominis supcret jjotestatem. — Vossius Epistol. de Samuele in Bcverovidi
Epistol. p. 203, Vide Mercur, Viperain de Prodig. lib. viii, Pseilum.
EVERLASTING REST. 323
So Sleidan relates the story of Crescentius, the pope's legate,
frighted into a deadly sickness by a fearful apparition in his
chamber. Most credible and godly writers tell us, that on June
20, 1484, at a town called Hamel, in Germany, the devil took
away one hundred and thirty children, that were never seen
again.
But I need to say no more of this ; there is enough written
already, not only by Cycogna, Delrio, Paracelsus, &c., but also
by godly and faithful writers, as Lavater, Georg. Agricola, Olaus
Magnus, Zanchius, Pictorius, and many more.^
Object. But you will say, ' Though this prove that there are
devils, and that they are enemies to our happiness ; yet how
doth it prove that there is a future happiness or misery for
man ?'
Answ. Why, plainly thus.^ What need Satan by these ap-
paritions to set up superstition to draw men to sin, if there
were no difference between sinners and others hereafter? surely,
in this life it would be no great displeasure to them ; for
usually the wicked have the most prosperous lives ; therefore
his delusions must needs have respect to another life ; and that
the end of his apparitions is either to drive men to despair, or
to superstition, or some sin, is evident to all. Most of the
papists' idolatry and will-worship, hath either been caused or
confirmed by such apparitions :^ for in former days of darkness
they were more common than now. How the order of the
Carthusian friars was founded by Bruno, upon the terrible
speeches and cries of a dead man, you may read in the life of
Bruno, before his 'Exposition on Paul's Epistles.' Such was
the original of All Souls Day, and other holydays, as Trithe-
mius, Petrus de Natalibus, (lib. x. cap. 1 ;) Polyd. Virg. de Inv.
(lib. ix. cap. 9,) do declare. Also, praying for the dead, praying
to saints, purgatory, merits of good works, sanctification, pil-
grimages, masses, images, relics, monastical vows, auricular
confession, and most of the popish ceremonies, have had their
life and strength from these apparitions and delusions of the
*» Thyreus de locis infestis.
•^ Neque Satan heec prsstat ut benefaciat hominibus, quos in summo habet
odio; sed ut corporal! unius curatione infiuitos alios spiritual! morte trucldet.
— Zanch. de Potentia Dcemon. Xom.^.Vih.iw. cAQ. Vide etiam Zanch. ibid,
c. 192. p. 14.
•^ So his seeniiiig miracles. Lege Job. Bap. Vauhelmout ' Dc Lithiasi,' c. 9,
8601.27. p. 168.
y2
324 THE saint's
devil.^ But especially the cross hath been so magnified thereby/
that it is grown the commonest remedy to drive away d^ivils of
any in the world for many hundred years ; the churchyard must
have one to keep the devils from the graves of the dead ; and
the church, and almost every pinnacle, window, and part of it,
to keep him thence; the highways, also, must have them, that
he molest not the traveller; yea, when morning and evening,
and in times of danger, and in the beginning of any work of
duty, men must sign themselves with the cross, to keep away
devils : insomuch that the learned doctors do handle it among
their profound questions, what makes the devil so afraid of the
cross, that he shuns it above all things else ? So that you may
easily see what a great advantage the devil hath got over the
souls of a great part of the world by these apparitions ; and
consequently, that, this being the very end of his endeavours,
there is certainly a happiness which he would deprive us of, and
a misery that he would bring us to, when this life is ended.
Sect. J II. It is manifest also by the devil's possessing and tor-
menting the bodies of men ;s for if it were not more for the sake
of the soul than the body, why should he not as much possess or
torment a beast ? Certainly, it is not chiefly the outward torment
of the person that he regardeth, though he desires that too ; for
then he would not labour to settle his kingdom generally in peace
and prosperity, and to make men choose iniquity for its worldly
advantages : yet it may, perhaps, be the souls of others, more
than the possessed persons themselves, that the devil may hope
to get advantage on. So among the papists it hath brought their^'
* Camero shows that miracles are, when thiiitjs are done without second
causes; and proves that the two bool-;s which Lipsius wrote, (' De Diva Vir-
g-ine Hallensi,' et ' De Diva Virgine Aspricoli,') filled with pretended mira-
cles, were not indeed of true miracles, as neither reciting the raising of the
dead, or the like evident miracle, nor any cure done, but with some sensible
pain or motion which showed some second cause. See Camer. ' Praelect. de
Verbo Dei,' p. 438. fol.
* How the devil doth imitate God, in setting up worship, and deluding men
with his wonders, especially about the cross, read Calfhill's Preface before his
Answer to Martial, of the cross.
s Zanchy thinks it is the very substance of devils that entereth men, and
that they have bodies more subtle than the air, by which they enter. Tom. 3.
lib. iv. c. 10. p. 183. So Augustine also thinks, ' De Divinatione Damouum,'
c. 5. And so TertuUian saith, Dasmones sua haec corpora contrahunt, et dila-
tant ut volunt ; sicut etiam lumbrici et alia quaedam iufecta, ita dissimile illis
jion est penetrare in nostra corpora.
* Si quando non oporteat his opitulari, non loquamur cum spiritu, vel
adjurando, vel imperando, quasi nos audiat, sed tantum pretibus et jejunis
jncumbendo perseveremus. — Origtn in Matt, 17.
EVEIILA STING REST. 325
exorcisms into singular credit, by the frequent dispossessing
the devils. I confess there hath been many counterfeits of this
kind, as the boy at Bilson, by Wolverhampton, hired by some of
the papists, and discovered by the vigilant care of Bishop Morton
and divers others ; but, yet, if any doubt whether there is any
such thing at all, credible history and late experience may suffi-
ciently satisfy him. The history of the dispossession of the devil
out of many persons together in a room in Lancashire, at the
prayer of some godly ministers, is very famous : read the book,
and judge. Among the papists, possessions are common •
though very many of them are the priests and Jesuits' delusions.
What possession is, and how the devils are confined to a body,*
or whether circumscribed there in whole or in part, are things
beyond my reach to know; but that the strange effects which
we have seen on some bodies, have been the products of the
special power of the devil there, I doubt not. Though, for my
own part, I believe that God's works in the world are usually by
instruments, and not immediate ; and as good ^ angels are his
instruments in conveying his mercies both to soul and body, and
churches and states ; so evil angels are instruments of inflicting
his judgments, both corporal and spiritual. Hence God is said
(Psal. Ixxviii. 49,) to send evil angels among the Israelites.
Hence Paul's phrase of delivering to Satan ; hence Satan did
execution on the children, cattle, and body of Job ; and upon
Jerusalem in that plague, and numbering the people. To satisfy
you fully in this, and to silence your objections, and to teach you
the true and spiritual use of this doctrine, I refer you to Mr.
Lawrence's book, called * Our Communion and War with An-
gels ; ' and, especially, Zanchius's (tome 3) book ' De Ange-
lis ; ' and, now newly published, Mr. Ambrose's book, in which,
in an epistle, I have confirmed and vindicated what I have here
said.
So then, though 1 judge that Satan is the instrument in our
ordinary diseases, yet doth he, more undeniably, appear in those
whom we call the possessed. Luther thought that all phrenetic
persons and idiots, and all bereaved of their understanding, had
• The devil had the power of death, saith the Holy Ghost, Heb. ii. 14.
^ The angels do serve in both these ministries (superior and iufei-ior) in
the administration and economy (or government) of earthly things, — Clem.
Alex. Stromat. lib. vii. initio. It is Christ that giveth to the Greeks wisdom
by inferior angels. For the angels are by an ancient and divine command
distributed by (or through) nations. — Ibid.
326 THE saint's
devils : notwithstanding, physicians might ease them by reme-
dies. And, indeed, the presence of the devil may consist with
the presence of a disease and evil humour, with the efficacy of
means : Saul's melancholy devil would be gone when David
plaved on the harp. Many divines, as Tertullian, Austin, Zan-
chius, Lavater, &c.,' think that he can work both upon the
body and the mind, and that he maketh use to this end of me-
lancholy humours; and, indeed, such strange things are oft said
and done by the melancholy and mad, that many learned phy-
sicians think that the devil is frequently mixed with such dis-
tempers, and hath a main hand in many other symptoms : so
Avicen, Rhasis, Arculanus, Aponensis, Jason, Patensis, Hercul.
Saxon, &c. Who can give any natural cause for men's speaking
Hebrew or Greek, which they never learned or spake before ;
of their versifying ; their telling persons that are present their
secrets ; discovering what is done at a distance, which they
neither see nor hear ? Fernelius mentioneth two that he saw ; ""
whereof one was so tormented with convulsive pain, sometime
in one arm, sometime in the other ; sometime in one finger, &c.,
that four men could scarcely hold him, his head being still quiet
and well. The physicians judged it a convulsion, from some
malignant humour in the sjnna dorsi; till, having used all means
in vain, at last the devil derided them, that they had almost
destroyed the man with their medicines. The man spoke Greek
and Latin, which he never learned ; he told the physicians a
great many of their secrets ; and a great deal of talk with the
devil, which they had, he there mentions. In conclusion, both
this and the other were dispossessed by popish prayers, fasting,
and exorcism. Forestus mentions a countryman that," being
cast into melancholy, through discontent, at some injuries that
he had received, the devil appeared to him in the likeness of a
man, and persuaded him rather to make away himself than to
1 Vide Pet. Martyr, in loc. ' Commun.' class i. c. 8. sect. 8. pp. 3!), 40.
DaMDoniaci semper fere sunt melancholici, sed non omnes melaucholici dae-
niouiaci. Forest. ' Obs.' lib. x. obs. 19. Melch. Adam in Vila Luther. Vide
Pet. Martyr, loc. ' Commun.' per tot. For speaking strange languages and
verifying, see Guainerius, tract. 15 ; de Melanc. c. 4 ; et V/ierum ' Ue Prae-
stigiis,' lib. ii. c. 21 — 23 ; et Forest. *Obs.' lib, x. ohs. 19. in schol.
"> De ' Abdit. Rer. Causis,' lib. ii. c. 16. Vide Pael. Plateri ' Observ.' p. 28.
de stupore dsemoniaco ; et de exorcista ipso il demone percusso et laeso.
" Lib. XXX. de Veveris, obs. 8. in scliol. Cyprian. ' Serm. de Lapsis,' hath
a history of one possessed, and of her impatience during the time of prayer :
and in those times when they went to sacrament, they catechised the peni-
tents, and the possessed wei'e all warned to depart the assembly.
EVERLASTING REST. 327
bear such indignities ; and, to that end, advised him to send for
arsenic and poison himself. But the apothecary woukl not let
him have it except he would bring one to promise that he should
not abuse it, whereupon the devil went v.'itb him, as his voucher,
and so he took a dram ; but, though it tormented him, yet it did
not presently kill him; whereupon the devil brought him, after-
ward, a rope, and after that a knife, to have destroyed himself:
at which sight, the man, being affrighted, was recovered to his
right mind again. You may read a multitude of such examples
in Scribonius, Schenkius, Wierus, Chr. a Vega, Langius, Do-
natus (lib. ii. c. 1); *De Med. Mir.' Cornel. Gemma, (lib. ii.); 'De
Natur. Mirac' (c. 4.) See also Valesius (c. 28) ; ' Sacr. Philos.'
Roderic. k Castro (2) ; ' De Morb. Mul.' (c. 3) ; Scliol. Caelius
Rhodiginus (lib. i.) ; ' (antiq. lect. c. 34.) Tertullian" chal-
Icngeth the heathen to bring any one possessed with the devil
before their judgment-seat, or one that pretended to have the
spirit of the gods; and if, at the command of a Christian, he do
not confess himself to be a devil, let them take the Christian to
be presumptuous, and put him immediately to death. But of
Jesus, saith he, they say not so_, nor that he was a mere man ;
but the Power, the Wisdom, and the Word of God ; and that
they are devils, damned for their wickedness. The like doth
Cyprian, ad Demetrian. sect. 2.
So that it seems it was then common for the devil in the
possessed to confess Christ, or else Tertullian durst not have
made such a challenge.
Some wonder that there were so many possessed with devils
in Christ's time, and so few since : but they understood not that
it was madmen whom they call possessed : and Christ confirmed
their judgment; as Mr. Mead, on John x. 20, hath proved out
of Scripture, and from Plautus, Justin Mart., Timotheus Alex.,
Balzamon, Zonaras, to whom I refer the reader for the fuller
proof hereof.
Sect. IV. The fourth and last of these palpable arguments, to
prove that man hath a future happiness or misery, is drawn from
the devil's compacts with witches.? It cannot be only his de-
" Tertul. ' Apol.' c, 23. where he pressed them on to make trial of it.
p See a notable story of a woman pretending to have the Holy Ghost, but
proving to be a witch, and what wonders she did ; and had a gift of prayer,
and did baptise and administer the Lord's supper in the ordinary way, iu
Firmilianus, * Epist. Cyprian,' 75, p. 238.
32S THE saint's
sire of hurting their bodies, that makes him enter into these
contracts with them ; for that he might procure by other means
as likely. Besides, it is some kind of prosperity, or fulfilling
their desires, which he conditioneth to give them. It is a
childish thing to conceit, that the devil cares so much for a few
drops of their blood. Is not the blood of a beast or other crea-
ture as sweet ? Neither can it be only the acknowledgment of
his power that he aims at, nor a mere desire of being honoured
or worshipped in the world, as Porphyrins and other pagans
have thought ; for he is most truly served, where he is least
discerned; and most abhorred when he most appears. His
apparitions are so powerful a means to convince the atheist, who
believes not that there is either God, or devil, or heaven, or
hell, that I am persuaded he would far rather keep out of sight,
and that for the most part he is constrained of God to appear
against his will. Besides, if Satan sought his own honour, he
would still speak in his own name: but, contrarily, his usual
appearance is in the shape and name of some deceased person,
affirming himself to be the soul of such a one ; or else he pre-
tends to be an angel of light : and when he makes his compacts
with witches, it is seldom so plainly and directly as that they
understand it is indeed the devil that they deal with. So that
it is apparent, Satan seeks something more than the honour of
domineering, that is, the ruin of the party with whom he deals.
And that it is not their bodily and temporal ruin only, appears
further bv this, that he will heal as well as hurt, and give power
to his confederates to do the like ; and this tends not to the
ruin of men's bodies. Though there be a great deal of deceit
among them, yet doubtless many have been cured by popish
spells, and pilgrimages, and exorcisms.^ Carolus Piso mentions
1 Bishop Hall saith Satau's prevalency, in this age, is most clear in the
marvellous number of witches aboundin|f in all parts. Now, hundreds are
discovered in one shire : and, if fame deceive us not, in a village of fourteen
houses, in the north, are found so many of this damned breed. Heretofore,
only barbarous deserts had them ; now the civilest and most religious parts
are frequently pestered with them. Heretofore, some silly, poor, ignorant, old
-woman, &c. Now, we have known those of both sexes, who have professed
much knowledge, holiness, atid devotion, drawn into this damnable practice.
— Hall's Soliloquy, 15, pp. 53, 54. Car. Piso de niorbis serosis observ. 9. De
dolore auris cum odontalgia, pp. 45, 46. Even the papists confess that all those
spells, and scrolls, and actions, wliich must be done at such an hour, or in
such a form and order, and with such circumstances, as nothing conduce to
the effect intended : if these do any thing, it is from the devil. Vide Regi-
naldum. ' Prax. Conscieu. Cas.' part 1, q. 7 ; et ' Prax. for Poeaitential,' lib.
EVERLASTING REST, 329
one of his patients who was incurably deaf a year together, and
was suddenly cured in the midst of his devotion to the lady of
Loretto. Fernelius mentions those that could stop any bleeding
by repeating certain words. He saw an universal jaundice cured
in one night, by the hanging of a piece of paper about the neck,
A great deal more to the same purpose he hath, ' De abditis
rer. causis,' (lib. ii. c. 16.) If any should doubt whether there be
any such witches, who thus work by the power of the devil, or
have any compact with him, he hath as good opportunity now
to be easily resolved, as hath been known in most ages. Let
him go but into Suffolk, or Essex, or Lancashire, &c., and he
may quickly be informed. Surely it were strange, if in an age
of so much knowledge and conscience, there should so many
scores of poor creatures be put to death as witches, if it were
not clearly manifest that they were such. We have too many
examples lately among us, to leave any doubt of the truth of this.
So that by these attempts of Satan to deceive and destroy
souls, it is evident, that there is an estate of happiness or misery
for every man after this life.''
All those arguments, which every common-place book and
philosopher almost can afford you, to prove the immortality of
the soul, will also serve to prove the point in hand. But many
can apprehend these arguments from sense, who cannot yet
reach, and will not be convinced by other demonstrations, as
temptations, apparitions, possessions, dispossessions, and witches,
are most excellent means to convince a Sadducee, that there
are angels and spirits; so, also, by clear consequence, that there
is a resurrection and eternal life.
Sect. V. The second thing that I am to clear to you, is, that
it is necessary for man to know this happiness, and the way to
obtain it ; and to know the misery and the way to escape it.
This appears thus :
First : If he must go that way, and use those means, then he
must needs first know both the end and the wav : but he
that will obtain the end, must use the means ; therefore, he
xvii. nu. 157, et seq. Read Bodin, and Permigrius, and Dana^us, of witches,
and many authors, together in the ' Malleus Maleficarum.' See more in my
book against infidelity.
' De Simonis Magi prasstigiis scripsere Abdias Epist. ; Bahil. in Certam ;
Apost. ; et Egesyp., et Nicephor., et plures. Vide etiam qua; scripsit Olaus
Magn. * De Gent. Septentrional.' lib. iii. c. 4, de Metothin. Magno. et de aliis,
lib. iil. c. 18.
330 THE saint's
must necessarily know them. All this is so evident, that, I be-
lieve, few will deny it. That man must use means before he
attain the end, is evident.
First : From the nature of the motion of the rational soul,
which is to seek the attainment of its propounded end, by a
voluntary use of means conducing thereto : for as it hath not,
at its first infusion, that height of perfection, whereof it is ca-
pable, so, neither is it carried thereto by violence, or by blind
instinct, for then it were not a rational motion.
Secondly : Yea, the very enjoyment of the end, and the seek-
ing of it, are actions of the same nature : it is enjoyed by the
knov/ing, loving, rejoicing, &;c., and these actions are the means
to attain it.
Thirdly : And if the means were not necessary to the end,
the wicked were as capable of it as the godly 5 but that will not
stand with the justice of God.
Fourthly : If knowledge of the end, and use of means, were
not of necessity to the obtaining of that end, then a beast, or
a block, were as fit a subject for that blessedness, as 'a man:
but these cannot be.
And that man cannot seek a happiness, which he never knew;
and shun a misery, which he was not aware of; nor use means
thereto, which he never was acquainted with ; I think would be
lost and needless labour for me to prove.
Sect. VI. The third thing that I am to prove, is this : That
mere nature and creatures, contain no sufficient revelation of
the fore-mentioned end and means.^ This appears thus : First,
Nature, by the help of creatures, though it tell us that there is
a God, yet, how he will be worshipped, or how he came to be
displeased with the world, or how he must be reconciled ; of all
this it tells us but little. Again, though it may possibly acquaint
us with the immortal state, yet what the happiness there is, and
what the misery, or how we are naturally deprived of that hap-
piness, and how it must be recovered, and who they be that
shall enjoy it; of all this it tells us little : much less of the re-
surrection of our bodies from the grave. So, also, though na-
ture may possibly find itself depraved, yet how it came to be so,
or how to be healed, or how to be pardoned, it cannot tell.
^ If it were not God's book, then all God's will should be hidden, and God
should never jet have revealed his will to man.— Po7a?2i' Cases of Conscience,
lib. ii. c. 3.
EVERLASTING REST. 331
Secondly : If nature, by the mere book of the creatures, could
learn all things necessary, yet, First, It would be slow, and by
so long study. Secondly, And so doubtfully and uncertainly.
Thirdly, And so rarely, that it appears by this, the means of
revelation is not sufficient. All this apparent by event and suc-
cess. For what nature and creatures do sufficiently teach, that
some of their scholars have certainly learned.
First, then, observe, how long did the most learned philoso-
phers study before they could know those few imperfect notions,
which some of them did attain to, concerning eternity ? They
were gray with age and study, before they could come to know
that which a child of seven years old may now know by the be-
nefit of Scripture. But all men live not to such an age, there-
fore this is no sufficient means.
Secondly, observe, also, how uncertain they were, when all
was done ; what they speak rightly concerning God, or the life
to come, in one breath, they are ready to unsay it again in
another, as if their speeches had fallen from them against their
wills, or as Caiaphas's confession of Christ. They raise their
conclusions from such uncertain premises, that the conclusions
also must needs be uncertain.
Thirdly, observe, also, how rare that knowledge was among
them. It may be in all the world, there may be a few hundreds
of learned philosophers, and among those there is one part
epicures, another peripatetics, &c., that acknowledge not a
future happiness or misery. And of those few that do acknow-
ledge it, none knows it truly, nor the way that leads to it. How
few of them could tell what was man's chief good ! And those
few, how imperfectly; with what mixtures of falsehood! we
have no certainty of any of them that did know so much, as
that there was but one God. For though Socrates died for
deriding the multitudes of gods, yet there is no certain record
of his right belief of the unity of the godhead. Besides, what
Plato and Plotinus' did write of this that was sound, there is
far greater probability that they had it from Scripture, than
merely from nature and creatures. For that Plato" had read
* Sir Walter Raleigh's * History of the World,' showeth that Pythagoras,
Orpheus, and Plato, had their doctrine of God from Scripture, but durst not
profess it. Plotinus was Origen's condisciple of Ammonius, therefore no won-
der if he be liker a divine than the rest. See Peinble * Vind. Grat.' of this,
pp. 60-^62, &CC.
" Therefore Numenius, cited by Orig'en against Celsus, doth call him Moses
332 THE saint's
the writings of Moses, is proved already by divers authors. The
like may be said of Seneca/ and many others. So that if this
means had contained any sufficiency in it for salvation, yet it
would have extended but to some few of all the learned phi-
losophers : and what is this to an universal sufficiency to all
mankind ? nay, there is not one of all their exactest moralists,
that have not mistaken vice for virtue ; yea, most of them give
the name of virtue to the foulest villanies, such as self-murder,
in several cases, revenge, a proud and vain-glorious affectation
of honour and applause, with other the like j so far have these
few learned philosophers been from the true knowledge of things
spiritual and divine, that they could never reach to know the
principles of common honesty. Varro saith, that there were in his
days, two hundred and eighty-eight sects or opinions among
philosophers concerning the chief good : what, then, should the
multitudes of the vulgar do, who have neither strength of wit
to know, nor time, and books and means to study, that they
might attain to the height of these learned men ? so that I
conclude with Aquinas,^ that if possibly, nature and creatures
might teach some few enough to salvation, yet were the Scrip-
tures of flat necessity ; both for the more enlarged : Secondly,
And the more easy and speedy: Thirdly, And the more certain
spreading of knowledge and salvation.
Sect. VII. But here are some objections'' to be answered. First,
Were not the fathers till Moses, without Scripture ? Answ. First,
Yet thev had a revelation of God's will, besides what nature or
creatures taught them. Adam had the doctrine of the tree of
knowledge, and the tree of life, and the tenor of the covenant
made with him, by such revelation, and not by nature. So had
the fathers the doctrine of sacrificing ; for nature could teach
them nothing of that, therefore, even the heathens had it from
the church. Secondly, Ail other revelations are now ceased.
Atticus : and divers of Numenius' books do recite with great reverence many
texts out of Moses and the prophets.
^ Though the epistles betwixt Paul and Seneca may be feigned, yet it is
more than probable that he had heard or read Paul's doctrine. And Clemens
Alex., citing the same in Numenius, shows also out of Aristobulus, 1. Philo-
matrem, that Plato was very studious of Moses and the Jews' laws ; and saith
also that Pythagoras took many things out of the Scriptures. — Stromal, lib. i.
^ Aquin. Sum. la, Ise. art. 1. q. 1. and 2a, 2ae, q. 1. art. 34. Kut more fully,
*Cont.Gent.' lib. i. c. 4—6.
* See Scharpii cursus Theol. de S. Scrip. Contro. 6. de Neces. S. S. ppi 122
—124, and so almost every common-place book answers this.
EVERLASTING REST. 333
therefore tliis way is more necessary. Thirdly, And there are
many truths . necessary now to be known, which then were not
revealed, and so not necessary.
Object. 2. Doth not the apostle say, that which may be
known of God, was manifest in them, &c. ?
Answ. This, with many other objections, are fully scanned
by many divines, to whom I refer you ; particularly Dr. Willet,
on Rom. i. 14, 20, &c. Only in general I answer, there is
much difference between knowing that there is a God of eternal
power, which may make the sinner inexcusable for his open sin
against nature, (which the apostle there speaks of,) and know-
ledge which is sufficient to salvation. How God deals with the
multitude that have not the Scripture, as to their eternal state,
I leave as a thing beyond us, and so nothing to us : but if a
possibility of the salvation of some of them be acknowledged,
yet in the three respects above mentioned, there remains still
a necessity of some further revelation than nature or creatures
do contain. And thus I have manifested a necessity for the
welfare of man. Now it would follow that I show it necessary
for the honour of God ; but this follows so evidently as a con-
sectary of the former, that I think I may spare that labour.
Object. But what if there be such a necessity, doth it follow
that God must needs supply it ? Answ. Yes, to some part of
the world. For, First, It cannot be conceived how it can stand
with his exceeding goodness, bounty, and mercy, to make a
world, and not to save some. Secondly, Nor with his wisdom,
to make so many capable of salvation, and not reveal it to them,
or bestow it on them. Thirdly, Or to prepare so many other
helps to man's happiness, and to lose them all for want of such
a sufficient revelation. Fourthly, Or to be the Governor of the
world, and yet to give them no perfect law to acquaint men
with their duty, and the reward of obedience, and penalty of
disobedience.
Having thus proved that there is certainly some written word
of God in the world, the last thing that I have to prove is,
that there is no other writing in the world but this that can be
it. And, First, There'' is no other book in the world, that
ever I heard of, that doth so much as claim this prerogative and
* The apocryphal books are but records more imperfect and uncertain, of
the same doctrine for the substance with the rest, though mixed with some
suspected history, and doth confirm, but not contradict the Scriptures j and
but few of those books do pretend to a diviue authority, as the rest.
334 THE saint's
dignity. Mahomet'' calleth himself but a prophet, he acknow-
ledgeth the truth of most of the Scripture, and his Alcoran "^
contradicteth the very light of nature. Aristotle, Plato, and
other philosophers, acknowledge their writings to be merely of
their own study and invention. What book saith, ' Thus saith
the Lord,' and ' This is the word of the Lord,' but this ? So
that if it hath no competitor, there needs not so much to be said.
2. What other book doth reveal the mysteries of God, of
the Trinity, of God and man in one person, of creation, of the
fall, the covenants, their conditions, heaven, hell, angels, devils,
temptations, regeneration, worship, &c., besides this one book,
and those that profess to receive it from this, and profess their
end to be but the confirming and explaining the doctrine of
this ? Indeed, upon those subjects which are below the Scrip-
ture, as logic, arithmetic, &c., other books may be more
excellent than it; as a tailor may teach you to make a cloak
better than all the statute books or records of parliament. But
this is a lower excellency than the Scripture was intended to.'^
And thus I have done with this weighty subject, that the
Scripture, which contains the promises of our rest, is the certain
infallible word of God. The reason why I have thus di-
gressed, and said so much of it, is, because I was very appre-
hensive of the great necessity of it, and the common neglect of
^ Though Mahomet pretended to speak from God as a prophet, the barba-
rousness and sottishiiess of his Alcoran, its contradiction of itself, and to the
Scripture, which he acknowledgeth, may satisfy any man of its forgery, so
that it is tlie most stupendous judgment of God, that so great a part of the
world should continue so brutish as to believe and follow him still. Read
Bradwardine's excellent dispute on this subject, ' De Causa Dei,' lib. i. Co-
rol. part 32, and Grotius ' Ue Veritate Relig. ChristiaufE.'
<= Certe in Alcorano nulla, aut infrequens, fit mentio miraculorum ; aut si
quae fiat, sunt ilia monstrosa, et hac nota inusta, ut non modo pro inge-
nio conficta, sed baibare quoque excogitata videantur : tum non audet illius
miraculi testes appellare ; non enim sunt talia, ut author Alcorani palam ausit
asserere patrata. — Camero de Verba Dei, p. 441.
•* That the heathen religion is not the true religion, all the old fathers that
wrote against them, Justin, Arnobius, Lactantius, TertuUian, Athanasius,
Origen, and the rest before named, have showed at large. Non ideo majo-
rein fidem adhibemus evangelio Joannis, quara Nicodemi, quod ab ecclesiacon-
stitutum et decretum fit, &c. NuUibi enim decretum est, necullumde hac re
concilium unquam vocatum. Sed quod apostoli adhuc in vivis, hujusmodi
evangelia rejecerunt. His enim credidit ecclesia, et eorum fides posteris
manii'estavit apostoli etiam et evangelistse evangelia sua conscriptatradiderunt
ecclesia;, quibus ipsa alia dcinue examinavit; et quouiam illamultum diii'crre
cognovit ea rejecit ; aliosque de illis piu'inouuit. — JjuUinge); Corp. Doct,
lib. i. c. 4,
EVERLASTING REST. 335
being grounded in it ; and withal, that this is the very heart
of my whole discourse ; and that if this be doubted of, all the
rest that I have said will l)e in vain. If men doubt of the
truth, they will not regard the goodness. And the reason why
I have said no more, but passed over the most common argur^
ments, is, because they are handled in many books already;
which I advise Christians to be better versed in. To the mere
English reader 1 commend especially these : Sir Philip Morney,
Lord dii Plessis's ' Verity of Christian Religion ;' Grotius ' Of
the Truth of Christian Religion,' which is lately translated into
English ; and Mr. Perrin's ' Cases of Conscience,' (lib. ii. c. 3) ;
Parson's * Book of Resolution,' corrected by Bunny, (the second
part.) Dr. Jackson on the Creed, and (come forth since I began
this) Mr. White's, of Dorchester, ' Directions for Reading Scrip-
ture.' Mr. John Goodwin's ' Divine Authority of Scripture
Asserted.' Also, read a book called, ' A Body of Divinity,' (first
part,) written by our honest and faithful countryman. Colonel
Edward Leigh. Also, Ursinus's Catechism on this question ;
and Ball's Catechism, with the exposition, which, to those that
cannot get larger treatises, is very useful.^
For the question. How it may be known which books are
canonical ? I here meddle not with it : I think human testi-
mony, with the fore-mentioned qualifications, must do most in
determining that. Yet we must carefully distinguish betv.'een
those canonical books which have been questioned, and those
which were unquestioned, but delivered by more infallible tra-
dition ; and also between those which contain most of the sub'
stance of our faith, and those which do not.
Prop. 1. No book in the canon was ever generally doubted
of; but when one church doubted of it, others received it, from
whom we have as much reason to receive them, as from the
Roman church.
Prop. 2. Those books which have been generally received,
are known to be canonical, by the same way, and testimony,
e So Dr. Preston 'On the Attributes,' pp. 40, 41, and forward; and P.y-
field's 'Principles.' In Latin, the best that I know oMs Grotius * De
Veritate Relig. ;' and especially Camero's « Prselectiones de Verbo Dei;*
thouiih every common-place book speaks to this end, and some very well,
as Lud. Crocius, Polanus, &c., Kimidontius De Verbo Scripto,' &c. And
the fathers that write against the pagans, are of great use to students in this
point, as Justin, Athenagoras, Tatianus, Lactantius, Tertullian, Cyprian,
Athanasius, Clemens Alexaudiinus, &c, but especially Oiigeu against
Celsus.
336 THE saint's
and means, as the Scripture in general is known to be God's
word.^
Prop. 3. It is not a thing which one cannot be saved with-
out, to beUeve every particular book to be canonical ; if we be-
lieve all that were generally received, yea, or but one book
which containeth the substance of christian doctrine, though we
doubt of those, that some formerly doubted of, it would not ex-
clude from salvation. The books are received for the doctrine's
sake. It is vain cavilling, therefore, for the papists, when they
put us to prove the canon, they stick only on the questioned
books ; especially when those were but few and short. Matthew,
and Mark, and Luke, and John, and Paul's writings, which are
full, and contain the main body of christian doctrine, do, withal,
contain the characters of their own canonical verity, whicb,
seconded by the conveyance of universal, rational, infallible tra-
dition, (not Romish authoritative tradition, or the judgment of
the pope, or the present church,) may certainly be discerned ;
even with a saving certainty, by those that are specially illu-
minated by God's Spirit ; and with an ordinary rational cer-
tainty, by those that have God's common help.
I conclude this as I began, with an earnest request to mi-
nisters that they would preach, and to people that they would
study this subject more thoroughly; that while they firmly be-
lieve the truth of that word which promiseth them rest, and
prescribes them the means thereto, they mav believe, and hope,
and love, and long, and obey, and labour, with the more serious-
ness, and liveliness, and patient constancy.
CHAP. VIII.
Rest for none but the People of God, proved.
Sect. I. It may here be expected, that as I have proved, that
this rest remaineth for the people of God ; so I should now prove,
that it remaineth only for them ; and that the rest of the world
f When Jerome proveth the ' Epistle to the Hebrews ' to be canonical, he
showeth how we must judge of tlie canon ; Non per hujus temporis consuetu-
dinem, sed veterum Scrijitorum authoritatem plerunique utriuscjue abutentium
teslimoniis ; non ut apocryphis, sed cauonicis et ecclesiasticis. — Hier. ad Dai'
dan. torn. 4. fol. 29. Where then is the papists' judicial authority of the pre-
sent pope or church ?
EVERLASTING REST. 337
shall have no part in it. But the Scripture is so full and plain
in this, that I suppose it needless to those who believe Scrip-
ture. Christ hath resolved, that those who make light of him,
and the offers of his grace, shall never taste of his supper :
" and that without holiness, none shall see God : and that, ex-
cept a man be regenerate, and born again, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. That he that believes not, shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abideth on him : that no unclean
person, nor covetous, nor railer, nor drunkard, &c., shall enter
into the kingdom of Christ, and of God." (Eph, v. 4, 5.) "That
the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all they that forget
God : that all they shall I)e damned that obey not the truth,
but have pleasure in um-ighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 12.) "That
Christ will come in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that
know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. "'^
And Christ himself hath opened the very manner of their pro-
cess in judgment, and the sentence of their condemnation to
eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matt, xxv.)
So that here is no rest for any but the people of God, except
you will call the intolerable everlasting flames of hell a rest.
And it were easy to manifest this also by reason. For, First,
God's justice requires an inequality of men's state hereafter, as
there was of their lives here. And, Secondly, They that walk
not in the way of rest, and use not the means, are never likely
to obtain the end : they would not follow Christ in the regene-
ration, nor accept of rest upon his conditions ; they thought him
to be too hard a master, and his way too narrow, and his laws
too strict : they chose the pleasures of sin for a season, rather
than to suffer affliction with the jjeople of God : they would
not suffer with Christ, that so they might reign with him. M'hat
they made choice of, that they did enjoy ; they had their good
things in this life ; and what they did refuse, it is but reason
they should want : how oft would Christ have gathered them
to him, and they would not ; and he useth to make men willing
before he saves them, and not to save them against their wills.
Therefore will the mouth of the wicked be stopped for evei,
and all the world shall acknowledge the justice of God. Had
the ungodly but returned before their life was expired, and
'' Matt, xxii. 5 — 7 ; Luke xiv. 2.5 ; Heb, xii. 14 ; JoIhi i. 33, and iii. 18, 36" j
1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; Gal. V. 21; Psal. ix, 17; 2 Thess. i, 8-10.
VOL. XXIK 7.
338 THE saint's
been heartily willing to accept of Christ for their Saviour and
their King, and to be saved by him in his way, and upon his most
reasonable terms, they might have been saved.
Object. But may not God be better than his word, and save
those that he doth not promise to save ?
Answ. But not false of his word, in saving those whom he
hath said he will not save. Men's souls are in a doleful case
when they have no hope of happiness, except the word of God
prove false. To venture a man's eternal salvation, upon hope
that God will be better than his word, that is, in plain English,
that the God of truth will prove a liar, is somewhat beyond
stark madness, whicli hath no name bad enough to express it.
Yet do I believe, that the description of God's people in Eng-
land, and in America, must not be the same ; because, as God's
revelations are not the same, so neither is the actual faith which
is required in both the same ; and as the written and positive
laws in the church were never given them, so obedience to those
mere positives is not required of them. Whether, then, the
threats against unbelievers be meant of unbelief privative and
positive only, and not negative (such as is all non-believing
that which was never revealed) ; or, whether their believing that
God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him, will
serve the turn there ; or, whether God hath no people there ?
I acknowledge again is yet past my understanding.
So that in what is said, you may discern not only the truth,
but also the reason and equity, that none but God's people shall
enter into his rest. Though God's will is the first cause of all
things, yet all the fault lies in sinners themselves. Their con-
sciences shall one day tell them that they' might have been
saved, if they would ; and that it was their own wilful refusal,
Avhichshutthem out. God freely offered them life, and they would
not accept it on his own easy and reasonable conditions. They
perish, because they would not be saved in God's way. The
pleasures of the flesh seemed more desirable to them than the
glory of the saints : Satan offered them the one, and God of-
• The catholic verity neither denieth free-will either to a good life or a bad ;
nor yet ascribetb so much to it, as if it were able without God's grace, either
to convert a man from bad to good, or to make him perseveringly proceed in
good, or attain to that everlasting good where he need not fear falling away.
— August. Epist. 47.' The precepts of love were in vain given to men that
have not free-will : but when they are given by the old and new law; and the
law without grace is a killing letter, but in the grace of the Spirit it is quick-
ening ; whence, then, have men the love of God, but from God ? — August, lib,
de Grat. et lib, Arbit, c. 11.
EVERLASTING KEST. 339
fered them the other, and they had free liberty to choose which
they would ; and they chose the pleasures of sin for a season,
before the everlasting rest with Christ. And is it not a righteous
thing, that they should be denied that which they denied to
accept ? Nay, when God pressed them so earnestly, and per-
suaded them so importunately, and even beseeched them by his
messengers, and charged us to compel men by importunity, and
taking no denial, to come in; and, yet^ they would not; where
should they be, but among the dogs without ? Though man be
so wicked, that he will not yield, till the mighty power of grace
do prevail with him, yet, still we may truly say, that he may be
saved, if he will, on God's terms.'^ And his disability being
moral, lying in wilful wickedness, is no more excuse to him,
than it is to a common adulterer, that he cannot love his own
wife ; or to a malicious person, that he cannot choose but hate
his brother : is he not so much the worse, and deserveth so
much the sorer punishment ? As, therefore, I would have all
sinners believe this, so I would advise all ministers more to preach
it. Pry not too much into the depths of God's decrees. Alas !
how little know we of far lower things ! lay all the blame on
the wills of sinners; bend your speeches to persuade their wills.
Is not that the business of our calling ? Let me give you but
one argument, which deserves to be considered. Sinners shall
lay all the blame on their own wills in hell for ever. Hell is a
rational torment by conscience, according to the nature of the
rational subject. If sinners could but say, then, it was long of
God, whose will did necessitate me, and not of me, it would
quiet their consciences, and ease their torment, and make hell
to be no hell to themselves. But to remember their wilfulness,
will feed the fire, and cause the worm of conscience never to
die.
CHAP. IX.
Reasons why this Rest remahiSy and is not here enjoyed.
Sect. I. The next thing promised in the beginning, in my
method, which in the first edition I forgot to perform, is to show
^ I would that excellent treatise of Mr. William Fenner, ' Of Wilful f mpeni-
tency,' published by Rev. Dr. Hill, were more imitated by some divines in
their preaching. And that when they have done, they would not quite con-
tradict their popular doctrine in their polemical.
z2
340 THE saint's
you, why this rest must yet remain, and not be enjoyed till we come
to another world. And I will speak but a little to this, because
it may be gathered from what is said before ; and because much
is said to it in the first and second chapters of the fourth part.
And First, The main reason is the will of God, that it should
he so. Who should dispose of the creatures, but he that made
them ; and order the times and changes of them, but their ab-
solute Lord, who only also hath wisdom to order them for the
best, and power to see his will accomplished? You may therefore
as well ask. Why have we not the spring and harvest \\'ithout
winter ? And why is the earth below, and the heavens above?
And why is not all the world a sun, that it may be more glo-
rious ? &c. ; as to ask, why we have not rest on earth ?
2. Yet may you easily see satisfactory reason in the thing
itself also. As first, God should subvert the established order
in nature, if he should give us our rest on earth. All things must
come to their perfection by degrees : nothing is perfect in its
beginning, where the fall brought an imperfection. The strong-
est man must first be a child, and formed in the Vv'omb from
small obscure principles. The greatest scholar must first be a
schoolboy, and begin in his alphabet. In the best-ordered
governments men must come to their dignity and authority by
degrees, beginning at the lower, and rise as they deserve. The
skilfullest artificer was first an ignorant learner. The tallest
oak was once an acorn. This is the constant course of nature
in the production of sublunary things ; and I know none that
deny it, but onlv some enthusiasts concerning the production
of grace, who think they are taught of God fully in an instant;
and think themselves perfect, as soon as they have learned the
opinion of the perfectionists; when all knowing men about them
discern their imperfections; yea, such horrid paganism and
profaneness in some of them, as if they had almost renounced
humanity and reason. Now, this life is our infancy; and would
we be perfect in the womb, or born at full stature; must God
overturn the course of nature for us ?
3. And it were an absurdity in morality, as well as a monster
in nature, if our rest and full content were here. For, First, Jt
would be injurious both to God and to ourselves.
First, To God ; and that both in this life, and in the life to
come. 1. In this life it would be injurious to God, both in
regard of what he is here to do for us, and in regard of what
he is to receive, as it were, from us. 1, If our rest were here.
EVERLASTING REST. 341
then ftiost of God's providences must be useless, his great
designs nuist be frustrated, and his gracious workings and mer-
cies needless to us. Should God lose the glory of all his
churches' deliverances, of the fail of his enemies, of his wonders
and miracles wrought to this end, and that all men may have
their happiness here ? If the Israelites must have been kept
from the brick-kilns, and from the danger of the Egyptians' pur-
suit, and of the Red Sea, then God nmst have lost the exercise
of his great power, and justice, and mercy, and the mighty
name that he got upon Pharaoh. If they had not felt their
wilderness necessities, God should not have exercised his wil-
derness providences and mercies, if man had kept his first
rest in paradise, God had not had opportunity to manifest that
far greater love to the world in the giving of his Son. If man
had not fallen into the depth of misery, Christ had not come
down from the height of glory, nor died, nor risen, nor been
believed on in the world. If we were all well, what need we
the Physician. And if all were happy, and innocent, and per-
fect, what use were there for the glorious v/orks of our sanctifi-
cation, justification, preservation, and glorification : what use
for his ministers, and word, sacraments, and afflictions, and de-
liverances ?
2. And, as God should not have opportunity for the exercise
of all his grace, but some only 3 so he would not have returns
from us for all. We should never fear offending him, and depend
on him so closely, and call upon him so earnestly, if we wanted
nothing. Do we not now feel how ready our prayers are to
freeze, and how sleepily we serve him, and how easily we let
slip, or run over a duty, if we be but in health, and credit, and
prosperitv, though still we are far from all content and rest?
How little then should he hear from us, if we had what we
would have ! God delighteth in the soul that is humble and
contrite, and trembleth at his word ; but there would be little
of this in us, if we had here our full desires. What glorious
songs of praise had God from Moses, at the Red Sea, and in
the wilderness ; from Deborah, and Hannah, and David, and
Hezekiah ; from all his churches, and from each particular
gracious soul in every age ! which he should never have had, if
they had been the choosers of their own condition, and had
nothing but rest. Have not thine own highest joys and praises
to God, reader, been occasioned by thy dangers, or sorrows, or
miseries ? We think we could praise God best, if we wanted
nothing; but experience tells us the contrary; we may have a
342 THE saint's
carnal joy in congratulating our flesh's felicity, which may
deceive an hypocrite ; but not so sensible acknowledgments of
God : indeed, in heaven, when we are fit for suth a state, it will
be far otherwise. The greatest glory and praise that God hath
through the world, is for redemption, reconciliation, and salva-
tion by Christ; and was not man's misery the occasion of that?
Besides, as variety is part of the beauty of the creation, so it
is of Providence also. If all the trees, or herbs, or fowls, or
beasts, or fishes, were of one kind, and all the world were
but like the sea, all water, or like one plain field, yea, or
one sun, it were a diminution of its beauty. And, if God
should exercise here but one kind of providence, and bestow
but one kind of grace (delight), and receive thanks but for one,
it would be a diminution of the beauty of Providence.
2. And it would be no small injury to ourselves, as well as to
God, if we had our full contents and rest on earth : and that
both now and for ever. 1. At the present it would be much
our loss ; where God loseth the opportunity of exercising his
mercies, man must needs lose the happiness of enjoying them.
And where God loseth his praises, man doth certainly his com-
forts. Oh! the sweet comforts that the saints have had in returns
to their prayers; when they have lain long in sorrow, and impor-
tunate requests, and God hath lifted them up, and spoken peace
to their souls, and granted their desires, and said, as Christ,
"Be of good cheer, son, thy sins are forgiven thee;" arise from
thy bed of sickness, and walk, and live. How should we know
what a tender-hearted Father we have, and how gladly he would
meet us, and take us in his arms, if we had not, as the prodi-
gal, been denied the husks of earthly pleasure and profit, which
the worldly swine do feed upon ? We should never have felt
Christ's tender hand, binding up our wounds, and wiping the
blood from them, and the tears from our eyes, if we had not
fallen into the hands of thieves, and if we had not had tears to
be wiped away. We should never have had those sweetest texts
in our Bibles, " Come to me, all ye that are weary and heavy
laden," &c. and "To every one that is athirst, come and buy
freely," &c. and "Blessed are the poor in spirit;" and "Thus
saith the High and Lofty One, I dwell with him that is of an
humble and contrite spirit," &c.; if we had not been weary, and
heavy laden, and thirsty, and poor, and humble, and contrite.
In a word, we should all lose our redemption- mercies, our sanc-
tification, justification, and adoption-mercies ; our sermon, sa-
crament, and prayer- mercies J our recoveries, deliverances, and
• EVERLASTING REST. 343
thanksgiving-merciesj if we had not our miseries and sorrows
to occasion them,
3. And it would be our loss for the future, as well as for tlie
present. It is a delight to a soldier, or a traveller, to look back
upon his adventures and escapes when they are over; and for a
saint in heaven, to look back upon the state he was in on earth,
and remember his sins, his sorrows, his fears, his tears, his ene-
mies and dangers, his wants and calamities, must needs make
his joys to be, rationally, more joyful. And, therefore, the blessed
in their praising of the Lamb, do mention his redeeming them
out of every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and so out of
their misery and wants, and sins which redemption doth relate
to, and making them kings and priests to God. When they
are at the end, they look back upon the way. When the fight
is done, and the danger over, and their sorrow gone, yet their
rejoicing in the remembrance of it, is not done, nor the praises
of their Redeemer yet over. But if we should have had nothing
but content, and rest on earth, what room would there have
been for these rejoicings and praises hereafter ? So that you
see, 1. It would be our loss. 2. And then our incapacity
forbids it, as well as our commodity. We are not capable of
rest on earth ; or we have both a natural incapacity, and a
moral.
1. A natural incapacity, both in regard of the subject and the
object; that is, both in regard of our personal unfitness, and
the defect or absence of what might be our happiness.
1. Ourselves are now incapable subjects of happiness and rest:
and that both in respect of soul and body. 1. Can a soul that
is so weak in all grace, so prone to sin, so hampered with con-
tradicting principles and desires, and so nearly joined to such
a neighbour as this flesh, have full content and rest in such a
case ? What is rest, but the perfection of our graces in habit,
and in act; to love God perfectly, and know him, and rejoice
in him ? How then can the Spirit be at rest, that finds so little
of this knowledge, and love, and joy ? What is the rest but
our freedom from sin, and imperfections, and enemies ? And
can the soul have rest that is pestered with all these, and that
continually ? What makes the souls of sensible Christians so
groan and complain, desiring to be delivered, and to cry out so
oft in the language of Paul, "O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me ?" If they can be contented, and rest in such
a state, what makes every Christian to press hard toward the
344 THE saint's
mark, and run that they may obtain, and strive to enter in, if
they are capable of rest in their present condition? Doubtless,
therefore, doth God perfectly purge every soul at its removal
from the body, before he receives it to his glory, not only because
iniquity cannot dwell with him in the most holy, but, also, because
themselves are incapable of the joy and glory, while they have
imperfect, sinful souls. The right qualification of our own
spirits, for reception and action^ is of absolute necessity to our
happiness and rest.
2. And our bodies are incapable as well as our souls. They
are not now those sun-like bodies M'hich they shall be, when
this corruptible hath put on incorruption, and this mortal im-
mortality. They are our prisons, and our burdens ; so full of
infirmities, and defects, that we are fain to spend the most of our
time in repairing them, and supplying their continual wants,
and lenifying their grievances. Is it possible that an immortal
soul should have rest, in such a rotten, dirty, diseased, wayward,
distempered, noisome habitation ; when it must every day
expect to be turned out, and leave its beloved companion to the
worms ? Surely these sickly, weary, loathsome bodies must
be refined to a perfection suitable thereto, before they can be
capable of enjoying rest.
Answ. 2. As we are unfit for rest on earth ourselves, so we
want those objects that might afford us content and rest. For,
First, Those we do enjoy are insufficient; and. Secondly, That
which is sufficient is absent from us. i. We enjoy the world
and its labours, and what fruit they can afford ; and, alas !
what is in all this to give us rest ? They that have the most of
it, have the greatest burden, and the least rest of any others.
They that set most by it, and rejoice most in it, do all cry out
at last of its vanity and vexation. A contentation with our
present estate, indeed, we must have; that is, a competent pro-
vision in our journey ; but not as our portion, happiness, or rest.
Men cry out upon one another in these times, for not under-
standing providences, which are but conmientaries on Scripture,
and not the text. But if men were not blind, they might easily
see that the first lecture that God readeth to us in all our
late changes, and which providence doth still most inculcate
and insist on, is the very same that is the first and greatest lesson
in the Scripture ; that is, that * There is no rest nor happiness
for the soul, but in God.' Men's expectations are high raised
upon every change, and inexperienced fools do promise them-
EVERLASTING REST. - 345
selves presently a heaven upon earth ; but when they come to
enjoy it, it flieth from them, and when they have run themselves
out of breath in following this shadow, it is no nearer them
than at the first setting out, and would have been as near them
if they had sat still : as Solomon's dreamer, they feast in their
sleep, but awake hungry. He that hath any regard to the works
of the Lord, may easily see that the very end of them is to take
down our idols, to weary us in the world, and force us to seek
our rest in him. ^Vliere doth he cross us most, but where we
promise ourselves most content? If you have one child that
you dote upon, it becomes your sorrow. If you have one friend
that you trust in, and judge liim unchangeable, and think yourself
happy in, he is estranged from you, or becomes your scourge.
Oh, what a number of these experiences have 1 had ! Oh,
what sweet idolising thoughts of our future estate had we in
the time of wars ! And even now where is the rest that I pro-
mised my soul ? Even that is my greatest grief, from which I
expected most content.
And for this, the greatest shame that ever befell our religion,
and the greatest sorrow to every understanding Christian, God
hath the solemn thanks of men, as if they begged that he would
do so still ; and they rejoice in it, and are heinously offended
with those that dare not do so too, and run to Cod on all their
errands. Instead of pure ordinances, we have a puddle of
errors, and the ordinances themselves cried down and derided.
Instead of the power and plenty of the Gospel, we have every-
where plenty of violent gainsayers and seducers. We have
pulpits and pamphlets filled with the most hellish reproachings
of the servants' and messengers of the most high God j pro-
voking the people to hate their teachers, slandering them with
that venom and impudent falsehood, as if the devil in them
were bidding defiance to Christ, and were now entered upon his
last and greatest battle with the Lamb ; as if they would justly
Rabshakeh, and have Lucian and Julian sainted for the modesty
of their reproaches. If a conscionable minister be but in doubt
(as knowing himself incapable of understanding state mysteries,
and not called to judge of them), and so dare notgo whine before
God hypocritically in pretended humiliation, nor rejoice and
give thanks when men command him, and read their scriptures ;
that is, their orders, which ministers were to read on pain of
deposition or ejection, as knowing that men are fallible; and if
a man should upon mistake incur the guilt of so heinous inex-
34Q THE saint's
pressible sin, it were a fearful thing :' and, therefore, that to go
to God doubtingly, or ignorantly, in an extraordinary duty, in
a cause of such weight, is a desperate venture, far beyond ven-
turing upon ceremonies, or popish transubstantiation, to say
Christ is really present in the bread, for refusing of which the
martyrs suffered in the flames ; I say, if he dare not do these,
he must part from his dear people, whose souls are more precious
to him than his life. Oh ! how many congregations in England
have been again forced to part with their teachers in sorrow,
not to speak of the ejection of such numbers in our universities!
And for our so-much-desired discipline and holy order, was
there ever a people under heaven, who called themselves refor-
mers, that opposed it more desperately, and that vilified it, and
railed against it more scurrilously, as if it were but the device
of ambitious presbyters, that traitorously sought domination
over their superiors, and not the law and order established by
Christ ? as if these men had never read the Scriptures, (Heb.
xiii. 7, 17; 1 Thess. v. 10—12; Acts xx. 28; 1 Cor. iv. 1 ;
Matt. xxiv. 25—27; Tit. i. 7; 1 T;m. iii. 1, 4—6, iv. 11,
V. 17 — 20,) or will tread in the dirt the laws of Christ, which
must judge them. And for railing at the ministers of the
Gospel, the pretenders of religion have so far outstripped the
former profane ones, that it even woundeth my soul to think
of their condition. Oh, where are the tender-hearted mourners
that shall weep over England's sins and reproaches ! Is this a
place or state of rest ? Hath not God met with our idolatrous
setting up of creatures, and taught us that all are not saints that
can talk of religion ? much less are these pillars of our confi-
dence, or the instruments to prepare us a rest upon earth. O
that all this could warn us to set less by creatures, and at last to
fetch our comforts and contentments from our God !
2. And as what we enjoy here is insufficient to be our rest,
so God, who is sufficient, is little here enjoyed. It is not here
that he hath prepared the presence-chamber of his glory ; he
hath drawn the curtain between us and him ; we are far from
him as creatures, and farther as frail mortals, and farthest as
sinners. We hear now and then a word of comfort from him,
and receive his love-tokens, to keep up our hearts and hopes;
but, alas I this is not our full enjoyment. While we are present
' This was written when the usurpers made a war on Scotland, and made
orders to sequester all ministers that would not keep days of humiliation and
thanksgiving for those wars.
EVERLASTING REST. 347
in the body, we are absent from the Lord : even absent while he
is present. For though he be not far from us, seeing we live,
and move, and have our being in him, who is all in all, (not in
all places, but all places in him,) yet have we not eyes now ca-
pable of seeing him, for mortals cannot see God and live : even
as we are present with stones and trees, but they neither see nor
know us. And can any soul that hath made God his portion,
and chosen him for his only happpiness and rest, (as every one
doth that shall be saved by him,) find rest in so vast a distance
from him ; and so seldom and so small enjoyment of him ?
3. And lastly, as we are thus naturally incapable, so are we
also morally. (Gen. xxxii. 10.) There is a worthiness must
go before our rest. It hath the nature of a reward; not a
reward of debt, but a reward of grace. (Rom. iv. 3, 4.) And
so we have not a worthiness of debt, or proper merit ; but a
worthiness of grace and preparation.'" If the apostles must
give their peace and Gospel to the worthy, (Matt. x. 10 — 13,
87, 38; Eph. iv. 1 ; Col. i. 10; 1 Thess. ii. 12; 2 Thess.
i. 11,) Christ will give the crown to none but the worthy ; and
those which, by preferring the world before him, do show
themselves unworthy, shall not taste of his supper. (Matt. xxii.
8; Luke xiv. 24, xx. 35, and xxii. 36; 2 Thess. i. 5; Acts
v. 41.) Yea, it is a work of God's justice, to give the crown to
those that overcome : not of his legal, but his evangelical justice,
for Christ hath bought us to it, and God hath promised it, and,
therefore, in his judiciary process, he will adjudge it them as
their due. To those that have fought the good fight, and
finished their course, and kept the faith, a crown of righteousness
is laid up for them, which the Lord, as a righteous Judge, will
give them at that day. (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) And are we fit for the
crown before we have overcome ; or the prize, before we have
run the race ; or to receive our penny, before we have worked
in the vineyard ; or to be ruler of ten cities, before we have
improved our ten talents ; or to enter into the joy of our Lord,
before we have well done as good and faithful servants ; or to
inherit the kingdom before we have testified our love to Christ
" Oportet enim te quidem primo ordinem hominis custodire; tunc deinde
participare gloriae Dei : uon eiiim tu Deum facis, sed te Deus facit. Si ergo
opera Dei es, manuni artiiicis tui exi)ecta, opportune omnia f'acientem, oppor-
tune autem quantum ad te atlinet qui efficeris; prsesta ei cor tuum moUe et
tractabile, et custodi figuram qua te figuravit artifex, habeiis in temetipso hu-
morem, ne iuduratus amittas vestigia digitorum ejus. Custodiens compagina-
tionem, ascend eus ad perfectura, — Irenaus advers. Hares, lib. iv, c. T6.
348 THE saint's
above the world, if we have opportunity ? Let men cry down
works while they please, you shall find that these are the con-
ditions of the crown ; so that God will not alter the course of
justice to give you rest, before you have laboured ] nor the crown
of glory, till you have overcome.
You see, then, reason enough why our rest should remain
till the life to come. O take heed, then, christian reader, how
thou darest to contrive and care for a rest on earth ; or to
murmur at God for thy trouble and toil, and wants in the flesh.
Doth thy poverty weary thee ? thy sickness Aveary thee ? thy
bitter enemies and unkind friends weary thee ? why, it should
be so here. Do thy seeing and hearing the abominations of the
times, the ruins of the church, the sins of professors, the
reproach of religion, the hardening of the wicked, all weary
thee ? why, it must be so while thou art absent from thy rest.
Do thy sins, and thy naughty distempered heart weary thee ?
I vvould thou wast wearied with it more. But, under all this
weariness, art thou willing to go to God, thy rest; and to have
thy warfare accomplished ; and thy race and labour ended ? If
not, O complain more of thy own heart, and get it more weary,
till rest seem more desirable.
CHAP. X.
Whether the Souls departed enjoy this Rest before
the Resun^ection.
Sect. ]. I have but one thing more to clear, before I come to
the use of this doctrine ; and that is, whether this rest remains
till the resurrection, before we shall enjoy itj or whether we
shall have any possession of it before ? The Socinians, and
many others of late among us, think the soul separated from
the body, is either nothing, or at least not capable of happiness
or misery. Truly, if it should be so, it would be somewhat a
sad uncomfortable doctrine to the godly at their death, to think
of being deprived of their glory till the resurrection ; and some-
what comfortable to the wicked to think of tarrying out of hell
so long. But I am in strong hopes that this doctrine is false;
yea, very confident that it is so. I do believe, that as the soul
separated from the body, is not a perfect man, so it doth not
enjov the glory and happiness so fully and so perfectly, as it
EVERLASTING REST. 349
shall do after the resurrection, when they are again conjoined.
What the difference is, and what degree of glory souls in the
mean time enjoy, are too high things for mortals particularly to
discern. For the great question, what j)lace the souls of those
before Christ, of infants, and all others since Christ, do remain
in, till the resurrection ? I think it is a vain inquiry of what is
yet beyond our reach." It is a great question what place is j
but if it be only a circumstant body, and if to be in a place,
be only to be in a circumstant body, or in the superficies of an
ambient body, or in the concavity of that superficies, then it is
doubtful whether spirits can be properly said to be in a place.
We can have yet no clear conceivings of these things." But
that separated souls of believers do enjoy inconceivable bless-
edness and glory, even while they remain thus separated from
the body, 1 prove, as foiloweth. (Besides all those arguments,
for the soul's immortality, which you may read in Alexander
Ross's 'Philosophical Touchstone,' part last; and in abun-
dance of writers, metaphysical and theological.)
1. Those words of Paul, (2 Cor. v. 8,) are so exceedingly
plain, that I yet understand not what tolerable exception can be
made against them. " Therefore, we are always confident,
knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and present with the Lord." (Ver. 6—8.) What can be spoken
more plainly. So also verses 1 — 4 of the same chapter.
2. As plain is that in Phil. i. 23. " For? I am in a strait
" It is a doubt, whether to be in place only definitive, and not circumscrip-
tive, do not contradict the defuiilion of place. Aninia diciiur esse in cor-
pore ut suo doniiciUo. Sed non proprie continetur in corpore, sed potius cBn-
tinet corpus. Et Deus dicitur e«se in omnil)us h)ci3 ; sed impropriissime. —
Zunch. lie Jngvlis, c. 11. p. (niihi) 87. Vide Twiss against Dr. Jackson, p.
230, and Zand), torn. 3. c. 11. pp. 8(i, 87, de Angelis.
" Except we return to the opinion ofTertul., and the rest of the ancientest
of the fathers, who say that angels and other spirits are but bodies more rare
anil pure; of which, see learned Zanchius, vol. 1. torn. 8. de Aug. c.3. q. fi(J. &c.,
-who determines it as the fathers, that angels are corporeal, in his judgment.
P Grotius' fancy, that to be with Christ is no more than to be Chriiti depo-
situm, is evidently vain : for so to be with Christ, would not be best of all,
seeing that our mere deliverance from present sufferings is not so great a
good as our present life in the service and enjoyment of God in his ordi-
nances and mercies, though accompanied with imperfection and afflictions,
except he take a stone or a carcass to be happier than a man. Non ignoro
quidmultie patribiis de hac re judicarunt, ut nominatim Irenaeus advers.
Uteres, lib. v. p. ult. Cum enim Doiuinus in medio umbra; mortis abierit, ubi
auimie mortuorura eraatj bine ita discipulorum ejus propter quos et haec
350 THE saint's
betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,
which is far better." What sense were in these words, if Paul
had not expected to enjoy Christ till the resurrection ? Why
shoukl he be in a strait, or desire to depart ? Should he be
with Christ ever the sooner for that ? Nay, should he not have
been loath to depart upon the very same grounds ? For while he
was in the flesh, he enjoyed something of Christ j but being
departed, (according to the Socinians' doctrine,) he should enjoy
nothing of Christ till the day of resurrection.
3. And plain enough is that of Christ to the thief, " This
day shalt thou be with me in paradise." The dislocation of
the words "This day" is but a gross evasion.
4. And surely if it be but a parable of the rich man in hell,
and Lazarus ; yet it seems unlikely to me, that Christ would
teach them by such a parable, what seemed evidently to inti-
mate and suppose the soul's happiness or misery presently after
death, if there were no such thing.
5. Dothnothis argument against the Sadducees, for the re-
surrection run upon this supposition, that (God being not the
God of the dead, but of the living, therefore) Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, were then living, i. e., in soul, and, consequently,
should have their bodies raised at the resurrection ?
6. Plain also is that in Rev. xiv. 13, "Blessed are the dead
that die in the Lord, from henceforth ; vea, saith the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow
them ;" i. e., close as the garments on a man's back follow him,
and not at such a distance as the resurrection; for if the
operatus est Dominus, animas abibunt in invisibilem locum definitum eis aDeo;
et ibi usque ad resurrectionem, commorabuntur, sustiuentes resurrectionem,
post recipientes corpora et perfecte re.surgentes,boc est, corporaliter,quemad-
modum Dominus resurrexit ; sic venient ad conspectura Dei sicut magister
Doster non statim evolans abiit ; sed sustiuet definitum tempus, &c. sic et nos
sustinere debemus definitum h. Deo resurrectionis nostras tempus, &c. Haec
recito et errores etpatris bujus pro culdubio njevos. E contrario audi Tertul-
lian. Nos autem animani corporalem et hie profitemur, (tbat was a common
error tben,) et in suo volumine probamus ; babentem proprium g^enus substan-
tia, soliditatis, per quam quid et sentire et pati possit. Nam et nunc animaa
torqueri, foverique penes inferos, licet nudas, licet adhuc exules carnis, pro-
bavit Lazari exemplum. — Tertullian de Resurrect. Carnis, c. 17. And Ire-
niEus's own words do confirm the immortality of the soul, and deny not all joy
to it before the resurrection, but full joy. And so Origen saith, Ubi e vita
Christus excessit, deposito corpore in animam nudam reductus, cum animis
etiam corpore vacuis, nudatisque versabatur ; ex his ad se revocans quos vel
sequi se vellet, vel pro cognitis sibi rationibus aptiores videret ut ad seipsum
concitet. — Origen, cont.Celsum, lib. ii. fol. (mihi) 22.
EVERLASTING REST. 351
blessedness were only in resting in the grave, then a beast or a
stone were as blessed ; nay, it were evidently a curse, and not a
blessing. For was not life a great mercy ; was it not a greater
mercy to enjoy all the comforts of life ; to enjoy the fellowship
of the saints, the comfort of the ordinances, and much of Christ
in all ; to be employed in the delightful work of God, and to
edify his church ? &c. Is it not a curse to be so deprived of all
these ; do not these yield a great deal more sweetness, than all
the troubles of this life can yield us bitterness ? Though I think
not, as some,^ that it is better to be most miserable, even in
hell, than not to be at all ; yet it is undeniable, that it is better
to enjoy life, and so much of the comforts of life, and so much
of God in comforts and affliction as the saints do, though we
have all this with persecution ; than to lie rotting in the grave,
if that were all we could expect. Therefore it is some further
blessedness that is there promised.
7. How else is it said, "that we are come to Mount Zion,
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innu-
merable company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God, the
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect?" (Heb.
xii. 22, 23.) Surely, at the resurrection the body will be made
perfect, as well as well as the spirit. To say (as Lushington
doth) that they are said to be made perfect, because they are
sure of it as if they had it, is an evasion so grossly contradicting
the text, that by such commentaries he may as well deny any
truth in Scripture ; to make good which, he as much abuseth
that of Phil. iii. 12.
8. Doth not the Scripture tell us, that Enoch and Elias are
taken up already : and shall we think that they possess that
glory alone ?
1 Dr. Twiss. See Barlow's 'Exercitat.' post Metaph. Scheib. Jo. Franciscus.
Picus Mirand., saith be, heard of a pope that in his life-time told a familiar
friend of his, that he believed not the immortality of souls : his friend being
dead, appeared to him as he watched, and told him, that his soul which he
believed to be mortal, he should, by the just judgment of God, find to be im-
mortal, to his exceeding torment in eternal fire. This pope seemeth to be Leo
the Tenth. Vid. Du Plessis' ' Mystery of Iniquity,' p. 641. Polycarpus inter
multas praselaras voces quas fiammEe admotus edidit, eo die representandum
se dixit coram Deo in spiritu. Quod eodem tempore Melito episcopus Sar-
densis vir paris sinceritatis librum scripsit de corpore et anima, &c. Adeo
autem haec sententia meliore illo seculo valuit, ut Tertullianus reponat earn
inter communes et primas animi conceptiones quae natura communiter appre-
henduntur. — Calv, in Psychopann^ Vide Euseb. Hist. lib. i. c. 15. lit. c.
352 THE saint's
9. Did not Peter, and James, and John, see Moses also with
Christ on the mount ? yet the Scripture saith Moses died. And
is it Hkely that Christ did dehide their senses, in showing them
Moses, if he should not partake of that glory till the resurrec-
tion ?
10. And is not that of Stephen as plain as we can desire?
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Surely, if the Lord receive it,
it is neither asleep, nor dead, nor annihilated ; but it is where
he is, and beholds his glory.
1 1 . The like may be said of that, " The spirit shall return to
God who gave it." (Eccles. xii. 7.)
12. How else is it said, " that we have eternal life already?"
(John vi. 54.) And that "the knowledge of God (which is
begun here) is eternal life ?" (John xvii. 3.) So 1 John v. 13,
" And he that believeth on Christ, hath everlasting life. He
that eateth this bread shall not die. For he dwelleth in Christ,
and Christ in him. And as the Son liveth bv the Father, so he
that eateth him, shall live by him." (John iii.36; John vi. 47, 50,
56, 57.) How is " the kingdom of God and of heaven (which
is eternal) said to be in us?" (Luke xvii. 21 ; Rom. xiv. 17:
Matt, xiii.)
Surely, if there be so great an interruption of our life as till
the resurrection, which with some will be many thousand years,
this is no eternal life, nor everlasting kingdom. Lushington's
evasion is, " that because there is no time with dead men, but
they so sleep that vvhen they awake, it is all one to them as if
it had been at first ; therefore the Scripture speaks of them as
if they were there already." It is true, indeed, if tliere were no
joy till the resurrection, tlien that consideration would be com-
fortable ; but when God hath thus plainly told us of it before,
then this evasion contradicteth the text. Doubtless there is
time also to the dead, though, in respect of their bodies, they
perceive it not. He will not surely think it a happiness to be
putrified or stupified, whilst others are enjoying the comforts of
life : if he do, it were the best course to sleep out our lives.
13. In Jude 7, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are
spoken of, as "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire:" and if
the wicked do already suffer eternal fire, then no doubt but the
godly do enjoy eternal blessedness. I know some understand
the place, of that fire which consumed their bodies, as being a
type of the fire of hell : I will not be very confident against this
exposition, but the text seemeth plainly to speak more.
EVERLASTING REST. 353
14. It is also observable, that when John saw his glorious re-
velations, he is said to be " in the Spirit," (Rev. i. 10, and xxi.
10,) and to be "carried away in the Spirit." (Rev. xvii. 3,
and xxi. 10.) And when Paul had his revelations, and saw
things unutterable, he knew not whether it were in the body,
or out of the body. All implying that spirits are capable of
these glorious things, without the help of their bodies.
15. And though it be a prophetical, obscure book, yet it seems
to me, that those words in the Revelation do imply this, where
John saw tiie souls under the altar. (Rev. vi. 9, Sec.)
16. We are commanded by Christ, "not to fear them that
can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." (Luke xii.
4.) Doth not this plainly imply, that when wicked men have
killed our bodies, that is, separated the souls from them, yet
the souls are still alive ?"■
1 7. The soul of Christ was alive when his body was dead,
and therefore so shall ours too; for his created nature was like
ours, except in sin. That Christ's human soul was alive, is a
necessary consequent of its hvpostatical union with the divine
nature, as 1 judge. And by his words to the thief, "This day
shalt thou be with me in paradise:" so also by his voice on
the cross, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (Luke
xxiii. 46.) And whether that in 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, that he
went and preached to the spirits in prison, &c., will prove it, I
leave to others to judge. Read lllyricus's arguments in his
' Clavis Scripturae' on this text. Many think that the opposi-
tion is not so irregular, as to put the dative a-apy.) for «V o-«pv», as
the subject recipient, and the dative mevf/.aTi for Sta Tryeil/xaro^-, as
the efficient cause ; but that it is plainly to be understood as a
regular opposition, that Christ was mortified in the flesh, but
vivified in the spirit, that is, in the spirit which is usually put in
opposition to this flesh, which is the soul, by which spirit, &ic.
But I leave this as doubtful ; there is enough besides,
IS. Why is there niention of God's breathing into man the
breath of life, and calling his soul a living soul ? There is no
mention of any such thing in the creating of other creatures,
"^ If you would see this subject handled more fully, and all the arguments
answered, which are brought to prove that souls have neither joy nor pain till
the resurrection, see Calvin's treatise hereof, called ' Psychopaunychia,' and
JJeckmanni ' Exercit.' xxiv. D. Jo. Reignoldum ' De Lib. Apocryph. Praelect.'
79 and SO, and 'Prrplect.' 3, pp. (mihi) 23, 34, &c.
VOL. XXH. A A
354 THE saint's
surely, therefore, this makes some diiference between the life of
our souls and theirs.
19. It appears in Saul's calling for Samuel to the witch, and
in the Jews' expectation of the coming of Elias, that they took
it for current, then, that Elias and Samuel's souls were living.
20. Lastly : If the spirits of those that were disobedient in
the days of Noah, were in prison, (1 Pet. iii. 19,) then certainly
the separated spirits in the just, are in an opposite condition of
happiness. If any say that the word "prison" signifieth not
their full misery, but a reservation thereto, I grant it, yet it im-
porteth a reservation in a living and suffering state^ for were
they nothing, they could not be in prison.
Though I have but briefly named these twenty arguments,^
and put them together in a narrow room, when some men can-
not see the truth without a multitude of words ; yet 1 doubt
not but, if you will well consider them, you will discern the
clear evidence of scripture verity. It is a lamentable case that
the brutish opinion of the soul's mortality, should find so many
patrons professing godliness, when there is so clear light of Scrip-
ture against them, and when the opinion tends to no other end
than the emboldening of sin, the cherishing of security, and the
great discomfort and discouragementof the saints, and when many
pagans were wiser in this without the help of Scripture : surely,
this error is an introduction to paganism itself. Yea more, the
most of the nations in the vvorld, even the barbarous Indians
do, by the light of nature, acknowledge that, which these men
deny, even that there is a happiness and misery which the souls
go presently to, which are separated from their bodies. I know
the silly, evading answers that are usually given to the foremen-
tioned scriptures, which being carried with confidence and sub-
tle words, may soon shake the ordinary sort of Christians that
are not able to deal with a sophister. And if they be thoroughly
dealt with, they presently appear to be mere vanity or contra-
diction. Were there but that one text, 2 Cor. v. 8 j or that,
« Dr. J. Reignolds, ' De lib, Apoc. Praelect.' 70, p. (mihi) 946, hath another
argument from Col. i. 20. God reconciled by Christ all things to himself,
both things in heaven and in earth : nothing in heaven was capable of recon-
ciliation but the souls of the godly, who were then there, but reconciled be-
fore, by virtue of Christ's blood afterwards to be shed. Angels were not ene-
mies, devils were hopeless, therefore it must needs be the souls departed which
are called " things in heaven reconciled." But of the validity of this argument
I have nothing to say, but that 1 incline to another exposition.
EVERLASTING REST. 355
1 Pet. iii. 19; or that, Phil. i. 23j all the seducers in the world
could not answer them.
Believe, therefore, steadfastly, O faithful souls, that whatever
all the deceivers in the world shall say to the contrary, your
souls shall no sooner leave their prisons of flesh, hut angels will
be their convoy, Christ will be their company, with all the per-
fected spirits of the just : heaven will be their residence, and
God will be their happiness. And you may boldly and believ-
ingly, when you die, say, as Stephen, " Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit," and commend it, as Christ did, into a Father's hands.
A A 2
THE
SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.
THE THIRD PART.
CONTAINING
SEVERAL USES OF THE FORMER DOCTRINE OF REST.
TO MY DEARLY BELOVED FRIENDS,
THE
INHABITANTS
OF
THE CITY OF COVENTRY,
BOTH MAGISTRATES AND PEOPLE,
Richard Baxter devoteth this part of this Treatise, in thankful acknow-
ledgment of tlieir great affection toward him, and ready acceptance of his
labours among them, which is the highest recompense, if joined with obedi-
ence, that a faithful minister can expect ;
Humbly beseeching the Lord on their behalf, that he will
save them from that spirit of pride, hypocrisy, dissension, and
giddiness, which is of late years gone forth, and is now destroy-
ing and making havoc of the churches of Christ ; and that
he will teach them highly to esteem those faithful teachers
whom the Lord hath made rulers over them, (1 Thes. v. 12,
13 ; Heb. xiii. 7? 17,) and to know them so to be, and to obey
them : and that he will keep them unspotted of the guilt of
those sins, which in these days have been the shame of our
religion, and have made us a scandal or scorn to the world.
THE
SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.
THE THIRD PART.
CHAP. I.
Sect. I. Whatsoever the soul of matt doth entertain, must make
its first entrance at the understanding ; which must be satisfied,
first of its truth, and, secondly, of its goodness, before it find
any further admittance j if this porter be negligent, it will admit
of any thing that bears but the face or name of truth and good-
ness ; but if it be faithful, able, and diligent in its office, it will
examine strictlv, and search to the quick ; what is found deceit-
ful, it casteth out, that it go no further ; but what is found to
be sincere and current, it letteth in to the very heart, where the
will and affections do with welcome entertain it, and by con-
coction, as it were, incorporate it into their own substance.
Accordingly, I have been hitherto presenting to your understand-
ings, first, the excellency of the rest of saints, in the first part of
this book ; and then the verity in the second part. I hope your
understandings have now tasted this food, and tried what hath
been expressed. Truth fears not the light. This perfect beauty
abhorreth darkness ; nothing but ignorance of its worth can dis-
parage it. Therefore search, and spare not; read, and read
again, and then judge. What think you ; is it good, or is it
not ? nay, is it not the chiefest good ? And is there any thing
in goodness to be compared with it ? And is it true, or is
it not ? " Nay, is there any thing in the world more certain,
than that there remaineth a rest to the people of God ? Why,
» Caveat quivis Christd fidelis sibi ab impiissimis sermonibus, quibus despi-
cati et profligatissimi quidaiii homines utaiitur, dicentes, morte omnia deleri,
niillam esse fiituram vitam, in alio mundo ; et homines ut pecora morte con-
sumi; ideoque .'i corpori belle prospiciatur, aniniee abunde prospectun» esse,
&c. Gravissimis pocuis hujusmodi sermjiies a Christiano magistratu punien-
dos esse arbitramur. Etenim si nulla est vita post banc preesentem, cur, &c.
Vide ultra, Bullinger. Corp. Doct. Christian, lib. x. c. 1, p. (niihi) 141.
THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST. :i6\
if your understandings are convinced of both these, I do here, in
the behalf of God and his truth, and in the behalf of your own
souls, and their life, require the further entertainment hereof; and
that you take this blessed subject of rest, and commend it as
you have found it to your wills and affections ; let your hearts
now cheerfully embrace it, and improve it, and I shall present it
to you, in its respective uses.
And though the laws of method do otherwise direct me, yet
because I conceive it most profitable, I will lay close together
in the first place, all those uses that most concern the ungodly,
that they may know where to find their lesson, and not to pick
it up and down intermixed with uses of another strain. And
then I shall lay down those uses that are "more proper to the
godly by themselves in the end.
Use I. — ShovAng the unconceivable misei'y of tlie ungodly in
their loss of this Rest.
Sect. II. And first, If this rest be for none but for the people of
God, what doleful tidings is this to the ungodly world! That there
is so much glory, but none for them; so great joys for the saints
of God, while they must consume in perpetual sorrows ! Such
rest for them that have obeyed the Gospel ; while they must be
restless in the flames of hell ! If thou who readest these words,
art in thy soul a stranger to Christ, and to the holy nature and
life of his people, and art not of them who are before described,
and shalt live and die in the same condition that thou art now
in ; let me tell thee, I am a messenger of the saddest tidings to
thee, that ever yet thy ears did hear : that thou shalt never par-
take of the joys of heaven, nor have the least taste of the saints'
everlasting rest.*^ I may say to thee, as Ehud to Eglon, ' I have
•• Consuevimus nos homines, praesertim qui crassiore meiite praediti sumus,
metu potius quam beneficiis quod oportet addiscere. — Theophylact, in Joan.
c. 5, V. 22 ; Judg. ii. 20, 21. Non improbissimi (juiqiie tam Jacile Christianae
doctrinse subduntur, quam simpliclores et recti, graves alioquiii et moilesti. Hi
namque suppliciorum denunciata formidine, (]u;e et maxinie movet, et ab bis,
ut caveant admodum exhortautur quorum gratia inseruiitur torrneuta, eiiixe
adeo dedere se totos Christianae discipliua; uituntur ; tantopere nostra hac ipsa
detinentur doctrina, aeternas veriti poenas, &c. — Origen- cont.Celsiim, circa fin.
I add these for them that think we should win men to Christ, onh' by arjiu-
ments from liis love, and not by any mention of hell, which 1 confess must
not be the chief; for terror will not win to love. But yet, 1. Fear, and care,
and obedience, are necessary as well as love. 2. God would not havi.- given us
mixed affections, if he would not have had us to use them. 3. The doctrine
and example of Christ require us to stir up in men I)oth_ love and fear.
362 THE saint's
a message to tliee from God; but it is a mortal message, against
the very life and hopes of thy soul, that, as true as the word of
God is true, thou shalt never see the face of God with comfort.'
This sentence I am commanded to pass upon thee, from the
word : take it as thou wilt, and escape it if thou canst. I know
thy humble and hearty subjection to Christ would procure thy
escape ; and if thy heart and life were thoroughly changed, thy
relation to Christ and eternity, would be changed also; he
would then acknowledge thee for one of his people, and justify
thee from all things that could be charged upon thee, and give
thee a portion in the inheritance of his chosen ; and if this
might be the happy success of my message, 1 should be so far
from repining like Jonas, that the threatenings of God are not
executed upon thee, that, on the contrary, I should bless the day
that ever God made me so happy a messenger, and return him
hearty thanks upon my knees, that ever he blessed his word in
mv mouth with such desired success. But if thou end thy days
in thy present condition, whether thou be fully resolved never
to change, or whether thou spend thy days in fruitless propos-
ing to be better hereafter, all is one for that ; I say, if thou live
and die in thy unregenerate estate, as sure as the heavens are
over thy head, and the earth under thy feet ; as sure as thou
livest, and breathest in this air, so sure shalt thou be shut out
of this rest of the saints, and receive thy portion in everlasting
fire. I do here expect that thou shouldst, in the pride and
scorn of thy heart, turn back upon me, and show thy teeth,
and say, ' \^'ho made you the doorkeeper 'of heaven ? When
were you there ? and, when did God sliow you the book of
life, or tell you who they are that shall be saved, and who
shut out ?'
I will not answer thee according to thy folly, but truly and
plainly as I can discover this thy folly to thyself, that if there
be yet any hope, thou mayest recover thy understanding, and
yet return to God and live. First, I do not name thee, nor any
(Matt, xxiii., xxv., &c.) Even Dr. Sibhs could say, " Fear is the awe-band of
the soul." And Clemens Alexaiid. Stromat. lib. ii., saith, " Fear and sufferance
are the helpers of faith ;" they that accuse fear, do reproach the law : and
if the law, then it is plain, him also that made the law. And he answers them
that say, " Fear is a perturbation, and a declining from reason." And the same
Clemens Pa?dagog. lib. i. c. y, saith, "As we have all need of a Saviour, so he
useih not only gentle and mild remedies, but also sharp doubts; fear doth
stop the eating corrosions of the roots of sin." Fear, therefore, is wholesome,
though it be bitter.
EVERLASTING REST. 363
Other : I do not conclude of the persons individually, and say,
*This man shall he shut out of heaven, and that man shall be
taken in.' I only conclude it of the unregenerate in general, and
of thee conditionally, if thou be such a one. Secondly, I do
not go about to determine who shall repent, and who shall not;
much less that thou shalt never repent, and come in to Christ,
These things are unknown to me ; I had far rather show thee
what hopes thou hast before thee, if thou wilt not sit still and
lose them, and by thy wilful carelessness cast away thy hopes ;
and I would far rather persuade thee to hearken in time, while
there is hope and opportunity and offers of grace, and before
the door is shut against thee, that so thy soul may return and
live, than to tell thee that there is no hope of thy repenting
and returning. But if thou lie, hojjing that thou shalt return,
and never do it ; if thou talk of repenting and believing, but
still art the same ; if thou live and die with the world, and thy
credit or pleasure nearer thy heart than Jesus Christ; in a
word, if the foregoing description of the people of God do not
agree with the state of thy soul, it is then a hard question,
whether thou shalt ever be saved. Even as hard a question as,
whether God be true, or the Scripture be his word. Cannot I
certainly tell, that thou shalt perish for ever, except f had seen
the book of life ? Why, the Bible is also the book of life, and
it describeth plainly those that shall be saved, and those that
shall be condemned. Though it do not name them, yet it tells
you all those signs and conditions by which they may be known.
Do I need to ascend up into heaven, to know, " that without
holiness none shall see God;" (Heb. xii. 14 ;) or, "that it is the
pure in heart who shall see God;" (Matt. v. 8 :) or, "that ex-
cept a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God;" (John iii. 3:) or, "that he that believeth not (that is,
stoops not to Christ as his King and Saviour) is condemned already,
and that he shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on
him ;" (John iii. 18, 36 ;) " and that except you repent, (which
includes reformation,) you shall all perish :" (Luke xiii. 3, 5 :)
with an hundred more such plain scripture expressions. Can-
not these be known without searching into God's counsels ?
Whv, thou ignorant, or wilful self-deluding sot ! Hath thy
Bible lain by thee in thy house so long, and didst thou never
read such words as these ; or hast thou read it, or heard it
read so often, and yet dost thou not remember such passages
as these ? Nay, didst thou not find that the great drift of the
364 THE saint's
Scripture is, to show men who they are that shall be saved, and
who not ; and let them see the condition of both estates ? And
yet dost thou ask me, 'How I know who shall be saved ?' What
need I go up. to heaven to inquire that of Christ, which he came
down to earth to tell us ; and sent his Spirit in his prophets
and apostles to tell us ; and hath left upon record to all the
world ? And though I do not know the secrets of thy heart, and
therefore cannot tell thee by name whether it be thy state, or
no ; yet, if thou art but willing or diligent, thou mayest know
thyself, whether thou art an heir of heaven, or not. And that
is the main thing that I desire, that if thou be yet miserable,
thou mavest discern it, and escape it. But canst thou possibly
escape, if thou neglect Christ and salvation ? (Heb. ii. 3.) Is
it not resolved on, " that if thou love father, mother, wife,
children, house, lands, or thine own life, better than Christ, thou
canst not be his disciple?" (Matt. x. 31 ; Luke xiv. 20;) and
consequently can never be saved by him. Is this the word of
man, or of God ? Is it not then an undoubted concluded case,
that in the case thou art now in, thou hast not the least title to
heaven ? Shall I lell thee from the word of God, it is as impos-
sible for thee to be saved, except thou be born again, and be
made a new creature, as it is for the devils themselves to be
saved ? Nay, God hath more plainly and frequently spoken it in
the Scripture, that such sinners as thou shall never be saved,
than he hath done, that the devils shall never be saved. And
doth not this tidings go cold to thy heart ? Methinks, but that
there is yet life and hope before thecj and thou hast yet time and
means to have thy soul recovered, else it should kill thy heart
with terror; and the sight of thy doleful, discovered case, should
even strike thee dead with amazement and horror. If old Eli
fell from his seat and died, to hear that the ark of God was
gone, which was but an outward sign of his presence ; how
then should thy heart be astonished with this tidings, that thou
hast lost the Lord God himself, and all thy title to his eternal
presence and delight! If Rachel wept for children, and would
not be comforted, because they were not ; how then shouldst
thou now sit down, and weep for the happiness, and future life
of the soul, because to thee it is not ! When king Belshazzar saw
but a piece of a hand sent from God, writing over against him
on the wall, it made his countenance change, his thoughts trou-
ble him, his loins loosen in the joints, and knees smite one
against another. (Dan. v. 6.) ^'^l)y, what trembling then should
EVERLASTING REST. 365
seize on thee, wlio hast the hand of God himself aj^ainst tliee;
not in a sentence or two only, but i n the very tenor and scope of the
Scriptures ; not threatening thee with the loss of a kingdom
only, as he did Belshazzar, but with the loss of thy part in the
everlasting kingdom ! But because I would fain have thee, if
it be possible, to lay it close to thy heart, I will here stay a
little longer, and show thee. First, The greatness of thy loss;
and. Secondly, The aggravations of thy unhappiness in this
loss ; Thirdly, And the positive miseries that thou mayest also
endure, with their aggravations.
Sect. III. First : The ungodly, in their loss of heaven, do lose
all that glorious, personal perfection which the people of God
do there enjoy. They lose that shining lustre of the body, sur-
passing the brightness of the sun at noon-day; though perhaps
even the bodies of the wicked will be raised more spiritual, in-
corruptible bodies, than they were on earth : yet that will be so
far from being a happiness to them, that it only makes them
capable of the more exquisite torments ; their understandings
being now more capable of apprehending the greatness of their
loss, and their senses more capable of feeling their sufferings.
They vvould be glad, then, if every member were a dead member,
that it might not feel the punishment inflicted on it ; and if the
whole body w-ere a rotten carcass, or might again lie down in the
dust and darkness. The devil himself hath an angelical and
excellent nature,'^ but that only honoureth his skilful Creator,
but is no honour or comfort at all to himself; the glory, the
beauty, the comfortable perfections, they are deprived of; much
<^ Sicut melior est natura sentiens et cum (lolet, qnam lapis, qui dolere iiullo
modo potest; ita ratioualis tiatura praestantior est, etiam miseria, quam ilia
quae rationis et sensus est expers, et ideo in earn uon cadit miseria. CJ"^'^
cum ita sit, huic uatura;, qus in tania excellentia creata est, ut licet ipsa sit
mutabilis, iuhaerendo tanieii iucommutabili bono, i. e. summo Deo, beatitudi-
nem consequatur, iiec expleat indigentiam suain nisi utique beata sit, eique
explenda! non sufRciatni&i Deus ; profecto non ilii adhaerere vitiura est. — .^itg
deCivit. lib. xii. c. 1. Anima illic posita bene esse perdidit, at esse non perdidit.
Ex qua re semper cogitui', ut et mortem sine morte, et defectum sine defectu,
et finem sine tine patiatur; quatenus ei et mors immortalis sit, et defectus in-
deficiens, et finis infinitus. — Gregor, Dial. lib. iv. In inferno etsi erit stimu-
lus sanitudinis, nulla ibi erit correctio voluntatis; acjuibus ita culpabitur
iniquitas, ut nullatenus ab eis possit diligi vel desiderari justitia. — August, de
Fide ad Pet. Ilia est peccati poena justissima, ut amittat quique quo bene uti
Doluit, cum sine tilla possit difFicultate uti si veliet. Id est autem, ut qui
sciens recte non fecit, amittat scire quod rectum sit; et qui rectum facere
cum posset uoluit, amittat posse cuiu velit. — Aug. lib. iii. ; de Liber. Ar-
hitr. V. 18,
366 THE saint's
more do they want that moral perfection which the blessed do
partake of: those holy dispositions and qualifications of mind;
that blessed conformity to the holiness of God ; that cheerful
readiness to his will ; that perfect rectitude of all their actions :
instead of these, they have their old, ulcerous, deformed souls,
that perverseness of will, that disorder in their faculties, that
loathing of good, that love to evil, that violence of passion, which
they had on earth. It is true, their understandings will be much
cleared, both by the ceasing of their temptation and deluding
objects which they had on earth, as also by the sad experience
which they will have in hell, of the falsehood of their former
conceits and delusions ; but this proceeds not from the sancti-
fying of their natures ; and perhaps their experience and too-late
understandings may restrain much of the evil motions of their
wills, which they had formerly here on earth ; but the evil dis-
position is never the more changed ; so also will the conversa-
tion of the damned in hell be void of many of those sins which
they commit here on earth. They will be drunk no more, and
whore no more, and be gluttonous no more, nor oppress the in-
nocent, nor grind the poor, nor devour the houses and estates of
their brethren, nor be revenged on their enemies, nor persecute
and destroy the members of Christ : all these, and many more
actual sins, will then be laid aside. But this is not from any
renewing of their natures; they have the same dispositions still,
and fain they would commit the same sins, if they could : they
want but opportunity ; they are now tied up. It is part of their
torment to be denied these their pleasures : no thanks to them,
that they sin not as much as ever ; their hearts are as bad,
though their actions are restrained ; nay, it is a great question
whether those remainders of good which were left in their na-
tures on earth, as their common honesty and moral virtues, be
not all taken from them in hell, according to that, " From him
that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."
(Matt. iii. 12 ; Luke viii. IS.) This is the judgment of divines
generally ; but because it is questionable, and much may be said
against it, I will let that pass. But certainly they shall have
none of the glorious perfections of the saints, either in soul or
body : there will be a greater difference between these wretches
and the glorified Christian, than there is betwixt a toad under a
sill and the sun in the firmament. The rich man's purple robes
and delicious fare did not so exalt him above Lazarus at his door
EVERLASTING REST. 367
in scabs, nor make the difference between them so wide, as it
is now made on the contrary in their vast separation.
Sect. IV. Secondly : But the great loss of the damned, will
be their loss of God ; they shall have no comfortable relation
to him, nor any of the saints' communion with him. As they
did not like to retain God in their mind, but said to him,
'' Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways,"
so God will abhor to retain them in his household, or to give
them entertainment in his fellowship and glory. '^ He will never
admit them to the inheritance of his saints, nor endure them to
stand amongst them in his presence ; but bid them, " Depart
from me, ye workers of iniquity, I know you not." Now, these
men dare belie the Lord, if not blaspheme, in calling him by
the title of their father. How boldly and confidently do they
daily approach him with their lips, and indeed reproach him
in their formal prayers, with that appellation, " Our Father !"
As if God would father the devil's children ; or as if the
slighters of Christ, the pleasefs of the flesh, the friends of the
world, the haters of godliness, or any that trade in sin, and
delight in iniquity, were the offspring of heaven ! They are
ready now, in the height of their presumption, to lay as con-
fident claims to Christ and heaven, as if they were sincere
believing saints. The swearer, the drunkard, the whoremaster,
the worldling, can scornfully say to the people of God, * What !
is not God our father, as well as yours ? Doth he not love us
as well as you ? Will he save none but a few holy precisians ?'
Oh ! but when that time is come, when the case must be de-
cided, and Christ will separate his followers from his foes, and
his faithful friends from his deceived flatterers, where then will
be their presumptuous claim to Christ ? Then they shall find
that God is not their father, but their resolved foe, because
they would not be his people, but were resolved in their neg-
ligence and wickedness. Then, though they had preached, or
wrought miracles in his name, he will not know them : and
though they were his brethren or sisters after the flesh, yet he
■J Decern mille qui ponat gehennas, nihil tale dicit quale est k beata gloria
excidere, ^ Christo audire, non novi vos. — Chrysost. in Mat. Horn. 33. Multi
gehennani abhorrent: ego autem casum illius gloriae multo amariorem
gehennse par aio. — Greg. Nulla major et pejor est mors, quam ubi non mori-
tur mors. Sed quod animae natura per id quod immortalis creata est, sine
qualicunque vita esse non potest; summa mors ejus est alienatio k vita Dei in
aeternitate supplicii.— -r^wg-. de Civil, lib. vi. c. 12. Matt. vii. 22, and xxv. 41 ;
Psal. i. 6, 7 ; xciv. 10, and cxxxii, 3 ; Rev. xxii, 25.
S6S THE saint's
will not own them, but reject them as his enemies. And even
those that did eat and drink in his presence on earth, shall be
cast out of his heavenly presence for ever ; and those that in
his name did cast out devils, shall yet at his command be cast
out to those devils, and endure the torments prepared for them.
And, as they would not consent that God should by liis Spirit
dwell in them, so shall not these evil doers dwell with him.
The tabernacles of wickedness shall have no fellowship with
him ; nor the wicked inhabit the city of God : for without are
the dogs, the sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters,
and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie. For God knoweth the
way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to perish-
ing. God is first enjoyed iu part on eartli, before he be fully
enjoyed in heaven. It is only they that walked with him here,
who shall live and be happy with him there. Oh, little doth
the world now know what a loss that soul hath, who loseth God !
What were the world but a dungeon, if it had lost the sun ?
What were the body but a loathsome carrion, if it had lost the
soul ? Yet all these are nothing to the loss of God ; even the
little taste of the fruition of God, which the saints enjoy in this
life, is dearer to them than all the world. As the world, when
they feed upon their forbidden pleasures, may cry out with the
sons of the prophet, "There's death in the pot \" (2 Kings iv.40;)
so when the saints do but taste of the favour of God, they cry
out with David, " In his favour is life !" (Psal. xxx. 5.) Nay,
though life be naturally most dear to all men, yet they that have
tasted and tried, do say with David, " His loving-kindness is
better than life !" (Psalm Ixiii. 3.) So that, as the enjoyment
of God is the heaven of the saints, so the loss of God is the
hell of the ungodly. And, as the enjoying of God is the en-
joying of all, so the loss of God is the loss of all.
Sect. V. Thirdly : Moreover, as they lose God, so they lose
all those spiritual, delightful affections and actions, by which the
blessed do feed on God : that transporting knowledge ; those
ravishing views of his glorious face;^ the inconceivable pleasure
of loving God ; the apprehensions of his infinite love to us ;
the constant joys which his saints are taken up with, and the
•■ Quicunque erga eutn custodiuut dilectionera, solum his praestat commu-
Tiionem. yuicimque autem absistunt secundum seiitentiani suam ab eo, his
earn qujE electa est ab ij)sis separationem inducit. Separatio autem a Deo
mors, et separatio hicis tenelira; ; et separatio a Deo auiissio omnium quae
sunt npwd Deum boiiorum. — Jremens «dr. Hares, lib, v. c. 27.
EVERLASTING REST. 369
rivers of consolation wherewith he doth satisfy them. Is it
notliing to lose all this ? The employment of a king in ruling
a kingdom doth not so far exceed the employment of the vilest
scullion or slave, as this heavenly employment exceedeth his.
These wretches had no delight in praising God on earth,
their recreations and pleasures were of another nature ; and
now, when the saints are singing his praises, and employed in
magnifying the Lord of saints, then shall the ungodly be denied
this happiness, and have an employment suitable to their
natures and deserts. Their hearts were full of hell upon earth,
instead of God, and his love, and fear, and graces ; there was
pride, and self-love, and lust, and unbelief: and, therefore,
hell must now entertain those hearts which formerly entertained
so much of it. Their houses on earth were the resemblance of
hell ; instead of worshipping God, and calling upon his name,
there was scorning at his worship, and swearing by his name :
and now hell must therefore be their habitation for ever, where
they shall never be troubled with that worship and duty which
they abhorred, but join with the rest of the damned in blas-
pheming that God who is avenging their former impieties and
blasphemies. Can it probably be expected, that they who made
themselves merry, while they lived on earth, in deriding the
persons and families of the godly, for their frequent worshipping
and praising God, should at last be admitted into the family of
heaven, and join with those saints in those most perfect praises ?
Surely, without a sound change upon their hearts before they
go hence, it is utterly impossible. It is too late then to say,
" Give us of your oil, for our lamps are out ; let us now enter
with you to the marriage feast ; let us now join with you in the
joyful heavenly melody." You should have joined in it on earth,
if you would have joined in heaven. As your eyes must be
taken up with other kind of sights, so must your hearts be taken
up with other kind of thoughts, and your voices turned to
another tune. As the doors of heaven will be shut against you,
so will that joyous employment be denied to you. There is no
singing the songs of Sion in the land of your thraldom. Those
that go down to the pit do not praise him. Who can rejoice in
the place of sorrows ; and who can be glad in the land of
confusion ? God suits men's employments to their natures.
The bent of your spirits was another way ; your hearts were
never set upon God in your lives 5 you were never admirers of
his attributes and works, nor ever thoroughly warmed with his
VOL. XXII. B B
3/0 The saint's
love. You never longed after the enjoyment of him ; you had
no delight to speak or to hear of him ; you were weary of a
sermon or prayer an hour long ; you had rather have continued
on earth, if you had known how ; you had rather yet have a
place of earthly preferment, or lands and lordships, or a feast,
or sports, or your cups, or whores, than to be interested in the
glorious praises of God : and is it meet, then, that you should
be members of the celestial quire ? A swine is fitter for a
lecture of philosophy, or an ass to build a city or govern a
kingdom, or a dead corpse to feast at thy table, than thou art
for this work of heavenly praise.
Sect. VI. Fourthly : They shall also be deprived of the blessed
society of angels and glorified saints. Instead of being companions
of those happy spirits, and numbered with those joyful and tri-
umphing kings, they must now be members of the corporation of
hell, where they shall have companions of a far different nature
and quality. While they lived on earth, they loathed the
saints ; they imprisoned, banished them, and cast them out of
their societies, or at least they would not be their companions
in labour, and in sufferings ; and, therefore, they shall not now
be their companions in their glory ; scorning them and abusing
them, hating them, and rejoicing in their calamities, was not the
way to obtain their blessedness. If you would have shined with
them as stars in the firmament of their Father, you should have
joined with them in their holiness, and faith, and painfulness,
and patience. You should have first been ingrafted with them
into Christ, the common stock, and then incorporated into the
fraternity of the members, and walked with them in singleness
of heart, and watched with them with oil in your lamps, and
joined with them in mutual exhortation, in faithful admonitions,
in conscionable reformation, in prayer, and in praise. You
should have travelled with them out of the Egypt of your na-
tural estate, through the red sea and wilderness of humiliation
and affliction,* and have cheerfully taken up the cross of Christ,
as well as the name and profession of Christians, and rejoiced
with them in suffering persecution and tribulation. All this,
if you had faithfully done, you might now have been triumphing
with them in glory, and have possessed with them their Master's
joy. But this you could not, you would not endure ; your souls
loathed it, your flesh was against it, and that flesh must be
pleased, though you were told plainly and frequently what would
come of it: and now you partake of the fruit of your follvj and
EVERLASTING REST. 371
endure but what you were foretold you must endure ; and are
shut out of that company, from which you first shut out your-
selves ; and are separated but from them whom you would not
be joined with. You could not endure them in your houses, nor
in your town, nor scarcely in the kingdom. You took them as
Ahab did Elias, for the troublers of the land; (1 Kings xviii.
17 ;) and as the apostles were taken for men that turned the
world upside down ; (Acts xvii. 6 ;) if any thing fell out amiss, you
thought all was long of them. When they were dead or ba-
nished, you were glad they were gone, and thought the country
was well rid of them. They molested you with their faithful
reproving your sin. Their holy conversation did trouble your
consciences, to see them so far excel yourselves, and to condemn
your looseness by their strictness, and your profaneness by their
conscionable lives, and your negligence by their unwearied
diligence. You scarcely ever heard them pray or sing praises in
their families, but it was a vexation to you ; and you envied
their liberty in the worshipping of God. And is it, then, any
wonder if you be separated from them hereafter ? The day is
near when they will trouble you no more : betwixt them and
you will be a great gulf set, that those that would pass from
thence to you (if any had a desire to ease you with a drop of
water) cannot ; neither can they pass to them who would go
from you, for if they could, there would none be left behind.
(Luke xvi. 26.) Even in this life, while the saints were imper-
fect in their passions and infirmities, clothed with the same frail
flesh as other men, and were mocked, destitute, aflBicted, and
tormented, yet, in the judgment of the Holy Ghost, they were
such, of whom the world was not worthy. (Heb. xi. 36 — 38.)
Much more unworthy are they of their fellowship in their glory.
CHAP. IT.
Tlte Aggravation of the Loss of Heaven to the Ungodly,
Sect. I. I know many of the wicked will be ready to think,
if this be all, they do not much care, they can bear it well
enough : what care they for losing the perfections above ?
What care they for losing God, his favour, or his presence ?
They lived merrily without him on earth, and why should it be
so grievous to be without him hereafter? And what care they
for being deprived of that love, and joy, and praising of God ?
BB 2
3/2 THE saint's
They never tasted sweetness in the things of that nature. Or
what care they for being deprived of the fellowship of angels
and saints ? They could spare their company in this world
well enough, and why may they not be without it in the world
to come ? To make these men, therefore, to understand the
truth of their future condition, I will here annex these two
things :
1. I will show you why this fore-mentioned loss will be into-
lerable, and will be most tormenting then, though it seem as
nothing now.
2. 1 will show you what other losses will accompany these ;
which, though they are less in themselves, yet will now be more
sensibly apprehended by these sensual men : and all this from
reason, and the truth of Scripture :
l.Then, That this loss of Heaven will be then most torment-
ing, may appear by these considerations following:
First: The understandings of the ungodly will be then cleared,
to know the worth of that which they have lost. Now, they
lament not their loss of God, because they never knew his excel-
lency, nor the loss of that holy employment and society, for
they were never sensible what they were worth. * A man that
hath lost a jewel, and took it but for a common stone, is never
troubled at his loss ; but when he comes to know what he lost,
then he lamenteth it. Though the understandings of the
damned will not then be sanctified (as I said before), yet will
they be cleared from a multitude of errors which now possess
them, and mislead them to their ruin. They think now that
their honour with men, their estates, their pleasures, their health
and life, are better worth their studies and labour than the
things of another world which they never saw; but when these
things, which had their hearts, have left them in misery, and
given them the slip in their greatest need ; when they come to
know by experience the things which before they did but read
and hear of, they will then be quite in another mind. They
would not believe that water would drown, till they were in the
sea ; nor that the fire would burn, till they were cast into it ;
but when they feel it, they will easily believe. All that error of
their mind, which made them set light by God, and abhor his
worship, and vilify his people, will then be confuted and remov-
ed by experience J (Eccles. i. IS;) their knowledge shall be
^ Ignis gehennae lucebit miseris ut videant unde doleant, ad tormentum, et
non ad consolationeni, ue videant unde gaudeaot. — Isidor, de Sum, Bon. lib. i.
EVERLASTING REST. 373
increased, that their sorrows may be increased ; as Adam by
his fall did come to the knowledge of good and evil, so shall all
the damned have this increase of knowledge. As the know-
ledge of the excellency of that good which they do enjoy, and
of that evil which they have escaped, is necessary to the glori-
fied saints, that they may rationally and trulv enjoy their glory ;
so the knowledge of the greatness of that good which they have
lost, and of that evil which they have procured to themselves,
is necessary to the tormenting of these wretched sinners : for
as the joys of heaven are not so much enjoyed by the bodily
senses, as by the intellect and affections ; so it is by under-
standing their misery, and by affections answerable, that the
wicked shall endure the most of their torments : for as it was
the soul that was the chiefest in the guilt (whether it be posi-
tively, by leading to sin, or only privatively, in not keeping the
authority of reason over sense, that the understanding is most
usually guilty, I will not now dispute), so shall the soul be chief-
est in the punishment ; doubtless, those poor souls would be
^comparatively happy, if their imderstandings were wholly
taken from them, if they had no more knowledge than idiots
or brute beasts ; or if they knew no more in hell than they did
upon earth, their loss and misery would then less trouble them.
Though all knowledge be physically good, yet some may be
neither morally good, nor good to the owner. Therefore, when
the Scripture saith of the wicked, " that they shall not see life,"
(John iii. 36,) nor "see God," (Heb. xii. 14,) the meaning is,
they shall not possess life, or see God, as the saints do, to enjoy
him by that sight ; they shall not see him with any comfort, nor
as their own ; but yet they shall see him, to their terror, as
their enemy; and, 1 think, they shall have some kind of eternal
knowledge or beholding of God and heaven, and the saints that
are there happy, as a necessary ingredient to their unutterable
calamity. The rich man shall see Abraham and Lazarus, but
afar off: (Lukexvi. 23 :) as God beholdeth them afar off, (Psal.
cxxxviii. 6,) so shall they behold God afar off. O, how happy
men would they think themselves, if they did not know that
there is such a place as heaven; s or if they could but shut their
eyes, and cease to behold it ! Now, when their knowledge
g Charron 'of VVisdom/lib.i. c. 16. p.69, tellsof aman who, having his eyes
covered to receive death, and uncovered again to receive his pardon, was found
dead on the scaffold. If the iniagiuatiou can kill, how will the apprehension
of real helpless misery torment !
374 THE saint's
would help to prevent their misery, they will not know, or will
not read and study that they may know ; therefore, then when
their knowledge will but feed their consuming fire, they shall
know whether they will or not. As toads and serpents know
not their own vile and venomous nature, nor the excellent nature
of man, or other creatures, and therefore are neither troubled
at their own, nor desirous of ours, so is it with the wicked here;
but when their eyes at death shall be suddenly opened, then the
case will be suddenly altered. They are now in a dead sleep,
and they dream they are the happiest men in the world, and
that the godly are but a company of precise fools, and that
either heaven will be theirs, as sure as another's, or else they
may make a shift without it as they have done liere ; but when
death smites these men, and bids them awake, and arouses
them out of their pleasant dreams, how will they stand up
amazed and confounded; how will their judgments be changed
in a moment ; and they that would not see, shall then see, and
be ashamed !
Sect. II. Another reason to prove that the loss of heaven
will more torment them then, is this ; because as the under-
standing will be cleared, so it will be more enlarged, and made
more capacious to conceive of the worth of that glory which
they have lost. The strength of their apprehensions, as well as
the truth of them, will then be increased. What deep appre-
hensions of the wrath of God, or the madness of sinning, of
the misery of sinners, have those souls that now endure this
misery, in comparison of those on earth that do but hear of it!
What sensible apprehensions of the worth of life hath the con-
demned man that is going to be executed, in comparison of
what he was wont to have in the time of his prosperity ; much
more will the actual deprivation of eternal blessedness make
the damned exceedingly apprehensive of the greatness of their
loss ; and as a large vessel will hold more water than a shell,
so will their more enlarged understandings contain more matter
to feed their torment, than now their shallow capacity can do.
Sect. III. And as the damned will have clearer and deeper
apprehensions of the happiness which they have lost, so will
they have a truer and closer application of this doctrine to
themselves, which will exceedingly tend to increase their
torment. It will then be no hard matter to them to say, 'This
is my loss, and this is my everlasting remediless misery.' The
want of this is the main cause why they are now so little trou-
EVERLASTING REST. 375
bled at their condition ; they are hardly brought to believe that
there is such a state of misery, but more hardly to believe that
it is likely to be their own. This makes so many sermons to
them to be lost and all threatenings and warnings to prove in
vain.** Let a minister of Christ show them their misery ever
so plainly and faithfully, and they will not be persuaded that
they are so miserable : let him tell them of the glory they must
lose, and the sufferings they must feel, and they think it is not
they whom he means ; such a drunkard, or such a notorious
sinner, thev think may possibly come to such a doleful end, but
they little think that they are so near it themselves. We find
in all our preaching, by sad experience, that it is one of the
hardest things in the world to bring a wicked man to know that
he is wicked ; and a man who is posting in the way to hell, to
know that he is in that way indeed ; or to make a man see
himself in a state of wrath and condemnation : yea, though the
preacher do mark him out by such undoubted signs, which he
cannot deny, yet he will not apply them, nor be brought to say,
*It is my case;' though we show them the chapter and verse
where it is written, " that without regeneration and holiness,
none shall see God;" and though they know no such work that
was ever wrought upon themselves ; nay, though they might
easily find by their strangeness to the new birth, and by their
very enmity to holiness, that they were never partakers of them,
yet do they as verilv expect to see God, and to be saved, as if
they were the most sanctified persons in the world. 'It is a
most difficult work to make a proud person know that he is
^ Usitatum generis huraanivitium estlibendopeccatura committere,commis-
sum negando abscondere, et couvictusn defendendo excusare. — Greg: Moral,
lib. xxii. Superbus vult se credi constatitem, prodigus liberalem, avarus
diligentem, temerarius fortem, inhumanus parcum, iguavus quietum, timidus
cautum. — Prosp. Hoc enim maximum est vitium, quo laborat humanitas,
ut post peccatum suum, maxima ad excusationis refugium, quasi poeiiitudinis
se confessione prosteriiat; quod facinus inter summa peccata constat numera-
tum esse, quia inde nascitur, ut ad pceniteutiam reus tardius venire videatur.
— Greg. Moral. John iii. 3 ; Heb. xii. 14. Coepisti non defendere peccatum
tuum .' jam inchoasti justitiam. — Aug. de Came Serm. 4.
' Fevers and gouts are felt and known when they are strong, though we
doubt of them before ; but in the diseases which hurt men's souls, it is con-
trary. The worse a man is, the less he feels it, and no wonder. For he that
doth but slumber and dream, doth sometime think in his sleepthat he is asleep;
but a deep sleep expelleth dreams, and drowns the mind so deeply that it
leaves no use of the understanding. Why doth no man confess his faults ? Be-
cause he is yet in them. To rehearse a dream, is the work only of a man that
is waking; and to confess one's faults, is a sign of reco\ery. —£pist. 54. ad
Lucil, p. 616.
376 THE SAINT S
proud, or a covetous man to know that he is covetous ; or an
io-noraut, or erroneous heretical man to know himself to be such
an one indeed; but to make any of these to confess the sin,
and to apply the threatening, and to believe themselves the
children of wrath, this is to human strength an impossibility.
How seldom do you hear men, after the plainest discovery of
their condemned estate, to cry out and say, 'I am the man;' or to
acknowledge, that if they die in their present condition, they
are undone for ever ! and yet Christ hath told us in his word,
that the most of the world are in that estate ; yea, and the most
of those that have the preaching of the Gospel; "for many are
called, but few are chosen." So that it is no wonder that the
worst of men are not now troubled at their loss of heaven, and
at their eternal misery; because, if we should convince them by
the most undeniable arguments, yet we cannot bring them to
acknowledge it : if we should preach to them as long as we live,
we cannot make them believe that their danger is so great; except
a man rise from the dead, and tell them of that place of torments,
and tell them that their merry, jovial friends, who did as verily
think to be saved as they, are now in hell in those flames, they
will not believe. Nay, more, though such a messenger from the
dead should appear, and speak to them, and warn them that
they come not to that place of torments, and tell them, that
such and such of their dear, beloved, worshipful, or honourable
friends are now there destitute of a drop of water, yet would
they not be persuaded by all this; for Christ hath said so,
" that if they will not hear IMoses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded though one should rise from the dead."
(Luke xvi. 31.)
There is no persuading them of their misery till they feel it,
except the Spirit of the Almighty persuade them.
Oh ! but when they find themselves suddenly in the land of
darkness, perceive, by the execution of the sentence, that
they were indeed condemned, and feel themselves in the
scorching flames, and see that they are shut out of the
presence of God for ever, it will then be no such diflicult
matter to convince them of their misery : this particular appli-
cation of God's anger to themselves, will then be the easiest
matter in the world ; then they cannot choose, but know and
apply it, whether they will or not. If you come to a man that
hath lost a leg, or an arm, or a child, or goods, or house, or his
health, is it a hard matter to bring this man to apply, and to
EVERLASTING REST, 377
acknowledge that the loss is his own ? I think not. Why, it
will be far more easy for the wicked in hell to apply their misery
in the loss of heaven, because their loss is incomparably greater.
Oh ! this application, which now, if we should die, we cannot
get them to, for prevention of their loss will then be part of
their torment itself; O that they then could say, ' It is not my
case !' but their dolorous voices will then roar out these forced
confessions, ' Oh, my misery ! oh, my folly ! oh, my incon-
ceivable, irrecoverable loss.'
Sect. IV. Again, as the understandings and consciences of
sinners will be strengtliened against them, so also will their affec-
tions be then more lively and enlarged than now they are ; as judg-
ment will be no longer blinded, nor conscience stifled and bribed
as now it is, so the affections will be no longer so stupified and
dead. A hard heart now makes heaven and hell to seem but
trifles : and when we have showed them everlasting glory and
misery, they are as men half asleep, they scarcely take notice
what we say ; our words are cast as stones agaiiist a hard wall,
which fly back in the face of him that casteth them, but make no
impression at all where they fall. We talk of terrible, asto-
nishing things, but it is to dead men that cannot apprehend it.
We may rip up their wounds, and they never feel us; we speak
to rocks, rather than to men ; the earth will as soon tremble as
they.'' Oh, but when these dead wretches are revived, what
passionate sensibility ; what working affections ; what pangs of
horror ; what depth of sorrow will there then be ! How violently
will they fly in their own faces ; how will they rage against
their former madness ! The lamentations of the most pas-
sionate wife for the loss of her husband, or of the tenderest
mother for the loss of her children, will be nothing to theirs for
the loss of heaven. Oh, the self- accusing and self-tormenting
fury of those forlorn wretches ! How they will even tear their
own hearts, and be God's executioner upon themselves ! I am
persuaded, as it was none but themselves that committed the
sin, and themselves that were the only meritorious cause of
their sufferings, so themselves will be the chiefest executioners
of those sufferings. God will have it for the clearing of his
justice, and the aggravating of their distress ; even Satan
himself, as he was not so great a cause of their sinning as
'' Maxima est factae injurise poena, fecisse ; nee quis quam ^ravius afficitur,
quam qui ad supplicjum poeniteiitiae trahitur.— /S'enec. de Ira, lib, iii. c. 36,
378 THE saint's
themselves, so will he not be so great an instrument as them-
selves of their torment. And let them not think here, that if
they must torment themselves, they will do well enough, they
shall have wit enough to ease and favour themselves, and reso-
lution enough to command down this violence of their passions.
Alas ! poor souls, they little know what passions those will be,
and how much beyond the power of their resolutions to suppress !
Why have not lamenting, pining, self-consuming persons on
earth, so much wit or power as this? Why do you not thus
persuade despairing souls, who lie, as Spira, in a kind of hell
upon earth, and dare not eat, nor drink, nor be merry, but
torment themselves with continual terrors ? Why do you not
say to them, ' Sir, why will you be so mad as to be vour own
executioner ? And to make your own life a continual misery,
which otherwise might be as joyful as other men's ? Cannot
you turn your thoughts to other matters, and never think of
heaven or hell ?' Alas ! how vain are all these persuasions to
him; how little do they ease him ! You may as well persuade
him to remove a mountain, as to remove these hellish thoughts
that feed upon his spirit; it is as easy to him to stop the stream
of the rivers, or to ^ound the overflowing waves of the ocean, as
to stop the stream of his violent passions, or to restrain those
sorrows that feed upon his soul. Oh, how much less, then, can
those condemned souls, who see the glory before them which
they have lost, restrain their heart-rending, self-tormenting
passions ! So some direct to cure the tooth-ache, ' Do not think
of it, and it will not grieve you ;' and so these men think to ease
their pains in hell. Oh, but the loss and pain will make you
think of it, whether you will or not. You were as stocks or
stones under the threatenings, but you shall be most tenderly
sensible under the execution. Oh, how happy would you think
yourselves then, if you were turned into rocks, or any thing that
had neither passion nor sense ! Oh, now, how happy were you, if
vou could feel as lightly as you were wont to hear I And if you
could sleep out the time of execution, as you did the time of the
sermons that warned you of it 1 But your stupidity is gone, it
will not be.
Sect. V. Moreover, it will much increase the torment of
the damned, in that their memories will be as large and strong
as their understandings and affections, which will cause those
violent passions to be still working. Were their loss ever so
great, and their sense of it ever so passionate, yet if they could
EVERLASTING REST. 379
but lose the use of their memory, those passions would die, and
that loss being forgotten, would little trouble tbem. But as
they cannot lay by their life and being, though then they would
account annihilation a singular mercy ; so neither can they lay
aside any part of that being. Understanding, conscience, af-
fections, memory, must all live to torment them, which should
have helped to their happiness. And as by these they should
have fed upon the love of God, and drawn forth perpetually the
joys of his presence ; so by these must they now feed upon the
wrath of God, and draw forth continually the dolours of his ab-
sence : therefore never think, that when I say the hardness of
their hearts, and their blindness, dulness, and forgetfulness,
shall be removed, that, therefore, they are more holy or more
happy than before : no, but morally more vile, and hereby far
more miserable. Oh, how many hundred times did God by his
messengers here call upon them, 'Sinners, consider whither you
are a going !' Do but make a stand a while, and think where
your way will end, what is the offered glory that you so care-
lessly reject : will not this be bitterness in the end ?
And yet these men would never be brought to consider ; but
in the latter days, (saith the Lord, Jer. xxiii. 20,) they shall
perfectly consider it ; when they are ensnared in the work of
their own hands, (Psal. ix. 16,) when God hath arrested them,
and judgment is passed upon them, and vengeance is poured
out upon them to the full, then they cannot choose but consider
it, whether they will or not. Now, they have no leisure to con-
sider, nor any room in their memories for the things of ano-
ther Ufe. Ah ! but then they shall have leisure enough, they
shall be where they have nothing else to do but consider it;
their memories shall have no other employment to hinder them
it shall even be engraven upon the tables of their hearts.
(Deut. vi. 9.) God would have had the doctrine of their eter-
nal state to have been written on the posts of their doors, on
their houses, on their hands, and on their hearts : he would
have had them mind it, and mention it, as they rise and lie
down, as they sit at home, and as they walk abroad, that so it
might have gone well with them at their latter end. And see-
ing they rejected this counsel of the Lord, therefore shall it be
written always before them in the place of their thraldom, that
which way soever they look, they may still behold it.
Among others, I will briefly lay down here some of th ose
380 THE saint's
considerations which will thus feed the anguish of these damn-
ed wretches.
Sect. VI. First : It will torment them to think of the great-
ness of the glory which they have lost. Oh, if it had been that
which they could have spared, it had been a small matter ; or
if it had been a loss repairable with any thing else ; if it had
been health, or wealth, or friends, or life, it had been nothing ',
but to lose that exceeding, eternal weight of glory !
Sect. VII. Secondly : It will torment them also, to think of
the possibility that once they were in of obtaining it. Though
all things considered, there was an impossibility of any other
event than what did befall, yet the thing in itself was possible,
and their will was left to act without constraint.' Then they
will remember, the time was, when I was in as fair a possibility
of the kingdom as others 3 I was set upon the stage of the
world, if 1 had played my part wisely and faithfully, now I
might have had possession of the inheritance : I might have
been amongst yonder blessed saints, who am now tormented
with these damned fiends !™ The Lord did set before me life
and death, and having chosen death, I deserve to suffer it : the
prize was once held out before me ; if I had run well, I might
have obtained it ; if I had striven, I might have had the mas-
tery; if I had fought valiantly, I had been crov/ned.
Sect. VIII. Thirdly: It will yet more torment them to re-
member, not only the possibility, but the great probability that
once thev were in, to obtain the crown, and prevent the misery."
It will then wound them to think. Why, I had once the gales
of the Spirit ready to have assisted me. I was fully purposed
to have been another man, to have cleaved to Christ, and to
have forsaken the world ; I was almost resolved to have been
wholly for God ; I was once even turning from my base, sedu-
cing lusts; I was purposed never to take them up again, I had
1 Non satis acute igitur Hieronymus ad Ctesiph.advers. Pelagian, fol. (mihi)
117. Ro^o qua; est ista ars^umentatio, posse esse quod luuiquam fuerit?
™ Actus eveuiens est evitabilis secundum se, iuevitabilis vero secundum quod
est praevisus ; at licet hoc sit verum, tamen non solvit nodum, quia actus
eveuiens est jam de facto p^a^visus ab lEterno ; nee quictat intellectuni, qui hie
in isjnoraiitia sola quietem inveuit, inquit Cajetanus super Tho.i. p. q. 20. art. 4.
" O vere reconciliatio facilis sed perutilis ! quam facilis modo, tarn difficilis
erit postea : et sicut niodo nemo est qui reconciliari non possit : ita post pau-
lulum nemo qui possit; quoniam sic'ut benignitas apparuit ultra omnem spem,
ultra omnem sestimationem ; siuiilera expectarepossumus judiciidistrictioneni.
— Bern. Serm. 1. in Ppiphan,
EVERLASTING KEST.
381
even cast off my old companions, and was resolved to have as-
sociated myself with the godly; and yet T turned back, and lost
my hold, and broke my promises, and slacked my purposes ;
almost God had persuaded me to be a real Christian, and yet
I conquered those persuasions. What workings were in my
heart, when a faithful minister pressed home the truth ! O,
how fair was I once for heaven 1 I had almost had it, and yet
I have lost it; if I had but followed on to seek the Lord, and
brought those beginnings to maturity, and blown up the spark
of desires and purposes which were kindled in me, I had now
been blessed among the saints.
Thus will it wound them, to remember what hopes they once
had, and how a little more would have brought them over to
Christ, and have set their feet in the way of peace.
Sect. IX. Fourthly : Furthermore, it will exceedingly torment
them, to remember the fair opportunity that once they had, but
now have lost ; ° to look back upon an age spent in vanity,
when his salvation lay at the stake ; to think how many weeks,
and months, and years, did I lose, which, if 1 had improved, I
might now have been happy I Wretch that I was ! Could I find
no time to study the work, for which I had all my time ? Had
I no time among all my labours to labour for eternity ? Had I
time to eat, and drink, and sleep, and work, and none to seek
the saving of my soul ? Had I time for sports, and mirth, and
vain discourse, and none for prayer, or meditation on the life
to come ? Could I take time to look to my estate in the world,
and none to try my title to heaven, and to make sure of my
spiritual and everlasting state ? Oh, pernicious time, whither
art thou fled ? 1 had once time enough, and now I must have
no more ! I had so much, that I knew not what to do with it;
I was fain to devise pastimes ; and to talk it away, and trifle it
away, and now it is gone, and cannot be recalled ! ^ Oh, the
" Stultae valetudinis fructus est peccatum. — JVazianzen.
P yEternum Dei qui fiigiunt lumen, quod continetin se omnia bona, ipsi sibi
causa sunt, ut aeteruas inhabitent tenebras ; destitmi omnibus bonis, sibimet-
ipsis causa hujusmodi habitationis facti. — Irenaus adv. Hares, lib. iv. c. 76.
Here no man is hindered by sins repented of, or by age, from obtaining; salva-
tion. While a man is in this world, no true repentance is too late. The pas-
sage to God's mercy is still open ; and to them that seek and understand the
truth, the access is easy. If thou ask pardon of thy sins at the very time of thy
death, and in the passage of thy temporal life, and implore the true and only
God in confession and believing acknowledgment of him ; pardon shall be
given thee by the goodness of God on thy confessing, and saving indulgence,
and thou shalt pass immediately from death to immortality. This grace doth
Christ bestow i this gift of his mercy he giveth, by subduinj;- death in the
382 THE saint's
golden hours that I did enjoy ! Had I spent but one year of all
those years, or but one month of all those months, in thorough
examination, and unfeigned conversion, and earnest seeking
God with my whole heart, it had been happy for me that ever
I was born ; but now it is past, my days are cut off, my glass is
run, my sun is set, and will rise no more. God himself did
hold me the candle, that 1 might do his work, and 1 loitered
till it was burnt out ; and now fain would I have more, but can-
not : oh, that I had but one of these years to live over again !
Oh, that it were possible to recall one day, one hour, of that
time 1 Oh, that God would turn me into the world, and try me
once again, with another lifetime ! how speedily would 1 re-
pent : how earnestly would I pray : and lie on my knees day
and night : how diligently would I hear : how cheerfully
would I examine my spiritual estate : how watchfully would 1
walk : how strictly would I live 1 but, it is now too late ; alas !
too late ; I abused my time to vanity whilst I had it, and now
must I suffer justly for that abuse.
Thus will the remembrance of the time which they lost on
earth, be a continual torment to these condemned souls.
Sect. X. Fifthly : And yet more will it add to their calamity,
to remember how often ihey were persuaded to return, both by
the ministry in public, and in private, by all their godly, faithful
friends ; every request and exhortation of the minister, will now
be as a fiery dart in his spirit ; how fresh will every sermon
come now into his mind ! even those that he had forgotten, as
soon as he heard them. He even seems to hear still the voice
of the minister, and to see his tears ; oh, how fain would he
have had me to have escaped these torments ! How earnestly
did he entreat me ! With what love and tender compassion did
he beseech me ! How did his bowels yearn after me ! And yet
1 did but make a jest of it, and hardened my heart against all
this. How oft did he convince me that all was not well with
me 1 And yet I stifled all these convictions. How plainly did
he rip up my sores, and open to me my very heart, and show
me the unsoundness and deceitfulness of it ! and yet I was loth
to know the worst of myself, and therefore shut mine eyes, and
trophy of his cross, by redeeming the believer by the price of his blood, by re-
conciling man to God the Father, and by quickening the mortal by heavenly
Tegeuer&tioii.— Cyprian, ad Demetrian. p. 331. Can there be a fuller testi-
mony against purgatory, or necessity of meritorious works, with many the like
popish doctrines, when this was written by Cyprian to a bloody, persecuting
pagan ?
EVERLASTING llEST. 383
would not see. Oh, how glad would he have been, after all his
study, and prayers, and pains, if he could but have seen me cor-
dially entertain the truth, aud turn to Christ ! He would have
thought himself well recompensed for all his labours and suf-
ferings in his work, to have seen me converted and made happy
by 1 it. And, did I withstand and make light of all this ?
Should any have been more willing of my happiness than my-
self ? Had not I more cause to desire it than he ? Did it not
more nearly concern me ? It was not he, but I, that was to
suffer for my obstinacy. He would have laid his hands under
my feet, to have done me good ; he would have fallen down to
me upon his knees to have begged my obedience to his mes-
sage, if that would have prevailed with my hardened heart. O,
how deservedly do 1 now suffer these flames, who was so fore-
warned of them, and so entreated to escape them : nay, my
friends, my parents, my godly neighbours, did admonish and ex-
hort me ; they told me what would come of my wilfulness and
negligence at last, but I did never believe them, nor regard
them. Magistrates were fain to restrain me from sinning, by
law and punishment. Was not the foresight of this misery
sufficient to restrain me ?
Thus will the remembrance of all the means that ever they
enjoyed, be fuel to feed the flames in their consciences. Oh,
that sinners would but think of this, when they sit under the
plain instruction and pressing exhortations of a faithful ministry!
How dear must they pay for all this, if it do not prevail with
them ! And how they will wish a thousand times, in the
anguish of their souls, that they had either obeyed his doctrine,
or had never heard him ! The melting words of exhortation
which they were wont to hear, will be hot burning words to
their hearts upon this sad review. It cost the minister dear,
even .his daily study, his earnest prayers, his compassionate
1 Make your life doleful, and Christ will make your death doleful, be as
great as you will : stay long in the l)irth, and kill the midwife, and you will
be delivered in hell. Ease us, and ease Christ, for Christ striveth in us, —
jLockier in Col. i. 29, p. a30. When I hear men under all the means that
we enjoy, yet think that their ignorance should excuse them, it niaketh me
think of the answer of the agent of Charles V., emperor, to the ambassador
of Siena. The Sienois having rebelled against the emperor, sent their am-
bassador to excuse it ; who, when he could find no other excuse, tliought in a
jest to put it off thus : " What," saith he, " shall not we of Siena be excused,
seeing we are known to be all fools ?" The agent replied, " Even that shall
excuse you but upon the condition which is fit for fools, which is, to be kept
bound and enchained.— ZfO'rf Remy's Civil Considerations, c. 76. p. 200
384 THE saint's
sorrows for their misery, his care, his sufferings, his spendings,
weakening, killing pains ; but, oh ! how much dearer will it cost
these rebellious sinners ! His lost tears will cost them blood,
his lost sighs will cost them eternal groans, and his lost exhor-
tations will cause their eternal lamentations. For Christ hath
said it, " that if any city or people receive not, or welcome not
the Gospel,'' the very dust of the messenger's feet who lost his
travel to bring them that glad tidings, shall witness against
them ; much more, his greater pains. And it shall be easier
for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that
city." (Matt. xix. 14 — 16.) That Sodom which was the
shame of the world for unnatural wickedness, the disgrace of
mankind, that would have committed wickedness with the
angels from heaven, that were not ashamed to prosecute their
villany in the open street; that proceeded in their rage against
Lot's admonitions; yea, under the very miraculous judgment
of God, and groped for the door, when they were stricken
blind. That Sodom which was consumed with fire from
heaven, and turned to that deadly sea of waters, and suffers the
vengeance of eternal fire; (Jude v. 7;) even that Sodom shall
escape better in the day of judgment, than the neglecters of
this so great salvation. (Heb. ii. 3.) It will somewhat abate
the heat of their torment, that they had not those full and
plain offers of grace, nor those constant sermons, nor pressing
persuasions, nor clear convictions, as those under the sound of
the Gospel have had. I beseech thee who readest these words,
stay here awhile, and sadly think of what I say ; I profess to
thee from the Lord, it is easier thinking of it now than it will
be then. What a doleful aggravation of thy misery would this
be, that the food of thy soul should prove thy bane. Aiid that
that should feed thy everlasting torment, which is sent to save
thee, and prevent thy torments.
Sect. XI. Sixthly: Yet further," it will much add to the
torment of the wretches, to remember that God himself did
^ Mundus eum non cognovit; ut ptossit secundum hoc dici,redemptor mundi
dedit pro niundo sanguint-m suum, et mundus redimi iioluit; quia lucem
teuebrae non receperunt. — Prosper. Respons. ad c. 9. Gallor.
* Subjectio autem Dei requies est a^terna ; ut hi qui fugiunt lumen, dig-
num fugse suae habeant locum, et qui fugiunt aeteriiam requiem, coiigruentem
f ugae su£E habeant habitationem. Cum autem apud Deum omnia sint bona, qui
ex sua s.ententia fugiunt Deum, semetipsos ab omnibus fraudaut bonis. Frau-
dati autem omnibus erga Deum bonis, cousequenter in justum Dei judicium
incident. Qui enim fugiunt Requiem, juste in poena conservabuntur ; et qui
fujerunt lumen, juste inhabitabunt tenebras.— /?«;, adv. Hffres. lib, iv. c 76'.
EVERLASTING REST. 3S5
condescend to entreat them, that all the entreatings of the mi-
nister were the entreatings of God. How long he did wait, how
freely he did offer, how lovingly he did invite, and how impor-
tunately he did solicit tliem ! How the Spirit did continue
striving with their hearts, as if he were loth to take a denial!
How Christ stood knocking at the door of their hearts, sermon
after sermon, and one Sabbath after another, crying out, " Open,
sinner, open thy heart to the Saviour, and 1 will come in, and
sup with thee, and thou with me." (Rev. iii. 20.) Why,
sinner,'' are thy lusts and carnal pleasures better than I ?
Are thy worldly commodities better than my everlasting king-
dom ? Why, then, dost thou resist me ? Why dost thou thus
delay ? What dost thou mean, that thou dost not open to me ?
How long shall it be till thou attain to innocency ? How long
shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee ? Wo to thee, O
unworthy sinner ! Wilt thou not be made clean ? Wilt thou
not be pardoned and sanctified, and made happy ? When shall
it once be ? Oh ! that thou wouldst hearken to mv word, and
obey my Gospel ! " Then should thy peace be as the river, and
thy righteousness as the waves of the sea 5 though thy sins
were as red as the crimson or scarlet, I would make them as
white as the snow or wool. O that thou wert but wise to
consider this; and that thou wouldst in time remember thy
latter end, before the evil days come upon thee, and the years
draw nigh, when thou shalt say of all thy vain delights, ' I have
no pleasure in them !' Why, sinner, shall thy Maker thus
bespeak thee in vain ? Shall the God of all the world beseech
thee to be happy, and beseech thee to have pity upon thine own
soul, and wilt thou not regard him ? Why did he make thy
ears, but to hear his voice ? Why did he make thv under-
standing, but to consider i Or thy heart, but to entertain the
Son in obediential love? " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Con-
sider thy ways." (Hag. i. 5.)
Oh, how all these passionate pleadings of Christ will passion-
' Satanas fecit, dicit peccator, ipse mihi persuasit ; quasi Satanas liabeat
potestatem coneiidi '. Astutiam suadendi ha1)et ; sed si Satanas loqiierctur, et
taceret Deus, haberes mide te excusares. Modo aures tuaj positte siut inter
monentem Deiim, et sug^erentem serpentem, quare hue flectuntur, iiinc aver-
tiintur ? Noil cessat Satanas suadere malum, sed nee Deus cessat adinonere
bonuui ; Satanas auteni non coji^it iiivituiu ; in tua potestate est, consentire
aut non consentire. — August. Enarrat. in Psal. xci.; Hos. viii. 5; Jer. iv. 14,
and xiii. 27.
" Psal. Ixixi. 13, 14 j Isai. xlvlii. 17, 18, and i. 18 ; Deut. xxxii. 29 ; Eccles.
xii. 1.
VOL, xxrr, c c
386 THE saint's
ately transport the damned with self-indignation^ that they will
be ready to tear out their own hearts ! How fresh will the
remembrance of them be still in their minds, lancing their
souls with renewed torments ! What self- condemning pangs will
it raise within them, to remember how often Christ would have
gathered them to himself, even as the hen gatherelh her chickens
under her wings, but they would not ! (INlatt. xxvii. 37.) Then
will they cry out against themselves, ' Oh, how justly is all
this befallen me ! Must I tire out the patience of Christ ?
Must I make the God of heaven to follow me in vain, from home
to the assembly; from thence to my chamber; from alehouse
to alehouse, till I had wearied him with crying to me, ' Repent,
return !' Must the Lord of all the world thus wait upon me, and
all in vain }^, Oh, how justly is that patience now turned into
fury, which falls upon my soul with irresistible violence ! When
the Lord cried out to me, in his word, ' How long will it be
before thou wilt be made clean and holy ?' my heart, or at least
my practice, answered, * Never, I will never be so precise.' And
now when I cry out, ' How long will it be till I be freed from
this torment, and saved with the saint ?' how justly do I receive
the answer, ' Never, Never !' O sinner, I beseech thee for thy
own sake ; think of this for prevention while the voice of mercy
soundeth in thine ears I Yet patience continueth waiting upon
thee ; canst thou think it will do so still ? Yet the offers of
Christ and life are made to thee in the Gospel, and the hand of
God is stretched out to thee ; but will it still be thus ? The
Spirit hath not yet done striving with thy heart, but dost thou
know how soon he may turn away, and give thee over to a
reprobate sense, and let thee perish in the stubbornness and
hardness of thy heart ? Thou hast yet life, and time, and
strength, and means, but dost thou think this life will always
last ? " Oh ! seek the Lord while he may be found, and call
upon him while he is near." (Isa. Iv. 6, 7.) He that hath an
ear to hear, let him hear what Christ now speaketh to his soul.
(Rev. ii. and iii.) And to-dav, while it is called to-day, harden
not vour hearts, lest he swear in his wrath that you shall never
enter into his rest. (Heb. iii. 8, 11, 15.) For ever blessed is
* Lex jubere novit ; pratia juvare. Nee lex juberet, nisi esset voluntas ; nee
gratia juvaret, si sat esset voluntas. Jubetur ut facianius bonum et non faci-
amus malum ; et tanien pro his oratur, &c. Sicut ergo agnoscimus volunta-
teni cum haec praecipiuntur ; sic et ipse agnoscat grutiam cum petuntur. — ^«g.
Epist. 'Ja.
EVERLASTING REST. 387
he that hath a hearhig heart and ear, while Christ hath a calUng
voice.
Sect. XII. Seventhly : Again, it will be a most cutting consi-
deration to those damned sinners to remember on what easy
terms they might have escaped their misery, and on what easy
conditions the crown was tendered to them. If their work had
been to remove mountains, to conquer kingdoms, to fulfil the
law to the smallest tittle, then the impossibility would somewhat
assuage the rage of their self-accusing conscience ; if their con-
ditions for heaven had been the satisfying of justice for all their
transgressions, the suffering of all that the law did lay upon
them, or bearing the burden which Christ was fain to bear, why
this were nothing but to suffer hell to escape hell ; but their
conditions were of another nature : ^ the yoke was light, and
the burden was easy, which Jesus Christ would have laid upon
them ; his commandments were not grievous. (Matt. xi. 28, 29 ;
1 John V. 3.) It was but to repent of their former transgres-
sions, and cordially to accept him for their Saviour and their
Lord ; to study his will, and seek his face ; to renounce all other
happiness but that which he procureth us, and to take the Lord
alone for our supreme Good ; to renounce the government of
the world and the flesh, and to submit to his meek and gracious
government; to forsake the ways of our own devising, and to
walk in his holy, delightful way • to engage ourselves to this by
covenant with him, and to continue faithful in that covenant :
these were the terms on which they might have enjoyed the
kingdom ; and was there any thing unreasonable in all this, or
had they any thing to object against it ? Was it a hard bar-
gain to have heaven upon these conditions, when all the price
that is required is only our accepting it in that way that the
wisdom of our Lord thinks meet to bestow it ? And for their
want of ability to perform this, it consisteth chiefly in their want
y As voluntary election is the principle of action, so faith is found to be the
principle of action, the foundation of prudence, choice, &c. All propriety and
difference of faith and unbelief, would neither be liable to praise nor dis-
praise, if tliey had a foregoing natural necessity, arising from him who is om-
nipotent. If we are drawn by natural operations, as by ropes, like things that
have no life, then it is in vain to talk of involuntary or voluntary j nor do 1
vmderstand that to be a living creature, whose power of desire is subject to
necessity. But for us who have learned from the Scripture that God hath
given men to choose and avoid things by a free and absolute power, let us rest
in the judgment of faith, which cannot be moved, or fail us, manifesting a
cheerful and ready spirit, because we have chosen life, &c. — Clem. Alex. StrO'
mat, lib. ii. prope init.
cc2
388 THE saint's
of vvill,^ If they were but willing, they should find that God
would not be backward to assist them : if they be willing, Christ
is much more willing.
Oh 1 when the poor tormented wretch shall look back upon
these easy terms which he refused, and compare the labour of
them with the pains and loss which he there sustaineth, it can-
not be now conceived how it will rent his very heart. Ah!
thinks he, how justly do I suffer all this, who would not be
at so small a cost and pains to avoid it ! "WHicre was my
understanding when J neglected that gracious offer; when I
Called the Lord a hard master, and thought his pleasant service
to be a bondage, and the service of the devil and my flesh to be
the onlv delight and freedom ! Was I not a thousand times
worse than mad when 1 censured the holy way of God as need-
less preciseness, and cried out on it as an intolerable burden ;
when I thought the laws of Christ too strict, and all too much
that 1 did for the life to come ! Oh ! what had all the trouble
of duty been in comparison of the trouble that I now sustain ;
or all the sufferings for Christ and well-doing, in comparison of
these sufferings that I must undergo for ever ! What, if I had
spent my days in the strictest life that ever did saint ; what, if
I had lived still upon my knees ; what, if 1 had lost my credit
^ The feud is as mortal about this question, between the papists themselves,
as us ; and for all the means to silence it, breai<s out ag-ain as hot as ever ; as
you may see in August. ' Yprens. Apol.' and Theriaca Vincentii Leiia; and
the answer of Petavius and Ricardus to it. All men can, if tliey will, l)elieve
in God, and convert themselves from the love of visible and temporal things,
to the keeping of his commandments. — y4ug-. dc Cm. coiit. Manicli.. c 3. It
is a certain truth, that men can do this if they will ; but the will is prepared
by the Lonl. — Aug. Retract, lib. i. c. 10. exponeus locum prioreni. All men
have power to believe, if they will ; but actuality, or will, is from that grace
■which is proper to the faithful. — .-Jug. de. Pradest. Smict. c. 3. There is a first
power which the will commaudeth : tliis we deny not to be in the most wicked
men, and contemners of God. We can worship God if we will, and thence it
is that God is just in pronouncing sentence against sinners ; for, what hinder-
eth us but we may obt^y ? Certainly it is not the want of any faculty which
the will commaudeth, as oft as it iinpelleth us to do what we willed; else it
were no sin to us, as if a man would fain relieve the poor, and catmot. If our
disability were such, it were a calamity, not a vice ; but tliere is a disability
which is in the will itself, which is indeed a sin, and spreads itself far and
wide. ^Vhen we say, therefore, that there are many that cannot be good men,
we would not be so understood, as if we meant, as if there were any that could
not be a good man, and yet would, &c, — Camera Pralect. ad Phil. ii. 12, 13,
operum fol. p. 340. Voluntas libera tanto liberior quanto divinse gratiae mi-
gericordiaeque subjectior; ut August. ' Ejjist.' 8I>. Perhaps some such tolerable
sense may be put on Clem. Alexand.'s words, who so oft saith over and over,
that to believe and obey is in our ow^i powfr,-'A5/rowi«i. lib. vi. vii. et passim.
EVERLASTING REST. 389
with men, and been hated of all men for the sake of Christ, and
borne the reproach and scorn of the foohsh ; what, if I had been
iinpriscued, or banished, or put to death 5 oh ! what had all this
been to the miseries that 1 now must suffer 1 Then had my
sufferings now been all over, whereas they do but now begin,
but will never end. Would not the heaven which I have lost,
have recompensed all my losses ; and should not all my suffer-
ings have been there forgotten ? What, if Christ had bid me
do some great matter, as to live in continual tears and sorrow,
to suffer death a hundred times over, which vet he did not,
should 1 not have done it? How much more when he saidj
' But ])clieve and be saved ; seek my face, and thy soul shall
live ; love me above all, walk in my sweet and holy way, take
up thy cross and foUov/ me, and I will save thee from the wrath
of God, and 1 v/ill give thee everlasting life ? ' Oh, gracious offer!
Oh, easy terms ! 0!i, cursed wretch, that would not be per-
suaded to accept them !
Sect, XIII. Eighthly : Furthermore, this also will be a most
tormenting consideration, to remembenwhat they sold their eter-
nal welfare for, and vvhat it was that they had for heaven. When
they compare the value of the pleasures of sin with the value of
the recompense of reward, which they forsake for those pleasures,
how will the vast disproportion astonish them ! To think of a
few merry hours, a few j)leasant cups or sweet morsels, a little
ease or low delight to the flesh, the applauding breath of the
mouth of mortal men, or the possession of so much gold on earth,*
and then to think of the everlasting glory; what a vast difference
between them will then appear ! To think this is all I had for
my soul, my God, my hopes of blessedness, it cannot possibly be
expressed how these thoughts will tear his very heart ! Then
will he exclaim against his folly, ' Oh ! deservedly miserable
wretch, did I set my soul to sale at so base a price ; did I oart
with my God for a little dirt and dross,*^ and sell mv Saviour, as
" Avarus potius Milt in infonio setcrnalitcr combiiri, qiiain lia?reditatem
falso acquisitani miiuii vel injustti retentam resliiuere. — Jlcx. Fabri. in De~
slnirt. Vdlornm, part. iv. c. 2. 111.
^ Luluin est divitiarum propriissimum epitheton ; ut lutum eniin in plateis
a pedil)us anihulaniium couculcatiir, ita Dens in pocnis ojies vel niaximas dis-
per^it et delet.— //7i;a?i. hi Hahuc. 2. p. 400. Avarus est pueris similis papi-
li'iiies sequcmibus, niairna neglig-entibus. — Fah. ubi sup. 1. Cajterum non
leviter peccat in Dominum, qui cum semulo ejus diabolo poenitentiA renun-
ciasset, et lioc nomine ilium Domino snbjecisset, rursus eundein regressu suo
eiigit; et exuUationeni ejus seipsum facit, ut denuo malus, recuperata prsda
sua adversus Dominum gaudeat. Nonne, quod dicere periculosum est, «ed
390 THE saint's
Judas, for a little silver ! Oh, for how small a matter have I
parted with my happiness ! I had but a dream of delight for
my hopes of heaven ; and now 1 am awaked, it is all vanished !
Where are now my honours and attendance ? Who doth applaud
me, or trumpet out my praises ? Where is the cap and knee that
was wont to do me reverence ? Mv morsels are now turned to
gall, and my cups to wormwood. They delighted me no longer
than while they were passing down : when they were past my
taste, the pleasure perished ; and is this all that I have had for
the inestimable treasure ? Oh, what a mad exchange did I
make 1 What, if I had gained all the world, and lost my soul,
would it have been a saving match ? But, alas ! how small a
part of the world was it for which 1 gave up my part in glory !
Oh ! that sinners would forethink of this when they are swim-
ming in delights of flesh, and studying to be rich and honourable
in the world ; when they are desperately venturing upon known
transgression, and sinning against the checks of conscience !
Sect. XIV. Ninthly : Yet much more will it add unto their
torment, when they consider that all this was their own doings,"^
ad aedificationem proferendum est, diabolum Domino praeponit? Compara-
tionem enim videtur egisse qui utrumqiie cognoverit, et judicata pronunciasse
eum meliorem cujus se rursus esse maiuerit. — Tertul. lib. de Poenilent. c, 5.-
p. edit. Pamel.) Hi).
= llle qui iiou consequitur earn, sibimet suae imperfectionis est causa. Nee
enim lumen deficit propter eos, qui semetipsos excaecaverunt. Sed illo per-
severante quale et est, excaecati per suam culpara in caligine constituuntur.
Neque lumen cum magjna necessitate subjiciet sibi quenquam ; neque Deus
cogit eum qui nolit contiuere ejus artem. Qui igitur abstiterunt a paterno
lumine, et transgressi sunt legem libertatis, per suam abstiterunt culpam,
liberi arbitrii et suae potestatis facti. Deus autem omnia praesciens utrisque
aptas pra;paravit habitatioues : eis quidem qui inquirunt lumen incorruptilji-
litatis, et ad id recurrunt, benigne donans hoc quod concupiscunt lumen ;
aliis vero id contemnentibus et avertentibus se ab eo, et id fugientibus, et
quasi seipsos excaecantibus, congruentes lumiiii adversautibus piaeparavit
tenebras ; et his qui fugiunt ei esse subjecti, convenientem subdidit pcenam. —
Iren. adv. Hceres. lib. iv. c. 16. As if a man be armed all over, yet it is left in
his own will, either to use his arms to fight and strive with the enemy, and
carry (he victory, or else to love and make peace with his enemy, and not
to fight for all he is armed ; so Christians that have put on perfect virtue, and
have got the heavenly armour, if they will, they may be delighted in Satan,
and make peace with him, and forbear war : for nature is changeable ; and if
a man will, he may be the son of God ; if not, the son of death ; because there
remains to us our free will or choice. — Macarius in Horn, xxvii. p. 336. Yej
this doth not intimate any sufficiency without grace. Austin bimsAf, and all
the fathers, and all divines, acknowledge liherum arbitrium, free will or choice,
who yet plead most for a necessity of grace.
Qua petiit rutilans opum splendore bonorum,
Quae Deus in nobis veluti sua dona coronat.
EVERLASTING REST. 391
and that they, most wilfully, did procure their own destruction.
Had they heen forced to sin whether they would or not, it would
much abate the rage of their consciences ; or if they were punish-
ed for another man's transgressions, or if any other had been
the chiefest author of their ruin ; but to think that it was the
choice of their own wills, and that God had set them in so free
a condition that none in the world could have forced them to sin
against their wills; this will be a griping thought to their hearts.
What, thinks this wretched creature ! Had I not enemies enough
in the world, but 1 must be enemy to myself? God would nei-
ther give the devil nor the world so much power over me as to
force me to commit the least transgression. If I had not con-
sented, their temptations had been in vain : they could but en-
tice me ; it was myself that yielded j and that did the evil : and
must I needs lay hands upon my own soul, and imbrue my
hands in my own blood ? Who should pity me, who pitied not
myself, and who brought all this upon mine own head ? When
the enemies of Christ did pull down his word and laws, his mi-
nistry and worship, the news of it did rejoice me ; when they
set up seducing or ungodly ministers, instead of the faithful
preachers of the Gospel, I was glad to have it so; when the
minister told me the evil of my ways, and the dangerous state
that my soul was in, I took him for my enemy, and his preach-
ing did stir up my hatred against him, and every sermon did cut
me to the heart, and 1 was ready to gnash my teeth in indignation
against him. Never was I willing of the means of mine own
welfare; never had I so great an enemy as myself; never did
God do me any good, or offer me any for the welfare of my soul,
but I resisted him, and was utterly unwilling of it. He hath
heaped mercy upon me, and renewed one deliverance after an-
other, and all to entice my heart unto him, and yet was I never
heartily willing to serve him : he hath gently chastised me, and
made me groan under the fruit of my disobedience ; and yet,
though I promised largely in my affliction, I was never unfeign-
edly willing to obey him. Never did a good magistrate attempt
a reformation, but 1 was against it ; nor a good minister labour
the saving of the flock, but I was ready to hinder as much as I
could ; nor a good Christian labour to save his soul, but I was
ready to discourage and hinder him to my power ; as if it were
Liberum enim arbitrium divina ita gratia semper
Adjuvat, ut sine ea sit iiianis cuncta potestas.
Utcanit Eucharius Gaudensis in < Vita Dionysii Carthusiaiil' ante ejus opera.
392 THE saint's
not enough to perish alone, but I must draw all others to the
same destruction. Oh, what cause hath my wife, my children,
my servants, my neighbours, to curse the day that ever they saw
me ! As if I had been made to resist God, and to destroy my
own and other men's souls, so have 1 madly behaved myself 1
Thus will it gnaw upon the hearts of these wretches, to remem-
ber that they were the cause of their own undoing ; and that they
wilfully and obstinately persisted in their rebellion, and were
mere volunteers in the service of the devil. They would venture ;
they would go on ; thev would not hear him that spoke against
it: God calleth to them to hear and stay, but they would not;
men called, conscience called, and said to them, as Pilate's wife,
(Matt. xvii. 19,) 'Have nothing to do with that hateful sin, for
I have suffered many things because of it ;' but they would not
hear : their will was their law, their rule, and their ruin.
Sect. XV. Tenthly, and lastly : It will yet make the wound
in their consciences much deeper, when they shall remember
that it was not only their own doing, but that they were at so
nuich cost and pains for their own damnation.'^ What great
undertakings did they engage in to effect their ruin ; to re-
sist God, to conquer the Spirit, to overcome the power of mer-
cies, judgments, and the word itself, to silence conscience; all
this they did take upon them, and perform. What a number
of sins did they manage at once ! A\^hat difficulties did they
set upon ! even the conquering the power of reason itself.
\^niat dangers did they adventure on ! Though they walked
in continual danger of the wrath of God, and knew he could lay
them in the dust in a moment ; though they knew they lived
in danger of eternal perdition, yet would they run upon all this.
What did they forsake for the service of Satan, and the plea-
sures of sin ? They forsook their God, their conscience, their
'' Cupiditas niundi in'itium habet ex arbitrio voluntatis, progressum ex ju-
cunditate voluptatis, et firniauieiitum ex vinculo consuetudini.«.— ^h^-. lib. i.
de Patientia, c. 7. Est quippe aninia condita libera potestque bona ut eligere,
ita et adversari. (Jiium igitur (piod bonum est rcfugiat, iiecessario rontraria
cogitat ; quiesccre enim ;i niotu omnino nun prsevalf t, cum sit, ut dixi natura-
liter mobilis. Ag'noscens ver5 arbitrii sui libertatem, conspicit se posse in utram-
que partem membris corporis uti, sive ad ea (.\ux sunt, sive ad ea qufe non sunt.
Sunt quippe bona ; non sunt autem mala. — Athunas, cont. Gent. lib. i. Neque
enim malum in Deo est, neque per seipsum omnino subsistit. Alioqui bonus non
esset, si vel permixtam baberetcbntrariam na turara,vel causa essetniali. — Atha-
nas. ubi supra. Veritas sentential ecclesiasticte per se elucet. Malum scilicet
neque a, Deo, neque in Deo, neque ab initio fuisse ; ue illam (]uidem ipsius mali
esse substantiam ; sed homines per privationem boni sibi, quae non sunt, et
qua2 volant, coepisse confingere. Vid. ultra in Atlianasio ibid.
EVERLASTING REST. 393
best friends, their eternal hopes of salvation, and all. Thev
that could not tell how to forsake a lust, or a little honour or
ease for Christ, yet can lose their souls ; and all for sin ! Oh,
the labour that it costeth poor wretches to be damned ! Sobri-
ety they might have at a cheaper rate, and a great deal of health
and ease to boot ; and yet they will rather have gluttony and
drunkenness, with poverty, and shame, and sickness, and belch-
ings, and vomitings ; with the outcries and lamentations of
wife and children, and conscience itself. Contentedness they
might have with ease and delight, yet will they rather have
covetousness and ambition, though it cost them study, and care,
and fears, and labour of bodv and mind, and a continual un-
quietness and distraction of spirit, and usually a shameful over-
throw at the last. Though their anger be nothing but a tor-
menting themselves, and revenge and envy do consume their
spirits, and keep them upon a continual rack of disquiet; though
uncleanness destroy their bodies, and estates, and names ;' and
though they are foretold of the- hazard of their eternal happi-
ness, yet will they do and suffer all this, rather than suffer their
souls to be saved. How fast runs Gehazi for his leprosy!
What cost and pains is Nimrod at, to purchase a universal
confusion ! How doth an amorous Ammon pine himself away
for a self-destroying lust ! How studiously and painfullv doth
Absalom seek a hanging ! Ahitophel's reputation and his life
must go together. Even -when they are struck blind by a judg-
ment of God/ yet how painfully do the Sodomites grope and
weary themselves to find the door ! What cost and pains are
the idolatrous papists at, for their multifarious will-worship !
How unweariedly and unreservedly have the enemies of the
Gospel put out the light that should guide them to heaven, and
how earnestly do they still prosecute it to the last ! Ho^v do
the nations generally rage, and the people imagine a vain
thing ! The kings of the earth setting themselves, and the
rulers taking counsel together, against the Lord, and against his
Christ; that they may break the bonds of his laws asunder,
and cast away the cords of his government from them, though
he that silteth ni heaven do laugh them to scorn, though the
= Gen. xix. 11. As Phocion, nhen being' condemned to die, his fellows had
drunk up all the poison before him, so tliat he could not liave any except he
would pay for it a dear price, he desires his friend to pay for it, quoniam
Athenis ne mori quidem gratis licet; so because God in mercy hath resolved
that no man shall be damned except he buy it with his sinful labour, they will
pay the price rather than escape. — Phil. ii. 12,
394 THE saint's
Lord have them in derision ; though he speak to them in his
wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure, and resolve that
yet in despite of them all, '■ He will set his King upon his holy
hill of Sion,' yet will they spend and tire themselves out as
long as they are able to stir against the Lord. O how the
reviews of this will feed the flames in hell ! With what rage
will these damned wretches curse themselves, and say, ' Was
damnation worth all my cost and pains; was it not enough that
I perished through my negligence, and that I sit still while
Satan played his game, but I must seek so diligently for my
own perdition; might 1 not have been damned on free cost, but
I must purchase it so dearly? I thought I could have been saved
without so much ado; and could 1 not have been destroyed
without so much ado ? How well is all my care, and pains, and
violence, now requited ! Must I work out so laboriously my
own damnation, when God commanded me to work out mv sal-
vation?^ Oh ! If I had done as much for heaven as I did for
hell, I had surely had it ! I cried out of the tedious way of
godliness, and of the painful course of duty and self-denial;
and vet I could be at a great deal more pains for Satan,
and for death. If I had loved Christ as strongly as I did my
j)leasures, and profits, and honours, and thought on him as often,
and sought him as painfully, O how happy had I now been !
But justly do I suffer the flames of hell, who would rather buy
them so dear, than have heaven on free-cost, when it was pur-
chased to my hands.'
f Though I am uo Arminian, jet I detest their doctrine and way of preach-
ing on the other extreme, who teach men to lay the chief cause of their sin
and damnation from themselves on God ; and would liave wicked men he-
lieve, tl)at none but the elect do sin against the price that was paid for them,
and the Christ that died for them ; and so wouki quiet their consciences in
hell, as if they were not guilty of any sucli sin. And the doctrine of a phy-
sical, active predetermination of man's will to sin, or the act which is sinful
by God's effectual influx, hath need of a wary consideration. And though
Twisse and other learned men assert it, yet ordinary Christians need not put
it into their creed. JVIay not all common Christians well take up with a con-
tented igncjrance here, when Cajetan could find rest nowhere .'' and Arriba,
that reproveth him, saith in a manner as much. — Lii). i. c. 3U. p. 188. And
our learned liarlow takes up with this : De futuritione mali, presertim moralis,
statuant alii ; non ego : qui rem tot difficultatibus perplexam deieriuinare nee
volo nee valeo. Solum hoc firmum maneat et immotum ; nempe mali mo-
ralis futuritionem ita statuendam, ut hypotheses nostras peccati originem in
Deum non rejiciant. Si quidem spuria ilia et deformis soboles nostri pro-
genies est, non Dei; qui peccatum placido vultu nee videt quidem, nedum
faciat. Scilicet iusauiam ethnicorum superlativam arguit, quod Jovem Deum
aguoverunt et adulterum, ut Minutius . et miratur Athenagoras, qui fieri.
EVERLASTING REST. 395
Thus I have showed you some of those thoughts which will
aggravate the misery of these wretches for ever. O that God
would persuade thee, who readest these words, to take up these
thoughts now seasonably and soberly, for the preventing of that
inconceivable calamity, that so thou mayst not be forced, in
despite of thee, to take them up in hell as thy own tormentor.
It may be some of these hardened wretches will jest at all
this, and say, 'HowknoAV you what thoughts the damned in hell
will have ?'
Answ. First: Why read but the 16th of Luke, and you shall
there find some of their thoughts mentioned.
Secondiv : I know their understanding will not be taken from
them, nor their conscience, nor passions. As the joys of heaven
are chiefly enjoyed by the rational soul, in its rational actions,
so also must the pains of hell be suffered. As they will be men
still, so will they act as men.
Thirdly : Besides, Scripture hath plainly foretold us as much,
that their own thoughts shall accuse them, (Rom. ii. 15,) and
their hearts condemn them ; ( 1 John iii. 19 — 21 ;) and we see
it begun in despairing persons here.
CHAP. in.
TIiCT/ shall lose all things that are comfortable, as ivell as
Heaven.
Sect. I. Having showed you those considerations which will
then aggravate their misery, I am next to show you their addi-
potuit, ut ilium tatiquam Deuin colerent, quem et eTriKKoirov et inr4p9vfj.ou,
furem et superbuni cojnoverunt. Certe Deus non est, nisi omiiiiio bonus,
rnalitia nulla vitiatus. Recte Nazianzi episcopus, avafidpzTiTos 6 @ehs, Deus
peccati nescieiis. Cum impossibile est ut vitiis succumbat ipsa bonitas,
&c. — Bttiilvw Exercitut. 5. p. 127. NuUo modo cogimur, aut retenta prEe-
scientia Dei tollere voluntatis arbitriuni ; aut retento voluntatis arbitrio, Deum
(quod nefas est) negare praescium futurorum. Sed utrumnue amplectimur ;
utruuKjue fideliter et veraciter coutitemur ; illud, ut bene credamus ; hoc, ut
bene vivamus ; male autem vivitur, si de Deo nou bene credere.- — Aug.de
Civ. lib. V. c. 10. Quisquis audet dicere, ' Habeo ex meipso fidem, non
ergo accepi,' profecto coutradicit huic apertissima; veritati, ' 52"'*^ babes
quod nou accepisti ?' Non quia credere vel non credere non est in arbitrio
voluntatis humanas ; sed in electis prteparatur vuluntas k Domino. Ideo ad
ipsam quoque fidem, qute in voluntate est, pertinet " Quis te discernit?" —
Aug, lie Prcedest, S'anct, c. 5.
396 THE saint's
tional losses which will aggravate it.^ For as godli'.iess Irath
the promise both of this life and that wliich is to come, and
as God hath said, '^that if we first seek his kingdom and right-
eousness, all things else shall be added to usj" so also are the
ungodly threatened with the loss both of spiritual and of cor-
poral blessings; and because they sought not first Christ's king-
dom and righteousness, therefore shall they lose both it and
that which they did seek, and thwe shall be taken from them
even that little which they have. If they could but have kept
their present enjoyments, they would not have much cared for
the loss of heaven, let them take it that have more mind of it:
but catching at the shadow, and losing the suljstance, they now
find that they have lost both ; and that when they rejected
Christ, they rejected all things. If they had lost and forsaken
all for Christ, they would have found all again in him ; for he
would have been all in all to them; but now they have forsaken
Christ for other things, they shall lose Christ, and that also for
which they did forsake him.
But I will particularly open to you some of their other losses.
Sect. II. First: They shall lose their present presumptuous
conceit and belief of their interest in God, and of his favour to-
wards them, and of their part in the merits and sufferings of
Christ. This false belief doth now support their spirits, and
defend them from the terrors that would else seize upon them,
and fortify them against the fears of the wrath to come.
Even as true faith doth afford the soul a true and grounded sup-
j)ort and consolation, and enableth us to look to eternity with
undaunted courage; so also a false ungrounded faith doth afford
a false ungrounded comfort, and abates the trouble of the con-
siderations of judgment and damnation. But, alas! this is but
a palliate salve, a deceitful comfort; what will ease their trouble
when this is gone ? When they can believe no longer, they will
be quieted in mind no longer, and rejoice no longer, it' a man
be near to the greatest mischief, and yet strongly conceit that
he is in safety, his conceit may make him as cheerful as if all
were well indeed, till his misery comes, and then both his con-
s It is a great question v.itli many, whether there be no mercy in bell.
Aquinas (1 q. 21 a. 4, 1 m.) saitli there is ; so Loriims, Par. Cajetan. Frnar-
dentius, Salnieron ; also Ursin. Cat., with some of ours; but I say, as Jac.
Laurentius, in 'Jac' (2, 13), \^'batneed is there curiously to inquire, or boldly
to determine in this ? It is enough to know that the pains and torments of
hell to the wicked, will be both eterual -and incomprehensible, (p. ICo.)
EVERLASTING liEST. .397
t-eit and comforts vanish. An ungrounded persuasion of happi-
ness, is a poor cure for real misery. When the mischief comes,
it will cure the misbelief; but that belief can neither prevent nor
cure the mischief. If there were no more to make a man happy,
but to believe he is so, or shall be so, happiness Avould be far
commoner than now it is likely to be. It is a wonder that any
man who is not a stranger both to Gospel and reason, should be
of the Antinomian faith iii this; ^' who tell us, that faith is but
the believing that God loveth us, and that our sins are already
pardoned through Christ; that this is the chief thing that minis-
ters should preacli ; that our ministers preach not Christ, be-
cause they preach not this; that every man ought thus to believe,
but no man to question this faith, whether he believe truly or
not, &c. But if all men must believe that their sins are pardon-
ed, then most of the world must believe a lie ; and if no man
ought not to question the truth of his faith, then most men
shall rest deluded with an ungrounded belief. The Scripture
commandeth us first to believe for a remission of sins, before we
believe that our sins are remitted, if we believe in Christ, that
is, accept him cordially for our Saviour, and our King, then we
shall receive the pardon of sins. The truth is, we have more
ado to preach down this Antinomian faith, than they have to
preach it up ; and to preach our people from such a believing,
than they have to preach them to it. I see no need to persuade
people to believe ; the generality are strong and confident in such
a belief already. Take a congregation of five thousar-d persons,
and how few among them all will you find, that do not believe
that their sins are pardoned, and that God loves them ; especi-
ally of the vilest sinners, who have least cause to believe it! In-
deed, as it is all the work of those men to persuade people to
this belief, so it is the hardest task almost that we meet with,
to convince men of the ungroundedness of this belief, and to
break that peace which Satan maintaineth in their souls. Nei-
'• Indeed, to speak the plain truth, that which the presumptuous conceit to
be true, justii'ying faith, viz., a believinj^ that our sins are pardoned before
they are ; tliat is, upon our l)are receiving Clirist as a Saviour to justify us,
before we receive him as Lord to rule us •, this is truly a believing the devil,
the father of lies, and not God ; y^^a, against God. And it is a resting on the
deceiving promise of the devil for justification : and are not such likely to be
well justified by their accuser? Nay, it is a making the devil their God, by
taking his word, who tells ihem they shall be justified and saved by a bare
expecting justification and salvation from Christ, when God telleth them the
contrary. TertuUian saith. Per diversitatem enim promissionum, diversitas
insiiuiatur VQOxam.-'Tertul. lii(>, tie Resurrect. Cam, c. 2. p. 407, ^
398 THE saint's
ther do I know a commoner cause of men's destruction, than
such a misbelief. Who will seek for that which he believes he
hath already ? This is the great engine of hell, to make men go
merrily to their own perdition. 1 know men cannot believe
Christ, or believe in or upon Christ, either too soon or too
much. But they may believe or judge that themselves are par-
doned, adopted, and in favour with God, too soon, and too much :
for a false judgment is always loo much and too soon. As true
grounded faith is the master-grace in the regenerate, and of the
greatest use in the kingdon of Christ ; so is false ungrounded
faith the master-vice in the unregenerate soul, and of greatest
use in the kingdom of Satan. Why do such a multitude sit
still, when they might have pardon for the seeking, but that they
verily think they are pardoned already ? Why do men live so
contentedly in the power of the devil, and walk so carelessly in
the certain way to hell ; but that they think their way will have
no such end, and that the devil hath nothing to do with them ?
They defy him, they spit at the mention of his name. If you
could ask so many thousands as are now in hell, ' W^hat madness
could cause vou to come hither voluntarilv, or to follow Satan
to this place of torment, when you might follow Christ to the
land of rest ? ' they would most of them answer you, ' We be-
lieved that we had followed towards salvation ; and that the way
which we were in, would have brought us to heaven. We made
sure account of being saved, till we found ourselves damned j
and never feared hell, till we were suddenly in it ; we would
have renounced our sinful courses and companions, but that we
thought we might have them and heaven too. We would ha\e
sought after Christ more heartily, but that we thought we had
part in him already. We would have been more earnest seekers
of regeneration, and the power of godliness, but that we verily
thought we were Christians before. Oh ! if we had known as
much as now we know, what lives would we have led, what per-
sons would we have been ! But we have flattered ourselves into
these insufferable torments. We were told of this before, from
the word of God, but we would not believe it till we felt it ; and
now there is no remedy.' Reader, do but stop, and think here
with thyself, how sad a case is this; that men should so reso-
lutelv cheat themselves of their everlasting rest. The Lord
grant it never prove thy own case ! I would be very loth to
weaken the true faith of the meanest Christian, or to persuade
any man that his faith is false, when it is true \ God forbid that
EVERLASTING REST. 399
I should so disparage that precious grace which hath the stamp
of the Spirit ; or so trouble the soul, that Christ would have to
be comforted ! But I must needs in faithfulness tell thee, that
the confident belief of their good estate, and of the pardon of
their sins, which the careless, unholy, unhumbled multitude
among us do so commonly boast of, will prove, in the end, but
a soul-damning delusion. It hath made me ready to tremble
many a time, to hear a drunken, ungodly, unfaithful minister,
as confidently in his formal prayers in the pulpit, give God
thanks for vocation, justification, sanctification, and assured
hope of glorification, as if he had been a most assured saint ;
when, it may be, his sermon was intended to reproach the saint,
and to jeer at sanctification 1 Methought I even heard the
Pharisee say, J. thank thee that I am not as other menj
(Luke xviii. 11;) or Corah, Are not all the people holy, every
one ? (Num. xvi. 3, 5.) How commonly do men thank God for
these, which they never received, nor ever shall do ! How
many have thanked God for pardon of sin, who are now tor-
mented for it; and for sanctification, and assured hope of glory,
who are now shut out of that inheritance of the sanctified ! I
warrant you, there is none of this believing in hell ; nor any per-
suasions of pardon or happiness, nor any boasting of their
honesty, nor justifying of themselves. This was but Satan's
stratagem, that being blindfold they might follow him the more
l)oldly; but then he will uncover their eyes, and they shall see
where they are.
Sect. III. Secondly : Another addition to the misery of the
damned will be this: that with the loss of heaven, they shall lose
also all their hopes. In this life, though they were threatened with
the wrath of God, yet their hope of escaping it did bear up their
hearts. And when they were wounded with the terrors of the
word, they licked all whole again with their groundless hopes ;
but then they shall part with their hopes and heaven together.
We can now scarcely speak with the vilest drunkard, or swearer,
or covetous worldling, or scorner at godliness, but he hopes to
be saved for all this. If you should go to all the congregation,
or town, or country, and ask them one by one, whether they
' It doth us no good to know what is to come, hut to fear it; that v,e may
he always as set on our watch, that so the righteous grow not remiss or neg-
ligent, or the sinner secure ; that so not knowing, we should always fear ; and
observing and looking for the time, we should amend. — Jmbros, de Fid,
lib. V. c. S.
400 THE saint's
hope to be saved, how few shall you meet with that will not
say yea, or that make any great question of it! But, ohi happy
world, if salvation were as common as this hope ; even those
whose hellish nature is written in the face of their conversation,
that he that runs may read it, whose tongues plead the cause of
the devil, and speak the language of hell, and whose delight is
in nothing but the works of the flesh ; yet, these do strongly
hope for heaven, though the God of heaven hath told them over
and over again in his word, that no such as they shall ever
come there. Though most of the world shall eternally perish ;
and the Judge of the world himself hath told us, that of the
many that are called, yet but few are chosen, yet almost all do
hope for it, and cannot endure any man that doth but question
their hopes. Let but their minister preach against tlieir false
hopes, or their best friend come to them and say, ' 1 am
afraid your present hopes of heaven will deceive you; I see
you mind not your soul, your heart is not set upon Christ and
heaven, you do not so much as pray to God, and worship him
in vour family ; and the Scripture gives you not the least hope
of being saved in such a condition as this is ;' how ill would
thev take such an admonition as this, and bid the admonisher
look to himself, and let them alone, he should not answer for
them ; they hope to be saved, as soon as these preciser men, •
that pray and talk of heaven so much ; nay, so strong are these
men's hopes, that they will dispute the cause with Christ him-
self at judgment, and plead their eating and drinking in his
presence, their preaching in his name, and casting out devils,
(and these are more probable arguments than our baptism, and
common profession, and name of Christians) ; they will stiffly
deny that ever they neglected Christ in hunger, nakedness,
prison, &:c. (and if they did, yet that is less than stripping, im-
prisoning, banishing, or killing Christ in his members,) till Christ
confute them with the sentence of their condemnation ! Though
the heart of their hopes will be broken at their death, and par-
ticular judgment, yet it seems they would fain plead for such
hope at the general judgment. But, oh ! the sad state of these
men, when they must bid farewell to all their hopes ; when their
hopes shall all perish with them ! Reader, if thou wilt not be-
lieve this, it is because thou wilt not believe the Scriptures. The
Holy Ghost hath spoken it as plain as can be spoken, " When
a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope
of unjust men perisheth." (Prov, xi, 17.) "The hope of the
EVERLASTING REST. 401
righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked
shall perish." (Prov. x. 28.) " For what is the hope of tlie
hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his
soul ? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?"
(Isa. xxviii. 15, IS; Job xxvii. 8, 9.) "Can the rush grow
up without mire ? Can the flag grow without water ? Whilst
it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withereth before any
other herb ; so are the paths of all that forget God ; and the
hypocrite's hope shall perish, whose hope shall be cut off, and
whose trust shall be a spider's web ; he shall lean upon his
house, but it shall not stand ; he shall hold it fast, but it shall
not endure." (Job viii. 12 — 14.) "But the eyes of the wicked
shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as
the giving up of the ghost." ^ (Job xi. 20.) The giving up of
the ghost is a fit but terrible resemblance of a wicked man's
giving up of his hopes. For, First, As the soul departeth not
from the body without the greatest terror and pain, so also doth
the hope of the wicked depart. Oh, the direful gripes and
pangs of horror that seize upon the soul of the sinner at death
and judgment, when he is parting with all his former hopes 1
Secondly, The soul departeth from the body suddenly, in a mo-
ment, which hath there delightfully continued so many years,
just so doth the hope of the wicked depart. Thirdly, The soul
which then departeth, will never return to live with the body in
this world any more; and the hope of the wicked when it de-
parteth, taketh an everlasting farewell of his soul. A miracle
of resurrection shall again conjoin the soul and body, but there
shall be no such miraculous resurrection of the damned's hope.
Methinks it is the most doleful spectacle that this world affords,
'' One of the commonest causes of men's self-deceit is, because they say they
daily repent as they daily sin, an'l therefore hope they have daily pardon ; in-
deed, in ordinary unavoidable infirmities, such as some call venial, and as Paul
laments, (I think) Rom. vii., this may hold good. But when men will daily
or frequently swear, whore, be drunk, deceive, revens^e, lie, backbite, &c.,
and then comfort themselves in that they repent of it, and so spend their lives
in gross sinning and repenting, it will prove an unprofitable repentance ; as
Clem. Alexand. saith, Continued repenting for gross sins, which run on in
course, repenting aud sinning again, do nothing differ from them that believe
not at all, save only in this, that they perceive themselves to sin ; and 1 know
not which is the worse, to sin wittingly and willingly, or thus to sin again after
repenting, &c. It seemeth therefore to be repentance, but indeed is not, for
a man frequently to beg ])ardon, wlien he frequently siiuietli, viz., grossly, or,
as some call it, mortally (for that is his meaning). — Clem. Alex. Stromal.
lib. ii. Quod adjungit de secunda tantum, et nou tertia pcenitentia udmissa,
improbandum est.
VOL. XXII. D D
402 _ THE saint's
to see an ungodly person dying, and to think of his soul and
hopes departing together ; and with what a sad change he pre-
sently appears in another world. Then, if a man could but
speak with that hopeless soul, and ask it; 'What, are you now
as confident of salvation as you were wont to be ; do you now
hope to be saved as soon as the most godly ?' Oh, what a sad
answer would he return ! They are just like Korah, Dathan,
and their companions : while they are confident in their rebel-
lion against the Lord, and cry out, "Are not all the people holy?"
They are suddenly swallowed up, and their hopes with them :
or like Ahab, who hating and imprisoning the prophet for fore-
telling his danger, while he is in confident hopes to return in
peace, is suddenly smitten with that mortal arrow, which let
out those hopes, together with his soul ; or, like a thief upon
the gallows, who hath a strong conceit that he shall receive a
pardon, and so hopes and hopes, till the ladder is turned ; or,
like the unbelieving sinners of the world before the flood, who
would not believe the threatening of Noah, but perhaps derided
him for preparing his ark so many years together, when no dan-
ger appeared, till suddenly the flood came and swept them all
away. If a man had asked these men, when they were climb-
ing up into the tops of trees and mountains ; 'Where is now your
hope of escaping, or your merry deriding at the painful pre-
venting preparations of godly Noah ; or your contemptuous
unbelief of the warnings of God ?' what do you think these men
would then say, when the waters still pursued them from place
to place, till it devoured their hopes and them together ? Or if
one had asked Ahab, when he had received his wound, and
turned out of the battle to die; 'What think you now of the
prophecy of Micaiah ; will you release him out of prison ; do
you now hope to return in peace?' Why, such a sudden over-
throw of their hopes will every unregenerate siimer receive.
While they were upon earth, they frustrated the expectations,
as I may say, of God and man ; God sent his messengers to
tell them plainly of their danger, and said. It may be they will
hear and return and escape ; but they stiffened their necks and
hardened their hearts : the minister studied, and instructed, and
persuaded them in hope : and when one sermon prevailed not,
he laboured to speak more plainly and piercingly in the next,
in hope that at last they would be persuaded and return ; till
their hopes were frustrate, and their labour lost, and they were
fain to turn their exhortation to lamentatioUj and to sit down
EVERLASTING REST. 403
in sorrow for men's wilful misery ; and take up the sad excla-
mation of the prophet, " Who hath believed our report ; and
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"' (Isa. liii. 1 :) so
did godly parents also instruct their children in hope, and watch
over them, and pray for them, hoping that at last their hearts
would turn to Christ ; and is it not meet that God should frus-
trate all their hopes, who have frustrated the hopes of all that
desired their welfare ? Oh ! that careless sinners would be
awaked to think of this in time ! If thou be one of them, who
art reading these lines, I do here as a friend advise thee, from
the word of the Lord, that, as thou wouldst not have all thy
hopes deceive thee, when thou hast most need of them, thou
presently try them, whether they will prove current at the
touchstone of the Scripture ; and if thou find them unsound,
let them go, whatsoever sorrow they cost thee. Rest not till
thou canst give a reason of all thy hopes j (1 Pet. iii. 15;) till
thou canst prove that they are the hopes which grace and not
nature only hath wrought ; that they are grounded upon scrip-
ture promises and sound evidences; that they purify thy heart;
that they quicken, and not cool thy endeavours in godliness;
that the more thou hopest, the less thou sinnest,™ and the more
painful thou art in following on the work, and not grown more
loose and careless by the increasing of thy hopes ; and they
make thee set lighter by all things on earth, because thou hast
such hopes of higher possessions ; that thou art willing to have
them tried, and fearful of being deceived ; that they stir up thy
desires of enjoying what thou hopest for, and the deferring
thereof is the trouble of thy heart. (Prov. xiii. 12.) If thou
be sure that thy hopes be such as these, God forbid that I
should speak a word against them, or discourage thee from pro-
ceeding to hope thus to the end. No, I rather persuade thee
to go on in the strength of the Lord ; and whatever men or
' When our ministry petrifies, turns hearts into stones, and these taken up
and thrown at us, this kills us : the recoiling- of our pains kills us : when our
peace returns to us ; when we spend our strength to make men more naught
than they were ; this wounds our heart : which should he considered of sin-
ners; to kill oneself, and one's minister too, that would save him. What a
bloody condition is this ! The blood of a minister on a man's soul, is more
than the blood of many men : stubborn souls, lay this to heart. — Lockier on
Col A. 29. p. 52.
™ There is a twofold repentance : the one, for that a man hath sinned,
which is common^ the other, when a man hath learned the nature of sin, per-
suadeth him by principal reason to desist from sin ; the consequent of which
is, to siu no more,— Clem, Alexan. Stromal, lib. vi.
D D 2
404 THE saint's
devils, or thy own unbelieving heart," shall say against it, go on,
and hold fast thy hope, and be sure it will never make thee
ashamed. But if thy hope be not of this spiritual nature, and
if thou art able to give no better reason why thou hopest, than
the worst in the world may give, that God is merciful ; and
thou must speed as well as thou canst, or the like ; and hast
not one sound evidence of a saving work of grace upon thy
soul, to show for thy hopes ; but only hopest that thou shalt be
saved, because thou wouldst have it so, and because it is a ter-
rible thing to despair : if this be thy case, delay not an hour ;
but presently cast away those hopes, that thou mayst get into
a capacity of having better in their stead. But it may be thou
wilt think this strange doctrine, and say, *What, would you per-
suade me directly to despair?' Answ. Sinner, I would be loth
to have thy soul destroyed by wilful self-delusion. The truth is,
there is a hope, such as I have before showed thee, which is a
singular grace and duty : and there is a hope which is a noto-
rious, dangerous sin. So, consequently, there is a despair which
is a grievous sin ; and there is a despair which is absolutely ne-
cessary to thy salvation. I would not have thee despair of the
sufficiency of the blood of Christ to save thee, if thou believe,
and heartily obey him; nor of the willingness of God to par-
don and save thee, if thou be such an one ; nor yet absolutely
of thy own salvation; because, while there is life and time, there
is some hope of thy conversion, and so of thy salvation ; nor
would I draw thee to despair of finding Christ, if thou do but
heartily seek him : or of God's acceptance of any sincere en-
deavours, nor of thy success against Satan, or any corruption
which thou shalt heartily oppose, nor of any thing whatsoever
God hath promised to do, either to all men in general, or to
such as thou art. I would not have thee doubt of any of these
in the least measure, much less despair. But this is the despair
that I would persuade thee to, as thou lovest thy soul : that
thou despair of ever being saved, except thou be born again;
or of seeing God, without holiness ; or of escaping perishing,
except thou soundly repent : or of ever having part in Christ,
or salvation by him, or ever being one of his true disciples, ex-
*• Give me a man that, after many secret bickerings and hard conflicts in
liis breast, upon a serious penitence, and sense of reconciliation with his God,
hath attained to a quiet heart ; waliving conscionahly and close with that Ma-
jesty with whom he is atoned. I shall bless and emulate him as a meet subject
of true joy, — Bishop Hall Soliloq, 11, pp. 37, 38.
EVERLASTING REST, 405
cept thou love him above father, mother, or thy own life : or of
ever having a treasure in heaven, except thy very heart be there :
or of ever escaping eternal death, if thou walk after the flesh,
and dost not by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh; or of
ever truly loving God, or being his servant, while thou lovest
the world, and servest it.° These things I would have thee
despair of, and whatever else God hath told thee shall never
come to pass. And when thou hast sadly searched into thy own
heart, aud findest thyself in any of these cases, I would have
thee despair of thyself of ever being saved in that state thou art
in. Never stick at the sadness of the conclusion, man, but ac-
knowledge plainl}'. If I die before I get out of this estate, I am
lost for ever. It is as good deal truly with thyself as not; God
will not flatter thee, he will deal plainly whether thou do or not.
The very truth is, this kind of despair is one of the first steps
to heaven. Consider, if a man be quite out of his way, what
must be the first means to bring him in again? Why, a despair
of ever coming to his journey's end in the way that he is in.
If his home be eastward, and he be going westward, as long as
he hopes he is in the right, he will go on ; and as long as he so
goes on hoping, he goes further amiss : therefore, when he
meets with somebody that assures him that he is clean out of
his way, and brings him to despair of coming home, except he
turn back again; then he will return, and then he may hope and
spare not. Why, sinner, just so is it with thy soul : thou art
born out of the way to heaven ; and in that way thou hast pro-
ceeded many a year ; yet thou goest on quietlv, and hopest to be
saved, because thou art not so bad as many others. Why, I tell
thee, except thou be brought to throw away those hopes, and
see that thou hast all this while been quite out of the way to
heaven ; and hast been a child of wrath, and a servant of Satauj
unpardoned, unsanctified, and if thou hadst died in this state,
hadst been certainly damned : I say, till thou be brought to this,
thou wilt never return and be saved. Wlio will turn out of his
way while he hopes he is right ? And let me once again tell
thee, that if ever God mean good to thy soul, and intend to
save thee, this is one of the first things that he will work upon
thee : remember what I say, till thou feel God convincing thee,
that the way which thou hast lived in, will not serve the turn,
and so break down thy former hopes, there is yet no saving-
° John iii. 5 ; Heb. xii. 14 ; Luke xiv. 25—27, &c., xv, 3, 4, xvi, 23 ; Mm,
vi. U ; Rom, viii. 13; 1 John ii. 15.
406 THE saint's
work wrought upon thee, how well soever thou mayst hope of
thyself. Yea, thus much more, if any thing keep thy soul out
of heaven, which God forbid, there is nothing in the world liker
to do it, than thy false hopes of being saved, while thou art out
of the way to salvation. Why else is it that God cries down
such hopes in his word ? Why is it that every faithful, skilful
minister doth bend all his strength against the false faith and
hope of sinners, as if he were to fight against neither small nor
great, but this prince of iniquity ? Why, alas ! they know that
these are the main pillars of Satan's kingdom ; bring down but
them too, and the house will fall. They know also the deceit
and vanity of such hopes; that they are directly contrary to
the truth of God ; and what a sad case that soul is in, who hath
no other hope, but that God's word will prove false ; when the
truth of God is the only ground of true hope ; alas ! it is no
pleasure to a minister to speak to people upon such an unwel-
come subject, any more than it is to a pitiful physician to
tell his patient, I do despair of your life, except you let blood ;
or there is no hope of the cure, except the gangrened member
be cut off : if it be true, and of flat necessity, though it be dis-
pleasing, there is no remedy. Why, I beseech you, think on it
reasonably without prejudice or passion, and tell me, where doth
God give any hope of your salvation, till you are new creatures?
(Gal. vi. 15.) Nay, I have showed you where he flatly over-
throweth all such hope. (Gal. v. IS — 24; 2 Cor. v. 7-) And
will it do you any good for a minister to give you hope, where
God gives vou none ; or, would you desire him to do so ? Why,
what would you think of such a minister, when those hopes for-
sake you ; or what thanks will you give him, when you find
yourself in hell ? would you not there lie and curse him for a
deceiver for ever ? I know this to be true, and therefore I had
rather you were displeased with me here, than curse me there.
For my own part, if I had but one sermon to preach while I
lived, I think this should be it : to persuade down all your un-
grounded hopes of heaven, not to leave you there in despair, but
that you may hope upon better grounds which will never deceive
you. God hath told us what he shall say : " Say to the righte-
ous, Jt shall be well with him ; and to the wicked. It shall be ill
with him." (Isa. iii. 10, 11.) And if I shall say, it will be well
with thee, when God hath said, it shall be ill with thee, what
the better wert thou for this ? Whose word would stand, think
you, God's or mine ? Oh, little do carnal ministers know what
EVERLASTING REST. 407
they do, who strengthen the hopes of ungodly men ! They work
as hard as they can against God, while they stand there to speak
in the name of God, who layeth his battery against these false
hopes, as knowing that they must now down, or the sinner must
perish : and these teachers build up what God is pulling down.
I know not what they can do worse to destroy men's souls :
they are false teachers in regard of application, though they are
true in regard of doctrine : this is partly through their flatter-
ing, men-pleasing temper ; partly because they are guilty them-
selves, and so should destroy their own hopes, as well as others ;
and partly because being graceless, they want that experience
which should help them to discern betwixt hope and hope.
The same may be said of carnal friends : if they see a poor sin-
ner but doubting whether all be well with him, and but troubled
for fear lest he be out of the way ; what pains do they take to
keep up his old hopes ? 'What,' say they, 'if you should not be
saved, God help a great many : you have lived honestly, &c. :
never doubt, man, God is merciful ! ' Alas, silly creatures, you
think you perform an office of friendship, and do him much
good ! even as much as to give cold water to a man in a fever j
you may ease him at the present, but it afterwards inflames him.
What thanks will he give you hereafter, if you settle him upon
his former hopes again ? Did you never read, " He that saith
to the wicked. Thou art righteous, him shall the people curse,
nations shall abhor him ?" (Prov. xxiv. 24.) If you were faith-
ful friends indeed, you should rather say thus to him ; Friend,
if you perceive the soundness of your hopes for heaven to be
doubtful, oh ! do not smother those doubts, but go and open
them to your minister, or some able friend ; and try them tho-
roughly in time, and hold no more of them now, than will hold
good at judgment : it is better they break while they may be
built more surely, than when the discovery will be your torment,
but not your remedy. This were friendly and faithful counsel
indeed. The proverb is, " If it were not for hope, the heart
would break :" and Scripture tells us, that the heart must break
that Christ will save. How can it be bound up till it be bro-
ken first ? so that the hope which keeps their hearts from break-
ing, doth keep them also from healing and saving.
Well, if ^^hese unwise men (vvho are, as we say, penny wise,
and pound foolish, who are wise to keep off the smart of a short,
conditional, necessary, curable despair, but not wise to prevent
an eternal, absolute, tormenting, incurable despair) do not
408 THE saint's
change their condition speedily, those hopes will leave them
which they would not leave ; and then they that were fully re-
solved to hold fast their hopes, let all the preachers in the world
say what they would, shall let them go whether they will or no.
Then let them hope for heaven if they can.
So that, you see, it will aggravate the misery of the damned,
that with the loss of heaven, they shall lose all that hope of it
which now supporteth them.
Sect. IV. Thirdly : Another additional loss will be this. They
will lose all the false peace of conscience which maketh their
present life so easy. The loss of this must necessarily follow
the loss of the former. When presumption and hope are gone,
peace cannot tarry. Who would think, now, that sees how
quietly the multitude of the ungodly live, that they must very
shortly lie roaring in everlasting flames ? They lie down, and
rise, and sleep as quietly ; they eat and drink as quietly ; they
go about their work as cheerfully; they talk as pleasantly as if
nothing ailed them, or as if they were as far out of danger as
an obedient believer ; like a man that hath the falling sickness,
you would little think, while he is a labouring as strong, and
talking as heartily as another man, how he will presently fall
down, lie gasping and foaming, and beating his breast in
torment : so it is with these men. They are as free from the
fears of hell as others, as free from any vexing sorrows, not so
much as troubled with any cares of the state of their souls, nor
with any sad or serious tlioughts of what shall become of them
in another world ; yea, and for the most part, they have less
doubts and disquiet of mind, than those who shall be saved.
Oh, happy men, if it would be always thus ; and if this peace
would prove a lasting peace ! But, alas ! there's the misery, it
will not. They are now in their own element, as the fish in the
water; but little knows that silly creature when he is most
fearlessly and delightfully swallowing down the bait, how sud-
denly he shall be snatched out, and lie dead upon the bank !
And as little think these careless sinners, what a change they
are near. The sheep or the ox is driven quietly to the slaugh-
ter, because he knows not whither he goes ; if he knew it were
to his death, you could not drive him so easily. How contented is
the swine, when the butcher's knife is shaving his throat, little think-
ing that it is to prepare for his death! Why, it is even so with these
sensual careless men. They fear the mischief least, when they are
nearest to it, because they fear it not, or see it not with their eyes.
EVERLASTING REST. 409
" As in the days of Noah (saith Christ) they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till the day that
Noah entered into the ark, and knew not till the flood came,
and took them all away ; " (Matt. xxiv. 37 — 39 ;) so will the
coming of Christ be, and so will the coming of their particular
judgment be. " For (saith the apostle) when they say, Peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." (1 Thess.
V. 3.) Oh, cruel peace, which ends in such a war! Reader,
if this be thy own case; if thou hast no other peace in thy
conscience than this ungrounded, self created peace, I could
heartily wish, for thy own sake, that thou wouldest cast it off.
As I would not have any humble, gracious souls to vex their own
consciences needlessly, nor to disquiet and discompose their
spirits by troubles of their own making, nor to unfit themselves
for duty, nor to interrupt their comfortable communion with
God, nor to weaken their bodies, or cast themselves into me-
lancholy distempers to the scandal of religion ; so would 1 not
have a miserable wretch, who lives in a daily and hourly danger
of dropping into hell, to be as merry and as quiet as if all were
well with him : it is both unseemly and unsafe ; more unseemly
than to see a man go laughing to the gallows ; and more unsafe
than to favour the gangrened member, which must be cut off,
or to be making merry when the enemy is entering our habita-
tions. Men's first peace is usually a false peace ; it is a second
peace, which is brought into the soul upon the casting out of
the first, which will stand good, and yet not always that neither;
for, where the change is by the halves, the second or third
peace may be unsound, as well as the first ; as many a man that
casteth away the peace of his profaneness, doth take up the
peace of mere civility and morality ; or if he yet discover the
unsoundness of that, and is cast into trouble, then he healeth all
with outward righteousness, or with a half Christianity, and
there he taketh up with peace. This is but driving Satan out
of one room into another ; but till he be cast out of possession,
the peace is unsound. Hear what Christ saith : " When a strong
man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace ; but when
a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him,
he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and di-
videth his spoils." (Luke xi. 21, 22.) The soul of every man, by
nature, is Satan's garrison ; all is at peace in such a man, till
Christ comes ; when Christ storms this heart, he breaks the
410 ' THE saint's
peace ; he giveth it most terrible alarms of judgment and hell,
he battereth it with the ordnance of his threatenings and ter-
rors ; he sets all in a combustion of fear and sorrow, till he have
forced it to yield to his mere mercy, and take him for the go-
vernor, and Satan is cast out ; and then doth he establish a firm
and lasting peace. If, therefore, thou art yet but in that first
peace, and thy heart was never yet either taken by storm, or
delivered up freely to Jesus Christ, never think that thy peace
will endure. Can the soul have peace which is at enmity with
Christ, or stands out against him, or thinks his government too
severe, and his conditions hard ; can he have peace against
whom God proclaimeth war. I may say to thee, as Jehu to
Joram. when he asked, " Is it peace ? What peace, while the
whoredoms of thv mother Jezebel remain ?" So thou art de-
sirous to hear nothing from the mouth of a minister but peace ;
but what peace can there be, till thou hast cast away thy
wickedness and thy first peace, and make thy peace with God
through Christ : wilt thou believe God himself in this case ?
why, read then what he saith twice over, " There is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked." (Isa. xlviii. 22, and Ivii. 22.)
And hath he said it ; and shall it not stand ? Sinner, though
thou mayst now har den and fortify thy heart against fear, and
grief, and trouble, yet as true as God is true, they will batter
down thy proud and fortified spirit, and seize upon it, and drive
thee to amazement : this will be done either here or hereafter.
I\Iy counsel therefore to thee is, that thou presently examine the
grounds of thy peace, and say, ' I am now at ease and quiet in
my mind ; but is it grounded, and will it be lasting; is the dan-
ger of eternal judgment over; am I sure my sins are pardoned,
and my soul shall be saved ? if not, alas ! what cause of peace ?
I may be in hell before the next day, for aught I know.' Cer-
tainly, a man that stands upon the pinnacle of a steeple, or that
sleeps on the top of the main-mast, or that is in the heat of the
most bloody fight, hath more cause of peace and carelessness
than thou. Why, thou livest under the wrath of God continu-
ally, thou art already sentenced to eternal death, and mayst
every hour expect the execution, till thou have sued out a pardon
through Christ. I can show thee a hundred threatenings in
Scripture which are yet in force against thee ; but canst thou
show me one promise for thy safety an hour ? What assurance
hast thou when thou goest forth of thy doors that thou shalt
ever come in again ? I should wonder, but that I know the des-
EVERLASTING REST. 411
perate hardness of the heart of man, how a man that is not sure
of his peace with God, could eat, or drink, or sleep, or live in
peace ! That thou art not afraid when thou liest down, lest thou
shouldst awake in hell ; or, when thou risest up, lest thou
shouldst be in hell before night ; or, when thou sittest in thy
house, that thou still fearest not the approach of death, or some
fearful judgment seizing upon thee, and that the threats and
sentence are not always sounding in thy ears. Well, if thou
wert the nearest friend that 1 have in the world, in this case
that thou art in, I could wish thee no greater good, than that
God would break in upon thy careless heart, and shake thee out
of thy false peace, and cast thee into trouble, that when thou
feelcst thy heart at ease, thou wouldst remember thy misery;
that when thou art pleasing thyself with thy estate, or business,
or labours, thou wouldst still remember the approaching woe ;
that thou wouldst cry out in the midst of thy pleasant discourse
and merry company, ' Oh, how near is the great and dreadful
change!' that whatever thou art doing, God would make thee
read thy sentence, as if it were still written before thine eyes ;
and which way soever thou goest, he would still meet thee full
in the face with the sense of his wrath, as the angel did Balaam
with a drawn sword, till he had made thee cast away thy
groundless peace, and lie down at the feet of Christ, whom thou
hast resisted, and say, 'Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do ?'
and so receive from him a surer and better peace, which will
never be quite broken, but will be the beginning of thy everlast-
ing peace, and not perish in thy perishing, as the groundless
peace of the world will do.
Sect. V. Fourthly : Another additional loss, aggravating
their loss of heaven, is this. They shall lose all their carnal mirth.P
Their merry vein will then be opened and empty ; they will sav
themselves, as Solomon doth, of their laughter, "Thou art mad,"
and of their mirth, " What didst thou ? " (Eccles. ii. 2.) Their
witty jests and pleasant conceits are then ended, and their
merry tales are all told. " Their mirth was but as the crackling
of thorns under a pot;" (Eccles. vii. 6 ;) it made a great blaze
P The sorrow of the ^odly is with hope and joy, but the sorrow of the
wicked is without hope. Jest not with hell : it is a horrible thing to fall
into the hands of a consuming^ f\re. — Rollock on John, lect. vi. p. lo2. I
know mirth is lawful, bat as Seneca saith to the Epicure, " Tu voluptatem
complecteris : ego compesco. Tu voluptate frueris : ego utor. Tu ilium
suimnuin bonum putas : ego nee bonum. Tu omnia voluptatis causa facis ;
e"-o nihil.— 5'eMec. de Vit. Beat, c. 10. Vide Platerum. < Observ.' lib. i. p, 92.
412 THE saint's
and unseemly noise for a little while, but it was presently gone,
and will return no more. They scorned to entertain any sadden-
ing thoughts : the talk of death and judgment was irksome to
them, because it damped their mirth : they could not endure to
think of their sin or danger, because these thoughts did sad
their spirits. They knew not what it was to weep for sin, or to
humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. They could
laugh away sorrow, and sing away cares, and drive away these
melancholy thouglus. They thought, if they should live so
austerely, and meditate, and pray, and mourn, as the godly do,
their lives would be a continual miserv, and it were enough to
make them run mad. Alas, poor souls ! what a misery then
Avill that life be, where you shall have nothing but sorrow; in-
tense, heart-piercing, multiplied sorrow ; when you shall have
neither the joys of the saints, nor your own former joys I Do you
think there is one merry heart in hell ; or one joyful counte-
nance, or jesting tongue ? You cry now, A little mirth is worth
a great deal of sorrow ; but surely a little godly sorrow, which
would have ended in eternal joy, had been more worth than a
great deal of your foolish mirth, which will end in sorrow. Can
men of gravity run laughing and playing in the streets as little
children do ; or wise men laugh at a mischief as fools and mad-
men ; or men, that are sound in their brain, fall a dancing, as
they will do in a viii saltus, till they fall down dead with it ?
No more pleasure have wise men in your pitiful mirth : for the
end of such mirth is sorrow.
Sect. VI. Fifthly : Another additional loss will be this. They
shall lose all their sensual contentments and delights.i That
which thev esteemed their chiefest good, their heaven, their
God, that must they lose, as well as heaven and God himself.
They shall then, in despite of them, fulfil that command, which
1 The dead skull of a king retains not so much as a print of the crown ; the
guilty soul may the spots of sin. As the bold bishop told the g;reat emperor,
taking; hold of his j)urple robe, ' Sir, you shall not carry this hence with you,'
— Dr. Stoitghtnn Magis. Commis. p. 32. Tunc edax flamma comburit quos
uunc carnalis delectatio polluit; tunc infinitum patens inferni barathrum de-
vorai, quos inanis elatio nunc exaltat ; et (jui oliin ex vitio voluntatem cailidi
persuasoris expleverunt, tunc cum duce suo reproboad tormenta pervenieut. —
Greg. Moral. 9. Quid enim consolatur eos, qui suam habent consolationem ?
Noil consolatur Christi int'autia garrulos ; non consolantur Christi lachrymae
cachinnantes ; nou consolantur panni ejus ambulantes in stolis ; non conso-
lantur prffisepe et stabulum amantes primas cathedras in synagogis ; sed
aequanimiter forte universam banc consolationem expectantibus in silentio
Dovninum lugeiitibus, pannosis pauperibus credere videbuntur. — Bern,
Serm. 22.
EVEULASTING REST. 41o
here they would not be persuaded to obey, of " making no pro-
vision for the flesh, to fuUil the lusts thereof." (Rom. xiii. 14.)
Oh, what a fall will the proud, ambitious man have from the
top of his honours ! As his dust and bones will not be known
from the dust and bones of the poorest beggars, so neither will
his soul be honoured or favoured any more than theirs. What
a number of the great, noble, and learned, are now shut out of
the presence of Christ ! If you say, 'How can I tell that ?' why, I
answer, because their Judge hath told me so. Hath he not said
by his apostle, " that not many wise men after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called ? " (1 Cor. i. 26.) And
if they be not called, they be not predestinate, or justified, or
glorified. (Rom. viii. 30.) Surely that rich man (Luke xvi.) hath
now no humble obeisance done him, nor titles of honour put
upon him ; nor do the poor now wait at his gates to receive of
his scraps. They nuist be shut out of their well-contrived
houses, and sumptuous buildings, their comely chambers, with
costly hangings ; their soft beds, and easy couches. They shall
not find their gallant walks, their curious gardens, with a variety
of beauteous, odoriferous fruits and flowers ; their rich pastures,
and pleasant meadows, and plenteous harvest, and flocks and
herds. Their tables will not be so spread and furnished, nor
they so punctually attended and observed. They have not there
variety of dainty fare, nor several courses, nor tempting dishes
prepared to please their appetites to the full. The rich man
there fareth not deliciously every day, neither shall he wear
there his purple and fine linen. The jetting, gorgeous, well-
dressed gallant, that must not have a pin amiss, that stands as
a picture set to sale, that take themselves more beholden to the
tailor or sempster for their comeliness, than to God ; they shall
then be quite in a different garb. There is no powdering or
curling of their hair, nor eyeing of themselves, nor desirous ex-
pecting the admiration of beholders. •'Surely, our voluptuous
' Defectus A summo bono ad infimum boniim, hoc est, peccatoris proprium et
voluntarium malum, quo malo seipsuin perdit injustus. Et quia huic inalo au-
thor 1)011 est Deus, sed homoperversus,dig^ne itaque homini qui se perdidit pec-
cato, redditur in tormentis ajterna perditio, ut pereat quidem qui perire voluit,
non tamen sic pereat quemadmodum voluit. Qui enim sic |ieribit, delectatione
pcccatorum illectus, ut si posset fieri, nianeret iii opere peccati perpetuus ; juste
quidem est in perditioue peccati dimissus quo propria cecidit voluntate — Ful-
gent, ad Moniin. lib. i. c. 19. A voluptate occupatus,quomodo resistet labori ac
pericu!(),egeslati ettot liumanam vitam circuiiistrepetitibus minis? Quomodo
conspectum mortis? Quomodo doloresferet? Quomodo mundi fragores,ettan-
tum acerrimorum hostium, i tam molli adversario victus. Quicquid voluptas
suaserit, faclet, Age, non vides quam multa suasura sit.— -Sew. de Fit, Beat. c. 1 1 .
414 THE saint's
youths must leave their cards and dice behind them, as also
their hawks, and hounds, and bowls, and all their former plea-
sant sports : they shall then spend their time in a more sad em-
ployment, and not in such pastimes as these. Where will then
be your May-games, and your morrice-dancers 3 your stage -
plays, and your shows : what mirth will you have in remem-
bering all the games, and sports, and dancings, which you had
on the Lord's- days, when you should have been delighting your-
selves in God and his work ? Oh, what an alteration will our
jovial, roaring swaggerers then find : what bitter draughts will
they have instead of their wine and ale ! If there were any
drinking of healths, the rich man would not have begged so
hard for a drop of water : the heat of their lust will be then
abated ; they shall not spend their time in courting their mis-
tresses, in lascivious discourse, in amorous songs, in wanton
dalliance, in their lustful embracements, or brutish defilements ;
yet they are likely enough to have each other's company there :
but they will have no more comfort in that company, than Zimri
and Cosbi in dying together ; or than lewd companions have, in
being hanged together on the same gallows. Oh, the doleful
meeting that these lustful wantons will have there ! how it will
even cut them to the heart, to look each other in the face, and
to remember that beastly pleasure, for which they now must
pay so dear ! so will it be with the fellowship of drunkards, and
all others that were playfellows together in sin, who got not
their pardon in the time of their lives. What direful greeting
will there then be, cursing the day that ever they saw the faces
of one another ; remembering and ripping up all their lewdness,
to the aggravation of their torment I Oh, that sinners would
remember this in the midst of their pleasure and jollity, and say
to one another, 'We must shortly reckon for this before the jea-
lous God.' Will the remembrance of it then be comfortable or
terrible ; will these delights accompany us to another world :
how shall we look each other in the face, if we meet in hell
together for these things ; will not the memorial of them be
then our torment : shall we then take these for friendly actions,
or rather wish we had spent this time in praying together, or
admonishing one another ? Oh, why should we sell such a last-
ing, incomprehensible joy, for one taste of seeming pleasure I
Come, as we have sinned together, let us pray together before
we stir, that God would pardon us ; and let us enter into a
promise to one another, that we will do thus no more, but will
meet together with the godly in the worship of God, and help
EVERLASTING REST. 415
one another towards heaven, as often as we have met for our
sinful merriments, in helping to deceive and destroy each
other.' This would be the way to prevent this sorrow, and
a course that would comfort you, when you look back upon
it hereafter. Who would spend so many days,* and years,
and thoughts, and cares, and be at so much cost and pains, and
all to please this flesh for a moment, which must shortly be
most loathsome, stinking rottenness ; and in the meantime neg-
lect our precious souls, and that state which we must trust to
for ever and ever ? To be at such pains for that pleasure which
dies in the enjoying, and is almost as soon gone as come ; and
when we have most need of comfort, will be so far from follow-
ing us as our happiness, that it will be perpetual fuel to the
flames which shall torment us ! Oh, that men knew but what
they desire, when they would so fain have all things suited to
the desires of the flesh ! They would have buildings, walks,
lands, clothes, diet, and all so fitted as may be most pleasing
and delightful. Why, this is but to desire their temptations to
be increased, and their snare strengthened : their joys will be
more carnal ; and how great an enemy carnal joy is to spi-
ritual, experienced men can quickly tell you. If we took the
flesh so much for our enemy as we do profess, we could not so
earnestly desire and contrive to accommodate it, and so congra-
tulate all its contentments as we do.
CHAP. IV.
The Ch^entness of the Torments of the Damned Discovered.
Sect. I. Having thus showed you how great their loss is, who
are shut out of rest, and how it will be aggravated by those addi-
tional losses which will accompany it, I should next here show
you the greatness of those positive sufferings which will accom-
pany this loss. But because I am to treat of rest, rather than
of torment, I will not meddle with the explication of the quality
of those sufferings, but only show their greatness in some few
brief discoveries, lest the careless sinner, while he hears of no
" Quid mihi voluptatem nominas ? Hominis bonum quaero, non ventris,
qui pecudibus et beiluis laxior est. — Senec. de Fit. Beat, c. 9. Most certain
it is that virtue bath not a more capital enemy than such a perpetual
success as they call most happy, which, to join tofjether with honesty, is no
less difficulty than to combine things by nature most contrary.—^orfin.
Commonwealth, lib. i. p. 1.
416 i'HE saint's
other punishment but that of loss before mentioned, should
think he can bear that well enough by his own resolvedness, and
so flatter himself in hope of a tolerable hell. That there are,
besides the loss of happiness, such actual, sensible torments for
the damned, is a matter beyond all doubt to him that doth not
doubt the truth of the Scriptures ; and that they will be ex-
ceeding great, may appear by these arguments following.
First: From the principal Author of them, which is God
himself:' as it was no less than God Avhom the sinner had of-
fended, so it is no less than God that will punish them for their
offences. He hath prepared those torments for his enemies.
His continued anger will still be devouring them. His breath
of indignation will kindle the flames. His wrath will be an in-
tolerable burden to their souls. Oh, if it were but a creature
that they had to do with, they might bear it, for the penalty
would be answerable to the infirmity of him that should inflict
it. A child can give but an easy stroke, but the strokes of a
giant will be answerable to his strength. Wo to him that falls
under the stroke of the Almighty ! They shall feel to their
sorrow, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. It were nothing in comparison to this, if all the
world were against them, or if the strength of all creatures were
united in one to inflict their penalty. They had now rather
venture upon the displeasure of God, than to displease a land-
lord, a master, a friend, a neighbour, or their own flesh : but
then they will wish a thousand times in vain, that they had lost
the favour of all the world, and had been hated of ail men, so
they had not lost the favour of God ; for, as there is no life like
his favour, so is there no death like his displeasure. Oh, what
a consuming fire is his wrath 1 If it be kindled here, and that
but a little, how do we wither before it, as the grass that is cut
down before the sun 1 How soon doth our strength decay, and
* Yet I know what Gihieuf saitli, and many scliooliuen, that God is not
causa malt, {etiam ptcnce,) qua malum. And Irenasus speaks as if he thought
it were a natural consequent of their own wilfulness, and not properly
effected by God. .\nd, indeed, if it he true that " malum sensus " as well as
" malum damni est formaUter privatio boni, &c. tunc causam efficienlem per
se uou habet Deum ; qui ergo per apostasiam amiserunt qua; prsedicta sunt,
qiiippe de^olati ah omnibus bonis, in oiimi pceiia conversantur ; Deo quidem
priiicipaliter non k seipso eos puniente ; prosequente autem eos poena, quo-
niam sunt desolati ab omni bono. Ut in iinmeuso lumine, qui exccecave-
runt seipsos, vel ab aliis excoecati sunt, semper privati sunt jucunditate
luminis. Non quod lumen pcenam eis inferat ccecitatis; sed quod ipsa ccecitas
superinducat eis calamitatem. — Iren. adv. Hceres, lib. v, c. 27.
EVERLASTING REST. 417
turn to weakness, and our beauty to deformity ! Churches are
rooted up, commonwealths are overthrown, kingdoms depopu-
lated, armies destroyed, and who can stand before his wrath ?
Even the heavens and earth will melt at his presence ; and when
he speaks the word at his great day of account, they will be
burnt up before him as a scroll in the fire. The flames do not
so easily run through the dry stubble, or consume the houses
where its violence hath prevailed, as the wrath of God will feed
upon these wretches. Oh, they that could not bear a prison,
or a gibbet, or fire, for Christ, no, nor scarcely a few scorns from
the mouths of the ignorant, how will they now l)ear the devour-
ing fire !
Sect. II. 2. The place or state of torment, is purposely or-
dained for the glorifying of the attribute of God's justice. As
all the works of God are great and wonderful, so those above
all, which are specially intended for the eminent advancing of
some of his attributes. When he will glorify his power, he
makes the worlds by his wisdom. The comely order of all and
singular creatures, declares his wisdom. His providence is
shown, in sustaining all things, and maintaining order," and
attaining his excellent ends, amongst the confused, perverse,
tumultuous agitations of a world of wicked, foolish, self-de-
stroying miscreants. When a spark of his wrath doth kindle
upon the earth, the whole world, save only eight persons, are
drowned. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, are burned
with fire from heaven, to ashes. The sea shuts her mouth upon
some. The earth doth open and swallow others. The pesti-
lence destroyeth them up by thousands. The present deplorable
state of the Jews, may fully testify this to the world. And yet
the glorifying of the two great attributes of mercy and justice,
is intended most eminently for the life to come. As, therefore,
when God will purposely then glorify his mercy, he will do it
in a way and degree that is now incredible, and beyond the
comprehension of the saints that must enjoy it ; so that the
blood of his Son, and the enjoyment of himself immediately in
glory, shall not be thought too high an honour for them. So
also, when the time comes that he will purposely manifest his
justice, it shall appear to be indeed the justice of God. The
* Deus permittit mala nt inde ellciat bona, ut probat Gibieuf. lib. ii. c.
22. sect. 6 — ^^10. Et si malum in terris abuudet; si tamen disponenteni
desuper providenliam spectes, nihil usquam mali duprehendes. — Boelius Re-
ferent. Gibieuf.
VOL. XXI f. E E
4 IS THK SAJNt's
everlasting flames of hell will not be thought too hot for the
rebellious ; and when they have there burnt through millions
of ages, he will not repent him of the evil which is befallen
them. Oh ! wo to the soul that is thus set up for a butt, for
the wrath of the Almighty to shoot at ; and for a bush, that must
burn in the flames of his jealousy, and never be consumed !
Sect. III. 3. The torments of the damned must needs be ex-
treme, because they are the effect of divine revenge.^ Wrath is
terrible, but revenge is implacable. When the great God shall
say, ' I will now be righted for all the wrongs that I have borne
from rebellious creatures ; I will let out my wrath, and it shall
be stayed no more, you shall now pay for all the abuse of my
patience ! Remember, now, how I waited your leisure in vain,
how [ stooped to persuade you ; how I, as it were, kneeled to
entreat you. Did you think I would always be slighted by such
miscreants as you ?' Oh, who can look up when God shall thus
plead with them in the heat of revenge ! Then will he be re-
venged for every mercy abused, for his creatures consumed in
luxury and excess, for every hour's time misspent, for the neglect
of his word, for the vilifying of his messengers, for the hating
of his people, for the profanation of his ordinances, and
neglect of his worship, for the breaking of his Sabbaths, and
the grieving of his Spirit, for the taking of his name in vain,
for unmerciful neglect of his servants in distress. Oh ! the num-
berless bill that will be brought in 1 And the charge that will
overcharge the soul of the sinner I And how hotly revenge will
pursue them all to the highest! How^ God will stand over them
with the rod in his hand, (not the rod of fatherly chastisement,
but that iron rod wherewith he bruiseth the rebellious,) and lay
it on for all their neglects of Christ and grace. Oh, that men
would foresee this, and not put themselves under the hammer
of revenging fury, when they may have the treasure of happiness
at so easy rates, and please God better in preventing their w'o I
Sect. IV. 4. Consider, also, how this justice and revenge will
be the delight of the Almighty. Though he had rather men would
stoop to Christ, and accept of his mercy, yet when they persist
in rebellion, he will take pleasure in their execution. >' Though
* Cremabit addictos aniens semper gehenna ; et vivacibns flammis vorax
pcEna. Nec erit unde habere tormenta vel requiem pussiut aliquando vel
finem. Servabuntur cum corporibus suis aniniae iiifinitiscruciatibus ad dolo-
rem. Vermis eorum non uioritur, et ignis eorum non extinguitur, &c. —
Cyprian, ad Demetr. p. 530, Psal. ii. 9.
y Unu9 igitur, et idem Deus Pater qui concupiscentibus ejus comraunica-
EVERLASTING REST. 419
he desire not the death of him that dieth, but rather that lie
repent and live ; yet, when he will not repent and live, God doth
desire and delight in the execution of justice conditionally ; so
that men will repent, he desires not their death, but their life.
(Ezek. xxxiii. 11.) Yet, if they repent not, in the same place
he uttereth his resolution for their death. (Ver. 8, 13.) He
tells us, " that fury is not iu him ;" vet he addeth in the next
words, " Who would set the briars and thorns together in battle?
I would go through them ; I would burn them together." (Isai.
xxvii. 4.) What a doleful case is the wretched creature in,
when he shall thus set the heart of his Creator against him 1
*•' And he that made him, will not save him ; and he that formed
him, will not have mercy upon him." (Isai. xxvii. 11.) How
heavy a threatening is that, " As the Lord rejoiced over you to
do you good, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you,
and to bring you to nought." (Deut. xxviii. 63.) Wo to ihe
soul which God rejoiceth to punish. Yea, he tells the simple
ones that love simplicity, and the scorners that delight in scorn-
ing, and the fools that hate knowledge, " that because he
called, and they refused, he stretched out his hand, and no man
regarded, but set at nought all his counsel, and would none of
his reproof; therefore he will also laugh at their calamity, and
mock when their fear cometh : when their fear cometh as de-
solation, and their destruction as a whirlwind j when distress
and anguish cometh upon them, then shall they call upon him,
but he will not answer \ they shall seek him early, but shall not
find him ; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose
the fear of the Lord." (Prov. i. 22—29.) I could entreat thee,
who readest them, if thou be one of that sort of men, that thou
wilt but view over seriously that part of the chapter (Prov. i.)
from the 20th verse to the end, and believe them to be the true
words of Christ by his Spirit in Solomon. Is it not a terrible
thing to a wretched soul, when it shall lie roaring perpetually
in the flames of hell, and the God of mercy himself shall laugh
at them ; when they shall cry out for mercy, yea, for one
drop of water, and God shall mock them instead of relieving
them ; when none in heaven or earth can help them but God,
and he shall rejoice over them in their calamity ? Why, you
tionem, ct perse verantibus in subjectione ejus quffi sunt apud se preparata
l)ona : principi auteni abacessionis, rliabolo, tt qui cum eo abscescerunt an-
gelis, ffiternum ignem prasparans : iu quern mittuntur, iiiquit Dominus, illi
qui in seuistra separati sunt. — Iren, adv. Hceres. lib. iv. c, 76'.
E E 2
420 THE saint's
see these are the very words of God himself in Scripture. And
most just is it, that they who laughed at the sermon, and mocked
at the preacher, and derided the people that obeyed the Gospel,
should be laughed at, and derided by God. Ah ! poor ignorant
fools (for so this text calls them), they will then have mocking
enough, till their hearts ache with it.^ 1 dare warrant them for
ever making a jest at godliness more, or making themselves
merry with their own slanderous reports. It is themselves, then,
that must be the woful objects of derision, and that of God
himself, who would have crowned them with glory. I know
when the Scripture speaks of God's laughing and mocking, it is
not to be understood literallv, but after the manner of men : but
this may suffice us, that it will be such an act of God to the tor-
menting of the sinner, which he cannot more fitly conceive or
express under any other notion or name, than these.
Sect. V. 5. Consider who shall be God's executioners of
their torment ; and that is. First, Satan ; Secondly, Them-
selves. First, He that was here so successful in drawing them
from Christ, will then be the instrument of their punishment,
for yielding to his temptations. It was a pitiful sight to see
the man possessed, that was bound with chains, and lived
among the tombs : and that other that would be cast into the
fire and into the waterj but, alas ! that was nothing to the tor-
ment that Satan puts them to in hell : * that is the reward he
will give them for all their service ; for their rejecting the com-
mands of God, and forsaking Christ, and neglecting their souls
at his persuasion. Ah, if they had served Christ as faithfully as
they did Satan, and had forsaken all for the love of him, he
would have given them a better reward. 2. And it is most just,
also, that they should there be their own tormentors, that they
may see that their whole destruction is of themselves ; and they
who were wilfully the meritorious cause, should also be the
efficient in their own sufferings : and then who can they com-
plain of but themselves ? And they will be no more able to cease
their self-tormenting, than men that we see in a deep melan-
choly, that will by no arguments be taken off from their sor-
rows.
Sect. VI. 6. Consider, also, how that their torment will be
universal, not upon one part alone, while the rest are free ; but
^ See also Psal. xxxvii. 13.
* Utruni ignis oehennae sit oofpoteus, le°^e plenlsshne dissercnteiii P. Jo,
Reignuldum de Lib. Apocryp. Prtekct, bl—b'J,
EVERLASTING REST. 421
as all have joined in the sin, so must they all partake of the tor-
ment. The soul, as it was the chief in sinning, shall be the chief
in suffering ; and as it is of a more spiritual and excellent na-
ture than bodies are, so will its torments as far exceed our pre-
sent bodily sufferings. ^ And as the joys of the soul do far sur-
pass all sensual pleasures, and corporal contentments ; so do
the pains of the soul surpass those corporal pains ; and as the
martyrs did triumph in the very flames, because their souls were
full of joy, though their bodies were in pain ; so, though these
damned creatures could enjoy all their bodily pleasures, yet the
soul's sufferings would take away the sweetness of them all.
And it is not only a soul, but a sinful soul that must suffer ;
the guilt which still remains upon it, will make it fit for the
wrath of God to work upon ; as fire Avill not burn, ekcept the
fuel be combustible : but if the wood be dry, or it light upon
straw, how fiercely will it burn then ! Why, the guilt of their
former sins will be as tinder to gunpowder, to the damned
soul, to make the flames of hell to take hold upon them
with fury.
And as the soul, so also the body must bear its part. That
body that must needs be pleased, whatsoever become of its eter-
nal safety, shall now be paid for all its unlawful pleasures ; that
body which was so carefully looked to, so tenderly cherished,
so curiously dressed ; that body which could not endure heat
or cold, or an ill smell, or a loathsome sight : oh, what must it
now endure ! how are its haughty looks now taken down ! how
little will those flames regard its comeliness and beauty ! But as
death did not regard it, nor the worms regard it, but as freely
feed upon the face of the proud and lustful dames, and the
•* Duplex damnatorum poena est in ^henna, nam et nientem urit tristitia,
et corpus flarnma. — Bern, de Meclit. Gehennalis Supplicii. Patietur etiam
corpus, noil qua sentire (juid sine carne nou possit anima, sedqiia necesse est
illam etiam cum carne seulire. Quantum enim ad agendum de suo sufficit,
tantum et ad patiendum : ad agendum autem minus de suo sufficit. Habet
enim de suo solum niodo cogitare, velle, cupere, disponere ; ad perficiendum
autem, operam carnis expectat. Sic itaque et ad patiendum societatem carnis
expostulat, ut tarn plen^ per earn pati possit, quam sine ea. plene agere non
potuit. — Tertul. de Resur. Carnis, c. 17. p. 335. Negent operarum societa-
tem, ut merito possint etiam mercedem negare. Non sit particeps in sen-
tentia caro, si non fuerit et in causa. Sola anima revocetur. si sola decedit.
At enim non magis sola decedit, quam sola decuriit, illud unde decedit, vitara
hanc dico. Adeo autem non sola anima transigit vitam, ut nee cogitatus
licet solos licet non ad effectum per carnem deductos, auferamus i collegio
carnis. Siquidem et in carne, et cum carne, et per carnem agitur ab anima,
quod agitur in covAq.'— Tertul, de liesur, Carnis, c. 15. p. 333,
422 THE saint's
heart of the most amhitious lords or princes, as if they had
been but beggars or brutes : so will their tormentors then as
little pity their tenderness, or reverence their lordliness, M-hen
they shall be raised from their graves to their eternal doom.
Those eyes which were wont to be delighted with curious sights,
and to feed themselves upon beauteous and comely objects, must
then see nothing but what shall amaze and terrify them ; an
angry, sin-revenging God above them, and those saints whom
they scorned, enjoying the glory which they have lost ; and
about them will be only devils and damned souls ; ah, then, how
sadly will they look back and say, 'Are all the merry meetings,
our feasts, our plays, our wanton toys, our games and revels,
come to this ?' Then those ears which were wont to be delighted
with music, shall hear the shrieks and cries of their damned
companions; children crying out against their parents, that
gave them encouragement and example in evil, but did not
teach them the fear of the Lord ; husbands crying out upon
their wives, and wives upon their husbands ; masters and ser-
vants cursing each other; ministers and people, magistrates and
subjects, charging their misery upon one another, for discou-
raging in duty, conniving in sin, and being silent or formal,
when they should have plainly told one another of their misery,
and forewarned them of this danger. Thus will soul and body
be companions in calamity. '^
Sect. VII. 7. And the greater by far will their torments be,
because they shall have no comfort left to help to mitigate
them. In this life, when a minister foretold them of hell,
or conscience began to trouble their peace, they had comforts
enough at hand to relieve them : their carnal friends were all
ready to speak comfort to them, and promise them that all
should be well with them : but now they have not a word of
^ Hanc denique carnis speciem, arcem anirase, etiam Dominus in su^illa-
tione cogitationum taxat, 'Quid cogitatis in cordibus vestris nequam?' et
•Qui coiispexerit mulierem ad concupiscendum,' &c. Adeo et sine opere et
sine efVectu, cogitatiis carnis est actus ; sed etsi in cerebro, vel in medio su-
perciliorum discrimine, vel ubi plillosophis placet, principalitas sensuum
consecrata est, quod Hei!:enionicon appellatur, ' Caro entomue auima? cogita-
torium.' Nr.nquam aiiima sine carne est, quamdiu in carae est. Niliil non
cum ilia agit, sine qua non est. Quaere adhuc an cogitatus quoque per car-
nem administrentur, qui per carnern dignoscuntur extriusecus. Volutet ali-
quid anima ; vultus operatur indicium. Facies intentionum omnium specu-
lum est. Negent factorum societatem, cui negare non possunt cogitatorum.
Et illi quidem deiinquentias carnis enumerant, ergo peccatrix tenebitur sup-
pjici'.>. — Tert.de Resurrect, Carnis, c. 15.
EVEKLASTING REST.
423
comfort either for others or themselves. Formerly they had
their husiness, their company, their mirth, to drive away their
fears ; they could think away their sorrows, or play them away,
or sleep them away, or at least, time did wear them away ; but
now all these remedies are vanished. They had a hard, a pre-
sumptuous and unbelieving heart, which was a wall to defend
them against troubles of mind ; but now their experience hath
banished these, and left them naked to the fury of those flames.
Yea, formerly Satan himself was their comforter, and would un-
say all that the minister had said against them, as he did to our
first mother : ' Hath God said. Ye shall not eat ? ye shall not
surely die.' So doth he now ; ' Doth God tell you, that you shall
lie in hell ? It is no such matter ; God is more merciful ; he
doth but tell you so, to fright you from sinning : who would
lose his present pleasures, for the fear of that which he never
saw ? Or, if there be a hell, what need you to fear it ? Are not
you Christians, and shall you not be saved by Christ ? Was not
his blood shed for you? Ministers may tell you what they
please ; they delight to fright men, that they may be masters of
their consciences, and therefore would make them believe that
they shall all be damned, except they will fit themselves to
their precise humour.' Thus, as the Spirit of Christ is the com-
forter of the saints, so Satan is the comforter of the wicked ; for
he knows if he should now disquiet them, they would no longer
serve him ; or if fears or doubts should begin to trouble them,
they would bethink themselves of their danger, and so escape
it. Never was a thief more careful lest he should awake the
people, when he is robbing the house, than Satan is careful not
to awaken a sinner. And as a cut-purse will look you in the
face, and hold you in a tale, that you may never suspect him,
while he is picking your pockets ; so will Satan labour to keep
men from all doubts or jealousies, or sorrowful thoughts. But
when the sinner is dead, and he hath his prey, and his strata-
gem hath had success, then he hath done flattering and com-
forting them. While the sight of sin and misery might have
helped to save them, he took all the pains he could to hide it
from their eyes; but when it is too late, and there is no hope
left, he will make them see and feel to the utmost. Oh ! which
way will the forlorn sinner then look for comfort ? They that
drew him into the snare, and promised him safety, do now for-
sake him, and are forsaken themselves. His ancient comforts
are taken from him, and the righteous God, whose forewarn-
424 THE saint's
ings he made light of, will now made good his word against him
to the least tittle.
Sect. VIII. 8. But the great aggravation of this misery will
be its eternity.*^ That when a thousand millions of ages are
past, their torments are as fresh to begin as at the first day. If
there were any hope of an end, it would ease them to foresee
it; but when it must be forever so, that thought is intolerable:
much more will the misery itself be. They were never weary
of sinning, nor ever would have been, if they had lived eternally
upon earth, and now God will not be wearv of plaguing them.
They never heartily repented of their sin, and God will never
repent him of their suffering. They broke the laws of the
eternal God, and therefore shall suffer eternal punishment.
They knew it was an everlasting kingdom which they refused
when it was offered them, and therefore what wonder if they
be everlastingly shut out of it ; it was their immortal souls that
were guilty of the trespass, and therefore must immortally suffer
the pains. Oh, now, what happy men would they think them-
selves, if they might have lain still in their graves, or continued
dust, or suffered no worse than the gnawing of those worms !
Oh ! that they might but there lie down again ; what a mercy
now would it be to die ; and how will they call and cry out for
it, ' O death, whither art thou now gone ? Now come and cut
off this doleful life ! Oh ! that these pains would break my
heart, and end my being ! Oh ! that I might once die at last !*
Oh ! that I never had a being !' These groans will the thoughts
of eternity wring from their hearts. They were wont to think
the sermon long, and prayer long ; how long then will they
think these endless torments ? What difference is there betwixt
the length of their pleasures and of their pains ? The one con-
tinued but a moment, but the other endureth through all
^ Horrendo modo fit miseris mors sine morte, finis sine fine, defectus sine
defectu ; quia mors semper vivit, et finis semper incipit, et defectus deficere
uescit. Mors perimit et non extinguit; dolor cruciat, sed nullatenus pavorem
fugat ; flamma comburit, sed nequaquam tenehras excutit. — Greg. Moral.
lib. ix. 1 approve not learned Parker's judgment about the desert of eternal
suffering, as arising from the eternity or perpetuity of sinning, which he taketh
from Scotus and Miraudula, lib. iv. de Descensu, pp. 164, 16,5.
e Quando istinc excessum fuerit, nuUus jam pcenitentiae locus est, nullus
satisfactionis effectus : hie vita aut amittitur aut tenetur : hie saluti asteriias
cultu Dei, et fructu fidei providetur. — Cypr. ad Demetrian. lib. xxii. p. .331.
TJbi hie purgatorium pontificiorum ? ^Eterna autem et sine fine sunt k Deo
bona, propter hoc et amissio eorura aeterna et sine fine est. — Iren, adv, Herts.
Jib. i. p. (niihi) 610.
EVERLASTING REST. 425
eternity. Oh ! that sinners would lay this thought to heart !
Remember how time is almost gone. Thou art standing all
this while at the door of eternity ; and death is waiting to open
the door, and put thee in. Go sleep out but a few more nights,
and stir up and down on earth a few more days, and then thy
nights and days shall end; thy thoughts and cares, and dis-
pleasures, and all shall be devoured by eternity ; thou must enter
upon the state which shall never be changed. As the joys of
heaven are beyond our conceiving, so also are the pains of hell.
Everlasting torment is inconceivable torment.
Sect. IX. Object. But I know if it be a sensual unbeliever
that readeth all this, he will cast it by with disdain, and say, ' I
will never believe that God will thus torment his creatures.
What, to delight in their torture ! And that for everlasting !
and all this for the faults of a short time ; it is incredible. How
can this stand with the infiniteness of his mercy? I would not
thus torment the worst enemy that I have in the world, and yet
my mercifulness is nothing to God's. These are but threats to
awe men ; I will not believe them.
Answ. Wilt thou not believe ? I do not wonder if thou be
loth to believe so terrible tidings to thy soul, as these are;
which if they were believed and apprehended, indeed, according
to their weight, would set thee a trembling and roaring in the
anguish of horror day and night. And I do as little wonder
that the devil who ruleth thee, should be loth, if he can hinder
it, to suffer thee to believe it. For if thou didst believe it, thou
wouldst spare no cost or pains to escape it.^ But go to : [f
' Credunt Judaei quod ex Israelitis solis tria genera mortuorum in die judicii
sint resuscitanda, quorum unum futurum sit Israelitarum probissimorum :
alterum improbissimorum et impiissimorum ; tertium mediocriuin, qui noa
minus bene quam male operati fuerint. Probos illos e vestigio ad vitam aBter-
nam inscriptum obsignatumque improbos autem in gehenuam, sive ignem
infernalera ahjectum iri dicunt. Mediocres vero istos peccatores per spalium
Chadaschim sive mensium tantummodo duodecim pro peccatis ipsorum in in-
ferno torquebuntur ; deinde corpora eoruin consumentur, ventusque cineres
eorum diiflando dispergit subter plantas pedum justorura, &c. — Sic R. Bechar .
Talmudo. Magna ut Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. 1. pp. 25 — 27. Ad banc baeresin
appropinquat doctrina papistarum. Non est vera vita nisi ubi faeliciter vivi-
tur; nee vera incorruptio, nisi ubi salus nuilo dolore corrumpitur. Ubi au-
tem infelix non finitur, ut ita dicam, mors ipsa non moritur ; et ubi dolor
perpetuus non interimit, sed affligit, ipsa corruptio non sinitur. — Aug. Enchi-
rid. c. 92. Nisi per indebitam misericordiam nemo liberatur et nisi par
debitum judicium nemo damnatur. — Aug. Enckirid. c. 94. Vindictam
divinam certo futuram super impios et recipiscere uolentes, obsignant ((uo-
tidie tot exempla irai Dei quae nobis ante oculos ponuutur.— Po^, in Ezeh,
U.p. 191.
426 THE saint's
thou wilt read on, either thou shalt believe it before thou stirr-
est, or prove thyself an infidel or pagan. Tell me then, dost
thou believe Scripture to be the word of God ? If thou do not,
thou art no more a Christian than thy horse is, or than a Turk
is. For what ground have we besides Scripture to believe that
Jesus Christ did come into the world, or die for man ? If thou
believe not these, 1 have nothing here to do with thee, but refer
thee to the second part of this book, where I have proved
Scripture to be the word of God. But if thou do believe this to
be so, and yet dost not believe that the same Scripture is true,
thou art far worse than either infidel or pagan. For the vilest
pagan durst hardly charge their idol-gods to be liars : and
darest thou give the lie to the God of heaven ; and accuse him
of speaking that which shall not come to pass; and that in
such absolute threats, and plain expressions ? But if thou darest
not stand to this, but dost believe Scripture both to be the word
of God, and to be true, then I shall presently convince thee of
the truth of these eternal torments ; wilt thou believe if a pro-
phet should tell it thee ? Why read it then in the greatest pro-
phets, Moses, David, and Isaiah. (Deut. xxxii. 22 ; Psal. xi. 6,
and ix. 17; Isai. xxx. 33.) Or wilt thou believe one that was
more than a prophet ? Why, hear then what John Baptist saith,
(Matt. iii. 10; Luke iii. 170 ^^ ^^'t thou believe if an apostle
should tell thee ? Why, hear what one saith, where he calls it
the "vengeance of eternal fire; and the blackness of darkness
for ever." (Jude 7, 13.) Or what if thou have it from an apos-
tle that had been wrapt up in revelations into the third heaven,
and seen things unutterable, wilt thou believe then ? Why
take it then from Paul, " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven, with his niighty 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." (2 Thess. i. 7 — 9.) And " that they all might be
damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un-
righteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 12.) So Rom. ii. 5 — 7. Or wilt thou
believe it from the beloved apostle, who was so taken up in reve-
lations, and saw it, as it were, in his visions ? Why see then
Rev. XX. 10, 15. They are said there to be "cast into the lake
of fire, and tormented day and night for ever." So Rev. xxi.
8 ; so 2 Pet. ii. 17. Or wilt thou believe it from the mouth of
Christ himself the Judge ? Why read it then : As therefore
EVERLASTING REST. 427
the tares are gathered, and burnt in the fire, so ?hall it be in the
end of this world : the Son of man shall send forth his angels,
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that oflfend,
and them which do iniquity : and shall cast them into a furnace
of fire, where there shall be wee))ing and gnashing of teeth,
&c. (Matt. vii. 10, and xiii. 40 — 42, 49, 50.) So Matt, xviii.
8, 9 : so Mark ix. 43, 44, 46, 48 : where he repeateth it three
times over, " Where their worm never dieth, and their fire is
not quenched." And "Then shall he say to them on the left
hand. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels : for I was, &c. And these shall go
away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life
eternal." (Matt. xxv. 4 1, 46.)
What sayest thou now to all this ; wilt thou not believe ? Tf
thou wilt not believe Christ, I know not whom thou wilt believe :
and therefore it is in vain to persuade thee any further : only
let me tell thee, the time is at hand when thou wilt easily be-
lieve, and that without any preaching or arguing • when thou
seest the great and terrible day, and hearest the condemning
sentence passed, and art thyself thrust down to hell, (as Luke x.
11,) then thou shalt believe, and never doubt again: and do
not say but thou wast told so much. Surely, he that so much
dissuades thee from believing, doth yet believe and tremble him-
self. (Jam. ii. 10.)
And whereas thou thinkest that God is more merciful,^ why,
surely, he knows best his own mercifulness. His mercy will not
cross his truth. Cannot God be infinite in mercy, except he
save the wilful and rebellious ? Is a judge unmerciful for con-
demning malefactors? Mercy and justice have their several
objects. Thousands of humble, believing, obedient souls shall
know to their eternal comfort, that God is merciful, though the
refusers of his grace shall lie under justice. God will then force
thy conscience to confess it in hell, that God who condemned
thee was yet merciful to thee. Was it not mercy to be made a
s Sic diabolico spiritu pleni innumeras pccusationes inferunt factor! nostro,
cum et spiritum vitae nobis donaverit, et legem omnibus aptam posuerit, et
nolunt justum esse judicium Dei : qua propter et alteram quendam excogita-
runt patrem iieque curantem ; neque providentem eorum, quas sunt erg'a nos,
aut etiam conseutientem omnibus peccatis. — Irenaus adv. Har. lib. v. p. 609.
Jam scies nequitia sua banc eos meruisse fortunam : nee quicquam accidisse,
quod uon sit his, si in contuniacia perseverarent, antca prtedictum. Ita prius
eos deseruisse compreheudes, quatu esse deserlos.—Minut, Falix. Octav,
p. 394.
428 THE saint's
reasonable creature ; and to have patience to endure thy many
years' provocations, and waiting upon thee from sermon to ser-
mon ; desiring and entreating thy repent&nce and return ? Was
it not mercy to have the Son of God, with all liis blood and
merits, freely offered thee, if thou wouldst but have accepted
him to govern and to save thee ? Nay, when thou hadst neglected
and refused Christ once, or twice, yea, a hundred times, that
God should yet follow thee with invitations from day to day ?
And shalt thou wilfully refuse mercy to the last hour, and then
cry out that God will not be so unmerciful as to condemn thee?
Thy conscience will smite thee for thy madness, and tell thee,
that God was merciful in all this, though such as thou do perish
for thy wilfulness. Yea, the sense of the greatness of his mercy,
will then be a great part of thy torment.^
And whereas thou thinkest the pain to be greater than the
offence, that is because thou art not a competent judge. Thou
knowest what pain is, but thou knowest not the thousandth
part of the evil of sin. Shall not the righteous Judge of the world
do justly ? Nay, it is no more than thou didst choose thyself.
Did not God set before thee life and death, and tell thee, if thou
wouldst accept of the government of Christ, and renounce thy
lusts, that then thou shouldst have eternal life ? And if thou
wouldst not have Christ, but the world or flesh to rule over thee,
thou shouldst then endure eternal torments ? Did not he offer
*" When I read in Spanhemius's ' Posthum. Vind. against Aroyraldus,' and
some other divines (that love not tube named in opposition), both pajjes filled
with extenuations of God's mercy to the wicked, as if because he gives them
not effectual grace to believe, therefore Christ's dying for them, in Davenport
and Camero's middle sense, is no mercy to them, but a mocking of them ;
and therefore conclude that Christ died not for them at all : it makes me
tremble to think that learned divines, in the heat of dispute, should speak so
desperately against God ; and yet this is almost all they have to say, 1 en-
treat such to consider, seeing conscience is the great tormentor of the damned
in hell ; and the rejecting of Christ, and the abuse of Gospel-merey, will be
the greatest thing that God and conscience will charge them with ; whether
these men's doctrine, if the damned could believe it, would not make hell to be
no hell to them, or more easy ? If they could say, ("hrist never died for me
at all ; or if he had, yet it had been no mercy, because God would not give me
faith in him : it was merely God's will that I should be damned that brought
me hither, which I could not resist : if they could thus lay all on God, where
were the worm of conscience ? Shall we deny that which is clear and plain,
because we cannot comprehend that which is hid and secret ? Shall we say,
tliat it is not so, which we see to be so, because we cannot find why it is so ?
saith Augustine excellently, ' Lib. de De Bono Persever.' c. 14 ; which saying
I would desire the persons before mentioned, well to consider ; " Christ makes
it the perfection of our heavenly Father, to do good in comnion cases, to the
just and unjust."— Matt, v, 45, 48,
EVERLASTING REST. 429
thee thy choice, and bid thee take which of tliese thou wouldst;
yea, and entreat tliee to choose aright ? And dost thou now cry
out of severity, when thou hast but the consequence of thy wil-
ful choice ? But it is not thy accusing God of cruelty that shall
serve thy turn ; instead of procuring thy escape, or the mitiga^
tion of thy torments, it will but make thy burden the more
heavy.
And whereas thou sayst that thou wouldst not so torment thy
own enemy ; I answer. There is no reason that thou shouldst :
for is it all one to offend a crawling worm of the earth, and to
offend the eternal glorious God ? Thou hast no absolute do-
minion over thine enemy, and there may be some fault in thy-
self as well as in him ; but with God and us the case is contrary.
Yet thou makest nothing of killing a flea if it do but bite thee ;
yea, an hundred of them, if they did not touch thee, and yet
never accusest thyself of cruelty. Yea, thou wilt torment thy
ox all his life-time with toilsome labour, and kill him at last,
though he never deserved ill of thee, nor disobeyed thee, and
though thou hast over him but the borrowed authority of a
superior fellow-ceature, and not the sovereign power of the abso-
lute Creator. Yea, how commonly dost thou take away the
lives of birds, and beasts, and fishes I Many times a great many
of lives must be taken away to make for thee but one meal.
How many deaths, then, have been suffered in obedience to thy
will, from thy first age to thy last hour ; and all this without
any desert of the creature ! And must it yet seem cruelty, that
the sovereign Creator, who is ten thousand times more above
thee than thou art above a flea or a toad, should execute his
justice upon such a contemner of his authority? But I have given
you some reasons of this before.
Sect. X. But methinks I perceive the obstinate sinner despe-
rately resolving, If I must be damned, there is no remedy ; rather
than 1 will live so precisely as the Scripture requireth, I will put
it to the venture ; I shall escape as well as the rest of my neigh-
bours, and as the most of the world, and we will even bear it as
well as we can. Answ. Alas, poor creature 1 I wish thou didst
but know what it is that thou dost so boldly venture on; I dare
say thou wouldst sleep this night but very unquietly. Wilt thou
leave thyself no room for hope ? Art thou such a malicious, im-
placable enemy to Christ and thy own soul ? And dost thou
think, indeed, that thou canst bear the wrath of God, and go
away so easily with these eternal torments I Yet let me beg this
430 THE saint's
of thee, that before thou dost so flatly resolve, thou vvouldst lend
me thine attention to these few questions which I shall put to
thee, and weigh them with the reason of a man ; and if then thou
canst bear these pains, I shall give thee over and say no more.
First : Who art thou that thou shouldst bear the wrath of
God ? Art thou a God, or art thou a man ? What is thy
strength to undergo so much ? Is it not as the strength of wax
or stubble to resist the fire ; or as chaff to the wind ; or as the
dust before the fierce whirlwind ? Was he not as stout a man
as thyself, who cried to God, " Wilt thou break a leaf driven to
and fro ; and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble ?" ' (Job xiii. 25 ;)
and he that confesseth, " I am a worm and no man." (Phil. ii.
.26.) If thy strength were as iron, and thy bones as brass, thou
couldst not bear. If thy foundation were as the earth, and thy
power as the heavens, yet shouldst thou perish at the breath of
his indignation. How much more when thou art but a little
piece of a worm, creeping, breathing clay, kept a few days from
stinking, and from being eaten with worms by the mere support
and favour of him whom thou thus resistest.
Secondly : If thou art able to wrestle with the imdignation of
the Almighty ; why then dost thou tremble at the signs of his
power, or wrath ? Do not the terrible thunder-claps sometimes
affright thee; or the lightning- flashes, or that unseen power
which goes with it^ in rending in pieces mighty oaks, and tearing
down the strongest buildings ? If thou hadstbeen in the church
of Withicombe, in Devonshire, when the lightning broke in, and
scorched and burnt the people, and left the brains and hair upon
the pillars, would it not have made thee afraid ? If thou be put
in a place where the plague doth rage, so that it comes to so
many thousand a week, doth it not astonish thee, to see men that
were well within a few days to be thrown into the graves by heaps
and multitudes? If thou hadst stood by, when Pharaoh and his
people were so strangely plagued, and at last drowned together
in the sea; or when the earth swallowed up Dathan, Abiram,
and their companies, and the people fled away at the cry, lest the
earth should swallow them up also ; or when Elias brought fire
from heaven to consume the captains and their companies :
would not any of these sights have daunted thy spirit ? Why,
how then canst thou bear the hellish plagues ?
Thirdly : Tell me also, if thou be so strong, and thy heart so
' Read Psal.lxxvii. 18 ; Exod. ix. 28.
KVERLASTING REST. 431
Stout, why do those small sufferings so dismay thee which befall
thee here ? If thou have but a toothache, or a fit of the gout,
or stone^ what groans dost thou utter; what moans dost thou
make! The house is filled witii thy constant complaints : thy
friends about thee are grieved at thy pains, and stand over thee
condoling thy miserable state. If thou shouldst but lose a leg
or an arm, thou wouldst make a greater matter of it. If thou
lose but a friend; if thou lose thine estate, and fall into poverty,
and beggary, and disgrace ; how heavily wouldst thou bear any
one of these. And yet all these laid together will be one day
accounted a happy state, in comparison of that which is suffered
in hell. Let me see thee shake off the most painful sickness,
and make as light of convulsive, epileptic, arthritic, nephritic
pains, or such- like diseases, when they seize upon thee, and then
the strength of thy spirit will appear. Alas, how many such
boasters as thyself have I seen made stoop and eat their words !
And when God hath but let out a little of his wrath, that
Pharaoh who before asked, ' Who is the Lord, that I should let
all go for him ?' hath turned his tune, and cried, * I have sinned.*
Fourthly : If thy stout spirit do make so light of hell, why
then doth the approach of death so much affright thee ? Didst
thou never find the sober thoughts of death to raise a kind of
dread in thy mind ? Wast thou never in a fever, or consump-
tion, or any disease wherein thou didst receive the sentence of
death ? If thou wast not, thou wilt be before long ; and then
when the physician hath plainly told thee that there is no hopes,
oh, how cold it strikes to thy heart ! Why is death to men
the king of terrors else ? and the stoutest champions then do
abate their courage. Oh ! but the grave would be accounted a
palace or a paradise, in comparison of that place of torment
which thou desperately slightest.
Fifthly : If all this be nothing, go try thy strength by some
corporeal torment ; as Bilney, before he went to the stake,
would first try his finger in the candle; so do thou. Hold thy fin-
ger awhile in the fire, and feel there whether thou canst endure
the fire of hell. Austin mentioneth a chaste christian woman, who
being tempted to uncleanness by a lewd ruffian, she desired him
for her sake to hold his finger one hour in the fire ; he answer-
eth, * It is an unreasonable request ;' ' How much more unrea-
sonable is it,' said she, ' that I should burn in hell for the satis-
fying your lust?' So say I to thee: If it be an intolerable
thing to suffer the heat of the fire for a year, or a day, or an
432 THE saint's
hour, what will it he to suffer ten thousand times more for ever ?
What, if" thou wert to suffer Lawrence's death, to he roasted
upon a gridiron ; or to he scraped or pricked to death as other
martyrs were ; or if thou wert to feed upon toads for a year to-
gether. If thou couldst not endure such things as these, how
wilt thou endure the eternal flames ?
Sixthly: Tell me yet again. If hell he so small a matter, why
canst thou not endure so much as the thoughts, or the mention
of it ? Jf thou be alone, thou darest scarcely think of hell, for
fear of raising disquietness in thy spirit, if thou be in company,
thou canst not endure to have any serious speech of it, lest it spoil
the sport, and mar the mirth, and make thee tremble, as Felix
did when Paul was discoursing of the judgment to come. Thou
canst not endure to hear a minister preach of hell, but thou
gnashest thy teeth, and disdainest him, and reproachest his
sermon, as enough to drive men to desperation, or make them
mad. And canst thou endure the torments, when thou canst
not endure so much as to hear of them ? Alas ! man, to hear
thy judgment from the mouth of Christ, and to feel the execu-
tion, will be another kind of matter, than to hear it from a
minister.
Seventhly: Furthermore, What is the matter that the rich man
in hell, mentioned in Luke xvi., could not make as light of it as
thou dost ? Was not he as likely a man to bear it as thyself ?
Why doth he so cry out that he is tormented in the flames; and
stoop so low, as to beg a drop of water of a beggar that he had
but a little before despised at his gates ; and to be beholden to
him, that had been beholden to the dogs to lick his sores ?
Also, what aileth thy companions, who were as resolute as
thyself, that when they lie a dying, their courage is so cooled,
and their haughty expressions are so greatly changed ? They who
had the same spirits and language as thou hast now, and made
as light of all the threats of the word; yet when they see they are
going into another world, how pale do they look ; how faintly
do they speak; how dolefully do they complain and groan 1
They send for the minister then, whom they despised before, and
desire to be prayed for, and would be glad to die in the state of
those whom they would not be persuaded to imitate in their
lives ; except it be here and there a desperate wretch, who is
given over to a more than hellish hardness of heart. Why can-
not these make as light of it as thou ?
Eighthly: Yet further, If thou be so fearless of that eternal
EVERLASTING REST. 433
misery, why is tlie least foretaste of it so terrible ? Didst thou
never feel such a thing as a tormenting conscience ? If thou
hast not, thou shalt do. Didst thou never see and speak with
a man that lived in desperation, or in some degree of those
wounds of spirit that were near despair ? How uncomfortable
was their conference ! How burdensome their lives! Nothing
doth them good which they possess ; the sight of friends, or
house, or goods, which refresh others, is a trouble to them ; they
feel no sweetness in meat or drink ; they are weary of life, and
fearful of death. What is the matter with these men ? If the
misery of the damned itself can be endured, why cannot they
more easily endure these little sparks ?
Ninthly : Again, tell me faithfully, what if thou shouldst but
see the devil appear to thee in some terrible shape, would it not
daunt thee ? What, if thou shouldst meet him in thy way home,
or he should show himself to thee at night in thy bed-chamber,
would not thy heart fail thee, and thy hair stand on end ? I
could name thee those that have been as confident as thyself,
who, by such a sight, have been so appalled, that they were in
danger of being driven out of their wits. Or, what, if some
damned soul, of thy former acquaintance, should appear to thee
in some bodily likeness, would not this amaze thee ? What
fears do people live in, whose houses or persons have been but
haunted with spirits, though they have only heard some noises,
and seen some sights, but never felt any hurt upon their bodies ?
Alas ! what is this to the torments of hell ? Canst thou not
endure a shadow to appear before thee ? Oh, how wilt thou en-
dure to live with them for ever, where thou shalt have no other
company but devils and the damned \ and shalt not only see
them, but be tormented with them, and by them ! And as in-
credible a matter as this seems to thee, if thy thorough conver-
sion prevent it not, thou knowest not how very few months thou
shalt be out of this estate.
Tenthly and lastly: Let me ask thee one more question, if
the wrath of God be to be made so light of as thou dost, why
did the Son of God himself make so great a matter of it ? when
he, who was perfectly innocent himself, had taken upon him
the payment of our debt, and stood in our room, and bore that
punishment that we had deserved, it makes him sweat forth
water and blood ; it makes the Lord of life cry, " My soul is
heavy, even to the death." It makes him cry out upon the
cross, " My God ! my God ! vvhy hast thou forsaken me?"
VOL. XXII. F F
434 tHE SAINT*S
Surely, if any one could have borne these sufferings easily, it
would have been Jesus Christ. He had another measure of
strength to bear it than thou hast.
And let me tell thee one thing, which every one understand-
eth not ; thou wilt have sins of a more heinous nature and de-
gree to suffer for, than ever were laid upon Jesus Christ. For
Christ suffered only for the breaches of the covenant of works,''
and not for the violation of the covenant of grace (properly so
called, that is, not for the final non-performance of the condi-
tions of this covenant). There was no man's final prevailing
unbelief, impenitency, or rejecting of Christ, that did lie upon
Christ. Howsoever the aggravation of all men's sins might
aggravate his burden, yet the punishment due to those sins
particularly was not like the punishment which is due to thine.
For as the first covenant gave not so great a reward, so neither
did it threaten so great a penalty as the latter doth. And the
penalty which the new covenant threateneth, Christ never un-
derwent. So that the punishment which thou must suffer, is
that which the Apostle speaks of, " Of how much sorer pu-
nishment," &c. (Heb. X. 29,) and that fearful looking-for of
judgment and fire, which devoureth the adversaries. (Heb. vi.8,)
Wo to poor sinners for their mad security ! Do they think to
find it tolerable to them, which was so heavy to Christ? Nay?
the Son of God is cast into a bitter agony, and bloody sweat,
and dolorous complaints, under the curse of the law alone ; and
yet the feeble, foolish creature makes nothing to bear also the
curse of the Gospel. The good Lord bring these men to their
right minds by repentance, lest they buy their wit at too dear a
rate.
Sect. XI. And thus I have showed you somewhat of their
■' It is a wonder that learned sober divines should deny this ; as if either the
Jiew law did threaten liell to any but final, impenitent unbelievers, and rebels
to Christ, or Christ had ever died for such final rebellion. This is such a doc-
trine of universal redemption, as a Jesuit would abhor. Read Matth. Mar-
tinius and Lud. Crocius's ' Theses in the Synod of Dort,' on the second article,
among suffrages. Is not that of great Camero, an easy, i)laiu truth, ' Quaest.
in Hebr.' (operum folio), p. 413. Certe nemo servatur nisi foedere observato.
Ergo foedus quo servantur liomines, diversum est ab eo quo a nemine obser-
vato nemo servatur: i.e.. Certainly no man is saved, but by covenant per-
formed or kept ; therefore, the covenant which men are saved by, is not the
same with that which saveth no man, being performed by none. And learned
Parker saith : Descendit e6 sua in exinanitione Christus, qu6 primus Adam
sue lapsu cecidit, ut nos inde liberaret. — Parker de Descensu, lib. iii. p. 1.
And yet I dare not nor will not say so much this way as the learned Parker
doth, hb. iv. pp. 164, 165 j nor will I repeat it.
EVERLASTING REST. 435
misery, who miss of this rest prepared for the saints. And now,
reader, I demand thy resolution, what use thou wilt make of all
this : shall it all be lost to thee ; or, wilt thou, as thou art
alone, consider of it in good earnest ? Thou hast cast by many
a warning of God, wilt thou do so by this also ? Take heed
what thou dost, and how thou so resolvest. God will not al-
ways stand warning and threatening. The hand of revenge is
lifted up, the blow is coming, and wo to him, whoever he be,
on whom it lighteth. Little thinkest thou how near thou
standest to thy eternal state, and how near the pit thou art dan-
cing in thy greatest jollity. If thy eyes were but opened, as
they will be shortly, thou wouldst see all this that I have spoken
before thine eyes, without stirring from the place, I think,
in which thou standest. Dost thou throw by the book, and
say, ' It speaks of nothing but hell and damnation ?' Thus thou
usest also to complain of the minister ; but wouldst thou not
have us tell thee of these things ? Should we be guilty of the
blood of thy soul, by keeping silent that which God hath
charged us upon pain of death to make known ? Wouldst
thou perish in ease and silence, and also have us to perish with
thee, rather than to awake thee, or displease thee, by speaking
the truth ? If thou wilt be guilty of such inhuman cruelty, yet
God forbid we should be guilty of such most sottish folly ! there
are few preachers so simple, but they know that this kind of
preaching is the ready way to be hated of their hearers. And
the desire of applause, and the favour of men, is so natural to
all men, that I think there are few that delight in such a dis-
pleasing way. Our temptations to flattery and man-pleasing
are too strong for that. But I beseech thee, consider, are these
things true, or are they not ? If they were not true, I would
heartily join with thee against any minister that should offer to
preach them, and to affright poor people when there is no cause;
and, I should think, such preachers did deserve death or ba-
nishment. But if every word of these threatenings be the words
of God, and if they be as true as thou livest and readest this,
what a wretch art thou that wouldst not hear it, or consider it !
Why, what is the matter ? If thou be sure that thou art one of
the people of God, this doctrine will be a comfort to thee, and
not a terror : but if thou be yet carnal and unregenerate, me-
thinks thou shouldst be as afraid to hear of heaven as of hell,
except the bare name of heaven or salvation be sufficient. Sure,
there is no doctrine concerning heaven in all the Scripture that
F F 2
436 THE saint's
can give thee any comfort, but upon the supposal of thy con-
version ; what comfort is it to thee, to hear that there is a
rest remaining to the people of God, except thou be one of
them ? Nay, what more terrible, than to read of Christ and
salvation for others, when thou must be shut out ? ' Therefore,
except thou wouldst have a minister to preach a lie, it is all one
to thee for any comfort thou hast in it, whether he preach of
heaven or hell to thee. His preaching heaven and mercy to
thee, can be nothing else but to entreat thee to seek them, and
not neglect or reject them ; but he can make thee no promise
of it, but upon the condition of thy obeying the Gospel ; and his
preaching hell, is but to persuade thee to avoid it. And is not
this doctrine fit for thee to hear ? Indeed, if thou wert quite
past hope of escaping it, then it were in vain to tell thee of hell,
but rather let thee take a few merry hours whilst thou mayst ;
but, as long as thou art alive, there is some hope of thy reco-
very, and therefore all means must be used to awake thee from
thy lethargy. Oh, that some Jonas had this point in hand to
cry in your ears, " Yet a few days, and the rebellious shall be
destroyed ;" till you were brought down on your knees in sack-
cloth and in ashes 1 Oh, if some John Baptist might cry it
abroad, "Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree ; every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into
the fire." Oh, that some son of thunder, who could speak as
Paul, till the hearers tremble, were now to preach this doctrine
to thee ! Alas ! as terribly as you think I speak, yet is it not
the thousandth part of what must be felt ; for what heart can
now possibly conceive, or what tongue can express the dolors of
those souls that are under the wrath of God ? Ah, that ever
blind sinners should wilfully bring themselves to such unspeak-
able misery ! You will then be crying to Jesus Christ, ' Oh,
mercy 1 oh, pity, pity, on a poor soul !' Why, I do now in the
name of the Lord Jesus cry to thee. Oh, have mercy, have pitv,
man, upon thine own soul ! shall God pity thee, who wilt not
be entreated to pity thyself? If thy horse see but a pit before
him, thou canst scarcely force him in. Balaam's ass would not
be driven upon the drawn sword ; and wilt thou so obstinately
cast thvself into hell, when the danger is foretold thee ? " Oh,
who can stand before the Lord, and who can abide the fierce-
ness of his anger ?" (Nahum i. 6.) Methinks thou shouldst
need no more words, but presently cast away thy soul-damning
sins, and wholly deliver up thyself to Christ. Resolve on it im-
EVERLASTING REST, 437
mediately, niun, and let it be done, that I may see thy face in
rest among the saints. The Lord persuade thy heart to strike
this covenant without any longer delay : but if thou be harden-
ed unto death, and there be no remedy, yet do not say another
day, but that thou wast faithfully warned, and that thou hast a
friend that would fain have prevented thy damnation.
CHAP. V.
The second Use, reprehending the general Neglect of this Rest,
and exciting to Diligence in seeking it.
Sect. I. I come now to the second use which I shall raise
from this doctrine of rest. If there be so certain and glorious
rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking
after it in the world ? One would think that a man that did
but once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and
did believe what he heareth to be true, should be transported
with the vehemency of his desires after it, and should almost
forget to eat or drink, and should mind and care for nothing
else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to
get assurance and possession of this treasure ! ^ And yet
people who hear it daily, and profess to believe it undoubted,
as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or
care, or labour for it, and as much forget and disregard it, as if
they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one
word that they hear. And as a man that comes into America,
and sees the natives regard more a piece of glass, or an old knife,
than a piece of gold, may think. Surely these people never heard
of the worth of gold, or else they would not exchange it for
toys ; so a man that looked only upon the lives of most men,
and did not hear their contrary confessions, would think either
these men never heard of heaven, or else they never heard of
its excellency and glory : when, alas ! they hear of it till they
are weary of hearing ; and it is offered to them so commonly,
that they are tired with the tidings, and cry out as the Israel-
ites, " Our soul is dried away, because there is nothing but this
manna before our eyes." (Numb. xi. 6.) And as the Indians,
who live among the golden mines, do little regard it, but are
1 Otiositas in Dei servitio est vorago, subtilius devorans otiantem, — Wick'.
Vijf\ Trkdog, lib. iii. c.l6. {\>\, 7\,
438 THE saint's
weary of the daily toil of getting it, when other nations will
compass the world, and venture their lives, and sail through
storms and waves to get it : so we that live where the Gospel
groweth, where heaven is urged upon us at our doors, and the
manna falls upon our tents, do little regard it, and wish these
mines of gold were further from us, that we might not be put
upon the toil of getting it, when some that want it, would be
glad of it upon harder terms. Surely, though the resurrection
of the body, and life everlasting, be the last article in their
creed, it is not the least, nor therefore put last, that it should
be last in their desires and endeavours.
Sect. II. I shall apply this reproof more particularly yet to
four several sorts of men. First, To the carnal, worldly-minded
man, who is so taken up in seeking the things below, that he
hath neither heart nor time to seek this rest.
May I not well sav to these men, as Paul to the Galatians, in
another case, " Foolish sinners ! who hath bewitched you ? "
It is not for nothing that divines use to call the world a witch ;
for, as in witchcraft men's lives, senses, goods, or cattle, are
destroyed by a strange, secret, unseen power of the devil, of
which a man can give no natural reason ; so here, men will
destroy their own souls in a way quite against their own know-
ledge ; and as witches will make a man dance naked, or do the
most unseemly, unreasonable actions ; so the world doth be-
witch men into brute beasts, and draw them some degrees be-
yond madness."* Would not any man wonder, that is in his right
wit, and hath but the spiritual use of reason, to see what riding
and running, what scrambling and catching, there is for a thing of
nought, while eternal rest lies by neglected ! What contriving
and caring, what fighting and bloodshed, to get a step higher in
the world than their brethren, while they neglect the kingly
*" Sic errant aliqui, et in tantam oblivionem et spiritualem phrenesin deve-
nerunt, ut tanquam niortui k corde, omnem insumuut operam suam circa car-
nem ; sic inteiidentes tabernaculo suo ac si iiuiiquam puteut esse casurum.
Veruntamen cadat uecesse est, atque id qtiidein in brevi. Aiuiou seipsos nescire
videutur, qui sic dediti sunt carni et sanguini, ac si pmnino nihil aliud quam
carnem solam se esse reputeiit. Sic in vano accipieutes aniinas suas, tan-
quam prorsus igiioreut auinias se habere? — Bern. Serm . 137. Consider,
man, thy own nobility; tiiat thou art called to a kingly dignity, a chosen
nation, a holy priesthood. For the mystery of Cliristiaiiity is strange from
this world. The conspicuous glory of a king, and riches, are earthly things,
corruptible, transitory, and perishing ; but that kingdom and riches, are
things divine, celestial, and glorious, which shall never perish, never be dis-
solved: for they reign with the heavenly King in the heavenly church ; he is
the first-begotten from the dead, and they also are the first-begotten.
EVERLASTING REST. 439
dignitj' of the saints ! What insatiable pursuit of fleshly plea-
sures, whilst they look upon the praises of God, which is the
joy of angels, as a tiring burden ! What unwearied diligence is
there in raising their posterity, in enlarging their possessions, in
gathering a little silver or gold ; yea, perhaps for a poor living
from hand to mouth, while, in the meantime, their judgment is
drawing near ; and yet how it shall go with them then, or how
they shall live eternally, did never put them to the trouble of
one hour's sober consideration." What rising early, and sitting
up late, and labouring and caring, year after year, to maintain
themselves and their children in credit till they die ; but what
shall follow after, that they never think on, as if it were only
their work to provide for their bodies, and only God's work
to provide for their souls ; whereas, God hath promised more
to provide for their bodies, without their care, than for their
souls, though indeed they must painfully serve his providence
for both ; and yet these men cry to us, ' May not a man
be saved without so much ado ?' And may we not say, with
more reason to them, ' May not a man have a little air on earth,
a little credit or wealth, without so much ado ?' or, at least,
' May not a man have enough to bring him to his grave without
so much ado ?' How early do they rouse up their servants to
their labour ! ' Up, come away to work, we have this to do, and
that to do ;' but how seldom do they call them, ' Up, you have
your souls to look to, you have everlasting life to provide for ;
up to prayer, to the reading of the Scripture.' Alas, how rare
is this language ! what a gadding up and down the world is
here, like a company of ants upon a hillock, taking incessant
pains to gather a treasure, which death, as the next passenger
that comes by, will spurn abroad, as if it were such an excellent
thing to die in the midst of wealth and honours I or, as if it
would be such a comfort to a man at death, or in another
world, to think that he was a lord, or a knight, or a gentleman,
or a rich man on earth ! For my part, whatever these men may
profess or say to the contrary, I cannot but strongly suspect
that, in heart, they are flat pagans, and do not believe that
there is an eternal glory or misery, nor what the Scripture
speaks of the way of obtaining it ; or, at least, that they do but
" Macarius Homil. xxvii. Ciiras et cupiditates nostras, quae nostrum non
opprimunt, sed ohruunt gaudium, novis curis et votis tueri et alleviare stude-
nius. Nil aliud iacimus quam integrum onus pristinum retinere, et pondera
nobis nova imponere. — Niremb.de Arte Folwit. lib. ii. c, 7, p. 112.
440 THE saint's
a little believe it, by the halves, and therefore think to make
sure of earth, lest there be no such thing as heaven to be had ;
and to hold fast that which they have in hand, lest if they let
go that, in hope of better in another world, they should play
the fools, and lose all. I fear, though the christian faith be in
their mouths, lest that this be the faith which is next their
hearts ; or else the lust of their senses doth overcome and sus-
pend their reason, and prevail with their wills against the last
practical conclusion of their understanding. What is the ex-
cellency of this earth, that it hath so many suitors and ad-
mirers : what hath this world done for its lovers and friends,
that it is so eagerly followed, and painfully sought after, while
Christ and heaven stand by, and few regard them ; or, what
will the world do for them for the time to come ? The common
entrance into it, is through anguish and sorrow. The passage
through it, is with continual care, and labour, and grief. The
j)assage out of it, is with the greatest sharpness and sadness of
all. What, then, doth cause men so much to follow and affect
it? O sinful, unreasonable, hev.itched men! will mirth and
pleasure stick close to you ; will gold and worldly glory prove fast
friends to you in the time of your greatest need; will they hear
your cries in the day of your calamity ? If a man should say to
you at the hour of your death, as Elias did to Baal's priests,
*' Cry aloud," &c. Oh, riches, or honour, now help us ! will
they either answer," or relieve you ; will they go along with vou
to another world, and bribe the Judge, and bring you off clear;
or purchase you a room among the blessed ? Why then did so
rich a man want a drop of water for his tongue ; or are the
sweet morsels of present delight and honour, of more worth
than the eternal rest : and will they recompense the loss of that
enduring treasure ; can there be the least hope of any of these :
why, what then is the matter; is it only a room for our dead
bodies, that we are so much beholden to the world for ? why,
this is the last and longest courtesy that we shall receive from
it. But we shall have this, whether we serve it or not; and
even that homely, dusty dwelling, it will not afford us always
neither : it shall possess our dust, but till the great resurrection
day. Why, how then doth the world deserve so well at men's
° Yet Christ's saying, that it is as hard for a rich man to be saved as a camel
to go through the eye of a needle, is not to be understood literally, it being a
proverb which the Jews used of a thing very difficult. Vide Chri■^toph. Cart-
wright, in ' Prffii'at. ante Annotat. in Gen.'
EVERLASTING REST. 441
hands, that they should part with Christ and their salvation to
be its followers? Ah, vile, deceitful world ! how oft have we
heard thy most faithful servants at last complaining, * Oh, the
world hath deceived me, and undone me ! it flattered me in my
prosperity, but now it turns me off at death in my necessity !
Ah, if I had as faithfully served Christ, as I have served ic, he
would not thus have cast me off, nor have left me thus com-
fortless and hopeless in the depth of misery I Thus do the
dearest friends and favourites of the world complain at last of
its deceit, or rather of their own self-deluding folly, and yet
succeeding sinners will take no warning. So this is the first sort
of neglecters of heaven which fall under this reproof.
Sect. III. 2. The second sort here to be reproved are, the
profane, p ungodly, presumptuous multitude, who will not be
persuaded to be at so much pains for salvation as to perform the
conunon, outward duties of religion : yea, though they are con-
vinced that these duties are commanded by God, and see it before
their eyes in the Scripture, yet will they not be brought to the
constant practice of them. If they have the Gospel preached in
the town where they dwell, it may be they will give the hearing
to it one part of the day, and stay at home the other ; or if the
master come to the congregation, yet part of his family nmst
stay at home. If they want the plain and powerful preaching
of the Gospel, how ^ew are they in a whole town that will either
be at cost or pains to procure a minister, or travel a mile or two
to hear abroad, though they will go many miles to the market for
provisions for their bodies ! The Queen of the South shall rise
up in judgment with this generation, and condemn them ; for
she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wis-
dom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon doth, by
his messengers, preach to them. The king of Nineveh shall
rise up in judgment with them, and shall condemn them, for he
repented at the preaching of Jonas ; but when Jesus Christ
sendeth his ambassadors to these men, they will scarcely go to
hear them. (Matt. xii. 41,42.) And though they know that
the Scripture is the very law of God, by which they must live,
P Utinam et nos assequamur sanitatem qui dissoluti sumus et ad omne
bonum opus ininiobiles ; ueque habenuis houiiiiein, hoc est, huniaiiam ra-
tionem, utpote comparati cum juinenlis, lit pr)rtet nos in pisciiiam pceuiteii-
tijE lachrymarum iu quam qui primus in^^rfditur, sauatur. Nam qui poeiii-
tentiam diti'ert in tenipora posteriora, uou festiiiat hie poenitere; qui procras-
tiuat, nou assequitur sanitatem. Primus i^itur i'estiua iiigredi, ne mors te
prsBoccupet, — Thtophylact, in Joan, c. 5.
442 THE saint's
and by which they must be acquit or condemned in judgment ;
and that it is the property of every blessed man to delight in
this law, and to meditate in it day and night ; (Psal. i. 2 ;) yet
will they not be at the pains to read a chapter once in a day,
nor to acquaint their families with this doctrine of salvation.
Biit if they carry a Bible to church, and let it lie by them all the
week, this is the most use they make of it : and though they
are commanded to pray without ceasing; (1 Thes. v. 17;) and
to pray always, and not to wax faint ; (Luke xviii. 1 — 3, &c.;)
to continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving ;
(Col. iv. 2 ;) yet will they not be brought to pray constantly
with their families, or in secret. Though Daniel would rather
be cast to the lions than he would forbear for a while praying
openly in his house, where his enemies might hear him three
times a day; yet these men will rather venture to be an eternal
prey to that roaring lion that seeks to devour them, than they
will be at the pains thus to seek their safety .*i You may hear,
in their houses, two oaths for one prayer ; or if they do any
thing this way, it is usually but a running over a few formal
words which- they have got on their tongue's end, as if they
came on purpose to make a jest of prayer, and to mock God
and their own souls. If they be in distress, or want any thing
for their bodies, they want no words to make known their mind ;
but to a physician when they are sick, to a griping landlord
when they are oppressed, to a wealthy friend when they are in
want, they can lay open their case in sad complaints, and have
words at will to jjress home their requests ; yea, every beggar
at their door can crave relief, and m.ake it their daily practice ;
and hold on with importunity, and take no denial : necessity
filleth their mouths with words, and teacheth them the most
natural, prevailing rhetoric. These beggars will rise up in
judgment against them, and condemn them. Doubtless, if they
felt but the misery and necessities of their souls, they would be
as forward to beg relief of God, and as frequent, as fervent, as
1 Some tliiiik that God looks only to their hearts, and the doctrine of justifi-
cation by faitli alone, and not by works, misunderstood, doth make them go
on in wickedness, and think they believe, and then all is safe. To tiiese
men, Tertullian hath an excellent saying: " Sed aiunt quidam, satis Ueum
habere si corde et animo suspiciatur, licet acta minus fiat, itaijue se salvo
metu et fide peccare ; hoc est, salva castitate, matrimonia violare ; salva pie-
tate, parenti veneiium temperare ; sic ergo et ipsi salva venia in gehennam
detrudentur, dum salvo nietu peccant. It they can sin, and yet believe, that
is, violate matrimony, and keep chastity, &c., then they shall be thrust into
hell, and yet be pardoned, — Teriul, de Pxnilen, c. 5. .
EVERLASTING REST. 443
importunate, and as constant, till they were past their straits ;
but, alas ! he that only reads in a book that he is miserable, and
what his soul stands in need of, but never felt himself miserable,
nor felt particularly his several wants, no wonder if he must also
fetch his prayer from his book only,'' or, at furthest, from the
strength of his invention or memory. Solomon's request to
God was, that what prayer or supplication soever should be made
by any man, or by all the people, when every man shall know
his own sore, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands
before God, that God would then hear and forgive, &c. (2 Chron.
vi. 29, 30.) If these men did thus know and feel every one
the sore and the grief of his own soul, we should neither need
so much to urge them to prayer, nor to teach them how to per-
form it, and what to say : whereas now they do invite God to
be backward in giving, by their backwardness in asking, and
to be weary of relieving them by their own being weary of
begging, and to be seldom and short in his favours as they are
in their prayers, and to give them but common and outward
favours, as thev put up but common and outside requests. Yea,
their cold and heartless prayers do invite God to a flat denial :
for among men it is taken for granted, that he who asks but
slightly and seldom, cares not much for what he asks. Do not
these men judge themselves unworthy of heaven, who think it
not worth their more constant and earnest requests ? If it be not
worth asking for, it is worth nothing ; and yet if one should go
from house to house, through town and parish, and inquire at
every house as you go, vvhether they do morning and evening
call their family together, and earnestly and reverently seek the
Lord in prayer, how few would you find that constantly and con-
scionably practise this duty ? If every door were marked where
they do not thus call upon the name of God, that his wrath
might be poured out upon that family, our towns would be as
places overthrown by the plague, the people being dead within,
and the mark of judgment on the door without. I fear, where
one house would escape, there are ten would be marked out
for death ; and then they might teach their doors to pray,
' Lord, have mercy upon us ! ' because the people would not
pray themselves. But especially if you could see what men do
in their secret chambers, how few should you find in a whole
>■ Concerning the lawfulness of forms and book-prayers, T make no doubt,
but judge as Bishop Hall hath expressed himself piously and moderately in
his ' Susurrium Solil.' 73, called the 'Extremes of Devotion,' p. 2S7.
444 THE saint's
town that spend one quarter of an hour, mornhig and night,
in earnest supplication to God for their souls ! Oh 1 how little
do these men set by this eternal rest ! Thus do they sloth-
fully neglect all endeavours for their own welfare, except some
public duty in the congregations, which custom or credit
doth engage them to. Persuade them to read good books,
and they will not be at so much pains. Persuade them to learn
the grounds of religion in some catechism, and they think it a
toilsome slavery, fitter for schoolboys, or little children, than
for them. Persuade them to sanctify the Lord's-day in holy
exercise, and to spend it wholly in hearing the word, and re-
peating it with their families, and prayer and meditation, &c. ;
and to forbear all their worldly thoughts and speeches ; and
what a tedious life do they take this to be I and how long may
you preach to them before they will be brought to it, as if they
thought that heaven were not worth all this ado ! Christ hath
been pleading with England these fourscore years and more, by
the word of his Gospel, for his worship and his sabbaths, and
yet the inhabitants are not persuaded ; nay, he hath been plead-
ing, these six years, by threatenings, and fire, and sword, and yet
can prevail but with very few. And though these bloody argu-
ments have been spread abroad, and brought home to people
from parish to parish, almost as far as the word hath gone, so
that there is scarce a parish in many counties where blood hath
not been shed, and the bodies of the slain have not been left,
yet multitudes in England are no more persuaded than they
were the first day of their warning ; and they have not heard
the voice of the rod, which hath cried up and down their streets:
*Yet, O E; gland, will ye not sanctify my sabbaths, nor call
upon my name, nor regard my word, nor turn from your world-
liness and wickedness !' ^ God hath given them a lash and a
reproof, a wound and warning; he hath, as it were, stood in
their blood, and with the sword in his hand, and among the
heaps of the slain hath he pleaded with the living, and said,
' What say you ? \\ ill you yet worship me, and fear me, and
^ How many of those twelve dep'.orahle abuses, which are the pillars of
Satan's kingdom, wliich (supposed) Cypriau ineiuioneth, are not common in
Eii-ilaud? 1. A man of knowledge without works. 2. An old man without
religious devotion. 3. A young man without obedience. 4. A rich man with-
out alms. 5. A woman without chastity. 6". A gentleman without virtue.
7. A Christian contentious. 8. A beggar proud. 9. A bishop negligent.
10. A congregation without discipline, 11. A nation without law. 12. A
king unjust. Read Jer. ix, 12 — 14 ; Lib. de xii. Abusib., vulgo, etsinon recte,
Cypriano ascriptuni.
EVERLASTING REST, 445
take me for your Lord ?* And yet they will not : alas ! yet to
this day, England will not! Let me here write it, and leave it
upon record, that God may be justified, and England may be
ashamed ; and posterity may know, if God do spare us, how ill
we deserved it ; or, if he yet destroy us, how wilfully we pro-
cured it. And if they that pass by shall ask, ' Why has God
done thus to a flourishing and prosperous land?' you may
give them this true though doleful answer, ' They would not
hear, they would not regard.' He smote them down, he wound-
ed them, he hewed them as wood, and then he beseeched the re-
mainder to consider and return, but they never would do it.
They were weary of his ways 5 they polluted his sabbaths ; they
cast his word and worship out of their families; they would not
be at the pains to learn and obey his will ; nay, they abhorred
his ministers, and servants, and holy paths, and all this to the
last breath. When he had slain five thousand, or eight thou-
sand at a fight, the rest did no more reform, than if they had
never heard of it. Nay, such a spirit of slumber has fallen upon
them, that if God should proceed, and kill them all save one
man, and ask that one man, 'Wilt thou yet seek me with all
thy heart ?' he would rather slight it. Lord, have mercy upon
us ! What is done with men's understanding and sense ?
Have they renounced reason as well as faith ? Are they dead
naturally as well as spiritually ? Can they not hear nor feel,
though they cannot believe ? That sad judgment is fallen upon
them, mentioned in Isaiah, xlii. 24, 25, " Who gave Jacob for a
spoil, and Israel" (England) " to the robbers ? Did not the Lord,
he against whom we have sinned ? For they would not walk
in his ways, neither were they obedient to his laws. Therefore,
he hath poured upon them the fury of his anger, and the strength
of battle, and it hath set them on fire round about, yet they
knew it not; it burnt them, yet they laid it not to heart."
Yea, this much more let us leave upon record against England :
they have been so far from reforming, and taking up the wor-
ship of God with delight, after all this, that multitudes have
contrarily *■ abhorred it at the very heart ; and to root out the
sincere worshippers, and worship of God, is their continued en-
deavour : and still, they that succeed them do the like. Lord,
* Pervicaces et ohstinatos vocamus iios, non qui ab infirmitate carnis su-
perati in peccatum aliquod prolapsi sunt; sed qui sibi placent in peccatis, in
iisque toti voluutatitur ; quos non pudor, iion metus, non olijure^atio, non ipsffi
denique Dei comminationes, ipsa Dei judicia possuut k peccando revocare. —
Sadeel. in Psalm xxxii. p. 05. 2 Kings 1, ; 2 Kings ii. 23, 24.
446 THE saint's
how hast thou deserved so much ill at these men's hands !
What harm hath praying, and reading, and preaching painfully,
and sanctifying the sabbath, and fearing to offend, done to
England ? Have they suffered for these, or for their enmity to
these ? What evil do these wretches discern in the everlasting
kingdom, that they do not only refuse to labour for it, but do
detest and resist the holy way that leads to it? It is well for
them that they live in Gospel times, when the patience of God
doth wait on sinners ; and not in those severe days, when fire
from heaven destroyed the captains and their companies, that
were commanded by the king, to bring but one prophet before
him ; or, when the lions destroyed forty-two children, for call-
ing a prophet of God " bald-head :" or rather, it had been bet-
ter for these men to have lived in those times, that though their
temporal judgments had been greater, yet their eternal plagues
might have been the less. Yet this much more let me leave
upon record to the shame of many, that all this is not merely
through idleness, because they will not be at the pains to serve
God, but it is out of a bitter enmity to his word and ways ; for
they will be at more pains than this in any way that is evil," or
in any worship truly so called, of man's devising. They are as
zealous for these, as if eternal life consisted in them : and where
God forbids them, there they are as forward as if they could
never do enough ; and where God commands them, they are as
backward to it, yea, as much against it, as if they were the
commands of the devil himself. The Lord grant that this hard-
ened, wilful, malicious people, fall not under that heavy doom,
" But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign
over them, bring them hither, and slay them before me." (Luke
xix. 27.)
Sect. IV. The third sort that fall under this reproof,* are
" Deus Hon alieuis assertiotiibus, sed suis aestimandus est yocibus. — Ani-
bros. de Pienit, lib. i. c. 4. Deus diserte docet, ea tantum in Deo colen-
do adhibeuda esse quae ipse pra;cepit. Summe displicet omnis edeA-oS^prjo-Keia
et simulata religio, et cultus ex iuventioue huniau4 profectus. — Doct. Sutiive
advers. Bellarm. de Monast. c. 25. p. 130.
* Jt is one thing to discourse of bread and of the table, and another things
to take and eat the sweetness of the bread, that all the members may be
strengthened by it. It is one thing to dispute by words of the most pleasant
drink, and another to go and take it from the fountain, and to be satisfied
with its delightful taste. It is one thing to discourse of war, and of stout cham-
pions and warriors, and another for a man to go into the midst of the battle,
ajid to join hands with the enemy, to charge through and through, to take and
give, to go away with the victory. So it is also in spirituals. It is one thing
to explain sayings with a cerlaiu knowledge and understanding, and it is an<
EVERLASTING REST. 447
those self-cozening, formal, lazy professors of religion, who will
be brought to any outward duty, and take up the easier part of
Christianity, but to the inward work, and more difficult part, they
will never be persuaded. They will preach, or hear, or read, or
talk of heaven, or pray customarily and constantly in their
families, and take part with the persons and causes that are
good, and desire to be esteemed among the godlv, but you can
never bring them to the more spiritual and difficult duties, as to
be constant and fervent in secret prayer, to be conscionable in
the duty of self-examination, to be constant in that excellent
duty of meditation, to be heavenly-minded, to watch constantly
over his heart, words, and ways, to deny his bodily senses their
delights, to mortify the flesh, and not make provision for it, to
fulfil its lusts, to love and heartily forgive an enemy, to prefer
his brethren heartily before himself, and to think meanly of his
own gifts and worth, and to take it well of others that think
so too, and to love them that have low thoughts of him, as well
as those that have high, to bear easily the injuries, or under-
valuing words of others against him, to lay all that he hath at
the feet of Christ, and to prefer his service and favour before
all ; to prepare to die, and willingly to leave all, to come to
Christ, &c. The outside hypocrites will never be persuaded to
any of these. Above all other, two notable sorts there are of
these hypocrites. First, The superficial, opinionative hypocrite.
Secondly, The worldly hypocrite. First, The former entertaineth
the doctrine of the Gospel with joy, (IVIatt. xiii. 29,) but it is only
into the surface of his soul, he never gives the seed any depth of
earth. He changeth his opinion, and he thereupon engageth
for religion as the right way, and sides with it as a party in a
faction, but it never melted and new-moulded his heart, nor set
up Christ there in full power and authority ; but as his religion
lies most in his opinion, so he usually runs from opinion to
opinion, and is carried up and down with every wind of doctrine
by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
wait to deceive ; and as a child is tossed to and fro : (Eph. iv.
14 :) for as his religion is but opinion, so is his study, and confe-
rence, and chief business all about opinion. He is usually an igno-
rant, proud, y bold, irreverent inquirer and babbler about contro-
other thing in substance, and indeed, and in certainty of faith, and in the
mind, and in the inner man to possess the treasure, tlie grace, the taste, and
the efficacy of the Holy Ghost. — Blessed Macar'ms, in Homil. 27. p. 367.
y Confidentia astra petimus, ruimus in prfficipitia. — Alber. Cent, de Jur,
Interpret, lib. iv.
448 THE SAINT*S
versies, rather than an humble embracer of the known truth,
with love and subjection ; you may conjecture by his bold and
forward tongue, and groundless conceitedness in his own opi-
nions, and slighting of the judgments and persons of others, and
seldom talking of the great things of Christ with seriousness
and humility, that his religion dwelleth in the brain, and not in
his heart; where the wind of temptation assaults him, he easily
yieldeth, and it carrieth him away as a feather, because his
heart is empty, and not balanced and established with Christ
and grace. If the temptation of the times do assault men's
understandings, and the sign be in the head, though the little
religion that he hath lies there, yet a hundred to one but he
turneth heretic, or catcheth the vertigo of some lesser errors,
according to the nature and strength of the seducement. If
the wind do better serve for a vicious conversation, a hundred to
one but he turns a purveyor for the flesh, and then he can be a
tippler, and yet religious, a gamester, a wanton, a neglecter of
duties, and yet religious. If this man's judgment lead him in
the ceremonious way,^ then doth he employ his chiefest zeal for
ceremonies, as if his religion lay in them. If his judgment be
against ceremonies," then his strongest zeal is employed against
them, studying, talking, disputing against them, censuring the
users of them, and perhaps fall into a contrary extreme, placing
his chief religion in anabaptism, church combinations, and
forms of polity, &;c. For not having his soul taken up with the
essentials of Christianity, he hath only the mint and cummin,
the smaller matters of the law, to lay out his zeal upon. You
shall never hear in private conference any humble and hearty
bewailings of his soul's imperfections, or any heart-bleeding
acknowledgments of his unkindnesses to Christ, of any pantings
* Siquis volet facere voluntatera Dei cognoscet de voluntate ; at cultus
electitius non est voluntas Dei. Et timoris Dei fructus est, uon cultum ali-
quem eligere quern Deo deferas, sed k Dei potius oraculis haurire queni ipsi
tribuas : juxta illud prophetae. Isai. 1. 10, &c. Dr. Twisse ' Contr. Cor-
vinum,' p. 307. a. Cruces etiam nee colimus nee optamus. Vos plane qui lig-
neos Deos consecratis, cruces ligneas ut Deorum vestrorum partes fortasse
adornatis; nam et sigiia ipsa et cantebra, et vexilla castrorum, quid aliud
quam inauratje cruces sunt, et ornatae ? — Mimtt, Felix Octav. p. (ut Arnob.
edit, per Elmenhorst.) 339 ; where read furtlier what he saith of the cross.
" Facile persuadeas senem ut sellam deserat, si baculum prius quo niti
possit, in manuui dederis; qui te alioquin nunquam auditurus est, sed insidi-
atorem potius judicaturus, ut qui cupias pronum ad silicem cranium frangere.
Sic mentes humanae ante omnia sunt ad infallibilem Dei coj;nitior.etn addu-
cendae, quam ubi attigerint, jam facile deaiittent fallacia, &c. — Zuingl, de
f'era et Falsa Relig: p. 406.
EVERLASTING REST. 449
and longings after him, from this man, but that he is of such a
judgment, or such a reUgion, or party, or society, or a member of
such a church. Hence doth he gather his greatest comforts ;
but the inward and spiritual labours of a Christian, he will not
be brought to.
Secondly: The like may be said of the worldly hypocrite, who
choketh the doctrine of the Gospel with the thorns of worldly
cares and desires.*^ His judgment is convinced that he must be
religious, or he cannot be saved ', and therefore he reads, and
hears, and prays, and forsakes his former company and courses ;
but because his belief of the gospel doctrine is but wavering
and shallow, he resolves to keep his hold of present things, lest
the promise of rest should fail him ; and yet to be religious,
that so he may have heaven, when he can keep the world no
longer, thinking it wisdom to have two strings to his bow, lest
one should break. This man's judgment may say, ' God is the
chief Good,' but his heart and affections never said so, but look
upon God as a kind of strange and disproportionate happiness,
to be tolerated rather than the flames of hell, but not desired
before the felicity on earth. In a word, the world hath more of
his affections than God, and therefore is his god, and his co-
vetousness idolatry. This he might easily know and feel if he
would judge impartially, and were but faithful to himself. And
though this man do not gad after opinions and novelties in his
religion, as the former, yet will he set his sails to the wind of
worldly advantage, and be of that opinion which will best serve
his turn. And as a man whose spirits are seized on by some
pestilential malignity, is feeble and faint and heartless in all
that he does ; so this man's spirits being possessed by the plague
of this malignant worldly disposition, oh, how faint is he in
secret prayer ! oh, how superficial in examination and medita-
tion ! how feeble in heart-watchings, and humbling, mortifying-
endeavours ! how nothing at all in loving and walking with
God, rejoicing in him, or desiring after him 1 So that both
these, and many other sorts of lazy'^ hypocrites there are, who,
^' Qui innocentiam colit, Domino suppllctit ; qui justitiam, Deo libat; qui
fraudibus abstinet, propitiat Deum ; qui hominem periculo surripit, opimain
victimam CEedit. Hsec nostra sacrificia, haec Deo sacra sunt : sic apud nos
religiosior est ille qui ]\jst\or.—jyJiimt. Felix Octav. p. (mihi) 392.
' Est auteni tepiditas, parvus amor boni, amore Dei postposito ; et est
prima radix accidiae, vel convertibilis cum eadem. Ex ista autem nascuntur
species alia; consequeates, nt creatura peccabilis inordinate afficitur creaturae.
Sic accidus quiescit in amore indebito creaturae. Undc talis tepiditas cum
VOL. XXII. G G
450 THE saint's
though they will trudge on with you in the easy outside of relir
gion, yet will never be at the pains of inward and spiritual duties.
Sect. V. 4. And even the godly themselves deserve this re-
proof, for being too lazy seekers of their everlasting rest. Alas !
what a disproportion is there betwixt our light and our heat ;
our professions and prosecution 1 Who makes that haste, as if it
were for heaven ? How still we stand ! How idly we work ! How
we talk, and jest, and trifle away our time ! How deceitfully we
do the work of God ! How we hear, as if we heard not ; and pray
as if we prayed not; and confer, and examine, and meditate,
and reprove sin, as if we did it not ; and use the ordinances, as
if we used them not ; and enjoy Christ, as if we enjoyed him
not : as if we had learned to use the things of heaven as the
apostle teacheth us to use the world ! ( 1 Cor. vii. 29 — 3 1 .) Who
v/ould think, that stood by us and heard us pray in private or
public, that we were praying for no less than everlasting glory ?
Should heaven be sought lio more earnestly than thus ? Me-
thinks we are none of us all in good sadness for our souls. We
do but dally with the work of God, and play with Christ ; as
children, we play with our meat when we should eat it, and we
play with our clothes, and look upon them, when we should put
them on, and wear them 3 we hang upon ordinances from day
to day,'^ but we stir not ourselves to seek the Lord. I see a
great many very constant in hearing and praying, and give us
some hopes that their hearts are honest, but they do not hear
and pray as if it were for their lives. Oh, what a frozen
stupidity hath benumbed us ! The judgment of Pharaoh is
amongst us ; we are turned into stones and rocks, that can
neither feel nor stir. The plague of Lot's wife is upon us, as if
we were changed into lifeless and immoveable pillars : we are
dying, and we know it, and yet we stir not ; we are at the
door of eternal happiness or misery, and yet we perceive it not ;
death knocks, and we hear it not ; Christ calls and knocks, and
we hear not : God cries to us, " To-day if you will hear my
voice, harden not your hearts. Work while it is day, for the
night Cometh when none shall work." Now ply your business,
sit, propinquo hypocrisi vomitum provocat spiritualem. Sicut enitn sunt ex-
halationes calidae commixtae cum frigido aqueo in aqua tepida quae provocant
ad vomitum ; sic sunt in hypocrisi quiedam operationes bonae de g'enere, com-
naixta cum peccato hypocrisis. Omnis ergo accidus peccat in hyjiocrisi cum
false simulat sanctitatem. Et ista tepiditate inficitur totus mundus. — fVick-
lijfe Trialog. lib. iii. c. 16. fol. 70.
'1 Read Mr. Whitfield's excellent sermon on this.
EVERLASTING REST. 451
now labour for your lives, now lay out all your strength and
time, now do it, now or never ; and yet we stir no more than if
we were half asleep. What haste doth death and judgment
make ! How fast do they come on I They are almost at us,
and yet what little haste make we ! What haste makes the
sword to devour, from one part of the land to another ! What
haste doth plague and famine make ! and all because we will
not make haste. The spur of God is in our side ; we bleed, we
groan, and yet we do not mend our pace : the rod is on our
backs, it speaks to the quick : our lashes are heard through
the christian world, and yet we stir no faster than before.
Lord, what a senseless, sottish, earthly, hellish thing is a hard
heart ! That we will not go roundly and cheerfully toward hea-
ven without all this ado ; no, nor with it neither. Where is
the man that is serious in his Christianity ? Methinks men do
everywhere make but a trifle of their eternal state. They look
after it but a little upon the by j they do not make it the task
and business of their lives. To be plain with you, I think
nothing undoes men so much as complimenting and jesting in
religion. Oh, if I were not sick myself of the same disease,
with what tears should I mix this ink ; and with what groans
should I express these sad complaints ; and with what heart's
grief should I mourn over this imiversal deadness ! Do the ma-
gistrates among us seriously perform their portion of the work ?®
<= It is a frivolous dream to think that a judge or lawyer hath one con-
science as a judge, and another as a Christian ; for he hath but one soul, &c.
And how can that seem just according to law, which appeareth to a man's
conscience to be unjust? — Fidbeck's Direction, p. 33. Rara virtus est inter
principes, non timori esse recte factis : h. e. non obsistere veritati, ethis quae
se ad evangelii veritatem et normam componunt non odiosius imminere ; et
contra familiare est principibus quibusdam, pessimos quosque dignitatibus,
honoribusque admovere, non a\\k causd quam ut immanissime tractent veri-
dicos. — Zuiiig. de Fer. et Fals. Relig. de Scandalo, p. 392. O beatum populum
in quouno ore et uno animo utraqiie administratio (ecclesiastica et civilis) ad
sanctam communionem cum civili societate continuandam et augendam con-
spiraverit. Non minuit illam haec administratio. Sed altera alteram stantem
confirmat, labantem statuminat,collapsam erigit. Si homines quibus commissa
est, cogitabunt serio, et volunt in Sparta sua quam nacti fuerint colenda in-
cumbere. Quo magis admiror audaciam eorum hominum qui de duabus istis
administrationibus perinde judicant, ac si So-Troj'Sot inter se essent infestissimae
et prorsus affTiiraroi ; et de hac sententiasua tam pertiuaciter contenduntquara
si (quod absit) alteram ab altera eversam cuperunt, &c. — Junius, Eccles.
c. 5. Oper. torn. 1. p. 1975. Exeat aula, qui vult esse pius ; virtus et sbmma
potestas, non coeunt. — Lucan. lib. viii. A sad saying. See the 'Life of Cronen-
burg' in vitis German. Medicor. per Melch. Adam. Inter leges ipsas delin-
quitur, inter jura peccatur, Innocentia nee illic ubi defenditur, reservatur.
Saevit iuvicem discordantium rabies, et inter togas pace rupta forum litibus
G G 2
452 THE saint's
Are they zealous for God ; do they build up his house ; and are
they tender of his honour; do they second the word 5 and en-
courage the godly ; and relieve the oppressed ; and compas-
sionate the distressed ; and let fly at the face of sin and sinners,
as being the disturbers of our peace, and the only cause of all
our miseries ? Do they study how to do the utmost that they
can for God ; to improve their power, and parts, and wealth, and
honour, and all tlieir interests, for the greatest advantage to the
kingdom of Christ, as men that must shortly give an account of
their stewardship ? Or do they build their own houses, and
seek their advancements, and stand upon, and contest for, their
own honours ; and do no more for Christ than needs they must,
or than lies in their way, or than is put by others into their
hands, or than stands with the pleasing of their friends, or with
their worldly interest ? Which of these t'vvo courses do they
take ? And how thin are those ministers that are serious in their
work ! Nay, how mightily do the very best fail in this above
all things ! Do we cry out of men's disobedience to the Gospel/
in the evidence and power of the Spirit, and deal with sin as
that which is the fire in our towns and houses, and by force
pull men out of this fire ? Do we persuade our people, as those
that know the terrors of the Lord should do ? Do we press
Christ, and regeneration, and faith, and holiness, as men that
believe indeed that without these they shall never have life ? ^
Do our bowels yearn over the ignorant, and the careless, and
the obstinate multitude, and men that believe their own doc-
trine ? That our dear people must be eternally damned, if they
be not timely recovered ? When we look them in the faces, do
our hearts melt over them, lest we should never see their faces
in rest ? Do we, as Paul, tell them, weeping, of their fleshly
and earthly disposition; (Phil. iii. 18, 19;) and teach them
publicly,^ and from house to house, night and day with tears ;
mugit insanum, &c. Quis inter ha?c subveniet? Patronus? Sed prffivarica-
tur et (lecipit judex ? Sed sententiaui veudit. Qui sedet triniiua viiidica-
turus, adniittit ? Et ut reus iunocens pereat, fit uoceiis judex. — Cypr. £j)isl,
1. ad Donalum,
^ Isa. Iviii. 1. Jude, ver. 23. 2 Cor. v. 11.
E Matt. ix. 3G. Negligentes non sunt negligendi. — Just. Martyr, ad Zennm.
^ Longe graviori debito tenentur-astricti, qui pro multis animabus redituri
simt rationem. Quid ego itifelix, quo me vertam, si tantum thesauruui, si
pretiosum deposituin illud quod sibi Christum sanguine suo pretiosius judica-
vit, contigerit negligentius custodire ? Si stillantem de cruce Domini sangui-
nem coUegissem, essetque repositus penes me, in vase vitreo, quod et portari
seepius oporteret, quid animi habiturus essem in discriraiue tanto ? £t certfe
i
EVERLASTING REST. 453
(Acts X. 20, 21 ;) and do we entreat them, as if it were indeed
for their lives and salvation ; that when we speak of the joys
and miseries of another world, our people may see us affected
accordingly, and perceive that we do indeed mean as we speak ?
Or rather do we not study words, and neat expressions, that we
may approve ourselves able men in the judgment of critical
hearers ; and speak so formally and heartlessly of eternity, that
our people can scarcely think that we believe ourselves j or put
our tongues into some affected pace, and our language into
some forced oratorical strain, as if a minister's business were of
no more weight, but to tell them a smooth tale of an hour
long, and so look no more after them till the next sermon?
Seldom do we fit our sermons, either for matter or manner, to
the great end, our people's salvation ; but we sacrifice our
studies to our own credit, or our people's content, or some such
base, inferior end. Carnal discretion doth control our fervency ;
it maketh our sermons like beautiful pictures, which have much
pains and cost bestowed upon them to make them comely and
desirable to the eye ; but life, or heat, or motion, there is none.
Surely, as such a conversation is an hypocrital conversation, so
such a sermon is as truly an hypocritical sermon. Oh, the
formal, frozen, lifeless sermons which we daily hear preached
upon the most weighty, jjiercing subjects in the world ! How
gently do we handle those sins which will handle so cruelly
our people's souls ; and how tenderly do we deal with their
careless hearts, not speaking to them as to men that must be
id servanilum accepi pro quo mercator non insipiens, ipsa ntique sapientia,
sanqjuinein suum cledit. Accedit sane ad solicitudinis cuimilum quod cum
nieam et proximi conscientiamservare necesse sit, iieutra milii satis est nota ;
utraque abyssus, utraque milii nox est, at exigitur a me custodia utriusque.
— Bern. Serni. 3. de Tempore. I cannot better express ray mind to my breth-
ren than in Seneca's words: Non jejuna esse et arida volo, quae de rebus
tam magnis dicentur. Neque enim philos. (theologia) ingenio renunciat,
Multum tamen operas impendi verbis non oportet. Ha;c sit propositi nostri
summa ; quod sentimus loquainur, quod loquimur sentiamus. Concordec
sermo cum vita, il!e promissum suum implevit, qui et cujn videas ilium, et
cum audias, idem est. Videbimus quails sit, quantus ; unus sit. Non delec-
tent verba nostra, sed prosint, &c. Non qua*rit teger medicum eloquentem,
sed saiiaiiteni. Sed si ita competit, ut idem ille qui sanare potest, compte de
his quse facienda sunt disserat, boni consulet; non tamen erit quare gratuletur
sibi quod inciderit in medicum etiam desertum. Hoc enim tale esc, quale si
peritus gubernator etiam formosus est. Quid aures meas scalpis ? Quid
oblectas ? Aliud agitur ; urendus, secandus, abstiuendus sum. Ad haec ad-
hibitus es ; curare debes morbum veterem, gravem, publicum. Tantum iie-
gotii habes quantum iu pestilentia inedicus. Circa verba occupatus es ?
— Seneca Epist. 75. Vide reliqua.
454 THE saint's
wakened or damned I We tell them of heaven and hell in such
a sleepy tone, and flighty way, as if we were but acting a part
in a play ; so that we usually preach our people asleep with
those subjects, which one would think should rather endanger
the driving of some beside themselves, if they were faithfully
delivered. Not that I commend or excuse that real indiscre-
tion, and unseemly language, and nauseous repetitions, and ridi-
culous gestures, whereby many do disgrace the word of God,
and bring his ordinances into contempt with the people ; nor
think it fit that he should be an ambassador from God on so
weighty a business, that is not able to speak sense or reason.
But, in a word, our want of seriousness about the things of
heaven, doth charm the souls of men into formality, and hath
brought them to this customary careless hearing, which undoes
them. The Lord pardon the great sin of the ministry in this
thing, and, in particular, my own !
And are the people any more serious than magistrates and
ministers ? How can it be expected ? Reader, look but to
thyself, and resolve the question. Ask conscience, and suffer it
to tell thee truly. Hast thou set thine eternal rest before
thine eyes, as the great business which thou hast to do in this
world ? Hast thou studied and cared, watched and laboured,
and laid about thee with all thy might, lest any should take thy
crown from thee r^ Hast thou made haste, lest thou shouldst
come too late, and die before the work be done ? Hath thy
heart been set upon it, and thy desires and thoughts run out
this way ? Hast thou pressed on through crowds of opposition
towards the mark, for the prize of the. high calling of God in
Christ Jesus, still reaching forth unto those things which are
before? (Mark vi. 21; Phil. iii. 13, 14; Eccles. ix. 10.) When
you have set your hand to the work of God, have you done it
with all your might ? Can conscience witness your secret cries,
and groans, and tears ? Can vour families v/itness that you
have taught them the fear of the Lord, and warned them all
with earnestness and unweariedness to remember God and their
souls, and to provide for everlasting life ? Or that you have
done but as much for them, as that damned glutton would have
had Lazarus do for his brethren on earth, to warn them that
» Nam et hoc nobis ut non olim per visionem probatum sciatis, quod dor-
miternus ia precibus, uec vigilanter oremus excutiamus itaque et abrunipa-
mus somDi viucula, et iustanter et vigilanter, oremus. Col, iv. 2, ; Lukevi.
12. — Cyprian, Epist, 8, p. 23,
EVERLASTING REST. 455
they come not to that place of torment ? Can your ministers
witness that they have heard you cry out, 'What shall we do to
be saved ?' And that you have followed them with complaints
against your corruptions, and with earnest inquiries after the
Lord ? Can your neighbours about you witness, that you are
still learning of them that are able to instruct you ? And that
you plainly and roundly reprove the ungodly, and take pains for
the saving of your brethren's souls ? Let all these witnesses
judge this day between God and you, whether you are in good
earnest about the affairs of eternal rest. But if yet you cannot
discern your neglects; look but to yourselves, within you, with-
out you, to the work you have done : you can tell by his work,
whether your servant hath loitered, though you did not see him;
so you may by yourselves : is your love to Christ, your faith,
your zeal, and other graces, strong or weak ? What are your
joys ; what is your assurance ? Is all right and strong, and in
order within you ? Are you ready to die, if this should be the
day ? Do the souls among whom you have conversed, bless
you ? Why, judge by this, and it will quickly appear whether
you have been labourers or loiterers.
O blessed rest ; how unworthily art thou neglected ! O glori-
ous kingdom ; how art thou undervalued ! Little know the
careless sons of men, what a state they set so light by ! If they
once knew it, they would surely be of another mind.
CHAP. VL
An Exhortation to Seriousness in seeking Rest.
I HOPE, reader, by this time thou art somewhat sensible, what
a desperate thing it is to trifle about our eternal rest; and how
deeply thou hast been guilty of this thyself. And I hope, also,
that thou darest not now suffer this conviction to die ; but art
resolved to be another man for the time to come : what sayst
thou, is this thy resolution ? If thou wert sick of some des-
perate disease, and the physician should tell thee, ' If you will
observe but one thing, I doubt not to cure you,' wouldst thou
not observe it ? Why, if thou wilt observe but this one thing
for thy soul, I make no doubt of thy salvation ; if thou wilt now
but shake off thy sloth, and put to all thy strength, and ply the
456 THE saint's
work of God unweariedly, and be a downright Christian ; I know
not what can hinder thy happiness. As far as thou art gone
from God, if thou wouldst but now return and seek him with all
thy heart, no doubt but thou shalt find him. As unkindly as
thou hast dealt with Jesus Christ, if thou didst but feel thyself
sick and dead, and seek him heartily, and apply thyself in good
earnest to the obedience of his laws, thy salvation were as sure
as if thou hadst it already ; but as full as the satisfaction of
Christ is, as free as the promise is, as large as the mercy of
God is, yet if thou do but look on these, and talk of them,
when thou shouldst greedily entertain them, thou wilt be
never the better for them ; and if thou loiter when thou
shouldst labour, thou wilt lose the crown.*^ Oh, fail to work
then speedily and seriously, and bless God that thou hast yet
time to do it ; and though that which is past cannot be recalled,
yet redeem the time now by doubling thy diligence. And
because thou shalt see I urge thee not without cause, 1 will
here adjoin a multitude of considerations to move thee ; yet do
I not here desire thee to take them by number, but by weight ;
their intent and use is, to drive thee from delaying, and from
loitering in seeking rest : and to all men do I propound them,
both godly and ungodly ; whoever thou art, therefore, I entreat
thee to rouse up thy spirit, and read them deliberately, and give
me a little while thy attention, as to a message from God ; and as
Moses said to the people, "Set thy heart to all the words that I
testify to thee this day ; for it is not a vain thing, but it is for
thy life." (Deut. xxxii. 46.) Weigh what I here write with the
judgment of a man ; and if I speak not reason, throw it back in
my face ; but if I do, see thou entertain and obey it accordingly ;
and the Lord open thy heart, and fasten his counsel effectually
upon thee.
Sect. II. 1. Consider, Our affections and actions should be
somewhat answerable to the greatness of the ends to which
they are intended.^ Nov/ the ends of a Christian's desires and
^ Oh, how then should every one of us believe and strive, and lay out our
utmost pains in all godly conversation, and hold on in much hope, and sufler-
ing, and patience : that at least we may be worthy or meet to obtain that hea-
venly virtue and glory of the Holy Ghost in the inward soul, that so when
these bodies are dissolved, we may have that which may cover and quicken
us ! — 3JacariuSy Homil. 5,
' In quo quemque invenerit suns novissimus dies in hoc eum comprehen-
det mundi novissimus dies. Quoniam qualis in die isto quisque moritur, talis
in die illo judicabitur.— ^«^-. Epist. 80. toni. 1. Qualis exieris ex hac vita,
talis redderis ilia vita.— ^ag-. in Psal. xxxvi, referente. Jac, Laurentio in
Jacob, V. 8. Ubi hie pwrgatorium ?
EVERLASTING REST. 457
endeavours are so great, that no human understanding on earth
can comprehend them; whether you respect their proper excel-
lency, tlieir exceeding importance, or their absolute necessity.
These ends are, the glorifying of God, the salvation of our
own and other men's souls, in our escaping the torments of hell,
and possessing the glory of heaven. And can a man be too
much affected with things of such moment ? Can he desii-e
them too earnestly, or love them too violently, or labour for
them too diligently ? When we know that if our prayers pre-
vail not, and our labour succeeds not, we are undone for ever, I
think it concerns us to seek and labour to the purpose. When
it is put to the question, Whether we shall live for ever in heaven
or in hell ? " and the question must be resolved upon our
obeying the Gospel, or our disobeying it, upon the painfulness
or the slothfulness of our present endeavours; I think it is time
for us to bestir ourselves, and to leave our trifling and compli-
menting with God.
Sect. III. 2. Consider, Our diligence should be somewhat
answeral^le to the greatness of the work which we have to do, as
well as to the ends of it." Now the works of a Christian here,
are very many, and very great : the soul must be renewed ;
many and great corruptions must be mortified ; custom, and
temptations, and worldly interests, must be conquered ; flesh
must be mastered ; self must be denied ; life, and friends, and
credit, and all must be slighted ; conscience must be upon good
grounds quieted ; assurance of pardon and salvation must be
attained. And though it is God that must give us these, and
that freely, without our own merit ; yet will he not give them
so freely, as without our earnest seeking and labour. Jiesides,
there is a deal of knowledge to be got, for the guiding ourselves,
for the defending of the truth, for the direction of others, and a
deal of skill for the right managing of our parts : many ordi-
nances are to be used, and duties performed, ordinary and ex-
traordinary; every age, and year, and daj', doth require fresh
"' Si quis diligenter perpendat quss et qualis sit causa propter quatn pugnan-
dum est, is certe intelli^et, minime dorniiendum esse i sed sedulb, cordate,
fortiter pugnaudum. De summa rerum agitur. Pro aris et focis ; pro gloria
Dei Patris nostri tuenda; et pro salute nostra aeterna defendenda.— Z«nc/i.
torn. 3. lib. iv. c.21. p. 214.
" Non cum vacaveris, pliilosophandum est : omnia alianegligenda, ut huic
assideamus, cui nullum tempus satis magnum est ; etiamsi a pueritia usque ad
longissimos humani aevi terminos, vita protenditur. Non multum refert utrum
omittas, an intermittas. Resistendum est occupationibus, nee expUcandas,
sed submovendae sunt. — Sencc, Epist, 72,
458 THE saint's
succession of duty ; every place we come in, every person that
we have to deal with, every change of our condition, doth still
require the renewing of our lahour, and bringeth duty along with
it J wives, children, servants, neighbours, friends, enemies, all of
them call for duty from us; and all this of great importance
too ; so that for the most of it, if we miscarry in it, it would
prove our undoing.
Judge, then, yourselves, whether men that have so much
business lying upon their hands, should not bestir them ; and
whether it be their wisdom either to delay, or to loiter ?
wSect. iV, 3. Consider, Our diligence should be somewhat
quickened, because of the shortness and uncertainty of the time
allotted us for the performing of all this work, and the many and
great impediments which we meet with. Yet a few days, and we
shall be here no more. Time passeth on : many hundred diseases
are ready to assault us : we that now are preaching, and hear-
ing, and talking, and walking, must very shortly be carried on
men's shoulders, and laid in the dust, and there left to the
worms in darkness and corruption ; we are almost there already ;
it is but a few days, or months, or years, and what is that when
once they are past ? We know not whether we shall have
another sermon, or sabbath, or hour. How then should those
men bestir them for their everlasting rest, who know they have
so short a space for so great a work ! Besides, every step in the
way hath its difficulties ; the gate is strait, and the way nar-
row ; the righteous themselves are scarcely saved ; scandals and
discouragements will be still cast before us : and can all these be
overcome by slothful endeavours ?
Sect. V. 4. Moreover^ our diligence should be somewhat
answerable to the diligence of our enemies in seeking our de-
struction.° For if we sit still while they are plotting and labour-
ing ; or if we be lazy in our defence, while they are diligent in
assaulting us; you may easily conceive how we are likely to speed.
How diligent is Satan in all kinds of temptations ! therefore,
" Be sober and vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a
roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour ;
whom resist steadfast in the faith." (1 Pet. v. S.) How diligent
° If our enemy never cease assaulting, certainly we must never cease
defending. What sottisliness and madness then possesseth men, tliat will
carelessly pass the time in feasting^ and drunkenness, as if they had made a
truce with the devil ! Brethren, is it present fighting or sleeping that be-
seems us i—Zanch. torn. 3. lib. iv. c. 21. p. 214.
EVERLASTING REST. 459
are the ministers of Satan ; false teachers, scorners at godliness,
malicious persecutors, all unwearied ; and our inward corruption
the most busy and diligent of all ; whatever we are about, it is
still resisting us ; depraving our duties, perverting our thoughts,
dulling our affections to good, exciting them to evil ; and will
a feeble resistance then serve our turn ? Should not we be more
active for our own preservation, than our enemies for our ruin ?
Sect. VI. 5. Our affections and endeavours should bear
some proportion to the talents which we have received, and
means which we have enjoyed.? It may well be expected that a
horseman shall go faster than a footman ; and he that hath a
swift horse, faster than he that hath a slow one : more work
will be expected from a soundMnan, than from the sick j and
from a man at age, than from a child : and to whom men com-
mit much, from them they will expect the more. (Luke xii. 48.)
Now the talents which we have received are many and great:
the means which we have enjoyed are very much, and very pre-
cious. What people breathing on earth, have had plainer in-
structions, or more forcible persuasions, or constant admoni-
tions, in season and out of season : sermons, till we have been
weary of them ; and sabbaths, till we profaned them : excel-
lent books in such plenty, that we knew not which to read ; but
loathing them through abundance, have thrown by all. What
people have had God so near them, as we have had ; or have
seen Christ, as it were, crucified before their eyes, as we have
done ? What people have had heaven and hell, as it were,
opened unto them, as we ? scarcely a day wherein we have not
had some spur to put us on. What speed then should such a
people make for heaven ; and how should they fly that are thus
winged : and how swiftly should they sail that have wind and
tide to help them ! Believe it, brethren, God looks for more
from England, than from most nations in the world ; and for
more from you that enjoy these helps, than from the dark, un-
taught congregations of the land. A small measure of grace
beseems not such a people ; nor will an ordinary diligence in
the work of God excuse them.
Sect. VII. 6. The vigour of our affections and actions should
P Fides Scripturae et vivax ratio dictant nobis, quod subducto otio debcmus
continue servire Deo; nam sicut avis nascitur ad volatum, sic homo ad labo-
rem ; et si beati angeli damnareiitur etsi servirent continue et debite Deo sue ;
quod privilegiuni excusaret uos niiseros, si subtrahamus servitium Dei nostri,
cum terrenus Dominus instar Dei punit acute pro substractione sui servitii ?
—IVickliff. Trialog. lib. iii. c. 16. fol. 71.
460 THE saint's
be somewhat answerable to the great cost bestowed upon us,
and to the deep engaging mercies which we have received from
God. Surely, we owe more service to our master from whom
we have our maintenance, than we do to a stranger to whom
we were never beholden. Oh, the cost that God hath been at
for our sakes ; the riches of sea and land, of heaven and earth,
hath he poured out upon us ! All our lives have been filled up
with mercies : we cannot look back upon one hour of it, or one
passage in it, but we may behold mercy. We feed upon mercy,
we wear mercy on our backs, we tread upon mercy ; mercy
within us, common and special ; mercy without us, for this life,
and for that to come ; oh, the rare deliverances that we have
partaked of, both national and j^ersonal ! How oft, how sea-
sonably, how fully have our prayers been heard, and our fears
removed ; what large catalogues of particular mercies can every
Christian draw forth and rehearse ! To offer to number them,
would be an endless task, as to number the stars, or the sands
of the shore. If there be any difference betwixt hell, where
we should have been, and earth, where we now are, yea, or
heaven, which is offered us, then certainly we have received
mercy. Yea, if the blood of the Son of God be mercy, then
are we engaged to God by mercy ; for so much did it cost him
to recover us to himself. And should a people of such deep
engagements be lazy in their returns : shall God think nothing
too much nor too good for us; and shall we think all too much
that we do for him? Thou that art an observing, sensible man,
who knowest how much thou art beholden to God; I appeal to
thee, is not a loitering performance of a few heartless duties,
an unworthy requital of such admirable kindness? For my
own part, when I compare my slow and unprofitable life, with
the frequent and wonderful mercies received, it shames me, it
silenceth me, and leaves me inexcusable.
Sect. VIII. 7. Again, consider, All the relations which we
stand in toward God, whether common or special, do call upon
us for our utmost diligence. Should not the pot be wholly at
the service of the potter, and the creature at the service of his
great Creator : are we his children, and do we not owe him our
most tender affections, and dutiful obedience : are we the spouse
of Christ, and do we not owe him our observance, and our love ?
" If he be our Father, where is his honour ; and if he be our
Master, where is his fear ?" (Mai. i. 6.) "We call him Lord
and Master, and we do well;" (John xiii. 13 ;) but if our in-
EVERLASTING REST. 461
dustry be not answerable to our assumed relations, we condemn
ourselves, in saying we are his children, or his servants. How
will the hard labour and daily toil that servants undergo to
please their masters, judge and condemn those men who will
not labour so hard for their great Master! Surely, there is
none have a better or more honourable master than we, nor can
any expect such fruit of their labours. ( I Cor. xv. ult.)
Sect. IX. S. Consider, What haste should they make who
have such rods at their backs, as be at ours ; and how painfully
should they work, who are still driven on by such sharp afflic-
tions : if either we wander out of the way, or loiter in it, how
surely do we prepare for our own smart ! Every creature is
ready to be God's rod to reduce us, or to put us on : our
sweetest mercies will become our sorrows: or, rather than he
will want a rod, the Lord will make us a scourge to ourselves :
our diseased bodies shall make us groan ; our perplexed minds
shall make us restless ; our conscience shall be as a scorpion in
our bosom. And is it not easier to endure the labour than the
spur : had we rather be still thus afflicted, than to be up and
going ? Alas ! how like are we to tired horses, that will lie
down and groan, or stand still, and let you lay on them as long
as you will, rather than they will freely travel on their journey 1
And thus we make our own lives miserable, and necessitate God,
if he love us, to chastise us. It is true, those who do most, do
meet with afflictions also : but surely, according to the measure
of their peace of conscience, and faithfulness to Christ, so is the
bitterness of their cup, for the most part, abated.
Sect. X. 9. How close should they ply their work, who have
such great preparations attending them as we have ! All the
world are our servants, that we may be the servants of God.
The sun, and moon, and stars, attend us with their light and
influence; the earth, with all its furniture, is at our service.
How many thousand plants, and flowers, and fruits, and birds,
and beasts, do all attend us ! The sea, with its inhabitants ; the
air, the wind, the frost and snow, the heat and fire, the clouds
and rain, all wait upon us while we do our work ; yea, the angels
are ministering spirits for the service of the elect : and is it not
an intolerable crime for us to trifle, while all these are employed
to assist us ? Nay more, the patience and goodness of God do
wait upon us ; the Lord Jesus waiteth in the offers of his blood ;
the Holy Ghost waiteth in striving with our backward hearts ;
besides, all his servants, the ministers of his Gospel, who study
462 THE saint's
and wait, and preach and wait, and pray and wait, upon careless
sinners : and shall angels and men, yea, the Lord himself, stand
by and look on ; and, as it were, hold the candle while thou dost
nothing ? O Christians, I beseech you, whenever you are upon
your knees in prayer, or reproving the transgressors, or exhorting
the obstinate, or upon any duty, do but remember what attend-
ants you have for this work ; and then judge how it behoves you
to perform it.
k?ect. XI. 10. Should not our affections and endeavours be
answerable to the acknowledged principles of our christian pro-
fession ? Sure, if we are Christians indeed, and mean as we
speak, when we profess the faith of Christ, we shall show it in
affections and actions, as well as expressions. Why, the very
fundamental doctrines of our religion are : That God is the
chief Good, and all our happiness consists in his love ; and
therefore, it should be valued and sought above all things : that
he is our Lord, and therefore, chiefly to be served ; that we must
love him with all our heart, and soul, and strength ; that the
very business that men have in the world, and the only errand
that God sent them about, is to glorify God, and to obtain sal-
vation, &c. And do men's duties and conversation second this
profession ? Are these doctrines seen in the painfulness of men's
practice ; or rather, do not their works deny what their words
do confess ? One would think, by men's actions, that they did
not believe a word of the Gospel to be true. Oh, sad day,
when men's own tongues and professions shall be brought in
against them, and condemn them !
Sect. XIL 11. How forward and painful should we be in that
work, where we are sure we can never do enough ! If there
were any danger in over-doing, then it might well cause men to
moderate their endeavours ; but we know, that if we could
do all, vve were but unprofitable servants; (Luke xvii. 10;)
much more when we are sure to fail in all. It is true, a man
may possibly pray too much, or preach too much, or hear or
reprove too much, though I have known few that ever did so ;
but yet no man can obey or serve God too much : for one duty
may be said to be too long, when it shuts out another, and then it
ceaseth, indeed, to be a duty.'i So that, though all superstition,
or worship of our devising, maybe called righteousness overmuch ;
yet, as long as you keep your service to the rule of the word,
1 Voluptas nocet niraia, in virtute non est verendum ne quid nimium sit,
quia in ipsa est modus. — Senec. de Pit. Beat. c. 13.
EVERLASTING KEST, 463
that so it might have the true nature of obedience, you never
need to fear being righteous too much ; for else, we should re-
proach the Lord and Lawgiver of the church, as if he com-
manded us to do too much. Ah, if the world were not mad
with malice, they could never be so blind in this point as they
are : to think, that faithful diligence in serving Christ, is folly
and singularity ; and that they who set themselves wholly to
seek eternal life, are but precise puritans ! The time is near,
when they will easily confess that God could not be loved or
served too much, and that no man can be too busy to save his
soul : for the world, you may easily do too much, but here, in
God's way, you cannot.
Sect. XIIL 12. It is the nature of every grace to put on the
soul to diligence and speed. If you loved God, you would make
haste, and not delay or trifle; you would think nothing too
much that you could possibly do ; you would be ambitious to
serve him, and please him still more : love is quick and impa-
tient, it is active and observant. If you loved Christ, you would
keep his commandments, and not accuse them of too much
strictness. (John i. 4, xv. 23.) So also, if you had faith, it
would quicken and encourage you ; if you had the hope of
glory, it would, as the spring in the watch, set all the wheels of
your souls a going ; if you had the fear of God, it would rouse you
out of your slothfulness ; if you had zeal, it would inflame you,
and eat you up. God hath put all his graces in the soul, on
purpose to be oil to the wheels, to be life to the dead, to mind
men of their duty, and dispose them to it, and to carry them to
himself; so that, in what degree soever thou art sanctified, in
the same degree thou wilt be serious and laborious in the work
of God.
Sect. XIV. 13. Consider, Thev that trifle in the way to hea-
ven, do but lose all their labour, when serious endeavours do
obtain their end. The proverb is, " As good never a whit, as
never the better." If two be running a race, he that runs
slowest had as good never run at all ; for, now, he loseth the
prize and his labour both. (Acts xxvi. 28.) Many, who like
Agrippa, are but almost Christians, will find, in the end, they
shall be but almost saved. God hath set the rate at which the
pearl must be bought ; if you bid a penny less than that rate,
you had as good bid nothing. As a man that is lifting at some
weighty thing, if he put to almost strength enough, but yet not
sufficient, it is as good he put to none at all ; for he doth but
464 THE saint's
ose all his labour. Oh, how many professors of Christianity will
find this true, to their sorrow, who have had a mind to the ways
of God, and have kept up a dull task of duty, and plodded on in
a formal, lifeless profession, but never came to serious Christi-
anity ? How many a duty have they lost, for want of doing
them thoroughly, and to the purpose ! Perhaps their place in
hell may be the easier, and so their labour is not lost ; but as to
the obtaining of salvation, it is all lost. " Many shall seek to
enter, and shall not be able," (Luke xiii. 24,) who, if they had
striven, might have been able. Oh ! therefore, put to a little
more diligence and strength, that all be not in vain that you
have done already.
Sect. XV. 14. Furthermore,'' We have lost a great deal of
precious time already, and therefore it is reason that we labour
so much the harder. If a traveller do sleep or trifle out the
most of the day, he must travel so much the faster in the even-
ing, or else he is likely to fall short of his journey's end. With
some of us, our childhood and youth is gone ; with some also
their middle age is past ; and the time before us is very uncer-
tain and short. What a deal of time have we slept away, and
talked away, and played away ; what a deal have we spent in
worldly thoughts and labours, or in mere idleness ! Though in
likelihood the most of our time is spent, yet how little of our
work is done ! and is it not time now to bestir ourselves in the
evening of our days ? The time which we have lost can never
be recalled : should we not then redeem it by improving the
little which remaineth ? You may receive, indeed, an equal re-
compense with those that have borne the burden and heat of the
dav, though vou came not in till the last hour : but then vou
must be sure to labour soundly that hour. It is surely enough
that we have lost so much of our lives ; let us not now be so
foolish as to lose the rest. (1 Pet. iv. 2 — 4).
Sect. XVI. 15. Consider, The greater are your layings out,
the greater will be your comings in. Though you may seem to
lose your labour at the present, yet the hour cometh when you
» Ae^edum, ad computatiouem astatem tuam revcca : die quantum ex isto
tempore creditor, quantum arnica, quantum rex, quantum cliens abstulerit ;
quantum servorum coercitio, quantum officiosa per urbem discursatio ? Ad-
jice morbos quos nianu fecinius. Adjice quod et fine usu"jacuit. Videbis te
pauciores annos habere quam numeras. — Senec. de Brev, Vit. c. 3. Quam
multi vitam tuam diripuerint, te non sentiente quid perderes ? Quantum
vanus dolor, stulta laititia, avida cupiditas, blaiida couversatio, abstulerit ?
Quam exiguum tibi de tuo relictura est ? — Idem ibid.
EVERLASTING REST. 465
shall find it with advantage. The seed which is buried and
dead, will bring forth a plentiful increase at the harvest. What-
ever you do, and whatever you suffer, this everlasting rest will
pay for all. I'here is no repenting of labours and sufferings in
heaven ; none says, ' Would I had spared my pains, and prayed
less, or been less strict and precise, and did as the rest of my
neighbours did !' There is never such a thought in heaven as
this. But, on the contrary, it will be their joy to look back
upon their labours and tribulations, and to consider how the
mighty power of God did bring them through all. Whoever
complained that he came to heaven at too dear a rate, or that
his salvation cost him more labour than it was worth ? We may
say of all our labours, as Paul of his sufferings, " For I reckon
that the sufferings (and labours) of this present time, are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in
us." (Rom. viii. 18.) We labour but for a moment, but we shall
rest for ever. Who would not put forth all his strength for one
hour, when he may be a prince while he lives for that hour's
work ? Oh ! what is the duty and suffering of a short frail life,
which is almost at an end as soon as it begins, in respect of the
endless joys with God ? Will not all our tears then be wiped
away, and all the sorrows of our duties forgotten? but yet the
Lord will not forget them; " for he is not unjust to forget our
work and labour of love." (Heb. vi. 10.)
Sect. XVII. 16. Consider, Violence and laborious striving for
salvation, is the way that the wisdom of God hath directed us
to as best, as his sovereign authority hath appointed us as ne-
cessary. Who knows the way to heaven better than the God of
heaven ? When men tell us that we are too strict and precise,
whom do they accuse, God or us? If we do no more than what
we are commanded, nor so much neither, (Luke xvii. 19,) they
may as well say, God hath made laws which are too strict and pre-
cise. Surely, if it were a fault, it would lie in him that commands
it, and not in us who are bound to obey. And dare these men
think that they are wiser than God ? Do they know better than
he, what men must do to be saved ? These are the men that ask
us whether we are wiser than all the world besides, and yet they
will pretend to be wiser than God. What do they less, when
God bids us take the most diligent course, and they tell us it is
more ado than needs ? Mark well the language of the laws of God,
and see how you can reconcile it with the language of the world,
" The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent
VOL. XXII. H H
'5
466 THE SAINT*S
take it by force." (Matt. xi. 12.) Or, as it is in Luke xvi. 16,
" Every one presseth into it." " Strive to enter in at the
strait gate ; for many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be
able." (Luke xiii. 24.) So " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with all thy might, for there is no work, nor device,
nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest."
(Matt. vii. 13, 14; Eccles. ix. 10.) " Know ye not that they
which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize ? So run
that you may obtain." (1 Cor. ix. 24.) " If a man strive for
masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully,"^
(2 Tim. ii. 5,) that is, powerfully and prevaiHngly. " Work
Gut your salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil. ii. 12.)
*'Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." (2 Pet.
i. 10.) " If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the
ungodly and sinners appear?" (1 Pet. iv. 18.) So Phil. i. 27,
and iii'. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 12, )8, 19; Deut. vi. 5, &c. This is
the constant language of Christ ; and which shall J follow, God
or men ; yea, and that the worst and most wicked men ? Shall
I think that every ignorant, worldly sot, that can only call a
man ' puritan,' knows more than Christ, and can teach him to
make laws for his church, or can tell God how to mend the
Scriptures ? Let them bring all the seeming reasons that they
can against the holy, violent striving of the saints, and this suf-
ficeth me to confute tliem all, that God is of another mind,
and he hath connnanded me to do much more than I do ; and
thougli I could see no reason for it, yet his will is reason enough
to me. I am sure God is worthy to govern us, if we were better
than we are. Who should make laws for us, but he that made
us ? And who should line out the way to heaven, but he that
must bring us thither ? And who should determine on what
conditions we shall be saved, but he that bestows the gift of
salvation ? So that let world, or flesh, or devil, speak against
a holy, laborious course, this is my answer, ' God hath com-
manded it.'
Sect. XVIII. 17. Moreover, It is a course that all men in the
world either do, or will approve of. There is not a man
that ever was, or is, or shall be, but shall one day justify the
diligence of the saints, and give his verdict in the approbation
of their wisdom. And who would not go that way which every
man shall applaud ? It is true, it is now a way every where
^ Non omnes dicuntur episcopi, sed qui graviter et strenu^ se gesseriut.
—Sarcer. in loc, ,
EVERLASTING REST. 4^7'
spoken against, and hated : but let me tell you, 1. Most that
speak against it, do in their judgments approve of it ; only be-
cause the practice of godliness is against the pleasures of the
flesh, therefore do they against their own judgments resist it.
They have not one word of reason against it, but reproaches
and railing are their best arguments. 2. Those that now are
against it, whether in judgment or passion, will shortly be, every
man, of another mind. If they come to heaven, their mind
must be changed before they come there. If they go to hell,
their judgment will then be altered, whether they will or not. If
you could speak with every soul that suffereth those torments,
and ask their judgments, whether it be possible to be too dili-
gent and serious in seeking salvation, you may easily conjecture
what answer they would return. Take the most bitter derider
or persecutor of godliness, even those that v/ill venture their lives
to overthrow it, if those men do not shortly eat their own
words, and wish a thousand times that they had been the most
holy, diligent. Christians on earth, then let me bear the shame
of a false prophet for ever.* Remember this, you that will be
of the opinion and way that most are of. Why then will you not
be of the opinion that all will be shortly of? Why will you be
of a judgment which you are sure you shall all shortly change?
O that you were but as wise in this, as those in hell !
Sect. XIX. 18. Consider, They that have been the most seri-
ous, painful Christians, when they come to die, do exceedingly
lament their negligence. Those that have wholly addicted
themselves to the work of God, and have made it the main
business of their lives, and have slighted the world and mortified
the flesh, and have been the wonders of the world for their
heavenly conversations, yet when conscience is let loose upon
them, and God withdraws the sense of his love, how do their
failings wound them and disquiet them ! What terrors do the
souls of men undergo, who are generally admired for their god-
liness and innocency ; even those that are hated and derided by
the world for being so strict, and are thought to be almost be-
sides themselves for their extraordinary diligence, yet commonly
when they lie a dying, do wish, O that they had been a thou-
sand times more holy, more heavenly, more laborious for their
souls 1 What a case then will the negligent world be in, when
' Duty at last is sweet ; it comes off with heaven, though hell dos; it for a
time; saith Lockier sweetly (as all). See him further of the good end of
duty, ou Col. i. 24. p. 300.
hh2
468 THE saint's
their consciences are awaked, when they lie dying, and look
behind them upon a lazy, negligent life, and look before them
upon a severe and terrible judgment; what an esteem vvill they
have of a holy life ! For my own part, I may say, as Erasmus,
"Accusant quod nimium fecerim ; verum conscientia mea me
accusat quod minus fecerim, quodque lentior fuerim," " They
accuse me for doins: too much, but mv own conscience accuseth
me for doing too little, and being too slow :" and it is far easier
bearing the scorns of the world than the scourges of conscience.
The world speaks at a distance without me, so that though I
hear their words, I can choose whether I will feel them ; but my
conscience speaks W'ithin me at the very heart, so that every
check doth pierce me to the quick. Conscience, when it is
reprehended justly, is the messenger of God ; but ungodly re-
vilers are but the voice of the devil. 1 had rather be reproached
by the devil for seeking salvation, than to be reproved of God
for neglecting it : I had rather the world should call me puritan
in the devil's name, than conscience should call me loiterer in
God's name. As God and conscience are more useful friends
than Satan and the world, so are they more dreadful, irresistible
enemies.
Sect. XX. 19. Consider, How far many a man goes, and what
a deal of pains he takes for heaven, and yet misseth it for want
of more. When every man that striveth is not crowned ;
(2 Tim. ii. 5 ;) and many shall seek to enter in, and not be
able; (Luke xxiii. 24;) and the very children of the kingdom
shall be shut out; (Matt. xiii. 41;) and they that have heard
the word, and received it with joy ; (Matt, xiii, 20;) and have
heard the preacher gladly, and done many things after him,
shall yet perish ; (Mark vi. 20;) it is time for us to look about
us, and take heed of loitering. When they that seek God daily,
and delight to know his ways, and ask of him the ordinances of
justice, and take delight in approaching to God, and that in
fasting and afflicting their souls, (Isa. Ivi. 2, 3,) are yet shut out
with hypocrites and unbelievers ; when they that have been en-
lightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and of the good
word of God, and of the powers of the world to come, and were
made partakers of the Holy Ghost, may yet fall away beyond
recovery, and crucify to themselves the Son of God. (Heb. vi.
4 — 6). When they that have received the knowledge of the
truth, and were sanctified by the blood of the covenant, may yet
sin wilfully, and tread underfoot the Son of God, and do despite
EVERLASTING REST. 469
to the Spirit of grace, till there is nothing left them but the
fearful expectation of judgment, and fire that shall devour the
adversaries, (Heb. x. 2G — 29,) should not this rouse us out of our
laziness and security ? How far hath many a man foUow^ed
Christ, and yet forsaken him when it comes to the selling of all,
to bearing the cross, to burning at the stake, or to the renouncing
of all his worldly interests and hopes ! What a deal of pains
hath many a man taken for heaven, that never did obtain it !
How many prayers, sermons, fasts, alms, good desires, confes-
sions, sorrow and tears for sin, &c. have all been lost, and fallen
short of the kingdom ! Methinks this should affright us out of
our sluggishness, and make us strive to outstrip the highest
formalist.
Sect. XXI. 20. Consider, God hath resolved that heaven shall
not be had on easier terms. He hath not onlv commanded it as
a duty, but hath tied our salvation to the performance of it. Rest
must always follow labour. He that hath ordained in his church
on earth, ' that he that will not labour, shall not eat,' hath
also decreed concerning the everlasting inheritance, ' that he
that strives not, shall not enter.' They must now lay up a
treasure in heaven, if they will find it there. (Matt. xix. 20.)
They must seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
(Matt. vi. 33.) They must not labour for the food that pe-
risheth, but for that food which endureth to everlasting life.
(John vi. 27.) Some think that it is good to be holy, but yet
not of such absolute necessity ^t that a man may be saved
without it; but God hath determined on the contrary, that
without it, no man shall see his face. (Heb. xii. 14.) Serious-
ness is the very thing wherein consisteth our sincerity. If thou
art not serious, thou art not a Christian. It is not only a high
degree in Christianity, but of the very life and essence of it.
As fencers upon a stage, who have all the skill at their weapons,
and do eminently and industriously act their parts, but do not
seriously intend the death of each other, do differ from soldiers
or combatants, who fight in good sadness for their lives, just so
do hypocrites differ from serious Christians. If men could be
saved without this serious diligence, they would never regard it j
all the excellencies of God's ways would never entice them. But
when God hath resolved, that if you will have your ease here,
you shall have none hereafter, is it not wisdom, then, to bestir
ourselves to the utmost ?
Sect. XXII. 21. And thus, reader, I dare confidently say, I have
470 THE saint's
showed thee sufficient reason against thy slothfuhiess and neg^
ligence, if thou be not a man resolved to shut thine eyes, and to
destroy thyself wilfully, in despite of reason. Yet, lest all this
should not prevail, I will add somewhat more, if it he possible,
to persuade thee to be serious in thy endeavours for heaven.
- 1. Consider, God is in good earnest with you, and why then
should not you be so with him ? In his commands, he means
as he speaks, and will verily require your real obedience. In
his threaten ings he is serious, and will make thenr all good
against the rebellious. In his promises, he is serious, and will
fulfil them to the obedient, even to the least tittle. In his judg-
ments he is serious, as he will make his enemies know to their
terror. Was not God in good earnest when he drowned the
world, when he consumed Sodom and Gomorrah, when he scat-
tered the Jews ? Hath he not been in good sadness with us
lately in England, and Ireland, and Germany ? And very
shortly will he lay hold on his enemies, particularly man'by man,
and make them know that he is in good earnest : especially
when it comes to the great reckoning day. And is it time,
then, for us to dally with God ?
2. Jesus Christ was serious in purchasing our redemption.
He was serious in teaching, when he neglected his meat and
drink. (John iv. 32.) He was serious in praying, when he
continued all night at it. (Luke vi. 12.) He was serious in
doing good, when his kindred came and laid hands on him,
thinking he had been beside himself. (Mark iii. 20, 21.) He
was serious in suffering, when he fasted forty days, was tempted,
betrayed, spit on, buffeted, crowned with thorns, sweat water
and blood ; was crucified, pierced, and died. There was no
jesting in all this, and should not we be serious in seeking our
own salvation ?
3. The Holy Ghost is serious in soliciting us for our happi-
ness ; his motions are frequent, and pressing, and importunate:
he striveth with our hearts. (Gen. vi. 3.) He is grieved when we
resist him ; (Ephes. iv. 30 ;) and should not we then be serious
in obeying his motions, and vielding to his suit ?
4. God is serious in hearing our prayers, and delivering us
from our dangers, and removing our troubles, and bestowing his
mercies." When we are afflicted, he is afflicted with us. (Isa.
" For my own part, my sorrows are so real and pressing, that if God be not
serious in hearing and helping me, I shall perish immediately ; nor would I be
•without his tender regardful providence one day for a world : and should I
then neglect hipi ?
EVERLASTING REST. 471
xiii. 9.) He regardeth every groan and sigh, he putteth every
tear into his bottle ; he condoleth their misery, when he is forced
to chastise them; "How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim?"
saith the Lord, " how shall I make thee as Admah, and as
Zeboim ? my heart is turned within me, my repentings are
kindled together." (Hos. xi. 8.) He heareth even the rebellious
of'ttimes, when they call upon him in their misery ; " when
they cry to him in their trouble, he delivereth them out of their
distress." (Psalm Ixxviii. 37,38, and cvii. 10—13,19,28.) Yea,
the next time thou art in trouble, thou wilt beg for a serious
regard of thy prayers, and grant of thy desires. And shall we
be so slight in the work of God, when we expect he should be
so regardful of us ? Shall we have real mercies down weight ;
and shall we return such superficial and frothy service ?
5. Consider, The ministers of Christ are serious in instructing
and exhorting you, and why should not you be as serious in
obeying their instructions ? They are serious in study ; serious
in prayer ; serious in persuading your souls to the obedience of
Christ; they beg of God, they beg of you, they hope, they wait,
they long more for the conversion and salvation of your souls,
than they do for any worldly good : " you are their boasting,
their crown and joy." (] Thess. ii. 19, 20.) "Your steadfastness
in Christ they value as their lives." (1 Thess. ili. 8.) They are
content to "be offered up in the service of your faith." (Phil.ii.
17.) If they kill themselves with study and preaching, or if they
suffer martyrdom for preaching the Gospel ; they think their
lives are well bestowed, if their preaching do but prevail for
saving of your souls. And shall other men be so painful and
careful for our salvation, and should you be so careless and
negligent of your own ? Is it not a serious charge that is given
to ministers in 2 Tim. iv. 1 ? And a serious pattern that is given
them in Acts xx. 30, 31? Surely no man can be bound to be
more serious and painful for the welfare of another, than he is
bound to be for himself.
6. How serious and diligent are all the creatures in their
service to thee ! What haste makes the sun to compass the
world ; and how truly doth it return at its appointed hour ! So
do the moon and other planets. The springs are always Howing
for thy use ; the rivers still running ; the spring and harvest
keep their times. How hard doth thy ox labour for thee from
day to day; how painfully and speedily doth thy horse bear
thee in travel ! And shall all these be laborious, and thou only
472 THE saint's
negligent ? Shall they all be so serious in serving thee, and yet
thou be so slight in thy service to God ?^
7. Consider, The servants of the world and the devil are
serious and diligent ; they ply their work continually with un-
weariedness and delight, as if they could never do enough; they
make haste, and inarch furiously, as if they were afraid of com-
ing to hell too late. They bear down ministers, and sermons,
and counsel, and all before them. And shall they do more for
the devil, than thou wilt do for God ; or be more diligent for
damnation, than thou wilt be for salvation ? Hast not thou a
better master, and sweeter employment, and greater encourage-
ment, and a better reward ?y
8. The time was when thou wast serious thyself in thy service
to Satan and the flesh, if it be not so still ; dost thou not
remember how eagerly thou didst follow thy sports ; or how
violently thou wast addicted to customs, or evil company, or
sinful delights ; or how earnestly thou wast bent after thy pro-
fits, or rising in the world ? And wilt thou not now be more
earnest and violent for God ? " What profit hadst thou then in
those things whereof thou art now ashamed ? For the end of
those things is death ; but now being made free from sin, and
become the servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end everlasting life." (Rom. vi. 21, 22.)
9. You are yet to this day in good earnest about the matters
of this life ; if you are sick, what serious groans and complaints
do you utter ! All the town shall quickly know it, if your pain
be great. If you are poor, how hard do you labour for your
living, lest your wife and children should starve or famish ! If
one fall down in a swoon in the house, or street, or in the con-
gregation, how seriously will you run to relieve and recover
them ! And is not the business of our salvation of far greater
moment ? Are you not poor ; and should you not then be
labourers ? Are you not in fight for your lives ; and is it time
to sleep ? Are you not in a race ; and is not the prize the
crown of glory? and should you then sit still or take your ease?
10. There is no jesting in heaven, nor in hell. The saints
^ Lege Fabritium in ' Destructorio Vitiorum,' part v. c. 2. A. Ubi elejfan-
tera etiam historiani refert ex Linco de oculo morali, de Mouacho episcopum
Iguavum reprehendente, inter eos coUoquio j et ex Au^ustiuo solem ignavum
exprobrantein iiifert.
y Accidiosi erubescere possunt qui tion tarn diligenter iaborant ad impe-
trandum gaudium coeli sicutmulti impiorum laboraut ad impetraiidum poeDam
inferui. — Fabi-itius in Destructorio Vitiorum, part v. c, 2. iJ. Rom. vi. 21.
EVERLASTING RtST. 473
have a real happiness, and the damned a real misery ; the saints
are serious and high in their joy and praise, and the damned
are serious and deep in their sorrow and complaints. There
are no remiss or sleepy praises in heaven, nor any remiss or
sleepy lamentations in hell ; all men there are in good earnest,
and should we not then be serious now? Reader, J dare pro-
mise thee, the thoughts of these things will shortly be serious
thoughts with thyself. When thou comest to death or judg-
ment, O what deep heart-piercing thoughts wilt thou have of
eternity ! methinks I foresee thee already astonished, to think
how thou couldst possibly make so light of these things ! me-
thinks I even hear thee crying out of thy stupidity and mad-
ness !
Sect. XXIir. 23. And now, reader, having laid thee down
these undeniable arguments, 1 do here, in the name of God,
demand thy resolution : what sayest thou; wilt thou yield obe-
dience or not ? I am confident thy conscience is convinced of
thy duty. Darest thou now go on in thy common careless
course, against the plain evidence of reason and commands of
God, and against the light of thy own conscience ? Darest thou
live as looselv, and sin as boldly, and pray as seldom and as
coldly, as before ? Darest thou now as carnally spend the sab-
bath, and slubber over the service of God as slightly, and think
of thine everlasting state, as carelessly as before ? or, dost thou
not rather resolve to gird up the loins of thy mind, and to set
thyself wholly about the work of thy salvation ; and to do it
with all thy strength and might ; and to break over all the op-
positions of the world, and to slight all their scorns and perse-
cutions ; " to cast off the weight that hangeth on thee, and the
sin that doth so easily beset thee ', and to rim with patience and
speed the race that is set before thee ?" (1 Pet. i. 13 ; Heb. xii.
1,2.) I hope these are thy full resolutions : if thou be well in
thy wits, I am sure they are.
Yet because I know the strange obstinacy and rockiness of
the heart of man, and because I would fain drive this nail to
the head, and leave these persuasions fastened in thy heart,
that so if it be possible thou mightest be awakened to thy
duty, and thy soul might live, I shall therefore proceed with
thee yet a little further ; and I once more entreat thee to stir
up thy attention, and go along with me in the free and sober
use of thy reason, while I propound to thee these following
questions : and I command thee from God, that thou stifle not
474 , THE saint's
thy conscience, and resist not conviction, but answer them
faithfully, and obey accordingly.
Quest. 1. If you could grow rich by religion, or get lands
and lordships by being diligent in godliness ; or if you could
get honour or preferment by it in the world ; or could be reco-
vered from sickness by it, or could live for ever in prosperity on
earth ; what kind of lives would you then lead, and what pains
would you take in the service of God ? And is not the rest of
the saints a more excellent happiness than all this ?
Quest. 2. If the law of the land did punish every breach of
the sabbath, or every omission of family duties, or secret duties,
or every cold and heartless prayer, with death : if it were felony
or treason to be ungodly and negligent in worship, and loose
in your lives, what manner of persons would you then be, and
what lives would you lead ! And is not eternal death more
terrible than temporal ?
Quest. 3. If it were God's ordinary course to punish every
sin with some present judgment, so that every time a man
swears, or is drunk, or speaks a lie, or backbiteth his neigh-
bour, he should be struck dead, or blind, or lame in the place.
If God did punish every cold prayer, or neglect of duty, with
some remarkable plague ; what manner of persons would you
then be ? If you should suddenly fall down dead like Ananias
and Sapphira, with the sin in your hands, or the plague of God
should seize upon you as upon the Israelites, while their sweet
morsels were yet in their mouths. (Psal. Ixxviii. 30.) If but a
mark should be set in the forehead of every one that neglected
a duty, or committed a sin ; what kind of lives would you then
lead ! And is not eternal wrath more terrible than all this ? Give
but reason leave to speak.
Quest. 4. If one of your old acquaintance and companions in
sin should come from the dead, and tell you, that he suffered
the torments of hell for those sins that you are guilty of, and
for neglecting those duties which you neglect, and for living
such a careless, worldly, ungodly life, as you now live, and
should therefore advise you to take another course : if you
should meet such a one in your chamber when you are going
to bed, and he should say to you, 'Oh, take heed of this carnal,
unholy life ! set yourself to seek the Lord with all your might;
neglect not your soul ; prepare for eternity, that you come not
to the place of torment that I am in ;' how would this take with
you J and what manner of persons would you afterwards be ? It
EVERLASTING REST. 475
is written in the life of Bruno, "^ that a doctor of great note for
learning and godliness being dead, and being brought to the
church to be buried, while they were in their popish devotions,
and came to the words Responds mihi, the corpse arose in the
bier, and with a terrible voice cried out, " Justo Dei judicio
accusatus sum," " 1 am accused at the just judgment of God;"
at which voice the people ran all out of the church affrighted.
On the morrow when they came again to perform the obse-
quies, to the same words as before, the corpse arose again, and
cried with ahideousyoice, "Justo Dei judicio judicatus sum," " I
am judged at the righteous judgment of God;" whereupon the
people ran away again amazed. The third day almost all the city
came together, and when they came to the same words as be-
fore, the corpse rose again, and cried with a more doleful voice
than before, " Justo Dei judicio condemnatus sum," " 1 am con-
demned at the just judgment of God." The consideration
whereof, that a man reputed so upright, should yet by his own
confession be damned, caused Bruno, and the rest of his com-
panions, to enter into the strict order of the Carthusians. If
the voice of the dead man could affright them into superstition,
should not the warnings of God affright thee into true devo-
tion ?
Quest. 5. If you knew that this were the last day you had to
live in the world, how would you spend this day ?" If you were
sure when you go to bed, that you should never rise again,
would not your thoughts of another life be more serious that
night ? If you knew when you were praying, that you should
never pray more, would you not be more earnest and importu-
nate in that prayer ? Or if you knew when you are preaching,
or hearing, or exhorting your sinful acquaintance, that this were
the last opportunity you should have, would you not ply it more
closely than usually you do ? Why, you do not know but it
may be the last : and you are sure your last is near at hand.
Quest. 6. If you had seen the general dissolution of the
woi'ld, and all the pomp and glory of it consumed to ashes : if
you saw all on a fire about you, sumptuous buildings, cities,
^ Lec^e vitam Brunonis ante Commentar. in Epistolas, ut et Polydorum
Virgil, lib. vii. de Invention. Rer. c. 3. p. (mihi) 428.
» Quid ergo in causa est ? Tanquam semper victuri vivitis : nunquam vo-
bis Iragilitas vestra succurrit. Non ohservatis quantum jam temporis trans-
ient. Velut ex pleno et abundant! perditis; cum interim fortasse ille ipse
alicui vel homini vel rei donatus, ultimus dies sit. Omnia tanquam mortales
tenetis, omnia tanquam immortales concupiscitis.— /Senw. de Brev. Vit, c. 4.
476 THE saint's
kingdoms, land, water, earth, heaven, all flaming about your
ears : if you had seen all that men laboured for, and sold their
souls for, gone ; friends gone ; the place of your former abode
gone ; the history ended, and all come down ; what would such
a sight as this persuade you to do ? Why, such a sight thou
shalt certainly see. I put my question to thee in the words of
the apostle. " Seeing all these things shall be dissolved, what
manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and
godliness, looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day
of God, wherein the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat !" (2 Pet. iii. 12.)
As if he should say, * We cannot possibly conceive or express
what manner of persons we should be in all holiness and god-
liness, when we do but think of the sudden, and certain, and
terrible dissolution of all things below.'
Quest. 7. What, if you had seen the process of the judgment
of the great day : if you had seen the judgment-seat, and the
books opened, and the most stand trembling on the left hand
of the Judge, and Christ himself accusing them of their re-
bellions and neglects, and remembering them of all their former
slightings of his grace, and at last condemning them to per-
petual perdition : if you had seen the godly standing on the
right hand, and Jesus Christ acknowledging their faithful obe-
dience, and adjudging them to the possession of the joy of their
Lord : what manner of persons would you have been after
such a sight as this ? Why, this sight thou shalt one day see,
as sure as thou livest. And why then should not the foreknow-
ledge of such a day awake thee to thy duty ?
Quest. 8 What, if you had once seen hell open, and all the
damned there in their easeless torments, and had heard them
crying out of their slothfulness in the day of their visitation,
and wishing that they had but another life to live, and that
God would but try them once again : one crying out of his
neglect of duty, and another of his loitering and trifling, when
he should have been labouring for his life : what manner of
persons would you have been after such a sight as this ? What,
if you had seen heaven opened, as Stephen did, and all the saints
there triumphing in glory, and enjoying the end of their labours
and sufferings, what a life would you lead after such a sight as
this ! Whv, you will see this with your eyes before it be long.
Quest. 9. What, if you had lain in hell but one year, or one
day, or hour, and there felt all those torments that now you do
EVERLASTING REST. 417
but hear of, and God should turn you into the world again, and
try you with another life-time, and say, ' I will see whether
thou wilt be yet any better, what manner of persons would you
be ?' If you were to live a thousand years, would you not gladly
live as strictly as the precisest saints, and spend all those years
in prayer and duty, so you might but escape the torment which
you suffered ? How seriously then would you speak of hell,
and pray against it, and hear, and read, and watch, and obey !
How earnestly would you admonish the careless to take heed,
and look about them to prevent their ruin ! And will not you
take God's word for the truth of this, except you feel it ? Is it
not your wisdom to do as much now to prevent it, as you would
do to remove it when it is too late ? Is it not more wisdom to
spend this life in labouring for heaven, while ye have it, than to
lie in torment, wishing for more time in vain ?
Quest. 10. What, if you had been possessed but one year of
the glory of heaven, and there joined with the saints and angels
in the beholding of God, and singing his praise, and afterwards
should be turned into the world again, what a life would you
lead ; what pains would you take rather than to be deprived of
such incomparable glory ! Would you think any cost too great,
or diligence too much ? ]f one of those that are now in heaven,
should come to live on the earth again, what persons would
they be ; what a stir would they make ; how seriously would
they drive on the business of their salvation ! The country
would ring of their exceeding holy and strict conversations.
They would as far excel the holiest persons on earth, as they
excel the careless world. Before they would lose that blessed
estate, they would follow God with cries both day and night,
and throw away all, and suffer every day a death. And should
not we do as much to obtain it ?
Sect. XXV. And thus I have said enough, if not to stir up
the lazy sinner to a serious working out his salvation, yet at
least to silence him, and leave him inexcusable at the judgment
of God. If thou canst, after the reading of all this, go on in
the same neglect of God and thy soul, and draw out the rest of
thy life in the same dull and careless course, as thou hast
hitherto done ; and if thou hast so far conquered and stupified
thy conscience, that it will quietly suffer thee to forget all this,
and to trifle out the rest of thy time in the business of the world,
when in the mean while thy salvation is in danger, and the
Judge is at the door, I have then no more to say to thee : it is as
478 THE saint's
good to speak to a post or a rock. Only as we do by our friends
when they are dead and our words and actions can do them
no good, yet to testify our affections we weep and mourn
for them ; so will I also do for these deplorable souls. It
makes my heart sad, and even tremble to think, how they will
stand, sad and trembling, before the Lord 1 and how confounded
and speechless they will be, when Christ shall reason with them
concerning their negligence and sloth ! when he shall say, as
the Lord doth in Jer. ii. 5,9, 11, 15, "What iniquity have
your fathers (or you) found in me, that ve are gone far from
me, and have walked after vanity ? " &:c. Did I ever wrong you,
or do you any harm, or ever discourage you from following my
service: was my way so bad that you could not endure it; or my
service so base that you could not stoop to it : did 1 stoop to
the fulfilling of the law for you, and could not you stoop to the
fulfilling of the easy conditions of my Gospel : was the world or
Satan a better friend to you than I ; or have they done for you
more than I have ? Try now whether they will save you, or
whether they will recompense you for the loss of heaven, or
whether they will be as good to you as I would have been ; O,
what will the wretched sinner answer to any of this! But
though man will not hear, yet we may have hope in speaking to
God. Lord, smite these rocks till they gush forth waters :
though these ears are deaf, say to them, 'Ephatha,' Be opened :
though these sinners be dead, let that power speak, which
sometime said, " Lazarus, arise !" We know they will be
awakened at the last resurrection : Oh ! but then it will be only
to their sorrow. O, thou that didst weep and groan in spirit
over a dead Lazarus, pity these sad and senseless souls till they
are able to weep, and groan for, and pity themselves. As thou
hast bid thy servants speak, so speak now thyself; they will
hear thy voice speaking to their hearts, that will not hear mine
speaking to their ears. Long hast thou knocked at these hearts
in vain, now break the doors, and enter in, and pass by all their
long resistance.
Sect. XXVL Yet I will add a few more words to the godly in
special, to show them why they, above all men, should be
laborious for heaven ; and that there is a great deal of reason,
that though all the world besides do sit still, and be careless,
yet they should abhor that laziness and negligence, and should
lay out all their strength on the work of God. To this end, I
desire them also to answer soberly to these few interrogatories.
EVERLASTING REST. 479
Quest. 1. What manner of persons should those be, whom
God hath chosen out to be vessels of mercy, and hath given
them the very cream and quintessence of his blessings, when
the rest of the world are passed by, and put off with common,
and temporal, and left-hand mercies ? They who have the
blood of Christ given them, and the Spirit for sanctification, con-
solation, and preservation, and the pardon of sins, and adoption
to sonship, and the guard of angels, and the mediation of the
Son of God, and the special love of the Father, and the promise
and seal of everlasting rest 1 Do but tell me in good sadness^
what kind of lives these men should live ?
Quest. 2. What manner of persons should those be, who
have felt the smart of their negligence so much as the godly
have done ? In the new birth, in their several wounds and
trouble of conscience, in their doubts and fears, in their sharp
afflictions on body and state : they that have groaned and cried
out so oft, under the sense and effects of their negligence, and
are likely enough to feel it again, if they do not reform it, surely,
one would think they should be slothful no more.
Quest. 3. What manner of persons should those be in holy
diligence, who have been so long convinced of the evil of lazi-
ness ; and have confessed it on their knees, a hundred and a
hundred times, both in public and in private ; and have told
God in prayer how inexcusably they have therein offended ;
should they thus confess their sin, and yet commit it, as if they
told God what they would do, as well as what they have done ?
Quest. 4. W^hat manner of persons should those be in pain-
ful godliness, who have bound themselves to God by so many
covenants as we have done, and in special have covenanted so
oft to be more painful and faithful in his service at every
sacrament ; on many days of humiliation and thanksgiving ; in
most of our deep distresses and dangerous sicknesses ? We are
still ready to bewail our neglects, and to engage ourselves, if
God will but try us and trust once again, how diligent and labo-
rious we will be, and how we will improve our time, and reprove
offenders, and watch over ourselves, and ply our work ; and do
him more service in a day than we did in a month. The Lord
pardon our perfidious covenant-breaking ; and grant that our
engagements may not condemn us.
Quest. 5. What manner of persons should they be, who are
so near to God as we, who are his children, in his family, still
under his eye 3 the objects of his greatest jealousy, as well as
480 THE saint's
love ? Nadab and Abihu can tell you, that the flames of jea-
lousy are hottest about his altar: (Lev. x. 1,2 :) and Uzza,
and the " fifty thousand and seventy Bethshemites, (1 Sam. vi.
19,) though dead, do yet tell you, that justice, as well as mercy,
is most active about the ark. And Ananias and his wife can tell
you, that profession is no cover for transgression. (Acts v. 4,5.
&c.) Judgment beginneth at the house of God : ( 1 Pet. iv.
170 ^'^^ the destroying angel doth begin at the sanctuary.
(Ezek. ix. 5, 6.)
Quest. 6. What manner of men should they be in duty, who
have received so much encouragement, as we have done by our
success ? Who have tasted such sweetness in diligent obedi-
ence, as doth much more than countervail all the pains ;
who have so often had experience of the wide difference be-
tween lazy and laborious dutv, by their different issues ; who
have found all our lazy duties unfruitful, and all our strivings
and wrestlings with God successful, so that we were never im-
portunate with God in vain. We who have had so many ad-
mirable national and personal deliverances upon urgent seeking;
and have received almost all our solid comforts in a way of close
and constant duty : how should we, above all men, ply our work !
Quest. 7. What manner of men should they be, who are yet
at such great uncertainties, whether they are sanctified or justi-
fied, or whether they are the children of God or not ; or what
shall everlastingly become of their souls, as most of the godly that
I meet with are ? They that have discovered the excellency of
the kingdom, and yet have not discovered their interest in it,
but discern a danger of perishing or losing all, and have need
of that advice, Heb. iv. 1, and have so many doubts to wrestle
with daily as we have : how should such men bestir themselves
in time !
Quest. 8. What manner of persons should they be in holi-
ness, who have so much of the great work yet undone as we
have ;^ so many sins in so great a strength ; graces weak,
sanctification imperfect, corruption still working our ruin, and
taking advantage of all our omissions ? When we are as a boat-
man on the water, let him row ever so hard a month together,
*» lUe certas est bonee voluntatis profectus, si ea quae accipit a Deo, ita vigi-
lanter soiiciteque custodiat, ut custodise divitiEe adjutorium frequeiitia orationis
et studio bona; operationis exposcat. Ita fiet ut dum oranti auxiliuin tribuitur,
laborans letributione boni operis non priveiur. — Fulgentius de I 'er. Prad. c. 1 7.
Nemo est extra periculum raalitise nisi qui totam earn excusit. — Senec.
Epist, 75.
EVERLASTING REST. 481
yet if he do but slack his hand, and think to ease himself, his
boat goes faster down the stream than before it went up ; so do
our souls, when we think to ease ourselves by abating our pains
in duty. Our time is short : our enemies mighty : our hinderances
many : God seems yet at a distance from many of us : our
thoughts of him are dull, and strange, and unbelieving : our
acquaintance and communion with Christ are small ; and our
desires to be with him are as small. And should men in our
case stand still ?
Quest. 9. What manner of men should they be in their dili-
gence, whose lives and duties are of so great concernment to the
saving or destroying of a multitude of souls ? when, if we slip,
so many are ready to stumble ; and if we stumble, so many are
ready to fall. If we pray hard for them, and admonish them
daily, and faithfully, and plainly, and exhort them with bowels
of pity and love, and go before them in a holy, inoffensive con-
versation, it is twenty to one but we may be instruments of
saving many of them from everlasting perdition, and bringing
them to the possession of the inheritance with us : on the con-
trary, if we silently neglect them, or sinfully offend them, we
may be occasions of their perpetual torment : and what a sad
thought is that to an honest and merciful heart, that we may
not destroy the souls for whom Christ died ! That we may not
rob them of their everlasting happiness, and God of the praises
that in heaven they would give him, what manner of persons
should we be in our duties and examples 1
Quest. 10. Lastly: What manner of persons should they be,
on whoni the glory of the great God doth so much depend ?
Men will judge of the father by the children, and of the master
by the servants. We bear his image ; and therefore men will
measure him by his representation. He is nowhere in the world
so lively represented as in his saints : and shall they set him
forth as a patron of viciousness or idleness ! All the world is
not capable of honouring or dishonouring God so much as we :
and the least of this honour is of more worth than all our lives.
I have harped all this while upon the apostle's string ; (2 Pet.
iii. 11;) and now let me give it the last touch. Seeing, then, that
all these things forementioned are so, i charge thee, that art a
Christian, in my Master's name, to consider and resolve the
question. What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy
conversation and godliness ? And let thy life answer the
question as well as thy tongue.
VOL. XXII. I I
482 THE saint's
Sect. XXVII. I have been larger upon this use than at first
I intended ; partly because of the general neglect of heaven, that
all sorts are guilty of; partly because men's salvation depends
upon their present striving and seeking ; '^ partly because the
doctrine of free grace, misunderstood, is lately so abused to the
cherishing of sloth and security ; partly because many eminent
men of late do judge, that to work or labour for life and sal-
vation, is mercenary, legal, and dangerous ; which doctrine, as I
have said before, were it by the owners reduced into practice,
would undoubtedly damn them j because they that seek not shall
not find, and they that strive not to enter shall be shut out, and
they that labour not shall not be crowned ; and partly because
it is grown the custom of this distracted age, instead of striving
for the kingdom and contending for the faith, to strive with each
other about uncertain controversies,'^ and to contend about ihe
circumstantials of the faith, wherein the kingdom of God doth
no more consist than in meats or drinks, or questions about
the law, or genealogies. Sirs, shall we, who are brethren, fall
out by the way home, and spend so much of our time about the
smaller matters which thousands have been saved without, but
never any one saved by them, while Christ and our eternal rest
are almost forgotten ? The Lord pardon and heal the folly of
his people.
CHAP. VII.
TJie Third Use : persuadAng all Men to try their Title to this
Rest ; and directmg them how to try^ that they may know.
Sect. I. I now proceed to the third use which we shall raise
hence ; and because it is of very great importance to thy soul,
<: The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom ; but the law bringeth fear.
Therefore the knowledge of the law is the beginning of wisdom, and no man
is wise without the law. They, therefore, that refuse the law are fools, and
consequently atheists and ungodly. How then do some heretics say, that
the law is evil, because Paul saith, " By the law is the knowledge of sin ? "
To whom 1 answer, The law did not make sin, but show it. Is not the law
good when it teacheth and chastiseth, and is given as a schoolmaster to
Christ .'' that while we are guided by the fear of castigation, we may be con-
verted to the perfection, which is through Christ? — Clemen. Alex. Stromat.
lib.ii,
^ Quocirca imprudenter faciunt qui durissima et -KapaZolArara primo propo-
nunt, &c. Vide Zuinglium ' De VerA et Falsi Relig. de Scandaio,' p. 403.
Rom.xiv, 17; Tit. iii.y; I.Tim, i. 4, and vi. 5 ; Phil. ii. 14.
EVERLASTING REST. 483
I entreat thee to read it the more diHgently, and weigh it the
more seriously.
Is there such a glorious rest so near at hand ; and shall none
enjoy it but the people of God ? What mean the most of the
world, then, to live so contentedly without assurance of their in-
terest in this rest, and to neglect the trying of their title to it,
when the Lord hath so fully opened the blessedness of that
kingdom, which none but a little flock of obedient believers
shall possess, and so fully expressed those torments which all
the rest of the world must eternally suffer ? A man would
think now, that they that believe this to be certainly true, should
never be at any quiet in themselves till they knew which of these
must be their own state, and were fully assured that they were
heirs of the kingdom. Most men that I meet with, say, they
believe this word of God to be true ; how then can they sit still
in such an utter uncertainty ? One would think they should run
up and down from minister to minister, inquiring, *How shall I
know whether I shall live in heaven or in hell ? ' And that they
should even think themselves half in hell, till they were sure to
escape it, and to be possessed of rest. Lord, what a wonderful,
strange madness is this, that men, who look daily when sickness
summons them, and death calls them away, and know they must
presently enter upon unchangeable joy or pain, should yet live
as uncertain what should be their doom, as if they had never
heard of any such state : yea, and live as quietly and as merrily
in this uncertainty as if all were made sure, and nothing ailed
them, and there were no danger ! Are these men alive or dead ?
Are they waking, or are they asleep ? What do they think on ?
Where are their hearts ? If they have but a weighty suit at
law, how careful are they to know whether it will go for them
or against them ! If they were to be tried for their lives at an
earthly judicature, how careful would they be to know whether
they should be saved or condemned, especially if their care might
surely save them ! If they be dangerously sick, they will inquire
of the physician, ' What think you, sir ; shall I escape, or no ? '
But for the business of their salvation, they are content to be
uncertain. If you ask most men a reason of their hopes to be
saved, they will say, ' It is because God is merciful, and Christ
died for sinners ; and the like general reasons, which any man in
the world may give as well as they : but put them to prove their
special interest in Christ, and the special saving mercy of God,
and they can say nothing to the purpose at all ; or, at least,
ii2
484 THR saint's
nothing out of their hearts and experience, but only out of their
reading or invention. Men are desirous to know all things,
save God and themselves : they will travel over sea and land to
know the situation of countries, and customs of the world : they
will go to schools and universities, and turn over multitudes of
Looks, and read and study from year to year, to know the crea-
tures, and to be exjoert in the sciences : they will go apprentice
seven years to learn a trade, which they may live by here ; and
yet they never read the book of conscience, nor study the state
of their own souls, that they may make sure of living for ever.
If God should ask them for their souls, as he did Cain for his
brother Abel, they could return but such an answer as he did.
If God or man should say to them, ' What case is thy soul in,
man? Is it regenerate, and sanctified, and pardoned, or not?
Is it in a state of life, or a state of death ? ' He would be ready
to say, ' I know not ; am I my soul's keeper ? I hope well, I
trust God with my soul, and trouble not myself with any such
thoughts ; 1 shall speed as well as other men do, and so I will
put it to the venture ; I thank God I never made any doubt of
my salvation.' Answ. Thou hast the more cause to doubt a
great deal, because thou never didst doubt ; and yet more be-
cause thou hast been so careless in thy confidence. What do
these expressions discover, but a wilful neglect of thy own sal-
vation ? As a shipmaster that should let his vessel alone, and
mind other matters, and say ' 1 will venture it among the rocks,
and sands, and gulfs, and waves, and winds ; I will never trouble
myself to know whether it shall come safe to the harbour ; I
will trust God with it ', it will speed as well as other men's ves-
sels do.' ^ Indeed, as well as other men's that are as careless and
idle, but not so well as other men's that are diligent and watch-
ful. What horrible abuse of God is this, for men to pretend
that they trust God with their souls only to cloak their own wil-
ful negligence ! If thou didst truly trust God, thou wouldst also
be ruled by him, and trust him in that way which he hath ap-
' « It is not in external shape and fissure that Christians differ from other
men : as if they were like the world in mhid and thoug-ht, in disturbance and
instability, in credulity, confusion, and perturbation, aud fears, wherewith the
minds of all others are distempered, as some think they are. These (that so
think) do differ themselves from the world but in opinion and outside, and
some external good deeds ; but in heart and mind being' entangled in earthly
snares, they have not attained the divine rest, and heavenly peace, of the
Spirit in their hearts ; because they sought it not of God, nor approved them-
selves worthy or meet for it. — Mucar. Horn. 5. Psal. 2—1) j Heb. xii. 28, 29.
EVERLASTING REST. 485
pointed thee, and upon those terms on which he hath promised
thee help. He requires thee to give all diligence, to make thy
calling and election sure, and so to trust him. (2 Pet. i. 10.)
He hath lined thee out a way in Scripture, by which thou mayest
come to be sure ; and charged thee to search and try thyself,
till thou certainly know. Were he not a foolish traveller that
would hold on his way when he doth not know whether it be
right or wrong, and say, ' I hope I am right ; I will not doubt of
it ; I will go on, and trust God ? ' Art not thou guilty of this
folly in thy travels to eternity ? Not considering that a little
serious inquiry and trial, whether thy way be right, might save
thee a great deal of labour which thou bestowest in vain, and
must undo again, or else thou wilt miss of salvation, and undo
thyself. If thou shouldst see a man in despair, or that were
certain to be damned for ever when he is dead, wouldst thou
not look upon such a man as a pitiful object ? Why, thou that
livest in wilful uncertainty, and dost not know whether thou
shalt be saved or not, art in the next condition to such a person ;
for aught thou knowest to the contrary, thy case hereafter may
be as bad as his. I know not what thou thinkest of thy own
state : but, for my part, did I not know what a desperate, blind,
dead piece a carnal heart is, I should wonder how thou doest to
forget thy misery, and to keep off continual terrors from thy
heart ; and especially in these cases following :
1. I wonder how thou canst either think or speak of the
dreadful God, without exceeding terror and astonishment, as
long as thou art uncertain whether he be thy father or thy enemy,
and knowest not but all his attributes may be employed against
thee. If his saints must rejoice before him with trembling, and
serve him in fear ; if they that are sure to receive the immoveable
kingdom, must yet serve God " with reverence and godly fear,
because " he is a consuming fire ; " how then should the re-
membrance of him be terrible to them that know not but this
fire may for ever consume them 1
2. How dost thou think, without trembling, upon Jesus
Christ, when thou knowest not whether his blood hath purged
thy soul, or not ; and whether he will condemn thee, or acquit
thee in judgment; nor whether he be set for thy rising, or for
thy fall; (Luke ii. 34;) nor whether he be the corner stone
and foundation of thy happiness, or a stone of stumbling to
break thee, and grind thee to powder? (Matt. xxi. 24.) Me-
thinks thou shouldst still be in that tune, as Job xxxi. 23,
486 THE saint's
" Destruction from God is a terror to me, and by reason of his
highness I cannot endure*,"
3. How canst thou open the Bible, and read a chapter, or
hear a chapter read, but it should terrify thee ? Methinks
every leaf should be to thee as Belshazzar's writing upon the
wall, except only that which draws thee to try and reform.
(Dan. V. 5, 6.) If thou read the promises, thou knowest not
whether ever they shall be fulfilled to thee, because thou art un-
certain of thy performance of the condition. If thou read the
threatenings, for any thing thou knowest, thou dost read thy
own sentence. I do not wonder if thou art an enemy to plain
preaching; and if thou say of it, and of the minister and
Scripture itself, as Ahab of the prophet, " I hate him, for he
doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." (1 Kings
xxii. 8.)
4. I wonder how thou canst, without terror, approach God
in prayer, or any duty. When thou callest him thy father, thou
knowest not whether thou speak true or false. When thou
needest him in thy sickness, or other extremity, thou knowest
not whether thou hast a friend to go to, or an enemy. When
thou receivest the sacrament, thou knowest not whether thou
takest thy blessing or thy bane. And who would wilfully live
such a life as this?
5. What comfort canst thou find in any thing which thou
possessest? Methinks, friends, and honours, and houses, and
lands, should do thee little good, till thou know that thou hast
the love of God withal, and shalt have rest with him when thou
leavest these. Offer to a prisoner, before he know his sentence,
either music, or clothes, or lands, or preferment, and what cares
he for any of these, till he know how he shall escape for his
life ? and then he will look after these comforts of life, and
not before : for he knows if he must die the next day it will be
small comfort to die rich or honourable. Methinks it should be
so with thee, till thou know thine eternal state. Dost not thou, as
Ezek. xii. 18, "eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy drink
with trembling and carefulness 3" and say, ' Alas ! though I have
these to refresh my body now, yet I know not what I shall have
hereafter?' Even vvhen thou liest down to take thv rest, me-
thinks the uncertainty of thy salvation should keep thee waking
or amaze thee in thy dreams, and trouble thy sleep ; and thou
shouldst say, as Job in a smaller distress than thine, *' When I
say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
EVERLASTING REST. 487
then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through
visions." (Job vii. 13, 14.)
6. Doth it not grieve thee to see the people of God so com-
fortable, when thou hast none thyself: and to think of the
glory which they shall inherit, when thou hast no assurance thy-
self of ever enjoying it ?
7. What shift dost thou make to think of thy dying hour?
Thou knowest it is near, and there is no avoiding it, nor any
medicine found out that can prevent it. Thou knowest it is the
'* king of terrors," (Job xviii. 14,) and the very inlet to thine un-
changeable state. The godly that have some assurance of their
future welfare, have yet much ado to submit to it willingly, and
find that to die comfortably is a very difficult work. How then
canst thou think of it without astonishment, who hast got no
assurance of the rest to come ? If thou shouldst die this day,
and "who knows what a day may bring forth," (Prov. xxvii. 1^)
thou dost not know whether thou shalt go straight to heaven or
to hell : and canst thou be merry till thou art got out of this
dangerous state ? Methinks that in Deut. xxviii. 25 — 27 should
be the looking-glass of thy heart.
8. What shift dost thou make to preserve thy heart from hor-^
ror, when thou rememberest the great judgment day, and the
everlasting flames ? Dost thou not tremble as Felix, when thou
hearest of it ; (Acts xxiv. 25 ;) and as the elders of the town
trembled when Samuel came in, saying, " Comest thou peace-
ably?" (1 Sam. xvi. 4.) So methinks thou shouldst do when the
minister comes into the pulpit ; and thy heart, whenever thou
meditatest of that day, should meditate terror, (Isa. xxxiii. 18,)
and thou shouldst even be a terror to thyself, and all thy friends.
(Jer. XX. 4.) If the keepers trembled and became as dead men,
when they did but see the angels, (Matt, xxviii. 3, 4,) how canst
thou think of living in hell with devils till thou hast got some
sound assurance that thou shalt escape it ? Or, if thou seldom
think of these things, the wonder is as great, what shift thou
makest to keep those thoughts from thy heart, and to live so
quietly in so doleful a state ? Thy bed is very soft, or thy heart
is very hard, if thou canst sleep soundly in this uncertain case.
I have showed thee the danger, let me next proceed to show
thee the remedy.
If this general uncertainty of the world about their salvation,
were constrained or remediless, then must it be borne as other
unavoidable miseries, and it were unmeet either to reprove them
488 THE saint's
for it, or dissuade them from it ; but, alas ! the common cause
is wilfuhiess and negligence. Men will not be persuaded to use
the remedy, though it be easy, and at hand, prescribed to them
by God himself, and all necessary helps thereunto provided for
them. The great means to conquer this uncertainty, is self-ex-
amination, or the serious and diligent trying of a man's heart
and state, by the rule of Scripture. The Scripture tells us
plainly who shall be saved, and who shall not : so that if men
.would but first search the word, to find out who are these men
that shall have rest, and what are their properties by which
they may be known ; and then next search carefully their own
hearts, till they find whether they are those men or not, how
could they choose but to come to some certainty ? ^ But, alas !
either men understand not the nature and use of this duty, or
else they will not be at the pains to try. Go through a con-
gregation of a thousand men, and how few of them shall you
meet with, that ever bestowed one hour in all their lives in a
close examination of their title to heaven ! Ask thy own con-
science, reader, when was the time, and where was the place,
that ever thou solemnly tookest thy heart to task, as in the
sight of God, and examinedst it by scripture interrogatories,
whether it be born again and renewed, or not ; whether it be
holy, or not; whether it be set most on God, or on creatures;
on heaven, or on earth ; and didst follow on this examination
till thou hadst discovered thy condition, and so passed sentence
on thyself accordingly.
But because this is a work of so high concernment, and so
commonly neglected, and men's souls do so much languish
everywhere under this neglect, I will, therefore, though it be
digressive, 1. Show you that it is possible, by trying, to come to
a certainty; 2. Show the hinderances that keep men from
trying, and from assurance; 3. I will lay down some motives to
persuade you to it; 4. I will give you some directions how you
should perform it; 5. And lastly, I will lay you down some
marks out of Scripture, by which you may try, and so come to
an infallible certainty, whether you are the people of God, for
whom this rest remaineth, or not. And to prepare the way to
these, I will, a little, first open to you, what examination is, and
what that certainty is, which we may expect to attain to.
' The new creature, in all Christians, doth differ from the men of this
world, by the renovation of the mind, and the calmness of their thoughts, and
the love of God, and the heavenly love. — Macariusy Horn, lib. v.
EVERLASTING REST. 489
Sect. If. This self-examination is, an inquiry into the course
of our lives, but more especially, into the inward acts of our
souls, and trying of their sincerity by the word of God, and ac-
cordingly judging of our real and relative estate.
So that examination containeth several acts: 1. There must
be the trial of the physical truth, or sincerity of our acts ; that
is, an inquiry after the very being of them ; as whether there
be such an act as belief, or desire, or love to God within us or
not: this must be discovered by conscience, and the internal
sense of the soul ; whereby it is able to feel and perceive its
own acts, and to know whether they be real or counterfeit.
2. The next is, the trial of the moral truth, or sincerity of
acts ; whether they are such as agree with the rule and the
nature of their objects.^ This is a discursive work of reason,
comparing our acts with the rule ; it implieth the former know-
ledge of the being of our acts, and it implieth the knowledge of
Scripture in the point in question, and also the belief of the
truth of Scripture. This moral, spiritual truth of our acts, is
another thing, far different from the natural or physical truth j
as far as a man's being differeth from his honesty. One man
loveth his wife under the notion of a harlot, or only to satisfy
s Some of our divines (beyond sea) are so foully mistaken in this, as to tell
the papists confidently, that every man that hath true faith, doth know and
feel it ; not only that he hath faith, but that it is true and saving. Even ju-
dicious Testardus is peremptory here ; and his learned neighbour Chamier
avers : HancoperatiouemSpiritusSancti sentiri ab unoquoque in quo fiat, nee
relinquere quenquam iguarum sui.—De Fidei Objecto, torn. 3. lib. xiii. c. 2, 3.
But our English divines in this point are the most sound of any in the world ;
being more exercised, I think, about doubting tender consciences. You see
practice discovereth some truth, which mere disputing loseth. Idem Cha-
mier. pessime asserit, Neminem credere in (Christum, qui non credat sibi re-
niissa esse peccata, se esse justificatum. Ibid. c. .'), et pejus adhuc, torn. 3,
lib. xiii. c. 6. sec. 14. Si plane cognoscere (nos esse praedestinatos) intelligas
reminisci rem ita se habere, et certam esse, concedo. Hoc eniui fides habet
vera, nee est vera si non habet. When a papist discovers one or two such,
O how it hardens them against all our doctrine, and makes them read all
the rest with iuvincible prejudice ; even as we suspect the more all theirs,
because of those errors that we palpably discern. Nee melius maguus Cal-
vinus 'Institut.' lib. iii. c. 2. sect. If). Fidelis non est nisi qui suas salutis
securitati innixus, diabolo et morti confidenter insultet. Sic alibi passim,
et ipse, et Lutherus, et alii plurimi. Vere fidelis non est nisi qui solida per-
suasione Deum sibi propilium benevolumque patrem esse persuasus, de ejus
benignitate omnia sibi pollicetur : nisi qui divinae erga se benevolentiae pro-
missionibus fretus, indubitatam salutis expectationem prsesumit. Id. lb.
At hffic in sect. 17. mollificat Calvinus, baud sanetamen judicans fidei na-
turam in certitudine hac positam esse, etsi concedit earn tentationibus et in-
quietudiue aliquandu esse impetitam.
490 THE saint's
his lust; another loveth his wife with a true, conjugal affection:
the former is true, physical love, or true in point of being ; but
the latter only is true, moral love. The like may be said in
regard of all the acts of the soul. There is a believing, loving,
trusting, fearing, rejoicing, all true in point of being, and not
counterfeit; which yet are all false in point of morality and
right being, and so no gracious acts at all.
3. The third thing being contained in the work of self-exa-
mination, is the judging or concluding of our real estate ; that
is, of the habitual temper or disposition of our hearts, by the
quality of their acts ; whether they are such acts as prove a
habit of holiness, or only some slight disposition ; or whether
they are only, by some accident, enticed or enforced, and prove
neither habit nor disposition. The, like, also of our evil acts.
Now, the acts which prove a habit must be, 1. Free and cheer-
ful ; not constrained, or such as we had rather not do if we could
help it. 2. Frequent; if there be opportunity. 3. Thorough
and serious : where note also, that the trial of the soul's dispo-
sition by those acts, which make after the end, as desire, love
&c., to God, Christ, heaven, is always more necessary and more
certain, than the trial of its disposition to the means only.
4. The last act in this examination, is to conclude or judge
of our relative estate, from the former judgment of our acts and
habits. As if we find sincere acts, we may conclude that we
have the habits ; so from both, we may conclude of our rela-
tion. So that our relations, or habits, are neither of them felt
or known immediately, but must be gathered from the know-
ledge of our acts, which may be felt ; as for example : 1. I in-
quire, whether I believe in Christ, or love God ? 2. If I find
that I do, then I inquire next, whether I do it sincerely, accord-
ing to the rule and the nature of the object ? 3. If I find that
I do so, then I conclude that I am regenerate or sanctified. 4.
And from both these, I conclude that I am pardoned, reconciled,
justified, and adopted into sonship, and title to the inheritance.
All this is done in a way of reasoning, thus :
1. He that believes in spiritual sincerity, or he that loves God
in spiritual sincerity, is a regenerate man : but I do so believe
and love ; therefore, I am regenerate.
2. He that believes in sincerity, or he that is regenerate, for
the conclusion will follow upon either, is also pardoned, justi-
fied, and adopted : but I do so believe, or I am regenerate ;
therefore, I am justified, &c.
EVERLASTING REST. 491
Sect. III. Thus you see what examination is. Now let us see
what this certainty or assurance is ; and indeed it is nothing
else but the knowledge of the fore-mentioned conclusions, that
we are sanctified, justified, shall be glorified, as they arise from
the premises in the work of examination.
So that here you may observe, how immediately this assur-
ance followeth the conclusion in examination, and so, how ne-
cessary examination is to the obtaining of assurance, and how
conducible thereunto.
Also, that we are not speaking of the certainty of the object,
or of the thing itself considered, but of the certainty of the sub-
ject, or of the thing to our knowledge.
Also you may observe, that before we can come to this cer-
tainty of the conclusion. That we are justified, and shall be
glorified, there must be a certainty of the premises. And in
respect of the major proposition. He that believeth sincerely,
shall be justified and saved; there is requisite in us, 1. A
certainty of knowledge ; that such a proposition is written in
Scripture. 2. A certainty of assent or faith ; that this Scrip-
ture is the word of God, and true. Also, in respect of the
minor proposition. But I do sincerely believe, or love, &c.,
there is requisite, 1. A certainty of the truth of our faith in point
of being ; 2. And a certainty of its truth in point of morality,
or congruence with the rule, or its right being. And then fol-
loweth the assurance, which is the certainty that the conclu-
sion. Therefore I am justified, &c. followeth necessarily upon
the former premises.
Here also you must carefully distinguish betwixt the seve-
ral degrees of assurance.^ All assurance is not of the highest
degree. It differs in strength, according to the different degrees
of apprehension, in all the fore-mentioned points of certainty
which are necessary thereunto. He that can truly raise the
foresaid conclusion, that he is justified, &c., from the pre-
mises, hath some degree of assurance, though he do it with
much weakness, and staggering, and doubting. The weakness
of our assurance in any one point of the premises, will accord-
ingly weaken our assurance in the conclusion.
Some, when they speak of certainty of salvation, do mean
only such a certainty as excludeth all doubting, and think no-
thing else can be called certainty, but this high degree. Per-
^ Vide Greg. ' De Valen.' torn, iii, disp. 8. q. 4. punct. 4.
492 THE saint's
haps some papists mean this, when they deny a certainty. Some
also maintain, that Saint Paul's plerophory, or full assurance, is
the highest degree of assurance, and that some Christians do in
this life attain to it. But Paul calls it full assurance, in com-
parison of lower degrees, and not because it is perfect. For if
assurance be perfect, then all our certainty of knowledge, faith
and sense in the premises, must be perfect : and if some grace
be perfect, why not all ? And so we turn Novatians, Catharists,
Perfectionists. Perhaps in some, their certainty may be so great
that it may overcome all sensible doubting, or sensible stirrings
of unbelief, by reason of the sweet and powerful acts and effects
of that certainty : and yet it doth not overcome all unbelief and
uncertainty, so as to expel or nullify them ; but a certain mea-
sure of them remaineth still. Even, as when you would heat
cold water by the mixture of hot, you may pour in the hot so
long till no coldness is felt, and yet the water may be far from
the highest degree of heat. So faith may suppress the sensible
stirrings of unbelief, and certainty prevail against all the trouble
of uncertainty, and yet be far from the highest degree.
So that by this which is said^ you may answer the question.
What certainty is to be attained in this life ; and what certainty
it is that we press men to labour for and expect ?
Furthermore ; you must be sure to distinguish betwixt assur-
ance itself, and the joy, and strength, and other sweet effects
which follow assurance, or which immediately accompany it.
It is possible that there may be assurance, and yet no com-
fort, or little. There are many unskilful, but self-conceited dis-
puters of late, better to manage a club than an argument, who
tell us, ^ that it must be the Spirit that must assure us of salva-
tion, and not our marks and evidences of grace ; that our com-
fort must not be taken from any thing in ourselves ; that our
justification must be immediately believed, and not proved by
our signs of sanctification,' Sic. Of these in order. 1. It is as
wise a question to ask, ' Whether our assurance come from the
Spirit, or our evidence, or our faith,' &c., as to ask, ' Whether it
be our meat, or our stomach, our teeth, or our hands, that feed
us ; or whether it be our eye-sight, or the sun-light, by which
' That it is not properly any act of faith at all (much less the justifying
act), to believe that my sins are pardoned, or that Christ died in a special
sense for me, or that I atn a believer, or that I shall be saved — besides what
I have said in the Appendix to my Aphorisms of Justification, I refer you for
satisfaction to judicious M. A. Wotton 'De Receucil.' part 1. lib, ii. c, 15. n. 3 —
8, p. 87—90, &c.
EVERLASTING REST. 493
we see things ?' They are distinct causes, all necessary to the
producing of the same effect.
So that, by what hath been said, you may discern that the
Spirit, and knowledge, and faith, and Scripture, and inward ho-
liness and reason, and inward sense of conscience, have all se-
veral parts, and necessary uses in producing our assurance;
which I will show you distinctly.
1. To the Spirit belong these particulars. 1. He hath in-
dicted those Scriptures which contain the promise of our par-
don and salvation. 2. He giveth us the habit or power of be-
lieving. 3. He helpeth us also to believe actually, that the
word is true, and to receive Christ and the privileges offered in
the promise. 4. He worketh in us those graces, and exciteth
those gracious acts with us, which are the evidences'' or marks
of our interest to pardon and life: he helpeth us to perform
those acts which God hath made to be the condition of pardon
and glory. 5. He helpeth us to feel and discover these acts in
ourselves. 6. He helpeth us to compare them with the rule,
and finding out their qualifications, to judge of their sincerity
and acceptation with God. 7. He helpeth our reason to con-
clude rightly of our state from our acts. He enliveneth and
heighteneth our apprehension in these particulars, that our as-
surance may accordingly be strong and lively. 8. He exciteth
our joy, and filleth with comfort (when he pleaseth) upon this
assurance. None of all these could we perform well of our-
selves.
2. The part which the Scripture hath in this work, is, 1 . It
affordeth us the major proposition, that whosoever believeth
sincerely shall be saved." 2. It is the rule by which our acts
must be tried, that we may judge of their moral truth.
3. The part that knowledge hath in it, is to know that the
foresaid proposition is written in Scripture.
4. The work of faith is to believe the truth of that Scrip-
ture, and to be the matter of one of our chief evidences.
5. Our holiness, and true faith, as they are marks and evi-
dences, are the very medium of our argument, from which we
conclude.
G. Our conscience and internal sense do acquaint us with
both the being and qualifications of our inward acts, which are
this medium, and which are called marks.
^ I use the word ' evidence' all along in the vulgar sense as the same with
* signs/ and not in the proper sense as the schools do.
494 THE saint's
7. Our reason, or discourse, is necessary to form the argu-
ment, and raise the conchision from the premises ; and to com-
pare our acts with the rule, and judge of the sincerity, &c.
So that you see our assurance is not an effect of any one
single cause alone.' And so neither merely of faith, by signs,
nor by the Spirit.
From all this you may gather,™ 1. What the seal of the
Spirit is, to wit, the works or fruits of the Spirit in us. 2. What
the testimony of the Spirit is, (for if it be not some of the fore-
mentioned acts, I yet know it not). 3. What the testimony of
conscience is.
And, if I be not mistaken, the testimony of the Spirit, and
the testimony of conscience, are two concurrent testimonies, or
causes, to produce one and the same effect, and to afford the
premises to the same conclusion, and then to raise our joy
thereupon ; so that they may well be said to witness together.
Not one laying down the entire conclusion of itself, " that we
are the children of God;" and then the other attesting the same
entirely again of itself: but as concurrent causes to the same
numerical conclusion.
But this with submission to better judgments and further
search.
By this also you may see, that the common distinction of
certainty of adherence, and certainty of evidence, must be taken
with a grain or two of salt." For there is no certainty without
evidence, any more than there is a conclusion without a medium.
A small degree of certainty hath some small glimpse of evi-
^ Therefore, that saying of Cajetan is not so much to be valued, as by some
of our divines it is. Certitudine fidei quilibet scit certo se habere donum in-
fusum fidei, id(iue absque formidine alterius partis. Except he take certitudo
fidei in a very large, improper sense.
'" Read Gataker's ' Shadows without Substance,' pp. 83, 84, who opens this
solidly, as he useth in other things. Sed cave de doctrina quam plurimorum
theologorum, qui testimonium Spirilus Sancti intelligunt esse per specierum
infusionem, et non per intellectus emendativam illuminationem. Ita vir alio-
quin niagnus, Chamierus, tom. 3, lib. xiii. c. 17. s. 5. ait, baud tute, Hoc (Sp.
testimonium) dico esse verbum Dei. Et ita appcllari in Scripturis : in quibus
revelationes illae, qu£e fiebant pri)))hetis, per internum et arcanum motum
Spiritus perpetuo appellantut nomine verbi Dei : nee differebat ab ista ener-
gia modo : quia, viz. in prophetis erat extraordinarius, at in fidelibus ordi-
uarius. But you may most clearly see the nature of the Spirit's testimony ia
the most excellent discourses of two learned men in another case, i.e. Rob.
Baron. ' Apol.' p. 733 ; and Amyraldus in ' Thes. Sal.' vol. i. p. 122.
» The distinctions used in the schools, of certitudo fidei and certitudo evi-
dentice, I deny not : but that hath a quite different sense from this as it is used.
EVERLASTING REST. 495
dence. Indeed, 1 . The assent to the truth of a promise :
2. And the acceptation of Christ offered with his henefits, are
both before and without any sight or consideration of evidence,
and are themselves our best evidence, ° being that faith which is
the condition of our justification ; but before any man can, in
the least assurance, conclude that he is the child of God, and
justified) he must have some assurance of that mark or evidence.
For who can conclude absolutely that he will receive the thing
contained in a conditional promise, till he know that he hath
performed the condition ? For those that say, ' There is no con-
dition of the new covenant,' I think them not worthy a word
of confutation.
And for their assertion,? " that we are bound immediately to
believe that we are justified, and in special favour with God ; "
it is such as no man of competent knowledge in the Scripture,
and belief of its truth, can once imagine. For if every man
must believe this, then most must believe a lie, for they shall
never be justified, yea, all must at first believe a lie ; for they
are not justified till they believe ; and the believing that they are
justified, is not the faith that justifieth them. If only some men
must believe this, how should it be known who they be ? The
truth is, that we are justified, is not properly to be believed
at all J for nothing is to be believed which is not written : but
it is nowhere written that you or I am justified : only one of
these premises is written, from whence we may draw the con-
clusion, that we are justified, if so be that our own hearts do
afford us the other of the premises. So that our actual justifi-
cation is not a matter of mere faith, but a conclusion from faith
and conscience together. If God have nowhere promised to
any man justification immediately, without condition, then no
man can believe it : but God hath nowhere promised it abso-
° Therefore 1 say not that our first comfort, much less our justification, is
procured by the sight of evidences ; but our assurance is.
1' Their common error, 'that justifyinsj faith is nothing else but a persuasion,
more or less, of the love of God to us,' is the root of this and many more mis-
takes. To justify us, and to assure us that we are justified, are quite different
things, and procured by different ways, and at several times usually. Pes-
sime eliam doctiss. Keckerm. 'System. Theol.' lib. iii. c. 7. s. 7. asserit, Quod
statim eo momento quo absolutio ejusmodi sit, cordibus electorum Deus im-
mittit Nuncium ilium sententiae latae, viz. Spiritum Sanctum, quieos de gratia
Deicertos reddat, atque ita conscientiae pacem ipsisconciliat. Itaet p. 417, seq.
Et eodem modo plurimi transmarin. theolog. Vid. Aquin. ad 1. sent, dist. 15.
art. 1 — 3. q. 112, et Scotum ad 3. ; sent. dist. 23. q. unica. Eonaveut. 1. sent,
q. 17. Biel iu 2. sent. dist. 27. q. 3.
496 THE saint's
lutely ; therefore, &e. Nor hath he declared to any man, that
is not first a beUever, that he loveth him with any more than a
common love ; therefore, no more can be believed but a com-
mon love to any such. For the eternal love and election are
manifest to no man before he is a believer.
Sect. IV. 2. Having thus showed you what examination is,
and what assurance is, I come to the second thing promised,
to show you, that such an infallible certainty of salvation may
be attained, and ought to be laboured for, though a perfect cer-
tainty cannot here be attained : and that examination is the
means to attain it. In which I shall be the briefer, because
many writers against the papists on this point, have said
.enough already.'' Yet somewhat I will say: 1. Because it is
the common conceit of the ignorant vulgar, that an infallible
certainty cannot be attained. 2. And many have taught and
printed that it is only the testimony of the Spirit that can
assure us ; and that this proving our justification by our sancti-
fication, and searching after marks and signs in ourselves for the
procuring of assurance, is a dangerous and deceitful way. Thus
we have the papists, the antinomians, and the ignorant vulgar,
conspiring against this doctrine of assurance and examination.
Which I maintain against them by these arguments.
1. Scripture tells us we may know, and that the saints before
us have known their justification, and future salvation. (2 Cor.
V. 1 ; Rom. viii. 36 ; John xxi. 15 ; 1 John v. 19, iv. 14, iii.
14—24, and ii. 3—5 ; Rom. viii. 14, 19,36 ; Eph. iii. 12.) I
refer you to the places for brevity.
2. If we may be certain of the premises, then may we also be
certain of the undeniable conclusion of them. But here we
may be certain of both the premises. For, 1 . " That whoso-
ever believeth in Christ shall not perish, but shall have everlast-
ing life," is the voice of the Gospel ; and therefore that we
may be sure of; that we are such believers, may be known by
conscience and internal sense. I know all the question is this,
whether the moral truth, or sincerity of our faith, and other
^ Yet I believe that their divines have some of them made the difference
hetwixt us and the papists seem wider than it is, as do these words of one of
them : Ex hoc uiiico articulo quantumvis minuto i!i plerisque reputari queat|
universus papatus el Lutheranismus depeudet. Martinus Eisengreiiius initio
' Apol. de Cer. Salv/ And so have some of our divines on the other side, as
Luther in Gen. 41. Etiamsi nihil praeterea peccatum esset in doctrina pouti-
iicia, justas habemus causas cur ab ecclesia infideli no5 sejung-eremus.
EVERLASTING REST. 497
graces, can be known thus or not ? And that it may, I prove
thus :
1. From the natural use of tliis conscience, and internal sense,
which is to acquaint us not only with the being, but the qualifi-
cations of the acts of our souls. All voluntary motions are sensi-
ble, and though the heart is so deceitful, that no man can certainly
know the heart of another, and with much difficulty clearly
know his own ; yet, by diligent observation and examination,
known they may be ; for though our inward sense and conscience
may be depraved, yet not extirpated, or quite extinguished.
2. The commands of believing, repenting, &c., were in vain,
especially as the condition of the covenant, if we could not
know whether we perform them or not.
3. The Scripture would never make such a wide difference
between the godly and the wicked, the children of God and
the children of the devil, and set forth the happiness of the one
and the misery of the other so jargely, and make this difference
to run through all the veins of its doctrine, if a man cannot
know which of these two estates he is in.
4. Much less would the Holy Ghost bid us " give all dili-
gence to make our calling and election sure, if it could not be
done." (2 Pet. i. 10.) And that this is not meant of objective
certainty, but of the subjective, appeareth in this; that the
apostle mentioneth not salvation, or any thing to come, but
calling and election, which to believers were objectively certain
before, as being both past.
5. And to what purpose should we be so earnestly urged to
examine, and prove, and try ourselves, whether we be in the
faith, and whether Christ be in us, or we be reprobates? (1
Cor. xi. 28, and 2 Cor. xiii. 5.) Why should we search for
that which cannot be found ?
6. How can we obey those precepts which require us to
rejoice always ? (I Thess. v. 16:) To call God our Father:
(Luke xi. 12 :) To live in his praises : (Psalm xlix. 1 — 5 :) And
to long for Christ's coming: (Rev. xxii. 17,20; 1 Thess. i. 10:)
and to comfort ourselves with the mention of it : (2 Thess. iv.
18) : which are all the consequents of assurance. Who can do
any of these heartily, that is not in some measure sure that he
is the child of God ?
7. There are some duties that either the saints only, or
chiefly, are commanded to perform ; and how shall that be done,
VOL. XXII. K K
498 THE saint's
if we cannot know that we are saints ? (Psalm cxliv. 5, cxxxii.
9^ XXX. 4, xxxi. 23, &c.)
Thus I have proved that a certainty may be attained ; an
infalHble, though not a perfect certainty : such as excludeth
deceit, though it exchideth not all degrees of doubting. If
Bellarmine, by his conjectural certainty, do mean this infallible
though imperfect certainty, (as I doubt he doth not,) then 1
would not much contend with him : and I acknowledge that it
is not properly a certainty of mere faith, but mixed.
Sect. V. 3. The third thing that I promised, is, to show you
what are the hinderances which keep men from examination
and assurance. I shall, 1. Show what hinders them from
trying. And, 2. What hindereth them from knowing, when
they do try, that so when you see the impediments, you may
avoid them.
And, 1, We cannot doubt but Satan will do his part, to
hinder us from such a necessary duty as this : if all the power
he hath can do it, or all the means and instruments which he
can raise up, he will be sure above all duties to keep you off
from this. He is loth the godly should have that joy, and as-
surance, and advantage, against corruption, which the faithful
performance of self-examination would procure them. And for
the ungodly, he knows, if they should once fall close to this ex-
amining task, they would find out his deceits, and their own
danger, and so be very likely to escape him ; if they did but
faithfully perform this duty, he were likely to lose most of the
subjects of his kingdom. How could he get so many millions
to hell willingly, if they knew they went thither ? And how
could they choose but know, if they did thoroughly try, having
such a clear light, and sure rule in the Scripture, to discover it?
If the beast did know that he is going to the slaughter, he would
not be driven so easily to it, but would strive for his life before
he comes to die, as well as he doth at the time of his death. If
Balaam had seen as much of the danger as his ass, instead of
his driving on so furiously, he would have been as loth to proceed
as he. If the Syrians had known whither they were going, as
well as Elisha did, they would have stopped before they found
themselves in the hands of their enemies. (2 Kings vi. 19, 20.)
So, if sinners did but know whither they were hasting, they
would stop before they are engulfed in damnation. If every
swearer^ drunkard, whoremonger, lover of the world, or unre-
EVERLASTING REST. 499
generate person whatsoever, did certainly know that the way
he is in, will never bring him to heaven, and that if he die in it,
he shall undoubtedly perish, Satan could never get him to
proceed so resolvedly. Alas ! he would then think every day a
year till he were out of the danger ; and whether he were eating,
drinking, working, or whatever he were doing, the thoughts of
his danger would be still in his mind, and this voice would be
still in his ears, " Except thou repent and be converted, thou
shalt surely perish." The devil knows well enough, that if he
cannot keep men from trying their states, and knowing their
misery, he shall hardly be able to keep them from repentance
and salvation. And, therefore, he deals with them as Jael with
Sisera; she gives him fair words, and food, and layeth him to
sleep, and covereth his face, and then she comes upon him softly,
and strikes the nail into his temples. (Judges iv. 19.) And as the
Philistines with Sampson, who first put out his eyes, and then
made him grind in their mills. (Judges xvi. 21 .) If the pit be
not covered, who but the blind will fall into it ? Jf the snare
be not hid, the bird will escape it: Satan knows how to angle
for souls better than to show them the hook or line, and to
fright them away with a noise, or with his own appearance.
Therefore, he labours to keep them from a searching mi-
nistry ; or to keep the minister from helping them to search ;
or to take off the edge of the word, that it may not pierce and
divide ; or to turn away their thoughts, or to possess them with
prejudice. Satan is acquainted with all the preparations and
studies of the minister ; he knows when he hath provided a
searching sermon, fitted to the state and necessity of a hearer ;
and therefore he will keep him away that day, if it be possible,
above all, or else cast him asleep, or steal away the word by the
cares and talk of the world, or some way prevent its operation,
and the sinner's obedience.
This is the first hinderance.
Sect. VI. \\'^icked men also are great impediments to poor
sinners when they should examine and discover their estates.
1. Their examples hinder much."" When an ignorant sinner
' At hie tiitissima qusBqiie via et cele1)eriina maxime decipit. Nihil er^o
ma^^is prajstandum est, qiiam iie pecorum ritu sequamur antecedentiiun s''*^"
gem, pergentes non qua eunduin est, sed qua itiir. Nulla res iios itiajoribus
inalis implicat, quam quod ad rumorem componimur; optima rati ea, quae
niagno assensu recepta sunt, quoruuicuiique exenipla multa sunt : nee ad ra-
tiouem, sed ad similitudinem vivitnus. liide ista tanta cnacervatio aliorum
sup^r alios ruentium. Quud iu strafe hominum magna evenit, cum ipse se
K k2
500 THE saint's
seeth all his friends and neighbours do as he doth, and live
quietly in the same state with himself; yea, the rich and learned
as well as others, this is an exceeding great temptation to him
to proceed in his security. 2. Also, the merry company, and
pleasant discourse of these men, doth take away the thoughts
of his spiritual state, and doth make the understanding drunk
with their sensual delight : so that if the Spirit had before put
into them any jealousy of themselves, or any purpose to try
themselves, this jovial company doth soon quench them all.
3. Also, their continual discourse of nothing but matters of the
world, doth damp all these purposes for self-trving, and make
them forgotten. 4. Their railings also, and scorning at godly
persons, is a very great impediment to multitudes of souls, and
possesseth them with such a prejudice and dislike of the way
to heaven, that they settle resolvedly in the way that they are
in.** 5. Also, their constant persuasions, allurements, threats,
&c., liinder much. God doth scarcely ever open the eyes of a
poor sinner, to see that all is nought with him, and his way
is wrong, but presently there is a multitude of Satan's apostles
ready to flatter him, and daub, and deceive, and settle him
again in the quiet possession of his former master. ' What,' say
they, ' do you make a doubt of your salvation, who have lived so
well, and done nobody harm, and been beloved of all ? God is
merciful : and if such as you shall not be saved, God help a
great many ; what do you think is become of all your fore-
fathers : and what will become of all your friends and neigh-
bours that live as you do : will they all be damned ; shall none
be saved, think you, but a few strict precisians ? Come, come,
if ye hearken to these books or preachers, they will drive you to
despair shortly, or drive you out of your wits : they must have
something to say : they would have all like themselves : are
not all men sinners ; and did not Christ die to save sinners ?
Never trouble your head with these thoughts, but believe and
you shall do well.'' Thus do they follow the soul that is
escaping from Satan, with restless cries, till they have brought
populus premit, nemo ita caflit, ut non alium in se attrahat ; primi exitio se-
quentibus sunt. Nemo sibi tantum errat, sed alieni erroris causa et autor
est. — Seneca de Vita Beat. c. 1.
* Read on this subject Mr. Young's books, which handle it fully,
' Omnem operam dedi, ut me multitudini educerem, et aliqua dote notabi-
Sem facerem. Quid aliud quam telis me opposui, et nialevolentite quod mor-
deret ostendi ? — Seneca de Vita Beat, c. 2. You see among the very heathens
goodness liad still the most enemies.
EVERLASTING REST. 501
him back : oh, how many thousands have such charms kept
asleep in deceit and security, till death and hell have awakened
and better informed them 1 The Lord calls to the sinner, and
tells him, " The gate is strait, the way is narrow, and few find
it : try and examine whether thou be in the faith or no : give
all diligence to make sure in time." (Luke xiii. 24 ; 2 Cor. xiii.
5 ; 2 Pet. i. 10.) And the world cries out clean contrary, never
doubt, never trouble yourselves with these thoughts : I entreat
the sinner that is in this strait, to consider, that it is Christ, and
not their fathers, or mothers, or neighbours, or friends, that
must judge them at last ; and if Christ condemn them, these
cannot save them : and therefore common reason may tell them,
that it is not from the words of ignorant men, but from the
word of God, that they must fetch their comforts and hopes of
salvation. When Ahab would inquire among the multitudes of
flattering prophets, it was his death. They can flatter men into
the snare, but they cannot tell how to bring them out. Oh, take
the counsel of the Holy Ghost, " Let no man deceive you with
vain words : for because of these things cometh the wrath of
God upon the children of disobedience : be not ye therefore
partakers with them ;" (Ephes. v, 6, 7 ;) and, " Save yourselves
from this untoward generation." (Acts ii. 40.)
3. But the greatest hinderances are in men's own hearts.
Sect. VII. I. Some are so ignorant that they know not what
self-examination is, nor what a minister means when he per-
suadeth them to try themselves ; or they know not that there is
any necessity of it ; but think every man is bound to believe "
that God is his Father, and that his sins are pardoned, whether
it be true or false ; and that it were a great fault to make any
question of it; or, they do not think that assurance can be at-
tained; or, that there is any such great difference betwixt one
man and another; but that we are all Christians, and therefore
need not to trouble ourselves any further ; or, at least, they know
not wherein the difi^erence lies, nor how to set upon the search-
ing of their hearts, nor to find out its secret motions, and to
judge accordingly. They have as gross conceits of that rege-
neration, which they must search for, as Nicodemus had. (John
" Or, as Mr. Saltmarsh saith, every man is bound to believe, but no man to
question, whether he believe or not. — pp. 92,93. And this faith, he saith, is
being; persuaded more or less of Christ's love. — p. 94. So that by this doctrine
every man is bound to believe that Christ loveth him, and not to question his
belief; if it were only Christ's common love, he might thus believe it, but a
special love to him is nowhere written.
502 THE saint's
iii. 5.) And when they should try whether the Spirit be in
them, they are like those that " knew not whether there were
a Holy Ghost to be received or no." (Acts xix. 2.)
2. Some are such infidels that they will not believe that ever
God will make such a difference betwixt men in the life to
come, and therefore will not search themselves whether they
differ here : though judgment and resurrection be in their creed,
yet they are not in their faith.
3. Some are so dead-hearted, that they perceive not how
nearly it doth concern them ; let us say what we can to them,
they lay it not to heart, but give us the hearing, and there is
an end.
4. Some are so possessed with self-love and pride, that they
will not so much as suspect any such danger to themselves.
Like a proud tradesman, who scorns the motion when his
friends desire him to cast uj) his books, because they are afraid
he will break. As some fond parents, that have an over-ween-
ing conceit of their own children, and therefore will not believe
or hear any evil of them. Such a fond self-love doth hinder
men from suspecting and trying their states.
5. Some are so guilty that they dare not try. They are so
fearful that they shall find their states unsound, that they dare
not search into them : and yet they dare venture them to a
more dreadful trial.
6. Some are far in love with their sin, and so far in dislike
with the way of God, that they dare not fall on the trial of their
Avays, lest they be forced from the course which they love to
that which they loathe.
7. Some are so resolved already never to change their present
state, that they neglect examination as a useless thing. Before
they will turn so precise, and seek a new way, when they have
lived so long, and gone so far, they vi^ill put their eternal state
to the venture, come of it what will. And when a man is fully
resolved to hold on his way, and not to turn back, be it right or
wrong, to what end . should he inquire whether he be right
or not ?
8. Most men are so taken up with their worldly affairs, and
are so busy in driving the trade of providing for the flesh, that
they cannot set themselves to the trying of their title to heaven.
They have another kind of happiness in their eye, which they
are pursuing, which will not suffer them to make sure of
heaven.
EVERLASTING REST. 503
9. Most men are so clogged with a laziness and slothfulness
of spirit, that they will not be persuaded to be at the pains of
an hour's examination of their own hearts. It requireth some
labour and diligence to accomplish it thoroughly, and they will
rather venture all than set about it.
10. But the common and dangerous impediment is that false
faith and hope, commonly called presumption, which bears up
the hearts of the most of the world, and so keeps them from
suspecting their danger.
Thus you see what abundance of difficulties must be over-
come before a man can closely set upon the examining of his
heart. I do but name them for brevity sake.
And if a man do break through all these impediments, and
set upon the duty, yet assurance is not presently attained. Of
those fev/ who do inquire after marks and means of assurance,
and bestow some pains to learn the difference between the
sound Christian and the unsound, and look often into their own
hearts ; yet divers are deceived, and do miscarry, especially
through these following causes :
1. There is such a confusion and darkness in the soul of
man, especially of an unregenerate man, that he can scarcely
tell what he doeth, or what is in him. As one can hardlv find
any thiilg in an house where nothing keeps his place, but all is
cast on a heap together : so is it in the heart where all things
are in disorder, especially when darkness is added to this dis-
order : so that the heart is like an obscure cave or dungeon,
where there is but a little crevice of light, and a man must ra-
ther grope than see. No wonder if men mistake in searching
such a heart, and so miscarry in judging of their estate.
2. And the rather, because most men do accustom them-
selves to be strangers at home, and are little taken up with ob-
serving the temper and motions of their own hearts. All their
studies are employed v.ithout them, and they are nowhere less
acquainted than in their own breasts.
3. Besides, many come to the work -with forestalling conclu-
sions : they are resolved what to judge before they try : they
use the duty but to strengthen their present conceits of them-
selves, and not to find out the truth of their condition, like a
bribed judge, who examines each party as if he would judge
uprightly, when he is resolved which way the cause shall go be-
forehand. Or, as perverse disputers, who argue only to main-
tain their present opinions rather than to try those opinions
504 THE saint's
whether they are right or wrong. Just so do men examine
their hearts.
4. Also, men are partial in their own cause. They are ready
to think their great sins small, and their small sins to be none ;
their gifts of nature to be the work of grace, and their gifts of
common grace to be the special grace of the saints. They are
straightway ready to say, "All these have I kept from my youth ;
and I am rich and increased," Sec. (Matt. xix. 20; Rev. iii. 17.)
The first common excellency that they meet with in themselves,
doth so dazzle their eyes, that they are presently satisfied that
all is well, and look no further.
5. Besides, most men do search but bv the halves.'^ If it will
not easily and quickly be done, they are discouraged, and leave
off. Few set to it, and follow it, as l^eseems them in a work of
such moment. He must give all diligence that means to make
sure.
6. Also, men try themselves by false marks and rules, not
knowing wherein the truth of Christianity doth consist ; some
looking beyond, and some short of the scripture standard.
7. Moreover, there is so great likeness between the lowest
degree of special grace, and the highest degree of common
grace, that it is no wonder if the unskilful be mistaken. It is a
great question, whether the main difference between special
grace and common be not rather gradual than specifical. If it
should be so, as some think, then the discovery will be much
more difficult. However, to discern by what principle our affec-
tions are moved, and to what ends, and with what sincerity, is
not very easy ; there being so many wrong ends and motives,
which may excite the like acts. Every grace in the saints hath
its counterfeit in the hypocrite.
8. Also, men try themselves by unsafe marks ; either look-
ing for a high degree of grace, instead of a lower degree in
sincerity, as many doubting Christians do : or else inquiring
only into their outward actions, or into their inward affections,
without their ends, motives, and other qualifications ; the sure
evidences are, faith, love, &c., which are essential parts of our
Christianity, and that lie nearest to the heart.
9. Lastly: Men frequently miscarry in this working, by setting
» I doubt not but a Protestant, upon a dogmatical faith or belief of his tenets
and principles, might, among Papists, die upon them, and yet come far short
of salvation. How far would the name of Abraham have carried a Jew, in
letter? — Mr. Fines' Sermons, Numb. xiv. 24. p. gy.
EVERLASTING REST. 505
on it in their own strength. Assome expect the Spirit should do
it without them, so others attempt it themselves, without seek-
ing- or expecting the help of the Spirit. Both these will cer-
tainly miscarry in their assurance. How far the Spirit's assist-
ance is necessary, is showed before, and the several acts which
it must perform for us.
CHAP. VIII.
Further Causes of Doubting among Christians,
Sect. I. Because the comfort of a Christian's life doth so
much consist in his assurance of God's special love, and because
the right way of obtaining it is so much controverted of late,
I will here proceed a little further in opening to you some other
hinderances which keep true Christians from comfortable cer-
tainty, besides the fore-mentioned errors in the work of exami-
nation : though I would still have you remember and be sensi-
ble, that the neglect or slighty performance of that great duty,
and not following on the search with seriousness and constancy,
is the most common hinderance for aught 1 have yet found.
I shall now add these ten more, which I find very ordinary
impediments, and therefore desire Christians more carefully to
consider and beware of them.
1 . One common and great cause of doubting and uncertainty
is, the weakness and small measure of our grace. A little grace
is next to none : small things are hardly discerned. He that
will see a small needle, a hair, a mote, or atom, must have clear
light and good eyes ; but houses, and towns, and mountains, are
easily discerned. Most Christians content themselves with a
small measure of grace, and do not follow on to spiritual strength
and manhood. They believe so weakly, and love God so little,
that they can scarce find whether they believe and love at all ;
like a man in a swoon, whose pulse and breathing is so weak
and obscure that it can hardly be perceived whether they move
at all, and consequently whether the man be alive or dead.
The chief remedy for such, would be to follow on their
duty, till their graces be increased. Ply your work; wait
upon God in the use of his prescribed means, and he will
506 THE saint's
undoubtedly bless you witli increase and strength. Oh ! that
Christians would bestow most of that time in getting grace,
which they bestow in anxious doubtings whether they have
any or none ; and that they would lay out those serious
affections in praying, and seeking to Christ for more grace,
which they bestow in fruitless complaints of their supposed
gracelessness ! I beseech thee, Christian, take this advice as
from God ; and then, when thou believest strongly, and
lovest fervently, thou canst not doubt whether thou do believe
and love or not, any more than a man that is burning hot can
doubt whether he be warm ; or a man that is strong and lusty
can doubt whether he be alive. Strong affections will make
you feel them. Who loveth his friends, or wife, or child, or
any thing strongly, and doth not know it ? A great measure of
grace is seldom doubted of; or, if it be, you may quickly find
when you seek and try.
Sect. J I. Another cause of uncoinfortai>lc living is, that
Christians look more at their present cause of comfort or dis-
comfort, than they do at their future happiness, and the way to
attain it.^ They look after signs which may tell them what they
are, more than they do at precepts which tell them what they
should do. They are very desirous to know whether they are
justified and beloved, or not ; but they do not think what course
they should take to be justified, if they be not; as if their pre-
sent case must needs be their everlasting case, and if they be
now unpardoned, there were no remedy. Why, I beseech thee,
consider this, O doubting soul ! What, if all were as bad as
thou dost fear, and none of thy sins were yet pardoned ; is
not the remedy at hand ? May not all this be done in a mo-
ment ? Dost thou not know that thou mayest have Christ and
pardon whenever thou wilt ? Call not this a loose or strange
doctrine. Christ is willing if thou lie willing. He offereth
himself and all his benefits to thee : he presseth them on thee,
and urgeth thee to accept them. He will condemn thee, and
destroy thee, if thou wilt not accept them. Why dost thou,
^ You sit poring^ ami searching for pillars of hope within you, and bestow
much pains to answer your own fears : but the ready way to make the busi-
ness clear, is by g;oing' to Christ. Stand not so much as upon this question,
Whether you have believed in truth or not ; but put all out of douljt by a pre-
sent faith. The door is open, enter and live ; you may more easily build a
new fabric of comfort, by taking Christ, than repair your old dwelling, and
clear all suits that are brought against your tenure. — Si77707ids' J)esc7led Soul,
p. 551.
I'
EVERLASTING REST. 507
therefore, stand whining and complaining that thou art not par-
doned and adopted, when thou shouldst take them, being of-
fered thee ? Were he not mad that would lie weeping, and
wringing his hands, because he is not pardoned, when his prince
stands by all the while offering him a pardon, and entreating,
and threatening, and persuading, and correcting him, and all
to make him take it? What would you say to such a man;
would you not chide him for his folly, and say, ' If thou wouldst
have pardon and life, why dost thou not take it?' Wliy, then,
do you not say the like to yourselves ? Know ye not that par-
don and adoption are offered you only on the condition of your
believing? And this believing is nothing else but the accept-
ing of Christ for thy Lord and Saviour, as he is offered to thee
with his benefits in the Gospel : and this accepting is princi-
pally, if not only, the act of thy will. So that if thou be wil-
ling to have Christ upon his own terms, that is, to save and
rule thee, then thou art a believer: thy willingness is thy faith;
and if thou have faith, thou hast the surest of all evidences.
Justifying faith is not thy persuasion of God's special love to
thee, or of thy justification, but thy accepting Christ to make
thee just and lovely^ It may be, thou wilt say, ' I cannot be-
lieve ; it is not so easy a matter to believe as you make it.'
Answ. Indeed, to those that are not willing, it is not easy,
God only can make them willing. But to him that is willing to
have Christ for King and Saviour, I will not say, believing is easy:
but it is already performed ; for this is believing. Let me, there-
fore, put this question to every doubting, complaining soul,
What is it that thou art complaining and mourning for ? What
makes thee walk so sadly as thou dost ? Because thou hast not
Christ and his benefits ? W^hy, art thou willing to have them
on the fore-mentioned condition, or art thou not ? If thou be
willing, thou hast him : thy accepting is thy believing : " To as
many as receive him, (that is, accept him,) to them he gives
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name." (John i. 12.) But if thou art not willing, why dost
thou complain ? Methinks the tongue should follow the bent of
the heart or will, and they that would not have Christ should be
speaking against him, at least, against his laws and ways, and
not complaining because they do not enjoy him. Dost thou
groan, and make such moan for want of that which thou wouldst
not have? If, indeed, thou wouldst not have Christ for thy
King and Saviour, then have I nothing to say but to persuade
508 THE saint's
thee to be willing. Is it not madness, then, to He complaining
that we have not Christ, when we may have him if we will ? If
thou have him not, take him, and cease thy complaints. Thou
canst not be so forward and willing as he is : and if he be wil-
ling, and thou be willing, who shall break the match ? I will not
say, as Mr. Saltmarsh most horribly doth," that we ought no more
to question our faith, which is our first and foundation grace, than
we ought to question Christ the foundation of our faith. But this,
1 say, that it were a more wise and direct course to accept
Christ offered, which is believing, than to spend so much time
in doubting whether we have Christ and faith, or no.
Sect. 111. Another cause of many Christians' trouble, is their
mistaking assurance for the joy that sometime accompanieth it;
or, at least, confounding them together.'' Therefore, when
they want the joy of assurance, they are as much cast down as
if they wanted assurance itself. Dr. Sibbs saith well, that as we
cannot have grace but by the work of the Spirit, so rjiust there
be a further act to make us know that we have that grace : and
when we know we have grace, yet must there be a further act
of the Spirit to give us comfort in that knowledge. Some
knowledge or assurance of our regenerate and justified state the
Spirit gives more ordinarily, but that sensible joy is more sel-
dom and extraordinary. We have cause enough to keep off
doubtings and distress of Spirit, upon the bare sight of our
evidences, though we do not feel any further joys. These com-
plaining souls understand not : and therefore, though they can-
not deny their willingness to have Christ, nor many other the
like graces, which are infallible signs of their justification and
adoption ; yet, because they do not feel their spirits replenished
with comforts, they throw away all, as if they had nothing.
As if a child should no longer take himself for a son than he
sees the smiles of his father's face, or heareth the comfortable
expressions of his mouth; and as if the father did cease to be a
father whenever he ceaseth those smiles and speeches.
Sect. IV. 4. And yet, further, is the trouble of these poor souls
increased, in that they know not the ordinary way of God's
conveying these expected comforts.*^ When they hear that they
" Flowing of Christ's blood, &c. — p. 95.
'' Mr. Paul Bayn (I think one of ihe holiest, choicest men that ever England
bred) yet describeth the temper of his spirit thus : I thank God in Christ, sus-
tentatioii I have, but suavities spiritual 1 taste not any. — hi Ins Letters.
'■ In watchfulness and diligence, we sooner meet with comfort, than in idle
complaining ; our care, therefore, should be to get sound evidence of a good
EVERLASTING REST. 509
are the free gifts of the Spirit, they presently conceive them-
selves to be merely passive therein, and that they have nothing
to do but to wait when God will bestow them ; not understand-
ing that though these comforts are spiritual, yet are they ra-
tional ; raised upon the understanding's apprehension of the
excellency of God our happiness, and of our interest in him ;
and by the rolling of this blessed object in our frequent medita-
tions. The Spirit doth advance, and not destroy our reason ', it
doth rectify it, and then use it as its ordinary instrument for the
conveyance of things to our aflFections, and exciting them ac-
cordingly, and not lay it aside and affect us without it ; there-
fore, our joys are raised discursively, and the Spirit first revealeth
our cause of joy, and then helpeth us to rejoice upon those re-
vealed grounds; so that he who rejoiceth groundedly, knoweth
why he rejoiceth ordinarily. Now these mistaken Christians
lie waiting when the Spirit doth cast in these comforts into
their hearts, while they sit still and labour not to excite their
own affections ; nay, while they reason against the comforts
which they wait for. These men must be taught to know, that
the matter of their comfort is in the promises ; and thence they
must fetch it as oft as they expect it ; and that if they set them-
selves daily and diligently to meditate of the truth of those
promises, and of the real excellency contained in them, and of
their own title thereto : in this way they may expect the Spirit's
assistance for the raising of holy comfort in their souls.'^ But if
they lie still, bewailing their want of joy, while the full and free
promises lie by them, and never take them, and consider, and
look into them, and apply them to their hearts by serious medi-
tation, they may complain for want of comfort long enough
before they have it, in God's ordinary way of conveyance. God
worketh upon men as men, as reasonable creatures ; the joy of
the promises, and the joy of the Holy Ghost, are one joy.
And those seducers, who, in their ignorance, misguide poor
souls in this point, do exceedingly wrong them while they per-
suade them so to expect their comforts from the Spirit, as not
to be any authors of them themselves, not to raise up their own
hearts by argumentative means ; telMng them that such comforts
estate, and then to keep those evidences clear. — D. Sibbs' Pre/ace to Soul's
Conflict.
'^ As if a poor man should complain for want of money, when a chest full
stands by Lim, and he may take what he will ; is it not belter to lake it out,
than lie complaining fur want ?
510 THE saint's
are but hammered by themselves, and not the genuine comforts
of the Spirit. How contrary is this to the doctrine of Christ !
Sect. V. 5. Another cause of the trouble of their souls is,
their expecting a greater measure of assurance than God doth
usually bestow upon his people.^ Most think, as long as they
have any doubting they have no assurance ; they consider not
that there are many degrees of infallible certainty below a per-
fect or an undoubting certainty. They must know, that while
they are here they shall know but in part; they shall be imper-
fect in the knowledge of Scripture, which is their rule in trying;
and Imperfect in the knowledge of their own obscure, deceitful
hearts ; some strangeness to God and themselves there will still
remain ; some darkness will overspread the face of their souls ;
some unbelief will be making head against their faith ; and
some of their grievings of the Spirit, will be grievous to them-
selves, and make a breach in their peace and joy. Yet, as long
as their faith is prevailing, and their assurance doth tread down
and subdue their doubtings, though not quite expel them, they
may walk in comfort and maintain their peace ; but as long as
they are resolved to lie down in sorrow till their assurance be
perfect, their days on earth must then be days of sorrow.
Sect. VI. 6. Again, many a soul lies long in trouble, by taking
up his comforts in the beginning upon unsound or uncertain
grounds.^ This may be the case of a gracious soul, who hath
better grounds and doth not see them ; and then when they
grow to more ripeness of understanding, and come to find out
the insufficiency of their former grounds of comfort, they cast
away their comfort wholly, when they should only cast away
their rotten props of it, and search for better to support it with.
As if their comfort and their safety were both of a nature, and
e God will keep the rich store of consistent and abiding comforts till the
great day, that when all the family shall come together, he may pour out the
fulness of his hidden treasures on them ; we are now in the morning of the
day, the feast is to come ; a breakfast must, serve to stay the stomach, till the
King of saints, with all his friends, sit down together. — Simonds' Deserted
Soul, p. 507.
' So some think they are God's people, because they are of such a party,
or such a strict opinion, and when they change their opinion they change
their comfort. Some that could have no comfort while they were among the
orthodox, as soon as they have turned to such or such a sect, have comfort in
abundance ; partly through Satan's delusion, and partly because they think
their change in opinion hath set them right with God ; and therefore they re-
joice. So, many hypocrites, whose religion lieth only in their opinions, have
their comfort also only there.
EVERLASTING KEST. 511
both built on the same foundation, tliey conclude against their
safety, because they have discovered the mistake of their former
comfort. And there are many mucli-applauded books and
teachers of late, who further the delusion of poor souls in this
point, and make them believe that because their former comforts
were too legal, and their persuasions of their good state were ill
grounded, therefore themselves were under the covenant of
works only, and their spiritual condition as unsound as their
comforts. These men observe not, that while they deny us the
use of marks to know our own state, yet they make use of them
themselves, to know the states of others ; yea, and of false and
insufficient marks too : for to argue from the motive of our
peruasion of a good state, to the goodness or badness of that
state, is no sound arguing. It followeth not that a man is un^
regenerate because he judged himself regenerate upon wrong
grounds : for perhaps he might have better grounds, and not
know it ; or else, not know which were good and which
bad. Safety and comfort stand not always on the same bottom.
Bad grounds do prove the assurance bad which was built upon
them, but not always the state bad. These teachers do but toss
poor souls up and down as the waves of the sea, making them
believe that their state is altered as oft as their conceits of it
alter. Alas ! few Christians do come to know either what are
solid grounds of comfort, or whether they have any such
grounds themselves, in the infancy of Christianity. But as an
infant hath life before he knoweth it; and as lie hath misappre-
hensions of himself, and most other things, for certain years to-
gether, and yet it will not follow, that therefore he hath no life
or reason; so it is in the case in hand. Yet this should persuade
.both ministers and believers themselves, to lay right grounds for
their comfort, in the beginning, as far as may be ; for else,
usually when they find the flaw in their comforts and assurance,
they will judge it to be a flaw in their safety and real states.
Just, as 1 observe, most persons do, who turn to errors or here-
sies ; they took up the truth in the begiiming, upon either false
or doubtful grounds, and then, when their grounds are over-
thrown or shaken, they think the doctrine is also overthrown ;
and so they let go both together, as if none had solid arguments
because they had not; or none could manage them better than
they. Even so when they perceive that their arguments for
their good state were unsound, they think that their state must
needs be as unsound.
512 THE saint's
Sect. VII. 7. Moreover, many a soul lieth long under doubt-
ing, through the great imperfection of their very reason, and
exceeding weakness of their natural parts. Grace dotli usually
rather turn our parts to their most necessary use, and employ
our faculties on better objects, than add to the degree of their
natural strength. Many honest hearts have such weak heads,
that they know not how to perform the work of self-trial ; they
are not able, rationally, to argue the case ; they will acknowledge
the premises, and yet deny the apparent conclusion ; or, if they
be brought to acknowledge the conclusion, yet they do but fluc-
tuate and stagger in their concession, and hold it so weakly,
that every assault may take it from them. If God do not some
other way supply to these men the defect of their reason, I see
not how they should have clear and settled peace.
Sect. VIII. S. Another great and too common cause of doubt-
ing and discomfort, is the secret maintaining of some known
sin. \\nien a man liveth in some unwarrantable practice, and
God hath oft touched him for it, and conscience is galled, and
yet he continueth it, it is no wonder if this person want both
assurance and comfort.*^ One would think, that a soul that
lieth under the fears of wrath, and is so tender, as to tremble
and complain, should be as tender of sinning, and scarcely ad-
venture upon the appearance of evil. And yet, sad experience
tells us that it is frequently otherwise : I have known too many
such, that would complain, and yet sin ; and accuse themselves,
and yet sin still ', yea, and despair, and yet proceed in sinning ;
and all arguments and means could not keep them from the
wilful connnitting of that sin again and again, which yet they
themselves did think would prove their destruction. Yea, some
will be carried away with those sins which seem most contrary
to their dejected temper. I have known them that would fill
men's ears with the constant lamentations of their miserable
state, and despairing accusations against themselves, as if they
had been the most humble people in the world ; and yet be as
passionate in the maintaining their innocency, when another
E Read Bishop Hall's Soliloqviy, 61. p. 239, called 'The Sting of Guilti-
ness.' When men dally with sin, and will be playing; with snares and baits,
and allow a secret liberty in the heart to sin, coniiiviiig' at many workin^js of
it, and not setting upon mortification with earnest endeavours ; though they
he convinced, yet they are riot persuaded to rise with all their might against
the Lord's enemies, but do his work negligently, whicli is an accursed thing;
for this God casteth them upon sore straits.— ;5i/«on(/»'' Deserted Soul, Sfc,
j)p. 521, 522.
EVERLASTING REST. 513
accuseth them ', and as intolerably peevish, and tender of their
own reputation in any thing they are blamed for, as if they were
the proudest persons on earth; still denying or extenuating
every disgraceful fault that they are charged with.
This cherishing of sin'^ dotii hinder assurance these four ways:
1. Jt doth abate the degree of our graces, and so make them
more undiscernible. 2. It obscureth that which it destroyeth
not ; for it beareth such sway, that grace is not in action, nor
seen to stir, nor scarce heard to speak, for the noise of this cor-
ruption. 3. It putteth out, or dimmeth the eye of the soul,
that it cannot see its own condition ; and it benumbeth and stu-
pifieth that it cannot feel its own case. 4. But especially, it
provoketh God to withdraw himself, his comforts, and the
assistance of the Spirit, without which, we may search long
enough before we have assurance. God hath made a separation
betwixt sin and peace ; though they may consist together in
remiss degrees, yet so much as sin prevaileth in the soul, so
much will the peace of that soul be defective. As long as thou
dost favour or cherish thy pride and self-esteem, thy aspiring
projects and love of the world, thy secret lust, and pleasing
desires of the flesh, or any the like unchristian practice, thou
expectest assurance and comfort in vain. God will not en-
courage thee, by his precious gifts, in a course of sinning.
This worm will be crawling and gnawing upon thy conscience;
it will be a fretting, devouring canker to thy consolations. I'hou
mayst steal a spark of false comfort from thy worldly prosperity
or delight ; or thou mayst have it from some false opinions, or
from the delusions of Satan ; but from God thou wilt have no
more comfort, than thou makest conscience of sinning. How-
ever an Antinomian may tell thee that thy comforts have no
such dependence upon thy obedience, nor thy discomforts upon
thy disobedience,' and therefore may speak as much peace to
thee in the course of thy sinning as in thy most conscionable
•^ Some have disputed whether it be possible for a godly man lo be secure
in sinning, and more willing to ofl'end, because of God's gracious covenant,
which will infallibly rescue him out of that sin ! But what sin is not possible,
except the sin against the Holy Ghost, even to a regenerate man ? — J}Jr. Bur-
gess of Justijic. lect. 28. p. 256.
' Some would have men, after the committing of gross sins, to be ])resently
comfortable, and believe without humbling themselves at all. Indeed, when
we are once in Christ, we ought not to question our state in him, &c. But yet
a guilty conscience will be clamorous, and full of objections, and God will not
speak peace till it be humbled. God will let his children know, what it is to
be too bold with siu, &c, — Dr. Sibbs' Soul's Conjiict^ Preface.
VOL. XXII. L L
514 THE saint's
walking, yet thou slialt find by experience that God will not
do so. If any man set up his idols in his heart, and put the
stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a
minister, or to God, to inquire for assurance and comfort, God
will answer that man by himself, and instead of comforting him,
he will set his face against him : " He will answer him accord-
ing to the multitude of his idols." Read Ezek. xv. 3 — 9.
Sect. IX. Another very great and common cause of want of
assurance and comfort is, when men grow lazy in the spiritual
part of duty, and keep not up their graces in constant and lively
action. As Dr. Sibbs saith truly, " It is the lazy Christian
commonly that lacketh assurance." The way of painful duty is
the way of fullest comfort. Christ carrieth all our comforts in
his hand : if we are out of that way where Christ is to be met,
we are out of the way where comfort is to be had.
These three ways doth this laziness debar us of our comforts.
1. By stopping the fountain, and causing Christ to withhold
this blessing from us.'' Parents use not to smile upon children
in their neglects and disobedience. So far as the Spirit is
grieved, he will suspend his consolations. Assurance and peace
are Christ's great encouragements to faithfulness and obedience:
and, therefore, though our obedience do not merit them, yet
they usually rise and fall with our diligence in duty. They that
have entertained the Antinomian dotages to cover their idleness
and viciousness, may talk their nonsense against this at plea-
sure, but the laborious Christian knows it by ex])erience. As
praver must have faith and fervency to procure its success,
besides the blood-shed and intercession of Christ, (James v. 15,
16,) so must all other parts of our obedience. He that will say to
us in that triumphing day, " Well done, good and faithful ser-
vant, &:c., enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," will also
encourage his servants in their most affectionate and spiritual
duties, and say, " Well done, good and faithful servant, take
this foretaste of thy everlasting joy." If thou grow seldom, and
customary, and cold in duty, especially in thy secret prayers to
God, and yet findest no abatement in thy joys, I cannot but
fear that thy joys are either carnal or diabolical.
2. Grace is never apparent and sensible to the soul, but while
it is in action ; therefore, want of action must needs cause want
of assurance. Habits are not felt immediately, but by the
freeness and facility of their acts : of the very being of the
^ See Dr. Sibbs' * Soul's Conflict/ pp. 480, 481.
EVERLASTING REST. 515
soul itself, nothing is felt or perceived but only its acts. The
fire that lieth still in the flint is neither seen nor felt, but when
you smite it, and force it into act, it is easily discerned. The
greatest action doth force the greatest observation, whereas the
dead and inactive are not remembered or taken notice of. Those
that have long Iain still in their graves, are out of men's thoughts
as well as their sight, but those that walk the streets, and bear
rule among them, are noted by all ; it is so with our graces.
That you have a iiabit of love or faith, you can no otherwise
know but as a consequence by reasoning ; but that you have
acts, you may know by feeling. If you see a man lie still in
the way, what will you do to know whether he be drunk, or in
a swoon, or dead ? Will you not stir him, or speak to him, to
see whether he can go ; or feel his pulse, or observe his breath,
knowing that where there is life, there is some kind of motion ?
I earnestly beseech thee, Christian, observe and practise this
excellent rule : thou now knowest not whether thou have re-
pentance, or faith, or love, or joy; why, be more in the acting
of these, and thou wilt easily know it. Draw forth an object
for godly sorrow, or faith, or love, or joy, and lay thy heart
flat unto it, and take pains to provoke it into suitable action,
and then see whether thou have these graces or not. As Dr.
Sibbs observeth,' " There is sometimes grief for sin in us when we
think there is none." It wants but stirring up by some quick-
ening word : the like he saith of love, and it may be said of
every other grace. You may go seeking for the hare or part-
ridge many hours, and never find them while they lie close
and stir not; but when once the hare betakes himself to his
legs, and the bird to her wings, then you see them presently.
So long as a Christian hath his graces in lively action, so long,
for the most part, he is assured of them. How can you doul)t
whether you love God in the act of loving, or whether you
believe in the very act of believing ! If, therefore, you would
be assured whether this sacred fire be kindled in your hearts,
blow it up ; get it into a flame, and then you will know : believe
till you feel that you do believe, and love till you feel that you love.
3. The acting of the soul upon such excellent objects, doth
naturally bring consolation with it.'" The very act of loving
1 See Dr. Sibbs' ' Soul's Conflict,' pp. 480, 481.
™ Men experimentally feel that comfort in doin;^ that which belone;s unto
them, which before they longed for, and went without. — Dr. Sibbs' Soul's
Conjiict,
ll2
516 THE saint's
God in Christ, doth bring inexpressible sweetness with it into
the soul. The soul that is best furnished with grace, when it
is not in action, is like a lute well stringed and tuned, which
while it lieth still doth make no more music than a common
piece of wood ; but when it is taken up and handled by a skilful
lutist, the melody is most delightful. "Some degree of comfort,"
saith that comfortable doctor, " follows every good action, as
heat accompanies fire, and as beams and influence issue from the
sun ; " " which is so true,° that very heathens upon the discharge
of a good conscience have found comfort and peace answerable :
this \s p7'cRmium ante prcemiimi, a reward before the reward.?
As a man, therefore, that is cold, should not stand still and say,
I am so cold that I have no mind to labour,' but labour till his
coldness be gone, and heat excited ; so he that wants assurance
of the truth of his grace, and the comfort of assurance, must not
stand still and say, ' I am so doubtful and uncomfortable that I
have no mind to duty,' but ply his duty, and exercise his graces,
till he find his doubts and discomforts to vanish.
Sect. X. Lastly : Another ordinary nurse of doubtings and dis-
comfort, is the prevailing of melancholy in the body, whereby the
brain is continually troubled and darkened, the fancy hindered,
and reason perverted by the distempering of its instruments, and
the soul is still clad in mourning weeds.i It is no more wonder
for a conscientious man that is overcome with melancholy to
doubt, and fear, and despair, than it is for a sick man to groan,
or a child to cry when he is beaten. This is the case with most
that I have known lie long in doubting and distress of spirit.
With some, their melancholy being raised by crosses or distem-
per of body, or some other occasion, doth afterwards bring in
trouble of conscience as its companion. VA'^ith others,"" trouble
" Preface to ' Soul's Conflict.'
" Pro voluptatibus, et pro illis qiiEB parva et fragiliasunt, et in ipsis flag;itiis
noxia, ingeris gaudium subit, inconcussum, et aequabile; turn pax tt Con-
cordia animi, el mag'uitudo cum nniisuctudiue. Omuis einin ex iiubeciliitate
feritas est. — Senec. de Vit. Bent. c. 'i.
P Pcrbajis }ou think tiiat the only comfort you can have, is by receivinsj
some benefit, some mercy from God ; you aie much mistaken. The comfort
of letting your hearts out to God, is a greater comfort than any comfort you
have in receiving any thing from God. — Mr. Uumnighs on Hos. ii. 19. p. fiOC.
"i Non est mirum si timeiit melancholici, quia causam limoris continuo
secum portant ; anima enim est iuvolufa cum caligine teuebrosa, et quia ani-
ma se^iuilur corporis pas;iones seu complexiones, ideo timeiit, &c. — Galen, in
fine quarto' partic. de flJorOn.
r Timor et pusillauimitas si mnltum tempus habuerititj melancholicum
faciunt.— //■TV'oc;-.
EVERLASTING REST. 51/
of mind is their first trouble, which long hanging on them, at
last doth bring the body also into a melancholy habit : and then
trouble increaseth melancholy, and melancholy again increaseth .
trouble, and so round. This is a most sad and pitiful state.
For as the disease of the body is chronical and obstinate, and
physic doth seldom succeed, where it hath far prevailed ; so
without the physician, the labours of the divine are usually in
vain. You may silence them, but you cannot comfort them;
you may make them confess that they have some grace, and
yet cannot bring them to the comfortable conclusions. Or if
you convince them of some work of the Spirit upon their souls,
and a little at present abate their sadness, yet as soon as they
are gone home, and look again upon their souls through this
perturbing humour, all your convincing arguments are, forgotten,
and they are as far from comfort as ever they were. All the
good thoughts of their state which you can possibly help them
to, are seldom above a day or two old. As a man that looks
through a black, or blue, or red glass, doth think things which
he sees, to be of the same colour ; and if you would persuade
him to the contrary he will not believe you, but wonder that
you should offer to persuade him against his eye-sight ; so a
melancholy man sees all things in a sad and fearful plight,
because his reason looketh on them through his black humour,
with which his brain ps darkened and distempered. And as a
man's eyes which can see all things about him, yet cannot see
any imperfection in themselves ; so it is almost impossible to
make many of these men to know that they are melancholy.
But as those who are troubled with the ephialtes do cry out of
some body that lieth heavy upon them, when the disease is in
their own blood and humours ; so these poor men cry out of
sin and the wrath of God, when the main cause is in this bodily
distemper. The chief part of the cure of these men must be
upon the body, because there is the chief part of the disease.
And thus I have showed you the chief causes, why so many
Christians do enjoy so little assurance and consolation.
CHAP. IX.
Containing an Exiwrtailon, and motives to Examine.
Sect. I. Having thus discovered the impediments to exami-
nation, 1 would presently proceed to direct you to the perfor-
518 THE saint'^
mance of it, but that I am yet jealous whether I have fully pre-
vailed with your wills, and whether you are indeed resolved to
set upon the duty. 1 have found by long experience, as well as
from Scripture, that the main difficulty lieth in bringing men to
be willing, and to set themselves in good earnest to the searching
of their hearts.
Many love to hear and read of marks and signs by which they
may try ; but few will be brought to spend an hour in using
them when they have them. They think they should have their
doubts resolved as soon as they do but hear a minister name
some of their signs ; and if that would do the work, then assur-
ance would be more common; but when they are informed
that the work lies most upon their own hands, and what pains
it must cost them to search their hearts faithfully, then they
give up and will go no further.
This is not only the case of the ungodly, who commonly perish
through this neglect ; but multitudes of the godly themselves
are like idle beggars, who will rather make a practice of begging
and bewailing their misery, than they will set themselves to
labour painfully for their relief; so do many spend days and
years in sad complaints and doubtings, that will not be brought
to spend a few hours in examination. I entreat all these persons,
what condition soever they are of, to consider the weight of
these following arguments, which I have propounded, in hope to
persuade them to this duty.
Sect. II. I. To be deceived about your title to heaven is ex-
ceeding easy ; and not to be deceived, is exceeding difficult.
Tliis 1 make manifest to you thus :
1. Multitudes that never suspected any falsehood in their
hearts, have yet proved unsound in the day of trial ; and they
that never feared any danger toward them, have perished for
ever ; yea many that have been confident of their integrity and
safety. I shall adjoin the proofs of what I say in the margin,
for brevity sake.* How many poor souls are now in hell, that
little thought of coming thither ! and that were wont to de-
spise their counsel that bid them try and make sure ! and to
say, they made no doubt of their salvation !
2. Yea, and many that have excelled in worldly wisdom, yet
• Matt. vii. 22, 26, 27, &c. ; Prov. xiv. 12 ; Luke xiii. 25, 26, xviii. 11, 21 ;
Rev. iii. 17. So Ananias and Sapphira, the rich man in Luke xvi. &c. Ahi-
thophel, Gehazi, Ananias and Sapphira, Pharisees, Jesuits, &c. Rom. i, 22.
Judas anil the Jews that heard Christ. Matt. vii. 22 j Rom. ii. 21 } 1 Cor.
ix. 27.
EVERLASTING REST. 519
have been befooled in this great business ; and they that had
wit to deceive their neighbours, were yet deceived by Satan and
their own hearts. Yea, men of strongest head-pieces, and pro-
foundest learning, who knew much of the secrets of nature, of
the courses of the planets, and motions of the spheres, have yet
been utterly mistaken in their own hearts.
3. Yea, those that have lived in the clear light of the Gospel,
and heard the difference between the righteous and the wicked
plainly laid open, and many a mark for trial laid down, and
many a sermon pressing them to examine, and directing them
how to do it, yet even these have been, and daily are, deceived.
4. Yea, those that have had a whole lifetime to make sure
in, and have been told over and over, that they had their lives
for no other end but to provide for everlasting rest, and make
sure of it, have yet been deceived, and have wasted that life-
time in forgetful security.
5. Yea, those that have preached against the negligence of
others, and pressed them to try themselves, and showed them
the danger of being mistaken, have yet proved mistaken them-
selves.*
And is it not then time for us to rifle our hearts, and search
them to the very quick ?
Sect. III. 2. To be mistaken in this great point is also very
common, as well as easy; so common that it is the case of
most in the world. (Gal. vi. 3, 4, 7 ; Matt. vii. 21.) In the old
world we find none that were in any fear of judgment; and yet
how few persons were not deceived ! So in Sodom; so among
the Jews ; and I would it were not so in England ! Almost all
men amongst us do verily look to be saved. You shall scarce
speak with one of a thousand that doth not; and yet Christ
telleth us, " that few find the strait gate and narrow way that
leads to life." Do but reckon up the several sorts of men that
are mistaken in thinking they have title to heaven, as the
Scripture doth enumerate them, and what a multitude will they
prove I 1. All that are ignorant of the fundamentals of religion,
2. All heretics who maintain false doctrines against the founda-
tion, or against the necessary means of life. 3. All that live in
the practice of gross sin. 4. Or that love and regard the smallest
* Omnium pene aliorum peccatorum conscii sunt sibi ipsis, qui iisiJem sunt
obnoxii : solam hypocrisin raro, et non nisi exquisilissimo instituto examine
deprehendunt qui eadem sunt inebiiati. — Rupertus, Meldenius, Paro'nes,
Votiv, pro pace Ecd, fol. B. 2, 3. Loquitur ad verbi niinistros.
520 THE saint's
sin. 5. All that harden themselves against frequent reproof*
(Prov. xxix. 1.) 6. All that mind the flesh more than the spirit,
(Rom. viii. 6, 7, 13,) or the world more than God. (Phil. iii. 18,
19; 1 John ii. 15, J6.) 7. All that do as the most do. (Luke
xiii. 24 — 26; 1 John v. 19.) 8. All that are deriders at the
godly, and discourage others from the way of God by their re-
proaches. (Prov. i. 22, &c., iii. 34, and xix. 29.) 9. All that
are unholy; and that never were regenerate and born anew.
10. All that have not their very hearts set upon heaven. (Matt.
vi. 21.) 11. All that have a form of godliness without the
power. 12. And all that love either parents, or wife, or chil-
dren, or house, or lands, or life, more than Christ. (Luke xiv. 26.)
Every one of these that thinketh he hath any title to heaven, is
as surely mistaken as the Scripture is true."
And if such multitudes are deceived, should not we search the
more diligently, lest we should be deceived as well as they ?
Sect IV. 3. Nothing more dangerous than to be thus mis-
taken. The consequents of it are lamentable and desperate. If
the godly be mistaken in judging their state to be worse than it
is, the consequents of this mistake will be very sad ; but if the
ungodly be mistaken, the danger and mischief that followeth is
unspeakable.
1. It will exceedingly confirm them in the service of Satan,
and fasten them in their present way of death. They will never
seek to be recovered, as long as they think their present state will
serve. As the prophet saith, "A deceived heart will turn them
aside, that they cannot deliver their own soul, nor say, Is there
not a lie in my right hand ?" (Isa. xliv. 20.)
2. It will take away the efficacy of means that should do them
good; nay, it will turn the best means to their hardening and
ruin. If a man mistake his bodily disease, and think it to be
clean contrary to what it is, will he not apply contrary remedies
which will increase it ? So when a Christian should apply the
promises, his mistake will cause him to apply the threatenings ;
and when an ungodly man should apply the threatenings and
terrors of the Lord, this mistake of his state will make him
apply the promises ; and there is no greater strengthener of sin,
and destroyer of the soul, than Scripture misapplied. Worldly
" Ephes. iv. 18 ; Hos. iv. G ; Isaiah xxvii. II ; 2 Cor. iv. 3 ; Rev. ii. 6, 20;
Titus ii. 10 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9, and xv. 50 ; Ephes. v. 4—6 ; Psalm Ixvi. 18 ;
James iv. 4, 5 ; Heb. xii. 14 ; John iii. 3 ; 2 Tim. iii. 5 ; James i. 22 } Mark
xiii. 5, (i ; Matt, x, 37 j John xii. 25.
EVERLASTING REST. 521
delights, and the deceiving words of sinners, may harden men
most desperately in an unsafe way ; but Scripture misapplied
will do it far more effectually and dangerously.
3. It will keep a man from com|)assionating his own soul ;
though he be a sad object of pity to every understanding man
that beholdeth him, yet will he not be able to pity himself,
because he knoweth not his own misery. As 1 have seen a phy-
sician lament the case of his patient, when he hath discerned his
certain death in some small beginning, when the patient himself
feared nothing, because he knew not the mortal nature of his
disease ; so doth many a minister, or godly Christian, lament
the case of a carnal wretch, who is so far from lamenting it
himself, that he scorns their pity, and biddeth them be sorry for
themselves, they shall not answer for him ; and taketh them for
his enemies, because they tell him the truth of his danger. (Acts
vii. 54, xxii. 21.) As a man that seeth a beast going to the
slaughter, doth pity the poor creature, when it cannot pity it-
self, because it little thinketh that death is so near : so is it
with these poor sinners j and all long of this mistaking their
spiritual state. Is it not a pitiful sight to see a man laughing
himself, when his understanding friends stand weeping for his
misery ? Paul mentioneth the voluptuous men of his time, and
the worldlings, with weeping; (Phil. iii. \7, 18;) but we never
read of their weeping for themselves. Christ standeth weeping
over Jerusalem, when they knew not of any evil that was to-
wards them ; (Luke xix. ;) nor give him thanks for his pity or
his tears.
4. It is a case of greatest moment, and therefore mistaking
must needs be most dangerous. If it were in making an ill
bargain, yet we might repair our loss in the next. Scipio was
wont to say, " It was an unseemly, absurd thing in military
cases to say, M had not thought;' or, ' I was not aware.' " **
The matter being of so great concernment, every danger should
be thought of, that you may be aware. Sure, in this weighty
case, where our everlasting salvation or damnation is in
question, and to be determined, every mistake is insufferable and
inexcusable which might have been prevented by any cost or
pains! Therefore men will choose the most able lawyers and phy-
sicians, because the mistakes of one may lose them their estate,
and the mistakes of the other may lose them their lives : but
mistakes about their souls are of a higher nature.
* 'J'urpe est in re militari dicere, Non putarem.
522 THE saint's
5. If you should continue your mistakes till death, there will
be no time after to correct them for your recovery. Mistake
now, and you are ruined for ever. Men think, to see a man die
quietly or comfortably, is to see him die happily; but if his
comfort proceed from this mistake of his condition, it is the
most unhappy case and pitiful sight in the world. To live mis-
taken, in such a case, is lamentable ; but, to die mistaken, is
desperate.
Seeing then that the case is so dangerous, what wise man
would not follow the search of his heart, both night and day, till
he were assured of his safety ?
Sect. V. 4. Consider how small the labour of this duty is, in
comparison of the sorrow which foUoweth its neglect. A few
hours' or days' work, if it be closely followed, and with good
direction, may do much to resolve the question. There is no
such trouble in searching our hearts, nor any such danger as
may deter men from it. What harm can it do to you to try or
to know ? It will take no very long time, or if it did, yet you
have your time given you for that end. One hour so spent, will
comfort you more than many otherwise. If you cannot have
while to make sure of heaven, how can you have while to eat,
or drink, or live? You can endure to follow your callings at
plough, and cart, and shop ; to toil and sweat from day to day,
and year to year, in the hardest labours : and cannot you en-
dure to spend a little time in inquiring what shall be your ever-
lasting state ? What a deal of sorrow and after-complaining
might this small labour prevent 1 How many miles' travel, be-
sides the vexation, may a traveller save by inquiring of the way !
Why, what a sad case are you in, while you live in such uncer-
tainty ! You can have no true comfort in any thing you see, or
hear, or possess ; you are not sure to be an hour out of hell,
and if you come thither, you will do nothing but bewail the folly
of this neglect : no excuse will then pervert justice, or quiet
your conscience. If you say, ' I little thought of this day and
place ; ' God and conscience may reply, ' Why didst thou not
think of it ? Wast thou not warned ? Hadst thou not time ?
Therefore must thou perish, because thou wouldst not think of
it.' As the commander answered his soldier, in Plutarch, when
he said, " Non volens erravi," " I erred against my will ;" he
beat him, and replied, "Non volens ^icenas dato," "Thou shalt
be punished also against thy will."
Sect. VI. 5, Thou canst scarce do Satan a greater pleasure,
EVERLASTING REST.
523
nor thyself a greater injury. It is the main scope of the devil,
in all his temptations, to deceive thee, and keep thee ignorant of
thy danger till thou feel the everlasting flames upon thy soul ;
and wilt thou join with him to deceive thyself? If it were
not by this deceiving thee, he could not destroy thee : and if
thou do this for him, thou dost the greatest part of his work,
and art the chief destroyer and devil to thyself. And hath he
deserved so well of thee, and thyself so ill, that thou shouldest
assist him in such a design as thy damnation ? To deceive
another is a grievous sin, and such as perhaps thou wouldst
scorn to be charged with : and yet thou thinkest it nothing to
deceive thyself. Saith Solomon, " As a madman who casteth
firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his
neighbour, and saith. Am not I in sport?" (Prov. xxvi. 18, 19.)
Surely, then, he that maketh but a sport, or a matter of nothing,
to deceive his own soul, may well be thought a madman, casting
firebrands and death at himself. " If any man think himself
to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself," saith
Paul. (Gal. vi. 3.) Certainly, among all the multitudes that
perish, this is the commonest cause of their undoing, that they
would not be brought to try their state in time. And is it not
pity to think that so many thousands are merrily travelling to
destruction, and do not know it, and all for want of this dili-
gent search ?
Sect. VII. 6. The time is near when God will search you,
and that will be another kind of trial than this. If it be but in
this life, by the fiery trial of affliction, it will make you wish
again and again that you had spared God that work, and your-
selves the sorrow ; and that you had tried and judged yourselves,
that so you might have escaped the trial and judgment of GodJ
(1 Cor. xi. 30, 31.) He will examine you, then, as officers do
offenders, with a word and a blow : and as they would have done
by Paul, examine him by scourging. (Acts xxii. 24.) It was a
terrible voice to Adam, when God called to him, " Adam,
where art thou ? Hast thou eaten," &:c. ? And to Cain, when
God asked him, " Where is thy brother ?" To have demanded
this of himself had been easier. INlen think God mindeth their
y Quid profuerit reo^ si sociis et circumstaiitibus suam innocentiam proba-
verit, cum eum judex, criminis convictum teneat? Quamulirem nos semper
ad Christi tribunal sistamus ; ea nos probemus, et operam demus ut nos ipsos
pertentenius penitus, ne ut aliis, sic nobis imponamus. — Cart, Harmon, vol. ii.
p. 231.
524 THE SAINT*S
State and ways no more than they do then- own. " They con-
sider not in their hearts" (sailh the Lord) " that T remember all
their wickedness ; now their own doings have beset them about,
they are before my face." (Hos. vii. 2.) Oh, what a happy
preparation woukl it be to that last and great trial, if men had
but thoroughly tried themselves, and made sure work before-
hand ! When a man doth but soberly and believingly think of
that day, especially when he shall see the judgment-seat, what
a joyful preparation is it, if he can truly say, * I know the sentence
shall pass on my side : I have examined myself by the same law
of Christ which now must judge me, and I have found that I
am quit from all my guilt, and am a justified person in law
already.' Oh, sirs, if you knew but the comfort of such a pre-
paration, you would fall close to the work of self-examining
yet before you slept!
7. Lastly, I desire thee to consider what would be the sweet
effects of this examining. If thou be upright and godly, it will
lead thee straight towards assurance of God's love. If thou be
not, though it will trouble thee at the present, yet doth it tend
to thy happiness, and will lead thee to assurance of that
happiness.
1. The very knowledge itself is naturally desirable. Every
man would fain know things to come, especially concerning
themselves. If there were a book written which would tell
every man his destiny, what shall befall him to his last breath,
how desirous would people be to procure it and read it ? How
did Nebuchadnezzar's thoughts run on things that after should
come to pass, and he worshipped Daniel, and offered oblations
to him, because he foretold them ! When Christ had told his
disciples " that one of them should betray him," how desirous
are they to know who it was, though it were a matter of sorrow !
How busily do they inquire when Christ's predictions should
come to pass, and what were the signs of his coming ! With
what gladness doth the Samaritan woman run into the city,
saying, ' Come and see a man that hath told me all that ever I
did,' though he told her of her faults ! When Ahaziah lay sick,
how desirous was he to know whether he should live or die !
Daniel is called a man greatly beloved, therefore God would
reveal to him things that long after must come to pass.^ And is
it so desirable a thing to hear prophecies, and to know what
^ Dan. ii. 29, 4fi, 47 ; Matt. xxvi. ; Ibid, xxiv ; John iv. 29 ; 2 Kings i. 2 ;
Dan. ix. 23, and X. 11, 19.
EVERLASTING REST. 525
shall befall us hereafter ? And is it not then most especially
to know what shall befall our souls ; and what place and state
we must be in for ever ? Why, this you may know, if you will
but faithfully try.
2. But the comforts of that certainty of salvation, which this
trial doth conduce toward, are yet for greater. If ever God be-
stow this blessing of assurance on thee, thou wilt account thyself
the happiest man on earth, and feel that it is not a notional or
empty mercy. For,
1 . What sweet thoughts wilt thou have of God ! All that
greatness, and jealousy, and justice, which is the terror of others,
will be matter of encouragement and joy to thee. As the son
of a king doth rejoice in his father's magnificence and power,
which is the awe of subjects, and terror of rebels; when the
thunder doth roar, and the lightning flash, and the earth quake,
and the signs of dreadful omnipotency do appear, thou canst
say, ' All this is the effect of my Father's power.*
2. How sweet may every thought of Christ, and the blood
which he hath shed, and the benefits he hath procured, be unto
thee who hast got this assurance ! Then will the name of a
Saviour be a sweet name ; and the thoughts of his gentle and
loving nature, and of the gracious design which he hath carried
on for our salvation, will be pleasing thoughts. Then will it do
thee good to view his wounds by the eye of faith, and to put
thy fingers, as it were, into his side ; when thou canst call him,
as Thomas did, " My Lord and my God."
3. Every passage, also, in the word will then afford thee com-
fort. How sweet will be the promises when thou art sure they
are thy own ! The Gospel will then be glad tidings indeed.
The very threatenings will occasion thy comfort, to remember
that thou hast escaped them. Then wilt thou cry, with David,
" O how I love thy law ! it is sweeter than honey, more precious
than gold," &c. ; and with Luther, that thou wilt "not take
all the world for one leaf of the Bible." When thou wast in
thy sin, this book was to thee as Micaiah to Ahab, " It never
spoke good of thee, but evil ;" and therefore, no wonder if then
thou didst hate it ; but now it is the charter of thy everlasting
rest, how welcome will it be to thee; and, how beautiful the
very feet of those that bring it ! (Rom. x. 15.)
4. W^hat boldness and comfort then mayst thou have in prayer,
when thou canst say " Our Father " in full assurance ; and
knowest that thou art welcome and accepted through Christ j
526 THE saint's
and that thou hast a promise to be heard whenever thou askest;
and knowest that God is readier to grant thy requests than thou
to move them ! With what comfortable boldness mayest thou
then approach the throne of grace ; (Heb. x. 22, 29 ;) especi-
ally when the case is weighty, and thy necessity great ! This
assurance in prayer will be a sweet privilege indeed. A de-
spairing soul, that feeleth the weight of sin and wrath, especially
at a dying hour, would give a large price to be a partaker of this
privilege, and to be sure that he might have pardon and life for
the asking for.
5. This assurance will give the sacrament a sweet relish to
thy soul, and make it a refreshing feast indeed.
6. It will multiply the sweetness of every mercy thou receiv-
est. When thou art sure that all proceeds from love, and are
the beginnings and earnest of everlasting mercies. Thou wilt
then have more comfort in a morsel of bread than the world
hath in the greatest abundance of all things.
7. How comfortably then mayest thou undergo all afflictions,
when thou knowest that he meaneth thee no hurt in them, but
hath promised, "that all shall work together for thy good;" when
thou art sure that he chasteneth thee because he loveth thee,
and scourgeth thee, because thou art a son whom he will re-
ceive, and that out of very faithfulness he doth afflict thee !
(Rom. viii. 28; Heb. xii. 6, 7; Psal. Ixxv.) W^hat a support
must this be to thy heart ; and how will it abate the bitterness
of the cup ! Even the Son of God himself doth seem to take
comfort from this assurance, when he was, in a manner, for-
saken for our sins, and therefore he cries out, " My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And even the prodigal,
under his guilt and misery, doth take some comfort in remem-
bering that he hath a father.
8. This assurance will sweeten to thee the forethoughts of
death, and make thy heart glad to forethink of that entrance
into joy; (Num. xxili. 10;) when a man that is uncertain
whither he is going must needs die in horror.*
9. It will sweeten also thy forethoughts of judgment, when
thou art sure that it will be the day of thy absolution and coro-
nation.
10. Yea, the very thoughts of the flames of hell, will admi-
" It is a terrible thin^ for the stoutest heart alive to look such a danger in
the face, as, for aught he knows, may at one blow kill him, and damn him ; or
in a moment send him both to his grave aud to hell.— ^/r. fames' Sermon on
Numb, xiv. 24. p. 9.
EVERLASTING REST. 527
Ulster matter of consolation to thee, when thou canst certainly
conclude thou art saved from them.
11. The forethoughts of heaven also will be more incompar-
ably delightful, when thou art certain that it is the place of
thine everlasting abode.
12. It will make thee exceedingly lively and strong in the
work of the Lord. With what courage wilt thou run when
thou knowest thou shalt have the prize ; and fight, when thou
knovvest thou shalt conquer I It will make thee always abound
in the work of the Lord, when thou knowest that thy labour is
not in vain. (1 Cor. xv. 58.)
13. It will also make thee more profitable to others. Thou
wilt be a most cheerful encourager of them from thine own ex-
perience ; thou wilt be able to refresh the weary, and to
strengthen the weak, and to speak a word of comfort in season
to a troubled soul ; whereas now, without assurance, instead of
comforting others, thou wilt rather have need of support thy-
self: so that others are losers by thy uncertainty as well as
thyself.
14. Assurance will put life into all thy affections or graces.
1. It will help thee to repent, and melt over thy sins, when thou
knowest how dearlv God did love thee, whom thou hast ab-
used. 2. It will inflame thy soul with love to God, when thou
once knowest thy near relation to him, and how tenderly
he is affected toward thee. (Psal. cxvi. 1, and xviii. 1, 2.)
3, It will quicken thy desires after him, when thou art once
sure of thy interest in him. (1 Thess. iv. 1/, IS; Psal. cxviii.
28 ; Isai. xxv. 1.) 4. It is the most excellent fountain of con-
tinual rejoicing. (Hab. iii. 17 — 19.) 5. It will confirm thy trust
and confidence in God in the greatest straits. (Psal. Ixxxix. 26,
and xlvi. 1 — 3, &;c.) 6. It will fill thy heart with thankfulness.
7. It will raise thee in the high, delightful work of praise.
8. It will be the most excellent help to a heavenly mind. 9. It
will exceedingly tend to thy perseverance in all this. He that
is sure of the crown will hold on to the end, when others will
be tired, and give up through discouragement.
All these sweet effects of assurance would make thy life a
kind of heaven on earth. Seeing, then, that the examining of
our state is the way to this assurance, and the means without
which God doth not usually bestow it, doth it not concern us
to fall close to this searching work ?
Sect. IX. I would not have bestowed this time and labour in
528 THE saint's
urging you with all these foregoing considerations, but that I
know how backward man is to this duty. And though I am
certain that these motives have weight of reason in them, yet
experience of men's unreasonableness in things of this nature,
doth make me jealous lest you should lay by the book, when
you have read all this, as if you had done, and never set your-
selves to the practice of the duty. Reader, thou seest the case
in hand is of the greatest moment. It is to know whether thou
shalt everlastingly live in heaven or hell. If thou hast lived
hitherto in dark uncertainty, it is a pitiful case; but if thou
W'ilfully continue so, thy madness is inexpressible : and is it not
wilfully, when a thorough trial might help thee to be resolved,
and thou wilt not be persuaded to be at so much pains ? What
sayest thou now ? Art thou fully resolved to fall upon the work ?
Shall all this labour that I have bestowed in persuading thee, be
lost, or no ? If thou vvilt not obey, I would thou hadst never
read these lines, that they might not have aggravated thy guilt,
and silenced thee in judgment. I here put this special request
to thee in behalf of thy soul ; nay, I lay this charge upon thee
in the name of the Lord; that thou defer no longer, but
take the next opportunity that thou canst have, and take thy
heart to task in good earnest, and think with thyself, ' Is it so
easy, so common, and so dangerous, to be mistaken ? Are there
so many wrong ways ? Is the heart so guileful ? Why then do
I not search into every corner, and ply this work till I know my
state ? Must I so shortly undergo the trial at the bar of Christ?
And do I not presently fall on trying myself? Why, what a case
were 1 in, if I should then miscarry ! May I know by a little dili-
gent inquiry now, and do I stick at the labour ?' And here set
thyself to the duty. Object. But it may be, thou vvilt say, I know
not how to do it. Answ. That is the next work that I come to, to
give directions herein; but, alas ! it will be in vain if thou be not
resolved to practise them. Wilt thou, therefore, before thou
goest any further, here promise before the Lord, to set thyself,
to thy power, upon the speedy performing of the duty, accord-
ing to these directions, which I shall lay down from the word ?
I demand notbing unreasonable or impossible of thee : it is but
that thou wouldest presently bestow a few hours' time, to know
what shall become of thee for ever. If a neighbour, or common
friend, desires but an hour's time of thee, in conference, or in
labour, or any thing that thou mayst help them in, thou
wouldst not, sure, deny it. How much less shouldst thou deny
EVERLASTING REST. 529
this to thyself in so great a case ? I pray thee take this request
from me, as if upon my knees, in the name of Christ, I did pre-
fer it to thee ; and I will betake me upon my knees to Christ
again, to beg that he will persuade thy heart to the duty : and, in
hope that thou wilt practise them, 1 will here give thee some
directions.^
CHAP. X.
Containing Directions for Examination, and some
Marks for Tiial.
Sect. T. I will not stand here to lay down the directions ne*
cessary for preparation to this duty, because you may gather
them from what is said concerning the hinderances : for the
contraries of those hinderances will be most necessary helps.
Only before you set upon it, I advise you moreover to the obser-
vation of these rules. 1 . Come not with too peremptory con-
clusions of yourselves beforehand. Do not judge too confidently
before you try. Many godly, dejected souls come with this
•> I cannot but English (though 1 mar it) one passage in Seneca, to show
some Christians, to their shame, what heathens did : "The soul is daily to be
called to an account. It was the custom of Sextius, that when the day was
past, and he betook himself to his rest at night, he would asii his soul, ' What
evil of thine hast thou healed to-day ? What vice hast thou resisted ? In what
part art thou better ?' Auger will cease and become more moderate, when
it knows it must every day come before the judge. What practice is more
excellent than thus to sift or examine over the whole day ? How quiet, and
sound, and sweet a sleep must needs follow this reckoning with ourselves;
when the soul is either commended or admonished, and, as a secret observer
and judge of itself, is acquainted with his own manners ! 1 use this power
myself, and daily accuse myself, or plead my cause before myself. When the
candle is taken out of my sight, and my wife holds her tongue, then, accord-
ing to my custom, I search over the whole day with myself; I measure over
again my doings and my sayings; I hide nothing from myself; I pass over
nothing ; for why should I fear any of my errors, when J can say, * See that
thou do so no more ; I now forgive thee ; in such a disputation thou spakest
too contentiously ; engage not hereafter in disputes with them that are ig-
norant. They that have not learned will not learn. Such a man thou didst
admonish more freely than thou oughtest ; and therefore didst not amend him,
but oifend him. Hereafter see, not only whether it be truth which thou
speakest, but whether he to whom it is spoken can bear the truth.' " — Senec.
de La, lib. iii. c. '66. If an heathen can keep a daily reckoning with his soul,
methinks a Christian might follow on the work (sf examination once till he
know his condition ; and when that is done, he shall find this daily reckoning
well managed, to be of inconceivable advantage, for subduing corruption, and
for growth in grace.
VOL. XXII. M M
530 THE saint's
prejudging to the work, concluding certainly that their state Is
miserable before they have tried it : and most wicked men, on
the contrary side, do conclude most confidently that their state
is good, or tolerable at the least; no wonder if these both
miscarry in judging, when they pass the sentence before the
trial.
2. Be sure to be so well acquainted with the Scripture, as to
know what is the tenor of the covenant of grace, and what are
the conditions of justification and glorification, and consequently
what are sound marks to try thyself by, and wherein the truth
of grace, and essence of Christianity, do both consist,
3. And it will not be unuseful to write out some of the chief,
and those scriptures withal which hold them forth, and so to
bring this paper with you when you come to examination.
4. Be a constant observer of the temper and motions of thy
heart ; almost all the difficulty of the work doth lie in the true
and clear discerning of it. Be watchful in observing the actings
both of grace and corruption, and the circumstances of their
actings ; as how frequent ; how violent ; how strong or weak
were the outward incitements; how great or small the impedi-
ments ; what delight, or loathing, or fear, or reluctancy, did go
with those acts ! By these, and the like observations, you may
come to a more infallible knowledge of yourselves.
5. Be sure you set upon the work with a serious, roused,
awakened soul, apprehensive of how great concernment it is.
6. And lastly : Resolve to judge thyself impartially, neither
better nor worse than thou art, but as the evidence shall prove
thee.
Being thus provided, then set to the business, and therein
observe these directions following, which I will mention briefly,
that lying close together, you may be able to vievv' and observe
them the more easily :
1. Empty thy mind of all thy other cares and thoughts, that
they do not distract or divide thy mind. This work will be
enough at once of itself, without joining others with it.
2. Then fall down before God, and in iiearty prayer desire
the assistance of his Spirit, to discover to thee the plain truth
of thy condition, and to enlighten thee in the whole progress of
the work.
3. Make choice of the most convenient time and place. I
shall not stand upon the particular directions about these, because
1 shall mention them more largely when I come to direct you in
EVERLASTING REST. 531
the duty of contemplation : only this in brief: 1. Let the place
be the most private, that you may be free from distractions.
2. For the time thus, 1. When you are most solitary, and at
' leisure ; you cannot cast accounts, especially of such a nature
as these, either in a crowd of company, or of employment.
2. Let it be a set and chosen time, when you have nothing to
hinder you. 3. But if it may be, let it be the present time,
especially if thou hast been a stranger hitherto to the v.'ork ;
there is no delaying in matters of such weight. 4. Especially
when you have a more special call to search yourselves : as in
public calamities, in time of sickness, before a sacrament, &c.
5. When God is trying you by some affliction, and, as Job
saith, is searching after your sin, then set in with him, and
search after them yourselves. (Job x. 6.) 6. Lastly: You
should specially take such a time when you are most fit for the
work. When you are not secure and stupid on the one hand,
nor yet under deep desertions or melancholy on the other hand,
for else you will be unfit judges of your own state.
4. When you have thus chosen the fittest time and place,
then draw forth, either from thy memory, or in writing, the
forementloned marks, or Gospel conditions, or descriptions of
the saints. Try them by Scripture, and convince thy soul
thoroughly of their infallible truth.
5. Proceed, then, to put the question to thyself, but be sure
to state it right. Let it not be whether there be any good in
thee at all, for so thou wilt err on the one hand ; nor yet
whether thou have such or such a degree and measure of grace,
for so thou wilt err on the other hand, but whether such or
such a saving grace be in thee at all in sincerity, or not ?
6. If thy heart draw back, and be loth to the work, suffer it
not so to give thee the slip, but force it on ; lay thy command
upon it ; let reason interpose, and use its authority ; look over
the foregoing arguments, and press them home ; yea, lay the
command of God upon it, and charge it to obey upon pain of
his displeasure. Set conscience at work also. Let it do its
office, till thy lazy heart be spurred up to the work ; for if thou
suffer it to break away once and twice, &c., it will grow so
headstrong, that thou canst not master it.
7. Let not thy heart trifle away the time, when it should be
diligently at the work. Put the question to it seriously. Is it
thus and thus with me, or not? Force it here to an answer.
Suffer it not to be silent, nor to jangle and think of other
M M 2
532 THE saint's
matters. If the question be hard, through the darkness of thy
heart, yet do not £:ive it over so, but search the closer, and study
the case the more exactly, and if it be possible, let not thy heart
give over till it hath resolved the question, and told thee off or
on, in what case thou art. Ask it strictly, as Joseph examined
his brethren, (Gen. xliii. 7,) How it stands affected. Do as
David, (Psal. Ixxvii. 6,) " My spirit made diligent search."
If thy heart strive to break away before thou art resolved,
wrestle with it till thou hast prevailed, and say, ' I will not let
thee go till thou hast answered.' He that can prevail with his
own heart, shall also be a prevailer with God.
8. If thou find the work beyond thy strength, so that after
all thy pains thou art never the more resolved, then seek out for
help : go to some one that is godly, experienced, able, and
faithful, and tell him thy case, and desire his best advice and
help. Not that any man can know thy heart so well as thyself:
but if thou deal faithfully, and tell him what thou knowest by
thyself, he can tell thee whether they be sound evidence or not ;
and show thee Scripture how to prove them so ; and direct thee
in the right use of such evidences ; and show thee how to con-
clude from them. Yea, when thou canst get no further, the
very judgment of an able, godly man should take much with
thee, as a probable argument : as the judgment of a physician,
concerning the state of thy body. Though this can afford thee
no full certaintv, yet it may be a great help to stay and direct
thee. But be sure thou do not make this a pretence to put off
thy own duty of examining, but only use it as one of the last
remedies, when thou findest thy own endeavours will not serve.
Neither be thou forward to open thy case to every one, or to a
carnal, flattering, and unskilful person ; but to one that hath
wisdom to conceal thy secrets, and tenderness to compassionate
thee, and skill to direct thee, and faithfulness to deal truly and
plainly with thee.
9. When by all this pains and means thou hast discovered the
truth of thy state, then pass the sentence on thyself accordingly.
A mere examination will do thee little good, if it proceed not to
a judgment. Conclude as thou findest, either that thou art a
true believer, or that thou art not. But pass not this sentence
rashly, nor with self-flattery, nor from melancholy terrors and
fears, but do it groundedly, and deliberately, and truly, as thou
findest according to thy conscience. Do not conclude, as some
do, * I am a good Christian,' or as others do, ' I am a reprobate,
EVERLASTING REST. 533
or an hypocrite, and shall be damned.' When thou hast no
ground for what thou sayest but thy own fancy, or hopes, or
fears, nay, when thou art convinced by Scripture and reason of
the contrary, and hast nothing to say against the arguments j
let not tliy judgment be any way biassed or bribed, and so fore-
stalled from sentencing aright.
10. Labour to get thy heart kindly affected witii its disco-
vered condition, according to the sentence passed on it. Do
not think it enough to knowj but labour to feel what God hath
made thee see. Jf thou find thyself undoubtedly graceless, oh !
get this to thy heart, and think what a doleful condition it is to
be an enemy to God ; to be unpardoned, unsanctified ; and if
thou shouldst so die, to be eternally damned ! One would
think such a thought should make a heart of stone to quake.
On the contrary, if thou find thyself renewed and sanctified in-
deed, oh ! get this warm and close to thy heart ; bethink thy-
self what a blessed state the Lord hath brought thee into j to
be his child, his friend ; to be pardoned, justified, and sure to
be saved ! Why, what needest thou fear but sinning against
him ? Come war, or plague, or sickness, or death, thou art sure
they can but thrust thee into lieaven.
Thus follow these meditations, till they have left their im-
pression on thy heart.
H. Be sure to record this sentence so passed; write it down,
or at least write it in thy memory : at such a time, upon tho-
rough examination, I found my state to be thus or thus : this
record will be very useful to thee hereafter. If thou be ungodly,
what a damp will it be to thy presumption and security, to go
and read the sentence of thy misery under thy own hand ! If
thou be godly, what a help will it be against the next tempta-
tion to doubting and fear, to go and read under thy hand this
record ! Mayst thou not think, if at such a time I found the
truth of grace, is it not likely to be now the same, and these my
doubts to come from the enemy of my peace ?
12. Yet would I not have thee so trust to one discovery, as
to try no more, especially if thou have made any foul defection
from Christ, and played the backslider ; see, then, that thou
renew the search again.
13. Neither would I have this hinder thee in the daily search
of thy ways, or of thy increase in grace and fellowship with
Christ. It is an ill sign, and a desperate vile sin, for a man,
when he thinks he hath found himself gracious, and in a happy
534 THE saint's
state, to let down his watch, and grow negligent of his heart
and ways, and scarce look after them any more.
14. Neither would I have thee give over in discouragement,
if thou canst not at once, or twice, or ten times trying, discover
thy case : but follow it on till thou hast discovered. If one
hour's labour will not serve, take another ; if one day, or month,
or year, be too little, follow it still. If one minister cannot di-
rect thee sufficiently, go to another. The issue will answer all
thy pains. There is no sitting down discouraged in a work that
must be done.
15. Lastly: Above all, take heed, if thou find thyself to be
yet uin-egenerate, that thou do not conclude of thy future state
by thy present; nor say, ' Because I am ungodly, I shall die so;'
or, ' Because I am an hypocrite, I shall continue so :' no ; thou
hast another work to do ; and that is, to resolve presently to
cleave to Christ, and to break off thy hypocrisy and thv wicked-
ness. If thou find that thou hast been all this while out of the
way, do not sit down in despair ; but make so much the more
haste to turn into it : if thou hast been an hypocrite, or ungodly
person, all thy life, yet is the promise offered thee by Christ ;
and he tendereth himself to be thy Lord and Saviour. Neither
canst thou possibly be so willing to accept of him, as he is to
accept thee. Nothing but thy own unwillingness can keep thy
soul from Christ, though thou hast hitherto abused him, and
dissembled with him.
Object. But if I have gone so far, and been a professor so
long, and yet find myself an hypocrite now, after all, what hope
is there that I should now become sincere ? Answ. Dost thou
heartily desire to be sincere ; thy sincerity doth lie especially in
thy will : as long as thou art unwilling, I confess, thy case is
sad ; but if thou be willing to receive Christ as he is offered to
thee, and so to be a Christian indeed, then thou art sincere. Nei-
ther has Christ restrained his Spirit, or promises, to any set
time ; or said to thee, ' Thou shalt find grace, if thou but sin so
much, or so long ; but if thou be heartily willing at any time,
I know not who can hinder thy happiness.' Yet is this no di-
minution of the sin or danger of delaying.
Thus I have given you these directions for examination, which
conscionably practised, will be of singular advantage and use to
discover your states ; but it is not the bare reading of them
that will do it. I fear, of many that will approve of this advice,
there will but few be brought to use it ; however, those that are
EVERLASTING REST. "535
willing, may find help by it, and the rest will be left most inex-
cusable ill judgment.
Sect. III. I will not digress further, to warn you here of the
false rules and marks of trial which you must beware, having
opened them to you more fully when 1 preached on that sub-
ject 3 but I will briefly adjoin some marks to try your title to
this rest, by referring you, for a fuller discovery, to the descrip-
tion of the people of God, in the first part of this book : but be
sure you search thoroughly, and deal plainly, or else you will
but lose vour labour, and deceive yourselves. (Mark i.)
1 . Every soul that hath title to this rest, doth place his chief-
est happiness in it, and make it the chief and ultimate end of
his soul. This is the first mark ; which is so plain a truth, that
1 need not stand to prove it : for this rest consisteth in the full
and glorious enjoyment of God; and he that maketh not God
his chief good, and ultimate end, is, in heart, a pagan, and vile
idolater, and doth not take the Lord for his God truly.
Let me ask thee, then. Dost thou truly, in judgment and
affection, account it thy chiefest happiness to enjoy the Lord in
glory, or dost thou not ? Canst thou say, with David, " The
Lord is my portion;" (Psal. xvi. 5 ;) and, as Psal. Ixxiii. 15,
" Whom have I in heaven but thee, and whom in earth that I
desire in comparison of thee ?" If thou be an heir of rest, it is
thus with thee. (Psal. cxix. 57, and cxlii. 5 ; Lam. iii. 4.)
Though the flesh will be pleading for its own delights, and the
world will be creeping into thine affection, and thou canst not
be quite freed from the love of it, yet in thy ordinary, settled,
prevailing judgment and aiiections, thou preferrest God before
all things in the world.
1. Thou makest him the end of thy desires and endeavours. *=
The very reason why thou hcarest and prayest, why" thou de-
sirest to live and breathe on earth, is chiefly this ; that thou
mayst seek the Lord, and make sure of thy rest : thou seekest
first the kingdom of God and its righteousness. Though thou
do not seek it so desirously and zealously as thou shouldest, yet
it hath the chief of thy desires and endeavours, and nothing
else is desired or preferred against it ; (Matt. vi. 33 :) so that
thy very heart is thus far set upon it. (Matt. vi. 21 j Col. iii.
1-3.)
■^ Aversio a Deo in peccamlo, est a'Deo et tanquam a principio, et tanquam
a fine, ut o])timh. — Gibieuf, lib. ii. c. 20. s. 8. p. 427. Ideo conversio est ad
Deum ut ad principium et ut ad fineiu.
536 THE saint's
2. Also thou Wilt think no labour or suffering too great to
obtain it j •* and though the flesh may sometimes shrink, or draw
back, yet art thou resolved and content to go through all.^
(Matt.'vii. 13; 2 Tim. ii. 5, 12; Rom. viii. 17; Luke iv. 24,
xiv, 26, 27.)
3. Also, if thou be an heir of rest, thy valuation of it will be
so high, and thy affection to it so great, that thou wouldst not
exchange thy title to it, and hopes of it, for any worldly good
whatsoever. Indeed, when the soul is in doubts of enjoying it,
perhaps it may possibly desire rather the continuance of an
earthly happiness, than to depart out of the body with fears of
going to hell. But if he were sure that heaven should be his
own, he would desire to depart, and to be with Christ, as being
the best state of all. And if God would set before him an eter-
nity of earthly pleasure and contents on one hand, and the rest
of the saints on the other hand, and bid him take his choice, he
would refuse the world, and choose this rest. (Psal. xvi. 9, 10;
Rom. viii. 23 ; 2 Cor. v. 2, 3 ; Phil. iii. 20.) Thus, if thou be
a Christian indeed, thou takest God for thy chiefest good, and
this rest for the most amiable and desirable state : and by the
foresaid means thou mayst discover it.
But if thou be yet in the flesh, and an unsanctified wretch,
then is it clean contrary with thee in all these respects. Then
dost thou in thy heart prefer thy worldly happiness and fleshly
delights before God ; and though thy tongue may say that God
is the chief good, yet thy heart doth not so esteem him. For,
*• We renounced the world when we were baptised (in covenant and pro-
mise). But now we truly renounce the world (in practice and performance
of the covenant) when being tried and proved by God, forsakinij all that we
have, we follow the Lord, and do stand fast and live in his belief and fear. —
Cypr. Epist. 7 . ad Rogat. p. 20.
« The preferring; God before all, and forsaking all in heart and resolution
for him, is essential to our Christianity, and no man can he saved without it;
and therefore it was ever solemnly professed and promised in baptism in the
primitive cliurch, as you may see in Cypr, Ep. 7. et 54 ; et lib. de Hab. Virg.
Const. Apost. Clem. lib. iv. c. 4. Tertul. de Coron. Milit. : Aquam adituri, ibi-
dem, sed et aliquanto prius in ecclesia, sub autistitis manu contestamur nos re-
nunciare diabolo et porapae et angelis ejus. Ita in lib. de Spectac. : Ex hoc
causatur quaecunque pigritia vel delectatio creaturae rationalis indebita ; quia si
haberet amorem in Deum satis intensum, torporem ilium excuteret, ct perfecte
amando Deum, sibi debite deserviret. Et cum peccatum quodcunque causatur
in tepeditate dilectionis.patetquod iucuria,h. e. parvi-pensio, vel non-curatio
legis Dei, et peccatum quodcunque actuale, ad illam consequitur. Ubi quaeso
est major ingratitudo quam amorem terminare finaliter in creatura abjecta, et
Deum quem debemus maxime omnes diligere, non diligere 'i—lVickliff'e
Triatoff. lib. ii. c. 16. f. 71.
EVERLASTING tlEST. 537
1. The world is the chief end of thy desires and endeavours;
thy very heart is set upon it ; thy greatest care and labour is to
maintain thy estate, or credit, or fleshly delights, but the life to
come hath little of thy care or labour. Thou didst never per-
ceive so much excellency in that unseen glory of another world,
as to draw thy heart so after it, or set thee a labouring so heart-
ily for it : but that little pains which thou bestowest that way,
it is but in the second place, and not the first/ God hath but
the world's leavings, and that time and labour which thou canst
spare from the world, or those few cold and careless thoughts
which follow thy constant, earnest, and delightful thoughts of
earthly things. Neither wouldest thou do any thing at all for
heaven, if thou knewest how to keep the world : but lest thou
shouldest be turned into hell, when thou canst keep the world
no longer, therefore thou wilt do something.
2. Therefore it is that thou thinkest the way of God too
strict, and wilt not be persuaded to the constant labour of con-
scionable walking according to the Gospel rule : and when it
comes to trial, that thou must forsake Christ or thy worldly
happiness, and the wind which was in thy back doth turn in thy
face, then thou wilt venture heaven rather than earth, and, as
desperate rebels used to say, thou wilt rather trust God's mercy
for thy soul, than man's for thy body, and so wilfully deny thy
obedience to God.
3. And certainly if God would but give thee leave to live in
health and wealth for ever on earth, thou wouldst think it a
better state than rest. Let them seek for heaven that would,
thou wouldst think this thy chiefest happiness. This is thy
case if thou be yet an unregenerate person, and hast no title to
the saint's rest.
Sect. IV. The second mark which I shall give thee, to try
whether thou be an heir of rest, is this :^ as thou takest God for
^ In one word, the sum of all is this, if he do embrace Christ (and God in
Christ) as Christ is offered him iu the Gospel, and resigns himself to the re-
Sfiment and government of Christ, and doth so esteem and prize him, that he
counts all things as dung and dross in comparison of him, and can forsake
father and niotfier, and all, to follow him ; and can take up his cross, and un-
dergo any affliction tliat shall he laid on him, rather than forsake and part
with Christ; they that have thus brought him in their heart (to contract it iu
one word) to resign themselves to the government of the law of God, and set
themselves in every thing to walk with him, aiul to approve themselves to
him, have evidence that God hath brought them into covenant. — D. Stoitgh-
toiis Right-Man's Plea, serm. v. p. 14.
e Ut homines filii Dei fiant, filiutn I>ei unicum per fidem recipiunt j et ipso
53S THE saint's
thy chief good, so thou dost heartily accept of Christ for thy
only Saviour and Lord to bring thee to this rest. The former
mark was the sum of the first and great command of the law of
nature, " Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart," or above
all. This second mark is the sum of the command or condi-
tion of the Gospel, which saith, " Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and thou shalt be saved." And the performance of these two
is the whole sum or essence of godliness and Christianity.
Observe, therefore, the parts of this mark, which is but a defini-
tion of faith.
I. Dost thou find that thou art naturally a lost, condemned
nian for thy breach of the first covenant ? And dost believe
that Jesus Christ is the mediator, who hath made a sufficient
satisfaction to the law j and hearing in the Gospel that he is
offered without exception unto all, dost heartily consent that
he alone shall be thy Saviour ; and dost no further trust to thy
duties and works, than as conditions required by him, and means
appointed in subordination to him, not looking at them as in
the least measure able to satisfy the course of the law, or as a
legal righteousness, nor any part of it, but art content to trust
thy salvation on the redemption made by Christ ?
2. Art thou also content to take him for thy only Lord and
King,'' to govern and guide thee by his laws and Spirit? And
to obey him even when he commandeth the hardest duties, and
those which most cross the desires of the flesh ? Is it thy
sorrow when thou breakest thy resolution herein 5 and thy joy
when thou keepest closest in obedience to him ? And though
the world and flesh do sometimes entice and overreach thee, yet
is it thy ordinary desire and resolution to obey, so that thou
Avouldst not change thy Lord and Master for all the world ?
Thus it is with every true Christian. But if thou be an hypo-
crite, it is far otherwise. Thou mayest call Christ thy Lord and
thy Saviour, but thou never foundest thyself so lost without him,
as to drive thee to seek him, and trust him, and lay thy salva-
tion on him alone. Or, at least, thou didst never heartily consent
that he should govern thee as thy Lord;' nor didst resign up
donante, liaiic accipiunt k Domino ]iotestatem, ut et in eum credant, et ad nu-
merum filiorum Dei pertineant, — Fulgent, lib. de Incar, et Grut, c. 2H. Quid
eiiim eramus quando Christum iioudum eleg-eramus ? Et ideo non diligeba-
inus ; nam cjui eum non elegit, quomodo diligit ? — Aug. Tract. 86. in Julian.
'* Christ, in the latter days, shall be fully honoured in his kingly power.
Hitherto Christ hath lieen much honoured in his prophetical and priestly of-
fice, but not so much in his kingly, Sin:. — Burroughs on Has. p. 131.
' Est enim foederis obligatio niutua, Sed principiura est ^ Deo. — Parce, in
EVERLASTING REST. 539
thy soul and life to be ruled by him ; nor take his word for the
law of thy thoughts and actions. It is like thou art content
to be saved from hell by Christ when thou diest, but, in the
mean time, he shall command thee no further than will stand
with thy credit, or pleasure, or worldly estate and ends. And
if he would give thee leave, thou hadst far rather live after the
world and flesh, than after the word and Spirit. And though
thou mayest now and then have a motion or purpose to the
contrary, yet this that I have mentioned is the ordinary desire'
and choice of thy heart: and so thou art no true believer in
Christ, for though thou confess him in words, yet in works thou
dost deny him, being disobedient, and to every good work a
disapprover and reprobate. (Tit. i. 17-) This is the case of
those that shall be shut out of the saint's rest.
But especially I would here have you observe, that it is in all
this the consent of your hearts, or wills, which I lay down in
this mark to be inquired after ; for that is the most essential
act of justifying faith : '^ therefore, I do not ask whether thou
be assured of salvation ; nor yet whether thou canst believe
that thy sins are pardoned, and that thou art beloved of God in
Christ. These are no parts of justifying faith, but excellent
fruits and consequents, which they that do receive are comfort-
ed by them j but perhaps thou mayst never receive them while
thou livest, and yet be a true heir of rest. Do not say, then, 'I
cannot believe that my sin is pardoned, or that I am in God's
favour, and therefore I am no true believer.' This is a most mis-
taking conclusion : the question is, whether thou canst heartily
accept of Christ, that thou mayst be pardoned ; reconciled to
God, and so saved ? Dost thou consent that he shall be thy
Lord, who hath bouglU thee, and take his own course to bring
thee to heaven ? This is justifying, saving faith ; and this is the
mark that thou must try thyself by : yet, still observe, that all this
Gen. vi. IS. p. (niihi) 735. Sed integrum foedus tum demum a Deo fuit con-
stitutum quum utrinque intercessit sponsio inter partes contrahentes. — Jiui.
Or at. de. Promis. ct Fcedere.
^ Itaque velle credere est credere : non quia credere sit actus imperatus,
sed quia in voluntate est; ut scribit Augustinus ad Marcei. de spirit, et liter.
Etiam velle resipiscere est resipiscentiam ajere : fundatur enini resipiscen-
tia iu ipsius voluutatis immutatione, quae a nialo convertitur ad bonum. — D.
Twiss Tileno contr . Corvinuni, p. 355. a. Vide nunc utrura quisque credat si
noluerit, aut non credat si voluerit ? quod absurdum est : quid est enim cre-
dere nisi consentire verum esse quod dicitur ? Consensio autem ulique vo-
leiilis est, profecto fides in voluntate est. — Aug. Retract, lib. i. c. 31. Fides
in potestate est, quoniam cum vult quisque credit, et cuki credit volens cre-
dit.— iijrf. c. 32.
540 THE saint's everlasting rest.
consent must be hearty and real 5 not feigned or with reserva-
tions.' It is not saying, as that dissembling son, Matt. xxi. 30,
" I go, sir," when he went not ; to say, ' Christ shall be my
Lord,' and yet let corruption ordinarily rule thee, or be unwill-
ing that his commands should encroach upon the interest of the
world or flesh. Jf any have more of the government of thee
than Christ, ; or if thou hadst rather live after any other laws
than his, if it were at thy choice, thou art not his disciple.
Thus I have laid you down these two marks, which, I am sure,
are such as every Christian hath, and no other but sincere
Christians. I will add no more, seeing the substance of Chris-
tianity is contained in these. Oh that the Lord would now
persuade thee to the close performance of this self-trying task !
that thou mayst not tremble with horror of soul, when the Judge
of all the world shall try thee, but have thy evidence and assur-
ance so ready at hand, and be so able to prove thy title to rest,
that the thoughts and approaching of death and judgment may
revive thy spirits, and fill thee with joy; and not appal thee,
and fill thee with amazement !
* Hereby you may know whether your conversion be right, yea or no : as
that which is Christ's cometh to be thine, so that which is tiiine cometh
again to be Christ's : " My beloved is mine, and I am his." — Burroughs on
Hos. lect. \7 , p. 601. Ut eligaiur gratia, ipsa prius eligit ; neque suscipi-
tur aut diligitur, nisi hoc ipsa in corde hominis operetur. Istam gratiam
iiullus hominum desiderare vel poscere, sed nee cognoscere poterit, nisi earn
prius ab illo accipiat, qui eam nuilis praecedentibus operibus bonis largitur,
&c. — Fulgen. de Ferit. Prerdest. c. 15, 16. Even the Jesuits confess that it
is ex Christi gratia non solum esse sanum, sed et sanari velle, et precari ut
credere velimus et purgari. — JDiofi. Petavius de Lege et Gratia, lib. ii. c. 3.
sect. 1, 2, &c. But they see not that ipsa sauitas consistit maxima ex parte
in ipso velle.
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