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LIBRARY OF PR«y<CETON 

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THEOLOGICAL SEf^lfJARY 



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SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST: 

LloRARY OF PRINCETO 



A TREATISE 



m 2 7 2008 



THEOLOGICAL SEMINAI 



THE BLESSED STATE OF THE SAINTS IN THEIR 
ENJOYMENT OF GOD IN GLORY. 

IN FOUR PARTS. 



WHEREIN IS SHOWED ITS EXCELLENCY AND CERTAINTY; THE MISERY OF 

THOSE THAT LOSE IT ; THE WAY TO ATTAIN IT ; ASSURANCE OF 

IT ; AND HOW TO LIVE IN THE CONTINUAL, DELIGHTFUL 

FORETASTES OF IT, BY THE HELP OF MEDITATION. 



WRITTEN BY THE AUTHOR FOR HIS OWN rSE, IN THE TIME OF HIS LANGUISH- 
ING, WHEN GOD TOOK HIM OFF FROM ALL PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT ; 
AND AFTERWARDS PREACHED IN HIS WEEKLY LECTURE, 
AT KIDDERMINSTER, IN WORCESTERSHIRE. 



BY RICHARD BAXTER. 

WITH 

A PRELIMINARY ESSAY, 

BY JOHN MORISON, D. D. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE. 
R. GRIFFIN AND CO. GLASGOW. 

TEGG AND CO. DUBLIN. 

ALSO J. AND S. A. TEGG. SYDNEY AND HOBART TOWN. 
MDCCCXXXIX. 



JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 



A SPECIAL interest attaches to the first act of the individual who 
plays a distinguished part on the stage of life, and to the first pro- 
duction of the writer, who by the number of his works and the power 
of his genius exerts an important influence on the public mind. 
The one and the other seem to constitute a sort of prophetic index. 
Had an individual, in whom blended the philosopher and the 
philanthropist, been among the listeners to our Lord's sermon on 
the mount, the gracious words which proceeded from his mouth, 
and the authoritative and solemn calm of his address, would have 
gladdened his heart and filled him with hope. Sending his thoughts 
forward into the future, he would have marked the path of Jesus as 
one of integrity and love, illumined by a heavenly light, and con- 
ducting to a glorious end. In this case the anticipation could be 
in no danger of being frustrated. With Christ there was no va- 
riableness. What He was, that He should be, ever affording the 
same perfect exhibition of holiness and truth. It is well, however, 
that we are denied a foreseeing power, for the blossom of many a 
promise goes up as dust. In a multitude of cases, the hopes which 
we should be led to cherish from the first act, springing from the 
unsophisticated feelings and generous sympathies of youth, or the 
first w^ork, bearing the stamp of an unperverted mind, and breath- 
ing the spirit of noble aspiring, would be doomed to bitter disap- 
pointment. 

a 2 



iv PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

The records of the "mighty dead" gratify the same curiosity, 
while they do not inflict the same pain. The beginning, the inter- 
mediate, and the end are brought together, so that we may speedily 
pass from the one to the other ; and the whole taking place in the 
region of contemplation instead of the world of action, a want of 
correspondency does not to a similar extent jar upon the mind. 

In studying the life or the works of Baxter, however, we never 
require the aid of this feeling. He was true to himself throughout 
his long course. His path was an onward and an upward one. The 
spirit of the " Saints' Everlasting Rest " breathed in all his con- 
duct and in all his productions. It serves in fact as an index to 
his character. " In describing this," observes his biographer, " I 
have no better or more appropriate term which I can employ than 
the word unearthly. Among his contemporaries there were men 
of equal talents, of more amiable dispositions, and of greater learn- 
ing. But there was no man in whom there appears to have been so 
little of earth, and so much of heaven ; so small a portion of the 
alloy of humanity, and so large a portion of all that is celestial. 
He felt scarcely any of the attraction of this world, but felt and 
manifested the most powerful affinity for the world to come." As 
the face of Moses shone when he came down from the mount from 
communing with the Lord, so did Baxter's meditations of heaven 
communicate to his character a radiance which it never lost. Be- 
fore the publication of this work he never felt any inclination to 
write for the public. He even resisted the solicitations of many of his 
friends ; but of the remaining years of his life hardly one was undis- 
tinguished by the appearance of several volumes. Yet they were 
all more or less baptized with the spirit in which the " Everlasting 
Rest " is conceived, and which the subject tended materially to 
foster and strengthen. In many of them — in the polemical depart- 
ment especially — there is not a little which the juster taste of the 
present age will find occasion to censure ; but the condemnation will 
ever be passed with trembling, as upon the work of a soul " which 
has tasted the powers of the world to come." He was seldom out 
of controversy, — now ranging through the army of the Parliament, 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. v 

of a temper as belligerent in spiritual matters, as the fiercest enemy 
of the king in his enthusiasm for civil rights, — now taking up or 
throwing down the gauntlet of defiance, and panting for the oppor- 
tunity of public discussion, — now marshalling in the stillness of his 
study his " disputations and arguments and replies ;" but as the 
athleta bathed and anointed his body for the contest, so had Bax- 
ter bathed his soul in heaven, and received the unction of the Holy 
One. 

It is matter of deep regret that it should be the character of the- 
ological controversy — so much so that it has become a by-word — 
that it awakens unchristian feelings of animosity, and destroys all 
spirituality of mind. But the example of Baxter is sufficient to 
show that this is not its necessary consequence. The age in which 
he lived was one of strife in theology, as much as in politics. It 
was the true era of the Reformation in England. The yoke of 
Rome had indeed been previously removed, but by no simultaneous 
movement of the minds of the people, as had been the case in 
Germany and other continental nations. The consequence was, 
that the multitude remained still comparatively indifferent to re- 
ligious doctrines, ignorant both of their own freedom and power ; 
but now the yoke of despotism was being removed likewise, and 
the effort which this required, and the sensation with which it 
was accompanied throughout the country, aroused the slumbering 
energies of mind. There went abroad through the nation a spirit 
of inquiry, and there was claimed a liberty of judgment, which in 
not a few instances was pushed to licentiousness. Baxter en- 
gaged, as no other man did, in the war of opinions ; but at the 
same time he continued to grow in grace. He was ever meetening 
for the inheritance of the saints in light. Towards the close of 
his life, in reviewing his own character, — and in his judgment of 
himself we think he was unduly severe, — he observes, " My judg- 
ment is much more for frequent and serious meditation on the 
heavenly blessedness than it was in my younger days. I then 
thought that a sermon on the attributes of God, and the joys of 
heaven, was not the most excellent ; and was wont to say, ' Every 



vi PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

body knoweth that God is great and good, and that heaven is a 
blessed place : I had rather hear how I may attain it.' Nothing 
pleased me so well as the doctrine of regeneration and the marks 
of sincerity, because these things were suitable to me in that 
state ; but now I had rather read, hear, and meditate on God and 
heaven, than on any other subject. I perceive that it is the object 
which altereth and elevateth the mind ; which will resemble that 
which it most frequently feedeth on. It is not only useful to our 
comfort to be much in heaven in believing thoughts ; it must ani- 
mate all our other duties, and fortify us against every temptation 
and sin. The love of the end is the poise or spring which setteth 
every wheel a going, and must put us on to all the means ; for a 
man is no more a Christian indeed than he is heavenly." The 
secret of Baxter's spirituality — which has procured for him the 
honourable epithet that cometh from above, "The holy" — lay in 
the habit of heavenly meditation ; as indeed it constitutes itself 
the essence of all spirituality. Whenever the Christian in contro- 
versy descends from argument to acrimony, from the simple and 
almighty exhibition of truth to sarcastic hits and sly insinuations, 
it is because his spirit's rest is elsewhere than in heaven, and he 
comes not forth into the arena of debate, as into the field of duty 
and from the armoury of the closet. 

An undue influence is sometimes attributed to the circumstances 
of the times in forming the characters of Baxter and some of his 
distinguished contemporaries; perhaps we should say more cor- 
rectly, that the way in which these circumstances operated is not 
properly understood. The character of Baxter was formed by the 
truth of God's word, received by a most perspicacious intellect, and 
allowed to mould the whole being after its own fashion. He was 
not led by the convulsions of the times to contemplate the heavenly 
rest. His spirit was formed for stormy times : had he been confined 
to the gloom and solitude of a cloister, he would have been con- 
sumed by his own fire. It is true that the strong and lofty soul was 
imprisoned in a most delicate body, but his life afforded an unparal- 
leled example of the superiority of spirit over matter. He was not of 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. vii 

a temper of mind to be depressed by the changes of human affairs. 
Amid the turmoil and tossing which attended the civil contests, he 
would be at rest, or warmed into a glow of satisfaction by the sur- 
rounding tumult. He could enjoy all this, even " as the war-horse 
paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength, as he goeth 
on to meet the armed men, as he saith among the trumpets. Ha ! 
ha ! and smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, 
and the shouting." The circumstances of the times tended to 
increase the natural energy of Baxter's mind, and afforded full 
scope for its display. It was not the practical illustration which 
they gave of the insufficiency of the world — the instability of its 
highest dignities, and the unsatisfactoriness of its highest honours — 
that drew him away from earth, and led him to have his conversa- 
tion in heaven. This was done by the deep feeling of religion as 
the proper business of the soul. He reasoned as an angel might 
reason, who knows the capacities of the soul, but has not experi- 
enced the comparative worthlessness of earth. It was the convictioH 
of his spiritual faculties, and the clear perception of their nature, 
and of the entire adaptation to them of the gospel and the glory 
which is revealed, that imparted the beauty of holiness to his 
character, and a seraphic fervour to all his sermons and writings. 
He did not rise above the earth because it rocked beneath his feet, 
and the fashion of it was continually changing, but because he felt 
that it could give his nobler being no suitable satisfaction — that 
even in all its fascination, and pomp, and glory, it was to the im- 
mortal spirit vanity, and vexation, and woe. He had drawn nigh 
to the throne, penetrating the veil of the unseen, and the light of 
God's countenance had fallen upon his soul, and he felt thereafter 
that earth could not be his portion ; just as a seraph that has re- 
joiced before the Almighty, would spurn all the kingdoms of this 
world and the glory of them. 

" The holy Baxter " is a title more honourable in the sight of 
Heaven, than the epithet which marks the greatest degree of earthly 
dignity. That he in the " holy nation " should possess this high 
distinction is indicative of something wrong ; for in reference to 



viu PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

every member of it this is the will of God^ — even his sanctification ; 
and this was the wish of Paul, — even his perfection. It is not 
meant that the holiness of Baxter has never been equalled. Far 
from it. There are many whose names the world, not being worthy 
of them, has not recorded, that will occupy a place in heaven as 
near to the throne as he, having walked as closely with God upon 
earth ; but still the simple fact that this term has been applied to 
him with a sort of exclusive meaning, proves that in the multitude 
of professing Christians there is a mournful short-coming of the 
mark at which he aimed, and to which he rose. This should not be. 
His excellence was not occasioned by any peculiarities of the age 
in which he lived, but was the fruit of the unchangeable word of 
God, springing up within his soul. He obeyed this word, and so 
purified his heart ; and, to use words which have been already 
quoted, "perceiving that it is the object which altereth and ele- 
vateth the mind," he directed his mind to holy objects and to hea 
venly contemplations. In vain will any one pant after holiness 
unless he pursue the same course, but doing this he is certain of 
equal success. 

We have no very minute record of Baxter's character prior to 
the publication of " The Saints' Everlasting Rest." It gave promise 
doubtless of his future eminence in piety, but the conception and 
writing of this work formed an epoch in his life. Of this he was 
aware himself, for in the dedication of it to the inhabitants of Kid- 
derminster, speaking of its occasion and results, he says, " Being 
in my quarters (with the army) far from home, cast into extreme 
languishing, by the sudden loss of about a gallon of blood, after 
many years' foregoing weakness, and having no acquaintance about 
me, nor any book but my Bible, and living in continual expectation 
of death, I bent my thoughts on my everlasting rest ; and because 
my memory through extreme weakness was imperfect, I took my 
pen and began to draw up my own funeral sermon, or some helps 
for my own meditations of heaven, to sweeten both the rest of my 
life and my death. In this condition God was pleased to continue 
me about five months from home ; where, being able for nothing 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. ix 

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 any mind of human 
ornaments if he had been furnished. But oh how sweet is this 
providence now to my review, which so happily forced me to that 
work of meditation which I had formerly found so profitable to my 
soul, and 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, and hath more benefited me than all the studies 
of my life ! " 

It was good for him that he was afflicted, being thereby made 
partaker of the Divine holiness. During the five months of his 
sickness, the Lord visited him as a refiner, and purified and purged 
him as gold and silver, that he might offer unto the Lord an offer- 
ing of righteousness. Having dwelt so long upon the borders of 
eternity, he learned and realized much of its indescribable length 
and breadth, and height and depth, and was delivered from the 
thraldom of time. " As the lark," says he, " sings sweetly while 
she soars on high, but is suddenly silenced when she falls to the 
earth ; so is the frame of the soul most delightful and divine, while 
it keepeth God in view by contemplation : but, alas ! we make 
there too short a stay, and lay by our music." It is the nature of 
the lark, however, to rise to heaven, and give utterance to its joy 
near the fount of light ; and it was fortunate for Baxter that 
through the long stay which he was compelled to make studying 
the everlasting rest, this became nature with him. His medita- 
tions of heaven were so protracted, that his soul was completely 
imbued with them, and ever after he could not be on earth other 
than a stranger and pilgrim, looking forward to the better coun- 
try, that is, the heavenly. 



X PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

The treatise lengthened far beyond the author's original inten- 
tion. Of the four parts in which it is comprised, he designed at 
the commencement only the first and last,— the last principally, 
being, from the nature of its contents — directions for the getting 
and keeping of the heart in heaven — most adapted to sweeten the 
rest of his life and his death. It would have been a difficult matter 
for him, however, to compose a sermon, or to produce a work, in 
which he contemplated nothing more than to edify and console. 
To convince and convert, to reprove gainsayers, and to rescue 
souls from the everlasting burnings, were the objects in the pur- 
suit of which above all others he might be said to live, and move, 
and have his being. Accordingly he added the second part, to 
evince the certainty of the rest, and that the Scripture, upon 
whose promises the hope of it is grounded, is the perfect infallible 
word and law of God ; and the third, containing a number of most 
pungent appeals to the sinner to move from his death in trespasses 
and sins, and lay hold on the glorious hope, and to the people of 
God, " to persuade hem to the great duty of helping to save their 
brethren's souls." 

Without the third part, the work would have been incomplete ; 
but not a few will wish that the second, or at least a considerable 
portion of it, had been omitted. Some will think that such a con- 
troversial discussion is out of place in a devotional treatise ; and 
certainly it is a great descent from communing with God to wrestle 
with sceptics. The reader whose wish is to know more of the 
powers of the world to come, and to be stirred up to increased 
activity in his Master's service, will sustain no loss, if he pass at 
once from the first part to the eighth chapter of the second. But 
before the introduction of such a subject be set down among the 
sins against prudence with which Baxter was frequently charge- 
able, and is still more frequently charged, the character of his own 
mind — by no means peculiar — and the nature of the times should 
be taken into account. His soul fed on truth. " Who," he in- 
quires, " will set his heart on the goodness of a thing, that is not 
certain of its truth?" A new argument, or the better exhibition 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xi 

of an old one, caused him as much delight as the occurrence of a 
new thought concerning the rest, or the flashing on his previous 
conceptions of a new light. It pushed the object of his love nearer 
to his heart. He derived enjoyment not only from going into the 
temple and worshipping, but from walking about Zion, and going 
round about her, and telling the towers thereof; from marking well 
her bulwarks and considering her palaces. In regard to the ever- 
lasting rest itself, this exercise of mind about its certainty occa- 
sioned him a feeling of exultation, similar to that which led David, 
in the conclusion of the Psalm, the language of which we have 
adopted, to exclaim, — " This God is our God for ever and ever." 
It caused no loss of devotional feeling to the author, nor will the 
perusal of great part of it cause any to minds which are of a cor- 
responding order. 

It should be remembered likewise, that the age was a very pe- 
culiar one — though presenting many points of analogy to the cha- 
racter of the present times. " All the winds of doctrine," as 
Milton says, " were let loose to play upon the earth," It was 
necessary that " truth should be prepared to grapple with false- 
hood, and sustain no injury in a free and open encounter." The 
exhortation of Peter never was more applicable — that believers 
should be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh 
them a reason of the hope that is in them. Baxter felt himself 
that he was set for the defence of the gospel ; and while he was 
anxious to induce in all the godly and orthodox a similar feeling, 
he wanted at the same time to put arms into their hands. 

These remarks may refute the charge of impropriety for entering, 
in such a work, into the evidences of revelation ; but we fully agree 
with Mr. Orme, that " the discussions and stories about apparitions, 
witches, and compacts with the devil, are blemishes on the fair face 
of this beautiful production." It is in the fourth and last argu- 
ment for the truth of the Scriptures that these are introduced. 
Having made one main branch of his reasoning to depend on the 
existence of the devil, and his seeking our eternal undoing, he pro- 
ceeds to prove both the one and the other by his temptations ; by 



xu PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

apparitions ; by their possessions and dispossessions ; and by the 
devil's contracts with witches. On the subject of apparitions, he 
quotes from the " learned godly Zanchius " to the elFect, that " he 
wonders 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. I could (saith 
he) bring many examples of persons yet alive, that have experience 
of these on themselves." With regard to possessions, he confesses 
that " there have been many counterfeits of this kind ; but the 
history of the dispossession of the devil out of many persons to- 
gether in a room in Lancashire, at the prayer of some godly minis- 
ters, is very famous ; read the book and judge. Amojig the papists 
possessions are common ; though very many of them are the priests' 
and Jesuits' delusions." Most " palpable " in his opinion is the case 
of witches. " If any one should doubt whether there be any such 
witches, who 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. 
Sure it were strange if in an age of so much knowledge and con- 
science, 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." 

That a man of Baxter's perspicacity and truthfulness should have 
given way to these vagaries of the times is much to be lamented. 
But he was not singular. The fault was common to him and the 
most enlightened of his contemporaries. It may sometimes fur- 
nish occasion for a sneer against religion, but this will fall harmless 
and unheeded upon all who have learned their religion from the 
Bible, and imbibed the spirit of Baxter. It was one of those cor- 
ruptions of the Romish church, from the trammels of which pro- 
testantism could not all at once escape. In the first place, a belief 
in demoniac agency, exerting itself in the several ways which our 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xiii 

author mentions, passed over from the heathen world into the 
Christian church. In process of time the true would have been 
discriminated from the false. The light of God's word irradiating 
the minds of men, would have delivered them from the bondage of 
the erroneous views received from their fathers. The mysterious 
providence of God, however, permitted His truth to be corrupted, 
and amalgamated with the spurious doctrines of men. Not only 
did the pagan temples pass into the hands of Christian worshippers, 
but pagan errors for selfish ends were united with the disclosures 
of the Bible. The belief above mentioned, along with many other 
monstrous opinions and practices, was stereotyped in the creed of 
Europe by the papacy, to subserve its own mercenary and atrocious 
lust of wealth ; and the spirit of the Reformation was fatal to it 
as to all the other abominations of the " man of sin." 

Nor should we forget that the age of the Reformers on the con- 
tinent and the age of Baxter were most marvellous in their cha- 
racter. The kingdoms of this world, both civil and ecclesiastical, 
were shaken and overturned by individuals rising from among the 
lowest ranks. Men found themselves possessed of powers of whose 
existence they had never dreamed, and animated with an energy to 
which they had been total strangers. They felt unusual impulses, 
and having no records of previous experience of a similar order, it 
was no wonder that they did not immediately discard a dogma of 
their creed, which furnished an easy explanation of the phe- 
nomena. 

A more heavy charge than that of believing in witchcraft ma.y 
be fixed on Baxter from this part of the Saints' Rest, and for 
which it is not possible to offer the same apology, or indeed any 
apology at all. We allude to the protests which he takes occasion 
to enter against liberty of conscience. " They talk," says he 
sneeringly, " of a toleration of all religions, and some desire that 
the Jews may have free commerce among us. The libertines think 
it necessary that we should have such a toleration to discover the 
unsound." " If a bare connivance of these divisions (he subjoins in 
a note) have already occasioned such a combustion, what do we 



xiy PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

think would a toleration do ? a toleration of all sorts of 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 conscience, so earnestly pleaded for ? For my own part, should 
this be once yielded, (which I hope their eyes 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 religion of God in this king- 
dom." In this he was behind the spirit of his age, and that on a 
subject which must have engaged much of his attention. He 
never would have been a persecutor himself, but he would not have 
denied to the secular power the right to compel recusants to sub- 
mit to the form of church government, and acknowledge the views 
of Scripture truth, which he regarded as right. We do not attempt 
to justify nor to extenuate the fault of Baxter in this matter. 
Freedom of judgment in religion is essential to responsibility. No 
man will be able to answer for another before the tribunal of God, 
and it is the duty therefore of every man to think and decide for 
himself, while he is accomplishing the period of his probation. 
The right of private judgment may be productive of temporary 
evil, just as the freedom of the press may be perverted to per- 
nicious purposes, but like this latter it contains within itself a prin- 
ciple of rectification. It is pleasing to contemplate the failure of 
Baxter's prediction. The toleration which he so much di-eaded, 
and from which he anticipated nothing less than the destruction of 
the church's peace and glory, has been accorded for a length of 
time, and been accompanied with the most beneficial effects both 
to the church and the world. It is with error as with spirits ; — 
it is the condition of both that they 

" Cannot but by annihilating die." 

The sword of civil power wielded against error has no more effect 
than the sword of Michael, when it passed through the body of 
Satan, and the ethereal substance instantly closed. But the sword 
of truth consumes as well as cuts. Error cannot subsist before it, 
and the result of every fair encounter must be, that the latter will 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. zr 

become as though it had never been. " All sorts of sects, and 
heresies, and schisms " are now tolerated, but the cause of God 
prospers. Let truth be left to fight its own battles, and it will 
overthrow all opposing authority, and establish its kingdom from 
the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. 

We have been kept too long by these blemishes from the more 
grateful themes of the Everlasting Rest. But the errors of such a 
man as Baxter are instructive. That with all his metaphysical 
acumen and fearless intellect he should have been enthralled by a 
weakness which children now are taught to ridicule, may instruct 
us to sympathize and bear with the struggles of the mind, which 
we are endeavouring to deliver from the meshes of error. That 
with a character of Christian excellence, which makes churchmen 
and dissenters both claim the sanction of his name, he should have 
clung to a doctrine which contains in it the essence of persecution, 
may impart a spirit of charity in the contest which now divides the 
Christian world — a contest we believe the result of which will be 
to perfect the Reformation of the 16th century, exalting the Bible 
in the church, not only as a book of doctrines, but likewise as a 
book of discipline, " there to reign supreme as the very word of 
the living God." 

The arguments of Baxter for the authority of the Scriptures 
deserve notice, as being the first original effort on the part of any 
English writer to exhibit the evidences of revealed religion. With 
the exception of that on which we have animadverted they are 
worthy of him, and will abundantly repay an attentive perusal. 
The subject he would then have entered upon at much greater 
length but for the importunities of friends, to whom these discus- 
sions appeared, as they do to many now, inconsistent with the 
design of a devotional treatise. To the author himself, however, 
they never so appeared. We dismiss the subject in the words of 
his own final review of his character and works : — " Upon my 
more mature reviews, I find that I said not half that which the 
subject did require in some of my writings : as, e. g., in the doc- 
trines of the covenants and of justification, but especially about 

h 



XTi PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

the Divine authority of the Scripture in the second part of the 
Saints' Rest." 

They will be greatly disappointed who expect to find in the 
Saints' Everlasting Rest any thing of mysticism. Nothing was 
more foreign to the mind and habits of the writer, iVll his eleva- 
tion was intelligent and practical. If his spirit at times was raised 
to ecsta.sy, it was through an inability to sustain the brightness 
that streamed from the discoveries of an ever-active intellect. 
There was no quietude about him. His mind never sank into a 
mood, which might be imaged by the sea-bird floating on a 
waveless ocean. The term " rest " is given to " the most happy 
estate," about which the thoughts of Baxter were occupied, with 
reference to the Christian's toilsome pilgrimage on earth, and is 
not to be understood as intimating any cessation of action. " It 
is the perfect endless fruition of God, by the perfected saints, 
according to the measure of their capacity, to which their souls 
arrive at death, and both soul and body most fully after the 
resurrection and final judgment," This by no means supposes a 
listlessness of the mental powers or a torpor of the affections. 
The very reverse indeed is the case, all the powers of the soul 
being directed to their proper objects, and the aifections of the 
heart exercised with the greatest yet sweetest intensity. It is a 
rest from sin and sorrow and doubt, — a deliverance from the 
allurements and shackles of earth, — " a sweet and constant action 
of all the powers of the soul and body in the enjoyment of God." 
Heaven, according to this conception, — a conception founded on 
right reason and God's word, — is the sphere in which the soul 
acts according to the proper laws of its being. To the right 
understanding of the devotional and practical treatises of our 
author, it is necessary that the reader keep prominently before 
the mind his views concerning the high nature and capabilities of 
the soul, as formed for God, and finding its due gratification only 
in his fulness. The dark cloud w hich sin has brought over the 
understanding being dispelled, and the wrong direction which it 
has given to the will being rectified, the soul bounds forward to 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xvii 

the discharge of its natural functions. The body of death being 
replaced by an immortal and spiritual body, all its members be- 
come the ready instruments of the spirit — inlets through which 
are received the purest and most refined pleasures. The barrier 
that has been raised up between the reflective and emotional 
parts of our constitution being removed, every new field which 
opens to the mind becomes a source of unmingled joy. God is all 
in all. Whatever faculty be exercised, whether memory, or reason, 
or perception, the soul turns naturally from its object to God, as 
the flower turns its leaves to the sun. And from the blessed 
Spirit himself there flows to every spirit made perfect a perpetual 
stream of blessing. This is heaven — the glorious liberty of the 
sons of God. 

On a reconsideration of the work, Baxter wished that, when 
treating of the several elements of the rest, he had introduced 
other two — that we shall be members of the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and see the face of our glorified Redeemer. No small portion of 
the delight of heaven will arise from these two sources — the com- 
panionship of the innumerable company of angels and of all the 
good in the universe, and the constant beholding of the glory 
which God has given to our Lord. The former will demand the 
most lively exertion of our powers ; for who supposes that those 
spirits which excel in wisdom and in strength are not most active, 
soaring to the loftiest heights, and descending to the greatest 
depths, in their endeavours to comprehend the dispensations of the 
Most High, and traversing with inconceivable rapidity the longest 
distances of space, in the execution of his will ? How elevated 
must be their conceptions of his being, for sin has never deadened 
the glance nor lessened the strength of their faculties ! How vast 
must be the range of their knowledge, for old, I had almost 
written, as the eternity of God, they have ever been supplied out 
of his fulness, and given themselves to the contemplation of his 
character and works ! To be fellow citizens with them will confer 
the richest enjoyment, and require the utmost activity. The 
latter — the vision and enjoyment of our glorified Redeemer — will 

b 2 



xviu PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

constitute the chief ingredient of the heavenly hlesseclness. It 
formed the last petition of his intercessory prayer, that they whom 
the Father had given to him might be with him where he was, 
that they might behold his glory. Our God and Saviour will be 
the object of universal adoration. Before the throne of Inmianuel, 
God with us, angels and archangels, " every creature which is in 
heaven, and in the earth, and under the earth," will worship. 
And the perfected saint will have more than the vision of this 
honour, and the satisfaction thence derived. By virtue of his 
union with the Lord, he will have a participation in it. To him 
it will be granted to sit down with Christ in his throne. Whether 
the everlasting rest will include any service of God in connexion 
with this glory of the Redeemer beyond the limits of the heavenly 
temple, is an inquiry upon which Baxter does not enter. Since 
the mediatorial scheme, from its surpassing exhibition of the Di- 
vine character, is of universal interest, — since the cross of Christ 
is the means whereby God will reconcile all things to himself, 
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, — and since 
the redeemed are those who can descant most eloquently on its 
virtues, and testify most strongly of its power, it may be one of 
their future engagements to set it up and make it known through- 
out the universe. But the character of his mind was not discursive 
nor speculative, and he limited himself to the exercise of his rea- 
son on the disclosures of Scripture. Whether this kind of action, 
however, belong to the future state or not, it is to be regretted 
that his mind was not more directed to consider this element of 
the rest, for the worth of the soul is much increased by virtue of 
its union with Christ. The cardinal point of his practical theology 
would in this way have received additional weight, for the soul that 
is lost is not that of the man merely, but that for which the Son 
of God died — which through the fact of redemption might be 
brought near to God with a new and peculiar order of emotions, 
surpassing any that Adam experienced when the light of Jehovah's 
countenance fell upon him in paradise ; and which, through the 
same fact, being constituted a priest and a king to God, and a 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xix 

joint-heir of God with Christ, might be raised higher in the scale 
of being, than it were possible for a child of man otherwise to 
occupy. 

The contemplation of heaven increased Baxter's appreciation of 
the worth and proper business of the soul, inducing, instead of the 
constrained acknowledgment of reason, the ever-present and active 
consciousness of the truth. It was his experience, indeed, that 
without the habit of heavenly meditation his piety was sure to 
droop. " I have found," says he, " by reason and experience, as 
well as Scripture, that it is not our comfort only, but our stability, 
our liveliness in all our duties, our enduring tribulation, our hon- 
ouring of God, the vigour of our love, thankfulness, and all our 
graces, yea, the very being of our religion, and Christianity itself, 
that dependeth on the believing serious thoughts of our rest. The 
end directeth to and in the means. 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. In a word, we can neither live safely, profitably, piously, 
conscionably, or comfortably, nor die so, without believing serious 
considerations of our rest." 

It was not possible for him, after having dwelt upon the realities 
of eternity, to be absorbed by the frivolous concerns of time — 
after having tasted the business of angels, to enter with zest into 
the trifling businesses of men. It was not possible for him to be 
satisfied with earth, to feel any powerful influence of the things 
which are seen and temporal. Man's bustling life appeared to 
him, as he has expressed it in his work entitled "■ Crucifying the 
World by the Cross of Christ," to be " but like children's games, 
where all is done in jest, and which wise men account not worthy 
of their observance. It is but like the acting of a comedy, where 
great persons and actions are personated and counterfeited ; and a 
pompous stir there is for a while, to please the foolish spectators, 
that themselves may be pleased by their applause, and then they 
come down and the sport is ended, and ihey are as they were. It 



XX PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

is but like a puppet-play, where there is great doings to little 
purpose; or like the busy gadding of the laborious ants, to gather 
together a little sticks and straw, which the spurn of a man's foot 
will soon disperse." Is not this the very height of reason? Is it 
or is it not the case that here we have no abiding city ? — that we 
are full of immortal longings, which God only can satisfy ? — that 
we are destined to join the multitude which no man can number, 
rejoicing for ever in the light and service of God and the Lamb, or to 
be banished to the companionship of the blasphemous, and odious, 
and impure, according to the temper of mind and habits of life 
which we cultivate and display while we are here ? — If this be true, 
what ought our life to be but a walk with God, a preparation for the 
engagements of the other state, a constant struggle with and victory 
over the world and the things thereof? There are few if any pro- 
fessing Christians who would controvert the reasonableness of 
these views, and yet how few act under their habitual impression ! 
They are in the world, and it would be hard to discover that they 
are not of the world — anxious about its gains as other men, equally 
grasping at its honours, and fearful of its brand. This should not 
be, and this would not be, were the example of Baxter followed. 
Were the future to be contemplated as much as the present, — were 
the nature of the soul and the engagements of heaven and hell to 
be dwelt upon, — his style of thinking and tone of mind would not be 
a strange thing to meet with. " What ! should we prefer a mole- 
hill before a kingdom ? A shadow before the substance ? An 
hour before eternity ? Nothing before all things ? Vanity and 
vexation before felicity ? The cross of Christ hath set up such a 
sun as quite darkeneth the light of worldly glory. Though earth 
were something, if there were no better to be had, it is nothing 
when heaven standeth by." It is a most important observation 
which we have already quoted from one of his last productions, that 
a man is a Christian just so far as he is heavenly. This has been 
the distinguishing feature of God's people since the beginning of 
the world. "It is written of Cain," observes Augustine, " that he 
built a city. But Abel lived on earth as a stranger, and built 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xxi 

none ; for the city of the saints is above, though its citizens are 
born here and tarry a while, till the kingdom comes to which they 
belong." 

It is to be observed likewise, that through this habit of heavenly 
meditation Baxter was enabled to maintain a wonderful equani- 
mity of mind, though his trials and sufterings were exceedingly 
severe. He was the constant victim of disease, seldom blessed 
with a remission of pain. His name was often assailed by slander, 
and he was subjected to the most extravagant accusations. He 
was driven from the people among whom his labours were abund- 
antly blessed of God, and suffered cruel persecution and imprison- 
ment for righteousness' sake. Endowed with a most restless 
spirit and ardent temperament, he was ever harassed by the pre- 
valence of religious views opposed to his own, and the course of 
public affairs proceeding contrary to his wishes and efforts. Not- 
withstanding all these afflictions, we have his own testimony that 
his life was happy and joyful ; and Dr. Bates, in his funeral sermon, 
asks — "Who ever heard an unsubmissive word drop from his 
lips ? " The rest which remaineth cheered his soul, and enabled 
him to possess it in perfect peace. It threw the shadow of a holy 
calm forward upon his spirit. He was not more familiar by rude 
experience with the differences of men and the distractions of 
controversy, than by realizing anticipations with "the multitude 
of one heart, of one mind, and one employment." The thought of 
heaven as the harmonious convocation of the good smoothed his 
asperities, and imparted a tranquil delight such as the discovery of 
the dwelling of the nymphs gave to the weary and storm-tossed 
Trojans. The thought of it as the place where sorrow and sighing 
should flee away — where all tears should be wiped from the eye, 
and all doubt and grief be removed from the soul — subdued him 
to patience, and restrained all murmurs and repining. 

Such was the consequence of his habitual study of the ever- 
lasting rest. Probably he was deemed by the world a joyless, 
cheerless ascetic, one who went mourning all the day, for in no- 
thing does it conceive more falsely of religion than in its tendency 



xxii PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

to diffuse a sweet tranquillity and joy. There is no rest on earth. 
It produces no halsam for the wounds which it inflicts, — discloses no 
haven from the storms with which it is ruffled. There is in every 
breast a longing which it cannot satisfy — a void which it cannot 
fill. It was an address from Christ to the whole human race — 
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest. Sooner or later, though it may be only for a brief 
instant, being effaced by the brand of worldliness, or overwhelmed 
by the gust of passion, there arise in all the feeling of want and 
an earnest craving. 

There must be a sad failing in the general character of religious 
persons, when such a misconception, as we have mentioned, can 
prevail. Religion is the life of God in the soul, yet may not the 
finger of scorn be often pointed at those who cultivate it with the 
exclamation — Where is your God ? The hands are allowed to hang 
down, and the knees to wax feeble, and depression and gloom to 
settle on the mind, because the duty which Baxter enjoins is neg- 
lected. Were the attention sufficiently directed to the rest which 
remaineth, and the glory which is to be revealed, and the joy 
which awaits, songs of deliverance would be more frequent, and 
the courageous bearing and undisturbed equanimity would speedily 
set the world's opinion right, and have not a little influence in 
carrying to the conviction and the heart the invitation of Jesus. 

We observed that the devotion of Baxter was practical. It not 
only promoted the purity of his own heart, and served as an anti- 
dote to the trials of his lot, but it also led him with more intense 
eagerness to desire the good of others. He was taught by his 
exercises on the everlasting rest to feel the worth of the soul, 
and a heavy grief pressed upon his mind, when he thought that 
this invaluable possession might in any case be lost. There was 
not a grain of selfishness in his nature. He retired to commune 
with God, that he might be better fitted to contend with men. 
No man ever had more reason to inscribe over the door of his 
closet the w^ords of Peter, — "It is good to be here;" yet that 
closet was but the spirit's resting-place, where he recruited his 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xxiii 

energies, and prepared anew for the course of duty. " The proper 
value of the contemplative life/' observes Orme, " in him was thus 
strikingly illustrated." He gave himself to it in the spirit of that 
wisdom, which, according to Milton, 

" Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, 
Where, with her best nurse Contemplation, 
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, 
That in the various bustle and resort 
Had been too ruffled and sometimes impaired." 

When the brightness of the Divine glories flashed upon his mind, 
and the high nature of the soul's engagements in the upper world 
occupied his understanding, he could not but feel, when he con- 
templated the thoughtlessness and heedless career of the majority 
of men, as Jesus felt when he wept over Jerusalem. How affect- 
ingly does he open the inconceivable misery of the ungodly in 
their loss of the rest ! " If this rest be for none but 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 ; I 
am a messenger of the saddest tidings to thee, that ever yet thy 
ears did hear ; that thou shalt never partake of the joys of heaven, 
nor have the least taste of the saints' eternal rest." We do not 
know that there are in his " Reformed Pastor" four chapters more 
calculated to awaken the serious thoughtfulness of sinners, and 
especially to stir up the energies of those whose business it is to 
win souls, than the four opening chapters of the third book, ad- 
dressed to the ungodly. Baxter displays in them the most mas- 
terly acquaintance with the human heart, — exposes its sophistries, 
detects its subterfuges, rouses its fears, lays hold of its hopes. 
He wants to lead the sinner to flee from the wrath to come, and 



xxiv PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

seek the everlasting rest, and he will not have his purpose frus- 
trated. He is pleading for immortal souls, and he will not be 
repelled by the risings of their pride. He unfolds the magnitude of 
their loss, and brings the clearest reason to demonstrate that with 
an agonizing consciousness they shall feel it ; with a graphic pen 
he enlarges on the various aggravations of their miserable lot ; and 
finding them still stout-hearted, grapples closely with the heart and 
conscience, clutches them with a giant grasp, and throws a clear 
and confounding light into their dark chambers, until it is hardly 
possible for the sinner not to writhe under his revelations and 
warnings. At the same time there is nothing harsh or severe 
about the style ; it is the pleading of " a dying man with dying 
men," the uttered, yet unutterable agony of love. " Alas ! it is no 
pleasure to a minister to speak to people upon such an unwelcome 
subject, any more than it is to a pitiful physician to tell his patient, 
I do despair of your life, except you let blood. 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 ? And will it do you any good for a minister to give 
you hopes where God gives you none ; or would you desire him to 
do so ? Why, what would you think of such a minister when those 
hopes forsake 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." 

The thought of the soul's inestimable worth must ever supply 
the fuel of ministerial zeal — the feeling that his message is one of 
eternal importance in its results, must ever communicate an intense 
energy to the addresses of the preacher, and a deep pathos to his 
appeals. He has taken upon him to be the keeper of his brethren's 
souls, and woe unto him if their blood should cry against him from 
hell ! And all permanent good must be effected by forcing on the 
sinner's mind the conviction of his immortality, and the solemn 
interest which belongs to this life from its determination on the 
condition of the future. 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xxv 

" Behold! O man, thy soul was formed by God for himself. It 
is of a finer texture than the trodden clod — endowed with an intel- 
ligence of a higher nature than animal instinct. It is a vile degra- 
dation of its powers to feed it only with the heggarly elements of 
earth — thou oughtest to set thy affections on things that are above, 
and to commune with the invisible and the eternal. It is the pro- 
perty of God, and thou wrongest him. Thou robbest the Almighty 
— thou art treasuring up unto thyself wrath against the day of 
wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Thou 
canst not perish absolutely, for God will not annihilate thee. Be 
zealous and repent, lest thou become an eternal monument of his 
just vengeance. Oh that some Jonas had this point in hand, to 
cry in your ears, ' Yet a few days and the rebellious shall be de- 
stroyed ; ' till you were brought down on your knees in sackcloth 
and in ashes ! Oh if some John Baptist might cry it abroad, 
' Now is the axe laid to the root of the trees ; 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 dolours of those souls that are under 
the wrath of God ? Ah, that ever blind sinners should wilfully 
bring themselves to such unspeakable misery ! You will then be 
crying to Jesus Christ, — Oh, mercy ! 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 pity, man, upon thine own soul ! ' Who can stand 
before the Lord, and who can abide the fierceness of his anger?' 
Methinks thou shouldst need no more words, but presently cast 
away thy soul-damning sins, and wholly deliver up thyself to Christ. 
Resolve on it immediately, man, 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 
hardened unto death, and there be no remedy, yet do not say 



xxvi PRELLMIXARY ESSAY. 

another day but that thou wast faithfully warned, and that thou 
hadst a friend that would fain have prevented thy damna- 
tion." 

We have touched on some of the most marked features of the 
Saints' Everlasting Rest, and the corresponding developments of 
the author's character. Whatever there was in him of unearthly 
excellence was owing in a great measure to his habit of heavenly 
meditation, induced and fostered by the composition of this work. 
This made his religion one of enjoyment and activity, and his 
preaching of distinguished usefulness. It is seldom that the labours 
of ministers have been followed by such abundant tokens of God's 
favour. A rude and dissolute population were subdued under him 
by the power of Divine grace, and exhibited the beauties and ex- 
cellences of the Christian character. The energy of his own mind 
and his earnest concern for the good of souls were diffused among 
his people. " They thirsted," says he, " after the salvation of their 
neighbours, and were in private my assistants ; and being dispersed 
throughout the town, were ready in almost all companies to repress 
seducing words, and to justify godliness, convince, reprove, and 
exhort men according to their needs ; as also to teach them how 
to pray, and to help them to sanctify the Lord's day," Through 
their united labours, the moral world budded and blossomed ai'ound 
them, and became as the garden of the Lord. In the habit, the 
importance of cultivating which we would impress upon our readers, 
lay the secret of his strength. His radiant piety gave him a 
mighty influence with men ; there is indeed about it a moral power 
which the world cannot withstand. And no wonder, for it indicates 
the presence of the Most High. The same habit, cultivated with 
the same diligence and zest, will be accompanied with the same suc- 
cess in others. No man is straitened in God. Baxter, of weak bodily 
presence, and a martyr to disease, was a most unlikely instrument 
to accomplish such effects. We need only to have in every town 
throughout the kingdom ministers of a similar spirit, who walk 
with God, and whose labours are baptized with prayer, and a peo- 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. xxvii 

pie will be found ready to co-operate in every good work, and the 
success which attended his preaching will not be denied to theirs. 
We need only thi'oughout the world to have labourers, who are 
equally men of God, having their hearts in heaven, and " the Spirit 
will be poured from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, 
and the fruitful field be counted for a forest." 

The Saints' Rest has been eminently blessed of God to the 
promotion of piety. The spirit of it is communicative ; and that 
such a work is now called for, is one of the most favourable signs 
of the times. 

How would the church revive, and cast abroad its roots, and 
diffuse a most pleasant fragrance, were the rest to become the ob- 
ject of all believers' habitual contemplation ! Bickerings and con- 
tention would be shrunk from. Joy and gladness, thanksgiving 
and the voice of melody, would resound in the habitations of the 
righteous. A spirit of calm repose would brood over our world, 
and shed its gentle yet powerful influence upon the minds of men. 
The God of peace and love would rejoice over his people with joy 
and singing, and the time would be much accelerated, when, as our 
world rolls round its multitude of holy and happy inhabitants, he 
would have occasion again to pronounce it good. 

We conclude with a few stanzas out of Orme from Baxter's 
" Exit," where he takes his leave of the world, and longs to be in 
heaven. 

My soul, go boldly forth, 
Forsake this sinful earth ; 
What hath it been to thee, 

But pain and sorrow ? 
And thinkest thou 'twill be 

Better to-morrow ? 

Look up towards heaven and see 
How vast those regions be, 
Where blessed spirits dwell ; 

How pure and lightful ! 
But earth is near to hell ; 

How dark and frightful ! 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 

Jeruf3alem above, 
Glorious in light and love, 
Is mother of us all. 

Who shall enjoy them ? 
The wicked hell-ward fall, 

Sin will destroy them, 

God is essential love ; 
And all the saints above 
Are like unto him made. 

Each in his measure. 
Love is their life and trade, 

Their constant pleasure. 

What joy must there needs be, 
Where all God's glory see ! 
Feeling God's vital love. 

Which still is burning ; 
And flaming God-ward move, 

Full love returning. 



CONTENTS. 



THE FIRST PART. 

Chap. I. Tlicre remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God 
II. This rest defined 

III. What this rest presupposeth 

IV. What this rest containeth .... 
v. The four great preparatives to our rest 

VI. This rest most excellent, discovered by reason 
VII. The excellences of our rest 
VIII. The people of God described 
The Conclusion . 



PAGE 

I 

4 

9 

15 

33 

52 

5,8 

104 

123 



THE SECOND PART. 

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. 

Chap. 1 124 

II. Motives to study and preach the Divine authority of Scripture . 12S 

in 136 

IV. The first Argument to prove Scripture to be the word of God . 144 

V. The second Argument 163 

VI. The third Argument 168 

VIL The fourth Argument 176 

VIII. Rest for none but the people of God, proved .... 189 
IX. Reasons why this rest remains, and is not here enjoyed . .191 
X. Whether the souls departed enjoy this rest before the resur- 
rection ' 198 



THE THIRD PART. 

SEVERAL USES OF THE FORMER DOCTRINE OF REST. 

Chap. I. Use 1. — Showing the unconceivable miseiy of the ungodly in 

their loss of this rest 203 

II. The aggravation of the loss of heaven to the ungodly . .211 

III. They shall lose all things that are comfortable, as well as 

heaven 227 

IV. The greatness of the torments of the damned discovered . . 241 
V. Use 2. — Reprehending the general neglect of this rest, and ex- 
citing to diligence in seeking it 256 



XXX CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chap. VI. An exhortation to seriousness in seeking rest .... 268 
VII. Use 3.— Persuading all men to try their title to this rest; and 

directing them how to try that they may know . . . 289 
VIII. Further causes of doubting among Christians . . .305 

IX. Containing an exhortation, and motives to examine . . 315 
X. Containing directions for examination, and some marks for trial 324 

XI. A more exact inquiry into the number and use of marks ; the 
nature of sincerity; with other things of great moment in 

the work of self-examination 332 

XII. Use 4. — The reason of the saints' afflictions here . . . 3/2 

XIII. Use 5. — An exhortation to those that have got assurance of this 

rest, or title to it, that they would do all that possibly they 
can to help others to it also 3S5 

XIV. An advice to some more specially to help others to this rest, 

pressed largely on ministers and parents . . . .416 

THE FOURTH PART. 

A DIRECTORY FOR THE GETTING AND KEEPING OF THE 
HEART IN HEAVEN. 

Chap. I. Use G. — Reproving our expectations of rest on earth . . 454 
II. Use 7- — Repi'oving our unwillingness to die .... 465 

III. Motives to a heavenly life 4S2 

IV. Containing some hinderances of a heavenly life . . . 517 
V. Some general helps to a heavenly life 534 

VI. Containing the desci'iption of the great duty of heavenly con- 
templation 547 

VII. Containing the fittest time and place for this contemplation, 

and the preparation of the heart unto it ... . 555 
VIII. Of consideration, the instrument of this work; and what force 

it hath to move the soul 570 

IX. What affections must be acted, and by what considerations and 

objects, and in what order 574 

X. By what actings of the soul to proceed in this work of heavenly 

contemplation 592 

XI. Some advantages and helps, for raising and affecting the soul by 

this meditation 597 

XII. How to manage and watch over the heart through the whole work 615 

XIII. The abstract, or sum of all, for the use of the weak . . . 620 

XIV. An example of this heavenly contemplation, for the help of the 

unskilful 622 

The Conclusion 652 

Broughton in the conclusion of his " Consent of Scripture," concerning 
the new Jerusalem, and the everlasting sabbatism, meant in my text, 

as begun here, and perfected in heaven 658 

A Poem of Master G. Herbert, in his " Temple " 660 

An addition to the eleventh chapter of the third part of the " Saints' Rest" 662 
To the Reader 667 



SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 



PART I. 

THERE EEMAINETH THEREFOIIE A REST TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD.— HEB. IV. 9. 

CHAPTER I. 

Sect. 1. It was not only our interest in God, and actual fruition of 
him, which was lost in Adam's covenant-breaking fall, but all 
spiritual knowledge of him, and true disposition towards such a 
felicity. Man hath now a heart too suitable to his estate ; a low 
state, and a low spirit. And (as some expound that of Luke xviii. 
8) when the Son of God comes with recovering grace, and dis- 
coveries and tenders of a spiritual and eternal happiness and glory, 
he finds not faith in man to believe it. But as the poor man that 
would not believe that any one man had such a sum as 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 procured. When God would give the 
Israelites his sabbaths of rest in a land of rest, he had more ado to 
make them believe it, than to overcome their enemies, and procure 
it for them ; and when they had it, only as a small intimation and 
earnest of a more incomparably glorious rest through Christ, they 
stick there ; and will yet believe no more than they do possess, but 
sit down and say, as the glutton at the feast, Sure there is no other 
heaven but this : or if they do expect more by the Messiah, it is 
only the increase of their earthly felicity. The apostle bestows 
most of this epistle against this distemper ; and clearly and largely 
proves unto them, that it is the end of all ceremonies and shadows 
to direct them to Jesus Christ, the Substance ; and that the rest 
of sabbaths and Canaan should teach them to look for a further 
rest, which indeed is their happiness. My text is his conclusion, 
after divers arguments to that end ; a conclusion so useful to a be- 
liever, as containing the ground of all his comforts, the end of all 
his duty and sufferings, the life and sum of all gospel promises and 
Christian privileges, that you may easily be satisfied why I have 
made it the subject of my present discourse. What more welcome 



2 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

to men, under personal afflictions, tiring duty, successions of suf- 
ferings, than rpst ? What more welcome news, to men under pub- 
lic calamities,'^ unpleasing employments, plundering losses, sad 
tidings, &c. which is the common case, than this of rest? Hearers, 

1 pray God your attentions, intention of spirit, entertainment of 
it, be but half answerable to the verity, necessity, and excellency 
of this subject, and then you will have cause to bless God, while 
you live, tliat 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, Avith the concluding illative : the subject is* 
rest ; the predicate, it yet remains to the people of God. It is re- 
quisite 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 re- 
mains 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 (Heb. x. 30; Micah ii. 8; 

2 Pet. ii. 20; John ii. 23; Heb. vi. 4—6; x. 29, 30), by an ex- 
ternal acceptation of Christ, and covenanting, sanctified by the 
blood of the covenant so far as to be separated from the open ene- 
mies of Christ, and all without the church, therefore not to be ac- 
counted 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. (John XV. 2, 6) ; for they are in the church, and in 
him, by the foresaid profession and external covenant, but no 
further. There are, in his kingdom, things that offend, and men 
that work iniquity, which the angels, at the last day, shall gather 
out and cast into the lake of fire (Matt. xiii. 41); there are 
ilshes, good and bad, in his net ; and tares, with wheat, in his field. 
The son of perdition is one of those given to Christ by the Father, 
though not as the rest (John xvii. 12) : 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, in- 
ternal, sincere covenanting, 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 bearing 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 ; yea, 
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, of which see my " Disputations of Right to 



CuAP. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3 

Sacraments ;" yet hath this many privileges, as the external seals, 
means of grace, common mercies, but no interest in this rest. 

3. But to be his by election, union with Christ, and special in- 
terest, as before mentioned, is the peculiar property 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. persever- 
ing believers, without determining by name who they are ( 

A))sw. 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 by name, which evidently follows these 
plain propositions : 

1. There are 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 eter- 
nity 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 absolutely to none at all ; yet I know much 
more is necessary to be said to make this plain, which I purpose not 
(at least here) to meddle with. 

Sect. 4. Quest. To whom ? Is it to the people of God, upon 
certainty, or only upon possibility ? 

Atisw. 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 they 
were named in that promise ; for the 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 abso- 
lutely promised, it still remaineth absolutely certain upon promise : 
and, indeed, if glory be ours only upon a condition, 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 re- 
solved, and hath undertaken, for the working and finishing of their 
faith, and the full effecting his people's salvation ; and not only 

B 2 



4 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

given us a (feigned) sufficient grace, not effectual, leaving it to our 
wills to make it effectual, as some think ; so that, though still the 
promise of justification and salvation he conditional, yet God, 
having manifested his purpose of enabling us to fulfil those condi- 
tions, 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 con- 
trary,) it being the proper work of God's law or covenant, to confer 
right or due ; yet the event or futurition 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 accomplished or produced. 



CHAPTER II. 



THIS REST DEFINED. 



Sect. 1. Now let us see, 1. What this rest is. 2. What these 
people of God, and why so called. 3. The truth of this, from 
other Scripture arguments. 4. Why this rest must yet remain. 
5. Why only to the people of God. 6. What use to make of it. 

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 
therefore confine my discourse to this last. 

Definition. Rest is the end and perfection of motion. The 
saint's rest, here in question, is the most happy estate of a Chris- 
tian, having obtained the end of his course : or, it is the perfect, 
endless fruition of God, by the perfected saints, according to the 
measure of their capacity, to which their souls arrive at death ; and 
both soul and body most fully, after the resurrection and final 
judgment. 

Sect. 2. I. I call it the estate of a Christian, though perfection 
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 consequently our happiness, 
will then be perfect. And this is the estate which we now briefly 

* I doubt not 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 chicfest part, in comparison whereof the beginning 
in this life is -very small, I may very well extend the text to that which itself intends as 
the principal part ; but I exclude not the beginnings here, though I purpose not the 
handling of them. 



Chap. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 5 

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 en- 
joyment of creatures, but also from all those beginnings, foretastes, 
earnests, first-fruits, and imperfect degrees, which we have here in 
this life, while we are but in the way. It is the chief good which 
the world hath so much disputed, yet mistaken or neglected, with- 
out which the greatest confluence of all other good leaves a man 
miserable ; and with the enjoyment of which, all misery is incon- 
sistent. 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 m.eau 
only the sincere, regenerate, sanctified Christian, whose soul, having 
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 scarce knows how, or why ; 
nor mean I those that profess Christ in words, but in works deny 
him. I shall describe this Christian to you more plainly afterwards. 
It is an estate to which many pretend, and that with much confi- 
dence ; and because they know it is only the Christian's, therefore 
they all call themselves Christians. But multitudes will at last 
know, to their eternal sorrow, that this is only the inheritance of 
the saints, and only those Christians shall possess it, who are not of 
the w orld : and, therefore, the world hates them who have forsaken 
all for Christ, and having taken up the cross, do follow him, with 
patient waiting, till they inherit the promised glory. (Col. i. 12; 
Acts xxvi. 18 ; xx. 32 ; John xv. 19 ; Matt. x. 31 ; Luke xiv. 27; 
Heb. X. 38; vi. 15). 

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; 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, I shall fully show through the whole 
discourse, and, therefore, here omit. Everlasting w'oe 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 ever- 
lasting state depend on ourright judgment and estimation of our end ! 

Sect. 6. But it is great doubt with many, whe- ^vi^^thcr to make 
ther the obtainment of this glory may be our end; salvation our end, 
nay, concluded, that it is mercenary ; yea, that to \l legai p*"' asT[L 
make salvation the end of duty, is to be a legalist, very feeiins of life. 



6 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

at all, were the sureei and act under a covenant of works, whose tenor 
CleCcmSary Jo i^, Do this and live. And many that think it may 
the whole tenor of be our end, yet think it may not be our ultimate 
Scripture. g^^j^ f^^. ^^^^^ should be only the glory of God. I 

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 seek- 
ing 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 " Do this 
and live," is only the language of the covenant of works. It is 
true, in some sense it is ; but in other, not. The law of works 
only saith, " Do this," that is, perfectly fulfil the whole law, " and 
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 sin- 
cerely, as thy Lord and King ; forsake all, suffer all things, and 
overcome ; and by so doing, or in so doing, as the conditions which 
the gospel propounds for salvation, you shall live. If you set up the 
abrogated duties of the law again, you are a legalist ; if you set 
up the duties of the gospel in Christ's stead, in whole or in part, 
you err still. Christ hath his place and work ; duty hath its place 
and work too ; set it but in its own place, and expect fi'om 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 mis- 
carry in expecting no more from them, as to pray, and to expect 
nothing the more, that is, from Christ, in a way of duty ; for if 
duty have no share, why may we not trust Christ, as well in a way 
of disobedience as duty { In a word, you must both use and trust 
duty in subordination to Christ, but neither use them nor trust 
them in co-ordination with him. So that this derogates nothing 
from Christ : for he hath done and will do all his work perfectly, 
and enableth his people to do theirs; yet he is not properly said to 
do it himself ;t 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 authority will here be acknowledged ; but I desire the con- 
trary-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. 

* Viz. by -way of merit, strictly so called. 

t Christ believed for us legally, or so far as the law required faith, but not as it is 
the condition or command of the new covenant. 



Chap. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 7 

" Ye vill not come to me, that ye might have life," John v. 39, 40. 
" The kingdom of heaven sufForeth violence, and the violent take 
it by force," JMatt. xi. 12. " Strive to enter in at the strait ^te," 
Matt. vii. 13; Luke xiii, 24. " Work out your salvation with fear 
and trembling," Phil. ii. 12. " To them who, by patient continu- 
ance in well-doing, seek for gloi7, and honour, and immortality, 
eternal life. Glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh 
good," &c. Rom. ii. 7, 10. " So run that ye 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, laying 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 aue they 
that do his connnandments, 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. v. " 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 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, I myself 
should be a castaway," 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, 
jnan must not separate. The glorifying himself, and the saving of 
his people, as I judge, are not two decrees with God, but one decree, 
to glorify his mercy in their salvation ; though w'e may say, that 
one is the end of the other ; so I think they should be with us to- 
gether intended. We should aim at the glory of God, not alone 
considered, without our salvation, but in our salvation. Therefore, 

1 know no warrant for putting such a question to ourselves, as some 

* I speak the more of this, because I find that many moderate men, -nlio think they 
have found the mean between the Autinomian and the legalist, yet do foully err in this 
point. As IMr. 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 dangerous consequence, that I 
would advise all men to take heed of it, that regard their salvation, 1 Cor. xv. ult. ; 

2 Cor. iv. 17 ; v. 10, 11 ; 2 Pet. i. 10, 11. I here undertake to prove that this fore- 
mentioned doctrine, reduced to practice, will certainly be the damnation of the practiser: 
but I hope many Antinomlaus do not practise their own doctrine. 



8 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. . Part I. 

do, Whether we could be content to be damned, so God were glo- 
rified ? 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 ab- 
.stracted glory. He would be received as a Saviour, Mediator, 
Redeemer, Reconciler, Intercessor, &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. I3ut 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. 

Sect. 9. IV. In the definition, I call a Christian's happiness, the 
end of his course, thereby meaning, as Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 7, the whole 
scope of his life. For as salvation may, and must, be our end, so 
not only the end of our faith, though that principally^ but of all our 
actions ; for as whatsoever we do, must be done to the glory of God, 
whether eating, drinking, &c. so must they all be done to our sal- 
vation. That we may believe for salvation, some will grant, who 
yet deny that we may do or obey for it.* I would it were well un- 
derstood, 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 (John i. 12) ; 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. f 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 conceive 
of him, and know him, and receive him for Lord and King. There- 
fore there is not such a wide difference between faith and gospel 
obedience, or works, as some judge. J Obedience to the gospel is 
put for faith, and disobedience put for unbelief, ofttimes in the New 
Testament. But of this I have spoken more fully elsewhere. 

V. Lastly : I make happiness to consist in this end obtained ; 
for it is not the mere promise of it that immediately makes per- 

* The scriptures before cited do prove both. 

f See more of this hereafter. 

i In this point of works concurring in justification, I am wholly of Davenant's judg- 
ment, " De Justifia Actuali." 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 ou James ii. and abundance more cited in my " Confession." 



Chap. lU. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 

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, 
I have finished my course : henceforth is laid up for me a crown of 
salvation," 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. Oh that we did all heartily and 
strongly believe, that we shall never be truly happy till then ! Then 
should wc not so dote upon a seeming happiness here. 



CHAPTER III. 

WHAT THIS REST PRESUPPOSETH. 



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 deceiv- 
eth 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 woeful 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 motion : for sin 
hath not overthrown our being, nor taken away our motion ; but 
our well-being, and the rectitude of our motion, ^^'hen 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 bring them to a stand ; and by conversion, 
turn first their hearts, and then their lives, sincerely to himself. 
Even those that are sanctified and justified from the womb, are yet 

* The only cause of this evil, is aversion from God. As a coachman, if he let the 
horses run headlong over hanks, or which way they -will, &c. Athanas. lib. i. cont. Gent. 



10 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 ; 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 j^et 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. f Nay, there will not only be a 
knowledge of this distance, and lost estate, but also affections an- 
swerable. Can a man be brought to find himself hard by the brink 
of hell, and not tremble ? or, to find he hath lost his God and his 
soul, and not cry out, I am undone ? or can such a stupid soul be 
so recovered ! This is the sad case of many thousands, and the 
reason why so few obtain this rest : they will not be convinced, or 
made sensible, that they are, in point of title, distant from it ; and 
in point of practice, contrary to it. They have lost their God, their 
souls, their rest, and do not know it, nor will believe him that tells 
them so. Who ever travelleth towards a place which he thought 
he was at already, or sought for that which he knew not he had 
lost ? " The whole need not the physician, but they that are sick," 
Matt. ix. 12. 

Sect. VI. 6. Here is also presupposed, 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 the 
first mover. This 2rri)?ium movens is God. "What hand God hath 
in evil actions, or whether he aftbrd the like influence to their pro- 
duction, 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 Chris- 
tian wisdom, to keep our subordination to God, and dependence on 
him ; to be still in the path where he walks, and in tliat 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 con- 

* I speak all this of men of age, converted by the word, not of those sanctified in in- 
fancy. 

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



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. H 

tinual 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 resohition 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 presupposed an internal principle of life in 
the person. God moves not man like a stone, but by enduing him 
first with life, not to enable him to move without God, but thereby 
to qualify him to move himself, in subordination to God the first 
Mover. What the nature of this spiritual life is, is a question ex- 
ceeding difficult.* Whether, as some think, (but, as I judge, erro- 
neously,) it be Christ himself in person or essence, or the 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 dispo- 
sition, or a habit, as it is generally taken ; whether a habit infused, 
or acquired by frequent acts, to which the soul hath been morally 
persuaded ; or whether it be somewhat distinct from a habit ; i. e. 
a power ; viz. jwtentia j^t'o.vima intelligendl, credeudi, rolendi, 8fc. 
in spirituaUbus ; which some think the most probable, A multi- 
tude of such difficulties occur, which will be difficulties while the 
doctrine of spirits and spirituals is so dark to us, and that will be 
while the dust of mortality and corruption 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 mean time, 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 clo well to keep closer to its language. 

Sect. VIII. 8. Here is presupposed before rest, an actual motion : 
rest is the end of motion : no motion, no rest. Christianity is not 
a sedentary profession and employment, nor doth it consist in mere 
negatives. It is not for feeding, or clothing, &c. that Christ con- 
demns. 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 sloth- 
ful servant. 

Sect. IX. 9. Here is presupposed, also, as motion, so such 

* I speak not here de gratia operante, but de gratia operata ; not of the cause, but of 
the effect ; for (so tar as these obscure things are known to us, on the ordinary grounds) 
•we must say, that it is the very essence of God which worketh grace on the soul ; for it 
is his telle effcctivum, his will. God needs do no more to produce the creature, or any 
quality in it, but only to will it, as Dr. Twisse saith, and Bradwardine more fully and 
peremptorily : and God's will is his essence. I speak on supposition of God's im- 
mediate operation ; for if God work grace by angels, or any second causes, then it can- 
not be thus said of the act of the second cause, but of God's act it is still true. So 
Clem. Alex. 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. CI. Al. Ptedagog. 1. i. c. 6. 



12 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 appointing will do. Oh the pains that sin- 
ners take, and worldlings take, but not for this rest ! Oh the pains 
and cost that many an ignorant and superstitious soul is at for this 
rest, but all in vain ! How many have a zeal for God, but not ac- 
cording to knowledge ! who, being ignorant of God's righteousness, 
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not 
submitted themselves to the righteousness of God; nor known 
" that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one 
that believeth," Rom. x. 2 — 4. Christ is the door ; the only way 
to this rest. Some will allow nothing else to be called the way, 
lest it derogate from Christ. The truth is, Christ is the only way 
to the Father ; yet faith is the way to Christ ; and gospel obedience, 
or faith and works, the way for those to walk in, that are in Christ. 
There be, as before, many ways requisite in subordination to Christy 
but none in co-ordination with him ; so then it is only God's way 
that will lead to this end and rest. 

Sect. X. 10. There is supposed, also, as motion rightly ordered, 
so strong and constant motion, which may reach the end. If there 
be not strength put to the bow, the arrow will not reach the mark : 
the lazy world, that think all too much, will find this to their cost 
one day. They that think less ado might have served, do but 
reproach Christ for making us so much to do : they that have been 
most holy, watchful, painful, to get faith and assurance, do find, 
when they come to die, all little enough. We see, daily, the best 
Christians, when dying, repent their negligence : I never knew any, 
then, repent his holiness and diligence. It would grieve a man's 
soul to see a multitude of mistaken sinners lay out their wit, and 
care, and pains, for a thing of nought, and think to have eternal 
salvation with a wish. If the way to heaven be not far harder 
than the world imagines, then Christ and his apostles knew not the 
way, or else have deceived us ; for they have told us, " that the 
kingdom of heaven suiFereth violence ; that the gate is strait, and 
the way narrow ; and we must strive, if we will enter ; for many 
shall seek to enter, and not be able" (Matt. xi. 12; vii. 13; Luke 
xiii. 24, 25; 1 Pet. iv. 18), which implies the faintness of their 
seeking, and that they put not strength to the work; and, "that 
the righteous themselves are scarcely saved." If ever souls obtain 
salvation in the world's common, careless, easy way, then I will say 
there is a nearer way found out than ever God, in Scripture, hath 
revealed to the sons of men. But when they have obtained life and 
rest in this way, let them boast of it; till then, let them give us 
leave, who would fain go upon sure grounds, in point of eternal 
salvation, to believe that God knows the way better than they, and 
that his word is a true and infallible discovery thereof. 



CiiAi'. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. J 3 

I have seen this doctrine also thrown by with contempt Ity 
others, who say, What ! do you set us a-working for heaven .' Doth 
our duty do any thing .' Ilath not Christ done all { Is not this to 
make him a half Saviour, and to preach law ? 

A/tsir. It is to preach the law of Christ : his subjects are not 
lawless. It is to preach duty to Christ: none. a more exact re- 
quirer of duty, or hater of sin, than Christ. Christ hath done and 
will do all his work, and therefore is a perfect Saviour ; but yet 
leaves for us a work too. He hath paid all the price, and left us 
none to pay ; yet he never intended his purchase should put us into 
absolute, immediate, personal title to glory, in point of law, much 
less into immediate possession. What title, improperly so called, 
we may have from his own and his Father's secret counsel, is 
nothing to the question : he hath purchased the crown to bestow 
only on condition of believing, denying all for him, suffering 
with him, persevering, and overcoming. He hath purchased justi- 
fication, to bestow only on condition of our believing ; yea, repent- 
ing 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 received also, that must save : it is not the blood of 
Christ shed only, but applied also, that must fully deliver ; nor is 
it applied to the justification or salvation of a sleepy soul ; nor 
doth Christ carry us to heaven in a chair of security. Where he 
will pardon, he will make you pray, " Forgive us our trespasses ;" 
and where he will give righteousness, he will give hungering and 
thirsting. It is not through any imperfection in Christ, that the 
righteous are scarcely saved ; no, nor that the wicked perish, as 
they shall be convinced one day. In the same sense as the prayer 
of the faithful, if fervent, availeth for outward mercies, in the same 
sense it prevaileth for salvation also ; for Christ hath purchased 
both. And as baptism is said to save us, so other duties too. Our 
righteousness, which the law of works requireth, and by which it is 
satisfied, is wholly in Christ, and not one grain in ourselves ; nor 
must we dare to think of patching up a legal righteousness of 
Christ's and our own together : that is, that our doings can be the 
least part of satisfaction for our sins, or proper merit. But yet 
ourselves must personally fulfil the conditions of the new covenant, 
and so have a personal, evangelical righteousness, or never be 
saved by Christ's righteousness ; therefore, say not it is not duty, 
but Christ ; for it is Christ in a way of duty. As duty cannot do 
it without Christ, so Christ will not do it without duty : but of 
this enough before. 

And as the 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 constancy un- 
useful : 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 



14 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

end shall be saved (Matt. xxiv. 13 ; Mark xiii. 13, 22 ; Acts xiii. 
43 ; xiv. 22 ; Rom. xi. 22 ; Col. i. 23 ; Heb. viii. 9 ; James i. 25). 
Head but the promises, (Rev. ii. and iii.) " To him that over- 
cometh." Christ's own disciples must be commanded to continue 
in his love, and that by keeping his commandments; and to abide 
in him, and his .word in them, and he in them. It will seem 
strange to some, that Christ should command us, that " he abide 
in us." See John xv. 4—10 ; viii. 31 ; 1 John i. 22 ; iv. 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 
every thing inclines to its proper centre, so the rational creature is 
carried on in all its motion, with desires after its end. This end is 
the first thing intended, and chiefest desired, though last obtained. 
Observe it, and believe it, whoever thou art ; there was never a 
soul that made Christ and glory the principal end, nor that ob- 
tained rest with God, whose desire was not set upon him, and that 
above all things else in the world whatsoever. Christ brings the 
heart to heaven first, and then the person. His own mouth spoke 
it, " Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also," 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 
motion of them is oft strongest towards inferior, sensible things ; 
but the serious, deliberate will or choice, which is the rational 
desire, is most for God. 

Sect. XII. 12. Lastly : here is presupposed painfulness and 
weariness in our motion. This ariseth not from any evil in the 
work or way, for Christ's yoke is easy, his burden light, and his 
commands not grievous (Prov. iv. 6 ; Matt. xi. 30 ; 1 John v. 3) : 
but, 1. From the opposition we meet with. 2. The contrary prin- 
ciples still remaining in our nature, which will make us cry out, 
" O wretched men !" 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 weariness 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 impossibili- 
ties 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 ab- 
sence ; which all vanish when we come to possession. All these 
twelve things are implied in a Christian's motion, and so presup- 



CuAi'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 15 

posed to this rost. And he only that hath the prerequisite qualifi- 
cations, shall have the crown. Here, therefore, should ('hristians 
lay out their utmost care and industry. Sec to your part, and Glod 
will certainly see to his part. Look you to your hearts and duties, 
in which God is ready with assisting grace, and he will see that 
you lose not the reward. Oh how most Christians wrong God and 
themselves, with heing more solicitous about God's part of the 
work than their own, as if God's faithfulness were more to be 
suspected than their unfaithful, treacherous hearts ! The rest is 
glorious, and God is faithful : Christ's death is sufficient, and the 
promise is universal, free, and true. You need not fear missing of 
heaven through the deficiency or fault of any of these. But yet 
for all these, the 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 promise is true, but conditional. Never fear whether God will 
break promise, but fear lest you should not truly perform the con- 
dition ; for nothing else can bereave you of the benefit. 



CHAPTER IV. 

AVHAT THIS REST CONTAINETH. 



Sect. I. 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 ! 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, containeth that which could not, or must 
not, be uttered, or both (2 Cor. xii. 4). And if Paul had had a 
tongue to have uttered it, it would have done no good, except his 
hearers had ears to hear it. If Paul had spoke the things of hea- 
ven in the language of heaven, and none understood 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 
(Numb. xxiv. 15 ; xvi. 5) ; nor as to Moses, who had only a dis- 
covery, instead of possession, and saw the land which he never en- 
tered (Deut. xxxiv. 1 — 4) ; 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 (Matt. xiii. 44 — 4G) ; and as heaven was opened to 



16 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

blessed Stephen, which he was shortly to enter, and the glory 
showed him, which should be his own possession (Acts vii. 55, 56). 

1. Cessation from all ^''ect. II. 1. There is contahied in this rest, 1. A 
that action which cessation from motion or action; not of all action, 
hath the nature of ^ml of that which hath the nature of a means, and 

means. 1. Know- . ,• , i n ^ -\ txti i 

ledge. 2. Faith implies the absence oi the end. When we have 
(how far). 3 Pray- obtained the haven, we have done sailing. When 

cr. 4. So fasting, , , i i i • • • ■ -^^^ ^ ^ ■, 

weeping, watching, the workman hath his wages, it is implied he hath 
preaching, and sa- done his woi'k. When we are at our journey's end, 
we have done with the way. All motion ends at 
the centre, and all means cease when we have the end. Therefore, 
prophesying ceaseth, tongues fail, and knowledge shall be done 
away ; that is, so far as it had the nature of a means, and was im- 
perfect.* 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 knov/ the last judgment, the resurrection of the body 
beforehand, but by believing ? How shall we know the life ever- 
lasting, the eternity of the joys we possess, but by believing ? 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 resurrection, for the last judgment, &c. or 
whether soul and body pray for the eternal continuance of their 
joys, is to me unknown ; otherwise, we shall not need to pray for 
what we have, and we shall have all that is desirable. Neither 
shall we need to fast, and weep, and watch any more, being out of 
the reach of sin and temptations. Nor will there be use for in- 
structions 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 any need of labouring for inferior ends, as here we 
do, seeing they will all devolve themselves into the ocean of the 
ultimate end, and the lesser good be wholly swallowed up of the 
greatest. 

2. Perfect freedom Scct. III. 2. This rcst containeth a perfect free- 

fromevii. dom from all the evils that accompanied us through 

our course, and which necessarily follow our absence from the chief 
good ; besides our freedom from those eternal flames and restless 
miseries, which the neglecters of Christ and grace must remedi- 
lessly endure ; an inheritance which, both by birth and actual 
, g.^ rnerit, was due to us as well as to them. As God 

will not know the wicked so as to own them ; so 
neither will heaven know iniquity to receive it : for there entereth 
nothing that defileth, or is unclean ; all that remains without (Rev. 

* 1 Cor. xiii. 8. There are two excellent parts of our glory, which I have here omit- 
ted, and only put them among the adjuncts, which should not have been done. 1. That 
Ave shall be meml)ers of the heavenly Jerusalem ; and so glorify God in that blessed so- 
ciety. 2. That we shall see the face of our glorified Redeemer ; and his Person shall 
everlastingly be glorified in us. Were it again to do, I should largelier treat of both 
these, as principal parts of our glory and felicity. 



Chai'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 17 

xxi. 27). And, doubtless, there is not such a thing 2. Sorrow and suf- 
as grief and sorrow known there : nor is there such lering. 

a thing as a pale face, a languid body, feeble joints, unable infancy 
decrepit age, peccant humours, dolorous sickness, griping fears, 
consuming care, nor whatsoever deserves the name of evil. Indeed, 
a gale of groans and sighs, a stream of tears, accompanied us to the 
very gates, and there bid us farewell for ever. We did weep and 
lament, when the world did rejoice ; but our sorrow is turned into 
joy, and our joy shall no man take from us (John xvi. 20 — 22). 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. IV. 3. This rest containeth the highest .. „ 1 <■ 

T „ , . , , /• • 1 1 r •^- Personal perfec- 

degree ot the samts personal perlection, both or tion in the highest 
soul and body. This necessarily qualifies them an§'"^o]'°''' "'"""^ 
to enjoy the glory, and thoroughly to partake 
the sweetness of it. Were the glory never so great, and them- 
selves not made capable by a personal perfection suitable there- 
to, it would be little to them. There is necessary a right dis- 
position of the recipient, to a right enjoying, and aftecting. 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 imperfection 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 firmament of our Father : yet is this the dignity 
to which the righteous shall be advanced (Gen. ii. 15; Dan. xii. 3). 
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 within them a heart full of sin shuts the door 
against all, and makes them but the more miserable. When all is 
well within, then all is well indeed. 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. V. 4. This rest containeth, as the principal 4 chicilv the near- 
part, our nearest fruition of God, the chiefest good, est imition of God 
And here, reader, wonder not if I be at a loss, and '^^ ^^''^^ sood. 
if my apprehensions receive but little of that which is in my ex- 
pressions. If, to the beloved disciple that durst speak and inquire 
into Christ's secrets, and was filled with his revelations, and saw 

c 



18 THE SxMNTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

the new Jerusalem in her glory, and had seen Christ, Moses, and 
Elias, in part of theirs ; if it did not appear to him what we shall 
be, but only in general, that when Christ appears we shall be like 
him (1 John iii. 2), no wonder if I know little. When I know so 
little of God, I cannot know much what it is to enjoy him. When 
it is so little I know of mine own soul, either its quiddity or quality, 
while it is here in this tabernacle, how little must I needs know of 
the infinite Majesty, or the state of this soul when it is advanced 
to that enjoyment ! If I know so little of spirits and spirituals, how 
little of the Father of spirits ! Nay, if I never saw that creature 
which contains not something unsearchable ; nor the worm so 
small, which aifordeth not matter for questions to puzzle the great- 
est philosopher that ever I 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 contain of this immense ocean. We shall never be 
capable of clearly knowing, till we are capable of fully enjoying; 
nay, nor till we do actually enjoy him. What strange conceivings 
hath a man, born blind, of the sun, and its light ; or a man born 
deaf, of the nature of sounds and music ! so do we yet want that 
sense by which God must be clearly known. I stand and look upon 
a heap of ants, and see them all, with one view, very busy to little 
purpose. They know not me, my being, nature, or thoughts, 
though I am their fellow creature ; how little, then, must we know 
of the great Creator, though he with one view continually beholds 
us all ! Yet acknowledge we have, though imperfect, and such as 
must be done away. A glimpse the saints behold, though but in 
a glass, which makes us capable of some poor, general, dark appre- 
hensions of what we shall behold in glory. If I should tell a world- 
ling but what the holiness and spiritual joys of the saints on earth 
are, he cannot know it ; for grace cannot be clearly known without 
grace : how much less could he conceive it, should I tell him of 
this glory ! But to the saints I may be somewhat more encouraged 
to speak ; for grace giveth them a dark knowledge and slight taste 
of glory. 

As all good whatsoever is comprised in God, and all in the crea- 
ture are but drops of this ocean ; so all the glory of the blessed is 
comprised in their enjoyment of God : and if there be any mediate 
joys there, they are but drops from this. If men and angels should 
study to speak the blessedness of that estate in one word, what can 
they say beyond this. That it is the nearest enjoyment of God ? 
Say, They have God ; and you say, They have all that is worth 
the having. Oh the full joys offered to a believer in that one sen- 
tence 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. If the queen of Sheba had cause to say of 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 19 

Solomon's glory, " Happy are thy men, happy are these thy 
servants, that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wis- 
dom," 1 Kings X. 8 ; then, sure, they that stand continually before 
God, and see his glory, and the glory of the Lamb, are somewhat 
more than happy : to them will Christ "give to rat of the tree of 
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God; " and " to eat 
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 beloved, 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 lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
thereof," Rev. xxi. 3, 23. " And there shall be no more curse, 
but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his serv- 
ants 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 shortly 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 countenance on us here, it puts 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 ! Psal. xxxvi. 
9; Acts ii. 28 ; Psal. xxxiii. 1. 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 goodly heritage. I have set the Lord always before me : 
because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore 
my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest 
in hope : for he will not leave me in the grave, nor suffer me (for 
ever) to see corruption. He will show me the path of life, and 
bring me into his presence, where is fulness of joy ; and at his right 
hand, where are pleasures for evermore," Psal. xvi. 5, 6, 8 — 11. 
" Whom, therefore, have I in heaven but him, or in earth that I 
desire besides him .' Mv flesh and my heart have failed, and will 

c 2 



20 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

fail me ; but God is the strength of my heart, and will be my por- 
tion 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 is it good, the chief good, for us to be near to God," 
Psal. Ixxiii. 24—28. 

The advancement is exceeding high : what unreverent, 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 saints' preferment in this life, as Scripture 
sets it forth, had it not been the express truth of God. What vile 
unmannerliness, to talk of " l)eing sons of God," " speaking to 
him," " having fellowship and communion with him," " dwelling in 
him and he in us;" if this had not been God's own language ! 
How much less durst we have once thought of " being brighter 
than the sun in glory ; " of " being coheirs with Christ ; of judging 
the world ; of sitting on Christ's throne ; of being one with him ; " 
if we had not all this from the mouth and under the hand of God ! 
But hath he said it, and shall it not come to pass ? Hath he spoken 
it, and will he not do it ? Yes, as true as the Lord God is true, thus 
shall it be done to the man whom Christ delights to honour. " The 
eternal God is their refuge, and underneath are the 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 shall dwell 
between their shoulders," Deut. xxxiii. 27, 28, " Surely, good- 
ness 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 ? 
Psal. cxlviii. 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 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 pleasure in his people, 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, leave us some 
excuse for discontent with our estate. The poor soul out of the 
depth cries, and cries aloud, as if his Father were out of hearing : 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 21 

sometimes he chicles the interposing clouds ; sometimes he is angry 
at the vast gulf that is set between ; sometimes he would have the 
veil of mortality drawn aside, and thinks death hath forgot his 
business ; he ever quarrels with his 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 presence-chamber. Wouldst thou yet 
be nearer .'' Thou shalt be his child, and he thy Father; thou shalt 
be an heir of his kingdom ; yea, more, the spouse of his Son : and 
what more canst thou desire t I'hou shalt be a member of the body 
of his Son, he shall be thy Head ; thou shalt be one with him, 
who is one with the Father. 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 may 
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 xvii. 
21 — 23. What can you desire yet more ? Except you will, as some 
do, abuse Christ's expression of oneness, to conceive of such a 
union, as shall deify us ; which were a sin one step beyond the as- 
piring arrogancy of Adam ; and, I think, heyond 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 com- 
munion, and communication of real favours, flowing from that 
relative union. If there be any more, it is acknowledged uncon- 
ceivable, and consequently unexpressible, and so not to be spoken 
of. If any can conceive of a proper real* union and identity, which 
shall neither be a unity of essence, nor of person with Christ, 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, fol- 
lowing 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 / q. How do wc enjoy 

Answ. That is the fifth and last we come to. Ciod? 

Sect. VI. 5. This rest containeth a sweet and a. A sweet and 
constant action of all the powers of the soul and constant action of all 
body in this fruition of God. It is not the rest of loXThe fruuL ' 
a stone, which ceaseth from all motion when it at- of God. 
tains the centre. The senses themselves, as I , r^^.i. 

• 1 , , . . ..,'., 1. Ot the senses. 

judge, are not only passive in receiving their ob- 

* I take not the word real, as opposite to feigned, but to relative. Sec Mr. Wallis's 
Answer to the Lord Brooks fully on this. 



22 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

ject, 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 ac- 
knowledged they shall cease, because their being iniporteth their 
use, and their use implieth our estate of imperfection : as there is 
no use for eating and drinking, so neither for the taste. But for 
other senses the question will be harder ; for Job saith, " I shall 
see him with these eyes." 

But do not all senses imply our imperfection ? If Job did speak 
of more than a redemption from this present distress, as it is like 
he did, yet certainly these eyes will be made so spiritual, that 
whether the name of sense, in the same sense as now, shall befit 
them, is a question. This body shall be so changed, that it shall 
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 com- 
panion. Ego non sian 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 con- 
ceive of the difference ; 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 senses of see- 
ing 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 enlargeth 
our capacity ; so will he advance the happiness of those senses, and 
fill up with himself all that capacity. And certainly the body 
should not be raised up and continued, if it should not share of the 
glory : for as it hath shared in the obedience and suff"erings, so shall 
it also do in the blessedness ; and as Christ bought the whole man, 
so shall the whole partake of the everlasting benefits of the pur- 
chase. The same difference is to be 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, uncon- 
ceivable change, it may continue. Certain it is, it shall be the 

* I thiuk the apostle speaks of flesh and blood in a proper sense, and not 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 very objection fully answered by Tertullian, lib. de Resurrect. Carnis, cap. 
16. 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, eyen a servant 
and an associate. 



C.iAP. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 23 

everlasting work of those blessed saints, to stand before the throne 
of God and the lianib, and to praise him for ever and ever. As 
their eyes and hearts shall be filled with his knowledf:fe, with his 
glory, and with his love ; so shall thcMr 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 (Psal. xxxiii. I, 2 ; cxlvii.) : 
praise him in the presence of his people ; for it shall be your 
eternal work : praise him, while his enemies deride and abuse you : 
you shall praise him, while they shall bewail it, and admire you. 
O blessed employment, to sound forth for ever, " Thou 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 ; and hath made us unto your 
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. 
AUelujah : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," Rev. xix. 1, 
5, G. 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 hath taught us. And you shall for ever sing Before him 
the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb : " Great and mar- 
vellous are thy works. Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy 
ways, thou King of saints," Rev. xv. 3. 

Sect. VIL And if the body shall be thus em- ^^^^^ ^^^ 

ployed, oh how shall the soul be taken up ! As its 
powers and capacities are greatest, so its actions strongest, and its 
enjoyments sweetest ; as the bodily senses have their proper apti- 
tude and action, whereby they receive and enjoy their objects, so 
doth the soul in its own action enjoy its own object, by knowing, 
by thinking and remembering, by loving, and by delightful joying : 
this is the soul's enjoying. By these eyes it sees, and by these 
arms it embraceth. If it might be said of the disciples with Christ 
on earth, much 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. 16, 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 dis- 
covering the secrets of nature, and knowing the mystery of sciences, 
exceed the delights of the glutton, the drunkard, the unclean, and 
of all voluptuous sensualists whatsoever ; so excellent is all truth. 
What then is their delight, who know the God of truth ! What 



24 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

would I not give, so that all the uncertain, questionable principles 
in logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, and medicine, were but 
certain in themselves, and to me ; and that my dull, obscure no- 
tions of them were but quick and clear ! Oh, what then should I 
not either perform or part with to enjoy a clear and true apprehen- 
sion of the most true God ! How noble a faculty of the soul is the 
understanding ! It can compass the earth ; it can measure the sun, 
moon, stars, and heaven ; it can foreknow each eclipse to a minute, 
many years before : yea, but this is the top of all its excellency, it 
can know God, who is infinite, who made all these ; a little here, 
and more, and much more hereafter. Oh the wisdom and good- 
ness of our blessed Lord ! He hath created the understanding 
with a natural bias 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, doubtless, it is no such cold touch or dis- 
dainful embrace, as is between these gross, earthly heterogeneals. 
The true, studious, contemplative man knows this to be true ; who 
feels as sweet embraces between his intellect and truth, and far 
more than ever the quickest sense did in possessing its desired ob- 
ject. But the true, studious, contemplative Christian knows it 
much more ; who sometimes hath felt more sweet embraces be- 
tween his soul and Jesus Christ than all inferior truth can afford. 
I know some JChristians are kept short this way, especially the care- 
less in their watch and walking ; and those that are ignorant or 
negligent 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 be- 
lieving : but for others, I appeal to the most of them. Christian, 
dost thou not sometimes, when after long gazing heavenward thou 
hast got a glimpse of Christ, dost thou not seem to have been with 
Paul in the third heaven, whether in the body or out, and to have 
seen what is unutterable ? art thou not, with Peter, almost beyond 
thyself, ready to say, " Master, it is good to be here ?" Oh that I 
might ever see what I now see ! Didst thou never look so long 
upon the Son of God, till thine eyes were dazzled with his astonish- 
ing glory ? and did not the splendour of it make all things below 
seem black and dark to thee when thou lookedst down again, 
especially in thy day of suffering for Christ, when he usually ap- 
pears 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 (Hos. vi. 2, 3), 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 (Rev. ii. 5 ; iii. 
2); and I dare promise thee, because God hath promised, thou 



CiiAP. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 25 

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 scarce, in comparison of that, deserves to 
be called knowledge. The dill'erence 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, nmst 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 know- 
ledge. All this saith the apostle, " Knowledge shall vanish away ; 
for we know in part, &c. But when that which is perfect is come, 
then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, 
I spake as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child, 
but when I became a man, I put away childish things ; for now we 
see through a glass darkly, but then face to face : now I know in 
part, but then I shall know even as also I am known," 1 Cor. 
xiii. 8—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 and his Christ is 
eternal life, and the soul's enjoying is in knowing. They that sa- 
vour only of earth, and consult with flesh, and have no way to try 
and judge but by sense, and never were acquainted with this know- 
lodge of God, nor tasted how gracious he is, these think it is a poor 
happiness to know God ; let them have health and wealth, and 
worldly delights, and take you the other. Alas, poor men, they 
that have made trial of both do not grudge you your delights, nor 
envy your happiness, but pity your undoing folly, and wish. Oh that 
you 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 presumptuous, " We know that we are of God, and the whole 
world lieth in wickedness ; and we know that the Son of God is 
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him 
that is true ; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ: 
this is the true God, and eternal Life," 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 hath given 
us an understanding, that the soul may be personally qualified and 
made capable to know him (God) that is true, the prime Truth ; 
and we are brought so near in this enjoyment that we are in him 
that is true, not properly by an essential or personal union, but we 
are in him by being in his Son Jesus Christ. This, 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. VIII. And, doubtless, the memory will not „ m 

1-11 1 • 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 •,■ • 1 1 i 2. Memorv. 

he Kile or useless m this blessed work, it it be but 

by looking back to help the soul to value its enjoyment. Our 



26 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

knowledge will be enlarged, not diminished ; therefore, the know- 
ledge of things past shall not be taken away ; and what is that 
knowledge, but remembrance ? Doubtless, from that height, the 
saint can look behind him and before him ; and to compare past 
with present things, must needs raise, in the blessed soul, an incon- 
ceivable 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 toge- 
ther in the balance of a comparing sense and judgment ; how must 
it needs transport the soul, and make it cry out. Is this the pur- 
chase that cost so dear as the blood of God I No wonder : O 
blessed price, and thrice blessed love, that invented and conde- 
scended ! Is this the end of believing ? is this the end of the Spi- 
rit's workings? Have the gales of grace blown me into such a 
harbour ? is it hither that Christ hath enticed my soul ? O blessed 
way, and thrice blessed end ! Is this the glory which the Scrip- 
tures 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 (Luke i. 19 ; ii. 10 ; Acts 
xiii. 32). Is my mourning, my fasting, my sad humblings, my 
heavy walking, groanings, 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 indig- 
nation 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 earnest so unwillingly towards ? was duty wearisome ? 
was the world too good to lose ? Didst thou stick at leaving all, 
denying all, and suffering any thing for this ? wast thou loth to die 
to come to this ? O false heart, that had almost betrayed me to 
eternal flames, and lost me this glory ! O base flesh, that would 
needs have been pleased, though to the loss of this felicity ! Didst 
thou make me to question the truth of this glory ? didst thou show 
me improbabilities, and draw me to distrust the Lord ? didst thou 
question the truth of that Scripture which promised this ? Why, 
my soul, art thou not now ashamed that ever thou didst question 
that love that hath brought thee hither ; that thou wast jealous of 
the faithfulness of thy Lord; that thou suspectedst his love when 
thou shouldst only have suspected thyself; that thou didst not live 
continually transported with thy Saviour's love ; and that ever thou 
quenchedst a motion of his Spirit ? Art thou not ashamed of all 
thy hard thoughts of such a God ; of all thy misinterpreting of, and 
grudging at, those providences, and repining at those ways, that 
have such an end ? Now, 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 bet- 
ter, 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. 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 27 

for this received crown ; but to Jehovah and the Lamb be glory 
for ever. 

Thus, as the memory of the wicked will eternally promote their 
torment, to look back on the pleasures enjoyed, the sin committed, 
the grace refused, Christ neglected, and time lost ; so will the 
memory of the saints for ever promote their joys. And as it is 
said to the wicked, " Remember that thou in thy life-time re- 
ceivedst 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," Luke xvi. 25. 
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, G ; 
so there the remembrance of our former sorrows adds life to 
our joys. 

Sect. IX. But oh the full, the near, the sweet 3. Affections. 
enjoyment is that of the affections, love, and joy ! l- Love. 
It is near ; for love is of the essence of the soul, and love is the 
essence of God: "for God is love." How near, therefore, is this 
blessed closure ! The Spirit's phrase is, " God is love ; and he 
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him," 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 aflfection- 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. Oh that I could love Christ more ! but I cannot ; alas ! 
I cannot : yea, but then thou canst not choose but love him : I had 
almost said, forbear if thou canst. Now, thou knowest little of 
his amiableness, and therefore lovest little ; then thine eye will 
affect thy heart, and the continual viewing of that perfect beauty 
will keep thee in continual ravishments of love. Now thy salvation 
is not perfected, nor all the mercies purchased yet given in ; but 
w^hen the top-stone is set on, thou shalt, with shouting, cry, Grace, 
grace ! Now thy sanctification is imperfect, and thy pardon and 
justification* not so complete as then it shall be ; now thou knowest 
not what thou enjoyest, and therefore lovest the less : but when 
thou knowest much is forgiven, and much bestowed, thou wilt love 
more. Doth David, after an imperfect deliverance, sing forth 
his love, " I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and 
supplications?" Psal. cxvi. 1. What think you will he do eter- 
nally ; and how will he love the Lord, who hath lifted him up to 
that glory ? Doth he cry out, " Oh how I love thy law ! " Psal. 
cxix. 97. " My delight is in the saints on earth, and the excellent," 
Psal. xvi. 3. How will he say then, Oh how I love the Lord, and 
the King of saints, in whom is all my delight ! Christians, doth it 

* I know it is commonly said, that justification hath no degrees ; but j-et it is taken 
for several acts, whereof that of Christ absolving and acquitting us at the last judgment, 
is the most complete justification ; as Mr. Burgess, in his last lectures of justification, 
affirmeth. 



og THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 sun-shine of Divine goodness warm your frozen hearts ? 
\V hat will it do, then, when you shall live in love, and have all in 
him, who is All ? Oh the high delights of love, of this love ; the 
content that the heart findeth in it ; the satisfaction it brings along 
with it ! Surely love is both work and wages. 

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 (John 
xi. 33, 35, 36 ; Cant. i. 5 ; v. 2 ; vi. 9 ; iv. 9, 10, &c.) 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 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 convince 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 persuaded of. He that in love 
wept over the old Jerusalem near her ruins, with what love will he 
rejoice over the new Jerusalem in her glory ! O, methinks I 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 first-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. 6. 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 tliat love, which brought the Son of God's love 



CiiAi'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 20 

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, InifTeted, 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, oh the blessed meeting ! It 
will not be like Joseph and his brethren, who lay upon one another's 
necks weeping ; it will break forth into a pure joy, and not such a 
mixture of joy and sorrow as their weeping argued ; it will be 
loving and rejoicing, not loving and sorrowing : yet will it make 
Pharaoh's (Satan's) court to ring with the news, that Joseph's 
brethren are come ; that the saints are arrived safe at the bosom of 
Christ, out of the reach of hell for ever. Neither is there any such 
love as David's and Jonathan's ; shutting up in sorrows, and 
breathing out its last into sad lamentations for a forced separation : 
no, Christ is the powerful attractive, the effectual Loadstone, who 
draws to it all like itself. " All that the Father hath given him, 
shall come unto him j" 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 com- 
fort, that if these arms have once embraced thee, neither sin nor 
hell can get thee thence for ever : the sanctuary is inviolable, and 
the rock impregnable, whither thou art fled, and thou art safe locked 
up to all eternity. Thou hast not now to deal with an unconstant 
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 by thine 
enmity, by thy loathsome, hateful nature, by all thy unwillingness, 
unkind neglects, and churlish resistances ; he that would neither 
cease nor abate his love for all these, can he cease to love thee, 
when he hath made thee truly lovely ? He that keepeth thee so 
constant in thy love to him, that thou canst challenge " tribulation, 
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword," to separate 
thy love from Christ if they can, Rom. viii. 3.5, how much more 
will himself be constant ! Indeed, he that produced these mutual, 
embracing aifections, will also produce such a mutual constancy in 
both, that thou mayst confidently be persuaded, as Paul was be- 
fore thee, " that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principali- 
ties, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," ver. 3S, 39. 
And now are we not left in the apostle's admiration ? What shall 
we say to these things ! Infinite love must needs be a mystery to 
a finite capacity. No wonder if angels desire to pry into this 
mystery (1 Pet. i. 12; Eph. iii. 18); and if it be the study of the 



30 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

saints here, to know the height, and breadth, and length, and 
depth, of this love, though it passeth knowledge : this is the saints' 
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 conclude in ; even the unconceivable com- 
placency which the blessed feel in their seeing, knowing, loving, 
and being ])eloved 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 re- 
ceiveth," Rev. ii. 17 ; and if there be any "joy which the stranger 
meddleth not with," Prov. xiv. 10, then surely this, above all, 
is it. All Christ's ways of mercy tend to and end in the saints' 
joys. He wept, sorrowed, suffered, that they might rejoice ; he 
sendeth the Spirit to be their comforter ; he multiplieth promises, 
he discovers their future happiness, that their " joy may be full :" 
he aboundeth to them in 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 (John xv. 11 ; xvi. 24; xvii. 13; 
Psal. xciv. 12, 13; 1 Thess. v. 16; Psal. xxxii. 11 ; xxxiii. 1, &c.) 
Yea, he causeth them to suffer, that he may cause them to re- 
joice ; 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. 7. And lest, after 
all this, they should neglect their own comforts, he maketh it their 
duty, and presseth it on them, commanding them to " rejoice in 
him alway, and again to rejoice." And he never brings them into 
so low a condition, wherein he leaves them not more cause of joy 
than of sorrow. And hath the Lord such a care of our comfort 
here ; where, the Bridegroom being from us, we must mourn ? 
(Matt. ix. 15.) Oh ! what will that joy be, where the soul being 
perfectly prepared for joy, and joy prepared by Christ for the soul, 
it shall be our work, our business, eternally to rejoice ! 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 (Matt, xxv.) ; but our joy is the joy of our Lord; 
even our Lord's own joy shall we enter : " and the same glory which 
the Father giveth him, doth the Son give to them," 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, 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 31 

as much as thou canst hold, and more than ever thou thoughtest 
on, or thy heart desired. And, in the mean time, walk carefully, 
watch constantly, and then lot God measure out thy times and de- 
grees of joy. It may he he keeps them till thou have more need : 
thou mayst hetter lose thy comfort than thy safety : if thou shouldst 
die full of fears and sorrows, it will he but a moment, and they are 
all gone, and conclude in joy unconceivable. 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 : w^eeping may en- 
dure for a night, (darkness and sadness go together,) but joy com- 
eth in the morning," Psal. xxx. 5. O blessed morning, thrice 
blessed morning ! poor, humble, drooping soul, how would it fill 
thee with joy now, if a voice from heaven should tell thee of the 
love of God ; of the pardon of thy sins ; and should assure thee 
of thy part in these joys ! Oh what then will thy joys be, when 
thy actual possession shall convince thee of thy title, and thou shalt 
be in heaven before thou art well aware ! when the angels shall 
bring thee to Christ, and when Christ shall, as it were, take thee 
by the hand, and lead thee into thy purchased possession, and bid 
thee welcome to his rest, and present thee unspotted before his 
Father, and give thee thy place about his throne ! Poor sinner, 
what sayest thou to such a day as this ? wilt thou not be almost 
ready to draw back, and to say, What I, Lord, I, the unworthy 
neglecter of thy grace ! I, the unworthy disesteemer of thy blood, 
and slighter of thy love ! must I have this glory ? " Make me a 
hired servant, I am no more worthy to be called a son." But love 
will have it so ; therefore must thou enter into his joy. 

Sect. XI. And it is not thy joy only ; it is a God will joy in us as 
mutual joy as well as a mutual love. Is there well as we iu him. 
such joy in heaven at thy conversion, and will there be none at thy 
glorification ? will not the angels welcome thee thither, and con- 
gratulate thy safe arrival ? Yea, it is the joy of Jesus Christ : for 
now he hath the end of his undertaking, labour, suffering, dying, 
when we have our joys ; when he is " glorified in his saints, and 
admired in all them that believe," 2 Thess. i. 10. We are his 
seed, and the fruit of his soul's travail, which, when he seetli, 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 re- 
joiced in our good. Oh how quickly here he doth espy a returning 
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 



32 THE SAINTS' E\T:RLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 meeting ; but nothing to the em- 
bracements and the joy of that last and great meeting. 

Yea, more yet ; as God doth mutually love and joy, so he makes 
this his rest, as it is our rest. Did he appoint a sabbath, because 
he rested from six days' work, and saw all good, and very good ? 
"What an eternal sabbatism, then, when the work of redemption, 
sanctification, 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, Psal. 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 : he will rest in his love : he will 
joy over thee with singing," Zeph. iii. 17. Oh, well may we then 
rejoice in our God with joy, and rest in our love, and joy in him 
with singing. See Isa. Ixv. 18, 19. 

And now look back upon all this : I say to thee as the angel to 
John, " \\ hat 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 (Luke xxiv. 37 — 39; Mark xvi. 7); a 
shadow instead of rest ? Why, come near and feel : a shadow con- 
tains not those substantial blessings, nor rests upon the basis of 
such a foundation truth, and sure word of promise, as you have 
seen these do. Go thy way now, and tell the disciples, and tell the 
humble, drooping souls thou meetest with, that thou hast in this 
glass seen heaven ; that the Lord indeed is risen, and hath there 
appeared to thee ; and behold he is gone before us into rest ; and 
that he is now preparing a place for them, and will come again, and 
take them to himself, that where he is, there they may be also, 
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. Xn. 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 knowledge ? " 
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, wronged 
thine excellency, disgraced thy saints' glory, by my own exceeding 
disproportionable portraying. 1 will bewail, from my heart, that 
my conceivings fall so short, my apprehensions are so dull, my 
thoughts so mean, my affections so stupid, and my expressions so 



CiiAP. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 33 

low and unbeso;Miiing such a glory. But I have only heard by the 
hearing of the ear : O let thy servant see thee, ancl possess these 
joys ; and then I shall have more suitable conceivings, and shall 
give thee fuller glory, and abhor my present self, and disclaim and 
renounce all those imperfections. " 1 have now uttered that I un- 
derstood not ; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Yet 
I believed, and therefore 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. " 1 know thou wilt be sancti- 
fied 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, Moses 
and Aaron, because they sanctified thee not in the midst of Israel, 
what then may I expect ? But though the weakness and irrever- 
ence be the fruit of my own corruption, yet the fire is from thine 
altar, and the work of thy commanding. I looked not into thine 
ark, nor put forth my hand unto it without thee. O, therefore, 
wash away these stains also in the blood of the Lamb : 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. O, take thy Son's excuse, " The 
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FOUR GREAT PRETARATIVES 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 resem- 
blance of the saints' rest which I had seen in the gospel-glass, it 
follows, that we proceed to view a little the adjuncts and blessed 
properties of this rest ; but, alas ! this little whieh I have seen 
makes me cry out, with the prophet Isaiah, chap. vi. 5 — 7, " Woe 
is me ! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and 
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have 
seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Yet if he will send and touch 
my lips with a coal from the altar of his Son, and say, " Thine iniquity 
is taken away, and thy sin purged," I shall then speak boldly ; and 
if he ask, " Whom shall I send ?" I shall gladly answer, " Here am 
I, send me," ver. 8. And why doth my trembling heart draw 
back ? Surely the Lord is not now so terrible and inaccessible, nor 
the passage of paradise so blocked up, as when the law and curse 



34 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

reigned. Wherefore, finding, beloved Christians, ''' that the new and 
living way is consecrated for us, through the veil, the flesh of 
Christ, by which we may with boldness enter into the holiest, by 
the blood of Jesus, I shall draw near with the fuller assurance," 
Heb. X. 20 — 22. And finding the flaming sword removed, shall 
look again into the paradise of our God : and because 1 know that 
this is no forbidden fruit, and, withal, that it is good for food, and 
pleasant to the spiritual eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one 
truly wise and happy, Gen. iii. G ; I shall take, through the assist- 
ance of the Spirit, and eat thereof myself, and give to you, accord- 
ing to my power, that you may eat. For you. Christians, is this 
food prepared, this wine broached, this fountain opened ; and the 
message my Father sends you is this hearty welcome, which you 
shall have in his own words, " Eat, O friends ; drink, yea, drink 
abundantly, O beloved," Cant. v. 1. i\.nd, surely, it is neither 
manners nor wisdom for you or me, to draw back or to demur upon 
such an invitation. 

The antecedents of And first, Let US consider of the eminent ante- 
our rest. cedents, the great preparations ; that notable in- 

troduction to this rest ; for the porch of this temple is exceeding 
glorious, and the gate of it is called Beautiful : and here offer 
themselves to our distinct observation, these four things, as the 
four corners of this porch. 

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

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

3. His public and solemn proceedings in their judgment, where 
they shall be justified and acquitted before all the world. 

4. His solemn celebration of their coronation, and his enthron- 
izing of them in their glory. Follow but this fourfold stream unto 
the head, and it will bring you just to the garden of Eden. 

1. The coming of Sect. II. And well may the coming of Christ be 
Christ. 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 ne- 
cessity. For his people's sake he sanctified himself to his office ; 
for their sake he came into the world, suffered, died, rose, ascended ; 
and for their sake it is that he will return. Whether his own ex- 
altation, or theirs, were his* primary intention, is a question, though 
of seeming usefulness, yet so unresolved, for aught I have found, in 
Scripture, that I dare not scan it, for fear of pressing into the Di- 
vine 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 this end will Christ 
come again to receive his people to himself, " that where he is, 
there they may be also," John xiv. 3. The Bridegroom's departure 
was not upon divorce ; he did not leave us with a purpose to 
return no more : he hath left pledges enough to assure us ; we have 

* Viz. of the man Christ, next the alovy of the Godhead, Rom. xiv. 9; 2 Tliess. i. 
10 ; Tit. ii. 14. 



(JiAi'. V. TllK SAINTS' KVKllLASTINCi REST. 3.-5 

his word in pawn, his many promises, his sacraments, which show 
forth his death till he come, and his Spirit to direct, sanctify, 
and comfort, till he return. We have frequent tokens of love 
from him, to show us he forgets not his purpose, nor us. We he- 
hold the forerunners of his coming, foretold hy liimself, daily 
come to pass. We see the fig tree put forth her hranches, and 
therefore know the summer is nigh. We see the fields white 
unto harvest : and though the riotous world say, Our Lord will 
he 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.''* 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 
huy us so dear, and then cast us oif so { to leave us sinning, suffer- 
ing, groaning, dying daily, and come no more at us ? It cannot 
be ; never fear it : it cannot be. This is like our unkind dealing 
witli 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 would come to suffer, will surely come to triumph ; 
and he that would come to purchase, will surely come to pos- 
sess. Alas ! where else were all our hopes ? What were become 
of our faith, our prayers, our tears, and our waiting ? What were 
all the patience of the saints worth to them ? Were we not left of 
all men most miserable !* Christians, hath Christ made us forsake 
all the world, and be forsaken of all the world ; to hate all, and to 
be hated of all ; and all this for him, that we might have him in- 
stead 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 { \\ as not the work on earth done ? 
Must he not receive the recompence of reward, and enter into his 
glory i Must he not take possession in our behalf? Must he not 
go to prepare a place for us ? Must he not intercede with the 
Father ; and plead his sufferings, and be filled with the Spirit, to 
send it forth ; and receive 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. Oh, fellow Christians, what a day will 
that be, when w^e, who have been kept prisoners l)y 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 

* Matt. xxiv. 32, 48 ; x. IG ; Psal. Ivii. 4 ; Mntt. iii. 7. The ancient Christians still 
^vorshipped in the churches with their faces eastward, to signify their continual expecta- 
tion of Christ's coming, who they thousiht should appear in the east ; from that of 
Matt. xxiv. 27 ; John xvi. 7 ; xvii." 4 ; lleh. xii. 2 ; Luke xxiv. 26 ; John xiv. 3 ; Hch. 
vii. 25, 26 ; Gal. iii. 14 ; Eph. iv. S, 9. 



JO THE SAINTS' EYEHLASTINQ REST. Paut I. 

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 messengers of that coming, as being " tidings 
of joy to all people," Luke ii. 22; and the heavenly host must go 
before or accompany the celebration of his nativity, and must praise 
God with that solemnity, " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace, good will towards men;" oh, then, with what shout- 
ings will angels and saints at that day proclaim. Glory to God, and 
peace and good will towards men ! If the stars of heaven must 
lead men from remote parts of the world to come to worship a child 
in a manger, how will the glory of his next appearing constrain all 
the world to acknowledge his sovereignty ! If tlie King of Israel, 
riding on an ass, made his entry into Jerusalem with hosannahs, 
" Blessed be the King that comes in the name of the Lord : peace 
in heaven, and glory in the highest ! " Luke xix. 38 ; oh with 
what proclamations of blessings, peace, and glory, will he come 
toward the new Jerusalem ! If, when he was in the form of a 
servant, they cry out, " What manner of man is this, that both 
wind and sea obey him ?" Matt. viii. 27 ; what will they say when 
they see him coming in his glory, and the heavens and the earth 
obey him ! " Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in 
heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they 
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power 
and great glory," Mark iv, 41 ; Matt. xxiv. 30. O Christians, 
it was comfortable to you to hear from him, to believe in him, and 
hope for him. What wall it be to see him ? The promise of his 
coming and our deliverance was comfortable. What will it be thus 
to see him, with all the glorious attendance of 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," 
Psal. 1, 1 — 6. This coming of Christ is frequently mentioned in 
the prophets, as the great support of his people's spirits till then. 
And whenever the apostles would quicken to duty, or comfort, and 
encourage to patient waiting, they usually do it by mentioning 
Christ's coming. Why, then, do we not use more this cordial con- 
sideration, whenever we want support and comfort ? To think and 
speak of that day with horror, doth well beseem the impenitent 
sinner, but ill the believing saint. Such may be the voice of a be- 
liever, but it is not the voice of faith. Christians, what do we be- 
lieve, and hope, and wait for, but to see that day ? This is Paul's 
encouragement to nioderation, to " rejoicing in the Lord alway ; 



Chap. V. THE SxVlNTS' EVERLASTING REST. 37 

The Lord is at hand," Phil. iv. 4, 5. It is " to all thorn that love 
his appoariiis:, that tho Lord, the righteous .Judge, shall give the 
crown of righteousness at that day," 2 Tim. iv. H. Dost thou 
so long to have him come into thy soul with comfort and life, and 
takest thyself hut for a forlorn orphan, while he seemeth ahsent ? 
And dost thou not nuich 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 discovery of Christ to his soul, after long 
doubting and waiting in sorrows ! So that he cries out, He is 
come ! he is come ! If thou have but a dear friend returned, that 
hath been far and long absent, how do all run out to meet him 
with joy ! Oh ! saith the child, My father is come ! saith the 
wife, My husband is come ! And shall not we, when we behold 
our Lord in his majesty returning, cry out, He is come ! He is 
come ! Sliall the wicked, with inconceivable horror, behold him, 
and cry out, Oh 1 yonder is he whose blood we neglected, whose 
grace we resisted, whose counsels we refused, whose government 
we cast off! And shall not then the saints, with 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 we trusted, and now we see he hath not deceived our 
trust ; he for whom we long waited, and now we see we have not 
waited in vain ! O cursed corruption, that would have had us turn 
to the world and present things, and give up our hopes, and say, 
^V'hy should we wait for the Lord any longer ? Now we see, that 
" blessed are all they that wait for him." Believe it, fellow Chris- 
tians, this day is not far off. " For yet a little w'hile, and he that 
comes will come, and will not tarry." And though the unbelieving 
world, and the unbelief of thy heart, may say, as those atheistical 
scoffers, " Where is the promise of his coming .'' Do not all things 
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation ? " Yet, 
let us know, " the Lord is not slack of his promise, as some men 
count slackness : one day with him is as a thousand years, and a 
thousand years as one day," 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4, 8, 9. I 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 ! with what glad hearts 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, 
which is the enemy's terror ! How do they clap each other on the 
back, and cry, Deliverance, deliverance ! AVhile, 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 conquering 
Lion of the tribe of Judah shall appear with all the hosts of heaven ; 



38 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

when he shall surprise the careless world, as a thief in the night ; 
when as the lightning, which appeareth in the east, and shineth 
even to the west, so they shall behold him coming ; what a change 
will the sight of this appearance work, both with the world and 
with the saints ! Now, poor deluded world, where is your mirth and 
your jollity ? Now, where is your wealth and your glory ? where is 
that profane and careless heart, that slighted Christ and his Spirit, 
and withstood all the oiFers 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 slan- 
ders ? What ! was it not you ? Deny it if you can. Your heart 
condemns 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," I 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 Ijeen found 
praying, or the like ; but you should have watched, and been 
ready, because you know not the hour. But for that faithful and 
Avise servant, whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing; 
" O, blessed is that servant : verily I say unto you, (for Christ 
hath said it,) he shall make him ruler over all his goods," Matt, 
xxiv. 42 — 47. " And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, he 
shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away," 1 Pet. v. 4. 
Oh how should it then be the character of a Christian, " to wait for 
the Son of God from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even 
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come," 1 Thess. 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 read- 
eth, say, Come." And our Lord himself saith, " Surely I come 
quickly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus," Rev. xxii. 17, 20. 
Sect. in. The second stream that leadeth to „ _ 

T • ,1 . , 1 n r «-,,-.• 2. Our lesurrcction. 

paradise, is that great work of Jesus Christ, in 

raising our bodies from the dust, uniting them again unto the soul. 

A wonderful effect of infinite power and love. Yea, wonderful in- 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 39 

deed, saith unbelief, if it be true. Wbat ! saith ibe allieist and 
Sadducce, sball all these scattered bones and dust become a man f 
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 ! I'hou fool, (for so Paul calls thee,) dost 
thou dispute against the power of the Almighty .' wilt thou pose 
him with thy sophistry .'' dost thou object dilHculties to the infinite 
strength ? Thou blind mole ; thou silly worm ; thou little piece of 
creeping, breathing clay ; thou dust ; thou nothing ; knowest thou 
who it is, whose power thou dost question { If thou shouldst see him, 
thou wouldst presently die. If he should come and dispute his cause 
with thee, couldst thou bear it .'' or if thou shouldst hear his voice, 
couldst thou endure .'' But come thy way, let me take thee by the 
hand, and do thou a little follow me ; and let me, with reverence, 
as Elihu, plead for God, and for that power whereby I hope to 
arise. Seest thou this great, massy body of the earth : what beareth 
it, and upon what foundation doth it stand .'' Seest thou this vast 
ocean of waters : Avhat limits them, and why do they not overflow 
and drown the earth ? whence is that constant ebbing and flowing 
of her tides ? wilt thou say from the moon, or other planets ? and 
whence have they that power of eftective 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 intelli- 
gence, and voluntary agent, and not such a blind worker and eni])ty 
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 efl^^ct thy resurrection, which doth all this i dost thou not see as 
great works as a resurrection every day before thine eyes, but that 
the commonness makes thee not admire them ? Read but Job 
xxxvii. to xli. and take heed of disputing against God again, for 
ever. Knowest thou not, that with him all things are possible ? 
Can he make a camel go through the eye of a needle ; can he make 
such a blind sinner as thou to see, and such a proud heart as thine 
to stoop, and such an earthly mind as thine heavenly ; and subdue 
all that thy fleshly, foolish wisdom ; and is not this as great a 
work, as to raise thee from the dust { Wast thou any unlikelier 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. 10. 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 



40 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING. REST. Part I. 

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 con- 
sidered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred 
years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb ; he staggered not 
at the pi'omise 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, be- 
lieved 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 resurrec- 
tion ; but if Christ say, he shall rise before, it must be believed. 
Come, then, fellow Christians, let us contentedly commit these car- 
casses to the dust : that prison shall not long contain them. Let 
us lie down in peace, and take our rest ; it will not be an everlasting 
night, or endless sleep. What if we go out of the troubles and stirs 
of the world, and enter into those chambers of dust, and the doors 
be shut upon us, and we hide ourselves, as it were, for a little mo- 
ment, 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 mean time, we must be loathsome lumps, cast out of 
the sight of men, as not fit to be endured among the living ; what, 
if our carcasses become as vile as those of the beasts that perish ; 
what, if our bones be dug up, and scattered about the pit brink, 
and worms consume our flesh { yet we know 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, which 
has been a clog to our souls so long. And what is this comely 
piece of flesh, which thou art loth should come to so base a state ? 
It is not a hundred years since it was either nothing, or an invisible 
something. And is it not most of it for the present, if not an ap- 
pearing 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 prin- 
ciples : show it me if thou canst. Into how small a handful of 
dust or ashes will that whole mass, if buried or burnt, return ! 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 whid that puff's thee up to such a substance, 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 disburden thee of all this : fear not lest he should free 



Cii.vi>. V. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTIXG REST. 11 

thee from thy fettors : he not so loth that he should break down 
thy prison, and lot thoe cjo : what though some terrii)le earthcjuake 
gobefore ; it is but that the foundations of the prison may be shaken, 
and so the doors fly open ; the terror will be to thy jailer, 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 fearing the time of thy deliverance. 
If unclothing be the thing thou fearest, why it is that thou mayst 
have better clothing put on. If to be turned out of doors be the 
thing thou fearest, why remend)er, then, when this earthly house 
of thy tabernacle is dissolved, thou hast " a building of God, a 
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." How will- 
ingly do our soldiers burn 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 corruption ; thou shalt undoubtedly receive it again 
in incorruption. Lay down freely this terrestrial, this natural 
])ody ; believe it, thou shalt receive it again a celestial, a spiritual 
body. And though thou lay it down into the dirt with great dis- 
honour, thou shalt receive it into glory with honour : and though 
thou art separated from it through weakness, it shall be raised 
again, and joined to thee in mighty power. When the trumpet of 
God shall sound the call, " Come away, arise, ye dead," 1 Cor. xv. 
42 — 4.5 ; who shall then stay behind ? Who can resist the power- 
ful command of our Lord, when he shall call to the earth and sea, 
" O earth, give up thy dead! O sea, give up thy dead?" Then 
shall our Samson break for us the bonds of death. And as the un- 
godly 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 w hich are asleep. For 
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first. Then they which are alive, and remain, 
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the 
Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Where- 
fore, O Christians, comfort one another with these words," 
1 Thess. iv. 15 — 18. This is one of the gospel mysteries : 
" That we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye, at the last trump ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this 
corruptible must put on incorruption ; and this mortal, immortality. 
Then is death swallow-ed 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 



42 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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, anil 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 head live, and the body and members 
remain dead ? O, write those sweet words upon thy heart, Chris- 
tian, " Because I live, ye shall live also," John xiv. 19. As sure 
as Christ lives, ye shall live ; and as sure as he is risen, we shall 
rise. Else the dead perish. Else what is our hope ; what advan- 
tageth 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 more 
comely, nor yield a sweeter savour, than theirs. But we have a 
sure ground of hope, x^nd 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. 

let us not 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 corruption. Yea, " Therefore, let 
us be stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, forasmuch as we know our labour is not in vain in the Lord," 

1 Cor. XV. 58. (1 Cor. xv. 13, 14, 17—19, 30—32.) 

God made not death, but Christ overcame it, when sin had in- 
troduced 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 saints' comfort, that resurrection to glory is only 
the fruit of Christ's death : and this fruit they shall certainly par- 
take 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 



CiiAP. V, THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 43 

may have everlasting life, and he will raise him np at the last clay," 
vor. U). If the prayers of the prophet coukl raise the Shunani- 
mite's dead chikl, and if the dead soldier revived at the touch of 
the prophet's hones, how certainly shall the will of Christ, and 
the power of his death, raise us. The voice that said to J aims' 
daughter, "Arise;" and to Lazarus, "Arise, and come forth," 
can do the like for us. If his death immediately raised the dead 
bodies of many saints in Jerusalem ; if he gave power to his 
apostles to raise the dead ; then what doubt of our resurrection ? 
And thus, Christian, thou seest that, Christ having sanctified the 
grave by his burial, and conquered death, and broke the ice for us, 
a dead body and a grave is not now so horrid a spectacle to a be- 
lieving 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 pro- 
mised 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 boll: if it were, yet there is thy Lord present; 
and thence should his merit and mercy fetch thee out. Thy sick- 
ness 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 
1)6 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 Re- 
deemer's glory. 

Sect. IV. The third part of this prologue to the 3. Our justification 
saints' rest, is the public and solemn process at ^^ judgment. 
their judgment, where they shall first, themselves, be acquitted and 
justified ; and then, wdth Christ, judge the world. Public I may 
v.ell call it, for all the world must there appear ; young and old, of 
all estates and nations, that ever were from the creation to that 
day, must here come and receive their doom. The judgment shall 
l)e 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; xiv. 10; Rev. XX. 12—15. O, terrible ! O, joyful day ! Ter- 
rible 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 I^ord : on them who perish, se- 
verity ; but to his chosen, goodness : when every one must give 
account of his stewardship, and every talent of time, health, wit, 
mercies, afiiictions, means, warnings, nmst be reckoned for, Matt. 



44 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, Part I. 

xxiv.; XXV. 5 — 7 ; Rom. i. 22; 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 ministers they 
abused, whose servants they hated, now sitting to judge them ; 
when their own consciences shall cry out against them, and call to 
their remembrance all their misdoings : Remember at such a time, 
such or such a sin ; at such a time Christ sued hard for thy con- 
version ; the minister pressed it home to thy heart, thou wast 
touched to the quick with the word ; thou didst purpose and promise 
retui'ning, 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 ; oh, which 
way will the wretched sinner look ! oh, who can conceive the ter- 
rible 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 can- 
not ; 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 ; wilt 
thou sell thy soul and Saviour for a lust ? look to me, and be saved ; 
return, why wilt thou die i* But thy ear and heart were shut up 
against all. Why, now thou shalt cry. Lord, Lord, open to us ; 
and he shall saj^, " 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 remains, but to cry out to the mountains. Fall upon us; 
and to the hills, O cover us from the presence of him that sits upon 
the throne ! But all in vain ; for thou hast the Lord of mountains 
and hills for thine enemy, whose voice they will obey, and not 
thine. Sinner, make not light of this ; for, as thou livest, except 
a thorough change and coming in to Christ prevent it, which God 
grant, thou shalt shortly, to thy unconceivable 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 ? or will it not 
rather wound thy very soul to remember thy folly, and make thee, 
with anguish of heart, and rage against thyself, to cry out, O 
wretch, where was mine understanding ? Didst thou make so light 
of that sin that now makes thee tremble ? how couldst thou hear 
so lightly of the redeeming blood of the Son of God ; how couldst 
thou quench so many motions of his Spirit, and stifle so many 
quickening thoughts as were cast into thy soul ? What took up all 
that life's time which thou hadst given thee to make sure work 
against this day ; what took up all thy heart, thy love, and delight, 



CiiAi'. V. THE SAINTS' EVEIILASTING REST. 4.3 

which should have hccn laid out on the Lord Jesus ? Hadst thou 
room in thy heart for the world, thy friend, ihy flesh, thy lusts, 
and none for Christ ? O wretch, whom hadst thou to love, hut him ; 
what hadst thou to do, hut 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 heen hetter to have 
heard and prevented it, than now to endure it ? Oh, now, for one 
offer of Christ, for one sermon, for one day of grace more ; but too 
late ; alas ! too late. Poor, careless sinner, I did not think here 
to have said so much to thee ; for my business is to refresh the 
saints ; but if these lines do fall into thy hands, and thou 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 appear- 
ing 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 I see 
it ? Oh what do I then ; why trifle I ; is it not time, full time, 
that I had made sure of Christ and comfort long ago ; should I sit 
still another day, who have lost so many ? had I not rather be found 
one of the holy, faithful, watchful Christians, than a worldling, a 
good fellow, or a man of honour ; why should I not, then, choose it 
now ; will it be best then, and is it not best now ? 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 con- 
science, which will never out through all eternity ; except the blood 
of Christ, believed in, and valued above all the world, do now, in 
this day of grace, get it out. Thy sin is like a beautiful harlot : 
while she is young and fresh, she hath many followers ; but when 
old and withered, every one would shut their hands of her : she is 
only their shame ; none would know her. So will it be with thee : 
now thou wilt venture on it, whatever it cost thee ; but then, when 
men's rebellious ways are charged on their souls to death, oh that 
thou couldst rid thy hands of it ; oh that thou couldst say. Lord, 
it was not I ! Then, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, naked, im- 
prisoned ? how fain would they put it olF! Then sin will be sin 
indeed, and grace will be grace indeed ; then, say the foolish vir- 
gins. Give us of your oil, for our lamps are out. Oh for some of 
your faith and holiness, which we were wont to mock at ! But what 
is the answer. Go buy for yourselves ; we have little enough ; would 
we had rather much more. Then they will be glad of 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 baptized, heard 
sermons, professed Christianity : but, alas ! this will hot serve the 
turn. He will profess to them, I never knew you; depart from me, 



4G THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart I. 

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 be- 
fore him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate them 
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : 
and he shall set the sheep on his 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. 1 — 3 ; 
xix. 22 ; he that would not overlook one Lot in Sodom, nay, that 
could do nothing till he went forth ; will he forget thee at that 
day ? " Thy Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of tempt- 
ation, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be pun- 
ished," 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 separ- 
ating day ; 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 cometii 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 them- 
selves many a day in heart-breaking confessions, and therefore shall 
not be judged to condemnation by the Lord ; " for there is no con- 
demnation 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; 
viii. 2. Or shall conscience ? Why, we were, long ago, " justified 
by faith, and so have peace with God, and have our hearts sprin- 
kled from an evil conscience ; 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. IG. If our 
Judge condemn us not, who shall ? He that said to the adulterous 
woman, " Hath no man condemned thee ? neither do I condemn 
thee," John viii. 11; 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 



Chai'. V, THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING UEST. 17 

that the world through him might be saved," John iii. 17 ; I am 
sure, intends not his second coming to condenm his people, hut 
that they, through him, might he saved. He hath given us eter- 
nal lite in charter and title already, yea, and partly in possession; 
and will he after that condenm us ? When he gave us the know- 
ledge 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, hut is passed from death to life," John v. 24; xvii, 
S. Indeed, if our Judge were our enemy, as he is to the world, 
tlien we might well fear. If the devil were our judge, or the un- 
godly were our judge, then we should he condemned as hypocrites, 
as heretics, as schismatics, as proud, or covetous, or what not ? 
liut 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" (Kom. viii. 34, 35; Matt, xxviii. 18; John 
xiii. 3 ; ix. 22, 23, 27), 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 
unexpressible 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 dearest friend, by a brother, 
by a father, or a wife by her own husband i Christian, did he 
come down, and suffer, and weep, and bleed, and die for thee, and 
will he now condemn thee i was he judged, and condemned, and 
executed in thy stead, and now will he condemn thee himself.'' did 
he make a bath of his blood for thy sins, and a garment of his own 
righteousness for thy nakedness, and will he nov/ open them to thy 
shame ! is he the undertaker for thy salvation, and will he be 
against thee i hath it cost him so dear to save thee, and will he 
now himself destroy thee ? hath he done the most of the work 
already, in redeeming, regenerating, and sanctifying, justifying, 
preserving, and perfecting thee, and will he now undo all again .' 
nay, hath he begun, 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 
unreasonable sin is unbelief, that will charge our Lord with such 
unmercifulness and absurdities ! Well, then, fellow Christians, let 
the terror of that clay be never so great, surely our Lord can mean 
no ill to us in all : let it make the devils tremble, and the wicked 
tremble ; but it shall make us to leap for joy : let Satan accuse us, 
we have our answer at hand ; our Surety hath discharged the debt. 
If he have not fulfilled the law, then let us be charged as breakers 
of it : if he have not suffered, then let us suffer ; but if he have, 
we are free : nay, our Lord will make answer for us himself. 
'• These are mine, and shall be made up with my jewels : for their 
transgressions was I stricken, and cut off from the earth ; for them 



48 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 so\d : I have healed them by my stripes ; I have 
justified them by my knowledge," Isa. liii. 5, 8, 10, 11. "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 justifica- 
tion by faith, is a giving them title in law, to that apology and 
absolving sentence which at that day they shall actually receive 
from the mouth of Christ ; by which sentence, their sin, which 
before was pardoned in the sense of the law, is now perfectly par- 
doned, or blotted out by this ultimate judgment, Acts iii. 19. 
Therefore, well may it be called the time of refreshing, as being to 
the saints the perfecting of all their former refreshments. He who 
was vexed with a quarrelling conscience, an accusing world, a curs- 
ing law, is solemnly pronounced righteous by the Lord, the Judge. 
Though he cannot plead Not guilty, in regard of fact, yet, being 
pardoned, he shall be acquitted by the proclamation of Christ : and 
that is not all ; "but he that was accused as deserving hell, is pro- 
nounced 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 ex^eding sweet ; but this 
will fully and finally resolve the question, and leave no room for 
doubting again for ever. We shall more rejoice that our names 
are found written in the book of life, than if men or devils were 
subjected to us ; and it must needs affect us deeply with the sense 
of our mercy and happiness, to behold the contrary condition of 
others ; to see most of the world tremble with terror, while we 
triumph with joy ; to hear them doomed to everlasting flames, and 
see them thrust into hell, when we are proclaimed heirs of the 
kingdom ; to see our neighbours, that lived in the same towns, 
came to the same congregations, 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. This, with the great 
magnificence and dreadfulness of the day, doth the apostle patheti- 
cally 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 "he revealed from heaven with his 
mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know 
not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who 
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of the Lord, and from the glory of his power," &c. 2 Thess, i. 
6 — 10. And now, is not here enough to make that day a welcome 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 1<) 

(lay, and the thoughts of it delightful to us ? but yet there is more. 
^Vo shall be so far from the dread of that judgment, that ourselves 
shall become the judges. Christ will take his people, as it were, 
into commission with him ; and they shall sit and approve his 
righteous judgment. O fear not now the reproaches, scorns, and 
censures, of those that nmst 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 oiFenders 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 exe- 
cute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly 
among them, of all their ungodly deeds, w^hich 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. Oh that the careless world were "but wise to con- 
sider 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 elements 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 under- 
stand," 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 man- 
ner of persons ought ye to be, in all holy conversation and godli- 
ness, 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. 1 1, 12. But go 
your way, keep close with God, and wait till your change come, 
and till this end be ; " for you shall rest, and stand in the lot at 
the end of the days," Dan. xii. 13. 

Sect. V. The fourth antecedent, and highest 4. Our solemn coro- 
step to the saints' advancement, is their solemn nation, 

coronation, enthronizing, and receiving into the kingdom. For, 
as Christ, their Head, is anointed both King and Priest, so under 

E 



50 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 he 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. 21 ; 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 posses- 
sion with these applauding expressions : " Well done, good and faith- 
ful 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 Bethshemites' judgment, for 
the enmity is utterly taken away. This is not such a " come " as 
we were wont to hear ; " Come, take up your cross and follow me : " 
though that was sweet, yet this much more. "Ye blessed;" 
blessed indeed, when that mouth shall so pronounce us. For 
though the world hath accounted us accursed, and we have been 
ready to account ourselves so, yet certainly those that he blesseth 
are blessed, and those whom he curseth only are cursed : and his 
blessing shall not be revoked; but he hath blessed us, and we 
shall be blessed. " Of my Father ; " blessed in the Father's love 
as well as the Son's, for they are one. The Father hath testified 
his love in their election, donation to Christ, sending of Christ, 
accepting his ransom, &c. as the Son hath also testified his. " In- 
herit;" no longer bondmen, nor servants only, nor children under 
age, v.'ho differ not in possession, but only in title, from servants. 
Gal. iv. 1, 5 — 7 ; but now we are heirs of the kingdom, James ii. 
5, coheirs with Christ. " The kingdom ;" no less than the king- 
dom. Indeed, to be a King of kings, and Lord of lords, is our 
Lord's own proper title ; but to be kings and reign with him, is ours. 
The fruition of this kingdom, is as the fruition of the light of the 
sun, each have the whole, and the rest never the less. " Prepared 
for you ; " God is the alpha as well as the omega of our 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 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. fy\ 

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. ; 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, al- 
leged as a reason of our coronation and glory ? Is not it the pur- 
chased possession and mere fruit of Christ's blood.' If everyinan 
nuist be judged according to his works, 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 this last 
absolving sentence be the 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. 

An.siv. 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 
is said before, certain brief positions, containing my thoughts on 
this subject; which may tend to the clearing of these and many 
other difliculties 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, because it is 
theirs ; nor sound, because of the repute of the writer. 

2. Know this, that as an unhumbled soul is far apter to give too 
much to duty and personal righteousness, than to Christ; so a 
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 Melancthon's self-denying humility. Soli 
Deo omnia deheri tarn obstinate assent, lit mihi plane ricleatur 
saltern in hoc errare, quod Christian ipsejingat lo?t(/iiis ahesse cordi 
suo quam sit revera — Certe nimis nullus in hoc est Philippiis. 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 

* See what is after cited in cap. vii. sect. 2. 
E 2 



52 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

further off from his own heart than indeed he is. Certainly he is 
too much nothing in this. 

3. Our giving to Christ more of the work than Scripture doth, 
or rather our ascribing it to him out of the Scripture way and 
sense, doth but dishonour, and not honour him ; and depress, but 
not exalt his free grace : while we deny the inward, sanctifying 
work of his Spirit, and extol his free justification, which are equal 
fruits of his merit, we make him an imperfect Saviour. 

4. But to arrogate to ourselves any part of Christ's prerogative, 
is most desperate of all, and no doctrine more directly overthrows 
the gospel, almost, than that of justification by the merits of our 
own, or by works of the law. 

And thus we have, by the line and plummet of Scripture, 
fathomed this fourfold stream, and seen the Christian safely landed 
in paradise ; and, in this four-wheeled fiery chariot, conveyed hon- 
ourably to his rest. Now, let us a little further view those man- 
sions, consider his privileges, and see whether there be any glory 
like unto this glory ; read and judge, but not by outward appear- 
ance, but judge righteous judgment. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THIS REST MOST EXCELLENT, DISCOVERED BY REASON. 

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

Sect. I. 1. That which is desired and sought for itself, is better 
than that which is desired for something else ; or the end, as such, 
is better than all the means. This concludeth for heaven's pre- 
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 salvation of our souls 
is the end of our faith, our hope, our diligence, of all mercies, of 
all ordinances, as before is proved. It is not for themselves, but 
for this rest, that all these are desired and used, 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 be- 
lieving. 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 



Chap. VI. THE SAINTS' KVERLASTING REST. 53 

and the end, singularly desirable as the way, but yet more as the 
end, John xiv. G. If any tiling that ever you saw or enjoyed, ap- 
pear lovely and desirable, then must its end be so nmch 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 be- 
ginning was as a grain of mustard-seed, but their perfection will 
be an estate high and flourishing. They were taken with David 
from the sheep-fold, to reign as kings for ever. Their first day 
was a day of small things, but their last will be an everlasting per- 
fection. They sowed in tears, but they reap in joy. If their pros- 
perity here, their res secunda, were desirable, much more their 
res ultutne, 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, Consummaitun est, " It is finish- 
ed ;" 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 quicldy recovered him. But, methinks, the forethought of 
that consummation and last estate we spake of, should bring a 
considering Christian into such an unfeigned ecstasy, that he should 
even forget the things of the flesh, and no care or fear should raise 
him out of it. Surely that is well which ends well, and that is 
good which is good at last ; and, therefore, heaven must needs be 
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 
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 up, and make them forget it : but 
when they shall know it to their torment, as the saints do to their 
joy ; and when they shall see men, from the east and west, sit 
down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God, 
and themselves shut out, 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 I Mark viii. 35. "NVe 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 ? 
INIatt. vi. 33. As God gives us outward things as auctaries, as 
overplus, or above measure, into our bargain, so when he takes 
them from us, he takes away our superfluities, rather than our ne- 
cessaries, and pareth but our nails, and toucheth not the quick. 
But can we so spare our part in glory ? You know whose question 



54 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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. 2G. 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 I hope heaven will carry it ; for, who hath the key 
of the everlasting treasures, and who is the disposer of the dig- 
nities 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 ; sure 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 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 Apollos, 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 deliverance and mercy to the church, shall be so 
clearly from God, that his very name shall be written in the fore- 
head 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. 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 command the clouds to 
shut up their womb, or stay the course of the flowing streams, or 
seal up the passages of the deep ? How much less can you deprive 
us of our God, or deny us the light of his countenance, or stop the 
influences of his Spirit, or forbid the dew of his grace to fall, or 
stay the streams of his love, and shut up his overflowing, everflow- 
ing springs, or seal up the bottomless depth of his bounty ? You 
can kill our bodies, it he permit you ; but try whether you can reach 
our souls. Nay, it is not in the saints' own power to give to, or 
take away from, themselves this glory : so that, according to this 
rule, there is no state like the saints' rest ; for no man can give 
this rest to us, and none can take our joy from us, John xvi. 22. 

Sect. V. 5. Another rule is this : That is ever better or best, 
which maketh the owner or possessor himself better or best. And 



Chai'. VL the SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 55 

sure, according to this rule, there is no state like heaven. Riches, 
honour, and pleasure, make a man neither better nor best : grace 
here makes us better, but not best : that is reserved as the pre- 
rogative of glory. That is our good that doth us good, and that 
doth us good which makes us good ; else it may be good in itself, 
but not good to us. External good is at too great a distance to be 
our happiness. It is not bread on our tables, but in our stomachs, 
tliat must nourish ; nor blood on our clothes or skin, but in the 
liver, heart, and veins, which is our life. Nay, the things of the 
world are so far from making the owners good, that they prove not 
the least impediments thereto, and snares to the best of men. 
Riches and honour do seldom help to humility ; but of pride they 
occasionally become most frequent fomenters. The difficulty is so 
great of conjoining graciousness with greatness, that it is next to 
an impossibility ; and their conjunctions 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; and that is our true 
glory w'hich 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 prayers, or see him in his tears, and ask him 
what aileth him, he will cry out more, Oh ! my dark understand- 
ing ! oh ! my hard, my unbelieving heart ! rather than. Oh ! my 
dishonour ! or, Oh ! my poverty ! Therefore it is his desired place 
and state, which affords a relief suitable to his necessities and 
complaints. And surely that is only this rest. 

Sect. VI. G. 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 more easily. It is 
but lie still, and sleep out our days in careless laziness. It is but 
take our pleasure, and mind the world, and cast away the thoughts 
of sin, and grace, and Christ,, and heaven, and hell, out of our 
minds ; and do as the most do, and never trouble ourselves about 
these high things, but venture our souls upon our 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 thousand men, than make one alive. The descent is 
easy, the ascent not so. To bring diseases is but to cherish sloth. 



56 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

please the appetite, 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 much ado passed 
through. Conclude, then, it is sure somewhat worth that must 
cost all this. 

Sect. VII. 7. Another rule is this : That is best, which not only 
supplieth necessity, but aiFordeth abundance. I3y necessity is 
meant here, that which we cannot live without ; and by abundance 
is meant a more perfect supply, a comfortable, not a useless abund- 
ance. 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 emptiness may cause hungering, and 
our hungering cause seeking and craving, and our craving testify 
our dependence, and occasion receiving, and our receiving occasion 
thanks returning, and all advance the glory of the Giver. But 
when we shall be brought to the well-head, and united close to the 
ovei-flowing fountain, we shall then thirst no more, because we shall 
be empty no more. Surely if those blessed souls did not abound in 
their blessedness, they would never so abound in praises. Such 
blessing, and honour, and glory, and praise to God, would never 
accompany common mercies. All those allelujahs are not, sure, 
the language of needy men. Now, we are poor, we speak supplica- 
tions, and our beggar's tone discovers our low condition ; all our 
language almost is complaining and craving, our breath sighing, 
and our life a labouring, Prov. xviii. 23. But, sure, where all this 
is turned into eternal praising and rejoicing, the case must needs 
be altered, and all wants supplied and forgotten. I think their 
hearts full of joy, and their mouths full of thanks, proves their state 
abounding full of blessedness. 

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 unwearied 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 below, and solid happiness and rest above. 
If dying men are wiser than others, who, by the world's forsaking 
them, and by the approach of eternity, begin to be undeceived ; 
then surely happiness is hereafter, and not here : for though the 
deluded world, in their flourishing prosperity, can bless themselves 
in their fool's paradise, and merrily jest at the simplicity of the 



Chap. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 57 

sftints, yet scarce one of many, even of the worst of them, but are 
ready at last to cry out with Hahiani, " Oh that I might die the 
death of the righteous, and my last end might be like his ! " Never 
take heed, therefore, what they think or say now ; for as sure as 
they shall die, they will one of these days think and say clean con- 
trary. 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 understandings of these poor men, who are be- 
side themselves ; knowing that one of these days, when too late 
experience brings them to their right minds, they will be of a far 
different judgment. They ask us, What, are you wiser than your 
forefathers ; than all the town besides ; than such and such great 
men and learned men ? And do you think, in good sadness, we 
may not, with better reason, ask you, What, are you wiser than 
Enoch and Noah ; than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel ; than 
David and Solomon ; than Moses and the prophets ; than Peter, 
Paul, all the apostles, and all the sons of God, in all ages and 
nations, that ever went to heaven ; yea, than Jesus Christ himself.' 
JNlen 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- door-keepers there, than to dwell in the 
tents of wickedness?" Psal. Ixxxiv. 10. Nay, whether the very 
"reproaches of Christ (even the scorns we have from you, for 
Christ's sake and the gospel's) be not greater riches than all the 
treasures of the world?" Heb. xi. 25, 26. If wisdom, then, may 
pass the sentence, you see which way the cause will go ; and " wis- 
dom is justified of all 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 you 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 contained 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 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 is 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 



58 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 
unweariedly : 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, (Mark 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 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 answers, Spem majorum et mellorum. 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, instead of all ! 
Nay, lose thyself for God, and renounce thyself, and thou shalt at 
that day find thyself again in him. Give him thyself, and he will 
receive thee upon the same terms as Socrates did his scholar, 
yEschines ; who gave himself to his master, because he had nothing 
else, Accipio, sed ea lege vt te tihi meliorem reddam qiiam accept : 
that he may return thee to thyself better than he received thee. 
So, then, this rest is the good which containeth all other good in 
it. And thus you see, according to the rules of reason, the tran- 
scendent excellency of the saints' glory in the general. We shall 
next mention the particular excellences. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE EXCELLENCES OF OUR REST. 

Yet let us draw a little nearer, and see more immediately from 
the pure fountain of the Scriptures, what further excellences 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. 

1. It is the fruit of "^^ct. I. And first, it is a most singular honour 
the love and blood and Ornament, in the style of the saints' rest, to be 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 69 

called the purchased possession ; that it is the fruit of Christ, whom we 
of the blood of the Son of God ; yea, the dhief fruit ; shall there also be- 
yea, the end and perfection of all the fruits and efficacy '" '^" *'"J"^- 
of that blood. Surely love is the most precious ingredient in the 
whole composition ; and of all the flowers that grow in the garden 
of love, can there be brought one more sweet and beautiful to the 
garland, than this blood .' Greater love than this there is not ; to 
lay down the life of the lover, John xv. 13. And to have this our 
Redeemer ever before our eyes, and the liveliest sense and freshest 
remembrance of that dying, bleeding love still upon our souls ! Oh, 
how will it fill our souls with perpetual ravishments, to think, that 
in the streams of this blood we have swam through the violence of 
the world, the snares of Satan, the seducements of the flesh, the 
curse of the law, the wrath of an ofiended God, the accusations of 
a guilty conscience, and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbe- 
lieving 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 dolours and sulferings of love, and hear all his sad complaints, 
and all with dulness, and unaftectcd. He cries to us, " Behold 
and see ; is it nothing to you, O all ye that pass by ? Is there any 
sorrow like unto my sorrow .^" 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, witli feeling apprehensions, flame 
again in love for love. Now we set his picture, wounded and dying, 
before our eyes, but can get it no nearer our hearts than if we be- 
lieved nothing of what we read ; but thexi, when the obstructions 
between the eye and the understanding are taken away, and the 
passage opened between the head and the heart, surely our eyes 
will everlastingly aflect our heart. And while we view, with one 
eye, our slain, revived Lord, and with the other eye, our lost, re- 
covered souls, and transcendent 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 ; yea, if we should, with Peter, have stooped 
down and seen the place where he lay, and beheld his relics ; yet 
these bolted doors of sin and flesh would have kept out the feeling 
of all that love. But, oh ! that is the joy ! We shall then leave 
these hearts of stone and rock behind us, and the sin that here so 
close besets us ; and the sottish unkindness that followed us so 
long, shall not be able to follow us into that glory. But we shall 
behold, as it were, the wounds of love with eyes and hearts of love 
for ever. Suppose, a little to help our apprehensions, that a saint, 
who had partaken of the joys of heaven, hath been translated from 



60 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

as long an above in hell, and after the experience 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 ? Oh that 
I were sensible of what I speak ! With what astonishing apprehen- 
sions, then, will redeemed saints everlastingly behold their blessed 
Redeemer ! I will not meddle with their vain, audacious question, 
who must needs know, whether the glorified body of Christ do yet 
retain either the wounds or scars. But this is most certain, that 
the memory of it will be as fresh, and the impressions of love as 
deep, and its working as strong, as if his wounds were still in our 
eyes, and his complaints still in our ears, and his blood still stream- 
ing 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 meet- 
ing was there between our new-risen Lord and the first sinful, silly 
woman that he appears to ! How cloth love struggle 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, will there be, between the new-glorified saint 
and the glorious Redeemer ! But I am here at a loss, my apprehen- 
sions 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 sorrow ; 
he whose first words, after his resurrection, were to a great sinner, 
"Woman, why weepest thou?" John xx. 13, knows how to raise 
love and joy by all those views, without raising any cloud of sorrow 
or storm of teai's at all, 2 Sam. xxiii. 16, 17, He that made the 
sacramental commemoration of his death to be his church's feast, 
will sure make the real enjoyment of its blessed purchase to be 
marrow and fatness. And if it afforded joy to hear from his mouth, 
" This is my body which is given for you," and " This is my blood 
which was shed for you ; " what joy will it afford to hear, " This 
glory is the fruit of my body and my blood !" And what a merry 
feast will it be, when we shall drink of the fruit of the vine new 
with him in the kingdom of his Father, as the fruit of his own 
blood ! David would not drink of the waters which he longed for, 
because they were the blood of those men who jeoparded their 
lives for them, and thought them fitter to offer to God, than to 
please him. But we shall value these waters more highly, and yet 
drink them the more sweetly, because they are the blood of Christ, 
not jeoparded only, but shed for 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 purchased with the life of our 



CiiAi'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Gl 

clearest friend, how highly should we value it ! nay, if a dying 
fricMul deliver but a token of his love, how carefully do we preserve 
it, and still remember him when we behold it, as if his own name 
were written on it ! And will not then the death and blood of our 
Lord everlastingly sweeten our possessed glory? Methinks they 
should value the plenty of the gospel, with their peace and freedom, 
at a higher rate, who may remember what it hath cost ; how nmch 
precious blood ; how many of the lives of God's worthies and wit- 
nesses, 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. Oh, then, when we are rejoicing 
in glory, how shall we think of the blood that revived our souls, 
and how shall we look upon him whose sufferings did put that joy 
into our heart ! How carefully preserve we those prizes which with 
greatest hazard we gained from the enemy ! Goliath's sword must 
be kept as a trophy, and laid up behind the ephod : and in a time 
of need, David says, " There is none to that," I Sam. xxi. 9. 
Surely, when we do divide the spoil, and partake of the prize 
which our Lord so dearly won, we shall say indeed, " '^I'here is none 
like 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 use 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 that this highest glory was in 
strictest proper sense purchased, so as that it was the most immedi- 
ate effect of Christ's death. We must take heed that we conceive 
not of God as a tyrant, who so delighteth in cruelty, as to exchange 
mercies for stripes, or to give a crown on condition he may torment 
men. God was never so pleased with the sufferings of the inno- 
cent, much less of his Son, as to sell his mercy properly for their 
sufferings; fury dwelleth not in him, nor doth he willingly correct 
the sons of men, nor take pleasure in the death of him that dieth. 
But the sufferings of Christ were primarily and immediately to 
satisfy justice that 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 redemption so well pleased the Father, that he 
gave him power to advance his chosen to a higher dignity than they 



G2 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 saints' diadem, 
It ,s freely given us. j^^ ^^^^^ .^. -^ ^^.^^^ rj,^-^ seemeth, as Pharaoh's 

second kine, to devour the former ; and, as the angel to Balaam, 
to meet it with a drawn sword of a full opposition. But the seem- 
ing discord is but a pleasing diversity, composed into that harmony 
which constitutes the melody. These two attributes, purchased 
and free, are the two chains of gold, which by their pleasant twist- 
ing, do make up the wreath for the heads of the pillars in the 
temple of God, 1 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 with- 
out price. Nor do the gospel conditions make it the less free, or 
the covenant tenor before mentioned contradict 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 neces- 
sarily require. But if all the condition be our cordial accepta- 
tion, surely we deserve not the name of purchasers : thankful 
accepting of a free acquittance is no paying of the debt. If life 
be offered to a 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 re- 
deemed him : and this is no satisfying of the justice of the law ; 
especially when the condition is also given, as it is by God to all 
his chosen. Surely, then, here is all free. If the Father freely 
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 principal ; 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 ? Oh the everlasting admiration that must needs sur- 
prise the saints to think of this freeness ! What did the Lord see 
in me that he should judge me meet for such a state ? That I, who 
was but a poor, diseased, despised wretch, should be clad in the 
brightness of this glory ! That I, a silly, creeping, breathing worm, 
should be advanced to this high dignity ! That I, who was but 
lately groaning, weeping, dying, should now be as full of joy as my 
heart can hold ; yea, should be taken from the grave, where I was 
rotting and stinking, and from the dust and darkness, where I 
seemed forgotten, and here set before his throne ! That I should 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G3 

be taken with Mortlecai from captivity, to be set next unto the 
king ; and with Daniel from the den, to be made ruler of princes 
and provinces ; and with Saul from seeking asses, to be advanced 
to a kingdom ! Oh who can fathom unmeasurable love ? Indeed, 
if the proud-hearted, self-ignorant, self-admiring sinners should be 
thus advanced, who think none so fit for preferment as themselves, 
perhaps instead of admiring free love, they would, with those un- 
happy angels, be discontented yet with their estate. But when the 
self-denying, self-accusing, humble soul, who thought himself un- 
worthy 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; 
he who durst scarce come among or speak to the imperfect saints 
on earth, because he was unworthy ; he who durst scarce hear, or 
scarce read the Scripture, or scarce pray and call God Father, or 
scarce receive the sacraments of his covenant, and all because he 
was unworthy ; for this soul to find itself rapt up into heaven, and 
closed in the arms of Christ even in a moment ! do but think with 
yourselves, what the transporting, astonishing admiration of such a 
soul will be ! He that durst not lift up his eyes to heaven, but 
stood afar oif, smiting on his breast, and crying, " Lord, be merci- 
ful to me a sinner ;" now to be lift up to heaven himself! He who 
was wont to write his name in Bradford's style, " The unthankful, 
the hard-hearted, the unworthy sinner," and wa"s wont to admire 
that patience could bear so long, and justice suffer him to live ; sure 
he will admire at this alteration, when he shall find by experience, 
that unworthiness could not hinder his salvation, which he thought 
would have bereaved him of every mercy ! Ah, Christian, there is 
no talk of our worthiness or unworthiness ; if worthiness were our 
condition for admittance, W'e might sit down with St: John and 
weep, " because none in heaven or earth is found worthy ; but the 
Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy and hath prevailed :" and by 
that title must we hold the inheritance : we shall offer there the 
offering that David refused, even praise for that which cost us 
nothing. Here our commission runs, " Freely ye have received, 
freely give :" but Christ hath dearly received, yet freely gives. 
The Master heals us of our leprosy freely ; but Gehazi, who had no 
finger in the cure, wdll surely run after us, and take something of 
us, and falsely pretend, it is his Master's pleasure. The pope, and 
his servants, will be paid for their pardons and indulgences, but 
Christ will take nothing for his. The fees of their prelates' courts 
are large, and commutation 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 poor of 
the world, rich in faith, whom God hath chosen to be heirs of that 



64 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

kingdom, which he hath prepared for them that love him." I know 
the true " labourer is worthy of his hire ;" and, " they that serve 
at the altar, should live upon the altar ;" and, " it is not fit to 
muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn," James ii. 5 ; 1 Cor. vi. 
4 — 13 : and I know, it is either hellish malice, or penurious base- 
ness, 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 as 
what is lawful, and that the saving of one soul is better than a 
thousand pounds a year, and our gain, though due, is a cursed gain, 
which is a stumbling-block to our people's souls : let us make the 
free gospel as little burdensome and chargeable as is possible. I 
had rather never take their tithes while I live, than by them to de- 
stroy 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 suiFer all things than hinder the 
gospel, Rom. xiv. 13, 15, 20, 21 ; 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. Though the well-leading elders be 
w^orthy of double honour, especially the laborious in the word and 
doctrine, yet if the necessity of souls and the promoting of the gos- 
pel should require it, 1 had rather preach the gospel in hunger and 
rags, than rigidly contend for what is my due ; and if I should do 
so, yet have I not whereof to glory, for necessity is laid upon me ; 
yea, woe be to me if I preach not the gospel, though I never re- 
ceived any thing from men, 1 Tim. v. 17 ; 1 Cor. iv. 10 — 12; ix. 
16. How unbeseeming the messengers of his free grace and king- 
dom 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, yielding, suffering 
doctrine which they taught. Away with all those actions that are 
against the main end of our studies and calling, which is to win 
souls ; and woe be upon that gain which hinders the gaining of 
men to Christ ! I know, flesh will here object necessities, and dis- 
trust 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, pay for our 
freedom too, to enjoy and use them ; yet as we paid nothing for 



Chap. YII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G.5 

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 hread and wine, hut we shall not pay for the hody and hlood, 
nor for the great things of the covenant which it seals unto us ; 
and, indeed, we have a valuahle price to give for those, hut 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 ; hut it is, 
moreover, against our merit, and against our long endeavouring of 
our own ruin. Oh, the hroken heart that hath known the desert 
of sin, doth both understand and feel what I say ! What an 
astonishing thought it will be to think of the unmeasurable differ- 
ence between our descrvings and our receivings ; between the state 
we should have been in, and the state we are in ; to look down 
upon hell, and sec the vast difference that free grace hath made be- 
twixt us and them ; to see the inheritance there, which we were 
born to, so different from that which we are adopted to ! Oh what 
pangs of love will it cause within us, to think, Yonder was my 
native right, my deserved portion ; those should have been my 
hideous cries, my doleful groans, my easeless pains, my endless tor- 
ment ; 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 I 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 I ever have begun to love, if God 
had not begun to me ; or ever be willing, if he had not made me 
willing ; or ever differed, if he had not made me to differ ? Had I 
not now been in those flames, if I had had mine own way, and been 
let alone to mine own will ? Did I not resist as powerful means, 
and lose as fair advantages, as they? And should I not have 
lingered in Sodom till the flames had seized on me, if God had not 
in mercy carried me out .'' Oh how free was all this love ; and how 
free is this enjoyed glory ! Doubtless this will be our everlasting 
admiration, that so rich a crown should fit the head of so vile a 
sinner ; that such high advancement, and such long unfruitfulness 
and unkindness, can be the state of the same persons ; 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 pur5:hase and freeness,* that the love and joy of man 

* It is a fond conceit of the Antinoinians, to think that justification and salvation 
F 



G6 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 1'art I. 

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." 
3. Itisihe saints' Sect. III. Thirdly, The third comfortable at- 
possession. tribute of this rest is, that it is the saints' proper 
and peculiar possession. It belongs to no other of all the sons of 
men ; not that it would have detracted from the greatness or free- 
ness of the gift, if God had so pleased, that all the world should 
have enjoyed it : but when God had resolved otherwise, that it 
must be enjoyed but by few, to find our names among that num- 
ber must needs make us the more to value our enjoyment. If all 
Egypt had been light, the Israelites should not have had the less ; 
but yet to enjoy that light alone, while their neighbours live in 
thick darkness, must make them more sensible of their privilege. 
Distinguishing, separating mercy aifecteth more than any mercy. 
If it should rain on our grounds alone, or the sun shine alone upon 
our habitations, or the blessing of heaven divide between our 
flocks and other men's, as between Jacob's and Laban's, we should 
more feelingly acknowledge mercy than now, while we possess the 
same in common. Ordinariness dulleth our sense ; and if miracles 
were common, they would be slighted. If Pharaoh had passed as 
safely as Israel, the Red Sea would have been less remembered ; if 
the 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 desire ; yet it might perhaps dull their thankfulness, 
and differencing grace would not be known. But when one should 
])e 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 reyeal 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. Eor a Christian, who is con- 
scious of his own undeserving and ill-deserving, to see his com- 
panion in sin perish, his neighbour, kinsman, father, mother, wife, 

ave not free, if given on condition ; as long as the condition is but acceptance, and the 
frueness excludeth all our merit of satisfaction. The like may be said of the condition- 
ality of sincere evangelical obedience to the continuance ancV, consummation of our 
justification, and to our salvation. 



CriAi'. VI 1. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G7 

child, for ever in hell, vvhile lio is preferred among the hlessed ; to 
see other men's sins eternally plagued, 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 tahle, and join wilh us in the same duties, now to 
lie tornirnted 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 l)OSom- as a monument of Divine 
vengeance, and escape with his two daughters alone ; h'^re is 
choosing, distinguishing mercy ! Therefore, the Scripture seems 
to affirm, that as the damned souls shall, from hell, see the saints' 
liappiness, to increase their own torments, so shall the hlessed, 
from heaven, hehold 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 their streets, and they that dwelt on the earth 
rejoiced over them and made merry, Rev. xi. 10, and as the 
wicked here hehold 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 be, 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, G. And 
as the command is over Babylon, so will it be over all the con- 
demned souls, " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy 
apostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged you on her," Rev. 
xviii. 20; xix. 7, 8. By this time the impenitent Avorld 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, by 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 contempti- 
ble. As every one of them now knows his own sore, and his own 
grief, so shall every one of them feel his own joy : and if they can 
now call Christ their own, and call God their own God, how much 
more then upon their full possession of him ! for as he takes his 
people for his inheritance, so will he himself be the inheritance of 
his people for ever, 2 Chron. vi. 29; Psal. xvi. 5 \ xxxiii. 12; 
Ixvii. 6; Ixxviii. 71. 

Sect. IV. A fourth comfortable adjunct of this 4 j, j, a rest with 
rest is, that it is the fellowship of the blessed angels ami perfect 
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 

F 2 



68 THE .SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

saints, whereof Christ is the Head ; the communion of saints com- 
pleted ? Nor doth this make those joys to he 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, niethinks should much advance their pleasure. What- 
soever it will be upon the great change that will be in our natures 
perfected, sure I am, according to the present temperature of the 
most sanctified human aifections, it would aiFect exceedingly : and 
he who mentioneth the qualifications of our happiness, of purpose 
that our joy may be full, and maketh so oft mention of our con- 
sociation and conjunction in his praises, sure doth hereby intimate 
to us, that this will be some advantage to our joys. Certain I 
am of this, fellow Christians, that as we have been together in the 
labour, duty, danger, and distress, so shall we be in the great re- 
compence and deliverance ; and as we have been scorned and de- 
spised, so shall we be crowned and honoured together ; and we who 
have gone through the day of sadness, shall enjoy together that day 
of gladness. And those who have been with us in persecution and 
prison, shall be with us also in that palace of consolation. Can the 
wilful world say. If our forefathers and friends be all in hell, we 
will venture there too ? And may not the Christian say on better 
grounds. Seeing my 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 inquire together, and 
hear of heaven and talk of heaven together, shall then live in hea- 
ven 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 for- 
merly, 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 believingly think of 
this day, what a refreshing thought is it ! Shall we not there re- 
member, think you, the pikes which we passed through here ; our 
fellowship in duty and in suiFerings ; how oft our groans made, as it 
were, one sound, our conjunct tears but one stream, and our con- 
junct 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 



CiiAi'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 60 

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 idohitry. But, yet, lie who com- 
mands us so to love thom now, will give us leave, in the same sub- 
ordination to hinisoir, to lov(> them then, when himself hath made 
them much more lovely : and if we may love them, we shall surely 
rejoice in them ; for love and enjoyment cannot stand without an 
answerable joy. If the forethought of sitting down with Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, may be 
our lawful joy, then how nmch more that real sight and actual pos- 
session ! it cannot choose but be comfortable to me to think of 
that day, when I shall join with Moses in his song, with David in 
his psalms of praise, and with all the redeemed in the song of the 
Lamb for ever; when we shall see Enoch walking with God, Noah 
enjoying the end of his singularity, Joseph of his integrity. Job of 
his patience, Hezekiah of his uprightness, and all the saints the end 
of their faith. Will it be nothing conducible to the completing of 
our comforts, to live eternally with Peter, Paul, Austin, Chrysos- 
tom, Jerome, Wickliffe, Luther, Zuinglius, Calvin, Beza, Bullinger, 
Zanchius, Parasus, Piscator, Camero ; with Hooper, Bradford, 
Latimer, Glovei*, Saunders, Philpot ; with Reighnolds, Whitaker, 
Cartwright, Brightman, Bayne, Bradshaw, Bolton, Ball, Hilder- 
sham, Pemble, Twisse, Ames, Preston, Sibbs ? O felicem diem 
(said holy GryntBus) quiim ad illiid animanini concilium jtrojicis- 
car, et ex hoc tnrha 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 conversa- 
tions there was written the name of Christ ; whose sweet and sen- 
sible mention of his excellences 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 implieth 
our imperfection; and what imperfection can this imply? Nay, 
our present knowledge shall be increased beyond belief, 2 Cor. v. 
16. It shall indeed be done away, but as the light of candles and 
stars is done away, by the rising of the sun ; which is more properly 
a doing away of our ignorance than of our knowledge : indeed, we 

* Junius -writcth in his life, of a man that so esteemed him, that he digged up a turf 
of the ground where he stood, and carried it home ; how, then, sliould we love the 
habitatfon 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). 



70 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Pakt I. 

shall not know each other after the flesh ; nor by stature, voice, 
colour, complexion, visage, or outward shape ; if we had so known 
Christ, we should know him no more ; nor by parts and gifts of 
learning, nor titles of honour and worldly dignity ; nor by terms of 
affinity and 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 knov/ and be known. Nor is it only 
our old acquaintance, but all the saints of all ages, whose faces in 
the flesh we never saw, whom we shall there both know and com- 
fortably enjoy. Luther, in his last sickness, being asked his judg- 
ment, whether we shall know one another in heaven, answered thus, 
Quid accidit Adamo ? Nioiquam ille vklerat Evam, &c. i. e. 
How was it with Adam ? He had never seen Eve : yet he asked 
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 endued with the true know- 
ledge 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 have beheld ; and a more happy 
society than you were ever of before. Then we shall truly say, as 
David, " I am a companion of all them that fear thee : when we 
are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the 
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels ; to 
the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are writ- 
ten in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of 
just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the nev/ 
covenant, 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 imbitter, as vrell 
as holiness to sweeten, their society, what will it be to live with 
them in their perfection, where saints are wholly and only saints ? 
if it be a delight to hear them pray or preach, what will it be to 
hear them praise ? if we thought ourselves in the suburbs of heaven 
when we heard them set forth the beauty of our Lord, and speak 
of the excellences of his kingdom, what a day will it be when we 
shall join with them in praises to our Lord in and for that king- 
dom ! Now we have corruption, and they have corruption ; and 
we are apter to set awork each other's corruption than our graces ; 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 71 

and so lose the benefit of their conipany while we do enjoy it, he- 
cause we know not how to make use ot" a saint : bul then it will 
not he so. Now we spend many an hour which might be profitable, 
hi 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 arc " fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of 
God," Eph. ii. 19. 

Sect. V. Fifthly, Another excellent property of r, ^ j^ i„„j,<,,|iate 
our rest will be, that the joys of it are immedi- iVom (j(,(i, and in 
ately from God. Nor doth this contradict the '"'"• 
former, as I have before made plain. Whether Christ, who is God 
as well as man, shall be the conveyer of all from the Divine nature 
to us ; and whether the giving up the kingdom to the Father do 
imply the ceasing of the Mediator's office ; oi whether he shall be; 
Mediator //v^/V/o/^/.?, as well as acqiiisitionts ; 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 conse- 
quently derive our life and comfort immediately from him. Whe- 
ther 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 deliverance ; or whe- 
ther to endure to eternity ; or to what particular employment they 
shall be continued ; are questions yet too hard for me. When God 
speaks them plainer, and mine understanding is made clearei', then 
I may know these ; but it is certain that at least our most and 
great joys will be immediate, if not all. Now, we have nothing at 
all immediately, but at the second, or third, or fourth, or fifth hand, 
or how many, who knows .'' From the earth, from man, from sun and 
moon, from the influence of the planets, from the ministration of 
angels, and from the Spirit and Christ ; and, doubtless, the further 
the stream runs fi-om 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 w^eight and worth is there in every 
passage of the blessed gospel ! enough, one w^ould 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 nmch be- 
cause these words of life do die in the delivery, and the fruit of 
conception 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. 



72 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

of soul- concerning truths, and set before them life and death ; but 
it is with such self-seeking affectation, and in such a lazy, formal, 
customary strain, like the pace the Spaniard rides, that the people 
little think we are in good sadness, or that our hearts do mean as 
our tongues do speak. I have heard of some tongues that can lick 
a coal of fire till it be cold. I fear these tongues are in most of 
our mouths, and that the breath that is given us to blow up this 
fire, till it flame in our people's souls, is rather used to blow it out. 
Such preaching is it that hath brought the most to hear sermons, 
as they say their creed and paier-voHters, even as a few good words 
of course. How many a cold and mean sermon that yet contains 
most precious truths ! The things of God which we handle are 
divine ; but our manner of handling too human : and there is 
little or none that ever we touch, but we leave the print of our 
fingers behind us ; but if God should speak this word himself, it 
would be a piercing, melting word indeed. How full of comfort 
are the gospel promises ! yet do 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 ex- 
pressions, and dunghill conversations, whose lustre we do pretend 
to discover, while the hearers judge of it by our expressions, and 
not its proper, genuine worth. The truth is, the best of men do 
apprehend but little of what God, in his word, expresseth, and 
what they do apprehend they are unable to utter. Human lan- 
guage is not so copious as the heart's conceivings are ; and what we 
possibly might declare, yet, through our own unbelief, stupidity, 
laziness, and other corruptions, we usually fail in ; and what we do 
declare, yet the darkness 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 perfect ; so are all the works of man, as himself, imperfect ; 
and those which God performeth by the hand of man, will too 
much savour of the instrument. If an angel from heaven should , 
preach the gospel, yet could he not deliver it according to its glory ; 
much less we, who never saw what they have seen, and keep this 
treasure in earthen vessels. The comforts that flow through ser- 
mons, through sacraments, through reading, and company, and 
conference, and creatures, are but half comforts ; and the life that 
comes by these is but a half 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 Christians who are much in secret 
prayer, and in meditation and contemplation, rather than they who 
are more in hearing, reading, and conference, are men of greatest 
life and joy, because they are nearer the well-head, and have all 



CnAi'. Yll. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 73 

more immediately from God himself; and that I conceive the 
reason, also, uhy we are more indisposed (o those secret duties, 
and can easilier bring our hearts to hear, and read, and confer, than 
to secret prayer, self-examination, and meditation, because in the 
former is more of man ; and in these we approach the Lord alone, 
and our natures draw back from the most spiritual and fruitful 
duties : not that we should therefore cast off the other, and neglect 
any ordinance of God. To live above them, wdiile 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 
(lie 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 in- 
stituted all ordinances, for us, so will he continue our need of all. 
We nuist yet be contented with love-tokens from him, till we come 
to receive our all in him. We nmst 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 giv- 
eth 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 without the use of food ; for the Lord God will be our 
strength, and the light of his countenance will be health to our 
souls, and marrow to our bones. We shall then, and never till 
then, have enlightened understandings without Scripture, and be 
governed without a written law ; for the Lord will perfect his law 
in our hearts, and we shall be all perfectly taught of God. His 
own will shall be our law, and his own face shall be our light for 
ever. Then shall we have joy, which we drew not from the 
promises, nor was fetched us home by faith or hope. Beholding 
and possessing will exclude the most of these. We shall then have 
communion without sacraments, when Christ shall drink with us 
of the fruit of the vine new, that is, refresh us with the comforting- 
wine of immediate fruition, in the kingdom of his Father. To 
have necessities 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 pre- 
rogative of God himself. The more of God is seen and received 



74 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart I. 

with and by the means and creature here, the nearer is our state 
like that in glorJ^ In a \vord, we have now our mercies, as Ben- 
iamin had Joseph's cup, Gen. xliv. 12; we find them at a distance 
from God, and scarcely know from whence they come, and under- 
stand not the good-will intended in them, hut 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 e. It will be a sea- 
this ; it will be unto us a seasonable rest. He sonablc rest. 
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. 1. 4 ; Gal. vi. 9. If God will not miss the season 
of common mercies, even to his enemies, but " will give both the 
former and latter rain in their season, and the appointed weeks of 
the harvest in its season," Jer. v. 24 ; xxxiii. 20 ; and by an in- 
violable covenant hath established day and night in their seasons ; 
then, sure, the harvest of the saints and their day of gladness shall 
not miss its season. Doubtless, he that would not stay a day longer 
than his promise, but brought Israel out of Egypt that self-same 
day that the four hundred and thirty years were expired ; neither 
will he fail of one day or hour of the fittest season for his people's 
glory, Exod. xii. 40, 41 ; Jer. viii. 7. And as Christ failed not to 
come in the fulness of time, even then when Daniel and others had 
foretold his coming ; so in the fulness and fitness of time will his 
second coming be. He that hath given the stork, the crane, the 
swallow, to know their appointed time, will surely keep his time 
appointed. When we have had in this world a long night of sad 
darkness, will not the day-breaking and the 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 ? ^ hen 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 small 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 
woundj would not a peace, with victory, be now seasonable ? 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 75 

When wo have been captivated in many years' imprisonment, and 
insult (>d over by scornful foes, and suHered 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 un- 
der 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 yet seasonable ? Some are complaining under 
the pressure of the times ; weary of their taxes, weary of their 
quartering, weary of plunderings, weary of their fears and dangers, 
weary of their poverty and wants ; and is not rest yet seasonable ? 
W hither can you go, or into what company can you come, where 
the voice of complaining doth not show, that men live in a con- 
tinual weariness, but especially the saints, who are most weary of 
that which the world cannot feel i" 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 ? Wlien he is ready almost to give up, and 
saith, I am afraid I shall not reach the end, and that my faith and 
patience will scarce hold out ; is not this a fit season for rest ? If 
it were to Joseph a seasonable message, which called him from the 
prison to Pharaoh's court ; or if tli? 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 re- 
viving of Jacob's spirits ; 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. Will not Canaan be sea- 
sonable after so many years' travel, and that through a hazardous 
and grievous wilderness ? Indeed, to the world it is never in season. 
They are already at their own home, and have what they most 
desire. They are not weary of their present state. The saints' 
sorrow is their joy, and the saints' weariness is their rest : their 
weary day is coming, where there is no more expectation of rest. 



76 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

but for the thirsty soul to enjoy the fountain, and the hungry to he 
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 l^egan 
to insult, and, question the truth of Scripture promises, and ask us. 
Where is now your God ? Where is your long-looked-for glorj^ ? 
Where is the promise of your Lord's coming ? oh how seasonable, 
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 preseirtly answered : not considering that our portion is 
kept to a fitter season ; that these are not always winter 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 inherit- 
ance 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' de- 
partures, 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 oft 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 faith- 
fulness in destruction ? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, 
and thy righteousness in the land of forge tfulness ? " Psal. Ixxxviii. 
10. " For in death there is no remembrance 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 remain here. I must confess, it is one of 
my saddest thoughts, to reckon up the useful instruments, whom 
God hath lately called out of his vineyard, when the loiterers are 
many, and the harvest great, and very many congregations desolate, 
and the people as sheep without shepherds ; and yet the labourers 
called from their work, especially when a door of liberty and op- 
portunity is open ; we cannot but lament so sore a judgment, and 
think the removal, in regard of the church, unseasonable. I know 
I speak but your own thoughts ; and you are too ready to overrun 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 77 

nie in application. I fear you are too sensible of what I speak,* 
and, therefore, am loth to stir you in your sore. I perceive you in 
the posture of the I'^phcsian elders, and had rather abate the vio- 
lence of your passions : our applications are quicker about our suf- 
ferings, than our sins ; and we will quicklier say, this loss is mine, 
than, this fault is mine, l^ut, O consider, my dear friends, hath 
God any need of such a worm as 1 ? 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 be- 
fore 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 increased; 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 accomplished, that might silence 
unbelief, one would think, for ever? But if all this do not quiet 
you, for sorrow and discontent 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 behind, whose unregenerate state causeth your 
grief; why, consider, shall man pretend to be more merciful than 
God? Hath not he more interest than we, both in the church 
and in the world ; and more bowels of compassion to commiserate 
their distress ? There is a season for judgment as well as for 
mercy ; and if he will have the most of men to perish for their 
sins, and to suffer the eternal tormenting flames, must we question 
his goodness, or manifest our dislike of the severity of his judg- 
ment ? I confess we cannot but bleed over our desolate congre- 
gations ; and that it ill beseems us to make light of God's indigna- 
tion ; 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 ; be- 

* These ^*ords were written by the author to his friends and congregation, who 
could then discern no probability of his much longer suniving, and upon the late death 
of some very useful ministers. Postquum enim affectione hypochondriaca innumera- 
bilibus fere stipata symptomatibus per annos 14 laborasset, cum in Ipngam tandem et 
inexpugnabilem inciderat debilitatem et contabescentiam, et demum in narium hremor- 
rhagiam, ad lib. 8. et inde in atrophiam, pro deplorato a medicis peritissimis relictus 
est. In qua tamen atrophia immensa Dei bonitate debilis adhuc supervivit ; modis 
etiam postea mirabilibiis ex orci faucibus scepius ereptus. 



78 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

hold, 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 what- 
soever it is to those that are left hehind, 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 judg- 
ment, 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 chast- 
ened 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 pub- 
lic scandal. He may die in a weak degree of grace, and conse- 
quently have less degree of glory, Luke xix. 17 — 19. He may die 
in smaller improvements of his talents, and so be ruler but of few 
cities. The best wheat may be cut down before it is ripe ; there- 
fore 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 ; but God hath left preserv- 
atives enough against sin, without our devising more of our own ; 
neither hath he need of ourjie to his glory. He hath fixed that 
principle so deep in nature, that all should endeavour their own 
preservation, that I never knev/ any whose understanding was not 
crazed or lost, much subject to that sin; even most of the melan- 
choly are more fearful to die than other men. And this terror is 
preservative enough of that kind; that such committing of a 
heinous known sin, is a sad sign, where there is the free use of 
reason ; that, therefore, they make their salvation more question- 
able ; that they die most woeful scandals to the church ; that, how- 
ever, the sin itself should make the godly to abhor it, were there no 
such danger or scandal attending it, &c. But to exclude from sal- 
vation 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 uncomfortable to the friends 
of the deceased. The common argument which they urge, drawn 
from the necessity of a particular repentance, for every particular 
known sin ; as it is not universally true, so, were it granted, it would 
exclude from salvation all men breathing ; for there was never any 
man, save Christ, who died not in some particular sin, either of 
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 untimely 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, 

* Secundum quid. . f Spcuiidum quid. 



Chap. Vli. TliE SAINTS' KVEHI.ASTING REST. 7'J 

to have plenty of food instead of doves' dung, in one night's space; 
or in such a thirst, as Ishmael's or Samson's, to liave 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 seasonable rest. 

Sect. V'll. Seventhly, A further excellency of 7. It will be a rest 
(his rest is this ; as it will be seasonable, so a suit- buitable, 

able 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 make things good in themselves, to be good 
to us. In our choice of friends, we oft pass by the more excellent, 
to choose the more suitable. Every good agrees not with every 
nature. To live in a free and open air, uncler the warming rays 
of the sun, is excellent to man, because suital)]e : but the fish, 
which is of another nature, doth rather choose another element ; and 
lliat which is to us so excellent, would quickly be to it destructive. 
The choicest dainties which we feed upon ourselves, would be to 
our beasts, as an unpleasing, so an insufficient sustenance. The 
iron which the ostrich well digests, would be but hard food for 
man : even among men, contrary appetites delight in contrary ob- 
jects. You know the proverb, " One man's meat is another man's 
poison." Now, here is suitableness and excellency conjoined. 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 ; but so they cannot a saint-like nature, 1 Pet. i. 18, 
23. As (iod 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 arc 
too gross and vile for them, ^^'hen carnal persons think of heaven, 
their conceivings of it are also carnal ; and their notions answer- 
able to their own natures. x\nd were it possible for such to enjoy 
it, it would sure 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 voluptuousness, 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 



80 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part T. 

fish in some small vessel of water, that hath only so much as will 
keep him alive ; but what is that to the full ocean ? We have a 
little air let in to us, to afford us breathing ; but what is that to 
the sweet and fresh gales upon Mount 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 offer our sacrifice everlastingly ! To be locked up in gold 
and in pearl, would be but a wealthy starving ; to bave 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 renewed 
nature, figuratively called divine, or rather of Christ's Divine 
nature without us, properly so called, whereof we are also relatively 
made partakers, I know not ; but certainly were not our own in 
some sort divine, the enjoyment of the true Divine nature could not 
be to us a suitable rest. 
„ _ J . 2. It is suitable also to the desires of the saints : 

2. 1 o our desires. ^ •, ,■, . . i ^ .i • ^ • 

tor, such as their nature, such be their desires j 
and such as their desires, such will be their rest. Indeed, we have 
now a mixed nature ; and from contrary principles, do arise con- 
trary desires : as they are flesh, they 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, and riches, 
and honour, and sin itself. But these are not prevailing desires, 
nor such as in their deliberate choice they will stand to ; therefore 
is it not they, but sin and flesh. These are not the desires that 
this rest is suited to, for they will not accompany them to their 
rest. To provide contents to satisfy these, were to provide food 
for them that are dead. " For they that are in Christ, have cruci- 
fied the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof," Gal. v. 26. 
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 sin- 
ner's desires from the creature to God, and then to suffer them so 
raised, all to perish without success ; this were to multiply the 
creature's misery ; and then were the work of sanctification a de- 
signed preparative to our torment and tantalizing, but no way con- 



Chai>. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 81 

ducible to our happy rest. He quickened our hungering and thirst 
for righteousness, tliat he might make us happy in a full satisfac- 
tion. Christian, this is a rest after thy own heart; it containeth 
all that thy heart can wish ; that which thou longest for, prayest 
for, lahourest for, there thou shalt find it all. Thou hadst rather 
have God in Christ, than all the world ; why there thou shalt have 
him. Oh ! what wouldst thou not give for assurance of his love ? 
Why, there thou shalt have assurance beyond suspicion : nay, thy 
desires cannot now extend to the height of what thou shalt there 
obtain. Was it not a high favour of God to Solomon, to promise 
to give him whatsoever he would ask ? \^ hy, 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 en- 
joyment. Oh ! therefore, that w'e 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 w^e 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 suit- 
able 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' ne- 3. To our necessi- 
cessities also, as w^ell as to their natures and ''^s- 

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 w^ere, shall make up 
their cordial, without the mixture of any drossy or earthly sub- 
stance. 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 
the sore. The rain which Elias's prayer procured was not more 
seasonable, after the three years' drought, than this rest will be to 
his thirsty soul. It will be with us as with the diseased man, who 
had lain at the waters, and continued diseased thirty-eight years, 
when Christ did fully cure him in a moment ; or with the woman, 
who, having had the issue of blood, and spent all she had upon 
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 life-time, 
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. 



82 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part 1. 

Sect. VIII. Eighthly, Another excellency of our g it will be a per- 
rest will be this, that it will be absolutely perfect feet rest. 

and complete ; and this both in the sincerity and ^- I" the^sincerity 
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 sometimes at the gates of 
heaven, and presently almost as low as hell ; we wonder at those 
changes of Providence towards us, being scarcely two days together 
in a like condition. To-day we are well, and conclude the bitter- 
ness of death is past ; to-morrow sick, and conclude we shall shortly 
perish by our distempers ; to-day in esteem, to-morrow in disgrace; 
to-day we have friends, to-morrow none ; to-day in gladness, to- 
morrow in sadness : nay, we have wine and vinegar in the same 
cup, and our pleasantest food hath a taste of the gall. If revela- 
tion should raise us to the third heaven, 1 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 unconstancy, nor mix- 
tures, in heaven. If perfect love cast out fear, then perfect joy 
must needs cast out sorrow, 1 John iv. 18, and perfect happiness 
exclude all the relics of misery. There will be a ^ j,^ th^ universality 
universal perfecting oi all our parts and powers, of it. 

and a universal removal of all our evils : and 1- I" g^?„*''J./ ^"""^ 
though the positive part be the sweetest, and that 2. In regard of the 
which draws the other after it, even as the rising ^viU'e shall be freed 
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 We shall rest 
sin ; whether original, and of nature ; or actual, ^''o™ ^'°- 

and of conversation : for there entereth nothing that defileth, nor 
that worketh abomination, nor that maketh a lie. 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 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. S3 

in heaven, thou shalt sin no more. Is not this glad news to thee, 
who hast prayed, and watched, and laboured against it so long. I 
know if it were oiFertMl to thy choice, tiiou wouldst rather choose 
to be freed from sin than to be made ht>ir of all the world. Why, 
wait till then, and thou shalt have thy desire ; that hard heart, 
those vile thoughts, which did lie down and rise with thee, which 
did accompany thee to every duty, which thou couldst no more 
leave behind thee than leave thyself behind thee, shall be now left 
behind for ever. They might accompany thee to death, but they 
cannot proceed a step further. Thy understanding i. From sin in the 
shall never more be troubled with darkness : ignor- imdcrstan.lin{r. 
ance 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 ; thou seest the Scripture 
so exceeding difficult, and every one pleading for his own cause, 
and bringing such specious arguments 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 cove- 
nants, 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 will be known in a moment ; we shall then see clearly into all 
the controversies about doctrine or discipline that now perplex us. 
The poorest Christian is presently there a more perfect divine than 
any is here. We are now, through our ignorance, subject to such 
mutability, that, in points not fundamental, we change as the 
moon : 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! we cannot help it. The re- 
proach may fall upon all mankind, as long as we have need of daily 
growth. Would they have us believe before we understand ; or 
say, We believe, when indeed we do not ? Shall we profess our- 
selves resolved before we ever thoroughly studied ; or say, We are 
certain, when we are conscious that we are not ? But when once 
our ignorance is perfectly healed, then shall we be settled, resolved 
men ; then shall our 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 

o 2 



84 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

the disturbing of the church's quiet, and interrupting her desirable, 
harmonious consent ; to the scandaHzing 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 con- 
firmed 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 profoundest natural 
parts ; nor have the ministers of England much preached contro- 
versies 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 un- 
taught, should, at the first onset, know those truths, which they are 
almost uncapable of knowing at all ; when the greatest divines, of 
clearest judgment, acknowledge so much difficulty that they could 
almost find in their hearts sometimes to profess them quite beyond 
their reach ? Except we will allow them to lay aside their Divine 
faith, and take up a human, and see with other men's eyes the 
weight and weakness of arguments, and not with their own, it can- 
not be thought that the most of Christians, no, nor 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 contrary to this. But, oh ! that 
happy, approaching day, when error shall vanish away for ever ; 
when our understanding shall be filled with God himself, whose 
light will leave no 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. 

2 From sin of will ^^^^ ^^ "^^ ^^^^^ ^'^^^ ^^"°"^ ^^^ *^^ ^^^ °^ °^^^ ""' 

affection, and con- ' derstandings, SO of our wills, affection, and con- 
versation, versation. 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, senselessness, shall enter with us ; no 



C.iAi>. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 85 

strangeness to God, and the things of God ; no coldness of afFec 
tions, nor imperfection in our love ; no uneven walking, nor grieving 
of the Spirit ; no scandalous action, 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 correspond to the Divine will, as face ansv/ers to 
face in a glass ; and 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 ; 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," Deut. 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 : „ p 
when the cause is gone the effect ceaseth. Our " "^"^ *" ^"°^' 
sufferings were but the consequents of our sinning, and here they 
both shall cease together. I will show particularly ten kinds of 
suffering, which w^e shall there rest from. 

1. We shall rest from all our perplexing doubts i. From doubts of 
and fears : it shall no more be said that doubts God's love, 

are like the thistle, a bad weed, but growing in good ground; they 
shall now be weeded out, and trouble the gracious soul no more. 
No more need of so many sermons, books, and marks, and signs, 
to resolve the poor doubting soul: the full fruition of love itself 
hath now resolved his doubts for ever. We shall hear that kind of 
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 con- 
version is true, that faith is sincere ? Oh ! I am afraid my sins are 
unpardoned ; oh ! I fear that all is but in hypocrisy ; I fear that 
God will reject me from his presence; I doubt he doth not hear 
my prayers ; how can he accept so vile a wretch, so hard-hearted, 
unkind a sinner, such an undervaluer of Christ, as I am ! All this 
kind of language is there turned into another tune ; even into the 
praises of him who hath forgiven, who hath converted, who hath 
accepted, yea, who hath glorified a wretch so unworthy ; so that it 
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 cannot ; if we could doubt of what we see, 
or hear, or taste, or feel, yet I am sure we cannot of what we there 
possess. Sure this will be comfort to the sad and drooping souls. 



86 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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. 
2. From all sense of Sect. X. 2. We shall rest from all that sense 
God's displeasme. of God's displeasure, which was our greatest tor- 
ment, whether manifested mediately or immediately ; " for he will 
cause his fury towards us to rest, and his jealousy to cease, and he 
will be angry with us no more," Ezek. xvi. 42. Surely hell shall 
not be mixed with heaven. There is the place for the glorifying of 
justice, prepared of purpose to manifest 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. ; xiii. 
26; xvi. 12 — 14; vii. 10. Oh how contrary now to all this! 
David doth not now complain, " that the arrows of the Almighty 
stick in him ; that his wounds stink and are corrupt ; that his sore 
runs and ceaseth not ; that his moisture is as the drought of sum- 
mer; that there is no soundness in his flesh because of God's dis- 
pleasure, 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 com- 
plaining 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. Oh how contrary 
now are David's songs ! Now he saith, " I spake in my haste, 
and this was my infirmity," Psal. Ixxvii. 2, 3. Here the Christian 
is oft complaining. Oh, if it were the wrath of man, I 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 ! If it were a creature, I 
would contemn it, but if God be angry, who may endure ? if he be 
against me, who can be for me ? and if he will cast me down, who 
can raise me up ? But, oh ! that blessed day when all these dolor- 
ous complaints will be turned into admiring thankfulness ; and all 
sense of God's displeasure swallowed up .in that ocean of infinite 
love : when sense shall convince us that fury dwelleth not in God ; 
and though for a little moment he hide his face, yet with everlast- 
ing compassion will he receive and embrace us ; when he shall say 
to Sion, " Arise and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of 
the Lord is risen upon thee," Isa. Ix. 2. 
3. From Satan's Sect. XI. 3. We shall rest from all the tempta- 

temptations. tions 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, dis- 
tracting him in it, or discouraging him after it ! What a torment. 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTING REST. 87 

as well as a temptation, is it, to have such horrid motions made to 
his soul, such blasphemous ideas presented to his fantasy ! 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 sometimes to flat athe- 
ism itself; especially when we know the treachery of our own hearts, 
that they are as tinder or gunpowder, ready to take fire as soon as 
one of these sparks shall fall upon them. Oh ! how the poor Chris- 
tian lives in continual disquietness, to feel these motions ! but more, 
that his heart should be the soil for this seed, and the too-fruitful 
mother of such an ofl"spring ; and most of all, through fear lest they 
will at last prevail, and these cursed motions should procure his 
consent. But here is our comfort ; as we now stand not by our 
own strength, and shall not be charged with any of this ; so when 
the day of our deliverance comes, we shall fully rest from these 
temptations : Satan is then bound up, the time of tempting is then 
done ; the time of torment to himself, and his conquered captives, 
those deluded souls, is then come, and the victorious saints shall 
have triumph for temptation. Now we do walk among his snares, 
and are in danger to be circumvented with his methods and wiles ; 
but then we are quite above his snares, and out of the hearing of his 
enticing charms. He hath power here to tempt us in the wilder- 
ness, but he entereth not the holy city. He may set us on the pin- 
nacle of the temple in the earthly Jerusalem ; but the new Jerusa- 
lem 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 deceiving poor creatures on earth, wdio lived out of sight, 
and only heard and read of a kingdom which they never beheld, and 
had only faith to live upon, and were encompassed with flesh, and 
drawn aside by sense. But when once they see the glory they read 
of, and taste the joys they heard of, and possess that kingdom which 
they then believed and hoped for, and have laid aside their fleshly 
sense, it is time, then, for Satan to have done ; it is in vain to ofl"er 
a temptation more. What ! draw them from that glory ; draw 
them from the arms of Jesus Christ ; draw them from the sweet 
praises of God ; draw them from the blessed society of saints and 
angels ; draw them from the bosom of the Father's love, and that 
to a place of torment among the damned, which their eyes behold ? 
Why, 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 



88 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

temptation," Matt. vi. 13; 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 tahle in his 
kingdom, Luke xxii. 28 — 30. " Blessed, therefore, are they that 
endure temptation ; for when they are tried, they sliall receive the 
crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him," 
James i. 12 : and then they shall be saved from the hour of tempt- 
ation. Then the malignant planet Saturn shall be below us, and 
lose all its influence, which is now above us exercising its enmity : 
and Satan must be suifering, who would have drawn us into suifer- 
ing, as Bucholtzer wittily, Uhi Saturnus non supra nos, sed infra 
nos conspicietiir luens pcenas, pro sua in nos scevHia, et malitia. 
4. Fromtempta- Sect. XIL 4, We shall rest also from all our 

tions of the world temptations which we now undergo from the world 
and flesh. ^^^ ^j^g flesh, as well as Satan ; and that is a num- 

ber unexpressible, and a weight, were it not that we are beholden 
to supporting grace, utterly intolerable. Oh the hourly dangers 
that we poor sinners here below walk in ! Every sense is a snare ; 
every member a snare ; every creature a snare ; every mercy a 
snare ; and every duty a snare to us. We can scarce open our 
eyes, but we are in danger. If we behold them above us, we are 
in danger of envy. If we see sumptuous buildings, pleasant habit- 
ations, 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 ! How strong and 
prevalent a temptation is our appetite, and how constant and strong 
a watch doth it require ! Have we comeliness and beauty? what 
fuel for pride ! Are we deformed ? what an occasion of repining ! 
Have we strength of reason, and gifts of learning ? oh ! how hard 
is it not to be pulled up! 2 Cor. xi. 3; i. 12, &c. : to seek our- 
selves ; to hunt after applause ; to despise our brethren ; to mis- 
like the simplicity that is in Christ, both in the matter and manner 
of Scripture, in doctrine, in discipline, in worship, and in the saints; 
to affect a pompous, specious, fleshly service of God, and to exalt 
reason above faith. Are we unlearned, and of shallow heads and 
slender parts ? how apt, then, to despise what we have not, and 
to undervalue that which we do not know ; and to err with confi- 
dence, 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 holi- 
ness ! Are we men of eminency, and in place of authority ? how 
strong is our temptation to slight our brethren, to abuse our trust, 
to seek ourselves, to stand upon our honour and privileges ; to for- 
get ourselves, our poor brethren, and the public good ! how hard 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 89 

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 sub- 
ject ? how prone to grudge at others' pre-eminence, and to take 
liberty to bring all their actions to the bar of our incompetent 
judgment ; and to censure and slander them, and murnmr at their 
proceedings ! Are we rich, and not too much exalted ? Are we 
poor, and not discontented, and make our worldly necessities a 
pretence for the robbing God of all his service ? If we be sick, 
oh how impatient ! if in health, how few and stupid are our 
thoughts of eternity ! If death be near, we are distracted with the 
fears of it : if we think it far off, how careless is our preparation ! 
Do we set upon duty ? why there are snares too : either we are 
stupid and lazy, or rest on them, and turn from Christ ; or we are 
customary and notional only. In a word, not one word that falls 
from the mouth of a minister 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 ! for 
it is almost impossible they should escape them. It was not for 
nothing that our Lord cries out, " What I say to one, I say to 
all. Watch." We are like the lepers at Samaria ; if we go into the 
city, there is nothing but famine ; if we sit still, we perish, Deut. 
xii. 30 ; vii. 25 ; Hos. ix. 8 ; Psal. Ixix. 22 ; Prov. xx. 25 ; xxii. 
25 ; 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 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 scarce tell how to say them nay. What, say they, 
will not you take a cup ? Mill you not do as your neighbours ? 
Must you be so precise .' Do you think none shall be saved but 
puritans t What needs all this strictness, this reading, and pray- 
ing, 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 se- 
ducements ! But this is our comfort, dear friends, our rest will 



90 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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. 

5. From abuses and . ^ect. XIII. 5. And as we rest from the tempta- 
persecutions of the tions, SO also from all abuscs 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 an- 
swered, 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. Now the law is decreed on. 
That whosoever will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu- 
tion ; then they that suffered with him shall be glorified with him. 
(Matt. X. 22, and xxiv. 9 ; 2 Thess. i. 9, 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; Isa. viii. 18; Luke vi. 22.) Now we must be 
hated of all men for Christ's name's sake, and the gospel ; then 
will Christ be admired in his saints that were thus hated. Now, 
because we are not of the world, but Christ hath taken us out of 
the world, therefore doth the world hate us ; then, because we are 
not of the world, but taken oat of their calamity, therefore 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 won- 
ders amongst professing Christians ; they put us out of their syna- 
gogues, 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 tbe 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 them- 
selves ; and more vehemently befool themselves for their careless- 
ness, than ever they did us for our heavenliness. A poor Christian 
can scarce go along the streets now, but every one is pointing the 
finger in scorn, but then they would be glad of the crumbs of his 
happiness. 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 scarce now 
pray in our families, or sing praises to God, but our voice is a 
vexation to them. How must it needs torment them then, to see 
us praising and rejoicing, while they are howling and lamenting ! 
How full have their prisons oft been, and how bitter their rage ! 
How have they scattered their carcasses on the earth, and de- 
lighted 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 have they prepared, 

* In memorial of the Irish massacre, \vhere the number of the murdered in one 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 91 

like Haman, their gallows ! And if God had not gainsaid it, the 
execution would have been answerable; "But he that sitteth in 
heaven did laugh them to scorn, the Lord had them in derision." 
Oh ! how full wore their hearts of blood, and their hands of cruelty ! 
so that the next generations, that knew them not, will scarcely be- 
lieve the fury of their predecessors' rage. Blessed be the Guardian 
of the saints, who hath not suffered the prevalency of that wrath, 
which would have overdone the gunpowder treason, the Turkish 
slavery, the Spanish inquisition, and the French massacres. But 
the liord of hosts hath oft brought them down, 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 incurable 
enemies perish, O Lord," Judg. v. 23. " When the liord 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 destruc- 
tion : 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 per- 
secution is dried up, and the church called out of the wilderness, 
and the new Jerusalem come down from heaven, and mercy and 
justice are fully glorified, then shall we feel their fury no more. 
There is no cruel mockings and scourgings ; no bonds, or imprison- 
ments ; no stoning, or sawing asunder; tempting, or slaying with 
the sword; wandering in sheep-skins, or goat-skins, in deserts and 
mountains, 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 condemned ; 
the statute of the six articles is there repealed ; and the law de 
hiereiicis conihureiidis more justly executed ; the date of the interim 
is there expired; no censures to loss of members, perpetual impri- 
sonment, or banishment. Christ is not there clothed in a gorgeous 
robe, and blindfolded ; nor do they smite him, and say. Read who 
struck thee : nor is truth clothed in the robes of error, and smitten 
for that which it most directly contradicteth ; nor a schismatic 
wounded, and a saint found bleeding ; nor our friends smite us, 
whilst they mistake us for their enemies : there is none of this 
blind, mad work there. Dear brethren, you that now can attempt 
no work of God without resistance, and find you must either lose 
the love of the world and your outward comforts, or else the love 
of God and your eternal salvation ; consider, you shall in heaven 
have no discouraging company, nor any but who will further your 
work, and gladly join heart ancl voice wnth 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 

province doubled all that the French massacre slew. Vide Clark's Martyrology. Luke 
xxvi. 44 ; Psal. Ixxxiii. 4, and ii. 4. 



92 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

riches than the 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 suifer as an evil-doer, as a busy-body in other men's 
matters, as a resister of the commands of lawful authority, as un- 
grateful to those that have been instruments of our good, as evil- 
speakers against dignities, as opposers of the discipline and ordi- 
nances of Christ, as scornful revilers of your Christian brethren, as 
reproachers of a laborious, judicious, 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 saints' rest, and most foolishly over- 
valueth the things below ; and he must learn to forsake all these, 
or else he can never be Christ's disciple ; and that Christ will re- 
nounce 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's 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 shamed," Isa. Ixvi. 5. " Your Redeemer is strong, the 
Lord of hosts is his name. He shall throughly plead your cause, 
that he may give rest to his people, and disquietness to their 
enemies," Jer. 1. 34. 

6. From our divisions Scct. XIV. 6. We shall then also rest from all 
and dissensions. our sad divisions, and unchristian-like 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, Qucmta se invicem amplectnntur amicitia, qui 
mutiia implacahili inimicitia j>eriere ! How lovingly do they em- 
brace one another, being dead, who perished through their mutual, 
implacable enmity ! So how lovingly do thousands live together in 
heaven, who lived in divisions and quarrels on earth ! Or, as he 
said, who beheld how quietly and peaceably the bones and dust of 
mortal enemies did lie together, Non ianta vivi pace essetis con- 
juncti ; You did not live together so peaceably : so we may say of 
multitudes in heaven now all of one mind, one heart, and one em- 
ployment ; 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 ampUus in ierrin videam, ihi 



Chai'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. U.i 

lanirn co/tn'/iiemiis uhi I.Htltcnta cum Ziiinglio oplime jiiiii con- 
re/tit ; If 1 see you no more on earth, yet we shall there meet, 
where Luther and Zuinglius are now well agreed. 'J'here is a full 
reconciliation between sacramentarians and ubicjuitarians, Calvin- 
ists and Lutherans ; remonstrants and contra-remonstrants, non- 
conformists and anti-disciplinarians, conformists and nonconform- 
ists, 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 recording our brethren's infirmities ; nor 
raking into the sores which Christ died to heal. How many ser- 
mons zealously preached, how many books studiously compiled, 
will then by the authors be all disclaimed ! How many back- 
biting, slanderous speeches, how many secret dividing contrivances, 
nmst then be laid upon the score of Christ, against whom and his 
saints they were committed ! The zealous authors dare not own 
them ; they would then, with the Ephesians, burn their books, 
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 remembered 
their former unkind usage. Is it not enough that all the world is 
against us, but we nmst also be against one another ? Did I ever 
think to have heard Christians so to reproach and scorn Christians ; 
and men pi-ofessing the fear of God, to make so little conscience of 
censuring, vilifying, slandering, and disgracing 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 ! what a potent instrument for Satan 
is a misguided conscience ! It will make a man kill his dearest 
friend, yea, father, or mother, yea, the holiest saints, and think he 
doth God service by it ; and to facilitate the work, it will first blot 
out the reputation of their holiness, and make them take a saint 
for a devil, that so they may vilify or destroy him without remorse. 
Oh ! what hellish things are ignorance and pride, that can bring 
men's souls to such a case as this ! Paul knew what he said, when 
he conmianded 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. G. He discerned that such young Christians that 
have got but a little smattering knowledge in religion, do lie in 
greatest danger of this pride and condemnation. Who but a Paul 
could have foreseen, that among the very teachers and governors 
of so choice a church as Ephesus, that came to see and hear him, 
that pray and weep with him, there were some that afterwards 

* Two books full of the language of hell, in bitterest scorns at the ministry and dis- 
cipline, thought to be WTitten by one Overton. 



94 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

should be notorious sect-masters ? " that of their own selves men 
should arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after 
them ? " Acts xx. 30. Who then can expect better from any so- 
ciety now, how knowing and holy soever i To-day they may be 
orthodox, unanimous, and joined in love ; and perhaps within a few 
weeks be divided, and at bitter enmity, through their doting about 
questions that tend not to edify. Who that had seen how lovingly 
the godly of England did live together, would have believed that 
ever they would have been so bitter against one another ; that we 
should fall upon one another for the very same duties ; and that pro- 
fessors of religion should oppose and deride almost all that worship 
God out of conscience, which others did before them through profane- 
ness ? Did I not think, that of all other, the scorning at the worship- 
pers of Christ had been a sure sign of a wicked wretch ? But I see now 
we must distinguish between scorners and scorners, or else I fear we 
shall exclude almost all. I read, indeed, in pagan writers, that the 
Christians were as cruel as bears and tigers against one another : 
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 malice of the pagan writer; 
little did I think to have seen it so far verified ! Lord, what devils 
are we unsanctified, when there is yet such a nature remaining in 
the sanctified ! Such a nature hath God in these days suffered to 
discover itself in the very godly, that if he did not graciously and 
powerfully restrain, they would shed the blood of one another ; and 
no thanks to us, if it be not done. But I hope his design is but to 
humble and shame us by the discovery, and then to prevent the 
breaking forth.* 

Object. But, is it possible such should be truly godly ? Then, what 
sin will denominate a man ungodly ? 

Ansto. Or else I must believe the doctrine of the saints' apostacy, 
or believe there are scarce any godly in the world. Oh ! what a 
wound of dishonour hath this given not only to the stricter profes- 
sion of holiness, but even to the very Christian name ! were there 
a possibility of hiding it, I durst not thus mention it. O Chris- 
tian, if thou who readest this be guilty, I charge thee before the 
living God, that thou sadly consider how far is this unlike the 
copy ! Suppose thou hadst seen the Lord Jesus, girded to the ser- 
vice, 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 another's ; " would not this make thee 

* This was written upon the war in Scotland, the death of Mr. Love, the imprison- 
ment 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 thanksgivings for their suc- 
cesses. And an order made to put out all ministers from all the cities, market towns, 
and garrisons, that subscribed not their engagement. 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. [)', 

ashamed, and tremble { Shall the Lord wipe the feet, and the fel- 
low servant be ready to cut tlie throat { Would not thy proud heart 
scorn to stoop to thy Master's work .'' l^ook to thyself; it is not 
the name of a professor, nor the zeal for thy opinions, that will 
prove thee a Christian, or secure thee from the heat of the consum- 
ing lire. If thou love not thine enemy, much more thy Christian 
friend, thou canst not be Christ's disciple. It is the common mark, 
whereby his disciples are known to all men, " that they love one 
another." Is it not his last great legacy, " My peace I leave with 
you, my peace I give unto you," Matt. v. 44 ; John xiii. 35; xiv. 
17. INIark the expressions of that command, "If it be possil>le, 
as much as in you lieth, live peaceably with all men," Rom. xii. 8. 
" Follow peace with all men, and holiness," Heb. xii. 14. Oh the 
deceitfulness of the heart of man ! that those same men, who lately 
in their self-examination could find nothing of Christ so clear 
within them as their love to their brethren, and were confident of 
this, when they could scarce discover any other grace, should now 
look so strangely upon them, and be filled with so much bitterness 
against them ! That the same men, who would have travelled through 
reproaches many miles, to hear an able, faithful minister, and not 
think the labour ill bestowed, should now become their bitterest 
enemies, and the most powerful hinderers of the success of their 
labours, and travel as far to cry them down ! It makes me almost 
ready to say, O sweet, O happy days of persecution, which drove 
us together in a closure of love ! who being now dried at the fire 
of liberty and prosperity, are crumbled all into dust by our conten- 
tions. But it makes me seriously both to say and to think, O sweet, 
O happy day of the rest of the saints in glory ! when as there is 
one God, one Christ, one Spirit, so we shall have one judgment, 
one heart, one church, one employment for ever ! when there shall 
be no more circumcision anduncircumcision, Jew and Gentile, Ana- 
baptist, Paedobaptist, Brownist, Separatist, Independent, Presbyte- 
rian, Episcopal ; but Christ is all in all. We shall not there scruple 
our comnmnioh, nor any of the ordinances of Divine worship ; there 
will not be one for singing, and another against it ; but even those 
who here jarred in discord, shall all conjoin in blessed concord, and 
make up one melodious 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 king- 
dom neither ; yet one heaven and one God may hold. One house, 
one kingdom could not hold Joseph and his brethren ; but they 
nmst together again, w^hether they will or not : and then how is the 
case altered ! then every man must straight withdraw, while they 
weep over and kiss each other. Oh how canst thou now find in thy 
heart, if thou bear the heart or face of a Christian, to be bitter or 
injurious against thy brethren, when thou dost but once think of 
that time and place, where thou hopest in the nearest and sweetest 



9b THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part h 

familiarity to live and rejoice with them for ever? I confess their 
infirmities are not to be loved, nor sin to be tolerated, because it is 
theirs. But be sure it be sin which thou opposest in them ; and do 
it with a spirit of meekness and compassion, that the world may 
see thy love to the person, while thou opposest the offence. Alas ! 
that Turks and pagans can agree in wickedness, better than Chris- 
tians in the truth ! That bears and lions, wolves and tigers, can 
agree together, but Christians cannot ! That a legion of devils can 
accord 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. 
7 From our artici- Sect. XV. 7. We shall then rest from all our 
p'ation of the suffer- dolorous hours and sad thoughts, which we now 
mgs of our brethren, undergo, by participating with our brethren in 
their calamities. Alas, if we had nothing upon ourselves to trouble 
us, yet what heart could lay aside sorrows, that lives in the sound 
of the church's sufferings ? If Job had nothing upon his body to 
disquiet him, yet the message of his children's overthrow must 
needs grieve the most patient soul. Except we are turned into 
steel or stone, and have lost both Christian and human affections, 
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 complaining ; and into what corner soever we 
cast our eyes, we behold objects of pity and grief: some groaning 
under a dark understanding, some under a senseless heart, some 
languishing under unfruitful weakness, and some bleeding for mis- 
carriages and wilfulness ; and some in such a lethargy that they are 
past complaining : some crying out of their pining poverty ; some 
groaning under pains and infirmities ; and some bewailing a whole 
catalogue of calamities, especially in days of common sufferings, 
when nothing appears to our sight but ruin ;* families ruined ; con- 
gregations ruined ; sumptuous structures ruined ; cities ruined ; 
country ruined ; court ruined ; kingdoms ruined. Who weeps not, 
when all these bleed ? iVs now our friends' distresses are our dis- 
tresses, so then our friends' deliverance will be part of our own de- 
liverance. 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 wretchedness, their want of light, their 
want of life, of joy, of assurance, of grace, of Christ, of all things ! 
How much more comfortable to see them perfected, than now to 
see them wounded, weak, sick, and afflicted ! to stand by the bed 
of their languishing as silly comforters, being overwhelmed and 

* When Christ'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 that now it should 
work so contrary, as an occasion 1 



Chah. VII. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTINCi REST. 97 

silenced with the greatness of their griefs, conscious of our own 
disability to relieve them, scarce having a word of comfort to re- 
fresli 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, doth 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 
poverty possessing and filling all. How nmch better is that day, 
when we shall see them filled with Christ, clothed with glory, and 
equalized with the richest and greatest princes ! Oh the sad and 
heart-piercing spectacles that our eyes have seen in four years' 
space ! 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 gar- 
ments of gladness. Oh ! how hardly can our hearts now hold, when 
we think of such, and such, and such a dear Christian friend slain 
or departed ! Oh 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, continue 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 dolours 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 language ? " Be- 
sides 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 i* 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 

H 



98 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. . Part I. 

cause of astonishing sorrows ? Look to Scotland, look to Ireland ; 
look almost 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 hun- 
dred pamphlets are printed, full of almost nothing but the common 
calamities ! so that it is become a gainful trade to divulge the news 
of our brethren's sufferings ; and the fears for the future that pos- 
sessed our hearts, were worse than all that we saw and suffered ; 
nay, have not many died with the fears of that which, if they had 
lived, they had neither suffered nor seen ? It is said of Melancthon, 
that the miseries of the church made him almost neglect the death 
of his most 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 destitute, and with great pains and hazard 
blowing out the light that should guide them to salvation ; what 
sad thoughts must these be ! (See Neh. i. 4 ; ii. 3 ; Psal. cxxxvii.) 
To think of Christ removing his family ; taking away both wor- 
ship and worshippers, and to leave the land to the rage of the mer- 
ciless : 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 king- 
dom 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 right- 
eous, 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 ; 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 participation of our brethren's sufferings. 
8. From all our own Sect. XVI. 8. We shall rest also from all our 
personal sufferings, own personal Sufferings, whether natural and ordi- 
nary, 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 forethoughts of heaven de- 
lightful ; and I think I shall meet with few of the saints but will 
say, that this is their own case. Oh the dying life that we now 
live ! as full of sufferings as of days and hours ! We are the car- 
casses that all calamities p#y upon : as various as they are, each 
one will have a snatch at us, *lid be sure to devour a morsel of our 
comfort. When we bait our bulls and bears, we do but represent 
our own condition ; whose lives are consumed under such assaults. 



Chap. YII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. «)0 

and spent in succession of tVesli encounters. All creatures have an 
enmity against us, ever since we made the Lord of all our enemy ; 
and though we are reconciled hy 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 advantageous to 
our full and final recovery. He hath sent us as lambs among 
wolves ; and sure there is little rest to be expected. As all our 
senses are the inlets of sin, so they are become the inlets of sorrow. 
Grief creeps in at our eyes, at our ears, and almost every where ; it 
seizeth upon our heads, our hearts, our flesh, our spirits ; and what 
part doth escape it .' Fears do devour us, and darken our de- 
lights, as the frosts do nip the tender buds ; cares do consume us, 
and feed upon our spirits, as the scorching sun doth wither the deli- 
cate 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 
efiicient cause. "What tender pieces are these dusty bodies ! What 
brittle glasses do we bear about us ; and how many thousand 
dangers are they hurried through ; and how hardly cured if once 
cracked ! Oh the multitudes of slender veins, of tender mem- 
branes, nerves, fibres, muscles, arteries, and all subject to obstruc- 
tions, exhesions, tensions, contractions, resolutions, ruptures, or one 
thing or other, to cause their grief; every one a fit subject for pain, 
and fit to comnumicate that pain to the whole ! What nobler part 
is there that sufffereth 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 the weary nights and 
days ! oh the unserviceable, languishing weakness ! oh the rest- 
less, working vapours ! oh the tedious, nauseous medicines, be- 
sides 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 my sides ! or oh my bowels ! 
no, no, sin, and flesh, and dust, and pain, will all be left behind to- 
gether. Oh ! what would we not give now for a little ease, much 
more for a perfect cure ! How, then, should we value that perfect 
freedom ! If we have some mixed comforts here, they are scarce 
enough to sweeten our crosses ; or if we have some short and 
smiling intermissions, it is scarce time enough to breathe us in, 
and to prepare our tacklings for the next storm. If one wave pass 
by, another succeeds ; and if the night be over, and the day come, 
yet will it soon be night again. Some men's fevers are continual, 
and some intermittent ; some have tertians, and some quartans ; 
but, more or less, all have their fits. Oh the blessed tranquillity 
of that region, where there is nothing but sweet continued peace ! 
No succession of joy there, because no intermission. Our lives 
will be but one joy, as our time will be changed into one eternity. 

11 2 



100 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 suffered with us, shall also be freed from their bondage ; 
ourselves, therefore, much more : our faces shall no more be pale 
or sad ; our groans and sighs will be done away ; and God will wipe 
away all tears from our eyes, Rom. viii. 19 — 22 ; Rev. vii. 15 — 17 ; 
xxi. 3, 4. No more parting of friends asunder, nor voice of lament- 
ation heard in our dwellings. No more breaches, nor dispropor- 
tion, will be in our friendship, nor any trouble accompanying our 
relations ; no more care of master for servants, or parents for chil- 
dren, 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 ; no marrying, nor giving in marriage, but we shall be as the 
angels of God. Oh what room can there be for any evil, where 
the whole is perfectly filled with God ? Then shall the " ransomed 
of the Lord return and come to Sion with songs, and everlasting 
joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sor- 
row and sighing shall flee away," Isa. xxxv. 10. Hold out then a 
little longer, O my soul ; bear with the infirmities of thine earthly 
tabernacle; endure that share of sorrows that the love of thy 
Father shall impose ; submit to his indignation also, because thou 
hast sinned against him : it will be thus but a little while ; the 
sound of thy Redeemer's feet are even at the door ; and thine own 
deliverance nearer than many others. And thou who hast often 
cried, in the language of the divine poet, Herbert, 

" Sorrow was all my soul ; I scarce believed, 
Till grief did tell me roundly, that I lived," 

shalt then feel, that God and joy is all thy soul ; the fruition of 
^whom, with thy freedom from all these sorrows, will, more sweetly, 
'and more feelingly, make thee know, and to his eternal praise ac- 
knowledge, that thou livest. 

And thus we shall rest from all afflictions. 

Sect. XVn. 9. We shall rest also from all the 9. From all the labour 
trouble and pain of duty. The conscientious ma- and trouble of duties. 
gistrate now cries out. Oh the burden that lieth upon me ! The 
conscientious parents, that know the preciousness of their children's 
souls, and the constant pains required to their godly education, cry 
out. Oh the burden ! The conscientious minister, above all, when 
he reads his charge, 2 Tim. iv. 1, and views his pattern, Mark 
iii. 20, 21, &c. ; Acts xx. 18, 31 ; when he hath tried awhile what 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 101 

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 
tears, and, after all, to be hated and persecuted for so doing, no 
wonder if he cry out, Oh 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 niade his word as a 
fire shut up in our bones and heart, that we are weary of forbearing, 
and cannot stay," Jer. xx. 8, 9. How long may we study and la- 
bour before one soul is brought clear over to Christ ! and when it 
is done, how soon do the snares of sensuality or error entangle 
them ! How many receive the doctrine of delusion before they 
have time to be built up in the truth ! and when heresies must of 
necessity arise, how few of them do appear approved ! The first 
new, strange apparition of light doth so amaze them, 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, ig- 
norant sinner, to convince the stubborn and worldly wise, to per- 
suade a wilful, resolved wretch, to prick a stony heart to the quick, 
to make a rock to weep and tremble, to set forth Christ according 
to our necessity and his excellency, to comfort the soul whom God 
dejected, to clear up dark and difficult truths, to oppose with con- 
vincing arguments all gainsayers, to credit the gospel with exem- 
plary conversations, when multitudes do but watch for our halting; 
oh ! who is sufficient for these things ? So that every relation, 
stage, age, hath variety of duty : every conscientious Christian 
cries out. Oh the burden ! or. Oh my weakness that makes it so 
burdensome ! But our remaining rest will ease us of the burden. 
Then will that be sound doctrine, which now is false, that the law 
hath no more to do with us ; that it 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. XVni. 10. And, lastly, we shall rest jq From all those 
from all those sad affections, which necessarily troublesome affec- 
accompany our absence from God: the trouble 'iuVieom^^^^^^^ 
that is mixed in our desires and hopes, our long- our absence trom 
ings and waitings, shall then cease. We shall no ^'"'^• 
more look into our cabinet, and miss our treasure ; look into our 
hearts, and miss our Christ ; nor no more seek him from ordinance 
to ordinance, and inquire for our God of those we meet ; our heart 



102 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

will not lie in our knee, nor our souls be breathed out in our re- 
quests ; 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. 
9. It will be an Sect. XIX. The ninth and last jewel in our 

everlasting rest. crowu, 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 imbitter all our joys : and the more 
would it pierce us, because of the singular excellences 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 sub- 
lunary 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 remember how short that delight would be ; 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 endured ; and thus our knowledge in- 
creaseth our sorrows, Eccles. i. 18. 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 ; methinks I hear them say. He is dead. Methinks I see my 
coffin made, my grave in digging, and my friends 'there leaving me 
in the dust : and where, now, is that we took delight in ? O but 
methinks 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 his life and honour but contempt- 
ible : 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. I can value nothing that 
shall have an end, except as it leads to that which hath no end, or 
as it comes from that love which hath neither beginning nor end. 
I speak this of my deliberate thoughts ; and if some ignorant or 
forgetful soul have no such sad thoughts to disturb his pleasure, I 
confess he may be merrier for the present ; but where is his mirth 
when he lieth a dying ? Alas ! it is a poor happiness that consists 
only in the ignorance or forgetfulness of approaching misery ; but, 
O blessed eternity 1 whore 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 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 103 

more. Oh what do I say when I talk of eternity ! Can iny shallow 
thoughts conceive at all what the most high expression doth con- 
tain ! To be eternally blessed, and so blessed ! Why, surely this, 
if any thing, is the resemblance of God : eternity is a piece of in- 
finiteness. 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 swallowed up and lost in this 
eternity. \\ hile we were servants, we 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 fiesh. Fear not to enter that estate, where thou shalt ever 
after cease thy fears. Sit down, and sadly, once a day, bethink 
thyself of this eternity : among all the arithmetical numbers, study 
the value of this infinite cipher, which, though it stand for nothing 
in the vulgar account, doth yet contain all our millions, as much 
less than a simple unit. Lay by the perplexed and contradicting 
chronological tables, and fix thine eye on this eternity ; and the 
lines which remote thou couldst not follow, thou shalt see all to- 
gether here concentred. Study less those tedious volumes of his- 
tory, 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. What ! live, and never die { rejoice, and ever re- 
joice ? Oh, what sweet words are these, never and ever I O happy 
souls in hell, should you but escape after millions of ages ! and if 
the Origenist doctrine were but true ! O miserable saints in heaven, 
should you be dispossessed after the age of a million of worlds ! 
But, oh this word, everlasting, contains the accomplished perfection 
of their torment and our glory. Oh that the wicked sinner would 
but soundly study this word, everlasting, methinks it should startle 
him out of his deadest sleep ! Oh that the gracious soul would be- 
lievingly study this word, everlasting, methinks it should revive 
him in the deepest agony ! And nmst I, Lord, thus live for ever ? 
Then will I also love for ever. Must my joys be immortal ; and 
shall not my thanks be also immortal ? Surely, if I shall never lose 
my glory, 1 will also never cease thy praises. Shouldst thou but 
renew my lease of the first-fruits, would I not renew thy fine and 
rent ? But if thou wilt both perfect and perpetuate me and my 



104 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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. 

Sect. XX. And thus I have endeavoured to show you a glimpse 
of the approaching glory : but, oh, how short are my expressions 
of its excellency ! Reader, if thou wilt be a humble, sincere be- 
liever, 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 thousandfold. 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 countenance so sad ? or would they have need to take up 
their comforts from below ? Would they be so loth to suffer, and 
afraid to die ? or would they not think every day a year, till they 
did enjoy it ? The Lord heal our carnal hearts, lest we enter not 
into his rest, because of our unbelief. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PEOPLE OF GOD DESCRIBED. 

Sect. I. Having thus performed my first task of describing and 
explicating the saints' rest, it remains that now I proceed 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, I felt it was good being there, and therefore tarried there 
the longer ; and were there not an extreme disproportion between 
my conceivings and that subject, yet much longer had I been. And 
could my capacity have contained 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, except it should detain us from actual posses- 
sion, and our absence move us to impatience ? But now I am 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 105 

descended from heaven to earth, from God to man, and must dis- 
course of a worm not six feet long, whose life is but a span, and 
his years as a post that hasteth by ; my discourse also shall be but 
a span, and in a brief touch 1 will pass it over. Having read of 
such a high and unspeakable glory, a stranger would wonder for 
what rare creature this mighty preparation should be, and expect 
some illustrious sun should now break forth ; but, behold, only a 
shell full of dust, animated with an invisible rational soul, and that 
rectified 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 deserved all, and suffered 
for all that we deserved; and most affectionately receiving him, 
and resting on him, he doth, in and through him, receive all 
this. But let us see more particularly yet, what these " people of 
God" are. 

They are a small part of lost mankind, whom Description 
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 by himself for them, and by 
his Spirit upon them. To open all the parts of this half-descrip- 
tion 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 
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 say I the sons of Adam only, because 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 them captive at his will : 
they were once within a step of hell, who must now be advanced 
as high as heaven. And though I mention their lost condition 
before their predestination, yet I thereby intend not to signify any 
precedency it hath, either in itself, or in the Divine consideration. 
That question I dare not touch, as being very suspicious that it is 
high arrogancy in us to dispute of precedency in the Divine con- 
sideration ; 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 



106 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

him : it is dangerous to dispute of priority or posterity in nature ; 
at least of the decree of the means, which is hut 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 kingdom." If 
the sanctified are few, the saved must needs be few : fewer they 
are than the world imagines; yet not so few as some drooping 
spirits deem, who are doubtful that God would cast off them, who 
would not reject him for all the world ; and are suspicious that God 
is unwilling to be their God, when yet they know themselves will- 
ing 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, therefore, 
needs must it be a great salvation. Every step of 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," 
Eph. i. 22. And though Christ is, in some sense, a ransom for all, 
yet not in that special manner as for his people. He hath, accord- 
ing to the tenor of his covenant, procured salvation for all, if they 
will believe ; but he hath procured for his chosen even this con- 
dition of believing.! 

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 ; but he intends absolutely his prevailing 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. 

Sect. II. But this is but a piece of their description, containing 
God's work for them, and on them ; let us see what they are also 
in regard of the working of their own souls towards God, and their 
Redeemer, again. J [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 (6) imperfectly, regenerate, are hereupon 
(7) convinced, and (8) sensible of that (9) evil in sin, (10) that 

* See John xvii. 2, a clear place. 

t That faith is properly called the condition of the covenant, and justifieth as a con- 
dition, besides what I have said in my " Confession," I refer you to Master Wotton de 
Reconcil. part 1. lib. ii. c. 19, -where you have the attestation of our chief divines. 
And, indeed, he must he 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 office, and 
not the formal reason of its justifying. 

X 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. 



Chap. VIll. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTINCi REST. 107 

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, (IG) bewail that misery, and (17) 
turn their hearts from that vanity ; and (IH) accepting of Christ for 
their (lU) Saviour and (20) Lord, to bring them unto (21) God the 
chief good, and present them (22) perfectly just before him, do ac- 
cordingly 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 The first description 
part of the description also. • explained. 

] . I say, they are a part of " the externally call- j -pj,^^ ^^^ ^.^^^^ 
ed," because the Scripture hath yet showed us no nailv called. 
other way to the internal call, but by the external. ^^'^^^ cLli^'i^!"''''^ 
" For how shall they believe on him of whom they 
have not heard i And how shall they hear without a preacher ?" 
Rom. X. 14. All divulging of the substance of the gospel, whether 
by solemn sermons, by writing, printing, reading, conference, or 
any other means that have a rational sufficiency, for information 
and conviction, are this preaching ; though not alike clear and ex- 
cellent. The knowledge of Christ is none of nature's principles : 
the book of the creatures is no means alone, much less a sufficient 
means to teach the knowledge of Christ. It may what is the means of 
discover mercy, but gives not the least hint of the this call? Whether 
way of that mercy : it speaks nothing of God in- IJf ."Jffi.'liT*'*^" 
carnate, or two natures in one person ; of Jesus the 
Son of Mary ; of Christ's suretiship, and suffering for us, rising, 
ascending, mediating, returning ; of two covenants, and their several 
conditions, and the reward of keeping them, and penalty of break- 
ing 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, I 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 sun of external light ; the understanding 
is our eye, or internal light : this eye is become blind, and this in- 
ternal 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 
1)0 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 illuminating or sanctifying work ; teach- 
ing men no new lesson, nor the old without book ; but to read with 
understanding, what Scripture, nature, creatures, and providences, 
teach.* The asserting of any more, is proper to the enthusiasts. 

* As when Christ had opened the eyes of the man born blind, he did but give him a 



108 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 believed, and the Christian faith have been propa- 
gated among them. 

2. They are but part 2. That these people of God are but a part of 
of the externally those that are thus externally called, is too evident 
*^^^®'*- in Scripture and experience. " Many are called, 
but few are chosen :" but the internally, 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 evidence of, Christianity and its privileges, that 
where it prevails not to a thorough conversion, it sinks deeper, and 
casts under a double damnation. 

3. They are regeue- '^- The first differencing work I affirm to be re- 
rate by the Spirit of generation by the Spirit of Christ ; taking it for 
^^"^^- granted, that this regeneration is the same with 
effectual vocation, with conversion, with sanctification ; understand- 
ing conversion, and sanctification, of the first infusion of the prin- 
ciple of spiritual life into the soul, and not for the addition of de- 
grees, or the sanctifying of the conversation, in which last sense it 
is most frequently taken in Scripture. 

Necessity of this re- This Spiritual regeneration, then, is the first and 
generation. great qualification 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 regenera- 
tion, is as impossible as to be the natural children of men without 
generation ; seeing we are born God's enemies, we must be new- 
born his sons, or else remain his enemies still. Oh that the unre- 
generate 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, holi- 
ness, 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 reforma- 
tion 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 par- 
power to see what present objects the sun or other external lights should 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 by long, painful studv, from truth to truth, before they know them. 
See Heb. v. 11—14, fully for this. 



Chai'. VIII. the SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 109 

take of; and yet " imperfect," to distinguish our present from our 
future condition in glory ; and that the ("hristian may know, that it 
is sincerity, not perfection, which he must inquire after in his soid. 

Sect. III. Thus far the soul is passive. Let us j The soul is con- 
next see hy what acts this new life doth discover vinccd, i.e. i. 
itself, and this divine spark doth hreak forth; and S;ih'to iho"^'' 
how the soul, touched with this loadstone of the truth of Scripture 
Spirit, doth presently move toward God. The ^'"■'"*'^- 
first work I call " conviction," which comprehends knowledge, 
and assent. 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 hoth 
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 And knows its own 
verity of those consequences, which from the pre- sin, and guilt, and 
mises of sin in us, and threats in Scripture, do con- "^'^'^''y- 
elude us miserable. It hath been a great question, and disputed 
in whole volumes, which grace is the first in the soul ; where faith 
and repentance are usually the only competitors. In regard of the 
principle, the power, or habit, 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 ^, 

1 \ 1 r x^ i-i- i i Ihereiore not any 

several seas. And lor the acts, it is most apparent, other, but this know- 
that neither repentance nor faith (in the ordinary ledge is the first grace, 

,•, \ ■ n I. 1 1. ^ 11 nni ■ m retrard of the order 

strict sense) is first, but knowledge. Ihere is no of their acting ; 
act of the rational soul about any object preceding though in the vital 
knowledge. Their evasion is too gross, who tell ^'ether'^' "' '"' 
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 the sincerity of knowledge be requisite, as 
well as of faith ; especially when faith in the gospel sense is some- 
times 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 sensi- The soul is sensible 
bility : God works on the heart, as well as the ofwhat it is con- 
head ; both were corrupted, and out of order. The ^'"*^*'^- 
principle of new life doth quicken both. All true spiritual know- 
ledge doth pass into affections. That religion which is merely tra- 
ditional, doth indeed swim loose in the brain; and the devotion 
which is kindled but by men and means, is hot in the mouth, and 
cold in the stomach. The work that had no higher rise than 



no THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

Necessity of education, example, custom, reading, or hearing, 
sensibility. doth never kindly pass dowH to the aflfections. The 

understanding which did receive but mere notions, cannot deliver 
them to the aifections, as realities. The bare help of doctrine upon 
an unrenewed soul, produceth in the understanding but a super- 
ficial 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 experienced man ; 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 aftect ; but to thirst for, and drink of, the living 
waters ; and to travel, to live in, to be heir of that kingdom, must 
needs work another kind of sensibility. It is Christ's own differ- 
encing mark, and I had rather have one from him, than from any, 
that the good ground give the good seed deep rooting ; but some 
others entertain 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 
his 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 senselessness 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 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 apprehensive 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 commit with crowns and kingdoms. 
What the soul is '^^^ things that the soul is thus convinced and 

convinced and sen- Sensible of, are especially these in the description 
''^^•^ °^- mentioned. 

1. The evil of sin. The sinner is made to know 
1. Oftheevlofsin. ^^^ ^^^j ^j^^^ ^^^ sin which was his delight, liis 

sport, the support of his credit and estate, is indeed a more loath- 
some thing than toads or serpents, and a greater evil than plague 
or famine, or any other calamities ; it being a breach of the right- 
eous law of the most high God, dishonourable to him, and destruc- 
tive to the sinner. Now the sinner reads and hears no more the 
reproofs of sin, as words of course, as if the minister wanted sonae- 
thing 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 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. HI 

yet is contented you should show him the worst, and set it home, 
thoufjh 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 nuist needs die for it, and most of the world be eternally 
tormented in hell, lie thought this was somewhat hard measure, 
and greater punishment than could possibly be deserved by a little 
fleshly liberty, or worldly deligiit, 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 altered : God hath opened his 
eyes to see that unexpressible vileness in sin, which satisfies him 
of the reason of all this. 

2. The soul in this great work is convinced and 2. Of its own misery, 
sensible, as of the evil of sin, so of its own misery by reason of sin. 
by reason of sin. They who before read the threats of God's law, 
as men do the whole 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, and 
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-by, or as the torments of hell to a child that sees 
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 him- 
self 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 whether this be the 
senses it is of both ; the law expressing, and the work of the law or 
gospel intimating and implying, our former con- ^^"^ gospel. 
demnation ; sure I am, it is a work of the Spirit wrought, in some 
measure, in all the regenerate: and though some Necessity of this 
do judge it unnecessary bondage, yet it is beyond sense of sin and 
my conceiving how he should come to Christ for ™'«ery. 
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 why some gracious 
not, but the discovery of the remedy as soon as souls can scarce pcr- 
the misery, must needs prevent a great part of the ,"arce remember, ' 
trouble, and make the distinct effect on the soul to this work of hum'ilia- 
be with much more difficulty 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 re- 
membered 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 3 Qf^^^^ creature's 
the creature's vanity and insufficiency. Every man vanity and insuffi- 
naturally is a flat idolater ; our hearts turned from '^'"^"*'> '■ 



112 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Paht I. 

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 our- 
^ , selves a wrong end, we must needs err in all the 

EveiT natural man mi ^ • . 

is an idolater, and means. 1 he creature IS to every unregenerate 
doth not indeed take man his God and his Christ. He ascribeth to it 
the Lord tor his God. ^^^ -p-^-^^^ prerogatives, and alloweth it the high- 
est 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 
D . , . ^, , that is these in unity. Indeed, it is that flesh that 

Fride IS the great . • • i -i i i ^ i i •/> i 

sin against the first IS the prmcipal idol : the other three are deified 
menf ^''' ''°"''"^"''" ^" *^^^^ 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 
Man naturally is his generation to generation. When God should guide 
own idol. xxs^ we guide ourselves ; when he should be our 

sovereign, we rule ourselves. The laws which he gives us, we 
would correct and find fault with ; and if we had the making of 
them, we would have made them otherwise. When he should 
take care of us, and must, or we perish, we will care for ourselves : 
when we should depend on him for 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 w^ould be at our own ; 
and when we should submit to his providence, we usually quarrel at 
it ; as if we knew better what is good 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 condition, it would be far 
otherwise than now it is ; and we think we could make a better 
disposal, order, and choice, than God hath made. This is the lan- 
guage 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 ourselves ; 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 
ourselves ; and, instead of God, we w^ould have all men's eyes and 
dependence on us, and all men's thanks returned to us, and would 
gladly be the only men on earth extolled and admired by all. And 
thus we are naturally our own idols ; but down falls this Dagon, 
„ , when God doth once renew the soul. It is the 

Kegeneration works , , . r , i , i i ^ -l • i.i 

back the heart to great busmess of that great work, to brmg the 

^ncetri"' Th^ '^°h' ^^'^^^ ^^^^ *° ^°^ himself. He COnvinceth the sin- 
creature cannot be '^ ner: 1. That the creature, of himself, can neither 
our God. 2. Nor be his god, to make him happy; 2. Nor yet his 
Christ, to recover him from his misery, and re- 



Chaj'. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 113 

store 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 sinner 
hear, and hath learned by it this great lesson. This is the great 
reason why affliction doth so ordinarily concur providences, and 
in tbe work of conversion; these real arguments, especially afflictions, 
which speak to the quick, will force a hearing, 'lo usually much fur- 

, ' . 1. ' , ,. , 1 ° thcr this conviction. 

when the most convmcmg 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 ; what a help 
is here to this work of conviction ! When a man that made his 
pleasure his god, whether ease, or sports, or mirth, or company, or 
gluttony, or drunkenness, or clothing, or buildings, or whatsoever 
a ranging eye, a curious ear, a raging appetite, or a lustful heart, 
could desire, and God shall take these from him, or give him their 
sting and curse with them, and turn them all into gall and worm- 
wood ; what a help is here to this conviction ! 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 by 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. Oh 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 ! 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 ! Ah, poor 
wretches ! Base honours ; woeful pleasures ; sad mirth ; ignorant 
learning ; defiled dunghill ; counterfeit righteousness ! Poor stuff 
to make a god of; simple things to save souls ! Woe to them that 
have no better a portion, no surer saviours, nor greater comforts, 
than these can yield, in their last and great distress 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, 

I 



i 14 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

should they step into the throne, and usurp sovereignty, would 
soon, in the eyes of all, be vile and insufferable. 
4. Of the need of 4. The fourth thing that the soul is convinced 

Christ, and his suf- and Sensible of, is, the absolute necessity, the full 
ciencyan woi . sufficiency, and perfect excellency, of Jesus Christ. 
Q. Are not all the It is a great question, whether all the foremen- 
forementioned works tionecl works are uot commou, and only prepara- 

common till this last ? ,. , .i ■ o mi j- i 

A. No. tions unto this : 1 hey 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, as in the former 
terms explained, is both a sanctifying and saving work ; I mean a 
saving act of a sanctified 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, 
much 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 con- 
vinced of the verity of some unconcerning consequence by dispute ; 
but also by the sense of our desperate misery, as a man in famine, 
of the necessity of food ; or a man that had read or heard his sen- 
tence of condemnation, is convinced of the absolute necessity of 
pardon ; or as a man that lies in prison for debt, is convinced of 
the necessity of a surety to discharge it. Now the sinner finds 
himself in another case than ever he was aware of; he feels an in- 
supportable burden upon him, and sees there is none but Christ 
can take it off. He perceives that he is under the wrath of God, 
and that the 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 make him blessed : he is now brought to this 
dilemma, either he must have Christ to justify him, or be eternally 
condemned; he must have Christ to save him, or burn in hell for 
ever; he must have Christ to bring him again to God, or be shut out 
of his presence everlastingly ; and now no wonder if he cry as the 
martyr Lambert, " None but Christ, none but Christ !" It is not 
gold, but bread, that will satisfy the hungry ; nor any thing but 
pardon that will comfort the condemned. " All things are now but 
dross and dung," Phil. iii. 7 — 9 ; and what we counted gain, is 
now but loss in comparison of Christ : for, as the sinner 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 tenor of both covenants, 
do put him out of all such hopes. There is none found in heaven 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 115 

or earth that can open the sealed hook, save the Lamh : without 
his hlood, there is no remission ; and without remission, there is no 
salvation, Rev. v. 3 — G; Ileh. ix. 22; xiii. 12. Could the sinner 
now make any shift without Christ, or could any thing else supply 
his wants and save his soul, then might Christ he disregarded ; but 
now he is convinced that there is no other name, and the necessity 
is absolute. Acts iv. 12. 

2. And as the soul is thus convinced of the 2. Of Christ's suffi- 
necessity of Christ, so also of his full sufficiency. cicncy. 

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 dotli 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 
himself, " that the Father heareth him always," John xi. 42. 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 ; and how is it sufficient for all, if not suffered for all ? 

Ansiv. 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. 

3. The soul is also convinced of the perfect ex- 3. And of his excel- 
cellency of Jesus Christ, both as he is considered l^ncy. 

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 ; but now, as one that beholdeth his 
glory. 

And thus doth the Spirit convince the soul. 

Sect. IV. 3. After this sensible conviction the Of the change of the 
will discovereth also its change, and that in regard "'U and affections 
of all the four foreinentioned objects. 

1. The sin which the understanding pronounceth 1. it tumeth from sm 
evil, the will doth accordingly turn from with ab- with abhorrency. 
horrency. Not that the sensitive 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 Scrip- 
ture 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 2. Abhorreth and la- 
he disccrneth, so he bewaileth. It is impossible menteth its miserable 
that the soul now living, should look either on its *'*"^ 

trespass against God, or yet on its own self-procured calamity, with- 
out some compunction and contrition. He that truly discerneth 
that he hath killed Christ, and killed himself, will surely, in some 

I 2 



IIG THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

measure, be pricked to the heart. If he cannot weep, he can 
heartily groan ; and his heart feels what his understanding sees. 
3. Renounccthallhis 3. The creature he now renounceth as vain, 
former idokauJ^^^ ^nd tumeth it out of his heart with disdain. 
directly against'cod,' Not that he undervalueth it, or disclaimeth its 
as God. Secondly, ^gg ; but its idolatrous abuse, and its uniust 

directly only against ,. 

his laws. usurpation. 

Of the first sort is There is a twofold sin :* one against God him- 

only gross idolatry. gelf^ as well as his laws, when he is cast out of the 
heart, and something else doth take his place. This is that I in- 
tend 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 
something below in his stead ; 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. 

In what sense we turn Yet hath the creaturc a twofold consideration : 
from the creature, fij-gt^ 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 admirations, undue estimations, too strong affections, 
and false expectations, which we turn from. 

A twofold error in the ^ There is a twofold error very common in the 
descriptions of con- description of the work of conversion : the one, 
version. . .of those who Only mention the sinner's turning 

Our turning irom sin, . ^-^ i • i • • • • 

is as essential to true irom sm to God, Without mentioning any receiving 
S'lrchris" ^''' °^ 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 legal- 
ists, 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 

* Tills 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 difference — " He that sinneth, transgresseth the 
law ; he that blasphemeth, committeth impiety against the Godhead itself." 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 117 

before right means ? Can we seek to Christ to reconcile us to God, 
while in our hearts we prefer the creature before him i 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 rewarder 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 the Mediator afterwards. But you will 
say, May not an unregenerate man believe that there is a God ? 
True, and 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 unregene- 
rate man, the creature possesseth both places, and a flat necessity both 
is both God and Christ. Can Christ be believed of coming to God as 
in, where our own righteousness or any other thing f:jfCi t°o"cE 
is trusted as our Saviour ? Or doth God ever as the way to the 
thoroughly discover sin and misery, and clearly ^'^♦^'i<=''. 
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 repent- 
ance 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,t 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 which part of this 
before mentioned we shall judge to precede, whe- turning goes first. 
ther 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 where he beginneth but one step, and layeth but 

* Heb. xi. 16. Besides, though the person please not God, nor his actions, 8o as for 
God to justify them, or to take delight in them as gracious ; jet some actions of wicked 
men, tending to reformation, may please God in some respect, secundum quid ; as Ahab's 
humiliation. 

t As it is put for all obedience to the commands proiier to the gospel. 



118 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 Christ, and 
therefore must follow our receiving him by faith, 

I answer, There be receivings from Christ before believing, and 
before our receiving of Christ himself. Such is all that work of 
the Spirit, that brings 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 ; no more 
than he gives the preaching of the gospel, the Spirit's motion to 
believe, &c. upon a prerequisite condition of believing. 
4 ,, .„ , Sect. V. 4. And as the will is thus averted from 

As the will turns , . , , . ■. , ■ . 

from evil, so at the the torenientioncd objects, so, at the same time, 
same time to God, | ^j^ ^^ cleave to God the Father, and to Christ. 

aud the Mediator. , ^ • • n p , • ^ i ^i. 

1. To the Godhead Its first acting in order oi nature, is toward the 
in order of nature. whole Divine essence ; and it consists, especially, 
in intending and desiring God for his portion and chief good: 
having been convinced that nothing else can be his happiness, 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, therefore, 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 

2. To the Mediator former before this, because the ultimate end is 
as the way ; which is necessarily the first intended, and the Divine 
^y ^^^^^- essence is principally that ultimate end, John xiv. 
6 ; 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 : 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; xxvi. 20. 
And life eternal consists, first, in knowing the only true God, and 
then Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent, John xvii. 3. The former 
is the natural part of the covenant, to take the Lord only for our 
God ; the latter is the supernatural part, to take Christ only for our 
Redeemer. The former is first necessary, and implied in the latter. 



Ciur. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 1 I'J 

Thougli repentance and good works, &c. are re- ■^^^^^ justifying 
quired to our full justification, at judgment, as faith is. Its proper 
subservient to, or concurrent with, faith ; yet is the l"^;:' j,;';" Xcr'"" 
nature of this justifying faith itself contained 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 an act of the will ; but yet also 
of the whole soul. This accepting being that which the gospel 
presseth to, and calleth the receiving or accepting Christ : I call 
it an aftectionate 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 immediately concur ; nor concur as a mere concomi- 
tant, but essential to a true accepting. For this faith is the re- 
ceiving 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 
understanding and the will; therefore, in the whole soul; and so 
cannot be one single act. I add, it is the most affectionate accept- 
ing of Christ ; because he that loves father, mother, or any thing 
more than him, is not worthy of him, nor can be his disciple, Luke 
xiv. 26 ; and consequently not justified by him. And the truth of 
this affection is not to be judged so much by feeling the pulse of it, 
as by comparing it with our affection to other things. He that 
lovetli 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 accepting, it being not any theo- 
logical axiom concerning himself, but himself in person. 1 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 submit to his government, and way of saving ; and 
I take all this to be contained in justifying faith. The vilest sinner 
among us w ill 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 y^y^^^^ q^^^.^^^ j^jj^ 
perform) is, to bring the sinners to God, that they fur us upon our ac- 
may be happy in him : and this both really by his ceptance. 
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 wall Christ perform : and the obtaining of 
these, are the sinner's lawful ends in receiving Christ ; and to these 
uses doth he offer himself unto us. 

5. To this end doth the sinner now enter into a • ■ i 

cordial covenant with Christ. As the preceptive chrrsu" a"fessential 
part is called the covenant, so he might be under part of actual con- 
the covenant before, as also under the offers of a c^hrist'laniu-." 
covenant on God's part. But he was never strictly 



120 ■ THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

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 never 
was a match indeed till now. 

6. With this covenant concurs a mutual delivery; 
^trhimselt'tofhT'"' Christ delivereth himself in all comfortable rela- 
sinner, and he de- tions to the sinner, and the sinner delivereth up 
to cw'""'""'"^ himself to be saved and ruled by 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 equiva- 
lent 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 ; 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 cove- 
nanting, or mystical marriage, of the sinner to Christ. 
Lastly, The believer 7. And lastly, I add, that the believer doth 
persevereth in this herein pcrscvere to the end: though he mav com- 

covenant, and all the •. • i t i • ,i i • t i ,1 

forementioned ^uit sins, he never clisciaimeth his Lord, renounceth 

grounds ofit, to the 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; iii. 11, 12 ; 
John XV. 4—6, 9; 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 condition of their salva- 
tion, yea, of their continued life and fruitfulness, and of the con- 
tinuance of their justification, though not of their first justification 
itself. But eternally blessed be that hand of love, which hath 
drawn the free promise, and subscribed and sealed to that which 
ascertains us, both of the grace which is the condition, and the 
kingdom on that condition offered. 

The application of ^^^^^ ^^- ^^^ ^hus you have a naked enumera- 

this description by tion of the essentials of this people of God : not a 
way of examination, f^^i portraiture of them in all their excellences, 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 unseasonable 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 thyself 
as one that must shortly be judged by the righteous God ; and 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 121 

faithfully answer to these few questions which I shall here pro- 
pound. 

I will not inquire, whether thou remember the time or the order 
of those workings of the Spirit : there may be much uncertainty 
and mistake in that : but I 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 a universal 
depravation, through thy whole soul ; and a universal wickedness 
through thy whole life ; and how vile a thing this sin is ; and that 
by the tenor of that covenant which thou hast transgressed, the 
least sin deserves eternal death ? Dost thou consent to this law, 
that it is true and righteous ? Hast thou perceived thyself sen- 
tenced to this death by it, and been convinced of thy natural, un- 
done condition ? Hast thou further seen the utter insufficiency of 
every creature, either to be itself thy happiness, or the means of 
curing this thy misery, and making thee happy again in God ? 
Hast thou been convinced, that thy happiness 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 nmst be brought 
to God by Christ, or perish eternally ? Hast thou seen hereupon 
an absolute necessity of the enjoying Christ ; and the full suffi- 
ciency 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 indefinite- 
ness 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, produced by reading or education, as a bare notion in the 
understanding ? 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 couldst thou heartily groan under the insupportable weight of 
both ? Hast thou renounced all thine own righteousness ? Hast 
thou turned thy idols out of thy heart ; * so that the 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 direct- 

* In one -word, the rerj' nature of sinceritj' lieth in this ; when Christ hath more 
actual interest in 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 grace. 



122 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I. 

ly 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 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 utmost care and watchful endeavour, that thou mayst be 
found faithful in this covenant ; and though thou fall into sin, yet 
wouldst not renounce thy bargain, nor change thy Lord, nor give 
up thyself to any other government, for all the world ? If this be 
truly thy case, thou art one of these people of God w hich 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 stranger to all this, and thy con- 
science tell thee, it is none of thy case ; the Lord have mercy on thy 
soul, and open thine eyes, and do this great work upon thee, and 
by his mighty power overcome thy resistance : for f in the case 
thou art in, there is no hope. Whatever thy deceived heart may 
think, or how strong soever thy false hopes be, or though now a 
little w'hile 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 woe, and for ever w^oe to thee, if thou be found in the state 
that thou art now in, Deut. xxxii. 25. Thy own tongue will then 
proclaim thy woe, w ith a thousand times more dolour and vehe- 
mence, than mine can possibly do it now. Oh that thou wert wise 
to consider this, and that thou wouldst remember thy latter end ! 
That yet while thy soul is in thy body, and a price in thy hand, 
and day-light, and opportunity, and hope, before thee, thine ears 
might be open to instruction, 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 the inheritance of the saints in light ! And thus 
I have showed you who these people of God are. 
Why called the Sect. VII. And why are they called the people 

people of God. ^f Qq^ 7 You may easily from what is said dis- 
cern the reasons. 

, „ , . 1. They are the people whom he hath chosen to 

1. By election. , . -ir r . ■. 

himself from eternity. 
2. Special redemp- 2. And whom Christ hath redeemed with an 
tion. absolute intent of saving them ; which cannot be 

said of any other. 

* "Whether thy infant baptism will serve or no, I am assured thy infant covenant will 
not now serve thy turn ; but tliou must actually enter covenant in thy own person. 
John XV. 4— G ; Matt. xxiv. 13 ; Heb. x. 38, 39. 

t I speak not this to the dark and clouded Christian, who cannot discern tliat which 
is indeed within him. 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 123 

^ - ., . . 3. Whom hfi hath also renewed by the power of 

3. Likeness to him. i . , i ,i - ii ^ 

his grace, and made them m some sort like to 
himself, stamping his own image on them, and making them holy, 
as he is holy, 1 Pet. i. 10. 
. ,. ,, 4. They are those whom he emhraceth with a 

4. Mutuallove. t i i i • i i • i n 

peculiar love, and do again love him above all. 

5. Mutual cove- 5. They are entered into a strict and mutual 

nantiug. covenant, wherein 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, 

G. Near relation. ^ i i • ^ i • i ii i 

even to be his servants, his sons, and the members 
and spouse of his Son. 

7. Future cohabit- 7. And lastly, they must live with him for ever, 
^''on- and be perfectly 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. Oh that the Lord would now open your 
eyes, and your hearts, to discern and be affected with the glory re- 
vealed ! that he would take off your hearts from these dunghill 
delights, and ravish them with the views of these everlasting plea- 
sures ! that he would bring you into the state of this holy and 
heavenly people, for whom alone this rest remaineth ! that you 
would exactly try yourselves by the foregoing description ! that no 
soul of you might be so damnably deluded, as to take your natural 
or acquired parts for the characters of a saint ! Oh 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 ! For this blessed issue, as I here 
gladly wait upon you in preaching, so will I also wait upon the 
Lord in praying. 



124 



PART II. 

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. 



CHAPTER I. 

Confirmation from Sect. I. We are next to proceed to the con- 

other Scriptures. firmation of this truth, which, though it may seem 
needless in regard of its own clearness and certainty, yet in regard 
of our distance and infidelity 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. 
The truth confirmed that those that believe, do believe but in part, 
from other Scrip- and, therefore, have need of further confirmation ; 
*"'^*^- and, doubtless, God hath left us arguments suffi- 

cient 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 Affi in the ^' ^^ affirms, that this rest is fore-ordained for 

saints to have been the saints, and the saints also fore-ordained to it. 
predestinated to this « God is not ashamed to be called their God, for 
he hath prepared for them a city," Heb. xi. 16. 
" Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, what God 
hath prepared for them that love him," 1 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 hand in his kingdom, shall be 
given to them for whom it is prepared, Matt. xx. 23. And them- 
selves 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 



Chap. 1. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 125 

worketh all things after the counsel of his own will," Eph. i. 11. 
" And whom he thus predcstinateth, them he glorifieth," Rom. 
viii. 30 ; " For he hath, from the heginning, chosen them to salva- 
tion, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth," 
2 Thess. 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," Isa. xiv. 24. " The 
counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of his 
heart to all generations," therefore, " blessed are they whose God 
is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own in- 
heritance," Psal. xxxiii. 11, 12. Who can bereave his people of 
that rest which is designed them by God's eternal purpose ? 

Sect. IL Secondly: The Scripture tells us that 2. That it is procured 
this rest is purchased, as well as purposed for for them by the blood 
them ; or that they are redeemed to this rest. In "^ Chnst. 
what sense this may be said to be purchased by Christ, I have 
showed before, viz. not as the immediate work of his suflferings, 
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 his 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 several 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 
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 re- 
conciled : 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; v. 5 ; Isa. Ixiii. 10; Lam. 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 rela- 
tion, and that there is something in God which cannot better be 
expressed or conceived than by these terms of enmity and hatred : 
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 foremen- 
tioned expressions : so that whether you will call it purchasing life 
for us, or purchasing us to life, the sense is the same, viz. by satis- 
fying the law, and removing impediments, to procure us the title and 
possession of this life. 
* I confess the latter is the more proper expression, and oftener used in the Scriptures. 



126 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 e»s cnrokvTpwaiv Tj^9 7r£/}t7rot)Jo6w?, in Eph. i. 14, which 
is translated " the redemption of the purchased possession," do 
prove this or not ; yet I see no appearance of truth in their expo- 
sition of it, who, because they deny that salvation is purchased 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 wilderness, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John 
iii, 15, 16. So, then, I conclude either Christ must lose his blood 
and suiferings, and " never see of the travail of his soul," Isa. liii. 
11, but all his pains and expectation be frustrate, or else there re- 
maineth a rest to the people of God. 

3. It is promised to Sect. III. Thirdly: And as this rest is pur- 
them. chased 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 will, 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 appoint to 
you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me a kingdom, 
that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom," 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; xiii. 43; 2 Tim. iv. 
18 ; James ii. 5 ; 2 Pet. i. 11 ; 2 Thess. i. 5 ; Acts xiv. 22 ; Luke 
vi. 20; xiii. 28, 29; 1 Thess. ii. 12; Matt. v. 12; Mark x. 21 ; 
xii. 25 ; 1 Pet. i. 4; Heb. x. 34 ; xii. 23; Col. 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, 
motTot"?owardrl and all the workings of the Spirit upon the soul, 
do prove that there and all the gracious actions of the saints, are so 
is such an end. ^^^^ evident mediums to prove that there re- 

maineth a rest to the people of God. If it be an undeniable 
maxim that God and nature do nothing in vain, then it is as true 
of God and his grace. All these means and motions imply some 
end to which they tend, or else they cannot be called means, nor 
are they the motions of wisdom or reason : and no lower end than 
this " rest" can be imagined. God would never have commanded 
his people to repent and believe, to fast and pray, to knock and 



Chap. 1. THE SAINTS' EVEIILASTING REST. 127 

seek, and that continually, to read and study, to confer and medi- 
tate, to strive and labour, to run and light, and all this to no pur- 
pose. Nor would the Spirit of (iod 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 euiploynients, 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. There- 
fore, 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. 79. How nearly are the 
means and end conjoined ! Matt. xi. 12, " The kingdom of heaven 
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force ;" or, as Luke 
xvi. 10, " every man presseth into it:" so that the violent appre- 
hends the kingdom.* Those whom he causeth to follow him in the 
regeneration, he will sure provide them thrones of judgment, 
Matt. xix. 28. 

5. So do (he begin- Sect. V. Fifthly : Scripture further assures us 
nings, foretastes, that the saints have the beginnings, foretastes, 
earnests, and seals, gamests, and seals of this rcst 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, as is before said, 
take it by force, they have a beginning of that knowledge which 
Christ hath said is eternal life, John xvii. 3. I have fully mani- 
fested that before, that the rest and glory of the people of God 
doth consist in their knowing, loving, rejoicing, .md praising ; and 
all these are begun, 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 begin- 
ning 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 power of God through faith unto that salva- 
tion, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein they can greatly 
rejoice, even in temptations, 1 Pet. i. 5, G : and therefore the apos- 
tle 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, I Pet. i. 8, 9. Observe here, first, how 

* Mr. Burroughs thinks this is meant of the violence of persecution, but Luke's 
phrase confutcth 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 dooi-s, or by unbelief refused to enter. 



128 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

God gives his people this foretasting joy : secondly, how this joy is 
said to be full of glory, and therefore must needs be a beginning of 
the glory : thirdly, how immediately upon this there follows " re- 
ceiving the end of their faith, the salvation of the soul." And Paul 
also brings in the justified " rejoicing in hope of the glory of God," 
Rom. v. 2. And I doubt not, but some poor Christians among us, 
who have little to boast of appearing without, have often these fore- 
tastes 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 a 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 inherit- 
ance," Eph. i. 14; and " seal them with the Holy Spirit of pro- 
mise," Eph. i. 13 ; and yet will he deny the full possession ? These 
absurdities may not be charged on an ordinary man, much less on 
the faithful and righteous God. 

6. Some have enter- Sect. VI. Sixthly, and lastly : The Scripture 
ed it already. mentioneth particularly 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, sure 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 I find that 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 in- 
fluence into all our graces, I shall briefly say something for your 
confirmation in this. 



CHAPTER II. 



MOTIVES TO STUDY AND PREACH THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF 
SCRIPTURE. 

Sect. I. Thus much may suffice where the Scripture is believed, 
to confirm the truth of the point in hand, viz. the certain futurity 
of the saints' rest. And for pagans and infidels who believe not 
Scripture, it is besides the intention of this discourse to endeavour 



Chap. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 129 

their conviction, I am eniloavourin<^ the consolation and edification 
of saints, and not the information and conversion of pagans. Yet 
do I acknowledge the subject exceeding necessary, even to the 
saints themselves ; for Satan's assaults are oft made at the founda- 
tion ; and if he can porsuade them to question the verity of Scrip- 
ture, they will soon cast away their hopes of heaven. 

15ut if I should here enter upon that task, to prove that Scripture 
to be the infallible word of God, I should make too broad a digres- 
sion, and set upon a work as large as that, for the sake whereof I 
should undertake it ; neither am I insensible of how great 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 be- 
lieve 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 minis- 
ters to bestow a little more pains, in a seasonable grounding 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 our- 
selves and hearers, to be soundly persuaded of the truth of Scrip- 
ture ! As God's own veracity is the prime foundation of our faith, 
from which particular axioms receive their verity, so the Scripture 
is the principal foundation quoad patrefaciionem, 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, before them ; 
and have much advantaged the church thereby, and advanced 
sacred knowledge. And should 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 

* I have since written a supplement to this second part, called " The Unreasonable- 
ness of Infidelity." 



130 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

as much against papists in this, as need to be said, especially Cha- 
mier, and our Robert Baronius, Whitaker, Reignoldus, &c. But 
is not most of their industry there bestowed, while they put oiF 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 neg- 
lected, 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 mistaken 
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 illumina- 
tion for the begetting of a special saving belief, and a common il- 
lumination for a common belief. But this is not so properly 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 further sanctifying, to remove 
our natural enmity to the truth, and prejudice 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 ob- 
jective cause of faith, how know you Scripture to be the word of 
God ; or v/hy do you believe it so to be ? they finally conclude, 
by the testimony of the Spirit : but the Spirit's illumination being 
only the eflicient cause of our discerning, and the question being 
only of the objective cause or evidence, they must needs mean some 
testimony besides illuminating, sanctifying grace, or else not un- 
derstand 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 nrgnmetitmn inartificiale , as if the 
Spirit, as another person, spoke this truth within me. The Scrip- 
ture is God's word ; or, secondly, of the Spirit's propounding that 
objective evidence internally in the soul, which is necessary to per- 
suade by an artificial argument, without propounding it first ah 
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 aflfirm 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 



Chap. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 131 

not yet extant any sufficient evidence of Scripture truth, till the 
Spirit create it in ourselves, and. withal, to leave it inipossihle to 
produce any evidence for the conviction of an unbeliever, who can- 
not know the testimony of the Spirit in me : and, indeed, it is 
direct expectation of enthusiasm, and that is ordinary to every 
Christian. And it also infers that all men have the testimony of 
the Spirit, who believe the Scriptures to be God's word, which 
would delude many natural men, who f(>el that they do believe this, 
though some unsoundly tell us that an unregenerate man cannot 
believe it. I 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 satisfaction about the nature 
of the Spirit's testimony, to learned Robert Baronius, Apol. con. 
Turnebullum, p. 733 ; and also to judicious Amyraldus, Thes. de 
Testim. Spir. in Thes. Salmuriens, vol. i. p. 122 : in both whom 
it is most solidly handled. 

4. Doubtless, the first and chief work of preachers of the gos- 
pel, 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 maintain the credit of Chris- 
tianity, if we be put to dispute the case with an infidel ? I know 
somewhat may be done by tradition where Scripture is not ; but 
that is a more weak, 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 revela- 
tion ? 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 can- 
not 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 sure 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 pjincipium indemonstrahile, that 
Scripture is God's word, and that it is to be believed, and not to 
be proved, as if the very revelation. Hoc esse iestiinonium dirinum, 
and not only the thing testified. Hoc esse verum, were not ohjectum 
scienlia, sed pura Jidei. This might sooner harden infidels, than 
convince them. Sure I am, that both Christ and his apostles used 
sufficient, in suo (jenere, 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 

* See also the Act of the Conference at Paris, 156'), July in the bearinning. 



132 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 revelation ; but it presumeth us taught otherwise, that it- 
self 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, such 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 ? 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 love to Christ, that it is not to be 
measured 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 were no true love : if he love him 
upon false grounds, it must needs be a false love ; and if upon 
common grounds, it can be but a common love. I will not con- 
clude, 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, sup- 
posing 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 Scripture ? 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 the superstructure be firm, where the foundation is 
sandy ? and can our affections and actions be sound and strong, 
when our belief of Scripture is unsound or infirm ? Sure 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 un- 
sound or infirm in this point ; few Christians among us, for aught 
I find, have any better than the popish implicit faith in this point, 
nor any better arguments than the papists have to prove Scripture 
the word of God. They have received it by tradition, godly minis- 
ters and Christians tell them so, it is impious to doubt of it, and 
therefore they believe it. And this worm, lying at the root. 



Chap. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 133 

causeth the languishing and decay of the whole : yet it is usually 
undiscerned, for the root lieth secret under gi'ound. But I am apt 
to judge, that though the most complain of their uncertainty of sal- 
vation, 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, per- 
haps, the other be more perceived, and this taken notice of by few. 
There may be great weakness and unsoundness of belief, where yet 
no doublings are perceived to stir. Therefore though we could 
persuade people to believe never 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 Christians. 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 Ijattery by all sorts of enemies especially 
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 Familists and libertines do spit their venom here : and some 
Christians, by experience, are able to testify, that Satan's tempta- 
tions are most violent here. Yea, and our own carnal, deluded 
reason is aptest of all to stumble 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, I 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 Antinomians ; 
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. 

10. However, though I were mistaken in all this, yet certain I 
am, that the strengthening of our faith in the verity of Scripture, 



134 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IL 

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 I did as verily believe the glory 
to come, as I do believe that the sun will rise 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 
overthrows the hope and comfort of many a dying man ; who, 
having not strengthened himself on this point, by undoubted argu- 
ments and experiments, is there laid at where he lies open and un- 
armed, by such cunning cavils, shifts, and elusions against the 
authority of Scripture, that the poor man, not able to clear him- 
self of them, falls into a doubting of all religion, and sinks into 
despair." 

Sect. II. Thus much I have purposely spoken, as to stir up 
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 subject ; and 
all ministers to preach it more frequently and clearly to their peo- 
ple. Some think it is faith's honour to be as credulous 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 testimony, then the most credulous 
soul is the best. But when the doubt is, whether it be the testi- 
mony 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 up 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 blas- 
phemy, is to cast them away, and not to dispute them ; and I think 
the direction is very good, so it be used with distinction and cau- 
tion. The rule holds good against real blasphemy, known to be 
such; but if the person know it not, how shall he make use of this 
rule against it ? Further, it is supposed that he who knows it to 
be blasphemy, hath arguments whereby to prove it such ; else, how 
doth he know it ? Therefore, 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 cherish- 



Chap. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 13.5 

ing doubts, or hearkening to temptations which may iced those 
doubts ; when a man, like lialaam, 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 over- 
come it, and may expect it should shortly return again ; it is a 
methodical cure which prevents a relapse. Such a neglecter 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 knowledge usually of 
the matter and author of that testimony ; Divine faith hath ever a 
Divine* testimony, and supposeth the knowledge of the matter, 
when the faith is particular, but always of the author of that testi- 
mony. 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 necessary 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 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 
yet gave their people better grounds, but tell them, wdiich 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; secondly, 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 increased in them upon the like occa- 
sions. 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 Mahometan is more that he lives where better laws and 
religion dwell, than that he hath more knowledge or soundness of 
apprehension. 

Yet would I not drive into causeless doubtings 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, per- 

Though some extend belief so far as to confound it with opinion. A natura ad 



mj 



steria, ab oculo ad oraculum, a "visu ad fidem, non ralet consequentia. 



136 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part XL 

haps, have ground for their belief, though they are not able to ex- 
press it by argumentation ; and may have arguments 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 over- 
throwing 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 
qualifications : 1. If the arguments which we have for beheving the 
Scripture, be in themselves 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. x\nd if being thus far convinced, 
it prevails with us to choose this as the only way of life, and to ad- 
venture 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 accept 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 uncertainty 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 I 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. 



CHAPTER III. 

Sect. I. And here it is necessary that we first distinguish be- 
twixt, 1, The subject matter of Scripture, or the doctrine which it 
contains ; 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, 1. The sub- 
stantial 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, &c. 

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, I. Some things are above reason, as 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 137 

it is without Divine revelation, both in respect of their probability, 
existence, and futurity. 2. Others may be known by mere reason, 
without Divine testimony, in regard of their possibility and proba- 
bility, 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 : Ilistory and prophecy must be distinguished. 

Eighthly : We nuist distinguish also the books and writings 
tiiemselves: 1. ]5etwecn the main scope, and those parts which 
express the chief contents ; and, 2. Particular words and phrases 
not expressing any substantials. 

Ninthly : Also it is one question, 1. Whether there be a certain 
number of books which are canonical, or of Divine authority ? And, 
2. Another question, what number there is of these, and which par- 
ticular books they are ? 

Tenthly : The direct express sense must be distinguished fi'om 
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 mediately by God. 
And of this sort, 1. Some of the instruments 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 eminent 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 believe 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, explicit, 
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 be- 
lieve it as certain. 

4. It is one thing to believe it to be true conditionally, another 
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 argu- 
ment seemeth more or less demonstrative. And, secondly, that 
deep apprehension and firm assent which proceedeth from a well- 
established, confirmed faith backed by experience. 



138 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 distinc- 
tions, is to open the way to these following po- being a'metaphoi!°is 
sitions, which will resolve the great questions on to be banished dis- 
foot, how far the belief of the written word is of 1"^^^^^'^ ^''' "^- 
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 Jide 
divina. For if you do merely believe it to be God's word, it is either by a Divine testi- 
mony 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 first testimony 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 authority, 
then you say right. But, then, as this supposeth the use of other helps to our know- 
ledge, as tradition by human, infallible testimony, &c. so this granteth that it is more 
properly known than believed to be a Divine testimony. Yet this is not our resolving 
our faith into reason or human testimony, but a discerning by reasoij and the help of 
human testimony the marks of a Divine author in the writing, and the miracles, &c. ; 
and thence also by reason concluding the 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 never so unreasonable ; but yet I will see reason for the divineness 
of the testimony, and know 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 proper act of faith, and not of knowledge, I ask them, 1. Why, then, do you 
not believe (but hold him accursed) an angel from heaven, if he preach another gospel 
besides this, and say. It is from God ; and so every one that saith, I am Christ 1 2. Why 
do you use to produce reasons from the objective characters of divinity in the Scriptures, 
when you prove it to testify of itself! Do you not know, that to discern those characters 
as the premises, and thence to conclude the divinity, is an act of knowledge, and not of 
faith 1 Else you should only say, when you are asked, how you know Scripture to be 
the word of God, that you believe 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 1 4. And why were the Bereans 
commended for trying apostolical doctrine, whether it were true or not^ 5. And why 
are we bid to try the spirits whether they be of God *? What if one of these spirits say 
as the old prophet, or as Rabshakeh to Hezekiah, " that he comes from God, and God 
bid him speak," will you believe, or try by reason 1 6. Doth not your doctrine make 
your belief to be wholly human, as having no Divine testimony for the divinity of the 
first testimony 1 and so what are all your graces like to prove which are built hereon 1 
And what a sad influence must this needs have into all our duties and comforts ! If 
you fly to the inward testimony of the Spirit, (as distinct from the sanctifying illumi- 
nation of the Spirit,) then the question is most difficult of all, How you know the testi- 
mony of that Spirit to be Divine 1 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 I ask. Doth it manifest it to reason 1 or only to inward sense 1 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 
produce more strange effects in your soul, than these which you take to be such a 
manifestation'! Especially seeing, (1.) We know so little of spirits, and what they can 



Cii.u'. HI. THE SAINTS' EYEKLASTIXG REST. 13<J 

2. All this revealed will is necessary to the completing: of our 
faith ; and it is our duty to believe it. I5ut it is only the substance 
and tenor of the covenants, and the things necessarily 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 believe 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 testi- 
mony 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 necessary 
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 look not for another. 
I prove it thus : That which is not revealed, can be no object of 
our faith ; much less so necessary ; but Christ was not revealed be- 
fore the fall ; nor this Jesus revealed to be He, before his coming ; 
therefore these were not of necessity to be believed, 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. G. 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. x\nd though where 

do. (2.) And we have still known those that pretended to the strangest sense of spi- 
ritual revelations, to have proved the most deluded persons in the end. 7. Doth not 
your doctrine teach men, in laying aside reason, to lay aside humanity, and to become 
brutes t If faith and reason be so contrary, 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 Christians of. 8. And what an injurious doctrine is this to Christ ! and dis- 
graceful to the Christian faith ! 9. And how would it harden infidels, and make them 
deride us, rather than believe ! 

Thus much I am forced here to add, both because I see many teachers have need to 
be taught these principles (the more is the pity) ; and, 2. Because some reverend bre- 
thren 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 jiart of our sanctification lieth in the 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 reason is, the stronglier is he persuaded that 
God is true, and that he cannot lie ; and therefore whatsoever he saith must needs be 
true, though reason cannot discern the thing in its own evidence. He that hath the 
Tightest reason, hath the most grace. Sincerity (and consequently our salvation) lieth 
in the strength and prevalency of rectified reason over the flesh, and all its interests 
and desires. But without Scripture or Divine revelation, and the Spirit's powerful 
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 reason- 
ableness of Christian religion, do presently accuse it, or suspect it of Socinianism. 



140 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

there is no revelation, faith is not necessary as a duty ; yet it may 
be necessary, I think, as a means, that is, our natural misery may 
he such as can no other way he cured ; hut this concerns not us 
that have heard of Christ. 7. Nature, creatures, and Providence, 
are no sufficient revelation of this tenor of the covenants. 8. It is 
necessary not only that this doctrine he 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 immediate delivery 
from God : or, secondly, in respect of the way of its coming down 
to us, it is delivered by God immediately either by writing, as the 
two tables, or by informing angels, who may be his messengers, or 
by inspiring some choice, particular 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 I know, are now left, are Scripture 
and tradition. For though God hath not tied himself from revela- 
tions by the Spirit, yet he hath ceased them, and perfected his 
Scripture revelations ; so that the Spirit only reveals what is re- 
vealed already in the word, by illuminating us to understand it. 
11. The more immediate the revelation, ceteris paribus, the more 
sure ; and the more succession of hands it passeth through, the 
more uncertain, especially in matter of doctrine. 12. When we 
receive 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 un- 
certainly, 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 by. 14. In all the fore- 
mentioned respects, therefore, the written word doth excel the un- 
written 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 believe ; as if there be any among the 
Abassines of Ethiopia, the Coptics in Egypt, 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 sal- 
vation 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. IG, 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 ordered, because 
they want that clearer revelation, that surer rule of faith and life, 
which might make the way of salvation more easy. 17. When 
tradition ariseth no higher, or cometh originally but from this 
written word, and not from the verbal testimonies of the apostles 
before the word was written^ there that tradition is but the preach- 



CiiAP. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 141 

ing of the word, and not a distinct way of revealing. IH. Such is 
most of the tradition, for aught I can h^irn, that is now on foot in 
the world, for matter of doctrine, but not for matter of fact. H). 
'I'herefore the Scriptures are not only necessary to the well-being 
of the church, and to the strength of faith, but, ordinarily, to the 
very being of faith and churches. 20. Not that the present posses- 
sion of Scripture is of absolute necessity to the present being of a 
church ; nor that it is so absolutely necessary to every man's salva- 
tion, 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 unbelief of the authority of Scripture 
may stand with salvation, yet positive and universal, I think, can- 
not : or, though tradition 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 be- 
lieve it, will much less believe a revelation more uncertain and 
obscure. 22. Though all Scripture be of Divine authority, yet 
he that believeth but some one book, which containeth the sub- 
stance 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 drawn from his doc- 
trine, miracles, &c. rather than upon the testimony of the writing, 
as being purely infallible and Divine, may yet have a Divine and 
saving faith. 24. Much more, those that believe the whole writing 
to be of Divine inspiration where it handleth the susbtanoe, but 
doubt whether God infallibly guided them in every circumstance, 
25. 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. 26. And yet more, may those 
have saving faith, who only doubt whether Providence infallibly 
guided any transcribers, or printers, as to retain any copy that 
perfectly agreeth with the autograph : yea, whether the perfectest 
copy now extant may not have some inconsiderable literal or verbal 
errors, 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 pro- 
phecy thereby obscured or depraved. God hath not engaged him- 
self to direct every printer to the world's end, to do his work with- 
out any error. Yet it is unlikely that this should deprave all copies, 
or leave us uncertain wholly of the right reading, especially 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 our statute books, though the printer be not guided by an 



142 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

unerring spirit. See Usher's Epistle to Lud. Capell. 27. Yet do 
all, or most of these, in my judgment, cast away a singular prop to 
their faith, and lay it open to dangerous assaults, and douht of that 
which is a certain truth. 28. As the translations are no further 
Scripture, than they agree with the copies in the original tongues ; 
so neither are those copies further than they agree with the 
autographs, or original copies, or with some copies perused and ap- 
proved 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 ex- 
press the sense of the original. But there is a possibility, proba- 
bility, and facility, of true transcribing, and grounds to prove it 
true, de facto, as we shall touch anon. 30. That part which was 
written 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. 33. 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 imperfec- 
tion there is in the method and phrase, which if we deny, we must 
renounce most of our logic and rhetoric. 36. Yet was this imper- 
fect way, at that time, all things considered, the fittest way to 
divulge the gospel. That is the best language which is best suited 
to the hearers, and not that which is best simply in itself, and sup- 
poseth that understanding 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, syllo- 
gism, &c. as Scripture doth. 37. Some doctrinal passages in Scrip- 
ture are only historically related, and therefore the relating them is 
no 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 assertion, 
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 inspira- 
tion, or approbation, the doctrine is of Divine authority, though 
the speaker be wicked, as in Balaam's prophecy. 41. The like 



Chap. ill. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 143 

may be said of matter of fact;* for it is not cither 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 ; ior their ow^n speeches or actions nre to be judged by 
the law, and therefore are no part of the law themselves. And as 
they are evil where they cross the law, as Joseph's swearing, the 
ancients' polygamy, &c. ; so are they doubtful where their con- 
gruence with the law is doubtful. 42. But here is one most ob- 
servable 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 appointed to 
the forming of the old church and commonwealth of the Jews, to 
the building of the tabernacle, &c. ; his precepts and examples in 
these works, though we could not find his particular direction, are 
to be taken as Divine. So also the apostles, having commission 
to form and order the gospel churches, their doctrine and examples 
therein, are by their general commission 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 limita- 
tions 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 w^ork, and promise to be with 
them, and yet to forsake them, and suffer them to err in the build- 
ing 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,t or in matters without the extent of their commission, 
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 deter- 
mined. 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 miracles, do concur, which con- 
iirmeth the apostles' examples for current. 47. So that if any of 
the kings or prophets had given laws, and formed the church, as 
Moses, they had not been binding, because without the said com- 
mission ; 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 

* A facto ad jus ad licitum vel debitum non \alet argum. 
t As Peter, Gal. ii. 12, 13. 



144 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

is to be found written in Scriptures. 49. So that the same thing 
may, in these several respects, be the object 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 can be soundly 
believed, the testimony must be known to be truly Divine. 53. 
Yet a belief of Scripture doctrine as probable, doth usually go be- 
fore a belief of certainty, and is a good preparative 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 Scripture, 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 consequence of those premises is known ; but that it is a 
truth, is, as I said, apprehended by a mixed act. Such is a Chris- 
tian'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 salvation. 
58. Where the sense is not understood, there the belief can be but 
implicit. 59. Where the sense is partly understood, but with some 
doubting, the belief can be but conditionally explicit ; that is, we 
believe it, if it be the sense of the word. 60, Fundamentals must 
be believed explicitly and absolutely. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE FIRST ARGUMENT TO PROVE SCRIPTURE TO BE THE 
WORD OF GOD. 

Sect. I. Having thus showed you in what sense the Scriptures 
are the word of God, and how far to be believed, and what is the 
excellency, necessity, and authority of them, I shall now add three 
or four arguments to help your faith ; which, I hope, will not only 
prove them to be a Divine testimony to the substance of doctrine, 
(though that be a useful work against our unbelief,) but also that 
they are the very written laws of God, and a perfect rule of faith 
and duty, 2 Tim. iii. 16. My arguments shall be but few, because 
I handle it but on the bye, and those such as I find little of in 
ordinary writings, lest I should waste time in doing what is done 
to my hands. 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. I4.5 

1. Those writings and that doctrine which were confirmed by 
many and real miracles, must needs be of God, and consequently 
of undoubted truth. ]5ut the books and doctrines of canonioal 
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. 

Ansiv. They are no true miracles : as they are rdpaia -^evSovi^ 
2 Thess. 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. 

Object. 2. God may enable false prophets to w^ork miracles to try 
the world, without any derogation to his faithfulness. 

Ansio. No : for Divine power being properly the attendant of 
Divine revelation, if it should be annexed to diabolical delusion, it 
would be a sufficient excuse to the world for their believing those 
delusions. And if miracles should not be a sufficient seal to prove 
the authority of the witness to be Divine, then is there nothing in 
the world sufficient ; and so our faith will be quite overthrown. 

Object. But, however, miracles will no more prove Christ to be 
the Son of God, than they will prove Moses, Elias, or Elisha, 
to be the sons of God, for they wrought miracles as well as 
Christ. 

Answ. Miracles are God's seal, not to extol the person that is 
instrumental, nor for his glory ; but to extol God, and for his own 
glory. God doth not intrust any creatures with his seal so abso- 
lutely, as that they may use it when and in what case they please. 
If Moses, or Elias, had affirmed themselves to be the sons of God, 
they could never have confirmed that affirmation with a miracle ; 
for God would not have sealed to a lie. Christ's power of working 
miracles did not immediately prove him to be the Christ, but it 
immediately proved his testimony to be Divine, and that testimony 
spoke his nature and office ; so that the power of miracles in the 
prophets and apostles was not to attest to their own greatness, but 
to the truth of their testimony concerning Christ. Whatsoever any 
man affirms to me, and works a real miracle to confirm it, I must 
needs take myself bound to believe him. 

Object. But what if some one should work miracles to confirm a 
doctrine contrary to Scripture, would you believe it ? Doth not 
Paul say, " If an angel from heaven teach any other doctrine, let 
him be accursed ? " 

Answ. I am sure God will never give any false teacher the power 
of confirming his doctrine by miracles ; else God should subscribe 



146 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

his name to contradictions. The appearance of an angel is no 
miracle, though a wonder. 

Object. But every simple man knows not the true definition of a 
miracle, and consequently knows not the difference between a 
miracle and a wonder, and so knows not how to believe on this 
ground. 

Ansic. As God doth not use the testimony of miracles, but on 
very great and weighty causes, to wit, where natural and ordinary 
means of conviction are wanting, and usually for the delivering of 
some new law or truth to the world, or the like ; so when he doth 
use it, he sufficiently manifesteth the reality of the miracles. Satan's 
wonders are such as may be done by natural means ; though per- 
haps, through our ignorance, we see not the means. But God oft 
worketh that which no natural means can do, and Satan never per- 
formed ; as the raising of the dead to life, the creating of sight to 
him that was born blind, the dividing of the sea, the standing still 
of the sun, with multitudes of the like. Again, though many of 
Christ's works may be done by natural means, as the healing of the 
deaf, the dumb, the lame, &c. yet Christ did them all by a word 
speaking, and so it is apparent that he made no use of natural 
means, secretly nor openly. Again, the wonders of Satan are most 
commonly juggling delusions, and therefore the great miracles that 
pagans and papists have boasted of, have been but some one or two 
strange things in an age, or usually before one or two, or some few, 
and that of the simple and more partial sort, that are easily deceiv- 
ed : but if upon the fame of these you go to look for more that may 
be a full and open testimony, you v.ill fail of your expectation. But, 
contrarily, that there might be no room for doubting left, Christ 
wrought his miracles before multitudes ; feeding many thousands 
at several times, with a small quantity ; healing the sick, blind, 
lame, and raising the dead, before many ; the persons afterwards 
showing themselves to the world, and attesting it to his enemies : 
and this he did not once or twice, but most frequently ; so that they 
that suspected deceit in one, or two, or ten, might be satisfied in 
twenty. Yea, which is the greatest convincing discovery of the 
reality, it was not himself only, but 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 



Chai'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 147 

many thousand persons could have witnessed against it, seeing they 
appeahnl lo thousands of witnesses then living, of several ranks, 
and qualities, and countries! It is true, indeed, the magicians of 
I'igypt did seem to go far. But consider whether they were mere 
delusions, or real wonders by secret, natural means ; douhtless, 
they were no miracles directly so called. And lest any should say 
that God tempted them by such above their strength, you may ob- 
serve 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 l Nor would he then 
have suffered it, but that Moses was at hand to overcome their de- 
lusions, and leave the beholders with full conviction, that so the 
enemies' strength might make the victory the more glorious, Ba- 
laam 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 
affords 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 not 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 remedi- 
lessly deluded by supernatural powers, while God looks on. 

Secondly : But the main assault I know will be made against 
the minor proposition of the argument, and so the question will 
be, do facto, whether ever such miracles were wrought or no ? I 
shall grant that we must not here argue circularly to prove the 
doctrine to be of God by the miracles, and then the miracles to have 
been wrought by the Divine testimony of the doctrine, and so round. 
But yet, to use the testimony of the history 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 i p • • 
much certainty in some human testimony, that 
may exclude all doubting, or cause of doubting ; 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 con- 
firm this. First, I would desire any rational man to tell me, whe- 
ther 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, I 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 

L 2 



148 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

case. And I think the sceptic arguments brought against the cer- 
tainty 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 par- 
liament 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 man as William the Con- 
queror ? 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. Sure, those who charge all 
human testimony with uncertainty, 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 infallible 
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 testimony 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 testifiers 
might infallibly know the truth of what they testify ? If they 
should, let them consider : First, If it be not matter of doctrine, 
much less abstruse and difficult points, but only matter of fact, 
then it is beyond doubt it may be certainly known. Secondly, If 
it be those also who did see, and hear, and handle, who do testify 
it. Thirdly, If their senses were sound and perfect, within reach 
of the object, and having no deceiving medium. 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 ; especially 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 doubtless sense is infallible, and, conse- 
quently, 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 
ingenuous 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 I 
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 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. MQ 

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 understand- 
ings are capable of apprehending. 2. If it be also about the sub- 
stance of actions, and not every small circumstance. 3. And also 
if those actions were famous in their times, and of great note and 
wonder in the world, and such as were the 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. G. If 
they are men of greatest honesty in all ages, who have both kept 
and divulged these records. 7. And if there have been also a mul- 
titude 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 at- 
testing these records, did utterly ruin their estates and lives, as 
well as it did the first testifiers. 11. If there be such a dispersing 
of the copies of these records all over the world, that the cancel- 
ling and abolishing them is a thing impossible. 12. If the very 
histories of the enemies do never affirm any universal abolishing 
and consuming of them. 13. If all these dispersed copies through 
the world do perfectly agree in every thing 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 salva- 
tion did lie upon it. 15. If the histories of their enemies do gener- 
ally mention their attesting these records to the loss of their lives, 
and that successfully in every age. IG. If these records and at- 
testations are yet visible to the world, and that in such a form as 
none could counterfeit. 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, if they acknowledge the fact, 
but deny the cause only. 18. And if all the enemies were inconi- 
petent witnesses. 1. Witnessing 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 
their cause. 4. And being generally men unconscionable and im- 
pious. 19. If all these enemies, having all these worldly advan- 
tages, could neither by arguments nor violence hinder people from 



150 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 
opposers of them before. 21. If all these converts do confess upon 
their coming in, that it was ignorance, or prejudice, or worldly re- 
spects, 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 judg- 
ment 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 re- 
cords. I say, if all these twenty-four particulars do concur, or 
most of these, I leave it to the judgment of any man of understand- 
ing, 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 testimony ? 

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 Bible. 

And here I must run over the three foregoing particulars again ; 
and show you, First, That the witnesses of Scripture 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 posterity 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 sure 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 wit- 
ness to it, were present, yea, continual companions of Christ, and 
the multitude of Christians were eye-witnesses of the miracles of 
the apostles. 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 him- 
self and his apostles, in many generations ; so that if there had 
been any deceit, it might have been easily discovered. Seventhly, 
and lastly, It was in the midst of vigilant and subtle enemies, who 
were able and ready enough to have evinced the deceit. 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. l.jl 

So that it remains certain that the first eye-witnesses themselves 
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 heavenly affections. 
Yet is this their honesty also attested by their enemies. Sure the 
very remnants of natui'al 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 so- 
cieties, and common converse : for if all honesty were gone, one 
man could not believe another, and so could not converse together. 
But now supernatural, 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 ? 

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 them- 
selves ? 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 
loth 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 Jesus ? 

3. Did not their INIaster 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 experience, that their 
way was every where spoken against ? and the reproach of the cross 
of Christ was the great stumblingblock to the world ? And could 



152 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, Part II. 

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, doth 
but show their simplicity and sincerity, and their agreement in 
the main. 

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 ac- 
knowledge 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 witnesses 
of the miracles of Christ and his apostles, as they were not de- 
ceived themselves, so neither had they any intent to deceive 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 (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 re- 
lated, and that we are now inquiring after the certainty of. Though 
men may mistake in the circumstances of the 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, circum- 
stances, or qualifications, of Henry the Eighth, 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 no ? 

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 certain ? We have 
certain records of battles, of sieges, of successions of princes 
among the heathens before the coming of Christ, and of the great 
alterations in our own state for a very long time. 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 153 

4. It was a formal record in the very words of the first witnesses 
in writing, which hatli been delivered to us, and not only any un- 
written 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 woe 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 ? 

G. And it is most apparent that the keepers and pul)lishers 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 the history of the Scrip- 
ture ? And whether it were possible, if such a multitude were so 
ridiculously dishonest, yet that they could carry on such a vain 
design with secrecy and success. 

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 at- 
tempted ? 

12. Nay, there is no history of the enemies that doth mention 
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 corrupted 
with forgery ? Indeed, Julian thought by prohibiting the schools 
of learning to the children of Christians, to have extirpated Chris- 
tianity ; 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 con- 
sider then, if they had been depraved, whether multitudes of copies. 



154 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 quahty, both by the sen- 
tence 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 damnation. 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 tem- 
poral death ; and all this to deceive others, by depraving 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 some- 
what more than probable ? 

15. Furthermore, the histories of the enemies do frequently 
mention that these Scriptures have been still maintained to the 
flames. Though they 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, their 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 counterfeit. 
Is it not enough to put me out of doubt, whether Homer ever wrote 
his Iliads, or Demosthenes his Orations, or Virgil and Ovid their 
several works, or Aristotle his volumes of so many of the sciences, 
when I see and read these books yet extant ; and when I find 
them such, that I think can hardly now be counterfeited, no, nor 
imitated ? But if they could, who would have been at the exces- 
sive pains, as to have 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, these 
Scriptures, though they have less of arts and sciences, yet are in- 
comparably more difficult to have been counterfeited than the 
other ; I 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, con- 
futed the Christian cause ; whether, when they have undertaken it, 
it hath not been only arguing the improbability, or assigning the 
miracles to other causes, or an imposing the doctrine 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. 

11. It is an easy matter yet to prove, that the enemies of Scrip- 
ture have been incompetent witnesses; 1. Being men that were 
not present, or had not the opportunity to be so well acquainted 
with the actions of Christ, of the prophets and apostles, as them- 
selves or others, that do attest them. 2. Being men of apparent 
malice, and possessed with much prejudice against the persons and 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 155 

things which they oppose. This I might easily and fully prove, 
if I could stand upon it. 3. They had all worldly advantages at- 
tending ther 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 appears by their own 
writings, both doctrinal and historical. What sensual interpreta- 
tions of the law did the very strict sect of the Pharisees make ! 
What fleshly laws have the followers of Mahomet ! What vices 
did the laws of the heathens tolerate ! Yea, what foul errors are 
in the ethics of their most rigid moralists ! 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. 
Sure such men are incompetent 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 i 5. Besides all this, 
their testimony was only 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 matter in the world to have dis- 
proved such falsehoods. If there 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, &c. ; and 
that a multitude of his followers should do the like, and that a 
great many times over and over, and that in the several parts of the 
land, in presence of crowds, and thousands of people ; I pray you, 
judge whether it were not the easiest matter in the world to dis- 
prove this, if it were false ; and whether it were possible that w^hole 
countries and cities should believe it ? Nay, whether the easiness 
and certainty of disproving it, would not bring them all into ex- 
treme 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 adver- 
sary's incompetency, and it may 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 pro- 



156 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

hibit, but is done by others far more able. Only that well-known 
passage in Josephus I will here set down : " In the time of Tibe- 
rius, 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 inspired, had foretold concerning him, 
as they had done an innumerable 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, who 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 over-much credulity, that caused such men to wit- 
ness 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 
common flying tales, have so mightily wrought with men of learn- 
ing 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. 

24. It were not difficult here to collect from unquestioned 
authors, a constant succession of wonders, at least, to have in 
several ages accompanied the attestation of this truth ; 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 deformed with 
their fabulous additions, might yet for the substance 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 Scripture, so had he then his special 
providences to confirm his church in their belief, and to silence the 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 1.57 

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 be- 
cause 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 witnesses ? 

Not that every of the particulars before mentioned are necessary 
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 objections against 
before I proceed. First, Some will question, whe- this argument an- 
ther 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 tills 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 the doctrine. 
If you ask, why I believe the doctrine to be of God ? I answer, 
because it was confirmed by many undeniable miracles. If you 
ask, why I believe those miracles to be from God ? I answer, be- 
cause no created power can work a miracle : 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. Uut 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 acknowledge so necessary, that without it I 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 themselves : 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 



158 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

so a human faith, which is also in some sort Divine. Few of God's 
extraordinary revelations have heen immediate ; the best school- 
men think none at all ; but either by angels, or by Jesus himself, 
who was man as well as God. You will acknowledge if God re- 
veal it to an angel, and the angel to Moses, and Moses to Israel, 
this is a Divine revelation to Israel. For that is called a Divine 
revelation, 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 Divine 
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 messen- 
ger to reveal the things of the Spirit, yet any man may be a mes- 
senger 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 godlier 
man that is blind or deaf, especially in cases wherein that ungodly 
man hath no provocation 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 certainty 
of this testimony of man, concerning the forementioned matter of 
fact ; so I 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, I demand with myself, by what 
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, 
sure, Christ knew the best argument to prove the Divine authority 
of 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 be- 
lieved a poor man to have been God, the Saviour, the Judge of 
the world, without miracles to prove this to us ? nay, would it have 
been our duty to have believed ? Doth not Christ say, " 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 no man is bound to believe that which was never convincingly 
revealed. 

What the sin against And I think that this is it which is called the 
the Holy Ghost is. ^m against the Holy Ghost,* when men will not 

* 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 novelty, though resolved 
not to reject any revealed trutli. But since, I find great Athanasius hath written a 
tractate on the sin against the Holy Ghost, maintaining the very same exposition which 
I here give (or with very small difference ; though I assent not to his application in the 
end of all to the Arians) ; 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 subtle, but 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 150 

be convinced by miracles, that Jesus is the Christ. That which 
some divines judge to be the sin against the Holy Ghost, an oppos- 
ing 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 appoareth an enemy to our 
sensual desires : else how doth man's understanding, as it is an un- 
derstanding, naturally choose truth, either real or appearing, for 
its object i So that, I 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 define the sin 
against the Holy Ghost, that I could never yet understand by their 
definition what it might be : some placing it m 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, be- 
cause they could never find out that gradual difference. 

The sense of the place, which the whole context, if you view it 
deliberately, will show you, seems to me to be this : as if Christ 
had said. While you believed not the testimony of the prophets, yet 
there w^as hope ; the testimony of John Baptist might have con- 
vinced you ; yea, when you believed not John, yet you might have 
been convinced by my own doctrine ; yea, though you did not be- 
lieve my doctrine, yet there was hope you might have been con- 
vinced 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 ascen- 
sion, 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 mira- 
cles, for the Scripture frequently calls faith by the name of obe- 
dience, 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 for- 
given, because they cannot perform the condition of forgiveness. 

This I think to be the sense of the text ; and the rather, when I 
consider, what sin it w^as that these Pharisees committed ; for sure 
that which is commonly judged to be the sin against the Holy 
Ghost, I no where find that Christ doth accuse them of; but the 

unsound opinion of Origcn about this sin, as also of the opinion of Theognostus, though 
I know some do question that book, but on weak grounds. See my Discourse of the 
Sin against the Holy Ghost, in my third 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. sii. 24, &c. ; Mark iu. 28 ; John v. 39, 43, 45_47 ; xv. 22, 24. 



160 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

Scripture seemeth to speak on the contrary, " that through ignor- 
ance they did it," Acts iii. 17 ; " for had they known, they would 
not have crucified the Lord of glory," 1 Cor. ii. 8. And, indeed, 
it is a thing to me altogether incredible, 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 : though the miracles are ceased, yet their testimony 
doth still live ; the death and resurrection of Christ are past, and 
yet men may sin against that 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 disciples wrought ; this is now the sin against 
the Holy Ghost. And, therefore, take heed of slighting this 
argument. 

Sect. VI. 2. And here would I have those men, who cannot en- 
dure this resting upon human testimony,* to consider of what ne- 
cessity it is for the producing of our faith. Something must be 
taken upon trust from man, whether they will or no ; 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 w^ords are in it, which the reader pronounceth : 3. That it is 
translated truly out of the original languages : 4. That the Hebrew 
and Greek copies, out of which it was translated, are true, authentic 
copies : 5. That it was originally written in these languages : 6. 
Yea, and the meaning of divers Scripture passages, which cannot 
he understood without the knowledge of Jewish customs of chro- 
nology, 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 prcECognita necessary thereto. If a scholar will not take his 
master'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 
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 and Greek Scriptures, but only 
upon the credit of their teachers and authors ? and yet certain 

* Yet do I believe that that of 2 Pet. i. 20, is generally mistaken ; as if the apostles 
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 arc 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 in 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. 



CiiAr. iV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. IGi 

enough too in the main. Tradition is not so useless to tlie world 
or the church as sonic would have it. Though the papists do sin- 
fully plead it against the sullicioncy of Scripture, yet Scripture suf- 
ficiency or perfection is only in stto fjciwrc, in its own kind, not hi 
ouiiii (jencre, not sufficient for every purpose. Scripture is a suf- 
ficient rule of faith and life ; hut not a sufficient means of conveying 
itself to all generations and persons. If human testimony had not 
heen necessary, why should Christ have men to he witnesses in the 
beginning ; and also still instruments of persuading others, and at- 
testing the verily of these sacred records to those that cannot other- 
wise come to know them ? 

And, doubtless, this is the chief use of the ministers in the 
church,* and the great end of God in the stating 
and continuing their function ; that what men are govenfors'and"'^'^^ 
uncapable of believing explicitly, with a faith pro- teachers, and how 
perly Divine, that they might receive implicitly, obeyed^ *"""'" ^^ 
and upon the word of their teachers, with a human 
faith. Every man should labour indeed to see 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 in the 
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 w^ho 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 ; stewards of the mysteries, and of the house of God ; over- 
seers, 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. ^^ hat, 
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 learn- 
ing, 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, except he know as much himself; and 

* If the revilers of the ministers of Christ, with -whom this Ticious, age .nboundeth, 
(lid know 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 lamentationf;, p,t the cen- 
sure of the church guides, even when the censures were rigid, and when tlie 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 subjection to it to be intolerable slavery. 

■\I 



162 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 themselves. 
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 re- 
ceive them at all : so that, if these 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 commanded 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 commanded 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 minis- 
ter 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 carelessly 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 inquiry, suspend our belief and obe- 
dience. 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 remem- 
ber what I said before, that fundamentals must be believed with 
a faith explicit, absolute, 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 : j'ou 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. I would not persuade you to bestow so 
much time in the reading of the fathers, in reference to their judg- 
ment in matters of doctrine ; nor follow them in all things, as some 
do. God's word is a sufficient rule ; and latter times haye afforded 
far better expositors. But in reference to matters of fact, for con- 
firming the miracles mentioned in Scripture, and relating the won- 
derful providences since, I would they were read a hundred times 
more ; not only the writers of the church, but even the histories of 
the enemies, and all other antiquities. Little do most consider 
how useful these are to the Christian faith. And therefore our 
learned antiquaries are highly to be honoured, and exceeding 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 holdeth his lands ? 1. How 
knoweth he that his deeds, conveyances, or leases, are not coun- 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 103 

terfeit ; or that they are tlie same that his forefathers niacle ? 
They have notliing 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 
th^se laws are not counterfeit ; and that they are the same laws 
which were made by such kings and parliaments so long ago, and 
not forg(Hl 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 cer- 
tain tenure or assurance. And is it not evident that those laws 
which are so kept and practised through all the land, cannot pos- 
sibly be counterlbit, 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 
purposely 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 misprinted or miswritten ; 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, I do not know. I would believe a thousand 
other men's eyesight before mine own alone. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE SECOND ARGUMENT. 



Sect. I. I come now to my second argument, to prove Scripture 
to be the word of God ; and it is this : 

If the Scripture be neither the invention of devils nor of men, 
then it can 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 cannot work miracles to confirm them. Secondly, It 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 disclaim- 
ing them, or giving the world any notice of the forgery. Thirdly,! 

* I take it for granted that good angels could not be guilty of forging the Scripture. 
t As Origen many times demands of Celsus, if magicians by evil powers could work 
miiacles, would they do it for the leading men from sin to exact holiness and justice? 
M 2 



1G4 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 hatefuUest and most miserable of 
all creatures ? Would he so fully discover his own wiles, his 
temptations, his methods of deceiving, and give men such powerful 
warning to beware of his snares, and such excellent means to con- 
quer himself? Would the devil lay such a design for men's salva- 
tion ? 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 king- 
dom ? Fourthly, If Satan were the author, he would never be so 
unweariedly and subtlely 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, yet 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 not 
be ; for you might better say that murderers, traitors, adulterers, 
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 promise eternal salva- 
tion to those that obey them ; to threaten damnation to those that 
obey them not ; to draw the world into a course so destructive to 
all their worldly happiness, upon a promise of happiness in another 
world, which they cannot give ; to endeavour so egregiously 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 
conmiitted, then I confess I 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 unexpressible crimes : neither will it 
here be any evasion to say, they were 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 ? 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 Scripture relateth, 
nor doth pretend to be God, nor any more than a great prophet : 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVEllLASTlNCi REST. KJ.O 

trusting more to his sword for success, than to the authority or 
truth ot" his pretended revehvtions : not denying the truth oi' much 
of the Scripture ; hut adding his Alcoran, partly drawn from 
Scripture, and partly fitted with fleshly liberties 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 the sun hath seen ; and judge 
of the man himself accordingly { So that I think it beyond doubt, 
that no one good man, nmch 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, righteous- 
ness, and self-denial, which runs through every vein of Scripture, 
have been inspired into it from the invention of the wicked ? VVould 
wicked men have been so wise, or so zealous for the suppression of 
w iekedness, or .-:() earnest to bring the world to reformation ? 
\\ ould they have been such bitter adversaries 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 contrary to them, and proclaimed them a people eter- 
nally 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, sure, to mention any more 
particulars : 1 think every man, of the least ingenuity, that con- 
siders this, or deliberately vieweth over the frame of the Scriptures, 
Avill 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 w^as neither devised by good men nor hy bad men, 
then sure by no men ; and, consequently, must of necessity proceed 
from God. 

Sect. III. Secondly, That it proceeded not merely from 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. 

It is only the antecedent that here requires proof; which consists 
of these two branches, both which I 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. 



166 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 pro- 
phets, 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 ignorance, in com- 
parison 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 weak, the 
foolish, the unlearned, to confound them ; a company of poor fish- 
ermen, tent-makers, and such-like, must write the laws of the king- 
dom of Christ ; must dive into the spiritual mysteries of the king- 
dom ; 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 appear 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. 

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 argu- 
ments 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 super- 
natural 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 discouraged the people with : 
" Do any of the rulers or Pharisees believe on him ? But this 
people that know not the law are accursed," John vi. 48, 49. 

6. To conclude, the very frame and style of these sacred writings, 
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 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 107 

day one of the greatest stumbling-blocks in the workl, to hinder 
men from the reverencing and believing the Scriptures. 'I'hey 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 discovereth them the more certainly to be of God, be- 
cause there is in them so little of man. They may as well say, If 
David had been sent against Goliath from God, he would sure 
have been the most complete soldier, and most completely armed. 
The words are but the dish to serve up the sense in ; God is con- 
tent that the words should not only have in them a savour of hu- 
manity, but of nmch iniirmity, so that the work of convincing the 
workl may be furthered thereby. And I verily think, that tliis 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 sooner have suspected their finger in the contrivance. 
Yea, it is observable, that in such as Paul, that had some human 
learning, yet God would not have them make much use of it, lest 
the excellency of the cross of Christ should seem to lie in the en- 
ticing words of man's wisdom ; and lest the success of the gospel 
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 sudden 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 Gentiles 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 workl 
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 endow- 
ments to enable them, and the learned teachers, the excellent 
libraries, the bountiful encouragement and countenance of princes, 
to further them, and yet, after all this, are very novices in all spi- 
ritual 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 workl was made, nor 
how it shall end ; nor know they the God who did create, and cloth 
sustain it ; but, for the most of them, they multiply feigned deities. 



1G8 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart II. 

But I shall have occasion to open this more fully anon, under 
the last argument. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE THIRD ARGUMENT. 



Sect. I. My third argument, whereby I prove the Divine au- 
thority of the Scriptures, is this : Those writings which have been 
owned and fulfilled in several ages by apparent extraordinary provi- 
dences of God, must needs be of God ; but God hath so owned 
and fulfilled the Scriptures ; ergo, they are of God. 

The major proposition will not sure be denied. The direct con- 
sequence is, that such writings are approved by God ; and if ap- 
proved by him, then must they needs be his own, because they 
affirm themselves to be his own. It is beyond all doubt, that God 
will not interpose his power, and work a succession 5f wonders in 
the world, for the maintaining or countenancing of any forgery ; 
especially such as should be a slander 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 i'ulfilled the Scriptures ; and, Secondly, How it may 
appear that this was the end of providences. 

I. 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 im- 
probable ways of accomplishing these. 

And, First, Consider what an unlikely design, in the judgment 
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 sal- 
vation no other way. Why, almost all the world might say, they 
had never seen him : and to tell them in Britain, &c. of one cruci- 
fied 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 sepulchre, 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 ; 



Chap. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 160 

would have hardly been believed by any that had heard hiin : and 
I am confident, they would most of them have acknowledged, that 
if such a wondt^r should come to pass, it nuist needs be from the 
linger of God alone. That the kingdoms of the world should be- 
come the kingdoms of Christ, was then a matter exceeding im- 
probable. 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 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 arc dis- 
persed in Egypt, -ludea, and most of the Turks' dominions; and 
the vast empire of Prestor-John in Africa. Secondly, Most coun- 
tries 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 pro- 
fess 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 continuance 
of it. He sends out his disciples as lambs among wolves, and yet 
promiseth them deliverance and success. His followers are every 
where hated through the world ; their enemies are numerous as 
the sands of the sea : the greatest princes and potentates are com- 
monly their greatest enemies, who, one would think, might com- 
mand their extirpation, and procure their ruin with a word of their 
mouths. The learned men, and great wits of the world, are com- 
monly their most keen and confident adversaries ; who, one would 
think, by their wit, should easily overreach 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 forwardest in their religion are best esteemed of. Besides the 
temptations 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 opposers 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 gos- 
pel, and preserve his church. First, Not by worldly might and 
power, nor by compelling men to profess him by the sword. In- 
deed, when men do profess themselves voluntarily to be his sub- 
jects, he hath authorized the sword to sec in part to the execution 



170 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 Christianity ; he 
never gave the sword any such commission : he never levied an 
army to advance his dominion ; nor sent forth his followers as so 
many 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 under him ; he sent out 
ministers, and not magistrates or commanders, to bring in the 
world. Yea, though he be truly willing of men's happiness in re- 
ceiving 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 all for 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 terms, 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 dis- 
grace, 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 
humoureth 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 disclaim all such as 
are obstinate offenders, and not so much as to eat, or be familiar 
with 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 propagating his kingdom ! he levieth an army, and conquers 
some adjoining parties ; and, as his success increaseth, so doth his 
presumption : he enticeth all sorts to come to his camp ; he maketh 
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 



Chap. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 171 

not drunk in the blood of believers. In the beginning it was u 
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 at a time ; insomuch that 
Gregory and Cyprian cry out, that the witnesses who had died for 
the truth of the gospel, were to men innumerable; that the world 
was all over tilled 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 ac- 
knowledge 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 number, 
yet they got in zeal and excellency of professors ; and seldom hath 
it lost more than in prosperity : yea, when the vulgar professors 
have enjoyed prosperity, yet persecution hath almost ever been the 
lot of the zealous and sincere. 

And thus I 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 ; what deliverances cities and countries have 
had, what victories those princes have had, who have been their 
defenders, as Constantine the Great, and many since ; and what 
apparent manifestations 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 Merindol 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 experiments home to our hand. If we should over- 
look the strange providences that produced the Reformation in the 
times of Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, 
Queen Elizabeth, and King James ; yet even the strange passages 
of these years past, have been such that might silence an atheist, 
or an antiscripturist : to see the various straits that God hath 
brought his people through ; the unlikely means by which he still 
performed it ; the unexpected events of most undertakings ; the 
uncontrived and unthought-of ways which men have been led in ; 
the strange managing of councils and actions ; the plain appear- 
ance 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 manifested a special provi- 
dence, but also notably disowned men's sins, encouraged prayer, 
and fulfilled promises ; though as to the particular exposition of 
some of his providences, we may hear him to say to us, as some- 



172 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

time to Peter, " What I 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 perse- 
cuting emperors, especially Julian ; church histories will acquaint 
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 Scrip- 
tures, 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. Sure God hath 
forced many of his enemies to acknowledge in their anguish the 
truth of his threatenings, and cry out, as Julian, Vicisti, Galilcee. 

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," 
and the book entitled " God's Judgments upon Sabbath-breakers :" 
and it is like 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 be- 
lievers. The strange deliverance of many intended to martyrdom, 
as you have many instances in the " Acts and Monuments ; " be- 
sides those in Eusebius, and others, that mention the stories of 
the first persecutions. If it were convenient here to make particu- 
lar mention of men's names, I could name you many, 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 this is so ordinary, that I am persuaded there 
is scarce a godly, experienced Christian that carefully observes and 
faithfully recordeth the providences of God toward him, but is 
able to bring forth some such experiment, and to show you some 
such strange and unusual mercies, which may plainly discover an 
Almighty Disposer, making good the promises of this Scripture to 
his servants : some in desperate diseases of body, some in other 
apparent dangers, delivered 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 f strange and evident dealing 
of God with the souls and consciences both of believers and unbe- 
lievers. What pangs of hellish despair have many enemies of the 
truth been brought to ! How doth God extend the spirits of his 

* 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 Devon- 
shire, where many were scorched, maimed, and some had their brains struck out as they 
sat in church ! And at the church of Antliony, in Cornwall, near Plymouth, on Whit- 
sunday, 1640. See the relation in print. 

t Was it not near a miracle, that God wrought for Mrs. Honywood, when she 
threw the glass unto the wall, saying, " If tliis glass break not, I may be saved," &c. 
and yet took it up whole 1 



Chai'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 173 

own people ; bruising, breaking, killing them wilh terrors, and 
then healing, raising, and hlling tluMU with joys which they cannot 
utter ! 1 low variously doth he mould them ! Sometimes they are 
brought to tlie ,i,'ates of ht^ll, 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 work- 
ings of God upon the souls of his people, are so clear and strange, 
that you may trace a supernatural causality through them all. 
Besides the admirable efficacy of them in changing men's hearts, 
and making them to ditler from what they were, and from all 
others, in all holiness, righteousness, and self-denial. 

Sect. VI. Secondly : But though it be undeniable that all these 
are the extraordinary working of God ; yet how do they confirm 
the authority 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 provi- 
dences for raising and preserving the church, are such as show us 
their own ends. 

Secondly : They are most usually wrought for the friends and 
followers of Scripture, and against the enemies and disobeyers of it. 

Thirdly : They are the plain fulfilling of the predictions of 
Scripture. The judgments on the offenders are the plain fulfilling 
of its threatenings, and the mercies to believers are the plain ful- 
filling 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 fulfilled, and w'hen, and how, hath already been dis- 
covered by others, and therefore I shall overpass that. 

Fourthly : These judgments have been usually executed on 
offenders, at the very time when they have been either opposing or 
violating Scripture ; and these mercies bestowed chiefly upon be- 
lievers at such a time, when they have been most engaged in de- 
fence 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 oft- 
times 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 common 
and powerful argument, which most Christians may draw from 
their own experiences. Had we no other argument to prove Scrip- 



174 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

ture 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 ! hence the Christian soldiers, in their 
army, were called the thundering legion ; they could do more by 
their prayers, than the rest by their arms. Hence Gregory was 
called 9av;taTowp709, from his frequent miracles among the heathen. 
And Vincentius reporteth, that Sulpitius Bituricensis did expel the 
devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead, by praying to God for 
them. When Myconius, a godly divine, lay sick of that consump- 
tion, which is called phthisis, Luther prayed earnestly that he 
might be recovered, and that he might not die before himself. And 
so confident was he of the grant of his desire, that he writes boldly 
to Myconius, that he should not die nowj but should remain yet 
longer upon this earth. Upon these prayers did Myconius pre- 
sently revive, as from the dead, and live six years after, till Luther 
was dead : and himself hath largely written the story, and pro- 
fessed, 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 potuit quod voliiit, that man could do what he 
would. 

What was it less than a miracle in Baynam the martyr, who 
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 I fetch examples so far off; or to recite the mul- 
titudes of them which church history doth afford us ? Is there 
ever a praying Christian here who knoweth what it is importunate- 
ly to strive with God, and to plead his promises with him believ- 
ingly, 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 providences, 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 ascribe 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 ful- 
filling 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. 

* Among abundance of instances that I could give, my conscience commandeth me 



Chap. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 17.5 

13 — 16. It hath been my own case more than once, or twice, or 
ten times: when means have all failed, and the hitches t art or 
reason has sentenced me hopeless, yet have 1 been relieved by the 
provalency of fervent prayer, and that, as the physician saith, tulo, 
cilo, I't jucHude ; My flesli and my heart failed, i)ut God is the 
strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. And though he 
yet keep me under necessary weakness, and wholesome sickness, 
and certain expectation of further necessities 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 promises, and that 
they are indeed his own infallible word, and that it is a most excel- 
lent privilege to have interest in God, and a spirit of supplication 
to be importunate with him. I 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 com- 
mon, I would believe. 

Ansic. First : 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 : I answer, in the words of Augustine, God letteth not 
every saint partake of miracles, lest the weak should be deceived 
with this pernicious error, to prefer miracles as better than the 
works of righteousness, whereby 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 such a thing 

here to give you this one, as belonging to 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, dis- 
solving medicines ; and after, lenitives for palliation : and all in vain for about a quarter 
of a year. At last my conscience smote me for silencing so many former deliverances 
that I had in answer of prayers : merely in pride, lest I should be derided as making 
ostentation of God's special mercies to myself, as if I were a special favourite of Heaven, 
I had made no public mention of them. I was that morning to preach just what is liere 
written, and in obedience to my conscience, I spoke these words which are now in this 
page, with some enlargement not here M-ritten. When I went to church I 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 gla§3, I saw there was 
not the least vestigium, or cicatrix, or mark wherever it had been ; nor did I at all dis- 
cern what became of it. I am sure I neither swallowed it, nor spit it out ; and it was 
unlikely to dissolve by any natural cause, that had been hard like a bone a quarter of a 
year, notwithstanding all dissolving gargarisms. I thought fit to mention this, because 
it was done just as I spoke the words here written in this page. Many such marvellous 
mercies I have received, and known that others have received, in answer to prayer. 



17G THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

on him. Can any man believe that God is the just and gracious 
Ruler of the world, (that is, that there 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 re- 
vealed ; as he did the false prophets. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE FOURTH ARGUMENT. 

"Sect. I. My fourth and last argument, which I will nov/ pro- 
duce to prove the Scripture to be the word and perfect law of 
God, is this : 

Either the Scriptures are the written word and law of God, or 
else there is no such extant in the w'orld : but there is a written 
word and law of God in the world ; ert/o, this is it. 

Here I have these two positions 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 wel- 
fare of man, and the aforesaid honour of God. But there is now 
no such certain and sufficient revelation unwritten in the world ; 
therefore, it is necessary that there be such a revelation written. 

The proof of the major is the main task, which if it be well 
performed, will clearly carry the whole cause ; for 1 believe all the 
rest will quickly be granted, if that be once plain. Therefore, 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 revelation 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 revelation 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,) 



Chap. VU. TIIK SAINTS' EVpmLASTING KEST. 177 

therefore some other is necessary. I will stand the largelicr on the 
first branch of the antecedent, because the chief weight lieth on 
it ; and I scarce ever knew any dou])t of Scripture, but they also 
doul)tod of the immortal state and recompencc of souls; and that 
usually is their first and chiefest doubt. 

I will, therefore, here prove these three things in order thus: 1. 
That there is such a state for man hereafter. 2. That it is neces- 
sary that he know it, and the way to be so happy. 3. That nature 
and creatures do not sufficiently reveal it. 

For the first, I take it for granted, that there is a God, because 
nature teacheth that ; and I shall pass over those arguments drawn 
from his righteousness and just clispensation, to prove the variety 
of men's future conditions, because they are commonly known ; 
and I shall now argue from sense itself, because that works best 
with sensual men : and that thus. If the devil bfe 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, cr<jo the latter. They that doubt of the major proposition, 
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 temptation; 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 cannot 
go about his calling, he cannot be alone, but he feels somewhat fol- 
lowing 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 Jerusalem ; so many thousand Christians so bar- 
barously murdered ; such bloody actions as those of Nero, Caligula, 
Sylla, Messala, Caracalla, the Roman gladiators, the French mas- 
sacre, the gunpowder-plot, the Spanish inquisition, and their mur- 
dering fifty millions of Indians in forty-two years, according to the 
testimony 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 re- 
ligion; I 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, impudently, and implacably 
against knowledge and conscience, proceeding in them, hating those 
ways that they know to be better, 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 ; 

N 



178 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 entreaty, 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 miracles 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. 2. But yet if this be not evidence sufficient, the frequent 
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 v/ill 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 inquisitive 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 1 : houses that have been so frequently haunted with such ter- 
rors, that the inhabitants successively have been witnesses of it. 

Learned godly Zanchius in his tom. 3. lib. iv. cap. 10, De Po- 
tentia 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 hurt- 
ing men's bodies, come to them, and trouble them, and, as it were, 
play with them. I could (saith he) bring 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 ; because, be- 
sides 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 garden, the devil 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 17<) 

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 E(,'ypt for working miracles, who, in 
the night, while he was at work, was templed to uncleanncss by 
the devil, appearing in the shape of a beautiful woman. The like 
he tells of a strange apparition in Antioch, the night before the 
sedition against Theodosius. Theodorus mentions a fearful sight 
that appeared to Gennadius, patriarch of Constantinople, and the 
threatening words which it uttered. The writings of Gregory, 
Ambrose, Austin, Chrysostom, Nicephorus, &c. make frequent 
mention of apparitions, and relate the several stories at large. You 
may read in Lavater de Spectris, several other relations of appari- 
tions, out of Alexander ab Alexandro, Baptista Fulgosius, and 
others. Ludovicus Vives, (lib. i.) De 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 Olaus Magnus of 
the islanders. Cardanus de Subtilit. hath many such stories. So 
Job. Manlius in Loc. Commun. Collectan. (cap. 4.) de Malis Spi- 
ritibus, et de Satisfactione. Yea, godly, sober JNIelancthon affirms, 
that he had seen some such sights or apparitions himself; and many 
credible persons of his acquaintance have told him, that they have 
not only seen them, but had nmch talk with spirits : among the rest 
he mentions one of his own aunts, who sitting sad at the fire after 
the death of her husband, there appeared unto her one in the like- 
ness of her husband, and another like a Franciscan friar ; the 
former told her that he was her husband, and came to tell her 
somewhat ; v/hich was, that she must hire some priests to say cer- 
tain masses for him, which he earnestly besought her ; then he took 
her by the hand, promising to do her no harm, yet his hand so 
burned her, that it remained black ever after, and so they vanished 
away. Thus writes Melancthon. Lavater also himself, who hath 
written a book wholly of apparitions, a learned, godly, protestant 
divine, tells us, that 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, that sometimes by night, and 
sometimes by day, have both seen and heard such things ; some 
that going to bed had the clothes plucked off them ; others had 
somewhat lying down in the bed with them ; others heard it walk- 
ing in the chamber by them, spitting, groaning ; saying, they were 
the souls of such or such persons lately departed ; that they were 
in grievous torments, and if so many masses were but said for 
them, or so many pilgrimages undertaken to the shrine of some 
saint, they should be delivered. These things, with many such 
more, saith Lavater, were then frequently and undoubtedly done, 
and that where the doors were fast locked, and the room searched, 
that there could be no deceit. 

So Sleidan relates the story of Crescentius, the pope's legate, 
frighted into a deadly sickness by a fearful apparition in his cham- 
ber. Most credible and godly writers tell us, that on June 20, 



180 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part H. 

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 ])y Cycogna, Delrio, Paracelsus, &c. but also by 
godly and faithful writers, as Lavater, Georg. Agricola, Olaus 
Magnus, Zanchius, Pictorius, and many more. 

Ohjcct. 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 ? 

A?isiv. Why, plainly thus. What need Satan by these appa- 
ritions to set up sviperstition 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 ter- 
rible 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 Trithemius, Pe- 
trus de Natalibus, (lib. x. cap. 1,) Polyd. Virg. de Inv. (lib. ix. cap. 
9,) do declare. Also, praying for the dead, praying to saints, pur- 
gatory, merits of good works, sanctification, pilgrimages, 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 devil. But especially the cross 
hath been so magnified thereby, that it is grown the conmionest 
remedy to drive away devils 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 morn- 
ing 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. III. 3. It is manifest also by the devil's possessing and 
tormenting the bodies of men ; 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 



J 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 181 

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 tlieir exor- 
cisms into singular credit, by the frecjuont dispossessing the devils. 
I confess there hath been many counteVfeits of this kind, as the boy 
at Bilson, by \>'olverhampton, 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 sufficiently satisfy him. The his- 
tory 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 pos- 
sessions 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 be- 
yond 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 Com- 
munion and War with Angels ;" and, especially, Zanchius's (tome 
3) book De Angelis ; 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 I 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 
devils ; notwithstanding physicians might ease them by remedies. 
And, indeed, the presence of the devil may consist with the pre- 
sence of a disease and evil humour, with the efficacy of means : 
Saul's melancholy devil would be gone when David played on the 
harp. Many divines, as Tertullian, Austin, Zanchius, Lavater, 
&c. think that he can work both upon the body and mind, and that 
he maketh use to this end of melancholy humours ; and, indeed, 
such strange things are oft said and done by the melancholy and 

* The devil had the power of death, saith tlic Holy Ghost, Heb. ii. 14. 



182 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II, 

mad, that many learned physicians think that the devil is frequent- 
ly mixed with such distempers, 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 of 
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, some- 
times in one arm, sometimes in the other, sometimes 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 \\\q spina do rsi ; till, having used all means 
in vain, at last the devil derided them, that they had almost de- 
stroyed 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 exor- 
cism. Forestus mentions a countryman that, being cast into 
melancholy, through discontent at some injuries that he had re- 
ceived, the devil appeared to him in the likeness of a man, and 
persuaded him rather to make away himself than to bear such in- 
dignities ; and, to that end, advised him to send for arsenic and 
poison himself. But the apothecary would not let him have it ex- 
cept he would bring one to promise that he should not abuse it, 
whereupon the devil went with 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, afterward, 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, Schen- 
kius, Wierus, Chr. a Vega, Langius, Donatus, lib. ii, c. 1, De. 
Med. Mir. Cornel. Gemma, lib. ii., De Natur. Mirac. c. 4. See 
also Valesius, c. 28 ; Sacr. Philos. Roderic. a Castro, 2 ; De Morb. 
Mul. c. 3; Schol. Ccelius Rhodiginus, lib. 1. antiq. lect. c. 34. 
Tertullian challengeth 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 Chris- 
tian 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 Word of God ; and that they are 
devils, damnecl for their wickedness. The like doth Cyprian, ad 
Demetrian. sect. 2. 

So that it seems it was then common for the devil in the pos- 
sessed 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 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 183 

was madmen whom they call possessed : and Christ conlirnuHl 
their judgment ; as Mr. Alead, on .John x. 20, hath proved out of 
Scripture, and from Plautus, Justin INIart., Timotheus Alex., Bal- 
zamon, Zonaras, to whom I refer the reader for the fuller proof 
hereof. 

Sect. IV. The fourth and last of these palpahle 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 desire 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 con- 
ceit, that the devil cares so much for a few drops of their blood. Is 
not the blood of a beast or other creature 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 Por- 
phyrins and other pagans have thought ; for he is most truly served 
where he is least discerned ; and most abhorred when he most ap- 
pears. His apparitions are so powerful a means to convince the 
atheist, w'ho 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 ap- 
pear against his will. Besides, if Satan sought his ow-n honour, he 
would still speak in his own name : but, contrarily, his usual ap- 
pearance is in the shape or name of some deceased person, affirm- 
ing himself to be the soul of such a one ; or else he pretends 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 ckvil 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 by 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 one of his patients who was incurably deaf 
a year together, and was suddenly cured in the midst of his devo- 
tion to the lady of. Loretto. Fernelius mentions those that could 
stop any bleeding by repeating certain words. He saw a 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 Avitches, 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 know^n in most ages. Let 
him go but into Suflblk, or Essex, or Lancashire, &c. and he may 
quickly be informed. Sure 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 



184 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

that they were such. We have too many examples lately among 
us, to leave any douht of the truth of this. 

So that hy 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 hook and phi- 
losopher 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 Sadclucee, that there are angels and spirits ; so, also, 
hy 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 ap- 
pears thus : 

First : If he must go that way, and use those means, then he 
must needs first know both the end and the way : but he that will 
obtain the end, must use the means ; therefore, he must necessarily 
know them. All this is so evident, that, I believe, 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 capable, 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 seeking 
of it, are actions of the same nature : it is enjoyed by the knowing, 
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 ; 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 can- 
not 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 
forementioned 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 nmst be reconciled ; of all this it tells us but 
little. Again, though it may possibly acquaint us with the im- 
mortal state, yet what the happiness there is, and what the misery. 



Chai'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 18.} 

or how we are naturally deprived of that happiness, 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 resurrection of our bodies from 
the grave. So, also, though nature may possibly find itself de- 
praved, yet how it came to be so, or how to be healed, or how to 
be pardoned, it cannot tell. 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 success. 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 philosophers 
study before they could know those few rude, imperfect notions, 
■which some of them did attain to, concerning eternity ! They 
were grey with age and study, before they could come to know 
that which a child of seven years old may now know by the benefit 
of Scripture. But all men lived not to such an age, therefore 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 acknowledge 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, 
liesides, 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 
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 philosophers : 
and what is this to a universal sufficiency to all mankind i Nay, 
there is not one of all their exactest moralists, that have not mis- 
taken 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 : so far have these few learned philosophers been 



186 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Taut IL 

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 hooks, and 
means to study, that they might attain to the height of these 
learned men ? So that I conclude with Aquinas, that if, possihly, 
nature and creatures might teach some few enough to salvation, 
yet were the Scriptures of flat necessity ; both for the more en- 
larged, 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 they 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, All other revelations are now ceased, therefore 
this 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. 

A?isw. 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 dif- 
ference between knowing that there is a God of eternal power, 
which may make the sinner unexcusable for his open sin against 
nature, (which the apostle there speaks of,) and knowledge 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 salva- 
tion 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 fol- 
low that I show it necessary for the honour of God ; but this 
follows so evidently as a consectary 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 ? Ansiv. Yes, to some part of the world. 
For, First, It cannot be conceived how it can stand with his ex- 
ceeding 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 hap- 
piness, and to lose them all for want of such a sufficient revelation. 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 187 

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 re- 
ward of obedience, and penalty of disobedience. 

1 laving 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 dignity. Ma- 
homet calleth himself but a prophet, he acknowledgeth the truth 
of most of the Scripture, and his Alcoran contradicteth the very 
light of nature. Aristotle, Plato, and other philosophers, acknow- 
ledge 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, tempta- 
tions, 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 Scripture, 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 Scrip- 
ture, which contains the promises of our rest, is the certain, in- 
fallible word of God. The reason why I have thus digressed, and 
said so much of it, is, because I was very apprehensive of the great 
necessity of it, and the common neglect of 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 be in 
vain. If men doubt of the truth, they will not regard the good- 
ness. And the reason why I have said no more, but passed over 
the most common arguments, is, because they are handled in many 
books already ; which I advise Christians to be better versed in. 
To the mere English reader I commend especially these : Sir 
Philip Morney, Lord du Plessis's Verity of Christian Religion ; 
Grotius, Of the Truth of Christian Religion, which is lately trans- 
lated into English ; and Mr. Perkin'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 

* The apocryphal books are but records more imperfect and uncertain, of the same 
doctrine for the substance Avith the rest, though mixed with some suspected history, and 
dolh confirm, but not contradict, the Scriptures ; and but few of those books do pretend 
to a Divine authority, as the rest. 



188 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

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 canon- 
ical ? I here meddle not with it : I think human testimony, with 
the forementioned qualifications, must do most in determining that. 
Yet we must carefully distinguish between those canonical books 
which have been questioned, and those which were unquestioned, 
but delivered by more infallible tradition ; and also between those 
which contain most of the substance 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, and means, 
as the Scripture in general is known to be God's word. 

ProjJ. 3. It is not a thing which one cannot be saved without, to 
believe every particular book to be canonical ; if we believe all 
that were generally received, yea, or but one book which contain- 
eth the substance of Christian doctrine, though we doubt of those 
that some formerly doubted of, it would not exclude from salvation. 
The books are received for the doctrine's sake. It is vain cavil- 
ling, 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, which, seconded with the conveyance of 
universal, rational, infallible tradition, (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 illuminated by God's Spirit ; and with an ordi- 
nary rational certainty, by those that have God's common help. 

I conclude this as I began, with an earnest request to ministers 
that they would preach, and to people that they would study, this 
subject more thoroughly ; tRat while they firmly believe the truth 
of that word which promiseth them rest, and prescribes them the 
means thereto, they may believe, and hope, and love, and long, and 
obey, and labour, with the more seriousness, and liveliness, and 
patient constancy. 



CiiAJ'. VUI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. IS'J 

CHAPTER VIII. 

REST FOR NONE BUT THE TEOPLE OF CiOD, PROVED. 

Sect. I. It may hero be expected, that as I have proved, tliat 
the rest rcniaiiicth for the people of («od; so I should now prove, 
that it remaineth only for tliein, and that the rest of the world 
shall have no part in it. 15ut the Scripture is so full and plain iu 
this, that I suppose it needless to those who believe Scripture. 
Christ hath resolved, that those who make light of him, and the 
offers of his grace, shall never taste of his supper : " and that with- 
out holiness none shall see God : and that, except a man be re- 
generate, 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 be 
damned that obey not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteous- 
eousness," 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 ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
glory of his power," Matt. xxii. 5 — 7 ; Luke xiv. 25 ; Heb. xii. 
14; John i. 33, and iii. 18,36; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; Gal. v. 21; 
Psal. ix. 17 ; 2 Thess. i. 8—10. And Christ himself hath opened 
the very manner of their process 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 like to obtain 
the end. They would not follow Christ in the regeneration, nor 
accept of rest upon his conditions ; they thought him to be too 
hard a master, and his way too naiTow, and his laws too strict : 
they chose the pleasures of sin for a season, rather than to sutler 
afl[liction with the people of God : they would not suff"er with Christ, 
that so they might reign with him. What 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 ever, and 
all the world shall acknowledge the justice of God. Had the un- 



190 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

godly but returned before their life was expired, and 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 ? 

Ansiv. 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, which hath 
no name bad enough to express it. 

Yet do I believe, that the description of God's people in England, 
and in America, must not be the same ; because, as God's reve- 
lations are not the same, so neither is the actual faith which is re- 
quired 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 ? 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 consciences shall 
one day tell them that they might have been saved, if they would ; 
and that it was their own wilful refusal, which shut them out. God 
freely offered them life, and they would not accept it on his 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 offered 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 
persuaded 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 com- 
mon 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 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 101 

much the worse, and deservoth so much tTio sorer punishment ? As, 
therefore, I would Iiave all sinners believe this, so I would advise 
all ministers more to preach it. Pry not too much into the depths 
of (jod's decrees. Alas ! how little know we of far lower things ! 
lay all the l)lanie 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 (Jod, whose will did necessitate me, and not of me, it would 
(juiet their consciences, and ease their torment, and make hell to 
be no hell to themselves. But to remend)er their wilfulness, will 
feed the fire, and cause the worm of conscience never to die. 



CHAPTER IX. 

RKASONS WHY THIS REST REMAINS, 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 
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 be 
so. Who should dispose of the creatures, but he that made them ; 
and order the times and changes of them, but their absolute 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 without 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 glorious ? &c. ; as to ask, why we have 
not rest on earth ? 

2. Yet may jou 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 strongest man must 
first be a child, and formed in the womb from small, obscure prin- 
ciples. The greatest scholar must be first a school-boy, 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 ig- 
norant 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 only some enthusiasts concerning 



192 THE SAINTS' EVERI.AST1NG REST. Part IL 

the production of grace, wlio 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 over- 
turn 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, It 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, then most of God's provi- 
dences must be useless, his great designs must be frustrate, and his 
gracious workings and mercies needless to us. Should God lose 
the glory of all his church's deliverances, of the fall 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' 
pursuit, and of the Red Sea, then God must 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 wilderness provi- 
dences 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 perfect, what use were there for the glo- 
rious works of our sanctification, justification, preservation, and 
glorification ? what use for his ministers, and word, sacraments, and 
afflictions, and deliverances ? 

2. And, as God should not have opportunity for the exercise of 
all his grace, but some only ; 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 sleep- 
ily we serve him, and how easily we let slip or run over a duty, if 
we be but in health, and credit, and prosperity, 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 glo- 
rious 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 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 193 

been the choosers of their own condition, ami 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 
couUl praise God best, if we wanted nothing ; but experience tells 
us the contrary : we may have a carnal joy in congratulating our 
flesh's felicity, which may deceive a hypocrite ; but not so sensible 
acknowledgments of God : indeed in heaven, when we are fit for 
such a state, it will be far otherwise. The greatest glory and praise 
that God hath through the world, is for redemption, reconciliation, 
and salvation 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. I. 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 lose his comforts. Oh the 
sweet comforts that the saints have had in returns to their prayers ; 
when they have lain long in sorrow, and importunate requests, and 
God hath lift them up, and spoken peace to their souls, and grant- 
ed 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 prodigal, 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 sweet- 
est 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 
a 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 sanctifica- 
tion, justification, and adoption mercies; our sermon, sacrament, 
and prayer mercies ; our recoveries, deliverances, and thanksgiving 
mercies ; 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 the pre- 
sent. 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 

o 



194 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

heaven, to look back upon the state he was in on earth, and re- 
member his sins, his sorrows, his fears, his tears, his enemies and 
dangers, his wants and calamities, must needs make his joys to be, 
rationally, more joyful. And, therefore, the blessed in their prais- 
ing of the Lamb do mention his redeeming them out of every na- 
tion, 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 inca- 
pacity forbids it, as well as our commodity. We are not capable 
of rest on earth ; for we have both a natural incapacity, and a 
moral. 

I. 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 uncapable 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 contradict- 
ing 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 imper- 
fections, 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 mark, and run that they may obtain, and strive to enter 
in, if they are capable of rest in their present condition ? Doubt- 
less, 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 uncapable of the joy and glory, while they have im- 
perfect, 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 uncapable as well as our souls. They 
are not now those sun-like bodies which they shall be, when this 
corruptible hath put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality. 
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 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 195 

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. 

Ausw. 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. 1. We enjoy the world and its la- 
bours, and what fruit they can afford ; and, alas ! what is in all 
this to give us rest i They that have the most of it, have the great- 
est 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 provision in our journey ; but not 
as our portion, happiness, or rest. Men cry out upon one another 
in these times, for not understanding providences, which are but 
commentaries 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 unexperienced fools do promise 
themselves 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. Where 
doth he cross us most, but where we promise ourselves most con- 
tent ? If you have one child that you dote upon, it becomes your 
sorrow. If you have one friend that you trust in, and judge him 
unchangeable, and think yourself happy in, he is estranged from 
you, or becomes your scourge. Oh what a number of these ex- 
periences have I had ! Oh what sweet idolizing thoughts of our 
future estate had we in the time of wars ! And now where is the 
rest that I promised my soul I 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 God 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 
o 2 



196 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part It 

violent gainsayers and seducers. We have pulpits and pamphlets 
filled with the most hellish reproachings of the servants and mes- 
sengers of the most high God ; provoking 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 justify Rabshakeh, and have Lucian and Julian 
sainted for the modesty of their reproaches. If a conscionable 
minister be but in doubt, (as knowing himself uncapable of under- 
standing state mysteries, and not called to judge of them,) and so 
dare not go whine before God hypocritically in pretended humili- 
ation, 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, unexpressible 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 
venturing 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 reformers, 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 trcdtorously 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 Tim. 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 confidence, or the in- 
strument to prepare us a rest upon earth. Oh 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 

* 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. 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 107 

he hath prepared the presence-chamber of his glory ; he hath 
chawn 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 ! this is 
not our full enjoyment. ^^ hile we are present 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 capable of seeing him, for mor- 
tals 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 hap- 
piness 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 uncapable, 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 worthi- 
ness of debt, or proper merit ; but a worthiness of grace and .pre- 
paration. If the apostles must give their peace and gospel to the 
worthy, (Matt. x. 10—13, 37, 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 ; xxii. 36 ; 2 Thess. i. 5 ; x\cts 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, there- 
fore, 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 testi- 
fied our love to Christ above the world, if we have opportunity ? 
Let men cry down works while they please, you shall find that 
these are the conditions 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 weary thee ? thy bitter enemies and un- 



198 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

kind friends weary thee ? why, it should be so here. Do thy see- 
ing and hearing the abominations of the times, the ruins of the 
church, the sins of professors, the reproach of religion, the harden- 
ing of the wicked, all weary thee ? why, it must be so while thou 
art absent from thy rest. Do thy sins, and thy naughty, distem- 
pered heart weary thee ? I would 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 1 If not, O complain more of thy own heart, and get 
it more weary, till rest seem more desirable. 



CHAPTER X. 

WHETHER THE SOULS DEPARTED ENJOY THIS REST BEFORE THE 
RESURRECTION. 

Sect. I. 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 it ; 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 somewhat comfortable to the wicked 
to think of tarrying out of hell so long. But I am in strong hopes 
that this doctrine is false ; yea, very confident that it is so. I do 
believe, that as the soul separated from the body is not a perfect 
man, so it doth not enjoy the glory and happiness so fully and so 
perfectly, as it shall do after the 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 place 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 ; 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 unconceivable blessedness and glory, even while they re- 
main thus separated from the body, I prove as followeth. (Besides 
all those arguments for the soul's immortality, which you may read 
in Alexander Ross's Philosophical Touchstone, part last ; and in 
abundance of writers, metaphysical and theological.) 

1 . Those words of Paul, 2 Cor. v. 8, are so exceeding plain, that 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. I'.)') 

I yet understand not what tolerable exception can bo 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. G — 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 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 ex- 
pected to enjoy Christ till the resurrection t Why should he be in 
a strait, or desire to depart? Should he be with Christ ever the 
sooner for that .' Nay, should he not have been loth to depart upon 
the very same grounds ? For while he was in the flesh, he enjoyed 
something of Christ ; but being departed, (according to the So- 
cinians' 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 sure 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 intimate and suppose 
the soul's happiness or misery presently after death, if there were 
no such thing, 

5. Doth not his argument against the Sadducees, for the resur- 
rection, 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 ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they 
may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them ;" i. e. 
close as the garments on a man's back follow him, and not at such 
a distance as the resurrection ; for if the blessedness were only in 
resting in the grave, then a beast or a stone were as blessed ; nay, 
it were evidently a curse, and not a 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 de- 
lightful 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 bitter- 
ness ? 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 fur- 
ther blessedness that is there promised. 



200 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Pakt II. 

7. How else is it said, " that we are come to Mount Zion, the 
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable 
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first- 
born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, 
and to the spirits of just men made perfect," Heb. xii. 22, 23. Sure 
at the resurrection the body will be made perfect, as well as the 
spirit. To say (as Lushington doth) that they are said to be made 
perfect, because they are sure of it as if they had it, is an evasion 
so grossly contradicting the text, that by such 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 ? 

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

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

11. The like may be said of that, " 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 by the Father, so he that eateth him shall 
live by him," John iii. 36 ; vi. 47, 50, 56, 57. How is " the king- 
dom of God and of heaven (which is eternal) said to be in us?" 
Luke xvii. 21 ; Rom. xiv. 17 ; Matt. xiii. 

Surely, if there be as great an interruption of our 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 when they awake it is all one to them as if it had been at first, 
therefore the Scripture speaks of them as if they were there 
already." It is true, indeed, if there were no joy till the resur- 
rection, then that consideration would be comfortable ; but when 
God hath thus plainly told us of it before, then this evasion contra- 
dicteth the text. Doubtless there is time also to the dead, though, 
in respect of their bodies, they perceive it not. He will not sure 
think it a happiness to be 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 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 201 

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 spt^ak moi-e. 

14. It is also observable, that when John saw his glorious reve- 
lations, he is said to be " in the Spirit," Rev. i. 10 ; iv. 2, and to 
be " carried away in the Spirit," Rev. xvii. 3 ; 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 the souls under the altar. Rev. vi. 9, &c. 

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

17. The soul of Christ was alive when his body was dead, and 
therefore so shall ours too ; for his created nature was like ours, 
except in sin. That Christ's human soul was alive, is a necessary 
consequent of its hypostatical union with the Divine nature, as I 
judge. And by his words to the thief, " This day shalt thou be 
with me in paradise : " so also by his voice on the cross, " 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 Scripturee, on this text. Many 
think that the opposition is not so irregular, as to put the dative 
aapKi for eV aupKi, as the subject recipient, and the dative Trvevfiari 
for cia TTuev/nmo^, as the efficient cause ; but that it is plainly to be 
understood as a regular opposition, that Christ was mortified in the 
flesh, but vivified in the spirit, that is, in the spirit which is usually 
put in opposition to this flesh, which is the soul, by which spirit, 
&c. But I leave this as doubtful ; there is enough besides. 

18. ^^ hy is there mention of God's breathing into man the 
breath of life, and calling his soul a living soul { There is no 
mention of any such thing in the creating of other creatures ; sure, 
therefore, this makes some difference 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 happi- 
ness. If any say that the word " prison " signifieth not their full 
misery, but a reservation thereto, I grant it ; yet it importeth a 
reservation in a living, and suffering state, for were they nothing, 
they could not be in prison. 



202 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part II. 

Though I have but briefly named these twenty arguments, and 
put them together in a narrow room, when some men cannot see 
the truth without a multitude of words ; yet I doubt not but, if 
you will well consider them, you will discern the clear evidence of 
Scripture verity. It is a lamentable case that the brutish opinion 
of the soul's mortality should find so many patrons professing god- 
liness, when there is so clear light of Scripture against them, and 
when the opinion tends to no other end than the imboldening of 
sin, the cherishing of security, and the great discomfort and dis- 
couragement of the saints, and when many pagans were wiser in 
this without the help of Scripture : surely this error is an introduc- 
tion to paganism itself. Yea more, the most of the nations in the 
world, even the barbarous Indians, do, by the light of nature, ac- 
knowledge that, which these men deny, even that there is a happi- 
ness 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 forementioned scriptures, which being carried 
with confidence and subtle 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 contradiction. Were there but that one text, 2 Cor. v. 
8 ; or that, 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; or that, Phil. i. 23 ; all the seducers in 
the world could not answer them. 

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



203 



PART III. 



CONTAINING 



SEVERAL USES OF THE FORMER DOCTRINE OF REST. 



CHAPTER I. 

Sect. I. Whatsoever the soul of man doth entertain, must make 
its first entrance at the understanding ; which must he satisfied, 
first, of its truth, and, secondly, of its goodness, before it find any 
further admittance : if this porter he negligent, it will admit of 
any thing that bears but the face or name of truth and goodness ; 
but if it be faithful, able, and diligent in its office, it will examine 
strictly, and search to the quick ; what is found decertful, it casteth 
out, that it go no further ; but what is found to be sincere and cur- 
rent, it letteth in to the very heart, where the will and affections 
do with welcome entertain it, and by concoction, as it were, incor- 
porate it into their own substance. Accordingly, I have been 
hitherto presenting to your understandings, 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 disparage 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 i And is it 
true, or is it not? Nay, is there any thing in the world more cer- 
tain, than that there remaineth a rest to the people of God ? Why, 
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 be- 
cause 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. iVnd then I shall 
lay down those uses that are more proper to the godly by them- 
selves, in the end. 



204 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Use I. — Showing the imconceivable misery of the 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 partake of the joys of 
heaven, nor have the least taste of the saints' eternal rest. I may 
say to thee, as Ehud to Eglon, I have a message to thee from God ; 
but it is a mortal message, 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 thorough- 
ly 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, I 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 my mouth with 
such desired success. But 'if thou end thy days in thy present 
condition, whether thou be fully resolved never to change, or whe- 
ther thou spend thy days in fruitless purposing to be better here- 
after, all is one for that ; I say, if thou live and die in thy un- 
regenerate 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, Who made you the door-keeper of 
heaven ? When were you there ? and when did God show you the 
book of life, or tell you who they are that shall be saved, and who 
shut out ? 

I will not answer thee according to thy folly, but truly and plainly 
as I can discover this thy folly to thyself, that if there be yet any 
hope, thou mayst recover thy understanding, and yet return to God 
and live. First, I do not name thee, nor any other : I do not con- 
clude of the persons individually, and say. This man shall be shut 
out of heaven, and that man shall be taken in. I only conclude it 



CuAP. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 20.3 

of the unregenerate in general, and of thee conditionally, if thou be 
such a one. Secondly, I do not go about to deterniiiie who shall 
repent, and who shall not ; nuich 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 hoping 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 fore- 
going 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 I had seen the book of life !' ^Vhy, the 
Bible also is the book of life, and it describeth plainly those that 
shall be saved, and those that shall be condenmed. 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 except 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 abid- 
eth on him," John iii. 18, 36 ; " and that except you repent, 
(which includes reformation,) you shall all perish," Luke xiii. 3, 5 ; 
with a hundred more such plain Scripture expressions. Cannot 
these be known without searching into God's counsels ? Why, 
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 oft, and yet dost 
thou not remember such passages as these ? Nay, didst thou not 
find that the great drift of the Scripture is, to show men who they 
are that shall be saved, and who not ; and let them see the con- 
dition 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 
mayst 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 mayst discern it, and escape it. But canst thou 
possibly escape, if thou neglect Christ and salvation ? Heb. ii. 3. 



206 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Is it not resolved on, " that if thou love father, mother, wife, chil- 
dren, house, lauds, 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 tell 
thee from the word of God, it is as impossible 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 ? Me- 
thinks, but that there is yet life and hope before thee, 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 com- 
forted, because they were not ; how then shouldst thou now sit 
down and weep for the happiness and future life of the soul, be- 
cause 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 trouble him, his loins 
loosen in the joints, and knees smite one against another, Dan v. 
6. Why, what trembling then should seize on thee, who hast the 
hand of God himself against thee ; not in a sentence or two only, 
but in 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 mayst 
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, surpassing 
the brightness of the sun at noon-day : though perhaps even the 
bodies of the wicked will be raised more spiritual, incorruptible 
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 would be glad, then, if 
every member were a dead member, that it might not feel the pun- 
ishment inflicted on it ; and if the whole body were a rotten car- 
cass, or might again lie down in the dust and darkness. The devil 



Chap. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 207 

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 more do they want that moral perfection which 
the blessed do partake of: those holy dispositions and qualifica- 
tions of mind ; that blessed conformity to the holiness of (iod ; 
that cheerful readiness to his will ; that perfect rectitude of all 
their actions : instead of these, they have their old, ulcerous, de- 
formed souls, that perverseness of will, that disorder in their facul- 
ties, 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 con- 
ceits and delusions ; but this proceeds not from the sanctifying of 
their natures : and perhaps their experience and too-late under- 
standing may restrain much of the evil motions of their wills, 
which they had formerly here on earth ; but the evil disposition is 
never the more changed. So also will the conversation 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 innocent, 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 natures 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. 18. 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 
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," Rom. i. 28 ; Job 



208 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

xxi. 14 ; 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 pleasers 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 confident 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 pre- 
cisians ? Oh ! but when that time is come, when the case must be 
decided, 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 negligence and wicked- 
ness. 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 will not own them, but reject them 
as his enemies, i^nd 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 his Spirit dwell in them, so shall. not these evil-doers 
dwell with him. The tabernacles of wickedness shall have no 
fellowship with him ; nor the wicked inhabit the city of God : for 
without are 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 perishing. God is first enjoyed in part on earth, 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 is 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 



Chap. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 209 

his favour is life!" Psal. xxx. 5. Nay, though life bo naturally 
most (loar to all uw.n, y(^t tlioy that have tasttnl and tried, do say 
.with David, " J lis loving-kindmvss is hotter than life !" Psal. 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 enjoy- 
ing of God is the enjoying 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 wliich the 
blessed do feed on God : that transporting knowledge ; those 
ravishing views of his glorious face ; 'the unconceivable pleasure of 
loving God ; the apprehensions of his infinite love to us ; the con- 
stant joys which his saints are taken up with, and the rivers of con- 
solation wherewith he doth satisfy them. Is it nothing to lose all 
this ! The employment of a king in ruling a kingdom doth not 
so far exceed the employment of the vilest 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 he 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 resemblances 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 nmst therefore be their habita- 
tion for ever, where they shall never be troubled with that worship 
and duty which they ai)horred, but join with the rest of the damned 
in blaspheming 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 ; lot 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 

p 



210 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

their natures. The bent of your spirits was another way ; your 
hearts were never set upon God in your lives ; you were never ad- 
mirers of his attributes and works, nor ever thoroughly warmed 
with his 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 sj)orts, 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 suffer- 
ings ; 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 bless- 
edness. If you would have shined with them as stars in the firma- 
ment of their Father, you should have joined v/ith 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 natural estate, through the Red Sea and wilderness of hu- 
miliation and affliction, and have cheerfully taken up the cross of 
Christ, as well as the name and profession of Christians, and re- 
joiced 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 folly, and endure but 
what you were foretold you must endure ; and are shut out of that 
company, from which you first shut out yourselves ; and are separ- 
ated but from them whom you would not be joined M'ith. You 
could not endure them in your houses, nor in your town, nor scarce 
in the kingdom. You took them, as Ahab did Elias, for the trou- 
blers of the land, 1 Kings xviii. 17 ; and as the apostles were 
taken for men that turned the world upside down, Acts xvii. 6 ; 



CiiAP. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 211 

if any thing fell out amiss, you thought all was long of them. 
AN'hen thoy were dead or banished, you were glad they were gone, 
and thought the country was well rid of them. They molested you 
with their faithful reproving your sin. Their holy conversation 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 scarce 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, LidvC xvi. 26. Even in this life, while the 
saints were imperfect in their passions and infirmities, clothed with 
the same frail flesh as other men, and were mocked, destitute, af- 
flicted, and tormented, yet, in the judgment of the Holy Ghost^ 
they were such, of whom the world was not worthy, Heb. xi. 30 — 
o8. Much more unworthy are they of their fellowship in their glory. 



CHAPTER n. 

THE AGGRAVATION OF TfiE 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 with- 
out him hereafter I And what care they for being deprived of that 
love, and joy, and praising of God ? They never tasted sweetness 
in the things of that nature. Or what care they for being deprived 
of the felloY>-ship of angels and saints ? They could spare their 
company in this world well enough, and why may they not be with- 
out 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 forementioned loss will be intolerable, 
and will be most tormenting then, though it seem as nothing now. 

2. I will show you what other losses will accompany these ; 
which, though they are less in themselves, yet will now be more 
sensibly apprehended by these sensual men : and all this from rea- 
son, and the truth of Scripture. 

1. Then, That this loss of heaven will be then most tormenting, 
may appear by these considerations following : 
p 2 



212 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 excellency, 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 plea- 
sures, 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 removed by experience ; their 
knowledge shall be increased, that their sorrows may be increased, 
Eccles. i. 18 ; as Adam by his fall did come to the knowledge of 
good and evil, so shall all the damned have this increase of know- 
ledge. As the knowledge of the excellency of that good which 
they do enjoy, and of that evil which they have escaped, is neces- 
sary to the glorified saints, that they may rationally and truly 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 them- 
selves, 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 understanding 
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 positively, 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 chiefest in the punishment : doubt- 
less, those poor souls would be comparatively happy, if their under- 
standings were wholly taken from them, if they had no more know- 
ledge 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, nor 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 



Chai'. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 213 

enoniy; and, I think, thoy shall have some kind of eternal know- 
ledge or beholding of God and heaven, and tht; saints that are there 
happy, as a necessary ingredient to their unutterable calamity. 
The rich man shall see Abraham and l.azarus, but afar olf, Luke 
xvi. 2.'3 : as God beholdeth them afar olf, (Psal. cxxxviii. (),) so 
shall they behold God afar olf. Oh how happy men would they 
think themselves, if they did not know that there is such a place 
as heaven ; or if they could but shut their eyes, and cease to be- 
hold it ! Now, when their knowledge 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 no. 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 here; 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 con- 
founded ; 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 understanding 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, ^^'hat deep apprehensions 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 ! ^^llat sensible apprehensions of the 
worth of life hath the condemned man that is going to be executed, 
in comparison of what he was Avont to have in the time of his 
prosperity ! much more will the actual deprivation of eternal bless- 
edness make the damned exceeding apprehensive of the greatness 
of their loss ; and as a large vessel will hold more water than a 
shell, so will their more enlarged understandings contain more 
matter to feed their torment, than now their shallow capacity 
can do. 

Sect. III. And as the damned will have clearer and deeper ap- 
prehensions 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 troubled at their condition ; they 
are hardly brought to believe that there is such a state of misery. 



214 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

but more hardly to believe that it is like 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 never 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, they 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 v/orld 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 strange- 
ness to the new birth, and by their very enmity to holiness, that 
they were never partakers of them ; yet do they as verily expect to 
see God, and to be saved, as if they were the most sanctified per- 
sons in the world. It is a most difficult work to make a proud 
person know that he is proud, or a covetous man to know that he is 
covetous ; or an ignorant, or erroneous, heretical man to know 
himself to be such a one indeed ; but to make any of these to con- 
fess the sin, and to apply the threatening, and to believe them- 
selves the children of wrath, this is to human strength an impossi- 
bility. 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 undeni- 
able 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 Moses and the prophets. 



Cii.vf. II. TIIK SAINTS' EVEIU.ASTlNd IJEST. 2l.'j 

neither will Ihey l)e persuaded though one bhould rise IVoui the 
dead," Luke xvi. lil. 

There is no persuading them of their" misery till they feel it, ex- 
cept the Spirit f)f the Aliuighty persuade them. 

Oh ! hut wlien they hud themselves suddenly in the land of 
darkness, perceive, hy 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 
it will then be no such difficult matter to convince them of their 
misery : this particular application of God's anger to themselves, 
will then be the easiest matter in the world ; then they cannot 
choose but know and apply it, whether they will or no. 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 ap- 
l)ly it, and to 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 can- 
not get them to, for prevention of their loss, will then be part of 
their torment itself! Oh that they then could say. It is not my 
case ! but their dolorous voices will then roar out these forced con- 
fessions, Oh my misery ! oh my folly ! oh my unconceivable, irre- 
coverable loss ! 

Sect. IV. Again, as the imderstandings and consciences of sin- 
ners will be strengthened against them, so also will their affections 
be then more lively and enlarged than now they are ; as judgment 
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 scarce take notice what we say ; our words 
are cast as stones against a hard Avail, which fly back in the face of 
him that casteth them, but make no impression at all where they 
fall. We talk of terrible, astonishing 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 wa-etches 
are revived, what passionate sensibility, what working affections, 
what pangs of horror, what depth of sorrow, will there then be ! 
How violently will they fly in their own faces; how will they rage 
against their former madness ! The lamentations of the most 
passionate wife for the loss of her husband, or of the tenderest 
mother for the loss of her children, will be nothing to theirs for the 
loss of heaven. 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 them- 
selves will be the chiefest executioners of those sufferings. God 
wUl have it for the clearing of his justice, and the aggravating of 



216 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

their distress ; even Satan himself, as he was not so great a cause 
of their sinning as themselves, so will he not be so great an instru- 
ment as themselves 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 re- 
solution 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 despair- 
ing 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 con- 
tinual terrors ? Why do you not say to them, Sir, why will you be 
so mad as to be your 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 toother 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 bound 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 con- 
demned 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 you could feel as lightly as you were 
wont to hear ! and if you could sleep out the time of execution, as 
you did the time of the sermons that warned you of it ! But your 
stupidity is gone, it will not be. 

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 never so great, and 
their sense of it never so passionate, yet if they could but lose the 
use of their memory, those passions would die, and that loss, being 
forgotten, would little trouble them. But as they cannot lay by 
their life and being, though then they would account annihilation 
a singular mercy ; so neither can they lay aside any part of that 
being. Understanding, conscience, affections, 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 



CuAi'. II. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTING REST. 217 

the dolours of hi.s absence : therefore never think, that when I .say 
the hardness of their hearts, and their blindness, dulness, and for- 
get fulness, shall be removed, that, therefore, they are more holy or 
more happy than before; no, but morally more vile, and hert'by 
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 carelessly reject : 
will not this be bitterness in the end ? 

And yet these men w^ould never be brought to consider ; but in 
the latter days, fsaith the Lord, Jer. xxiii. 20,) they shall perfectly 
consider it ; when they are insnared in the work of their own 
h;inds, Psal. ix. IG, when God hath arrested them, and judgment 
is passed upon them, and vengeance is poured out upon them to 
the full, then they cannot choose but consider it, whether they 
will or not. Now, they have no leisure to consider, nor any room 
in their memories for the things of another life. Ah ! but then 
they shall have leisure enough, they shall be where they have no- 
thing 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 w'ould have had the 
doctrine of their eternal state to have been written on the posts of 
their doors, on their houses, on their hands, and on their hearts : 
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 seeing 
they rejected this counsel of the Lord, therefore shall it be written 
always before them in the place of their thraldom, that which way 
soever they look, they may still behold it. 

Among others, I will briefly lay down here some of those con- 
siderations which will thus feed the anguish of these damned 
wretches. 

Sect. VL First : It will torment them to think of the greatness 
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. \ll. 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 w ill remember, 
The time was, when I w as in as fair a possibility of the kingdom as 
others : I was set upon the stage of the world ; if I had played my 
part wisely and faithfully, now I might have had possession of the 
inheritance ; I might have been amongst yonder blessed saints, 
who am now tormented with these danmed 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 



218 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

well, I might have obtained it ; if I had striven, I might have had 
the mastery ; if I had fought valiantly, I had been crowned. 

Sect. VIII. Thirdly : It will yet more torment them to remem- 
ber, not only the possibility, but the great probability that once 
they 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, seducing lusts ; I was purposed 
never to take them up again ; 1 had even cast off my old com- 
panions, and was resolved to have associated myself with the 
godly; and yet I 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 ! Oh how fair was I once for heaven ! 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 hoAv a little more woukl 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 I had improved, I might now have 
been happy ! Wretch that I was ! Could I find no time to study 
the work, for which I had all my time ? 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 ? O per- 
nicious 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 golden hours that I did enjoy ! Had I spent bnt 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 I might do his work, and I loitered till it was burnt 
out ; and now fain would I have more, but cannot : oh that I had 
but one of these years to live over again ! Oh that it were pos- 



Chai'. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 2VJ 

siblo to recall one day, one hour, of that time ! Oh that God 
would turn uie into the world, and try me once again, with another 
life-time! how speedily would I repent; how earnestly would I 
pray, and lie on my knees day and night ; how diligently would I 
hear ; how cheerfully would 1 examine my spiritual estate ; how 
watchfully would I walk ; how strictly would 1 live ! but it is now 
too late ; alas ! too late ; I abused my time to vanity whilst I had 
it, and now nuist I sutler 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 they were persuaded to return, both l)y 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 ditl he beseech me ! How did his bowels 
yearn after me ! And yet I did but make a jest of it, and hardened 
my heart against all this. How often did he convince me that all 
was not well with me ! 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 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 
cordially entertain the truth, and turn to Christ ! He would have 
thought himself well recompensed for all his labours and sufferings 
in his work, to have seen me converted and made happy by it. 
And did I withstand and make light of all this ? Should any have 
been more willing of my happiness than myself!" 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 obe- 
dience to his message, if that would have prevailed with my hard- 
ened heart. Oh how deservedly do I now suffer these flames, who 
was so forewarned of them, and so tntreated to escape them ! nay, 
my friends, my parents, my godly neighbours, did admonish and 
exhort me ; they told me what would come of my wilfulness and 
negligence at last, but 1 did never believe them, nor regard them. 
Magistrates were fain to restrain me from sinning, by law and pun- 
ishment. Was not the foresight of this misery sufficient to re- 
strain me { 

Thus will the remembrance of all the means that ever they en- 
joyed, be fuel to feed the flames in their consciences. Oh that 
sinners would but think of this, when they sit under the plain in- 
struction and pressing exhortations of a faithful ministry ! How 



220 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 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 ex- 
hortations 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 w^orld for un- 
natural wickedness, the disgrace of mankind, that would have com- 
mitted wickedness with the angels from heaven, that were not 
ashamed to prosecute their villany in the open street ; that pro- 
ceeded 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 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 convic- 
tions, 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 ! and 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 condescend to 
entreat them, that all the entreatings of the minister were the en- 
treatings of God. How long he did wait, how freely he did offer, 
how lovingly he did invite, and how importunately he did solicit 
them ! 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 I 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 
kingdom ? Why, then, dost thou resist me ? Why dost thou thus 
delay ? What dost thou mean, that thou dost not open to me ? 



Chai>. II. TUE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 221 

How long shall it be till thou attain to innocency ? I Tow long 
shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thoo .'' Woe to thee, O un- 
worthy sinner ! Wilt thou not be made clean/ Wilt thou not be 
pardoned, and sanctified, and made happy ? When shall it once 
he! Oh that thou wouldst hearken to my word, and obey my 
gospel! (Psal, Ixxxi. 13, 14; Isa. xlviii. 17, 18; i. 18; Deut. 
xxxii. 29 ; Eccles. xii. 1.) Then should thy peace be as the river, 
and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea ; though thy sins 
were as red as the crimson or scarlet, I would make them as white 
as the snow or wool. Oh 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 thy un- 
derstanding, but to consider? or thy heart, but to entertain the 
Son in obediential love ? " Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Consider 
thy ways," Hag. i, 5. 

Oh how all these passionate pleadings of Christ will passionately 
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 tor- 
ments ! ^^ hat self-condemning pangs will it raise within them, to 
remember how often Christ would have gathered them to himself, 
even as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but they 
would not ! Matt, xxiii. 37. Then will they cry out against them- 
selves. Oh how justly is all this befallen me ! Must 1 tire out the 
patience of Christ i Must I make the God of heaven to follow me 
in vain, from home to the assembly, from thence to my chamber, 
from ale-house to ale-house, 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 tor- 
ment, and saved with the saint .'' how justly do I receive the an- 
swer. 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 ! Yet patience continueth waiting upon thee ; canst thou 
think it will do so still ! Yet the offers of Christ and life are mnde 
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 



222 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

always last !* " Oh ! seek the Lord while he may be found, and call 
upon hiui while he is near," Isa. Iv. G, 7. He that hath an ear to 
hear, let him hear what Christ now speaketh to his soul. Rev. ii. 
and iii. And to-day, while it is called to-day, harden not your 
hearts, lest he swear in his wrath that you shall never enter into his 
rest, Heh. iii. 8, 11, 15. For ever blessed is he that hath a hearing 
heart and ear, while Christ hath a calling voice. 

Sect. XII. Seventhly: Again, it will be a most cutting consider- 
ation to these damned sinners, to remember on what easy terms 
they might have escaped their misery, and on what easy conditions 
the crown Avas tendered to them. If their work had been to re- 
move 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 conditions for heaven 
had been the satisfying of justice for all their transgressions, the 
suifering 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 l^urden 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 transgressions, 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 govern- 
ment of the v/orld 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 bargain to have heaven 
upon these conditions, v/hen 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 of will. If they were but will- 
ing, they should find that God would not be backward to assist 
them : if they be willing, Christ is much more willing. 

Oh when the poor tormented wretch shall look back upon these 
easy terms which he refused, and compare the labour of them v/ith 
the pains and loss which he there sustaineth, it cannot be now con- 
ceived 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 ! Where was my understanding when I 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 only delight and freedom ? Was I not a 
thousand times worse than mad, when I censured the holy way of 
God, as needless prcciscness, and cried out on it as an intolerable 
burden '{ when I thought the laws of Christ too strict, and all too 



CnAi'. II. THE SAIN'l'.S' KVKULASTli\(,i llEST, 223 

much that I did for the life to come .'' Oh ! what had all tiio trouhli; 
oT duty been in comparison of the trouble that 1 now sustain; or 
all the sufferings for Ciirist and well-doing, in comparison of these 
sufferings that I nmst 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 I had lost my credit with men, and 
been hated of all men for the sake of Christ, and borne the re- 
proach and scorn of the foolish ; what if I had been imprisoned, or 
banished, or put to death ; oh ! whatliad all this been to the mise- 
ries that I now nuist suffer ! Tlien had my sufferings now been all 
over, whereas they do but now begin, but will never end. AA'ould 
not the heaven whicli 1 have lost, have recompensed all my losses; 
and should not all my sufferings have been there forgotten { What 
if Christ had bid me do some great matter, as to live in continual 
tears and sorrow, to sulfer death a hundred times over, which yet 
he did not, should I not have done it ;" How much more when he 
said but, Believe and be saved ; seek my face, and thy soul shall 
live ; love me above all, walk in my sweet and holy way, take up 
thy cross and follow me, and I will save thee from the wrath of 
God, and I will give thee everlasting life ! Oh gracious offer ! Oh 
easy terms ! Oh cursed wretch, that would not be persuaded to 
accept them ! 

Sect. XIII. Eighthly : Furthermore, this also will be a most 
tormenting consideration, to remember v;hat they sold their eternal 
welfare for, and what it was that they had for heaven. When they 
compare the value of the pleasures of sin with the value of the 
recompence of reward, which they forsake for those pleasures, how 
will the vast disproportion astonish them ! To think of a few 
merry hours, a few pleasant cups or sweet morsels, a little ease or 
low delight to the llesh, the applauding In-eath 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 Mill 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 part with my God for a little 
dirt and dross, and sell my Saviour, as 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 I am 
awaked, it is all vanished ! Where are now my honours and at- 
tendance ? Wlio doth applaud me, or trumpet out my praises { 
Where is the cap and knee that was wont to do me revei'ence ? My 
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 ! 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 I gave up my part in glory ! Oh 



224 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

that sinners would forethink of this when they are swimming in de- 
lights 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 tor- 
ment, when they consider that all this was their own doings, and 
that they, most wilfully, did procure their own destruction. Had 
they been forced to sin whether they would or not, it would much 
abate the rage of their consciences ; or if they were punished 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 I 
must be enemy to myself? God would neither give the devil nor 
the world so much power over me as to force me to commit the least 
transgression. If I had not consented, their temptations had been 
in vain : they could but entice me ; it was myself that yielded ; 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 
ministry 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 preaching did stir up my hatred 
against him, and every sermon did cut me to the heart, and I 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 un- 
willing of it. He hath heaped mercy upon me, and renewed one 
deliverance after another, and all to entice my heart unto him, and 
yet was I never heartily willing to serve him : he hath gently chas- 
tised me, and made me groan under the fruit of my disobedience ; 
and yet, though I promised largely in my affliction, I was never 
unfeignedly willing to obey him. Never did a good magistrate at- 
tempt a reformation, but I 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 not 
enough to perish alone, but I must draw all others to the same de- 
struction. 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 I madly behaved myself ! Thus will it gnaw 
upon the hearts of these wretches, to remember that they were the 
cause of their own undoing ; and that they wilfully and obstinately 



CiiAv. 11. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 22.0 

persisted in their rebellion, and wore mere volunteers in the service 
of the dovil. They would venture ; they would go on ; they w'ould 
not hoar him that spoke against it : God called to them to hear and 
stay, hut 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 ;" 
hut thoy would not hoar : 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 nmch cost 
and pains for their own damnation. What great undertakings did 
they engage in for to eftect their ruin ! to resist God, to conquer 
the Spirit, to overcome the power of mercies, judgments, and the 
word itself, to silence conscience ; all this they did take upon them, 
and perform. What a number of sins did they manage at once ! 
What difficulties did they set upon ! even the conquering the power 
of reason itself. ^^ hat dangers did they adventure on ! Though 
thoy 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 best 
friends, their eternal hopes of salvation, and all. They that could 
not toll 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 ! Sobriety 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 belchings, and vomitings, with the 
outcries and lamentations of wife and children, and conscience it- 
self. Contentedness they might have with case and delight, yet 
will they rather have covetousness and ambition, though it cost 
them study, and care, and fears, and labour of body and mind, and 
a continual unquietness and distraction of spirit, and usually a 
shameful overthrow at the last. Though their anger be nothing 
but a tormenting 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 ! \Miat 
cost and pains is Nimrod at, to purchase a universal confusion ! 
How doth an amorous Amnon pine himself away for a self-destroy- 
ing lust ! How studiously and painfully doth Absalom seek a hang- 
ing ! Ahithophel's reputation and his life must go together. Even 
when they are struck blind by a judgment of God, yet how painfully 
do the Sodomites grope and weary themselves to find the door ! 
Gen. xix. 11. What cost and pains are the idolatrous papists at, for 

Q 



22G THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 si ill prosecute it to the 
last ! How 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 
sitteth in heaven do laugh them to scorn, though the 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 out themselves as long as they are able to stir 
against the Lord. Oh how the reviews of this will feed the flames 
in hell ! With what rage will these danmed wretches curse them- 
selves, and say, Was damnation worth all my cost and pains ? was 
it not enough that I perished through my negligence, and that I sat 
still while Satan played his game, but I must seek so diligently for 
my own perdition ? Might I not have been damned on free cost, 
but I must purchase it so dearly { I thought I could have been 
saved without so much ado ; and could I not have been destroyed 
without so much ado ? How well is all my care, and pains, and 
violence, now requited ! Must I work out so laboriously my own 
damnation, when God commanded me to work out my salvation ? 
Oh ! if I had clone 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 yet 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 pleasures, and profits, and honours, 
and thought on him as often, and sought him as painfully, oh 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 purchased to my hands. 

Thus I have showed you some of those thoughts which will 
aggravate the misery of these wretches for ever. Oh that God 
would persuade thee, who readest these words, to take up these 
thoughts now seasonably and soberly, for the preventing of that 
unconceivable 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. How know 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. 

Secondly : I know their understandings 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. 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 227 

Tliirdly : Besides, Scripture hath plainly foretold us as much, 
that their own thoughts shall accus(> them, Kom. ii. 15, and their 
hearts condemn them, 1 John iii. lU — 21 ; and we see it hegun in 
despairing persons here. 



CHAPTER III. 

THEY SHALL LOSE ALL THINGS THAT AUK CO^fFORTABLE, AS WELL 
AS HEAVEN. 

Sect. I. Having showed you those considerations which will then 
aggravate their misery, I am noxt to show you their additional 
losses which will aggravate it. For as godliness hath the promise 
both of this life and that which is to come, and as God hath said, 
" that if we first seek his kingdom and righteousness, all things 
else shall be addfd to us ; " so also are the ungodly threatened 
with the loss both of spiritual and of corporal blessings ; and be- 
cause they sought not first Christ's kingdom and righteousness, 
therefore shall they lose both it and that which they did seek, and 
there shall be taken from them even that little which they have. 
If they could but have kept their present enjoyments, they would 
not have much cared for the loss of heaven, let them take it that 
have more mind of it : but catching at the shadowy and losing the 
substance, 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 for- 
saken Christ for other things, they shall lose Christ, and that also 
for which they did forsake him. 

But I will particularly open to you some of their other losses. 

Sect. II. First : They .shall lose their present presumptuous con- 
ceit and belief of their interest in God, and of his favour tow^ards 
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 support 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 considerations of judgment and damn- 
ation. But, alas ! this is but a palliate salve, a deceitful comfort : 
what will ease their trouble when this is gone ? ^^ hen they can 
believe no longer, they will be quieted in mind no longer, and re- 
joice no longer. If 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 conceit and comforts vanish. An ungrounded persuasion 
Q 2 



::>28 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part HI. 

of happiness, is a poor cure for real misery. When the mischief 
comes, it will cure the misbelief; hut that belief can neither pre- 
vent 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 would be 
far commoner than now it is like 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 in this ; who tell us, that faith is but the be- 
lieving that God loveth us, and that our sins are already pardoned 
through Christ ; that this is the chief thing that ministers should 
preach ; that our ministers preach not Christ, because 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 pardoned, then most of the 
world must believe a lie ; and if no man ought to question the 
truth of his faith, then most men shall rest cleluded with an un- 
grounded 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 believ- 
ing, than they have to preach them to it. I see no need to per- 
suade people to believe ; the generality are strong and confident in 
such a belief already. Take a congregation of five thousand per- 
sons, and how few among them all will you find, that do not believe 
that their sins are pardoned, and that God loves them ; especially 
of the vilest sinners, who have least cause to believe it ! Indeed, 
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. Neither do I know a 
commoner <;ause 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 ifiake men go merrily to their own perdition. 
I 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 pardoned, adopted, and in favour with God, too 
soon, and too much ; for a false judgment is always too much and 
too soon. As true, grounded faith is the master-grace in the re- 
generate, and of the greatest use in the kingdom 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 mul- 
titude 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. What madness could cause 
you to come hither voluntarily, or to follow Satan to this place of 



Chai'. III. THE SAINTS' EVEHLASTIN(J REST. 229 

torment, when you might follow Christ to the land of rest ? they 
would most of them answer you, We believed 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; 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 have 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 befoi-e. Oh ! if we 
had known as nmch as now we know, what lives would we have 
led, what persons would w^e have been ! But we have flattered 
ourselves into these insufferable torments, ^^e 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 
resolutely 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 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, sanctifica- 
tion, and assured hope of glorification, as if he had been a most 
assured saint ; when, it may be, his sermon was intended to re- 
proach the saint, and to jeer at sanctification ! Methought I even 
heard the Pharisee say, I thank thee that I am not as other men, 
Luke xviii. 11; or Korah, Are not all the people holy, every one '( 
Numb. 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 tormented 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 persuasions of pardon or happi- 
ness, nor any boasting of their honesty, nor justifying of them- 
selves. This was but Satan's stratagem, that being blindfold they 
might follow him the more boldly ; but then he will uncover their 
eyes, and they shall see where they are. 

Sect. HL 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 



230 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

word, they licked all whole again with their groundless hopes ; hut 
then they shall part with their hopes and heaven together. We 
can now scarce speak with the vilest drunkard, or swearer, or 
covetous worldling, or scorner at godliness, hut he hopes to he 
saved for all this. If you should go to all the congregation, or 
town, or country, and ask them one by one, whether they hope to 
be saved, how few shall you meet with that will not say yea, or that 
make any great question of it ! But, oh ! 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 their false hopes, or their best friend come to them and 
say, I 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 
your family ; and the Scripture gives you not the least hope of 
being saved in such a condition as this is ; how ill would they take 
such an admonition as this, and bid the admonisher look to him- 
self, 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 himself at judgment, and plead 
their eating and drinking in his presence, their preaching in his 
name, and casting out devils (and these are more probable argu- 
ments 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, imprisoning, banishing, or killing Christ in his 
members,) till Christ confute them with the sentence of their con- 
demnation ! Though the heart of their hopes will be broken at 
their death, and particular 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 
believe 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 righteous 
shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish," 
Prov. x. 28. See Isa. xxviii. 15, IS. " For what is the hope of 
the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his 
soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble coraeth upon him?" 



CiiAi'. ill. THE SAINTS' EVERLAST1N(J REST. w;il 

Job xxvii. 8, <J. "Can the rush grow up without niiro? can the 
Hag grow without water ^ ^^ hilst it is yet in its greeinioss, not cut 
down, it witheroth before any other herb. So are the paths of all 
that forget (iod ; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: whose 
hope? shall be cut oil", and whose trust shall be a spider's web. Me 
shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it 
fast, but it shall not endure," Job viii. 1 1 — 15. " But the eyes of 
the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall 
l)e 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 ! Secondly, The soul de- 
parteth from the body suddenly, in a moment, which hath there 
delightfully continued so many years ; just so doth the hope of the 
wicked depart. 'I'hirdly, 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 departeth, taketh an everlasting farewell of 
his soul. A miracle of resurrection shall again conjoin the soul 
and body, but th(n-e shall be no such miraculous resurrection of the 
damned's hope. Methinks it is the most doleful spectacle that this 
world affords, to see an ungodly person dying, and to think of his 
soul and hopes departing together ; and with what a sad change he 
presently 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 rebellion 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 foretelling 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 unbe- 
lieving 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 danger appeared, till sud- 
denly the flood came and swept them all away. If a man had 
asked these men, when they were climbing up into the tops of trees 
and mountains : Where is now your hope of escaping, or your merry 
deriding at the painful preventing 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 pro- 



232 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

phecy of Micaiah ; will you release him out of prison ; do you now 
hope to return in peace ? Why, such a sudden overthrow of their 
hopes will every unregenerate sinner 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 minis- 
ter 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 vv'ere fain to turn their exhortation to lamentation, and 
to sit down in sorrow for men's wilful misery ; and take up the sad 
exclamation 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 frustrate 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, 1 Pet. iii. 15 ; 
JMarks of sound till thou canst prove that they are the hopes which 
hopes. grace and not nature only hath wrought ; that 

they are grounded upon Scripture 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, be- 
cause 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 devils, or 
thy own unbelieving heart, shall say against it, go on and hold fast 
thy hope, and be sure it shall 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 
worli of grace upon thy soul, to show for thy hopes ; but only 



Cn.u'. III. TlIK SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 233 

hopost that thou shalt ])e savod, because thou wouldst have it so, 
and because it is a terrible thing to despair : if this be thy case, 
delay not an hdur ; but presently cast away those hopes, that thou 
niayst get into a capacity of having bettor in their stead. Hut it 
may be thou wilt think this strange doctrine, and say, What, would 
you persuade me directly to despair ? Anstv. 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 notorious, 
dangerous sin. So, consequently, there is a despair which is a 
grievous sin ; and there is a despair which is absolutely necessary 
to thy salvation. I would not have thee despair of the sufficiency 
of the blood of C-'hrist to save thee, if thou believe, and heartily 
obey him ; nor of the willingness of God to pardon and save thee, 
if thou be such a one ; nor yet absolutely of thy own salvation ; 
because, while there is life and time, there is some hope of thy 
conversion, and so of thy salvation : nor would I draw thee to de- 
spair of finding Christ, if thou do but heartily seek him ; nor of 
God's acceptance of any sincere endeavours ; 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, except 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 serv- 
ant, while thou lovest the world, and servest it (John iii. 5 ; Heb. 
xii. 14 ; Luke xiv. 25—21, Sec. ; xv. 3, 4 ; xvi. 23 ; Matt. vi. II ; 
Rom. viii. 13; 1 John ii. 15). 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, 
and findost 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 acknowledge plainly, If 
I die before I got 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 west- 
ward, 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 



234 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

way, and brings him to despair of coming home, except he tm'n 
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 proceeded many a 
year ; yet thou goest on ([uietly, 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 Satan, 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. Who 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, that is one of the first things that he 
will work upon thee : remember what I say, till thou feel God con- 
vincing 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 
work wrought upon thee, how well soever thou mayst hope of thy- 
self. Yea, thus much more, if any thing keep thy soul out of hea- 
ven, 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 di- 
rectly 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 unwelcome 
subject, any more than it is to a pitiful physician to tell his patient, 

1 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 displeasing, 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 salva- 
tion, till you are new creatures i Gal. vi. 15. Nay, I have showed 
you where he flatly overthroweth all such hope, Gal. v. 18 — 24; 

2 Cor. v. 7. iVnd will it do you any good for a minister to give you 
hope, where God gives you none ; or would you desire him to do 
so .' Why, what would you think of such a minister when those 
hopes forsake you ; or what thanks will you give him when you find 
yourself in hell ? would you not there lie and curse him for a de- 
ceiver 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 1 had but one sermon to preach while I lived, I think 
this should be it : to persuade down all your ungrounded hopes of 
heaven, not to leave you there in despair, but that you may hope 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 235 

upon Letter grounds which will novor deceive you. God hath told 
us what we shall say : "' Say to the righteous, It shall be well with 
him ; and to the wick(Hl, It shall he 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 ! ^\ hose 
word would stand, think you, God's or mine ? Oh, little do carnal 
ministers know what 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 
flattering, men-pleasing temper ; partly because they are guilty 
themselves, and so should destroy their own hopes, as well as 
others ; and partly because, being graceless, they want that experi- 
ence which should help them to discei-n betwixt hope and hope. 
The same may be said of carnal friends : if they see a poor sinner 
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 nuich good ! even as much as to 
give cold water to a man in a fever ; you may ease him at the pre- 
sent, 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 right- 
eous, him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him ? " 
Prov. xxiv. 24. If you were faithful 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 thoroughly in tinu^, 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 faith- 
ful counsel indeed. The proverb is, " If it were not ibr 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 
broken first i" So that the hope which keeps their hearts from 
breaking, doth keep them also from healing and saving. 

W^ell, if these unwise men (who are, as we say, penny wise and 
pound foolish, who are wise to keep off the smart of a short, con- 
ditional, necessary, curable despair, but not wise to prevent an 
eternal, absolute, tormenting, uncurable despair) do not change 
their condition speedily, those hopes will leave them which they 
would not leave ; and then they that were fully resolved to hold 
fast their hopes, lot all the preachers in the world say what they 



236 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Paut III. 

would, shall let them go whether they w^ill 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 he this, They 
will lose all the false peace of conscience which maketh their pre- 
sent life so easy. The loss of this must necessarily follow the loss 
of the former. When presumption and hope are gone, peace can- 
not tarry. Who would think now, that sees how quietly the mul- 
titude of the ungodly live, that they must very shortly lie roaring 
in everlasting flames ? They lie down, and rise, and sleep as quiet- 
ly ; 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 beat- 
ing 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 sor- 
rows, not so much as troubled with any cares of the state of their 
souls, nor with any sad or serious thoughts 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. O 
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 de- 
lightfully swallowing down the bait, how suddenly 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 slaughter, 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 thinking that it is to 
prepare for his death ! Why, it is even so with these sensual, care- 
less men. They fear the mischief least, when they are nearest to 
it, because they fear it not, or see it not with their eyes. " 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 destruc- 
tion Cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and 
they shall not escape," 1 Thess. v. 3. O 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 wouldst 
cast it off". As I would not have any humble, gracious souls to vex 



Chai'. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 237 

theii- own consciences needlessly, nor to disquiet and discompose 
their spirits by troubles of their own inakini?, nor to unlit them- 
selves for duty, nor to interrupt their comfortable communion with 
God, nor to weaken their bodies, or cast themselves into melan- 
choly distempers to the scandal of religion ; so would I not have 
a miserable wretch, who lives in a daily and hourly danger of drop- 
ping 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 habitations. 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 pro- 
faneness, 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 divideth 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 peace ; he giveth it most terrible alarms of judgment and 
hell, he battereth it with the ordinance of his threatenings and 
terrors, 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 governor, 
and Satan is cast out ; and then doth he establish a firm and last- 
ing 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 con- 
ditions hard i* 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 thy mother Jezebel 
remain?" So thou art desirous 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 ; Ivii. 22. 
And hath he said it, and shall it not stand ? Sinner, though thou 
mayst now harden and fortify thy heart against fear, and grief, and 
trouble, yet as true as God is true, they will batter down thy proud 



238 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

and fortified spirit, and seize upon it, and drive thee to amazement : 
this will he done either here or hereafter. My comisel 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 he lasting ; is the danger 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. Certainly, 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 
continually, 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 Scrip- 
ture 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 desperate 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 I 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 feelest 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 tliy pleasant dis- 
course 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 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 everlasting 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. Their 
merry vein will then be opened and empty ; they will say them- 
selves, 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 



CiiAi'. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 239 

are all told. " Their mirth was but as the cracklinf:^ of thorns 
under a pot," I'^iCclos. vii. ; it made a great l)laz(^ and unseemly 
noise for a little while, but it was presently gone, and will return 
no more. They scorned to entertain any sadilening thoughts : the 
talk of death and judgment was irksome to them, because it damp- 
ed their mirth: they could not endure to think of their sin or 
danger, l)ecause these thoughts did sad their spirits, l^hey knew 
not what it was to weep for sin, or to huml)le themselves under the 
mighty hand of God. They could laugh away sorrow, and sing 
away cares, and drive away these melancholy thoughts. They 
thought, if they should live so austerely, and meditate, and pray, 
and mourn, as the godly do, their lives would be a continual misery, 
and it were enough to make them run mad. Alas, poor souls ! 
what a mis;^ry then will that life be, where you shall have nothing 
but sorrow, intense, heart-piercing, multiplied sorrow; when you 
shall have neither the joys of the saints, nor your own former joys! 
Do you think there is one merry heart in hell ; or one joyful coun- 
tenance, or jesting tongue? You cry now, A little mirth is worth 
a great deal of sorrow ; but sure a little godly sorrow, whicli would 
have ended in eternal joy, had been more worth than a great deal 
of your foolish mirth, which v.ill 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 madnien ; or men 
that are sound in their brain, fall a dancing, as they will do in a 
via saltits, 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. That which 
they 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 here they 
would not be persuaded to obey, of " making no provision for the 
ilesh, to fulfil 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. 2G. And if they be not called, they be not pre- 
destinate, or justified, or glorified, Rom. viii. 30. Sure that rich 
man CLuke 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 must 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 



240 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 pre- 
pared 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 diff'er- 
ent garb. There is no powdering or curling of their hair, nor eye- 
ing of themselves, nor desirous expecting the admiration of behold- 
ers. Sure our voluptuous youths must leave their cards and dice 
behind them, as also their hawks, and hounds, and bowls, and all 
their former pleasant sports : they shall then spend their time in a 
more sad employment, and not in such pastimes as these. Where 
will then be your May-games, and your morrice-dances, 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 yourselves 
in God and his work ? Oh what an alteration will our jovial, roar- 
ing swaggerers then find;- what bitter draughts will they have in- 
stead 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 waters 
The heat of their lust will be then abated ; they shall not spend 
their time in courting their mistresses, in lascivious discourse, in 
amorous songs, in wanton dalliance, in their lustful embracements, 
or brutish defilements : yet they are like 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 dolefid 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 clear ! 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 ! 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 jealous 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 lasting, incomprehensible joy, for one 



CiiAi'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTINCJ REST. 211 

taste of seeming; pleasure ? 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 
(iod, and help one another towards heaven, as oft as wc 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. 
\\'iK) 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 rot- 
tenness ; and in the mean time neglect 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 following 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 in- 
creased, and their snare strengthened : their joys will be more 
carnal ; and how great an enemy carnal joy is to spiritual, experi- 
enced 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 congratulate all its content- 
ments as we do. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GREATNESS 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 ad- 
ditional losses which will accompany it, I should next here show 
you the greatness of those positive sufferings which will accompany 
this loss. But because I am to treat of rest, rather than of tor- 
ment, I will not meddle with the explication of the quality of those 
sufferings, but only show their greatness in some few brief dis- 
coveries, lest the careless sinner, while he hears of no other punish- 
ment 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 hap- 
piness, 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 exceeding great, may appear by 
these arguments following. 



242 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Pak t 111. 

First: From the principal Author of them, which is God him- 
self: as it was no less than God whom the sinner had offended, 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 he devouring them. His breath of indignation will 
kindle the flames. His wrath will be an intolerable 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 he answerable to his strength. Woe 
to him that falls under the strokes 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 landlord, 
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 all 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. Are is 
his wrath ! If it be kindled here, and that but a little, how do we 
wither before it, as the grass that is cut down before the sun ! How 
.soon doth our strength decay, and turn to weakness, and our beauty 
to deformity ! Churches are rooted up, commonwealths are over- 
thrown, kingdoms depopulated, 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 clay 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 con- 
sume 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 scarce a few scorns 
from the mouths of the ignorant, how will they now bear the de- 
vouring fire ! 

Sect. II. 2. The place or state of torment, is purposely ordained 
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 intenclecl 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-destroying miscreants. When a spark of his 
wrath doth kindle upon the earth, the whole world, save only eight 
persons, are drowned. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, 
are burned with fire from heaven, to ashes. The sea shuts her 
mouth upon some. The earth doth open and swallow others. The 
pestilence destroyeth them up by thousands. The present deplora- 



Cu.M'. IV. illK SAINTS' EVKRLASTIiNG UKST. 243 

ble state of the Jews may fully testify this to the world. Aiul yet 
the glorifying of the two great attril)utes of mercy and just ict% is 
intended most eminently for the life to come. As, therefore, when 
Ciod 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 Ibr them. So also, when the time 
comes that he will purposely manifest his justice, it shall appear to 
be indeed the justice of God. The everlasting ilames 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 ! woe 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 tormentsof the damned must needs be extreme, 
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 wTath, 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 I 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 revenged for every mercy abused, for 
his creatures consumed in luxury and excess, for every hour's time 
mispent, for the neglect of his word, for the vilifying of his messen- 
gers, for the hating of his people, for the profanation of his ordi- 
nances 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 ! and the charge that will over- 
charge the soul of the sinner ! 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 woe ! 

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 he 
desire not the death of him that dieth, but rather that he 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. 
R 2 



244 THE SAINTS' EVEllLASTIx\G REST. Part III. 

1 1 ; 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 in him ; " yet he addeth in the next words, " Who would set 
the briers and thorns together in hattle ? I would go through 
them ; I would burn them together," Isa. xxvii. 4. What a dole- 
ful case is the wretched creature in, when he shall thus set the 
heart of his Creator against him ! " And he that made him, will 
not save him ; and he that formed him, will not have mercy upon 
him," Isa. xxvii. II. 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. Woe to the soul which God rejoiceth to punish ! Yea, he 
tells the simple ones that love simplicity, and the scorners that de- 
light in scorning, 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 
Vv'hen their fear cometh ; when their fear cometh as desolation, and 
their destruction as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish com- 
eth 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 v/ords 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 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.* I 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 woeful 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 literally, but after the manner of men : but this may 
suffice us, that it will be such an act of God to the tormenting 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, Themselves. First, 

* See also Psal. xxxvii. 13. 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 245 

He that was here so successful in drawing them from Christ, will 
then be the instrument of their puni.shmont, for yielding to his 
temptations. It was a pitiful sight to see the man possessed, that 
was hound with chains, and lived among the tombs ; and that 
other that would be cast into the fire and into the water ; but, alas ! 
that was nothing to th(^ torment that Satan puts them to in h»'ll : 
that is the reward he will give them for all their service ; for their 
rejecting the commands of God, and forsaking Christ, and neglect- 
ing 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 theniselves ; 
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 sec in a deep melancholy, 
that will by no arguments be taken off from their sorrows. 

Sect. VI. 6. Consider, also, how that their torment will be 
universal, not upon one part alone, while the rest are free ; but as 
all have joined in the sin, so must they all partake of the torment. 
The soul, as it was the chief in sinning, shall be the chief in suffer- 
ing ; and as h is of a more spiritual and excellent nature than 
bodies are, so will its torments as far exceed our present bodily 
sufferings. And as the joys of the soul do far surpass 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 w^ork upon : as fire will not burn, except 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 eternal 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 heart of the most ambitious lords 
or princes, as if they had been but beggars or brutes ; so will their 
tormentors then as little pity their tenderness, or reverence theii 



246 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

lordliness, when 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 our 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 Vv'ith 
music, shall hear the shrieks and cries of their damned companions ; 
children crying out against their parents, that gave them en- 
couragement 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 servants cursing each other ; minis- 
ters and people, magistrates and subjects, charging their misery 
upon one another, for discouraging 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, be- 
cause 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 comfort either for others or themselves. 
Formerly they had their business, 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 presumptuous, 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 unsay 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 comforter of the saints, so Satan is the 
comforter of the wicked ; for he knows if he should now disquiet 
them, they would no longer serve him ; or if fears or doubts should 



Ciui>. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 247 

begin to trouble them, they would bethink themselves of their 
clanger, 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 
iu the face, and hold you in a tale, that you may never suspect 
Inm, while he is picking your pockets ; so will Satan labour to 
koep 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 comfort- 
ing 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 forsake him, and are 
forsaken themselves. His ancient comforts are taken from him, 
and the righteous God, whose forewarnings he made light of, will 
now make 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 case them to foresee it ; but when it 
must be for ever 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 weary of plaguing them. They never heartily re- 
pented of their sin, and God will never repent him of their suffer- 
ing. They broke the laws of the eternal God, and therefore shall 
suffer eternal punishment. They knew it was an everlasting king- 
dom 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 themselves, 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 had never had a being ! These groans will the thoughts of eter- 
nity wring from their hearts. They were wont to think the sermon 
long, and prayer long ; how long then will they think these end- 
less torments ! What difference is there betwixt the length of their 
pleasures and of their pains ! The one continued but a moment, 
but the other endureth through all 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 



248 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

days, and then thy nights and days shall end ; thy thoughts, and 
cares, and displeasures, 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 unconceivable 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 I 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. 

Ansic. 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 : if thou wilt read on, either 
thou shalt believe it before thou stirrest, 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, I 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 Scrip- 
ture 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 prophet 
should tell it thee ? Why read it then in the greatest prophets, 
Moses, David, and Isaiah, Deut. xxxii. 22; Psal. xi. 6; ix. 17; 
Isa. XXX. 33. Or wilt thou believe one that was more than a pro- 
phet ? Why, hear then what John Baptist saith. Matt. iii. 10 ; 
Luke iii. 17. Or wilt 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 apostle that had been rapt 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 mighty angels, in 



Chai'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 249 

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 danmed, who believed not the truth, but 
had pleasure in unrighteousness," 2 Thess. ii. 12. So Rom. ii. 5 — 7. 
Or wilt thou believe it from the beloved apostle, who was so taken 
up in revelations, 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. 
S; so 2 Pet. ii. 17. Or wilt thou believe it from the mouth of 
Christ himself the Judge ? Why read it then : " As therefore the 
tares are gathered and burnt in the fire, so shall 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 offend, and them 
which do iniquity ; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : 
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," &c. Matt. xiii. 
40—42, 49, 50. So Matt, xviii. 8, 9 : so Mark ix. 43, 44, 4G, 48 : 
where he repeateth it three times over, " Where their worm never 
dieth, and their fire is not (juenched." And, " Then shall he say 
to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast- 
ing 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. 41, 4G. 

What sayest thou now to all this; wilt thou not believe? If 
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 believe, 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 be- 
lieve, 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 himself, Jam. ii. 19. 

And whereas thou thinkest that God is more merciful, why, sure, 
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 condemning 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 reasonable creature ; and to have patience 
to endure thy many years' provocations, and waiting upon thee frorn 
sermon to sermon ; desiring and entreating thy repentance and re- 
turn .' Was it not mercy to have the Son of God, with all his blood 
and merits, freely oifered 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 



250 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

should yet follow thee with mvitations 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 
M'ill smite thee for thy madness, and tell thee, that God was merci- 
ful 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 of- 
fence, 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 thee thy choice, and bid 
thee take which of these thou wouldst ; yea, and entreat thee to 
choose aright ? And dost thou now cry out of severity, when thou 
hast but the consequence of thy wilfsl choice ? But it is not thy 
accusing God of cruelty that shall serve thy turn ; instead of pro- 
curing thy escape, or the mitigation of thy torments, it will but 
make thy burden the more heavy. 

And whereas thou sayest 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 dominion over 
thine enemy, and there may be some fault in thyself 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, a 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 creature, and not the 
sovereign power of the absolute Creator. Yea, how commonly 
dost thou take away the lives of birds, and beasts, and fishes ! 
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 I will live so precisely as the Scripture requireth, 1 will put it 
to the venture : I shall escape as well as the rest of my neighbours, 
and as the most of the world, and we will even bear it as well as 



Chai'. IV. THE SAINTS' KVERLASTING REST. 25i 

we can. Aiisw. Alas, poor croature ! I wish thou didst hut know 
what it is that thou dost so boldly venture on ; I dare say thou 
wouldst sleep this night but very uncjuietly. Wilt thou leave thy- 
self no room for hope t Art thou such a malicious, implacable 
enemy to Christ and thy own soul i And dost thou think, indeed, 
that thou canst bear the wrath of God, and go away so easily with 
these eternal torments? Yet let me beg this of thee, that before 
thou dost so llatly resolve, thou wouldst 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 think 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 chalF to the wind ; or as the dust before the fierce 
whirlwind t 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?" Jobxiii. 25;* and he that confesseth, 
" I am a worm, and no man," Psal. xxii. G. 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, breath- 
ing 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 indignation of the 
Almighty, why then dost thou tremble at the signs of his power or 
wrath I 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 dov>'n the strongest 
buildings ? If thou hadst been in the church of Wilhicombe, 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, Abirani, and their companies, and the 
people fled away at the cry, lest the earth should swallow them up 
also ; or wlien 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 
stout, why do those small suff"erings so dismay thee which befall 
thee here ? If thou have but a tooth-ache, or a fit of the gout or 

* Read Psal. Isxvii. 18 : Exocl. ix. 28. 



252 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

stone, what groans dost thou utter, what moans dost thou make ! 
The house is filled with 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 dis- 
grace ; 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 suifered 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 ap- 
pear. 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 consumption, 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 com- 
parison 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 finger 
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 uncleanncss by a lewd ruffian, she desired him for her 
sake to hold his finger one hour in the fire : he answereth. It is an 
unreasonable request : How much more unreasonable is it, said she, 
that I should burn in hell for the satisfying your lust ! So say I to 
thee : If it be an intolerable thing to suffer the heat of the fire for 
a year, or a day, or an hour, what will it be to suffer ten thousand 
times more for ever ? What if thou wert to suffer Lawrence's 
death, to be roasted upon a gridiron ; or to be scraped or pricked 
to death as other martyrs were ; or if thou wert to feed upon toads 
for a year together ? If thou couldst not endure such things as 
these, how wilt thou endure the eternal flames ? 

Sixthly : Tell me yet again, If hell be so small a matter, why 
canst thou not endure so much as the thoughts or the mention of 
it ? If thou be alone, thou darcst 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 



Cum: IX. THE SAINTS' EYERLASTlNti REST. 2.3;J 

when Paul was discoursing of the judgment to come. Thou canst 
not endure to hear a minister preach oi" hell, hut thou gnashest thy 
ttH^th, 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 nmch as to 
liear of them ? Alas ! man, to hear thy judgment from the mouth 
of Christ, and to feel the execution, will he 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 thy- 
self, 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 ! 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 cannot these make as light of it as thou ? 

Eighthly : Yet further. If thou be so fearless of that eternal 
misery, why is the least foretaste of it so terrible ? Didst thou 
never feel such a thing as a tormenting conscience ? If thou hast 
not, thou shalt do. Didst thou never see and speak with a man 
that lived in desperation, or in some degree of those wounds of 
spirit that were near despair ? How uncomfortable was their con- 
ference ! How burdensome their lives ! Nothing doth them good 
which they possess ; the sight of friends, or house, or goods, which 
refresh othei's, 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 ? ^^'hat 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 



254 THE SAINTS- E\ERLASTING REST. Pakt III, 

have only heard some noises, and seen some sights, but never felt 
any hurt upon their bodies 1 Alas ! what is this to the torments 
of hell ? Canst thou not endure a shadow to appear before thee ? 
Oh, how wilt thou endure to live with them for ever, where thou 
shalt have no other company hut devils and the damned ; and shalt 
not only see them, but be tormented with them and by them ! 
And as incredible a matter as this seems to thee, if thy thorough 
conversion prevent it not, thou knowest not how 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 inno'cent 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 ! why 
hast thou forsaken me ? " 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 understandeth 
not ; thou wilt have sins of a more heinous nature and degree to 
suffer for, than ever w^ere 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 conditions of this cove- 
nant). 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 punish- 
ment 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 w'hich the new covenant threateneth, 
Christ never underwent. So that the punishment which thou must 
suffer, is that which the apostle speaks of, " Of how much sorer 
punishment," &c. Heb. x. 29 ; and that fearful looking-for of judg- 
ment and fire, which devoureth the adversaries, Heb. vi. 8. Woe 
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 repent- 
ance, lest they buy their wit at too dear a rate. 

Sect. XL And thus I have showed you somewhat of their 
misery, who miss of this rest prepared for the saints. And now, 
reader, I demand thy resolution, what use thou M'ilt 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, 



CiiAi-. IV. THE i^AINTS' EVERLASTING REST. o')') 

and how thou so rcsolvest. God will not always stand warnins^ 
and threatcMiing. The hand of n^venge is lifted up, the hlow is 
coniinsjf, and woe to him, whoever he he, on whom it lif^hteth ! 
I.ittle thinkcst thou how near thou standest to thy eternal state, 
and how near the pit thou art dancing in thy greatest jollity. If 
thy eyes were hut opened, as they will he shortly, thou wouldst see 
all this that I have spoken hefore 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/ 
l^hus 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 de- 
light in such a displeasing way. Our temptations to flattery and 
man-pleasing are too strong for that. But I beseech thee, con- 
sider, 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 
banishment. 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, methinks 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 con- 
cerning heaven in all the Scripture that can give thee any comfort, 
but upon the supposal of thy conversion. What comfort is it to 
thee, to hear that there is a rest remaining to the people of God, 
except thou be one of them ? Nay, what more terrible, than to 
read of Christ and salvation for others, when thou must be shut 
out ? Therefore, except thou wouldst have a minister to preach a 
lie, it is all one to thee for any comfort thou hast in it, whether he 
preach of heaven or hell to thee. His preaching heaven and 
mercy to thee, can be nothing else but to entreat thee to seek them, 
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 doctiine 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 recovery, and 



2.5G THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Taut 111. 

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 sackcloth and in ashes ! 
Oh if some John Baptist might cry it abroad, " Now is the axe 
laid to the root of the trees; 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 dolours of those souls that are under the wrath of 
God ? Ah, that ever blind sinners should wilfully bring themselves 
to such unspeakable misery ! You will then be crying to Jesus 
Christ, Oh, mercy ! 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 
pity, 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 
thyself into hell, when the danger is foretold thee ? " Oh, who 
can stand before the Lord, and who can abide the fierceness of 
his anger ? " Nahum i. 6. Methinks thou shouldst need no more 
words, but presently cast away thy soul-damniiig sins, and wholly 
deliver up thyself to Christ. Resolve on it immediately, man, 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 hardened unto death, and there be no remedy, 
yet do not say another day, but that thou wast faithfully warned, 
and that thou hadst a friend that would fain have prevented thy 
damnation. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SECOND USE, REPREHENDING THE GENERAL NEGLECT OF 
THIS REST, AND EXCITING TO DILIGENCE IN SEEKING IT. 

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 should speak of and 
inquire after nothing else, but how to get assurance and possession 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 2.37 

of this treasure ! And yet people who hear it daily, and profess to 
helievo it undoubted, as a fundamental avtich; of their faith, do as 
little mind it, or care, or labour for it, and as nmch forget and dis- 
regard 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. Sure 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 hoard of heaven, or else they never heard of its excel- 
lency 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 Israelites, " Our soul is dried 
away, because there is nothing but this manna before our eyes," 
Numb. xi. G. And as the Indians, who live among the golden 
mines, do little regard it, but are 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 say 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 knowledge : and as witches will 
make a man dance naked, or do the most unseemly, unreasonable 
actions ; so the world doth bewitch men into brute beasts, and 
draw them some degrees beyond 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 ! A\ hat contriving and caring, what fighting and blood- 
shed, to get a step higher in the world than their brethren, while 
they neglect the kingly dignity of the saints! What insatiable 
pursuit of fleshly pleasures, whilst they look upon the praises 
of God, which is the joy of angels, as a tiring burden ! What un- 
wearied diligence is there in raising their posterity, in enlarging 



256 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

their possessions, in gathering a Httle silvM- or gold ; yea, perhaps 
for a poor living from hand to mouth ; while, in the mean time, 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 or 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 serv- 
ants 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 uncessant 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 ! or, as if it would be such ^ 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 and misery, nor 
what the Scripture speaks of the way of obtaining it ; or, at least, 
that they do but a little believe it, by the halves, and therefore 
think to make sure of earth, lest there be no such tbing 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 suspend 
their reason, and prevail with their wills against the last practical 
conclusion of their understanding. W^hat is the excellency of this 
earth, that it hath so many suitors and admirers ? 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 passage out of it, is with the greatest sharpness 
and sadness of all. What, then, doth cause men so much to fol- 
low and aiFect it ? O sinful, unreasonable, bewitched men ! will 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. -^rjO 

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 hoar your cries in the day of your calamity { If a man should 
say to you at the hour of your death, as Julias did to liaal's priests. 
*•' Cry aloud," &c. O riches, or honour, now help us ! will they 
either answer, or relieve you ; will they go along with you to 
another world, and brihe the Judge, and bring you oft' clear, or 
purchase you a room among the blessed I Why then did so rich a 
man want a drop of water for his tongue ? Or are the sweet mor- 
sels of present delight and honour of more w^orth 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 no ; and even that homely, dusty dwelling, 
it will not aftbrd 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 hands, that they should part with Christ 
and their salvation to be its followers? Ah, vile, deceitful world i 
how oft have we heard thy faithfullest 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 it, he 
would not thus have cast me off, nor have left me thus comfortless 
and hopeless in the depth of misery ! 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. 80 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 pro- 
fane, ungodly, presumptuous multitude, who will not be persuaded 
to be at so much pains for salvation as to perform the conmion, 
outward duties of religion : yea, though they are convinced 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 prac- 
tice of them. If they have the gospel preached in the town where 
they dwell, it may be they will give the hearing to it one part of 
the day, and stay at home the other ; or if the master come to the 
congregation, yet part of his family must stay at home. If they 
want the plain and powerful preaching of the gospel, how few are 
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 genera- 
tion, and condemn them ; for she came from the uttermost parts of 
the earth to hear the wisdom 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 
.s 2 



260 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Christ sendeth his ambassadors to these men, they will scarce 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, 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. 13ut if they carry a Bible 
to church, and let it lie by them all the week*, this is the most use 
that they make of it. And though they are commanded to pray 
without ceasing, 1 Thess. 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 thre£ 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. 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 soul. 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 press home their requests ; 
yea, every beggar at their door can crave relief, and make 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 impor- 
tunate, 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 par- 
ticularly 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 perform 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, 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 2G1 

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 they 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 un- 
worthy 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, whether they do 
morning and evening call their family together, and eai'nestly and 
reverently seek the Lord in prayer, how few would you find that 
constantly and conscionably 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 cham- 
bers, how few should you find in a whole town that spend one quarter 
of an hour, morning and night, in earnest supplication to God for 
their souls ! Oh ! how little do these men set by this eternal rest ! 
Thus do they slothfully neglect all endeavours for their own wel- 
fare, 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 toil- 
some slavery, fitter for school-boys, 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 repeating 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 ! 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 pleading these six years, by threatenings, and fire, 
and sword, and yet can prevail but with very few. And though 
these bloody arguments 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 nmltitudes 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 England, will ye not sanctify my sabbaths, nor call upon my 
name, nor regard my word, nor turn from your worldliness and 



262 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

wickedness ! God hath given them a lash and a reproof, a wound 
and warning ; he hath, as it were, stood in their blood, with the 
sword in his hand, and among the heaps of the slain hath he 
pleaded with the living, and said. What say you? Will you yet 
worship me, and fear me, and 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 he 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 wil- 
fully we procured it. And if they that pass by shall ask. Why 
has God done tnus 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 wounded them, 
he hewed them as wood, and then he beseeched the remainder to 
consider and return, but they never would do it. They were w^eary 
of his ways ; 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 thousand 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 pro- 
ceed, and kill them all save one man, and ask that one man, W^ilt 
thou yet seek me with all thy heart ? he would rather slight it. 
Lord, have mercy on 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, " W ho 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 burned 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 worship of God with de- 
light, 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 endeavour : and still, they that succeed 
them do the like. Lord, 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 ever- 
lasting 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 com- 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 203 

inanded by the king (o bring bnt one prophet before him ; or, when 
the lions destroyed forty-two chikh-en, for calHng a prophet of Ciod 
" bald-head :" or rather, it had been better for these men to have 
lived in those times, that though their temporal judgments had 
been greater, yet their eternal plagues might have been tlie 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 com- 
mands of the devil himself. The Lord grant that this hardened, 
wilful, malicious people, fall not under that heavy doom, '' But 
those mine enemies, w hich woiild not that I should reign over them, 
bring them hither, and slay them before me," Luke xix. 27. 

Sect. IV. 3. The third sort that fall under this reproof, are those 
self-cozening, formal, lazy professors of religion, who will be brought 
to any outward duty, and lake 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 godly, but you can never bring them to the more spi- 
ritual 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-mind- 
ed, 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 
worklly hypocrite. First, The former entertaineth the doctrine of 
the gospel with joy, Matt. 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 



264 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 conference, and chief business all about opinion. 
He is usually an ignorant, proud, bold, irreverent inquirer and bab- 
bler about controversies, rather than a 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 
opinions, 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 yield- 
eth, 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 con- 
versation, 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 em- 
ployed against them, studying, talking, disputing against them, 
censuring the users of them, and perhaps fall into a contrary ex- 
treme, placing his chief religion in anabaptism, church combina- 
tions, and forms of polity, &c. For not having his soul taken up 
with the essentials of Christianity, he hath only the mint and cum- 
min, the smaller matters of the law, to lay out his zeal upon. You 
shall never hear in private conference any humble and hearty be- 
wailings of his soul's imperfections, or any heart-bleeding acknow- 
ledgments of his unkindnesses to Christ, of any pantings and long- 
ings after him, from this man ; but that he is of such a judgment, 
or such a religion, 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 re- 
solves 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 Ciood, but his heart and affec-. 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 265 

tions never said so, but look upon God as a kind of strange and 
disproportionate happiness, to be tolerated rather than tlie 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 covetousness 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 meditation ! how 
feeble in heart-watchings, and humbling, mortifying endeavours ! 
how nothing at all in loving and walking with God, rejoicing in 
him, or desiring after him ! So that both these and many other 
sorts of lazy hypocrites there are, who, though they will trudge on 
with you in the easy outside of religion, yet will never be at the 
pains of inward and spiritual duties. 

Sect. V. 4. And even the godly themselves deserve this reproof, 
for being too lazy seekers of their everlasting rest. Alas ! what a 
disproportion is there betwixt our light and our heat, our profes- 
sions and prosecution ! Who makes that haste, as if it were for 
heaven ? How still we stand ! How idly we work 1 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 re- 
prove 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 w^orld ! 1 Cor. vii, 29 — 31. Who would thmk, that 
stood by us and heard us pray in private or public, that we were 
praying for no less than everlasting glory ? Should heaven be 
sought no more eariaestly than thus ? Methinks 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 : w'e 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 immovable 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 it not : God cries to 



266 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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, 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 ! 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 sense- 
less, sottish, earthly, hellish thing is a hard heart ! that we will 
not go roundly and cheerfully toward heaven without all this ado ; 
no, nor with it neither. Where is the man that is serious in his 
Christianity ? Methinks men do every where make but a trifle of 
their eternal state. They look after it but a little upon the bye ; 
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 compli- 
menting 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 universal dead- 
ness ! Do the magistrates among us seriously perform their 
portion of the work? Are they zealous for God; do they build 
up his house ; and are they tender of his honour ? do they 
second the word ; and encourage the godly ; and relieve the op- 
pressed ; and compassionate 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 their interests, for the greatest ad- 
vantage 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 two 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 (Isa. Iviii. 1 ; 
Jude 23; 2 Cor. v. 11), 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 ? 
(Matt. ix. 36.) Do our bowels yearn over the ignorant, and the 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 267 

careless, and the obstinate nuiltitiulo, and men that believe their 
own doctrine ? that our dear people nuist 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 t Do we, as Paul, tell them, weeping, of their fleshly and 
earthly disposition, Phil, iii, IS, 10; and teach them publicly, and 
from house to house, night and day with tears, Acts xx. 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 ; 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 man- 
ner, 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 nmch 
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 a hypocritical conversation, so 
such a sermon is as truly a hypocritical sermon. Oh the formal, 
frozen, lifeless sermons which we daily hear preached upon the 
most weighty, piercing subjects in the world ! How gently do we 
handle those sins which will handle so cruelly our people's souls ; 
and how tenderly do we deal with their careless hearts, not speak- 
ing to them as to men that must be weakened or damned ! 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 indis- 
cretion, 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, wdiich undoes them. The Lord 
pardon the great sin of the ministry in this thing, and, in par- 
ticular, my own ! 

And are the people any more serious than magistrates and 
ministers i How can it be expected? Reader, look but to thyself, 
and resolve the question. Ask conscience, and suffer it to tell thee 



268 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part HI. 

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 ? 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. 
When you have set your hand to the work of God, have you done 
it with all your might? Eccles. ix. 10. Can conscience witness 
your secret cries, and groans, and tears ? Can your families witness 
that you have taught them the fear of the Lord, and warned them 
all with earnestness and unweariedness to remember God and their 
souls, 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 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 corrup- 
tions, and with earnest inquiries after the Lord ? Can your neigh- 
bours 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, 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, yom- 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 glorious 
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 sure be of another mind. 



CHAPTER VI. 

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 



CuAi-. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 2G'J 

deeply thou hast been guilty of this thyself. And I hope, also, 
that thou darest not now sutler this conviction to die ; but art re- 
solved to be another man for the time to come : what sayest thou, 
is this thy resolution.'' If thou wert sick of some desperate dis- 
ease, 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 work of God unweariedly, 
and l)e 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 ilnd 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 ia 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. O, fall 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, I will here adjoin a multitude of consider- 
ations 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, there- 
fore, I entreat thee to rouse up thy spirit, and read them deliberate- 
ly, 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. Now the ends of a Christian's desires and endeavours 
are so great, that no human understanding on earth can compre- 
hend them ; whether you respect their proper excellency, their 
exceeding importance, or their absolute necessity. 

These ends are, the glorifying of God, the salvation of our own 
and other men's souls, in our escaping the torments of hell, and 
possessing the glory of heaven. And can a man I)e too much 
affected with things of such moment { Can he desire them too 
earnestly, or love them too violently, or labour for them too dili- 
gently ? When we know that if our prayers prevail not, and our 



\ 



270 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 ques- 
tion must be resolved upon our obeying the gospel or our disobeying 
it, upon the painfulness or the slothfulness of our present en- 
deavours ; I think it is time for us to bestir ourselves, and to leave 
our trifling and complimenting with God. 

Sect. III. 2. Consider, Our diligence should be somewhat 
answerable to the greatness of the work which we have to do, as 
well as to the ends of it. Now the works of a Christian here, are 
very many, and very great : the soul must be renewed ; many and 
great corruptions 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 ; assur- 
ance 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. Besides, 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 ordinances are to be used, and duties per- 
formed, ordinary and extraordinary ; every age, and year, and clay, 
cloth require fresh succession of duty ; every place we come in, 
every person that we have to deal with, every change of our condi- 
tion, doth still require the renewing of our labour, and bringeth 
duty along with it ; wives, children, servants, neighbours, friends, 
enemies, all of them call for duty from us ; and all this of great 
importance too; so that for the most of it, if we miscarry in it, it 
would prove our undoing. 

Judge, then, yourselves, whether men that have so much busi- 
ness lying upon their hands, should not bestir them ; and whether 
it be their wisdom either to delay, or to loiter ? 

Sect. IV. 3. Consider, Our diligence should be somewhat quick- 
ened, because of the shortness and uncertainty of the time allotted 
us for the performing of all this work, and the many and great im- 
pediments 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 hearing, and talk- 
ing, 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 everlast- 
ing rest, who know they have so short a space for so great a work! 
Besides, every step in the Avay hath its difficulties; the gate is 
strait, and the way narrow ; the righteous themselves are scarcely 
saved; scandals and discouragements will be still cast before us : 
and can all these be overcome by slothful endeavours ? 



CiiAP. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 27 1 

Sect. V. 4. Moreover, our diligence should be somewhat an- 
swerable to the diligence ot" our enemies in seeking our destruction. 
For if we sit still while they are plotting and labouring; or if we 
be lazy in our defence, while they are diligent in assaulting us ; 
you may easily conceive how we are likely to speed. How diligent 
is Satan in all kinds of temptations! therefore, " 13e sober and 
vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh 
about, seeking whom he may devour ; whom resist stedfast in the 
faith," 1 Pet. v. 8. How diligent are the ministers of Satan ! 
false teachers, scorners at godliness, malicious persecutors, all un- 
wearied ; 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 aft'ections to good, ex- 
citing 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 
sound man, than from the sick; and from a man at age, than from 
a child : and to whom men commit much, from them they will 
expect the more, 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 precious. What people breathing on 
earth, have had plainer instructions, or more forcible persuasions, 
or constant admonitions, in season and out of season ? sermons, till 
we have been weary of them ; and sabbaths, till we profaned them : 
excellent books in such plenty, that we knew not which to read ; 
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 w'ere, crucified before their eyes, as we have done ? 
What people have had heaven and hell, as it were, opened unto 
them, as we ! scarce a day 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, untaught 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 
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 



272 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

unto 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. AVe 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 partaken of, both national and personal ! 
How oft, how seasonably, how fully have our prayers been heard, 
and our fears removed ! what large catalogues of particular mercies 
can every Christian 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 him- 
self. 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 perform- 
ance of a few heartless duties, an unworthy requital of such ad- 
mirable kindness ? For my own part, when I compare my slow and 
unprofitable life, with the frequent and wonderful mercies received, 
it shames me, it silenceth me, and leaves me unexcusable. 

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 af- 
fections 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 industry be not answerable to our 
assumed relations, we condemn ourselves, in saying we are his chil- 
dren, 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, 1 Cor. xv. tdt. 

Sect. IX. 8. 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 afflictions ! 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 



Chai'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 273 

liibour than the spur ? had we nvthor be still thus afflicted, than to 
l)e up and going i 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 ! 
And thus we make our own lives miserable, and necessitMe 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 1 All the worki 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 ser- 
vice 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 gos- 
pel, who study 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 thee 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 w hat 
attendants you have for this work ; and then judge how it behoves 
you to perform it. 

Sect. XI, 10. Should not our affections and endeavours be an- 
swerable to the acknowledged principles of our Christian profession? 
Sure, if we are Christians indeed, and mean as we speak, when we 
profess the faith of Christ, we shall show it in afl'ections and ac- 
tions, as well as expressions. Why, the very fundamental doctrines 
of our religion are : That God is the chief Good, and all our hap- 
piness consists in his love ; and, therefore, it should be valued and 
sought above all things : that he is our only 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 salvation, &c. And do men's duties aiitl con- 
versation 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 condenm them ! 

Sect. XII. 11. How forward and painful should we be in that 



274 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III, 

work, where we are sure we can never do enough ! If there were 
any danger in overdoing, then it might well cause men to moderate 
their endeavours ; hut wc know, that if we could do all, we were hut 
unprofitahla 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. So that, 
though all superstition, or worship of our devising, may be called 
righteousness over-much ; yet, as long as you keep your service to 
the rule of the word, that so it might have the true nature of obe- 
dience, you never need to fear being righteous too much ; for else, 
we should reproach the Lord and Lawgiver of the church, as if he 
commanded 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 eter- 
nal 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. XIII. 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 impatient, it is active and observ- 
ant. 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 agoing ; 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, They that trifle in the Way to heaven, 
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 in a race^ he that runs slowest had as 
good never run at all ; for, now, he loseth the prize and his labour 
both. Many who, like Agrippa, are but almost Christians, Acts 
xxvi. 28, will find, in the end, they shall be but almost saved. 
God hath set the rate at which the pearl must be bought ; it 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 



CnAi'. \ I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 27:5 

at all ; for he doth but lose all his labour. Oh how many profess- 
ors of Christianity will find this true, to their sorrow, who have 
had a mind to the ways of (iod, and have kept up a dull task of 
duty, and plodded on in a formal, lif<;less profession, but never 
came to serious Christianity ! Mow 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 ie 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. O, 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 pre- 
cious 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 evening, or else he 
is like 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 uncertain 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 recompence with those that have borne the burden and 
heat of the day, though you came not in till the last hour ; but 
t4en you must be sure to labour soundly that hour. It is enough, 
sure, that we have lost so much of our lives ; let us not now be so 
foolish as to lose the rest, 1 Pet. iv. 2 — 4. 

Sect. XVI. 1.3. Consider, The greater are your layings out, the 
greater will be your comings in. Though you may seem to lose 
your labour at the present, yet the hour cometh when you shall 
find it with advantage. The seed which is buried and dead, will 
bring forth a plentiful increase at the harvest. Whatever you do, 
and whatever you suffer, this everlasting rest will pay for all. 
There 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. Who ever complained that he came to heaven at too 
dear a rate, or that his salvation cost him more labour than it was 
worth ? W^e 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 

T 2 



276 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

one hour, when he may l)e a prince while he lives for that hour's 
work .' O, 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 appointed us as necessary. Who 
knows the way to heaven better than the God of heaven ? When 
men tell us that we are too strict and precise, whom do they ac- 
cuse, God or us ? If we do no more than what we are commanded, 
nor so much neither (Luke xvii. 10), they may as well say, God 
hath made laws which are too strict and precise. 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 recon- 
cile it with the language of the world : " The kingdom of heaven 
sufFereth violence, and the violent 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 Matt. vii. 13, 14. " What- 
soever 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/' Eccles, ix. 10. " Know ye not that they 
which run in a race run all, but one rcceiveth the prize ? So run 
that you may obtain," 1 Cor. ix. 24. " If a man strive for mas- 
teries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully," 2 Tim. ii. 
5, that is, powerfully and prevailingly. " Work out 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. 1>:. So Phil. i. 27; iii. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 12, 18, 19; 
Deut. vi. 5, &c. This is the constant language of Christ : and 
which shall I follow, God or man ; yea, and that the worst and 
most wicked men ? Shall 1 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 
sufficeth me to confute them all, that God is of another mind, and 
he hath commanded me to do much more than I do ; and though 
I could see no reason for it, yet his will is reason enough to me. I 
am sure God is worthy to goVern us, if we were better than we are. 



CiiAi'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 277 

^^'ho should make laws for us, but he that mado us { And who 
should line out the way to heaven, but he that must brinf^ 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, Ciod hath commanded 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 spoken against, and hated : 
but let me tell you, 1. Most that speak against it, do in their judg- 
ments approve of it; only because 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 no. If 
you could speak with every soul that sulFereth those torments, and 
ask their judgments, whether it be possible to be too diligent and 
serious in seeking salvation, you may easily conjecture what answer 
they would return. Take the most bitter derider or persecutor of 
godliness, even those that will venture tl\eir lives for 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 Chris- 
tians 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 ? Oh that you were but as 
wise in this as those in hell ! 

Sect. XIX. 18. Consider, They that have been the most serious, 
painful Christians, when they come to die, do exceedingly lament 
their negligence. Those that have wholly addicted themselves to 
the work of Go'd, 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 ! 
W^hat terrors do the souls of many undergo, who are generally ad- 
mired for their godliness and innocency ; even those that are hated 
and derided by the world for being so strict, and are thought to be 
almost beside themselves for their extraorcbnary diligence, yet 
commonly when they lie a dying, do wish. Oh that they had been 

* Duty at last is sweet ; it comes off with heaven, though hell dog it for a time ; 
saith Lockier sweetly (as all). See him further of the good end of duty, on Col. i. 24. 
p. 300, 



278 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

a thousand times more holy, more heavenly, more laborious for 
their souls ! What a case then will the negligent world be in, when 
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 will they have of a 
holy life ! For my own part, I may say, as Erasmus, Accusant quod 
nimium fecerim ; verum conscientia meet me accusal quod minus 
fecerim, quodque lentior fuerim, They accuse me for doing too 
much, but my own conscience accuseth me for doing too little, and 
being too slow : and it is far easier 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 within me at the very 
heart, so that every check doth pierce me to the quick. Con- 
science, when it is reprehended justly, is the messenger of God ; 
but ungodly revilers are but the voice of the devil. I had rather 
be reproached by the devil for seeking salvation, than to be re- 
proved 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, irre- 
sistible 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 foj 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 ordi- 
nances of justice, and take delight in approaching to God, and that 
in fasting and afflicting their souls, Isa. Ivi. 2, 3, ai-e 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 re- 
covery, 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 under foot the Son of God, and do despite 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. 26 — 
29 ; should not this rouse us out of our laziness and security ? How 
far hath many a man followed 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. 



Chai'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 279 

good desires, confessions, sorrow and tears for sin, &c. have all 
been lost, and fallen short of the kingdom ! Methinks this should 
aftright 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 only 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, thai he that will not labour shall not eat, hath also de- 
creed 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 perisheth, but for that food which en- 
dureth to everlasting life, John vi. 27. Some think that it is good 
to be holy, but yet not of such absolute necessity but that a man 
may be saved without it ; but God hath determined on the con- 
trary, that without it no man shall see his face, Heb. xii. 14. 
Seriousness 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 ; all the 
excellences 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 showed thee sufficient reason against thy slothfulness and 
negligence, 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 be possible, to 
persuade thee to be serious in thy endeavours for heaven. 

1. Consider, God is in good earnest ^vith 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 
threatenings he is serious, and will make them all good against the 
rebellious. In his promises he is serious, and will fulfil them to 
the obedient, even to the least tittle. In his judgments he is 
serious, as he will make his enemies know to their terror. Was 
not God in good earnest when he drowned the world, when he con- 
sumed Sodom and Gomorrah, when he scattered 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 



280 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

earnest ; especially when it comes to the great reckoning clay. 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, died. 
There was no jesting in all this ; and should not we be serious in 
seekin* our own salvation ? 

3. The Holy Ghost is serious in soliciting us for our happiness ; 
his motions are frequent, and pressing, and importunate : he striveth 
with our hearts, Gen. vi. 3 ; he is grieved when we resist him, 
Eph. iv, 30 : and should not we then be serious in obeying his mo- 
tions, and yielding 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. Ixiii. 9. He re- 
gardeth 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 ofttimes, when they call upon him in 
their misery ; " when they cry to him in their trouble, he delivereth 
them out of their distress," Psal. Ixxviii. 37, 38 ; 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," 
1 Thess. ii. 19, 20. " Your stedfastness in Christ they value as 
their lives," 1 Thess. iii. 8. They are content to " be offered up 
in the service of your faith," Phil. ii. 17, ^f they kill themselves 
with study and preaching, or if they suffer martyrdom for preach- 
ing the gospel ; they think their lives are well bestowed, if their 
preaching do but prevail for saving of your souls. And shall other 

* 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 him ? 



Chap. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 281 

men be so painful and careful for your 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. I { and a serious pattern 
that is given them in Acts xx. 30, 31 ? Surely no man can be 
bound to be more serious and jjainful for the welfare of another, 
than he is bound to be for himself. 

G. How S(^rious and diligent are all the creatures in their service 
to thee ! What haste makes the sun to compass the world ; and 
how truly doth it return at its appointed hour! So do the moon 
and other planets. The springs are always flowing for thy use ; the 
rivers still running ; the spring and harvest keep their times. How 
hard doth thy ox labour for thee from day to day ; how painfully 
and speedily doth thy horse bear thee in travel ! And shall all 
these be laborious, and thou only negligent ? Shall they all be 
so serious in serving thee, and yet thou be so slight in thy service 
to God? 

7. Consider, The servants of the world and the devil are serious 
and diligent ; they ply their work continually with unwcariedness 
and delight, as if they could never do enough ; they make haste, 
and march furiously, as if they were afraid of coming to hell too 
late. They bear down ministers, and sermons, and counsel, and 
all before them. And shall they do more for the devil, than thou 
wilt do for God ; or be more diligent for damnation, than thou wilt 
be for salvation .'' Hast not thou a better Master, and sweeter 
employment, and greater encouragement, and a better reward ? 

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 remem- 
ber 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 w^ast bent after thy profits, or rising in the 
world i 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 congregation, 
how seriously w'ill 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 have 
a real happiness, and the damned a real misery ; the saints arc 



282 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 he 
serious now ? Reader, I dare promise thee, the thoughts of these 
things will shortly he serious thoughts with thyself. When thou 
comest to death or judgment, oh what deep, heart-piercing thoughts 
wilt thou have of eternity ! methinks I foresee thee already aston- 
ished to think how thou couldst possibly make so light of these 
things ! methinks I even hear thee crying out of thy stupidity 
and madness ! 

Sect. XXIII. 22. And now, reader, having laid thee down these 
undeniable arguments, I do here, in the name of God, demand thy 
resolution : what sayest thou ? wilt thou yield obedience 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 loosely, and sin as boldly, 
and pray as seldom and as coldly, as before ? Darest thou now as 
carnally spend the sabbath, 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 oppositions of the world, and to slight all their scorns and per- 
secutions ; " to cast off the weight that hangeth on thee, and the 
sin that doth so easily beset thee ; and to run with patience and 
speed the race that is set before thee?" 1 Pet. i. 13; Heb, xii. I, 
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 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 recovered from sick- 
ness 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 



C.i.Ai'. VI. THE SALNTS' EVERLASThNG REST. 283 

to bo 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 .' 

Qitesf. 3. If it were God's ordinary course to punish every sin 
with some present judgment, so that every time a man swears, or 
is drunk, or speaks a lie, or backbiteth his neighbour, he should be 
struck dead, or blind, or lame in the place; if God did punish evei-y 
cold prayer, or neglect of duty, with some remarkalilc 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 ujwn you as upon the Israelites, 
while the sweet morsels were yet in their mouths, Psal. Ixxviii. 30; 
if but a mark should be set in the forehead of every one that neg- 
lected 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 suifered the tor- 
ments of hell for those sins that you are guilty of, and for neglecting 
those duties which you neglect, and for living such a careless, world- 
ly, ungodly life, as you now live, and should therefore advise you to 
take another course ; if you should meet such a one in your cham- 
ber when you are going to bed, and he should say to you, O, 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 1 am in ; how would this 
take with you, and what manner of persons would you afterwards 
be .'' It 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 Respondc inihi, the corpse arose in the bier, and 
with a terrible voice cried out, Justo Dei judicio accusal us suui, I 
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 obsequies, to the same words as before, 
the corpse arose again and cried with a hideous voice, Juslo Dei 
judicio judicatns 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 before, the corpse arose again, and cried with a more 
doleful voice than before, Justo Dei judicio coudemuatus sum, I 
am condemned at the just judgment of God. The consideration 
whereof, that a man reputed so upright, should yet by his own con- 
fession be damned, caused Bruno, and the rest of his companions, 
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 devotion f 

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 



284 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

your thoughts of another life be more serious that night ? If you 
knew when you are praying, that you should never pray more, 
would you not he more earnest and importunate 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. G. If you had seen the general dissolution of the world, 
and all the pomp and glory of it consumed to ashes : if you saw all 
on a fire about you, sumptuous buildings, cities, kingdoms, land, 
water, earth, heaven, all flaming about your ears : if you had seen 
all that men laboured for, and sold their souls for, gone ; friends 
gone ; the place of your former abode gone ; the history ended, and 
all come down ; what would such a sight as this persuade you to 
do? Why, such a sight thou shalt certainly see. I put my ques- 
tion 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 ex- 
press what manner of persons we should be in all holiness and god- 
liness, when v/e 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 set, and the books 
opened, and the most stand trembling on the left hand of the 
Judge, and Christ himself accusing them of their rebellions and 
neglects, and remembering them of all their former slightings of 
his grace, and at last condemning them to perpetual perdition ; if 
you had seen the godly standing on the right hand, and Jesus 
Christ acknowledging their faithful obedience, and adjudging them 
to the possession of the joy of their Lord ; what manner of persons 
would you have been after such a sight as this ? W hy, this sight 
thou shalt one day see, as sure as thou livest. And why then should 
not the foreknowledge of such a day awake thee to thy duty ? 

Quest. 8. What if you had once seen hell open, and all the 
damned there in their easeless torments, and had heard them cry- 
ing out of their slothfulness in the day of their visitation, and wish- 
ing 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 loiter;ng 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 ! Why, 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, 



Chai'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 2S.-3 

or hour, and there felt all those torments that now you do but hoar 
of, and (iod should turn you into the world again, and try you witl\ 
another life-time, and say, I will see whether thou wilt he yet any 
l)etter, what manner of persons would you he ? If you were to live 
a thousand years, would you not gladly live as strictly as the pre- 
cisest saints, and spend all those years in prayer and duty, so you 
might hut escape the torment which you suffered .' How seriously 
then would you speak of hell, and pray against it, and hear, and 
road, 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, ex- 
cept you feel it .'' Is it not your wisdom to do as much now to pre- 
vent it, as you would do to remove it when it is too late 'i 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 incom- 
parable glory ! A\'ould you think any cost too great, or diligence 
too much ? If 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 (jod 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 sal- 
vation is in danger, and the Judge is at the door, I have then no 
more to say to thee ; it is as good speak to a post or 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 ! 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, " \\'hat iniquity have your fathers 
(or you) found in me, that ye are gone far from me, and have 



28G THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 I 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, 
v.'hether 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. Oh, what would 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, " Ephphatha, 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. XXVI. 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. 

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 tem- 
poral, and left-hand mercies t They who have the blood of Christ 
given them, and the Spirit for sanctification, consolation, and pre- 
servation, 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 ! 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 like enough to feel it 
again, if they do not reform it, sure, one would think they should 
be slothful no more. 

Quest. 3. What manner of persons should those be in holy dili- 



Chai'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 287 

gencc, who have beon so long convinced of the evil of laziness ; 
and have confessed it on their knees, a hundred and a hundrecl 
tinu's, both in public and in private ; and have told (iod in prayer 
how unexcusably they have therein oflended ; should tliey 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. \Vhat manner of persons should those be in painful 
godliness, who have bound themselves to God by so many cove- 
nants as we have done, and in special have covenanted so olt 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 laborious 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 ; the objects of his greatest jealousy, as well as love ? 
Nadab and Abiiiu can tell you, that the flames of jealousy are 
hottest about his altar, Lev. x. 1, 2 : and Uzza, and the fifty thou- 
sand 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. 17 ; and the destroying angel doth 
begin at the sanctuary, Ezek. ix. 5, G. 

Quest. G. 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 obedience, as 
doth much more than countervail all the pains ; who have so oft 
had experience of the wide difference between lazy and laborious 
duty, by their different issues ; who have found all our lazy duties 
unfruitful, and all our strivings and wrestlings with God successful, 
so that we were never importunate with God in vain? We who 
have had so many admirable national and personal deliverances 
upon urgent seeking ; and have received almost all our solid com- 
forts 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 justified, 
or whether they are the children of God or no, or what shall ever- 
lastingly become of their souls, as most of the godly that I meet 
with are i They that have discovered the excellency of the king- 
dom, 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 wath daily as we 
have ; how should such men bestir themselves in time ! 



288 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Quest. 8. What manner of persons should they he in holiness, 
who have so much of the great work yet undone as we have ; so 
many sins in so great strength ; graces weak, sanctification imper- 
fect, corruption still working our ruin, and taking advantage of all 
our omissions ? When we are as a boatman on the water, let him 
row never so hard a month together, yet if he do but slack his 
hand, and think to ease himself, his boat goes faster down the 
stream than before it went up ; so do our souls, when we think to 
ease ourselves by abating our pains in duty. Our time is short ; 
our enemies mighty ; our hinderances many ; God seems yet at a 
great 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 diligence, 
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 1 
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 conversation, it is twenty to one 
but we may be instruments of saving many of them from everlast- 
ing perdition, and bringing them to the possession of the inherit- 
ance with us : on the contrary, if we silently neglect them, or sin- 
fully 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 ? 

Quest. \0. Lastly: What manner of persons should they be, 
on whom the glory of the great God doth so much depend ? Men 
will judge of the Father by the children, and of the Master by the 
servants. We bear his image ; and therefore men will measure him 
by his representation. He is no where in the world so lively repre- 
sented 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 his 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 rae 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. 

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 



CiiAi-. VH. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 281) 

sloUi and security ; partly because many eminent men of late do 
judgo, tliat to work or labour for life and salvation is mercenary, 
legal, and dangerous ; which doctrine, as I have said before^ were 
it by the owners reduced into practice, would undoubtedly damn 
them ; because they that seek not shall not find, and they that 
strive not to enter shall be shut out, and they that labour not shall 
not be crowned ; and partly because it is grown the custom 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 the 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 nmch of our time 
about the smaller matters which thousands have been saved with- 
out, 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. ^-^ ^ , 

^^ J^" /t /g. ^ ^--^ .^^f /^^ 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE THIRD USE : PERSUADING ALL MEN TO TRY THEIR TITLE TO 
THIS REST; AND DIRECTING 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, 
I entreat thee to read it*the more diligently, 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 I 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 king- 
dom, 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 king- 
dom. 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 uncer- 
tainty, whether ever they shall live in rest or not ? 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 



290 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

daily when sickness summons tliem, 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 phy- 
sician, 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, nothing out of their hearts and ex- 
perience, 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 books, and read and study from year to 
year, to know the creatures, and to be expert 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 no ? 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 : I 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 because thou hast been so careless in thy 
confidence. What do these expressions discover, but a wilful neg- 
lect of thy own salvation ? As a shipmaster that should let his 
vessel alone, and mind other matters, and say, I 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 vessels do. Indeed, as well as other men's that are as care- 
less and idle, but not so well as other men's that are diligent and 
watchful. What horrible abuse of God is this, for men to pretend 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 291 

that they trust God with their souls only to cloak their own wilful 
negligence ! If thou didst truly trust Ood, thou wouldst also he 
ruled hy him, and trust hiui in that way which he hath appointed 
thee, and upon those terms on which he hath promised thee help. 
Me requires thee to give all diligence to make thy calling and elec- 
tion sure, and so to trust him, 2 Pet. i. 10. He hath lined thee out 
a way in Scripture, hy which thou mayst come to he sure ; and 
charged thee to search and try thyself, till thou certainly know. 
\\'ere he not a foolish traveller that would hold on his way when 
he doth not know whether it he right or wrong, and say, I hope I 
am right ; I will not douht of it ; I will go on, and trust God? Art 
not thou guilty of this folly in thy travels to eternity ? Not con- 
sidering that a little serious inquiry and trial, whether thy way he 
right, might save thee a great deal of lahour 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 no, 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 dost 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 immovable kingdom, must 
yet serve God " with reverence and godly fear," because he " is a 
consuming fire ;" how then should the remembrance of him be 
terrible to them that know not but this fire may for ever consume 
them ! 

2. How dost thou think, without trembling, upon Jesus Christ, 
when thou knowest not whether his blood hath purged thy soul, or 
not ; and whether he will 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 happi- 
ness, or a stone of stumbling to break thee, and grind thee to pow- 
der. Matt. xxi. 44. Methinks thou shouldst still be in that tune, 
as Job xxxi. 23, " 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, G. If thou 
read the promises, thou knowest not whether ever they shall be 



292 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

fulfilled to thee, because thou art uncertain of thy performance of 
the condition. If thou read the threatenin<^s, for any thing thou 
knowest, thou dost read thy own sentence. 1 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 cnllest 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 pos- 
sessest ? 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 wall 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 quak- 
ing, and drink thy drink with trembling and carefulness ;" and 
say, Alas ! though I have these to refresh my body now, yet I 
know not what I shall have hereafter ? Even when thou liest down 
to take thy rest, methinks 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 ; then thou scarest me with dreams, and terri- 
fiest me through visions," Job vii. 13, 14. 

6. Doth it not grieve thee to see the people of God so comfort- 
able, when thou hast none thyself; and to think of the glory which 
they shall inherit, when thou hast no assurance thyself of ever en- 
joying 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 unchangeable 
state. The godly that have some assurance of their future wel- 
fare, 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 { Me- 



CriAi'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 293 

thinks that iu Deut. xxviii. 25 — 27, should be the looking-glass of 
thy heart. 

8. What shift dost thou make to preserve thy heart from horror, 
when thou reniembereiit the great judgment -day, and the everlast- 
ing flames ? Dost thou not tremble as Felix, when thou hearest of 
it, Acts xxiv. 2o ; and as the elders of the town trembled when 
Samuel came in, saying, " Comest thou peaceably ? " 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. IS, 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. o, 4, how canst thou think of living in hell 
with devils till thou hast got some sound assurance that thou shalt 
escape it i 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 veiy 
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 un- 
avoidable miseries, and it were unmeet either to reprove them for 
it, or dissuade them from it ; but, alas ! the common cause is wil- 
fulness 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-examination, 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 be these men that shall have rest, and what be 
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 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 
congregation 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 conscience, 
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 con- 
dition, and so passed sentence on thyself accordingly. 

But because this is a work of so high concernment, and so com- 
monly neglected, and men's souls do so much languish everywhere 



294 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

under this neglect, I will, therefore, though it he digressive, 1. 
Show you that it is possihle, by trying, to come to a certainty ; 2. 
Show you the hinderances that keep men from trying, and from 
assurance ; 3. I will lay down some motives to persuade you to it ; 
4. I will give you some directions how 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 ex- 
pect to attain to. 
Definition of ex- Sect. II. This self-examination is, an inquiry 

amination. jnto 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 accordingly 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 no : 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 our 
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 knowledge 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 differ- 
ent from the natural or physical truth ; 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 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 false in point of 
morality and right being, and so no gracious acts at all. 

3. The third thing contained in the work of self-examination, is, 
the judging or concluding of our real estate ; that is, of the habit- 
ual 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 ac- 
cident, 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 cheerful; 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 disposition by those acts, which make after 



Cum-. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 2\)5 

the end, as desire, love, &c. to God, Christ, heaven, is always more 
necessary and more certain, tiian 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 relation. So 
that our relations, or habits, are neithtn- of them felt or known im- 
mediately, but must be gathered from the knowledge of our acts, 
which maybe felt: as for example ; K I inquire, whether I be- 
lieve in Christ, or love God.' 2. If I find that I do, then I in- 
quire next, whether I do it sincerely, according 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, justified, and 
adopted : but I do so believe, or I am regenerate ; therefore, I am 
justified, &c. 

Sect. Ill, Thus you see what examination is, . , ^ 

-,. -r , . 1 . . 1 • i • -^ ■ Assurance what. 

Now let us see what this certainty or assurance is; 
and indeed it is nothing else but the knowledge of the foremen- 
tioned conclusions, that we are sanctified, justified, shall be glori- 
fied, as they arise from the premises in the work of examination. 

So that here you may observe, how immediately this assurance 
followeth the conclusion in examination, and so, how necessary ex- 
amination 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, ];ut of the certainty of the subject, 
or of the thing to our knowledge. 

Also you may observe, that before we can come to this certainty 
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 Scripture 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 followeth the assurance, which is the certainty that the con- 
clusion. Therefore I am justified, &c. followeth necessarily upon 
the former premises. 



296 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Hereby also you must carefully distinguish betwixt the several 
degrees of assurance. All assurance is not of the highest degree. 
It differs in strength, according to the different degrees of appre- 
hension, in all the forementioned points of certainty which are 
necessary thereunto. He that can truly raise the foresaid conclu- 
sion, that he is justified, &c. from the premises, hath some degree 
of assurance, though he do it with much w' eakness, and staggering, 
and doubting. The weakness of our assurance in any one point 
of the premises, will accordingly weaken our assurance in the con- 
clusion. 

Some, when they speak of certainty of salvation, do mean only 
such a certainty as excludeth all doubting, and think nothing else 
can be called certainty, but this high degree. Perhaps some pa- 
pists mean this, when they deny a certainty. Some also maintain, 
that St. Paul's plerophory, or full assurance, is the highest de- 
gree of assurance, and that some Christians do in this life attain to 
it. But Paul calls it full assurance, in comparison of lower de- 
grees, 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 sw^eet 
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 measure 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 comfort, 
or little. There are many unskilful, but self-conceited disputers of 
late, better to manage a club than an argument, who tell us, that 
it must be the Spirit that must assure us of salvation, and not our 
marks and evidences of grace ; that our comfort must not be taken 
from any thing in ourselves ; that our justification must be imme- 
diately believed, and not proved by our signs of sanctification, &c. 
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 we see things ? They are distinct causes, all 
necessary to the producing of the same effect. 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 297 

So that, l)y what hath been said, you may discern that the Spirit, 
and knowledge, and faith, and Scripture, and inward hoHncss and. 
reason, and inward sense of conscience, have all several parts and 
necessary uses in producing our assurance ; which I will show you 
distinctly. 

1. To the Spirit belong these particulars. 1. He hath indited 
those Scriptures which contain the promise of our pardon and sal- 
vation. 2. He giveth us the habit or power of believing. 3. He 
helpeth us also to believe actually, that the word is true, and to 
receive Christ and the privileges ottered 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. G. 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 conclude rightly of our state from our acts. 
He enliveneth and heighteneth our apprehension in these particu- 
lars, that our assurance 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 
ourselves. 

2. The part which the Scripture hath in this work, is, 1. It af- 
fordeth us the major proposition, that whosoever believeth sin- 
cerely 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 fore- 
said proposition is written in Scripture. 

4. The work of faith is to believe the truth of that Scripture, 
and to be the matter of one of our chief evidences. 

5. Our holiness, and true faith, as they are marks and evidences, 
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. 

7. Our reason, or discourse, is necessary to form the argument, 
and raise the conclusion from the premises ; and to compare 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 testi- 
mony of the Spirit is (for if it be not some of the forementioned 
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, 

* 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 dp. 



298 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

to produce one and the same effect, and to afford the premises to 
the same conchision, 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 cer- 
tainty 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 evidence. Indeed, 
1. The assent to the truth of a promise, 2. And the acceptation of 
Christ offered with his benefits, 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 justifica- 
tion ; 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 condition 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 justi- 
fied 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: for 
nothing is to be believed which is not written : but it is no where 
written that you or I are justified : only one of these premises is 
written, from whence we may draw the conclusion, that we are 
justified, if so be that our own hearts do afford us the other of the 
premises. So that our actual justification is not a matter of mere 
faith, but a conclusion from faith and conscience together. If God 
have no where promised to any man justification immediately, with- 
out condition, then no man can believe it : but God hath no where 
promised it absolutely ; therefore, &c. Nor hath he declared to 
any man, that is not first a believer, that he loveth him with any 

* The distinction used in the schools, oi certitudo fidei, and certitudo evidentia, I deny 
not : but tliat hatli a quite different sense from this as it is used. 

t Therefore I saj' not that our first comfort, much less our justification, is procured 
hy the sight of evidences ; but our assurance is. 

% Their common error, that justifying 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 mistakes. To justify 
us, and to assure us that we are justified, arc quite different things, and procured by 
different ways, and at several times, usually. 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, 299 

more than a connnon love ; therefore, no more can be believed but 
a common 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 certainty cannot 
here be attained : and that examination is the means to attain it. 
In which I shall be the briei'er, 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 vul- 
gar, 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 
sanctification, 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 Antinoraians, and the ignorant vulgar, con- 
spiring against this doctrine of assurance and examination. \\ hich 
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. 30; John xxi. 15; I John v. 19; iv. 13; iii. 14 — 24; 
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 whosoever believeth 
in Christ shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life," is the 
voice of the gospel ; and therefore that we may be sure of: that we 
are such believers, may be known by conscience and internal sense. 
I know all the question is this, whether the moral truth or sincerity 
of our faith, and other graces, can be known thus or not ? And 
that it may, I prove thus : 

1. From the natural use of this conscience, and internal sense, 
which is to acquaint us not only with the being, but the qualifica- 
tions of the acts of our souls. All voluntary motions are sensible, 
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 de- 
praved, 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 diflPerence be- 
tween the godly and the wicked, the children of God and the chil- 
dren of the devil, and set forth the happiness of the one and the 
misery of the other so largely, 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. 



300 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

4. Much less would the Holy Ghost bid us " give all diligence 
to make our calling and election sure/' if it could not be done, 
2 Pet. i. 10. And that this is not meant of objective certainty, but 
of the sul)iective, 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 ex- 
amine, 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 ; 
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 ;* 1 Thess. v. IG: to call God our Father, Luke xi. 12: to 
live in his praises, Psal. xlix. I — 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, if we can- 
not know that we are saints ? Psal. cxliv. 5 ; cxxxii. 9 ; xxx. 4 ; 
xxxi. 23, &c. 

Thus I have proved that a certainty may be attained; an infal- 
lible, though not a perfect certainty ; such as excludeth deceit, 
though it oxcludeth 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 I would not much contend 
with him : and I acknowledge that it is not properly a certainty of 
mere faith, but mixed. 

Iliuderances of ex- Scct. V. 3. The third thing that I promised, is, 
animation. to show you what are the hinderances which keep 

men from examination and assurance. I shall, 1. Show what hin- 
ders them from trying. And, 2. What hindereth them from know- 
ing, when they do try : that so, when you see the impediments, you 
may avoid them. 

■ g 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 in- 
struments which he can raise up, he will be sure above all duties 
to keep you oif from this. He is loth the godly should have that 
joy, and assurance, 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 
examining task, they would find out his deceits, and their own 
danger, and so be very likely to escape him ; if they did but faith- 
fully perform this duty, he were likely to lose most of the subjects 
of his kingdom. How could he get so many millions to hell will- 
ingly, 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 



Chap. VI I. THE SAINTS' F.VERLASTING REST. 301 

did know that he is ^oing to the slaughter," he would not he driven 
so easily to it, hut would strive for his life hefore he comes to die, 
as well as he doth at the time of his death. If lialaam 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 Mhither they were going, as well as Elisha did, they would 
have stopped hefore they found themselves in the hands of their 
enemies, 2 Kings vi. 19, 20. So, if sinners did hut know whither 
they were hasting, they would stop before they are ingulfed in 
damnation. If every swearer, drunkard, whoremonger, lover of 
the world, or unregenerate 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 whetlier 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, Judg. iv. 10. And as the Philistines with Samson, who 
first put out his eyes, and then made him grind in their mills, 
Judg. xvi. 21. If the pit be not covered, who but the blind will 
fall into it ? If the snare be not hid, the bird will escape it : Satan 
knows how to angle for souls better than to show them the hook or 
line, and to fright them away with a noise, or with his own ap- 
pearance. 

I'herofore, he labours to keep them from a searching ministry; 
or to keep the minister from helping them to search ; or to take off 
the edge of the word, that it may not pierce and divide ; 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. 2. Wicked men also are great impediments to poor sin- 
ners when they should examine and discover their estates. 1 . Their 
examples hinder much. When an ignorant sinner seeth all his 
friends and neighbours do as he doth, and live quietly in the same 
state with hmiself, 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 



302 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 mat- 
ters of the world, doth damp all these purposes for self-trying, 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. hinder 
much. God doth scarce ever open the eyes of a poor sinner, to 
see that all is naught 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 Avell, 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 forefathers ? and what will become of all your friends and 
neighbours that live as you do ; will they all be damned ; shall 
none be saved, think you, but a 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 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 ! 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 faith or no : give all diligence to make sure in time," 
Luke xiii. 34 ; 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 con- 
sider, that it is Christ, and not their fathers, or mothers, or neigh- 
bours, or friends, that must judge them at last ; and if Christ con- 
demn 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 multi- 
tudes of flattering prophets, it was his death. They can flatter 
men into the snare, but they cannot tell how to bring them out. 
O, 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 par- 
takers with them," Eph. v. 6, 7 : and, " Save yourselves from this 
untoward generation," Acts ii. 40. 

3. But the greatest hinderances are in men's own hearts. 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 303 

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 attained, or that 
there is any such great diiference 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 dif- 
ference lies, nor how to set upon the searching of their heart, nor 
to find out its secret motions, and to judge accordingly. They 
have as gross conceits of that regeneration, which they must search 
for, as Nicodemus had, John 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 up his books, because they are afraid he will break. 
As some fond parents, that have an overweening conceit of their 
own children, and therefore will not believe or hear any evil of 
them. Such a fond self-love cloth hinder men from suspecting and 
trying their states. 

5. Some are so guilty that they dare not try. They are so fear- 
ful 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 so 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 
ways, 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 will 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 no ? 

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 



304 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

have another kind of happiness in their eye, which they are pursu- 
ing, which will not suffer them to make sure of heaven. 

9. Most men are so clogged with a laziness and slothfulness of 
spirit, that they will not be persuaded to he 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 most 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 sus- 
pecting their danger. 

Thus you see what abundance of difficulties must be overcome be- 
fore a man can closely set upon the examining of his heart. I do 
but name them for brevity sake. 

Hinderances which , ^ect. VIII. And if a man do break through all 
keep many that do these mipecuments, and set upon the duty, yet as- 
cxamine from at- surance is not presently attained. Of those few 

taming strong assur- ^ ^ ■ ■ ^ n, ^ i n 

ance, and cause many who do uiquire alter marks and means ot assur- 
to be deceived. ance, and bestow some pains to learn the differ- 

ence 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 doth, or what is in him. As one can hardly find any thing in 
a house where nothing keeps its place, but all is cast on a heap 
together ; so is it in the heart where all things are in disorder, 
especially when darkness is added to this disorder : so that the 
heart is like an obscure cave or dungeon, where there is but a little 
crevice of light, and a man must rather grope than see. No wonder 
if men mistake in searching such a heart, and so miscarry in judg- 
ing of their estate. 

2. And the rather, because most men do accustom themselves 
to be strangers at home, and are little taken up with observing 
the temper and motions of their own hearts. All their studies are 
employed without them, and they are no where less acquainted 
than in their own breasts. 

3. Besides, many come to the work with forestalling conclusions : 
they are resolved what to judge before they try : they use the duty 
but to sti'engthen their present conceits of themselves, and not 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 beforehand ; or, as perverse disputers, 
who argue only to maintain their present opinions rather than to 
try those opinions 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 



CiiAi'. VII. 'IHK SAINTS' KVKKLASriNd RKST. ;iO;5 

ready to say," All those have I kept from my youth ;" anil, " I am 
rich and increased," &c. Matt. xix. IcO ; llcv. 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 hy 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 beseems them in a work of such 
moment. He must give all diligence that means to make sure. 

G. Also, men try themselves by false marks and rules, not know- 
ing 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 affections 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 use to try themselves by unsafe marks ; either look- 
ing for a high degree of grace, instead of a lower degree in sin- 
cerity, 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. that are essential parts of our Christianity, and that 
be nearest to the heart. 

9. Lastly : Men frequently miscarry in this working, by setting 
on it in their own strength. As some expect the Spirit should do 
it without them, so others attempt it thenisclves, without seeking 
or expecting the he-lp of the Spirit. ]3oth these will certainly mis- 
carry in their assurance. How far the Spirit's assistance is neces- 
sary, is showed before, and the several acts which it must perform 
for us. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Fl'RTlIER CAUSKS OK DOUBTING AMONG CHRISTIANS. 

Sect. I. Because the comfort of a Christian's Some further hinder- 
life doth so much consist in his assurance of God's antes which keep 

. , , , , 1-1 c 1 • some Christians witli- 

special love, and because the right way or obtain- out assurance and 
ing it is so much controverted of late, I will here comfort. 
proceed a little further in opening to you some other hinderances 
which keep true Christians from comfortable certainty, besides the 

x 



306 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

forementioned errors in the work of examination : though I would 
still have you remember and be sensible, 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 I have yet found. 

I shall now add these ten more, which I find very ordinary im- 
pediments, and therefore desire Christians more carefully to con- 
sider 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 dis- 
cerned. 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. 

T, , The chief remedy for such, would be to follow 

KemedV. ■, ■ ^ •^^ ^ ■ 1 • 1 T-)l 

on then- duty, till their graces be increasecL Jrly 
your work ; wait upon God in the use of his prescribed means, and 
he will undoubtedly bless you with increase and strength. Oh 
that Christians would bestow most of that time in getting more 
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 be- 
stow 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. II. 2. Another cause of uncomfortable living is, that 
Christians look more at their present cause of comfort or discom- 
fort, 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 be- 
loved, or not ; but they do not think what course they should take 
to be justified, if they be not ; as if their present 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 



CuAP. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 307 

this 1)0 clone in a moment i" Dost thou not know that thou mayst 
have Christ and j^ardon whenever thou wilt { Call not this a loose 
or strange doctrine. Christ is willing if thou be willing. He 
olTenth himself and all his benefits to thee : he pr(>sseth them on 
thee, and urgeth thee to accept them. He will condemn thee, and 
destroy thee, if thou wilt not accept them. \\'hy dost thou, there- 
fore, stand whining and complaining that thou art not pardoned 
and adopted, when thou shouldst take them, being offered thee ! 
V^eie 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 ? 
\\ hat 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 I ^^ hy, then, do you not say the like to your- 
selves { Know ye not that pardon and adoption are offered you 
only on the condition of your believing .'' And this believing is no- 
thing else but the accepting of Christ for thy Lord and Saviour, as 
he is ollered to thee with his benefits in the gospel : and this ac- 
cepting is principally, if not only, the act of thy will. So that if 
thou be willing 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, 1 cannot believe ; 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, therefore, put this question to every 
doubting, complaining soul, ^^'hat is it that thou art complaining 
and mourning for i ^Vhat makes thee walk so sadly as thou dost !' 
Because thou hast not Christ and his benefits ( Why, art thou will- 
ing to have them on the forementioned condition, or art thou not i 
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 thee to be willing. Is 
it not madness, then, to lie 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 willing, and thou be willing, who 
X 2 



308 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 I 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. III. 3. Another cause of many Christians' trouble is, their 
mistaking assurance for the joy that sometimes 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 must there be a fur- 
ther act to make us know that we have that grace : and v/hen 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 assur- 
ance of our regenerate and justified state the Spirit gives more 
ordinarily, but that sensible joy is more seldom 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 complaining souls understand not : and there- 
fore, though they cannot deny their willingness to have Christ, nor 
many other the like graces, which are infallible signs of their jus- 
tification and adoption ; yet, because they do not feel their spirits 
replenished wuth comforts, they throw away all, as if they had no- 
thing. 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 con- 
veying these expected fcomforts. When they hear that they are 
the free gifts of the Spirit, they presently conceive themselves to be 
merely passive therein, and that they have nothing to do but to 
wait when God will bestow them ; not understanding that though 
these comforts are spiritual, yet are they rational ; raised upon the 
understanding's apprehension of the excellency of God our happi- 
ness, and of our interest in him ; and by the rolling of this blessed 
object in our frequent meditations. 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 affections, 
and exciting them accordingly, and not lay it aside and affect us 
without it ; therefore, our joys are raised discursively, and the Spi- 
rit first revealeth our cause of joy, and then helpeth us to rejoice 
upon those revealed grounds ; so that he who rejoiceth groundedly, 
knoweth why he rejoiceth ordinarily. Now these mistaken Chris- 
tians 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 



Ciur. Vlll. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 30"> 

their comlbrt is in the promises; and thence tiiey must fetch it as 
oft as they expect it : and that if they set themselves 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 meditation, they may complain for want of com- 
fort long enough before they have it, in God's ordinary way of con- 
veyance. 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 persuade 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 argument- 
ative means ; telling them that such comforts 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 perfect or an undoubt- 
ing certainty. They must know, that while they are here they 
shall know but in part ; they shall be imperfect 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 themselves, and make a breach in their peace 
and joy. Yet, as long as their faith is prevailing, and their assur- 
ance doth tread down and subdue their doublings, 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. f 
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 

* As if a poor man should complain for want of money, when a chest full stands by 
him, and lie may take what he will ; is it not better to take it out, than lie complaining 
for want 1 

t 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 tliey were among the orthodox, as soon as they have 
turned to such or such a sect, have comfort in abundance ; partly through Satan's delu- 
sion, and partly because they think their change in opinion hath set them right with 
God, and therefore they rejoice. So many hypocrites whose religion lieth only in their 
opinions, have their comfort also only there. 



310 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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. x\s if their comfort and their safety 
were both of a nature, and both built on the same foundation, they 
conclude against their safety, because they have discovered the 
mistake of their former comfort. And there are many much-ap- 
plauded 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 cove- 
nant 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 them- 
selves, to know the states of others ; yea, and of false and insuf- 
ficient marks too : for to argue from the motive of our persuasion 
of a good state, to the goodness or badness of that state, is no sound 
arguing. It followeth not that a man is unregenerate 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 he 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 I ob- 
serve most persons do, who turn to errors or heresies ; they took 
up the truth in the beginning, upon either false or doubtful grounds, 
and then, when their grounds are overthrown 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 ui:isound. 

Sect. VII, 7. Moreover, many a soul lieth long under doubting, 
through the great imperfection of their very reason, and exceeding 
weakness of their natural parts Grace doth 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 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 311 

to perform the work of solf-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 iluctuate and stagger in their con- 
cession, 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. 8. Another great and too common cause of doubting 
and discomfort, is the secret maintaining of some known sin. 
"NVhcn a man liveth in some unwarrantable practice, and God hath 
oft touched him for it, and conscience is galled, and yet he con- 
tinueth 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 adventure 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 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 
iu the maintaining their innocency, when another 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 sins doth hinder assurance these four ways : 
1. It 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 corruption. 3. It 
putteth out or dimmeth the eye of the soul, that it cannot see its 
own condition; and it benumbethand stupifieth, that it caimot 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 
the desires of the flesh, or any the like unchristian practice, thou 
expectest assurance and comfort in vain. God will not encourage 
thee, by his precious gifts, in a course of sinning. This worm will 



312 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

be crawling and gnawing upon thy conscience ; it will be a fretting, 
devouring canker to thy consolations. Thou niayst 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. However an Antinomian may tell 
thee that thy comforts have no such dependence upon thy obedi- 
ence, 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 walking, yet thou shalt 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 according 
to the multitude of his idols." Read Ezek. xv. 3 — 9. 

Sect. IX. 9, 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 pleasure, but the laborious 
Christian knows it by experience. As prayer must have faith 
and fervency to procure its success, besides the bloodshed and in- 
tercession 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 servant, &c. enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord," will also encourage his servants in their most affec- 
tionate 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 soul itself, 
nothing is felt or perceived but only its acts. The fire that lieth 



CuAi". Vlll. THE SAINTS' KVERLASTlNCi REST. ;jl3 

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 unactive are 
not reniend)ered or taken notice of. Those that have long lain 
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 habit 
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* I earnestly beseech thee. Christian, observe 
and practise this excellent rule: thou now knowest not whether 
thou have repentance, 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 no. As Dr. Sibbs ob- 
serveth, " There is sometimes grief for sin in us when we think 
there is none." It wants but stirring up by some quickening word : 
the like he saith of love, and it may be said of every other grace. 
You may go seeking for the hare or partridge 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 doubt 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 tid 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 God 
in Christ, doth bring unexpressible sweetness with it into the soul. 
The soul that is best furnished with grace, when it is not in action, 
is like a lute that is well stringed and tuned, which while it lieth 
still doth make no more nmsic than a common piece of wood ; but 
when it is taken up and handled by a skilful lutist, the melody is 
Tnost delightful. " Some degree of comfort," saith that comfort- 
able 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 is premium ante pra- 
i/iiinn, 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 cold- 
ness be gone, and heat excited ; so he that wants assurance of the 



314 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 doub tings 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. It is no more wonder for a 
conscientious man that is overcome w'ith 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 distemper of body, or some 
other occasion, doth afterwards bring in trouble of conscience as 
its companion. With others, trouble 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 hu- 
mour, 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 wall not believe 
you, but wonder that you should oflfer to persuade him against his 
eye-sight ; so a melancholy man sees all things in a sad and fear- 
ful plight, because his reason looketh on them through this black 
humour, with which his brain is 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. 



CiiAi'. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 315 

CHAPTER IX. 

CONTAINING AN EXHORTATION, AND MOTIVES TO EXAMINE. 

Sect. I. Having thus discovered the impediments to examina- 
tion, I would presently proceed to direct you to the performance of 
it, hut that 1 am yet jealous whether I have fully prevailed with 
your wills, and whether you are indeed resolved to set upon the 
duty. I 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 assurance 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 argu- 
ments, which I have propounded, in hope to persuade them to 
this duty. 

Sect. II. 1. To be deceived about your title to . 

heaven is exceeding easy ; and not to be deceived, 
is exceeding difficult. This I 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 ad- 
join 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 despise 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 
have been befooled in this great business ; and they that had wit 

* Matt. vii. 22, 2G, 27, &c. ; Prov. xiv. 11 ; Luke xiii. 25, 26 ; xviii. 1, 11 ; Rev. iii. 
17. So Ananias and Sapphira, the rich man in Luke xvi. &c. ; Ahithophel, Gehazi, 
Ananias and Sapphira, Pharisees, Jesuits, &c. Rom. i. 22. Judas and the Jews that 
heard Christ. Matt. vii. 22 ; Rom. ii. 21 : 1 Cor. ix. 27. 



310 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

to deceive their neighbours, were yet deceived by Satan and their 
own hearts. Yea, men of strongest head-pieces, and profoundest 
learning, who knew much of the secrets of nature, of the courses of 
the planets, and motions of the spheres, have yet been utterly mis- 
taken 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 life-time 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 themselves. 

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 

Motive 2. . , 1, o X- 

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 judg- 
ment ; 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 mis- 
taken in thinking they have title to heaven, as the Scripture doth 
enumerate them, and what a multitude will they prove! 1. All 
that are ignorant of the fundamentals of religion. 2. All heretics 
who maintain false doctrines against the foundation, 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 sin. 5. All that 
harden themselves against frequent reproof, Prov. xxix. 1. 6. xA.!! 
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, 16. 

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 reproaches, Prov. i. 22, &c. ; iii. 34 ; 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 with- 
out the power. 12. And all that love either parents, or wife, or 
children, 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. (Eph. iv. 18 ; Hos. 
iv. 6; Isa. xxvii. 11; 2 Cor. iv. 3, Rev. ii. 6, 20; Tit. ii. 10; 



2. It will take away the efficacy of means that should do them 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 317 

1 Cor. vi. <) ; XV. 50 ; Eph. v. 4— G ; Psal. Ixvi. 18 ; James iv. 4, .^ ; 
Heb, xii. 14; John iii. 3; 2 Tim. iii. 5; James i. 22; Mark xiii. 
5, () ; Matt. X. 37 ; John xii. 25.) 

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 mistaken. 
The consequents of it are lamentable and desperate. If the godly 
be mistaken in judging their state to be worse than it is, the conse- 
quents of this mistake- will be very sad ; but if the ungodly be mis- 
taken, 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 may 
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 

ly the efficacy 

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 con- 
trary 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 tluU make him apply the promises ; and 
there is no greater strengthener of sin, and destroyer of the soul, 
than Scripture misapplied. Worldly 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 compassionating his own soul ; though 
he be a sad! object of pity to every understanding man that behold- 
eth him, yet will he not be able to pity himself, because he know- 
eth not his own misery. As I have seen a physician 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 itself, because it little thinketh that 
death is so near : so is it with these poor sinners ; 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. 17, 18; but 
we never read of their weeping for themselves. Christ standeth 
weeping over Jerusalem, when they knew not of any evil that was 



318 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

towards 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, I 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 v/ill choose the most able 
lawyers and physicians, 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. 

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 undone for ever. Men think, to see a man die quietly 
or comfortably, is to see him die happily ; but if his comfort pro- 
ceed from this mistake of his condition, it is the most unhappy case 
and pitiful sight in the world. To live mistaken, 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 followeth 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 
up no very long time, or if it did, yet you have your time given you 
for that end. One hour so spent, will comfort y®u 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 can- 
not you endure to spend a little time in inquiring what shall be 
your everlasting state ? What a deal of sorrow and after-complain- 
ing might this small labour prevent ! 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 uncertainty ! 
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 

* Turpe est in re militari dicere, Non putarem. 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVKRLASTINU REST. 319 

wouklst not think of it. As the commander answered his soldier, 
in Plutarch, when he said, Non rolois crniri, I erred against my 
will ; he beat him, and replied, N^oii rolena pocnas daio, Thou shalt 
Le punished also against thy will. 

Sect. VI. .'3. Thou canst scarce do Satan a greater pleasure, 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 de- 
ceiving 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 de- 
stroyer and devil to thyself. And hath he deserved so well of thee, 
and thyself so ill, that thou shouldst assist him in such a design as 
thy damnation ? To deceive another is a grievous sin, and such as 
perhaps thou wouklst 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 V Prov. 
xxvi. LS, 19. Surely, then, he that maketh but a sport, or a matter 
of nothing, to deceive his own soul, may well be thought a mad- 
man, 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 destruc- 
tion, and do not know it, and all for want of this diligent 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 yourselves the sorrow ; 
and that you had tried and judged yourselves, that so you might 
have escaped the trial and judgment of God, 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 bro- 
ther .''" To have demanded this of himself had been easier. Men 
think God mindeth their state and ways no more than they do 
their own. " They consider not in their hearts" (saith the Lord) 
" that I 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 would it be to that last? and great trial, if men 
had but thoroughly tried themselves, and made sure work before- 
hand ! ^^'hen 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 



320 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

all my guilt, and am a justified person in law already ! O sirs, if 
you knew but the comfort of such a preparation, 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 be- 
tray 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 (Dan. ii. 29, 
46, 47; Matt. xxvi. ; xxiv. ; John iv. 29; 2 Kings i. 2; Dan. ix. 
23; X. 11, 19). And is it so desirable a thing to hear prophecies, 
and to know what shall befall us hereafter .'' And is it not then 
most especially desirable 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 far greater. If ever God bestow 
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 great- 
ness, 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 salva- 
tion, will be pleasing thoughts. Then will it do thee good to view 



Cii.u>. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 321 

his wounds by the eye of faith, aiul to put thy finger, as it were, 
into his side, when thou canst call him, as Thomas did, " My Lord 
and my God." 

S. liA'cry passage, also, in the word will then afford thee comfort. 
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 thou wilt cry, with David, " Oh 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 
loaf of tiio 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 ! 
l^om. X. 15. 

4. What boldness and comfort then niayst thou have in prayer, 
when thou canst say " Our Father" in full assurance; and knowest 
that thou art welcome and accepted through Christ ; 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 mayst thou then approach the 
throne of grace, Heb. x. 22, 29 ; especially when the case is weighty, 
and thy necessity great ! This assurance in prayer will be a sweet 
privilege indeed. A despairing soul, that feeleth the weight of sin 
and wrath, especially at a dying hour, would give a large price to 
be 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 sw^eetness of every mercy thou receivest. 
When thou art sure that all proceeds from love, and are the begin- 
nings 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 mayst thou undergo all afflictions, when 
thou knowest that he meaneth thee no hurt in them, but hath pro- 
mised, " 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 receive, and that out of 
very faithfulness he doth afflict thee ! Rom. viii. 28; Heb. xii. 6, 
7 ; Psal. Ixxv. What a support nuist 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, forsaken 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 re- 
membering 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, 

Y 



322 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Numb, xxiii. 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 coronation. 

10. Yea, the very thoughts of the flames of hell, will administer 
matter of consolation to thee, when thou canst certainly conclude 
thou art saved from them. 

11. The forethoughts of heaven also will be more incomparably 
delightful, when thou art certain that it is the place of thine ever- 
lasting abode. 

12. It will make thee exceeding 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 knowest thou shalt 
conquer ! 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. 5S. 

13. It will also make thee more profitable to others. Thou wilt 
be a most cheerful encourager of them from thine own experience ; 
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 thyself : 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 dearly God did love thee, whom thou hast abused, 
2. It will inflame thy soul with love to God, when thou once know- 
est thy near relation to him, and how tenderly he is affected toward 
thee, Psal. cxvi. 1 ; xviii, 1, 2. 3. It will quicken thy desires 
after him, when thou art once sure of thy interest in him, 1 Thess. 
iv. 17, 18; Psal. cxviii. 28; Isa. xxv. 1. 4. It is the most excel- 
lent fountain of continual rejoicing, Hab. iii. 17 — 19. 5. It will 
confirm thy trust and confidence in God in the greatest straits, 
Psal. Ixxxix. 26 ; 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 
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 yourselves to the practice of 



CiiAi-. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. -^23 

the duty. Keader, thou secst the case in hand is of the groatrst 
moment. It is to know whether thou shalt everlastingly live in 
heaven or hell. If thou hast lived hitluMto in dark uncertainty, it 
is a pitiful case; but if thou wilfully continue so, thy madness is 
unexpressible : and is it not wilfully, when a thorough trial might 
help thee to be rt>solved, 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 wilt 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 re- 
quest 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 pre- 
sently fall on trying myself? Why, what a case were I in, if I 
should then miscarry ! May I know by a little diligent inquiry 
now, and do I stick at the labour? And hero set thyself to the 
duty. Object. But it may be, thou wilt say, I know not how to 
do it. Ansiv. That is the next work that I come to, to give direc- 
tions 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, according to these 
directions, which I shall lay down from the word ? I demand 
nothing unreasonable or impossible of thee : it is but that thou 
wouldst 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 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 prefer 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, I 
will here give thee some directions,* 

* I cannot but English (though I 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 ac- 
count. It was the custom of Sextius, that when the day was past, and he betook him- 
self to his rest at night, he would ask his soul, "What evil of thine hast thou healed to- 
day ! "NVbat vice hast thou resisted % In what part art thou better t Anger 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 
iiuict, and sound, and sweet a sleep must needs follow this reckoning with ourselves ; 
wlien the soul is either commended or admonisiiod, and, as a secret observer and judge 
of itself, is acquainted with bis own manners! I use this power myself, and daily ac- 
cuse myself, or plead my cause before myself. "VVIien the candle is taken out of my 
sight, and my wife holds her tongue, then, according to my custom, I search over the 



324 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III, 



CHAPTER X. 

CONTAINING DIRECTIONS FOR EXAMINATION, AND SOME MARKS 
FOR TRIAL. 

Sect. I. I will not stand here to lay down the directions neces- 
sary 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 observation of these 
rules. 1. Come not with too peremptory conclusions of yourselves 
beforehand. Do not judge too confidently before you try. Many 
godly, dejected souls come with this prejudging to the work, con- 
cluding 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 out- 
ward incitements ; how great or small the impediments ; what de- 
light, or loathing, or fear, or reluctancy, did go with those acts. 
By these and the like observations, you may come to a more infalli- 
ble knowledge of yourselves. 

5. Be sure you set upon the work with a serious, roused, awakened 
soul, appi-ehensive of how great concernment it is. 

6. And lastly : Resolve to judge thyself impartially, neither 

■whole day with myself; I measure over again my doings and my sayings ; I hide nothing 
from myself; I overpass nothing : for why should I fear any of my errors, when I 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 ignorant. 
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 offend him. Here- 
after see, not only whether it be truth which thou speakest, hut whether he to whom it 
is spoken can bear the truth. Senec. de Ira, lib. iii. 36. If a heathen can keep a daily 
reckoning with his soul, methinks a Christian might follow on the work of examination 
once till he know his condition ; and when that is done, he shall find this daily reckon- 
ing, well managed, to be of unconceivable advantage, for subduing corruption, and for 
growth in grace. 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3v.j 

better nor worse than thou art, l)ut as the evidence sliall prove 
tlice. 

Sect. II. ]3eing thus provided, then set to tlie business, and 
therein observe these directions following, which I will mention 
briefly, that lying close together, you may be able to view and ob- 
serve 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 hearty prayer desire the 
assistance of his Spirit, to discover to thee the plain truth of thy 
condition, and to enlighten thee in the whole progress of the work. 

3. Make choice of the most convenient time and place. I shall 
not stand upon the particular directions about these, because I 
shall mention them more largely when I come to direct you in 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 can- 
not 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 work : 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, be- 
fore a sacrament, &c. 5. When God is trying you by some afflic- 
tion, and, as Job saith, is searching after your sin, then set in with 
him, and search after them yourselves. Job x. 6, G. 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 foremen- 
tioned 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 suiTer it to break away once 



326 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

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 he 
diligently at the work. Put the question to it seriously. Is it thus 
and thus with me, or no? Force it here to an answer. Suffer it 
not to he silent, nor to jangle and think of other matters. If the 
question be hard, through the darkness of thy heart, yet do not 
give it over so, hut 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 carf 
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 Scrip- 
ture how to prove them so ; and direct thee in the right use of 
such evidences ; and show thee how to conclude 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 certainty, 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 compassion- 
ate 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 ac- 
cording to thy conscience. Do not conclude, as some do, I am a 
good Christian, or as others do, I am a reprobate, or a 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 no- 
thing to say against the arguments ; let not thy judgment be 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTINCi REST. SJl 

any way biassed or bribed, and so forestalled from sentencing 
aright. 

10. Labour to get thy heart kindly affected with its discovered 
condition, according to the sentence passed on it. Do not think it 
(Miough to know, but labour to feel what God hath made thee see. 
If thou find thyself undoubtedly graceless, oh ! get this to thy 
licart, and think what a doleful condition it is to be an enemy to 
(jod ; 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 thy- 
self renewed and sanctified indeed, oh ! get this warm and close to 
thy heart ; bethink thyself what a blessed state the Lord hath 
brought thee into ; 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 heaven. 

Thus follow these meditations, till they have left their impres- 
sion on thy heart. 

11. Ke sure to record this sentence so passed ; write it down, or 
at least Avrite it in thy memory. At such a time, upon thorough 
examination, I found my state to be thus or thus : this record w^ill 
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 sen- 
tence of thy misery under thy own hand ! If thou be godly, what 
a help will it be against the next temptation 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 fellow^ship 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 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 direct thee 
sufiiciently, 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 bo yet 
unregenerate, that thou do not conclude of thy future state by thy 
present ; nor say. Because I am ungodly, I shall die so ; or. Be- 
cause I am a hypocrite, I shall continue so : no ; thou hast another 



328 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

work to do ; and that is, to resolve presently to cleave to Christ, 
and to break off thy hypocrisy and thy wickedness. 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 a 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 will- 
ing 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 a hypocrite now, after all, what hope is there 
that I should now become sincere ? A?istv. Dost thou heartily 
desire to be sincere ; thy sincerity doth lie especially in thy will : 
as long as thou art unwilling, 1 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. Neither hath Christ 
restrained his Spirit, or promises, to any set time ; or said to thee, 
Thou shalt find grace, if thou sin but 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 diminution 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 willing, 
may find help by it, and the rest will be left most unexcusable in 
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 open- 
ed them to you fullier when I preached on that subject ; but I will 
briefly adjoin some marks to try your title to this rest, by referring 
you, for a fuller discovery, to the description 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 your labour, and deceive 
yourselves. 

Mark 1. Every soul that hath title to this rest, doth place his 
chiefest 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 I 
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 affec- 
tion, 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 he an heir of rest, it is thus with thee, Psal. cxix. 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 329 

57 ; cxlii. 5 ; Lam. iii. 4. ThouG^h the flesh will be pleading for 
its own delights, and the world will he creeping into thine affection, 
and thou canst not he quite freed from the love of it, yet in thy or- 
dinary, settled, prevailing judgment and affections, 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 hearest and prayest, why thou desirest 
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 king- 
dom of God and its righteousness. Though thou do not seek it so 
desirously and zealously as thou shouldst, yet hath it the chief of 
thy desires and endeavours, and nothing else is desired or pre- 
ferred before it. Matt. vi. 33 ; so that thy very heart is thus far set 
upon it. Matt. vi. 21 ; Col. iii. I — 3. 

2. Also thou wilt think no labour or suffering too great to ob- 
tain it ; 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. 2G, 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 ex- 
change thy title to it, and hopes of it, for any worldly good what- 
soever. Indeed, when the soul is in doubts of enjoying it, perhaps 
it may possibly desire rather the continuance of an earthly happi- 
ness, "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 eternity 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 dis- 
cover 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, 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 perceive so much excellency in 
that unseen glory of another world, as to draw thy heart so after it, 
or set thee a labouring so heartily 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 care- 
less thoughts which follow thy constant, earnest, and delightful 
thoughts of earthly things. Neither wouldst thou do any thing at 



330 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

all for heaven, if thou knewest how to keep the world : Lut lest 
thou shouldst he 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 conscionable 
walking according to the gospel rule : and when it comes to trial, 
that thou must forsake Christ or thy worldly happiness, and the 
wind which was in thy back doth turn in thy face, then thou wilt 
venture heaven rather than earth, and, as desperate rebels use to 
say, thou wilt rather trust God's mercy for thy soul, than man's 
for thy body, and so 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 saints' 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 
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 condition 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 definition of faith. 

1. Dost thou find that thou art naturally a lost, condemned man 
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 ; and hearing in the gospel that he is offered without ex- 
ception 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 subordina- 
tion 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 ; 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 wouldst not change thy Lord 
and Master for all the world t Thus it is with every true Christian. 
But if thou be a hypocrite, it is far otherwise. Thou mayst 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, 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 331 

and lay thy salvation on him alone. Or, at least, thou didst never 
heartily consent that he should govern thee as thy Lord ; nor didst 
resign up thy soul and life to be ruled by him ; nor take his word 
for the law of thy thoughts and actions. It is like thou art content 
to be saved from hell by Christ when thou diest, but, in the 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 mayst 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 a reprobate, Tit. i. 17. This is 
the case of those that shall be shut out of the saints' 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 comforted by them ; 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 mistaking 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 bought 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 con- 
sent must be hearty and real ; not feigned or with reservations. 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 unwilling that his commands 
should encroach upon the interest of the world or flesh. If 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 sub- 
stance of Christianity is contained in these. Oh that the Lord 
would now persuade thee to the close performance of this self-try- 
ing 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 
assurance 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 ! 



332 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Taut III. 



CHAPTER XI. 

A MORE EXACT INQUIRY INTO THE NUMBER AND USE OF MARKS ; 
THE NATURE OF SINCERITY ; WITH OTHER THINGS OF GREAT 
MOMENT IN THE WORK OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

Sect. I. It is a matter of such inexpressible consequence for 
every man to make sure work in the great business of his salvation, 
it being so easy, so ordinary, and so dangerous to be mistaken, that 
I think fit yet to add some further advice, to help men in the trial 
of their own states. There is no Christian that hath any care of 
his soul, or any belief and true sense of the matters of eternity, but 
must needs be very solicitous in inquiring, How he may know what 
will become of him for ever and ever? and be glad of a clear, un- 
deceiving direction for the discovery of this. As I lay under seven 
years' doubting and perplexity of spirit myself, much through my 
ignorance in the managing of this work, so was I very inquisitive 
still after signs of sincerity, and I got all the books that ever I 
could buy, which laid down evidences and marks of true grace, and 
tended to discover the difference betwixt the true Christian and the 
hypocrite or unsound ; I liked no sermon so well as that which con- 
tained most of these marks ; and afterward, when I was called to 
the ministry myself, I preached in this way as much as most. I 
have heard as many complaints of doubting, distressed souls as 
most : and had as many that have opened their hearts to me in this 
point ; of whom many have proved the most humble, self-denying, 
mortified Christians ; and many that were deepest in doubtings and 
distress, upon trial of their lives, I found also deepest in pride, 
peevishness, unmortified lusts, and unfaithful walking, which did 
feed their troubles. Upon this long experience of myself and 
others, and most serious study of this point, and prayer to God for 
his direction, I think it but my duty to open yet more fully, for the 
benefit of others, what I have herein discovered, which is necessary 
for them to understand in this weighty work : for one error here 
may put the hearts and lives of godly people quite out of frame, and 
may do much to the confirming of the wicked in their presumption 
and self-deceit. I shall therefore lay down what I conceive to be 
the truth, in certain propositions. 

Sect. II. Prop. 1. A sincere Christian may attain to an infal- 
lible knowledge of his own sincerity in grace, or his performance 
of the conditions of the covenant of life, and consequently of his 
justification, adoption, and title to glory; and this without any ex- 
traordinary revelation. 

This proposition I have proved before, and therefore need to say 
no more to it now. I lay it down here by way of caution to pre- 
vent mistakes ; lest any should think that I am against an attain- 
ment of assurance here, because of some passages following. 



Chai'. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. SSS 

Sect. III. Prop. 2. This infallibln knowledge is not properly a 
certainty of faith, as too many divinos alllrin. 

This also 1 have proved before in opening the nature of assur- 
ance, and in the appendix of my Aphorisms of Justification ; and 
Mr. NN'otton de Reconcil. and very many learned divines of late, 
have conlirmed it fully. Proper certainty of faith is, when a man 
by mere believing is sure of the truth of the thing believed : this, 
therefore, leancth fully on a Divine testimony. But there is no 
Divine testimony revealing, that such or such a man's sins are par- 
doned, or he justified. The testimony of the Spirit is but partly 
by giving us the conditions of the promise, which is our evidence, 
and partly helping us to see them, and conclude from them, and 
take comfort therein : and so it witnesseth with our consciences, 
by causing our consciences spiritually and effectually to witness. 
But this testimony is not the object of faith ; it is only God's 
testimony in Scripture which affords us a certainty of faith, pro- 
perly Divine, in this point. Though in other cases natural dis- 
coveries may be truly called a Divine testimony in a larger sense ; 
yet this is above nature : now, God's word doth only say, he that 
repenteth and belicvcth shall be pardoned, and justified, and saved; 
but no where saith, that you or I shall be saved. Object. But, 
you will say, as long as we may know that we believe, is it not all 
one ? A/isic. No : for God's word tells me not that I believe ; 
therefore this must be known by reflection and internal sense, and 
not by believing. He that believeth he doth believe, believeth 
himself and not God ; for God no where telleth him so : so then 
it is beyond doubt, that assurance, as 1 said before, ariseth from 
the conclusion ; one of whose premises is in the word of God, and 
must be believed ; the other is in our own hearts, and must be 
felt or known ; and therefore the conclusion is mixed, and to be 
deduced by reason, and is not an object properly of Divine faith, 
or of any faith at all. There is but one objection that seems to 
me to have any appearance of strength, to take with any reasonable 
man ; and that, some think, cannot be answered. And thus they 
argue : Whatsoever we ask of God through Christ, according to 
his will, we must believe we shall receive : but we ask justification 
and glory of God according to his will, through Christ ; therefore 
we must believe wx shall receive them. Ansu\ This makes not 
our justification and salvation to be upon certainty of faith. For, 
1. The major proposition doth only express a conditional promise 
of justification and salvation, and no absolute promise. Now, a 
conditional promise puts nothing in being till the performance of 
the condition, nor gives any certainty but on such performance. 
The condition here expressed is, that we ask, and 'that we ask ac- 
cording to God's will ; which implies many other conditions ; for 
it nmst be in faith and repentance, and to right ends, not " to con- 
sume it on our lusts," saith James ; and we must be certain that we 
are sincere in all this, before we can, upon this conditional promise, 
have a certainty. 2. So that the minor proposition here, that we 
thus ask according to God's will in true faith, &c. this no scripture 



334 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part I If. 

speaks ; and therefore must be known otherwise than by believing. 
3. Yet we may be said to believe we shall receive, in reference to 
the major proposition or promise in Scripture, which is an object 
of our belief. 

Sect. IV. Prop. 3. Though infallible assurance, as aforesaid, 
may be here attained, yet perfect certainty in degree cannot, nor 
may lawfully be by any man expected. 

This also I have proved before. For if we may be perfect in the 
degree of assurance, why not of all grace as well ; and so have no 
sin ? nay, there are so many graces exercised in producing our as- 
surance, besides reason itself, that if th«y be not first perfect, it is 
impossible that assurance should be perfect. For example : He 
that believeth not in perfection the truth of Scripture, and of that 
promise, that " Whosoever believeth shall be saved ;" 2. And he 
that knoweth not in perfection the sincerity of his own faith, 
neither of which any man breathing doth do ; cannot possibly be 
perfectly certain that he is justified, and shall be saved : for who 
can be perfectly certain of the conclusion, who is but imperfectly 
certain of the premises ? And yet I have met with some men that 
think themselves very learned and spiritual, that confidently dis- 
pute for a perfection in assurance. If any man say, that Bellarmine 
meant as much as this imperfect certainty, when he grants a con- 
jectural certainty ; and be sure that he speaks truly ; I will like 
Bellarmine the better, and his opposers in this the worse, but I will 
like a plain, necessary truth of God never the worse. Sure I am 
that our great divines afiirming, that we are sure of salvation by a 
certainty of faith, hath given the papists fearful ground to baffle 
them and play upon us, and triumph over them. And when their 
own students and followers find it so, it hardens them against us 
fearfully. And as sure I am that no man is perfect gradually in 
this life in any grace, much less in so high a point as his assurance. 
Among all those consciences that I have had opened to me, I never 
met with a humble, heavenly, upright Christian, that would say he 
was perfectly certain ; nay, and but few, that durst call their per- 
suasion a certainty, but rather a strong hope : but some licentious, 
fantastical disputers, I have heard plead for such a perfect cer- 
tainty ; whose pride, and loose living, and unmortified passions and 
corruptions, told the standers-by, that they were the furthest from 
true certainty of any. 

Sect. V. Prop. 4. Though in some cases it may be useful to 
name several marks ; yet the true, infallible marks of sincerity, 
which a man may gather assurance from, are very few, and lie in a 
narrower room than most have thought. 

As I would not pick quarrels with the most godly divines, who 
lay down many marks of sincerity in their sermons and books ; so 
would I not, in foolish tenderness of any man's reputation, be so 
cruel to the souls of poor Christians, as to hide the truth from 
them in so weighty a point : and I speak against no man more than 
myself heretofore. I know ordinary Christians cannot discern how 
these multitudes of marks do lie open to exceptions ; but the 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 335 

judicious may easily perceive it. I shall therefore here tell you the 
truth, how far these many marks are conimcndahle and convenient, 
and how far they are condenmable and dangerous. And, 1. When 
we are only discovering the nature of some sin, rather than the 
certainty of the unholiness of the sinner, it is both easy and useful 
to give many signs, as from the effects, &c. by which it may be 
known what that sin is : and so men may know how far they are 
guilty of it. 15ut to know certainly whether that sin will prove the 
damnable state of the sinner, is neither easy, in most cases, nor to 
be done by many marks. 

2. When we are discovering the nature of some duty or grace, 
and not the very point wherein the soul's sincerity in that grace or 
duty lieth, it is both easy and useful to give many marks of them. 
But by these no man can gather assurance of his sincerity. 

3. When we are describing a high degree of wickedness, which 
is far from the best state of an unregenerate man, it is both easy 
and useful to give plain marks of such a state. But to discover 
just how much sin will stand with true grace, is another matter. 

4. ^^'hon we are describing the state of the strongest Christians, 
it is easy and useful to mark them out, and to give many marks of 
their strength ; but to give many of their truth, and to discover 
the least degree of true grace, is not easy. So I have shown you 
wherein marks may commendably be multiplied; but to lay down 
many marks of sincerity, and say. By these you may certainly know 
whether you shall be saved or not, this I dare not do. 

Sect. VI. Prop. 5. There is a threefold truth to be inquired 
after in examination: 1. The truth of the act or habit; 2. The 
moral truth of it as a grace or duty ; 3. The moral truth of it as 
a saving or justifying grace or duty, or as the condition of justifica- 
tion and salvation. It is the last of these three only that the great 
business in self-examination lieth on, and which we are now search- 
ing after ; the two first being presupposed as more easily dis- 
cernible, and less controvertible. 

I will not here trouble plain readers, for whose sakcs I write, 
with any scholastic inquiries into the nature of truth, but only 
look into so much as is of flat necessity to a right managing of the 
work of self-examination ; for it is unconceivable how a man should 
rationally judge of his own condition, when he knows not what to 
inquire after ; or that he should clearly know his sincerity, who 
knows not what sincerity is. Yet I doubt not but, by an internal 
feeling, a strong, sound Christian, who hath his faith and love and 
other graces in action, may comfortably perceive the sincerity of 
his graces, though he be so ignorant as not clearly and distmctly 
to know the nature of sincerity, or to give any just description of 
it ; even as an unlearned man, that is of a sound and healthful 
body, may feci what health is when he cannot describe it, nor tell 
distinctly wherein it doth consist. But yet, as he hath a general 
knowledge of it, so hath this ignorant, sincere Christian, of the 
nature of sincerity. And, withal, this is a more dangerous ground 
to stand on, because our sense is so uncertain in this case, more 



33G THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

than in the welfare of the body ; and the assurance of such a soul 
will be more defective and imperfect, and very unconstant, who 
goes by mere feeling, without knowing the nature of what he 
feeleth, even as the forementioned unlearned man, in case of bodily 
health ; if he have no knowledge, but mere feeling of the nature of 
health he will be cast down with a tooth-ache, or some harmless 
disease, if it be painful, as if he should presently die, when a know- 
ing man could tell that there is no danger : and he would make 
light of a hectic, or other mortal disease, till it be uncurable, be- 
cause he feels no great pain in it. It is, therefore, a matter of 
necessity to open, most clearly and distinctly, the nature of sin- 
cerity or truth, so far as concerns the case in hand. I told you 
before, that there is a metaphysical truth of being, and a moral ; I 
now add further, that here are three things to be inquired after : 

1. The truth of the act; 2. The truth of the virtuousness of the 
act ; 3. The truth of the justifying or saving nature of the act. 
The first is of natural, the two last of moral consideration : as, for 
example, if you be trying the sincerity of your love to God, you 
must first knov/ that you do love him indeed, without dissembling ; 

2. That this love is such as is a duty or good, which God requireth; 

3. That this love is such as will certainly prove you in a state of 
salvation. The first of these (whether you believe and love Christ 
or not) must needs be first known ; and this must be known by 
internal feeling, joined with a consideration of the efFeets of real 
love. And to this end many marks may be useful, though, indeed, 
inward feeling must do almost all ; no man else can tell me whether 

' I believe and love, if I cannot tell myself. It is no hard matter to 
a solid, knov/ing Christian, to discern this ordinarily ; but when 
they do know this, they are far enough from true assurance, except 
they go to the rest. A man may be a true man, and not an image, 
or a shadow, or a corpse, and yet be a false thief, or a liar, and no 
true man in a moral sense : this I lay down to these uses. 

First, That you take heed when you hear or read marks of grace, 
how you receive and apply them ; and inquire whether it be not 
only the truth of the being of the act or habit that those marks 
discover, rather than the virtuous or the saving being or force. 

Secondly, That you take heed, in examination, of taking up at 
this first step, as if, when you have found that you believe, and love, 
and repent, you had found all, when yet you have not found that 
you do it savingly. 

Thirdly, To take heed of the doctrine of many in this, who tell 
you, that every man that hath faith, knows he hath it ; and it is im- 
possible to believe, and not to know we believe. This may, ordinarily, 
but not always, be true about this first truth, of the mere being of 
the act ; but is it no wonder that they should not consider that 
this is but a presupposed matter, and not the great thing that we 
have to inquire after in point of sincerity .'' and that they may know 
they believe long enough, and yet not know their faith to be saving t 
It is our beyond-sea divines that so mistake in this point : our Eng- 
lish divines are sounder in it than any in the world^ generally : I 



Chap. XI. TlIK SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3;57 

think because they are more practical, and have had more wounded, 
tender consciences undtu- cure, and less empty speculation and dis- 
pute. The second truth to be in(juired after is, that this act is 
truly good, or a virtue, or grace ; for every act is not a virtvu^, nor 
every act that may seem so. I will not stand here curiously to open 
to you, wherein the goodness of an action doth consist. Somewhat 
will be said in the following propositions: only thus much at pre- 
sent. To denominate an action properly and fully good, it must be 
fully agreeable to God's will of precept, both in tlie matter, end, 
measure, and all circumstances; hut, improperly and imperfectly, it 
may be called good or virtuous, though there be evil mixed, if the 
good be most eminent, as if the substance of the action be good, 
though the circumstances be evil ; and thus we ordinarily call 
actions good : but if the evil be so predominant as that the good 
lie only in ends or circumstances, and the substance, as it were, of 
the action be forbidden, then we may not call it a good action, or a 
grace, or duty. So that it is not perfect, proper goodness that I 
here speak of, but the second, that is imperfect ; when the action is 
commanded and good in itself, and the good more eminent than the 
evil ; yet it may not be saving for all that. 

For there is a common grace which is not saving, yet real, and so 
true and good, and so true grace ; as well as a special grace, which 
is saving : and there are common duties commanded by God, as 
alms-deeds, fasting, prayer, &c. which, though they are necessary, 
yet salvation doth not certainly accompany them, or follow them. 
A man that finds any moral virtue to be in himself truly, and to be 
truly a virtue, cannot thence conclude that he shall be saved, nor a 
man that doth a duty truly good in itself. Many did that which 
was good in the sight of the Lord, hut not with an upright heart ; 
and even an Ahab's humiliation may have some moral goodness, 
and so some acceptance with God, and bring some benefit to him- 
self, and yet not be saving nor justifying. 

ilnd some actions again may be so depraved by the end and man- 
ner, that they deserve not the name of good or duty. As to repent 
of a sinful attempt is, in itself, considered a duty and good ; but if a 
man repent of it only because it did not succeed, or because he 
missed of the gain, or pleasure, or honour, which he expected by it, 
thus he makes it a greater sin : and if he repent but because his 
pleasure is gone, or because he is brought to poverty or disgrace by 
his sin, this is but a natural thing, and deserves not the name of a 
virtue. So to love God is in itself good, and the highest duty ; but 
if a man love God as one that he thinks hath prospered him in his 
sin, and helped and succeeded him in his revenge, unjust bloodshed, 
robbery, sinful rising and thriving, thanking God and loving him 
for his pleasure in lust, drunkenness, gluttony, or the like, as the 
most men that idolize their flesh-pleasure do, when they have ease 
and honour, and all at will, that they may offer a full sacrifice to 
their flesh, and say, Soul, take thine ease, then they thank God for 
it, and may really love him under this notion. I'his is to make God 
a pander or servant to our flesh, and so to love him for serving and 

z 



338 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part 111. 

Immouring it ; and this is so far from being a virtue, that it is one 
of the greatest of all sins ; and if another man love God in a better 
notion a little, and love his lusts more, this is no saving love, as I 
shall more fully show you. So that you see a man hath more to 
look after than the mere honesty, virtue, or moral goodness of his 
action ; or else all actions that are virtuous would be saving. 

The third thing to be inquired after is, the sincerity of grace 
considered as saving. This is much more than the two former, and, 
indeed, is the great matter in self-examination to be looked after : 
here is the work ; here is the difficulty ; here it is that we are now 
inquiring, how far marks. may be multiplied, how far they may be 
useful, and wherein the sincerity doth consist. The two former will 
not denominate a man a sincere Christian, nor prove him justified, 
and in a state of salvation, without this. Wherein this consisteth, I 
shall show you in the following propositions : now, I have first 
showed you what it is that you must inquire after ; and I hope no 
wise Christian will judge me too curious and exact here, seeing it is 
a work that nearly concerns us, and is not fit to be done in the 
dark : our cause must be thoroughly sifted at judgment, and our 
game then must be played above-board ; and therefore it is desperate 
to juggle and cheat ourselves now : only, before I proceed, let me 
tell you, that according to this threefold truth or sincerity, so there 
is a threefold self-delusion or hypocrisy ; taking hypocrisy for a 
seeming to be what we are not, either to ourselves or others, though, 
perhaps, we have no direct dissembling intent. 

1. To take on us to repent, believe, love Christ, &c. when we do 
not at all : this is the grossest kind of hypocrisy, as wanting the 
very natural truth of the act. 

2. To seem to believe, repent, love God, &c. virtuously, accord- 
ing to the former description, and yet to do it but in subserviency to 
our lusts and wicked ends, this is another sort of gross hypocrisy ; 
yea, to do it in mere respect to fleshly prosperity, as to repent be- 
cause sin hath brought us to sickness and poverty, to love God 
merely because he keeps up our flesh's prosperity, &c. this is still 
gross hypocrisy. 

It may be a great question, which of these is the greater sin ; to 
repent and love God in subserviency to our sin, or not to do it 
at all ? 

Answ. It is not much worth the thinking on, they are both so 
desperately wicked ; therefore I will not trouble the reader with a 
curious resolution of this question, only thus : Though to deny 
God's being, be a blasphemous denial of his natural excellency, and 
so of his attributes, which are the first platform of that which we 
call morality in the creature ; yet to deny these his attributes, and, 
withal, to ascribe sin and positive wickedness to the blessed, holy 
God, seems to me the greater sin ; Sicut esse diaholiim est pejus 
(quoad ipsumj quam i\on esse. 

3. The next kind of hypocrisy, and the most common, is, when 
men want the sincerity of grace as saving only, but have both the 
truth of it as an act or habit, and as a virtue. When men have 



Chai'. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. ;J39 

some repentance, faith, hope, love, &c. which is undissenibled and 
hath good ends, hut yet is not saving; this is the unsoundness 
which most among us in the church perish by, that do perish, and 
which every Christian should look most to his heart in. This, I 
think, is discerned by few that are guilty of it, though they might 
all discern it, if they were willing and diligent. 

Sect. VII. Prop. G. As it is only the precepts of Christ that can 
assure us that one action is virtuous, or a duty, more than another ; 
so it is only the tenor of the covenant of grace, bestowing justifica- 
tion or salvation upon any act, which makes that act, or grace, 
justifying or saving, and can assure us that it is so. 

By the precepts, I mean any divine determination concerning our 
duty, what we ought to do or avoid. It is the same sacred instru- 
ment which is called God's testament, his covenant, and his new 
law, the several names being taken from several respects, as I have 
opened else\vhere, and cannot now stand to prove : this law of God 
hath two parts, the precept and the sanction. The precept may 
be considered either as by itself, Do this or that, and so it maketh 
duty : this constitutes the virtue of actions, regulating them ; and 
so the second kind of sincerity, whether an action be good or bad, 
must be tried by the precepts as precepts. What God requireth, 
is a virtue : what he forbiddeth, is a vice : what he neither requir- 
eth nor forbiddeth, is indifferent, as being not of moral considera- 
tion ; for the popish doctrine of divine counsels is vain. 

2. And then these precepts must be considered not only as they 
stand by themselves, and constitute duty simply, saying. Do this ; 
but also as they stand in conjunction with the sanction, and say. 
Do this or that, and be saved, or else perish, as. Believe and be 
saved, else not. And in this respect and sense, they constitute the 
conditions of the covenant ; and so they are the only rule by which 
to know what is saving grace, and what not : and only in this re- 
spect it is that they justify or condemn men. They may justify or 
condemn the action, as bare precepts and prohibitions ; but they 
justify not, nor condemn, the person himself, but as precepts con- 
joined with the sanction ; that is, with the promise or threat- 
ening. 

So that it is hence evident, that no human conjecture can gather 
what is a saving grace or duty, and what not, either from a bare 
precept, considered disjunct from the promise, or from any thing in 
the mere nature and use of the gracious act itself. The nature of 
the act is but its aptitude to its office ; but the consequents, (for I 
will not call them effects,) justification and salvation, proceed from 
or upon them only as conditions on which the free promise bestow- 
eth those benefits directly. Those, therefore, which make the 
formal reason of faith's justifying to lie in its apprehension, which 
they call its insti'umentality, being indeed the very nature and be- 
ing of the act, do little know what they say, nor how derogatory to 
Christ, and arrogating to themselves, their doctrine is, as I have 
elsewhere manifested. 

I conclude, then, that it is only the Scripture that can tell you 



340 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

what is justifying or saving grace, by promising and annexing sal- 
vation thereto. 

Sect. VIII. Prop. 7. Whatsoever therefore is the condition which 
the covenant of grace requireth of man, for the attaining of justifi- 
cation and salvation, and upon which it doth bestow them, that 
only is a justifying and saving act. And inferior duties are no fur- 
ther marks to try by, nor are justifying and saving, than as they are 
reducible to that condition. 

This is it which I have asserted in the last foregoing chapter, 
and this is the reason why I laid down but two marks there. 
Though, in the first part, in the description of God's people, I laid 
down the whole description, which must needs contain some things 
common, and not only special properties, yet now I am to give you 
the true points of difference, I dare not number so many particu- 
lars. The performance of the proper condition of the new cove- 
nant, promising justification or salvation, then, is the only mark of 
justification or salvation, direct and infallible ; or is the only jus- 
tifying and saving grace properly so called. Now, you must under- 
stand that the covenant of life hath two parts, as the condition for 
man to perform, if he will receive the benefits. The first is, the 
natural part concerning the pure Godhead, who is the first and the 
last, the principal, efficient, and ultimate end of all ; who is our 
Creator, Preserver, Governor, happiness, or rest. This is the 
taking the Lord only for our God, in opposition to all idols visible 
or invisible. As the end, as such, is before and above all the 
means, and the Father, or mere Godhead, is above Christ the Me- 
diator as such, (as he saith, John xiv. 28, " The Father is greater 
than I,") so this is the first and greater part of the condition of the 
covenant : and so idolatry and atheism are the greatest and first 
'condemning sins. The second part of the condition is. That we 
take Jesus Christ only for the Mediator and our Redeemer, and so 
as our only Saviour and supreme Lord, by the right of redemption. 
This is the second part, consisting in the choice of the right and 
only way and means to God, as he is the end : for Christ, as Medi- 
ator, is not the ultimate end, but the way to the Father. These 
two parts of the condition are most evident in the word, both in 
their distinction and necessity. The former was part of that cove- 
nant made with Adam, which is not repealed, nor ever will be, 
though the rest of that covenant may be laid by. It was afterwards 
still fully expressed to the church before Christ's coming in the 
flesh : in all the people's covenanting, this was still the sum, that 
they took the Lord only to be their God. But the latter part was 
not in the covenant with Adam : nor was it openly and in full 
plainness put into the covenant of grace in the beginning, but still 
implied, and more darkly intimated, the light and clearness of re- 
velation still increasing till Christ's coming. Yet so, as that at the 
utmost they had but the discovery of a Saviour to be born of a 
virgin, of the tribe of Judah, at such a time, but never that this 
Jesus was the Christ. And so it was only in a Saviour so to be 
revealed that they were to believe before ; but after Christ's com- 



Chai'. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 341 

ing, and his iniraclos, and resurrection, at utmost, he tells them, 
" If ye believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins." So 
that to them to whom ho was revealed, at least it was of necessity 
to believe that this .lesus is he, and not to look for another. Now, 
to us Christians under the New Testament, this latter part of the 
covenant (concerning the Mediator) is most fully expressed, and 
most frequently inculcated : not as if the former part (concerning 
Cjod the Creator aijd end) were become less necessary than })efore, 
or ever the less to be studii>d by Christians, or preached by the 
ministers of the gospel ; but on the contrary, it is still implied, as 
being fully revealed before, and a thing generally received by the 
church ; yea, and confirmed and established by the adding of the 
gospel, and preaching of Christ ; for the end is still supposed and 
implied, when we determine of the means ; and the means confirm 
and not deny the excellency and necessity of the end. Therefore, 
when Paul (Acts xvii. &c.) was to preach to the Athenians or other 
heathens, he first preacheth to them the Godhead, and seeks to 
bring them from their idols, and then preacheth Christ. And 
therefore it is said, " He that comes to God, (as the end and his 
happiness, or Creator and Preserver,) must (first) believe that God 
is, and that he is (in the Redeemer) a rewarder of them that dili- 
gently seek him," Heb. xi. And, therefore, the apostles preached 
" repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus 
Christ," Acts xx. 21. The first is, " the turning from idols to the 
true God ; " and so repentance is in order of nature before faith in 
the Mediator, and more excellent in its nature, as the end is than 
the way ; but not before faith in the Godhead. The second is the 
only highway to God. Therefore, Paul Avas by preaching to turn 
men from darkness to light, both from the darkness of atheism 
and idolatry, and the darkness of infidelity ; but first from the 
power of Satan, and worshipping devils, to God; that so next, by 
faith in Christ, they might receive remission of sin, and inheritance 
among them that are sanctified, Acts xxvi. 28. And Christ him- 
self took the same course, and preached these two parts of the con- 
dition of the covenant distinctly. " This is life eternal, to know 
thee the only true God, and (then) Jesus Christ whom thou hast 
sent," John xvii. 3. Words of knowledge in Scripture commands, 
import afiection. And, " The Father is greater than I," John xiv. 
28. And, " I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh 
to the Father but by me," John xiv. 6. And, " Ye believe in 
God, (there is the first part,) believe also in me," John xiv. 1, 
(there is the second part.) But intended brevity forbids me to 
heap up more proof in so plain a case. 

To this last part of the condition is opposed infidelity, or not be- 
lieving in Christ, being the chiefest condemning sin, next to 
atheism and idolatry, which are opposite to the first part. On 
these two parts of the condition of the covenant, hath God laid all 
our salvation, as much as concerns our part ; still supposing that 
God and the Mediator have done and will do all their part. 

The first part of the condition I call the natural part, being 



342 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

from the beginning, and written in the nature of every reasonable 
creature, and by an eminency and excellency it is of natural moral- 
ity above all other laws whatsoever. The second I call the super- 
natural part of the condition ; as being not known to any man by 
the mere light of nature, but is supernaturally revealed to the 
world by the gospel. The first part also is the basis or great com- 
mand of the decalogue, " Thou shalt have none other god but 
me; " or in other terms, " Thou shalt love God above all." The 
second is the great command of the gospel, " Believe in the Lord 
Jesus ; " or in other terms, " Love Christ above all." For, as I 
said, words of knowledge in Scripture imply affection, especially 
will, where all acts of the soul are complete, which in the intellect 
are but incomplete, imperfect, and preparatory, the understanding 
being but the entrance to the will, and the will being an extended 
understanding. Therefore, sometimes Christ saith, " He that be- 
lieveth not, is condemned." Sometimes, " He that loveth any 
thing more than me, is not worthy of me, and cannot be my dis- 
ciple." And he joineth them together in John xvi. 27, Therefore 
hath the Father loved you, " because ye have loved me, and have 
believed," &c. Intellectual belief, or assent, therefore, wherever 
you read it commanded, implieth the will's consent and love. 

And thus I have showed you what the conditions of the covenant 
are, which I have done the fullier, that you might know what is a 
saving grace or act, and what not. For you may easily conceive 
that it must needs be safer trying by these than by any lower act 
or duty : and as all other are no further saving, than as they belong 
to these, or are reducible to them, so you can no further try your- 
selves by them, but as they are reduced to these. And now you 
see the reason why I mentioned but only two marks in the fore- 
going chapter, and why I say that true marks are so few by which 
a man may safely try his title to heaven. And yet you shall see 
that we must yet reduce them to a narrower room, when we come 
to open the nature of sincerity. In preparation to which I must 
tell you, that in the terms of these tM'o marks, or two parts of the 
condition of the covenant, there is contained somewhat common, 
which an unregenerate man may perform, and somewhat special 
and proper to the saints. Though all must go together and be 
found in those that will be saved, yet the specifical form, or consti- 
tutive difference, by which, as saving, the act of a true believer is 
discerned from the act of an unsound person, doth lie but in a 
part of it, and I think but in one point : as a man is defined to be 
a reasonable living creature ; but to be a creature will not prove 
him a man, nor to be a living creature neither, because that there 
are other creatures, and living creatures or animate, besides him- 
self. But to be a reasonable animal, or living creature, will prove 
him a man, because reason contains his specific form and constitu- 
tive difference. Other inferior creatures may have bodies, and 
fleshly bodies, as well as man, and others may have life, which we 
call a soul, and yet man must have these two ; but others with 
these have not reason, or a soul endued with a power of reasoning. 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING UEST. 343 

So ill these marks of grace, or conditions of the covenant. To 
h>ve, is common to every man ; to love God and Christ, is common 
to a Christian with a hypocrite or wicked man ; but to love Christ 
savingly, that is, as I shall show you presently, sovereignly, or 
chiefly, this is the form or constitutive diilerence of love which is 
saving. To take or accept, is common to every man; to take or 
accept of God and Christ, is common to a true Cliristian and a 
false ; but to take or accept of God and his Christ sincerely and 
savingly, is proper to a sound believer ; so that even in these two 
marks, the sincerity of both lieth in one point. For, supposing 
the truth of the act, and the truth of the virtue in general, (which 
are both common, as I have told you,) the truth or sincerity of 
them as saving, is the only thing to be inquired after. And in this 
sense, I know but one infallible mark of sincerity ; seeing sincerity 
lieth in this one point. But before I come to open it more fully, 
I will premise, and but briefly name, two more propositions. 

Sect. IX. Prop. 8. God hath not in the covenant promised 
justification or salvation upon any mere act or acts, considered 
without that degree and suitableness to their objects, wherein the 
sincerity of them, as saving, doth consist. 

It is said, indeed, " that he that believeth shall be saved," but 
then it is supposed that it be sincere believing ; for any believing 
is not here meant. For many that believed, and that without gross 
dissimulation, shall perish, as not believing sincerely. And, there- 
fore, Christ would not trust himself with those that yet believed 
in him, because he knew their hearts, that they did it not in faith- 
fulness and sincerity, John ii. 23, 24. But I shall confirm this 
more fully afterwards. 

Sect. X. Projj. 9. There is no one act, considered in its mere 
nature and kind, without its measure and suitableness to its object, 
which a true Christian may perform, but an unsound Christian may 
perform it also. 

I have great reason to add this, that you may take heed of try- 
ing and judging of yourselves by any mere act, considered in itself. 
If any doubt of this, we might soon prove it by producing the most 
excellent acts, and showing it of them in particular. Believing is 
as proper to the saved as any thing for the act. And yet, as for 
the assenting act, James tells us the devils believe. And as for 
resting on Christ by affiance, and expecting pardon and salvation 
from him, we see beyond question, that many thousand wicked 
men have no other way to quiet them in sinning, but that they are 
confident Christ will pardon and save them, and they undissem- 
blingly quiet or rest their souls in this persuasion, and undissem- 
blingly expect salvation from him when they have sinned as long 
as they can. And, indeed, herein lieth the nature of presumption: 
and so real are they in this faith, that all our preaching cannot beat 
them from it. If the question be, whether a wicked man can pray, 
or meditate, or forbear the act of this or that sin, I think none 
will deny it. But yet all this will be opened fullier anon. 

Sect. XI. Prop. 10. The supremacy of God and the Mediator 



344 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

in the soul, or the precedency and prevalency of his interest in 
us, above the interest of the flesh, or of inferior good, is the very 
point wherein materially* the sincerity of our graces, as saving, 
doth consist; and so is the one mark by which those must judge 
of their state that would not be deceived. 

Prop. 1 1. For the saving object being resolved of in the gospel, 
here the sincerity of the act, as saving, consisteth formally f in 
being suited to its adequate object, considered in those respects 
which are essential to it as such an object. And so to believe in, 
accept, and love God as God, and Christ as Christ, is the sincerity 
of these acts. But this lieth in believing, accepting, and loving 
God, as the only supreme Authority, or Ruler, and God and Christ 
as the only Redeemer, and so our Lord, our sovereign Saviour, our 
Husband and our Head. 

I join both these propositions together, because the explication 
of both will be best joined together. And first, I wall tell you what 
I mean by some of these terms in these propositions. 

1. When I speak of the interest of God and the Mediator in the 
soul, I do not mean a mere right to us, which we c^W jus ad rem, 
for so God and the Mediator, God-man, have interest in all men, 
as being undoubtedly rightful Lord of all, whether they obey him 
or not ; but I mean Christ's actual interest in us, and possession of 
us, which we c?i\\ jus in re, and that as it consisteth in a voluntary 
entertainment of him into all the powers of the soul, according to 
the several capacities and oflices. As we use to say of men in re- 
spect of their friends. Such a man hath so much interest in his 
friend, that he can prevail with him before any other. So, when 
God's interest in us is greater than the interest of the flesh, that 
he hath the precedency and supremacy in our understandings, wills, 
and affections, this is the sincerity of all our graces as saving ; and 
so the discovery of our soul's sincerity. I shall yet fullier open 
this anon. 

2. I here include the interest of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
both as they are conjunct, and as they are distinct. As considered 
in the essence and unity of the Godhead, so their interest is con- 
junct ; both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being our Creator, 
Ruler, and ultimate end, and chief good. But in the distinction of 
persons, as it was the Son in a proper sense that redeemed us, and 
thereby purchased a peculiar interest in us, and dominion over us, 
as he is Redeemer, so doth he carry on this interest in a peculiar 
way. And so the interest of the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier, is 
specially advanced by our yielding to his motions, &c. 

3. By the supremacy of God, and the prevalency of Christ's in- 
terest, I do not mean, that it always prevaileth for actual obedience 
against the suggestions and allurements of the flesh. A man may 

* Mark, I say but materially. 

t Formally, what this sincerity is. "When I say as such, I mean only with a bare 
notion or opinion that God is the chief good ; for that will not make him our chief end : 
but, 1. "With a sound, effectual belief that he is such: 2. "With a predominant will or 
love, which shall give him a most prevalent interest in our hearts. These two proposi- 
tions must be remembered for the understanding of the next. 



CuAK XI. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTlNLi REST. 345 

possibly pleasure a lesser friend, or stranger, before a greater 
friend, for once or more, and then it proves not that the stranger 
hath the greatest interest in him. Ijut I mean, that God hath 
really more of his esteem, and will, and rational, though not pas- 
sionate, love, and desire, and authority, and rule, in his heart 
and life. 

4. When I speak of the interest of the flesh, I chiefly intend and 
include that inferior good which is the fle.sh's delight. For here 
are considerable distinctly, 1. The part which would be pleased in 
opposition to Christ ; and that, with the Scripture, I call the flesh. 
2. I'he thing which this flesh desires as its happiness ; and that is, 
its own pleasure, delight, and full content. 3. The objects from 
whence it expecteth this delight and content; and that is, all in- 
ferior good which it apprehendeth to conduce most to that end, as 
being most suitable to itself. By the flesh, then, I mean, the soul 
as sensitive, as it is now since the fall become unruly, by the 
strengthening of its raging desires, and the weakening of reason 
that should rule it, and consequently the rational part thereby se- 
duced ; or if the rational (misinformed and ill-disposed) be the 
leader in any sin, before or without the sensitive ; so that I mean, 
that which inordinately inclineth us to any inferior good. This 
inferior good consisteth in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 
and pride of life, as John distinguisheth them ; or as commonly 
they are disti'ibuted, in pleasure, profits, and honour ; all which 
are concentred and terminated in the sin we call flesh-pleasing in 
the general ; for that pleasure is it which is sought in all : or it is 
the pursuit of an inferior, fleshly happiness, preferred before the 
superior, spiritual, everlasting happiness. Though most commonly 
this pleasure be sought in honour, riches, eating, drinking, pleasant 
dwellings, company, sports, and recreations, clothes, wantonness, or 
lustful uncleanness, the satisfying of passions and malicious desires, 
or the like ; yet sometimes it riseth higher, and the sinner seeketh 
his happiness and content in largeness of knowledge, much learning 
and curious speculations about the nature of the creatures, yea, and 
about God himself. But perhaps it will be found that these are 
nearly of the same nature wath the former sensitive delights. For 
it is not the excellency or goodness of God himself that delighteth 
them, but the novelty of the thing, and the agitation of their own 
imagination, fancy, and intellect, thereupon, which is naturally 
desirous to be actuated, and employed, as receiving thereby some 
seeming addition to its own perfection ; and that not as from God, 
who is the object of their knowledge, but as from the mere enlarge- 
ment of knowledge in itself; or which is far worse, they make the 
study of God and divine things which they delight in, but sub- 
servient to some base, inferior object : and so though they delight 
in studying and knowing God, and heaven, and Scripture, yet not 
in God as God, or the chief good, nor in heaven as heaven, nor out 
of any true saving love to God; but either, because, as some 
preachers, they make a gainful trade of it, by teaching others ; or 
because it is an honour to know these things, and be able to dis- 



346 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part 111. 

course of them, and a dishonour to be ignorant ; or at best, as I 
said before, they desire to know God and divine truths, out of a 
delight in the novelty, and actuating, and natural elevation of the 
understanding hereby : it is one thing to delight in knowing, and 
another to delight in the thing known. An ungodly man may 
delight in studying and knowing several axioms or truths con- 
cerning God, but he never chiefly delighteth in God himself. As 
a studious man desires to know what hell is, and where, and many 
truths concerning it ; but he desireth not hell itself, nor delighteth 
in it. A godly man desireth to know the nature and danger of 
sin, and Satan's way and wiles in temptations ; but he doth not 
therefore desire sin and temptation itself. So a wicked man may 
desire to know the nature of grace, and Christ, and glory, and yet 
not desire grace, and Christ, and glory. It is one thing to ter- 
minate a man's desire and delight in bare knowledge, or the 
esteem, or self-advancement, that accrues thereby ; and another 
thing to terminate it in the thing which we desire to know ; 
making knowledge but a means to its fruition. So that, though 
the virtuousness or viciousness of our willing, and several affec- 
tions, do receive its denomination and specification very much from 
the object, as in loving God, and loving sinful pleasure, &c. be- 
cause there is a proper and ultimate terminus of the soul's, motion, 
yet the acts of the understanding may be exercised about the best 
of objects, without any virtuousness at all ; it being but the truth 
and not the goodness that is its object; and that truth may be in 
the best object and in the worst. And so it is the same kind of 
delight that such a man hath in knowing God, and knowing other 
things ; for it is the same kind of truth that he seeks in both. And, 
indeed, truth is not the ultimate object terminating the soul's mo- 
tion, not as it is truth, but an intermediate prerequisite to good, 
which is the ultimately terminating object ; and accordingly the 
acts of the mere understanding are but preparatory to the act of the 
will, and so are but imperfect, initial acts of the soul, as having a 
further end than their own proper object : and therefore it is that 
all philosophers place no moral habits in the understanding, but all 
in the will ; for till they come to the will, though they may be in a 
large sense morally good or evil, virtuous or vicious, yet they are 
but so in an imperfect kind and sense, and therefore they call such 
habits only intellectual. 

The sum of all this is, that it is but the flesh's pleasure and in- 
terest which an ungodly man chiefly pursueth, even in his delight- 
ful studying of holy things ; for he studieth holy things and pro- 
fane alike. Or if any think it too narrow a phrase, to call this 
flesh-pleasing, or preferring the interest of the flesh, it being the 
soul as rational, and not only as sensitive, which turneth from God 
to inferior things ; I do not gainsay this : I know that man aposta- 
tized from God to himself; and that in regeneration he is turned 
again from himself to God. Yet this must be very cautelously un- 
derstood ; for God forbiddeth not man to seek himself duly, but 
commandeth it : man may and must seek his own happiness. The 



Chai'. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 347 

chief good is desired as good to us. But to state this case rightly, 
and determine the many great diflicultios that here rise in the way, 
is no fit work for this place : I will not therefore so much as name 
them. The easiest and safest way therefore to clear the present 
difficulty to us is, to look chiefly at the dilferent objects and ends : 
God, who is the supreme good, prosenteth and offereth himself to 
us to be enjoyed. Inferior good stands up in competition with him, 
antl would insinuate itself into our hearts, as if it were more amiable 
and desirable than God. Now, if God's interest prevail, it is a 
certain sign of grace ; if inferior good prevail, and have more actual 
interest or possession than God, it is a certain sign of an unhappy 
condition, or that the person is not yet in a state of salvation. 

And as you thus see what I mean by the interest of the flesh, or 
inferior good in us ; so in all this I include the interest of the world 
and the devil : for the world is, at least, the greatest part of this 
inferior good, which stands in competition with God. And Satan 
is but the envious agent to present this bait before us ; to put a 
false gloss on it in his presentation ; to weaken all God's arguments 
that should restrain us ; to disgrace God himself to our souls ; and 
so to press and urge us to a sinful choice and prosecution. He 
shows us the forbidden fruit as pleasant, and as a means to our 
greater advancement and happiness, and draweth us to unbelief for 
the hiding of the danger. He takes us up in our imagination, and 
shows us the kingdoms of the world and their glory, to steal our 
hearts from the glorious kingdom of God. So that the interest of 
the flesh, the interest of the world, and the interest of Satan, in us, 
is all one in effect. For they are but several causes to carry the 
soul from God, to a false, deluding, miserable end. 

Again, in the proposition, I say. It is the prevalency of the inter- 
est of God or Christ, above inferior good, putting inferior good as 
the competitor with God, who is the greatest good ; because the 
will cannot incline to any thing under the notion of evil, or of in- 
ditferent, but only as good. No man can will evil as evil ; he must 
evil, cease to be rational, and to be man. If evil appeared only as 
first there were no danger in it. The force of the temptation lies 
in making evil seem good, either to the senses, or imagination, or 
reason, or all. Here lies the danger of a pleasing ,, • tt , , 

,.^. . ] n i-i. 1 T 1 i • 1 Matt. jx. How hard 

condition in regard 01 credit, delights, riches, for a rich man to cn- 
friends, habitation, health, or any inferior thing ; ter into the kingdom 
the more good appeareth or seemeth to be in them, 
as disjunct from God, the more dangerous; for they are the liker 
to stand up in competition with him, and to carry it with our par- 
tial, blinded souls in the competition. Remember this, if you love 
yourselves, when you would have all things about you more pleas- 
ing and lovely. Here lies the unknown danger of a prosperous 
state ; and on the contrary lies the precious benefit of adversity, 
which, if men were not brutish and unbelieving, they would heartily 
welcome as the safest condition. 

Again, observe here, that I mention inferior good, and not truth, 
as that which stands in competition with God. For of two truths, 



348 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part 111. 

both are equally true, though not equally evident ; and, therefore, 
though Satan would persuade the soul that inferior good is better 
for us than God, yet he sets not truth against truth in competition. 
He would indeed make us believe that God's word is not true at 
all, or the truth not certain. But with the understanding there is 
no competition between truth and truth, if known so to be. For 
the understanding can know and believe several truths at once, 
though about never so different matters, as that there is a heaven 
and a hell, that there is a God, a Christ, a world, a devil, &c. 
But the will cannot embrace and choose all different good at once ; 
for God hath made the enjoyment of them incompatible ; much 
less can it will two things as the chiefest good, when there is but 
one such ; or God and the creature equally good, and both in the 
highest degree. 

Here, then, you further see the meaning of the proposition ; 
when I speak of the prevalency of Christ's interest, I mean it di- 
rectly and principally in the will of man, and not in the under- 
standing. For though I doubt not but there is true grace in the 
understanding as well as in the v/ill, yet, as I shall further show 
anon, as it is in the intellect, it is not certainly and fully discern- 
ible, but only as the force of the intellective acts appear in the mo- 
tions and resolutions of the will. And, therefore, men must not 
try their state directly by any graces or marks in the understand- 
ing. And also if it were possible to discern their sincerity imme- 
diately in the understanding, yet it must not be there by this way 
of competition of different objects in regard of the degree of verity, 
as if one were more true, and the other less ; as it is with the will 
about the degrees of goodness in the objects which stand in com- 
petition. Though yet a kind of competition there is with the in- 
tellect too;* as, 1. Between God and the creature, who is to be 
believed rather ; and, 2. Between two contradictory or opposite 
propositions, which is true, and which false. As between these, 
God is the chief good, and God is not the chief good ; or these, 
God is the chief good, and pleasure is the chief good. But though 
the truth be here believed, yet that .is no certain evidence of sin- 
cerity; except it be so believed, as may be prevalent with the will ; 
which is not discernible in the bare act of believing, but in the act 
of willing. So that it is the prevalency of Christ's interest in the 
will that we here speak of; and consequently in the affections and 
conversation. And, indeed, as is before hinted, all human acts, as 
they are in the mere understanding, are but crude and imperfect ; 
for it is but the first digestion, as it were, that is there performed, 
as of meat in the stomach, but in the will they are more perfectly 
concocted, as the chyle is sanguified in the liver, spleen, and veins ; 
and in the affections they are yet further raised and concocted, as 
the vital spirits are begotten in the heart : though many here take 
mere flatulency for spirits ; and so they do common passion for 
spiritual affections : and then in the conversation, as the food in 

* The sincerity of grace in the intellect, is most observable in its estimation of God 
above the creature, \iz. as better in himself and to us. 



Chap. XF. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTING REST. 349 

the habit of the hotly, the concoction is linished ; so that the sin- 
cerity of grace cannot, I think, be discerned by any mere intel- 
lectual act : as you may find judicious Dr. Stoughton asserting in 
his " Righteous Man's Plea to Happiness." But yet do not mis- 
understand it, as if saving grace did not reside in the understanding. 
Now, as the apostle saith, " The flesh warreth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh, and these 'are contrary one to the 
other," Gal. v. 17, a Christian's life is a continual combat be- 
tween these two contrary interests. God will be taken for our por- 
tion and hapj)iness, and so be our ultimate end, or else we shall 
never enjoy him to make us happy : the flesh suggesteth to us the 
sweetness and delight of carnal contentments, and would have us 
glut ourselves with these. God will rule, and that in supremacy, 
or he will never save us : the flesh would fain be pleased, and have 
its desire, whether God be obeyed and pleased or not. There is 
no hope of reconciling these contrary interests. God hath already 
made his laws, containing the conditions of our salvation or dannia- 
tion : these laws do limit the desires of the flesh, and contradict its 
delights : the flesh cannot love that which is against it. It hates 
them, because they speak not good of it, but evil, because it so 
mightily crosseth its contents. It was meet it should be so ; for if 
God had suffered no competitors to set up their interest against his, 
how would the faithfulness of his subjects be tried ; how would his 
providences and graces be manifested ? Even to Adam, that yet 
had no sin, this way of trial was judged necessary : and when he 
■would please his eye and his taste, and desire to be higher, it was 
just with God to displease him, and to bring him lower. God will 
not change these, his holy and righteous laws, to please the flesh, 
nor conform himself to its will. The flesh will not conform itself 
to God ; and so here is the Christian combat. Christ, who has 
purchased us, expecfeth the first or chief room in our affections, 
or else he will eflectively be no Saviour for us. The flesh doth im- 
portunately solicit the affections to give the chief room and enter- 
tainment to its contents. Christ, who hath so dearly bought the 
dominion over iis all, will either rule us as our Sovereign, or con- 
demn us for our rebellion, Luke xix. 27. The flesh would be free, 
and is still soliciting us to treason. For as easy as Christ's yoke 
is, and light as is his burden, yet is it no more suited with the 
flesh's interest, than the heavier and more grievous law was : the 
law of liberty is not a law of carnal liberty. Now, in this combat, 
the word and ministry are solicitors for Christ ; so is reason itself, 
so far as it is rectified and well guided : but because reason is 
naturally weakened and blind ; yea, and the word alone is not 
sufficient to illuminate and rectify it ; therefore Christ sends his 
Spirit into the souls of his people, to make that word effectual to 
open their eyes : here is the great help that the soul hath for the 
maintaining or carrying on the interest of Christ. But yet once 
illuminating is not enough. For the will doth not necessarily choose 
that which the understanding concludeth to be best (even Jiic et 
nunc, ct considerafis considerandisj . A drunkard's understanding 



350 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part HI. 

may tell him, that it is far better, all things laid together, to for- 
bear a cup of wine, than to drink it : and that the good of virtue 
and duty is to be preferred before the good of pleasure, this ex- 
perience assures us of, though all the philosophers in the world 
should contradict it ; and I am not disputing now, and therefore I 
will not stand to meddle with men's contrary opinions. And yet 
the violence of his sensual appetite may cause him to lay hands on 
the cup and pour it in. And, indeed, so far it is a brutish act; and 
it is no such wonder to have sinful acts termed and proved brutish, 
if we knew that all true reason is against them. Reason is on 
God's side, and that which is against him is not reason. We may 
by discourse proceed to sin ; but the arguments are all fallacious 
that draw us. There is no necessity to the committing of a sin, 
that reason or the understanding should first conclude it best : so 
great is the power of sense upon the fancy and imagination, and of 
these on the passions, and the choosing power, especially as to the 
exciting of the locomotive, that if reason be but silent and suspend- 
ed, sin will be committed, as a man hath lustful, and revengeful, 
and covetous desires in his dream, and that very violent. Reason 
is oft asleep when the senses are awake, and then they may easily 
play their game ; even as the godliest man cannot restrain a sinful 
thought or desire iia his dream, as he can waking ; so neither when 
he is waking, if reason be asleep : although reason never take part 
with sin, yet if it stand neuter, the sin will be committed. Yea, 
that is not all ; but if reason do conclude for duty and against sin, 
and stand to that conclusion ; yet, I think, the sensitive sinful 
appetite and imagination may prevail with the will, unless you will 
say that this appetite is the will itself, man having but one will, 
and so may itself command the locomotive, against, as well as 
without, the conclusion of reason, as in the example before 
mentioned. 

To understand this, you must know, that to the motion of the 
will effectually, especially where there are violent contrary motions 
and inducements, it is not only necessary that the understanding- 
say. This is a duty, or. This is a sin ; or, It is better to let it alone : 
but this must be concluded of as a matter of great importance and 
concernment ; and the understanding must express the weight as 
well as the truth of what it utters concerning good or evil ; and 
this must especially be by a strong and forcible act ; or else, though 
it conclude rightly, yet it will not prevail. Many men may have 
their understanding informed of the same duty, and all at the very 
exercise conclude it good and necessary ; and so concerning the 
evil of sin. And yet though they all pass the same conclusion, 
they shall not all alike prevail with the will ; but one more, and 
another less : because one passeth this conclusion seriously, vigor- 
ously, importunately ; and the other, slightly, and sleepily, and 
remissly. If you be busy,* writing or reading, and one friend comes 
to you to call you away to some great business, and useth very 
weighty arguments, yet if he speak them coldly and sleepily, you 
may perhaps not be moved by him ; but if another come and call 



Cii.vp. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. ;j.51 

you but upon a lesser business, and speak loud and earnestly, and 
will take no denial, thougli bis reasons be weaker, be niay sooner 
prevail. Do we not feel that the words of a preacber do take more 
witb our wills and alVections, from tbe moving, patbetical manner 
of expression, than from tbe strenglb of argument, except witb 
very wise men ; at least, bow mucb tliat furtbers it; wbcn tbe best 
arguments in tbe moutb of a sleepy preacber, or unseasonably and 
ill-favouredly delivered, will not take { And wby sbould we tbink 
tbat tbere is so great diiference between otber men's reasonings pre- 
vailing witb our wills, and our own reason's way of prevailing ? 

Now, all tbis being so, tbat tbere must be a strong, lively, loud, 
pressing, importunate reasoning, and not only a true reasoning and 
concluding ; bence it is tbat tbere is necessary to tbe soul, not only 
so mucb illumination as may discover tbe trutb, but so mucb as 
may discover it clearly and fully, and may sbow us tbe weight of 
tbe matter, as well as tbe trutb, and especially as may be still an 
exciter of tbe understanding to do its duty, and may quicken it up 
to do it vigorously ; and therefore to tbis end Christ givetb bis 
Spirit to bis people, to strive against tbe flesh. Tbe soul is seated 
in all tbe body, but we certainly and sensibly perceive tbat it dotb 
not exercise or act alike in all ; but it understandetb in and 
by the brain, or animal spirits ; and it willetb, and desireth, 
and lovetb, and fearetb, and rejoicetb, in and by the heart, and 
doubtless tbe vital spirits, or those in the heart, are the soul's in- 
strument in this work. Now, to procure a motion of the spirits in 
the heart, by tbe foremotion of tbe spirits in the brain, requires 
some strength in the first motion ; and the more forcible it is, 
likely the more forcible will the motion in tbe heart be. This 
order and instrumentality in acting, is no disparagement to tbe 
soul ; but is a sweet discovery of God's admirable and orderly works. 
Now, therefore, besides a bare act of understanding, there is neces- 
sary to this effectual prevailing with tbe will, tbat there be added 
that which we call consideration, which is a dwelling upon the sub- 
ject, and is a serious, fixed, constant acting of the understanding, 
which therefore is likely to attain the effect : the use of this, and 
its power on the will and affections, and the reasons, I have showed 
you in the Fourth Part of this book. Hence it is, that let their 
wit be never so great, yet inconsiderate men are ever wicked men ; 
and men of sober, frequent consideration, are usually the most 
godly, and prevail most against any temptation ; tbere being no 
more effectual means against any temptation, indeed, whether it be 
to omission or commission, than tbis setting reason forcibly a-work 
by consideration. The most considerate men are the most resolved 
and confirmed. So that besides a bare, cold conclusion of the 
understanding, though you call it practical, this consideration must 
give that force, and fixedness, and importunity, to your conclusions, 
which may make them stronger than all tbe sensitive solicitations 
to the contrary, or else the soul will still follow tbe flesh. Now 
Christ will have his Spirit to excite this consideration ; and to 
enable us to perform it more powerfully, and successfully, than else 



352 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

we should ever do. And thus the Spirit is Christ's solicitor in and 
to our souls ; and by thcni it advanceth Christ's interest, and main- 
taineth it in the saints, and causeth it to prevail against the interest 
of the flesh. Where he prevaileth not in the main, as well as 
striveth, there is yet no saving grace in that soul. Whatever plead- 
ings, or strivings, or reasonings, or concludings, there may be in 
and by the soul on Christ's side, yet if the flesh's interest be still 
greater and stronger in the soul than Christ's, that soul is in a state 
of wrath : he may ]je in a hopeful way to come to a safer condition, 
and not far from the kingdom of God, and almost persuaded to be 
a Christian ; but if he die in that state, no doubt he shall be 
damned. He may be a Christian by common profession ; but, in a 
saving sense, no man is a Christian, in whose soul any thing hath a 
greater and higher interest than God the Father, and the Mediator. 

Sect. XII. Prop. 12. Therefore the sincerity of saving grace, as 
saving, lieth materially, not in the bare nature of it, but in the de- 
gree ; not in the degree, considered absolutely in itself, but com- 
paratively, as it is prevalent against its contrary.* 

I cannot expect that the reader should suddenly receive this 
truth, though of so great consequence that many men's salvation 
are concerned in it, as I shall show anon, till I have first made it 
plain. Long have I been poring on this doubt, whether the sin- 
cerity of grace, and so the difference between a hypocrite and a true 
Christian, do materially consist in the nature, or only in the de- 
gree ; whether it be physically considered a gradual or specifical 
difference : and I never durst conclude that it lay but in the physi- 
cal degree ; 1. Because of the seeming force of the objections, which 
I shall anon answer ; and, 2. Because of the contrary judgment of 
those divines whom I highliest valued. For though I am ashamed 
of my own ignorance, yet I do not repent that I received some 
things upon trust from the learned, while I was learning and study- 
ing them, or that I took them by a human faith, when I could not 
reach to take them by a Divine faith. Only, I then must hold them 
but as opinions ; but not absolutely as articles of my creed. But I 
am now convinced of my former mistake ; and shall therefore en- 
deavour to rectify others, being in a matter of such moment. 

You must remember, therefore, that I have showed you already, 
that God hath not made an act, considered in its mere nature, with- 
out considering it as in this prevailing degree, to be the condition 
of salvation; and that a wicked man may perform an act for the 
nature of it, which a true Christian may. But let us yet consider 
the proposition more distinctly. 

Divines use to give the title of saving grace to four things. 

The first is, God's purpose of saving us, and the special love and 
favour which he beareth to us, and so his will to do special good. 
This is, indeed, most principally, properly, and by an excellency, 
called saving grace. It is the fountain from which all other grace 

* This proposition being so much misnnilerstood by many, as since the ■writing of it 
I perceive, I desire the render to look to the addition at the end of the book for a fur- 
ther explication of it, and also to the two last propositions. 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 353 

doth proceed ; and I)y this grace we are elected, redeemed, justified, 
and saved. Now, the question in hand, is not concerning this grace 
which is immanent in God, where no douht there is no specifical 
diHerence, when divines accord that there is no diversity or multi- 
pHcity at all, but perfect unity, allowing still the unsearchable mys- 
tery of the Trinity ; therefore, I rest confident that no solid divine 
will say, that God's connnonlove or grace to the unsanctified, doth 
by a natural specification differ from his special love and grace to 
his chosen, as they are in God. 

The second thing which is commonly called saving grace, is, the 
act of God, by which the Spirit infuseth or worketh the special, 
habitual, saving gifts in the soul; not the effect, for that 1 shall 
next mention, but the act of the Holy Ghost, which worketh this 
effect. This is called gnitla operana, w^orking grace ; as the effect 
in us is called gratia opcrata, grace wrought in us. Now, 

1. This is none of it we inquire after in the question in hand, 
when we ask, A\ hether the truth of grace lie only in the compara- 
tive or prevailing degree i* 

2, If it were, yet there is here no place for such a doubt. 1. 
Because no man can prove such a natural, specific difference in the 
acts of God, nor will, I think, afhrm them. 2. Especially, because 
in the judgment of great divines, there is no such act of God at all 
distinct from his essence and immanent, eternal acts ; so that this 
is the same with the former. God doth not need, as man, to put 
forth any act, but his mere willing it for the producing of any effect. 
If man will have a stone moved, his will cannot stir it, but it must 
be the strength of his arm ; but God doth but will it, and it is 
done : as Dr. Twisse once or twice saith, but Bradwardine and the 
Thomists peremptorily maintain. Now, God's will is his essence, 
and he never did begin or cease to will any thing, though he will 
the beginning or ceasing of things. He willed the creation of the 
world and the dissolution of it at once from eternity ; though he 
willed from eternity, that it should be created and dissolved in 
time ; and so the effect only doth begin and end, but not the cause. 
This is our ordinary metaphysical divinity. If any vulgar reader think 
it beyond his capacity, I am content that he move in a lower orb. 
But we must not feign a natural, specific difference of acts in God. 

The third thing which we commonly call saving grace is, the 
special effects of this work of the Spirit on the soul, commonly 
called habitual grace, or the Spirit in us, or the seed of God abiding 
in us, or our real holiness, or our new nature. 

Now, 1. Our question is not directly and immediately of this, 
Whether common and special grace do differ more than by the 
forementioned degree ? for this is not it which a Christian search- 
eth after immediately, or directly, in his self-examination. For 
habits, as Suarez and others conclude, are not to be felt in them- 
selves, but only by their acts. We cannot know that we are dis- 
posed to love God, but by feeling the stirrings of love to him. So 
that it is the act that we must directly look for, and thence discern 
the habit. 

2 A 



354 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

2. But if any man will needs put the question of this habitual 
grace only, though it be not that I speak of principally, yet I an- 
swer him, that no man doubteth but that common grace containeth 
good dispositions, as special grace containeth habits. Now, who 
knoweth not that a disposition and a habit do differ but in degree ? 
A carnal man, by the help of common grace, hath a weak inclina- 
tion to good, and a -strong inclination to evil ; or, if you will speak 
properly, (for the will cannot choose evil as evil, but as a seeming 
good,) he hath a weak inclination to spiritual and heavenly, superior 
good, and a strong inclination to fleshly, earthly, inferior good ; 
whereupon the stronger bears down the weaker. But the regener- 
ate have stronger inclinations to superior, spiritual good, than to 
inferior, fleshly good ; and so the stronger in most temptations pre- 
vaileth. Now, what natural difference is here, but only in degree ? 

The fourth thing which we call saving grace, is, the exercise or 
acts which, from these habits or effectual inclinations, do proceed ; 
and this is the grace which the soul must inquire after directly in 
its self-examination ; and therefore this is it of which we raise the 
question, wherein the truth or sincerity of it doth consist ? There 
are, indeed, other things without us which may yet be called saving 
grace, as redemption and donation (commonly called the imputa- 
tion) of Christ's righteousness, and so remission, justification, '&c. ; 
but because every one may see that our question is not of these, I 
will not stand to make more mention of them. Now, for these acts 
of grace, who can produce any natural, specific difference between 
them, when they are special and saving, and when they are common 
and not saving '{ Is not common knowledge and special knowledge, 
common belief and special belief, all knowledge and belief; and is 
not belief the same thing in one and in another, supposing both to 
be real, though but one saving ? Our understandings and wills are 
all, physically, of the like substance ; and an act and an act, are 
accidents of the same kind; and we suppose the object to be the 
same : common love to God, and special saving love to God, be 
both acts of the will upon an object physically the same. 

But here, before I proceed further, I must tell you, that you must 
still distinguish between a physical or natural specification, and a 
moral ; and remember, that our question is only of a physical differ- 
ence, which I deny ; and not of a moral, which I make no doubt of. 
And you must know, that a mere difference in degrees, in the 
natural respect, doth ordinarily constitute a specifical difference in 
morality ; and the moral good or evil of all our actions lieth much 
in the degree, to wit, that they be kept in the mean between the 
two extreme degrees : and so a little anger, and a great deal, and 
little 'love to creatures, and a great deal, though they differ but 
gradually in their natures, yet they differ specifically in morality ; 
so that one may be an excellent virtue, and the other an odious 
vice ; so, between speaking too much and too little, eating or drink- 
ing too much or too little, the middle between these is a virtue, and 
both extremes are vices ; and yet, naturally, they differ but in de- 
gree. Virtue, as virtue, consisteth not in the bare nature of an act ; 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 355 

but formally it consisteth in the agreement or conformity of our 
actions or dispositions to the rule or law, which determincth of tlieir 
dueness ; which law, or rule, prcs^riheth the mean, or middle de- 
gree, and forbiddeth and condemneth both the extremes, in degree, 
where such extremes are possil)le, and we capaljle of them. So 
that there is a very great moral diirerence, such as may be termed 
specific, between those acts which naturally do differ only in degree. 
I say a moral, specifical difference is usually founded in a natural, 
gradual difference : if you confound these two specifications, you 
will lose yourselves in this point, and injuriously understand me. 

Furthermore, observe that I say, that sincerity of grace, as sav- 
ing, lieth in the degree, not formally, but, as it were, materially 
only ; for I told you before, the form of it consisteth in their being 
the condition on which salvation is promised. The form which we 
inquire after, is a relation. As the relation of our actions to the 
precept is the form of their virtuousness, viz. when they are such 
as are commanded ; so the relation of them to the promise, is the 
form of them, as saving, and so as justifying : but because this 
promise giveth not salvation to the act considered in its mere being, 
and natural sincerity, but to the act as suited to its object, in its 
essential respects ; and that suitableness of the act to the form of 
its object consisteth only in a certain degree of the act, seeing the 
lowest degree cannot be so suited ; therefore I say that sincerity 
lieth, as it wore, materially, only in the degree of those acts, and 
not in the bare and natural being of it. 

Lastly, consider, especially, that I say not that sincerity lieth in 
the degree of any act in itself considered, as if God had promised 
salvation to us, if we love him so much, or up to such a height, 
considered absolutely ; but it is, in the degree, considered com- 
paratively, as to God compared with other things, and as other 
objects or commanders stand in competition with him ; and so it is 
in the prevalency of the act or habit against all contraries. 

Sect. XIII. Having thus explained my meaning herein, the 
clearing of all this to you, and fuller confirmation, will be best 
despatched these three ways : 1. By exemplifying in each particu- 
lar grace, and trying this rule upon them severally ; 2. By examin- 
ing some of the most ordinary marks, which have been hitherto 
delivered, and Christians use to take comfort in ; 3. By inquiring 
what Scripture saith in the point. And, after these, I shall answer 
the objections that are against it, and then show you the usefulness 
and necessity of it, and danger of the contrary. 

1. The graces of the Spirit in man's soul, are either in the under- 
standing, or in the will and affections. Those in the understanding, 
as knowledge, prudence, assent to God's word, called faith, &c. 
I make no question, are as truly grace, and as proper to the saints, 
as those in the will and affections. Divers err here on both ex- 
tremes : some say that there is no special grace in the understand- 
ing, but in the will only ; others say that all special grace is in the 
understanding, and that the will is capable of nothing but freedom 
to choose or refuse, and that it ever follows the last dictate of the 



356 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

practical understanding, and therefore no more is needful but to 
inform the understanding ; others say, both understanding and will 
are the subject of special, sanctifying grace, and that in both it 
must be sought after, and may be discerned. Between these ex- 
tremes, I conceive this is the truth : both understanding and will, 
that is, the whole soul, which both understandeth and willeth, is 
truly sanctified where either is truly sanctified ; and the several 
acts of this sanctified soul, are called several actual graces. But 
though grace be in both faculties, as they are called, yet is it cer- 
tainly discernible only in the will, and not in the understanding ; 
for all acts, as they are merely in the understanding, are but im- 
perfectly virtuous, being but preparatory and introductory to the 
will, where they are digested and perfected, as I said before. Dr. 
Stoughton's words are these : " As, for my own part, I could never 
comprehend that which divines have gone about, to be able to put 
a characteristical difference in the nature of knowledge, that a man 
may be able to say such a knowledge is, and such a knowledge is 
not, a saving knowledge ; but only as I use to express it. The sun 
is the greater light, but the moon hath greater influence on waterish 
bodies ; so knowledge, let it be what it will, if it be good and 
saving, it hath an influence on the soul. There may be a great 
deal of knowledge, which is not vital and practical, which carrieth 
not the heart and affections along with it ; and they that have it, 
have not saving knowledge. But they that have the least degree 
of knowledge, so it be such as hath an influence to draw the heart 
and affections along with it, love God, and obey God, it is solid 
and saving knowledge." So Dr. Stoughton, in his "Righteous 
Man's Plea to Happiness," p. 38, 39. 

And, for my part, I know no mark, drawn from the mere nature 
of knowledge, or belief, or any mere intellectual act, by which we 
can discern it from what may be in an unholy person. Those that 
think otherwise, use to say that the knowledge and belief which is 
saving, is deep, lively, operative, &c. I doubt not but this is true : 
but how, by the depth, we shall discern the saving sincerity directly, 
I know not ; or how to discern it in the liveliness or operativeness, 
but only in its operations and effects on the will and affections, I 
know not. Whether it be so deep and lively as to be saving, must 
not be discerned immediately in itself, but in its vital, prevalent 
operations on the will ; so that I shall dismiss all the mere acts of 
the understanding out of this inquiry, as being not such as a Chris- 
tian can try himself immediately by : and for them that say other- 
wise, they place the sincerity of them in the depth and liveliness, 
that is, in the degree of knowledge and belief; for, no doubt, a 
wicked man may know and believe every particular truth which a 
Christian doth believe. Some learned men, I have heard, affirm, 
indeed, that no wicked man can believe Scripture to be the word of 
God ; but that is a fancy that I think needs no confutation : the 
devils believe it, no doubt. If any say that saving knowledge is 
experimental, and other is not, 

I answer : 1. Of matters of mere faith, we have no experience; 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 357 

as, that Christ is the second Person, was incarnate, crucified, buried, 
rose again, &c. 

2. Of common practicals, wicked men have experience ; as, 
that the world is deceitful, that man is prone to sin, that Satan 
must be resisted, &c. 

3. For those other special, internal experiences, which denomi- 
nate a Christian's knowledge experimental, the mark of sincerity 
lieth in the experienced thing itself, rather than the knowledge of 
it : for example, a Christian knows experimentally what the new 
birth is, what it is to love God, to delight in him, &c. Now, the 
mark lieth not properly in his knowledge of these, but in that love, 
delight, and renovation, which he possesseth, and so knoweth. 

It follows, therefore, that we inquire into the acts of the will, 
and see wherein their saving sincerity doth consist ; for, except the 
acts of the understanding, all that may be called saving is reducible 
to those two words of St. Paul, to will, and to do. For all the 
other acts of the soul are nothing but velle et nolle-; either exer- 
cised on the object as variously presented and apprehended, as 
absent or present, facile or difficult, &c. or exercised with that 
vigour as moveth the spirits in the heart, and denominates them 
affections or passions. 

First, therefore, to begin with the proper act of willing, though 
of ourselves, without grace, no man ever willeth God in Christ ; 
yet on this willing hath God laid our salvation, more than on any 
other qualification or act in ourselves whatsoever. And yet simply 
to will God, to will Christ, to will heaven, is not a saving act ; but 
when God and the creature stand in competition, to will God above 
all, and to will Christ above all, and heaven before earth, this is to 
will savingly ; that is, to will God as God, the chief good, and 
cause of good ; to will Christ as Christ, the only Saviour and chief 
Ruler of us ; and to will heaven as the state of our chief happiness 
in the glorifying enjoj^ment of God. Not that all the sincerity of 
these acts lieth in the understanding's apprehending God to be the 
chief good and cause of it, and Christ to be the only Redeemer, 
&c. ; for a man may will that God, and that Christ, who is thus 
apprehended by the understanding, and yet not will him as he is 
thus apprehended. The understanding may overgo the will, and 
the will not follow the understanding ; and this is no saving willing. 
If a man do know and believe never so nmch that God is the chief 
good, and do not chiefly will him, as the devils may so believe, it is 
not saving ; yea, it is a great question whether many do not will 
God (not only who is apprehended to be the supreme good, but 
also) <ts he is apprehended to be the supreme good, and yet love 
something else more than him, which they know 7iot to be the chief 
good, but, against their knowledge, are drawn to it by the force of 
sensuality, and so these men perish for all their willing ; for, cer- 
tainly, if God have not ordinarily the prevailing part of the will, 
that man's state is not good. When I say such men will God, as 
apprehended to be the chief good, I mean, they will him under 
such a notion, but not with an act of will answering that notion. 



358 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

I refer the term as to the understanding's apprehension, but not to 
the will's action, as if it loved him as the chief good should be 
loved or willed ; for that is it that is wanting, for which they perish. 
I propound this to the consideration of the judicious ; for it is cer- 
tainly worth our consideration. It depends on the common ques- 
tion, whether the will always follow the last dictate of the practical 
intellect, which I shall handle elsewhere. What I have said of 
willing, you may easily perceive, may be said of desire and love, 
which are nothing but willing. Love is an intense, absolute willing 
of good, as good ; desire, also, is a willing it as a good not yet en- 
joyed : therefore the saving sincerity of both lieth in the same 
point. Many that perish, desire God, and Christ, and heaven ; 
and love God, and Christ, and heaven ; but they desire and love 
some inferior good more. He that desireth and loveth God sin- 
cerely and savingly, desireth him and loveth him above all things 
else ; and there lieth his sincerity. 

I need not instance in hope, fear, hatred, or any of the acts or 
passions of the irascible ; for they are therefore good, because they 
set against the difficulty which is in the way of their attainment to 
that good which they will and love ; and so their chief virtuousness 
lieth in that will or love which is contained in them, or supposed to 
them. A wicked man may fear God, but the fear of men or tem- 
poral evils is more prevalent in the trial. He may have an aversa- 
tion of his mind from sin, or some low degree of hatred ; it is 
known to him to be evil, and to hurt him ; but his love to it is 
greater, and prevaileth against his hatred. If any doubt whether 
a wicked man may have the least hatred of sin, yea, as sin, or as 
displeasing to God, we are sure of it two ways. 

1. By daily experience of some drunkards, that when they are 
considering how much they sin against God, and wrong themselves, 
their hearts rise against their own sin, (especially if the temptation 
be out of sight,) and they will weep, and be ready to tear their own 
flesh ; and yet jdeld to the next temptation, and live weekly in 
committing of the sin. 

2. By the experience of our own hearts before our sanctification 
(those that were not sanctified in infancy). Many have felt that 
their hearts had some weak degree of dislike and hatred to the sin 
that captivated them. And I know divers swearers and drunkards 
that do so hate the same sins in their children, that they are ready 
to fall on them violently if they commit them. 

3. And we may know it by reason too. For whatsoever a man 
may know to be evil, that his will may have some hatred or aversa- 
tion towards, though not enough ; but a. wicked man may know sin 
to be evil ; therefore he may have some hatred to it. The will may 
sure follow the understanding a little way, though it do not far 
enough. But methinks those should not contraclict this, that are 
for the will's constant determination by the understanding. 

The like I may say also of repentance, so much of it as lieth in 
the will ; that is, the will's turning from inferior good (which it 
formerly chose) to God, the supreme good, whom it now chooseth : 



Chap. XI. .THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3.59 

the sincerity of this lieth in the prevailing degree, for if it he not 
such a change as carrieth the will more now to God than the 
creature, hut to God a little, and the creature still more, it is not 
saving. And if it be not a choosing of God before the creature, 
though it he a choosing of God in the second place, it will not 
serve turn. And for that repentance which consisteth in sorrow 
for sin: I. If it be not to such a degree that it prevail over our 
delight in sin and love to it, it is not saving. Many wicked men 
do daily r(>pent and sin. I have known men that would be drunk 
almost daily, and some seven or eight days continue in one fit of 
drunkenness before ever they were sober, and yet lament it with 
tears, and pray daily against it ; and being men of much know- 
ledge and able parts, would confess it, and condemn themselves in 
very moving language, and yet iio means could keep them from it, 
but they have lived in it some ten, some twenty years. Who dare 
think that this was true repentance, when the apostle concludes, 
"If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die?" Rom. viii. 0; xiii. 2. 
Yet I must tell you, that all these graces which are expressed by 
passions of sorrow, fear, joy, hope, love, are not so certainly to be 
tried by the passion that is in them, as by the will that is either 
contained in them, or supposed in them ; not as acts of the sensi- 
tive, but of the rational appetite. I will not here stand on the 
question whether grace be in the sensitive or rational appetite, as 
its subject, or both. Burgersdicius and others say, that moral 
virtue is in the sensitive only, but something like it in the will, but 
theological virtues are in the will. But, doubtless, if he do prove 
moral virtue to be in the sensitive, he will prove a proportionable 
measure of theological virtue to be there too. For there is no vir- 
tue, truly so called, which is not theological as well as moral. 

But if there be any doubt whether an unregenerate man may 
perform the same act as a true Christian, it will be especially about 
the two great and principal graces of faith and love. And for that 
of faith, I have said enough before. It consisteth, according to the 
judgment of most reformed divines, partly in the understanding, 
partly in the will. As it is in the understanding, it is called assent 
or belief : and for this I have showed before, that a wicked man 
may have it in some degree ; and that grace, as it is in the under- 
standing, cannot be discerned directly ; but only as it thence pro- 
duceth those acts in the will wherein it may be discerned. There 
is no one truth which a true Christian may know, but a wicked 
man may also know it, though not with that lively degree of know- 
ledge which will overrule the heart and life. Nor is there any one 
truth which a true Christian may believe, but a wicked man may 
also believe it. If any deny this, let them name me one. And do 
not our divines confess as much against the papists, w^ho place faith 
in bare assent ! And do they not expound James's " the devils 
believe " of such an assent ? If this were not so, it were an easy 
matter to try and know one's own sincerity, and so to have assur- 
ance of salvation ; for we might presently name such or such an 
axiom, (as, that the Scripture is the word of God, or the like,) and 



360 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

ask whether we do know or believe this to be true, and so might 
quickly be resolved. For it is the heart, or will, that is deceitful 
above all things, but the bare acts of the understanding may more 
easily be discerned, as whether we know or assent to such an axiom 
or not ; though I know also that even the understanding partici- 
pateth of the guilefulness, and may be somewhat strange to itself. 

But some will say that no wicked man can believe the pardon of 
his own sins,* or assent to the truth of this axiom. My sins are 
pardoned. Answ. I confess, so many have harped on this string 
heretofore, that I am ashamed that the papists should read it in 
our writings, and thereby have that occasion of hardening them in 
their errors, and of insulting over the reformed doctrine. I con- 
fess, no wicked man (in sensu compositoj can believe for the par- 
don of sin, or hath such a faith as pardon is promised to ; but that 
they may believe their sins are pardoned, and seriously believe it, 
did not error make it necessary, I should be ashamed to bestow 
any words to prove it. 1. A wicked man may (in my judgment, 
without any great difficulty) believe an untruth, especially which 
he would fain have to be true, though every untruth he cannot be- 
lieve. But this is an untruth to every wicked man, that his sins 
are pardoned ; or, even by the Antinomians' confession, it is untrue 
of all wicked men not elected ; and an untruth which he would fain 
have to be true, (for what man is so perverse in his fancy as to 
doubt whether a wicked man would have his sins pardoned,) there- 
fore he may believe it. 2. That which is one of the chief pillars 
in the kingdom of the devil, and the master, deceiving, damning 
sin, is not sure inconsistent with a wicked man's condition : but 
even such is the ungrounded belief that his sins are pardoned, 
(commonly called presumption, and false faith,) therefore, &c. 3. 
If it be the main work of a skilful, faithful ministry, to beat wicked 
men from such an ungrounded belief, and experience tells us that 
all means will hardly do it, and yet that God doth it on all before 
he bring them by the ministry to true conversion, then sure it is 
more than possible for a wicked man to have such a belief. But 
Scripture, and a world of lamentable experience, prove the antece- 
dent ; what do such writings as Hooker's, Bolton's, Whately's, &c. 
else drive at ? therefore, &c. 4. Yea, that the actual pardon of 
our sins is not properly credendum, or a material object of faith, I 
have proved elsewhere, and therefore need not stand on it now. 

2. And for those acts of faith which are directly in and by the 
will, I know not one of them, considered in the nature of the act, 
without the prevalent degree, which a wicked man may not per- 
form. For the most proper and immediate act, willing, which con- 
taineth a choice of Christ, and a consent that he shall be ours, 
together with his benefits, this I have before made manifest to be 
consistent with an unregenerate state. If any will affirm, that a 
wicked man cannot be willing to have pardon of all his sins, justi- 
fication, and salvation from hell, I think it not worthy my writing 

* I know, fide vere divina, he cannot believe it because God never spake it ; no more 
hath he told any of us in his word, that our sins are actually pardoned. 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 361 

six lines to confute thorn ; sense will do it sufficiently. That this 
man cannot dosire, or choose, or will, holiness, and glory with 
Christ, more heartily, strongly, and prevailingly, than his pleasures 
or inferior good, I easily acknowledge ; for in tliat gradual defect 
consisteth his unsoundness. But that he may will, choose, accept, 
or desire, holiness and glory in a second place, next to his carnal 
delights or inferior good, is to me heyond doubt. And, accord- 
ingly, for the obtaining of these, he may will or accept of Christ 
himself that gives them. This I shall prove anon, when we speak 
of love. 

And for that act of faith, which most affirm to be peculiarly the 
justifying act, that is, affiance, resting on Christ, recumbency, ad- 
herence, apprehension of him, &c. these, almost all metaphorical 
terms, contain, not one, but many acts, all which are most fre- 
quently found in the ungodly. For we undoubtedly know it ; 1 . 
By experience of ourselves whilst we were in their state ; 2. And 
by constant experience of the vilest sinners, that they not only un- 
dissemblingly rest on Christ, (that is, trust verily to be pardoned 
and saved by him, and expect it from him,) but also that this is 
the strongest encouragement to them in sinning ; and we have 
need to lay all our batteries against this bulwark of presumption. 
Alas ! to the grief of my soul, my frequent and almost daily expe- 
rience forceth me to know this, whatsoever men write from their 
speculations to the contrary. I labour with my utmost skill to 
convince common drunkards, swearers, worldlings, &c. of their 
misery, and I cannot do it for my life ; and this false faith is the 
main reason. They tell me, I know I am a sinner, and so are you, 
and all, as well as I. But if any man sin, " we have an Advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" I put my whole trust 
in him, and cast my salvation on him ; for " he that believeth in 
him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life." If I tell them of 
the nature of true faith, and the necessity of obedience, they answer 
me that they know their own hearts better than I, and are sure 
they do really rest on Christ, and trust him with their souls. And 
for obedience, they will mend as well as they can, and as God will 
give them grace ; and, in the mean time, they will not boast as the 
Pharisee, but cry, " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner ;" and that I 
shall never drive them from believing and trusting in Christ for 
mercy, because they be not so good as others, when Christ tells 
them that men are not justified by works, but by faith, and he that 
believeth shall be saved. This is the case of the most notorious 
sinners, many of them, and I am most confident they speak as they 
think : and from this ungrounded confidence in Christ, I cannot 
remove them. Where now is any difference in the nature of this 
affiance, and that of true believers ? If you say that it l)rings not 
forth fruit, and therefore is unsound, that is true : but that is only 
an extrinsical diff'erence in the effects, and speaks not the differ- 
ence in the nature of the act itself. But I have spoken of this 
more fully elsewhere. 

But the greatest doubt is, whether, in loving God and Christ as 



362 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Mediator, there be not more than a gradual difference between the 
regenerate and unregenerate ; and I shall show you that there is 
not : for it is undeniable that an unholy person may love God and 
the Mediator, and as undeniable that they cannot love God above 
all, till they are regenerate. The latter I take for granted. The 
former, if any deny, is thus proved : 1 . That which the under- 
standing apprehendeth to be good, both in itself and to the person, 
that the will may in some measure love. But an unregenerate 
man's understanding may apprehend God to be good, both in him- 
self and to his person: therefore, he may in some measure love 
him. That wicked men may believe that God is good, is no more 
to be doubted of, than that they may believe there is a God. For 
he that believeth there is a God, must needs believe that he is good. 
And that he may believe that God is good to him also, is evident, 
thus: 1. Men know that they have all their temporal, corporal 
mercies from God, (which are to them the sweetest of all,) and 
therefore for these, and the continuance of them, they may appre- 
hend God to be good to them, and so love him. 2. And Scripture 
and constant experience tell us, that it is usual with wicked men, 
not only to apprehend the goodness of prosperity, but thence mis- 
takingly to gather, that God doth specially favour and love them 
as his people to salvation. 3. Also, nothing is more common with 
them almost, than from the thoughts of God's mercifulness and 
goodness, and from mistaken seeming evidences in themselves, to 
conclude most confidently that their sins are pardoned, and that 
God will not condemn them, but will save them as certainly as any 
other. Also, that Christ having died in their stead, and made 
satisfaction for all their sins, they shall, through him, be pardoned, 
justified, and saved. Many a wicked man doth as confidently be- 
lieve that God loveth him through Christ, and doth as confidently 
thank God daily in his prayers for vocation, adoption, justification, 
and assured hope of glory, as if they were all his own indeed. 
Nay, out of the apprehensions of some extraordinary love and 
mercy of God to him above others, he oft giveth thanks as the 
Pharisee, " Lord, I thank thee that I am not as this publican." 
And, doubtless, all their apprehensions of love may produce some 
love to God again. As the grounded faith and hope of the godly 
produceth a solid saving love, so the ungrounded faith and hope of 
the wicked produceth a slight and common love, agreeable to the 
cause of it. As Christ hath a common love to the better sort of 
wicked men, more than to the worst ; he looked on the young man, 
Mark x. 21, 22, and loved him, and said, " Thou art not far 
from the kingdom of God ;" so may such men have a common love 
to Christ, and that above the ordinary sort of the ungodly. For I 
am persuaded there is no man so wicked among us, who believeth, 
indeed, that Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour, but he hath 
some love to Christ, more or less. For, 4. God hath been pleased 
to give those advantages to the Christian religion, above all other 
religions among us, which may easily procure some love to Christ 
from ungodly men. It is the religion of our country ; it is a credit 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3G3 

to be a Christian ; it is the religion of our ancestors, of our parents, 
and dearest friends ; it is that whicli princes favour, and all men 
speak well of. Christ is in credit among us ; every man acknow- 
ledgeth him to be God, and the Redeemer of tiie world ; and 
therefore on the same grounds, or better, as a Turk doth love and 
honour Mahomet, and a Jew, Moses, may a wicked Christian in 
some kind love and honour Christ, yea, and venture his life against 
that man that will speak against him, as Dr. Jackson and Mr. 
Pink have largely manifested. 

Sect. XIV. If any object that it is not God or Jesus Christ that 
these men love, but his benefits, I answer, it is God and the Re- 
deemer for his benefits. Only here is the unsoundness, which 
undoes them : they love his inferior, earthly blessings better than 
him ; and for this they perish. 

Having thus viewed these several graces, and found that it is 
the prevalent degree wherein their sincerity, as they are saving, 
doth consist, I will next briefly try this point upon some of the 
ordinary marks of sincerity besides, that are given by divines ; in 
which I shall not speak a word in quarrelling at other men's judg- 
ments, for I shall speak but of those that I was wont to make use 
of myself: but only what I conceive necessary to prevent the delu- 
sion and destruction of souls. 

1. One mark of sincerity, commonly delivered, is this : to love 
the children of God because they are such. I the rather name this, 
because many a soul hath been deluded about it. Multitudes of 
those that since are turned haters and persecutors of the godly, did 
once, without dissemljling, love them ; yea, nmltitudes that are kill- 
ing them by thousands, when they diifer from them in opinion, or 
stand in the way of their carnal interest, did once love them, and 
do love others of them still. I have proved before, that a wicked 
man may have some love to Christ, and then no doubt but he may 
have some love to a Christian, and that for his sake. Quest. But 
may he love a godly man for his godliness ? Amw. Yes, no doubt ; 
those before mentioned did so. If a wicked man may have some 
degree of love to godliness, then he may have some degree of love to 
the godly for it ; but that he may have some degree of love to godli- 
ness, is evident : 1 . By experience of others, and of the godly before 
conversion, who know this was their own case ; 2. The understand- 
ing of an ungodly man may know that grace and godliness is good, 
and therefore his will may in some degree choose and affect it ; 
3. That which drew moral heathens so strongly to love men for 
their virtue and devotion, the same principle may as well draw a 
man that is bred among Christians to love a Christian for his vir- 
tues and devotion to Christ. 

Object. But doth not the Scripture say, " that we know we are 
translated from death to life, because we love the brethren?" 

Aitsic. Yes ; but then you may easily know it speaks of sincere 
love. So it saith, "Whoever believeth shall be saved ;" and yet 
(Matt, xiii.) Christ showeth that many believe, who yet fall away 
and perish, for want of deep rooting : so that the sincerity of this 



364 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

love also lieth in the degree ; and, therefore, when the promise is 
made to it, or it made a mark of true Christians, you must still 
understand it of that degree which may be called sincere and 
saving. The difference lieth plainly here. An unsound Christian, 
as he hath some love to Christ, and grace, and godliness, but more 
to his profits, or pleasures, or credit in the world, so he hath some 
love to the godly, as such, being convinced that the righteous is 
more excellent than his neighbour ; but not so much as he hath to 
these carnal things. Whereas the sound Christian, as he loves 
Christ and grace above all worldly things, so it is Christ in a Chris- 
tian that he so loves, and the Christian for Christ's sake above all 
such things : so that when a carnal professor will think it enough 
to wish them well,* but will not hazard his worldly happiness for 
them, if he were called to it ; the sincere believer will not only love 
them, but relieve them, and value them so highly, that, if he were 
called to it, he would part with his profits or pleasures, for their 
sakes. For example, in Queen Mary's days, when the martyrs 
were condemned to the fire, there were many great men that really 
loved them, and wished them well, and their hearts grieved in pity 
for them, as knowing them to be in the right ; but yet they loved 
their honour, and wealth, and safety, so much better, that they 
would sit on the bench, yea, and give sentence for their burning, 
for fear of hazarding their worldly happiness. Was this sincere, 
saving love to the brethren ? Who dares think so, especially in 
them that went on to do thus ? Yet, what did it want but a more 
intense degree, which might have prevailed over their love to carnal 
things ? Therefore, Christ will not, at the last judgment, inquire 
after the bare act of love ; but, whether it so far prevailed over our 
love to carnal interest as to bring us to relieve, clothe, visit them, 
&c. and Christ in them ; that is, to part with these things for them 
when we are called to it. Not that every man that loves the godly 
is bound to give them all he hath in their necessity ; for God hath 
directed us in what order to bestow and lay out our estates ; and we 
must begin at ourselves, and so to our families, &c. ; so that God 
may call for our estates some other ways. But mark it, jou false- 
hearted worldlings, he that doth not so much love the ordinary sort 
of the godly, and Christ in them, as that he can find in his heart to 
bestow all his worldly substance for their relief, if God did not re- 
quire him otherwise to expend it, this man hath no saving love to 
the godly. If, therefore, you would not cheat yourselves, as multi- 
tudes in this age have done, about your love to the brethren, try not 
by the bare act, but by the radicated, prevalent degree of your love. 
2. Another ordinary mark of sincerity is this : when a man is the 
same in secret before God alone as he is in public before men, mak- 

* " If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say to 
them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; but give them not those things which 
are needful to the body," &c. James ii. 15, 16. " Hereby perceive we the love of God, 
because he laid down his life for us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his 
bowels of compassion from him, bow dwelleth the love of God in him t Let us not love 
in word and tongue, but in deed and in truth," 1 John iii. 16 — 18. 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 365 

ing conscience of secret as well as open duties. But, no douLt, as 
many a godly man may be the more restrained from sin, and incited 
to good, from public, and perhaps carnal", motives, and so may be 
better, in appearance, publicly than he is in secret ; for all men 
have some hypocrisy in them ; so many an unregenerate man may 
make conscience of secret duties as well as open ; yea, even of the 
thoughts of his heart. But, still, both secret duties and open are 
at the disposal of his carnal interest; for he will follow them no 
further than is consistent with that : so that this mark doth but 
show a man's sincerity in opposition to gross hypocrisy or dissem- 
bling, but not the sincerity of grace as it is saving. 

3. Another ordinary mark of sincerity is thus delivered : when 
a man loves the closest and most searching preaching of the word, 
and that which putteth on to the highest degree of holiness. If 
he therefore love it because it putteth himself on to the highest 
degree of holiness, and so far love it as that he is willing to be 
searched and put on by it ; and if he therefore come to this light, 
that he may know his evil thereby, that he may mortify it, and 
may get Christ and his interest advanced in his soul ; then it is a 
sign that he hath that degree which I have mentioned, wherein 
sincerity of saving grace doth consist : but many a wicked man 
doth love a searching preacher in other respects, and one that draw- 
eth men to the highest strain, partly because he may love to have 
other men searched, and their hypocrisy discovered, and be put on 
to the highest, and partly because himself may be of and delight 
in the highest strain of opinion, though his heart will not be true 
to his principles ; nay, many a man thinks that he may the more 
safely be a little more indulgent to his carnal interest in heart and 
life, because he is of the strictest opinion, and therefore may love 
to hear the strictest preachers. His conscience is so blind and dull 
in the application, that he can easily overlook the inconsistency of 
his judgment, and his heart and practice. Oh how glad is he 
when he hears a rousing sermon, because, thinks he, this meets 
with such a man or such a man ; this fits the profane and lower 
sort of professors. . So that, in these respects, he may love a 
searching preacher. 

4. Another common mark of sincerity is, when a man hath no 
known sin which he is not willing to part with. This is a true 
and sound mark indeed ; for it signifieth not only a dislike, nor 
only a hatred of sin, but such a degree as is prevalent in the will, 
as I have before described ; that Christ's interest in the will is pre- 
valent over all the interest of the flesh. So that this is but, in 
effect, the same mark that I have before delivered. Except this 
willingness to part with all sin should be but a cold, unconstant 
wish, which is accompanied with a greater and more prevalent love 
to it, and desire to enjoy it ; and then who dare think that it is 
any mark of saving sincerity ? The like I might say of hatred to 
sin, love to good, and many the like marks, that the sincerity lieth 
in the prevalent degree : so also of the spirit of prayer, which is 
another mark. The spirit of prayer, so far as it ie proper to the 



366 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

saints, lieth in desire after the things prayed for, with the other 
graces which in prayer are exercised ; for a hypocrite may have as 
excellent words as the best, and as many of them. Now these 
desires must he such prevalent desires as is aforesaid. 

I think, if I could stand to mention all the other marks of grace, 
so far as I remember, it would appear that the life and truth of 
them all lieth in this one, as being the very point wherein saving 
sincerity doth consist, viz, in the prevalency of Christ's interest in 
the soul, above the interest of inferior good ; and so in the degree, 
not in the bare nature of any act. 

Sect. XV. 3. To this end, let us, but briefly, inquire further 
into the Scripture way of discovering sincerity, and see whether it 
do not fully confirm what I say. Christ saith, " He that loveth 
father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me ; and he that 
loveth son or daughter more than me," &c. Matt. x. 37. So Luke 
xiv. 26, " If any man come to me, and hate not" (that is, love not 
less) " his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
and sisters, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple : and who- 
soever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my 
disciple." So ver. 33, " Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh 
not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Here, you see, 
sincerity is plainly laid, not in mere love to Christ, but in the pre- 
valent degree of love, as Christ is compared to other things. And 
for obedience, Christ shows it. Matt, xxv.; Luke xix. 20, &c. 
Therefore Christ saith, " Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for 
many shall seek to enter, and not be able," Luke xiii. 24. Seeking 
comes short of striving, in the degree. And Paul saith, " They 
which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize : so run 
that ye may obtain," I Cor. ix. 24. So ver. 26, 27, and Heb. xii, 
1. And Christ commandeth, " Seek first the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness," Matt. vi. 33. Showing plainly, that the 
saving sincerity of our seeking lieth in this comparative degree ; in 
preferring God's kingdom before the things below. So he saith, 
" Labour not for the meat that perisheth," (not in comparison,) 
" but for the meat that endureth to everlasting life, which the Son 
will give you," John vi. 27. So Heb. xi. 6, 14, 16, 25, 26, 35; 
xiii. 14 ; Col. iii. 1 ; Rom. ii. 7 ; Luke xvii. 33 ; xii. 30, 31 ; Amos 
V. 4,8, 14; Isa. Iviii. 2, 3; i. 17; Prov. viii. 17; Psal. cxix. 2. 
Also, a hundred places might be produced, wherein Christ sets 
himself still against the world as his competitor, and promiseth life 
on the condition that we prefer Him before it. To this end are all 
those precepts for suffering, and bearing the cross, and denying 
ourselves, and forsaking all. The merchant that buyeth this pearl, 
must sell all that he hath to buy it, .though he give nothing for it. 
All the beginning of Rom. viii. as ver. 1 — 14, do fully show that 
our work and warfare lieth in a perpetual combat between the flesh 
and Spirit, between their several interests, motives, ends, and 
desires ; and that which prevaileth shows what we are. When the 
flesh prevaileth, finally, it is certain death ; and where the Spirit 
jn-evaileth, it is certain life. What can be more plain than that 



CiiAP. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 307 

sincerity of grace, as saving, is here placed in the comparative or 
prevailing degree? So also Gal. v. 17, 24, "The flesh liisteth 
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are 
contrary one to the other. But they that are Christ's, have cruci- 
fied the flesh with the aftections and lusts thereof," Therefore are 
we charged, to make no provision for the flesh to satisfy its lusts, 
Rom. xiii. 14. So 1 John ii. 10; Eph. ii. 3; Gal. v. 10 — H) ; 
John i. 13; iii. 0. And Christ shows fully, Matt. xiii. 5, 23, &c. 
that the diff*erence between those that fall away, and those that 
persevere, proceedeth hence, that one giveth deep rooting to the 
gospel, and the other doth not. The seed is rooted in both, or 
else it would not bring forth a blade and imperfect fruit ; but the 
stony ground gives it not deep rooting, which the good ground 
doth. , Doth not this make it as plain as can be spoken, that sin- 
cerity lieth in degree, and not in any physical difl'erence either of 
habits or acts ? The like may be gathered from all those texts of 
Scripture, where salvation is promised to those that overcome, or 
on condition of overcoming ; not to all that fight, but to all that 
overcome; as Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 20 ; iii. 5, 12, 13; xxi. 7, " He 
that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and 
he shall be my son." So 1 John v. 4, 5, " He that is born of God, 
overcometh the world." i\nd they overcame the wicked one, 1 
John ii. 13 ; iv. 4. So Luke xi. 22. And the state of wicked 
men is described by their being overcome by sin and the world, 
2 Pet. ii. 19, 20. Fighting is the same action naturally in both ; 
but the valiant, strong, and constant, conquer ; when the feeble, 
faint, and cowardly, and impatient, do turn their backs, and are 
overcome. So Christ saith, " The kingdom of heaven suflPereth 
violence, and the violent take it by force." Now violence is not 
any distinct action, but a diflterent degree of action. Nor can you 
say that all these places speak only of outward action. P'or no 
doubt but it is inward violence more than outward, and the inward 
actions of the soul intended, more than the motions of the body, 
which lay hold on the kingdom, and make us conquerors. So the 
saints are described in Scripture by such gradual and prevalent 
different acts. As David, ." Whom have I in heaven but thee? 
and there is none on earth that I desire in comparison of thee," 
Psal. Ixxiii. 20, 27. " Thy loving-kindness is better than life," 
Psal. Ixiii. 3. " The Lord is my portion," &c. A wicked man 
may esteem God and his loving-kindness ; but not as his portion, 
nor better than life. So the wicked are called ''' lovers of pleasure 
more than God," 2 Tim. iii. 4. The godly may love pleasure, but 
not more than God. The Pharisees loved the praise of men more 
than the honour which is from God, John xii. 43. A godly man may 
love the praise of men, but not more, &c. See also. Job iii. 21 ; xxiii. 
12; Psal. xlvii. ; xix. 10; hi. 3 ; cxix. 72. V^ery many more texts 
might be produced which prove this point, but these may suffice. 

Sect. XVL 4. The next thing which I have to do is, to answer 
those objections which may be brought against it, and which, I 
confess, have sometime seemed of some weight to myself. 



368 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Object. 1 . Do not all divines say that it is not the measure of 
grace, but the truth ; not the quantity, but the quality, that we 
must judge ourselves by ? And doth not Christ say that he despis- 
eth not the day of small things, and that he will not quench the 
smoking flax ; and if we had faith which is as a grain of mustard- 
seed, we may do wonders, &c. ? 

Ansu\ All this is true of sincere grace, but not of unsincere. 
Now I have showed you that except it be of a prevalent degree, it 
is not savingly sincere. If you love God a little, and the world a 
deal more, will any man dare to think that it is a sincere saving 
love, when the Scripture saith, " He that loveth the world, the 
love of the Father is not in him ? " that is, there is no sincere 
saving love in him ; for no doubt the young man had some love to 
Christ, that yet forsook him because he loved the world more : or 
else, 1. Christ would not have loved him ; 2. Nor would the man 
have gone away from him in sorrow. But if you love Christ ever 
so little more than the world or inferior good, though it be but as 
a grain of mustard-seed, it will be saving, and Christ will accept it. 
Cicero can tell you that friendship, or the sincerity of love to a 
friend, consisteth not in every act and degree of undissembled love. 
If a man love you a little, and a thousand men much more, or if he 
love his wealth so much better than you, that he cannot find in his 
heart to be at any loss for your sake, this man is not your friend ; 
he doth truly love you, but he hath no true, sincere friendship or 
friendly love to you ; for that consisteth in such a degree as will 
enable a man to do and suffer for his friend. If a woman love her 
husband without dissembling, but yet loves twenty men better, and 
prostitutes lierself to them, she hath true love, but no true conjugal 
love to her husband ; for that consisteth in a higher degree. In a 
word, lay Christ, as it were, in one end of the balance in your esti- 
mation, and all your carnal interest, and all inferior good, in the 
other, and see which you love most ; and every grain of love which 
Christ hath from you more than the world and inferior things, he 
will accept it as sincere : and in this sense you must not judge of 
yourselves by the measure of your grace, but by the truth ; that is, 
not by any higher degree, if you have once that degree which 
makes it true and saving. And I do not think that you will meet 
with any sober divine that will tell you, that if you will love God 
ever so little without dissembling, yet he will accept it, though you 
love your lusts before him. Nor will any sober man tell you that 
if you love the godly without dissembling, God will accept it, 
though you love your carnal interest so much better ; that if they 
hunger, or thirst, or are naked, or in want, you cannot find in your 
heart to relieve them ; or if they be in prison for a good cause, you 
dare not be seen to visit them. 

Object. 2. But perhaps you will say, If this be so, then there is 
no specific difference between saving grace and common. 

Atistv. I told you before that you must distinguish betwixt a 
physical specification, and a moral. The confounding of our phy- 
sics and ethics in divinity, liath made and continued abundance of 



CnAi'. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3G9 

controvj^rsies, and much confusion. In a word^ there is a moral, 
.specific (lilhu-encc grounded hut in a pliysical, gradual difference, 
bolh of habits and acts, as is already more fully opened. 

Object. 3. But, you may say, if there he such a difference in de- 
grees, then how can a man know the truth of his grace, or ever get 
assurance ; for who can discern just the parting point '( Who can 
say, Just such a degree of love or faith is sincere and saving, and 
the next degree short of it is not ? 

Answ. This objection being of most weight, I shall answer it in 
these propositions : 

1. ^^'here the prevailing degree is not discernible, there no true 
assurance can be had, in an ordinary way ; and where it is very 
hard to discern the degree, there it will be as hard to get a.ssurance. 

2. Therefore, those that have the smallest degree of saving 
grace, do not use to have any assurance of salvation. Assurance 
is the privilege of stronger Christians, and not of weak ones, or 
of all that shall be saved. A little is hardly discernible from none 
in nature. 

3. And it seemeth that the reason of God's disposal herein is 
very evident : for if God should let men clearly see the least mea- 
sure of love, faith, fear, or obedience, that is saving, and the 
greatest measure of sin that will stand with sincerity, and say. Just 
so far thou mayst sin, or mayst deny me thy love, and yet be 
saved and sincere, then it might have been a strong temptation 
to men to sin as far as ever they may, and to neglect their graces. 
I know some will say that assurance breeds not security. But 
that great measure of corruption which liveth with our small mea- 
sure of grace, will make assurance an occasion of security and 
boldness in sinning. A strong Christian may bear and improve 
assurance, but so cannot the weakest ; and therefore God uscth not 
to give as.surance to weakest Christians. 

But, then, mistake me not, but remember that by weak Chris- 
tians I do not mean those that are weak in gifts, and connnon 
parts and expressions ; nor by strong Christians, those that excel 
in these. Those are weak Christians that have no more love to 
God, nor desire after Christ, than will just stand with sincerity; 
and that have as much love to the world and flesh, and take as 
much liberty to sin, as ever will stand with salvation. And those 
are strong Christians who strongly love God, and have mortified 
and mastered their corruptions. 

4. Where grace is thus strong and in a great degree, there it is 
easily discernible, and therefore to such, assurance is ordinary, ex- 
cept in a fit of temptation, revolting, or desertion. 

.5. But the chief part of my answer is this : It is not the degree 
of grace absolutely in itself considered, wherein sincerity doth con- 
sist, nor which we must inquire after in trial, but it is the degree 
in a comparative sense ; as when we compare God and the creature, 
and consider which we desire, love, fear, iicc. more : and, therefore, 
here it is far easier to try by the degree. You know that gold is 
not current except it be weight as well as pure metal. Now, if you 

2 B 



370 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

put your gold in one end of the scales, and nothing in the other, 
you cannot judge whether it be weight or no ; but if you put the 
weights against it, then you may discern it. If it be downright 
weight, you may discern it without either difficulty or doubt. If it 
be but a grain over- weight, you may yet discern it ; though it is 
possible it may be so little, that the scales will scarce turn, and then 
you will not discern so easily which is the heavier end. But if it 
want much, then you will as easily on the other side discern the 
defectiveness. So thus here : if God had said absolutely. So much 
love you nuist have to me, or you cannot be saved, then it were 
hard to know when we reach the degree. But you must, as I said, 
put Christ and heaven in one end, and all things below in the 
other, and then you may well find out the sincerity in the degree. 
Every grain that Christ hath more than the creature, is sincere 
and saving. 

Sect. XVII. 5. Lastly, having thus given you my judgment in 
this great point, I will give you some hint of the necessity of it, 
and the danger of mistaking in this case. 

And, 1. I am certain that the misunderstanding of this point 
hath occasioned the delusion of multitudes of men : even common 
profane men, (much more those that are not far from the kingdom 
of God,) when they hear that it is not the quantity or measure of 
grace, that we must try by, but the quality, and that the least seed 
or spark is saving as well as the greatest degree, they are presently 
confident of the soundness of their state. Alas, how many have I 
known thus deceived ! When they have heard that the least true 
desire is accepted with God for the deed, they knew that they had 
desires that v/ere not counterfeit, and therefore doubted not but 
God did accept them, when in the mean time their desire to plea- 
sure, and profits, and honour, was so much stronger, that it over- 
came their weak desires after God and goodness, and made them 
live in the daily practice of gross sin : and they knew not that the 
sincerity of their desire did lie in the prevailing degree. God doth 
indeed accept the will for the deed, and the best are fain to cry out 
with Paul, " To will is present with me, but to do I find not," in 
regard of those higher parts of spiritual duty, and in the avoiding 
of divers infirmities and passions; but then it is only the prevailing 
bent and act of the will which is thus accepted. 

So have, I know, multitudes been deceived by their small degree 
of love to the godly, hearing that the least was a certain sign of 
grace, and knowing themselves to love them without counterfeiting, 
Avho yet have since been carried to be their constant persecutors, 
and shed their blood : the like I may say of other marks. And 
doth it not concern people, then, to be better grounded in this ? 

2. And, doubtless, the mistake of this hath caused many sincere 
Christians to take up their comforts on deceitful grounds, which 
accordingly prove deceitful comforts, and leave them oft in a sor- 
rowful case, (though not in a damnable,) when they come to make 
use of them. Satan knows how to shake such ill-grounded com- 
forts, and he usually doth it in a man's greatest agonies, letting 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 371 

them stand till then, that he may have advantage l)y their fall for 
ouv greater terror. When he can put a poor Christian to a loss 
many, times that hath the soundest evidences, what may he do hy 
those that either have none but unsound ones, or know them not 
at least .' 

3. Moreover, the ignorance of this truth hath caused some 
ministers to wrong the holy God, and abuse poor souls, and misap- 
ply the promises ; absolving those whom God condemneth, by mis- 
taking the meaning of that saying. That the least degree is saving 
as well as the greatest ; which is true only of the least prevailing 
degree, but not of the greatest that is overmastered by the preva- 
Icncy of its contrary, 

4. And to my knowledge this hath been no small hinderanee to 
many to keep them from fruitfulness and growth in grace. They 
have been more securely contented with their low degree : whereas 
if they had known that their very sincerity lieth in the prevalency 
of the degree, they would have looked more after it. For them 
that say that assurance will make men strive for increase, I an- 
swered before :* If there were no contrary corruption in strength 
in us, then I confess it would be as they say. 

5. And lastly, the ignorance of this hath been no small cause of 
keeping the godly in low degrees of assurance and comfort, by 
keeping them from the right way of attaining them. If they had 
considered, that both the saving sincerity of their graces lieth in 
the prevailing degree, and also that the higher degree they attain 
the clearer and more unquestionable will be their evidence, and 
consequently the easier and more infallible will be their assurance ; 
this would have taught them to have spent those thoughts and 
hours in labouring after growth in grace, which they spent in in- 
quiring after the lowest degree which may stand with sincerity, 
and in seeking for that in themselves which was almost undis- 
cernible. 

To conclude : This doctrine is exceeding comfortable to the poor 
soul that groans, and mourns, and longs for Christ, and knows that 
though he be not what he should and would be, yet he would be 
what he should be, and had rather have Christ than all the world. 
God hath the prevailing degree of this man's will, desire, and love. 

And as necessary is this doctrine for caution to all, that as they 
love their souls, they take heed how they try and judge of their 
condition by the bare nature of any dispositions or actions, without 
regard to the prevalency of degree. 

I advise all Christians, therefore, in the fear of God, as ever they 
would have assurance and comforts that w ill not deceive them, that 
they make it the main work of their lives to grow in grace, to 
strengthen and advance Christ's interest in their souls, and to 
weaken and get down the interest of the flesh. And take heed of 

* I unfeignedly acknowledge with the Synod of Dort, (Act. de Art. v. thes. 12. p. 
260,) that to those Christians that God judgt'th fit to enjoy assurance, it is no inlet to 
security or licentiousness, but a great exciter of their graces. But I think it would be 
far otherwise to those that are unfit to enjoy and use it; that is, to the lower and worse 
sort of sincere Christians. 

2 B 2 



372 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

those pestilent principles of presumption, which would deceive you 
by the bare name and specious title of free grace ; which make 
Christ, as justifier only, to be the object of justifying faith, and not 
Christ as your Head, Husband, or King : wbich tell you, that you 
have fulfilled the law, and satisfied it fully in Christ ; and so need 
no more than to get the sense of pardon, or show your thankful- 
ness : which tell you that if you do but believe that you are par- 
doned, and shall be saved, it shall be so indeed ; as if this were the 
faith that must justify and save you. Deceivers may persuade you 
that Christ hath done all, and left you nothing to do for your jus- 
tification or salvation ; but you may easily see, from what I have 
said, that to mortify the flesh, to overcome Satan and the world, 
and to this end to stand always armed upon our watch, and valiantly 
and patiently to fight it out, is a matter of n^ore concernment, both 
to our assurance and salvation, than many do consider. Indeed, it 
is so great a part of our very baptismal vow, and covenant of Chris- 
tianity, that he that performeth it not, is yet no more than a nomi- 
nal Christian, whatsoever his parts and profession may be ; and, 
therefore, that Christ whom they trusted in, and whose free grace 
they boasted of, will profess to these professors, " I never knew 
you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity," Matt. vii. 23. " The 
foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord know- 
eth who are his ; but let him that nameth the name of Christ de- 
part from iniquity," 2 Tim. ii. 19 ; or else he shall never find him- 
self among the sealed. " Know you not, that to whom you yield 
yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom ye obey ; 
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience to righteousness?" 
Rom. vi. IG. Not every one that seeketh, or runneth, or fighteth, 
much less that presumptuously believeth and trusteth, but he that 
overcometh, shall have the hidden manna, the white stone, the new 
name, the white raiment, and power over the nations; he shall eat 
of the tree of life in the midst of God's paradise, and shall not be 
hurt of the second death ; he shall be confessed by Christ before 
his Father and the angels ; yea, he will make him a pillar in the 
temple of God, and he shall go out no more : he will write on him 
the name of his God, and the name of the city of his God, new 
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from his God ; and 
his nevv' name. Yea, he will grant him to sit with him in his 
throne, as himself overcame, and is set down with his Father in his 
throne. " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
unto the churches," Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 26; iii. 5, 12,21, 22. 



CHAPTER Xn. 

Tfili FOURTH USK. THE REASON OF THE SAINTs' AFFLICTIONS HERE. 

•Sect. I. A further necessary use we must make of the present doc- 
trine is this : to inform us why the people of God do suiFer so much 



Chap. XII. THE SAINTS' KVERLASTING REST. 373 

in this life. What wonder, when you see their rest dotli yet re- 
main ? They are not yet come to their resting-place. We would 
all fain have continual prosperity, hecause it is easy and pleasing to 
the flesh ; hut we consider not the unreasonahleness of such de- 
sires. We are like children, who, if they see any thing which their 
appetite desireth, do cry for it: and if you tell them that it is un- 
wholesome, or hurtful for them, they are never the more (piietcd; 
or if you go about to heal any sore that they have, they will not 
endure you to hurt them, though you tell them that they cannot 
otherwise he healed : their sense is too strong for their reason, and 
therefore reason doth little persuade them. Even so it is with us 
when God is afflicting us. He giveth us reasons why we must 
bear them, so that our reason is oft convinced and satisfied ; and 
yet we cry and complain still, and we rest satisfied never tlie more. 
It is not reason, but ease that we must have. What cares the flesh 
for Scripture and argument, if it still suff'er and smart I* These be 
but wind and words, which do not move oi abate its pain. Spirit- 
ual remedies may cure the spirit's maladies ; but that will not con- 
tent the flesh. But, methinks, Christians should have another 
palate than that of the flesh, to try and relish providences by : God 
hath purposely given them the Spirit to subdue and overrule the 
flesh. And therefore I shall here give them some reasons of God's 
dealing in their present sufferings, whereby the equity and mercy 
therein may appear : and they shall be only such as are drawn from 
the reference that these afflictions have to our rest, which being a 
Christian's happiness, and ultimate end, will direct him in judging 
of all estates and means. Though if we intended the full handling 
of this subject, abundance more considerations, very useful, might 
be added. Especially, we should direct Christians to remember 
the sin that procured them, the blood and mercy which sanctifieth 
them, the fatherly love that ordereth them, and the far greater suf- 
ferings that are naturally our due. But I shall now chiefly tell 
you, how they further the saints in the way to their rest. 

Sect. II. 1. Consider, then, that labour and trouble are the com- 
mon way to rest, both in the course of nature and of grace. Can 
there possibly be rest, without motion and weariness ? Do you not 
travel and toil first, and then rest you afterwards ? The day for 
labour goes first, and then the night for rest doth follow. Why 
should we desire the course of grace to be perverted, any more than 
we would do the course of nature ; seeing this is as perfect and 
regular as the other ? God did once dry up the sea to make a pas- 
sage for his people ; and once made the sun in the firmament to 
stand still ; but must he do so always, or as oft as we would have 
him I It is his established decree, " that through many tri1)ula- 
tions we must enter into the kingdom of heaven," Acts xiv. 22 ; 
and " that if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with 
him," 2 Tim. ii. 22. And what are we, that God's statutes should 
be reversed for our pleasure .' As Bildad said to Job, " Shall the 
earth be forsaken for thee, or the rock be removed out of his place ? " 
Job xviii. 4; so, must God pervert his established order for thee ? 



374 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Sect. III. 2. Consider, also, that afflictions are exceeding useful 
to us, to keep us from mistaking our resting-place, and so taking 
up short of it. A Christian's motion heavenwards is voluntary, 
and not constrained. Those means, therefore, are most profitable 
to him, which help his understanding and will in this prosecution. 
The most dangerous mistake that our souls are capable of, is, to 
take the creature for God, and earth for heaven, iVnd yet, alas, 
how common is this ! and in how great a degree are the best guilty 
of it ! Though we are ashamed to speak so much with our tongues, 
yet how oft do our hearts say, It is best being here ; and how con- 
tented are we with an earthly portion ! So that I fear, God would 
displease most of us more to afflict us here, and promise us rest 
hereafter, than to give us our heart's desire on earth, though he 
had never made us a promise of heaven : as if the creature without 
God, were better than God without the creature. Alas, how apt 
are we, like foolish children, when we are busy at our sports and 
worldly employments, to forget both our Father and our home ! 
Therefore is it a hard thing for a rich man to enter into heaven, 
because it is hard for him to value it more than earth, and not to 
think he is well already. Come to a man that hath the world at 
will, and tell him. This is not your happiness ; you have higher 
things to look after ; and how little will he regard you ! But when 
affliction comes, it speaks convincingly, and will be heard when 
preachers cannot. What warm, affectionate, eager thoughts, have 
we of the world, till afflictions cool them and moderate them ! 
How few and cold would our thoughts of heaven be, how little 
should we care for coming thither, if God would give us rest on 
earth ! Our thoughts are with God, as Noah's dove was in the 
ark, kept up to him a little against their inclinations and desire ; 
but when once they can break away, they fly up and down, over all 
the world, to see if it were possible to find any rest out of God ; 
but when we find that we seek in vain, and that the world is all 
covered with the waters of unstable vanity, and bitter vexation, 
and that there is no rest for the sole of our foot, or for the foot of 
our soul ; no wonder, then, if we return to the ark again. Many a 
poor Christian, whom God will not suffer to be drowned in worldli- 
ness, nor to take up short of his rest, is sometimes bending his 
thoughts to thrive in wealth; sometimes he is enticed to some 
flesh-pleasing sin ; sometimes he begins to be lifted up with ap- 
plause ; and sometimes, being in health and prosperity, he hath lost 
his relish of Christ, and the joys above ; till God break in upon his 
riches, and scatter them abroad, or upon his children, or upon his 
conscience, or upon the health of his body, and break down his 
mount, which he thought so strong ; and then, when he lieth in 
Manasseh's fetters, or is fastened to his bed with pining sickness, 
oh what an opportunity hath the Spirit to plead with his soul ! 
When the world is worth nothing, then heaven is worth some- 
thing. I leave every Christian to judge by his own experience, 
whether we do not overlove the world more in prosperity than in 
adversity ; and whether we be not lother to come away to God, when 



Chaj-. XII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 375 

we have what the flesh desiroth here ! How oft are we sitting down 
on earth, as if we wore loth to go any further, till aflliction calls to 
us, as the angel to Elijah, " I'p, thou luist a great way to go!" 
How oft have I heen ready to think myself at home, till sickness 
hath roundly told me I was mistaken ! and how apt yet to fall into 
the same disease, which prevaileth till it he removed hy the same 
cure ! If our dear Lord did not put these thorns into our hed, we 
should sleep out our lives, and lose our glory : therefore doth the 
Lord sometimes deny us an inheritance on earth with our hrethren, 
hecause he hath separated us to stand hefore him, and minister to 
him, and the Lord himself will he our inheritance, as he hath pro- 
mised ; as it is said of the tribe of Levi, Deut. x. ^«, 0. 

Sect. IV. 3. Consider, also, that afllictions he God's most effect- 
ual means to keep us from struggling out of the way of our rest. If 
he had not set a hedge of thorns on the right hand, and another on 
the left, we should hardly keep the way to heaven. If there be but 
one gap open, without these thorns, how ready arc we to find it, 
and turn out at it ! hut when we cannot go astray, hut these thorns 
will prick us, perhaps we will be content to hold the way. A\ hen 
we grow fleshly, and wanton, and worldly, and proud, what a nota- 
ble means is sickness, or other affliction, to rechice us ! It is every 
Christian, as well as Luther, that may call affliction one of his best 
schoolmasters. Many a one, as well as David, may say by experi- 
ence, " Before I was afflicted, I went astray ; but now have I (sin- 
cerely) kept thy precepts," Psal. cxix. 7(3. As physicians say of 
bodily destruction, so may we of spiritual, " that peace killeth more 
than war." Read Nehem. ix. Their case is ours. \\'henwehave 
prosperity, we grow secure and sinful ; then God afilicteth us, and 
we cry for mercy, and purpose reformation ; but after we have a 
little rest, we do evil again, (ver. 22,) till God take up the rod 
again, that he may bring us back to his law, ver. 29. And thus, 
prosperity, and sinning, and suffering, and repenting, and deliver- 
ance, and sinning again, do run all in a round ; even as peace breeds 
contention, and that breeds war, and that, by its bitterness, hreeds 
peace again. Many a thousand poor recovered sinners may cry, O 
healthful sickness! O comfortable sorrows! O gainful losses! () 
enriching poverty ! O hlessed day that ever I was afflicted !* It is 
not only the pleasant streams, and the green pastures, hut his rod 
and staff also, that are our comfort, Psal. xxiii. Though I know it 
is the word and Spirit that do the main work ; yet certainly the time 
of suffering is so opportune a season, that the same word will take 
then, which before was scarce observed. It doth so unbolt the 
door of the heart, that a minister, or a godly man, may then he 
heard, and the word may have easier entrance to the affections. 

* The Lacedemonian disliked not his friend's limping, because, saith he, it will make 
you think of virtue every step. And so, perhaps, Jacob remembered the angel. When 
adversity hath laid us flat on our backs, we cannot choose but look up to heaven. Dr. 
Stoughton in his Love-sick Spouse, p. 108. Most Christians can unfold Mr. Herbert's 
riddle by experience — 

" A poor man's rod, when thou dost ride, 

Is both a weapon and a guide." Psal. cxix. 71, 75. 



376 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IIL 

Even the threats of judgment will bring an Ahab, or a Nineveh, 
into their sackcloth and ashes, and make them cry mightily unto 
God. Something, then, will the feeling of those judgments do. 

Sect. V. 4. Consider, also, that afflictions are God's most effectual 
means to make us mend our pace in the way to our rest. They are 
his rod, and his spur ; what sluggard will not awake and stir when 
he feeleth them { It were well, if mere love would prevail with us, 
and that we were rather drawn to heaven than driven; but seeing 
our hearts are so bad that mercy will not do it, it is better be put 
on with the sharpest scourge, than loiter out our time till the doors 
are shut, Matt. xxv. 3, 5, 10. Oh what a difference is there be- 
twixt our prayers in health and in sickness ; betwixt our prosperity 
and our adversity repentings ! He that before had not a tear to 
shed, or a groan to utter, now can sob, and sigh, and weep his fill ; 
he that was wont to lie like a block in prayer, and scarce minded 
what he said to God, now, when affliction presseth him down, how 
earnestly can he beg ! how doth he mingle his prayers and his tears { 
how doth he purpose and promise reformation ! and cry out, what a 
person he will be, if God will but hear him, and deliver him ! Alas ! 
if we did not sometimes feel the spur, what a slow pace would most 
of us hold towards heaven ! and if we did not sometimes smart by 
affliction, how dead and blockish would be the best men's hearts ! 
Even innocent x\dam is liker to forget God in a paradise, than 
Joseph in a prison, or Job upon a dunghill ; even as Solomon is like 
enough to fall in the midst of pleasure and prosperity, when the 
most wicked Manasses in his irons may be recovered. As Dr. 
Stoughton saith, " We are like to children's tops, that will go but 
little longer than they are whipped." Seeing, then, that our own 
vile natures do thus require it, why should we be unwilling that God 
should do us good by so sharp a means ? Sure that is the best 
dealing for us, which surest and soonest doth further us for heaven. 
I leave thee, Christian, to judge by thy own experience, whether 
thou dost not go more watchfully, and lively, and speedily, in thy 
way to rest, in thy sufferings, than thou dost in thy more pleasing 
and prosperous state. If you go to the vilest sinner on his dying 
bed, and ask him, Will you now drink, and whore, and scorn at the 
godly, as you were wont to do ? you shall find him quite in another 
mincl. Much more then will affliction work on a gracious soul. 

Sect. VI. 5. Consider, further, it is but this flesh which is trou- 
bled and grieved, for the most part, by affliction : and what reason 
have we to be so tender of it ? In most of our sufferings the soul is 
free, further than we do wilfully afflict it ourselves. Suppose thou 
be pinched by poverty, it is thy flesh only that is pinched. If thou 
have sores or sicknesses, it is but the flesh that they assault ; if thou 
die, it is but that flesh that must rot in the grave. Indeed, it useth 
also to reach our hearts and souls, when the body suffereth; but 
that is, because we pore upon our evils, and too much pity and con- 
dole the flesh ; and so we open the door, and let in the pain to the 
heart ourselves, which else could have gone no further than the 
flesh ; God smites the flesh, and therefore we will grieve our 



CnAr. XII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 377 

spirits ; and so multiply our grief, as if we had not enough before. 
Oh if I could hut have let my body have sufTered alone in all the 
Joining and paining sicknesses which Ciod laid upon it, and not have 
ibolishly added my own self-tornicnting fears, and cares, and sor- 
rows, and discontents ; but have (juietcd and comforted my soul in 
the J>ord, my rock and rest ; I had escaped the far greater part of 
the afflictions. Why is this flesh so precious in our eyes ; why are 
we so tender of these dusty carcasses { is flesh so excellent a thing ; 
is it not our prison i" and what if it be broken down, is it not our 
enemy ; yea, and the greatest that we ever had ? and are we so 
fearful lest it be overthrown ; is it not it that hath so long hampered 
and clogged our souls, and tied them to earth ; and enticed them 
to for])idden lusts antl pleasures ; and stolen away our hearts from 
God i was it not it, that longed for the first forbidden fruit ; and 
must needs be tasting, whatever it cost ? And still it is of the 
same teniper ; it must be pleased, though God be displeased by it, 
and ourselves destroyed. It maketh all God's mercies the occasion 
of our transgressing, and draweth poison from the most excellent 
objects. If we behold our food, it enticeth to gluttony ; if drink, 
to drunkenness ; if apparel, or any thing of worth, to pride ; if we 
look upon beauty, it enticeth to lust ; if upon money or possessions, 
to covetousness. It causeth our very spiritual love to the godly, to 
degenerate into carnal ; and our spiritual zeal, and joy, and other 
graces, it would make all carnal like itself. What are we beholden 
to this flesh for, that we are so loth that any thing should ail it { 
Indeed, we must not wrong it ourselves, for that is forbidden us ; 
nor may we deny it any thing that is fit for a servant, that so it 
may be useful to us, while we are forced to use it. But if God 
chastise it for rebelling against him and the Spirit, and it begin to 
cry and complain under his chastisement, shall we make the suffer- 
ing greater than it iSj and take its part against God ? Indeed, the 
flesh is very near to us, we caimot choose but condole its sufferings, 
and feel somewhat of that which it feeleth. But is it so near as to 
be our chiefest part ; or can it not be sore, but we must be sorry ; 
or cannot it consume and pine away, but our peace and comfort 
must consume with it .'' What if it be undone, are we therefore un- 
done ? or if it perish and be destroyed, do we therefore perish ? O 
fie upon this carnality and unbelief, which are so contradictory to 
the principles of Christianity ! surely (iod dealeth the worse with 
this flesh, because we so overvalue and idolize it. We make it the 
greatest part of our care and labour to provide for it, and to satisfy 
its desires; and we would have God to be of our mind, and to do 
so too. But as he hath conniianded us " to make no provision for 
the flesh, to fulfil the desires or lusts thereof," Rom. xiii. 14; so 
will he follow the same rule himself in his dealings with us ; and 
will not much stick at the displeasing of the flesh, when it may 
honour himself, or profit our souls. The flesh is aware of this, and 
perceives that the word and works of God are much against its 
desires and delights, and therefore is^ it also against the word and 
works of Cjod : it saith of the word^ as Ahab of Micaiah, " I hate 



378 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

it, for it doth not speak good concerning me, but evil/' 1 Kings 
xxii. 8. There is such an enmity betwixt this flesh and God, 
" that they that are in the flesh cannot please him, and the carnal 
mind is enmity against him ; for it is not subject to his law, nor in- 
deed can be :" so inconsistent is the pleasing of the flesh, and the 
pleasing of God, that he hath concluded, " that to mind the things 
of the flesh, or to be carnally-minded, is death ; and if we live 
after the flesh, we shall die : but if by the Spirit we mortify the 
deeds of the body, we shall live," Rom. viii. 4 — 8, 13. 

So that there is no likelihood that ever God's dealings should 
be pleasing to the flesh ; no more than its works are pleasing to 
God. Why then, O my soul, dost thou side with this flesh, and 
say as it saith, and complain as it complaineth 1 It should be part 
of thine own work to keep it down, and bring it in subjection, 

1 Cor. ix. 26, 27 ; and if God do it for thee, shouldst thou be dis- 
contented ? Hath not the pleasing of it been the cause of almost 
all thy spiritual sorrows ? Why, then, may not the displeasing of 
it further thy joys ? Should not Paul and Silas sing, because their 
feet were in the stocks, and their flesh yet sore with the last day's 
scourgings ? Acts xvi. Why, their spirits were not imprisoned, 
not scourged ? Ah, unworthy soul, is this thy thanks to God for his 
tenderness of thy good, and for his preferring thee so far before the 
body ? Art thou turned into flesh thyself by thy dwelling a few years 
in flesh, that thy joys and thy sorrows are most of them so fleshly? 
Rom. viii. 12. Art thou so much a debtor to the flesh, that thou 
shouldst so much live to it, and value its prosperity ? Hath it been 
so good a friend to thee, and to thy peace ; or, is it not thy enemy 
as well as God's ? W' hy dost thou look so sadly on those withered 
limbs and on that pining body ? Do not so far mistake thyself as 
to think its joys and thine are all one, or that its prosperity and 
thine are all one, or that they must needs stand or fall together. 
W' hen it is rotting and consuming in the grave, then shalt thou be 
a companion of the perfected spirits of the just, Heb. xii, 23 ; and 
when those bones are scattered about the churchyard, then shalt 
thou be praising God in rest. And in the mean time, hast not 
thou food of consolation which the flesh knoweth not of; and a joy 
which this stranger meddleth not with .'' And do not think that, 
when thou art turned out of this body, that thou shalt have no 
habitation : art thou afraid thou shalt wander destitute of a rest- 
ing-place 1 Is it better resting in flesh than in God ? Dost thou 
not know, that when this house of earth is dissolved, " thou hast a 
building with God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ?" 

2 Cor. v. 1,2. It would, therefore, better become thee earnestly 
to groan, desiring to be clothed upon with that, ver. 3, 4, Is thy 
flesh any better than the flesh of Noah was ? and yet, though God 
saved him from the common deluge, he would not save him from 
common death. Or, is it any better than the flesh of Abraham, or 
Job, or David, or all the saints that ever lived ? yet did they all 
suff'er and die. Dost thou think that those souls which are now 
with Christ do so much pity their rotten or dusty corpse, or lament 



Chap. XII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 37i) 

that their ancient habitation is ruined, and their once comely 
bodies turned into earth ? Oh ! what a thing is strangeness and 
disacquaintanoe ! It niaketh us afraid of o\ir dearest friends, and 
to draw back from the place of our only happiness : so was it with 
thee towards thy chiefest friends on earth : while thou wast unac- 
quainted with them, thou didst withdraw from their society ; but 
when thou didst once know them thoroughly, thou wouldst have 
been loth again to be deprived of their fellowship. And even 
so, though thy strangeness to God and another world do make 
thee loth to leave this flesh ; yet, when thou hast been but one 
day or hour there, if we may so speak of that eternity, where is 
neither day nor hour, thou wouldst be full loth to return into this 
flesh again. Doubtless, when God, for the glory of his Son, did 
send back the soul of Lazarus into its body, he caused it quite to 
forget the glory which it had enjoyed, and to leave behind it the 
remembrance of that happiness, together with the happiness itself- 
or else it might have made his life a burden to him to think of the 
blessedness that he was fetched from, and have made him ready to 
break down the prison doors of his flesh, that he might return to 
that happy state again. O, then, impatient soul, murmur not at 
God's dealings with that body; but let him alone with his work 
and way. He knows what he doth ; but so dost not thou : he 
.seeth the end ; but thou seest but the beginning. If it were for 
want of love to thee, that he did thus chastise thy body, then would 
he not have dealt so by all his saints. Dost thou think he did not 
love David and Paul, or Christ himself? or, rather, doth he not 
chasten because he loveth, and scourgeth every son whom he re- 
ceiveth? Heb. xii. 4—8, 10, 11 ; Matt. vi. 23; Rom. viii. 6—8; 
1 Cor. ii. 2, 10 — 14. Believe not the flesh's reports of God, nor 
its commentaries upon his providences. It hath neither will nor 
skill to interpret them aright : not will ; for it is an enemy to them. 
They are against it, and it is against them. Not skill ; for it is 
darkness : it savoureth only the things of the flesh ; but the things 
of the Spirit it cannot understand, because they are spiritually dis- 
cerned. Never expect then that the flesh should truly expound 
the meaning of the rod. It will call love, hatred ; and say, God is 
destroying, when he is saving ; and murmur, as if he did thee 
wrong, and used thee hardly, when he is showing thee the greatest 
mercy of all. Are not the foul steps the way to rest, as well as the 
fair i yea, are not thy sufferings the most necessary passages of 
his providence ? And though, for the present, they are not joyous, 
but grievous ; yet, in the end, do they bring forth the quiet fruits 
of righteousness to all those that are exercised thereby, Heb. xii. 
11. Hast thou not found it so by former experience, Avhen yet 
this flesh would have persuaded thee otherwise ? Believe it then 
no more, which hath misinformed thee so oft ; for, indeed, there is 
no believing the words of a wicked and ignorant enemy. Ill-will 
never speaks well ; but when malice, viciousness, and ignorance, 
are combined, what actions can expect a true and fair interpreta- 
tion ? This flesh will call love, anger ; and anger, hatred ; and 



380 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

chastisements, judgments. It will tell thee, that no man's case is 
like thine ; and if God did love thee, he would never so use thee, 
Psal. cxvi. 11. It will tell thee, that the promises are hut de- 
ceiving words, and all thy prayers and uprightness are vain, Psal. 
Ixxiii. 13 — 15. If it find thee sitting among the ashes, it will say 
to thee, as Joh's wife, "Dost thou yet retain thine integrity?" 
Job ii. 8 — 10. Thus will it draw thee to offend against God, and 
the generation of his children. It is a party, and a suffering party, 
and therefore not fit to he the judge. If your child should be the 
judge when and how oft you should chastise him, and whether your 
chastisement be a token of fatherly love, you may easily imagine 
what would be his judgment. If we could once believe God, and 
judge of his dealings by what he speaks in his word, and by their 
usefulness to our souls, and reference to our rest, and could stop, 
our ears against all the clamours of the flesh, then we should have 
a truer judgment of our afflictions. 

Sect. VII. 6, Lastly, consider, God doth seldom give his people 
.so sweet a foretaste of their future rest as in their deep afflictions. 
He keepeth his most precious cordials for the time of our greatest 
faintings and dangers. To give them to such men that are well 
and need them not, is but to cast them away : they are not capable 
of discerning their working or their worth. A few drops of Divine 
consolation in the midst of a world of pleasure and contents, will 
be but lost and neglected, as some precious spirits cast into a vessel 
or river of common waters. The joys of heaven are of unspeakable 
sweetness ; but a man that overflows with earthly delights is scarce 
capable of tasting their sweetness. They may easilier comfort the 
most dejected soul, than him that feeleth not any need of comfort, 
as being full of other comforts already. Even the best of saints 
do seldom taste of the delights of God, and pure, spiritual, unmixed 
joys, in the time of their prosperity, as they do in their deepest 
troubles and distress. God is not so lavish of his choice favours as 
to bestow them unseasonably. Even to his own will he give them 
at the fittest time, when he knoweth that they are needful, and will 
be valued, and when he is sure to be thanked for them, and his 
people rejoiced by them. Especially, when our sufferings are more 
directly for his cause, then doth he seldom fail of sweetening the 
bitter cup. Therefore have the martyrs been possessors of the 
highest joys, and therefore were they in former times so ambitious 
of martyrdom. 1 do not think that Paul and Silas did ever sing 
more joyfully, than when they were sore with scourgings, and were 
fast in the inner prison, with their feet in the stocks. Acts xvi. 24, 
25. When did Christ preach such comforts to his disciples, and 
leave them his peace, and assure them of his providing them man- 
sions with himself, but when he was ready to leave them, and their 
hearts to be sorrowful because of his departure ? "When did he 
appear among them, and say, " Peace be unto you," but when they 
were shut up together for fear of the persecuting Jews ? When did 
the room shake where they were, and the Holy Ghost come down 
upon them, and they lift up their voices in praising God, but when 



CiiAi'. Xli. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 381 

llicy were imprisoned, conveiited, and llireatened for the name of 
Christ.' Acts iv. 24, .31. "NN'htm did Stephen see heaven opened, 
but when he was giving up his hfo for the testimony of .lesus i 
Acts vii. 55. And though we be never put to the suffering of mar- 
tyrdom, yet (iod knoweth that in our natural suil'erings we need 
support. Many a Christian that hath waited for Christ, with 
Simeon in the temple, in duty and holiness all his days, yet never 
finds him in his arms till he is dying, though his love was fixed in 
their hearts before ; and they that wondered they tasted not of his 
comforts, have then, when it was needful, received abundance. 
And, indeed, in time of prosperity, that comfort which we have is 
so mixed, according to the mixed causes of it, that we can very 
hardly discern what of it is carnal and what is spiritual. But when 
all worldly comforts and hopes are gone, then that which is left is 
most likely to be spiritual. And the Spirit never worketh more 
sensibly and sweetly than when it worketh alone. Seeing, then, 
that the time of aftliction is the time of our most pure, spiritual, 
heavenly joy, for the most part, why should a Christian think it so 
sad a time ? Is not that our best estate wherein we have most of 
God i Why else do we desire to come to heaven i If we look for a 
heaven of fleshly delights, we shall find ourselves mistaken. Con- 
clude, then, that affliction is not so bad a state for a saint in his 
way to rest as the flesh would make it. Are we wiser than God? 
Doth not he know what is good for us better than we ? Or is he 
not as careful of our good as we are of our own ? Ah ! woe to us 
if he were not much more ; and if he did not love us better than 
we love either him or ourselves ! 

Sect. VIII. But let us hear a little what it is that the flesh can 
object. 

I. Oh ! saith one, I could bear any other affliction save this : if 
God had touched me in any thing else, I could have undergone it 
patiently; but it is my dearest friend, or child, or wife, or my 
health itself, &c. 

I answer. It seemeth God hath hit the right vein, where thy 
most inflamed, distempered blood did lie : it is his constant course 
to pull down men's idols, and take away that which is dearer to 
them than himself. There it is that his jealousy is kindled ; and 
there it is that thy soul is most endangered. If God should have 
taken from thee that which thou canst let go for him, and not that 
which thou canst not ; or have afflicted thee where thou canst bear 
it, and not where thou canst not ; thy idol would neither have been 
discovered nor removed. This would neither have been a sufficient 
trial to thee, nor a cure ; but have confirmed thee in thy soul-deceit 
and idolatry. 

Ohjecl. 2. Oh ! but, saith another, if God would but deliver me 
out of it yet, I could be content to bear it : but I have an uncurable 
sickness ; or I am like to live and die in poverty, or disgrace, or 
the like distress. 

I answer, 1. Is it nothing that he hath promised, it shall work 
for thy good, Rom. viii. 28 ; and that, with the affliction, he will 



382 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

make a way to escape : that he will he with thee in it ; and deliver 
thee in the fittest manner and season ? 2. Is it not enough that 
thou art sure to be delivered at death, and that with so full an ad- 
vancing deliverance ? Oh ! what cursed unbelief doth this discover 
in our hearts ! that we would be more thankful to be turned back 
again into the stormy, tumultuous sea of the world, than to be 
safely and speedily landed at our rest ; and would be gladder of a 
few years' inferior mercies at a distance, than to enter upon the 
eternal inheritance with Christ. Do we call God our chief good, 
and heaven our happiness ; and yet is it no mercy or deliverance to 
be taken hence, and put into that possession ? 

Object. 3. Oh ! but, saith another, if my affliction did not disable 
me for duty, I could bear it ; but it maketh me useless, and utterly 
unprofitable. 

Answ. 1. For that duty which tendeth to thy own personal bene- 
fit, it doth not disable thee, but is the greatest quickening help 
that thou canst expect. Thou usest to complain of coldness, and 
dulness, and worldliness, and security : if affliction will not help 
thee against all these, by warning, quickening, rousing thy spirit, I 
know not what will. Sure thou wilt repent thoroughly, and pray 
fervently, and mind God and heaven more seriously, either now or 
never. 2. And for duty to others, and for thy service to the church, 
it is not thy duty when God doth disable thee. He may call thee 
out of the vineyard in this respect, even before he call thee by 
death. If he lay thee in the grave, and put others in thy place to 
do the service, is this any wrong to thee, or doth it beseem thee to 
repine at it ? Why so, if he call thee out before thy death, and let 
thee stand by, and set others to do the work in thy stead, shouldst 
thou not be as well content ? Must God do all the work by thee ? 
Hath he not many others as dear to him, and as fit for the employ- 
ment ? But, alas ! what deceitfulness lieth in these hearts ! When 
we have time, and health, and opportunity to work, then we loiter, 
and do our Master but very poor service ; but when he layeth af- 
fliction upon us, then we complain that he disableth us for his 
work, and yet perhaps we are still negligent in that part of the 
work which we can do : so, when we are in health and prosperity, 
we forget the public, and are careless of other men's miseries and 
wants, and mind almost nothing but ourselves. But when God af- 
flicteth us, though he excite us more to duty for ourselves, yet we 
complain that he disableth us for our duty to others ; as if, on the 
sudden, we were grown so charitable that we regard other men's 
souls far more than our own. But is not the hand of the flesh, in 
all this dissimulation, secretly thus pleading its own cause? What 
pride of heart is this, to think that other men cannot do the work 
as well as we; or, that God cannot see to his church, and provide 
for his people, without us ! 

Object. 4. Oh ! but, saith another, it is the godly that are my 
afflicters : they disclaim me, and will scarce look at me ; they cen- 
sure me, and backbite me, and slander me, and look upon me with 
a disdainful eye. If it were ungodly men, I could bear it easily ; I 



Cn.vi'. XII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. :iS3 

look I'or no Letter at their hands : hut when those that were my 
delight, and that I looked for daily comfort and refreshing from ; 
when these shall be my grief, and as thorns in my sides, who can 
hear it ? 

A/isw. 1. Whoever is the instrument, the affliction is from God, 
and the provoking cause from thyself; and were it not fitter then 
that tliou look more to God and thyself!' 2. Dost thou not know 
that the best men are still sinful in part, and that their hearts arc 
naturally deceitful, and desperately wicked, as well as others ? And 
this being but imperfectly cured, so far as they are lleshly the fruits 
of the flesh will appear in them ; which are, strife, hatred, variance, 
emulations, wrath, seditions, heresies, envyings, ^c. Gal. v. 10 — 
21. ISo far, the best is a brier, and the most upright of them 
sharper than a thorny hedge : learn, therefore, a better use from 
the prophet : " Trust not too much in a friend, nor put confidence 
iu a guide ; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy 
bosom, &c. But look rather for the Lord, and wait for the God of 
thy salvation," Micah vii. 4 — 7. It is likely thou hast given that 
love and trust to saints, which were due only to God, or which thou 
hast denied him, and then no wonder if he chastise thee by them. 
If we would use our friends as friends, God would make them our 
helps and comforts ; but when once we make them our gods, by 
excessive love, delight, and trust, then he suifers them to prove 
Satans to us, and to be our accusers and tormentors. It is more 
safe to me to have any creature a Satan than a god ; to be toi*- 
mented by them, than to idolize them. Or perhaps the observation 
of the excellency of grace hath made thee forget the vileness of 
nature ; and therefore God will have thee take notice of both. 
Many are tender of giving too much to the dead saints, that yet 
give too much to the living without scruple. Till thou hast learned 
to suffer from a saint as well as from the wicked, and to be abused 
by the godly as well as the ungodly, never look to live a contented 
or comlbrtable life, nor ever think thou hast truly learned the art 
of suffering. Do not think that I vilify the saints too much in so 
saying : I confess, it is pity that saints should sutfer from saints ; 
and it is quite contrary to their holy nature, and their Master's 
laws, who hath left them his peace, and made love to be the cha- 
racter of his disciples, and to be the first and great and new com- 
mandment ; and I know that there is much difference between them 
and the world in this point: but yet, as I said, they are saints but 
in part, and therefore Paul and Barnabas may so fall out, as to part 
asunder, and upright Asa may imprison the prophet, call it perse- 
cution or what you please : Joseph's brethren, that cast him into a 
pit, and sold him to strangers for a slave, I hope were not all un- 
godly ; Job's wife and friends were sad comforters ; David's enemy 
was his familiar friend, with whom he had taken sweet counsel, and 
they had gone up together to the house of God. And Icnow also 
that thy own nature is as bad as theirs, and thou art as likely thy- 
self to be a grief to others. Can such ulcerous, leprous sinners, as 
the best are, live together, and not infect and molest each other 



384 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

with the smell of their sores ? Why, if thou be a Christian, thou 
art a daily trouble to thyself, and art molested more with thy own 
corruptions than with any man's else ; and dost thou take it so 
heinously to be molested with the frailties of others, when thou 
canst not forbear doing more against thyself? For my part, for all 
our graces, I rather admire at that wisdom and goodness of God, 
that maintains the order and union we have amongst us ; and that 
he suiFereth us not to be still one another's executioners, and to lay 
violent hands on ourselves and each other. I dare not think that 
there is no one gracious that hath laboured ta destroy others that 
were so in these late dissensions. Sirs, you do not half know yet 
the mortal wickedness of depraved nature. If the best were not 
more beholden to the grace of God without thenr, than to the 
habitual grace within them, you should soon see " that men of low 
degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie ; to be put in 
the balance, they are lighter than vanity itself," Psal. Ixii. 7 — 9. 
" For what is man, that he should be clean ; and he that is born of 
a woman, that he should be righteous ? Behold, he putteth no 
trust in his saints, and the heavens are not clean in his sight : how 
much more abominable and filthy is man, that drinketh up iniquity 
like water!" Job xv. 14 — 16. 

Object. 5. Oh, but if I had that consolation which you say God 
reserveth for our suffering times, I should suffer more contentedly; 
but I do not perceive any such thing. 

Ansiv. 1. The more you suffer for righteousness' sake, the more 
of this blessing you may expect ; and the more you suffer for your 
own evil doing, the longer you must look to stay till that sweetness 
come. When we have by our folly provoked God to chastise us, 
shall we presently look that he should till us with comfort ? That 
were; as Mr. Paul Bayn saith, " to make affliction to be no afflic- 
tion." What good would the bitterness do us if it be presently 
drowned in that sweetness ? It is well in such sufferings if you have 
but supporting grace, and your sufferings sanctified to work out 
your sin, and bring you to God. 

2. Do you not neglect or resist the comforts which you desire ? 
God hath filled precepts, and promises, and other of his provi- 
dences, with matter of comfort ; if you will overlook all these, and 
make nothing of them, and pore all upon your sufferings, and ob- 
serve one cross more than a thousand mercies, who maketh you 
uncomfortable but yourselves ? If you resolve that you will not be 
comfortable as long as any thing aileth your flesh, you may stay till 
death before you have comfort. 

3. Have your afflictions wrought kindly Vv ith you, and fitted you 
for comfort { Have they humbled you, and brought you to a faith- 
ful confession and reformation of your beloved sins ; and made you 
set close to your neglected duties ; and weaned your hearts from 
their former idols ; and brouglit them unfeignedly to take God for 
their portion and their rest '{ If this be not done, how can you 
expect comfort ? Should God bind up the sore while it fester- 
eth at the bottom ? It is not mere suffering that prepares you 



CuAi'. XI 11. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 385 

for comfort, but the success and fruit of suffering upon your 
hearts. 

I shall say no more on this subject of afflictions, because so many 
havo written on it already ; among which 1 desire you especially to 
read Mr. Bayn's Letters, and Mr. Hughes' Dry Rod Blooming and 
Fruit -bearing, and Young's Counterpoison. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE FIFTH USE. AN EXHORTATION TO THOSE THAT HAVE GOT 
ASSURANCE OF THIS REST, OR TITLE TO IT, THAT THEY WOULD DO 
ALL THAT POSSIBLY THEY CAN TO HELP OTHERS TO IT ALSO. 

Sect. I. Hath God set before us such a glorious prize as this ever- 
lasting rest of the saints is, and hath he made man capable of such 
an unconceivable happiness ? Why then do not all the children of 
this kingdom bestir themselves more to help others to the enjoy- 
ment of it ? Alas, how little are poor souls about us beholden to 
the most of us ! We see the glory of the kingdom, and they do 
not ; we see the misery and torment of those that miss of it, and 
they do not ; we see them wandering quite out of the way, and know 
if they hold on they can never come there, and they discern not 
this themselves. And yet we will not set upon them seriously, 
and show them their danger and error, and help to bring them into 
the way that they may live. Alas, how few Christians are there to 
be found that live as men that are made to do good, and that set 
themselves with all their might, to the saving of souls! No thanks 
to us if heaven be not empty, and if the souls of our brethren perish 
not for ever. 

But because this is a duty which so many neglect, and so few are 
convinced that God doth expect it at their hands, and yet a duty of 
so high concernment to the glory of God, and the happiness of men, 
I will speak of it somewhat the more largely, and show you, 1. 
Wherein it doth consist, and how to be done. 2. What is the cause 
that it is so neglected. 3. And then give some considerations, to 
persuade you to the performance of it, and others to the bearing of 
it. 4. And lastly, apply this more particularly to some persons 
whom it doth nearly concern. Of all these in order. 

Sect. II. 1. I would have you, therefore, well understand what is 
this work which I am persuading you to : know, then, on the nega- 
tive, 1. It is not to invade the office of the ministry, and every man 
to turn a public preacher : I would not have you go beyond the 
bounds of your callings. We see, by daily experience, what fruits 
those men's teaching doth bring forth, who run uncalled and thrust 
themselves into the place of public teachers, thinking themselves 
the fittest for the w^ork, in the pride of their hearts, w^hile they had 
2 c 



386 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

need to be taught the very first principles of religion. How little 
doth God bless the labours of these self-conceited intruders ! 

Neither do I persuade you to a zealous promoting of factions and 
parties, and venting of uncertain opinions, which men's salvation is 
little concerned in. Alas, what advantage hath the devil lately got 
in the church by this imposture ! The time that should be em- 
ployed in drawing men's souls from sin to Christ, is employed in 
drawing them to opinions and parties. \N hen men are fallen in love 
with their own conceits, and proudly think themselves the wisest, 
how diligently do they labour to get them followers ! as if to make 
a man a proselyte to their opinions, were as happy a work as to con- 
vert him to Christ : and when they fall among the lighter, ignorant, 
unsounder sort of professors, whose religion is all in their brain, 
and on their tongues, they seldom fail of their desired success. 
These men shall shortly know, that to bring a man to the know- 
ledge and love of Christ, is another kind of work, than to bring him 
to be baptized again; or to be of such a church, or such a side. 
Unhappy are the souls that are taken in their snare ! who, when they 
have spent their lives in studying and contending for the circum- 
stantials of religion, which should have been spent in studying and 
loving the Lord Jesus, do in the end reap an empty harvest suitable 
to their empty profession. 

3. Nor do I persuade you to speak against men's faults behind 
their backs, and be silent before their faces, as the common custom 
of the world is. To tell other men of their faults, tendeth little to 
their reformation, if they hear it not themselves. To whisper out 
men's faults to others, as it cometh not from love, or from any 
honest principle, so usually doth it produce no good effect ; for if 
the party hear not of it, it cannot better him ; if he do, he will take 
it but as the reproach of an enemy, tending to disgrace him, and 
not as the faithful counsel of a friend, tending to recover him ; and 
as that which is spoken to make him odious, and not to make him 
virtuous. It tendeth not to provoke to godliness, but to raise con- 
tention ; for " a whisperer separateth the chiefest friends," Prov., 
xvi. 28. And how few shall we find that make conscience of this 
horrible sin, or that will confess it, and bewail it, when they are re- 
prehended for it ! especially if men are speaking of their enemies, 
or those that have wronged them, or whom they suppose to have 
wronged them ; or if it be of one that eclipseth their glory. 
Gen. xxxi. 1 ; Psal. xli. 7, or that standeth in the way of their 
gain or esteem ; or if it be one that differeth from them in 
judgment; or of one that is commonly spoken against by others ; 
who is it that maketh any conscience of backbiting such as these t 
And you shall ever observe, that the forwarder they are to back- 
biting, the more backward always to faithful admonishing ; and none 
speak less of a man's faults to his face for his reformation, than 
those that speak most of them behind his back, to his defamation. 
If ill-will or envy lie at the heart, it maketh them cast forth dis- 
gracing speeches as oft as they can meet with such as themselves, 
who will hear and entertain them. Even as a corrupt humour in 



Chap. XIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 387 

the stomach provoketh a man to vomit up all that he taketh, while 
itself remaineth, and continueth the disease, I Sam. xxii. U ; Dan. 
vi. 3 ; Kom. i. 20, 30 ; John vii. .'51. It is Chrysostom's similitude. 

So far am I from persuading, therefore, to this preposterous 
course, that I would advise you to oppo,se it wherever you meet 
with it. See that you never hear a man speaking against his 
neighbour behind his back, without some special cause or call, but 
presently rebuke him ; ask him, whether he hath spoke those 
things in a way of love to his face ? if he have not, ask him, how 
lie dare to pervert God's prescribed order, who commandeth to re- 
buke our neighbour plainly, and to tell him his fault first in pri- 
vate, and then before witness, till he see whether he will be won or 
not, Lev. xix. 17 ; Matt, xviii. 15, 17 ; and how he dare do as he 
would not be done by ? 

Sect. III. The duty therefore that I would press you to, is of 
another nature, and it consisteth in these things following. 1. 
That you get your hearts affected with the misery of your bre- 
thren's souls ; be compassionate towards them ; yearn after their 
recovery to salvation : if you did earnestly long after their conver- 
sion, and your hearts were fully set to do them good, it would set 
you a-work, and God would usually bless it. 

2. Take all opportunities that possibly you can, to confer with 
them privately about their states, and to instruct and help them to 
the attaining of salvation. And lest you should not know how to 
manage this work, let me tell you more particularly what you are 
heroin to do. 1 . If it be an ignorant, carnal person that you have 
to deal with, who is an utter stranger to the mysteries of religion, 
and to the work of regeneration on his own soul, the first thing 
you have to do is, to acquaint him with these doctrines : labour to 
make him understand wherein man's chief happiness doth consist, 
and how far he was once possessed of it, and what law and cove- 
nant God then made with him, and how he broke it, and what 
penalty he incurred, and what misery he brought himself into 
thereby ; teach him what need men had of a Redeemer, and how 
Christ in mercy did interpose and bear the penalty, and what cove- 
nant now he hath made with man, and on what terms only salva- 
tion is now to be attained, and what course Christ taketh to draw 
men to himself, and what are the riches and privileges that be- 
lievers have in him. 

If, when he understandeth these things, he be not moved by 
them, or if you find that the stop lieth in his will and affections, 
and in the hardness of his heart, and in the interest that the flesh 
and the world have got in him, then show him the excellency of 
the glory which he neglecteth, and the intolerableness of the loss 
of it, and the extremity and eternity of the torments of the damned, 
and how certainly they must endure them, and how just it is for 
their wilful refusals of grace, and how heinous a sin it is to reject 
such free and abundant mercy, and to tread under foot the blood 
of the covenant ; show him the certainty, nearness, and terrors of 
death and judgment, and the vanity of all things below which now 
2 c 2 



388 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

he is taken up with, and how little they will hestead him in that 
time of his extremity ; show him that by nature he himself is a 
child of wrath, an enemy to God, and by actual sin much more ; 
show him the vile and heinous nature of sin, the absolute necessity 
he standeth in of a Saviour, the freeness of the promise, the fulness 
of Christ, the sufficiency of his satisfaction, his readiness to receive 
all that are willing to be his, the authority and dominion which he 
hath purchased over us ; show him also the absolute necessity of 
regeneration, faith, and holiness of life, how impossible it is to have 
salvation by Christ without these, and what they are, and the true 
nature of them. If, when he understandeth all this, you find his 
soul enthralled in presumption and false hopes, persuading himself 
that he is a true believer, and pardoned, and reconciled, and shall 
be saved by Christ ; and all this upon false grounds, or merely be- 
cause he would have it so, which is a common case ; then urge him 
hard to examine his state ; show him the necessity of trying, the 
danger of being deceived, the commonness and easiness of mis- 
taking through the deceitfulness of the heart, the extreme madness 
of putting it to a blind adventure, or of resting in negligent or wil- 
ful uncertainty ; help him in trying himself ; produce some unde- 
niable evidences from Scripture ; ask him, whether these be in him 
or not ? whether ever he found such workings or dispositions in his 
heart ? urge him to a rational answer ; do not leave him till you 
have convinced him of his misery, and then seasonably and wisely 
show him the remedy. If he produce some common gifts, or 
duties, or woi'k, know to what end he doth produce them ; if to 
join with Christ in composing him a righteousness, show him how 
vain and destructive they are ; if it be by way of evidence to prove 
his title to Christ, show him how far a common work may reach, 
and wherein the life of Christianity doth consist, and how far he 
must go further, if he will be Christ's disciple. In the mean time, 
that he be not discouraged with hearing of so high a measure, show 
him the way by which he must attain it ; be sure to drav/ him to 
the use of all means ; set him a hearing and reading the word, call- 
ing upon God, accompanying the godly ; persuade him to leave his 
actual sin, and to get out of all ways of temptation, especially to 
forsake ungodly company, and to wait patiently on God in the use 
of means ; and show him the strong hopes that in so doing he may 
have of a blessing, this being the way that God will be found in. 

If you perceive him possessed with any prejudicate conceits 
against the godly, and the way of holiness, show him their false- 
hood, and with wisdom and meekness answer his objections. 

If he be addicted to delay the duties he is convinced of, or lazi- 
ness and stupidity do endanger his soul, then lay it on the more 
powerfully, and set home upon his heart the most piercing con- 
siderations, and labour to fasten them as thorns in his conscience, 
that he may find no ease or rest till he change his state. 

Sect. IV. But because in all works the manner of doing them 
is of greatest moment, and the right performance doth much 
further the success, I will here adjoin a few directions, which you 



CiiAi>. XI II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3.S9 

must 1)0 sure to observe in this work of exhortation, for it is not 
every advice that useth to succeed, nor any liianner of doing it that 
will serve the turn. Observe, therefore, these rules : 

1. Set upon the work sincerely, and with right intentions. Let 
thy ends be the glory of God in the party's salvation. Do it not 
to get a name or esteem to thyself, or to bring men to depend upon 
thee, or to get thee followers ; do not, as many carnal parents 
and masters will do, viz. rebuke their children and servants for 
those sins that displease them, and are against their profit, or their 
humours, as disobedience, unthriftiness, unmannerlinoss, &c. and 
labour much to reform them in these, but never seek in the right 
way that God hath appointed to save their souls ; but be sure the 
main end be to recover them from misery, and bring them into the 
way of eternal rest. We have many reprovers, but the manner 
shows too plainly that there are few sincere. Pride bids men re- 
prove others, to manifest a high estimation of themselves; and 
they obey ; and proudly, censoriously, and contemptuously they do 
it. I'assion bids them reprove, and passionately they do it. But 
it is those that do it in compassion and tender love to men's souls, 
who do it in obedience to Christ, the most tender, compassionate 
lover of souls, and who imitate him in their measure and place, 
who came to seek and to save that which was lost. 

Sect. V. 2. Do it speedily : as you would not have them delay 
their returning, so do not you delay to seek their return. You are 
purposing long to speak to such an ignorant neighbour, and to 
deal with such a scandalous sinner, and yet you have never done it. 
Alas ! he runs on the score all this while ; he goes deeper in debt ; 
wrath is heaping up ; sin taketh rooting ; custom doth more fasten 
him ; engagements to sin grow stronger and more numerous ; con- 
science grows seared ; the heart grows hardened : while you delay, 
the devil rules and rejoiceth ; Christ is shut out ; the Spirit is re- 
pulsed ; God is daily dishonoured, his law is violated, he is without 
a servant, and that service from him which he should have ; the 
soul continues in a doleful state ; time runs on ; the day of visita- 
tion hasteth away ; death and judgment are even at the door ; and 
what if the man die and miss of heaven, while you are purposing to 
teach him and help him to it ? what if he drop into hell while you 
are purposing to prevent it ? If in case of his bodily distress, you 
must not bid him go, and come again to-morrow, when you have it 
by you, and he is in want, Prov. iii. 27, 2S, how much less may 
you delay the succour of his soul ! If once death snatch him away, 
he is then out of the reach of your charity. That physician is no 
better than a murderer, that negligently delayeth till his patient be 
dead or past cure. Delay in duty is a great degree of disobedience, 
though you afterwards perform it ; it shows an ill heart, that is un- 
disposed to the work. Oh how many a poor sinner perisheth, or 
grows rooted and next to incurable in sin, while we are proposing 
to seek their recovery ! Opportunities last not always. When 
thou hearest that the sinner is dead, or removed, or grown obsti- 
nate, will not conscience say to thee. How knowest thou I'ut thou 



390 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

mightest have prevented the damnation of a soul ? Lay by excuses 
then, and all lesser business, and obey God's command, " Exhort 
one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any be hardened 
through the deceitfulness of sin," Heb, iii. 13, 

Sect. VI. 3. Let thy exhortation proceed from compassion and 
love, and let the manner of it clearly show the person thou dealest 
with, that it hence proceedeth. It is not jeering, or scorning, or 
reproaching a man for his faults, that is a likely way to work his 
reformation ; nor is it the right way to convert him to God, to rail 
at him and vilify him with words of disgrace. Men will take them 
for their enemies that thus deal with them : and the words of an 
enemy are little persuading. Lay by your passion, therefore, and 
take up compassion, and go to poor sinners with tears in your eyes, 
that they may see you indeed believe them to be miserable, and 
that you do unfeignedly pity their case ; deal with them with 
earnest, humble entreatings ; let them see that your very bowels do 
yearn over them, and that it is the very desire of your hearts to do 
them good ; let them perceive that you have no other end but the 
procuring of their everlasting happiness ; and that it is your sense 
of their danger, and your love to their souls, that forced you to 
speak, even because you know the terrors of the Lord, and for fear 
lest you should see them in eternal torments : say to them. Why, 
friend, you know it is no advantage of my own that I seek. The 
way to please you, and to keep your friendship, were to soothe you 
in your way, or to speak well of you, or to let you alone, but love 
will not suffer me to see you perish, and be silent : I seek nothing 
at your hands, but that which is necessary to your own happiness ; 
it is yourself that wall have the gain and comfort if you come in to 
Christ, &c. If men would thus go to every ignorant, wacked 
neighbour they have, and thus deal with them, oh w^hat blessed fruit 
should we quickly see ! I am ashamed to hear some lazy, hypocriti- 
cal wretches, to revile their poor, ignorant neighbours, and separate 
from their company and communion, and proudly to judge them 
imfit for their society, before ever they once tried with them this 
compassionate exhortation. Oh, you little know what a prevailing 
course this were like to prove ! and how few of the vilest drunkards 
or swearers would prove so obstinate, as wholly to reject or despise 
the exhortations of love ! I know it must be God that must change 
men's hearts, but I know also that God w orketh by means, and 
when he meaneth to prevail with men, he usually fitteth the means 
accordingly, and stirreth up men to plead with them in a prevailing 
way, and so setteth in with his grace, and maketh it successful. 
Certainly, those that have tried, can tell you by experience, that 
there is no way so prevailing with men as the way of compassion 
and love. So much of these as they discern in your exhortation, 
usually, so much doth it succeed with their heart ; and, therefore, I 
beseech those that are faithful to practise this course. Alas ! we 
see the most godly people among us, or at least those that would 
seem most godly, cannot bear a reproof that comes not in meekness 
and love ; if there be the least bitterness of passion, or relish of 



CuAi-. Xlll. THE SAINTS" EVERLASTING REST. ;i«jl 

disgrace in it, they are ready to spit it out in your face ; yea, if you 
do not so sugar your reproof with fair words, that it be liker to 
flattery than phiin dealing, or liker a conniiendation than a reproof, 
Ihey cannot well digest it, hut their heart will rise up against you, 
instead of a thanklul submission and a reformation ; if it savour 
not liker to food than physic, it will hardly down with them, or 
they will soon vomit it up. What should we flatter one another 
for.'' It is now no time to flatter professors, when their sins have 
broke forth more shamefully than ever in the world; for my part, 
the most of them that I have been acquainted with yet are such. 
I meet not with one of a multitude that seem the most godly, but 
this is their very case ; such heinous pride remaineth in the best. 
And do you expect, then, that poor, ignorant, carnal sinners, should 
take that w'ell that professors cannot endure ; and should drink in 
those bitter reproofs as a pleasant draught, which you can scarcely 
pour into professors as a drench ? Can you look that the same 
dealing should be saving to them, which you find to be exasperating 
and distempering to yourselves ? Oh that it were not too evident 
that the Pharisee is yet alive in the breasts of many thousands, 
that seem most religious, even in this one point of bearing plain 
and sharp reproof ! They bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be 
borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will 
not move them with one of their fingers. Matt, xxiii. 4. So far are 
they from doing, in this, as they would be done by. 

Sect. \TI. 4. Another direction I would give you is this : Do it 
with all possible plainness and faithfulness ; do not daub with men, 
and hide from them their misery or danger, or any part of it ; do 
not make their sins less than they are, nor speak of them in an 
extenuating language ; do not encourage them in a false hope or 
faith, any more than you would discourage the sound hopes of the 
righteous. If you see his case dangerous, tell him plainly of it : 
Neighbour, I am afraid God hath not yet renewecT your soul, and 
that it is yet a stranger to the great work of regeneration and 
sanctification : I doubt 5'ou are not yet recovered from the power of 
Satan to God, nor brought out of the state of wrath, which you 
were born in, and have lived in : I doubt you have not chosen 
Christ above all, nor set your heart upon him, nor unfeignedly 
taken him for your sovereign Lord. If you had, sure you durst not 
so easily disobey him ; you could not so neglect him and his wor- 
.ship in your family and in public ; you could not so eagerly follow 
the world, and talk of almost nothing but the things of this world, 
while Christ is seldom mentioned or sought after by you. If you 
were in Christ, you would be a new creature ; old things would be 
passed away, and all things would become new ; you would have 
new thoughts, and new talk, and new company, and new endeavours, 
and a new conversation : certainly, without these you can never be 
saved. You may think otherwise, and hope better, as long as you 
will, but your hopes will deceive you, and perish with you. Alas ! 
it is not as you will, nor as I w ill, who shall be saved, but it is as 
God will ; and God hath told us, " that without holiness none shall 



392 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

see him ;" and " except we be born again, we cannot enter into his 
kingdom ;" and " that all that would not have Christ reign over 
them, shall be brought forth and destroyed before him," Heb. xii, 
14; John iii. 3 ; Luke xix. 27. Oh ! therefore, look to your state 
in time. Thus must you deal roundly and faithfully with men, if 
ever you intend to do them good ; it is not hovering at a distance in 
a general discourse, that will serve the turn ; it is not in curing 
men's souls, as in curing their bodies, where they must not know 
their danger, lest it sadden them, and hinder the cure. They are 
here agents in their own cure, and if they know not their misery, 
they will never bewail it, nor know how much need they have of a 
Saviour. If they know not the worst, they will not labour to pre- 
vent it, but will sit still, or loiter till they drop into perdition, and 
will trifle out their time in delays till it be too late ; and, therefore, 
speak to men, as Christ to the Pharisees, till they knew that he 
meant them : deal plainly, or you do but deceive and destroy them. 
Sect. VIII. 5. And as you must do it plainly, so, also, seriously, 
zealously, and effectually. The exceeding stupidity and deadness 
of men's hearts is such, that no other dealing will ordinarily work. 
You must call loud to awaken a man in a swoon or lethargy. If 
you speak to the common sort of men of the evil of their sin, of 
their need of Christ, of the danger of their souls, and of the 
necessity of regeneration, they will wearily and unwillingly give 
you the hearing, and put off all with a sigh, or a few good wishes, 
and say, God forgive us, we are all sinners, and there is an end. If 
ever you will do them good, therefore, you must sharpen your ex- 
hortation, and set it home, and follow it with their hearts, till you 
have roused them up, and made them begin to look about them. 
Let them know that thou speakest not to them of indifferent things, 
nor about children's games, or worldlings' vanities, or matters of a 
few days' or years' continuance, nor yet about matters of uncer- 
tainty, which perhaps may never come to pass : but it is about the 
saving and damning of their souls and bodies ; and whether they 
shall be blessed with Christ, or tormented with devils, and that for 
ever and ever without any change ; it is, how to stand before God 
in judgment, and what answer to give, and how they are like to 
speed. And this judgment and eternal state they shall very shortly 
see, they are almost at it ; yet a few more nights and days, and they 
shall presently be at that last day ; a few more breaths they have 
to breathe, and they shall breathe out their last : and then as cer- 
tainly shall they see that mighty change, as the heaven is over their 
heads, and the earth under their feet. O labour to make men know, 
that it is mad jesting about salvation or damnation ; and that heaven 
and hell be not matters to be played with, or passed over with a 
few careless thoughts ! It is most certain that one of these clays 
thou shalt be either in everlasting, unchangeable joy or torments ; 
and doth it not awake thee ? Is there so few that find the way of 
life, so many that go the way of death ? Is it so hard to escape, so 
easy to miscarry ? and that while we fear nothing, but think all is 
well ? and yet you sit still and trifle ! Why, what do you mean ? 



Ciui'. XIII. THE SAhNTS' EVEULASTIXCi REST. 393 

what do you think on .'' The world is passing away ; its pleasures 
are fading ; its honours are leavnig you ; its profits will prove un- 
profitahle to you ; heaven or hell are a little hei'ore you; God is 
just, and jealous ; his threatenings are true ; the great day of his 
judgment will be terrible ; your time runs on ; your lives are un- 
certain ; you are far behindhand ; you have loitered long ; your 
case is dangerous ; your souls are far gone in sin ; you are strange 
to God ; you are hardened in evil customs ; you have no assurance 
of pardon to show ; if you die to-morrow, how unready are you, 
and with what terror will your souls go out of your bodies ! and do 
you yet loiter for all this { Why, consider with yourselves : God 
standoth all this while waiting your leisure : his patience beareth, 
his justice forbeareth ; his mercy cntreateth you; Christ standeth 
offering you his blood and merits ; you may have him freely, and 
life with him ; the Spirit is persuading you ; conscience is accusing 
and urging you ; ministers are praying for you, and calling upon you ; 
Satan stands waiting, when justice will cut off your lives, that he 
may have you : this is your time ; now or never. What ! had you 
rather lose heaven than your profits or pleasures ? Had you rather 
burn in hell than repent on earth { Had you rather howl and roar 
there, than pray day and night for mercy here ? Or to have devils 
your tormentors, than to have Christ your governor ? Will you re- 
nounce your part in God and glory, rather than renounce your 
cursed sins ? Do you think a holy life too much for heaven, or too 
dear a course to prevent an endless misery ? O friends, what do 
you think of these things .'' God hath made you men, and endued 
you with reason ; do you renounce your reason where you should 
chiefly use it ? In this manner you must deal roundly and seriously 
with men. Alas ! it is not a few dull words, between jest and 
earnest, between sleep and waking, as it were, that will waken an 
ignorant, dead-hearted sinner. When a dull hearer and a dull 
speaker meet together, a dead heart and a dead exhortation, it is 
far unlike to have a lively effect. If a man fall down in a swoon, 
you will not stand trifling with him, but lay hands on him pre- 
sently, and snatch him up, and rub him, and call aloud to him ; if 
a house be on fire, you will not in a cold affected strain go tell 
your neighbour of it, nor go make an oration of the nature and 
danger of fire ; but you will run out, and cry. Fire, fire. Matters 
of moment must be seriously dealt with. To tell a man of his sins 
so softly as I'^li did his sons, reprove hfm so gently as Jeho.shaphat 
did Ahab, " Let not the king say so," doth usually as nmch harm 
as good, 1 Sam. xxiii. ; 1 Kings xxii. 8. I am persuaded the very 
manner of some men's reproof and exhortation hath hardened 
many a sinner in the way of destruction. To tell them of sin, or 
of heaven, or hell, in a dull, easy, careless language, doth make 
men think you are not in good sadness, nor do mean as you speak ; 
but either you scarce think yourselves such things arc true, or else 
you take them in such a slight and indifferent manner. O sirs, 
deal with sin as sin, and speak of heaven and hell as they are, and 
not as if you were in jest. I confess, I have failed much in this 



394 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

myself; the Lord lay it not to my charge. Lothness to displease 
men, makes us undo them. 

Sect. IX. 6. Yet, lest you run into extremes, I advise you to do 
it with prudence and discretion. Be as serious as you can ; but 
yet with wisdom. And especially, you must be wise in these things 
following : 

1. In choosing the fittest season for your exhortation, not to 
deal with men when they are in passion, or drink, or in public where 
they will take it for a disgrace. Men should observe when sinners 
are fittest to hear instructions. Physic must not be given at all 
times, but in season. Opportunity advantageth every work. It 
is an excellent example that Paul giveth us, Gal. ii. 2. He com- 
municateth the gospel to them, yet privately to them of reputation, 
lest he should run in vain. Some men would take this to be a sin- 
ful complying with their corruption, to yield so far to their pride 
and bashfulness, as to teach them only in private, because they 
would be ashamed to own the truth in public. But Paul knew 
how great a hinderance men's reputation is to their entertaining of 
the truth, and that the remedy must not only be fitted to the dis- 
ease, but also to the strength of the patient ; and that in so doing, 
the physician is not guilty of favouring the disease, but is praise- 
worthy for taking the right way to cure it ; and that learners and 
young beginners must not be dealt with as open professors. More- 
over, means will work easily if you take the opportunity ; when 
the earth is soft, the plough will enter. Take a man when he is 
under affliction, or in the house of mourning, or newly stirred by 
som6 moving sermon, and then set it home, and you may do him 
good. Christian faithfulness doth require us, not only to do good 
when it falls in our way, but to watch for opportunities for doing 
good. 

2. Be wise also in suiting your exhortation to the quality and 
temper of the person. All meats are not for all stomachs : one 
man will vomit that up again in your face, which another will di- 
gest. 1. If it be a learned, or ingenious, rational man, you must 
deal more by convincing arguments, and less by passionate per- 
suasions. 2. If it be one that is both ignorant and stupid, there is 
need of both. 3. If one that is convinced, but yet is not con- 
verted, you must use most those means that rouse up the affections. 

4. If they be obstinate and secure, you must reprove them sharply. 

5. If they be of timorous, tender natures, and apt to dejections or 
distractions, they must be tenderly dealt with. All cannot bear 
that rough dealing as some can. Love, and plainness, and serious- 
ness, take with all ; but words of terror some can scarce bear. 
This is (as we say of stronger physic, lieUehore, colloquintida, 8fC. 
nee 2)tiero, nee sent, nee imhccillo, sed rohusto, 8fcJ not fit for every 
complexion and state. 

3. You must be wise also in using the aptest expressions. Many 
a minister doth deliver most excellent, necessary matter in such 
unsavoury, harsh, and uiiseeniing language, that it makes the 
hearers loathe the food that they should live by, and laugh at a 



CuAP. XIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 39.5 

sermon that might make them quake : especially if ihey be men of 
curious ears and carnal hearts, and have more conunon wit and 
parts than the speaker. And so it is in private exhortation as well 
as public : if you clothe the most amiable, beautiful truth in the 
sordid rags of unbeseeming language, you will make men disdain it 
as monstrous and deformed, though it be the oll'spring of God, and 
of the highest nature. 

Sect. X, 7, Let all your reproofs and exhortations be backed 
with the authority of God. Let the sinner be convinced that you 
speak not from yourselves, or of your own head. Show them the 
very words of Scripture for what you say. Turn them to the very 
chapter and verse where the sin is condenmed and where the duty 
is commanded. Press them with the truth and authority of God. 
Ask them whether they believe that this is his word, and that his 
word is true. So much of God as appeareth in our words, so much 
will they take. The voice of man is contemptible, but the voice of 
God is awful and terrible. They can and may reject your words, 
they cannot nor dare reject the words of the Almighty. Be sure, 
therefore, to make them know that you speak nothing but what 
God hath spoken first. 

Sect. XI. 8. You must also be frequent with men in this duty of 
exhortation ; it is not once or twice that usually will prevail. If 
God himself must be constantly solicited, as if importunity could 
prevail with him when nothing else can, and therefore requires us 
always to pray, and not to w^ax faint, the same course, no dou])t, • 
will be most prevailing with men. Therefore, we are commanded 
*' to exhort one another daily, and with all long-suffering." As 
liipsius saith, " The fire is not always brought out of the flint at 
one stroke ; nor men's affections kindled at the first exhortation." 
And if they were, yet if they be not followed, they will soon grow 
cold again. Weary out sinners with your loving and earnest en- 
treaties ; follow them, and give them no rest in their sin. This is 
true charity, and this is the way to save men's souls; and a course 
that will aiford you comfort upon review. 

Sect. XH. 9. Strive to bring all your exhortation to an issue; 
stick not in the work done, but look after the success, and aim at 
the end in all your speeches. I have long observed it in ministers 
and private men, that if they speak never so convincing and power- 
ful words, and yet their hearts do not long after the success of them 
with the hearers, but all their care is over when they have done 
their speech, pretending that having done their duty, they leave 
the issue to God, these men do seldom prosper in their labours; 
but those whose very heart is set upon the work, and that long to 
see it take for the hearer's conversion, and use to inquire how it 
speeds, God usually blesseth their labours, though more weak. 
Labour, therefore, to drive all your speeches to the desired issue. 
If you are reproving a sin, cease not till (if it may be) you have got 
the sinner to promise you to leave it, and to avoid the occasions of 
it : if you are exhorting to a duty, urge the party to promise you 
presently to set upon it. If you would draw them to Christ, leave 



396 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

not till you have made them confess tliat their present unregenerate 
state is miserahlc, and not to be rested in ; and till they have sub- 
scribed to the necessity of Christ, and of a change, and till they 
have promised you to fall close to the use of means. Oh that all 
Christians would be persuaded to take this course with all their 
neighbours that are yet in the flesh, that are enslaved to sin, and 
strangers to Christ ! 

Sect. XIII. 10. Lastly, Be sure that your examples may exhort 
as well as your words.* Let them see you constant in all the 
duties that you persuade them to : let them see in your lives that 
dilference from sinners, and that excellency above the world, which 
you persuade them to in your speeches. Let them see by your 
constant labours for heaven, that you do indeed believe that which 
you would have them to believe. If you tell others of the admir- 
able joys of heaven, and yourselves cIo nothing but drudge for the 
world, and are as much taken up in striving to be rich, or as quar- 
relsome with your neighbours in a case of commodity, as any others, 
who will then believe you ; or who will be persuaded by you to 
seek the everlasting riches ? Will they not rather think, that you 
persuade them to look after another- world, and to neglect this, 
that so you might have the more of it to yourself.^ Let not men 
see you proud, while you exhort them to be humble ; nor to have 
a soared conscience in one thing, while you would have theirs 
tender in another. An innocent life is a continual pov/erful reproof 
to the wicked ; and the constant practice of a holy and heavenly 
life is a constant disquietment to the conscience of a worldling, 
and a constant solicitation of him to change his course. 

And thus I have opened to you the first and great part of this 
duty, consisting in private, familiar exhortation, for the helping of 
poor souls to this rest, that are out of the way, and have yet no title 
to it ; and I have showed you also the manner how to perform it 
that you may succeed. I will now speak a little of the next part. 

Sect. XIV. Besides the duty of private admonition, you must do 
your utmost endeavours to help men to profit by the public ordi- 
nances. And to that end you must do these things. First, Do 
your endeavours for the procuring of faithful ministers, where they 
are wanting. This is God's ordinary means of converting and 
saving. How shall they hear without a preacher ? Not only for 
your own sakes therefore, but for the poor miserable ones about 
you, do all you can to bring this to pass. If the gospel be hid, it 
is hid to them that are lost. Where vision faileth, the people 
perish. Improve, therefore, all your interest and diligence to this 
end. Ride, and go, and seek, and make friends, till you do pre- 
vail ; if means be wanting to maintain a minister, extend your 
purses to the utmost, rather than the means of men's salvation 
should be wanting. Who knoweth how many souls may bless you, 

* Nee sic inflectere sensus humanos edicta valcnt quam vita regentis. Primus jussa 
Rubi ; tunc obscrvantior sequi. Fit populus. Loripidem rectus derideat, ^thiopom 
albus. Quis tulerit Gracclius de seditione qucrentesi Si fur displiceat Vcrri, honiioida 
Miloni, &c. Si quis opprobriis dignum latiaverit integer ipse, &c. 



Cfui'. XIII. THE SAINTS' evp:rlasting rest. 397 

who have boon converted and saved by the ministry which you 
have procured { It is a higher and nobler work of charity, than it" 
you gave all that you have to relieve their bodies : though both 
nuist be regarded, yet the soul in the first place. What abundance 
of good might great men do in this, if they were faithful improvers 
of their interests and estates, as men that believe God hath the 
chief interest, and will shortly call them to an account for their 
stewardship ! ^^'hat unhappy reformers hath the church still met 
withal, that instead of taking away the corruptions in the church, 
do diminish that nuiintenance which should further the work ! If 
our ignorant forefathers gave it for the service of the church, and 
their more knowing posterity do take it away, without the least 
pretence of right to it ; I doubt not but the pious intent of progeni- 
tors will more extenuate the fault of their ignorance, than the 
knowledge of their posterity will excuse their sacrilege. Alas, 
that the sad example of King Henry the Eighth's reformation, and 
the almost miraculous consumption of the estates of the impropria- 
tors, and the many hundred congregations that live in woeful dark- 
ness for want of maintenance for a ministry, should yet be no more 
effectual a warning to this age ! If they take away most, and give 
l)ack a little, we are beholden to their bounty. If a corrupt officer 
lose his interest, the church doth not lose hers. Here is a great 
talk of reducing the church to the primitive pattern : if so, I dare 
affirm that every church must have many ministers. And they 
that know wherein the work of the ministry doth consist, will no 
more wonder at that, than that a regiment of soldiers should have 
many officers. And how will that be, when they will scarcely 
aiford nuiintenance for one i* They are likelier to bring the 
church to the primitive poverty, than to the primitive pattern. If 
I were not known to be quite beyond their exceptions myself, I 
might not say so much, lest 1 were thought to plead my own in- 
terest ; especially a dying man should be out of the reach of such 
accusations. But the Lord knoweth that it is not a desire that 
ministers should be rich, that maketh me speak this ; but earnest 
desire of the happiness of the church ; nor do I mean the ministry 
only by the word " church." It is the people that are robbed and 
bear the loss, more than the ministers : ministers must and will 

* To make up that number of ministers that the churcli should have, now the main- 
tenance is taken aAvaj, 1 would ricli men would study and enter into the ministry who 
can maintain themselves, and so do the work freely. Let them know to their faces, that 
it is a work that the greatest lord in the land is not too good for. See what Hierom 
saith ad Damasum : Clericos illos convenit ecclesiaj stipendiis sustentari, quibus paren- 
tum et amicorum nulla sufFragantur stipeudia. Qui autem bonis parentum ct opibus 
sustineri possunt, si quod pauperum est, accipiunt, sacrilegium profecto incuiTunt, et 
committunt. And, besides, it would bear up the credit of the office, and take off much 
prejudice from the people. But our .gentlemen generally have their pleasure, wealth, 
and honour, in such high esteem, and Christ and his gospel and church in such dis- 
estecm, that they would take it for a disgrace to turn ministers, or to fit and devote them- 
selves or children to it, and so to serve Ciirist freely. AVhere is the gentleman in Eng- 
land that hath done thus"? They will rail at ministers for covetousness, because they 
will not serve at the altar, and not live on the altar, who have no other maintenance ; but 
when will themselves that have more, devote themselves freely to this work 'J Will they 
not rather increase their great estates with robbing God ■? 



398 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

have maintenance, or else men will set their children to other 
studies ; when there is no other, the people mnst allow it them- 
selves, or be without. What minister can well oversee and watch 
over more than a thousand souls ? Nor I think so many. Many 
congregations have four thousand, ten thousand, twenty thousand, 
some fifty thousand, yea, seventy thousand. How many officers 
will the state maintain in an army of thirty thousand ? I had almost 
said, the work of governing the church is greater, and hath need of 
as many. I w^ould all Scripture and primitive patterns wisre well 
viewed in this. O happy reformation, if able godly men were put 
in places, or in right offices, without such diminution of the number 
or the maintenance ! Or if a supply at present could not be had, 
yet should they not have overthrown the hopes of posterity. But 
to leave this digression, I hope those that God hath called to this 
work, will labour, nevertheless, for the shortness of their mainte- 
nance : and those of the people that can do no more, can yet pray 
the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers. And 
he that hath put that petition into our mouths, I hope will put the 
answer into our hands. 

Sect. XV. 2. Yet it is not enough that you seek after teachers, 
but especially you must seek after such as are fitted for the work. 
An ignorant empiric that killeth more than he cureth, doth not so 
much differ from an able physician, as an unskilful minister from 
one that is able. Alas ; this is the great defect among us : men 
that are fitted for the work indeed, are most wonders ; one, or two, 
or three, or four in some counties is much. How few that have 
dived into the mysteries of divinity ; or have thoroughly studied 
the most needful controversies ; or are able to explain or maintain 
the truth ! But only they store their memories with the opinions 
and phrases of those teachers that are in most credit, in common 
cases ; and then they think they are divines : and every man that 
steps out of their common road, they can say that he is erroneous 
or heretical ; but how to confute him they cannot tell. And almost 
as few that are well skilled in managing known truths upon the 
conscience. Alas! whence cometh this misery to the church? 
There is not a choice made of the most excellent wits, and those 
youths that are ripest in learning and religion : but some of them 
are so rich, that the ministry is too mean for them ; and some so 
poor, that they have no maintenance to subsist on at the universi- 
ties. And so every one that is best furnished to make a trade of 
the ministry, or whose parents have best affection to it, how unfit 
soever the child is, must be a minister : and those few, very few, 
choice wits that would be fittest, are diverted. 

How small a matter were it, and yet how excellent a work, for 
every knight or gentleman of means in England, to cull out some 
one or two, or more, poor l^oys in the country schools, who are of 
the choicest wits and most pious dispositions, who are poor and 
unable to proceed in learning, and to maintain them a few years in 
the universities, till they were fit for the ministry ! It were but 
keeping a few superfluous attendants the less, or a few horses or 



CiiAF. Xlll. TlIK SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 3«J9 

(logs the less : if thoy lunl hoarts to it, it worn easily spared 
out of their sports, or rich apparel, or superfluous diet ; or, what if 
it were out of more useful costs, or out of their children's larger 
portions ? 1 dare say they would not be sorry for it when they 
come to their reckoning. One sumptuous feast, or one costly suit 
of apparel, would maintain a poor boy a year or two at the university, 
who, perhaps, might come to have more true worth in him than 
many a glittering, sensual lord, and to do God more service in his 
church than ever they did with all their estates and power. 

Sect. XVI. 3. And when you do enjoy the blessing of the gos- 
pel, you nmst yet use your utmost diligence to help poor souls to 
receive the fruit of it. To which end you must draw them con- 
stantly to hear and attend it. Mind them often of what they have 
heard ; draw them, if it be possible, to repeat it in their families. If 
that cannot be, then draw them to come to others that do repeat 
it, that so it may not die in the hearing. The very drawing of men 
into the company and acquaintance of the godly, besides the benefit 
they have by their endeavours, is of singular use to the recovery of 
their souls. Association breedeth familiarity, and familiarity breed- 
eth love ; and familiarity and love to the godly, doth lead to famili- 
arity and love to God and godliness. It is also a means to take off 
prejudice, by confuting the world's slanders of the ways and people 
of God. Use, therefore, often to meet together, besides the more 
public meeting in the congregation : not to vent any unsound 
opinions, nor yet in distaste of the public meeting, nor in opposition 
to it, nor at the time of public worship, nor yet to make a ground- 
less schism, or to separate from the church whereof you are mem- 
bers ; nor to destroy the old that you may gather a new church out 
of its ruins, as long as it hath the essentials, and there is hope of 
reforming it ; nor yet would I have you forward to vent your own 
supposed gifts and parts in teaching, where there is no necessity of 
it ; nor to attempt that in the interpretation of difficult scriptures, 
or explication of difficult controversies, which is beyond your ability, 
though, perhaps, pride will tell you that you are as able as any. 
But the work which I would have you meet about, is this, to repeat 
together the word which you have heard in public ; to pour out your 
joint prayers for the church and yourselves; to join in cheerful 
singing the praises of God ; to open your scruples, and doubts, and 
fears, and get resolution ; to quicken each other in love, and hea- 
venliness, and holy walking : and all this, not as a separated church, 
but as a part of the church more diligent than the rest in redeem- 
ing time, and helping the souls of each other heavenward. 

I know some careless ones think this course needless ; and I know 
some formalists do think it schismatical, who have nothing of any 
moment to say against it. Against both these, if I durst so far 
digress, I could easily prove it warrantable and useful. I know 
also that many of late do abuse private meetings to schism, and to 
vilify God's ordinances, and vent the windy issue of their empty 
brains. But betwixt these extremes, I advise you to walk, and 
neither to " forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the 



400 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

manner of some is, but exhort one another," Heb. x. 25. Nor yet 
to be " carried about with divers and strange doctrines :" but let 
all your private meetings be in subordination to the public, and by 
the approbation and consent of your spiritual guides, and not with- 
out them of your own heads, where such guides are men of know- 
ledge and godliness ; remembering them which have the rule over 
you, which speak to you the word of God, following their faith, and 
as men whose hearts are stablished with grace, considering the 
whole end of a Christian's conversation, Jesus Christ the same 
yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, Heb, xiii. 7 — 9, 17. " And I 
beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences, 
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them : 
for they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their 
own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts 
of the simple," Rom. xvi. 17, 18. I would you would ponder every 
one of these words, for they are the precious advice of the Spirit of 
God, and necessary now, as well as then. 

4. Keep ordinances ^^ct. XVII. 4. One thing more I advise you 
and ministry in concerning tliis. If you would have souls converted 

^'^^'■'°^^- and saved by the ordinances, labour still to keep the 

ordinances and ministry in esteem. No man will be much wrought 
on by that which he despiseth. The great causes of this contempt 
are, a perverted judgment, and a graceless heart. It is no more 
wonder for a soul to loathe the ordinances, that savoureth not their 
spiritual nature, nor seeth God in them, nor is thoroughly wrought 
on by them, than it is for a sick man to loathe his food. Nor is it 
any wonder for a perverted understanding to make a jest of God 
himself, much less to set light by his ordinances. Oh ! what a rare 
blessing is a clear, sound, sanctified judgment ! Where this is 
wanting, the most hellish vice may seem a virtue, and the most 
sacred ordinance of Divine institution may seem as the waters of 
Jordan to Naaman. If any enemies to God's ordinances assault 
you, I refer you to the reading of Mr. Henry Lawrence's late book 
for ordinances. 

The profane scorners of the ministry and worship heretofore, 
were the means of keeping many a soul from heaven ; but the late 
generation of proud, ignorant sectaries amongst us, have quite out- 
stripped in this the vile persecutors. Oh how many souls may curse 
these wretches in hell for ever, that have by them been brought to 
contemn the means that should save them ! By many years' ex- 
perience in my conversing with these men, I can speak it knowingly, 
that the chiefest of their zeal is let out against the faithful ministers 
of Christ. He is the ablest of their preachers that can rail at them in 
the most devilish language. It is their most common discourse in 
all companies, both godly and profane, to vilify the ministry, and 
make them odious to all, partly by slanders, and partly by scorns. 
Is this the way to win souls ? Whereas, formerly, they thought that 
if a man were won to a love of the ministry and ordinances, he was 
in a hopeful way of being won to God. Now these men are diligent 
to bring all men to scorn them, as if this were all that were neces- 



CuAi'. XI II. THK SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 401 

sary to the saving of their souls, and he only shall he happy that 
can deride at ministers and discipline. If any man doubt of the 
truth of what I say, he is a stranger in lOngland, and for his satis- 
faction, let him read all the books of Martin Mar-priest, and tell 
me whether the devil ever spoke so with a tongue of flesh before. 
For you, my dear friends, I acknowledge to God's praise, that you 
are as far from the contempt of ordinances or ministry, as any 
people I know in the land. I shall confirm you herein, not in my 
own words, but in his that I know you dare not disregard : 1 Thess. 
V. 11 — 13, " Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one 
another, even as ye also do. And we beseech you, brethren, to 
know them w hich labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, 
and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their 
work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves." " Obey them 
that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves ; for they watch 
for your souls, as those that must give an account, that they may 
do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you," 
Heb. xiii. 17. 

Thus you see part of your duty for the salvation of others. 

Sect. XVIII. And now. Christian reader, seeing it is a duty that 
God hath laid upon every man according to his ability, thus to ex- 
hort and reprove, and with all possible diligence to labour after the 
salvation of all about him, judge then whether this work be con- 
scionably performed. Where shall we find the man almost among 
us, that setteth himself to it with all his might, and that hath set 
his heart upon the souls of his brethren, that they may be saved ? 

Let us here, therefore, a little inquire what may be the causes of 
the gross neglect of this duty, that the hinderances being discovered 
may the more easily be overcome. 

1. One hinderance is, men's own gracelessness and guiltiness. 
They have not been ravished themselves with the heavenly de- 
lights. How, then, should they draw others so earnestly to seek 
them :" They have not felt the wickedness of their own natures, 
nor their lost condition, nor their need of Christ, nor felt the trans- 
forming, renewing work of the Spirit. How, then, can they dis- 
cover these to others ? Ah ! that this were not the case of many a 
learned preacher in England ! and the cause why they preach so 
frozenly and generally ! Men also are guilty themselves of the sins 
they should reprove, and this stops their mouth, and maketh them 
ashamed to reprove. 

2. Another hinderance is, a secret infidelity prevailing in men's 
hearts ; whereof even the best have so great a measure, that it 
causeth this duty to be done by the halves. Alas ! sirs, we do not, 
sure, believe men's misery ; we do not believe, sure, that the threat- 
enings of God are true. Did we verily believe that all the unre- 
generate and unholy shall be eternally tormented, as God hath said, 
oh, how could we hold our tongues when we are among the unre- 
generate ? How could we choose but burst out into tears when we 
look them in the face, as the prophet did when he looked upon 
Hazael ? especially when they arc our kindred or friends, that are 



402 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

near and clear to us ? Thus doth secret unbelief of the truth of 
Scripture consume the vigour of each grace and duty. O Chris- 
tians, if you did verily believe that your poor, carnal, ungodly 
neighbour, or wife, or husband, or child, should certainly lie for 
ever in the flames of hell, except they be thoroughly recovered and 
changed, and that quickly, before death doth snatch them from 
hence, would not this make you cast otf all discouragements, and 
lay at them day and night till they were persuaded, and give them 
no rest in their carnal state ? How could you hold your tongue, or 
let them alone another day, if this were soundly believed ? if you 
were sure that any of your dear friends, that are dead, were now in 
hell, and persuading to repentance would get him out again, would 
not you persuade him day and night, if he were in hearing ? And 
why should you not do as much then to prevent it, while he is in 
your hearing, but that you do not believe God's word that speaks 
the danger ? Why did Noah prepare an ark so long before, and 
persuade the world to save themselves, but because he believed 
God, that the flood should come ? And, therefore, saith the Holy 
Ghost, " By faith Noah prepared the ark," Heb. xi. 7. And why 
did not the world hearken to his persuasion, and seek to save them- 
selves as well as Noah, but because they did not believe there 
would be any such deluge ? They see all fair and well, and there- 
fore they thought that threatenings were but wind. The rich man 
in hell cries out, " Send to my brethren to warn them, that they 
come not to this place of torment," Luke xvi. 28 : he ielt it, and 
therefore, being convinced of its truth, would have them prevent 
it ; but his brethren on earth, they did not see and feel as he, and 
therefore they did not believe, nor would have been persuaded, 
" though one had risen from the dead." I am afraid most of us do 
believe the predictions of Scripture but as we believe the predictions 
of an almanac, which telleth you that such a day will be rain, and 
such a day wind ; you think it may come to pass, and it may not : 
and so you think of the predictions of the damnation of the wicked. 
Oh ! were it not for this cursed unbelief, our own souls, and our 
neighbours', would gain more by us than they do. 

3. This faithful dealing with men for their salvation, is much 
hindered also by our want of charity and compassion to men's 
souls. We are hard-hearted and cruel towards the miserable ; and 
therefore, as the priest and the Levite did by the wounded man, 
we look on them, and pass by. Oh ! what tender heart could 
endure to look upon a poor, blind, forlorn sinner, wounded by sin, 
and captivated by Satan, and never once open our mouths for his 
i-ecovery ? What though he be silent, and do not desire thy help 
himself, yet his very misery cries aloud : misery is the most 
effectual suitor to one that is compassionate. If God had not heard 
the cry of our miseries before he heard the cry of our prayers, and 
been moved by his own pity, before he was moved by our importu- 
nity, we might have long enough continued the slaves of Satan. Is 
it not the strongest way of arguing that a poor Lazarus hath, to 
unlap his sores, and show them the passengers ? All his words will 



Chap. Xlll. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING KEST. .10;3 

not move them so much as such a pitiful sight. Alas ! what pitiful 
sights do Nvo daily sec! the ignorant, the profane, the neglect(>rs of 
Christ and their souls ; their sores are open and visible to all that, 
know them, and yet do we not pity them ! You will pray to God 
for thom, in customary duties, that God would open the eyes and 
turn the hearts of your ignorant, carnal friends and neighbours. 
And why do you not endeavour their conversion, if you desire it!" 
And if you do not desire it, why do you ask it ? Doth not your 
negligence convince you of hypocrisy in your prayers, and of 
abusing the high God with your deceitful words ? Your neighbours 
are near you, your friends are in the house with you ; you eat, and 
drink, and work, and walk, and talk with them, and yet you say 
little or nothing to them. Why do you not prav them to consider 
and return, as well as pray God to convert and mrn them ? Have 
you as oft and as earnestly begged of them to think on their ways, 
and to reform, as you have taken on you to beg of God that they 
may so do ? What if you should see your neighbour fallen into a 
pit, and you should presently fall down on your knees, and pray God 
to help him out, but would neither put forth your hand to help, nor 
once persuade or direct him to help himself, would not any man 
censure you to be cruel and hypocritical ? What the Holy Ghost 
saith of men's bodily miseries, I may say much more of the misery 
of their souls : " If any man seeth his brother in need, and shutteth 
up his compassion from him, how dw'elleth the love of God in 
him ?" 1 John iii. 17. Or, what love hath he to his brother's soul ? 
Sure, if you saw your friend in hell, you would persuade him hard 
to come thence, if that would serve ; and why do you not now per- 
suade him to prevent it ? The charity of our ignorant forefathers 
may rise up in judgment against us, and condemn us. They would 
give all their estates almost, for so many masses, or pardons, to de- 
liver the souls of their friends from a feigned purgatory, and we 
will not so much as importunately admonish and entreat them, to 
save them from the certain flames of hell ; though this may be 
effectual to do them good, and the other wull do none. 

4. Another hinderance is, a base, man-pleasing disposition that 
is in us. W^e are so loth to displease men, and so desirous to keep 
in credit and favour with them, that it makes us most unconscion- 
ably neglect our known duty. A foolish physician he is, and a most 
unfaithful friend, that will let a sick man die for fear of troubling 
him ; and cruel wretches are we to our friends, that will rather 
suffer them to go quietly to hell, than we will anger them, or hazard 
our reputation with them. If they did but fall in a swoon, we 
would rub them and pinch them, and never stick at hurting them. 
If they were distracted we would bind them with chains, and we 
would please them in nothing that tended to their hurt ; and yet, 
when they are beside themselves in point of salvation, and in their 
madness posting on to damnation, we will not stop them, for fear of 
displeasing them. How can these men be Christians, that love 
the praise and favour of men more than the favour of God ? John 
xii. 43. For if they yet seek to please men, they are no longer the 
2 D 2 



404 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III 

servants of Christ, Gal. i. 10. To win them indeed, they must 
become all things to all men ; but to please them to their destruc- 
tion, and let them perish, that we may keep our credit with them, 
is a course so base and barbarously cruel, that he that hath the 
face of a Christian should abhor it, 1 Cor. ix. 20 — 24; Prov. 
xi. 36. 

5. Another common hinderance is, a sinful bashfulness. When 
we should labour to make men ashamed of their sins, we are our- 
selves ashamed of our duties. May not these sinners condemn us, 
when they will not blush to swear, or be drunk, or neglect the 
v/orship of God, and we will blush to tell them of it, and persuade 
them from it ? Elisha looked on Hazael till he was ashamed ; and 
we are ashamed to look on, or speak to the oiFender, 2 Kings viii. 
11; Jer. vi. 15; viii. 12; Luke ix. 26. Sinners will rather boast 
of their sins, and impudently show them in the open streets, and 
shall not we be as bold in drawing them from it ? Not that I ap- 
prove of impudence in any ; for, as one saith, I take him for a lost 
man that hath lost his modesty. Nor would I have inferiors forget 
their distance in admonishing their superiors ; but do it with all 
humility, and submission, and respect. But yet I would much less 
have them forget their duty to God and their friends, be they never 
so much their superiors : it is a thing that must be done. Bash- 
fulness is unseemly in cases of flat necessity. And, indeed, it is 
not a work to be ashamed of; to obey God in persuading men from 
their sins to Christ, and helping to save their souls, is not a business 
for a man to blush at ; and yet, alas ! what abundance of souls 
have been neglected through the prevailing of this sin ! even the 
most of us are heinously guilty in this point. Reader, is not this 
thy own case ? Hath not thy conscience told thee of thy duty 
many a time, and put thee on to speak to poor sinners, lest they 
perish, and yet thou hast been ashamed to open thy mouth to them, 
and so let them alone to sink or swim ? believe me, thou wilt ere 
long be ashamed of this shame. O read those words of Christ, 
and tremble : " He that is ashamed of me and of my words before 
this adulterous generation, of him will the Son of man be ashamed 
before his Father and the angels," Luke ix. 26 ; Mark viii. 38. 

6. Another hinderance is, impatiency, laziness, and favouring of 
the flesh. It is an ungrateful work, and for the most part maketh 
those our enemies that were our friends ; and men cannot bear the 
reproaches and unthankful returns of sinners. It may be they are 
their chief friends, on whom is all their dependence, so that it may 
be their undoing to displease them. Besides, it is a work that 
seldom succeedeth at the first, except it be followed on with wisdom 
and unweariedness. You must be a great while teaching an ignor- 
ant person, before he will be brought to know the very funda- 
mentals ; and a great while persuading an obstinate sinner, before 
he will come to a full resolution to return. Now, this is a tedious 
course to the flesh, and few will bear it. Not considering what 
patience God used towards us when we were in our sins, and how 
long he followed us with the importunities of his Spirit, holding 



CiiAi'. XIll. THE SAINTS' KVEULASTINCi REST. 40.5 

out Christ and life, and beseeching us to accept them. Woe to 
us if God had been as impatient with us as we are with others ! 
If Christ be not weary, nor give over to invite them, we have 
little reason to be weary of doing the message. See 2 Tim. ii. 
24, 2.5. 

7. Another hinderance is, self-seeking and self-minding. Men 
are all for themselves, and all mind their own things, but few the 
things of Christ and their brethren. Hence is that Cainish voice, 
" Am I my brother's keeper?" Every man must answer for him- 
self. Hence also it is that a multitude of ignorant professors do 
think only where they may enjoy the purest ordinances, and tliither 
they will go over sea and land ; or what way of discipline will be 
sweetest to themselves, and therefore are prone to groundless 
separation : but where they have the fairest opportunity to win the 
souls of others, or in what place or way they may do most good, 
these things they little or nothing regard, as if we had learned of 
the monks, and were setting up their principles and practice when 
we seem to oppose them. 

If these men had tried what some of their brethren have done, 
they would know that all the purest ordinances and churches will 
not afford that solid comfort, as the converting of a few sinners by 
our unwearied, compassionate exhortations. Two men in a frosty 
season come where a company of people are ready to starve ; the 
one of them laps himself, and taketh shelter, for fear lest he should 
perish with them ; the other, in pity, falls to rub them that he may 
recover heat in them, and while he laboureth hard to help them, 
he getteth far better heat to himself than his unprofitable com- 
panion doth. 

8. With many, also, pride is a great impediment. If it were to 
speak to a great man, they would do it, so it would not displease 
him. But to go among the poor multitude, and to take pains with 
a company of ignorant beggars, or mean persons, and to sit with 
them in a smoky, nasty cottage, and there to instruct them and 
exhort them from day to day, where is the person almost that will 
do it? Many will much rejoice if they have been instruments of 
converting a gentleman, (and they have good cause,) but for the 
common multitude, they look not after them : as if God were a re- 
specter of the persons of the rich, or the souls of all were not alike 
to him. Alas ! these men little consider how long Christ did stoop 
to us ! When the God of glory comes down in flesh, to worms, and 
goeth preaching up and down among them from city to city ! Not 
the silliest woman that he thought too low to confer with. Few 
rich, and noble, and wise, are called. It is the poor that receive 
the glad tidings of the gospel, John iv. and 1 Cor. i. 26. 

9. Lastly ; With some also their ignorance of the duty doth 
hinder them from performing it. Either they know it not to be a 
duty, or at least not to be their duty. Perhaps they have not con- 
sidered much of it, nor been pressed to it by their teachers, as they 
have been to hearing, and praying, and other duties. If this be 
thy case who readest this, that mere ignorance or inconsiderate- 



406 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

ness hath kept thee from it, then 1 am in hope now thou art ac- 
quainted with thy duty, thou wilt set upon it. 

Object. 1. O but, saith one, I am of so weak parts and gifts, that 
I am unable to manage an exhortation, especially to men of strong 
natural parts and understanding. 

Ansiv. First, Set those upon the work who are more able. 
Secondly, Yet do not think that thou art so excused thyself, but 
use faithfully that ability which thou hast, not in teaching those of 
whom thou shouldst learn, but in instructing those who are more 
ignorant than thyself, and in exhorting those who are negligent in 
the things which they do know, If you cannot speak well your- 
self, yet you can tell them what God speaketh in his word. It is 
not the excellency of speech that winneth souls, but the authority 
of God manifested by that speech, and the power of his word in the 
mouth of the instructor. A weak woman may tell what God saith 
in the plain passages of the word, as well as a learned man. If 
you cannot preach to them, yet you can turn to the place in your 
Bible, or at least remember them of it, and say, " Thus it is writ- 
ten." One of mean parts may remember the wisest of their duty 
when they forget it. David received seasonable advice from Abi- 
gail, a woman. When a man's eyes are blinded with passion, or 
the deceits of the world, or the lusts of the flesh, a weak instructor 
may prove very profitable ; for in that case he hath as much need 
to hear of what he knoweth, as of what he doth not know. 

Object. 2. It is my superior that needeth my advice and exhort- 
ation ; and is it fit for me to teach or reprove my betters ? Must 
the wife teach the husband, of whom the Scripture biddeth them 
learn ? Or must the child teach the parents, whose duty it is to 
teach them ? 

Anstv. First, It is fit that husbands should be able to teach their 
wives, and parents to teach their children ; and God expecteth 
they should be so, and therefore commandeth the inferiors to learn^ 
of them. But if they through their own negligence do disable* 
themselves, or through their own wickedness do bring their souls 
into such misery, as that they have the greatest need of advice and 
reproof themselves, and are objects of pity to all that know their 
case ; then it is themselves, and not you, that break God's order, 
by bringing themselves into disability and misery. 

Matter of mere order and manners must be dispensed with in 
cases of flat necessity. Though it were your minister, you must 
teach him in such a case. It is the part of parents to provide for 
their children, and not children for their parents ; and yet if the 
parents fall into want, must not the children relieve them ? It is 
the part of the husband to dispose of the affairs of the family 
and estate J and yet, if he be sick or beside himself, must not the 
wife do it ? The rich should relieve the poor ; but if the rich fall 
into beggary, they must be relieved themselves. It is the work of 
the physician to look to the health of others ; and yet, if he fall 
sick, somebody must help him, and look to him. So must the 
meanest servant admonish his master, and the child his parent, and 



L'liAi'. XIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 407 

the wife her husband, and the people their ministers, in cases of 
necessity. 

Secondly, Yet let me give you these two cautions here. 

1. That you do not pretend necessity when there is none, out of 
a mere desire of teaching. I'here is scarce a more certain dis- 
covery of a proud heart, than to be forwarder and more desirous to 
teach than to learn, especially toward those that are fitter to 
teach us. 

2. And when the necessity of your superiors doth call for your 
advice, yet do it with all possible humility, and modesty, and meek- 
ness. Let them discern your reverence and submission to their 
superiority in the humble manner of your addresses to them. Let 
them perceive that you do it not out of a mere teaching humour, 
or proud self-conceitedness. An elder must be admonished, but not 
rebuked. If a wife should tell her husband of his sin in a masterly, 
railing language ; or if a servant reprove his master, or a child his 
father, 1 Tim. v. 1, in a saucy, disrespectful way; what good 
could be expected from such reproof ? But if they should meekly 
and humbly open to him his sin and danger, and entreat him to 
bear with them in what God commandeth, and his misery re- 
quireth ; and if they could by tears testify their sense of his case ; 
what father, or master, or husband could take this ill ? 

Object. 3. But some may say, This will make us all preachers, 
and cause all to break over the bounds of their callings ; every boy 
and woman then will turn preacher. 

Aitsw. 1. This is not taking a pastoral charge of souls, nor 
making an office or calling of it, as preachers do. 

2. And in the way of our callings, every good Christian is a 
teacher, and hath a charge of his neighbour's soul. Let it be only 
the voice of a Cain to say, " Am I my brother's keeper ?" I would 
have one of these men, that are so loth that private men should 
teach them, to tell me, what if a man fall down in a swoon in the 
streets, though it be your father or superior, would you not take 
him up presently, and use all means you could to recover him ? or 
would you let him lie and die, and say. It is the work of the phy- 
sician, and not mine ; I will not invade the physician's calling. In 
two cases, every man is a physician. First, in case of necessity, 
and when a physician cannot be had. And secondly, in case the 
hurt be so small, that every man can do as well as the physician. 
And in the same two cases, every man must be a teacher. 

Object. 4. Some will further object, to put off this duty, that the 
party is so ignorant, or stupid, or careless, or rooted in sin, and 
hath been so oft exhorted in vain, and there is no hope. 

Answ. How know you when there is no hope ? Cannot God yet 
cure him ? And must it not be by means ? And have not many 
as far gone been cured ? Should not a merciful physician use 
means while there is life ? And is it not inhuman cruelty in you to 
give up your friend to the devil and damnation as hopeless, upon 
mere backwardness to your duty, or upon groundless discourage- 



408 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

ments ? What if you had been so given up yourself when you 
were ignorant ? 

Object. 5. But we must not cast pearls before swine, nor give that 
which is holy to dogs. 

Answ. That is but a favourable dispensation of Christ for your 
own safety. When you are in danger to be torn in pieces, Christ 
would have you forbear; but what is that to you that are in no 
such danger ? As long as they will hear, you have encouragement 
to speak, and may not cast them off as contemptuous swine. 

Object. 6, O, but it is a friend that I have all my dependence 
on, and by telling him of his sin and misery, I may lose his love, 
and so be undone. 

Answ. Sure no man that hath the face of a Christian, will for 
shame own such an objection as this. Yet, I doubt, it oft prevail- 
eth in the heart. Is his love more to be valued than his safety ? 
or thy own benefit by him, than the salvation of his soul ? Or wilt 
thou connive at his damnation, because he is thy friend ? Is that 
thy best requital of his friendship ? Hadst thou rather he should 
burn for ever in hell, than thou shouldst lose his favour, or the 
maintenance thou hast from him ? 

Object. 7. But I hope, though he be not regenerate and holy, 
that he is in no such danger. 

Answ. Nay, then, if thou be one that dost not believe God's 
word, I have no more to say to thee, John iii. ; Heb. xii. 14. I 
told you before that this unbelief was the root of all. 

Sect. XVIII. To conclude this use, that I may prevail with every 
soul that feareth God, to use their utmost diligence to help all 
about them to this blessed rest which they hope for themselves, 
let me entreat you to consider of these following motives : 

1, Consider, Nature teacheth the communicating of good, and 
grace doth especially dispose the soul thereunto ; the neglect, there- 
fore, of this work, is a sin both against nature and grace. He that 
should never seek after God himself, would quickly be concluded 
graceless by all : and is not he as certainly graceless that doth not 
labour for the salvation of others, when we are bound to love our 
neighbour as ourself ? Would you not think that man or woman 
unnatural, that would let their own children or neighbours famish 
in the streets, while they have provision at hand ? And is not he 
more unnatural, that will let his children or neighbours perish 
eternally, and will not open his mouth to save them ? Certainly, 
this is most barbarous cruelty. Pity to the miserable is so natural, 
that we account an unmerciful, cruel man a very monster, to be 
abhorred of all. Many vicious men are too much loved in the 
world, but a cruel man is abhorred of all. Now, that it may ap- 
pear to you what a cruel thing this neglect of souls is, do but con- 
sider of these two things. First, How great a work it is. Secondly, 
And how small a matter it is that thou refusest to do for the accom- 
plishing so great a work. First, It is to save thy brother from 
eternal flames, that he may not there lie roaring in endless, reme- 



Chai'. XI II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 409 

(liloss tonuents. It is to bring him to the everlrt.sting rest, where 
he may live in unconceivable happiness with God. Secondly, And 
what is it that you should do to help him herein!' Why, it is to 
teach him, and persuade him, and lay open to him his sin and his 
duty, his misery and the remedy, till you have made him willing to 
yield to the offers and commands of Christ. And is this so great 
a matter for to do, to the attaining of such a blessed end .'' If God 
had bid you give them all your estates to win them, or lay down 
your lives to save them, sure you would have refused, when you will 
not bestow a little breath to save them ? Is not the soul of a hus- 
band, or wife, or child, or neighbour, worth a few words? It is 
worth this, or it is worth nothing. If they did lie dying in the 
streets, and a few words would save their lives, would not every 
man say, that he were a cruel wretch that would let them perish, 
rather than speak to them ? Even the covetous hypocrite, that 
James reproveth, would give a few words to the poor, and say. Go 
and be warmed, and be clothed. What a barbarous, unmerciful 
wretch, then, art thou, that wilt not vouchsafe a few^ words of se- 
rious, sober admonition, to save the soul of thy neighbour or friend ? 
Cruelty and unmercifulness to men's bodies, is a most damnable 
sin, but to their souls much more, as the soul is of greater worth 
than the body, and as eternity is of greater moment than this short 
time. Alas ! you do not see or feel what case their souls are in, 
when they are in hell, for want of your faithful admonition. Little 
know you what many a soul may now be feeling, who have been 
your neighbours and acquaintance, and died in their sins, on whom 
you never bestowed one hour's sober advice for the preventing of 
their unhappiness. If you did know their misery, you would now 
do more to bring them out of hell. But, alas ! it is too late ; you 
should have done it while they were with you ; it is now too late. 
As one said in reproach of physicians, " That they were the most 
happy men, because all their good deeds and cures w^ere seen above- 
ground to their praise, but all their mistakes and neglects were 
buried out of sight."* So I may say to you. Many a neglect of 
yours to the souls about you, may be now buried w'ith those souls 
in hell, out of your sight and hearing, and therefore now^ it doth not 
much trouble you ; but, alas ! they feel it, though you feel it not. 
May not many a papist rise up in judgment against us, and condemn 
us ? They will give their lands and estates to have so many masses 
said for the souls of their deceased friends, when it is too late, to 
bring them out of a feigned purgatory, and we will not ply them 
with persuasions while w^e may, to save them from real threatened 
condemnation ; though this cheaper means may prove effectual, 
when that dearer way of papists will do no good. Jeremy cried 
out, " My bowels, my bowels, I cannot hold my peace," because of 
a temporal destruction of his people. And do not our bowels yearn ? 
And can we hold our peace at men's eternal destruction ? 

2. Consider, W^hat a rate Christ did value souls at, and what he 
hath done towards the saving of them. He thought them w^orth 
* Nicocles. 



410 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

his blood and sufferings ; and shall not we then think them worth 
the breath of our mouths ? Will you not set in with Christ for so 
good a work ? nor do a little, where he hath done so much ? 

3. Consider, What fit objects of pity they are. It is no small 
misery to be an enemy to God, unpardoned, unsanctified, strangers 
to the church's special privileges, without hope of salvation if they 
so live and die. And, which is yet more, they are dead in these 
their trespasses and miseries, and have not hearts to feel them, or 
to pity themselves. If others do not pity them, they will have no 
pity ; for it is the nature of their disease to make them pitiless to 
their own souls, yea, to make them the most cruel destroyers of 
themselves. 

4. Consider, It was once thy own case. Thou wast once a slave 
of Satan thyself, and confidently didst go in the way to condemna- 
tion. What if thou hadst been let alone in that way, whither hadst 
thou gone, and what had become of thee ? It was God's argument 
to the Israelites to be kind to strangers, because themselves were 
sometimes strangers in Egypt ; so it may persuade you to show 
compassion to them that are strangers to Christ, and to the hopes 
and comforts of the saints, because you were once as strange to 
them yourselves. 

5. Consider, The relation that thou stanclest in towards them. 
It is thy neighbour, thy brother, whom thou art bound to be tender 
of, and to love as thyself. He that loveth not his brother, whom 
he seeth daily, most certainly doth not love God, whom he never 
saw : and doth he love his brother, that will stand by, and see him 
go to hell, and never hinder him ? 1 John iii. 10 ; iv. 20, 21. 

6. Consider, What a deal of guilt this neglect doth lay upon thy 
soul. First, Thou art guilty of the murder and damnation of all 
those souls whom thou dost thus neglect. He that standeth by 
and seeth a man in a pit, and will not pull him out if he can, doth 
drown him. And he that standeth by while thieves rob him, or 
murderers kill him, and will not help him if he can, is accessory to 
the fact. And so he that will silently suifer men to damn their 
souls, or will let Satan and the world deceive them, and not offer 
to help them, will certainly be judged guilty of damning them. 
And is not this a most dreadful consideration ? O sirs, how many 
souls, then, have every one of us been guilty of damning ! What a 
number of our neighbours and acquaintance are dead, in whom we 
discerned no signs of sanctification, and we never did once plainly 
tell them of it, or how to be recovered ! If you had been the cause 
but of burning a man's house through your negligence, or of undo- 
ing him in the world, or of destroying his body, how would it 
trouble you as long as you lived ! If you had but killed a man un- 
advisedly, it would much disquiet you. We have known those that 
have been guilty of murder, that could never sleep quietly after, nor 
have one comfortable day, their own consciences did so vex and 
torment them. Oh, then, what a heart mayst thou have, that hast 
been guilty of murdering such a nmltitude of precious souls ! Re- 
member this when thou lookest thy friend or carnal neighbour in 



CiiAi'. XIU. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 411 

the face, and think with thyself, Can I find in my heart, through 
my silence and negligence, to be guilty of his everlasting burning 
in hell ? Methinks such a thought should even untie the tongue of 
the dumb. 

2. And as you are guilty of their perishing, so are you of every 
sin which in the mean time they do commit. If they were con- 
verted, they would break off their course of sinning ; and if you 
did your duty, you know not but they might be converted. As he 
that is guilty of a man's drunkenness, is guilty of all the sins which 
(hat drunkenness doth cause him to commit; so he that is guilty 
of a man's continuing unregenerate, is also guilty of the sins of 
liis unregeneracy. llow many curses and oaths,' and scorns at 
God's ways, and other sins of most heinous nature, are many of you 
guilty of, that little think of it! You that live godlily, and take 
much pains for your own souls, and seem fearful of sinning, would 
take it ill of one that should tell you, that you are guilty of weekly 
or daily whoredoms, and drunkenness, and swearing, and lying, &c. 
And yet it is too true, even beyond all denial, by your neglect of 
helping those who do commit them.* 

3. You are guilty, also, as of the sin, so of all the dishonour that 
God hath thereby. And how much is that! And how tender 
should a Christian be of the glory of God, the least part whereof 
is to be valued before all our lives ! 

4. You are guilty, also, of all those judgments which those men's 
sins do bring upon the town or country where they live. I know 
you are not such atheists, but you believe it is God that sendeth 
sickness, and famine, and war; and also that it is only sin that 
moveth him to this indignation. What doubt, then, is there, but 
you are the cause of judgments, who do not strive against those 
sins which do cause them ? God hath staid long in patience, to see 
if any would deal plainly with the sinners of the times, and so free 
their own souls from the guilt : but when he seeth that there is al- 
most none, but all become guilty, no wonder then if he lay the 
judgment upon all. We have all seen the drunkards and heard the 
swearers in our streets, and we would not speak to them ; we have 
all lived in the midst of an ignorant, worldly, unholy people, and 
we have not spoke to them with earnestness, plainness, and love ; 
no wonder, then, if God speak in his wrath both to them and us. 
Eli did not commit the sin himself, and yet he speaketh so coldly 
against it, that he also must bear the punishment. Guns and can- 
nons speak against sin in England, because the inhabitants would 
not speak. God pleadeth with us with fire and sword, because we 
would not plead with sinners with our tongues. God locketh up 
the clouds, because we have shut up our mouths. The earth is 
grown as hard as iron to us, because we have hardened our hearts 
against our miserable neighbours. The cries of the poor for bread 
are loud, because our cries against sin have been so low. Sick- 
nesses run apace from house to house, and sweep away the poor, 
unprepared inhabitants, because we swept not out the sin that 

* Qui non vetat pcccare cum potest, jubct. 



412 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Lreedeth them. When you look over the woeful desolations in 
England, how ready are you to cry out on them that were the 
causers of it ! But did you consider how deeply yourselves were 
guilty ? And, as Christ said in another case, " If these should hold 
their peace, the stones would speak," Luke xix. 40 ; so, because 
we held our peace at the ignorance, ungodliness, and wickedness of 
our places, therefore do these plagues and judgments speak. 

7. Consider, What a thing it will be to look upon your poor 
friends eternally in those flames, and to think that your neglect 
was a great cause of it ! and that there was a time when you might 
have done much to prevent it ! If you should there perish with 
them, it would be no small aggravation of your torment : if you be 
in heaven, it would sure be a sad thought, were it possible that any 
sorrow could dwell there, to hear a multitude of poor souls there to 
cry out for ever. Oh ! if you would but have told me plainly of my 
sin and danger, and dealt roundly with me, and set it home, I might 
have escaped all this torment, and been now in rest. Oh ! what a 
sad voice will this be ! 

8. Consider, What a joy it is like to be in heaven to you, to 
meet those there whom you have been a means to bring thither ! 
To see their faces, and join with them for ever in the praises of 
God, whom ye were instruments to bring to the knowledge and 
obedience of Christ ! What it will then be, we know not ; but sure, 
according to our present temper, it would be no small joy. 

9. Consider, How many souls have we drawn into the way of 
damnation, or at least hardened, or settled in it ! And should we 
not now be more diligent to draw men to life ? There is not one of 
us but have had our companions in sin, especially in the days of 
our ignorance and unregeneracy. We have enticed them or en- 
couraged them to sabbath-breaking, drinking, or revellings, or 
dancings and stage-plays, or wantonness and vanities, if not to 
scorn and oppose the godly. We cannot so easily bring them from 
sin again, as we did draw them to it. Many are dead already 
without any change discovered, who were our companions in sin. 
W^e know not how many are and will be in hell that we drew 
thither, and there may curse us in their torments for ever. And 
doth it not beseem us, then, to do as much to save men, as we have 
done to destroy them ; and be merciful to some as we have been 
cruel to others. 

10. Consider, How diligent are all the enemies of these poor 
souls to draw them to hell ! And if nobody be diligent in helping 
them to heaven, what is like to become of them ? The devil is 
tempting them day and night. Their inward lusts are still work- 
ing and withdrawing them. The flesh is still pleading for its de- 
lights and profits. Their old companions are ready to entice them 
to sin, and to disgrace God's ways and people to them, and to con- 
tradict the doctrine of Christ that should save them, and to increase 
their prejudice and dislike of holiness. Seducing teachers are ex- 
ceeding diligent in sowing tares, and in drawing off the unstable 
from the doctrine and way of life : so that when we have done all 



Chai'. XIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 413 

we can, and hope we have won men, what a multitude of hite have, 
after all, been taken in this snare ! And shall a seducer be so un- 
wearied in proselyting poor, ungrounded souls to his fancies; and 
shall not a sound Christian be nmch more unwearied in labouring 
to win men to Christ and life ? 

1 1 . Consider, The neglect of this doth very deeply wound when 
conscience is awaked. When a man comes to die, conscience will 
ask him, What good hast thou done in thy life-time ? The saving 
of souls is the greatest good work ; what hast thou done towards 
this { How many hast thou dealt faithfully with { I have oft ob- 
served that the consciences of <lying men do very much wound 
thorn for this omission. For my own part, to tell you my experience, 
whenever I have been near death, my conscience hath accused me 
more for this than for any sin. It would bring every ignorant, 
profane neighbour to my remembrance, to whom I never made 
known their danger : it would tell me, Thou shouldst have gone to 
them in private, and told them plainly of their desperate danger, 
without bashfulness or daubing, though it had been when thou 
shouldst have eaten or slept, if thou hadst no other time : con- 
science would remember me, how, at such a time, or such a time, I 
was in company with the ignorant, or was riding by the way with a 
wilful sinner, and had a fit opportunity to have dealt with them, 
but did not ; or, at least, did it by halves, and to little purpose. 
The Lord grant I may better obey conscience hereafter while 1 live 
and have time, that it may have less to accuse me of at death ! 

12. Consider, further. It is now a very seasonable time which 
you have for this work. Take it therefore while you have it. 
There are times wherein it is not safe to speak ; it may cost you 
your liberties, or your lives : it is not so now with us. Besides, 
your neighbours will be here with you but a very little while ; they 
will shortly die, and so must you. Speak to them, therefore, while 
you may; set upon them, and give them no rest till you have pre- 
vailed. Do it speedily, for it nmst be now or never. A Roman 
emperor, when he heard of a neighbour dead, he asked, " And 
what did I do for him before he died ?" and it grieved him that a 
man should die near him, and it could not be said that he had 
first done him any good. Methinks you should think of this when 
you hear that any of your neighbours are dead ; but I had far 
rather, while they are alive, you would ask the question : There is 
such and such a neighbour (alas, how many !) that are ignorant 
and ungodly, what have I done, or said, that might have in it any 
likelihood of recovering them ? They will shortly be dead, and 
then it is too late. 

13. Consider, This is a work of greatest charity, and yet such as 
every one of you may perform. If it were to give them monies, 
the poor have it not to give ; if to fight for them, the weak cannot ; 
if it were to suffer, the fearful will say, they cannot : but every one 
hath a tongue to speak to a sinner. The poorest may be thus 
charitable as well as the rich. 



414 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

14. Consider, also, The happy consequences of this work, where 
it is faithfully done. To name some : 

1. You may be instrumental in that blessed work of saving souls, 
a work that Christ came down and died for, a work that the angels 
of God rejoice in ; for, saith the Holy Ghost, " If any of you do 
err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he 
which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a 
soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins," James v. 19, 
20. And how can God more highly honour you, than to make you 
instruments in so great a work ? 

2. Such souls will bless you here and hereafter. They may be 
angry with you at first ; but if your words prevail and succeed, they 
will bless the day that ever they knew you, and bless God that sent 
you to speak to them. 

3. If you succeed, God will have much glory by it ; he will have 
one more to value and accept of his Son, of whom Christ's blood 
hath attained its end ; he w ill have one more to love him, and daily 
worship and fear him, and do him service in his church. 

4. The church also will have gain by it ; there will be one less 
provoker of wrath, and one more to strive with God against sin 
and judgment, and to engage against the sins of the times, and to 
win others by doctrine and example. If thou couldst but convert 
one persecuting Saul, he might become a Paul, and do the church 
more service than ever thou didst thyself. However, the healing 
of sinners is the surest method for preventing or removing of judg- 
ments. 

5. It is the way also to purity and flourishing of the church, and 
to the right erecting and executing the discipline of Christ ; if men 
would but do what they ought with their neighbours in private, 
what a help would it be to the success of the public endeavours of 
the ministry ! And what hope might we have that daily some 
would be added to the church ! And if any be obstinate, yet this 
is the first course that must be taken to reclaim them. Who dare 
separate from them, or excommunicate them, before they have 
been first thoroughly admonished and instructed in private, accord- 
ing to Christ's rule, Matt, xviii. 15, 16? 

6. It bringeth much advantage to yourselves : First, It will in- 
crease your graces, both as it is a course that God will bless, and 
as it is an acting of them in this persuading of others : he that will 
not let you lose a cup of water which is given for him, will not let 
you lose these greater works of charity ; besides, those that have 
practised this duty most conscionably, do find, by experience, that 
they never go on more speedily and prosperously towards heaven 
than when they do most to help others thither with them. It is 
not here as with worldly treasure, the more you give away, the less 
you have ; but here, the more you give, the more you have. The 
setting forth Christ in his fulness to others, will warm your own 
hearts and stir up your love. The opening of the evil and danger 
of sin to others, will increase your hatred of it, and much engage 



Chap. Xm. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .|1.-, 

yourselves against it. Secondly, And it seemeth that it will in- 
crease your glory as well as your grace, both as a duty which God 
will so reward, " for those that convert many to righteousness shall 
shine as the stars for over and ever," Dan. xii. 3 ; xi. 'S3 ; and also 
as we shall there behold them in heaven, and be their associates in 
blessedness, whom God made us here the instruments to convert. 
Thirdly, However, it will give us much peace of conscience, 
whether we succeed or not, to think that we were faithful, and did 
our best to save them, and that we are clear from the blood of all 
men, and their perishing shall not lie upon us. Fourthly, Besides, 
that it is a work that, if it succeed, doth exceedingly rejoice an 
honest heart. He that hath a sense of God's honour, or the least 
affection to the soul of his brother, must needs rejoice nmch at his 
conversion, whosoever be the instrument, l)ut especially when God 
maketh ourselves the means of so blessed a work. If God make 
us the instruments of any temporal good, it is very comfortable, 
but much more of eternal good. There is naturally a rejoicing 
followeth every good work answerable to the degree of its good- 
ness : he that doth most good, hath usually the most happy and 
comfortable life. If men knew the pleasure that there is in doing 
good, they would not seek after their pleasure so much in evil. For 
my own part, it is an unspeakable comfort to me, that God hath 
made me an instrument for the recovering of so many from bodily 
diseases, and saving their natural lives ;* but all this is yet nothing 
to the comfort I have in the success of my labours, in the conver- 
sion and confirmation of souls; it is so great a joy to me that it 
drowneth the painfulncss of my daily duties, and the trouble of my 
daily languishing, and bodily griefs; and maketh all these, with all 
oppositions and difficulties in my work, to be easy and as nothing. 
And of all the personal mercies that ever I received, next to his 
love in Christ and to my soul, I must most joyfully bless him for 
the plenteous success of my endeavours upon others. Oh, what 
fruit, then, might I liave seen, if I had been more faithful, and plied 
the work in private and public as I ought ! I know we have need 
to be very jealous of our deceitfid hearts in this point, lest our re- 
joicing should come from our pride and self-ascribing. Naturally 
we would, every man, be in the place of God, and have the praise 
of every good work ascribed to ourselves, but yet, to imitate our 

* I know many learned physicians speak very sharply against ministers practising 
physic. But with these conditions no wise man disallowelh it : 1. That it hindejr not 
his main employment much. 2. That it be in case of absolute necessity, that the party 
must die else in the eye of reason: as, (I.) When no able physician is within reach. 
(2.) Or cannot, or will not come. (3.) Or the case is sudden, or the party so poor that 
he cannot pay physicians. 3. And if a man, being conscious of his insufficiency, resolves 
not to go beyond his knowledge, but rather to do too little than too much. 4. And if he 
take nothing for what he doth. "Who can blame a man that observes these conditions* 
except he would have a man guilty of murder, and not help a man if he fall down by us, 
because we are no physicians '. Et omnes has ipse conditiones observavi. If physicians 
may be able in divinity, as to their honour many have been—as Curjeus, Vadianus, 
Erastus, Peucerus, Camerarius, Scaliger, Gesner, Siiegkius, Zingerus, &c. — why then 
may not a divine as well understand physic ? And Dr. Primrose (de Errorib. Vulg. c. 
4. lib. i.) might have remembered more divines than Marsil. Ficinus that were phy- 
sicians, as tragus, Ingolsteterus, Lemnius, &c. 



416 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Father in goodness and mercy, and to rejoice in that degree we 
attain to, is the part of every child of God. I tell you therefore, 
to persuade you from my own experience, ihat if you did but know 
what a joyful thing it is to be an instrument for the converting and 
saving of souls, you would set upon it presently, and follow it night 
and day through the greatest discouragements and resistance. 
Fifthly, I might also tell you of the honourableness of this work ; 
but I will pass by that, lest I excite your pride instead of your zeal. 
And thus I have showed you what should move and persuade 
you to this duty. Let me now conclude with a word of entreaty : 
First, To all the godly in general. Secondly, To some above 
others in particular, to set upon the conscionable performance of 
this most excellent work. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AN ADVICE TO SOME MORE SPECIALLY TO HELP OTHERS TO THIS 
REST, PRESSED LARGELY ON MINISTERS AND PARENTS. 

Sect. I. Up, then, every man that hath a tongue, and is a servant 
of Christ, and do something of this your Master's work : why hath 
he given you a tongue but to speak in his service ? And how can 
you serve him more eminently, than in the saving of souls ? He 
that will pronounce you blessed at the last day, and sentence you to 
the kingdom prepared for you, because you fed him, and clothed 
him, and visited him, &c. in his members, will sure pronounce you 
blessed for so great a work as is the bringing over of souls to his 
kingdom, and helping to drive the match betwixt them and him. 
He that saith, " The poor you have always with you," hath left the 
ungodly always with you, that you might still have matter to ex- 
ercise your charity upon. Oh, if you have the hearts of Christians 
or of men in you, let them yearn towards your poor, ignorant, un- 
godly neighbours. Alas ! there is but a step betwixt them and 
death and hell ; many hundred diseases are waiting ready to seize 
on them, and if they die unregenerate, they are lost for ever. Have 
you hearts of rock, that cannot pity men in such a case as this ? If 
you believe not the word of God, and the danger of sinners, why 
are you Christians yourselves ? If you do believe it, why do you 
not bestir you to the helping of others ? Do you not care who is 
damned, so you be saved.' If so, you have as much cause to pity 
yourselves ; for it is a frame of spirit utterly inconsistent with grace. 
Should you not rather say, as the lepers of Samaria, Is it not a day 
of glad tidings, and do we sit still, and hold our peace ? 1 Kings 
vii, 9. Hath God had so much mercy on you, and will you have 
no mercy on your poor neighbours ? You need not go far to find 
objects for your pity. Look but into your streets, or into the next 
house to you, and you will probably find some. Have you never an 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 417 

ignorant and unregenerate neighbour that sets his heart below, and 
neglecteth eternity ( Oh, what blessed place do you live in, where 
there is none such ? If there be not some of them in thine own 
family, it is well ; and yet art thou silent i Dost thou live close by 
them, or meet them in the streets, or labour with them, or travel 
with them, or sit still and talk with them, and say nothing to them 
of their souls, or the life to come { If their houses were on fire, 
thou wouldst run and help them ; and wilt thou not help them when 
their souls are almost at the fire of hell i If thou knewest but a 
remedy for their diseases, thou wouldst tell it them, or else thou 
wouldst judge thyself guilty of their death. Cardan speaks of one 
that had a receipt that would suddenly and certainly dissolve the 
stone in the bladder ; and he concludes of him, that he makes no 
doubt but that man is in hell, because he never revealed it to 
any before he died. What shall we say, then, of them that know 
of the remedy for curing souls, and do not reveal it, nor persuade 
men to make use of it ? Is it not hypocrisy to pray daily for their 
conversion and salvation, and never once endeavour to procure it ? 
And is it not hypocrisy to pray, " that God's name may be hal- 
lowed," and never to endeavour to bring men to hallow it, nor 
hinder them from profaning it ? And can you pray, " Let thy 
kingdom come," and yet never labour for the coming or increase 
of that kingdom ? Is it not grief to your hearts to see the king- 
dom of Satan so to flourish, and to see him lead captive such a mul- 
titude of souls ? You take on you that you are soldiers in Christ's 
army, and will you do nothing against his prevailing enemies ? 
You pray also daily, "that his will may be done ; " and should you 
not daily, then, persuade men to do it, and dissuade them from sin- 
ning against it ? You pray, " that God would forgive them their 
sins, and that he would not lead them into temptation, but deliver 
them from evil ;" and yet will you not help them against tempta- 
tions, nor help to deliver them from the greatest evil; nor help them 
to repent and believe, that they may be forgiven ? Alas ! that your 
prayers and your practice should so much disagree ! Look about 
you, therefore. Christians, with an eye of compassion on the ig- 
norant, ungodly sinners about you ; be not like the priest or Levite 
who saw the man wounded, and passed by. God did not so pass 
by you, when it was your own case. Are not the souls of your 
neighbours fallen into the hands of Satan ? Doth not their misery 
cry out to you. Help ! help ! As you have any compassion towards 
men in the greatest misery, help ! As you have the hearts of men, 
and not of tigers in you, help ! Alas ! how forward are hypocrites 
in their sacrifice, and how backward to show mercy ! How much 
in praying, and duties of worship, and how little in plain reproof and 
exhortation, and other duties of compassion! And yet God hath 
told them, " that he will have mercy, and not sacrifice ;" that is, 
mercy before sacrifice. And how forward are these hypocrites to 
censure ministers for neglecting their duties ! yea, to expect more 
duty from one minister, than ten can perform ! And yet they make 
no conscience of neglecting their own. Nay, how forward are they 
2 E 



418 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part HI. 

to separate from those about them ! And how censorious against 
those that admit them to the Lord's supper, or that join with them ! 
And yet will they not be brought to deal with them in Christ's way 
for their recovery : as if other men were to work, and they only to 
sit by and judge. Because they know it is a work of trouble, and 
will many times set men against them, therefore no persuasion will 
bring them to it. They are like men that see their neighbour sick 
of the plague, or drowning in the water, or taken captive by the 
enemy, and they dare not venture to relieve him themselves ; but 
none so forward to put on others. So are these men the greatest 
expecters of duty, and the least performers. 

Sect. II. But as this duty lieth upon all in general, so upon some 
more especially, according as God hath called or qualified them 
thereto. To them, therefore, more particularly, I will address my 
exhortation, whether they be such as have more opportunity and 
advantages for this work, or such as have better abilities to perform 
it, or such as have both. And these are of several sorts. 

1. All you that God hath given more learning and knowledge to, 
and endued with better parts for utterance than your neighbours, 
God expecteth this duty especially at your hand. The strong are 
made to help the weak, and those that see must direct the blind. 
God looketh for this faithful improvement of your parts and gifts, 
which if you neglect, it were better for you that you never had re- 
ceived them; for they will but further your condemnation, and be as 
useless to your own salvation as they were to others. 

Sect. III. 2. All those that have special familiarity with some 
ungodly men, and that have interest in them, God looks for this duty 
at their hands. Christ himself did eat and drink with publicans 
and sinners, but it was only to be their physician, and not their 
companion. Who knows but God gave you interest in them to this 
end, that you might be means of their recovery ? They that will 
not regard the words of another, will regard a brother, or sister, or 
husband, or wife, or near friend ; besides, that the bond of friend- 
ship doth engage you to more kindness and compassion than 
ordinary. 

Sect. IV. 3. Physicians that are much about dying men, should, 
in a special manner, make conscience of this duty : they have a 
treble advantage. First, They are at hand. Secondly, They are 
with men in sickness and danger, when the ear is more open, and 
the heart less stubborn, than in time of health. He that made a 
scorn of godliness before, will then be of another mind, and hear 
counsel then, if ever he will hear it. Thirdly, Besides, they look 
upon their physician as a man in whose hand is their life, or at least 
may do so much to save them ; and therefore they will the more 
regardfully hear his advice. O, therefore, you that are of this 
honourable profession, do not think this a work beside your calling, 
as if it belonged to none but ministers ; except you think it beside 
your calling to be compassionate, or to be Christians. O, help, 
therefore, to fit your patients for heaven, and whether you see they 
are for life or death, teach them both how to live and to die, and 



CiiAi'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVKULASTING REST. 41»j 

give them some physic for their souls, as you do for their bodies, 
iilessod he God that very many of the chief physicians of this age 
have, by their eminent piety, vindicated their profession from the 
common imputation of atheism and profaneness. 

Sect. V . 4. Another sort that have cxceHent advantages for this 
duty, is, men that have weaUh and autliority, and are of great 
place and command iu the world, especially that have many that 
live in dependence on them. Oh, what a world of good might 
gentlemen, and knights, and lords, do, that have a great many 
tenants, and that are the leaders of the country, if they had hut 
hearts to improve their interest and advantage ! * Little do you 
that are such, think of the duty that lies upon you in this. Have 
you not all your honour and riches from God ! And is it not evi- 
dent, then, that yoli must employ them for the best advantage of 
his service ? Do you not know who hath said, " that to whom men 
commit much, from them they will expect the more ?" 

You have the greatest opportunities to do good of most men in 
the world. Your tenants dare not contradict you, lest you dis- 
possess them or their children of their habitations. They fear you 
more than they do God himself ; your frown will do more with 
them than the threatenings of the Scripture ; they will sooner obey 
you than God. If you speak to them lor God and their souls, you 
may be regarded, when even a minister that they fear not shall be 
despised. If they do but see you favour the way of godliness, they 
will lightly counterfeit it, at least, to please you, especially if they 
live within the reach of your observation. O, therefore, as you 
value the honour of God, your own comfort, and the salvation of 
souls, improve your interest to the utmost for God. Go visit your 
tenants' and neighbours' houses, and see whether they worship 
God in their families, and take all opportunities to press them to 
their duties. Do not despise them because they are poor or sim- 

* "WTiat a horrid tiling is it, that usually none are greater enemies to, and hinderers 
of, Christ's kingdom and work, than those that, 1. By office, and 2. By the greatness of 
their talents of riches, power, and honour, are most deeply engaged to Christ ! Even 
Jehu, that pretended to reformation, and destroyed the worship and priests of Baal, and 
said, " Come and see my zeal for the Lord," and rises up against Ahab for his persecu- 
tion and idolatry ; yet, when the government falls into his hands, persists in the stejis of 
him whom he destroyed, thereby adjudging himself to destruction ; and all because 
when he had espoused the same interest, he thinks himself necessitated to take the same 
course ! Oh how Christ will come upon these hypocrites in his fury, and dasli them in 
pieces like a potter's vessel, and bruise them with his rod of iron, and make them know 
that he will reign in his holy hill, Zion ! Will not kings yet be wise, nor the judges of 
tlie earth be learned ; to kiss the Son lest he be angry, and they perish ? Will they break 
his bonds, and confederate against his government, and be jealous of it and his minis- 
ters, as if Christ's government and theirs could not both stand t How long will they set 
their interest before and against Christ's interest, and bend their studies to keep it un- 
der, and call his government tyranny, and their subjection slavery 1 Do they not know 
how much Christ's interest hath been taken dowTi, upon mere pretended necessity of setting 
up their own 1 Will their religious hypocrisy secure them from his burning wrath, when 
be shall say, " These mine enemies that would not 1 should reign over them, bring them 
hither, and slay them before mel" I entreat them (if they be not past teaching) to 
read what a moderate divine saith, even Junius de Communione Sanct. especially the 
fiftli chapter of his Ecclesiastes, of the power of the magistrate in church affairs. O let 
all christians pray daily, " Lead us not into temptation." I will not trust my brother if 
he be once exalted, and in the way of temptation. 



420 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part. HI. 

pie. Remember, God is no respecter of persons ; your flesh is of 
no Letter metal than theirs ; nor will the worms spare your faces 
or hearts any more than theirs ; nor will your bones or dust bear 
the badge of your gentility : you must be all equals when you stand 
in judgment ; and, therefore, help the soul of a poor man, as well 
as if he were a gentleman. And let men see that you excel others 
as much in piety, heavenliness, compassion, and diligence in God's 
work, as you do in riches and honour in the world. 

I confess you are like to be singular if you take this course ; but 
then remember, you shall be singular in glory, for few great, and 
mighty, and noble, are called. 

Sect. VI. 5. Another sort that have special opportunity to this 
work of helping others to heaven, is, the ministers of the gospel. 
As they have, or should have, more ability than others, so it is the 
very work of their calling, and every one expecteth it at their 
hands, and will better submit to their teaching than to others. I 
intend not these instructions so much to teachers as to others, and 
therefore I shall say but little to them ; and if all or most ministers 
among us were as faithful and diligent as some, I would say no- 
thing. But, because it is otherwise, let me give these two or three 
words of advice to my brethren in this office. 

1. Be sure that the recovering and saving of souls be the main 
end of your studies and preaching, Acts xx. and xxvi. 18. O do 
not propound any low and base ends to yourselves. This is the 
end of your calling, let it be also the end of your endeavours. God 
forbid that you should spend a week's study to please the people, 
or to seek the advancing of your own reputation. Dare you appear 
in the pulpit on such a business, and speak for yourselves, when 
you are sent, and pretend to speak for Christ ? Dare you spend 
that time, and wit, and parts, for yourselves ? and waste the Lord's 
day in seeking applause, which God hath set apart for himself? 
Oh, what a notorious sacrilege is this ! Set out the work of God as 
skilfully and adornedly as you can, but still let the winning of souls 
be your end, and let all your studies and labours be serviceable 
thereto. Let not the window be so painted as to keep out the 
light, but always judge that the best means that most conduceth 
to the end. Do not think that God is best served by a neat, 
starched, laced oration ; but that he is the able, skilful minister, 
that is best skilled in the art of instructing, convincing, persuading, 
and so winning of souls ; and that is the best sermon that is best 
in these. When you once grow otherwise minded, and seek not 
God but yourselves, God will make you the basest and most con- 
temptible of men, as you make yourselves the most sinful and 
wretched. Hath not this brought down the ministry of England 
once already ? It is true of your reputation, as Christ saith of your 
lives, " They that will save them, will lose them," O, let the 
vigour, also, of your persuasions show that you are sensible on how 
weighty a business you are sent. O, preach with that seriousness 
and fervour as men that believe their own doctrine, and that know 
their hearers must either be prevailed with, or be damned. What 



CiiAP. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 421 

you would do to save thcin from everlasting burning, that do while 
you have the opportunity and price in your hand ; that peojile 
may discern that you are in goocl sadness, and mean as you speak; 
and that you are not stage-players, but preachers of the doctrine 
of salvation. Remenibcr what Cicero saith, " that if the matter 
be never so combustible, yet, if you put not fire to it, it will not 
burn." And what Krasnms saith, '' that a hot iron will pierce, 
when a cold one will not." And if the wise men of the world ac- 
count you mad, say as Paul, "If we are beside ourselves, it is to 
God." And remember that Christ was so busy in doing of good, 
that his friends themselves begun to lay hands on him, thinking he 
had been beside himself, Mark iii. 

Sect. VII. 2. The second and chief word of advice that I would 
give you, is this : Do not think that all your work is in your studies, 
and in the pulpit. I confess that is great ; but, alas ! it is but a 
small part of your task. You are shepherds, and must know every 
sheep, and what is their disease, and mark their strayings, and help 
to cure them, and fetch them home. 

If the paucity of ministers in great congregations (which is the 
great unobserved mischief in England that cries for reformation) 
did not make it a thing impossible in many places, I should charge 
the ministers of England with most notorious unfaithfulness, for 
neglecting so much the rest of their work, which calleth for their 
diligence as much as public preaching. O learn of Paul, Acts xx. 
10, 20, 31, to preach publicly, and from house to house, night and 
day with tears. Let there not be a soul in your charge that shall 
not be particularly instructed and watched over. Go from house 
to house daily, and inquire how they grow in knowledge and holi- 
ness, and on what grounds they build their hopes of salvation ; and 
whether they walk uprightly, and perform the duties of their 
several relations, and use the means to increase their abilities. See 
whether they daily worship God in their families ; and set them in 
a way, and teach them how to do it : confer with them about the 
doctrines and practice of religion, and how they receive and profit by 
public teaching, and answer all their carnal objections : keep in 
familiarity with them, that you may maintain your interest in them, 
and improve all your interest for God. See that no seducers do 
creep in amongst them, or if they do, be diligent to countermine 
them ; and preserve your people from infection of heresies and 
schisms ; or if they be infected, be diligent to procure their re- 
covery ; not with passion and lordliness, but with patience and 
condescension : as Musculus did by the Anabaptists, visiting them 
in prison, where the magistrate had cast them, and there instruct- 
ing and relieving them ; and though they reviled him when he 
came, and called him a false prophet, and antichristian seducer that 
thirsted for their blood, yet he would not so leave them, till at last 
by his meekness and love he had overcome them, and recovered 
many to the truth, and to unity with the church. 

Have a watchful eye upon each particular sheep in your flock : 
do not do as the lazy separatists, that gather a few of the best to- 



422 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

gether, and take them only for their charge, leaving the rest to 
sink or swim, and giving them over to the devil and their lusts ; 
and except it be by a sermon in the pulpit, scarce ever endeavour- 
ing their salvation, nor once looking what becomes of them. O let 
it not be so with you ! If any be weak in the faith, receive him, 
hut not to doubtful disputations, Rom. xiv. 1. If any be too care- 
less of their duties, and too little savour the things of the Spirit, 
let them be pitied, and not neglected : if any walk scandalously and 
disorderly, deal with them for their recovery with all diligence and 
patience, and set before them the heincusness and danger of their 
sin; if they prove obstinate after all, then avoid them, and cast 
them off: but do not so cruelly as to unchurch them by hundreds 
and by thousands, and separate from them as so many pagans, and 
that before any such means have been used for their recovery. If 
they be ignorant, it may be your fault as well as theirs ; and, how- 
ever, they are fitter to be instructed than rejected, except they ab- 
solutely refuse to be taught. Christ will give you no thanks for 
keeping or putting out such from his school that are unlearned, 
when their desire or will is to be taught. I confess, it is easier to 
shut out the ignorant, than to bestow our pains night and day in 
teaching them ; but woe to such slothful, unfaithful servants ! Matt. 
xxiv. 4.5, 46, " Who then is a faithful and a wise servant, whom his 
Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them their meat iu 
due season," according to every one's age and capacity ? " Blessed is 
that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing." 
O be not asleep while the wolf is waking ! Let your eye be quick 
in observing the dangers and strayings of your people. If jealousies, 
heart-burnings, or contentions arise among them, quench them be- 
fore they break out into raging, unresistible flames. As soon as 
you discern any to turn worldly, or proud, or factious, or self-con- 
ceited, or disobedient, or cold, and slothful in his duty; delay not, 
but presently make out for his recovery : remember how many are 
losers in the loss of a soul. 

Sect. VIII. 3. Do not daub, or deal slightly with any. Some 
will not tell their people plainly of their sins because they are great 
men, and some because they are godly, as if none but the poor and 
the wicked should plainly be dealt with : do not you so, but re- 
prove them sharply, though differently, and with wisdom, that they 
may be sound in the faith. When the Palsgrave chose Pitiscus for 
his household chaplain, he charged him. That without fear he 
should discharge his duty, and freely admonish him of his faults, 
as the Scriptures do require. Such encouragement from great ones, 
v/ould imbolden ministers, and free themselves from the unhappi- 
ness of sinning unreproved. If gentlemen would give no more 
thanks to Doegs, and accusers of the ministers, than W^igandus's 
prince did to that flattering lawyer who accused him for speaking 
to princes too plainly, they should learn quickly to be silent, when 
they had been forced, as Hamans tliemselves, to clothe Mordecai, 
and set him in honour. However, God doth sufficiently encourage 
us to deal plainly ; He hath bid us speak and fear not ; He hath 



Chai'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 423 

promised to stand by us, and He will be our security ; lie may 
suffer us to be mudhona scchiuIkih did, (as Bucliolcer said,) 
but non secundum esse : He will keep us, as he did Huss's heart 
from the power of fire, though they did beat it, when they 
found it among the ashes. They may burn our bones, as Bucer's 
and Fagius's ; or they may raise lies of us when Ave are dead, 
as of Luther, Calvin, and Gtlcolampadius ; but the soul feeleth 
not this, that is rejoicing with his Lord. In the mean time 
let us be as well learned in the art of suffering (as Xenophon) 
as they are in the art of reproaching : I had rather hear from 
the mouth of Balak, "God hath kept thee from honour;" or 
from Ahab, "Feed him with the bread and water of afiliction;" 
or from Amaziah, " Art thou made of the king's council .' for- 
bear, why shouldst thou be smitten?" than to hear conscience 
say. Thou hast betrayed souls to damnation by thy cowardice 
ancl silence ; or to hear God say. Their blood will I require at 
thy hands ; or to hear from Christ the Judge, " Cast the unprofit- 
able servant into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and gnash- 
ing of teeth;" yea, or to hear these sinners cry out against me in 
eternal fire, and with implacable rage to charge me with their un- 
doing. Numb. xxii. 11; 1 Kings xxii. 27; 2 Chron. xxv. IG; 
Ezek. iii. 18, 20, and xxxiii. 8; Matt. xxv. 30. 

And as you must be plain and serious, so labour to be skilful and 
discreet, that the manner may somewhat answer the excellency of 
the matter. How oft have I heard a stammering tongue, with ri- 
diculous expressions, vain repetitions, tedious circumlocutions, and 
unseemly pronunciation, to spoil most precious spiritual doctrine, 
and make the hearers either loathe it or laugh at it ! How common 
are these extremes in the ministers of England ! That while one 
spoils the food of life by affectation, and new-fashioned mincing, 
and pedantic toys, either setting forth a little and mean matter with 
a great deal of froth and gaudy dressing, so that there is more of 
the shell or paring than of the meat ; or like children's babies, 
that when you have taken away the dressing, you have taken away 
all ; or else hiding excellent truths in a heap of vain rhetoric, and 
deforming its naked beauty with their paintings, so that no more 
seriousness can be perceived in their sermons, than in a school-boy's 
declamations ; and our people are brought to hear sermons, as they 
do stage-plays, because ministers behave themselves but as the 
actors : on the other side, how many by their slovenly dressing, 
and the uncleanness of the dish that it is served up in, do make 
men loathe and nauseate the food of life, and even despise and cast 
up that which should nourish them ! Such novices are admitted 
into the sacred function, to the hardening of the wicked, the sad- 
dening of the godly, and the disgrace and Avrong of the work of 
the Lord ; and those that are not able to speak sense or reason, are 
made the ambassadors of the most high God. 

I know our style must not be the same with different auditories: 
our language must not only be suited to our matter, but also to our 
hearers, or else the best sermon may be the worst ; we must not 



424 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III 

read the highest hooks to the lowest form : therefore was Luther 
wont to say, that Qui pueriliter, ■popidariter, triviaUter, et simpli- 
cisshne doccnt, opthni ad vulf/its sxnf concionatores ; but yet it is a 
poor sermon that hath nothing hut words and noise. Every rea- 
sonable soul hath both judgment and affection ; and every rational, 
spiritual sermon must have both. A discourse that hath judgment 
without affection is dead, and uneffectual ; and that which hath 
affection without judgment is mad and transporting : remember 
the proverb, A^o« omnesqui liabent cUharam,sunt citharcedi, Every 
man is not a musician that hath an instrument, or that can jangle it, 
and make a noise on it: and that other proverb (2 Tim. ii. 15), Jfulti 
sunt qui hoves stimulant, jmuci aratores, Many can prick the oxen, 
but few can plough : so, many preachers can talk loud and earnestly, 
but few can guide their flock aright, or open to them solidly the mys- 
teries of the gospel, and show the true mean between the extremes 
of contrary errors. I know both must be done ; holding the plough 
without driving the oxen doth nothing ; and driving without hold- 
ing maketh mad work, and is worse than nothing : but yet remem- 
ber, that every plough-boy can drive ; but to guide is more diffi- 
cult, and therefore belongeth to the master-workman. The violence 
of the natural motion of the winds can drive on the ship ; but 
there is necessary a rational motion to guide and govern it, or else 
it will quickly be on the rocks or shelves, either broke or sunk, and 
had better lie still in the harbour, at an anchor : the horses that 
have no reason, can set the coach or cart a-going, but if there be 
not some that have reason to guide them, it were better stand still. 
O, therefore, let me bespeak you, my brethren, in the name of the 
Lord, especially those that are more young and weak, that you 
tremble at the greatness of this holy employment, and run not up 
into a pulpit as boldly as into a market-place : study and pray, 
pray and study, till you are become workmen that need not be 
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, that your people may 
not be ashamed, or weary to hear you ; but that besides your clear 
unfolding of the doctrine of the gospel, you may also be masters 
of your people's affections, and may be as potent in your divine 
rhetoric, as Cicero in his human, who, as it is said, while he pleaded 
for Ligarius, Arnia de imperatoris quant univis irati manu excusserit, 
et misero supplici veniam impetrant ; or, as it is said of excellent 
Bucholcer, that he never went up into the pulpit, but he raised in 
men almost what affections he pleased ; so raising the dejected, 
and comforting the afflicted, and strengthening the tempted, that 
though it were two hours before he had done, yet not any, even of 
the common people, were weary of hearing him. Set before your 
eyes such patterns as these, and labour with unwearied diligence to 
be like them. To this end take Demosthenes' counsel, Phis olei 
quam vini ahsumere. It is a work that requireth your most seri- 
ous, searching thoughts. Running, hasty, easy studies, bring forth 
blind births. When you are the most renowned doctors in the 
church of God, alas, how little is it that you know, in comparison 
of all that which you are ignorant of ! Content not yourselves to 



CiiAP. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 42.> 

know wluit is the judgmont of others, as if that were to know the 
truth in its evidence ; give not over your studies when you know 
what the orthodox hokl, and what is the opinion of the most 
esteemed divines : though I think whih^ you are novices, and learn- 
ers yourselves, you may do well to take much upon trust from the 
more judicious ; yet stop not there ; but know, that such faith is 
more borrowed than your own : an implicit faith in matters not 
fundamental, and of great difficulty, is ofttimes commendable, yea, 
and necessary, in your people, who are but scholars ; but in you 
that are masters and teachers, it is a reproach. 

Sect. IX. 4, Be sure that your conversation be teaching as well 
as your doctrine. Do not contradict and refute your own doctrine 
by your practice. Be as forward in a holy and heavenly life, as 
you are in pressing on others to it. Let your discourse be as edi- 
fying and spiritual as you teach them that theirs must be. Go not 
to law with your people, nor quarrel with them, if you can possibly 
avoid it. If they wrong you, forgive them : for evil language give 
them good, and blessing for their cursing. Let go your right 
rather than let go your hopes and advantages for the winning of 
one soul. Suifer any thing rather than the gospel and men's souls 
should suffer. Become all things lawful to all men^ if by any 
means you may win some. Let men see that you use not the 
ministry only for a trade to live by, but that your very hearts are 
wholly set upon the welfare of their souls. Whatsoever meekness, 
humility, condescension, or self-denial, you teach them from the 
gospel, oh ! teach it them also by your undissembled, leading ex- 
ample. This is to be guides, and pilots, and governors of the 
church indeed. Be not like the orators that Diogenes blamed, 
that studied heve cUcere, non hene fncere ; nor like the sign at the 
inn-door, that hangs out in the rain itself, while it shows others 
where they may have shelter and refreshing ; nor like the fencer 
that can offend, but not defend ; as Cicero said of Ca^lius, that he 
was a good right-hand man, but an ill left-hand man. See that 
you be as well able to defend yourselves when you are tempted by 
Satan, or accused by men to be proud, covetous, or negligent, as to 
tell others what they should be. Oh, how many heavenly doc- 
trines are in some people's ears, that never Avere in the preacher's 
heart ! Too true is that of Hilary, Sanctiores sunt anren plehis, 
qiinm corda mcerdotum. Alas, that ever pride, emulation, hypo- 
crisy, or covetousness, should come into a pulpit ! They are hate- 
ful in the shops and street, but more hateful in the church, but in 
the pulpit most of all. What an odious sight is it, to see pride and 
ambition stand up to preach humility; and hypocrisy to preach up 
sincerity ; and an earthly-minded man to preach for a heavenly 
conversation ! Do I need to tell you that are teachers of others, 
that we have but a little while longer to preach, and but a few 
breaths more to breathe, and then we must come down, and be ac- 
countable for our work .' Do I need to tell you that we must die, 
and be judged as well as our people ; or that justice is most severe 
about the sanctuary ; and judgment beginneth at the house of 



426 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart III. 

God ; and revenge is most implacable about the altar ; and jealousy 
hottest about the ark ? Have you not learned these lessons from 
Eli, Korah, Nadab and Abihu, Uzzah, and the Bethshemites, &c. 
though I had said nothing ? Can you forget that even some of our 
tribe shall say at judgment, " Lord, we have taught in thy name," 
(Matt, vii.) who yet must depart with " I know you not '{ " Do you 
learn nothing by the afflictions that now lie upon you ? You see 
what hath been done against the ministry of England : how some 
have been laid hold on by the hand of justice, and some by the 
hand of violence and injustice, and how all are lashed and re- 
proached by the wanton tongues of ignorant, insolent sectaries ; 
neither prelatical, Presbyterian, nor mere Independent, now spared, 
it being the very calling itself that now they set against : how they 
rob the church of her due maintenance, and make no more of it 
than Dionysius did of robbing ^sculapius of his golden beard, 
Quia harhatus erat Jilius, at pater Apollo non ita ; or than the 
same Dionysius did of robbing Jupiter Olympius of the golden 
coat that Hieron. had given, saying, " that a coat of gold was too 
heavy for summer, and too cold for winter, but cloth would be suit- 
able to both ;" or than he did of robbing the images of the vessels 
of gold which they held in their hands, saying, " he did but take 
what they offered, and held forth to him ;" or than the same Dio- 
nysius did of robbing the temple of Proserpina, when afterwards 
his ships had a prosperous wind, Videtis, inquit, quam prospera 
navigatio a diis immortalihus detur sacrilegis : ex hoc colligens aut 
non esse deos, aut illis non esse molesta sacrilegia. Sirs, doth God 
lay all this on the church and ministry for nothing ? Doth not the 
world know what an ignorant, lazy ministry formerly possessed 
many churches in the land ? And how many such are there yet 
remaining ! And those that are better, alas ! how far from what 
we should be, either in knowledge or practice ; and yet how unwill- 
ing are they to learn what they know not ! Even as unwilling as 
their people are to learn of them, if not much more. O, see your 
errors by the glass of your afflictions, and if the words of God will 
not serve the turn, let the tongues of enemies and sectaries show you 
your transgressions. Of whom I may say to you as Erasmus of 
Luther, Deus dedit huic j)ostrem(B (Ptati pi^opter morhorum multitu- 
dinem acrem medicum ; and as the Emperor Charles of the same 
Luther, Si sacrijiculifnigi essent, nullo indigerent Luthero. Yet let 
not any papist catch at this, as if our ministry were unlearned and 
vicious, in comparison of theirs ; the contrary of the common sort is 
well known: and though the Jesuits of late have been so industrious 
and learned, yet I could tell them, out of Erasmus, of some that 
proved heretics must be killed, from Paul's licereticuin hominem de- 
vita, i. e. de vita tolle ; and of Hen. Stephanus' priest of Artois, that 
would prove that it belonged to his parishioners to pave the church, 
and not to him, from Jeremy's paveant illi, not paveam ego. Or 
if these seem partial witnesses, T could tell them what Bellarmine 
saith of the ninth age : Seculo hoc nullum extitit iiidoctius aut in- 
felicius, quo qui mathematicce aut philosophite operam dahat, mag- 



CiiAP. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING UKST. .127 

iuis rithjo pti/ahafur; and as Esponcccus saith, Et Cnccc nosse 
fiitspectttm flier it, llchrnkc propc lueiclictnn. I could tell them 
also what a clergy was found in (jerinany, and in iMigland, at the 
RefoiMuation ; what bavljarous ignorance, beastly uncleanness, and 
nuirders of the children begotten in whoredom, was found among 
them. I could tell them who have been turned from their church by a 
mere journey to Rome ; there seeing the wickedness of their chicfest 
clergy : and what Petrarch, Mantuan, with nmltitudes more, say of 
it : and (if the most horrid nuu-ders were not become virtues with 
them; and did they not think they did God service by killing his 
servants) should mind them of all the burnings in England, and of 
all the unparalli led bloody massacres in Erance, and the Inquisition 
of Spain, w hich tlieir clergy yet manage and promote. If any say, 
that I speak this but upon reports, we have seen no such thing, I 
answer as Pausanias, when he was blamed for dispraising a phy- 
sician that he had never made trial of. Si pcricidnm fecissem neqna- 
qiiam viicrem. If we had fallen into their hands, it had been too 
late to complain : Quia me restifjia terreiit, omnia in adrersiim 
spectanlia, nulla retrorsum. And some taste of the fruits of their 
projects we have lately had in England, by which paw we may suf- 
ficiently conjecture of the lion. So that, as bad as we are, our 
adversaries have little cause to reproach us. 

But yet, brethren, let us impartially judge ourselves; for God 
will shortly judge us impartially. What is it that hath occasioned 
so many novices to invade the ministry, who, being puffed up w'ith 
pride, are fallen into the snare of the devil, 1 Tim. iii. G, and 
bring the work of God into contempt by their ignorance ? Hath 
not the ungodliness and ambition of those that are more learned, by 
bringing learning itself into contempt, been the cause of all this i 
Alas ! who can be so blinded by his charity, as not to see the truth 
of this among us ? How many of the greatest wits have the most 
graceless hearts ! and relish Cicero, Demosthenes, or Aristotle, 
better than David, or Paul, or Christ ; and even loathe those holy 
ways which customarily they preach for : that have no higher ends 
in entering upon the ministry, than gain and preferment ; and 
when the hopes of preferment are taken away, they think it but 
folly to choose such a toilsome and ungrateful work. And thus the 
l)all of reproach is tossed between the well-meaning ignorant, and 
the ungodly learned; and between these two, how miserable is the 
church ! The one cries out of unlearned schismatics ; the other 
cries out of proud, ungodly persecutors ; and say. These are your 
learned men, who study for nothing but for a benefice, or a 
bishopric ; that are as strange to the mysteries of regeneration, 
and a holy life, as any others ! and oh that these reproaches were 
not too true of many ! God hath lessened ministers of late, one 
would think sufficiently, to beware of ambition and secular avoca- 
tions ; but it is hard to hear God speak by the tongue of an enemy, 
or to see and acknowledge his hand where the instrument doth 
miscarry. If English examples have lost their force, as being so 
near your eyes that you cannot see them, remember the end of 



428 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Funicius, that learned chronologer, who might have lived longer 
as a divine, but died as a prince's counsellor, and the distich pro- 
nounced at his death. 

Disce meo exemplo, mandato munere fungi, 
Et fuge ceu pestem t»;i/ ■jroXvirpayfioa-viii]!/. 

And the like fate of Justus Jonas, (J. C. son of that great divine of 
the same name,) the next year, whose last verses were like the former. 

Quid jurat innumeros scire atque evolvere casus, 
Si f;icienda fugis, si fugieiida facis "? 

Study not, therefore, the way of rising, but the way of righteous- 
ness. Honesty will hold out, when honours will deceive you. If 
your hearts be once infected with the fermentation of this swelling 
humour, it will quickly rise up to your brain, and corrupt your in- 
tellectuals, and then you will be of that opinion which your flesh 
thinks to be good, and not that which your judgment thought to 
be true ; and you will fetch your religion from the statute-book, 
and not from the Bible, as the jest went of Agricola, who turned 
from a protestant to an Antinomian ; and being convinced of that 
error, turned papist, into the other extreme ; and Pflugius and 
Sidonius, authors of the Interim ; Chrisma ah eis et oleum pontijt- 
ciiim inter alia defenduntur, ut ipsi discederent unctiores, because 
they obtained bishoprics by it. Oh, what a doleful case is it to 
see so many brave wits, and men of profound learning, to be made 
as useless and hurtful to the church of God by their pride and un- 
godliness, as others are by their pride and ignorance ! Were a 
clear understanding conjoined with a holy heart and heavenly life, 
and were they as skilful in spiritual as human learning, what a 
glory and blessing would they be to the churches ! 

Sect. X. 5. Lastly, Be sure that you study and strive after unity 
and peace. If ever you would promote the kingdom of Christ, 
and your people's salvation, do it in a way of peace and love : public 
wars and private quarrels do usually pretend the reformation of the 
church, the vindicating of the truth, and the welfare of souls ; but 
they as usually prove, in the issue, the greatest means to the over- 
throw of all. 

It is as natural for both wars and private contentions to produce 
errors, schisms, contempt of magistracy, ministry, and ordinances, 
as it is for a dead carrion to breed worms and vermin : believe it 
from one that hath too many years' experience of both in armies 
and garrisons : it is as hard a thing to maintain, even in your 
people, a sound understanding, a tender conscience, a lively, gra- 
cious, heavenly frame of spirit, and an upright life, in a way of war 
and contention, as to keep your candle lighted in the greatest 
storms, or under the waters. 

The like I may say of perverse and fierce disputings about bap- 
tism, and the circumstantials of discipline, or other questions that 
are far from the foundation ; they oftener lose the truth than find it. 

A synod is as likely and lawful a means as any for such decisions ; 
and yet Nazianzen saith, ♦S'e hactenus non vidisse idliiis synodi utilem 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 429 

Jincm, (till in qua res male se habentes, ?ion magis exacerhatee quam 
curat(cj'i(t'rint. 

Witii the vulgar he seems to be the conqueror that hath the last 
word, or at least he that hath the most plausible deportment, the 
most aiTecting tone, the most earnest and conlident expressions, the 
most probable arguments, rather than he that hath the most naked 
demonstrations. He takes with them most, that speaks for the 
opinion which they like and are inclined to, though he speak non- 
sense : and he that is most familiar with them, hath the best op- 
portunities and advantages to prevail, especially he that hath the 
greatest interest in their affections. So that a disputation before 
the vulgar, even of the godly, is as likely a means to corrupt them, 
as to cure them : usually the most erroneous seducers will carry out 
their cause with as good a face, as fluent a tongue, as great con- 
tempt and reproach of their opposers, and as much confidence that 
the truth is on their side, as if it were so indeed. 

Para^us's master taught him that cerfo certius in qualihet minu- 
tiasima panin poriioue, vcre et suhsia^iiialiter integrum corpus CItristi 
esset : item in, apud, cum, sub minutissima vini guttula adesset in- 
teger sanguis dominicus. What confidence was here in a bad cause ! 
And if you depend on the most reverend and best-esteemed teach- 
ers, and suffer the weight of their reputation to turn the scales, you 
may in many things be never the nearer to the truth. How many 
learned, able men have the name and authority of Luther misled in 
the point of con-substantiation ! Ursin was carried away with it 
awhile, till he was turned from it by the reading of Luther's own 
arguments, they were such paralogisms. Yet was it Luther's 
charge to his followers, " that none should call themselves after his 
name, because he died not for them, nor was his doctrine his own." 
The only way, therefore, to the prospering your labours, is, to 
quench all flames of contention, to your power. If you would have 
the waters of verity and piety to be clear, the way is not to stir in 
them, and trouble them, but to let them settle in peace, and run 
down into practice. 

Woe to those ministers who make unnecessary divisions and par- 
ties among the people, that so they may get themselves a name, and 
be cried up by many followers ! And as you should thus study the 
peace and unity of your congregations, so keep out all the occasions 
of division, especially the doctrine of separation, and popular church 
government, the apparent seminary of faction and perpetual con- 
tentions. If once your people be taught that it belongeth to them 
to govern themselves, and those that Scripture calleth their guides 
and rulers, you shall have mad work ! When every one is a go- 
vernor, who are the governed? W'hen the multitude, how unable 
soever, must hear and judge of every cause, both their teachers and 
others, they need no other employment to follow : this will find 
them work enough, as it doth to parliament-men to sit, and hear, 
and speak, and vote. 

Is it not strange that so learned a man as Pet. Ramus should be 
advocate for the multitude's authority in church government ? But 



430 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

that God must use so sharp a cure for those contentions, as that 
bloody French massacre, methinks should make England tremble 
to consider it, lest the same disease here must have the like cure. 
If an army had tried this popular government but one year among 
themselves in their military affairs, and had attempted and managed 
all their designs by the vote of the whole army, I durst have valued 
their judgments the better ever after in this point. 

Woe to the patient that must have a mistaken physician, till he 
be grown skilful by making experiments upon his diseases ! and 
woe to the people that are in such hands, as must learn their skill 
in government from the common calamities only, and from their 
experience of the sufferings of the people ! This kind of know- 
ledge, I confess, is the thoroughest ; but it is pity that so many 
others should pay so dear for it. 

You, therefore, who are the guides of this chariot of Christ, take 
heed of losing the reins, lest all be overthrown. Alas ! poor Eng- 
land, how are thy bowels torn out, because thy inhabitants, yea, 
and guides, run all into extremes, like a drunken man that reeleth 
from side to side, but cannot keep the middle way : nay, they hate 
a man of peace, who runs not out into their extremes. One party 
would pluck up the hedge of government, as if the vineyard could 
not be fruitful, except it lie waste to the pleasure of all the beasts 
of the forest. They are like the pond that should grudge at the 
banks and dam, and thinks it injurious to be thus restrained of its 
liberty, and therefore combine with the winds to raise a tempest, 
and so assault and break down the banks in their rage : and now 
where is that peaceable association of waters ? Methinks the ene- 
mies of government are just in the case, as I remember, when I was 
a boy, our school was in, when we had barred out our master. We 
grudged at our yoke, we longed for our liberty ; because it was not 
given us, we resolved to take it. When we had got out our master, 
and shut fast the doors, we grew bold, and talked to him at our 
pleasure : then no one was master, and every one was our master. 
We spend our time in playing and quarrelling, we treat at last with 
our master about coming in ; but our liberty was so sweet that we 
were loth to leave it, and we had run ourselves so deep in guilt, 
that we durst not trust him, and therefore we resolve to let him in 
no more : but, in the end, when our play-days, which we called 
holidays, were over, we were fain to give an account of our boldness, 
and soundly to be whipped for it, and so to come under the yoke 
again. Lord, if this be the case of England, let us rather be whip- 
ped, and whipped again, than turned out of thy school, and from 
under thy government. 

We feel now how those are mistaken that think the way for the 
church's unity is, to dig up the banks and let all loose, that every 
man in religion may do what he list. 

On the other side, some men, to escape this Scylla, do fall into 
the Cliarybdis of violence and formality. They must have all men 
to walk in fetters, and they must be the makers of them ; and 
ministers must be taught to preach by such gyves as their horses 



CiiM'. XIV. THE SAINTS' KVEllLASTIN(i HEST. 4:il 

arc taught to pace. No man must Lc suflPerecl to come into a pul- 
pit, that thinks not or speaks not as they would have hiui : or, if 
they cannot take away his liberty, they will do what tliey can to 
blast his reputation. Yet if he cannot have the repute of being 
orthodox, it were well if they would leave him the reputation of a 
Christian. 

But having, also, a Christianity of their own making, and proper 
to themselves, they will presently unchristen him, and make him a 
heretic by proclamation ; as if they had so far the power of the 
keys, as to lock up the doors of heaven against him, and wipe out 
his name from the book of life. 

It striketh me sometimes into an amazement with admiration, 
that it shoukl be possible for such mountains of pride to remain in 
the hearts of many godly, reverend ministers ! That they should 
no more be conscious of the weakness of their own understandings, 
but that even in disputable, difHcult things they must be the rule 
by which all others nmst be judged. So that every man's judg- 
ment must be cut meet to the standard of theirs ; and whatsoever 
opinion is either shorter or longer, must be rejected with the scorn 
of a heresy or an error. Wonderful! that "men who have ever 
studied divinity should no more discern the profundities, and diffi- 
culties, and their own incapacities ! More wonderful, that any dis- 
ciple of Christ should be such an enemy to knowledge as to resolve 
they will know no more themselves than is commonly known, nor 
suffer any other to know more. So that when a man hath read 
once what is the opinion of the divines that are in most credit, he 
dare search no further, for fear of being counted a novelist or 
heretic, or lest he bear their curse for adding to, or taking from, 
the common conceits ! So that divinity is become an easier study 
than heretofore. We are already at a vc plus ultra. It seemeth 
vain, when we know the opinion is in credit, to search any further. 
We have then nothing to do but easily to study for popular ser- 
mons : nor is it safe so much as to make them our own, by looking 
into and examining their grounds, lest in so doing we should be 
forced to a dissent : so that scholars may easily be drawn to think 
that it is better to be at a venture of the common belief, which 
may be with ease, than to v/eary and .spend themselves in tedious 
studies, when they are sure, beforehand, of no better reward from 
men than the reputation of heretics, which is the lot of all that go 
out of the common road. So that who will hereafter look after any 
more truth than is known and in credit, except it be some one that 
is so taken with admiration of it as to cast all his reputation 
overboard, rather than make shipwreck of his self-prized merchan- 
dise ; yet most wonderful it is, that any Christian, especially so 
many godly ministers, should arrogate to themselves the high pre- 
rogatives of God, viz. to be the rule and standard of truth !* I know 
they will say that Scripture is the rule ; but when they must be 
the peremptory judges of the sense of that Scripture, so that in the 

* I speak this only of the guilty, and not of any pious and peaceable divine, of whom 
England hath many, but useth them so ill that they show themselves unworthy of them. 



432 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, Part III. 

hardest controversies none must swerve from their sense, upon pain 
of heing hranded with heresy or error, what is this hut to be the 
judges themselves, and Scripture but their servant ? The final, 
full, decisive interpretation of laws, belongeth to none but the law- 
makers themselves ; for who can know another man's meaning be- 
yond his expressions, but himself? 

And it yet increaseth my wonder that these divines have not 
forgotten how constantly our divines, that write against the papists, 
do disclaim any such living, final, decisive judge of controversies, 
but make Scripture the only judge. Oh ! what mischief hath the 
church of Christ suffered by the enlarging of her creed ! While it 
contained but twelve articles, believers were plain, and peaceable, 
and honest : but a Christian now is not the same thing as then ; 
our heads swell so big, like children that have the rickets, that all 
the body fares the worse for it. Every new article that was added 
to the creed, was a new engine to stretch the brains of believers, 
and in the issue to rend out the bowels of the church. 

It never went so well with the church, since it begun, as Eras- 
mus saith of the times of the Nicene council, rem ingeniosam fore 
Christianum esfse, to be a matter of so much wit and cunning to be 
a Christian. Not but that all our wit should be here employed, 
and controversies of difficulty may be debated ; but when the de- 
cision of these must be put into our creed, and a man must be of 
the faith that the church is of, it goes hard. Methinks I could 
read Aquinas, or Scotus, or Bellarmine, with profit, ut pJiiloso- 
phiam et theologiam liheram ; but when I must make them all 
parts of my creed, and subscribe to all they say, or else be no 
catholic, this is hard dealing. I know now we have no Spanish In- 
quisition to fire us from the truth ; but, as Grynaeus was wont to 
say, Pontijici Ronuino Erasmiim ^)///.9 nocuisse jocando, quam 
Luiherinn siomachando ; so some men's reproaches may do more 
than other men's persecutions. 

And it is not the least aggravation of these men's arrogancy, 
that they are most violent in the points that they have least 
studied, or which they are most ignorant in : yea, and that their 
cruel reproaches are usually so incessant, that where they once 
fasten, they scarce ever loose again ; having learned the old lesson, 
" To be sure to accuse boldly, for the scar will remain when the 
wound is healed." Yea, some will not spare the fame of the dead, 
but when their souls have the happiness of saints with God, their 
names must have the stain of heresy with men. More ingenuity 
had Charles the emperor, when the Spanish soldiers would have 
dug up the bones of Luther : Sinite ipsum, inqiiit, quiescere ad 
diem resurrectionis et judicium omnium, Sec. Let him rest, saith 
he, till the resurrection and the final judgment ; if he were a 
heretic he shall have as severe a judge as you can desire. 

These are the extremes which poor England groaneth under; 
and is there no remedy ? Besides the God of peace, there is no 
remedy. Peace is fled from men's principles and judgments, and 
therefore it is a stranger to their affections and practices; no 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. IJ.'i 

wonder then if it be a stranger in tlie land, both in church and 
state. 

If cither of the forementioned extremes be the way to peace, we 
may have it, or else where is the man that seeketh after it ? But 
I remember Luther's oracle, and fear it now to be verified ; Hmc 
pcrdcnf reliijioiion. C'hrisiiantim : 1 . Ohlirio heneficioruDi <tb errtn- 
gelio acceptorum. 2. Secnritas, qn(C jdin pdssiin cl nbiqiie rcynat. 
3. Sapicntia miiHcli, qua vnlt omnia redigcre in ordineni, ct intpi/s 
mediis cccle.sicc pad consiilerc. Three things will destroy the 
Christian religion: Fir.st, Forgetfulness of the benefit we received 
by the gospel. Secondly, Security. Thirdly, The wisdom of the 
world, which will needs reduce all into order, and look to the 
church's peace by ungodly means. 

The zeal of my spirit after peace, hath made me digress here 
further than I intended ; but the sum and scope of all my speech is 
this:* Let every conscionable minister study equally for peace and 
truth, as knowing that they dwell both together in the golden mean, 
and not at such a distance as most hotspurs do imagine ; and let 
them believe that they are like to see no more success of their 
labours, than they are so studious of peace ; and that all wounds 
will let out both blood and spirits ; and both truth and godliness is 
ready to run out at every breach that shall be made among the 
people or themselves ; and that the time for the pastures of profes- 
sion to be green, and for the field of true godliness to grow ripe for 
the harvest, and for the rose of devotion and heavenliness to be 
fragrant and flourish, is not in the blustering, stormy, tempestuous 
winter, but in the calm, delightful summer of peace. 

Oh, what abundance of excellent, hopeful fruits of godliness have 
I seen blown down before they were ripe, by the impetuous winds 
of wars, and other contentions, and so have lain trodden under foot 
by libertinism and sensuality, as meat for swine, who else might 
have been their Master';^ delight ! In a word, I never yet saw the 
work of the gospel go on well in wars, nor the business of men's 
salvation succeed among dissensions ; but if one have in such times 
proved a gainer, multitudes have been losers : the same God is the 
God both of truth and peace ; the same Christ is the Prince of peace, 
and author of salvation; the same word is the gospel of peace and 
salvation : both have the same causes ; both are wrought and car- 
ried on by the same Spirit ; the same persons are the sons of peace 

• I would, therefore, advise all ministers that need my advice, to study less those 
violent writers that care not what they say against their adversaries, so they can dis- 
grace them ; and to read more our solid, moderate, peace-making divines. For, if I 
have any judgment, these are generally the most knowing and judicious, as well as the 
most moderate, such as Davenant, Matth. Martinius, Lud. Crocius, Camero, Lud. 
Capellus, Amiraldus, (yea, and Tcstardus, for all men's hot words,) Pelargus, Paroeus's 
Eirenicon, Conrad. Bergius, our Dr. Preston, Ball, Parker, Bradshaw, Gataker, Mede, 
AVotton, with the like ; not to mention all t^e Eirenicons that the German divines have 
written ; nor Hottonus de Toler. and many others, that have written purposely for paci- 
fication. Oh, what a thing is self-love I If men do want peace in their own con- 
sciences, or in the humours of their bodies, they can quickly feel it, and think therjiselves 
undone till they have peace again ; and yet the want of peace in church and state is no 
trouble to them, but for their own ends and fancies they can delight in divisions. 
2 F 



434 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part 111. 

and salvation, so inseparably do tliey go hand in hand together : 
O therefore let us Le the ministers and helpers of our people's 
peace, as ever we desire to be helpers of their salvation. 

And how impossible is it for ministers to maintain peace among 
their people, if they maintain not peace among themselves ! Oh, 
what a staggering is it to the faith of the weak, when they see their 
teachers and leaders at such odds ! It makes them ready to throw 
away all religion, when they see scarce two or three of the most 
learned and godly divines of one mind, but like the bitterest ene- 
mies, disgracing and vilifying one another, and all because the 
articles of our faith must be so unlimited, voluminous, and almost 
infinite ; so that no man well knows when he may call himself an 
orthodox Christian. When our creed is swelled to the bigness of a 
national confession, one would think that he that subscribeth to 
that confession should be orthodox ; and yet if he jump not just 
with the times in expounding every article of that confession, and 
run not with the stream in every other point that is in question 
among them, though he had subscribed to the whole harmony of 
confessions, he is never the nearer the estimation of orthodox. 
Were we all bound together by a confession or subscription of the 
true fundamentals, and those other points that are next to funda- 
mentals only, and there took up our Christianity and unity, yield- 
ing each other a freedom of differing in smaller or more difficult 
points, or in expressing ourselves in different terms, and so did live 
peaceably and lovingly together notwithstanding such differences, 
as men that all knew the mysteriousness of divinity, and the im- 
perfection of their own understandings, and that here we know but 
in part, and therefore shall most certainly err and differ in part ; 
what a world of mischief might this course prevent ! 

I oft think on the examples of Luther and Melancthon : it was 
not a few things that they differed in, nor such as would now be 
accounted small, besides the imperious harshness of Luther's dis- 
position, as Carolostadius could witness ; and yet how sweetly, and 
peaceably, and lovingly did they live together, without any breach 
or disagreement considerable ! As Mel. Adamus saith of them, 
Et si temporafuerunt ad disi ractiones proclivia, hominumque levitas 
dissidiorum ciqnda, tamen cum alter alterius vltia nosset, nunquam 
inter eos simultas extitit, ex qua animorum alienatio suhsecuta sit ; 
so that their agreement arose not hence, that either was free from 
faults or error, but knowing each other's faults, they did more 
easily bear them. Certainly if every difference in judgment in mat- 
ters of religion should seem intolerable, or make a breach in affec- 
tion, then no two men on earth must live together, or tolerate each 
other, but every man must resolve to live by himself; for no two on 
earth but differ in one thing or other, except such as take all their 
faith upon trust, and explicitly believe nothing at all. God hath 
not made our judgments all of a complexion, any more than our 
faces ; nor our knowledge all of a size, any more than our bodies ; 
and methinks men, that be not resolved to be any thing in religion, 
should be afraid of making the articles of their faith so numerous,- 



Chai'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVEHLASTING REST. 435 

lest they should shortly become heretics themselves, by disagreeing 
from themselves ; and they should be afraid of making too strict 
laws for those that differ in judgment in controvertible points, lest 
they should shortly change their judgments, and so make a rod for 
their own backs ; for how know they, in difficult, disputable cases, 
but within these twelve months themselves may be of another mind, 
except they are resolved never to change, for fear of incurring the 
reproach of novelty and mutability ; and then they were best resolve 
to study no more, nor ever to be wiser. I would we knew just at 
what age a man must receive this principle against changing his 
judgment ; I am afraid lest at last they should teach it their chil- 
dren, and lest many divines do learn it too young : and if any, be- 
sides Christ and his apostles, must be the standard and foundation 
of our faith, I would we could certainly tell who they are ; for I 
have heard yet none but the pope, or his general council, expressly 
lay claim to the prerogative of infallibility ; and I think there are 
few that have appeared more fallible. For my own part, I admire 
the gifts of God in our first reformers, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, 
&c. And I know no man, since the apostles' days, whom I value 
and honour more than Calvin, and whose judgment, in all things, 
one with another, I more esteem and come nearer to; though I may 
speed as Amyraldus, to be thought to defend him but for a defence 
to his own errors ; but yet if I thought we must needs be in all things 
of his mind, and know no more in any one point than he did, I should 
heartily wish that he had lived one fifty years longer, that he might 
have increased and multiplied his knowledge before he died, and 
then succeeding ages might have had leave to have grown wiser, till 
they had attained to know as much as he. Some men can tell what 
to say in point of ceremonies, common prayer, &c. when they are 
pressed with the examples and judgments of our first reformers; 
but in matters of doctrine, they forget their own answers, as if they 
had been perfect here, and not in the other; or as if doctrinals were 
not much fuller of mysteries and difficulties than worship. So far 
am I from speaking all this for the security of myself in my differ- 
ing from others, that if God would dispense with me for my minis- 
terial services, without any loss to his people, I should leap as lightly 
as Bishop Ridley, when he was stripped of his pontificalia, and say 
as Pffidaretus the Laconian, when he was not chosen in numerum 
trecentorum, Gratias haheo fibi, O Deus, quod tot homines me me- 
liores hnic civitati dedisti. 

But I must stop, and again apologize for this tediousness; though 
it be true, as Zeno saith, verbis mult is nan er/et Veritas ; yet respi- 
cieiuium etiam (juibusef/eut Icctores, I conclude not with a Laconism, 
but a Christianism, as hoping my brethren will at least hear their 
Master, " Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another," 
Mark ix. 50 : and Calvin's exposition, which is the sum of all I 
have said, q. d. Danda est robis opera, non tan turn ut salsi intiis 
sit is, sed etiavi iit saliatis alios : quia tamen sal acrimonia sua 
mordet, ideo statim admonet, sic temperandam esse condituram, iit 
pax interim salva manent. And with R. Meldenius Paraen. fol. f. 2. 
2 F 2 



436 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

Verho dicam : si nos servaremus in necessariis vnitatem, in non ne- 
cessariis Uhertatem, in titrisque charitatetn ; opiimocerte loco essent 
res nostras: itajiat. Amen. Inquit Conr. Bergius haec recitans. 

Sect. XI. 6. The last whom I would persuade to this great work 
of helping others to the heavenly rest, is, parents, and masters of 
families : All you that God hath intrusted with children or servants, 
O consider what duty lieth on you for the furthering of their salva- 
tion. That this exhortation may be the more effectual with you, I 
will lay down these several considerations for you seriously to 
think on. 

1. What plain and pressing conmiands of God are there that re- 
quire this great duty at your hand ! " And these words which I 
command thee this day shall he in thy heart ; and thou shalt teach 
them diligently to thy children, speaking of them when thou sittest 
in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou 
liest down, and when thou risest up," Deut. vi. 6 — 8. So Deut xi. 
And how well is God pleased with this in Abraham ! " Shall I 
hide from Abraham that thing which I do ? For I know him, that 
he will command his children, and his household after him, that they 
shall keep the way of the Lord," &c. Gen. xviii. 19. And it is 
Joshua's resolution, " that he and his household will serve the Lord." 
" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he 
will not depart from it," Prov. xxii. (3. " Bring up your children 
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," Eph. vi. 4. Many the 
like precepts, especially in the book of Proverbs, you may find : so 
that you see it is a work that the Lord of heaven and earth hath 
laid upon you, and how then dare you neglect it, and cast it off ? 

2. It is a duty that you owe your children in point of justice ; from 
you they received the defilement and misery of their natures, and 
therefore you owe them all possible help for their recovery. If you 
had but hurt a stranger, yea, though against your will, you would 
think it your duty to help to cure him. 

3. Consider, How near your children are to you, and then you 
will perceive that from this natural relation also they have interest in 
your utmost help. Your children are, as it were, parts of your- 
selves ; if they prosper when you are dead, you take it almost as if 
you lived and prospered in them. If you labour never so much, you 
think it not ill bestowed, nor your buildings or purchases too dear, 
so that they may enjoy them when you are dead; and should you 
not be of the same mind for their everlasting rest ? 

4. You will else be witnesses against your own souls ; your great 
care, and pains, and cost for their bodies, will condemn you for your 
neglect of their precious souls. You can spend yourselves in toiling 
and caring for their bodies, and even neglect your own souls, and 
venture them sometimes upon unwarrantable courses, and all to pro- 
vide for your posterity ; and have you not as much reason to provide 
for their souls ? Do you not believe that your children must be ever- 
lastingly happy or miserable when this life is ended ? and should 
not that be forethought in the first place ? 

5. Yea, all the very brute creatures may condemn you : which 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, 437 

of them is not tender of their young ? How long will the hen sit to 
hatch her chickens ; and how busily scrape for them ; and how 
carefully shelter and defend them ! and so will even the most vile 
and venomous serpent ; and will you be more unnatural and hard- 
hearted than all these ? Will you suffer your children to be ungodly 
and profane, and run on in the undoubted way to damnation, and 
let them alone to destroy themselves without control .' 

(). Consider, Ciod hath made your children to be your charge ; 
yea, and your servants too. I'A'ery one will confess they are the 
minister's charge, and what a dreadful thing it is for them to neg- 
lect them, when God hath told them, that if they tell not the 
wicked of their sin and danger, their blood shall be required at 
that minister's hands ; and is not your charge as great and as 
dreadful as theirs ? Have not you a greater charge of your own 
families than any minister hath i Yea, doubtless, and your duty it 
is to teach, and admonish, and reprove them, and watch over them, 
and at your hands else God will require the blood of their souls. 
Tiie greatest charge it is that ever you were intrusted with, and 
woe to you if you prove unfaithful, and betray your trust, and suffer 
them to be ignorant for want of your teaching, or wicked for want 
of your admonition or correction! Oh, sad account, that many 
parents will make ! 

7. Look into the dispositions and lives of your children, and see 
what a work there is for you to do. First, It is not one sin that 
you must help them against, but thousands ; their name is Legion, 
for they are many. It is not one weed that must be pulled up, but 
the field is overspread with them. Secondly, And how hard is it 
to prevail against any one of them ! They are hereditary diseases, 
bred in their natures : Natnram expcUas /urea, &c. They are as 
near them as the very heart ; and how tenacious are all things of 
that which is natural ! How hard to teach a hare not to be fearful ; 
or a lion or tiger not to be fierce ! Besides, the things you must 
teach them are quite above them ; yea, and clean contrary to the 
interest and desires of their flesh : how hard is it to teach a man 
to be willing to be poor, and despised, and destroyed here for 
Christ ; to deny themselves, and displease the flesh ; to forgive an 
enemy ; to love those that hate us ; to watch against temptations ; 
to avoid occasions and appearance of evil ; to believe in a crucified 
Saviour ; to rejoice in tribulation ; to trust upon a bare word of 
promise, and let go all in hand, if called to it, for something in 
hope that they never saw, nor ever spake with man that did see ; 
to make God their chief delight and love, and to have their hearts 
in heaven, while they live on earth ! I think none of this is easy ; 
they that think otherwise, let them try and judge : yet all this must 
be learned, or tht^y are undone for ever. If you help them not to 
some trade, they cannot live in the world ; but if they be destitute 
of these things, they shall not live in heaven. If the mariner be 
not skilful, he may be drowned; and if the soldier be not skilful, 
he may be slain ; but they that cannot do the things above men- 
tioned, will perish for ever, " for without holiness none shall see 



438 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

God," Heb. xii. 14. Oh that the Lord would make all you that 
are parents sensible what a work and charge doth lie upon you ! 
You that neglect this important work, and talk to your families of 
nothing but the world, 1 tell you the blood of souls lies on you ; 
make as light of it as you will, if you repent not, and amend, the 
Lord will shortly call you to an account for your guiltiness of your 
children's everlasting undoing ; and then you that could find in 
your hearts to neglect the souls of your own children, will be judged 
more barbarous than the Irish or Turks, that kill the children of 
others. 

8. Consider, also, What a world of sorrows do you prepare for 
yourselves, by the neglect of your children. 

First, You can expect no other but that they should be thorns 
in your very eyes, and you may thank yourselves if they prove so, 
seeing they are thorns of your own planting. 

Secondly, If you should repent of this your negligence, and be 
saved yourselves, yet is it nothing to you to think of the damnation 
of your children ? You know God hath said, " that except they be 
born again, they shall not enter into the kingdom of God." Me- 
thinks, then, it should be a heart-breaking to all you that have un- 
regenerate children ; methinks you should weep over them every 
time you look them in the face, to remember that they are in the 
way to eternal fire. Some people would lament the fate of their 
children, if but a wizard should foretell them some ill fortune to 
befall them ; and do you not regard it when the living God shall 
tell you, " that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all they 
that forget God ? " Psal. ix. 17. 

Thirdly, Yet all this were not so doleful to you, if it were a thing 
that you had no hand in, or could do nothing to help ; but to think 
that all this is much long of you ! that ever your negligence should 
bring your child to these everlasting torments, which the very 
damned man (Luke xvi.) would have had his brethren been warned 
to escape. If this seem light to thee, thou hast the heart of a 
hellish fiend in thee, and not of a man. 

Fourthly, But yet worse than all this will it prove to you if you 
die in this sin, for then you shall be miserable as well as they. : 
and, oh, what a greeting will there be then between ungodly parents 
and children ! What a hearing will it be to your tormented souls, 
to hear your children cry out against you : All this that we suffer 
was long of you ; you should have taught us better, and did not ; 
you should have restrained us from sin, and corrected u's, but you 
did not : and what an addition will such outcries be to your misery! 

9. On the other side, do but think with yourselves, what a world 
of comfort you may have if you be faithful in this duty. First, 
If you should not succeed, yet you have freed your own souls ; 
and though it be sad, yet not so sad, for you may have peace in 
your own consciences. Secondly, But if you do succeed, the com- 
fort is unexpressible. For, 1 . Godly children will be truly loving 
to yourselves that are their parents ; when a little riches, or matters 
of this world, will oft make ungodly children to cast off their very 



Chaf. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 439 

luitural affection. 2. Godly children will be most obedient to you; 
they dare not disobey and provoke you, because of the command 
of (lod, except you should command them that which is unlawful, 
and then they must obey God rather than men. 3. And if you 
should fall into want, they would b<^ most faithful in relieving you, 
as knowing they are tied by a double bond, of nature and of grace. 
4. And they will also be helpers to your souls, and to your spiritual 
comforts; they will be delighting you with the mention of heaven, 
and with holy conference and actions ; when wicked children will 
be grieving you with cursing, and swearing, or drunkenness, or dis- 
obedience. 5. Yea, when you are in trouble, or sickness, and at 
death, your godly children will be at hand to advise and to support 
you ; they will strive with God in prayers for you. Oh, what a 
comfort is it to a parent to have a child that hath the spirit of 
prayer and interest in God ! how much good may they do you by 
their importunity with God ! And what a sadness is it to have 
children, that when you lie sick, can do no more but ask you how you 
do, and look on you in your misery ! 6. Yea, all your family may 
fare the better for one child or servant that feareth God; yea, per- 
haps all the town where he liveth ; as Joseph's case proveth, and 
Jacob's, and many the like ; when one wicked child may bring a 
judgment on your house. 7. And if God make you instruments 
of your children's conversion, you will have a share in all the good 
that they do through their lives ; all the good they do to their 
brethren, or to the church of God, and all the honour they bring 
to God, will redound to your happiness as having been instruments 
of it. 8. And what a comfort may it be to you all your lives, to 
think that you shall live with them for ever with God ! 9. I3ut 
the greatest joy will be when you come to the possession of this, 
and you shall say. Here am I, and the children thou hast given 
me. And are not all these comforts enough to persuade you to 
this duty ? 

10. Consider, further, that the very welfare of church and state 
lietli mainly on this duty of well educating children ; and without 
this, all other means are like to be far less successful. I seriously 
profess to you, that I verily think all the sins and miseries of the 
land may acknowledge this sin for their great nurse and propagator. 
Oh, what happy churches might we have, if parents did their duties 
to their children ! Then we need not exclude so many for ignor- 
ance or scandal, nor have our churches composed of members so 
rude. Then might we spare most of the quarrels about discipline, 
reformation, toleration, and separation : any reasonable government 
would do better with a well-taught people, than the best will do 
with the ungodly. It is not good laws and orders that will reform 
us, if the men be not good, and reformation begin not at home ; 
when children go wicked from the hands of their parents : thence 
some come such to the universities, and so we come to have an un- 
godly ministry ; and in every profession they bring this fruit of 
their education with them. When gentlemen teach their children 
only to hunt, and hawk, and game, and deride the godly, what 



440 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part Ilf. 

magistrates, and what parliaments, and so what government, and 
what a commonwealth, are we like to have, when all must be 
guided by such as these ! Some perverse, inconsiderate persons lay 
the blame of all this on the ministers, that people of all sorts are 
so ignorant and profane ; as if one man can do the work of many 
hundreds. 1 beseech you that are masters and parents, do your 
own duties, and free ministers from these unjust aspersions, and the 
church from her reproach and confusion. Have not ministers work 
enough of their own to do ? Oh that you knew what it is that 
lieth on them ! And if, besides this, you will cast upon them the 
work of every master and parent in the parish, it is like, indeed, 
to be well done. How many sorts of workmen must there be to 
the building of a house ! And if all of them should cast it upon 
one, and themselves do nothing, you may judge how much were 
like to be done. If there be three or four schoolmasters in a 
school, amongst three or four hundred scholars, and all the lower 
that should fit them for the higher schools, should do nothing at all 
but send all these scholars to the highest schoolmaster as ignorant 
as they received them, would not his life be a burden to him, and 
all the w^ork be frustrated and spoiled i Why, so it is here. The 
first work towards the reforming and making happy of church and 
commonwealth, lies in the good education of your children ; the 
most of this is your work ; and if this be left undone, and then they 
come to ministers raw and ignorant, and hardened in their sins, 
alas ! what can a minister do ? Whereas, if they came trained up 
in the principles of religion, and the practice of godliness, and were 
taught the fear of God in their youth, oh what an encouragement 
would it be to ministers ! and how would the work go on in our 
hands ! I tell you seriously, this is the cause of all our miseries 
and unreformedness in church and state, even the want of a holy 
education of children. Many lay the blame on this neglect and 
that, but there is none hath so great a hand in it as this. What a 
school must there needs be where all are brought raw, as I said, to 
the highest form ! What a house must there needs be built, when 
clay is bi'ought to the mason's hands instead of bricks ! What a 
commonwealth may be expected if all the constables and justices 
should do nothing, but cast all upon king and parliament ! And 
so, what a church may we expect, when all the parents and masters 
in the parish shall cast all their duty on their ministers ! Alas ! 
how long may we catechise them, and preach to them, before we 
can get them to understand the very principles of the faith ! This, 
this is the cause of our church's deformities, and this is the cause 
of the present difficulty of reformation. It is in vain to contend 
about orders and discipline if the persons that live under it be not 
prepared. Perhaps you will say. The apostles had not their hearers 
thus prepared to their hands. Is not the word the first means of 
conversion ? 

Answ. 1. The apostles preached to none at first but infidels and 
pagans. And are you no better ? Will you do no more for your 
children than they ? 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 441 

2. All the success of their labours was to gather here and there 
a church from among the world of unbelievers. But now, the 
kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and 
his Christ. 

3. And yet the apostles were extraordinarily qualified for the 
work, and seconded it by miracles for the convincing of their 
hearers. 

4. I do verily believe that if parents did their duty as they ought, 
the word publicly preached would not be the ordinary means of re- 
generation in the church, but only without the church, among in- 
fidels. Not that I believe Doctor Burgess and Mr. Bedford's doc- 
trine of baptismal regeneration. But God would pour out his grace 
upon the children of his people, and hear prayers for them, and 
bless such endeavours for their holy education, that we should see 
the promises made good to our seed ; and the unthankful Anabap- 
tists, that will not confess that the children of the saints are any 
nearer God, or more beholden to him, than pagans, so much as for 
the favour to be visible church members, should, by sweet experi- 
ence, be convinced of their error, and be taught better how to un- 
derstand that our children are holy, 

11. I entreat you that are parents, also to consider what excellent 
advantages you have above all others for the saving of your children. 

1 . They are under your hands while they are young, and tender, 
and flexible ; but they come to ministers when they are grown elder, 
and stilFer, and settled in their ways, and think themselves too good 
to be catechised, and too old to be taught. You have a twig to 
bend, and we an oak. You have the young plants of sin to pluck 
up, and we the deep-rooted vices. The consciences of children are 
not so seared with a custom of sinning and long resisting grace, as 
others. You have the soft and tender earth to plough in, and we 
have the hard and stony ways, that have been trodden on by many 
years' practice of evil. When they are young, their understandings 
are like a sheet of white paper, that hath nothing wn-itten on, and 
so you have opportunity to write what you will. But when they 
are grown up in sin, they are like the same paper written over with 
falsehoods, which must all be blotted out again, and truth written 
in the place. And how hard is that ! We have a double task ; 
first to unteach them, and then to teach them better ; but you have 
but one. We must unteach them all that the world, and flesh, and 
wicked company, and the devil, have been diligently teaching them 
in many years' time. We have hardened hearts to beat on, like a 
smith's anvil, that will not feel us ; we may tell them of death and 
judgment, heaven and hell, and they hear us as if they were asleep 
or dead : you have the soft clay to mould, and we have the hardened 
burned bricks. You have them before they are possessed with pre- 
judice and false conceits against the truth, but we have them to 
teach w'hcn they have many years lived among those that have 
scorned at godliness, and taught them to think God's ways to be 
foolish preciseness. Custom hath not insnared and engaged our 
little ones to contrary ways, but of old sinners, the Lord himself 



442 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

hath said, " that if the Ethiopian can change his skin, and the 
leopard his spots, then may those that are accustomed to do evil, 
learn to do well," Jer. xiii. 23. Doth not the experience of all the 
world show you the power of education ? What else makes all the 
children of the Jews to be Jews ; and all the children of the Turks 
to he Mahometans ; and of Christians to he in profession Chris- 
tians ; and of each sect or party in religion to follow their parents, 
and the custom of the place ? Why now, what an advantage have 
you to use all this for the furtherance of their happiness, and possess 
them as strongly beforehand against sin, as else Satan would do for 
it ; and so Satan should come to them upon some of those disad- 
vantages that now Christ comes on. 

2. Considei-, also, that you have the affections of your children 
more than any others. None in the world hath that interest in 
their hearts as you. You will receive that counsel from an un- 
doubted friend, that you would not do from an enemy, or a stranger. 
W' hy now, your children cannot choose but know that you are their 
friends, and advise them in love ; and they cannot choose but love 
you again. Their love is loose and arbitrary to others, but to you 
it is determinate and fast. Nature hath almost necessitated them 
to love you. O, therefore, improve this your interest in them for 
their good. 

3. You have also the greatest authority over them. You may 
command them, and they dare not disobey you ; or else it is your 
own fault, for the most part, for you can make them obey you in 
your business in the world ; yea, you may correct them to enforce 
obedience. Your authority also is the most unquestioned authority 
in the world. The authority of kings and parliaments has been 
disputed, but yours is past dispute. And therefore, if you use it 
not to constrain them to the works of God, you are without excuse. 

4. J3esides, their whole dependence is on you for their mainte- 
nance and livelihood. They know you can either give them or 
deny them what you have, and so punish and reward them at your 
pleasure. But on ministers or neighbours they have no such de- 
pendence. 

5. Moreover, you that are parents know the temper and inclina- 
tions of your children, what vices they are most inclined to, and 
what instruction or reproof they most need ; but ministers that live 
more strange to them, cannot know this. 

6. Above all, you are ever with them, and so have opportunity as 
to know their faults, so fo apply the remedy. You may be still 
talking to them of the word of God, and minding them of their 
state and duty, and may follow and set home every word of advice, 
as they are in the house with you, or in the shop, or in the field at 
work. Oh, what an excellent advantage is this, if God do but give 
you hearts to use it ! Especially you, mothers, remember this ; 
you are more with your children while they are little ones than their 
fathers, be you therefore , still teaching them as soon as ever they 
are capable of learning. You cannot do God such eminent service 
yourselves as men, but you may train up children that may do it. 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 443 

and then you will have part of the comfort and honour. Bathsheba 
liad part of the honour of Solomon's wisdom, l-*rov. xxxi. 1, for 
she tauj^ht him ; and Timothy's mother and grandmother, of his 
piety. Plutarch speaks of a Spartan woman, that when lier neigh- 
bours were showing their apparel and jewels, she brought out her 
children virtuous and w(>ll taught, and said, " These are my orna- 
ments and jewels." Oh, how much more will this adorn you than 
your bravery ! What a deal of pains you are at with the i)odies of 
your children more than the fathers, and what do you suffer to 
bring them into the world ! and will not you be at as nmch pains 
for the saving their souls .** You are naturally of more tender affec- 
tions than men; and will it not move you to think that your 
children should perish for ever ? O, therefore, I beseech you, for 
the sake of the children of your bowels, teach them, admonish 
them, watch over them, and give them no rest till you have brought 
them over to Christ. 

And thus I have showed you reason enough to make you diligent 
in teaching your children, if reason will serve, as methinks among 
reasonable creatures it should do. 

Sect. XII. Let us next hear what is usually objected against this 
by negligent men. 

Object. 1. We do not see but those children prove as bad as 
others that are taught the Scriptures, and brought up so holily ; 
and those prove as honest men and good neighbours, that have none 
of this ado with them. 

Ansic. O, who art thou, man, that disputest against God ? Hath 
God charged you to teach your children diligently his word, speak- 
ing of it as yqjj sit at home, and as you walk abroad, as you lie 
down, and as you rise up, Deut. vi. G — 8, and dare you reply 
that it is as good let it alone ? Why, this is to set God at de- 
fiance, and, as it were, to spit in his face, and give him the lie. 
AVill you take it well at your servants, if, when you command them 
to do a thing, they should return you such an answer that they do 
not see but it were as good let alone .'' Wretched worm ! darest 
thou thus lift up thy head against the Lord that made thee, and 
must judge thee .^ Is it not he that commandeth thee ? If thou 
dost not believe that this Scripture is the word of God, thou dost 
not believe in Jesus Christ ; for thou hast nothing else to tell thee 
that there is a Christ. And if thou do believe that this is his 
word, how darest thou say, It is as good disobey it ? This is devil- 
ish pride indeed when such sottish, sinful dust shall think them- 
selves wiser than the living God, and take upon them to reprove 
and cancel his word. 

2. But, alas ! you know not what honesty is when you say that 
the ignorant are as honest as others. You think those are the 
honestest men that best please you, but I know those are the most 
honest that best please God. Christ saith, in Luke viii. 15, that 
an honest heart is that which keepeth the word of God; and you 
say, they are as honest that reject it. God made men to please 
himself, and not to please you ; and you may know by his laws who 



444 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

please him best. The commandments have two tables, and the 
lirst is, " Thoii shalt love the Lord with all thy heart ;" and the 
second, " Thou shait love thy neighbour as thyself." First seek 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Matt. vi. 33. 

3. And what if some prove naught that are well brought up ? it 
is not the generality of them. Will you say that Noah's family 
was no better than the drowned world, because there was one Ham 
in it ; nor David's, because there was one Absalom ; nor Christ's, 
because there was one Judas ? 

4. But what if it were so : have men need of the less teaching, 
or the more ? You have more wit in the matters of this world. 
You will not say, I see many labour hard, and yet are poor, there- 
fore it is as good never labour at all. You will not say, Many that 
go to school learn nothing, and therefore they may learn as much 
though they never go : or many that are great tradesmen break, 
and therefore it is as good never trade at all : or many great eaters 
are as lean as others, and many sick men recover no strength though 
they eat, and therefore it is as good for men never to eat more : or 
many plough and sow, and have nothing come up, and therefore it 
is as good never to plough more. What a fool were he that should 
reason thus ! And is not he a thousand times worse that shall 
reason thus for men's souls ? Peter reasons the clean contrary 
way, " If the righteous be scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly 
and the sinner appear ? " 1 Pet. iv. 18. And so doth Christ, 
" Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many shall seek to enter, 
and not be able," Luke xiii. 24. Other men's miscarriages should 
quicken our diligence, and not make us cast away all. What would 
you think of that man that should look over into^is neighbour's 
garden, and because he sees here and there a nettle or weed among 
much better stuff, should say, Why you may see these men that 
bestow so much pains in digging and weeding, have weeds in their 
garden as well as I that do nothing, and therefore who would be at 
so much pains ? Just thus doth the mad world talk ; You may see 
now that those that pray, and read, and follow sermons, have their 
faults as well as we, and have wicked persons among them as well 
as we. Yea, but that is not the whole garden, as yours is ; it is 
but here and there a weed, and as soon as they spy it, they pluck it 
up, and cast it away. 

But, however, if such men be as wicked as you imagine, can you 
for shame lay the fault upon the Scripture, or ordinances of God ? 
Do they find any thing in the Scriptures to encourage them to sin? 
You may far better say. It is long of the judge and the law which 
hangs them, that there are so many thieves. Did you ever read a 
word for sin in the Scripture ; or ever hear a minister or godly man 
persuade people to sin, or from it rather ? I speak not of sectaries, 
who usually grow to be enemies to Scripture. Lord, what horrible 
impudence is in the faces of ungodly men I when a minister hath 
spent himself in studying and persuading his people from sin, or 
when parents have done all they can to reform their children, yet 
people will say. It is long of this that they are so bad. What ! will 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING KKST. 44.O 

reproving and correcting for sin bring them soonest to it ? I dare 
challenge any man breathing, to name any one ruler that ever was 
in the world, that was so severe against sin as Jrsus Christ ; or to 
show me any law that ever was made in the world so severe against 
sin as the laws of God. And yet it nmst be long of Christ and 
Scripture that men are evil ! When he threateneth damnation 
against impenitent sinners, is it yet long of him .' Yea, see how these 
wicked men contradict themselves. \Vhat is it that they hate the 
Scripture for, but that it is so strict and precise, and forbids them 
their pleasures and fleshly liberties, that is, their sins ? And yet if 
any fall into sin, they will blame the Scripture, that forbids it. I 
know in these late years of licentiousness and apostasy, many that 
talk much of religion, prove guilty of grievous crimes, but then they 
turn away so far from Christ and Scripture. As bad as the godly 
are, I dare yet challenge you to show me any society under heaven 
like them that most study and delight in the Scriptures ; or any 
school, like the scholars of Christ. Because parents cannot, by all 
their diligence, get their children to be as good as they should be, 
shall they therefore leave them to be as bad as they will { Because 
they cannot get them to be perfect saints, shall they therefore leave 
them to be as incarnate devils ? Certainly, your children untaught 
will be little better. 

Sect. XIII. Ohject. 2. Some will further object, and say. It is 
the work of ministers to teach both us and our children, and there- 
fore we may be excused. 

Answ. 1. It is first your duty, and then the ministers' ; it will be 
no excuse for you, because it is their work, except you could prove 
it were only theirs. Magistrates must govern both you and your 
children : doth it therefore follow that you must not govern them ? 
It belongs to the schoolmaster to correct them, and doth it not be- 
long also to you .'' There must go many hands to this great work, 
as to the building of a house there must be many workmen, one to 
one part, and another to another : and as your corn must go 
through many hands before it be bread ; the reaper's, the thresher's, 
the miller's, the baker's ; and one must not leave their part, and 
say. It belongs to the other : so it is here in instructing of your 
children ; first you must do your work, and then the minister must 
do his : you must be doing it privately night and day ; the minis- 
ter must do it publicly, and privately as oft as he can. 

2. But as the case now stands with the ministers of England, 
they are disabled from doing that which belongs to their office, and 
therefore you cannot now cast your work on them. I will instance 
])ut in two things. First, It belongs to their office to govern the 
church, and to teach with authority ; and great and small are com- 
manded to obey them, Heb. iii. 7, 17, &c. But now this is un- 
known, and hearers look on themselves as freemen, that may obey 
or not, at their own pleasure : a parent's teaching which is with 
authority, will take more than one's that is taken to have none : 
people think we have authority to speak to them when they please 
to hear, and no more. Nay, few of the godly themselves do under- 



446 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

stand the authority that their teachers have over them from 
Christ : they know how to value a minister's gifts, but not how 
they are bound to learn of him and obey him because of his office. 
Not that they should obey him in evil, nor that he should be a 
final decider of all controversies, nor should exercise his authority 
in things of no moment ; but as a schoolmaster may command his 
scholars when to come to school, and what book to read, and what 
form to be of; and as they ought to obey him, and to learn of him, 
and not to set their wits against his, but to take his word, and be- 
lieve him as their teacher, till they understand as well he, and are 
ready to leave his school ; just so are people bound to obey and 
learn of their teachers, and to take their words while they are 
learners, in that which is beyond their present capacity, till they 
are able to see things in their proper evidence. Now this minis- 
terial authority is unknown, and so ministers are the less capable of 
doing their work ; which comes to pass. First, From the pride of 
man's nature, especially novices, which makes men impatient of 
the reins of guidance and command. Secondly, From the popish 
error of implicit faith ; to avoid which we are driven as far into 
the contrary extreme. Thirdly, And from the modesty of minis- 
ters that are loth to show their commission, and make known their 
authority, lest they should be thought proud : as if a schoolmaster 
should let his scholars do what they list, or a pilot let the seamen 
run the ship whither they will, for fear of being thought proud in 
exercising their authority. Secondly, But a far greater clog than 
this yet doth lie upon the ministers, which few take notice of ; and 
that is, the fewness of ministers, and the greatness of congrega- 
tions. In the apostles' time every church had a multitude of mi- 
nisters ; and so it must be again, or we shall never come near that 
primitive pattern ; and then they could preach publicly, and from 
house to house. But now, when there is but one or two ministers 
to many thousand souls, we cannot so much as know them, much 
less teach them one by one : it is as much as we can do to dis- 
charge the public work. So that you see, you have little reason to 
cast your work on the ministers, but should the more help them 
by your diligence, in your several families, because they are already 
so over-burdened. 

Sect, XIV, Object. 3. But some will say. We are poor men, and 
must labour for our living, and so must our children, and cannot 
have while to teach them the Scriptures, we have somewhat else 
for them to do. 

Answ. And are not poor men subject to God, as well as rich ; 
and are they not Christians ; and must they not give account of 
their ways ; and have not your children souls to save or lose, as 
well as the rich ? Cannot you have while to speak to them as they 
are at their work ? Have you not time to instruct them on the 
Lord's day ? You can find time to talk idly, as poor as you are, and 
can you find no time to talk of the way to life ? You can find time 
on the Lord's day for your children to play, or walk or talk in the 
streets, but no time to mind the life to come. Methinks you 



CiiAi'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVEIILAST1N(J REST. 447 

should rather say to your children, I have no lands or lordships to 
leave you, nothing but hard labour antl poverty in the world ; you 
have no hope oi" great matters here; be sure therefore to make the 
Lord your portion, and to git interest in Christ, that you may be 
happy hereafter : if you could get riches, they would shortly leave 
you, but the riches of grace and glory will be everlasting. Me- 
thinks you should say as Peter, " Silvcn- and gold I have none, but 
such as I have I give you." The kingdoms of the world cannot be 
had by beggars, but the kingdom of heaven may. Oh what a ter- 
rible rt>ckoning will many poor men have, when Christ shall plead 
his cause, and judge them ! May not he say, I made the way to 
worldly honours inaccessible to you, that you might not look after 
it for yourselves or your children, but heaven 1 set open, that you 
might have nothing to discourage you ; I confined riches and 
honour to a few, but my blood and salvation I offered to all, that 
none may say, I was not invited ; I tendered heaven to the poor, 
as well as the rich ; I made no exception against the meanest beg- 
gar, that did not wilfully shut out themselves : why then did you 
not come yourselves, and bring your children, and teach them the 
way to the eternal inheritance ? Do you say, you were poor ? Why, 
I did not set heaven to sale for money, but 1 called those that had 
nothing, to take it freely ; only on condition they would take me 
for their Saviour and Lord, and give up themselves unfeignedly to 
me in obedience and love. What can you answer Christ, when he 
shall thus convince you ? It is not enough, that your children are 
poor and miserable here, but you would have them be worse for 
everlasting too ! If your children were beggars, yet if they were 
such beggars as Lazarus, they may be conveyed by angels into the 
presence of God. But believe it, as God will save no man because 
he is a gentleman, so will he save no man because he is a beggar. 
God hath so ordered it in his providence, that riches are exceed- 
ing occasions of men's damnation, and will you think poverty a 
sufficient excuse ? The hardest point in all our work is to be 
weaned from the world, and in love with heaven ; and if you will 
not be weaned from it, who have nothing in it but labour and sor- 
row, you have no excuse. The poor cannot have while, and the 
rich will not have while, or they are ashamed to be so forward : the 
young think it too soon, and the old too late : and thus most men, 
instead of being saved, have somewhat to say against their salva- 
tion; and when Christ sendeth to invite them, they say, I pray 
thee have me excused. O unworthy guests of such a blessed feast, 
and most worthy to be turned into the everlasting burnings ! 

Sect. XV. Object. 4. But some will object, We have been brought 
up in ignorance ourselves, and therefore we are unable to teach our 
children. 

Ahsiv. Indeed this is the very sore of the land : but is it not pity 
that men should so receive their destruction by tradition ? W' ould 
you have this course to go on thus still .' Your parents did not 
teach you, and therefore you cannot teach your children, and there- 
fore they cannot teach theirs : by this course the knowledge of God 



448 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

should be banished out of the world, and never be recovered. But 
if your parents did not teach you, why did not you learn when you 
came to age ? The truth is, you had no hearts to it ; for he that 
hath not knowledge, cannot value it, or love it. But yet, though 
you have greatly sinned, it is not too late, if you will but follow 
my faithful advice in these four points : 

1. Get your hearts deeply sensible of your own sin and misery, 
because of this long time which you have spent in ignorance and 
neglect. Bethink yourselves sometimes when you are alone ; did 
not God make you, and sustain you for his service ? Should not he 
have had the youth and strength of your spirits ? Did you live all 
this while at the door of eternity ? What if you had died in ignor- 
ance, where had you been then ? What a deal of time have you 
spent to little purpose ! Your life is near done, and your work all 
undone. You are ready to die, before you have learned to live. 
Should not God have had a better share of your lives, and your 
souls been more duly regarded and provided for ? In the midst of 
these thoughts, cast down yourselves in sorrow, as at the feet of 
Christ ; bewail your -folly, and beg pardon and recovering grace. 

2. Then think as seriously how you have wronged your chil- 
dren : if an unthrift, that hath sold all his lands, will lament it for 
his children's sake, as well as his own, much more should you. 

3. Next set presently to work, and learn yourselves. If you can 
read, do ; if you cannot, get some that can ; and be much among 
those that will instruct and help you : be not ashamed to be seen 
among learners, though it be to be catechised, but be ashamed that 
you had not learned sooner. God forbid you should be so mad, as 
to say, I am now too old to learn : except you be too old to serve 
God, and be saved, how can you be too old to learn to be saved ? 
Why not rather, I am too old to serve the devil and the world, I 
have tried them too long to trust them any more. What if your 
parents had not taught you any trade to live by ; or what if they 
had never taught you to speak ; would not you have set yourselves 
to learn, when you had come to age ? Remember, that you have 
souls to care for, as well as your children, and therefore first begin 
with yourselves. 

4. In the mean time, while you are learning yourselves, teach 
your children what you do know ; and what you cannot teach them 
yourselves, put them on to learn it of others that can : persuade 
them into the company of the godly, who will be glad to instruct 
them. If Frenchmen or Welchmen lived in the town among us, 
that could not understand our language, would they not converse 
with those that do understand it ? and would they not daily send 
their children to learn it, by being in the company of those that 
speak it ? So do you, that you may learn the heavenly language : 
get among those that use it, and encourage your children to do so. 
Have you no godly neighbours that will be helpful to you herein ? 
O do not keep yourselves, strange to them, but go among them, and 
desire their help; and be thankful to them, that they will entertain 
you into their company. God forbid you should be like those that 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 449 

Christ speaks of, Luke xi. 52, that would neither enter into the 
kingdom of God iheinsolves, nor suifer those that would to enter, 
(jiod forl)id you should be such cruel, barbarous wretches, as to 
hinder your children from being godly, and to teach them to be 
wicked ! And yet, alas ! how many such are there swarming every 
where among us ! If God do but touch the heart of their children 
or servants, and cause them to hear and read the word, and call 
upon him, and accompany with the godly, who will sooner scorn 
them, and revile them, and discourage them, than an ungodly 
parent.' What, say they, you will now be one of the holy brethren! 
you will be wiser than your parents ! Just such as Pharaoh was to 
the Israelites, such are these wicked wretches to their own chil- 
dren : Kxod. v. 3, 8, 9, when Moses said, " Let us go sacrifice to 
the Lord, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or sword," &c. Pha- 
raoh answers, " They are idle, therefore they say. Let us go sacri- 
fice : lay more work upon them," &c. Just so do these people say 
to their children. You know Pharaoh was the representer of the 
devil ; and yet let me tell you, these ungodly parents are far worse 
than Pharaoh : for the children of Israel were many thousands, 
and were to go three days' journey out of the land, but these men 
hinder their children from serving God at home : Pharaoh was not 
their father, but their king; but these men are enemies to the 
children of their bodies. Nay, more, let me tell you, I know none 
on earth that play the part of the devil himself more truly than 
thes6 men. And if any thing that walks in flesh may be called a 
devil, I think it is a parent that thus hindereth his children from 
salvation. I solemnly profess I do not speak one jot worse of these 
men, than I do think and verily believe in my soul : nay, take it 
how you will, I will say thus much more, I verily think that in this 
they are far worse than the devil. God is a righteous judge, and 
will not make the devil himself worse than he is : I pray you be 
patient while you consider it, and then judge yourselves. They 
are the parents of their children, and so is not the devil. Do you 
think then that it is as great a fault in him to seek their destruc- 
tion, as in them ? Is it as great a fault for the wolf to kill the lambs 
as for their own dams to do it ? Is it so horrid a fault for an enemy 
in war to kill a child, or for a bear or a mad dog to kill it, as for the 
mother to dash its brains against the wall ? You know it is not : 
do not you think then that it is so hateful a thing in Satan to entice 
your children to sin and hell, and to discourage and dissuade them 
from holiness and from heaven, as it is in you. You are bound to 
love them by nature, more than Satan is. Oh then what people 
are those that will teach their children instead of holiness, to curse, 
and 5wear, and rail, and backbite, to be proud and revengeful, to 
break the Lord's day, and to despise his ways, to speak wantonly 
and filthily, to scorn at holiness, and glory in sin ! Oh when God 
.shall ask these children. Where learned you this language and 
practice ? and they shall say, I learned it of my father or mother ; 
1 would not be in the case of those parents for all the world ! Alas, 
is it a work that is worth the teaching, to undo themselves for 



450 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

ever? Or can they not without teaching learn it too easily of them- 
selves ? Do you need to teach a serpent to sting, or a lion to be 
fierce ? Do you need to sow weeds in your garden ? will they not 
grow of themselves ? To build a house requires skill and teaching ; 
but a little may serve to set a town on fire. To heal the wounded 
or the sick, requireth skill ; but to make a man sick, or to kill him, 
requireth but little. You may sooner teach your children to swear, 
than to pray ; and to mock at godliness, than to be truly godly. If 
these parents were sworn enemies to their children, and should study 
seven years how to do them the greatest mischief, they could not 
possibly find out a surer way, than by drawing them to sin, and 
withdrawing them from God. 

Sect. XVT. I shall therefore conclude with this earnest request 
to all Christian parents that read these lines, that they would have 
compassion on the souls of their poor children, and be faithful to 
the great trust that God hath put in them. O sirs, if you cannot 
do what you would do for them, yet do what you can : both church 
and state, city and country, do groan under the neglect of this 
weighty duty ; your children know not God, nor his laws, but take 
his name in vain, and slight his worship, and you do neither instruct 
them nor correct them ; and therefore doth God correct both them 
and you. You are so tender of them that God is the less tender 
both of them and you. Wonder not if God make you smart for 
your children's sins ; for you are guilty of all they commit, by 
your neglect of doing your duty to reform them ; even as he that 
maketh a man drunk, is guilty of all the sin that he committeth in 
his drunkenness. Will you resolve therefore to set upon this duty, 
and neglect it no longer? Remember Eli. Your children are like 
Moses in the basket in the water, ready to perish if they have not 
help. As ever you would not be charged before God for murderers 
of their souls, and as ever you would not have them cry out against 
you in everlasting fire, see that you teach them how to escape it, 
and bring them up in holiness and the fear of God. You have 
heard that the God of heaven doth flatly command it you; I charge 
every one of you, therefore, upon your allegiance to him, as you 
will very shortly answer the contrary at your peril, that you neither 
refuse nor neglect this most necessai-y work. If you are not will- 
ing, now you know it to be so plain and so great a duty, you are 
flat rebels, and no true subjects of- Christ. If you are willing to 
do it, but know not how, I will add a few words of direction to help 
you. 1. Teach them by your own example, as well as by your words. 
Be yourselves such as you would have them be : practice is the 
most effectual teaching of children, who are addicted to imitation, 
especially of their parents. Lead them the way to prayer, and 
reading, and other duties : be not like base commanders, that will 
put on their soldiers, but not go on themselves. Can you expect 
your children should be wiser or better than you ? Let them not 
hear those words out of your mouths, nor s<ee those practices in 
your lives, which you reprove in them. No man shall be saved 
because his children are godly, if he be ungodly himself. Who 
should lead the way in holiness, but the father and master of the 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 451 

family ? It is a sad time when he must be accounted a good master 
or father tliat will not hinder his family from serving God, but will 
give them leave to go to heaven without him. 

I will but name the rest of your direct duty for your family. 1. 
You must help to inform their understandings. 2. To store their 
memories. 3. To rectify their wills. 4. To quicken their affec- 
tions. 5. To keep tender their consciences. G. To restrain their 
tongues, and help them to skill in gracious speech ; and to reform 
and watch over their outward conversation. 

To these ends, I. Be sure to keep them, at least, so long at 
school till they can read English. It is a thousand pities that a 
reasonable creature should look upon a Bible as upon a stone, or a 
piece of wood. 2. Get them Bibles and good books, and see that 
they read them. 3. Examine them often what they learn. 4. 
Especially bestow the Lord's day in this work, and see that they 
spend it not in sports or idleness. 5. Show them the meaning of 
what they read and learn. Josh. iv. G, 21, 22; Psal. Ixxviii. 4 — G ; 
xxxiv. 11. G. Acquaint them with the godly, and keep them in 
good company, where they may learn good, and keep them out of 
that company that would teach them evil. 7. Be sure to cause 
them to learn some catechism containing the chief heads of divinity. 

Sect. XVII. The heads of divinity, which you must teach them 
first, are these : 

I. That there is one only God, who is a Spirit invisible, infinite, 
eternal, almighty, good, merciful, true, just, holy, &c. 2. That 
this God is one in three. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 3. That 
he is the Maker, Maintainer, and Lord of all. 4. That man's 
happiness consisteth in the enjoying of this God, and not in fleshly 
pleasure, profits, or honours. 5. That God made the first man 
upright and happy, and gave him a law to keep, with condition, 
that if he kept it perfectly, he should live happy for ever, but if he 
broke it he should die. G. That man broke this law, and so for- 
feited his welfare, and became guilty of death as to himself and all 
his posterity. 7. That Christ the Son of God did here interpose, 
and prevent the full execution, undertaking to die instead of man, 
and so to redeem him ; whereupon all things were delivered into 
his hands as the Redeemer, and he is under that relation the Lord 
of all. 8. That Christ hereupon did make with man a better cove- 
nant or law, which proclaimed pardon of sin to all that did but re- 
pent, and believe, and obey sincerely. 9. That he revealed this 
covenant and mercy to the world by degrees ; first, in darker 
promises, prophecies, and sacrifices ; then, in many ceremonious 
types ; and then, by more plain foretelling by the prophets. 10. 
That in the fulness of time Christ came and took our nature into 
union with his Godhead, being conceived by the Holy Ghost, and 
born of the Virgin Mary. 11. That while he was on earth he 
lived a life of sorrows, was crowned with thorns, and bore the pains 
that our sins desen'ed ; at last, being crucified to death, and buried, 
so satisfied the justice of God. 12. That he also preached himself 
to the Jews, and by constant miracles did prove the truth of his 
2 G 2 



452 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part III. 

doctrine and mediatorship before thousands of witnesses : that he 
revealed more fully his new law or covenant ; that whosoever will 
believe in him, and accept him for Saviour and Lord, shall be par- 
doned and saved, and have a far greater glory than they lost ; and 
they that will not, shall lie under the curse and guilt, and be con- 
demned to the everlasting fire of hell. 13. That he rose again 
from the dead, having conquered death, and took fuller possession 
of his dominion over all, and so ascended up into heaven, and there 
reigneth in glory. 14. That before his ascension he gave charge 
to his apostles to preach the foresaid gospel to all nations and per- 
sons, and to offer Christ, and mercy, and life, to every one without 
exception, and to entreat and persuade them to receive him ; and 
that he gave them authority to send forth others on the same 
message, and to baptize, and to gather churches, and confirm and 
order them, and settle a course for a succession of ministers and or- 
dinances to the end of the world. 15. That he also gave them 
power to work frequent and evident miracles for the confirma- 
tion of their doctrine, and the convincing of the world ; and to 
annex their writings to the rest of the Scriptures, and so to finish 
and seal them up, and deliver them to the world as his infallible 
word and laws, which none must dare to alter, and which all must 
observe. 16. That though his free grace is offered to the world, 
yet the heart is by nature so desperately wicked, that no man will 
believe and entertain Christ sincerely, except by an almighty power 
he be changed and born again ; and therefore doth Christ send 
forth his Spirit with his word, which secretly and effectually work- 
eth holiness in the hearts of the elect, drawing them to God and 
the Redeemer. 17. That the means by which Christ worketh and 
preserveth this grace, is the word read and preached, together with 
frequent fervent prayer, meditation, sacraments, gracious confer- 
ence ; and it is much furthered also by special providences keeping 
us from temptation, fitting occurrences to our advantage, drawing 
us by mercies, and driving us by afflictions ; and therefore it must 
be the great and daily care of every Christian to use faithfully all 
the said ordinances, and improve the said providences. 18. That 
though the new law or covenant be an easy yoke, and there is 
nothing grievous in Christ's commands, yet so bad are our hearts, 
and so strong our temptations, and so diligent our enemies, that 
whosoever will be saved, he must strive, and watch, and bestow his 
utmost care and pains, and deny his flesh, and forsake all that 
would draw him from Christ, and herein continue to the end, and 
overcome. And because this cannot be done without continual 
supplies of grace, whereof Christ is the only fountain, therefore we 
must live in continual dependence on him by faith, and know that 
our life is hid with God in him. 19. That Christ will thus by 
his word and Spirit gather him a church of all the elect out of the 
world, which is his body and spouse, and he their Head and Hus- 
band, and will be tender of them as the apple of his eyes, and pre- 
serve them from danger, and continue among them his presence and 
ordinances ; and that the members of this church must live together 
in most entire love and peace, delighting themselves in God and his 



CnAi'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 453 

worship, and the forethoughtis and mention of their everhisting hap- 
piness ; forliearing and forgiving one another, and relieving each 
other in need, as if that which they have were their brother's. And 
all men ought to strive to be of this society. Yet will the visible 
churches be still mixed of good and bad. 20. That when the full 
number of these elect are called home, Christ will come down from 
heaven again, and raise all the dead, and set them before him to 
be judged; and all that have loved God above all, and believed in 
Christ, and been willing that he should reign over them, and have 
improved their mercies in the day of grace, them he will justify, 
and sentence them to inherit the everlasting kingdom of glory ; 
and those that were not such, he will condenm to everlasting fire ; 
both which sentences shall be then executed accordingly. 

This is the creed, or brief sum, of the doctrine which you must 
teach your children. Though our ordinary creed, called the apos- 
tles' creed, contains all the al)Solute fundamentals ; yet in some it is 
so generally and darkly expressed, that an explication is necessary. 

Sect. XVm. Then, for matter of practice, teach them the mean- 
ing of the commandments, especially of the great commands of the 
gospel ; show them what is commanded and forbidden, in the first 
table and in the second, towards God and men, in regard of the in- 
ward and the outward man : and here show them, 1. The authority 
commanding; that is, the Almighty God, by Christ the Redeemer. 
They are not now to Igok at the command as coming from God 
immediately, merely as God, or the Creator, but as coming from 
God by Christ the Mediator, who is now the Lord of all, and only 
Lawgiver; seeing the Father now judgeth no man, but hath com- 
mitted all judgment to the Son, John v. 21 — 24. 2. Show them 
the terms on which duty is required, and the ends of it, 3. And 
the nature of duties, and the way to perform them aright. 4. And 
the right order; that they first love God above all, and then their 
neighbour : first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 
5. Show them the excellences and delights of God's service. G. 
And the flat necessity. 7. Especially labour to get all to their 
hearts, and teach them not only to speak the words. 

And for sin, show them its evil and danger, and watch over them 
against it. Especially, 1. The sins that youth is commonly ad- 
dicted to. 2. And which their nature and constitution most lead 
them to. 3. And which the time and place do most strongly tempt 
to. 4. But especially be sure to kill their killing sins ; those that 
all are prone to, and are of all most deadly : as, pride, worldliness, 
ignorance, profaneness, and flesh-pleasing. 

And for the manner, you must do all this, I. Betimes, before 
sin get rooting. 2. Frequently. 3. Seasonably. 4. Seriously and 
diligently. 5. Affectionately and tenderly. G. And with authority ; 
compelling where commanding will not serve, and adding correction 
where instruction is frustrate. 

And thus I have done with the use of exhortation to do our ut- 
most for the salvation of others. The Lord give men compassion- 
ate hearts that it may be jiractised ; and then, I doubt not but he 
will succeed it to the increase of his church. 



PAKT IV. 



CONTAINING 

A DIRECTORY FOR THE GETTING AND KEEPING OF THE HEART 
IN HEAVEN, 

BY THE DILIGENT PRACTICE OF THAT EXCELLENT UNKNOWN DUTY OF HEA- 
VENLY MEDITATION. BEING THE MAIN THING INTENDED BY THE AUTHOR IN 
THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK, AND TO WHICH ALL THE REST IS BUT SUB- 
SERVIENT. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SIXTH USE. REPROVING OUR EXPECTATIONS OF REST ON EARTH, 

Sect. I. Doth this rest remain ? How great, then, is our sin 
and folly to seek and expect it here ! Where shall we find the 
Christian that deserves not this reproof? Surely we may all cry 
Guilty ! to this accusation. We know not how to enjoy convenient 
houses, goods, lands, and revenues, but we seek rest in these enjoy- 
ments. We seldom, I fear, have such sweet and heart-contenting 
thoughts of God and glory, as we have of our earthly delights. 
How much rest do the voluptuous seek, in buildings, walks, apparel, 
ease, recreation, sleep, pleasing meats and drinks, merry company, 
health and strength, and long life ! Nay, we can scarce enjoy the 
necessary means which God hath appointed for our spiritual good, 
but we are seeking rest in them. Do we want ministers, godly 
society, or the like helps ? Oh ! think we, if it were but thus and 
thus with us, we were well. Do we enjoy them?* Oh, how we 
settle upon them, and bless ourselves in them, as the rich fool in 
his wealth ! Our books, our preachers, sermons, friends, abilities 
for duty, do not our hearts hug them, and quiet themselves in them, 
even more than in God ? Indeed, in words we disclaim it, and 
God hath usually the pre-eminence in our tongues and professions ; 
but it is too apparent that it is otherwise in our hearts, by these 
discoveries : First, Do we not desire these more violently, when we 
want them, than we do the Lord himself? Do we not cry out 
more sensibly, O my friend, my goods, my health, than O my God ! 
Do we not miss ministry and means more passionately than we miss 
our God ? Do we not bestir ourselves more to obtain and enjoy 
these than we do to recover our communion with God ? Secondly, 
Do we not delight more in the possession of these than we do in 
the fruition of God himself? Nay, be not those mercies and duties 

* These must be delighted in, but as means only to help us to God, not as a happiness 
to content us without God. 



Chap. 1. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 455 

most pleasant to u.s, wherein we stand at greatest distance from 
God { We can read, and study, and confer, preach, and hear, day 
after day, without much weariness, hecause in these we have to do 
with instruments and creatures; but in secret prayer and conversing 
with (jiod ininiecUately, where no creature interpoSeth, how dull, 
how heartless and weary are we ! Thirdly, And if wc lose creatures 
or means, doth it not trouble us more than our loss of God i If 
we lose but a friend, or health, &c. all the town will hear of it ; but 
we can miss our God, and scarce bemoan our misery. Thus it is 
apparent, we exceedingly make the creature our rest. It is not 
enough that they are sweet delights, and refreshing helps in our 
way to heaven, but they must also be made our heaven itself/ 
Christian reader, I would as willingly make thee sensible of this sin 
as of any sin in the world, if I could tell how to do it ; for the 
Lord's greatest quarrel with us is in this point. Therefore I most 
earnestly beseech thee to press upon thine own conscience these fol- 
lowing considerations. 

Sect. II. I. It is gross idolatry to make any creature or means 
our rest ; to settle the soul upon it, and say, Now I am well, upon 
the bare enjoyment of the creature. \\ hat is this but to make it 
our god i Certainly, to be the soul's rest, is God's own preroga- 
tive. And as it is palpable idolatry to place our rest in riches and 
honours ; so it is but a more spiritual and refined idolatry to take 
up our rest in excellent means, in the church's prosperity, and in its 
reformation. When we would have all that out of God wdiich is to 
be had only in God, what is this but to turn away from him to the 
creature, and in our hearts to deny him ? When we fetch more of 
our comfort and delight from the thoughts of prosperity, and those 
mercies which here we have at a distance from God, than from the 
forethoughts of our everlasting blessedness in him ; nay, when the 
thought of that day when we must come to God is our greatest 
trouble, and we would do any thing in the world to escape it, but 
the enjoyment of creatures, though absent from him, is the very 
thing our souls desire ; when we had rather talk of him than come 
to enjoy him ; and had rather go many miles to hear a powerful 
sermon of Christ and heaven, than to enter and possess it ; oh ! 
what vile idolatry is this ! When we dispute against epicures, aca- 
demics, and all pagans, how earnestly do we contend that God is 
the chief good, and the fruition of him our chief happiness ! 
What clear arguments do we bring to evince it ! But do we be- 
lieve ourselves ; or are we Christians in judgment, and pagans in 
affection i Or do we give our senses leave to be the choosers of 
our happiness, while reason and faith stand by? O Christians! 
how ill must our dear Lord needs take it, when we give him cause 
to complain, as sometimes he did of our fellow idolaters, Jcr. 1. 6, 
that we have been lost sheep, and have forgotten our resting-place ! 
When we give him cause to say, Why, my people can find rest in 
any thing rather than in me ! They can find delight in one another, 
but none in me ; they can rejoice in my creatures and ordinances, 
but not in me ; yea, in their very labours and duty they seek for 



456 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

rest, and not in me ; they had rather be any where than be with 
me. Are these their gods ? Have these delivered and redeemed 
them ? Will these be better to them than I have been, or than I 
would be { If yourselves have but a wife, a husband, a son, that 
had rather be any where than in your company, and is never so 
merry as when farthest from you, would you not take it ill your- 
selves ? "Why so must our God needs do : for what do we but lay 
these things in one end of the balance and God in the other, and 
foolishly, in our choice, prefer them before him ? As Elkanah said 
to Hannah, " Am not I better to thee than ten sons ?" 1 Sam. i. 8 ; 
so when we are longing after creatures, we may hear God say. Am 
not I better than all the creatures to thee ? 

Sect. ni. 2. Consider, How thou contradictest the end of God 
in giving these things.* He gave them to help thee to him, and 
dost thou take up with them in his stead ? He gave them that 
they might be comfortable refreshments in thy journey, and wouldst 
thou now dwell in thy inn, and go no further ? Thou dost not only 
contradict God herein, but losest that benefit which thou mightest 
receive by them, yea, and makest them thy great hurt and hinder- 
ance. Surely it may be said of all our comforts and all ordinances, 
and the blessedest enjoyments in the church on earth, as God said 
to the Israelites of his ark, " The ark of the covenant went before 
them, to search out for them a resting-place," Numb. x. 33. So 
do all God's mercies here. They are not that rest, (as John pro- 
fesseth he was not the Christ,) but they are voices crying in this 
wilderness, to bid us prepare, for the kingdom of God, our true rest, 
is at hand. Therefore, to rest here, were to turn all mercies clean 
contrary to their own ends, and our own advantages, and to destroy 
ourselves with that which should help us. 

Sect. IV. 3. Consider, Whether it be not the most probable way 
to cause God, either. First, To deny those mercies which we desire ; 
or. Secondly, To take from us these which we enjoy ; or, Thirdly, 
To imbitter them at least, or curse them to us ? Certainly, God is 
no where so jealous as here. If you had a servant whom your own 
wife loved better than she did yourself, would you not both take it 
ill of such a wife, and rid your house of such a servant ? You will 
not suffer your child to use a knife till he have wit to do it without 
hurting him. Why so, if the Lord see you begin to settle in the 
world, and say. Here I will rest, no wonder if he soon in his jealousy 
unsettle you. If he love you, no wonder if he take that from you 
wherewith he sees you are about to destroy yourselves. It hath 
been my long observation of many, that when they have attempted 
great works, and have just finished them, or have aimed at great 
things in the world, and have just obtained them ; or have lived in 
much trouble and unsettlemeut, and have just overcome them, and 
begin with some content to look upon their condition, and rest in 
it, they are usually near to death or ruin. You know the story of 
the fool in the gospel. When a man is once at this language, Soul, 
take thy ease or rest ; the next news usually is, Thou fool, this 

* I mean the end of precept, not of his purpose. 



Cii.vi>. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 457 

night, or this month, or this year, shall they require thy soul, and 
then whose shall these things be .' Oh, what house is then' where 
this fool dwelleth not ! Dear Christian friends, you to whom I 
have especially relation, let you and I consider whether this he not 
our own case. Have not I, after such an unsettled life, and after 
four years' living in the weary condition and the unpleasing state of 
war; and after so many years' groaning under the church's unre- 
formedness, and the great fears that lay upon us, and after so many 
longings, and prayers for these days ; have I not thought of them 
with too much content ^ and been ready to say. Soul, take thy rest ? 
Have not I comforted myself more in the forethoughts of enjoying 
these, than of coming to heaven and enjoying God t ^Vhat won- 
der, then, if God cut me off, when I am just sitting down in this 
supposed rest? And hath not the like been your condition? 
Many of you have been soldiers, driven from house to home, en- 
dured a life of trouble and blood, been deprived of ministry and 
means', longing to see the church's settling. Did you not reckon 
up all the comforts you should have at your return ; and glad your 
liearts with such thoughts more than with the thoughts of your 
coming to heaven ? ^^ hy, what wonder if God now somewhat cross 
you, and turn some of your joy into sadness ? ]\Iany a servant of 
God hath been destroyed from the earth by being overvalued and 
overloved. I pray God you may take warning for the time to come, 
that you rob not yourselves of all your mercies. I am persuaded 
our discontents, and murmurings with our unpleasing condition, and 
our covetous desires after more, are not so provoking to God, nor 
so destructive to the sinner, as our too sweet enjoying, and rest of 
spirit in a pleasing state. If God have crossed any of you in wife, 
chiklren, goods, friends, &c. either by taking them from you, or 
the comfort of them, or the benefit and blessing, try whether this 
above all other be not the cause. For wheresoever your desires 
stop, and you say, Now I am well, that condition you make your 
god, and engage the jealousy of God against it. Whether you be 
friends to God or enemies, you can never expect that God should 
wink at such idolatry, or suffer you quietly to enjoy your idols. 

Sect. V. 4. Consider, If God should suffer thee thus to take up 
t-hy rest here, it were one of the surest plagues and greatest curses 
that could possibly befall thee. It were better for thee, if thou 
never hadst a day of ease or content in the world, for then weari- 
ness might make thee seek after the true rest, Psal. xvii. 14; Luke 
xvi. 2.3. But if he should suffer thee to sit down and rest here, 
where were thy rest when this deceives thee ? A restless wretch 
thou wouldst be through all eternity. To have their portion in this 
life, and their good things on the earth, is the lot of the most 
miserable, perishing sinners. And doth it become Christians, then, 
to expect so much here ? Our rest is our heaven, and where we 
take our rest, there we make our heaven. And wouldst thou have 
but such a heaven as this { Certainly, as Saul's messengers found 
but Michal's man of straw when they expected David, so wilt thou 
find but a rest of straw, of wind, of vanity, when thou most needest 



458 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

rest. It will be but a handful of waters to a man that is drowning, 
which will help to destroy, but not to save him. But that is the 
next. 

Sect. VI. .5. Consider, Thou seekest rest where it is not to be 
found, and so wilt lose all thy labour, and, if thou proceed, thy 
soul's eternal rest too. I think I shall easily evince this by these 
clear demonstrations following : 

First, Our rest is only in the full obtaining of our ultimate end, 
but that is not to be expected in this life, therefore, neither is rest 
to be here expected. Is God to be enjoyed in the best reformed 
church, in the purest and powerfullest ordinances here, as he is in 
heaven ? I know you will all confess he is not. How little of God, 
not only the multitude of the blind world, but sometimes the saints 
themselves, do enjoy, even under the most excellent means, let 
their own frequent complainings testify. And how poor comforters 
are the best ordinances and enjoyments, without God, the truly 
spiritual Christian knows. "Will a stone rest in the air in the midst 
of its fall, before it comes to the earth ? No, because its centre is 
its end. Should a traveller take up his rest in the way ? No, be- 
cause his home is his journey's end. When you have all that crea- 
tures and means can afford, have you that you sought for ? Have 
you that you believe, pray, suffer for ? I think you dare not say so. 
Why, then, do we once dream of resting here ? We are like little 
children strayed from home, and God is now fetching us home ; and 
we are ready to turn into any house, stay and play with every thing 
in our way, and sit down on every green bank, and much ado there 
is to get us home. 

Secondly, As we have not yet obtained our end, so are we in the 
midst of labours and dangers ; and is there any resting here ? What 
painful work doth lie upon our hands ! Look to our brethren, to 
godly, to ungodly, to the church, to our souls, to God, and what a 
deal of work in respect of each of these doth lie before us ! And 
can we rest in the midst of all our labours ? Indeed, we may take 
some refreshing, and ease ourselves sometimes in our troubles, if 
you will call that rest, but that is not the settling rest we now are 
speaking of : we may rest on earth, as the ark is said to have rested 
in the midst of Jordan, Josh. iii. 13 ; a short and small rest, no 
question : or as the angels of heaven are desired to turn in, and rest 
them on earth. Gen. xviii. 4 ; they would have been loth to have 
taken up their dwelling there. Should Israel have settled his rest 
in the wilderness among serpents, and enemies, and weariness, and 
famine ? Should Noah have made the ark his home, and have been 
loth to come forth when the waters were fallen ? Should the 
mariner choose his dwelling on the sea, and settle his rest in the 
midst of rocks, and sands, and raging tempests ? Though he may 
adventure through all these for a commodity of worth, yet I think 
he takes it not for his rest. Should a soldier rest in the midst of 
fight, when he is in the very thickest of his enemies, and the instru- 
ments of death compass him about ? I think he cares not how 
soon the battle is over. And though he may adventure upon war 



Chap. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 4'A) 

for the obtaining of peace, yet I hope he is not so mad as to take 
that instead of peace. And are not Christians such travellers, such 
mariners, such sokliers ? I lave you not fears within, and troubles 
without!' Are we not in the thickest of continual dangers? We 
cannot eat, drink, sleep, labour, pray, hear, confer, &c. but in the 
midst of snares and perils, and shall we sit down and rest here ? O 
Christian, follow thy work, look to thy danger, hold on to the end; 
win the field and come oiF the ground, before thou think of a settling 
rest. I read indeed that Peter on the mount, when he had seen n 
glimpse of glory, said, " It is good for us to be here." But sure, 
when he was on the sea, in the midst of waves, he doth not then 
say, " It is good to be here." No, then he hath other language, 
" Save, Master, we perish." And even his desires to rest on the 
mount, are noted in Scripture to come from hence. He knew not 
what he said : it was on earth, though w ith Christ in his trans- 
figuration. And I dare say the like of thee, whenever thou talkest 
of resting on earth, Thou knowest not what thou sayest. I read 
that Christ, when he w'as on the cross, comforted the converted 
thief with this, " This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." 
15ut if he had only comforted him with telling him that he should 
rest there on that cross, would he not have taken it for a derision ? 
Methinks it should be ill resting in the midst of sicknesses and 
pains, persecution and distresses. One would think it should be 
no contentful dwelling for lambs among wolves. The wicked have 
some slender pretence for their sin in this kind ; they are among 
their friends, in the midst of their portion, enjoying all the happi- 
ness that they are like to enjoy. But is it so with the godly ? 
Surely the w'orld is at best but a stepmother to them ; nay, an open 
enemy. But if nothing else would convince us, yet sure the re- 
mainders of sin which doth so easily beset us, should quickly satisfy 
a believer that here is not his rest, ^^'hat, a Christian ! and rest 
in a state of sinning ! It cannot be; or do they hope for a perfect 
freedom here ? That is impossible. I say, therefore, to every one 
that thinketh of rest on earth, as Micah, " Arise ye, depart ; this 
is not your rest, because it is polluted," chap. ii. 10. 

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

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



4G0 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

should rain down angels' food, after awhile our souls would loathe 
that dry manna. The most dainty fare, the most costly clothing, 
would not please us, were we tied to them alone. The most sump- 
tuous house, the softest bed, were we confined to them, would be 
but a prison. One recreation pleaseth not long, we must have 
•supply of new, or our delights will languish. Nay, our delight in 
our society and friendship, especially if carnal, is strongest while 
fresh : and in the ordinances of God themselves, so far as we de- 
light in them for themselves, and not for God, if novelty support 
not, our delight grows dull. If we hear still the same minister, or 
if in preaching and praying he use oft the same expressions, or if he 
preach oft the same sermon, how dull grows our devotion, though 
the matter be never so good, and at first did never so highly please 
us ! If we read the most excellent and pleasing books, the third or 
fourth reading is usually more heartless than the first or second ; 
nay, in our general way of Cbristianity, our first godly acquaint- 
ance, our first preachers, our first books, our first duties, have too 
commonly our strongest affections. All creatures are to us, as the 
flowers to the bee ; there is but little of that matter which aflfords 
them honey on any flower, and therefore they must have supply of 
fresh variety, and take of each a superficial taste, and so to the 
next : yea, some, having gone through variety of states, and tasted 
of the pleasures of their own country, do travel for fresh variety 
abroad; and when they come home, they usually betake themselves 
to some solitary corner, and sit down, and cry with Solomon, Vanity 
and vexation ! and with David, I have seen an end of all perfection : 
and can this be a place of rest for the soul ? 

Fifthly, Those that know the creature least, do affect it most ; 
the more it is known, the less it satisfieth : those only are taken 
with it, who can see no farther than its outward beauty, not behold- 
ing its outward vanity ; it is like a comely picture, if you stand too 
near it, it appears less beautiful. We are prone to over- admire 
the persons of men, places of honour, and other men's happy con- 
dition ; but it is only while we do but half know them : stay but a 
while till we know them thoroughly, and have discovered the evil 
as well as the good, and the defects as well as the perfections, and 
we then do cease our admiration. 

Sect. VII. 6. To have creatures and means without God, who is 
their end, is so far from being our happiness, that it is an aggrava- 
tion of our misery, even as to have food without strength, and 
starve in the midst of plenty, and as Pharaoh's kine, to devour all, 
and lean still. "What the better were you if you had the best mi- 
nister on earth, the best society, the purest church, and therewithal 
the most plentiful estate, but nothing of God ? If God should say. 
Take my creatures, my word, my servants, my ordinances, but not 
myself, would you take this for a happiness ? If you had the word 
of God, and not the Word which is God ; or the bread of the Lord, 
and not the Lord, which is the true bread ; or could cry with the 
Jews, " The temple of the Lord," and had not the Lord of the 
temple ; this were a poor happiness. 



Chap. 1. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. KJl 

Was Capernaum the more happy, or tho more miserable, for 
seeing the mighty works which they had seen, and hearing the 
words of Christ which they did hear .' Surely that which aggra- 
vates our sin and misery cannot be our rest. 

7. If all this be nothing, do but consult with experience, both 
other men's and your own ; too many thousands and millions have 
made trial, but did ever one of these find a sufficient rest for his 
soul on this earth ? Delights I deny not but they have found, and 
imperfect temporary content, but rest and satisfaction they never 
found : and shall we think to find that which never man could find 
before us .' Aha])'s kingdom is nothing to him, except he had also 
Naboth's vineyard ; and did that satisfy him, think you, when he 
obtained it ? If we had con(iuered to ourselves the whole world, we 
should perhaps do as Alexander is fabled to have done, sit down 
and weep because there is never another world to conquer. If I 
should send you forth as Noah's dove, to go through the earth, to 
look for a resting-place, you w'ould return with a confession, that 
you can find none. Go ask honour. Is there rest here i Why you 
may as well rest on the top of the tempestuous mountains, or in 
Etna's flames, or on the pinnacle of the temple. If you ask riches. 
Is there rest here ? Even such is in a bed of thorns ; or were it a 
l)ed of down, yet you must arise in the morning, and leave it to 
the next guest that shall succeed you. Or if you inquire of worldly 
pleasure and ease, can they give you any tidings of true rest .' 
Even such as the fish or bird hath in the net, or in swallowing 
down the deceitful bait; when the pleasure is at the sweetet>t, death 
is the nearest: it is just such a content and happiness, as the ex- 
hilarating vapours of the wine do give to a man that is drunk : it 
causeth a merry and cheerful heart, it makes him forget his wants 
and miseries, and conceive himself the happiest man in the world, 
till his sick vomitings have freed him of his disease, or sleep hath 
assuaged and subdued those vapours which deluded his fantasy 
and perverted his understanding, and then he awakes a more un- 
happy man than ever he was before. Such is the rest and happi- 
ness that all worldly pleasures do afford. As the fantasy may be 
delighted in a pleasant dream, when all the senses are captivated 
by sleep ; so may the flesh of sensitive appetite, when the reason- 
able soul is captivated by security : but when the morning comes, 
the delusion vanisheth, and where is the pleasure and happiness 
then ? Or if you should go to learning, to purest, plentifullest, 
powerfullcst ordinances, or compass sea and land to find the per- 
fectest church and holiest saints, and inquire whether there your 
soul may rest ; you might haply receive from these indeed an olive- 
branch of hope, as they are means to your rest, and have relation 
to eternity ; but in regard of any satisfaction in themselves, you 
would remain as restless as ever before. Oh how well might all 
these answer many of us, with that indignation, as Jacob did l^achel, 
" Am I instead of God!"' Or as the king of Israel said to the 
messengers of the king of Assyria, when he required him to restore 
Naaman to health, " Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this 



462 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

man sends to me to recover a man of his leprosy ? " So may the 
highest perfection on earth say, Ave we God, or instead of God, 
that this man comes to us to give a soul rest? Go take a view of 
all estates of men in the world, and see whether any of them have 
found .this rest. Go to the hushandman, and demand of him ; be- 
hold his circular, endless labours, his continual care and toil and 
weariness, and you will easily see that there is no rest : go to the 
tradesman, and you shall find the like : if I should send you lower, 
you would judge your labour lost : or go to the conscionable, pain- 
ful minister, and there you will yet more easily be satisfied ; for 
though his spending, killing, endless labours are exceeding sweet, 
yet it is not because they are his rest, but in reference to his people's 
and his own eternal rest, at which he aims, and to which they may 
conduce : if you should ascend to magistracy, and inquire at the 
throne, you would find there is no condition so restless, and your 
hearts Avould even pity poor princes and kings. Doubtless neither 
court nor country, towns or cities, shops or fields, treasuries, libra- 
ries, solitariness, society, studies, or pulpits, can aiford any such 
thing as this rest. If you could inquire of the dead of all genera- 
tions, or if you could ask the living through all dominions, they 
would all tell you. Here is no rest ; and all mankind may say, " All 
our days are sorrow, and our labour is grief, and our hearts take 
not rest," Eccles. ii. 23. Go to Geneva, go to New England, find 
out the church which you think most happy, and we may say of it, 
as lamenting Jeremy of the church of the Jews, " She dwelleth 
among the heathen, she findeth no rest, all her persecutors overtake 
her," Lam. i. 3. The holiest prophet, the blessedest apostle, would 
say, as one of the most blessed did, " Our flesh had no rest, with- 
out were fightings, within were fears," 2 Cor. vii. 5. If neither 
Christ nor his apostles, to whom was given the earth and the fulness 
thereof, had no rest here, why should we expect it ? 

Or if other men's experiences move you not, do but take a view 
of your own : can you remember the estate that did fully satisfy 
you ? or if you could, will it prove a lasting state ? For my own 
part, I have run through several places and states of life, and though 
I never had the necessities which might occasion discontent, yet 
did I never find a settlement for my soul ; and I believe we may all 
say of our rest, as Paul of our hopes, " If it were in this life only, 
we were of all men most miserable," 1 Cor. xv. 19. Or if you 
will not credit your past experience, you may try in your present or 
future wants ; when conscience is wounded, God offended, your 
bodies weakened, your friends afflicted, see if these can yield you 
rest. If then either Scripture, or reason, or the experience of our- 
selves, and all the world, will satisfy us, we may see there is no 
resting here. And yet how guilty are the generality of professors 
of this sin ! How many halts and stops do we make, before we 
will make the Lord our rest ! How must God even drive us, and 
fire us out of every condition, lest we should sit down and rest 
there ! If he give us prosperity, riches, or honour, we do in our 
hearts dance before them, as the Israelites before their calf, and 



Ckai-. I. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, 4G3 

say, These arc thy gods, and conchule it is good being here. If 
he inibitter all these to us by crosses, liow do we strive to have the 
cross removed, and the Intterness taken away, and are restless till 
our condition be sweetened to us, that we may sit down again and 
rest where we were ! If the Lord, seeing our perverseness, shall 
now proceed in the cure, and take the creature quite away, then 
how do we labour, and care, and cry, and pray, that God would 
restore it, that, if it may be, we may make it our rest again ! And 
while we are deprived of its actual enjoyment, and have not our 
former idol to delight in, yet rather than come to God, we delight 
ourselves in our hopes of recovering our former state ; and as long 
as there is the least likelihood of obtaining it, we make those very 
hopes our rest. If the poor by labouring all their days, have 
but hopes of a fuller estate when they are old, (though a hundred 
to one they die before they have obtained it, or certainly at least 
immediately after,) yet do they labour with patience, and rest them- 
selves on these expectations. Or if God doth take away both pre- 
sent enjoyments, and all hopes of ever recovering them, how do we 
search about, from creature to creature, to find out something to 
supply the room, and to settle upon, instead thereof? Yea, if we 
can find no supply, but are sure we shall live in poverty, in sickness, 
in disgrace, while we are on earth, yet will -we rather settle in this 
misery, and make a rest of a wretched being, than we will leave all 
and come to God. A man would think, that a multitude of poor 
people, who beg their bread, or can scarce with their hardest labour 
have sustenance for their lives, should easily be driven from resting 
here, and w^illingly look to heaven for rest ; and the sick who have 
not a day of ease, nor any hope of recovery left them. But oh 
the cursed averseness of these souls from God! We will rather 
account our misery our happiness, yea, that which we daily groan 
under as intolerable, than we will take up our happiness in God. 
If any place in hell were tolerable, the soul would rather take up its 
rest there, than come to God. Yea, when he is bringing us over to 
him, and hath convinced us of the w^orth of his ways and service, 
the last deceit of all is here, we will rather settle upon those ways 
that lead to him, and those ordinances which speak of him, and 
those gifts which flow from him, than we w'ill come clean over to 
himself. Christian, marvel not that I speak so much of resting in 
these ; beware lest it should prove thy ow n case : I suppose thou 
art so far convinced of the vanity of riches, and honour, and carnal 
pleasure, that thou canst more easily disclaim these, and it is well 
if it be so ; but for thy more spiritual mercies in thy way of pro- 
fession, thou lookest on these with less suspicion, and thinkest they 
are so near to God, that thou canst not delight in them too much, 
especially seeing most of the world despise them, or delight in them 
too little. But doth not the increase of those mercies dull thy 
longings after heaven ? If all were according to thy desire in the 
church, wouldst thou not sit down and say, I am well, soul, take 
thy rest ; and think it a judgment to be removed to heaven ? 
Surely if thy delight in these excel not thy delight in God, or if thou 



464 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

wouldst gladly leave the most happy condition on earth, to be with 
God, then art thou a rare man, a Christian indeed. I know the 
means of grace must be loved and valued, and the usual enjoyment 
of God is in the use of them ; and he that delighteth in any worldly 
thing more than in them, is not a true Christian; but when we are 
content with duty instead of God, and had rather be at a sermon 
than in heaven, and a member of a church here than of that perfect 
church, and rejoice in ordinances but as they are part of our earthly 
prosperity, this is a sad mistake. Many were more willing to go to 
heaven in the former days of persecution, when they had no hopes 
of seeing the church reformed, or delivered : but now men are in 
hopes to have all things almost as they desire, the case is altered ; 
and they begin to look at heaven as strangely and sadly, as if it 
would be a loss to be removed to it. Is this the right use of re- 
formation ? or is this the way to have it continued or perfected ? 
Should our deliverances draw our hearts from God? Oh, how 
much better were it, in every trouble, to fetch our chief arguments 
of comfort from the place where our chiefest rest remains ! And 
when others comfort the poor with hopes of wealth, or the sick with 
hopes of health and life, let us comfort ourselves with the hopes of 
heaven. So far rejoice in the creature, as it comes from God, or 
leads to him, or brings thee some report of his love : so far let thy 
soul take comfort in ordinances, as God doth accompany them with 
quickening, or comfort, or gives himself unto thy soul by them ; 
still remembering, when thou hast even what thou dost desire, yet 
this is not heaven ; yet these are but the first-fruits. Is it not 
enough that God alloweth us all the comfort of travellers, and ac- 
cordingly to rejoice in all his mercies, but we must set up our staff 
as if we were at home ? " While we are present in the body, we 
are absent from the Lord," 2 Cor. v. G — 9 ; and while we are absent 
from him, we are absent from our rest. If God were as willing to 
be absent from us as we from him, and if he were as loth to be our 
rest as we are loth to rest in him, we should be left to an eternal 
restless separation. In a word, as you are sensible of the sinfulness 
of your earthly discontents, so be you also of your irregular con- 
tents, and pray God to pardon them much more. And above all 
the plagues and judgments of God on this side hell, see that you 
watch and pray against this of settling any where short of heaven, 
or reposing your souls to rest on any thing below God. Or else, 
when the bough which you tread on breaks, and the things which 
you rest upon deceive you, you will perceive your labour all lost, and 
your sweetest contents to be preparatives to your woe, and your 
highest hopes will make you ashamed. Try if you can persuade 
Satan to leave tempting, and the world to cease both troubling and 
seducing, and sin to cease inhabiting and acting ; if you can bring 
the glory of God from above, or remove the court from heaven to 
earth, and secure the continuance of this through eternity, then 
settle yourselves below, and say. Soul, take thy rest here ; but till 
then, admit not such a thought. 



Chap. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 465 

CHAPTER 11. 

THE SEVENTH ISR. — REPROVING OUR UNWILLINGNESS TO DIE. 

Sect. I. Is thcro a rost remaining for the people of God ? Why 
are we then so loth to die, and to depart from hence that we may 
possess this rest ? If I may judge of other men's hearts by my 
own, we are exceeding guilty in this point. \\'e linger, as I^ot in 
Sodom, till God being merciful to us, doth pluck us away against 
our wills. How rare is it to meet with a Christian, though of 
strongest parts, and longest profession, that can die with an un- 
feigned willingness ! especially if worldly calamity constrain them 
not to be willing ! Indoed, we sometimes set a good face on it, and 
pretend a willingness when we see there is no remedy, and that our 
unwillingness is only a disgrace to us, but will not help to prolong 
our lives : but if God had enacted such a law for the continuance 
of our livv-^s on earth, as is enacted for the continuance of the par- 
liament,' that we should not be dissolved till our own pleasure, and 
that no man should die till he were truly willing, I fear heaven 
might be empty for the most of us ; and if our worldly prosperity 
did not fade, our lives on earth would be very long, if not eternal. 
We pretend desires of being better prepared, and of doing God 
some greater service, and to that end we beg one year more, and 
another, and another ; but still our promised preparation and service 
are as far to seek as ever before, and we remain as unwilling to die 
as we were when we begged our first reprival. If God were not 
more willing of our company, than we are of his, how long should 
we remain thus distant from him ! And as we had never been 
sanctified if God had staid till we were willing ; so if he should re- 
fer it wholly to ourselves, it would at least be long before we should 
be glorified. I confess that death of itself is not desirable ; but 
the soul's rest is with God, to which death is the common passage. 
And because we are apt to make light of this sin, and to plead our 
common nature to patronize it, let me here set before you its ag- 
gravations ; and also propound some furth(?r considerations, which 
may be useful to you and myself against it. 

Sect. II. And, first, consider what a deal of gross infidelity doth 
lurk in the bowels of this sin. Either paganish unbelief of the 
truth of that eternal blessedness, and of the truth of the Scripture 
which doth promise it to us ; or, at least, a doubting of our own 
interest ; or most usually somewhat of both these. And though 
Christians are usually most sensible of the latter, and therefore 
complain most against it, yet I am apt to suspect the former to be 
the main, radical master-sin, and of greatest force in this business. 
Oh ! if we did but verily believe that the promise of this glory is 
the word of God, and that God doth truly mean as he speaks, and 
is fully resolved to make it good ; if we did verily believe that 
there is, indeed, such blessedness prepared for believers as the 
2 H 



466 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Scripture mentioneth ; sure we should be as impatient of living as 
we are now fearful of dying, and should think every day a year till 
our last day should come. We should as hardly refrain from lay- 
ing violent hands on ourselves, or from the neglecting of the means 
of our health and life, as we do now from over-much carefulness 
and seeking of life by unlawful means. If the eloquent oration of 
a philosopher, concerning the soul's immortality and the life to 
come, could make his affected hearer presently to cast himself 
headlong from the rock, as impatient of any longer delay, what 
would a serious Christian belief do, if God's law against self-mur- 
der did not restrain ? Is it possible that we can truly believe that 
death will remove us from misery to such glory, and yet be loth to 
die ? If it were the doubts of our interest which made us afraid, 
yet a true belief of the certainty and excellency of this rest would 
make us restless till our interest be cleared. If a man that is 
desperately sick to-day, did believe he should arise sound the next 
morning ; or a man to-day, in despicable poverty, had assurance 
that he should to-morrow arise a prince ; would they be afraid to 
go to bed, or rather think it the longest day of their lives, till that 
desired night and morning came ? The truth is, though there is 
much faith and Christianity in our mouths, yet there is much infi- 
delity and paganism in our hearts, which is the main cause that we 
are so loth to die. 

Sect. III. 3. And as the weakness of our faith, so also the cold- 
ness of our love, is exceedingly discovered by our unwillingness to 
die. Love doth desire the nearest conjunction, the fullest fruition, 
and closest communion. Where these desires are absent, there is 
only a naked pretence of love. He that ever felt such a thing as 
love working in his breast, hath also felt these desires attending it. 
If we love our friend, we love his company : his presence is com- 
fortable, his absence is troublesome. When he goes from us, we 
desire his return : when he comes to us, we entertain him with 
welcome and gladness ; when he dies, we mourn, and usually over- 
mourn. To be separated from a faithful friend, is to us as the 
renting of a member from our bodies : and would not our desires 
after God be such, if we really loved him? Nay, should it not be 
much more than such, as he is above all friends most lovely ? The 
Lord teach us to look closely to our hearts, and take heed of self- 
deceit in this point : for, certainly, whatever we pretend or conceit, 
if we love either father, mother, husband, wife, child, friend, wealth, 
or life, more than Christ, we are yet none of his sincere disciples. 
When it comes to the trial, the question will not be who hath 
preached most, or heard most, or talked most, but who hath loved 
most. When our account is given, Christ will not take sermons, 
prayers, fastings ; no, not the giving of our goods, nor the burning 
of our bodies, instead of love, 1 Cor. xiii. 1 — 4, 8, 13; xvi. 22; 
Eph. vi. 24. And do we love him, and yet care not how long we 
are from him ? If I be deprived of my bosom friend, methinks I 
am as a man in a wilderness, solitary and disconsolate : and is my 
absence from God no part of my trouble ; and yet can I take him 



Ch.ai'. II. the SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 4Q^ 

for my chiefest friend ? If I delight but in some garden, or walk, 
or gallery, I would be much in it : if I love my books, I am much 
with them, and almost unwcariedly poring on them. The food 
which I love, I would often feed on ; the clothes that I love, I 
would often wear ; the recreations which I love, I would often use 
them ; the business which I love, I would be nmch employed in. 
And can I love God, and that above all those, and yet have no de- 
sires to be with him ? Is it not a far likelier sign of hatred- than 
of love, when the thoughts of our appearing before God are our 
most grievous thoughts ; and when we take ourselves as undone, 
because we must die and come unto him ? Surely I should scarce 
take him for an unfeigned friend, who were as well contented to be 
absent from me, as we ordinarily are to be absent from God. Was 
it such a joy to Jacob to see the face of Joseph in Egypt, and shall 
we so dread the sight of Christ in glory, and yet say we love him ? 
I dare not conclude that we have no love at all when we are so loth 
to die ; but I dare say, were our love more, we should die more 
willingly. Yea, I dare say, did we love God but as strongly as a 
worldling loves his wealth, or as an ambitious man his honour, or a 
voluptuous man his pleasure ; yea, as a drunkard loves his swinish 
delight, or an unclean person his brutish lust ; we should not then 
be so exceeding loth to leave the world, and go to God. Oh ! if 
this holy flame of love were thoroughly kindled in our breasts, in- 
stead of our pressing fears, our dolorous complaints, and earnest 
prayers against death, we should join in David's wilderness lament- 
ations : " As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth 
my soul after thee, O God : my soul thirsteth for God, for the liv- 
ing God; when shall I come and appear before God?" Psal. xlii. 
1, 2. The truth is, as our knowledge of God is exceeding dark, 
and our faith in him exceeding feeble ; so is our love to him but 
little, and therefore are our desires after him so dull. 

Sect. IV. 3. It appears we are little weary of sinning, when we 
are so unwilling to be freed by dying. Did we take sin for the 
greatest evil, we should not be willing of its company so long ; did 
we look on sin as our cruellest enemy, and on a sinful life as the 
most miserable life, sure we should then be more willing of a 
change. But, oh ! how far are our hearts from our doctrinal pro- 
fession, in this point also ! We preach, and write, and talk against 
sin, and call it all that naught is ; and when we are called to leave 
it, we are loth to depart : we brand it with the most odious names 
that wc can imagine, and all fall short of expressing its vileness ; 
but when the approach of death puts us to the trial, we choose a 
continuance with these abominations, before the presence and 
fruition of God. But as Nemon smote his soldier for railing against 
Alexander's enemy, saying, " I hired thee to fight against him, and 
not to rail against him ;" so may God smite us also when he shall 
hear our tongues reviling that sin which we resist so slothfully, and 
part with so unwillingly. Christians, seeing we are conscious that 
our hearts deserve a smiting for this, let us join together to chide 
and smite our own hearts, before God do judge and smite them. 
2 H 2 



468 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

O foolish, sinful heart ! hast thou been so long a sink of sin, a cage 
of all unclean lusts, a fountain incessantly streaming forth the bitter 
and deadly waters of transgression : and art thou not yet more 
weary ? Wretched soul ! hast thou been so long wounded in all thy 
faculties ; so grievously languishing in all thy performances ; so 
fruitful a soil for all iniquities ; and art thou not yet weary ? Hast 
thou not yet transgressed long enough ; nor long enough provoked 
thy Lord; nor long enough abused love ? Wouldst thou yet grieve 
the Spirit more, and sin against thy Saviour's blood, and more in- 
crease thine own wounds, and still lie under thy grievous imperfec- 
tions ? Hath thy sin proved so profitable a commodity, so necessary 
a companion, such a delightful employment, that thou dost so much 
dread the parting day? Hath thy Lord deserved this at thy hands, 
that thou shouldst choose to continue in the suburbs of hell, rather 
than live with him in light ; and rather stay and drudge in sin, 
and abide with his and thy own professed enemy, than come away 
and dwell with God ? May not God justly grant thee thy wishes, 
and seal thee a lease of thy desired distance, and nail thy ear to 
these doors of misery, and exclude thee eternally from his glory ? 
Foolish sinner ! who hath wronged thee, God or sin ? Who hath 
wounded thee and caused thy groans ? Who hath made thy life so 
woeful, and caused thee to spend thy days in dolour ? Is it Christ, 
or is it thy corruption ? and art thou yet so loth to think of parting? 
Shall God be willing to dwell with man, and the Spirit to abide in 
thy peevish heart ; and that where sin doth straiten his room, and 
a cursed inmate inhabit with him, which is ever quarrelling and 
contriving against him ; and shall man be loth to come to God, 
where is nothing but perfect blessedness and glory ? Is not this to 
judge ourselves unworthy of everlasting life ? If they in Acts xiii. 
46, who put the gospel from them, did judge themselves unworthy, 
do not we who flee from life and glory ? 

Sect. V. 4. It shows that we are insensible of the vanity of the 
creature, and of the vexation accompanying our residence here, 
when we are so loth to hear or think of a removal. Whatever we 
say against the world, or how grievous soever our complaints may 
seem ; we either believe not or feel not what we say, or else we 
should be answerably affected to it. We call the world our enemy, 
and cry out of the oppression of our task-masters, and groan under 
our sore bondage ; but either we speak not as we think, or else we 
imagine some singular happiness to consist in the possession of 
worldly things, for which all this should be endured. Is any man 
loth to leave his prison, or to remove his dwelling from his cruel 
enemies, or to escape the hands of murderous robbers ? Do we 
take the world indeed for our prison, our cruel, spoiling, murderous 
foe ; and yet are we loth to leave it ? Do we take this flesh for the 
clog of our spirits ; and a veil that is drawn betwixt us and God ; and 
a continual in-dwelling traitor to our souls ; and yet are we loth to lay 
it down ? Indeed, Peter was smitten by the angel (Acts xii. 7 — 9), be- 
fore he arose and left his prison ; but it was more from his ignorance 
of his intended deliverance, than any unwillingness to leave the place. 



CuM'. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 4t>9 

I have read of Joseph's long imprisonment, and Daniel's casting 
into the den of lions, and Jercniiah's sticking fast in the dungeon, 
and Jonah's lying in tiie belly of the whale, and David from the 
deep crying to Ciod ; but I remember not that any w<>re loth to be 
delivered. I have read, indeed, that they suffered cheerfully, and 
rejoiced in being afflicted, destitute, and tormented ; yea, and that 
some of them would not accept of deliverance, Heb. xi. : but not from 
any love to the suffering, or any unwillingness to change their condi- 
tion, but because of the hard terms of their deliverance, and from 
the hope tliey had of a better resurrection. Though Paul and Silas 
could sing in the stocks, Acts xvi. 25, and comfortably bear the 
cruel scourgings, yet I do not believe they were unwilling to go 
forth, nor took it ill when God released them. Ah, foolish, 
wretched soul ! doth every prisoner groan for freedom, and every 
slave desire his jubilee, and every sick man long for health, and 
every hungry man for food j and dost thou alone abhor deliverance ? 
Doth the seaman long to see the land? Doth the husbandman 
desire the harvest, and the labouring man to receive his pay ? 
Doth the traveller long to be at home, and the runner long to win 
the prize, and the soldier long to win the field ? And art thou loth 
to see thy labours finished, and to receive the end of thy faith and 
sufferings, and to obtain the thing for which thou livest ? Are all 
thy sufferings only seeming? Have thy gripes, thy griefs and 
groans, been only dreams ? If they were, yet methinks w' e shoxild 
not be afraid of waking. Fearful dreams are not delightful. Or, 
is it not rather the world's delights that are all mere dreams and 
shadows? Is not all its glory as the light of a glow-worm, a wan- 
dering fire, yielding but small directing light, and as little comfort- 
ing heat in all our doubtful and sorrowful darkness ? Or, hath the 
world, in these its latter days, laid aside its ancient enmity ? Is it 
become of late more kind { Hath it left its thorny, renting nature? 
Who hath wrought this great change, and who hath made this re- 
conciliation ? Surely, not the great Reconciler. He hath told us, 
in the world we shall have trouble, and in him only we shall have 
peace. We may reconcile ourselves to the world at our peril, but 
it will never reconcile itself to us. O foolish, unworthy soul, who 
hadst rather dwell in this land of darkness, and rather w-ander in 
this barren wilderness, than be at rest with Jesus Christ ; who 
hadst rather stay among the wolves, and daily suffer the scorpions' 
stings, than to praise the Lord with the hosts of heaven. If thou 
didst well know what heaven is, and what earth is, it would not 
be so. 

Sect. VI. 5. This unwillingness to die, doth actually impeach us of 
high treason against the Lord : is it not a choosing of earth before 
him ; and taking these present things for our happiness, and con- 
sequently making them our very God ? If we did indeed make 
God our God, that is, our end, our rest, our portion, our treasure, 
how is it possible but we should desire to enjoy him ? It behoves 
us the rather to be fearful of this, it being utterlv inconsistent with 



470 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

saving grace, to value any thing before God, or to make the crea- 
ture our highest end. Many other sins, foul and great, may possibly 
yet consist with sincerity ; but so, I am certain, cannot that. But 
concerning this I have spoken before. 

Sect. VII. G. And all these defects being thus discovered, what 
a deal of dissembling doth it moreover show ! We take on us to 
believe undoubtedly the exceeding, eternal weight of glory ; we call 
God our chiefest good, and say. We love him above all ; and for 
all this, we flee from him as if it were from hell itself. Would you 
have any man believe you, when you call the Lord your only hope, 
and speak of Christ as all in all, and talk of the joy that is in his 
presence, and yet would endure the hardest life rather than die, 
and come into his presence ? What self-contradiction this, to talk 
so hardly of the world and flesh, to groan and complain of sin and 
suffering, and yet fear no day more than that which we expect 
should bring our final freedom ! What shameless, gross dissem- 
bling is this, to spend so many hours and days in hearing sermons, 
reading books, conferring with others, and all to learn the way to a 
place which we are loth to come to ; to take on us all our life-time 
to walk towards heaven, to run, to strive, to fight for heaven, which 
we are loth to come to ! What apparent, palpable hypocrisy is this, 
to lie upon our knees in public and private, and spend one hour 
after another in prayer for that which we would not have ! If one 
should overhear thee in thy daily devotions crying out. Lord, de- 
liver me from this body of death, from this sin, this sickness, this 
poverty, these cares and fears ; how long, Lord, shall I suffer these ? 
and withal should hear thee praying against death, can he believe 
thy tongue agrees with thy heart ? except thou have so far lost thy 
reason as to expect all this here ; or except the papists' doctrine 
were true, that we are able to fulfil the law of God ; or our late 
perfectionists are truly enlightened, who think they can live and 
not sin : but if thou know these to be undoubtedly false, how canst 
thou deny thy gross dissembling ? 

Sect. VIII. 7. Consider, How do we wrong the Lord and his 
promises, and disgrace his ways in the eyes of the world ! As if 
we would actually persuade them to question, whether God be true 
to his word or no ; whether there be any such glory as Scripture 
mentions ; when they see those who have professed to live by faith, 
and have boasted of their hopes in another world, and persuaded 
others to let go all for these hopes, and spoken disgracefully of all 
things below, in comparison of these unexpressible things above ; 
I say, when they see these very men so loth to leave their hold of 
present things, and to go to that glory which they talked and boast- 
ed of, how doth it make the weak to stagger, and confirm the world 
in their unbelief and sensuality ; and make them conclude, Sure if 
these professors did expect so much glory, and make so light of the 
world as they seem, they would not themselves be so loth of a 
change ! Oh, how are we ever able to repair the wrong which we 
do to God and poor souls by this scandal ! and, what an honour to 



Chai'. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTINU REST. 47 1 

God, what a strengtheninc:f to believers, what a conviction to un- 
believers, would it be, if Christians in this did answer their pro- 
fessions, and cheerfully welcome the news of rest ! 

Sect. IX. 8. It evidently discovers that we have been careless 
loiterers, that we have spent much time to little purpose, and that 
we have neglected and lost a great many warnings. Have we not 
had all our life-time to prepare to die t so many years to make 
ready for one hour, and are we so unready and unwilling yet ? What 
have we done, why have we lived, that the business of our lives is 
so much undone? Had we any greater matters to mind ? Have 
we not foolishly wronged our souls in this ? Would we have wished 
more frequent warnings ? How oft hath death entered the habita- 
tions of our neighbours ! How oft hath it knocked at our own doors ! 
W' e have first heard that such a one is dead, and then such a one, 
and such a one, till our towns have changed most of their inhabit- 
ants ; and was not all this a sufl&cient warning to tell us that we 
were also mortals, and our own turn would shortly come ? Nay, 
we have seen death raging in towns and fields, so many hundred a 
day dead of the pestilence, so many thousands slain by the sword ; 
and did we not know it would reach to us at last ? How many dis- 
tempers have vexed our bodies ; frequent languishings, consuming 
weaknesses, wasting fevers ; here pain, and there trouljle ; that we 
have been forced to receive the sentence of death : and what were 
all these but so many messengers sent from God to tell us we must 
shortly die, as if we had heard a lively voice bidding us, Delay no 
more, but make you ready : and are we unready and unwilling after 
all this ? O careless, dead-hearted sinners, unworthy neglecters of 
God's warning, faithless betrayers of our own souls ! 

All these heinous aggravations do lie upon this sin of unwilling- 
ness to die, which I have laid down to make it hateful to my own 
soul, which is too much guilty of it, as well as yours ; and for a 
fui'ther help to our prevailing against it, I shall adjoin these follow- 
ing considerations : 

Sect. X. 1. Consider, " Not to die," were " never to be happy." 
To escape death, were to miss of blessedness ; except God should 
translate us as Enoch and Elias, which he never did before or since. 
If our hope in Christ were in this life only, we were then of all men 
most miserable : the epicure hath more pleasure to his flesh than 
the Christian ; the drunkard, the whoremaster, and the jovial lads,- 
do swagger it out with gallantry and mirth, when a poor saint is 
mourning in a corner : yea, the very beasts of the field do eat, and 
drink, and skip, and play, and care for nothing, when many a 
Christian dwells with sorrows : so that if you would not die, and 
go to heaven, what would you have more than an epicure or a 
beast ? What doth it avail us to fight with beasts, as men, if it 
were not for our hopes of a life to come ? why do we pray, and fast, 
and mourn ; why do we suffer the contempt of the world ; why are 
we the scorn and hatred of all ; if it were not for our hopes after we 
are dead ? ^^ by are we Christians, and not pagans and infidels, if 
we do not desire a life to come ? Why, Christian, wouldst thou 



472 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

lose thy faith, and lose thy labour in all thy duties and all thy suf- 
ferings ? AVouldst thou lose thy hope, and lose all the end of thy 
life, and lose all the blood of Christ, and be contented with the 
portion of a worldling or a brute ? If thou say no to this, how canst 
thou then be loth to die ? As good old Milius said, when he lay a 
dying, and was asked whether he was willing to die or no, Illiiis est 
nolle mori, qui. nolit ire ad CJrristiim. A saying of Cyprian's, which 
he oft repeated, " Let him be loth to die, who is loth to be with 
Christ." 

Sect. XI. 2. Consider, Is God willing by death to glorify us ; 
and are we unwilling to die that we may be glorified ? Would God 
freely give us heaven ; and are we unwilling to receive it ? As the 
prince who would have taken the lame beggar into his coach, and 
he refused, said to him, Opiime mereris qui in luto Juereas, Thou 
well deservest to stick in the dirt ; so may God to the refusers of 
rest. You well deserve to live in trouble. Methinks, if a prince 
were willing to make you his heir, you should scarce be unwilling 
to accept it. Sure the refusing of such a kindness must needs dis- 
cover ingratitude and unworthiness. As God hath resolved against 
them who make excuses when they should come to Christ, " Verily, 
none of these that were bidden shall taste of my supper ;" so is it 
just with him to resolve against us who frame excuses when we 
should come to glory. Ignatius, when he was condemned to be 
torn with wild beasts, was so afraid, lest by the prayers and means 
of his friends, he should lose the opportunity and benefit of martyr- 
dom, that he often entreats them to let him alone, and not hinder 
his happiness ; and tells them he was afraid of their love, lest it 
would hurt him, and their carnal friendship would keep him from 
death. 

Sect. XII. 3. The Lord Jesus was willing to come from heaven 
to earth for us, and shall we be unwilling to i^emove from earth to 
heaven for ourselves and him ? Sure if we had been once possessed 
of heaven, and God should have sent us to earth again, as he did 
his Son for our sakes, we should then have been loth to remove in- 
deed. It was another kind of change than ours is, which Christ 
did freely submit unto, to clothe himself with the garments of flesh, 
and to take upon him the form of a servant ; to come from the 
bosom of the Father's love to bear his wrath which we should have 
borne. Shall he come down to our hell, from the height of glory 
to the depth of misery, to bring us up to his eternal rest I and shall 
we be after this unwilling ? Sure Christ had more cause to be un- 
willing ; he might have said. What is it to me if these sinners 
suffer ? If they value their flesh above their spirits, and their lusts 
above my Father's love, if they needs will sell their souls for 
nought, who is it fit should be the loser ; and who should bear the 
blame and curse ? Should I whom they have wronged ] Must they 
wilfully transgress my law, and I undergo their deserved pain ? Is 
it not enough that I bear the trespass from them, but I must also 
bear my Father's wrath, and satisfy the justice which they have 
wronged ? Must I come down from heaven to earth, and clothe 



Chap. II. THE SAliNTS' EVERLASTING REST. 473 

niyseU'with human flesh ; be spit upon, and scorned by man ; and 
fast, and weep, and sweat, and suiler, and bleed, and die a cursed 
death ; and all this for wretched worms, who would rather hazard 
all they had, and venture their souls and God's favour, than they 
would forbear but one forbidden morsel ? Do they cast away them- 
selves so slightly, and nmst I redeem them again so dearly i Thus 
"we see that Christ had much to have pleaded against his coming 
down for man, and yet he pleaded none of this ; he had reason 
enough to have made him unwilling, and yet did he voluntarily 
condescend. But we have no reason against our coming to him, 
except we will reason against our hopes, and plead for a perpetuity 
of our own calamities. Christ came down to fetch us up, and would 
we have him lose his blood and labour, and go away again without 
us .' Hath he bought our rest at so dear a rate ? Is our inherit- 
ance purchased with the blood of God, and are we after all this loth 
to enter i Ah ! sirs, it was Christ, and not we, that had cause to 
be loth. The Lord forgive and heal this foolish ingratitude. 

Sect. XIII. 4. Consider, Do we not combine with our most 
cruel, mortal foes, and jump with them in their most malicious de- 
sign, while we are loth to die and go to heaven ? Where is the 
height of their malice ; and what is the scope of all temptations ; 
and what is the devil's daily business ? Is it not to keep our souls 
from God .'' And shall we be well content with this, and join with 
Satan in our desires ? What though it be not those eternal tor- 
ments, yet it is the one half of hell which we wish to ourselves, while 
we desire to be absent from heaven and God. If thou shouldst 
take counsel of all thine enemies, if thou shouldst beat thy brains 
both night and day in studying to do thyself a mischief, what greater 
than this could it possibly be, to continue here on earth from God; 
excepting only hell itself.' Oh, what sport is this to Satan, that his 
desires and thine should so concur ; that when he sees he cannot 
get thee to hell, he can so long keep thee out of heaven, and make 
thee the earnest petitioner for it thyself! Oh, gratify not the devil 
so much to thy own displeasure ! 

Sect. XIV. 5. Do not our daily fears of death make our lives a 
continual torment ? The fears of death being, as Erasnms saith, a 
sorer evil than death itself. And thus, as Paul did die daily in re- 
gard of preparation, and in regard of the necessary sullerings of this 
life, so do we in regard of the torments and the useless sufferings 
•which we make ourselves. Those lives which might be full of joys 
in the daily contemplation of the life to come, and the sweet, de- 
lightful thoughts of bliss, how do we fill them up with terrors through 
all these causeless thoughts and fears ! Thus do we consume our 
own comforts, and prey upon our truest pleasures. When we might 
lie down, and rise up, and walk abroad, with our hearts full of the 
joys of God, we continually fill them with perplexing fears. For 
he that fears dying, must be always fearing, because he hath always 
cause to expect it. And how can that man's life be comfortable, 
who lives in continual fear of losing his comforts? 

Sect. XV. 6. Moreover, All these are self-created sufferings; 



474 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

as if it were not enough to be the cleservers, but we must also be the 
executioners of our own calamities. As if God had not inflicted 
enough upon us, but we must inflict more upon ourselves ! Is not 
death bitter enough to the flesh of itself, but we must double, and 
treble, and multiply its bitterness ? Do we complain so much of 
the burden of our troubles, and yet daily add unto the weight ? Sure 
the state of poor mortals is sufficiently calamitous ; they need not 
make it so much worse. The sufferings laid upon us by God, do 
all lead to happy issues ; the progress is from suffering to patience, 
from thence to experience, and so to hope, and at last to glory, 
Rom. V. 3, 4 ; viii. 17. But the sufferings which we do make our- 
selves, have usually issues answerable to their causes. The motion 
is circular and endless ; from sin to suffering, from suffering to sin, 
and so to suffering again, and so in infinitum : and not only so, but 
they multiply in their course ; every sin is greater than the former, 
and so every suffering also greater. This is the natural progress of 
them, which, if mercy do intercept, no thanks to us. So that, except 
we think that God hath made us to be our own tormentors, we 
have small reason to nourish our fears of death. 

Sect. XVI. 7. Consider, further. They are all but useless, un- 
profitable fears. As all our care cannot make one hair white or 
black, or add one cubit to our stature. Matt. v. 36 ; vi. 27 ; so can 
neither our fear prevent our sufferings, nor delay our dying time an 
hour ; willing or unwilling, we must away. Many a man's fears 
have hastened his end, but no man's ever did avert it. It is true, a 
cautelous fear or care concerning the danger after death, hath pro- 
fited many, and is very useful to the preventing of that danger ; but 
for a member of Christ, and an heir of heaven, to be afraid of enter- 
ing his own inheritance, this is a sinful, useless fear. 

Sect. XVII. 8. But though it be useless in respect of good, yet 
to Satan it is very serviceable. Our fears of dying insnare our 
souls, and add strength to many temptations. Nay, when we are 
called to die for Christ, and put to it in a day of trial, it may draw 
us to deny the known truth, and forsake the Lord God himself. 
You look upon it now as a small sin, a common frailty of human 
nature ; but if you look to the dangerous consequences of it, me- 
thinks it should move you to other thoughts. What made Peter 
deny his Lord ? What makes apostates in suffering times forsake 
the truth, and the green blade of unrooted faith to wither before 
the heat of persecution ? Fear of imprisonment and poverty may 
do much, but fear of death will do much more. When you see the 
gibbet, or hear the sentence, if this fear of dying prevail in you, you 
will straight begin to say as Peter, " I know not the man." When 
you see the faggots set, and fire ready, you will say as that apos- 
tate to the martyr, " Oh ! the fire is hot, and nature is frail," for- 
getting that the fire of hell is hotter. Sirs, as light as you make of 
it, you know not of what force these fears are to separate your souls 
from Jesus Christ. Have we not lately had frequent experience of 
it ? How many thousands have fled in fight, and turned their backs 
on a good cause, where they knew the honour of God was concerned. 



Chai". U. TilE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 475 

and their country's welfiuo was the prize for which they fought, and 
the hopes of their posterity did lie at the stake, and all through 
unworthy fear of dying ! Have we not known those who, lying 
under a wounded conscience, and living in the practice of some 
known sin, durst scarce look the enemy in the face, because they 
durst not look death in the face, but have trembled, and drawn 
back, and cried, Alas ! I dare not die : if I were in the case of such 
and such, I durst die. He that dare not die, dare scarce fight 
valiantly. Therefore, we have seen in our late wars, that there is 
none more valiant than these two sorts: 1. Those who have con- 
quered the fear of death by the power of faith ; 2. And those who 
have extinguished it by desperate profaneness, and cast it away 
through stupid security. So much fear as we have of death, usually 
so much cowardice in the cause of God. However, it is an evident 
temptation and snare. Besides the multitude of unbelieving con- 
trivances and discontents at the wise disposals of God, and hard 
thoughts of most of his providences, which this sin doth make us 
guilty of: besides, also, it loseth us much precious time, and that 
for the most part near our end. When time should be most pre- 
cious of all to us, and when it should be employed to better purpose, 
then do we vainly and sinfully waste it in the fruitless issues of these 
distracting fears. So that you see how dangerous a snare these 
fears are, and how fruitful a parent of many evils. 

Sect. XVm. 9. Consider, What a competent time the most of 
us have had ; some thirty, some forty, some fifty or sixty years. 
How many come to the grave younger, for one that lives to the 
shortest of these ! Christ himself, as is generally thought, lived 
but thirty-three years on earth. If it were to come, as it is past, 
you would think thirty years a long time. Did you not, long ago, in 
your threatening sickness, think with yourselves. Oh, if I might but 
enjoy one seven years more, or ten years more ! And now you have 
enjoyed perhaps more than you then begged, and are you neverthe- 
less unwilling yet ? except you would not die at all, but desire an 
immortality here on earth, which is a sin inconsistent with the 
truth of grace. If your sorrow be merely this, that you are mortal, 
you might as well have lamented it all your lives, for sure you 
could never be ignorant of this. Why should not a man that would 
die at all, be as w-ell willing at thirty or forty, if God see it meet, 
as at seventy or eighty ; nay, usually when the longest day is come, 
men are as loth to depart as ever. He that loseth so many years, 
hath more cause to bewail his own neglect, than to complain of the 
shortness of his time, and were better lament the wickedness of his 
life, than the brevity. Length of time doth not conquer corrup- 
tion, it never withers nor decays through age. Except we receive 
an addition of grace, as well as time, we naturally grow the older 
the worse. Let us, then, be contented with our allotted propor- 
tion. And as we are convinced that we should not murmur against 
our assigned degree of wealth, of health, of honour, and other things 
here, so let us not be discontented with our allowed proportion of 
time. O my soul, depart in peace ! Hast thou not here enjoyed a 



476 THE SAIKTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

competent sliare ? As thou wouldst not desire an unlimited state in 
wealth and honour, so desire it not in point of time. Is it fit that 
God or thou should be the sharer. If thou wert sensible how little 
thou deservest an hour of that patience which thou hast enjoyed, 
thou wouldst think thou hast had a large part. Wouldst thou 
have thy age called back again ? canst thou eat thy bread, and 
have it too ? Is it not Divine wisdom that sets the bounds 1 God 
will not let one have all the work, nor all the suffering, nor all the 
honour of the work. He will honour himself by variety of instru- 
ments ; by various persons and several ages, and not by one person 
or age. Seeing thou hast acted thine own part, and finished thine 
appointed course, come down contentedljr, that others may suc- 
ceed, who must have their turns as well as thou. As of all other 
outward things, so also of that time and life, thou mayst as well 
have too much as too little : only of God and eternal life, thou 
canst never enjoy too much, nor too long. Great receivings will 
have great accounts ; where the lease is longer, the fine and rent 
must be the greater. Much time hath much duty. Is it not as 
easy to answer for the receivings and the duties of thirty years, as 
of a hundred ? Beg therefore for grace to improve it better, but 
be contented with thy share of time. 

Sect. XIX. 10. Consider, Thou hast had a competency of the 
comforts of life, and not of naked time alone. God might have 
made thy life a misery ; till thou hadst been as weary of possessing 
it, as thou art no ,. afraid of losing it. If he had denied thee the 
benefits and ends of living, thy life would have been but a slender 
comfort. They in hell have life as well as we, and longer far than 
they desire. God might have suffered thee to have consumed thy 
days in ignorance, or to have spent thy life to the last hour, before 
he brought thee home to himself, and given thee the saving know- 
ledge of Christ ; and then thy life had been short, though thy time 
long. But he hath opened thine eyes in the morning of thy days, 
and acquainted thee betimes with the trade of thy life. I know 
the best are but negligent loiterers, and spend not their time ac- 
cording to its worth ; but yet he that hath a hundred years' time, 
and loseth it all, lives not so long as he that hath but twenty, and 
bestows it well. It is too soon to go to hell at a hundred years old, 
and not too soon to go to heaven at twenty. The means are to be 
valued in reference to their end : that is the best means which 
speediliest and surest obtaineth the end. He that hath enjoyed 
most of the ends of life, hath had the best life, and not he that 
hath lived longest. You that are acquainted with the life of grace, 
what if you live but twenty or thirty years, would you change it for 
a thousand years of wickedness ? God might have let you have 
lived like the ungodly world, and then you would have had cause 
to be afraid of dying. We have lived in a place and time of light ; 
in Europe, not in Asia, Africa, or America ; in England, not in 
Spain or Italy ; in the age when knowledge doth most abound, and 
not in our forefathers' days of darkness. We have lived among 
Bibles, sermons, books, and Christians. As one acre of fruitful 



Chai'. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. -177 

soil is better than many of barren conunons ; as the possession of a 
kingdom for one year is better than a lease of a cottage for twenty ; 
so twenty or thirty years' living in such a place or age as we, is 
better than Methuselah's age, in the case of most of the world be- 
sides. And shall we not then be contented with our portion ? If 
we who are ministers of the gospel have seen abundant fruit of our 
labours ; if God have blessed our labour in seven years, more than 
some others in twenty or thirty ; if God have made us the happy, 
though unworthy, means of converting and saving more souls at a 
sermon, than some better men in all their lives ; what cause have 
we to complain of the shortness of our time in the work of God? 
Would unprofitable, unsuccessful preaching have been comfortable ? 
Will it do us good to labour to little purpose, so we may but labour 
long ? If our desires of living are for the service of the church, as 
our deceitful hearts are still pretending, then sure if God honour us 
to do the more service, though in the lesser time, we have our 
desire. God will have each to have his share ; when we have had 
ours, let us rest contented. Persuade, then, thy backward soul to 
its duty, and argue down these dreadful thoughts. Unworthy 
wretch ! hath thy Father allowed thee so large a part, and caused 
thy lot to fall so well, and given thee thine abode in pleasant places, 
and filled up all thy life with mercies, and dost thou think thy share 
too small ? Is not that which thy life doth want in length, made 
up in breadth, and weight, and sweetness ? Lay all together, and 
look about thee, and tell me how many of thy neighbours have 
more ; how many in all the town or country have had a better 
share than thou. Why mightest not thou have been one of the 
thousands, whose carcasses thou hast seen scattered as dung on the 
earth ; or why mightest not thou have been one that is useless in 
the church, and an unprofitable burden to the place thou livest in ? 
What a multitude of hours of consolation ; of delightful sabbaths ; 
of pleasant studies ; of precious companions ; of wondrous deliver- 
ances ; of excellent opportunities; of fruitful labours; of joyful 
tidings ; of sweet experiences ; of astonishing providences ; hath 
thy life partaken of! So that many a hundred who have each of 
them lived a hundred years, have not altogether enjoyed so much, 
and yet art thou not satisfied with thy lot ? Hath thy life been so 
sweet that thou art loth to leave it ? Is that the thanks thou re- 
turnest to him, who sweetened it to draw thee to his own sweet- 
ness ? Indeed, if this had been all thy portion, I could not blame 
thee to be discontented. And yet let me tell thee too, that of all 
these poor souls, who have no other portion, but receive all their 
good things in this life, there is few or none even of them who ever 
had so full a share as thyself. And hast thou not, then, had a fair 
proportion, for one that must shortly have heaven besides ? O fool- 
ish soul ! would thou wert as covetous after eternity, as thou art for 
a fading, perishing life ; and after the blessed presence of God, as 
thou art for continuance with earth and sin ! Then thou wouldst 
rather look through the windows, and cry through the lattices. 



478 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Paut IV. 

" Why is his chariot so long a coming ; why tarry the wheels of his 
chariots?" Judg. v. 28, How long, Lord ! how long ! 

Sect. XX. 11. Consider, What if God should grant thy desire, 
and let thee live yet many years, but withal should strip thee of 
the comforts of life, and deny thee the mercies which thou hast 
hitherto enjoyed ; would this be a blessing worth the begging for ? 
Might not God in judgment give thee life, as he gave the murmur- 
ing Israelites quails ; or as he ofttimes give men riches and honour, 
when he sees them over-earnest for it ? Might he not justly say to 
thee. Seeing thou hadst rather linger on earth, than come away 
and enjoy my presence ; seeing thou art so greedy of life, take it, 
and a curse with it ; never let fruit grow on it more, nor the sun of 
comfort shine upon it, nor the dew of my blessing ever water it. 
Let thy table be a snare ; let thy friends be thy sorrow ; let thy 
riches be corrupted, and the rust of thy silver eat thy flesh, James 
V. 2, 3. Go, hear sermons as long as thou wilt, but let never sermon 
do thee good more ; let all thou hearest make against thee, and 
increase the smart of thy wounded spirit. If thou love preaching 
better than heaven, go and preach till thou be weary, but never 
profit soul more. Sirs, what if God should thus chastise our in- 
ordinate desires of living, were it not just ? and what good would 
our lives then do us ? Seest thou not some that spend their days on 
their couch in groaning; and some in begging by the highway 
sides ; and others in seeking bread from door to door ; and most 
of the world in labouring for food and raiment, and living only 
that th( y may live, and losing the ends and benefits of life ? Why, 
what good would such a life do thee, were it never so long ; when 
thy soul shall serve thee only instead of salt, to keep thy body from 
stinking ? God might give thee life, till thou art weary of living, 
and as glad to be rid of it as Judas or Ahithophel, and make thee 
like many miserable creatures in the world, who can hardly forbear 
laying violent hands on themselves. Be not, therefore, so impor- 
tunate for life, which may prove a judgment instead of a blessing. 

Sect. XXI, 12. Consider, How many of the precious saints of 
God, of all ages and places, have gone before thee. Thou art not 
to enter an untrodden path, nor appointed first to break the ice. 
Except only Enoch and Elias, which of the saints have escaped 
death ? And art thou better than they ? There are many millions 
of saints dead, more than do now remain on earth. What a number 
of thine own bosom friends, and intimate acquaintance, and com- 
panions in duty, are now there ; and why shouldst thou be so loth 
to follow ? Nay, hath not Jesus Christ himself gone this way ? 
Hath he not sanctified the grave to us, and perfumed the dust with 
his own body ; and art thou loth to follow him too ? Oh ! rather 
let us say as Thomas, " Let us also go, and die with him;" or 
rather, let us suffer with him, that we may be glorified together 
with him. 

Many such-like considerations might be added, as, that Christ 
hath taken out the sting ; how light the saints have made of it ; 



Chap. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 479 

how cheerfully the very pagans have entertained it ! &c. . But be- 
cause all that is hitherto spoken, is also conduciblc to the same 
purpose, I pass them by. li" what hath been said will not persuade, 
Scripture and reason have little force. 

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

Sect. XXII. I will only yet answer some objections, and so con- 
clude this use. 

Ohjcrt. 1. Oh! if I were but certain of heaven, I should then 
never stick at dying. 

A/isw. 1. Search, for all that, whether some of the forementioned 
causes may not be in fault, as well as this. 

2. Didst thou not say so long ago ? Have you not been in this 
song this many years 't If you are yet uncertain, whose fault is 
it ? You have had nothing else to do with your lives, nor no greater 
matter than this to mind. Were you not better presently fall to 
the trial, till you have put the question out of doubt 1 Must God 
stay while you trifle ; and must his patience be continued to 
cherish your negligence ? If thou have played the loiterer, do so 
no longer. Go, search thy soul, and follow the search close, till 
thou come to a clear discovery. Begin to-night ; stay not till the 
next morning. Certainty comes not by length of time, but by the 
blessing of the Spirit upon wise and faithful trial. You may linger 
out thus twenty years more, and be still as uncertain as now 
you are. 

3. A perfect certainty may not be expected; we shall still be 
deficient in that as well as in other things. They who think the 
apostle speaks absolutely, and not comparatively, of a perfect 
assurance in the very degree, when he mentions a|j)lerophory or full 
assurance, I know no reason but they may expect perfection in all 
things else as well as this. When you have done all, you will 
know this but in part. If your belief of that scripture which saith, 
" Believe and be saved," be imperfect ; and if your knowledge, 
whether your own deceitful hearts do sincerely believe or not, be 
imperfect ; or if but one of these two be imperfect, the result or 
conclusion must needs be so too. If you would then stay till you are 
perfectly certain, you may stay for ever : if you have attained assur- 
ance but in some degree, or got but the grounds for assurance laid, 
it is then the speediest and surest way, to desire rather to be quick- 
ly in rest : for then, and never till then, will both the grounds and 
assurance be fully perfect. 

4. Both your assurance, and the comfort thereof, is the gift of 
the Spirit, who is a free bestower ; and God's usual time to be 
largest in mercy, is when his people are deepest in necessity. A 
mercy in season is the sweetest mercy. I could give you here 



480 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IY. 

abundance of late examples of those who have languished for assur- 
ance and comfort ; some all their sickness, and some most of their 
lives : and when they have been near to death they have received 
in abundance. Never fear death, then, through imperfection of 
assurance ; for that is the most usual time of all, wheia God most 
fully and sweetly bestows it. 

Object. 2. Oh ! but the church's necessities are great. God hath 
made me useful in my place ; so that the loss will be to many ; or 
else, methinhs, I could willingly die. 

Sect. XXIII. Answ. This may be the case of some, but yet 
remember the heart is deceitful. God is often pretended, when 
ourselves are intended. But if this be it that sticks with thee in- 
deed, consider, wilt thou pretend to be wiser than God ? Doth 
not he know how to provide for his church ? Cannot he do his 
work without thee, or find out instruments enough besides thee ? 
Think not too highly of thyself, because God hath made thee use- 
ful. Must the church needs fall when thou art gone ? Art thou 
the foundation on which it is built ? Could God take away a 
Moses, an Aaron, David, Elias, &c. and find supply for all their 
places ; and cannot he also find supply for thine ? This is to dero- 
gate from God too much, and to arrogate too much unto thyself. 
Neither art thou so merciful as God, nor canst love the church so 
well as he. As his interest is infinitely beyond thine, so is his ten- 
der care and bounty. But of this before. 

Yet mistake me not in all that I have said. I deny not but that 
it is lawful and necessary for a Christian, upon both the before- 
mentioned grounds, to desire God to delay his death, both for a 
further opportunity of gaining assurance, and also to be further ser- 
viceable to the church. See Phil. ii. 26, 27. Time and life is a 
most precious mercy; not so much because of what we here enjoy, 
but because eternity of joy or torment dependeth on this time, when 
it must go with man for ever in heaven or hell, according to the 
provision he makes on earth ; and they that will find a treasure in 
heaven must now lay it up there, Matt. vi. 19, 20. I do not blame 
a man that is well in his wits, if he be loth to die, till he hath some 
comfortable assurance that it shall certainly go well with him in 
another world. And every man's assurance, as I have proved, is 
imperfect. And there I doubt not but, 1. We may pray for re- 
covery from sicknesses. 2. And may rejoice in it, and give thanks 
for it, as a great mercy. 3. And may pray hard for our godly and 
ungodly friends in their sickness. 4. And must value our time 
highly, and improve it as a mercy which we must be accountable 
for. 5. And every godly man is so useful to the church, ordinarily, 
that, even for the church's service, he may desire to live longer, as 
Paul did, even till he come to the full age of man, and while he is 
able to serve the church, and it hath need of him. No man should 
be over-hasty to a state that must never be changed, when both 
assurance of glory and his fitness for it are still imperfect ; and 
ordinarily the saints grow fitter in their age. But then this must 
not be in love of earth, but we must take it as our present loss to 



CiiAi'. II. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 4^1 

be kept from heaven, though it may tend to the church's and our 
own future advantage, and so may be desired : so that you must 
still see that heaven be valued and loved above earth, even when 
you have cause to pray for longer time, as she that longs to be mar- 
ried to a prince, may desire delay for preparation. But, First, This 
is nothing to their case who are still delaying, and never willing ; 
whose true discontents are at death itself, more than at the un- 
seasonableness of dying. Secondly, Though such desires are some- 
times lawful, yet must they be carefully bounded and moderated ; 
to which end are the former considerations. We must not be too 
absolute and peremptory in our desires, but cheerfully yic^ld to God's 
disposal. The rightest temper is that of Paul's, to be in a strait be- 
tween two ; desiring to depart, and be with Christ, and yet to stay 
while God will have us, to do the church the utmost service. But, 
alas ! we are seldom in this strait : our desires run out all one way, 
and that for the flesh, and not the church, Phil. i. 23. Our straits 
arc only for fear of dying, and not betwixt the earnest desires of 
dying and of living. He that desireth life only to prepare for 
heaven, doth love heaven better than life on earth, for the end is 
still more beloved than all the means. 

Sect. XXIV. Object. But is not cleatb a punishment of God for 
sin ? Doth not Scripture call it the " king of fears ;" and nature, 
above all other evils, abhor it ? 

Ansu\ I will not meddle with that which is controversial in this, 
whether death be properly a punishment or not ; but grant that, in 
itself considered, it may be called evil, as being naturally the dis- 
solution of the creature. Yet being sanctified to us by Christ, and 
being the season and occasion of so great a good, as is the present 
possession of God in Christ, it may be welcomed with a glad sub- 
mission, if not with desire. Christ affords us grounds enough to 
comfort us against this natural evil ; and therefore endues us with 
the principle of grace, to raise us above the reach of nature. 

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

Sect. XXV. Lastly, Understand me in this also, that I have 
spoken all this to the faithful soul. I persuade not the ungodly 
from fearing death. It is a wonder rather that they fear it no 
more, and spend not their days in continual horror, as is said before. 
Truly, but that we know a stone is insensible, and a hard heart is 
dead and stupid, or else a man would admire how poor souls can 
live in ease and quietness, that must be turned out of these bodies 
into everlasting flames ; or that be not sure, at least, if they should 
die this night, whether they shall lodge in heaven or hell the next, 
especially when many are called, and so few chosen, and the right- 
eous themselves are scarcely saved. One would think such men 
would eat their bread with trembling, and the thoughts of their 
danger should keep them waking in the night, and they should fall 
presently a searching themselves, and inquiring of others, and cry- 
ing to God, that if it were possible they might quickly be out of 

2 I 



482 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

this danger, and so their hearts be freed from horror. For a man 
to quake at the thoughts of death that looks hy it to be dispos- 
sessed of his happiness, and knoweth not whither he is next to go, 
this is no wonder. But for the saints to fear their passage by death 
to rest, this is an unreasonable, hurtful fear. 



CHAPTER III. 

MOTIVES TO A HEAVENLY LIFE. 



Sect. I. We have now, by the guidance of the word of the Lord, 
and by the assistance of his Spirit, showed you the nature of the 
rest of the saints, and acquainted you with some duties in relation 
thereto. We come now to the close of all, to press you to the 
great duty, which I chiefly intended, when I begun this subject, 
and have here reserved it to the last place, because I know hearers 
are usually of slippery memories, yet apt to retain the last that is 
spoken, though they forget all that went before. Dear friends, it 
is pity that either you or I should forget any thing of that which 
doth so nearly concern us, as this eternal rest of the saints doth. 
But if you must needs forget something, let it be any thing else, 
rather than this ; let it be rather all that I have hitherto said 
(though I hope of better) than this one ensuing use. 

Is there a rest, and such a rest, remaining for us ? Why then 
are our thoughts no more upon it ? Why are not our hearts con- 
tinually there ? Why dwell we not there in constant contempla- 
tion ? Sirs, ask your hearts in good earnest. What is the cause of 
this neglect ? Are we reasonable in this, or are we not ? Hath 
the eternal God provided us such a glory, and promised to take us 
up to dwell with himself, and is not this worth the thinking on ? 
Should not the strongest desires of our hearts be after it, and the 
daily delights of our souls be there ? Do we believe this ; and can 
we yet forget and neglect it ? What is the matter? Will not God 
give us leave to approach this light ; or will he not suifer our souls 
to taste and see it ? Why, then, what mean all his earnest invita- 
tions ? Why doth he so condemn our earthly-mindedness, and 
command vis to set our affections above. Ah, vile hearts ! if God 
were against it, we were likelier to be for it ; when he would have 
us to keep our station, then we are aspiring to be like God, and 
are ready to invade the Divine prerogatives ; but when he com- 
mands our hearts to heaven, then they will not stir an inch : like 
our predecessors the sinful Israelittes ; when God would have them 
march for Canaan, then they mutiny, and will not stir; either they 
fear the giants, or the walled cities, or want necessaries ; something 
hinders them ; but when God bids them not go, then will they 
needs be presently marching, and fight they will, though it be to 
their overthrow. If the forethoughts of glory were forbidden fruits. 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 4b3 

perhaps we should be sooner drawn unto them, and we should itch, 
as the liethsheniites, to be looking into this ark. Sure I am, 
wiicre God hath forbidden us to place our thoughts and our do- 
lights, thither it is easy enough to draw them. If he say, " Lovo 
not the world, nor the things of the world," we dote upon it never- 
theless. We have love enough if the world retjuire it, and thoughts 
enough to pursue our profits. How delightfully and unweariedly 
can we think of vanity ; and day after day employ our minds about 
the creature ! And have we no thoughts of this our rest i How 
freely and how frequently can we think of our pleasures, our friends, 
our labours, our flesh, our lusts, our conunon studies, our news ; 
yea, our very miseries, our wrongs, our sufferings, and our fears ! 
13ut where is the Christian whose heart is on his rest ? Why, sirs, 
what is the matter ? Why are we not taken up with the views of 
glory, and our souls more accustomed to these delightful medita- 
tions .' Are we so full of joy that we need no more ? or, is there 
no matter in heaven for our joyous thoughts ? or rather, are not 
our hearts carnal and blockish !' Earth will to earth. Had we 
more spirit, it would be otherwise with us. As the Jews use to 
cast to the ground the book of Esther before they read it, because 
the name of God is not in it ; and as Augustine cast by Cicero's 
writings, because they contained not the name of Jesus ; so let us 
humble and cast down these sensual hearts that have in them no 
more of Christ and glory. As we should not own our duties any 
further than somewhat of Christ is in them, so should we no further 
own our hearts ; and as we should delight in the creatures no 
further than they have reference to Christ and eternity, so should 
we no further approve of our own hearts. If there were little of 
Christ and heaven in our mouths, but the world were the only sul)- 
ject of our speeches, then all would account us to be ungodly ; why 
then may we not call our hearts ungodly, that have so little delight 
in Christ and heaven ? . A holy tongue will not excuse or secure a 
profane heart. Why did Christ pronounce his disciples' eyes and 
ears so blessed, but as they were doors to let in Christ by his works 
and words into their heart ? Oh, blessed are the eyes that so see, 
and the ears that so hear, that the heart is thereby raised to this 
blessed, heavenly frame. Sirs, so much of your hearts as is empty 
of Christ and heaven, let it be filled with shame and sorrow, and 
not with ease. 

Sect. II. But let me turn my reprehension to exhortation, that 
you would turn this conviction into reformation. And I have the 
more hope because I here address myself to men of conscience, 
that dare not wilfully disobey God ; and to men whose relations to 
God are many and near, and therefore, methinks, there should need 
the fewer words to persuade their hearts to him ; yea, because I 
speak to no other men but only them whose portion is there, whose 
hopes are there, and who have forsaken all, that they may enjoy 
this glory : and shall I be discouraged from persuading such to be 
heavenly-minded ? Why, fellow Christians, if you will not hear 
and obey, who will ? Well may we be discouraged to exhort the 
2 I 2 



484 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

poor, blind, ungodly world, and may say, as Moses, " Behold, the 
children of Israel have not hearkened unto me, how then shall 
Pharaoh hear me ?" Exod. xvi. 12. Whoever thou art, therefore, 
that readest these lines, I require thee, as thou tenderest thine 
allegiance to the God of heaven, as ever thou hopest for a part in 
this glory, that thou presently take thy heart to task ; chide it for 
its wilful strangeness to God ; turn thy thoughts from the pursuit 
of vanity ; bend thy soul to study eternity ; busy it about the life 
to come ; habituate thyself to such contemplations, and let not 
those thoughts be seldom and cursory, but settle upon them ; dwell 
here : bathe thy soul in heaven's delights ; drench thine affections 
in these rivers of pleasure, or rather, in this sea of consolation ; and 
if thy backward soul begin to flag, and thy loose thoughts to fly 
abroad, call them back, hold them to their work' put them on, 
bear not with their laziness, do not connive at one neglect ; and 
when thou hast once in obedience to God tried this work, and fol- 
lowed on till thou hast got acquainted with it, and kept a close 
guard upon thy thoughts till they are accustomed to obey, and till 
thou hast got some mastery over them, thou wilt then find thyself 
in the suburbs of heaven, and, as it were, in a new world ; thou 
wilt then find, indeed, that there is sweetness in the work and way 
of God, and that the life of Christianity is a life of joy. Thou 
wilt meet with those abundant consolations, which thou hast prayed, 
and panted, and groaned after, and which so few Christians do ever 
here obtain, because they know not the way to them, or else make 
not conscience of walking in it. 

You see the work now before you : this, this is that I would fain 
persuade your souls to practise. Beloved friends, and Christian 
neighbours, who hear me this day, let me bespeak your consciences 
in the name of Christ, and command you by the authority I have 
received from Christ, that you faithfully set upon this weighty 
duty, and fix your eye more stedfastly on your rest, and daily de- 
light in the forethoughts thereof. I have persuaded you to many 
other duties, and (I bless God) many of you have obeyed ; and I 
hope never to find you at that pass as to say, when you perceive 
the command of the Lord, that you will not be persuaded, nor 
obey ; if I should, it were high time to bewail your misery. Why, 
you may almost as well say, We will not obey, as sit still and not 
obey. Christians, I beseech you, as you take me for your teacher, 
and have called me hitherto, so hearken to this doctrine. If ever 
I shall prevail with you in any thing, let me prevail with you in 
this, to set your hearts where you expect a rest and treasure. Do 
you not remember that when you called me to be your teacher, 
you promised me under your hands that you would faithfully and 
conscionably endeavour the receiving every truth, and obeying 
every command, which I should from the word of God manifest to 
you ? I now charge your promise upon you : I never delivered to 
you a more apparent truth, nor pressed upon you a more apparent 
duty than this. If I knew you would not obey, what should I do 
here preaching ? Not that I desire you to receive it chiefly as from 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 485 

iiic, but as from Christ, on whose message I come. Mothinks if a 
child should show you Scripture, and speak to you the word of God, 
you should not dare to disobey it. Do not wonder that I persuade 
you so earnestly, though indeed if we were truly reasonable in 
spiritual things, as we are in connnon, it would be a real wonder 
that men should n(^ed so much persuasion to so sweet and plain a 
duty ; but I know the employment is high, the heart is earthly, 
and will still draw back ; the temptations and hinderances will be 
many and great, and therefore I fear before we have done, and laid 
open more fully the nature of the duty, that you will confess all 
these persuasions little enough. The Lord grant they prove not so 
too little, as to fail of success, and leave you as they find you. Say 
not, We are unable to set our own hearts on heaven, this must be 
the work of God only, and therefore all your exhortation is in 
vain ; for I tell you, though God be the chief disposer of your 
hearts, yet next under him you have the greatest command of them 
yourselves, and a great power in the ordering of your own thoughts, 
and for determining your own wills in their choice : though without 
Christ you can do nothing, yet under him you may do much, and 
must do much, or else it will be undone, and you undone through 
your neglect. Do your own parts, and you have no cause to dis- 
trust whether Christ will do his. Do not your own consciences tell 
you, when your thoughts fly abroad, that you might do more than 
you do to restrain them ; and when your hearts lie flat, and neglect 
eternity, and seldom mind the joys before you, that most of this 
neglect is wilful ? If you be to study a set speech, you can force 
your thoughts to the intended subject ; if a minister be to study a 
sermon, he can force his thoughts to the most saving truths, and 
that without any special grace ; might not a true Christian then 
mind more the things of the life to come, if he did not neglect to 
exercise that authority over his own thoughts which God hath 
given him ? especially in such a work as this, where he may more 
confidently expect the assistance of Christ, who useth not to for- 
sake his people in the work he sets them on ? If a carnal minister 
can make it his work to study about Christ and heaven through all 
his life-time, and all because it is the trade he lives by, and knows 
not how to subsist without it, why, then, methinks a spiritual 
Christian should study as constantly the joys of heaven, because it 
is the very business he lives for, and that the place he must be in 
for ever. If the cook can find in his heart to labour and sweat 
about 5-our meat, because it is the trade that maintains him, though 
perhaps he taste it not himself, methinks then you, for whom it is 
prepared, should willingly bestow that daily pains to taste its sweet- 
ness, and feed upon it ; and if it were about your bodily food, you 
would think it no great pains neither. A good stomach takes it 
for no groat labour to eat and drink of the best till it be satisfied ; 
nor needs it any great invitation thereto. Christians, if your souls 
were sound and right, they would perceive incomparably more de- 
light and sweetness in knowing, thinking, believing, loving, and re- 
joicing, in your future blessedness in the fruition of God. than the 



486 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

soundest stomach finds in its food, oi- the strongest senses in the en- 
joyment of their objects ; so little painful would this work be to you, 
and so little should I need to press you to it. It is no great pains 
to you to think of a friend, or any thing else that you dearly love ; 
and as little would it be to think of glory, if your love and delight 
were truly there. If you do but see some jewel, or treasure, you 
need not long exhortations to stir up your desires, the very sight 
of it is motive enough. If you see the fire when you are cold, or 
see a house in a stormy day, or see a safe harbour from the tem- 
pestuous sea, you need not be told what use to make of it ; the 
sight doth presently direct your thought ; you think, you look, you 
long, till you do obtain it. Why should it not be so in the present 
case ? Sirs, one would think, to show you this crown and glory of 
the saints, should be motive enough to make you desire it ; to show 
you that harbour where you may be safe from all dangers, should 
soon teach you what use to make of it, and should bend your daily 
studies towards it ; but because I know while we have flesh about 
us, and any remnants of that carnal mind which is enmity to God, 
and to this noble work, that all motives are little enough ; and be- 
cause my own and others' sad experience tell me, how hardly the 
best are drawn to a constancy and faithfulness in this duty ; I will 
here lay down some moving considerations, which, if you will but 
vouchsafe to ponder thoroughly, and deliberately weigh wdth an 
impartial judgment, I doubt not but they will prove effectual with 
your hearts, and make you resolve upon this excellent duty. I 
pray you, friends, let them not fall to the ground, but take them 
up, and try them, and if you find them concern you, make much of 
them, and obey them accordingly. 

Sect. III. 1. Consider, A heart set upon heaven will be one of 
the most unquestionable evidences of thy sincerity, and a clear dis- 
covery of a true work of saving grace upon thy soul. You are much 
in inquiring after marks of sincerity, and I blame you not ; it is 
dangerous mistaking when a man's salvation lies upon it. You are 
oft asking. How shall I know that I am truly sanctified ? Why, 
here is a mark that will not deceive you, if you can truly say that 
you are possessed of it ; even a heart set upon heaven. Would you 
have a sign infallible, not from me, or from the mouth of any man, 
but from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself, which all the enemies 
of the use of marks can lay no exception against ? Why, here is 
such a one, " Where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also," Matt. vi. 21. Know once assuredly where your heart is, and 
you may easily know that your treasure is there. God is the saints' 
treasure and happiness ; heaven is the place where they must fully 
enjoy him. A heart therefore set upon heaven is no more but a 
heart set upon God, desiring after this full enjoyment ; and, surely, 
a heart set upon God through Christ, is the truest evidence of 
saving grace. External actions are easiest discovered, but those 
of the heart are the surest evidences. When thy learning will be 
no good proof of thy grace ; when thy knowledge, thy duties, and 
thy gifts, will fail thee ; when arguments from thy tongue and thy 



Chap. HI. THE SAINTS' EVEKi.ASTlNG REST. 4«7 

hand may be confuted ; yet then will this argument from the bent 
of thy heart prove thee sincere. Take a poor Christian that can 
scarce speak true English about religion, that hath a weak under- 
standing, a failing memory, a stammering tongue, yet his heart 
is set on God, he hath chosen him for his portion; his thoughts 
are on eternity ; his desires there, his dwelling there ; he cries out, 
Oh that I were there ! He takes that day for a time of imprison- 
ment, wherein he hath not taken one refreshing view of eternity. 
I had rather die in this man's condition, and have my soul in his 
soul's case, than in the case of him that hath the most eminent 
gifts, and is most admired for parts and duty, whose heart is not 
thus taken up with God. The man that Christ will find out at 
the last day, and condemn for want of a wedding garment, will he 
be that wants this frame of heart. The question will not then be. 
How much you have known, or professed, or talked { but, How 
much have you loved, and where was your heart ? Why, then. 
Christians, as you would have a sure testimony of the love of God, 
and a sure proof of your title to glory, labour to get your hearts 
above. God will acknowledge that you really love him, and take 
you for faithful friends indeed, when he sees your hearts are set 
upon him. Get but your hearts once truly in heaven, and, without 
all question, yourselves will follow. Jf sin and Satan keep not 
thence your afections, they will never be able to keep away your 
persons. 

Sect. IV. 2. Consider, A heart in heaven is the highest excel- 
lency of your spirits here, and the noblest part of your Christian 
disposition : as there is not only a difference between men and 
beasts, but also among men, between the noble and the base ; so 
there is not only a common excellency, whereby a Christian differs 
from the w orld, but also a peculiar nobleness of spirit, whereby the 
more excellent differ from the rest : and this lies especially in a 
higher and more heavenly frame of spirit. Only man, of all inferior 
creatures, is made with a face directed heavenward ; but other 
creatures have their faces to the earth. As the noblest of creatures, 
so the noblest of Christians, are they that are set most direct for 
heaven. As Saul is called a choice and goodly man, higher by the 
head than all the company ; so is he the most choice and goodly 
Christian, whose head and heart is thus the highest, 1 Sam. ix. 2 ; 
X. 23, 24. Men of noble birth and spirits, do mind high and great 
affairs, and not the smaller things of low poverty. Their discourse 
is of councils and matters of state, of the government of the com- 
monwealth, and public things ; and not of the countryman's petty 
employments. Oh ! to hear such a heavenly saint, who hath 
ietched a journey into heaven by faith, and hath been raised up to 
God in his contemplations, and is newly come down from the views 
of Christ, what discoveries will he make of those superior regions ! 
What ravishing expressions drop from his lips ! How high and 
sacred is his discourse ! Enough to make the ignorant world 
astonished, and perhaps say, " Much study hath made them mad," 
Acts xxvi. 24 ; and enough to convince an understanding hearer 



488 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

that they have seen the Lord ; and to make one say, No man could 
speak such words as these, except he had been with God. This, 
this is the noble Christian ; as Bucholcer's hearers concluded, when 
he had preached his last sermon, being carried between two into 
the church, because of his weakness, and there most admirably 
discoursed of the blessedness of souls departed this life, Cceteros 
concionatores a BucJiolcero semiJer omnes, illo aulem die eiiam 
ipsuin a aese superatiijn, that Bucholcer did ever excel other preach- 
ers, but that day he excelled himself; so may I conclude of the 
heavenly Christian, he ever excelleth the rest of men, but when he 
is nearest heaven he excelleth himself. As those are the most 
famous mountains that are highest ; and those the fairest trees that 
are tallest; and those the most glorious pyramids and buildings 
whose tops do reach nearest to heaven ; so is he the choicest Chris- 
tian, whose heart is most frequently and most delightfully there. 
If a man have lived near the king, or have travelled to see the sul- 
tan of Persia, or the great Turk, he will make this a matter of 
boasting, and thinks himself one step higher than his private neigh- 
bours, that live at home. What shall we then judge of him that 
daily travels as far as heaven, and there hath seen the King of 
kings I that hath fi-equent admittance into the Divine presence, 
and feasteth his soul upon the tree of life ? For my part, I value 
this man before the ablest, the richest, the most learned in the 
v/orld. 

Sect. V. 3. Consider, A heavenly mind is a joyful mind ; this is 
the nearest and the truest way to live a life of comfort. xAnd with- 
out this you must needs be uncomfortable. Can a man be at the 
fire, and not be warm ; or in the sunshine, and not have light ? 
Can your heart be in heaven, and not have comfort ? The countries 
of Norway, Iceland, and all the northward, are cold and frozen, 
because they are farther from the power of the sun ; but in Egypt, 
Arabia, and the southern parts, it is far otherwise, where they live 
more near its powerful rays. What could make such frozen, un- 
comfortable Christians, but living so far as they do from heaven ? 
And what makes some few others so warm in comforts, but their 
living higher than others do, and their frequent access so near to 
God 1 When the sun in the spring draws near our part of the 
earth, how do all things congratulate its approach ! The earth 
looks green, and casteth off her mourning habit ; the trees shoot 
forth ; the plants revive ; the pretty birds, how sweetly do they 
sing ! the face of all things smiles upon us, and all the creatures 
below rejoice. Beloved friends, if we would but try this life with 
God, and would but keep these hearts above, what a spring of joy 
would be within us, and all our graces be fresh and green ! How 
would the face of our souls be changed, and all that is within us re- 
joice ! How should we forget our winter sorrows, and withdraw 
our souls from our sad retirements ! How early should we rise (as 
those birds in the spring) to sing the praise of our great Creator ! 
O Christian, get above : believe it, that region is warmer than this 
below. Those that have been there have found it so, and those 



CiiAi>. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 480 

that have come thonce have told us so: and I doubt not but that 
thou hast sometime tried it thyself. I dare appeal to thy own ex- 
perience, or to the experience ot* any soul that knows wliat the true 
joys of a Christian are : when is it that you have largest comforts { 
Is it not after such an exercise as this, wIkmi thou hast got up thy 
heart, and conversed with God, and talked with the inhabitants of 
the higher world, and viewed the mansions of the saints and angels, 
and filled thy soul with the forethoughts of glory ? If thou know 
by experience what this practice is, I dare say thou knowest what 
spiritual joy is. David professeth that the light of God's counte- 
nance would make his heart more glad than theirs that have corn, 
and wine, and oil. " Thou shalt fill me full of joy with thy coun- 
tenance," Psal. iv. G, 7 ; and Acts ii. 28, out of Psal. xvi. If it be 
the countenance of God that fills us with joy, then sure they that 
draw nearest, and most behold it, must needs be fullest of these 
joys. Sirs, if you never tried this art, nor lived this life of heavenly 
contemplation, I never wonder that you walk uncomfortably, that 
you are all complaining, and live in sorrows, and know not what the 
joy of the saints means. Can you have comforts from God, and 
never think of him ? Can heaven rejoice you, when you do not re- 
member it ! Doth any thing in the world glad you, when you think 
not on it ? Must not every thing first enter your judgment and con- 
sideration, before it can delight your heart and afft^ction ? If you 
were possessed of all the treasures of the earth, if you had title to 
the highest dignities and dominions, and never think on it, sure it 
would never rejoice you. Whom should we blame then, that we 
are so void of consolation, but our own negligent, unskilful hearts ? 
God hath provided us a crow-n of glory, and promised to set it 
shortly on our heads, and we will not so much as think of it : he 
holdeth it out in the gospel to us, and biddeth us behold and re- 
joice ; and we will not so much as look at it ; and yet we complain 
for want of comfort. A\'hat a perverse course is this, both against 
God and our own joys ! I confess, though in fleshly things, the 
presenting of a comforting object is sufficient to produce an answer- 
able delight, yet in spirituals we are more disabled. God must 
give the joy itself, as well as afford us matter for joy : but yet 
withal, it must be remembered, that God doth work upon us as 
men, and in a rational way doth raise our comforts : he enableth 
and exciteth us to mind and study these delightful objects, and 
from thence to gather our own comforts, as the bee doth gather her 
honey from the flowers ; therefore he that is most skilful and pain- 
ful in this gathering art, is usually the fullest of this spiritual sweet- 
ness. Where is the man that can tell me from experience, that 
he hath solid and usual joy in any other way but this, and that 
God worketh it immediately on his affections, without the means 
of his understanding and considering ? It is by believing that we 
are filled with joy and peace, Rom. xv. 13 ; and no longer than we 
continue our believing. . It is in hope that the saints rejoice, yea, 
in this hope of the glory of God,-- Rom. v. 2 ; and no longer than 
they continue hoping. And here let me warn you of a dangerous 



490 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

snare, an opinion which will rob you of all your comfort : some 
think, if they should thus fetch in their comfort by believing and 
hoping, and work it out of Scripture promises, and extract it by 
their own thinking and studying, that then it would be a comfort 
only of their own hammering out, (as they say,) and not the genuine 
joy of the Holy Ghost. A desperate mistake, raised upon a ground 
that would overthrow almost all duty, as well as this, which is their 
setting the workings of God's Spirit and their own spirits in op- 
position, when their spirits must stand in subordination to God's : 
they are conjunct causes, co-operating to the producing of one and 
the same effect. God's Spirit worketh our comforts, by setting 
our own spirits a-work upon the promises, and raising our thoughts 
to the place of our comforts. As you would delight a covetous 
man by showing him gold, or a voluptuous man with fleshly de- 
lights ; so God useth to delight his people, by taking them, as it 
were, by the hand, and leading them into heaven, and showing them 
himself, and their rest with him, God useth not to cast in our 
joys while we are idle, or taken up with other things. It is true, 
he sometimes doth it suddenly, but yet usually in the foresaid 
order, leading it into our hearts by our judgment and thoughts : 
and his sometimes sudden extraordinary casting of comforting 
thoughts in our hearts, should be so far from hindering endeavours 
in a meditating way, that it should be a singular motive to quicken 
us to it ; even as a taste given us of some cordial or choicer food, 
will make us desire and seek the rest. God feedeth not saints as 
birds do their young, bringing it to them, and putting it into their 
mouths, while they lie still in the nest, and only gape to receive it. 
But as he giveth to man the fruits of the earth, the increase of their 
land in corn and wine, while we plough, and sow, and weed, and 
water, and dung, and dress, and then with patience expect his 
blessing ; so doth he give the joys of the soul. Yet I deny not, 
that if any should so think to work out his own comforts by medi- 
tation, as to attempt the work in his own strength, and not do all 
in subordination to God, nor perceive a necessity of the Spirit's 
assistance, the work would prove to be like the workman, and the 
comfort he would gather would be like both ; even mere vanity : 
even as the husbandman's labour without the sun, and rain, and 
blessing of God. 

So then you may easily see, that close meditation on the matter 
and cause of our joy, is God's way to procure solid joy. For my 
part, if I should find my joy of another kind, I should be very prone 
to doubt of its sincerity. If I find a great deal of comfort in my 
heart, and know not how it came thither, nor upon what rational 
ground it was raised, nor what considerations do feed and continue 
it, I should be ready to question, How I know whether this be from 
God ? And though, as the cup in Benjamin's sack, it might come 
from love, yet it would leave me but in fears and amazements, be- 
cause of uncertainty. As I think our love to God should not be 
like that of fond lovers, who love violently, but they know not why; 
so I think a Christian's joy should be grounded, rational joy, and 



Chap. 111. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTINCi REST. -iOl 

not to lojoice, and know not why. Though perhaps in some ex- 
traordinary caso, God may cast in such an extraordinary kind of 
joy, yet I think it is not his usual way. And it' you ohserve the 
spirit of most forlorn, uncomfortable, despairing Christians, you 
shall find tlio reason to be, their ungrounded expectation of such 
unusual kind of joys ; and accordingly are their spirits variously 
tossed, and most unconstantly tempered: sometimes, when they 
mert with such joys, (or at least think so,) then they are cheerful 
and lifted up ; but because these are usually short-lived joys, there- 
fore they are straight as low as hell; and ordinarily that is their 
more lasting temper. And thus they are tossed as a vessel at sea, 
up and down, but still in extremes ; whereas, alas ! God is most 
constant, Christ the same, heaven the same, and the promise the 
same : and if we took the right course for fetching in our comfort 
from these, sure our comforts should be more settled and constant, 
though not always the same. Whoever thou art, therefore, that 
readest these lines, I entreat thee in the name of the Lord, and as 
thou vainest the life of constant joy, and that good conscience Mhich 
is a continual feast, that thou wouldst but seriously set upon this 
work, and learn the art of heavenly-mindedness, and thou shalt 
find the increase a hundredfold, and the benefit abundclntly exceed 
thy labour. But this is the misery of man's nature : though every 
man naturally abhorreth sorrow, and loves the most merry and joy- 
ful life ; yet few do love the way to joy, or will endure the pains by 
which it is obtained : they will take the next that comes to hand, 
and content themselves with earthly pleasures, rather than they 
will ascend to heaven to seek it ; and yet when all is done, they 
must have it there, or be without it. 

Sect. VI. 4. Consider, A heart in heaven will be a most excel- 
lent preservative against temptations, a powerful means to kill thy 
corruptions, and to save thy conscience from the wounds of sin. 
God can prevent our sinning, though we be careless ; and keep oif 
the temptation which we would draw upon ourselves, and sometimes 
doth so ; but this is not his usual course, nor is this our safest way 
to escape. When the mind is either idle, or ill employed, the devil 
needs not a greater advantage : when he finds the thoughts let out 
on lust^ revenge, ambition, or deceit, what an opportunity hath he 
to move for execution, and to put on the sinner to practise what he 
thinks on ! Nay, if he find but the mind empty, there is room 
for any thing that he will bring in : but when he finds the heart in 
heaven, what hope that any of these motions should take i Let him 
entice to any forbidden course, or show us the bait of any pleasure, 
the soul will return Nehemiah's answer, " I am doing a great work, 
and cannot come," Neh. vi. 3. Several ways will this preserve us 
against temptation : First, By keeping the heart employed : Se- 
condly, By clearing the understanding, and so confirming the will : 
Thirdly, By prepossessing the affections with the highest delights : 
Fourthly. And by keeping us in the way of God's blessing. 

First, By keeping the heart employed. When we are idle, we 
tempt the devil to tempt us : as it is an encouragement to a thief, to 



492 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

see your doors open, and nobody within ; and as we use to say, 
Careless persons make thieves : so it will encourage Satan, to find 
your hearts idle ; but when the heart is taken up with God, it can- 
not have while to hearken to temptations ; it cannot have while to 
be lustful and wanton, ambitious or worldly : if a poor man have a 
suit to any of you, he will not come when you are taken up in some 
great man's company or discourse ; that is but an ill time to speed. 

If you were but busied in your lawful callings, you would not be 
so ready to hearken to temptations ; much less if you were busied 
above with God. Will you leave your plough and harvest in the 
field, or leave the quenching of a tire in your houses, to run with 
children a hunting of butterflies ? would a judge be persuaded to 
rise from the bench, when he is sitting upon life and death, to go 
and play among the boys in the streets ? No more will a Christian, 
when he is busy with God, and taking a survey of his eternal rest, 
give ear to the alluring charms of Satan. Non vacat exigids, &c. 
is a character of the truly prudent man ; the children of that king- 
dom should never have while for trifles, but especially when they 
are employed in the affairs of the kingdom ; and this employment 
is one of the saints' chief preservatives against temptation. For, as 
Gregory saith, Nunquam Dei amor otiosus est : operatur enim 
tnagna, si est: si vero operari rennit, non est amor ; The love of 
God is never idle ; it worketh great things when it truly is ; and 
when it will not work, it is not love. Therefore, being still thus 
working, it is still preserving. 

Secondly, A heavenly mind is freest from sin, because it is of 
clearest understanding in spiritual matters of greatest concernment. 
A man that is much in conversing above, hath truer and livelier 
apprehensions of things concerning God and his soul, than any read- 
ing or learning can beget : though, perhaps, he may be ignorant in 
divers controversies and matters that less concern salvation ; yet 
those truths which must establish his soul, and preserve him from 
temptation, he knows far better than the greatest scholars : he hath 
so deep an insight into the evil of sin, the vanity of the creature, 
the brutishness of fleshly, sensual delights, that temptations have 
little power on him; for these earthly vanities are Satan's baits, 
which, though they may take much with the undiscerning world, 
yet, with the clear-sighted, they have lost their force. " In vain," 
saith Solomon, " the net is spread in the sight of any bird," Prov. 
i. 17. And usually in vain doth Satan lay his snares to entrap the 
soul that plainly sees them. When a man is on high, he may see 
the further : we use to set our discovering sentinels on the highest 
place that is near unto us, that they may discern all the motions of 
the enemy. In vain doth the enemy lay his ambuscades when we 
stand over him on some high mountain, and clearly discover all he 
doth : when the heavenly mind is above with God, he may far easier 
from thence discern every danger that lies below, and the whole 
method of the devil in deceiving; nay, if he did not discover the 
snare, yet were he likelier far to escape it than any others that con- 
verse below. A net or bait that is laid on the ground, is unlikely to 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 49;:J 

catch the bird that flies in the air; while she keeps above, she is 
out of chmger, and the higher the safer; so it is with us. Satan's 
temptations are hiid on the earth, earth is the place, and earth is 
the ordinary bait : how shall these insnare the Christian who hath 
left the earth, and walks with God ? ]5ut, alas ! we keep not long 
so high, but down we must to the earth again, and then we are 
taken. 

If conversing with wise and learned men is the way to make one 
wise and learned, then no wonder if he that converseth with God 
become wise.* If men that travel about the earth, do think to re- 
turn home with more experience and wisdom, how much more he 
that travels to heaven ! As the very air and climate that we most 
abide in, do work our bodies to their own temper, no wonder if he 
that is much in that sublime and purer region, have a purer soul 
and quicker sight, and if he have an understanding full of light, who 
liveth with the Sun, the Fountain, the Father of light: as certain 
herbs and meats we feed on, do tend to make our sight more clear, 
so the soul that is fed with angels' food, nmst needs have an under- 
standing much more clear, than they that dwell and feed on earth. 
And, therefore, you may easily see that such a man is in far less 
danger of temptation, and Satan will hardlier beguile his soul, even 
as a wise man is hardlier deceived than fools and children. Alas ! 
the men of the world that dwell below and know no other conversa- 
tion but earthly, no wonder if their understandings be darkened, 
and they be easily drawn to every wickedness ; no wonder if Satan 
take them captive at his will, 2 Tim. ii. 26, and lead them about, as 
we see a dog lead a blind man with a string. The foggy air and 
mists of earth do thicken their sight ; the smoke of worldly care 
and business blinds them, and the dungeon which they live in is a 
land of darkness. How can worms and moles see, whose dwelling 
is always in the earth i While this dust is in men's eyes, no won- 
der if they mistake gain for godliness, sin for grace, the world for 
God, their own wills for the law of Christ, and in the issue, hell for 
heaven. If the people of God will but take notice of their own 
hearts, they shall find their experiences confirming this that I have 
said. Christians, do you not sensibly perceive, that when your 
hearts are seriously fixed on heaven, you presently become wiser 
than before ? Are not your understandings more solid, and your 
thoughts more sober ? Have you not truer apprehensions of things 
than you had ? For my own part, if ever I be wise, it is when I 
have been much above, and seriously studied the life to come. 
Methinks I find my understanding after such contemplations as 
much to differ from what it was before, as I before differed from a 
fool or idiot. When my understanding is weakened, and befooled 
witli common employment, and with conversing long with the 
vanities below, methinks a few sober thoughts of my Father's 
house, and the blessed provision of his family in heaven, doth make 
me, with the prodigal, to come to myself again. Surely, when a 

* Itali habent proverbiumhoc, Qui Veiietias non vidit, non credit : et qui uliquando 
ibi non visit, non intelligit. Quod de vita hac coelesti verissimum. 



494 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Christian withdraws himself from his earthly thoughts, and begins 
to converse with God in heaven, he is as Nebuchadnezzar, taken 
from the beasts of the field to the throne, and his understanding 
returneth to him again. Oh, when a Christian hath had but a 
glimpse of eternity, and then looks down on the world again, how 
doth he befool himself for his sin ; for neglects of Christ ; for his 
fleshly pleasures ; for his earthly cares ! How doth he say to his 
laughter. Thou art mad ! and to his vain mirth, What dost thou ? 
How could he even tear his very flesh, and take revenge on him- 
self for his folly ! How verily doth he think there is no man in 
bedlam so truly mad as wilful sinners and lazy betrayers of their 
own souls, and unworthy slight ers of Christ and glory ! 

This is it that makes a dying man to be usually wiser than other 
men are, because he looks on eternity as near, and knowing he 
must very shortly be there, he hath more deep and heart-piercing 
thoughts of it than ever he could have in health and prosperity. 
Therefore it is that the most deluded sinners that v.'ere cheated 
with the world, and bewitched with sin, do then most ordinarily 
come to themselves, so far as to have a righter judgment than they 
had ; and that many of the most bitter enemies of the saints would 
give a world to be such themselves, and would fain die in the con- 
dition of those whom they hated ; even as wicked Balaam, when 
his eyes are open to see the perpetual blessedness of the saints, will 
cry out, " Oh that I might die the death of the righteous, and 
that my last end might be like his ! " As witches when they are 
taken, and in prison, or at the gallows, have no power left them to 
bewitch any more ; so we see commonly the most ungodly men, 
when they see they must die, and go to another world, their judg- 
ments are so changed, and their speech so changed, as if they were 
not the same men, as if they were come to their wits again, and sin 
and Satan had power to bewitch them no more. Yet let the same 
men recover, and lose their apprehension of the life to come, and 
how quickly do they lose their understandings with it ! In a word, 
those that were befooled with the world and the flesh, are far wiser 
when they come to die ; and those that were wise before, are now 
wise indeed. If you would take a man's judgment about sin, or 
grace, or Christ, or heaven, go to a dying man, and -ask him which 
you were best to choose ? Ask him whether you were best be 
drunk or no ; or be lustful, or proud, or revengeful, or no ? Ask 
him whether you were best pray, and instruct your families, or no ; 
or to sanctify the Lord's day, or no? Though some to the death 
may be desperately hardened, yet, for the most part, I had rather 
take a man's judgment then, about ihese things, than at any other 
time. For my own part, if my judgment be ever solid, it is when 
I have the seriousest apprehensions of the life to come ; nay, the 
sober mention of death sometimes will a little compose the most 
distracted understanding. Sirs, do you not think, except men are 
stark devils, but that it would be a harder matter to entice a man 
to sin when he lies a dying, than it was before ? If the devil, or his 
instruments, should then tell him of a cup of sack, of merry com- 



Chai>. hi. the SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. lii.O 

pany, of a stage-play, or a morris-dance, do you think he would 
then be so taken with the motion .' If he should then tell him of 
riches, or honours, or show him a pair of cards, or dice, or a whore, 
would the temptation, think you, be as strong as before I Would 
he not answer, Alas ! what is all this to me, who must presently ap- 
pear before God, and give account of all my life, and straightways 
l)e in another world ! Why, Christian, if the apprehension of the 
nearness of eternity will work such strange efl'ects upon the un- 
godly, and make them wiser than to be deceived so easily as they 
were wont to be in time of health, oh ! then, what rare eifects 
would it work with thee, and make thee scorn the baits of sin, if 
thou couldst always dwell in the views of God, and in lively 
thoughts of thine everlasting state ! Surely a believer, if he im- 
prove his faith, may ordinarily have truer and more quickening ap- 
prehensions of the life to come, in the time of his health, than an 
unbeliever hath at the hour of his death. 

Thirdly, Furthermore, a heavenly mind is exceedingly fortified 
against temptations, because the aifections are so thoroughly pre- 
possessed with the high delights of another world. Whether Satan 
do not usually by the sensitive appetite prevail with the will, with- 
out any further prevailing with the reason, than merely to suspend 
it, I will not now dispute ; but, doubtless, when the soul is not 
aftVcted with good, though the understanding do never so clearly 
apprehend the truth, it is easy for Satan to entice that soul. 
Mere speculations, be they never so true, which sink not into the 
affections, arc poor preservatives against temptations. He that 
loves most, and not only he that knows most, will easilicst resist 
the motions of sin. There is in a Christian a kind of spiritual taste 
whereby he knows these things, besides his mere discursive reason- 
ing power : the will doth as sweetly relish goodness, as the under- 
standing doth truth, and here lies much of a Christian's strength. 
If you should dispute with a simple man, and labour to persuade 
him that sugar is not sweet, or that wormwood is not bitter, per- 
haps you might by sophistry over-argue his mere reason, but yet 
you could not persuade him against his sense ; whereas, a man 
that hath lost his taste, is easilier deceived for all his reason. So 
is it here ; when thou hast had a fresh delightful taste of heaven, 
thou wilt not be so easily persuaded from it ; you cannot persuade 
a very child to part with his apple while the taste of its sweetness 
is yet in his mouth. Oh that you would be persuaded to try this 
course, to be much in feeding on the hidden manna, and to be fre- 
quently tasting the delights of heaven ! It is true, it is a great 
way off from our sense, but faith can reach as far as that. How 
would this raise thy resolutions, and make thee laugh at the fooleries 
of the world, and scorn to be cheated with such childish toys ! 
Reader, I pray thee tell me in good sadness, dost thou think, if the 
devil had set upon Peter in the mount, when he saw Christ in his 
transfiguration, and Moses and Elias talking with him, would he 
so easily have been drawn to deny his Lord ? What ! with all that 
glory in his eye ? No, the devil took a greater advantage, v.'hen he 



496 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

had him in the high priest's hall, in the midst of danger and evil 
company, wlien he had forgotten the sight of the mount, and then 
he prevails : so if he should set upon a believing soul, when he is 
taken up in the mount with Christ, what would such a soul say ? 
Get thee behind me, Satan ; wouldst thou persuade me from hence 
with trifling pleasures, and steal my heart from this my rest; 
wouldst thou have me sell these joys for nothing ? Is there any 
honour or delight like this ; or can that be profit which loseth me 
this ? Some such answer would the soul return. But, alas ! Satan 
stays till we are come down, and the taste of heaven is out of our 
mouths, and the glory we saw is even forgotten, and then he easily 
deceives our hearts. What if the devil had set upon Paul, when 
he was in the third heaven, and seeing those unutterable things, 
could he then, do you think, have persuaded his heart to the plea- 
sures, or profits, or honours of the world ? If his prick in the flesh, 
which he after received, were not affliction, but temptation, sure it 
prevailed not, but sent him to heaven again for preserving grace. 
Though the Israelites below may be enticed to idolatry, and from 
eating and drinking to rise up to play, yet Moses in the mount 
with God will not do so ; and, if they had been where he was, and 
had but seen what he there saw, perhaps they would not so easily 
have sinned. If he give a man aloes after honey, or some loath- 
some thing when he hath been feeding on junkets, will he not soon 
perceive, and spit it out ? Oh, if we could keep the taste of our 
soul continually delighted with the sweets above, with what disdain 
should we spit out the baits of sin ! 

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

So that now, upon all this, let me entreat thee. Christian reader, 
if thou be a man that is haunted with temptation, (as doubtless 
thou art, if thou be a man,) if thou perceive thy danger, and wouldst 
fain escape it, O use much this powerful remedy ; keep close with 
God by a heavenly mind ; learn this art of diversion ; and when 
the temptation comes, go straight to heaven, and turn thy thoughts 
to higher things ; thou shalt find this a surer help than any other 
resisting whatsoever. As men will do with scolding women, let 
them alone and follow their business, as if they heard not what 
they said ; and this will sooner put them to silence, than if they 
answered them word for word ; so do by Satan's temptations : it 
may be he can over-talk you, and over-wit you in dispute ; but let 
him alone, and study not his temptations, but follow your business 
above with Christ, and keep your thoughts to their heavenly em- 
plo^'ment, and you sooner will this way vanquish the temptation, 
than if you argued or talked it out with the tempter : not but that 
sometimes it is most convenient to over-reason him ; but in ordi- 
nary temptations, you shall find it far better to follow this your 
work, and neglect the allurements, and say, as Gryneus (out of 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 497 

Chrysost.) when he sent back Pistorius's letters, not so much as 
opening the seal, Lihoiwstuin est huvcstam matronnm cum ntere- 
Irk-c Utignre ; It is an unseemly thing for an honest matron to be 
scolding with a whore : so it is a dishonest thing for a son of God, 
in apparent cases, to stand wrangling with the devil, and to bo so 
far at his beck as to dispute with him at his pleasure, even as oft 
as he will be pleased to tempt us. Christian, if thou remember 
that of Solomon, Prov. xv. 24, thou hast the sum of what I in- 
tend, " The way of life is above to the wise, to avoid the path of 
hell l)eneath ;" and withal remember Noah's example, " Noah was 
a just man, and perfect in his generation," Gen. vi. 9; and no 
wonder, for Noah " w^alked with God." So I may say to thee, 
even as God to Abraham, " Walk before God, and thou wilt be 
upright," Gen. xvii. 1. 

Sect. VII. 5. Consider, The diligent keeping of your hearts on 
heaven, will pi-eserve the vigour of all your graces, and put life 
into all your duties.* It is the heavenly Christian that is the lively 
Christian. It is our strangeness to heaven that makes us so dull; 
it is the end that quickens to all the means : and the more fre- 
quently and clearly this end is beheld, the more vigorous will all 
our motion be. How doth it make men unweariedly labour, and 
fearlessly venture, when they do but think of the gainful prize ! 
How will the soldier hazard his life, and the mariner pass through 
storms and waves ; how cheerfully do they compass sea and land ! 
And no difficulty can keep them back, when they think of an un- 
certain, perishing treasure. Oh, what life then would it put into a 
Christian's endeavours, if he would frequently forethink of his 
everlasting treasure ! We run so slowly, and strive so lazily, because 
we so little mind the prize. Wlien a Christian hath been tasting 
the hidden manna, and drinking of the streams of the paradise of 
God, what life doth this ambrosia and nectar put into him ! How 
fervent will his spirit be in prayer, when he considers that he prays 
for no less than heaven ! If Enoch, Elias, or any of the saints who 
are now in heaven, and have been partakers of the vision of the 
living God, should be sent down to the earth again to live on the 
terms as we now do, would they not strive hard, and pray earnestly, 
rather than lose that blessed rest? No wonder, for they would 
know what it is they pray for. It is true, we cannot know it here 
so thoroughly as they, yet if we would but get as high as we can, 
and study but that which may now be known, it would strangely 
alter both our spirits and our duties. Observe but the man who is 
much in heaven, and you shall see he is not like other Christians. 
There is somewhat of that which he hath seen above, appeareth in 
all his duty and conversation ; nay, take but the same man imme- 
diately when he is returned from these views of bliss, and you shall 
easily perceive that he excels himself, as if he were not, indeed, 
the same as before. If he be a preacher, how heavenly are his 
sermons ; what clear descriptions, what high expressions, what 
savoury passages, hath he of that rest ! If he be a private Chris- 

* Non est vivcre, sed valerc vita ; ut proverb. 
2 K 



498 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

tian, what heavenly conference, what heavenly prayers, what a 
heavenly carriage hath he ! May you not even hear in a preacher's 
sermons, or in the private duties of another, when they have been 
most above ? When Moses had been with God in the mount, he 
had derived so much glory from God that made his face to shine, 
that the people could not behold him. Beloved friends, if you 
would but set upon this employment, even so would it be with you. 
Prlen would see the face of your conversation shine, and say. Surely 
he hath been with God. x\s the body is apt to be changed into 
the temper of the air it breathes in, and the food it lives on, so will 
your spirits receive an alteration according to the objects which 
they are exercised about. If your thoughts do feed on Christ and 
heaven, you will be heavenly ; if they feed on earth, you will be 
earthly. It is true, a heavenly nature goes before this heavenly 
employment ; but yet the work will make it more heavenly. There 
must be life before we can feed ; but our life is continued and in- 
creased by feeding : therefore, reader, let me here inform thee, that 
if thou lie complaining of deadness and dulness, that thou canst not 
love Christ, nor rejoice in his love ; that thou hast no life in prayer, 
nor any other duty ; and yet never triedst this quickening course, 
or at least art careless and unconstant in it ; why, thou art the 
cause of thy own complaints ; thou deadest and dullest thy own 
heart ; thou deniest thyself that life which thou talkest of. Is not 
thy " life hid with Christ in God ? " Col. iii. 3. Whither must 
thou go but to Christ for it.'' and whither is that but to heaven, 
where he is ? Thou wilt not come to Christ that thou mayst have 
life, John v, 40. If thou wouldst have light and heat, why art thou 
then no more in the sunshine ? If thou wouldst have more of that 
grace which flows from Christ, why art thou no more with Christ 
for it? Thy strength is in heaven, and thy life in heaven, and 
there thou must daily fetch it if thou wilt have it. For want of 
this recourse to heaven, thy soul is as a candle that is not lighted, 
and thy duties as a sacrifice which hath no fire. Fetch one coal 
daily from this altar, and see if thy oifering will not burn. Light 
thy candle at this flame, and feed it daily with oil from hence, and 
see if it will not gloriously shine. Keep close to this reviving fire, 
and see if thy affections will not be warm. Thou bewailest thy 
want of love to God, and well thou mayst, for it is a heinous crime, 
a killing sin ; why, lift up thy eye of faith to heaven, behold his 
beaiUy, contemplate his excellences, and see whether his amiable- 
ness will not fire thy affections, and his perfect goodness ravish thy 
heart. As the eye doth incense the sensual affections by its over- 
much gazing on alluring objects, so doth the eye of our faith in 
meditation inflame our affections towards our Lord, by the frequent 
gazing on that highest beauty. Whoever thou art, that art a 
stranger to this employment, be thy parts and profession never so 
great, let me tell thee, thou spendest thy life but in trifling or idle- 
ness ; thou seemest to live, but thou art dead, I may say of thee, 
as Seneca of idle Vacia, Sets latere, vivere iiescis, Thou knowest 
how to lurk in idleness, but how to live thou knowest not : and as 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' FAERLASTING REST. 49«) 

the same Seneca would say, when he passed by that sUiggard's 
dwelling, Ihi situs est ]'acia ; so it may be said of then, There lies 
such a one, but not there lives such a one ; for thou spcndest thy 
days liker to the dead than the living. One of Draco's laws to the 
Athenians was, that he who was convict of idleness should be put 
to death. Thou dost execute this on thy own soul, whilst by thy 
idleness thou destroycst its liveliness. 

Thou mayst many other ways exercise thy parts, but this is the 
way to exercise thy graces. They all come from God as their 
fountain, and lead to God as their ultimate end ; and are exercised 
on God as their chiefest object, so that God is their all in all. 
From heaven they come, and heavenly their nature is, and to 
heaven they will direct and move thee. And as exercise maintain- 
eth appetite, strength, and liveliness, to the body, so doth it also 
to the soul. " Use limbs, and have limits," is the known proverb ; 
and use grace and spiritual life in these heavenly exercises, and 
you shall Rnd it quickly cause their increase. The exercise of 
your mere abilities of speech will not much advantage your graces, 
but the exercise of these heavenly, soul-exalting gifts will uncon- 
ceivably help to the growth of both. For as the moon is then most 
full and glorious when it doth most directly face the sun, so will 
your souls be both in gifts and graces, when you do most nearly 
view the face of God. This will feed your tongue with matter, and 
make you abound and overflow, both in preaching, praying, and 
conferring : besides, the fire which you fetch from heaven for your 
sacrifices, is no false or strange fire ; as your liveliness will be much 
more, so will it be also more sincere. A man may have a great 
deal of fervour in aifections and duties, and all prove but common 
and unsound when it is raised upon common grounds and motives : 
your zeal will partake of the nature of those things by which it is 
acted ; the zeal therefore which is kindled by your meditations on 
heaven, is most like to prove a heavenly zeal ; and the liveliness of 
the spirit, which you fetch from the face of God, must needs be 
the divinest, sincerest life. Some men's fervency is drawn only 
from their books, and some from the pricks of some stinging aflilic- 
tion, and some from the mouth of a moving minister, and some 
from the encouragement of an attentive auditory ; but he that 
knows this way to heaven, and derives it daily from the pure foun- 
tain, shall have his soul revived with the water of life, and enjoy 
that quickening which is the saints' peculiar. By this faith thou 
mayst offer Abel's sacrifice, more excellent than that of common 
men, and by it obtain witness that thou art righteous, God testify- 
ing of thy gifts that they are sincere, Heb. xi, 4 : when others are 
ready, as Baal's priests, to beat themselves, and cut their flesh, 
because their sacrifice will not burn ; then if thou canst get but 
the spirit of Elias, and in the chariot of contemplation canst soar 
aloft, till thou approachest near to the quickening Spirit, thy soul 
and sacrifice will gloriously flame, though the flesh and the world 
should cast upon them the water of all their opposing enmity. Say 
not now, How shall we get so high, or how can mortals ascend to 
2 K 2 



.3UU THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

heaven ? For faith hath wings, and meditation is its chariot ; its 
office is to make absent things as present. Do you not see how a 
little piece of glass, if it do but rightly face the sun, will so con- 
tract its beams and heat as to set on fire that which is behind it, 
which without it would have received but little warmth ? Why, 
thy faith is as the burning-glass to thy sacrifice, and meditation 
sets it to face the sun ; only take it not away too soon, but hold it 
there awhile, and thy soul will feel the happy effect. The slander- 
ous Jews did raise a foolish tale of Christ, that he got into the holy 
of holies, and thence stole the true name of God ; and lest he 
should lose it, cut a hole in his thigh, and sewed it therein, and by 
virtue of this he raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, cast out 
devils, and performed all his miracles. Surely, if we can get into 
the holy of holies, and bring thence the name and image of God, 
and get it closed up in our hearts, this would enable us to work 
wonders ; every duty we performed would be a wonder, and they 
that heard would be ready to say, Never man spake as this man 
speaketh. The Spirit would possess us, as those flaming tongues, 
and make us every one to speak, not in the variety of the con- 
founded languages, but in the primitive, pure language of Canaan, 
the wonderful works of God. We should then be in every duty, 
whether prayer, exhortation, or brotherly reproof, as Paul was at 
Athens, his spirit {Trapw^vveTo) was stirred within him. Acts xvii. 
16; and should be ready to say, as Jeremy did, " His word was in 
my heart, as a burning fire shut up in my bones ; and I was weary 
with forbearing, and I could not stay," Jer. xx. 9. 

Christian reader, art thou not thinking when thou seest a lively 
believer, and hearest his soul-melting prayers, and soul-ravishing 
discourse. Oh, how happy a man is this ! Oh that my soul were in 
this blessed plight ! Why, I here direct and advise thee from God; 
try this forementioned course, and set thy soul conscionably to 
this work, and thou shalt be in as good a case. Wash thee fre- 
quently in this Jordan, and thy leprous, dead soul will revive, and 
thou shalt know that there is a God in Israel, and that thou mayst 
live a vigorous and joyous life, if thou wilfully cast not by this 
duty, and so neglect thine own mercies. If thou be not a lazy, re- 
served hypocrite, but most truly value this strong and active frame 
of spirit_, show it then by thy present attempting this heavenly 
exercise. Say not now, but thou hast heard the way to obtain this 
life into thy soul, and into thy duties. If thou wilt yet neglect it, 
blame thyself. But, alas ! the multitude of professors come to a 
minister just as Naaman came to Elias ; they ask us. How shall I 
know I am a child of God ? How shall I overcome a hard heart, 
and get such strength and life of grace ? But they expect that 
some easy means should do it ; and think we should cure them with 
the very answer to their question, and teach them a way to be 
quickly well : but when they hear of a daily trading in heaven, and 
the constant meditation on the joys above ; this is a greater task 
than they expected, and they turn their backs as Naaman to Elias, 
or the young man on Christ, and few of the most conscionable 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 501 

will set upon the duty. Will not preaching, and praying, and con- 
ference, serve, say they, without this dwelling still in heaven { Just 
as country people come to physicians ; when they have opened their 
case, and made their moan, they look he should cure them in a 
day or two, or with the use of some cheap and easy simple; hut 
when they hear of a tedious method of physic, and of costly com- 
positions, and hitter potions, they will hazard their lives with some 
sottish empiric, who tolls them an easier and cheaper way ; yea, or 
venture on death itself hofore they will obey such diflicult counsel. 
Too many that we hope well of, I fear, w ill take this course here. 
If we could give them life, as God did, with a word, or could heal 
their souls, as charmers do their bodies, with easy stroking, and a 
few good words, then they would readily hoar and obey. I entreat 
thee, reader, beware of this folly : fall to the work ; the comfort 
of spiritual health will countervail all the trouble of the duty. It 
is but the flesh that repines and gainsays, which thou knowest was 
never a friend to thy soul. If God had set thee on some grievous 
work, shouldst thou not have it done for the life of thy soul ? 
How much more when he doth but invite thee heavenward to 
himself ! 

Sect. VIII. 6. Consider, The frequent believing views of glory 
are the most precious cordial in all afflictions. First, To sustain 
our spirits, and make our sufferings far more easy : Secondly, To 
stay us from repining, and make us bear with patience and joy : 
and, Thirdly, To strengthen our resolutions, that we forsake not 
Christ for fear of trouble. Our very beast will carry us more 
cheerfully in travel, when he is coming homeward, where he ex- 
pecteth rest. A man will more quietly endure the lancing of his 
sores, the cutting out the stone, when he thinks on the ease that 
will afterwards follow. What then will not a believer endure, when 
he thinks of the rest to which it tendeth ? What if the way be 
never so rough { can it be tedious if it lead to heaven ? O sweet 
sickness, sweet reproaches, imprisonments, or death, which is ac- 
companied with these tastes of our future rest ! This doth keep 
the suffering from the soul, so that it can work upon no more but 
our fleshly outside ; even as alexipharmical medicines preserve the 
heart, that the contagion reach not the vital spirits. Surely our 
sufferings trouble not the mind, according to the degrees of bodily 
pain, but as the soul is more or less fortified with this preserving 
antidote. Believe it, reader, thou wilt have a doleful sickness, thou 
wilt suffer heavily, thou wilt die most sadly, if thou have not at 
hand the foretastes of rest. For my own part, if thou regard the 
experience of one that hath often tried, had it not been for that 
little Talas ! too littlej taste which I had of rest, my sufferings 
would have been grievous, and death more terrible. I may say, as 
David, " I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness 
of the Lord in the land of the living," Psal. xxvii. 13. And, as 
the same David, " I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but 
there was no man that would know me : refuge failed me ; no man 
cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord : I said, Thou art 



502 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

my refuge and my portion in the land of the living," Psal. cxlii. 4, 
5. I may say of the promise of this rest, as David of God's law, 
" Unless this had been my delight, I had perished in mine afflic- 
tion," Psal. cxix. 92, " One thing," saith he, " I have desired of 
the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of 
the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 
and to inquire in his temple : for in time of trouble he shall hide 
me in his pavilion ; in the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide me ; 
he shall set me upon a rook. And then shall mine head be lifted 
up above mine enemies round about me ; therefore shall I offer in 
that his tabernacle sacrifices of joy, and sing, yea, sing praises unto 
the Lord," Psal. xxvii. 4 — 6. Therefore as thou wilt then be 
ready, with David, to pray, " Be not far from me, for trouble is 
near," Psal. xxii. 11 ; so let it be thy own chiefest care not to be 
far from God and heaven, when trouble is near, and thou wilt then 
find him to be unto thee a very present help in trouble, Psal. xlvi. 
1. Then, though the fig-tree should not blossom, neither should 
fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive should fail, and the 
fields shoukl yield no meat, the flock should be cut off from the 
fold, and there were no herd in the stalls ; yet thou mightest re- 
joice in the Lord, and joy in the God of thy salvation, Hab. iii. 17, 
18. All sufferings are nothing to us, so far as we have the foresight 
of this salvation. No bolts, nor bars, nor distance of place, can 
shut out these supporting joys, because they cannot confine our 
faith and thoughts, although they may confine our flesh. Christ 
and faith are both spiritual, and therefore prisons and banishments 
cannot hinder their intercourse. Even when persecution and fear 
hath shut the doors, Christ can come in, and stand in the midst, 
and say to his disciples, " Peace be unto you." And Paul and Si- 
las can be in heaven, even when they are locked up in the inner 
prison, and their bodies scourged, and their feet in the stocks. No 
wonder if there be more mirth in their stocks than on Herod's 
throne, for there was more of Christ and heaven. The martyrs 
find more rest in the flames than their persecutors can in their pomp 
and tyranny, because they foresee the flames they escape, and the 
rest which that fiery chariot is conveying them to. It is not the 
place that gives the rest, but the presence and beholding of Christ 
in it. If the Son of God will walk with us in it, we niay walk 
safely in the midst of those flames which shall devour those that 
cast us in, Dan. iii. Why, then. Christian, keep thy soul above 
with Christ ; be as little as may be out of his company, and then all 
conditions will be alike to thee. For that is the best estate to thee, 
in which thou possessest most of him. The moral arguments of a 
heathen philosopher may make the burden somewhat lighter, but 
nothing can make us soundly joy in tribulation, except we can fetch 
our joy from heaven. How came Abraham to leave his country, 
and follow God he knew not whither .'' Why, because " he looked 
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and mak-er is 
God," Ileb. xi. 8 — 10. What made Moses choose affliction with 
the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .O0;j 

season, and to esteem the reproach of Christ greater richf^s than 
the treasures of F^gypt .' Why, because h»! had respect to the re- 
conipence of reward, Heb. xi. 21 — 20. What made him to forsake 
Egypt, and not to fear the wrath of the king ? ^^'hy, he endured, 
as seeing him who is invisible, ver. 27. How did they quench the 
violence of fire ; and out of weakness were made strong { wliy would 
they not accept deliverance when they were tortured .'' Why, they 
had their eye on a better resurrection w^hich they might obtain. 
Yea, it is most evident that our Lord himself did fetch his encou- 
ragement to sufr(>rings from the foresight of his glory ; for, to this 
end, he both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord 
both of the dead and living, Rom. xiv. 9. " Even Jesus, the author 
and finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before him, endured 
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand 
of the throne of God," Heb. xii. 2. Who can wonder that pain and 
sorrow, poverty and sickness, should be exceeding grievous to that 
man who cannot reach to see the end ? or that death should be the 
king of terrors to him who caimot see the life beyond it { He that 
looks not on the end of his suH'erings, as w'ell as on the suffering 
itself, he needs must lose the whole consolation : and if he see not 
the quiet fruit of righteousness which it afterward yieldeth, it can- 
not to him be joyous, but grievous, Heb. xii. 11. This is the noble 
advantage of faith; it can look on the means and end together. 
This, also, is the reason why we oft pity ourselves more than God 
doth pity us, though we love not ourselves so much as he doth ; and 
why we would have the cup to pass from us, when he will make us 
drink it up. ^^ e pity ourselves with an ignorant pity, and would be 
saved from the cross, which is the way to save us. God sees our 
glory as soon as our suffering, and sees our suffering as it conduceth 
to our glory. He sees our cross and our crown at once, and there- 
fore pitieth us the less, and will not let us have our wills. Sirs, 
believe it, this is the great reason of our mistakes, impatience, and 
censuring of God, of our sadness of spirit at sickness and at death, 
because we gaze on the evil itself, but fix not our thoughts on what 
is beyond it. ^^'e look only on the blood, and ruin, and danger ; 
but God sees these, with all the benefits to souls, bodies, church, 
state, and posterity, all with one single view. V>,'e see the ark 
taken by the Philistines, but see not their god falling before it, and 
themselves returning it home with gifts. They that saw Christ 
only on the cross, or in the grave, do shake their heads, and think 
him lost : but God saw him dying, buried, rising, glorified, and all 
this with one view. Surely, faith w'ill imitate God in this, so far as 
it hath the glass of a promise to help it. He that sees Joseph only 
in the pit, or in the prison, will more lament his case, than he that 
sees his dignity beyond it. Could old Jacolj have seen so far, it 
might have saved him a great deal of sorrow. He that sees no 
more than the burying of the corn under ground, or the threshing, 
the winnowing, and grinding of it, will take both it and the labour 
for lost ; but he that foresees its springing and increase, and its 
making into l)read for the life of man, will think otherwise. This 



504 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

is our mistake : we see God burying us under ground, but we fore- 
see not the spring when we shall all revive : we feel him threshing 
and winnowing and grinding us, but we see not when we shall be 
served to our Master's table. If we should but clearly see heaven 
as the end of all God's dealings with us, surely none of his dealings 
could be so grievous. Think of this, I entreat thee, reader. If 
thou canst but learn this way to heaven, and get thy soul acquaint- 
ed there, thou needest not be unfurnished of the choicest cordials 
to revive thy spirits in every affliction ; thou knowest where to 
have them whenever thou wantest. Thou mayst have arguments 
at hand, to answer all that the devil or flesh can say to thy discom- 
fort. Oh ! if God would once raise us to this life, we should find 
that though heaven and sin are at a great distance, yet heaven and 
a prison, or remotest banishment ; heaven and the belly of a whale 
in the sea ; heaven and a den of lions, a consuming sickness, or 
invading death ; are at no such distance. But as Abraham so far 
off saw Christ's day, and rejoiced, so we, in our most forlorn estate, 
might see that day when Christ 'shall give us rest, and therein re- 
joice. I beseech thee. Christian, for the honour of the gospel, and 
for the comfort of thy soul, that thou be not to learn this heavenly 
art, when in the greatest extremity thou hast most need to use it. 
I know thou expectest suffering days ; at least, thou lookest to be 
sick and die. Thou wilt then have exceeding need of consolation. 
Why, whence dost thou think to draw thy comforts ? If thou 
broach every other vessel, none will come. It is only heaven that 
can afford thee store. The place is far off : the well is deep ; and 
if, then, thou have not wherewith to draw, nor hast got thy soul 
acquainted with the place, thou wilt find thyself at a fearful loss. 
It is not an easy nor a common thing, even with the best sort of 
men, to die with joy. As ever thou wouldst shut up thy days in 
peace, and close thy dying eyes with comfort, die daily. Live now 
above, be much with Christ, and thy^own soul and the saints about 
thee shall bless the day that ever thou tookest this counsel. When 
God shall call thee to a sick bed, and a grave, thou wilt perceive 
him saying to thee, " Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, 
and shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it were for a little 
moment, until the indignation be overpast," Isa. xxvi. 20. It is he 
that, with Stephen, doth see heaven opened, and Christ sitting at 
the right hand of God, who will comfortably bear the storm of 
stones. Acts vii. 56. Thou knowest not yet what trials thou mayst 
be called to. The clouds begin to rise again, and the times to 
threaten us with fearful darkness : few ages so prosperous to the 
church, but that still we must be saved so as by fire, 1 Cor. iii. 
15, and go to heaven by the old road. Men that would fall if the 
storm should shake them, do frequently meet with that which tries 
them. Why, what wilt thou do if this should be thy case ? Art 
thou fitted to suffer imprisonment, or banishment ; to bear the loss 
of goods and life ? How is it possible thou shouldst do this, and 
do it cordially and cheerfully, except thou hast a taste of some 
greater good, which thou lookest to gain by losing these ? Will 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. fJO', 

the merchant throw his goods overboard till he sees he must other- 
wise lose his life { And wilt thou cast away all thou hast belbre 
thou hast f(>lt the sweetness of that rest, which else thou must lose 
by saving these ? Nay, and it is not a speculative knowledge, which 
thou hast got only by reading or hearing of heaven, wliich will 
make thee part with all to get it. As a man that only hears of the 
sweetness of pleasant food, or reads of the melodious sounds of 
music, this doth not much excite his desires ; but when he hath 
tried the one by his taste, and the other by his ear, then he will 
more lay out to get them : so if thou shouldst know only by the 
hearing of the ear what is thi> glory of the inheritance of the saints, 
this would not bring thee through sufferings and death ; but if 
thou take this trying, tasting course, by daily exercising thy soul 
above, then nothing will stantl in thy way, but thou wouldst on till 
thou art there, though through fire and water, ^^'hat state more 
terrible than that of an apostate, when God hath told us, if any 
man draw back, his soul shall have no pleasure in him ? Heb. x. 
3>^. Because they take not their pleasure in God, and fill not 
themselves with the delights of his ways, and of his heavenly paths, 
which drop fatness, Psal. Ixv. 11 ; therefore do they prove l)ack- 
sliders in heart, and are filled with the bitterness of their own ways, 
Prov. xiv. 14. 

Nay, if they should not be brought to trial, and so not actually 
deny Christ, yet they are still interpretatively such, because they 
are such in disposition, and would be such in action, if they were 
put to it. I assure thee, reader, fot my part, I cannot see how thou 
wilt be able to hold out to the end, if thou keep not thine eye upon 
the recomponce of reward, and use not frequently to taste this cor- 
dially ; for the less thy diligence is in this, the more doubtful must 
thy perseverance needs be : for the joy of the Lord is thy strength, 
and that joy must be fetched from the place of thy joy ; and if 
thou walk without thy strength, how long dost thou think thou art 
like to endure ? 

Sect. IX. 7. Consider, It is he that hath his conversation in 
heaven, who is the profitable Christian to all about him : with him 
you may take sweet counsel, and go up to the celestial house of 
God. When a man is in a strange country, far from home, how 
glad is he of the company of one of his own nation! How delight- 
ful is it to them to talk of their country, of their acquaintance, and 
the affairs of their home ! Why, with a heavenly Christian thou 
mayst have such discourse ; for he hath been there in the Spirit, 
and can tell thee of the glory and rest above. What pleasant dis- 
course was it to Joseph to talk with his brethren in a strange land, 
and to inquire of his father and his brother Benjamin ! Is it not so 
to a Christian to talk with his brethren that have been above, and 
inquire after his Father, and Christ his Lord .'' ^^ hen a worldling 
will talk of nothing but the world, and a politician of nothing but 
the affairs of the state, and a mere scholar of human learning, and 
a conniion professor of duties, and of Christians ; the heavenly man 
will be speaking of heaven, and the strange glory which his faith 



50G THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

hath seen, and our speedy and blessed meeting there. I confess, 
to discourse with able men, of clear understandings and piercing 
wits, about the controverted difficulties of religion, yea, about some 
criticisms in languages and sciences, is both pleasant and profit- 
able ; but nothing to this heavenly discourse of a believer. Oh, 
how refreshing and savoury are his expressions ! How his words 
do pierce and melt the heart 1 How they transform the hearers into 
other men, that they think they are in heaven all the while ! How 
doth his doctrine drop as the rain, and his speech distil as the gentle 
dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers 
upon the grass ; while his tongue is expressing the name of the Lord, 
and ascribing greatness to his God ! Deut. xxxii. 1 — 3. Is not his 
feeling, sweet discourse of heaven, even like that box of precious 
ointment, which being opened to pour on the head of Christ, doth 
fill the house with the pleasure of its perfume ? All that are near 
may be refreshed by it. His words are like the precious ointment 
on Aaron's head, that ran down upon his beard, and the skirts of 
his garments, even like the dew of Hermon ; and as the dew that 
descendeth from the celestial Mount Zion, where the Lord hath 
commanded the blessing, even life for evermore, Psal. cxxxiii. 3. 
This is the man who is as Job ; " When the candle of God did 
shine upon his head, and when by his light he walked through 
darkness ; when the secret of God was upon his tabernacle, and 
when the Almighty was yet with him; then the ear that heard him, 
did bless him ; and the eye that saw him, gave witness to him," 
Job xxix. 3 — 5, 11. Happy the people that have a heavenly 
minister ; happy the children and servants that have a heavenly 
father or master ; happy the man that hath heavenly associates, if 
they have but hearts to know their happiness ! This is the com- 
panion who will watch over thy ways ; who will strengthen thee 
when thou art weak ; who will cheer thee when thou art drooping, 
and comfort thee with the same comforts wherewith he hath been 
so often comforted himself, 2 Cor. i. 4. This is he that will be 
blowing at the spark of thy spiritual life, and always drawing thy 
soul to God, and will be saying to thee, as the Samaritan woman, 
Come and see one that hath told me all that ever I did ; one that 
hath ravished my heart with his beauty ; one that hath loved our 
souls to the death. Is not this the Christ ? Is not the knowledge 
of God and him eternal life ? Is not it the glory of the saints to see 
his glory ? If thou come to this man's house, and sit at his table, 
he will feast thy soul with the dainties of heaven : thou shalt meet 
with a better than Plato's philosophical feast, even a taste of that 
feast of fat things ; " of wines on the lees, of fat things full of mar- 
row, of wines on the lees well refined," Isa. xxv. 6 ; that thy soul 
may be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and thou mayst praise 
the Lord with joyful lips, Psal. Ixiii. 5. If thou travel with this 
man on the way, he will be directing and quickening thee in thy 
journey to heaven : if thou be ])uying or selling, or trading with 
him in the world, he will be counselling thee to lay out for the in- 
estimable treasure. If thou wrong him, he can pardon thee, re- 



Chai'. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 507 

membering- that Christ hath not only pardoned great olTenco-s to 
him, but will also give him this invaluable portion. It' thou be 
angry, he is meek, considering the meekness of his heavenly pat- 
tern ; or if he fall out with thee, he is soon reconciled, when he re- 
membereth that in heaven you must be everla.sting friends. Thi.s 
is the C'hristian of the right stamp ; this is the servant that is like 
his Lord ; these be the innocent that save the island, and all about 
them are the better where they dwell. O sirs, I fear the men I 
have described are very rare, even among the religious ; but were 
it not for our own shameful' negligence, such men we might all be. 
A\ hat families, what towns, what commonwealths, what churches, 
should we have, if they were but composed of such men ! but that 
is more tlesirable tluin hopeful, till we come to that land which hath 
no other inhabitants, save what are incomparably beyond this. 
Alas ! how empty arc the speeches, and how unprofitable the 
society, of all other sorts of Christians in comparison of these ! A 
man niight perceive by his divine song, and high expression, Deut. 
xxxii. and xxxiii, that Moses had been oft with God, and that God 
had showed him part of his glory. Who could have composed such 
spiritual psalms, and poured out praises, as David did, but a man 
after God's own heart ; and a man that was near the heart of God, 
and no doubt had God also near his heart ? Who could have 
preached such spiritual doctrine, and dived into the precious mys- 
teries of salvation, as Paul did, but one who had been called with a 
light from heaven, and had been rapt up into the third heavens, in 
the Spirit, and there had seen the unutterable things .'' If a man 
should come down from heaven amongst us, who had lived in the 
possession of that blessed state, how would men be desirous to see 
or hear him ! and all the country, far and near, would leave their 
business and crowd about him : happy would he think himself that 
could get a sight of him ; how would men long to hear what reports 
he would make of the other world ; and w hat he had seen ; and 
what the blessed there enjoy ! Would they not think this man the 
best companion, and his discourse to be of all most profitable ? 
Why, sirs, every true believing saint shall be there in person, and 
is frequently there in spirit, and hath seen it also in the glass of 
the gospel. Why then do you value their company no more ; and 
why do you inquire no more of them ; and why do you relish their 
discourse no better ? Well, for my part, I had rather have the fel- 
lowship of a heavenly-ininded Christian, than of the most learned 
disputers or princely commanders. 

Sect. X. 8. Consider, There is no man so highly honoureth God, 
as he who hath his conversation in heaven ; and without this we 
deeply dishonour him. Is it not a disgrace to the father, when the 
children do feed on husks, and are clothed in rags, and accompany 
with none but rogues and beggars ! Is it not so to our Father, when 
we who call ourselves his children, shall feed on earth, and the 
garb of our souls be but like that of the naked world .'' and when 
our hearts shall make this clay and dust their more familiar and 
frequent company, who should always stand iu our Father's pre- 



508 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

sence, and be taken up in his own attendance? Sure it beseems not 
the spouse of Christ, to live among his scullions and slaves, when 
they may have daily admittance into his presence-chamber ; he 
holds forth the sceptre, if they will but enter. Sure we live below 
the rates of the gospel, and not as becometh the children of a 
King, even of the great King of all the world. We live not ac- 
cording to the height of our hopes, nor according to the plenty 
that is in the promises, nor according to the provision of our 
Father's house, and the great preparations made for his saints. It 
is well we have a Father of tender bowels, who will own his chil- 
dren, even in dirt and rags : it is well the foundation of God stands 
sure, and that the Lord knoweth who are his : or else he would hardly 
take us for his own, so far do we live below the honour of saints : if 
he did not first challenge his interest in us, neither ourselves nor 
others could know us to be his people. But, oh ! when a Christian 
can live above, and rejoice his soul in the things that are unseen, 
hoM^ doth God take himself to be honoured by such a one ! The 
Lord may say. Why, this man believes me ; I see he can trust me, 
and take my word : he rejoiceth in my promises, before he hath 
possession : he can be glad and thankful for that which his bodily 
eyes did never see : this man's rejoicing is not in the flesh : I see 
he loves me, because he minds me : his heart is with me, he loves 
my presence ; and he shall surely enjoy it in my kingdom for ever. 
" Because thou hast seen," saith Christ to Thomas, " thou hast 
believed ; but blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have 
believed," John xx, 29, How did God take himself honoured by 
Caleb and Joshua, when they went into the promised land, and 
brought back to their brethren a taste of the fruits, and gave it 
commendation, and encouraged the people ! And what a promise 
and recompence do they receive ! Numb, xiv, 24, 30, For those 
that honour him, he will honour, 1 Sam, ii, 30. 

Sect. XL 9, Consider, If thou make not conscience of this duty 
of diligent keeping thy heart in heaven, First, Thou disobeyest the 
flat commands of God : Secondly, Thou losest the sweetest parts 
of Scripture : Thirdly, And dost frustrate the most gracious dis- 
coveries of God. 

God hath not left it as a thing indifferent, and at thy own choice, 
whether thou wilt do it or not. He hath made it thy duty, as well 
as the means of thy comfort, that so a double bond might tie thee 
not to forsake thy own mercies. " If ye then be risen with Christ, 
seek those things which are above ; set your affections on things 
above, not on things on earth," Col. iii. 1, 2. The same God that 
hath commanded thee to believe, and to be a Christian, liatR com- 
manded thee to set thy affections above. The same God that hath 
forbidden thee to murder, to steal, to commit adultery, incest, or 
idolatry, hath forljidden thee the neglect of this great duty ; and 
darest thou wilfully disobey him ? Why makest thou not conscience 
of the one as well as of the other ? Secondly, Besides, thou losest 
the most comfortable passages of the word. All those most glo- 
rious descriptions of heaven, all those discoveries of our future 



Chap. 111. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 5U9 

l)losseclnos.s, all God's revelations of his purposes towards us, and 
his frequent and precious promises of our rest ; what are they all 
hut lost to thee.' Are not these the stars in the firmament of the 
Scripture, and the most golden lines in that hook of God { Of all 
the IJihle, methinks thou shouldst not part with one of those pro- 
mises or predictions ; no, not for a world. As heaven is the per- 
fection of all our mercies, so the promises of it in the gospel, are 
the very soul of the gospel. That word, which was sweeter to 
David than the honey and the honeycomh, and to Jeremy, the joy 
and rejoicing of his heart, Jer. xv. IG, the most pleasant part of 
this thou loscst. Thirdly, Yea, thou dost frustrate the preparations 
of Christ for thy joy, and niakest him to speak in vain. Is a com- 
fortahle word from the mouth of God of so great worth, that all 
the comforts of the world are nothing to it ; and dost thou neglect 
and overlook so many of them ? Reader, I entreat thee to ponder 
it, why God should reveal so much of his counsel, and tell us be- 
forehand of the joys we shall possess, but only that he would have 
us know it for our joy ? If it had not been to make comfortable our 
present life, and fill us with the delights of our foreknown blessed- 
ness, he might have kept his purpose to himself, and never have let 
us know till we come to enjoy it, nor have revealed it to us till 
death had discovered it, what he meant to do with us in the world 
to come; yea, when we had got possession of our rest, he might 
still have concealrd its eternity from us, and then the fears of losing 
it again would have bereaved us of much of the sweetness of our 
joys. But it hath pleased our Father to open his counsel, and to 
let us know the very intent of his heart, and to acquaint us with 
the eternal extent of Jiis love ; and all this that our joy may be 
full, and we might live as the heirs of such a kingdom. And shall 
we now overlook all, as if he had revealed no such matter ? Shall 
we live in earthly cares and sorrows, as if we knew of no such 
thing ? and rejoice no more in these discoveries, than if the Lord 
had never written it ? If thy prince had sealed thee but a patent 
of some lordship, how oft wouldst thou be casting thine eye upon 
it, and make it thy daily delight to study it, till thou shouldst come 
to possess the dignity itself! And hath God sealed thee a patent 
of heaven, and dost thou let it lie by thee, as if thou hadst forgot 
it ? Oh that our hearts were as high as our hopes, and our hopes 
as high as these infallible promises ! 

Sect. XII. 10. Consider, It is but equal that our hearts should 
be on God, when the heart of God is so much on us. If the Lord 
of glory can stoop so low, as to set his heart on sinful dust, sure 
one would think we should easily be persuaded to set our hearts on 
Christ and glory, and to ascend to him in our daily affections, who 
vouchsafeth to condescend to us ! Oh, if God's delight were no 
more in us, than ours is in him, what should we do ^ what a case 
were we in ! Christian, dost thou not perceive that the heart of God 
i.s set upon thee, and that he is still minding thee with tender love, 
even when thou forgettest both thyself and him ? Dost thou not 
find him following thee with daily mercies, moving upon thy soul, 



.OlO THE SAINTS- EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

providing for ihy body, preserving both? Doth lie not bear thee 
continually in the arms of lovo ; and promise that all shall work 
together for thy good ; and suit all his dealings to thy greatest ad- 
vantage, and give his angels charge over thee ? and canst thou find 
in thy heart to cast him by, and be taken up with the joys below, 
and forget thy Lord, who forgets not thee ? Fie upon this unkind 
ingratitude ! Is not this the sin that Isaiah so solemnly doth call 
both heaven and earth to witness against ? " The ox knoweth his 
owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my 
people doth not consider," Isa. i. 2, 3. If the ox or ass do straggle 
in the day, they likely comets to their home at night; but we will 
not so much as once a day, by our serious thoughts, ascend to God. 
When he speaks of his own respects to us, hear what he saith : 
when Zion saith, " The Lord hath forsaken, my Lord hath forgot- 
ten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should 
not have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea, they may for- 
get, yet will I not forget. Behold, I have graven thee upon the 
palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me," Isa. xlix. 
14. But, when he speaks of our thoughts to him, the case is other- 
wise. " Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire ? 
yet my people have forgotten me days without number," Jer. ii. 
32. As if he should say. You will not forget the clothes on your 
backs, you will not forget your braveries and vanities ! you will not 
rise one morning, but you will remember to cover your nakedness. 
And are these of more worth than your God ; or of more concern- 
ment than your eternal life ? and yet you can forget these day after 
day. O brethren, give not God cause to expostulate with us, as, 
" Ye are they that have forsaken the Lord, and that forget my holy 
mountain," Isa. Ixv. 11. But rather admire his minding of thee, 
and let it draw thy mind again to him, and say, " What is man, 
that thou shouldst magnify him ; and that thou shouldst set thy 
heart upon him ; and that thou shouldst visit him every morning, 
and try him every moment ?" Job vii. 17, 18. So let thy soul get 
up to God, and visit him every morning, and thy heart be towards 
him every moment. 

Sect. XIII. II. Consider, Should not our interest in heaven, 
and our relation to it, continually keep our hearts upon it ; besides 
that excellency which is spoken of before. Why, there our Father 
keeps his court. Do we not call him '•' Our Father which art in 
heaven?" Ah! ungracious, unworthy children, that can be so 
taken up in their play below as to be mindless of such a Father ! 
Also, there is Christ our Head, our Husband, our Life ; and shall 
we not look towards him, and send to him, as oft as we can, till we 
come to see him face to face ? If he were, by transubstantiation, 
in the sacraments, or other ordinances, and that as gloriously as he 
is in heaven, then there were some reason for our lower thoughts ; 
but when the heavens must receive him till the restitution of all 
things, let them also receive our hearts with him. There, also, 
is our mother. For Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of 
us all, Gal. iv. 26. And there are multitudes of our elder brethren. 



L'liAr. 111. THE SAINTS' F.VKRLASTING REST. .011 

There are our rriends and our ancient acquaintance, whose society 
in the flesh we so much deliglited in, and whose departure Iience we 
.so much lamented. And is tiiis no attractive to thy thoughts? If 
they were within thy reach on earth, thou wouldst go and visit 
them ; and wliy wilt thou not oftener visit them in spirit, and re- 
joice hetbrehand to think of thy meeting them there again ? Saith 
old BuUinger, Socfatcs (jtiiidct nibi inorioidiini eaue, proptered quod 
Homerum, Hesiodum, et alios pr^sfantissimos riros se visurum cre- 
d/?ret ; quanto magis ego gaiideo, qui cert us sum me visurum esse 
Christum, Serratorem meum, a'ternum Dei Filium, in. nssumpta 
cnrne ; et prcBterea tot sanctissimos et c.vimios pdlriarchas, &c. 
Socrates rejoiced that he should die, because he believed he should 
see Homer, Hesiod, and other excellent men ; how much more do 
I rejoice, who am sure to see Christ, my Saviour, the eternal Son 
of Ciod, in his assumed flesh ; and, besides, so many holy and ex- 
cellent men ! \\ hen Luther desired to die a martyr, and could not 
obtain it, he comforted himself with these thoughts, and thus did 
write to them in prison : Vestra rincula mea sum, vestri carceres et 
ignes mei sunt, dum confiteor et prcedico, robisque simul compatior 
et coiigratulor ; Yet this is my comfort, your bonds are mine, your 
prisons and fires are mine, while I confess and preach the doctrine 
for which you suffer, and while I suffer and congratulate with you in 
your suft'orings. Even so should a believer look to heaven, and con- 
template the blessed slate of the saints, and think with himself, 
Though I am not yet so happy as to be with you, yet this is my daily 
comfort, you are my brethren and fellow members in Christ, and 
therefore your joys are my joys, and your glory, by this near relation, 
is my glory ; especially while I believe in the same Christ, and 
hold fast the same faith and obedience by which you were thus dig- 
nified; and also, while I rejoice in spirit with you, and in my daily 
meditations congratulate your happiness. Moreover, our house and 
home is above, " for we know if this earthly house of our tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." ^^hy do we, then, look no oftener 
towards it, and groan not, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon 
with our house which is from heaven ? 2 Cor. v. 1,2. Sure, if our 
home were far meaner, we should yet remember it, because it is 
our home. You use to say, " Home is home, be it never so poor ;" 
and should such a home then be no more remembered ? If you 
were but banished into a strange land, how frequent thoughts would 
you have of home ; how oft would you think of your old com- 
panions ! which way ever you went, or what company soever you 
came in, j'ou would still have your hearts and desires there. You 
would even dream in the night that you were at home; that you 
saw your father, or mother, or friends ; that you were talking with 
wife, or children, or neighbours. And why is it not thus with us 
in respect of heaven I Is not that more truly and properly our 
home where we must take up our everlasting abode, than this, 
which we are looking every hour when we are separated from, and 
shall see it no more .^ We are strangers, and that is our country, 



512 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Heb. xi. 14, 1.5. We are heirs, and that is our inheritance ; even 
an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, 
reserved in heaven for us, 1 Pet. i. 4. We are here in continual 
distress and want, and there lies our substance ; even that better 
and more enduring substance, Heb. x. 34. We are here fain to be 
beholden to others, and there lies our own perpetual treasure. Matt, 
vi. 21. Yea, the very hope of our souls is there; all our hope of 
relief from our distresses ; all our hope of happiness, when we are 
here miserable ; all this hope is laid up for us in heaven, whereof 
we hear in the true word of the gospel. Col. i. 5. Why, beloved 
Christians, have we so much interest, and so seldom thoughts ? have 
we so near relation, and so little affection ? are we not ashamed of 
this? Doth it become us to be delighted in the company of 
strangers, so as to forget our Father and our Lord ; or to be so 
well pleased with those that hate and grieve us, as to forget our 
best and dearest friends ; or to be so besotted with borrowed trifles, 
as to forget our own profession and treasure ; or to be so taken up 
with a strange place, as not once a day to look toward home ; or to 
fall in love with tears and wants, as to forget our eternal joy and 
rest ? Christians, I pray you think whether this become us, or 
whether this be the part of a wise or thankful man ? Why, here 
thou art like to other men, as the heir under age, who differs not 
from a servant ; but there it is that thou shalt be promoted, and 
fully estated in all that was promised. Surely God useth to plead 
his propriety in us, and from thence to conclude to do us good, even 
because we are his own people, whom he hath chosen out of all the 
world ; and why then do we not plead our interest in him, and 
thence fetch arguments to raise up our hearts, even because he is 
our own God^ and because the place is our own possession ? Men 
use in other things to overlove and overvalue their own, and too 
much to mind their own things. Oh that we could mind our own 
inheritance, and value it but half as it doth deserve ! 

Sect. XIV. 12. Lastly, consider. There is nothing else that is 
worth the setting our hearts on. If God have them not, who or 
what shall have them ? If thou mind not thy rest, what wilt thou 
mind ? As the disciples said of Christ, " Hath any man given him 
meat to eat, that we know not of?" John iv. 32, 33; so say I to 
thee, Hast thou found out some other god or heaven, that we 
know not of; or something that will serve thee instead of rest? 
Hast thou found on earth an eternal happiness ? where is it, and 
what is it made of? or who was the man that found it out, or who 
was he that last enjoyed it ? where dwelt he, and what was his 
name ? Or art thou the first that hast found this treasure, and that 
ever discovered heaven on earth ? Ah, wretch ! trust not to thy 
discoveries, boast not of thy gain till experience bid thee boast ; 
or rather take up with the experience of thy forefathers, who are 
now in the dust, and deprived of all, though sometime they were 
as lusty and jovial as thou. I would not advise thee to make ex- 
periments at so dear rates, as all those do that seek after happiness 
below, lest, when the substance is lost, thou find too late that thou 



CiiAi'. 111. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 513 

didst catch but a shadcnv ; lest thou he like those men that will 
needs search out the philosopher's stone, thous^h none could effect 
it that went before them ; and so buy their experience with the loss 
of their own estates and time, whii-h they might have had at a 
cheaper rate, if they would have taken up with the experience of 
their predecessors. So I would wish thee not to disquiet thyself in 
looking for that which is not on earth ; lest thou learn thy ex- 
perience with the loss of thy soul, which thou mightest have learned 
at easier terms, even by the warnings of (iod in his word, and loss 
of thousands of souls before thee. It would pity a man to see that 
men will not believe (jod in this, till they have lost their labour, 
and heaven, and all. Nay, that many Christians, who have taken 
heaven for their resting-place, do lose so many thoughts needlessly 
on earth, and care not how much they oppress their spirits, which 
should be kept nimble and free for higher things. As Luther said 
to Melancthon, when he overpressod himself with the labours of 
his ministry, so may I much more say to thee, who oppressest thy- 
self with the care of the world : Vellem te od/iac decies plus ohnii. 
Adeo me tiihil tut miseret, qui toties monUua, ne onerares teipsum 
tot ouerihus, et niliil audis, omnia heue monita contemnin. Erit 
cum sero stultum tuum hunc ^ehnn frustra damnabis, quo jam 
(trdes solun omnia portare, quasi ferruin aut sa.runi sis : It were 
no matter if thou wert oppressed ten times more ; so little do I 
pity thee, who, being so often warned that thou shouldst not load 
thyself with so many burdens, dost no whit regard it, but con- 
teumest all these wholesome warnings. Thou wilt shortly, when it 
is too late, condemn this thy foolish forwardness, which makes thee 
so desirous to bear all this, as if thou wert made of iron or stone. 
Alas ! that a Christian should rather delight to have his heart 
among these thorns and briers, than in the bosom of his crucified, 
glorified Lord ! Surely, if Satan should take thee up to the moun- 
tain of temptation, and show thee the kingdoms and glory of the 
world, he could show thee nothing that is worthy thy thoughts, 
much less to be preferred before thy rest. Indeed, so far as duty 
and necessity require it, we must be content to mind the things 
below ; but who is he that contains himself within the compass of 
those limits .' And yet if we bound our cares and thoughts as dili- 
gently as ever we can, we shall find the least to be bitter and bur- 
densome ; even as the least wasp hath a sting, and the smallest 
serpent hath his poison. As old Ililtenius said of Rome : Est pro- 
prium Rotnante potcstatis ut sit fcrruin, et licet digiti minorentur 
ad parritutem acus, tamen vianent ferrei : It is proper to the i^o- 
man power to be of iron, and though the fingers of it be diminished 
to the smallness of a needle, yet they are iron still. The like may 
I say of our earthly cares ; it is their property to be hard and 
troublous, and so they will be when they are at the least. Verily, 
if we had no higher hopes than what arc on earth, I should take 
man for a most silly creature, and his vvork and wages, all his 
travail and his felicity, to be no better than dreams and vanity, and 
scarce worth the minding or mentioning ; especially to thee, a 

2 L 



514 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Christian, should it seem so, whose eyes are opened by the word 
and Spirit, to see the emptiness of all these things, and the precious 
worth of the things above. O, then, be not detained by these silly 
things, but if Satan present them to thee in a temptation, send 
them away from whence they came, as Pellicanus did send back 
the silver bowl which the bishop had sent him for a token, with 
this answer : Antricii sunt quoiquot Tkjuri cives et inquilini, his 
suigiilis annis, solemni juramento, ne quis eorum t(llnm munns ah 
ifllo principe nccipiat : All that are citizens and inhabitants of 
Zurich, are solemnly sworn twice a year not to receive any gift 
from any prince abroad. Say thou, We the citizens and inhabit- 
ants of heaven, are bound by solemn and frequent covenants, not 
to have our hearts enticed or entangled with any foreign honours or 
delights, but only with those of their own country. If thy thoughts 
should, like the laborious bee, go over the world from flower to 
flower, from creature to creature, they would bring thee no honey 
or sweetness home, save what they gathered from their relations to 
eternity. 

Ohject. But you will say, perhaps, Divinity is of larger extent 
than only to treat of the life to come, or the way thereto ; there are 
many controversies of great difficulty, which therefore require much 
of our thoughts, and so they must not be all of heaven. 

Ausw. For the smaller controversies which have vexed our times, 
and caused the doleful divisions among us, I express my mind as 
that of Graserus : Ciiyii in visitatione cegrotorum, et ad cmigra- 
tionem ex hac vita ad heatani prcBparatione deprehendisset, contro- 
versias illas theologicas, qncz scientiam qnideni injlantem pariunty 
conscientias vero Jinctuantes non sedant, quoaqne hodie magna ani- 
morum contentione agitantiir, et magnos iumultus in rehus puhlicis 
excitant, nullum prorsis usum hahere, quinimo conscientias sim- 
plicioruni non aliter a,c olim in papain humana Jigmenta intricare ; 
cwpit ah eis toto animo ahhorrere, et in puhlicis concionihus tantum 
ea proponere, quae adjidem salvijicam in Christum accedendam, et 
ad pietatem verani juxta verhuni Dei exercendam, veramque con- 
solationem in vita et morte proistandam faciehant : When he had 
found in his visiting the sick, and in his own preparations for well 
dying, that the controversies in divinity, which beget a swelling 
knowledge, but do not quiet troubled consciences, and which are at 
this day agitated with such contention of spirits, and raise such 
tumults in commonwealths, are indeed utterly useless ; yea, and 
moreover do entangle the consciences of the simple, just as the 
human inventions in popery formerly did ; he begun with full bent 
of mind to shun or abhor them, and in his public preaching to pro- 
pound only those things which tended to the kindling a true faith 
in Jesus Christ, and to the exercise of true godliness, according to 
the word of God, and to the procuring of true consolation both in 
life and death. I can scarce express my own mind more plainly 
than in this historian's expressions of the mind of Graserus. While 
I had some competent measure of health, and looked at death as at 
a greater distance, there was no man more delighted in the study 



Chap. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 515 

of controversy ; but when I saw tlying men have no mind on it, and 
how unsavoury and uncomfortable such conference was to them, 
and when 1 had oft been near to death myself, and found no de- 
light in them further than they confirmed or illustrated the doc- 
trine of eternal glory, I have minded them ever since the less, 
though every truth of God is precious, and it is the sin and shame 
of professors that they are no more able to defend the truth ; yet 
should all our study of controversy be still in relation to this per- 
petual rest, and consequently be kept within its bounds, and with 
most Christians, not have the twentieth part of our time or 
thoughts. Who that hath tried both studies, doth not cry out, as 
Summerhard was wont to do of the popish school divinity, Qiiis me 
miserum tandem liberohit ah ista rixom iheoUxjia ? Who will once 
deliver me, wretch, from this wrangling kind of dignity ? And as 
it is said of Bucholcer : Cum e.n'i/n/s a Deo dolibas asset decoratiis, 
ill certamen tameit cuin rabiosis illius scculi theolo(jis descendere 
iiohtit. Desii (inquit) disputare, civpi si/ppatare : qiioniam illud 
dissipatiouem, hoc collectionem signijicat. Vidit enim ah iis con- 
troversias mover i, quas nulla uvquam. amoris Dei scintilla calefece- 
rat : ridit ex diuturnis ilieologorum rixis, idilitatis nihil, detri- 
mcnti plurimum in ecclesias redundasse : i. e. Though he was 
adorned by God with excellent gifts, yet would he never enter into 
contention with the furious divines of that age. I have ceased, 
saith he, my disputations, and now begin my supputatioii ; for that 
signifieth dissipation, but this collection. For he saw, that those 
men were the movers of controversies who had never been warmed 
with one spark of the love of God ; he saw, that from the continual 
brawls of divines, no benefit, but much hurt, did accrue to the 
churches. And it is worth the observing, which the historian adds : 
Quapropter omnis ejus cura in hoc erat, at auditores jidei suce com- 
missos, doceret bene vivere et beate mori ; et annotatiim in univer- 
sariis amici ejus repererunt, permultos in extreme agone constitutos 
gratias ipsi hoc nomine egisse, quod ipsius ductu servatorem suu7n 
Jesum agnovissent, cujus in cognitione pxdchrum vivere, mori vera 
longe pulclicrrimum ducerent. At que hand scio annon hoc ipsum 
longe Bncholcero coram Deo sit gloriosius futurum, q)iam si aliquot 
contentiosorum libellorum jngriadasposteritatis memorice consecras- 
sat : i. e. Therefore this w^as all his care, that he might teach his 
hearers committed to his charge, to live well, and die happily ; and 
his friends found noted down in his papers a great many of persons, 
who in their last agony did give him thanks for this very reason, 
tiiat by his direction they had come to the knowledge of Jesus 
Ihoir Saviour; in the knowledge of whom, they esteem it sweet to 
live, but to die far more sweet. And I cannot tell whether this 
very thing will not prove more glorious to Bucholcer before God, 
than if he had consecrated to the memory of posterity many my- 
riads of contentious writings. And as the study of controversies is 
not the most pleasant nor the most profitable, so much less the 
public handling of them ; for do it with the greatest meekness and 
ingenuity, yet shall we meet with such unreasonable men, as ths 
2 I. 2 



516 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

said Bucholcer did, qui (irrepta ex aliqiiihus voculis cahnnniandi 
materia , luereseos inaimnlare et traducere optimum virum non 
erubescerent ; fntstra ohtestante ipso, dextre data, dextre accipe- 
rent : i. e. who, taking occasion of reproach from some small words, 
were not ashamed to traduce the good man, and accuse him of 
heresy, while he in vain obtested with them, that they should take 
in good part what Avas delivered with a good intention. Siracides 
saith, in Ecclesiasticus, chap. xxvi. that a scolding woman shall be 
sought out for to drive away the enemies ; but experience of all 
ages tells us, to our sorrow, that the wrangling divine is their chief- 
est inlet, and no such scarecrow to them at all. 

So then it is clear to me that there is nothing worth our minding 
but heaven, and the way to heaven. 

All the question will be about the affairs of church and state. 
Ij not this worth our minding, to see what things will come to, and 
how God will conclude our differences ? 

Ansic. So far as they are considered as the providences of God, 
and as they tend to the settling of the gospel, and government of 
Christ, and so to the saving of our own and our posterity's souls, 
they are well worth our diligent observation : but these are only 
their relations to eternity. Otherwise, I should look upon all the 
stirs and commotions in the world, but as the busy gadding of a 
heap of ants, or the swarming of a nest of wasps or bees ; the spurn 
of a man's foot destroys all their labour : or as an interlude, or a 
tragedy, of a few hours long. They first quarrel, and then fight, 
and let out one another's blood, and bring themselves more speedily 
and violently to their graves, which, however, they could not long 
have delayed, and so come down, and the play is ended. And the 
next generation succeeds them in their madness, and makes the like 
bustle in the world for a time ; and so they also come down, and 
lie in the dust. Like the Roman gladiators, that would kill one 
another by the hundreds, to make the beholders a solemn show ; or 
as the young men of Joab and Abner, that must play before them, 
by stabbing one another to the heart, and fall down and die, and 
there is an end of the sport. And is this worth a wise man's ob- 
servance ? 

Surely our very bodies themselves, for which we make all this 
ado in the world, are very silly pieces : look upon them (not as they 
are set out in a borrowed bravery) but as they lie rotting in a ditch, 
or grave; and you will say, they are silly things indeed. Why 
then, sure all our dealings in the world, our buyings and sellings, 
and eating and drinking, our building and marrying, our wealth and 
honours, our peace and our war, so far as they relate not to the life 
to come, but tend only to the support and pleasing of this silly 
flesh, must needs themselves be silly things, and not worthy the 
frequent thoughts of a Christian : for the means (as such) is meaner 
than their end. 

And now doth not thy conscience say as I say, that there is 
nothing ])ut heaven, and the way to it, that is worth thy minding? 

Sect. XV. Thus 1 have given thee these twelve arguments to 



Chai>. III. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTINfi REST. 517 

consider of, and, if it may be, to persuade thee to a lioavenly mind. 
I now desire thee to view them over ; read them deliberately, and 
read them again, and then tell me, are they reason, or are they 
not.' Reader, stop here, while thou answcrest my question : Are 
these considerations weighty, or not? Are these arguments con- 
vincing, or not i Have I proved it thy duty, and a flat necessity, 
to keep thy heart on things above, or have I not ? Say yea, or 
nay, man ! If thou say nay, I am confident thou contradictcst 
thine own conscience, and speakest against the light that is in thee, 
and thy reason tells thee thou speakest falsely : if thou say yea, and 
acknowledge thyself convinced of the duty, bear witness then, that 
I have thine own confession : that very tongue of thine shall con- 
demn thee, and that confession be pleaded against thee, if thou now 
go home, and cast this off, and wilfully neglect such a confessed 
duty; and these twelve considerations shall be as a jury to convict 
thee, which I propounded, hoping they might be effectual to per- 
suade thee. I have not yet fully laid open to you the nature and 
particular way of that duty, which I am all this while persuading 
you to ; that is the next thing to be done : all that I have said 
hitherto, is but to make you willing to perform it. I know the 
whole work of man's salvation doth stick most at his own will ; if 
we could once get over this block well, I see not what could stand 
before us. Be soundly willing, and the work is more than half 
done. I have now a few plain directions to give you, for to help 
you in doing this great work ; but, alas ! it is in vain to mention 
them, except you be willing to put them in practice. .What sayest 
thou, reader .' Art thou willing, or art thou not ? Wilt thou obey, 
if I show thee the way of thy duty ? However, I will set them 
down, and tender them to thee, and the Lord persuade thy heart 
to the work. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONTAINING SOME HINDERANCES OF A HEAVENLY LIFE. 

Sect. I. The first task that I must here set thee, consists in the 
avoiding some dangerous hinderances, which otherwise will keep 
thee off" from this work, as they have done many a thousand before 
thee. If I show thee briefly where the rocks and gulf do lie, I 
hope thou wilt beware. If 1 stick up a mark at every quicksand, I 
hope I need to say no more, to put thee by it. Therefore, as thou 
valuest the comforts of a heavenly conversation, I here charge thee 
from God to beware most carefully of these impediments. 

1. The first is, the living in a known unmortified sin. Observe 
this. Oh what havoc will this make in thy soul ! Oh the joys 
that this hath destroyed ! the blessed comnmnion with God that 
this hath interrupted ! the ruins it hath made amongst men's 



518 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

graces ! the soul -strengthening duties that this hath hindered ! 
And above all others, it is especially an enemy to this great duty. 
Christian reader, I desire thee, in the fear of God, stay here a 
little, and search thy heart. Art thou one that hath used violence 
■with thy conscience ? Art thou a wilful neglecter of known duties, 
either public, private, or secret ? Art thou a slave to thine appe- 
tite, in eating or drinking, or to any other commanding sense ? Art 
thou a proud seeker of thine own esteem, and a man that must 
needs have men's good opinion, or else thy mind is all in a com- 
bustion ? Art thou a wilfully peevish and passionate person, as if 
thou wert made of tinder, or gunpowder, ready to take fire at every 
word, or every wry look, or every supposed slighting of thee, or 
every neglect of a compliment or courtesy ? Art thou a knowing 
deceiver of others in thy dealing, or one that hath set thyself to rise 
in the world ? not to speak of greater sins, which all take notice of. 
If this be thy case, I dare say, heaven and thy soul are very great 
strangers : I dare say, thou art seldom in heart with God, and 
there is little hope it should ever be better, as long as thou continu- 
est in these transgressions. These beams in thine eyes will not 
suffer thee to look to heaven ; these will be a cloud between thee 
and God. When thou dost but attempt to study eternity, and to 
gather comfort from the life to come, thy sin will presently look 
thee in the face, and say. These things belong not to thee. How 
shouldst thou take comfort from heaven, who takest so much 
pleasure in the lusts of thy flesh ? Oh, how this will damp thy 
joys, and make the thoughts of that day and state to become thy 
trouble, and not thy delight ! Every wilful sin that thou livest in, 
will be to thy comforts as water to the fire ; when thou thinkest 
to quicken them, this will quench them ; when thy heart begins to 
draw near to God, this will presently come in thy mind, and cover 
thee with shame, and fill thee with doubting. Besides, (which is 
most to the point in hand,) it doth utterly indispose thee, and dis- 
able thee to this work : when thou shouldst wind up thy heart to 
heaven, alas ! it is biassed another way ; it is entangled in the lusts 
of the flesh ; and can no more ascend in Divine meditation than 
the bird can fly whose wings are clipped, or that is entangled in 
the lime twigs, or taken in the snare. Sin doth cut the very 
sinews of the soul ; therefore, I say of this heavenly life, as Mr. 
Bolton saith of prayer. Either it will make thee leave sinning, or sin 
will make thee leave it, and that quickly too, for these cannot con- 
tinue together. If thou be here guilty, who readest this, I require 
thee sadly to think of this folly. O man ! what a life dost thou 
lose ; and what a life dost thou choose ; what daily delights dost 
thou sell for the swinish pleasure of a stinking lust ; what a Christ, 
what a glory, dost thou turn thy back upon, when thou art going 
to the embracements of thy hellish pleasures ! I have read of a 
gallant addicted to uncleanness, who at last meeting with a beauti- 
ful dame, and having enjoyed his fleshly desires of her, found her 
in the morning to be the dead body of one that he had formerly 
sinned with, which had been acted by the devil all night, and left 



Chai'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. j|<J 

dead again in the morning. Surely, all thy sinful ph^asures are 
such : the devil doth animate them in the darkness of the night ; 
but when God awakes thee, at the farthest at death, the deceit is 
vanished, and nothing left hut a carcass to ama/e thee, and he a 
spectacle of horror before thine eyes. 'J'hou thinkest thou hast 
hold of some choice delight, but it will turn in thy hand (as Moses's 
rod) into a serpent ; and then thou wouldst fain be rid of it, if thou 
knewest how ; and would lly from the face of it, as thou dost now 
embrace it : and shall this now detain thee from the high delights 
of the saints ? If heaven and hell can meet together, and if God can 
become a lover of sin, then mayst thou live in thy sin and in the 
tastes of glory, and mayst have a conversation in heaven though 
thou cherish thy corruption. If, therefore, thou find thyself guilty, 
never doubt on it but this is the cause that estrangeth thee from 
heaven; and take heed lest it keep out thee, as it keeps out thy 
heart ; and do not say but thou wast bid take heed. Yea, if thou 
be a man that hitherto hast escaped, and knowest no reigning sin 
in thy soul, yet let this warning move thee to prevention, and stir 
up a dread of this danger in thy spirit. As Hunnius writes of 
liimself, that, hearing the mention of the unpardonable sin against 
the Holy Ghost, it stirred up such fears in his spirit, that made 
him cry out, ^^'hat if this should be my case ? and so roused him 
to prayer and trial. So think thou, though tlioli yet be not guilty, 
what a sad thing were it, if ever this should prove thy case, and 
therefore watch. Especially resolve to keep from the occasions of 
sin, and, as much as is possible, out of the way of temptations. 
The strongest Christian is unsafe among occasions of sin. Oh what 
need have we to pray daily, " Lead us not into temptation, but de- 
liver us from evil ! " And shall we pray against them, and cast our- 
selves upon them ? If David, Solomon, Peter, See. teach you not, 
at least look upon the multitudes that have revolted of late times, 
and fallen into the most horrid sins, with religious pretences. As 
Christ thought meet to say to his disciples, " Remend)er Lot's 
wife; and what I say to one I say to all, Watch ;" so say I, Re- 
member these, and watch. 

Sect. II. 2. A second hinderance carefully to The description of a 
be avoided is, an earthly mind; for you may easily worUimfj. 

conceive that this cannot stand with a heavenly mind. God and 
mammon, earth and heaven, cannot both have the delight of thy 
heart. This makes thee like Anselm's bird, with a stone tied to 
the foot, which as oft as she took flight, did pluck her to the earth 
again. If thou be a man that hast fancied to thyself some content 
or happiness to be found on earth, and beginnest to taste a sweet- 
ness in gain, and to aspire after a fuller and a higher estate ; and 
hast hatched some thriving projects in thy brain, and art driving 
on thy rising design ; believe it, thou art marching with thy back 
upon Christ, and art posting apace from this heavenly life. Why, 
hath not the world that from thee, which God hath from the hea- 
venly believer?. When he is blessing himself in his God, and re- 
joicing in hope of the glory to come, then thou art blessing thyself 



520 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

in thy prosperity, and rejoicing in hope of thy thriving here : when 
he is solacing his soul in the views of Christ, of the angels and 
saints, that he shall live with for ever, then art thou comforting 
thyself with thy wealth, in looking over thy bills and bonds, in 
viewing thy money, thy goods, thy cattle, thy buildings, or large 
possessions ; and art recreating thy mind in thinking on thy hopes ; 
of the favour of some great ones, on whom thou dependest ; of the 
pleasantness of a plentiful and commanding state ; of thy larger pro- 
vision for thy children after thee ; of the rising of thy house, or the 
obeisance of thine inferiors. Are not these thy morning and even- 
ing thoughts, when a gracious soul is above with Christ ? Dost thou 
not delight and please thyself with a daily rolling these thoughts 
in thy mind, when a gracious soul should have higher delights .'* 
If he were a fool by the sentence of Christ that said, " Soul, take 
thy rest, thou hast enough laid up for many years;" what a fool of 
fools art thou, that, knowing this, yet takest not warning, but in 
thy heart speakest the same words ! Look them over seriously, 
and tell me what difference between this fool's expressions and thy 
affections ? I doubt not but thou hast more wit than to speak thy 
mind just in his language ; but, man, remember thou hast to do 
with the Searcher of hearts. It may be, thou boldest on thy course 
of duty, and prayest as oft as thou didst before ; it may be, thou 
keepest in with good ministers, and with godly men, and seemest 
as forward in religion as ever : but what is all this to the purpose ? 
Mock not thy soul, man, for God will not be so mocked. What 
good may yet remain in thee, I know not; but sure I am, thy 
course is dangerous, and, if thou follow it on, will end in dolour. 
Methinks I see thee befooling thyself, and tearing thy hair, and 
gnashing thy teeth, when thou hearest thy case laid open by God : 
" Thou fool, this night shall they require thy soul from thee; and 
then whose are all these things?" Certainly, so much as thou 
delightest and restest on earth, so much is abated^of thy delights in 
God. Thine earthly mind may consist with thy profession and 
common duties, but it cannot consist with this heavenly duty. I 
need not tell thee all this, if thou wouldst deal impartially, and not 
be a traitor to thy own soul : thou knowest thyself how seldom and 
cold, how cursory and strange, thy thoughts have been of the joys 
hereafter, ever since thou didst trade so eagerly for the world. 
Methinks I even perceive thy conscience stir now, and tell thee 
plainly that this is thy case. Hear it, man ! Oh ! hear it now, 
lest thou hear it in another manner when thou wouldst be full loth. 
Oh the cursed madness of many that seem to be religious ; who 
thrust themselves into a multitude of employments, and think they 
can never have business enough till they are loaded with labours 
and clogged with cares ; that their souls are as unfit to converse 
with God, as a man to walk with a mountain on his back ; and till 
he hath even transformed his soul almost into the nature of his 
drossy carcass, and made it as unapt to soar aloft as his body is to 
leap above the sun : and when all is done, and they have lost that 
heaven they might have had upon earth, they take up a few rotten 



CuAi>. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. :yj[ 

arprunients to prove it lawful, and then they think that they have 
Kalvcd all. 'I'hougli these sots would not do so for thcnr hodies, 
nor forbear their eating, or drinking, or sh^eping, or sporting, though 
they could prove it lawful so to do, though, indinnl, they cannot 
prove it lawlul neither. They miss not the pleasures of this hea- 
venly life, if they can but quiet their consciences, while they fasten 
upon lower and baser pleasures. For thee, O Christian, who hast 
tasted of these pleasures, I advise thee, as thou valuest their enjoy- 
ment, as ever thou wouldst taste of them any more, take heed of 
this gulf of an earthly mind ; for if once thou come to this, that thou 
wilt be rich, " thou fallest into temptation, and a snare, and into 
divers foolish and hurtful lusts :" it is St. Paul's own words, 1 Tim. 
vi. 9. Set not thy mind, as Saul, on the asses, when the kingdom 
of glory is set before thee. Keep these things as thy upper gar- 
ments, still loose about thee, that thou mayst lay them l)y whenever 
there is cause : but let God and glory be next thy heart, yea, as the 
very blood and spirit by which thou livest. Still remember that of 
the Spirit, " The friendship of the world is enmity with God : who- 
soever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God," 
James iv. 4. And, " Love not the world, nor the things of the 
world : if any love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," 
1 John ii. 15. This is plain dealing, and happy he that faithfully 
receives it. 

Sect. III. 3. A third hinderance which I must advise thee to 
beware is, the company of ungodly and sensual men. Not that I 
would dissuade thee from necessary converse, or from doing them 
any office of love, especially not from endeavouring the good of their 
souls, as long as thou hast any opportunity or hope : nor would I 
have thee conclude them to be dogs and swine, that so thou mayst 
evade the duty of reproof; nor yet to judge them such at all, as 
long as there is any hope of better, or before thou art certain they 
are such indeed. Much less can I approve of the practice of those 
who, because the most of the world are naught, do therefore con- 
clude men dogs, or swine, before ever they faithfully and lovingly 
did admonish them, yea, or perhaps before they have known them, 
or spoke with them : and hereupon they will not communicate with 
them in the Lord's supper, but separate from them into distinct 
congregations. I persuade thee to no such ungodly separation : as 
I never found one word in Scripture where either Christ or his 
apostles denied admittance to any man that desired to be a member 
of the church, tliough but only professing to repent and believe ; 
so neither did I ever there find that any but convicted heretics, and 
scandalous ones, and that for the most part after due admonition, 
were to be avoided or debarred our fellowship. And whereas it is 
urged that they are to prove their title to the privileges which they 
lay claim to, and not we to disprove it : I answer. If that were 
granted, yet their mere sober professing to repent and believe in 
Christ, is as to us a sufficient evidence of their title to church 
membership, and admittance thereto by baptism, supposing them 
not admitted before ; and their being baptized persons, if at age. 



522 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

or members of the universal visible church, into which it'is that 
they are baptized, and owning their baptismal profession, is suf- 
ficient evidence of their title to the supper, till they do by heresy 
or scandal blot that evidence ; which evidence, if they do produce 
in the church of which they are members, yea, though they are yet, 
weak in the faith of Christ, who is he that dare refuse to receive 
them ? And this, after much doubting, dispute, and study of the 
Scriptures, I speak as confidently as almost any truth of equal 
moment : so plain is the Scripture in this point, to a man that 
brings his understanding to the model of Scripture, and doth not 
bring a model in his brain, and reduce all he reads to that model. 
The door of the visible church is incomparably wider than the door 
of heaven : and Christ is so tender, so bountiful, and forward to 
convey his grace, and the gospel so free an offer and invitation to 
all, that surely Christ will keep no man off: if they will come quite 
over in spirit to Christ, they shall be welcome ; if they will come 
but only to a visible profession, he will not deny them admittance 
there, because they intend to go no farther, but will let them come 
as near as they will ; and that they come no farther, shall be their 
own fault : and so it is not his readiness to admit such, nor the 
openness of the door of his visible church, that makes men hypo- 
crites, but their own wickedness. Christ will not keep such out 
among infidels, for fear of making hypocrites ; but when the net is 
drawn unto the shore, the fishes shall be separated ; and when the 
time of harvest comes, " then the angels shall gather out of his 
kingdom all things that offend, and them that work iniquity/' Matt, 
xiii. 41. There are many saints, or sanctified men, that yet shall 
never come to heaven, who are only saints by their separation from 
paganism, into fellowship with the visible church, but not saints in 
the strictest sense, by separation from the ungodly into the fellow- 
ship of the mystical body of Christ. Heb. x. 29 ; Dent. vii. 6 ; 
xiv. 2, 21 ; xxvi. 19 ; xxviii. 9 ; Exod. xix. 6 ; 1 Cor. vii. 13, 14 ; 
Rom. xi. 16 ; Heb. iii. 1, compared with verse 12 ; 1 Cor. iii. 17 ; 
xiv. 33; 1 Cor. i. 2, compared with xi. 20, 21, &c. ; Gal. iii. 26, 
compared with Gal. iii. 3, 4, iv. 11, and v, 2 — 4; John xv. 2. 

Thus far I have digressed, by way of caution, that you may not 
think that I dissuade you from lawful converse ; but it is the unne- 
cessary society of ungodly men, and too much familiarity with un- 
profitable companions, though they be not so apparently ungodly, 
that I dissuade you from. There are many persons whom we may 
not avoid or excommunicate out of the church, no, nor out of our 
private society, judicially, or by way of penalty to them, whom yet 
we must exclude from our too-much familiarity in w'ay of prudence 
for preservation of ourselves. It is not only the open profane, the 
swearer, the drunkard, and the enemies of godliness, that will prove 
hurtful companions to us, though these, indeed, are chiefly to be 
avoided ; but too frequent society with dead-hearted formalists, or 
persons merely civil and moral, or whose conference is empty, un- 
savoury, and barren, may much divert our thoughts from heaven, 
and do ourselves a great deal of wrong. As mere idleness and for- 



CiiAi'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .523 

petting God, will koep a soul as certainly from heaven, as a profane, 
licentious, ll^shly life ; so also will the useless company of such 
idle, forgetful, negligent persons, as surely keep our hearts from 
heaven, as the company of men more dissolute and profane. Alas ! 
our dulness and hackwardness is such, that we have need of the 
most constant and powerful helps. A clod, or a stone, that lies on 
the earth, is as prone to arise and fly in the air, as our hearts are 
naturally to move towards heaven. Vou need not hold nor hinder 
the earth and rocks, to keep them from flying up to the skies ; it is 
suflicient that you do not help them. And, surely, if our spirits 
have not great assistance, they may easily he kept from flying aloft, 
though they never should meet with the least impediment. Oh, 
think of this in the choice of your company. When your spirits 
are so powerfully disposed for heaven that you need no help to lift 
them up ; but, as the flames, you are always mounting upward, and 
carrying with you all that is in your way, then you may, indeed, he 
less careful of your company ; but till then, as you love the delights 
of a heavenly life, be careful therein. As it is reported of a lord 
that was near to his death, and the doctor that prayed with him 
read over the Litany ; " for all women labouring with child, for all 
sick persons and young children, &c.; from lightning and tempest, 
from plague, pestilence, and famine ; from battle, murder, and sud- 
dm death," &c. ; " Alas ! " sailh he, " what is this to me who must 
presently die ?" &c. : so mayst thou say of such men's conference, 
who can talk of nothing but their callings and vanity ; Alas ! what 
is this to me who must shortly be in rest, and should now be re- 
freshing my soul with its foretastes ? What will it advantage thee 
to a life with God, to hear where the fair is such a day, or how the 
market goes, or what weather is, or is like to be ; or when the moon 
changed, or what news is stirring ? Why, this is the discourse of 
earthly men. What will it conduce to the raising of thy heart 
God-ward, to hear that this is an able minister, or that a serious 
Christian, or that this was an excellent sermon, or that an excellent 
book ; to hear a violent arguing or tedious discourse of baptism, 
ceremonies, the power of the keys, the order of God's decrees, or 
other such controversies of great difficulty, but little importance ? 
Yet this, for the most part, is the sweetest discourse that thou art 
like to have of a formal, speculative, dead-hearted professor. Nay, 
if thou hadst newly been warming thy heart in the contemplation 
of the blessed joys above, would not this discourse benumb thine 
afftections and quickly freeze thy heart again ? I appeal to the 
judgment of any man that hath tried it, and maketh observations 
on the frame of his spirit. Men cannot well talk of one thing and 
mind another, especially things of such differing natures. You 
young men, who are most liable to this temptation, think sadly of 
what I say. Can you have your hearts in heaven on an ale-house 
bench, among your roaring, singing, swaggering companions, or 
when you work in your shops with none but such whose ordinary 
language is oaths, or filthiness, or foolish talking, or jesting ? Nay, 
let me tell you thus much more ; that if you choose such company 



524 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

when you might have better, and find more delight and content in 
such, you are so far from a heavenly conversation, that as yet you 
have no title to heaven at all, and in that estate shall never come 
there : for were your treasure there, your heart would not be on 
things so distant, Matt. vi. 21. In a word, our company will be 
part of our happiness in heaven, and it is a singular part of our fur- 
therance to it, or hinderance from it. As the creatures living in 
the several elements are commonly of the temperature of the ele- 
ment they live in, as the fishes cold and moist like the water, the 
worms cold and dry as the earth, and so the rest ; so are we usually 
like the society which we most converse in. He that never found 
it hard to have a heavenly mind in earthly company, it is certainly 
because he never tried. 

Sect. IV. 4. A fourth hinderance to heavenly conversation is, 
.too frequent disputes about lesser truths, and especially when a 
man's religion lies only in his opinions : a sure sign of an unsancti- 
fied soul. If sad examples be doctrinal to you, or the judgments 
of God upon us to be regarded, I need to say the less upon this 
particular. It is legibly written in the faces of thousands ; it is 
visible in the complexion of our diseased nation : this fades Jiypo- 
critica is our fades hypocrailca. He that hath the least skill in 
physiognomy may see that this complexion is mortal, and this pic- 
ture-like, shadow-like visage aifordeth our state a sad prognostic. 
You that have been my companions in armies and garrisons, in 
cities and countries, I know have been my companions in this ob- 
servation, that they are usually men least acquainted with a heavenly 
life, who are the violent disputers about the circumstantials of re- 
ligion. He whose religion is all in his opinions, will be most fre- 
quently and zealously speaking his opinions ; and he whose religion 
lies in the knowledge and love of God in Christ, will be most de- 
lightfully speaking of that time when he shall enjoy God and 
Christ. As the body doth languish in consuming fevers when the 
native heat abates within, and an unnatural heat inflaming the ex- 
ternal parts succeeds ; so, when the zeal of a Christian doth leave 
the internals of religion, and fly to ceremonials, externals, or infe- 
rior things, the soul must needs consume and languish : yea, though 
you were sure your opinions were true, yet when the chiefest of 
your zeal is turned thither, and the chiefest of your conference 
there laid out, the life of grace decays within, and your hearts are 
turned from this heavenly life. Not that I would persuade you to 
undervalue the least truth of God, nor that I do acknowledge the 
hot disputers of the time to have discovered the truth above their 
brethren ; but in case we should grant them to have hit on the 
truth, yet let every truth in our thoughts and speeches have their 
due proportion, and I am confident the hundredth part of our time 
and our conference would not be spent upon the now common 
themes. For as there are a hundred truths of far greater conse- 
quence, who do all challenge the precedency before these, so many 
of those truths alone are of a hundred times nearer concernment to 
our souls, and therefore should have an answerable proportion in 



CiiAi'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 525 

our thoughts. Neither is it any excuse for our casting by those 
great, fundamental truths, because they are connnon and known 
already ; for the chief iniprovcMuent is yet behind, and the soul 
must be daily refreshed with the truth of Scripture, and the good- 
ness of that which it oH'ereth and promiseth, as the body must be 
with its daily food ; or else the known truths that lie idle in your 
heads will no more nourish, or comfort, or save you, than the bread 
that lies still in your cupboards will feed you. Ah ! he is a rare 
and precious Christian who is skilled in the improving of well-known 
truths. Therefore let me advise you that aspire after this joyous 
life, spend not too much of your thoughts, your time, your zeal, or 
your speeches, upon quarrels that less concern your souls ; but 
when hypocrites are feeding on husks or shells, or on this heated 
food which will burn their lips iar sooner than warm and strengthen 
their hearts, then do you feed on the joys above. I could wish you 
were all understanding men, able to defend every truth of God ; 
and to this end that you would read and study controversy more ; 
and your understanding and stability in these days of trial is no 
small part of my comfort and encouragement. But still I would 
have the chiefest to be chiefly studied, and none to shoulder out 
your thoughts of eternity. The least controverted points are usually 
most weighty, and of most necessary frequent use to our souls. 

For you, my neighbours and friends in Christ, I bless God that 
I have so little need to urge this hard upon you, or to spend my 
time and speeches in the pulpit on these quarrels, as I have been 
necessitated, to my discontent, to do elsewhere : I rejoice in the 
wisdom and goodness of our Lord, who hath saved me much of this 
labour, 1. Partly by his tempering of your spirits to sincerity. 2. 
Partly by the doleful, yet profitable example of those few that went 
from us, whose former and present condition of spirit makes them 
stand, as the pillar of salt, for a continual terrov and warning to 
you, and so to be as useful as they were like to bo hurtful. 3. 
Partly by the confessions and bewailings of this sin that you have 
heard from the mouth of the dying, advising you to beware of 
changing your fruitful society for the company of deceivers. I do 
unfeignedly rejoice in these providences, and bless the Lord who 
thus establisheth his saints. Study well these precepts of the Spirit : 
" Him that is weak in the faith, receive, but not to doubtful dis- 
putations," Rom. xiv. 1. "But foolish and unlearned questions 
avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes ; and the servant of the 
Lord must not strive," 2 Tim. ii. 23. " But avoid foolish questions, 
and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law, for 
they are unprofitable and vain," Tit. iii. 9. " If any man teach 
otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to 
godliness ; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about ques- 
tions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railing, 
evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and 
destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness : from such 
withdraw thyself," 1 Tim. vi. 3 — 5. 



526 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Sect. V. .5. As you value the comforts of a heavenly life, take 
heed of a proud and lofty spirit. There is such an antipathy be- 
tween this sin and God, that thou wilt never get thy heart near 
him, nor get him near thy heart, so long as this prevaileth in it. If it 
cast the angpls from heaven that were in it, it must needs keep thy 
heart estranged from it. If it cast our first parents out of Paradise, 
and separated between the Lord and us, and brought his curse on 
all the creatures here below, it must needs then keep our hearts 
from paradise, and increase the cursed separation from our God. 
Believe it, hearers, a proud heart and a heavenly heart are exceed- 
ing contrary. Intercourse with God will keep men low, and that 
lowliness will further their intercourse. When a man is used to be 
much with God, and taken up in the study of his glorious attri- 
butes, he abhors himself in dust and ashes, and that self-abhorrence 
is his best preparative to obtain admittance to God again. There- 
fore, after a soul-humbling day, or in times of trouble, when the 
soul is lowest, it useth to have freest access to God, and savour 
most of the life above. He will bring them into the wilderness, 
and there he will speak comlbrtably to them, Hos. ii. 14. The 
delight of God is a humble soul, even him that is contrite, and 
trembleth at his word ; and the delight of a humble soul is in God; 
and sure, where there is mutual delight, there will be freest ad- 
mittance, and heartiest welcome, and most frequent converse. 
Heaven would not hold God and the proud angels together, but a 
humble soul he makes his dwelling ; and surely if our dwelling be 
with hi-nfi, and in him, and his dwelling also be with us, and in us, 
there must needs be a most near and sweet familiarity. But the 
soul that is proud cannot plead this privilege. God is so far from 
dwelling in it, that he will not admit it to any near access, but 
looks upon it afar off, Psal. cxxxviii. 6. The proud he resisteth, 
and the proud resisteth him, but to the humble he gives this and 
other graces, 1 Pet. v. 5. A proud mind is a high mind in conceit, 
self-esteem, and carnal aspiring. A heavenly mind is a high mind 
indeed in God's esteem, and in higher, yet holy, aspiring. These 
two sorts of high-mindedness are more adverse to one another, than 
a high mind and a low : as we see that most wars and bloodshed 
is between princes and princes, and not between a prince and a 
ploughman. A low spirit and a humble is not so contrary to a high 
and heavenly, as is a high and a proud. A grain of mustard-seed 
may come to be a tree ; a small acorn may be a great oak ; the sail 
of the windmill that is now down may presently be the highest of 
all; a subject that is low may be raised high, and he that is high 
maybe yet higher, as long as he stands in subordination to his 
prince, who is the fountain of honour ; but if he break out of that 
isubordination, and become a competitoi', or will assume and arro- 
gate honour to himself, he will find this prove the falling way. A 
man that is swelled in a dropsy with wind or water, is as far from a 
sound, well-fleshed constitution, as he that is in a consuming atro- 
phy. Well, then, art thou a man of worth in thine own eyes, and 
very tender of thine esteem with others ? Art thou one that much 



C'HAi'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. o27 

vainest the applause of the people, and feelest thy heart tickled 
with delight when thou hearest of thy great cstecni with men, and 
nuich deji-eted when thou hearest that men slight thee .' Dost thou 
love those hest who highly honour thee, and doth thy heart hear a 
grudge at those that thou thinkest do undervalue thee, and enter- 
tain mean thoughts of thee, though they be otherwise men of god- 
liness and honesty ? Art thou one that nmst needs have thy 
humours fulfilled, and thy judgment must be a rule to the judg- 
ments of others, and thy word a law to all about thee ? Art thou 
ready to quarrel with every man that lets fall a word in derogation 
from thy honour { Are thy passions kindled if thy word or will be 
crossed .'' Art thou ready to judge humility to be sordid baseness, 
and knowest not how to stoop and submit ; and wilt not be brought 
to shame thyself by humble confession when thou hast sinned 
against God, or injured thy brother i Art thou one that honourest 
the godly that are rich, and thinkest thyself somebody if they value 
and own thee, but lookest strangely at the godly poor, and art 
almost ashamed to be their companion? Art thou one that canst 
not serve God in a low place as well as in a high ; and thinkest 
thyself the fittest for offices and honours, and lovest God's service 
when it stands with preferment ? Hast thou thine eye and thy speech 
much on thy own deservings ; and are thy boastings restrained 
more by wit than by humility .'' Dost thou delight in opportunities 
of setting forth thy parts, and lovest to have thy name made public 
to the world, and wouldst fain leave behind thee some monument 
of thy worth, that posterity may admire thee when thou art dead 
and gone ? Hast thou witty circundocutions to commend thyself, 
while thou seemest to abase thyself, and deny thy worth ? Dost 
thou desire to have all men's eyes upon thee, and to hear men ob- 
serving thee, say. This is he ? Is this the end of thy studies and 
learning, of thy labours and duties, of seeking degrees, and titles, 
and places, that thou mayst be taken for somebody abroad in the 
world ? Art thou unacquainted with the deceitfulness and wickedness 
of thy heart; or knowest thyself to be vile only by reading and by 
hearsay, but not by experience, and feeling of thy vileness ? Art 
thou readier to defend thyself, and maintain thine innocency, than to 
accuse thyself, or confess thy fault ? Canst thou hardly bear a close 
reproof, and dost digest plain dealing with difficulty and distaste ? 
Art thou readier in thy discourse to teach than to learn, and to 
dictate to others than to hearken to their instructions ? Art thou 
bold and confident of thy own opinions, and little suspicious of the 
weakness of thy understanding, but a slighter of the judgment of 
all that are against thee { Is thy spirit more disposed to command 
and govern, than it is to obey and be ruled by others ? Art thou 
ready to censure the doctrine of thy teachers, the actions of thy 
rulers, and the persons of thy brethren ; and to think, if thou wert 
a judge, thou wouldst be more just ; or, if thou wert a minister, 
thou wouldst be more fruitful in doctrine, and more faithful in over- 
seeing ; or, if thou hadst the managing of other men's business, 
thou wouldst have carried it more honestly and wisely ? If these 



528 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

symptoms be undeniably in tby beart, beyond doubt tbou art a 
proud person. I will not talk of tby following tbe fasbions, of thy 
bravery and comportment, tby proud gestures and arrogant speecbes, 
tby living at a rate above tby abilities. Perbaps tby incompetency 
of estate, or tby competency of wit, may suffice to restrain these 
unmanly fooleries. Perbaps tbou mayst rather seem sordid to 
others, and to live at a rate below thy worth ; and yet, if thou be 
guilty of the former accusations, be it known to thee thou art a 
person abominably proud ; it bath seized on thy beart, which is 
the principal fort; there is too much of bell abiding in thee, for thee 
to have any acquaintance in heaven. Thy soul is too like the devil 
for thee to have any familiarity with God. A proud man is all in the 
flesh, and be that will be heavenly must be much in tbe Spirit, Is 
it likely that tbe man whom I have here described, bath either will 
or skill to go out of himself, and out of the flesh, as it were, and 
out of the world, that so be may have freedom for converse above ? 
A proud man makes himself his god, and admires and sets himself 
as his idol ; bow, then, can he have his aff'ections set on God ? As 
the bumble, godly man is tbe zealot in forward worshipping of 
God, so the ambitious man is the great zealot in idolatry ; for what 
is his ambition but a more hearty and earnest desire after his idol, 
than tbe common and calmer idolaters do reach ? And can this 
man possibly have his heart in heaven ? It is possible his invention 
and memory may furnish his tongue both with humble and heaven- 
ly expressions, but in bis spirit there is no more heaven than there 
is humility. 

I entreat you, readers, be very jealous of your souls in this point. 
There is nothing in the world will more estrange you from God. 
I speak the more of it, because it is the most common and danger- 
ous sin in morality, and most promoting the great sin of infidelity. 
You VN^ould little think (yea, and the owners do little think) what 
bumble carriage, what exclaiming against pride, what moanful self- 
accusings, may stand with this devilish sin of pride. O Christian, 
if thou wouldst live continually in tbe presence of thy Lord, and 
lie in the dust, he would thence take thee up : descend first with 
him into the grave, thence thou mayst ascend with him to glory. 
Learn of him to be meek and lowly, and then thou mayst taste of 
this rest to thy soul. Tby soul else will be as -the troubled sea, 
still casting out mire and dirt, which cannot rest ; and, instead of 
these sweet delights in God, thy pride will fill thee with perpetual 
disquietness. It is tbe bumble soul that forgets not God, and God 
will not forget the humble, Psal. ix. 12; x. 12. As be that hum- 
bletb himself as a little child, shall hereafter be greatest in the 
kingdom of God, Matt, xviii. 4, so shall be now be greatest in tbe 
foretastes of the kingdom; for, as whosoever exaltetb himself shall 
be abased, so he that bumblctb himself shall be, in both these 
respects, exalted. Matt, xxiii. 12. God therefore dwelletb with 
him that is bumble and contrite, to revive the spirit of such with 
bis presence, Isa. Ivii. 15. I conclude with that counsel of James 
and Peter, Humble yourselves, therefore, in tbe sight of the Lord, 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 529 

and he shall now in the spirit lift you up, James iv. 10, and in due 
time shall port'cctly exalt you, I Pet. v. G. And when others are 
cast down, then shalt thou say, " There is a lifting up, and he shall 
save the humble person," Job xxii. 29 ; Prov. xv. S'S ; xviii. 22. 

Sect. VI. (5. Another impediment to this heavenly hfe is, wilful 
laziness, and slothfulness of spirit ; and I verily think for knowing 
men, there is nothing hinders more than this. Oh, if it were only 
the exercise of the body, the moving of the lips, the bending of the 
knee, then it were an easy work indeed, and men would as com- 
monly step to heaven as they go a few miles to visit a friend ; yea, 
if it were to spend most of our days in numbering beads, and re- 
peating certain words and prayers, in voluntary humility, and neg- 
lecting the body, after the commandments and doctrines of men, 
Col. ii. 21 — 23, yea, or in the outward part of duties commanded 
by God, yet it were comparatively easy. Further, if it were only 
in the exercise of parts and gifts, though we made such perform- 
ance our daily trade, yet it were easy to be heavenly-minded. But 
it is a work more difficult than all this, to separate thoughts and 
affections from the world ; to force them to a work of so high a 
nature ; to draw forth all our graces in their order, and exercise 
each on its proper object ; to hold them to this till they perceive 
success, and till the work doth thrive and prosper in their hands. 
This, this is the difficult task. Reader, heaven is above thee, the 
way is upwards. Dost thou think, who art a feeble, short-winded 
sinner, to travel daily this steep ascent without a great deal of 
labour and resolution ? Canst thou get that earthly heart to heaven, 
and bring that backward mind to God, while thou liest still, and 
takcst thine ease ? If lying down at the foot of the hill, and look- 
ing toward the top, and wishing we were there, would serve the 
turn, then we should have daily travellers for heaven. But the 
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by 
force, Matt. xi. 12. There must be violence used to get the first- 
fruits, as well as to get the full possession. Dost thou not feel it 
so, though I should not tell thee ? Will thy heart get upwards, 
except thou drive it ? Is it not like a dull and jadish horse, that 
will go no longer than he feels the spur ? Dost thou find it easy 
to dwell in the delights above ? It is true, the work is exceeding 
sweet, and no condition on earth so desirable ; but therefore it is 
that our hearts are so backward, especially in the beginning, till 
we are acquainted with it. Oh, how many hundred professors of 
religion, who can easily bring their hearts to ordinary duties, as 
reading, hearing, praying, conferring, could never yet in all their 
lives bring them and keep them to a heavenly contemplation one 
half hour together ! Consider here, reader, as before the Lord, 
whether this be not thine own case. Thou hast known that heaven 
is all thy hopes ; thou knowest thou must shortly be turned hence, 
and that nothing below can yield thee rest ; thou knowest also, 
that a strange heart, a seldom and careless thinking of heaven, can 
fetch but little comfort thence ; and dost thou yet for all this let 
slip thy opportunities, and lie below in dust, or mere duties, when 
2 M 



530 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

thou shouklst walk above, and live with God ? Dost thou commend 
the sweetness of a heavenly life, and judge those the excellentest 
Christians that use it; and yet didst never once try it thyself? 
But as the sluggard that stretched himself on his bed, and cried, 
Oh that this were working ! so dost thou talk and trifle, and live 
at thy ease, and say, Oh that I could get my heart to heaven ! 
This is to lie a-bed and wish, when thou shouklst be up and doing. 
How many a hundred do read books, and hear sermons, in expect- 
ation to hear of some easy course, or to meet with a shorter cut to 
comforts, than ever they are like to find in this world ! And if 
they can hear of none from the preachers of truth, they will snatch 
it with rejoicing from the teachers of falsehood ; and presently ap- 
plaud the excellency of the doctrine, because it hath fitted their 
lazy temper ; and think there is no other doctrine will comfort the 
soul, because it will not comfort it with hearing and looking on. 
They think their venison is best, though accompanied with a lie, 
because it is the easiest catched, and next at hand, and they think 
it will procure the chiefest blessing ; and so it may, if God be as 
subject to mistake as blind Isaac. And while they pretend enmity 
only to the impossibilities of the law, they oppose the easier con- 
ditipns of the gospel, and cast off the burden that is light also, and 
which all must bear that will find rest to their souls ; and in my 
judgment may as fitly be styled enemies to the gospel, as enemies 
to the law, from whence they receive their common title. The 
Lord of light and Spirit of comfort show these men in time a surer 
way for lasting comfort. The delusions of marly of them are strong, 
and ungrounded comforts they seem to have store. I can judge it 
to be of no better a kind, because it comes not in the Scripture 
way. They will some of them profess, that when they meditate 
and labour for comfort themselves, they either have none, or at 
least but human, and of a lower kind ; but all the comforts that 
they own and value, are immediately injected without their pains : 
so do I expect my comforts to come in, in heaven ; but till then, I 
am glad if they will come with labour, and the Spirit will help me 
to suck them from the breasts of the promise, and to walk from 
them daily to the face of God. It was an established law among 
the Argi, that if a man were perceived to be idle and lazy, he must 
give an account before the magistrate, how he came by his victuals 
and maintenance. And sure, when I see these men lazy in the 
use of God's appointed means for comfort, I cannot but question 
how they come by their comforts. I would they would examine it 
thoroughly themselves, for God will require an account of it from 
them. Idleness, and not improving the truth in painful duty, is 
the common cause of men's seeking comfort from error ; even as 
the people of Israel, when they had no comfortable answer from 
God, because of their own sin and neglect, would run to seek it 
from the idols of the heathens. So, when men were false-hearted 
to the truth, and the Spirit of .truth did deny them comfort, because 
they denied him sincere obedience, therefore they will seek it from 
a lying spirit. 



Chai'. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .031 

A multitude also of professors there are, that come and inquire 
for marks and signs, How shall I know whether my heart be sin- 
cere ? and they think the bare naming of some mark is enough to 
discover it ; but never bestow one hour in trying themselves by the 
marks they hear. So here, they ask for directions for a heavenly 
life ; and if the hearing and knowing of these directions will serve, 
then they will be heavenly Christians ; but if we set them to task, 
and show them their work, and tell them they cannot have these 
delights on easier terms, then, here they leave us, as the young 
man left Christ, with sorrow. How our comforts are only in 
Christ, and yet this labour of ours is necessary thereto, I have 
showed you already in the beginning of this book, and therefore 
still refer you thither, when any shall put in that objection. My 
advice to such a lazy sinner is this : As thou art convict. that this 
work is necessary to thy comfortable living, so resolvedly set upon 
it ; if thy heart draw back, and be undisposed, force it on with 
the command of reason ; and if thy reason begin to dispute the 
work, force it with producing the command of God ; and quicken 
it up with the consideration of thy necessity, and the other motives 
before propounded ; and let the enforcements that brought thee to 
the work, be still in thy mind to quicken thee in it : do not let 
such an incomparable treasure lie before thee, while thou liest still 
with thy hand in thy bosom : let not thy life be a continual vexa- 
tion, which might be a continual delightful feasting, and all because 
thou wilt not be at the pains. When thou hast once tasted of the 
sweetness of it, and a little used thy heart to the work, thou wilt 
find the pains thou takest with thy backward flesh abundantly re- 
compensed in the pleasures of thy spirit. Only sit not still with a 
disconsolate spirit, while comforts grow before thine eyes, like a 
man in the midst of a garden of flowers, or delightful meadow, that 
will not rise to get them, that he may partake of their sweetness. 
Neither is it a few formal, lazy, running thoughts that will fetch 
thee this consolation from above, any more than a few lazy, formal 
words will prevail with God instead of fervent prayer. I know 
Christ is the fountain, and I know this, as every other gift, is of 
God ; but yet if thou ask my advice, how to obtain these waters of 
consolation, I must tell thee. There is something also for thee to 
do : the gospel hath its conditions and works, though not such im- 
possible ones as the law ; Christ hath his yoke and his burden, 
though easy, and thou must come to him weary, and take it up, or 
thou wilt never find rest to thy soul. The well is deep, and thou 
fnust get forth this water before thou canst be refreshed and de- 
lighted with it. What answer would you give a man that stands 
by a pump or draw-well, and should ask you, How shall I do to get 
out the water ? Why you must draw it up, or labour at the pump, 
and that not a motion or two, but you must pump till it comes, and 
then hold on till you have enough. Or, if a man were lifting at a 
heavy weight, or would move a stone to the top of a mountain, and 
should ask you. How he should get it up ? Why what should you 
say, but that he must put to his hands, and put forth his strength ? 
2 M 2 



532 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

And what else can I say to you, in directing you to this art of a 
heavenly life, but this : You must deal roundly with your hearts, 
and drive them up, and spur them on, and follow them close till the 
work be done ; as a man will do a lazy, unfaithful servant, who will 
do nothing longer than your eye is on him ; or as you will your 
horse or ox at his labour, who will not stir any longer than he is 
driven : and if your heart lie down in the midst of the work, force 
it up again till the work be done, and let it not prevail by its lazy 
policies. I know so far as you are spiritual, you need not all this 
striving and violence, but that is but in part, and in part you are 
carnal ; and as long as it is so, there is no talk of ease. Though 
your renewed nature do delight in this work, yea, no delight on 
earth so great, yet your nature, so far as it is fleshly and unrenewed, 
will draw back and resist, and necessitate your industry. It was 
the Parthians' custom, that none must give their children any meat 
in the morning, before they saw the sweat on their faces with some 
labour : and you shall find this to be God's most usual course, not 
to give his children the tastes of his delights, till they begin to 
sweat in seeking after them. Therefore lay them both together, 
and judge whether a heavenly life or thy carnal ease be better, and, 
as a wise man, make thy choice accordingly. Yet this let me say 
to encourage thee. Thou needest not expend thy thoughts more 
than now thou dost ; it is but only to employ them better : I press 
thee not to busy thy mind much more than thou dost, but to busy 
it upon better and more pleasant objects. As Socrates said to a 
lazy fellow that would fain go up to Olympus, but that it was so far 
off; " Why," saith he, " walk but as far every day as thou dost up 
and down about thy house, and in so many days thou wilt be at 
Olympus : " so say I to thee ; Employ but so many serious 
thoughts every day upon the excellent glory of the life to come, as 
thou now employest on thy necessary affairs in the world, nay, as 
thou daily losest on vanities and impertinences, and thy heart will 
be at heaven in a very short space. 

To conclude this, As I have seldom known Christians perplexed 
with doubts about their state for want of knowing right evidences 
to try by, so much as for want of skill and diligence in using them ; 
so have I seldom known a Christian that wants the joys of this 
heavenly life, for want of being told the means to get it, but for 
want of a heart to set upon the work, and painfully to use the 
means they are directed to. It is the field of the slothful that is 
overgrown with weeds, Prov. xxiv. 30 — 34 ; and the desire of the 
slothful killeth his joys, because his hands refuse to labour, Prov. 
xxi. 25. While he lies wishing, his soul lies starving. He saith. 
There is a lion (there is difficulty) in the way, and turneth himself 
on the bed of his ease, as a door turneth on the hinges : he hideth 
his hand in his bosom, and it grieveth him to bring it to his mouth, 
Prov. xxvi. 13 — 16, though it be to feed himself with the food of 
life. What is this but despising the feast prepared, and setting 
light by the dear-bought pleasures, and consequently by the pre- 
cious blood that bought them, and throwing away our own conso- 



Chap. IV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 533 

lations? For the Spirit hatli told u.s, " that he also that i.s slothful 
in his work, is hrother to him that is a great waster," Prov. xviii. 
9. Apply this to thy spiritual work, and study well the meaning 
of it. 

Sect. VII. 7. It is also a dangerous and secret hinderancc to con- 
tent ourselves with the mere preparatives to this heavenly life, 
while we are utter strangers to the life itself. AN hen we take up 
with the mere studies of heavenly things, and the notions and 
thoughts of them in our brain, or the tcilking of them with one an- 
other, as if this were all that makes us- heavenly people : there is 
none in more danger of this snare than those that are much in 
public duty, especially preachers of the gospel. Oh, how easily 
may they be deceived here, while they do nothing more than read 
of heaven, and study of heaven, and preach of heaven, and pray and 
talk of heaven ! AN'hat ! is not this the heavenly life ? Oh that 
God would reveal to our hearts the dangers of this snare ! Alas ! 
all this is but mere preparation ; this is not the life we speak of, 
but it is indeed a necessary help hereto. I entreat every one of my 
brethren in the ministry, that they search and watch against this 
temptation : alas ! this is but gathering the materials, and not the 
erecting of the building itself; this is but gathering our manna for 
others, and not eating and digesting ourselves : as he that sits at 
home may study geography, and draw most exact descriptions of 
countries, and yet never sec them, nor travel toward them ; so may 
you describe to others the joys of heaven, and yet never come near 
it in your own hearts : as a man may tell others of the sweetness of 
meat which he never tasted, or as a blind man by learning may 
dispute of light and of colours ; so may you study and preach most 
heavenly matter, which yet never sweetened your own spirits ; and set 
forth to others that heavenly light, wherewith your own souls were 
never enlightened ; and bring that fire for the hearts of your peo- 
ple, that never once warmed your own hearts. If you should study 
of nothing but heaven while you lived, and preach of nothing but 
heaven to your people, yet might your own hearts be strangers to 
it. What heavenly passages had Balaam in his prophecies ! yet 
little of it (it is like) in his spirit. Nay, we are under a more subtle 
temptation than any other men, to draw us from this heavenly life : 
if our employments did lie at a great distance from heaven, and did 
take up our thoughts upon worldly things, we should not be so apt 
to be so contented and deluded ; but when we find ourselves em- 
ployed upon nothing else, we are easier drawn to take up here. 
Studying and preaching of heaven is liker to a heavenly life, than 
thinking and talking of the world is, and the likeness is it that is 
like to deceive us : this is to die the most miserable death, even to 
famish ourselves because we have bread on our tables, which is 
worse than to famish when we cannot get it ; and to die for thirst 
while we draw waters for others ; thinking it enough that we have 
daily to do with it, though we never drjnk it to our souls' refresh- 
ing. All that I will say to you more of this, shall be in the words 



534 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IY. 

of my godly and judicious friend* Mr. George Abbot, which I shall 
transcribe, lest you have not the book at hand, in his " Vindicire 
Sabbathi," p. 147—149. 

"And here let me, in a holy jealousy, annex an exhortation to 
some of the minsters of this land, (for, blessed be God, it needs not 
to all,) that they would carefully provide, and look that they do not 
build the tabernacle on the Lord's day; I mean, that they rest not 
in the opiis operatum of their holy employments, and busying them- 
selves about the carnal part of holy things, in putting off the 
studying of their sermons, or getting them by heart, (except it be to 
work them upon the heart, and not barely commit them to memory,) 
till that day ; and so, though they take care to build tjie tabernacle 
of God's church, yet they in the mean time neglect the temple of 
their own hearts in serving God in the spirit, and not in the letter 
or outward performance only : but it were well if they would gather 
and pi-epare their manna, seethe it, and break it, the day before, 
that when the sabbath comes they might have nothing to do but to 
chew and concoct it into their own spirits, and so spiritually, in the 
experience of their own hearts, (not heads,) dish it out to their 
hearers, which would be a happy means to make them see better 
fruit of their labours ; for commonly that which is notionally de- 
livered, is notionally received ; and that which is spiritually and 
powerfully delivered in the evidence of the Spirit, is spiritually and 
savingly received; for spirit begets spirit, as fire begets fire, &c. 
It is an easy thing to take great pains in the outward part or per- 
formance of holy things, which oft proves a snare, causing the neg- 
lect of the spirit of the inner man ; for many are great labourers 
ill the work of the Lord, that are starvelings in the Spirit of the 
Lord, satisfying themselves in a popish peace of conscience in the 
deed-doing, instead of joy in the Holy Ghost ; bringing, indeed, 
meat to their guests, but, through haste or laziness, eating none 
themselves ; or, like tailors, make clothes for other men to wear ; 
so they, never assaying their own points how they fit or may suit 
with their own spirits, but think it is their duty to teach, and other 
men's duty to do." So far the author. 



CHAPTER V. 

SOME GENERAL HELPS TO A HEAVENLY LIFE. 

Sect. 1. Having thus showed thee the blocks in thy way, and 
told thee what hinderances will resist thee in the work, I shall now 
lay thee down some positive helps, and conclude with a directory to 
the main duty itself. But first, I expect that thou resolve against 

* AVho died, as I understand since, about the hour that I was preaching these words, 
or very near. 



CiiAP. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 53.J 

the forementioned inipedinionts, that thou road them seriously, and 
avoid them faithfully, or else thy labour will he all in vain ; thou 
dost but go about to reconcile light and darkness, Christ and Bcjlial, 
and to conjoin heaven and hell in thy spirit : thou mayst sooner 
bring down lieaven to earth, than do this. I must tell thee, also, 
that I expect thy promise, faithfully to set upon the helps which I 
shall prescribe thee, and that the reading of them will not bring 
heaven into thy heart, but in their constant practice the Spirit will 
do it. It were better for thee I had never written them, and thou 
hadst never seen this book, nor read them, if thou do not buckle 
thyself to the duty. 

As thou valuest, then, the delights of these foretastes of heaven, 
make conscience of performing these following duties : 

Sect. II. 1. Know heaven to be the only treasure, and labour to 
know also what a treasure it is. Be convinced once that thou hast 
no other happiness, and then be convinced what happiness is there. 
If thou do not soundly believe it to be the chiefest good, thou wilt 
never set thy heart upon it ; and this conviction must sink into thy 
affections ; for if it be only a notion, it will have little operation. 
And sure we have reason enough to be easily convinced of this, as 
you may see in what hath been spoken already. Read over the de- 
scription and nature of this rest, in the beginning of this book, and 
the reasons against thy resting below, in chapter first, and conclude 
that this is the only happiness. As long as your judgments do 
undervalue it, your affections must needs be cold towards it. If your 
judgments do mistake blear-eyed Leah for beautiful Rachel, so will 
your affections also misttike them. If Eve do once suppose she sees 
more worth in the forbidden fruit than in the love and fruition of 
God, no wonder if it have more of her heart than God. If your 
judgments once prefer the delights of the flesh before the delights 
in the presence of God, it is impossible, then, your hearts should 
be in heaven. As it is the ignorance of the emptiness of things 
below that makes men so overvalue them ; so it is ignorance of 
the high delights above, which is the cause that men so little mind 
them. If you see a purse of gold, and believe it to be but stones 
or counters, it will not entice your affections to it. It is not a 
thing's excellency in itself, but it is excellency known that provokes 
desire. If an ignorant man see a book containing the secrets of 
arts or sciences, yet he values it no more than a common piece, be- 
cause he knows not what is in it : but he that knows it, doth highly 
value it ; his very mind it set upon it, he can pore upon it day and 
night, he can forbear his meat, and drink, and sleep, to road it. 
As the Jews inquiredafter Bilias; when Christ tells them that verily 
Elias is already come, and ye knew him not, but did unto him what- 
soever ye listed, Matt. xvii. 11, 12; so men inquire after happiness 
and delight, when it is offered to them in the promise of rest, and 
they know it not, but trample it under foot : and as the Jews killed 
the Messiah, while they waited for the Messiah, and that because 
they did not know him, John i. 10; Acts xiii. 27; for had they 
known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, I Cor. 



536 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IT, 

ii. 8 ; so doth the world cry out for rest, and busily seek for delight 
and happiness, even while they are neglecting and destroying their 
rest and happiness, and this because they thoroughly know it not ; 
for did they know thoroughly what it is, they could not so slight 
the everlasting treasure. 

Sect. III. 2. Labour as to know heaven to be the only happiness, 
so also to be thy happiness. Though the knowledge of excellency 
and suitableness may stir up that love which worketh by desire ; 
yet there must be the knowledge of our interest or propriety, to the 
setting a-work of our love of complacency. We may confess heaven 
to be the best condition, though we despair of enjoying it ; and we 
may desire and seek it, if we see the obtainment to be but probable 
and hopeful : but we can never delightfully rejoice in it, till we are 
somewhat persuaded of our title to it. What comfort is it to a 
man that is naked, to see the rich attire of others ; or, to a man 
that hath not a bit to put in his mouth, to see a feast which he 
must not taste of? What delight hath a man that hath not a house 
to put his head in, to see the sumptuous buildings of others ? Would 
not all this rather increase his anguish, and make him more sensible 
of his own misery ? So, for a man to know the excellences of 
heaven, and not to know whether he shall ever enjoy them, may 
well raise desire, and provoke to seek it, but it will raise but little 
joy and content. Who will set his heart on another man's posses- 
sions ? If your house, your goods, your cattle, your children, were 
not your own, you would less mind them, and delight less in them. 
O, therefore. Christians, rest not till you can call this rest your 
own ; sit not down without assurance ; get alone, and question with 
thyself ; bring thy heart to the bar of trial ; force it to answer the 
interrogatories put to it ; set the conditions of the gospel and quali- 
fications of the saints on one side, and thy performance of those 
conditions and the qualifications of thy soul on the other side, and 
then judge how near they resemble. Thou hast the same word 
before thee, to judge thyself by now, by which thou must be judged 
at the great day ; thou art there before told the questions that 
must then be put to thee. Put these questions now to thyself. 
Thou mayst there read the very articles upon which thou shalt be 
tried. Why, try thyself by those articles now. Thou mayst there 
know beforehand, on what terms men shall be then acquitted and 
condemned ; why, try now whether thou art possessed of that 
which will acquit thee, or whether thou be upon the same terms 
with those that must be condemned, and accordingly acquit or con- 
demn thyself. Yet, be sure thou judge by a true touchstone, and 
mistake not the Scripture description of a saint, that thou neither 
acquit nor condemn thyself upon mistakes : for, as groundless 
hopes do tend to confusion, and are the greatest cause of most 
men's damnation ; so groundless doubtings do tend to discomforts, 
and are the great cause of the disquieting of the saints. Therefore 
lay thy grounds of trial safely and advisedly : proceed in the work 
deliberately and methodically : follow it to an issue resolutely and 
industriously : suffer not thy heart to give thee the slip, and get 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 537 

away before a judgment, Lut make it stay to hear its sentence : if 
once, or twice, or thrice, will not do it, nor a few days of hearing 
bring it to issue, follow it on with unweivried diligence, and give 
not over till the work be done, and till thou canst say knowingly 
oil' or on, either thou art, or art not, a member of Christ ; either 
that thou hast, or that thou hast not yet, title to this rest. Be 
sure thou rest not in wilful uncertainties. If thou canst not de- 
spatch the work well thyself, get the help of those that are skilful. 
Go to thy minister, if he be a man of experience^ or go to some 
able, experienced friend ; open thy case faithfully, and wish them 
to deal plainly ; and thus continue till thou hast got assurance : 
not but that some doubtings may still remain ; but yet thou mayst 
have so much assurance as to master them, that they may not much 
interrupt thy peace. If men did know heaven to be their own 
inheritance, we should less need to persuade their thoughts unto 
it, or to press them to set their delight in it. Oh ! if men did truly 
know that God is their own Father, and Christ their own Redeemer 
and Head, and that those are their own everlasting habitations, 
and that there it is that they must abide and be happy for ever; 
how could they choose but be ravished with the forethoughts there- 
of ! If a Christian could but look upon sun, and moon, and stars, and 
reckon all his own in Christ, and say. These are the portion that 
my Husband doth bestow ; these are the blessings that my Lord 
hath procured me, and things incomparably greater than these ; 
•what holy raptures would his spirit feel ! The more do they sin 
against their own comforts, as well as against the grace of the gos- 
pel, who are wilful niaintainers of their own doubtings, and plead 
for their unbelief, and cherish distrustful thoughts of God, and 
scandalous, injurious thoughts of their Redeemer : who represent 
the covenant, as if it were of works and not of grace ; and represent 
Christ as an enemy rather than as a Saviour, as if he were glad of 
advantages against them, and were willing that they should keep 
off from him, and die in their unbelief; when he hath called them 
so oft, and invited them so kindly, and borne the hell that they 
should bear. Ah ! wretches that we are, that be keeping up 
jealousies of the love of our Lord, when we should be rejoicing and 
bathing our souls in his love ; that can question that love which 
hath been so fully evidenced ; and doubt still whether he that hath 
stooped so low, and suffered so much, and taken up a nature and 
office on purpose, be yet willing to be theirs, who are willing (o be 
his ; as if any man could choose Christ before Christ hath chosen 
him, or any man could desire to have Christ more than Christ de- 
sires to have him, or any man were more willing to be happy than 
Christ is to make him happy. Fie upon these injurious, if not 
blasphemous thoughts ! If ever thou have harboured such thoughts 
in thy breast, or if ever thou have uttered such words with thy 
tongue, spit out that venom, vomit out that rancour, cast them 
from thee, and take heed how thou ever entertainest them more. 
God hath written the names of his people in heaven, as you use to 
write your names in your own books, or upon your goods^ or set 



538 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

your marks on your own sheep : and shall we be attempting to raze 
them out, and to write our names on the doors of hell ? But blessed 
be our God, whose foundation is sure, 2 Tim. ii. 19, and who keep- 
eth us by his mighty power through faith unto salvation, 1 Pet. i. 
5. Well, then, this is my second advice to thee, that thou follow 
on the work of self-examination, till thou hast got assurance that 
this rest is thy own ; and this will draw thy heart unto it, and feed 
thy spirits with fresh delights, which else will be but tormented so 
much the more^^^to think that there is such rest for others, but none 
for thee. 

Sect. IV. 3. Another help to sweeten thy soul with the fore- 
tastes of rest, is this ; Labour to apprehend how near it is, think 
seriously of its speedy approach. That which we think is near at 
hand, we are more sensible of than that which we behold at a dis- 
tance. When we hear of war or famine in another country, it 
troubleth us not so much ; or if we hear it prophesied of a long 
time hence : so if we hear of plenty a great way off, or of a golden 
age that shall fall out who knows when, this never rejoiceth us. 
But if judgments or mercies begin to draw near, then they affect 
us. If we were sure we should see the golden age, then it would 
take with us. When the plague is in a town but twenty miles off, 
we do not fear it ; nor much, perhaps, if it be in another street ; 
but if it once come to the next door, or if it seize on one in our 
own family, then we begin to think on it more feelingly. It is so 
with mercies as well as judgments. When they are far off, we talk 
of them as marvels; but when they draw close to us, we rejoice in 
them as truths. This makes men think on heaven so insensibly, 
because they conceit it at too great a distance. They look on it 
as twenty, or thirty, or forty years off; and this is it that dulls their 
sense. As wick'ed men are fearless and senseless of judgment, be- 
cause the sentence is not speedily executed, Eccles. viii. 1 1 ; so are 
the godly deceived of their comforts, by supposing them farther off 
than they are. This is the danger of putting the day of death far 
from us, when men will promise themselves longer time in the 
world than God hath promised them, and judge of the length of 
their lives by the probabilities they gather from their age, their 
health, their constitution and temperature : this makes them look 
at heaven as a great way off. If the rich fool in the gospel had 
not expected to have lived many years, he would sure have thought 
more of providing for eternity, and less of his present store and 
possessions, Luke xii. 17 — 20 : and if we did not think of staying 
many years from heaven, we should think on it with far more 
piercing thoughts. This expectation of long life, doth both the 
wicked and the godly a great deal of wrong. How much better 
were it to receive the sentence of death in ourselves, and to look 
on eternity as near at hand ! 2 Cor. i. 8 — 10. Surely, reader, thou 
standest at the door ; and hundreds of diseases are ready waiting 
to open the door and let thee in. Are not the thirty or forty years 
of thy life that are past quickly gone ? Are they not a very little 
time when thou lookest back on them ; and will not all the rest be 



CiiAi'. V. THE SAINTS' FA'EHLASTING REST. .039 

shortly so too t Do not Jays and nights conio very thick ? Dost 
thou not feci that buililing of flesh to shako, and perceive thy house 
of clay to totter ? Look on thy glass, see how it runs ; look on thy 
watch, how fast it getteth. What a short moment is between us 
and our rest ; what a step is it from hence to everlastingness ! 
While I am thinking and writing of it, it hasteth near, and I am 
even entering into it before I am aware. While thou art reading 
this it posteth on, and thy life will be gone as a tale that is told. 
Mayst thou not easily foresee thy dying time, and look upon thy- 
self as ready to depart ? It is liut a few days till thy friends shall 
lay thee in the grave, and others do the like for them. If you 
verily believed you should die to-morrow, how seriously would you 
think of heaven to-night ! The condemned prisoner knew before 
that he must die, and yet he was then as jovial as any ; but when 
he hears the sentence, and knows he hath not a week to live, then 
how it sinks his heart within him ! so that the true apprehensions 
of the nearness of eternity doth make men's thoughts of it be quick 
and piercing, and put life into their fears and sorrows, if they are 
unfitted, and into their desires and joys, if they have assurance of 
its glory. When the witch's Samuel had told Saul, By to-morrow 
this time thou shalt be with me, 1 Sam. xxviii. 19, this quickly 
worked to his very heart, and laid him down as dead on the earth. 
And if Christ should say to a believing soul, By to-morrow this 
time thou shalt be with me, this would be a working word indeed, 
and would bring liini in spirit to heaven before. As Melancthon 
was wont to say of his uncertain station, because of the persecution 
of his enemies, E(/o jam sum hie, Dei benejicio, 40 annos, et niin- 
qjinm jjotui dieere ant certus es'ie, me per nnam septimaiiam viau- 
sin-itm esse ; i. e. I have now been here these forty years, and yet 
could never say, or be sure, that I shall tarry here for one week : 
so may we all say of our abode on earth. As long as thou hast 
continued out of heaven, thou canst not say thou shalt be out of it 
one week longer. Do but suppose that you are still entering in it, 
and you shall find it will much help you more seriously to mind it. 
Sect. V. 4. Another help to this heavenly life, is, to be much in 
serious discoursing of it, especially with those that can speak from 
their hearts, and are seasoned themselves with a heavenly nature. 
It is pity, saith Mr. Bolton, that Christians should ever meet to- 
gether without some talk of their meeting in heaven, or the way to 
it, before they part ; it is pity so much precious time is spent among 
Christians in vain discourses, foolish janglings, and useless dis- 
putes, and not a sober word of heaven among them. Methinks we 
should meet together of purpose to warm our spirits with discours- 
ing of our rest. To hear a minister, or other private Christian, set 
forth that blessed, glorious state, with power and life, from the 
promises of the gospel, methinks should make us say, as the two 
disciples, " Did not our hearts burn within us while he was open- 
ing to us the Scripture," Luke xxiv. 32, while he was opening to 
us the windows of heaven .'' If a Felix, or wicked wretch, will 
tremble, when he hears his judgment powcifully denounced, Acts 



540 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

xxiv. 2.5 ; why should not the believing soul he revived when he 
hears his eternal rest revealed ? Get then together, fellow Chris- 
tians, and talk of the affairs of your country and kingdom, and 
comfort one another with such words, 1 Thess. iv, 18. If world- 
lings get together, they will he talking of the world ; when wan- 
tons are together, they will he talking of their lusts, and wicked 
men can be delighted in talking of wickedness ; and should not 
Christians, then, delight themselves in talking of Christ, and the 
heirs of heaven in talking of their inheritance ? This may make 
our hearts revive within us, as it did Jacob's to hear the message 
that called him to Goshen, and to see the chariots that should 
bring him to Joseph. Oh that we were furnished with skill and 
resolution to turn the stream of men's common discourse to these 
more sublime and precious things ; and when men begin to talk of 
things unprofitable, that we could tell how to put in a word for 
heaven, and say, as Peter, of his bodily food, " Not so, for I eat 
not that which is .common and unclean," Acts x. 14, this is nothing 
to my eternal rest. Oh the good that we might both do and re- 
ceive by this course ! If it had not been needful to deter us from 
unfruitful conference, Christ would not have talked of giving an 
account of every idle word at judgment. Matt. xii. 36. Say then, 
as David, when you are in conference, " Let my tongue cleave to 
the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chiefest 
mirth," Psal. cxxxvii. 5, 6 ; and then you shall find the truth of 
that, " A wholesome tongue is a tree of life," Prov. xv. 4. 

Sect. VI. 5. Another help to this heavenly life is this ; Make it 
thy business in every duty to v/ind up thy affections nearer heaven. 
A man's attainments and receivings from God are answerable to 
his own desires and ends ; that which he sincerely seeks he finds : 
God's end in the institution of his ordinances was, that they be as 
so many stepping-stones to our rest, and as the stairs by which, in 
subordination to Christ, we may daily ascend unto it in our affec- 
tions. Let this be thy end in using them, as it was God's end in 
ordaining them, and doubtless they will not be unsuccessful. 
Though men be personally far asunder, yet they may even by let- 
ters have a great deal of intercourse. How have men been rejoiced 
by a few lines from a friend, though they could not see him face to 
face ! What gladness have we when we do but read the expres- 
sions of his love ; or if we read of our friend's prosperity and wel- 
fare ! Many a one that never saw the fight, hath triumphed and 
shouted, made bonfires, and rung bells, when they have but heard 
and read of the victory : and may not we have intercourse with God 
in his ordinances, though our persons be yet so far remote ? May 
not our spirits rejoice in the reading of those lines which contain 
our legacy and charter for heaven ? With what gladness may we 
read the expressions of love, and hear of the state of our celestial 
country ! With what triumphant shoutings may we applaud our 
inheritance, though yet we have not the happiness to behold it ! 
Men that are separated by sea and land, can yet, by the mere in- 
tercourse of letters, carry on both great and gainful trades, even to 



CiiAi'. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 54 1 

the value of their whole estate ; and may not a Christian, in the 
wise iniprovement of duties, drive ou this happy trade for rest? 
Come not, therefore, with any lower ends to duties ; renounce 
formality, customariness, and applause. When thou kneclest down 
in secret or public prayer, let it be in hope to get thy heart nearer 
God before thou risest off thy knees. AN hen thou openest thy 
Bible, or other books, let it be with this hope, to meet with some 
passage of Divine truth, and some such blessings of the Spirit with 
it, as may raise thine affections nearer heaven, and give thee a 
fuller taste thereof. \Mien thou art setting thy foot out of thy 
door, to go to the public orcUnance and worship, say, I hope to 
meet with somewhat from God, that may raise my affections before 
I return ; I hope the Spirit will give me the meeting, and sweeten 
my heart with those celestial delights ; I hope that Christ will ap- 
pear to me in the way, shine about me with light from heaven, and 
let me hear his instructing and reviving voice, and cause the scales 
to fall from mine eyes, that I may see more of that glory than ever 
I yet saw ; I hope, before I return to my house, my Lord will take 
my heart in hand, and bring it within the view of rest, and set it 
before his Father's presence, that I may return, as the shepherds, 
from the heavenly vision, glorifying and praising God for all the 
things I have heard and seen, Luke ii. 20, and say, as those that 
beheld his miracles, " We have seen strange things to-day," Luke 
V. 2G. Remember also to pray for thy teacher, that God would 
put some Divine message into his mouth, which may leave a 
heavenly relish on thy spirit. 

If these were our ends, and this our course, when w^e set to duty, 
we should not be so strange as we are to heaven. 

\\ hen the Indians first saw the use of letters by our English, 
they thought there was sure some spirit in them, that men should 
converse together by a paper. If Christians would take this course 
in their duties, they might come to such a holy fellowship with 
God, and see so much of the mysteries of the kingdom, that it 
would make the standers-by admire what is in those lines, what is 
in that sermon, what is in this praying, that fills his heart so full 
of joy, and that so transports him above himself. Certainly, God 
would not fail us in our duties, if we did not fail ourselves, and then 
experience would make them sweeter to us. 

Sect. VII. 6. Another help is this. Make an advantage of every 
object thou seest, and of every passage of Divine providence, and of 
every thing that befalls in thy labour and calling, to mind thy soul 
of its approaching rest. As all providences and creatures are 
means to our rest, so do they point us to that as their end. Every 
creature hath the name of God, and of our final rest, written upon 
it, which a considerate believer may as truly discern, as he can read 
upon a post or hand, in a cross-way, the name of the town or city 
which it points to. This spiritual use of creatures and providences 
is God's great end in bestowing them on man ; and he that over- 
looks this end must needs rob God of his chiefest praise, and deny 
him the greatest part of his thanks. The relation that our present 



542 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

mercies have to our great eternal mercies, is the very quintessence 
and spirits of all these mercies ; therefore do they lose the very 
spirits of all their mercies, and take nothing hut the husks and 
bran, who do overlook this relation, and draw not forth the 
sweetness of it in their contemplations. God's sweetest deal- 
ings with us at the present would not be half so sweet as they 
are if they did not intimate some further sweetness. As our- 
selves have a fleshly and a spiritual substance, so have our mercies 
a fleshly and a spiritual use, and are fitted to the nourishing of both 
our parts. He that receives the carnal part, and no more, may 
have his body comforted by them, but not his soul. It is not all 
one to receive sixpence merely as sixpence, and to receive it in 
earnest of a thousand pounds : though the sum be the same, yet 
surely the relation makes a wide difference. Thou takest but the 
bare earnest, and overlookest the main sum, when thou receivest 
thy mercies, and forgettest thy crown. Oh, therefore, that Chris- 
tians were skilled in this art ! You can open your Bibles, and read 
there of God and of glory ; O learn to open the creatures, and to open 
the several passages of providence, to read of God and glory there. 
Certainly, by such a skilful, industrious improvement, we might 
have a fuller taste of Christ and heaven in every bit of bread that 
we eat, and in every draught of beer we drink, than most men have 
in the use of the sacrament. If thou prosper in the world, and thy 
labour succeed, let it make thee more sensible of thy perpetual 
prosperity : if thou be weary of thy labours, let it make thy thoughts 
of rest more sweet : if things go cross and hard with thee in the 
world, let it make thee the more earnestly desire that day when all 
thy sorrows and sufferings shall cease. Is thy body refreshed with 
food or sleep ? remember the unconceivable refreshings with Christ. 
Dost thou hear any news that makes thee glad ? remember what 
glad tidings it will be to hear the sound of the trump of God, and 
the absolving sentence of Christ, our Judge. Art thou delighting 
thyself in the society of the saints ? remember the everlasting- 
amiable fraternity thou shalt have with perfected saints in rest. Is 
God communicating himself to thy spirit ? why, remember that 
time of thy highest advancement, when thy joy shall be full, as 
thy communion is full. Dost thou hear the raging noise of the 
wicked, and the disorders of the vulgar, and the confusions of the 
world, like the noise in a crowd, or the roaring of the waters? why 
think of the blessed agreement in heaven, and the melodious 
harmony in that choir of God. Dost thou hear or feel the tem- 
pest of wars, or see any cloud of blood arising ? remember the day 
when thou shalt be housed with Christ, where there is nothing 
but calmness and amiable union, and where we shall solace our- 
selves in perfect peace, under the wings of the Prince of peace for 
ever. Thus you may see, what advantages to a heavenly life every 
condition and creature doth afford us, if we had but hearts to ap- 
prehend and improve them. As it is said of the Turks, that they 
will make bridges of the dead bodies of their men, to pass over the 
trenches or ditches in their way ; so might Christians of the very 



Chai'. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 543 

ruins and calamities of the times, and of every dead body or 
misery that tliey see, make a bridge for th<* passage of their 
thoughts to their rest. And as they have taught tlieir pigeons, 
which they call carriers, in divers places, to bear letters of inter- 
course from friend to friend, at very great distance, so might a wise, 
industrious Christian get his thoughts carried into heaven, and re- 
ceive, as it were, returns from thence again by creatures of a slower 
wing than doves, by the assistance of the Spirit, the Dove of God. 
This is the right Dedalian flight ; and thus we may take from each 
bird a feather, and nuike us wings, and fly to Christ. 

Sect. VIII, 7. Another singular help is this; He much in that 
angelical work of praise. As the most heavenly spirits will have 
the most heavenly employment, so the more heavenly the employ- 
ment, the more will it make the spirit heavenly. Though the heart 
be the fountain of all our actions, and the actions will be usually of 
the quality of the heart, yet do those actions, by a kind of reflec- 
tion, work much on the heart from whence they spring : the like 
also may be said of our speeches. So that the work of praising 
God, being the most heavenly work, is likely to raise us to the 
most heavenly temper. This is the work of those saints r.nd 
angels, and this will be our everlasting work. If we were more 
taken up in this employment now, w^c should be liker to what we 
shall be then. When Aristotle was asked what he thought of music, 
he answers, Jovem vequc canere, nequc clthdnun piilsare ; That Jupi- 
ter did never sing, nor play on the harp ; thinking it an unprofitable 
art to men, which was no more delightful to God. Ikit Christians 
may better argue from the like ground, that singing of praise is a 
most profitable duty, because it is so delightful, as it were, to God 
himself, that he hath made it his people's eternal work ; for they 
shall sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb. As de- 
sire, and faith, and hope, are of shorter continuance than love and 
joy, so also preaching, and prayer, and sacraments, and all means for 
confirmation, and expression of faith and hope, shall cease, when 
our thanks, and praise, and triumphant expressions of love and joy, 
shall abide for ever. The liveliest emblem of heaven that I know 
upon earth, is, when the people of God, in the deep sense of his 
excellency and bounty, from hearts abounding with love and joy, 
do join together, both in heart and voice, in the cheerful and melo- 
dious singing of his praises. Those that deny the lawful use of 
singing the Scripture psalms in our times, do disclose their unhea- 
venly, unexperienced hearts, I think, as well as their ignorant 
understandings. Had they felt the heavenly delights that many of 
their brethren in such duties have felt, I think they would have 
been of another mind. And whereas they are wont to question 
whether such delights be genuine, or any better than carnal or de- 
lusive ; surely, the very relish of God and heaven that is in them, 
the example of the saints in Scripture, whose spirits have been 
raised by the same duty, and the command of Scripture for the use 
of this means, one would think, should quickly decide the contro- 
versy. And a man may as truly say of these delights, as they use 



544 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

to say of the testimony of the Spirit, that they witness themselves 
to be of God, and bring the evidence of their heavenly parentage 
along with them. And whereas they allow only extemporate psalms, 
immediately dictated to them by the Spirit, when I am convinced 
that the gift of extemporate singing is so common to the church, 
that any man who is spiritually merry can use it, James v. 13, 
and when I am convinced that the use of Scripture psalms is 
abolished. or prohibited, then I shall more regard their judgment. 
Certainly, as large as mine acquaintance hath been with men of 
this spirit, I never yet heard any of them sing a psalm extempore, 
that was better than David's ; yea, or that was tolerable to a 
judicious hearer, and not rather a shame to himself and his opinion. 
But sweet experience will be a powerful argument, and will teach the 
sincere Christian to hold fast his exercise of this soul-raising duty. 

Little do we know how we wrong ourselves, by shutting out of 
our prayers the praises of God, or allowing them so narrow a room 
as we usually do, while we are copious enough in our confessions 
and petitions. Reader, I entreat thee, remember this : Let praises 
have a larger room in thy duties ; keep ready at hand matter to 
feed thy praise, as well as matter for confession and petition. To 
this end, study the excellences and goodness of the Lord, as fre- 
quently as thy own necessities and vileness ; study the mercies 
which thou hast received, and which are promised, both their own 
proper worth and their aggravating circumstances, as often as thou 
studiest the sins thou hast committed. O, let God's praise be 
much in your mouths, for in the mouths of the upright his praise 
is comely, Psal, xxxiii. 1. Seven times a day did David praise 
him, Psal. cxix. 164. Yea, his praise was continually of him, 
Psal. Ixxi. 6. As he that ofFereth praise glorifieth God, Psal. 1. 
23, so doth he most rejoice and glad his own soul, Psal. xcviii. 4. 
Offer, therefore, the sacrifice of praise continually, Heb. xiii. 15. 
In the midst of the church, let us sing his praise, Heb. ii. 12. 
Praise our God, for he is good ; sing praises unto his name, for it 
is pleasant, Psal. cxxxv. 3; cxlvii. I. Yea, let us rejoice and 
triumph in his praise, Psal. cvi. 47. 

Do you think that David had not a most heavenly spirit, who 
was so much employed in this heavenly work ? Doth it not some- 
times very much raise your hearts, when you do but seriously read 
that divine song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. and those heavenly iterated 
praises of David, having almost nothing sometimes but praise in 
his mouth ? How much more would it raise and refresh us, to be 
skilled and accustomed in the work ourselves ! I confess, to a man 
of a languishing body, where the heart doth faint, and the spirits 
are feeble, the cheerful praising of God is more difficult ; because 
the body is the soul's instrument, and when it lies unstringed, or 
untuned, the music is likely to be accordingly but dull. Yet a 
spiritual cheerfulness there may be within, and the heart may praise, 
if not the voice. But where the body is strong, the spirits lively, 
and the heart cheerful, and the voice at command, what advantage 
have such for this heavenly work ! With what alacrity and 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 545 

vivacity may they sing forth praises ! Oh the madness of health- 
ful youth, that lay out this vigour of hody and mind upon vain de- 
lights and fleshly lusts, which is so fit for the noblest work of man ! 
And oh the sinful folly of many of the saints, who drench their 
spirits in continual sadness, and waste their days in complaints and 
groans, and fill their bodies with wasting diseases, and so make 
themselves both in body and mind unfit for this sweet and heavenly 
work ! That when they should join with the people of God in his 
praises, and delight their souls in singing to his name, they are 
questioning their worthiness, and studying their miseries, or raising 
scruples about the lawfulness of the duty, and so rob God of his 
praise, and themselves of their solace. But the greatest destroyer 
of our comfort in this duty, is our sticking in the carnal delight 
thereof, and taking up in the tune and melody, and suffering the 
heart to be all the while idle, which must perform the chiefest part 
of the work, and which should make use of the melody, for its re- 
viving and exhilarating. 

Sect. IX, 8. If thou wouldst have thy heart in heaven, keep thy 
soul still possessed with true believing thoughts of the exceeding, 
infinite love of God. Love is the attractive of love. No man's 
heart will be set upon him that hates him, were he never so excel- 
lent, nor much upon him that doth not much love him. There are 
few so vile, but will love those that love them, be they never so 
mean. No doubt it is the death of our heavenly life, to have hard 
and doubtful thoughts of God ; to conceive of him as a hater of the 
creature, (except only of obstinate rebels,) and as one that had 
rather damn us than save us, and that is glad of an opportunity to 
do us a mischief, or at least hath no great good-will to us : this is 
to put the blessed God into the similitude of Satan. And who, 
then, can set his heart and love upon him ? When in our vile un- 
belief and ignorance we have drawn the most ugly picture of God 
in our imaginations, then we complain that we cannot love him, and 
delight in him. This is the case of many thousand Christians. 
Alas ! that we should thus belie and blaspheme God, and blast our 
own joys, and depress our spirits ! Love is the very essence of 
God. The Scripture tells us, that " God is love ;" it telleth us, 
that fury dwelleth not in him ; that he delighteth not in the death 
of him that dieth, but rather that he repent and live, 1 John iv. 
IG; Isa. xxvii. 4; Ezek. xviii. 32; xxxiii. 11. Much more, that 
he testifieth his love to his chosen ; and his full resolution cfTect- 
ually to save them. Oh, if we could always think of God but as 
we do of a friend; as of one that doth unfeignedly love us, even 
more than we do ourselves ; whose very heart is set upon us to do 
us good, and hath therefore provided us an everlasting dwelling 
with himself; it would not then be so hard to have our heart still 
with him ! Where we love most heartily, we shall think most 
sweetly, and most freely ; and nothing will quicken our love more 
than the belief of his love to us. Get therefore a truer conceit of 
the loving nature of God, and lay up all the experiences and dis- 
coveries of his love to thee ; and then see if it will not further thy 
2 N 



546 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

heavenly-niindedness. I fear, most Christians think higher of the 
love of a hearty friend, than of the love of God : and then what 
wonder if they love their friends better than God, and trust them 
more confidently than God, and had rather live with them than 
with God, when they take them for better and trustier friends than 
God, and of more anerciful and compassionate nature ! 

Sect. X. 9. Another thing I would advise you to, is this ; Be a 
careful observer of the drawings of the Spirit, and fearful of quench- 
ing its motions, of resisting its workings ; if ever thy soul get above 
the earth, and get acquainted with this living in heaven, the Spirit 
of God must be to thee as the chariot to Elijah ; yea, the very 
living principle by which thou must move and ascend. O, then, 
grieve not thy guide, quench not thy life, Eph. iv. 30 ; 1 Thess. v, 
19, knock not off thy chariot- wheels ! If thou do, no wonder if thy 
soul be at a loss, and all stand still, or fall to the earth. You little 
think how much the life of all your graces, and the happiness of 
your souls, doth depend upon your ready and cordial obedience to 
the Spirit. When the Spirit urgeth thee to secret prayer, and thou 
refusest obedience ; when he forbids thee thy known transgressions, 
and yet thou wilt go on ; when he telleth thee which is the way, 
and which not, and thou wilt not regard ; no wonder if heaven and 
thy soul be strange. If thou wilt not follow the Spirit while it 
would draw thee to Christ, and to thy duty, how should it lead thee 
to heaven, and bring thy heart into the presence of God ? Oh, 
what supernatural help, what bold access, shall that soul find in its 
approaches to the Almighty, that is accustomed to a constant obey- 
ing of the Spirit ! And how backward, how dull, and strange, and 
ashamed will he be to these addresses, who hath long used to break 
away from the Spirit that v^oukl have guided him ! Even as stiff 
and unfit will they be for this spiritual motion, as a dead man to a 
natural. I beseech thee. Christian reader, learn well this lesson, 
and try this course ; let not the motions of thy body only, but also 
the very thoughts of thy heart, be at the Spirit's beck. Dost thou 
not feel sometimes a strong impulsion to retire from the w'orld, and 
draw near to God ? O do not thou disobey, but take the offer, and 
hoist up sail while thou mayst have this blessed gale. When this 
wind blows strongest, thou goest fastest, either backward or for- 
ward. The more of this Spirit we resist, the deeper will it wound ; 
and the more we obey, the speedier is our pace ; as he goes heaviest 
that hath the wind in his face, and he easiest that hath it in his 
back. 

10. Lastly, I advise as a further help to this heavenly work, that 
thou neglect not the due care for the health of thy body, and for 
the maintaining a vigorous cheerfulness in thy spirits ; nor yet over- 
pamper and please thy flesh : learn how to carry thyself with pru- 
dence to thy body, it is a useful servant if thou give it its due, 
and but its due : it is a most devouring tyrant, if thou give it the 
mastery, or suffer it to have what it unreasonably desireth. And it 
is as a bkuited knife, as a horse that is lame, as thy ox that is 
famished, if thou injuriously deny it what is necessary to its sup- 



Chap. V. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 547 

port. When we consider how frequently men offend on hotli ex- 
tremes, and how few use their hodies aright, we cannot wonder if 
they he much hindered in their heavenly conversing. Most men 
are very .slaveys to their sensitive appetite, and can scarce deny any 
thing to the llesh, which they can give it on easier rates, without 
nmch shame, or loss, or grief. The flesh thus used is as unfit to 
serve you as a wild colt to ride on. When such men should con- 
verse in heaven, the ilesh will carry them out to an ale-house, or to 
their sports, to their profits, or credit, or vain company ; to wanton 
practices, or sights, or speeches, or thoughts : it will thrust a whore, 
or a pair of cards, or a good hargain, into their minds instead of 
God. Look to this specially, you that are young, and healthful, 
and lusty : as you love your souls, remend^er that in Rom. xiii. 14, 
which converted Austin, Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil 
its desires ; and that in Rom. viii. 4—8, 12 — 14. Some few others 
do much hinder their heavenly joy, hy over-rigorous denying the 
hody its necessaries, and so making it unahle to serve them. But 
the most, by surfeiting and excess, do overthrow and disable it. 
You love to have your knife keen, and every instrument you use in 
order : when your horse goes lustily, how cheerfully do you travel ! 
As much need hath the soul of a sound and cheerful body. If they 
who abuse their bodies, and neglect their health, did wrong the 
flesh only, the matter were small, but they wrong the soul also : as 
he that spoils the house, doth wrong the inhabitant. When the 
body is sick, and the spirits do languish, how heavily move we in 
tlicse meditations and joys ! Yet where God denieth this mercy, 
we may the better bear it, because he oft occasioneth our benefit 
by the denial. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONTAINING THE DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT DUTY OF 
HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

Sect. I. Though I hope what is already spoken be not unuseful, 
and that it will not by the reader be cast aside ; yet I must tell you, 
tliat the main thing intended is yet behind, and that which I aimed 
at when I set upon this work. I have observed the maxim, that 
my principal end be last in execution, though it was first in my in- 
tention. All that I have said is but for the preparation to this : 
the doctrinal part is but to instruct you for this ; the rest of the 
uses are but introductions to this ; the motives I have laid down 
are but to make you willing for this ; the hinderances mentioned 
were but so many blocks in the way to this ; the general helps 
which I last delivered are but the necessary attendants of this : so 
that, reader, if thou neglect this that follows, thou dost frustrate 
2 N 2 



548 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

the main end of my design, and makest me lose (as to thee) the 
chief of my labour. I once more entreat thee, therefore, as thou 
art a man that makest conscience of a revealed duty, and that 
darest not wilfully resist the Spirit ; as thou valucst the high de- 
lights of a saint, and the soul-ravishing exercise of heavenly con- 
templation ; as all my former moving considerations seem reason- 
able to thee, and as thou art faithful to the peace and prosperity of 
thine own soul ; that thou diligently study these directions follow- 
ing, and that thou speedily and faithfully put them into practice : 
practice is the end of all sound doctrine, and all right faith doth 
end in duty. I pray thee, therefore, resolve before thou readost 
any further, and promise here, as before the Lord, that if the fol- 
lowing advice be wholesome to thy soul, thou wilt conscionably 
follow it, and seriously set thyself to the work ; and that no lazi- 
ness of spirit shall take thee off, nor the lesser business interrupt 
thy course, but that thou wilt approve thyself a doer of this word, 
and not an idle hearer only. Is this thy promise ; and wilt thou 
stand to it ? Resolve, man ; and then I shall be encouraged to give 
thee my advice : if I spread not before thee a delicious feast, if I 
set thee not upon as gainful a trade, and put not into thy hand as 
delightful an employment, as ever thou dealtest with in all thy life, 
then cast it away, and tell me I have deceived thee ; only try it 
thoroughly, and then judge : I say again, if in the faithful follow- 
ing of this prescribed course, thou dost not find an increase of all 
thy graces, and dost not grow beyond the stature of common Chris- 
tians, and art not made more serviceable in thy place, and more 
precious in the eyes of all that are discerning ; if thy soul enjoy not 
more fellowship with God, and thy life be not fuller of pleasure and 
solace, and thou have not comfort readier by thee at a dying hour, 
and when thou hast greatest need ; then throw these directions 
back in my face, and exclaim against me as a deceiver for ever : 
except God should leave thee uncomfortable for a little season, 
for the more glorious manifestation of his attributes and thy integri- 
ty, and single thee out as he did Job, for an example and mirror of 
constancy and patience, which would be but a preparative for thy 
fuller comfort. Certainly, God will not forsake this his own ordi- 
nance thus conscionably performed, but will be found of those that 
thus diligently seek him. God hath, as it were, appointed to meet 
thee in this way ; do not thou fail to give him the meeting, and 
thou shalt find by experience that he will not fail. 

The duty which I press upon thee so earnestly, I shall now de- 
scribe and open to thee ; for I suppose, by this time, thou art ready 
to inquire, What is this so highly extolled work ? Why, it is the 
set and solemn acting of all the powers of the soul upon this inost 
perfect object, rest, by meditation. 

^ . .. Sect. II. I will a little more fully explain the 

Description. . /■ , i • t • • i i i 

meanmg oi this description, that so the duty may 
lie plain before thee. 1. The general title that I give this duty is 
meditation ; not as it is precisely distinguished from thought, con- 
sideration, and contemplation ; but as it is taken in the larger and 



Ciui'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 540 

usual sense fur thinking on tilings spiritual, and so comprehending 
consideration and contemplation. 

That meditation is a duty of God's ordaining, not only in his 
written law, hut also in nature itself, I never met with a man that 
would deny ; hut that it is a duty constantly and conscionably 
practised even by the godly, so far as my acquaintance extends, I 
must, with sorrow, deny it. It is in word confessed to be a duty 
by all, but by the constant neglect denied by most ; and, I know 
not by what fatal customary security, it comes to pass that men 
that are very tender-conscienced towards most other duties, yet do 
as easily overslip this, as if they knew it not to be a duty at all. 
They that are presently troubled in mind, if they omit but a ser- 
mon, a fast, a prayer in public or private, yet were never troubled 
that they have omitted meditation, perhaps all their life-time to 
this very day ; though it be that duty by which all other duties 
are improved, and by which the soul digesteth truths, and draweth 
forth their strength for its nourishment and refreshing. Certainly, 
I think that as a man is but half an hour in chewing and taking 
into his stomach that meat which he must have seven or eight hours 
at least to digest ; so a man may take into his understanding and 
memory more truth in one hour than he is able well to digest in 
many. A man may eat too much, but he cannot digest too well. 
Therefore, God commanded Joshua, that the book of the law de- 
part not out of his mouth, but that he meditate therein day and 
night ; that he may observe to do according to that which is writ- 
ten therein. Josh. i. 8. As digestion is the turning of the raw food 
into chyle and blood, and spirits and flesh, so meditation, rightly 
managed, turneth the truths received and remembered, into warm 
affection, raised resolution, and holy and upright conversation. 
Therefore, what good those men are like to get by sermons or pro- 
vidences, who are unacquainted with, and unaccustomed to, this 
work of meditation, you may easily judge. And why so nmch 
preaching is lost among us, and professors can run from sermon to 
sermon, and are never weary of hearing or reading, and yet have 
such languishing, starved souls, I know no truer or greater cause than 
their ignorance and unconscionable neglect of meditation. If a man 
have the lientery, that his meat passes from him as he took it in ; 
or, if he vomits it up as fast he eats it; ^vhat strength and vigour of 
body and senses is this man like to have ? Indeed, he may well eat 
more than a sounder man, and the small abode that it makes in the 
stomach may refresh it at the present, and help to draw out a 
lingering, languishing, uncomfortable, unprofitable life; and so do 
our hearers that have this disease ; perhaps they hear more than 
otherwise they needed, and the clear discovery and lively delivery 
of the truth of God, may warm and refresh them a little, while they 
are hearing, and perhaps an hour or two after ; and, it may be, 
linger out their grace in a languishing, uncomfortable, unprofitable 
life : but if they did hear one hour, and meditate seven ; if they did 
as constantly digest their sermons as they hear them, and not take 
in one sermon before the former is well concocted, they would find 



550 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

another kind of benefit by sermons, than the ordinary sort of the 
forwardest Christians do. I know many carnal persons do make 
this an argument against frequent preaching and hearing, who do it 
merely from a loathing of the word, and know far less how to me- 
ditate than they know how understandingly to hear ; only they pre- 
tend meditation against often hearing, because, that being a duty 
of the mind, you cannot so easily discern their omission of it. 
These are sick of the anorexia and apepsia ; they have neither ap- 
petite nor digestion. The other of the boulimia ; they have appe- 
tite, but no digestion. 

Sect. III. But because meditation is a general word, and it is not 
all meditation that I here intend, I shall therefore lay thee down 
the difference whereby this meditation that I am urging thee to, is 
distinguished from all other kinds ; and the difference is taken from 
the act, and from the object of it. 

1. From the act, which I call the set and solemn acting of all 
the powers of the soid. 

1. I call it the acting of them ; for it is action that we are direct- 
ing you in now, and not relations or dispositions ; yet these also are 
necessarily presupposed. It must be a soul that is qualified for the 
work, by the supernatural renewing grace of the Spirit, which must 
be able to perform this heavenly exercise. It is the work of the 
living, and not of the dead ; it is a work of all other most spiritual 
and sublime, and therefore not to be well performed by a heart that 
is merely carnal and terrene. Also, they must necessarily have 
some relation to heaven before they can familiarly there converse. 
I suppose them to be the sons of God, when I persuade them to 
love him ; and to be of the family of God, yea, the spouse of his 
Son, when I persuade them to press into his presence, and to dwell 
with him. 1 suppose them to be such as have title to rest, when I 
persuade them to rejoice in the meditations of rest. These, there- 
fore, being all presupposed, are not the duties here intended and 
required, but it is the bringing of their sanctified dispositions into 
act, and the delightful reviewing of their high relations. Habits 
and powers are but to enable us to action. To say, I am able to 
do this, or I am disposed to it, doth neither please God, nor advan- 
tage ourselves, except withal we really do it. God doth not re- 
generate thy soul that it may be able to know him, and not know 
him; or that it may be able to believe, and yet not believe ; or that 
it may be able to love him, and yet not to love him ; but he there- 
fore makes thee able to know, to believe, and love, that thou mayst 
indeed both know, believe, and love him. What good doth that 
power which is not reduced into act ? Therefore, I am not now 
exhorting thee to be an able Christian, but to be an active Chris- 
tian, according to the degree of that ability which thou hast. As 
thy store of money, or food, or raiment, which thou lettest lie by 
thee, and never usest, doth thee no good but please thy fancy, or 
raise thee to an esteem in the eyes of others, so all thy gifts, and 
powers, and habits, which lie still in thy soul, and are never acted, 
do profit or comfort thee little or nothing, but in satisfying thy 



Chap. VI. THE SAINTS' EVKULASTING REST. o3l 

fancy, and raising thcc to the repute of an able man, so far as they 
are discernible to the standers-by. 

Sect. IV. 2. I call this meditation " the acting of the powers of 
the soul," meaning the soul as rational, to difference it from the 
cogitations of the soul as sensitive : the sensitive soul hath a kind 
of meditation by the connnon sense, the fantasy and estimation. 
The fleshly man mindeth the things of the flesh, Horn. viii. If it 
were the work of the ear, or the eye, or the tongue, or the hands, 
which I am setting you on, I doubt not but you would more readily 
take it up ; but it is the work of the soul, for bodily exercise doth 
here profit but little. The soul hath its labour and its ease, its 
business and its idleness, its intention and remission, as well as the 
body ; and diligent students are usually as sensible of the labour 
and weariness of their spirits and brain, as they arc of that of the 
members of the body. This action of the soul is it I persuade thee to. 

Sect. V. 3. I call it the acting of " all" the powers of the soul, 
to difference it from the common meditation of students, which is 
usually the mere employment of the brain. It is not a bare think- 
ing that I mean, nor the mere use of invention or memory, but a 
business of a higher and more excellent nature. When truth is 
apprehended only as truth, this is but an unsavoury and loose ap- 
prehension ; but when it is apprehended as good, as well as true, 
this is a fast and delightful apprehension. As a man is not so 
prone to live according to the truth he knows, except it do deeply 
affect him, so neither doth his soul enjoy its sweetness, except spe- 
culation do pass to affection. The understanding is not the whole 
soul, and therefore cannot do the whole work. As God hath made 
several parts in man to perform their several offices for his nourish- 
ing and life, so hath he ordained the faculties of the soul to perform 
their several offices for his spiritual life : the stomach must chylify, 
and prepare for the liver ; the liver and spleen must sanguify, and 
prepare for the heart and brain ; and these must beget the vital 
and animal spirits, &c. ; so the understanding must take in truths, 
and prepare them for the v.'ill, and it must receive them, and com- 
mend them to the affections. The best digestion is in the bottom 
of the stomach; the affections are, as it were, the bottom of the 
soul ; and therefore the best digestion is there. While truth is 
but a speculation swimming in the brain, the soul hath not half re- 
ceived it, nor taken fast hold of it : Christ and heaven have various 
excellences, and therefore God hath formed the soul with a power 
of apprehending divers ways, that so we might be capable of en- 
joying those divefs excellences in Christ. Even as the creatures 
having their several uses, God hath given us several senses, that 
so we might enjoy the delights of them all. What the better had 
we been for the pleasant, odoriferous flowers and perfumes, if we 
had not possessed the sense of smelling ? or what good would lan- 
guage or music have done us, if God had not given us the sense of 
hearing ? or what delight should we have found in meats, or drinks, 
or sweetest things, if we had been deprived of the sense of tasting ( 
So also, what good could all the glory of heaven have done us ; or 



552 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

what pleasure should we have had, even in the goodness -and per- 
fection of God himself; if we had been without the affections of 
love and joy, whereby we are capable of being delighted in that 
goodness ? And what benefit of strength or sweetness canst thou 
possibly receive by thy meditations on eternity, while thou dost not 
exercise those affections which are the senses of the soul, by which 
it must receive this sweetness and strength ? 

This is it that hath deceived Christians in this business ; they 
have thought that meditation is nothing but the bare thinking on 
truths, and the rolling of them in the understanding and memory ; 
when every school-boy can do this, or persons that hate the things 
which they think on. 

Therefore this is the great task in hand, and this is the work 
that I would set thee on : to get these truths from thy head to thy 
heart, and that all the sermons which thou hast heard of heaven, 
and all the notions that thou hast conceived of this rest, may be 
turned into the blood and spirits of affection, and thou mayst feel 
them revive thee, and warm thee at the heart, and mayst so think 
of heaven as heaven should be thought on. 

There are two accesses of contemplation, said Bernard ; one in 
intellection, the other in afiection ; one in light, the other in heat ; 
one in acquisition, the other in devotion. If thou shouldst study 
of nothing but heaven while thou livest, and shouldst have thy 
thoughts at command, to turn them hither on every occasion, and 
yet shouldst proceed no further than this ; this were not the medi- 
tation that I intend, nor would it much advantage or better thy 
soul : as it is thy whole soul that must possess God hereafter, so 
must the whole, in a lower matter, possess him here. I have shown 
you in the beginning of this treatise, how the soul must enjoy the 
Lord in glory ; to wit, by knowing, by loving, and joying in him : 
why, the very same way must thou begin thy enjoyment here. 

So much as thy understanding and affections are sincerely acted 
upon God, so much dost thou enjoy him ; and this is the happy 
work of this meditation. So that you see here is somewhat more 
to be done than barely to remember and think of heaven. As 
running, ringing, and moving, and such-like labours, do not only 
stir a hand or foot, but do strain and exercise the whole body, so 
doth meditation the whole soul. 

As the affections of sinners are set on the world, and turned to 
idols, and fallen from God, as well as the understanding, so must 
the affections of men be reduced to God, and taken up with him, 
as well as the understanding ; and as the whole was filled with sin 
before, so the whole must be filled with God now. As St. Paul 
saith of knowledge, and gifts, and faith to remove mountains, that 
if thou have all these without love, " thou art but as sounding brass, 
or as a tinkling cymbal," 1 Cor. xiii. 1,2; so I may say of the 
exercise of these, if in this work of meditation thou do exercise 
knowledge, and gifts, and faith of miracles, and not exercise love 
and joy, thou dost nothing ; thou playest the child, and not the 
man ; the sinner's part, and not the saint's. For so will sinners do 



Chai'. VI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. l^^S 

also. If thy meditation tends to fill thy note-book with notions, 
and good sayings, concerning God, and not thy heart with longings 
after him, and delight in him, for aught I know thy book is as 
nuich a C'hristian as thou. Mark but David's description of the 
blessed man : " His delight is in the law of the Lord, and therein 
doth he meditate day and night," Psal. i. 3. 

Sect. VI. 4. I call this meditation "set and solemn," to difference 
it from that which is occasional and cursory. As there is prayer which 
is solemn, when we sot ourselves wholly to the duty, and prayer 
which is sudden and short, commonly called ejaculations, when a 
man, in the midst of other business, doth send up some brief re- 
quest to God; so also there is meditation solemn, when wc aj)ply 
ourselves only to that work ; and there is meditation which is short 
and cursory, when in the midst of our business we have some good 
thoughts of God in our minds : and as solemn prayer is either first 
set, when a Christian, observing it as a standing duty, doth re- 
solvedly practise it in a constant course; or, secondly, occasionally, 
when some unusual occasion doth put us upon it at a season extra- 
ordinary ; so also meditation admits of the like distinction. Now, 
though I would persuade you to that meditation which is mixed 
w'ith your common labours in your callings, and to that which 
special occasions do direct you to, yet these are not the main things 
which I here intend ; but that you would make it a constant, stand- 
ing duty, as you do by hearing, and praying, and reading the 
Scripture ; and that you would solemnly set yourselves about it, 
and make it for that time your whole work, and intermix other mat- 
ters no more with it than you would do with prayer or other duties. 
Thus you see, as it is differenced by its act, what kind of meditation 
it is that we speak of; viz. it is the set and solemn acting of all 
the powers of the soul. 

Sect. VII. The second part of the difference is drawn from its 
object, which is " rest," or the most blessed state of man in his 
everlasting enjoyment of God in heaven. Meditation hath a large 
field to walk in ; and hath as many objects to work upon, as there 
are matters, and lines, and words in the Scripture, as there are 
known creatures in the whole creation, and as there are particular 
discernible passages of providence in the government of the persons 
and actions through the world ; but the meditation that I now 
(hrcct you in, is only of the end of all these, and of these as they 
refer to that end. It is not a walk from mountains to valleys, from 
sea to land, from kingdom to kingdom, from planet to planet ; but 
it is a walk from mountaiins and valleys to the holy Mount Zion ; 
from sea and land to the land of the living ; from the kingdoms of 
this world to the kingdom of saints ; from earth to heaven ; from 
time to eternity. It is a walking upon sun, and moon, and stars ; it 
is a walking in the garden and paradise of God. It may seem far 
off; but spirits are quick, whether in the body or out of the body ; 
their motion is swift ; they are not so heavy or dull as these earthly 
lumps, nor so slow of motion as these clods of flesh. I would not 
have you cast off your other meditations, but, surely, as heaven 



554 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

hath the pre-eminence in perfection, so should it have the pre- 
eminence also in our meditations. That which will make us most 
happy when we possess it, will make us most joyful when we medi- 
tate upon it, especially when that meditation is a degree of pos- 
session, if it be such affecting meditation as I here describe. 

You need not here be troubled with the fears of the world, lest 
studying so much on these high matters should craze your brains, 
and make you mad, unless you would go mad with delight and joy, 
and that of the purest and most solid kind. If I set you to medi- 
tate as much on sin and wrath, and to study nothing but judgment 
and damnation, then you might justly fear such an issue. But it 
is heaven, and not hell, that I would persuade you to walk in. It 
is joy, and not sorrow, that I persuade you to exercise. I would 
urge you to look upon no deformed object, but only upon the 
ravishing glory of saints, and the unspeakable excellences of the 
God of glory, and the beams that stream from the face of his Son. 
Are these such sadding and madding thoughts ? Will it distract a 
man to think of his only happiness !" Will it distract the miserable 
to think of mercy, or the captive or prisoner to foresee deliverance, 
or the poor to think of riches and honour approaching ? Neither 
do I persuade your thoughts to matters of great difhculty, or to 
study thorny and knotty controversies of heaven, or to search out 
things beyond your reach. If you should thus set your wit and in- 
vention upon the tenters, you might be quickly distracted or dis- 
tempered indeed. But it is your affections more than your wits 
and inventions, which must be used in this heavenly employment 
we speak of. They are truths which are commonly known and 
professed, that your souls must draw forth and feed upon. The 
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting, are articles of 
your creed, and not nicer controversies. Methinks it should be 
liker to make a man mad, to think of living in a world of woe, to 
think of abiding in poverty and sickness, among the rage of wicked 
men, than to think of living with Christ in bliss. Methinks, if we 
be not mad already, it should sooner distract us, to hear the 
tempests and roaring waves, to see the billows, and rocks, and 
sands, and gulfs, than to think of arriving safe at rest. But wisdom 
is justified of all her children, Matt. xi. 19 ; Luke vii. 35. Know- 
ledge hath no enemy but the ignorant. This heavenly course was 
never spoke against by any, but those that never either knew it, or 
used it. I more fear the neglect of men that do approve it, than 
the opposition or arguments of any against it. Truth loseth more 
by loose friends than by sharpest enemies. 



Chai'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING KEST. .05.3 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONTAINING THIC FITTEST TIMK AND PLACK FOK THIS CONTI^M- 
PLATION, AND THE PREPARATION OF THE HEART UNTO IT, 

Sect. I. Thus I have opened to you the nature of this duty, and 
by this time I suppose you partly apprehend what it is that I so 
press upon you ; which, when it is opened more particularly, you 
will more fully discern. I now proceed to direct you in the work : 
where I shall, First, Show you how you must set upon it ; and. 
Secondly, How you nmst behave yourself in it ; and. Thirdly, How 
you shall shut it up. And here I suppose thee to be a man that 
dost conscionably avoid the forementioned hinderances, and con- 
scionably use the forementioned helps, or else it is in vain to set 
thee a higher lesson, till thou hast first learned that; which, if 
thou have done, I then further advise thee. First, Somewhat con- 
cerning the time and season ; Secondly, Somewhat concerning the 
place ; and, Thirdly, Somewhat concerning the frame of thy spirit. 

And, First, For the time, I advise thee that, as much as may be, 
it may be set and constant. Proportion out such a part of thy time 
to the w'ork. 

Stick not at their scruple, who question the stating of times as 
superstitious. If thou suit out thy time to the advantage of the 
work, and place no more religion in the time itself, thou needest 
not to fear lest this be superstition. As a Avorkman in his shop mIU 
have a set place for every one of his tools and wares, or else when 
he should use it, it may be to seek ; so a Christian should have a 
set time for every ordinary duty, or else when he should practise it, 
it is ten to one but he will be put by it. Stated time is a hedge to 
duty, and defends it against many temptations to omission. God 
hath stated none but the Lord's day himself, but he hath left it to 
be stated and determined by ourselves, according to every man's 
condition and occasions, lest otherwise his law should have been a 
burden or a snare. Yet hath he left us general rules, which, by 
the use of reason and Christian prudence, may help us to determine 
of the fittest times. It is as ridiculous a question of them that 
ask us where Scripture commands to pray so oft, or at such hours, 
privately, or in families ; as if they asked where the Scripture 
commands that the church-house, or temple, stand in such a place, 
or the pulpit in such a place, or my seat in such a place ; or where 
it commands a man to read the Scriptures with a pair of spectacles, 
&c. Most that I have known to break the bond of duty, and to 
argue against a stated time, have at last grown careless of the duty 
itself, and showed more dislike against the work than the time. 
If God give me so much money or wealth, and tell me not in 
Scripture how much such a poor man must have, nor how much my 
family, nor how much in clothes, and how much in expenses ; is it 
not lawful, yea, and necessary, that I make the division myself, and 



556 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

allow to each the due proportion ? So, if God bestow on nie a day 
or week of time, and give nie such and such work to do in this 
time, and tell me not how much I shall allot to each work, certainly 
I must make the division myself, and cut my coat according to my 
cloth, and pi-oportion it wisely and carefully too, or else I am like 
to leave something undone. Though God hath not told you at 
what hour you shall rise in the morning, or at what hours you 
shall eat and drink, yet your own reason and experience will tell 
you that, ordinarily, you should observe a stated time. Neither 
let the fear of customariness and formality deter you from this. 
That argument hath brought the Lord's supper from once a week 
to once a quarter, or once a year ; and it hath brought family 
duties, with too many of late, from twice a day to once a week, or 
once a month ; and if it were not that man, being proud, is naturally 
of a teaching humour, and addicted to works of popularity and os- 
tentation, I believe it would diminish preaching as much : and will 
it deal any better with secret duties, especially this of holy medita- 
tion ? I advise thee, therefore, if well thou mayst, to allow this 
duty a stated time, and be as constant in it as in hearing and pray- 
ing. Yet be cautious in understanding this. I know this will not 
prove every man's duty. Some have not themselves and their 
time at conmiand, and therefore cannot set their hours. Such are 
most servants, and many children of poor and carnal parents ; and 
many are so poor that the necessity of their families will deny them 
this freedom. I do not think it the duty of such to leave their la- 
bours for this work just at certain set times; no, nor for prayer, or 
other necessary worship. No such duty is at all times a duty. 
Affirmatives, especially positive, bind not semper et ad semper. 
When two duties come together, and cannot both be performed, it 
were then a sin to perform the lesser. Of two duties we must 
choose the greater, though of two sins we must choose neither. 
I think such persons were best to be watchful, to redeem time as 
much as they can, and take their vacant opportunities as they fall, 
and especially to join meditation and prayer, as much as they can, 
with the very labours of their callings. There is no such enmity 
between labouring and meditating, or praying in the spirit, but 
that both may conveniently be done together. Yet, I say, (as Paul, 
in another case,) if thou canst be free, use it rather. Those that 
have more spare time from worldly necessaries, and are masters to 
dispose of themselves and their time, I still advise that they keep 
this duty to a stated time : and, indeed, it were no ill husbandry, 
nor point of folly, if we did so by all other duties. If we considered 
of the ordinary works of the day, and suited out a fit season and 
proportion of time to every work, and fixed this in our memory 
and resolution, or wrote it in a table, and kept it in our closets, and 
never break it but upon unexpected extraordinary cause ; if every 
work of the day had thus its appointed time, we should be better 
skilled, both in redeeming time and performing duty. 

Sect. II. 2. I advise thee also, concerning thy time for this 
duty, that as it be stated, so it be frequent : just how oft it should 



Chap. Vlf. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 557 

1)6, I cannot determine, Lecauso men's several conditions may vary 
it ; but in general, tiiat it bo frequent, the Scripture requireth, 
when it mentioneth meditating continually, and day and night, 
Psal. i, 2; cxi\. 97, 14"^. Circumstances of our condition may 
much vary tlie circumstances of our duties. It may be one man's 
duty to hear or pray oftener than another, and so it may be in this 
of meditation. 15ut for those that can conveniently omit other 
business, I advise, that' it be once a day at least. Though Scrip- 
ture tells us not how oft in a day we should eat or drink ; yet pru- 
dence and experience will direct us twice or thrice a day, according 
to the temper and necessities of our bodies. Those that think 
they should not tie themselves to order or number of duties, but 
should then only meditate or pray, when they find the Spirit pro- 
voking them to it, do go upon uncertain and unchristian grounds. 
I am sure, the Scripture provokes us to frequency, and our neces- 
sity secondeth the voice of Scripture ; and if through my own neg- 
lect, or resistance of the Spirit, I do not find it so to excite and 
quicken me, I dare not therefore disobey the Scripture, nor neglect 
the necessities of my own soul. I should suspect that spirit which 
would turn my soul from constancy in duty : if the Spirit in Scrip- 
ture bid me meditate or pray, I dare not forbear it, because I find 
not the Spirit within me to second the command : if I find not in- 
citation to duty before, yet I may find assistance while I wait in 
performance. I am afraid of laying my corruptions upon the Spirit, 
or blaming the want of the Spirit's assistance, when I should blame 
the backwardness of my own heart ; nor dare I make one corrup- 
tion a plea for another ; nor urge the inward rebellion of my nature, 
as a reason for the outward disobedience of my life : and for the 
healing of my nature's backwardness, I more expect that the Spirit 
of Christ should do it in a way of duty, (which I still find to be his 
ordinary season of working,) than in a way of disobedience, and 
neglect of duty. Men that fall on duty, according to the frame of 
their spirits only, are like our ignorant vulgar, (or if you will, like 
the swine,) who think their appetite should be the only rule of their 
eating ; when a wise man judgeth both of quantity and quality, by 
reason and experience ; lest when his appetite is depraved, he 
should either surfeit or famish. Our appetite is no sure rule for 
our times of duty ; but the word of God in general, and our spirit- 
ual reason, experience, necessity, and convenience in particular, 
may truly direct us. 

Three reasons especially should persuade thee to frequency in 
this meditation on heaven. 

I. Because seldom conversing with him will breed a strangeness 
betwixt thy soul and God : frequent society breeds familiarity, and 
familiarity increaseth love and delight, and maketh us bold and 
confident in our addresses. This is the main end of this duty ; 
that thou mayst have acquaintance and fellowship with God there- 
in ; therefore, if thou come but seldom to it, thou wilt keep thyself 
a stranger still, and so miss of the end of the work. Oh ! when a 
man feels his need of God, and must seek, his help in a time of 



558 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

necessity, when nothing else can do him any good, you would little 
think what an encouragement it is, to go to a God that we know, 
and are acquainted with. Oh ! saith the heavenly Christian, I 
know hoth whither I go, and to whom ; I have gone this way many 
a time before now ; it is the same God that I daily conversed with ; 
it is the same way that was my daily walk ; God knows me well 
enough, and I have some knowledge of him. On the other side, 
what a horror and discouragement to the soul will it be, when it is 
forced to fly God in straits : to think, Alas ! I know not whither to 
go ; I never went the way before ; I have no acquaintance at the 
court of heaven, my soul knows not that God that I must speak to ; 
and I fear he will not know my soul ! But especially when we come 
to die, and must immediately appear before this God, and expect 
to enter into his eternal rest, then the difference will plainly ap- 
pear ; then what a joy will it be to think, I am going to the place 
that I daily conversed in ; to the place from whence I tasted so 
frequent delights ; to that God whom I have met in my meditation 
so oft ! My heart hath been at heaven before now, and tasted the 
.sweetness that hath oft revived it ; and (as Jonathan by his honey) 
if my eyes were so enlightened, and my mind refreshed, when I 
tasted but a little of that sweetness, what will it be when I shall 
feed on it freely ! 1 Sam. xiv. 29. On the other side, what a terror 
must it be to think, I must die, and go I know not whither ; from 
a place where I am acquainted, to a place where I have no familiar- 
ity or knowledge ! O sirs, it is an inexpressible horror to a dying 
man, to have strange thoughts of God and heaven ; I am persuaded 
there is no cause so common, that makes death even to godly men 
unwelcome and uncomfortable. Therefore, I persuade thee to fre- 
quency in this duty, that seldomness breed not estrangedness from 
God. 

2. And besides that, seldomness will make thee unskilful in the 
work, and strange to the duty, as well as to God. How unhand- 
somely and clumsily do men set their hands to a work that they 
are seldom employed in ! Whereas frequency will habituate thy 
heart to the w'ork, and thou wilt better know the way which thou 
daily walkest, yea, and it will be more easy and delightful also : 
the hill which made thee pant and blow at the first going up, thou 
mayst run up easily when thou art once accustomed to it. The 
heart, which of itself is naturally backward, will contract a greater 
unwillingness through disuse ; and as an untamed colt not used 
to the hand, it will hardly come to hand when thou shouldst 
use it. 

3, And lastly. Thou wilt lose that heat and life by long inter- 
missions, which with much ado thou didst obtain in duty. If thou 
eat but a meal in two or three days, thou wilt lose thy strength as 
fast as thou gettest it ; if in holy meditation thou get near to 
Christ, and warm thy heart with the fire of love, if thou then turn 
away and come but seldom, thou wilt soon return to thy former 
coldness. If thou walk or labour till thou hast got thee heat, and 
then sit idle all day after, wilt thou not surely lose thy heat again ? 



Chap. V!1. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 559 

Especially, it being so spiritual a work, and so against the bent of 
nature, we shall bo still inclining to our natural temper. 

If water that is heated be long from the fire, it will return to its 
coldness, because that is its natural temper. I advise thee, there- 
fore, that thou ])c as oft as may be in this soul-raising duty, lest 
when thou hast long rowed hard against the stream, or tide, and 
wind, the boat should go farther down by thy intermission, than it 
was got up by all thy labour : and lest, when thou hast been long 
rolling thy stony heart towards the top of the hill, it should go 
faster down when thou dost slack thy diligence. It is true, the in- 
termixed use of other duties may do much to the keeping thy heart 
above, especially secret prayer ; but meditation is the life of most 
other duties ; and the view of heaven is the life of meditation. 

Sect. III. 3. Concerning the time of this duty, I advise thee 
that thou choose the most seasonable time. All things are beauti- 
ful and excellent in their season. Unseasonableness may lose thee 
the fruit of thy labour ; it may raise up disturbances and difficulties 
in the work ; yea, it may turn a duty to sin : when the seasonable- 
ness of a duty doth make it easy, doth remove impediments, doth 
imbolden us to the undertaking, and doth ripen its fruit. 

The seasons of this duty are either. First, Extraordinary ; or. 
Secondly, Ordinary. 

1 . The ordinary season for your daily performance cannot be par- 
ticularly determined by man ; otherwise God would have deter- 
mined it in his word. But men's conditions of employment, and 
freedom, and bodily temper, are so various, that the same may be 
a seasonable hour to one, which may be unseasonable to another. 
If thou be a servant, or a hard labourer, that thou hast not thyself 
nor thy time at command, thou must take that season which thy 
business will best afford thee. Either as thou sittest in the shop 
at thy work, or as thou travellest on the way, or as thou liest waking 
in the night. Every man best knows his own time, even when he 
hath the least to hinder him of his business in the world. But for 
those whose necessities tie them not so close, but that they may 
well lay aside their earthly affairs, and choose what time of the day 
they will, my advice to such is, that they carefully observe the 
temper of their body and mind, and mark when they find their 
spirits most active and fit for contemplation, and pitch upon that as 
the stated time. Some men are freest for duties when they are 
fasting, and some are then unfittest of all. Some are fit for duties 
of humiliation at one season, and for duties of exultation at another. 
Every man is the meetest judge for himself. Only give me leave 
to tender you my observation, which time I have always found 
fittest for myself; and that is, the evening, from sun-setting to 
twilight ; and sometimes in the night, when it is warm and clear. 
Whether it be any thing from the temperature of my body, I know 
not ; but I conjf'cture that the same time would be seasonable to 
most tempers, for several natural reasons, which I will not now 
stand to mention. Neither would I have mentioned my own ex- 
perience in this, but that I was encouraged hereunto by finding it 



560 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

suit with the experience of a better and wiser man than myself, 
and that is Isaac : for it is said in Gen. xxiv. 63, that he went to 
meditate in the field at the eventide. And his experience I dare 
more l)oldly reconmiend unto you than my own ; and, as I remem- 
ber, Dr. Hall, in his excellent treatise of meditation, gives you the 
like account of his own experience. 

Sect. IV. 2. The Lord's day is a time exceeding seasonable for 
this exercise. When should we more seasonably contemplate on 
rest, than on that day of rest which doth typify it to us ? Neither 
do I think that typifying use is ceased, because the antitype is not 
fully yet to come ; however, it being a day appropriated to worship 
and spiritual duties, methinks we should never exclude this duty 
which is so eminently spiritual. I think, verily, this is the chiefest 
work of a Christian sabbath, and most agreeable to the intent of 
its positive institution. What fitter time to converse with our Lord 
than on that day which he hath appropriated to such employment, 
and therefore called it the Lord's day ? What fitter day to ascend 
to heaven than that on which our Lord did arise from earth, and 
fully triumph over death and hell, and take possession of heaven 
for us ? The fittest temper for a true believer is to be in the Spirit 
on the Lord's day ; this was St. John's temper on that day, Rev. i. 
13 ; and what can bring us to this ravishment in the Spirit but the 
spiritual beholding of our ravishing glory ? Surely, though an out- 
ward ordiiianue may delight the ear, or tickle the fancy, yet it is 
the view of God that must ravish the soul. There is a great deal 
of difference betwixt the receiving of the word with joy, Matt. xiii. 
20, and being in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Rev. i. 10. 

Two sorts of Christians I would entreat to take notice of this 
especially. 

1. Those that spend the Lord's day only in public worship, either 
through the neglect of this spiritual duty of meditation, or else by 
their over-much exercise of the public, allowing no time to private 
duty. Though there be few that offend in this last kind, yet 
some there are, and a hurtful mistake to the soul it is. They will 
grow but in gifts, and common accomplishments, if they exercise 
but their gifts in outward performances. 

2. Those that have time on the Lord's day for idleness and vain 
discourse, and find the day longer than they know how well to 
spend : Avere these but acquainted with this duty of contemplation, 
they would need no other recreation or pastime ; they would think 
the longest day short enough, and be sorry that the night hath 
shortened their pleasure. 

Whether this day be of positive Divine institution, and so to us 
Christians of necessary observation, is out of my way to handle 
here. I refer those that doubt to what is in print on that subject, 
especially Master George Al)bot against Broad; and, above all, 
Master Cawdry, and Master Palmer, their " Sabbatum Redivivum." 
It is an encouragement to the doubtful, to find the generality of its 
rational opposers to acknowledge the usefulness, yea, the necessity, 
of a stated day, and the fitness of this above all other days. I 



CuAi'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVEllLASTING REST. 561 

would I could persuade those that are convinced of its morality, to 
spend a greater part of it in this true spirituality. But we do in 
this as in most things else, think it enough that we believe our 
duty, as we do the articles of our faith, and let who will put it in 
practice : we will dispute for duty, and let others perform it. As I 
have known some drunkards upon the ale-bench will plead for godly 
men, while themselves are ungodly ; so do too many for the ob- 
servation of the Lord's day, who themselves are unacquainted with 
this spiritual part of its observation. Christians, let heaven have 
some share in your sabbaths, where you nmst shortly keep your 
everlasting sabbath. As you go from stair to stair, till you come 
to the top, so use your sabbaths as steps to glory, till you have 
passed them all, and are there arrived. Especially you that are 
poor men, and servants, that cannot take time in the week as you 
desire, see that you well improve this day. Now your labour lies 
not so much upon you, now you are unyoked from your common 
business, be sure, as your bodies rest from their labours, that your 
spirit seek after rest with God. I admonish all those that are 
possessed with the censorious devil, that if they see a poor Christian 
walking privately in the fields on the Lord's day, they would not 
pharisaically conclude him a sabbath-breaker, till they know more. 
It may be he takes it as the opportunest place to withdraw himself 
from the world to God. Thou seest where his body walks, but 
thou seest not where he is walking in spirit. Hannah was censured 
for a woman drunk, till Eli heard her speak for herself; and when 
he knew the truth, he was ashamed of his censure. The silent, 
spiritual worshipper is most liable to their censure, because he gives 
not the world an account of his worship. 

Thus I have directed thee to the fittest season for the ordinary 
performance of this heavenly work. 

Sect. V. 2. For the extraordinary performance, these following 
are seasonable times. 1. When God doth extraordinarily revive 
and enable thy spirit. When God hath enkindled thy spirit with 
fire from above, it is that it may mount aloft more freely. It is a 
choice part of a Christian's skill, to observe the temper of his own 
spirit, and to observe the gales of grace, and how the Spirit of 
Christ doth move upon his. Without Christ we can do nothing, 
John XV. 5 ; therefore, let us be doing when he is doing ; and be 
sure not to be out of the way, nor asleep, when he comes. The 
sails of the windmill stir not without the wind ; therefore, they must 
set them a-going when the wind blows. Be sure that thou watch 
this wind and tide, if thou wouldst have a speedy voyage to heaven. 
A little labour will set thy heart a-going at such a time as this, 
when another time thou mayst study and take pains to little pur- 
pose. Most Christians do sometimes find a more than ordinary 
reviving and activeness of spirit : take this as sent from heaven to 
raise thee thither ; and when the Spirit is lifting thy heart from the 
earth, be sure thou then lift at it thyself. As when the angel came 
to Peter in his prison and irons, and smote him on the side, and 
raised him up, saying, " Arise up quickly, gird thyself, bind on thy 
2 o 



5G2 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

I 
sandals, and cast thy garments about thee, and follow me," and 
Peter arose and followed till he was delivered, Acts xii. 7, 8, &c. ; 
so when the Spirit finds thy heart in prison and irons, and smites 
it, and bids thee " Arise quickly, and follow me," be sure thou then 
arise and follow, and thou shalt find thy chains fall off, and all 
doors will open, and thou wilt be at heaven before thou art aware. 
Sect. VI. 2. "When thou art cast into perplexing troubles of mind, 
through sufferings, or fear, or care, or temptations, then is it sea- 
sonable to address thyself to this duty. When should we take our 
cordials but in our times of fainting ? When is it more seasonable 
to walk to heaven, than when we know not in what corner on earth 
to live with comfort ; or when should our thoughts converse above, 
but when they have nothing but grief to converse with below ? 
Where should Noah's dove be, but in the ark, when the waters do 
cover the earth, and she cannot find rest for the sole of her foot ? 
Gen. viii. 8, 9. What should we think on but our Father's house, 
when we want even the husks of the world to feed on ? Surely, God 
sends thee thy afflictions to this very purpose. Happy, thou poor 
man, if thou make this use of thy poverty ; and thou that art sick, 
if thou so improve thy sickness. It is seasonable to go to the pro- 
mised land, when our burdens and tasks are increased in Egypt, 
and when we endure the dolours of a grievous wilderness. Believe 
it, reader, if thou knewest but what a cordial in thy griefs and cares 
the serious views of glory are, thou wouldst less fear these harm- 
less troubles, and more use that preserving, reviving remedy. I 
would not have thee, as mountebanks, take poison first, and then 
their antidote, to show its power ; to create thy affliction to try this 
remedy : but if God reach thee forth the bitterest cup, drop in but 
a little of the taste of heaven, and I warrant thee it will sufficiently 
sweeten it to thy spirit. If the case thou art in seem never so dan 
gerous, take but a little of this antidote of rest, and never fear the 
pain or danger. I will give thee to confirm this, but the example 
of David and the opinion of Paul, and desire thee thoroughly to 
consider of both. " In the multitude of my thoughts within me," 
saith David, " thy comforts delight my soul," Psal. xciv. 19. As 
if he should say, I have multitudes of sadding thoughts which crowd 
upon me ; thoughts of my sins, and thoughts of my foes ; thoughts 
of my dangers, and thoughts of my pains ; yet, in the midst of all 
this crowd, one serious thought of the comforts of thy love, and 
especially of the comfortable life in glory, doth so dispel the throng, 
and scatter my cares, and disperse the clouds which my troubles 
had raised, that they do even revive and delight my soul. And 
Paul, when he had cast up his full accounts, gives thee the sum in 
Rom. viii. 18, " For I reckon that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be 
revealed in us." Study these words well, for every one of them is 
full of life. If these true sayings of God were truly and deeply 
fixed in thy heart, and if thou couldst, in thy sober meditation, but 
draw out the comfort of this one scripture, I dare affirm it would 
sweeten the bitterest cross, and in a sort make thee forget thy 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 503 

trouble, as Christ saith " a woman forgets her travail, for joy that 
a man is born into the world," John xvi. 21 ; yea, and make thee 
rejoice in thy tribidation. I will add but one text more : " For 
which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet 
the inward is renewed day by day. For our light affliction which 
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal 
weight of glory ; while we look not at the things which are seen, 
but the things which are not seen : for the things which are seen 
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal," 2 Cor. 
iv. IG, 17. 

Sect. VII. 4. Another fit season for this heavenly duty is, when 
the messengers of God do summon us to die ; when either our grey 
hairs, or our languishing bodies, or some such-like forerunners of 
death, do tell us that our change cannot be far off. When should 
we more frequently sweeten our souls with the believing thoughts 
of another life, than when we find that this is almost ended, and 
when flesh is raising fears and terrors ? Surely no men have 
greater need of supporting joys than dying men ; and those joys 
must be fetched from our eternal joy. Men that have earthly plea- 
sures in their hands, may think they are well, though they taste no 
more; but when a man is dying, and parting with all other plea- 
sures, he must then fetch his pleasure from heaven, or have none ; 
when health is gone, and friends lie weeping by our beds ; when 
houses, and lands, and goods, and w'ealth cannot afford us the least 
relief, but we are taking our leave of earth for ever, except a hole 
for our bodies to rot in ; when we are daily expecting our final day, 
it is now time to look to heaven, and to fetch in comfort and sup- 
port from thence. And as heavenly delights are sweetest when 
they are unmixed and pure, and have no earthly delights conjoined 
with them ; so therefore the delights of dying Christians are oft- 
times the sweetest that ever they had : therefore have the saints 
been generally observed to be then most heavenly when they were 
nearest dying. What a prophetical blessing hath Jacob for his 
sons when he lay a dying ! and so Isaac. What a heavenly 
song, what a divine benediction, doth Moses conclude his life 
withal ! Deut. xxxii. xxxiii. Nay, as our Saviour increased in 
wisdom and knowledge, so did he also in their blessed expressions, 
and still the last the sweetest. What a heavenly prayer, what a 
heavenly advice, doth he leave his disciples, when he is about to 
leave them ! When he saw he must leave the world and go to the 
Father, how doth he wean them from worldly expectations ! How 
doth he mind them of the mansions in his Father's house : and re- 
member them of his coming again to fetch them thither ; and open 
the union they shall have with him, and wdth each other ; and pro- 
mise them to be with him to behold his glory ! There is more 
worth in those four chapters, John xiv. — xvii. than in all the books 
in the world beside. When blessed Paul was ready to be offered up, 
what heavenly exhortation doth he give the Philippians ; what advice 
to Timothy ; what counsel to the elders of the Ephesian church ! 
Acts XX. How near was St. John to heaven in his banishment in 
2 o 2 



564 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Patmos, a little before his translation to heaven ! What heavenly 
discourse had Luther in his last sickness ! How close was Calvin 
to his divine studies in his very sickness, that when they would 
have dissuaded him from it, he answers, Vultime me otiosnm a 
Domino apprehendi ? What ! would you have God find me idle ? 
I have not lived idly, and shall I die idly ? The like may be said 
of our famous Reignolds. When excellent Bucholcer was near his 
end, he wrote his book " De Consolatione Decumbentium." Then 
it was that Tossanus wrote his " Vade mecum." Then Doctor 
Preston was upon the " Attributes of God." And then Mr. 
Bolton was on the " Joys of Heaven." It were endless to 
enumerate the eminent examples of this kind. It is the general 
temper of the spirits of the saints, to be then most heavenly when 
they are nearest to heaven. As we used to say of the old and the 
weak, that they have one foot in the gravie already ; so we may say 
of the godly, when they are near their rest, they have one foot, as it 
were, in heaven already. When should a traveller look homewards 
with joy, but when he is come within the sight of his home ? It is 
true, the pains of our bodies and the fainting of our spirits, may 
somewhat abate the liveliness of our joy ; but the measure we have 
will be the more pure and spiritual, by how much the less it is 
kindled from the flesh. Oh that we, who are daily languishing, 
could learn this daily heavenly conversing, and could say as the 
apostle in the forecited place, 2 Cor. iv. 16—18. Oh that every 
gripe that our bodies feel might make us more sensible of future 
ease ; and that every weary day and hour might make us long for 
our eternal rest ! that as the pulling down of one end of the balance 
is the lifting up of the other, so the pulling down of our bodies 
might be the lifting up of our souls ; that as our souls were usually 
at the worst when our bodies were at the best, so now they might 
be at the best when our bodies are at the worst. Why should we 
not think thus with ourselves ? Why, every one of these gripes 
that I feel, are but the cutting of the stitches for the ripping oiF 
mine old attire, that God may clothe me with the glory of his saints. 
Had I rather live in these rotten rags, than be at the trouble and 
pains to shift me ? Should the infant desire to stay in the womb, 
because of the straitness and pains of the passage ; or because he 
knows not the world that he is to come into ; nor is acquainted 
with the fashions and inhabitants thereof? Am not I nearer to 
my desired rest than ever I was ? If the remembrance of these 
griefs will increase my joy, when I shall look back upon them from 
above, why then should not the remembrance of that joy abate my 
griefs when I look upwards to it from below ? And why should the 
present feeling of these dolours so much diminish the foretastes of 
glory, when the remembrance of them will then increase it ? All 
these gripes and woes that I feel, are but the farewell of sin and 
sorrows. As nature useth to struggle hard a little before death, 
and as the devil cast the man to the ground and tore him, when he 
was going out of him, Mark ix. 26 ; so this tearing and troubling 
which I now feel, is but at the departure of sin and misery : for as 



Chap. VIJ. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 505 

the effects of grace are sweetest at last, so the effects of sin are bit- 
terest at the last, and this is the last that ever I shall taste of it; 
when once the whirlwind and earthquake is past, the still voice will 
next succeed, and God only will be in the voice, though sin also 
was in the earthquake and whirlwind. 

Thus, Christian, as every pang of sickness should mind the 
wicked of their eternal pangs, and make them look into the bottom 
of hell, so should all thy woe and weakness mind thee of thy near 
approaching joy, and make thee look as high as heaven ; and, as a 
ball, the harder thou art smitten down to earth, the higher shouldst 
thou rebound up to heaven. If this be thy case, who readest these 
lines, (and if it be not now, it will be shortly,) if thou lie in con- 
suming, painful sickness, if thou perceive the dying time draw on, 

where should thy heart be now but with Christ ? Methinks thou 
shouldst even behold him, as it were, standing by thee, and shouldst 
bespeak him as thy Father, thy Husband, thy Physician, thy Friend. 
Methinks thou shouldst even see, as it were, the angels about thee 
waiting to perform their last office to thy soul, as thy friends wait to 
perform theirs to thy body : those angels which disdained not to 
bring the soul of a scabbed beggar to heaven, will not think much 
to conduct thee thither. O, look upon thy sickness as Jacob did 
on Joseph's chariots, and let thy spirit revive within thee, and say. 
It is enough that Joseph, that Christ is yet alive ; for because he 
lives, I shall live also, John xiv. 19. As thou art sick, and needest 
the daintiest food and choicest cordials, so here are choicer than 
the world affords. Here is the food of angels and glorified saints ; 
here are all the joys that heaven doth yield, even the vision of 
God, the sight of Christ, and whatsoever the blessed there pos- 
sess : this table is spread for thee to feed on in thy sickness ; these 
dainties are offered thee by the hand of Christ : he hath written 
thee the receipt in the promises of the gospel ; he hath prepared 
thee all the ingredients in heaven; only put forth the hand of 
faith, and feed upon them, and rejoice and live. The Lord saith 
to thee, as he did to Elias, " Arise, and eat, because the journey is 
too great for thee," 1 Kings xix. 7. Though it be not long, yet 
the way is foul : I counsel thee, therefore, that thou obey his voice, 
and arise and eat, and in the strength of that meat thou mayst 
walk till thou come to the mount of God. Die not in the ditch of 
horror or stupidity ; but, as the Lord said to IMoses, " Go up into 
the mount, and see the land that the Lord hath promised, and die 
in the mount," Deut. xxxii. 49, 50. And as old Simeon, when he 
saw Christ in his infancy in the temple, so do thou behold him in 
the temple of the new Jerusalem as in his glory, and take him in 
the arms of thy faith, and say, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant 
depart in peace, for mine eye (of faith) hath seen thy salvation." 
As thou wast never so near to heaven as now, so let thy spirit be 
nearer it now than ever. 

So you have seen which is the fittest season for this duty : 

1 should here advise thee also of some times unseasonable, but I 
shall only add this one caution, The unseasonable urging of the 



566 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

most spiritual duty, is more from the tempter than from the Spirit 
of God ! When Satan sees a Christian in a condition wherein he 
is unable and unfit for a duty, or wherein he may have more advan- 
tage against us by our performance of it than by our omitting it, 
he will then drive on as earnestly to duty, as if it M'ere the very 
Spirit of holiness ; that so upon our omitting, or ill performance, 
he may have somewhat to cast in our teeth, and to trouble us with. 
And this is one of his ways of deceiving, when he transforms him- 
self into an angel of light. It may be, when thou art on thy knees 
in prayer, thou shalt have many good thoughts will come into thy 
mind ; or when thou art hearing the word, or at such unseasonable 
times. Resist these good thoughts as coming from the devil, for 
they are formally evil, though they are materially good ; even good 
thoughts in themselves may be sinful to thee. It may be, when 
thou shouldst be diligent in thy necessary labours, thou shalt be 
moved to cast aside all, that thou mayst go to meditation or to 
prayer ; these motions are usually from the spirit of delusion : the 
Spirit of Christ doth nothing unseasonably : God is not the God 
of confusion, but of order. 

Sect. VIII. Thus much I thought necessary to advise thee con- 
cerning the time of this duty. It now follows that I speak a word 
of the fittest place. Though God is every where to be found by a 
faithful soul, yet some places are more convenient for a duty than 
others. 

1 . As this is a private and spiritual duty, so it is most convenient 
that thou retire to some private place : our spirits had need of every 
help, and to be freed from every hinderance in the work : and the 
quality of these circumstances, though to some they may seem 
small things, doth much conduce to our hinderance or our help. 
Christ himself thought it not vain to direct in this circumstance of 
private duty, Matt. vi. 4, 6, 18. If in private prayer we must 
shut our door upon us, that our Father may hear us in secret, so is 
it also requisite in this meditation. How oft doth Christ himself 
depart to some mountain, or wilderness, or other solitary place ! 
For occasional meditation I give thee not this advice, but for this 
daily set and solemn duty I advise that thou withdraw thyself from 
all society, yea, though it were the society of godly men, that thou 
mayst awhile enjoy the society of Christ : if a student cannot 
study in a crowd, who exercises only his invention and memory, 
much less when thou must exercise all the powers of thy soul, and 
that upon an object so far above nature : when thy eyes are filled 
with the persons and actions of men, and thine ears with their dis- 
course, it is hard then to have thy thoughts and affections free for 
this duty. Though I would not persuade thee to Pythagoras's 
cave, nor to the hermit's wilderness, nor to the monk's cell ; yet T 
would advise thee to frequent solitariness, that thou mayst some- 
times confer with Christ, and with thyself, as well as with others. 
We are fled so far from the solitude of superstition, that we have 
cast off the solitude of contemplative devotion. Friends use to 
converse most familiarly in private, and to open their secrets and 



CiiAi'. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 0O7 

let out their affections most freely. Public converse is but common 
converse, l^se, therefore, as Christ himself didj Mark i. '35, to 
depart sometimes into a solitary place, that thou mayst be wholly 
vacant for this great employment. See Matt. xiv. 23 ; Mark vi. 
47 ; Luke ix. IS, 3G ; John vi. 15, IG. We seldom read of God's 
appearing, by himself, or his angels, to any of his prophets or saints 
in a throng, but frequently when they were alone. 

And as I advise thee to a place of retiredness, so also that thou 
observe more particularly, what place and posture best agreeth with 
thy spirit; whether within doors or without ; whether sitting still 
or walking. I believe Isaac's example in this, also, will direct us 
to the place and posture which will best suit with most, as it doth 
with me, viz. his walking forth to meditate in the field at the even- 
tide. And Christ's own example in the places forecited give us 
the like direction. Christ was so used to a solitary garden, that 
even Judas, when he came to betray him, knew where to find him, 
John xviii. 1,2. And though he took his disciples thither with 
him, yet did he separate himself from them for more secret devo- 
tions, Luke xxii. 41. And though his meditation be not directly 
named, but only his praying, yet it is very clearly implied, Matt, 
xxvi. 38, 39. His soul is first made sorrowful with the bitter me- 
ditations on his death and sufferings, and then he poureth it out in 
prayer, Mark xiv. 34. So that Christ had his accustomed place, 
and consequently accustomed duty, and so must we. Christ hath 
a place that is solitary, whither he retireth himself even from his 
own disciples, and so must we : Christ's meditations do go further 
than his thoughts, they affect and pierce his heart and soul, and so 
must ours. Only there is a wide difference in the object : Christ 
meditates on the suffering that our sins had deserved, that the wrath 
of his Father even passed through his thoughts upon all his soul : 
but the meditation that we speak of, is on the glory he hath pur- 
chased ; that the love of the Father, and the joy of the Spirit, 
might enter at our thoughts, and revive our affections, and over- 
flow our souls. So that, as Christ's meditation was the sluice or 
floodgate, to let in hell to overflow his affections, so our meditation 
should be the sluice to let in heaven into our affections. 

Sect. IX. So much concerning the time and place of this duty. 
I am next to advise thee somewhat concerning the preparations of 
thy heart. The success of the work doth much depend on the 
frame of thy heart. When man's heart had nothing in it that 
might grieve the Spirit, then was it the delightful habitation of his 
Maker. God did not quit his residence there, till man did repel 
him by unworthy provocations. There grew no strangeness, till 
the heart grew sinful, and too loathsome a dungeon for God to de- 
light in. And w-ere this soul reduced to its former innocency, God 
would quickly return to his former habitation : yea, so far as it is 
renew'ed and repaired l)y the Spirit, and purged of its lusts, and 
beautified with his image, the liOrd will yet acknowledge it his own, 
and Christ will manifest himself unto it, and the Spirit will take it 
for his temple and residence. So far as the soul is qualified for 



568 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

conversing with God, so far it doth actually, for the most part, en- 
joy him. Therefore, with all diligence keep thy heart, for from 
thence are the issues of life, Prov. iv. '23. 

More particularly, when thou settest on this duty, First, Get thy 
heart as clear from the world as thou canst ; wholly lay by the 
thoughts of thy business, of thy troubles, of thy enjoyments, and of 
every thing that may take up any room in thy soul. Get thy soul 
as empty as possibly thou canst, and so it may be the more capable 
of being filled with God. It is a work, as I have said, that will 
require all the powers of thy soul, if they were a thousand times 
more capacious and active than they are ; and therefore you have 
need to lay by all other thoughts and affections, while you are 
busied here. If thou couldst well perform some outward duty with 
a piece of thy heart, while the other is absent, yet this above all I 
am sure thou canst not. Surely, if thou once address thyself to 
the business indeed, thou wilt be as the covetous man at the heap 
of gold, that when he might take as much as he could carry away, 
lamented that he was able to bear no more. So when thou shalt 
get into the mount in contemplation, thou wilt find there as much 
of God and glory, as thy narrow heart is able to contain ; and 
almost nothing to hinder thy full possession, but only the uncapa- 
bleness of thy own spirit. Oh then (wilt thou think) that this un- 
derstanding were larger, that I might conceive more ! that these 
affections were wider, to contain more ! it is more my own unfitness 
than any thing else, which is the cause that even this place is not 
my heaven ! God is in this place, and I know it not. This mount 
is full of the angels of God, but mine eyes are shut, and cannot see 
them. Oh the words of love that Christ hath to speak ! Oh the 
wonders of love that he hath to show ! But, alas ! I cannot 
bear them yet : heaven is here ready at hand for me, but my un- 
capable heart is unready for heaven ! Thus wouldst thou lament, 
that the deadness of thy heart doth hinder thy joys ; even as a 
sick man is sorry that he wants a stomach when he sees a feast 
before him. 

Therefore, reader, seeing it is much in the capacity and frame 
of thy heart, how much thou shalt enjoy of God in this contempla- 
tion, be sure that all the room thou hast be empty ; and, if ever, 
seek him here with all thy soul : thrust not Christ into the stable 
and the manger, as if thou hadst better guests for the chiefest 
rooms. Say to all thy worldly business and thoughts, as Christ to 
his disciples, " Sit you here, while I go and pray yonder," Matt. 
xxvi. 36. Or, as Abraham, when he went to sacrifice Isaac, left 
his servant and ass below the mount, saying, " Stay you here, and 
I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you ;" 
so say thou to all thy w^orldly thoughts, " Abide you below, while 
I go up to Christ, and then I will return to you again." Yea, as 
God did terrify the people Avith his threats of death, if any one 
should dare to come to the mount, when Moses v.'as to receive the 
law from God ; so do thou terrify thy own heart, and use violence 
against thy intruding thoughts, if they offer to accompany thee to 



Chap. VII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .560 

the mount of contemplation. Even as the priests thrust Uzziah 
the king out of the temple, where he presumed to burn incense, 
when they saw the leprosy to arise upon him ; so do thou thrust 
these thoughts from the temple of thy heart, which have the badge 
of God's prohibition upon them. As you will beat back your dogs, 
yea, and leave your servants behind you, when yourselves are ad- 
mitted into the prince's presence, so also do by these. Yourselves 
may be welcome, but such followers may not. 

Sect. X. 2. Be sure thou sot upon this work with the greatest 
seriousness that possibly thou canst. Customariness here is a kill- 
ing sin. There is no trifling in holy things : God will be sancti- 
fied of all that draw near him. These spiritual, excellent, soul- 
raising duties arc the most dangerous, if we miscarry in them, of 
all. The more they advance the soul, being well used, the more 
they destroy it, being used unfaithfully : as the best meats corrupt- 
ed, are the worst. To help thee therefore to be serious when thou 
settest on this work ; First, Labour to have the deepest apprehen- 
sions of the presence of God, and of the incomprehensible greatness 
of the Majesty which thou approachest. If Rebecca veil her face 
at her appproach to Isaac ; if Esther must not draw near till the 
king hold forth the sceptre ; if dust and worms'-meat must have 
such respect, think, then, with what reverence thou shouldst ap- 
proach thy jMaker : think thou art addressing thyself to Him that 
made the worlds with the word of his mouth ; that upholds the 
earth as in the palm of his hand ; that keeps the sun, and moon, 
and heaven, in their courses ; that bounds the raging sea with the 
sands, Jer. v. 22, and saith, " Hitherto go, and no further :" thou 
art going about to converse with Him, before whom the earth will 
quake, and devils tremble ; before whose bar thou must shortly 
stand, and all the world with thee, to receive their doom. O think, 
I shall then have lively apprehensions of his majesty ; my drowsy 
spirits will then be awakened, and my stupid irreverence be laid 
aside : why should I not now be roused with a sense of his great- 
ness, and the dread of his name possess my soul ? 

Secondly, Labour to apprehend the greatness of the work which 
thou attemptest, and to be deeply sensible both of its weight and 
height, of its concernment and excellency. If thou wert pleading 
for thy life at the bar of a judge, thou wouldst be serious ; and yet 
that w^ere but a trifle to this : if thou wert engaged in such a work 
as David was against Goliath, whereon the kingdom's deliverance 
did depend, in itself considered, it were nothing to this. Suppose 
thou wert going to such a wrestling as Jacob's ; suppose thou wert 
going to see the sight which the three disciples saw in the mount; 
how seriously, how reverently wouldst thou both approach and be- 
hold ! If the sun do suffer any notable eclipse, how seriously do all 
run out to see it ! If some angel from heaven should but appoint 
to meet thee, at the same time and place of thy contemplations, 
how^ dreadfully, how apprehensively, wouldst thou go to meet him ! 
Why, consider then with what a spirit thou shouldst meet the 
Lord, and with what seriousness and dread thou shouldst daily 



570 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

converse with him : when Manoah had seen but an angel, he cries 
out, " We shall surely die, because we have seen God," Judg. 
xiii. 22. 

Consider also the blessed issue of the work : if it do succeed, it 
will be an admission of thee into the presence of God ; a beginning 
of thy eternal glory on earth ; a means to make thee live above the 
rate of other men, and admit thee into the next room to the angels 
themselves ; a means to make thee both live and die both joyfully 
and blessedly : so that the prize being so great, thy preparation 
should be answerable. There is none on earth that live such a life 
of joy and blessedness as those that are acquainted with this 
heavenly conversation. The joys of all other men are but like a 
child's play, a fool's laughter ; as a dream of health to the sick, or 
as a fresh pasture to a hungry beast. It is he that trades at heaven 
that is the only gainer, and he that neglecteth it that is the only 
loser ; and, therefore, how seriously should this work be done I 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OF CONSIDERATION, THE INSTRUMENT OF THIS WORK; AND 
WHAT FORCE IT HATH TO MOVE THE SOUL. 

Sect. I. Having showed thee how thou must set upon this work, 
I come now to direct thee in the work itself, and to show thee the 
way which thou must take to perform it. All this has been but- to 
set the instrument (thy heart) in tune, and now we are come to the 
music itself : all this hath been but to get thee an appetite ; it fol- 
lows now that thou approach unto the feast ; that thou sit down 
and take what is offered, and delight thy soul as with marrow and 
fatness. Whoever you are that are children of the kingdom, I 
have this message to you from the Lord ; " Behold, the dinner is 
prepared ; the oxen and failings are killed : come, for all things are 
now ready," Matt. xxii. 4; Luke xiv. 17. Heaven is before you ; 
Christ is before you ; the exceeding, eternal weight of glory is be- 
fore you ; come, therefore, and feed upon it. Do not make light of 
this invitation. Matt. xxii. 5, nor put off your own mercies with 
excuses, Luke xiv. 18; whatever thou art, rich or poor, though in 
alms-houses or hospitals, though in highways or hedges, my com- 
mission is, if possible, to compel you to come in : " And blessed is 
he that eateth bread in the kingdom of God," Luke xiv. 15. The 
manna lieth about your tents ; walk forth into the wilderness, 
gather it up, take it home, and feed upon it. So that the remain- 
ing work is only to direct you how to use your understandings for 
the warming of your affections, and to fire your hearts by the help 
of your heads ; and herein it will be necessary that I observe this 
method : First, To show you what instrument it is that you nmst 
w^ork by. Secondly, Why and how this way of working is like to 



Chap. VIII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .071 

succcecl; and attain it.s end. Thirdly, What powers of the soul 
should here he acted, and what are the particular affections to be 
excited, and what objective considerations are necessary thereto, 
and in what order you should proceed. Fourthly, By what acts 
you must advance to the height of the work. Fifthly, What ad- 
vantages you must take, and what helps you must use, for the 
facilitating your success. Sixthly, Ifi what particulars you must 
look narrowly to your hearts through the whole. And I will be 
the briefer in all, lest you shoidd lose my meaning in a crowd of 
words, or your thoughts be carried from the work itself, by an 
over-long and tedious explication of it. 

Sect. II. I. The great instrument that this work is done by, is 
ratiocination, reasoning the case with yourselves, discourse of mind, 
cogitation, or thinking ; or, if you will, call it consideration. I 
here suppose you to know the things to be considered, and there- 
fore shall wholly pass over that meditation of students which tends 
only to speculation, or knowing. They are known truths that I 
persuade you to consider, for the grossly ignorant that know not 
the doctrine of everlasting life, are for the present uncapable of 
this duty. 

Man's soul, as it receives and retains the ideas or shapes of 
things, so hath it a power to choose out any of these deposited 
ideas, and draw them forth, and act upon them again and again ; 
even as a sheep can fetch up his meat for rumination : or otherwise 
nothing would affect us but while the sense is receiving it, and so 
we should be somewhat below the brutes. This is the power that 
here you must use. To this choice of ideas or subjects for your 
cogitations, there must necessarily concur the act of the will, which 
indeed must go along in the whole work ; for this must be a volun- 
tary, not a forced cogitation. Some men do consider whether they 
will or no, and are not able to turn away thejr own thoughts : so 
will God make the wicked consider of their sins, when he shall set 
them all in order before them, Psal. 1. 21, 22; and so shall the 
damned consider of heaven, and of the excellency of Christ whom 
they once despised, and of the eternal joys which they have fool- 
ishly lost. But this forced consideration is not that I mean, but 
that which thou dost willingly and purposely choose : but though 
the will be here requisite, yet still consideration is the instrument 
of the work. 

Sect. III. 2. Next, let us see what force consideration hath for 
the moving the affections, and for the powerful imprinting of things 
in the heart. 

Why, First, Consideration doth, as it were, open the door be- 
tween the head and the heart : the understanding having received 
truths, lays them up in the memory ; now, consideration is the 
conveyer of them from thence to the affections. There are few 
men of so weak understanding or memory, but they know and can 
remember that which would strangely work upon them, and make 
great alterations in their spirits, if they were not locked up in their 
brain, and if they could but convey them down to their heart : now, 



572 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

this is the great work of consideration. Oh what rare men would 
they be, who have strong heads, and much learning and knowledge, 
if the obstructions between the head and the heart were but 
opened, and their affections did but correspond to their understand- 
ing ! Why, if they would but bestow as much time and pains in 
studying the goodness and the evil of things, as they bestow in 
studying the truth and falsehood of enunciations, it were the rea- 
diest way to obtain this. He is usually the best scholar, who hath 
the most quick, clear, and tenacious apprehension ; but he is 
usually the best Christian, who hath the deepest, piercing, and 
affecting apprehension. He is the best scholar who hath the 
readiest passage from the ear to the brain; but he is the best 
Christian who hath the readiest passage from the brain to the 
heart ; now, consideration is that on our parts that must open the 
passage, though the Spirit open as the principal cause : incon- 
siderate men are stupid and senseless. 

Sect. IV. Secondly, Matters of great weight, which do nearly 
concern us, are aptest to work most effectually upon the heart ; now, 
meditation draweth forth these working objects, and presents them 
to the affections in their worth and weight : the most delectable 
object doth not please him that sees it not ; nor doth the joy fullest 
news affect him that never hears it ; now, consideration presents 
before us those objects that were as absent, and brings them to the 
eye and the ear of the soul. Are not Christ, and glory, think you, 
affecting objects ? Would not they work wonders upon the soul, 
if they were but clearly discovered ; and strangely transport us, if 
our apprehensions were any whit answerable to their worth ? Why, 
by consideration it is that they are presented to us : this is the 
prospective glass of the Christian, by which he can see from earth 
to heaven. 

Sect. V. 3. As consideration draweth forth the weightiest ob- 
jects, so it presenteth them in the most affecting way, and presseth 
them home with enforcing arguments. Man is a rational creature, 
and apt to be moved in a reasoning way, especially when reasons 
are evident and strong : now, consideration is a reasoning the case 
with a man's own heart ; and what a multitude of reasons, both 
clear and weighty, are always at hand for to work upon the heart ! 
When a believer would reason his heart to this heavenly work, how 
many arguments do offer themselves ! From God, from the Re- 
deemer, from every one of the Divine attributes, from our former 
estate, from our present estate, from promises, from seals, from 
earnest, from the evil we now suffer, from the good we partake of, 
from hell, from heaven ; every thing doth offer itself to promote 
our joy. Now, meditation is the hand to draw forth all these : as 
when you are weighing a thing in the balance, you lay on a little 
more, and a little more, till it weigh down ; so if your affections do 
hang in a dull indifferency, why, due meditation will add reason 
after reason, till the scales do turn: or, as when you are buying any 
thing of necessity for your use, you bid a little more, and a little 
more, till at last you come to the seller's price ; so when medita- 



Chap. Vlll. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .073 

lion is persuading you to joy, it will first bring one reason, and then 
another, till it hav(; silenced all your distrust and sorrows, and your 
cause to rejoice lies plain before you. If another man's reasons 
will work so powerfully with us, though we are uncertain whether 
his heart do concur with his speeches, and whether hiM intention 
be to inform us or deceive us ; how much more should our own 
reasons work with us, when we are acquainted with the right in- 
tentions of our own hearts ! Nay, how much more rather should 
God's reasons work with us, which we are sure are neither fallacious 
in his intent, nor in themselves, seeing he did never yet deceive, 
nor was ever deceived! ^V hy, now, meditation is but the reading 
over and repeating God's reasons to our hearts, and so disputing 
with ourselves in his arguments and terms. And is not this then 
likely to be a prevailing way '{ What reasons doth the prodigal 
plead with himself, why he should return to his father's house ! 
And as many and strong have we to plead with our atfections, to 
persuade them to our Father's everlasting habitations; and by con- 
sideration it is that they must all be set a-work. 

Sect. VI. 4. Meditation puts reason in its authority and pre- 
eminence. It helpeth to deliver it from its captivity to the senses, 
and setteth it again upon the throne of the soul. When reason is 
silent, it is usually subject; for when it is asleep the senses do- 
mineer. Now, consideration awakeneth our reason from its sleep, 
till it rouse up itself, as Samson, and break the bonds of sensuality 
wherewith it is fettered ; and then, as a giant refreshed with wine, 
it bears down the delusions of the flesh before it. What strength 
can the lion put forth when he is asleep ? What is the king more 
than another man, when he is once deposed from his throne and 
authority ? When men have no better judge than the flesh, or 
when the joys of heaven go no further than their fantasies, no 
wonder if they w^ork but as common things. Sweet things to the 
eye, and beautiful things to the ear, will work no more than bitter 
and deformed ; every thing worketh in its own place, and every 
sense hath its proper object. Now, it is spiritual reason, excited 
by meditation, and not the fantasy or fleshly sense, which must 
savour and judge of these superior joys. Consideration exalteth the 
objects of faith, and disgraceth comparatively the objects of sense. 
The most inconsiderate men are the most sensual men. It is too 
easy and ordinary to sin against knowledge ; but against .sober, 
strong, continued consideration, men do more seldom oifend. 

Sect. VII. 5. Meditation also putteth reason into his strength. 
Reason is at the strongest when it is most in action. Now, medi- 
tation produceth reason into act. Before, it was a- standing water, 
which can move nothing else when itself moveth not ; but now it 
is as the speedy stream which violently bears down all before it. 
Before, it was as the still and silent air, but now it is as the power- 
ful motion of the wind, and overthrows the opposition of the flesh 
and the devil. Before, it was as the stones which lay still in the 
brook ; but now, when meditation doth set it to work, it is as the 
stone out of David's sling, which smites the Goliath of our unbelief 



574 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

in the forehead. As wicked men continue wicked, not because they 
have not reason in the principle, but because they bring it not into 
act and use ; so godly men are uncomfortable and sad, not because 
they have no causes to rejoice, nor because they have not reason to 
discern those causes, but because they let their reason and faith lie 
asleep, and do not labour to set them a-going, nor stir them up to 
action by this work of meditation. You know that our very dreams 
will deeply affect. What fears, what sorrows, what joy, will they 
stir up ! How much more, then, would serious meditation affect us ! 

Sect. VIII. 6. Meditation can continue this discursive employ- 
ment. That may be accomplished by a weaker motion continued, 
which will not by a stronger at the first attempt. A plaster that 
is never so effectual to cure, must yet have time to do its work, 
and not be taken off as soon as it is on. Now, meditation doth 
hold the plaster to the sore ; it holdeth reason and faith to their 
works, and bloweth the fire till it thoroughly burn. To run a few 
steps will not get a man heat, but walking an hour together may. 
So, though a sudden occasional thought of heaven will not raise our 
affections to any spiritual heat, yet meditation can continue our 
thoughts, and lengthen our walk till our hearts grow warm. 

And thus you see what force meditation or consideration hath 
for the effecting of this great elevation of the soul, whereto I have 
told you it must be the instrument. 



CHAPTER IX. 

WHAT AFFECTIONS MUST BE ACTED, AND BY WHAT CONSIDERA- 
TIONS AND OBJECTS, AND IN WHAT ORDER. 

Sect. I. Thirdly, To draw the heart yet nearer to the work. 
The third thing to be discovered to you is, what powers of the soul 
must here be acted ; what affections excited ; what considerations 
of their objects are necessary thereto ; and in what order we must 
proceed. I join all these together, because, though in themselves 
they are distinct things, yet, in the practice, they all concur to the 
same action. 

The matters of God which we have to think on, have their 
various qualifications, and are presented to the soul of man in divers 
relative and modal considerations. According to the several con- 
siderations of the objects, the soul itself is distinguished into its 
several faculties, powers, and capacities ; that as God hath given 
man five senses to partake of the five distinct excellences of the 
objects of sense, so he hath diversified the soul of man, either into 
faculties, powers, or ways of acting, answerable to the various 
qualifications and considerations of himself and the inferior objects 
of this soul. And as, if there be more sensible excellences in the 
creatures, yet they are unknown to us who have but these five 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVEUI.ASTINU KEST. 575 

senses to disceni them by ; so whatever other excellences are in 
God and our happiness, more than these faculties or powers of the 
soul can apprehend, must needs remain wholly unknown to us, till 
our souls have senses, as it were, suitable to those objects, even as 
it is knownJo a tree or a stone, what sound, and light, and sweetness 
are, or that there are any such things in the world at all. 

Now, these matters of God are primarily diversified to our con- 
sideration, under the distinction of true ancl good : accordingly, the 
primary distinction concerning the soul, is into the faculties of un- 
derstanding and will ; the former having truth for its object, and 
the latter goodness. This truth is sometimes known by evident 
demonstration, and so it is the object of that we call knowledge, 
which also admits of divers distinctions, according to several ways 
of demonstration, which I am loth here to puzzle you with. Some- 
times it is received from the testimony of others, which receiving 
we call belief. When any thing else would obscure it, or stands 
up in competition with it, then we weigh their several evidences, 
and accordingly discover and vindicate the truth ; and this we call 
judgment. Sometimes by the strength, the clearness, or the fre- 
quency of the understanding's apprehensions, this truth doth make 
a deeper impression, and so is longer retained ; which impression 
and retention we call memory. And as truth is thus variously pre- 
sented to the understanding, and received by it ; so also is the 
goodness of the object variously represented to the will, which doth 
accordingly put forth its various acts. When it appeareth only 
as good in itself, and not good for us, or suitable, it is not the object 
of the will at all ; but only this enunciation, " It is good," is passed 
upon it by the judgment, and withal it raiseth an admiration at its 
excellency. If it appear evil to us, then we nill it : but if it appear 
both good in itself, and to us, or suitable, then it provoketh the 
affection of love. If the good thus loved do appear as absent from 
us, then it exciteth the passion of desire. If the good so loved and 
desired do appear possible and feasible in the attaining, then it ex- 
citeth the passion of hope, which is a compound of defire and ex- 
pectation : when we look upon it as requiring our endeavour to 
attain it, and as it is to be had in a prescribed way, then it pro- 
vokes the passion of courage or boldness, and concludes in resolu- 
tion. Lastly, If this good be apprehended as present, then it pro- 
voketh to delight or joy. If the thing itself be present, the joy is 
greatest. If but the idea of it, either through the remainder or 
memory of the good that is past, or through the fore-apprehension 
of that which we expect, yet even this also exciteth our joy. And 
this joy is the perfection of all the rest of the affections, when it is 
raised on the full fruition of the good itself. 

Sect. II. So that by this time I suppose you see, both what are 
the objects that must move our affections, and what powers of the 
soul apprehend these objects. You see also, I doubt not, what 
affections you must excite, and in what order it is to be done : yet, 
for your better assistance, I will more fully direct you in the several 
particulars. 



576 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

1 . Then you must, by cogitation, go to the memory, which is the 
magazine or treasure of the understanding ; thence you must take 
forth those heavenly doctrines which you intend to make the sub- 
ject of your meditation : for the present purpose, you may look over 
any promise of eternal life in the gospel, any description of the glory 
of the saints, or the very articles of the resurrection of the body and 
the life everlasting. Some one sentence concerning those eternal 
joys, may afford you matter for many years' meditation ; yet it will 
be a point of wisdom here, to have always a stock of matter in our 
memory, that so, when we should use it, we may bring forth out of 
our treasury things new and old. For a good man hath a good 
treasury in his heart, from whence he bringeth forth good things, 
Luke vi. 45 ; and out of this abundance of his heart he should 
speak to himself as well as to others. Yea, if we took things in 
order, and observed some method in respect of the matter, and did 
meditate, first on one truth concerning eternity, and then another, 
it would not be amiss. And if any should be barren of matter 
through weakness of memory, they may have notes or books of this 
subject for their furtherance. 

Sect. III. 2. When you have fetched from your memory the 
matter of your meditation, your next work is to present it to your 
judgment. Open there the case as fully as thou canst, set forth the 
several ornaments of the crown, the several dignities belonging to 
the kingdom, as they are partly laid open in the beginning of this 
book. Let judgment deliberately view them over, and take as ex- 
act a survey as it can. Then put the question, and require a de- 
termination : Is there happiness in all this, or not ? Is not here 
enough to make me blessed ? Can he want any thing who fully 
possesseth God ? Is there any thing higher for a creature to attain ? 
Thus urge thy judgment to pass an upright sentence, and compel it 
to subscribe to the perfection of thy celestial happiness, and to 
leave this sentence as under its hand upon record. If thy senses 
should here begin to mutter, and to put in a word for fleshly plea- 
sure or profits, let judgment hear what each can say. Weigh the 
arguments of the world and flesh in one end, and the arguments for 
the pre-eminence of glory in the other end, and judge impartially 
which should be preferred. Try whether there be any comparison 
to be made ; which is more excellent, which is more manly, which 
is more satisfactory, and which more pure, which freeth most from 
misery, and advanceth us highest. And which dost thou think is 
of longer continuance ? Thus let deliberate judgment decide it, 
and let not flesh carry it by noise and by violence : and when the 
sentence is passed and recorded in thy heart, it will be ready at 
hand to be produced upon any occasion, and to silence the flesh in 
its next attempt, and to disgrace the world in its next competition. 

Thus exercise thy judgment in the contemplation of thy rest ; 
thus magnify and advance the Lord in thy heart, till a holy admir- 
ation hath possessed thy soul. 

Sect. IV, 3. But the great work, which you may either premise, 
or subjoin to this, as you please, is, to exercise thy belief of the 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 577 

truth of thy rost ; and that, hoth in rcspoct of the truth of the pro- 
mise, and also the truth of tliy own interest and tith\ As unbelief 
doth cause the languishing of all our graces, so faith would do much 
to revive and actuate them, if it were l)ut revived and actuated 
itself; especially our belief of the verity of the Scripture, I con- 
ceive as needful to be exercised and confirmed, as almost any point 
of faith. But of this I have spoken in the second part of this book, 
whither I refer thee for some confirming arguments. Though few 
complain of their not believing Scripture, yet I conceive it to be 
the commonest part of unbelief, and the very root of bitterness, 
which spoileth our graces. Perhaps thou hast not a positive belief 
of the contrary, nor dost not flatly think that the Scripture is not 
the word of God : that were to be a downright infidel indeed. And 
yet thou mayst have but little belief that Scripture is God's word ; 
and that both in regard of the habit and the act. It is one thing 
not to believe Scripture to be true, and another thing positively to 
believe it to be false. Faith may be idle, and suspend its exercise 
towards the truth, though it do not yet act against the truth. It 
may stand still, w^hen it goes not out of the way. It may be asleep, 
and do you little service, though it do not directly fight against 
you. Besides, a great deal of unbelief may consist with a small 
degree of faith. If we did soundly believe that there is such a 
glory, that within a few days our eyes shall behold it ; oh, what 
passions would it raise within us, were we thoroughly persuaded 
that every word in the Scripture concerning the unconceivable joys 
of the kingdom, and the unexpressible blessedness of the life to 
come, were the very w'ord of the living God, and should certainly 
be performed to the smallest tittle ! Oh, what astonishing appre- 
hensions of that life would it breed ! What amazing horror would 
seize upon our hearts, when we found ourselves strangers to the 
conditions of that life, and utterly ignorant of our portion therein ! 
What love, what longings, would it raise within us ! Oh, how it 
would actuate every affection ! How would it transport us with joy 
upon the least assurance of our title ! If I were as verily persuaded 
that I shall shortly see those great things of eternity promised in 
the word, as I am that this is a chair that I sit in, or that this is 
paper that I write on, would it not put another spirit within me ? 
Would it not make me forget and despise the world, and even forget 
to sleep, or to eat, and say, as Christ, " I have meat to eat that ye 
know not off John iv. 32. O sirs ! you little know what a tho- 
rough belief would work. Not that every one hath such affections 
who hath a true faith ; but thus would the acting and improvement 
of our faith advance us. 

Therefore let this be a chief part of thy business in meditation. 
Produce the strong arguments for the truth of Scripture ; plead 
them against thy unbelieving nature ; answer and silence all the 
cavils of infidelity ; read over the promises ; study all confirming 
providences ; call forth thine own recorded experiences ; remember 
the Scriptures already fulfilled both to the church and saints in the 
former ages, and eminently to both in this present age, and those 

2 p 



.578 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

that have heen fulfilled particularly to thee ; get ready the clearest 
and most convincing arguments, and keep them by thee, and fre- 
quently thus use them. Think it not enough that thou wast once 
convinced, though thou hast now forgot the arguments that did it. 
No ; nor that thou hast the arguments still in thy book, or in thy 
brain. This is not the acting of thy faith ; but present them to 
thy understanding in thy frequent meditations, and urge them home 
till they force belief. Actual convincing, when it is clear and fre- 
quent, will work those deep impressions on the heart, M'hich an old, 
neglected, forgotten conviction will not. Oh, if you would not think 
it enough that you have faith in the habit, and that you did once 
believe, but would be daily setting this first wheel a-going ; surely 
all the inferior wheels of the aifections would more easily move. 
Never expect to have love and joy move when the foregoing grace 
of faith stands still. 

And as you should thus act your assent to the promise, so also 
your acceptation, your adherence, your affiance, and your assurance. 
These are the four steps of application of the promise to ourselves. 
I have said somewhat among the helps to move you to get assurance, 
but that which I here aim at is, that you would daily exercise it. 
Set before your faith the freeness and the universality of the pro- 
mise. Consider of God's offer, and urging it upon all ; and that he 
hath excepted from the conditional covenant no man in the world ; 
nor will exclude any from heaven who will accept of his offer. Study 
also the gracious disposition of Christ, and his readiness to entertain 
and welcome all that will come. Study all the evidences of his love, 
which appeared in his sufferings, in his preaching the gospel, in his 
condescension to sinners, in his easy conditions, in his exceeding pa- 
tience, and in his urgent invitations. Do not all these discover his 
readiness to save? Did he ever yet manifest himself unwilling? Re- 
member also his faithfulness to perform his engagements. Study also 
the evidences of his love in thyself; look over the works of his grace in 
thy soul : if thou do not find the degree which thou desirest, yet deny 
not that degree which thou findest ; look after the sincerity more than 
the quantity. Remember what discoveries of thy state thou hast made 
formerly in the work of self-examination ; how oft God hath con- 
vinced thee of the sincerity of thy heart. Remember all the former 
testimonies of the Spirit, and all the sweet feelings of the favour 
of God, and all the prayers that he hath heard and granted, and all 
the rare preservations and deliverances, and all the progress of his 
Spirit in his workings on thy soul, and the disposals of providence, 
conducing to thy good ; the vouchsafing of means, the directing thee 
to them ; the directing of ministers to meet with thy state; the re- 
straint of those sins that thy nature was most prone to. And though 
one of these considered alone, may be no sure evidence of his 
special love, which I expect thou shouldst try by more infallible 
signs, yet lay them all together, and then think with thyself whether 
all these do not testify the good-will of the Lord concerning thy 
salvation, and may not well be pleaded against thine unbelief. And 
whether thou mayst not conclude with Samson's mother, when her 



CiiAP. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .Tii) 

husband thought thoy should surely die, " If the Lord were pleased 
to kill us, he would not have received an offering at our hands ; 
neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, 
as at this time, have told us such things as these," Judg. xiii. 
22, 23. 

Sect. V. 2. When thy meditation has thus proceeded about the 
truth of thy happiness, the next part of the work is to meditate of 
its goodness ; that when the judgment hath determined, and faith 
hath apprehended, it may then pass on to raise the affections. 

1. The first affection to be acted is love ; the o])ject of it, as I 
have told you, is goodness. Here, then, here. Christian, is the 
soul-reviving part of thy work : go to thy memory, thy judgment, 
and thy faith, and from them produce the excellences of thy rest ; 
take out a copy of the record of the Spirit in Scripture, and another 
of the sentence registered in thy spirit, whereby the transcendent 
glory of the saints is declared ; present these to thy affection of 
love ; open to it the cabinet that contains the pearl ; show it the 
promise, and that which it assureth. 'I'hou needest not look on 
heaven through a multiplying glass ; open but one casement, that 
love may look in ; give it but a glimpse of the back parts of God, 
and thou wilt find thyself presently in another world ; do but speak 
out, and love can hear ; do but reveal these things, and love can 
see. It is the brutish love of the world that is blind ; divine love 
is exceeding quicksightcd. Let thy faith, as it were, take thy heart 
by the hand, and show it the sumptuous buildings of thy eternal 
habitation, and the glorious ornaments of thy Father's house ; show 
it those mansions which Christ is preparing, and display before it 
the honours of the kingdom. Let faith lead thy heart into the 
presence of God, and draw as near as possibly thou canst, and say 
to it, Behold the Ancient of days ; the Lord Jehovah, whose name 
is, I AM. This is he who made the worlds with his word ; this is 
the Cause of all causes, the Spring of action, the Fountain of life, 
the First Principle of the creature's motions, who upholds the 
earth, who ruleth the nations, who disposeth of events, and sub- 
dueth his foes ; who governeth the depths of the great waters, and 
boundeth the rage of her swelling waves ; who ruleth the winds, 
and moveth the orbs, and causeth the sun to run its race, and the 
several planets to know their courses. This is he that loved thee 
from everlasting, that formed thee in the womb, and gave thee this 
soul ; who brought thee forth, and showed thee the light, and 
ranked thee with the chiefest of his earthly creatures ; who en- 
dued thee with thy understanding, and beautified thee with his 
gifts ; who maintaineth thee with life, and health, and comforts ; 
who gave thee thy preferments, and dignified thee with thy 
honours, and differenced thee from the most miserable and vilest 
of men. Here, O here, is an object, now, worthy thy love ; here 
shouldst thou even put out thy soul in love ; here thou mayst be 
sure thou canst not love too much. This is the Lord that hath 
blessed thee with his benefits ; that hath spread thy table in the 
sight of thine enemies, and caused thy cup to overflow, Psal. xxiii. 
2 p 2 



580 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

4, 5. This is he that angels and saints do praise, and the host of 
heaven must magnify for ever. 

Thus do thou expatiate in the praises of God, and open his ex- 
cellences to thine own heart, till thou feel the life begin to stir, 
and the fire in thy breast begin to kindle : as gazing upon the 
dusty beauty of flesh doth kindle the fire of carnal love ; so this 
gazing on the glory and goodness of the Lord will kindle this 
spiritual love in thy soul. Bruising will make the spices odorifer- 
ous, and rubbing the pomander will bring forth the sweetness. 
Act therefore thy soul upon this delightful object ; toss these cogi- 
tations frequently in thy heart, rul) over all thy affections with 
them, as you will do your cold hands till they begin to warm : 
what though thy heart be rock and flint, this often striking may 
bring forth the fire. But if yet thou feelest not thy love to work, 
lead thy heart further, and show it yet more : show it the Son of 
the living God, whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty 
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of peace, Isa. ix. 6 : 
show it the King of saints on the throne of his glory, who is the 
First and the Last, who is, and was, and is to come ; who liveth 
and was dead, and behold, he lives for evermore ; who hath made 
thy peace by the blood of his cross, and hath prepared thee, with 
himself, a habitation of peace : his oflace is to be the great peace- 
maker ; his kingdom is a kingdom of peace ; his gospel is the 
tidings of peace ; his voice to thee now is the voice of peace. Draw 
near and behold him : dost thou not hear his voice l Luke xxiv. 
36 — 39. He that called Thomas to come near, and to see the 
print of the nails, and to put his finger into his wounds, He it is 
that calls to thee. Come near and view the Lord thy Saviour, and 
be not faithless, but believing, John xx. 27. Peace be unto thee, 
fear not, it is I, John xx. 19 — 21. He that calleth. Behold me, 
behold me, to a rebellious people that calleth not on his name, Isa. 
lix. 1, doth call out to thee a believer to behold him : he that calls 
to them who pass by, to behold his sorrow in the day of his humili- 
ation. Lam. i. 12, doth call now to thee to behold his glory in the 
day of his exaltation : look well upon him ; dost thou not know 
him ? Why, it is He that brought thee up from the pit of hell : it 
is He that reversed the sentence of thy damnation ; that bore the 
curse which thou shouldst have borne, and restored thee to the 
blessing that thou hast forfeited and lost, and purchased the ad- 
vancement which thou must inherit for ever : and yet dost thou not 
know him ? Why, his hands were pierced, his head was pierced, 
his sides were pierced, his heart was pierced, with the sting of thy 
sins, that by these marks thou mightest always know him. Dost 
thou not remember when he found thee lying in thy blood, and took 
pity on thee, and dressed thy wounds, and brought thee home, and 
said unto thee, " Live ?" Ezek. xvi. 6 — 9 ; Luke x. 30, &c. Hast 
thou forgotten since he wounded himself to cure thy wounds, and 
let out his own blood to stop thy bleeding ? Is not the passage to 
his heart yet standing open ? If thou know him not by the face, 
the voice, the hands, if thou know him not by the tears and bloody 



Cii.\i>. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .081 

sweat, yet look nearer, thou niayst know him by the heart ; that 
hroken-hoalecl heart is his; that dead-revived heart is his; that 
soul-pitying, melting heart is his; doubtless, it can be none's but 
his. Love and compassion are its certain signatures ; this is He, 
even this is He, who would rather die than thou shouldst die, who 
chose thy life before his own, who pleads his blood before his 
Father, and makes continual intercession for thee. If he had not 
suifered, oh what luulst thou suffered! What hadst thou been, if 
he had not redeemed thee ! ^\'hilher hadst thou gone, if he had 
not recalled thee ! There was but a step between thee and hell, 
when he stepped in, and bore the stroke ; he slew the bear, and 
rescued the prey, he delivered thy soul from the roaring lion. 
And is not here yet fuel enough for love to feed on? Doth not 
this loadstone snatch thy heart unto it, and almost draw it forth 
of thy breast ? Canst thou read the history of love any further 
at once .'' Doth not thy throbbing heart here stop to ease itself? 
And dost thou not, as Joseph, seek for a place to weep in ? Or 
do not the tears of thy love bedew these lines ? Go on then, 
for the field of love is lai-ge, it will yield thee fresh contents for 
ever, and be thine eternal work to behold and love : thou needest 
not then want work for thy present nieditation. Hast thou for- 
gotten the time when thou wast weeping, and he wiped the tears 
from thine eyes ? when thou wast bleeding, and he wiped the 
blood from thy soul ? when pricking cares and fears did grieve thee, 
and he did refresh thee, and draw out the thorns ? Hast thou fox*- 
gotten when thy folly did wound thy soul, and^the venomous guilt 
did seize upon thy heart, when he sucked forth the mortal poison 
from thy soul, though therewith he drew it into his own ? I re- 
member it is written of good Melancthon, that, when his child was 
removed from him, it pierced his heart to remember, how he once 
sat weeping with the infant on his knee, and how lovingly it wiped 
away the tears from his father's eyes ; how then should it pierce 
thy heart to think how lovingly Christ hath wiped away thine ! 
Oh how oft hath he found thee sitting weeping, like Hagar, while 
thou gavest up thy state, thy friends, thy life, yea, thy soul for lost; 
and he opened to thee a well of consolation, and opened thine eyes 
also that thou mightest see it! Gen. xxi. 15 — 19. How oft hath 
he found thee in the posture of Elias, sitting down under the tree 
forlorn and solitary, and desiring rather to die than to live ; and he 
hath spread thee a table of relief from heaven, and sent thee away 
refreshed, and encouraged to his work \ I Kings xix. 9. How oft 
hath he found thee in the trouble of the servant of Elisha, crying 
out, " Alas ! what shall we do, for an host doth compass the city ?" 
2 Kings vi. 15 — 17 ; and he hath opened thine eyes to see more for 
thoe than against thee, both in regard of the enemies of thy soul 
and thy body. How oft hath he found thee in such a passion as 
Jonas, in thy peevish frenzy, weary of thy life ! and he hath not 
answered passion with passion, though he might, indeed, have done 
well to be angry, but hath mildly reasoned thee out of thy madness, 
and said, " Dost thou well to be angry, or to repine against me ?" 



582 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

How oft hath he set thee on watching and praying, on repenting 
and believing, and when he hath returned, hath found thee fast 
asleep, Matt. xiv. 37 ; Luke xxii. 45, 46 ; and yet he hath not 
taken thee at the worst, but instead of an angry aggravation of 
thy fault, he hath covered it over with the mantle of love, and 
prevented thy over-much sorrow with a gentle excuse, " The spirit 
is willing, but the flesh is weak !" Matt.*xxvi. 41. He might have 
done by thee as Epaminondas by his soldier, who, finding him 
asleep upon the watch, ran him through with his sword, and said, 
" Dead I found thee, and dead I leave thee : " but he rather chose 
to awake thee more gently, that his tenderness might admonish 
thee, and keep thee watching. How oft hath he been traduced in 
his cause, or name, and thou hast like Peter denied him, (at least 
by thy silence,) whilst he hath stood in sight ! yet all the revenge 
he hath taken, hath been a heart-melting look, and a silent re- 
membering thee of thy fault by his countenance, Luke xxii. 61. 
How oft hath law and conscience haled thee before him, as the 
Pharisees did the adulterous woman, and laid thy most heinous 
crimes to thy charge ! and when thou hast expected to hear the 
sentence of death, he hath shamed away thy accusers, and put 
them to silence, and taken on him he did not hear thy indictment, 
and said to thee, " Neither do I accuse thee ; go thy way, and sin 
no more." 

And art thou not yet transported and ravished with love ? Can 
thy heart be cool when thou thinkest of this ? or can it hold when 
thou rememberesk those boundless compassions ? Rememberest 
thou not the time when he met thee in thy duties ; when he smiled 
upon thee, and spake comfortably to thee ? when thou didst sit 
down under his shadow with great delight, and when his fruit was 
sweet to thy taste ? when he brought thee to his banqueting-house, 
and his banner over thee was love ? when his left hand was under 
thy head, and with his right hand he did embrace thee ? And dost 
thou not yet cry out, " Stay me, comfort me, for I am sick of 
love ?" Cant. ii. 3 — 5. Thus, reader, I would have thee deal with 
thy heart ; thus hold forth the goodness of Christ to thy affections. 
Plead thus the case with thy frozen soul, till thou say as David in 
another case, " My heart was hot within me ; while I was musing 
the fire burned," Psal. xxxix. 3. If these forementioned arguments 
will not rouse up thy love, thou hast more, enough of this nature at 
hand. Thou hast all Christ's personal excellences to study ; thou 
hast all his particular mercies to thyself, both special and common ; 
thou hast all his sweet and near relations to thee, and thou hast 
the happiness of thy perpetual abode with him hereafter : all these 
do offer themselves to thy meditation, with all their several branches 
and adjuncts. Only follow them close to thy heart, ply the work, 
and let it not cool. Deal with thy heart as Christ did with Peter 
when he asked thrice over, " Lovest thou me ? " till he was grieved, 
and answers, " Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," John xxi. 
15 — 17. So say to thy heart, Lovest thou thy Lord? and ask it 
the second time, and urge it the third time;, Lovest thou thy Lord ? 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 583 

till thou grieve it, and shame it out of its stupidity, and it can truly 
say. Thou knowest that 1 love him. 

And thus I have showed you how to excite the affection of love. 

Sect. VI. 2. The next grace or affection to be excited, is desire. 
The object of it is goodness, considered as absent, or not yet attained. 
This being so necessary an attendant of love, and being excited 
much by the same forementioned objective considerations, I suppose 
you need the less direction to be here added, and therefore 1 shall 
touch but briefly on this ; if love be hot, I warrant your desire will 
not be cold. 

When thou hast thus viewed the goodness of the Lord, and con- 
sidered of the pleasures that are at his right hand, then proceed 
on with thy meditation thus : think with thyself. Where have I 
been ; what have I seen ? Oh the incomprehensible, astonishing 
glory ! Oh the rare, transcendent beauty ! O blessed souls that now 
enjoy it ; that see a thousand times more clearly what I have seen 
but darkly at this distance, and scarce discerned through the inter- 
posing clouds ! What a difference is there betwixt my state and 
theirs ! I am sighing, and they are singing : I am sinning, and they 
are pleasing God : I have an ulcerated, cancerous soul, like the 
^.oathsome bodies of Job or Lazarus, a spectacle of pity to those 
that behold me ; but they are perfect and without blemish : I am 
here entangled in the love of the world, when they are taken up 
with the love of God : I live indeed amongst the means of grace, 
and I possess the fellowship of my fellow believers ; but I have 
none of their immediate views of God, nor any of that fellowship 
that they possess. They have none of my cares and fears ; they 
weep not in secret ; they languish not in sorrows ; these tears are 
wiped away from their eyes. O happy, a thousand times happy 
souls ! Alas ! that I must dwell in dirty flesh, when my brethren 
and companions do dwell with God ! Alas ! that I am lapt in earth, 
and tied as a mountain down to this inferior world, when they are 
got above the sun, and have laid aside their lumpish bodies ! Alas ! 
that I must lie, and pray and wait, and wait and pray, as if my 
heart were in my knees ; when they do nothing but love and praise, 
and joy and enjoy, as if their hearts were got into the very breast of 
Christ, and were closely conjoined to his own heart ! How far out 
of sight and reach and hearing of their high enjoyments do I here 
live, when they feel them, and feed and live upon them ! What 
strange thoughts have I of God ! what strange conceivings ! what 
strange affections ! I am fain to superscribe my best services, as 
the blind Athenians, to the unknown God, when they are as well 
acquainted with him as men that live continually in his house; and 
as familiar in their holy praises, as if they were all one with him ! 
What a little of that God, that Christ, that Spirit, that life, that 
love, that joy, have I ! And how soon doth it depart and leave me 
in sadder darkness ! Now and then a spark doth fall upon my heart, 
and while I gaze upon it, it straight goes out ; or rather, my cold, 
resisting heart doth quench it : but they have their light in his 
light, and live continually at the spring of joys. Here are we vex- 



584 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

ing each other with quarrels, and troubling our peace with discon- 
tents, when they are one in heart and voice, and daily sound forth 
their hallelujahs to God with full delightful harmony and consent. 
Oh what a feast hath my faith beheld ; and oh what a famine is 
yet in my spirit ! I have seen a glimpse into the court of God, but, 
alas ! I stand but as a beggar at the doors, when the souls of my 
companions are admitted in. O blessed souls ! I may not, I dare 
not envy your happiness : I rather rejoice in my brethren's pros- 
perity, and am glad to think of the day when I shall be admitted 
into your fellowship ; but I cannot but look upon you as a child doth 
on his brother, who sits in the mother's lap while himself stands 
by, and wish that I were so happy as to be in your place ; not to 
displace you, but to rest there M'ith you. Why must I stay, and 
groan, and weep, and wait ? My Lord is gone, he hath left this 
earth, and is entered into his glory. My brethren are gone ; my 
friends are there ; my house, my hope, my all is there ! And must 
I stay behind to sojourn here ? What precious saints have left this 
earth ! of whom I am ready to say as Amerbachius, when he heard 
of the death of Zuingerus, Pi get me vivere post tan turn virum, ciijus 
magna fuit doctrina, sed exigua si cum pietate conferatur ; It is 
irksome to me to live after such a man whose learning was so 
great, and yet compared with his godliness, very small. If the 
saints were all here, if Christ were here, then it were no grief for 
me to stay ; if the Bridegroom were present, who would mourn ? 
But when my soul is so far distant from my God, wonder not what 
aileth me if I now complain ; an ignorant Micah will do so for his 
idol, and shall not then my soul clo so for God ? Judg. xviii. 14. 
And yet if I had no hope of enjoying, I would go and hide myself 
in the deserts, and lie and howl in some obscure wilderness, and 
spend my days in fruitless wishes. But seeing it is the promised 
land of my rest, and the state that I must be advanced to myself, 
and my soul draws near, and is almost at it, I will love and long ; 
I will look and desire ; I will breathe out blessed Calvin's motto, 
Usquequo, Domine ! How long, Lord, how long ! how long, Lord, 
holy and true, wilt thou suffer this soul to pant and groan ? and 
wilt not open and let him in, who waits and longs to be with thee ? 

Thus, Christian reader, let thy thoughts aspire : thus whet the 
desires of thy soul by these meditations ; till thy soul long, as 
David's for the waters of Bethlehem, and say, Olvthat one would 
give me to drink of the wells of salvation ! 2 Sam. xxiii. 15 ; and 
till thou canst say as he, " I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord," 
Psal. cxix. 174. And as the mother and brethren of Christ, when 
they could not come at him because of the press, sent to him, say- 
ing, " Thy mother and brethren stand without, desiring to see 
thee;" send thou up the same message; tell him thou standest 
here without desiring to see him ; he will own thee even in these 
near relations ; for he hath said, they that hear his word, and do it, 
are his mother and his brethren, Luke viii. 20, 21. And thus I 
have directed you in the acting of your desire after your rest. 

Sect. VII. 3. The next affection to be acted is hope. This is of 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 585 

singular use to the soul. It helpeth exceedingly to support it in 
sufferings ; it encouragoth to adventure upon the greatest difllcul- 
ties ; it lirndy estahlisheth it in the most shaking trials ; and it 
mightily enlivens the soul in duties ; and is the very spring that 
sets all the wheels a-going : who would preach, if it were not in 
hope to prevail with poor sinners for their conversion and confirm- 
ation { who woulTi pray, but for his hope to prevail with God .' who 
would believe, or obey, or strive, or suffer, or do any thing for 
heaven, if it were not for the hope that he hath to obtain it .'' Would 
the mariner sail, and the merchant adventure, if they had not hope 
of safety and success? \\'ould the husbandman plough, and sow, 
and take pains, if he had not hope of increase at harvest f Would 
the soldier fight, if he hoped not for victory ? Sure no man doth 
adventure upon known impossibilities. Therefore is it that they 
who pray merely from custom, or merely from conscience, consider- 
ing it as a duty only, but looking for no great matters from God by 
their prayers, are generally formal and heartless therein ; whereas 
the Christian that hath observed the wonderful success of prayer, 
and as verily looks for benefit by it, and thriving to his soul in the 
use of it, as he looks for benefit by his labours, and thriving to his 
body in the use of his food, how faithfully doth he follow it, and 
how cheerfully go through it ! Oh how willingly do we ministers 
study ; how cheerfully do we preach ; what life doth it put into our 
instructions and exhortations, when we have but hope that our 
labour will succeed ! When we discern a people attend to the 
word, and regard the message, and hear them inquire what they 
shall do, as men that are willing to be ruled by God, and as men 
that would fain have their souls to be saved ; you Avould not think 
how it helpeth us, both for invention and expression ! Oh ! who 
can choose but pray heartily for, and preach heartily to, such a 
people ? As the sucking of the young one doth draw forth the 
milk, so will the people's desires and obedience draw forth the 
word : so that a dull people make dull preachers, and a lively 
people make a lively preacher. So great a force hath hope in all 
our duties. As hope of speeding increaseth, so doth diligence in 
seeking increase ; besides the great conducenient of it to our joy. 
Even the false hope of the wicked doth much support, and main- 
tain a kind of comfort answerable to their hope ; though, it is true, 
their hope and joy will both die with them : how much more will 
the saints' hopes refresh and support them ! All this I have said, 
to show you the excellency and necessity of this grace, and so to 
provoke you to the more constant acting of it. If your hope dieth, 
your duties die, your endeavours die, your joys die, and your souls 
die. And if your hope be not acted, but lie asleep, it is next to 
dead, both in likeness and preparation. 

Therefore, Christian reader, when thou art winding up thy affec- 
tions to heaven, do not forget to give one lift at thy hope ; remem- 
ber to wind up this peg also. The object of hope hath four 
qualifications ; First, It must be good ; Secondly, Future ; Thirdly, 
Difficult ; Fourthly, Yet possible. For the goodness of thy rest, 



586 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

there is somewhat said before^ which thou mayst transfer hither as 
thou findest it useful ; so also of the difficulty and futurity. Let 
faith then show thee the truth of the promise, and judgment the 
goodness of the thing promised ; and what then is wanting for the 
raising of thy hope ? Show thy soul, from the word, and from the 
mercies, and from the nature of God, what possibility, yea, what 
probability, yea, what certainty thou hast of possessing the crown. 
Think thus, and reason thus, with thine own heart : Why should I 
not confidently and comfortably hope, when my soul is in the hands 
of so compassionate a Saviour ; and when the kingdom is at the 
disposal of so bounteous a God ? Did he ever manifest any back- 
wardness to my good, or discover the least inclination to my ruin ? 
hath he not sworn the contrary to me in his word, that he delights 
not in the death of him that dieth, but rather that he should re- 
pent and live ? Ezek. xviii. 32 ; xxxiii. 11. Have not all his deal- 
ings with me witnessed the same ? did he not mind me of my 
danger, when I never feared it ? and why was this, if he would not 
have me to escape it ? Did he not mind me of my happiness, when 
I had no thoughts of it ? and w^hy was this, but that he would have 
me to enjoy it ? How oft hath he drawn me to himself, and his 
Christ, when I have drawn backward, and would have broken from 
him ! what restless importunity hath he used in his suit ! how hath 
he followed me from place to place ; and his Spirit incessantly so- 
licited my heart, with winning suggestions and persuasions for my 
good ! And would he have done all this, if he had been willing 
that I should perish ? If my soul were in the hands of my mortal 
foes, then, indeed, there were small hopes of my salvation ; yea, if 
it were wholly in my own hands, my flesh and my folly would be- 
tray it to damnation. But have I as much cause to distrust God, 
as to distrust my foes, or to distrust myself? sure I have not. 
Have I not a sure promise to build and rest on, and the truth of 
God engaged to fulfil it ? would I not hope, if an honest man had 
made me a promise of any thing in his power ; and shall I not 
hope, when I have the covenant and the oath of God ? It is true, 
the glory is out of sight ; we have not beheld the mansions of the 
saints : who hath ascended up to discover it, and descended to tell 
us what he had seen ? Why, but the word is near me : have I not 
Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles ? is not the pro- 
mise of God more certain than our sight ? It is not by sight, but 
by hope, that we must be saved ; and hope that is seen is not hope ; 
for if we see it, why do we yet hope for it ? " But if we hope for 
what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it," Rom. viii. 
24, 25. I have been ashamed of ray hope in the arm of flesh, but 
hope in the promise of God maketh not ashamed, Rom. v. 5. I 
will say, therefore, in my greatest sufferings, with the church, 
" The Lord is my portion, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord 
is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him : it 
is good that I both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the 
Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. I 
will sit alone and keep silence, because I have borne it upon me. 



Cn.\r. 1\. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. ^y7 

I will put my mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. For 
the Lord will not cast olT for ever; but though he cause grief, yet 
will he have compassion according to the nmltitudo of his mercies," 
Lam. iii. 24, ice. Though I languish and die, yet will I hope ; for 
he hath said, " The righteous hath hope in his death," Prov. xiv. 
32. Though I must lie down in dust and darkness, yet there " my 
flesh shall rest in hope," Psal. xvi. 9. And when my flesh hath 
nothing in which it may rejoice, yet will I keep " the rejoicing of 
hope firm to the end," Heb. iii. 0. For he hath said, " The hope 
of the righteous shall be gladness," Prov. x. 28, Indeed, if I had 
lived still under the covenant of works, and been put myself to the 
satisfying of that justice, then there had been no hope ; but Christ 
hath taken down these impossibilities, and hath brought in a bet- 
ter hope, by which we may now draw nigh to God, Heb, vii, 19, 
Or, if I had to do with a feeble creature, there were small hope, for 
how could he raise this body from the dust, and lift me up above 
the sun .' But what is it to the Almighty power, who made the 
heavens and earth of nothing ? cannot the same power that raised 
Christ, raise me ; and that hath glorified the Head, also glorify 
the members ? Doubtless, by the blood of Christ's covenant will 
God send forth his prisoners from the pit wherein is no water ; 
therefore will I turn to this strong holcl, as a prisoner of hope, 
Zech. ix. 11, 12. 

And thus you see how meditation may excite your hope. 
Sect. VHI. 4. The next affection to be acted is courage, or bold- 
ness, which leadeth to resolution, and concludeth in action. When 
you have thus mounted your love, and desire, and hope, go on, and 
think further thus with yourselves : And will God indeed dwell 
with men, and is there such a glory within the reach of hope ! 
Oh ! why do I not then lay hold upon it ? Where is the cheerful 
vigour of my spirit ? Why do I not gird up the loins of my mind, 
and play the man for such a prize ? Why do I not run with speed 
the race before me, and set upon mine enemies on every side, and 
valiantly break through all resistance ? Why do I not take this 
kingdom by force, and my fervent soul catch at the place ? Do I 
yet sit still, and heaven before me ? 1 Tim. vi. 12, 19 ; 1 Pet. i, 
13; Heb. xii. 1 ; 1 Cor. ix. 24; Matt. xi. 12, If my beast do but 
see his provender, if my greedy senses perceive but their delightful 
objects, I have much ado to stave them off"; and should not my soul 
be as eager for such a blessed rest ? Why, then, do I not undaunt- 
edly fall to work ? What should stop me, or what should dismay 
me ? Is God with me or against me in the work .'' Will Christ 
stand by me, or will he not ? If it were a way of sin that leads to 
death, then I might expect that God should resist me, and stand 
in my way with the drawn sword of his displeasure ; or at least 
overtake me to my grief at last. But is he against the obeying of 
his own commands ? Is perfect good against any thing but evil ? 
Doth he bid me seek, and will he not assist me in it .' Doth he set 
me a-work, and urge me to it, and will he after all be against me 
in it ! It cannot be. And if he be for me, who can be against 



588 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

me? Rom. viii. 31. In the work (rf sin all things almost are ready 
to help us, and God only, and his servants, against us ; and how ill 
doth that work prosper in our hands ! But in my course to heaven, 
almost all things are against me ; but God is for me ; and how hap- 
pily still doth the work succeed ! Do I set upon this work in my 
own strength, or rather in the strength of Christ my Lord ; and 
cannot I do all things through him that strengtheneth me ? Was 
he ever foiled or subdued by an enemy ? He hath been assaulted 
indeed, but was he ever conquered ? Can they take the sheep till 
they have overcome the shepherd ? Why then doth my flesh lay 
open to me the difficulties, and urge me so much with the greatness 
and troubles of the work ? It is Christ that must answer all these 
objections ; and what are the difficulties that can stay his power ? 
Is any thing too hard for the omnipotent God ? May not Peter 
boldly walk on the sea, if Christ do but give the word of command; 
and if he begin to sink, is it from the weakness of Christ, or the 
smallness of his faith ? The water, indeed, is but a sinking ground 
to tread on ; but if Christ be by, and countenance us in it, if he be 
ready to reach us his hand, who would draw back for fear of dan- 
ger ? Is not sea and land alike to him ? Shall I be driven from 
my God, and from my everlasting rest, as the silly birds are frighted 
from their food with a man of clouts, or a loud noise, when I know 
before there is no danger in it ? How do I see men daily in these 
wars adventure upon armies, and forts, and cannons, and cast them- 
selves upon the instruments of death ; and have not I as fair a prize 
before me, and as much encouragement to adventure as they ? 
What do I venture ? My life at most ; and in these prosperous 
times there is not one of many that ventures that. What do I 
venture on ? Are they not unarmed foes ? A great hazard, indeed, 
to venture on the hard thoughts of the world; or on the scorns and 
slanders of a wicked tongue ! Sure these serpents' teeth are out ; 
these vipers are easily shaken into the fire ; these adders have no 
stings ; these thorns have lost their prickles. As all things below 
are silly comforters, so are they silly, toothless enemies ; bugbears 
to frighten fools and children, rather than powerful, dreadful foes. 
Do I not well deserve to be turned into hell, if the scorns and 
threats of blinded men, if the fear of silly, rotten earth, can drive 
me thither ? Do I not well deserve to be shut out of heaven, if I 
will be frighted from it with the tongues of sinners ? Surely my 
own voice must needs condemn me, and my own hand subscribe 
the sentence, and common reason would say that my damnation 
were just. What if it were father, or mother, or husband, or wife, 
or the nearest friend that I have in the world, if they may be called 
friends that would draw me to damnation, should I not run over all 
that would keep me from Christ ? Will their friendship countervail 
the enmity of God, or be any comfort to my condemned soul ? 
Shall I be yielding and pliable to the desires of men, and only 
harden myself against the Lord ? Let men, let angels beseech me 
upon their knees, I will slight their tears, I will scorn to stop my 
course to behold them, I will shut mine ears against their cries ; let 



Chai-. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .580 

them flatter, or let them frown, lot them draw forth tongues and 
swords against mo, I am resolved to break througli in the might of 
Christ, and to look upon tUem all as naked dust. If they would 
entice me with preferment, with the kingdoms of the world, I will 
no more regard them than the dung of the earth. O blessed rest ! 
O most invaluable, glorious state ! Who would sell thee for dreams 
and shadows i ^^'ho would be enticed or affrighted from thee ? 
"Who would not strive, and fight, and watch, and run, and that with 
violence, even to the last breath, so he might but have hope at last 
to obtain thee ! Surely, none but those that know thee not, and 
believe not thy glory. Thus you see with what kind of meditations 
you may excite your courage, and raise your resolutions. 

Sect. IX. 5. The last affection to be acted is joy. This is the 
end of all the rest ; love, desire, hope, and courage, do all tend to 
the raising of our joy. This is so desirable to every man by nature, 
and is so essentially necessary to the constituting of his happiness, 
that I hope I need not say much to persuade you to any thing that 
would make your life delightful. Supposing you, therefore, already 
convinced, that the pleasures of the flesh are brutish and perishing, 
and that your solid and lasting joy must be from heaven ; instead 
of persuading, I shall proceed in directing. 

Well, then, by this time, if thou hast managed well the former 
work, thou art got within the ken of thy rest ; thou believest the 
truth of it ; thou art convinced of the excellency of it ; thou art 
fallen in love with it; thou longest after it; thou hopest for it ; 
and thou art resolved courageously to venture for the obtaining it : 
but is here any work for joy in this ? We delight in the good 
which we do possess. It is present good that is the object of joy ; 
but thou wilt say, Alas ! I am yet without it ! Well, but yet think 
a little further with thyself. Though the real presence do afford 
the choicest joy, yet the presence of its imperfect idea, or image in 
thy understanding, may afford me a great deal of true delight. Is 
it nothing to have a deed of gift from God ? Are his infallible 
promises no ground of joy .' Is it nothing to live in daily expecta- 
tion of entering into the kingdom ? Is not my assurance of being 
glorified one of these days a sufKcient ground for inexpressible joy .' 
Is it no delight to the heir of a kingdom to think of what he must 
hereafter possess, though at present he little differ from a servant ? 
Gal. iv. 1. Am I not commanded to rejoice in hope of the glory 
of God? Rom. V. 2; xii. 12. 

Here, then, reader, take thy heart once again, as it were, by the 
hand ; bring it to the top of the highest mount ; if it be possible, 
to some atlas above the clouds. Show it the kingdom of Christ, 
and the glory of it. Say to it, All this will thy Lord bestow upon 
thee, who hast believed in him, and been a worshipper of him. It 
is the Father's good pleasure to give thee this kingdom. Seest 
thou this astonishing glory above thee ? Why, all this is thy own 
inheritance ; this crown is thine ; these pleasures are thine ; this 
company, this beauteous place is thine ; all things are thine, be- 



590' THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

cause thou art Christ's, and Christ is thine ; when thou wast mar- 
ried to him, thou hadst all this with him. 

Thus, take thy heart into the land of promise, show it the 
pleasant hills and fruitful valleys ; show it the clusters of grapes 
which thou hast gathered ; and by those convince it that it is a 
blessed land, flowing with better than milk and honey : enter the 
gates of the holy city, walk through the streets of tllfe new Jerusa- 
lem, walk about Sion, go round about her, tell the towers thereof, 
mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that thou mayst tell 
it to thy soul, Psal. xlviii. 12, 13. Hath it not the glory of God, 
and is not her light like to a stone most precious ? See the twelve 
foundations of her walls, and the names of the twelve apostles of 
the Lamb therein. The building of the walls of it are of jasper, 
and the city of pure gold, as clear as glass. The foundation is gar- 
nished with precious stones, and the twelve gates are twelve pearls. 
Every several gate is of one pearl, and the street of the city is pure 
gold, as it were transparent glass; there is no temple in it, for the 
Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it. It hath 
no need of sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God doth 
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of 
them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. These sayings 
are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets hath 
sent his angels and his own Son, to show unto his servants the 
things that must shortly be done, Rev. xxi. 11 — 13, &c. to the end, 
and xxii. 6. What sayest thou now to all this ? This is thy rest, 
O my soul, and this must be the place of thy everlasting habitation. 
" Let all the sons of Sion then rejoice, and the daughters of Jeru- 
salem be glad : for great is the Lord, and greatly is he praised in 
the city of our God : beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole 
earth, is mount Sion : God is known in her palaces for a refuge," 
Psal. xlviii. II, 1—3. 

Yet proceed on : Anima qucs amat ascendit, &c. The soul, saith 
Austin, that loves, ascends frequently, and runs familiarly through 
the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem, visiting the patriarchs and 
prophets, saluting the apostles, admiring the armies of martyrs and 
confessors, &c. So do thou ; lead on thy heart as from street to 
street, bringing it into the palace of the great King ; lead it, as it 
were, from chamber to chamber ; say to it. Here must I lodge, 
here must I live, here must I praise, here must I love, and be be- 
loved ; I must shortly be one of this heavenly choir ; I shall then 
be better skilled in the music. Among this blessed company 
must I take my place. My voice must join to make up the melody. 
My tears will then be wiped away, my groans turned to another 
tune. My cottage of clay will be changed to this palace, and my 
prison rags to these splendid robes. My sordid, nasty, stinking 
flesh shall be put off", and such a sun-like spiritual body put on. 
For the former things are done away. " Glorious things are 
spoken of thee, O city of God," Psal. Ixxxvii. 3. There it is that 
trouble and lamentation ceaseth, and the voice of sorrow is not 



Chap. IX. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .591 

heard. Oh ! when I look upon this glorious place, what a dunghill 
and dungeon niethinks is earth. Oh ! what a difference hetwixt a 
man feeble, pained, groaning, dying, rotting in the grave, and one 
of these triumphant, blessed, shining saints ! Here shall 1 drink 
of the river of pleasure, " the streams whereof make glad the city 
of our God." " For the Lord will create a new Jerusalem and a 
new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into 
mind. We shall be glad and rejoice for ever in that which he 
creates : for he will create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a 
joy : and he will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in his people, and 
the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice 
of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor 
an old man that hath not filled his days," Isa. Ixv. 17 — 20. Must 
Israel, on earth, under the bondage of the law, serve the Lord with 
joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all 
things which they possess ? sure, then, I shall serve him with joy- 
fulness and gladness, who shall have another kind of service, and of 
abundance in glory, Deut. xxviii. 47. Did the saints take joyfully 
the spoiling of their goods ? Heb. xi. 34 ; and shall not I take joy- 
fully the receiving of my good, and such a full reparation of all my 
losses ? Was it such a remarkable, celebrated day, when the Jews 
rested from their enemies, because it was turned to them from sor- 
row to joy, and from mourning into a good day ? Esth. ix. 22. 
What a day, then, will that be to my soul, whose rest and change 
will be so much greater ! When the wise men saw but the star of 
Christ, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, Matt. ii. 10; but I 
shall shortly see the Star of Jacob, even himself who is the bright 
and morning Star, Numb. xxiv. 17 ; Rev. xxii. 16. If they re- 
turned from the sepulchre with great joy, when they had but heard 
that he was risen from the dead. Matt, xxviii. 8; what joy, then, 
will it be to me, when I shall see him risen and reigning in his 
glory, and myself raised to a blessed communion with him ! Then 
shall we have beauty for ashes indeed, and the oilof joy for mourn- 
ing, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, Isa. Ixi. 
3 ; when he hath made Sion an eternal excellency, a joy of many 
generations, Isa. Ix. 15. 

Why do I not, then, arise from the dust, and lay aside my sad 
complaints, and cease my doleful, mourning note ? Why do I not 
trample down vain delights, and feed upon the foreseen delights of 
glory ? ^^ by is not my life a continual joy, and the savour of hea- 
ven perpetually upon my spirit ? And thus, reader, I have directed 
thee in acting thy joy. 

Sect. X. Here also, when thou findest cause, thou hast a singular 
good advantage from thy meditations of heaven, for the acting of 
the contrary and more mixed passions : as, 

1 . Of thy hatred and detestation of sin which would deprive thy 
soul of these immortal joys. 

2. Of thy godly and filial fear, lest thou shouldst either abuse or 
hazard this mercy. 

3. Of thy necessary grief, for such thy foolish abuse and hazard. 



592 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

4. Of thy godly shame, which should cover thy face for the fore- 
mentioned folly. 

5. Of thy unfeigned repentance for what thou hast done against 
thy joys. 

G. Of thy holy anger or indignation against thyself for "such mis- 
carriage. 

7. Of thy zeal and jealousy over thy heart, lest thou shouldst 
again he drawn to the like iniquity. 

8. And of thy pity toward those who are ignorantly walking in 
the contrary course, and in apparent danger of losing all this. 

But I will confine myself to the former chief affections, and not 
meddle with these, lest I be too prolix, but leave them to thy own 
spiritual prudence. 

I v/ould here also have thee to understand that I do not place any 
flat necessity in thy acting of all the forementioned affections in this 
order at one time, or in one duty. Perhaps thou mayst sometimes 
feel some one of thy affections more flat than the rest, and so to 
have more need of exciting ; or thou mayst find one stirring more 
than the rest, and so think it more seasonable to help it forward ; 
or, if thy time be short, thou mayst work upon one affection one 
day, and upon another the next, as thou findest cause. All this I 
leave still to thy own prudence. 

And so I have done with the third part of the direction, viz. what 
powers of the soul are here to be acted, what affections excited, by 
what objective considerations, and in what order. 



CHAPTER X. 

BY WHAT ACTINGS OF THE SOUL TO PROCEED IN THIS WORK OF 
HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 

Fourthly, The fourth part of this directory is, to show you how 
and by what acts you should advance on to the height of this work. 

Sect. I. The first and main instrument of this work is, that co- 
gitation, or consideration, which I before have opened, and which is 
to go along with us through the whole. But because mere cogita- 
tion, if it be not pressed home, will not so pierce and affect the 
heart ; therefore we must here proceed to a second step, which is 
called soliloquy, which is nothing but a pleading the case with our 
own souls. As in preaching to others, the bare propounding and 
opening of truths and duties, doth seldom find that success as the 
lively application ; so it is also in meditating and propounding truths 
to ourselves. The moving, pathetical pleadings with a sinner, will 
make him deeply affected with a common truth, which before, 
though he knew it, yet it never stirred him. What heart-meltings 
do we see under powerful application, when the naked explication 
did little move them ! If any where there be a tender-hearted. 



Chai'. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .003 

aftVctionate poople, it is likoly under such a moving, close-applying 
ministry. W hy, tluis must thou do in thy meditation to quicken 
thine own heart : enter into a serious dehate with it ; plead with it 
in the most moving and allecting language ; urge it with the most 
weighty and powerful arguments : this soliloquy, or self-conference, 
hath been the practice of the holy men of God in all times, Gen. xlix. 
G; Judg. V. 21 ; Psal. xvi. 2; Jer. iv. 19. How doth David plead 
with his soul against its dejections, and argue it into a holy con- 
fidence and comfort ! " \Vhy art thou cast down, O my soul ; and 
why art thou so disquieted within me? Trust in God, for I shall 
yet give him thanks, who is the health of my countenance, and my 
God," Psal. xlii. 5, 1 1 ; xliii. 5. So in Psal. ciii. 1,2, &c. " Bless 
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits," &c. 
So doth he also end the Psalm, and so doth he begin and end Psal. 
civ.; so Psal. cxlvi. I ; and cxvi. 7, "Return unto thy rest, O my 
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." The like you 
may see in the meditations of holy men of latter times, as Austin, 
Bernard, &c. : so that this is no new path which I persuade you to 
(read, but that which the saints have ever used in their meditation. 
Sect. n. This soliloquy hath its several parts, and its due method 
wherein it should be managed. The parts of it are according to 
the several affections of the soul, and according to the several ne- 
cessities thereof, according to the various arguments to be used, 
and according to the various ways of arguing. So that you see if 
I should attempt the full handling hereof, it would take up more 
time and room than I intend or can allow it. Only thus, much in 
brief: As every good master and father of a family is a good 
preacher to his own family, so every good Christian is a good 
preacher to his own soul. Soliloquy is a preaching to one's self; 
therefore the very same method which a minister should use in his 
preaching to others, should a Christian use in speaking to himself. 
Dost thou understand the best method for a public preacher ? Dost 
thou know the right parts and order of a sermon ; and which is the 
most effectual way of application ? Why then I need to lay it open 
no further ; thou understandest the method and parts of this so- 
liloquy. Mark the most affecting, heart-melting minister; observe 
his course, both for matter and manner ; set him as a pattern be- 
fore thee for thy imitation ; and the same way that he takes with 
the hearts of his people, do thou also take with thy own heart. 
Men are naturally addicted to imitation, especially of those whom 
they most affect and approve of: how near do some ministers come 
in their preaching to the imitation of others, whom they usually 
hear, and much reverence and value ! so mayst thou in this duty of 
preaching to thy heart. Art thou not ready sometimes when thou 
hearest a minister, to remember divers things which thou thinkest 
might be moving and pertinent, and to wish that he would have 
mentioned and pressed them on the hearers ! Why, remember 
those when thou art exhorting thyself, and press them on thy own 
heart as close as thou canst. 



594 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

As, therefore, this is accounted the most familiar method in 

1 Ex lication preaching, so it is for thee in meditating : First, 

Explain to thyself the subject on which thou dost 
meditate, both the terms and the subject matter ; study the diffi- 

2 p. g. J- culties, till the doctrine is clear. Secondly, Then 

confirm thy faith in the belief of it, by the most 
clear, convincing Scripture reasons. Thirdly, Then apply it ac- 

3 A licatiou cording to its nature and thy necessity. As in the 

case we are upon, that there is a rest remaining 
for the people of God. 

1. Use of informa- 1. Consider of the useful consectaries, or con- 

tion. elusions, that thence arise, for the clearing and 

confirming of thy judgment, which is commonly called a use of 
information. Here thou mayst press them also by other confirming 
arguments, and adjoin the confutation of the contrary errors. 

2. Use of instruc- 2. Proceed then to consider of the duties which 

tioi- do appear to be such from the doctrine in hand, 

which is commonly called a use of instruction ; as also the repre- 
hension of the contrary vices. 

3 Of examination ^' 1"^^®^ proceed to question, and try thyself, 

how thou hast valued this glory of the saints ; 
how thou hast loved it ; and how thou hast laid out thyself to ob- 
tain it. This is called a use of examination. Here thou mayst 
also make use of discovering signs, drawn from the nature, proper- 
ties, effects, adjuncts, &c. 

. „„ .. 4. So far as this trial hath discovered thy neg- 

lect, and other sins against this rest, proceed to 
the reprehension and censuring of thyself ; chide thy heart for its 
omissions and commissions, and do it sharply till it feel the smart : 
as Peter preached reproof to his hearers, till they were pricked to 
the heart and cried out ; and as a father or master will chide the 
child till it begin to cry and be sensible of the fault ; so do thou in 
chiding thy own heart : this is called a use of reproof. Here also 
it will be very necessary that thou bring forth all the aggravating 
circumstances of the sin, that thy heart may feel it in its weight 
and bitterness ; and if thy heart do evade or deny the sin, convince 
it by producing the several discoveries. 

5. So far as thou discoverest that thou hast been faithful in the 
duty, turn it to encouragement to thyself, and to thanks to God ; 
where thou mayst consider of the several aggravations of the mercy 
of the Spirit's enabling thee thereto. 

6. So, as it respects thy duty for the future, consider how thou 
mayst improve this comfortable doctrine, which must be by strong 
and effectual persuasion with thy heart. First, By way of dehort- 
ation from the forementioned sins. Secondly, By way of exhort- 
ation to the several duties. And these are either, first, internal, or 
secondly, external. First, therefore, admonish thy heart of its own 
inward neglects and contempts ; Secondly, And then of the neg- 
lects and trespasses in thy practice against this blessed state of 
rest. Set home these several admonitions to the quick ; take thy 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .09 j 

heart as to the brink of the bottomless pit ; force it to look in ; 
threaten thyself with the threatenings of the word ; tell it of (he 
torments that it draweth upon itself ; tell it what joys it is madly 
rejecting ; force it to promise thee to do so no more, and that not 
with a cold and heartless promise, but earnestly with most solemn 
asseverations and engagements. Secondly, The next and last is, 
to drive on thy soul to those positive duties, which are required of 
thee in relation to this rest: as. First, To the inward duties of thy 
heart : and there, First, To be diligent in making sure of this rest; 
Secondly, To rejoice in the expectation of it : this is called a use 
of consolation. It is to be furthered by first laying open the ex- 
cellency of the state ; and secondly, the certainty of it in itself; 
and thirdly, our own interest in it ; by clearing and proving all 
these, and confuting all saddening objections that may be brought 
against them. Thirdly, So also for the provoking of love, of 
hope, and all other the aifections in the way before more largely 
opened. 

And, Secondly, Press on thy heart also to all outward duties that 
are to be performed in thy way to rest, whether in worship or in 
civil conversation, whether public or private, ordinary or extraor- 
dinary : this is commonly called a use of exhortation. Here bring 
in all quickening considerations, either those that may drive thee, 
or those that may draw ; which work by fear, or which work by 
desire ; these are commonly called motives : but above all, be sure 
that thou follow them home. Ask thy heart what it can say 
against the duty ; is there weight in them, or is there not ? And 
then, what it can say against the duty ; is it necessary ; is it com- 
fortable ; or is it not ? When thou hast silenced thy heart, and 
brought it to a stand, then drive it further, and urge it to a promise, 
as suppose it were to the duty of meditation, which we are speaking 
of; force thyself beyond these lazy purposes; resolve on the duty 
before thou stir ; enter into a solemn covenant to be faithful : let 
not thy heart go, till it have, without all halting and reservanons, 
flatly promised thee, that it will fall to the work ; write down this 
promise, show it to thy heart the next time it loiters ; then study 
also the helps and means, the hinderanccs and directions, that con- 
cern thy duty. And this is in brief the exercise of this soliloquy, 
or the preaching of heaven to thy heart. 

Sect. III. Object. But perhaps thou wilt say. Every man cannot 
understand this method ; this is ior ministers and learned men ; 
every man is not able to play the preacher. I answer thee, First, 
There is not that ability required to this, as is to the work of public 
preaching : here thy thoughts may serve the turn, but there must 
be also the decent ornaments of language ; here is needful but an 
honest, understanding heart, but there must be a good pronuncia- 
tion, and a voluble tongue : here if thou miss of the method, thou 
mayst make up that in one piece of application which thou hast 
neglected in another ; but there thy failings are injurious to many, 
and a scandal and disgrace to the work of God. Thou knowest 
what will fit thy own heart, and what arguments take best with 
2 Q 2 



596 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

thy own affections ; but thou art not so well acquainted with the 
dispositions of others. Secondly, I answer further, Every man is 
bound to be skilful in the Scriptures as well as ministers ; kings 
and magistrates, Deut. xvii. 18 — 20 ; Josh. i. 8 ; and the people 
also, Deut. vi. G — 8. Do you think, if you did as is there com- 
manded, write it upon thy heart, lay them up in thy soul, bind them 
upon thy hand and between thine eyes, meditate on them day and 
night ; I say, if you did thus, would you not quickly understand as 
much as this? See Psal. i. 3 ; Deut. xi. 18; vi. 6—S. Doth not 
God command thee to teach them diligently to thy children ; and 
to talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest 
by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up ? And 
if thou must be skilled to teach thy children, much more to teach 
thyself; and if thou canst talk of them to others, why not also to 
thine o\vn heart ? Certainly, our unskilfulness and disability, both 
in a methodical and lively teaching of our families, and of ourselves, 
is for the most part merely through our own negligence, and a sin 
for which we have no excuse ; you that learn the skill of your 
trades and sciences, might learn this also, if you were but willing 
and painful. 

And so I have done with this particular of soliloquy. 

Sect. IV. 2. Another step to arise by in our contemplation, is, 
from this speaking to ourselves, to speak to God : prayer is not 
such a stranger to this duty, but that ejaculatory requests may be 
intermixed or added, and that as a very part of the duty itself 
How oft doth David intermix these in his psalms, sometimes 
pleading with his soul, and sometimes with God, and that in the 
same psalm, and in the next verses ! The apostle bids us to speak 
to ourselves in psalms and hymns ; and no doubt we may also 
speak to God in them : this keeps the soul in mind of the Divine 
presence, it tends also exceedingly to quicken and raise it ; so that 
as God is the highest object of our thoughts, so our viewing of 
him, and our speaking to him, and pleading with him, doth more 
elevate the soul, and actuate the affections, than any other part of 
meditation can do. Men that are careless of their carriage and 
speeches among children and idiots, will be sober and serious with 
princes or grave men : so, though while we do but plead the case 
with ourselves, we are careless and unaffected, yet when we turn our 
speech to God, it may strike us with awfulness ; and the holiness 
and majesty of him whom we speak to, may cause both the matter 
and words to pierce the deeper. Isaac went forth to pray, the 
former translation saith ; to meditate, saith the latter ; the Hebrew 
verb, saith Paraeus in loc. signifieth both ad oranditm et meditan- 
dum. The men of God, both former and latter, who have left 
their meditations on record for our view, have thus intermixed so- 
liloquy and prayer ; sometimes speaking to their own hearts, and 
sometimes turning their speech to God : and though this may 
seem an indifferent thing, yet I conceive it very suitable and 
necessary, and that it is the highest step that we can advance to in 
the work. 



Chap. X. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. .507 

Object. But why then is it not as good to take up with prayer 
alone, and to save all this tedious work that you proscribe us .' 

A/is/c. First, They are several duties, and therefore must be 
performed both. Secondly, We have need of one as well as the 
other, and therefore shall wrong ourselves in the neglecting of 
either. Thirdly, The mixture, as in music, doth more affect; the 
one helps on and puts life into the other. Fourthly, It is not the 
right order to begin at the top, therefore meditation and speaking 
to ourselves, should go before pi'ayer, or speaking to God ; want of 
this, makes prayer with most to have little more than the name of 
prayer, and men to speak as lightly and as stupidly to the dreadful 
God, as if it were to one of their companions, and with far less 
reverence and ail'ection than they would speak to an angel, if he 
should appear to them, yea, or to a judge or prince, if they were 
speaking for their lives : and consequently their success and answers 
are often like their prayers. Oh ! speaking to the God of heaven 
in prayer, is a weightier duty than most are aware of. 

Sect. V. The ancients had a custom, by apostrophes and proso- 
popcEias, to speak, as it were, to angels and saints departed, which, 
as it was used by them, I take to be lawful ; but what they spoke 
in rhetorical figures, was interpreted by the succeeding ages to be 
spoken in strict propriety ; and doctrinal conclusions for praying to 
saints and angels were raised from their speeches; therefore I will 
omit that course, which is so little necessary, and so subject to 
scandalize the less judicious readers. 

And so much for the fourth part of the direction, by what steps 
or acts we must advance to the height of this work : I should clear 
all this by some examples, but that I intend shall follow in the end. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOxME ADVANTAGES AND HELPS, FOR RAISING AND AFFECTING THE 
SOUL BY THIS MEDITATION. 

Sect. I. Fifthly : The fifth part of this directory i. Fetch help from 
is, to show you what advantages you should take, sense. 

and what helps you should use, to make your meditations of heaven 
more quickening, and to make you taste the sweetness that is 
therein. For that is the main work that I drive at through all ; 
that you may not stick in a bare thinking, but may have the lively 
sense of all upon your hearts : and this you m ill find to be the most 
difficult part of the work ; and that it is easier barely to think of 
heaven a whole day, than to be lively and affectionate in those 
thoughts one quarter of an hour. Therefore let us yet a little fur- 
ther consider what may be done, to make your thoughts of heaven 
to be piercing, affecting, raising thoughts. 



598 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Here, therefore, you must understand, that the mere pure work 
of faith hath many disadvantages with us, in comparison of the 
work of sense. Faith is imperfect, for we are renewed but in part; 
but sense hath its strength, according to the strength of the flesh : 
faith goes against a workl of resistance, but sense doth not. Faith 
is supernatural, and therefore prone to declining, and to languish 
both in the habit and exercise, further than it is still renewed and 
excited ; but sense is natural, and therefore continueth while nature 
continueth. The object of faith is far off; we must go as far as 
heaven for our joys ; but the object of sense is close at hand. It is 
no easy matter to rejoice at that which we never saw, nor ever knew 
the man that did see it ; and this upon a mere promise which is 
written in the Bible ; and that when we have nothing else to re- 
joice in, but all our sensible comforts do fail us : but to rejoice in 
that which we see and feel, in that which we have hold of, and pos- 
session already, this is not difficult. Well, then, what should be 
done in this case ? why, sure it will be a point of our spiritual pru- 
dence, and a singular help to the furthering of the work of faith, to 
call in our sense to its assistance : if we can make us friends of 
these usual enemies, and make them instruments of raising us to 
God, which are the usual means of drawing us from God, 1 think 
we shall perform a very excellent work. Sure it is both possible 
and lawful, yea, and necessary too, to do something in this kind : 
for God would not have given us either our senses themselves, or 
their usual objects, if they might not have been serviceable to his 
own praise, and helps to raise us up to the apprehension of higher 
things : and it is very considerable, how the Holy Ghost doth con- 
descend in the phrase of Scripture, in bringing things down to the 
reach of sense ; how he sets forth the excellences of spiritual things 
in words that are borrowed from the objects of sense ; how he de- 
scribeth the glory of the new Jerusalem, in expressions that might 
take even with flesh itself: as that the streets and buildings are 
pure gold, that the gates are pearl, that a throne doth stand in the 
midst of it, &c. Rev. xxi. 22 ; that we shall eat and drink with 
Christ at his table in his kingdom ; that he will drink with us the 
fruit of the vine new ; that we shall shine as the sun in the firma- 
ment of our Father: these, with most other descriptions of our 
glory, are expressed as if it were to the very flesh and sense ; which, 
though they are all improper and- figurative, yet doubtless if such 
expressions had not been best, and to us necessary, the Holy Ghost 
would not have so frequently used them : he that will speak to 
man's understanding, must speak in man's language, and speak that 
which he is capable to conceive. And, doubtless, as the Spirit 
doth speak, so we must hear ; and if our necessity cause him to 
condescend in his expressions, it must needs cause us to be low in 
our conceivings. Those conceivings and expressions which we have 
of spirits, and things merely spiritual, they are commonly but 
second notions, without the first ; but mere names that are put into 
our mouths, without any true conceivings of the things which they 
signify : or our conceivings which we express by those notions or 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 599 

terms, are merely negative ; what things are not, rather tlian what 
thoy are : as, when we mention spirits, we mean they are not cor- 
poral substances, hut what thoy are we can tell no more than we 
know what is Aristotle's " Materia Prima." It is one reason of 
Christ's assuming and continuing our nature with the Godhead, 
that we might know him the better, when he is so nmch nearer to 
us ; and we might have more positive conceivings of him, and so 
our minds might have familiarity with him, who before was quite 
beyond our reach. 

i5ut what is my scope in all this ? is it that we might think 
heaven to be made of gold and pearl ; or, that we should picture 
Christ as the papists do, in such a shape ; or, that we should think 
saints and angels do indeed eat and drink ? No ; not that we 
should take the Spirit's figurative expressions to be meant accord- 
ing to strict propriety ; or have fleshly conceivings of spiritual 
things, so as to believe them to be such indeed : but thus to think, 
that to conceive or speak of them in strict propriety, is utterly be- 
yond our roach and capacity ; and therefore we must conceive of 
them as we are aljle ; and that the Spirit would not have repre- 
sented them in these notions to us, but that we have no better no- 
tions to apprehend them by : and therefore that we make use of 
these phrases of the Spirit to quicken our apprehensions and affec- 
tions, but not to pervert them ; and use these low notions as a glass, 
in which we must see the things themselves, though the represent- 
ation be exceeding imperfect, till we come to an immediate perfect 
sight ; yet still concluding, that these phrases, though useful, are 
but borrowed and improper. The like may be said of those ex- 
pressions of God in Scripture, wherein he represents himself in the 
imperfections of creatures, as anger, repenting, willing what shall 
not come to pass, &c. Though these be improper, drawn from the 
manner of men, yet there is somewhat in God which we can see no 
better yet than in this glass, and which we can no better conceive 
of than in such notions, or else the Holy Ghost would have given 
us better. 

Sect. II. 1. Go to, then, when thou settest thy- ]. Draw strong sup- 
self to meditate on the joys above, think on them po^it^'is from sense, 
boldly, as Scripture hath expressed them ; bring down thy con- 
ceivings to the reach of sense. Excellency without familiarity doth 
amaze more than delight us ; but love and joy are promoted by 
familiar acquaintance. When we go about to think of God and 
glory in proper conceivings, without these spectacles we are lost, 
and have nothing to fix our thoughts upon. We set God and 
heaven so far from us, that our thoughts are strange, and we look 
at them as things beyond our reach, and beyond our line, and are 
ready to .say, That which is above is nothing to us : to conceive no 
more of God and glory, but that we cannot conceive them, and to 
apprehend no more, but that they are past our apprehension, will 
produce no more love but this, — to acknowledge that they are so 
far above us that we cannot love them ; and no more joy l)ut this, 
— that they are above our rejoicing. And therefore put Christ no 



GOO THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. " Part IV. 

farther from you than he hath put himself, lest the Divine nature 
be again inaccessible. Think of Christ as in our own nature glo- 
rified ; think of our fellow saints as men there perfected ; think of 
the city and state as the Spirit hath expressed it, only with the 
cautions and limitations before mentioned. Suppose thou wert 
now beholding this city of God, and that thou hadst been com- 
panion with John in his survey of its glory ; and hadst seen the 
thrones, the majesty, the heavenly hosts, the shining splendour 
which he saw ; draw as strong suppositions as may be from thy 
sense for the helping of thy affections. It is lawful to suppose we 
did see for the present, that which God hath in prophecies revealed, 
and which we must really see in more unspeakable brightness be- 
fore long. Suppose, therefore, with thyself thou hadst been that 
apostle's fellow traveller into the celestial kingdom, and that thou 
hadst seen all the saints in their white robes, with palms in their 
hands ; suppose thou hadst heard those songs of Moses and of the 
Lamb ; or didst even now hear them praising and glorifying the 
living God. If thou hadst seen those things, indeed, in what a 
rapture wouldst thou have been ! And the more seriously thou 
puttest this supposition to thyself, the more will the meditation 
elevate thy heart. I would not have thee, as the papists, draw 
them in pictures, nor use such ways to represent them. This, as if 
is a course forbidden by God, so it would but seduce and draw 
down thy heart ; but get the liveliest picture of them in thy mind, 
that possibly thou canst ; meditate of them as if thou wert all the 
while beholding them, and as if thou wert even hearing the hallelu- 
jahs, while thou art thinking of them ; till thou canst say, Methinks 
I see a glimpse of the glory ; methinks I hear the shouts of joy and 
pi'aise ; methinks I even stand by Abraham and David, Peter and 
Paul, and more of these triumphing souls ; methinks I even see the 
Son of God appearing in the clouds, and the world standing at his 
bar to receive their doom ; methinks I hear him say, " Come, ye 
blessed of my Father," and even see them go rejoicing into the joy 
of their Lord. My very dreams of these things have deeply affected 
me, and should not these just suppositions affect me much more ? 
What, if I had seen, with Paul, those unutterable things, should I 
not have been exalted, and that, perhaps, above measure, as well as 
he ? What, if I had stood in the room of Stephen, and seen heaven 
opened, and Christ sitting at the right hand of God ? Surely that 
one sight was worth the suffering his storm of stones. Oh that I 
might but see what he did see, though I also suffered what he did 
suffer ! What if I had seen such a sight as Micaiah saw ; the Lord 
sitting upon his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing on his 
right hand and on his left ? Why, these men of God did see such 
things ; and I shall shortly see far more than ever they saw till 
they were loosed from this flesh, as I must be. And thus you see 
how the familiar conceiving of the state of blessedness, as the Spirit 
hath in a condescending language expressed it, and our strong rais- 
ing of suppositions from our bodily senses, will further our affec- 
tions in this heavenly work. 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. GOl 

Sect. III. 2. There is yet another way by which ^ compare objects 
-we may make our senses here serviceable to us, and of sense with objects 
that is, by comparing of the objects of sense with "' f"''"- 
the objects of faith ; and so forcing sense to afford us that medium, 
from whence we may conchide the transcendent worth of glory, by 
arguing from sensitive delights as from the less to the greater. 
And here, for your further assistance, I shall furnish you with some 
of these comparative arguments. 

And, First, Vou must strongly argue with your hearts, from the 
corrupt delights of sensual men. Think, then, with yourselves 
when you would be sensible of the joys above : Is it such a delight 
to a sinner to do wickedly, and will it not be delightful, indeed, 
then to live with God .'' Hath a very drunkard such delight in his 
cups and his companions, that the very fears of damnation will not 
make him forsake them \ Hath the brutish whoremaster such 
delight in his whore, that he will part with his credit, and estate, 
and salvation, rather than he will part with her ? Sure, then, there 
are high delights with God. If the way to hell can aiford such 
pleasure, what are the pleasures of the saints in heaven! If the 
covetous man hath so much pleasure in his wealth, and the ambi- 
tious man in power and titles of honour, what then have the saints in 
the everlasting treasure ! and wdiat pleasure do the heavenly honours 
afford, whore we shall be set above principalities and powers, and 
be made the glorious spouse of Christ ! What pleasure do the vo- 
luptuous find in their sensual courses ! How closely will they follow 
their hunting, and hawking, and other recreations, from morning 
to night ! How delightfully will they sit at their cards and dice, 
hours and days and nights tog^^ther ! Oh the delight that must 
needs then be in beholding the face of the living God, and in sing- 
ing forth praises to him and the Lamb, which must be our recre- 
ation when we come to our rest ! 

Sect. IV. 2. Compare also the delights above with the lawful 
delights of moderated senses. Think with thyself, How sweet is 
food to my taste when I am hungry, especially, as Isaac said, that 
which my soul loveth, that which my temperature and appetite do 
incline to ! What delight hath the taste in some pleasant fruits, in 
some relished meats, and in divers junkets ! Oh, what delight, 
then, must my soul needs have in feeding upon Christ, the living 
bread, and in eating with him at his table in his kingdom ! Was a 
mess of pottage so sweet to Esau, in his hunger, that he w-ould buy 
them at so dear a rate as his birth-right ? how highly then should 
I value this never-perishing food ! How pleasant is drink in the 
extremity of thirst ! The delight of it to a man in a fever, or other 
drought, can scarcely be expressed. It will make the strength of 
Samson revive. Oh, then, how delightful will it be to my soul to 
drink of that fountain of living water, which whoso drinks shall 
thirst no more ! So pleasant is wine, and so refreshing to the spirits, 
that it is said to make glad the heart of man : how pleasant, then, 
will that wine of the great marriage be ; even that wine which our 
water was turned into; that best wine, which will be kept till then ! 



602 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

How delightful are pleasing odours to our smell ! How delightful 
is perfect music to the ear ! How delightful are beauteous sights to 
the ej^e ; such as curious pictures ; sumptuous, adorned, well-con- 
trived buildings ; handsome, necessary rooms, walks, prospects ; 
gardens stored with variety of beauteous and odoriferous flowers ; 
or pleasant meadows, which are natural gardens ! O, then, think 
every time thou seest or rememberest these, what a fragrant smell 
hath the precious ointment which is poured on the head of our 
glorified Saviour, and which must be poured on the heads of all his 
saints, which will fill all the room of heaven with its odour and per- 
fume ! How delightful is the music of the heavenly host ! How 
pleasing will be those real beauties above, and how glorious the 
building not made with hands, and the house that God himself 
doth dwell in, and the walks and prospects in the city of God, and 
the beauties and delights in the celestial paradise ! Think seriously 
what these must needs be. The like may be said of the delight of 
the sense of feeling, which, the philosopher saith, is the greatest of 
all the rest. 

Sect. V. 3. Compare also the delights above with the delights 
that are found in natural knowledge. This is far beyond the de- 
lights of sense, and the delights of heaven are farther beyond it. 
Think, then, can an Archimedes be so taken up with his mathe- 
matical invention, that the threats of death cannot take him off, 
but he will die in the midst of these his natural contemplations ? 
Should I not much more be taken up with the delights of glory, 
and die with these contemplations fresh upon my soul ? especially 
when my death will perfect my delights ; but those of ilrchimedes 
die with him. What a pleasure is it to dive into the secrets of 
nature ; to find out the mysteries of arts and sciences ; to have a 
clear understanding in logic, physics, metaphysics, music, astro- 
nomy, geometry, &c. ! If we make but any new discovery in one 
of these, or see a little more than we saw before, what singular 
pleasure do we find therein ! Why, think then what high delights 
there are in the knowledge of God, and Christ, his Son. If the 
face of human learning be so beautiful, that sensual pleasures are 
to it but base and brutish, how beautiful then is the face of God ! 
When we light on some choice and learned book, how are we taken 
with it ; we could read and study it day and night ; we can leave 
meat and drink and sleep to read it. What delights then are there 
at God's right hand, where we shall know in a moment all that is 
to be known ! 

Sect. VI. 4. Compare also the delight above with the delights 
of morality, and of the natural affections. What delight had many 
sober heathens in the rules and practice of moral duties ! so that 
they took him only for an honest man who did well through the 
love of virtue, and not only for fear gf punishment. Yea, so highly 
did they value this moral virtue, that they thought the chief hap- 
piness of man consisted in it. Why think, then, what excellency 
there will be in that rare perfection which we shall be raised to in 
heaven ; and in that uncreated perfection of God which we shall 



Chap. X[. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G03 

behold ! What sweetness is there in the exercise of natural love, 
whether to children, to parents, to yoke-fellows, or to friends ! The 
delight which a pair of special, faithful friends do find in loving and 
enjoying one another, is a most pleasing, sweet delight. It seemed 
to the philosophers to be above the delights of natural or matrimo- 
nial friendship, and I think it seemed so to David himself ; so he 
concludes his lamentation for him : " I am distressed for thee, my 
brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me ; thy 
love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women," 2 Sam. i. 
2G. Yea, the soul of Jonathan did cleave to David. Even Christ 
himself, as it seemeth, had some of this kind of love ; for he had 
one disciple whom he especially loved, and who was wont to lean 
on his breast. Why think, then, if the delights of close and cor- 
dial friendship be so great, what delight we shall have in the friend- 
ship of the Most High ; and in our mutual amity with Jesus 
Christ ; and in the dearest love and comfort with the saints ! Sure- 
ly this will be a closer and stricter friendship than ever was betwixt 
any friends on earth. And these will be more lovely, desirable 
friends than any that ever the sun beheld ; and both our affections 
to our Father and our Saviour, but especially his affection to us, 
will be such as here we never knew : as spirits are so far more 
powerful than flesh, that one angel can destroy a host, so also are 
their affections more strong and powerful. We shall then love a 
thousand times more strongly and sweetly than now we can ; and 
as all the attributes and works of God are incomprehensible, so is 
the attribute and work of love. He will love us many thousand 
times more than we even at the perfectest are able to love him. 
AN'hat joy, then, will there be in this mutual love ! 

Sect. Vn. 5. Compare also the excellences of heaven with those 
glorious works of the creation which our eyes do now behold. 
What a deal of wisdom, and power, and goodness, appeareth in 
and through them to a wise observer ! What a deal of the majesty 
of the great Creator doth shine in the face of this fabric of the 
world ! Surely his works are great and admirable, sought out of 
them that have pleasure therein (Psal. xcii. 4, 5 ; cxi. 2 ; cxlv. 
6—12 ; X. 7, 22 ; cxxxvi. 4—6, &c. ; Job xxxvi. 24—26). This 
makes the study of natural philosophy so pleasant, because the 
works of God are so excellent. What rare workmanship is in the 
body of a man, yea, in the body of every beast, which makes the 
anatomical studies so delightful ! What excellency in every plant 
we see ! in the beauty of flowers ; in the nature, diversity, and use 
of herbs ; in fruits, in roots, in minerals, and what not ! But 
especially if we look to the greater works ; if we consider the whole 
body of this earth, and its creatures, and inhabitants ; the ocean 
of waters, with its motions and dimensions ; the variation of the 
seasons, and of the face of the earth ; the intercourse of spring and 
fall, of summer and winter ; what wonderful excellency do these 
contain ! Why think, then, in thy meditations, if these things, 
which are but servants to sinful man, are yet so full of mysterious 
worth ; what, then, is that place where God himself doth dwell. 



604 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

and is prepared for the just who are perfected with Christ ! When 
thou walkest forth in the evening, look upon the stars how they 
gHsten, and in what number they bespangle the firmament : if in 
the day-time, look up to the glorious sun. View the wide-expanded, 
encompassing heavens, and say to thyself, What glory is in the 
least of yonder stars ! what a vast, what a bright, resplendent body 
hath yonder moon, and every planet ! oh, what an unconceivable 
glory hath the sun ! Why, all this is nothing to the glory of 
heaven ! Yonder sun must there be laid aside as useless, for it 
would not be seen for the brightness of God. I shall live above 
all yonder glory ; yonder is but darkness to the lustre of my Fa- 
ther's house. I shall be as glorious as that sun myself; yonder is 
but as the wall of the palace-yard ; as the poet saith, 

" If in heaven's outward courts such beauty be, 
"What is the gloiy which the saints do see ! ' ' 

So think of the rest of the creatures. This whole earth is but my 
Father's footstool : this thunder is nothing to his dreadful voice : 
these winds are nothing to the breath of his mouth. So much 
wisdom and power as appeareth in all these ; so much, and far much 
more greatness, and goodness, and loving delights, shall I enjoy in 
the actual fruition of God. Surely, if the rain which rains, and the 
sun which shines, on the just and unjust, be so wonderful; the Sun, 
then, which must shine on none but saints and angels, must needs 
be wonderful and ravishing in glory. 

Sect. VIII. G. Compare the things which thou shalt enjoy above, 
with the excellency of those admirable works of providence which 
God doth exercise in the church and in the world. What glorious 
things hath the Lord wrought ! and yet we shall see more glorious 
than these. Would it not be an astonishing sight to see the sea 
stand as a wall on the right hand and on the left, and the dry land 
appear in the midst, and the people of Israel pass safely through, 
and Pharaoh and his people swallowed up ? What if we should 
see but such a sight now ? If we had seen the ten plagues of 
Egypt, or had seen the rock to gush forth streams, or had seen 
manna or quails rained down from heaven, or had seen the earth 
open and swallovvr up the wicked, or had seen their armies slain 
with hailstones, with an angel, or by one another ; would not all 
these have been wondrous, glorious sights ? But we shall see far 
greater things than these : and as our sights shall be more wonder- 
ful, so also they shall be more sweet : there shall be no blood nor 
wrath intermingled. We shall not then cry out as David, " Who 
can stand before this holy Lord God?" Would it not have been 
an astonishing sight to have seen the sun stand still in the firma- 
ment, or to have seen Ahaz's dial go ten degrees backward ? Why, 
we shall see when there shall be no sun to shine at all ; we shall 
behold for ever a sun of more incomparable brightness. Were it 
not a brave life, if we might still live among wonders and miracles; 
and all for us, and not against us : if we could have drought or rain 
at our prayers, as Elias ; or if we could call down fire from heaven 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. GO.O 

to destroy our enemies ; or raise the dead to life, as Elisha.; or 
cure the diseased, and speak strange languages, as the apostles? 
Alas ! these are nothing to the wonders which we shall see and 
possess with God; and all those wonders of goodness and love. 
We shall possess that pearl and power itself, through whose virtue 
all these works were done : we shall, ourselves, he the subjects of 
more wonderful mercies than any of these. Jonas was raised but 
from a three days' burial, from the belly of the whale in the deep 
ocean ; but we shall be raised from many years' rottenness and 
dust ; and that dust exalted to a sun-like glory, and that glory 
perpetuated to all eternity. What sayest thou, Christian ? Is not 
this the greatest of miracles or wonders ? Surely, if we observe 
but common providences ; the motions of the sun, the tides of the 
sea, the standing of the earth, the warming it, the watering it with 
rain as a garden, the keeping in order a wicked, confused world, 
with multitudes the like ; they are all very admirable. But then 
to think of the Sion of God, of the vision of the Divine Majesty, 
of the comely order of the heavenly host ; what an admirable sight 
must that needs be ! Oh what rare and mighty works have we 
seen in Britain ; what clear discoveries of an Almighty arm ; what 
magnifying of weakness; what casting down of strength; what 
wonders wrought by most improbable means ; what bringing to hell, 
and bringing back ; what turning of tears and fears into safety and 
joy; such hearing of earnest prayers, as if God could have denied 
us nothing that we asked ! AH these were wonderful, heart-rising 
works. But, oh ! what are these to our full deliverance ; to our 
final conquest; to our eternal triumph; and to that great day of 
great things ! 

Sect. IX. 7. Compare also the mercies which thou shalt have 
above, with those particular providences which thou hast enjoyed 
thyself, and those observable mercies which thou hast recorded 
through thy life. If thou be a Christian indeed, I know thou hast, 
if not in thy book, yet certainly in thy heart, a great many precious 
favours upon record : the very remembrance and rehearsal of them 
is sweet ; how much more sweet was the actual enjoyment ! But 
all these are nothing to the mercies which are above. Look 
over the excellent mercies of thy youth and education, the mercies 
of thy riper years or age, the mercies of thy prosperity and of thy 
adversity, the mercies of thy several places and relations ; are they 
not excellent and innumerable ? Canst not thou think on the 
several places thou hast lived in, and remember that they have 
each had their several mercies ; the mercies of such a place, and 
such a place ; and all of them very rich and engaging mercies ? 
Oh ! how sweet was it to thee, when God resolved thy last doubts ; 
when he overcame and silenced thy fears and unl^elief ; when he 
prevented the inconveniences of thy life, which thy own counsel 
would have cast thee into ; when he eased thy pains ; when he 
healed thy sickness, and raised thee up as from the very grave and 
death; when thou prayedst and wept as Hezekiah, and saidst, 
" My days are cut off; I shall go to the gates of the grave ; I am 



GOG THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the 
Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living : I shall hehold man 
no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed 
and removed from me as a shepherd's tent : I have cut off, like a 
weaver, my life. He will cut me off with pining sickness : from 
day to day wilt thou make an end of me, &c. Yet did he, in love 
to thy soul, deliver it from the pit of corruption, and cast thy sins 
behind his back, and set thee among the living, to praise him as 
thou dost this day ; that the fathers to the children might make 
known his truth. The Lord was ready to save thee, that thou 
mightest sing the songs of praise to him in his house all the days 
of thy life," Isa. xxxviii. 10 — 20. I say, were not all these most 
precious mercies ? Alas ! these are but small things for thee in 
the eyes of God ; he intended thee far greater things than these, 
even such as these are scarce a taste of. It was a choice mercy, 
that God hath so notably answered thy prayers ; and that thou 
hast been so oft and evidently a prevailer with him. But, oh ! 
think, then, are all these so sweet and precious, that my life would 
have been a perpetual misery without them ? Hath his providence 
lifted me so high on earth, and his merciful kindness made me 
great ? How sweet, then, will the glory of his presence be ; and 
how high will his eternal love exalt me ; and how great shall I be 
made in communion with his greatness ! If my pilgrimage and 
warfare have such mercies, what shall I find in my home, and in 
my triumph ! If God will communicate so much to me while I re- 
main a sinner, what will he bestow when I am a perfect saint ! If 
I have had so much in this strange country, at such a distance from 
him ; Avhat shall I have in heaven in his immediate presence, where 
I shall ever stand about his throne ! 

Sect. X. 8. Compare the comforts which thou shalt have above, 
with those which thou hast here received in the ordinances. Hath 
not the written word been to thee as an open fountain, flowing with 
comforts day and night ? When thou hast been in trouble, there 
thou hast met with refreshing ; when thy faith hath staggered, it 
hath there been confirmed. What suitable scriptures hath the 
Spirit set before thee ! what seasonable promises have come into 
thy mind, so that thou mayst say with David, " If thy word had 
not been my delight, Ihad perished in my trouble !" Think, then, 
if the word be so full of consolations, what overflowing springs 
shall we find in God ! If his letters are so comfortable, what are 
the words that flow from his blessed lips, and the beams that stream 
from his glorious face ! If Luther would not take all the world for 
one leaf of the Bible, what would he take for the joys which it reveal- 
eth ! If the promise be so sweet, what is the performance ! If the 
testament of our Lord, and our charter for the kingdom, be so com- 
fortable, what will be our possession of the kingdom itself! Think 
further, what delights have I also found in this word preached, 
when I have sat under a heavenly, heart-searching teacher ; how 
hath my heart been warmed within me ; how hath he melted me, 
and turned my bowels ! methinks I have felt myself almost in 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTIN(i REST. 007 

heaven : niethinks I could have Loen content to have sat and heard 
froni morning to night ; I could even have lived and died there. I low 
oft have I gone to the congregation troubled in spirit, and returned 
home with quietness and delight ! How oft have I gone doubting, 
concluding damnation against my own soul ; and God hath sent 
me home with my doubts resolved, and satisfied me, and persuaded 
me of his love in Christ ! How oft have I gone with darkness and 
doublings in my judgment, and Ciod hath opened to me such pre- 
cious truths, and opened also my understanding to see them, that 
his light hath been exceeding comfortable to my soul ! What cor- 
dials have I met with in my saddest afllictions ! What preparatives 
to fortify me for the next encounter ! Vi'eW then, if Moses's face 
do shine so gloriously, what glory is in the face of God ! If the 
very feet of the messengers of these tidings of peace be beautiful, 
how beautiful is the face of the Prince of peace ! If the word in 
the mouth of a fellow servant be so pleasant, what is the living 
AN'ord himself! If this treasure be so precious in earthen vessels, 
what is that treasure laid up in heaven! Think with thyself. If I 
had heard but such a divine prophet as Isaiah, or such a persuad- 
ing, moving prophet as Jeremy, or such a worker of miracles as 
Elijah or Elisha ; how delightful a hearing would this have been ! 
If I had heard but Peter, or John, or Paul, I should rejoice in it 
as long as I lived ; but what would I give, that I had heard one 
sermon from the mouth of Christ himself! Sure I should have 
felt the comfort of it in my very soul : why, but, alas ! all this is 
nothing to what we shall have above. Oh blessed are the eyes 
that see what there is seen, and the ears that hear the things that 
there are heard ! there shall I hear Elias, Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, 
John, not preaching to an obstinate people in imprisonment, in 
persecutions, and reproach, but triumphing in the praises of him 
that hath advanced them. Austin was wont to wish these three 
wishes : First, That he might have seen Christ in the flesh : 
Secondly, That he might have heard Paul preach : Thirdly, That 
he might have seen Rome in its glory. Alas ! these are small 
matters all, to that which Austin now beholds : there we see not 
Christ in the form of a servant, but Christ in his kingdom, in 
majesty and glory ; not Paul preach in weakness and contempt, but 
Paul with millions more rejoicing and triumphing ; not persecuting 
Rome in a fading glory, but Jerusalem which is above, in perfect 
and lasting glory. 

So also think, what a joy it is to have access and acceptance in 
prayer ; that when any thing aileth me, I may go to God, and open 
my case, and unbosom my soul to him, as to my most faithful 
friend ; especially knowing his sufficiency and willingness to relieve 
me ! Oh, but it will be a more surpassing, unspeakable joy, when 
I shall receive all blessings without asking them, and when all my 
neces.sities and miseries are removed, and when God himself will be 
the portion and inheritance of my soul. 

What consolation also have we oft received in the supper of the 
I-ord ! What a privilege is it to be admitted to sit at his table ; to 



G08 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

have his covenant sealed to me by the outward ordinance, and his 
special love sealed by his Spirit to my heart ! Why, but all the 
life and comfort of these, is their declaring and assuring me of the 
comforts hereafter : their use is but darkly to signify and seal those 
higher mercies : when I shall indeed drink with him the fruit of 
the vine renewed, it will then be a pleasant feast indeed. Oh the 
difference between the last supper of Christ on earth, and the mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb at the great day ! Here he is in an upper 
room, accompanied with twelve poor selected men, feeding on no 
curious dainties, but a paschal lamb with sour herbs, and a Judas 
at his table ready to betray him ; but then his room will be the 
glorious heavens, his attendants all the host of angels and saints : 
no Judas nor unfurnished guest comes there ; but the humble be- 
lievers must sit down by him, and the feast will be their mutual 
loving and rejoicing. Yet further, think with thyself thus : The 
communion of the saints on earth is a most delectable mercy : what 
a pleasure is it to live with understanding and heavenly Christians ! 
Even David saith, they Avere all his delight, Psal. xvi. Oh, then, 
what a delightful society shall I have above ! The communion of 
saints is there somewhat w^orth, where their understandings are 
fully cleared, and their affections so highly advanced. If I had 
seen but Job in his sores upon the dunghill, it would have been an 
excellent sight to see such a mirror of patience : what w'ill it be 
then to see him in glory, praising that power which did uphold and 
deliver him ! If I ha(^ heard but Paul and Silas singing in the 
stocks, it w'ould have been a delightful hearing : what will it be 
then to hear them sing praises in heaven ! If I had heard David 
sing praises on his lute and harp, it would have been a pleasing 
melody ; and that which drove the evil spirit from Saul, would sure 
have driven av;ay the dulness and sadness of my spirit, and have 
been to me as the music was to Elisha,' that the Spirit of Christ in 
joy would have come upon me : v/hy, I shall shortly hear that sweet 
singer in the heavenly choir advancing the King of saints ; and 
will not that be a far more melodious hearing ? If I had spoken 
with Paul when he was new come down from the third heavens, 
and he might have revealed to me the things which he had seen ; 
oh what would I give for an hour's such conference ! how far would 
I go to hear such a narration ! Why, I must shortly see those very 
things myself; yea, and far more than Paul was then capable of 
seeing ; and yet I shall see no more than I shall possess. If I had 
but spoken one hour with Lazarus when he was risen from the 
dead, and heard him describe the things which he had seen in 
another w^orld, if God would permit and enable him thereto, what 
a joyful discourse would that have been ! How many thousand 
books may I read, before I could know so much as he could have 
told me in that hour ! If God would have suffered him to tell 
what he had seen, the Jews would have more thronged to hear 
him, than they did to see him : O, but this would have been 
nothing to the sight itself, and to the fruition of all that which 
Lazaiiis saw. 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 009 

Once again, think with thyself what a soul-raising employment 
is the praising of God, especially in consort with his affectionate 
saints ! ^^'hat if I had been in the place of those shepherds, and 
seen the angels, and heard the multitude of the heavenly hosts 
praising God, and saying, " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace, good-will towards men," Luke ii. 13, 14; what a 
glorious sight and hearing would this have been ! But I shall see 
and hear more glorious things than this. If I had stood by Christ 
when he was thanking his Father, John xvii., I should have 
thought mine ears even blessed with his voice; how much more 
when I shall hear him pronounce me blessed ! If there were such 
great joy at the bringing back of the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 1.0, and such 
great joy at the re-edifying the material temple, Neh. xii. 43, what 
joy will there be in the new Jerusalem ! Why, if I could but see 
the church here in unity and prosperity, what an unspeakable joy 
to my soul would it be ! If I could see the congregations provided 
with able teachers, and the people receiving and obeying the gos- 
pel, and longing for reformation in life and manners ; oh what a 
blessed place were England ! If I could see our ignorance turned 
into knowledge, and error turned into soundness of understanding, 
and shallow professors into solid believers, and brethren living in 
amity and in the life of the Spirit ; oh what a fortunate island were 
this ! Alas, alas ! what is all this to the reformation in heaven, 
and to the blessed condition that we must live in there ? There is 
another kind of change and glory than this. What great joy had 
the people, and David himself, to see them so willingly offer to the 
service of the Lord ; and what an excellent psalm of praise doth 
David thereupon compose ! 1 Chron. xxix. 9, 10, &c. When 
Solomon was anointed king in Jerusalem, the people rejoiced with 
so great joy, that the earth rent at the sound of them, 1 Kings i. 
40 ; what a joyful shout will there be, then, at the appearing of the 
King to the church ! If when the foundations of the earth were 
fastened, and the corner-stone thereof was laid, the morning-stars 
did sing together, and all the sons of God did shout for joy, Job 
xxxviii. 6, 7 ; why then, when our glorious world is both founded 
and finished, and the corner-stone appeareth to be the top-stone 
also, and the holy city is adorned as the bride of the Lamb ; O 
sirs, what a joyful shout will then be heard ! 

Sect. XI. 9. Compare the joy which thou shalt have in heaven, 
with that which the saints of God have found in the way to it, and 
in the foretastes of it; when thou seest a heavenly man rejoice, 
think what it is that so affects him. It is the property of fools to 
rejoice in toys, and to laugh at nothing ; but the people of God are 
wiser than so, they know what it is that makes them glad. When 
did God ever reveal the least of himself to any of his saints, but 
the joy of their hearts was answerable to the revelation ? Paul was 
so lifted up with what he saw, that he was in danger of being ex- 
alted above measure, and must have a prick in the flesh to keep 
him down. ^V'hen Peter had seen but Christ in his transfiguration, 
which was but a small glimpse of his glory, and had seen Moses 



510 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart IV. 

and Elias talking with him ; what a rapture and ecstasy is he cast 
nito ! " Master," saith he, " it is good for us to be here ; let us 
here build three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and 
one for Elias : " as if he should say, O let us not go down again to 
yonder persecuting rabble ; let us not go down again to yonder 
drossy, dirty world; let us not return to our mean and suffering 
state : is it not better that we stay here, now we are here ; is not 
here better company, and sweeter pleasures ? But the text saith, 
" He knew not what he said," Matt. xvii. 4. When Moses had 
been talking with God in the mount, it made his visage so shining 
and glorious, that the people could not endure to behold it, but he 
was fain to put a veil upon it : no wonder then if the face of God 
must be veiled, till we are come to that state where we shall be 
more capable of beholding him, when the veil shall be taken away, 
and we all beholding him with open face, shall be turned into the 
same image from glory to glory, 2 Cor, iii. 16 — 18. Alas ! what 
are the back parts which Moses saw from the clefts of the rock, to 
that open face which we shall behold hereafter ? what is that reve- 
lation to John in Patmos, to this revelation which we shall have in 
heaven ? How short doth Paul's vision come of the saints' vision 
above with God ! How small a part of the glory which we must 
see, was that which so transported Peter in the mount ! I confess 
these were all extraordinary foretastes, but little to the full beati- 
fical vision. When David foresaw the resurrection of Christ, and 
of himself, and the pleasures which he should have for ever at 
God's right hand ; how doth it make him break forth and say, 
" Therefore my heart was glad, and my glory rejoiceth, my flesh 
also shall rest in hope !" Psal. xvi. 9. Why, think, then, if the 
foresight can raise such ravishing joy, what will the actual posses- 
sion do ! How oft have we read and heard of the dying saints, 
who, when they had scarce strength and life enough to express 
them, have been as full of joy as their hearts could hold ; and 
when their bodies have been under the extremities of their sick- 
ness, yea, ready to feel the pangs of death, have yet had so much of 
heaven in their spirits, that their joy hath far surpassed their sor- 
rows. And if a spark of this fire be so glorious, and that in the 
midst of the sea of adversity, what then is that Sun of glory itself ! 
Oh the joy that the martyrs of Christ have felt in the midst of the 
scorching flames ! Sure they had life and sense as we, and were 
flesh and blood as well as we ; therefore it must needs be some ex- 
cellent thing that must so rejoice their souls, while their bodies 
were burning. When Bilney can burn his finger in the candle, and 
Cranmer can burn off his unworthy right hand; when Bainham can 
call the papists to see a miracle, and tell them that he feels no 
more pain than in a bed of down, and that the fire was to him as a 
bed of roses ; when Farrier can say. If I stir believe not my doc- 
trine : think then, reader, with thyself in thy meditations. Sure 
it must be some wonderful foretasted glory that can do all this, that 
can make the flames of fire easy, and that can make the king of 
fears so welcome. Oh what then must this glory itself needs be ; 



Chap. XI. THE SAINTS' KVERLASTING REST. (;i | 

whon the very llioughts of it can hring Paul into such a strait, that 
lie desired to depart and he with Christ, as hest of all ! when it 
can make men never think themselves well, till they are dead ! Oh 
what a blessed rest is this ! Shall Sanders so delightfully embrace 
the stake, and cry out, '" Welcome cross !" and shall not I more 
delightfully embrace my blessedness, and cry, " Welcome crown !" 
Shall blessed Bradford kiss the faggot, and .shall not I then kiss 
the Son himself? Shall the poor martyr rejoice that she might 
have her foot in the same hole of the stocks that Mr. Philpot's foot 
had been in before her; and shall not I rejoice, that my soul shall 
live in the same place of glory, where Christ and his apostles are 
gone before me i* Shall fire and faggot, shall prisons and banish- 
ment, shall scorns and cruel torments, be more welcome to others, 
than Christ and glory shall be to me ? God forbid. What thanks 
did Lucius the martyr give them, that they would send him to 
Christ from his ill masters on earth ! how desirously did ]5asil wish, 
when his persecutors threatened his death the next day, that they 
might not change their resolution, lest he should miss of his ex- 
pectation ! What thanks then shall I give my Lord, for removing 
me from this loathsome prison to his glory ! and how loth shoaild I 
be to be deprived thereof! When Luther thought he should die 
of an apoplexy, it comforted him, and made him more willing, be- 
cause the good duke of Saxony, and, before him, the apostle John, 
had died of that disease : how much more should I be willing to 
pass the way that Christ hath passed, and come to the glory where 
Christ is gone ! If Luther could thereupon say, Fen, Domme,feri 
clenienter ; ipse paratiis sum, quia verho tuo a peccatis absolutus ; 
Strike, Lord, strike gently ; 1 am ready, because by thy word I 
am absolved from my sins ; how much more cheerfully should I 
cry. Come, Lord, and advance me to this glory, and repose my 
weary soul in rest ! 

Sect. XIL 10. Compare also the glory of the heavenly kingdom 
with the glory of the imperfect church on earth, and with the glory 
of Christ in his state of humiliation, and you may easily conclude, 
if Christ under his Father's wrath, and Christ standing in the room 
of sinners, were so wonderful in excellences, what then is Christ at 
the Father's right hand ! And if the church, under her sins and 
enemies, have so much beauty, something it will have at the mar- 
riage of the Lamb. How wonderful was the Son of God in the 
form of a servant ! When he is born, the heavens must proclaim 
him by miracles ; a new star must appear in the firmament, and 
fetch men from remote parts of the world to worship him in a 
manger ; the angels and heavenly host must declare his nativity, 
and solemnize it with praising and glorifying God. When he is 
but a child, he must dispute with the doctors, and confute them. 
When he sets upon his office, his whole life is a wonder : water 
turned into wine ; thousands fed with five loaves and two fishes ; 
multitudes following him to see his miracles ; the lepers cleansed ; 
the sick healed ; the lame restored ; the blind receive their sight ; 
the dead raised. If we had seen all this, should 'we not have 



012 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IY. 

thought it wonderful ? The most desperate diseases cured with a 
touch, with a word speaking ; the blind eyes with a little clay and 
spittle; the devils departing by legions at command; the winds 
and the seas obeying his word ; are not all these wonderful ? Think, 
then, how wonderful is his celestial glory ! If there be such cutting 
down of boughs, and spreading of garments, and crying, " Ho- 
sanna," to one that comes into Jerusalem riding on an ass, what 
will there be when he comes with his angels in his glory ! If they 
that hear him preach the gospel of the kingdom, have their hearts 
turned within them, that they return and say, " Never man spake 
like this man," then sure they that behold his majesty in his king- 
dom will say. There was never glory like this glory. If, when his 
enemies come to apprehend him, the word of his mouth doth cast 
them all to the ground ; if, when he is dying, the earth must trem- 
ble, the veil of the temple rend, the sun in the firmament must 
hide its face, and deny its light to the sinful world, and the dead 
bodies of the saints arise, and the standers-by be forced to ac- 
knowledge, "Verily this was the Son of God ;" oh, then, what a 
day will it be when he will once more shake, not the earth only, 
but the heavens also, and remove the things that are shaken ; when 
this sun shall be taken out of the firmament, and be everlastingly 
darkened with the brightness of his glory ; when the dead must 
all arise, and stand before him, and all shall acknowledge him to 
be the Son of God, and every tongue confess him to be Lord and 
King ! If, when he riseth again, the grave and death have lost their 
power, and the angels of heaven must roll away the stone, and 
astonish the watchmen till they are as dead men, and send the tid- 
ings to his dejected disciples; if the bolted doors cannot keep him 
forth ; if the sea be as firm ground for him to walk on ; if he can 
ascend to heaven in the sight of his disciples, and send the angels 
to forbid them gazing after him ; oh what power, and dominion, 
and glory, then, is he now possessed of, and must we for ever pos- 
sess with him ! Yet think further : are his very servants enabled 
to do such miracles, when he is gone from them ? can a few poor 
fishermen, and tent-makers, and the like mechanics, cure the lame, 
and blind, and sick ; open their prisons ; destroy the disobedient ; 
raise the dead ; and astonish their adversaries ? oh then, what a 
world will that be, where every one can do greater works than these, 
and shall be highlier honoured than by the doing of wonders ! It 
were much to have the devils subject to us, but more to have our 
names written in the book of life. If the very preaching of the 
gospel be accompanied with such power, that it will pierce the 
heart, and discover its secrets, bring down the proud, and make the 
stony sinner tremble ; if it can make men burn their books, sell 
their lands, bring in the price and lay it down at the preacher's 
feet; if it can make the spirits of princes stoop, and the kings of 
the earth resign their crowns, and do their homage to Jesus Christ; 
if it can subdue kingdoms, and convert thousands, and turn the 
world thus upside down ; if the very mention of the judgment, and 
life to come, can make the judge on the bench to tremble, when 



CHAr. XI. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. (31:5 

the prisoner at the bar cloth prearh this doctrine ; oh what then \k 
the glory of the kingdom itself! ^^ hat an absolute dominion have 
Christ and his saints! And if they have this power and honour 
in the day of thtur abasement, and in the time appointed for their 
suffering and disgrace, what then will they have in their full ad- 
vancement ! 

Sect. XIII. 11. Compare the mercies thou shalt have above 
with the mercies which Christ hath hire bestowed on thy soul, and 
the glorious change which thou shalt have at last with the gracious 
change which the Spirit hath wrought on thy heart; compare the 
comforts of thy glorification with the comforts of thy sanctification. 
There is not the smallest grace in thee which is genuine and sin- 
cere, but is of greater worth than the riches of the Indies ; not a 
hearty desire, and groan after Christ, but is more to be valued than 
the kingdoms of the world. A renewed nature is the very image 
of God. Scripture calleth it by the name of " Christ dwelling in 
us," and, "the Spirit of God abiding in us." It is a beam from 
the face of God himself; it is the seed of God remaining in us ; it 
is the only inherent beauty of the rational soul ; it ennobleth man 
above all nobility ; it fitteth him to understand his Maker's plea- 
sure, to do his will, and to receive his glory : why think, then, with 
thyself, if this grain of mustard-seed be so precious, what is the 
tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God ! If a spark of life, 
which will but strive against corruptions, and flame out a few de- 
sires and groans, be so much worth, how glorious, then, is the foun- 
tain and end of this life ! If we be said to be like God, and to bear 
his image, and to be holy as he is holy, when, alas ! we are pressed 
down with a body of sin ; sure we shall then be much liker God, 
when we are perfectly holy, and without blemish, and have no such 
thing as sin within us ! Is the desire of heaven so precious a thing, 
what then is the thing itself which is desired ! Is the love so excel- 
lent, what then is the Beloved ! Is our joy in foreseeing and believ- 
ing so sweet, what will be the joy in the full possessing ! Oh the 
delight that a Christian hath in the lively exercise of some of these 
affections ! What good doth it to his very heart, when he can feel- 
ingly say he loves his Lord ! What sweetness is there in the very 
act of loving ! Yea, even those troubling passions of sorrow and 
fear, are yet delightful, when they are rightly exercised. How 
glad is a poor Christian when he feeleth his heart begin to melt, 
and when the thoughts of sinful unkindness will dissolve it ! Even 
this sorrow doth yield him matter of joy. Oh what will it then be, 
when we shall do nothing but know God, and love, and rejoice, 
and praise, and all this in the highest perfection ! What a comfort 
is it to my doubting soul, when I have a little assurance of the sin- 
cerity of my graces ; when, upon examination, I can but trace the 
Spirit in his sanctifying works ! How much more will it comfort 
me to find that the Spirit hath safely conducted me, and left me in 
the arms of Jesus Christ ! What a change was it that the Spirit 
made upon my soul, when he first turned me from darkness to light, 
and from the power of Satan unto God! to be taken from that hor- 



Gi-l THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

rid state of nature, wherein myself and my actions were loathsome 
to God, and the sentence of death was passed upon me, and the Al- 
mighty took me for his utter enemy ; and to be presently numbered 
among his saints, and called his friend, his servant, his son ; and the 
sentence revoked which was gone forth ; oh what a change was this ! 
To be taken from that state wherein I was born, and had lived 
delightfully so many years, and was riveted in it by custom and 
engagements, when thousands of sins did lie upon my score, and if I 
had so died I had been damned for ever ; and to be justified from 
all these enormous crimes, and freed from all these fearful plagues, 
and put into the title of an heir of heaven ; oh what an astonishing 
change was this ! Why, then, consider, how much greater will that 
glorious change then be ; beyond expressing ; beyond conceiving ! 
How oft, when I have thought of this change in my regeneration, 
have I cried out, O blessed day, and blessed be the Lord that I ever 
saw it ! Why, how then should I cry out in heaven, O blessed eter- 
nity, and blessed be the Lord that brought me to it ! Was the 
mercy of my conversion so exceeding great, that the angels of God 
did rejoice to see it ? Sure, then, the mercy of my salvation will 
be so great, that the same angels will congratulate my felicity. 
This grace is but a spark that is raked up in the ashes. It is 
covered with flesh from the sight of the world, and covered with 
corruption sometimes from mine own sight ; but my everlasting 
glory will not be so clouded, nor my light be under a bushel, but 
upon a hill, even upon Sion, the mount of God. 

Sect. XIV. 12. Lastly, Compare the joys which thou shalt have 
above, with those foretastes of it, which the Spirit hath given thee 
here. Judge of the lion by the paw, and of the ocean of joy by that 
drop which thou hast tasted. Thou hast here thy strongest refresh- 
ing comforts, but as that man in hell would have had the water to 
cool him, a little upon the tip of the finger for thy tongue to taste, 
yet by this little thou mayst conjecture at the quality of the whole. 
Hath not God sometimes revealed himself extraordinarily to thy 
soul, and let a drop of glory fall upon it ? Hast thou not been 
ready to say. Oh that it might be thus with my soul continually, 
and that I might always feel what I feel sometimes ? Didst thou 
never cry out with the martyr after thy long and doleful expectations, 
He is come, he is come ? Didst thou never, in a lively sermon of 
heaven, nor in thy retired contemplations on that blessed state, per- 
ceive thy drooping spirits revive, and thy dejected heart to lift up 
the head ; and the light of heaven to break forth to thy soul, as a 
morning star, or as the dawning of the day ? Didst thou never 
perceive thy heart in these duties, to be as the child that Elisha re- 
vived ? to wax warm within thee, and to recover life ? W by, think 
with thyself, then, what is the earnest to this full inheritance ? 
Alas ! all this light that so amazethand rejoiceth me, is but a can- 
dle lighted from heaven, to lead me thither through this world of 
darkness ! If the light of a star in the night be such, or the little 
glimmering at the break of the day, what then is the light of the 
sun at noontide ! If some godly men that we read of, have been 



Chai>. Xll. TllK SAIN rs' hVEULA-STlKLi KKST. (,|.j 

oveiwhehned with joy, till they have cried out, Hold, Luid, ^5lay 
thy hand ; 1 can hear no more ! like weak eyes that cainiot enilure 
too great a light; oh what will then he my joys in heaven, when, as 
the ohject of my joy shall he the most glorious God, so my soul 
shall he made capahle of seeing and enjoying him ! And though 
the light he ten thousand times greater than the sun's, yet my eyes 
shall he able for ever to behold it. 

Or, if thou he one that hast not felt yet these sweet foretastes, 
(for every believer hath not felt them,) then make use of the former 
delights which thou hast felt, that thou mayst the better discern 
what hereafter thou shalt feel. 

And thus I have done with the fifth part of this directory, and 
showed you on what grounds to advance your meditations, and how 
to get them to quicken your affections, by comparing the unseen 
delights of heaven with those smaller which you have seen and felt 
in the flesh. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HOW TO MANAGE AND WATCH OVER THE HEART THROUGH THE 
WHOLE AVORK. 

Sect. I. Sixthly : The sixth and last part of this directory is, to 
guide you in the managing of your hearts through this work, and 
to show you wherein you have need to be exceeding watchful. I 
have showed before what must be done with your hearts in your 
preparations to the work, and in your setting upon it ; I shall now 
show it you in respect of the time of performance. Our chief work 
will here be, to discover to you the danger, and that will direct you 
to the fittest remedy. Let me therefore here acquaint you before- 
hand, that whenever you set upon this heavenly employment, you 
shall find your own hearts your greatest hinderer, and they will 
prove false to you in one or all of these four degrees. First, They will 
hold off, that you will hardly get them to the work. Secondly, Or 
else they will betray you by their idleness in the work, pretending to 
do it, when they do it not. Or, Thirdly, They will interrupt the 
work by their frequent excursions, and turning aside to every ob- 
ject. Or, Fourthly, They will spoil the w^ork by cutting it short, 
and be gone before you have done any good on it. Therefore I here 
forewarn you, as you value the invaluable comfort of this work, 
that you faithfully resist these four dangerous evils, or else all that 
I have said hitherto is in vain. 

1. Thou shalt find thy heart as backward to this, I think, as to 
any work in the world. Oh what excuses it will make ; what eva- 
sions it will find out ; and what delays and denmrs, when it is never 
so much convinced! Either it will question whether it be a duty 
or not; or if it be so to others, yet whether it be so tq thee. It 



tJ16 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, Part IV, 

will take up any thing like reason to plead against it ; it will tell 
thee that this is a work for ministers that have nothing else to study 
on ; or for cloisterers or persons that have more leisure than thou 
hast. If thou be a minister, it will tell thee, This is the duty of 
the people ; it is enough for thee to meditate for the instructing of 
them, and let them meditate on what they have heard ; as if it 
were thy duty only to cook their meat, and serve it up, and perhaps 
a little to taste the sweetness, by licking thy fingers while thou art 
dressing it for others ; but it is they only that must eat it, digest it, 
and live upon it. Indeed, the smell may a little refresh thee, but 
it must be digesting it that must maintain thy strength and life. 
If all this will not serve, thy heart will tell thee of other business ; 
thou hast this company stays for thee, or that business must be 
done. It may be, it will set thee upon some other duty, and so 
make one duty shut out another; for it had rather go to any duty 
than to this. Perhaps it will tell thee that other duties are greater, 
and therefore this must give place to them, because thou hast not 
time for both. Public business is of more concernment; to study, 
to preach for the saving of souls, must be preferred before these 
private contemplations : as if thou hadst no time to see to the 
saving of thine own soul, for looking after others ; or thy charity to 
others were so great, that it draws thee to neglect thy comfort and 
salvation ; or, as if there were any better way to fit us to be useful 
to others, than to make this experience of our doctrine ourselves ! 
Certainly heaven, where is the Father of lights, is the best fire to 
light our candle at, and the best book for a preacher to study ; and, 
if they would be persuaded to study that more, the church would 
be provided of more heavenly lights ; and when their studies are 
divine, and their spirits divine, their preaching will then be also 
divine, and they may be fitly called divines indeed : or if thy heart 
have nothing to say against the work, then it will trifle away the 
time in delays, and promise this day and the next, but still keep off 
from the doing of the business : or lastly, if thou wilt not be so 
baffled with excuses or delays, thy heart will give thee a flat denial, 
and oppose its own unwillingness to thy reason ; thou shalt find it 
come to the work as a bear to the stake, and draw back with all 
the strength it hath. I speak all this of the heart so far as it is 
carnal, (which in too great a measure is in the best,) for I know so 
far as the heart is spiritual, it will judge this work the sweetest in 
the world. 

Well, then, what is to be done in the forementioned case ? Wilt 
thou do it, if I tell thee ? Why, what wouldst thou do with a serv- 
ant that were thus backward to his work ; or to thy beast that 
should draw back when thou wouldst have him go forward ? 
Wouldst not thou first persuade, and then chide, and then spur 
him, and force him on ; and take no denial, nor let him alone till 
thou hadst got him closely to fall to his work ? Wouldst thou not 
say, Why, what should I do with a servant that will not work ; or 
with an ox or horse that will not travel or labour ? Shall I keep 
them to look on ? Wilt thou then faithfully deal thus with thy 



CiiAP. XII. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G17 

heart .' If thou be not a lazy, self-deludhig hypocrite, .say, I will, 
by the help of God, I will. Set upon thy heart roundly, persuade 
it to the work, take no denial ; chide it for its backwardness ; use 
violence with it ; bring it to the service, willing or not willing. 
Art thou the master of thy flesh, or art thou a servant to it ? Hast 
thou no command of thy own thoughts ? Cannot thy will choose 
the subject of thy meditations, especially when thy judgment thus 
directeth thy will ? I am sure God once gave thee mastery over 
thy flesh, and some power to govern thy own thoughts ; hast thou 
lost thy authority ? art thou become a slave to thy depraved nature.' 
Take up the authority again which God hath given thee ; command 
thy heart ; if it rebel, use viohmce with it. If thou be too weak, 
call in the Spirit of Christ to thine assistance. He is never back- 
ward to so good a work, nor will deny his help to so just a cause. 
God will be ready to help thee, if thou be not unwilling to help 
thyself. Say to him, Why, Lord, thou gavest my reason the com- 
mand of my thoughts and affections ; the authority I have received 
over them is from thee, and now, behold, they refuse to obey thine 
authority. Thou commandest me to set them to the work of hea- 
venly meditation, but they rebel, and stubbornly refuse the duty. 
Wilt thou not assist me to execute that authority which thou hast 
given me ? Oh, send me down thy Spirit and power, that I may 
enforce thy commands, and effectually compel them to obey thy 
will. 

And thus doing, thou shalt see thy heart will submit ; its resist- 
ance will be brought under, and its backwardness will be turned to 
a yielding compliance. 

Sect. II. 2. When thou hast got thy heart to the work, beware 
lest it delude thee by a loitering formality ; lest it say, I go, and 
go not ; lest it trifle out the time, while it should be eff"ectually 
meditating. Certainly, the heart is as likely to betray thee in this, 
as in any one particular about the duty ; when thou hast perhaps 
but an hour's time for thy meditation, the time will be spent be- 
fore thy heart will be serious. This doing of duty as if we did it 
not, doth undo as many as the flat omission of it. To rub out the 
hour in a bare, lazy thinking of heaven, is but to lose that hour, 
and delude thyself. Well, what is to be done in this case ? Why, 
do here also as you do by a loitering servant ; keep thine eye always 
upon thy heart ; look not so much to the time it spendeth in the 
duty, as to the quantity and quality of the work that is done. You 
can tell by his work whether your servant hath been painful ; ask, 
What affections have yet been acted ? how much am I yet got 
nearer heaven ? Verily, many a man's heart must be followed as 
close in this duty of meditation, as a horse in a mill, or an ox at 
the plough, that will go no longer than you are calling or scourging. 
If you cease driving but a moment, the heart will stand still ; and 
perhaps the best hearts have much of this temper. 

I would not have thee of the judgment of those, who think that 
while they are so backward, it is better let it alone ; and that if 
mere love will not bring them to the duty, but there must be all 



Gi8- THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Varv IV. 

this violence used to compel it, that then the service is worse than 
the oniission. These men understand not. First, That this argu- 
ment would certainly cashier all spiritual obedience, because the 
hearts of the best being but partly, sanctified, will still be resisting 
so far as they are carnal : Secondly, Nor do they understand well 
the corruptness of their own natures : Thirdly, Nor, that their sin- 
ful undisposedness will not baffle or suspend the commands of God : 
Fourthly, Nor one sin excuse another : Fifthly, Especially they 
little know the way of God to excite their affections ; and that the 
love which should compel them, must itself be first compelled, in 
the same sense as it is said to compel. Love, I know, is a most 
precious grace, and should have the chief interest in all our duties : 
but there be means appointed by God to procure this love ; and 
shall I not use those means, till I can use them from love ? That 
were to neglect the means, till I have the end. Must I not seek 
to procure love, till I have it already ? There are means also for the 
increasing of love where it is begun ; and means for the exciting of 
it where it lieth dull ; and must I not use these means, till it is in- 
creased and excited? Why this reasoning, considering duty that we 
are in hand with, is the most singular means, both to stir up thy 
love, and to increase it ; and therefore stay not from the duty till 
thou feel thy love constrain thee, that were to stay from the fire 
till thou feel thyself warm ; but fall upon the work till thou art 
constrained to love, and then love will constrain thee to further duty.. 

My jealousy, lest thou shouldst miscarry by these sottish opi- 
nions, hath made me more tedious in the opening of their error. 
Let nothing therefore hinder thee while thou art upon the work, 
from plying thy heart with constant watchfulness and constraint, 
seeing thou hast such experience of its dulness and backwardness : 
let the spur be never out of its side ; and whenever it slacks pace, 
be sure to give it remembrance. 

Sect. in. 3. As thy heart will be loitering, so will it be divert- 
ing. It will be turning aside like a careless servant, to talk Avith 
every one that passeth by. When there should be nothing in thy 
mind but the work in hand, it will be thinking of thy calling, or 
thinking of thy afflictions, or of every bird, or tree, or place thou 
seest, or of any impertinency, rather than of heaven. Thy heart 
in this also will be like the husbandman's ox or horse : if he drive 
not, he will not go ; and if he guide not, he will not keep the fur- 
row ; and it is as good stand still, as go out of the way. Experi- 
ence will tell thee thou wilt have much ado with thy heart in this 
point, to keep it one hour to the work, without many extravagances, 
and idle cogitations. The cure here is the same with that before, 
to use watchfulness and violence with your own imaginations, and 
as soon as they step out to chide them in. Say. to thy heart. 
What ! did I come hither to think of my business in the world ; to 
think of places and persons, of news or vanity, yea, or of any thing 
but heaven, be it never so good ? What ! canst thou not watch 
one hour ? Wouldst thou leave this world, and dwell in heaven 
with Christ for ever ? and canst thou not leave it one hour out of 



Chap. XII. THE SAINTS' EVEULASTING UESJ". (,1«J 

Ihy thoughts, nor dwell with Christ in one Iiour's close meditation * 
Ask thy hoiirt, as Ahsaloni did Ilushai, Is this thy love to thy 
friend ! Dost thou love Christ, and the place of thy eternal, bless- 
ed abode, no more than so '. W Ikmi l^haraoh's butler dreamed that 
he i)ressed the ripe grapes into Pharaoh's cup, and delivered the 
cup into the king's hand, it was a happy dream, and signified his 
speedy access to the king's presence ; but the dream of the baker, 
that the birds did eat out of the basket on his head the baked 
meats prepared for Pharaoh, had an ill omen, and signified his 
hanging, and their eating of his flesh. Gen. xl. 10, 11, &c. So 
when the ripened grapes of heavenly meditation are pressed by thee 
into the cup of affection, and this put into the hands of Christ by 
delightful praises, if thou take me for skilful, this is the interpreta- 
tion, that thou shalt shortly be taken from this prison where thou 
liest, and be set before Christ in the court of heaven, and there 
serve up to him that cup of praise, but much fuller and much 
sweeter, for ever and ever. But if the ravenous fowls of wander- 
ing thoughts do devour the meditations intended for heaven, I will 
not say flatly, it signifies thy death ; but this I will say, that so far 
as these intrude, they will be the death of that service ; and if thou 
ordinarily admit them, that they devour the life and the joy of thy 
thoughts ; and if thou continue in such a way of duty to the end, 
it signifies the death of thy soul, as well as of thy service. Drive 
away these birds of prey, then, from thy sacrifice, and strictly keep 
thy heart to the work thou art upon. 

Sect. IV. 4, Lastly, Be sure also to look to thy heart in this, 
that it cut not off the work before the time, and run not away 
through weariness, before it have leave. Thou shalt find it will be 
exceeding prone to this, like the ox that would unyoke, or the horse 
that would be unburdened, and perhaps cast off his burden, and 
run away. Thou mayst easily perceive this in other duties : if in 
secret thou set thyself to pray, is not thy heart urging thee still to 
cut it short ; dost thou not frequently find a motion to have done ; 
art thou not ready to be up as soon almost as thou art down on thy 
knees ? Why, so it will be also in thy contemplations of heaven : 
as fast as thou gettest up thy heart, it will be down again ; it will 
be weary of the work ; it will be minding thee of other business to 
be done, and stop thy heavenly walk, before thou art well v.arm. 
Well, what is to be done in this case also? Why, the same 
authority and resolution which brought it to the work, and ob- 
served it in the work, must also hold it to it, till the work be done. 
Charge it in the name of God to stay : do not so great a work by 
the halves : say to it. Why, foolish heart ! if thou beg awhile, and 
go away before thou hast thy alms, dost thou not lose thy labour { 
if thou stop before thou art at the end of thy journey, is not every 
step of thy travel lost ? Thou earnest hither to fetch a walk to 
heaven, in hope to have a sight of the glory which thou must in- 
herit ; and wilt thou stop when thou art almost at the top of the 
hill ; and turn again before thou hast taken thy survey '{ Thou 
earnest hither in hope to speak with God, and wilt thou go before 



620 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

thou hast seen him ? Thou earnest to bathe thyself in the streams 
of consolation, and to that end didst unclothe thyself of thy 
earthly thoughts ; and wilt thou put a foot in, and so be gone ? 
Thou earnest to spy out the land of promise ; O go not back with 
the bunch of grapes, which thou mayst show to thy brethren, when 
thou comest home, for their confirmation and encouragement, till 
thou canst tell them by experience, that it is a land flowing with 
wine and oil, with milk and honey. Let them see that thou hast 
tasted of the wine, by the gladness of thy heart ; and that thou 
hast been anointed with the oil, by the cheerfulness of thy counte- 
nance, Psal. civ. 15 : let them see that thou hast tasted of the milk 
of the land, by thy feeding, and by thy mild and gentle disposition ; 
and of the honey, by the sweetness of thy words and conversation. 
The views of heaven would heal thee of thy sinfulness, and of thy 
sadness ; but thou must hold on the plaster, that it may have time 
to work : this heavenly fire would melt thy frozen heart, and refine 
it from the dross, and take away the earthly part, and leave the rest 
more spiritual and pure ; but then thou must not be presently gone, 
before it have time either to burn or warm. Stick, therefore, to 
the work, till something be done ; till thy graces be acted, thy 
affections raised, and thy soul refreshed with the delights above ; 
or if thou canst not obtain these ends at once, ply it the closer the 
next time, and let it not go till thou feel the blessing. " Blessed is 
that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing," 
Matt. xxiv. 46. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

THE ABSTRACT, OR SUM OF ALL, FOR THE USE OF THE WEAK. 

Sect. L Thus I have, by the gracious assistance of the Spirit, 
directed you in this work of heavenly contemplation, and lined 
you out the best way that I know for your successful performance, 
and led you into the path where you may walk with God. But 
because I would bring it down to the capacity of the meanest, and 
help their memories who are apt to let slip the former particulars, 
and cannot well lay together the several branches of this method, 
that they may reduce them to practice, I shall here contract the 
whole into a brief sum, and lay it all before you in a narrower com- 
pass. But still, reader, I wish thee to remember, that it is the 
practice of a duty that I am directing thee in, and therefore, if 
thou wilt not practise it, do not read it. 

The sum is this, — As thou makest conscience of praying daily, 
so do thou of the acting of thy graces in meditation ; and more 
especially in meditating on the joys of heaven. To this end, set 
apart one hour or half hour every day, wherein thou mayst lay 
aside all worldly thoughts, and with all possible seriousness and 



CiiAP. Xin. THE SAINTS' FA-EHLASTlN(i REST. (j'il 

reverence, as if thou wert going to speak with God himself, or to 
have a sight of Christ, or of tliat blessed place; so do thou with- 
draw thyself into some secret place, and set thyself wholly to the 
following work : if thou canst, take Isaac's time and place, wlio 
went forth into the field in the evening to meditate ; but if thou be 
a servant, or poor man, that cannot have that leisure, take the 
fittest time and place that thou canst, though it be when thou art 
private about thy labours. 

\\'hen thou settest to the work, look up toward heaven ; let thine 
eye lead thee as near as it can : remember that there is thine ever- 
lasting rest : study its excellency, study its reality, till thy unbelief 
be silenced, and thy faith prevail. If thy judgment be not yet 
drawn to admiration, use those sensible helps and advantages which 
were even now laid down. Compare thy heavenly joys with the 
choicest on earth, and so rise up from sense to faith ; if yet this 
mere consideration prevail not, (which yet hath much force, as is 
before expressed,) then fall a pleading the case with thy heart : 
preach upon this text of heaven to thyself; convince, inform, con- 
fute, instruct, reprove, examine, admonish, encourage, and comfort 
thy own soul from this celestial doctrine : draw forth those several 
considerations of thy rest, on which thy several affections may 
\vork, especially that affection or grace which thou intendest to act. 
If it be love which thou wouldst act, show it the loveliness of 
heaven, and how suitable it is to thy condition : if it be desire, 
consider of thy absence from this lovely object : if it be hope, con- 
sider the possibility and probability of obtaining it : if it be courage, 
consider the singular assistance and encouragements which thou 
mayst receive from God, the weakness of thy enemy, and the ne- 
cessity of prevailing : if it be joy, consider of its excellent ravish- 
ing glory, of the interest in it, and of its certainty, and the 
nearness of the time w^hen thou mayst possess it. Urge these con- 
siderations home to thy heart ; whet them with all possible serious- 
ness upon each affection. If thy heart draw back, force it to the 
work : if it loiter, spur it on : if it step aside, command it in again : 
if it would slip away, and leave the work, use thine authority ; keep 
it close to the business, till thou have obtained thine end : stir not 
away, if it may be, till thy love do flame, till thy joy be raised, or 
till thy desire or other graces be livelily acted. Call in assistance 
also from God ; mix ejaculations with thy cogitations and solilo- 
quies ; till having seriously pleaded the case with thy heart, and 
reverently pleaded the case with God, thou hast pleaded thyself 
from a clod to a flame ; from a forgetful sinner to a mindful lover ; 
from a lover of the world, to a thirster after God ; from a fearful 
coward, to a resolved Christian ; from an unfruitful sadness, to a 
joyful life. In a word, what will not be done one day, do it the 
next, till thou have pleaded thy heart from earth to heaven ; from 
conversing below, to a walking with God ; and till thou canst lay 
thy heart to rest, as in the bosom of Christ, in this meditation of 
thy full and everlasting rest. 

And this is the sum of these precedent directions. 



022' THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AN KXAMPLE OF THIS HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION, FOR THE HELF 
OF THE UNSKILFUL. 

There rcmaincth a refit to the people of God. 

Sect. I. Rest ; how sweet a word is this to mine ears ! Methinks 
the sound doth turn to suhstance, and having entered at the ear, 
doth possess my brain; and thence descendeth down to my very 
heart : methinks I feel it stir and work, and that through all my 
parts and powers, but with a various work upon my various parts. 
To my wearied senses and languid spirits it seems a quieting, 
powerful opiate ; to my dulled powers it is spirit and life ; to my 
dark eyes it is both eye-salve and a prospective ; to my taste it is 
sweetness ; to mine ears it is melody ; to my hands and feet it is 
strength and nimbleness. Methinks I feel it digest as it proceeds, 
and increase my native heat and moisture ; and, lying as a reviving 
cordial at my heart, from thence doth send forth lively spirits, 
which beat through all the pulses of my soul. Rest, — not as the 
stone that rests on the earth, nor as these clods of flesh shall rest 
in the grave ; so our beasts must rest as well as we : nor is it the 
satisfying of our fleshly lusts, nor such rest as the carnal world de- 
sireth : no, no ; we have another kind of rest than these : rest we 
shall from all our labours, which were but the way and means to 
rest, but yet that is the smallest part. O blessed rest, where we 
shall never rest day or night, crying, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
of sabbaths :" when we shall rest from sin, but not from worship ; 
from suffering and sorrow, 1)ut not from solace ! O blessed day, 
when I shall rest with God ; when I shall rest in the arms and 
bosom of my Lord ; when I shall rest in knowing, loving, rejoicing, 
and praising ; when my perfect soul and body together, shall in 
these perfect actings perfectly enjoy the most perfect God ; when 
God also, who is love itself, shall perfectly love me ; yea, and rest 
in his love to me, as I shall rest in my love to him, and rejoice over 
me with joy and singing, Zeph. iii. 17, as I shall rejoice in him ! 
How near is that most blessed, joyful day ! It comes apace ; even 
he that comes will come, and will not tarry. Though my Lord do 
seem to delay his coming, yet a little while and he will be here. 
What is a few hundred years when they are over ! How surely 
will his sign appear, and how suddenly will he seize upon the care- 
less world ! Even as the lightning that shines from east to west in 
a moment, he who has gone hence will even so return. Methinks 
I even hear the voice of his foregoers ; methinks I see him coming 
in the clouds, with the attendance of his angels, in majesty and 
in glory. O poor, secure sinners, what will you now do '. Where 
will you hide yourselves, or what shall cover you ? Mountains are 
gone ; the earth and heavens that were, are passed away ; the de- 



UnAi'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVKULASTING REST. 023 

voiuing fire hath consumed all except yourselves, wlio must he the 
fuel for ever. Oh that you could consume as soon as the (jarth, 
and melt away as did the heavens ! Ah, these wishes are now hut 
vain: the L.amh himself would have l)een your friend; he would 
have loved you and ruled you, and now have saved you ; hut you 
would not tlicn, and now is too late. Never cry, Lord, Lord ; too 
late, too late, man ! Why dost thou look al)out { Can any save 
thee? A\'hither dost thou run ? Can any hide thee? O wretch, 
that hast brought thyself to this ! Now, blessed saints that have 
believed and obeyed, this is the end of faith and patience ; this is 
it for which you prayed and waited : do you now repent your suf- 
ferings and sorrows, your self-denying, and holy walking ? Are 
your tears of repentance now bitter or sweet ? O, see how the 
Judge doth smile upon you ; there is love in his looks ; the titles 
of Redeemer, Husband, Head, are written in his amiable, shining 
face. Hark, doth he not call you ? He bids you stand here on 
his right hand ; fear not, for there he sets his sheep. O joyful 
sentence, pronounced by that blessed mouth : " Come, ye blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the found- 
ations of the world." See how your Saviour takes you by the 
hand ; go along you must, the door is open, the kingdom is his, 
and therefore yours. There is your place before his throne ; the 
Father receiveth you as the spouse of his Son ; he bids you welcome 
to the crown of glory: never so unworthy, crowned you must be. 
This was the project of free redeeming grace, and this was the 
purpose of eternal love. O blessed grace ! O blessed love ! Oh 
the frame that my soul will then be in ! Oh, how love and joy will 
stir ! But I cannot express it ; I cannot conceive it. 

This is that joy which was procured by sorrow : this is that 
crown which was procured by the cross. Aly Lord did weep, that 
now my tears might be wiped away ; he did bleed, that I might 
now rejoice ; he was forsaken, that I might not now be forsaken ; 
he did then die, that I might now live. This weeping, wounded 
Lord shall I behold ; this bleeding Saviour shall I see, and live in 
him that died for me. Oh, free mercy, that can exalt so vile a 
wretch ! Free to me, though dear to Christ ; free grace that hath 
chosen me, when thousands were forsaken ; when my companions 
in sin must burn in hell, and I must here rejoice in rest. Here 
must I live with all these saints : O comfortable meeting of my 
old acquaintance, with whom I prayed, and wept, and suffered ; 
with whom I spake of this day and place. I see the grave could 
not contain you; the sea and earth must give up their dead; the 
same love hath redeemed and saved you also. This is not like our 
cottages of clay, nor like our prisons, or earthly dwellings ; this 
voice of joy is not like our old complainings, our groans, our sighs, 
our impatient moans ; nor this melodious praise like our scorns and 
revilings, nor like the oaths and curses which we heard on earth ; 
this body is not like the body we had, nor this soul like the soul we 
had, nor this life like the life that then we lived. We have changed 
our place, we have changed our state, our clothes, our thoughts, 



624 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Taut IV. 

our looks, our language ; we have changed our company for the 
greater part, and the rest of our company is changed itself. Be- 
fore, a saint was weak and despised, so full of pride, and peevish- 
ness, and other sins, that we could scarce ofttimes discern their 
graces ; but now how glorious a thing is a saint ! Where is now 
their body of sin which wearied themselves and those about them ? 
Where are now our different judgments, our reproachful titles, our 
divided spirits, our exasperated passions, our strange looks, our un- 
charitable censures ? Now we are all of one judgment, of one 
name, of one heart, of one house, and of one glory. O sweet re- 
concilement ! O happy union ! which makes us first to be one with 
Christ, and then to be one among ourselves. Now, our differences 
shall be dashed in our teeth no more, nor the gospel reproached 
through our folly or scandal. • O my soul, thou shalt never more 
lament the sufferings of the saints, never more condole the church's 
ruins, never bewail thy suffering friends, nor lie wailing over their 
death-beds, or their graves ; thou shalt never suffer thy old tempta- 
tions from Satan, the world, or thy own flesh ; thy body will no 
more be such a burden to thee ; thy pains and sicknesses are all 
now cured ; thou shalt be troubled with weakness and weariness no 
more ; thy head is not now an aching head, nor thy heart now an 
aching heart ; thy hunger, and thirst, and cold, and sleep, thy labour 
and study, are all gone. Oh what a mighty change is this ! from 
the dunghill to the throne ; from persecuting sinners to praising 
saints ; from a body as vile as the carrion in the ditch, to a body 
as bright as the sun in the firmament ; from complainings under 
the displeasure of God, to the perfect enjoyment of him in love ; 
from all my doubts and fears of my condition to this possession 
which hath put me out of doubt ; from all my fearful thoughts of 
death to this most blessed, joyful life ! Oh what a blessed change 
is this ! Farewell, sin and suffering, for ever ; farewell, my hard 
and rocky heart ; farewell, my proud and unbelieving heart ; fare- 
well, atheistical, idolatrous, worldly heart ; farewell, my sensual, 
carnal heart : and now welcome, most holy, heavenly nature, w^hich, 
as it must be employed in beholding the face of God, so is it full of 
God alone, and delighteth in nothing else but him. Oh, who can 
question the love which he doth so sweetly taste, or doubt of that 
which with such joy he feeleth ! Farewell, repentance, confession, 
and supplication ; fareweD, the most of hope and faith ; and wel- 
come, love, and joy, and praise. I shall now have my harvest 
without ploughing or sowing, my wine without the labour of the 
vintage, my joy without a preacher or a promise, even all from the 
face of God himself. That is the sight that is worth the seeing ; 
that is the book that is worth the reading. Whatever mixture is 
in the streams, there is nothing but pure joy in the fountain. Here 
shall 1 be encircled with eternity, and come forth no more ; here 
shall I live, and ever live, and praise my Lord, and ever, ever, ever 
praise him. My face will not wrinkle, nor my hair be grey ; but 
this mortal shall have put on immortality, and this corruptible, in- 
corruption, and death shall be swallowed up in victory. O death ! 



Chai'. XIV. THE SAINTS' K\ EULASTING REST. 025 

where is now thy sting i* O grave ! where is thy victory .' The date 
of my lease will no more expire, nor shall I trouhle myself with 
thoughts of death, nor lose my joys through fear of losing them. 
When millions of ages are past, my glory is hut heginning ; and 
when millions more are past, it is no nearer ending. Every day is 
all noon-tide, and every month is May or harvest, and every year 
is there a jubilee, and every age is full of manhood ; and all this 
is one eternity. O blessed eternity ! the glory of my glory ! the 
perfection of my perfection ! 

Ah, drowsy, earthy, blockish heart, how coldly dost thou think 
of this reviving day ! Dost thou sleep, when thou thinkest of 
eternal rest ? Art thou hanging earthward, when heaven is before 
thee ? Hadst thou rather sit thee down in dirt and dung, than 
walk in the court of the palace of God i Dost thou now remember 
thy worldly business ; art thou looking back to the Sodom of thy 
lusts ; art thou thinking of thy delights and merry company ? 
Wretched heart ! is it better to be there, than above with God ; is 
the company better ; are the pleasures greater ? Come away, make 
no excuse, make no delay ; God commands, and I command thee, 
come away ; gird up thy loins ; ascend the mount, and look about 
thee with seriousness and with faith. Look thou not back upon 
the way of the wilderness, except it be when thine eyes are dazzled 
with the glory, or when thou wouldst compare the kingdom with 
that howling desert, that thou mayst more sensibly perceive the 
mighty difference. Fix thine eye upon the sun itself, and look not 
down to earth as long as thou art able to behold it ; except it be to 
discern more easily the brightness of the one, by the darkness of 
the other. Yonder, far above yonder, is thy Father's glory ; yon- 
der must thou dwell when thou leavest this earth ; yonder must 
thou remove, O my soul, when thou departest from this body ; and 
when the power of thy Lord hath raised it again, and joined thee 
to it, yonder thou must live with God for ever. There is the glo- 
rious new Jerusalem, the gates of pearl, the foundations of pearl, 
the streets and pavements of transparent gold. Seest thou that 
sun which lighteth all this world ? Why, it must be taken down as 
useless there, or the glory of heaven will darken it, and put it out : 
even thyself shall be as bright as yonder shining sun. God will be 
the sun, and Christ the light, and in his light shalt thou have light. 

What thinkest thou, O my soul, of this most blessed state ? 
What ! dost thou stagger at the promise of God through unbelief? 
Though thou say nothing, or profess belief, yet thou speakest so 
coldly and so customarily, that I much suspect thee. 1 know thy 
infidelity is thy natural vice. Didst thou believe indeed, thou 
wouldst be more affected with it. Why, hast thou not it under the 
hand, and seal, and oath of God ? Can God lie ; or he that is the 
truth itself, be false ? Foolish wretch ! What need hath God to 
flatter thee, or deceive thee ; why should he promise thee more 
than he will perform ? Art thou not his creature, a little crumb of 
dust, a crawling worm ; ten thousand times more below him, than 
this fly or worm is below thee ? Wouldst thou flatter a flea, or a 

2 s 



626 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

womi ? What need hast thou of them ? If they do not please 
thee, thou wilt crush them dead, and never accuse thyself of cruelty : 
why, yet they are thy fellow creatures, made of as good metal as 
thyself, and thou hast no authority over them but what thou hast 
received : how much less fieed hath God of thee ! or why should 
he care, if thou perish in thy folly ? Cannot he govern thee with- 
out either flattery or falsehood ? Cannot he easily make thee obey 
his will, and as easily make thee suffer for thy disobedience ? 
Wretched, unbelieving heart ! tell a fool, or tell a tyrant, or tell 
some false and flattering man, of drawing their subjects by false 
promises, and procuring obedience by deceitful means ; but do thou 
not dare to charge the wise, almighty, faithful God with this. 
Above all men, it beseems not thee to doubt, either of this Scrip- 
ture being his infallible word, or of the performance of this word to 
thyself. Hath not argument convinced thee ; may not thy own 
experience utterly silence thee ? How oft hath this Scripture been 
verified for thy good ! how many of the promises have been per- 
formed to thee ! Hath it not quickened thee, and converted thee ? 
hast thou not felt in it something more than human ? Would God 
perform another promise ; or would he so powerfully concur with a 
feigned word ? If thou hadst seen the miracles that Christ and his 
apostles wrought, thou wouldst never sure have questioned the truth 
of their doctrine : why, they delivered it down by such undoubted 
testimony, that it may be called divine as well as human. Nay, 
hast thou not seen its prophecies fulfilled ; hast thou not lived in 
an age wherein such wonders have been wrought, that thou hast 
now no cloak for thy unbelief; hast thou not seen the course of 
nature changed, and works beyond the power of nature wrought ; 
and all this in the fulfilling of the Scripture ? Hast thou so soon 
forgotten since nature failed me, and strength failed me, and blood, 
and spirits, and flesh, and friends, and all means did utterly fail ; 
and how art and reason had sentenced me for dead ; and yet how 
God revoked the sentence ; and at the request of praying, believing 
saints, did turn thee to the promise which he verified to thee ; and 
canst thou yet question the truth of this Scripture ? Hast thou 
seen so much to confirm thy faith, in the great actions of seven 
years past, and canst thou yet doubt ? Thou hast seen signs and 
wonders, and art thou yet so unbelieving ? O wretched heart ! 
hath God made thee a promise of rest, and wilt thou come short of 
it, and shut out thyself through unbelief I Thine eyes may fail 
thee, thy ears deceive thee, and all thy senses prove delusions, 
sooner than a promise of God can delude thee. Thou mayst be 
surer of that which is written in the word, than if thou see it with 
thine eyes, or feel it with thy hands. Art thou sure thou livest, or 
sure that this is earth which thou standest on ? Art thou sure 
thine eyes do see the sun ? As sure is all this glory to the saints, 
as sure shall I be higher than yonder stars, and live for ever in the 
holy city, and joyfully sound forth the praise of my Redemer, if I 
be not shut out by this evil heart of unbelief, causing me to depart 
from the living God. 



Chai'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 027 

And is this rest so sweet, and so sure ^ Oh, then, what means 
the careless world .' Do they know what it is they so neglect ; did 
they ever hear of it, or are they yet asleep, or are they dead ? Do 
they know for certain that the crown is before them, while they 
thus sit still, or follow trifles ? Undoubtedly they are quite beside 
themselves, to mind so much their provision in the way, and strive, 
and care, and labour for trifles, when they are hasting so fast to 
another world, and their eternal happiness lies at stake. Were 
there left one spark of wit or reason, they would never sell their 
rest for toil, or sell their glory for worldly vanities, nor venture 
heaven for the pleasure of a sin. Ah, poor men ! that you would 
once consider what you hazard, and then you would scorn these 
tempting baits. Oh, blessed for ever be that love that hath rescued 
me from this mad, bewitching darkness ! 

Draw nearer yet, then, O my soul, bring forth . , . 
thy strongest burning love ; here is matter for it 
to work upon ; here is something truly worth thy loving. Oh see 
what beauty presents itself! is it not exceeding lovely? is not all 
the beauty in the world contracted here ? is not all other beauty 
deformity to it ? dost thou need to be persuaded how to love ! 
Here is a feast for thine eyes ; a feast for all the powers of thy 
soul : dost thou need to be entreated to feed upon it ? canst thou 
love a little shining earth ; canst thou love a walking piece of clay ; 
and canst thou not love that God, that Christ, that glory, which is 
so truly and unmeasurably lovely ! Thou canst love thy friend, 
because he loves thee ; and is the love of thy friend like the love of 
Christ ? Their weeping or bleeding for thee, doth not ease thee, 
nor stay the course of thy tears or blood : but the tears and blood 
that fell from thy Lord, have all a sovereign healing virtue, and are 
waters of life, and balsam to thy faintings and thy sores. O my 
soul, if ^love deserve and should procure love, what incomprehen- 
sible love is here before thee ! Pour out all the store of thy af- 
fections here ; and all is too little. Oh that it were more ! Oh 
that it were many thousand times more ! Let him be first served, 
that served thee first. Let him have the first-born and strength 
of thy love, who parted with strength and life in love to thee. If 
thou hast any to spare when he liath his part, let it be imparted 
then to standers-by. See what a sea of love is here before thee ; 
cast thyself in, and swim with the arms of thy love in this ocean of 
his love. Fear not lest thou shouldst be drowned or consumed in 
it. Though it seem as the scalding furnace of lead, yet thou wilt 
find it but mollifying oil :* though it seem a furnace of fire, and the 
hottest that "ever was kindled upon earth, yet it is the fire of love 
and not of wrath ; a fire most effectual to extinguish fire ; never 
intended to consume, but to glorify thee : venture into it, then, in 
thy believing meditations, and walk in these flames with the Son of 
God: when thou art once in, thou wilt be sorry to come forth 
again. O my soul ! what wantest thou here to provoke thy love ? 
Dost thou love for excellency ? Why, thou seest nothing below 
* In which it iS said St. John was cast, and came out anointed only. 

2 s 2 



628 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

but baseness, except as they relate to thy enjoyments above. 
Yonder is the Goshen, the region of light ; this is a land of pal- 
pable darkness. Yonder twinkling stars, that shining moon, the 
radiant sun, are all but as the lanterns hanged out at thy Father's 
house, to light thee while thou walkest in the dark streets of the 
earth : but little dost thou know (ah, little indeed !) the glory and 
blessed mirth that is within ! Dost thou love for suitableness ? 
Why, what person more suitable than Christ? His Godhead, his 
manhood, his fulness, his freeness, his willingness, his constancy, 
do all proclaim him thy most suitable friend. What state more 
suitable to thy misery, than that of mercy ; or to thy sinfulness 
and baseness, than that of honour and perfection ? What place 
more suitable to thee than heaven ? Thou hast had a sufficient 
trial of this world. Dost thou find it agree with thy nature or 
desires ; are these common abominations, these heavy sufferings, 
these unsatisfying vanities, suitable to thee ? Or dost thou love for 
interest and near relation ? Why, where hast thou better interest 
than in heaven ; or where hast thou nearer relation than there ? 
Dost thou love for acquaintance and familiarity ? Why, though 
thine eyes have never seen thy Lord, yet he is never the farther 
from thee ; if thy son were blind, yet he would love thee his father, 
though he never saw thee. Thou hast heard the voice of Christ to 
thy very heart ; thou hast received his benefits ; thou hast lived in 
his bosom ; and art thou not yet acquainted with him ? It is he 
that brought thee seasonably and safely into the world : it is he 
that nursed thee up in thy tender infancy, and helped thee when 
thou couldst not help thyself: he taught thee to go, to speak, to 
read, to understand : he taught thee to know thyself and him : he 
opened thee that first window whereby thou sawest into heaven. 
Hast thou forgotten since thy heart was careless, and he did quicken 
it ; and hard and stubborn, and he did soften it, and make it yield ; 
when it was at peace, and he did trouble it ; and whole, till he 
did break it ; and broken, till he did heal it again ? Hast thou 
forgotten the time, nay, the many, very many times, when he found 
thee in secret all in tears ; when he heard thy dolorous sighs and 
groans, and left all to come and comfort thee ; when he came in 
upon thee, and took thee up, as it were in his arms, and asked 
thee. Poor soul, what aileth thee ? Dost thou weep, when I have 
wept so much ? Be of good cheer ; thy wounds are saving, and 
not deadly. It is I that have made them, who mean thee no hurt : 
though I let out thy blood, I will not let out thy life. 

O methinks I remember yet his voice, and feel those embracing 
arms that took me up : how gently did he handle me ! how care- 
fully did he dress my wounds, and bind them up ! Methinks I 
hear him still saying to me. Poor sinner, though thou hast dealt 
unkindly with me, and cast me off, yet will not I do so by thee ; 
though thou hast set light by me and all my mercies, yet both 
I and all are thine : what wouldst thou have, that I can give 
thee ; and what dost thou want that I cannot give thee ? If any 
thing I have will pleasure thee, thou shalt have it : if any thing 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 029 

ill heaven or earth will make thee happy, why it is all thine own. 
Wouklst thou have pardon { thou .slialt have it ; I freely forgive 
thee all the debt. Wouldst thou have; grace and peace .' thou shalt 
have them both. Wouldst tliou have myself.' why, behold, I am 
thine, thy Friend, thy Lord, thy Brother, thy Husband, and thy 
Head. \\'ouldst thou have the Father ? why I will bring thee to 
him ; and thou shalt have him in and by me. These were my 
Lord's reviving words : these were the melting, healing, raising, 
<]uickening passages of love. After all this, when I was doubtful 
of his love, niethinks I yet remember his overcoming and con- 
vincing arguments. Why, sinner, have I done so much to testify 
my love, and yet dost thou doubt .'' Have I made thy believing it 
the condition of enjoying it, and yet dost thou doubt ? Have I 
otfered thee myself and love so long, and yet dost thou question my 
willingness to be thine ? Why, what could I have done more than 
I have done ; at what dearer rate should I tell thee that I love 
thee i Read yet the story of my l)itter passion ; wilt thou not be- 
lieve that it proceeded from love ? Did I ever give thee cause to 
be so jealous of me, or to think so hardly of me, as thou dost ? Have 
I made myself in the gospel a lion to thine enemies, and a lamb to 
thee ; and dost thou so overlook my lamb-like nature ? Have I set 
mine arms and heart there open to thee, and wilt thou not believe 
but they are shut? Why, if I had been willing to let thee perish, 
I could have done it at a cheaper rate. What need I then have 
done and suiFered so much ; w hat need I follow thee with so long 
patience, and entreating ? What dost thou tell me of thy wants ; 
have I not enough for me and thee ? And why dost thou foolishly 
tell me of thy unworthiness, and thy sin ? I had not died, if man 
had not sinned : if thou wert not a sinner, thou wert not for me ; if 
thou wert worthy thyself, what shouldst thou do with my worthi- 
ness ? Did I ever invite the worthy and the righteous ; or did I 
ever save or justify such ; or is there any such on earth ? Hast thou 
nothing ; art thou lost and miserable ; art thou helpless and forlorn ? 
Dost thou believe that I am a sufficient Saviour, and \vouldst thou 
have me ? Why then take me ; lo ! I am thine ; if thou be willing, 
I am willing, and neither sin nor devils shall break the match. 

These, O these w^ere the blessed words which his Spirit from his 
gospel spoke unto me, till he made me cast myself at his feet, yea, 
into his arms, and to cry out, My Saviour and my Lord, thou hast 
])roke my heart, thou hast revived my heart, thou hast overcome, 
thou hast won my heart ; take it, it is thine : if such a heart can 
please thee, take it ; if it cannot, make it such as thou wouldst 
have it. Thus, O my soul, mayst thou remember the sweet fa- 
miliarity thou hast had with Christ ; therefore, if acquaintance will 
cause affection, O then let out thy heart unto him : it is he that 
hath stood by thy bed of sickness, that hath cooled thy heats, and 
eased thy pains, and refreshed thy weariness, and removed thy 
fears ; he hath been always ready, when thou hast earnestly sought 
him ; he hath given thee the meeting in public and in private ; he 
hath been found of thee in the congregation, in thy house, in thy 



630 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

chamber, in the field, in the way as thou wast walking, in thy 
waking nights, in thy deepest dangers. Oh, if bounty and compas- 
sion be an attractive of love, how unmeasurably, then, am I bound 
to love him ! All the mercies that have filled up my life do tell 
me this ; all the places that ever I did abide in, all the societies and 
persons that I have had to deal with, every condition of life that I 
have passed through, all my employments, and all my relations, 
every change that hath befallen me, all tell me that the fountain is 
overflowing goodness. Lord ! what a sum of love am I indebted to 
thee, and how doth my debt continually increase ! How should I 
love again for so much love ! But what ! shall I dare to think of 
making thee requital ; or of recompensing all thy love with mine ? 
Will my mite requite thee for thy golden mines ; my seldom wishes 
for thy constant bounty ; or mine which is nothing, or not mine, for 
thine which is infinite, and thine own ? Shall I dare to contend in 
love with thee ; or set my borrowed, languid spark, against the ele- 
ment and sun of love ? Can I love as high, as deep, as broad, as 
long as Love itself? as much as he that made me, and that made 
me love, that gave me all that little Avhich I have ? Both the heart, 
the hearth where it is kindled, the bellows, the fire, the fuel, and 
all were his : as I cannot match thee in the works of thy power, 
nor make, nor, preserve, nor guide the world, so why should I think 
any more of matching thee in love ? No, Lord, I yield, I am un- 
able, I am overcome. O blessed conquest ! go on victoriously, and 
still prevail, and triumph in thy love ; the captive of love shall pro- 
claim thy victory when thou leadest me in triumph from earth to 
heaven, from death to life, from the tribunal to the throne. Myself, 
and all that see it, shall acknowledge that thou hast prevailed, and 
all shall say, " Behold how he loved him !" Yet let me love thee 
in subjection to thy love, as thy redeemed captive, though not thy 
peer. Shall I not love at all, because I cannot reach thy measure ? 
Or at least, let me heartily wish to love thee. Oh that I were 
able ! Oh that I could feelingly say, I love thee, even as I feel I 
love my friend and myself ! Lord, that I could do it ! but, alas ! I 
cannot ; fain I would, but, alas ! I cannot. Would I not love thee, 
if I Avere but able ? Though I cannot say, as thy apostle, Thou 
knowest that I love thee, yet can I say, Lord, thou knowest that I 
would love thee. But I speak not this to excuse my fault ; it is a 
crime that admits of no excuse, and it is my own ; it dwelleth as 
near me as my very heart ; if my heart be my own, this sin is my 
own, yea, and more my own than my heart is. Lord, what shall 
this sinner do ? the fault is my own, and yet I cannot help it. I 
am angry with my heart that it doth not love thee, and yet I feel it 
love thee never the more ; I frown upon it, and yet it cares not ; I 
threaten it, but it doth not feel ; I chide it, and yet it doth not 
mend ; I reason with it, and would fain persuade it, and yet I do 
not perceive it stir ; I rear it up as a carcass upon its legs, but it 
neither goes nor stands ; I rub and chafe it in the use of thine 
ordinances, and yet I feel it not warm within me. O miserable 
man that I am ! Unworthy soul ! is not thine eye now upon the 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 031 

only lovely object ? and art thou not beholden to the ravishing 
glory of the saints ? and yet dost thou not love ? and yet dost thou 
not foel the fire break forth { Why, art thou not a soul, a living 
spirit ? and is not thy love the choicest piece of thy life ? Art 
thou not a rational soul .' and shouldst thou not love according to 
reason's conduct ? And doth it not tell thee that all is dirt and 
dung to Christ ; that earth is a dungeon to the celestial glory ? 
Art thou not a spirit thyself, and shouldst thou not love spirit- 
ually ; even God, who is a Spirit, and the Father of spirits ? Doth 
not evory creature love their like .' AN hy, my soul, art thou like 
to flesh, or gold, or stately buildings? Art thou like to meat and 
drink, or clothes ? A\'ilt thou love no higher than thy horse or 
swine ? Hast thou nothing better to love than they ? What is the 
beauty that thou hast so admired ? Canst thou not even wink or 
think it all into darkness or deformity ? When the night comes, 
it is nothing to thee ; while thou hast gazed on it, it hath withered 
away ; a botch or scab, the wrinkles of consuming sickness, or of 
age, do make it as loathsome as it was before delightful. Suppose 
but that thou sawest that beautiful carcass lying on the bier, or 
rotting in the grave, the skull dug up, and the bones scattered ; 
where is now thy lovely object ? Couldst thou sweetly embrace it 
when the soul is gone ; or take any pleasure in it, when there is 
nothing left that is like thyself!" Ah! why then dost thou love a 
skinful of dirt, and canst love no more the heavenly glory ? What 
thinkest thou ? Shalt thou love when thou comest there ; when 
thou seest ; when thou dost enjoy ; when the Lord shall take thy 
carcass from the grave, and make thee shine as the sun in glory, 
and when thou shalt everlastingly dwell in the blessed presence ? 
Shalt thou then love, or shalt thou not ? Is not the place a meeting 
of lovers ? Is not the life a state of love ? Is it not the great 
marriage-day of the Lamb, when he will embrace and entertain 
his spouse with love ? Is not the employment there the work of 
love, w here the souls with Christ do take their fill ? O, then, my 
soul, begin it here. ]3e sick of love now, that thou mayst be well 
with love there. Cant. v. 8; Rom. viii. 35; keep thyself now in 
the love of God, Jude 21, and let neither life nor death nor any 
thing separate thee from it, and thou shalt be kept in the fulness 
of love for ever, and nothing shall imbitter or abate thy pleasure ; 
for the Lord hath prepared a city of love, a place for the com- 
municating of love to his chosen, and those that love his name 
shall dwell there, Psal. Ixix. 30. 

Away, then, O my drowsy soul ! Who but an owl or mole 
would love this world's uncomfortable darkness, when they are 
called forth to live in light ? To sleep under the light of grace is 
unreasonable, much more in the approach of the light of glory. 
The night of thy ignorance and misery is past, the day of glorious 
light is at hand; this is the day-break betwixt them both. Though 
thou see not yet the sun itself appear, methinks the twilight of 
promise should revive thee. Come forth, then, O my dull, con- 
gealed spirits, and leave these earthly cells to dumpish sadness, and 



632 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

hear thy Lord that bids thee rejoice, and again re- 
^ ^ ■ joice ! Thou hast lain here long enough in thy 

prison of flesh, where Satan hath been thy gaoler, and the things 
of this world have been the stocks for the feet of thy affections ; 
where cares have been thy irons, and fears thy scourge, and the 
bread and water of affliction thy food ; where sorrows have been 
thy lodging, and thy sins and foes have made the bed ; and a car- 
nal, hard, unbelieving heart have been the iron gates and bars that 
have kept thee in, that thou couldst scarce have leave to look 
through the lattices, and see one glimpse of the immortal light. 
The i\ngel of the covenant now calls thee, and strikes thee, and 
bids thee arise and follow him. Up, O my soul, and cheerfully 
obey, and thy bolts and bars shall all fly open. Do thou obey, and 
all will obey ; follow the Lamb which way soever he leads thee. 
Art thou afraid because thou knowest not whither ? Can the place 
be worse than where thou art? Shouldst thou fear to follow 
such a guide ? Can the sun lead thee to a state of darkness ; or 
can he mislead thee, that is the light of every man that cometh 
into the world ? Will he lead thee to death, who died to save thee 
from it ; or can he do thee any hurt, who for thy sake did suffer so 
much ? Follow him, and he will show thee the paradise of God ; 
he will give thee a sight of the new Jerusalem ; he will give thee a 
taste of the tree of life. Sit no longer, then, by the fire of earthly, 
common comforts, whither the cold of carnal fears and sorrows did 
drive thee : thy winter is past, and wilt thou house thyself still in 
earthly thoughts, and confine thyself to drooping and dulness ? 
Even the silly flies will leave their holes when the winter is over, 
and the sun draws near them ; the ants will stir, the fishes rise, the 
birds will sing, the earth look green, and all with joyful note will 
tell thee the spring is come. Come forth, then, O my drooping 
soul, and lay aside thy winter mourning robes ; let it be seen in thy 
believing joys and praise, that the day is appearing, and the spring 
is come, and as now thou seest thy comforts green, thou shalt 
shortly see them white and ripe for harvest ; and then thou who art 
now called forth to see and taste, shalt be called forth to reap, and 
gather, and take possession. Shall I suspend and delay my joys 
till then ? Should not the joys of the spring go before the joys of 
harvest ? Is title nothing before possession ? Is the heir in no 
better a state than the slave ? My Lord hath taught me to rejoice 
in hope of his glory, and to see it through the bars of a prison ; 
and even when I am persecuted for righteousness' sake, when I am 
reviled, and all manner of evil sayings are said against me falsely 
for his sake, then he hath commanded me to rejoice, and be ex- 
ceeding glad, because of this my great reward in heaven, Rom. v. 
2; Matt. v. 10 — 12. How justly is an unbelieving heart possessed 
by sorrow, and made a prey to cares and fears, when itself doth 
create them, and thrust away its offered peace and joy ! I know, 
it is the pleasure of my bounteous Lord, that none of his family 
should want for comfort, nor live such a poor and miserable life, 
nor look with such a famished, dejected face. I know, he would 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G33 

have my joys exceed my sorrows ; and as much as he deHghts in the 
humble and contrite, yet doth he more dchght in the soul as it de- 
lighteth in him. I know, he taketh no pleasure in my self-procured 
sadness ; nor would he call on me to weep and mourn hut that it is 
the only way to these delights. Would I spread the table before 
my guest, and bring him forth my best provision, and bid him sit 
down and eat and welcome, if I did not unfeignedly desire he 
should do so ? Hath my Lord spread me a table in this wilderness, 
and furnished it with the promises of everlasting glory, and set 
before me angels' food, and broached for me the side of his beloved 
Son, that I might have a better wine than the blood of the grape ? 
Doth he so frequently, importunately invite me to sit down, and 
draw forth my faith, and feed, and spare not ; nay, hath he furnished 
me to that end with reason, and faith, and a rejoicing disposition ; 
and yet is it possible that he should be unwilling of my joys ? 
Never think it, O my unbelieving soul, nor dare to charge him with 
thy uncomfortable heaviness, who offered thee the foretaste of the 
highest delight that heaven doth afford, and God can bestow. 
Doth he not bid thee delight thyself in the Lord, and promise to 
give thee then the desires of thy heart ? Psal. xxxvii. 4. Hath he 
not charged thee to rejoice evermore, 1 Thess. v. IG; yea, to sing 
aloud and shout for joy ? Psal. xxxii. 11 ; xlvii. I. Why should I 
then draw back discouraged? My God is willing, if 1 were but 
willing. He is delighted in my delights. He would fain have it 
my constant frame and daily business, to be near to him in my be- 
lieving meditations, and to live in the sweetest thoughts of his good- 
ness, and to be always delighting my soul in himself. O blessed 
work ; employment fit for the sons of God ! 

But, ah ! my Lord, thy feast is nothing to me without an appe- 
tite ; thou must give a stomach as well as meat. Thou hast set the 
dainties of heaven before me, but, alas ! I am blind, and cannot see 
them ; I am sick, and cannot relish them ; I am so benumbed, that 
I cannot put forth a hand to take them. What is the glory of sun 
and moon to a clod of earth '{ Thou knowest I need thy subjective 
grace, as well as thine objective, and that thy work upon mine own 
distempered soul, is not the smallest part of my salvation; I there- 
fore humbly beg this grace, that as thou hast opened heaven unto 
me in thy blessed word, so thou wouldst open mine eyes to see it, 
and my heart to affect it ; else heaven will be no heaven to me. 
Awake, therefore, O thou Spirit of life, and breathe upon thy graces 
in me ; blow upon the garden of my heart, that the spices thereof 
may flow out. Let my Beloved come into his garden, and eat his 
pleasant fruits, Cant. iv. IG ; and take me by the hand, and lift me 
up from earth thyself; that I may fetch one walk in the garden of 
glory, and see by faith what thou hast laid up for them that love 
thee and wait for thee. 

Away, then, you soul-tormenting cares and fears ! Away, you 
importunate, heart-vexing sorrows ! At least forbear me a little 
while ; stand by, and trouble not my aspiring soul ; stay here below 
whilst I go up and see my rest. The way is strange to me, but not 



634 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

to Christ. There was the eternal dwelling of his glorious Deity, 
and thither hath he also brought his assumed glorified flesh. It 
was his work to purchase it ; it is his work to prepare it, and to pre- 
pare me for it, and to bring me to it. The eternal God of truth 
hath given me his promise, his seal, and his oath to assure me, that 
believing in Christ, I shall not perish, but have everlasting life, 
John iii. 16. Thither shall my soul be speedily removed, and my 
body very shortly follow. It is not so far but he that is every where 
can bring me thither ; nor so difficult and unlikely, but omnipo- 
tency can effect it. And though this unbelief may diminish my 
delights, and much abate my joys in the way, yet shall it not abate 
the love of my Redeemer, nor make the promise of none effect. 
And can my tongue say, that I shall shortly and surely live with 
God, and yet my heart not leap within me ? Can I say it believ- 
ingly, and not rejoicingly ? Ah ! faith, how sensibly do I now per- 
ceive thy weakness ! Ah ! unbelief, if I had never heard or known 
it before, yet how sensibly now do I perceive thy malicious tyranny ! 
But though thou darken my light, and dull my life, and suppress my 
joys, yet shalt thou not be able to conquer and destroy me. There 
shall I and my joys survive when thou art dead; and though thou 
envy all my comforts, yet some in despite of thee I shall even here 
receive : but were it not for thee, what abundance might I have ! 
the light of heaven should shine into my heart, and I might be as 
familiar there as I am on earth. 

Come away, my soul, then, stop thine ears to the ignorant lan- 
guage of infidelity. Thou art able to answer all its arguments, or 
if thou be not, yet tread them under thy feet. Come away, stand 
not looking on that grave, nor turning those bones, nor reading thy 
lesson now in the dust ; those lines will soon be wiped out ; but lift 
up thy head and look to heaven, and read thy instructions in those 
lixed stars. Or yet look higher than those eyes can see, into that 
foundation which standeth sure, and see thy name in golden letters, 
written before the foundations of the world, in the book of life, of 
the slain Lamb. What if an angel from heaven should tell thee that 
there is a mansion prepared for thee ; that it shall certainly be thine 
own, and thou shalt possess it for ever ; would not such a message 
make thee glad ? and dost thou make light of the infallible word 
of promises, which were delivered by the Spirit, and by the Son him- 
self ? Suppose thou hadst seen a fiery chariot come for thee, and 
fetch thee up to heaven like Elias, would not this rejoice thee ? 
Why, my Lord hath acquainted me, and assured me, that the soul 
of a Lazarus, a beggar, goes not forth of its corrupted flesh, but a 
convoy of angels are ready to attend it, and bring it to the comforts 
in Abraham's bosom. Shall a drunkard be so merry among his 
cups ; and a glutton in his delicious fare ; and the proud in his 
bravery and dignity ; and the lustful wanton in the enjoyment of his 
mate ? and shall not I rejoice who must shortly be in heaven ? How 
glad is voluptuous youth of their play-times and holidays ! Why, in 
heaven I shall have an everlasting holiday of pleasure. Can meat 
and drink delight me when I hunger and thirst ? Can I find plea- 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 63.5 

sure in walks, and gardens, and conveniont dwellings ? Can Lcau- 
teous sights delight mine eyes, and odours my smell, and melody 
mine ears { and shall not the forethought of the celestial bliss de- 
light me? My beast is glad of his fresh pasture, and his liberty, 
and his rest ; and shall not I .' What delight have I found in my 
private studies, especially when thoy have prospered to the increase 
of my knowledge ! Methinks I could bid the woild farewell, and 
imnmre myself among my books, and look forth no more (were it a 
lawful course) ; but, as Heinsius in his library at Leyden, shut the 
doors upon me, and as in the lap of eternity, among those divine 
souls, employ myself in sweet content, and pity the rich and great 
ones who know not this happiness. Sure then it is a high delight 
indeed which in the true lap of eternity is enjoyed. If Lipsius 
thought, when he did but read Seneca, that he was even upon 
Olyrnpus' top, above mortality and human things ; what a case 
shall I be in, when I am beholding Christ ! If Julius Scaliger 
thought twelve verses in Lucan better than the whole German em- 
pire, what shall I think mine inheritance worth ! If the mathe- 
matics alone are so delectable, that their students do profess that 
they should think it sweet to live and die in those studies ; how 
delectable, then, will my life be, when I shall fully and clearly 
know those things which the most learned do not know but doubt- 
fully and darkly ! In one hour shall I see all difficulties vanish ; 
and all my doubts in physics, metaphysics, politics, medicine, &c. 
shall be resolved : so happy are the students of that university ! 
Yea, all the depths of divinity will be uncovered to me, and all dif- 
ficult knots untied, and the book unsealed, and mine eyes opened. 
For in knowing God, I shall know all things that are fit or good 
for the creature to know. There Commenius's attempt is per- 
fected, and all the sciences reduced to one. Seneca thought that 
he who lived without books, was buried alive ; but had he known 
what it is to enjoy God in glory, he would have said indeed, that 
to live without him is to be buried alive in hell. 

If Apollonius travelled into Ethiopia and Persia to consult with 
the learned there ; and if Plato and Pythagoras left their country 
to see those wise Egyptian priests ; and if, as Hierom saith, many 
travelled a thousand miles to see and speak with eloquent Livy ; 
and if the queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to hear the wisdom 
of Solomon, and see his glory ; oh how gladly should 1 leave this 
countr)', how cheerfully should I pass from earth to heaven, to see 
the glory of that eternal Majesty ; and to attain myself that 
height of wisdom, in comparison of which the most learned on earth 
are but silly, brutish fools and idiots ! If Bernard were so ravished 
with the delights of his monastery, where he lived in poverty, with- 
out the common pleasures of the world, because of its green banks 
and shady bowers, and herbs, and trees, and various objects to feed 
the eyes, and fragrant smells, and sweet and various tunes of birds, 
together with the opportunity of devout contemplations, that he 
cries out in admiration. Lord ! what abundance of delights dost 
thou provide, even for the poor ! how then shall I be ravished with 



636 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

the description of the court of heaven, where, instead of herbs, and 
trees, and birds, and bowers, I shall enjoy God and my Redeemer, 
angels, saints, and inexpressible pleasures ! and therefore should, 
with more admiration, cry out. Lord, what delights hast thou pro- 
vided for us miserable and unworthy wretches that wait for thee ! 
If the heaven of glass, which the Persian emperor framed, were so 
glorious a piece ; and the heaven of silver, which the emperor 
Ferdinand sent to the great Turk, because of their rare artificial 
representations and motions ; what will the heaven of the heavens 
then be, which is not formed by the art of man, nor beautified like 
these childish toys, but is the matchless palace of the great King, 
built by himself for the residence of his glory, and the perpetual 
entertainment of his beloved saints ! Can a poor deluded Maho- 
metan rejoice in expectation of a feigned, sensual paradise ; and 
shall not I rejoice in expectation of a certain glory ? If the honour 
of the ambitious or the wealth of the covetous person do increase, 
his heart is lifted up with his estate, as a boat that riseth with the 
rising of the water. If they have but a little more land or money 
than their neighbours, how easily you may see it in their counte- 
nance and carriage ! How high do they look ; how big do they 
speak ; how stately and lofty do they demean themselves ! and 
shall not the heavenly loftiness and height of my spirit discover 
my title to this promised land ? Shall I be the adopted son of 
God, and co-heir with Christ of that blessed inheritance, and daily 
look when I am put into possession ; and shall not this be seen in 
my joyful countenance ? What if God had made me commander 
of the earth ? What if the mountains would remove at my com- 
mand ? What if I could heal all diseases with a word or a touch ? 
W^hat if the infernal spirits were all at my command ? Should I 
not rejoice in such privileges and honours as these ? Yet is it my 
Saviour's command not to rejoice that the devils are subject to us ; 
but in this to rejoice, that our names are written in heaven. 

I cannot here enjoy my parents, or my near and beloved friends, 
without some delight ; especially when I did too freely let out my 
affections to my friend, how sweet was that very exercise of my 
love ! Oh, what will it then be to live in the perpetual love of 
God ! For brethren here to live together in unity, how good and 
pleasant a thing is it ! To see a family live in love ; husband, wife, 
parents, children, servants, doing all in love to one another. To 
see a town live together in love, without any envyings, brawlings, 
heart-burnings, or contentions, scorns, law-suits, factions, or divi- 
sions ; but every man loving his neighbour as himself, and thinking 
they can never do too much for one another, but striving to go be- 
yond each other in love. Oh ! how happy and delectable a sight 
is this ! O sweetest bands, saith Seneca, which bind so happily, 
that those who are so bound do love their binders, and desire still 
to be bound more closely, and even reduced into one ! Oh ! then, 
what a blessed society will be the family of heaven, and those 
peaceable inhabitants of the new Jerusalem ; where is no division, 
nor dissimilitude, nor differing judgments, nor disaffection, nor 



N 



CiiAP. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G37 

strangeness, nor deceitful friendship ; never an angry thought or 
look, never a cutting, unkind expr(\s,sion ; but all are one in Christ, 
who is one with the Fath(>r, and live in the love of Ia)Vv. himscH'. 
Cato could say that the soul of a lover dwelleth in the person whom 
he loveth : and therefore we say. The soul is not more where it 
liveth and enliveneth, than where it loveth. How near, then, will 
my soul be closed to God, and how sweet must that conjunction 
be, when I shall so heartily, strongly, and unccssantly love him ! 
As the bee lies sucking and satiating herself with the sweetness of 
the flower ; or rather, as the child lies sucking the mother's breast, 
enclosed in her arms, and sitting in her lap; even so shall my 
loving soul be still feeding on the sweetness of the (jod of love. 
Ah ! wretched, fleshly, unbelieving heart, that can think of such a 
day, and work, and life as this, with so low, and dull, and feeble 
joys ! but my enjoying joys will be more lively. 

How delectable is it to me to behold and study these inferior 
works of God ! to read those anatomical lectures of Du Bartas, 
upon this great dissected body ! What a beautiful fabric is this 
great house which here w^e dwell in ! The floor so dressed with 
various herbs, and flowers, and trees, and watered with springs, 
and rivers, and seas ! The roof so wide expanded, so admirably 
adorned, such astonishing workmanship in every part ! The stu- 
dies of a hundred ages more, if the world should last so long, would 
not discover the mysteries of divine skill, which are to be found in 
the narrow compass of our bodies. What anatomist is not amazed 
in his search and observations ! What wonders, then, do sun, and 
moon, and stars, and orbs, and seas, and winds, and fire, and air, 
and earth, &c. aff"ord us ! And hath God prepared such a house 
for our silly, sinful, corruptible flesh, and for a soul imprisoned ? 
and doth he bestow so many millions of wonderful rarities, even 
upon his enemies ? Oh, then, what a dwelling must that needs be, 
which he prepareth for pure, refined, spiritual, glorified ones ; and 
which he will bestow only upon his dearly beloved children, whom 
he hath chosen out, to make his mercy on them glorified and ad- 
mired ! As far as our perfected, glorified bodies will excel this frail 
and corruptible flesh, so far will the glory of the new Jerusalem 
exceed all the present glory of the creatures. The change upon 
our mansion will be proportionable to the change upon ourselves. 
Arise, then, O my soul, by these steps in thy contemplation, and 
let thy thoughts of that glory, were it possible, as far in sweetness 
exceed thy thoughts of the excellences below. Fear not to go out of 
this body, and this world, when thou must make so happy a change 
as this ; but say as Zuingerus, w hen he was dying, " I am glad, 
and even leap for joy, that at last the time is come, wherein that, 
even that mighty Jehovah, whose majesty, in my search of nature, I 
have admired ; whose goodness I have adored ; whom in jaith I 
have desired ; whom I have sighed for ; will now show himself to 
me face to face : " and let that be the unfeigned sense of my heart, 
which Camerarius left in his will should be written on his monu- 
ment, J'ifa mihi mors est, mors mihi vita nova est ; Life is to me a 
death, death is to me a new life. 



G38 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV, 

Moreover, how wonderful and excellent are the works of Provi- 
dence, even in this life ! To see the great God to engage himself, 
and set a-work his attributes, for the safety and advancement of a 
few humble, despicable, praying persons ! Oh what a joyful time 
will it then be, when so much love, and mercy, and wisdom, and 
power, and truth, shall be manifested and glorified in the saints' 
glorification ! 

How delightful is it to my soul, to review the working of Provi- 
dence for myself, and to read over the records and catalogues of 
those special mercies wherewith my life hath been adorned and 
sweetened ! How oft have my prayers been heard, and my tears 
regarded, and my groaning, troubled soul relieved, and my Lord 
hath bid me be of good cheer ! He hath -healed me when in respect 
of means I was uncurable. He hath helped me when I was help- 
less. In the midst of my supplications hath he eased and revived 
me. He hath taken me up from my knees, and from the dust 
where I have lain in sorrow and despair : even the cries which have 
been occasioned by distrust, hath he regarded. What a support 
are these experiences to my fearful, unbelieving heart ! These clear 
testimonies of my Father's love, do put life into my afflicted, 
drooping spirit. 

Oh, then, what a blessed day will that be, when I shall have all 
mercy, perfection of mercy, nothing but mercy, and fully enjoy the 
Lord of mercy himself ! when I shall stand on the shore, and look 
back upon the raging seas which I have safely passed ! when I 
shall, in safe and full possession of glory, look back upon all my 
pains and troubles, and fears and tears, and upon all the mercies 
which I here received ; and then shall behold the glory enjoyed 
there, which was the end of all this ! Oh, what a blessed view will 
that be ! O glorious prospect which I shall have on the celestial 
mount Zion ! Is it possible that there should be any defect of joy ; 
or my heart not raised, when I am so raised ? If one drop of lively 
faith were mixed with these considerations, oh ! what work would 
they make in my breast; and what a heaven-ravished heart should I 
carry within me ! Fain would I believe ; " Lord, help my unbelief." 

Yet further, consider, O my soul, how sweet have the very ordi- 
nances been unto thee ! what raptures hast thou had in prayer, and 
under heavenly sermons ! what gladness in days of thanksgiving, 
after eminent deliverances to the church, or to thyself ! what de- 
light do I find in the sweet society of the saints ; to be among my 
humble, faithful neighbours and friends ; to join with them in the 
frequent worship of God ; to see their growth and stability, and 
soundness of understanding ; to see those daily added to the church 
which shall be saved ! Oh, then, what delight shall I have to see 
the perfected church in heaven, and to join with these and all the 
saints in another kind of worship than we can here conceive of ! How 
sweet is it to join in the high praises of God in the solemn assem- 
blies ! How glad have I been to go up to the house of God, especially 
after long restraint by sickness, when I have been as Hezekiah 
released, and readmitted to join with the people of God, and to 
set forth the praises of my great Deliverer ! How sweet is my 



Chap. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 039 

work in preaching the gospel, and inviting sinners to the marriage 
feast of the Lamb, and opening to them the treasures of free grace ! 
Especially when God blesseth my endeavours with j)lenteous suc- 
cess, and givetii me to see the fruit of my labours ; even this alone 
hath been a greater joy to my heart, than if I had been made the 
lord of all the riches on earth. 

Oh how can my heart then conceive that joy, which I shall have 
in my admittance into the celestial temple, and into the heavenly 
host, that shall do nothing but praise the Lord for ever ! when we 
shall say to Christ, "• Here am 1, and the children thou hast given 
me ;" and when Christ shall present us all to his Father, and all 
are gathered, and the body completed! If the very word of God 
were sweeter to Job than his necessary food, Job xxiii. 12 ; and to 
Jeremy, was the very joy and rejoicing of his heart, Jer. xv. 16; 
and to David, was sweeter than the honey and honeycomb, so that 
he crieth out, O how I love thy law ! it is my meditation continu- 
ally : and if thy law had not been my delight, I had perished in 
my troubles, Psal. cxix. 97, 92, 70, 77, &c. Oh then how blessed 
a day will that be, when we shall fully enjoy the Lord of this 
word ; and shall need these written precepts and promises no more; 
but shall, instead of these love-letters, enjoy our Beloved, and in- 
stead of these promises, have the happiness in possession, and read no 
book but the face of the glorious God ! How far would I go to see 
one of those blessed angels which appeared to Abraham, to Lot, 
to John, &c. ; or to speak with Enoch, or Elias, or any saint w'ho 
had lived with God ; especially if he would resolve all my doubts, 
and describe to me the celestial habitations ! How much more de- 
sirable must it needs be to live with these blessed saints and angels, 
and to see and possess as well as they ! It is written of Erastus, 
that he was so desirous to learn, that it would be sweet to him even 
to die, so he might but be resolved of those doubtful questions 
wherein he could not satisfy himself. How sweet then should it 
be to me to die, that I may not only be resolved of all my doubts, 
but also know what I never before did think of, and enjoy what be- 
fore I never knew ! It was a happy dwelling that the twelve 
apostles had with Christ ; to be always in his company, and see 
his face, and hear him open to them the mysteries of the kingdom : 
but it will be another kind of happiness to dwell with him in glory. 
It was a rare privilege of Thomas to put his fingers into his wounds 
to confirm his faith ; and of John to be called the disciple whom 
Jesus loved, on whose breast at supper he was wont to lean : but it 
will be another kind of privilege which I shall enjoy when I shall 
see him in his glory, and not in his wounds ; and shall enjoy a 
fuller sense of his love than John then did ; and shall have the 
most hearty entertainment that heaven aftbrdeth. If they that 
heard Christ speak on earth, were astonished at his wisdom and 
answers, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded 
from his mouth ; how shall I be affected then to behold him in his 
majesty ! 

Kouse up thyself, O my soul, and consider ; can the foresight of 



640 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

this glory make others embrace the stake, and kiss the faggot, and 
welcome the cross, and refuse deliverance ; and can it not make thee 
cheerful under lesser sufferings ; can it sweeten the flames to them ; 
and can it not sweeten thy life, or thy sickness, or natural death ? 
If a glimpse could make Moses's face to shine, and Peter on the 
mount so transported, and Paul so exalted, and John so rapt up in 
the Spirit, why should it not somewhat revive me with delight ? 
Doubtless it would, if my thoughts were more believing. Is it not 
the same heaven which they and I must live in ; is not their God, 
their Christ, their crown, and mine, the same ? Nay, how many a 
weak woman, or poor despised Christian, have I seen, mean in parts, 
but rich in faith, who could rejoice and triumph in hope of this in- 
heritance ! and shall I look upon it with so dim an eye, so dull a 
heart, so dejected a countenance ? Some small foretastes also I 
have had myself, though indeed small and seldom, through mine 
unbelief, and how nmch more delightful have they been than ever 
was any of these earthly things ! The full enjoyment then will 
sure be sweet. Remember then this bunch of grapes which thou 
hast tasted of, and by them conjecture the fruitfulness of the land 
of promise. A grape in a wilderness cannot be like the plentiful 
vintage. 

Consider also, O my soul, what a beauty is there in the imperfect 
graces of the Spirit here. Col. iii. 10 ; so great that they are called 
the image of God. And can any created excellency have a more 
honourable title ? Alas, how small a part are these of what we 
shall enjoy in our perfect state ! Oh how precious a mercy should 
I esteem it, if God would but take off my bodily infirmities, and re- 
store me to any comfortable measure of health and strength, that I 
might be able with cheerfulness to go through his work ! How 
precious a mercy then will it be, to have all my corruptions quite 
removed, and my soul perfected, and my body also raised to so high 
a state as I now can neither desire nor conceive ! Surely, as health 
of body, so health of soul doth carry an unexpressible sweetness 
along with it. Were there no reward besides, yet every gracious 
act is a reward and comfort. Never had I the least stirring of 
loving God, but I felt a heavenly sweetness accompany it ; even 
the very act of loving was unexpressibly sweet. What a happy life 
should I here live, could I but love as nmch as I would, and as oft, 
and as long as I would ! Could I be all love, and always loving, O 
my soul, what wouldst thou give for such a life ! O had I such true 
and clear apprehensions of God, and such a true understanding of 
his word, as I desire ; could I but trust him as fully in all my 
straits ; could I have that life which I would have in every duty ; 
could I make God my constant desire and delight ; I would not 
then envy the world their honours or pleasures ; nor change my 
happiness with a Caesar or Alexander. O my soul, what a blessed 
state wilt thou shortly be in, when thou shalt have far more of these 
than thou canst now desire ! and shalt exercise all thy perfect 
graces upon God in presence and open sight, and not in the dark, 
and at a distance, as now ! 



CuAV. XIV. THE SAINTS" EVEKLASTING REST. 041 

And as there is so iiiucli worth in one gracious soul, so much 
more in a gracious society, and most ol" all in the whole body of 
Christ on earth : it" there be any true beauty on earth, where should 
it be so likely as in the spouse of Christ .'' It is her that he adorneth 
with his jewels, and feasteth at his table ; and keepeth for her al- 
ways an open liouse and heart : he revealeth to her his secrets, and 
maintaincth constant converse with her: he is her constant Guardian, 
and in every deluge encloseth her in his ark : he saith to her. Thou 
art all beautiful, my beloved ! And is his spouse, while black, so 
comely :' is the afllicted, sinning, weeping, lamenting, persecuted 
church so excellent ? Oh what then will be the churcli, when it is 
fully gathered and glorified ; when it is ascended from the valley 
of tears to Mount Sion ; when it shall sin no more, nor weep, nor 
groan, nor sutler any more ! The stars, or the smallest candle, are 
not darkened so much by the brightness of the sun, as the excel- 
lences of the first temple will be by the celestial temple. The 
glory of the old Jerusalem will be darkness and deformity, to the 
glory of the new. It is said in Ezra iii. 12, that when the founda- 
tions of the second temple w'ere laid, many of the ancient men who 
had seen the first house, did weep, i. e. because the second did 
come so far short of it : what cause then shall we have to shout for 
joy, when we shall see how glorious the heavenly temple is, and re- 
member the meanness of the church on earth ! 

But, alas ! what a loss am I at in the midst of my contemplation ! 
I thought my heart had all this while followed after; but I see it 
doth not : and shall I let my understanding go on alone, or my 
tongue run on without affections ? W hat life is in empty thoughts 
and words ? neither God nor I find pleasure in them. 

Rather let me run back again, and look, and find, and chide this 
lazy, loitering heart, that turneth off from such a pleasant work as 
this : where hast thou been, unworthy heart, while I was opening 
to thee the everlasting treasures ? Didst thou sleep, or wast thou 
minding something else ? or, dost thou think that this is all but a 
dream or fable, or as uncertain as the predictions of a presumptu- 
ous astrologer ? or, hast thou lost thy life and rejoicing power { 
Art thou not ashamed to complain so much of an uncomfortable 
life, and to murmur at God for filling thee with sorrows, when he 
offcreth thee in vain the delights of angels, and when thou treadest 
under foot these transcendent pleasures ? Thou wilfully pinest away 
in grief, and art ready to charge thy Father with unkindness for 
making thee only a vessel of displeasure, a sink of sadness, a skin- 
ful of groans, a snow-ball of tears, a channel for waters of afflic- 
tion to run in, the fuel of fears, and the carcass which cares do 
consume and prey upon, when in the mean time thou mightest live 
a life of joy J hadst thou now but followed me close, and believingly 
applied thyself to that which I have spoken, and drunk in but half 
the comfort which those w'ords hold forth, it would have made thee 
revive and leap for joy, and forget thy sorrows, and diseases, and 
pains of the flesh : but seeing thou judgest tluself unw^orthy of 
comfort, it is iust that comfort should be taken from thee. ' 
2 T 



G42 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

Lord, what is the matter that this work doth go on so heavily ? 
did I think my heart had been so backward to rejoice ? If it had 
been to mourn, and fear, and despair, it were no wonder : I have 
been lifting up at this stone, and it will not stir ; I have been pour- 
ing aqua-vitae into the mouth of the dead : I hope. Lord, by that 
time it comes to heaven, this heart, by thy Spirit, Avill be quickened 
and mended, or else even those joys will scarcely rejoice me. 

But besides my darkness, deadness, and unbelief, I perceive there 
is something else that forbids my full-desired joys. I'his is not the 
time and place where so much is given : the time is our winter, and 
not our harvest ; the place is called the valley of tears. There 
must be great diiference betwixt the way and the end, the work 
and wages, the small foretastes and full fruition. 

But, Lord, though thou hast reserved our joys for heaven, yet 
hast thou not so suspended our desires ; they are most suitable and 
seasonable in this present life : therefore, O help me to desire till I 
may possess ; and let me long when I cannot as I would rejoice. 
There is love in desire as well as in delight ; and if I be not empty 
of love, I know I shall not long be empty of delight. 

Rouse up thyself once more, then, O my soul, and try and exer- 
cise thy spiritual appetite ; though thou art ignorant and unbeliev- 
ing, yet art thou reasonable, and therefore must needs desire a 
happiness and rest : nor canst thou sure be so unreasonable as to 
dream of attaining it here on earth. Thou knowest, to thy sorrow, 
that thou art not yet at thy rest, and thy own feeling doth convince 
thee of thy present unhappiness : and dost thou know that thou 
art restless, and yet art willing to continue so ; art thou neither 
happy in deed nor in desire ; art thou neither well nor wouldst be 
well ? When my flesh is pained and languisheth under consuming 
sickness, how heartily and frequently do 1 cry out. Oh ! when shall 
I be eased of this pain ? v/hen shall my decaying strength be re- 
covered ? There is no dissembling or formality in these desires and 
groans. How then should I long for my final, full recovery ! There 
is no sickness, nor pain, nor weeping, nor complaints. Oh when 
shall I arrive at that safe and quiet harboui-, where is none of these 
storms, and waves, and dangers ; when I shall never more have a 
weary, restless night or day ? Then shall not my life be such a 
medley or mixture of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, as now it 
is ; nor shall flesh and spirit be combating within me, nor my soul 
be still as a pitched field, or a stage of contention, where faith and 
unbelief, affiance and distrust, humility and pride, do maintain a 
continual distracting conflict : then shall I not live a dying life 
for fear of dying, nor my life be made uncomfortable with the 
fears of losing it. Oh when shall I be past these soul-torment- 
ing fears, and cares, and griefs, and passions ? when shall I be 
out of this frail, this corruptible, ruinous body ; this soul-contra- 
dicting, insnaring, deceiving flesh ? when shall I be out of this 
vain and vexatious world, whose pleasures are mere deluding 
dreams and shadows ; whose miseries are real, numerous, and un- 
cessant ? How long shall I see the church of Christ lie trodden 



Cii.vr. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 043 

under the feet of persecutors ; or else, as a ship in tlie hands 
of foolish guides, though the supreme Master doth moderate all 
lor the best.' Alas! that I must stand by and see the church 
and cause of Christ, like a foot-ball in the midst of a crowd of 
l)oys, tossed about in contention from one to another; every one 
running and sweating with foolish violence, and labouring the 
downfal of all that are in his way, and all to get it into his own 
power, that he may have the managing of the work himself, and 
may drive it before him which way he pleaseth ; and when all is 
done, the best usage it may expect from them, is but to be spurned 
about in the dirt, till (hey have driven it on to the goal of their 
private interests, or deluded fancies. There is none of this dis- 
order in the heavenly Jerusalem ; there shall I find a government 
without imperfection, and obedience without the least unwillingness 
or rebellion ; even an harmonious consent of perfected spirits, in 
obeying and praising their everlasting King. Oh how much better 
is it to be a door-keeper there and the least in that kingdom, than 
to be the conqueror or commander of this tumultuous world ! There 
will our Lord govern all immediately by himself, and not put the 
reins in the hands of such ignorant riders, nor govern by such 
foolish and sinful deputies, as the best of the sons of men now are. 
Dost thou so mourn for these inferior disorders, O my soul, and 
yet wouldst thou not be out of it ! How long hast thou desired to 
be a member of a more perfect reformed church, and to join with 
more holy, humble, sincere souls, in the purest and most heavenly 
worship ! Why, dost thou not see that on earth thy desires fly from 
thee ? Art thou not as a child that thinketh to travel to the sun, 
when he seeth it rising or setting, as it were close to the earth ; 
but as he travelleth toward it, it seems to go from him ; and when 
he hath long wearied himself, it is as far off as ever, for the thing 
he seeketh is in another world ? Even such hath been thy labour 
in seeking for so holy, so pure, so peaceable a society, as might 
afford thee a contented settlement here. Those that have gone as 
far as America for satisfaction, have confessed themselves unsatis- 
fied still. When wars, and calamities attending them, have been 
over, I have said. Return now, my soul, unto thy rest, Psal. cxvi. ; 
but how restless a condition hath next succeeded ! When God had 
given me the enjoyment of peace and friends, and liberty of the 
gospel ; and had settled me even as my own heart desired; I have 
been ready to say, Soul, take thy ease and rest : but how quickly 
hath Providence called me fool, and taught me to call my state by 
another name ! When did I ever begin to congratulate my flesh 
on its felicity, but God did quickly turn my tune, and made almost 
the same breath' to end in groaning, which did begin in laughter ! 
I have thought oft times on the folly of my prosperity. Now I will 
have one sweet draught of solace and content; but God hath 
dropped in the gall, while the cup was at my mouth. We are still 
weary of the present condition, and desire a change, and when we 
have it, it doth not answer our expectation ; but our discontent and 
restlessness is still unchanged. In time of peace we thought that 



G44 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IY. 

war would deliver us from our disquietments ; and when wersaw the 
iron red-hot, we catched it inconsiderately, thinking that it was 
gold, till it burned us to the very bone, and so stuck to our fingers, 
that we scarce know yet whether we are rid of it or not. In this 
our misery we longed for peace ; and so long were we strangers to 
it, that we had forgotten its name, and began to call it rest, or 
heaven ; but as soon as we are again grown acquainted with it, we 
shall better bethink us, and perceive our mistake. Oh why am I 
then no more weary of this weariness ? and why do I forget my 
resting-place ? Jer. 1. 6. Up, then, O my soul, and thy most raised 
and fervent desires ! stay not till this flesh can desire with thee ; 
its appetite hath a lower and baser object. Thy appetite is not 
sensitive, but rational ; distinct from its ; and therefore look not 
that sense apprehend thy blessed object, and tell thee what and 
when to desire. Believing reason in the glass of Scripture may 
discern enough to raise the flame ; and though sense apprehend not 
that which must draw thy desires, yet that which may drive them 
it doth easily apprehend. It can tell thee that thy present life is 
filled with distress and sorrows, though it cannot tell thee what is 
in the world to come. Thou needest not Scripture to tell thee, nor 
faith to discern, that thy head acheth, and thy stomach is sick, thy 
bowels griped, and thy heart grieved ; and some of these, or such- 
like, are thy daily case. Thy friends about thee are grieved to see 
thy griefs, and to hear thy dolorous groans and lamentations, and 
yet art thou loth to leave this woeful life ! Is this a state to be 
preferred before the celestial glory ; or is it better to be thus 
miserable from Christ, than to be happy with him ; or canst thou 
possibly be so unbelieving, as to doubt v/hether that life be any 
better than this ? O my soul, doth not the dulness of thy desires 
after rest, accuse thee of most detestable ingratitude and folly ? 
Must thy Lord procure thee a rest at so dear a rate, and dost thou 
no more value it ? Must he purchase thy rest by a life of labour 
and sorrow, and by the pangs of a bitter, cursed death ; and when 
all is done, hadst thou rather be here without it ? Must he go 
before to prepare so blessed a mansion for such a wretch, and art 
thou now loth to go to possess it ? Must his blood, and care, and 
pains be lost ? O unthankful, unworthy soul ! shall the Lord 
of glory be willing of thy company, and art thou unwilling of his ? 
Are they fit to dwell with God, that had rather stay from him ? 
Must he crown thee and glorify thee against thy will ; or must he 
yet deal more roughly with thy darling flesh, and leave thee never 
a corner in thy ruinous cottage for to cover thee, but fire thee out 
of all, before thou wilt away ? Must every sense be an inlet to thy 
sorrows ; and every friend become the scourge, and Job's messen- 
gers be the daily intelligencers, and bring thee the currantos of 
thy multiplied calamities, before that heaven will seem more de- 
sirable than this earth.' Must every joint, be the seat of pain, and 
every member deny thee a room to rest in, and thy groans be in- 
dited from the very heart and bones, before thou wilt be willing K> 
leave this flesh ? Must thy heavy burdens be bound upon thy 



Chai^. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVEULAST1N(; REST, G4;3 

hack; and lliy so intolerable paroxysms lieconie incessant; and 
thy intermittent aguish woes he turned into continual burning 
levers ; yea, must earth become a very hell to thee, before thou 
wilt be willing to be with (iod ? O impudent soul, if thou i)c not 
ashamed of this ! What is loathing, if this be love .' Look about 
thee, O my soul ; behold the most lovely creature, or the most de- 
sirable state, and tell me where wouldst thou be if not with God? 
Poverty is a burden, and riches a snare. Sickness is little pleasing 
to thee, and usually health as little safe ; the one is full of sorrow, 
and the other of sin. The frowning world doth bruise thy heel, 
and the smiling world doth sting thee to the heart. AVhen it 
seemeth ugly, it causeth loathing; when beauteous, it is thy bane. 
\\ hen thy condition is bitter, thou wouldst fain spit it out ; and 
when delightful, it is but sugared misery and deceit : the sweetest 
poison doth often bring the surest death. So much as the world is 
loved and delighted in, so much it hurteth and endangereth the 
lover ; and if it may not be loved, why should it be desired ? If 
thou be applauded, it proves the most contagious breath ; and how 
ready are the sails of pride to receive such winds ! so that it fre- 
quently addeth to thy sin, but not one cubit to the stature of thy 
worth ; and if thou be vilified, slandered, or unkindly used, me- 
thinks this should not entice thy love. Never didst thou sit by 
the fire of prosperity and applause, but thou hadst with it the 
smoke that drew water from thy eyes : never hadst thou the rose 
without the pricks ; and the sweetness hath been expired, and the 
beauty faded, before the fears which thou hadst in gathering it 
were healed. Is it not as good to be without the honey, as to have 
it with so many smarting stings ? The highest delight thou hast 
found in any thing below, hath been in thy successful labours and 
thy godly friends ; and have these indeed been so sweet, as that 
thou shouldst be so loth to leave them ? If they seem better to 
thee than a life with God, it is time for God to take them from 
thee. Thy studies have been sweet, and have they not been also 
bitter ? My mind hath been pleased, but my body pained, and the 
weariness of the flesh hath quickly abated the pleasures of the 
spirit. When by painful studies I have not discovered the truth, 
it hath been but a tedious way to a grievous end ; discontent and 
trouble purchased by toilsome, wearying labours. And if I have 
found out the truth by Divine assistance, I have found but an ex- 
posed, naked orphan, that hath cost me much to take in, and 
clothe, and keep, which, though of noble birth, yea, a Divine off- 
spring, and amiable in mine eyes, and worthy I confess of better en- 
tertainment, yet, from men that know not its descent, hath drawn 
upon me their envy and furious opposition ; and hath brought the 
blinded Sodomites, with whom I lived at some peace before, to 
crowd about me, and assault my doors, that I might prostitute 
my heavenly guests to their pleasure, and again expose them, whom 
I had so gladly and lately entertained; yea, the very tribes of 
Israel have been gathered against me, thinking that the altar 
which I built for the interest of truth, and unity, and peace, had 



646 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart IV. 

been erected to the introduction of error and idolatry : and so the 
increase of knowledge hath been the increase of sorrow. My 
heart, indeed, is ravished with the beauty of naked truth, and I am 
ready to cry out, I have found it, or, as Aquinas, Condiisitm est 
contra, 8cc. ; but when I have found it, I know not what to do with 
it. If I confine it to my own breast, and keep it secret to myself, 
it is as a consuming fire, shut up in my heart and bones. liam as the 
lepers without Samaria, or as those that were forbidden to tell any 
man of the works of Christ : I am weary of forbearing, I cannot 
stay. If I reveal it to the world, I can expect but an unwelcome 
entertainment, and an ungrateful return ; for they have taken up 
their standing in religious knowledge already, as if they were at 
Hercules' pillars, and had no farther to go, nor any more to learn. 
They dare be no wiser than they are already, nor receive any more 
of truth than they have already received, lest thereby they should 
accuse their ancestors and teachers of ignorance and imperfection, 
and themselves should seem to be mutable and unconstant, and to 
hold their opinions in religion with reserves. The most precious 
truth not apprehended, doth seem to be error and fantastic novelty : 
every man that readeth what I write, will not be at the pains of 
those tedious studies to find out the truth as I have been, but 
think it should meet their eyes in the very reading. If the mere 
writing of truth, with its clearest evidence, w^ere all that were 
necessary to the apprehension of it by others, then the lowest 
scholar in the school might be quickly as good as the highest. So 
that if I did see more than others, to reveal it to the lazy, preju- 
diced world, would but make my friends turn enemies, or look 
upon me with a strange and jealous eye : and yet truth is so dear a 
friend itself, and he that sent it much more dear, that whatsoever 
I suifer I dare not stifle or conceal it. Oh what then are these 
bitter sv/eet studies and discoveries to the everlasting views of the 
face of the God of truth ! The light that here I have is but a 
knowing in part, and yet it costeth me so dear, that in a temptation 
I am almost ready to prefer the quiet, silent night before such a 
rough, tempestuous day. But there I shall have light and rest to- 
gether, and the quietness of the night without its darkness. I can 
never now have the lightning without the thunder, which maketh 
it seem more dreadful than delightful. And shouldst thou be loth, 
then, O my soul, to leave this for the eternal perfect light ; and to 
change thy candle for the glorious sun,; and to change thy studies, 
and preaching, and praying, for the harmonious praises and fruition 
of the blessed God ? 

Nor will thy loss be greater in the change of thy company than 
of thine employment. Thy friends here have been indeed thy de- 
bght; and have they not been also thy vexation and thy grief? 
They are gracious, and are they not also sinful .'' they are kind and 
loving, and are they not also peevish, froward, and soon displeased? 
They are humble, but withal, alas ! how proud ! They will scarce 
endure to hear plainly of their disgraceful faults ; they cannot bear 
undervaluing or disrespect : they itch after the good thoughts and 



Chai'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVEIILASTING REST. 047 

applause ol' odiers ; they love those best that highli(\st esteem them. 
The niisiiing of courtesy; a supposed slighting or disrespect; the 
contradicting of their wortls or luimours ; a diilerence in opinion, 
yea, the turning of a straw, will quickly show thee the pride and 
the uncertainty of thy friend. Their graces are sweet to thee, and 
their gifts are helpful ; but are not their corruptions bitter, and tiieir 
imperfections hurtful ! Though at a distance they seem to thee 
most holy and innocent, yet when they come nearer thee, and thou 
hast thoroughly tried them, alas ! what silly, frail, and froward 
pieces are the best of men ! Then (he knowledge which thou didst 
admire, appeareth clouded with ignorance, and the virtues that so 
shined as a glow-worm in the night, are scarcely to be found when 
thou seekest them by daylight. When temptations are strong, how 
quickly do they yield! what wounds have they given to religion by 
their shameful falls ! Those that have been famous for their holi- 
ness, have been as infamous for their notorious, heinous wicked- 
ness : those that have been thy dearest bosom friends, that have 
prayed and conferred with thee, and helped thee toward heaven, 
and by their fervour, forwardness, and heavenly lives, have shamed 
thy coldness, and earthliness, and dulness ; whom thou hast singled 
out as the choicest from a world of professors, whom thou madest 
the daily companions and delights of thy life ; are not some of them 
fallen to drunkenness, and some to whoredom, some to pride, per- 
fidiousness, and rebellion, and some to the most damnable heresies 
and divisions ? And hath thy very heart received such Avounds from 
tiiy friends, and yet art thou so loth to go from them to thy God ? 
Thy friends that are weak, are little useful or comfortable to thee ; 
and those that are strong, are the abler to hurt thee; and the best, 
if not hcedfully used, will prove the worst. The better and keener 
the knife is, the sooner and deeper will it cut thy fingers, if thou 
take not heed. Yea, the very number of thy friends is a burden 
and trouble to thee. Every one supposeth he hath some interest 
in thee ; yea, the interest of a friend, which is not little ; and how 
insufficient art thou to satisfy all their expectations, when it is much 
if thou canst answer the expectations of one ! If thou wert divided 
among so many, as each could have but little of thee, so thyself 
and God, who should have most, will have none. And almost 
every one that hath not more of thee than thou canst spare for all, 
is ready to censure thee as unfriendly, and a neglecter of the duty 
or respects which thou ov/est them ; anctshouldst thou please them 
all, the gain will not be great, nor art thou sure that they will again 
please thee. 

Awake then, O my drowsy soul, and look above this world of 
sorrow. Hast thou borne the yoke of thy afflictions from thy youth, 
and so long felt the smarting rod, and yet canst no better under- 
stand its meaning ? Is not every stroke to drive thee hence ; and 
is not the voice of the rod like that to Elijah, What doest thou 
here ? Up and away. Dost tliou forget that sure prediction of thy 
Lord, " In the world ye shall have trouble, but in me ye shall have 
peace." The first thou hast found true by long experience, and of 



G48 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

the latter thou hast had a small foretaste^ but the perfect peace is 
yet before, which, till it be enjoyed, cannot be clearly understood. 
Ah ! my dear Lord, I feel thy meaning. It is written in my 
flesh : it is engraven in my bones. My heart thou aimest at ; thy 
rod doth drive, thy silken cord of love doth draw, and all to bring 
it to thyself. And is that all, Lord ? is that the worst ? Can such 
a heart be worth thy having ? Make it so. Lord, and then it is 
thine ; take it to thyself, and then take me. I can but reach it 
toward thee, and not unto thee. I am too low, and it is too dull. 
This clod hath life to stir, but not to rise ; legs it hath, but wings 
it wanteth. As the feeble child to the tender mother, it looketh 
up to thee, and stretcheth out the hands, and fain would have thee 
take it up. Though I cannot so freely say, My heart is with thee, 
my soul longeth after thee ; yet can I say, I long for such a longing 
heart. The twins are yet a striving in my bowels : the spirit is 
willing, the flesh is weak ; the spirit longs, the flesh is loth. The 
flesh is unwilling to lie rotting in the earth ; the soul desires to be 
with thee. My spirit crieth. Let thy kingdom come ; or else, let 
me come unto thy kingdom : but the flesh is afraid lest thou 
shouldst hear my prayer, and take me at my word. What frequent 
contradictions dost thou find in my requests ! because there is such 
contradiction in myself. My prayers plead against my prayers, and 
one part begs a denial to the other. No wonder if thou give me 
such a dying life, when I know not whether to ask for life or death. 
With the same breath do I beg for a reprieval and removal ; and 
the same groan doth utter my desires and my fears. My soul 
would go, my flesh would stay. My soul would fain be out, my 
flesh would have thee hold the door. O, blessed be the grace that 
makes advantages of my corruptions, even to contradict and kill 
themselves. For I fear my fears, and sorrow for my sorrows, and 
groan under my fleshly groans : I loathe my lothness, and I long 
for greater longings. And while my soul is thus tormented with 
fears and cares, and with the tedious means for attaining my de- 
sires, it acldeth so much to the burden of my troubles, that my 
weariness thereby is much increased, which makes me groan to be 
at rest. Indeed, Lord, my soul itself also is in a strait, and what 
to choose I know not well, but yet thou knowest what to give : to 
depart, and be with thee, is best ; but yet to be in the flesh seems 
needful. Thou knowest I am not weary of thy work, but of sorrow 
and sin I must needs be weary : I am willing to stay while thou 
wilt here employ me, and to despatch the work which thou hast 
put into my hands, till these strange thoughts of thee be somewhat 
more familiar, and thou hast raised me into some degree of ac- 
quaintance with thyself: but I beseech thee, stay no longer when 
this is done. Stay not till sin shall get advantage, and my soul 
grow earthly by dwelling on this earth, and my desires and delights 
in thee grow dead : but while I must be here, let me be still 
amending and ascending; make me still better, and take me at the 
best. I dare not be so impatient of living, as to importune thee to 
cut off" my time, and urge thee to snatch me hence unready; because 



Chai'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G40 

I know my everlasting state doth so much depend on the improve- 
ment of this life. Nor yet would I stay when my work is done ; 
and remain here sinning, when my brethren are triumphing. I am 
drowning in tears, while they swim in joys ; I am weeping, while 
they are singing ; I am under thy feet, while they arc in thy bosom ; 
thy footsteps bruise and break this worm, while those stars do 
shine in the firmament of glory. Thy frowns do kill me, while 
they are quickened by thy smiles : they are ever living, and 1 am 
daily dying : their joys are raised by the knowledge of their end- 
lessness; my griefs are enlarged l)y still expecting more: while 
they possess but one continued pleasure, I bear the successive assaults 
of fresh calamities. One billow falls in the neck of another; and 
when I am rising up from under one, another comes and strikes 
me down. Yet I am thy child, as well as they ; Christ is my Head, 
as well as theirs: why is there then so great a distance? How dif- 
ferently dost thou use us, when thou art Father to us all ! They 
sit at thy table, while I must stand without the doors. But I ac- 
knowledge the equity of thy ways. Though we are all children, 
yet I am the prodigal, and therefore meeter in this remote country 
to feed on husks ; while they are always with thee, and possess thy 
glory. Though we are all members, yet not the same ; they are 
the tongue, and fitter to praise thee ; they are the hands, and fitter 
for thy service ; I am the feet, and therefore meeter to tread on 
earth, and move in dirt, but unfit to stand so near the head as they. 
They were once themselves in my condition, and I shall shortly be 
in theirs : they were of the lowest form, before they came to the 
highest ; they suffered, before they reigned : they came out of great 
tribulation, who now are standing before thy throne ; and shall 
not I be content to come to the crown as they did ; and to drink of 
their cup, before I sit with them in the kingdom ? The blessed 
souls of David, Paul, Austin, Calvin, &c. with all the spirits of the 
just made perfect, were once on earth, as I am now ; as far from 
the sight of thy face and glory, as deep in sorrows, as weak, and 
sick, and full of pains, as I. Their souls were longer imprisoned 
in corruptible flesh : I shall go but the way that they did all go 
before me : their house of clay did fall to dust, and so must mine. 
The world they are now in, was as strange to them before they 
were there as it is to me. And am I better than all these precious 
souls ^ I am contented, therefore, O my Lord, to stay thy time, 
and go thy way ; so thou wilt exalt me also in thy season, and take 
me into thy barn when thou seest me ripe. In the mean time I 
may desire, though I am not to repine ; I may look over the hedge, 
though I may not break over ; I may believe and wish, though not 
make any sinful haste ; I am content to wait, but not to lose thee. 
And when thou seest me too contented with thine absence, and 
satisfying and pleasing myself here below, O quicken up then my 
dull desires, and blow up the dying spark of love ; and leave me 
not till I am able unfeignedly to cry out. As the hart panteth after 
the brooks, and the dry land thirsteth for the water-streams, so 
thirsteth my soul after thee, O God : when shall I come and appear 



650 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING EEST. Part IV. 

before the living God? Psal. xlii. 1,2: till my daily conversation 
be with thee in heaven, and from thence I may longingly expect 
my Saviour, Phil. iii. 20, 21 : till my aftections are set on things 
above, where Christ is reigning, and my life is hid. Col. iii. 1 — 4; 
till I can walk by faith, and not by sight'; willing rather to be ab- 
sent from the body, and present with the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 1, G — 8. 
What interest hath this empty world in me ? and what is there in 
it that may seem so lovely, as to entice my desires and delight 
from thee, or make me loth to come away ? When I look about 
me with a deliberate, undeceived eye, methinks this world is a 
howling wilderness, and most of the inhabitants are untamed, 
hideous monsters. All its beauty I can wink into blackness, and 
all its mirth I can think into sadness ; I can drown all its pleasures 
in a few penitent tears, and the wind of a sigh will scatter them 
away. When I look on them without the spectacles of flesh, I 
call them nothing, as being vanity, or v/orse than nothing, as vex- 
ation. O let not this flesh so seduce my soul, as to make it prefer 
this weary life, before the joys that are about thy throne : and 
though death of itself be unwelcome to nature, yet let thy grace 
make thy glory appear to me so desirable, that the king of terrors 
may be the messenger of my joy. O let not my soul be ejected by 
violence, and dispossessed of its habitation against its will, but 
draw it forth to thyself by the secret power of thy love, as the sun- 
shine in the spring draws forth the creatures from their winter 
cells ; meet it half way, and entice it to thee, as the loadstone doth 
the iron, and as the greater flame doth attract the less ; dispel 
therefore the clouds that hide from me thy love, or remove the 
scales that hinder mine eyes from beholding thee : for only the 
beams that stream from thy face, and the foresight or taste of thy 
great salvation, can make a soul uufeignedly to say, Now let thy 
servant depart in peace ; reading and hearing will not serve. My 
meat is not sweet to my ear or my eye; it must be a taste or feel- 
ing that must entice av/ay my soul : though arguing is the means 
to bend my will, yet if thou bring not the matter to my hand, 
and by the influence of thy Spirit make it not eiFectual, I shall 
never reason my soul to be willing to depart. In the winter, when 
it is cold and dirty without, I am loth to leave my chamber and 
fire ; but in the summer, when all is warm and green, I am loth to 
be so confined : show me but the summer fruits and pleasures of 
thy paradise, and I shall freely quit my earthly cell. Some plea- 
sure I have in my books, my friends, and in thine orcbnances : till 
thou hast given me a taste of something more sweet, my soul will 
be loth to part with these : the traveller will hold his cloak the 
faster when the winds do bluster, and the storms assault him ; but 
when the sun shines hot, he will cast it off as a burden ; so will my 
soul, when thou frownest, or art strange, be lother to leave this 
garment of flesh ; but thy smiles would make me leave it as my 
prison. But it is not thy ordinary discoveries that will here suf- 
fice ; as the work is greater, so must be thy help. O turn these 
fears into strong desires, and this lothness to die into longings after 



CiiAi'. XIV. THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. (jol 

thee ! While I must be absent from thee, let my soul as heartily 
groan under thine absence, as my pained body duth under its want 
of health : and let not those groans be counterfeit, or constrained, 
but let them come from a longing, loving heart, unfeignedly judg- 
ing it best to depart, and be with Christ : and if I have any more 
time to spend on earth, let me live as without the world in thee, as 
I have sometime lived as without thee in the world. O suffer me 
not to spend in strangeness to thee another day of this my pilgrim- 
age ! While I have a thought to think, let me not forget thee ; 
while I have a tongue to move, let me mention thee with delight ; 
while I have a breath to breathe, let it be after thee, and for thee ; 
while I have a knee to bend, let it bow daily at thy footstool ; and 
when by sickness thou confinest me to my couch, do thou make my 
bed, and number my pains, and put all my tears into thy bottle. 
And as when my spirit groaned for my sins, the flesh would not 
second it, but desired that which my spirit did abhor; so now, 
when my flesh doth groan under its pains, let not my spirit second 
it, but suffer the flesh to groan alone, and let me desire that day 
which my flesh abhorreth, that my friends may not with so much 
sorrow wait for the departure of my soul, as my soul with joy shall 
wait for its own departure ; and then let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be as his, even a removal to that 
glory that shall never end. Send forth thy convoy of angels for 
my departing soul, and let them bring it among the perfect spirits 
of the just, aiul let me follow my dear friends that have died in 
Christ before ; and when my friends are weeping over my grave, 
let my spirit be reposed with thee in rest, and when my corpse 
shall lie there rotting in the dark, let my soul be in the inheritance 
of the saints in light. And O thou that numberest the very hairs 
of my head, do thou number all the days that my body lies in the 
dust : and thou that writest all my members in thy book, do thou 
keep an account of all my scattered bones. And hasten, O my 
Saviour, the time of thy return ; send forth thine angels, and let 
that dreadful, joyful trumpet sound : delay not, lest the living 
give up their hopes : delay not, lest earth should grow like hell, 
and lest thy church by division be crumbled all to dust, and dis- 
solved by being resolved into individual units : delay not, lest thine 
enemies get advantage of thy flock, and lest pride, and hypocrisy, 
and sensuality, and unbelief, should prevail against thy little rem- 
nant, and share among them thy whole inheritance, and when thou 
comest thou find not faith on the earth : delay not, lest the grave 
should boast of victory ; and having learned rebellion of its guest, 
should plead prescription, and refuse to deliver thee up thy due. 
O hasten that great resurrection-day ! when thy command shall go 
forth, and none shall disobey ; when the sea and earth shall yield 
up their hostages, and all that sleep in the grave shall awake, and 
the dead in Christ shall first arise ; when the seed that thou sowest 
corruptible shall come forth incorruptible ; and graves that re- 
ceived but rottenness, and retained but dust, shall return thee 
glorious stars and suns : therefore dare I lay down my carcass in 



652 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart IV. 

the dust, intrusting it not to a grave, but to thee ; and therefore my 
flesh shall rest in hope, till thou raise it to the possession of the 
everlasting rest. Return, O Lord ; how long ? O let thj- kingdom 
come ! Thy desolate bride saith, Come ; for thy Spirit within her 
saith, Come, who teacheth her thus to pray with groanings after 
thee which cannot be expressed : the whole creation saith. Come, 
waiting to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the 
glorious liberty of the sons of God : thyself hath said. Surely I 
come. Amen. F.ven so come. Lord Jesus. 



THE CONCLUSION. 



Thus, reader, I have given thee my best advice for the attaining 
and maintaining a heavenly conversation. The manner is imperfect, 
and too much mine own, but, for the main matter, I dare say I re- 
ceived it from God. From him I deliver it to thee, and his charge 
I lay upon thee that thou entertain and practise it. If thou canst 
not do it methodically and fully, yet do it as thou canst ; only, be 
sure thou do it seriously and frequently. If thou wilt believe a man 
that hath made some small trial of it, thou shalt find it will make 
thee another man, and elevate thy soul, and clear thine understand- 
ing, and polish thy conversation, and leave a pleasant savour upon 
thy heart ; so that thy own experience will make thee confess that 
one hour thus spent will more effectually revive thee than many in 
bare external duties ; and a day in these contemplations will afford 
thee truer content than all the glory and riches of the earth. Be 
acquainted with this work, and thou wilt be, in some remote sort, 
acquainted with God. Thy joys will be spiritual, and prevalent, 
and lasting, according to the nature of their blessed object ; thou 
wilt have comfort in life, and comfort in death. When thou hast 
neither wealth nor health nor the pleasures of this world, yet wilt 
thou have comfort. Comfort, without the presence or help of any 
friend, without a minister, without a book; when all means are 
denied thee, or taken from thee, yet mayst thou have vigorous, real 
comfort. Thy graces will be mighty, and active, and victorious ; 
and the daily joy which is thus fetched from heaven, will be thy 
strength. Thou wilt be as one that standeth on the top of an 
exceeding high mountain ; he looks down upon the -world as if it 
were quite below him. How small do the fields, and woods, and 
countries, seem to him ! cities and towns seem but little spots. 
Thus despicably wilt thou look on all things here below. 'l"he 
greatest princes will seem below thee but as grasshoppers, and the 
busy, contentious, covetous world, but as a heap of ants. Men's 
threatenings will be no terror to thee, nor the honours of this world 
any strong enticement. Temptations will be more harmless, as 
having lost their strength ; and afflictions less grievous, as having 
lost their sting ; and every mercy will be better known and relished. 



THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 05o 

Reader, it is under God in thine own choice now, whether thou 
wilt live this blessed life or not, and whether all this pains which I 
have taken for thee shall prosper or be lost. If it be lost through 
thy la/.iness, which God forbid, be it known to thee thou wilt prove 
the greatest loser thyself. If thou value not this heavenly, an- 
gelical life, how canst thou say that thou vainest heaven '. And if 
thou value it not, no wonder if thou be shut out. The power of 
godliness lieth in the actings of the soul ; take heed that thou stick 
not in the vain, deluding form. O man, what hast thou to mind 
but God and heaven ! Art thou not almost out of this world al- 
ready ? Dost thou not lo(.)k every day, when one disease or other 
will let out thy soul !" Doth not the bier stand ready to carry thee 
to the grave ; and the worms wait to feed upon thy face and heart .' 
What if thy pulse must beat a fev/ strokes more ; and what if thou 
have a few more breaths to fetch before thou breathe out thy last; 
and what if thou have a few more nights to sleep before thou sleep 
in the dust ? Alas ! what will this he when it is gone ? and is it not 
almost gone already ? Verily, shortly thou wilt see thy glass run 
out, and say thyself. My life is done ; my time is gone ; it is past 
recalling ; there is nothing now but heaven or hell before me. O, 
where then should thy heart be now but in heaven ! Didst thou but 
know what a dreadful thing it is to have a strange and doubtful 
thought of heaven when a man lies a dying, it would sure rouse 
thee up. And what other thoughts, but strange, can that man 
have, that never thought seriously of heaven till then ? Every man's • 
first thoughts are strange about all things ; familiarity and acquaint- 
ance come not in a moment, but is the consequent of custom, and 
frequent converse : and strangeness naturally raiseth dread, as 
familiarity doth delight. What else makes a fish or a wild beast 
flee from a man, when domestic creatures take pleasure in his com- 
pany ^ So wilt thou flee from God, if thou knewest how, who 
should be thy only happiness, if thou do not get this strangeness 
removed in thy life-time. And is it not pity that a child should be 
so strange to his own Father, as to fear nothing more than to go 
into his presence ; and to think himself best v/hen he is furthest 
from him ; and to flee from his face as a wild creature will do from 
the face of a man ? Alas ! how little do many godly ones differ 
from the world, either in their comforts or willingness to die ! and 
all because they live so strange to the place and fountain of their 
comforts. Besides a little verbal or other outside duties, or talking 
of controversies and doctrines of religion, or forbearing the prac- 
tice of many sins, how little do the most of the religious differ from 
other men, when God hath prepared so vast a difference hereafter ! 
If a word of heaven fall in now and then in their conference, alas ! 
how slighty is it, and customary, and heartless ! And if their prayers 
or preaching have heavenly expressions, they usually are fetched 
from their mere invention, or memory, or books, and not from the 
experience or feeling of their hearts. Oh what a life might men 
live if they were but willing and diligent ! God would have our 
joys to be far more than our sorrows, yea, he would have us to have 



G54 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

no sorrow but what tendeth to joy, and no more than our sins have 
made necessary for our good. How much do those Christians 
wrong God and themselves, that either make their thoughts of God 
the inlet of their sorrows, or let these offered joys lay by, as neg- 
lected or forgotten ! Some there be that say it is not worth so much 
time and trouble, to think of the greatness of the joys above ; so 
we can make sure they are ours, we know they are great. But as 
these men obey not the command of God, which requireth them to 
have their conversation in heaven, and to set their affections on 
things above, so do they wilfully make their own lives miserable, 
by refusing the delights that God hath set before them. And yet, 
if this were all, it w^ere a smaller matter : if it were but loss of 
their comforts, I would not say so much ; but see what abundance 
of other mischiefs do follow the absence of these heavenly delights. 

First, It will damp, if not destroy, our very love to God : so 
deeply as we apprehend his bounty and exceeding love to us, and 
his purpose to make us eternally happy, so much will it raise our 
love : love to God, and delight in him, are still conjunct. They 
that conceive of God as one that desireth their blood and damna- 
tion, cannot heartily love him. 

Secondly, It will make us have seldom and unpleasing thoughts 
of God, for our thoughts will follow our love and delight. Did v/e 
more delight in God than in any thing below, our thoughts would 
as freely run after him, as now they run from him. 

Thirdly, And it will make men to have as seldom and unpleasing 
speech of God ; for who will care for talking of that which he 
hath no delight in? What makes men still talking of worldliness, 
or wickedness, but that these are more pleasant to them than God ? 

Fourthly, It will make men have no delight in the service of 
God, when they have no delight in God, nor any sweet thoughts of 
heaven, which is the end of their services. No wonder if such 
Christians complain that they are still backward to duty ; that they 
have no delight in prayer, in sacraments, or in Scriptvu'e itself. If 
thou couldst once delight in God, thou wouldst easily delight in 
duty, especially that which bringeth thee into the nearest converse 
with him. But, till then, no wonder if thou be weary of all, fur- 
ther than some external excellency may give thee a carnal delight. 
Doth not this cause many Christians to go on so heavily in secret 
duties ? Like the ox in the furrow, that will go no longer than he 
is driven, and is glad when he is unyoked, 

P^ifthly, Yea, it much endangereth the perverting of men's judg- 
ments, concerning the ways of God, and means of grace, when 
they have no delight in God and heaven. Though it be said, perit 
omne judicium cum res transit in affectum, that judgment perisheth 
when things pass into affection ; yet, that is but when affection 
leadeth the judgment, and not when it followeth. Affection holdeth 
its object faster than bare judgment doth. The soul will not 
much care for that truth which is not accompanied with suitable 
goodness ; and it will more easily be drawn to believe that to be 
which it doth not delightfully apprehend to be good; which 



THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G.3.3 

doubtless is no small cause of the ungodly's prejudice against the 
ways of God, and of many formal men's dislike of extomporatc 
prayers, and of a strict observation of the Lord's day. 1 lad they 
a true delight in God and heavenly things, it would rectify their 
judgments better than all the arguments in the world. Lose this 
ilelight once, and you will begin to quarrel with the ordinances and 
ways of God, and to be more offended at the preacher's imperfec- 
tions than profited by the doctrine. 

Sixthly, And it is the want of these heavenly delights in God 
that makes men so entertain the delights of the flesh. This is the 
cause of most men's voluptuousness and flesh-pleasing. The soul 
will not rest without some kind of delights. If it had nothing to 
delight in, either in hand or in hope, it would be in a kind of hell 
on earth, vexing itself with continual sorrow and despair. If a 
dog have lost his master, he will follow somebody else. Men must 
have their sweet cups, or delicious faro, or gay apparel, or cards, 
or dice, or fleshly lusts, to make up their want of delight in God. 
How well these will serve instead of God, our wanton youths will 
be better able to tell nie, when we meet at judgment. If men were 
acquainted with this heavenly life, there would need no laws against 
sabbath-breaking and riotousness ; nor would men need to go for 
mirth to an ale-house or a tavern ; they would have a far sweeter 
pastime and recreation nearer hand. 

Seventhly, Also, this want of heavenly delights will leave men 
under the power of every affliction ; they will have nothing to com- 
fort them and ease them in their sufferings, but the empty, un- 
effectual pleasures of the flesh ; and when that is gone, where then 
is their delight ? 

Eighthly, Also, it will make men fearful, and unwilling' to die : 
for who would go to a God or a place that he hath no delight in ? 
or who would leave his pleasure here, except it w^ere to go to bet- 
ter .'' Oh, if the people of God would learn once this heavenly 
life, and take up their delight in God whilst they live, they would 
not tremble and be disconsolate at the tidings of death. 

Ninthly, Yea, this want of heavenly delight doth lay men open 
to the power of every temptation. A little thing will tice a man 
from that which he hath no pleasure in. 

Tenthly, Yea, it is a dangerous preparative to total apostacy. A 
man will hardly long hold on in a way that he hath no delight in, 
nor use the means, if he have no delight in the end ; but, as a 
beast, if you drive him in a way that he would not go, will be turn- 
ing out at every gap. If you be religious in your actions, and be 
come over to God in your outward conversation, and not in your 
delight, you will shortly be gone if your trial be strong. How 
many young people have we known, who by good education, or the 
persuasion of friends, or for fear of hell, have been awhile kept up 
among prayers, and sermons, and good company, as a bird in a 
cage, when, if they durst, they had rather have been in an ale- 
house, or at their sports ; and at last they have broken loose, when 
their restraint was taken off, and have forsaken the way that they 



656 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

never took pleasure in ! You see then, that it is not a matter of 
indifFerency, whether you entertain these heavenly delights or not ; 
nor is the loss of your present comfort all the inconvenience that 
follows the neglect. 

And now, Christian friends, I have here lined you out a heavenly, 
precious work : would you hut do it, it would make you mend in- 
deed. To delight in God is the work of angels, and the contrary 
is the work of devils. If God would persuade you now to make 
conscience of this duty, and help you in it hy the blessed influence 
of his Spirit, you would not change your lives with the greatest 
prince on earth. But I am afraid, if I may judge of your hearts 
by the backwardness of my own, that it will prove a hard thing to 
persuade you to the work, and that much of this my labour will 
be lost. Pardon my jealousy ; it is raised upon too many and sad 
experiments. What say you ? Do you resolve on this heavenly 
course or no ? Will you let go all your sinful, fleshly pleasures, and 
daily seek after these higher delights ? I pray thee, reader, here 
shut the book, and consider of it ; and resolve on the duty before 
thou go farther. Let thy family perceive, let thy neighbours per- 
ceive, let thy conscience perceive, yea, let God perceive it, that 
thou art a man that hast thy daily conversation in heaven. God 
hath now offered to be thy daily delight. Thy neglect is thy re- 
fusal. What ! refuse delight ; and such a delight ? If I had pro- 
pounded you only a course of melancholy, and fear, and sorrow, 
you might better have demurred on it. Take heed what thou dost : 
refuse this, and refuse all. Thou must have heavenly delights, or 
none that are lasting. God is willing that thou shouldst daily 
walk with him, and fetch in consolation from the everlasting foun- 
tain. If thou be unwilling, even bear thy loss ; and one of these 
days, when thou liest dying, then seek for comfort where thou 
canst get it, and make what shift for contentment thou canst. 
Then see whether thy fleshly delights will stick to thee, or give 
thee the slip ; and then conscience, in despite of thee, shall make 
thee remember, that thou wast once persuaded to a way for more 
excellent pleasures, that would have followed thee through death 
and have lasted thee to everlasting. What man will go in rags, 
that may be clothed with the best ; or feed on pulse, that may feed 
of the best ; or accompany with the vilest, that may be a com- 
panion to the best, and admitted into the presence and favour of 
the. greatest ? And shall we delight so much in our clothing of flesh, 
and feed so much on the vain pleasures of earth, and accomj^jany so 
much with sin and sinners, when heaven is set open, as it were, to 
our daily view, and God doth offer us daily admittance into his pre- 
sence ? Oh how is the unseen God neglected, and the unseen glory 
forgotten, and made light of! And all because they are unseen, 
and for want of that faith which is (he substance of things hoped 
for, and the evidence of things that are not seen, Heb. xi. 1. 

But for you, sincere believers, whose hearts God hath weaned 
from all things here below, I hope you will value his heavenly life, 
and fetch one walk daily in the new Jerusalem. I know God is 



THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 657 

your lovo, and your desire ; and I know you would fain be more 
acquainted with your Saviour ; and I know it is your grief that 
your hearts are not more near him ; and that they do no more free- 
ly and passionately love him, and delight in him. As ever you 
would have all this mended, and enjoy your desires, O try this life 
of meditation on your everlasting rest ! Here is the Mount Ararat, 
where the fluctuated ark of your souls must rest. Oh ! let the 
world see, by your heavenly lives, that religion lieth in something 
more than opinions and disputes, and a task of outward duties ; let 
men see in you, what a life they must aim at. If ever a Christian 
be like himself, and answerable to his principles and profession, it 
is when he is most serious and lively in his duty : when as Moses, 
.before he died, went up into Mount Ncbo, to take a survey of the 
land of Canaan ; so the Christian doth ascend this mount of con- 
templation, and take a survey, by faith, of his rest. He looks upon 
the glorious, delectable mansions, and saith, " Glorious things are" 
deservedly " spoken of thee, O thou city of God." He heareth, as 
it were, the melody of the heavenly choir, and beholdeth the excel- 
lent employment of those spirits, and saith, " Blessed are the people 
that are in such a case ; yea, blessed are they that have the Lord 
for their God." He next looketh to the glorified inhabitants of 
that region, and saith, " Happy art thou, O the Israel of God, a 
people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy strength, the sword 
of thine excellency." When he looketh upon the Lord himself, 
who is their glory, he is ready with the rest to fall down and wor- 
ship him that liveth for ever, and say, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord 
God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come : thou art worthy, 
O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power." When he looks 
on the glorified Saviour of the saints, he is ready to say Amen to 
that new song, " Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be to him that 
sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever ; for he 
hath redeemed us out of every nation by his blood, and made us 
kings and priests to God." When he looketh back on the wilder- 
ness of this world, he blesseth the believing, patient, despised 
saints ; he pitieth the ignorant, obstinate, miserable world ; and 
for himself, he saith, as Peter, " It is good to be here ; " or, as Da- 
vid, " It is good for me to draw near to God :" for all those that are 
far from him shall perish. 

Thus as Daniel in his captivity did three times a day open his 
window toward Jerusalem, though far out of sight, when he went 
to God in his devotions ; so may the believing soul, in this cap- 
tivity to the flesh, look towards Jerusalem which is above : and as 
Paul was to the Colossians, so may he be, with the glorified spirits, 
absent in the flesh, but present in spirit, joining in beholding their 
heavenly order, Col. ii. 5. And as divine Bucholcer, in his last 
sermon before his death, did so sweetly descant upon those com- 
fortable words, " Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but 
have everlasting life," John iii. 16, that he raised and ravished 
the hearts of his otherwise sad hearers ; so may the meditating 
believer do, through the Spirit's assistance, by his own heart. And 



058 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 1'aut IV. 

as the pretty lark cloth sing most sweetly, and never ceaseth her 
pleasant ditty, while she hovereth aloft, as if she were there gazing 
into the glory of the sun, but is suddenly silenced when she falleth 
to the earth ; so is the frame of the soul most delectable and divine 
while it keepeth in the views of God by contemplation : but, alas ! we 
make there too short a stay, but down again we fall, and lay by 
our nmsic. 

But, O Thou, the merciful Father of spirits, the attractive of 
love, and ocean of delights, draw up these drossy hearts unto thy- ^ 
self, and keep them there till they are spiritualized and refined ; 
and second these thy servant's weak endeavours, and persuade 
those that read these lines to the practice of this delightful, hea- 
venly work. And, O suffer not the soul of thy most unworthy 
servant to be a stranger to those joys which he unfoldeth to thy 
people, or to be seldom in that way which he hath lined out here 
to others ; but O keep me while I tarry on this earth, in daily 
serious breathings after thee, and in a believing, aifectionate walk- 
ing with thee : and when thou comest, O let me be found so doing, 
not hiding my talent, nor serving my flesh, nor yet asleep with my 
lamp unfurnished, but waiting and longing for my LoVd's return : 
that those who shall read these heavenly directions, may not reap 
only the fruit of my studies, and the product of my fancy, but the 
breathings of my active hope and love : that if my heart were open 
to their view, they might there read the same most deeply engraven 
with a beam from the face of the Son of God ; and not find vanity, 
or lust, or pride within, where the words of life appear without : 
that so these lines may not witness against me ; but proceeding from 
the heart of the writer, may be effectual, through thy grace, upon the 
heart of the reader ; and so be the savour of life to both. Amen. 

Glory be to God in the liighest ; 
On earth peace : 
Good-will towards men. 



BROUGHTON 

IN THE 

CONCLUSION OF HIS CONSENT OF SCRIPTURE, 

CONCERNING THE NEW JERUSALEM, AND THE EVERLASTING SABBATISM, MEANT 
IN MY TEXT, AS BEGUN HERE, AND PERFECTED IN HEAVEN. 

The company of faithful souls called to the blessed marriage of 
the Lamb, are a Jerusalem from heaven, Apoc. iii. ; xxi. ; Heb. 
xii. Though such glorious things are spoken concerning this city 
of God, the perfection whereof cannot be seen in this vale of tears ; 
yet here God wipeth all tears from our eyes, and each blessing is 
here begun. The name of this city much helpeth Jew and Gentile 
to see the state of peace, for this is called Jerusalem^ and that in 



THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. 0.3'.) 

Canaan hath Christ destroyed : this name should clearly have 
taught both the Hebrews not to look and pray daily for to return to 
Canaan, and pseudo-catholics not to light for special holiness there. 
We live in this by faith, and not by eye-.sight, and by hope we behold 
the perfection : of this city, salvation is a wall, goodly as jasper, 
clear as crystal : the foundations are in nund)er twelve, of twelve 
precious stones, such as Aaron wore on his breast, all the work of 
the Land)'s twelve apostles : the gates are twelve, each of pearl, 
upon which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, of whose 
faith all must be which enter in ; twelve angels are conductors 
from east, west, north, and south, even the stars of the churches : 
the city is square ; of burgesses settled for all turns. Here God 
sitteth upon a throne like jasper and rul)y, comfortable and just : 
the Lamb is the temple, that a third temple should not be looked 
for to be built. Thrones twice twelve are for all the Christians 
born of Israel's twelve, or taught by the apostles, who for dignity 
are seniors, for infinity are termed l)ut four and twenty, in regard 
of so many tribes and apostles. Here the majesty is honourable, 
as at the delivery of the law, from whose throne, thunder, voices, 
and lightnings do proceed : here oil of grace is never wanting, but 
burning with seven lamps, the Spirit of IMessias, of wit and wis- 
dom, of counsel and courage, of knowledge and understanding, and 
of the fear due to the Eternal : here the valiant, patient, witty, and 
speedy, with sharp sight, are winged as those seraphims that waited 
on Christ, when ten calamities and utter destruction was told for 
the low Jerusalem : they of this city are not as Israel after the 
flesh, which would not see, for all the wonders that our Lord did; 
but these redeemed with his precious blood are full of eyes light- 
ened by lamps, the glory of Jehovah, and behold Christ through 
all the prophets, a Performer of our faith, sealed of God, Sealer of 
all visions. Opener of seals or the stories of the church, John vi. ; 
Dan. ix. 24 ; Apoc. vi. Here is the true light, where the saved 
walk, Isa. Ix. ; hither kingdoms bring their glory ; hither the 
blessed nations carry their jewels, Apoc. xxi. This is a kingdom 
uncorrupted, which shall not be given to a strange and unclean 
people ; they must be written in the book of the Lamb, and chosen 
of eternity, sanctified of God, which here are citizens, Eph. i. 4; 
ii. 19 : through this there gusheth a stream better than the four in 
Eden, a stream of lively waters by belief in Christ, as those waters 
flowing from Lebanon, Cant. iv. 1.'5 : here is that Tree of Life in 
the midst of the paradise of God, with leaves to heal the nations 
that will be cured, while it is said to-day, with twelve fruits to give 
food continually to such as feed also upon the hiddon manna, who 
after death receive the crown of justice and life, the morning-star, 
white clothing, and the white stone, wdierein a name is written 
equal to all the law, Deut. xxvii. 2. The first seat of the first 
Adam in the first paradise was glorious; this is better; and as 
Moses began wifh the terrestrial, so the holy word ends in the 
celestial ; that to wheels full of eyes may the writ of trutl^be com- 
pared : the full consent and melody of prophets and apostles, how 



G60 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV 

their harps are tuned on Mount Sion, Apoc. xiv., it will fully ap- 
pear in the full sight of peace, when our bodies are made conform- 
able to Christ's glorious body, Phil. iii. 21, in the world to come, 
and our eyes shall see the Lord in that Sion. For that coming, 
" O thou whom my soul loveth, be like to the roes upon the moun- 
tainSj" Cant. i. 1 ; ii. 17. Amen. Even so come. Lord Jesus, 
Then shall we in perfect holiness worship thee, to whom the angels 
always give holy worship, saying, " Praise, and glory, and wisdom, 
and thanks, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God 
for evermore." Amen. 



A POEM 

OF 

MASTER G. HERBERT, IN HIS "TEMPLE." 

HOME. 

Come, Lord, my head doth burn, my heart is sick. 

While thou dost ever, ever stay, 
Thy long deferrings wound me to the quick ; 
My spirit gaspeth night and day. 

O show thyself to me, 
Or take me up to thee. 
How canst thou stay, considering the pace 

The blood did make which thou didst waste ? 
When I behold it trickling down his face, 
I never saw thing make such haste. 

O show thyself to me, 
Or take me up to thee. 
When man was lost, thy pity look'd about. 

To see what help in th' earth or sky ; 
But there was none, at least no help without. 
The help did in thy bosom lie. 

O show thyself to me, 
Or take me up to thee. 
There lay thy Son ; and must he leave that nest. 

That hive of sweetness, to remove 
Thraldom from those, who would not at a feast 
Leave one poor apple for thy love ? 

O show thyself to me, 
Or take me up to thee. 
He did, he came. O my Redeemer dear. 

After air this canst thou be strange ? 
So many years baptiz'd, and not appear ? 

As if thy love could fail or change, 
m O show thyself to me, 

Or take me up to thee. 



THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. G61 

Yet if thou stayest still, why must I stay ? 

My God, what is the world to me ? 
This world of woe. Hence, all ye clouds, away ; 
Away : I must get up and see. 

O show thyself to me, 
Or take me up to thee. 
What is this w^eary world ? this meat and drink, 

That chains us by the teeth so fast { 
What is this womankind, which I can wink 
Into a blackness and distaste ? 

. O show thyself to me, 

Or take me up to thee. 
With one small sigh thou gav'st me th' other day, 

I blasted all the joys about me ; 
And scowling on them as they pin'd away. 
Now come again, said I, and flout me. 
O show thyself to me. 
Or take me up to thee. 
Nothing but drought and dearth, but bush and brake. 

Which way soe'er I look, I see ; 
Some nlay dream merrily, but when they awake. 
They dress themselves, and come to thee. 
O show thyself to me. 
Or take me up to thee. 
We talk of harvests ; there are no such things. 

But when we leave our corn and hay : 
There is no fruitful year, but that which brings 
The last and lov'd, though dreadful day. 
O show thyself to me. 
Or take me up to thee. 

O loose this frame ; this knot of man untie. 

That my free soul may use her wing. 
Which is now pinion'd with mortality. 
As an entangled, hamper'd thing. 

O show thyself to me. 
Or take me up to thee. 

What have I left that I should stay and groan ; 

The most of me to heaven is fled : 
My thoughts and joys are all pack'd up and gone. 
And for their old acquaintance plead. 
O show thyself to me. 
Or take me up to thee. 

Come, dearest Lord, pass not this holy season ; 

My flesh and bones and joints do pray ; 
And ev'n my verse, when by the rhyme and reason 
The word is Stay, says ever, Come. 

O show thyself to me. 
Or take me up to thee. 



662 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 



AN ADDITION 



THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER OF THE THIRD PART OF THE 
SAINTS' REST. 

It hath seemed meet to Mr. K. to second Mr. Crandon, by an 
impetuous opposition of my poor labours ; and having in his first 
volume against Mr. G. assaulted my " Aphorisms ;" in the second, 
to fall upon my " Method for Peace of Conscience," and my book 
of " Rest ;" against the twelfth chapter (misprinted the eleventh) 
of the third part, he hath a copious digression, which I will not 
now characterize, either as to the intellectuals or morals, the judg- 
ment or honesty appearing in it ; having reserved that to a second 
and plain admonition to himself. But because I intended these 
writings for ordinary capacities, I would have nothing remain in 
them which may be an occasion of their stumbling ; for the sake 
therefore of such readers as would neither err, nor be puzzled with 
contentious janglings about mere words, I shall give them this 
brief advertisement following. It is so far from my desire to teach 
men to build the peace of their consciences upon any nice philo- 
sophical controversies, much less on any errors or singular opinions 
of mine, that I desire nothing more than to lead them to, and 
leave them on, the plain, infallible word of God. My own judg- 
ment concerning that sincere, saving grace, which we may safely 
try our estates by, I have as plainly as I could laid down in that 
chapter, and my " Directions for Peace ;" and in sect. 39, to sect. 
53, of my " Reply to Mr. Blake :" from whence I must desire the 
reader to fetch it, and not from the interpretations of Mr. K., which 
so seldom hath the hap to be acquainted with the truth, and who 
professeth himself that he doth not understand me : whether it be 
long of me or himself I determine not. To these I shall now add 
only these few words. 

The everlasting enjoyment of God in glory by perfected man, is 
the felicity which all should desire and seek. This is propounded 
to us by God in his word, and the necessary mean thereto prescribed; 
even Jesus Christ, and faith in him, and obedience to him, and to 
God in and by him. The distempered, sensual appetite, and de- 
praved will of man, do incline to inferior sensual delights. God 
hath resolved that these shall not be their felicity, and that they 
shall never be happy in the enjoyment of him, except they take 
him for their chief good, and so far forsake inferior good which 
would draw the heart from him : and except also they give up 
themselves to his Son Jesus Christ, and to his Spirit, to be re- 
covered unto him. Though all men by nature desire to be happy ; 
yet all do not desire God as their happiness. Nor do the regener- 
ate themselves yet perfectly desire him, or perfectly forsake that 



THE SAINTS' KVEllLASTING REST. GGJ 

inferior good ; which was their supposed happiness l)ef()r(^ they 
wore renewed. The understanding is eonunoiily acknouh'dged to 
have three kinds of acts: 1. A simple appreliension of the mere 
entity of a thing, or of a simple term ; 2. Judgment, or the con- 
ception of a complex term ; 3. Discourse. The first alone moves 
not the will, because it concludes not of the goodness or evil of 
the thing apprehended. The second, judgment, is either about the 
end or the means : and either absolute or comparative. Several 
things are commonly called man's enil,how properly I now inquire 
not. 1. Felicity in general : '2. Ilnnstdf the subject, commonly called 
the _/i/iis cui : 3. The natural and moral perfection of his person : 
4. The act of fruition, or perfect complacency in the blessed object 
upon a full vision; commonly called, our formal felicity: 5. The 
object itself, that is, the blessed God, commonly called our object- 
ive felicity, and our Jinis qui, or cujus, whether fitly, we shall 
better know hereafter. The two first nature hath tied us to ; but 
not to the object, nor to the perfection of the soul in a spiritual 
suitableness thereto. The first absolute judgment produceth in 
the will a simple complacency or displacency ; this is the first mo- 
tion of the will. The comparative judgment, where it is necessary, 
produceth intention and election, or else refusal, and resolves the 
fluctuating will. Where there is but one good propounded, either 
one objective end, or one means of absolute necessity, or wherever 
there is o)nnimodo ratio bo?ii, nothing but good apparent in the 
object, there is no work for consultation, or the comparative act of 
judgment, and consequently for election: but the absolute judg- 
ment would proceed to be practical, and carry out the will to in- 
tention and prosecution : were not man's soul blinded and depraved, 
there should be no deliberation about his end, and so no choosing 
of God as our end, but an absolute intending him, as having no 
competitor : and it cannot be without great sin for the judgment 
to make any question or comparison, and so to deliberate. Whether 
God or the creature be our felicity !" and. Whether God or our 
carnal selves should be our end? But seeing our depraved judg- 
ment and will, and vitiated senses, and the tempter's setting the 
creature in competition with God, do necessitate a comparative 
judgment and deliberation, even about our end itself; therefore 
there is a kind of election of God as l)efore the creature, or a con- 
sent or resolution so to prefer him, that is necessary, before or with 
a right intention and prosecution of that end: besides, the election 
of the new means, that is necessary ; seeing Satan and our flesh 
are so ready to propound wrong means, in competition with the 
means of God's prescribing. All this being so, 1 further add, that 
the same will that hath a complacency in a thing as judged simply 
good, may yet reject and nill it, or refuse to seek or receive it, if it 
be judged either a lesser good inconsistent with a greater, or any 
way to have more evil in it than good : and as the understanding 
doth at once apprehend it as good absolutely, or in some respect ; 
and evil in other respects, and coniparatively less good; so doth 
the will at once continue to love or will it so far as it is apprehended 



664 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

as good ; and to nill and reject it as inconsistent with a greater 
good, or a hinderer of it. But if it fall out that the inconsistency 
of these is not discerned or believed, or but imperfectly, then may 
the will, by a practical volition, will them both. 

To apply this. The understanding of the unregenerate may 
know that God is good, and good to them, and that in very many 
and weighty respects he is desirable. They may know that worldly 
things will shortly leave them, and then if they have not God's 
favour they shall perish ; but if they have, they shall attain both 
perfection of body, (which they may desire,) and perfection of 
mind, (which they do desire in general, and may submit to in the 
particular way of holiness, as more tolerable than hell,) besides 
some imperfect, ineffectual knowledge of a beauty and desirableness 
in holiness itself, accompanied with an answerable motion of the 
will : but every unrenewed man hath more prevalent apprehensions 
of the goodness of the creature, partly by unmastered sense, and 
partly by perverted reason, and therefore apprehendeth God as evil 
to him ; so far as he would hinder his enjoyment thereof, or would 
punish him for a sinful adhering to it. So that, 1. His highest 
practical estimation is of the creature, yet not without some esteem 
of God : 2, And his prevailing will is to the creature, but not with- 
out some will to God. And, ordinarily, such men are so fully con- 
vinced of the impossibility of enjoying the creature for ever, and 
being happy any other way than in God, that, though they could 
wish an ev(>rlasting fulness of the creature, yet, seeing none but 
fools do intend an end which they know impossible to be attained, 
they do therefore compound a felicity in their own fancies, of the 
world for a time, and heaven for everlasting : one part standing in 
the enjoyment of the delights of the flesh, while they live here, and 
the other in the deliverance from hell and blessedness in heaven 
hereafter ; hoping that these are not inconsistent, but they may 
have heaven when t^hey can enjoy the world no longer : because 
they see that many saints possess abundance of earthly blessings, 
and persecution is not now so common as it hath been, therefore 
they suppose they may possess the like ; upon which expectation 
they enjoy what the godly do but use, and so give it the pre-emi- 
nence in their hearts : or if they be convinced of the inconsistency 
of a carnal mind, (in a prevalent degree,) with an interest in the 
happiness of the life to come, they will either persuade themselves 
that they are not carnally-minded when they are, or, one way or 
other, will underprop their hopes of enjoying both : but still their 
fleshly mind is predominant, and therefore they will cast their sal- 
vation upon the adventure of such hopes as have nothing but their 
own delusions to support them. 

On the other side, the regenerate being here imperfect in all 
their graces, are imperfectly taken off those carnal ends which they 
intended in their unsanctified state, and imperfectly inclined to 
God as their end : so are they also, both in discerning and choosing 
the fittest means, even Christ himself and obedience to him ; so 
that the best are carnally-minded, in some degree, but not in a pre- 



THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. GG.3 

valent degree, for then they should die. The flesh and world have 
still some interest in the saints, hut not the strongest ; as (iod and 
the J^edeenier may have some interest, though not the chioffst, in 
the i)ractical judgment and will of the unsanctified. Whether you 
will say, that the same man hath two distinct inconsistent (mkIs, 
one as regenerate, the other so far as he is still carnal ; or whether 
you will give the name of an end only to that good which hath the 
greatest interest in him, I will not contend about a word. If that 
only be called our end, which is prevalently intended in the main 
course of our lives, then it is God only that is our end ; but if that 
may be called a man's end which is intended in his distempers and 
deviations, then the creature may be called our end so far as we are 
still carnal : for it is not only as a wrong-chosen means to our right 
end, that we sinfully adhere to the creature ; but it is more as it 
stands in competition with our right end, and as we will and love 
our flesh-pleasing for itself. It is true, the sensual appetite may 
desire it for itself, because it belongs not to it to carry us higher, 
and to intend an end; but the rational power must subordinate 
both creatures and our natural delight in them to God. And I do 
not think that it is by the mere brutish irrational motion that the 
godly adhere too much to the creature. 

I did therefore deliver my thoughts on this point thus : that as 
the act is denominated from the object, and specified by it, so the 
grace that is saving must, as to the acts, consist not only in the 
absolute, but comparative judgment, and in that choice or com- 
parative willing that follows thereupon ; and though there be forty 
intricate, philosophical controversies about man's willing the end 
and means, which stand in their way that would make the most 
exact discussion of this point, yet every Christian may safely go on 
these grounds, and conclude that when Christ's interest is pre- 
dominant, or greatest in the soul, there is saving grace ; but where 
it is not, there is none, though yet he may have some interest 
there. Here is a double pre-eminence that Christ must have, or a 
double prevalency of grace, that it may be saving. 1. The object 
must be preferred before that which stands in competition with it. 
2. The act must be prevalent in degree against its contrary, so far 
as that the heart and life may be denominated from it. 1. The 
absolute act of the judgment makes no comparison ; therefore in 
that only the latter nuist be looked after. Assent to God's word 
upon his authority, nmst be prevalent against our dissent ; and that 
will appear in our serious obeying it, &.c. 2. In the comparative 
act of the judgment there must be both. God nmst be valued and 
esteemed above all creatures ; and our esteem must be prevalent 
against our slighting and disesteem of him. 3. The main point of 
trial is the will, and there must be both these prevalencies before 
mentioned. God must be willed as better than all creatures ; and 
our willing of him must be in a prevalent degree against our nilling 
or unwilling. For there is in the best on earth some remainders 
of averseness to God, which may be called a hating of him, so far 
as they are carnal ; though they are not therefore fitly to be called 



666 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart IV, 

haters of God, but lovers of him, because they must be denomi- 
nated from the prevalent part. The like may be said of all the 
affections, so far as they are of the rational part ; for of the sensi- 
tive passions there is not so sure a judgment to be made, as I ex- 
pressed p. 110, and in my " Method for Peace of Conscience." In 
the choice of means all this is clear, if not much more. Christ 
must be preferred before all competitors, and all rejected for him ; 
and our willingness must be in a degree that is prevalent against 
our unwillingness, and our faith as prevalent against unbelief, and 
our subjection must prevail against our rebellion, and our obedi- 
ence against our disobedience in the course of our lives. He must 
have the main bent of our hearts and endeavours, though in a par- 
ticular act the flesh may prevail; This is it that I have asserted, 
and with a consent to this I am satisfied. As for the point of spe- 
cification of our acts, I never look to see the schools agreed about 
it, how confidently soever Mr. K. talks, as if they all conspired 
with him. Call the difference gradual or specifical, as you please, 
so we agree in the sense, I am content. I choose to call it a moral, 
specifical difference, and in that sense do maintain, that the faith 
of the best of the unsanctified is not specifically the same with that 
of the sanctified, and so of love and other graces. As to that sav- 
ing faith, all other is but analogically called faith, as I have showed 
in the section before cited against Mr. Blake. But yet I am not of 
Mr. K.'s opinion about the natural specification of acts, for all his 
confidence. I yet think that acts are naturally, and not only 
morally, specified from their objects, considered physically ; and 
are morally specified by those objects, as related to the laws that 
command, forbid, threaten, promise, and so by the laws themselves ; 
which Dr. Twiss will needs say are no species of acts, though vul- 
garly so called, V^ind. Grat. lib. ii. par. 2. digres. 9. p. 410. 

I now desire no more of the reader than to consent, 1. To the 
express words of Scripture which J cited in that chap. xi. sect. 15, 
which I desire him to review ; 2. *And to that which Mr. K. and I 
are agreed in. I hope you will take this for a reasonable motion, 
it being unlike that the Cretian pen of so bold a man, so self-con- 
ceited, and superciliously scornful, should grant me much more than 
he needs must. Let us examine his concessions for matter and 
words. 1. For sense, he confesseth, p. 137, thus: "I am of 
Mr. Baxter's mind, that no sober divine will tell us, that if we love 
God never so little without dissembling, yet he will accept it, though 
we love our lusts before him." So oft he yieldeth that all sincere 
love to God doth prefer him before all other. Where then is our 
difference ? Why, he thinks that no others believe or love God at 
all but those that love him above all. I did aflirm, that as to that 
same moral species of faith and love, they do not at all believe and 
love God, but as to another species they do, and truly do it. How 
oft doth Scripture say of the unsanctified, that they believe in 
Christ, at least for a time ? But I shall leave it till I speak to Mr. 
K. himself, to prove that men unrenewed may have faith and love 
to Christ, though not saving. And whereas, our doctor, according 



THE SAINTS' KVERLASTING UEST. GG7 

to the complexion of his conscience, doth prefer me to succeed 
Pelagius in his chair, for afiirming that a carnal man, by the great- 
est help of common grace, as I opened my meaning, may have 
weak inclinations to spiritual and superior good, while he hath 
stronger to inferior, I would have him to review his sobriety, in 
making all divines and churches of Christ, since the apostles' days, 
so far as I am able to discern by my small reading, or by reports, 
to be Pelagians. I never heard of any that thought so basely of- 
the highest measure of that grace which is not proper to the saints 
as this man doth. If it no whit lead to God, how is it grace ? If 
this doctor dare warrant his hearers that they shall all be saved 
that have the least faith, or love, or inclination to God, I dare not 
imitate him. Except they love him above all, I dare not toll them 
that they are true disciples. Nor do I think- that nature itself is 
averted from God in the highest degree, nor all the wicked of one 
degree of sinfulness, nor yet as bad as they shall be in hell. Our 
divines that tell us how far hypocrites may go, do not talk in the 
strain of this doctor. 

Well, but how far are we yet disagreed even in terms ? Why, I 
said, that it is not a natural, but a moral, specific difference, and so 
doth he. Page 109, he saith, " But against whom, I pray, do you 
dispute then '{ &c. I dare be bold to say there is not one that af- 
firms a natural or physical difference, as you call it, between acts 
of common and saving grace in this your sense." And is not it 
pity that this doctor, that is so well agreed with me for sense and 
terms, should be put to the trouble of so tedious a digression ? 
Forsooth, I did unhappily express myself, because I used not his 
term " appretiative," which though I neglected, I think, on sufficient 
reason, yet, to please him, I will use it when I think on it, and have 
no better. And so we were best part while we are friends. 



TO THE READER. 



Reader, 
I AM so loth to leave thee under any mistake of my meaning in 
this point, that I shall yet make some further attempt for the ex- 
plaining of it. And whereas I understand that some readers say that 
this nice distinguishing doth but puzzle men ; and others still fear 
not falsely to give out, that I make common grace and special to 
differ only gradually, and not specifically, in despite of my express 
asserting of the contrary, 1 entreat the first sort to tear that leaf 
out of the book which speaks of this subject, that it may not trouble 
them ; or to be patient while we speak a few words to others that 
understand that which they are but puzzled with. And I desire 
the second sort once more to remember, 1. That I still afliirm, that 
common grace and special do differ by a moral specific difference, 
and not a gradual only. 2. But that this moral specific difference 



668 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Tart IV. 

doth materially consist in a physical, gradual difference. 3. And 
it being a moral subject that we have in hand, our terms must be 
accordingly used and understood ; and therefore it is most proper, 
when we speak of any unsanctified man, to say, that he is not a 
believer, he hath no faith, he hath no love to God, &c. because we 
are supposed to speak only of a true Christian saving faith, love, 
&c. 4. But yet, when it is known that we speak of another faith 
and love, we may well say that an unsanctified man hath these ; 
and when we inquire of the difference, we must be as exact as pos- 
sible, in showing wherein it lieth, lest we delude the hypocrite, and 
trouble the regenerate. That the faith, and love, and sanctity of 
the ungodly are but equivocally, or analogically, so called, in re- 
spect to the faith and love of the saints, I have proved in my Fifth 
Disputation of Right to Sacraments. 

That which I shall now add to make my sense as plain as I can, 
shall be these following distinctions and propositions. 

We must distinguish between, 1. Those gracious acts that are 
about our end, and those that are about their means. 2. Between 
God considered generally as God, and considered in his several 
properties and attributes distinctly. And Christ considered per- 
sonally, and considered fully in the parts of his office, whether the 
essential or integral parts. 3. Between the goodness of God in 
himself considered, and as suitable unto us. 4. Between the sim- 
ple act of the intellect, and the comparing act. 5. Between the 
simple velleity of the will, and the choice that followeth the com- 
parate act of the intellect. 6. Between the speculative and prac- 
tical act of the intellect. 7. And between the acts of the will 
that answer these two. 8. Between an end that is ultimate, but 
not principal and prevalent, and an end that is ultimate and 
chief also. 

Prop. 1. An unsanctified man may love him that is the true 
God, and believe in that person who is Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. 
This is past controversy among us. 

Prop. 2. An ungodly man may love God as the cause of his 
prosperity in the world. 

Prop. 3. He may know that his everlasting happiness is at the 
disposal of God, and may believe him to be merciful, and ready to 
do good, and that to him ; and consequently may have some love to 
him as thus gracious and merciful. 

Prop. 4. He may by a simple apprehension know that God is 
good in himself, and goodness itself, and preach this to others ; 
and consequently may have in his will a consent or willingness 
hereof, that God be what he is, even infinite goodness. 

Prop. 5. He may have a simple apprehension that God should 
be glorified, and honoured by the creatures : and so may have a 
simple velleity that he may be glorified. 

Prop. 6. He may have a general dim apprehension, that ever- 
lasting happiness consists in the sight of the glory of God, and in 
his love, and favour, and heavenly kingdom, and so may have some 
love to him as thus apprehended. 



THE SAIXTS' EVERLASTING REST. GG9 

Prop. 7. He may coiupaio Ciod and the creature together, and 
have a speculative or superllcial knowledge that God is better than 
the creature, and better to him ; and may write and preach this to 
others : and so may have an answerable superficial, ineffectual 
velleity or love to him, even as thus considered. 

Prop. S. One and the same man may have two contrary ultimate 
ends of his particular actions; even the pleasing of God, and the 
pleasing of his ilesh : proved. 

Anjumcnt 1. If the same heart may be partly sanctified, and 
partly unsanctified, (that is, in some degree,) then it may have two 
contrary ends ; or, if the same man may have flesh and spirit, then 
he may have two contrary ultimate ends. But the antecedent is 
certain ; therefore, so far as man is carnal and unsanctified, flesh- 
pleasing and carnal self is his end. 

Argumeut 2. If the same man might not have two contrary ulti- 
mate ends, then the godly should never sin but in the mischoosing 
of the means, or abating the degrees of love to God : but the con- 
sequent is false, and against experience ; therefore — Peter did not 
only mischoose a means to God's glory when he denied his Master. 
A godly man, when he is drawn to eat or drink too much, doth it 
not only as a mistaken means to glorify God, but ultimately to 
please his flesh. Either David, in adultery, did desire flesh- 
pleasing for itself, or for some other end. If for itself, then it was 
his ultimate end in that act : if for somewhat else, as his end; for 
what i No one will say his end was God's glory ; and there is 
nothing else to be it. 

Prop. 9. There is a continual striving between these two con- 
trary ends where they are ; one drawing one way, and the other the 
other way ; and sometimes one, sometimes the other, prevailing in 
particular acts. 

Prop. 10. But yet, every man hath one only prevalent ultimate 
end, which is to be called Jiffis honiinis, or is the chief ultimate 
end of the habitual predominant inclination or disposition of his 
soul, and of the tenor or bent of his course of life. And that 
w^hich goes against his habitual bent, is said to be the act not of 
him, but of something in him, that is, not of that predominant 
disposition which should denominate the man to be godly or un- 
godly, but of some subdued disposition that, by accident, hath got 
some advantage. 

Prop. 11. As godly men have God for their end, as to the pre- 
dominant habit of their souls and bent of their lives, so all wicked 
men in the world have the creature and carnal self for their end, 
as to the predominant habit of their hearts and bent of their lives ; 
so that this is simply to be called their several end which is the 
ruling end, and hath the greatest interest in them ; but yet, as 
carnal self is a subdued, resisting end in the godly, prevailing in 
some particular actions, as is too sure, so God and salvation may 
be a stifled, abused, subjected end of the ungodly that have but 
common grace, and may prevail against the flesh in some particular 
outward actions. 



070 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

This is evident in the foregoing propositions. If a man by com- 
rnon grace may have such a simple and superficial apprehension of 
God as is before mentioned, knowing him to be good in himself; 
yea, best, and good and best to him ; when yet, at the same time, 
he hath a more deep, predominant, habitual apprehension that the 
creature is best for him ; then certainly he may have a subdued 
love to God as best in himself, and to him, that is answerable to 
this superficial knowledge, and consisteth with a predominant, 
habitual love to the creature and carnal self. I woulcl desire every 
divine to beware that he tell not the unsanctified, that whoever hath 
the least degree of love to God for himself, and not as a means to 
carnal ends, shall certainly be saved ; for he would certainly de- 
ceive many thousand miserable souls that should persuade them of 
this. He that believeth that there is a God, believeth that he is 
the chief good, and best for him if he could see his glory, and fully 
enjoy his love for ever : and many a wicked man doth preach all 
this, and thinks as he speaks ; but it is all but with a superficial, 
opinionative belief, wdiich is mastered by more strong apprehen- 
sions of a contrary good ; and so they love but with a superficial 
love, that is answerable to a mere opinionative belief, and is con- 
quered by a more potent love to the contrary. So that, strictly, 
if you denominate not that single act, nor the person as thus dis- 
posed, but the bent of his affections, or the person, according to 
what indeed he is in the predominant habit of his soul, so it is fit- 
test to say, that the godly loveth not the wiorld, nor the things of 
the world, and the wicked loveth not God, nor the things of God, 
as such. 

Pro2^. 12. The sincere intending of the end doth concur to con- 
stitute a sincere choice of the means. And therefore the school- 
men say, that charity, or love to God, informeth all other graces ; 
not being the form of them as such or such acts or habits, but as 
gracious means. As the means are essentially as means for the 
end, and so animated by it, so the mediate acts of grace, as mediate, 
are as essentially animated by the love of the end, and participate 
of it. In this sense their doctrine of the informing of other graces 
by love, is not only true, but of very great weight, and giveth light 
to many other points. And thus, as men of common grace have 
only an abused, subdued will or love to God as their end, that is 
conquered by the contrary; so they have but an unanswerable 
faith in Christ as the way to God the Father, and an unanswerable 
use of all other means, which will never bring them to attain the 
end that is so superficially and uneifectually apprehended and in- 
tended. I desire the learned reader to peruse well the first dis- 
putation of Rada for Scotus on this question. 

Prop. 13. The acts of love or faith are considerable, 1. Physi- 
cally, 1. In general, as faith and love. 2. In special, as this faith 
and love about this object, the Father and Son. And thus, by 
common grace men may have true faith and love ; that is, such as 
is physically a true or real act. 2. They are considerable morally ; 
and that, 1. Either as duty answering a precept, " Believe and love 



THE SAINTS' l^VKULASTlNCi UEST. G7 I 

God;" and thus they have au analogical, dofoclivc morality iii 
them, and so are thus far sincere or true; hut not that same true 
love or faith, in specie vionili, which the command requireth. For 
it commandeth us to love (iod ahove all, &c. 2, They are con- 
siderahle as conditions of the promises and evidences of spiritual 
life in the soul ; and thus wicked men, hy common grace, are never 
made partakers of them. They have not the things themselves. 
'J'heir faith and love is not the same thing which hath the promises 
made to them in the gospel, and so are not true or sincere. 

Prop. 14. Jjy common grace men may love God under the notion 
of the chiefest good and most desirahle end, and yet not with that 
love which the chiefest good must he loved with, and therefore it 
is not morally sincere or saving. 

Proj). 15. There is no notion whatsoever that a true Christian 
hath of God, and no word that he can speak of him, but an unre- 
generate man may have some apprehension of that same notion, 
and speak those words, and know every proposition concerning 
God and Christ, as Redeemer, which a godly man may know ; and 
so may have some love to God or faith in Christ in that same no- 
tion, though not with such a clear, eifectual apprehension, and 
lively, powerful love, as the sanctified have. 

Object. He cannot love God as his end. A?isw. I have proved 
before that he may with a superficial, uneffectual, subdued love. 

Object. He cannot love him as the chief good. Answ. I have 
proved that he may love him under that notion, though not with 
that love which the chief good must be loved with. 

Object. He cannot believe in Christ, or desire him as a Saviour 
to free him from every sin. Ansiv. Not wdth a prevalent faith or 
desire, for still he hath more love than averseness to that sin, and 
therefore more averseness than love to Christ as such ; but as in 
general he may wish to be free from all sin, so in particular he may 
have effectual wishes to be free from his most beloved sin in several 
respects. 

Object. But not to be free from sin as sin, or as against God. 
Aiisw. Yes ; a man by common grace may know that sin as sin 
is evil, and therefore may have uneffectual wishes to be freed from 
it as such ; but at the same time he hath stronger apprehensions 
of the pleasure, profit, or credit that it brings him, and this pre- 
vaileth. Indeed, men's carnal interest, which in sin they love, is 
not its opposition to God, nor the formal nature of sin. Doubtless 
all men that are ungodly, do not therefore love sin because it is sin, 
and against God ; at least this is not so total in them, but that 
there may be a subdued mind to the contrary, and dislike of sin 
as against God. Many a common drunkard I have known, that 
when he hath heard or talked of sin as sin, and as against God, 
hath cried out against himself, and wept as if he abhorred it, and 
yet gone on in it, for the pleasure of the flesh. 

Object. But where, then, is man's natural enmity to God and 
holiness ^ Anstr. 1. It is doubtful whether man naturally have an 
enmity to God and holiness considered simply, or only considered 



G72 THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST. Part IV. 

as being against man's carnal interest. 2. But were the former 
proved, yet common grace abateth that enmity, and gives men 
more than corrupted nature doth. 

Object. But the experience of the godly telleth them that it is 
another kind of light and love which they have after conversion 
than before. Answ. 1. It is not all converts that can judge by expe- 
rience in this ; because all have not had common grace in the high- 
est, or any great observed measure before conversion. 2. It is hard 
for any to make that experiment, because we know not in our 
change just when common grace left, and special grace begun. 3. 
A physical, gradual difference may be as great as that which your 
experience tells you of. Have you experience of common light and 
love before conversion, and of another since which diiFereth from it 
more than the greatest flame from a spark, and more than the sun- 
shine at noon from the twilight, when you cannot know a man ; or 
more than the sight of the cured blind man, that saw clearly, from 
that by which he saw men like trees ; or more than the pain of the 
strappado from the smallest prick of a pin ? 

Object. But it is not common gifts that are worked up to be spi- 
ritual grace. One species is not turned into another. Afhsw. True : 
imperfection is not turned materially into perfection. The dawning 
of the day is not materially turned into the greater light at noon ; 
but a greater light superveneth, and is added to the less. The 
blind man's seeing men like trees, was not it that was the perfect, 
following sight, but an additional light was it. 

Object. But special grace is the divine nature, the image of God, 
the new creature, &c. and therefore doth differ more from common. 
Answ. I easily yield the antecedent, but deny the consequence. 
The difference is as admirably great as these terms express, though 
it be but a moral specific difference. 

Reader, I will trouble thee no more but to entreat thee, if thou 
be of another mind, to differ from me without breach of charity, as 
I do from thee, and to remember that I obtrude not my explica- 
tions on any. And if I have done thee wrong, it is but by telling 
thee my thoughts, which thou hast liberty to accept or reject as 
thou seest cause. But again I entreat thee, rather lay this by, or 
tear it out of the book, than it should be any stumbling-block in 
the way, or hinder thee from profiting by what thou readest. The 
Lord increase our light, and life, and love. 

Jan. 15, 1657. 



JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. 




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