formerly and that is enough Yea do God's dispensations change towards thee he did smile now he frowns he did lift up now he casts down the light of his Countenance did shine brightly upon thee now 't is veild clouded Well however thy God himself changes not his Heart his Counsel his Covenant his Love are still the same towards thee that ever they were howbeit the dispensation be changed Oh this one word God is Mine and he is Unchangeable has infinite sweetness in it and it speakes me to be infinitely and unchangeably happy Oh you that are the People of God labour to see and rejoice in this happiness of yours Which that you may the better do let me add onely two short Words to this and I will shut up the whole Discourse 1. Consider that as your God is unchangeable so you are unchangeably interested in him This Unchangeable God is unchangeably your God what though God be unchangeable may some poor Soul say what will that avail me my interest in him I fear will change and fail there will shortly be an end of that No Soul the Unchangeable God being indeed thine he is thine for ever so the Church This God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 O Soul thou through infinite free and rich Grace hast a Covenant-interest in and relation to the Unchangeable God and this Interest and Relation of thine is a firm lasting and Unchangeable Interest and Relation Nothing that either Men Devils or Lusts can do can possibly break or null it and so he tells us Psal 89.30 31 32. of which we have spoken before I shall here onely add a saying or two of Austin The chief good saies he which is God Summum bonum nec invitis confertur nec invitis aufertur is neither given to such as are unwilling to have him nor taken away from such as are unwilling to part with him and elsewhere Te nemo umittit nisi qui dimittit qui te demittit quo it aut quo fugit nisi a te placito ad te natum Aug. Conf. lib. 4. Cap. 9. No man does or can lose thee O God saies he unless he that is willing to lose thee and go without thee and he that willingly parts with thee whither does he go Whither does he flee but from thee smiling to thee frowning from thee a reconciled Father to thee an angry Judge O Soul as long as thou art willing to have God thine so long he shall be thine yea more thine interest in him depends not upon thy willingness of it but upon his Unchangeable Love and Covenant and his Love and Covenant both must change e're thine interest in him can fade and change 2. Consider as your God is Unchangeable so after a while you shall unchangeably enjoy him and be with him your Vision and Fruition of him shall be Unchangeable Beatitudo electione inchoatur adeptione impletur Our happiness saies Austin is begun here in Election but 't is perfected hereafter in Fruition You that have chosen the Unchangeable God you shall after a few dayes injoy the God whom you have chosen your happiness is great in your chusing of him but how much more great will it be in your injoying of him Psal 73.24 25. Thou shalt guide me by thy Counsels and afterwards receive me unto glory whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire besides thee q.d. I have chosen and I do again chuse thee for my God and Portion and some injoyment I have of thee here and more I shall have hereafter in Heaven I shall e're long be taken to injoy thee in thy Glory fully immediately and for ever for thou art mine and I have made a solemn choice of thee O Saints the Unchangeable God is yours and some communion you have with him here in the waies of his Grace which is sweet and happy but after you have injoyed him in the waies of his Grace a while here you shall be taken to the Unchangeable injoyment of him in his Glory Above which will be infinitely more sweet and happy your injoyment of him here is low and remote as well as changeable and unconstant but your injoyment of him Above will be full close and Unchangeable here you have now and then a gracious visit from him he visits you in this Duty and that Ordinance in this Mercy and in that Affliction but Oh how short many times are those visits of his Alas he is gone again in a moment but after a while you shall injoy him in his Glory and there you shall not have a short visit now and then onely but his constant presence for ever We shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 Oh blessed Souls there he will unchangeably delight in you unchangeably shine upon you unchangeably communicate himself in his Grace and Glory to you Oh how sweet and blessed will this be Well for a close of all Saints the Unchangeable God is unchangeably your God and howbeit your visions of him be yet but dark and your communion with him but low yet wait a while and the day will break and all your shadows shall flee away you shall change your ebbing Waters for a full Tyde your Glimmerings and Dawnings for a noon-day your imperfect beginnings for a full and perfect consummation of communion with him Howbeit there be now a Veil upon his Face that you cannot behold him yet wait awhile and the Veil shall be taken away and you shall behold his Face his Glory for ever and that so as to be fully changed into the Image thereof and eternally solaced and satisfied therein suitable to that word Psal 17.15 with which I 'le close all As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Amen The True Rest OR The Soul's Rest in GOD. Opened and improved from PSAL. 116.7 Return unto thy Rest O my Soul CHAP. I. An Introduction to the Words What that Rest is which David calls upon his Soul to return unto The sum of the words and of our intendment from them laid down in one general Position IT is the great happiness of the Saints that howbeit they meet with many sore troubles and afflictions here in this World yea though they meet with little else but trouble and affliction here yet there is a Rest to come for them a sweet Rest a blessed Rest a glorious Rest a Rest not lyable to either decay or disturbance for ever So the Apostle tells us Heb 4.9 There remaineth a Rest to the People of God Nor is this all their happiness for not only does there remain a Rest for them hereafter but there is also a Rest a sweet Rest a blessed Rest which they do or may attain unto here a Rest even in the midst of all those troubles which here they are exposed unto and blessed be God for this Rest
dealt with the Church of old Sometimes I am under some revivings which seem to give hopes of a return from the Grave Anon nothing but Death seems to be in view And in this dubious state I am waiting upon the Will of God which I am sure is Holy Wise and Good and which I hope shall be welcome to me whether it be for Life or Death Hitherto through Grace Death hath not been terrible to me what it may be in its nearest approaches I cannot tell but I look to and rest upon him who hath destroyed both Death and him that had the power of Death And now only two things I beg of you One is That you all give me a room in your Prayers while I am in the Land of the Living and I desire you would beg of God these things for me First That all sin and guilt cleaving to me may be fully expiated and discharged through the Blood of Christ O beg both forgiveness and repentence for me which God knows I greatly need Secondly That my Will may be throughly resigned up into the Will of God either for Life or Death Thirdly That I may have much of God's Presence with me and may alwaies have good Thoughts of Him and his Dispensations towards me in all He doth or shall lay upon me Fourthly That if God shall please to restore me I may come out of this Furnace purisied and refined as Gold that is tryed seven times and more fitted for my Masters Service or if his pleasure is which seems at present most probable to put a period to my mortal life that his Love and the Light of his Countenance may shine upon me to sweeten the bitter pangs of Death to me we cannot live comfortably without his Love much less can we die comfortably without it That is my first request The other is That you will accept and embrace some plain but weighty counsels God is my Record that my hearts-desire and Prayers for you is and has been that you may be saved and in love to your salvation I leave these Directions with you 1. Above all things look well to and labour to make sure of an Union with Christ knowing assuredly that without Union with him all your Religion is vain and ineffectual 2. Take heed of too much addictedness to his World as remembring that if any Man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him and that the friendship of this World is enmity to God 3. Dwell much within and be much conversant in Heart-work in studying the Heart searching the Heart cleansing the Heart keeping the Heart looking alwaies upon it as the veriest Cheat and Impostor in the World deceitful above all things and desperately wicked 4. Take heed of splitting upon that fatal Roek of self-deceit of which you have sometimes heard and upon which the greatest part of Professors split and perish for ever 5. Set up and keep up the Worship of God both in your Families and Closets for the Lord's sake let none of yours be Prayerless Families 6 Alwaies maintain a great honour and reverence for all God's Ordinances and in an especial manner honour and sanctifie his Sabbath The Sabbath-day is your Souls Market day O lose not your Market 7. Be universally honest and upright in your Callings and your Dealings in them the fraudulent dealings of Professors do much reproach the Gospel 8. Covet to seat your selves under a sound clear searching Gospel ministry and keep mainly to the same Ministry and the Lord guide you therein 9. Labour that your profiting under the Ministry may appear unto all men it will be a dreadful thing to enjoy rich means and bring forth no fruit to perfection O Sirs be fruitful Christians 10. Expect further Trials and Sufferings and prepare for them there is a dark and gloomy Day coming such as I am apt to think you and I have never seen any like unto it and such as wherein possibly you will think it best with them that God shall have hid in the Grave before hand But be not troubled it will be short and a glorious Day will follow a Day wherein the Church of God shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb a Day wherein our dear Lord and Head shall reign gloriously And therefore 11. Pray and long long and pray much and earnestly for the coming of the Day of God for the coming of Christ's Kingdom Thy Kingdom come is a Petition should be much upon our hearts O do not Rest in low things as to divine appearances and manifestations both in the World and in your own Souls These Counsels I leave with you out of that entire love and affection I bear to your salvation and our Lord's honour as concerned in you I will conclude all with â—hat solemn and cordial profession to you which Augustine often made to those to whom he was wont to preach viz. that it is the desire of my Soul that as we have been often crowded together to worship God in one Earthly House or Temple so we may all worship him together for ever in the Heavenly House or Temple And if we must never Pray and Preach and Hear and Mourn together more on Earth yet we may Love and Sing and Praise and Admire and Rejoyce together for ever in Heaven Which that we may do the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shephed of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you and me that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen and Amen My dear dear dear Friends I am your weak and languishing but yet Cordial Friend and willing Servant in Christ and for Christ EDWARD PEARSE Hampstead Octob. 3. 1672. A Beam of Divine Glory OR The Unchangeableness of God Asserted Opened Vindicated and Improved from Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed CHAP. I. Wherein way is made to the Text the Words thereof opened the Foundation of our intended Discourse laid and the principal Matters to be considered in the prosecution of it hinted at IT is a great as well as a true Observation which I have read in a Learned Man namely That all the many various Attributes of God mentioned in the Scripture are no other than his very Essence Multae est varia Dei attributa sunt ipsa Dei essentia Deo propter captum nostrum tribuuntur qui non possumus sub uno nomine aut actu intellectus quod de Deo percipiendum est intelligere Schar and are ascribed to him to help us in our Conceptions and Vnderstandings of Him who are not able to apprehend what may be known of God under any one Name or Notion or by any one Act of the Intellect We read you know of
of these things will be who can tell In Jer. 16.5 we read that God had taken away his Peace from that People I have taken away my Peace from this People saith the Lord and truly now he seemes to have taken away his Peace from the World I 'le leave only two Scriptures with you one out of the Old and the other out of the New-Testament both which I am apt to think may have a great aspect to the present dayes and may in a great measure receive their accomplishment in them One is Zeph. 3.8 Wait ye upon me saith the Lord untill the day that I arise up to the prey for my determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour out upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of jealousy The other is that Luk. 21.25 26. There shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and these we have had and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity the Sea and the Waves roaring mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of Heaven shall be shaken I say nothing only I fear I fear as we have seen some of these things accomplisht so there will be a more full accomplishment of them and that ere the present generation passes away Doubtless great stormes are a coming and happy they that have an Ark to hide themselves in God has now great Works to do he has the Kingdom of Antichrist utterly to destroy the Kingdom of his Son Christ to set up in its Lustre and Glory the final Redemption of his People to work out his ancient Ones to call in and his suffering Name Attributes and Glory fully to right and vindicate and these things are not like to be brought about without great Stormes Convulsions and Concussions in the World Well and what is the language of all this to us Verily this Souls retire into God take up your Rest in him make him your All both here and in eternity and Oh that we would do so Then should we Rest in the day of trouble When Noah fore-saw the Deluge a coming he prepared him an ark to the saving of both himself and Family Heb. 11.7 Surely he s blind indeed that does not see a Deluge coming upon the World a Deluge of outward Troubles and Calamities O why do we not enark in God by making him our Rest this God invites his People unto Isa 26.20 Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy Doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until theindignation be overpast for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their iniquity What is it for God's People to enter into their Chambers hide themselves but to retire more into him live at Rest and in Communion with him to put themselves under his protection and the like 't is for them to retire from the World and worldly Concernes and to make him all living and resting wholly in him and upon him O let this viz. the restlesness of the World you live in draw your Souls into an holy rest in God 5. Consider what enemies you are to your own Souls by not living at Rest in God He that sinneth 't is said wrongeth his own Soul he that lives not at Rest in God greatly sinneth and thereby greatly wrongeth his own Soul On the one hand you hereby deprive your Souls of much Good and on the other hand you expose your Souls to much Evil. 1. Hereby you deprive your Souls of much Good yea of much of the best Good Solomon found this in experience and tells us that pursuing Rest and Happiness in the Creature and not in God he did thereby bereave his Soul of Good Eccles 4.8 and what Good Verily the best Good the Good of Grace of Holiness of Communion with God of the Comforts of his Spirit and the like and Oh how much of this Good do you bereave your Souls of dayly This is that which hath bereaved you of much Grace much Love much Spiritual Comfort many Imbraces in the Armes and Bosome of Christ's Love This namely our pursueing Rest from the Creature and not living at Rest in God is that which hath made us so lean so dead so dry so barren in our Spirits as we are O my Beloved while we have been off our Rest in God and have taken up in other things what have we been doing but feeding upon Husks and Swill when we might have eaten Bread and drunk Wine in the Fathers Kingdom what have we been doing but following after lying vanities to the forsaking of our own mercies Oh did you know how sweet a Life it is to be at Rest in God you would then know what Good you have bereaved your Souls of by not living at Rest in him 2. Hereby you expose your Souls to much evil I remember a saying of Austin * In hoc peccabam quod non in Deo sed in creaturis ejus me atque caeteras voluptates quaerebam atque ita irruebam in dolores confusiones errores animae Aug. In this I sinned says he that I sought my Happiness not in God but in his Creatures and so I rusht upon all manner of Dolours Confusions and Errors of Soul and have not we done So O the wounds the Confusions the Errors of Soul which we have exposed our selves unto while we have been off our Rest in God! Sin and Satan have made great waste and desolation upon our Spirits and 't is what exposes us to nothing but sorrows snares and Death and as we would not wrong our Souls let us retire to and live at Rest in God 6. Consider that your living at Rest in God here will be a clear and unquestionable evidence to you that you shall live at Rest in God and with God for ever O how sweet is it to have any one clear evidence of living at Rest in God and with God in Heaven and what would some of our Souls at some times give for such a blessing yea how sweet is a small glimpse of Hope a secret whisper an inward hint or intimation of such a thing from the Spirit of God in our Souls O live at Rest in God here and this will be a broad evidence of it to you and truly unless you do live at Rest in him here I know not however you will make it out to your Souls that you shall live at Rest in him and with him in the other World In short my Beloved if we do indeed desire to live at Rest with God for ever in Heaven why should we not desire to live at Rest in God here Sure I am the thing is the same and we should desire the one as well as the other and the one as the
general proof of the unchangeableness of God THe Creatures yea the best of Creatures in themselves are subject to change but God is every way and in all respects unchangeable God himself expresly here you see asserts his own unchangeableness I am the Lord I change not and 't is frequently asserted also elsewhere Jam. 1.17 Every good and perfect Gift sayes the Apostle cometh down from Above from the Father of Lights with whom is no variableness or shadow of change God is here called the Father of Lights He is sometimes called Light it self 1 John 1.5 God is Light Quo Majestas Sanctitas Perfectio et Beatitudo ejus notatur Glass Rhet. Sac. By which as a learned Man observes is noted to us the Majesty Holiness and perfect Blessedness of God and here he is called the Father of Lights To note that all Light all Glory all Holiness and Blessedness is originally in him and that whatever of these Creatures do partake of does come from him as its proper Spring and Fountain Now with this Father of Lights there is sayes the Apostle no variableness no mutation the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an Astronomical term taken from the Heavenly Bodies which suffer many Declinations and Revolutious the Heavenly Lights have their Vicisitude and Eclipsis their Decreases and Increases but with God the Father of Lights there is no such thing he alwayes shines with a like Brightness Lustre and Glory with whom is no variableness nor shaddow of turning that is he is without the least shew or resemblance of change nothing that looks like a change is found in him God is a Son which doth not Set and Rise that can never be Overcast or Eclipsed So also Psal 102.24 25 26 27. I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my days thy years are throughout all Generations Of old hast thou laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy hands They all perish but thou shalt endure all of them shall wax old like a Garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same At tu idem es id est nihil est firmum et perpetuum nisi tu nullis enim alterationibus et mutationibus es obnoxius Mol. and thy years shall have no end Pray observe the Heavens are the purest part of the Creation yet they the Psalmist tells us shall wax old and be changed but sayes he to God thou art the same and thy years shall have no end thou changest not but what thou wert thou art and wilt be so for ever The Heavens and so all the Creatures do not only wax old and change but observe they change and wax old like a Garment Cloth by degrees will rot and be eaten out by Moths but a Garment or Vesture is worn and wasted every day every day brings changes upon the Creatures more or less but God changes not he remains the same for ever from everlasting to everlasting he is God as you have it Psal 90.2 that is he is unchangeably one and the same infinitely Holy and Blessed One. Deus est immutabilis mutans omnia nunquam novus nunquam vetus Aug. God sayes one of the Ancients who changes all things who works all the changes are in the world is himself unchangeable never new never old Thus you see that God is unchangeable Now if you ask me what this unchangeableness of God is I answer that 't is that Attribute of God whereby he is free from all corruption and alteration is alwayes like himself so as that he can neither cease to be what he is nor begin to be what he is not and hereby he is infinitely distinguished from all the Creatures in Perfection and Glory they are all subject to corruption and alteration at least in their own nature they are so if not in their condition they may cease to be what they are and may begin to be what they are not they may lose what they had and may attain somewhat which before they had not even the very Angels themselves are in themselves thus mutable As may be more fully hereafter shewn But now with God their is no such thing he is free from all possibility of corruption or alteration he is alwayes the same nor can he cease to be what he is or begin to be what he is not But that God is unchangeable and also what his unchangeableness is will further appear by what next falls under consideration CHAP. III. Which shews wherein in a peculiar manner God is unchangeable HAving thus given you a general proof of God's Unchangeableness our next Work shall be to consider wherein he is unchangeable by which we shall be both further enlightened and confirmed in this Truth and withall brought I hope into an acquaintance with the Life Power and sweetness of it at least in some measure God then is unchangeable especially in six things all which do carry unexpressible Sweetness as well as Glory in them and should be great encouragements to our Faith and Comfort He is unchangeable 1. In his Being and Essence 2. In his Blessedness and Glory 3. In his Council and Decree 4. In his Kingdom and Rule 5. In his Covenant and Promise 6. In his Love and Grace to his People 1. God is unchangeable in his Being and Essence Deus ut in Essentia sua consideratur est actus purus a quo omnia sunt in quem omnia redeunt Scharp What the Being or Essence of God is is not easy for us to conceive or apprehend the Learned tell us that the Essence or Being of God is that one meer and pure Act whereby God is God or thus that God in respect of his Essence is one most pure and meer Act from which all things are and to which all things return that is which is the first Cause and the last End of all things but whatever the Essence or Being of God is yet to be sure he is therein unchangeable he cannot be changed into another Essence or Being nor can that which he hath or rather is be corrupted or decay so much is held forth in my very Text. God therein stiling himself Jehovah Which Name or Title of his notes as the truth and absoluteness so the sameness and unchangeableness of his Being Thus Calvin and others note upon the place and therefore do make that I change not to be but an Exegesis or somewhat added by way of explication of this Title Jehovah which here God gives himself I am Jehovah I change not q. d. I am an absolute independent unchangeable Being in my self and one that gives Being to all the Creatures and thus the Learned in the Hebrew Tongue do all expound this glorious Name of God they tell us that this glorious Name of his notes both his Being and the unchangeableness of his Being and when God as in my Text
doctrinal Corollaries or Deductions from the consideration of God's Unchangeableness HAving thus far asserted opened and vindicated the Unchangeableness of God our next work shall be to deduce some useful Corollaries or Conclusions thence and indeed many things of weight and very momentous to us may be drawn from what has been said As 1. See here the Glorious Excellency and Perfection of God and that he is infinitely distinguisht from all the creatures in Dignity and Glory God my Beloved is every way above and distinguisht from the creatures He is the excellent Glory 2 Pet. 1.17 and there is hardly any thing wherein his Glorious Excellency and Perfection does more brightly illustriously and transcendently appear and shine forth than in his Unchangeableness The Creatures are all changeable one way or other the Heavens and the Earth with all the furniture of the one and the other are changeable they shall perish yea all of them shall wax old like a Garment and be changed as a Vesture Psal 102.26 The day is coming wherein all these shall be dissolved 2 Pet. 3.10 11. Men also they are changeable they indeed are Changeableness it self as it were they are changeable in their Nature and changeable in their Condition changeable in their Spirits and changeable in their Wayes changeable in their Counsels and changeable in their Comforts changeable in all they are unstable as water as 't is said of Reuben Gen. 49.4 Great Men are changeable Psal 62.9 Yea good Men are changeable the best Men are changeable the best Men at their best in this world are changeable Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity that is subject to change Psal 39.5 Men are not to day what they were yesterday nor will they be to morrow what they are to day yea Men are to day and to morrow they are not so changeable are they Yea the Angels the Blessed Angels themselves are changeable God puts no trust in his Saints and his Angels he charges with folly Job 4.18 that is with possible though not actual folly with change and folly in their Nature though not in their Condition there is my Beloved a peccability in the very Angels I mean in their Nature The best of Creatures in themselves are subject to the worst of changes the glorious Angels are in their Nature capable of sinning indeed in their Condition they are not being confirmed in both all Holiness and all Happiness by the grace of the Second Covenant but in their Nature they are Hence that saying of one of the School-men Cuicunque Creaturae hoc convenit ut peccare non possit hoc habet ex dono gratiae non ex conditione naturae Aquin. Whatever Creature there is that is impeccable and cannot sin he has not this from himself or in his Nature but from the Gift of free Grace Thus all the Creatures are changeable but God is unchangeable he is for ever the same And O how glorious does this speak him to be And how does it distinguish him from all the Creatures in Perfection and Glory The truth is this is a glorious Excellency and Perfection in it self and this puts a lustre and glory upon the Excellencies Perfections of God for this as one speaks is an Attribute which like the silken string through the Chain of Pearl runs through all the rest and puts a glory upon all God's Holiness would not be half so glorious were it not unchangeable Holiness his Love would not be half so sweet were it not unchangeable Love his Justice and Wrath would not be half so terrible were it not unchangeable Justice and Wrath Indeed what were any of all his Attributes in comparison were they not unchangeable O! let us learn to see and adore God in this glorious Excellency and Perfection of his 2. From the consideration of God's Unchangeableness we conclude the transcendent excellency of Spiritual Things beyond Carnal Heavenly things beyond Earthly and accordingly we should prize and pursue the one and the other This take for an eternal Rule That the nearer things come to God and the more they resemble him and partake of him the more excellent and desirable they are Indeed as God is the Fountain so he is the Measure and Standard of all true Worth and Excellency and here is nothing that has any real worth or excellency in it any further then it resembles him and partakes of him Now what things do most resemble God and partake of God are they Spiritual or Carnal Heavenly or Earthly surely Spiritual and Heavenly Things God is unchangeable and so in their kind are these as for Carnal and Earthly things they are fading and changeable the best of them are Treasures which moth and rust doth corrupt and which Theives do break through and steal Mat. 6.19 They are all fadeing dying transient things The World passeth away sayes Saint John 1 Joh. 2.17 that is fleeting and perishing 'T is a good Observation which Calvin has upon these words * Quia in mundo nihil est nisi caducum et quasi momentaneum ex eo colligit quam male misere sibi consulant qui hic sibi faelicitatem constituunt praesertim quum al beatam aeternae vitae gloriam nos Deus vocet Calv. Because sayes he in the World there is nothing but what is fading and as it were but for a moment the Apostle thence concludes how ill they consult and provide for themselves who carve out to themselves their happiness here especially when God calls us to the blessed Glory of eternal Life and 't is as if he should say The true happiness which God offers to his Children is eternal and therefore most unworthy is it in us to incumber our selves with this World which together with all its good things will anon vanish away Pray let us lay this Observation to heart The world passeth away that is Riches Honours and Pleasures they all fade and change are short-lived Alas how soon many times do Riches change into Poverty Pleasure into Pain Honour into Disgrace and Contempt Friends into Enemies Fulness into Want there is no stability in any of these things they are subject to change every moment but now Spiritual and Heavenly Things they are lasting and durable they are Treasures which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt nor can Theives break through and steal them Mat. 6.20 The Riches of this World are uncertain Riches vanishing disappearing Riches 1 Tim. 6.17 but the Riches of Heaven and the Covenant of God's Love are certain durable and abiding Riches Grace is a durable Thing the Righteousness of Christ is a durable unchangeable Thing Pardon Justification Acceptation with God through that Righteousness are durable Things Union and Communion with God through Christ these are unchangeable these live and last for ever where attained and being so they do come nearer God they more resemble him and partake more of him than Carnal and Earthly Things do and so are
despise and contemn it but God has other thoughts and other values of it he highly esteems and honours it he looks on it as one of the choicest Ornaments as one of the highest excellencies of any Soul Now certainly that is best which God values and honours most As that which honours God most so that which God most honours must have most of true worth and excellency in it A restless unquiet Spirit on the one hand or a Spirit at Rest in the Creature on the other hand is what God abhors and despises but a Spirit at Rest in himself he highly values 8. To live at Rest in God is a heavenly Frame and Posture of Soul a frame and posture of Soul which carries much of Heaven in it 't is indeed in a great measure the Life of Heaven here on Earth and what then more excellent than this Pray my Beloved what is Heaven and the Life of Heaven the Life which the Saints and Angels live in Heaven Heaven is a state of Rest Heb. 4.9 and what is that Rest True there is an external Rest there is a Rest from Labour and Trouble from Conflict and Temptation but the main of it is the inward Rest of the Soul that Rest and Complacency which the Soul injoys in God and shall injoy in him and with him for ever there the Soul is filled with God he is perfectly swallowed up in the Divine Will being thorowly conformed thereunto and he has the perfect Vision and Frnition of the Divine Glory and Fulness seeing him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 And in both these he is filled with even an infinite content and satisfaction of Heart this is the True Rest of Heaven and what is the Life which the Saints and Angels live there 'T is a Life of Perfect Rest and Solace in God such Rest and Solace in God as that they never think of going out to any thing else whatever God is all in all to them 1 Cor. 15.28 Thus to be at Rest in God is an heavenly frame and posture of Soul and O what an excellent frame must this be Well then lay all these eight Things together and you shall find an incomparable Worth and Excellency in it which is a further evidence of the Saints Duty and Interest to live therein CHAP. V. The Truth particularly improved The Saints called upon to live thus at Rest in God Arguments urged to induce them so to do WHat it is for the Soul to be at Rest in God what Obligations the Saints are under to live at Rest in him the excellency of this frame and posture of Spirit you have seen laid open before you Now what shall we say to these things O that all who profess themselves to be Saints or would be accounted so would give all diligence always to live thus at Rest in God Possibly some of us are quite off our Centre our Souls are full of stormes and tempests tossings and tumblings they are not only cast down but also disquieted within us as holy David's sometimes was Psal 42.11 Others of us perhaps are at Rest but 't is a sinful Rest at Rest in the Creature and not in God at Rest in carnal sensible things we are of those who are at ease in Zion yea perhaps we are even singing that mad Requiem to our Souls that that fool sometimes did Luk. 12.19 Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry thou hast Goods laid up for thee for many years But now this truth and the things declared about it do call upon the one and the other of us to return to God as our Rest and to centre purely and entirely in him alone This Truth calls off the one from all those unquiet Motions and Agitations that are within us from all our tossings and tumblings to an holy Calm and Quiet of heart in God and it calls off the other from all our false Rests and Reposes to an holy Rest and Repose in God and Oh that both the one and the other would hear and obey this Call taking up our Rest in God alone O my Beloved are you under such obligations to live at Rest in God as you are and yet will you not live at Rest in him On the other hand Is the frame and posture of Soul so excellent and will you neglect it and not study to be found alwayes therein Let me recapitulate a little particularly Has God freely made over himself in all his Fulness and Riches in his Covenant to you as your Rest and Portion for ever and yet will you not live at Rest in him Have you chosen God and voucht him for your God and Portion and yet will you not live at Rest in him Is God so much as you have heard at Rest in you and yet will you not live at Rest in him Shall you and do you hope to live at Rest in God and with God for ever in Heaven and yet will you not live at Rest in him here O me thinks these things should constrain you On the other hand should not the excellency of the frame alure you would you live forth much of the life and power of Grace then live at Rest in God Would you be ready for every call of God to you whether to do or to suffer to live or to die then live at Rest in God Would you be fenced and fortified against Temptation then live at Rest in God Would you injoy much Spiritual Comfort and Communion with God then live at Rest in God Would you be like God Would you resemble God and grow up into his Life and Blessedness then live at Rest in God Would you honour God you have greatly dishonoured him Would you now honour him then live at Rest in him Would you live in Heaven and begin the Life of Heaven here on Earth then live at Rest in God O why should we think of any other Rest but God or why should we live in any other posture of Soul but this of a Rest in him is there any so sweet so amiable so becoming as this Oh let us labour as near as possible alwayes to be found in this posture Blessed be God that we may Rest in him Two things we should bless God for one is that there is a Rest remaining for us in the other World whether we find Rest here or no yet there is a Rest to come a blessed Rest Heb. 4.9 The other is that there is a Rest in God for us and that we may enter into and live in that Rest even here when there is no Rest to be had in this Worlds Injoyments no Rest in or from the Creature yet then there is a Rest to be had in God and from God We that have believed do enter into Rest Heb. 4.3 there is a Rest in God in the Will the Presence the Love the Fulness of God which we do or may enter into even here in this World and blessed be God for this Rest
have been pursuing Rest and promising our selves Rest in and from the Creature yea and others of the Saints have experienced and asserted the same thing Dura sunt omnia tu solus requies All things saies Aug. are full of trouble and difficulty thou alone O God art the true Rest And 't is a great Speech of his worthy to be written upon the Table of all our Hearts speaking to Souls who are gone off from God Return ye prevaricators saies he to your selves Redite prevaricatores ad cor Haerete illi qui fecit vos state cum illo stabitis requiescite in eo quieti eritis quo itis in aspera quo it is non est requies ubi quaeritis eam quaerite quod quaeritis sed ibi non est ubi quaeritis beatam vitam quaeritis in regione mortis non est illic quomode enim beata vita ubi nec vita Aug. and cleave unto him that made you stand with him and ye shall stand Rest in him and ye shall Rest And again saies he Rest and Happiness is not to be found where you seek it seek what you seek but know that 't is not to be found where you seek it You seek a Blessed Life in the Region of Death and 't is not there for how should a blessed Life be found there where there is not so much as Life it self The sum of all seems to be this that those that desert God do go from the true Rest and Happiness of Souls and to seek Rest and Happiness any where but in God and Christ is to seek the Living among the Dead Once more will you have recourse to your selves and be your own Rest Indeed we read that a good man shall be satisfied from himself Prov. 14.14 but how from himself from himself in Union and Communion with his God from himself as in Communion with him that is the chief Good that has all Good in him and not otherwise and therefore observe the good man here stands in opposition to the back-slider one that is gone off from God our selves considered abstractly in themselves are most insufficient to give rest to the soul being most vain changeable In omnibus quae videntur requiem quaesivi veram requiem in eis invenire non potui deinde rediens ad me consistere in meipso non possum quoniam mens mea valde leris est Ber. and deceitful Every man in his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 'T is a great saying I have read in Bern. I have sought Rest saies he in all things that are seen but I could not find Rest in them then returning to my self I found I could not possibly subsist in my self because my mind is most light and vain In nothing without in nothing within could he find any Rest but in God alone I 'le close this Argument with a weighty speech which I have read in a worthy Divine of our own Blessed Mr. Burroughes Who speaking of God's being the Rest and Portion of his People speaks thus Suppose saies he that God should cause all the Kings and Emperors in the World to come and cast down their Crowns at the foot of an holy Soul and say all these are thine he would answer this is not enough for this is not God himself Suppose God should bring all the splendours of all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth and they should be cast at the foot of an holy Soul as his he would say This is not enough this is not God himself Suppose God should cause all the Glory of Heaven not only of Sun Moon and Stars but also of the highest Heaven abstract from God to be laid before an holy Soul as his he would say This is not enough this is not God himself Once more Should all the Angels come and say to an holy Soul We are sent to put all our Glory upon thee he would say This is not enough for this is not God himself O nothing but God in Christ can give Rest to Souls 3. Consider what a blessed Rest God is for Souls or that Souls may find in God As there is an utter impossibility of finding Rest any where but in God so in him there is a blessed Rest to be found for Souls a full a perfect an eternal Rest O my Beloved what can your Souls desire or what are they capable of that is not to be found in God Would you have Good it must be Good that can give Rest to the Soul God is Good he is the chief Good the best the highest Good he is Goodness it self he is Good in himself and he is the Spring and Fountain of all that good that is in the Creature he is so Good as that he is the Good of all Good and nothing has any thing of Goodness in it but as it resembles him and participates of him Bonus est qui secit me ipse est bonum meum illi exulto omnibus bonis meis There is none Good but one that is God Mat. 19.17 he is Good that made me saies Aug. and he is my Good and in him do I exult and rejoyce before all my other good things whatever and in all my other good things Would you have a full Good such a Good is God there is a fulness of all Good in him He that overcometh shall inherit all things How so I will be his God I 'le be his and in having me he will have all in me Rev. 21.7 Whatever good beauty or excellency there is in the Creature yea in all the Creatures put together 't is all but a small drop or ray to that Good Beauty and Excellency that is in God 'T is but a small spark to the Ocean of the Divine Goodness Lord saies Austin all those things which thou hast made are beautiful Pulchra sunt omnia faciente te Domine ecce tu inenarrabiliter pulchrior qui fecisti omnia Aug. but thou thy self art infinitely more beautiful God has all kinds and all degrees of Good in him he is Light and Life and Love and Peace and Joy and Holiness and Salvation and what not that good is or that conduces to the happiness of eternal Souls Thou Lord Tu bonum'nullo indigens bono semper quietus es quoniam tua quies tuipse es Aug. art that Good where no good is wanting saies Aug. and thou art alwayes at Rest because thou art thine own Rest That little good that is found in the Creature is narrow scanty and but here and there a drop but God has all Good in a blessed Union and conjunction in him O how glorious a Rest may the Soul find in him Would you have a suitable and convenient Good such a Good is God he is a suitable and convenient Good a Good suitable to the Nature Life and Wants of the Soul Among all your Creature-Injoyments and Contentments there is nothing suitable either to