as an undenyable evidence of the truth of our Position the Saints are under mighty Obligations thus to be at Rest in God I shall insist only on four which are full of weight and I beg they may accordingly affect and influence us 1. The first Obligation the Saints are under to live at Rest in God is this The blessed God hath freely made over himself in his Covenant to them and that in all his glorious Riches and Fulness that in him their Souls might be at Rest He hath given himself to them as their Rest and Portion and is not this a mighty Obligation in the case God my Beloved in the Covenant of his Love hath freely given and made over himself to his People in all his Riches and Fulness in all his Excellencies and Perfections to be used possest and injoyed by them as an All-sufficient Rest Portion and Happiness for ever This is evident in the very tenour of the Covenant and where-ever you have a formal Mention or Record of the Covenant in Scripture this is put in I will be your God You have three great and solemn mentions of the Covenant in Scripture and in all of them this is in one is Gen. 17.7 another is Jer. 31.33 34. and the third is Heb. 8.10 11 12. In these places you have the most express Records of the Covenant God's Covenant with his People that are in all the Scripture and in all there is this I will be your God In the two later places we have other Promises Promises of Pardon cleansing Teaching and the like but in that to Abraham in Genesis we have only this I 'le be thy God for indeed this comprehends all the rest and all the other Promises that are contained in the Covenant of God are but branches growing out of this Root and do but open this to us this as one speaks is Caput Faederis the Head or Top of the Covenant Anima Faederis as another the Soul of the Covenant Substantia Foederis as another the Life and Substance of the Covenant And indeed when God saies to a Soul I 'le be thy God he does therein say I 'le Pardon thee I 'le cleanse thee I 'le teach thee I 'le save thee I 'le make thee happy for ever For God to be our God is for God to be and communicate all good to us that a God can communicate and Creatures receive 't is for God to love us to bless us to care for us to make us happy for ever 't is for God to give us eternal Life to be a Friend a Father an Husband and a Saviour to us 'T is as Luther somewhere expounds it for God to make over himself in all his Excellencies Perfections and Glory his Wisdom Power Goodness Faithfulness All-sufficiency Vnchangeableness and Eternity to his People as their Rest and Happiness to be possest and injoyed by them for their good for ever In a word for God to say to a poor Creature I will be thy God is as much as if he should say look whatever I am that I will be to thee and look whatever I can do that I will do for thee so far as thou art capable of the one or thee other to make the happy for ever I am a Fountain of Life and such will I be to thee I am a God of Peace and Pardon and such will I be to thee I am a God of Grace and Love yea I am a God that is Love it self and such I will be to thee I am the Father of Mercies and the God of all Grace and such will I be to thee I 'le beget new Mercies for thee every day I am a God of Comfort yea of all Comfort and such will I be to thee I am an Unchangeable Eternal All-sufficient God and such will I be to thee I can pardon guilty Souls break the hardest Hearts inlighten the darkest Minds cleanse the impurest Spirits I can make unbelieving Hearts believing I can support drooping Spirits all this I 'le do for thee I can carry thee through Life and Death and bring thee safe to Heaven and there communicate my self to thee for ever to the filling of thy Soul with delight and satisfaction and this I will do for thee and surely happy is the Soul that has thus the Lord for his God and well may he sit down satisfied with him and at Rest in him Now my Beloved hath God made over himself in his Covenant to his People as their Rest that in him they might find Rest and should they not be at Rest in him O sirs Is not God enough for us has he laid himself under bonds to us to be a God to us and to do like a God for us and should we not Rest in him and satisfie our selves with him alone Surely we should 2. The Second Obligation the Saints are under to live at in God is this They have solemnly voucht and chosen and often do vouch and chuse God to be their Rest and Happiness As God has freely made over himself in his Covenant to them so they have solemnly vouch't and chosen him and often do solemnly vouch and chuse him to be their Rest and Happiness When the Saints first enter into Covenant with God then do they solemnly chuse vouch him â—o be their God and Portion their rest and happiness their language to God then is Lord thou shall be my Lord my Rest my Portion my Happiness my all for ever I will have none in Heaven or on Earth but thy self Thus David had chosen God and he puts his Soul in mind of it Psal 16.2 O my Soul sayes he thou hast said unto God thou art my Lord thou hast chosen God for thy God thy Portion thy Happiness and upon this account he calls his Soul to Rest in God and in him he Rests vers 5.6 And as at their first entring into Covenant with God so also often afterwards upon several occasions do they chuse and vouch God for their Rest Portion and Happiness for ever they make new choices of God and do lay new claimes to him as theirs in their procedure of their walking with him Sometimes upon occasion of outward troubles and afflictions difficulties and distresses they make a new choice of God and vouch him afresh for their Rest and Happiness So David Psal 31.14 I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God here he makes a new choice of God and layes a new claim to him as his and when or upon what occasion was this When he was surrounded with outward troubles as appears v. 10.11 12 13. My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing I was a reproach among all mine Enemies I am forgotten as a dead man out of minds I have heard the slander of many fear was on every side they devised to take away my life and being thus distrest he flees to God and chuses him afresh and layes a fresh claim
19.11 12. The good Prophet had been off his Rest in God he had been in a passion and under great discomposure of Spirit as you may see vers 4 and now God gives him this vision of the Wind the Earth-quake and the Fire to let him see that that was not the way to Communion with him Admonetur Eiias ut sibi ab ira caveat ad quam natura suapte ferebatur Groti in loc and so to caution him against passion and all discom posure of Spirit which he was naturally very prone unto O God loves to dwell in and meet with a sedate serene composed Spirit a Spirit composed and at Rest in himself and those that are so are the Souls who usually have the clearest sights the sweetest tasts and the fullest communications of love from him of all others those are they who have the most close and constant communion with him who are most in his Bosom and the imbraces of his everlasting arms who have most of his Spirit his Presence his Consolations given to them Acquaint thy self with God and be at peace so shall good come unto thee Sedatiore animo esto Beza in locum Job 22.21 be at peace Animum quietum habe nec per impatientiam eum turbes Scult to wit in thine own Spirit be of a sedate mind do not rave do not rage do not distemper and discompose thy self as thou hast done Acquiesce in castigationibus Dei satis repugnasti satis proterveque reluctat us es ergo mitesce c. but be quiet and sedate in thine own Soul Well but what shall I gain by it Why Thereby good shall come unto thee And what Good Not only outward temporal Good but also Spiritual Good the Good of Grace the Good of divine Consolations the Good of Communion with God and the special manifestations of his Love O the more a Man's Soul is at Rest in God the more full will his Comforts and the more intimate will his Communion with God be As for a restless disturbed Spirit 't is so like the Devil as by and by you will hear that God cannot tell how to be much with it nor yet to do much in a way of special Grace and Spiritual Comfort for it Christians complain many times that they have but little Communion with God but little experience of his Love and presence with them and one reason among others why they have cause so to complain is because they are no more at Rest in God were they more at Rest in him he would Rest more in his Love his Grace his Presence with and upon them 5. To live at Rest in God is a God-like Frame and Posture of Soul which greatly resembles God and is suitable to Him and which brings us up into the very Life and Blessedness of God himself and what a choice frame must it then needs be the more likeness and resemblance any thing carries in it to God and the more any thing brings us into the Life and Blessedness of God the more excellent it is now there is nothing does more resemble God or is more suitable to him nothing that brings us more up into the life and likeness of God than to be thus at Rest in him in our own Souls This indeed is the very Life and Perfection of God the posture if I may so speak which God himself lives in for he is ever at Rest in himself he is infinitely well-pleased with what he himself does and Rests infinitely satisfied with his own Fulness and Excellencies God is his own Rest his own Centre God is infinitely delighted with his own Will and infinitely satisfied with his own Fulness and so is at Rest in himself which indeed is his blessedness Accordingly the more our Souls are at Rest in him the more do we resemble him and are brought into his Life and his Blessedness A restless unquiet Spirit does above all things resemble the Devil and is suitable to the Devil 't is indeed the very life image and spirit of the Devil for the Devil is a restless unquiet Spirit always acting in opposition to God and always fretting at the Dispensations of God He seeks Rest but finds none Mat. 12.43 As wicked ones cannot Rest so neither can the wicked one Rest but is perpetually disturbed Now as a restless unquiet Spirit resembles the Devil and is the very Life and Image of the Devil so to be at Rest in God is what resembles God and is the very Life of God in the Soul 't is what brings us up in t the Divine Life the Divine Blessedness and O what an excellent frame must this be 6. To live at Rest in God is a God-honouring frame and posture of Soul a frame of Soul that does much honour God and give Glory to Him and therefore must have much worth and excellency in it Of all Frames as well as Actions that is the best that does honour and glorifie God most and what frame of Soul does more honour and glorifie God than this of being at Rest in him This gives to God the glory of his Sovereignty and the glory of his Sufficiency two of the brightest Jewels in the Crown of Heaven it owns and acknowledges God to be both best and greatest the highest Lord and the chiefest Good and so it glorisies God as God it sets him up as God in the Soul and gives him the honour due unto his Name as such Restless disturbed unquiet Spirits do darken and obscure the Glory of God they are Censores Divinitatis as one of the Ancients speakes of them they censure the Blessed God and do in effect deny and disown the Sovereignty of God the Wisdom of God the Goodness the Faithfulness of God the Fulness Sufficiency and Perfection of the Holy One they do in effect say that God's Will is not a Good a Wise and an Holy Will that there is not enough in God to satisfie Souls and make them happy and O what an affront dishonour is this to the Majesty of Heaven But now the Soul that is indeed at Rest in God he gives him the Glory of all he sets the Crown where it ought to be and Oh how much does this speak out the worth and excellency of this frame of Soul 7. To live at Rest in God is an honoured and highly esteemed Frame and Posture of Soul and that by God himself a frame and posture of Soul which God has a great honour for and puts a great value upon which also speaks the excellency of it there is scarce any frame of Soul that God more values honours and delights in than this of an Holy Rest in Himself this is in the sight of God of great price Put on the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which in the sight of God is of great price 1 Pet. 3.4 In the sight of men at least unholy and unspiritual Men 't is of little price of no price they
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
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
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
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
more excellent than they and should be accordingly prized by us O my Beloved there is more true worth and excellency in one dram of Grace one beam of Holiness one hint of the Pardon of sin one sight of God's reconciled Face one imbrace in the bosom of his Love than there is in a World of Carual Comforts and Contentments and accordingly we should prize and affect them our eye and heart should be taken off from the one and fixt upon the other But alas alas we are apt to dote upon these changeable things here below O how fond are we of and how passionately for the most part are we carried out after Carnal Earthly sensible Things But how cold are we in our love to and pursuits after Things Spiritual and Heavenly as if indeed Earthly and not Heavenly things were the only things of weight and moment whereas indeed the one hath no worth no glory in them in comparison of the Glory which excelleth Let us therefore with the holy Apostle not look at the things which are seen but at 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. 4.18 Mark the Apostle did not think Carnal and Earthly Things worth a cast of his eye because they are temporal changeable but Spiritual Things which are durable and eternal these he counted worthy of his eye his heart and all O let us measure the worth of things by their resemblance to God and what they do partake of him 3. Behold here as in a Glass the notorious folly and madness of such as prefer the Creature before God in their choice and affections placing their happiness in it and not in him Many not one or two or a few but many say Who will shew us any good and what good is it they would have shewn them Corn Wine Oyle Psal 4.6 Creature-good sensible-good good to feed and fill a sensual Appetite and indeed this is the good which the most of men prefer in their choice and affections before God placing the rest and happiness of their Souls therein The generality of men have high thoughts of the Creature and low thoughts of God great affections for the Creature and small affections for God 'T is but here and there one that does truly and indeed carry his happiness above the road of Creatures and place it in God Take the most of men and 't is the Creature they love 't is the Creature they prize 't is the Creature they choose and 't is the Creature they take up their rest and happiness in as for God they will have none of him as God complained of them of old Israel would none of me Psal 81.11 In a word God and the Creatures share the hearts and affections of the whole World between them God tenders himself to men as the rest and happiness of their Souls and accordingly to be loved to be prized to be chosen to be delighted in by them on the other hand the Creatures they tender themselves to men in like manner and both plead for acceptation and which I pray carrys it God or the Creature Truly the Creature with the most Alas we are carnal and sensual and do naturally incline to carnal and sensual things imbracing them to the neglect of God and so the Creature is preferred before God Oh what folly and madness is this to prefer the Creature before God in our choice and affections is not only to prefer emptiness before fulness nothingness before sufficiency but 't is also to prefer vanity before immutability and variableness before unchangeableness and Oh what folly what madness is this to prefer the Creature before God in our choice and affections is to prefer a broken Cistern that can hold no Water before a Fountain of Living Waters So God himself speaks of it and withal brands it for a black and horrid evil Jer. 2.12 13. an evil which he calls upon the Heavens to be astonisht at and the Earth to be horribly afraid because of O my Beloved to prefer a Cistern before a Fountain a poor narrow scanty borrowed Good before a full ample original all-sufficient Good a drop before an Ocean of Goodness and sweetness this is great folly but to prefer a broken Cistern and a broken Cistern that can hold no Water before a Fountain of Living Waters fleeting nothingness before unchangeable fulness this is greater folly folly even to madness and yet this is the folly of the most of men Carnal men are often in Scripture called Fools and their folly appears in nothing more than this Namely their preferring changeable Creatures before an unchangeable God and indeed than this what greater folly can there be In Luk. 12.19 we read of one that talked to his Soul saying Soul eat drink and be merry for thou hast much goods laid up for thee for many years take thine ease Pray mark he had never a word of God in his mouth and as we may safely conclude never a thought of God in his heart but he was wholly taken up with his Barnes and Goods and Treasures and yet he bids his Soul to take its ease to sit down at rest God was as nothing with him and the Creature was all Well what title does Christ give him does he give him the title of a wise Man No Thou fool says he Christ calls him fool as well he might for what greater folly than this to be wholly taken up with perishing Creatures and neglect and forget an unchangeable God yea and to bid his Soul take its ease too because he abounded with Creature-injoyments Indeed had he said Soul take thine ease be merry thou hast Heavenly Treasures laid up in abundance for thee God is thine Christ is thine the Blessed Spirit the Comforter is thine Heaven and Eternal Life is thine this had been something like but to have his heart taken up with carnal things altogether preferring them before God and to bid his Soul to rest and be merry upon the account of these this is folly with a witness and who deserves the name of a Fool if he did not What shall I say this namely to prefer the Creature before God is such folly as will at last expose to shame and contempt for ever all that are guilty of it and such are even hung up in Chains for the highest instances of folly and madness Lo sayes the Psalmist this is the man that made not God his Strength but trusted in the abundance of his Riches c. q. d. Consi erate quam miser nunc sit qui antea tam foclix crat Piscat in loc Videte quis sit illius exitus Musc in loc Psal 52.7 Lo this is the man that preferred the Creature before God that made Riches not God his Portion this is that Fool that very Fool that mad Man yea and whoever they are that do this they will at last though perhaps too late
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
the Nature or Life of the Soul they are carnal sensible things and so are suitable to the flesh and sensual part and are pleasing to it but they have nothing suitable in them to an immortal Spirit nothing that an eternal Soul can feed upon the Body may as soon feed upon Air and Ashes as the Soul upon Creatures But now in God there is that Good that is every way suitable to the Soul to the Nature Life and Wants of the Soul the Soul is of a Spiritual Nature and God is a Spiritual Good God is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 The Soul is of a vast capacity 't is next to Infiniteness in its capacity and desires and God is a vast and comprehensive Good having as has been shewn all good in him Without suitableness in the Object to the faculty there can be no Rest Would you have an original independent Good such a Good is God Dulcius ex ipso fonte petuntur aquoe Waters drink most pleasantly at the Fountain-head In God you have all Good all Sweet all Comfort at the Fountain-head Hence he is said to be a Fountain of Living Waters and the Creatures broken Cisterns Jer. 2.13 the Fountain has all in and from it self but Cisterns you know have no more than is put into them all that Good that is in God he has it in and from himself but the Creatures yea the best of Creatures Angels themselves not excepted have no more than he puts into them Now how much is the Fountain to be preferred before a Cistern Would you have a pure and an unmixed Good Gold that has no Dross Wine that has no Water in it such a Good is God God is light and in him there is no darkness at all 1 Joh. 1.5 All things on this side God have their mixtures they have a dark as well as a bright side all this Wine is mixt with Wormwood this Gold with Dross Who of us did ever meet with the Creature-Injoyment that had not many allayes the sweetest Rose has its prickles and the rarest Beauty its spots among the Creatures but now God is every way a pure and an unmixed Good he is all Light Life Love Holiness and the like Would you have a sweet and satisfying Good Such a Good is God yea indeed there is infinite sweetness and satisfaction to be found in him he can infinitely delight ravish solace and satisfy the Soul for ever O how sweet how satisfying are the Sights of God the Tastes and Descents of his Love what an Heaven does one sight of God one descent of his Love make in the Soul David casting his eye upon God as his in Covenant is even ravished with it and cryes out the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places I have a goodly Heritage Psal 16.5 6. and elsewhere we read of Pleasures of Rivers of Pleasures of Satisfaction of abundance of Satisfaction and all as that which Souls do or may find in God and communion with God Psal 36.8 and David over and over tells you of Sweetness and Satisfaction and Satisfaction as with Marrow and Fatness in but the very thoughts and meditation of God Psal 63.5 6. and Aug. I remember speaking of God and to him often breaks out into such language as this O my God my Life Deus meus Vita mea Dulcedo mea c. my Sweetness O Sirs holy Souls who live in Communion with God will tell you that there is no sweetness like that in God no Love like his Love no Comforts like his Comforts They will tell you that one sight of God one sensible token of his presence in the Soul has more solace and sweetness in it than al the delights of this world yea than many Worlds and they accordingly chuse and desire it Oh how sweet is it to be led into the Banquetting House by Christ and there have the Banner of his Love displayed over us and Flagons of that Wine poured out unto us How sweet is it to have one sight of the King in his beauty how much more to walk and converse with him in his Galleryes How sweet is it with God in his Sanctuary and have him revealing Himself his Love his Beauty his Glory to us O taste and see how good the Lord is Would you have a sure eternal and unchangeable Good a Good that never fades failes nor has any period such a Good is God and God alone From everlasting to everlasting be is God Psal 90.2 But this has been sufficiently spoken to elsewhere Well you see what a blessed Rest God is for Souls Why then should we ever think of looking out any where else for Rest O wretched hearts of ours that will leave this God and go out to a vain World and dying Creatures for Rest and Happiness In a word if God has all that in him which thou needest or art capable of to give thee Rest and Happiness than retire solely to him for it Now what dost thou want or what art thou capable of to give thee Rest and Happiness Dost thou want and desire Life With God is the Fountain of Life Psal 36.9 Dost thou want Peace God is the God of Peace Rom. 16.20 and frequently elsewhere is he so called Dost thou want pardon he is the God of pardons so the words are in the Psalms when he is said to be ready to forgive and you know he has promised to pardon iniquity transgression and sin sins of all sorts and sizes all degrees and aggravations if Souls come to him Heb. 8.12 Dost thou want Grace he is the God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5.10 Dost thou want comfort he is the God of all Consalation Dost thou want Mercy he is the Father of Mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 Dost thou want strength strength to do to suffer to live to die he is the Lord Jehovah with whom is everlasting Strength Isa 26.4 Dost thou want Joy in his presence is fulness of Joy Psal 16.11 Dost thou want Salvation Salvation Temporal Salvation Eternal â—e is the God of Salvation and as such the Church glories in him Psal 68.20 Thus no Rest â—â—ke that in God Souls need not look elsewhere for Rest and Happiness for there is all in God alone 4. Consider what a restless World you live in â—nd what a troublesom time you are fallen upon The more restless this World is and the more troublesom the times are which we are falâ—â—n upon the more we are concerned to take up our Rest in God Now certainly the World was scarce ever more restless nor the times moâ—â— troublesom than now In Zech. 1.11 we reaâ— of a time when the whole World was at Rest excepting only the Church of God but 't is eveâ— quite contrary now for now the whole World Church and all are in a restless troublesom state We see and hear of little but Wars and rumours of Wars and as 't was of old destruction upon destruction is cryed and what and when the end