with stripes Nevertheless O gracious nevertheless my loveing-kindness will I not take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail my Covenant will I not braek c. We sin and break and break and sin and God chastises us it may be for our sin but yet still his Covenant remaines firm and unchangeable So 2 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself Oh I have an unbelieving heart and I shall I fear forfeit all although thou hast an unbelieving heart yet God remains faithful Thus God is unchangeable in his Covenant Alas his Covenant is built upon unchangeable Love and seal'd with unchangeable Blood and cannot therefore but be unchangeable and as the Covenant so all the Promises of the Covenant are sure and unchangeable they are all yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 that is they are all sure firm unchangeable Promises Promises that will certainly be made good Men promise many times and change but God promises and changes not and this some conceive to be held forth in that Name of his I am Exod. 3.14 I am that I am or I am what I was or I will be what I was that is as one expounds it Eroquteram i. e. ero factis qut eram in promissis Alting I will be in my Performances what I was in my Promises God makes good all his promises to a tittle he that is Truth it self and Faithfulness it self cannot lie cannot faile Promissa tua sunt Domine quis falli timeat cum promittit veritas Aug. 'T is a sweet saying I have read in Austin They are thy Promises O Lord and who need fear being deceived when Truth it self promises Oh we need not fear we need not question for God is true God is faithful Oh how sweet are the thoughts of an unchangeable Covenant God has laid himself under bonds to his People when he was infinitely free in himself and under bonds to do great things for them to pardon their iniquities transgressions and sins to give them a new heart and a new Spirit to pour out his Spirit upon them to cause them to walk in his Statutes and Judgements to do them to write his Laws in their Hearts and put them into their inward parts to cleanse them from all their filthiness and idols to put his fear into their hearts that they shall never depart from him and which is all in one to be a God unto them and that they shall be his People that is he has laid himself under bonds to be to them and to do for them what a God can be to and do for them and he is firm and unchangeable in all and all shall assuredly have its accomplishment in its season Oh how sweet is this this was Davids death-bed Cordial 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my House be not so with God yet he hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant and this is all my Salvation and all my Desire and indeed well it might for what could David or any desire more than is contained in God's Covenant which has Heaven and Earth God and the Creature Time and Eternity all in it Oh study this Covenant of God and the unchangeableness of it and you will find it an unchangeable Spring of Comfort to you God himself found fault with the first Covenant 't is said and why Why because it made no provision for his People against sin but you will be able to find no fault with this Covenant this being well-ordered in all things and sure as in the place last quoted you have it 6. God is unchangeable in his Grace and Love to his People God loves his People and that with a choice and peculiar Love a Love like that wherewith he loves Christ himself Joh. 17.23 They are indeed the dearly beloved of his soul as you have it Jer. 12.7 and in this Love of his towards them he is unchangeable alwayes the same which I shall at once a little open and evince unto you in three Propositions 1. God is unchangeable in his Love it self to his People that being alwayes the same towards them I have loved thee sayes God to his People with an Everlasting Love Jer. 31.3 with a Love that is from everlasting to everlasting without change or period God's Love to his People is so firm and stable that nothing whatever can possibly null or alter it nothing can possibly cast them out of his heart if any thing could do it it would be their sinnings against him and their breakings with him but these do not cannot do it so he has told us Psal 89.30 31 32 33. If they sin I 'le correct them for their sin but my loveing-kindness I will not take from them or as some render it I will not so much as interrupt my Love towards them as if he should say though they sin yet I 'le love them still God does not love the sins of his People no he hates them but he loves their persons notwithstanding their sins But what if afflictions and temptations be added to their sins and both the one and the other rise high will not this break off his Love from them No see that triumph of the Apostle upon this account Rom. 8. ult Who shall separate us from the Love of God shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution and the like Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerers through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalityes nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here you see are afflictions and temptations added to sins yea here are heights and depths of these things but all cannot separate God's People from his Love nor cast them out of his Heart One I remember gives the sum of the whole in this short word Ab aeterno dilexit in aeternum diliget Scult in loc God hath loved from eternity and he will love to eternity The truth is could either sins or sufferings cast us out of God's Heart and separate us from his Love who then among the Saints could hope to continue in his Love and upon his Heart Besides in the place lately quoted Isa 54.9.10 God sayes expresly that though the Mountains should be removed yet his kindness to his People should not be removed no that remains firm and stedfast for ever True God may possibly afflict his People and that many wayes and very sorely he may speak against them as against Ephraim Jer. 31.20 write against them and that bitter things as against Job Job 13.26 He may fight against them as against those Isa 63.10 He may frown upon them and let in his terrors into them as he did upon and into Heman Psal 88. ult but yet still he loves them still they are dear to him 2.
that 't is an Unchangeable Love a Love that never fades never varies True his Love may be and sometimes is vailed and clouded but though it be vailed yet 't is not varied though it be sometimes clouded yet 't is never changed Love under a Vail or Cloud is Love The Sun may be under a Cloud yea there may be an eclipse upon it for a time which may keep it out of our view and deprive us of the comfortable influences and shinings of it for a season but yet even then the Sun is in being and after a while it will shine again and that as sweetly brightly and comfortably as ever So there may be a Vail a Cloud an eclipse as it were upon God's Love such as may deprive us for a time of the comfortable views shinings and influences of it but yet even then 't is Love and sweet Love too and after a while it will shine and shew it self again 'T is a sweet Word which you have Psal 30.5 His anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a right but joy comes in the morning in his favour is life Vitam momento opponit benevolentia qua suos complectitur Deus durat per emnem vitam Deus favorem suum prorogat in longum tempus Mol. Life here as a judicious Interpreter observes is opposed to a moment mentioned in the beginning of the verse and so the sense is that that Love wherewith God loves his People lasts throughout all life it lives and lasts for ever 't is a durable abiding love So Isa 54.8 In a little wrath I bid my face from thee for a moment sayes God to his Church but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee Thus I say though God's Love to his People may be vailed yet 't is never varyed 't is a constant Love and Oh how sweet does this speak his Love to be and how happy are they that are interested in it Oh to be beloved by an Unchangeable God with an Unchangeable Love this is sweet indeed The Creatures Love has little worth or sweetness in it and that not only because of its weakness and emptiness but also because of its changeableness Alas the Creature loves to day and hates to morrow Oh but now God's Love is another manner of Love a Love that has fulness and firmness sufficiency and immutability both in it and accordingly must needs be infinitely sweet and desirable Well therefore might David admiringly cry out as he did Psal 36.7 How excellent or how precious is thy loving-kindness O Lord and as in Psal 63.3 Thy loving-kindness is better than life 'T is before all lives one dram of it is to be preferred before many Worlds of Creature-injoyments God's Love it is all good all comfort all happiness in its fountain-fulness and purity it is an eternal never-failing spring of sweetness an unvariable fountain of delight in it there is Grace all Grace Peace all Peace Joy all Joy Satisfaction all Satisfaction Rest and Solace all Rest and Solace O Soul look upon the love of thy God to thee look upon it and in it thou wilt see unsearchable Riches unmeasurable Fulness unfathomable Depths and which crowns all eternal Unchangeableness and Oh how happy wilt thou therein see thy self With what full consolation of Spirit mayest thou sit down and say God loves me and he loves me unchangeably Friends change outward comforts change I my self change but God's Love to me changes not I am for ever upon his heart nor can either Men or Devils sins or sorrows cast me out of it True he sometimes afflicts me but yet he loves me he sometimes frowns upon me but yet he loves me he sometimes seems to slay me he breaks me with breach upon breach but yet he loves me he confines me to a sick Chamber he layes me upon a sick Bed he seems to resolve to lay me in the Dust but yet he loves me yea all this is in love I break with him and depart from him I am sinning against him every day and hour but yet he loves me he loves me notwithstanding all his Love cannot be broken off from me and after a while I shall bathe in the Fountain thereof for ever Oh sweet who would not long for this Love He loves me unchangeably and he will therefore cleanse me purifie me pardon me make me perfectly holy He loves me and he will love me till he has lodged me in his own Presence and Bosom above and there he will love me for ever 2. From God's Unchangeabless we conclude and infer the infinite bitterness of his Wrath and the extream misery of all such as fall under the weight thereof God's Love is not more sweet than his Wrath is bitter his Love is not more desirable than his Wrath is formidable and that because he is an Unchangeable God and oh how miserable must they be that do fall under this Wrath. In Isa 10.6 we read of the People of God's Wrath there are some then that are properly the People of God's Wrath they are Children of Wrath Heirs of Wrath and Wrath yea God's Wrath will be their portion for ever such are all finally impenitent and unbelieving Ones all who live and die in their impenitency and unbelief and oh how extreamly miserable must they be God's Wrath is a great Wrath a fierce Wrath a sore Wrath a powerful Wrath an irresistible Wrath a burning consuming and devouring Wrath So the Scripture speaks of it all which speaks the exceeding bitterness and terribleness of it and the extream misery of such as fall under it but that which adds even infinitely to all is this that 't is eternal and unchangeable Wrath Wrath that abides for ever Hence 't is set forth in Scripture by unquenchable fire Mat. 3.12 God's Wrath is called Fire because of its exceeding heat and fierceness being of a consuming and devouring nature and 't is called unquenchable Fire because 't is durable and unchangeable it being what admits of no more change or period than his Love does and to fall under this unquenchable fire under the revelation of this eternal unchangeable Wrath oh how sad how miserable must this be Solomon tells us that the Wrath of a King is as the roaring of a Lyon Prov. 19.12 and what then and how terrible is the Wrath of God to whose Wrath the wrath of all the Kings on the Earth is as nothing We are afraid sometimes of Man's Wrath yea so afraid of it as to suffer our selves to be driven from our duty by it But my Beloved what is the Wrath of a Man to the Wrath God What is the Wrath of a changeable Man to the Wrath of an Unchangeable God let me say to each Soul of you as God by the Prophet to them Isa 51 12.13 Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die a changeable Creature and forgettest the Lord thy Maker 'T
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
them with whom he was before at peace So Job 30.21 Thou art become cruel to me or thou are turned or changed q. d. Thou wert good and gracious but now thou art severe and cruel So Isa 63.10 He was turned to be their Enemy and fought against them Thus both these ways God seems to be represented under changes and how then is he unchangeable Nevertheless unchangeable for all this and to vindicate God's unchangeableness notwithstanding this I would intreat you to consider two Things 1. Consider that God is unchangeable under the most various and changeable dispensations that he does or can walk in towards us 'T is true the external dispensation changes his outward course and carriage towards us is very changeable and various now he smiles and then he frowns now he fills and then he emtyes now he lifts up and then he casts down now he breaks and then he binds up c. Thus the outward dealings and dispensations of God are very changeable and various yet in and under all he himself changes not but is still the same the same in his Being and in his Blessedness and the same in his Counsel Covenant and love to us Hence Psal 25.10 All the Paths that is the providences and dispensations of the Lord are said to be Mercy and Truth to his People His Paths towards them are very various in themselves but God's Love and Grace is the same in all The outward dispensation of God toward us it may be is changed he did smile but now he frowns he did give but now he takes away he did form Light but now he creates Darkness for us and hereupon we apprehend that God Himself his Heart his Counsel his Covenant his Love is changed but 't is only in our apprehension for indeed and in truth he is the same still the most variable of his dispensations do not argue the least variableness in him at all and indeed where he is a Friend he is a Friend for ever and where he is an Enemy he is an Enemy for ever the change is only in the external dispensation 2. Consider that the change is in us and not in God God is alwayes the same but we are not the same when God is pacified towards those with whom he was offended they are changed not he he is the same he was and when he is angry with Saints with whom he was before at peace they are changed not he the change was in Job not in God when he said thou art turned to be cruel to me the change was in the Church not in God when he was said to be turned to be their Enemy God says a worthy Divine is the same his Love is the same his Wrath is the same his Mercy is the same his Justice is the same and that for ever but we changing are cast sometimes under the effects of his Love and sometimes under the effects of his Wrath we are sometimes under the saddest droppings of his Justice and sometimes under the sweetest influences of his Mercy As a man that changes his Aspect and turns about his Body to another Point of the Heavens that part of the Heavens which was before at his right hand is now at his left Not but that the Heavens are as they were they change not either their Position or Motion but the Man hath changed his So the Wrath and Love the Justice and Mercy of God stand alwayes at the same point but we turn sometimes Justice-ward sometimes Mercy-ward now we face his Wrath and then his Love thus the change is in us and not in God and so he remains unchangeable still 4. The fourth Proposition is this That God's Unchangeableness does no way exclude or invalidate the use of means If God be unchangeable then to what purpose is the use of means Why do we Pray or Hear or use any means in order to our eternal Good Why my Beloved God's Unchangeableness does no way exclude or invalidate the use of means for pray consider First That God wills the Means as well as the End and the Means in order to the End he wills our Praying as well as our Pardon our Hearing as well as our Happiness our Sowing as well as our Reaping our Sowing in the use of Means as well as our Reaping in the Harvest of Mercy He wills our believing as well as our blessedness he wills the one as well as the other yea he wills the one in order to the other and that with the same absolute immutable and eternal will He hath ordained we should walk in good works Eph. 2.10 and he ha h chosen us to Salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the Truth 2 Thes 2.13 Secondly Consider that as God wills the Means as well as the End so through the use of these it is that he gives out himself and his blessings to us and at last brings us to the End God makes a Covenant with his People and therein layes himself under bonds to do great things for them as great as a God can do but he will have them pray for them nor will he do them but in a way of Prayer Ezek. 36.37 and God tells us that he never said to the Seed of Jacoh Seek ye me in vain Isa 45.19 Indeed God is not wanting to his People in the use of mean The Lord is good to them that wait for him to the Soul that seeks him Lam. 3.26 Ordinarily God will not communicate himself and his love any other way and that Soul that neglects this puts himself out of the way of the Manifestations and Communications of God and his Love Indeed God has as it were tied himself to Souls under a conscientious use of means to do them good Ask and you shall receive seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened to you for every one that asketh receiveth and every one that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it is opened As you therefore value communion with God and the manifestations of his Love take heed of laying aside the use of means Thirdly Consider that these things we call means such as Prayer Hearing and the like are instances of our Homage Worship and Obedience to God hereby we worship God and give so far the Glory to him that is due unto his Name and consequently to cast off these is to cast off the Worship of God and to deny we owe Homage to him Lay all these together and our Proposition is clear that God s Unchangeableness does no way exclude or invalidate the use of means and when we use means 't is not to change but fulfil the Mind of God 't is not to alter but to accomplish his Counsels and bring us into the fruition of them Thus by these Propositions I have vindicated the unchangeableness of God from cavil and contradiction and it remains a truth that the Lord Jehovah is an unchangeable God CHAP. VI. Several
see and find themselves to be Fools At his end sayes the Prophet concerning such an one he shall be a Fool Jer. 17.11 at his end he shall be a fool what was he a wise man in his beginning and progress No he was a Fool all along Yet though he was a Fool he thought himself wise but at last he shall see his folly he shall find that he was a very fool indeed and O how will the sight of such folly then vex and torment him O Sirs when you shall see your selves lanching forth into an unchangeable state as shortly you will how will you then condemn your selves of folly for preferring changeable Creatures before an unchangeable God Let me therefore speak to each of you as in Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Riches make to themselves wings c. Cease from thine own wisdom labour not to be rich Men think it to be their highest wisdom to get Riches but sirs know assuredly this is folly the onely wisdom is to make sure of God and get an interest in God Riches are not but God alwayes is and he is the same for ever 4. From God's Unchangeableness we infer the absolute necessity of a change in sinners if ever they be happy if ever they be saved My Beloved if ever sinners be saved and made eternally happy there must be a change either in God or them now in God there can be no change the change thereof must be in them 'T is a rational and undenyable way of arguing for a sinner to argue and say God is unchangeable and because God is unchangeable I must change or perish change or die change or be miserable for ever For pray mark God never did and he never will save any man in his sins he is in Christ infinitely willing ready and able to save men from their sins he sent and seal'd his Son on purpose to save men from their sins and accordingly gave him a Name sutable hereunto even Jesus which signisies a Saviour Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Mar. 1.21 But he never did and unless he should change he never will save any in their sins without a change therefore in us and upon us we are undone for ever But a little further yet to let you see the force of this inference and the rationality of such an arguing that so it may fall with the greater weight and conviction upon all our Souls be pleased to consider that 't is utterly repugnant to and inconsistent with the Word Nature Counsel and Oath of God to save sinners without a change for all these are absolutely and expresly against the happiness and salvation of unchanged Souls Souls remaining still in their sins still in their natural state 1. The Word of God is against the happiness and Salvation of unchanged Souls the Word of God sayes expresly that without a change men may not shall not cannot be saved The Word of God says the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all that forget God Psal 9.17 The Word of God says that into the Holy City there shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth or worketh abomination Rev. 21.27 The Word of God sayes that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 The Word of God sayes that without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 And lest all this should be thought to concern onely profane and licentious ones let me add the Word of God sayes that flesh and blood that is men in their natural estate cannot enter into the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15.50 Yea the Word of God sayes and that with an emphasis that except a man be born again unless he be regenerated by the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Joh. 3.3.5 Verily verily sayes Christ except a man be born again c. and again Verily verily he asserts it over and over which notes among other things as the weight of the Truth asserted so our difficulty and aversness to believe it and bow to it Thus the Word of God is against this thing 2. The Nature of God is against the happiness and salvation of unchanged Souls the nature of God is infinitely pure and holy and will not admit of sinners to dwell with him Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness saith the Psalmist neither shall evil dwell with thee Psal 5.4 The foolish and such are all men by nature shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity v. 5. So Heb. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity that is without loathing and detestation God's Nature is holy yea 't is Holiness it self and he can as soon cease to be God as cease to be holy his Nature is infinitely contrary to all sin and he infinitely necessarily and eternally hates all sin sin indeed is strictly and properly the onely Object of God's hatred His love is et out upon many Objects but sin is the only Object of his hatred and is not the nature of this God against the salvation of unchanged sinners God must first cease to be infinitely holy and so to be God e're sinners remaining in their unchanged state can be saved 3. The Counsel of God is against the salvation of unchanged Souls the Law of the Counsel of God is That we must be holy if ever we will be happy that we must be called justified and sanctified if ever we be glorified so you find in that golden Chain as t is called Rom. 8.29 30. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed unto the Image of his Son Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Mark the Counsel or as 't is here called the fore-knowledge of God tells us we must be changed called and justified if ever we be glorified So expresly 2 Thes 2.13 God hath chosen us to salvation But how is there no need of a change Yes he has so chosen us as calls for a change He hath chosen us to salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth Yea the Counsel of God aims at holiness and designs us primarily unto holiness He hath chosen us that we should be holy Eph. 1.4 5. God must change all his Counsels which have been of old or sinners must be changed if ever they be saved 4. The Oath of God is against the salvation of unchanged sinners God's Oath is gone out of his mouth that no unbelieving unchanged ones shall ever enter into his Rest So I sware in my wrath they shall not enter into my Rest Heb. 3.11 Thus God's Word his Nature his Counsel his Oath are all against the happiness and Salvation of unchanged sinners and God must change in all if ever
Yea more why are we not consumed with an eternal consumption Why are the best of us all not in Hell Why are we not stated in an eternity of woe and misery Why are we not now roaring and sweltering under the Wrath of God Why are we not Companions with Devils and damned Spirits in everlasting burnings Is it because our sins are few and small and have not deserved it No surely Why then is it Because our God is unchangeable unchangeable in Being Counsel Covenant and Love Oh! my Beloved if we seriously consider what we are and how we have carryed it what our sins and provocations have been and how high they rise against the blessed God and the like we may well wonder we are out of Hell that we have a being any where on this side the Pit of Perdition nor can we resolve it into any other cause but God's Unchangeableness Let me therefore entreat you to consider things a little that you may give glory where 't is due 1. Consider what you are I mean as to your nature and the depravedness of it You are a meer lump and mass of sin Enemyes yea enmity it self against God and Christ Rom. 8.7 your heart is a meer Sink a Fountain an Abysse of sin and wickedness against God The heart is deceiful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it None but God can look to the bottom of that sin wickedness and deceit that is in your heart Jer. 17.9 O the aboundings of sin that are found in the best of us Oh the pride the passion the earthliness the sensuality the uncleanness the unbelief the hypocrisie the atheisme the disregard of God the aversion from all good that dwells works wars and oftentimes prevails and predominates in the hearts of the best Saints while here O the risings of sin and oh the aboundings of iniquity that are found among us 2. Consider what you have done and how you have carried it God-ward If you seriously consider things you will find I fear that you have done and to this day do little else but sin against the Lord You have despised his Goodness abused his Love violated his Laws trampled upon his Authority grieved his Spirit wounded his Son darkned his Glory and oftentimes struck even at his very Crown and Being yea and this has been your manner from your youth as God charged them of old Jer. 22.21 there is not that day nor scarcely that hour wherein you have not and do not sin against God often have you made him serve with your sins and wearied him with your iniquities as those Isa 43.24 Your lives have been lives of sin for the most part against God 3. Consider what black and horrid aggravations your fins are cloathed with Are not your sins my Beloved of a scarlet dye and crimson tincture Are they not heightened with many black and crying aggravations have they not at least many of them been committed against much love much light much mercy many motions of the Spirit many checks of Conscience many bonds and obligations to Duty many signal and eminent appearances of God to you and for you many tastes many sealings of his Love and the like what shall I say such every way are our sins yea the sins of the best of us all that we cannot possibly look to the further end of them Who can understand his Errors sayes holy David Psal 19.12 David was an holy Man a Man after God's own Heart and yet he cryes out Who can understand his Errors His sins were beyond search or understanding and if his were so what are ours Truly my Beloved our sins in the number nature and aggravations of them are beyond our reach and well may we all with him cry out Who can understand his Errors 4. Consider what an infinite evil and demerit there is in every sin even the least sin As you are guilty of so much sin and your sins clothed many of them with so many and such crying aggravations so you must know that there is evil enough in the least sin to damn you eternally should God render the desert thereof to you The wages of sm is death sayes the Apostle Rom. 6.23 Mark he speaks of sin indefinitely every sin the least sin and sayes he the wages that which is due to it is death Every sin is an offence against God 't is infinitely contrary to his Purity and Holiness his Will and Glory his Life and Being 't is universally contrary to him and so must needs have an inconceiveable evil and demerit in it Every offence sayes a learned Man against the chief good Omnis offencio summi boni meruit summam poenam eternam creaturae destructionem Ursin even the eternal destruction of the Creature O Sirs we little think the evil there is in a vain thought an idle word an unholy irregular action we little think the evil the least sin carries in it 5. Consider how much God hates sin sin is even infinitely odious and abominable to him God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity to wit without loathing and detestation Hab. 1.13 and he is once and again in Scripture represented as a God hating sin sin indeed is infinitely odious in his sight Now let us weigh these things and lay them together and then we shall see that it can be nothing else that keeps us from destruction but God's Unchangeableness to which therefore we should give the glory 'T is the Grace and Love of God that first brings us into a condition of Life and Salvation and 't is the Unchangeableness of God that keeps us there Truly when some of us reflect a little upon our selves and consider what we are and have been in our Spirits and carriages God-ward how much we have provoked him what frequent forfeitures we have made and do make of our Lives Souls and all we see infinite cause to wonder that we are alive that the flames of divine Wrath had not long since kindled upon us and the revenges of divine Justice broken out against us and blessed be God that we are out of Hell O that such a proud such a stubborn such a stiff-necked people as we are should yet live that persons of so many and high provocations against God as thou Reader and I are guilty of should yet have a being out of Hell This is solely from the unchangeableness of God And my Beloved we do not rightly consider the matter if we do not see and acknowledge it to be so O blessed be God for his unchangeableness had not God been unchangeable where had I now been I had now been shut up in the infernal Pit I had now been a companion with Devils and damned Spirits I had now been separated from God for ever and how miserable then had I been O my Soul adore the Unchangeable One and bless him for his unchangeable Counsel his unchangeable Covenant his unchangeable Love CHAP. VII Several grounds
of humbling from the consideration of God's Unchangeableness as our unlikeness to him therein our charging him with change our living so little upon his Unchangeableness AS the Unchangeableness of God is very teaching and instructive so also very humbling if rightly weighed and improved by us there are several things which the consideration thereof do call aloud upon us to be humbled for and Oh that we would lay them to heart 1. Is God unchangeable Then how should we be humbled for our exceeding great changeableness and therein our unlikeness to God the chief good The more changeable we are in what is good the more unlike God we are and the more unlike God we are the more cause we have of humbling Oh how should we loath our selves and be abased at the foot of God in the sense of our great fickleness and changeableness Alas how changeable are we in all that is good how changeable are many of us in our Judgments and Opinions being like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine as you have it Eph. 4.14 being apt to be soon removed from the Faith of the Gospel as the Galatians were at which Paul marvelled Gal. 1.6 How changeable are we in our affections to God and the things of God Now the heart flames with love to God and Christ anon 't is chill and cold Now we are full of holy longings and desires after God and Christ Grace and Glory we can say with the Church of old The desire of our Soul is unto thee O God and to the remembrance of thy Name Isa 26.8 yea our Soul thirsteth for God for the living God Yea as the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth our Soul after God as the Psalmist speaks Anon there is not any one holy breathing to be found within us No we are even made up of worldly sinful unclean desires we pant after the dust of the Earth as those Amos 2.7 we are athirst for the Creature and nothing but that will satisfie us Now we delight in God and his Wayes We rejoce in the Lord and our Soul is joyful in our God as 't was with the Church Isa 61.10 and his Wayes are sweet and pleasant to us his Law is our delight anon we relish no sweetness we take and excercise no joy no delight either in the one or in the other but we drive on heavily every duty being a burthen to us and the very thoughts of God a trouble Now we fear and stand in a we of God not daring to sin against him we stand in awe of his Presence we stand in awe of his Holiness we stand in awe of his Goodness we stand in awe of his Power and the like Anon we are fearless and regardless of him boldly venturing upon sinning against him Now we dread sin as Hell it self yea and worse too anon we imbrace it and delight in it Again how changeable are we in our holy purposes and resolutions We take up this and that holy resolution we purpose to walk so and so with God to keep such and such a watch over our spirits and wayes to live more in communion with God to drive a greater trade and design for Heaven and to hasten more to that better Countrey and the like but alas how do such resolutions fade and change and die within us not one of many of them ever proves firm and effectual yea many times no sooner are such resolutions taken up by us but presently we run Counter to them and break with God more than before the first temptation that comes turns us quite beside our purpose and we miserably miscarry in the very things we resolved about Our holy purposes are for the most part abortive We turn aside like a deceitful bow as God complains of those Psal 78.57 'T is a sad complaint which I have read in one of the Ancients Oftentimes says he have I promised refolved to amend Multoties permisi me emondare nunquam tenut sed semper ad peocatu redii prioribus seeleribus nova deterior a conjunxi nunquam ut debui mores meos in melius mutari c. Bern. de ascen Domini but I never made it good but alwayes I returned to sin and to my former wickednesses I added new and worse I never reformed as I ought And who of us may not in a great measure make the same complaint Yet once more How changeable are we in our ways and walkings How uneven and unconstant in our goings We have an heart that loveth to wander as God speaks of them of old Jer. 14.10 O the turnings aside and O the turnings back that we are guilty of in our walking with God! Oh the gaps and pauses and interruptions that are in our obedience we should go on in one even constant tenure of holy Obedience but alas we are in and out off and on often in the day yea in the hour yea many times sudden and great changes are found in our spirits and carriages God-ward and that for the worse I 'le give you one and but one instance of this and that in an eminently holy Man an instance that may well make all of us tremble and that is of Jeremiah Jer. 20.13 14 15. Sing unto the Lord praise ye the Lord for he hath delivered the Soul of the poor from the hand of evil doers Cursed be the day wherein I was horn let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed Cursed be the man that brought tidings to my Father saying A man-child is born unto thee making him very glad Pray mark what a great change there was wrought in this good man's spirit and that all of a sudden in vers 13. he looks like one dropt out of Heaven praising God for his Goodness and Salvation and calling upon others so to do but in vers 14 15. he looks rather like one broken loose out of Hell cursing himself and almost every one about him In the one he looks more like an Angel than an imperfect Saint in the other he looks more like a Devil than a Man so great was the change in his spirit and this suddenly made When he had in vers 13. been praising God and was as it were taken up to Heaven the very next news you hear of him is that he is full of cursing and truly thus changeable are we all here O how suddenly many times do we change and fall from the best into the worst of frames and carriages before God from love to hatred from faith to unbelief from holy fear to carnal security from obedience to rebellion from delight in God to a neglect of God and a weariedness of his wayes and presence O let us be humbled for this our exceeding changeableness and therein our unlikeness to God in his Unchangeableness 2. Is God unchangeable Then how should we be humbled that we do so often wrong God charging him with
144.15 Happy is the People that is in such a case yea happy is that Poople whose God is the Lord. In what case was this Why a case of outward prosperity a case of enjoying an affluence of all outward Creature-contentments for of these he had spoken before But David is this really your judgment and do you give it us for a divine Truth that these things make men happy No sayes he I rather herein tell you what the Worlds judgments is and wherein they look upon happiness to consist They think those of all others to be the happiest People who enjoy most of this World most ease most pleasure most of Creature-comforts But sayes he I am of another mind I account them the happy People who have the Lord for their God that is who have a Covenant-relation to and interest in the blessed God 't is God not the Creature the enjoyment of whom makes happy The former Proposition Happy is the People that is in such a case shews what carnal men judge concerning happiness and what makes happy in their account the latter Proposition yea happy is the People whose God is the Lord shews what true happiness indeed is and wherein it consists which is in an interest in God in the Unchangeable One Or this latter is as one observes a correction of the former Correctio est dicti prioris q.d. imo vero hunc ego verè beatum dixero qui Deum verum non incertam seculi fortunam habet propitium Gejer. and 't is as if he should say but I would rather say they are the happy Souls who have the true God not the changeable Creature propitious to them Oh 't is not the Creature but God an interest in and communion with unchangeableness that makes happy 'T is the joint-language of all the Creatures happiness is not in us we are all vanity and subject to change and cannot make eternal Souls happy happiness lyes in God alone where alone both fulness and Unchangeableness sufficiency and immutability are to be found To look for happiness in the Creature is to seek the living among the dead but to look for it in God that is to seek it at the Fountain-head of all true happiness What shall I say God is his own happiness he is eternally blessed in and with himself as has been before declared and he is the happiness of his Creatures both Saints and Angels and when God makes his People his Saints and Servants perfectly happy which he never does till he takes them to Heaven he then takes them from all their Creature-contentments and he admits and receives them into the full and single enjoyment of himself 'T were easie to shew that nothing short of God and his unchangeableness can possibly make happy and accordingly that we shall never be happy indeed till we learn to carry our happiness above the road of Creatures and place it wholly and intirely in God But I must not run out too far here Oh my Beloved that man is certainly happiest whose heart and life are holiest and whose communion with God is fullest he that enjoyes most of God whether he enjoys much or little of the Creature he it is that is most happy 'T is a great saying which I have read in Austin speaking to those that seek happiness in the Creature Quaerite quod quaeritis sed ibi non est ubi quaeritis beatam vitam queritis in regione mortis non est illic quomodo enim beata vita ubi nec vita Aug. Conf. lib. 4. Cap. 12. Seek what you seek sayes he that is seek happiness but know that 't is not to be found where you seek it you seek a blessed life in the region of Death but 't is not to be found there for how should there be a blessed life found where there is not so much as life found And elsewhere speaking to God All things are full of trouble and difficulty Dura sunt omnia tu solus requies Aug. Conf. lib. 6. cap. 16. and thou alone art rest and happiness sayes he Truely the Creature as Solomon tells us is nothing else but vanity and vexation of Spirit but in God there is rest there is happiness there is satisfaction of Soul to be found and if you would be happy indeed chuse him and place your rest and happiness in him alone 5. Consider that God freely offers himself as an Unchangeable Good in his Covenant to you You know how he speaks to sinners even to sinners Isa 55.3 Come unto me and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you And pray what is this Covenant Why I will be your God that you know is the grand Promise of it Jer. 31.33 In the Covenant God offers himself to sinners in all his glorious Excellencies and Perfections his language therein to them is Come Souls see what a God I am how great how good how rich how glorious see what treasures of light and life of love and glory there are in me and loe I am willing to be yours your God your Friend your Father your Portion your Happiness your All for ever Look what ever I am that I will be to you and whatever I can do that I will do for you Thus he offers himself in all his glorious Excellencies and Perfections to you and as in all so particularly in his Unchangeableness Come sayes he I am the Lord I change not and as such an one do I tender my self to you my Unchangeableness shall be the Rock of your Rest the immutability of my Nature my Counsel my Covenant my Love is a sure footing for your Faith and a firm Foundation for your Comfort While I am I will be Life and Blessedness to you I 'le be a never-failing Fountain of Peace Joy Satisfaction to you I am the First and the Last He who was and is and is to come and as such I will be yours for ever and when the World and all that is therein shall be burnt up I wil be a standing Portion for you when the whole World is like a tumbling Ocean round about you I 'le be a Rock of Ages to you and be not afraid of me I am a God of Grace and Love 'T is true I am the Great and High God but my Highness shall stoop and my greatness shall condescend to you yea and nothing shall stand between you and me no sin no vileness no unworthiness of yours I know you are poor vile sinful worthless worms infinitely unworthy of me I know your sins are many and the distance between me and you is great but all this shall not hinder you from an interest in Me and my Unchangeableness if you will take hold of my Covenant chuse me for your God and Portion and take up the rest and happiness of your Souls in me Thus God reveals and offers himself in his Covenant to us and does he thus offer himself in his Covenant to us and
much as ever he did he is as just now as ever he was and so as ready and propense to take vengeance as ever he is as jealous now as jealous for his Name Worship Gospel and People as ever he was and so will as little bear with the opposers and abusers of them he is as wise and powerful now as ever and so as able to deal with his Enemies 'T is a great Scripture that Job 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Who ever hardened himself against him and prospered O never any yet did and never any shall No but Psal 68.21 He will wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses Oh that all the Enemies of God and his People and all rebellious impenitent ones would lay this to heart 4. God being Unchangeable the purposes and promises of his Grace to his Church and People shall certainly be accomplisht God's Heart my Beloved has been full of counsels and purposes of Love towards his People from all eternity and he has also made many blessed Promises to them Promises that are exceeding great and pretious 2 Pet. 1.4 because full of exceeding great and pretious things Greatness and pretiousness do not often meet together many things are great but then they are not pretious and many things are pretious but then they are not great but in the promises of God to his Church and People greatness and pretiousness do meet Now look what-ever purposes God has had in his Heart and whatever promises he has made in this Word to his People they shall all be accomplisht because he is an Unchangeable God he is the same now that he was when he took up those purposes and made those promises and therefore will assuredly make them all good in the due season and so much he tells us Isa 46.9 10 11. I am God sayes he and there is none else I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying My Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure I have spoken and I 'le bring it to pass I have purposed it I also will do it Mark first he asserts his Godhead and Unchangeableness and then he tells you all his pleasure shall stand and be accomplisht God being Unchangeable First None can turn him or make him alter his mind Job 23.13 14. He is in one mind and who can turn him and what his Soul desiveth even that he doth for he performeth the thing that is appointed for me c. The wisest and most resolved among men may possibly be wrought upon and brought over from what they purposed but 't is not so with God Secondly None can hinder him from or in his making good his purposes and promises Isa 43.13 Before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my hand I will work and who shall let it Poor Soul whoever thou art that art one of the Lord's People look back to the eternal counsels and purposes of his Love towards thee and thou wilt find them a great Deep a Fountain of infinite Sweetness in them thou wilt see heaps of Love and treasures of Grace and then turn thine eye to the promises of his Covenant which thou wilt find unexpressibly sweet and exactly suitable to thy condition to all thy wants and then know assuredly that the whole both of the one and the other shall be accomplisht to thee in due season 'T is true indeed his Counsels may seem to us to be frustrated and his Promises may for a time be deferred and delayed in so much that our hasty unbelieving hearts may be ready to conclude that they will never be accomplisht saying with the Psalmist Does his Promise fail for evermore Psal 77.8 But Soul wait a while and they shall all be made good to a tittle Has he promised to pardon thee to cleanse thee to give thee a new Heart and a new Spirit to write his Law in thine Heart Has he promised to save thee and lodg thee at last in his own Bosom then know it shall all be accomplisht Oh how sweet is this Oh to fasten upon a Promise and see it sure to be made good as in God's Unchangeableness we may there we may see all as sure as if 't were already accomplisht Oh what strong consolation does this afford what unexpressible sweetness will this give unto a Soul 5. God being Unchangeable the Saints are unchangeably happy and have a blessed Assylum to flee unto under all those changes and emergencies that may at any time come upon them Pray mark my Beloved God is the Saints God and Portion and in him does their happiness lye He therefore being Unchangeable they have an Unchangeable Happiness they are an happy People and they will be unchangeably so The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the Thoughts of his Heart to all Generations and what then Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord and the People whom he hath chosen for his own Inheritance Psal 33.11 12. The Saints as one well observes are in all respects a blessed People they are blessed in the pardon of their sins Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven Psal 32.1 They are blessed in regard of the disposition of their Souls Blessed are the poor in Spirit blessed are the Meek blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness Mat. 5.3 4 6. They are blessed in their Obedience and walking with God Blessed are the undefiled in the way Psal 119.1 They are blessed in their hopes and expectations Blessed are they that wait for God Isa 30.18 Thus they are every way and in all respects a blessed People but here lies the perfection and top-glory of their blessedness and what indeed comprehends all the rest in it namely that the Unchangeable God is their God and Portion Happy is the People whose God is the Lord Psal 144.15 Oh this speaks them to be infinitely and unchangeably happy and accordingly they should live upon him and that under all their streights and difficulties Oh Sirs what is there that this will not support and comfort you under Do your Friends and Comforts here change however God your best Friend and Comfort changes not and that is enough Do times and seasons change and that for the worse from sun-shine to storms Well however Soul thy God changes not and that is enough to sweeten all Dost thou thy self change changes and war are upon thee and which is the worst of it thy Spirit changes it will not keep even with God one hour well still thy God changes not and that is enough Do new temptations arise and oldcorruptions break out a new Does guilt revive and recur upon thee be it so yet thy God is Unchangeable and so can and will relieve and succour thee now as well as
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
Psal 42.11 which may be further opened afterwards as ever therefore you would live purely and entirely at Rest in God get your interest in him as your God and Father cleared up to you first chuse him for your God and Portion and do it every day never Rest till you can say Lord whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee my Heart and my Flesh fail but God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Psal 73.25 26. Then Pray hard for the sealings and witness of the Spirit beg the Lord with Austin to say unto thy Soul I am thy Salvation 4. Would you indeed live at Rest in God Then meditate and contemplate him much dwell much in the view of his glorious Excellencies and Perfections Deep and frequent meditation of God and his Excellencies does marvelously endear God unto Souls and withal brings them into an acquaintance with those satisfying delights that are to be found in him and so to a Rest in him My Soul saies David shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night-watches Psal 63.5 6. In vers 3. he is even ravished with the sense and incomes of God's Love to him Thy loving-kindness is better than Life my lips shall praise thee and here he speaks of Satisfaction the sweetest Satisfaction and all that which came in a way of holy meditation and again my meditation of thee shall be sweet Psal 104.34 Holy meditation of God produces many sweet experiences of God in the Soul experiences of his Grace of his Love of his Sweetness of the Blessedness of Communion with him and the like and these experiences issue in the Soul's Rest in him eveâ—y new experience of God draws the heart further into God and makes it center more in him every taste every sight of God every new emamanation of his Glory before the Soul of which in the holy meditation of God the Saints have not a few weans and works the heart off from carnal sensible things and makes him to cleave more closly and entirely to God gathering in about him as his All. O be much in the meditation of God 't is not enough for us to know him and to know him in Christ no nor to know him as ours as our God in Covenant but we must study him we must meditate what a God he is and single him out now under one and then under another Notion or Consideration to meditate upon begging God to help us in our meditetions of him The most know and enjoy little of God because they meditate him so little they are little in holy meditation 5. Would you indeed be at Rest in God Then improve all your experiences of the Creatures vanity for the carrying of your Souls more into God as your Rest and Centre Holy David did so and 't is indeed a great piece of a Christians skill Psal 39.7 And now Lord saies he what wait I for my hope is in thee If you veiw either the foregoing or following part of the Psalm you will find that David was under great experiences of the Creatures vanity he saw the vanity of worldly Injoyments they are all but a vain shew he saw his own vanity he saw the vanity of others he found every one and every thing nothing but vanity and what is the issue What use does he make of it this he gathers in more to God as his only Rest and Happiness now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee q.d. Now I have done with the Creatures I see what they are and what all persons and things are and I have done with all thou thy self only O Lord art my Rest my Happiness my All. Thus when at any time you meet with fresh experiences of the Creatures vanity improve them for the carrying of your Souls more into God as your Rest You scarce live that day wherein you do not meet with new experiences of the Creatures vanity this is lost and that is imbittered to you now you meet with disappointments and then with sorrows wounds and snares and that where it may be you expected your chief Comfort and Satisfaction now in all such cases what should we do retire the more into God as our Rest and Happiness say with the Psalmist Now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee I have done with the streams I 'le cleave only to thee the Fountain the Creatures ever serve me thus they leave me under sorrows snares and disappointments thou Lord shalt be all in all to me thou art my only Rest for ever 6. Would you indeed live at Rest in God Then pray for much spirituality of Heart much suitedness of Spirit to God and Christ The more Spiritual you are the more are you suited to the blessed God and the more you are suited to God the more fully and genuinly will your Souls Rest in him I suppose you to have a new heart for I speak unto you as to Saints the old heart to be sure will never Rest in God the old heart is wholly avetse from God and at enmity with him it hates him 't is wholly carnal sensual and unclean and delights only in things suitable to it self Let all therefore that would Rest in God first get a new heart such as God promises in his Covenant Ezek. 36.26 and having gotten a new heart pray for much spirituality of heart and affection Alas alas we are carnal as Paul charged his Corinthians and being carnal we lean to and hanker after carnal things and till we get more spirituality we shall not Rest so fully in God as we should therefore pray unto God hard for more of this pray for more of his Spirit to act and influence you and not only so but to change you more and more into the Divine Life and Image To conclude all Live at Rest all that even you can in God here but withal look and long and hasten to that Rest which remaines for Saints with God in the other World True Rest in God here is sweet but we shall never be fully and perfectly happy till we enter that future Rest that indeed carryes a compleat happinss in it O to be wholly swallowed up in the Divine Will the Divine Life the Divine Fulness the Ocean of Divine Love to have every faculty and every affection perfectly suited to God and filled with God this cannot but be perfect Rest and Happiness especially considering what an enlargement there will be of all the Faculties and how much of God they will then take in But till we reach this Rest we cannot have any compleat Rest therefore breath and suspire after the future Rest keep your eye much there and let your eye affect your heart look and love love and long long and hasten to that sweet that holy that heavenly that inviolable that unchangeable and eternal Rest which remains for Saints in God and with God in the other World crying out both in your Spirits and lives Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS The Author hath two other Treatises VIZ. The Best Match or The Soul 's espoulal to Christ Opened and Improved The great Concern Or A serious Warning to a timely and thorough Preparation for Death With Helps and Directions in order thereunto Being the last that ever he preached There is now published an Eccellent Treatise Intituled The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed How the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that Great and Blessed Work By William Bates D. D.