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
his Power his Wisdom his Holiness his Justice his Goodness his Faithfulness his All-sufficiency and the like all which are not distinguished in him either from himself or from one another but are all one and the same God revealed and manifested to us under various notions and that to help us the better to conceive and apprehend him as also to perform our homage and worship to him accordingly we may say the Holiness of God is God the Wisdom of God is God the Power of God is God the Goodness of God is God And to come to my Text the Unchangeableness of God is God and indeed the unchangeableness of God is God manifested and revealed under a sweet and blessed as well as a glorious Notion to us under such a Notion as conduces-much to the quickning and incouraging of our Faith and Love our Comfort and Obedience in him and to him and so indeed the Text represents it I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed In which words we have two things to be noted 1. Here is a Display or Representation of God in one Ray or Beam of his Divine Glory and that is his Unchangeableness I am the Lord I change not or I the Lord am not changed for it may be read either Actively or Passively and the sense will be the same I change not I am not alter'd or varied at all what I was I am what I am I still shall be Deus hic se tacitè mortalibus opponit et a se Procul repellit omnem inconstantiam Calv. God here as a judicious Expositor observes tacitly opposes himself to mortal men and removes and renounces all wavering and inconstancy from himself I change not as if he should have said Men die but I live men change but I change not I am still the same 2. Here is a Mention or Declaration of the blessed Fruit or Issue of this Glorious Perfection of God in reference to his Church and People and that is their preservation from destruction Therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Here two things must be enquired into First Who are we to understand by the Sons of Jacob And secondly What by their being not consumed 1. Who are we to understand by the Sons of Jacob By the Sons of Jacob here we are to understand God's Professing Church and People We read in Scripture of the House of Jacob the Seed of Jacob and the Sons of Jacob by all which are meant God's Church and People whom he takes into Covenant with himself and makes the Objects of his Love and this will be evident by comparing my Text with Cap. 1.2 where God sayes expresly that he loved them And again I loved Jacob. 2. What are we to understand by their being not consumed It imports and carries in it these two things 1. An Exemption from Temporal Ruine 2. A Preservation from Eternal Destruction 1. An Exemption from Temporal Ruine Therefore ye are not consumed that is therefore you are not cut off from being a People therefore you are not utterly broken by my Judgements 't is true some afflictions you have had yea great afflictions but yet still you live still you are a People you are preserved from utter ruine and destruction And why so Not because you have not deserved to be utterly cut off and destroyed but because I am unchangeable I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed 2. A Preservation from Eternal Destruction Therefore ye are not consumed that is therefore you are not in Hell therefore you are not under the eternal Revelations of my Wrath which alas is what you have deserved As if God should say to them True you have had affliction but alas it has been nothing to the desert of your sin your sins have been many and great against me such as deserved utter ruine yea eternal destruction an utter Consumption both of Body and Soul for ever and this had been your portion long since had you not had to deal with an unchangeable God not your desert but my unchangeableness is the sole cause why you are not utterly and eternally destroyed In short the design of the whole was to upbraid them with their sins and particularly their ingratitude and withall to let them know that the reason why it was not worse with them than it was yea why they were not totally and eternally destroyed was not because they did not deserve to have had it so but because their God was unchangeable I am the Lord I change not therefore c. In which God seems thus to bespeak them You complain of me and have hard thoughts of me because 't is with you as it is and I do not presently arise for your help but let me tell you 't is well for you that 't is not ten thousand times worse with you than it is 't is well you are a People 't is well you are not among the Damned Sure I am you highly deserv'd to have had it so with you you are a sinful sinning rebellious people a people that have deserved to be destroyed ten thousand times over I have done great things for you above any people I have shewn you much love but you have not walked sutably and answerably to the great things I have done for you nor the great love I have shewn to you No you have abused all and sinned against me under all and that with an high hand whereby you have deserved to be utterly consumed and destroyed and indeed had I not been an unchangeable God consumed and destroyed you had been long agoe I see that in you and among you for which I might justly destroy you and that for ever and nothing but my own Unchangeableness keeps you alive Should you therefore complain of me Should you not rather admire at my patience and forbearance so long with you and towards you Truly 't is a Miracle of Grace Goodness and Patience in me that you have not been long since destroyed once for all This I take to be the true scope and meaning of the Word the sum of which together with the foundation of my intended Discourse from them I shall give you in this short Position Namely That the Lord Jehovah is an unchangeable God or how changeable soever the Creatures are yet God the Lord changes not Whoever changes I the Lord change not I am alwayes and for ever the same Now that God is unchangeable wherein he is unchangeable why or whence 't is that he is unchangeable as also the vindication of his unchangeableness from all Cavils and Objections that seem to lye against it with the practical improvement of all are the principal matters that will fall under consideration in the prosecution of this Argument and I hope by the assistance of God we shall find some light and much comfort and quickening in our going through them CHAP. II. Which containes a
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
Vera Effigies R di Edwardi Pearse Aetatis Suae 40. 1673. R White sculp A BEAM OF Divine Glory OR THE Unchangeableness of God Opened Vindicated and Improved Whereunto is added The Soul's Rest in God By EDWARD PEARSE To which is prefixed the Author's last Letter written in the time of his Sickness to some peculiar Friends Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord c. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard and Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil 1674. TO THE READER THE Vnchangeableness of God is one of those Perfections of his whereby he is in a peculiar manner distinguished from the Creatures The Creatures are made up of Changes Their Beings Life Conditions are subject to many Changes But God knows none of these Changes his Being is most immutable his Life the most even constant Uniform serene Life his Happiness at all times alike and the Same God doth alwayes abide in the same likeness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo Judaeus sayes one of the Ancients with him there is no Variableness nor shaddow of Change Now there is an instinct in us whereby we are carryed out to desire unchangeableness Every thing doth naturally desire its Perfection Man therefore being a reasonable Creature finding himself subject to many Changes longs after a perfect State which is to be Unchangeable he would fain come to an Vnchangeable Life to an Vnchangeable Happiness Now what we cannot find or attain unto in our selves we should aspire after by attaining Vnion and Conjunction with our Maker Every thing is made perfect by reaching or attaining its First Cause or Principle God is the Fountain of Life the Fountain of Vnchangeableness so far as unchangeableness is communicable to the Creatures Indeed in a strict and proper sense Vnchangeableness is one of the Incommunicable Attributes of God none but God is simply and absolutely Vnchangeable or can be so It implies a Contradiction to suppose a Creature and that Creature intrinsecally and in its own Nature not to be under a possibility of Change but yet after a sort the Creatures may be made Vnchangeable in having an Vnchangeable Life an Unchangeable Happiness given to them by some kind of participation of God who is the chief Good and who hath all Life and Happiness in himself Thus the holy Angels who are not simply and absolutely unchangeable in themselves do yet enjoy an unchangeable Life and Happiness in way of donation and Communication by the sight of God and Communion with God We should therefore aspire after the sight of God and press after the most perfect adherence to him God only is the Centre of Unchangeableness and by fixing our hearts in him we shall after a sort become unchangeable Joyn thy heart to Eternity sayes Austin and thou thy self shalt be eternal Junge Cor tuum aeternitati aeternus eris The Author of the following Discourses hath now blessed experience what that participated Vnchangeableness is if we may so Call it which glorified Souls have in the Divine presence by having Communion with God the first unchangeable Being Whilst he lived here on Earth he saw many Changes passing over himself both as to his Person and Condition this put him upon the Contemplation of the Vnchangeableness of God and caused him to seek for that Rest in God which he could not find in himself nor in any thing here below And as those that observed his Spirit did clearly perceive that he was much quickned and helped as to his Spiritual Estate by meditating much of an Holy Rest in God So it is not to be doubted if we take the same Course and keep the eye of our minds fixed on God labouring to take up all our Rest and Satisfaction in him there shall we find that true quiet to our Souls which we vainly seek after in the Variety of Objects here below And the serious perusing of these Discourses which carry much of the Impress of the Authors Spirit upon them may be of good use to us to help us to attain such an end The Author had no thoughts at first of bringing forth these Sermons unto publick view but being much perswaded hereunto by his Nearest Relation at last he yielded unto that Importunity and perfected them with his own hand The rest of his Notes being left in Characters it is much to be feared these are the last Sermons of his that are like to see the Light For a close I may only add this That it is matter of sad Lamentation to us to consider how many of the Faithful Servants of God who have been eminent in their Generations have been taken away in a few years Certainly it becomes us to bewail greatly the deaths of so many Godly Ministers and since the Harvest is great and the faithful Labourers are but few we should pray the Lord of the Harvest that he would thrust forth Labourers into the Vineyard Thine in the Lord Christ JOHN ROWE Mr. Pearse ' s last Letter To my dearly beloved Friends that small Company to whom by the providence of God I have some years last past preached the Everlasting Gospel Dearly and longed for in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Grace Mercy and Peace unto you from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Eternal Spirit IT is now many years since by the providence of God we have been called to worship his great and Reverend Name together during which time God hath â—een exceeding good to us manifesting his Power in our weakness and his Love in our unworthiness He hath declared his Name to be recorded amongst us by his coming to us and blessing of us Some of you have been Convinced some Converted some Edified and all I hope quickened and encouraged Heavenwards And not only your selves but through the Grace of God many others have been born to Christ amongst us and more built up in the holy Faith O the many warm sweet and refreshing Sabbaths we have enjoyed together And what shall we say to these things or what shall we do O let us bow down at the foot of God and adore his infinitely infinitely infinitely free rich and powerful Grace ascribing all the glory to that alone to which I am sure all is due God hath now called me aside from you and not only from you but he seems to be calling me out of his Vineyard yea out of this World I have long had a weak and infirm Body but now God in his wise and holy Providence hath seen good to reduce me to a far lower and weaker state of Body my Health being now vtterly broken Yet I must say God is exceeding good to me and deals in fatherly tenderness with me I have neither much sickness nor much pain only my Disease according to its name gradually consumes me nor am I without some lucid intervals God both lifts me up and casts me down as he
God is unchangeable in all the special saving Fruits and Effects of his Love to his People Rom. 11.29 the Gifts and Calling of God are without repentance that is the Gifts of his effectual Calling or his saving Gifts such as effectual Calling and the like shall never be repented of never be recalled or reversed by him as they who receive those Gifts will have no cause to repent but to rejoice in them for ever so God who gives them will not repent that he gave them to them God gives Christ he gives Grace he gives Peace he gives Pardon he gives Righteousness he gives Salvation he gives eternal Life to his People and all out of his love to them and he never recalls or reverses these Fruits and Effects of Love You have another full Text for this Jam. 1.17 Every good and every perfect Gift is from Above and cometh down from the Father of Lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Mark haveing spoken of the perfect gifts of God presently he adds with whom is no variableness as if he should say as all good and saving Gifts come from God so he is unchangeable in all Indeed there are common Gifts and Gifts of a meer outward Calling which God out of a common love and bounty gives to men and these many times he recalls they not improving them so the Talent was taken from the slothfull Servant Mat. 25.28 and you know what Christ speaks immediately thereupon v. 29. Vnto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Pray observe To him that hath shall be given that is who ever God hath bestowed Gifts and Talents upon and he improves them for God and his own Salvation he shall have more Gifts and more Talents he shall have an abundant encrease of these things But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Here seems to be a contradiction Him that hath not and yet what he has the meaning in short is this That when God bestowes such and such Gifts and Talents upon a person to be imployed for his Glory and he does not so imploy them he does not rightly use and improve them what God hath bestowed upon him shall be taken away But 't is otherwise with the saving Gifts and Fruits of God's special Love these God never recalls which is a sweet contemplation Soul Hath God bestowed some of his saving Gifts upon thee then they are thine for ever Has he given thee his Christ he will never repent of it never call him back again but sweet Jesus is thine for ever Has he given thee his Spirit He will never repent of it nor will he ever recall this blessed Gift from thee the holy good and glorious Spirit is thine for ever Has he given thee a new and spiritual Life Has he given thee Grace Pardon Righteousness Justification and the like He will never repent of it all these are thine for ever O how sweet is this to contemplate thou mayest sit down and say Christ is mine the Comforter is mine Life Peace Pardon Righteousness Salvation are all mine and that for ever 3. God is unchangeable in the real designs and workings of his Love I say real though not sensible God's Love to his People may be suspended and interrupted as to the sensible influences and manifestations thereof but yet even then 't is active and really at work for them however the outward dispensation may vary now smile then frown now lift up then cast down now fill then empty now form light then create darkness yet in all still he goes on in one even constant tenure of love towards them in all his love is at work for them and towards them and he intends and designs them as much love in one as in the other and accordingly first or last effects and accomplishes it and this is but agreeable to his Covenant with them and promise to them Jer. 32.40 I 'le make sayes he to his People an Everlasting Covenant with you never to turn away from you to do you good And All things shall work together for good to them that Love God Rom. 8.28 Whatever God does with us however he seems to carry it towards us yet stil he is doing us good and acting his love towards us We as an Holy Man speaks are apt to think that God shews us love when he doth some great thing for us but faith he God is alwayes acting out his Love towards us when he frowns as well as when he smiles when he withdraws as well as when he approaches to us In a word Soul whatever God does there is love in it and he designs thee love and good by it Does he smile give fill keep alive draw near to thee In all there is love his special love works and runs through all or does he frown take empty kill hide his face In all this there is love yea the the same special love of his works in all and runs through all God is acting out his Love to thee in the one as well as in the other O how sweet is this Death to the People of God comes from the same Fountain of Love in God's heart that Life does CHAP. IV. Which gives an account why or whence it is that God is Unchangeable THat God is unchangeable as also wherein you have already seen That which falls next under consideration is to shew whence it is that God is indeed thus unchangeable or if you will what Basis and Foundation the unchangeableness of God is built upon 't is built upon a three-fold Basis or Foundation 1. The infinite purity and simplicity of his Nature 2. The infinite excellency and Perfection of his Being 3. The infinite extent and compass of his Wisdom 1. The unchangeableness of God is built upon or springs from the infinite purity and simplicity oâ—â—â—s Nature God my Beloved is a most purâ—â—â—st He is a Spirit an Infinite Spirit Joh. â—â—â—4 and so an infinitely pure simple uncoâ—â—â—unded Being and therefore unchangeable God says a learned Man is a most simply and perfectly pure Act Deus est simplissimè perfectissimè purus actus omnis compositionis expers ideoque nec dissolvi nec corrumpi nec senescere potest Sca. free from all composition and therefore cannot possibly be dissolved corrupted or wax old and decay And Austin I remember founds God's unchangeableness upon this ground or Basis * Tu solus es Deus id quod neque in melius neque in deterius commutari potest quia solus simpliciter es Aug. Thou only art God sayes he and canst not be changed either into a better or worse Being than what thou art because thou art a most pure and simple Being Men and so other Creatures have their mixtures and compositions they are compounded and made up of different Elements Qualities
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
unconstancy and change as we do Such my Beloved is the emnity and unbelief of our hearts that we are apt upon all occasions to take up hard thoughts of God and bring in black charges against him Now we charge him with weakness and anon with folly now with unfaithfulness and anon with unjustice now with cruelty and anon with change which is a great evil and calls for great humbling God is unchangeable and he stands much upon the glory of his unchangeableness and yet we charge him with change what an affront is this This the Psalmist whoever he was came near unto Psal 77.7 8 9. Will the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more Is his Mercy clean gone for ever Doth his Promisefail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies What is all this but in effect a charging of God with change He is here even upon the point of concluding that God is not the God he was that he is not so merciful nor so faithful nor so gracious as formerly he was 'T is as if he should have said God was a God of Mercy Mercy pleased him but now his Mercy is at an end and he is become all severity he was faithful in his Promises but now his Promises fail and fail utterly he was a Gracious God Grace was his darling Attribute but now his Grace is forgotten by him Thus for a time he did charge God with change though after wards as the context tells us his Faith recovered it self and he came to right thoughts of God again Job also was deeply involved in this guilt Job 30.21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me sayes he to God thou wert a kind but now thou art a cruel God to me The Church also is full of this Isa 49.14 and she speaks it out Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me q.d. God is ehanged he is not the God he was Thus I say though God be unchangeable yet we are apt to charge him with change we are apt to think that he is neither what he was nor where he was that he is either not so good as he was or also not so great so powerful so wise so holy so faithful so gracious as he was and the like Behold sayes the Prophet the Lord's Hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither is his Ear heavy that it cannot hear Isa 59.1 They thought and concluded that God's Hand was shortned that is that his Power was lessened and that he was not as able to save now as formerly they thought and concluded that his Ear was grown heavy that is that he was not so good and kind and ready to hear their Prayers now as formerly he was a God able to save but now say they he is not he was a Prayer-hearing God but now say they he is not Thus they were ready to charge him with change but sayes the Prophet there is no such matter God is what he was his Power is the same and his readiness to hear and help and save is the same that ever it was There are among others two cases especially in which we are apt to charge the unchangeable God with change one is when we change in our carriages and behaviour towards God the other is when God's carriages and dispensations are changed towards us for indeed we are apt to measure God and judge of him by his out ward carriage and dispensations towards us and when they are changed we conclude he is changed in Gen. 31.2 't is said that Jacob beheld the Countenance of Laban and behold it was not toward him as before So we many times behold the Countenance of God his outward carriage and dispensation towards us and 't is not towards us as before his Countenance is chang'd and because his Countenance is not we think his Heart is not toward us as formerly but is changed O my Beloved let us take heed of this grand evil of charging God with change 't is indeed a grand evil 't is what is very grievous and provoaking to God and 't is what layes the Soul under much deep-dyed guilt 't is indeed to rob God of one of the brightest Jewels in his Crown yea 't is to un-God him for if he be changeable he is not God tremble therefore Reader and tremble O my Soul at the thoughts of such a thing as this namely to charge the Unchangeable One with change 3. Is God unchangeable Then how should we be humbled that we live so much upon the Creature and so little upon God so much upon the Creature that does change and so little upon God that changes not If we reflect feriously upon our selves we shall find at least many of us that we live more upon the Creatures than we do upon God more upon broken Cisterns than we do upon this Fountain of Living Waters at least the best and holiest of us will find that we live too much upon the Creature and too little upon God witness the eagerness strength and vehemency of our desnes after the Creature more than after God and communion with God Alas how passionately many times do we long and how vigorously do we pursue after the Creature when we can be content well enough without God and communion with God Witness the frequency of our thoughts and contemplations of and about the Creature more than of God and about God Alas we mind earthly things as those did Phil. 3.19 but how seldom do we think of God and contemplate God Now that which is most in our thoughts that we live most upon witness our delight and complacency in the Creature more than in God O what fresh springing vigorous delights have we many times in the Creature but when and how little do we delight our selves in God Now that which we take most delight and complacency in that do we live most upon Witness our immoderate griefs and the bitterness of Spirit we are usually in for the loss or withdrawment of the Creatures more than for the loss and withdrawment of God and his Presence from us Let this or the other Creature-comfort be withdrawn from us and how do we take on usually And what bitterness of Soul are we filled withall Then with Hagar we lift up our voice and weep Gen. 21.19 How did Jonah that good Man take on when the Gourd was withered Jon. 4.7 8 9. But how seldom do we grieve and bleed and mourn for want of Communion with God Yea how indifferent for the most part are we whether we have communion with God or no And what does this argue but that we live too much upon the Creature and too little upon God Thus if we seriously reflect upon our selves we shall find by these and such like things as these that we live more upon the Creatures than we do upon God and O how humbling should this be upon
us The Creatures they are vain fading changeable things they are even vanity it self and changeableness it self but God is an eternal unchangeable Good He is the same for ever an unchangeable Fountain of all Goodness Sweetness Blessedness and Delight Now to live upon these changeable Creatures and not upon this unchangeable God this is a great evil and calls for great mourning and humbling at our hands 'T is a great speech which I have read in Austin wherein he bewails this very sin Bonus est qui fecit â—â—e ipse est bonum moum at in hoc peccabam quod non in ipso sed in creaturis ejus me atque caeteras voluptates quaerebam atque it a irruebam in dolores confusiones errores Aug. He that made me is Good sayes he and he is my Good but in this I sinned that not in Him but in his Creatures I sought my self and my other pleasures that is I took up my solace and happiness in the Creatures and not in God and what then and so sayes he Iran my self upon many dolors errors and confusion of Soul And may not many of us make the very same complaint He that made us is Good and he is our Good but in this we have sinned and do sin that we live upon the Creatures and not upon Him and so run our selves upon many dolors errors and confusion of Soul We live upon changeable Creatures more than upon an unchangeable God and hereby God is dishonoured his Spirit is grieved our Souls are bereaved of Good yea the best Good the Good of Grace and divine discoveries and communications hereby we eat Husks when we might eat Bread and we drink Swill when we might drink Wine in our Fathers House Hereby we are exposed to sorrows snares and death yea and hereby we are in danger of being excluded from God for ever Oh my Beloved let us be convinced of this evil and mourn over it for My own part when I reflect upon my self I find cause to fear that I have lived upon Creatures all my dayes upon changeable Creatures to the great if not total neglect of the unchangeable God and believe it 't is an hard thing to come off from the one to live so purely and intirely upon the other as we ought to do The Lord humble us for these things CHAP. VIII God has a revenue of honour due to him upon the account of his unchangeableness We should give him that honour Several short and plain Directions in order thereunto EVery Attribute or Perfection of God has a revenue of Honour and Glory due to it from the Creature and 't is a great part of both the Wisdom and Duty of the Creature to give to each Attribute and Perfection of his its proper Glory God is pleased to reveal and discover himself sometimes in one and sometimes in another Attribute of his sometimes he reveals and discovers himself in his Wisdom sometimes in his Power sometimes in his Holiness sometimes in his Faithfulness sometimes in his Justice sometimes in his Grace sometimes in his Greatness and sometimes as here in his Unchangeableness now I say a great part of a Christians skill and duty lies in this To give to each Attribute in which God reveals himself its proper Glory that is to say to honour God suitable to the present Revelation he makes of himself Now God being unchangeable our work and care should be to give him the Glory of his Unchangeableness which let me tell you is very dear to him But how may we give God the glory due to this Attribute of his Take only these few plain Directions as to that breifly 1. Would we give God the Glory of his Unchangeableness then let us get our hearts deeply affected with this Attribute of his being in an holy manner overawed therewith The Unchangeableness of God is an aweful Attribute an Attribute that chalenges much holy awe and dread from the Creature and when our hearts are indeed in an holy manner over-awed with the sense of this Attribute and we are filled with a reverential regard of God as he is an unchangeable God then do we give him the Glory thereof This seems to be pointed at Isa 41.4.5 in vers 4. God reveals himself in his Unchangeableness when he sayes I the Lord the First and the Last I am the First and the Last or as some render it I the same I the same and in vers 5. you have the Isles affected and over-awed with this Attribute of his the Isles saw it and feared Accordingly if we would indeed give God the glory of his Unchangeableness we should labour to get our hearts over-awed with the sense and apprehension thereof we should dwell much in the meditation of this Perfection of God our language should be Well how changeable soever we are yet God is unchangeable he is for ever the same unchangeable in Greatness unchangeable in Goodness unchangeable in Wisdom unchangeable in Power unchangeable in Holiness unchangeable in Faithfulness unchangeable in Fulness and Sufficiency he is every way an unchangeable God what he was he is what he is he will be for ever Thus we should sit down and contemplate this Attribute till we find our hearts affected and over-awed by it 2. Would we give God the glory of his Unchangeableness Then let us ascribe this Attribute to God and celebrate his Glory in it In Deut. 32.3 we are called upon to ascribe Greatness to God and as we should ascribe Greatness so we must ascribe Unchangeableness to God and with all admire and adore him therein if we mean to give him the glory of this Attribute of his This the Psalmist does once and again From everlasting sayes he to everlasting thou art God Psal 90.1 2. and again They shall perish sayes he speaking of the Heavens but thou Lord shalt endure they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end Psal 102.25 26 27. He celebrates the Glory of God in his Unchangeableness admiring and adoring him in this Perfection of his The Church does the same thing in Rev. 4.8 where we read of four Beasts which rest not day night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Pray mark first They celebrate the glory of God's Holiness saying Holy holy holy Secondly They celebrate the glory of God's Power and Sovereignty Lord God Almighty Thirdly They celebrate the glory of God's Unchangeableness and Eternity which was which is and which is to come q. d. thou art an holy God and we adore thee for thine Holiness thou art a Potent and Sovereign Lord and we adore thee for thy Power and Sovereignity thou art an Unchangeable God and we adore thee for thine Unchangeableness how fading soever the creatures are thou art still the same In like manner should we do we should ascribe Unchangeableness to God and be much in admiring and adoring him for and in
filled with such anguish horror and confusion of Soul as that they shall be ready to lay violent hands upon themselves and take away their own lives and my Beloved should we live to see such things how good will an Unchangeable God be O Sirs living in such a changeable World who would not fix upon an Unchangeable God as a Man's Portion and Happiness Who would not get upon yea into this Rock of Ages And how good how sweet will it be to have an Unchangeable God to retreat to and ark in 2. Consider what changeable things all our Creature-comforts and contentments are As the World wherein we live is a changeable World So all our Creature-comforts are changeable comforts Should the World stand where it does and as it does without any such changes as we have mentioned yet our best Creature-comforts here are subject to change every day and how soon we may say of one or another or all of them as Jacob sometimes did of his two sons Joseph Simeon Gen. 42.36 Joseph is not and Simeon is not How soon we may say this and that Comfort is not who can tell I have now a Trade to morrow it may be I shall have none I have now an Estate to morrow it may be I shall have none I have now a pleasant Habitation to morrow it may be it will be in Ashes I have now my Friends and Relations about me my Husband or my Wife lying pleasantly in my Bosom my Children like Olive branches round about my Table to morrow it may be they will all sleep in the Dust and go down to the Gates of the Grave and I shall see them no more Alas these things are not as Solomon speaks of Riches such is their changeableness that they have scarce a being Or suppose these things should stay with us yet how soon may they be imbitter'd to us How soon may the best of this Wine be turned into Wormwood How soon may the sweetest of these Comforts be changed into bitter Crosses Sometimes the desire of our eyes is taken away from us with a stroke as God threatned the Prophet of old that is suddenly and e're ever we are aware of it our dearest sweetest and most delightful Comforts are taken from us At other times the desire of our Eyes becomes the burthen of our Souls our dearest Comforts are imbittered to us that which yesterday was sweet and pleasant to day possibly is bitter and burthensom to us that which to day is the joy of our hearts to morrow it may be will be as a goad in our sides and as thorns in our eyes O how soon many times do our most pleasant Streams turn into waters of Marah to us Now all on this side God being thus changeable who would not rest in Him and his Unchangeableness Oh Unchangeableness Unchangeableness this is to be found in God alone and therefore let him alone be the Rest and Portion of our Souls 3. Consider how near our last and great change is unto us should the World never wax old nor admit of any change and should our Creature-comforts and contentments live and last for ever yet we our selves must change we are fading dying perishing Creatures we pass under many changes and great changes and 't is but a little while e're our last and great change will come Death is our last and great change till the Resurrection So the Holy Ghost by Joh speaks of it Job 14.14 and this is a great change indeed a change from Work to Reward from Time to Eternity a change out of this World into another from these Tabernacles of Clay to live in eternal Regions either of Light or Darkness and thus shall We all be changed a few years a few months a few weeks a few dayes a few hours yea it may be but a few moments more and we shall all be thus changed changed by Death out of Time into Eternity and how much then are we concerned to make choice of and take up our rest in an Unchangeable God Then namely when we pass under this change to be sure nothing but Unchangeableness will be of any avail to us and this is to be found in God alone him therefore should we chuse and take up our rest in This very consideration induced David to make a fresh choice of God and cleave more entirely to him as his Rest and Happiness Psal 39.5 6 7. Behold O Lord thou hast made my dayes as an hand-breadth and mine age is as nothing before thee Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquietted in vain Well and what now Why sayes he And now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee He saw his vanity and changeableness as also the vanity and changeableness of all others both Persons and Things he saw both himself and all others in their very best state to be not only vain but even vanity it self subject to change every hour in the sight and sense of which he cleaves to God chuses him centers in him as his God his Portion his All Now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee q. d. Now Lord that I have seen my own vanity and changeableness and the vanity and changeableness of others too now I look to thee I cleave to thee I rest in thee as my onely Good Portion and Happiness I have now done with the Streames with the Creatures and Creature-contentments and I 'le now bathe only in the Fountain rest wholly in thy self the Fountain of living Waters And my Beloved did we dwell more in the consideration of the nearness of our last and great change we should doubtless cleave more closely and entirely to the Unchangeable God as our rest and Portion Our thus numbering our dayes deep and frequent consideration of the shortness of our lives and how soon we may be changed would make us to apply our hearts to this Wisdom to get an interest in the Unchangeable God Psal 90.12 O be much therefore in this Work 4. Consider that then and not till then shall we be happy indeed when we come to look and live above changeable Creatures upon an Unchangeable God 'T is happiness my Beloved that is the great interest of Souls and 't is happiness we all desire and pursue after now then are we happy indeed and not till then when we get above the Creatures and take up our rest in the Unchangeable God Pray Sirs let us consider things a little Suppose you had this whold World at will and might injoy as much of the Creature as your Souls could wish suppose you could all your dayes live in a Paradise of all earthly Delights and swim chin-deep in the Streams of all Creature-contentments yet what were all this Alas it would not make up one dram of true happiness your happiness must be in God still Mind how the Psalmist speaks as to this Psal
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
shall we not chuse him for our God and Portion shall we stick in the Creature still and reject the offer God makes of himself to us God forbid Oh let us now chuse this Unchangeable God and let him be our Rest our Portion our Happiness and our All for ever Let us reason matters a little in our own Souls the World that is fall of changes all my Creature-comforts and Contentments they are subject to change I am not sure of them one moment my own last and great change is near at hand I know not how soon 't will come upon me nothing but the Unchangeable God can make me happy and he freely offers himself in his Covenant to me and shall I yet notwithstanding all this neglect him shall I cleave to the Creature and not to this Unchangeable God by no means He not the fading oying Creature shall be my Portion and my Happiness for ever Or if all this does not do than once more 6. Consider how sad and dreadful a thing it will be to have the Unchangeableness of God against you This is a sure rule that unless we make God ours by chusing of him and closing in his Covenant with him as our God and Portion he and all his Attributes will at last be found against us against us to destroy us and make us miserable for ever if we make not God's Unchangeableness ours and ingage it not for us by chusing him as unchangeable his Unchangeableness will stand for ever ingaged against us and Oh how sad will that be 'T is sad to have any Attribute of God against a Man but to have his Unchangeableness against us how sad is that O for a Man to have God for his eternal Enemy God eternally and Unchangeably set against him this is enough to render him compleatly and unchangeably miserable Again therefore let me call upon you to look and live above changeable Creatures and to chuse rest in and live upon the Unchangeable God as your God and Portion look upon him in Christ in whom you will find him infinitely full of love and sweetness in whom you will find him Love it self God is Love 1 Joh. 4.8 and accordingly let your souls chuse him and cleave to him as yours for ever CHAP. X. We are to imitate God and labour for a likeness to him in his Unchangeableness by being more constant in that which is good this in some measure is attainable in this World 't is the perfection of the Soul where attained and brings him near the life of Heaven UNchangeableness being one of the glorious Excellencies and Perfections of God why should we not imitate him why should we not labour to be like unto him herein why should we not covet and press after an holy Unchangeableness in our Spirits and walkings with him Sure I am 't is what his Unchangeableness calls upon us for From the consideration of God's Immutability A Dei immutabilitate sequitur nos in his quae Dei sunt fide spe charitate debere esse immutabiles Schar says a learned Man it follows that we also should labour to be immutable in the things of God in Faith in Hope in Love and the like Look as the consideration of God's Holiness calls for Holiness in us and the consideration ration of his Goodness and Mercy calls for Goodness and Mercy in us and the consideration of his Patience calls for Patience in us and the like so the consideration of his Unchangeableness calls for an holy Unchangeableness at least somewhat like it an holy evenness steadines and fixedness of Spirit in our wayes walkings with him and before him it calls upon us to be more constant and uniform in all holy Obedience and in the exercise of all Grace True my Beloved there are some things so peculiarly appropriate to God that in respect of them there can be no formal likness in the Creature to Him and it would be impious boldness for any to aspire thereunto such are his Supream Dominion and Sovereign Authority his Absolute Independency and self-Sufficiency c. Now in these while men affect to imitate him they as one observes wickedly affront him But now some other perfections there are found in the blessed God not so incommunicable and appropriate to him but that his Creatures may be said to have some participation thereof with him and so far to be truly like him such are his Holiness his Justice his Mercy his Patience and the like wherein 't is our duty as well as our glory to imitate him and to labour for as great a resemblance and as full a conformity to him as possibly we can In Mat. 5.48 Christ commands us to be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect and Eph. 5.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si Filii Dei sumus debere nos esse ejus imitatores Calv. in loc we are enjoyned to be followers of God as dear Children be yea followers of God the Word is be ye imitators of God be ye like to him bearing his Image upon you and if you are his Children indeed you will do so We should imitate God in all his imitable Excellencies and Perfections yea this observe moreover that where there cannot be a proper and formal likeness or similitude in us to God in respect of those peculiarly appropriate Excellencies that are in him yet even there should we labour for impressions affections dispositions and demeaners of Soul towards him sutable and answerable to those Excellencies and Perfections of his As for instance He being absolutely Supream there ought to be in us an humble subjection and self-resignation of Soul disposing us to constant obedience to him so he being simply and absolutely independent and self-sufficient there ought to be in us a self-emptiness and nothingness living wholly and entirely out of our selves upon him as such a God fetching all in from his Fountain-fulness Thus where we are not capable of any formal likeness to God we should yet study his Perfections and labour for dispositions of Spirit and demeanors of Soul sutable there unto But where we are capable of any likness to him there we should covet it and press after it God therefore being Unchangeable we should labour for an holy Unchangeableness in our Spirits and Walkings before him we should imitate him and conform to him herein so far as we are capable of so doing we should labour for more fixedness more evenness more constancy and uniformity in all Grace and Holiness in all Heavenliness and Obedience in all acts of Duty and walking with God 't is what in a good measure may be attained unto even here in this World 'T is possible my Beloved for these roving inconstant unstable Souls of ours to be in some good measure brought up to an holy evenness and Unchangeableness in the wayes and things of God for this is what some of the Saints have attained unto in Gen. 5.22 't is said of
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
Rest is sweet but Rest in trouble Rest in the midst of many and sore troubles Oh how sweet how glorious is this Now this is the Rest which I would a little contemplate and speak unto as the proper subject of these words of the Psalmist Return unto thy Rest O my Soul which words are David's Call or Command to his Soul to return unto its Rest And the only thing to be enquired into for the clearing of them and therein for the making way to what we intend from them is what this Rest is which David here calls upon his Soul to return unto and I find it expounded two wayes 1. Some expound it of God himself God in Christ who indeed is the Rest as well as the Refuge of his People God is centrum quietativum as the Schooles speak the proper quieting â—â—lâ—ing Center of the Soul and in him alone can it truly Rest Thus Vatablus a learned man expounds it Return unto thy Rest O my Soul Redi ad illum apud quem summam invenies tranquillitatem nempe ad Deum Vat. that is saies he Return to him with whom thou wilt find the most perfect Rest to wit unto God Indeed with him and in him alone is perfect Rest to be found as in its place may be shewn 2. Others expound it of a quiet serene sedate well-composed frame and posture of Soul and thus Calvin and others expound it Quod interpretes quinam sub nomine quietis Deum intelligunt coactum est potius enim pro tranquillo bene composito animi statu accipitur Calv. that some interpreters saies he do by Rest here understand God is strained 't is rather to be taken for a tranquil and well-composed frame of Soul and indeed the scope of the Context looks this way for mark David had been in great affliction The sorrows of Death had compassed him about and the pains of Hell had got hold upon him as you find vers 3. and hereupon there had followed as is too probable great perplexity of Spirit within great murmurings and tumults frettings and discomposures in his Soul And now he calls off his Soul from those unquiet Motions and Agitations and commands it to return to Rest that is to a calm quiet serene sedate and well-composed frame again Thus also another judicious Interpreter expounds it Revertere c. q.d. hactenus jactata es sursum doorsum inter varios fluctus procellas dolorum dubitationis desperationis es graviter afflicta c. Mol. in locum Return unto thy Rest O my Soul as if he should say O my Soul hitherto thou hast been tossed up and down among the Waves and Stormes of Sorrows Doubts and Desperation thou hast been greatly afflicted and disturbed when the sorrows of Death and Hell did press in upon thee and sometimes such has been the case with thee that thou couldest see no Port no Haven in which thou mightest Rest but now these stormes being over and gone and a Port opening it self to thy Faith in which thou mayest Rest now put in and return to thy Rest now be quiet and joyful as knowing where thou oughtest to Rest Thus this Rest is doubly expounded Now I shall exclude neither of these senses but rather joyn them both together and by Rest here understand the Souls being at Rest in God in whom alone Rest is to be found for Souls Nor am I alone in so doing for I find a learned Man so to understand it Return unto thy Rest Redi anima mea i.e. we esto amplius perturbata sed conquiescito in Deo Trem. O my Soul that is saies he be no longer filled with disquietment and perturbation but acquiesce and sit down satisfied in God thy Rest and Portion for ever Accordingly take the sum of the whole and so of my intendment in this position Doct. That the Souls of the Saints should be at Rest in God or the frame and posture of Soul the Saints should live in is a frame and posture of Rest in God Whatever the Saints condition may be or whatever dispensations they may be exercised withall yet still their Souls should be at Rest in God David's Soul was for a time gone off its Rest 't was gone off from that sedateness composure and satisfaction which it was wont to have in God his condition was full of trouble and disturbance and his Soul was filled with trouble and disturbance too but here tacitly at least he rebukes his Soul for this and expresly commands it to return to Rest again to a Rest in God and that as its proper posture for mark how he speaks Return unto thy Rest O my Soul thy Rest the proper posture of the souls of the Saints is to be at Rest in God and that posture they should be in at all times and in all conditions What the Souls Rest in God is what obligations the Saints are under to be thus at Rest in God the sweetness and excellency of the frame with a call to all to live in this frame and posture and helps in order thereunto are the things which will properly fall under consideration in our procedure on this Argument CHAP. II. What the Soul's Rest in God is opened and when the Soul may be said to be at Rest in Him BUt what is it for a Soul to be at Rest in God or to live in a posture of Rest in God In in general 't is for a Soul to sit down satisfied with what God does as best and with what God is as all and so this Rest of the Soul in God lies in two things First In a free and chearful submission to the Divine Will and Providence Secondly In a full and ample satisfaction in and with the Divine Presence and Fulness And Oh the Beauty the sweetness the ami ableness that both these carry in them a little of each 1. 'T is to sit down satisfied with what God doth as best and so it lies in a free and chearful submission to the Divine Will and Providence the Will and Providence of God concerning him the Soul through Grace gets right apprehensions of God's Will and Providence concerning him he looks upon the Will of God to be a Sovereign a Righteous a Wise and a Good Will and hereupon he sits down satisfied with it whatever it does with him whatever it allots and orders out concerning him 1. The Soul looks upon the Will and Providence of God concerning him to be a Sovereign Will and Providence a will and Providence which does which may do with him whatever it pleases and so he acquiesces in it It is the Lord said good old Ely let him doe what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 Mark how he bows and submits his Soul to the Divine Will and Providence it is the Lord it is a Sovereign God a God that may do with me and mine whatever he will and in the sense of this his Soul freely
submits It was a dreadful and terrible message which Samuel told him from the Lord but so dreadful and terrible as it was yet having his eye upon the Sovereignty of God he freely acquiesces Suitable whereunto is the Observation of a Learned Man upon this place Magnam exprimit patientiam magnumque cum voluntate divina consensum non expostulavit cum Deo sed humiliter concordavit Mendoz. Eli saith he in these words expresses great patience and a great consent or agreement with the Divine Will he did not expostulate with God but humbly complyed and comported with him God my Beloved has an absolute Sovereignty over us all and may do with us as he pleases 'T is what he challenges to himself as his prerogative All Souls are mine sayes he Ezek. 18.4 mine to do with them to dispose of them as I will And you know how God asserts this his Sovereignty in Jer. 18.6.0 House of Israel cannot I do with you as this Potter saies the Lord Behold as the Clay is in the Potters hand so are ye in my hand O House of Israel Pray mark he had before at vers 4. shewn them how the Potter dealt by the Clay and what an absolute power he had over it making it a Vessel and marring it again as he pleased and now here in v. 6 sayes he Cannot I do with you as this Potter doth with his Clay I can behold as the Clay is in the hand of the Potter so are ye in mine hand i.e. I have an absolute power over you to do with you and dispose of you as I see good and I may make or mar you upon the Wheel of my Providence as I please And you know how God by the Apostle argues in that greatest of cases Rom. 9.21 Hath not thr Potter power over the Clay of the same lump to make one Vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour In which words God asserts his absolute sovereignty to dispose of all men as to their eternal Estates as he pleases Thus he has an absolute Sovereignty over all Now the Holy Soul apprehending this Sovereignty in God falls under the awe and dread of it and accordingly acquiesces in his Will whatever it be 2. The Soul looks upon the Will and Providence of God concerning him to be an Holy and Righteous as well as a Sovereign Will and Providence and upon that account also acquiesces therein The Lord is righteous said the Church Lam. 1.18 The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandment q.d. 'T is true my sorrow is great and mine affliction heavy but God is just and holy in it 't is no more than nor in truth so much as my sins have deserved Indeed God's dealings with Her were very terrible and amazing but yet apprehending the Righteousness of God in them She submits to him under all So Dan. 9.7 O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of Face They saw the Righteousness of God in his dealings with them and so were at Rest in his Will God is Righteous the Scrippture tells us in all his Wayes and Holy in all his Works and he is a just Lord that doth that can do no wrong no iniquity Zeph. 3.5 Now the Holy Soul gets a sight of this and is awed with the sense thereof and accordingly acquiesces in God's Will True sayes he this and that is sharp it smarts sorely it runs cross to my carnal appetite to my sense and reason but I am sure God is holy and just in all I have deserved all and more at his hands and in the sense of this he acquiesces in his Will and is satisfied with his Dealings 3. The Soul looks upon the Will and Providence of God concerning him to be a Wise as well as an Holy Will and Providence and thereupon also bows to it and acquiesces in it God my Beloved is the only Wise God and all his Works are done in Wisdom his Will is a wise Will a Will guided and ordered by Counsel he works all things according to the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1.11 God is never out in what he does but dos all as becomes an only and an infinitely wise God which the holy Soul getting a sight and sense of he freely acquiesces in whatever the will of God is concerning him and Rests fully satisfied with what God does In Job 1.22 we read that in all this Job sinned not neither charged he God foolishly In all this that is in all his tryals and afflictions though many though great in all this Job sinned not neither charged he God foolishly or as you have it in the Margent of some of your Bibles he did not attribute folly to God he sinned not by attributing of folly to God but he worshipped and adored the Divine Wisdom the Wisdom of God in all his dealings with him He acquitted God's Providence of folly and bowed to the infinite Wisdom thereof and was satisfied with all as best for him All this sayes the Holy Soul is the Work of a Wise Will regulated by Counsel true all runs cross to my Will and my outward Interest but 't is all ballanced by infinite Wisdom and I am satisfied therewith thus he is at Rest in God 4. The Soul looks upon the Will and Providence of God concerning him to be a Good as well as a Wise Will and Providence and thus also acquiesces in it The Psalmist tells us that all the Paths of the Lord are Mercy and truth to such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal 25.10 By the Paths of the Lord here we are to understand his Providences Now saies he these are all Mercy and Truth to his People Not some but all of them even the hardest and severest the most dark terrible and killing of them they are all Mercy and Truth Mercy it self and Truth it self whatever the Will and Providence of God brings forth yet to his People there is love in all Goodness in all Faithfulness in all and the Holy Soul getting a sight hereof sweetly acquiesces and is at Rest in whatever God does So David Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in Faithfulness hast afflicted me See Hezekiah also Isa 39.8 Good saies he to Isaiah is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken 'T was a sharp and a severe Word or Message which God by Isaiah sent him as you may see in the precedent verses but yet he saw goodness in all and kindness in all and accordingly acquiesced therein Truly there is love and goodness in all God's dealings with his People and the Holy Soul seeing it his language is whether God fills or empties whether he gives or takes away whether he lifts up or casts down whether he kills or makes alive yet there is love in all goodness in all and 't is best for me God chuses for me and disposes of me better than I could for my self
and I am satisfied with what he does Thus the Soul gets right apprehensions of the Will and Providence of God concerning him and hereupon is sweetly satisfied and sits down at Rest in God in the midst of all he does to him or with him True God may deal somewhat severely with him he may break him with breach upon breach as he did Job he may cause all his Waves and his Billows to pass over him as he dealt with David but still the Soul looks upon all to be Holy Just and Good and no other than what God in his Sovereignty may do and so he Rests satisfied therewith he Rests content in God and his Will under all there are no disquietments or perplexities of Spirit no distractions or discomposures of Soul no frettings no tumults no murmurings no risings of heart against God or his Will but there is a sweet calm serenity and Rest in the Soul he is in a sedate serene posture in his God and this Rest in God the Psalmist speaks of Psal 37.7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him fret not thy self because of him that prospereth in the way Resting in God is here opposed to fretting and so must note a quiet sedate well-composed Spirit in God 2. 'T is for a Soul to sit down satisfied with what God is as all and so it lies in a full and ample satisfaction in and with the Divine presence and fulness 'T is for a Soul to take up in and with the blessed God as his only and all-sufficient Portion and happiness for ever God my Beloved is an All-sufficient God he asserts his own All-sufficiency Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient saies he to Abraham q. d. I am infinitely sufficient for my self and I am infinitely sufficient for thee and all my People to make the one and the other happy for ever God is an inexhaustible Fountain of Light Life Love Blessedness Perfection and Glory there is all good in God and he that has God has all To him that overcometh will I give to inherit all things And how so I will be his God Rev. 21.7 He has all good all happiness in him and in him we may find all as in its Fountain-fulness and purity Now the Soul seeing God to be such a God and withal looking upon him as his God in Covenant sits down satisfied with him alone saying I have enough I have all and so is at Rest in him whether he has much or little any thing or nothing of this worlds good whether the streams run high or low with him yet here is a a Fountain of infinite sweetness and blessedness and he drinks there and satisfies himself there he sees the Fountain is so full that he needs not the streams to make him happy and accordingly sits down satisfied therewith and is at Rest Thus David's Soul was at Rest in God Ps l. 16.5 6. the Lord is the portion of mine Inheritance and of my Cup Well and what then Why he sits down at Rest in him the lines saies he are fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage I have enough enough for delight and enough for satisfaction I have as much as my Soul can wish or desire so Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness in the verse immediately preceding he had spoken of some whose portion and happiness is in this World well and pray David where and in what is your Portion your happiness My Portion is in God and my Happiness is in God saies he in the sight of God and in the likeness of God let others take up their Rest Portion and Happiness where and in what they will God is my Rest my Portion my Happiness my All for ever as for me I will behold c. Again the Lord lives saies he and blessed be my Rock Psal 18.46 q. d. such and such Comforts are dead and gone they are not as Jacob spake of his sons well but however God lives still I have a living God and he is a living Happiness and that 's enough So 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my House be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my Salvation and all my desire q. d. God is my God by Covenant and here is my happiness even all that my Soul can wish and accordingly he is at Rest in his God And Psal 73.25 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire in comparison of thee my heart and my flesh faileth but God is the Rock of my heart and my Portion for ever How dark soever things lookt with him yet he looking to his God was satisfied and at Rest in him and with him as infinitely enough for him The Prophet Habakkuk resolved upon the same course Hab. 3.17 18. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall Fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail c. yet will I rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation He supposes the worst that could come and yet still resolves to be at Rest in God and that God alone shall be enough for him when all other things fail Thus the holy Soul sits down satissied with God alone setting God and an interest in God over and against all his Wants Losses Burthens Difficulties Temptations as one infinitely able to relieve and satisfie him under all his language to God is Lord let others take the Word and the good things thereof give me thy Self and I have enough run out to broken Cisterns who will let me have a free recourse unto the Fountain and I am satisfied 't is true the Tyde of Creature-comforts runs low with me and on the other hand the Waves and Surges of Affliction rise high but God is all-sufficient and I have enough in him he sees a little of that glorious Fullness Sweetness and Blessedness that is in God and hereupon sings an holy Requiem unto himself saying Soul take thine ease thou hast Goods Light Life Love Blessedness Salvation enough laid up for thee for many dayes yea for the dayes of Eternity take thine ease sit down satisfied in and with thy God alone had'st thou ten thousand Worlds without him thou had'st nothing but in him thou hast all Rest thou therefore in him Thus you see what 't is for a Soul to be at Rest in God and when he may be said to be at Rest in him CHAP. III. The great Obligations the Saints are under thus to live at Rest in God Several of these Obligations insisted on as the first evidence of the Truth of our Proposition HAving seen what 't is for a Soul to be at Rest in God our next work shall be to shew you what Obligations the Saints are under thus to live at Rest in him and that
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
and this is the Rest which I am now calling you into And yet a little further to set home the Call upon you consider a few things 1. Consider what a sad and dismal thing it is for a Soul to Rest in any thing but God alone A Rest one or another the Soul will have if God be not its Rest it will be taking up a Rest elsewhere Now 't is a sad and woful thing for a Soul to Rest any where but in God alone Woe to them that are at ease in Zion saies the Prophet Amos 6.1 Woe to them that are quiet and at Rest in Zion that is to say that are at Rest in carnal sensual things in Zion so the Prophet afterwards explains himself Woe to them that are at Rest in the Creatures that take up their solace and satisfaction in Carnal Contentments and not in God To take up our Rest in the Creatures and not in God is for us to prefer the Creature before God and to be content with the Creature without God for our Portion and Happiness for ever and which is more 't is a dreadful Argument that a Man 's All lies in the Creature and that God intends him nothing but the Creature for ever Woe unto you that are Rich saies Christ for you have received your consolation Luk. 6.24 Woe unto you that are Rich that is you who Rest in your Riches as Calvin rightly expounds it who take up your happiness in these things Woe unto you and what Woe to them truly a most dreadful Woe You have received your consolation saies Christ you have all the good you are ever like to have you shall have no more and no other happiness or consolation for ever Your resting in these things argues these things to be your All and Oh what a woeful dreadful thing is it for a man to have his All in this World in a few vain empty bitter-sweet perishing Vanities here 'T was a cutting killing Word which Abraham is brought in giving Dives when he said Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things Luke 16.25 He had all his happiness in this World which is the woe and misery of such as take up their Rest any where but in God alone tremble therefore at this 2. Consider how impossible it is to find any true Rest Solace and Satisfaction of Soul any where but in God and with God alone You may as soon find Life in Death or Light in Darkness as Rest for your Souls any where but in God alone Pray Friends where will you look or whither will you go to find Rest on this side God and Christ Will you have recourse to sin to your lusts to these multitudes run they pursue their Rest Solace and Satisfaction from sin and the pleasures of sin yea as Solomon speaks they rest not unless they sin unless they do evil But my Beloved is there Rest to be found in sin Can that give Rest that is the greatest evil in the World Can that give Rest that is the cause of all our troubles and difficulties Can that give Rest that is the cause of all the confusions and desolations that are in the World Can that give Rest that was the first and onely cause and founder of Hell Had there been no Sin there had been no Hell Can that give Rest that makes us like the Devil that restless Spirit yea and that made him of a glorious Angel a Devil Can that give Rest that is infinitely contrary to God that is the only Object of his hatred and that alone can and does separate between God the chief Good and our Souls O the folly of Souls to pursue a Rest in sin in the satisfaction of a lust True a base brutish pleasure and delight wicked men take in sin as he said Will it not be bitterness in the latter end the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. ult Yea and not only death at last but many times anguish and torment here Will you have recourse course to the good things of this World to Creature-comforts and Injoyments to Friends Relations Estate and the like These thousands make their Rest practically Saying with him Luk. 12.19 Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for thee for many years thou hast a good trade a fair estate pleasant injoyments take thine ease Soul sit thou down at Rest But my Beloved can these things give Rest Alas 't is the joynt-language of all the Creatures to us Rest and Happiness for your Souls is not to be found in us seek it elsewhere if you intend to find it The Creatures sayes a worthy Divine are not good at least they are not the Souls Good nothing saies he but an infinite God-head can allay your hunger after happiness Can Wind can Vanity can a Shadow can a Fancy can things of nought things that are not things that are even made up of emptiness and changeableness give Rest Such you know these things are in Scripture represented to be Could these things have given Rest why had not Solomon found it in them He had certainly the fullest enjoyment of them that ever man had and not only so but moreover he had wisdom and skill to extract the sweetness of them to improve whatever they have in them yea and he improved this Wisdom and skill of his to the utmost for he set himself as he tells us to enjoy whatever the Creature could possibly afford he gave himself up to a full enjoyment of all Well but did he find Rest in them after all no he was so far from finding Rest that he cries out of all All is Vanity and vexation of Spirit and this he does often you know All is vanity and vexation of Spirit and can vanity and vexation of Spirit give Rest What if a man has an affluence an abundance of these things and they are also increasing daily Will they not afford a Rest for him then No he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase this also is vanity Eccles 5.10 Silver abundance encrease all is Vanity and cannot give Rest And my Beloved does not our experience tell us the same thing Alas did we ever find any true Rest and Satisfaction of Soul in these things True we are apt to promise our selves Rest in this and that in this Condition and that Injoyment but did we ever find that which we promised our selves Have we not alwayes met with disappointments We have dreamed of a Rest in these things but it has been but a dream it has been with us as 't is in the Prophet Isa 29.8 It shall be as when a hungry man dreameth and behold be eateth but he awaketh and his Soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath appetite Just so 't is and it has been with us while we are or
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
evidence of the other O come come and be prevailed with by these things one and all to take up the Rest of your Souls purely and solely in God! CHAP. VI. Several plain and proper Directions to Souls how to attain unto this Life of a Rest in God With a Conclusion of the whole Matter TO live at Rest in God that is a sweet a blessed Life indeed but how may we attain to it Our Souls would be at it but how may we come up hereunto a few Directions in that case and I 'le close all 1. Would you indeed live at Rest in God Then despair of ever finding Rest any where but in him alone As long as we have any hopes of a Rest any where else we will not so purely take up our Rest in God as we should for woe and alas for us our heart is bent to back-slideing from him Hos 11.7 We are carnal and sensual and are addicted to carnal and sensual things as ever therefore you would live at Rest in God utterly despair in your selves of ever finding Rest yea any thing of Rest any where else the more we are driven out of the Creature out of all our false Rests and Reposes the nearer we are to an holy Rest and Repose in God it has been sufficiently evidenced and declared that there is no true Rest for a Soul but in God alone and you have both seen and heard it but my Beloved 't is one thing to hear this by the hearing of the ear and another thing for the Soul to come under the sense and power thereof so as indeed to be dead in our hopes to all other things and practically to despair of Rest and Happiness any where but in God alone Whatever we pretend or profess at least the most of us we still think that there is some Rest some Happiness in somewhat else besides God and short of God else what mean our eager desires after other things our delights in them when injoyed our grief and sorrow of heart when lost or wanting what means the secret bent and byas of our heart to stand off from God and cleave to other things and the like But all this must be rooted out firmly fixing this Foundation-principle in your Souls that there is no Rest for a Soul but in God alone and accordingly never have a thought of looking elsewhere And when at any time the heart would be going out to other things check it with this consideration Rest for the Soul is to be found only in God 2. Would you indeed live at Rest in God Then labour to know him much and to know him in Christ The more we know God the more we shall love him and the more we know and love him the more shall we Rest in him They that know thy Name saies the Psalmist will trust in thee Psal 9.10 they will Rest in thee depend on thee one great reason why we do not Rest in God is because we do not know him at least so know him as to carry in us right notions and apprehensions of him labour therefore to know God more and better labour to know him in Christ God in Christ is most sweet most lovely most ravishing and solacing to Souls God in Christ is a God of Love yea a God that is Love God is Love sayes St. John 1 Joh. 4.8 God in Christ is a God of Reconciliation God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them 2 Cor. 5.19 20. and Oh how sweet is God thus known God in Christ is the Father of Mercies the God of all Grace and Comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 he is a full free open Fountain of all Spiritual Good In 2 Cor. 4.6 we read of the light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God shining forth in the face of Christ and indeed the Light and Glory of God his Beauty Sweetness and Excellency shines forth no where so brightly and illustriously as in Jesus Christ To know God or to look on him out of Christ is what rather fills the Soul with trouble than brings it to Rest in him I remembred God and was troubled said he Psal 77.3 God out of Christ is no other than an angry Judge a consuming fire one that is ready to damn and destroy the Soul but in Christ he is a God of Pardon a God of Salvation to all that come by Christ to him Hence some of the Saints have profest that they durst not think of God out of Christ and you know what Luther's thoughts were by that out-cry of his I 'le have nothing to do with an absolute God O therefore labour to know God in Christ more being known in him he is infinitely sweet to Souls and they cannot but find that sweetness in him that shall draw and allure them to make him their Rest and All for ever 3. Would you indeed live at Rest in God Then labour to get your Covenant-interest in and Relation to God cleared up to you The clearer your interest in God is to you the fuller and more constant will your Rest in him be and indeed you will never so fully and sweetly acquiesce in God as you should until you come to some good sense of your Interest in him and Relation to him in Christ and the Covenant In 1 Sam. 30.6 't is said that David encouraged his heart in the Lord his God he saw God to be his God and seeing him to be so he encouraged himself in him he sat down satisfied and at Rest in him and that in the midst of many great and sore Distresses as you may there see Had he not seen him to be his I question whether he would have been able to sit down at Rest in him as he did especially in so great a storm So the Church Lam. 3.24 the Lord is my Portion saith my Soul therefore I 'le hope in him Seeing God to be her Portion She could hope trust Rest in him and that in a case of great calamity and distress I will not say a Soul cannot Rest in God without a sense of his interest in him no 't is the Souls duty to Rest in God however things go with him though he be in the dark though God has withdrawn himself from the Soul yet the Soul should trust in the Name of the Lord and Rest himself in his God Isa 50.10 still there is that in God that is a full and proper matter or ground of Rest in him for he is as High as Holy as Wise as Good as All-sufficient as ever he was and indeed we should learn to believe in the dark But though this be so yet still I say the clearer your Interest in God is to you the more fully and sweetly will you Rest in him The sense of an interest in God is what is most effectual to reduce a Soul to its Rest in God when through temptation it has been carryed off from it so we find
our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Holiness Does God reveal himself to be a gracious God a God of Grace and Love This calls upon us to choose him for our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Love Doth he reveal himself to be a faithful God a God that keepeth Covenant and Mercy This calls upon us to choose him for our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Faithfulness so here Does God reveal himself to be an Unchangeable God This calls upon us to chuse him for our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Unchangeableness taking up the rest and happiness of our Souls in him and accordingly O that we would look and live above changeable Creatures taking up our rest and happiness in this unchangeable God which to do is even infinitely our safest and sweetest course for pray consider who or what will you chuse for your Portion and wherein will you place the rest and happiness of your Souls if not in the Unchangeable God Sure I am you have but God or the Creature to make choice of Now what is the Creature to God What is the changeable Creature to the unchangeable God Alas the one is infinitely short of the other God indeed is every way and in all respects a most desirable Good He is an original Good a full Good a suitable Good a satisfying Good an unmixed Good an all-sufficient Good and which crowns all an Unchangeable Good a Good that never fades never failes He is the Living God and stedfast for ever Dan. 6.26 The Creatures are all changeable and perishing An Heathen could say Inter peritura vivimus Sen. We live among perishing things And 't was a great saying of one of the Aucients We have nothing Nulla res longa mortalium est omnisâ—â—â— faelicitas saeculi dum tenetur amittitur here sayes he of any long continuance and all the felicity of this world is gone while we hold it and lost even while we injoy it Such and so great is the changeableness and uncertainty of all these things But God as you have heard and all that Good that is in him is alwayes and for ever the same which speaks him to be infinitely sweet and desirable and so infinitely worthy to be imbraced by us for our God and Portion This indeed crowns and perfects all that good that is in God Look as the changeableness of the Creatures lowers and allays that good and sweetness that is in them so the Unchangeableness of God does infinitely raise and commend that good and excellency that is in him Had the Creatures ten thousand times more good and excellency in them than they have yet this one consideration that they are changeable were enough to damp all and quash all though the Creatures had never so much sweetness and goodness in them and though I had never so full free and ample injoyment of them though the streames ran never so pleasantly on each hand of me yet this one thought that all this is fading and changeable and will last but for a season were enough to allay my joy and even imbitter all to me So on the other hand though God be such an infinite Ocean of Goodness Sweetness and Blessedness as he is yet that which crowns all is his Unchangeableness in all and without this 't is not the whole of God could make us happy Now shall the consideration hereof induce you to chuse him for your God and Portion and take up your rest and happiness in him for ever Possibly you have never yet chosen God to be your God and Portion nor have you taken up the rest and happiness of your Souls in him you have chosen the Creatures you have chosen this World you have chosen carnal sensual things and in these have you placed your rest and happiness but as for God he has hitherto been far from your Reins you have centred in changeable Creatures and forgotten the Unchangeable God But will you now change your Choice and take up a new Rest Oh now let an Unchangeable God not changeable Creatures be your God and Portion your Rest and Happiness O that the language of your Souls to God might now be that of the Psalmist Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Lord thou and thou alone shall be my God my Rest my Portion my Happiness and my All for ever Indeed I had chosen the Creatures for my Portion and Happiness but now I renounce that choice I 'le have no more to do with changeable Creatures the World was my happiness and I sat down with it so foolish was I and ignorant but now I have done with the World this flitting fading dying World and thou Lord alone shall be my All for ever Oh that you would indeed thus chuse the Unchangeable God and take up your rest and happiness in him this day And you that have chosen him and taken up your happiness in him make a new choice of him and take up your rest more purely and entirely in him say over this Unchangeable One This God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 Oh labour to get more above the Creatures and live more in God and upon God The more purely and entirely you take up your rest in God the sweeter will he be to you and the more satisfaction will your souls find in him Now to quicken you thus to chuse God and live upon him and his Unchangeableness 1. Consider what a changeable World we live in we live in a changeable World in a World that rings changes every day many changes and great changes the truth is This World is a very changeable world and 't is not long e're it will be changed once for all the day is coming when all these things shall be dissolved the Heavens shall pass away with a noise the Earth shall melt with fervent heat 2 Pet. 3.10.11 and in the mean time the world is not without its changes and how great changes we may live to see who knows such changes seem to be coming upon the world as that nothing but an Unchangeable God will be able to bear us up under them In Luk. 21.25 26. we read of distress of Nations which shall be upon the Earth with perplexity mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things that shall come to pass upon the Earth The sum of which amounts to this that there shall be such changes such rendings such shakings such terrible convulsions and concussions wrought in the Nations of the World such desolations shall be made and such terrible storms of wrath and vengeance shall fall upon the World as that men shall be even exanimated and driven to their wits end they shall fall under a deliquium Animi a swooning of Spirit they shall breath out their very Souls or they shall be