The Saints Everlasting Rest, Treatise 1 · Chapter 7 · Section 8 – Section 10
SECT. VIII.§ 8.
EIghtly.8It will be a perfect Rest. Another excellency of our Rest will be this, That it will be absolutely perfect and compleat; and this both in the sincerity and universality of it.1In the sincerity of it. We shall then have Joy without sorrow, and Rest without weariness: As there is no mixture of our corruption with our Graces, so no mixture of sufferings with our solace: there is none of those waves in that Harbor, which now so toss us up and down: VVe are now sometime at the Gates of Heaven, and presently almost as low as Hell; we wonder at those changes of Providence toward us, being scarcely two days together in a like condition. To day we are well, and conclude the bitterness of death is past; to morrow sick, and conclude we shall shortly perish by our distempers; to day in esteem, to morrow in disgrace; to day we have friends, to morrow none; to day in gladness, to morrow in sadness; na… ▪ we have VVine and Vinegar in the same Cup, and our pleasantest Food hath a taste of the Gall.1 Cor. 12.7. If Revelations should raise us to the third Heaven, the messenger of Satan must presently buffet us, and the prick in the flesh will fetch us down: But there is none of this unconstancy, nor mixtures in Heaven.1 Joh 4.18. If perfect Love cast out fear, then perfect Joy must needs cast out sorrow; and perfect happiness exclude all the reliques of misery.2In the Universality of it. There will be an universal perfecting of all our parts and powers, and a universal removal of all our evils.1In regard of good enjoyed. And though the positive part be the sweetest, and that which draws the other after it, even as the rising of the Sun excludes the darkness;2In regard of the evils we shall be freed from. yet is not the negative part to be slighted, even our freedom from so many and great Calamities. Let us therefore look over these more punctually, and see what it is that we shall there Rest from. In general, It is from all evil. Particularly, First, from the evil of Sin; secondly, and of suffering.
1We shall Rest from sin. Revel. 21.27.First, It excludeth nothing more directly then sin; whether original, and of Nature; or actual, and of Conversation: For there entereth nothing that defileth, nor that worketh abomination, nor that maketh a lie; when they are there, the Saints are Saints indeed. He that will wash them with his heart blood, rather then suffer them to enter unclean, will now perfectly see to that; he who hath undertaken to present them to his Father,Ephes. 5.27. not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but perfectly holy, and without blemish, will now most certainly perform his undertaking. What need Christ at all to have died, if Heaven could have contained imperfect souls.1 Joh. 3▪ 8. For to this end came he into the world, that he might put away the works of the divel. His Blood and Spirit have not done all this,2 Cor. 6.14. to leave us after all defiled. For what communion hath light with darkness? and what fellowship hath Christ with Belial? He that hath prepared for sin the torments of Hell, will never admit it into the Blessedness of Heaven. Therefore Christian, never fear this; if thou be once in Heaven, thou shalt sin no more. Is not this glad news to thee, who hast prayed, and watched and labored against it so long? I know if it were offered to thy choice, thou wouldst rather chuse to be freed from sin, then to be made heir of all the world: VVhy wait till then, and thou shalt have thy desire: That hard heart, those vile thoughts, which did lie down and rise with thee, which did accompany thee to every duty, which thou couldst no more leave behinde thee, then leave thy self behinde thee, shall now be left behinde for ever. They might accompany thee to death, but they cannot proceed a step further.1From sin in the understanding. Thy understanding shall never more be troubled with darkness: Ignorance and Error are inconsistent with this Light. Now thou walkest like a man in the twilight, ever afraid of being out of the way: Thou seest so many Religions in the VVorld, that thou fearest thy one cannot be onelyonly the right among all these *If a man should defer his Study of any Art or Science, till the Writers thereof did fully, and unitedly consent, It would be as vain a thing, as if a man did purpose his journey from London to York, but should make a vow not to set forward till all the Clocks in London strike together. Fulbecks Directions to study the Law, pag. 26. The Writers in all …ciences differ not from the uncertainty of the Sciences, but thei… own imperfection; yea, in History, which reporteth matter of Fact. Livy against P…l…b…us▪ Plutarch against Livy, Sigonius against Plutarch, Ziphilinus against Dio, whom he interpreted and abridgeth. Non est litigiosa Juris Scientia sed Ignorantia, Cicero de Finibus, … 2. The best and most grave Man will confess, That he is ignorant of many things, saith Cicero. Tuscul. 3. Selon was not ashamed to say, That in his old age he was a Learner. And Ju…an the Lawyer said, That when he had one Foot in the Grave, yet he would have the other in the school.: Thou seest the Scripture so exceeding difficult, and every one pleading it for his own cause, and bringing such specious Arguments for so contrary Opinions, that it intangleth thee in a Labarinth of perplexities: Thou seest so many godly men on this side, and so many on that, and each zealous for his own way, that thou art amazed, not knowing which way to take. And thus do doubtings and fears accompany darkness, and we are ready to stumble at every thing in our way. But then will all this darkness be dispelled, and our blinde understandings fully opened, and we shall have no more doubts of our way: VVe shall know which was the right side, and which the wrong; which was the Truth, and which the Error. O what would we give to know cleerly, all the profound Mysteries in the Doctrine of Decree, of Redemption, of Justification, of the nature of Grace, of the Covenants, of the Divine Attributes, &c. VVhat would we not give to see all dark Scriptures made plain, to see all seeming contradictions reconciled! Why when Glory hath taken the vail from our eyes, all this will be known in a moment; we shall then see clearly into all the controversies about Doctrine or Discipline that now perplex us. The poorest Christian is presently there a more perfect Divine, then any is here. We are now through our Ignorance, subject to such mutability; that in points not fundamental, we change as the Moon; that it is cast as a just reproach upon us; that we profess our Religion with Reserves, and resolvedly settle upon almost nothing; that we are to day of one opinion, and within this week, or monethmonth, or yeer, of another; and yet alas! we cannot help it: The reproach may fall upon all mankinde, as long as we have need of daily growth: Would they have us beleeve before we understand? or say, we beleeve when indeed we do not? shall we profess our selves resolved, before we ever throughly studied? or say, we are certain, when we are conscious that we are not? But when once our Ignorance is perfectly healed, then shall we be setled, resolved men; then shall our reproach be taken from us, and we shall never change our judgment more; then shall we be clear and certain in all, and cease to be Scepticks any more. Our Ignorance now doth lead us into Error, to the grief of our more knowing Brethren, to the disturbing of the Churches quiet, and interrupting her desireable harmonious consent, to the scandalizing of others, and weakning of our selves. How many an humble faithful Soul, is seduced into Error, and little knows it? Loath they are to erre, God knows, and therefore read, and pray, and confer, and yet erre still, and confirmed in it more and more: And in lesser and more difficult points, how should it be otherwise? He that is acquainted amongst men, and knows the quality of Professors in England, must needs know, the generality of them are no great Scholars, nor have much read, or studied Controversies, nor are men of profoundest natural parts, nor have the Ministers of England much preached Controversies to them, but were glad if their hearers were brought to Christ, and got so much knowledg as might help to Salvation, as knowing that to be their great work. And can it be expected, That men voyd of Learning, and strength of parts, unstudied and untaught, should at the first on set know those Truths, which they are almost uncapable of knowing at all? when the greatest Divines of clearest Judgment, acknowledg so much difficulty, That they could almost finde in their hearts, sometimes to profess them quite beyond their reach? Except we will allow them to lay aside their divine Faith, and take up an humane, and see with other mens eyes, the weight and weakness of Arguments, and not with their own; It cannot be thought, That the most of Christians, no, nor the most Divines, should be free from erring in those difficult points, where we know they have not Head-peeces able to reach. Indeed, if it were the way of the Spirit to teach us miraculously, as the Apostles were taught the knowledg of Tongues, without the intervening use of Reason; or if the Spirit infused the acts of Knowledg, as he doth the immediate knowing Power, then he that had most of the Spirit, would not onelyonly know best, but also know most; but we have enough to convince us of the contrary to this. But O that happy approaching day, when Error shall vanish away for ever! VVhen our understandings shall be filled with God himself, whose light will leave no darkness in us! His face shall be the Scripture, where we shall read the Truth; and himself instead of Teachers and Councels, to perfect our understandings, and acquaint us with himself, who is the perfect Truth. No more Error, no more Scandal to others, no more Disquiet to our own spirits, no more mistaking zeal for falshood, because our understandings have no more sin. Many a Godly man hath here in his mistaken zeal, been a means to deceive and pervert his Brethren, and when he sees his own Error, cannot again tell how to undeceive them. But there we shall all conspire in one Truth, as being one in him, who is that Truth.
And as we shall rest from all the sin of our understandings,2From sin of Will, Affection, and Conversation. so of our wills, affection and conversation: VVe shall no more retain this rebelling principle, which is still withdrawing us from God, and addicting us to backsliding: Doubtless we shall no more be oppressed with the power of our corruptions, nor vexed with their presence: No Pride, Passion, Sloathfulness, Senselesness shall enter with us; no strangness to God, and the things of God; no coldness of affections, nor imperfection in our love; no uneven walking, nor grieving of the Spirit; no scandalous action, or unholy conversation; we shall Rest from all these for ever. Then shall our understandings receive their Light from the face of God, as the full Moon from the open Sun, where there is no Earth to interpose betwixt them; then shall our wills correspond to the Divine VVill, as face answers face in a Glass; and the same his will shall be our Law and Rule, from which we shall never swerve again. Now our corruptions, as the Anakims, dismay us; and as the Canaanites in Israel, Josh 23.13.they are left for pricks in our sides, and thorns in our eyes; and as the bond-woman and her son in Abrahams house,Gen. 21.9. they do but abuse us, and make our lives a burden to us: But then shall the bond-woman and her son be cast out, and shall not be heirs with us in our Rest. As Moses said to Israel, Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every one whatsoever is right in his own eyes: For ye are not as yet come to the Rest, and to the Inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you. Deut. 12.8, 9. I conclude therefore with the words next to my Text.Heb. 4.10. For he that is entered into his Rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God from his. So that there is a perfect Rest from sin.
§ 9.SECT. IX.
2From suffering.2. IT is also a perfect Rest from suffering. When the cause is gone, the effect ceaseth. Our sufferings were but the consequents of our sinning, and here they both shall cease together. I will shew particularly ten kindes of suffering which we shall there rest from.
1From doubts of Gods Love.1. We shall Rest from all our perplexing doubts and fears: It shall no more be said, That *Dr. Preston of effectual Faith, pag. 24.doubts are like the Thistle, a bad weed, but growing in good ground; they shall now be weeded out, and trouble the gracious soul no more. No more need of so many Sermons, Books, and marks, and signes to resolve the poor doubting soul: The full fruition of Love it self hath now resolved his doubts for ever. We shall hear that kinde of language no more, What shall I do to know my state? How shall I know that God is my father? That my heart is upright? That Conversion is true? That Faith is sincere? O, I am afraid my sins are unpardoned: O, I fear that all is but in hypocrisie; I fear that God will reject me from his presence; I doubt he doth not hear my prayers: How can he accept so vile a wretch? So hard-hearted, unkinde a sinner? Such an under-valuer of Christ as I am? All this kinde of language is there turned into another tune; even into the praises of him, who hath forgiven, who hath converted, who hath accepted, yea, who hath glorified a wretch so unworthy. So that it will now be as impossible to doubt and fear, as to doubt of the food which is in our bellies, or to fear it is night, when we see the Sun shining: If Thomas could doubt with his finger in the wounds of Christ, yet in Heaven I am sure he cannot; If we could doubt of what we see, or hear, or taste, or feel; yet I am sure we cannot of what we there possess. Sure this will be comfort to the sad and drooping soul, whose life was nothing but a doubting distress, and their language nothing but a constant complaining. If God would speak peace, it would ease them; but when he shall possess them of this peace, they shall rest from all their doubts and fears for ever.
SECT. X.§ 10.
2. WE shall rest from all that sense of Gods displeasure,2From all sense of Gods displeasure. which was our greatest torment; whether manifested mediately or immediately. For he will cause his fury towards us to rest, and his jealousie to cease, and he will be angry with us no more, Ezek. 16.42. Surely Hell shall not be mixed with Heaven: There is the place for the glorifying of Justice, prepared of purpose to manifest wrath; but Heaven is onelyonly for Mercy and Love.Job 3. & 13.26 & 16.12, 13, 14. & 7.20. Joh doth not now use his old language, Thou writest bitter things against me, and takest me for thine enemy, and settest me up as a mark to shoot at, &c. O, how contrary now to all this? David doth not now complain, That the arrows of the Almighty stick in him; that his wounds stink, and are corrupt; that his sore runs and ceaseth not;Psal. 38. that his moysture is as the drought of Summer;Psal. 69.3. that there is no soundness in his flesh, because of Gods displeasure; nor rest in his bones, because of sin; that he is weary of crying, his throat is dried, his eyes fail in waiting for God; that he remembreth God, and is troubled; that in complaining his spirit is overwhelmed;Psal. 77.2, 3. that his soul refuseth to be comforted, that Gods wrath lieth hard upon him;Psal. 88.7. and that he afflicteth him with all his waves. O, how contrary now are Davids Songs. Now he saith, I spake it in my haste, and this was my infirmity. Here the Christian is oft complaining: O, if it were the wrath of man, I could bear it; but the wrath of the Almighty, who can bear? O, that all the world were mine enemies, so that I were assured that he were my Friend! If it were a stranger, it were nothing; but that my dearest Friend, my own Father, should be so provoked against me, This wounds my very soul! If it were a Creature, I would contemn it; but if God be angry, who may endure? If he be against me, who can be for me? And if he will cast me down, who can raise me up? But O that blessed day, when all these dolorous complaints will be turned into admiring thankfulness! and all sense of Gods displeasure swallowed up in that Ocean of infinite Love! when Sense shall convince us, that fury dwelleth not in God: And though for a little moment he hide his face, yet with everlasting compassion, will he receive and imbrace us; when he shall say to Sion, Arise and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, Isa. 60.2.