his people, and enjoy the inheritance of the saints in light!(f) 13. That this rest shall be enjoyed by the people of God, is a truth which the scripture, if its testimony be further needed, clearly asserts in a variety of ways. As for instance, "God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."(g) They are styled vessels of mercy, afore prepared unto glory.(h) In Christ they have obtained the earnest of an inheritance. Who can bereave the Christian of that rest, which is designed for them of God? -Scripture tells us, they are redeemed to this rest. "By the blood of Jesus we have boldness to enter into the holiest;"() either that enter means by faith and prayer here, or by full possession hereafter.Therefore the saints in heaven sing a new song unto Him who has "redeemed them to God by his blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them kings and priests unto God.(k) Either Christ then must lose his blood and sufferings, and never see the travail of his soul, or else there remaineth a rest to the people of God.-In scripture this rest is promised to them. As the firmament with stars, so are the sacred pages bespangled with these divine engagements. Christ says, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.() I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom,”(m) &c. &c. All the means of grace, the operations of the Spirit upon the soul, and gracious actings of the saints, every command to repent and believe, to fast and pray, to knock and seek, to strive and labour, to run and fight, prove that there remains a rest for the people of God. The Spirit would never kindle in us such strong desires after heaven, such love to Jesus Christ, if we should not receive what we desire (f) Col. i. 12. (g) Heb. xi. 16. (h) Rom. ix. 23. (1) Luke xii. 32. 30 and love. He that "guides our feet into the way of peace,"(n) will undoubtedly bring us to the end of peace. How nearly are the means and end conjoined! "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."(o) They that "follow Christ in the regeneration, shall sit upon thrones of glory."(p) Scripture assures us, that the saints have the beginnings, foretastes, earnests, and seals, of this rest here. "The kingdom of God is within them. (a) Though they have not seen Christ, yet loving him, and believing in him, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; receiving the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls,(r) They rejoice in hope of the glory of God," (s) And does God seal them with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of their inheritance, and will he deny the full possession?(t)-The scripture also mentions, by name, those who have entered into this rest; as Enoch, Abraham, Lazarus, the thief that was crucified with Christ, &c. And if there be a rest for these, sure there is a rest for all believers, But it is vain to heap up scripture proofs, seeing it is the very end of scripture to be a guide to lead us to this blessed state, and to be the charter and grant by which we hold all our title to it. 66 § 14. Scripture not only proves, that this rest remains for the people of God, but also that it remains for none but them; so that the rest of the world shall have no part in it. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.(u) Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.(a) No whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (x) The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the na tions that forget God.(y) They all shall be damned, who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness.(z) The Lord Jesus shall come in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power."(a) Had the ungodly returned before their life was expired, and been heartily willing to accept of Christ for their Saviour and their King, and to be saved by him in his way, and upon his most reasonable terms, they might have been saved. God freely offered them life, and they would not accept it. The pleasures of the flesh seemed more desirable to them than the glory of the saints. Satan offered them the one, and God offered them the other, and they had free liberty to choose which they would, and they chose the pleasures of sin for a season, before the everlasting rest with Christ. And is it not a righteous thing, that they should be denied that which they would not accept? When God pressed them so earnestly, and persuaded them so importunately to come in, and yet they would not; where should they be but among the dogs without? Though man be so wicked, that he will not yield, till the mighty power of grace prevail with him, yet still we may truly say, that he may be saved, if he will, on God's terms. His inability, being moral, and lying in wilful wickedness, is no more excuse to him than it is to an adulterer, that he cannot love his own wife; or to a milicious person, that he cannot but hate his own brother: is he not so much the worse, and deserving of so much the sorer punishment? Sinners shall lay all the blame on their own wills in hell for ever. Hell is a rational torment by conscience, according to the nature of the rational subject.-If sinners could but then say, " It was long of God, and not of us,” it would quiet their consciences, and ease their torments, and make hell to them to be no hell. But to remember their wilfulness, will feed the fire, and cause the worm of conscience never to die.(b) (3) 2 Thess. ii. 12. (a) 2 Thess. i. 7-9. (b) Mark. ix. 44. 15. It is the will of God that this rest should yet remain for his people, and not be enjoyed till they come to another world.-Who should dispose of the creatures, but he that made them? You may as well ask, why have we not spring and harvest without winter? or why is the earth below, and the heavens above? as, why we have not rest on earth? All things must come to their perfection by degrees. The strongest man must first be a child. The greatest scholar must first begin in his alphabet. The tallest oak was once an acorn.-This life is our infancy: and would we be perfect in the womb, or born at full stature? If our rest was here, most of God's providences must be useless. Should God lose the glory of his church's miraculous deliverances, and the fall of his enemies, that men may have their happiness here? If we were all happy, innocent, and perfect, what use was there for the glorious works of our sanctification, justification, and future salvation?—If we wanted nothing, we should not depend on God so closely, nor call upon him so earnestly.-How little should he hear from us, if we had what we would have? God would never have had such songs of praise from Moses at the Red Sea and in the wilderness, from Deborah and Hannah, from David and Hezekiah, if they had been the chusers of their condition. Have not thy own highest praises to God, Reader, been occasioned by thy dangers or miseries? The greatest glory and praise God has through the world, is for redemption, reconciliation, and salvation by Christ: and was not man's misery the occasion of that?-And where God loses the opportunity of exercising his mercies, man must needs lose the happiness of enjoying them. Where God loses his praise, man will certainly lose his comforts. Oh the sweet comforts the saints have had in return to their prayers! How should we know what a tender-hearted Father we have, if we had not, as the prodigal, been denied the husks of earthly pleasure and profit? We should never have felt Christ's tender heart, if we had not felt ourselves weary and heavy laden, hungry and K thirsty, poor and contrite. It is a delight to a soldier, or traveller, to look back on his escapes when they are over; and for a saint in heaven to look back on his sins and sorrows upon earth, his fears and tears, his enemies and dangers, his wants and calamities, must make his joy more joyful. Therefore the blessed in praising the Lamb, mention his redeeming them out of every nation, and kindred, and tongue; and so out of their misery, and wants, and sins, and making them kings and priests to God. But if they had had nothing but content and rest on earth, what room would there have been for these rejoicings hereafter? § 16. Besides, we are not capable of rest upon earth. Can a soul that is so weak in grace, so prone to sin, so nearly joined to such a neighbour as this flesh, have full content and rest in such a case? What is soul-rest, but our freedom from sin, and imperfections, and enemies? And can the soul have rest that is pestered with all these, and that continually! Why do Christians so often cry out in the language of Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?(c) What makes them press towards the mark, and run that they may obtain, and strive to enter in, if they are capable of rest in their present condition?-And our bodies are incapable, as well as our souls. They are not now those sun-like bodies which they shall be, when this corruptible hath put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. They are our prisons, and our burdens; so full of infirmities and defects, that we are fain to spend most of our time in repairing them, and supplying their continual wants. Is it possible that an immortal soul should have rest in such a distempered noisome habitation? Surely these sickly, weary, loathsome bodies, must be refined, before they can be capable of enjoying rest.-The objects we here enjoy are insufficient to afford us rest. Alas! what is there in all the world to give us rest?-They that have most of it, have the greatest burden.They that set most by it, and rejoice most in it, do all (c) Rom. vii. 24. |