The Saints' Everlasting Rest - Richard Baxter

flesh shall be put off, and such a sunlike, spiritual body be put on; ‘for the
former things are here passed away.' ‘Glorious things are spoken of thee, O
city of God!' When I look upon this glorious place, what a dunghill and
dungeon methinks is earth! O what difference betwixt a man, feeble, pained,
groaning, dying, rotting in the grave, and one of these triumphant, shining
saints! Here shall I ‘drink of the river of pleasures, the streams whereof make
glad the city of God.' Must Israel, under the bondage of the law, ‘serve the
Lord with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all
things?' Surely I shall serve him with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the
abundance of glory. Did persecuted saints ‘take joyfully the spoiling of their
goods?' and shall not I take joyfully such a full reparation of all my losses?
Was it a celebrated ‘day wherein the Jews rested from their enemies,'
because it ‘was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning
into a good day? What a day, then, will that be to my soul, whose rest and
change will be inconceivably greater? ‘When the wise men saw the star' that
led to Christ, ‘they rejoiced with exceeding great joy;' but I shall shortly see
him, who is himself ‘the bright and morning Star.' If the disciples ‘departed
from the sepulchre with great joy,' when they had but heard that their Lord
‘was risen from the dead;' what will be my joy, when I shall see him reigning
in glory, and myself raised to a blessed communion with him! Then shall I
indeed have ‘beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness, and Sion shall be made an eternal
excellency, a joy of many generations.' Why, then do I not arise from the
dust, and cease my complaints? Why do I not trample on vain delights, and
feed on the foreseen delights of glory? Why is not my life a continual joy,
and the savor of heaven perpetually upon my spirit?"
Let me here observe, that there is no necessity to exercise these
affections, either exactly in this order, or all at one time. Sometimes one of
thy affections may need more exciting, or may be more lively than the rest;
or, if thy time be short, one may be exercised one day and another the next;
all which must be left to thy prudence to determine. Thou hast also an
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