The Saints' Everlasting Rest - Richard Baxter

temperance and appetite incline to? What delight, then, must my soul have in
feeding upon ‘Christ, the living bread,' and in ‘eating with him at his table in
his kingdom!' Was a mess of pottage so sweet to Esau in his hunger, that he
would buy it at so dear a rate as his birthright? How highly, then, should I
value this never-perishing food! How pleasant is drink in the extremity of
thirst; scarcely to be expressed; enough to make the ‘strength of Samson
revive!' O how delightful will it be to my soul to drink of that ‘fountain of
living water, which whoso drinketh shall thirst no more!' How delightful are
grateful odors to the smell; or music to the ear; or beautiful sights to the eye!
what fragrance, then, hath ‘the precious ointment which is poured on the
head' of our glorified Savior, and which must be poured on the head of all his
saints, and will fill all heaven with its odor! How pleasing will be those real
beauties above! How glorious the ‘building not made with hands,' the house
that God himself dwells in, the walks and prospects in ‘the city of God,' and
the celestial paradise!"
Compare, also, the delights above with those we find in natural
knowledge. These are far beyond the delights of sense; but how much farther
are the delights of heaven! Think, then, "can an Archimedes be so taken up
with his mathematical invention, that the threats of death cannot disengage
him, but he will die in the midst of his contemplations? Should not I be much
more taken up with the delights of glory, and die with these contemplations
fresh upon my soul; especially when my death will perfect my delights,
while those of Archimedes die with him? What exquisite pleasure is it to
dive into the secrets of nature, and find out the mysteries of arts and
sciences; especially if we make a new discovery in any one of them! What
high delights are there, then, in the knowledge of God and Christ! If the face
of human learning be so beautiful as to make sensual pleasures appear base
and brutish, how beautiful, then, is the face of God! When we meet with
some choice book, how could we read it day and night, almost forgetful of
meat, drink, or sleep! What delights are there, then, at God's right hand,
where we shall know in a moment all that is to be known!"
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