The Saints' Everlasting Rest - Richard Baxter

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dimensions; and the constant succession of spring and autumn, of summer and winter! Think, then, "If these things, which are but servants to sinful man, are so full of mysterious worth, what is that place where God himself dwells, and which is prepared for just men made perfect with Christ! What glory is there in the least of yonder stars! What a vast resplendent body is yonder moon, and every planet! What an inconceivable glory has the sun! But all this is nothing to the glory of heaven. Yonder sun must there be laid aside as useless. Yonder sun is but darkness to the lustre of my Father's house. I shall myself be as glorious as that sun. This whole earth is but my Father's footstool. This thunder is nothing to his dreadful voice. <strong>The</strong>se winds are nothing to the breath of his mouth. If the ‘sending rain, and making the sun to rise on the just and on the unjust,' be so wonderful, how much more wonderful and glorious will that Sun be which must shine on none but saints and angels?" Compare also the enjoyments above with the wonders of Providence in the church and the world. Would it not be an astonishing sight to see "the sea stand as a wall on the right hand and on the left, and the dry land appear in the midst, and the people of Israel pass safely through, and Pharaoh and his host drowned?" or to have seen the ten plagues of Egypt? or the rock gushing forth streams? or manna and quails rained from heaven? or the earth opening and swallowing up the wicked? But we shall see far greater things than these; not only sights more wonderful, but more delightful! there shall be no blood, nor wrath, intermingled; nor shall we cry out, as the men of Bethshemesh, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" How astonishing to see the sun stand still in the firmament, or "the dial of Ahaz go back ten degrees!" But we shall see when there shall be no sun; or rather shall behold for ever a Sun of infinitely greater brightness. What a life should we have, if we could have drought or rain at our prayers; or have fire from heaven to destroy our enemies, as Elisha; or miraculously cure diseases, and speak all languages, as the apostles! Alas, these are nothing to the wonders we shall see and possess with God; and all of them wonders of goodness and 247
love! We shall ourselves be the subjects of more wonderful mercies than any of these. Jonah was raised but from a three days' burial in the belly of a fish; but we shall be raised from many years' decay and dust; and that dust exalted to the glory of the sun; and that glory perpetuated through eternity. Surely, if we observe but common providences, as the motions of the sun; the tides of the sea; the standing of the earth; the watering it with rain, as a garden; the keeping in order a wicked, confused world; with many others, they are all admirable. But what are these to the Sion of God, the vision of the divine Majesty, and the order of the heavenly host? Add to these, those particular providences which thou hast thyself enjoyed and recorded through thy life, and compare them with the mercies thou shalt have above. Look over the mercies of thy youth and riper age, of thy prosperity and adversity, of thy several places and relations; are they not excellent and innumerable, rich and engaging? How sweet was it to thee, when God resolved thy doubts; scattered thy fears; prevented the inconveniences into which thy own counsel would have cast thee; eased thy pains; healed thy sickness; and raised thee up, as from death and the grave! Think, then, "Are all these so sweet and precious, that without them my life would have been a perpetual misery? Hath his providence on earth lifted me so high, ‘and his gentleness made me so great?' How sweet, then, will his glorious presence be! How high will his eternal love exalt me! And how great shall I be made in communion with his greatness! If my pilgrimage and warfare have such mercies, what shall I find in my home and in my triumph? If God communicates so much to me while I remain a sinner, what will he bestow when I am a perfected saint! If I have had so much at such a distance from him, what shall I have in his immediate presence, where I shall ever stand before his throne!" Compare the joys above with the comforts thou hast here received in ordinances. Has not the Bible been to thee as an open fountain, flowing with comforts day and night? What suitable promises have come into thy mind; so 248
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THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST Richar
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(O that it were in a greater!) and
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continual expectation of death for
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this solemn introduction, "Most div
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size of the volume; and sometimes b
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honoring of God, the vigor of our l
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ourselves to think any thing as of
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for ever endure; a woful inheritanc
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and they shall be his people, and G
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slain, to receive power, and riches
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this the end of believing? Is this
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with Him with whom is no variablene
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will rejoice in him.--Yea, the Fath
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should we do if our Lord should not
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the promise. Contentedly commit the
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condemn us not, who shall? He that
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titles, but real dominion. Christ w
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Chapter 3 The excellencies of the S
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and provinces! Who can fathom unmea
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all our praises shall make up one m
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expects the fruit of his vineyard a
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8. Still more, this rest will be ab
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We shall rest from all the temptati
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We shall then rest from all our sad
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no more look into our cabinet and m
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Chapter 4 The character of the pers
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die for it, and a christless world
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convinced of the creature's vanity,
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not only acknowledges his suffering
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covenant with him, and delivered up
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e born again, he cannot see the kin
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his sins and sorrows upon earth; hi
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I have but one thing more to add, f
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Chapter 5 The great misery of those
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good, that love to evil, that viole
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while the saints were "mocked, dest
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sinners. It is one of the hardest t
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and having chosen death, I deserve
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small pains to avoid it! Where was
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Though they walked in continual dan
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thousands in hell, what madness bro
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3. They will lose all that false pe
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earnestly have all things suited to
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destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
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When a thousand millions of ages ar
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some terrible shape! Would not thy
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Chapter 7 The necessity of diligent
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delights in the law of the Lord, an
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worldly disposition, how feeble is
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conscience, and suffer it to tell t
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must be slighted; conscience, on go
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sweetest mercies will become our so
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They that trifle lose their labor.
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against it, will shortly be of anot
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and negligent of your own? How dili
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it consumed to ashes, what would su
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Chapter 8 How to discern our title
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eadest the threatenings, for any th
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the mention of it. But who can do a
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or that there is any great differen
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them what they are, than at precept
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is never apparent and sensible to t
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God's love; if thou be not, though
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such a degree and measure of grace;
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care or labor. Thou didst never per
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shall bring thee to heaven in his o
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Chapter 9 The duty of the people of
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thyself; or to bring men to depend
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tomorrow, how unready are you! With
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see in your life that superiority t
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ody. If any man "seeth his brother
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same cases every man must be a teac
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And doth it not become us to do as
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1. God especially expects this duty
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Inquire how they grow in knowledge
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desires of their flesh. May the Lor
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the Lord's day in this work; and su
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Do you not travail and toil first,
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he is saving. It is the suffering p
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had rather be any where than be wit
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is now bringing us home, and we are
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like Noah's dove, to look through t
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where short of heaven, or reposing
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husbandman desire the harvest, and
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are we unwilling to die, that we ma
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own inheritance, is a sinful, usele
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is a wonder that they fear it no mo
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hopes are there, and who have forsa
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God. The man that Christ will find
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exceed thy labor. But this is the m
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A heavenly mind is also fortified a
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lift up thy eye of faith to heaven,
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wrath of the king; because he endur
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out with you, he is soon reconciled
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shall we now overlook all? Shall we
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earthly house of this tabernacle we
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Now, reader, are these consideratio
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thee, that thou canst no more ascen
Page 197 and 198: enemies of godliness will prove hur
Page 199 and 200: 5. Take heed of a proud and lofty s
Page 201 and 202: verily think there is nothing hinde
Page 203 and 204: 7. Contentment with the mere prepar
Page 205 and 206: goods, your cattle, your children w
Page 207 and 208: not our hearts burn within us while
Page 209 and 210: might have a fuller taste of Christ
Page 211 and 212: thoughts of God, to conceive of him
Page 213 and 214: Chapter 13 The nature of Heavenly c
Page 215 and 216: Christians to think that meditation
Page 217 and 218: duty to a stated time. And indeed,
Page 219 and 220: stated time. I have always found th
Page 221 and 222: day. For our light affliction, whic
Page 223 and 224: e not directly named, but only his
Page 225 and 226: upholds the earth as in the palm of
Page 227 and 228: affections did but correspond to th
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Page 231 and 232: is to come: who liveth, and was dea
Page 233 and 234: world, while they are swallowed up
Page 235 and 236: what a man seeth, why doth he yet h
Page 237 and 238: to every man by nature, and so esse
Page 239 and 240: flesh shall be put off, and such a
Page 241 and 242: things on which thou dost meditate;
Page 243 and 244: Chapter 15 Heavenly contemplation a
Page 245 and 246: more affect me? What if I had seen,
Page 247: Compare, also, the delights above w
Page 251 and 252: his table, to have his covenant sea
Page 253 and 254: Shall fire and fagot, prisons and b
Page 255 and 256: sinful unkindness! Even this sorrow
Page 257 and 258: useful to others, than making this
Page 259 and 260: devour the meditations intended for
Page 261 and 262: love itself, shall perfectly love m
Page 263 and 264: O sweet reconciliation! Happy union
Page 265 and 266: joyfully sound forth the praises of
Page 267 and 268: have that I can give thee? And what
Page 269 and 270: ordinances, and yet I feel it not w
Page 271 and 272: hast opened heaven to me in thy wor
Page 273 and 274: is no division nor differing judgme
Page 275 and 276: the full enjoyment be! "What a beau
Page 277 and 278: and delighted in, it hurts and enda
Page 279 and 280: are set on things above, where Chri
Page 281 and 282: e uttered; yea, the whole creation
Page 283 and 284: the dust? Alas! what will this be w
Page 285 and 286: lo, they that are far from thee sha
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The Saints' Everlasting Rest - Richard Baxter

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