The Saints' Everlasting Rest - Richard Baxter

hast opened heaven to me in thy word, so thou wouldst open mine eyes to
see it, and my heart to delight in it; else heaven will be no heaven to me. O
thou Spirit of life! breathe upon thy graces in me; take me by the hand and
lift me from the earth, that I may see what glory ‘thou hast prepared for them
that love thee!'
"Away, then, ye soul-tormenting cares and fears, ye heart-vexing
sorrows! At least forbear a little while: stand by; stay here below, till I go up
and see my rest. The way is strange to me, but not to Christ. There was the
eternal abode of his glorious Deity; and thither hath he also brought his
glorified flesh. It was his work to purchase it; it is his to prepare it, and to
prepare me for it, and bring me to it. the eternal God of truth hath given me
his promise, his seal and oath, that, ‘believing in Christ, I shall not perish,
but have everlasting life.' Thither shall my soul be speedily removed, and my
body very shortly follow. And can my tongue say that I shall shortly and
surely live with God, and yet my heart not leap within me? can I say it with
faith, and not with joy? Ah, faith, how sensibly do I now perceive thy
weakness! But though unbelief darken my light, and dull my life, and
suppress my joys, it shall not be able to conquer and destroy me; though it
envy all my comforts, yet some, it spite of it, I shall even here receive; and if
that did not hinder, what abundance might I have! The light of heaven would
shine into my heart, and I might be almost as familiar there as I am on earth.
Come away, then, my soul; stop thine ears to the ignorant language of
infidelity; thou art able to answer all its arguments; or, if thou art not, yet
tread them under thy feet. Come away; stand not looking on that grave, nor
turning those bones, nor reading thy lesson now in the dust; those lines will
soon be wiped out. But lift up thy head and look to heaven, and see thy name
written in golden letters ‘in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.'
"What if an angel should tell thee that there is a mansion in heaven
prepared for thee, that it shall certainly be thine for ever; would not such a
message make thee glad? And dost thou make light of the infallible Word of
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