The Saints' Everlasting Rest - Richard Baxter

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experiences, these clear testimonies of my Father's love, to my fearful, unbelieving heart! O then, what a blessed day will that be when I shall have all mercy, perfection of mercy, and fully enjoy the Lord of mercy; when I shall stand on the shore and look back on the raging seas I have safely passed; when I shall review my pains and sorrows, my fears and tears, and possess the glory which was the end of all! If one drop of lively faith was mixed with these considerations, what a heaven-ravishing heart should I carry within me! Fain would ‘I believe; Lord, help my unbelief.' "How sweet, O my soul, have ordinances been to thee! What delight hast thou had in prayer and thanksgiving, under heavenly sermons and in the society of saints, and to see ‘the Lord adding to the church such as should be saved!' How, then, can my heart conceive the joy which I shall have to see the perfected church in heaven, and to be admitted into the celestial temple, and with the heavenly host praise the Lord for ever? Was the word of God sweeter to Job than his necessary food, and to David than honey and the honeycomb, and was it the joy and rejoicing of Jeremiah's heart; how blessed a day will that be when we shall fully enjoy the Lord of this word, and shall no more need these written precepts and promises, nor read any book but the face of the glorious God! If they that heard Christ speak on earth ‘were astonished at his wisdom and answers, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth,' how shall I, then, be affected to behold him in his majesty! "Can the prospect of his glory make others welcome the cross and even refuse deliverance; and cannot it make thee cheerful under lesser sufferings? Can it sweeten the flames of martyrdom and not sweeten thy life, or thy sickness, or thy natural death? Is it not the same heaven which they and I must live in? Is not their God, their Christ, their crown and mine the same? And shall I look upon it with an eye so dim, a heart so dull, a countenance so dejected? Some small foretastes of it have I myself had; and how much more delightful have they been than any earthly things ever were! What, then, will 273
the full enjoyment be! "What a beauty is there here in the imperfect graces of the Spirit! Alas! how small are these to what we shall enjoy in our perfect state! What a happy life should I here live, could I but love God as much as I would; could I be all love and always loving! O my soul, what wouldst thou give for such a life? Had I such apprehensions of God, such knowledge of his word as I desire; could I fully trust him in all my straits; could I be as lively as I would in every duty; could I make God my constant desire and delight; I would not envy the world their honors or pleasures. What a blessed state, O my soul! wilt thou shortly be in, when thou shalt have far more of these than thou canst now desire, and shalt exercise thy perfected graces in the immediate vision of God, and not in the dark, and at a distance, as now! "Is the sinning, afflicted, persecuted church of Christ so much more excellent than any particular gracious soul? What then will the church be when it is fully gathered and glorified; when it has ascended from the valley of tears to Mount Sion; when it shall sin and suffer no more! <strong>The</strong> glory of the Old Jerusalem will be darkness and deformity to the glory of the New. What cause shall we have, then, to shout for joy, when we shall see how glorious the heavenly temple is, and remember the meanness of the church on earth! 12. "But, alas! at what a loss am I in the midst of my contemplation! I thought my heart had all the while attended, but I see it hath not. What life is there in empty thoughts and words, without affections? Neither God, nor I, find pleasure in them. Where hast thou been, unworthy heart, while I was opening to thee the everlasting treasures? Art thou not ashamed to complain so much of an uncomfortable life, and to murmur at God for filling thee with sorrows, when he in vain offers thee the delights of angels? Hadst thou now but followed me close, it would have made thee revive and leap for joy, and forget thy pains and sorrows. Did I think my heart had been so backward to rejoice? 274
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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
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enemies of godliness will prove hur
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5. Take heed of a proud and lofty s
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verily think there is nothing hinde
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7. Contentment with the mere prepar
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goods, your cattle, your children w
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not our hearts burn within us while
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might have a fuller taste of Christ
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thoughts of God, to conceive of him
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Chapter 13 The nature of Heavenly c
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Christians to think that meditation
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duty to a stated time. And indeed,
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stated time. I have always found th
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day. For our light affliction, whic
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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 and 248: Compare, also, the delights above w
Page 249 and 250: love! We shall ourselves be the sub
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: is no division nor differing judgme
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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