to God at the time and in the work of Conversion when there is a sanctifying change wrought in a person when he is of a Sinner made a Saint and of an Enemy a Friend of God This is evident from that speech of our Saviour to Saul Acts 26. 17 18. I do now senâ—… thee to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God from ignorance to knowledge from Idolatry and wickedness to the owning acknowledging worshipping anâ—… serving of God Converting Grace is the begetting of a Soul to God thâ—… bringing of the Prodigal Son to his Father the reducting of the lost anâ—… wandering Sheep home to its fold and this is the first return this is thâ—… first step until this be taken the Soul is not only far from God but whicâ—… is both its sin and misery it is going further and further from him Foâ—… every act of sin is a step from God and a continued course of sin is a constant departure from him As men sin against God more and more so they do revolt from God more and more while they add to sin they add tâ—… backslide But in Conversion there is a returning to him this sets facâ—… and heart God-ward and now the feet are guided into the way of peace Thrice happy you that have thus returned this is the beginning of youâ—… life As the Father said with joy concerning his returning Prodigal This mâ—… Son was dead but he is alive and this is the beginning of your blessedness Therefore Peter Preaching to the Jews told them Acts 3 26. That unto theâ—… first God having raised up his Son Iesus sent him to bless them in turninâ—… away every one of them from their iniquities Yea my Friends whatsoeveâ—… cheats are put upon you by the Father of Lies and your own self-deceivinâ—… hearts you will never be a blessed people till you are turned from youâ—… iniquities till then you are under guilt and wrath and a curse but a turnâ—… ing from iniquity is a returning unto God The turning you from sin iâ—… the breaking down of that middle wall of partition which did before staâ—… between God and you Let me therefore speak to you O sinners in thâ—… same words that Pâ—…ter used Acts 3. 19. Repent ye and be converted thâ—… your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from tâ—… presence of the Lord. Secondly There is a further return unto God in the actings exercisâ—… and increases of grace for though there be a turning to God in the firâ—… Conversion yet we must not stop there returning to him ought to be thâ—… â—…earer to morrow and â—…o nearer and nearer every day Now as every â—…ct of sin is a step from God so every act of grace is a step to God Faith â—…aiseth the Soul above the things that are seen and mounts it up as upon â—…he wings of an Eagle Love carrieth the Soul up as in a fiery Chariot a pure and holy flame so that it dwelleth in God and God in it Ardent and importunate desires are the feet upon which the Soul runs out to God and followeth hard after him and the more the Soul tramples upon the things that are below and by acts of self-denial goeth out of it self the more doth it find it self in God And so it is with reference to the happy additions which it makes to the grace it hath the more it grows in grace the more doth it grow up unto God All the improvements it makes in grace are blessed progressâ—…s in its way to God that is indeed going from strength to strength till it appear before God in Sion Psal. 84. Oh who is there that considers this that would be retrograde in his motions and languishing and decaying in spirituals who would be content to stand at a â—…ay who would not be possessed with and acted by a spirit of holy covetousness always receiving out of the â—…lness of Christ and yet always begging and while he draws up one Bucket-full letting down another for more Remember it O Christians the more you are as by the Spirit of the Lord changed from grace to grace the more considerable advances you make from lower to higher degrees of holiness the more will you be transformed in the spirit of your mind and changed from glory to glory the more will you have in you of a Divine Nature and the more of the Divine Image upon you In a word by this means you will come to have a greater conformity and likeness unto God and so a sweeter communion and intimacy with him So then this is a further return unto God this is a getting nearer and nearer to him and truly this should be the work of every day This is that which we should have in our designs and aims in all the holy duties that we perform and in all the precious Ordinances upon which we do attend that by every one of them we may have a lift given us and he brought more over and more close to God than we as yet are Thirdly There is a return to God at death So the Royal Preacher tells us Eccles. 12. 7. The dust shall return to the Earth as it was of that it was made and into that it shall be resolved When once the Soul leaves it the body drops into the grave and there first it putrifies and at length it crumbles but the Spirit shall return unto God that gave it All the Souls of Men and Women one and other both the good and the bad shall at death be upon their return whether with their will or against it this must be done They did at first come from God when they were formed he created them he infused them he united them to the body and when that union shall be dissolved when Death shall uâ—…ie the knot and snap the hand asunder then doth the spirit return to God The polluted and regenerate Souls of wicked men shall in all their guilt filth and deformity â—…eturn to God that they may from him receive their final and irreversible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malefactors carried into a dungeon of darkness the bottomless Pit where there is unquenchable fire to torment them but not the least beam of ligâ—… to comfort and refresh them and so they shall be punished with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2. Thes. 1. And the Souls of Saints which have been washed from theâ—… filthiness in the blood of the Lamb and had their nature changed theâ—… principles made holy and their beauty perfect through Christs comelineâ—… put upon them shall also then return unto God as their reconciled Friend and everlasting Father to be by him received gratiously heartily welcom'd and put into those glorious Mansionâ—… which have been designed and prepared for them in which they shall enjoy
spirit of faith and love and desire and longing in all those that have past through the new birth Attainments in many of them are little and low but in all of them desires are high And though these desires are exceeding good yet they are very painful as â—…arp hunger is to an almost starved creature How uneasie is a longing Woman it makes her sick at the very heart not seldom causeth a faintness and swoonings and puts her into a great discomposure throughout So do the desires of a longing Saint too too often he over-looks and pays not unto God due acknowledgments for nor doth he himself tast the sweetness and take the comfort of what he hath because he cannot as yet get what he wants Oh how much doth such an one hasten after a deliverance from sin How eagerly doth he thirst for increases of grace How doth he aspire to an holy fixation of mind free from those avocations and diversions which afflict him And as the hunted parched Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so doth his Soul pant after the Living God and an intimate unbroken Communion with him and it is even sick with love and longings because it finds not what it thus seeks It doth hardly enjoy it self because it hath not those enjoyments that it would But when once Death hath done its work upon him there is a rest from these things too not because the Souls love is in the least cool'd and abated for then it is perfected and raised up to the purest hottest and highest flame in which it shall everlastingly continue but because it hath plenary fruition of that which it loves of all which it loves While the gracious Soul is here in the body it hath its sallyings out its earnest reaches and lofty flights Oh that it were so and so Thus poor Iob as you have it in Iob 29 v. 2 c. O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me when his Candle shined upon my head and when by his light I walked thorough darkness when the secret of God was upon my Tabernacle when the Almighty was yet with me So O that it were with me as sometimes I have found it O that it were with me as it is with such an one and such an God more and love him more and live him more But when the Soul comes to Heaven it takes the place appointed and prepared for it and there it sits down at ease because it is where it would be and as it would be There is no desire because a compleat satisfaction Psal. 17. ult As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness There desires are turned into and swallowed up of delights There is indeed in glorified Souls a natural desire of the resurrection of their bodies and a reunion to them but that desire is no impairing of their happiness not in the least afflictive because moderate and rightly tempered and sweetened with a full assurance that it shall be done at the time appointed by the Father And in the mean while they are abundantly pleas'd having a fulness of joy in the vision and fruition of God Father Son and Spirit who is to them infinitely better than the body can be Come we now to the next thing propounded viz. the properties of that rest into which the holy Soul doth enter after death or what kind of rest it is and that I shall endeavour to shew you in these three particulars First It is a compleat rest every way perfect there is not any thing wanting thereunto There is indeed a sweet and blessed rest which those have here in this life who come to Christ and make a believing closure upon the terms propounded in the Gospel though they have not the rest of the World yet they have a rest in the World and that in the midst of concussions and confusions when they are tumbled and toss'd up and down they have a rest out of their Enemies reach This our dear Lord and Saviour hath promised and he cannot but be as good as his word Mat. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest not only a right to it but the possession of it that which they could not meet with before neither in themselves nor in the creature they meet with in him as the Dove that could find no place for the sole of its foot when it was abroad as the Raven could that would light and feed upon Carrion the dead carcasses floating upon the surface of the waters yet it found rest in the Ark upon its return to it Those that before were through the stingings of Conscience and the apprehensions of Divine wrath and impending Judgments as persons upon a Rack are through the sprinklings of the blood of the Covenant upon them and the sealings and witnessings of the Spirit within them as in a Bed of Down or Roses Those wounds that formerly smarted are graciously healed and their Agonies are over unless they cause new ones by their foolishness but for all this here aliquid deest something is wanting as well as something amiss Paul in 1 Thes. 3. 10. speaks of something that was lacking in their Faith and truly the same may be affirmed of the best improved and most grown Saints on this side of Heaven that there is something lacking in their Faith yea and in their Love and in their Humility and Meekness and Patience and in all the graces that have been by the blessed Spirit of God wrought in them And we may be sure of this that as long as there is something lacking in the grace there will be something not be arrived at a perfect state But after death all these wants will be supplied and all these defects made up there will be no vacancy in the Soul nothing lacking then that which is perfect will be come and so that which is imperfect shall be done away and hereupon that rest which the Soul shall have when it comes to Heaven will be greater and fuller than that which it had when it first came to Christ or all the while that it lived a sojourner in the World there will be perfect holiness and by consequence there will be a perfect happiness God will not in any thing be behind hand with his people or wanting to them there they are continually before the Throne of God always in his presence and David tells us Psal. 16. 11. That in his presence there is fulness of joy and a fulness of joy doth necessarily imply and carry along with it a fulness of rest and that which followeth hereupon Secondly It is an undisturbed rest Here our peace is oftentimes broken and our rest is gone It is said of Ahasuerus that he could not sleep his sleep fled away from him he did all that in him lay to compose himself he would gladly have slept
but he could not So it is Spiritually with the Saints themselves their rest fleeth from them Sometimes they break their own rest Psal. 38. There is no rest in my bones because of my sin and as there was none in his bones so none in his flesh and none in his Spirit and sometimes God breaks their rest one while he gives them rest round about at another time he makes them fear round abouâ—… Iob 7. 13 14. When I say my Bed shall comfort me my Couch shall ease my complaint then thou scarest me with Dreams and terrifiest me with Visions Oh the dismal thoughts that some good people have in the night they lie down with holy and gracious thoughts with believing thoughts with God admiring thoughts but in their sleep they have Vain Absurd Defiling and Disquieting thoughts so that they wake in an affright and as the Psalmist tells us sometimes sorrow endures for a night and joy comes in the morning So experience tells us that at other times joy endures for a day and sorrow comes in the Evening The bright and comfortable sun sets in a dark Cloud David reckoned without his host when in Psal. 30. he thought his Mountain stood strong his State of Peace and Prosperity was firm and unalterable so that he should never be moved that he should never more feel what broken bones meant nor be any more hunted by his enemy as a Partridge upon the Mountains nor be again smitten and almost consumed by the blow of the Divine hand nor have his moisture turned into the drought of Summer But he was quickly convinced of his mistake God hid his face and he was troubled So troubled as that he was at his wits end almost beside himself both Counsel and Courage failed him But now when once the Soul comes to Heaven there shall be nothing of a disturbance no such inroads made upon its peace but a perpetual Serenity and Calm a clear Sun-shine without any Eclipse or Clouds or Overcastings No hiding of the face of God no damp upon the Soul No frown without no fear an holy reception no anger in God to obstruct and stop his gracious communication God will be continually giving out of himself and the Soul shall be continually taking in The glorified Soul shall be always full up to the brim and as God shall please according to the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness to dart forth new beams and rays of his glory so he will strengthen the eye that it shall behold them with inconceivable delight and pleasure as he shall please to open his hand of Love so he will widen the Vessel and inlarge its capacity Thirdly It will be an everlasting rest as it knows no disturbance so no end The Soul for certain shall not sleep as some have fondly and foolishly imagined the body indeed doth that enjoys a sweet sleep in its bed of dust where it lies in Jesus for death hath not broken the Union between it and Christ 1 Thes. 4. 14. Them which sleep in Iesus shall God bring with him But the Soul sleeps not it is not suitable to the nature of it it meets with enough to keep it awake Yea it will be so far from sleeping as that it shall not so much as wink for it shall not know any such thing as lassitude or weariness It shall be continually acting and that with Strength and Vigour to the utmost of its power and yet not be tyred by those actings The bow shall be always bent yet not hereupon grow a Slug but abide in strength But though the Soul shall never sleep yet it shall always rest when it is once entered into it it shall abide and never come out more there are as you have heard from the Word pleasures for evermore and therefore there shall be rest for evermore O Eternity Eternity its length is not to be measured but its weight and importance to be seriously consider'd that is the sweet ingredient in the joys above and that the Gall which is put into the Cup of trembling and astonishment below the damned in Hell shall be in everlasting misery their worm dieth not and the glorified Souls shall have an everlasting felicity Let us apply to this those sweet expressions which we find in Rev. 7. 15 16 17. They are before the Throne of God as Heavens Courtiers and Favourites whom the King of Kings loves to look upon They serve him day and night in his Temple They shall be altogether taken up with God their whole business and employment shall be about God And he that sits upon the throne shall dwell among them And there cannot be better Company none so good His presence is enough alone they shall hunger no more neither thirst any more It is impossible they should be hungry who are at such a feast or thirst who have not only their Cups running over but are continually refreshing and bathing themselves in a River of pleasure and of life clear as Christal which proceeds out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb neither shall the Sun light on them nor any beat there shall be beams to refresh them but none to scorch them Nothing that shall render them faint or uneasy For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them He loves to do it and he will be sure to give them the best and with a large liberal hand and shall lead them to fountains of living water all fresh and pure and at the first hand and God removed all sorrow from their hearts if there be not a tear then not a sigâ—… no nor a sad thought and further you may be also sure that since God doâ—… with his own gracious hand wipe away all their tears none of them shaâ—… return nor shall any new ones succeed and come in the room of the formeâ—… a tear shall not be found in the eye nor upon the cheek throughout all eteâ—… nity Thus have I done what I promised as to the first Doctrine the usâ—… whereof I shall defer until I have spoken to the second Doctrine and then shall make some short application of them both together Now that Doctrinâ—… as was said before will arise from the reason of Davids calling upon his Soul 〈◊〉 return unto its rest or if you please from the argument and motive he useth fâ—… the perswading it so to do taken from Gods former providences and graâ—… ous dispensations towards him For the Lord hath dealt bountifully wâ—… thee Which is such an argument as doth become every Saint every one 〈◊〉 his Children for upon them all he hath shewn and magnified his merâ—… The Doctrine shall be this Doct. 2. Gods dealing bountifully with a Soul should be a powerful aâ—… cogent argument with it for its return to him It doth carry a great dâ—… of weight and reason in it and it should come with a proportionable strengâ—… upon the Soul It should be effectual It should
mortal Enemies one to another are far one from another though as to their bodies they may be in the same room now a state of sin is a state of enmity so the Apostle Paul tells us Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God enmity in the abstract enmity in the height of it The carnal mind votes against God and the carnal heart hates him and all that bears his Image and Superscription it hates his Law his Government his Word his Ways his People any thing that savours of God any one that resembles him As God doth perfectly hate the carnal mans wickedness so doth the carnal man hate Gods holiness yea all holiness except it be an holy day of his own making The unregenerate man cannot endure the splendor of the Sun no not so much as the twinkling of a Star My meaning is he cannot bear with the perfect holiness of God himself no not with the imperfect holiness of his People Secondly There is a distance from God in our imperfect state while we are in our nonage and minority The gracious Soul is indeed said to be brought nigh as you may see in Ephes. 2. 13. Now in Christ Iesus ye Who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ So that as ye have it in verse 19. Ye are no more strangers and forreigners but fellow-citizens of the Saints and of the houshold of God You are now some of the family with some of the house all those that are sincere Converts sound Believers persuaded to be not almost but altogether Christians are brought into a near relation to God they are his Children and have a right to go up to his very Throne and there call him Father and they are also brought into a near Communion 1 Iohn 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye might have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. And as God hath made it their duty so they do make it their delight to be drawing nigh to him in those Ways which he hath appointed them hence they love praying and hearing Sabbaths and Sacraments means of grace and actings of grace and many sweet meeting they have with him and abundance of benefit and advantage they find coming into their Souls by it Psal. 73. 28. It is good for me to draw near to God pleasant and profitable good as it affords me peace and good as it promotes my growth good as it increaseth my grace and as it adds to my comfort it is every way and upon all accounts good to draw â—…igh to God but yet as near as the Saints themselves are to God they are not so near to him as they would be nor as they should be and therefore things of the enamoured Spouse Cant. 1. 4. Draw me we will run after thee And the Language of all holy Souls is the very same for they are not satisfied with though thankful for what they have but are and while here will be making out after nearer approaches still nearer not only the banquettinghouse-entertainment Cant. 2. 4. but chamber-fellowship Cant. 3. 4. and after clearer sights Shew me thy glory said Moses and after fuller enjoyments Stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples Straw me with them compass load me with them and as none of them are so full as they would be so none of them so fixed as they would be they cannot dwell upon God as they would do but are guilty of wandrings from him both out of duty and in it too their minds and affections are running away from God so that they have them to seek while they should be wholly taken up with him woful flutterings and rovings are the matter of their frequent and sorrowful complaint Thirdly There will be a distance during the time of this their mortal state while they do inhabit the earthly house of this Tabernacle so long as the Christian is upon Earth he is not where he would be unless it be for work-sake and for duties-sake this is not his own home but the house of his Pilgrimage this is not his Country but a strange Land this is not his rest for it is polluted and he is uneasie and when he can make his escape and be upon the wing and get to Heaven by raised meditations flaming affections and a Gospel-adorning conversation still he is not there so as he would be not in such a manner nor to such a degree He is not so often there nor so much there nor so long there as he would be Rara hora brevis mora He can get up thither too seldom and he can abide there too little He is not wholly and altogether there as he would be when he hath taken a great deal of pains to winde his Soul up there are heavy weights that press it down and so there are miserable vexatious declensions and descensions through weakness the holy Soul cannot mount up to Heaven so strongly and through wantonness it cannot abide there so constantly as it would and besides this the present state is a state of absence which the gracious heart doth not like nor approve it is grievous and â—…rksom to it as the wilderness-condition was to Israel though they had Manna sent them from Heaven and Water fetched for them out of a Rock and that following them in a never-failing stream yet it was but a wilderness not the Land flowing with Milk and Honey which they had in the Promise and in their Hope 2 Cor. 5. 6. While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord we do not enjoy his glorious presence nor lie in his bosom we do walk by faith and not by sight we rejoyce in hope and not in fruition the sights which we have of him are but as in a glass darkly and not face to face Our enjoyment of him is mediate we have his tokens and not those endearing embraces that we would Yea and while we are absent we are burdened with this load of corruptible flesh in which we cannot be compleatly happy and with a 〈◊〉 of sin the body of death which stinks in our nostrils and with a load accounts there follows an uneasiness and restlesness of spirit verse 2. We groâ—… earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven to have a Robe of Immortality and Glory put on over this Garment of the body Thus I have shewn you that there is a distance from the Lord and that in all men even the best and most holy those who have attained to the largest measures and highest degrees of grace while they are Pilgrims and Strangers here Now according to this threefold distance from God there is to be a threefold return to him if ever we would come to the enjoyment of a perfect happiness and rest which I shall give up thus to you First There is a return