of these things will be who can tell In Jer. 16.5 we read that God had taken away his Peace from that People I have taken away my Peace from this People saith the Lord and truly now he seemes to have taken away his Peace from the World I 'le leave only two Scriptures with you one out of the Old and the other out of the New-Testament both which I am apt to think may have a great aspect to the present dayes and may in a great measure receive their accomplishment in them One is Zeph. 3.8 Wait ye upon me saith the Lord untill the day that I arise up to the prey for my determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour out upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of jealousy The other is that Luk. 21.25 26. There shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and these we have had and upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity the Sea and the Waves roaring mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth for the powers of Heaven shall be shaken I say nothing only I fear I fear as we have seen some of these things accomplisht so there will be a more full accomplishment of them and that ere the present generation passes away Doubtless great stormes are a coming and happy they that have an Ark to hide themselves in God has now great Works to do he has the Kingdom of Antichrist utterly to destroy the Kingdom of his Son Christ to set up in its Lustre and Glory the final Redemption of his People to work out his ancient Ones to call in and his suffering Name Attributes and Glory fully to right and vindicate and these things are not like to be brought about without great Stormes Convulsions and Concussions in the World Well and what is the language of all this to us Verily this Souls retire into God take up your Rest in him make him your All both here and in eternity and Oh that we would do so Then should we Rest in the day of trouble When Noah fore-saw the Deluge a coming he prepared him an ark to the saving of both himself and Family Heb. 11.7 Surely he s blind indeed that does not see a Deluge coming upon the World a Deluge of outward Troubles and Calamities O why do we not enark in God by making him our Rest this God invites his People unto Isa 26.20 Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy Doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until theindignation be overpast for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their iniquity What is it for God's People to enter into their Chambers hide themselves but to retire more into him live at Rest and in Communion with him to put themselves under his protection and the like 't is for them to retire from the World and worldly Concernes and to make him all living and resting wholly in him and upon him O let this viz. the restlesness of the World you live in draw your Souls into an holy rest in God 5. Consider what enemies you are to your own Souls by not living at Rest in God He that sinneth 't is said wrongeth his own Soul he that lives not at Rest in God greatly sinneth and thereby greatly wrongeth his own Soul On the one hand you hereby deprive your Souls of much Good and on the other hand you expose your Souls to much Evil. 1. Hereby you deprive your Souls of much Good yea of much of the best Good Solomon found this in experience and tells us that pursuing Rest and Happiness in the Creature and not in God he did thereby bereave his Soul of Good Eccles 4.8 and what Good Verily the best Good the Good of Grace of Holiness of Communion with God of the Comforts of his Spirit and the like and Oh how much of this Good do you bereave your Souls of dayly This is that which hath bereaved you of much Grace much Love much Spiritual Comfort many Imbraces in the Armes and Bosome of Christ's Love This namely our pursueing Rest from the Creature and not living at Rest in God is that which hath made us so lean so dead so dry so barren in our Spirits as we are O my Beloved while we have been off our Rest in God and have taken up in other things what have we been doing but feeding upon Husks and Swill when we might have eaten Bread and drunk Wine in the Fathers Kingdom what have we been doing but following after lying vanities to the forsaking of our own mercies Oh did you know how sweet a Life it is to be at Rest in God you would then know what Good you have bereaved your Souls of by not living at Rest in him 2. Hereby you expose your Souls to much evil I remember a saying of Austin * In hoc peccabam quod non in Deo sed in creaturis ejus me atque caeteras voluptates quaerebam atque ita irruebam in dolores confusiones errores animae Aug. In this I sinned says he that I sought my Happiness not in God but in his Creatures and so I rusht upon all manner of Dolours Confusions and Errors of Soul and have not we done So O the wounds the Confusions the Errors of Soul which we have exposed our selves unto while we have been off our Rest in God! Sin and Satan have made great waste and desolation upon our Spirits and 't is what exposes us to nothing but sorrows snares and Death and as we would not wrong our Souls let us retire to and live at Rest in God 6. Consider that your living at Rest in God here will be a clear and unquestionable evidence to you that you shall live at Rest in God and with God for ever O how sweet is it to have any one clear evidence of living at Rest in God and with God in Heaven and what would some of our Souls at some times give for such a blessing yea how sweet is a small glimpse of Hope a secret whisper an inward hint or intimation of such a thing from the Spirit of God in our Souls O live at Rest in God here and this will be a broad evidence of it to you and truly unless you do live at Rest in him here I know not however you will make it out to your Souls that you shall live at Rest in him and with him in the other World In short my Beloved if we do indeed desire to live at Rest with God for ever in Heaven why should we not desire to live at Rest in God here Sure I am the thing is the same and we should desire the one as well as the other and the one as the
they thought not of before and so they wish that undone which they have done and do seek wayes of retracting their own Acts and 't is a saying I have read in Austin God sayes he changes his Works Deus mut at Opera non mutat Consilium Aug. not his Counsels O let us reverence and adore God in this his unchangeableness 4. God is unchangeable in his Kingdom and Rule God has a Kingdom and Dominion over the whole World which Kingdom and Dominion of his is that absolute Right and Power whereby he possesseth all things as his own and also orders and disposes of them as he pleases ruling and governing the whole World according to the Counsel of his own Will and in a subserviency to his own most wise and holy ends hence he is said to be over all Rom. 9.5 And above all Eph. 4.6 to wit in Kingdom Power and Dominion he has a right to all and he has the ordering and dispose of all both Persons and Things States and Kingdomes He is the most High that ruleth in the Kingdomes of Men and gives them to whomsoever he will Dan. 4.32 He workes all and orders all in the Kingdom of Providence as well as in the Kingdom of Grace and that according to the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1.11 He rules and commands all He hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all In Coelis i. e eminentissimè splendidissime potentissime universalissimeque gubernat omnia Gojer Psal 103.19 He doth whatsoever he pleases in Heaven and on Earth in the Seas and in all deep places Psal 135.6 Now in this Kingdom and Dominion of his he is unchangeable it admits of neither stop nor period he ruleth by his Power for ever Psal 66.7 Thy Kingdom O Lord is an everlasting Kingdom a Kingdom of Ages and thy Dominion endureth throughout all Generations * Regnum tuum Aeternum durat cum hominum regna morte saltem finiantur Mus in loc Psal 145.13 And I blessed the most High sayes Nebuchadnezzar whose Dominion is an everlasting Dominion and his Kingdom from Generation to Generation Dan. 4.34 Ah sirs whatever men think yet God governs the World and his Dominion is over all The Lord reigns saith the Psalmist Psal 93.1 He hath reigned He doth reign and He will reign for ever There is a day coming when all Rule Authority and Power shall be put down and that once for all even the Principality of the Angels themselves as Calvin observes not excepted 1 Cor. 15.24 But God reigns for ever and ever and his Kingdom has no end Thus he is unchangeable in his Kingdom and Rule in the World which is a great encouragement to the People of God O my Beloved God governs the World now as well as heretofore yea and he governs it in our Nature now as well as heretofore Joh. 5.27 He governs all by the Man Christ who has a natural tender care of and respect to his Church and People in all let us therefore say with the Psalmist The Lord reigneth let the people tremble the Lord reigneth let Sion rejoyce God is not God cannot be put by his Throne and Kingdom 5. God is unchangeable in his Covenant and Promise his Covenant and Promise with his People in Christ God hath made a Covenant with his People in Christ a Covenant of Peace a Covenant of Grace a Covenant of Love a Covenant founded upon Grace a Covenant full of Grace a Covenant wholly made up of Grace and Love from first to last therefore called Grace in the Abstract Rom. 6.14 a Full Covenant a Rich Covenant a Pretious Covenant a Covenant made up of Rich yea exceeding rich and pretious Promises and filled with exceeding rich and pretious Treasures pretious Grace pretious Peace pretious Pardon pretious Righteousness pretious Salvation with a pretious God a pretious Christ a pretious Spirit a pretious Heaven and Blessedness for ever Now in this Covenant and in all the pretious Promises of it is God the Lord unchangeable hence you have it so often called an Everlasting Covenant I will establish my Covenant between me and thee sayes God to Abraham for an Everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee Gen. 17.7 Again I will make an Everlasting Covenant with them speaking of his people and I will not turn away from them to do them good Jer. 32.40 and as an Everlasting Covenant so an Everlasting and Sure Covenant God hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant sayes David well-ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23.5 and again Come and I will make with you an Everlasting Covenant even the Sure Mercies of David Isa 55.3 Hence also 't is called a Covenant of Salt * Pactum Salis q. d. incorruptum stabile perpetuum Vatab. Num. 18.19 that is a firm a durable an unchangeable Covenant Many other wayes does God set forth the immutability of his Covenant Sal symbolum incorruptions ideoque in foederibus sanciendis usurpatum ad indicandum ea incorrupte inviolate servanda esse Bonfr in loc and that for the encouragement of our Faith and Comfort how sweet is that Word and what a rest may it be to Faith Isa 54.9 10. This is as the Waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I will no more be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee For the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Pray observe God had in the two foregoing verses promised his Church and People that though for a small moment he had forsaken them yet with great Mercies he would gather them and that though in a little wrath he had hid his face from them for a moment yet with Everlasting kindness he would have mercy on them and here in these two verses he gives them a double ground of the assurance hereof the one taken from his Oath and the unchangeableness thereof ver 9. the other from his Covenant and the unchangeableness thereof ver 10. For the Mountains shall depart c. as if he should say The Mountains and Hills may sooner be removed than my Covenant yea the time will come when these shall be removed but the time will never come that my Covenant shall fail or be removed But what if his People sin what then Why then he will correct and chastise them for their sin but his Covenant he will keep firm and inviolable for ever notwithstanding For this you have a full and an express Text Psal 89.30 31 32 33 34. If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgments if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their Transgressions with a Rod and their Iniquities
with stripes Nevertheless O gracious nevertheless my loveing-kindness will I not take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail my Covenant will I not braek c. We sin and break and break and sin and God chastises us it may be for our sin but yet still his Covenant remaines firm and unchangeable So 2 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself Oh I have an unbelieving heart and I shall I fear forfeit all although thou hast an unbelieving heart yet God remains faithful Thus God is unchangeable in his Covenant Alas his Covenant is built upon unchangeable Love and seal'd with unchangeable Blood and cannot therefore but be unchangeable and as the Covenant so all the Promises of the Covenant are sure and unchangeable they are all yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 that is they are all sure firm unchangeable Promises Promises that will certainly be made good Men promise many times and change but God promises and changes not and this some conceive to be held forth in that Name of his I am Exod. 3.14 I am that I am or I am what I was or I will be what I was that is as one expounds it Eroquteram i. e. ero factis qut eram in promissis Alting I will be in my Performances what I was in my Promises God makes good all his promises to a tittle he that is Truth it self and Faithfulness it self cannot lie cannot faile Promissa tua sunt Domine quis falli timeat cum promittit veritas Aug. 'T is a sweet saying I have read in Austin They are thy Promises O Lord and who need fear being deceived when Truth it self promises Oh we need not fear we need not question for God is true God is faithful Oh how sweet are the thoughts of an unchangeable Covenant God has laid himself under bonds to his People when he was infinitely free in himself and under bonds to do great things for them to pardon their iniquities transgressions and sins to give them a new heart and a new Spirit to pour out his Spirit upon them to cause them to walk in his Statutes and Judgements to do them to write his Laws in their Hearts and put them into their inward parts to cleanse them from all their filthiness and idols to put his fear into their hearts that they shall never depart from him and which is all in one to be a God unto them and that they shall be his People that is he has laid himself under bonds to be to them and to do for them what a God can be to and do for them and he is firm and unchangeable in all and all shall assuredly have its accomplishment in its season Oh how sweet is this this was Davids death-bed Cordial 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my House be not so with God yet he hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant and this is all my Salvation and all my Desire and indeed well it might for what could David or any desire more than is contained in God's Covenant which has Heaven and Earth God and the Creature Time and Eternity all in it Oh study this Covenant of God and the unchangeableness of it and you will find it an unchangeable Spring of Comfort to you God himself found fault with the first Covenant 't is said and why Why because it made no provision for his People against sin but you will be able to find no fault with this Covenant this being well-ordered in all things and sure as in the place last quoted you have it 6. God is unchangeable in his Grace and Love to his People God loves his People and that with a choice and peculiar Love a Love like that wherewith he loves Christ himself Joh. 17.23 They are indeed the dearly beloved of his soul as you have it Jer. 12.7 and in this Love of his towards them he is unchangeable alwayes the same which I shall at once a little open and evince unto you in three Propositions 1. God is unchangeable in his Love it self to his People that being alwayes the same towards them I have loved thee sayes God to his People with an Everlasting Love Jer. 31.3 with a Love that is from everlasting to everlasting without change or period God's Love to his People is so firm and stable that nothing whatever can possibly null or alter it nothing can possibly cast them out of his heart if any thing could do it it would be their sinnings against him and their breakings with him but these do not cannot do it so he has told us Psal 89.30 31 32 33. If they sin I 'le correct them for their sin but my loveing-kindness I will not take from them or as some render it I will not so much as interrupt my Love towards them as if he should say though they sin yet I 'le love them still God does not love the sins of his People no he hates them but he loves their persons notwithstanding their sins But what if afflictions and temptations be added to their sins and both the one and the other rise high will not this break off his Love from them No see that triumph of the Apostle upon this account Rom. 8. ult Who shall separate us from the Love of God shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution and the like Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerers through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalityes nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here you see are afflictions and temptations added to sins yea here are heights and depths of these things but all cannot separate God's People from his Love nor cast them out of his Heart One I remember gives the sum of the whole in this short word Ab aeterno dilexit in aeternum diliget Scult in loc God hath loved from eternity and he will love to eternity The truth is could either sins or sufferings cast us out of God's Heart and separate us from his Love who then among the Saints could hope to continue in his Love and upon his Heart Besides in the place lately quoted Isa 54.9.10 God sayes expresly that though the Mountains should be removed yet his kindness to his People should not be removed no that remains firm and stedfast for ever True God may possibly afflict his People and that many wayes and very sorely he may speak against them as against Ephraim Jer. 31.20 write against them and that bitter things as against Job Job 13.26 He may fight against them as against those Isa 63.10 He may frown upon them and let in his terrors into them as he did upon and into Heman Psal 88. ult but yet still he loves them still they are dear to him 2.
doctrinal Corollaries or Deductions from the consideration of God's Unchangeableness HAving thus far asserted opened and vindicated the Unchangeableness of God our next work shall be to deduce some useful Corollaries or Conclusions thence and indeed many things of weight and very momentous to us may be drawn from what has been said As 1. See here the Glorious Excellency and Perfection of God and that he is infinitely distinguisht from all the creatures in Dignity and Glory God my Beloved is every way above and distinguisht from the creatures He is the excellent Glory 2 Pet. 1.17 and there is hardly any thing wherein his Glorious Excellency and Perfection does more brightly illustriously and transcendently appear and shine forth than in his Unchangeableness The Creatures are all changeable one way or other the Heavens and the Earth with all the furniture of the one and the other are changeable they shall perish yea all of them shall wax old like a Garment and be changed as a Vesture Psal 102.26 The day is coming wherein all these shall be dissolved 2 Pet. 3.10 11. Men also they are changeable they indeed are Changeableness it self as it were they are changeable in their Nature and changeable in their Condition changeable in their Spirits and changeable in their Wayes changeable in their Counsels and changeable in their Comforts changeable in all they are unstable as water as 't is said of Reuben Gen. 49.4 Great Men are changeable Psal 62.9 Yea good Men are changeable the best Men are changeable the best Men at their best in this world are changeable Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity that is subject to change Psal 39.5 Men are not to day what they were yesterday nor will they be to morrow what they are to day yea Men are to day and to morrow they are not so changeable are they Yea the Angels the Blessed Angels themselves are changeable God puts no trust in his Saints and his Angels he charges with folly Job 4.18 that is with possible though not actual folly with change and folly in their Nature though not in their Condition there is my Beloved a peccability in the very Angels I mean in their Nature The best of Creatures in themselves are subject to the worst of changes the glorious Angels are in their Nature capable of sinning indeed in their Condition they are not being confirmed in both all Holiness and all Happiness by the grace of the Second Covenant but in their Nature they are Hence that saying of one of the School-men Cuicunque Creaturae hoc convenit ut peccare non possit hoc habet ex dono gratiae non ex conditione naturae Aquin. Whatever Creature there is that is impeccable and cannot sin he has not this from himself or in his Nature but from the Gift of free Grace Thus all the Creatures are changeable but God is unchangeable he is for ever the same And O how glorious does this speak him to be And how does it distinguish him from all the Creatures in Perfection and Glory The truth is this is a glorious Excellency and Perfection in it self and this puts a lustre and glory upon the Excellencies Perfections of God for this as one speaks is an Attribute which like the silken string through the Chain of Pearl runs through all the rest and puts a glory upon all God's Holiness would not be half so glorious were it not unchangeable Holiness his Love would not be half so sweet were it not unchangeable Love his Justice and Wrath would not be half so terrible were it not unchangeable Justice and Wrath Indeed what were any of all his Attributes in comparison were they not unchangeable O! let us learn to see and adore God in this glorious Excellency and Perfection of his 2. From the consideration of God's Unchangeableness we conclude the transcendent excellency of Spiritual Things beyond Carnal Heavenly things beyond Earthly and accordingly we should prize and pursue the one and the other This take for an eternal Rule That the nearer things come to God and the more they resemble him and partake of him the more excellent and desirable they are Indeed as God is the Fountain so he is the Measure and Standard of all true Worth and Excellency and here is nothing that has any real worth or excellency in it any further then it resembles him and partakes of him Now what things do most resemble God and partake of God are they Spiritual or Carnal Heavenly or Earthly surely Spiritual and Heavenly Things God is unchangeable and so in their kind are these as for Carnal and Earthly things they are fading and changeable the best of them are Treasures which moth and rust doth corrupt and which Theives do break through and steal Mat. 6.19 They are all fadeing dying transient things The World passeth away sayes Saint John 1 Joh. 2.17 that is fleeting and perishing 'T is a good Observation which Calvin has upon these words * Quia in mundo nihil est nisi caducum et quasi momentaneum ex eo colligit quam male misere sibi consulant qui hic sibi faelicitatem constituunt praesertim quum al beatam aeternae vitae gloriam nos Deus vocet Calv. Because sayes he in the World there is nothing but what is fading and as it were but for a moment the Apostle thence concludes how ill they consult and provide for themselves who carve out to themselves their happiness here especially when God calls us to the blessed Glory of eternal Life and 't is as if he should say The true happiness which God offers to his Children is eternal and therefore most unworthy is it in us to incumber our selves with this World which together with all its good things will anon vanish away Pray let us lay this Observation to heart The world passeth away that is Riches Honours and Pleasures they all fade and change are short-lived Alas how soon many times do Riches change into Poverty Pleasure into Pain Honour into Disgrace and Contempt Friends into Enemies Fulness into Want there is no stability in any of these things they are subject to change every moment but now Spiritual and Heavenly Things they are lasting and durable they are Treasures which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt nor can Theives break through and steal them Mat. 6.20 The Riches of this World are uncertain Riches vanishing disappearing Riches 1 Tim. 6.17 but the Riches of Heaven and the Covenant of God's Love are certain durable and abiding Riches Grace is a durable Thing the Righteousness of Christ is a durable unchangeable Thing Pardon Justification Acceptation with God through that Righteousness are durable Things Union and Communion with God through Christ these are unchangeable these live and last for ever where attained and being so they do come nearer God they more resemble him and partake more of him than Carnal and Earthly Things do and so are
more excellent than they and should be accordingly prized by us O my Beloved there is more true worth and excellency in one dram of Grace one beam of Holiness one hint of the Pardon of sin one sight of God's reconciled Face one imbrace in the bosom of his Love than there is in a World of Carual Comforts and Contentments and accordingly we should prize and affect them our eye and heart should be taken off from the one and fixt upon the other But alas alas we are apt to dote upon these changeable things here below O how fond are we of and how passionately for the most part are we carried out after Carnal Earthly sensible Things But how cold are we in our love to and pursuits after Things Spiritual and Heavenly as if indeed Earthly and not Heavenly things were the only things of weight and moment whereas indeed the one hath no worth no glory in them in comparison of the Glory which excelleth Let us therefore with the holy Apostle not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 Mark the Apostle did not think Carnal and Earthly Things worth a cast of his eye because they are temporal changeable but Spiritual Things which are durable and eternal these he counted worthy of his eye his heart and all O let us measure the worth of things by their resemblance to God and what they do partake of him 3. Behold here as in a Glass the notorious folly and madness of such as prefer the Creature before God in their choice and affections placing their happiness in it and not in him Many not one or two or a few but many say Who will shew us any good and what good is it they would have shewn them Corn Wine Oyle Psal 4.6 Creature-good sensible-good good to feed and fill a sensual Appetite and indeed this is the good which the most of men prefer in their choice and affections before God placing the rest and happiness of their Souls therein The generality of men have high thoughts of the Creature and low thoughts of God great affections for the Creature and small affections for God 'T is but here and there one that does truly and indeed carry his happiness above the road of Creatures and place it in God Take the most of men and 't is the Creature they love 't is the Creature they prize 't is the Creature they choose and 't is the Creature they take up their rest and happiness in as for God they will have none of him as God complained of them of old Israel would none of me Psal 81.11 In a word God and the Creatures share the hearts and affections of the whole World between them God tenders himself to men as the rest and happiness of their Souls and accordingly to be loved to be prized to be chosen to be delighted in by them on the other hand the Creatures they tender themselves to men in like manner and both plead for acceptation and which I pray carrys it God or the Creature Truly the Creature with the most Alas we are carnal and sensual and do naturally incline to carnal and sensual things imbracing them to the neglect of God and so the Creature is preferred before God Oh what folly and madness is this to prefer the Creature before God in our choice and affections is not only to prefer emptiness before fulness nothingness before sufficiency but 't is also to prefer vanity before immutability and variableness before unchangeableness and Oh what folly what madness is this to prefer the Creature before God in our choice and affections is to prefer a broken Cistern that can hold no Water before a Fountain of Living Waters So God himself speaks of it and withal brands it for a black and horrid evil Jer. 2.12 13. an evil which he calls upon the Heavens to be astonisht at and the Earth to be horribly afraid because of O my Beloved to prefer a Cistern before a Fountain a poor narrow scanty borrowed Good before a full ample original all-sufficient Good a drop before an Ocean of Goodness and sweetness this is great folly but to prefer a broken Cistern and a broken Cistern that can hold no Water before a Fountain of Living Waters fleeting nothingness before unchangeable fulness this is greater folly folly even to madness and yet this is the folly of the most of men Carnal men are often in Scripture called Fools and their folly appears in nothing more than this Namely their preferring changeable Creatures before an unchangeable God and indeed than this what greater folly can there be In Luk. 12.19 we read of one that talked to his Soul saying Soul eat drink and be merry for thou hast much goods laid up for thee for many years take thine ease Pray mark he had never a word of God in his mouth and as we may safely conclude never a thought of God in his heart but he was wholly taken up with his Barnes and Goods and Treasures and yet he bids his Soul to take its ease to sit down at rest God was as nothing with him and the Creature was all Well what title does Christ give him does he give him the title of a wise Man No Thou fool says he Christ calls him fool as well he might for what greater folly than this to be wholly taken up with perishing Creatures and neglect and forget an unchangeable God yea and to bid his Soul take its ease too because he abounded with Creature-injoyments Indeed had he said Soul take thine ease be merry thou hast Heavenly Treasures laid up in abundance for thee God is thine Christ is thine the Blessed Spirit the Comforter is thine Heaven and Eternal Life is thine this had been something like but to have his heart taken up with carnal things altogether preferring them before God and to bid his Soul to rest and be merry upon the account of these this is folly with a witness and who deserves the name of a Fool if he did not What shall I say this namely to prefer the Creature before God is such folly as will at last expose to shame and contempt for ever all that are guilty of it and such are even hung up in Chains for the highest instances of folly and madness Lo sayes the Psalmist this is the man that made not God his Strength but trusted in the abundance of his Riches c. q. d. Consi erate quam miser nunc sit qui antea tam foclix crat Piscat in loc Videte quis sit illius exitus Musc in loc Psal 52.7 Lo this is the man that preferred the Creature before God that made Riches not God his Portion this is that Fool that very Fool that mad Man yea and whoever they are that do this they will at last though perhaps too late
our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Holiness Does God reveal himself to be a gracious God a God of Grace and Love This calls upon us to choose him for our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Love Doth he reveal himself to be a faithful God a God that keepeth Covenant and Mercy This calls upon us to choose him for our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Faithfulness so here Does God reveal himself to be an Unchangeable God This calls upon us to chuse him for our God and Portion and to get an interest in his Unchangeableness taking up the rest and happiness of our Souls in him and accordingly O that we would look and live above changeable Creatures taking up our rest and happiness in this unchangeable God which to do is even infinitely our safest and sweetest course for pray consider who or what will you chuse for your Portion and wherein will you place the rest and happiness of your Souls if not in the Unchangeable God Sure I am you have but God or the Creature to make choice of Now what is the Creature to God What is the changeable Creature to the unchangeable God Alas the one is infinitely short of the other God indeed is every way and in all respects a most desirable Good He is an original Good a full Good a suitable Good a satisfying Good an unmixed Good an all-sufficient Good and which crowns all an Unchangeable Good a Good that never fades never failes He is the Living God and stedfast for ever Dan. 6.26 The Creatures are all changeable and perishing An Heathen could say Inter peritura vivimus Sen. We live among perishing things And 't was a great saying of one of the Aucients We have nothing Nulla res longa mortalium est omnisâ—â—â— faelicitas saeculi dum tenetur amittitur here sayes he of any long continuance and all the felicity of this world is gone while we hold it and lost even while we injoy it Such and so great is the changeableness and uncertainty of all these things But God as you have heard and all that Good that is in him is alwayes and for ever the same which speaks him to be infinitely sweet and desirable and so infinitely worthy to be imbraced by us for our God and Portion This indeed crowns and perfects all that good that is in God Look as the changeableness of the Creatures lowers and allays that good and sweetness that is in them so the Unchangeableness of God does infinitely raise and commend that good and excellency that is in him Had the Creatures ten thousand times more good and excellency in them than they have yet this one consideration that they are changeable were enough to damp all and quash all though the Creatures had never so much sweetness and goodness in them and though I had never so full free and ample injoyment of them though the streames ran never so pleasantly on each hand of me yet this one thought that all this is fading and changeable and will last but for a season were enough to allay my joy and even imbitter all to me So on the other hand though God be such an infinite Ocean of Goodness Sweetness and Blessedness as he is yet that which crowns all is his Unchangeableness in all and without this 't is not the whole of God could make us happy Now shall the consideration hereof induce you to chuse him for your God and Portion and take up your rest and happiness in him for ever Possibly you have never yet chosen God to be your God and Portion nor have you taken up the rest and happiness of your Souls in him you have chosen the Creatures you have chosen this World you have chosen carnal sensual things and in these have you placed your rest and happiness but as for God he has hitherto been far from your Reins you have centred in changeable Creatures and forgotten the Unchangeable God But will you now change your Choice and take up a new Rest Oh now let an Unchangeable God not changeable Creatures be your God and Portion your Rest and Happiness O that the language of your Souls to God might now be that of the Psalmist Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Lord thou and thou alone shall be my God my Rest my Portion my Happiness and my All for ever Indeed I had chosen the Creatures for my Portion and Happiness but now I renounce that choice I 'le have no more to do with changeable Creatures the World was my happiness and I sat down with it so foolish was I and ignorant but now I have done with the World this flitting fading dying World and thou Lord alone shall be my All for ever Oh that you would indeed thus chuse the Unchangeable God and take up your rest and happiness in him this day And you that have chosen him and taken up your happiness in him make a new choice of him and take up your rest more purely and entirely in him say over this Unchangeable One This God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 Oh labour to get more above the Creatures and live more in God and upon God The more purely and entirely you take up your rest in God the sweeter will he be to you and the more satisfaction will your souls find in him Now to quicken you thus to chuse God and live upon him and his Unchangeableness 1. Consider what a changeable World we live in we live in a changeable World in a World that rings changes every day many changes and great changes the truth is This World is a very changeable world and 't is not long e're it will be changed once for all the day is coming when all these things shall be dissolved the Heavens shall pass away with a noise the Earth shall melt with fervent heat 2 Pet. 3.10.11 and in the mean time the world is not without its changes and how great changes we may live to see who knows such changes seem to be coming upon the world as that nothing but an Unchangeable God will be able to bear us up under them In Luk. 21.25 26. we read of distress of Nations which shall be upon the Earth with perplexity mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things that shall come to pass upon the Earth The sum of which amounts to this that there shall be such changes such rendings such shakings such terrible convulsions and concussions wrought in the Nations of the World such desolations shall be made and such terrible storms of wrath and vengeance shall fall upon the World as that men shall be even exanimated and driven to their wits end they shall fall under a deliquium Animi a swooning of Spirit they shall breath out their very Souls or they shall be
Enoch that he walked with God three hundred years and begat Sons and Daughters of others 't is said that they begat such and such and they lived so many years afterwards but of Enoch 't is said he begat Methuselah and walked with God three hundred years as if his whole life for that three hundred years were one continued and uninterrupted course of walking with God The * Deum presentem praeoculis ac familiarem habuit Deique placito se ita accommodavit ut videretur perpetuo cum Deo ambulare Tirin Phrase as a learned Critique observes seems to carry this in it that he had God so present alwayes with him and he so accomodated himself to the pleasure of God as that he seemed perpetually to walk with him His life was as it were one constant course and series of walking with him This also is what God calls for Be stedfast immoveable alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 This is what the Apostles are ever and anon praying for both for themselves and others The God of all Grace stablish strengthen settle you 1 Pet 5.10 This is what being attained is the Crown and Perfection of a Christian so in that same 1 Pet. 5 10. The God of all Grace after you have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen you To be stablisht and settled in our Spirits and wayes in holy things this is our Perfection 'T is indeed the glory of Christianity and the honour of a Christian Oh my Beloved the more even and uniform we are in the things and wayes of God the more excellent and perfect we are and the more amiable in the sight of God Oh 't is not the flashy high-flown talking but the even and steady Christian that is most excellent most amiable in God's Eye this is a Crown of Glory indeed upon the Head of a poor Soul 'T was queen Elizabeths Motto semper eadem alwayes the same and truly were it more in an holy respect the Christians Motto he would be more glorious than he is Rawlins you left me and Rawlins you find me said that Martyr meaning that he was still in the same Mind the same Spirit being constant to his Testimony which was his Crown and Glory Quod desideras autem magnum summum est Deoque vicinum non conents Sen. 'T is an high and great thing sayes one to his Friend which thou desirest and even bordering upon a Deity not to be moved and changed Sure I am 't is an high and great thing in Spirituals to come up to an holy evenness and fixedness of Soul This is that which honours the Gospel this is that which renders Religion amiable this is that which makes way for full and constant communion with God for abiding Consolations this is that which delights the Heart of God this is that which brings us near to the state and life of Heaven for there the Saints and Angels are fixed and unchangeably confirmed in all Good in all Holiness in all Happiness Oh labour for as much of this Holy Unchangeableness as possibly may be attained unto here on Earth and then sigh and long for that Life and State where you shall know no change for ever but be perfectly unchangeably and etenally holy and happy as God himself is for you shall be like him and see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 'T is true 't is no easy thing to fix our roving Spirits and reduce them to a steadiness in what is good but remember the God you are to have recourse to to do this great Work for you is the God of all Grace as you have it in the prequoted place 1 Pet. 5.10 and he therefore can do it with ease for you Oh look to him for this great Blessing this high Attainement CHAP. XI The Unchangeableness of God a sweet Spring of Comfort to his People Several consolatory Conclusions thence AS God's Unchangeableness calls for much duty from so it Ministers much sweet comfort to his poor Church and People The truth is there is scarce any such Spring and Treasury of Comfort as this is God's Immutability sayes one is the best Cordial to refresh a fainting Soul The great Cordial God sent Israel in their distress was this I am that I am I am an Unchangeable God Exod. 3.14 and indeed that was enough for them But more particularly there are several consolatory Conclusions which flow from God's Unchangeableableness Conclusions which do carry strong consolation in them 1. God being Unchangeable his Glory shall live and in due time shine forth conspicuously before all for this see Isa 42.8 I am the Lord I am Jehovah I am he who was and is and is to come the Unchangeable God Well and what then Why My Glory will I not give to another nor my Praise to Graven Images my Glory shall not die but live my Glory shall not be alwayes veiled and eclipsed but it shall shine forth in perfect lustre and splendor One of the great burthens that lies upon the People of God is the sufferings of his Name and Glory The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me sayes David Psal 69.9 God's Glory is veiled his Name is blasphemed his Worship is interrupted his Providence is denied all his Attributes are obscured and his Honour every way thrown in the dust which makes holy Souls go mourning from day to day But my Beloved here is that may comfort the Soul God is Unchangeable and therefore his Glory shall live and shine forth again the Veil shall in due time be taken away and his Glory shall appear yea it shall be as eminently illustrated and displayed as ever it has been veiled and eclipsed You know how God speaks in reference to the Glory of his Name in answer to Christ's Prayer Joh. 12.28 Father glorifie thy Name sayes Christ and what answer does the Father give him I have glorified it and I will glorifie it again q.d. I have hitherto taken care of my Glory and I will take care of it still O my Beloved God's Glory has hitherto been dear to him he has hitherto maintained it in the World and he is Unchangeable and therfore his Glory is as dear to him as ever it was he is as jealous for it as ever he is also every way as able to vindicate maintain it as ever he was and assure your selves were it not that he knows how to make it shine forth so much the more illustriously and conspicuously afterwards he would not suffer it to be so veiled and eclipsed as sometimes he does yea let me say he is alwayes carrying on as the interest of his Peoples Happiness so the concerns of his own Glory 2. God being Unchangeable his Church shall be preserved and delivered preserved under and in due time delivered out of all her troubles and afflictions and what a sweet thing is that The poor Church of God is oftentimes
formerly and that is enough Yea do God's dispensations change towards thee he did smile now he frowns he did lift up now he casts down the light of his Countenance did shine brightly upon thee now 't is veild clouded Well however thy God himself changes not his Heart his Counsel his Covenant his Love are still the same towards thee that ever they were howbeit the dispensation be changed Oh this one word God is Mine and he is Unchangeable has infinite sweetness in it and it speakes me to be infinitely and unchangeably happy Oh you that are the People of God labour to see and rejoice in this happiness of yours Which that you may the better do let me add onely two short Words to this and I will shut up the whole Discourse 1. Consider that as your God is unchangeable so you are unchangeably interested in him This Unchangeable God is unchangeably your God what though God be unchangeable may some poor Soul say what will that avail me my interest in him I fear will change and fail there will shortly be an end of that No Soul the Unchangeable God being indeed thine he is thine for ever so the Church This God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 O Soul thou through infinite free and rich Grace hast a Covenant-interest in and relation to the Unchangeable God and this Interest and Relation of thine is a firm lasting and Unchangeable Interest and Relation Nothing that either Men Devils or Lusts can do can possibly break or null it and so he tells us Psal 89.30 31 32. of which we have spoken before I shall here onely add a saying or two of Austin The chief good saies he which is God Summum bonum nec invitis confertur nec invitis aufertur is neither given to such as are unwilling to have him nor taken away from such as are unwilling to part with him and elsewhere Te nemo umittit nisi qui dimittit qui te demittit quo it aut quo fugit nisi a te placito ad te natum Aug. Conf. lib. 4. Cap. 9. No man does or can lose thee O God saies he unless he that is willing to lose thee and go without thee and he that willingly parts with thee whither does he go Whither does he flee but from thee smiling to thee frowning from thee a reconciled Father to thee an angry Judge O Soul as long as thou art willing to have God thine so long he shall be thine yea more thine interest in him depends not upon thy willingness of it but upon his Unchangeable Love and Covenant and his Love and Covenant both must change e're thine interest in him can fade and change 2. Consider as your God is Unchangeable so after a while you shall unchangeably enjoy him and be with him your Vision and Fruition of him shall be Unchangeable Beatitudo electione inchoatur adeptione impletur Our happiness saies Austin is begun here in Election but 't is perfected hereafter in Fruition You that have chosen the Unchangeable God you shall after a few dayes injoy the God whom you have chosen your happiness is great in your chusing of him but how much more great will it be in your injoying of him Psal 73.24 25. Thou shalt guide me by thy Counsels and afterwards receive me unto glory whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire besides thee q.d. I have chosen and I do again chuse thee for my God and Portion and some injoyment I have of thee here and more I shall have hereafter in Heaven I shall e're long be taken to injoy thee in thy Glory fully immediately and for ever for thou art mine and I have made a solemn choice of thee O Saints the Unchangeable God is yours and some communion you have with him here in the waies of his Grace which is sweet and happy but after you have injoyed him in the waies of his Grace a while here you shall be taken to the Unchangeable injoyment of him in his Glory Above which will be infinitely more sweet and happy your injoyment of him here is low and remote as well as changeable and unconstant but your injoyment of him Above will be full close and Unchangeable here you have now and then a gracious visit from him he visits you in this Duty and that Ordinance in this Mercy and in that Affliction but Oh how short many times are those visits of his Alas he is gone again in a moment but after a while you shall injoy him in his Glory and there you shall not have a short visit now and then onely but his constant presence for ever We shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 Oh blessed Souls there he will unchangeably delight in you unchangeably shine upon you unchangeably communicate himself in his Grace and Glory to you Oh how sweet and blessed will this be Well for a close of all Saints the Unchangeable God is unchangeably your God and howbeit your visions of him be yet but dark and your communion with him but low yet wait a while and the day will break and all your shadows shall flee away you shall change your ebbing Waters for a full Tyde your Glimmerings and Dawnings for a noon-day your imperfect beginnings for a full and perfect consummation of communion with him Howbeit there be now a Veil upon his Face that you cannot behold him yet wait awhile and the Veil shall be taken away and you shall behold his Face his Glory for ever and that so as to be fully changed into the Image thereof and eternally solaced and satisfied therein suitable to that word Psal 17.15 with which I 'le close all As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Amen The True Rest OR The Soul's Rest in GOD. Opened and improved from PSAL. 116.7 Return unto thy Rest O my Soul CHAP. I. An Introduction to the Words What that Rest is which David calls upon his Soul to return unto The sum of the words and of our intendment from them laid down in one general Position IT is the great happiness of the Saints that howbeit they meet with many sore troubles and afflictions here in this World yea though they meet with little else but trouble and affliction here yet there is a Rest to come for them a sweet Rest a blessed Rest a glorious Rest a Rest not lyable to either decay or disturbance for ever So the Apostle tells us Heb 4.9 There remaineth a Rest to the People of God Nor is this all their happiness for not only does there remain a Rest for them hereafter but there is also a Rest a sweet Rest a blessed Rest which they do or may attain unto here a Rest even in the midst of all those troubles which here they are exposed unto and blessed be God for this Rest
and I am satisfied with what he does Thus the Soul gets right apprehensions of the Will and Providence of God concerning him and hereupon is sweetly satisfied and sits down at Rest in God in the midst of all he does to him or with him True God may deal somewhat severely with him he may break him with breach upon breach as he did Job he may cause all his Waves and his Billows to pass over him as he dealt with David but still the Soul looks upon all to be Holy Just and Good and no other than what God in his Sovereignty may do and so he Rests satisfied therewith he Rests content in God and his Will under all there are no disquietments or perplexities of Spirit no distractions or discomposures of Soul no frettings no tumults no murmurings no risings of heart against God or his Will but there is a sweet calm serenity and Rest in the Soul he is in a sedate serene posture in his God and this Rest in God the Psalmist speaks of Psal 37.7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him fret not thy self because of him that prospereth in the way Resting in God is here opposed to fretting and so must note a quiet sedate well-composed Spirit in God 2. 'T is for a Soul to sit down satisfied with what God is as all and so it lies in a full and ample satisfaction in and with the Divine presence and fulness 'T is for a Soul to take up in and with the blessed God as his only and all-sufficient Portion and happiness for ever God my Beloved is an All-sufficient God he asserts his own All-sufficiency Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient saies he to Abraham q. d. I am infinitely sufficient for my self and I am infinitely sufficient for thee and all my People to make the one and the other happy for ever God is an inexhaustible Fountain of Light Life Love Blessedness Perfection and Glory there is all good in God and he that has God has all To him that overcometh will I give to inherit all things And how so I will be his God Rev. 21.7 He has all good all happiness in him and in him we may find all as in its Fountain-fulness and purity Now the Soul seeing God to be such a God and withal looking upon him as his God in Covenant sits down satisfied with him alone saying I have enough I have all and so is at Rest in him whether he has much or little any thing or nothing of this worlds good whether the streams run high or low with him yet here is a a Fountain of infinite sweetness and blessedness and he drinks there and satisfies himself there he sees the Fountain is so full that he needs not the streams to make him happy and accordingly sits down satisfied therewith and is at Rest Thus David's Soul was at Rest in God Ps l. 16.5 6. the Lord is the portion of mine Inheritance and of my Cup Well and what then Why he sits down at Rest in him the lines saies he are fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage I have enough enough for delight and enough for satisfaction I have as much as my Soul can wish or desire so Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness in the verse immediately preceding he had spoken of some whose portion and happiness is in this World well and pray David where and in what is your Portion your happiness My Portion is in God and my Happiness is in God saies he in the sight of God and in the likeness of God let others take up their Rest Portion and Happiness where and in what they will God is my Rest my Portion my Happiness my All for ever as for me I will behold c. Again the Lord lives saies he and blessed be my Rock Psal 18.46 q. d. such and such Comforts are dead and gone they are not as Jacob spake of his sons well but however God lives still I have a living God and he is a living Happiness and that 's enough So 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my House be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my Salvation and all my desire q. d. God is my God by Covenant and here is my happiness even all that my Soul can wish and accordingly he is at Rest in his God And Psal 73.25 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire in comparison of thee my heart and my flesh faileth but God is the Rock of my heart and my Portion for ever How dark soever things lookt with him yet he looking to his God was satisfied and at Rest in him and with him as infinitely enough for him The Prophet Habakkuk resolved upon the same course Hab. 3.17 18. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall Fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail c. yet will I rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation He supposes the worst that could come and yet still resolves to be at Rest in God and that God alone shall be enough for him when all other things fail Thus the holy Soul sits down satissied with God alone setting God and an interest in God over and against all his Wants Losses Burthens Difficulties Temptations as one infinitely able to relieve and satisfie him under all his language to God is Lord let others take the Word and the good things thereof give me thy Self and I have enough run out to broken Cisterns who will let me have a free recourse unto the Fountain and I am satisfied 't is true the Tyde of Creature-comforts runs low with me and on the other hand the Waves and Surges of Affliction rise high but God is all-sufficient and I have enough in him he sees a little of that glorious Fullness Sweetness and Blessedness that is in God and hereupon sings an holy Requiem unto himself saying Soul take thine ease thou hast Goods Light Life Love Blessedness Salvation enough laid up for thee for many dayes yea for the dayes of Eternity take thine ease sit down satisfied in and with thy God alone had'st thou ten thousand Worlds without him thou had'st nothing but in him thou hast all Rest thou therefore in him Thus you see what 't is for a Soul to be at Rest in God and when he may be said to be at Rest in him CHAP. III. The great Obligations the Saints are under thus to live at Rest in God Several of these Obligations insisted on as the first evidence of the Truth of our Proposition HAving seen what 't is for a Soul to be at Rest in God our next work shall be to shew you what Obligations the Saints are under thus to live at Rest in him and that
as an undenyable evidence of the truth of our Position the Saints are under mighty Obligations thus to be at Rest in God I shall insist only on four which are full of weight and I beg they may accordingly affect and influence us 1. The first Obligation the Saints are under to live at Rest in God is this The blessed God hath freely made over himself in his Covenant to them and that in all his glorious Riches and Fulness that in him their Souls might be at Rest He hath given himself to them as their Rest and Portion and is not this a mighty Obligation in the case God my Beloved in the Covenant of his Love hath freely given and made over himself to his People in all his Riches and Fulness in all his Excellencies and Perfections to be used possest and injoyed by them as an All-sufficient Rest Portion and Happiness for ever This is evident in the very tenour of the Covenant and where-ever you have a formal Mention or Record of the Covenant in Scripture this is put in I will be your God You have three great and solemn mentions of the Covenant in Scripture and in all of them this is in one is Gen. 17.7 another is Jer. 31.33 34. and the third is Heb. 8.10 11 12. In these places you have the most express Records of the Covenant God's Covenant with his People that are in all the Scripture and in all there is this I will be your God In the two later places we have other Promises Promises of Pardon cleansing Teaching and the like but in that to Abraham in Genesis we have only this I 'le be thy God for indeed this comprehends all the rest and all the other Promises that are contained in the Covenant of God are but branches growing out of this Root and do but open this to us this as one speaks is Caput Faederis the Head or Top of the Covenant Anima Faederis as another the Soul of the Covenant Substantia Foederis as another the Life and Substance of the Covenant And indeed when God saies to a Soul I 'le be thy God he does therein say I 'le Pardon thee I 'le cleanse thee I 'le teach thee I 'le save thee I 'le make thee happy for ever For God to be our God is for God to be and communicate all good to us that a God can communicate and Creatures receive 't is for God to love us to bless us to care for us to make us happy for ever 't is for God to give us eternal Life to be a Friend a Father an Husband and a Saviour to us 'T is as Luther somewhere expounds it for God to make over himself in all his Excellencies Perfections and Glory his Wisdom Power Goodness Faithfulness All-sufficiency Vnchangeableness and Eternity to his People as their Rest and Happiness to be possest and injoyed by them for their good for ever In a word for God to say to a poor Creature I will be thy God is as much as if he should say look whatever I am that I will be to thee and look whatever I can do that I will do for thee so far as thou art capable of the one or thee other to make the happy for ever I am a Fountain of Life and such will I be to thee I am a God of Peace and Pardon and such will I be to thee I am a God of Grace and Love yea I am a God that is Love it self and such I will be to thee I am the Father of Mercies and the God of all Grace and such will I be to thee I 'le beget new Mercies for thee every day I am a God of Comfort yea of all Comfort and such will I be to thee I am an Unchangeable Eternal All-sufficient God and such will I be to thee I can pardon guilty Souls break the hardest Hearts inlighten the darkest Minds cleanse the impurest Spirits I can make unbelieving Hearts believing I can support drooping Spirits all this I 'le do for thee I can carry thee through Life and Death and bring thee safe to Heaven and there communicate my self to thee for ever to the filling of thy Soul with delight and satisfaction and this I will do for thee and surely happy is the Soul that has thus the Lord for his God and well may he sit down satisfied with him and at Rest in him Now my Beloved hath God made over himself in his Covenant to his People as their Rest that in him they might find Rest and should they not be at Rest in him O sirs Is not God enough for us has he laid himself under bonds to us to be a God to us and to do like a God for us and should we not Rest in him and satisfie our selves with him alone Surely we should 2. The Second Obligation the Saints are under to live at in God is this They have solemnly voucht and chosen and often do vouch and chuse God to be their Rest and Happiness As God has freely made over himself in his Covenant to them so they have solemnly vouch't and chosen him and often do solemnly vouch and chuse him to be their Rest and Happiness When the Saints first enter into Covenant with God then do they solemnly chuse vouch him â—o be their God and Portion their rest and happiness their language to God then is Lord thou shall be my Lord my Rest my Portion my Happiness my all for ever I will have none in Heaven or on Earth but thy self Thus David had chosen God and he puts his Soul in mind of it Psal 16.2 O my Soul sayes he thou hast said unto God thou art my Lord thou hast chosen God for thy God thy Portion thy Happiness and upon this account he calls his Soul to Rest in God and in him he Rests vers 5.6 And as at their first entring into Covenant with God so also often afterwards upon several occasions do they chuse and vouch God for their Rest Portion and Happiness for ever they make new choices of God and do lay new claimes to him as theirs in their procedure of their walking with him Sometimes upon occasion of outward troubles and afflictions difficulties and distresses they make a new choice of God and vouch him afresh for their Rest and Happiness So David Psal 31.14 I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God here he makes a new choice of God and layes a new claim to him as his and when or upon what occasion was this When he was surrounded with outward troubles as appears v. 10.11 12 13. My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing I was a reproach among all mine Enemies I am forgotten as a dead man out of minds I have heard the slander of many fear was on every side they devised to take away my life and being thus distrest he flees to God and chuses him afresh and layes a fresh claim
to him So again Psal 142.4 5. I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me resuge failed me no man cared for my Soul Well and what then Why he runs to God vouches him afresh for his I cryed unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the Land of the living So the Church in Her great troubles and afflictions does in like manner the Lord is my Portion saith She Lam. 3.24 Sometimes upon occasion of some eminent mercy or deliverance wrought by God for them they do make a new choice of God and vouch him afresh to be theirs so those Exod. 15.2 The Lord is my strength and song and he is become my Salvation He is my God I will prepare him an Habitation my Fathers God I will exult him He wrought a signal deliverance for them he had carried them through the Red Sea delivered them from Pharaoh and the Egyptians whom he drowned for their sakes and now they sing a song of praise to God and vouch him to be their God they renew Covenant with God and so their choice of him as their Rest their Portion their All for ever Thus the Church does Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our God and guide even unto Death God had done great things for Her and hereupon she vouches him afresh for hers David often does the like sometimes again upon occasion of some fresh discoveries made of God in his love and beauty to them or their being taken into some near and intimate communion with him then they chuse him afresh and vouch him to be theirs afresh So Psal 73.25 26. the Psalmist whoever he was did Whom have I in Heaven but thee saies he to God and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee thou art the Rock of my Heart and my Portion for ever Here is a new choice of God made by this holy Man and upon what occasion was it Why he had been with God in his Sanctuary that is he had been conversing with God in his Word and Ordinances he had had some new displayes and discoveries of his Love Beauty and Excellency made to him and hereupon he chuses God afresh and vouches him to be his All both in Heaven and upon Earth So you know when the Spouse had been led into the Banquetting House by Christ and had had the Banner of his Love displayed over Her when She had been feasted by him in his House of Wine then She made a new choice of Christ and vouches him for hers afresh My Beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.6 Thus the Saints both at first and also often afterwards in their walking with God have chosen and do chuse him to 〈◊〉 their God and Portion their Rest and Happiness and should they not then Rest in him◠Surely this choice of theirs calls aloud and should be a mighty Obligation upon them to live at Rest in God for ever 3. The third Obligation the Saints are under to live at Rest in God is this God is at Rest in them as the Saints have chosen God for their Rest so God hath chosen them for his Rest and his Soul is at Rest in them Psal 132.13 14 The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation this is my Rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Zion here is a Type of the Church and People of God and as such God's Soul is at Rest in Her This is my Rest The Saints are and to eternity will be a delight and solace to the Soul of God God is indeed delighted and at Rest in his People above all the workes of his hands Hence the Church is called The delight of God Isa 62.4 Hence also he is said to rejoice over them with joy to rest in his love upon them and to joy over them with singing Zeph. 3.18 God is in some sort more delighted and at Rest in his People than in the Angels themselves and indeed he sees a greater beauty and glory upon them than upon the Angels he looks upon the Angels as standing in their own Beauty their own Holiness and Righteousness only but he looks upon his Saints as standing in and cloathed with the Beauty and Righteousness of Christ and that is much more glorious than the Angels The Beauty and Righteousness of the Angels is the Beauty and Righteousness but of Creatures but the Beauty and Righteousness of the Saints is the Beauty and Righteousness of him that is God-man God as well as Man Rom. 1.17 and on this account God's Soul is more at Rest in them God is chiefly delighted and at Rest in himself and the perfections of his own being next to himself his Soul is delighted and at rest in Christ as Mediator Behold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth saith the Father of him Isa 42.1 and next to Christ the Mediator his Soul is at Rest in his Saints and People in and through Christ he looks upon them not as they are in themselves but as they are in Christ not as aapart from Christ but as made one with Christ and so as shining in his Beauty and clothed with his Righteousness as participating in all his Amiablenesses he lookes upon them not so much according to what they are at present as according to what they are in the Counsels of his own love and what he intends to make them and so they are all glorious both within and without and accordingly he is delighted in them Now is God's Soul at Rest in them and should not their Souls be at Rest in him O what a mighty Obligation is this upon them alwaycs to be at Rest in God! 4. The fourth Obligation the Saints are under to live at Rest in God is this They hope to and assuredly shall live at Rest in God and with God for ever in Heaven Heaven is a state of Rest so the Apostle represents it their remaineth a Rest to the People of God Heb. 4.9 't is a state of Rest in God and with God and in this Rest the Saints hope to live and live for ever Hence they are said to have this Hope every one that hath this Hope 1 Joh. 3.3 this Hope that is the Hope of seeing Christ and being made like him in the other World the Hope of Heaven the eternal Rest Saints then are persons that have this Hope hence also Heaven and the Rest to come is called Hope the Hope which is laid up for you Spem hic posuit pro rc sperata nam spes in animis nostris est gloria quam speramus in Caelis Calv. in Loc. Col. 1.5 and the blessed Hope looking for the blessed Hope Tit. 2.13 In both these places Heaven and the coming Rest is called Hope For Hope here as Calvin and others observe is put for the Object of Hope or the Good
despise and contemn it but God has other thoughts and other values of it he highly esteems and honours it he looks on it as one of the choicest Ornaments as one of the highest excellencies of any Soul Now certainly that is best which God values and honours most As that which honours God most so that which God most honours must have most of true worth and excellency in it A restless unquiet Spirit on the one hand or a Spirit at Rest in the Creature on the other hand is what God abhors and despises but a Spirit at Rest in himself he highly values 8. To live at Rest in God is a heavenly Frame and Posture of Soul a frame and posture of Soul which carries much of Heaven in it 't is indeed in a great measure the Life of Heaven here on Earth and what then more excellent than this Pray my Beloved what is Heaven and the Life of Heaven the Life which the Saints and Angels live in Heaven Heaven is a state of Rest Heb. 4.9 and what is that Rest True there is an external Rest there is a Rest from Labour and Trouble from Conflict and Temptation but the main of it is the inward Rest of the Soul that Rest and Complacency which the Soul injoys in God and shall injoy in him and with him for ever there the Soul is filled with God he is perfectly swallowed up in the Divine Will being thorowly conformed thereunto and he has the perfect Vision and Frnition of the Divine Glory and Fulness seeing him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 And in both these he is filled with even an infinite content and satisfaction of Heart this is the True Rest of Heaven and what is the Life which the Saints and Angels live there 'T is a Life of Perfect Rest and Solace in God such Rest and Solace in God as that they never think of going out to any thing else whatever God is all in all to them 1 Cor. 15.28 Thus to be at Rest in God is an heavenly frame and posture of Soul and O what an excellent frame must this be Well then lay all these eight Things together and you shall find an incomparable Worth and Excellency in it which is a further evidence of the Saints Duty and Interest to live therein CHAP. V. The Truth particularly improved The Saints called upon to live thus at Rest in God Arguments urged to induce them so to do WHat it is for the Soul to be at Rest in God what Obligations the Saints are under to live at Rest in him the excellency of this frame and posture of Spirit you have seen laid open before you Now what shall we say to these things O that all who profess themselves to be Saints or would be accounted so would give all diligence always to live thus at Rest in God Possibly some of us are quite off our Centre our Souls are full of stormes and tempests tossings and tumblings they are not only cast down but also disquieted within us as holy David's sometimes was Psal 42.11 Others of us perhaps are at Rest but 't is a sinful Rest at Rest in the Creature and not in God at Rest in carnal sensible things we are of those who are at ease in Zion yea perhaps we are even singing that mad Requiem to our Souls that that fool sometimes did Luk. 12.19 Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry thou hast Goods laid up for thee for many years But now this truth and the things declared about it do call upon the one and the other of us to return to God as our Rest and to centre purely and entirely in him alone This Truth calls off the one from all those unquiet Motions and Agitations that are within us from all our tossings and tumblings to an holy Calm and Quiet of heart in God and it calls off the other from all our false Rests and Reposes to an holy Rest and Repose in God and Oh that both the one and the other would hear and obey this Call taking up our Rest in God alone O my Beloved are you under such obligations to live at Rest in God as you are and yet will you not live at Rest in him On the other hand Is the frame and posture of Soul so excellent and will you neglect it and not study to be found alwayes therein Let me recapitulate a little particularly Has God freely made over himself in all his Fulness and Riches in his Covenant to you as your Rest and Portion for ever and yet will you not live at Rest in him Have you chosen God and voucht him for your God and Portion and yet will you not live at Rest in him Is God so much as you have heard at Rest in you and yet will you not live at Rest in him Shall you and do you hope to live at Rest in God and with God for ever in Heaven and yet will you not live at Rest in him here O me thinks these things should constrain you On the other hand should not the excellency of the frame alure you would you live forth much of the life and power of Grace then live at Rest in God Would you be ready for every call of God to you whether to do or to suffer to live or to die then live at Rest in God Would you be fenced and fortified against Temptation then live at Rest in God Would you injoy much Spiritual Comfort and Communion with God then live at Rest in God Would you be like God Would you resemble God and grow up into his Life and Blessedness then live at Rest in God Would you honour God you have greatly dishonoured him Would you now honour him then live at Rest in him Would you live in Heaven and begin the Life of Heaven here on Earth then live at Rest in God O why should we think of any other Rest but God or why should we live in any other posture of Soul but this of a Rest in him is there any so sweet so amiable so becoming as this Oh let us labour as near as possible alwayes to be found in this posture Blessed be God that we may Rest in him Two things we should bless God for one is that there is a Rest remaining for us in the other World whether we find Rest here or no yet there is a Rest to come a blessed Rest Heb. 4.9 The other is that there is a Rest in God for us and that we may enter into and live in that Rest even here when there is no Rest to be had in this Worlds Injoyments no Rest in or from the Creature yet then there is a Rest to be had in God and from God We that have believed do enter into Rest Heb. 4.3 there is a Rest in God in the Will the Presence the Love the Fulness of God which we do or may enter into even here in this World and blessed be God for this Rest
have been pursuing Rest and promising our selves Rest in and from the Creature yea and others of the Saints have experienced and asserted the same thing Dura sunt omnia tu solus requies All things saies Aug. are full of trouble and difficulty thou alone O God art the true Rest And 't is a great Speech of his worthy to be written upon the Table of all our Hearts speaking to Souls who are gone off from God Return ye prevaricators saies he to your selves Redite prevaricatores ad cor Haerete illi qui fecit vos state cum illo stabitis requiescite in eo quieti eritis quo itis in aspera quo it is non est requies ubi quaeritis eam quaerite quod quaeritis sed ibi non est ubi quaeritis beatam vitam quaeritis in regione mortis non est illic quomode enim beata vita ubi nec vita Aug. and cleave unto him that made you stand with him and ye shall stand Rest in him and ye shall Rest And again saies he Rest and Happiness is not to be found where you seek it seek what you seek but know that 't is not to be found where you seek it You seek a Blessed Life in the Region of Death and 't is not there for how should a blessed Life be found there where there is not so much as Life it self The sum of all seems to be this that those that desert God do go from the true Rest and Happiness of Souls and to seek Rest and Happiness any where but in God and Christ is to seek the Living among the Dead Once more will you have recourse to your selves and be your own Rest Indeed we read that a good man shall be satisfied from himself Prov. 14.14 but how from himself from himself in Union and Communion with his God from himself as in Communion with him that is the chief Good that has all Good in him and not otherwise and therefore observe the good man here stands in opposition to the back-slider one that is gone off from God our selves considered abstractly in themselves are most insufficient to give rest to the soul being most vain changeable In omnibus quae videntur requiem quaesivi veram requiem in eis invenire non potui deinde rediens ad me consistere in meipso non possum quoniam mens mea valde leris est Ber. and deceitful Every man in his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 'T is a great saying I have read in Bern. I have sought Rest saies he in all things that are seen but I could not find Rest in them then returning to my self I found I could not possibly subsist in my self because my mind is most light and vain In nothing without in nothing within could he find any Rest but in God alone I 'le close this Argument with a weighty speech which I have read in a worthy Divine of our own Blessed Mr. Burroughes Who speaking of God's being the Rest and Portion of his People speaks thus Suppose saies he that God should cause all the Kings and Emperors in the World to come and cast down their Crowns at the foot of an holy Soul and say all these are thine he would answer this is not enough for this is not God himself Suppose God should bring all the splendours of all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth and they should be cast at the foot of an holy Soul as his he would say This is not enough this is not God himself Suppose God should cause all the Glory of Heaven not only of Sun Moon and Stars but also of the highest Heaven abstract from God to be laid before an holy Soul as his he would say This is not enough this is not God himself Once more Should all the Angels come and say to an holy Soul We are sent to put all our Glory upon thee he would say This is not enough for this is not God himself O nothing but God in Christ can give Rest to Souls 3. Consider what a blessed Rest God is for Souls or that Souls may find in God As there is an utter impossibility of finding Rest any where but in God so in him there is a blessed Rest to be found for Souls a full a perfect an eternal Rest O my Beloved what can your Souls desire or what are they capable of that is not to be found in God Would you have Good it must be Good that can give Rest to the Soul God is Good he is the chief Good the best the highest Good he is Goodness it self he is Good in himself and he is the Spring and Fountain of all that good that is in the Creature he is so Good as that he is the Good of all Good and nothing has any thing of Goodness in it but as it resembles him and participates of him Bonus est qui secit me ipse est bonum meum illi exulto omnibus bonis meis There is none Good but one that is God Mat. 19.17 he is Good that made me saies Aug. and he is my Good and in him do I exult and rejoyce before all my other good things whatever and in all my other good things Would you have a full Good such a Good is God there is a fulness of all Good in him He that overcometh shall inherit all things How so I will be his God I 'le be his and in having me he will have all in me Rev. 21.7 Whatever good beauty or excellency there is in the Creature yea in all the Creatures put together 't is all but a small drop or ray to that Good Beauty and Excellency that is in God 'T is but a small spark to the Ocean of the Divine Goodness Lord saies Austin all those things which thou hast made are beautiful Pulchra sunt omnia faciente te Domine ecce tu inenarrabiliter pulchrior qui fecisti omnia Aug. but thou thy self art infinitely more beautiful God has all kinds and all degrees of Good in him he is Light and Life and Love and Peace and Joy and Holiness and Salvation and what not that good is or that conduces to the happiness of eternal Souls Thou Lord Tu bonum'nullo indigens bono semper quietus es quoniam tua quies tuipse es Aug. art that Good where no good is wanting saies Aug. and thou art alwayes at Rest because thou art thine own Rest That little good that is found in the Creature is narrow scanty and but here and there a drop but God has all Good in a blessed Union and conjunction in him O how glorious a Rest may the Soul find in him Would you have a suitable and convenient Good such a Good is God he is a suitable and convenient Good a Good suitable to the Nature Life and Wants of the Soul Among all your Creature-Injoyments and Contentments there is nothing suitable either to
Psal 42.11 which may be further opened afterwards as ever therefore you would live purely and entirely at Rest in God get your interest in him as your God and Father cleared up to you first chuse him for your God and Portion and do it every day never Rest till you can say Lord whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee my Heart and my Flesh fail but God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Psal 73.25 26. Then Pray hard for the sealings and witness of the Spirit beg the Lord with Austin to say unto thy Soul I am thy Salvation 4. Would you indeed live at Rest in God Then meditate and contemplate him much dwell much in the view of his glorious Excellencies and Perfections Deep and frequent meditation of God and his Excellencies does marvelously endear God unto Souls and withal brings them into an acquaintance with those satisfying delights that are to be found in him and so to a Rest in him My Soul saies David shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night-watches Psal 63.5 6. In vers 3. he is even ravished with the sense and incomes of God's Love to him Thy loving-kindness is better than Life my lips shall praise thee and here he speaks of Satisfaction the sweetest Satisfaction and all that which came in a way of holy meditation and again my meditation of thee shall be sweet Psal 104.34 Holy meditation of God produces many sweet experiences of God in the Soul experiences of his Grace of his Love of his Sweetness of the Blessedness of Communion with him and the like and these experiences issue in the Soul's Rest in him eveâ—y new experience of God draws the heart further into God and makes it center more in him every taste every sight of God every new emamanation of his Glory before the Soul of which in the holy meditation of God the Saints have not a few weans and works the heart off from carnal sensible things and makes him to cleave more closly and entirely to God gathering in about him as his All. O be much in the meditation of God 't is not enough for us to know him and to know him in Christ no nor to know him as ours as our God in Covenant but we must study him we must meditate what a God he is and single him out now under one and then under another Notion or Consideration to meditate upon begging God to help us in our meditetions of him The most know and enjoy little of God because they meditate him so little they are little in holy meditation 5. Would you indeed be at Rest in God Then improve all your experiences of the Creatures vanity for the carrying of your Souls more into God as your Rest and Centre Holy David did so and 't is indeed a great piece of a Christians skill Psal 39.7 And now Lord saies he what wait I for my hope is in thee If you veiw either the foregoing or following part of the Psalm you will find that David was under great experiences of the Creatures vanity he saw the vanity of worldly Injoyments they are all but a vain shew he saw his own vanity he saw the vanity of others he found every one and every thing nothing but vanity and what is the issue What use does he make of it this he gathers in more to God as his only Rest and Happiness now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee q.d. Now I have done with the Creatures I see what they are and what all persons and things are and I have done with all thou thy self only O Lord art my Rest my Happiness my All. Thus when at any time you meet with fresh experiences of the Creatures vanity improve them for the carrying of your Souls more into God as your Rest You scarce live that day wherein you do not meet with new experiences of the Creatures vanity this is lost and that is imbittered to you now you meet with disappointments and then with sorrows wounds and snares and that where it may be you expected your chief Comfort and Satisfaction now in all such cases what should we do retire the more into God as our Rest and Happiness say with the Psalmist Now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee I have done with the streams I 'le cleave only to thee the Fountain the Creatures ever serve me thus they leave me under sorrows snares and disappointments thou Lord shalt be all in all to me thou art my only Rest for ever 6. Would you indeed live at Rest in God Then pray for much spirituality of Heart much suitedness of Spirit to God and Christ The more Spiritual you are the more are you suited to the blessed God and the more you are suited to God the more fully and genuinly will your Souls Rest in him I suppose you to have a new heart for I speak unto you as to Saints the old heart to be sure will never Rest in God the old heart is wholly avetse from God and at enmity with him it hates him 't is wholly carnal sensual and unclean and delights only in things suitable to it self Let all therefore that would Rest in God first get a new heart such as God promises in his Covenant Ezek. 36.26 and having gotten a new heart pray for much spirituality of heart and affection Alas alas we are carnal as Paul charged his Corinthians and being carnal we lean to and hanker after carnal things and till we get more spirituality we shall not Rest so fully in God as we should therefore pray unto God hard for more of this pray for more of his Spirit to act and influence you and not only so but to change you more and more into the Divine Life and Image To conclude all Live at Rest all that even you can in God here but withal look and long and hasten to that Rest which remaines for Saints with God in the other World True Rest in God here is sweet but we shall never be fully and perfectly happy till we enter that future Rest that indeed carryes a compleat happinss in it O to be wholly swallowed up in the Divine Will the Divine Life the Divine Fulness the Ocean of Divine Love to have every faculty and every affection perfectly suited to God and filled with God this cannot but be perfect Rest and Happiness especially considering what an enlargement there will be of all the Faculties and how much of God they will then take in But till we reach this Rest we cannot have any compleat Rest therefore breath and suspire after the future Rest keep your eye much there and let your eye affect your heart look and love love and long long and hasten to that sweet that holy that heavenly that inviolable that unchangeable and eternal Rest which remains for Saints in God and with God in the other World crying out both in your Spirits and lives Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen FINIS The Author hath two other Treatises VIZ. The Best Match or The Soul 's espoulal to Christ Opened and Improved The great Concern Or A serious Warning to a timely and thorough Preparation for Death With Helps and Directions in order thereunto Being the last that ever he preached There is now published an Eccellent Treatise Intituled The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed How the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that Great and Blessed Work By William Bates D. D.