dealt with the Church of old Sometimes I am under some revivings which seem to give hopes of a return from the Grave Anon nothing but Death seems to be in view And in this dubious state I am waiting upon the Will of God which I am sure is Holy Wise and Good and which I hope shall be welcome to me whether it be for Life or Death Hitherto through Grace Death hath not been terrible to me what it may be in its nearest approaches I cannot tell but I look to and rest upon him who hath destroyed both Death and him that had the power of Death And now only two things I beg of you One is That you all give me a room in your Prayers while I am in the Land of the Living and I desire you would beg of God these things for me First That all sin and guilt cleaving to me may be fully expiated and discharged through the Blood of Christ O beg both forgiveness and repentence for me which God knows I greatly need Secondly That my Will may be throughly resigned up into the Will of God either for Life or Death Thirdly That I may have much of God's Presence with me and may alwaies have good Thoughts of Him and his Dispensations towards me in all He doth or shall lay upon me Fourthly That if God shall please to restore me I may come out of this Furnace purisied and refined as Gold that is tryed seven times and more fitted for my Masters Service or if his pleasure is which seems at present most probable to put a period to my mortal life that his Love and the Light of his Countenance may shine upon me to sweeten the bitter pangs of Death to me we cannot live comfortably without his Love much less can we die comfortably without it That is my first request The other is That you will accept and embrace some plain but weighty counsels God is my Record that my hearts-desire and Prayers for you is and has been that you may be saved and in love to your salvation I leave these Directions with you 1. Above all things look well to and labour to make sure of an Union with Christ knowing assuredly that without Union with him all your Religion is vain and ineffectual 2. Take heed of too much addictedness to his World as remembring that if any Man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him and that the friendship of this World is enmity to God 3. Dwell much within and be much conversant in Heart-work in studying the Heart searching the Heart cleansing the Heart keeping the Heart looking alwaies upon it as the veriest Cheat and Impostor in the World deceitful above all things and desperately wicked 4. Take heed of splitting upon that fatal Roek of self-deceit of which you have sometimes heard and upon which the greatest part of Professors split and perish for ever 5. Set up and keep up the Worship of God both in your Families and Closets for the Lord's sake let none of yours be Prayerless Families 6 Alwaies maintain a great honour and reverence for all God's Ordinances and in an especial manner honour and sanctifie his Sabbath The Sabbath-day is your Souls Market day O lose not your Market 7. Be universally honest and upright in your Callings and your Dealings in them the fraudulent dealings of Professors do much reproach the Gospel 8. Covet to seat your selves under a sound clear searching Gospel ministry and keep mainly to the same Ministry and the Lord guide you therein 9. Labour that your profiting under the Ministry may appear unto all men it will be a dreadful thing to enjoy rich means and bring forth no fruit to perfection O Sirs be fruitful Christians 10. Expect further Trials and Sufferings and prepare for them there is a dark and gloomy Day coming such as I am apt to think you and I have never seen any like unto it and such as wherein possibly you will think it best with them that God shall have hid in the Grave before hand But be not troubled it will be short and a glorious Day will follow a Day wherein the Church of God shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb a Day wherein our dear Lord and Head shall reign gloriously And therefore 11. Pray and long long and pray much and earnestly for the coming of the Day of God for the coming of Christ's Kingdom Thy Kingdom come is a Petition should be much upon our hearts O do not Rest in low things as to divine appearances and manifestations both in the World and in your own Souls These Counsels I leave with you out of that entire love and affection I bear to your salvation and our Lord's honour as concerned in you I will conclude all with â—hat solemn and cordial profession to you which Augustine often made to those to whom he was wont to preach viz. that it is the desire of my Soul that as we have been often crowded together to worship God in one Earthly House or Temple so we may all worship him together for ever in the Heavenly House or Temple And if we must never Pray and Preach and Hear and Mourn together more on Earth yet we may Love and Sing and Praise and Admire and Rejoyce together for ever in Heaven Which that we may do the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shephed of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you and me that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen and Amen My dear dear dear Friends I am your weak and languishing but yet Cordial Friend and willing Servant in Christ and for Christ EDWARD PEARSE Hampstead Octob. 3. 1672. A Beam of Divine Glory OR The Unchangeableness of God Asserted Opened Vindicated and Improved from Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed CHAP. I. Wherein way is made to the Text the Words thereof opened the Foundation of our intended Discourse laid and the principal Matters to be considered in the prosecution of it hinted at IT is a great as well as a true Observation which I have read in a Learned Man namely That all the many various Attributes of God mentioned in the Scripture are no other than his very Essence Multae est varia Dei attributa sunt ipsa Dei essentia Deo propter captum nostrum tribuuntur qui non possumus sub uno nomine aut actu intellectus quod de Deo percipiendum est intelligere Schar and are ascribed to him to help us in our Conceptions and Vnderstandings of Him who are not able to apprehend what may be known of God under any one Name or Notion or by any one Act of the Intellect We read you know of
us The Creatures they are vain fading changeable things they are even vanity it self and changeableness it self but God is an eternal unchangeable Good He is the same for ever an unchangeable Fountain of all Goodness Sweetness Blessedness and Delight Now to live upon these changeable Creatures and not upon this unchangeable God this is a great evil and calls for great mourning and humbling at our hands 'T is a great speech which I have read in Austin wherein he bewails this very sin Bonus est qui fecit â—â—e ipse est bonum moum at in hoc peccabam quod non in ipso sed in creaturis ejus me atque caeteras voluptates quaerebam atque it a irruebam in dolores confusiones errores Aug. He that made me is Good sayes he and he is my Good but in this I sinned that not in Him but in his Creatures I sought my self and my other pleasures that is I took up my solace and happiness in the Creatures and not in God and what then and so sayes he Iran my self upon many dolors errors and confusion of Soul And may not many of us make the very same complaint He that made us is Good and he is our Good but in this we have sinned and do sin that we live upon the Creatures and not upon Him and so run our selves upon many dolors errors and confusion of Soul We live upon changeable Creatures more than upon an unchangeable God and hereby God is dishonoured his Spirit is grieved our Souls are bereaved of Good yea the best Good the Good of Grace and divine discoveries and communications hereby we eat Husks when we might eat Bread and we drink Swill when we might drink Wine in our Fathers House Hereby we are exposed to sorrows snares and death yea and hereby we are in danger of being excluded from God for ever Oh my Beloved let us be convinced of this evil and mourn over it for My own part when I reflect upon my self I find cause to fear that I have lived upon Creatures all my dayes upon changeable Creatures to the great if not total neglect of the unchangeable God and believe it 't is an hard thing to come off from the one to live so purely and intirely upon the other as we ought to do The Lord humble us for these things CHAP. VIII God has a revenue of honour due to him upon the account of his unchangeableness We should give him that honour Several short and plain Directions in order thereunto EVery Attribute or Perfection of God has a revenue of Honour and Glory due to it from the Creature and 't is a great part of both the Wisdom and Duty of the Creature to give to each Attribute and Perfection of his its proper Glory God is pleased to reveal and discover himself sometimes in one and sometimes in another Attribute of his sometimes he reveals and discovers himself in his Wisdom sometimes in his Power sometimes in his Holiness sometimes in his Faithfulness sometimes in his Justice sometimes in his Grace sometimes in his Greatness and sometimes as here in his Unchangeableness now I say a great part of a Christians skill and duty lies in this To give to each Attribute in which God reveals himself its proper Glory that is to say to honour God suitable to the present Revelation he makes of himself Now God being unchangeable our work and care should be to give him the Glory of his Unchangeableness which let me tell you is very dear to him But how may we give God the glory due to this Attribute of his Take only these few plain Directions as to that breifly 1. Would we give God the Glory of his Unchangeableness then let us get our hearts deeply affected with this Attribute of his being in an holy manner overawed therewith The Unchangeableness of God is an aweful Attribute an Attribute that chalenges much holy awe and dread from the Creature and when our hearts are indeed in an holy manner over-awed with the sense of this Attribute and we are filled with a reverential regard of God as he is an unchangeable God then do we give him the Glory thereof This seems to be pointed at Isa 41.4.5 in vers 4. God reveals himself in his Unchangeableness when he sayes I the Lord the First and the Last I am the First and the Last or as some render it I the same I the same and in vers 5. you have the Isles affected and over-awed with this Attribute of his the Isles saw it and feared Accordingly if we would indeed give God the glory of his Unchangeableness we should labour to get our hearts over-awed with the sense and apprehension thereof we should dwell much in the meditation of this Perfection of God our language should be Well how changeable soever we are yet God is unchangeable he is for ever the same unchangeable in Greatness unchangeable in Goodness unchangeable in Wisdom unchangeable in Power unchangeable in Holiness unchangeable in Faithfulness unchangeable in Fulness and Sufficiency he is every way an unchangeable God what he was he is what he is he will be for ever Thus we should sit down and contemplate this Attribute till we find our hearts affected and over-awed by it 2. Would we give God the glory of his Unchangeableness Then let us ascribe this Attribute to God and celebrate his Glory in it In Deut. 32.3 we are called upon to ascribe Greatness to God and as we should ascribe Greatness so we must ascribe Unchangeableness to God and with all admire and adore him therein if we mean to give him the glory of this Attribute of his This the Psalmist does once and again From everlasting sayes he to everlasting thou art God Psal 90.1 2. and again They shall perish sayes he speaking of the Heavens but thou Lord shalt endure they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end Psal 102.25 26 27. He celebrates the Glory of God in his Unchangeableness admiring and adoring him in this Perfection of his The Church does the same thing in Rev. 4.8 where we read of four Beasts which rest not day night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Pray mark first They celebrate the glory of God's Holiness saying Holy holy holy Secondly They celebrate the glory of God's Power and Sovereignty Lord God Almighty Thirdly They celebrate the glory of God's Unchangeableness and Eternity which was which is and which is to come q. d. thou art an holy God and we adore thee for thine Holiness thou art a Potent and Sovereign Lord and we adore thee for thy Power and Sovereignity thou art an Unchangeable God and we adore thee for thine Unchangeableness how fading soever the creatures are thou art still the same In like manner should we do we should ascribe Unchangeableness to God and be much in admiring and adoring him for and in
Yea more why are we not consumed with an eternal consumption Why are the best of us all not in Hell Why are we not stated in an eternity of woe and misery Why are we not now roaring and sweltering under the Wrath of God Why are we not Companions with Devils and damned Spirits in everlasting burnings Is it because our sins are few and small and have not deserved it No surely Why then is it Because our God is unchangeable unchangeable in Being Counsel Covenant and Love Oh! my Beloved if we seriously consider what we are and how we have carryed it what our sins and provocations have been and how high they rise against the blessed God and the like we may well wonder we are out of Hell that we have a being any where on this side the Pit of Perdition nor can we resolve it into any other cause but God's Unchangeableness Let me therefore entreat you to consider things a little that you may give glory where 't is due 1. Consider what you are I mean as to your nature and the depravedness of it You are a meer lump and mass of sin Enemyes yea enmity it self against God and Christ Rom. 8.7 your heart is a meer Sink a Fountain an Abysse of sin and wickedness against God The heart is deceiful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it None but God can look to the bottom of that sin wickedness and deceit that is in your heart Jer. 17.9 O the aboundings of sin that are found in the best of us Oh the pride the passion the earthliness the sensuality the uncleanness the unbelief the hypocrisie the atheisme the disregard of God the aversion from all good that dwells works wars and oftentimes prevails and predominates in the hearts of the best Saints while here O the risings of sin and oh the aboundings of iniquity that are found among us 2. Consider what you have done and how you have carried it God-ward If you seriously consider things you will find I fear that you have done and to this day do little else but sin against the Lord You have despised his Goodness abused his Love violated his Laws trampled upon his Authority grieved his Spirit wounded his Son darkned his Glory and oftentimes struck even at his very Crown and Being yea and this has been your manner from your youth as God charged them of old Jer. 22.21 there is not that day nor scarcely that hour wherein you have not and do not sin against God often have you made him serve with your sins and wearied him with your iniquities as those Isa 43.24 Your lives have been lives of sin for the most part against God 3. Consider what black and horrid aggravations your fins are cloathed with Are not your sins my Beloved of a scarlet dye and crimson tincture Are they not heightened with many black and crying aggravations have they not at least many of them been committed against much love much light much mercy many motions of the Spirit many checks of Conscience many bonds and obligations to Duty many signal and eminent appearances of God to you and for you many tastes many sealings of his Love and the like what shall I say such every way are our sins yea the sins of the best of us all that we cannot possibly look to the further end of them Who can understand his Errors sayes holy David Psal 19.12 David was an holy Man a Man after God's own Heart and yet he cryes out Who can understand his Errors His sins were beyond search or understanding and if his were so what are ours Truly my Beloved our sins in the number nature and aggravations of them are beyond our reach and well may we all with him cry out Who can understand his Errors 4. Consider what an infinite evil and demerit there is in every sin even the least sin As you are guilty of so much sin and your sins clothed many of them with so many and such crying aggravations so you must know that there is evil enough in the least sin to damn you eternally should God render the desert thereof to you The wages of sm is death sayes the Apostle Rom. 6.23 Mark he speaks of sin indefinitely every sin the least sin and sayes he the wages that which is due to it is death Every sin is an offence against God 't is infinitely contrary to his Purity and Holiness his Will and Glory his Life and Being 't is universally contrary to him and so must needs have an inconceiveable evil and demerit in it Every offence sayes a learned Man against the chief good Omnis offencio summi boni meruit summam poenam eternam creaturae destructionem Ursin even the eternal destruction of the Creature O Sirs we little think the evil there is in a vain thought an idle word an unholy irregular action we little think the evil the least sin carries in it 5. Consider how much God hates sin sin is even infinitely odious and abominable to him God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity to wit without loathing and detestation Hab. 1.13 and he is once and again in Scripture represented as a God hating sin sin indeed is infinitely odious in his sight Now let us weigh these things and lay them together and then we shall see that it can be nothing else that keeps us from destruction but God's Unchangeableness to which therefore we should give the glory 'T is the Grace and Love of God that first brings us into a condition of Life and Salvation and 't is the Unchangeableness of God that keeps us there Truly when some of us reflect a little upon our selves and consider what we are and have been in our Spirits and carriages God-ward how much we have provoked him what frequent forfeitures we have made and do make of our Lives Souls and all we see infinite cause to wonder that we are alive that the flames of divine Wrath had not long since kindled upon us and the revenges of divine Justice broken out against us and blessed be God that we are out of Hell O that such a proud such a stubborn such a stiff-necked people as we are should yet live that persons of so many and high provocations against God as thou Reader and I are guilty of should yet have a being out of Hell This is solely from the unchangeableness of God And my Beloved we do not rightly consider the matter if we do not see and acknowledge it to be so O blessed be God for his unchangeableness had not God been unchangeable where had I now been I had now been shut up in the infernal Pit I had now been a companion with Devils and damned Spirits I had now been separated from God for ever and how miserable then had I been O my Soul adore the Unchangeable One and bless him for his unchangeable Counsel his unchangeable Covenant his unchangeable Love CHAP. VII Several grounds
filled with such anguish horror and confusion of Soul as that they shall be ready to lay violent hands upon themselves and take away their own lives and my Beloved should we live to see such things how good will an Unchangeable God be O Sirs living in such a changeable World who would not fix upon an Unchangeable God as a Man's Portion and Happiness Who would not get upon yea into this Rock of Ages And how good how sweet will it be to have an Unchangeable God to retreat to and ark in 2. Consider what changeable things all our Creature-comforts and contentments are As the World wherein we live is a changeable World So all our Creature-comforts are changeable comforts Should the World stand where it does and as it does without any such changes as we have mentioned yet our best Creature-comforts here are subject to change every day and how soon we may say of one or another or all of them as Jacob sometimes did of his two sons Joseph Simeon Gen. 42.36 Joseph is not and Simeon is not How soon we may say this and that Comfort is not who can tell I have now a Trade to morrow it may be I shall have none I have now an Estate to morrow it may be I shall have none I have now a pleasant Habitation to morrow it may be it will be in Ashes I have now my Friends and Relations about me my Husband or my Wife lying pleasantly in my Bosom my Children like Olive branches round about my Table to morrow it may be they will all sleep in the Dust and go down to the Gates of the Grave and I shall see them no more Alas these things are not as Solomon speaks of Riches such is their changeableness that they have scarce a being Or suppose these things should stay with us yet how soon may they be imbitter'd to us How soon may the best of this Wine be turned into Wormwood How soon may the sweetest of these Comforts be changed into bitter Crosses Sometimes the desire of our eyes is taken away from us with a stroke as God threatned the Prophet of old that is suddenly and e're ever we are aware of it our dearest sweetest and most delightful Comforts are taken from us At other times the desire of our Eyes becomes the burthen of our Souls our dearest Comforts are imbittered to us that which yesterday was sweet and pleasant to day possibly is bitter and burthensom to us that which to day is the joy of our hearts to morrow it may be will be as a goad in our sides and as thorns in our eyes O how soon many times do our most pleasant Streams turn into waters of Marah to us Now all on this side God being thus changeable who would not rest in Him and his Unchangeableness Oh Unchangeableness Unchangeableness this is to be found in God alone and therefore let him alone be the Rest and Portion of our Souls 3. Consider how near our last and great change is unto us should the World never wax old nor admit of any change and should our Creature-comforts and contentments live and last for ever yet we our selves must change we are fading dying perishing Creatures we pass under many changes and great changes and 't is but a little while e're our last and great change will come Death is our last and great change till the Resurrection So the Holy Ghost by Joh speaks of it Job 14.14 and this is a great change indeed a change from Work to Reward from Time to Eternity a change out of this World into another from these Tabernacles of Clay to live in eternal Regions either of Light or Darkness and thus shall We all be changed a few years a few months a few weeks a few dayes a few hours yea it may be but a few moments more and we shall all be thus changed changed by Death out of Time into Eternity and how much then are we concerned to make choice of and take up our rest in an Unchangeable God Then namely when we pass under this change to be sure nothing but Unchangeableness will be of any avail to us and this is to be found in God alone him therefore should we chuse and take up our rest in This very consideration induced David to make a fresh choice of God and cleave more entirely to him as his Rest and Happiness Psal 39.5 6 7. Behold O Lord thou hast made my dayes as an hand-breadth and mine age is as nothing before thee Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquietted in vain Well and what now Why sayes he And now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee He saw his vanity and changeableness as also the vanity and changeableness of all others both Persons and Things he saw both himself and all others in their very best state to be not only vain but even vanity it self subject to change every hour in the sight and sense of which he cleaves to God chuses him centers in him as his God his Portion his All Now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee q. d. Now Lord that I have seen my own vanity and changeableness and the vanity and changeableness of others too now I look to thee I cleave to thee I rest in thee as my onely Good Portion and Happiness I have now done with the Streames with the Creatures and Creature-contentments and I 'le now bathe only in the Fountain rest wholly in thy self the Fountain of living Waters And my Beloved did we dwell more in the consideration of the nearness of our last and great change we should doubtless cleave more closely and entirely to the Unchangeable God as our rest and Portion Our thus numbering our dayes deep and frequent consideration of the shortness of our lives and how soon we may be changed would make us to apply our hearts to this Wisdom to get an interest in the Unchangeable God Psal 90.12 O be much therefore in this Work 4. Consider that then and not till then shall we be happy indeed when we come to look and live above changeable Creatures upon an Unchangeable God 'T is happiness my Beloved that is the great interest of Souls and 't is happiness we all desire and pursue after now then are we happy indeed and not till then when we get above the Creatures and take up our rest in the Unchangeable God Pray Sirs let us consider things a little Suppose you had this whold World at will and might injoy as much of the Creature as your Souls could wish suppose you could all your dayes live in a Paradise of all earthly Delights and swim chin-deep in the Streams of all Creature-contentments yet what were all this Alas it would not make up one dram of true happiness your happiness must be in God still Mind how the Psalmist speaks as to this Psal
plunged into very deep and sore distresses such as are ready to sink and overwhelm Her she is oftentimes afflicted tossed with tempests and not comforted Isa 45.11 Such indeed is Her condition at this day and as good old Ely sate trembling for the Ark of God a Type of the Church 1 Sam. 4.13 so it may be some may now sit trembling for the Church of God fearing how 't will go with Her and indeed he is not one of Sions Children that is not concerned for Sions Afflictions But loe my Beloved in the midst of all such fears and tremblings of heart here is is strong consolation God is Unchangeable and being Unchangeable he will certainly support and deliver his Church and that in the best way and fittest season God has never yet sail'd his Church in Her afflictions yea 't is admirable to consider how hitherto he has carried it towards Her under all Her distresses how sweetly he has supported Her and how seasonably he has delivered Her When they were in Egypt in the Iron Furnace when they were in the Wilderness when they were in the Red Sea when they were in Babylon in Hamans time and in Herods when the Neck of the whole Church of God was upon the Block at once as it were And also all down along through the times of Antichristian Tyrany and Persecution to this very day O how admirably has God wrought for them both in supporting and delivering of them and certainly what he has done that he can and will do for them again as the case shall require God is Unchangeable His Hand is not shortned that he cannot save nor his Ear grown heavy that he cannot hear Isa 59.1 God being Unchangeable he is as tender of and careful for his Church and People as ever he was being Unchangeable he is every way the same to his People now as he was formerly the same in his Love to them his Jealousie for them his Sympathy with them his Interest in them he stands in the same Covenant-Relation to them that ever he did he is their King their Head their Husband their Friend their Father their Shepherd now as well as heretofore and he is every way as able to help them and accordingly will support and in due time deliver them and this Faith sees and rests assured of Isa 51.9 10 11 12. Awake awake put on strength O Arm of the Lord awake as in the ancients dayes in the Generations of old Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon Art thou not it which hath dryed the Sea the Waters of the great Deep that hath made the depths of the Sea a way for the ransomed to past over c. So again 2 Cor. 1.9 10. But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God who raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Mark Faith you see argues from what God has done to what he will do for his poor Church and People And what bottom or ground has it so to do but his Unchangeableness Let Sion therefore the Church and People of God take heed of that language which she spake of old Isa 49.14 Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me And as Jacob elsewhere My way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over by my God for God must change e're this can be True God may permit his Church to be sorely afflicted as at this day but 't is but to illustrate his own Glory the more in Her support and deliverance 3. God being Unchangeable his Enemies shall be destroyed they shall all die and perish I mean his incorrigible implacable Enemies who will not stoop to the Scepter of his Kingdom God may and sometimes does permit his and his Peoples Enemies to practise and prosper and that for a long time together he lets them alone in their sins and oppositions against both himself and them yea he even fills their belly with his hid Treasure as you have it Psal 17.14 he lets them injoy some of the best of outward Comforts and contentments and that in great fulness which oftentimes proves a great burthen and temptation to his poor afflicted People such as is ready even to sink and bear them down So it was with the Psalmist Psal 73. beg and 't is so many times with us but Remember that God is Unchangeable and being Unchangeable though he may permit his and his Peoples Enemies to practise and prosper for a time yet not alwayes no they shall be destroyed and that with a great destruction Pray observe how things issued at last in that very Psalm Psal 73.10 c. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors c. Pray observe he was not more offended at nor was he more ready to envy their prosperity before than now he wonders at their ruine and destruction So Psal 37.35 c. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found the transgressors shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off So Deut. 32.35 36. To me belongeth vengeance and recompence sayes God in reference to his and his Peoples Enemies their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things which shall come upon them make hast for the Lord shall judge his People c. Still you see though God permit his and his Peoples Enemies to prosper for a time yet at last they are destroyed and as sure as God is Unchangeable they shall be destroyed Pray compare but my Text with the verse immediately preceeding Mal. 3.5 6. I will come near to you to judgment sayes God and I will be a swift witness against the Sorcerers and against the Adulterers and against false Swearers and against all that oppress the Hireling in his Wages the Widow and the Fatherless and that fear not me saith the Lord. q.d. I 'le suddenly and terribly destroy all mine Enemies all that go on in their sinings against me But how shall we be assured of this He tells you in the next words for I am the Lord I change not q.d. as sure as I am God and Unchangeable they shall be destroyed O Sirs though God permits his and his Peoples Enemies to prosper for a time yet he alwayes certainly destroys them in the conclusion and he will do so still because he is Unchangeable God is every way the same that ever he was the same in Holiness Jealousy Justice Power that ever he was He is as holy now as ever he was and so does hate sin as
much as ever he did he is as just now as ever he was and so as ready and propense to take vengeance as ever he is as jealous now as jealous for his Name Worship Gospel and People as ever he was and so will as little bear with the opposers and abusers of them he is as wise and powerful now as ever and so as able to deal with his Enemies 'T is a great Scripture that Job 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Who ever hardened himself against him and prospered O never any yet did and never any shall No but Psal 68.21 He will wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses Oh that all the Enemies of God and his People and all rebellious impenitent ones would lay this to heart 4. God being Unchangeable the purposes and promises of his Grace to his Church and People shall certainly be accomplisht God's Heart my Beloved has been full of counsels and purposes of Love towards his People from all eternity and he has also made many blessed Promises to them Promises that are exceeding great and pretious 2 Pet. 1.4 because full of exceeding great and pretious things Greatness and pretiousness do not often meet together many things are great but then they are not pretious and many things are pretious but then they are not great but in the promises of God to his Church and People greatness and pretiousness do meet Now look what-ever purposes God has had in his Heart and whatever promises he has made in this Word to his People they shall all be accomplisht because he is an Unchangeable God he is the same now that he was when he took up those purposes and made those promises and therefore will assuredly make them all good in the due season and so much he tells us Isa 46.9 10 11. I am God sayes he and there is none else I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying My Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure I have spoken and I 'le bring it to pass I have purposed it I also will do it Mark first he asserts his Godhead and Unchangeableness and then he tells you all his pleasure shall stand and be accomplisht God being Unchangeable First None can turn him or make him alter his mind Job 23.13 14. He is in one mind and who can turn him and what his Soul desiveth even that he doth for he performeth the thing that is appointed for me c. The wisest and most resolved among men may possibly be wrought upon and brought over from what they purposed but 't is not so with God Secondly None can hinder him from or in his making good his purposes and promises Isa 43.13 Before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my hand I will work and who shall let it Poor Soul whoever thou art that art one of the Lord's People look back to the eternal counsels and purposes of his Love towards thee and thou wilt find them a great Deep a Fountain of infinite Sweetness in them thou wilt see heaps of Love and treasures of Grace and then turn thine eye to the promises of his Covenant which thou wilt find unexpressibly sweet and exactly suitable to thy condition to all thy wants and then know assuredly that the whole both of the one and the other shall be accomplisht to thee in due season 'T is true indeed his Counsels may seem to us to be frustrated and his Promises may for a time be deferred and delayed in so much that our hasty unbelieving hearts may be ready to conclude that they will never be accomplisht saying with the Psalmist Does his Promise fail for evermore Psal 77.8 But Soul wait a while and they shall all be made good to a tittle Has he promised to pardon thee to cleanse thee to give thee a new Heart and a new Spirit to write his Law in thine Heart Has he promised to save thee and lodg thee at last in his own Bosom then know it shall all be accomplisht Oh how sweet is this Oh to fasten upon a Promise and see it sure to be made good as in God's Unchangeableness we may there we may see all as sure as if 't were already accomplisht Oh what strong consolation does this afford what unexpressible sweetness will this give unto a Soul 5. God being Unchangeable the Saints are unchangeably happy and have a blessed Assylum to flee unto under all those changes and emergencies that may at any time come upon them Pray mark my Beloved God is the Saints God and Portion and in him does their happiness lye He therefore being Unchangeable they have an Unchangeable Happiness they are an happy People and they will be unchangeably so The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the Thoughts of his Heart to all Generations and what then Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord and the People whom he hath chosen for his own Inheritance Psal 33.11 12. The Saints as one well observes are in all respects a blessed People they are blessed in the pardon of their sins Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven Psal 32.1 They are blessed in regard of the disposition of their Souls Blessed are the poor in Spirit blessed are the Meek blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness Mat. 5.3 4 6. They are blessed in their Obedience and walking with God Blessed are the undefiled in the way Psal 119.1 They are blessed in their hopes and expectations Blessed are they that wait for God Isa 30.18 Thus they are every way and in all respects a blessed People but here lies the perfection and top-glory of their blessedness and what indeed comprehends all the rest in it namely that the Unchangeable God is their God and Portion Happy is the People whose God is the Lord Psal 144.15 Oh this speaks them to be infinitely and unchangeably happy and accordingly they should live upon him and that under all their streights and difficulties Oh Sirs what is there that this will not support and comfort you under Do your Friends and Comforts here change however God your best Friend and Comfort changes not and that is enough Do times and seasons change and that for the worse from sun-shine to storms Well however Soul thy God changes not and that is enough to sweeten all Dost thou thy self change changes and war are upon thee and which is the worst of it thy Spirit changes it will not keep even with God one hour well still thy God changes not and that is enough Do new temptations arise and oldcorruptions break out a new Does guilt revive and recur upon thee be it so yet thy God is Unchangeable and so can and will relieve and succour thee now as well as
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
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.