and Honour and Power to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore Always are they beholding admiring and adoring of God and burning in Love to each other and mutually rejoycing in God and in one another And this is the Work of that Eternal Rest a Work never to be intermitted nor to cease And therefore it is worth our observing that both those Places that do chiefly speak of the future Rest of the People of God do also intimate a Work in that Rest So the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us Heb. 4.9 There remains a Rest for the People of God the Word is There remains a Sabbath for the People of God Look now you are to be imployed on a Sabbath such shall be your Imployment in your Eternal Rest Is it not your Work now upon a sabbath-Sabbath-day to raise your Thoughts and Affections to Heaven to fix and terminate them upon God to maintain Communion with him to admire him in all his Works both of Grace and Providence to stir up your own Hearts and to quicken the Hearts of others to praise and adore him Why this shall be the Work of your Eternal Sabbath And when you are at any time lifted up to a more than ordinary Spiritualness in these Things then may you give some guess what your Work shall be in Heaven and what the frame of your Hearts shall be in your eternal Rest And so that other place in the Revelations Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Which may be meant not only of the Reward of their Works that they shall then receive but of the Works themselves that here they performed on Earth these shall follow them and enter into Heaven with them and as they were done by them weakly and imperfectly here so there the very same Works shall be done by them with absolute and consummate Perfection all those Works I mean that for the Matter and Substance of them do not connote a sinful State and Condition Now then since you must be imploy'd in such a Work as this is to Eternity why do you not accustom your selves to it while you are here Col. 1.12 The Apostle to the Colossians Blesseth God who had made them meet to be made Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Were it a meet thing that those that spend their whole time in Sin should be abruptly snatcht up into Heaven to spend an Eternity there in Holiness And therefore God accustoms those whom he saves in an ordinary way and manner to work those Works here on Earth that they are to be imployed in hereafter in Heaven here they are Apprentices as it were that they may learn the Trade of Holiness that when that time comes they may become fit Citizens of the New Jerusalem here God is trying their Eyes with more qualified and allayed Discoveries of himself that when they come to view him Face to Face they may be able to bear the exceeding Brightness of his Glory And therefore though you profess Heaven to be your Country and that you are Strangers and Pilgrims here on Earth yet say not with the Captive Jews Psal 137. How shall we sing the Song of Sion in a strange Land Yes you must accustom your selves to that Song you must mould and warble it here on Earth that you may be perfect in it when you come to join with Saints and Angels in their eternal Hallelujahs You must try your Eyes by seeing of God and your Voices by singing that Song that you must continually sing in Heaven And were it only for this disposing and fitting of your selves for the Work of Heaven this were Motive enough to persuade to begin it now 5. A Christian hath many helps to work for Salvation Fifthly Another encouraging Consideration to persuade you to work out your own Salvation is this as your Work is great so the Helps and Assistances that God gives for the performance of this Work are many So that your Work is not greater than your Aids are nor is it more difficult than they are potent And therefore though you are weak in your selves and so weak that were you left to your own Strength you would faint in the most easy Service yea the weight but of one holy Thought would sink you for we are not sufficient says the Apostle as of our selves to think any good thing Yet when we consider those mighty Auxiliaries that are afforded and promised as Comfort when we Droop Support when we are Weak that we shall Rise when we Fall Recruits when we are Worsted Omnipotency to supply our Impotency All-sufficiency to make up our Defects When we consider these Things then may we triumphantly say with the Apostle When we are Weak then are we Strong and tho' of our selves we are nothing and therefore can do nothing yet through these mighty Assistances we are able to do all Things Now I shall rank these Auxiliary Forces into Two Bands Some are External others are Internal External Helps are various I shall only instance in Three First You have the exciting Examples of others who have already happily gone through this Work You are not commanded that which never yet was imposed upon any of the Sons of Men nor that whoever undertook failed in the performance and sunk under the burthen of it No there are Hundreds and Thousands gone before you from whom God required as much as he doth from you and these have demonstrated that the Work is possible and the Reward certain And therefore as Israel followed the Cloud for their Conduct into the Land of Canaan So may you be led into a Land of better Promise by a Cloud of Witnesses of those who have already passed through the same Faith Patience and Obedience wherein you are to follow them It is Superstition heightned to Idolatry to make use of the departed Saints as substituted Mediators and under Advocates unto Christ that Christ may be our Advocate unto God the Father what their present Prayers for us are we know not but this we are certain of their past Example ought to be propounded and improved by us for our Incouragement in the ways of Holiness and Obedience Hence the Apostle exhorts us that we should be diligent not slothful and he grounds it upon this because in so doing we should be followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises In difficult and hazardous Enterprizes every Man is apt to stand still and see who will lead the way and according to the Success of the first Attempters so either to be incouraged or dismayed Now what says our Saviour Mat. 11.12 The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force You are not the forlorn Hope you are not the first Assailors no whole Armies of Saints have in former Ages storm'd Heaven they have heretofore planted strong Batteries
shall in Heaven become the Measure of our Reward and Happiness but in the very keeping of them while we are observing and obeying there is so great a Reward that we should have no cause to complain should God bestow no more upon us than to suffer us to obey his Law For 1. By working for Salvation we enjoy Communion with God First Herein we uphold Communion with God and Christ through the holy Spirit What is Communion but only a mutual Intercourse of Grace and Duty when Grace received reflects back again in the returns of Duty Then is Communion maintained between God and the Soul when we return Duty for Grace Now is this nothing to enjoy Fellowship and Communion with the great God of Heaven and Earth to be admitted to him to walk and converse familiarly with him and to enjoy him to see him who is invisible to lean upon him who is Almighty to enjoy him who is infinite Is all this nothing Will not the Souls of those who have by Experience tasted the sweetness of these Things cry out They are so excellent and transcendent that there is but one Thing more desirable and that is immediate Enjoyment What is Heaven it self but Communion with God at a nearer Hand Here it is by Faith there by Vision here by Ordinances there by immediate Influences here it is by Duty there by Union And therefore if the Consideration of a future Heaven be not cogent and prevailing with you behold here is a Heaven at present here is Happiness for your Work as well as for your Reward It was nobly spoken of Galleacius Carriciolus Cursed says he be that Man who preferreth the whole World before one hours Communion with Jesus Christ And certainly they who have once tasted the sweetness of this Communion will subscribe to that Anathema Secondly 2. Peace of Conscience an effect of working for Salvation There is usually great Peace and Tranquility of Conscience attends and accompanies this working for Salvation that fills the Soul with as great a Calm as the World had the first Morning of its Creation when there was no Wind or Tempest to discompose it Never is the Soul more at rest than when it is most at work I dare appeal to the Experience of the People of God in this Case Doth not your most solemn Feasts come in by your Obedience Doth ever Conscience look so friendly and pleasantly upon you as when it finds you active in the Ways of God It then wears not a Wrinckle or Frown upon its Face as Sin ruffles it so Duty smooths it out again and this causeth such Peace and Quietness in the inward Man as yields more satisfaction than all the noise and ruffling Gallantry and Jollity in the World can This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Consciences that in simplicity and godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World So that if Men care not for the Enjoyment of God yet if they love the Enjoyment of themselves if they would avoid Discords and Civil Wars in their own Breasts this were enough to excite them to this pacifying Work that attones and reconciles Conscience unto themselves 3. In working for Salvation God gives in many Testimonies of his Favor Thirdly In this working for Salvation God gives in many evident Testimonies of his special favour and acceptation unto the Souls of his Servants Thou meetest him says the Prophet that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness Thou meetest him how not to contend with him as with Jacob not to slay him as thou didst Balaam but to embrace him to reveal and manifest thy self unto him If you have any comfortable Evidences that God is yours in a strict Bond of an everlasting and unalterable Covenant and that you are accepted of him in the well-beloved Examine how you attained to this Evidence Was it not through Obedience and Working This is the way whereby God manifests himself unto the Souls of his and should your comfortable Persuasions not come in thus by Obedience and Working They are but Enthusiastical and groundless Presumptions and not true and divine Assurance The Apostle in Pet. 2. exhorts us To make our Calling and Election sure But how is that to be done Why it is by giving diligence What is it Men desire and wish for next to Heaven Is it not Assurance of it Would you not have the Terrors and Torments of Conscience apprehending and pre-occupating your own Condemnation eased and removed Would you not have the unquiet tossings and fluctuations of your Minds because of the uncertainty of your future State and Condition setled and confirmed Why then be persuaded to Work believe it this Evidence is never received in any other way than in a way of Duty God will not hold his Light of Assurance to them who will not work the Works of Obedience 4. Obedience accompanied with Joy Fourthly Those that are diligent in working for Salvation many times have high Spring-tides of Joy Joy that is unspeakable and glorious that rusheth in upon the Soul and ravisheth it with a sweet and potent Delight while it is in ways of Obedience Now this tho' it be not ordinary with every Christian yet God sometimes vouchsafes it especially to the most laborious working Christians as a Cordial to revive and quicken them that they should not faint and grow weary in their Work He gives them many times such prelibations of future Glory such bright Glimpses of himself passing before them that they scarce know wherein their state differs from the state of the Glorified unless it be that it is shorter in the duration lasting not so long as theirs Well then should you be asked as they were in the Parable Why stand you here idle all the day long You could not return the same Answer as they did because no Man hath hired us for God hath hired you and that at no less a rate than all these great and glorious Things that have been propounded to you do amount unto A glorious Heaven a blessed Work that is accompanied with Communion with God Peace of Conscience Assurance of divine Favour and Joy in the Holy Ghost and if all this will not persuade you certainly you set a mighty price upon your own Sloth only let me say this beware that these Souls of yours that you will not part with to God for Salvation beware you do not sell them to the Devil for nothing Thirdly 3. There is an eternal Rest after working Consider your Incouragements after your Work is done there is an eternal Rest that waits you I have already consider'd Heaven as a Reward for working let us now consider it as a Rest after working And so the Apostle tells us there remains a Rest for the People of God And in Rev. 14. Heb. 4.9 we read Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours and their Works do
is powerfully swayed to Faith and Obedience for the converting Grace of God is not given to make Men capable to believe and to be converted but it is given to make them actually believing and actually converting The most wicked Man that is without the converting Grace of God is capable to be converted even in his state of Unregeneracy and converting Grace gives not any new Power to inable us to be converted but it gives us an actual Conversion Some shall never believe and why not because they are under an impossibility but because they will not believe it is not because they cannot but because they will not unless we would so gratifie their Sloth as to call their obstinacy an impossibility It is true they are obstinate and that obstinacy can never be cured without efficacious Grace but yet that obstinacy is not properly called an impossibility Well since Salvation is a thing possible why do you not labour for it that your Souls may be eternally happy Christ hath the Key of David and he opens and none shuts and he hath opened the everlasting Gate to you all and bids you all enter and take Possession there stand no grim Guards to keep out you or you you cannot complain that you are excluded by a forcible Decree no you shut the Doors upon your selves and refuse to enter And this is the first Reason why Salvation is not Labour in vain because the end is possible to be attained Secondly There are also right means made known to you for the obtaining of this End Jacob in his Dream saw a Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven Certainly there is a Jacob's Ladder reaching up from Earth to Heaven that is more than a Dream every Round in it is either a Grace or a Duty it is not hid from you what Grace you must act what Duties you must perform that you may obtain Happiness these are direct and proper means to it nay not only means to it but the initials and beginnings of it The glimering Light of Nature could discover that there was a future Happiness but it could not discover to us the right means thither it could not direct us to believe in a crucified Saviour and therefore to write by this dim Light of Nature had been Labour in vain But now we know the way of Salvation is by Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ now we know that Holiness and Obedience do as certainly lead to Heaven as Sin and Disobedience drag down to Hell and therefore while we continue believing and working is there any fear Nay is there any possibility of disappointment in our great End It is as impossible that Faith and Obedience should not lead unto Glory as it is that Faith should or Obedience not continue in Glory And therefore O Soul be confident of success Hast thou any good Evidences that thy Graces are genuine and true though but weak that thy Duties are sincere though but imperfect and that thou doest work the Works of God with a steady Heart though with a trembling Hand Give this Assurance one lift higher and as thou art already assured of the Truth of thy Grace and of the Sincerity of thy Obedience so henceforth be as much assured of thy future Glory as if it were no longer future but now actually in thy present Possession thy dawning shall break forth into a most perfect Day the Womb of thy Morning Twilight shall be delivered of a Noon-tide Brightness thy Spark shall become a Sun thy Seed of Grace shall sprout till it be fit for transplantation into Paradise and there shall flower into Glory Object But may a poor Soul say Though the means that I now use for the obtaining of Salvation be right to effect it if still persisted in yet I fear lest the many Corruptions Temptations and Hardships that I meet with may turn me off from following my Work defeat me of my End and make all I have done as so much Labour in vain and therefore I could have this confidence and assurance that you speak of did I not fear this that I should desist in my Work Would you have good security against this Well then in the Third place the laborious Christian as he useth right means so he shall continue and persevere in the use of them till he hath wrought out his own Salvation by them and therefore he shall certainly accomplish his End and his Labour shall not be in vain It is true if you desist from working all that you have hitherto done will be in vain your Faith in vain your Tears in vain your Prayers in vain all in vain And therefore this should cause you to work with Fear and Trembling lest the Wiles of Satan and the deceitfulness of your own Hearts should intice you from your Work and cheat you of your Reward Let us therefore fear says the Apostle lest a Promise being made us of entring into his Rest any of us should fall short Yet as this may cause holy Fear so it may be matter of spiritual Joy and Rejoycing that notwithstanding the deadness of our Hearts the slackness of our Hands the many Avocations from without the many Interruptions from within yet none of us shall forsake our Work till we have brought it to Perfection our Obedience shall be crowned with Perseverance and our Perseverance with Glory and Immortality See for this that of the Apostle We are confident of this thing Phil. 1.6 that he that hath begun a good Work in you will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ Let therefore the Mouth of Calumny be for ever stopt that accuseth this comfortable Doctrin of the Saints Perseverance through Grace unto Glory that accuseth of patronizing Sloth and Idleness Some do fasten this Viper upon it let Christians live as they list though careless of good Works yea though continually imployed in evil Works yet being Christians they need not fear that they shall fall short of Glory But though we do affirm that every true Christian shall certainly inherit Heaven and Glory yet we shake off this pernicious confidence for he is no true Christian who is not zealous and careful of good Works whose knowledge of his own Estate doth not provoke him to walk worthy of that Vocation wherewith he is called whose hope of Heaven doth not inable him to purify himself and to perfect Holiness in the fear of God What a contradiction is it to say we patronize sinful Sloth in Men when we tell them if they are true Christians that they shall continue working Is it Sloth to continue working Or do we incourage Men to be idle by assuring them if they are Christians they must and shall work Yet this is the natural strain and tendency of our Doctrin What greater Incouragement can you have to Obedience than this If you will work you shall not fail of your End because the End it self is possible because the Means to
careful flight and aversion of it 1. There is in Fear a doubtfulness and uncertainiy of the Event Three things in Fear and this is a Torment when a Man is wrackt in Suspense and Doubt what to expect 1. A doubtfulness of the Event whether or no the Vengeance of God will not fall heavy upon him whether or no he be not Fuel on which this consuming Fire will for ever prey Now this is not that Fear to which the Apostle in this Text exhorts us to serve God withal no to Serve God with Reverence and godly Fear is not to serve him with a doubtful anxious and solicitous Fear of what the Event may prove nay such a Fear as this is is inconsistent with actual Assurance and those who are perplexed with it cannot say we have a Kingdom nor cannot fear their God as a consuming Fire There may be a genuine awful Fear of God as a consuming Fire where there is not the least doubt remaining concerning our final State where the Soul is fully assured that God will be to him not a Fire to consume him but a Sun to cherish him for ever I will give you one or two remarkable Scriptures to this purpose Heb. 4.1 In Heb. 4.1 Let us fear says the Apostle lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Here the Apostle quickens them to the exercise of Holiness from the fear of falling short of Heaven yea though they had assurance by Gods Promise of it lest a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest yet you should fall short of it And so the Apostle triumphs in his Assurance 2 Cor. 5.1 in 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that we have an House eternal in the Heavens and yet in Verse 11. he quickens himself to the discharge of his Ministerial Office from the Fear of Gods Wrath Knowing the Terrors of the Lord we persuade Men. Though he was assured of Glory yet he quickens himself to the discharge of his Ministeral Function by the Fear of Gods Wrath. So that it is evident there may be a Fear of Gods Wrath exciting unto Duty where yet there is a full Assurance beyond all doubting and hesitation of escaping Wrath. So that this is not that Fear that the Apostle excites them that have assurance unto 2. There is a Fear of Terrour 2. There is in Fear a Terror arising from the Evil feared a shivering in the Soul upon the apprehension of the greatness of the Evil feared but avoided too and this is consistent with full Assurance Thus the Terror of past Dangers sometimes causeth as much Terror as if we were again to encounter with them So when Believers look back upon that Wrath and fiery Indignation that they have narrowly escaped upon that Lake of Brimstone that boils and burns behind them wherein thousands of others are for ever swallowed up this cannot but affect them with a holy Horror and Fear of Gods Wrath against Sinners though they have full assurance of his Love 3. There is also in Fear a flight and aversation from the Evil feared 3. There is in Fear a flight and aversation of the Evil feared and this also is consistent with full assurance Noah had full assurance from the Promise of God for his preservation from the Deluge and yet it is said That Noah being moved with fear built him an Ark. Full assurance to escape Evil is far from hindring as some calumniate it the use of means to prevent that Evil yea the assurance that we have to escape Hell and Wrath is of the greatest and most effectual influence to make us careful to use those means whereby we may escape it See this in 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God So in Tit. 2.11 12. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ So in 1 John 3.3 Every one that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself as God is pure Thus you see what Fear it is the Apostle exhorts Believers to who have a Kingdom not a Fear of perplexing Doubtfulness but such as is consistent with their full assurance that is so to fear the Wrath of God as to have our Hearts affected with Terror at the greatness and insupportableness of that Wrath though they have escaped it and to fear so as to avoid all Sin and all that exposeth to that Wrath in these two Senses they that are assured that God is their God ought to fear him as a consuming Fire Secondly 2. Why Believers who are assured of Gods love ought to fear him as a consuming Fire Let us now see upon what Grounds and Considerations a Believer who is assured of Gods love and favour to him ought yet to fear him as a consuming Fire And First The consideration of that mighty and dreadful Power that God puts forth in the punishing and afflicting of the damned 1. Because of that Power that he puts forth in punishing of the damned this may strike Fear into the Hearts of those that are fully assured of Gods love and favour to them Such a Fear as this is the holy Angels themselves have tho' they are secured by Christ in that blessed State and Condition that they enjoy yet to see God stripping and making bare his Arm to lay on weighty strokes of everlasting Vengeance upon their Fellow Angels that are fallen makes them to tremble and stand astonished at the Almighty Power of God and this keeps them at a due distance in their Thoughts and Apprehensions of his dreadful Majesty And should it not much more make us to tremble with an awful respect of the Power of God to consider how he crusheth and breaks the Damned in Hell by his own Almighty Arm stretched out in the full Power of his Wrath to their everlasting Destruction It is from this Power of God that Christ himself enforceth the Fear of God Mat. 20.28 Fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Though God should assure you that he would never destroy you in Hell yet because he is able to do it therefore you should fear him 2. Because of Gods Wrath and Severity Secondly This Fear may arise in the Hearts of the Children of God who are most assured of his Love from the consideration of the Wrath and dreadful Severity of God as well as of his Power If a Father corrects his Slave in his Wrath this will cause Fear and Dread in the Son though he knows that Wrath shall never fall upon him So when a Child of God who is assured of the tender love and favour of God to himself yet when he sadly considers that Wrath and Indignation that is in