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
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
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
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
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
that 't is an Unchangeable Love a Love that never fades never varies True his Love may be and sometimes is vailed and clouded but though it be vailed yet 't is not varied though it be sometimes clouded yet 't is never changed Love under a Vail or Cloud is Love The Sun may be under a Cloud yea there may be an eclipse upon it for a time which may keep it out of our view and deprive us of the comfortable influences and shinings of it for a season but yet even then the Sun is in being and after a while it will shine again and that as sweetly brightly and comfortably as ever So there may be a Vail a Cloud an eclipse as it were upon God's Love such as may deprive us for a time of the comfortable views shinings and influences of it but yet even then 't is Love and sweet Love too and after a while it will shine and shew it self again 'T is a sweet Word which you have Psal 30.5 His anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a right but joy comes in the morning in his favour is life Vitam momento opponit benevolentia qua suos complectitur Deus durat per emnem vitam Deus favorem suum prorogat in longum tempus Mol. Life here as a judicious Interpreter observes is opposed to a moment mentioned in the beginning of the verse and so the sense is that that Love wherewith God loves his People lasts throughout all life it lives and lasts for ever 't is a durable abiding love So Isa 54.8 In a little wrath I bid my face from thee for a moment sayes God to his Church but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee Thus I say though God's Love to his People may be vailed yet 't is never varyed 't is a constant Love and Oh how sweet does this speak his Love to be and how happy are they that are interested in it Oh to be beloved by an Unchangeable God with an Unchangeable Love this is sweet indeed The Creatures Love has little worth or sweetness in it and that not only because of its weakness and emptiness but also because of its changeableness Alas the Creature loves to day and hates to morrow Oh but now God's Love is another manner of Love a Love that has fulness and firmness sufficiency and immutability both in it and accordingly must needs be infinitely sweet and desirable Well therefore might David admiringly cry out as he did Psal 36.7 How excellent or how precious is thy loving-kindness O Lord and as in Psal 63.3 Thy loving-kindness is better than life 'T is before all lives one dram of it is to be preferred before many Worlds of Creature-injoyments God's Love it is all good all comfort all happiness in its fountain-fulness and purity it is an eternal never-failing spring of sweetness an unvariable fountain of delight in it there is Grace all Grace Peace all Peace Joy all Joy Satisfaction all Satisfaction Rest and Solace all Rest and Solace O Soul look upon the love of thy God to thee look upon it and in it thou wilt see unsearchable Riches unmeasurable Fulness unfathomable Depths and which crowns all eternal Unchangeableness and Oh how happy wilt thou therein see thy self With what full consolation of Spirit mayest thou sit down and say God loves me and he loves me unchangeably Friends change outward comforts change I my self change but God's Love to me changes not I am for ever upon his heart nor can either Men or Devils sins or sorrows cast me out of it True he sometimes afflicts me but yet he loves me he sometimes frowns upon me but yet he loves me he sometimes seems to slay me he breaks me with breach upon breach but yet he loves me he confines me to a sick Chamber he layes me upon a sick Bed he seems to resolve to lay me in the Dust but yet he loves me yea all this is in love I break with him and depart from him I am sinning against him every day and hour but yet he loves me he loves me notwithstanding all his Love cannot be broken off from me and after a while I shall bathe in the Fountain thereof for ever Oh sweet who would not long for this Love He loves me unchangeably and he will therefore cleanse me purifie me pardon me make me perfectly holy He loves me and he will love me till he has lodged me in his own Presence and Bosom above and there he will love me for ever 2. From God's Unchangeabless we conclude and infer the infinite bitterness of his Wrath and the extream misery of all such as fall under the weight thereof God's Love is not more sweet than his Wrath is bitter his Love is not more desirable than his Wrath is formidable and that because he is an Unchangeable God and oh how miserable must they be that do fall under this Wrath. In Isa 10.6 we read of the People of God's Wrath there are some then that are properly the People of God's Wrath they are Children of Wrath Heirs of Wrath and Wrath yea God's Wrath will be their portion for ever such are all finally impenitent and unbelieving Ones all who live and die in their impenitency and unbelief and oh how extreamly miserable must they be God's Wrath is a great Wrath a fierce Wrath a sore Wrath a powerful Wrath an irresistible Wrath a burning consuming and devouring Wrath So the Scripture speaks of it all which speaks the exceeding bitterness and terribleness of it and the extream misery of such as fall under it but that which adds even infinitely to all is this that 't is eternal and unchangeable Wrath Wrath that abides for ever Hence 't is set forth in Scripture by unquenchable fire Mat. 3.12 God's Wrath is called Fire because of its exceeding heat and fierceness being of a consuming and devouring nature and 't is called unquenchable Fire because 't is durable and unchangeable it being what admits of no more change or period than his Love does and to fall under this unquenchable fire under the revelation of this eternal unchangeable Wrath oh how sad how miserable must this be Solomon tells us that the Wrath of a King is as the roaring of a Lyon Prov. 19.12 and what then and how terrible is the Wrath of God to whose Wrath the wrath of all the Kings on the Earth is as nothing We are afraid sometimes of Man's Wrath yea so afraid of it as to suffer our selves to be driven from our duty by it But my Beloved what is the Wrath of a Man to the Wrath God What is the Wrath of a changeable Man to the Wrath of an Unchangeable God let me say to each Soul of you as God by the Prophet to them Isa 51 12.13 Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die a changeable Creature and forgettest the Lord thy Maker 'T
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