"There remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God."--Hebrews,4:9.
CHAPTER I.
THE INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NATURE OF THE SAINTS' REST.
The important design of the apostle in the text, to which the author earnestly bespeaks the attention of the reader. The saints' rest defined, with a general plan of the work. That this rest presupposes.
The author's humble sense of his inability fully to show what this rest contains. It contains, 1. A ceasing from means of grace; 2. A perfect freedom from all evils; 3. The highest degree of the saints'
personal perfection, both in body and soul; 4. The nearest enjoyment of God, the chief good; 5. A sweet and constant action of all the powers of soul and body in this enjoyment of God.
It was not only our interest in God, and actual enjoyment of him, which was lost in Adam's fall, but all spiritual knowledge of him, and true disposition towards such a felicity. When the Son of God comes
with recovering grace, and discoveries of a spiritual and eternal happiness and glory, he finds not faith in man to believe it. As the poor man, that would not believe any one had such a sum as a hundred
pounds, it was so far above what he himself possessed, so men will hardly now believe there is such a happiness as once they had, much less as Christ hath now procured. When God would give the Israelites his Sabbaths of rest, in a land of rest, it was harder to make them believe it, than to overcome their enemies, and procure it for them.
And when they had it, only as a small intimation and earnest of an incomparably more glorious rest through Christ, they yet believe no more than they possess, but say, with the epicure at the feast, Sure
there is no other heaven but this! or, if they expect more by the Messiah, it is only the increase of their earthly felicity. The apostle aims most of this Epistle against this obduracy, and clearly and largely proves that the end of all ceremonies and shadows is to
direct them to Jesus Christ, the substance; and that the rest of Sabbaths, and Canaan, should teach them to look for a further rest, which indeed is their happiness. My text is his conclusion after divers arguments; a conclusion which contains the ground of all the believer's comfort, the end of all his duty and sufferings, the life and sum of all gospel promises and Christian privileges.
What more welcome to men under personal afflictions, tiring duties, disappointments, or sufferings, than rest? It is not our comfort only,
but our stability. Our liveliness in all duties, our enduring of tribulation, our honoring of God, the vigor of our love, thankfulness, and all our graces; yea, the very being of our religion and Christianity depend on the believing, serious thoughts of our rest.
And now, reader, whoever thou art, young or old, rich or poor, I entreat thee, and charge thee, in the name of thy Lord, who will shortly call thee to a reckoning, and judge thee to thy everlasting,
unchangeable state, that thou give not these things the reading only, and so dismiss them with a bare approbation; but that thou set upon this work, and take God in Christ for thy only rest, and fix thy heart
upon him above all. May the living God, who is the portion and rest of his saints, make these our carnal minds so spiritual, and our earthlyhearts so heavenly that loving him, and delighting in him, may be the
work of our lives; and that neither I that write, nor you that read this book, may ever be turned from this path of life; "lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest," we should "come short of
it," through our own unbelief or negligence.
The saints' rest is the most happy state of a Christian; or, it is the perfect endless enjoyment of God by the perfected saints, according to the measure of their capacity, to which their souls arrive at death, and both soul and body most fully after the resurrection and final judgment. According to this definition of the saints' rest, a large account of its nature will be given in this chapter; of its
preparatives, chap. 2; its excellencies, chap. 3 and chap. 4, the persons for whom it is designed. Further to illustrate the subject, some description will be given, chap. 5, of their misery who lose this
rest; and chap. 6, who also lose the enjoyments of time, and suffer the torments of hell. Next will be shown, chap. 7, the necessity of diligently seeking this rest; chap. 8, how our title to it may he
discerned; chap. 9, that they who discern their title to it should help those that cannot; and chap. 10, that this rest is not to be expected on earth. It will then be proper to consider, chap. 11, the importance of a heavenly life upon earth; chap. 12, how to live a
heavenly life upon earth; chap. 13, the nature of heavenly contemplation, with the time, place and temper most fit for it; chap. 14, what use heavenly contemplation makes of consideration, affections, soliloquy and prayer: and likewise, chap. 15, how heavenly contemplation may be assisted by sensible objects, and guarded against a treacherous heart. Heavenly contemplation will be exemplified, chap.
16, and the whole work concluded.
There are some things necessarily presupposed in the nature of this rest: as,That mortal men are the persons seeking it. For angels and glorified spirits have it already, and the devils and damned are past hope: That they choose God only for their end and happiness. He that takes any thing else for his happiness is out of the way the first step:
That they are distant from this end. This is the woful case of all mankind since the fall. When Christ comes with regenerating grace, he finds no man sitting still, but all posting to eternal ruin, and making haste toward hell; till, by conviction, he first brings them to
a stand, and then, by conversion, turns their hearts and lives sincerely to himself. This end, and its excellency, is supposed to be known, and seriously intended. An unknown good moves not to desire or
endeavor. And not only a distance from this rest, but the true knowledge of this distance, is also supposed. They that never yet knew they were without God, and in the way to hell, never yet knew the way
to heaven. Can a man find he hath lost his God and his soul, and not cry, I am undone? The reason why so few obtain this rest, is, they will not be convinced that they are, in point of title, distant from it and, in point of practice, Contrary to it. Who ever sought for that which he knew not he had lost? "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick:"
The influence of a superior moving Cause is also supposed; else we shall all stand still, and not move toward our rest. If God move us not, we cannot move. It is a most necessary part of our Christian
wisdom, to keep our subordination to God, and dependence on him. "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God." "Without me," says Christ, "ye can do nothing."
It is next supposed, that they who seek this rest have an inward principle of spiritual life. God does not move men like stones, but he endows them with life, not to enable them to move without him, but in
subordination to himself, the first mover.
And further, this rest supposes such an actual tendency of soul toward it as is regular and constant, earnest and laborious. He that hides his talent shall receive the wages of a slothful servant. Christ is
the door, the only way to this rest. "But strait is the gate and narrow is the way;" and we must strive, if we will enter; for "many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able; which implies, "that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence." Nor will it bring us to the end of the saints, if we begin in the spirit and end in the flesh. He only "that endureth to the end shall be saved." And never did a soul obtain rest with God whose desire was not set upon him above all things else in the world. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart he also."
The remainder of our old nature will much weaken and interrupt these desires, but never overcome them. And, considering the opposition to our desires, from the contrary principles in our nature, and from the weakness of our graces, together with our continued distance from the end, our tendency to that end must be laborious, and with all our might. All these things are pre-supposed, in order to a Christian's obtaining an interest in heavenly rest.
Now we have ascended these steps into the outward court, may we look within the veil? May we show what this rest contains, as well as what it pre-supposes? Alas! how little know I of that glory! The glimpse which Paul had, contained what could not, or must not, be uttered. Had he spoken the things of heaven in the language of heaven, and none
understood that language, what the better? The Lord reveal to me what I may reveal to you! The Lord open some light, and show both you and me our inheritance! Not as to Balaam only, whose eyes were opened to see the goodliness of Jacob's tents, and Israel's tabernacles, where he had no portion, and from whence must come his own destruction; not
as to Moses, who had only a discovery instead of possession, and saw the land which he never entered; but as the pearl was revealed to the
merchant in the Gospel, who rested not till he had sold all he had, and bought it; and as heaven was opened to blessed Stephen, which he was shortly to enter, and the glory showed him which should be his own possession.
The things contained in heavenly rest are such as these: a ceasing from means of grace; a perfect freedom from all evils; the highest degree of the saints' personal perfection, both of body and soul; the
nearest enjoyment of God, the chief good and a sweet and constant action of all the powers of body and soul in this enjoyment of God.
1. One thing contained in heavenly rest, is, the ceasing from means of grace. When we have obtained the haven, we have done sailing. When the
workman receives his wages, it is implied he has done his work. When we are at our journey's end, we have done with the way. Whether prophecies, they shall fail; whether tongues, they shall cease;
whether knowledge, it also, so far as it had the nature of means, shall vanish away. There shall be no more prayer, because no more necessity, but the full enjoyment of what we prayed for: neither shall
we need to fast, and weep, and watch any more, being out of the reach of sin and temptations. Preaching is done; the ministry of man ceases;
ordinances become useless; the laborers are called in, because the harvest is gathered, the tares burned, and the work finished; the unregenerate past hope, and the saints past fear, for ever.
2. There is in heavenly rest a perfect freedom from all evils: from all the evils that accompanied us through our course, and which necessarily follow our absence from the chief good, besides our
freedom from those eternal flames and restless miseries which the neglecters of Christ and grace must for ever endure; a woeful inheritance, which, both by birth and actual merit, was due to us as
well as to them! In heaven there is nothing that defileth or is unclean. All that remains without. And doubtless there is not suchthing as grief and sorrow known there; nor is there such a thing as a pale face, a languid body, feeble joints, helpless infancy, decrepid age, peccant humors, painful or pining sickness, griping fears, consuming cares, nor whatsoever deserves the name of evil. We wept and
lamented when the world rejoiced but our sorrow is turned to joy, and our joy shall no man take from us.
3. Another ingredient of this rest is, the highest degree of the saints' personal perfection, both of body and soul. Were the glory ever so great, and themselves not made capable of it by a personal
perfection suitable thereto, it would be little to them. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." For the eye of
flesh is not capable of seeing them, nor this ear of hearing them, nor this heart of understanding them: but there, the eye, and ear, and heart are made capable; else, how do they enjoy them? The more perfect the sight is, the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical the ear, the more pleasant the melody. The more perfect the soul, the more joyous those joys, and the more glorious, to us, is that glory.
4. The principal part of this rest is our nearest enjoyment of God, the chief good. And here, reader, wonder not if I be at a loss, and if my apprehensions receive but little of that which is in my expressions. If it did not appear to the beloved disciple what we
shall be, but only, in general, "that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him," no wonder if I know little. When I know so little of God, I cannot much know what it is to enjoy him. If I know so little of spirits, how little of the Father of spirits, or the state
of my own soul, when advanced to the enjoyment of him! I stand and look upon a heap of ants, and see them all at one view: they know not me, my being, nature, or thoughts, though I am their fellow-creature:
how little then, must we know of the great Creator, though he, with one view, clearly beholds us all! A glimpse, the saints behold as in a glass, which makes us capable of some poor, dark apprehensions of what
we shall behold in glory. If I should tell a worldling what the holiness and spiritual joys of the saints on earth are, he cannot know; for grace cannot be clearly known without grace; how much less could he conceive it, should I tell him of this glory! But to the
saints I may be somewhat more encouraged to speak, for grace gives them a dark knowledge and slight taste of glory.
If men and angels should study to speak the blessedness of that state in one word, what could they say beyond this, that it is the nearest
enjoyment of God? O the full joys offered to a believer in that one sentence of Christ, "Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me!" Every word is full of life and joy. If the queen of Sheba had cause to say of Solomon's glory, "Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom;" then, surely, they that stand continually before God, and see his glory, and the glory of the Lamb, are more than happy. To them
will Christ give to eat of the tree of life, and to eat of the hidden manna; yea, he will make them pillars in the temple of God, and they shall go no more out; and he will write upon them the name of his God,
and the name of the city of his God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from his God, and he will write upon them his new name; yea, more, if more may be, he will grant them to sit
with him in his throne. "These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of God, and
serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. The Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of
water and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." O blind, deceived world! can you show us such a glory? This is the city of our God, where the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. The glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of
God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.
These sayings are faithful and true, and the things which must shortly be done."
Richard Baxter of Kidderminster
