our kind sponsors.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSONS FOR WHOM THIS REST IS DESIGNED.
The people of God who shall enjoy this rest are, 1. Chosen from eternity; 2.
Given to Christ; 3. Born again; 4. Deeply convinced of the evil of sin, their
misery by sin, the vanity of the creature, and the all-sufficiency of Christ. 5.
Their will is proportionably changed. 6. They engage in covenant with Christ. 7.
They persevere in their engagements. The reader invited to examine himself by
these characteristics of God's people. Further testimony from Scripture, that
this rest shall be enjoyed by the people of God: also that none but they shall
enjoy it; and that it remains for them, and is not to be enjoyed till they come
to another world. The chapter concludes with showing, that their souls shall
enjoy this rest while separated from their bodies.
While I was in the mount, describing the excellencies of the saints' rest, I
felt it was good being there, and therefore tarried the longer; and were there
not an extreme disproportion between my conceptions and the subject, much longer
had I been. Can a prospect of that happy land be tedious? Having read of such
high and unspeakable glory, a stranger would wonder for what rare creatures this
mighty preparation should be made, and expect some illustrious sun should break
forth: but, behold! only a shellful of dust, animated with an invisible rational
soul, and that rectified with as unseen a restoring power of grace; and this is
the creature that must possess such glory! You would think it must needs be some
deserving piece, or one that brings a valuable price: but, behold! one that hath
nothing and can deserve nothing; yea, that deserves the contrary, and would, if
he might, proceed in that deserving: but, being apprehended by love, he is
brought to him that is all; and most affectionately receiving him, and resting
on him, he doth, in and through him, receive all this! More particularly, the
persons for whom this rest is designed are chosen of God from eternity; given to
Christ as their Redeemer; born again; deeply convinced of the evil and misery of
a sinful state, the vanity of the creature, and the all-sufficiency of Christ;
their will is renewed; they engage themselves to Christ in covenant; and they
persevere in their engagements to the end.
1. The persons for whom this rest is designed, whom the text calls "the people
of God," are "chosen of God before the foundation of the world, that they should
be holy and without blame before him in love." That they are but a part of
mankind is apparent in Scripture and experience. They are the little flock, to
whom "it is their Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom." Fewer they are
than the world imagines; yet not so few as some drooping spirits think, who are
suspicious that God is unwilling to be their God, when they know themselves
willing to be his people.
2. These persons are given of God to his Son, to be by him redeemed from their
lost state, and advanced to this glory. God hath given all things to his Son,
but not as he hath given his chosen to him. "God hath given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given
him." The difference is clearly expressed by the apostle; "he hath put all
things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church." And though Christ is, in some sense, a ransom for all, yet not in that
special manner as for his people.
3. One great qualification of these persons is that they are born again. To be
the people of God without regeneration, is as impossible as to be the children
of men without generation. Seeing we are born God's enemies, we must be new-born
his sons, or else remain enemies still. The greatest reformation of life that
can be attained, without this new life wrought in the soul, may procure our
further delusion, but never our salvation.
4. This new life in the people of God discovers itself by conviction, or a deep
sense of divine things.
They are convinced of the evil of sin. The sinner is made to know and feel that
the sin which was his delight, is a more loathsome thing than a toad or serpent,
and a greater evil than plague or famine; being a breach of the righteous law of
the most high God, dishonorable to him, and destructive to the sinner. Now the
sinner no more hears the reproofs of sin as words of course; but the mention of
his sin speaks to his very heart, and yet he is willing you should show him the
worst. He was wont to marvel what made men keep up such a stir against sin; what
harm it was for a man to take little forbidden pleasure; he saw no such
heinousness in it that Christ must needs die for it, and a christless world be
eternally tormented in hell. Now the case is altered; God hath opened his eyes
to see the inexpressible vileness of sin.
They are convinced of their own misery by reason of sin. They who before read
the threats of God's law as men do the story of foreign wars, now find it their
own story, and perceive they read their own doom, as if they found their own
names written in the curse, or heard the law say, as Nathan, "Thou art the man."
The wrath of God seemed to him before but a storm to a man in a dry house, or as
the pains of the sick to the healthful stander-by; but now he finds the disease
is his own, and feels himself a condemned man: that he is dead and damned in
point of law, and that nothing is wanting but mere execution to make him
absolutely and irrecoverably miserable. This is a work of the Spirit wrought in
some measure in all the regenerate. How should he come to Christ for pardon who
did not first find himself guilty and condemned? or for life, who never found
himself spiritually dead? "The whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick." The discovery of the remedy as soon as the misery, must needs prevent a
great part of the trouble. And perhaps the joyful apprehensions of mercy may
make the sense of misery sooner forgotten.
They are also convinced of the creature's vanity and insufficiency. Every man is
naturally an idolater. Our hearts turned from God in our first fall; and, ever
since, the creature hath been our god. This is the grand sin of our nature.
Every unregenerate man ascribes to the creature divine prerogatives, and allows
it the highest room in his soul; or, if he is convinced of misery, he flies to
it as his savior. Indeed, God and His Christ shall be called Lord and Savior;
but the real expectation is from the creature, and the work of God is laid upon
it. Pleasure, profit and honor, are the natural man's trinity and his carnal
self is these in unity. It was our first sin to aspire to be as gods and it is
the greatest sin that is propagated in our nature from generation to generation.
When God should guide us, we guide ourselves; when he should be our Sovereign,
we rule ourselves: the laws which he gives us, we find fault with, and would
correct and, if we had the making of them, we would have made them otherwise:
when he should take care of us, (and must, or we perish,) we will take care for
ourselves: when we should depend on him in daily receiving, we had rather have
our portion in our own hands: when we should submit to his providence, we
usually quarrel with it, and think we could make a better disposal than God hath
made. When we should study and love, trust and honor God, we study and love,
trust and honor our carnal selves. Instead of God, we would have all men's eyes
and dependence on us, and all men's thanks returned to us, and would gladly be
the only men on earth extolled and admired by all. Thus we are naturally our own
idols. But down falls this Dagon when God once renews the soul. It is the chief
design of that great work, to bring the heart back to God himself. He convinceth
the sinner that the creature can neither be his God, to make him happy, nor his
Christ, to recover him from his misery and restore him to God, who is his
happiness. God does this not only by his word, but also by his providence. This
is the reason why affliction so frequently concurs in the work of conversion.
Arguments which speak to the quick, will force a hearing when the most powerful
words are slighted. If a sinner made his credit his god, and God cast him into
the lowest disgrace, or bring him, who idolized his riches, into a condition
wherein they cannot help him, or cause them to take wing and fly away, what a
help is here to this work of conviction! If a man made pleasure his god,
whatsoever a roving eye, a curious ear, a greedy appetite, or a lustful heart
could desire, and God take these from him, or turn them into gall and wormwood,
what a help is here to conviction! When God casts a man into languishing
sickness, and inflicts wounds on his heart, and stirs up against him his own
conscience, and then, as it were, says to him, "Try if your credit, riches, or
pleasures can help you. Can they heal your wounded conscience? Can they now
support your tottering tabernacle? Can they keep your departing soul in your
body? or save you from my everlasting wrath? or redeem your soul from eternal
flames? Cry aloud to them, and see now whether these will be to you instead of
God and Christ." O how this works now with the sinner! Sense acknowledges the
truth, and even the flesh is convinced of the creature's vanity, and our very
deceiver is undeceived.
The people of God are likewise convinced of the absolute necessity, the full
sufficiency, and perfect excellency of Jesus Christ: as a man in famine is
convinced of the necessity of food; or a man that has heard or read his sentence
of condemnation, of the absolute necessity of pardon; or a man that lies in
prison for debt, of his need of a surety to discharge it. Now the sinner feels
an insupportable burden upon him, and sees there is none but Christ can take it
off: he perceives the law proclaims him a rebel, and none but Christ can make
his peace: he is as a man pursued by a lion, that must perish if he finds not a
present sanctuary: he is now brought to this dilemma; either he must have Christ
to justify him, or be eternally condemned; have Christ to save him, or burn in
hell for ever; have Christ to bring him to God, or be shut out of his presence
everlastingly! And no wonder if he cry as the martyr, "None but Christ! none but
Christ!" Not gold, but bread, will satisfy the hungry; nor will any thing but
pardon comfort the condemned.
All things are counted but dung now, that he may win Christ; and what was gain,
he counts loss for Christ. As the sinner sees his misery, and the inability of
himself and all things to relieve him, so he perceives there is no saving mercy
out of Christ. He sees that though the creature cannot, and himself cannot, yet
Christ can help him. Though the fig leaves of our own unrighteous righteousness
are too short to cover our nakedness, yet the righteousness of Christ is large
enough: ours is disproportionate to the justice of the law, but Christ's extends
to every tittle. If he intercede, there is no denial; such is the dignity of his
person and the value of his merits, that the Father grants all he desires.
Before, the sinner knew Christ's excellency as a blind man knows the light of
the sun; but now, as one that beholds its glory.
5. After this deep conviction, the will manifests also its change. As, for
instance, the sin which the understanding pronounces evil, the will turns from
with abhorrence. Not that the sensitive appetite is changed, or any way made to
abhor its object; but when it would prevail against reason, and carry us to sin
against God, instead of Scripture being the rule, and reason the master, and
sense the servant, this disorder and evil the will abhors. The misery also,
which sin hath procured, is not only discerned, but bewailed. It is impossible
that the soul should now look either on its trespass against God, or yet on its
own self-procured calamity, without some contrition. He that truly discerns that
he hath killed Christ, and killed himself, will surely in some measure be
pricked to the heart. If he cannot weep, he can heartily groan and his heart
feels what his understanding sees. The creature is renounced as vanity, and
turned out of the heart with disdain: not that it is undervalued, or the use of
it condemned; but its idolatrous abuse, and its unjust usurpation. Can Christ be
the way, where the creature is the end? Can we seek Christ to reconcile us to
God, while in our hearts we prefer the creature before him? In the soul of every
unregenerate man the creature is both God and Christ. As turning from the
creature to God, and not by Christ, is no true turning; so believing in Christ,
while the creature hath our hearts, is no true believing. Our aversion from sin,
renouncing our idols, and our right receiving Christ, is all but one work, which
God ever perfects where he begins. At the same time, the will cleaves to God the
Father, and to Christ. Having been convinced that nothing else can be his
happiness, the sinner now finds it is in God. Convinced also that Christ alone
is able and willing to make peace for him, he most affectionately accepts of
Christ as his Savior and Lord. Paul's preaching was "repentance toward God, and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." And life eternal consists, first in
"knowing the only true God;" and then "Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent." To take
the Lord for our God is the natural part of the covenant; the supernatural part
is, to take Christ for our Redeemer. The former is first necessary, and implied
in the latter. To accept Christ without affection and love, is not justifying
faith: nor does love follow as a fruit, but immediately concurs; for faith is
the receiving of Christ with the whole soul. "He that loveth father or mother
more than Christ, is not worthy of him," nor is justified by him. Faith accepts
him as Savior and Lord: for in both relations will he be received, or not at
all. Faith not only acknowledges his sufferings, and accepts of pardon and
glory, but acknowledges his sovereignty, and submits to his government and way
of salvation.
6. As an essential part of the character of God's people, they now enter into a
cordial covenant with Christ. The sinner was never strictly, nor comfortably, in
covenant with Christ till now. He is sure, by the free offers, that Christ
consents and now he cordially consents himself; and so the agreement is fully
made. With this covenant Christ delivers up himself in all comfortable relations
to the sinner; and the sinner delivers up himself to be saved and ruled by
Christ. Now the soul resolutely concludes, "I have been blindly led by flesh and
lust, by the world and the devil, too long, almost to my utter destruction; I
will now be wholly at the disposal of my Lord, who hath bought me with his
blood, and will bring me to his glory."
7. I add, that the people of God persevere in this covenant to the end. Though
the believer may be tempted, yet he never disclaims his Lord, renounces his
allegiance, nor repents of his covenant; nor can he properly be said to break
that covenant, while that faith continues which is the condition of it. Indeed,
those that have verbally covenanted, and not cordially, may tread under foot the
blood of the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, as an unholy thing, by
separation from those without the church; but the elect cannot be so deceived.
Though this perseverance be certain to true believers, yet it is made a
condition of their salvation; yea, of their continued life and fruitfulness, and
of the continuance of their justification, though not of their first
justification itself. But eternally blessed be that hand of love which hath
drawn the free promise, and subscribed and sealed to that which ascertains us
both of the grace which is the condition, and the kingdom which on that
condition is offered!
Such are the essentials of this people of God. Not a full portraiture of them in
all their excellencies, nor all the marks whereby they may be discerned. I
beseech thee, reader, as thou hast the hope of a Christian, or the reason of a
man, judge thyself as one that must shortly be judged by a righteous God, and
faithfully answer these questions. I will not inquire whether you remember the
time or the order of these workings of the Spirit, there may be much uncertainty
and mistake in that. If you are sure they are wrought in you, it is not so great
a matter that you should know when or how you came by them. But carefully
examine and inquire, Hast thou been thoroughly convinced of a prevailing
depravation through thy whole soul? and a prevailing wickedness through thy
whole life? and how vile sin is? and that by the covenant thou hast
transgressed, the least sin deserves eternal death? Dost thou consent to the
law, that it is true and righteous, and perceive thyself sentenced to this death
by it? Hast thou seen the utter insufficiency of every creature, either to be
itself thy happiness, or the means of removing this thy misery? Hast thou been
convinced that thy happiness is only in God, as the end, and in Christ, as the
way to him and that thou must be brought to God through Christ, or perish
eternally? Hast thou seen an absolute necessity of thy enjoying Christ, and the
full sufficiency in him to do for thee whatsoever thy case requires? Hast thou
discovered the excellency of this pearl to be worth thy "selling all to buy it?"
Have thy convictions been like those of a man that thirsts and not merely a
change in opinion, produced by reading or education? Have both thy sin and
misery been the abhorrence and burden of thy soul? If thou couldst not weep, yet
couldst thou heartily groan under the insupportable weight of both? Hast thou
renounced all thy own righteousness? Hast thou turned thy idols out of thy
heart, so that the creature hath no more the sovereignty, but is now a servant
to God and Christ? Dost thou accept of Christ as thy only Savior, and expect thy
justification, recovery and glory from him alone? Are his laws the most powerful
commanders of thy life and soul? Do they ordinarily prevail against the commands
of the flesh, and against the greatest interest of thy credit, profit, pleasure
or life? Has Christ the highest room in thy heart and affections, so that,
though thou canst not love him as thou wouldst, yet nothing else is loved so
much? Hast thou, to this end, made a hearty covenant with him, and delivered up
thyself to him? Is it thy uttermost care and watchful endeavor that thou mayest
be found faithful in this covenant and though thou fall into sin, yet wouldst
not renounce thy bargain, nor change thy Lord, nor give up thyself to any other
government, for all the world? If this be truly thy case, thou art one of "the
people of God" in my text and as sure as the promise of God is true, this
blessed rest remains for thee. Only see thou "abide in Christ," and "endure to
the end;" for "if any man draw back, his soul shall have no pleasure in him."
But if no such work be found within thee, whatever thy deceived heart may think,
or how strong soever thy false hopes may be, thou wilt find to thy cost, except
thorough conversion prevent it, that the rest of the saints belongs not to thee.
"O that thou wert wise, that thou wouldst understand this, that thou wouldst
consider thy latter end!" that yet, while thy soul is in thy body, and "a price
is in thy hand," and opportunity and hope before thee, thine ears may be open,
and thy heart yield to the persuasions of God, that so thou mayest rest among
his people, and enjoy "the inheritance of the saints in light!"
That this rest shall be enjoyed by the people of God, is a truth which the
Scripture, if its testimony be further needed, clearly asserts in a variety of
ways; as, for instance, that they are "foreordained to it, and it for them. God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."
They are styled "vessels of mercy, afore prepared unto glory." "In Christ they
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of
Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." And "whom he did
predestinate, them he also glorified." Who can deprive his people of that rest
which is designed for them by God's eternal purpose? Scripture tells us, they
are redeemed to this rest. "By the blood of Jesus, we have boldness to enter
into the holiest;" whether that entrance means by faith and prayer here, or by
full possession hereafter. Therefore the saints in heaven sing a new song unto
Him who has "redeemed them to God by his blood, out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation, and made them kings and priests unto God."
Either Christ, then, must lose his blood and sufferings, and never "see of the
travail of his soul," or else "there remaineth a rest to the people of God." In
Scripture this rest is promised to them. As the firmament with stars, so are the
sacred pages bespangled with these divine engagements. Christ says, "Fear not,
little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." "I
appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat
and drink at my table in my kingdom." All the means of grace, the operations of
the Spirit upon the soul, and gracious actings of the saints, every command to
repent and believe, to fast and pray, to knock and seek, to strive and labor, to
run and fight, prove that there remains a rest for the people of God. The Spirit
would never kindle in us such strong desires after heaven, such love to Jesus
Christ, if we should not receive what we desire and love. He that "guides our
feet into the way of peace," will undoubtedly bring us to the end of peace. How
nearly are the means and end conjoined! "The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force." They that "follow Christ in the
regeneration, shall sit upon thrones of glory." Scripture assures us, that the
saints have the "beginnings, foretastes, earnests, and seals" of this rest here.
"Though they have not seen Christ, yet loving him, and believing in him, they
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; receiving the end of their
faith, even the salvation of their souls." They "rejoice in hope of the glory of
God." And does God "seal them with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of their inheritance," and will he deny the full possession? The
Scripture also mentions, by name, those who have entered into this rest; as
Enoch, Abraham, Lazarus, and the thief that was crucified with Christ. And if
there be a rest for these, surely there is a rest for all believers. But it is
in vain to bring together Scripture proofs, seeing it is the very end of
Scripture to be a guide to lead us to this blessed state, and to be the charter
and grant by which we hold all our title to it.
Scripture not only proves that this rest remains for the people of God, but also
that it remains for none but them; so that the rest of the world shall have no
part in it. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He that believeth not the Son, shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. No whoremonger, nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and of God. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations that forget God. They all shall be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. The Lord Jesus shall come in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." Had the ungodly returned
before their life was expired, and been heartily willing to accept of Christ for
their Savior and their King, and to be saved by him in his way, and upon his
most reasonable terms, they might have been saved. God freely offered them life,
and they would not accept it. The pleasures of the flesh seemed more desirable
to them than the glory of the saints. Satan offered them the one, and God
offered them the other; and they had free liberty to choose which they would,
and they chose "the pleasures of sin for a season," before the everlasting rest
with Christ. And is it not a righteous thing that they should be denied that
which they would not accept? When God pressed them so earnestly, and persuaded
them so importunately, to come in, and yet they would not, where should they be
but among the dogs without? Though man be so wicked that he will not yield till
the mighty power of grace prevail with him, yet still we may truly say that he
may be saved, if he will, on God's terms. His inability being moral, and lying
in wilful wickedness, is no more excuse to him than it is to an adulterer that
he cannot love his own wife, or to a malicious person that he cannot but hate
his own brother: is he not so much the worse, and deserving of so much the sorer
punishment? Sinners shall lay all the blame on their own wills in hell for ever.
Hell is a rational torment by conscience, according to the nature of the
rational subject. If sinners could but then say, It was God's fault, and not
ours, it would quiet their consciences and ease their torments, and make hell,
to them, to be no hell. But to remember their wilfulness, will feed the fire,
and cause the worm of conscience "never to die."
It is the will of God that this rest should yet remain for his people, and not
be enjoyed till they come to another world. Who should dispose of the creatures
but he that made them? You may as well ask why have we not spring and harvest
without winter? or, why is the earth below and the heavens above? as why we have
not rest on earth? All things must come to their perfection by degrees. The
strongest man must first be a child. The greatest scholar must first begin with
the alphabet. The tallest oak was once an acorn. This life is our infancy; and
would we be perfect in the womb, or born at full stature? If our rest was here,
most of God's providences must be useless. Should God lose the glory of his
church's miraculous deliverances, and of the fall of his enemies, that men may
have their happiness here? If we were all happy, innocent, and perfect, what use
was there for the glorious work of our sanctification, justification, and future
salvation?--If we wanted nothing, we should not depend on God so closely, nor
call upon him so earnestly. How little would he hear from us, if we had what we
would have! God would never have had such songs of praise from Moses at the Red
Sea and in the wilderness, from Deborah and Hannah, from David and Hezekiah, if
they had been the choosers of their own condition. Have not thy own highest
praises to God, reader, been occasioned by thy dangers or miseries? The greatest
glory and praise God has through the world, is for redemption, reconciliation,
and salvation by Christ; and was not man's misery the occasion of that?--And
where God loses the opportunity of exercising his mercies, man must needs lose
the happiness of enjoying them. Where God loses his praise, man will certainly
lose his comforts. O the sweet comforts the saints have had in return for their
prayers! How should we know what a tender-hearted Father we have, if we had not,
as the prodigal, been denied the husks of earthly pleasure and profit? We should
never have felt Christ's tender heart, if we had not felt ourselves "weary and
heavy laden, hungry and thirsty, poor and contrite." It is a delight to a
soldier or traveller, to look back on his escapes when they are over; and for a
saint in heaven to look back on his sins and sorrows upon earth; his fears and
tears, his enemies and dangers, his wants and calamities must make his joy more
joyful. Therefore the blessed, in praising the Lamb, mention his "redeeming them
out of every nation, and kindred, and tongue;" and so out of their misery, and
wants, and sins, "and making them kings and priests to God." But if they had had
nothing but content and rest on earth, what room would there have been for these
rejoicings hereafter?
Besides, we are not capable of rest upon earth. Can a soul that is so weak in
grace, so prone to sin, so nearly joined to such a neighbor as this flesh, have
full content and rest in such a case? What is soul-rest, but our freedom from
sin, and imperfections, and enemies? And can the soul have rest that is molested
with all these, and that continually? Why do Christians so often cry out, in the
language of Paul, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" What makes
them "press toward the mark, and run that they may obtain, and strive to enter
in," if they are capable of rest in their present condition? And our bodies are
incapable as well as our souls. They are not now those sun-like bodies which
they shall be, when this "corruptible hath put on incorruption, and this mortal
hath put on immortality." They are our prisons and our burdens; so full of
infirmities and defects, that we spend most of our time in repairing them and
supplying their continual wants. Is it possible that an immortal soul should
have rest in such a disordered habitation? Surely these sickly, weary, loathsome
bodies must be refined before they can be capable of enjoying rest. The objects
which we here enjoy are insufficient to afford us rest. Alas! what is there in
all the world to give us rest? They that have most of it have the greatest
burden. They that set most by it, and rejoice most in it, do all cry out at last
of its vanity and vexation. Men promise themselves a heaven upon earth; but when
they come to enjoy it, it flies from them. He that has any regard to the works
of the Lord, may easily see that the very end of them is to take down our idols,
to make us weary of the world, and seek our rest in him. Where does he cross us
most, but where we promise ourselves most content? If you have a child you dote
upon, it becomes your sorrow. If you have a friend you trust in, and judge
unchangeable, he becomes your scourge. Is this a place, or state of rest? And as
the objects we here enjoy are insufficient for our rest, so God, who is
sufficient, is here little enjoyed. It is not here that he had prepared the
presence-chamber of his glory. He hath drawn the curtain between us and him. We
are far from him as creatures, and farther as frail mortals, and farthest as
sinners. We hear now and then a word of comfort from him, and receive his
love-tokens to keep up our hearts and hopes; but this is not our full enjoyment.
And can any soul that hath made God his portion, as every one hath that shall be
saved by him, find rest in so vast a distance from him, and so seldom and small
enjoyment of him?
Nor are we now capable of rest, as there is a worthiness must go before it.
Christ will give the crown to none but the worthy. Are we fit for the crown
before we have overcome? or for the prize before we have run the race? or to
receive our penny before we have wrought in the vineyard? or to be rulers of ten
cities before we have improved our ten talents? or to enter into the joy of our
Lord before we have well done as good and faithful servants? God will not alter
the course of justice, to give you rest before you have labored, nor the crown
of glory till you have overcome. There is reason enough why our rest should
remain till the life to come. Take heed, then, Christian reader, how thou darest
to contrive and care for a rest on earth; or to murmur at God for thy trouble,
and toil, and wants in the flesh. Doth thy poverty weary thee? thy sickness, thy
bitter enemies and unkind friends? It should be so here. Do the abominations of
the times, the sins of professors, the hardening of the wicked, all weary thee?
It must be so while thou art absent from thy rest. Do thy sins and thy naughty,
distempered heart weary thee? Be thus wearied more and more. But, under all this
weariness, art thou willing to go to God, thy rest; and to have thy warfare
accomplished, and thy race and labor ended? If not, complain more of thy own
heart, and get it more weary, till rest seem more desirable.
I have but one thing more to add, for the close of this chapter--that the souls
of believers do enjoy inconceivable blessedness and glory, even while they
remain separated from their bodies. What can be more plain than these words of
Paul: "We are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home," or rather
sojourning, "in the body, we are absent from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not
by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the
body, and to be present with the Lord." Or these: "I am in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." If Paul
had not expected to enjoy Christ till the resurrection, why should he be in a
strait, or desire to depart? Nay, should he not have been loth to depart upon
the very same grounds? for while he was in the flesh he enjoyed something of
Christ. Plain enough are the words of Christ to the thief--"Today shalt thou be
with me in paradise." In the parable of Dives and Lazarus, it seems unlikely
Christ would so evidently intimate and suppose the soul's happiness or misery
presently after death, if there were no such thing. Our Lord's argument for the
resurrection supposes, that, "God being not the God of the dead, but of the
living," therefore Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were then living in the soul. If the
"blessedness of the dead that die in the Lord" were only in resting in the
grave, then a beast or a stone were as blessed; nay, it were evidently a curse,
and not a blessing. For was not life a great mercy? Was it not a greater mercy
to serve God and to do good; to enjoy all the comforts of life, the fellowship
of saints, the comfort of ordinances, and much of Christ in all, than to lie
rotting in the grave? Therefore some further blessedness is there promised. How
else is it said, "We are come to the spirits of just men made perfect?" Surely,
at the resurrection, the body will be made perfect as well as the spirit. The
Scriptures tell us, that Enoch and Elias are taken up already. And shall we
think they possess that glory alone? Did not Peter, James, and John see Moses
also with Christ on the mount? yet the Scripture saith, Moses died. And is it
likely that Christ deluded their senses in showing them Moses, if he should not
partake of that glory till the resurrection? And is not that of Stephen as plain
as we can desire? "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Surely, if the Lord receive
it, it is neither asleep, nor dead, nor annihilated; but it is where he is, and
beholds his glory. That of the wise man is of the same import: "The spirit shall
return unto God who gave it." Why are we said to "have eternal life;" and that
to "know God is life eternal;" and that a believer "on the Son hath everlasting
life?" Or how is "the kingdom of God within us?" If there be as great an
interruption of our life as till the resurrection, this is no eternal life, nor
"everlasting kingdom." "The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah" are spoken of as
"suffering the vengeance of eternal fire!" And if the wicked already suffer
eternal fire, then no doubt but the godly enjoy eternal blessedness. When John
saw his glorious relations, he is said to be "in the Spirit," and to be "carried
away in the Spirit." And when Paul was "caught up to the third heaven," he knew
not "whether in the body or out of the body." This implies that spirits are
capable of these glorious things without the help of their bodies. The same is
implied when John says, "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain
for the word of God." When Christ says, "Fear not them who kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul," does it not plainly imply, that when wicked men
have killed our bodies, that is, have separated the souls from them, yet the
souls are still alive? The soul of Christ was alive when his body was dead, and
therefore so shall be ours too. This appears by his words to the thief, "Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise;" and also by his voice on the cross, "Father,
into thy hands I commend my Spirit." If the spirits of those that "were
disobedient in the days of Noah were in prison," that is, in a living and
suffering state; then, certainly, the separate spirits of the just are in an
opposite condition of happiness. Therefore, faithful souls will no sooner leave
their prisons of flesh but angels shall be their convoy; Christ, and all the
perfected spirits of the just, will be their companions; heaven will be their
residence, and God their happiness. When such die, they may boldly and
believingly say, as Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;" and commend it, as
Christ did, into a Father's hands.
