The saints everlasting rest, or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory wherein is shewed its excellency and certainty, the misery of those that lose it, the way to attain it, and assurance of it, and how to live in the continual delightful forecasts of it and now published by Richard Baxter ...

SECT. VIII.

* 1.17. LAstly, I desire thee to Consider, What would be the sweet effects of this Examining. If thou be upright and Godly, it will lead thee straight toward Assurance of Gods Love: If thou be not, though it will trouble thee at the present, yet doth it tend to thy happiness, and will lead thee to Assurance of that happiness at length.

1. The very Knowledg it self is naturally desireable. Every man would fain know things to come; especially concerning themselves: If there were a book written which would tell every man his desti∣ny, what shall befall him to his last breath, how desirous would people be to procure it and read it? How did Nebuchadnezzars thoughts run on things that after should come to pass? and he worshipped Daniel,* 1.2 and offered oblations to him, because he fore∣told them. When Christ had told his Disciples, that one of them should betray him, how desirous are they to know who it was? though it were a matter of sorrow?* 1.3 How busily do they enquire when Christs Predictions should come to pass, and what were the Signs of his coming? With what gladness doth the Samaritan woman run into the City,* 1.4 saying, Come and see a man that hath

told me all that ever I did; though he told her of her faults? When Ahaziah lay sick, how desirous was he to know whether he should live or dye?* 1.5 Daniel is called a man greatly beloved, therefore God would reveal to him things that long after must come to pass.* 1.6 And is it so desireable a thing to hear Prophecies, and to know what shall befall us hereafter? and is it not then most especially desireable to know what shall befall our Souls? and what place and state we must be in for ever? Why this you may know, if you will but faithfully Try.

2. But the Comforts of that Certainty of Salvation which this Tryal doth conduce toward, are yet far greater: If ever God be∣stow this blessing of Assurance on thee, thou wilt account thy self the happiest man on earth, and feel that it is not a Notional or empty mercy. For 1. What sweet thoughts wilt thou have of God? All that Greatness, and Jealousie, and Justice which is the terror of others, will be matter of encouragement and Joy to thee: As the son of a King doth rejoyce in his fathers Magnificence and Power, which is the awe of Subjects, and terror of Rebels. When the thunder doth roar, and the lightening flash, and the earth quake, and the signs of dreadful omnipotency do appear, thou canst say, All this is the effect of my Fathers power.

2. How sweet may every thought of Christ, and the blood that he hath shed, and the benefits he hath procured, be unto thee who hast got this Assurance? Then will the Name of a Saviour be a sweet Name; and the thoughts of his gentle and loving nature, and of the gracious design which he hath carried on for our Salvation, will be pleasing thoughts: Then will it do thee good to view his wounds by the eye of faith, and to put thy finger, as it were, into his side, when thou canst call him as Thomas did, My Lord, and my God!

3. Every passage also in the Word will then afford thee Comfort: How sweet will be the Promises when thou art sure they are thine own? The Gospel will then be Glad Tydings indeed. The very threatnings will occasion thy Comfort to remember that thou hast escaped them. Then thou wilt cry out with David, Oh how I love thy Law! It is sweeter then honey; More precious then gold, &c. And as Luther, That thou wilt not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible. When thou wast in thy sin, this Book was to thee as Micaiah to Ahab; It never spoke Good of thee, but Evil;

and therefore no wonder if then thou didst hate it: But now it is the charter of thy Everlasting Rest, how welcom will it be to thee? and how beautiful the very feet of those that bring it?* 1.7

4. What boldness and comfort then mayst thou have in prayer? When thou canst say, Our Father, in full Assurance; and knowest that thou art welcom and accepted through Christ, and that thou hast a promise to be heard when ever thou askest, and knowest that God is readier to grant thy requests then thou to move them; With what comfortable boldness mayst thou then approach the Throne of Grace?* 1.8 Especially when the case is weighty, and thy necessity great, this Assurance in prayer will be a sweet priviledg indeed: A despairing Soul that feeleth the weight of Sin and Wrath, espe∣cially at a dying hour, would give a large price to be partaker of this Priviledg, and to be sure that he might have Pardon and Life for the asking for.

5. This Assurance will give the Sacrament a sweet relish to thy Soul, and make it a refreshing feast indeed.

6. It will multiply the sweetness of every mercy thou receivest, when thou art sure that all proceeds from Love, and are the begin∣nings and earnest of Everlasting Mercies: Thou wilt then have more comfort in a morsel of bread, then the world hath in the greatest abundance of all things.

7. How comfortably then mayst thou undergo all Afflictions? When thou knowest that he meaneth thee no hurt in it, but hath promised that All shall work together for thy Good;* 1.9 when thou art sure that he chasteneth thee, because he loveth thee, and scour∣geth thee, because thou art a Son whom he will receive, and that out of very faithfulness he doth afflict thee, What a support must this be to thy heart? and how will it abate the bitterness of the Cup? Even the Son of God himself doth seem to take comfort from this Assurance, when he was in a manner forsaken for our sins; and therefore he cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And even the Prodigal under his guilt and misery doth take some Comfort in remembring that he hath a Father.

8. This Assurance will sweeten to thee the fore-thoughts of death, and make thy heart glad to fore-think of that entrance into Joy;* 1.10 when a man that is uncertain whither he is going, must needs dye with horror.

9. It will sweeten also thy fore-thoughts of Judgment, when

thou art sure that it will be the day of thy absolution and Coro∣nation.

10. Yea the very thoughts of the flames of Hell will administer matter of Consolation to thee, when thou canst certainly conclude thou art saved from them.

11. The fore-thoughts of Heaven also will be more incompara∣bly delightful, when thou art certain that it is the place of thine Everlasting abode.

12. It will make thee exceeding lively and strong in the Work of the Lord: With what courage wilt thou run, when thou knowest thou shalt have the prize? and fight, when thou knowest thou shalt conquer?* 1.11 It will make thee always abound in the work of the Lord, when thou knowest that thy labour is not in vain.

13. It will also make thee more profitable to others. Thou wilt be a most chearful encourager of them from thine own experience. Thou wilt be able to refresh the weary, and to strengthen the weak, and speak a word of Comfort in season to the troubled Soul: Whereas now without Assurance, in stead of comforting others, thou wilt rather have need of support thy self: So that others are losers by thy Uncertainty as well as thy self.

14. Assurance will put life into all thy Affections or Graces. 1. It will help thee to Repent and melt over thy sins, when thou know∣est how dearly God did Love thee whom thou hast abused. 2. It will enflame thy Soul with Love to God, when thou once knowest thy near Relation to him,* 1.12 and how tenderly he is affected toward thee. 3. It will quicken thy desires after him, when thou art once sure of thy Interest in him. 4. It is the most excellent Fountain of Continual Rejoycing,* 1.13 Hab. ••.17, 18, 19. 5. It will confirm thy Trust and Confidence in God in the greatest straits, Psal. 89.26. and 46.1, 2, 3, &c. 6. It will fill thy heart with Thankfulness. 7. It will raise thee in the high delightful work of Praise.* 1.14 8. It will be the most excellent help to a Heavenly Mind. 9. It will exceed∣ingly tend to thy Perseverance in all this. He that is sure of the Crown will hold on to the End, when others will be tired and give up through discouragement.

All these sweet effects of Assurance would make thy Life a kind of Heaven on Earth. Seeing then that Examination of our states is the way to this Assurance, and the Means without which God doth not usually bestow it, doth it not Concern us to fall close to this Searching Work?

Notes

• * 1.1

  §. 8.
• * 1.2

  Dan. 2.29, 46, 4••.
• * 1.3

  Mat. 26. Mat. 24.
• * 1.4

  John 4.29.
• * 1.5

  2 Kings 1 2
• * 1.6

  Dan. 9.23. & 10.11, 19.
• * 1.7

  Rom, 10.15.
• * 1.8

  Heb. 10.22 19
• * 1.9

  Rom. 8.28. Heb 12.6, 7. Psal. 75.76.
• * 1.10

  Num 23.10.
• * 1.11

  1 Cor. 15.58.
• * 1.12

  Psal. 116.1. & 18.1, 2.
• * 1.13

  1 Thes 4.17, 18
• * 1.14

  Psal. 118.28. Isai 25.1.