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. V.* 1.1

••. WHen thy Meditation hath thus proceeded about the truth of thy Happiness, the next part of the work is to meditate of its Goodness; That when the Judgment hath de∣termined, and Faith hath apprehended, it may then past on to raise the Affections.

1. The first Affection to be acted is Love; the object of it (as I have told you) is Goodness: Here then, here Christian, is the Soul reviving part of thy work; Go to thy Memory, thy Judg∣ment, and thy Faith, and from them produce the excellencies of thy Rest; take out a copy of the Record of the Spirit in Scripture, and another of the sentence registred in thy Spirit, whereby the ••••anscendent glory of the Saints is declared: Present these to thy affection of Love; open to it the Cabinet that contains the Pearl; shew it the Promise, and that which it assureth: Thou needest not look on Heaven through a multiplying Glass; open but one Case∣ment, that Love may look in: Give it but a glimpse of the back parts of God, and thou wilt finde thy self presently in another world: Do but speak out, and Love can hear, do but reveal these things, and Love can see: Its the bruitish love of the world that is blinde; Divine love is exceeding quick sighted. Let thy Faith, as it were, take thy heart by the hand, and shew it the sumptuous buildings of thy Eternal Habitation, and the Glorious Ornaments of thy Fathers house; shew it those Mansions which Christ is pre∣paring, and display before it the Honors of the Kingdom: Let Faith lead thy heart into the presence of God, and draw as neer as possibly thou canst, and say to it, * 1.2 Behold, the Ancient of days; the Lord Jehovah, whose name is, I am: This is he who made the Worlds with his Word; this is the Cause of all Causes, the Spring of Action, the Fountain of Life, the first Principle of the Crea∣tures Motions; who upholds the Earth, who ruleth the Nations, who disposeth of events, and subdueth his foes, who governeth

the depths of the great Waters, and boundeth the rage of her swelling Waves; who ruleth the Winds, and moveth the Orbs, and causeth the Sun to run its race, and the several Planets to know their courses: This is he that loved thee from Everlasting, that formed thee in the Womb, and gave thee this Soul; who brought thee forth, and shewed thee the Light, and ranked thee with the chiefest of his earthly Creatures; who endued thee with thy under∣standing, and beautified thee with his gifts; who maintaineth thee with life, and health, and comforts; who gave thee thy pre∣ferments, and dignified thee with thy honors, and differenced thee from the most miserable and vilest of men: Here, O here, is an object now worthy thy love; here shouldst thou even pour out thy soul in love; here thou maist be sure thou caust not love too much:* 1.3 This is the Lord that hath blest thee with his benefits, that hath spred thy table in the sight of thine enemies, and caused thy cup to overflow. This is he that Angels and Saints do praise; and the Host of Heaven must magnifie for ever.

Thus do thou expatiate in the Praises of God, and open his Excellencies to thine own heart, till thou feel the life begin to stir, and the fire in thy brest begin to kindle: As gazing upon the dusty beauty of flesh, doth kindle the fire of carnal love; so this gazing on the Glory and Goodness of the Lord, will kindle this Spiritual love in the-soul. Bruising will make the Spices odoriferous, and rubbing the Pomander will bring forth the sweetness: Act there∣fore thy soul upon this delightful object; toss these cogitations frequently in thy heart, rub over all thy Affections with them, as you will do your cold hands, till they begin to warm: What though thy heart be Rock and Flint, this often striking may bring forth the fire; but if yet thou feelest not thy love to work, lead thy heart further, and shew it yet more; shew it the Son of the living God, whose name is, Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God,* 1.4 The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace; shew it the King of Saints on the Throne of his Glory, who is the first and the last, who is, and was, and is to come; who liveth, and was dead, and behold, he lives for evermore; who hath made thy peace by the blood of his Cross, and hath prepared thee with himself, an Habitation of Peace: His office is, to be the great Peace-Maker; his Kingdom is, a Kingdom of Peace; his Gospel is, the Tydings of Peace; his Voice to thee now is, the Voice of Peace:

Draw neer and behold him: Dost thou not hear his voyce? He that called Thomas to come neer,* 1.5 and to see the print of the Nailes, and to put his finger into his Wounds; He it is that calls to thee, Come neer, and view the Lord thy Saviour, and be not faithless, but believing:* 1.6 Peace be unto thee, fear not, It is I: He that cal∣leth, Behold me, behold me, to a rebellious people that calleth not on his Name, doth call out to thee a Believer to behold him: He that calls to them who pass by, to behold his Sorrow in the day of his Humiliation, doth call now to thee to behold his Glory in the day of his Exaltation: Look well upon him; Dost thou not know him? why, its He that brought thee up from the pit of hell: Its He that reversed the sentence of thy Damnati∣on; that bore the Curse which thou shouldest have born, and restored thee to the blessing that thou hadst forfeited and lost, and purchased the Advancement which thou must inherit for ever: And yet dost thou not know him? why his Hands were pierced, his Head was pierced, his Sides were pierced, his Heart was pierced with the sting of thy sins, that by these marks thou mightest always know him; Dost thou not remember when he found thee lying in thy blood,* 1.7 and took pitty on thee, and drest thy wounds, and brought thee home, and said unto thee, Live? Hast thou forgotten since he wounded himself to cure thy wounds, and let out his own blood to stop thy bleeding? Is not the passage to his heart yet standing open? If thou know him not by the face, the voyce, the hands;* 1.8 if thou know him not by the tears and bloody sweat, yet look neerer, thou maist know him by the Heart: That broken-healed heart is his, that dead-revived Heart is his, that soul-pittying melting Heart is his: Doubtless it can be none's but his, Love and Compassion are its certain Signatures: This is He, even this is He, who would rather dye then thou shoulst dye, who chose thy life before his own, who pleads this blood before his Father, and

makes continual intercession for thee; if he had not suffered, O what hadst thou suffered? what hadst thou been if he had not Re∣deemed thee? whether hadst thou gone if he had not recalled thee? there was but a step between thee and Hell, when he stept in, and bore the stroak; He slew the Bear, and rescued the prey, he deli∣vered thy soul from the roaring Lyon; And is not here yet fuell enough for Love to feed on? Doth not this Loadstone snatch thy heart unto it? and almost draw it forth of thy breast? Canst thou read the History of Love any further at once? Doth not thy throb∣bing heart here stop to ease it self? and dost thou not, as Joseph, seek for a place to weep in? or do not the tears of thy Love be∣dew these lines? Go on then, for the field of Love is large, it will yield thee fresh contents for ever, and be thine eternal work to be∣hold and love: thou needest not then want work for thy present Meditation. Hast thou forgotten the time when thou wast weep∣ing, and he wiped the tears from thine eyes? when thou wast bleeding, and he wiped the blood from thy soul? when pricking cares and fears did grieve thee, and he did refresh thee, and draw out the Thorns? Hast thou forgotten when thy folly did wound thy soul, and the venomous guilt did seize upon thy heart? when he sucked forth the mortal poyson from thy soul, though there∣with he drew it into his own? I remember its written of good Melancthon,* 1.9 that when his childe was removed from him, it pierced his heart to remember, how he once sate weeping with the Infant on his knee, and how lovingly it wip't away the tears from the fa∣thers eyes; how then should it pierce thy heart to think, how lo∣vingly Christ hath wip't away thine! O how oft hath he found thee sitting weeping like Hagar, while thou gavest up thy state, thy friends, thy life, yea, thy soul for lost? and he opened to thee a Well of Consolation, and opened thine eyes also that thou mightest see it. How oft hath he found thee in the posture of Elias, sitting down under the tree forlorn and solitary, and desiring ra∣ther to dye then to live? and he hath spread thee a Table of re∣lief from Heaven, and sent thee away refreshed, and encouraged to his VVork? How oft hath he found thee in the trouble of the Servant of Elisha, crying out, Alas, what shall we do, for an Host doth compass the City?* 1.10 and he hath opened thine eyes to see more for thee then against thee, both in regard of the enemies of thy soul and thy body? How oft hath he found thee in such a

passion as Jonas, in thy peevish frenzy aweary of thy life? and he hath not answered passion with passion, though he might indeed have done well to be angry, but hath mildely reasoned thee out of thy madness, and said, Dost thou well to be angry, or to repine against me?* 1.11 How oft hath he set thee on watching and praying, on repenting, and beleeving, and when he hath returned hath found thee fast asleep? and yet he hath not taken thee at the worst, but in stead of an angry aggravation of thy fault, he hath covered it over with the mantle of Love,* 1.12 and prevented thy over-much sor∣row with a gentle excuse, The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak? He might have done by thee as Epaminondas by his Souldier, who finding him asleep upon the VVatch, run him through with his Sword, and said, Dead I found thee, and dead I leave thee; but he rather chose to awake thee more gently, that his tenderness might admonish thee, and keep thee watching; How oft hath he been traduced in his Cause or Name, and thou hast, like Peter, denied him, (at lest by thy silence) whilst he hath stood in sight? yet all the revenge he hath taken hath been a heart-melting look,* 1.13 and a silent remembring thee of thy fault by his countenance. How oft hath Law and Conscience haled thee before him, as the Pharisees did the adulterous woman? and laid thy most hainous crimes to thy charge? And when thou hast expected to hear the sentence of death, he hath shamed away thy Accusers, and put them to silence, and taken on him he did not hear thy Inditement, and said to thee, Neither do I accuse thee, Go thy way and sin no more.

And art thou not yet transported and ravished with Love? Can thy heart be cold when thou think'st of this? or can it hold when thou remembrest those boundless compassions? Remembrest thou not the time when he met thee in thy duties? when he smiled upon thee, and spake comfortably to thee? when thou didst sit down under his shadow with great delight, and when his fruit was sweet to thy taste? when he brought thee to his Banqueting House, and his Banner over thee was Love? when his left hand was under thy head, and with his right hand he did embrace thee? And dost thou not yet cry ou••,* 1.14 Stay me, comfort me for I am sick of Love? Thus Reader, I would have thee deal with thy heart; Thus hold forth the goodness of Christ to thy Affections; plead thus the case with thy frozen soul, till thou say as David in another case, My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned. Psal. 39.3.

If these forementioned Arguments will not rouse up thy love, thou hast more enough of this nature at hand: Thou hast all Christs personal excellencies to study: thou hast all his particular mercies to thy self, both special and common: thou hast all his sweet and neer relations to thee, and thou hast the happiness of thy perpetual abode with him hereafter; all these do offer themselves to thy Meditation, with all their several branches and adjuncts. Only follow them close to thy heart; ply the work, and let it not cool: Deal with thy heart, as Christ did with Peter, when he asked him thrice over, Lovest thou me? till he was grieved, and answers, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. So say to thy Heart, Lovest thou thy Lord? and ask it the second time, and urge it the third time,* 1.15 Lovest thou thy Lord? till thou grieve it, and shame it out of its stupidity, and it can truly say, Thou knowest that I love him.

And thus I have shewed you how to excite the affection of Love.

Notes

• * 1.1

  §. 5.
• * 1.2

  He that doubteth whe∣ther the Phi∣losophers themselves did acknowledg these Divine Excellencies, Let him read Fernel. De ab∣ditis Rerum causis, cap 9. Plato in Epinom. Deos asserit scire, videre, audireque omnia; nihil ipsos fugere; quod aut sensu aut mente percipi posset: Eos omnia posse quaecunque mortales immortalesve possunt: Bonos illos, immo optimos esse. Quicquid mortale est, quicquid vivit & spirat, quicquid usquam est, coelum, terram, maria, ab iis omnia & facta esse & possideri. Et in Parmenide, Nullum nisi Deum supre∣mam habere rerum scientiam, neque illarum cognitione privandum. Et in Epinomide, Ego assero Deum causam omnium esse, nec aliter peri posse. Lege etiam Aristotel. de caelo. lib. 1. Jum nona.
• * 1.3

  Psal. 23.4, 5.
• * 1.4

  Isai. 9.6.
• * 1.5

  Luke 24.36, 37, 38, 39.
• * 1.6

  Joh. 7.27. Isai. 59.1. Joh. 20.19.21.26.
• * 1.7

  Lam. 1.12. Ezek. 16.6, 7, 8.9. Luke 10 30. &c.
• * 1.8

  If the Love of God in us were but as the love of the world in o∣thers, it would make us whol¦ly despise this world and for∣get it, as worldly love maketh men forget God: and it would be so strong, and ardent, and root∣ed a in mans heart that he would not be able voluntarily and freely to think of any thing else: He would not fear contempt, nor care for disgrace or the reproaches of persecutions; nor would he be afraid of death it self, because of this Love of God; and all the things of this world which he seeth and heareth, would bring God to his memory, and themselves would seem to him but as a dream, or a fable, and he would esteem them as nothing in respect of God and his Glory. And (to be short) in the judgment of the world he would be taken for a fool or a drunken man, because he so little careth for the things of this world; —This is that Love of God to which we should aim to attain by this contemplative life. Gerson de monte Contemplationis in parte operum tertia fol. 382.
• * 1.9

  Melanc. Epist. 457. Memini cum infantula mihi lacrimas a genis deter∣geret suo indu∣siolo, quo uno aerat induta mane. Hic ge∣stus penetravit in animum me∣um, &c.

  Gen. 21.15▪ 16, 17, 18, 19. 1 Kings 19.9.
• * 1.10

  2 Kings 6.16, 17.
• * 1.11

  Matth. 14.37. Luke 22.45, 46.
• * 1.12

  Matth. 26.41.
• * 1.13

  Luke 22.61.
• * 1.14

  Cant. 2 3, 4, 5.
• * 1.15

  John. 21.15, 16, 17.