A27017:1824
The Saints' Everlasting Rest
The saints everlasting rest, or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory wherein is showed 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 ...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 ...
London: printed by Rob. White for Thomas Underhil and Francis Tyton, 1650
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
When a wise man judgeth both of quantity and quality, by Reason and Experience; least when his appetite is depraved, he should either surfeit or famish. Our Appetite is no sure rule for our times of duty, but the Word of God in general, and our Spiritual Reason, Experience, Necessity, and convenience in particular, may truly direct us.
When a wise man judgeth both of quantitie and qualitie, by Reason and Experience; least when his appetite is depraved, he should either surfet or famish. Our Appetite is no sure rule for our times of duty, but the Word of God in general, and our Spiritual Reason, Experience, Necessitie, and convenience in particular, may truly direct us.
Three Reasons especially should persuade thee to frequency in this Meditation on Heaven.
Three Reasons especially should perswade thee to frequency in this Meditation on Heaven.
1. Because seldom conversing with him will breed a strangeness betwixt thy soul and God: Frequent society breeds familiarity, and familiarity increaseth love and delight, and maketh us bold and confident in our addresses. This is the main end of this duty, that thou mayest have acquaintance and fellowship with God therein. Therefore if thou come but seldom to it, thou wilt keep thy self a stranger still, and so miss of the end of the work. O, when a man feels his need of God, and must seek his help in a time of necessity, when nothing else can do him any good, you would little think what an encouragement it is, to go to a God that we know, and are acquainted with. O, saith the heavenly Christian, I know both whither I go, and to whom; I have gone this way many a time before now: It is the same God that I daily conversed with; it is the same way that was my daily walk: God knows me well enough, and I have some knowledge of him. On the other side, What a horror and discouragement to the soul it will be, when it is forced to fly to God in straits, to think: Alas, I know not whither to go; I never went the way before; I have no acquaintance at the Court of Heaven: My soul knows not that God, that I must speak to; and I fear he will not know my soul! But especially when we come to die, and must immediately appear before this God, and expect to enter into this Eternal Rest, then the