A27017:2062
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.
the Ants will stir, the Fishes rise, the Birds will sing, the earth look green, and all with joyful note will tell thee the Spring is come; Come forth then, O my drooping soul, and lay aside thy Winter mourning Robes, let it be seen in thy believing Joys and Praise, that the day is appearing, and the Spring is come; and as now thou seest thy comforts green, thou shalt shortly see them white and ripe for Harvest; and then thou who art now called forth to see and taste, shalt be called forth to reap, and gather, and take possession. Shall I suspend and delay my joys till then? should not the joys of the Spring go before the joys of Harvest? Is Title nothing before possession? Is the heir in no better a state then the slave? My Lord hath taught me to rejoice in hope of his glory,1 and to see it through the bars of a Prison: and even when I am persecuted for righteousness sake, when I am reviled, and all manner of evil sayings are said against me falsely for his sake, then hath he commanded me to rejoice and be exceeding glad,2 because of this my great reward in Heaven. How justly is an unbelieving heart possessed by sorrow; and made a prey to cares and fears, when it self doth create them, and thrust away its offered peace and joy? I know it is the pleasure of my bounteous Lord, that none of his family should want for Comfort: nor live such a poor, and miserable life, nor look with such a famished dejected face: I know he would have my joys exceed my sorrows; And as much as he delighteth in the humble and contrite, yet doth he more delight in the soul as it delighteth in him: I know he taketh no pleasure in my self-procured sadness; nor would he call on me to weep or mourn, but that it is the only way to these delights. Would I spread the Table before my guest, and bring him forth my best provision, and bid him sit down, and eat and welcome, if I did not unfeignedly desire he should do so? Hath my Lord spread me a table in this Wilderness, and furnished it with the promises of Everlasting Glory, and set before me Angels food, and broached for me the side of his beloved Son, that I might have a better wine then the blood of the Grape? ⟨p. 805⟩Doth he so frequently and importunately invite me to sit down, and draw forth my faith, and feed, and spare not? Nay hath he furnished me to that end with reason, and faith, and a rejoicing disposition?