A27017:2096
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.
Ah my dear Lord, I feel thy meaning; its written in my flesh; its engraven in my bones: My heart thou aimest at, thy rod doth ⟨p. 825⟩drive; thy silken cord of love doth draw; and all to bring it to thy self: And is that all, Lord? is that the worst? Can such a heart be worth thy having? Make it so Lord, and then it is thine; Take it to thy self, and then take me. I can but reach it toward thee, and not unto thee: I am too low; and it is too dull; This clod hath life to stir, but not to rise, Legs it hath, but wings it wanteth. As the feeble child to the tender mother, it looketh up to thee, and stretcheth out the hands, and fain would have thee take it up. Though I cannot so freely say [My heart is with thee, my soul longeth after thee] yet can I say, I long for such a longing heart. The twins are yet a striving in my bowels: The spirit is willing; the flesh is weak, the spirit longs, the flesh is loth. The flesh is unwilling to lye rotting in the earth: The soul desires to be with thee. My spirit crieth, Let thy Kingdom come, or else let me come unto thy Kingdom; but the flesh is afraid least thou shouldest hear my prayer, and take me at my word. What frequent contradictions dost thou find in my requests? because there is such contradiction in my self. My prayers plead against my prayers; and one part begs a denial to the other. No wonder if thou give me such a dying life, when I know not whether to ask for life or death. With the same breath do I beg for a reprieval and removal: And the same groan doth utter my desires and my fears. My soul would go, my flesh would stay. My soul would fain be out, my flesh would have thee hold the door. O blessed be thy Grace that makes advantage of my corruptions, even to contradict and kill themselves. For I fear my fears, and sorrow for my sorrows, and groan under my fleshly groans: I loath my loathness, and I long for greater longings; And while my soul is thus tormented with fears and cares, and with the tedious means for attaining my desires, it addeth so much to the burden of my troubles, that my weariness thereby is much increased, which makes me groan to be at Rest. Indeed, Lord, my soul it self also is in a straight, and what to choose I know not well; but yet thou knowest what to give: To depart and be with thee, is Best; but yet to be in the flesh seems needful.
Ah my dear Lord, I feel thy meaning; its written in my flesh; its engraven in my bones: My heart thou aymest at, thy rod doth ⟨p. 825⟩