keep a Christian from rest, till he comes to rest in the bosom of Christ. The life of a Christian is a race ; and what rest have they that are still a-running their race ? The life of a Christian is a warfare ; and what rest have they that are still engaged in a constant warfare ? The life of a Christian is the life of a pilgrim ; and what rest hath a pilgrim, who is still a-travelling from place to place V- A pilgrim is like Noah's dove, that conld find no rest for the sole of her foot. The fears, the snares, the cares, the changes, &c, that attends believers in this world, are such that will keep them from taking up their rest here. A Chris- tian hears that word always sounding in his ears, 'Arise, for this is not thy resting-place/ Micah ii. 10. A man may as well expect to find heaven in hell, as expect to find rest in this world. It was the com- plaint of Ambrose, Quid in liac vita non experimur adversi ? Quas non procellas tempestatesque perpetirnur? Quibus non exagitamur incommodisf Cujus parcitur meritis P What misery do we not undergo in this life ? What storms and tempests do we not endure ? with what troubles are we not tossed ? whose worth is spared ? Man's sorrows begin when his days begin, and his sorrows are multiplied as his days are multiplied ; his whole life is but one continued grief ; labour wears him, care tears him, fears toss him, losses vex him, dangers trouble him, crosses disquiet him, nothing pleases him ; in the day he wishes, Would God it were night, and in the night, Would God it were day ; before he rises he sighs ; before he washes he weeps ; before he feeds he fears ; under all his abundance he is in wants, and ' in the midst of his sufficiency he is in straits,' Job xx. 22 ; his heart, as Gregory Nyssene speaks,3 Non tantum gaudet in Us quce habet, quan- tum tristatur ob ea quce desunt, is not so much quieted in those things which it hath, as it is tormented for those things which it hath not. In a word, all the rest we have in this world, is but a very short nap, to that glorious rest that is reserved in heaven for us : Heb. iv. 9, 10, 'There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.' There remains a rest to the people of God, or as the Greek hath it, a sabbatism, a celestial rest, an eternal rest, a Sabbath that shall never have end.4 When God had made man, we read that the next day he rested ; and why is this set down, saith Anselm, Nisi per hoc vellet innuere, quod ilium post cujus creationem requie- vit, ad requiem fecit ? but that the Spirit of God would shew unto us, that God made him for rest, after the making of whom God is said to have rested ?5 Rest is a jewel very desirable on earth, but we shall not wear it in our bosoms till we come to heaven. Ambrose well observes,6 that sex diebus mundus est /actus, septimo requietum est die; ultra mundum ergo est quies, ultra mundum etiam fructus quietis, in six days the world was made, on the seventh day there was rest ; it is be- yond this world, therefore, that rest is, and it is beyond this world that the fruit of rest is to be had.
1 Heb. xii. 1 ; 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8 ; Isa. xl. 2; 2 Cor. x. 4 ; 1 Tim. i. 18 ; Ps. cxix. 54 ; Heb. xi. 13 ; 1 Peter ii. 11.
2 Ambrose defide resurrectionis. s Gregor. Nyssen. in Eccles. Horn. 7.
4 tra[i[iari<rf*h, a sabbatizing.
5 Estius — and others — understands this text of a celestial rest, &c.
6 Ambrose in Evangel. Lu. c. ix.
41 G A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PETER I. 4.
I shall shew you, observing brevity, the excellency of that rest that is reserved for believers in heaven. As,
(1.) First, It is a superlative rest ; a rest that infinitely exceeds all earthly rest. All other rest is not to be named in the day wherein this rest is spoken of. Some have purchased rest, for a time, with silver and gold, but this is a rest that all the gold and silver in the world can never purchase. Over this rest is written, not the price of gold, but the price of blood, yea, the price of the best and noblest blood that ever run in veins. That rest we have here must needs be a poor, low-priced rest, ubi multa cautela custoditur salus corporis, custodita etiam amittitur, amissa cum gravi labore reparatur, et tamen repa- rata in dubio semper est,1 where the health of the body is preserved with much watchfulness, being preserved, is also lost ; being lost, is recovered with much labour ; and yet being recovered, is always in danger and doubtfulness, what will become of it. Our estate in this world is not a fixed estate ; what then is our rest ? Our very living is but a passing away ; our lives are full of troubles, and they fill our souls full of unquietness. After the Trojans had been tossing and wander- ing in the Mediterranean Sea, as soon as they espied Italy, they cried out with exulting joy, 'Italy! Italy!' and so when saints, after all their tossings and restlessness in this world, shall come to heaven, then, and not till then, they will cry out, Rest, rest, no rest to this rest. But,
(2.) Secondly, The rest reserved in heaven for believers, it is an universal rest, Rev. xiv. 13, a rest from all sin and a rest from all sorrow ; a rest from all afflictions and a rest from all temptations ; a rest from all oppression and a rest from all vexations ; a rest from all labour and pains, from all trouble and travail, from all aches, weaknesses, and diseases. There is no crying out, O my bones ! O my back ! O my bowels ! O my sides ! O my head ! 0 my heart ! Our rest here is only in part and imperfect ; here we have rest in one part and pain in another, quiet in one part and torment in another. Sometimes when the head is well, the heart is sick ; and sometimes when there is peace in the conscience, there is pain in the bones. Here many return us hatred for our love, aud this hinders our rest ;2 here we are apt to create cares and fears to ourselves, rather than we will want them, and this hinders our rest ; here we are very apt to give offence, and as apt to take offence, though none be given, and this hinders our rest, 1 Cor. x. 32. Sometimes we have rest abroad and none at home ; sometimes rest at home and none abroad, Job vii. 13-16. Our rest here is imperfect and incomplete, but our rest in heaven shall be most perfect and com- plete ; there the inward and the outward man shall be both at rest, &c. But,
(3.) Thirdly, It is an uninterrupted rest ; it is a rest that none can interrupt.3 Here sometimes sin interrupts our rest, sometimes tempta- tions interrupts our rest, sometimes divine withdrawings interrupts our rest, sometimes the sudden changes and alterations that God makes in our conditions interrupts our rest; sometimes the power, and sometimes the policy, and sometimes the cruelty of wicked men interrupts our rest. sometimes the crossness of friends, sometimes the deceitfulness of friends.