1 Greg. Mor. 1. xi. c. 26. * Ps. xxxviii. 20, cix. 4, Mat. vi. 25-34.
3 Ps. xl. 12 ; 2 Cor. xii. 7-9 ; Ps. xxx. 6, 7 ; Cunt. iii. 5 ; Job iii. 25, 26, &c.
] Peter I. 4.] a string of pearls. 417
sometimes the loss of friends, and sometimes the death of friends interrupts our rest ; one thing or another is still interrupting our rest.1 Oh ! but in heaven there shall be no sin, no devil, no sinner, no false Mends ; there shall be nothing, there shall not be the least thing that may interrupt a saint's rest ; indeed, heaven could not be heaven, did it admit of anything that might interrupt a saint's rest. . Heaven is above all winds and weather, storms and tempests, earthquakes and heartquakes. There is only that which is amiable and desirable ; there is nothing to cloud a Christian's joy, or to interrupt a Christian's rest. When once a soul is asleep in the bosom of Abraham, none can awake him, none can molest or disturb him. Here is joy without sorrow, blessedness without misery, health without sickness, light without dark- ness, abundance without want, beauty without deformity, honour with- out disgrace, ease without labour, and peace without interruption or perturbation. Here shall be eyes without tears, hearts without fears, and souls without sin. Here shall he no evil to molest the soul ; here shall be all good to cheer the soul, and all happiness to satisfy the soul ; and what then can possibly interrupt the rest of the soul ? But,
(4.) Fourthly, As it is an uninterrupted rest, so it is a peculiar rest; it is a rest peculiar to sons, to saints, to heirs, to beloved ones : Ps. cxxvii. 2, ' So he gives his beloved rest/ or as the Hebrew hath it, dearling, or dear beloved, quiet rest, without care or sorrow.2 The Hebrew word *UW, Shena, is written with N, a quiet dumb letter, which is not usual, to denote the more quietness and rest. This rest is a crown that God sets only upon the head of saints ; it is a gold chain that he only puts about his children's necks; it is a jewel that he only hangs between his beloveds' breasts ; it is a flower that he only sticks in his darlings' bosoms. This rest is a tree of life that is proper and peculiar to the inhabitants of that heavenly country ; it is children's bread, and shall never be given to dogs. Here wicked men have their good things ; their peace, their rest, their quiet, &c, their heaven, whilst the people of God are troubled and disquieted on every side f but the day is a-coming wherein the saints shall have rest, and sinners shall never have a good day more, never have an hour's rest more ; their torments shall be endless and ceaseless. The old world had their resting-time, but at last patience and justice, tired and abused, put a period to their rest, by washing and sweeping them to hell with a flood ; and then Noah, and those righteous souls that were with him, had their time of rest and peace ; and so shall it be with sinners and saints at last, &c But,
(5.) Fifthly, The rest reserved for the saints in heaven, as it is a peculiar rest, so it is a rest that is universally communicable to all the sons and daughters of God. ' And to you who are troubled, rest with us/ saith the apostle Paul ; ' rest with us/ with us apostles, with us saints, and with all the family of heaven together, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. Here some saints are at liberty, when others are in prison ; here some
1 Quid est aliud hie nasci, nisi ingredi laboriosam vilam ? What is it else to be born here, than to enter into a troublesome life ? — Augustine.
2 ITT?, it is an allusion to Solomon's name, Jedidiah, 2 Sam. xii. 25.
3 Luke xvi. 25 ; Ps. lxxiii. 3-21 ; Job xxi. 7-14.
418 A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PCTER 1/4.
sit under their own vines and drink the blood of the grape, whilst others have their blood poured out as water upon tin* ground, &c. ; but in heaven they shall all have rest together, the believing husband and the believ- ing wile shall rest together, and believing parents and believing chil- dren shall rest together. Here one relation hath rest, when the other hath not, but there they shall all rest together. There the painful1 preacher and the diligent hearer shall rest together ; there the gracious master and the pious servant shall rest together, &c. : Isa. lvii. 2, ' He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness ; they shall rest in their beds,' or as some read it, they shall rest in their bee-hives, expressing theaHebrew by the Latin ; cub He signifies a bee-hive, as well as a couch or bed. Look, as the poor wearied bees do rest all together in their bee-hives, in their honey- houses, so all the saints shall rest together in heaven, which is their bee-hive, their honey-house ; and oh what a happy rest will that be, when all the saints shall rest together ! But,
(6.) Sixthly and lastly, It is a permanent, a constant rest. Of this rest there shall be no end. It is a rest that shall last as long as heaven lasts ; yea, as long as God himself shall continue. Time shall be no more, and this world shall be no more, but this rest shall remain for ever, Rev. x. 6, 2 Pet. iii. 10, et seq. The rest of the people of God in this world is transient, it is inconstant. Now they have rest, and anon they have none ; now a calm, presently a storm ; now all is in quiet, anon all is in an uproar. Their rest in this world is like a morning cloud and the early dew, which is soon dried up by the beams of the sun, Hosea vi. 4. Since God hath cast man out of paradise, out of his first rest, he can find but little rest in this world ; sometimes the unfitness of the creature troubles him, sometimes the fickleness of the creature vexes him, sometimes the treachery of the creature enrages him, and sometimes the want of the creature distracts him. When in his heart he saith, Now I shall have rest, now I shall be quiet, then troubles and changes come, so that his whole life is rather a dreaming of rest than an enjoying of rest. Oh ! but in heaven the rest of the saints shall have no end ; there shall be nothing that can put a period to their rest, there shall be everything that may conduce to the perpetuating of their rest. Heaven would be but a poor low thing, did it not afford a perpetual rest.
III. Thirdly, As the best rest, so the best sight and knowledge of God is reserved for believers till they come to heaven. I readily grant that even in this world the saints do know the Lord, inwardly, spiritually, powerfully, feelingly, experimentally, transformingly, practically ; but yet, notwithstanding all this, the best knowledge of God is reserved for heaven, which I shall evidence by an induction of particulars, thus :