against our merit, and against our long endeavouring of our own ruin. How astonishing will it be to think of the immeasurable difference between our deservings and our receivings, between the state we should have been in and the state we are in, to look down upon hell, and see the vast difference that grace hath made between us and the ungodly, to see the inheritance there, to which we were born, so different from that to which we are adopted! Was not I born in sin, and an heir of wrath, as well as yonder suffering souls? Did not I make light of Christ, and slight the offers of his grace a long time, as well as they? Did not I misimprove my time, and forget my soul and eternity, as well as they? Oh, who made me to differ? Was my heart naturally more disposed for Christ than theirs? Or any whit better affected to the Spirit's persuasions? Or would it ever have been willing, if he had not made me willing? Had I not now been in these flames, if I had had my own way, and been let alone to my own will? Did not I resist as powerful means, and lose as fair advantages as they? And should not I have lingered in Sodom till the flames had seized on me, if God had not in mercy delivered me? Oh, how free was all this love, and how free all this glory! We know to whom the praise is due, and must be given for ever. And, indeed, to this very end it was, that infinite wisdom cast the whole design of man's salvation into the mould of purchase and freeness, that the love and joy of man might be perfected, and the honour of grace most highly advanced; that the thought of merit might neither cloud the one nor obstruct the other; and that on these two hinges the gates of heaven might turn. So, then, let DESERVED be written on the door of hell, but on the gate of heaven THE FREE GIFT OF GOD.

III. This rest is peculiar to the saints. It belongs to no other of all the sons of men; not that it would have detracted from the greatness or freeness of the gift, if God had so pleased, that all the world should enjoy it. Distinguishing mercy affects more than general mercy. If the sun should shine on our habitations

only, or the rain fall on our fields only, we should more feelingly acknowledge the mercy, than now, when we enjoy these blessings in common. When one is enlightened, and another left in darkness; one reformed, and another enslaved by his lusts; when one sees other men's sins eternally punished, while his own are all pardoned; when one who is conscious of his own undeserving and ill deserving, sees his companion in sin perish, his neighbour, kinsman, father, mother, wife, child, for ever in hell, while he is exalted among the blessed in heaven; when we see those that used to sit with us in the same seat, and eat with us at the same table, and join with us in the same duties, now lie tormented in those flames, while we are triumphing in Divine praises; how sovereign, how overwhelming will the mercy appear!

IV. This rest is enjoyed in fellowship with the blessed saints and angels of God. Though it be proper to the saints only, yet is it common to all the saints. For what is it, but an association of blessed spirits in God; the communion of saints completed? Though, in a musical instrument, the strings receive not their sound and sweetness from each other, yet their concurrence causes that harmony which could not be produced by one alone. For those that have prayed, and fasted, and wept, and watched, and waited together, now to rejoice and praise together, methinks should much advance their happiness. As we have been together in labour, duty, and distress, so shall we be in the great recompense and deliverance; as we have been scorned and despised, so shall we be crowned and honoured together; as we have been together in persecution and prison, so shall we be also in the palace of consolation. Now all our praises shall make up one melody, and all our churches one church, and all ourselves but one body; for we shall be one in Christ, even as he and the Father are one. It is true we must be very careful that we look not for that in the saints which is to be found only in Christ, and that we expect not too great a part of our comfort in the fruition of their society. We are prone enough to this

kind of idolatry; but yet he who commands us to love them now, will give us leave, in subordination to himself, to love them then, when he himself has made them much more lovely. And if we may love them, we shall surely rejoice in them; for love and enjoyment cannot fail to accompany each other. If the forethought of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, is lawful joy, then how much more that real sight, and actual possession? It cannot but be delightful to me to think of that day, when I shall join with Moses in his Song, with David in his Psalms, and with all the redeemed in the song of the Lamb for ever; when I shall see Enoch walking with God, Noah enjoying the end of his singularity, Joseph of his integrity, Job of his patience, Hezekiah of his uprightness, and all the saints the end of their faith. Will it conduce nothing to the perfection of my comfort to live eternally with Peter, and John, and Paul, and a thousand others whose names are dear to me? I know that Christ is all in all, and that it is the presence of God that makes heaven to be heaven. But yet it much sweetens the thoughts of that place to me, to remember that there is such a multitude of my most dear and precious friends in Christ, "with whom I took sweet counsel, and with whom I went up to the house of God;" in whose conversation was written the name of Christ; whose sweet and sensible mention of his excellencies has often made my heart to burn within me. Nor is it only our old acquaintance, but all the saints of all ages, whose faces in the flesh we never saw, whom we shall there both know and comfortably enjoy. Yea, angels as well as saints, will be our blessed acquaintance and sweet associates. They who now are willingly ministering spirits for our good, will then be willingly our companions in joy for the perfecting of our felicity; and they who had such joy in heaven at our conversion, will gladly rejoice with us at our glorification. This, I think, Christian, will be a more honourable assembly than you ever beheld here, and a more happy society than you were ever in before. "We shall come to mount Zion, and

to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels: to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant." This, then, is one singular excellency of the heavenly rest, "that we shall be fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."

V. The joys of this rest are immediately from God. We shall see God face to face, and stand continually in his presence; and consequently we shall derive our life and comfort immediately from him. Now we have little or nothing at all immediately from him, but most is at the second or third hand, or from sources which are to us unknown, as from the earth, from man, from the sun and moon, from the influence of the planets, from the ministration of angels; and doubtless, the farther the stream runs from the fountain, the more impure it is. The Christian even now knows by experience, that his most immediate joys are his sweetest joys; those which have least of man, and are most directly from the Spirit. That is one reason, as I conceive, why Christians who are much in secret prayer, and in meditation and contemplation, rather than they who are more in hearing, reading, and conference, are men of greatest life and joy; because they are nearer the fountain, and have all more immediately from God himself. And that I conceive is the reason also, why we are more indisposed to these secret duties, and can more easily bring our hearts to hear, and read, and confer, than to secret prayer, self-examination, and meditation; because in the former there is more of man, and in these we approach the Lord alone, and our natures draw back from the most spiritual and fruitful duties. Not that we should therefore cast off the other, and neglect any ordinance of God. Let such as would do this beware, lest while they would be higher than Christians, they prove in the end lower than men. We are not yet come to the time and state where we shall have all from God's immediate hand.

As God hath made all creatures and instituted all ordinances for us, so will he continue our need of them all. We must be contented with love tokens from him, till we come to receive our all in him. There is joy in these indirect receivings; but the fulness of joy is in his immediate presence. O Christian, you will then know the difference between the creature and the Creator, and the content that each of them affords. We shall then have perpetual day without the sun; "For the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." We shall have rest without sleep, health without physic, strength without food: we shall have enlightened understandings without preaching, and communion with God without sacraments. Christ shall refresh us with the immediate fruition of heavenly joys, in the kingdom of his Father. To have necessities, but no supply, is the case of sinners in hell; to have necessities supplied by means of creatures, is the case of us on earth; to have necessities supplied immediately from God, is the case of the saints in heaven; to have no necessity at all, is the prerogative of God himself. We shall then live in our Father's house, and shall receive our portion from his own hand; then he shall fully unbosom to us his love, and God shall be all, and in all.

When we have

VI. This rest will be seasonable. had in this world a long night of darkness, will not the day breaking, and the rising of the Sun of righteousness be seasonable? When we have endured a hard winter in this cold climate, will not the reviving spring be seasonable? When we have passed a long and tedious journey, and that through no small dangers, is not home seasonable? When we have had a long and perilous war, and have lived in the midst of furious enemies, and have been forced to stand on a perpetual watch, and received from them many a wound, would not peace with victory be now seasonable? Surely, he who looks upon the troubled face of the world, would conclude that rest should to all men be