Saints Everlasting Rest (With Active Table of Contents)

The kindle version was great because I could skim some where I felt like it. Lots to highlight and review. Sharp, honest, and surprisingly relevant. This book is full of profoundly practical advice and a great focus on the heart of a pastor. As for this particular version: There are many punctuation errors among some other errors but they are generally easy to discern.

I have bought several copies of a paperback version of this book to give to those of whom I know are interested in the ministry. Richard Baxter himself was a 4 point Calvinist and a credobaptist. Even though I would disagree with some of his theological understandings his practical methods are worth investigating.

I wouldn't ascend to every single aspect of the teachings in this book as practice comes from doctrine but I have found many useful practices therein. A must for every person responding to the call for Christian shepherding. Good ministry practices springing from God's Word should never go out of style. I lost my print copy, had to pick up a Kindle version. Get to Know Us. Not Enabled Word Wise: Enabled Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item Would you like to tell us about a lower price? Be sure to "look inside" the book to ensure quality formatting, etc.

I love to read the Puritans but have not read much of Richard Baxter until now. This book is still on my nightstand and I have about two more chapters to go. I must say that I'm really enjoying Baxter's style. This is straightforward, challenging, convicting, and at times exhilarating! I'm sure that if you follow Baxter's advice in this book, it will change your life; in fact, that was his intention when he wrote it. This book is worth every minute you will spend reading it. I'm going to keep it with a few others that I read again and again.

It's really that good. Baxter's desire is to encourage the reader to work fervently toward the saint's everlasting rest. He wants the reader to pray, to meditate, to share about heaven. The main tool he wants to the reader to use is meditation. He cajoles, he encourages, he advises the reader how to meditate upon heaven and Christ.

The author is great at using allusions in scripture to make his point. He uses some guilt in the earlier chapters, but mainly he describes heaven in such glorious terms, he makes the reader feel like a fool if he is not pursuing the saints' rest with every fiber of his being. In summary, the book has a great pastoral tone. I felt like Baxter is fully concerned that the reader pursue this worthy goal at all costs. Saints Everlasting Rest is a book whose warnings of hell are savage and whose portraits of heaven are exquisite! God willing, I will read Saint's Everlasting Rest again and again in my remaining time in this world!

It was our first sin, to aspire to be as gods; and it is the greatest sin that runs in our blood, and is propagated in our nature from generation to generation. When GOD should guide us, we guide curselves; when he should be our sovereign, we rule ourselves. This is the language of a carnal heart, though it doth not always speak out.

And thus we are naturally our own idols: He convinceth the sinner, 1. That the creature can neither be his GOD, to make him; 2. Nor yet his Christ, to recover him from his misery, to restore him to GOD, who is his happiness. Can they now support thy tottering cottage? Can they keep thy departing soul in thy body? Or save thee from mine everlasting wrath? Will they prove to thee eternal pleasures? Or redeem thy soul from the eternal flames? Cry aloud to them, and see now whether these will be instead of GOD and his Christ unto thee. O how this works with the sinner!

Now the sinner finds himself in another case than ever he was aware of: And no wonder, if he cry, as the martyr Lambert, none but Christ; none but Christ. It is not gold but bread, that will satisfy the hungry: All things are now but dross and dung; and what he counted gain, is now but loss in comparison of Christ: There is none found in heaven or on earth that can open the sealed book save the Lamb; without his blood there is no remission, and without remission there is no salvation.

Could the sinner now make any shift without Christ, or could any thing else supply his wants, and save his soul, then might Christ be disregarded: Before he knew Christ 's excellency, as a blind man knows the light of the sun; but now, as one that beholdeth his glory. The sin which the understanding pronounceth evil, the will doth turn from with abhorrency.

Not that the sensitive appetite is changed, or any way made to abhor its object; but when it would carry us to sin against GOD; this disorder and evil the will abhorreth. The misery also which sin hath procured, as he discerneth, so he bewaileth. He that truly discerneth, that he hath killed Christ, and killed himself, will surely in some measure be pricked to the heart.

The creature he now renounceth as vain, and turneth it out of his heart with disdain. The one, of those who only mention the sinner's turning from sin to GOD, without mentioning the receiving Christ by faith. Indeed, should they take up here without Christ, or take such a change instead of Christ, in whole or in part, the reprehension were just.

But can Christ be the way, where the creature is the end; is he not the only way to the Father? Can we seek to Christ to reconcile us to GOD, while in our hearts we prefer the creature before him? In the review of which entire work, there is no doubt but his soul may take comfort. And it is not to be made so light of, as most do, that scripture doth so ordinarily put repentance before faith, and make them jointly conditions of the gospel: It is true, if we take faith in the largest sense, then it contains repentance in it: But it is yet rather with desire than hope.

For alas, the sinner hath already found himself to be a stranger and an enemy to GOD, under the guilt of sin and curse of the law, and knows there is no coming to him in peace till his case be altered; and therefore having before been convinced also, that only Christ is able and willing to do this, and having heard this mercy in the gospel freely offered; his next act is, to accept of Christ as his Saviour and Lord. The former is first necessary, and implied in the latter. Though repentance and good works are required to our full justification at judgment, as subservient to; or concurrent with faith; yet is the nature of this justifying faith itself contained, in accepting of Christ for Saviour and Lord.

I call it accepting, it being principally an act of the will; but yet also of the whole soul. I call it an affectionate accepting, though love seem distinct from faith, yet I take it as essential to that faith that justifies. To accept Christ without love, is not justifying faith. It is an accepting him for our Saviour and Lord. For in both relations will he be received, or not at all. The work which Christ thus accepted of, is to perform is, to bring the sinners to GOD, that they may be happy in him; and this both really by his Spirit, and relatively in reconciling them, and making them sons; and to present them perfect before him at last, and to possess them of the kingdom.

To this end doth the sinner now enter into a cordial covenant with Christ. But he was never strictly, nor comfortably in covenant with Christ till now. He is sure Christ doth consent, and now doth he cordially consent himself; and so the agreement is fully made. With this covenant concurs, a mutual delivery; Christ delivereth himself in all comfortable relations to the sinner, and the sinner delivereth up himself to be saved and ruled by Christ.

www.newyorkethnicfood.com: Richard Baxter: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle

I will now be wholly at the disposal of my LORD, who hath bought me with his blood, and will bring me to his glory. And though it will be part of the following application, to put you upon trial: And first, hast thou been thoroughly convinced of an universal depravation, through thy whole soul? Dost thou consent to this law, that it is true and righteous? Hast thou perceived thyself sentenced to this death by it, and been convinced of thy undone condition? Hast thou been convinced, that thy happiness is only in GOD as the end? Hast thou discovered the excellency of this pearl, to be worth thy selling all to buy it?

Hath all this been joined with some sensibility? As the convictions of a man that thirsteth, of the worth of drink? And not been only a change of opinion produced by reading and education, as a bare notion in the understanding? Hath it proceeded to an abhorring sin? Have both thy sin and misery been a burden to thy soul?

iTunes is the world's easiest way to organize and add to your digital media collection.

Hast thou turned thy idols out of thy heart; so that the creature hath no more the sovereignty; but GOD and Christ? Dost thou accept of Christ as thy only Saviour, and expect thy justification, recovery and glory from him alone? Dost thou take him also for Lord and King? And are his laws the most powerful commanders of thy soul? Do they ordinarily prevail against the commands of the flesh, of Satan, of the greatest on earth that shall countermand?

Hath he the highest room in thy affections? So that though thou canst not love him as thou wouldst, yet nothing else is loved so much? Hast thou made a hearty convenant to this end? If this be truly thy case, thou art one of the people of GOD: And thus I have explained to you the subject of my text; and shewed you darkly, what this rest is, and briefly who are this people of GOD.

That he would take off your hearts from those dung-hill delights, and ravish them with the views of these everlasting pleasures! That you would exactly try yourselves by the foregoing description! That no soul of you might be so damnably deluded, as to take your natural or acquired parts, for the characters of a saint! I will lay together all those uses that most concern the ungodly, and then those that are proper to the godly themselves.

The inconceivable misery of the ungodly in their loss of this Rest. And first, if this rest be for none but the people of GOD, what tidings is this to the ungodly world? That there is so much glory, but none for them: If thou who readest these words, art a stranger to Christ, and to the holy nature and life of his people, and shalt live and die in the condition thou art now in; I am a messenger of the saddest tidings to thee, that ever yet thy ears did hear: This sentence I am commanded to pass upon thee!

Take it as thou wilt, and escape it if thou canst. I expect that thou shouldst in the pride of thy heart, turn upon me, and say, and when did GOD shew you the book of life, or tell you who they are that shall be saved, and who shut out? First, I do not name thee, nor any other; I only conclude of the unregenerate in general, and of thee conditionally, if thou be such an one. Secondly, I do not go about to determine who shall repent, and who shall not, much less, that thou shalt never repent, and come to Christ.

Cannot these be known without searching into GOD's councils? And yet dost thou ask me, how I know who shall be saved? What need I go up to heaven to enquire that of Christ, which he came down to earth to tell us? And though I do not know the secrets of thy heart, and therefore cannot tell thee by name, whether it be thy state, or no; yet if thou art but willing or diligent, thou mayst know thyself, whether thou art an heir of heaven, or not.

And that is the main thing that I desire, that if thou be yet miserable, thou mayst discern it, and escape it. If thou love father, mother, wife, children, houses, lands, or thine own life better than Christ; if so, thou canst not be his disciple. And consequently canst never be saved by him. Is it not as impossible for thee to be saved, except thou be born again, as it is for the devils themselves to be saved?

Nay, GOD hath more plainly and frequently spoken it in the scripture, that such sinners as thou shall never be saved, than he hath done, that the devils shall never be saved. And do not these tidings go cold to thy heart? But because I would fain have thee, if it be possible, to lay it to heart, I will here stay a little longer, and shew thee, first, the greatness of thy loss: They lose that shining lustre of the body, surpassing the brightness of the sun.

They would be glad then, if every member were a dead member, that it might not feel the punishment inflicted on it; and the whole body were a rotten carcase, or might again lie down in dust and darkness. Much more do they want that moral perfection which the blessed partake of; those holy dispositions; that blessed conformity to the holiness of GOD; that cheerful readiness to do his will; that perfect rectitude of all their actions: But the evil disposition is never the more changed; they have the same dispositions still, and sain would commit the same sins, if they could; they want but opportunity; certainly they shall have none of the glorious perfections of the faints, either in soul or body.

But the great loss of the damned, will be their loss of GOD, they shall have no comfortable relation to him: He will never admit them to the inheritance of his saints, nor endure them to stand amongst them in his presence: As if GOD would father the devil's children; or, as if the slighters of Christ, the friends of the world, the haters of godliness, or any that delight in iniquity, were the offspring of heaven! But when that time is come, and Christ will separate his followers from his foes, and his faithful friends from his deceived flatterers, where then will be their presumptuous claim?

Then they shall find that GOD is not their father, but their foe, because they would not be his people. And as they would not consent that GOD should by his Spirit dwell in them, so shall not these evil-doers dwell with him; the tabernacles of wickedness shall have no fellowship with him: It is only they, that walked with him here, who shall live and be happy with him there. What were the world but a dungeon, if it had loft the sun? What were the body, but a loathsome carrion, if it had lost the soul? Yet all these are nothing to the loss of GOD. Thirdly, As they lose GOD: Is it nothing to lose all this?

Instead of being companions of those happy spirits, and numbered with those joyful and triumphing kings, they must now be members of the corporation of hell, where they shall have companions of a far different nature. Now you are shut out of that company, from which you first shut out yourselves; and are separated from them whom you would not be joined with. When they were dead or banished, you were glad they were gone; and thought the country was well rid of them.

They molested you with their faithful reproving your sin: You scarce ever heard them pray or sing praises in their families, but it was a vexation to you; and you envied their liberty of worshipping GOD. And is it then any wonder if you be separated from them hereafter? I KNOW many will be ready to think, if this be all, they do not much care: What care they for losing GOD, his favour, or his presence? To make these men therefore understand the truth of their future condition, I will here annex these two things:.

The understandings of the ungodly will be then cleared, to know the worth of that which they have lost. Now they lament not their loss of GOD, because they never knew his excellency, nor the loss of that holy employment and society, for they were never sensible what they were worth. A man that hath lost a jewel, and took it but for a common stone, is never troubled at his loss; but when he comes to know what he has lost, then he lamenteth it.

Though the understandings of the damned will not then be sanctified; yet will they be cleared from a multitude of errors. All that error of their mind, which made them set light by GOD, and abhor his worship, and vilify his people, will then be removed by experience; their knowledge shall be increased, that their sorrows may be increased. Doubtless those poor souls would be comparatively happy, if their understandings were wholly taken from them, if they had no more knowledge than idiots, or brute beasts; or if they knew no more in hell, than they did upon earth, their loss and misery would then less trouble them.

How happy would they now think themselves, if they did not know there is such a place as heaven! Now when their knowledge would help to prevent their misery, they will not know: The loss of heaven will more torment them then, because, as the understanding will be cleared, so it will be more enlarged, and made more capacious, to conceive of the worth of that glory which they have lost.

The strength of their apprehensions, as well as the truth of them, will then be increased. It will then be no hard matter to them to say, this is my loss, and this is my everlasting misery. The want of this is the main cause why they are now so little troubled at their condition; they are hardly brought to believe that there is such a state of misery, but more hardly to believe that it is like to be their own. This makes so many sermons to be lost, and all threatenings and warnings prove in vain.

Let a minister of Christ shew them their misery never so plainly, they will not be persuaded that they are so miserable. Let him tell them of the glory they must lose, and the sufferings they must feel, and they think it is not they whom he means.

We find in all our preaching, by sad experience, that it is one of the hardest things in the world to bring a wicked man to know that he is wicked; a man who is in the way to hell, to know that he is in that way; or to make a man see himself in a state of wrath and condemnation: Oh, but when they find themselves suddenly in the land of darkness, perceive by the execution of the sentence that they were indeed condemned, and feel themselves in the scorching flames, and see that they are shut out of the presence of GOD for-ever, it will then be no such difficult matter to convince them of their misery: Again, as the understandings and consciences of sinners will be strengthened, so will their affections be more lively and enlarged: A hard heart now makes heaven and hell seem but trifles: We talk of terrible astonishing things, but it is to dead men that cannot apprehend it: But when these dead wretches are revived, what passionate sensibility!

How violently will they fly in their own faces! How will they rage against their former madness! How they will even tear their own hearts, and be GOD'S executioners upon themselves! How happy were you, if you could now feel, as lightly as you were wont to hear! And if you could sleep out the time of execution, as you did the time of the sermons that warned you of it! But your stupidity is gone, it will not be. Moreover, it will much increase the torment of the damned, that their memories will be as large and strong as their understandings and affections. But as they cannot lay by their life and being, so neither can they lay aside any part of that being.

Now they have no leisure to consider, nor any room in their memories for the things of another life. But then they shall have leisure enough, they shall be where they have nothing else to do; their memories shall have no other employment, it shall be engraven upon the tables of their hearts. It will torment them to think of the greatness of the glory which they have lost. Oh if it had been that which they could have spared, it had been a small matter: It will torment them to think of the possibility that once they were in of obtaining it. The Lord did set before me life and death, and having chosen death, I deserve to suffer it: It will yet more torment them to remember, not only the possibility, but the great probability that once they were in, to obtain the crown.

It will then wound them, to think: What workings were in my heart! O how fair was I once for heaven! Why dost thou thus delay? What dost thou mean, that thou dost not open to me? How long shall it be till thou attain to innocency? How long shall thy vain thoughts ledge within thee?

1. THE Saints Everlasting Rest..
2. Good from Grief.
3. From Crisis to Victory!.
4. Creationfest (The Adventures of Jesus Christ Book 2).
5. Follow the Author?

Wo to thee, Oh unworthy sinner! Wilt thou not be made clean? Wilt thou not be pardoned and sanctified, and made happy? When shall it once be? Oh that thou wouldst hearken to my word, and obey my gospel! O that thou were but wise to consider this! Shall the GOD of all the world beseech thee to be happy, and beseech thee to have pity upon thine own soul, and wilt thou not regard him?

Why did he make thy ears but to hear his voice? Why did he make thy understanding, but to consider? Or thy heart, but to entertain the Son in love? Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider thy ways. How fresh will the remembrance of them be still in their minds, lancing their souls with renewed torments! What self-condemning pangs will it raise within them, to remember how oft Christ would have gathered them to himself even as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but they would not? Then will they cry out against themselves, how justly is all this befallen me!

Must I tire out the patience of Christ? Must the LORD of all the world thus wait upon me, and all in vain? O how justly is that patience now turned into fury, which falls upon my soul with irresistible violence! My heart, or at least my practice answered, never; I will never be so precise: Yet patience continueth waiting upon thee: Yet the offers of Christ and life are made to thee in the gospel, and the hand of GOD is stretched out to thee: The Spirit hath not yet done striving with thy heart: Thou haft yet life, and time, and strength, and means: For-ever blessed is he, that hath a hearing heart and ear, while Christ hath a calling voice.

Again, it will be a most cutting consideration to these, to remember on what easy terms they might have escaped their misery. If their work had been to remove mountains, to conquer kingdoms, then the impossibility would somewhat assuage the rage of their self-accusing conscience.

But their conditions were of another nature. Ah, thinks he, how justly do I suffer all this, who would not be at so small pains to avoid it? Was I not a thousand times worse than mad, when I censured the holy way of GOD, as needless preciseness? And cried out on it, as an intolerable burden? When I thought the laws of Christ too strict; and all too much, that I did for the life to come? What if I had spent my days in the strictest life? What if I had lived still upon my knees? What if I had been imprisoned, or banished, or put to death?

O, what had all this been to the miseries that I now suffer! Would not the heaven which I have lost, have recompensed all my losses? What if Christ had bid me do some great matter? O cursed wretch, that would not be persuaded to accept them. To think of a few pleasant cups, or sweet morsels, a little case, or low delight to the flesh; and then to think of everlasting glory! To think, this is all I had for my soul, my GOD, my hopes of blessedness!

It cannot possibly be expressed how these thoughts will tear his heart. Then will he exclaim against his folly. Did I set my soul to sale for so base a price? Did I part with my GOD for a little dirt and dross? O for how small a matter have I parted with my happiness! I had but a dream of delight, for my hopes of heaven: My morsels are now turned to gall, and my cups to wormwood. They delighted me no longer than while they were passing down; and is this all that I have had for the inestimable treasure?

What if I had gained all the world, and lost my soul? But alas, how small a part of the world was it, for which I gave up my part of glory! Yet much more will it add unto their torment, when they consider that all this was their own doings, and that they wilfully procured their own destruction: GOD would neither give the devil, nor the world, so much power over me, as to force me to commit the least transgression. Who should pity me, who pitied not myself, and who brought all this upon mine own head?

Never did GOD do me any good, or offer me any for the welfare of my soul, but I resisted him: Thus will it gnaw the hearts of these wretches, to remember that they were the cause of their undoing; and that they wilfully and obstinately persisted in their rebellion, and were mere volunteers in the service of the devil. They would venture, they would go on, they would not hear him that spoke against it: All this they did take upon them and perform.

What difficulties did they set upon! Even the conquering the power of reason itself. What dangers did they adventure on! Though they walked in continual danger of the wrath of GOD, and knew he could lay them in the dust in a moment; though they knew they lived in danger of eternal perdition, yet would they run upon all this. What did they forsake for the service of Satan, and the pleasures of sin? They forsook their GOD, their conscience, their best friends, their hopes of salvation. Oh the labour that it costeth poor wretches to be damned! Contentedness they might have with ease and delight; yet will they rather have covetousness and ambition; though it cost them study, and cares, and fears, and labour of body and mind, and continual unquietness and distraction of spirit.

O how the reviews of this will feed the flames in hell! With what rage will these damned wretches curse themselves, and say, was damnation worth all this cost and pains? Might I not have been damned on free cost, but I must purchase it so dearly? I thought I could have been saved without so much ado: Must I work out so laboriously my own damnation, when GOD commanded me to work out my salvation?

O if I had done as much for heaven as I did for hell, I had surely had it. I cried out of the tedious way of godliness; and yet I could be at more pains for Satan, and for death. HAVING shewed you those considerations which will then aggravate their misery, I am next to shew you their additional losses, which will aggravate it. For as godliness hath the promise both of this life, and that which is to come; and as GOD hath said, That if we first seek his kingdom and righteousness, all things else shall be added to us: If they had lost and forsaken all for Christ, they would have found all again in him; for he would have been all in all to them: When they can believe no longer, they will be quiet no longer.

There is none of this believing in hell; nor any persuasion of pardon or happiness, nor any boasting of their honesty, nor justifying themselves. This was but Satan 's stratagem, that, being blindfold, they might follow him the more boldly; but then he will uncover their eyes, and they shall see where they are.

Another addition to the misery of the damned will be this: In this life, though they were threatened with the wrath of GOD, yet their hope of escaping it did bear up their hearts. We can now scarce speak with the vilest drunkard, or swearer, or scorner, but he hopes to be saved for all this. O happy world, if salvation were as common as this hope; even those whose hellish nature is written in the face of their conversation, whose tongues plead the cause of the devil, and speak the language of hell; yet strongly hope for heaven, though the GOD of heaven hath told them no such shall ever come there.

When their hopes shall all perish with them! For First, as the soul departeth not from the body without the greatest pain, so doth the hope of the wicked depart. O the pangs that seize upon the soul of the sinner at death and judgment, when he is parting with all his hopes! A miracle of resurrection shall again conjoin the soul and body, but there shall be no such miraculous resurrection of the damned's hope. Methinks it is the most doleful spectacle that this world affords, to see an ungodly person dying; his soul and hopes departing together! With what a sad change he appears in another world!

Then if a man could but speak with that hopeless soul, and ask it, are you now as confident of salvation as you were wont to be? Do you now hope to be saved as soon as the most godly? O what a sad answer would he return! O that careless sinners would be awakened to think of this in time! I would not have thee despair of the sufficiency of the blood of Christ to save thee, if thou believe, and heartily obey him; nor of the willingness of GOD to pardon and save thee, if thou be such a one: These things I would have thee despair of, and whatever else GOD hath told thee shall never come to pass.

And when thou hast sadly searched into thy own heart, and findest thyself in any of these cases, I would have thee despair of ever being saved in that state thou art in. This kind of despair is one of the first steps to heaven. Consider, if a man be quite out of his way, what must be the first means to bring him in again? Why a despair of ever coming to his journey's end in the way that he is in. If his home be eastward, and he be going westward, as long as he hopes he is in the right, he will go on: Why, sinner, just so it is with thy soul; thou art out of the way to heaven, and in that way thou hast proceeded many a year; yet thou goest on quietly, and hopest to be saved, because thou art not so bad as many others.

Who will turn out of his way while he hopes he is right? Yea, thus much more, if any thing keep thy soul out of heaven, there is nothing in the world likelier to do it, than thy false hopes of being saved, while thou art out of the way to salvation. Another additional loss, aggravating their loss of heaven, is this, they shall lose all their carnal mirth; they will say to themselves as Solomon doth of their laughter, thou art mad; and of their mirth, what didst thou?

Richard Baxter

Their pleasant conceits are then ended, and their merry tales are all told, their mirth was but as the crackling of thorns under a pot, Eccles. What a misery then will that life be, where you shall have nothing but sorrow; intense, heart-piercing, multiplied sorrow? When you shall have neither the joys of the saints, nor your own former joys? Do you think there is one merry heart in hell? Or one joyful countenance, or jesting tongue? You cry now, A little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow: Another additional loss will be this: As his dust and bones will not be known from the dust and bones of the poorest beggars; so neither will his soul be honoured or savoured any more than theirs.

What a number of the great, noble, and learned, are now shut out of the presence of Christ? They are shut out of their well contrived houses, and sumptuous buildings; their comely chambers, with costly hangings; their soft beds, and easy couches. They shall not find their gallant walks, their curious gardens, with variety of beauteous fruits and flowers; their rich pastures, and pleasant meadows, and plenteous harvest, and flocks and herds.

They have not there variety of dainty fare, or several courses, to please their appetites to the full. O that sinners would remember this in the midst of their jollity, and say to one another, we must shortly reckon for this. Will the remembrance of it then be comfortable or terrible? Will these delights accompany us to another world? How shall we look each other in the face, if we meet in hell? Will not the memorial of them be then our torment? From the principal author of them, which is GOD himself: He hath prepared those torments for his enemies. His continued anger will still be devouring them.

His wrath will be an intolerable burden to their souls. But wo to him that falls under the strokes of the Almighty! They shall feel to their sorrow, That it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living GOD. It were nothing in comparison to this, if all the world were against them, or if the strength of all the creatures were united in one to inflict their penalty.

What a consuming fire is his wrath? If it he kindled here, and that but a little, how do we wither before it, as the grass that it cut down before the sun? The flames do not so easily run through the dry stubble, as the wrath of GOD will feed upon these wretches. When a spark of his wrath doth kindle upon the earth, the whole world, save only eight persons, are drowned, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, are burnt with fire from heaven to ashes. The sea shuts her mouth upon some. The earth doth open and swallow others. The pestilence destroyeth them by thousands.

The present deplorable state of the Jews may fully testify this to the world. The everlasting flames of hell will not be thought too hot for the rebellious; and when they have there burned through millions of ages, he will not repent him of the evil which is befallen them. Consider who shall be GOD's executioners of their torment; and that is, first, Satan. First, he that was here so successful in drawing them from Christ, will then be the instrument of their punishment, for yielding to his temptations.

Ah, if they had served Christ as faithfully as they did Satan, he would have given them a better reward. The soul, as it was the chief in sinning, shall be the chief in suffering; and as it is of a more spiritual and excellent nature than bodies are, so will its torments far exceed bodily sufferings. And as the joys of the soul far surpass all sensual pleasures, so the pains of the soul surpass corporal pains. And it is not only a soul, but a sinful soul that must suffer: And as the soul, so also the body must bear its part.

Buy for others

Oh what must it now endure! And the greater by far will their torments be, because they shall have no comfort lest to mitigate them. In this life when a minister told them of hell, or conscience began to trouble their peace, they had comforts enough at hand to relieve them: They had a hard, a presumptuous unbelieving heart, which was a wall to defend them against troubles of mind; but now their experience bath banished these, and lest them naked to the fury of those flames. Hath GOD said, Ye shall not eal? Ye shall not surely die. So doth he now: Ministers may tell you what they please, they would make men believe that they shall all be damned except they will fit themselves to their humour.

But when the sinner is dead, and he hath his prey, then he hath done flattering and comforting them. While the sight of sin and misery might have helped to save them, he took all the pains he could to hide it from their eyes; but when it is too late, and there is no hope left, he will make them see and feel to the utmost. His ancient comforts are taken from him, and the righteous GOD, whose fore-warning he made light of, will now make good his word against him to the least tittle.

But the great aggravation of this misery, will be its eternity. That when a thousand millions of ages are past, their torments are as fresh to begin as at the first day. If there were any hope of an end, it would ease them to foresee it; but when it must be for-ever so, that thought is intolerable: They broke the laws of the eternal GOD, and therefore shall suffer eternal punishment. It was their immortal souls that were guilty of the trespass, and therefore must immortally suffer the pains.

What happy men would they think themselves, if they might have lain still in their graves, or continued dust, or suffered no worse than the gnawing of those worms! Oh that they might but there lie down again! What a mercy now would it be to die? And how will they call and cry out for it?

Now come and cut off this doleful life. O that these pains would break my heart, and end my being! O that I might once die at last! O that I had never had a being! They were wont to think the sermon long, and prayer long; how long then will they think these endless torments? The one continued but a moment, the other endureth through all eternity.

Oh that sinners would lay this thought to heart!

• Editions of The Saints' Everlasting Rest by Richard Baxter.
• Customers who bought this item also bought.
• Death Wish (Alexa OBrien Huntress Series Book 5).

Remember how time is almost gone. Thou art standing all this while at the door of eternity; and death is waiting to open the door, and put thee in. Go sleep out but a few more nights, and stir up and down on earth a few more days, and then thy nights and days shall end; thy thoughts, and cares, and pleasures, and all shall be devoured by eternity; thou must enter upon the state which shall never be changed.