SERMON XV.

HEB. IV. II.

Let us labour therefore to enter into that Reft.

TAKE it for granted, that all that now hear me, do believe a future State; and that we do not cease to Be when we leave this World, but that we must live for ever either in Happiness or Mifery.

I take it for granted, that none here doubts, but that there doth remain a Reft for the People of God in the other World; and therefore this Point I wholly wave, and fhall not trouble you with offering at a Proof of it.

My present Business is, to do what I can to perfuade you all to the Practice of the Apoftle's Exhortation in my Text, to wit, to labour to enter into that Reft, in fhewY 2

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ing you that it is a Reft exceedingly worth our labouring for; that it doth richly deferve all the Diligence, and Pains, and Application, that we can poffibly bestow totwards the obtaining of it, because when it is obtained, it will abundantly compenfate for them all.

Now you fee that in order to the fpeaking juftly to this Point, I am obliged to enter into a Difcourfe of the Excellency of this Reft, and to give some Account of the many Bleffings that are contained in it.

And I hope no Body will think this to be an improper Argument at this Season, fince it was the great Business and End of our Saviour's Death and Paffion (which we commemorate this Week) to procure this eternal Reft for us, and the great Business of our Lord's Refurrection (which we are to commemorate the next Week) to affure us that he hath effectually done it; and that he will one Day raife us up to partake of that Glory which he now poffeffes at the Right-Hand of God,

To come then to my Bufinefs, to give fome Account of the many Bleffings that are contained in that Reft, which our Saviour hath purchafed for us. And oh! that I could do it fo effectually, might all fall in Love with it; could fo affect our Minds with Happiness of the other World,

that we that we the folid that we

might be quite put out of Conceit with the Trifles and Vanities of this; that we might leave our Fondness for these earthly Tabernacles, thefe dark Prifons, wherein our Souls are confined, and groan after the glorious Liberties of the Sons of God, and thofe heavenly Regions wherein God and Angels do enjoy themfelves in the Fulnefs of Bleffednefs for evermore.

But who is fufficient to declare the great Things that God hath laid up for those that love him? The Apostle tells us, That Eye hath not feen, nor Ear heard, nor bath it en tered into the Heart of Man to conceive of them. And therefore little can it be expected, that any Words of ours fhould defcribe them.

Alas, we are much in the Dark about these Matters! we know not yet what we shall be, as St. John has told us. We understand not a thousandth Part of the Circumftan ces that will contribue to the Blifs of good Men in that other State; but though out Conceptions, as to these Matters, be very narrow and fcanty, and God hath not thought fit to reveal his good Pleasure, as to the Particularities of this State, yet fo much hath he been pleased to discover to us concerning it, and fo much we are able to understand of those Discoveries, that it will not be an useless Undertaking to give fome general Account or Defcription of it.

And here we must be careful not to indulge our own Fancies, nor to take our Eftimate of that State from fuch Notions of Happiness as we are too often apt in this World to take up. But we muft keep close to the divine Revelation: If we fteer our felves by any other Compafs, every Man will form fuch Ideas of Heaven as fuit best with his prefent Defires, and Humours, and Inclinations; and then it will be the Elyfian Fields, or the Rabbins Garden of Eden, or the Paradife of Mahomet, or any kind of Thing that will give Satisfaction to a Man's fenfual Appetite.

With fome it will confift in Victory and Triumphs over their Enemies; with others it will be stately Palaces, and Crowns upon their Heads, and Sceptres in their Hands, and every Thing that tends to the gratifying their worldly and ambitious Defires.

With others it will be the most delicious Eating and Drinking, and all manner of corporal Pleasure; and laftly, with others, it will be a lazy unactive Life of Gazing and Contemplation.

It will concern us therefore, whenever we think or fpeak of that happy State, to form our Thoughts, and our Notions, according to thofe Measures that God hath given us in the holy Scriptures, and not rafhly to conceive any thing of it, but what we have Warrant for, either directly, or by Confequence from the Discoveries

that

that are there made.

This therefore I

fhall take as my Rule in the difcourfing of this Matter.

And here the firft Thing that offers it felf to our Confideration is, the Term by which it is expreffed in my Text, namely, a Reft, taking that Word in the moft ufual Signification.

Reft, when it is applied to Man, what is it but a ceafing from all Toil and Trouble, a Freedom from every Thing that is uneafy and afflicting? Whoever is at perfect Reft, is at perfect Eafe, is in that State which the Stoicks call Indolency.

Now fuch a Reft is the State of good Men in the other Life; not a State of Idlenefs and doing nothing, but a State that is perfectly free from all Pain and Trouble and Difquietnefs. It is a Life of perfect Peace, a Refreshment after all our Labours and Sufferings, by which Term the Scripture fometimes expreffeth it.

There will be then nothing to disturb us, or caufe any Allay or Interruption to our Quiet. All thofe Things that were apt to ruffle or difcompofe our Spirits, while we were toffed upon the Sea of this World, will then be far removed from us, and we fhall find a perfect Calm both within and without us.

This is indeed the Sum of all that can be faid upon this Head; but yet methinks I would not difmifs it fo.