Certainly the thoughts of everlasting rest may be as delightful to the souls in the present day, as they have ever been to those of past generations. I am sure such thoughts are as absolutely necessary now; nor are temptations to neglect them, either fewer, or weaker now than formerly. The worth of everlasting rest is not felt, because it is not considered; it is forgotten because a thousand trifles are preferred before it. But were the Divine reasonings of this book duly attended to, (and oh that the Spirit and grace of a Redeemer may make them so!) then an age of vanity would become serious; minds enervated by sensuality, would soon resume the strength of reason, and display the excellence of Christianity; the delusive names of pleasure would be blotted out by the glorious reality of heavenly joy upon earth; every station and relation in life would be filled up with the propriety and dignity of serious religion; every member of society would then effectually contribute to the beauty and happiness of the whole; and every soul would be ready for life or death, for one world or another, in a well grounded and cheerful persuasion of having secured a title to that rest which remaineth to the people of God.

B. F.

Kidderminster, Dec. 25, 1758.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.
The introduction to the Work, with some account of the nature of the Saint's Rest.
The Apostle's design in the text,[25]
The Saint's Rest defined,[27]
What this rest presupposes,ibid
What this rest contains,[29]
1.A ceasing from means of grace,[30]
2.A perfect freedom from all evils,ibid
3.The saint's personal perfection in body and soul,ibid
4.The nearest enjoyment of God the chief good,[31]
5.All the powers of the body active in this enjoyment,[34]
And all the powers of the soul; as, knowledge,[35]
Memory, love, and joy,[36]-42
CHAP. II.
The great Preparatives to the Saint's Rest.
The happiness of having a way into Paradise open,[43]
1.The glorious appearing of Christ opens the way,ibid
2.The general resurrection,[46]
3.The last judgment,[47]
4.The saint's coronation,[50]
CHAP. III.
The Excellencies of the Saint's Rest.
1.It is the purchased possession,[53]
2.It is a free gift,[54]
3.It is peculiar to saints,[56]
4.It is an association with saints and angels,[57]
5.It derives its joys immediately from God himself,[58]
6.It will be seasonable,[59]
7.It will be suitable,[60]
8.It will be perfect, without sin or suffering,[62]
9.It will be everlasting,[68]
CHAP. IV.
The Character of the Persons for whom this Rest is designed.
'Tis wonderful it should be designed for mortals,[71]
1.The people of God, who shall enjoy it, are chosen from eternity,[72]
2.They are given to Christ,ibid
3.They are born again,ibid
4.They are deeply convinced of the evil of sin,[73]
their misery by sin, the vanity of the creatures,[74]
and the all-sufficiency of Christ,[75]
5.Their will is proportionably changed,[76]
6.They engage in covenant with Christ,[77]
7.They persevere in their engagements,[78]
The reader is invited to self-examination,ibid
That the people of God shall enjoy this rest, and[80]
none but they, is further proved by Scripture; [82]
and that they shall not enjoy it till they come to another world,[83]
where their souls shall enjoy it while separated from their bodies.[84]
CHAP. V.
The misery of those that lose the Saint's Rest.
The reader, if unregenerate, urged to consider this loss,[89]
1.They lose the personal perfections of the saints;[91]
2.God himself;ibid
3.All delightful affections towards God;[92]
4.The blessed society of angels and glorified spirits,ibid
Their loss will be greatly aggravated, by having
1.Their understanding cleared;[94]
2.Also enlarged:ibid
3.Their consciences brought to a true and close application:[95]
4.Their affections more lively:[96]
5.Their memories strengthened.ibid
CHAP. VI.
The misery of those, who, besides losing the Saint's Rest, lose the enjoyments of time, and suffer the torments of hell.
The enjoyments of time, which the damned lose,[103]
1.Their presumptuous belief of their interest in God and Christ;[104]
2.All their hopes;ibid
3.All their peace of conscience:[106]
4.All their carnal mirth:[107]
5.All their sensual delights,ibid
The torments of hell which the damned suffer,[108]
1.The principal author of them is God himself,[109]
2.The place or state of torment:ibid
3.These torments are the effects of Divine vengeance,[110]
4.God will take pleasure in executing them;ibid
5.God's executioners are Satan and sinners themselves,[111]
6.These torments will be universal;ibid
7.Without any mitigation;[112]
8.And eternal,[113]
The sinner convinced of his folly in venturing on hell,[114]
And entreated to fly for safety to Christ.[115]
CHAP. VII.
The necessity of diligently seeking the Saint's Rest.
This rest is surprisingly neglected,[118]
by the worldly minded,ibid
the profane multitude,[120]
Formal professors,[121]
and by the godly themselves,[122]
whether magistrates, ministers,[123]
or people,[124]
The author mourns the neglect,[125]
and excites the reader to diligence by many considerations,[126]
Awakening questions proposed to the ungodly,[133]
and also to the godly.[137]
CHAP. VIII.
How to discern our title to the Saint's Rest.
Men's folly in not inquiring after a title to it,[139]
Their cause for terror while destitute of it,[141]
Self-examination is urged;[142]
1.From the possibility of arriving at certainty,[143]
2.From the hinderances to self-examination by Satan,ibid
by wicked men,[144]
by our own hearts;[145]
nor does self-examination soon bring assurance;[146]
nor do all true Christians attain to it,ibid
3.From considering how easy, common, and dangerous it is to be mistaken; that trying is safer than neglect; that God will try us soon, and to try ourselves will be profitable,[150]
Directions are given how to try,[153]
Marks for trial; as, do we make God our chief good?[155]
Do we heartily accept of Christ for our Lord and Savior?[156]
The great importance of these two marks.[158]
CHAP. IX.
The duty of the people of God to excite others to seek this Rest.
This duty is lamentably neglected:[159]
1.It consists in pitying the misery of men's souls;[160]
2.In giving religious instruction;ibid
3.In promoting their profit by public ordinances,[165]
Why this duty is so much neglected,[166]
Objections against it answered,[168]
The discharge of it urged; especially,[169]
on men of knowledge, learning, and utterance,[173]
on such as are acquainted with sinners,ibid
on physicians that attend dying men,[174]
on the wealthy and powerful,ibid
on ministers, and those that have children and servants.[175]
CHAP. X.
The Saint's Rest is not to be expected on earth.
The sin and folly of expecting rest here, appears[180]
By the reasonableness of present afflictions;[181]
1.They are the way to rest;ibid
2.They keep us from mistaking it;ibid
3.And from losing our way to it;[182]
4.They quicken our pace towards it;ibid
5.They chiefly incommode our flesh; and[183]
6.Under them are often the best foretastes of rest,ibid
By the unreasonableness of resting in present comforts,[185]
1.'Tis idolatry;ibid
2.It contradicts God's end in giving them;ibid
3.'Tis the way to have them refused, withdrawn, or embittered;[186]
4.To be suffered to do this, is the greatest curse;[187]
5.'Tis seeking rest where it is not;ibid
6.The creatures, without God, aggravate our misery;[189]
7.And all this is confirmed by experience,ibid
Also by the unreasonableness of our unwillingness to die and possess the saint's rest.[190]
CHAP. XI.
The importance of leading a heavenly life upon earth.
'Tis reasonable to delight in thinking of heaven,[201]
Christians exhorted to it, by considering,[202]
1.It will evidence their sincere piety;[203]
2.'Tis the highest excellence of the Christian temper,[204]
3.It leads to the most comfortable life;[205]
4.'Tis the best preservative from temptations;[206]
5.It will invigorate their graces and duties;[209]
6.It will be their best cordial in afflictions;[211]
7.It will render them most useful to others;[213]
8.It will honor God;[215]
9.Without it we disobey the commands, and use the most gracious and delightful discoveries of the word of God;[216]
10.Our hearts should be with God, as his is so much on us; and[217]
11.In heaven where we are so much interested;[218]
12.Nothing but heaven deserves our hearts.[220]
CHAP. XII.
Directions how to lead a heavenly life upon earth.
I.Avoid the hinderances to such a life:[222]
1.Live not in any known sin,ibid
2.Be not earthly minded;[223]
3.Beware of the company of the ungodly:[225]
4.Be not satisfied with mere notions in religion;[226]
5.Take heed of a proud spirit,[227]
6.and a slothful spirit,[229]
7.Nor rest in the preparatives to a heavenly life[232]
II.Practise the duties which will promote this life,[233]
1.Esteem heaven the only treasure and happiness;ibid
2.Labor to know your interest in it,[234]
3.And how near it is;[235]
4.Frequently and seriously talk of it;[236]
5.Strive in every duty to raise your heart nearer to it;[237]
6.To the same purpose improve every object and event;[238]
7.Be much in the angelical work of praise;[239]
8.Maintain believing thoughts of God's infinite love.[240]
9.Observe and cherish the motions of God's Spirit,[241]
10.Take due care of your bodily health.[242]
CHAP. XIII.
The nature of heavenly contemplation, with the time, place, and temper fittest for it.
The duty itself recommended to the reader,[244]
This duty defined and illustrated,[246]
The time fittest for this duty is—stated,—frequent,[248]
and seasonable, every day, particularly Lord's[250]
days; especially when in a devout temper, or an[251]
afflicted state, or in the views of death,[252]
The place, fittest for this duty is the most retired,[253]
The temper fittest for this duty, is[255]
1.When our minds are most clear of the world,ibid
2.And most solemn and serious.[256]
CHAP. XIV.
What use heavenly contemplation makes of consideration, affections, soliloquy, and prayer.
The reader is invited to heavenly contemplation,[258]
To that end consideration is recommended,ibid
Next, the exercise of the affections, particularly[261]
1.Love,[262]
2.Desire,[265]
3.Hope,[267]
4.Courage or boldness,[268]
5.And joy,[269]
These affections need not always be exercised in this order, nor all at one time,[273]
Soliloquy and prayer are also useful in heavenly contemplation.ibid
CHAP. XV.
Heavenly contemplation assisted by sensible objects, and guarded by a treacherous heart.
The difficulty of maintaining a lively impression of heavenly things,[276]
Sensible objects may assist heavenly contemplation;[277]
1.If we draw strong suppositions from sense;ibid
2.If objects of sense and faith are compared,[278]
To guard heavenly contemplation against a treacherous heart, consider,
1.The heart's backwardness to this duty,[289]
2.Its trifling in it,[291]
3.Its wandering from it,[292]
4.And its too abruptly putting an end to it,ibid
CHAP. XVI.
Heavenly contemplation exemplified, and the whole work concluded.
A Christian prepared for the work, may contemplate,
"The excellency of heavenly rest;[294]
Its nearness dreadful to sinners, joyful to saints,[295]
Its dear purchase;[296]
And its difference from earth,ibid
He may plead with his heart,[298]
May banish unbelief,ibid
And pity a careless world,[299]
He may view heavenly rest as the object of love,ibid
And of joy,[304]
He may lament his heart's indisposition to such joy,ibid
He may view heavenly rest, as the object of desire,"[310]
Evil consequences of neglecting such contemplation,[317]
Saints excited to be constant in it,[318]
The author's concluding prayer,[319]

THE
SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST.

Hebrews iv, 9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.