The Saint's Everlasting Rest by Richard Baxter (Modern, Updated Translation)

The Saint's Everlasting Rest Book Summary

Richard Baxter’s The Saint's Everlasting Rest is a meditation on the Christian hope of heaven and how it shapes life on earth. We've summarized the key themes from the book below.

1. The Nature of Heaven

Baxter presents heaven as the ultimate destination and state of being for believers—a place of perfect peace, joy, and communion with God. His vision is both vivid and deeply rooted in scripture, offering a compelling contrast to the struggles of earthly life.

• Unmediated Union with God: Heaven is where the soul experiences God’s presence fully, without the barriers of sin or earthly limitations. Baxter describes this as a state of eternal rest, where believers are forever free from pain, sorrow, and the weariness of the world.
• Dynamic Rest: This rest isn’t idle or static. Instead, it’s an active, joyful existence filled with worship, fellowship, and delight in God’s glory. Baxter draws on biblical imagery—like the throne room scenes in Revelation—to emphasize heaven’s vibrancy.
• A Continuation of Faith: While heaven is the believer’s future home, Baxter sees it as an extension of the relationship with God that begins in this life. Faith plants the seeds for this eternal rest, making heaven both a promise and a fulfillment.

2. A Present and Future Hope

Baxter bridges the gap between eternity and the here-and-now, teaching that the rest of heaven isn’t just a distant reward—it’s something Christians can taste today through faith and devotion.

• A Foretaste of Eternity: By cultivating a close relationship with God through prayer and meditation, believers can experience moments of heavenly peace and joy even in this life. This present rest sustains them through trials and keeps their focus on the eternal.
• Heavenly Mindset: Baxter encourages readers to think often about heaven, not as an escape, but as a way to reframe earthly struggles. This perspective helps believers endure hardships and resist fleeting temptations, anchoring them in hope.
• Puritan Spirituality: Reflecting his Puritan roots, Baxter stresses the inner life of the soul. He sees spiritual disciplines as a way to draw near to God now, preparing the heart for the fuller rest that awaits after death.

3. Practical Christian Living

Baxter doesn’t leave his readers with abstract theology—he offers practical steps for living a life that reflects the hope of heaven.

• Spiritual Practices: Prayer, meditating on scripture, and obedience to God are cornerstones of Baxter’s advice. These habits not only prepare the soul for eternity but also bring a sense of God’s presence into daily life.
• Meditating on Heaven: Baxter urges believers to regularly contemplate the joys of eternal rest. This practice strengthens resolve against sin and provides comfort in suffering, keeping the heart fixed on what truly matters.
• Pastoral Wisdom: Writing from his own experiences of illness and his role as a pastor, Baxter’s counsel feels personal and grounded. He speaks to readers as a guide, encouraging them to live intentionally for eternity.

Baxter’s vision of heaven as a state of perfect rest, his call to experience it now through faith, and his guidance for daily living offer a timeless message: the hope of eternity transforms how we face today. By exploring these themes, we see how Baxter invites believers to live with one foot in heaven, finding strength and purpose in the promise of everlasting rest.

The Saint's Everlasting Rest

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"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." - Hebrews 4:9

Chapter #1: The Introduction to the Work, with Some Account of the Nature of the Saint's Rest

In Adam's fall, we didn't just lose our connection with God and the joy of being with Him, but we also lost all spiritual knowledge of Him and the true desire for such happiness. When the Son of God comes with grace to restore us and reveals a spiritual and eternal happiness and glory, He finds that people lack the faith to believe it. It's like a poor man who can't believe anyone has as much as a hundred pounds because it's so much more than he has. Similarly, people now struggle to believe in the happiness they once had, let alone the happiness Christ has now secured for them. When God wanted to give the Israelites His Sabbaths of rest in a land of rest, it was harder to make them believe it than to defeat their enemies and secure it for them. And when they received it, as just a small hint and promise of a much more glorious rest through Christ, they only believed in what they had, saying, like the glutton at the feast, "Sure there is no other heaven but this!" Or if they expected more from the Messiah, it was only an increase in their earthly happiness. The apostle spends much of this epistle addressing this issue, clearly and extensively proving that the purpose of all ceremonies and shadows is to point them to Jesus Christ, the substance; and that the rest of Sabbaths and Canaan should teach them to look for a greater rest, which is indeed their happiness. 

My text is his conclusion after various arguments; a conclusion that contains the foundation of all the believer's comfort, the purpose of all his duties and sufferings, the essence and summary of all gospel promises and Christian privileges. What could be more welcome to people under personal afflictions, tiring duties, and ongoing sufferings than rest? It is not just our comfort, but our stability. Our energy in all duties, our endurance in tribulation, our honoring of God, the strength of our love, thankfulness, and all our virtues; indeed, the very existence of our religion and Christianity, depend on seriously believing in our rest. And now, reader, whoever you are, young or old, rich or poor, I urge you, and charge you, in the name of your Lord, who will soon call you to account and judge you to your everlasting unchangeable state, that you do not just read these things and dismiss them with mere approval; but that you commit to this work, take God in Christ as your only rest, and set your heart on Him above all. May the living God, who is the portion and rest of His saints, make our worldly minds so spiritual and our earthly hearts so heavenly, that loving Him and delighting in Him may be the work of our lives; and that neither I who write nor you who read this book may ever turn from this path of life, "lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, we should come short of it," through our own unbelief or negligence (Heb. 4:1).

The Saint's rest is "the most happy state of a Christian;" or it is "the perfect endless enjoyment of God by the perfected saints, according to the measure of their capacity, to which their souls arrive at death, and both soul and body most fully after the resurrection and final judgment." Based on this definition of the saint's rest, a more detailed explanation of its nature will be given in this chapter; its preparations in chapter 2; its excellencies in chapter 3; and in chapter 4, the people for whom it is intended. To further explain the subject, a description will be given in chapter 5 of the misery of those who miss this rest; and in chapter 6, who also miss the enjoyments of time and suffer the torments of hell. Next, it will be shown in chapter 7 the necessity of diligently seeking this rest; chapter 8, how our claim to it can be recognized; chapter 9, that those who recognize their claim to it should help those who cannot; and chapter 10, that this rest is not to be expected on earth. It will then be appropriate to consider in chapter 11 the importance of living a heavenly life on earth; chapter 12, how to live a heavenly life on earth; chapter 13, the nature of heavenly contemplation, with the time, place, and mindset best suited for it; chapter 14, what use heavenly contemplation makes of consideration, affections, soliloquy, and prayer; and also, chapter 15, how heavenly contemplation can be assisted by sensible objects and protected against a deceitful heart. Heavenly contemplation will be exemplified in chapter 16, and the entire work will be concluded.

There are some things that must be assumed in the nature of this rest; for example, that mortal humans are the ones seeking it. Angels and glorified spirits already have it, and the devils and the damned are beyond hope. They must choose God alone as their ultimate goal and happiness. Anyone who chooses something else for happiness is off track from the start. They are distant from this goal. This is the sad condition of all humanity since the fall. When Christ comes with regenerating grace, he finds no one sitting still, but everyone rushing toward eternal ruin and hastening toward hell; until, through conviction, he first brings them to a halt, and then through conversion, turns their hearts and lives sincerely to himself. This goal, and its excellence, must be known and seriously intended. An unknown good does not inspire desire or effort. Not only is there a distance from this rest, but the true knowledge of this distance is also necessary. Those who have never realized they are without God and on the path to hell have never known the way to heaven. Can a person discover they have lost God and their soul and not cry out, "I am undone"? The reason so few obtain this rest is that they refuse to be convinced that they are, in terms of title, distant from it; and, in terms of practice, contrary to it. Who ever sought something they did not know they had lost? "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick" (Matt. 9:12). The influence of a superior moving cause is also necessary; otherwise, we will all stand still and not move toward our rest. If God does not move us, we cannot move. It is a crucial part of our Christian wisdom to maintain our subordination to God and dependence on him. "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God" (2 Cor. 3:5). "Without me," says Christ, "ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). 

It is also assumed that those who seek this rest have an inner principle of spiritual life. God does not move people like stones; instead, he gives them life, not to enable them to move without him, but in subordination to himself, the first mover. Furthermore, this rest assumes such an actual tendency of the soul towards it that is regular and constant, earnest and laborious. He who hides his talent will receive the wages of a lazy servant. Christ is the door, the only way to this rest. But "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way" (Matt. 7:14); and we must "strive," if we will "enter, for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able" (Luke 13:24); which implies that "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence" (Matt. 11:12). Nor will it lead us to the end of the saints if we "begin in the spirit, and end in the flesh" (Gal. 3:3). "He only that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 24:13). And no soul has ever obtained rest with God whose desire was not set upon him above all else in the world. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21). The remnants of our old nature will greatly weaken and interrupt these desires, but never overcome them. Considering the opposition to our desires from the contrary principles in our nature, and from the weakness of our graces, along with our continued distance from the end, our tendency to that end must be laborious and with all our might. All these things are assumed for a Christian to obtain an interest in heavenly rest.

Now that we have climbed these steps into the outer court, can we look inside the veil? Can we show what this rest includes, as well as what it assumes? Alas, how little I know of that glory! The glimpse Paul had contained things that could not, or should not, be spoken. If he had spoken of heavenly things in the language of heaven, and no one understood that language, what good would it do? May the Lord reveal to me what I can reveal to you! May the Lord shine some light and show both you and me our inheritance! Not like Balaam, whose eyes were opened to see the beauty of Jacob's tents and Israel's tabernacles, where he had no share, and from where his own destruction would come (Num. 24:2-5)! Not like Moses, who only had a vision instead of possession, and saw the land he never entered (Deut. 34:4)! But like the pearl revealed to the merchant in the gospel, who did not rest until he sold all he had and bought it (Matt. 13:45-46)! And like heaven was opened to blessed Stephen, which he was soon to enter, and the glory shown to him that would be his own possession (Acts 7:55-56)! The things contained in heavenly rest are such as these: a ceasing from means of grace; a perfect freedom from all evils; the highest degree of the saint's personal perfection, both of body and soul; the closest enjoyment of God, the chief good; and a sweet and constant action of all the powers of body and soul in this enjoyment of God.

1. One aspect of heavenly rest is the end of using means of grace. When we reach the harbor, we stop sailing. When a worker receives their wages, it means they have finished their work. When we arrive at our journey's end, we no longer need the path. "Whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away" (1 Cor. 13:8). There will be no more prayer because there will be no more need, as we will fully enjoy what we prayed for. We won't need to fast, weep, or watch anymore, being beyond the reach of sin and temptations. Preaching will be over; the ministry of humans will cease; sacraments will become unnecessary; the laborers will be called in because the harvest is gathered, the tares are burned, and the work is finished. The unregenerate are beyond hope, and the saints are beyond fear, forever.

2. In heavenly rest, there is perfect freedom from all evils. All the evils that followed us through life, and which naturally come from being away from the greatest good, are gone. Besides being free from eternal flames and endless miseries, which those who neglect Christ and grace must endure without remedy—a terrible inheritance that was due to us by both birth and actions, just like them! In heaven, there is "nothing that defiles" or is unclean; all of that stays "outside" (Rev. 21:27). And surely, there is no such thing as grief and sorrow known there. There are no pale faces, weak bodies, feeble joints, helpless infancy, old age, harmful humors, painful or wasting sickness, gripping fears, consuming cares, or anything that deserves the name of evil. We did "weep and lament," while "the world rejoiced," but our "sorrow is turned into joy, and" our "joy no one will take from" us (John 16:20, 22).

3. Another part of this rest is the highest level of the saint's personal perfection, both in body and soul. Even if the glory were incredibly great, if they were not made capable of it through personal perfection suited to it, it would mean little to them. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). For the physical eye cannot see them, nor can this ear hear them, nor can this heart understand them. But there, the eye, ear, and heart are made capable; otherwise, how would they enjoy them? The more perfect the sight, the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical the ear, the more pleasant the melody. The more perfect the soul, the more joyous those joys, and the more glorious that glory is to us.

4. The main part of this rest is our closest enjoyment of God, the ultimate good. And here, reader, don't be surprised if I'm at a loss; and if my understanding grasps only a little of what I'm trying to express. If "it did not appear," to the beloved disciple, "what we shall be," but only in general, that "when Christ shall appear, we shall be like him" (1 John 3:2), it's no wonder if I know little. When I know so little of God, I can't know much about what it is to enjoy Him. If I know so little about spirits, how little do I know about the Father of spirits, or the state of my own soul when it reaches the enjoyment of Him? I stand and look at a heap of ants and see them all at once; they don't know me, my being, nature, or thoughts, even though I am their fellow creature; how much less must we know of the great Creator, though He clearly sees us all at once? The saints see a glimpse "as in a glass" (1 Cor. 13:12), which allows us to have some poor, dark understanding of what we shall see in glory. 

If I were to tell a worldly person about the holiness and spiritual joys of the saints on earth, he couldn't know; for grace can't be clearly known without grace; how much less could he understand it if I told him about this glory? But to the saints, I may be somewhat more encouraged to speak; for grace gives them a dim knowledge and slight taste of glory. If men and angels should try to describe the blessedness of that state in one word, what could they say beyond this: that it is the closest enjoyment of God? Oh, the full joys offered to a believer in that one sentence of Christ, "Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me" (John 17:24). Every word is full of life and joy. If the queen of Sheba had reason to say of Solomon's glory, "Happy are thy men, happy are thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom" (1 Kings 10:8); then surely those who stand continually before God, and see His glory, and the glory of the Lamb, are more than happy. To them, Christ will "give to eat of the tree of life" and "to eat of the hidden manna" (Rev. 2:7, 17); yes, He will "make them pillars in the temple of God, and they shall go no more out; and He will write upon them the name of His God, and the name of the city of His God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from His God, and He will write upon them His new name" (Rev. 3:12); yes, more, if more may be, He "will grant them to sit with Him in His throne" (Rev. 3:21). These are they who came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb: "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them: The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (Rev. 7:14-17). Oh blind, deceived world! Can you show us such a glory? This is the city of our God, where "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. The glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads. These sayings are faithful and true, and the things which must shortly be done" (Rev. 21:3, 23; 22:3-4, 6). And now we say, as Mephibosheth, "let" the world "take all, forasmuch as our Lord will come in peace" (2 Sam. 19:30). "Rejoice" therefore "in the Lord, O ye righteous," and say with His servant David, "the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance: The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16:5-11). What presumption would it have been, once to have thought or spoken of such a thing, if God had not spoken it before us? I wouldn't have dared to think of the saint's honor in this life, as scripture sets it forth, had it not been the express truth of God. How indecent to talk of being "Sons of God—speaking to Him—having fellowship with Him—dwelling in Him and He in us" (1 John 3:1; 1 John 1:3; John 14:17); if this had not been God's own language? How much less would we have dared to think of "shining forth as the sun"—of being "joint heirs with Christ"—of "judging the world"—of "sitting on Christ's throne"—of being "one in Him and the Father" (Matt. 13:43; Rom. 8:17; 1 Cor. 6:2; Rev. 3:21; John 17:21); if we had not all this from the mouth, and under the hand, of God? "But hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Num. 23:19). Yes, as the Lord God is true, "thus shall it be done to the man whom" Christ "delighteth to honor" (Esther 6:9). 

Be of good cheer, Christian, the time is near when God and you shall be near, and as near as you can well desire. You shall dwell in His family. Is that enough? It is better to "be a door-keeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Ps. 84:10). You shall ever stand before Him, around His throne, in the room with Him, in His presence-chamber. Would you yet be nearer? You shall be His child, and He your Father; you shall be an heir of His kingdom; yes more, the spouse of His Son. And what more can you desire? You shall be a member of the body of His Son; He shall be your head; you shall be one with Him, who is one with the Father, as He Himself has desired for you of His Father, "that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them."

5. We must add that this rest includes a sweet and constant activity of all the powers of the soul and body in enjoying God. It is not like the rest of a stone, which stops all movement when it reaches its center. This body will be changed so that it will no longer be flesh and blood, which "cannot inherit the kingdom of God; but a spiritual body. We sow not that body that shall be, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body" (1 Cor. 15:50, 38). If grace makes a Christian so different from what he was that he can say, "I am not the man I was," how much more will glory change us? Just as a spiritual body, more glorious than the sun, surpasses these weak, diseased bodies of flesh, so will our senses surpass those we have now. Surely, as God enhances our senses and expands our capacity, he will also enhance the happiness of those senses and fill that capacity with himself. Certainly, the body would not be raised and continued if it were not to share in the glory. As it has shared in obedience and suffering, so it will also share in blessedness. As Christ redeemed the whole person, so the whole will partake in the everlasting benefits of that redemption. O blessed work of a glorified body! To stand before the throne of God and the Lamb, and to forever proclaim, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing; for thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests. Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God. Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (Rev. 4:11; 5:12; 7:9-10; 19:1, 6). O Christians! This is the blessed rest; a rest, as it were, without rest; for "they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come" (Rev. 4:8). And if the body will be so engaged, oh, how will the soul be occupied! As its powers and capacities are greater, so its actions are stronger, and its enjoyments sweeter. Just as the bodily senses have their proper actions by which they receive and enjoy their objects, so does the soul in its own actions enjoy its own object, by knowing, remembering, loving, and delighting in joy. This is the soul's work. By these eyes it sees, and by these arms it embraces.

Knowledge itself is very desirable. Just as the rational soul is greater than the sensitive soul, the joys of a philosopher discovering nature's secrets and understanding the mystery of sciences are far greater than the pleasures of the glutton, drunkard, the immoral, and all those who indulge in sensual pleasures. All truth is excellent. So, what joy do those experience who know the God of truth? How noble is the soul's ability to understand! It can explore the earth, measure the sun, moon, stars, and heaven, and predict each eclipse to the minute, many years in advance. But the greatest of all its abilities is that it can know God, who is infinite and who made all these things; a little now, and much more in the future. Oh, the wisdom and goodness of our blessed Lord! He created the understanding with a natural inclination towards truth as its object, and towards the ultimate truth as its main object. Christian, when, after long looking towards heaven, you catch a glimpse of Christ, do you not sometimes feel like you have been with Paul in "the third heaven, whether in the body, or out," and have seen what is "unutterable" (2 Cor. 12:2-4)? Are you not, with Peter, ready to say, "Master, it is good to be here" (Matt. 17:4)? Oh, that I might dwell on this mountain! Oh, that I might always see what I now see! Have you ever looked so long at the Sun of Righteousness that your eyes were dazzled by His astonishing glory? And did not the splendor of it make everything below seem black and dark to you? Especially in your day of suffering for Christ, when He usually appears most clearly to His people, did you never see one "walking in the midst of the fiery furnace" with you "like the Son of God" (Dan. 3:25)? 

Believe me, Christians, yes, believe God; you who have known the most of God in Christ here, it is as nothing compared to what you shall know; it hardly deserves to be called knowledge in comparison. For just as these bodies, that knowledge must cease, so that a more perfect knowledge may come. "Knowledge shall vanish away. For we know in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Cor. 13:8-12). Do not be surprised, therefore, Christians, how it can be "life eternal, to know God and Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). To enjoy God and Christ is eternal life; and the soul's enjoyment is in knowing. Those who only care about earthly things and consult only with the flesh think it is a poor happiness to know God. But "we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness; and we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:19-20).

The memory will not be idle or useless in this blessed work. From that height, the saint can look back and forward. Comparing past with present things must create an incredible appreciation and understanding of their condition. To stand on that mount, where we can see both the Wilderness and Canaan at once; to stand in heaven and look back on earth, and weigh them together in a balance of comparison and judgment, how it must uplift the soul and make it cry out, "Is this the purchase that cost so much as the blood of Christ? No wonder. O blessed price! and thrice blessed love, that invented and condescended! Is this the end of believing? Is this the end of the Spirit's workings? Have the winds of grace brought me into such a harbor? Is it here that Christ has drawn my soul? O blessed way, and thrice blessed end! Is this the glory which the scriptures spoke of, and ministers preached about so much? I see the gospel is indeed good news, even news of peace and good things, news of great joy to all nations! Has my mourning, my fasting, my sad humblings, my heavy walking, come to this? Has my praying, watching, fearing to offend, come to this? Have all my afflictions, Satan's temptations, the world's scorns, and jeers, come to this? O vile nature, that resisted so much and so long, such a blessing? Unworthy soul, is this the place you came so unwillingly to? Was duty wearisome? Was the world too good to lose? Did you hesitate at leaving all, denying all, and suffering anything for this? Were you reluctant to die, to come to this? O false heart, you almost betrayed me to eternal flames and lost me this glory! Are you not now ashamed, my soul, that you ever questioned that love which brought you here? That you were doubtful of the faithfulness of your Lord? That you suspected his love when you should only have suspected yourself? That you ever quenched a motion of his Spirit? And that you misinterpreted those providences and complained about those ways, which have such an end? Now you are sufficiently convinced that your Redeemer was saving you, as well when he crossed your desires as when he granted them; when he broke your heart as when he bound it up. No thanks to you, unworthy self, for this received crown; but to Jehovah and the Lamb, be glory forever."

But oh! the full, the near, the sweet enjoyment, is that of love. "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). Now the poor soul complains, "Oh that I could love Christ more!" Then, you cannot help but love him. Now you know little of his loveliness, and therefore love little: Then, your eye will affect your heart, and continually seeing that perfect beauty will keep you in constant transports of love. Christians, doesn't it now stir up your love to remember all the experiences of his love! Doesn't kindness melt you, and the sunshine of Divine goodness warm your frozen hearts? What will it do then, when you shall live in love, and have all in him, who is all? Surely love is both work and reward. What a high favor, that God will allow us to love him? That he will be embraced by those who have embraced lust and sin before him! But more than this, he returns love for love; no, a thousand times more. Christian, you will be then full to the brim with love; yet, love as much as you can, you shall be ten thousand times more beloved. Were the arms of the Son of God open on the cross, and an open passage made to his heart by the spear, and will not arms and heart be open to you in glory? Did he begin to love before you loved, and will he not continue now? Did he love you, an enemy? you, a sinner? you, who even loathed yourself; and own you, when you disclaimed yourself? And will he not now immeasurably love you, a son? you, a perfect saint? you, who return some love for love? He that in love wept over the old Jerusalem when near its ruin, with what love will he rejoice over the new Jerusalem in her glory? Christian, believe this, and think on it; you shall be eternally embraced in the arms of that love, which was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting;—of that love which brought the Son of God's love from heaven to earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to glory; that love, which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spit upon, crucified, pierced; which did fast, pray, teach, heal, weep, sweat, bleed, die;—that love will eternally embrace you. When perfect created love, and most perfect uncreated love, meet together, it will not be like Joseph and his brothers, who lay upon one another's necks weeping; it will be loving and rejoicing, not loving and sorrowing: Yet it will make Satan's court ring with the news, that Joseph's brothers are come, that the saints are arrived safe at the bosom of Christ, out of the reach of hell forever: nor is there any such love as David's and Jonathan's, breathing out its last into sad lamentations for a forced separation. Know this, believer, to your everlasting comfort, if those arms have once embraced you, neither sin, nor hell, can get you away forever. You are not dealing with an inconstant creature but with him "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). His love to you will not be as yours was on earth to him; seldom, and cold, up and down. He that would not cease nor reduce his love, for all your enmity, unkind neglects, and churlish resistances, can he cease to love you, when he has made you truly lovely? He that keeps you so constant in your love to him, that you can challenge "tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, to separate your love from Christ" (Rom. 8:35), how much more will he himself be constant? Indeed you may be "persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39). And now are we not left in the apostle's admiration. "What shall we then say to these things?" (Rom. 8:31) Infinite love must be a mystery to a finite capacity. No wonder "angels desire to look into" this mystery (1 Pet. 1:12). And if it is the study of saints here, "to know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge" (Eph. 3:18-19); the saint's everlasting rest must consist in the enjoyment of God by love.

Joy is a significant part of this experience. It's the ultimate outcome of seeing, knowing, loving, and being loved by God. This is the "white stone which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it" (Rev. 2:17). Surely this is the joy that "a stranger doth not intermeddle with" (Prov. 14:10). All of Christ's acts of mercy lead to the joy of the saints. He wept, sorrowed, and suffered so they might rejoice. He sends the Spirit to be their Comforter, multiplies promises, and reveals their future happiness "that their joy may be full" (John 15:11). He opens to them the fountain of "living waters," so they "thirst no more," and it "springs up in them to everlasting life" (John 4:14). "He chastens them, that he may give them rest" (Heb. 12:6). He makes it their duty to "rejoice in him alway, and again" commands them to "rejoice" (Phil. 4:4). He never puts them in a condition so low that they don't have more reason for joy than sorrow. If the Lord cares so much for our comfort here, imagine what that joy will be like when the soul is perfectly prepared for joy, and joy is prepared by Christ for the soul. It will be our eternal work to rejoice! It seems the saint's joy will be greater than the damned's torment, for their torment is the torment of creatures, "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41), but our joy is "the joy of our Lord" (Matt. 25:21). "The same glory which the Father gave the Son, the Son hath given them" (John 17:22), "to sit with him in his throne, even as he is set down with his Father in his throne" (Rev. 3:21). You, poor soul, who pray for joy, wait for joy, complain for lack of joy, and long for joy, will then have full joy—more than you ever imagined or desired. In the meantime, walk carefully and watch constantly, and let God decide your times and degrees of joy. He may be saving it for when you need it more. It's better to lose comfort than safety. If you die full of fears and sorrows, it will only be a moment, and they will all be gone, ending in unimaginable joy. As "the joy of the hypocrite," so the fears of the upright are "but for a moment. God's anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. 30:5). O blessed morning! Poor, humble, drooping soul, how joyful would you be now if a voice from heaven assured you of God's love, the pardon of your sins, and your share in these joys? What will your joy be when your actual possession confirms your title, and you find yourself in heaven before you even realize it?

And it's not just joy; it's a shared joy as well as shared love. Is there joy in heaven at your conversion, and will there be none at your glorification? Won't the angels welcome you there and celebrate your safe arrival? Yes, it's the joy of Jesus Christ, for now he has achieved the purpose of his mission, labor, suffering, and dying when we have our joys; "when he is glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe" (2 Thess. 1:10); when "he sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied" (Isa. 53:11). This is Christ's harvest when he will reap the fruit of his labors, and he will not regret his sufferings, but he will rejoice over his purchased inheritance, and his people will rejoice in him. Yes, the Father himself shares in our joy. As "we grieve his Spirit" (Eph. 4:30), and "weary him with our iniquities" (Isa. 43:24), so he is rejoiced in our good. Oh, how quickly does he now see a returning prodigal, even "afar off"? How does he "run and meet him"? And with what "compassion" does he "fall on his neck, and kiss him, and put on him the best robe, and a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and kills the fatted calf to eat and be merry" (Luke 15:20-23). This is indeed a happy meeting, but nothing compared to the embracing and joy of that last and great meeting. Even more, as God shares love and joy, he makes this His rest, as it is our rest. What an eternal Sabbath, when the work of redemption, sanctification, preservation, glorification, is all finished and perfected forever! "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in his love, He will joy over thee with singing" (Zeph. 3:17). Well may we then rejoice in our God with joy, and rest in our love, and joy in him with singing.

Alas! My fearful heart hardly dares to continue. I feel like I hear the Almighty's voice saying to me, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (Job 38:2). But forgive your servant, O Lord. I have not tried to uncover hidden things. I regret that my understanding is so dull, my thoughts so low, my feelings so numb, and my words so inadequate for such glory. "I have only heard by the hearing of the ear": oh, let your servant "see you" and experience these joys; then I will have more fitting thoughts and give you greater glory. I will "abhor my" current self and reject all these imperfections, "I have uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not" (Job 42:3). Yet "I believed, and therefore have I spoken" (2 Cor. 4:13). What, Lord, can you expect from dust but inconsistency? Or from corruption, but impurity? Though the weakness and irreverence come from my own corruption, the fire is from your altar, and the work is by your command. I did not look into your ark or reach out my hand to it without you. "Wash" away these stains also "in the blood of the Lamb." Imperfect, or none, must be your service here. O accept your Son's excuse, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41).