rest. When the contentment and satisfaction, which God took in Noah's sacrifice after he came out of the ark, is expressed, it is expressed thus, The Lord smelt a savour of rest"; our services to God, are a rest to him; he rests in our devotions; and when the idolatrous service, and forbidden sacrifices of the people are expressed, they are expressed thus, when I had brought them into the land, Posuerunt ibi odorem quietum suarum", they placed there the sweet savours of their own rest; not of God's rest, (his true religion) but their own rest, a religion, which they, for collateral respects, rested in. And therefore when God threatens here, that there shall be no rest, that is, none of his rest, he would take from them their law, their sacrifices, their religion, in which he was pleased, and rested gracious towards them, he will change their religion: and when he says, here is not your rest, he threatens to take from them, that rest, that peace, that quiet which they had proposed, and imagined to themselves; when they say to themselves, Why, it is no great matter; we may do well enough for all that, though our religion be changed; he will impoverish them, he will disarm them, he will infatuate them, he will make them a prey to their enemies, and take away all true, and all imaginary rest too. Briefly, it is the mark of all men, even natural men, rest: for though Tertullian condemn that, to call Quietis magisterium sapientiam, The act of being, and living at quiet, wisdom, therein seeming to exclude all wisdom that conduces not to rest, as though there were no wisdom in action, and in business; though in the person of Epicurus he condemn that, and that saying, Nemo alii nascitur, moriturus sibi, It is no reason, that any man should think himself born for others, since he cannot live to himself, or to labour for others, since himself cannot enjoy rest, yet Tertullian leaving the Epicures, that placed felicity in a stupid and unsociable retiring, says in his own person, and in his own opinion, almost as much, Unicum mihi negotium, nec aliud curo, quam ne curem, All that I care for, is that I might care for nothing; and so even Tertullian, in his Christian philosophy, places happiness in rest: now he speaks not only of the things of this world, they must necessarily be cared for, in their propor11 Gen. viii. 21. VOL. IV. 12 Ezek. xx. 28. Ꮮ tion; we must not decline the businesses of this life, and the offices of society, out of an aëry and imaginary affection of rest: our principal rest is, in the testimony of our conscience, and in doing that which we were sent to do; and to have a rest, and peace, in a conscience of having done that religiously, and acceptably to God, is our true rest: and this was the rest, which the Jews were to lose in this place, the testimony of their consciences, that they had performed their part, their conditions, so, that they might rely upon God's promises of a perpetual rest in the land of Canaan; and that rest they could not have; not that peaceful testimony of their consciences. They could not have that rest, no rest, not there, not in Canaan; which was the highest degree of the misery, because they were confident in their term, their state in that land, that it should be perpetual; and they were confident in the goodness of the land, that it should evermore give them all conveniences in abundance, conducing to all kind of rest: for this land God himself calls by the name of rest, and of his rest; I sware that they should not enter into my rest13; so that rest was proper to this land, and this land was proper to them. For, (as St. Augustine notes well) though God recovered this land for them, and re-established miraculously their possession, yet they came but in their remitter, and in postliminio, the inheritance of that land was theirs before: for Shem the son of Noah, was in possession of this land; and the sons of Cham, the Canaanites, expelled his race out of it; and Abraham, of the race of Shem, was restored unto it again so that, as the goodness of the land promised rest, so the goodness of the title promised them the land; and yet they might have no rest there. They had a better title than that; those often oaths, which God had sworn unto them, that that land should be theirs for ever, was their evidence; if then that land were requies Domini, the rest of the Lord, that is, the best, and the safest rest, and that land were their land, why should they not have that rest here, when the Lord had sworn they should? Why, because he swore the contrary after; but will God swear contrary things? Why, Solus securus jurat, qui falli non potest, says St. Augustine, 13 Psalm xcv. 11. 14 Aug. Ser. cv. de tempore. only he can swear a thing safely, that sees all circumstances, and foresees all occurrences; only God can swear safely, because nothing can be hid from him. God therefore that knew upon what conditions he had taken the first oath, and knew again how contemptuously those conditions were broken, he takes knowledge that he had sworn, he denies not that, but he swears again, and in his anger, I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest. Those men (says he) which have seen my glory and my miracles, and have tempted me ten times, and not obeyed my voice, certainly they shall not see the land whereof I swear unto their fathers"; neither shall any that provoke me see it; he pleads not non est factum, but he pleads conditions performed; he denies not that he swore, but he justifies himself, that he had done as much as he promised; for his promise was conditional. The apostle seems to assign but one reason of their exclusion, from this land, and from this rest, and yet he expresses that one reason so, as that it hath two branches; he says, We see that they could not enter, because of unbelief; and yet he asks the question; To whom sware he, that they should not enter into his rest, but unto them, that obeyed not? Unbelief is assigned for the cause, and yet they were shut out for disobedience; now, if the apostle make it all one, whether want of faith, or want of works, exclude us from the land of rest, let not us be too curious inquirers, whether faith or works bring us thither; for neither faith, nor works bring us thither, as a full cause; but if we consider mediate causes, so they may be both causes; faith, instrumental; works, declaratory; faith may be as evidence, works as the seal of it; but the cause is only, the free election of God. Nor ever shall we come thither, if we leave out either; we shall meet as many men in heaven, that have lived without faith, as without works. This then was the case; God had sworn to them an inheritance permanently there, but upon condition of their obedience; if they had not had a privity in the condition, if they had not had a possibility to perform the condition, their exclusion might have seemed unjust and it had been so; for though God might justly have forborne the promise, yet he could not justly break the pro mise, if they had kept the conditions; therefore he expressed the condition without any disguise, at first, If thy heart turn away, I pronounce unto you this day that you shall surely perish": you shall not prolong your days in the land. And then, when those conditions were made, and made known, and made easy, and accepted, when they so rebelliously broke all conditions, his first oath lay not in his way, to stop him from the second, As I live, saith the Lord, I will surely bring mine oath that they have broken, and my covenant that they have despised upon their head; shall they break my covenant, and be delivered? says God there 1. God confesses the oath and the covenant, to be his covenant and his oath, but the breach of the oath, and covenant, was theirs, and not his. He expresses his promise to them, and his departing from them together, in another prophet; God says to the prophet, Buy thee a girdle, bury it in the ground, and fetch it again"; and then it was rotten, and good for nothing: for says he, As the girdle cleareth to the loins, so have I tied to me the house of Israel, and Judah, that they might be my people, that they might have a name and a praise, and a glory, but they would not hear; therefore, say unto them, Every bottle shall be filled with wine; (here was a promise of plenty :) and they shall say unto thee, Do not we know, that every bottle shall be filled with wine? (that God is bound to give us this plenty?) because he hath tied himself by oath, and covenant, and promise.) But behold, I fill all the inhabitants with drunkenness; (since they trust in their plenty, that shall be an occasion of sin to them) and I will dash them against one another, even the father and sons together; I will not spare, I will not pity, I will not have compassion, but destroy them. God could not promise more, than he did in this place at first; he could not depart farther from that promise, than, by their occasion, he came to at last. God's promise goes no farther with Moses himself; My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest; if we will steal out of God's presence, into dark and Receive my words, says sinful corners, there is no rest promised. Solomon, and the years of thy life shall be many"; Trust in the 17 Deut. xxx. 17, 18. 19 Jer. xiii. 1-7. 21 Prov. iv. 10. Lord, and do good, (perform both, stand upon those two legs, faith, and works; not that they are alike; there is a right, and a left leg: but stand upon both; upon one in the sight of God; upon the other in the sight of man:) Trust in the Lord, and do good, and thou shalt dwell in the land, and be fed assuredly. That paradise, that peace of conscience, which God establishes in thee, by faith, hath a condition of growth, and increase, from faith to faith; heaven itself, in which the angels were, had a condition; they might, they did fall from thence; the land of Canaan was their own land, and the rest of that land their rest, by God's oath, and covenant; and yet here was not their rest: not here; nor, for anything expressed or intimated in the word, anywhere else. Here was a nunc dimittis, but not in peace; the Lord lets them depart, and makes them depart, but not in peace, for their eyes saw no salvation; they were sent away to a heavy captivity. Beloved, we may have had a Canaan, an inheritance, a comfortable assurance in our bosoms, in our consciences, and yet hear that voice after, that here is not our rest, except, as God's goodness at first moved him to make one oath unto us, of a conditional rest, as our sins have put God to his second oath, that he sware we should not have his rest, so our repentance bring him to a third oath, As I live I would not the death of a sinner, that so he do not only make a new contract with us, but give us withal an ability to perform the conditions, which he requires. SERMON XC. PREACHED AT THE CHURCHING of the COUNTESS OF MICAH ii. 10. [Second Sermon.] THUS far we have proceeded in the first acceptation of these words, according to their principal, and literal sense, as they appertained to the Jews, and their state; so they were a commination; as they appertain to all succeeding ages, and to us, so 22 Psalm xxxvii. 3. |