Madre
10-09-2007, 09:23 AM
From The Christian's Rest by William Baxter:
Complete article:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/wbaxter/lr/CHRREST.HTM
Excerpt:
But the New Testament presents the true rest before us in the most pleasing manner--that perfect rest which the Savior himself came to impart. The children of Israel had been ground down by excessive toil, and the rest which they obtained was the very opposite of this. But instead of the body being wearied, in the New Testament we find that it is the soul of man which suffers. A continued struggle is going on in the mind; and the words of the prophet, when he says there is no peace to the wicked, are verified in the experience of every unregenerated son and daughter of Adam. To the burdened soul, laboring under such unrest as this, how sweet and full of comfort are the words of the Savior, when he says, "Come unto me all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" Yes, here the troubled soul finds the rest it has long sought with so much anxiety and solicitude. The heart's wild tumult in a moment ceases at the voice of the Savior--all its angry passions subside, like the waves of Tiberias when he spake and there was a great calm.
But we must not think that the Christian's life is one of inaction and dull repose. The very reverse of this is true. The mind is now released from its fearful forebodings--the terrors which formerly agitated the soul have departed--the mind has found a peaceful quietude to which it was previously a stranger; but if we stop here, and are content with this, we shall fail of attaining that eternal rest which is held out as the reward to those who persevere to the end.
We have already remarked that the joy of the Israelites was greatly heightened by the contrast which the promised land doubtless presented to the toils and afflictions which they had escaped. So the glories of the eternal rest will, doubtless, be prized in proportion to the difficulties and dangers we shall encounter in attaining to those blissful mansions. That it was the intention of the Author of our religion that Christians should be active and untiring in their efforts, will be easily made plain by a reference to some few of the allusions which are made to the Christian life on the pages of the sacred Oracles. Those engaged in the Christian cause are often represented as performing a journey--as running a race--as enlisted in a glorious cause; and in all these various pursuits, we cannot but be struck with the propriety of proposing rest as the reward of all their exertions. Is the Christian life a pilgrimage, how aptly does the figure agree with the end proposed! He sets forth, staff in hand--his long and wearisome journey must be accomplished step by step. The steep ascent of the mountain must be surmounted--the thick forest and the howling wilderness must all be encountered--he must be exposed to every variety of hardship--the heat of a vertical sun must pour its fiercest beams on his unprotected head--he must meet alike the dread simoon and the piercing blasts of the north; yet he has the consolation of knowing that each day brings him nearer to the place of his destination. He reaches it at last, and then how sweet is that rest! He looks back over the long years of his pilgrimage: the scenes through which he has passed--the toils which he has endured--the privations he has undergone--all spring up with life-like vividness before him; [307] but he feels they are for ever past--he is in the possession of a rest that never faileth, and he feels that for every pain he has endured he has received a rich and bountiful over-payment of delight.
Complete article:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/wbaxter/lr/CHRREST.HTM
Excerpt:
But the New Testament presents the true rest before us in the most pleasing manner--that perfect rest which the Savior himself came to impart. The children of Israel had been ground down by excessive toil, and the rest which they obtained was the very opposite of this. But instead of the body being wearied, in the New Testament we find that it is the soul of man which suffers. A continued struggle is going on in the mind; and the words of the prophet, when he says there is no peace to the wicked, are verified in the experience of every unregenerated son and daughter of Adam. To the burdened soul, laboring under such unrest as this, how sweet and full of comfort are the words of the Savior, when he says, "Come unto me all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" Yes, here the troubled soul finds the rest it has long sought with so much anxiety and solicitude. The heart's wild tumult in a moment ceases at the voice of the Savior--all its angry passions subside, like the waves of Tiberias when he spake and there was a great calm.
But we must not think that the Christian's life is one of inaction and dull repose. The very reverse of this is true. The mind is now released from its fearful forebodings--the terrors which formerly agitated the soul have departed--the mind has found a peaceful quietude to which it was previously a stranger; but if we stop here, and are content with this, we shall fail of attaining that eternal rest which is held out as the reward to those who persevere to the end.
We have already remarked that the joy of the Israelites was greatly heightened by the contrast which the promised land doubtless presented to the toils and afflictions which they had escaped. So the glories of the eternal rest will, doubtless, be prized in proportion to the difficulties and dangers we shall encounter in attaining to those blissful mansions. That it was the intention of the Author of our religion that Christians should be active and untiring in their efforts, will be easily made plain by a reference to some few of the allusions which are made to the Christian life on the pages of the sacred Oracles. Those engaged in the Christian cause are often represented as performing a journey--as running a race--as enlisted in a glorious cause; and in all these various pursuits, we cannot but be struck with the propriety of proposing rest as the reward of all their exertions. Is the Christian life a pilgrimage, how aptly does the figure agree with the end proposed! He sets forth, staff in hand--his long and wearisome journey must be accomplished step by step. The steep ascent of the mountain must be surmounted--the thick forest and the howling wilderness must all be encountered--he must be exposed to every variety of hardship--the heat of a vertical sun must pour its fiercest beams on his unprotected head--he must meet alike the dread simoon and the piercing blasts of the north; yet he has the consolation of knowing that each day brings him nearer to the place of his destination. He reaches it at last, and then how sweet is that rest! He looks back over the long years of his pilgrimage: the scenes through which he has passed--the toils which he has endured--the privations he has undergone--all spring up with life-like vividness before him; [307] but he feels they are for ever past--he is in the possession of a rest that never faileth, and he feels that for every pain he has endured he has received a rich and bountiful over-payment of delight.