To Ting SAINT'S REST. 149 sisteth in the full and glorious enjoyment of God. He that maketh not God his chief good and ultimate end, is in heart a pagan and a vile idolater. Let 'me ask then, Dost thou truly account it thy chief happi- ness to enjoy the Lord in glory, or dost thou not? Canst thou say, The Lord is my portion? whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee? If thou be an heir of rest, it is, thus with thee. Though the flesh will be pleading for its own delights, and the world will be creeping into thine affections ; yet in thine ordinary, settled, prevailing judgment and affections, thou pre- ferrest God before all things in the world.Thou inakest him the very end of thy desires and endear. yours. The very reason why thou hearest, and prayest, and desirest to live on earth, is chiefly this, that thou mayest seek the Lord, and make sure of thy rest. Though thou dost not seek it so zealously as thou shoúldst ; yet it hath the chief of thy desires and, endeavours, so that nothing else is desired or preferred before it. 'Thou wilt think no labour or suffering too great to obtain it. And though the flesh may sometimes shrink, yet thou art resolved and contented to go through all. 'Thy esteem for it will also be so high, and thy affection to it so great, that thou wouldst not exchange thy title to it, and hopes of it, for any worldly good whatsoever. If God should set before thee an eternity, of earthly pleasures on one hand, and the saint's rest on the other, and bid thee take thy choice ; thou wouldst refuse the world, and choose this rest. But if thou art yet unsanctified, then thou dost in thy heart prefer thy worldly happiness before God; and though thy tongue may say, that God is thy .chief good, yet thy heart doth not so esteem him. For the world is the chief end of thy desires and, endeavours. Thy very heart is set upon it. Thy greatest care and labour 1s to maintain thy credit, or fleshly delights. But the life to come hath little of thy care or labour. Thou didst never per- ceive so much excellency in that unseen glory of
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