154 THE SAINTS' REST [Chap. 10. you had a servant whom your wife loved better than your- self, would you not take it ill of such a wife, and rid your house of such a servant ? So, if the Lord see you begin to settle in the world, and say, " Here I will rest," no won- der if he soon, in hisjealousy, unsettle you. If he love you, no wonder if he take that from you with which he sees you are destroying yourselves. It hath long been my ob- servation of many, that when they have attempted great works, and have just finished them; or have aimed at great things in the world, and have just obtained them; or have lived in much trouble, and have just overcome it; and begin to look on their condition with content, and rest in it; theyare then usuallynear to death or ruin. When a man is once at this language, " Soul, take thy ease," the next news usually is, " Thou fool, this night," ór this month, or this year, "thy soul shall be required, and then whose shall these things be ?" What house is there, where this fool dwelleth not ? Let you and I consider whether it be not our own case. Many a servant of God hath been destroyed from the earth, by being overvalued and over- loved. I am persuaded, our discontents and murmurings are not so provoking to God, nor so destructive to the sin- ner, as our too sweet enjoying, and resting in, a pleasing state. If God bath crossed you in wife, children, goods, friends, either by taking then away, or the comfort of them, try whether this be not the cause; for wheresoever your desires stop, and you say, " Now I am well," that condition you make your god, and engage the jealousy of God against it. Whether you be friends to God, or ene- mies, you can never expect that God should suffer you quietly to enjoy your idols. 4. Should God suffer you to take up your rest here, it is one of the greatest curses that could befall you. It were better never to have a day of ease in the world; for then weariness might make you seek after true rest. But if you are suffered to sit down and rest here, a restless wretch you will be through all eternity. To " have their portion in this life," is the lot of the most miserable, perishing sin- ners. Doth it become Christians, then, to expect so much here ? Our rest is our heaven ; and where we take our rest, there we make our heaven. And wouldst thou have but such a heaven as this ?
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