"Confolation, which you fay God referveth for "fuffering Times, I fhould fuffer more contentedly; "but I do not perceive any fuch Thing." The more you fuffer for Righteousness-Sake, the more of this Bleffing you may expect; and the more you fuffer for your own evil Doing, the longer it will be before that Sweetness comes. Are not the Comforts you defire, neglected or refifted? Have your Afflictions wrought kindly with you, and fitted you for Comfort? It is not mere Suffering that prepares you for Comfort, but the Success and Fruit of Sufferings upon your Hearts.

§ 10. (II) To fhew the Unreasonableness of refting in prefent Enjoyments, confider,it is idolizing them;

it contradicts God's End in giving them;it is the Way to have them refused, withdrawn, or imbittered; -to be fuffered to take up our Reft here, is the greatest Curfeit is feeking Reft where it is not to be found; -the Creatures, without God, would aggravate our Mifery; and to confirm all this, we may confult our own and others Experience..

§ 11. (1) It is grofs Idolatry to make any Creature, or Means, our Reft. To be the Reft of the Soul, is God's own Prerogative. As it is apparent Idolatry to place our Reft in Riches, or Honours; fo it is but a more refined Idolatry to take up our Reft in excellent Means of Grace. How ill muft our dear Lord take it, when we give him Caufe. to complain, as he did of our Fellow Idolaters, My People have been loft Sheep, they have forgotten their refting Place (d)? And to fay, "My People can find Reft in any Thing, ra"ther than in me. They can delight in one another, but not in me. They can rejoice in my Creatures "and Ordinances, but not in me. Yea, in their very Labours and Duties they feek for Reft, but

K 3

(d) Jer, l. 6.

❝ not

"not in me. They had rather be any where, than "be with me. Are these their Gods? Have thefe "redeemed them? Will these be better to them, "than I have been, or than I would be?" If yourfelves have a Wife, a Husband, a Son, that had rather be any where than in your Company, and be never fo merry as when furtheft from you, would you not take it ill? So muft our God

needs do.

§12. (2) You contradict the End of God in giving thefe Enjoyments. He gave them to help thee to him, and doft thou take up with them in his ftead? He gave them to be Refreshments in thy Journey, and wouldst thou dwell in thy Inn, and go no further? It may be faid of all our Comforts and Ordinances, as it is faid of the Ifraelites, The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them, to fearch out a refting Place for them (e). So do all God's Mercies here. They are not that Reft; as John profeffed he was not the Chrift; but they are Voices crying in this Wilderness, to bid us prepare, for the Kingdom of God, our true Reft, is at Hand. Therefore to reft here, were to turn all Mercies contrary to their own Ends, and to our own Advantages, and to deftroy ourselves with that which should help us.

§13. (3) It is the Way to caufe God, either to deny the Mercies we ask, or take from us those we enjoy, or at leaft imbitter them to us. God is no where fo jealous as here. If you had a Servant, whom your Wife loved better than yourself, would you not take it ill of fuch a Wife, and rid your House of fuch a Servant? So, if the Lord fee you begin to fettle in the World, and fay, "Here I will reft;" no Wonder if He foon in his Jealoufy unfettle you. If He love you, no Wonder if he take that from you, with which He

(e) Numb. x. 33

fecs

fees you are deftroying yourfelves. It hath been my long Obfervation of many, that when they have attempted great Works, and have juft 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; they are then usually near to Death or Ruin. When a Man is once at this Language, Soul, take thy Eafe;. the next News ufually is, Thou Fool, this Night, or this Month, or this Year, thy Soul fhall be required, and then whofe fhall thefe Things be? What Houfe is there, where this Fool dwelleth not? Let you and I confider, whether it be not our own Cafe. Many a Servant of God hath been deftroyed from the Earth, by being over-valued, and over-loved. I am perfuaded, our Difcontents and Murmurings are not fo provoking to God, nor fo deftructive to the Sinner, as our too fweet enjoying, and refting in, a pleafing State. If God hath crofled you in Wife, Children, Goods, Friends, either by taking them away, or the Comfort of them; try whether this be not the Cause: For wherefoever your Defires ftop, and you fay, "Now I am well;" that Condition you make your God, and engage the Jealoufy of God against it. Whether you be Friends to God or Enemies, you can never expect that God fhould fuffer you quietly to enjoy your idol.

$14. (4) Should God fuffer you to take up your Reft here, it is one of the greatest Cuifes that could befal you. It were better never to have a Day of Eafe in the World; for then Wearinefs might make you feek after the true Reft. But if you are fuffered to fit down and rest here, a refllefs Wretch you will be thro' all Eternity. To have their Portion in this Life, is the Lot of the moft miferable perifhing Sinneys.

K 4

Doth

Doth it become Chriftians then to expect fo much here? Our Reft is our Heaven; and where we take our Reft, there we make our Heaven. And wouldst thou have but fuch a Heaven as this?

$ 15. (5) It is fecking Reft where it is not to be found. Your Labour will be loft, and, if you proceed, your Soul's eternal Reft too. Our Reft is

only in the full obtaining of our ultimate End. But that is not to be expected in this Life; neither is Rest therefore to be expected here. Is God to be enjoyed in the beft Church here, as he is in Heaven? How little of God the Saints enjoy under the best Means, let their own Complainings teftify. Poor Comforters are the best Ordinances, without God. Should a Traveller take up his Reft in the Way? No, because his Home is his Journey's End. When you have all that Creatures and Means can afford, have you that you believed, prayed, fuffered for? I think you dare not fay fo. We are like little Children ftrayed from Home, and God is now fetching us Home, and we are ready to turn into any House, ftay and play with every Thing in our Way, and fit down on every green Bank, and much ado there is to get us Home.We are alfo in the Midst of our Labours and Dangers; and is there any refting here? What painful Work doth lie upon our Hands? Look to our Brethren, to our Souls, and to God; and what a deal of Work, in refpect of each of thefe, doth lie before us? And can we reft in the Midft of all our Labours? Indeed we may reft on Earth, as the Ark is faid to have refted in the Midft of Jordan; a fhort and fmall Reft. Or as Abraham defired the Angels to turn in, and reft themselves in his Tent, where they would have been loth to have taken up their Dwelling. Should Ifrael have fixed their Reft in the Wilderness, among Serpents, and Enemies, and

Weari

201 Wearinefs, and Famine? Should Noah have made the Ark his Home, and have been loth to come forth when the Waters were affuaged? Should the Mariner chuse his Dwelling on the Sea, and fettle his Reft in the Midft of Rocks, and Sands, and raging Tempefts? Should a Soldier reft in the thickest of his Enemies? And are not Chriftians fuch Travellers, fuch Mariners, fuch Soldiers? Have you not Fears within, and Troubles without? Are we not in continual Dangers? We cannot eat, drink, fleep, labour, pray, hear, converse, but in the Midft of Snares; and fhall we fit down and reft here? O Chriftian, follow thy Work, look to thy Dangers, hold on to the End, win the Field, and come off the Ground, before thou think of a fettled Reft. Whenever thou talkest of Reft on Earth, it is like Peter on the Mount, thou knoweft not what thou fayeft. If, inftead of telling the converted Thief, this Day fhalt thou be with me in Paradife, Chrift had faid, he should reft there on the Crofs; would he not have took it for a Derifion? Methinks it should be ill refting in the Midft of Sicknefs and Pains, Perfecutions and Diftreffes. But if nothing else will convince us, yet fure the Remainders of Sin, which do fo eafily befet us, fhould quickly fatisfy a Believer, that here is not his Reft. I fay therefore to every one that thinketh of Rest on Earth, Arife ye, and depart, for this is not your Reft, because it is polluted (f).Thefe Things cannot in their • Nature be a true Chriftian's Reft. They are too poor, to make us rich; too low, to raife us to Happiness; too empty, to fill our Souls; and of too fhort Continuance to be our eternal Content. If Profperity, or whatfoever we here defire, be too bafe to make Gods of, they are too bafe to be our Reft.The Soul's Reft must be fufficient to afford it perpetual Satisfaction.

K 5

(f) Micah ii. 10.