_AT EASE IN ZION_
"_Woe to them that are at ease in Zion!_"
--AMOS vi. 1-7.
I would be delivered from the folly of confusing ease and rest. There is
an infinite difference between comforts and comfort. It is one thing to
lie down on a luxurious couch: it is a very different thing to "lie down
in green pastures" under the gracious shepherdliness of the Lord. The ease
which men covet is so often a fruit of stupefaction, the dull product of
sinful drugs, the wretched sluggishness of carnal gratification and
excess. The rest which God giveth is alive and wakeful, abounding in
tireless and fruitful service. "Oh, rest in the Lord."
But is it not a strange thing that men can be "at ease in Zion"? That they
can play the beast in the holy place? Zion was full of holy memory, and
abounded with suggestions of the Divine Presence. And yet here they could
carouse, and lose themselves in swinish indulgence! A little while ago I
saw a beautiful old church which had been turned into a common
eating-house!
My soul, be on thy guard. Be watchful and diligent, and busy thyself in
the practice of "self-knowledge, self-reverence, self-control."