rest.

for the weekly sabbath is only a type of the eternal Nor does it allude to, or intend, the rest which was promised to the Israelites in the land of Canaan, after their difficult and tiresome journey through the wilderness. This they inherited, and this was another type of the heavenly rest. Nor is it intended to be the rest of sleep, when all the faculties and powers both of body and mind are dormant. No, far otherwise. Nor is it the rest of brutes, the ceasing to be; because in death their existence is extinct. Nor can

we suppose it to be a sensual rest, such as is necessary to the drunkard and the lewd, before they can again indulge in their respective debasing pursuits; but "the heavenly rest" is a peculiar rest-it cannot be enjoyed on earth, on account of sin.

When the mind is once renewed, sin is the plague, the heartsore, that cankers every enjoyment, however it might have been indulged and delighted in before. Now the convert sees it in its most foul forms, sees its ugly features haunting his very thoughts, mixed with his best duties and his most pleasant privileges, so that there is no rest on earth on account of sin"without are fightings, within fears." Nor can this rest be enjoyed on earth, on account of the soul's close and intimate connexion with the flesh. How frequently has the believer cause to groan in the spirit, and to long for that happy day when the Saviour "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body;" for by reason of pain, and sickness, and infirmity, it proves to be a wearisome companion, a heavy clog to the immortal principle within; so that there is no rest on earth on account of the frailties and infirmities of the flesh. And, indeed, the things that most delight us on earth are not worthy to be compared with the rest that re

maineth for the people of God. Our transient joys often prove the occasions of sorrow. If the casements of the soul appear but for a moment lighted up with pleasure, the succeeding moment not infrequently brings an overshadowing cloud that obscures the ephemeral happiness, and thus it sinks again into the night of earth. Believers are described as strangers and pilgrims on earth; and those who feel themselves to be such cannot rest in a state of pilgrimage in a strange country. No, they must be pressing forward towards the mark for the prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus. A sense of absence from their Father's house is alone sufficient to prevent their finding rest while journeying homewards—" knowing that while at home in the body they are absent from the Lord." All this confirms the assurance that there remaineth a rest for the people of God;" for "if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."

In the margin of our bibles we read, "there remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath," that is, the rest that is prepared for believers in heaven is a similar Sabbath to that which is appointed to be kept on earth, but without its drawbacks. The earthly Sabbath is not in continuance, it is but for a season, and then our necessities call us again to labour; but the heavenly Sabbath, or rest, will be without cessation, it will be an eternal Sabbath to our souls, not a rest of sloth, for the glorious inhabitants of that world “rest not day and night, saying Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!" They probably have their courses in companies, one retiring as another advances to perform the services of the heavenly temple; so that the high praises of Jehovah never cease; they continually praise God, and this is a Sabbath of delight to all holy

beings. As eternity rolls on, new discoveries of his glories are revealed to them, and this is a cause for perpetual praise. How multitudinous are his wondrous works! We have only to look upwards, and glance at the starry heavens, and we behold thousands and ten thousands of worlds innumerable; and doubtless the inhabitants of those worlds all exist for his praise and glory. What mind can conceive of the things that shall be revealed to saints in glory, relating to the manifold works of God? "All thy works praise thee, O God, and thy saints bless thee." The wonders of his love and beneficence to beings of other spheres will no doubt be gradually unfolded to the ransomed of the Lord, and the knowledge thereof will cause them to strike afresh their golden harps of praise. But we may advance a step higher in the source of joy; the eternal love of God will be ever beaming upon them with new delights, and this will be a constant spring of happiness, and will ever teach them new songs of rejoicing. They will have the enjoyment of the presence of God and Christ; and what degrees of rapture this will occasion no heart can conceive. We know something of the enjoyment of God's presence occasionally in seasons of retirement, when our hearts are lifted up to him, and drawn out after him in secret prayer; but these are seasons with which we are not frequently favoured, because of our coldness, and deadness, and insensibility to spiritual aspirations. However, such occasional foretastes are encouraging, are enlivening, and lead us to desire more of the heavenly pleasures of his presence, lead us to long for that period when mortality shall be swallowed up of life, when we shall enter upon the full enjoyment of his love, without alloy, without hindrance, without satiety, without end; it will be the full enjoyment of God to all eternity,-not subject to our

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old frames and feelings, not damped by our coldness and deadness, as it now is; for then we shall be like the angels who are in heaven-pure, and holy, and spiritual. Our joys there will not be subject to the hindrances with which we now meet in the pursuit of them; here, it requires, to work the soul up to any degree of ardour, much abstraction of thought from sensible things, much perseverance in watchfulness, to prevent the inroads of sin, much elevation of mind above the trifles and the toys of time, that continually hamper, and hang like a dead weight upon our thoughts: these things, and many more, make it a labour and an effort to rise in any measure of elevated love towards God, and enjoyment in anticipation of the glories of his presence. But there, saints will be more in their element, they will live in an atmosphere of love; everything that will surround them, every being with whom they will be associated, all will aid in exalting that holy principle of love that then will be rooted, and grounded, and settled in their hearts: then they will be able to comprehend with all glorified saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that they may be filled with all the fulness of God. There they will experience the entire absence of everything that is opposed to rest; this body, that now requires so much attention and care, that so frequently proves a drag upon the soul on account of weariness, and lassitude, and sickness, will then be raised a glorious body, a spiritual body, and will prove a fit helper to the soul in every act of praise and worship. There will be a rest from all care and anxiety respecting this body, and the wants and requirements of our families, which now so frequently press upon the believer's mind, for "they shall hunger no more,

neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them;" these, though metaphorical expressions, are intended to convey the certainty that heaven is free from wants and cares. The state on earth of very many Christians is a state of deprivations; if they do not want the necessaries of life, yet in many instances they have not the comforts of life; and these things, when withheld, are not for us to repine at, but to lead us to seek all our springs in him, for in many instances we are assured that those who are full, and abound, walk at a distance from God. "God is not in all their thoughts," and this every Christian must know is by no means a desirable state. The present is a season of affliction, sickness, and pain, but we may contrast therewith the rest that remaineth; instead of pain, we shall experience ease; instead of sickness, we shall have the enjoyment of undisturbed health; instead of affliction and sorrow, tranquillity and joy will abound; for "there the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell there shall be forgiven their iniquity," implying that sickness and calamities are the consequents of sin, and that there the inhabitants, being cleansed from all the effects of the fall, shall, among other blessings, not know what pain and sickness are; for the trials of this life shall no more press upon redeemed souls. "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Tribulation in the world, glory in heaven.

"Weeping may endure for a night." The present life is compared to a night, a short night of sorrow, "but joy cometh in the morning." Here, then, it is weeping, but there "God shall wipe away all tears from their