future. Think not, trembling spirits, that the grace and friendship bestowed,—if truly bestowed,-on you as sincere believers will easily be lost. You will, in spite of faithful effort and habitual prayer, be in a measure sinners still. "In many things," says St. James, 66 we offend all." "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." But He who now washes you wholly in sign of the complete forgiveness which you enjoy through faith, will afterwards and every day, by the same pardoning mercy, "wash your feet." More than this, as the Lord Jesus said to St. Peter, you will not "need." But, needing this, you will obtain it from God's enduring and faithful love. Your daily sins, if daily striven against, and daily confessed, shall be daily forgiven. Having begun with "looking unto Jesus," you must continue it to the end, and die humbly with the sinner's cry upon your lips, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom!" "God be merciful. to me a sinner!" Justification is not an act of God relating only to the past: it embraces our whole existence, and will never cease till you reach the world where there will be no more sin to wash away. In the full faith of this "deliverance from the curse 99 you will find the strongest incentive to a holy and a loving lifetime to eternal ages, and the most effectual armour to "overcome the world."

THE LORD BLESS THEE, AND KEEP THEE!

THE LORD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON THEE, AND BE GRACIOUS UNTO THEE!

THE LORD LIFT UP THE LIGHT OF HIS COUNTENANCE THEE, AND GIVE THEE PEACE!

UPON

London.

"THERE REMAINETH A REST FOR THE PEOPLE

OF GOD."

BY THE REV. H. ANDERSON.

"He is gone to his rest!" Such is frequently the announcement of the decease of one who has passed through many toils and troubles in his earthly career. From these, at least, he is now free. The worldly cares that vexed him, the bodily pains that racked him, the foes that frowned on him, and the friends that failed or forsook him, are to him no more. He is gone to his rest from these. Then, the appearance of the lifeless frame often suggests the idea of perfect peace and abiding rest. The placid countenance, the unruffled brow, the closed eye, the soft smile, the air of repose, are oft taken by fond survivors as pledges of the rest of the far-fled spirit, which, dislodged from its clay tabernacle, lives after another fashion now. Then, "how still and peaceful is the grave!" How like a place of repose, beyond the reach of life's storms, where "the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.' But those whose hopes for eternity. are founded on little better than external signs, though these may soothe in a pensive hour, have no desire, on their own part, for the rest of the dead, or the repose of the tomb. "There remaineth another rest for the people of God."

vast

Few things have a more softening, soothing influence on the mind than the calm repose, the deep stillness of a fine Lord's day morning, where the day is observed unto the Lord. The quiet order of a pious and wellruled family throughout the Sabbath, the solemn silence of a congregation of worshippers in prayer, or in "waiting on the Word," convey ideas of rest to a contemplative mind. But it is only "we who believe," who do enter into the reality and fulness of the rest shadowed

forth in these cases. It is only when we feel assured that our departed "( sleep in Jesus," that we can look with chastened joy on their cold remains, or narrow house, and say, "How sweet their slumbers are! And the day of rest is delightful in all its fulness to him only who has obtained rest in Christ, and peace through the blood of his cross.

To both the Sabbatic and heavenly rest do the words refer, "There remaineth a rest for the people of God." David, in spirit, by pointing to a future day and another rest, implied the transitory nature of the Jewish Sabbath, the typical design of the earthly Canaan. Now,

"The seventh-day Sabbath is no more,
The earthly rest is gone."

But the people of God still rejoice in "the keeping of a Sabbath;" and, in observing with joy and gladness, "the Lord's day," they look forward with hope to another day, emphatically "the day of the Lord," when we who believe shall enter into God's unbroken and eternal rest.

There is a closer parallel between the engagements and delights of the Lord's day of rest below, and those of the "nobler rest above," than many are aware of. To show this we would make the attempt in a few observations. Vainly, indeed, to those who speak of the dreary monotony and lifeless gloom of a Sunday, which forme the veriest contrast to the heaven of their conceptions; but we hope, not in vain to those who have proved by experience that religion and its spiritual observances " never were designed to make our pleasures less." Often has the christian felt that his spiritual enjoyment of the Lord's day has quickened his desires for the day of the Lord, and furthered his meetness for it.

1. In looking forward to a season of anticipated enjoyment of a temporal kind, it is well to moderate our expectations; it is so easy to enlarge our hope beyond its realization, that to avoid the pain of disappointment, the wise will suppress the too eager desire of earthly good. But the experience of every devout christian tells him that it is not so with his Sabbath joys. There have been some of these days which he has enjoyed more than others, "as the days of heaven upon earth," and these, as he may remember, were exactly the days whose coming he anticipated with more than usual eagerness, to which he stretched forth his desires, looked for and longed for, as the hope of his heart amidst the troubles and cares of the week. Observation proves it, experience confirms it, christian biography records it, that just as the sacred day is kept in view, as The Pilgrim's Bower," "The Brook by the Way," "The Stream in the Desert,' "The Week's Hill-top," "The Healing Spring," The Pearl of Days,' ,"* is the day thoroughly enjoyed. Just as it is met on its approach with the satisfaction of a friend's arrival, is its friendship felt to be sweet. "Awake up, my glory; awake psaltery and harp; I myself will awake early."

"Welcome, sweet day of rest, that saw the Lord arise!"

So we are led to believe that the "rest that remaineth for the people of God," will be sweet in proportion to the eagerness of the pilgrim's expecta tions of it, and his consequent desire to reach it. Despising the pleasant land has kept many out of it; a too ready belief of the "evil report” of unbelieving men has raised a bar to the entrance of the fearful and the faithless; so in proportion as christians make light of the everlasting Sabbath of the soul, do they unfit themselves for the enjoyment of it.

2. The Lord's day is a delight to the Lord's people, as their anticipation of its rest leads them to prepare for it. It realizes their expectations as they hold themselves in readiness to meet it. They wait not till they are

* Titles given by Working Men to their Prize Essays on the Lord's Day.

already on its threshold, ere they begin to set their house and heart in order for its services, if these services are to be at once pleasant and profit. able to their souls. The preacher, if wise, prepares, and gives good heed, and seeks out, and sets in order acceptable words for the service of the sanctuary, and so enjoys his Sabbath; and why should not the hearer prepare to hear, that he may enjoy it too? He who does not, knows yet little of the pleasure of "hearing by the Word of God." It requires not time taken from duty, but a little from sloth and folly. It requires no exertion but what might be saved from far inferior uses. Who knows not that he who most abounds and delights in prayer, secret, social, and domestic, most enjoys the rest of the Sabbath? He who desires that on the sacred morn "his heart in tune be found, like David's harp," will endeavour to set it in tune on the evening before, for "that is the preparation, and the Sabbath draws on."

And the rest above too is prepared, set apart, and hallowed aforetime for the enjoyment of those who have been "made meet" for it. It is rest from labour, labour in preparing "to enter into that rest." It is repose from conflict, the appropriate reward of him that overcometh; the abundant entrance corresponding to the labourer's abounding in the work of the Lord. Happy he, who as his Sabbath of heavenly rest draws on, is found "ready," and prepared to welcome "its glorious morning dawn!"

3. As the very bane of our Sabbath joys is the intrusion of worldly thoughts and earthly cares, to obtain a measure of freedom from this annoyance must be the aim of every one who would call that day a delight. And the aim is not too high or hard, if we take it with faith, and prayer, and watchful diligence. "Who is this that engaged his heart to draw near unto me?" saith the Lord. Such an one will attain a happy degree of freedom from the annoyance of those "vain thoughts" which "lodge within" the minds of the careless and inconsiderate. Let us put away in due season those objects and engagements of a secular kind, abstain from that kind of reading or conversation so likely to suggest the thoughts we wish to shun, or raise the fancies which, flitting across the imagination, disturb the communion we seek to enjoy.

How delightful the anticipation of the better Rest, where wicked thoughts as well as wicked men shall for ever cease from troubling! Where none of those roots of bitterness spring up which oft defile our "religious hours." Distressed to find the access and entertainment which his foolish heart has so untimely given to earthly cares, the child of God should anticipate another rest than this which can be so broken, and where the struggle to forget what should be forgotten, keeps pace with the endeavour to recall what ought to be remembered.

4. We rest from our own works on the Lord's day, and forget our week-day cares, "that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Our rest is good in proportion as instruction has made it profitable. The activity of the mind in adding to "virtue, knowledge," during this interval of toil, will not impair but improve our rest; nor will it fatigue the frame to open the ears, the understanding, and the heart to the discoveries of divine truth. It is at once satisfactory to the conscience, and refreshing to the spirit, when on this day we have got a lift on our journey to heaven, and when the Sabbath has been, not only a "Milestone to Eternity," but "a day's march nearer home." And is not the "rest that remaineth," perfectly consistent with the joyous activity of the mind in the acquisition of knowledge? The happiness of the heavenly state is

The title of another of the Working Men's Essays.

represented as consisting in seeing God. But that seeing is simply the entrance of truth into the mind, continuously transforming it into the same likeness from glory to glory. And this continuous acquisition of truth, imparting satisfaction without satiety, will form no inconsiderable part of the spirit's deep repose in the "rest that remaineth for the people of God." Oh, let us labour to enter into that rest!

5. Many will allow that their enjoyment of the day of rest has greatly depended on the spirituality and earnestness of their devotions,-when in spirit they have approached the Father of Spirits, and lifted up their hearts to Him in devout thanksgiving for his unspeakable gift,—when they sing with the spirit and the understanding also the praises of Him "who has called them out of darkness into marvellous light," when in lofty songs they anticipate the scenes before the throne, and the ten thousand thousand tongues of those whose joys are one, then a day in God's courts is better than a thousand, and the thankful spirit has enjoyed a sweet foretaste of the "rest that remaineth." For that rest is one of everlasting wonder, love, and praise. As the theme of heaven's song is ever new, its music never cloys, never fatigues. It is there we read of those who "rest not, day or night,” from their loved employ, yet must ever rest in it. Their work is without labour. Their duty is delight, and without effort. Eagle's wings are theirs,-they run without wearying, and walk without fainting.

There is not only a close resemblance in our Sabbath joys to those of the better Rest, but as they flow from the same source, the influence they exercise on the christian must be the same. "He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." The anticipation of a pleasant and profitable Sabbath has a sanctifying influence on the mind proportioned to its spirituality and intensity; and the frequent recurrence of these "days of heaven upon earth," only inflame the desires for the perfect purity and peace of the Sabbath, which will realize the brightest visions of the weary pilgrim's faith and hope below. Let us then cultivate those fruits of the Spirit, which taste so sweet even here, and thus, neither barren or unfruitful, we shall have an abundant entrance, through infinite mercy, into the "Rest that remaineth for the people of God."

Bratton.

GOD'S PREROGATIVE—MAN'S MERCY.

BY THE REV. JAMES SMITH.

"The preparation of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.” -Prov. xvi. 1.

Man in his fallen state is naturally poor and proud. So poor that he has literally no one good thing, and yet so proud that he will not accept God's invitation to receive. To meet his poverty the gospel presents "the unsearchable riches of Christ;" and to cure his pride, he is made to feel that he cannot of himself think one good thought. The gracious provision of the gospel meets our poverty, and the testimony borne in God's word is to cut up the root of our pride. The passage we are now to consider, ascribes not only every good that proceeds from the heart to God, but the preparation and disposition of the heart to do good; and not only so, but every correct answer of the tongue too. Let us,

First, consider THE FACTS IMPLIED. In order to desire good, to seek good, or to do good, God must act upon us. Left to ourselves, we shall never choose the good, desire the good, seek the good, obtain the

good, or do the good. Poor human nature, how depraved thou art! Wicked human nature, how perverse thou art! But to particularise,

we

1st. Man's heart must be prepared, or he will never submit to a sovereign God. There are some views of God to which the natural man has no particular objection, but he hates the idea of God's sovereignty. What, is God to do as he will with his own? Is man to be required absolutely and unconditionally to submit to God? Fallen nature cannot brook this. Yet there is no salvation without it. If God shows mercy, the cause is in himself; he says, "I will have mercy, because I will have mercy; and I will have compassion, because I will have compassion." If God shows mercy, he will show mercy to whom he pleases; "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." God requires the sinner to submit to him, receive mercy from him, and be saved as an act of favour, without any work or any merit; against this human nature rises, and would rather brave the consequences of resting upon its own poor performances. If, therefore, any one casts himself at the Lord's feet, seeking mercy and pleading for pardon, simply on the Lord's terms, heartily willing to accept it as an exercise of Divine sovereignty, God has prepared the heart. He will not receive a Divine Saviour. If in danger from debt, he will gladly accept of the payment of that debt by another; or, if in danger from fire, he will gladly avail himself of the fire-escape; or, if drowning, he will grasp the hand of a friend to help him out of his perilous situation. But when God presents us with his own Son, to save us from sin, Satan, death, and hell, we turn from him, and refuse to come to him, that ". might have life." If any man is willing to be saved by Christ alone, without anything of his own, relying on the blood of Christ alone for pardon, on the righteousness of Christ alone for justification, and on the Spirit of Christ alone for justification, it is an indisputable proof that God has prepared his heart; for unsanctified human nature would rather perish than be saved by Christ alone. He will not profess a despised religion. How many who profess to look to Jesus only for life and peace, try to avoid this! They would like to go to heaven by some private road, unnoticed and unobserved. What silly questions they sometimes ask: "Is it essential to salvation? Can't I go to heaven without this ?" One is ready to say, "You ought to be ashamed to go to heaven without it if you could." What, if Jesus shed his blood to save you, if he makes over all his merit to you,-if he lavish his unsearchable riches upon you, is it too much to acknowledge your obligation, to profess your attachment, to copy his example, or to avow yourself on the Lord's side? But if any one is willing to profess Christ in his own ordinances, and to follow him through evil and through good report, it is pretty clear that the Lord has prepared the heart. He will not perform self-denying duties. There are some duties that are not irksome to flesh and blood, but others are like to the cutting off the right hand, or plucking out the right eye. The former may be attended to, and are by many, but the latter are passed by and neglected. If any man will take up the cross, mortify the members, crucify the flesh, put off the old man, cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and endeavour to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, the heart has been prepared by God. He will not bear peculiar trials with patience. The true christian must expect to suffer for Christ. He must meet with more and greater trials than others, and he is required to meet them with fortitude, bear them with patience, and glorify God in them. This nature never will do. He, therefore, who receives his trials as from God, endures them with a view to the glory of God, and prefers them to anything else, as they are sent him by God, has undergone a special preparation of the heart. He will