entrance into it. By their misconduct they provoked the displeasure of the Almighty; who having sworn in his wrath that they should never enter into His Rest, condemned them to wander forty years in the wilderness, till all that generation should be dead.

From this aweful display of divine judgement, St. Paul took occasion to admonish the Hebrews, and to caution them against coming short of that far better and more valuable Rest which Christianity offered to them, and of which the Land of Promise and the Rest to have been enjoyed in it by their fathers, were but types and shadows: "Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into His Rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."

Christianity provides a Rest for its followers. Christ has said, "Come to Me, and I will give you Rest." This is the promise left to us in the Gospel, the promise of the New Testament. But like those, who were under the Old Testament, we may seem to come short of it. We may fail to enter into this Rest. Professing ourselves to have been brought out of a worse than Egyptian bondage, baptized unto Christ, as the Israelites were "unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea*, we may yet like them come short of the promised Rest, and may perish in sight and even on the borders

* 1 Cor. x. 2.

of our Canaan. Surely then we need the admonition in the text, and may well entertain for ourselves and for each other, the apprehensions therein expressed. It shall be the object of the present discourse to enforce this admonition. And may the Spirit of Christ bring it home to our hearts; and im. plant and increase in us that Holy Fear, by which the Lord preserves His people and keeps them faithful to Himself.

In discoursing on this subject, I shall endeavour to shew,

I. What is that Rest, which is promised in the Gospel, And,

II. What is the Reason, why any to whom the Gospel is preached come short of it.

I. The Rest promised in the Gospel is twofold; first, that glorious and everlasting Rest reserved for the people of God in Heaven; when all tears shall be wiped away from their faces for ever; when they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, and shall rest from all their labours: and secondly, the state of Rest on earth; that peace and serenity, that consolation and security, which the true Christian enjoys here, and to which the Prophet in these beautiful words refers; "And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.'

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But in fact these two Rests, though seemingly different, are virtually the same. one is but the beginning and foretaste of the other. The Christian's Rest on earth is but the earnest and anticipation, the commencement and the pledge, of that Rest, which remains for him in Heaven. In nature and essence, in source and principle, they are both the same. The one begins here, and the other succeeds hereafter. The one leads to the other nor will any person enter into the Heavenly Rest who does not on earth enter into that Rest, to which Christ now calls us by his Gospel. In speaking therefore of this earthly Rest, let me be understood as including also the Heavenly Rest, which belongs to it as its necessary consequence and final consummation.

But perhaps it may be said, that to represent the state of the Christian on earth as a state of Rest, is to give a very different view of it from that which the Scriptures generally exhibit. They describe it as a race, a strug gle, a warfare. They tell us, that we "must strive to enter in at the strait gate;" and that "through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of Heaven:" and surely these are expressions which convey ideas very opposite to those of Rest and Repose. But still, notwithstanding the truth of these remarks, the Christian's state on earth is in

itself a state of Rest, and compared with that of other people very decidely so. Call to mind the Legacy which Christ bequeathed to his people. "Peace I leave with you: my Peace I give unto you." Remember his words to his disciples, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but I have spoken these things. unto you, that in me ye might have peace.' And does not St. Paul speak of a "Peace of God which passeth all understanding *, "" and which keeps and rules in the hearts of the People of God?+ Surely these texts represent the state of true Christians in this world as a state of Rest. Nor is there any thing really contradictory in these seemingly opposite representations. It is not meant that Christians have any peculiar exemption from the troubles and tribulations, from the trials and temptations, to which other persons are subject. They neither possess nor plead any exemption of this kind. But they have an inward source of peace and consolation, which is peculiarly their own; and which, in the midst of every storm, abates its violence, and disarms its power. The conscious hope, that they belong to Jesus Christ, and are interested in every thing which He has done for sinners, and has promised to them: this hope, as the anchor of their soul, keeps them sure and sedfast, and baffles all the fury of the

* John, xiv, 27. - xvi. 33. + Philip, iv. 7.

winds and waves.

:

The tempest may rage around, and may threaten to overwhelm them but they rest in safety and security. Though outwardly tossed and agitated, they have inwardly no fear; for they know the strength and faithfulness of Him, in whom they trust; and are "persuaded that He is able to keep that which they have committed to Him." Thus "their minds are kept in perfect peace, because they are stayed on Him." "When they are in heaviness, they think upon God." They think upon His Love in having given Himself for them, and on His Grace, in having called them to the knowledge of the Truth. They think upon his past dealings with them, and on their future expectations from Him. They think on His Power and Faithfulness, on His Word, and Promises; and these thoughts allay their fears, and diffuse a tranquil serenity in their hearts. Are they at times discomposed by the suddenness or violence of temptation? The clouds soon pass away. Recovering from its short anxiety, the Soul "returns unto its Rest;" its own, its proper, its pecu liar Rest, the love of God in Christ; and with renewed complacency and devotion exclaims, "Whom have I in Heaven but Thee; and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee."

This is the Rest of which I speak, that