REST.

GENESIS ii. Thus the heavens and the carth were finished, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work that he had created and made.

EXODUS xvi. And Moses said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. So the people rested on the seventh day.

LUKE xxiii. And the women followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid, and they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.

Christ rested in the tomb of Joseph the last Sabbath under the law: but the evening and the morning were the first day. On that morning he closed his work of humiliation, manifested his victory over death the curse denounced, by rising from the tomb, and rested on the first day of the week from all his humiliation work; his death, burial, and rest in the grave on the seventh day, being the last part of that work.

"My God, thy service well demands

The remnant of my days; Why is this feeble life preserv'd, But to repeat thy praise?

"Thine arms of everlasting love

Do this weak frame sustain; While life is hov'ring o'er the grave, And nature sinks with pain.

"Thou, when the pains of death assail,
Wilt chase the fears of hell:
And teach my pale and quivering lips
Thy matchless grace to tell.

"Calmly, I'll lay my fainting head
On thy dear faithful breast;
Pleas'd to obey my Father's call,
To his eternal rest.

"Into thy hands, my Saviour God,
Do I my soul resign,

In firm dependence on that truth
That made salvation mine."

THE INWARD WARFARE.

"STRANGE and mysterious is my life! What opposites I feel within :

A stable peace, a constant strife,

The rule of grace, the power of sin.
Too often I am captive led,

Yet daily triumph in my Head.

"I prize the privilege of prayer;

But Oh! what backwardness to pray;

Tho' on the Lord I cast my care,
I feel its burden every day.

I seek his will in all I do,

Ye: find my own is working too.

"I call the promises my own,

And prize them more than mines of gold: Yet though their sweetness I have known, They leave me unimpress'd and cold, One hour upon the truth I feed,

The next, I know not what I read.

"I love the holy day of rest,

When Jesus meets his gather'd saints:
Sweet day of all the week the best,
For its return my spirit pants:
Yet often through my unbelief,
It proves a day of guilt and grief.

"While on my Saviour I rely,

I know my foes shall lose their aim: And therefore dare their power defy, Assur'd of conquest thro' his name. But soon my confidence is slain, And all my fears return again.

"Thus diff'rent powers within me strive, And death, and sin, by turns prevail :

I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,

And vict'ry hangs in doubtful scale:

But Jesus has his promise past,

That Grace shall overcome at last."

FLESH AND SPIRIT.

"WHAT diff'rent powers of Grace and sin
Attend our mortal state:

I hate the thoughts that work within:
Yet do the works I hate.

"Now I complain, and groan, and die,
While sin and Satan reign;

Now raise my songs of triumph high,
For Grace prevails again.

"So darkness struggles with the light

Till perfect day arise;

Water and fire maintain the fight

Until the weaker dies.

"Thus will the Flesh and Spirit strive,
And vex and break my peace;
But I shall quit this mortal life,
And sin for ever cease."

"JOIN all the names of love and pow'r
That ever men or angels hore;
All are too mean to speak his worth,
Or set Emmanuel's glory forth.

"But, Oh! what condescending ways
He takes to teach his heavenly Grace!
My eyes, with joy and wonder see,
What forms of love he bears for me.

"The Angel of the Covenant stands
With his commission in his hands;
Sent from his Father's milder throne,
To make his great salvation known.

"Great Prophet! let me bless thy name :
By thee the joyful tidings came :
Of wrath appeas'd and sins forgiv❜n,
Of hell subdu'd and peace with heav'n.

"My bright example, and my Guide,
I would be walking by thy side;
Oh! let me never run astray,
Nor follow the forbidden way.

"I love my Shepherd, he shall keep My wand'ring soul among his sheep; He feeds his flock, he tells their names, And in his bosom bears the lambs.

"My Surety undertakes my cause,
Answ'ring his Father's broken laws;
Behold my soul at freedom set;
My surety paid the dreadful debt.

"Jesus, my great High Priest, has died, I seek no sacrifice beside :

His blood did once for all atone,

And now it pleads before the throne.

"My Advocate appears on high;
The Father lays his thunder by:
Not all that earth or hell can say,
Shall turn my Father's heart away.

My Lord, my Conqu'ror, and my King,
Thy sceptre and thy sword I sing;
Thine is the vict'ry and I sit

A joyful subject at thy feet.

"Aspire, my soul, to glorious deeds:
The Captain of salvation leads;
March on, nor fear to win the day,
Tho' death and hell obstruct thy way.

"Tho' death and hell, and powers unknown Put all their forms of mischief on:

I shall be safe, for Christ displays
Salvation in more sov'reign ways."

"BE this my one great business here, With holy trembling, holy fear,

To make my calling sure; Thine utmost counsel to fulfil, And suffer all thy righteous will, And to the end endure.