OCTOBER 28." It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels."-2 Thess. i. 6, 7.

THERE is no difficulty in conceiving that "it is a righteous thing" with God to recompense tribulation to those who are troubled. It was their desert; and righteousness consists in rendering to all their due -But how does this apply to those who were troubled ? Surely when they have done all that is commanded them they are unprofitable servants, and their defective obedience deserves condemnation rather than reward. We should not wonder therefore if the Apostle had said that it was a gracious thing with God to recompense them. But it is also an act of righteousness. Though it would be injustice to make a man suffer beyond his desert, it is not unjust to reward him beyond his desert. A man is not at liberty to punish sovereignly, but in his favours he is free, and he may do what he will with his own. God is infinitely good: in the covenant of grace he has provided for the acceptance of his people; and they are accepted in the Beloved; and God has bound himself not only to pardon, but even to honour and recompense their services and sufferings. Hence says our Saviour, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake: rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." And hence says Paul to the Hebrews, "God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." It cannot be supposed that a cup of cold water, given to a disciple in the name of a disciple, could merit eternal life: yet, if the Lord has promised that it shall not lose its reward, it would be an unrighteous thing in him not to reward it.

But what was the blessedness to be recompensed to these Thessalonians? "Rest." This is a representation of the heavenly state frequently given us in the Scriptures. It is sometimes spoken of in allusion to the rest of the Sabbath. Thus the Apostle says, "There remaineth a rest for the people of God:" the word is, as the margin apprizes you, a keeping of Sabbath. To those who now call the Sabbath a delight, and look forward to it with eager desire amidst the toils and cares of the week, the notion is very attractive. Byand-by the Saturday evening of life will come, and they will wipe their hands of every thing earthly, and fall asleep in Jesus, and open their eyes on a sabbath whose hallowed pleasures will know no end. At other times it seems to be spoken of under this name in reference to the destiny of the Jews. Canaan was called "the rest" which the Lord their God gave them, and where, after the bondage of Egypt, and their tedious journeyings in the wilderness, they were to enjoy a settlement abounding with every accommodation and delight. But this was only a shadow of good things to come, a type of a better, even a heavenly country, into which death gives the true Israelites an abundant entrance. Hence the word reminds us of their freedom from every thing annoying and vexatious here. They will rest from their labours; rest from their cares; rest from their troubles; rest from temptation; rest from sin; and

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rest from sinners-"There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest."

But observe how they were to enjoy it-you shall have this rest, says the Apostle, "with us"-with us, "Paul, and Sylvanus, and Timotheus," who now address you, and wish you grace and peace. Does he mention this with reluctance? No, but with delight. It rejoiced him to think that the poorest in the church of Thessalonica would be fellow-possessors with themselves, residing in the same state, enjoying the same portion. He shows the same noble disposition in another place; "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

Paul would intimate that the blessedness of the righteous will be social. This falls in with all the principles of our nature. We are formed for intercourse; and it is not good for man to be alone. Much of our pleasure is now derived from our connexions. It will also be admitted that many of our pains are derived from the same This however does not arise from society itself, but a particular state of it. It is easy to conceive what happiness association could yield us, if certain things were removed from our associates and from ourselves. Hereafter every moral defect, together with every cause of sorrow and alarm, will be done away; and each will be capable of giving and receiving unalloyed gratification.

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It is pleasing to think that we shall enjoy this rest with the most endeared and the most dignified society. Grace here teaches our hearts to love all that love the Lord; but there are those who are peculiarly united to us by the ties of nature and friendship, and who are to us as our own souls. Who knows not the anguish of parting with such as these! And how intolerable would be the thought of losing them for ever! But the Scripture forbids the despair. We shall see and hear them again; we shall commune with them again; the intercourse will be renewed to infinite advantage, and be perpetuated for ever. We are commanded to comfort one another with such words-So fully does Revelation countenance our mutual recognitions in the heavenly world. But we shall also sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God. We shall intermix with patriarchs, prophets, apostles-you shall rest with us, says Paul-and they were the most eminent of men, men secondary in dignity to the Son of God himself, men who wielded miraculous powers, and foretold things to the end of time. There are persons pre-eminently distinguished from others, and of whom We look at the inanimate we entertain the most exalted respect. image of them in a picture. We read their lives with veneration; and when we reflect on their works we are ready to exclaim, how happy should we have been to have known them! Yet were they living and we could have access to them, we should dread as well as desire intercourse with them: we should shrink into nothing before them, at a sense of our inferiority, and feel embarrassed by delight. But nothing of this feeling will be known hereafter. Whatever distinctions may prevail, the freedom of our enjoyment will be unimpaired by them. Even angels, those glorious beings, will not confound us. The rustic will be easy at the sight and the

notice of Gabriel. Yet the greatest essential would be wanting still if we did not enjoy this rest with the Saviour himself-But we shall be for ever with the Lord.

We are therefore finally informed of the period of this blessedness -"When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." Not that there is no intermediate state; for as soon as absent from the body, they are present with the Lord. But till then they are not complete in number, in person, in estate. But then the body will be raised and ennobled; then all the redeemed and sanctified will be gathered together unto him; then all his designs on their behalf will be accomplished; then "he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe."

OCTOBER 29.--" For God blessed him."-1 Chron. xxvi. 5.

WHEN Balak sent to hire Balaam, he flattered him by saying, "I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed." The compliment betrays profaneness, ignorance, and falsehood. But the language will justly apply to God. His voice is almighty-His words are realities-His benediction is efficiency-He whom God blesseth is blessed; and none can reverse it. Of this blessing we here read. The subject of it was Obed-edom. The occasion is marked in an earlier portion of the sacred history. It was his entertainment of the ark when David, displeased and terrified by the death of Uzzah, refused to go on with the removal of it to Jerusalem, and carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, where it remained three months.

But what was the nature of this blessing? Good men judge by a rule of their own: they walk by faith, and not by sight. They value no blessings like spiritual blessings, because these are for the soul and eternity. They therefore pray, Remember me, O Lord, with the favour thou bearest unto thy people; O visit me with thy salvation." And this we have reason to believe was the desire and the experience of Obed-edom. But what is here spoken of intends rather a temporal blessing, suited to the dispensation under which he lived, and which abounded much with the promise of the life that now is. Personally considered, he had health and strength, firm nerves, and fine spirits. His undertakings flourished. His possessions were preserved, increased, enjoyed. His domestic comforts were sweetened and relished. His wife was a fruitful vine by the sides of his house. His children like olive plants round about his table. Both before and after the text, mention is made of the number, the ability, and eminence of his sons. It is also said, "the 'Lord blessed his household-and all that pertained to him, because of the ark of God."

Let us distinguish between the circumstances and the essence of this blessing. We may then ask, Is the case of this good man a singular one? Has not our Saviour said, "There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." Have the generous ever repented of their liberality, even on a secular ground? Have the most public-spirited Christians been the least successful VOL II.

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even in their worldly affairs? But a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich even with competency; and he addeth no sorrow with it. How much more desirable is it to inherit his blessing ourselves, and to leave it to our offspring, than to possess, and to bequeath thousands of gold and silver without it!

ແ Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” So said God to the selfish and saving Jews. We say the same to you. Put his word to the trial, wherein he has said, "The liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand." "He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully." Herein we may see how little faith there is in the earth. They shall prosper that love Zion. A regard therefore to their own welfare should make men liberal; and if they believed the word of God, there would be forthcoming contributions enough for every private charity and all public institu tions. But we are afraid to make God our banker; and cannot rely upon his promise and providence.

Yet while we are reproved, let us also be encouraged, and stand ready to every good work. There are two cases in which we may peculiarly resemble Obed-edom in conduct and condition. The one is when we open our doors, and receive, in a way of Christian hospitality, the Lord's followers or ministers. "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." The other is when, to use the words of Scripture, we have a Church in our house. This was the case with Priscilla and Aquila. It was a common thing in the beginning of the Gospel, before places were expressly built for religious assemblies. Nor is the practice unknown in many of our villages now. When the preacher has first gone to publish the Gospel, he has been often indebted to some poor rustic who has lent his cottage to the Lord, He has sometimes drawn upon himself reproach and persecution; but the Lord has blessed him. And when also you establish the worship of God in your family, kneeling before his living oracles, and offering the sacrifices of prayer and of praise, never imagine the time employed in these exercises lost. You cannot serve God for nought, while the promise and the threatening remain: "Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just."

OCTOBER 30.-" And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness."--2 Sam. vi. 12.

Two things may be usefully remarked here. The first is, the fame of the blessing. It was soon known and noticed. The report of it spread in all directions, and even reached the throne-" and it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark." The manifestation of the sons of God is principally future. They will hereafter shine forth from every cloud that conceals them, as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The wisdom of their choice, and the advantages resulting from it, will then so convincingly appear, that those who vilify them now will be constrained to say, "we fools counted their life madness and their end to be without honour. How are they numbered with the children of God, and their lot is among the saints." But the Lord does not leave his people entirely undistinguished even now. He begins to honour them here. He sets a mark upon their foreheads, that the executioners may pass them by in the day of evil. He sometimes puts such a difference between them and others, that men, profane and infidel men, say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. Even Balaam exclaimed, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. How easily, even in this life can he bring their enemies to their feet, and make them know that he has loved them! And has he not said, "Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed ?"

Let us from hence learn our duty. While we are in the world we should pray, with David; Lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies; or, as it is in the margin, observers. Many eyes are upon us; and though they cannot judge of our experience, they can estimate our conduct. They will be sure to compare it with our profession; and their disposition will not suffer them to make those allowances which candour and truth require. They will magnify infirmities into crimes, and impute the miscarriages of a few to the whole body. Let us then walk in the fear of the Lord because of the reproach of the heathen. Let us put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: yea, let us constrain them by our good works, which they behold, to glorify God in the day of visitation. Let them see that our religion is not a mere notion, but that there is a reality, an excellency, an efficiency in it that recommends it to every reflecting mind. Let them see the advantages we have derived from it, in the government of our tempers, in our readiness to forgive, in our humility when we prosper, in our patience when we suffer, in the confidence and calmness of our minds with regard to every future event. Let them see that we have found, what others are seeking after in vain, contentment and happiness. And thus shall we adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, and be ever saying to those around us, Come with us, and we will do you good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel."