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did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God.”*

2. In conclusion-Let christians study to enter into the spirit of this rich and beautiful passage, and endeavour to make that use of Christ as the rock of their salvation, which the text imports they ought to make of him. If such, my friends, are indeed the privileges to which you have an unquestionable claim; oh seek to realize them, to enter into their full spirit and import, and actually to enjoy them more and more. Learn to live above the world, to rise superior to its lying vanities, and all its earth-born cares. Live for heaven and eternity. Seek the things which are above; and thus, mount upwards daily, as on wings of eagles, in holy aspirations after God, in the lively exercise of faith and love, and in ardent longings after grace and holiness. Finally, let true believers in Jesus rejoice. Let the inhabitants of this rock sing; whilst enabled to trust in God's mercy through Christ; whilst permitted

* 2 Cor. v. 20.

to experience his smiles, to replenish their vessels daily out of the riches of his grace, and to look forwards with a hope full of immortality;-"Let the inhabitants of the rock sing, and shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands."*

* Isaiah xlii. 11, 12.

SERMON VIII.

ON COMING SHORT OF THE HEAVENLY

REST.

HEBREWS IV. 1.

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.

"

THE word of God is the storehouse of heavenly wisdom, and whoever desires to be " thoroughly furnished" therefrom, so as to be complete in all the will of God," must give heed to that word, and to every part of the same. He must have due respect to the doctrines, as well as to the precepts; and to the precepts, as well as to the doctrines of the gospel: to its threatenings and admonitions, not less than to its promises and encouragements. It is a great part of christian wisdom to receive in a becoming manner, and with suitable affections and dispositions of mind, the messages of God to our souls,

in whatever way he is pleased to speak to us. Let us then, my brethren, bring to the sacred scriptures hearts prepared to receive their impress, and to be cast into the very mould of the various solemn truths and holy precepts they contain.

Our present subject is of an admonitory kind, intended to excite within us a holy fear and godly jealousy. "Let us fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." I shall endeavour, first, to explain the meaning of the text, and secondly, to enforce the Apostle's exhortation.

I. The explanation of the text will comprise the following particulars; the promise here mentioned, the nature of the rest, and what we are to understand by coming short.

1. The first thing to be noticed is "the promise left us of entering into rest." This is the self-same promise made to Abraham under the Old Testament dispensation: not however that it refers to any particular form of words; for the

covenant or promise made repeatedly to Abraham himself has been renewed to his servants, from time to time, through successive ages of the church. Hence the self-same promise, delivered to our forefathers under the law, is renewed to us their posterity under the gospel. For that of which the Apostle speaks is not a new promise, one peculiar to the gospel, and under the New Testament published for the first time; but "a promise which is left us," a treasure indeed bestowed upon the church by God, yet bequeathed to us as a sacred legacy from our forefathers, in the earliest ages, and transmitted to us through successive generations. The Apostle distinctly refers to a promise made to the Israelites of entering into the land of Canaan, that land which they were taught to regard as "the rest and the inheritance"+ about to be given them of God. "I will establish my covenant between me and thee" said the Lord to Abraham," and to thy seed after thee in

+ Deut. xii. 6.

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