He hath Reserved in everlasting chains under darkness (see also 2 Pet. ii. 4) unto the Judgment of the Great Day, 5, 6--(see Rev. xx. 10.) And well therefore may we say, How shall we escape if we neglect The Only Means of Salvation! With reference to the searching out the Land of Canaan the proposition was made by the People of Israel to Moses, that twelve Men should go up, and make their report; to which Moses assented, that they might know in what way they should go up, and what Cities they should attack. And Moses took twelve Men, One of each Tribe and they went up into the Mountain, and came unto the Valley of Eshcol; and searched it out: and they took of the fruit of the Land in their hands, and brought it down and brought word and said, 'It is a good Land, which The LORD, our GOD, doth Give us!' Notwithstanding the People would not go up, but rebelled against the Commandment of The LORD; and murmured in their tents, saying, 'Because The LORD Hated us, He hath Brought us forth out of the Land of Egypt, to Deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us: whither shall we go up? our Brethren have discouraged our heart saying, The People is greater and taller than we; the Cities are great and walled up to Heaven: and moreover we have seen the Sons of the Anakims there.' And though Moses exhorted them to fear not, nor to be afraid of them: for that The LORD, their GOD, Which Went before them, He would Fight for them, according to All, That He had Done for them in Egypt, and in the Wilderness, where they had seen how that The LORD, their GOD, had Borne them, as a Man doth bear his Son, in all the way that they went until they came to that Place. Yet in that thing they did not believe The LORD, although He had Gone in the Way before them, to Search out a place for them to pitch their tents in, in Fire by night, to Shew them by what way they should go, and in a Cloud by day. And The LORD Heard their murmurings in the voice of their words, and was Wroth, and Sware, Saying, 'Surely there shall not One of these Men of this evil Generation see that good Land, Which I Sware to Give unto their Fathers, save Caleb the Son of Jephunnch: he shall see it and to him will I Give the Land, that he hath trodden upon, and to his Children; because he hath wholly followed The LORD. Also, said Moses, The LORD was Angry with me for your sakes, Saying, 'Thou also shalt not go in thither! but Joshua, the Son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him for he shall cause Israel to inherit it! Moreover your little Ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your Children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I Give it; and they shall possess it'-Deut. i. 22 to 39.

CHAPTER IV.

VERSES 1 to 10.-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! for unto us was The Gospel Preached, as well as unto them; but the Word Preached] did not Profit them, not being mixed with faith in them, that heard It. For we, which have believed, do enter into Rest; as He Said (in the xcv. Psl. verse 11,) As I have Sworn in My Wrath, if they shall enter into My Rest; although the Works were Finished from the Foundation of the World.' For He Spake in a certain Place (Gen. ii. 2.) of the Seventh Day on this wise; And GOD did Rest the Seventh Day from All His Works.' And in this Place again, 'If they shall enter into My Rest.' Seeing therefore it remaineth that Some must enter Therein, and They, to whom It was first Preached, entered not in because of unbelief: Again He Limiteth a certain Day, Saying in David, 'To day, after so long a time; as it is Said, (Psl. xcv. 7,) 'To Day, if ye will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts! For if Jesus, (that is Joshua,) had given them Rest, then would He not afterward have Spoken of Another Day. There Remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of GOD. For he that is entered into his Rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as GOD did from His.

To Rejoice with trembling, is the Christian's Office. The contemplation of his

Death overtake us! for the Truth should be ever present to our conviction, that there is no work in the grave whereunto we are hastening; and who can say, how shortly it may come upon us, and shut out from us for Ever the power of working out our salvation by penitence and faith; the season of Probation assuredly closing with the close of the Life, that is, and possibly before, should, from accident, disease or otherwise, our reason and reflection fail us. The Christian, however, when true to his Principles, which are Those of The Everlasting Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, stands ever prepared either for death or for life-to The LORD's Disposal he resigns himself, and he says

'Come, what come may!

Still in the Distance is Eternal Day.'

Therefore as he has begun the walk of Faith, so he continues steadfastly therein unto his Life's end; neither turning to the right hand, nor to the left; and whatsoever his hand findeth to do in his present and onward path, as the Servant and Soldier of CHRIST, he doeth it with all his might. And to this Object, great as is its present comfort, but inestimably Greater in its Everlasting Tendency, should we use mutual exhortation and encouragement, that neither we, nor those whom we might be able so to influence, should come short of being Partakers of CHRIST'S KINGDOM and Glory. -Our SAVIOUR in His Remonstrances with the Jews, and his Exposure of the unwarrantableness of the traditions of the Priests and Elders, Said, There is nothing from without a Man, that entering into him, can defile him: but the things, which come out of him, those are they, that defile the Man; because from within, out of the heart of Men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evils come from within, and defile the Man-Mark vii. 15, 20 to 23.—THE ALMIGHTY by His Prophet thus Complained of His Own Chosen People, MY People have changed their Glory for that, which doth not profit. And at the Consideration thereof He thus Apostrophizes, Be Astonished, O ye Heavens at this, and be horribly afraid! for My People have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, The FOUNTAIN of Living Waters; and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water!-Jer. ii. 11 to 13.- Nothwithstanding the experience the Israelites had had of The DIVINE Power and Protection in the Destruction of Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red Sea, through which the Israelites passed by the Marvellous Separation of its waters as a wall on the right-hand and a wall on the left; yet dastardly doubting the Continuance of That Power in their favour, when the Giant Sons of Anak were to be opposed to them, all the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole Congregation said unto them, Would GOD that we had died in the Land of Egypt! or, would GOD we had died in this Wilderness! And wherefore hath The LORD Brought us unto this Land, to fall by the sword, that our Wives and our Children should be a prey? And they said, 'Let us make a Captain; and let us return into Egypt!'-Num. xiv. 1 to 4. And though they doubtless hoped otherwise, this imprecation was Answered, for they did All die in the Wilderness; the only exceptions were Caleb and Joshua, the faithful Messengers, Who trusted in The LORD and were not confounded, but were both Witnesses as well as Especially Chosen Instruments of The MOST HIGH in accomplishing His Promised Purpose of Consigning Canaan to the Israelitish Nation-Num. xxvi. 64, 65. Of this the Apostle Jude reminds us, where he says, I will put you in remembrance, how that The LORD, having Saved the People out of the Land of Egypt, afterward Destroyed them, that believed not. And the Angels, which kept not their first Estate, but left their own Habitation,

:

He hath Reserved in everlasting chains under darkness (see also 2 Pet. ii. 4) unto the Judgment of the Great Day, 5, 6-(see Rev. xx. 10.) And well therefore may we say, How shall we escape if we neglect The Only Means of Salvation! With reference to the searching out the Land of Canaan the proposition was made by the People of Israel to Moses, that twelve Men should go up, and make their report; to which Moses assented, that they might know in what way they should go up, and what Cities they should attack. And Moses took twelve Men, One of each Tribe and they went up into the Mountain, and came unto the Valley of Eshcol; and searched it out: and they took of the fruit of the Land in their hands, and brought it down and brought word and said, 'It is a good Land, which The LORD, our GOD, doth Give us!' Notwithstanding the People would not go up, but rebelled against the Commandment of The LORD; and murmured in their tents, saying, 'Because The LORD Hated us, He hath Brought us forth out of the Land of Egypt, to Deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us: whither shall we go up? our Brethren have discouraged our heart saying, The People is greater and taller than we; the Cities are great and walled up to Heaven: and moreover we have seen the Sons of the Anakims there.' And though Moses exhorted them to fear not, nor to be afraid of them: for that The LORD, their GOD, Which Went before them, He would Fight for them, according to All, That He had Done for them in Egypt, and in the Wilderness, where they had seen how that The LORD, their GOD, had Borne them, as a Man doth bear his Son, in all the way that they went until they came to that Place. Yet in that thing they did not believe The LORD, although He had Gone in the Way before them, to Search out a place for them to pitch their tents in, in Fire by night, to Shew them by what way they should go, and in a Cloud by day. And The LORD Heard their murmurings in the voice of their words, and was Wroth, and Sware, Saying, 'Surely there shall not One of these Men of this evil Generation see that good Land, Which I Sware to Give unto their Fathers, save Caleb the Son of Jephunnch: he shall see it and to him will I Give the Land, that he hath trodden upon, and to his Children; because he hath wholly followed The LORD. Also, said Moses, The LORD was Angry with me for your sakes, Saying, 'Thou also shalt not go in thither! but Joshua, the Son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him for he shall cause Israel to inherit it! Moreover your little Ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your Children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I Give it; and they shall possess it'-Deut. i. 22 to 39.

CHAPTER IV.

VERSES 1 to 10.-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! for unto us was The Gospel Preached, as well as unto them; but the Word Preached did not Profit them, not being mixed with faith in them, that heard It. For we, which have believed, do enter into Rest; as He Said (in the xcv. Psl. verse 11,) 'As I have Sworn in My Wrath, if they shall enter into My Rest; although the Works were Finished from the Foundation of the World.' For He Spake in a certain Place (Gen. ii. 2.) of the Seventh Day on this wise; And GOD did Rest the Seventh Day from All His Works.' And in this Place again, 'If they shall enter into My Rest.' Seeing therefore it remaineth that Some must enter Therein, and They, to whom It was first Preached, entered not in because of unbelief: Again He Limiteth a certain Day, Saying in David, 'To day, after so long a time; as it is Said, (Psl. xcv. 7,) To Day, if ye will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts! For if Jesus, (that is Joshua,) had given them Rest, then would He not afterward have Spoken of Another Day. There Remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of GOD. For he that is entered into his Rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as GOD did from His.

To Rejoice with trembling, is the Christian's Office. The contemplation of his

high and holy Privileges, and of the Everlasting Tendency Thereof, imparts to him a Peace, that the World can neither give nor take away; and yet when considering the weakness and infirmities of his own heart amidst the World's temptations, the apprehension comes over him, that he may yet prove unfaithful to the Holy Trust. It is therefore that, not relying on himself, he pours forth continual aspirations for the Sustaining Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT, resting his hope of being Favourably Heard and Answered, on the Pleading and Interceding Merits of The Incarnate SON of GOD Put forth on his behalf. We have the Full Light of Revelation Shining Clearly and Constantly around us. The DIVINE Will in Its Merciful Exhortations and Admonitions, in Its Exceeding Precious Promises, and in Its Awful Denunciations, is Thus Laid Open to our ready comprehension, and in Such Encouragement to our observance; may we therefore press forward for the Prize of That Heavenly Rest and Peace and Joy to the Soul, Which The DIVINE Love through CHRIST Thus Freely and Bounteously Offers to our Souls if we steadfastly seek It, ever pressing forward in the Path of duty to GOD, our Neighbour and ourselves, that we may not come short of arriving at the Goal of Heavenly Adoption and Communion with the Saints in Light and Life Eternal! Increase our faith, O GOD!' should be our daily, our hourly prayer; and may it be that faith, which worketh by love, and bringeth forth the fruits of Righteousness and Holiness of Life and conversation!- -Dreadful indeed is the consideration, that though claiming to be of the Family of the Faithful in CHRIST JESUS, we may be Cast out Therefrom in the Great Day of Universal Judgment, owing to our faith having become dead, and our service, that of the lips and not of the heart. The Rest of The Heavenly Sabbath may be ours; but if It be not, because of our practical unbelief in the Life, that is, how awful is it to meditate even on That State of ceaseless Unrest, which awaits the Faithless in the Regions of Darkness and Despair. A sealed conscience and a hardened heart will awake to these horrors in the Life to Come, however reckless of them in the Passage to it; and then Judgment without Mercy will be acknowledged to be Just.-Joshua, the Successor of Moses, through the undeviating supremacy of the faith, that was in him, led the Israelites to the Land of Promise, and well therefore was he characterized by his name Jesus, as a Saviour, being a Type of That JESUS, The SAVIOUR of both Jews and Gentiles, who will follow Him unto That Holy Land of Everlasting Rest, and Peace aud Happiness, Which is The Fulfilment of The DIVINE Pledge and Promise of Good-Will to Man, and The Consummation, in Relation to Man, of Glory to GOD in The Highest.

VERSES 11 to 13.-Let us labour therefore to enter into That Rest! lest any Man fall after the same example of unbelief; for the Word of GOD is Quick and Powerful, and Sharper than any two edged sword, Piercing even to the Dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is A Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart: neither is there any Creature, that is not manifest in His Sight; but all Things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of Him, with Whom we have to do.

A Labour so Recompensed ought to be the desire of all Nations and of every Human Being individually. Wisdom and Prudence and a rightful Self-consideration, concur in approving and exhorting to this; and, if All rightly weighed so momentous a Matter, every One would rejoice to be Called to such an exercise of faculty, whether of Body, Soul, or Spirit, and deem all other labour but secondary and comparatively profitless. The contemplation of That Labour of Love, Which CHRIST Incarnate Underwent for Each of us, and a due appreciation Thereof, would make every labour on our part in His Glorious and Ennobling Service light indeed, and alike full of present satisfaction and of the most joyful expectation and assurance in the Promised Participation of That Rest to the Soul, Which assuredly awaits the Union with our MASTER in Heaven. The Example of

Joshua, and of the Prophets and Apostles is before us; their faith was strong unto death; and the end thereof was doubtless Everlasting Life amidst the Glories of Immortality. The True JESUS is The Way and The Truth and the Life; He is The WORD, Which was with GOD, and is GOD; and That WORD is indeed both Omnipotent and Omniscient. Death and Hell have yielded to It; and no secret of the heart of Man can escape Its Penetration. All the nice distinctions between motive and action, the thoughts for evil or for good, though from circumstances unripened into action, the stirrings and rejections of Conscience and its warnings, the distinct and relative duties of Body, Soul and Spirit, in their observance or neglect, All are fully Known to Him, Who will Judge us by His Revealed Word, and from Whose Judgment there can be no appeal; so that if Condemned by It, we shall be irretrievably lost with the Son of Perdition. But by The Gospel of Salvation, Mercifully Laid Open to us, if we cherish a lively and persevering faith Therein, we shall assuredly experience in our own case, that Mercy will Rejoice over Judgment, and that JESUS, The SON of GOD, will Receive us into the Mansions of His Blessedness, Prepared by Him from the Foundation of the World. May we therefore give diligence to make our Calling and Election, as Soldiers and Servants of CHRIST, Sure! for, if we do the Things, Which by DIVINE Revelation are Commanded, we shall never fall; and so an Entrance will be Ministered unto us Abundantly into The Everlasting KINGDOM of our LORD and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST2 Pet. i. 10, 11.--The Word of The LORD, if retained as Treasure in the heart, will Give Such Efficacy to the utterance, that the mouth of the Faithful Therein will bear a sword of penetration, as said the Prophet Isaiah-xlix. 2— The LORD hath Made my mouth like a sharp sword-See Rev. i. 16.The Psalmist under the just conviction of Omniscience being an Essential Attribute of DEITY, says; O LORD, Thou hast Searched me, and Known me; Thou Knowest my down-sitting, and mine up-rising; Thou Understandest my thought afar off; Thou Compassest my path, and my lying down, and art Acquainted with all my ways: for there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo! O LORD, Thou Knowest it altogether. If I say, 'Surely the Darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me; yea, the Darkness hideth not from Thee; but the Night shineth as the Day: the Darkness and the Light are both alike to Thee; and under such meditations his gratitude bursts forth, and he says, I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and Wonderfully Made; Marvellous are Thy Works, and that my Soul knoweth right well; my Substance was not hid from Thee, when I was Made in secret and curiously Wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth: Thine Eyes did See my Substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy Book all my members were written, which in continuance were Fashioned, when as yet there was none of them-Psl. cxxxix. 1 to 4; 11, 12, 14 to 16. Thus Saith The LORD, 'I, The LORD, Search the heart, I Try the reins (the thoughts) even to Give every Man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings-Jer. xvii. 5, 10; Rev. ii. 23. And amongst the many wise sayings of the Wisest of the Sons of Men, it is said, The Eyes of The LORD are in every Place, Beholding the Evil and the Good. Hell and Destruction are before The LORD; how much more then the hearts of the Children of Men !-Prov. xv. 3,11.

VERSES 14 to 16.-Seeing then, that we have A Great HIGH-PRIEST, That is Passed into the Heavens, JESUS, The SON of GOD, let us hold fast our Profession for we have not an High-Priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points Tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain Mercy, and find Grace to Help in time of need!

And when is not the time of need for Such Only Effectual Help against the