political relations. And while every encroachment upon Protestant liberty of speech, and liberty of instruction, is promptly met and manfully repelled, yet, let not the intermeddling of Popish Priests and Prelates, be excused by the example of the Protestant ministry; let no man be allowed to believe that he is politically proscribed and disfranchised because of his religion. Especially let it not be believed that the Church, in the discharge of her functions, as a witness and a teacher of the truth, is a party to such a result.

Moreover, it is important to preserve the distinctive character of the Church as a Witness Bearer, from a disposition to confide this whole controversy, and its connected duties, to the hands of individuals and irresponsible associations. We disparage no labourer in this field, and no combination of efforts to diffuse the truth. But the Church has her own work to do, and she only can do it aright. She owes missionary work to the benighted Romanist, no less than to the benighted Hindoo, and she owes it to herself no less, to select the agents and supervise the execution of that work. Why has she left it so largely and so long in other hands? Why are her efforts so stinted in this direction, compared with the importance of the field? The whole power of the Papacy is mainly expended now, upon Protestant countries, and yet how little of the power of the Church is expended upon the deluded followers of Rome. God has still his hidden ones" within the pale of that mystic Babylon, but how faint our echo of his voice, saying "Come out of her my people, and be not partakers of her plagues.".

ARTICLE V.

GOD'S REST, OUR REST.*

Egypt had bound Israel with a thousand chains of violence and craft; but the sword of the Lord had cut sheer through them all, and his people "went out with

*Suggested by Heb. iii., and iv.

a high hand." Sore and terrible had been their bondage there, so that they "groaned" under it with a hopeless and utterly servile lamentation; but their cry went up unto God. Beyond their thought, and even against their will, he wrought out a mighty salvation for them.

It is a daily mistake among men to imagine that God's plans are direct, simple, quickly reaching their conclusion, in a victory palpable to us in our gross estimation of them. If a purpose of his becomes apparent to us, we look for an immediate conclusion of it; a few days more must unfold the whole of it, and something new begin. So judged the Hebrews, because Jehovah had "brought them forth with a strong hand and an outstretched arm," had riven the waters, and congealed the deep flood in the heart of the sea, so that the waves stood up like a wall on the right hand and on the left,had destroyed the mighty oppressor of their race, even when they felt the hot breath of his chariot-horses on their necks, and had broken the power of that fierce nation for generations to come,-they thought the agony was past. They either hoped that the sands of Arabia would suddenly blossom for them like the rose, and the solitary wastes of Midian sing aloud for joy at their coming; or at least, that fountains would spring up spontaneously along their way, and rich food mysteriously lavish itself upon them in the desert, and the mountain walls of Canaan open wide their rocky gates at their approach, so that "the promised land" should be theirs without an effort. Manifestly they were disappointed when silence, barenness, and thirst looked grimly out upon them from the hills, and bare rocks and a howling wilderness hemmed them in.

Unlike their father Abraham, who waited with iron constancy and undying hope the fulfilment of a promise that was delayed a quarter of a century,-unlike him, they had no patience with their almighty Deliverer. The pledge that was not fully redeemed to-day, was, in their view, already falsified. The oath of the unchangeable God was as the idle wind to their unbelief, if fulfillment did not tread upon the heels of promise as thunder follows the lightning.

No doubt, the discipline upon which they were put,

was almost intolerably severe; but it was the introduction to glory and privilege unequalled on earth. David confessed it, when he said: "He hath not dealt so with any nation." Their powers were kept at their utmost tension. Day after day they marched through rocky and barren solitudes; mothers with their children, men with their armour and their herds. Fatigue and thirst wore out their energies, foes beset them by pitched battles and sudden ambush; yet they must press on and on-whither? To the graves appointed them! Twelve hundred thousand dead must people the wilderness of Sin, or hew out their tombs in the rocks of Horeb. For they that come from Egypt "could not enter in" to Canaan, "because of unbelief." "God sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest." "Hope deferred," though it was righteously deferred, "made their hearts sick;" their faith failed them, and they were cut off from his people.

But on this word-" His rest, "My rest,"-Paul suddenly rises to another thought. God has a rest. It is said that, on the seventh day, he "rested." Into that rest, of which, Canaan was but a symbol and a faint foreshadowing, he bade his ancient people enter; and it "remaineth" for them unto this day. He has himself, partaken of it; Christ has entered it; the redeemed shall dwell there.

Let us dwell a little on this thought-God's rest, our rest. And first, let us think of it as God's rest. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on 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 which God created and made." Such is the sublime and simple record.

The works which God created and made were the six day's wonders of the creation. In his arms he had gathered up the clouds and seas, and formless energies of chaos,-shaped a planet, and poised it in space. Light and life, obedient to his word, descended from Heaven and sphered it in lustre and in hope. A mist went up from the earth and watered it, and God blessed the lands with verdure, and fruit, and shade. The air, the plains,

the sea, teemed with busy happiness. He touched the silent soil, and man sprung up from the dust of the ground, received into his nostrils the breath of life,became a living spirit, the earthborn representative of his almighty Father.

The character of "work" was given to this achievement, not by the fact that God expended greater effort, or put forth unusual exertion then and there, but by the fact that it was a peculiar effort, and that attributes which generally (so to speak,) lie back and are kept in abeyance, wrought here, and were manifested before the angels. Instead of leaving the display of power to natural laws and second causes, he now put himself in direct contact with events, and was seen to carry out the mighty plan.

This done, God returned into his rest. The voice august, no longer uttered creating words. The Hand divine withdrew that mysterious energy which moulded living creatures or struck out worlds. The new kingdom was established; and the concenting stars and the joyful sons of God inaugurated it with shouts and heavenly anthems. But clouds and darkness, and silence, enshrined the throne. Omnipotence seemed to have returned into itself. Self-sufficing, impregnable, victorious, its work done, that secure, majestic Might needed no flashes of mere display to make it glorious. Thus God rested.

But as God's "work" was not labor, so his "rest" was not inaction. Forty centuries later, Christ declared "My Father worketh hitherto," (i. e. has been working till now.") For him to cease all action would be, not merely to abdicate his throne, but to change and deny his nature. His heart had not ceased from love, and therefore, his hand must persist in goodness. There were the angels to be sustained and blessed; the countless worlds to be governed; the new subjects to be taught and fed, and watched. He is the keeper of the universal fold-the shepherd of an innumerable people— the king of heavenly armies-the teacher and present friend of his new-made children.

But it was rest in this sense; that this particular enterprise was finished, and,-with the addition of a new

department to His kingdom,-its routine proceeded as of old. His attributes returned to their wonted order of display. It is His nature, one may say, to be a Governor, to rule His vast empire by comprehensive and happy laws, to breathe out and to receive love,-love pure, supreme, immortal,-over that domain He has inade populous with loyalty and joy. In this, His right and natural position, the whole universe shows a symmetry, a beauty, and a bliss, in which He finds divinest honor and delight. He reigns, and is obeyed: He loves, and is adored: He shines, and is worshipped. This, I say, is the normal state of things; government by love is to us, God's glory and his life. In this, therefore, his last splendid self-revelation as Creator was merged. In this he "rested."

Yet once more: we must enlarge upon this thought a little, to fill out our idea of God's rest. Advancing from the particular instance, the seventh day, we must learn what that general condition is, of which he can partake with his little children.

It is the having accomplished worthy ends. A holy thing done, a wise counsel fulfilled, an era is set among the ages. There is a fixed point upon which the necessary powers centered, and to which, as to a date and a landmark, events that follow may be referred. That to which previous deeds pointed, and for which they prepared the way, is at last accomplished: the long purpose is lost in the present fact. History now may take breath; suspense is ended; the consummation is come. Thus it was in this case. God's eternal God's eternal purpose took form at the creation, as the chaos did. The light he spoke into being illumined his counsels for his creatures, and made known his will to them. On the seventh day, intention had become achievement. It was the broad, bright border-line, that first Sabbath,-between two eras,—that which ended in creation, and that which began in man.

It is serene repose in the consciousness of right deeds and a right heart. The calm that follows action is almost involuntarily a time of review. Our deeds array our principles and set them forth to us, as to others. În returning to rest, he who has acted returns into his general