He looks to Jesus by faith, as he in whom it has pleased God that "all fulness should dwell," from whose fulness his people may receive, and grace for grace-he looks to him, and has rest! Does he consider his ignorance of every thing that he ought to know for his present peace and his everlasting happiness? He looks by faith to Jesus-he sees him exalted at the right hand of power, as his Prophet to teach him-he hears him saying thence, "I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way in which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye"-he looks to him, and has rest! Does he consider his own changeableness, constantly varying in his feelings toward the Lord-sometimes warm and lively in his affec tions, lifted up to heaven almost in his spiritual contemplations, and at others cold and dead in his affections, dragged down again to earth, and cleaving to the dust? He looks by faith to Jesus-he sees in him the Saviour who has said, "I am the Lord, I change not;" whose love to his people is "from everlasting to everlasting;" who is "the same to them yesterday, to-day, and for ever:" he looks at him then in the unchangeableness of his love-he looks at him, and has rest! Does he consider the number and the power of his enemies, corruptions from within, temptations from without, the seductions of the world, and the wiles and the malice of those principalities, and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places, which continually seek the destruction of his soul? He looks by faith to Jesus-he sees him exalted at the right hand of power, having upon his vesture and upon his thigh this name written, "King of kings, and Lord of lords," even him to whom all power is committed in heaven and on earth; he hears him speak from thence, and say, "I give them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand" -he looks to him, and has rest! Does he look forward to the last great struggle, to that gloomy valley through which he must pass, in his way to his rest? does he feel some dread at the prospect of death and the grave? He looks by faith to Jesus: he sees him as he who has passed through it before him, bearing in his own body that curse which alone can give a sting to them he sees him rising from the dead, and ascended into heaven, as the first fruits of them that slept-he looks at him, and has rest! Yea, he is able to say, in the prospect of death and of the grave, "O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?" Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus I might go through every circumstance, every difficulty, trial, temptation, anxiety, and sorrow, whether as regards the temporal, the spiritual, or the everlasting interests of his people; and I could show that in Christ, in the seeking of him, trusting in him, and leaning on him, they have peace and they have rest. But sufficient I think has been said to illustrate, and in some slight manner to set forth, the nature of that rest which in this world belongs to "the people of God."

:

Shall we then, secondly, speak of the rest which remains for them hereafter? Dear friends, that is a rest of which all the peace, and comfort, and joy in Christ, which his people possess here upon earth, is but as the glimmering of a distant star in comparison with the brightness of the sun when shining in its strength. "Now we see as through a glass darkly, then face to face; now we know in part, but then shall we know even as we are known." There shall, i. e. at the period of Christ's second coming, be to them a rest from all trouble, from all sorrow, from all sickness, from all pain, from all death; for sin, the cause of it all, will be for ever removed from them: then shall they be admitted into a participation of all the blessedness which belongs to the inhabitants of the heavenly Zion, the

new Jerusalem: "violence shall no more be heard in their land, wasting nor destruction within their borders; but they shall call their walls salvation, and their gates praise; the sun shall be no more their light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto them; but the Lord shall be unto them an everlasting light, and their God their glory. They shall be before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more: neither shall the sun light upon them, nor any heat; for the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'

Dear friends, whether we look, then, to time, or whether we look to that great event to which the church on earth and the church in heaven look with anxious expectation, viz. the second coming of Christ, or whether we look to the boundless horizon of the eternity which is before us, is there not, and does there not remain "a rest"-a happy, a glorious rest, for "the people of God?"

The people of the world, then, may think lightly of "the people of God"-they may look down upon them-they may despise them-they may ridicule them-they may treat them as fools, as enthusiasts, as madmen-and amongst themselves, in the pride of their hearts, point the fingerof scorn at them; and yet, in the midst of it all, they experience the fulfilment of the Saviour's promise, John xiv. 37-" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.' They enjoy a peace which the world knoweth not, and which the people of it cannot understand; and are able, with joy in the experience of the spiritual comforts which they have in Christ, to say, "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wicked

ness."

I would ask you, then, my brethren, to which of these two classes do you belong to the people of the world, or to "the people of God?" If you have attended to what has been said already with respect to the character of "the people of God," you must be able to give, in some measure, a satisfactory answer to your own consciences on this important point. You may, perhaps, be made to confess that your character does not correspond with that given of "the people of God," and that you must acknowledge that still you must be ranked amongst the people of the world. Shall I say, then, that there is any scriptural peace, or any scriptural rest for you while you remain in this state? No, my brethren: I would, with all plainness, warn you that, continuing thus, "there is no peace" for you in time-that at Christ's second coming, "he will rain upon you snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest-this shall be the portion of your cup;" and throughout eternity there can be no rest for you, for "the smoke of your torment shall ascend for ever and for ever." Most solemnly, then, would I warn you to flee from the wrath to come most earnestly would I intreat of you to give heed to the invitation of him, who still waits to be gracious, and from his throne of glory calls to you, saying, "Come to me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"-to come this day as sinners to his feet, seeking for pardon, for grace, for glory, from his own unbounded mercy and love-entreating of him, that, though in time past, you were not "a people," you may now be "the people of God"-though you "had not obtained mercy," that you may "now obtain mercy;" and while it is said, "To-day, if ye will

hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation; lest he swear in his wrath that you shall not enter into his rest.”

And to you, dear friends, whose character does, in some degree, answer the description which has been given of "the people of God," I would say a few words :

First, If you are indeed his people, let all the thanksgiving, all the praise, and all the glory be given to him who, of his own sovereign mercy and grace, "quickened you when you were dead in trespasses and sins, and raised you up together, and made you sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," and seek to have this the constant language of your hearts 1" we love him, because he first loved us.”

Secondly, Seek to live more in the enjoyment of that rest which is previded in this world for "the people of God." You complain often that you have not that peace and rest in the Lord, which was described as being the portion of the people of God; and whence is it? Is it that there is no such rest to be found in Christ? Oh, no! but your want of it proceeds from your not having your mind and heart staid entirely upon him: seek, then, to have every thought, every principle, every propensity, every prac tice, every shred of dependence which comes between you and Christ, removed; seek for grace, that you may be enabled to learn him simply, entirely, exclusively; and you will find that, according to the simplicity of your faith in him, so will your peace be, and so your enjoyment of that rest which remaineth for the people of God.

Lastly, Be much in the contemplation of the glorious rest which remains for you at Christ's second coming and his kingdom; you will find it to be the prospect, which, above all, will give you peace, and rest, and joy in the midst of the trials and troubles of life; that it will give a spring and elasticity to all the services of the Lord in which you are engagedmake you to delight in those holy occupations which you hope will be your happy employment for eternity; and so cause you to pass on towards that rest, rejoicing in the Lord; while you look not at things which are seen, but at those which are not seen, "knowing that the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Dear friends, let us all then seriously consider the important words which are contained in the text; and may the Lord, by the power of the Holy Ghost, enable us to lay them to heart:-"There remaineth therefore à rest for the people of God;" and may he give to you and me grace, so to be numbered, through the salvation of Jesus, and by faith in his name, amongst the people of God," that we may dwell together here on earth, in the full enjoyment of the rest which is the portion of such as throughout the countless ages of eternity, be partakers together of that glorious rest which remaineth for them."

ON THE MORAL AND CEREMONIAL LAW.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

SIR-Among the many novelties, or, I will rather say, crudities, (for there is no new thing under the sun,) which are put forth in the present times of instability and innovation, this is one and one which I judge to be not the least dangerous-that there is no distinction whatever made in the Scriptures between the moral law and those institutions which we bave

been in the habit of calling ceremonial; but that the whole, in every sense, is now to be regarded either as entirely in force, or as entirely abolished. Now, to me it appears that such unqualified language as this goes to confound and destroy those awful and everlasting distinctions between right and wrong, which an apostle tells us, and we each feel in our individual experience, are written by the same finger that wrote the Ten Commandments, so plainly in our hearts, that all our evil thoughts, and evil desires, and evil deeds which we do by nature, are not able so to erase that writing there, that our conscience should accuse us no longer. According to these persons to whom I am alluding, the Decalogue, and those many other passages in holy writ, and the holy sayings of Christ which are there revealed, so far from being intended to make this "work of the law written in our hearts" more legible to every individual, and to assist his natural conscience in performing its proper function of "accusing, or else excusing" him, are to have quite the opposite effect, and are to impress his mind with the idea that he is as much and no more a sinner before God, if he be not circumcised, or do not offer sacrifice, &c. according to the Mosaic ritual, as he were by committing murder, adultery, theft, perjury, blasphemy, or idolatry; and that if he be free altogether from the yoke of ceremonies which were commanded by Moses, he is, in the same sense, and equally altogether freed from those weightier matters of the same law which have been above alluded to; for he that commanded to pay tithe of mint, aud anise, and cummin, was the same who enjoined the not omitting of works of judgment, mercy, and faith. "What warrant, then," say these improvers upon Christian liberty, "have you for putting any difference between the two, except that of 'weightier' and 'lesser,' which are either all to be done by us Gentiles, equally as by Jews of old while their temple was standing, or may all be equally omitted."

Let me not be hastily set down by any of your readers as an enemy to true Christian liberty, because I deem it my bounden duty to employ both my tongue and pen in opposing this unholy refusal to acknowledge a distinction when there is a difference. I well know, and hold as precious truth, even as they profess to do, that the law of Moses as a whole, in its character of a preparatory and temporary dispensation, (dia@nen,) or in its covenant form, as it is sometimes expressed, is done away in Christ, when grace and truth came by faith, to be apprehended both by Jews and Gentiles. This is plain, as from the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, so especially from 2d Corinthians iii. where the whole law, both moral and ceremonial, yea, the moral chiefly, is spoken of as "abolished," and its passing, or evanescent glory, swallowed up in the glory that excelleth of that life-giving dispensation of the Spirit, which abideth. I am, I trust, taught myself, and endeavour according to the measure of my ability to teach others, that the elements of the moral law are as weak and beggarly to purge the conscience from dead works, as is the rite of circumcision in the flesh, or the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean. And I would testify, consistently, (I hope,) and zealously, even as themselves, according to Gal. v. 3, 4, that "if any man become circumcised," as of necessity, in order to his justification before God, "he is become a debtor to do the whole law;" and "Christ is become of none effect unto you, whosoever are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." The law, therefore, whether moral, ceremonial, or judicial; or as including all these, and every thing else in the shape of works or deservings that may be devised, can afford to a sinner neither hope nor help. It can neither afford him righteousness nor strength; and he who

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would look into it, instead of looking unto Jesus, and unto Jesus alone, for these things-for justification or sanctification--will surely find that, being himself weak, he has gone to that which is "weak through the flesh," to make him weaker; and, being a beggar, he has gone to a beggar, yea, beggary itself, whose incessant cry is "Give, give," to make him a very beggar of beggars.

But while we admit, yea, and contend earnestly for these things, as essential unto "the faith that was once delivered unto the saints," may we not, without offending against the analogy of sacred truth, ask, if sound sense, and also Scripture, do not very plainly and forcibly present to our minds a distinction between laws declaring and confirming that eternal difference between right and wrong, good and evil, which is as immutable and imperishable as the throne of God itself, and institutions of a positive kind, which, from their very nature and circumstances, can extend only to certain limited portions both of time and space, and which are expressly declared in Scripture to consist" in meats, and drinks, and diverse washings, and carnal ordinances imposed," also only "until times of reformation," which contained only "a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of those things?" Does not common sense, and the fact of the providential destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the nation to whom these rites were given, which renders the observance of the most, (and the most important of them,) now physically impossible, as well as improper? And above all, does not the whole of the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, as well as passages in all his other Epistles, plainly tell us, that if the days of the Mosaic dispensation of law, as a whole, (including "the ministration of death written and engraven upon stones," as well as that "law of commandments contained in ordinances," which seems to be chiefly intended in Ephesians ii. 15, relating to such things as "touch not, taste not, handle not," Col. ii. 21.) be in a certain, that is, a spiritual sense, ended, when the fulness of the time came for Christ to manifest himself to the world; so, the days of the shadowy and typical part of that same dispensation, by the means of which the Israelites, as children, were instructed, as it were, by pictures, in the knowledge of Christ, before his coming, have ended, not only spiritually, but also civilly-not only in a certain sense, ("secundum quid,") but in every sense, (“simpliciter ?”)

I feel almost ashamed, Mr. Editor, in employing my pen to prove a point so plain; but when I see that there are some who either cannot or will not, of their "own selves judge that which is right," I must, in my day, bear my testimony against their rashness, and caution, as far as I can, others to beware of such "errors in the brain, as cannot, if entertained, fail eventually of producing, as their proper fruit, faults in the life." There is no heresy in religion which would ever gain admittance into the visible church, if it had not some verisimilitude, or likeness to truth, or were not true in part. And therefore all heretics have ever been wont to make large use of the sophism of concluding a dicto secundum quid, ad dictum simpliciter. And this, as I have already hinted, is what is done in the case before us. But perhaps it will be said, that I have not yet sufficiently established from plain sayings of Scripture the warrant for the distinction,' which all divines hitherto reputed sound have been used to make "between laws moral and ceremonia"-to which I may also add, "judicial.” To this, therefore, I will now apply myself. Is it then nothing that God's own finger wrote the decalogue-not once, but twice? and that Moses only wrote the laws ceremonial and judicial; many commandments in which were not "good" for ever, like that law whereof Paul speaks in