In his first pure and sinless state man had perfect rest in God his Maker and his Life. Then he was rooted and grounded in Him, and in the Lord Jehovah was his everlasting strength. From that firm homestead sin plucked him away, lopped him from his Divine life-source, expelled him from Eden, banished him from God. He became a homeless, lawless, restless wanderer, the prey of a hunger that cannot be sated, a thirst that cannot be quenched, weary longings of the heart that cannot be met. Deluded by baseless hopes that can never know fruition, the soul engages in a blind and perpetual search after a subtle something it has lost. Only too ready to listen to any voices that promise any good," he flits hither and thither like a feather, and has swift alternations of pleasure and despair, up and down like the vagaries of an elastic ball; and like it only becomes quiescent to be sent forward with accelerated speed. So writes the poet,— 66 "Day and night my toils redouble, Never nearer to the goal; Of the wanderer in my soul." And so he tries a thousand paths, climbs laborious hills, crosses barren plains, enters enticing valleys, makes perpetual pilgrimage to vaunted shrines of promise; and evermore he turns from each with weary foot, with sick and aching heart, to tread the disappointing and deceptive round again. Hearken, "O weary souls, that wander wide from the central point of bliss!" In Christ alone is to be found true satisfaction and repose. He is the only root that holds, He is the only rest that abides; He is the only anchor that never gives way! Cease, O mortal, thy vain voyaging on a useless quest. Explore no more the frigid zone of reason and icy cold philosophies; search no more among the tropic flowers that charm the eye in the torrid regions of honour, wealth and pleasure; nor wander among the perilous hills and sombre valleys of speculation, that land without a sun! In Jesus Christ, the Sun of the Eternal Father, the Omnipotent Brother of humanity, the Man of Calvary, the eternally rooted Vine of God is safety, stability and rest! A wanderer I; No dwelling-place I found; All seeming good I long pursued, In vain, the wide world round. Once I was told To get me gold, That wealth all good could buy ; The gleaming thing Took speedy wing And mocked my eager eye. Then Pleasure fair, Enchantments rare Did promise, rich supplies; The syren bright I wooed, and found them-lies. "Lo good is here!" "Lo good is there!" "In yonder secret place!". I followed all, In sore unrest, With heart unblest, "All things are vain, All good is pain," I said, and wished to die. "Try Christ," said one; 66 Try Him alone; Try faith in Jesus' blood! He giveth rest! He gives the best! He hath the perfect good." IV. REST MAN " never continueth in one stay." These are the weighty and suggestive words which fall on the ear under circumstances solemn enough, surely, to impress upon the mind the lessons they imply. But there is one blessed and delightful exception to the affecting rule. ONE stay man can and does continue in; nor can all the power of Satan, of change and sorrow, of death and judgment, drive him from it; and that stay is Jesus Christ, the Root and Stem of the Father's "Noble Vine." In Him, whosoever is engrafted shall live and abide for ever. Whosoever liveth and believeth in Him shall have an everlasting foundation. The wicked. may be "driven away;" the ungodly may be "like the chaff;" the sinner may be a "wave of the sea," or a bird that wandereth from her nest; but the true believer in Christ abideth for ever, like the "word of the Lord," which is the ground of his con |