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their neighbour's welfare. Selfish in the extreme, they see nobody in this world worth caring for except they can use them for their interest. So the traitor Judas, all the while he was with Jesus and kept the bag, had but one thought-namely, what he could make by his own Master. To him the waste of the ointment which anointed Jesus for His burial appeared extravagance; and to the wicked, this very address concerning the grave, far from being pleasant to his soul, will appear offensive and troublesome. The grave cannot be a place of rest to the wicked, though they are compelled to cease their troubling; for there the weary only are at rest. The weary traveller, toiling on his pilgrimage on earth, meeting with many persecutions from the wicked, is glad to rest his weary limbs in the grave. Afflicted as the Christian is by outward and inward provocations of the thoughtless and profane, his heart and conversation fixed in faith, upon the Author of all goodness, sees the truth; that, as his Master trod the earth despised and rejected, abused and treated with every species of indignity, so he must, if he pursues the same course, expect to meet the same treatment. In this expectation he is seldom disappointed; for "every one who will live godlily in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution." The servant is not greater than his master, and, if they have persecuted the Lord, so will they do with His disciples; but the grave presents to his view the place where the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary are at rest." The pleasures of sin, which are enjoyed but for a season, carry with them their own destruction; for he that is dead is freed from sin: he is no more able to afflict, no

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longer able to destroy, no longer capable of injury. All his passions are fruitless-all his anger, all his wrath, all his ambition with which he troubled the world-all is gone. Where are the mighty men of the earth who carried themselves like gods in their own eyes boasting of great things-commanding armies, desolating kingdoms, destroying countries, and laying waste fertile valleys of earth? Were they happy when here-were they satisfied with the power, wealth, and fame they obtained? Believe me, brethren, none of them were so: contentment was never in their possession and nothing could still them but the grave. But there they ceased from troubling: they lie in the earth silent and unmoved, proving the words of the wise king to be true, that "A living dog is better than a dead lion." (Eccl. ix. 14). Affliction can only make the grave a place to be desired, and affliction is sent by God's permission on purpose that we may elevate our hopes beyond the grave. Though the devil had said of Job, "Skin for skin-yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life"—yet this pious man exclaims, "Why died I not from the womb?-why did I not give up the ghost when I came forth? For should I have lain still and been quiet. I should have slept then had I been at rest with kings and counsellers of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves; or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver."

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But now, his trouble was increased: he wasm ade to suffer wearisome nights and days, afflicted, grieved, disconsolate, even ready to die; but never meeting with death. The grave was his hope: he anxiously desired that he might be at rest. He

longed for it, but it came not: he dug for it more than for hid treasures. He would have been rejoiced and exceedingly glad could he have found the grave; but his sighing came before he ate and his roarings were poured out like water. Oh, who can hear the sighs of the contrite and broken spirit but the Lord of life and death-He who giveth life and taketh it away? How sweet, then, is that "rest which remaineth for the people of God after all their weariness-after all their toils of labour and love-after their pilgrimage on this earth, on which they have taken step after step towards the kingdom of God, to lie down to rest in Christ Jesus, who raised Himself from the grave and will likewise raise up our bodies at the last day-to lie down in faith and rise up in glory-to lie down with the hope of a better resurrection— tell me, Christians, can there be a more blessed rest for any of us? It is this prospect I would have you all cherish in your view of the grave. Christian rests there in hope. "I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write from henceforth, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours." How sweet is the rest of the hushandman after the toils of the harvestday are over! He has worked the work appointed him he may have borne the heat and burden of the day, but his labours are over: he has entered into his rest: he lies down grateful to his God who gives him His Sabbath day to recruit his strength. Oh, what a blessed thing, then, is it for the Christian to view his Sabbath of eternal rest, when all the toils of life are over-when his labours of love have ceased-and he is called to that rest which re

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maineth for the people of God! And can we be so insensible to our future happiness as never to work the work appointed us, whilst it is called today, that our rest may be glorious? Shall we for ever be wasting our precious time in idle, lazy, daydreams of pleasure, and never be employed laying np treasures in heaven against the time of our offering? Job spent not his life in folly nor wasted the moments God had given him in his youth; but cultivated every good and gracious gift, that when all things were taken from him he might be able to say with resignation, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Seeing then, dearly beloved friends, that a promise is given to us of entering into rest, let us in this life so work that we may reap the blessed fruits of everlasting life. Let us look towards the gravenot as men who have no hope and must lay their heads down there in sorrow, like those who have great possessions and would enjoy them longer, who are mournful at the thought of leaving them and distracted at their responsibility—but let us view it with faith as a spot from whence we may rise up to endless glory, through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, as a place "where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest."

May such blessed prospect be always present with you upon those Sabbath days of rest on earth! May God give you joy in the hope of the life to come, and may you now and ever rest in peace, through the same Saviour, who says "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

I remain, yours affectionately,

THE COMForter.

ADDRESS IV.

O GOD, who hast taught us that what we sow, that we shall also reap, grant that we may sow the seeds of the Spirit and reap everlasting fruits, that in thy great eternal harvest we may find our treasure laid up in thy heavenly garners, and be there fed with the fruits of righteousness for ever and ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.-JOB iv. 8.

MY DEAR FRIENDS-There is nothing more true than that Christian doctrine that "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting; and he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." And this doctrine revealed by Paul to the Galatians (vi. 8), you find plainly laid down even in the early days of the patriarch Job; for the declaration amounts to the same thing and is meant to convey the same instruction.

It is true that Eliphaz the Temanite, who was one of Job's friends, did not look upon the affliction which was sent to this pious man as a trial of his patience, in that light, but that he considered it as a punishment upon him for what he deserved: for he says to him-"If we assay to commune with thee,

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