How meagre words are to describe the glory of this inheritance. To dwell where the beloved of the Lord dwell in safety by Him; where the sun shineth night and day; where the atmosphere is too transparent for doubt to live; where duty is transformed into delight; where the mouth is filled with laughter and the tongue with praise; where the soul finds rest from unsatisfied cravings; where triumph over temptation is complete and habitual; where, with joy unspeakable, we see the face of God in open enraptured vision, and are made glad by the assurance, deeply buried in the soul, that we do the things that please Him. "To portray the blessedness of those who have reached these 'heavenly places' is like representing the rainbow by a charcoal sketch."

Oh, the sweetness of this inward spiritual kingdom! Oh, the depths of solid peace, the untroubled repose in God! What liberty is there possessed! What high, sacred, and pure enjoyment reigns! What fragrant breezes from the heavenly climes fill the air! What glorious unveilings of God to the soul! "The light of the moon has become as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold." The intense sweetness, the superior excellence, and the Divine glory of the perfect love of Jesus can never be exaggerated, nor indeed fully described. Thousands of Christians who have entered this promised land testify that even the glowing descriptions of Charles Wesley fall infinitely short of the reality,—

"Rivers of milk and honey rise,

And all the fruits of Paradise

In endless plenty grow."

Does the country we have been describing seem to any of our readers like some far-off "Eldorado," instead of a country nigh at hand? There is no need to regard it as a far-off land. No greater mistake could be made than to locate it as lying on the verge of the river, never to be reached until the close of our earthly career. It is nigh unto us.

The unbelieving Israelites remained forty years in the wilderness, when they might have entered their long-promised Canaan in less than a month. After they left Horeb, on the shores of the Red Sea, they consumed only eleven days before the vine-clad hills of Canaan were in full view, but "they could not enter in because of unbelief." "Let us also fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." We would say to those who, in God's mercy, have been led through the wilderness, and who are now on the borderland of the Canaan of God's perfect love, so that only the Jordan rolls between, "Let us go up at once and possess it." If faith is the condition, and the only condition, we may enter Beulah Land to-day. Hence the exhortation, "Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest." The original word for " labour " is not a word signifying long and wearying toil; it is radically the same as that found in the Septuagint version of Joshua iv. 10, "and the people hasted and passed over." The same idea is expressed in the hymn

"O that I might at once go up,

No more on this side Jordan stop,

But now the land possess."

W

CHAPTER XV.

Soul Rest

HEN all our powers are harmonised, each with each, and all with God, the soul enters upon a condition of undisturbed

rest which is beyond the reach of doubt and fear. Among the many characteristics of the spirit-filled life there is none more marked than this feeling of rest which is developed in our personal consciousness. We sing of rest beyond the river, but we must not transport to the other shore the things which God hath prepared for those who love Him on this side the river. "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." These words are often quoted as though they had reference to the heavenly world. "But," says the Apostle," God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit," indicating clearly that the believer's heaven on earth is meant, not some experience beyond the grave. "We which have believed do enter into rest." This rest is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as "God's rest" (Heb. iii. 11), “My rest" (Heb. iv. 1),

"His rest," "Christ's rest" (Heb. iv. 10), "a Sabbath rest" (Heb. iv. 4, 9). In the same Epistle we are taught that:

I. SOUL REST IMPLIES CESSATION FROM OUR OWN WORKS.

"For he that hath entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from His " (Heb. iv. 10). Cessation from our own works does not mean ceasing from all kinds of work, for that is not true of saints either on earth or in heaven. We have no reason to believe that any saint or angel, or even God Himself, is ever inactive. He who enjoys soul rest is brought so intimately into sympathy with the Saviour that he is all aflame with zeal, ever hastening with quickened footsteps towards sinners dying in their sins around him. It is as a widely - known preacher quaintly expressed it, "I enjoy that rest of faith that keeps me in perpetual motion." We are to cease to perform works with any such design as that of thereby saving our souls. Just so long as that constitutes the supreme object of our works, we are doing "our own works." But when the question of our soul's salvation is thrown entirely on Christ, and our works are performed out of love to God, they are not our works, but Christ's works -the result of His working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. In one sense they are our works, because they are done by our own voluntary agency, but Christ is the moving cause of all that we do. True faith works love, and love does all for Christ. Faith in the great Atonement is the only basis of acceptance

with God, apart from anything we can do. Faith sees salvation secured in Christ and ceases from compensative works, which by many are vainly wrought as a sort of offset against Divine forgiveness. As God did not rest until He had finished His creative works, so the Christian cannot rest until he ceases altogether from his legal works, and casts himself entirely upon the Saviour for salvation. Says Dr. Finney, "The truly believing soul rests from its own works. It sees salvation secured in Jesus Christ, and has no longer any motive for legal works. It works not from self nor for self; but its works are from Christ and for Christ."

In like manner we cease from our own efforts to live the Christian life. Many Christians live a life of resolution, instead of a life of faith in the Son of God. Those who trust to their own strength of purpose always find failure the result. The Gospel scheme is not fixing our will like flint, resolved to conquer or die. It is to commit the keeping of the soul wholly to Christ, and to cease from our own efforts. When we understand that it is not self-control, but Christcontrol, we learn the secret of victory. The attitude of the believing soul is that of Peter's when he first stepped from the ship upon the waters of the sea, "Looking unto Jesus." Philosophy says, "Keep your eye upon your enemies "; but the Gospel says, "Eye Jesus only." Weakness results from a constant survey of the difficulties and temptations which beset us. Power comes when the eye turns towards the angel Jehovah. Christ is our I am" for every "I need of the soul. He is the storehouse, and, as need arises,