their fathers....There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass."

There was also given to the Israelites a peculiar rest, in the especial sanctification of the sabbath, originally instituted in remembrance that God did rest the seventh day from all his works," and afterwards ordained to be strictly observed by the Israelites, as a sign between their Maker and themselves."

Now, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews declares both the rest of the sabbath, and that enjoyed by the Israelites in the land of Canaan, to have been imperfect, and to have had designed reference to a future sabbatical rest, which still remaineth to the people of God. His argument appears to be this.

Because of the unbelief of the Israelites, God declared with an oath, during their wanderings in the desert, that they should not enter into his rest; at the same time promising, that their believing descendants should enjoy the privileges from which they were thus excluded. This solemn denunciation implies, that some specific rest was already pro

mised.

1

Now, the rest of the sabbath, although, with Josh. xxi. 43, 45. P Gen. ii. 2, 3. Heb. iv. 4. a Exod. xx. 8...11. xxxi. 13...17. r Numb. xiv. 28...35.

peculiar propriety, styled the rest of God, was not that rest of the faithful, to which the awful declaration of the Almighty had respect. For the sabbatical rest began at the creation; and was already conferred upon the Israelites,* before the time when the oath was delivered: "the works were finished," and therefore the rest of the sabbath instituted, "from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works." t

Again, the rest, which the Israelites enjoyed in the promised land, was not the only rest from which the oath of God excluded those who believed not. For long after that rest was enjoyed, in its full extent, by the possession of the temporal advantages derived from the quiet occupation of Canaan, the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, still speaks of the rest of God, as something which the Israelites were in danger of losing, if they then hardened their hearts." Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time: as it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest," in the full meaning of the original promise, "then t Heb. iv. 3, 4. Gen. ii. 3.

Exod. xvi. 23. xx. 8.

would he not afterward have spoken of an

other day."

" u

The rest of God, therefore, was a rest different from that of the sabbath, and that of Canaan, and subsequent to both.

The argument of the Apostle implies further, that the true rest, which was the ultimate object of all the promises and warnings, was not yet obtained at the time in which he wrote. For he applies to the Hebrews, whom he addresses, the very exhortation of David, founded upon the supposition, that the rest is still future. "Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another while it is called To-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." And in a later part of his argument,

u Heb. iv. 7, 8.

x Heb. iii. 7...13.

he draws the express conclusion,

y

"there re

maineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God:" doubtless, there still is reserved for them a perfect rest from their troubles and labours, a holy keeping of an eternal and heavenly sabbath.

Neither is this rest to be attained in the present life. The promise respects not, as has been imagined, a relief from temporal persecution, which was to be enjoyed in the early ages of the Christian Church. It was to be a cessation of toil, and persecution, and distress, in a future world, such as the Gospel promises to those "who die in the Lord," and, therefore, "rest from their labours." "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." a

But

A rest, then, was given by the Almighty to his creatures, by the institution of the sabbath: a rest was promised to his people Israel, in the inheritance of the land of Canaan. neither of these was complete. They had each a reference to a higher and better rest, which still remaineth to the people of God.

III. Another part of the Epistle to the Hebrews represents the fathers, who received the temporal promises, as themselves conscious

* Heb. iv. 9. ΑΡΑ απολείπεται σαββάτισμος.
Rev. xiv. 13.
a Heb. iv. 10.

C

of their spiritual import. The apostolic writer declares, with reference to Abraham and Sarah, and their immediate descendants, "the heirs with him of the same promise," "These all died in faith, not having received the promises," not having obtained the things promised, "but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth." This is a confession frequently made; by Abraham," by Jacob, by David. And the Apostle argues justly, "They that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country," the land of their fathers. But they spake not of any earthly land; for "truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned:" whereas the patriarch Abraham demanded an especial oath from Eliezer, the eldest servant of his house, that he would not again bring Isaac, his son, into the land in which he dwelt. It is, therefore, evident, that "they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath

b Heb. xi. 9.

e Gen. xlvii. 9.

* Heb. xi. 14. ὅτι h Heb. xi. 15.

c Heb. xi. 13.

k

d Gen. xxiii. 4.

f 1 Chron. xxix. 15. Psalm xxxix. 12.

πατρίδα ἐπιζητουσι.

i Gen. xv. 2.

* Gen. xxiv. 2...9.