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and immortality to every soul that doeth good-to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

The promise given in this passage to God's people is a very consolatory one: "To you who are troubled, rest." What is the great promise that runs through the whole New Testament economy? "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Again, says the apostle, "There remaineth a rest for the people of God." And what is very remarkable, in that statement of the apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the word translated "rest" is strictly and literally rendered "sabbath-keeping :" "There remaineth a sabbath-keeping for the people of God." Now this rest, which is typified faintly by the Christian Sabbath, will be then perfect and complete cessation from all that troubles you; for there "the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.” There will be a perfect rest there, because there will be perfect satisfaction. You never heard of a single human being upon earth who said, "I am now perfectly satisfied; I have all I ever wanted; I could wish for nothing more; I am perfectly satisfied.” There are no such

persons. They that have rest are they only that enjoy the reflected influence of the rest which they anticipate by faith-the rest of the people of God; and in that rest there will indeed be rest. "When I awake," says David, "I shall be satisfied." In that rest there will be health without the least risk of disease-strength without the least infirmity; its gold has no rust, its robes have no moth, its cedars have no worm, its youth has no old age, its sky no clouds; they rest from their labours in that sunny and blessed rest that has no suspension and no close. It is the rest of the people of

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God. And this rest, you will observe, spoken of in this passage, is not something that shall be deserved by us, but something given to us. It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us." Why that rest? Not that they have merited it; not that they have purchased it; but that they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; and therefore are they before the throne of God; that is, therefore have they entered into that rest that remaineth for the people of God. Such, then, is the rest that is to be given to them that now suffer.

We have next stated in this passage the time when this shall be done, as well as the contrasting conditions of those that receive tribulation and those that receive rest. The time, he says, when this shall take place, will be "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Constantly, in Matthew xxiv., in the last chapter of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, we read of Jesus Christ coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. We read of the angels being the reapers of that great harvest of the earth, when the tares shall be cast into the fire, and the wheat shall be gathered into our Father's barns. So here, we read that the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed with his angels: He shall come in the clouds of heaven, and He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. We thus learn this great lesson, that the perfect, or rather the highest possible, happiness of the

Christian is not at death, but at the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. At death, the soul of the believer is perfect in happiness; that is to say, up to the measure of its capacity; but when that soul shall be reunited to the risen body-once the fallen shrine— then its repose will be perfect and complete. To you "who are troubled, rest." When? "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." We do not deny that the soul of the Christian at death enters into perfect joy; we only maintain that that joy will reach its intensest degree when soul and body both shall enter on the rest that Christ has provided for them that know and love him. We see here that Jesus is now hidden. It is said, "Rest, when he shall be revealed from heaven." He is present in the midst of us who meet in his name-a real though an invisible presence; but at that day, when this economy shall be wound up, and the heavens and the earth shall pass away, he will come forth from his hiding-place, and he will be revealed; or, in the language of John, 66 we shall see him as he is.' At present the Christian's life is a hidden life-hidden in its springs, hidden in its comforts, hidden in its strength; and the Christian's Lord, the Fountain of that life, is hidden; we do not see him. But then the Christian's life will no more be a hidden life; for he will then publicly present the Christian to Himself as part and parcel of a glorious church, without spot, or blemish, or any such thing; and he will reveal himself, and be admired in all that know him and love him at that day.

But we must notice here the different effects of this revelation. To the ungodly he will be revealed "in flaming fire." What flaming fire is that? The Apostle

Peter tells us what it is: that the heavens and the earth shall be on fire; that the elements shall melt with fervent heat; that the earth and the things that are therein shall be burned up; that the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and give place to a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Therefore we infer, that when our Lord shall be revealed, it will be amid the flames of a consuming orb. But we read that those that rise from the dead who fell asleep in him, and those living who are changed when he comes, shall be lifted up in the cloud beyond the reach of the consuming flame, until the earth is prepared to be the meet dwelling-place of the perfectly holy and perfectly happy people of God.

He will take, it is said, vengeance, or, as it might be rendered, just judgment, on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What are these two great sins of those that He takes vengeance on? What are the two great flagrant offences? They are these : "those that know not God." Then to be ignorant of God as our Father, as a sin-forgiving God, is criminal. There is not one human being in this land that need remain ignorant, if he wishes to be enlightened; and therefore ignorance of God is sin. "This is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The converse is true: not to know God and Jesus Christ is eternal death. The second sin is, obey not the gospel." Then the gospel is law; but what is its great commandment? The great commandment of the law is, "Thou shalt love." What is the great commandment of the gospel? "This is his commandment, that ye believe in the only-begotten Son of God." "Believe

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in the Lord Jesus Christ,"—that is, put confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ," and thou shalt be saved." And thus, while the gospel has mainly the characteristic of love, it has also a commanding character; and its great command is trust, confidence in Him who is its Alpha and its Omega. Now, you will notice, both here and in the Gospel of St. Matthew, that the sins that are the condemning sins of the world are not said to be the flagrant breaches of a holy law, but neglecting, rejecting, ignoring, disobeying the gospel of Christ. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and that men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." "He that believeth, hath everlasting life; he that believeth not, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him."

It is said that those on whom He thus takes vengeance, and are guilty of these two specific sins-not knowing God, and not obeying the gospel-more negative than positive, more omission than commission, yet the omission of what is the root and life of all virtue and of all excellence-these "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” Now, that means eternal destruction, or eternal punishment. If you say the meaning is "annihilated,” I answer, the Greek word will not bear that meaning; it is the very same word that was applied to Paul's vessel, when it is said the vessel was "destroyed," that is, "dissolved." And "punished with everlasting destruction," if it were annihilation, it would not be punishment. But such words as these, "The wrath of God abideth on them;" such words as these, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment," certainly imply conscious enduring of punishment. And what

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