December 9

“My people shall dwell in qtiiet resting-places.” — Isaiah xxxii. 18.

HE A.CE and rest belong not to the unregenerate; they J,, are the peculiar possession of the Lord’s people, and of them only. The God of Peace gives perfect peace to those whose hearts are stayed upon Him. When man was unfallen, his God gave him the flowery bowers of Eden as his quiet resting-places; alas! how soon sin blighted the fair abode of innocence! In the day of universal wrath, when the flood swept away a guilty race, the chosen family were quietly secured in the resting-place of the ark, which floated then from the old condemned world into the new earth of the rainbow and the covenant, herein typifying Jesus, the ark of our salvation. Israel rested safely beneath the blood-besprinkled habitations of Egypt when the destroying angel smote the first-born; and in the wilderness the shadow of the pillar of cloud, and the flowing rock, gave the weary pilgrims sweet repose. At this hour we rest in the promises of our faithful God, knowing that His words are full of truth and power; we rest in the doctrines of His word, which are consolation itself; we rest in the covenant of His grace, which is a haven of delight. More highly favored are we than David in Adullam, or Jonah beneath his gourd, for none can invade or destroy our shelter. The person of Jesus is the quiet resting-place of His people; and when we draw near to Him in the breaking of bread, in the hearing of the word, the searching of the Scriptures, prayer, or praise, we find any form of approach to Him to be the return of peace to our spirits.

«’ I hear the words of love, I gaze upon the blood, I see the mi;,’hty sacrifice, and I have peace with God. ‘Tis evcrliistiug peace, sure as Jehovah’s name; ‘Tis Btablc as llis sto.idfast throne, for evermore the same: The clouds may go and come, and storms may sweep my sky, — T) li8 blood-scaled friendship changes not, the cross is ever nigh,”