while I justify the name given to the day, and explain the ground of that rejoicing to which it invites you. This day is the Lord's so indeed are all our days, but the Son of man is Lord especially of the Sabbath. I. This day is distinguished by his triumphs: let us hail him conqueror. He sustained a long and sharp conflict, but at the rising hour it was finally decided. I behold in his resurrection a triumph over the malice that mocked, the scourge which wounded, the injustice which condemned, the cross which supported, the sword which pierced, the guards that watched, the tomb that confined, and the hell which rose embattled against him: "The rising God forsakes the tomb- II. This day he claims as an offering: let us present it with joyful obedience. When the wonders of creation were finished, God rested. It was the seventh day, and God set it apart, while the dispensation of Moses lasted. We know that the law for devoting it to God was strict and express. But the resurrection of Christ was an event vast enough to produce an alteration of the day, and the example of the earliest Christians has led the church in each following age to observe that day, on which we are now assembled. A day on which, though we are not bound by the severity of the Mosaic law, yet we are bound to cherish principally those thoughts, and pleasures, and pursuits, which imply a more immediate surrender of the soul to God. Servants of Christ, come and prove your attachment to his work—come join our prayers, our praises, and our meditations; and by our cheerfulness, let us all proclaim to the world that Christ's service is perfect freedom. This is the day which the Lord hath made for himself, from the first creation; and which the Lord Christ has made still more sacred and blessed by the triumphs of his resurrection, and the completion of the new creation. III. On this day he advances towards us with peculiar privileges, let us go forth to meet him with all the ardour of hope. "Happy," said the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, are these thy servants:" much more happy are Christians; 66 for a greater than Solomon is here. The Lord Jesus Christ has made this day for his people. He unites the separated and estranged: six days they are like the sheep scattered; on the seventh the flocks are gathered, or, like children at different places, they return home-their prayers, seriousness, cheerfulness, praises, mark and prove their kindred, Psalm cxxii. 1-4. He calls from secular to spiritual employment. Full long have ye toiled for the mortal part —trade, amusements, learning, have engrossed enough; it is pleasant to come and place yourselves where Mary sat, at the feet of Jesus. He has made it for the promotion of his cause on earth: who are these that are assembled? The thoughtless, ignorant, abandoned, immoral: they will receive instruction,— the arrow from the bow may pierce, mercy from the fountain may allure, glory to be revealed may invite. At least Caleb and Joshua shall report well. He supplies your personal need; you are perplexed by providential government; go into the sanctuary, you discern the end; weary of the cares of life, in him you find rest; troubled, you hear of consolation; hungry, of bread; tempted, of succour; guilty, of grace. IV. On this day we discern our interests in the triumphs of the Redeemer. He arose and proved himself to be indeed of God. Often had he received testimony from on high, but then decisively, after all his work had been wrought. He shall see of his soul's travail. He arose and assured his people of a happy resurrection. "Because I live, ye shall live also." He then became the first fruits of them that sleep. Humanity hath been raised to heaven; there is the master; he must have his servants around him. There the Redeemer sits; he looketh for his purchased possession; the head must be seen in union with all the members. Again I say, rejoice ye that believe in a divine and risen Saviour. "Render therefore to God the things that are God's." You are not left to act as you please. He demands your service. And is the demand unreasonable?—a seventh portion to him whose are all your times. Let this day be considered as the day of the Lord. Let your improvement of it correspond with the name. "It is the Lord's day, and therefore excludes levity and worldly amusement." Isaiah, lviii. 13. It is a rejoicing day: crucify your reluctance, and dismiss your gloom. God loves a cheerful giver; and the joy of the Christian is a glory borrowed from God-attractive to him that beholds it. Depression becomes not a feastmusic ill assorts with murmurs; and in the presence of a friend it is ungracious to sigh. Let us throw into each day as much of the spirit demanded by this day as we can. God sees, superintends, blesses, and stands ready to bless more abundantly every day. Every day the Jews were to offer sacrifice. 66 Every day," saith the Psalmist, "I will bless thee." When we can say so too, we prove that it is not fear, or custom, but a divine principle that regulates our observation of the Lord's day. We announce to our fellow Christians a meetness for the long and brilliant day of eternity, when the Lord shall unveil himself more gloriously, and our services and enjoyments be more exalted, perfect, and permanent. LXVIII. THE SORROWS OF SAINTS BUT TEMPORARY. BY THE REV. D. W. ASTON, BUCKINGHAM. ISAIAH, LX. 20—"AND THE DAYS OF THY MOURNING SHALL BE ENDED." THE scriptures are avowedly designed for our comfort, as well as for our correction. Correction itself, though at first painful, is a necessary step to consolation. While they direct us what method to adopt, they encourage us with the assurance that we shall not fail of success. A little acquaintance with the scriptures will fully satisfy of the correctness of this remark. There is no case of sorrow which they do not recognise, none to which they are not adapted, and which they have not the most direct and powerful tendency to relieve. And, indeed, there is no state of comfort here which they are not adapted to improve. Those especially who mourn should go to the scriptures; they should be familiar with the contents of God's revela tion to man. Under sorrows let this be the first and the last resort, and it will be found infallible; should it afford no other means of relief, it will point to the termination of them; and connecting with them the effect of divine grace in our hearts, assures us of a happy result to them all. "The days of thy mourning shall be ended." Not of one, or of some kinds of mourning only; not exchange that which is light and temporary for that which is heavy and dismal, but an entire and final end to thy mourning. This language is addressed to the church of God collectively, and to every member of it individually-to those who are made such by the grace of God. It is here, I. Implied that the grace that brings salvation to them does not exempt from mourning, in the present world. This is in reserve for futurity; for the present we must not flatter ourselves with this pleasing thought. We must hold ourselves in readiness for days of mourning, if the present are marked with brighter circumstances. And if the sent are mourning days, we should not reckon that some strange thing has happened to us. For, pre 1. Mourning is the natural effect of much of the present state of things; our sins have scattered the seeds of mourning thickly over the whole face of nature, in a soil in which they will not fail to shoot, and the curse of God has watered them and made them grow. Sin has thrown all nature in this lower world into disorder, by which the harmony of its parts is destroyed; and instead of working together, they clash one with another, and tend to destroy rather than preserve and promote the whole. The greatest disorder, and the most disastrous effects, are in our moral principles and character. Here harmony is destroyed; here a collision has taken place; here our principles and our passions are frequently at variance and at strife. And that which is the worst is, that sin has destroyed harmony between us and our God; and what better than mourning can be expected, when God and man are at variance? On this account, whether we look to ourselves or to others; whether we direct our attention to our secular or to our spiritual affairs; whether we look to the church or to the world, we ought not to wonder if we find occasion for mourning. 2. Days of mourning are permitted of God for important purposes-for purposes worthy of himself, and which ulti mately illustrate his character as a God of love and wisdom. No one will hesitate to acknowledge that God could prevent those occasions of mourning to his people if he saw it right and good to do so: that he does not is matter of fact; and without his permission they could not occur. But when they appear, they must not induce us to impeach his goodness or his wisdom; we must still remember that "he is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." And what is still more conciliatory to our minds, as far as his agency is concerned, he does it "for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." They do this in a great variety of ways as our individual and particular cases may require. They are a medicine that operates according to the nature of the disease, and the state of the patient, to effect a cure. This view of the case must be more convincing by considering, 3. They are all under the regulating hand of God. He not only permits but directs and controls them. And in doing this, while he employs his authority and power, he consults his love and his wisdom. His wisdom and his love, if not as visibly, are as really in exercise, and exert as much influence in the days of our mourning, as his power and authority. This gives them their beneficial tendency; this secures their desired effect. II. It is here declared, these days of mourning shall come to a final termination. How near or how remote that happy period may be is not told us; it is sufficient to us that it cannot be very remote, and that it is absolutely and infallibly certain. Then shall "the clouds no more return after the rain." The same grace that permits them now will put a final period to them; because, at that time, 1. They shall be no longer necessary or useful; he will have accomplished his purpose by them. There is a point in our improvement beyond which the days of mourning cannot carry us when they would be rather injurious than beneficial; and God is too kind to continue that which is painful when it will not be useful; † and too wise to continue them when they would be injurious. As soon, then, as they have done their best for us they shall be ended. 2. God will remove the subjects of his grace out of that state in which alone they can mourn. There is no mourn * Isaiah, lvii. 15. Lam. iii. 33. Mal. iii. 3. |