October 31

Job iv. — 12. Now, a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

13. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

14. Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.

15. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:

16. It stood still; but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes; there was silence; and I heard a voice, saying,

17. Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker?

18. Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

19. How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth!

20. They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish forever without any regarding it.

21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? They die, even without wisdom.

2 Corinthians v. — 1. For we know, that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven;

3. If so be, that, being clothed, we shall not be found naked.

4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

5. Now, he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

6. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;

7. (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

9. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

10. For we must all appear before the judgment-sent of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

The Egyptians called the abodes of the living inns, because they are occupied only for a limited period; but the sepulchres of the dead they called eternal habitations. The apostle here calls the body itself a tent; and, by contrast, the abode prepared for the spirit after death a building immaterial and everlasting. The apparent dissolution of the body, so far from being the destruction of the soul, is its liberation for the higher life. The death of the body is in reality the triumph of the life principle in the soul over the burdens and pains of its mortal appendage: the life then swallows up all that is mortal in its belongings, and enters upon a condition of perpetual freedom, security, and joy. Hence the New Testament never represents death as a matter of gloom or apprehension to the believer; hardly speaks, indeed, of

his dying, but of his falling asleep, his going to be with Christ.

Now, this life which death cannot destroy, cannot so much as impede, is begun in the soul by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and is, in its nature and power, the eternal life. He who walks by faith walks with Christ unseen; and, when death draws the veil, he finds himself present with the Lord.

How marked the contrast between the New Testament and the Old in the clearness and confidence with which the gospel speaks of departed saints! The Old Testament so far assumed the immortality of the soul, and intimated the resurrection of the body, that these both became articles of the Jewish faith; but Christ, by his teaching and his resurrection, brought life and immortality to light.

APPROPRIATE HIMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 106, 126, 146.

O God, who hast taught us in thy Word that there is still laid up a rest for thy people, and who hast given us a promise of entering into it! grant to us, we beseech thee, that we fail not of that promise through unbelief and disobedience. Teach us to look for a house that hath foundations, of which thou art the maker and builder. Lift our hearts thither in earnest desire.

Oh sabbath of eternal peace! Oh haven where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest! When shall we see thee, O Lord! and behold the King in his beauty? When shall we meet the apostles and prophets, and the great multitude whom no man can number? When shall we see again our dear friends who sleep in Jesus?

O God the Father, who hast the times and sea- Amen.

sons in thine own power! let not that day come upon us unawares. O God the Son, who art gone to prepare a place for us! in thine own time take us to thyself, that where thou art, there we may be also. O God the Holy Ghost, the pledge of future glory in our hearts! seal us until the redemption of the purchased possession. We bless thee for the help this day received through thy holy Word and the prayers and praises of thy Church. We supplicate thy favor upon all who have heard thy Word, and upon those who have it not. We bless thee for thy mercy to this household, and commit ourselves to thy fatherly protection for the night. Keep us under the shadow of thy wings; and, O Father! bring us, we pray thee, finally to rest in thee, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.