EPH. i. 13, 14. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." HEB. xi. 14-16. "For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city." HEB. iv. 9. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." 1 PET. i. 3-5. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." Though nature's strength decay, The watery deep I pass With Jesus in my view, And through the howling wilderness The goodly land I see, With peace and plenty blest, A land of sacred liberty, And endless rest: There milk and honey flow, There dwells the Lord our King, His kingdom still maintains, And, glorious with His saints in light, For ever reigns! He keeps His own secure ; With streams of sacred bliss, With all the fruits of Paradise, He still supplies. THOMAS OLIVERS. "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho; and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar." E have here an account of the last scene in the history of Moses, the illustrious law-giver and leader of the children of Israel. They were at this time on the borders of the land of Canaan, and about to enter on the possession of it; and it might have been expected, that he, who had been the honoured instrument of leading them forth, free and triumphant, out of the land of oppression, and the house of bondage, and who had superintended all their wanderings in the wilderness, would have been privileged to introduce them into their promised rest. Instead of this, however, the Divine command was given to him, "Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel; and when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes, that is, the water of Meribah in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin." In obedience to this command, he ascended to the top of Pisgah, the loftiest peak in the range of hills skirting the borders of Moab, to which the name of Abarim was given, and thence was permitted to enjoy the promised survey of the earthly inheritance of Israel. We can easily conceive how deeply and intensely he must have felt, while gazing upon the beautiful and enchanting landscape that was now spread out at his feet. But his contemplation was not bounded by his natural vision. We cannot doubt that, standing, as he now did, on the very brink of the spiritual Jordan, he beheld by the eye of faith the scene beyond, and gazed upon the spacious land that lies beneath the shining sky of im |