The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1871-10-31

cnce, power and dominion Of sin over
us, that it is leading us down to ever
lasting ruin and misery, where hope nor
mercy never can reach us; where our
companions will be ''dogs,a sorcerers.
a I'd lewd persons, and murderers, and
idolaters, and every one that loves and
makes lie See Reu, n,cii, Is. "But
blessed are the dead that die in the Lord,
yea, saith the Spirit, they sest from their
iabors," DC. ReU. api, Is.
But now Jesus stands (as it were} with
"outstretched, arms of mercy" and bids
the Jew bending beneath the burdens of
the ceremonial law, ,and finding all fulfilled
in Christ, acknowledging the superiority
of the Gospel over the law, and bowing
submissively to Christ, willing with all
confiiencein Him as being able and. will
ling to ''save TO the uttermost all that call
upon Him." putting, his trust in Him to
come and be relieved from all his former
load and burden of sin, and enjoy that
sweet rest, as he continues to. gaze on the
glories of God manifest in the flesh,"
realizing that the latter kiiieth, hut the
Spirit giveth life. Yes, he can come with
all his Pharisaic traditions and self right
eousness, if only he is willing to cast off
his unhallowed load and lay it at his Mas
ter's feet, and enter into ge& with Christ.
O,what a wonder that a single Jew should
remain in unbelief while such gracious
privileges are thus offered in the Gospel
of Christ. 7.'
And then, too that wandering, idola-
trous, inidelic. self polluted son of man.
the Gentle, with all the communicating
weight of sin resting down upon him,
that has ever been the only means of sep
aration from God, while he, in former
ages, has been working out and demon
strating the truth of the problem, that
man, left alone, is perfectly incapable of
governing himself in religion. Willing
now, through the abundance of evidence,
to believe that Jesus was the "Son Of
Coo" and accept the offered mercy, real
izing now that he may have an advocate
with God, and q mediator through whom
he may, with the. utmost confidence, APP
proach "the only true GoG," who is wor-
thy to be worshipped by mortal man may
come and throw off the mighty load of
sin, and lay it all upon the Son of God,
who has promised to sustain him in every
trial, during his willing, trusting, and abb
ding service, and rest from all his guilt; /;
forHe has said, "And him that comes to
me will in no wise cast out" But still
we are made to realize that this rest, which
the true Christian enjoys in this life, only
abides while we abide-that it only en-.
dures while we endure. But then there is
a great joy in the Christians heart to
know that we have this rest, in which we
can abide while waiting here below, hav-
ing passed from death unto life, from a
state of alienation from God into the
kingdom Of His dear Son.
But query arises here. Jesus is invi-
ting sinners heavy laden, to come and be
relieved from their load and yet He puts a
yoke upon them although He has promis-
edrest He imposes upon them burden.
What can be the meaning of this We
direct YOUR attention to Heb. a., IL. Paul
says, ''Let US labor to enter into this rest
(that remains. So we see the term yoke
is used to emblem;ze the require ments of
Christ, and TO take it upon us is to serve
Him in all things. The idea here is, that
while we are enjoying that rest we are to
labor, and to the true follower of Christ
to labori in His vineyard is but rest, to
enter into that ''rest that remains" We
are no more the servants of sin," but
''the servants Of righteousness" and this
service when, compared with our former
service, is so much more to be desired
that even the service itself is very fitting.
ly called rest Then if we are free from
sin. having "obeyed from the heart that
mould of doctrine" we are in the service
of God and have our fruit unto holiness,
that the end may be everlasting life. -
Then as we have set out on arace in
which our spirits rest from sin, and our
consciences are at rest, '.let us run with
patience the race set before US" ever re.
membering to 'lay aside every weight
and the sin that doth so easily beset u.s. -
being guided by the star of Bethlehem,
as were the wise men of the East. until
it shall guide lis to where we shall all re-
ceivea crown amid the joyful acclama
tons of the saints and angels of never
fading glory, filled with stars more daz-
zling than the heavenly luminaries that are
seen over our heads at midnight And
as we have engaged in warfare let us
fight on until we shall fall beneath the feet
of the foe, or shall come off more than
conquerors through Him who "has wash.
ed us in his own blood realizing that ou1
cause is a just and righteous one.
But we are now prepared to inquire af,
ter the nature Of the remaining rest The
Word Of God reveals two states of rest
in the future. The spirit state and the
resurrection state. Here again we step
one step higher to find the nature Of the
rest of the spirit state, for we see that the
spirit state is one step or degree, at least
higher than the Christian enjoys in this
life. For we hear Paul saying that 70,
him "to live is Christ, butto die is gain y
from this we sec that there is something
to be gained to ourselves (if indeed oul
lives are like Paul's, in dying, and when
we have worked and labored in the Mas.
ter's cause until our work is done, and we
in old age are brought to that condition
in our physical lives, when we can be Of
no more use to our friends and fellow
men, We can say with Paul that we desire
to depart and be arrest. But what is there
to be gained in death? Peter says OF
Christ, "Whom having not seen you love.
in whom though you see Him not, yet be
lieving ye rejoice with JOY unspeakabIe
and full of glory" O, if the Christian
gain by dying, above that which is un-
speakable and full of glory, then truly
eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
hath it entered into the heart of man the
things that God hath prepared fol
them who love him." lst Cor. ii, 9. Then