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has made, must care for us. He will not willingly destroy the work of His own hands, and if He had power to call us out of nothing, He has surely power to sustain the being He has created. "We are his people and the sheep of his pasture," we no longer desire to put Him far from us, but it is our joy to trace His hand, directing every second cause, to feel his personal, ever watchful care, to look up to Him even as our Shepherd. We now enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise," for though He be every where present, it is here we know He specially manifests himself, and in His presence, even on earth, is fulness of joy. Well may we be "thankful unto him and speak good of his name, for the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth from generation to generation." He is gracious, yet this would not suffice for us, for we are so guilty, that we have forfeited every claim to grace, and he who looks graciously on the hosts of worshipping angels, might have frowned in righteous anger on sinful men. "His mercy is everlasting ;" this meets our need, for mercy is the sinner's portion, and this mercy too is everlasting; it is deep and exhaustless as our guilt. A time is indeed coming when it shall be offered no more to those who have rejected it, but those who have closed with its gracious offers shall find it everlasting, their repeated falls cannot weary it, if they have sunk low as David in adultery and murder, if like Peter they have denied their Master, still they are not beyond everlasting mercy. Their transgression shall be visited with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes, but God will not take his loving-kindness from them, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail. This mercy is no fruit of weak indulgence, which, however we may rejoice in the present relief, weakens our confidence in

Him who shows it; it is the mercy of that God whose "truth endureth from generation to generation. Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Mercy is extended to the sinner, because the Saviour has borne his guilt, the penalty of death has been inflicted; God's truth and righteousness were justified, and while mercy rejoices against judgment, truth endures still from generation to generation.

What would be the loveliness of laughing fields and the splendour of cloudless skies to him, who was journeying onwards to the scaffold or the stake,—and who could take delight in a calm and sunny voyage over an unruffled ocean, when his destined harbour was the place of imprisonment and death? Philosophy does not even pretend to illumine the gloom that envelopes the grave, nor is there any light of this world which may not, at any moment, go out in obscure darkness. "The world passeth away, and the fashion thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, who— when the rains are descending, and the floods arising, and the winds blowing all around,-can hope to abide the tempest, but he that hath built upon the rock ? What lot can be maintained amidst the disorder and disarray of the affrighted and receding universe, but that which has Infinite Wisdom for its contrivance, infinite power for its accomplishment, infinite love for its security, infinite joy for its consummation; that which is now conformity to the moral image of Christ, and shall hereafter be perpetual satisfaction in the perfected likeness of God.-Dale's Golden Psalm.

"THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME."

THE cycles of heaven are rolling onwards, and well nigh two thousand years have passed away since the inspired Apostle wrote, and yet "the day" has not arrived. So grand is the drama to be acted on that day, that Scripture seems to count little on any other, -calling it with peculiar emphasis, the day.

Many have already had their day, and it is over. Satan has had his day. Once he stood among the ranks of the archangels, and no tree in the garden of God was to be compared to him. But how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! thy day has set in the blackness of darkness for ever.

Unfallen man has had his day, it was a lovely one; fair was the breath of its dawn, and sweet its cool evening shadows, fanned by the lips of God. But it passed, night closed upon the world, and but for the Star of Bethlehem which shone through the clouds, that night would have been as black as that of hell. But even in this fallen world many have had their day. Kings and conquerors, heroes, sages, and poets, have won and worn their crowns, and have passed into history. And shall not the chosen of God, the anointed of Jehovah, the wondrous Man who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, have his day also ? He must, he shall, for God hath sworn it. "The day of the Lord will come." The devils wait for it in fear, they believe in its approach and tremble. Satan knows

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that his time is short. The elect angels wait for it, they watch the dial-plate of heaven, as the hands of providence move onward to the mystic number which they cannot read, but long to understand; and the question— "When wilt thou take unto thee thy great power?" seems whispered from rank to rank. The spirits of the blest in their mysterious mansions are waiting for that day. "How long, O Lord ?" they ask, as they gaze on the seven-sealed book, and a voice from the throne replies, "Rest yet a little season." Yes, and many a careworn child of God below, from time to time enquires, "Why are his chariots so long in coming, why tarry the wheels of his chariot ?" and the Spirit whispers, "Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." "The day of the Lord will come.' Like the days of earth it will have its dawn, its noon, and its evening. The flush upon the dusky cheek of night heralds its approach. The watchmen mark it, they point it to their comrades. It is the sign of the Son of Man, but he is not yet come. Look to the earth, and behold the scene displayed there. I see the tents of Kedar, the curtains of the land of Midian, I see the banners of all nations floating round Jerusalem. (Oh that thy Lions, England, may be wanting in that battle-field !) I see the Roman Eagles waving over the holy mountain. I hear the shrieks of Judah's daughters, the lamentations of the priests, as they weep before the altar. I hear the trumpets of victory announcing the approach of the Emperor of the world, "the snorting of his horses is heard from Dan, the land trembles beneath their tread." Behold him enter in triumph the beloved city. Behold him take his stand as Priest and King before the altar. It is the day of Antichrist. Oh "Watchman, what of the night ???

He answers-The darkest hour precedes the dawn. The morning cometh. Look to the sure word of prophecy.

How dawns that day in heaven? Behold the portals of the east rolled back. The Bridegroom coming to receive his bride. He stands, the man Jehovah-what human eye can look upon his dazzling beauty. Like pillars of fragrant smoke, arise from the wilderness of the world, from the desert of the grave, his ransomed people to meet their Lord. Then when all are gathered, when every member of his mystic body is collected, when bone has come to its bone, the mighty God ascends the car of the cherubim, and like a tropic sun rushes forth to run his race. 66 Before him goes the pestilence," that sword of the Lord, "his lightnings lighten the world," the perpetual hills are bowing in glad submission, the hoary deep is lifting its arms on high to greet him. The tribes of Israel are hastening across the parting waters, and Judah is exclaiming, Behold our God. So dawns the day of the Lord. That day wears on. How grand its noon-tide glories! The earth is sleeping in the peace of paradise. The great deceiver is bound in his prison. Babylon is fallen, is fallen! and the abyss has closed over the rebel host. No ravenous beast has his dwelling on earth. The mountain of the Lord, the holy hill of Zion, is exalted above the mountains. On it stands Jerusalem, the world's metropolis. Like snow on Salmon, is reared the temple of the Lord; to it the tribes of the world go up to worship there; kings do homage in it, and on its battlements floats the standard of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The throne of the world is held by Him whose right it is, the first-born of many brethren, the Prince of the Kings of the earth. Praise waits for him through all creation, and the deep diapason of the Church on

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