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rain on the just and on the unjust." Let us be patient; this dispensation cannot have less of Providence in it than the last, since it is under the hand of our Elder Brother, who has acquainted Himself with all our lot. Remember, it was He

who said, "The very hairs of your head are all numbered."

2. For the triumphs of the Cross we have to arm ourselves with patience; to wait effectively as soldiers under arms-ay, and under fire too, very often. The waiting has, just now, this peculiar trial about it-that never before was the vision posted up in clear characters all over the world as it has been of late. The British and Foreign Bible Society returns an account of some 2,000,000 Scriptures, printed last year in the varied tongues of men. The American Bible Society prints from 300 to 400 copies per diem in fifty-seven languages. With multiplied frequency this Word is quoted in speech, in letters, in books, in sermons. It is urged home by Bible thinkers, and declared by Bible readers, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, Sunday-school teachers, all exhibiting its truths. Wonderful is the light that streams to-day from the Cross. Prophecy is fulfilled in this respect. "The Lord gave the word; great

was the company of those that published it." Yet how little it seems to accomplish! how often it appears to be a dry statement of fact rather than a warm, bright, quickening vision; if not a dead letter, yet a letter in a state of suspended animation. So much labour and treasure—the alabaster box broken, but, alas! the burial of the Lord so near, and His resurrection so long to wait for; and some scoff and some find fault. Vehement publication is impatient for results. Many a devout soul cries, "Oh, when will the Gospel melt the heart of my alter ego? When will it awake my sluggish hearers? When will it save souls in my class? The spiritual atmosphere is grey and cold: when will the sun shine? There is nought around me but disappointment and barrenness.

Some Christians are so restless, they cannot endure this. They are like people of feeble health who cannot winter in England, but must chase the sunshine round the globe. So these Christians would always be prospering, always singing revival songs. They lose thus the patience and strength of tranquil trust, the depth and sweetness of soul that result from holding communion with God alone. In our Christian activities, the

less we toss about, the more calmly and devoutly we wait in our appointed places, the more we shall prove that we wait upon God, not upon man, or human organization or effort. “In due time ye shall reap, if ye faint not.”

3. But above all do we need patience in waiting for the second coming of our Lord, and the consummation of all things. There is nothing to help here but “faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." The Church has waited long; the scoffers grow ever bolder, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." There is in us the weakness of an impatience that frets to see, or of an indifference that fails to watch. Let the vision speak to us; it is yet for "an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

To Daniel the word came not as to us; then the thing was true, but the time appointed was long. Now the word is, “Surely I come quickly." To him the word was given. "Go thy way, Daniel; for thy words are closed up and sealed till the times of the end." To us the word is,

"Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book ; for the time is at hand."

Let these utterances speak to us, and calm our impatience, and strengthen our desire.

Let

the grandeur of the issues that approach us every hour tell home upon our hearts. The final separation of the just from the unjust is coming; let us work while it is called to-day. Now we walk by faith, not by sight; let our life by faith be true and real, for soon there will be enough to see. "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Amen.

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"Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, Rejoice.”—PHIL. iv. 4,

PAUL has written this before, and repeats it

here again, and this text-word forms the

undertone of the whole Epistle. Yet the circumstances of the writer are not joyous in their character: imprisoned at Rome, that imprisonment becomes closer and harsher as his end approaches. Yet when Epaphroditus comes to him with presents and love-tokens from the members of the church at Philippi, the prisoner sends back by him an epistle which is to his other epistles what the 103rd Psalm is to the Book of the Psalms. How powerfully this enforces the truth that God has avenues open to the soul which He can fill with joyous influences when

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