shall not go before those that are asleep, yet they shall not be behind them in the blessedness. They shall have the same privileges of the early morning,-the same honour, the same glory. Their eye shall look upon that Star; and it shall be to them all that it is to those who were "dwelling in dust." Living in the last days of a God-denying world,-days dark and hateful as those of Noah or of Lot,-their righteous souls vexed from day to day with wickedness. "that cannot rest," casting up its mire and dirt" on every side,-danger pressing, conflict thickening, persecution assailing, sorrows multiplying,-how welcome shall that sign be to them, springing up like hope when all is hopeless, and fore-tokening life, refreshment, rest, gladness, to the troubled and despairing earth!

Like the anxious watchman on some fortress, they have been wearying for the morning; and it has come at last! Like

the belated traveller, pressing on over hill and moor and rock and waste and thicket, they have been seeking at every turn to catch the light of their cottage window; and it is seen at last! Like the tempesttost apostle, when neither sun nor stars for many days appeared, "they wish for day," and are glad beyond measure at the tokens of its approach. The glimmer of the lighthouse has hitherto been their comfort and their guide. By it they have shaped their way and cheered their hearts. But, of a sudden, the beacon seems to sink away, and ere they are aware, its light is lost amid the far-outrivalling brightness of the Morning-star.

But upon the unready and unwatching world that Star rises with no ray of blessing. It rises only to shed "disastrous blight," and give token of the desolations that are at hand. For as when Noah entered the ark the flood burst forth, or as

when Lot entered Zoar the fire came down, so when the saints are caught up then the wrath is poured out and the door is shut.

Till then the gate of peace stands wide open, and into the chambers of safety all are beckoned. The most unready of all the children of men may go freely in; for the grace that invites makes no exceptions, but welcomes the unworthiest. It would fain allure the seekers of vain joy, from joys that are so vain. It would fain win the heart of the sorrowful, who mourn and yet have no comforter, because they have no God. It would fain draw in the secure into a place of true safety, ere the storm arise that is to break in pieces the strong foundations of the earth.

Children of the earth!-you especially whose sorrows are multiplied, and whose hearts are sick with disappointment,—give heed to the gracious warning. Enter the

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hiding-place and be safe for ever. Thrice blessed are those griefs and disappointments that lead you out of lying refuges into the sure covert from the storm, that call you from the joy of the world into the joy of God.

CHAPTER VI.

THE MORNING.

"THE watchman said, The morning cometh" (Isa. xxi. 12); and though, while making this answer, he forewarns us of night, he also assures us of morning. There is a morning, says he, therefore do not give way to faintness of spirit; but there is a night between, therefore take warning: that you may not be surprised nor dismayed, as if the promise were broken, or some strange thing allowed to befall you.

There may be delay, he intimates, before the morning,—a dark delay, for which we should be prepared. During this he calls to watchfulness: for the length of the Inight is hidden, the time of day-break is