A Speedy Coming.

"Even so! come, Lord Jesus!" "Why tarry the wheels of Thy chariot?" Six thousand years this world has rolled on, getting h.o.a.ry with age, and wrinkled with sins and sorrows. A waiting Church sees the long-drawn shadows of twilight announcing, "The Lord is at hand." Prepare, my soul, to meet Him. Oh! happy days, when thine adorable Redeemer, so long dishonoured and despised, shall be publicly enthroned, in presence of an a.s.sembled universe, crowned Lord of All, glorified in His saints, satisfied in the fruits of His soul's travail, destroying His enemies with the brightness of His coming--the lightning-glance of wrath,--causing the hearts of His exulting people to "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Prepare, my soul, to meet Him! Let it be a joyous thought to thee,--thy "blessed hope,"--the meeting of thine Elder Brother. Stand oftentimes on the watchtower to catch the first streak of that coming brightness, the first murmur of these chariot wheels. The world is now in preparation! It is rocking on its worn-out axle. There are voices on every side proclaiming, "He cometh! He cometh!

to judge the earth." Reader! art thou among the number of those who "love His appearing?" Remember the att.i.tude of His expectant saints: "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, will find WATCHING!"

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

24TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"At evening-time it shall be light."--ZECH. xiv. 7.

Eventide Light.

How inspiring the thought of coming glory! How would we rise above our sins, and sorrows, and sufferings, if we could live under the power of "a world to come!" Were faith to take at all times its giant leap beyond a soul-trammelling earth, and remember its brighter destiny. If it could stand on its Pisgah Mount, and look above and beyond the mists and vapours of this land of shadows, and rest on the "better country." But, alas! in spite of ourselves, the wings ofttimes refuse to soar--the spirit droops--guilty fears depress--sin dims and darkens--G.o.d's providences seem to frown--G.o.d's ways are misinterpreted--the Christian belies his name and his destiny. But, "At eventide it shall be light."--The material sun, which wades through clouds and a troubled sky, sets often in a couch of l.u.s.trous gold? So, when the sun of life is setting, many a ray of light will shoot athwart memory's darkened sky, and many mysterious dealings of the wilderness will then elicit an "All is well!" How frequently is the presence and upholding grace of Jesus especially felt and acknowledged at that hour, and griefs and misgivings hushed with His own gentle accents, "Fear not! it is I; be not afraid."

A triumphant death-bed! It is no unmeaning word; the eye is lighted with holy l.u.s.tre, the tongue with holy rapture, as if the harps of heaven were stealing on it. My soul! may such a life's evening-tide be thine!

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

25TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter."--JOHN xiii. 7.

Heavenly Illumination.

As the natural sun sometimes sinks in clouds, so, occasionally, the Christian who has a bright rising, and a brighter meridian, sets in gloom. It is not _always_ "light" at his evening-time; but this we know, that when the day of immortality breaks, the last vestige of earth's shadows will for ever flee away. To the closing hour of time, Providence may be to him a baffling enigma: but ere the first hour has struck on heaven's chronometer, all will be clear. My soul! "in G.o.d's light thou shalt see light;" the Book of His decrees is a sealed book now,--"A great deep" is all the explanation thou canst often give to His judgments; the _why_ and the _wherefore_ He seems to keep from us, to test our faith, to discipline us in trustful submission, and lead us to say, "Thy will be done!" But rejoice in that hereafter-light which awaits thee! Now we see through a gla.s.s darkly; but _then_, face to face. In the great mirror of eternity all the events of this chequered scene will be reflected; the darkest of them will be seen to be bright with mercy,--the severest dispensations, "only the severer aspects of His love!" Pry not, then, too curiously; p.r.o.nounce not too censoriously on G.o.d's dealings with thee. Wait with patience till the grand day of disclosures; one confession shall then burst from every tongue, "Righteous art thou, O Lord!"

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

26TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."--JOHN xiv. 3.

A Glorious Reunion.

If the meeting of a long absent friend, or brother, on earth, be a joyous event, what, my soul, must be the joy of thy union with this Brother of brothers, this Friend of friends! "I will come again!" Oh!

what an errand of love, what a promised honour and dignity is this!--His saints to share, not His Heaven only, but His immediate presence. "Where _I am, there ye_ shall be also!" "Father, I _will_ (it was His dying wish,--a wondrous codicil in that testamentary prayer) that those whom Thou hast given me be with me where _I am_." Happy reunion! Blessed Saviour, if Thy presence be so sweet on a sin-stricken earth, and when known only by the invisible eye of faith, what must be that presence in a sinless Heaven, unfolded in all its unutterable loveliness and glory!

Happy reunion! it will be a meeting of the whole ransomed family--the Head with all its members--the Vine with all its branches--the Shepherd with all His flock--the Elder Brother with all His kinsmen. Oh, the joy, too, of mutual recognition among the death-divided--ties snapt asunder on earth, indissolubly renewed--severed friendships reunited--the triumph of love complete--love binding brother with brother, and friend with friend, and _all_ to the Elder Brother! My soul! what thinkest thou of this Heaven? Remember who it is that Jesus says shall sit with Him upon His throne,--"Him that overcometh."

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

27TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever."--HOSEA ii. 19.

Everlasting Espousals.

How wondrous and varied are the figures which Jesus employs to express the tenderness of His covenant love! My soul! thy Saviour-G.o.d hath "married thee!" Wouldst thou know the hour of thy betrothment? Go back into the depths of a by-past eternity, before the world was; then and there, thine espousals were contracted: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Soon shall the bridal-hour arrive, when thine absent Lord shall come to welcome His betrothed bride into His royal palace.

"The Bridegroom tarrieth;" but see that thou dost not slumber and sleep!

Surely there is much all around demanding the girded loins and the burning lamps. At "midnight!" (the hour when He is least expected) the cry _may_ be--_shall_ be heard,--"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" My soul! has this mystic union been formed between thee and thy Lord? Canst thou say, in humble a.s.surance of thine affiance in Him, "My beloved is mine, and I am His!" If so, great, unspeakably great, are the glories which await thee! Thy dowry, as the bride of Christ, is all that Omnipotence can bestow, and all that a feeble creature can receive. In the prospect of those glorious nuptials, thou needest dread no pang of widowhood. What G.o.d has joined together, no created power can take asunder; He betroths thee, and it is "for ever!"

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

28TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"This corruptible must put on incorruption."--1 COR. xv. 53.

A Joyful Resurrection.

Marvel of marvels? The sleeping ashes of the sepulchre starting at the tones of the archangel's trumpet!--the dishonoured dust, rising a glorified body, like its risen Lord's? At death, the soul's bliss is perfect in kind; but this bliss is not complete in degree, until reunited to the tabernacle it has left behind to mingle with the sods of the valley. But tread lightly on that grave, it contains precious, because ransomed dust! My body, as well as my spirit, was included in the redemption price of Calvary; and "them also which sleep in Jesus will G.o.d bring with Him." Oh! blessed Jubilee-day of creation, when Christ's "dead men shall arise;"--when, together with His dead body, they shall come; and the summons shall sound forth, "Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust!" All the joys of that resurrection morn we cannot tell; but its chief glory we _do_ know,--"When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." Like Him!--My soul, art thou waiting this manifestation of the sons of G.o.d? Like Him!--Hast thou caught up any faint resemblance to that all-glorious image? Having this hope in thee, art thou purifying thyself, even as He is pure? Be much with Jesus now, that thou mayst exult in meeting Him hereafter. Thus taking Him as thy Guide and Portion in life, thou mayst lay thee down in thy dark and noisome cell, and look forward with triumphant hope to the dawn of a resurrection morn, saying, "What time I awake, I am still with Thee!"

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

29TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."