Here is another picture, of exiled patriots seated by the waters of Babylon. They have hung their harps on the willows. They refuse to sing the Lord's song in that strange land. But HOPE is represented restoring the broken strings; and with their eyes suffused with tears, yet glistening with joyous visions, thus they pour out their plaintive prayer-"Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south."*

Time would fail to traverse these halls and walls of ancient memory. HOPE, in every diversified form and attitude, is portrayed in the history of the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of prophets, the noble army of martyrs,—ay, sustaining too, in the midst of His sufferings and sorrows, the very bosom of the Son of God-for was it not hope ("the joy that was set before Him") that made Him "endure the cross, despising the shame?" +

And what Hope has proved in the history of the Church collectively, it is in the life of every individual believer. By nature he is a "prisoner," but "a prisoner of hope." The gospel is a "gospel of hope." Its + Zech. ix. 12.

*Psalm cxxvi. 4.

+ Heb. xii. 2.

message is called "the good hope through grace.' The God of the gospel is called "the God of Hope." The "helmet of salvation" is the helmet of "hope." The "anchor of the soul" is the anchor of "hope." § The believer "rejoices in hope," || and abounds in hope."¶ Christ is in him “the hope of glory."** HOPE peoples to him the battlements of heaven with sainted ones in the spirit-land. He "sorrows not as others, who have no HOPE." †† When death comes, Hope smoothes his dying pillow, wipes the damps from his brow, and seals his eyes. 'Now, Lord, what wait I for? my HOPE is in Thee." Hope stands with her torch over his grave, and in the prospect of the dust returning to its dust, he says, "My flesh shall rest in hope." §§ Hope is one of three guardian graces that conduct him to the heavenly gate. Now abideth these three, “Faith, HOPE, and Love," and if it be added, "the greatest of these is Love," it is because Hope and her companion. finish their mission at the celestial portal! They proceed no further, they go back to the world, to the

* 2 Thess. ii. 16. § Heb. vi. 19.

** Col. 1. 27.

§§ Ps. xvi. 9.

+Rom. xv. 13.
|| Rom xii. 12.
++ 1 Thess. iv. 13.

1 Thess. v. 8. Rom. xv. 13. ++ Ps. xxxix. 7.

wrestlers in the earthly conflict. Faith returns to

her drooping hearts, to undo

heavy burdens, and

Hope goes to her

to let the oppressed go free. dungeon vaults, her beds of sickness, her chambers of bereavement and sorrow. To take Faith or Hope to heaven, would be to take the Physician to the sound man, or to offer crutches to the strong, or to help to light the meridian sun with a tiny candle; Faith is then changed to sight, and Hope to full fruition. LOVE alone holds on her infinite mission. Faith and Hope are her two soaring pinions. She drops them as she enters the gates of glory. The watcher puts out his beacon when the sun floods the ocean the miner puts out his lamp when he ascends to the earth. Hope's taper light is unneeded in that world where "the sun shall no more go down, neither for brightness shall the moon withdraw itself, but where the Lord our God shall be an everlasting light, and the days of our mourning shall be ended."

VIII.

The Hill Mizar.

"All scenes alike engaging prove
To souls impress'd with sacred love!
Where'er they dwell, they dwell in Thee;
In heaven, in earth, or on the sea.

"To me remains nor place nor time;
My country is in every clime;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore, since God is there.

"While place we seek, or place we shun,
The soul finds happiness in none;
But, with a God to guide our way,
'Tis equal joy to go or stay.

"Could I be cast where thou art not,
That were indeed a dreadful lot;
But regions none remote I call,
Secure of finding God in all."
-Cowper.

"It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the dealings of God with their souls. It was Paul's accustomed manner, and that when tried for his life, even to open before his judges the manner of his conversion. He would think of that

day and that hour in the which he did first meet with grace, for he found it support unto him. There was nothing to David like Goliath's sword. The very sight and remembrance of that did preach forth God's deliverance to him. Oh, the remembrance of my great sins, of my great temptations, and of my great fears for perishing for ever. They bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of mercy and help—my great support from heaven, and the great grace that God extendeth to such a wretch as I."— John Bunyan.

✪ my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Tordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.”—Verse 6.