"Yes, often. It is the world where the Cross was raised, and where the God-Man died to redeem. I have seen many who have come from that world, and I have heard them sing and mingle with the white-robed sons of light! None seem to be so full of joy as they. How long hast thou been on the earth ?"

“About fifty of their years; but that is nothing, as we reckon in heaven!"

"What was thy errand ?"

"A little child, frail as a flower, was committed to me on its creation, fifty years ago. I was to guard it, to bear it up in my arms, to keep it, to shield it. When it was held in the arms at the baptismal font, I was there. When it went into the Sabbath-school, I went with it. When he became a youth, I kept with him, and often drew him back from danger. When he became a young man, and had launched his boat upon the ocean of life, I still went with him. When he sinned, I grieved and covered my face. When the time came that he was visited by the Holy Spirit, and the question was to be decided whether he should live to eternity in heaven or in hell, I felt an anxiety which I cannot describe. And when I saw the first tear of penitence, and saw hope entering his heart, I hastened back to heaven and carried the tidings that another soul had received the offers of life, and I could not but shout with them, as I united in the joy of the angels in the presence of God over this sinner who had repented. I went back again to

my charge on the wings of gladness, to minister to one who, as I knew, would be an heir of salvation. He has been struggling with temptations, overcoming sins, fighting against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places; he has been sowing seed which will bear fruit on earth as long as that world lives; he has been kindling up little fires, which will burn and give out warmth and light for ages to come; he has engraven the name of Christ on many a heart that is left there, and his influence will be such, that, though dead, he shall yet speak! He has finished his course, and I am now, as you see, leading him up to his eternal home!"

"Methinks he looks feeble, and like a stranger!" "Yes, but remember that he has been created only fifty of the little years of earth; that he has toiled in a body, and in a world of sin and of temptation, and is but this moment emerged from the house of clay, and the dark prison of earth. But now I am about to place him at the feet of the Lamb; I shall see him fall down in unutterable joy, and cry, 'Thou art worthy!' I shall see him clothed in white, with a crown of life on his head, and a harp of gold in his hand. I shall see him passing on through the ages of eternity with no look of earth about him, except his gratitude and love and glorified body; and I shall fully understand the words uttered on earth by the great Redeemer, when he said to his friends, 'Ye are of more value than many sparrows!'

X.-GOD REJOICING.

"The Lord shall rejoice in his works."-PSA. civ. 31.

THE Bible puts a great deal of meaning in a few words. A long sermon may be made on a short text, and yet much of the meaning of the text may be left out. Sometimes we meet with a new picture hanging up in the shop-windows, and we have to stop and study it a long time, to see if we understand it. Sometimes it takes long and hard study to understand a very small book. The child may take up an easy sum, and it seems a small affair; but it takes him long days of hard study before he can understand arithmetic. He may take a bright new watch in his hand, and perhaps be able to tell the time of day by looking at the little moving hands; but it would take him a long time so to understand the watch that he could take out all the little wheels, and then put them back again, and have them all right. Some clocks not only tell the hour and minute of time, but the year, the month, the day of the month, the day of the week, and the like. What a study it would be to be able to take such a clock to pieces, and put it together again!

We might pluck a flower, and at a glance tell its name, the month of its blooming, the

colour of its leaves, and the shape of its stalk; but how long it would take us to be able to tell how the juices are drawn up from the ground, what makes it grow, what gives its colour; what determines its shape, and how it has life! So we read over a short text, and think we understand it; but the more we think it over, the more we find in it.

I have been trying to understand the words of our text. I think I do in some degree; but not fully, I fear.

Those who live by the sea-side, often find that, after a great storm, there are a multitude of little shells washed up from the bottom of the sea. Some of these are like gold; some, like silver; some, spotted or mottled; some are pink; some, green; some look as if the rays of the setting sun had fallen on them, and painted them so beautiful; and away down in the ocean are millions of such. Why are they made so beautiful? What eye ever sees or admires them? The fish that swim over them cannot admire them; and men cannot go down and walk along the bottom of the ocean and see these beautiful things. Who can? God can! His mind planned every one,-His hand formed every one,—His skill painted every one. Every day, we are told, after creating new things, God looked upon what He had made, and saw that all was very good. So He looks down into the solitudes of the ocean, and sees the gems and the pearls and all the beautiful things there,

and rejoices over His works! Why should He not? They are the creations of infinite wisdom.

Sometimes we climb up a steep mountain-side, and when we have got far up, beyond where the trees grow, and above where the bushes grow, we come to a steep rock up which we cannot climb, and there, far up on a shelf of that steep rock, hangs a little, beautiful flower. All the skill of earth could not make one like it. It hangs and waves there alone, bending its head to the winds, and pouring its sweetness on the air. Whose eye will see it? Did an angel ever pause to admire that little flower, and praise its Maker? We do not know! But we do know that God is there, and sees it, and takes care of it. We know that He sees the beautiful mottled fish which leaps up in the dark river of the forest, and which thus mutely praises His name. No human eye can see the wild eagle of the mountain, as he first leaps from the tree, and with new wings mounts up towards heaven; but He who gave that eagle his keen eye and his strong wing, and who painted every feather on his breast, is there, to rejoice over His works. When the lithe horse of the prairie bounds forward in his joy and gladness, snuffing the morning-air without fear or restraint, there is no man there to see and admire his beautiful form and free movements; but God, his Maker, is there, and He rejoices over His works. Anything that is worthy of His hand, in its creation, is worthy of His regard, when made. And it