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ten thousand of his saints," and has flowed on continually; now appearing as but a shallow brook, over which a man might pass dry shod; but it has ever been a living stream. For a season it may have disappeared, as though it had taken an underground course, and came not "with observation;" but ever and anon, it has become visible to the eye of man, as holy men of God appeared, testifying to "the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began." At the first Advent of the Lord it was increased exceedingly, and became as "the swelling of Jordan," bidding fair to flow on unimpeded till "the time of the end." But when "darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people," and the light of heaven was almost hid from Christendom, it was lost in the universal gloom. Then, again, when at the Reformation, God seemed to say, "Let there be light, and there was light," this, with every kindred truth, burst forth upon the view, and though sometimes lost behind the rocks of the desert, and the wild scenes of the wilderness, through which it rolled, it has again and again appeared, until in these last days it has become to us "as a place of broad rivers and streams," wherein may "go galleys with oars," and many a

"gallant ship" may pass thereby; and as time rolls on, it will gather strength, until our brook having become a river, our river will become a (Eccles. xxiv. 31.)

sea.

In concluding our remarks, we feel assured that we are uttering sentiments common to all the brethren who have been united in this work of the Lord, when we say, that whilst it is our earnest desire to direct the minds of our fellow-men to the glory which shall be revealed in the coming kingdom of Christ, it is by no means our wish to draw them away from present duties, or the daily exercises of the Christian life; that, whilst we acknowledge the past to be full of mighty interest to the children of men, because it proclaims, how God loved the world, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for its sins; and the present to be fitted to arrest their attention, because in it they live and move and have their being, it is to the future that we would principally direct them, laden as it is with the full realities of "that blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Titus ii. 13.)

Thus, if from the

past they have learned the preciousness of Christ crucified to their souls, they may learn from the future to expect "that when Christ, who is their

life shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory." If from the past they have been led to sit with comfort at the foot of his cross, the future will teach them to look from that station to his return in glory, when "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." (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.)

WILLIAM W. PYM.

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