which haunt us in our sleepless hours like steadily fixing the mind on God as our merciful and reconciled Father in Christ Jesus. At no time does the expression "Looking unto Jesus," convey to us a more blessed meaning. And what is this but a picture in miniature of the experience of God's servants in every dark night of trial or anxiety which comes to them? When does God give songs in the night? Is it not when we are able with some degree of vividness to realise that He is with us and His Fatherhood becomes to us a great and glorious reality? Is it not when the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord is manifested in all its infinite fulness? The cloud then turns to us its silver lining. We find rest unto our souls in the certainty of God's Fatherly love, and in the firm persuasion that all things, being ordered in perfect wisdom, are working together for our present and eternal good. Is it the loss of friends which causes us to dwell in darkness? Are there no songs in the night if we hear that voice which is still crying as of old: "I am the Resurrection and the Life;" Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;" "As Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him"? Is it the loss of property, or the straitened circumstances which are so common in these days which make us sad? Are there no songs in the night if we are taught that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth; if human sympathy is called forth and brotherly love deepened; if the tone of society is purified and elevated, and our thoughts are lifted above the sordid cares of this life and fixed on the better and enduring substance?

Once more then, let us draw near to the manger-cradle of our Redeemer, that adoring the mystery of the "Word made flesh," we may be strengthened and comforted, and that these poor hearts of ours, oft saddened by the jarring discords of earth, may be soothed by the strange sweet melody of the angels' song. Let us open our hearts anew to the message of peace, "Unto you is born this day a Saviour who is Christ the Lord." Like the shepherds, "let us now go even unto Bethlehem," and our faith like theirs will be confirmed by the experience of what Christ is, to all who truly know and truly love Him. We shall find that in the gospel, embraced not merely as a creed but realised and felt as a living power in the life, there is a balm for every sorrow, and a light to guide

us

Nor should we forget, least of all at this season, that if God giveth songs in the night, we should seek in this respect as in every other to be imitators of Him. By the exercise of a practical Christian sympathy, by the ready help we extend to all who are in need, by our brotherly kindness and charity, we too can give songs in the night. We can deliver the poor, the fatherless, and him that hath no helper, and so the blessing of him that is ready to perish shall come upon us, and many who now dwell in darkness shall awake and sing.

FOURTH SUNDAY.

Read Rom. xiii. 11—14, and John ix. 4.

THE MORNING COMETH.

Most of us have felt that on the last Sunday of the year the mind is peculiarly susceptible of good impressions. A week hence we shall be accustomed to the change. Our thoughts, like our pen, will have become familiar with the new date. But to-day there is in every heart which indifference has not chilled into utter insensibility a certain tenderness of feeling which predisposes to serious reflection. Even the trifler is solemnised, if only for a moment, as he crosses that hidden boundary which separates the old year from the new. To the Christian it is one of those moments in life which are rich with possibilities of fresh achievement and resolve. It seems appropriate at such a time to review the past with blended gratitude and penitence. The eye then turns wistfully to the future, anxious to discover the secrets which lie hidden in its bosom. The question, What am I, and whither tending forces itself on our attention with more than common solemnity.

Now when St. Paul uttered this great advent call, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand," he stated a fact which, if duly considered, should go far to scatter those gloomy thoughts which in certain moods we are apt to associate with the dying year. Our feelings at this season will be truly peaceful and happy in the same degree as we realise that the swiftly passing years are bearing us, not into darkness, but into light. The joy with which we greet the opening year must be shallow and unreal unless it has its roots deep struck in the soil of a holy Christian hope. It is positively unnatural to rejoice when one year ends and another begins if our rejoicing has in it no element of religious faith. Not indeed that there

is aught unseemly in festive gladness, expressing itself in kindly greetings and happy, social gatherings at this time. On the contrary, there is every reason why such innocent practices as have commended themselves in all ages to the best and healthiest instincts of our nature should be encouraged. Austerity is always unlovely. We err only when we substitute the mirth of mere thoughtlessness for that deeper and holier joy which springs from the consciousness of being encircled in everlasting arms which are bearing us forward towards a brighter day, and to the possession of better things than any which the changeful years have taken from us. No thoughtful person can recall even one brief year without there being an undertone of sadness in his gaiety. Let him, however, grasp this fact, that the advance is not from light to darkness, as we are prone to think, looking at the matter from a human stand-point, but from darkness to light, if so be the life of God is in us and then how much brighter and happier will be the transition from the old year to the new! The sense of loss which might otherwise overwhelm the mind is swallowed up in the blessed consciousness of having an enduring substance over which time and change have no power. We may mourn for beloved comrades taken from our side; but even that sorrow is turned into joy if we remember that as our circle of friends grows smaller on earth it is becoming wider in heaven! Human joys may pass away. The fountain of earth's pleasures may dry up. But "in God's presence there is fulness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' Believing this firmly and vividly we can say "good-bye" to the year that is going, and hold out a hand of ready welcome to that which is coming, because we know that each year as it passes brings us nearer to the sunrise and the dawn -nearer to that day of days when the promise of bliss shall be fulfilled-"Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." How differently do the "men of this world" regard the flight of time! Great indeed is the change which faith makes in our estimate of the transitory and the abiding.

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It will be noticed that St. Paul uses the terms "night" and "day" in a sense directly opposite to our Lord, when He said, "I must work the work of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh in which no man can work." Jesus calls the present life

"day," in contrast to the stillness and inac tivity of the grave. St. Paul, on the other hand, contrasts the present life with that brighter state which lies beyond, where "they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light." And "there is no night there."

Both aspects of the subject are suitable to this season. The morning cometh, also the night. The sands of another year are running low. With it how many opportunities of receiving and doing good have passed away! We must not suffer it to fall into its grave without earnestly beseeching God for Christ's sake to forgive its wasted hours, its neglected privileges, its misused advantages. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.

Nor are the practical lessons which underlie the apostle's imagery less solemn or constraining. The Day is at hand! No doubt the reference is primarily to the Second Advent. It formed no part of the commission of Christ's apostles to declare when He will come again. They only knew as we do that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief, and accordingly they ever recommended a spirit of watchful and sober-minded expectancy with regard to it. It is but a shallow criticism that would dismiss these words as meaningless, because they are as yet unfulfilled in the literal sense. We need not, however, trouble ourselves, meanwhile, with difficult questions of interpretation. Times without number, as notably in the case of St. Augustine, these words"The night is far spent, the day is at hand," have been as a voice from God, trumpettoned, awakening the soul from the slumber of carnal indifference, and constraining it to stronger effort and to a nobler life.

Thus may we now hear it amid the shadows of the closing year. "There is a time to build up and a time to pull down." The present is such a time as that. Now are we summoned with a special urgency to "cast off the works of darkness," all that shuns the light, all that cannot bear to be looked upon in the Presence of Him "who is light, and with Whom there is no darkness at all," and to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," that being clothed in the pure vesture of His saints, we may serve God and wait for His Son from heaven. In this spirit let us meet the future, hopefully and courageously believing that for all God's true children, it is radiant with the promise of the eternal morn. "Though it tarry, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not tarry."