Year: 1872

bi REV. II. bs huOkEks


A visit in the country found me at a
quiet hotel on the banks of river.
The flowing waters gladdened my sight
in the day, but far greater was the
pleasure as | heard the gentle MUIR
muring of the waters in the wakeful
watches of the night. In the univer-
sal stiffness of the hour there was
nothing to call my attention elsewhere.
/ gave myself up to the many and
pleasing thoughts suggested by the
midnight music of the waters.


1t was no violent stretch of the i'm
agination that the river seemed to be a
speaker-a preacher, and it seemed to
say, In the quiet stiffness of the night
you can hear without distraction, and
| will discourse of the life of the
Christian as illustrated by my own.


Like the Christians life my origin
is hidden. No eye of man sees into
the depths of the earth from which l
come. SO spiritual life in the soul
arises from those infinite counsels of
God into which no finite mind can pen
citrate.


The purifying power of my waters
suggests similar agency and duty in
every Christian. | cleanse wherever |
go. So the saint, himself cleansed by
the washing of regeneration and sane
tilted by the Spirit of God, should be
purifying agent in reference to all
the moral pollution around him. His
word, his example, his influence in all
its forms, should be constant rebuke
of every form of sin, and commenda-
tory of all that purifies the hearts and
lives of men.


| am symbol of the harmony and
union that should exist among all the
saints. Every rain-drop and every
rill that reaches me comes into perfect
harmony with me, as soon as we meet.
On the instant of the touch we are
one. So should it be with all the saints.
Called by the same God, enlight-
ened and sanctified by the same
Spirit, Joined by a living faith to the
same Spirit, joined by living faith to
the same Savior, and hoping for the
same heaven, where should there be
the most delightful of harmony if not
among the children of God?


Let my busy life remind the Chris
tian that his should be like it. Since
| started on my way have not linger-
ed a moment. An idle hour Not
one. And can any saint more than /
afford to be idle ? Gravitation i'm
nels me on. But what glorious mo-
tives mnel those who have Saviour
to glorify, heaven. to win, and i'm
mo- al souls to save.


Mine is not o lily busy life, but it
abounds in usefulness. give bless
ings wherever 1 go. l fertilize the
valley, enrich the meadow, drive the
mill, quench the thirst of man and
beast, and carry the burdens Of indus
try and commerce to the sea. So let
every saint be, not busy only, but busy
in usefulness.


Nothing stops me in my course. A
rock But l go over it, or around it.
A dam! None ever has or can stay me
long. So no obstacle should stop the
Christian in the resolute and faithful
discharge of all his duties.


| have a great end in view, contin-
ued the midnight preacher. l must
reach the great and wide sea. Every
hour and moment | am moving that
way. But the great end of every child
of God is heaven of eternal glory,
an ocean of boundless bliss.


Such was the music at midnight that
beguiled the lonely, and made it hap
py hour, the ripping waters preaching.
and suggesting sweetest themes of
thought, and giving, by its striking
symbols of the Christian life, new
impulse to my own.