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“OCCUPY TILL I COME.’* 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 By the Rev. A. W. RUDISILL. 
 
 Preached at the United Communion celebrated at Madras, 
 on the 3rd January 1886. 
 
 When the closing hours of our Saviour’s sojourn upon earth 
 drew nigh, he led his disciples out as far as Bethany, and 
 lifted up his hands and blessed them and it came to pass 
 while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried 
 up to heaven. Some one has said that the ascension of 
 Elijah was as the flight of a bird which noue can follow', 
 the ascension of Christ as a bridge from earth to heaven for 
 all who will to ascend. While this is true, and beautiful as 
 it is true, there is a fact, a promise of a good thing to come 
 which the believer should always associate with the ascension 
 of our Lord. As he went up the disciples looked stead- 
 fastly toward heaven until a cloud received him out of their 
 sight ; still they gazed, doubtless transfixed with wouder, at 
 the sublime spectacle they had witnessed, when two angels 
 with unseen approach stood by them and said, “ Ye men of 
 Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven, this same 
 Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come 
 in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Here 
 there is no ambiguity to keep us in the dark as to the actual 
 personal second advent of our Saviour. “ It is the same 
 personal, visible Jesus which ascended that shall come. 
 The coming shall be in like manner with the going. A 
 figurative or spiritual coming would clearly not be a coming 
 of the same Jesus, and still more clearly not a coming in 
 like manner” So strongly is the promise of the second 
 coming of our Lord rooted in the heart of the believer that 
 
2 
 
 Christians in all ages have lived in expectation of this 
 glorious event. “ It may be at morn, when the day is 
 awaking, when sunlight through darkness and shadow is 
 breaking. It may be at the blackness of midnight, but 
 Jesus ivill come to receive his own.” 
 
 We find two reasons given by Luke, why Jesus spake the 
 parable from which our text is taken : “ He added and 
 spake a parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem and 
 because they thought that the kingdom of God should imme- 
 diately appear,” so then to all who are looking for their 
 coming Lord this teaching has a deep significance. 
 
 The Roman Empire made and unmade kings. The city 
 of Rome was the centre of its power so that noble aspirants 
 for regal authority journeyed thither from far off lands to 
 obtain a throne and a sceptre. This parable is perhaps not 
 so much the detail of a particular case as a picture of what 
 frequently took place during the times of the Empire, still, 
 it is so readily suggested by the case of Archelaus that 
 many suppose him to be the nobleman. Both Herod and 
 his son Archelaus received the kingdom of Judaea by going 
 to a far country ; that is to the Emperor at Rome. When 
 Archelaus went to Rome to obtain the sceptre of Judaea 
 the Jews sent a message to Caesar saying “We will not 
 have this man to reign over us.” Besides, Jesus had just 
 entered and passed through Jericho, where these facts were 
 well known. Archelaus went to Rome to receive a kingdom 
 that soon passed away. The diviuely born Sou of God has 
 gone to the highest heavens to be invested by God his 
 Father with the kingdom that shall never pass away. We 
 are here waiting for his return. With what interest then 
 ought we to read the messages of our ascended Lord ! One 
 of them is : “ Let your loins be girded about, and your 
 lights burning: and ye yourselves like men that wait for 
 their Lord, when he will return from the wedding ; that, 
 when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him 
 immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord 
 when he cometh shall find watching : verily I say unto you 
 
3 
 
 that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to 
 meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall 
 come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and 
 find them so, blessed are those servants.” Another message 
 is “ Occupy till I come.” 
 
 Instead of putting weapons into the hands of his servants 
 to protect his interests by force of arms, the nobleman 
 gives to them pounds and says “ Occupy till I come,” 
 and we cau readily discover what he meant by this charge 
 if we read the 15th verse: “And it came to pass, that 
 when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then 
 he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to 
 whom he had given the money, that he might know how 
 much every man had gained by trading.” By its old 
 English use the word “occupy” signifies to traffic. The 
 revised version very properly renders it “ Trade ye here- 
 with till I come,” therefore the object of the nobleman 
 in entrusting his servauts with his pounds was that they 
 should gain for him more. We have just been singing 
 words that I think must have touched every heart : 
 
 The Church has waited long 
 Her absent Lord to see ; 
 
 And stili in loneliness she waits, 
 
 A friendless stranger she. 
 
 Age after age has gone, 
 
 Sun after sun has set, 
 
 And still in weeds of widowhood, 
 
 She weeps a mourner yet. 
 
 The whole creation groans, 
 
 And waits to hear that voice 
 That shall restore her comeliness, 
 
 And make her wastes rejoice. 
 
 Come, Lord, and wipe away 
 The curse, the sin, the stain ; 
 
 And make this blighted world of ours 
 Thine own fair world again. 
 
 There may seem at first sight too much anxiety expressed 
 in these words, but it is a Scriptural experience. Paul 
 said, “ ourselves also which have the first fruits of the 
 spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting 
 for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” B 
 
4 
 
 the apostle did something more than wait. He looked for- 
 ward with joy because his pound had gained. “ For what” 
 he says “ is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are 
 uot eveu ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his 
 coming?” Again, “ as also ye have acknowledged us in 
 part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in 
 the day of the Lord Jesus,” We too can meet the Lord with 
 joy when we have something to show. To wait in idleuess 
 is to wait in sin. “ Thy pound hath gained,” will be our joy. 
 
 There are three ways by which men procure gain. The 
 first, is by waging war; the second, is by trading; the 
 third, by production, or the directing of the forces of nature 
 to the service of man. The Romans preferred war and des- 
 pised traffic. The light in which trade was regarded by 
 them may be gathered from Cicero who says : “The gain 
 
 of merchants, as well as all who live by labor and not skill 
 is mean and illiberal, their very merchandise is a badge of 
 their slavery. All artisans are engaged in a degrading 
 slavery.” War was the national policy of the Greeks and 
 Romans, even the great Roman roads were built with a view to 
 their military advantages, and not to trade and industry. 
 Augustus pronounced the penalty of death against the 
 senator Ovininus for haviug degraded himself by con- 
 ducting a manufactory. Quite the contrary is the manner 
 in which the kingdom of Christ is to spread over the earth. 
 Many have longed to extend this Kingdom with carnal 
 weapons, and to gain for Christ by the sword instead of by 
 the inoffensive improvement of their talents by gospel 
 means. Jesus says “ he that takes the sword shall perish by 
 the sword.” Christ is the Prince of Peace, and if His spirit 
 can be cultivated so that men shall love men everywhere, 
 will uot war cease, will not all strife be done away ? Neau- 
 der says : Nothing can be more hurtful to the cause of truth 
 than attempting to support and further it by some other 
 power than its own. This just sentiment deserves to bo 
 written in letters of gold. Experience has shown that 
 nothing can be more hurtful to the cause of Christ than 
 
attempting to gain for it in any other way than the one 
 he has marked out. It still holds good. “ Woe to them 
 that go down to Egypt for help ; aud stay on horses and trust 
 in chariots because they are many ; and in horsemen, 
 because they are very strong : but they look not unto the 
 Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord !” 
 
 The first way in which we can gain is by diligently dis- 
 posing of the gospel wares, God has so freely given us. The 
 Saviour is represented as having bought us with a price. 
 The kingdom of God is like unto a merchant man seeking 
 goodly pearls. We are told to buy the truth and sell it 
 not. “ Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, 
 and he that hath uo money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come 
 buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Again 
 “ I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that 
 thou mayest be rich.” When the Christian has bought with- 
 out money aud without price, he is to increase that which 
 he has bought. God gives to us freely but gives only that 
 we may improve aud add to that which we receive. He says 
 “ Trade ye herewith till I come.” In this the children of this 
 world are wiser after their generation than the children of 
 light. How busy the}' are ! Give one of the wise ones of this 
 world a penny, he asks for no more, he does not sit down aud 
 despair because it is not a thousand pounds. He will 
 multiply it and multiply it again and again until he gains 
 millions. Such a man was John Jacob Astor. Born near 
 lleidelburg, the youngest son of a peasant, he left home 
 with only a little money, but he bought, sold, traded until 
 he counted his millions by the score. Just such active 
 earnest pound multipliers are noeded in the Church to-day. 
 With a holy greed for holy gains we need to go into the 
 world. Instead of folding our hands and idly referring the 
 solution of every difficulty to the coming of Christ, we are 
 to obey him if we love him, aud busily' keep gaining for 
 him until he comes, yea if we knew he were coming to-day 
 the intervening hours should be spent iu holy gaining. 
 “ Occupy till I come.” 
 
6 
 
 How touching is that scene where Paul calls the Elders 
 of Ephesus aud with tender words bids them farewell. 
 From the depths of his mighty soul he speaks : “ take heed 
 therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock.” Why these 
 words of caution ? Hear him, “ for I know r this, that after my 
 departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not 
 sparing the flock.” “ Also of your own selves shall men arise, 
 speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.” 
 And Paul’s words came true, the wolves came with hellish 
 malice, to scatter, tear and slay. Hymenoeus and Alexander 
 made shipwreck of the faith. Phygellus aud Hermogenes 
 bitterly opposed Timothy and turned many away. The 
 words of Philetus began to eat as a canker. Diotrephes 
 strove for pre-eminence and rejected the holy John. Cerin- 
 tlius rose against him in bitter enmity. The Nicolaitans 
 falsely called themselves Christians, but were tried and found 
 liars. All these things occurred in the Church of Ephesus. 
 What did these Ephesians do ? Did they quake and quail ? 
 Did they seek to hide themselves from the heretical tempest 
 that threatened to tear up the foundations of the Christian 
 religion ? Did they wait in idleness for the coming of their 
 Lord ? No. With fiery zeal they worked and labored. They 
 brought false apostles before the tribunal of truth and 
 branded them liars. And yet these very Ephesians so full of 
 zeal for the truth were looking for their coming Lord. The 
 looking for his coming did not abate their zeal. We must 
 emulate them. We stand to-day in the grip of a great 
 combat. The heresies of Ephesus, like so mauy serpents 
 let loose, are seeking to poison the true, to mar the beauti- 
 ful, to corrupt the pure, and to ensnare the good. Unceasing 
 vigilance is the price of our purity of life and of doctrine. 
 It is true we have wealth of truth, wealth of power, wealth 
 of grace, all at our disposal. But what avails all this 
 wealth, if we fold our hands, or remain in utter ignorance as 
 to its use. This is a fact, which thoughtful people will like 
 to ponder. In the world of trade and production, wealth is 
 said to consist in man’s power to command the always 
 
7 
 
 gratuitous services of nature, and production to consist in 
 directing the forces of nature to his service. Therefore 
 men must first know something of the laws by which the 
 forces of uature act and something of their manner of work- 
 ing, before they can produce valuable articles to sell, other- 
 wise they will be limited to a simple exchange of raw mate- 
 rial. Trade and commerce increase in importance only as 
 men become skilled in production. The more perfect the 
 development of the latent powers of the earth, and the 
 greater the development of man’s peculiar faculties, tho 
 greater his power of production. The surest and best way 
 for us to command a ready sale for the milk and honey aud 
 wine of the gospel is to show what pleasing effects they 
 produce upon us. When we bring forth the fruits of the 
 Spirit in richness and maturity it will beget in others a 
 longing to be like minded. When we like Paul can appeal 
 to our lives, and say to those around us, as he did to the 
 elders of the Church of Ephesus : “Ye know, from the first 
 day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been 
 with you at all seasons, serviug the Lord with all humility 
 of mind” the world will be more ready to hear us, and we 
 shall create a demand for the power which can enable a poor 
 sinner to speak with such confidence. Since we are not to 
 propagate the gospel by the sword we must let its light shine 
 through us so that it shall appear attractive aud draw 
 others to buy. The Christian graces need to be nourished 
 by us, so that we may be, as Paul urged Timothy to be, “ a 
 pattern of good works.” 
 
 “ Heaven does with us, as we with torches do : 
 
 Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues 
 Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike 
 As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched 
 But for fine issues ; nor nature never lends 
 The smallest scruple of her excellence, 
 
 But like a thrifty goddess she determines 
 Herself the glory of a creditor, 
 
 Both thanks and use.” 
 
 We are encouraged to develop the highest type of Chris* 
 tian manhood, and to direct with increasing energy the 
 
8 
 
 spiritual forces God places at our disposal, because the grace 
 of God can reach, in its rich fulness, to depths unreached 
 by arts of man, unpenetrated by false religions ; it can 
 touch our being in a sense the gross world knows not 
 of. It is universally admitted that the spirit of a man 
 stamps its peculiar characteristics on the body which con- 
 tains it. The operation of the mind upon the body is an 
 instructive and useful study. When the mental tempera- 
 ment is unusually large, there are no indications of sloth- 
 fulness or of sensuality, it gives keeness to the eye, fine 
 moulding to the brow ; looking at such a face one feels as 
 though an angelic sculptor had cut and chiselled the features. 
 So to every one of his true members, Christ gives the 
 impress of His spirit of gentleuess and love. Through every 
 one He calls sinners to repentance ; through every one He 
 manifests His love for humanity. He visits the poor, the 
 sick, the dying, the prisoner. The world can know Christ 
 only as they see Him weeping, smiling, shining through 
 His followers. 
 
 Matthew Boulton the partner of Watt said to Boswell 
 “ I sell here Sir, what all the world desires to have. 
 Power !” What made it possible for Boulton to sell power? 
 Had Watt created power ? No, but he was the inventor 
 of the steam engine. That is to say, all that was admirable 
 in its structure, all that was vast in its utility, all that 
 enabled it to set weight at defiance, to dart shrieking over 
 mountains dragging with incredible speed trains of fabulous 
 length, to impel loaded ships against the fury of the winds 
 and waves, all was owing to the genius of Watt. It was he 
 who grappled the struggling monster, Steam, directed with 
 intelligence his frantic efforts to escape, and lo, forever after, 
 steam was destined to be the slave of man ! As in the phy- 
 sical world we havesteam,and powder, and dynamite, and elec- 
 tricity, but they avail nothing without wisdom to utilize them, 
 so in the spiritual world we live in the dispensation of the 
 Holy Ghost. His power is at our disposal ; without Him we 
 fail, but free as the air we breathe He is just as ready to fill 
 
9 
 
 U9. We must honor the Holy Ghost. We can receive Him, 
 not by frantic struggles, but by faith. He comes to us as 
 easily as the inherited power of Alexander and Solomon. 
 But we must have wisdom to use this power rightly. There- 
 fore it was that Alexander said in tho zenith of his power, 
 “ I am more obliged to Aristotle who instructed me, than 
 to Philip who gave me life and empire.” In Gibeon the 
 Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night : “ And 
 God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, 
 I am but a little child, I know not how to go out or how to 
 come in. Give therefore thy servant an understanding 
 heart. And the speech pleased the Lord.” It is often the 
 case that men long for spiritual power, when tho truth is 
 they do not use, or direct, the forces already at their disposal, 
 they hide the one pound in the napkin. Like Solomon they 
 need to pray for wisdom to improve what they have at their 
 disposal. How strange if men instead of diligently utilizing 
 what they have should be constautly lougiug for more power 
 in the world of nature. Give to one of the wise children 
 of the world a cart load of iron ore. He does uot despise 
 it and say “Give me gold.” He takes the ore, frees it 
 from impurity, hardens it into steel, forms it into strips, 
 tempers them, works them up until he increases the trifling 
 value of the ore into a quarter of a million dollars worth of 
 watch springs. Wonderful production of value ! The ore 
 in worth more than its weight in gold ! 
 
 While this is true we ought not to forget that 
 in the world of trade aud production the greatest 
 returns are invariably the result of many years of 
 toil; oue of the great merchants of modern times began 
 a gigantic scheme in the prosecution of which he ex- 
 pected only outlay during the first ten years, and un- 
 profitable returns during the secoud ten, but after that, a 
 net annual result of one million dollars. It required much 
 patient toil and many an apparent defeat before men could 
 transform iron ore into watch springs, such as are now 
 produced ; aud we need to remember that this applies as 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 well in spiritual things. Hence we need to pray for the 
 “ instinct that can tell that God is on the field when He is most 
 invisible,” or we shall become disheartened and grow faint 
 when we do not see immediate results. In this holy gain- 
 ing the returns are sometimes slow, and at times hid from 
 our eyes ; one sows, another gathers the results. 
 
 In the Eastern waters bounding Manhattan Island, New 
 York, early navigators found so many rocks and shelves that 
 they called the place “Hell Gate.” For many years past a great 
 number of vessels have been wrecked at this place, official 
 reports say at the rate of the value of one schooner a week ; 
 this does not seem an extravagant estimate when we bear 
 in mind that the value of vessels and their cargoes passing 
 “ Hell Gate” each day is estimated to be between four and 
 five million dollars. In 1818 a careful survey of the rocks 
 was made, and both the merchants and the Government 
 resolved that they must be removed, so as to make naviga- 
 tion safe for large as well as small vessels. On September 
 24th, 1876, a little girl three years old, standing near by 
 “ Hell Gate” touched a small key ; immediately numerous 
 distinct spouts of water rose up in the air to the height of 
 forty or fifty feet, followed by fragments of rock mingled 
 with mud which were projected fifteen or twenty feet higher, 
 then, a thick cloud of black smoke ! In some directions the 
 shock was felt a hundred miles ! No wonder ! the little 
 girl’s touch had sent into the air, and shivered into frag- 
 ments, a rock of nearly three acres in area with an average 
 depth of nineteen feet ! About nine years afterward this same 
 little girl stood by “Hell Gate;” again she touched a key; 
 three big blocks of water rose up in the air, the centre one, 
 a third of an acre at its base, rose one hundred feet. On 
 either side of it two greater ones attained an altitude of two 
 hundred feet ! Then they fell slowly, and from the roar- 
 ing seething waters shot innumerable rocks weighing tons 
 a piece : and after the rocks, a pillar of dark cloud. The 
 adjoining great cities with their millions of inhabitants 
 trembled, and well they might, for the touch of the little 
 
11 
 
 girl, in the sixtieth part of a second, had shivered into frag- 
 ments, and blown into mid air, a rock which had an area of 
 eight acres, and a greatest depth of sixty feet! If a savage 
 had seen this little girl twice touch the key, and twice 
 trouble the waters and wake the slumbering rocks, he would 
 doubtless have regarded her as the centre of all this power. 
 It is easy to see however that three factors are to be con- 
 sidered in this terrible upheaval. The explosive material, 
 the adjustment of it, and the little girl. Let ns look at a 
 few facts in connection with the adjustment of the dynamite. 
 The threat rock was torn from its bed and shivered into 
 
 O 
 
 fragments in the sixtieth part of a second, but the knowledge 
 and wisdom required to bring all the mechanical contrivances 
 to the point of readiness when the little girl by touching 
 the key could produce the wonderful effect, was the 
 result of the energies of the highest intellects exerted 
 through past centuries. The 23 headings, the 4G galleries, 
 the 15,000 chambers, the 50,000 copper cartridges con- 
 taining 300,000 pounds of dynamite and rackarock powder, 
 the drills worked by compressed air, the 500,000 feet of wire, 
 were the products of many agents, ranging from the instinct 
 of the mules in the underground galleries to the mind of 
 Sir Isaac Newton. The sciences of mathematics, astronomy, 
 chemistry, photography, mechanics, hydrography, hydrau- 
 lics, and even medicine laid their choicest treasure at the 
 feet of General Newton. Nearly all the great discoveries 
 and inventions of the past hundred generations of men 
 were directly or indirectly brought into requisition. That 
 key was a focal point in which the i*esults of the life 
 work of the mightiest minds converged ; and when the 
 fulness of time was come it was touched. Hays from 
 the minds of Aristotle, Galileo, Bacon, Napier, Newton, 
 Copernicus, Franklin, Watt, Henry, Draper, Gen. Newton. 
 I must stop ; if some long list of all the minds whose thought 
 rays converged there, could be read to you, days and nights 
 would pass before their names could be prououuced. One 
 sixtieth part of a second, one little key pressed by the tiny 
 
12 
 
 finger of a tiny girl, but 0 ! what a focal point of mental toil ! 
 what a concentration of genius ! Strictly speaking no new 
 element was created ; the upheaval was rather effected by 
 the nice and minute adjustment of those things which 
 before existed; it was the zenith of the grand but gradual 
 conquest of thought over matter. If any one should ask, 
 “What is the need of the Church to-day ?” It is not un- 
 likely that the almost universal reply would be — “The 
 endowment of power.” It is commonly assumed that God 
 has no greater gift for his people, than that of power, the 
 power of the Holy Ghost which converts and sanctides men. 
 We have in recent times seen multitudes seeking to be 
 endowed with power from on high. Few would object to 
 leading thousands of souls to Christ, therefore with an 
 earnestness and persistency that is some times painful to 
 witness, men cry for power. Unless we touch the key and 
 the upheaval follows in the sixtieth part of a second we 
 are prone to become disheartened. In our impatience we 
 cry “ 0 God give me power.” And the evidence to us 
 that we have received the power is nothing short of the 
 upheaval. Perhaps God wants us to be down in the dark 
 where the world cannot see us, and when vie •pray for power 
 he gives us a few dynamite cartridges to put in their places. 
 “ I want to see mine explode” says one ; but all cannot 
 touch the key. True a nation shall he born in a day, but in 
 the mean time much patient toil is needed. Tn New York 
 Harbour some rocks on the surface were blown up immedi- 
 ately. The men did not need to wait long. But Hallet’s 
 Point and Flood Rock required time, because the work was 
 great. Those who see immediate great results are not 
 always the ones who are doing the most effective work for 
 God. Some do not see many explosions, but down in the 
 strong holds of Hinduism, Mohammedanism and supersti- 
 tion they are handling power, they are preparing for mighty 
 upheavals. Some in the quiet of their homes, in prayer and 
 faith and filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom, are devis- 
 iug diamond drills for exploring rock, or they aro exocuting 
 
drawings for tunuels or cross cut galleries, in which coming 
 generations shall place the dynamite, the wires, the mechani- 
 cal contrivances, and, after that, some one of child like faith 
 shall touch the key. 
 
 At the conclusion of Daniel’s wonderful vision he received 
 intimations of Christ’s coming in glory. The veil is lifted 
 and he sees a time of trouble such as never was since there 
 was a nation even to that same time. He sees the wise turn- 
 ing many to righteousness; many are running to and fro, 
 aud knowledge is increased. Many purified themselves and 
 made themselves white, aud were refined, but the wicked 
 did wickedly aud none of the wicked understood, but the 
 wise understood. It seems to me that this is a faithful por- 
 trait of our own times. Around us there is great wicked- 
 ness, social impurity, and infidelity ; men deny the Lord that 
 bought them ; evil men and seducers wax worse aud worse ; 
 in the distance we see uumistakable signs of a coming 
 storm, black clouds, lightning flashes, low thunder, but 
 amid it all there comes to us the message of “ the man 
 clothed in linen” standing above the troubled waters crying 
 “ but go thou thy way until the end be : for thou shalt rest, 
 and shall stand in thy lot, at the end of the days.” 
 
 In the midst of this waiting aud working it is comforting 
 to know that, although enthroned iu Heaven, Jesus is never- 
 theless with his people. We must not think of him as being 
 absent iu the sense of one who is altogether absent. He is 
 still with us in our trials, disappointments and toils. I trust 
 you will bear with me if I bring before you from my own 
 home life a scene that has often, iu the hour of temptation 
 and lack of apparent results, taught me patience and filled me 
 with blessedness. Ouce when I was a boy and had been 
 guilty of misconduct which merited punishment, duty im- 
 pelled paternal love to pass sentence that I should sit for a 
 time at the foot of the cellar steps. It was to me a severe 
 punishment. Distressed by the darkness, the silence and 
 the solitude, I sat wondering how long I must remain there. 
 Soon I heard footsteps ; the door opened, and, with in- 
 
H 
 
 expressible tenderness my mother came down and sat by 
 my side. “ You deserve this punishment” she said, “but 
 I have come to sit by you.” A few years ago, my mother 
 passed within the veil : she now mingles her song with the 
 blood-washed around the throne, but that stay with me iu 
 the darkness I shall never forget. Although the believer is 
 cleansed from sin through the blood of Jesus, nevertheless 
 he dwells in a fallen world. The darkness of sin is all about 
 him ; he must endure the contradiction of sinners : ofttimes 
 he will be in heaviness through manifold temptations. But 
 through it all we have the promise of the Saviour, “ Lo 
 1 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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