lovely works defaced and defiled by sin, He formed His mighty plan, and planting His Cross of death and shame on Calvary, He won back by that one single act of justice all that we had lost, bringing life and immortality to light through the Gospel, and there and then taking back all of power and glory that was rightfully His own.

sea.'

'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?' that is, the hill of Zion, the hill where Christ died; where the great battle was fought and the mighty victory won, and Satan's power was vanquished for ever; where the fountain has been opened, which ever has flowed, and shall flow, full and free, until the glorious consummation of all things, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of God, even as the waters cover the Who shall ascend into that holy hill? The garden of Eden while it was pure was holy and happy; but a cloud came, and the shadow fell that has darkened all our days, and bid us spend them in the vale of tears, that dark and deadly shadow which broods over us still, and makes 'darkness that may be felt.' But when that day comes that the wilderness shall bloom and blossom as the rose, and old things shall pass away and all things become new, then, over that fair garden there shall fall no shadow of a cloud, and the flowers of Eden shall bloom on in unfading loveliness through an endless spring-time of beauty and grace. It will be the Holy Place of the Most High. It will be the same heaven and the same earth still, only renewed: even as it is the same now as it was before the flood, so it will be after its baptism of fire, 'the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.'

Who then shall dwell in it? This is not a difficult question. At present the great work of Christ is being accomplished, and still the just and the unjust are mingled together, still the wheat and the tares are growing side

by side. Shall it be so then? Nay, 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? who shall stand in His holy place?' Stand; that is, abide in it. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.' Here is the enquiry at once answered, and who would not wish to be there, among those redeemed, sanctified, and purified ones who have 'clean hands and a pure heart;' to be away out of such a dark, miserable world as this, so full of darkness and sorrow and death, into the unclouded light above, and the blessed presence of our Elder Brother, in the 'holy place' of the Lord!

Note briefly the emphatic changes of tense in these two verses. 'He that hath clean hands and a pure heart'-the present; 'who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully'-the past; followed by the glorious future, 'He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of Jacob.' Every movement, every act, every thought of those redeemed ones shall be clean and pure, free from the faintest shadow of a stain for ever; for the former things are passed away,' and in that pure and spotless robe of Christ's righteousness they shall stand forth in His presence, satisfied with His likeness for ever. Oh, to be among them; to be delivered for ever from the sins and shortcomings, the weariness and the watching, the darkness and the dreariness oftentimes of our sojourn here below! Our very best services so cold and lifeless, so far short of all that He might most righteously and justly demand from us, so full of the sin that clings to us in the midst of every holy service and duty, and drags us down, even when we fain would rise. From all this weakness and weariness, oh, what will it be to be there; up there, on that holy mount; for ever above the storms of earth, where all is purity and peace, and that through Him! Truly it will be bliss which Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into

the heart of man to conceive,' to awake up there after His likeness, all our sins blotted out and cast into the depths of the sea, never to be remembered against us any more, and thus to stand in His holy place.'

And all this is ours through God's own righteousness, which He imputes to us as His redeemed people; we are nothing in ourselves, but all in Him; so that we stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. He clothes us in the robe of His own blessed righteousness now, while He has laid up for us the crown of righteousness hereafter, when we shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of our Father. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.'

Truly this is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face, O God of Jacob.' These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'

'Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in.' Oh, who would not press forward, with such an end in view; forward into the thickest of the fight, forward into the darkest hour of sorrow, as seeing Him who is invisible. Let only our faces be turned Zionward. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus;' and then we shall be among the number of those who shall see the King in His beauty,' in the land that is very far off; we shall hear one day the shout of triumph Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in ;' we shall'ascend at last into the hill of the Lord,' and 'stand in His holy place.'

6

In conclusion let me say, take as many as you can with you; gather them all to your side; leave not one behind. Time is short, eternity near; do not let us linger in the work; let us gird ourselves afresh to the conflict, and see to it that we fight not the battle alone. Let there be many a little company alongside of us, upholding the same banner, following the same great Leader, until at length, when the battle is fought and the victory won, may it be ours to ascend up into His holy hill, to Zion, the city of our God, and to dwell in the beauty of holiness for ever.

Oh, for the robes of whiteness !
Oh, for the tearless eyes!
Oh, for the glorious brightness
Of the unclouded skies!

Oh, for the no more weeping
Within that land of love,
The endless joy of keeping
The bridal feast above!

Oh, for the bliss of flying
My risen Lord to meet!
Oh, for the rest of lying
For ever at His feet!

Oh, for the hour of seeing
My Saviour face to face!
The hope of ever being
In that sweet meeting-place!

Jesu, Thou King of glory,

I soon shall dwell with Thee;

I soon shall sing the story

Of Thy great love to me.

Meanwhile my thoughts shall enter
E'en now before Thy throne,
That all my love may centre

In Thee, and Thee alone.

C. L. SMITH.

PSALM XXIV. 7-10.

THE LORD OF HOSTS.

'Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

'Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

'Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

'Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.'

I have already said with regard to this Psalm that it presents before us the triumph and the glory of Messiah. The 22nd Psalm gives us His sufferings and death, and the heavy price He paid for the redemption of His people; the 23rd, immediately following, shows His office as the Shepherd of His flock; while in the one before us we have full and blessed expression given to the glory of the Redeemer. In the first six verses we have brought before us those particulars which show forth His glory. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.' The very first manifestation of the glory of the great Being, of whom this Psalm testifies, was His creating all things: 'Without Him was not anything made, that was made;' and when we want to get a glimpse even of His glory, we have to begin with that which is indeed the very sum and substance of it all, the calling of everything out of nothing. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.' 'For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods;' that is, above the seas; as we read in Genesis that the Lord God separated the dry land from the seas: He as it were drew it out of the waters and settled it above, fixed it above.

He is the Creator of everything: has all things under