66 nance of God has departed from the ken of men. They are become like the day-dreams of times long gone by. It is not in the power of individuals to revive them; but we may observe their decline, and thence learn to know the hour in the world's chronology at which we are arrived. "Watchman what is the news of the night?" The watchman answers, THE MORNING cometh." The morning of THE DAY, the day of Christ; the "day of the revelation of the righteous judgments of God;" which judgments are now hid; for wicked men, under the god and prince of this world, the spiritual arch enemy of Christ, and of Christ's church, have to all appearance the mastery. Wherefore says the Lord, "Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast; for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." Enter into the chambers of Social Duties; those common every-day duties which furnish neither themes for the poet, nor food for the historian, nor subjects for the painter, nor ingredients in the character of a heroine of romance, but which produce a rich and never-failing crop of the purest and most heavenly enjoyment. Here Christ is seen, and is manifested to others, in and by KING and SUBJECT; PASTOR and FLOCK; HUSBAND and WIFE; PARENT and CHILD; MASTER and SERVANT. Here Christ dwells in us and we in Him; and here do we dwell in unity of love, and "love is heaven, and heaven is love." THE END. |