796
THE KING’S BUSINESS
into the palace of the great king; lead it, as it were, from chamber to chamber. Say to it, ‘Here must I lodge, here must I die, here must I praise, here must I love and be loved. My tears will then be wiped away, my groans be turned to another tune, my cottage of clay be changed to this pal ace, my prison rags to these splendid robes’; ‘for the former things are passed away.’ ” I can not think that Samuel Rutherford impoverished his spirit or deadened his affections, or diminished his labors by men tal pilgrimages such as he counsels to Lady Cardoness: “Go up beforehand and see your lodging. Look through all your Father’s rooms in heaven. Men take a sight of the lands ere they buy them. 1 know that Christ hath made the bargain already; but be kind to the house ye are going to, and see it often.” I can not think that this would imperil the fruitful opti misms of the Christian life. I often exam ine, with peculiar interest, the hymn-book we use at Carr’s Lane. It was compiled by Dr., Dale. Nowhere else can I find the broad perspective of his theology and his primary helpmeets in the devotional life as- I find them there. And is it altogether un- suggestive that under the heading of “Heaven” is to be found one of the larg est sections of the book? A greater space is given to “Heaven” than is given to Christian duty.” Is it not significant of what a great man of affairs found needful for the enkindling and sustenance of a cour ageous hope? And among the hymns are many which have helped to nourish the sunny endeavors of a countless host.
There is a land of pure delight Where saints immortal reign; Infinite day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain.
What are these, arrayed in white, Brighter than the noonday sun? Foremost of the suns of light, Nearest the eternal throne. H ark ! hark, my soul! Angelic songs are swelling O’er earth’s green fields and ocean’s wave-beat shore. Angelic songs to sinful- men are telling Of that new life where sin shall be no more. My brethren, depend upon it, we are not impoverished by contemplations such as these. They take no strength out of the hand, and they put much strength and buoyancy into the heart. I proclaim the contemplation of coming glory as one of the secrets of the apostle’s optimism whicn enabled him to labor and endure in the con fident spirit of rejoicing hope. These, then, are some of the springs of Christian opti mism; some of the sources in which we may nourish our hope in the newer labors of a larger day: a sense of the glory of the past in a perfected -redemption, a sense of the glory of the present in our, multiplied resources, a sense' of the glory of tomor row in the fruitful rest of our eternal home. O blessed hope! with this elate Let not our hearts be desolate; But, strong in faith and patience, wait Until He come ! '
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