THE NAME OF JESUS. 153 cannot say my grief when he fell-the only one I had to love me. I knelt by him, till the garden was in our hands, and then carried him to the doctors. But it was too late. 'Dear Willie,' he said to me, 'I am only going home first. We have loved to talk of home together: don't be sorry for me, I'm so happy. "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds." for Read me the words she wrote.' I pulled them out from his bosom, all stained with his blood as you see, and repeated them. Yes,' he said, 'the love of Christ has constrained us. I am almost home. I'll be there to welcome you and her; good-bye, dear Willie,' and he was gone." The end soon came for him also. "Thank God," he could say, "I have sure and blessed hope in my death." "Till sense left him," said the hospital attendants, "he was talking of home with Jesus." Not long ago the writer heard of the death of an aged Christian, whose long and trying affliction had not only exhausted his bodily strength, but had reduced his mind to imbecility. Ordinary matters had no longer any interest for him: he did not understand when they were spoken of. But his mind was still alive on one subject. If he was spoken to of Christ, or of the joys of heaven, he would brighten up, and show that the immortal soul had no share in the decay of nerve and brain. And at last, as he lay dying, with apparently little more apprehension of his position than a child, he began to sing 'Begone unbelief, my Saviour is near, And for my relief will surely appear. By prayer let me wrestle, and He will perform: However dark the night may be, there will be a song as joyful and triumphant for those who can meet it with hope in Christ. Darker and darker grow the gathering shadows of the valley. Affection can no longer soothe the spirit, or restore the flickering flame of life. Yet even then there is One who will be with us, whose rod and whose staff will comfort us; and, trusting in whom, we may sing our last song in the night, "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory!" If we are in Christ, death itself shall clear away the last shadow of darkness, and introduce us to the eternal day of light, and life, and joy. The end is coming. The night approaches. The shadows gather. "Soon shall I pass that gloomy vale, No Night there. Speech of the Saxon Chief-Infidelity and philosophy-Man's need of the truth about the future life-The revelation of that truth in the Gospel-The night of penitence no more to be known, because Heaven is a sinless state-The night of toil and conflict will cease there-The pilgrims passing the river-The night of devout meditation exchanged for a day of perfect knowledge, and perfect apprehension-The night of affliction ends with this life-Necessarily darkness here, perfect light there-"No more death:"-The better land-The night of the present, the dawn eternal. "AND I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever." REV. xxi. 3, 4; xxii. 3-5. NO NIGHT THERE. MORE than twelve hundred years ago a king of England and his nobles assembled in solemn council near the city of York, to deliberate upon the question whether or not they should receive the religion of Christ, the knowledge of which had been recently brought to their ears. The king himself was favourably disposed to the new faith, and had already in heart turned from his idols. But he wished to hear what his wise men would say, and asked them one by one what they thought of the new doctrine. One of the king's chief men thus spoke "The present life of man, O king, seems to me, in comparison of that time which is unknown to us, like the swift flight of a sparrow through the room wherein you sit in winter with your chiefs and ministers, a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad. The sparrow, I say, flying in at one door, and immediately |