I. Wait on the Lord. David, for instance, giving the results of experience, (Psalm, xxvii. 13, 14,) intreats us severally to tread in his steps, if we would have like mercies ::

"Wait on the Lord!

Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart :
Wait, I say, on the Lord!"

He repeats his counsel in another place; (Psalm, xxxvii. 34;) and Solomon (Proverbs, xx. 22) reiterates the precept, often, no doubt, heard from his father's lips. Obedience, simple and unhesitating, is herein indicated; and this duty is elsewhere (Psalm, cxxiii. 2) admirably set forth :

"Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,

And as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress ;*
So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,

Until He have mercy upon us."

* In this expression, "looking unto the hand," there is a deep meaning. Orientals, in their taciturnity, for the most part convey their wishes by signs; and slaves take their orders, continually, from their masters' or mistresses' manual directions. The hand has its own language; as we know in the training of deaf mutes.

Happy are they who thus are waiting upon the Lord their God. They know the meaning of His inviting hand, that beckoned them to Him; of His directing hand, that has always conducted them on their pilgrimage; of His opened hand, that has filled them with plenteousness; of His uplifted hand, that has shielded them in peril; of His correcting hand, that chastened them for their profit; and of His strengthening hand, that has continually kept them from falling. They look to His right hand, and to Him seated there; and bless God that He ("the man of His right hand," Psalm, lxxx. 17) "ever liveth to make intercession for them."

Do not Christians put themselves out of their right place, when they deliberately omit a plain duty, and, that they may please themselves, substitute one not called for? To work is, with most people, pleasanter than to wait; yet if "waiting" be the Master's will, "working" cannot be accepted in its room. I adduce an illustrative extract from a pleasing biography,* that lies before me. It may seem homely, but it is certainly practical :

:

"The master of the house has a servant whom he has appointed to sit in the hall, (perhaps alone,) and only attend to his bell when it rings. This man may not often be required for the particular service to which this bell will summon; nevertheless, he is not to be doing his own pleasure in the intervals.

"Would he be fulfilling the duty for which he was specially placed there, if, when he saw his fellow-servants engaged in their respective callings, running hither and thither, he joined them, and so, when the bell rung, he was not in the only chair where he could distinctly hear it; and had, moreover, placed himself in a position which rendered him unfit for the peculiar service required of him? Neither, should we expect the servant who knew his lord's will to be unhappy, and continually running upstairs and knocking impatiently at his master's door, to know what he was to do next. The master had already shown him what he was to do-to wait in the hall."

To be anything, or nothing, in the household, according to the Master's will, should be sufficient for the servant; but, alas, it is too often otherwise. Naaman's spirit is congenial to human nature; and "to do some great thing" is more thought of by man than "to wait upon God continually."

* "Tell Jesus." Recollections of Emily Gosse. By Anna Shipton. London: Morgan and Chase, 40 Ludgate Street.

We are further commanded, in the Bible, to— II. Wait for the Lord. Herein are other motives indicated. Obedience hitherto was enjoined; and now we have given to us counsels for expectation and preparedness. The Lord Jesus constantly inculcated, by His parables, this duty of special waiting. "Let your loins," He said, (Luke, xii. 35,) "be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto 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." In His people's hearts is heard an echoing response, that expresses their entire acquies"Our soul," writes David, (Psalm, xxxiii. 20,) "waiteth for the Lord; He is our help and our shield." Again, (Psalm, cxxx. 5,) the Psalmist gives us his personal experiences :

"I wait for the Lord!

My soul doth wait,

And in His word do I hope."

"Beati omnes, qui expectant eum ;" "Blessed are all they that wait for Him," is the declaration of Isaiah. (Ch. xxx. 18.) "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him," saith Jeremiah. (Lament. iii. 25.) "I will look unto the Lord," exclaims another of His prophets, (Micah, vii. 7,) "I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me." And Paul's prayer for certain believers, (2 Thess. iii. 5,) who were specially dear to him, ran thus, "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." So wholly of

one mind, upon the duty of waiting for the Lord, are believers both under the old and new cevenant.

Next may be, passingly, noticed certain characteristics of this happy and hallowed state, by which we may know whether we have yet attained to it. I select three. Where there is true waiting, there is

evermore

I. Single-mindedness. God Himself is the object of desire. "My soul," said David, (Psalm, xlii. 2,) "thirsteth for God, for the living God;" and again, (Psal. lxii. 5, 6,) "My soul, wait thou only upon God. He only is my rock and my salvation." The servant, who waits for his lord, can recognize no substitute; neither can the believer be satisfied with aught save God Himself. Ordinances are precious; but only so far as they bring the worshipping soul into the presence of the God of ordinances. Providences are wondrous; yet no amount of gifts can be accepted in lieu of the Giver. Deliverances are desirable; but only so, if God's glory be thereby manifested. Redemption is sweet; but dearer yet is the Redeemer Himself. "JESUS ONLY 'JESUS ONLY" is His people's watch

word.

In this service, when rightly entered upon, there is also

II. Composedness. Work is best done, when it is done noiselessly; and God is best waited for, when we are resting in His love. In the stillness of a trusting heart, the believer gladly commits to His divine arrangement the time, the place, and all the circumstances of His coming; and realizes how "good it is that a man should both hope and quietly

wait for the salvation of the Lord." Connected with it are no causes of apprehension; but, far otherwise, it brings present peace, and it is the herald of quietness and assurance for ever.

Faithful "waiting" will be also marked by— III. Endurance. "Until the Lord come "marks the period of His servants' waiting for Him. But many heed not this saying. Some cannot watch with Him one hour. Some, that watched for a time, have wearied in this well-doing. Some, ceasing to look for Him, have deliberately closed up their eyes, and now slumber and sleep. Not for such is the blessing; but for "those servants, whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching." High honours await these faithful ones. They shall not be disappointed in their hopes; (Psalm, xxv. 3; lxix. 6; Isaiah, xlix. 23;) they shall renew their strength; (Psalm, xxvii. 14; Isaiah, xl. 31;) they shall be exalted to an inheritance; (Psalm, xxxvii. 9, 34;) and finally, as the consummation, they shall be saved. (Psalm, xxv. 21; Proverbs, xx. 22.)

Thus is it with the living; and, in a certain sense, the Departed likewise are "waiting." Beneath the low hillocks, scattered over each "God's acre" of our country, are uncounted slumberers, who look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world Nor in rural cemeteries only, but within our noblest fanes, are found these quiet expectants. In York's grand Minster, close to the door of its northern transept, I discovered an ancient brass,

to come.