THE BLACK CLOUD.

How often, O how often our eyes are holden and we do not see Him because of sin! John the Baptist meant this when he said, "He standeth in the midst and ye know Him not."

of you,

When the Knights of King Arthur's Round Table went in search of the Holy Grail, one caught a glimpse of it over the mountain; another saw it flit across the starry sky; Sir Launcelot, the sinful one, said he saw something, but what he saw was veiled and covered. So our Lord is hidden by the veil of sin before our eyes. O, dear heart, is there such a veil between your eyes and Him today? It may be but a little thing. You may place your finger before your eye and shut out the sun. You may hide the sea Shall it be said of any

with the palm of your hand. who read these words, "Their eyes were holden and they knew Him not?" Lord, touch blind eyes and bid them see!

Do you remember how they knew Him and where they found out it was He? There was no dramatic or extraordinary circumstances. It was at the evening meal, in that commonplace act in the midst of their commonplace life.

I have heard of a man who sold his farm and went away to search for diamonds. After a fruitless search, impoverished and undone, he came back to learn that the man who bought his farm had found diamonds there at his doorstep. We need not go far. We need not wait for something marvelous. He is at the door, "closer than our breathing, nearer than hands or feet." He is ready to reveal Himself to us

along life's common ways. May it be that we shall see Him now and recognize Him and go out to walk with Him on, and on, and on.

They knew Him, and "He vanished out of their sight." They recognized Him late. There is such a thing as too late recognition, and it is a very common and tragical thing in all the relations of life. Do you remember the exclamation of the centurion after the Master was dead-"Surely this was the Son of God"? I think that is pitiful. Roman centurion, if you had only come up to Him when He was alive and called Him the Son of God how the joy would have rioted through His heart, and shone from His eyes, and what things He would have said to you!

Beloved, we are going down life's dusty ways. Will you lift up your head? Will you see Him? Will you walk with Him? It may be getting toward evening. Bid Him abide with you, and then walk on together through life's little while till traveling days are done.

Louisville, Ky.

PSALM XLVIII.

I Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

4 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

5 They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.

6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

7 Thou breakest-the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish it forever. Selah.

9 We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.

10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteous

ness.

II Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

13 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death.

TO HIM BE THE GLORY FOREVER

REV. J. H. M'NEILLY, D.D., NASHVILLE, TENN.

"Of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." (Romans xi. 36.)

This is the climax of a glowing doxology into which the great Apostle of the Gentiles breaks forth, after a a grand argument, which brings out the infinite length

and breadth, and heighth and depth of the love of God in the redemption of sinners through Jesus Christ.

He shows how the apparent failure of God's covenant promise to Israel, His chosen people, has been overruled to become the means of a world-wide enlargement of the promise, to embrace all nations in the covenant; and also that at last Israel shall return to the Lord and be saved, according to prophecy verses 11-12, 26-27. Isa. 59:20.

Then with exultant voice he glorifies the riches of God's saving grace: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given unto Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

In carrying out His gracious purpose of redemption for our sinful race God's wisdom works in ways that we can neither understand nor trace out, and makes all things cooperate to the one supreme destined good. And this He can do, for He is the origin or source, the agent or means, and the end or aim of all the activities of the universe. That is, His will is supreme over all powers in the heavens, in the earth and under the earth. Nothing can come to pass independently of His will, either acting directly or permitting it. He directs, restrains, permits, combines, controls all things so as to work out the counsels of His sovereign will. And He does not depend on man

for advice; nor is He under obligation to reward man for anything man has done for Him. So that this wondrous design or plan of salvation is the outcome of God's free grace, the expression of unmerited love. In this Scripture three foundation truths are emphasized, on which are built our hopes, and all the promises of God. They are: 1. God's absolute, universal sovereignty. 2. God, as sovereign, is carrying out in time a great, wise and holy purpose. 3. The chief end of that purpose, the showing forth His own glory in man's salvation, is a manifestation of God's love. These truths are of the greatest practical importance for our guidance, our comfort and the development of our Christian character.

I. God is the universal, absolute and Almighty King, who orders all things in the whole universe according to the counsels of His own will. His right to rule is supreme, and extends to all His creatures and all their actions-from the fall of a sparrow to the movements of the stars in their courses- -from numbering the hairs on our heads to the giving His angels charge of His servants.

This sovereignty is no mere cold, formal assertion of authority, but is ever active in human affairs. Either He interposes directly to bring things to pass, or He permits certain things to be done and overrules them to accomplish His will. He is the law unto Himself. He does as He pleases. He asks no advice, He is restrained or directed by no power but the good pleasure of His own will. This does not mean that He acts without reason. Everything He does is in harmony with the highest reason.

But He does not