I love it more than ever.

Thou didst give

It to me as a child. To me earth is

Even as the boundless universe to Thee;

Nay, more! for Thou could'st make another. It is
My world. Take it not from me, Lord."

And then the poem makes God the Son to say lines, of which the first two are these

"Think not I lived and died for thine alone,

Or that no other sphere hath hailed Me Christ."

It may be that the twelve Angels, standing some eastward, some westward, some with their faces towards the north, and some towards the south, at the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem, as they look out into the depths of the Eternal space, may be the Guardian Angels of other worlds, where other tongues, and other lips chant the praises of their Creator and their God.

And now let me turn for a moment to my second and last application of the text this evening. There was a figure of this Heavenly vision to be seen in the earthly City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, as you know, was a City encompassed with massive walls, in which were gates, some looking this way, and some that

across "the hills that stand round about Jerusalem." There was the Damascus Gate, and the Jaffa Gate, and the Golden Gate, and others. And at these gates, which were closed at sunset, (unlike the Heavenly Gates which stand open day and night), there were watchers pacing to and fro, that gave rise to the prophet's eloquent words, "Watchman, watchman, what of the night?" And the watchman said, “ The morning cometh, and also the night."

But to-night I have not time to dwell upon this picture of the Gates of Jerusalem, I will rather in the last place, individualize this idea, and bring it as a thought of comfort to your hearts in this crowd to-night.

Wherever you are, and whatever you do that is good, you are never out of sight of one of the Gates of God's Love, where the Ministering Angels stand. Perhaps you are, so to speak, in the cold Northern hemisphere; and your hearts are cold and lifeless; and your love for God like an iceberg. You long to be better; you want to feel greater warmth in your religion, in your prayers, in your Communions; but still

you feel dead and cold. And you think you are shut out from God; that He has turned away from you, and left you there by yourself. Nay! Nay! Look up at God's Heavenly Temple above you, even from your icy standpoint, and how is it there? There is a gate that looks out towards that cold North Country, and there is an Angel standing there, with his face towards the North.

Or you may be, to speak in a figure, in the east, whence come the cold, cutting winds. The cold, cutting winds of sorrow, and of trial, of poverty, or of bereavement, of anxiety, and of care. And your heart is so bowed in its grief, so all but broken with its pain, that you begin to think God has forsaken you, and that there is no Angel to watch beside your bed of pain, or to strengthen you in the garden of your agony. And you write on the ground hard things about God's Love and Mercy, and you

say

with one of old, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" Look up! Heaven is above you. The Holy City, with its twelve gates and twelve Angels, is above you; and there you see that

K

there are at least three gates looking toward the east, and at least three Ministering Angels, all looking down at you!

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Or are you, figuratively speaking, living in the sunny south, where the soft and gentle west wind murmurs in the trees? Are you living, if I may so term it, in the sunshine? Is God crowning your year with goodness: giving you health, and happy homes, and kind friends, and best of all, Himself? Has He wiped away some of the tears that used to fill your eyes, and made what were once crooked places, straight, and rough places, plain?" Do you seem to be living in an atmosphere that resembles what the Preacher described, when he said, "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land?" And is such a life incompatible with true Religion? Is it out of keeping with the spirit which is of Christ? A thousand times, No! We look up at the Holy City that needs no temple to lighten it, and there are six gates out of the twelve all

looking toward the south, and toward the west. And there are six beautiful Angels looking down upon the sun-lit scene beneath them. And they are rejoicing with those that rejoice. Even singing with them, and uniting their praises with those of the sons and daughters of earth. There can be, then, no circumstance in life, whether it be of joy or sorrow, that has not the presence of its Ministering Angel. There were Angels in the Garden of Gethsemane as well as over the beautiful Bethlehem hills.

The same God, and the same Guardian Angels that were ours in the day of storm, are ours in the days of greater calm. He who permitted the storm brings the calm. And the three Angels that looked down upon the east have like companions who are looking down to-night upon the gentler west; and God's Love is the same for ever, and of His Mercy there is no end.