, the light will be good. The howling
tempests of winter and its white snows, the sharp winds of spring and
its bursting sunshine; the calm steady heat of June and the mellowing
days of August, all serve to ripen the grain. And so all 'things
present,' the light and the dark, the hopes fulfilled and the hopes
disappointed, the gains and the losses, the prayers answered and the
prayers unanswered, they will all be recognised, if we have the
wisdom that comes from submission to Jesus Christ's will, as being
ours and ministering to our highest blessing.

We shall be their lords too inasmuch as we shall be able to control
them. We need not be 'anvils but hammers.' We need not let outward
circumstances dominate and tyrannise over us. We need not be like the
mosses in the stream, that lie whichever way the current sets, nor
like some poor little sailing boat that is at the mercy of the winds
and the waves, but may carry an inward impulse like some great
ocean-going steamer, the throb of whose power shall drive us straight
forward on our course, whatever beats against us. That we may have
this inward power and mastery over things present, and not be shaped
and moulded and made by them, let us yield ourselves to Christ, and
He will help us to rule them.

And then, all 'things to come,' the dim, vague future, shall be for
each of us like some sunlit ocean stretching shoreless to the
horizon; every little ripple flashing with its own bright sunshine,
and all bearing us onwards to the great Throne that stands on the sea
of glass mingled with fire.

Then, my brother, ask yourselves what your future is if you have not
Christ for your Friend.

'I backward cast mine eye
On prospects drear;
And forward though I cannot see,
I guess and fear.'

So I beseech you, yield yourselves to Jesus Christ, He died to win
us. He bears our sins that they may be all forgiven. If we give
ourselves to Him who has given Himself to us, then we shall be lords
of men, of the world, of life and death, of time and eternity.

In the old days conquerors used to bestow upon their followers lands
and broad dominions on condition of their doing suit and service, and
bringing homage to them. Christ, the King of the universe, makes His
subjects kings, and will give us to share in His dominion, so that to
each of us may be fulfilled that boundless and almost unbelievable
promise: 'He that overcometh shall inherit all things.' 'All are
yours if y