se splendid robes'; 'for
the former things are passed away.'" I can not think that Samuel
Rutherford impoverished his spirit or deadened his affections, or
diminished his labors by mental pilgrimages such as he counsels to
Lady Cardoness: "Go up beforehand and see your lodging. Look through
all your Father's rooms in heaven. Men take a sight of the lands ere
they buy them. I know that Christ hath made the bargain already; but
be kind to the house ye are going to, and see it often." I can not
think that this would imperil the fruitful optimisms of the Christian
life. I often examine, with peculiar interest, the hymn-book we use at
Carr's Lane. It was compiled by Dr. Dale. Nowhere else can I find the
broad perspective of his theology and his primary helpmeets in
the devotional life as I find them there. And is it altogether
unsuggestive that under the heading of "Heaven" is to be found one of
the largest sections of the book. A greater space is given to "Heaven"
than is given to "Christian duty." Is it not significant of what a
great man of affairs found needful for the enkindling and sustenance
of a courageous hope? And among the hymns are many which have helped
to nourish the sunny endeavors of a countless host.

There is a land of pure delight
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.

What are these, arrayed in white,
Brighter than the noonday sun?
Foremost of the suns of light,
Nearest the eternal throne.

Hark! hark, my soul! Angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore.
Angelic songs to sinful men are telling
Of that new life when sin shall be no more.

My brethren, depend upon it, we are not impoverished by contemplations
such as these. They take no strength out of the hand, and they
put much strength and buoyancy into the heart. I proclaim the
contemplation of coming glory as one of the secrets of the apostle's
optimism which enabled him to labor and endure in the confident spirit
of rejoicing hope. These, then, are some of the springs of Christian
optimism; some of the sources in which we may nourish our hope in the
newer labors of a larger day: a sense of the glory of the past in
a perfected redemption, a sense of the glory of the present in our
multiplied resources, a sense of the glory of tomorrow in the fruitful
rest of our eternal home.

O blest h