the glory of all the rest of the earth, and secretly chafing under the crushing yoke of Rome, they looked and longed for the great Deliverer, who was to unfurl the banner of David on the hills of Judea; and rallying, with the war-cry of the past, all the true sons of Israel would sweep from her hallowed soil every trace of the haughty invader, and again make Jerusalem a joy of the whole earth. Impatient for these glorious destinies, they were eager to rush to the conflict. Hence they asked whether at this time he meant to restore the old kingly line, and with it the kingly splendor, to Israel.

As the question was only in regard to the time, and not in regard to the nature of the kingdom, and as the lesson to be taught was the lesson of patiently waiting for the promise, whether it was clearly understood or not, our Lord confines his reply to the single point raised in the question, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." He knew that the teachings of the Holy Ghost would soon explain to them the nature of the kingdom. His single aim was to reprove that impatient desire that they manifested to wrest from the future its untold secrets, and read the chronology of that book that God alone can open and peruse.

The feeling here reproved is by no means an unusual one, nor is it yet extinct. There has been

always, and is now in many minds an intense desire to lift the veil that hides the future, and force on the wheels of the ark of God. It sometimes appears in a very offensive form, selecting certain delusive data of prophetic interpretation, and then predicting the very day and hour when the Son of Man shall come; startling for a while the credulous and superstitious, but in the end hardening men more obdurately in scepticism and sin. The gross delusion of Millerism in our times is an illustration, and some very popular expositors of prophecy incur somewhat of the same condemnation that rests on these grosser forms of enthusiasm and error.

There is a time when the great purposes of God shall be finished, and, especially, when the last awful appearance shall be made. But this time is wisely concealed by God, in order that no man or generation may be lulled into presumption. It is designed that the end of the world to the race, may be like the end of the world to the individual: certain in its event, that all may prepare for it; uncertain in its time, that this preparation may not be postponed, and life lost and wasted in sin. Hence to those who would wring from prophetic data the precise year and day of the coming of Christ, and most of those data the very revelations. that the disciples had when they asked Christ this question, i. e., the prophecies of Daniel, we may

very properly reply, "It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." Of that day and hour knoweth no man, not even the Son in his human and prophetic capacity, for it is not designed to be revealed to any mere creature in his simple capacity as a creature. Hence this prurient desire to wring from the sublime symbolism of prophecy the exact dates of a table of chronology, is at once a folly and a crime.

There is an anxiety as to what is coming, that is lawful and commendable. This feeling expresses itself in the prayers, "Thy kingdom come." "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ?" This anxiety will lead us to labour and to hope. But when this anxiety rises into impatience; when the slow progress of the gospel makes us grow weary in the work of spreading it; when the little fruit that we see tempts us to cease our efforts to plant and to water the seed; when we are ready to say it is useless to work on when that work seems to be so utterly in vain; then we reach a point of anxiety that is sinful, and have some of the feeling reproved in the disciples. We would have the promise fulfilled "at this time," now, and are unwilling to wait in patience, and need then to be reminded that it is not for us to know the times and seasons that the

Father has put in his own power. To work and to wait are ours, to promise and to perform are God's; and as surely as we do the first, so surely will he, at the best possible time, do the last.

There is a promise of the Father for which the whole earth groaneth and travaileth together in pain, until now. This glorious "manifestation of the sons of God" will be the end of all toils and pains to the struggling and divided church of God. It is not to be wondered at that the weary heart will sometimes cry out in impatience, "How long, O Lord, how long?" It is then that this calm and commanding word "wait" comes clear and comforting to our souls. "The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry." The sublime outgoings of the eternal kingdom are governed by their own immutable laws, and these laws are be

yond our finite and feeble ken. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, and the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering."

But how must we wait? In idleness? In slumber? No; we must wait as the husbandman waits for the early and latter rains, who labours while he waits; wait as the watchman waits for the dawn, who watches as he waits; wait as the

wise virgins waited, who trimmed their lamps as they waited, and kept oil in their vessels with their lamps. We know how the disciples waited, and thus also are we to wait. They waited in prayer, not merely secret but social and united prayer, and so must we. They waited in labour, striving to do all that they could to be ready for the blessing, and so must we. They waited in love and united action, being all with one accord in one place, and so must we. They waited in holy seclusion from the world, wrestling with God for the promise, and so must we. They waited in faith, assuredly looking for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and so must we. Pentecostal prayer must always precede a pentecostal blessing.

These general principles are applicable to every promise of the Father, and every object of hope for which we are to wait in hope. Do we long for the conversion of our children? We must wait, but work and watch and pray while we wait. Is it for some personal blessing, some attainment in the divine life? We must wait, but wrestle while we wait, strive to subdue the besetting sin, and to draw down from God the promised blessing. Is it in some department of labour that we wait? The pastor, the elder, the teacher, the parent have often to wait long before they see the result of their labours. But they should wait as Israel waited for the fall of the walls of Jericho,