" Even Christ Himself shall fill
them. Blessed are they, and all that they take in hand, for of them it
is written, "Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and walk in His
ways. For thou shalt eat the labours of thine hands." "The Lord is
righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works. The Lord is nigh
unto all them that call upon Him, yea, all such as call upon Him
faithfully. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him. He also
will hear their cry"--ay, "and will help them."
Happy, ay, blest will such souls be, let the day of the Lord appear when
it will, or how it will. It may appear--the day of the Lord, as it has
appeared again and again in history--in the thunder of some mighty war.
It may appear after some irresistible, though often silent revolution,
whether religious or intellectual, social or political. It will appear
at last, as that great day of days, which will conclude, so we believe,
the drama of human history, and all men shall give account for their own
works. But, however and whenever it shall appear, they at least will
watch its dawning, neither with the selfish assurance of modern
Pharisaism, nor with the abject terror of mediaeval superstition; but
with that manful faith with which he who sang the 98th Psalm saw the day
of the Lord dawn once in the far east, more than two thousand years ago,
and cried with solemn joy, in the glorious words which you have just
heard sung--words which the Church of England has embodied in her daily
evening service, in order, I presume, to show her true children how they
ought to look at days of judgment; and so prepare to meet their God:--
"Show yourselves joyful unto the Lord, all ye lands: sing, rejoice, and
give thanks.
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