pathy was still there! Though all heaven was then
doing Him homage--though He had exchanged the chilling ingratitude of
earth for the glories of an unsullied world of purity and love--yet
nothing could blot out from His heart the names of those whom He had
still left for a little season behind, to be bearers of His cross before
they became sharers of His crown!

What a comfort, amid all earth's vicissitudes and changes, this
motto-verse! _Earth may_ change. Since the Lord ascended, earth _has_
changed! There are "Written rocks"--manifold more than those of
Sinai--that bear engraven on their furrowed brows, "The world passeth
away." Ocean's old shores have transgressed their boundaries--kingdoms
have risen and fallen--thronging cities have sprung up amid desert
wastes--and proud capitals have been levelled with the dust. _Friends_
may change; our very lot and circumstances, in spite of ourselves, may
change. Our fondly planned schemes and cherished hopes may vanish into
thin air, and the _place_ that now knows us know us no more! But there
is ONE that changeth not--a Rock which stands immutable amid all the
ceaseless heavings and commotions of this mortal life--and that Rock is
Christ!

Has he ever failed us? Ask the _tried_ Christian. Ask the _aged_
Christian. That gray-haired believer may be like a solitary oak in the
forest--all his compeers cut down--tempest after tempest has sighed and
swept amid the branches--tree by tree has succumbed to the blast--there
may be nothing but wreck and ruin and devastation all around. Friend
after friend has departed; some have _altered_ towards him; kindness may
have given way to alien looks and estranged affection; others are
removed by _distance_--old familiar faces and scenes have given place to
new ones;--others have been called away to the silent grave--sleeping
quiet and still in "the narrow house appointed for all living." That
aged lonely Christian can clasp his withered hands, and exclaim, through
his tears, "_But_ THOU art the same, and _Thy_ years shall have no end."
"Heart and flesh do faint and fail, but God is the strength of my heart,
and my portion for ever."

"My God, I thank thee, Thou dost care for me;
I am content rejoicing to go on,
Even when my home seems very far away;
And over grief, and aching emptiness,
And fading hopes a higher joy ariseth.
In nightliest hours one lonely spot is bright,
High over head, through folds a