pledged for our immortality; we may be sure, too, that a
soul which here follows in the footsteps of Jesus, which in its earthly
life walked in the name of the Lord its God, will continue across the
narrow bridge, and go onward 'for ever and ever' in direct progress in
the same direction in which it began on earth. The imitation, which is
the practical religion of every Christian, has for its only possible
result the climax of likeness. The partial likeness is attained on earth
by contemplation, by aspiration, and by effort; but it is perfected in
the heavens by the perfect vision of His perfect face. 'We shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' Not till it has reached its goal
can the Christian life begun here be conceived as ended. It shall never
be said of any one who tried by God's help to walk 'in the name of the
Lord' that he was lost in the desert, and never reached his journey's
end. The peoples who walked in the name of any false god will find their
path ending as on the edge of a precipice, or in an unfathomable bog;
loss, and woe, and shame will be their portion. But 'the name of the
Lord is a strong tower,' into which whoever will may run and be safe,
and to walk in the name of the Lord is to walk on a way 'that shall be
called the Way of Holiness, whereon no ravenous beast shall go up, but
the redeemed shall walk there,' and all that are on it 'shall come with
singing to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.'

'A DEW FROM THE LORD'

'The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew
from the Lord, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons
of men.'--MICAH v. 7.

The simple natural science of the Hebrews saw a mystery in the
production of the dew on a clear night, and their poetic imagination
found in it a fit symbol for all silent and gentle influences from
heaven that refreshed and quickened parched and dusty souls. Created by
an inscrutable process in silence and darkness, the dewdrops lay
innumerable on the dry plains and hung from every leaf and thorn, each
little globule a perfect sphere that reflected the sun, and twinkled
back the beams in its own little rainbow. Where they fell the scorched
vegetation lifted its drooping head. That is what Israel is to be in the
world, says Micah. He saw very deep into God's mind and into the
function of the nation.

It may be a question as to whether the text refers more especially to
the plac