was to be a great Preacher of Righteousness and restorer of morals: "to make ready a people prepared for the LORD."... No matter for our present purpose that Zacharias was at first unbelieving, and was struck dumb; but afterwards believed,-and that the first use to which he applied the restored gift of speech was the hymn which we recite every morning of our lives after the reading of the Gospel: "Blessed be the LORD GOD of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people!"-No matter about the visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (whose dwelling was at Nazareth,) to Elisabeth her cousin, (who doubtless dwelt at Hebron in the hill country of Judah ;)-and about the divine "Magnificat" which she poured out on that occasion,-which we also recite daily at Evening Prayer: "My soul doth magnify the LORD, and my spirit hath rejoiced in GoD my SAVIOUR!"... The point which has already been made plain is the only point to which your attention is invited. You are requested to fasten your thoughts on the dark and unpromising, apparently the hopeless moment, which Almighty GOD, in the fulness of His wisdom and of His power, made choice of for evolving the first clue to His deep designs,

for entering upon that course of gracious dealing which has resulted in the end of the ages in

this our Christian faith, these our Christian hopes, this our Christian blessedness. Behold, then the dew was upon the fleece only, and it was dry upon all the Earth beside: but now it is dry only upon the fleece, and there is dew on all the ground. . . . The beginning of this marvellous change took place at such an unexpected moment as I have been describing. And this is the only point to which your attention shall be further invited now.

...

The application of all this to ourselves as a consolation, a help, and a warning,― seems to me too plain to require insisting upon. He who loves His Church,-his country,—his race, is very prone to wonder when will come the dawning of that brighter day for which his soul aches so sorely. He has strained his eyes intently on every indication of the dawn,—but hitherto only to be disappointed. Men of the highest promise have been cut off in their flower, -churchmen, statesmen, philosophers. What

then ?

Whatever other destinies were theirs, GOD did not mean them to regenerate the age. Have patience, O my soul! Be content to

leave the future of thy Church, thy Country,

thy Country's institutions, in the hands of GOD. In His own good time He will work,-work wondrously but not yet. The night is darkest before the springing of the day! Let the shadows therefore yet deepen apace, and be thou patient!

And of course the self-same cogitations should be his, whose private horizon is black with clouds whose pathway in life is hard to find: whose days are a weariness to him, and whose soul aches for the fruition of its hope. O be patient! These gathering clouds are meant to conceal the coming glory. Let them thicken yet awhile, in order that they may presently break! The Angel will some day come to thee also, most likely when thou art standing like Zacharias beside the altar of incense,'-(for incense, remember, was the emblem of Prayer,) -and thou too shalt find that behold, "Thy prayer is heard" at last!

I have not attempted here to interest you in the wondrous history of John the Baptist. Nor has anything been said about the holiness. of his Parents, that grand old pair, who, in a day of general degeneracy, "were both righteous before GOD, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the LORD blame

less." Enough for one time the lesson to be derived from the gloom which had overspread the land of Israel,-its institutions, its morals, its people,—at the instant when Zacharias received at the hands of an Angel the promise of John the Baptist's wondrous birth!

THE LOST PIECE OF SILVER.

S. LUKE XV. 3, 4.

He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of

them.

THE words thus quoted are designed to bring to your remembrance the two Parables which make up the Gospel for the day-that of the lost Sheep, and that of the lost piece of Silver. A few words about either, may not be unacceptable. There is more in such discourses, be persuaded, than at first sight appears.

The occasion of their being spoken was one. There came near, to hear our LORD discoursing, "all the Publicans and sinners." The selfrighteous Pharisees murmured. Thereupon our LORD drew the two pictures of human solicitude with which we are all familiar: leaving it to be inferred that the Shepherd going after his sheep which is lost,-the Woman sweeping the house in quest of her lost piece of money, -are images of Himself; emblems of what was and is His own heavenly occupation.