And for this reason among others, communicants, perhaps it was fit enough, that in looking over Christ's names and doings, we should select from all the characters in which we might regard our Saviour that which we did. We sat down here for a little while to think of Christ: we considered how we should think of Him: and I sought to lead your meditation of Him into an old and pleasant track : 'A hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' And it is fit enough, that at a Feast which is only temporary, we should regard Christ in a character which is only temporary, however pleasing and beautiful it be. It is only while the believer remains in this world of sin and sorrow, that he can regard the Saviour as standing to him in such a relation as that on which we have dwelt. When the believer has

entered that world where there is no wind and no

tempest, he will need no hiding-place and no covert there. When the believer has entered that glorious world, though Christ may be the Rock of Ages still, and still the water of life, He will not be as ' rivers in a dry place;' nor will He cast His refreshing shadow over a weary land.' It is now, in this evil world, where Christ is all that stands between us and the fiery floods of God's wrath for sin: it is here, where we faint and stumble along this weary pilgrimage, that this beautiful promise is being fulfilled in the experience of Christ's people. Now our Saviour is our hiding-place and our covert, our river of life and our rock of shadow. The prophet looked far forward into the future, and wrote, 'A man shall be a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest:' and after the last Communion Service is over,-when the believer drinks this earthly cup no more,-if ever he desires to think of Christ thus, he will have to look back upon his own

life in this world, and say, As I laboured upon earth, as I prayed, and toiled, and sinned, and suffered there, my Saviour used to be, long ago, as 'a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land!'

Enjoy, then, communicants, while it lasts, the present reality of this gracious promise; for it will not last long. Look to Christ in this light while He still stands in this light to you. They tell us that some of the most beautiful aspects of the sun-as, for example, the rich golden sunsets-are the result of causes in our own atmosphere: it is only to beings who dwell among earthly vapours and clouds that he appears in that majesty of purple and gold. And even so it is only to souls dwelling in a world of sin and sorrow, that our Blessed Lord can wear this aspect to which I have sought to turn your thoughts. It is only to those round whom winds' and 'tempests'

blow, that Jesus can look like the 'hiding-place' and

the covert it is only in a dry place' that we know

the full value of rivers of water;' and no one can

know how precious is the shadow of a great rock half so well as he who journeys through a weary land.' It is just because the Sun of Righteousness shines upon us through a laden atmosphere of sin and sorrow, that He wears to our eyes this beautiful aspect of which we speak. The happy spirits who never sinned can hardly understand the delight with which we look to Jesus thus. They never needed a Saviour: they cannot feel, as we do, all that that word means. Yet though when you have entered the world. where weariness, and peril, and sorrow, and sin are done with, you may choose other ways in which to regard your Lord; surely when now you rise from that table with some anxious thoughts of all that awaits you as you resume your wilderness way, you will hardly be able to look to Jesus in a light more

exactly suited to your needs; and you will hardly be able to frame a more comprehensive prayer, than that this Divine Man Christ Jesus' may be to each and all of us ‘as a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land!'

Go in

peace from the Table of the Lord and the

God of peace go with you.

Then is sung a further portion of Psalm CIII., to the

same tune.

5 Who with abundance of good things

doth satisfy thy mouth;

So that, even as the eagle's age,

renewed is thy youth.

6 God righteous judgment executes

for all oppressed ones.