What life is at all fruitful in success and the joy that attends it unless that life has constantly in view a purpose and pursues it with fidelity and hope. Likewise how can our race achieve its best endeavor unless it lives under the constant purpose to achieve a certain goal. Human life must have an object of existence that is worthy of its high endowments. The only objects which are worthy of our pursuit are Purity, Peace and Truth, and the only embodiment which the world has ever known of these supreme things was Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore we look toward his second coming with confidence and longing. As the embodiment of our highest aspirations he will be the fulfillment of all our desires. At his approach the clouds of uncertainty, ignorance, superstition, distrust, doubt and despair will vanish. For all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. _Rev. 15:4._ [Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY FRED’K L. CHAPMAN & CO. THE HOPE OF THE RACE. Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room, and Heaven and Nature sing.] [Illustration] THE ROCK OF AGES. Some great man of old once declared that words were the only things that live forever. If this is true of the words of men, how much more so is it of the Word of God, the affirmation, the promise, the pledge, of the great I am. Its foundations of adamant are anchored in eternal truth, against its base the angry assaults of bigotry and unbelief will be driven in vain. Its walls will stand four square when the ancient landmarks of dogma, formalism and ecclesiasticism lapse into ruin and decay. Though the earth and starry worlds wax old like a garment, the Word of God which represents his faithfulness and the Cross of Christ which represents his Love, will stand impregnable amid the wreck of worlds. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the Word of our God shall stand forever. _Isaiah 40:8_. [Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY FRED’K L. CHAPMAN & CO. THE ROCK OF AGES. “THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURETH FOREVER.”] [Illustration] AMMUNITION GONE. There is a giant cliff on the bank of the Hudson river opposite the military post of West Point. This rugged promontory has been the target for rifle practice for almost one hundred years. Tons of lead have been poured against its stubborn side and there is no apparent rift or seam in the granite walls. In a similar way the Word of God and the Truth of God have been the target for hostile attack for hundreds and thousands of years. Agnosticism, scholasticism and unbelief have trained their destructive batteries upon the most cherished promises of God and upon the earnest belief of his people, but thus far without effect. The signs are that now their munitions of war are exhausted, their ammunition is gone. In dismay they see the conquering hosts of Jehovah