"Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning" (Mark xiii. 35). There is here a large element of uncertainty. Not the uncertainty of the event, for the second coming of Jesus is one of the things that cannot be shaken, but the uncertainty of the _time_. "Of that day or that hour knoweth no man, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." The time of His coming has not been revealed, to the end that we should be always ready. And yet, in that early age, the second advent was believed to be nigh at hand. Jesus spake of it as "_a little while_." "Behold, I come _quickly_, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." And James, the Lord’s brother, wrote, "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." If the little while has now stretched out into centuries, and the crowing of the cock has not yet been heard, it is not because the Saviour has forgotten His promise, but because the godlessness of men and the worldliness of the Church have raised up innumerable obstacles in His way. Oh, if men would but repent and turn again to Him, those times of refreshing would not be long delayed. God would send Jesus, whom the heavens must receive until the times of restoration of all things (Acts iii. 19-21, R.V.). What a coming that will be to all those who love His appearing! At midnight, or at the cock-crowing, the cry will be heard, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him." And they who are ready will rise up at "the voice of the bird," and go in with Him to the marriage supper of the Lamb. But the foolish virgins will be shut outside. They too will rise up at the voice of the bird; but for them, alas! it will be no "bird of the _dawn_." Like Judas, they will go out into the darkness—a darkness that has no morning; and there will be the weeping and the woe. But that day, or rather that night, has not yet arrived. It has not yet come for you young people. With you it is still the time of _choosing_; and if you choose Jesus, if you remember your Creator in the days of your youth, that evil day will never come at all. The cock-crowing will still be to you the trump of God; but it will call you to happiness and not to misery. It will proclaim to you the advent of the eternal dawn; and you will rise up at the voice of the bird to exclaim, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." *Peace.* "Then had thy peace been as a river."—Isa. xlviii. 18. I sat alone in the pinewood, And mused with the falling leaves; And the Autumn breath like a requiem Hymned low for the garnered sheaves. And the pensiveness of the Autumn, Like the ocean rocked to rest, Found a fitting shell-like murmur In the heavings of my breast.