Oh that ours may at last be the blessedness of that better Church above, which knows no banishment, no exile, no languor, no weariness;--where "the holy-day" is an eternal Sabbath;--the festive throng, "a multitude which no man can number"--the voice of joy and praise, "everlasting songs;"--where God's absence can never be deplored;--where He who now tendeth His temple-lamps on earth, feeding them day by day with the oil of His grace, removing the rust perpetually gathering over them by reason of their contact with sin, will, with the plenitude of His own presence, supersede all earthly luminaries, and ordinances, and sanctuaries;--for "_they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever_!" VII. Hope. "When the water-floods of grief Round thy helpless head shall rise, When there seemeth no relief, Lift thy gaze to yonder skies; There behold how radiantly Beams the star of Hope divine! Yesterday it shone for thee, And to-day it still shall shine. Ask no aid the world can give, LOOKING UNTO JESUS, _live!_" "When I ask the question, 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' I am ashamed of the answer that must be returned. What if property, credit, health, friends and relatives were all lost; thou hast a Father, a friend, an advocate, a comforter, a mansion, a treasure in heaven."--_Bishop Hall._ "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance."--_Verse 5._ VII. HOPE. Take the wings from a bird, and it is the most helpless of animals. Bring the eagle from his eyrie, and rob him of his plumage, and he who an hour before was soaring monarch of the sky, is more powerless than the worm crawling at his side, or than the bleating lamb that trembled and cowered under his shadow. Such was David now. The wounded bird of Paradise flutters in the dust. The taunting cry everywhere assails him, "_Where is thy God?_" The future is a mournful blank, and the past is crowded with joyous and happy memories, which only aggravate and intensify the sorrows of the present.