ow of an enormous right hand rested on Waterloo. It is the day of destiny. A power above man controlled that day. Hence the loss of mind in dismay; hence all these great souls yielding up their swords. Those who had conquered Europe fell to the ground having nothing more to say or to do, feeling a terrible presence in the darkness. That day the perspective of the human race changed. Waterloo is the hinge of the nineteenth century. The disappearance of the great man was necessary for the advent of the great century. One, to whom there is no reply, took it in charge. The panic of heroes is explained. In the battle of Waterloo there is more than a cloud, there is a meteor. God passed over it." What is this but the attempt of a brilliant man to say what John taught us long ago, that there is “an angel standing in the sun.” THE TWO LESSONS And now with that truth firmly established there are two lessons we must learn: 1. We must learn to take a long view of history. God moves across the ages with stately step, and they who would understand Him must read His records with the light of two eternities upon them. Emerson was fond of saying that the supreme lesson of life is learning "what the centuries say against the hours." With Jehovah a thousand years is as a day and a day as a thousand years. We are too near to the great events of to-day to be sure that we read them aright. The roar of cannon deafens us; the dust of battle blinds us; the rush of events dazzles us; and the passion of the hour carries us by storm. Momentary victory may not mean success; momentary defeat may not mean failure. Above the mighty drama is God. He has taken His place in the sun. It is occupied by no other. At times it may seem otherwise, but it is not so. "Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word; Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne Yet that scaffold sways the Future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own." 2. Again let us learn to take a clear view of Christ in relation to the scheme of life. He is the angel that standeth in the sun. He is to us the manifestation of the Divine presence, "the effulgence of God's glory from the express image of His person." All things revolve about Him. All things must exist for Him. He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. At the very darkest hour of all He stepped into human history in the flesh. He is there, as John tells us, by the right of His cross. He has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the centre of all created things. He is the one who will control. Around Him the nations must bow in submission. Make no mistake. It is not Germany or another who will hold the place in the sun. It is He whose right it is to rule. It is He who has the last word of life. We stand or fall by Him and our relation to Him. "He hath sounded forth the trumpet That shall never call retreat, O! be swift my soul to meet Him; |