in repose has been, so the possession of ’the portion of the inheritance of the saints in light’ shall be, for which that course has made men meet.  Destiny is character worked out.  A man will be where he is fit for, and have what he is fit for.  Time is the lackey of eternity.  His life here settles how much of God a man shall be able to hold, when he stands in his lot at the ‘end of the days,’ and his allotted portion, as it stretches around him, will be but the issue and the outcome of his life here on earth.

Therefore, dear brethren, tremendous importance attaches to each fugitive moment.  Therefore each act that we do is weighted with eternal consequences.  If we will put our trust in Him, ’in whom also we obtain the inheritance,’ and will travel on life’s common way in cheerful godliness, we may front all the uncertainties of the unknown future, sure of two things—­that we shall rest, and that we shall stand in our lot.  We shall all go where we have fitted ourselves, by God’s grace, to go; get what we have fitted ourselves to possess; and be what we have made ourselves.  To the Christian man the word comes, ’Thou shalt stand in thy lot.’  And the other word that was spoken about one sinner, will be fulfilled in all whose lives have been unfitting them for heaven:  ‘Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.’  He, too, stands in his lot.  Now settle which lot is yours.

* * * * *

HOSEA

THE VALLEY OF ACHOR

     ’I will give her ... the valley of Achor for a door of
     hope.’—­HOSEA II. 15.

The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people.  Their past seems to him a mirror in which they may read their future.  He believes that ’which is to be hath already been,’ the great principles of the divine government living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the circumstances are similar.  So he foretells that there will yet be once more a captivity and a bondage, that the old story of the wilderness will be repeated once more.  In that wilderness God will speak to the heart of Israel.  Its barrenness shall be changed into the fruitfulness of vineyards, where the purpling clusters hang ripe for the thirsty travellers.  And not only will the sorrows that He sends thus become sources of refreshment, but the gloomy gorge through which they journey—­the valley of Achor—­will be a door of hope.

One word is enough to explain the allusion.  You remember that after the capture of Jericho by Joshua, the people were baffled in their first attempt to press up through the narrow defile that led from the plain of Jordan to the highlands of Canaan.  Their defeat was caused by the covetousness of Achan, who for the sake of some miserable spoil which he found in a tent, broke God’s laws, and drew down shame