knees, and secured round the waist by a dark woollen sash. His age
it was difficult to determine. It might have been anywhere between
forty-five and fifty-five years.

The attitude and appearance of the man, were that of devotion and
expectancy. His body was bent forward, his hands clasped, and his
eyes intently fastened on the eastern sky, along the horizon of which
layers of clouds, a moment before of a leaden hue were now assuming
deeper and deeper crimson tints. As the clouds flushed up into
brighter colors his countenance kindled with excitement. His form
seemed to dilate, his eyes to flash, his hands unclasped themselves,
and he stretched out his arms, as if to welcome a long expected
friend. But presently the rays of the sun began to stream over the
swelling upland and light up the surface of the river, and fainter and
fainter shone the clouds, until they gradually melted into the blue
depth away. It was then a shade of disappointment, as it seemed,
passed over the face of the man. Its rapt expression faded, he cast
a look almost of reproach to heaven, and his feelings found vent in
words.

"Hast Thou not said, 'Behold, I come quickly?' Why then delay the
wheels of Thy chariot? O, Lord, I have waited for Thy salvation. In
the night-watches, at midnight, at cock-crowing, and in the morning,
have I been mindful of Thee. But chiefly at the dawn hath my soul gone
forth to meet Thee, for then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man
in Heaven, and they shall see him coming in the clouds of Heaven, with
power and great glory. And he shall send His angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from one end of
Heaven to the other."